On Thursday January 9th Andrew Aislabie took part in the Walt Disney Dopey Challenge which took place in Florida, USA. The Challenge consists of a 5k race on the Thursday, a 10k race on the Friday, a half marathon race on the Saturday followed by a full marathon on the Sunday.
Andrew had wanted to do this challenge for a few years but knew the training would have to be right and it would take up a lot of time for 6 months or so.
Having arrived in Orlando on the Tuesday Andrew attended the Expo on Wednesday to collect his race number.
The 5k race was first with a 3:00am alarm clock on Thursday morning for a 5:30am race start in the dark. The weather was pretty warm, the course a bit narrow and very busy through Epcot. Andrew paced himself pretty steady and finished in 30:12.
Friday morning was another 3:00am alarm and 5:30am start for the 10k race. Warmer than the day before and finished in 57:42. 1,294th out of 12,572.
Saturday morning same alarm and start times for the half marathon but a different start location and bigger corrals. Andrew was at the front of corral B, which meant he got away fairly quick. The weather was hot, about 20 degrees C at the start. Andrew ran this one really steady as he had the full marathon still to do. Finished in 2:07:15 and 1,947th out of 21,661.
Sunday was the big one, a full marathon and an earlier start time of 5:00am so the alarm was set for 2:00am. It was already 20 degrees C when Andrew left the hotel and it just got hotter. The race went pretty well but it was very hot. The sun came up when Andrew was at the 13 mile point and by the time I finished it was 25 degrees. Finished in 4:42:15 and 2,206 out of 14,106.
It was good running through the various parks and the organisation and crown support was fantastic. Andrew finished with 6 medals in total, including the Goofy Challenge for completing the half and full marathons and the Dopey Challenge for completing all 4 races.
The following Sunday Andrew was in Naples on the West coast of Florida and had entered the half marathon. Another hot day with a 7:00am start. A nice flat course, Andrew finished in 1:56:06 and 494th out of 1,409. Andrew was really pleased with that considering it was only a week after the Dopey Challenge. There was free beer to all the finishers.
