In Which Jenn Is Not Dopey

For the third year in a row, I am signed up for the WDW Marathon. Hooray! But you may have noticed, for the second year in a row, I am NOT signed up for Dopey.

Don’t get me wrong – when I knocked out the Dopey Challenge in 2015, I LOVED it. I was SO happy: running four races, finishing my second marathon, being in Walt Disney World for a full week with my boyfriend. It was AWESOME. About as awesome as it gets. I would kill to do it again. I’d even do that exact week over again if you have a time machine you’re willing to lend me, temporal prime directive be damned.

All that being said, I don’t see doing it again in the near future, and the reason for that is twofold:

1. The cost. Oh man, the cost. This is, like, 90% of the reason why I don’t expect to go Dopey for another couple years at least. There is of course the cost of the races, which I think is now up over $600. Then there’s the cost of your flight, but then that’s about the same regardless of how long you’re in Orlando. Not so for your park tickets and especially hotel costs, both of which get more expensive as you expand your trip. Same with your food needs. Even a bare-bones Dopey experience has got to knock you back a couple thousand dollars. And as much as I think it’s totally worth it, I simply don’t have the dough drop year after year. Hell, my bank account is still recovering from 2015. Maybe if I ONLY did Dopey and didn’t visit WDW otherwise I could do it every year or two, but I’d rather have the additional park and race trips. So there’s that.

2. Then there’s the other 10% – the experience. Perhaps you have also noticed I didn’t sign up for Goofy. Goofy is certainly not cheap, but as it only adds one race, (optionally) one park day, one day of food, and one hotel night to the total, it doesn’t require nearly the same level of expenditure. It’s MORE, yes, but I could probably swing it if I put a little thought into a plan.

   But I have not. I decided to stick with just the WDW Marathon because of the magnificent time I had last year. Dopey is glorious, like I said just now, but like I also said a long time ago, it does drain some of the fun out of racing. It becomes less about enjoying the WDW Marathon and more about JUST FINISHING GOD I’M SO TIRED. And while I was super proud of myself for completing the Dopey Challenge, I can’t say the process filled me with joy in the same way it did when I ran the marathon only last year. That was probably my favorite runDisney race experience yet. I want to see if I can match it. I don’t want to potentially ruin it with more miles that cost me more money. If I’m going to do that, I think I’m going to hold out and save up for Dopey again.

That’s my thought process, anyway. What about you guys? You doing the challenges? Why or why not? Most importantly, do you have $2,000 to spare and want to sponsor my Dopey repeat?

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