To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

Wow! Amazing and Congrats!
You fascinate me! So technical and precise!
I've only starting running 10 months ago. I set a goal to run the 2016 W&D half after visiting marathon weekend having never even walked a 5K!
I ended up running a 5K, 2-10K and a half before my goal. I finished W&D 2:16:09 (my goal 2:15 but I shaved 20 mins off my first half which was 6 weeks before W&D) and was proud and hooked on runDisney! I signed up for the 5K and glass slipper challenge 1 week after. We'll see how that goes before I decide if I'm ready for 2018 marathon?!
Congrats again! Your dedication is admirable. Congrats to your mom too! How awesome to share that! Your daughter is adorable. I feel your wife's pain (or frustration) as I have a 3 and 6 yo.
Best of luck on all your upcoming races! Cheers!!! Sorry, I ramble! Lol
 
Hey Billy I just wanted to say congrats on a great race weekend! Your ethic and commitment has/is an inspiration to me. It was awesome to see how well you did and gives me confidence that hard work and a solid plan will lead to good results. It was great to meet you and really cool to see you at the Marathon finish. I was able to connect your name and accomplishment with my family. As in, "that was Billy, the guy I mentioned. He must have finished hours ago - see hard work pays off".

It has been said, but know a trip a year from now will be so different. We have taken our girls, who are now 9 and 14, most every year of there lives. I have memories of the years we had to cut plans out, hang out in a hotel room with a sick toddler and times where we had to follow through with the "if you don't stop this we will leave the park" threat (that was worse for me I think). But as they have gotten older the experiences have changed so much. My older daughter closes the park with me now, they carry their own things, no stroller, it is just so different. Each stage has been awesome, though I have to admit I miss the days of my girls being little and wanting to be carried. It just all goes too fast!

Anyway, I hope that it works out for your whole family next year. Thanks for this great trip report!
 


G steals the show, especially her at her race down in a sprint start, too adorable. I'm sure if you went back she would be onto a new phase instead of wanting Mommy to hold her the whole time. I take photos of kids all the time and I've had many where the kid will not let Mommy put him/her down, but then the next year's session they are totally over that.
Great races & recaps & awesome race by your Mom!
 
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Really enjoyed the trip report. Congratulations to both you and your mother on finishing a full marathon! Your race prep and execution are impressive - very analytical, which is understandable given your scientific background. I admire your focus, and I hope to see you go sub-3:00 in the future. Good luck!

I sympathize with juggling both parenting and racing, since we have four kids, now mostly grown (18, 17, 14, and 12). It can certainly make vacations a little more hectic. That's one of the reasons I've never actually "raced" a RunDisney event - I've just run them for fun and the medals. My PWs (personal worsts) in both the full and the half are at RD events, but I'm fine with that. I've also done them with family, and just enjoyed the chance to run through the parks and resorts, and see my extended family have fun and earn some medals. Several are already thinking about coming down for marathon weekend in 2018 to try their first full, and it will probably be my son's first full as well, since he'll be 18. My mom (70+) also announced she's going to try her first half. Can't wait and I hope you can keep your Perfect Dopey status next year!
 
lhermiston said:
There must have been something in the water. My two-year-old went through the same thing the whole trip, "Mommy, uppah!" constantly and "No! Mommy!" when I offered to hold her.
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Sounds like a shared experience given the age of our kids. It's comforting to hear others went through similar things.

Rory CB said:
Nice summary! We must have crossed paths at some point, we were in the same parks on the same days :)
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Thanks! It's entirely possible!

TeeterTots said:
Wow! Amazing and Congrats!
You fascinate me! So technical and precise!
I've only starting running 10 months ago. I set a goal to run the 2016 W&D half after visiting marathon weekend having never even walked a 5K!
I ended up running a 5K, 2-10K and a half before my goal. I finished W&D 2:16:09 (my goal 2:15 but I shaved 20 mins off my first half which was 6 weeks before W&D) and was proud and hooked on runDisney! I signed up for the 5K and glass slipper challenge 1 week after. We'll see how that goes before I decide if I'm ready for 2018 marathon?!
Congrats again! Your dedication is admirable. Congrats to your mom too! How awesome to share that! Your daughter is adorable. I feel your wife's pain (or frustration) as I have a 3 and 6 yo.
Best of luck on all your upcoming races! Cheers!!! Sorry, I ramble! Lol
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! Congrats on your incredible progress so far. Cutting off 20 min from a HM PR in 6 weeks is incredible. Hope to see you join us for the 2018 marathon, that would be so fun!

Thanks, I'm proud of my mom. Best of luck to you as well! I'm excited for the next phase of the training.

RunWDW said:
Excellent race report DopeyBadger! This is Sarah from Canada and I am no longer a lurker! It was great having the chance to meet you after the 10k. Congratulations on such a fantastic race weekend. Good luck with your upcoming races!
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SARAH from Canada!!! :welcome:

Congrats for making the decision to no longer be a lurker! I made that decision 15ish months ago and never looked back after years of lurkdom. It was fun meeting you after the 10k as well. What's next on your race calendar?

Baloo in MI said:
Hey Billy I just wanted to say congrats on a great race weekend! Your ethic and commitment has/is an inspiration to me. It was awesome to see how well you did and gives me confidence that hard work and a solid plan will lead to good results. It was great to meet you and really cool to see you at the Marathon finish. I was able to connect your name and accomplishment with my family. As in, "that was Billy, the guy I mentioned. He must have finished hours ago - see hard work pays off".

It has been said, but know a trip a year from now will be so different. We have taken our girls, who are now 9 and 14, most every year of there lives. I have memories of the years we had to cut plans out, hang out in a hotel room with a sick toddler and times where we had to follow through with the "if you don't stop this we will leave the park" threat (that was worse for me I think). But as they have gotten older the experiences have changed so much. My older daughter closes the park with me now, they carry their own things, no stroller, it is just so different. Each stage has been awesome, though I have to admit I miss the days of my girls being little and wanting to be carried. It just all goes too fast!

Anyway, I hope that it works out for your whole family next year. Thanks for this great trip report!
Click to expand...

Thanks again @Baloo in MI! It was a pleasure to meet you last week. I'm not special and there's nothing unique to what I have accomplished. It's a path that I enjoy sharing to show others a way they can get to their goals as well. It was fun to see you at the finish and even more enjoyable to get to see that moment with your family.

Writing this trip report has been an important step in determining the future disney trips because of the common experience many seem to share with kids and Disney trips. We're new parents, so it's nice to hear about others experiences as well.

cavepig said:
G steals the show, especially her at her race down in a sprint start, too adorable. I'm sure if you went back she would be onto a new phase instead of wanting Mommy to hold her the whole time. I take photos of kids all the time and I've had many where the kid will not let Mommy put him/her down, but then the next year's session they are totally over that.
Great races & recaps & awesome race by your Mom!
Click to expand...

G always steals the show! I'm still in shock about the warm-ups and sprinter starting stance. She just did them all on her own. She kept looking at the other kids not in stance and was like, umm, why aren't you guys down here getting ready.

Thanks for sharing about your experience with kids. These stories are all helping more than you guys know.

BikeFan said:
Really enjoyed the trip report. Congratulations to both you and your mother on finishing a full marathon! Your race prep and execution are impressive - very analytical, which is understandable given your scientific background. I admire your focus, and I hope to see you go sub-3:00 in the future. Good luck!

I sympathize with juggling both parenting and racing, since we have four kids, now mostly grown (18, 17, 14, and 12). It can certainly make vacations a little more hectic. That's one of the reasons I've never actually "raced" a RunDisney event - I've just run them for fun and the medals. My PWs (personal worsts) in both the full and the half are at RD events, but I'm fine with that. I've also done them with family, and just enjoyed the chance to run through the parks and resorts, and see my extended family have fun and earn some medals. Several are already thinking about coming down for marathon weekend in 2018 to try their first full, and it will probably be my son's first full as well, since he'll be 18. My mom (70+) also announced she's going to try her first half. Can't wait and I hope you can keep your Perfect Dopey status next year!
Click to expand...

Thanks! It was a pleasure to meet you this past week! I treat my running career like a personal science experiment. Just trying to maximize my abilities.

Thanks for sharing about your family. That's be awesome for you to get to share with even more family members. That would be incredible for your mom to do her first HM at 70+. That's awesome! Time will tell on the Perfect Dopey decision, but we'll see. We're working on options which is progress compared to the hours after arrival from vacation.
 


Congrats on all your PR's! It was nice to meet you and thanks for setting up the morning meet ups. Important question- what did you do with your sign when you went to the corrals for the 5k and the 10k? These are the things I think about. :)
 
ZellyB said:
Love that display of hardware!!
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Thanks!

croach said:
Congrats on all your PR's! It was nice to meet you and thanks for setting up the morning meet ups. Important question- what did you do with your sign when you went to the corrals for the 5k and the 10k? These are the things I think about. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Congrats on a great race weekend for you as well, especially with your 50k only a few weeks prior. I enjoyed meeting you as well and it was my pleasure to set everything up.

I threw the sign away in the trash on my way to the corral. I made four copies for each race morning so I wouldn't have to hang on to them during the race. I also had several "Congrats DIS" signs in my gear check after the 5k and marathon to aid in finishers in finding me. My intention going into race weekend was to write each DIS member's name on the Congrats DIS for that specific race, but I never had enough time during the weekend to devote to doing it.
 
Loved reading your vacation portion of the race weekend!! Again, it was so nice to meet you and even though you may disagree, you did help calm the butterflies! It's sad to hear you didn't "feel the magic" but I will say marathon weekend was an absolute ZOO from a cast member perspective, and while there's no excuse, I'm sure that contributed to the lack of enthusiasm on our part. All in all, I agree your idea to push the vacation until after race weekend is a better one, this past week was pretty dead in the parks! Also, little G is so stinkin' cute, and I'm sure my friend Jake adored meeting her. Thanks again for being so inspirational :)
 
jAcKs_x0 said:
Loved reading your vacation portion of the race weekend!! Again, it was so nice to meet you and even though you may disagree, you did help calm the butterflies! It's sad to hear you didn't "feel the magic" but I will say marathon weekend was an absolute ZOO from a cast member perspective, and while there's no excuse, I'm sure that contributed to the lack of enthusiasm on our part. All in all, I agree your idea to push the vacation until after race weekend is a better one, this past week was pretty dead in the parks! Also, little G is so stinkin' cute, and I'm sure my friend Jake adored meeting her. Thanks again for being so inspirational :)
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Thanks! It was a pleasure to meet you as well and I'm glad I did calm your nerves. Makes sense from a CM standpoint how crowds make it tough for everyone. Hooray for less people!

G is so much fun! I know she enjoyed meeting Jake! Yo-ho-ho away we go! It was the theme of her 2nd birthday party.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome! I love your medal display! Mine are all still in the gear bag! I may try hanging mine up like that too! I am doing the GSC in February, Star Wars in April and then I'm tackling my first 50 miler in May! What about you?
 
RunWDW said:
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Click to expand...

No problem!

RunWDW said:
I love your medal display! Mine are all still in the gear bag! I may try hanging mine up like that too!
Click to expand...

Thanks! It's just a heavy duty curtain rod from Target that I placed as closed to the ceiling as possible. Then all of the medals ribbons were halved with a safety pin, to make them shorter and not hit people in the head that entered the bathroom.

RunWDW said:
I am doing the GSC in February, Star Wars in April and then I'm tackling my first 50 miler in May!
Click to expand...

Nice! That's a pretty sweet lineup. And a 50 miler to boot! No doubt you've got it!

RunWDW said:
What about you?
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I'm taking my first marathon cycle break since Spring 2014. I'll be doing some 5k/10k work, but I haven't chosen which races to do yet. I'll likely run my town's small 10k to make up for last year's 4th place AG. Then, the big enchilada is the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon on October 1st. I've had that circled on my calendar for years as my first legitimate BQ attempt (sub 3:05). We'll see if this next year of training can get me close enough.

FFigawi said:
Slacker! ;)
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:P
 
So i was just reading this story about the man with paraplegia running the Dopey Challenge in Runner's World. Link

I couldn't put my finger on it, but I definitely recognized him and his blue/pink hat.

Screen Shot 2017-01-17 at 4.22.14 PM.png

*Photo from Runner's World article.

And now I remember where I saw him:

PhotoPass_Visiting_WDWRUNDISNEY_395916328685.jpg

We shared a moment crossing the finish line together! Pretty cool! Congrats Adam!
 
love recaps and trip reports! was waiting for this for a while!

thoughts:
-G is too too too cute
-great ceramic nemo! i can see why the asked you to paint more (g's is pretty good too)
-had my son's face painted and DL during SWLS and he had a terrible allergic reaction to the paint. crazy because he's had his face painted before with no issues. :(
-i can't believe someone peed in HM, gross!
-i can't believe people clapped when a couple left with the crying baby, haven't we all been through that?!
-love G at the kids race. my guy wasn't into his kids dash during the turkey trot, but pulled through once we started running with him.
-i know taking turns drafting is marathon etiquette 101, but do you guys just say it out loud when you're running when you're going to take the lead? i've never done a marathon before and wear headphones, so just wondering.
-did the wheelchair person have a bike escort? a bike escort pushed us to the left during a declne so that someone in a wheelchair could pass.
-Question: why didn't you toss your gloves at one point? They seemed like a hinderance as they got wetter and colder.
-your mom is too cool
really liked the honesty in your summary. my guy loved disneyland the first time and we immediately booked another trip 3 months later, but it was a disaster with a daily meltdown exactly at 2pm. so we held off except for my 2 rD events and he enjoyed the parks last weekend. he's too heavy for me to carry for prolonged periods, so his daddy gets that duty. but he was fine in the stroller too, thankfully!
-i'm very similar about packing things in and missing things on a checklist, can't imagine all that running around and trying to PR all the races.
-very cool medal rack! i don't have a lot since i started last year and i just toss mine in the back of the closet!

Awesome recap and again CONGRATULATIONS on your accomplishments. any one would be impressive on its own, but 3 PR's in (basically) a row with full days at the parks is just amazing!
 
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