Mike’s alarm went off as early as anticipated the next morning, and I rolled out of bed to start preparing for the first leg of the Dopey Challenge. I pulled on the costume that I had laid out the night before - the Evil Emperor Zurg from Toy Story. Mike and Jude would be running as Buzz and Woody respectively, and once I was out of the bathroom area they each got ready. I pulled on my ProCompression socks, giving the guys a quick tutorial on how to get theirs on easily.
Soon enough we were all dressed and ready, and headed out the door and over to the bus at All Star Music - we were staying at All Star Movies, but because of the placement of our room, we were much closer to the Music bus stop. We got on the bus just before 4 am, and the three of us landed seats on the back of the bus, and I was glad that I had brought a jacket along - the driver had the AC cranking.
Once the bus arrived at the Epcot parking lot we breezed through the bag check, as there was really no line. We found a spot to plop down once we got into the main pre-race area, and waited for Liz and Bobby (my husband’s sister and her boyfriend). The five of us weren’t planning to run the 5k together, but we wanted to walk to the corrals together.
It was the coldest morning of the weekend, and we were all wishing that we had a few more layers on as we waited. I broke out the heat sheet that I had thrown into my gear check bag and it helped a little, but I was regretting the choice of wearing shorts.
Eventually Liz and Bobby arrived, outfitted in their Disney Christmas onesies, and after I dropped my bag off at the bag check we all began the quick walk over to the corrals. Mike, Jude and I were planning to stick together. The plan was to do run/walk intervals, as Jude is a new runner, to make sure that we would be good to go for the 10k the following day.
We were starting from the last corral, and we waited patiently as the corrals in front of us were slowly released. By the time we made it to the start line it was almost an hour after the race’s official start time. We hadn’t been paying too much attention as we inched forward, and without realizing we had wound up in the last wave that was being released of the day. But at last, it was our turn and we listened to the announcers count down one more time, before they sent us off!
The course was so congested at the start that we had to walk for a minute, as there was just no way to start running. But once the crowd opened up a bit we settled into a run, and started making our way towards Epcot. We planned to stop for characters if there were any we were especially excited to see, and sure enough within the first half mile of the race I spotted Chip and Dale dressed up as the Rescue Rangers, and immediately shouted to Mike that I was turning around to get in line. They guys joined me, and we had a short break that allowed us to stretch out. When we got to the front of the line they snapped our photo, and we were on out way again.
One benefit of stopping that early in the race was that the course congestion really seemed to clear up. We were able to do intervals as we needed to, without ever feeling too restricted.
Soon enough we were entering Epcot, and I pointed out the photo pass photographers to Jude, indicating that the green tents were photographer locations. He adapted quickly, and was soon the first one to spot the tents more often than not - since I run without my glasses, I was very happy to be with someone that could easily see them from a distance.
The character lines were all long within Epcot, and we weren’t spotting any characters that any of us were particularly attached to, so we opted to skip them for the rest of the race. We did make a bathroom break when we ran through Germany before continuing around the rest of world showcase.
The three of us had fun as we chatted and posed for the race photographers. The longest line that we spotted was for the Beast in France, which wrapped all the way past the Impressions de France restaurant. The three miles were nearing a close rapidly, and we were excited to collect our first medals of the weekend. I was personally also excited to get my hands on some nachos and cheese from a RunDisney snack box.
Once we rounded the final corner of the race we could see the finish line in the distance, and headed towards it together. I was so excited that marathon weekend had officially begun, and that Mike and I had successfully completed the first leg of the Dopey Challenge.
We were given medals by the volunteers at the finish, as well as heat sheets. The 5k would turn out to be the only event of weekend that would have heat sheets handed out at the end. We also collected a bottle of water and Powerade, and a RunDisney snack box, which indeed contained the cheese I had hoped for.
We stopped for finishers photos, and then grabbed my checked bag before heading back to the hotel. We were planning to spend the day at Universal studios, since we figured it would be the day that we had the most time and energy to be away from the hotel and nap-less.
Our first stop at universal studios was for breakfast, and then we headed into the parks. Usually I stick to the Harry Potter area of the park, but Jude somehow talked me onto some of the bigger roller coasters and thrill rides, and we all had a blast. The icing on the cake for this day? We managed to get onto the newest ride in the wizarding world of harry potter section of the park, Hagrid’s motorbike adventure.