Running to the Castle

RTTC #212 How a Back-of-the-Pack Runner Finished Dopey from the Last Corral Interview with Page Bitner

• Season 3 • Episode 29

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In this episode of Running to the Castle Dr. Ali sits down with Page Bittner to walk through her full journey from a gymnast who hated running to a Dopey Challenge finisher, and not just any finish, but one that required adaptability, trust, and grit in brutal race conditions. 

Page shares how she went from sprinting and pole vaulting to her first half marathon on a whim, fell in love with runDisney, stepped away for years, and then returned with a renewed purpose, including tackling Dopey 2026. 

The conversation dives deep into her structured, type-A approach to training, how she practiced race logistics down to the minute, and the mindset shifts that helped her succeed, especially when things didn’t go as planned. 

From panic over starting in the last corral, to navigating heat exhaustion symptoms mid-marathon, to ultimately choosing to walk and still finish strong, Page’s story highlights the power of slowing down, trusting your training, and redefining success. 

Along the way, she also shares how this journey changed her relationship with her body and what it meant to model resilience for her daughter, making this episode both practical and deeply meaningful for any runner who’s ever doubted themselves.

Learn more about Stronger. Faster. Finisher. !

Ready to cross the finish line stronger, faster, and prouder at your next runDisney race? 

Get personalized support, smarter training, and strategies designed specifically for slow, back-of-the-pack or injury-prone runners who want to build a bigger buffer ahead of the balloon ladies, have time for character photos and energy to enjoy the Disney Parks. Learn more about the Stronger. Faster. Finisher. Program today and be the first to know when doors open!

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    Hi, I'm Dr. Ali
    I've been running for 15+ years and been in the rehab space since 2012 when I earned my Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree. I get injury prone runDisney runners across the finish line without feeling broken.
SPEAKER_00

Hey, how's it going? Today I'm talking about how a back-of-the-pack runner finished the Dopey Challenge from the Last Corral. This is an interview with Paige Bittner. This is Running to the Castle, a podcast for injury-prone Run Disney runners on a journey to running magical miles. Join me, Dr. Alley, as I share the secrets I've gathered as a runner, doctor of physical therapy, and coach. You'll learn the exact ways I get my clients to the castle strong without feeling broken or held together with KT tape as they cross the finish line. I will. Okay. I am so excited. We have an interview today. I have Paige Bittner with me, and she is going to share her running journey, including the Dopey Challenge 2026. Thank you so much, Paige, for being here. How are you? Thank you for I'm good. Thank you for having me, Allie. This is so fun. I want to start off hearing, I guess, how you started with running. I know you have a different journey than some other runners do. So starting with like how you got into running and then how did that switch to Disney running?

SPEAKER_02

Sure. Um, I was a gymnast growing up. And uh, so I hated running. Um and then when uh I got to college, uh, I was at a very small liberal arts school. And they um, in order to have a baseball team, we had to field a women's track team. And so they would put up flyers all over campus about cup, please come join the women's track team. And I thought, okay, well, I was a pretty fast sprinter as a gymnast. So I showed up at the meeting, they signed me up. I started running Division I track. Um, I ran the 100 and the 200. Um, I still didn't do any distance running. And then my sophomore year of college, they started pole vault for women. And so um my coach knew that I had been a gymnast and then I was a sprinter and decided I would be a pole vaulter. Still hated uh any kind of longer running than you know the 10 steps that you run down the uh the vault runway. And then when I graduated from college, Allie, there are no club pole vaulting leagues out there. I it it's just devastating to me, but there aren't any. And so, in order to continue um really any kind of exercise that I maybe enjoyed a little bit, I decided that I would start doing a little bit of distance running. So I would run a mile or two around my neighborhood. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Yeah. That's wild. I mean, maybe I've never looked up pole vaulting clubs or anything like that. But you're right. Like after, even after high school for some people, especially after college, like finding a level of activity that fits your needs. Like, we're not elite, we're not going to the Olympics, but how else? Like, they have all these activities for kids. But where are the activities for the adults?

SPEAKER_02

I know, right? Well, that's what I said. Like, I loved pole vaulting. But, you know, I I transitioned a little bit into um to just running for exercise. And then um my roommates at the time decided they wanted to run a half marathon. Now, mind you, I had never run a 5K. I could run 100, 200, maybe a mile, um, if my coach was trying to punish me. But um, and I said, oh, yeah, this half marathon thing, I'll try that. So my very first race was the country music half marathon in Nashville, uh, had a blast. And then um I moved from South Carolina to Maryland and uh knew that I wanted to find a running club. So kind of got into over the next couple of years, a running club um in Annapolis, Maryland, Maryland. Uh my first marathon with them in 2007, which was the flying pig half marathon in Cincinnati. Tons of fun. And then um one of my friends and I, she heard that Disney was going to be having a princess half marathon. And she and I both loved Disney and we said, we're in Princess Half Marathon, we'll do it. So we actually ran the inaugural Princess Half Marathon in 2009. I was looking at the pictures the other day. Um, and ironically, we were in Corral A. There were only three, A, B, and C.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

And we ran A. And I think it's because they had asked, have you ever run, you know, a race before? And we checked, yes. And so we ended up in Corral A. Um, and we had so much fun with the uh princess half. We said, okay, we heard that they have this goofy challenge, and why not do the goofy challenge? And so we signed up for that in 2010. Um and what's ironic about that is I came back from that race and my boyfriend at the time decided to take advantage of the fact that I was so exhausted and he proposed like the night that I got back from Goofy. Oh my god. I know. I have really good memories of Goofy because he still says to this day that uh he was taking advantage of my exhaustion and figured I would say yes. And, you know, it's worked out so far. We've been married 16 years and have a seven-year-old, so can't really complain.

SPEAKER_00

And that kind of just solidifies your love for the Disney because that's the memory you have after doing Goofy as well.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. Yeah. Um, and then I think uh my friend that I had done the both the Disney races with before, she and I decided to do, I don't know, something about us doing like the first Disney races. They did a marathon relay in, I think it was 2012, and they only did it one time. And it was, she ran the first half and I ran the second half. They called it the Chippendale Relay. And we did that in 2012. And I had a lot of fun with her, but at the time I thought, you know, I don't really know if I want to come back here without my husband because it just wasn't quite the same. And so we kind of put off Disney trips, and then I had my daughter in 2018, and then I kind of had a, I would say like a running revitalization in 2022. I thought, you know, I I really should get back into running races. And so I signed up for the half marathon um at marathon weekend at Disney. Um, and so that was kind of my reintroduction 10 years later. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I sh I should note, we did mention the dopey challenge. You chose goofy first.

SPEAKER_02

So they didn't actually have the dopey challenge, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if they'd had it, I think we would have done it because we were, you know, young and foolish. And we did train, but I don't feel like we trained to the extent that maybe we should have. Yeah, I think they started Dopey like two years after we did Goofy. And when they when they started it, I said, I don't think I'll ever do that because having to get up that early, four mornings in a row, nope, not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, we we can we can get I was gonna ask a question about the four mornings in a row. We'll talk about that in a second. Yeah, yeah. But so it's interesting, you started out doing a sport way back when that the most anybody ever runs is a hundred meters like flat. I mean, gymnastics, you're running down that uh narrow bit to the vault. I mean, I I think a hundred meters. Maybe probably not even. I don't know, probably not even maybe transitioning to pole vaults and short distance running and a mile, two miles, and then oh yeah, Disney princess, sign me up half marathon. Yep. A friend said it, let's do it. And so you did the inaugural one, and then but so you didn't keep going with that because you did have to take that time off. So you don't get any of those like automatic bibs or anything like that anymore, right?

SPEAKER_02

We we we didn't have that much money at that time. Like I think I was 25, so I I couldn't afford to keep going every year after that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, a lot of people join running because it's a quote unquote cheap sport, and then we like to go running at Disney. Not a cheap sport. Not a cheap sport. Not a cheap sport anymore. No, no, it's not. Okay, so now you've gotten back into the half marathon, and please forgive me. What year was that? It was 2022.

SPEAKER_02

Um, so right after COVID. I think it was the I think it was the first marathon weekend back after COVID, actually. I think they did virtual in 2021 and then they were back in 2022. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And actually, I'm gonna back up even a second. I've never heard of this marathon relay that they did. Why do you think that they didn't do it again?

SPEAKER_02

I I think the logistics were really tough because essentially they like we started at the start line. Um, and the first group ran basically to the TTC, and then they bussed us the second group. We got bussed from Epcot to the TTC and just sat in the Magic Kingdom parking lot waiting for our runner to come. And then when they came, we handed off. I don't even remember what we handed off. It wasn't a baton because you wouldn't run that far, but somehow we hand it off and then took off on our bit. So interesting. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You're the first person to have ever mentioned that to me. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, when I mention it to people, they're like, What? I'm like, yeah, it was just one year. But if you go Google it, you'll you'll see it out there.

SPEAKER_00

Well, now I'm gonna have to go down that rabbit hole of Googling it for sure. Give give me another Disney rabbit hole to go down. I know, right? Please twist my arm. So 2022, back in on the princess, right? That one. And then then what other races have you done recently?

SPEAKER_02

So I really didn't do anything after that half marathon. Um, not even anything local. Oh no, I'm sorry. I did do a the Baltimore 10K here. Um, but at that point I already knew that I wanted to do dopey. And sort of how that came about is my friend that I had run many, many years ago with, uh, we sing together in a chorus. Uh, there are a couple other uh ladies in the chorus that also do run Disney, and they all told me, I think, gosh, probably in like the summer of 2024 that they wanted to do dopey in 2026. And I said, oh, I don't think I want to do that. And then I said, you know what? If I'm ever gonna do it, this is the time because I'm just getting older. Um, not getting any younger at this point. And so if you guys are doing it, that makes it more fun. So I'm gonna do it too. And because I'm a planner, as you know, I looked at my calendar. I tried to figure out what are all the things I can do to kind of get ready for this. And having never done one of the challenge weekends, um, I decided to sign up for the springtime surprise challenge um in 2025. Uh, because I thought, all right, let's let's practice getting up three mornings in a row and see how that goes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so that was kind of how I got back into training. Um, and at that time, interestingly enough, I had also started to uh do some strength training, which I hadn't done since college, like on the track team, because it just wasn't really anything that I was interested in. But I really wanted to kind of get stronger as a woman in middle age and be able to kind of have that strength base. Um and so that was a little bit different for me as well, um, as I was leading up to Springtime Surprise. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00

Now, you say because you'd never done the challenges before, but you'd done goofy. At that time, it was the half marathon, full marathon.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was a good idea. Yeah, but I had never done like the I'd never done more than two mornings in a row. And so I felt like doing like one of the three mornings, which I guess technically springtime is the only one that's three, because the other two were just two mornings in a row, but you can add the 5k if you really want. Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And so that's a great point because you had mentioned it already, four mornings in a row. That idea scared you. And so three mornings in a row. Tell me how that was with Springtime Surprise last year.

SPEAKER_02

So it was not it really wasn't that bad, I think, because I thought it was gonna be awful. Um, for me, because I am very type A. Like I basically treated each morning as sort of a test run for dopey. So I I even I look back at my notes and like I have notes on like how the timing of each morning, like what time I got up, you know, when I left the room, like how long I had to wait for a bus and what time I got to the corral and what I did in the corral while I was a waiting and what I ate and all of that. Um, just so that I could feel like I was prepared and knew what I was looking to do. So it really the three mornings wasn't too bad, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_00

That's a very interesting point. And I love you and your tape type A personality and your perfectionist actions. You know, I am a recovering perfectionist because it did not work well for me. However, I am very interested, especially since you took notes. Would you share that springtime surprise weekend? Like, you don't have to do line by line, but from what you remember, like what times did you wake up? What time did you leave your room and get on the bus? And what did you do in the corral? The things you just mentioned, because those questions come up all of the time. And I'd love to hear real life example of what you did and whether it worked or not for you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. No, so I found that it takes me about 30 minutes from the time my alarm goes off till when I can walk out of the room. Um, and I know some people it's slower, some people it's faster. It just depends on you. But for me, it was 30 minutes. So my alarm would go off. Um, I think, I think I had it set for 2:30 for the springtime races. Um, so alarm would go off at 2:30. For me personally, I have to have a cup of coffee before I run. I know some people that's a no. For me, I need it. So I would hit the coffee maker. I would prepare it the night before. So all I had to do was hit the button. Um, I would get my clothes on, which I had laid out the night before. Um, I would make a piece of toast and put some peanut butter on it. Um, get my hair up, make sure I had all the things. I had a checklist of the things I needed to take with me. So I would go down that, make sure I had everything. I with my coffee and the little cardboard to go cup that they have in the room. So if my alarm went off at 2:30, I got down to the bus usually about 3, 3.05. And I don't think I ever waited more than a minute or two, uh, maybe five minutes on the last morning for the 10 miler for springtime. But that was kind of my routine um at the hotel. Then get on the bus. Thankfully, I was never on a bus that got lost. I did hear of a few. Um there are some nightmare stories. Yes, you have to prepare for that. Um, but I would get to the start line area, kind of do the long walk from um where the buses drop you off, get to the corral area. Um, and I would typically make a potty stop um and then go straight to the corral because I wanted to be close to the front, because that's kind of my routine. I feel like that's something that I can control. And so if I can, I'm gonna get there. And then I would just sit down with my piece of peanut butter toast and my water and my phone and just kind of relax for two hours until it was time for my corral to go. And for springtime, I was in Corral E, I think, which it for that race was the next to last corral. So we were usually going off about 50 minutes um before the last corrals did.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Yeah. So you're sitting around for a long time.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, and I am I'm the person who sits on the ground while everybody else stands up and starts pushing forward. And I would stay on the ground because I'm not gonna stand for an hour.

SPEAKER_00

I was just gonna ask you that because it happens because I do the same thing. I go find a spot to sit, and then guaranteed at some point, and I and I think I figured it out why, and I'll say that in a second, but at some point, everybody moves forward, and you're just like, What? We don't have to do this.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's like just as they start to see people walking by, they're like all pushing forward. And I'm like, no, no, no, you you need to look at the time.

SPEAKER_00

So I did notice at um at Disneyland. Now, of course, it's still Run Disney, but it is Disneyland versus World. So there are some differences. But at Disneyland, because I did all three races in September at the Halloween half marathon weekend. So I saw, you know, different bits for different races. And so they're they were having cast members move people up because they didn't have room in the back. And so what I think the cast members were trying to do was just tighten it up and not have everybody just magically push forward, but to fill in the gaps kind of situation. But I think that ends up getting translated as all right, we got a girl. You know, we're a herd of cows, we're moving, right? Yeah. And but it's so frustrating. And I have heard other runners say, like, I don't, uh, I don't want to stand around for a whole extra hour because it tires out my legs. And it does. It does down. Bring a towel from home. I'm not gonna say bring it from the hotel. I will not say that, but bring something from home, sit, sit on it on the ground. Or I've even seen people bring um like those gardening knee pad things that you put on the ground. Bring that, sit on it. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's my strong recommendation. Don't stand up until you absolutely have to.

SPEAKER_00

No, no. And I love going back to your morning routine. I love that you're like, oh yeah, I got 30 minutes. I'm like, give me an hour because it's gonna take me like 15 to 30 minutes after the first time my alarm goes off before I even mosey out of bed.

SPEAKER_02

You know what's so funny is I found like the first two mornings, both of springtime and dopey, like I was awake before my alarm went off. I think my brain was just like, don't you have to wake up. Don't forget you have to wake up. And so like the alarm went off, and I'm like, all right, well, now I'm getting out of bed. Um, the third morning of springtime, it was a little bit harder. Like my husband had to nudge me and say, Your alarm's going off. I was like, oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And what time would you go to bed?

SPEAKER_02

I kind of progressively made it earlier. Like the first, the first night I went to bed at nine. Um, because it was too hard. Like if I'd tried to go to bed at six or seven, um, I don't think I would have been able to sleep, and that would be much worse. So it was like the first night was nine, the second night was eight, and then by the last night before the 10 miler, I was in bed at seven. And I was tired enough that like it was easier.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, progressively tapering it kind of situation. So you aren't somebody who at home the week before starts changing their sleeping pattern.

SPEAKER_02

No, I I had planned to do that for Dopey. Um, and just with the timing, like right after the holidays, it didn't work. So I just I I tried to make sure I was in bed by 10 um so that it wasn't like going from midnight to seven, but it didn't work otherwise. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And and that's okay. A lot of people don't change it, but I have heard other runners change it. And I thought, well, maybe a type A personality is gonna do that. And thoughts were there, but that's okay. Shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars. Have the plan. Yes. Life got lifey. Man, we can do that. When I go to Disney World, because I'm a three-hour time difference, so I'm in bed at 6 30 on a race weekend. That's that's 3 30 Pacific. How do you do it? Well, some the first night, I usually lay there for an hour or two, but I will say I'm one of those people. I'm not bragging, everybody. I am one of those people. I can sleep anywhere at any time. It can be full blast sun and I can be out. Like I have a routine and I like start calming down. I do drink chamomile and lavender tea every night before bed. That's part of my window routine. And then if I start like deep breathing, laying there in the dark, I will, I will fall asleep. Um, but I I am a unicorn in that way that I could go to sleep for the night at like 3:30 p.m. Pacific. Not me. I used to be that way, but not anymore. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. Different strokes for different folks. Okay. So springtime surprise. How did you feel about how your training went leading up to that and how you did, so to speak? I mean, I I I try and not say things like, Oh, how how was the race? I usually say things like, Did you have fun? Because that's the important part to me. But how did the race weekend go for you?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So it um it went really well. Um, I feel like I I had actually I found your training plan for springtime before um I I think like in January when I was, or maybe even before that, I had been looking for a springtime surprise plan. And the only thing I could find on the Run Disney site was like the regular challenge plan, which had you go up to uh, I think 12 miles. And I was like, why, why would I go up to 12 miles if I'm only running 10? Like that doesn't seem very efficient. And so I did some Googling and your site came up and I was like, oh, this sounds like a much more doable plan. Um, and so I had um I had gone up to like seven, I think 7.25 um is what your plan had me do for uh for the 10 miler um and for the challenge. And, you know, I felt really, really well prepared. Um, I had kind of just gone and I would just run the miles. Um, I did some of the speed work that you had suggested in your plan, but not very much of it. I was like, no, why I just need to run, right? Um and I, you know, I I would say like I did, I did okay, but I was um for the 10 miler, I I did have like slight balloon lady anxiety, even though I was a corral ahead of them. Um, just because it was the first time I had ever run um where I wasn't like running as fast as I could. Like I consciously, because it was so warm, I said, okay, I'm gonna just kind of dial it back and uh just sort of go as easy as I can.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because Springtime Surprise Florida, April. That is a hot weekend. It is. It's gonna be very hot in a couple of weeks. Are you joining us at Springtime Surprise? I'm not not this year. Not this year. I didn't think so. I thought I thought I remembered. You have a bunch of other races locally for you. I do have a couple that people be training for. Okay. And so you've practiced the three mornings in a row and you're like, okay, well, I could do dopey. Now by this time, you've already signed up for dope. I had. Yep. And so when did that official decision of, oh yeah, I'm do I will do Dopey 2026, when did that happen?

SPEAKER_02

I think it was it was when I signed up for springtime surprise, which was like July of 2024.

SPEAKER_00

Um Okay, so like 18 months before the race weekend, that's probably like seven months before.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. So registration morning that year was like, uh, because I uh I like I had I felt like I had planned everything for it to happen. And so if I didn't get in, it was gonna be tough. I I mean, I figured I could try to sign up with the charity, but I was so grateful when I got in um for when we did that last March.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And and so you by this time, had you been looking at, you know, you already mentioned my springtime surprise free plan on the website. Yay, Google for sending you there. Love it. I know. Thank you so much. Did you look at the Dopey training plan on the website before signing up as well? Or had you started thinking about that after? Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. When after I found your springtime plan, I also saw the Dopey plan and comparing it to other plans I had seen out there, I said, Oh, this is much more civilized. Like I I think, I think I could do this. I only go to 20 miles. Um, I'm not jumping from like four miles one weekend to 18 miles the next weekend. Um, you know, there are cutback weeks, but it I said, this this seems much more like something I could do. And so I looked at your plan and I had a conversation with my husband about what it was gonna take uh officially before I signed up. Like we had we talked about, you know, that I wanted to do it before then, but we had like the real come to Jesus conversation of this means that in November and December, I am going to be going off on Saturday mornings for five or six hours by myself. And whatever that looks like, um, you know, we'll we'll have to make it work. And he said, Great, I'm behind you, we'll we'll make sure that happens. I'll be on child duty and you know, you you do what you need to do to make sure that you get your training in. And so that was supremely helpful. Um, and then I did take your training plan and I put it on my calendar. Um, because at that point I knew that I was gonna have a lot of work travel for the whole fall. Um, and so I wanted to see like where might I need to adjust things? Um, am I going to be traveling personally for the holidays? Will I need to find other places to run? And so um, so I had all that on the calendar, which also was great because then when I was doing other things, you know, life-wise or work-wise, and I would look, I would say, ooh, that's the weekend I'm supposed to be doing 18 miles. I might not want to make sure that, you know, I have a dinner party the night before because probably not gonna work out well for me. Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There's nothing like staying out late for a dinner party and having to go and run for six hours the next day. Exactly. Yeah. That's awesome that your husband and your daughter were on board and you had that hard conversation early on. Like this is what it's going to look like. That is very type A of you, and I love every second of it. I love a planner. That's so awesome because that that can be one of the worst parts of training. Of course, like being out there for six hours is not great, especially alone. But having family still at home and having in the back of the your mind of, are they okay with me being out here for this? And you already knew that answer because you had had that conversation.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, exactly. And I think like my daughter didn't totally understand what it meant. I mean, she was six at the time when we had the conversation. Um, but my husband was really great because she the past two years has been like a I want mom all the time mode. And uh he would, you know, when she would say, Where's mom? I miss her, I wish she was here. And he would say, you know, she set this goal that she wants to finish the dopey challenge, and so she has to go off and run today. And we're gonna support her in that. And you miss her, but this is something that she really wants to do and is working hard for. And so she's gonna be gone. Um, and I think that helped her a lot too, because one of the things that I really wanted from this journey was to show her what it's like to set a really hard goal and to go after it and you know, put in the work that it takes to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and she gets to see her mom do hard things. Mm-hmm. Yep. And she did because I even accidentally was hand hanging around her and your husband at Marathon Weekend on Main Street for the half marathon. I didn't even know that's who they were. I know, and it's so funny. Yeah, we were all there, right as a group, cheering you on. And it was so fun to eavesdrop a little bit and hear how excited she was to not miss you coming by.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I'm sure. She was like, has she come by? Dad, dad, is she here? Yeah, I'm sure I can just imagine.

SPEAKER_00

So well, I also think part of it was I think she may have wanted to stand in front of me, which she of course could have. Cause because I think I was in the way a little bit. And so just like hearing, like, am I going to like kind of panicking? Like, am I am I gonna miss her? I can't see around this lady. And we didn't know each other, right? And so I would like shift a little bit, I'd move up a little bit, and you know, your husband would say things like, I I I will see her and I'll I'll point her out and we're not gonna miss mommy. We're not gonna miss mom, right? And so it was great to be able to see the support system right there, right on Main Street. Yeah, which was so cool. So you also documented your training all year. I did. Was that did that just kind of happen or was it planned out for like an accountability, like between you and your friends who were all running together?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I kind of it just sort of when we started training, I think I was so excited to finally start training after I had been planning my training for a year, basically. Um, so in July, when we started training, I said, I and and I'd had a lot of people ask me about it. I said, you know what, I'm just gonna start posting all of this on social media because I'm I'm not somebody that has a huge social media following. It's all my friends and my family. And so I felt like it would be a way to kind of bring people into what I was doing because it was something that was really important to me. Um and what was amazing is like how many people got so invested in making sure that like I finished this race. Um, and so that I mean, I really appreciated that. I didn't expect that kind of response at all. It was really kind of, I guess a little bit accountability, um, just so that I knew I was doing it. But it also was just to sort of have people come along for the journey.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, instead of having to, you know, make a phone call to everybody every week. And before you know it, you're making 50 phone calls and you're like, well, social media exists. Let's just, let's just post it on here. That's very cool. So, how was training for you? You know what?

SPEAKER_02

Training actually was great. Like I um, I think because it was so like what you provided was easy to follow and methodical, um, which is important to me. Um, you know, and also knowing that I had the freedom to occasionally like fall off the wagon for a day or two if I needed to wasn't gonna ruin anything. It wasn't gonna, you know, mean that I wasn't going to finish. Um, and I mean there were some challenges here and there, especially with the work travel I had. Like I think I I did like some final dopey statistics, and I think it was like I had I ran in two different countries, maybe six different states and 10 different cities or something like that, um between work travel and personal travel from July through December. Um, and so I just kind of had to get creative sometimes and did a lot of hotel treadmill time, um, especially for speed work and some walks sometimes. Um, but I would say overall, like training, it wasn't easy, but training was not as hard as I had expected. Um, and I think there are a couple of reasons for that. I think one is that um I really appreciated that you tell us to run the long run really slow. Um, because prior to that, I always ran in the gray zone. I would just go out and run, whatever my race pace was. Like my race space was the same as my long run pace. Um and I think that would really burn me out on the long runs. But this time I tried to treat long runs as an adventure because I knew that not only could I walk if I wanted to, um, but that I could run as slow as I wanted to, and however I felt that day. And so I went to all kinds of different places, um, even just around where I live, like different trails. One day, uh I live in Maryland. I ran to Pennsylvania on a trail, um, just kind of all kinds of things. And so treating it like an adventure that way really sort of made the long runs fun. So instead of something that I was dreading, I was able to look forward to them. And because I was going so slow, I could look around me and see the animals and the trees and one day the snow coming down. Um so I think that that really made it a much more enjoyable training experience for me than previous times that I had done, especially the long runs, um, just being able to enjoy them instead of them be something that I was dreading.

SPEAKER_00

It's wild how much different you can you can make your day, you can make your training run be by just adjusting the pace. And do you know where or why you got the idea of running previous long runs at that race pace?

SPEAKER_02

I think I just went out and ran. Like it was just, you know, I'm gonna, I I need I'm running intervals, you know, because I would run 3030s and I'm just gonna go out and I'm gonna run for 30 seconds and walk for 30 seconds, and whatever pace it is, is the pace it's gonna be. And like I would be exhausted. And I I did actually go back um and look at my long runs for the 2022 half marathon. And they were probably about two minutes per mile faster than I did everything for Dopey this time. And my heart rate was like really high the whole time for like, you know, three hours for a 12-mile run. And uh, you know, now, now I'm like, oh man, no wonder I like would come home and crash and not be able to do anything until the next day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And now now it's it's making sense. But you were working with the information you knew at the time. Mm-hmm. Exactly. When you when you knew better, you did it different and you felt different.

unknown

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. I think the day that I had my 19 mile run, I actually ended up having to take a Friday off because I had a lot of stuff going on that Saturday. Um, and so I ran the 19 miles and then ended up having a last-minute concert I had to go sing in with the chorus I sing with. So I was like literally finished my run, like came home, got in my Epsom salt bath, hopped in the shower, and drove another 45 minutes to where the concert was, and then like stood on a stage singing a concert that night. Um, which in previous long run life, there's no way that would have happened. Like I would have been like asleep on the stage or not able to stand up or you know, groaning as I stood up. So I could definitely tell a difference at that time. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00

That's amazing. So training went well. Tell me about race weekend. Oh, race weekend.

SPEAKER_02

Well, let's actually talk about race week because for me, great things, the the Monday of race week is when lots of things kind of shifted. Um and this is when you texted me? Yes, yes, it is. I remember the text well. I'm sure it was the most panic test text I've said in a long time. So um, you know, for me, training was because training went so well, and like even the 20 miler, like easy peasy, you know, as easy as 20 miles can be, but um, and you know, you always hear the hay's in the barn, you've done the training, the race is your victory lap. Like it's gonna be easy. You just go do it. And so I had that in my head. Um, and I mentioned earlier that for springtime surprise, I was in the next to last corral. Um, and so like I paid attention to where the boon ladies were, but I wasn't really that concerned. Um, and then and I kind of just assumed that I would be in the next to last corral again, because that's where I typically always am for Run Disney races. And so when on Monday, when the bib numbers come out and that email and everybody starts speculating, I was looking at what people were speculating, and my bib number was corresponding to Corral G, which for those of you who do not know is the last corral, basically a few minutes before the balloon ladies. And I panicked because I had not planned on that at all. Um, my plan was to have at least a 20-minute buffer on the balloon ladies for, as I thought of it, emergencies. Um, I mean, I knew I could keep the pace I needed to keep, but it's like, what if your stomach's upset? What if you fall and scrape your knee and you need a band-aid or anything like that? And so thinking that that sort of emergency buffer was going away just had me in panic mode. And so I texted you, I can't even remember what I texted, but it was something like, oh my gosh, Allie, what am I gonna do? I'm in corral G, I think, and I don't know what to do. How am I gonna pace this? How am I gonna run this? My whole plan is out the window. That was part of it too, is I had planned on walking everything until the marathon. Um, but if you're in corral G, it's really hard to walk the 10K and the half, um, unless you are like a really fast walker. Um, or it's it's hard to walk it and then be able to have a buffer if you get an upset stomach um a little later. So I knew I needed a new plan. And that was when I texted you in a complete panic. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Spiraling out of control.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

The anxiety was woo just just going.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And so what since you brought it up, what did we talk about?

SPEAKER_02

Do you remember? We talked about trusting the process, trusting my training. Um, you told me that I had put the work in and that this, you know, this was completely in my reach, and that you had no doubt that I would be able to finish. And you gave me some good pacing strategies kind of over the course of the next couple of days for each race, um, just to make sure that I could go as fast as I needed to and still get a few like walk longer walk breaks in, um, but still be able to finish with a nice little buffer on the balloon ladies.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I happen to be one of those people that says all of those phrases that you mentioned before. The hay is in the barn, you've done all the work, it's the victory lap, you've put in months and months of training. Because at that point, you had technically been training since January. Because you trained for springtime surprise, and you didn't stop training. It wasn't official dopey training yet, but you hadn't stopped training. So you technically have been training for 12 months. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And I knew all that, but I I think it for me, it was just the it was the shift of being 99% sure that I was going to finish because of all the training that I had put in to maybe being like 80% sure. Um, and being a hope to soon be covering re perfectionist myself, that I was going from 99% to 80%. Like that was that just kind of threw me for a loop. Um, but you know, that's that's part of it. Um and I kind of what I told myself too is because that at that point I said, oh my gosh, like all these people are following me. Like so many people are invested in me finishing. And now like there's a slightly larger chance that I might not finish. And, you know, what, how am I gonna feel like I'm gonna feel like I let all these people down, even though it's not really letting them down, but you know, they were excited. And what am I gonna show my daughter? And so I kind of tried to reframe things and think, well, you know what? If I don't finish, if I fail, that's an even bigger lesson for her. That it's, you know, it things are still worth doing even if you don't succeed at them. Um, you know, you can there's still huge benefit to doing Dopey even if if I had not finished. And so when I was able to reframe it that way, that kind of helped me go into the rest of the weekend with a better mindset and still have fun, which was the whole goal, right?

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Because I think by Wednesday, you know, I had texted you and I was like, so how are we feeling? What do we need to adjust? Because the 5K, for anybody who's not sure, Dopey Challenge is the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon. And it starts Thursday. So Thursday is the 5K, Friday is the 10K, Saturday the half marathon, and Sunday is the full marathon. So I texted you Wednesday night and was like, okay, how are the nerves? Where do we need to adjust? And by that point, you were like, I've come to terms with it. If I don't finish, it's okay. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so that yeah. Yeah, I was able to do that. And I think too, like it helped. Um, a huge part of that was that I was with my friends as well. We all uh got down there on Tuesday and went to dinner and then did the expo on Wednesday. And so that was so much of what I was looking forward to that just being around other people, um, three of whom were also in choralgy. So we kind of were commiserating together. Um, that helped too because I it I didn't feel like I was in this alone at all. Um, and one of my friends did run all of the races with me. Um, and so that helped a ton as well because she was a great support. Um, and we kind of helped each other out too, because we both of us had sort of some low points along the way.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So you were all in it together. And if you're going down, you're going down together. Exactly. So that brings us probably to the 5k, or let me back up a second. Was there anything different this week, since this is now your longest challenge, new training structure. Was there anything different about race week this time around versus springtime surprise challenge or or goofy or or any of the other race weekends?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, I think um I had a much longer taper than I'd never had. So I felt I felt incredibly rested, like, and I had no niggling pains, um, which I was really surprised at. Um, because I'd had like throughout training, things would pop up. And when you're running that Many miles, like you're not gonna go completely pain-free. Like I had a, you know, wonky ankle at one point from stepping into a hole and um, you know, different things with like toes and blisters and all of that. But I loved having such a long taper because all of those things had healed up. And so, um, and I had cut back on strength training, um, to just like lightweights and the week of the race, like just a couple of walks here and there. So everything felt really fresh and really ready to go. Um, to the point that I was concerned that I was going to try to go too fast in all of the three races leading up to the marathon.

SPEAKER_00

It's a problem. It's it's a great problem to have to be like, oh my gosh, I gotta, I gotta tone it down because I still have the marathon. Yep. And, you know, you didn't mention this, but I had looked back at our Instagram DMs. You had also had a hamstring strain. I did. Yeah, in the spring.

SPEAKER_02

And I yeah, and I had gone to PT for that. Um, because it I think it popped up, popped up before I started training for springtime and then kind of just can like got a little bit worse as it went on. Um, and so I'd had to kind of baby that along. Um, but uh it didn't give me any trouble during dope training, which was awesome because I was worried about it.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. Yeah. So by the time race week rolls around, hamstrings good, rolled ankles good, all of these other little nagging things that creep up when you're training. I mean, you're running a lot of miles. You don't have to be in miserable pain, but we we do expect some amount of discomfort and the occasional injury, you know, it's not would would I love it if it never happened? Sure. But it it's not uncommon. So by the time you hit race week, you're like, oh, this is great. I got a ton of back. Yep. That's great. So tell me more about with this race week and the race, the races themselves.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. So the 5K, um we our plan was to walk it. And actually the four of us, um, they're of the four of my group that went together, there were two of us that are were pretty similar paces that knew we would be running everything together. And then the other two, um, one is significantly faster than we are, and the other is a little bit slower. But we said that we would all walk the 5K together since not really timed and you're just there to have fun. Um, and so that was great. Like I had the best time at the 5K, just walking and talking with friends and getting our pictures and having our uh beer at the finish line and the cup, special souvenir cup. Um and I think at that point, because I had also kind of reset my mind that the goal was to have fun, no matter what happened. Like um, it really helped me just enjoy the 5K and walk it at a comfortable place and get some photos. And I have no idea what time we finished it in, but they weren't trying to kick us off the course. So it was what it was.

SPEAKER_00

Perfect timing. Great. So 5K is great. Did you go to the park after the 5K or do any resorts or anything?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we went to um I think we I think we went to Animal Kingdom. Um, but we spent about five hours in the park that day. Um and then and then went went to the meetup. Um, a couple of us came to the meetup to see you. Um oh, that was on Friday. So maybe we didn't, I don't know. We went somewhere on Thursday after the 5k. Um, and but tried to spend like five or six hours in the park um just to be on our feet and have some fun, but not really kill ourselves for the rest of the weekend.

SPEAKER_00

Great, great. So back in to the resort early enough to, you know, get some rest. And then 10K. 10k.

SPEAKER_02

So the 10K was interesting um because we um we got to the front of the corral, you know, sat down, ate our breakfast, you know, chit-chatted. Um, and one thing that I did is on my phone, because I was posting everything on social media, um, I would just post everything from the day before on the morning sitting in the race. Um, because I figured nobody was up yet who was going to be looking at it. So it was it kind of was good to pass the time that way. Is I would edit some photos and post them and um do that. And I remember the morning of the 10K, we um when we came out of the corral, you were on the other side. Um, and so we saw you and waved. Um and ran into the people in front of you. Yes, ran into the people in front of us because you know why I for some reason our corral every morning had this guy who'd maybe never done it before. And so he would like walk really fast and then just stop with his little uh, you know, corral G sign. And so then when he stopped, of course, it's like this everyone just backs up and you know stops and runs into the people in front of them.

SPEAKER_00

So that became an interesting cartoon situation when it happened. It was just like an abrupt stop and then everybody squishes to the front. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. So then when we crossed the start line, our plan was to walk the first mile. And I highly recommend that if you can, uh especially when you've been like cramped up in a corral for two hours. And when we got to mile one, now mind you, because I'm type A, I had done balloon lady math to know about when, and I wasn't concerned about them for the 10K so much, um, just because it's only six miles, only six miles. Um, and they announced that the balloon ladies are four minutes behind us. And we were at the very front of Coral G. And I based on what they had predicted the balloon ladies would start. I think it was supposed to be like 10 minutes behind us. And I knew we had lost a minute or two because we were walking. But when I heard that, I I turned to my friend, I said, we gotta go. We have to pick it up. Um, and so we just made sure that we we still ran our race, like we didn't, you know, go any faster than we had intended. But I think what was stressful about it for me is I thought, okay, well, I hope neither of us has to go to the bathroom because we're we don't have that happy little bathroom buffer. Um, and so we just kind of ran our pace, um, which was fine. And um, you know, by by the last two miles, we knew we were okay. Um, and so we kind of led up a little bit and just enjoyed, you know, where we were going. But we definitely didn't stop for any characters because I think we we would have gotten swept starting where we did um if we'd stopped for characters on the 10K. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So a little bit more of a panic after the leisurely 5K. Yeah. And then what did you do after the 10K? So we did have the meetup after the in the afternoon at two, like two in the afternoon. What did you do in between?

SPEAKER_02

Um, so we I think that was the day we went to Animal Kingdom um for a couple of hours and then came over to the meetup. Um and then went back to the resort. And I I did, of course, have an evening routine. Like I would get in the bath, I would um, you know, lay everything out. I would look at my checklist to make sure that I knew what I was doing. And um, and for me that was soothing because then I felt like I had controlled what I could control for the morning and and laid all of that out. Um, but yeah, I would say Friday was probably the most low-key um evening because we just I think we even like got food from the resort and brought it to the room.

SPEAKER_00

Perfect in preparation for the half marathon.

SPEAKER_02

The half marathon, yes. So the half marathon, I had originally thought that I would walk the whole thing um to save my legs for the marathon. But with being in the last corral, I knew that I couldn't do that. And so um we just decided we would run our easy pace um for the first 10 miles to make sure that we were comfortably ahead of um the balloon ladies. Um, and so we did that. And I think what was so surprising to me about that was running our easy pace was really, really easy. Um it felt super comfortable. I didn't feel like I was stressing any part of my body out, like it was just like any other long run almost. And then when we got to mile 10, we decided that we were just gonna walk the rest of the way. Cause at that point, I think we'd built up maybe a 16 or 17 minute buffer. Um, and so knew that, you know, unless for some reason something really went wrong, um, we would be able to finish in time. And so, and it was starting to get hot then. So I was really happy that we were gonna be walking um from that point on.

SPEAKER_00

That's perfect. Yeah. So easy pace for the majority of the time, make it feel easy. Your legs weren't feeling too exhausted, and then you had a buffer to be able to walk the rest, do not overheat, do not exhaust yourself, because this was only day three of four. You hadn't even hit half of the miles that you were going to run all weekend yet. Exactly. You don't hit that until like two miles into the marathon.

SPEAKER_02

No, you do not. Um, yeah. So after we finished the half, we had um we didn't have any park time planned for that day, but we did have a brunch scheduled um at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Um, so we went over there. And this is a a tip of something that I never really thought about, but that I would recommend or caution people about is um, because it happened to me at after the 10 mile art springtime surprise as well. Um, I had a cocktail at lunch, thinking, okay, like, you know, we're I'm not going to bed anytime soon. It's gonna completely be out of my system. I want, it was like a champagne cocktail. I thought I want to celebrate that we finished the half marathon. I felt awful for like the whole afternoon. I was so glad that we were not going into a party. I just had one cocktail, which is not, I mean, abnormal for me. Like I will, you know, have a cocktail or two, you know, uh regularly on a weekend. But I think for some reason, because my body was just so tired, it was not processing that as well. And so I went back to the room and just relaxed in the bed. Um, and finally, by the time it was bedtime, I felt better because I guess it had worked its way out of my system. Um just a tip, maybe try that in your training after a long run to see how your body does with that. Um, because at the time I thought, oh my gosh, have I like, have I ruined the whole weekend by having one cocktail because I'm now gonna feel sick and not do well, but it was okay. But just sort of an aside for people to to keep that in mind as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's a great tip because it's not something you think of, right? You know, we say nothing new on race day or race week, but you regularly have cocktails. Like that's not new to your system. Like for somebody like me, where I have a glass of wine once every six months, like that, like that would be a big deal. That is that is new on race day. Yes. But for somebody who it's part of their, you know, their regular activity, you never would have even thought that that would give you trouble.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And it and it just made me feel bad. Like I wasn't, you know, I didn't have stomach upset or anything like that. I just felt like, ugh, like I just don't want to do anything or go anywhere. And so, yeah, just test that out in a, you know, a non-race weekend if it's something that you plan on doing, or just wait until you're done with everything to have the cocktail.

SPEAKER_00

Wait until after the marathon is done or after your last race, and you know, cross the finish line if you can with the at the marathon with your pineapple cider or your whatever from wherever you like to get it. I know people used to love to get the margarita from Mexico, but you don't yes, Mexico on the way back. You do not. Not anymore. No, no. Okay, so half marathon evening. Now you're feeling better, getting ready for bed. How are the nerves? I was very nervous at that point. Yeah, I was gonna say, but besides the the cocktail thought, but yeah, so very nervous at this point.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, you know, because I'm thinking like I've it I've done everything up to this point. Um, you know, it is I have a whole marathon to run tomorrow. And I just don't know like if I'm gonna be able to do this, if I'm gonna be able to, you know, what if something goes wrong, like what if I step on something funny, or you know, just any of the things that could happen. Um, because at that point, like you start to think about all the work that you put in, um, and that one little thing could change it is is tough. Like it's it's really hard to kind of have those thoughts. But thankfully I was so tired that I went to sleep anyway. And so we got up um 1.30 on marathon morning, 1.30 a.m. to try and be on the first bus. Um, because again, wanted to be at the front of our corral. Um, and I like I did have a bit of a nervous stomach that morning. Like I could just kind of feel the butterflies. Um, but I think having had the previous three mornings and doing the same routine, you know, my 30 minutes before get up, eat, get dressed, all of that made a big difference because I knew exactly what I was doing and it felt familiar, even though I was really tired. But it's still it, I knew what I was doing. Um and we got to the corral, um, you know, sat down. This I feel like this morning we ended up having to stand up and like we we were so squished in, like there wasn't any place to to sit down at all. So I did end up like standing for an hour, which was annoying. But at that point, I feel like at that point most dopey runners are just ready to get going and be done. And so that was the that was kind of the hardest wait, is I'm like, oh my gosh, we're we still have another 90 minutes before we're even gonna like walk around, you know, to get over to the start line. Um and I had um I used the rally app for the marathon, um, which was really fun because my husband sent it to a lot of friends and a lot of family members. And so all of the spots were taken up. Um, and if you never use the rally app, essentially what happens is people record voice messages for you to hit at when you get close to each mile marker. Um and so, like mile one, we walked. I was nervous, but it felt good to walk and kind of get moving. Um, I was still feeling a little nervous through Epcot. And um, you had given me our pacing plan, which was to kind of start out at our easy pace, and then when we hit the highways to just go a little bit faster, like more like, you know, closer to a moderate pace. Um, and so I was I was nervous when we were going the easy pace because I didn't feel like we were gaining on the balloon ladies at all. So, like through an Epcot, it's like I knew I was doing what was right for my body, but was still a little, ugh, you know, they're they're only five minutes behind us. Cause I think on Marathon morning it was the same as the 10K, and they were supposed to start like 10 minutes behind, and it was like seven minutes behind or something.

SPEAKER_00

Um and so they had started a little bit earlier than planned, I believe, because the anticipation of the heat, because yeah, the the night before they started talking about the heat warning and talking about what flag, and they did put a yellow flag, which means caution. So they had already been talking about it's gonna be hot. And so I do believe that for the marathon, the balloon ladies started a little bit earlier than they had originally planned, which they talk about. Run Disney talks about that's a possibility. They can do it.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. So um, I mean, that I will say one of the nice things about being so far back is that there were, especially early on in the marathon, there were no lines for characters. So we did get a couple of character stops in, like we would see like one person in line. And so I'm like, well, this is only 20 seconds, let's run over and take this photo. Um so that was nice. And then when we hit the the highways, the sun wasn't up yet. So it was humid, but it was still relatively cool. And so from I I think from about mile four to the Magic Kingdom, like we were just running. Like, I mean, we were doing our intervals, run walking, but it was significantly faster than I had done in any race prior to that. And it felt really good. Like it felt, it felt as easy as our easy pace had the day before. Um, I know, right? I I'm I'm gonna, you know, credit that to all of the speed work that I did because otherwise I don't think it would have felt as good as it did. Um and then when we got to Magic Kingdom, we walked. Um we did have to take a bit of a longer bathroom stop. And I think by the time we got to Magic Kingdom, we were maybe 15 minutes ahead of the balloon ladies. So we had really, we had gone from, I think we'd gained like 10 minutes on them in on the highways, just from running a little faster with our moderate pace. Um and we walked through Magic Kingdom and we came out of Magic Kingdom and the sun was starting to come up. And we went through the TTC and I turned to my running partner and I said, I think we could keep up this moderate pace on the roads to Animal Kingdom. And she's like, Okay, well, if you want to try that, we can do that. Um, and as we went through the TTC, um, my husband and daughter were there, and so I said hello, and there was somebody standing next to them that was handing out um ice packs, like the ones that you crunch together to make them start getting cold. And I was like, Why are they handing an ice pack? I'm like, it's it's not that hot. Like, I'm fine. Like, this is this is all, you know, we're gonna run our moderate pace from here to the animal kingdom. Um, and it's like you come through the TTC, and once we came through the TTC, then we were in the Magic Kingdom parking lot and the sun was beating down on that parking lot. And within about half a mile, like I started to not feel so good. Um, and I was like, oh, like this is not a normal feeling. Um, so I took the ice pack and I shoved into my bra. And we kept sort of like, so I turned to my partner and I said, Yeah, I uh let's let's not do moderate pace just yet. Like, let's let's take it easy. And then I had a point where I was like, I I think I just have to walk a little bit. Um and then we so we finished the parking lot, and then it was sort of the shaded Star Wars mile, and I said, Okay, well, I can run this. Um, and so we kind of did our normal intervals, like easy pace, and that felt great. And then we came out of there. This is probably about mile 15, and the sun was beating down again. And what I was feeling in my body is that when I was running, I would start to get kind of like the cold chills, um, which is not a good sign in the heat. Now when I was sweating, I was sweating still. I was sweating, I wasn't lightheaded or anything like that, but I could feel like my body was trying to cool itself off. And so I I had this sort of moment where I said, okay, like this is not worth my help. Um, this is not at all like, you know, like part of it was my mom. My mom did not want me to do dopey because she was convinced that like I'm too old to do this stuff and that like my I I shouldn't be running this far and I was gonna push myself too hard. So there was a voice in the back of my head that like, I do not want my mom to say, I told you so.

SPEAKER_00

Mom can't be right.

SPEAKER_02

Mom can't be right. Yeah. So I said, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just walk. Um and I said, I've have to walk the rest of this marathon in, and if I get caught by the balloon ladies because I'm not walking fast enough, then it will be what it will be. Um, and so about mile 15, I just started walking. I passed a medical tent, I got another um ice bag, shoved it in my bra, kept walking. And walking, I felt fine. Like I wasn't getting any kind of cold chills. I was, I don't know what the difference for me is with running and walking. I guess I generate more heat when I run. Um, but when I then when I got to mile 16 and had been walking for a mile, I had averaged like a 15-minute mile. And I said, Oh, okay. Well, let's just keep walking at this pace and just see what happens. And it was, and I think like I I had cried a little bit between mile 15 and 16, thinking that like if I don't run, then I'm not, I might not finish this race. And I'm just gonna have to deal with that and that it will be okay. Like, I've already accepted that it's gonna be what it is. And so then I just kept walking, you know, the next mile, I'd averaged like 15, 30. And so I was just walking, and I was walking like balloon lady pacer faster. And I credit a lot of that, I think, to part of what you had us do. Training, which was some paced walking and you know, trying to walk faster at times. And so that that walk and knowing like how to have um form for walking, like I wasn't making big long strides, I was just turning my feet over quickly. Um, and so I just kept going and like I hit mile 20. And I think what was hard too is like not knowing where the balloon ladies are in the marathon. Just for anyone who does track the balloon ladies, um, you will only get an alert of where they actually are when they cross a timing mat. So I think it's at like the 10K, the half marathon. And then for me at that point, it wasn't again until 20 miles. And so I hit mile 20 and knew I would had had gained on them from when I had started walking. Um and also at this point, because it was so hot, like the the ambulances were driving up and down the side, the bikes were going up and down the side. Um, there were people passing out on either side of me. Um, like I saw I think three people like pass out. Um, people were looking really rough as well, like still trying to run along. And I'm just walking, just kept walking. Um, and you know, I I I credit a lot of that too to my training, um, just because I had put all of that time in that I was able to just keep going. Um and I I think I got to Blizzard Beach like two minutes after they had cut the course. Um, so they just kept directing me on. And at that point, honestly, like I was not upset. I said, okay, like, you know, I I this is out of my control. Um, you know, I'll probably get 26.2 miles on my watch and I'm okay with that. Um, you know, and I totally understood why they cut the course because there were so the medics were just so overwhelmed. Like we we had just seen so much. Um, and so kept walking. Um, and at that point, once I passed the exit to Blizzard Beach, all the people that had been in Blizzard Beach, we were all gummed up together. So I couldn't actually walk very fast anymore. It was it was a little bit slower because everybody was walking at that point. Went through Hollywood Studios and I think it was somewhere on the boardwalk, like at mile 24, that I realized I was actually gonna finish um and had like another sort of emotional moment. Um, because it had really been this journey of starting off really strong, getting knocked down by the heat, deciding that it was okay if I didn't finish because I didn't want to put myself in harm's way if I could avoid it. And then like miles 24 to 26.2 were like a big party. Everybody was excited. People were still struggling, but I think at that point, and nobody was able to run because it was so crowded. Like people were like sprinting by on the left side, uh, but if you there was no way to run intervals, so we all just walked. Um and then I finished and was, you know, incredibly grateful. And I still felt good too after finishing. Um so that was it was, you know, just a really incredible feeling to put all of that work in and still be able to finish even out of chiralgy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It and in the heat. Yeah. Because the heat takes a lot out of you. You know, you're you're telling the story, and I didn't realize that you were having chills. Yeah. I know. I know I didn't tell anybody that at the time for sure. And had you told me that, I would have been I would have instructed you to seek medical attention. I know. And and cut, like sweep yourself. But you you did make the good choice to walk. So that was that was a a bonus. And it all worked out in the end. The ice worked, you know, the med tents with the ice, shove it in your bra, get yourself cooler. That is great. But seeing all those people around you just passing out and kind of dropping like flies, that's scary.

SPEAKER_02

It is, yeah. And I think and I I did tell myself, you know, I kept walking, but I said if if I feel any of that again, like I'll self-sweep and you know, head to the med tent and say, hello, I need help. Um, but I but I felt fine when I was walking. So it was like, okay, just keep on going. Yep. That's that's great.

SPEAKER_00

Now, what would you? I have two questions related to this. So what would you tell yourself now that you know what you know, you've done the dopey challenge, what would you tell yourself during your worst training session?

SPEAKER_02

Hmm. Um, I think probably that one training session does not define a whole training block. Um, and if you have if you have a terrible day or you miss a session, like that that doesn't matter. Um, you know, it's the consistency, it's the just going through. Um and I think also just that it it's worth it in the end. Um, you know, you you can have a bad day and it just feels awful and you don't want to keep going or you don't want to do it again, but that's not a reason to stop because it won't always feel that way.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's great advice. And what would you tell somebody who wants to do their first dopey challenge? Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um I think I would say it is absolutely worth it. Um, it requires a lot of work. Um, it requires a lot of heart. Um, but it's so much fun. Like, even, you know, I here I am talking about the marathon and I'm crying and, you know, but but it's fun. That's why we keep going back and doing it. Um, and so I think just know what it requires um and know that in order to have that fun, you do have to put the training in. Um and I think for me, like the biggest lesson is trust your training, trust the process, because they will work out in the end. Um, I mean, I I really think if if I had continued training the way I trained for previous races, I don't think I would have finished dopey. I think when I hit the Magic Kingdom parking lot and started feeling hot, I don't think I would have been able to continue walking at the speed I did or anything like that. So I think if you really put the training in, trust the process, you can absolutely do it. Will you do it again? Uh I don't know. I'm definitely not doing it next year, uh, 2027. Um, you know, when I finished the marathon, I said never again. Um, just because it was so hot and you can't, you can't really train for that. Um, I mean, I was I live in Baltimore and it was most of my longer runs, it was anywhere from 25 to 40 degrees. Um, and so running in humidity where it's, you know, what was it, 90% humidity when we started, I think, and like the temperature was 75 by the time I finished. You can't really train for that very easily. So I said I would never do it again. I think I might, but I don't have specific plans to do it again. And I I would try to figure out a way to train for the heat the next time I think, whether it's like run on the treadmill every now and then with a heater blowing on me, or you know, take a couple of trips in December to warm places and run there. Um might do something like that, but I don't have any plans to. But I I won't say never at this point. I'll say it's possible. It's possible.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So maybe you're joining me for that 2028 marathon slash dopey. Yeah, potentially. Apparently, you all have convinced me to do.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, it's very possible. But I mean, I have a couple halves coming up. I'm signed up for Wine and the challenge, and then hoping to do Princess next year as well.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. Do you have anticipation of what your goals are for those? Now that you know that you can finish, you know, you've clearly done that time and time again. What is the next step for you with these races?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think really just being able to run um faster so that I can get in more character stops. Um, the the part of the marathon where we were running at a significantly faster pace than I thought I could go. Um, and it was felt easy, really kind of gave me the the thought that um I can get faster and be able to do that so that uh, you know, if I stand in a five-minute character line, like I'm not gonna be stressed out that, you know, I'm gonna get swept. So I think that's my goal for wine and dine. And we'll see what the goal is for princess. I don't really have any specific time goals um because I all of my races earlier in my life, I will never PR because those are just significantly faster, um, which is fine. But so my goals are just fun goals, um, not really time goals.

SPEAKER_00

I love a fun goal, like just going, having a good time without a care in the world, right? Like that makes the race day experience wildly different. Not having the balloon lady scaries, whether you can get character stops or not, because sometimes they're super popular characters and you just like it's a 30-minute line, like you just can't control that, right? So I I I love the have fun goal. That's absolutely amazing. Are there any last bits of things that maybe you learned about yourself or learned through this training that maybe surprised you or might be a good lesson that somebody else could take from it as well?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think um, you know, for me, I would say number one, trust yourself. Like don't doubt what you can do. Um and I will also say, like, over the 18 months of really doing focus training, especially strength training, um, I have a much healthier relationship with my body than I have had, like probably in the past 20, 25 years. Um just because I'm not really concerned about what I look like. Um it's just more about what my body can do. Um, and that it can lift heavy things and that it can do hard things and it can go places faster and it is healthier. Um and, you know, I'm just really grateful that I have that because um that wasn't really a goal at all of this, but it has really kind of changed my mindset about what I'm able to do and what, you know, kind of what I think about my body. Um, I'm just not as concerned about what I look like in a bathing suit anymore. Um, and that's a huge win for me and a really big thing.

SPEAKER_00

That's a huge win. I love that. And now seeing it as something that can lift heavy things and go faster. Like that, that's a great uh switch from the mindset that us who are brought up as females can tend to have. Yes. Well, Paige, I want to say thank you so much for sharing your journey. I think so many listeners are going to love hearing from start to finish where you came from to crossing the finish line, all four races at Dopey with a hot dopey. Are there any last things that we didn't talk about that you think would be good to share or you want to share?

SPEAKER_02

No, I don't think so. I think we covered it all. Those are that's really kind of the journey. And it's nice to a couple of months afterwards be able to really reflect back on, you know, everything I learned and just sort of bring it all together in in one uh one sitting. So thank you for that opportunity.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. You have done such an an amazing job to see where you were pre-springtime surprise and now all the way past Dopey. The accomplishments, you know, we talked about crossing the finish line, but those accomplishments of changing your mindset of this is what my body can do, this is what my daughter gets to see it do, that is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for sharing with us today. Yeah. Thank you, Allie.

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Dr. Ali Marty

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