I thought I was excited before...

I am even more excited now!

A bit of history: this last January I ran the Disney World Half Marathon and was amazed with everything about this event.  I had never ran a Disney event before and did not know what to expect.  Everything was perfect and the humidity, well, I was in Florida so that is to be expected.  What I didn't realize was that I would get hooked on Run Disney events!

 After my Donald Duck Half Marathon Jan. 14

While I was there, I noticed people wearing multiple medals at once.  I can understand like wearing two, but on the day we left we saw people wearing 4 and 6 medals!  I was amazed and thought WOW!  I asked a few people about them and they informed me about these challenges.  I really don't know why I never really knew about them in the first place - maybe because I just did not buy in to the Disney hype before and could not be bothered with running an event there.  But since I was given a chance to run this last Jan., I took it.  Well worth it.  Thus began my quest to run more Run Disney events. :)

As soon as I got back home I marked my calendar for when the registration opened up for another Disney Race.  I also did not want just one race, I wanted the multiple medal experience.  I read more about the Disney races and also learned that if I run in Disneyland in the same calendar year as my Disney Half, I would get a Coast to Coast medal.  Cool.  Then I looked at the possible events and found the Disney Dumbo Double Dare would be perfect.  Now to just get in...

I literally sat by my computer, prayed, and to make a long story short...

 I got in!!!! 

In total I will be getting four medals: Alice's 10k, Disneyland Half, the Dumbo Double Dare, and the Coast to Coast. :D  As long as I am careful and diligent about my training, I think things will go not bad - especially when I am running the SeaWheeze Half in Vancouver the weekend prior.  I have already decided that both races will not really be an A race for me because in Disney I just want the experience and to compare my time with Jan in Orlando, and the SeaWheeze is a week before so I don't want to go to hard there either. (mind you the yoga will be beneficial).

So, if that was not enough, I watched the posts about the other Disney races, saw how fast the events sold out in and then thought about really challenging myself to something hard.  I had already went with the Dream Travel group to the Jan. Disney event and wondered if I could gain a spot in the biggest challenge of them all at Disney...

I did!!

Next Jan. I will be participating in my biggest event challenge yet by completing Run Disney's Dopey challenge.  For those that do not know what this event is: you run 48.6 miles over four days, which is a 5k, 10k, half, and full.  In the end you get 6 medals: the Goofy 5k, the Minnie 10k, the Donald half, the Mickey full, the Goofy challenge medal (for doing the half and full), and the Dopey Challenge medal for doing all events.  You also get 6 shirts, one from each race.

The best news out of all of this is that I asked my hubby if he wanted to go to Disney World with me this time and he said if he was going to go, he was going to run a race.  So, my hubby is now signed up for the Mickey Mouse full marathon!! I am both shocked and impressed because he is not really a runner (does not like to run).  The longest event he has done was walking a half with my friend and I.  I told him that there will be lots of training, and he responded casually "no problem." ;)  This should be fun. lol  

For me, this event is going to mean more than just acquiring the six medals, it is going to be about accomplishing more than many have said I would ever do.  It will be an emotional ride.  There is one quote that I heard on TV today that I thought was very suiting to my new challenge:

"If you let everyone define your limitations, you'll be limited forever"

(author unknown)

There you have it, my BIG news and I guess I should now admit,

Hi, my name is Heidi and I am a Run Disney-a-holic. ;)