Dopey Challenge 2017: Race Number Three - The Impromptu Half

Posing with some of the people that cheered us on!

The one concession we made to the cancellation of the half marathon was to sleep in a little. We needed to wait until the worst of the storm passed anyway. So we got up at 5, ate breakfast, watched the radar, and got started on our Grumpy Half around 9:30 AM.

There were SO many runners out! It was amazing, and inspirational. We ran along the bayou, from The Riverside Resort where we were staying, to the French Quarter Resort, and back. There were lots of different paths so we could change it up a bit. I hid a water bottle in the bushes, so we would circle back so I could get a drink occasionally. We saw other runners doing it, so we even wore our bib numbers, only upside down.

Posing with an Alligator Statue

There were people out being our spectators, cheering and clapping. We found some Disneyesque statues in a park in one of the resorts, and took our "character" pictures with them. People wore their costumes, smiling as another rainstorm blew through. And late in the "race" some spectators even had little cups of beer for us!

Beer! Note the Upsidedown Bib

We used a 30/45 run/walk ratio for this race. Our time was 3:10:39, 14:33 mpm, not too bad for an impromptu "race". It's funny though, I did find this run more challenging. It didn't give me the adrenaline rush that I usually get from a race; it felt more like a tempo training run. And my left leg was bothering me too. But we got our 13.1 miles in, and we could proudly take that half marathon medal, knowing that we earned it fair and square.

After the race we took our showers and got some lunch. Paula wanted to go to the Expo, get her medal and refund and try to get some Disney race apparel, but I wanted to stretch and roll and relax again. Eventually I decided to try to go to the Expo too, but by then (3:30 PM) they had stopped running the buses because it was too crowded. Oh well! I sent RunDisney an email requesting my refund and decided to just relax. We had a big race on the agenda for tomorrow anyway!

We did design your own pasta at the food court for dinner. I had fettuccine with pesto, mushrooms, chicken and spinach. We went to bed early. We were ready to complete our Dopey!