Surferboy567
Well-Known Member
Obviously, it’s a total different beast. As you can imagine doing a virtual race requires some level of dedication on the runners part. You aren't being tracked by Disney and it's done on the honor system (thought their is a mechanism to submit your time). It's squarely up to the runner to perform the distance or challenge they signed up for at registation. Something I am happy to say, that I have always followed though on my virtual races.Just curious what your thought was running an in-person vs. virtual. Personally, I find it much more difficult running a virtual event, especially a full marathon. If you can run a half, you can probably run the Disney full in-person. The atmosphere is exciting and you can;t replicate that anywhere else. For me, the most difficult part of the Dopey isn't the actual running, it's having to wake up at 3:30 AM for 5 days in a row (after taking an early flight to MCO on Wednesday) and then feel like you have to go to the parks with family for at least a few hours in the afternoon/evening.
I have run now in-person at Disney two times (once springtime comes it will become 3). At Disney, I typically go for the challenges as they appeal to me the most. I have run in both the Springtime Surprise Challenge as well as the Two-Course Challenge for Wine & Dine. These are the only two weekends I have experienced in person. Though I have run every weekend Disney has to offer virtually. As such, I am very familiar with the toll a challenge takes on the body. Particularly with the Two Course Challenge (I actually ran all the races including the 5K) for that specific weekend in addition to the challenge.
I am not too worried for the wake up for Dopey as by now I am used to doing it (of course I say that now but in practice it works differently). It's more the worry comes from being able to run the full marathon coming from a half. Something I have never done, but I feel with proper training I should be able to pull it off, despite being a first time full marathoner. I am also not too worried in the loss of Park Time for Dopey, I probably won't be going to the parks on Half and especially full marathon day. The 5K and 10K are fair game, but I will be cautious of how much time I am spending on my feet.