Author: Maria Runs

WDW Dopey Challenge 2026- the 10k

Here we go for round 2! As with the 5k, the aim of the 10k was to run gently (not walk too much to be mindful of time on feet) and of course enjoy it. The alarm was again set for 3:20am, and we arrived at the Epcot parking area at about 4am again. After knowing how long it would take from the previous day, we sat in the car a little longer before walking the mile to the start (through the car park, through security and through the race village). I really liked that this was the same each day as it helped with nerves a lot. We had decided to run seperately, so Andy was going to head into his corral so he knew what it would be like for the two longer races. We also used the bag drop for the first time- this was super easy as at the expo they give you your race shirts in a large clear plastic drawstring bag (I still have an old one which I use sometimes as they are strong and thick), so the idea is you use that and then they write your bib number on it, and give you a little sticker with a number on that you can stick on the back of your bib. They used (I think) large shipping containers, so you chose one and then they hung your bag on a numbered hook- it was very organised (of course, it’s Disney, so of course it’s organised). They were right by the finish line so you had to walk past them to get back to the race village, so no going out of your way or doing extra steps when you’re tired. As it had been a little chilly the previous morning, I put the race shirt in there to put on when I finished, plus a snack as I didn’t like any of the food in the food box we were given at the finish line.

Start gantry themed to the 10k, boardwalk and world showcase lit up mid-race and one of the best costumes- people dressed as the monorail running together in a line.

We timed it pretty well and so didn’t have to hang about in the corrals for long. This time I could see the ribbon being used in the corral to keep the various waves apart, and again the race was off like clockwork, with the fireworks going off for each wave within each corral. Again I was in C (it went up to G) so as I ran I could hear the fireworks still going off and people cheering for each wave. The temperature was good for running, nice and cool, but it was weirdly humid so you got weirdly sweaty quite quickly which did make me wonder more about how I’d cope with the two longer runs as I knew I’d finish in the daylight (sunrise was around 7:20am so as these began at 5 I was done before the sun came up for the first two races).

The route started on the same road as the 5k, looping out of the car park and around the back before going into Epcot. Again you got to run around World Showcase (my favourite) and then out to the boardwalk area (this is an area next to Epcot that has various Disney hotels set around a lake (on the left of the above screenshot). As it was so early I was surprised to see a few hotel guests out cheering, but there were signs saying “silent cheer spot” as obviously they would not want to upset all their guests by being woken up at 5am with all these noisy runners going past!

When you were in the parks there were loads of cast members out cheering, and I must say that running past the bakery in the Norway pavilion was like torture as we could smell the baking (they do a kringla in there which is like a soft spiced pretzel type thing with raisins and drizzled in dark chocolate and I was thinking about that a lot!). By the Japan pavilion there were cast members with the Japanese flag (as they employ people from those countries for the pavilions) but also the rides had different cast members out cheering us all on.

Running by Spaceship Earth and by the Japan pavilion

There were lots of photo-pass photographers too- you could generally tell that they were coming up as the area would be very well lit and the photographers were in bright green tents (they wear bright green jackets in the parks) – the photos were included which was a nice touch and also they actually took nice flattering photos compared to regular races! They would usually be in pairs (one on each side of the path) so you would be captured by one or the other.

There were also points where you could queue for a photo- I had missed the Spaceship Earth photo in the 5K as I didn’t realise what it was until I’d run past, so on this race I made sure to queue up for that. It was well organised with spots on the ground and cast members moving the queues along so you were not waiting for long at all (and they used your race number to match up the photos rather than in the parks when you tap your magic band, so again this sped up the process).

Some of the mile markers, character stops and bands

There was so much entertainment and things to look at on the route, as well as seeing the Disney park sights. There were bands playing, local high school cheerleaders, marching bands, rock bands, you name it (apart from steel pan bands!) it was there. Each mile marker was themed and they were sometimes playing music. There were frequent character stops (again with photo pass photographers, but also lots of them had cast members who would take a photo on your phone for you)- I had seen a “leaked” list of characters for the 10k and Duffy was one of them. I was looking at each queue to see- they usually had a cast member with a lollypop sign saying “end of line” on one side and then the character or group (eg “friends from Toy Story”) on the other side, and I was pretty disappointed when I finished and I hadn’t seen Duffy on the route…

I also loved looking at all of the costumes that people were wearing. I have no idea how people cope with them, some of them were proper costumes and not just character coloured shorts and a hat. I wore my Minnie ears for the 5k but that was enough for me and didn’t even bother with them for the 10k. Total respect to those that do, but I could definitely not do that. (see the monorail photo above for an example!)

As you run through the parks, the toilets in the parks are open for use (and there were also loads of port-a-loos out on the route too) so I popped into one in Epcot which thankfully didn’t have much of a queue. This was definitely preferable to using a port-a-loo in the race village or along the race route- a definite bonus of the Run Disney events. There were also so many drink stations with water and also powerade, so I stopped on a couple of the water stations to have a drink as I was mindful that even though it was cold it was also quite sweaty.

The run was themed around Chip and Dale solving a mystery (each race was linked to a genre of book as the overall theme was “what’s your story?” so again all the music and characters linked to the theme. My favourite was as I was running around World Showcase they were playing The Interrogation Song from Muppets Most Wanted- just such a fun song and such a great atmosphere.

As I finished I was looking for Andy at our pre-agreed meeting place, and couldn’t see him, but I saw that one of the character meets was Duffy! So of course I had to queue up! Apparently I have never looked happier than in that photo! Dopey was also there so when I saw Andy we queued to meet Dopey too as he was the namesake for this mad challenge.

I was glad I’d put the long sleeved top in the bag drop bag as I was sweaty so started getting a bit chilly quickly. We took a few more photos and made our way back to the car, with many many cast members saying to us “see you again tomorrow!”- so many people do the Dopey challenge and it felt great that so many people were doing this crazy challenge.

The sun coming up as we headed out of the race village and back to the car

A repeat of the Thursday, it was walk back to the car as the sun was coming up, drive back to the hotel, shower, make porridge and then head to a park for some walking about (but not too much!). We’d booked a sit down meal for 4:30 so we would again eat nice and early and head back to the hotel with plenty of time to get things ready for the half. It was beautiful weather though and I took my medal with me for some castle photos- me and half of Magic Kingdom I think!

Some medal/castle pics

So there we have it- race 2 of 4 finished. Again, a nice gentle pace in about 1hr 20. Onwards to the weekend…

WDW marathon weekend Dopey challenge part 1- Expo and 5k

To recap, the Dopey challenge is all 4 races over the WDW marathon weekend- 5k on Thursday, 10k on Friday, half marathon on Saturday and marathon on Sunday. (Andy was also doing this challenge, but apart from the 5k we ran seperately) We’ve both completed Run Disney events before- we did the inaurgural DLP half marathon in 2016, and in WDW a 10k in 2018 and a 5k in 2019. As with all Run Disney races, you need to collect your bibs (number) in person from the expo the day before the race. As this was a multi race event and the expo only started on the Wednesday, we had to go on that day (along with anyone else running Dopey or the 5k). The expo runs until the Saturday so if you were doing a single race you could go later on when it was less busy. However, not an option for us. We had planned to not go to a park that day, and that worked out very well as it took ages- hours and hours!

Expo day (the Wednesday)

The expo is at the WDW Wide World of Sports, which is a huge sports complex that hosts loads of competitions, and is so many buildings and sports pitches and inside basketball courts etc. We had to do several things, all of which were in different buildings:

Collect our numbers (with ID, with our Run Disney app confirmation code and with a waiver that you sign in person).

Collect our shirts- with Run Disney races you get your shirt before the race- lots of people seem to run with their shirts (which was madness seeing as these shirts were long sleeved and it was hot).

Look at the Disney merch- Brooks had released special Run Disney themed shoes (I did very well to resist them) and there are also loads of additional race shirts, jackets, hats, bags, pins, magnets etc that Disney release.

Look at the other merch- there are loads of stands with sparkly tutus, various “nutrition” products, medal display options, even Jeff from Jeff Galloway was there.

There are also loads of photo ops with characters, a large castle, various props linked to the different race and challenge distances…

The expo at the sports complex- we waited outside a while for our virtual queue to open up. Even the paintings on the walls in the corridors were themed to the races.

Because we were going on the first day, we had to join a virtual queue to look at the Disney merch, so as soon as it allowed (I think 9am but possibly 8am) we did that via the app and had an approximate time of 10:30. We took our time driving over and parking, and hung around in the sunshine waiting for our group to be pinged. We were probably waiting for a good 45 mins and with hindsight could have collected our numbers first but you never know how long anything will take. Even after being called, we joined one queue along a corridor, then a giant queue inside (next to the Brooks trainers) before finally getting into the main merch hall. This hall is quite mad with people grabbing armfuls of stuff (I think there’s a lot of reselling going on) and by the time we got there some things had already totally sold out. Here there was an additional queue if you wanted to buy Dopey challenge merch, but the design of the jumper wasn’t my favourite (he’s not the cutest character imo) so we didn’t bother. We got a nice marathon weekend mug, a jacket each and a few other bits.

Top left shows the queue through one large room to get to the merch- this followed on from the virtual queue and a queue in a corridor. Then Jeff, a giant Brooks shoe box, and the field we had to walk around to get to the next building.

Then it was onto get our numbers- this was another walk to another building (in fact we were directed in a large loop to just go around one building and back to where we started before we got inside the actual number building)- we then joined another queue, signed our waivers and got our numbers. Here is where the paranoia began for me because we got two numbers each, one for the 5k and 10k, and then a second number for the other two races. They properly check your bibs as you go into the corrals so I was really worried about using the wrong one!

All the shirts! They had big maps of the routes (plus the medals but I didn’t want to look too closely before), then the two numbers. On the green gem below the C is where it said 5/10k or half/full.

Anyway, once that was done we went to another building, this time walking around a sports pitch first, to then collect our shirts. As you get one per race, and one per challenge, we got 6 shirts each in total. (As well as Dopey there is a Goofy challenge which is the half and the full, so as our challenge encompassed that we also got those items).

A few photo ops- the Dopey queue was too long for us to join! The 39.3 is the Goofy which is the half and the full.

I was keen to take a few photos, so we queued up for a few, but by this time it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and we didn’t want a late night ahead of our 3:20am alarm, so it was time to head off. I had seen on social media that the following days were fairly quiet, and in fact on the Saturday afternoon we popped back as I wanted to see if they still had a t-shirt that I quite liked (they did), so if you didn’t need to go the first day I would recommend waiting and going later.

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent getting ready. We had a bit of doubting about what to wear, as lots of the media was talking about keeping warm, but for us it wasn’t that cold, and I’d run parkrun on the Saturday and been fine in shorts and t-shirts. But there was loads of stuff about the dew point, about how it was really cold because it was so humid and damp before the sun came up- we second guessed a bit but in the end I stuck to shorts and t-shirt and that was definitely correct. We had been sensible with the alarm, getting up at 5am on the day of the expo, 6am the day before, and 7am the day before that, so by around 8pm we were pretty tired and ready to sleep. We got our numbers and running clothes ready, and that was it- the challenge was about to begin!

Thursday- 5k day

We were staying at Bonnet Creek which is within WDW but not a Disney resort. This was ideal as it was a less than 10 min drive with no road closures at the time we were going there. The race began at 5am and Disney suggested getting there by 4. We drove into the gates at 4am, parked and sat in the car for a bit, as this morning was a little chilly. However it’s about a mile walk through the car park, through security and through the race village to get to the starting corrals, so in the end we headed off at about 4:10am.

You are given a starting corral based on time, and we had submitted our Brighton Half marathon times- I was in C and Andy was in B (it went to G I think). He was allowed to drop back, so for the 5k decided he’d run with me. There were detailed lists of when the corrals closed, and when this happens the light turns off and you have to join a later one. I think my one closed at 5, as each corral goes off in waves and so the estimated start time was something like 5:13. I think we timed it pretty well as we were not waiting around for too long, but there is a stage with a very enthusiastic presenter chatting to various people and hyping everyone up so you could listen to that while you waited.

The EPCOT parking in the dark, the large balloons marking the corrals, directions and Spaceship Earth lit up along with the Run Disney signs.

It wasn’t long before we were off! They set of the wheelchair athletes first, and then within each corral they had perhaps 3 waves- each one had a countdown and fireworks, so even once you started running you could hear the countdown and fireworks behind.

The 5k start gantry, the fireworks going off, World Showcase looking beautiful, and Spaceship Earth lit up as we ran

The route took you around the back of the car park, into Epcot, around World Showcase and then back out the front, into the car park. The car park was unrecognisable though, as there were loads of things set up there- the mile markers were themed, there were character meets, and various bands/ local high school cheerleading groups etc. The race weekend was themed around “What’s your story?”, so each race was linked to a character and genre- this one was Pluto looking at space themed books, so the characters were space themed (Buzz Lightyear, various characters from Stitch). The music was also space themed, so there was lots of Star Wars playing as we ran.

The aim of the game we decided was to run gently for the first two races- I didn’t want to walk because it would be a lot more time on feet. The 5k isn’t timed although you do get a time for Dopey as I think they check you are doing them all- we ran it in 36 mins so it was nice and gentle.

As you finish you get given a medal, bottle of water, bottle of powerade, banana and snack box. You need extra hands!

There was a large area in the race village for meeting back up- we didn’t use the baggage storage until later on in the week but on this day we saw where they were (right by the finish line) and they had bleachers set up as well as trucks selling beer, hot drinks and various food items. We had agreed to meet by the benches after the other three races, and as someone who gets anxious ahead of races because of wondering about the parking/ start area/ finish line etc, it was really good to know that the next few mornings would be the same in that regard.

Happy running by Spaceship Earth! And with my medal at the end in the race village.

After finishing we looked at some of the characters but were both a bit chilly so after taking a few photos ourselves we headed back to the car (one mile walk!). The snack box is pretty grim if you choose to read the ingredients (shelf stable cheese flavour dip?) as is powerade (high fructose corn syrup) so we made porridge back in our room and ended up giving all the boxes to the donation box in the lobby (they had a box to put in unopened and un-used food/drinks if you have anything left when you check out).

The content of the box- crisps, crackers, cheese flavour dip, fruit flakes (that when I googled contained no fruit at all), waffle, plus banana, powerade. Our porridge (we used the bananas for that) and the Pluto space medal!

After breakfast and a shower, we headed back to Epcot for a bit- I took my medal so I could have a few photos of course. We saw so many people wearing their medals or the race shirts, as well as the merch we’d seen at the expo. Cast members would say “congratulations” to you as well which was lovely.

My medal by the Japan and Canada pavilions, plus some of the Run Disney signs up that we saw as we went through the car park in the day.

The aim was to not do too many steps though I ended up doing 31,000 steps- not ideal! The evening was again a repeat- an early dinner (around 5pm), heading back to the hotel around 6pm, getting our race numbers, clothes and bag drop bag ready, and then getting to sleep around 8. 10k coming next!

Have you ever taken part in a multi day event before?

Ticking off more of date bingo at Clermont Waterfront parkrun

The beginning of January for me was spent in Florida, ahead of the Walt Disney World marathon weekend (which was a 5k on the Thursday, 10k on the Friday, half marathon on the Saturday and a marathon on the Sunday- more on that in later posts), and so I didn’t get to a parkrun on New Years Day. However, on the 3rd Andy said he’d drive me out to Clermont (it’s a good 50 min drive from the WDW area). The parkrun begins at 7:30am so it’s an early start to get there in time (especially as I like to go to the toilets and walk along to the lake to look at the view).

The sunrise was around 7:20 so as I got to the lake I was treated to the sun coming up- the sky was so orange just before although it wasn’t captured that well in the photos. I was wondering if I’d need a jacket at first (Florida was having a cold front just before we arrived and on NYD there was a thin frost on the car first thing, although it would warm up once the sun was out), but I was fine in t-shirt and shorts even before I started running. It was funny seeing the locals wrapped up in thick joggers and hoodies (with hoods up!) when I was just there in minimal layers!

The sun shining through the trees and moss made it look as if the trees were glowing with fire- it was so beautiful.

This was my 4th time at this parkrun, and my third doing this route (as once they were on the alternative route away from the lake)- I didn’t even listen to the first timers welcome (I did on my third visit!) because it’s such a simple route- out and back along the lake. (If you were visiting, the car park is right by the start, in that as you turn in to the car park you can see the parkrun teardrop flag and all the flags in the finish funnel. You need to exit the car park and cross the road to get to the start but it couldn’t be any closer).

Going back to the course, there is a small section where the paths leads you away from the lake a bit, but it’s clearly marked with signs, and it’s a fairly busy parkrun (150 people this time) so there is someone in sight to follow. There is a turnaround point clearly shown with a cone (and sometimes a marshal) but it’s really very easy, so rather than listen to the welcome I went along the little boardwalk to the edge of the lake to watch the sun come up. The main briefing was prompt and friendly, and then we were off!

This was a few days ahead of the big run challenge and I hadn’t run since the Wednesday before, so I was mindful of taking it easy. I was keen to do a few runs ahead of the challenge to acclimatise a little, as of course Florida is a lot more humid and a lot warmer than any of the training runs, and so I was quite pleased to finish in 30:51 as I felt like I was running quite gently and stopping to take photos (I paused for a while to take a photo of that bird (bottom right in the picture above).

By the time I finished (around 8am) the sun was properly up- such a contrast to when I first arrived. As it’s out and back you get to see everyone on the other side of the path too, and it added to my anticipation of the following weekend as I saw so many Run Disney shirts being worn by parkrunners.

I didn’t hang about too much after finishing- a few quick photos and then I headed back to the car, very relieved that I wasn’t dripping in sweat (after doing this course in the summer and having sweat pour out of every single pore) and happy that I felt like I managed the much warmer weather OK.

They often have a photographer there (although I’ve not looked up the photos from this event yet) and I noticed on the bench by the finish area that they have a special volunteer bib for the photographer to wear, which I thought was a lovely touch. It’s a very scenic parkrun by the water, and it’s so nice that they value the photographer role so much.

I’d seen a recommendation for the vegan bagels and toppings at Jeff’s Bagel Run, and after going there earlier in our trip we found that there was a branch on our way back from parkrun, so we stopped to pick up some bagels for breakfast once back at our hotel.

As I’d been there before, of course there is no Voronoi update, but happily when I looked on the 5k app I had filled in a date bingo slot and if I had missed it it would be a few years before the 3rd would fall on a Saturday again, so hooray!

On the Monday following this parkrun, Andy and I did a run together of about 3-4 miles around a lake by our hotel, but then it was strictly no more running until the WDW marathon weekend began! Although of course there was plenty of walking around theme parks in the meantime.

So, up next will probably be my race recaps- you have been warned!

parkruns of 2025

I don’t always manage to do these posts but I really enjoy looking back over a year of parkrunning to see where I have visited and who I’ve seen.

Stats:

47 parkruns in 2025

26 new events visited

2 new countries visited

2 new special days attended

v100 achieved

Single-ton at Panshanger

2025 was the year I managed most parkruns- 47 in a year (beating 46 in 2024, 2022 and 2019). At the start of the year I was on 386 parkruns, and finished the year on 433. I visited 26 new events in 2025 (and revisited many as well). I celebrated my arbitrary 400th, my V100 and my single ton at Panshanger.

I did some touring alone, and toured with family and friends. I managed to visit parkruns when I was nearby for a trip or weekend away, as well as doing lots of London tourism.

Here are a few highlights:

Local events: Panshanger in the snow, Oaklands College and Stanborough in the sunshine.

Oaklands College and Stanborough both launched and I have enjoyed running at both of them. I can now run to either Panshanger or Stanborough from home as they are a couple of miles away which is the perfect parkrun sandwich distance. I achieved my single-ton at Panshanger (100 times at the same event).

Touring with my family (my dad, brother and mum)

I did lots more touring with my dad, occasionally my brother, and sometimes my mum came along too (here she is at Jubilee, Bedford).

Meet ups with Jan and Rory, plus my favourite marshal spot at Birchwood juniors.

I toured and met up with friends (Jan in Peacehaven in Brighton- she used to run with the OH ladies/ Rory a fellow WMN listened who is often the RD at Harrow Lodge and an excellent fountain of parkrun touring knowledge). I also volunteered at juniors a fair bit, achieving my V100 in March.

I celebrated my 400th (arbitrary) parkrun at Victoria Dock and was so happy that some friends came to join me.

400th! And Ascension Day in Sweden, as well as visiting Finland on that same trip.

I also had a fantastic trip to Finland and Sweden, and completed my first non UK special event of Ascension Day in May 2025.

As well as those events, I went back to Japan and visited two new events there, and revisited Clermont in Florida.

Solo touring in Japan, Germany, USA as well as solo local trips to Panshanger and Stevenage.

Later in the year I completed another special event, this time Unity Day in Germany. Branka and Holly were at Rheinpark with me, and then I was at Lousberg by myself.

It was the year of the Cowells for sure, with Holly celebrating hers in Preston Park (Brighton), Branka at Egham Orbit and then my dad at Stanborough! 100 locations all around!

All the Cowells plus one of many London trips (Dulwich) and Unity Day at Rheinpark.

New events visited in 2025:

Oaklands College, Tooting Common, Thames Path Woolwich, Battersea, Walthamstow, Peacehaven, Dulwich, North Walsham, Victoria Dock, Hackney Marshes, Ben’s Yard Ely, Tokoinranta, Haga, Beckton, Jubilee Bedford, Egham Orbit, Harrow Lodge, Peckham Rye, Rheinpark, Lousberg, Wakehurst, Stanborough, Shibamata koen kadan, Sunshine Beach, Brockwell, Raphael.

New countries visited:

Finland, Sweden.

Countries visited:

USA, Japan, Germany.

So, what’s next?

Well, my 150th different event will be fairly soon (as I am on 147 events). Definitely some more London tourism, particularly on the train. I should get to the arbitrary milestone of 450 parkruns at some point (currently on 433), and there are various friends celebrations that I’m hoping to attend as well. But mainly what I am looking forward to is more of the same- more parkrunning with friends and family, more visiting new locations and more fun on Saturday mornings.

What are you looking forward to about parkrunning next year? Any exciting milestones or arbitraries coming up?

Raphael parkrun

For the final parkrun of 2025, some tourism was on the cards. Dad was free, as were Branka and Holly, and after finding that Harrow Lodge was a relatively straightforward journey before, we headed over to that area again, this time for Raphael parkrun.

(If you look on a map, Raphael, Harrow Lodge and Ingrebourne Hill are sort of stacked on top of each other, towards the east of the M25).

It was a frosty day, and after Dad picked me up at around 7:35 we arrived to park before 8:30. Holly and Branka arrived separately, confusingly in a car park with the same name as ours, but actually a different one (Lodge Farm- I am not sure which one we parked in as I pinned it on the map rather than using the postcode).

Our view as we entered the park- really pretty. I love seeing personalised marshal spots, and Rory let me know that Awtar was a regular volunteer who sadly passed away, so they have this corner to remember them.

We jogged to the toilets which were at the very opposite end of the park, which ended up being about a mile in total (plus waiting in the queue), so only just got back in time to hear the end of the first timers welcome and then people were lining up to start. Be aware if you are going as to their location! We did hear the main briefing which was very well listened to. I was very surprised to hear the park being pronounced as “Ray- fell” as I had been saying it like the turtle/artist.

It’s a very narrow start, so people were maybe just two abreast on the path, which meant it was quite stop-start when we did get going. This does not bother me at all but I think if you were going for a fast time you’d need to place yourself accordingly- I ran with Holly and it took us a bit of time overtaking walkers to settle in to our pace. As there are people lapping you and passing in the opposite direction you do need to be aware and keep to one side (I think they said to keep left but basically follow what they say).

It was a lovely park though with some variety as you ran around- the part by the lake was pretty, and you could see other points of the course which I always enjoy. You can see above how narrow it is though and how many times you are passing others. Dad ran ahead and Branka was a bit behind so we got to see each other on an out and back bit.

A beautiful day for running!

Once finished we got some pop up photos and then agreed to head to a Tesco (guaranteed toilets and a warm cafe) for some parkfaffing. I had a slight fail here, as I didn’t have the best phone reception, and ended up putting a different one in the maps so Dad and I arrived at a Tesco that had no cafe, oops. It had a Costa opposite so we warmed up in there while Branka and Holly went to the actual Tesco!

Anyway, despite the slight parkfaff fail on my part it was a fantastic way to round off 2025.

The before and after:

A very satisfying chunk of the map filled in. I shall now have to go to Ingrebourne Hill in 2026 to complete that set of 3.

Stats:

parkrun 433, and location 147. I had no idea I was that close to 150! A definite goal for 2026.

As this one counts towards Lon-done I have now completed 37 of 66 (currently). I’ve been hovering around that 50% mark but again will aim to do a few more next year and close in a bit on that.