As someone who has participated in five runDisney race weekends, I would like to say that I am some what of a professional when it comes to running at Disney. If you have ever been curious about it, I highly encourage you to check out some of my other runDisney blog posts here. If you are ready to take the plunge and register, allow me to fill you in on everything you need to know about running the Dopey Challenge.
It is Expensive
The number one thing I must warn everyone about when it comes to the Dopey Challenge is that it is expensive. The bib price for the 2026 challenge was $730. That is just the entry. It is by far the most expensive runDisney bib price. What do you get with it? Six medals, six race shirts and a whole lot of fun. I will be the first to say, you get what you pay for. Not only is the bib expensive you need to consider lodging – especially if you’re not a local.
I had to budget a week in a resort. I only stay on property so this is another expense to consider. 7 day stay at Walt Disney World is not cheap. I have stayed at every resort level on property and opted for a Value resort. Art of Animation was my home for a week and I had two park tickets with no park hopper. This grand total added up to be $2975. Let’s not forget to tack on a Southwest Airlines flight for $275 round trip. You have to watch the sale, you know?!
If you are a non-fussy runner and want to just show up in your regular shorts and tank on race day, then you will save some money. This is runDisney. You better dress up! Costumes are encouraged and quite frankly are embedded into the runDisney realm. I went the budget friendly route and kept my costumes around $100 due to the fact that my 10K costume was a borrowed tank and a hat made from things I already had. The half marathon costume was a repeat of a skirt I had and, the full marathon was inexpensive from Amazon. The most expensive part was the 5k astronaut costume due to the patches that were ordered from Etsy. Those patches will be repurposed on a jacket. Their next life is still TBD.
As you can see a lot of money has been put out, and we haven’t even covered shoes, fuel, the Expo merch and just being at Disney World in general. It is important that you budget for new shoes toward the end of your training cycle. With all the miles that you put it, you will need a new pair before race day. Dopey hopefuls should budget about $400 for shoes as well. My girl Amanda from Once Upon a Marathon provides a great overview of marathon weekend as well. If you want to know more about runDisney she is a great resource.
Another runDisney creator you will want to follow is someone you probably have seen me with a bit and that is Kristen from Running in Makeup. Her YouTube videos are a must watch. She goes in depth on training and has done Dopey three times.
There are plenty of creators in the runDisney space to follow. Let me know some of your favorite ones. If you think the training isn’t daunting there’s another aspect that aspiring Dopiers need to know. The wake up call can be brutal…four days in a row.
Prepare to be on a Flipped Schedule
My alarm went off at 1:50 every morning and 12:50 on marathon morning. Yes, you read that correctly. I was on the bus headed to the corrals at 2:15 every morning, dressed and ready to slay. Your local races don’t have this early of a start time, but you have to keep in mind that Disney has a fully operating theme park to open after you run. So it is important that they start early. Honestly, this is part of what you are agreeing to. Marathon Weekend, and Dopey is like a business trip. You are there to run, not play. Which is also why I only had two days of park tickets. I needed to eliminate time on feet to stay fresh. Which worked out cause I was under the weather anyway.
You Will Sacrifice A Lot
Something they don’t tell you after you register is that you will sacrifice more than you think you will. Training will take over your life. Football season, essentially, is out the window. Afterall you are training from the end of June through January. There were many games that I had planned to attend that had to hit the backburner. I sold more OU football tickets than I initially planned to. There were canceled plans, early mornings, early nights on the weekends where I went to bed because…running. I am not complaining one bit – let me make that clear. One needs to be aware of the time consumption that marathon training comes with.
If I was going out of town, I needed to ensure that I had access to a treadmill or a trail, or it was on a low-mileage week, so I could easily catch up later. Who remembers me having a five-mile run after a six-hour drive home from Norman? Yeah, that was brutal. These are all things to consider when training for a marathon, let alone the Dopey Challenge.
So. Would I do it again?
When I woke up marathon morning, I had big goals of running a 5:45. But my lungs and body were like girl, just hope we don’t die. I started off pretty good but then the coughing fits and labored breathing started and I quickly realized that I was either going to do more damage or have to take it down and chill. So I did just that. I finished in 6:31 which for my first marathon, I’m not too mad about it – especially when I had already logged a half, 10K and 5K the previous days. I know a 5:45 or even less is in my future so for that I will say, the Brat will return for Dopey 2028.
That’s it, that’s the end of my Dopey 2026 storyline. It’s so wild how something that consumed my life since July 2025 came to an end as fast as it started. I’m proud of accomplishing something that not a lot of people do. While I may have been upset about not making my time goal, I’m still proud of powering through a bad cold, and fatigue to complete at 48.6 purple and green miles. It was a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything. Cause I’m not the same girl I was when I started.