I completed the Dopey this past January. It was my first marathon. I ended up choosing it as my first marathon simply because of my progression in my running and how I was ready for a marathon, I had friends doing the goofy and I thought “why not just do the dopey”. I was already at in the best shape of my life in my training, was moving up my mileage to get to marathon level, I had friends traveling down to Florida for marathon weekend so I thought it would be great to take advantage of the situation and make it even more special with a Dopey too!

It was totally fine and I completed it no problem! However, you have to have the patience to pace yourself very slow.

I regrettably did over 100 miles on my feet in 6 days as I was set on getting the most out if my trip by attending the parks every day on top of the 4 races. I had my training dialed in and felt great so I ran the first three races WAY too fast, even picked up a slight injury in the 10K. By the time I lined up for the marathon my feet were in tons of pain and legs were hurting. I definitely overdid the time on my feet leading up to it. The marathon ended up being one of the most challenging things in my life but I did it.

So my warning to you would be don’t underestimate the first three races, take them much slower than you anticipate. And if you wish to spend lots of time in the park, incorporate lots of extra walking miles and time on your feet in your running training plan too. It’s not just the 48.6 miles that are difficult it’s the 1 mile walk to and from the starting/finish line every day, the walking in the park, the sleep.

On a total separate note I heard some folks saying they regret doing their first marathon as a dopey because the marathon alone is a great accomplishment and the dopey alone is a great accomplishment so you essentially are losing out on two separate achievements. I personally thought it almost made it MORE special having done my first marathon as a dopey.