When I first signed up for the 2017 Dopey Challenge, deep down I thought that someone would want to do it with me. I had so much fun during the Star Wars Marathon Weekend, and I wanted to have that much fun again.

My excitement in signing up for the 2017 Dopey Challenge soon passed and I was left bummed out when there was no one else I knew who signed up. The race had changed from a fun experience with friends, to a beast of a race that I was going to have to do alone.

So why am I mentioning this now? My sister Becca is in! She has signed up for the Goofy Challenge. The difference between the 2017 Dopey Challenge and Goofy Challenge isn’t that much. The Dopey is four races, a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon. While the Goofy Challenge is just the half marathon and full marathon.

I can certainly run the first two by myself, knowing that my sister will be joining me for the two longer and more difficult races.

As I mentioned in my post My Journey to the Dopey Challenge, running the half marathon with my sister was very special to me, we hadn’t spent that much alone time together in probably 15 years, it was just a wonderful experience. But what I didn’t mention is that she also kept me going at a faster pace then I would have otherwise.

Becca had spent a lot more time training than I did, (which wasn’t that difficult since I spent zero time training for the half marathon) and around mile 10, where I was really fatiguing, she kept pushing me to go a little faster. And while I am certain that she could have finished with a much faster time than I, she stayed with me, and kept me going. I know myself, and would have finished for sure, but I was very grateful that she stayed with me.

So I want to thank Becca for running this race with me. Although it may seem like a small gesture, it means so much more than that to me.

My Updated Training

So how is my training going? I’m rocking it! Well, maybe not that great, but it is going really well. And of course, I have made some changes.

I’m starting to feel like every time that I make a 2017 Dopey Challenge update, I am telling you how I am changing things around. And while that is true, the bottom line is that I am listing to my body. The most important thing that you can remember is, “to thine own self be true”, and while Shakespeare’s Polonius used it in a different context, the words work the same. Listen to your body, and do what it says.

So, with that in mind, I have added a lot more stair mill into my training. I love the stair mill, its difficult, really challenges my lower body stamina, is great at pushing my cardiovascular limits, and unlike the elliptical, it helps me work on my gait as I am actually stepping and not just gliding across a track. It also will help me keep the size in my quads, glutes, and calves. I have found that when I use the stair mill I don’t need to train my legs as much and can still maintain good size, even when doing a lot of cardio.

So I am trying to get about 45 minutes on the stair mill on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then on Saturday I am getting between one and a half and two hours on the stair mill, then as usual, I am doing my long race training on the beach on Sunday.

This weekend, I am planning on two hours on the stair mill for Saturday, and 20 miles on Sunday. Now that I am doing longer distances, I am going to start dropping the length down on alternate weeks. I don’t want to completely burn myself out, so I will do long training days (18+ miles) every other week and on the shorter weeks I will be running anywhere from eight to twelve miles but at a faster pace.