How it Started. True story, I told my sister I wanted to take a break from Disney races after 2023 Dopey. This must not have sat well with the RunDisney master marketeers, because they decided to bring back the Coast to Coast challenge pretty much immediately after I threw that out into the Disney universe. This was on my bucket list and like race catnip that I couldn't stay away from.

Now, I could have taken the easy route and just pleasantly spaced out two events between the two coasts, but anyone who has met me knows I live by "go big or go home". So, I convinced my sister to run back to back weekends to earn the special Coast to Coast medal reserved for those who ran at Walt Disney World (WDW) the weekend before running the Disneyland (DLR) comeback race. I went for the WDW Goofy Challenge (Half Marathon + Marathon = 39.3 Miles) then DLR Dumbo Double Dare Challenge (10k + Half Marathon = 19.3 Miles) and my sister opted for something a bit more reasonable, in the Half at WDW and the Dumbo Double Challenge at DLC. This of course makes me a Goofy Dumbo and her a Half Dumbo...what a pair we are!

First step to our new challenge, was to secure registration, that in itself is it's own race. Since we are not RunDisney Club members, we join the huddled masses that block calendars to ensure no work conflicts while trying to sign up, bring up multiple screens and monitor social media for progress on registration opening. For anyone new to RunDisney races thinking this may seem intense, yes it is! For us, anticipation and adrenaline seem to go up each time, yet we still keep coming back for more. This time was no exception, and our internet was fast enough to help get into our target races. After we cleared the hurdle of securing our spots ,we had to secure flights, lodging, rental car, and of course park and dining reservations. Coordination around my client go live schedules and my sister's school schedule was tricky; however, we made it work!

After travel logistics were sorted it was on to costume planning. We kept it simple this time and stuck to race theme Daisy/Donald, Goofy and Dumbo. Since Daisy and Donald were used in both the WDW Half Marathon and DLR 10K we were able to save some money on outfits this challenge round.

Now that the plans were set the training could begin!