Hello there, and welcome to our @disneykindalife! This is our first post of 2026, and it’s about everyone’s favorite activity, running or runDisney if you will! This upcoming weekend is the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, which, of course, marks our anniversary of running the Dopey Challenge! Every time we look at our Dopey Challenge medals, we still feel proud about that achievement, and when this weekend comes up, it is a reminder of that accomplishment. Before we get started, here is a reminder that you can follow our stories over on YouTube as well by clicking this link.
With dreams of tackling the Dopey Challenge in 2027, life has taken us on a surprising detour. Early last year, we faced the diagnosis of cancer, and our journey since has been nothing short of a fierce battle against that disease. This has led us to reconsider committing to the grueling Dopey Challenge for 2027. As the new racing season approaches, we’re excited to redirect our focus to the 10K and 21K events at our beloved Wine and Dine weekend, which always fills us with joy. Additionally, we are gearing up for the Marathon weekend and Princess 10Ks, looking forward to every thrilling moment on the course!
2026–2027 runDisney Race Season
With the release of the schedule this week, we wanted to point out important dates and even some training tips for those of you new but curios to runDisney. runDisney races sell out very fast, so you want to be mindful of the dates the events go on sale. It is always a good idea to log into the runDisney site well before the sign up day to make sure you know your login info. The login page can be found here.
Most races go on sale months in advance of the actual event and are non-refundable. This means if you sign up make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew when it comes to the training. Below is the list of the events and the dates they go on sale. Each event has multiple events to choose from based on your running level.
- Wine & Dine
- On Sale Date: 2/10/26
- Event Dates: 10/22/26 – 10/25/26
- Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
- On Sale Date: 3/17/26
- Event Dates: 1/6/27 – 1/10/27
- Princess Half Marathon
- On Sale Date: 6/2/26
- Event Dates: 2/25/27 – 3/1/27
- Springtime Surprise
- On Sale Date: 7/7/26
- Event Dates: 4/15/27 – 4/18/27
Training Tips for runDisney
Anyone who asks me about my running journey will often hear me tell the tale of when I was severely overweight, and I joined a 5K. Following Jeff Galloway’s walk-and-run training method, I easily conquered my first 5K race, and trust me, you can too! The link to the training programs is here. These are the training programs I still use to this day.
As you can see above, 5K at Disney World is just walking in EPCOT. runDisney asks you to keep a 16 min/mile pace during their events, but for the 5K, they are more relaxed than the rest. In fact, they don’t even have the dreaded balloon ladies chasing you down for the 5K! For those who don’t know, the balloon ladies represent you being swept off the Disney course if you don’t keep pace. Deploying the training plans above and measuring your own performance should have you on the road to victory in no time!
Final Thoughts & Conclusion
As for us, we will continue to do runDisney events as they are so much fun. We enjoy the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend event in October and the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January. The Dopey Challenge is still on the horizon for us to tackle again once we are healthy.
As this article comes to a close, I want to let you know that if you are interested in running, there is a race out there for you. If running has been on your list of things to try, we hope this article offers some pointers to help you begin your journey. Also, the Dopey Challenge Article here will provide even more context if you want to dive deeper down the rabbit hole of runDisney. Please let me know your thoughts. Will you be signing up for a runDisney event or any event in the future? Let us know in the comments.