I'm Not Goofy, I'm Dopey!

It's been almost two years since I heard about the Goofy Challenge. It didn't take me long to decide that I would, without a doubt, complete this race at some point in my life. I was so sure that I put it on my bucket list.

I started saving for it by paying myself $1 for every 1 mile I walked and/or ran.

Then something happened and I needed to use part of that savings. Then I needed to buy gifts for my bridesmaids for the wedding and ended up wiping out all of that savings. I tried to pay myself back little by little, but things would come up and that would be the first place I would go.

Then I got into this little kick about saving as much as I can and paying off as much debt as I can. I came to the decision that I would not be running The Goofy Challenge any time soon. I really think that it was the best decision for me at the time.

I thought that something like The Goofy Challenge is something that will have to wait until after we have a house and other things that we need as a married couple. Not something I want as a runner. But the dream of running it wasn't gone, just put on hold for a while.

And then I received an email from my sister with the following:
Dopey Challenge - for the ultimate endurance test, sign up for the all-new Dopey Challenge where registrants will run the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon. In addition to earning the four race medals, Dopey Challenge participants who complete all four races will also receive the Goofy Challenge and all-new Dopey Challenge Finisher Medals for a grand total of six pieces of "bling!"

I decided to not do the goofy challenge in 2014 for financial reasons, but now that I am out of credit card debt and we are actively saving for a house, I want to run Dopey in 2015. Plenty of time to train and save. I figure that as long as I continue to save a small amount per paycheck then I should be able to easily reach my goal.

I've added a visual tracker to watch my progress as I work on saving up enough money for the races, a flight and a hotel. Since I don't want to travel alone (or complete this race without some mental, emotional and physical support), I'll need to save up enough money for Patrick to go with me.

I think that this will be my ultimate physical challenge and I can't wait to prove to myself that I have the discipline to train for it and the stamina to complete it! It's going to be one heck of a journey for the next year and a half, but I couldn't imagine a better physical and mental test to put myself through.

I'm not crazy or even goofy. I'm freaking dopey!!