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On the weekend of January 9, the Walt Disney World Resort witnessed a woman’s record-breaking step towards an Olympic-sized dream.
Brittany Charboneau came for Disney World’s annual marathon weekend to attempt what is known as “The Dopey Challenge.” She ran all four races offered by the mega-resort: a 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and full marathon. That is a combined distance of just under 50 miles.
Credit: Orlando Sentinel
She won all four races and set a new marathon record in the process.
“I feel amazing,” she said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “This was such a mental-win weekend for me. My goal was never to win all of these. My goal was to go out, wear costumes, and have an amazing time.”
Dressed as Elsa from Frozen for the 5k, Bing-Bong from Inside Out for the 10k and Joy for the half-marathon, and Cruella de Vil for the full marathon, the 33-year-old from Denver, Colorado is the first person in the history of Walt Disney World’s marathon weekend to win all four races.
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She completed the marathon in 2 hours and 45 minutes, and while that may have been the best Disney’s seen yet, Charboneau has shown she can go even faster! She finished 13th in the 2020 Olympic trials setting a personal marathon record of 2 hours and 33 minutes. Now, she has her sights on the 2024 Olympic trials.
“The reason I wanted to do this is to remind people you can have big goals, but you can have fun with it,” she said.
Charboneau started running when she was 13 years old, and has been running full-time since 2017. She dominated the “Dopey Challenge” after suffering an injury during training last year and battling COVID-19 just a month before the event.
Credit: RunDisney
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The Walt Disney World Resort Marathon weekend is held annually in January–when the Florida weather is cool enough for endurance races–and offers runners and fans of all ages and skill levels the chance to run through otherwise-empty theme parks and Resort areas. Please visit rundisney.com for more information.
