DeKalb County Athlete Completes the 48.6-mile Dopey Challenge at Disneyworld

It was race weekend through the most magical place on earth. More than 30,000 runners from around the world together at the 32nd Disney Marathon Weekend in January.
Some ran 5K. Some ran 10K. Some went for the half marathon, and some tackled the full marathon.
DeKalb County athlete Brady Allen made his own kind of magic.
Brady is an experienced endurance runner. He trains and competes with his father, Rob Allen, DeKalb County’s Sports Coordinator.
The Allens have completed all of those distances in the past, but this year, Brady wanted to step it up and go for the Dopey Challenge – the most difficult test at the Walt Disney Marathon Weekend where runners complete all four races on four consecutive days for a total distance of 48.6 miles.
Brady believed he could do it. He and his father made a plan. They trained for seven months.

On bad weather days, they ran 20 miles on a treadmill. Brady never missed a training day, sometimes going alone when his dad was traveling for work.
When they departed for Orlando, they were ready.
- On Thursday, Jan 9, they completed the 5K (3.1 miles).
- On Friday, Jan. 10, they completed the 10K (6.2 miles).
- On Saturday, Jan. 11, they completed the half marathon (13.1 miles).
- Then on Sunday, Jan. 12, they completed the full marathon. (26.1 miles).
A total of 48.6 miles.
Fans, fellow competitors and event organizers at Disneyworld followed Brady’s story and cheered him on throughout.
He was interviewed and appeared on the Disney Jumbotron, introduced as the “first Special Olympics athlete from Indiana to tackle the Dopey Challenge.”
With two miles left to go in the final race, and with thousands cheering on the sidelines, Brady and Rob picked up their pace and ran through the finish line together.
Brady has loved everything Disney since he was a child. On this weekend, in this special place, Brady brought his own kind of magic to the Magic Kingdom.
The magic wasn’t that Brady finished all the races. His training got him there. The real magic is that he imagined he could do it.
Some dreams really do come true – if you just Believe you can.