Katherine Baccus's Fundraiser
Running 48.6 miles to make a difference!
Support athletes with disabilities & accessibility in sports!
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Alright folks, you know the drill. It’s Dopey season!🏃🏻♀️🏅 And this year, I’m doing it for something bigger than just the challenge… Buckle up - this is a long one!
As most of you know, I’ve run the Dopey Challenge SEVEN times, but this one is going to be a *little* bit different.
January 2027 will mark 10 years since my first Dopey Challenge, which for those who don’t know means completing a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon on four consecutive days for a total of 48.6 magical miles.
The first one I ran just to prove that I could - I was still “not a runner” if you asked me, but I’d done a couple of half marathons and since Jon was going to do Dopey, I couldn’t be outdone by doing “just” the marathon (only at Disney will you ever hear that phrase!!). When we had a minor hiccup with the half being canceled (don’t worry, we ran the miles on our own on Friday night), I knew I had to come back for “just one more.” Then life happened, and the second and third became about persevering despite injuries, surgeries, and setbacks galore. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the challenge, so I just kept coming back, again and again.
I’ve always enjoyed runDisney races ever since I ran my first half marathon at Princess in 2014. But there’s something incredibly special about Marathon Weekend. Specifically, it’s the runners who sign up 10 months in advance, training and making sacrifices for the better part of a year in order to take on four days of insanely early wake-ups, hours standing around in a parking lot, and then running four races through the Most Magical Place on Earth °o°
Standing in those corrals each morning and seeing the faces of eager (or terrified) “new Dopeys” alongside seasoned veterans and even “Perfect Dopeys” who have run every single one since its inception… it’s a feeling that’s so hard to put into words, and it just can’t be matched for me.
So I keep coming back to this race weekend, this challenge, and this community of runners.
If you’re still with me, you’re probably wondering what the heck makes this year different.
Great question, and the answer is that this year, I’m adding another layer of meaning to the challenge by putting my miles to WORK 💪🏼
I’m proud to announce that I will be running my 8th Dopey Challenge in support of The Kyle Pease Foundation. This incredible organization works to provide access and opportunities in sport for athletes with disabilities, which is a cause that is especially meaningful to me as an OT & wellness practitioner.
KPF supports athletes by providing scholarships, medical equipment, adaptive sporting equipment, and partnering with organizations that create opportunities for athletes with disabilities to compete and participate in endurance events. After their founding in 2011, they supported their first athlete in 2012. In 2024, their Ironman World Championships campaign raised over a million dollars and in 2025 they supported nearly 70 athletes and 1320 finish lines crossed.
I’ll be sharing more about the foundation and the athletes they support as training ramps up in the coming months. If you’d like to support this mission and help me get to the Dopey start line, I’d really appreciate it.
My goal is to raise at least $3,000, but I hope to exceed that with your support. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. Please share this fundraiser if you know anyone who may be able to support as well 💙