Jan 8, 2019 3 min read

Running four races on four consecutive days for a total of 48.6 miles is quite a challenge, so no wonder they named it after one of the Seven Dwarves.

“They call it Dopey,” Diana Irey Vaughan explained, “because it’s kind of dopey that people are going to put themselves through it.”

The longtime Washington County commissioner is one of them. From Thursday through Sunday, she’ll up the ante each day by participating in a five- and 10-kilometer runs, a half marathon and finally the full 26.2 miles to complete the Dopey Challenge during World Disney World Marathon Weekend.

Not one to pass up a winter trip to Florida, her daughter Victoria Irey Hassett is tagging along. And yes, she’s running, too.

“We’re making it fun, so we’re running in costumes for each of the races. For the full marathon, I’m running in a Dopey costume, and my daughter is going to run as Snow White,” Irey Vaughan said.

She donned a superheroine’s cape in 2018 for the Goofy Challenge of a half and full marathon. Her participation raised $44,000 through individual and corporate sponsorships to benefit the Crabtree-Kovacicek Patriot House at the City Mission in Washington, a 22-bed residential facility that opened in July.

This year, her running is raising money for the mission’s Women with Children’s Shelter, which recently underwent expansion for a new capacity of 32 beds. The Guthrie Children’s Center opened in the shelter in October, permitting female residents with children to attend classes, recovery meetings, counseling sessions and work-readiness programs on a daily basis.

“If I can do this to try to eliminate some of the burden that these women and children feel, then I think it’s my responsibility to step up,” Irey Vaughan said. “When it gets hard, when I hit the wall, like I can’t take another step – I’m in pain – I just think about how blessed I am in my life and how I want to see others feel that same kind of blessing.”

She has run other races in support of the City Mission, including her first half marathon in November 2016 and her initial 26.2 miles six months later in the Pittsburgh Marathon. All told, her efforts have raised some $100,000.

Irey Vaughan and her family enjoy visiting Disney World as their “happy place,” she said, although the Marathon Weekend schedule requires a few modifications.

“You have to scale back your time in the parks to make sure you’re rested to do this,” she explained. “And you, of course, have to go to bed early.”

That’s because she plans to set the alarm for the wee hours of morning to have plenty of time to get ready for each day’s race. But if the Dopey Challenge is anything like the Goofy Challenge, she’ll make up for any lack of rest.

“After I completed the marathons there last year – the half the one day, the full the next – I slept better than I’ve ever slept in my life.”

For more information about the City Mission in Washington, visit www.citymission.org.