Eat Drink Run Woman

Hardest. Race. EVER!

Okay, so that’s not entirely true. The half marathon portion of the Goofy Challenge was actually rather easy. The weather pretty much cooperated (although it was quite humid in the early hours) and I felt strong throughout. But therein lies the rub. BECAUSE I felt so strong I ended up running faster than I should have. Sure, I “met” my goal of a personal worst (I wanted to run between 2:15 and 2:30; my actual time was 2:15:21). But knowing what I know now, next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) I will keep my pace to at least 2 minutes per mile slower than what I’m capable of.

While some may say I’m Goofy for running the race, what truly makes me Goofy is the fact I signed up for the challenge before I had even run my first marathon. I read about the race in the same Runner’s World article as the Marathon du Medoc. When I saw Marathon Tours was still offering entries at the end of July, I jumped at the chance (the race sold out to individual entries in February). Somehow I managed to corral my darling as well.

Once our entries were confirmed I signed on to the Disney Running Forum for training advice and other tips. As race day approached, the level of excitement intensified on the board. I found it incredibly amusing to read how into Disney many of the forumites are (they’ve obviously been drinking the Kool-aid), but with just a couple of weeks to go I found myself acting like the little kid in one of the Disney commercials who exclaims, “I’m too excited to sleep!”

I knew we couldn’t take a trip to Disney World without visiting at least one of the parks, but I wasn’t sure when would be the best time. I knew we’d spend the entire day on Monday, but I had considered purchasing yet another day. In the end I decided to just buy a one-day advance ticket, then we’d play it by ear. This turned out to be a wise decision.

We arrived at the Pop Century Resort at 8:30 Friday morning, only to discover our room wouldn’t be ready until as late as 3 p.m. D’oh! So much for trying to get to a park that day. We washed up and changed clothes in the rest room, stored our luggage and headed to the expo to pick up our race packets. In addition to our free shirts (one for the half, one for the full, one for Goofy), I picked up a short-sleeved half marathon shirt to wear during the full (I’m a real stickler about NOT wearing a race shirt until I’ve run the race).

One of the perks of staying at a Disney resort is the free transportation, from the Disney Magical Express at the airport (our driver’s name was Rockland Steel; if that’s not a great porn name, I don’t know what is), to the air-conditioned coaches whisking us to and from the expo, to the shuttles to each of the parks. In fact, after hearing our room still wasn’t ready after lunch, we contemplated riding around on the expo buses since they had comfortable cushioned seats that reclined. However, we decided to head to Downtown Disney instead.

We downed a couple of liquid carbs at an Irish pub and checked out the merchandise at World of Disney. I bought a couple of t-shirts, but refrained from getting a princess make-over from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (I didn’t want hairspray melting into my eyes). Our room finally became available, so we headed back for a much-needed nap. Knowing we’d have to arise at Oh-God-Thirty the next morning, we decided to have dinner at the Pop Century food court. After noshing on mediterranean chicken flatbread, Greek salad and hummus, we headed back to the room to crash. However, pre-race jitters kept me tossing and turning until the wee hours.

I jolted awake to the 2:30 alarm. I already had my race clothes laid out, but I peeked outside to see what the weather was like. The air was thick with warm moisture, so I decided not to bring my throwaway cotton shirt. We had already purchased breakfast items the night before, but had to stop by the food court again for coffee (we are Seattleites, after all). While I wore my fuel belt, I decided not to carry water bottles since it looked like the race would be well supported. But I strapped on several Clif Shots and tucked my camera into the pouch.

We arrived at the staging area a little after 4 a.m. where we met up with a few folks from the Disney forum. A live band helped sweep away the final cobwebs in my sleep-deprived brain and I started getting really excited. We had just enough time for a port-o-potty stop before we were ushered to the starting corrals. I had submitted a 2:03 half marathon time, which put us in wave B (I didn’t want to submit our Medoc time since I knew we could do better). At 6 a.m. sharp the fireworks went off, and so did we.

Because we had to wait in the corral for so long my bladder started talking to me once again. We saw several men taking “le pipi rustique” ala Medoc, but when I spied a couple of women doing the same, I decided to join them (fortunately it was still dark). Sweat started pouring down my neck and back from the get-go, so I knew I’d be stopping at almost every water station. They were indeed plentiful, and the crowd support was also spectacular. We were serenaded throughout by both live bands and recorded music and were greeted by several Disney characters in Magic Kingdom (unfortunately I didn’t stop for pictures during the half).

The race course was pancake-flat, save for a couple of freeway overpasses. While I heard a few runners grumble upon reaching the overpasses, our legs appreciated having to work different muscles (besides, they were no match for the terrain we encounter during our Seattle runs). While we tried to keep our pace reasonable during the first half of the race, since we felt so good during the latter miles we found ourselves picking up speed. A live gospel choir greeted us with just a quarter mile to go, so we sailed through to the finish. We picked up our Donald Duck medals, grabbed some bananas and Clif bars and headed back to the hotel.

We returned to the Irish pub for a lunch meet-up with some Taper Madness folks and yet more liquid carbs (remember, we’re Seattleites). By 3 p.m. we were ready for a nap, so we bid adieu to the Tapers, promising to meet up with them again before the marathon.

Next up: the long, hot slog