2006 Goofy Race-and-a-Half Challenge Report
I didn't run in high school.
Nor did I run in college. In
fact, I hadn't really done much organized exercise until I moved to Spartanburg
for my residency in Family Medicine at Regional. I lived in the Duncan Park neighborhood with
my wife and two dogs. I started cycling
and finished the Assault on Mt. Marion twice.
I ran the “inaugural” Doggie Dash and Dawdle with one of my dogs Bloom a
few years ago (we placed third for my age group, I don't know how we did with
the collie group). I've run the Cooper
River Bridge Run 10K once, where I got
passed by at least one set of the Wizard of Oz characters, sans flying monkey,
and three ninja turtles.
Lately, I thought of running a marathon. We moved to Union and I met some new friends
who run with the high school cross country team in the summer time. We had our first baby in 2004. I have run two Hog Jog runs here in Union
County, which have been fun. I PR'ed a
25 minute plus two years ago and ran with a friend last year with both dogs.
After approaching that magical 13 miles in my training runs,
I thought a marathon was doable without having a coronary event or my knees to
spontaneously combusting as I pushed my mileage up. I heard that previously Disney had run the
half marathon (The Donald) and full marathon (The Mickey) on separate days, but
for the first time in January 2006, they would be run on Saturday (Half) and
then Sunday (Full). I talked it over
with my wife, a decided non-runner, who will likely outlive me anyway, and she
thought it would be fun to go to Orlando in January and take our toddler.
I've never been to Disney World and my life has been
somewhat empty as a roller coaster enthusiast who has never ridden Space
Mountain. And let's not forget the new
Mission Space ride that accelerates you up to 4Gs!
Training went well, and my first 20 miler was in
mid-November. I started trying to
“double peak”, running half my long run on Saturday and then double that
distance on Sunday. I wasn't trying to
Boston Qualify or anything and planned on about a 10 minute mile, planning to
save my knees for years to come.
Late December rolled around and I started having some right
foot pain. There was a clicking
sensation over my heel after several weeks of 30 miles/week. I stretched, iced, NSAIDed and cut down on
mileage, I was now a week and a half from the marathon. I talked to my partner and he injected my
heel with steroids, which created a different type of pain in my foot.
Going to Disney with a toddler was fairly uneventful. I wore a new set of my running shoes, Mizuno
Wave Riders, as I discovered they were the only shoe in the closet that I could
walk with minimal symptoms in my heel, and packed my race pair.
We stayed at the Beach Resort, across from the Boardwalk,
near Epcot. We walked Epcot on Friday,
before the half. Maggie loved the fish
in the Living Sea (“Fi! Fi! Fi!”). I rode
the Mars mission ride which was fun. The
race registration took longer than expected and finding transportation was
difficult at first. They clipped an
orange Goofy band around my wrist for the next day and a half. We went to bed around 8:30 and heard the
fireworks over Epcot that night before falling asleep.
I woke at 3:00, dressed in 3 layers, thank goodness, because
it was close to freezing and breezy.
Gathered with about 15,000 of my closest friends after catching a bus at
3:45 to the starting line. Stood in the
corral for about an hour before the start.
The race commentator was taking pot-shots at some folks wearing opposing
NFL team gear. I thought that was a bit
tacky at 5:30 in the morning in near-freezing temps shortly before running 13
miles. I crossed the start line 21
minutes after the fireworks went off.
The half itself went smoothly. There were a lot of walkers in the half. I wasn't raising money for a charity, and
almost felt like a second-class citizen since I wasn't there to prevent strokes
or leukemia. But, I treat both, so I
guess that counts for something.
The first 2-3 miles I was running slower than I wanted,
because of the traffic, getting my race legs warmed up and returning feeling to
my feet. Much of this time was spent
running on the median due to the number of folks moving slowly on the
road. After a while, I settled into a
faster pace, we ran through the Magic Kingdom, through Cinderella's Castle, and
there were characters present in the parks we went through that you could pose
with (if you had your camera). I felt
like I was flying through Epcot at the end and finished at 2:08:12 chip
time. They changed my orange band for a
blue Goofy band. We walked MGM Disney
that afternoon.
The next morning was early and cold again. I had the mylar blanket from the previous
day's finish to stave off the cold.
There was frost on the ground.
The field had been split in half, so instead of taking twenty minutes to
reach the start line, it only took about seven.
There were less walkers because half were on the other side of the
race. We merged at about mile three.
Passing through the first ten miles went fine. I started feeling a little stomach pain and
eventually had to pull over in the Animal Kingdom lavatory for some private
time after about fourteen or fifteen miles.
I felt better after this and persevered.
By the time I got to mile 20, I was passing through euphoric highs and
grim valleys of emotion. My right thigh
was getting tight and I was having a little pain on the top of my left foot.
I ran by our hotel and my wife snapped a picture, handed off
my running jacket and MP3 player for the big finish. I kept my long pants on even though by this
time it was over 50 degrees. There were
only a few miles left, and I didn't know what to expect from my body when I was
cooling down, post-race. I walked up a
“hill” that normally I would categorize as a “rise” after passing the hotel,
before going back through Epcot for the final few miles.
I kept running after that, “around the world” and finished
strong with a slow sprint to the line for a 4:42:43 chip finish. I collected my medals and made my way back to
the hotel room for a bath and a quick nap before walking the Animal Kingdom
park that afternoon.
In conclusion, I was happy to finish (with my right foot
being what it was a week before the race).
Be prepared to wait (and wait) in an event like this. There was a lot of dead space between the
parks. The organizers did show the
ability to adjust – the Goofy tent was moved from near the finish line, where
we threatened to spill over into the course, to near the food station outside
the finish area and things were a lot smoother for the full. Three medals for two races is a pretty good
deal.
If you think you're up for it, I would recommend the Goofy
Challenge, but be prepared to not get frustrated and get your wallet out. It is Disney World in Orlando, after all.
