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Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge:Marty Klinkenberg(The Telegraph-Journal)
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(Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal)
As they readily admit, you'll not find a goofier bunch, from left to right, than Nancy Savage, Marta Kelly, Joanne MacMillan, Brigitte Sonier with Daryl Steeves, coach, who ran 63.3 kilometres - in 24 hours. |
Running Disney marathon about having a good time, not recording a good time
Marty Klinkenberg
Bands were playing, cheerleaders were cheering, gospel choirs were singing, fireworks were bursting in air. With that as a backdrop, a group of women from the Saint John area ran a marathon through four Florida theme parks, beside competitors dressed as Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. A variety of Disney characters in costume - everyone from Chip and Dale to Goofy, Pluto, Tigger, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum - lined the 26-plus-mile route through the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, MGM Grand and the Animal Kingdom.
"I liked the Magic Kingdom the best," Joanne MacMillan, an agent with Royal LePage Atlantic, said this week, surrounded by fellow members of the self-proclaimed "Goof Troop." "All of the Disney characters were out, and running through Cinderella's Castle was really cool."
With a pile of medals bearing the image of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Goofy resting on a conference table in front of them, four of eight competitors that participated in races on back-to-back days - a half-marathon last Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday - talked about their experiences. That is 39 miles - or 63.3 kilometres - in 24 hours.
Each received a Donald medal for completing the half-marathon through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center, a Mickey Medal for finishing the 26.2-mile race and a Goofy medal for doing both of them. Oh, yeah, they also got a lot of sore muscles and a heap of personal satisfaction to go along with it.
Talk about goofy.
"The Goofy race was unique because it had never been done before," said Daryl Steeves, the running guru who trained the contingent of 16 women from Saint John that participated in either or both races. "Because of that, we had to come up with a strategic training plan specifically for it."
Then he paused.
"Also, anyone who was going to do both races had to flunk an IQ test first."
Each of the 16 women from Saint John raised $2,600 for the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation to earn the right to participate at the event. Approximately 26,000 runners from all over the world participated in at least one of the two races. The women from Saint John that did both the half-marathon and the full marathon were Ms. MacMillan, Marta Kelly, Brigitte Sonier, Eileen Quinn, Krisann Palmer, Pam Jones, Nancy Savage and Ellen Steeves.
Ms. Savage is vice-president of patient programs for the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation; Mrs. Steeves, a financial officer for the town of Rothesay, is Daryl's wife.
"A bonus for me was that my wife and my boss were on the team, so I got to tell them what to do," Mr. Steeves said, laughing.
Mr. Steeves designed a training program for participants that included a gradual increase in the distances that they ran leading up the event. Some began training as far back as spring, others concentrated their efforts over the last few months. The group included women ranging from their mid-20s to mid-50s, and novices as well as longtime runners.
"For some of the people that did this, it was the farthest thing that you would have ever expected them to do," Mr. Steeves said. "What a great bunch of people to be with. To be at the finish line, to see everybody's reaction, their relief, their elation, was really a treat."
A lifestyle and health consultant at Simply for Life, Ms. Sonier was competing in both her first half-marathon and first 26-mile race. Yet she felt good enough on Monday to join other Saint Johners in a day-long visit to Universal Studios.
"With proper training, it wasn't that bad," Ms. Sonier said. "The half-marathon seemed like just another long run when you look at all of the work we had been doing over the past several months.
"But I have to admit that when I woke up on Sunday morning before the marathon I was a little scared."
The Sunday race began at 6:01 a.m. in temperatures nearly as chilly as it has been in Saint John this week. Although many participants are driven by competitive spirit, Mr. Steeves told his runners that it was equally or more important to enjoy the race.
"You don't go to the Disney Marathon to get a good time, you go to Disney to have a good time," Mr. Steeves said. "Every marathoner should run it once.
"But if getting a good time is what you want, there are better races to go to."
Ms. Kelly, the manager of customer service for Saint John Energy, ran at the annual event last year for the first time. This year, she relaxed a bit and enjoy herself a lot more. She ran the 26.2 miles in four hours and six minutes in 2005, and 4:51 this past Sunday.
"I had way more fun this year," she said. "Last year I was concerned about my split times and I didn't stop to see any of the Disney characters along the route. This year, I stopped and took a picture at every mile marker, and I even stopped and had a beer at the 20-mile mark."
The race courses were more interesting than most marathons, and the New Brunswickers had little trouble conquering the flat terrain. The large field of runners was more intimidating than anything else.
"The few minutes before the marathon were pretty daunting," Ms. Savage said. "You see the crowd, all of these greyhounds in fancy clothes with legs up to their shoulders, and you think to yourself, "What am I doing here?"
Ms. MacMillan said running lengthy races on consecutive days posed an unusual challenge.
"The hardest part for me was already being sore starting the marathon," Ms. MacMillan said. "Usually, when you start you are relaxed and in pretty good shape. But in this case, the first mile was as hard as the last."
Participants each had favourite segments, but several mentioned the portion of the marathon that brought them through the Animal Kingdom.
"You could tell by the smell that you were in the Animal Kingdom," Ms. Kelly said. "We ran right past some fresh compost piles."
Ms. Savage said orangutans grunted at them as they ran past.
"No, actually, that wasn't the monkeys, it was me," Ms. MacMillan said, joking.
It sounded as if the most torturous part of the experience for everyone was in the ice baths Mr. Steeves required all of the runners to take after Saturday's race. Submersing their lower bodies in an icy bathtub helped reduce inflammation and made it more manageable to do two races in as many days.
"It was just desperate," Ms. Savage said. "It's self-inflicted hypothermia. You need to put a towel in your mouth before you do it."
Courtesy of Marty Klinkenberg is contributing editor of The Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at mklinkenberg@rogers.com or 645-3236
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