DisneyRunning.Com

2008 Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge Report: Ronnie Rank Jr.

Overall Impressions: Disney Delivers!!! This was the third most emotionally high experience of my life: 1) Proposed and wife accepted 2) Daughter's birth 3) Goofy Challenge. The whole experience was top notch and like many of you have already registered for next year. Running through parks that you went to as a child, and seeing the characters that I know by heart thanks to watching every movie 10 times and playing Disney Scene It with my daughter, brings back a flood of memories both new and old that no other race can provide. Expo/Registration: went on Thursday at @2:15 and thought it went very smoothly. I enjoyed the expo and thought they had plenty of vendors. If there was anything you forgot, odds are it was there. Only issue I encountered was that the Pace Team did not know what corrals they were in yet, so had to go back on Friday to find out. Good thing I took proof of time because I ended up getting moved from D to B just to run with the 4:30 group. Next year I will probably wait and hit the expo Friday. Volunteer/Fan Support: awesome. I thanked as many volunteers as I could handing me powerade, water, and bananas. Each one did this for hundreds of people - Wow. Can't remember the amount of times I heard someone call out my name along the course, but I do know that it put a smile on my face each time. Enjoyed all of the characters, bands, djs, and the many other entertainments along the course. Weather: warm and humid, but when you sign up that has to be considered a possibility for Orlando in January. Much better than 0 and snowing any day of the week!! Favorite Costume on Course: lady dressed as Snow White. What made this so cute and original was a sign on her rear end that read "Kiss my Snow". This tickled my funny bone as well as many others around me. DisneyRunning.com meeting at R tent: met a great group of people both days. You guys rock! We had a lot of time to kill and it went by pleasantly and quickly. Thanks. Donald : Basically took it very easy and ran at a pace almost 2 1/2 minutes per mile slower than my normal race pace. Wanted to keep my heart rate on the lower end of the aerobic threshold and save myself for Sunday. Chatted with a guy named Dave from the UK from about mile 3-8 and the time flew. Going through the Magic Kingdom and the Gospel Choir near the finish were the highlights of the race for me. Mickey: Went out with the 4:30 group which was a full minute slower than I would have run on fresh legs. The 1/2 and full times was a strategy I had settled on at the start of the taper. Being my first Goofy and the fact that I did not do any long back-to-backs in training(originally was going to do a Higdon Intermediate plan, but 4 month injury during base building forced me into a novice plan), the goal was to be able to have fun and finish strong. Miles 1-5: Loved the fireworks at the start. Course was super congested, but I expected that. Quads were reminding me that I had gone 13.1 miles the day before, and I didn't expect that until later in the race. Miles 6-9: Legs started loosening up and the crowds began separating. Miles 10-15: Going through the Magic Kingdom was more Magical the second day. At this point I was feeling super strong and starting to believe that I was really going to be wearing that Goofy Medal! Carried the 4:30 pace balloons through the entire magic kingdom. One of my favorite marathon pics is the one with me coming out of Cinderella's Castle with the ballons held high and the 4:30 pacer on my right. Miles 16-20: Some of the adrenaline that hit me at 10-15 faded and this was the only stretch that I considered tough. Going through Animal Kingdom helped, but only briefly. Girl from New York named Becca who had also been running with the 4:30 group provided a lot of motivation and really helped pull me through this area. Her energy and enthusiasm was unbelievable. Thanks Becca! Miles 21-24: Wind returned to my sails and strength came back full force. Family was waiting in Hollywood Studios, and knowing this got me super excited. Kept looking and looking and finally spotted my family. Ran off of the course where my wife snapped a photo of me and my daughter. As my wife was snapping the picture, my daughter was saying eewww daddy you are sweaty. Now that is my favorite marathon pic!! Gave my wife a quick sweaty peck on the cheek and smile and I was off. Sad part of this stretch was leaving behind a wonderful lady named Lynn who I had run off and on with the entire race. At mile 24 she had to walk for a while. I slowed down and began walking with her when she looked over and said no, you keep going. I started to protest, but she forcefully repeated her orders and we parted with goodbyes. Lynn, I raise my glass to you! Miles 25 to the Finish: Had a blast. Increased my pace and took it home strong. Felt myself start to tear up when I hit the Gospel Choir. I really had to man up to keep myself from busting out into a human waterworks show. Sprinted (or what could be considered a sprint at this point) the last hundred yards and double arm pumped my way across the finish. Looked up and realized I had finished right behind Becca who was off to Epcot for an around the world beer tour with her dad. God Bless that bundle of energy. Donald 2:15:10 Mickey 4:26:31 Goofy 6:41:41 Ronnie