13.1 + 26.2 = 39.3 Goofy 2010 Recap

When I first signed up for "The Challenge" last February, the furthest thing from my mind was the weather. After all, it's Florida, Central Florida at that. The weather usually that time of year is perfect for running. This was not an issue and it shouldn't have been an issue. But as it turned out it was the biggest issue we had to deal with.

On Saturday, it was cold, very cold and windy, and rainy and sleety (at times). Temperature itself was manageable, low 30's but wind gust of up to 18mph made it bad, real bad. On Sunday, it was colder but not as much wind and the sun came out. Average temperatures for this time of year are 61F.

The crowds were amazing. Not sure of the exact number but I heard numbers varying from 12k to 20k for each race. There were 9K Goofy runners. It appeared to me that there were more Marathoners than Half Marathoners which was a surprise.

The idea going in was to go and have fun.  Run -walk - run - walk - Finish.  At no time did I set myself a time goal for either race and as it turns out this was the smart thing to do.  I had read and heard that the distractions during the race would be many, to take full advantage of them and to have fun.  That I did.

The event itself was extremely well organized. What else could you expect from a Disney organization?

The course itself was wonderful. Going through the parks was amazing, specially on the Marathon course,  going through some later in the morning made it more fun because the crowds were bigger and louder.

I ran with five friends from my local running club; Hendersonville Running Club.  Leslie, Shari, Bob, Charlene and Skip.  On Saturday morning we caught up with each other at mile 3 or somewhat there after.  We ran the rest of the Half together and finished together.  That was prety amazing!  Thanks ya'll for allowing me to share this experience with you.  On Sunday, although we had made plans on where to meet, it just didn't work out.  I met up with Skip somewhere around mile 16.  We ran together for about 6 or 7 miles then he went ahead to go catch up with his wife who was just ahead.  The rest of the group had started at an earlier corral and we had no opportunity to meet up.  That was a bummer!

Since I was running solo for the majority of the Marathon, I took advantage of some photo ops, not to many so as not to break the pace, but a few none-the-less.  I really wanted to meet up with Goofy but he was no where to be found!  Oh, well.

As far as the run itself it went just as planned.  I had trained to run a mile and walk for .20m.  As it turned out we ran for 5 minutes and walked for 1 minute on Saturday and I ran for 4 minutes and walked for 1 minute on Sunday.  This was just a perfect plan.  Other than slight soreness in my ankles and heels, all was good.  I was concerned about my IT band but that was not a problem.  YES!

As far as the time it took...well lets just say that I finished in plenty of time to qualify for the "Goofy".   The crowds on the courses were such that going for specific times would have been a disaster.

Today my legs are sore, my ankles and heels not as bad.  I will take it easy the rest of this week for it is vacation time.  Next week it's back to training for the Country Music Marathon is just around the corner.