january 11th - goofy challenge recap!

goofy has been conquered! the whole experience was totally awesome! i simply do not know where to begin. ok i will begin with saturday. going into this i had set some loose goals. main one was to help get my friend mark to a new pr in the half marathon. as for the marathon it was see how i feel . i knew a pr in the marathon was not a realistic goal. saturday morning i rise at 2.30 to get ready for 5.30am start. meet mark in  lobby of all star sports and catch shuttle to staging area. after normal stuff like stretching and hitting the port a pots, we make our way to the corrals. mark checks a bag (i didnt) we have some great conversations while slowly walking to the start. finally make it to corral A and we patiently wait the start. as for the start all i can say is wow! the fireworks were amazing and really got you fired up. had to remind myself to stop watching and run. lol  the first mile we made our way through the crowd and hit the first mile in 7.22 . mikles 2-8 we cruised between 7.14-7.16 pace. so much fun running through the crowds in the parks. i had fun stirring up the crowds and high fiving the fans. miles 9-10 we slowed to 7.20, 7.20. i could tell by mark's breathing that he was getting tired but he was still going strong. the last 3 miles were challenging but to mark's credit (he is one tough dude) he pushed through and we finished in 1.37.04! a new pr by 3 minuites for him!!! he ran a great race and we had fun. mission accomplished. rest of day i spent visiting animal kingdom and hollywood studios. fun fun fun.
      Day 2: the marathon. again 2.30am wake up and same ritual. back in corral a and waited for the fireworks again which were awesome! this time the first 7 miles were interesting. legs couldnt find a comfortable stride but once i hit magic kingdom they seemed to wake up. for 8 to 20 miles i felt good and comnfortable. came through the half in 1.37.02 and thought a 3.15 was possible. again the course worked its way through the parks which was booming with excitement. music, disney characters and bands lined the course cheering us along! again i was high fiving the characters and fans. i was making sure to have fun. at mile 20 i could feel the fatigue from saturday beginning to settle in . with only a 10k left i hunkered down and held court. as i got closer i began to get excited knowing that i was going to actually complete the challenge. once i saw the golf ball i started to try and kick in. i crossed in 3:18:04 high fiving goofy!!! i was exhausted. a very friendly volunteer guided me to my mickey mouse medal and my goofy medal. the next 2 hrs i spent in the finishing are having grea conversations with fellow goofy runners and marathoners. congratulating everyone i saw. it was just awesome being around everyone.
     sunday i hobbled around magic kingdom and epcot wearing my goofy shirt and medal of course. my legs were not sore, just extremely exhausted as is to be expected. though a 3.18 marathon is 16 minutes off my pr, it ranks right there with that pr because of racing a 1/2 the day before. i wanted to run  both races in a combined time of under 5 hours and i finished in 4 hrs 55 minutes 8 seconds. i was 430th overall in the half and 260th overall in the marathon. this event lived up to all the hype and then some. next to boston this is my 2nd favorite event and this is now a yearly event for me. i love disney. they run a class act down their. everyone there was so helpful and friendly. all the workers congratulated me and thanked me for running. i highly recommend this event to anyone. i cant say anything negative, well yes i can....its over. march 15th registration opens up for 2012 and i will register the very first day!
        so 1st marathon of 2011 is in the books and i am very satisfied. off to a great start. next up is Myrtle beach in 38 days. time to build on disney and go after myrtle beach. also start thinking ahead to 3 months 7 days: BOSTON. i look forward to pounding out some great miles ove rthe next 4 weeks. but that will be for a future blog..........