january 6th / the goofy challenge

today at 3pm i will leave work, jump into my car and make the 15 hr drive to disneyworld! this weekend is stop #1: the goofy challenge! i have known about this for years and never thought i woul get the chance to run it. several friends from my running group have done it so i have heard their accounts. one thing about me is don't tell i cant do something because that just makes me want to do it. the crazier the better.yes i want to run back to back marathons, want to run pikes peak marathon, the 7.7 mile run up mt washington and would even consider running the 'quadzilla' (4 marathons/4 days) i love the challenge. the only bariers are the ones we set up ourselves. no one thought the 4 minute mile would be done but May 6, 1954 changed that. i could go citing evidence that alot of things were never thought possible and were accomplished! so this is a year in the making. i signed up for goofy last january and had to wait a whole year for this. i really cannot think of a better way to kick off the 2011 season. one thing you all should know, i will not divulge in time goals. i will not be stressed about an arbitrary number, running is much more than that. i will stick to my philosophy that i run hard and give it my best. yes, there will be marathons where i will be pacing people, others will be training marathons with a certain purpose and how i run it. Prefontaine stated one time: "some people run races to see who is the fastest, i run to see who has the most guts" i firmly believe that and that is my mantra the last 10 miles of a marathon. saturday i have the pleasure of pacing a friend in the half to hopefully his PR.  then sunday will be all out and see what is left in the tank. a good sign is that my legs have been lackluster the past 3 runs. anytime i have run a good race my legs have never felt good during that weeks run. prime example was boston 2010. the 4 runs prior to boston felt like crap yet i PR'd. cleveland was the same along with akron and kiawah. so i am not concerned. i know i have trained more thasn enough as i have reguarly done back to back long runs including back to back 20's. the key for me is to stick to my strength: go out conservative and turn it on the 2nd half. putting the hammer down in the latter stages of a race is my strong point and i attribute this to running my 80+ mile weeks along with 100+ weeks. my father told me this week that he is convinced that i am happiest when i am out running, he is absolutely right. when i am running i am at peace. so this weekend is going to be a blast. not only is it disneyworld but i get to race 39.3 miles and be in my element!