WDW Goofy Challenge: Slow and Steady Finishes the Race (Part 2)

TNT WA/AK Chapter at Inspiration Dinner, ready to take on Disney

A Short Poem

(Inspired by Disney magic)

Twas the night before Goofy and all through Disney World

Team in Training runners were stirring, awake in their beds

Clothing was dressed on chairs with care

In hopes that race day would not too soon be there.

The racers were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of finish lines danced in their heads

And me in my hotel room, with the covers pulled tight

Was trying to get at least a little sleep that night.

The Half Marathon

By the time I had my purple shirt decorated and had all of my race gear arranged for the morning, it was about 9:30 when I fell asleep on Friday night.  This allowed me just about 4.5 hours of sleep before the half marathon.

Yes, if you do the math on that one, this means that my alarm went off at 2:00 AM.  Never in my life would I have ever imagined that I'd be setting an alarm for this time in the middle of the night to get up and go running.  Really far.  And then, just to rub it in a little deeper, as I was putting on my Nike+ GPS watch about 30 minutes later, I glanced down at the time (which was still set for PST) and it read 11:36 PM.

That's right...as I was crawling out of bed, putting on running clothes, and eating my yogurt and granola, the west coast was just falling asleep.  I received a good luck message from Ironman Jason, which I'm guessing he sent just before falling asleep.

Nonetheless, I was up, I was awake, and I was ready.  At least, as ready as I was going to be.  MacKenzie and I were rooming together and we walked down to the hotel lobby to meet our teammates at 3:00.  The hotel lobby was filled with TNT runners who were all staying in the hotel.

All dressed up and ready to go. Totally loving my new
Team Sparkle shirt.

Erica and I had talked the day before and decided to leave our water belts behind for the half.  This was kind of a big deal, because aside from my first half marathon, I haven't run a half without it.  But Erica and I had a plan for this race, and with what we were thinking we both figured we didn't really need our belts.

The plan was simple:  Go slow.  Aim for a 2:30 half.  Take lots of pictures.  Have fun.

And I may be spoiling the ending for you here, but that is exactly what we did.

Before we could start enacting our plan, however, we had to get to the start line.  This proved to be more of a process than anyone had anticipated.  First, we had to wait in line for a shuttle bus (ahem...motorcoach) to take us from the Coronado Springs Resort to Epcot.

3:00 AM, yet comfortably warm enough to be standing
outside in tanks and t-shirts.

In fact, it was colder on the bus.  That's when Erica and I
pulled out out mylar blankets saved from previous races.

Once we got to Epcot, we had about a 5 minute walk to get from the bus drop off point to the finish line/bag check area.  Our local WA/AK crew parked ourselves in a spot near the bag check to wait things out until it was closer to start time.

We happened to sit down right next to a toy soldier character from Toy Story, who was loudly directing/entertaining the crowds.  We also noticed a guy nearby who was getting dressed in full fireman turnout gear (including the huge air tank on his back).  After speaking with him, we found out that he intended to run the Goofy Challenge in full gear.  With the heat that was expected on both days, I found this absolutely unbelievable.  And incredible.

And of all the ladies couldn't resist the fireman photo op.

After hanging around for a while, our fearless, enthusiastic coaches directed us towards the start line and told us that they'd see us out there on the course.

Fearless, enthusiastic, dancing coaches.  Even at 4 AM.

After we were funneled through the bag check lines, things seemed to come to a standstill on the other side.  A few thousand runners seemed to be penned in by the bag check tent on one side and lines of port-a-potties on the other.  As MacKenzie, Erica, Annemarie, and I kept getting penned deeper in, word spread through the crowd that they hadn't opened the gates to head to the start line.  It felt like we were sheep being led off to slaughter.  Interminably waiting.

See the one tiny exit area in between the endless banks of port-a-potties.
Eventually they funneled 30,000 people through there.

When they finally opened whatever gates were holding us back, it was a slow and also seemingly endless walk to actually get to our start line corrals.  The race directions had told us to expect a 20 minute walk to the start line.  About a mile.  We were already running 13, why not tack another one on there?

Slowly but steadily, MacKenzie, Erica, Annemarie and I made it into our corral.  And then there was more waiting.  There were 8 corrals total (each corral starts one after the other so that there isn't a mass start where 30,000 people start running all at once), and we somehow ended up in the 3rd, even though we had been aiming for the second.  The start line was pretty energetic with lots of people crowded together, music blaring, big screen TVs showing what was happening up at the front of the corrals.

Disney put together a pretty good start line celebration for the half marathon.  As each corral was started, Donald Duck, flanked by Goofy and Mickey on either side, counted down to release the crowds.  They set off fireworks for each corral start.

Donald, Mickey and a hidden Goofy waving from the start
line state in their track suits.

What was even cooler though was as we passed by the stage, MacKenzie spotted Drew Carey who happened to be standing below the stage.  She screamed "Go Sounders!!" at him and then we all crowded to the barricades as he came over to say hi to the Sounders fans.  And, not to name drop or anything, but this was after I spotted Freddy Montero on Wednesday night a couple people ahead of Erica and I in the airport security line.

Yeah, I shook is hand.  NBD.

MacKenzie, Erica, Annemarie and I all started together.  Annemarie took off pretty quickly ahead of us.  MacKenzie stayed with us for the first 2 or 3 miles until we stopped to take the first picture.  And from that first picture is where all the fun began.  This half marathon was the most fun I've ever had in a half.  I wasn't stressed about running fast or PRs or bathroom stops.  I wasn't stressed about finishing strong or giving it my all.  My only goals were to run slow and have fun.

And through this photo montage, I will show you just how much fun Erica and I had in our Disney World Half Marathon:

Pirates of the Caribbean.  This first stop was where we lost MacKenzie.

A girl saw us trying to take pictures, and said "I'll take yours
if you take mine."

Entering Magic Kingdom ~3 miles in (after a bathroom
stop)

Cinderella's Castle lit up in the back.  SO COOL to run
through Magic Kingdom in the dark.

First characters we deemed important enough to stop for.
Alice and the Queen of Hearts!

And then things got exciting...

OMG THE LITTLE MERMAID!! Favorite Disney Character!  And she thought
I was dressed up as Ariel.  Several other characters (including Cinderella)
thought this throughout race.  It was totally unintentional, but I'll take it!

Beauty and the Beast! I think the Beast was one of the few
characters that was actually taller than me.

We spotted royal Donald and Daisy as we entered Cinderella's Castle, but
didn't stop to wait in line.  The runner in the pic seems to be dressed as
Cruella DeVille though, which is an interesting juxtaposition.

We encountered Cinderella and Prince Charming while the sun was rising
as we left Magic Kingdom.

In the half, after you left Magic Kingdom, all you had was a long stretch of highway until you got back to Epcot for the finish.  Disney did a pretty good job of keeping us entertained along this long stretch, but it was a skinny road and very crowded.  Erica and I did a lot of weaving in and out of people to keep a comfortable pace.

Things I thought about in this stretch:

1)  It's really crowded.

2)  It's really flat in Florida.

3)  Those characters must be really hot in those costumes.

4)  They must have to wash those costumes very thoroughly after all the characters have hugged sweaty runners in both these races.  Or just throw them away.

5)  I'm running a half marathon right now.

6)  I HAVE TO RUN A FULL MARATHON TOMORROW.

But I didn't let any of this lower my spirits, because out on those roads, the pictures continued.

Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins!  If Ariel is my absolute favorite Disney
character, Mary Poppins is a close 2nd.  She even had a British accent.  And
the angry penguin is literally elbowing me in order to be in the picture.

This is not a Disney character.  This is Coach Kelly.  Which is just as exciting.

Somewhere after seeing Coach Kelly, we also saw Coach Siri but somehow managed to miss taking a picture with her.  This is sad.

Lilo and Stitch were somewhere along this stretch.  Not sure of the exact
order.  Still haven't seen this movie, but lots of people seem to love them.
They're very short.

Coach Nadine!!  Again, not a Disney character.  Again, just as exciting.
Especially because we got to see more dance moves.

Then a few more miles, a few more random pictures, and just like that we found ourselves back at Epcot.

Inadvertently picking up the pace as we neared the finish
line.

Then it was over.  The excitement, the fun, the merriment.  Erica and I hooked elbows and proceeded to skip across the finish line.  Wizard of Oz style.  Even though that's technically not Disney.  And remember that slow goal time we had?

I think that's as pretty close as it gets to nailing it on the head.  Net Time of 2:29:12.  Almost 40 minutes slower than
my PR, and I couldn't care less.

And waiting at the finish line were Mom and Dad.  They saw us just before we crossed.  This is the first time they were ever there to cheer for me.  The first time I ever picked them out of the crowds in the finish line chute.  The best way to cap off a great race.

And they got both Erica and I Mickey roses, which they handed to us after the finish.

Poor wilted Mickey rose a couple of days later in the
hotel room.

After the race, we got our Donald medals, checked in at the TNT tent, and then headed back to the hotel.  I iced bathed and then proceeded to lounge/nap by the pool for a couple hours.  Because it was 80 degrees out.  And sunny.  I ate lunch with Erica and my parents and then went back to the hotel for another nap.

I woke up around 3:00, and met my parents to head to Downtown Disney to wander through stores for a bit.  We put our name on a list at a pasta restaurant called Portabello, anticipating the 1.5 hour wait they told us it would be.

Mom and dad got drinks at a margarita bar while we were waiting.  I did not.
This is highly unusual because I am usually the one with the drink and they
are not.

A couple of teammates met us at the restaurant to carb load for the next day.  Again, none of us got drinks, but mom and dad did.  Again, highly unusual.  But it was an unusual kind of weekend.

We of course had one more photo to take.

Pleasure Island, how could we not stop for a picture?

And then it was back to the hotel.  Back to bed.  Back to tossing and turning all over again.  Back to this:

A Short Poem

(Inspired by Disney magic)

Twas the night before Goofy and all through Disney World

Team in Training runners were stirring, awake in their beds

Clothing was dressed on chairs with care

In hopes that race day would not too soon be there.

The racers were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of finish lines danced in their heads

And me in my hotel room, with the covers pulled tight

Was trying to get at least a little sleep that night.

Because tomorrow I had to do it all over again.  And run twice as far.