Tuesday, January 12, 2010

2010 Disney Marathon Weekend

Sadly, we arrived back in Boston today, after a very fun and successful mini-vacation to Disney Marathon Weekend. As you all know, Miss Bethany ran the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge for the 5th time. The race has only offered this Goofy's Challenge for the past 5 years, so Miss Bethany is considered 'Perfectly Goofy.' Ryan ran the Disney Marathon for the first time, after doing the half in 2007-2008-2009.

We left Boston on Thursday, and arrived in Orlando. After getting to Disney and settled into our hotel at All-Star Sports, we headed over to the Race Expo to pick up our numbers and some free stuff. The expo was really nice, and there was some cool merch to buy as well. Saturday morning, Miss Bethany left the hotel at 3:30am to head to the start line of the Half Marathon, while Ryan caught up on some much-needed sleep. Now, we know that love is cheering from the sidelines and true love is crossing the finish line together, but on Saturday morning Ryan definitely needed to get some rest before the big day on Sunday :-p.

Race Report: Half Marathon
The race was freeeeezing! Miss Bethany got to the start line at about 4:00am, checked her bag, and then had about an hour and forty minutes to kill before the start. Bundled up, she just hunkered down, made some friends, and got ready for her Goofy's Challenge to begin. She took it nice and easy, knowing that she had to pace Ryan on Sunday, and still finished in a time of 1:48:20. It was a great race, and she saw her parents at about mile 4, but they never made it to the finish line because it was too cold.

Race Report: Marathon
The race was freeeeeezing! We got to the start at about 4:00am, checked our bags, and again hunkered down to brave the cold before the race. Ryan was absolutely freezing because Miss Bethany forgot to buy him Goodwill sweatpants. So being the smart cookie he is, you will see in some of the pictures/videos that poor Ryan had to go out and buy pink crew socks to turn into leg-warmers. They actually worked nicely, and once the race got started we weren't cold at all. For this race, Miss Bethany was trying to just pace Ryan to a nice time goal. Absolute A+ goal would've been 3:50, and A- goal would've been 3:55. Miss Bethany incredibly kept us right on 8:47 min/mile pace for more than 20 miles, at which point Ryan's legs just weren't up for holding that pace, so we slowed, but just a little bit. We never stopped to walk once, finished strong, and finished in 3:56:45, about a 9 minute PR for Ryan, so that was HUGE! We were both very excited and satisfied, and we couldn't have been prouder of one another. Also, just as a side note, Miss Bethany was the first 'Perfectly Goofy' female finisher in the marathon. :-p

Some highlights of the marathon were:
**fireworks at start
**characters throughout
**lots of music (though no Hannah Montana, which disappointed Ryan)
**runs through all four theme parks
**running through Cinderella's castle
**four food stations with bananas, Clif product, and candy
**plenty of water/Powerade stops (although some were very icy due to the cold)
**cool finisher medals, bib numbers, and finish line
**the novelty of Goofy's Challenge (Not to downplay anyone's accomplishments at all, but a lot of the people don't take the 'Challenge' seriously. Many people don't truly try to 'race' them both, and lots walk/jog the half in order to have a better marathon time. In many people there's no correlation in half and full paces. In our opinion, it'd be more fun and interesting if the combined times of all Goofy participants were tracked and compiled as part of results/awards. But that's just our 2 cents :-p )

Please enjoy the pics below, and maybe you'll be inspired to run next year! We'll be there again for sure!


Just arriving at the Race Expo.


Thursday night dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Yum!


Best. Sandwich. Shop. Ever. EARL OF SANDWICH. Ryan is in love. YUM.


Miss Bethany alone before the Half, decked out in the finest Thrift Store apparel. Before it started sleeting and raining.


Here we are before the Full. Look on Ryan's face says it all: 'what have I gotten myself into?!'


Proudly displaying the hard-earned Mickey ears.


After nice hot showers and some delicious Endurox to replenish the fluids/fuel. All smiles.


Miss 'Perfectly Goofy' Bethany.


Miss Bethany's 'Perfectly Goofy' name in the race program.


The Goofy bib numbers.


All of our medals.


Miss Bethany's Goofy medal. So cool.


Our twin Mickeys, close-up.

Looooong post today, but much more to come. We'll have the videos for you in the next post, and photos from our trip to Magic Kingdom! Stay tuned!

15 comments:

lifestudent said...

You guys are such troopers for keeping is positive despite the weather. Im sure it was rough, but it makes for a good story ... and once the race is over, all you have is a medal and a story anyway, right?

:)

Unknown said...

I've been waiting for your report, yeah!! The pictures were incredible, you must frame them! It seems like you both did an incredible job and I cracked up about Ryan's disappointment with the lack of Hannah Montana music. I would have been REALLY upset too. I wish you had a picture of running through Cinderella's castle, too fun! More details and pictures please, so fun!
Also, it seems like some of us would love a short(very short)running tour in Boston! Please let us know how we can help!! We're staying at the Marriott Copley!
Hugs and congrats again!

Rookie on the Run said...

What a FUN time you had!! I love the bibs and medals. How does it feel to be Perfectly Goofy? I think that is SO cool, by the way!

Congratulations to both of you for finishing the marathon/Goofy Challenge!!

Mike Russell said...

Congrats guys! That is a perfect marathon time, especially for his first. Sounds like there will be lots more!

J said...

Great race report and great race times! Must have been so much fun to be there except for that ultra cold weather!

Jenn said...

Cute pics! Great job guys! I would totally be bummed if there was no Hannah Montana music as well! Nice medals!

robinbb said...

Congrats you guys. It was SOOO cold out there. I will be writing my Goofy report within the next day or so, so look for it. Here is a link to the sorted Goofy participants by time:

http://www.lehigh.edu/~row3/goofy/goofy2010.html

Unknown said...

Congrats!! You guys did an awesome job and we are very proud of you-as usual!! Keedp up the good work!

Maybe next year we'll be able to join you (but probably not :(

Marlene said...

Congratulations Bethany & Ryan!

You both ran awesome races! That was some crazy weather, huh? I could not believe it. We were wearing every piece of running apparel we brought!

Too bad we didn't know you were at Sports. We were right next door at Music!

Katie said...

That sounds like so much fun!

Denise said...

Love the medals!! And you both did great! Too bad it wasn't more seasonal weather down there but sounds like it didn't bother you!

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

Wow! What a weekend. I am so excited for you guys. PR and perfectly Goofy, who could ask for more. I am considering the Goofy next year, but know I have to decide soon. I have been 2 times to run the Disney full and both times it was HOT, hot for me, I prefer the cold. So with it being cold this year, the odds are that it will be on the warm side next year. Hmmm! So many marathons, so many decisions. Congrats!

Michelle said...

Thanks for the follow! So awesome that you guys are doing this together! Great job to the both of you!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

Amazing times for both races. Bethany I love that you paced Ryan. CONGRATS on the PR Ryan.. I would love to run Goofy someday, the pictures and medals and bibs, so fun!

Robert said...

Congrats, Bethany, on being Perfectly Goofy. Awesome accomplishment. I as well completed the Goofy for the fifth year in a row and my wife for the fourth year in a row. According to the list, at age 68, I'm the second from the oldest Perfectly Goofy. My wife and I are already signed up for a six-peat.