Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Goofy's Challenge Race Report

Over the weekend, as you guys know, we went down to Walt Disney World to run Goofy's Challenge (half-marathon on Saturday, full-marathon on Sunday, for those of you not familiar). This was Miss Bethany's 6th time doing Goofy's Challenge (and therefore considered "Perfectly Goofy," because this is only the 6th time of Disney offering the 'Goofy's Challenge'), and it was my first Goofy's Challenge. I've done the half-marathon 3 times: 2007, 2008, 2009, and last year I just did the full-marathon. This year I decided to step it up and do Goofy's Challenge.

Half-Marathon:
We ran the half separately, and Miss Bethany just cruised along to a 1:50:40, easy beans for her. I went into the weekend very concerned about my IT band. It had been bothering me off and on since Stonecat, and I did a lot of my long runs on trails to kind of baby it, so I was a little nervous about how it would respond to 40 miles of road this weekend. I have a wonderful friend/massage therapist who has been helping me to fix my IT band issues, and I've been rolling/stretching/doing all the right things for it, but I was still nervous. I started the half very conservatively, at a slow and easy pace. As the miles went by, I felt better and better, no pain at all in the IT, so I picked up the pace a little. (Come to find out it was a little too much, as I was sore the next day for the full.) But long story short, I felt great after the half, and finished in 2:00:15, with no pain at all. What a great feeling, I was confident going into Sunday's full.

Full-Marathon:
We ran the full marathon together and, of course, had a blast. We started out nice and easy, around 9:40 pace, and I felt good . . . until I hit the dreaded wall, AT MILE 2. My legs just felt tired and sore, and it felt like they were asking me, 'You idiot, why did you run 13.1 miles yesterday, and why are you running 26.2 today?' So we took the pace down a bit, and Miss Bethany led me through the rest of the way. We ended up finishing in 4:32:29. I'm pretty happy with that, considering it was my first Goofy, and how sore I was already at mile 2. Also, it was great ultra training to run 20+ miles on sore legs :). We had an absolute blast. There was tons of crowd support, lots of characters along the way. Lots of music, bands, cheerleaders, etc. Just 26.2 miles of fun. We loved it. This is our favorite marathon, and we'll definitely be back next year. We're even thinking of trying to squeeze in a fall trip here for the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon. 

Here are some pics from the trip:
With Daisy after the 1/2 Marathon

Clarabelle Cow after the 1/2 Marathon

With our friends Lindsey and Cindy after the 1/2 Marathon

After the Full Marathon. Also, after Miss Bethany hand-fed me four muffins. Can you tell I felt like I got hit by a truck?

I felt much better after I got my Goofy hat and a beer.

Happily displaying our Goofy medals. Miss Bethany's lanyard was orange because she is Perfectly Goofy.

Celebrating at Epcot

Celebrating with a Radeberger Pilsner in Epcot Germany.

With Mickey at Epcot (notice our matching shirts, we wore matching shirts four days in a row, we're cool like that)

With Pluto at Epcot

Finally, with Goofy at Epcot, celebrating our successful completion of Goofy's Challenge

39 comments:

Jill said...

I love that you guys love to run together. Its so awesome and sweet. I love it.

What a great, tough weekend! Way to go to the both of you! So amazing.

Running and living said...

Congrats, the race looks awesome, but SO hard!

Christy Ashley said...

Congratulations to both of you! Great job! I'm hoping to see you again at Boston this year!

Richelle said...

Congratulations to you both! Looks like you had a great time. :)

Karyn said...

Congrats!! I love the matching shirts and you guys made in it back in time for the big snowstorm... I am sure your where pumped about that haha!!

Unknown said...

Those two races always seem so challenging!! I can't believe you pulled through that whole marathon when your legs said "NO!" at mile 2, that's incredible!
I loved your pictures, you guys are just too, too cute!!

Siobhan McCarthy.ca said...

That's so awesome that you guys did the goofy! I did the Wine & Dine Half last year and loved it! I honestly couldn't believe people can survive the goofy-- what an acomplishment! Congrats!!

H Love said...

great race recap. I loved the wall at mile two. you guys are such a cute couple!

Silly Girl Running said...

Great photos! :) Sounds like you had a great time! Makes me really want to do that race once myself! :)

Johann said...

Two Goofy runners in the same home...I love that! This is really awesome! You did so well! 4:32 after the half the previous day is great. Congratulations!

Jen said...

Great race report!!!!!

Jennifer said...

I love all the Goofiness! Great idea to run the second day together. You two are such a great couple! Cheers!

fancy nancy said...

Those races sound so fun! They are definitely on my bucket list of races...not sure back to back though. Congrats to you both!!!

Laura said...

CONGRATS! You guys are so awesome.

Bonnie said...

Congrats! Sounds like you had a great weekend. I volunteered at mile 2 water stop and had a blast. I ran Disney Full in 2010 and it was 26 degrees. I'm glad the weather was better this year.
I think it's great you run together. Unfortunately Me and Mr http://halftriing.blogspot.com have very different paces. Again congrats, I plan on doing the Goofy next year.

Emily said...

Congrats guys! It looks like you had a blast of a trip (minus jet blue sucking like whoa on the way home.)

Jessie said...

Wow, thats awesome that you did both! What a challenge!

Jen Feeny said...

Congrats to you both!!! I'm sorry to hear your ITB is acting up, I def feel your pain! Way to stick with it and make it happen. That's still a really great time all things considered!!! You guys are so awesome, I love that you run races together. I told Spike I want to run my first Boston with him ala Bethany & Ryan. :)

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

I must say you two are adorable, I would MAKE my husband match me if we ran goofy.. Love the Boston jacket, I WANT ONE!! and Perfectly Goofy, that is about right.

CONGRATS!! Another goal accomplished as a couple. Get better ASAP Ryan!!

Anonymous said...

congrats! i think it's such a hardcore feat to do goofy. you two are the best.

p.s. boston training starts up soon. maybe we can get together for at least one long run at some point?

Amanda said...

First off - congrats on being perfectly Goofy Bethany! That is truly impressive. I heard there are only 114 Perfectly Goofy members out there this year!

Ryan - a 4:32 after a slow start...Nothing wrong with that my friend!

Congrats to both of you on your Goofy finishes. I know how tough it is since I was there too and I was a lot slower than either of you. Like you though, I will be back next year and going for it again as long as I can swing it financially :)!

N.D. said...

Thanks so much for sharing your yaxtraks experience!

Emz said...

So awesome. Loved This.

Great photos!!!

Must do Disney one day!

Jim ... 50after40 said...

Great pics, great report, and GREAT JOB at the race. I really like ya'lls blog!

Aron said...

you guys are so cute <3 congrats on the goofy challenge!!!

Katie A. said...

Congrats to both of you! I so want to run this next year!
Have a great weekend!

Running Diva Mom said...

since i've been MIA it's been awhile since i've checked in with you. love all the pics and all the fun!! you guys look so incredibly happy. and great job!!

Anonymous said...

GreAt report,if you love disney racing you should visit the site. Runningoftheears.com. great people and lots of running info

Ann marie

5 Miles Past Empty said...

So awesome!!! Looks like you both had a blast!!

MCM Mama said...

Congratulations! Glad you guys had fun running it together!

Beth said...

Great to read the full race report. You both did great! I loved Disney, too, and hope we can go back in a couple years.

Mark said...

Kickass job guys! I had a bunch of friends down there last weekend running as well.

My wife has finally agreed to come on board and be one of my teammates for the Ragnar relay NY. Great that you guys get to run together quite a bit.

Rock steady.

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