2010 Goofy Race Report


The weekend I had been training so hard for had finally arrived. I was staring the Goofy Challenge right in the face. I’ll have to admit, this was the first time I actually started to get nervous. I knew how grueling the task would be from the moment I registered, but somehow I didn’t really face it until arriving in Orlando. The Half Marathon was on Saturday and the Full on Sunday. 39.3 total miles through one of my favorite places on Earth. It’s funny, it seemed like only yesterday that Andy and I were running the 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon. We were at mile 19, I was hobbling with a painful ITB flare up and Andy was battling with exhaustion. I think I said something like, “dude, we’re done with Florida marathons!” He nodded in agreement as we continued through the toughest part of the course. Andy finished about 10 minutes ahead of me and I remember thinking that would be the last time we would both be crossing the finish line at Disney. As much as I love the this place, this race and all it’s humidity had kicked my butt the last two years. I really couldn’t see running it again. I even remember joking with him as I was on my way to the airport a couple days later. “Let’s go for the Goofy next year!” We both had some good laughs about what a stupid and insane idea that would be.

Well here’s the problem. I can be a very spontaneous person and really enjoy the adrenaline rush of accomplishing physically and mentally demanding goals. After all, that’s what got me into running in the first place, The more I thought about it and with peer pressure from friends like Jeff, I started to seriously consider the Goofy. Maybe the third time would be the charm. Maybe I could finally run a solid marathon at Disney if I trained hard enough. How sweet would that be given the 13.1 mile “warm up” I’d have to run the day before? I sold myself on the idea and registered for the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge the next day! I emailed Andy a copy of my registration thinking he would get quite the chuckle out of it. Well, it was me laughing uncontrollably the next day when he sent me a copy of his registration! At that moment, I remember thinking how good I felt about my decision to run Disney again.

Saturday January 9, 2010

It’s 2:45am and the first of 5 alarms I’ve set goes off. It’s time to wake up, grab a cup of coffee, a bagel and catch the 4:00am bus to the start. The weather is uncharacteristically cold with a temperature of 30F with NW winds at about 13mph. I had made a decision before leaving Columbus that I would wear shorts on both days regardless of the temps. I went with a long sleeve tech and a short sleeve over the top. I also had two throwaway cotton layers for the early miles of the race. Andy and I had plans of running at a comfortable pace while taking in the course and snapping as many pictures with the characters as possible. Our goal was to save our legs for the marathon while still finishing in just under two hours.

It’s 4:45am and while in line for one last potty stop, we notice something falling from the sky. Wait a sec, is that snow and sleet??!! You have to be kidding me! Many of us incorporated treadmill runs into our training to help us acclimate for a possible warm and humid race in Orlando! Well, looks like us northern runners were getting a taste of home. It really wasn’t that much of an issue for us, just a little disappointing to have to deal with this kind of weather in Florida.

It’s 5:20am and time to make our way out to the corrals. It’s normally about a 15-20 minute walk, but we got a late start and decided to do a warm up jog out there. Andy and I were assigned the “A” corral, wave 1. We made our way up to the front just behind the elites. I have to say that it was very cool standing right behind the fastest runners on the course. I took a good look at them, because I knew they would soon be disappearing ahead on this dark course.

It’s 5:40am and the final 10 seconds are being counted off. The fireworks light up the night sky, and we’re off. It really didn’t take long to get into the race. The one mile warm up jog out to the corral had already woken up the legs and the pace felt very easy. My first layer was off by mile 2 as we turned almost directly into the wind on World Drive. Having run only the Full before, this is usually mile 6.5, so it felt a bit weird. As we approach mile 4, we’re in the Magic Kingdom parking lot with the Transportation and Ticket Center in sight. There are many spectators in this area and the energy level around us has really picked up. Andy and I take turns keeping each other in check with the pace. The legs are fresh from the taper and really want to go, but we hold back knowing we’ll still have 26.2 miles left after this morning’s run is complete.

We’re at mile 4.5 and my second layer is off. We approach a unique feature of this course, running down under a water bridge, then back up. I’m a little surprised to see a couple runners stopped and stretching at this point, but I think the weather really impacted many on the course today. We’re just passing mile 5 and are getting ready to enter the Magic Kingdom from backstage behind Tony’s. This is the reason so many come from around the world for this race, to run up Main Street and eventually through Cinderella’s Castle. This is my third time making the turn up Main Street and it feels just as good as the first!

As we are running through the Magic Kingdom, there are several spots to stop and take pictures with the characters. We hit them all! The cast members are great, quickly grabbing our cameras, snapping the pictures and sending us on our way. The last picture we take before exiting the Magic Kingdom was with Captain Jack Sparrow and his swash buckling pirate friends. This was a cool picture, but it also took the longest amount of time. We had a lot of fun over the last mile, but now we had some time to make up with all the stops.

We’re now running south on Florida Way and the sun is slowly starting to rise. We never see it due to the clouds and sleet, but at least we are getting some natural light. Hey, there’s Goofy! We almost missed him, but quickly come to a stop for a picture with the big guy! Ok, back to business.

Mile 9 has us running south on World Drive with a nice tailwind. Approaching mile 10 we reassess our time and see that a sub 2 hour race is easily in the bag. The legs are feeling great and I can sense that Andy really wants to pick it up. I make a deal with him that if we hover around a 9 minute pace until mile 12, we can have some fun and open it up the last mile. He agrees and we cruise on. Passing mile 11 Spaceship Earth is in sight. We continue east on Epcot Center Drive and then into the parking lot. Mile 12 comes just before entering Epcot.

Ok, here we go. I let Andy to set the pace, whatever he felt comfortable with. We enter Epcot from a backstage area and eventually into the park near the west side of Spaceship Earth. I look down at the Garmin at we’re running at a 7:28 pace which, surprisingly, feels good. I look over at Andy and he looks relaxed, which is a great sight considering what he’s been through the past month. We hit the lake and the course makes a 180 around a large Christmas tree that hasn’t been taken down yet. Only .6 to go and I check the watch again. We’re now running at a 7:08 pace. As we duck backstage one more time, we arrive at one of my favorite parts of the course. There is a church choir that Disney brings in every year for this area. They’re backstage and aren’t visible to anyone except the runners. It’s always been a very touching and private moment for me. We press on around the corner and are now running toward the finish line. With about 100 yards left I look over at Andy and I know what’s coming next. We both break into an all out sprint and cross the line together! Not the smartest idea, but we went with it.

Our official chip time was 1:56:58. We had a great time on the course and never really overexerted ourselves. Mission accomplished! It started raining after we finished which made for a very cold walk to the car. Time for a hot shower and some relaxation!


Sunday January 10, 2010

It’s 2:30am and the alarm goes off. It’s time to start day 2! Running the Goofy is tough enough, but waking up so early two mornings in a row adds to the challenge. There is both good and bad news with the weather. The precipitation has moved on and it will be a dry morning. Unfortunately, the temperature will be even colder than yesterday at 26F with NW winds at about 15mph. Ok, so it’s another Ohio winter morning. One cast member joked, “welcome to Alaska”!

I decided I wanted to take an earlier bus at 3:45am today to give me a little more time to relax, use the restroom and keep the nerves at bay. I don’t remember saying much on the bus ride. I really didn’t know what to expect from myself. Sure, I put in the training, but I was about to ask my body to do something it had never attempted. Deep down I wanted a sub 4 hour race, but I knew I had to keep it real. My PR was set 15 months ago in Columbus where I ran on fresh, tapered legs, but they were anything but that now. I feel like I’ve been better trained this time around(thanks Brenda!), but this is a course that has humbled me the past two times I ran it. I kept going back and forth about really pushing for a sub 4 or just going with feel and finishing without much regard for the clock. One big motivating factor was that Andy would be going for his first sub 4, and if he was successful, I wanted to be there to see him cross the line.

It’s 5:00am and Andy and I start on our way to the corrals. We passed on the warm up run this time thinking 26.2 miles would be enough today! My wardrobe was very similar to the previous day. My sweatpants would come off just prior to the start and I’d lose two top layers within the first 6 miles. Looking around, there were definitely more pants than shorts today.

It’s just before 5:40 and Mickey is addressing the field of over 20,000 runners. I’ve always liked his send off “speech“, but that’s just the Disney nerd in me. I was surprisingly relaxed as the fireworks went off. We were positioned towards the back of the “A” corral, so it took almost 3 minutes to cross the start line. I hit the start button on the Garmin crossing the mat and we’re off!

Mile 1 is full of spectators on the left side of the course. It’s also a crowded mile and our 10 minute split at mile 1 reflected that. No worries, plenty of time to make that up. Mile 2 is pretty cool as we enter Epcot through a backstage area behind The Seas Pavilion, then around the back of The Land before eventually ending up in World Showcase. As we run over the International Gateway bridge, France is directly in front of us. There is also something approaching on the right that I purposely don’t look at. I know it’s there, but I refuse to look at the mile 25 sign and clock until I’m back here in a few hours.

At mile 3.4 we are backstage again and approaching “the merge” between the red and blue courses. It’s a non factor this morning as the traffic is moving fairly well. The legs are feeling good at this point. The tightness from the first couple miles is all but gone and I remember convincing myself that the effects of yesterday’s run are behind me. Of course there was a part of me that knew that not to be true, but I went with it anyway.

As we approach mile 4, we’re almost two minutes off our average pace goal due to the crowded course through Epcot. No problem, we’re now on the open road for the next 6 miles and should be able to make up some time, although we are now facing the same NW winds we had at the start. I look over at Andy and I see something I haven’t seen before at this early stage of the race. His game face is on and he has a very determined look about him, This gives me a boost of energy as we start to pick it up to about an 8:30 pace.

At mile 5.5 we begin an uphill climb on an overpass that takes us across World Drive. On the way down, we circle counter clockwise on an off ramp which drops us onto World Drive headed north and into the brisk NW wind. It was then that Andy said something you hope to not hear from a running partner. He needed a port-o-john and he needed it now! I don’t have to ask why, because if it was anything else, he’d already be off in the trees. A couple minutes later, the port-o-johns are just ahead and he makes a beeline towards them. As I follow him, I have a quick decision to make. Do I wait for him and greatly decrease my chance of a sub 4 or keep going and hang onto hope of hitting my goal. I decide to wait, realizing that we still may have a slim chance, and it would be more fun to try it together. It took almost two minutes for him to get in and the entire stop lasted about 5 minutes, which seemed like an eternity. We started running again and passing mile 7 I looked at the Garmin and realized we had settled into an 8:20 pace. Normally that would be out of my comfort zone for a marathon, but it felt good so we kept it up.

Passing mile 8 and still holding our pace I made a conscious decision. I was going to run the remainder of this race by feel and venture outside of my comfort zone. I wanted the sub 4 even though I realized we had a lot of time to make up. It was a weird feeling for me. I felt free and excited and had a sense of confidence that my training would push me through the tough miles. Andy and I never discussed it, didn’t need to. He looked strong and I knew we were both on the same page.

Mile 9 and the Transportation and Ticket Center are just ahead. This is a great area of the course. The spectators are numerous and loud! There’s a lot of energy in the air which really helps to keep our levels high.

Before I knew it we had passed the water bridge and were approaching the backstage entrance to the Magic Kingdom. Just 24 hours ago, this place was dark and wet. We now had clear skies and sunlight. As we ran out of the castle we made sure to smile, then made the right turn towards Liberty Square followed by Frontierland. We passed Jack Sparrow backstage before exiting the park on the west side.

As we passed mile 11, we made the left turn on Florida way, which at this location, is a cast member only road. Okay, I may have driven it once or twice… I knew we’d have a tailwind from this point basically all the way until mile 20. That was a great feeling! Miles 11-13 take us past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resort. There are a lot of spectators cheering us on at this point. This is also an area where they have those small signs in the grass just off the road. I’ve always found these to be a bit distracting and even dangerous if you’re on the grass passing someone.

We’ve reached mile 13, technically the halfway point, but as most runners know, the second half doesn’t really start until mile 20. Miles 13-16 are relatively boring. You are mostly on back roads and the spectators are sparse. It’s also the point where you usually start to see some runners pulling over and taking walk breaks. We’ve made up a lot of time over the last 5 miles and I’m still feeling strong. Approaching the mile 13 water station, we notice some runners slipping due to the icy conditions along the tables from spilt water and PowerAde. Easy does it! I see some fellow ROTErs manning the station which was great!

As we pass through the water station and head for mile 14, Andy points out one of the sweetest sights of the day. The red and white balloons with the 4 hour pace group are in sight! Wow, we’ve almost caught up! I wanted to catch the pace group, but we still had plenty of miles to do that.

Mile 15 goes by and the balloons are a lot closer. I feel like it’s only a matter of a few minutes before we catch them.Unfortunately, this was also the point where Andy started to drop back a bit. I hated that he wasn’t there with me, but know I now had to focus on myself. Approaching the mile 16 water station, I was right behind the 4 hour pacer. They slowed way down going through the station and I ran right by! What a feeling that was to finally catch up! I think to myself, just hold a 9 minute pace and the sub 4 is reachable. However, I remembered the decision I had made back at mile 8 to run outside of my normal comfort zone. I was still feeling good, so rather than stay with the 4 hour group, I kept pushing to create some distance from them.

I'm about to enter Animal Kingdom from the back of the park. As I run through Asia I get my first glimpse of Expedition Everest. Up ahead is the bridge I'll have to cross after passing Everest. It always looks much higher than it actually is, but it’s a hill nonetheless. As I enter Dinoland I'm at mile 17. This is really the first time I remember telling myself to back the pace off a little. I decided to wait until exiting the park to make any pace changes and continue through the backstage area and eventually exit out on the north side near the front entrance. I then slowed down for a few minutes, which really seems to do the trick.

As I pass mile 18 and make the left turn out of the Animal Kingdom parking lot I start what is, in my opinion, the toughest stretch of the course. Miles 18-21.5 will have two overpasses, an out and back and a third overpass that has been my nemesis the last two times I ran this course. It’s a flyover type ramp that is slightly banked to accommodate for the speed of the cars driving on it. This gives your ankles a workout this late in the run. There are also just scattered spectators over these miles.

I start to really focus on mile 20. One of my goals was to make it there feeling good and I’m starting to believe that will happen. As I approach the first overpass I'm at an 8:30 pace. I decide to slow to a 9 minute pace for the uphill portion. I’m trying to conserve the energy I know I’ll need later on. Before I know it, I'm up on the second one crossing over World Drive. I’ve also passed an important landmark, mile 20! It’s time to flip the switch and start counting them off one at a time. For a moment, I wonder where Andy is and how he’s doing.

Suddenly I’m feeling stronger as I start on the out and back. I notice the 3:50 pacer running the other way. He was only a few feet away and seemed so close, but was actually about ¾ mile ahead of my position. As I continued to the east, I started to wonder where the heck was this darn turnaround! LOL! I finally make the turn back and picked up a quartering headwind for the first time since mile 10. I can see the mile 21 sign in the distance when suddenly I see Andy running the other way. It was a great sight knowing he was okay and seemed to be running well. I realized his sub 4 would probably not happen, but a PR was possible if he could hang on!

As I make the right turn off the out and back, the third overpass is just ahead. This was a walking point for me the past two years and I wasn’t about to do that again. As I reached the top I let out a loud scream, which I think startled a runner next to me! I’m sure he was confused why I was so happy with 5 miles yet to go! I descend off the bridge and am now headed north on World Drive into the brisk wind. Brrr!! As I pass the med tent at mile 22, I think back to last year when I had to stop at several of them with ITB issues. I think I smelled like biofreeze for days!

I'm now getting ready to enter Hollywood Studios from a backstage entrance. I know the mile 23 sign is in this park and I begin to focus on getting to it. My energy level is decreasing rapidly. I haven’t hit the wall yet, but for the first time, I’m sensing it’s close. The spectators in this park tried to cross the course right in front of me a couple times, which was annoying at this point in the race.

As I exit Hollywood Studios, mile 23 is behind me and I’m focusing on getting to 24. I know exactly where it is, and once I pass it, there will be a lot of spectator support along the boardwalk area resorts. Mile 24 is directly ahead. I’ve officially hit the wall. I truly feel like I have nothing left. I’m grinding my gears at this point. My right leg is starting to cramp pretty bad. My brain is mush, although I do remember thinking how thankful I was to be hitting the wall so late in the race. I start to focus on all of my training and how short 2 miles really is. I hear my name called out a few times from spectators(name on bib), but am too exhausted to turn my head and thank them. My legs want to walk in the worst way. I keep them moving until I reach the end of the Beach Club. There’s a pedestrian bridge leading to Epcot ahead and I know I have to walk it. Deep down, I know I shouldn't stop, but I decide to make a quick deal with my legs. Walk to the top of the bridge, then run the rest of the way. As I start to walk, I feel my right quad immediately tighten up. I knew I had to start running again quickly. At the top of the bridge I get back into the run. Mentally, the 45 seconds of walking gave me the little boost I needed to help me fight through the wall and finish this race.

I'm now entering Epcot through the International Gateway area. Hey, I’m back in the U.K.! There’s a part of me that wants to walk up the bridge leading to France, but I wasn’t giving in! My left leg had now joined the cramping party, and I knew if I walked again, it would be very difficult to get two cramping legs moving again. Running down the bridge I could finally do what I wouldn’t allow myself to do a few hours ago. I looked over to the right and saw the mile 25 sign, and what a sight it was! I looked at the clock and knew I had a sub 4 in the bag! It gave me a great sense of relief, but I knew I still had one long mile to go. I’m tempted to look to my left for Spaceship Earth, but I’ve learned from the past not to do that until I pass Italy. It just looks too far away. As I run through Mexico, I can’t help but to think about trying the new tequilla bar tomorrow!

I'm approaching the right turn towards Spaceship Earth. I think to myself, it's almost over. It felt so good to finally be able to think that! As I approached Spaceship Earth, I veered to the right and headed backstage once again. I heard the awesome choir around the corner, which gave me instant energy. I pounded my chest and raised my hand at them. One of the members actually turned around for a high five!

Ok, .2 to go and I could hear the crowd at the finish. I round the corner and I can see the finish line. Even more sweet is the clock which is confirmation that I officially have my sub 4! I’m filled with emotion as I cross the line. I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses! I almost lost it when a volunteer put the medal around my neck. I’ve always found that to be an interesting and personal moment between you and a total stranger. I was standing there in disbelief of what I had just done. My chip time was 3:57:46 and my total Goofy time was 5:54:44. I met up with Andy a short time later. He had crossed at 4:06, which was a new PR for him!

This was an incredible weekend and I’m so thankful to have been able to be a part of it! Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend. It was a blast to spend time with so many friends! Special thanks to Brenda, for your coaching, introducing and me to speed work and making sure I ran SLOW on easy days! Andy, for your ongoing friendship. We’ve come a long way since our 2 mile runs in Daytona. I hope we continue to motivate each other to get out and do these crazy races for a long time to come! My friends in red, the ROTErs! You guys are awesome and very inspiring!

Until the next time……

Jason