The Goofy, by Pat Love
Pat Love runs The Goofy marathon
This journey began two and a half years ago when I went with my sister Pam and her friends to run the Disneyland Half Marathon. This is where we first heard of the “Goofy”. I was the last holdout of the group as I couldn’t imagine racing the half and full marathon back to back. Finally I decided that it was an endurance test, not a race and signed up.My training consisted of running the marathon clinic during the summer and racing the NS half & Hallows Eve trail half marathons in October. All of a sudden it was November and the run was only 2 months away. I started running 1-1 ½ hours on Saturday and 2-3 hours on Sunday. It wasn’t too hard to do this as Bitsy kept me company running through the neighbourhood on Saturdays. On Sundays, I would run with NSA & return home to grab more fuel and head out once again. To mix it up a bit, I would run down or back from NSA. Before I knew it X-mas and New Years were here.
On Jan 6th, Pam and I got up at 3:00 am to catch our flights to Orlando. Because we were staying 10 days, we had rented a condo so we had a kitchen & laundry facilities. On the Friday we took 3 shuttle buses to the expo at Wide World of Sports where we picked up our race packages. This included 3 long sleeved shirts (generously sized); a Donald duck ½ marathon shirt, a Mickey full marathon shirt and a Goofy race & a half shirt. The expo was pretty big and had a number of interesting booths in it. We returned to the condo for a pasta dinner and an early night.
The next morning we got up at 3:00 am and got ready to go. The cab picked us up at 4:00 and despite the fact we were close to Epcot center, it took about an hour to get dropped off. The traffic was horrendous with 28,000 people running the half. It took 35 minutes to walk ½ mile to the corrals. The race started at 5:30 and we just made it before the first corral started the race. I started back 2 corrals to be with Pam and then decided to run with her as I was more worried about finding her after the race than my time. The weather was cooler, but perfect for running. It was still pretty dark when we started running, but we chatted as we ran along and before we knew it the sun was coming up as we entered the castle in the Magic Kingdom. It was awesome! The race starts at Epcot and then goes along the road to the Magic Kingdom & then back to Epcot. There were bands playing and the Disney characters were at different spots along the way, so you could have your picture taken with them. Pam & I were wearing our Sugoi Canada shirts and were cheered on by the crowd as well as other Canadian runners. The race went by quickly& soon we were at the finish line receiving the first of our 3 medals: the Donald Duck Half Marathon medal. We were pleased to be finished part one in 2:35 and headed back to the condo for a relaxing afternoon, another pasta dinner & early night.
Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday. I didn’t sleep well and getting up at 3:00 for the third time in 4 days didn’t help. The cab picked us up at 4:00 once again, but the traffic was a lot better with only 17,000 people running. Once again I dropped down a couple of corrals to start with Pam. The weather was cooler on Sunday and we were glad that we had brought our foil blankets that we received the day before. I ran in shorts, a sleeveless top, running sleeves and gloves. At the beginning of the marathon each corral went up to the start line where fire works went off to start each wave. It was an exciting way to start the race and my idea of running heart rate went out the window as it was too dark to read my watch. After running half a mile Pam told me to go and off I went. I wasn’t at all worried about time & decided just to run and see what I could do. The race started at Epcot, then went through Magic Kingdom, the Animal Kingdom, Hollywood & back to Epcot. There is a lot of road running between the parks, but the route is flat other than the overpasses. When I came to the first overpass people were walking & complaining about the hill. I almost belted out that “hills are our friends”, but instead commented that this was an incline as I ran by. The time went by quickly as once again the bands & the Disney characters were out on the course. The parks were lined with people cheering you on & it always feels good to hear someone yell out your name with some kind of encouragement. There were a lot of different T shirts to read as I ran by, like “Marathon Mummies: 26.2 miles of peace and quiet”. There were inspirational shirts as well. One man in the past year had finished 25 radiation treatments, run his first half marathon & was now running his first full marathon. A number of people who were wearing costumes were also fun to watch. The most popular were Goofy, Buzz Lightyear, super heros, Minnie Mouse and, of course, the Princesses. And no, I did not dress up this time. When I reached the half way arch, my first thought was that I had already run a marathon, but that went out the window as I checked my time 2:14. I then realized that I could finish in less than 4 ½ hours. I kept running & squeezing by people who wouldn’t move over; I was determined not to slow down. I was happy to get to the section of the race where I only had single digit miles left to run. At one point I thought about walking, but quickly tossed that thought out. I did walk at the aid stations when I took a gel or drank water. I also used bio gel a few times on my quads; this freezes your muscles for awhile. (Thanks for the tip Mike!) The last long road stretch reminded me of the powerline with Heather McDonald’s signs on it. Sharpie had placed signs along the road that entertained the runners as they ran by. The last 2 miles were the hardest as I talked to myself as I chased down 2 guys in Canada shirts. Finally I was back at Epcot and sprinting for the finish line, where I received my Mickey Mouse marathon medal and my Goofy medal. When I checked my watch it was 4:23. I ran a minute faster than Vancouver with a 5 minute negative split. I was really excited to have done that well. Pam came in at 5:07, 2 minutes off her Vancouver time and with a 13 minute negative split. We fuelled up as I was starving at the start and half way through the race. My 20 minute massage ended up being to closer to 30 minutes with 3 people working on me. It was great!
If you finished the marathon you were given a free day in one of the Disney parks on the Monday. Both Pam and I felt pretty good the next day, but we think they lowered the toilets in the Magic Kingdom.
All in all, it was a great experience. I didn’t realize how strong I was until I ran that race. It was a great feeling! If I can do it, so can you!
Pat Love.