General Discussion Race Reports! » Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2) Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2) - Run


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Orlando, Florida
United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 55m 26s
Overall Rank = 10199/13478
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 720/
Pre-race routine:

Woke up a 2am, downed a Red Bull to flush my system. Did some stretching, got dressed and headed to the bus a 3am. Only took a few minutes to get to the race. I headed straight to the race retreat (highly recommend). It was about 55-60 degrees out. The race retreat was a heated tent with separate mens and womens porta potties and changing tents, food, secure bag check, etc. I ate a plain bagel with some fruit stuff on it and had some water and power aid. Took 4 immodium.

Sat and chatted with people until about 5:00am and started to head over with the crowd to the race start. I actually was sitting at the table with the soon to be women's race winner, Renee High (2:48, as she was finishing I was halfway, LOL), who is also trying out for the olympics this coming weekend. Go Renee!

Walk to the start today was alot quicker than yesterday, maybe 20 minutes. Got to the race about 5:20 or so, considering slipping into a further up corral, but people said we could get disqualified if caught ... no way I was giving up my Goofy medal. I stayed in "H" and we started at about 6am.
Event warmup:

I spent alot of time Saturday rolling out my back with my foam roller. I was hitting the spot, but it didn't seem to be helping a whole lot. I was very worried that I would not be able to start the race at all as the swinging of the arm in the run motion was very painful, breathing not so much anymore. I figured I was here, mise well give it a try ... the back issue from Saturday, never popped up once on Sunday!!!
Run
  • 5h 55m 26s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 13m 34s  min/mile
Comments:

I feel like I had a really good race (except the last 5 or so miles when operation power walk was put into effect). My legs were definitely sore from the 1/2 yesterday. I was a bit worried about that. As the race started, I can only say that my legs felt like I was lifting sandbags with every lift of my legs ... kind of like I was doing a 26.2 mile brick. This quad soreness continued the entire race, but just got worse ... go figure.

While there were less people for the marathon and it wasn't as bad, I still spent a good amount of time weaving around walkers because of the corral I started in (last corral). Sometimes it was easy enough, sometimes I got stuck behind walkers of various paces, but I spent an additional 0.37 miles weaving ...

My strategy going into the race was to run about 1 min/mile slower, so about 12:30-13:00 per mile. Also, I would take the hills as I got to them, but generally walked most of them to not jack my HR up.

I was able to keep my HR down for the first few miles, then the monitor just stopped grabbing data consistently (I think it crumples under my chest and doesn't transmit properly). It was good for me to listen to my body --- pretty did it for most of the race, so just tried to really keep an eye on my pace data. I tried to drink every several minutes and take a gel sip from my flask every 15 minutes or so. I also grabbed water and powerade at the aid stations. I grabbed water for the first several, being wary of too much sugar affecting my stomach if I grabbed too much powerade early on.

Potty break at mile 9. The porta potties were about 50-70 away from the aid station and road, so I jogged over to them. On my jog over, I stepped in a hole in the ground and fell down to my knees. Scrapped my knee a little, but got right up. Immediately I was thinking OMG, OMG, OMG I almost just broke my ankle!!! Hit the potty and left.

At about mile 10-11 on the huge underpass hill, I was not running this one ... as I was walking up, I yelled to all the volunteers ... "Who put that here? That wasn't here yesterday!" They all just start laughing, cuz it was the same as yesterday.

At a little more than the 1/2 I knew I had done the 1/2 at about 2:48 ... so what does a Finance person do at that point? I pulled out my iphone and calculated what my cushion was to a 6 hour marathon. I calculated I had about 24 minutes cushion (assuming I could run the 2nd half the same, and I knew I couldn't), and knew that I probably needed most of it. While it was not a hard core goal to hit 6 hours I was tracking myself to it most of the race. I wasn't going to be disappointed it I didn't make it.

The next several miles were pretty uneventful. I ran each mile at about 12 min/mile pace and walked a little bit at each really keeping my eye on the pace and the 6 hour goal. I really carried this strategy most of the race. I really felt pretty darn good (considering) up til about mile 21 or so ... then the wheels kind of came off. I was still running til that point, and although I never thought I would hear myself say this, it was less painful to run that to walk. I wasn't walking slowly, I was walking at a power walk pace. I think at mile 21 it was out in the sun more, I was feeling the heat more and my legs just didn't want to run anymore. It just hurt too much. That is why you see my tracking after 20 miles go down significantly. I was still watching my pace and my time to the 6 hour mark and I knew I had time, but I did have to keep a pretty fast power walk pace to hit the mark. I was power walking at 12-13 min/miles, which is fast for a short person.

Hills and angles streets in these last 5 miles just hurt like hell .... at about 0.5 left, I tosseds my water bottles and gel flask. I ran to the finish at about 0.2 left ... that is about all I had left to be able to run in past the crowds.

I pretty much hobbled after the finish and over to get my medals ... IT WAS WORTH IT!

This was an amazing race for me for a couple of reasons: First, I came in under 6 hours which was a 22 PR from the Chicago marathon only a few months ago, and after a 1/2 marathon the previous day. Second, I battled massive cramping and paced myself badly most of the summer and during the 2 marys I did a few months ago. My nutrition was spot on in this race!!! Gels, electrolytes and my pacing and listening to my body worked out well. I also got to mile 21 before the wheels fell off.
What would you do differently?:

Run faster races to get in a better corral ...
Post race
Warm down:

I took my ice bath after the race and foam rolled my quads (manually with my hands, no weight was beared at this point). I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed the following morning. My right legs gave out walking around the resort later and it seemed the most commonly heard words out of my mouth the rest of the day were, "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch"

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Run faster races to get in a better corral ... Hills, more training

Event comments:

I am rating this race a 4 for a couple of reasons ...
1. I was placed in the H corral (very last corral) and spent alot of time in both races running around walkers that were placed in corrals ahead of me. While walker etiquette was mentioned in the race instructions, it clearly was not followed, by anyone. There were many times where walkers were 2,3,4,5,6 across, on the entire road with no care in the world that others were still trying to run the race. I don't know what could be done about it, but it really made it frustrating for those trying to run the race. Maybe put a walker corral.
2. The number of walkers was increased because many people placed in more forward corrals moved back to "H" to join friends.
3. It was Disney World, so cool to begin with, but really the amount of time spent running on highways, road and backroads was significant. While you ran through parks, you really didn't spend much time in the parks. Maybe 5% of your time in the races was spent in the parks where you could see stuff. I also could never figure out when we when through the Animal Kingdom, the park I was most excited to see... I apparently missed it entirely.
4. Race started 15 minutes late for my corral ... ugh
5. The AWESOME medals and number of volunteers and fans along the course made the race more fun.




Last updated: 2012-01-11 12:00 AM
Running
05:55:26 | 26.2 miles | 13m 34s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/13478
Performance: Good
Course: The marathon course started by circling around Epcot then heading up to the Magic Kingdom and using much of the 1/2 mary course, then heading down to Animal Kingdom. The course is pretty much flat except for the overpasses and 1 under pass after the Magic Kingdom that was super steep and fairly long. There seemed to be alot of overpasses, very long in the last 5-6 miles on the course, but maybe that was my body noticing them more. There were alot of angled roads the really sucked on your knees and ankles (kind of race track angled with on and off ramps), these seemed to really make themselves known more on the marathon course as you body wore down with the miles. Many us use were heading for the grass and flat ground when these came up. There is also alot of spots along the course where the course narrows ... this was also very frustrating as the already busy course got so much worse at these points. Towards the end by the resorts, there was no getting around the walkers at this point ....argh
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

{postbutton}
2012-01-11 1:00 PM

User image

Master
1832
100050010010010025
Elgin, IL
Subject: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)


2012-01-11 1:32 PM
in reply to: #3984253

User image

Veteran
268
1001002525
Germantown, WI
Subject: RE: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)

Congrats on making your goal and for finishing both races.  I did both of them too and I have not gotten to my race reports yet so you are ahead of me there.    Congratulations on getting through everything.  Quite an accomplishment.

By the way, I also thought we could have had more time running through the parks. Not much of the Animal Kingdom or Holywood Studios. Too much behind the scenes and not enough of the actual park, but those two were open to the public when we went through them so it would have been hard for the people at the parks not in the race to see things.

Wear that Goofy medal with pride!

2012-01-11 1:45 PM
in reply to: #3984347

User image

Master
1832
100050010010010025
Elgin, IL
Subject: RE: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)
Thank you!  It was alot of fun!
2012-01-11 3:39 PM
in reply to: #3984253

User image

Pro
4723
20002000500100100
CyFair
Subject: RE: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)

Congrats Carrie.  That's a long weekend.

 

You have added another set of races to my bucket list.  Cindy may have a bone to pick with you.

2012-01-11 4:08 PM
in reply to: #3984677

User image

Master
1832
100050010010010025
Elgin, IL
Subject: RE: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)
Nah, because you can make it a disney trip with the kids, the kids can do races, and for the most part you are done before things get going for the day.  It is kinda pricey, but all transportation is covered, 3 long sleeved t-shirts and 3 medals.  Well worth it, I think.
2012-01-12 8:13 AM
in reply to: #3984253

User image

Expert
1544
100050025
Alexandria, MN
Subject: RE: Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2)
Congrats on your weekend.  Just after we started our pacer was giving us some instructions on what to expect for the day, and she mentioned that the parks are exciting, and you'll naturally want to speed up during them, however we're only in the parks for 6 miles of the entire marathon so we might as well slow down and enjoy them!  Animal Kingdom seemed to be one of the quickest parks too, we were in and out before you knew it!


General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » Walt Disney World Goofy's Race (26.2) Rss Feed