GOOFY'S RACE AND A HALF CHALLENGE - THE STORY BEGINS....

I was under-trained for this race weekend. My longest run since IMFL was about 7 or 8 miles. I really felt the soreness in my ankles and knees after this run on Saturday. Ended the day wondering how I would get through the full marathon on Sunday. I think the extra weight I am carrying did not help matters much either.

Overall the location helped to break the monotony of the run and made the miles go by pretty fast. It was overcast so it did not get too hot and we also did not get rained on (there was a slight chance for rain) so we were thankful for that.

I carried my hand-holder water bottle and started with that full of 1 scoop heed and 1 endurolyte powder. After that, I refilled it with water at the aid stations and took in some power-aid about once every hour or so. We also took endurolytes periodically to ensure we didn't cramp. Even though it was overcast it was still hot and humid and we were quite "moist".

I was pretty pleased with how we did on this run considering we wanted to leave something in the tank for next day's marathon. We ran from one aid station to another and walked about 2 - 3 minutes to take in some fluid and let it settle a bit, as well as to give our legs a rest. This seemed to work well.

We really enjoyed the day - kept finding things to point out to each other and we took pictures at almost every mile marker (something we wished we'd done at IMFL). We also saw some of the Disney characters along the way and if there was not a long line of other racers waiting we would have our picture taken with them. That little waterproof, shockproof digital camera we got has really come in handy on races.

Train more for the distance. Lose lard weight.

Walked around the post-race party for a bit, got wrapped in foil like a baked potato, and got our (first of three!) medals. Then headed to the car and back to the hotel. Soaked in an ice bath for a few minutes and took some Alleve. Short nap. Suck down pasta at Macaroni Grill for early dinner.

Well I should note that there was an "issue" with the medals. After we finished we kept looking around for the Donald Duck medal and didn't see any. We then heard someone say they had run out of medals. Rob was like WTF?!?!?!?! So we talk to a couple of race officials who confirm they are out of medals. Now we know darn good and well there are literally tens of thousands of people behind us so this defies logic. Rob starts calling it "B.S." (but not abbreviated). Finally someone tells us go to the information area and give our names and they will send us medals. To which Rob states "that is total B.S." (but not abbreviated). So we're waiting in line to put our names on the list and we hear they found some medals. After a while they show up and the people in line and (I think) most of the finishers after us finally got their medals. But some people were so upset I was surprised Disney didn't have their first race riot on their hands.


Lack of longer distance run training.