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So, we have our reservations for October and for January, too. I’m excited to go, although I’m a bit sad that we going down the day of the Race for the Taste 10K. It will be nice to be at WDW without trying to get a race packet, arrange to get to the race, or do anything racing-related. Plus, the Food and Wine Festival will be underway at Epcot. I’ve been at WDW during Food and Wine several times and I love it. It is a great opportunity to experience food you may not have a chance to try at any other time.
We may also go to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party while we’re down there. Our son will be 4 by the time we go. He went to MNSSHP when he was 2 and seemed to enjoy it, but he was very young. I’d like to see if he would go again, as we’ve always had a good time when we gone in the past. Just can’t wait!!
My good friend Gordon at Running to Disney interviewed Michelle Scribner-McLean and Mike Scopa, the co-captains of Team AllEars on episode 23 of the Running to Disney Podcast. He mentions me a few times, which is really nice and very generous of him, as other listeners of his great podcast are also team members (and I can’t wait to meet them!). The team is really supportive and a great group to be associated with as I get ready for the 2010 Marathon. As a reminder, I (and the rest of the team) are raising money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Please support us as we help this cause at a great event. I’m honored to be a part of the team and to have friends like Gordon help out by publicizing our efforts.
My family and I will be back down at WDW in October. Usually, I would try to finagle an entry into the Race for the Taste 10K, but I decided that a trip to WDW without a race would not be a bad thing (this time!). We’ll just miss the race, but that’s okay, since we’ll be back down in January. We’re really looking forward to this trip, which will be my son’s 7th time. He turns 4 in September, so he is a seasoned veteran already! Also, Food & Wine will be going on while we’re there, which is always a good thing!
My wife and I will both be training while we’re down there in October, which is fine. I’ve been in WDW while training for races before and it is a good chance to get used to the weather you may face on race day. Currently, we’re staying at Pop Century, but we may be moving to a DVC resort (not sure which one yet) instead. So, depending on where we stay, I may get to run a familiar route or create a new one. It’s all good if you’re running at Disney!
A quick note here – I have joined the Team AllEars running team for the 2010 WDW Marathon weekend. Part of our goal is to help raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Please consider helping out this fantastic cause and supporting Team AllEars as we train for our half-marathons, full-marathons, and Goofy Challenges. I’ll have more information on the team as I continue to train. Thanks!!!
. . .going okay, although I’d like to get outside more than once a week. I’m trying figure out how to be able to run at work, at the end of the day more than likely. I really need to lose some weight and I’m not sure why I’m having so much trouble getting back into the right mindset to eat better.
WDW in October – no Race for the Taste, but I think we can go to MNSSHP (I should probably mention it to my wife!).
Got the second issue of twenty-three, the Disney D23 quarterly magazine. It is good so far, but I still need a really good reason to join D23. Haven’t gotten it yet.
So, since I registered for the 2010 WDW Marathon, I’ve gotten more serious about my training. I’m running a 10K next Saturday, a half-marathon May 31, and another one August 1. After a bit of a break, I’ll start training for the marathon. Since I got my Garmin, I’ve enjoyed getting outside (well, that and spring finally arriving). This morning I ran 9 miles and felt really good. I finished only 8 minutes slower than the 8 miles I ran last week. I think that given the two half-marathons I’ll run this year, I may be able to get a little quicker. I’d like to finish the marathon in under five hours, so I’ll have to do some quality training. If the winter is not bad during training, then I should be in good shape for the race.
We’re thinking about going down to WDW in October. Normally, I’d angle for the weekend of the Race for the Taste, but I’m not going to worry about it this year. It would be a shorter trip, since we’d like to take a longer trip in January. I really enjoy going down to WDW in October and maybe we’ll try to go to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party again. Our son would be older and may enjoy it more than the last time, when he was barely 2 years old. He’d be 4 this trip and since he’s been to WDW 6 times since he was 6 months old, I really enjoys it. He talks about Disney a lot and he plays with his Cars cars quite a bit. The Disney Channel is on pretty much every day, much of the day (not that Daddy minds too much). We’ll see if we can get down there, and what we’ll do when we go.
Couple of things. . .I’d like to post more, but it’s been difficult. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things better now that I’ve settled into the new job. This post will have a couple of items and then hopefully back to more regularly scheduled programming.
I did register for the 2010 WDW Marathon. My wife is doing the Half Marathon (her first). We’ll both be getting the Race Retreat, I think. I might be persuaded not to if I know of enough people doing the marathon to keep me company before the race. Or if people I know who are running the marathon also get the Race Retreat. It is definitely worth it, but I would rather have someone to talk with before the race. This year, when I did the Goofy Challenge and bought the Race Retreat for both days, I knew people running the Half that I chatted with a bit. I didn’t know anyone running the full marathon that also bought the retreat, though, so I chatted with Gordon from Running to Disney for a while before retreating (no pun intended) to the Race Retreat tent. I was able to chat with someone in there, but having people I know with me would be much more fun. We’ll see as we get closer to the race who’s running and who might want to get the retreat package. It is well-worth it.
I’m still doing the Goofy in 2011, but I am apparently addicted to the WDW Marathon and will run it if I am going to be anywhere near WDW during Marathon Weekend. Maybe I’ll do the Dopey in 2011 and add the 5k race, too.
On a non-running related Disney item, although a bit late to the table with this observation – I believe that Disney’s announcement of D23 is much ado about very little. I see it this way: Join or don’t. If you join, good for you. If you don’t good for you, too. I’m not sure what the big deal is that has gotten so many people in an uproar over D23, pro or con. I get being passionate about Disney and what it means to you personally, but does the rest of the world really need to know what you think about the club? Opinions are great, I believe in being able to express yourself, whether you’re for or against the concept Disney has created. But between the podcasts, blog posts, and forum posts about D23, you’d think Disney fans were debating the dissolution of the company and the closing of the parks. Seriously, if you want to join, more power to you. If you don’t want to join, great. But let it go, people. It’s a club, not a mandatory requirement in order to be a Disney fan. (Full disclosure-I haven’t joined yet, but only because I don’t feel the need to drop everything and rush online to do so. I’ll get to it eventually)
I haven’t disappeared, just have been really busy at work (even after a month, it’s still cool to say that!). I’m going to try to get back into a rhythm of posting in the next couple of weeks. Since I’m probably not doing the WDW marathon next year (although my wife did register for the half-marathon), I don’t think I’ll be posting training updates. If I decide to do the marathon, then I will. Otherwise, I’ll try to post Disney-related content as I think of it. Like this:
My son has discovered the unsung Walt Disney Animation Studios films The Wild, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons. He’s watched them a lot lately. Wall-E, too. Cars and Toy Story (1 & 2), have taken a back seat to the new movies. We did have a Monsters, Inc. phase, which he has not outgrown, but his portfolio is slowly growing, so we have a large rotation right now. I’m going to get him into the classic animated movies, but I haven’t figured out a good starting point. I’m open to ideas.
The new job is great and I feel really good to be back at work. The nice thing about this job is that I’ll have the time, while I’m working, to listen to my podcasts on pretty much my regular schedule. Since I listen to several Disney podcasts each week, I won’t fall behind, like I feared.
On the Disney running front-My wife is planning on doing the Half-Marathon next year (I’ll get her to register in the next day or so). I’m wavering about doing either the Circle of Life 5K or the marathon (no Goofy in 2010). I may also try to not run and enjoy being a spectator and supporter, but I’m not sure I can do that. I am doing the Goofy in 2011 for sure. Our son will be old enough to get what Daddy’s doing and I’m hoping that my wife will want to do the half again so we can running together.
We got the 20th Anniversary edition of Oliver and Company and then found out we already had it, so we’re going to return it. The movie didn’t do enough for me to want two copies. It’s getting hard to remember what we have and what we don’t have without carrying a list every time we go to Best Buy!
Training is in recovery mode, so I’m doing low miles, but I’ve had to switch to running on the elliptical at home in the evening when I get home from work (I love that!). Eventually, I’ll get back outside and I’m already planning on a few 5Ks this spring. I’ll run a half-marathon in August and sprinkle in a few races here and there, too. If I run the marathon at Disney next January, I’ll start training for that in September again.
Good times!
I start my new job tomorrow! I’m very excited, even to be back in commuter traffic again. I really believe that this will be a great thing for me and that I will really enjoy my new job.
On a Disney-related note, I’m thinking about doing the marathon or half-marathon next year. More importantly, I’m working on getting my wife to do the half next year, too.
I’ll see how that plan goes.
Apologies for the length, but since last weekend, I was busier that I thought I’d be. The race report got pushed back until now, late Sunday night, a week later. I’ve read a few race reports, especially my new good friend Gordon Harvey’s Run to Disney marathon race reports and Lori Burke’s We Wants the Readhead half-marathon report. Both of these reports capture the excitement of first-timers to the WDW Marathon Weekend as runners. If you read these reports, I can tell you that even though this was my first time doing the Goofy Challenge and my third time (in a row) running during the marathon, the excitement level does not fade.
My wife, 3-year-old son, and I got to Orlando on Thursday, checked into Saratoga Springs (our room was even ready), and headed over to the expo. I must say that this year, the expo and packet pick-up was much easier and seemed to be a much better experience than the last two years. Disney split the packet pick-up and expo into two different buildings, which reduced the crowds, although they were still large. The race shirt and goody bag area exit opened up right at the merchandise area - good call! It was a beautiful day, too, so my son ran around outside for a while before we headed back to the resort (then he feel asleep!).
Friday was a restful day, although it was a bit hectic at first. We needed to get Annual Passes, which we usually do at Epcot. So we headed out in the morning to catch the bus to Epcot. Instead, my son decided he wanted to go to Magic Kingdom. We took that bus. During the ride, my mom called (she had come down for the races, but was staying at another hotel at Downtown Disney) to see where we would be so that she and my aunt (who lives in Florida) would know which park to come to. I told her that we had planned to go the Epcot, but were now on our way to MK and to call us before getting on their bus. This turned out to be a good thing, because as soon as we got our APs, my son decided that he really did want to go to Epcot. So we took the ferry to TTC and rode the monorail to Epcot. I called my mom and told her that we were headed over to Epcot. They met us for a relaxing day. I was able to get to sleep fairly easily and fairly early, even though we were in a Studio. I got the bed and my wife and son got the sofa bed.
Saturday morning, I woke up at about 2:15, got ready, and headed to the bus. Our driver got mixed up about the drop-off area at Epcot and had to go back out and come in again. The walk from the bus to the starting area took about 10-15 minutes. I had purchased the Race Retreat for both races, so I made my way to the Race Retreat tent and relaxed for a while. I had to go back out to the starting area to pick up a hat from the DisneyRunning.com folks and went back into the tent to wait until the inevitable trek out to the corrals. Since this was my first Half-Marathon at WDW, I wasn’t entirely sure how the waves worked, but since I was in the third, and last, wave, I didn’t worry too much. We got up to the starting line about 20 minutes after the race started and headed out towards the Magic Kingdom.
I think it is interesting just how different the half- and full-marathon courses are (aside from the distances, of course!), especially since they both start at Epcot, go to the Magic Kingdom, and finish at Epcot. I must say, though, that I really enjoyed the Half-Marathon quite a bit. Others have covered the half pretty thoroughly, especially Lori at We Wants the Redhead, so I won’t recap it too much. The run was fine, I felt good, and I was very pleased with my finish time of 2:41.
Saturday afternoon, we went to the Magic Kingdom, where I attended the WDW Radio Show Meet-of-the-Month, which just happened to coincide with the marathon weekend (not really, as the host, Lou Mongello, planned to be at WDW for the weekend). I finally met Gordon from the Running to Disney podcast. It was great meeting him after listening to his podcast and emailing and twittering in the weeks leading up to the race. I also met another half-marathon participant, Lisa from Those Darn Cats and her friend Trace from Disney Dudes as we waited in line to talk with Lou. An impromptu interview ensued and Gordon and I found myself a part of Those Darn Cats episode #35. It was a bit surreal, but very exciting.
Eventually, I found myself saying good-bye to my wife and son and heading back to Saratoga Springs to get my bag and get over to Pop Century. Unless you have rented a car or don’t mind paying for a cab ride, there is no easy way to get from one resort to another (that I know about, at least). So, I figured that since I did not want to walk over to Downtown Disney from where my room was at Saratoga Springs to catch the bus to Pop Century, where my room would be for the night, the boat over to DTD would work fine. It did, but took longer than I thought. Then the bus to Pop Century took a while to get to the Marketplace stop and, it being Saturday night, the ride over to Pop was a bit slow. I finally got to my room, dropped off my bag, and headed to the food court for a quick dinner before turning in for the very early wake up call.
Setting three alarms and leaving a wake-up call may have been overkill, but I got up, got ready, and got downstairs to wait for the 3:00 bus (the first one to the race start) with Gordon. We rode to the race start, where I went into the Race Retreat for the second day. This was, by far, the best investment I’ve made for anything related to running. Knowing that I would have access to port-a-potties that only a handful of other guys would have, a private bag check, and free food both before and after the race, made it easy to see why people spend the extra money. I passed the time talking with a first-time marathoner, hopefully helping to ease nerves, especially during the long trek to the corrals. I waited for the race start, no sure if I would be able to find Gordon, who was in the corral ahead of me. Ultimately, I did not find Gordon, but apparently passed him at some point. No matter, I really enjoyed meeting him and talking with him after the race to see how he felt about completing his first marathon. I remember the feeling and I think it is great that I was able to hear how much it meant to someone else to be able to say that they are a marathoner.
When the race started, I felt pretty good, although for the first 5-6 miles, I kept thinking to myself “Are you insane? You just ran a half yesterday!” After a little while, I settled into a pace that I felt I could maintain. I walked through every water stop, chatted with other runners, had my gels every 4 miles, and checked my pace at every mile marker. Something strange was happening.
I had planned to finish the marathon around 5:45, so I had picked up a pace band at the expo to help me keep track. I found that I was ahead of the pace and gaining time each mile. I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I did last year, when I pretty much walked most of the last 5 miles. In fact, I think I ran at least 23-24 miles, walking only at the water stops and a few times after the 15 mile marker for brief periods of time. This was weird. It looked to me like I would finish around 5:30 or so. That was fine with me, but I wasn’t sure if I would suddenly hit the wall and completely blow up. My mom and aunt saw me in Epcot at the Rose and Crown and I told them to get to the finish area. I was pretty well wiped out emotionally by this time, but they really boosted me and gave me the extra oomph I needed. Short version, I did not hit the wall and I ended up finishing in 5:25, which was the longest of my three times, but the other two weren’t on the second day of the Goofy Challenge. I was tired, I was sore, I was sure that this was the dumbest thing I had ever done in my life, but I had done it. I had completed the Goofy Challenge and finished faster that I thought I would. Once I found my wife, I was able to calm down somewhat and I gradually settled into the post-race soreness that always hits me.
Would I do the Goofy Challenge again? Definitely, but not next year. If I do any race next year, it would be the Half-Marathon. Training in the winter is not fun and training for the half would be easier. I think I’ll tackle the Goofy in 2011-maybe even adding the Circle of Life 5k to do the unofficial “Dopey.” I may change my mind, though, you never know!
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