Friday, January 21, 2011

WDW Marathon - I'm Goofy!!




















Just me and a few friends running this race. lol I'm happy to say I am definitely Goofy now! I was able to complete the marathon in 5:53:57, AFTER running the half the day before. I am SO happy that I was able to do this without injury and with just a little bit of soreness in my legs.


This was another awesome race, just as the day before was. I stayed at my hotel after the half marathon and just chilled for the rest of the day. I really wanted to go to one of the parks, but was a good girl and stayed put. I knew I'd regret it if I didn't do that.


The night before the race, a fellow DM/Twitter friend, Albert, contacted me about meeting up and riding to the start together. We were both staying at the same hotel so it was easy to do. I had realized that I really didn't need to be the first one on the bus OR at the start line so we left about 3:20 AM. He wasn't in the race retreat so we parted at the start area. It was nice to meet him. He was also running the Goofy Challenge. I had planned to meet some other friends before the race, but a communication problem led me to miss them. I waited for about 10 minutes and then headed to the start line at 5:15 AM. Note: Disney says you need to be in your corral at 5, but it's not enforced. I got to my corral (G) at about 5:20 and managed to squeeze my way to the rope again. I just didn't want to try to weave my way through people at the start.

I love the way Disney sets off fireworks before each corral start, not just at the beginning. It made me feel a part of the race even though my corral was second to last. I started off at a 2 min run/walk just like the day before, but took it a little easier. I walked quite a bit of the middle portion of the race because I wanted to make sure I finished strong, running. At about mile 20, I began my run/walk again and was able to finish running!

We got to run through all 4 parks for the marathon and it was great! The only downside to this marathon is the section of parkway we have to run for a large portion of the race. It can be a bit boring, but Disney is good about adding lots of entertainment along the way. I made sure I ran through the park sections no matter how I felt. lol Vanity, you know.

I love that there is a choir just before the finish line. They were singing a great chorus, "God is Good, All the Time" and it was very motivating.

ASI photography is all along the course taking pictures and video and they did a great job of getting lots of shots of me. I'm impressed for sure.

I was able to finish this race and still walk after. hahaha! I had SOME soreness in my legs, but really not much at all considering I had run 39.3 miles in two days. After my first marathon, I couldn't even walk. I've improved!!

The day after the marathon, I was able to meet up with my DM/Twitter friends, @Maddyhubba, @CrazyRunner, @Runs4Coffee, @jmsenger, and @EvaTEsq, at EPCOT for #DATW. I had a blast and best of all, I could walk. Unfortunately, I lost my RoadID wrist band along the way. Good thing I have another one at home. Can't leave home without one. :)

I have already decided I am running this again next year. It should be interesting since I am also running a marathon each month for the 3 months preceeding it. No worries, it's all for fun.


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