GOOF TROOP! WDW Marathon Weekend 2020 ... finshed 3/8. Comments welcome!

Joining in. Fantastic fireworks shots! I think you might be making Tom Bricker a bit nervous!

I’ve stolen more than a few photo ideas from Tom. He’s tremendous.

Just south of Des Moines.
What's your favorite Disney run so far? If done the wine and Dine 10K and that was a good distance for me but a family member loved the Marathon, and its appealing enough to have a reason to hit up Florida in the winter!

This year’s marathon is my all-time favorite.

Here for the report!
Great photos from the lounge- what a cool opportunity!

It was really spectacular.

Following along..

Great shots of the fireworks; what a fantastic opportunity!

I’m so happy to have met you and the rest of Goof Troop this weekend. The positive vibes you and others pour into DISboards helped convince me to sign up for MW 2020.

Looking forward to the rest of the TR - this is already helping with my Disney withdrawal!

Thanks for following along. I’m honored to have played some role in your running adventures.
 




Missing my Goof Troop!!!

Those firework shots were amazing! I can’t wait to see what you shot the rest of your trip!

Thanks! It was great doing the half, full and DATW with you! I had so much fun.

Karen doesn't mess around at all and its so fun!

Awesome shots at Top of the World. We don't use that DVC perk very often and now I'm kicking myself for not doing it more.

It’s a really awesome location.

joining in. Karen is the best!!

Agreed! Great to hang out with you this weekend, Mike!

Those fireworks photos are stunning! It was great to meet you on Monday and I am looking forward to your TR!

Thank you! It was great meeting you, too!

GoofTroopRovingRoadParty(TM) :rotfl:

Goof Troop!

Goof Troop!!!

Goof Troooooop!
 
Following! I was down for the weekend to cheer on my Dopey-running sister, so I can't wait to see what others thought of the weekend.
 
Goof Troop! Just like the full, I didn’t start reading this TR until you had already started, but I got there as soon as I could.

And just like the full, you've done a great job of catching up!

following

Welcome!

New goal: get fast enough to run with the Goof Troop in a year or two 🏃🏻‍♀️ .

Reading along! Maybe one day I'll get to experience the Goofyness too.

I think our Goof Troop philosophy was "One for All and All for Goof," as well as "No Goof Left Behind." I'm not the ring leader of this traveling circus, but I'm pretty sure the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) takes everyone. Funnily enough, @FFigawi and I were "inducting" people into the Goof Troop through out the race just by virtue of running with us.
 
I think our Goof Troop philosophy was "One for All and All for Goof," as well as "No Goof Left Behind." I'm not the ring leader of this traveling circus, but I'm pretty sure the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) takes everyone. Funnily enough, @FFigawi and I were "inducting" people into the Goof Troop through out the race just by virtue of running with us.

This is true! @Bree and I added an honorary Goof Troop member during the run from DHS to the shot stop along the Boardwalk path. It was her first full, she had a jello shot with us, we escorted her to Epcot, and she was ready to handle the last mile by herself.
 
Day 2, Part 1: Rogue Two, reporting for duty

Friday my alarm went off at 2:45 a.m. and I was out the door by 3:15 a.m. I was on the first bus to the runner's staging area armed with my fancy, collector's edition, one of a kind, custom made "DIS" sign so folks could find the pre-10K meetup.

Before I even got to the staging area, I ran into @Z-Knight. We made our way to the designated meetup area and were soon joined by tons of runDisney all-stars, including @FFigawi, aka John. It was great to meet John since we had interacted over the years on the Disboards, but had never met in person. Plus, we had a little adventure we were cooking up...

John had plans after the 5K to get a boarding group for a little ride you might have heard of called Rise of the Resistance. My recollection (John, correct me if I'm wrong) is those plans didn't work. So, I had proposed the day before that we try to get a boarding group after the 10K. After some consulting with fellow runDisney all-stars, a new option was proposed: get a boarding group *DURING* the 10K.

If you haven't run the 10K, the concept was simple in theory: leave the 10K course around Mile 4.5 (Boardwalk area), take the path to Hollywood Studios, get in the park before 7, use our phones to get a boarding group right after the park opened at 7, run back, avoid the balloon ladies and finish the 10K. Simple, right?

Well, maybe not so simple. We weren't entirely sure it could be pulled off for a number of reasons - starting time, pace, where would the balloon ladies be, etc. But, someone in our group chat gave us a super cool nickname: Rogue Two. And as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to be bestowed a really cool nickname, you darn sure better earn it.

So, with a lot of encouragement from our fellow runDisney all-stars, John and I left the meetup a little early to get to the front of Corral C, where we were both inexplicably placed for the 10K, despite times that suggested we should be in Corral B.

The timing of everything I'm doing a little bit from memory, so if my math is a little off, forgive me. I swear this whole adventure checks out.

We started around 5:40 a.m. and did approximately 10-minute miles. The first few miles were fairly uneventful, with the exception of @Dis_Yoda hooking us up with Jello shots on the Boardwalk.

7ebf3366-c881-4ab4-8ff8-a9b3547414f6 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

9b17d816-7b06-432f-86f2-6795534c1536 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

Shortly after the shots, we veered off course. We didn't know if this was going to work, but dang it, we were committed to trying. Surprisingly, there was no one else on the path to DHS. I really thought someone else would be attempting this. So, either John and I are crazy or geniuses. I'll let the readers decide.

We got to DHS around 6:45 a.m. and into the park itself around 6:55 a.m. Just minutes to spare. We were definitely the only runners inside the park and we got a few looks, as well as a few questions. Most of them went like this:

Them: "Whoa, did you guys just finish the race?"

Us: "No! We're in the middle of it and we have to get back and finish!"

Them: *perplexed look*

As 7 a.m. approached, we shut off our WiFi, pulled up the MDE app and started refreshing like crazy. At 7:01, I got the notification and we had a boarding group. Number 32 I believe. With our mission halfway accomplished (we still had to finish!), Rogue Two posed for a quick photo to commemorate the occasion.

465630

(I don't know why it insists on uploading sideways, just tilt your screen)

Now, I'm a grown up, 36 year old man and John seems to be a fully-functional adult, as well, but I'm comfortable to admit that we were giddy on the run back to the 10K course. High fives and lots of, "I can't believe we pulled that off!" It was really awesome and some of the most fun I've ever had on a course. We, of course, sent texts to the group chat informing them we were successful in our pursuit.

On the way back, we didn't see any other runners and by the time we got there, it would have been pretty risky for anyone else to chance it. Given that boarding groups will *likely* be a thing of the past by next Marathon Weekend, chances are John and I are the only ones who will ever attempt this. Not gonna lie, I'm still dang proud of it. Rogue Two forever.

Anyway, we finished the 10K (now up to 8 miles).

2b72fc0f-ded9-4e04-be8f-3a1f94c444a5 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

683659ef-0ced-4734-8311-fd62d33eaf73 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

ee1ffab8-9c53-4994-bf9f-b7aaa4c2b971 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

After celebratory parking lot beers and the first of many re-tellings of our adventure, I left to get on a bus back to my hotel so I could get cleaned up and, you know, actually use those RotR boarding groups we worked so hard to obtain.

John ... that was legendary.

b7043b6b-9933-4b98-863b-d66f93a9a79a by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

Next up ... RISE.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2743.JPEG
    IMG_2743.JPEG
    96.2 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top