I Must Be Goofy - Goofy Challenge 2013 - Update 1/7

[jrmint427]

The random Christmas scene!!!! I can't wait for that stop next weekend! Growing up we had a VHS of Disney's Christmas Sing-a-long with these exact characters in it. Hip-Hop Noel will always be one of my favorite Christmas song and it's video features these guys!

Ahh, I had to look that up after your comment and I found the song on YouTube! You are right, that is exactly where those characters came from! That is so obscure and hilarious, and I am now really glad we stopped for that picture. We just thought it was a cute Christmas scene, but that video is awesome. I'm impressed you recognized it!

Chip and Dale are so cute in those hats! And that's pretty amazing that you only had to wait 6 minutes for Jack and Sally since people wait upwards of two hours to meet them at the Halloween party

Hahaha I wonder if the waiter thought you meant gluten-free? Glad you eventually got it sorted out!

I love what Alice and the Mad Hatter said about your shirt!!

I wonder if you're right about the waiter! He had no clue lol.

Wow, when you put it like that, the wait for Jack and Sally was really nothing. Disney races are really an awesome way to get a ton of character pictures in a short time period without waiting in such long lines. It's probably part of the reason the race is so expensive, and I'm always shocked by the people who run Disney races but don't stop for any characters.

 

[jrmint427]

The stretch between Animal Kingdom and the ESPN Wide World of Sports was another long one. I’m sure there was entertainment but we did not stop for any character pictures along here.

We finally found another medical station that had Tylenol around mile 17 so I took some. I also tried Biofreeze on my feet for the first time. It stung a little, but then the pain/numbness from the burning feeling was a welcome relief from the pain I had been feeling. If I didn't have to take my shoes and socks off I would have re-applied it at every medical station after that.

Mile 15: 13:46
Mile 16: 12:13
Mile 17: 17:06
Mile 18: 12:59
Mile 19: 18:36

There was another bathroom stop during mile 19, thanks to another real bathroom at the WWOS.

Aside from the bottom of my feet being in about the most pain of my life, overall I thought I was feeling a lot better at this point than I had the year before. My legs were not too sore and I was tired but I still had some energy left. One of the things I did differently this year was take both water and Powerade at every drink station. I think it helped.

Running through the WWOS was nice for a change of scenery but not too exiting. They did have some good music playing.

Disney had advertised a big surprise at mile 20 of this race, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the WDW Marathon. During the 20th mile we ran through a baseball park. I thought it was fun, but really hoped that was not the big surprise.

Photo Credit: MarathonFoto

The big surprise was a few large Disney puppets and a stage with Donald, Mickey and Goofy. It was fun, but with all the suspense they had built up, I was expecting more. We were doing well on time so we stopped for a few pictures. They didn't have race photographers for the puppets like they did for the other characters (or if they did, none were included in my package).

Of course, we had to wait for a picture with the big three our medals were named for.

At mile 20 they had a 20th anniversary arch we ran through.

Mile 20: 12:59
Mile 21: 19:33

My Garmin was a full mile behind at this point – likely from all the weaving between crowds and extra stops for character photos and bathroom breaks. So what I say is mile 21 is what Disney said was mile 20 on the course.

I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but at some point after mile 20 we switched to 5/5 walk/run intervals. We kept up pretty strong as we came up on Hollywood Studios.

 

[jrmint427]

Hollywood Studios was fun but it went by too fast. I enjoyed the energy from the crowds there but I was starting to feel the distance. Still smiling, but I was hurting.

It’s impossible to not feel happy while running through a Disney park.

Mile 22: 12:39
Mile 23: 13:10

It was after we left Hollywood Studios, at 23 miles, when I hit my wall. I almost cried during this mile. I know it was more mental than physical but I just felt like I could not keep going. I felt a wave of dizziness when we stopped for a walk break and it scared me. I wanted to walk more. I told Maggie I thought I needed to walk more and she gave me a little bit of tough love. She was not going to slow down – if I was going to walk more I was on my own. I didn’t want to run the last three miles on my own. As tired as I was, I was afraid if I was left on my own I would walk the entire last three miles. So I agreed to keep pushing.

Not long after that we switched to 2.5/2.5 intervals. Even though the total running time was the same I think that really helped me mentally. I can do anything for 2.5 minutes, right? We also walked any hills at that point. The dizziness passed and I once again felt like I could finish this race.

Mile 24: 13:19
Mile 25: 13:01
Mile 26: 12:28

What my Garmin said was Mile 27 was actually Mile 26 through Epcot. It was a complete blur. I don’t remember seeing any characters but I’m sure there were one or two. We stopped in Morocco for one last bathroom break before the finish line. I could have waited, but we had a hard time finding bathrooms after the half and did not want to wait that long. Besides, we weren’t running for time, so we were happy to make sure we finished the final mile in comfort.

I’m impressed that I was still able to look happy. I don’t remember giving the thumbs up or smiling but I look so much better than I did in my Epcot pictures from the marathon last year! The crowds and volunteers were seriously awesome. At one point while we were running in Epcot a spectator gave me a high-five and said we looked great. Other people commented that they liked our energy. At this point, there were not many people around us running at all so I think we stood out during our running intervals. I think I remember someone blowing bubbles at Epcot too but I could be imagining that. The crowd support here went a long way with me.

We kept up our intervals and before we knew it we were leaving Epcot, passing the choir and the finish line was in sight! It was such an overwhelming moment. Just before the finish line I saw Mickey and Minnie were giving high-fives so I ducked over to the left for my high-fives.

Mile 27: 13:39
Mile 27.0 -27.29: 10:01 pace
Total: 6:30:38 (14:19 pace)

We were now two-time marathoners, and more importantly, Goofy Challenge finishers!

It was one of the best feelings ever. Maggie and I hugged and celebrated. I could not believe that in two short years we went from running a 5k to our first marathon and now the Goofy Challenge. I was, and still am, so proud of us both.

We got our Mickey medals and headed to the ice station before picking up our Goofy medals.

I had ice taped to both of my knees. Maggie had two bags too but didn’t have hers taped. Apparently they ran out of ice right after us so Maggie gave one of her bags to another guy who needed it. I could not believe they ran out! There were so many people still behind us. Hopefully they found more quickly.

We then went to pick up our Goofy medals. There were volunteers who were telling people they could not pass until they saw water bottles open and everyone drinking. It was so smart to have that reminder. We went straight to the Goofy tent and got our medals!

We were feeling tough.

Pat met us at the family tents. It’s amazing how quickly you forget about the pain and the tough parts, all I could think about was how much fun the race was and the fact that we had finished!

The Goofy Challenge was an amazing experience. At the time I’m pretty sure I said I would never do it again, but I thought it was worth the long training runs, the early morning start times and any pain I felt along the way. And looking back, maybe the Goofy Challenge really is like child birth – once you are far enough out that you forget the pain and only remember the good times, you start thinking it might be fun to do again

This time we found our way to the resort buses. They were much closer than the monorail. We also saw the bathrooms we had missed the day before. Back at our hotel we took a quick shower, another hour-long nap, and then we were ready to hit the parks again. We were headed to Epcot for a celebration dinner at Via Napoli!

 

[ZellyB]

Woohoo!!! Congratulations on a great Goofy finish. I'm so glad you wrote this now. It's the perfect excitement builder for me heading into next week.

I know how hot I got during the marathon that year, so I'm impressed with how strong you guys finished things out. I started getting pretty faint at the 20 mile mark and attribute most of that to the heat. We ended up pretty much walking the last 6 miles that year. You guys did awesome!!!

I remember being disappointed at the 20-mile surprise as well. I mean, the puppets were neat, but not all that after all the big talk about it. Still it's a Disney race, so beats anything I've ever seen at any other race.

I think you are completely correct with the child birth analogy. I remember at about mile 22 of that first marathon that I told my husband I was a one and done marathoner. Next week I'll be running my 4th marathon as part of a Goofy challenge no less. We truly do forget the pain.

 

[kbvancouver]

Sounds like a great trip!

 

[jrmint427]

Woohoo!!! Congratulations on a great Goofy finish. I'm so glad you wrote this now. It's the perfect excitement builder for me heading into next week.

I know how hot I got during the marathon that year, so I'm impressed with how strong you guys finished things out. I started getting pretty faint at the 20 mile mark and attribute most of that to the heat. We ended up pretty much walking the last 6 miles that year. You guys did awesome!!!

I remember being disappointed at the 20-mile surprise as well. I mean, the puppets were neat, but not all that after all the big talk about it. Still it's a Disney race, so beats anything I've ever seen at any other race.

I think you are completely correct with the child birth analogy. I remember at about mile 22 of that first marathon that I told my husband I was a one and done marathoner. Next week I'll be running my 4th marathon as part of a Goofy challenge no less. We truly do forget the pain.

Thanks for reading, and I'm glad it is building the excitement! I thought to post in part because I knew the marathon weekend was coming up and am pretty sad that I won't be there this year. I look forward to hearing all about it from you though!

It was really hot that year! I think if my friend hadn't insisted that she was going to keep running, I probably would have walked the last 4 miles or so too. I really wanted to walk but I also really wanted to be off my feet at that point :-/

I also said I was going to be a one and done marathoner when I finished my first, and it wasn't too long after that I signed up for the Goofy :-D I also just had my first child 3 months ago and remember thinking that I might be okay with just one... and I'm already past that lol.

 

[jrmint427]

After our short naps we were ready to go to Epcot.

I was not ready to be on my feet again, but I was in a mood to celebrate! And of course, I wanted the opportunity to wear my Goofy medal around the park.

Maggie and I went for a quick ride on Spaceship Earth before meeting up with Pat. There was almost no line and this had been one of our favorite rides at Epcot.

We then walked to the World Showcase via Mexico to meet Pat for dinner at Via Napoli. We had an ADR for 5:45 PM. We weren’t in a huge rush so we took our time strolling through the WS, taking pictures and enjoying the fact that the park was so much less crowded than it had been during our New Year’s Eve visit the year before.

We loved Via Napoli and thought it was the perfect way to celebrate our race – with pizza and wine. Despite holding out earlier in our trip, I gave up on eating vegan here. There was no way I wasn’t going to try the pizza. Oops.

After dinner we hit a few more countries for snacks we wanted to try and drinks. We went to Morocco for the Sultan Piña Colada.

We went to France for chocolate crepes. We went back to Norway to ride Maelstrom and buy lefse to have in the morning (and beer).

We had a beautiful view of the sunset from the World Showcase.

We had one more ride we wanted to hit before leaving the park – Test Track. We were able to ride without much of a wait. We watched part of the fireworks show but decided to try to beat some of the crowd and left early. We were exhausted. And we still had one more day in the parks planned!

 

[disneyhorselover]

Love your race reports!!! You guys look awesome after the marathon. I can only hope to look half as good after running that far!

It also gives me hope that going to the parks during the week won't completely ruin our races...maybe...hopefully...haha

While I definitely could never be a vegetarian myself, I also love your no meat athlete shirt-so cute!

 

[jrmint427]

Love your race reports!!! You guys look awesome after the marathon. I can only hope to look half as good after running that far!

It also gives me hope that going to the parks during the week won't completely ruin our races...maybe...hopefully...haha

While I definitely could never be a vegetarian myself, I also love your no meat athlete shirt-so cute!

Thank you so much! No, going to the parks won't ruin the races... just be nice to your feet I definitely recommend comfortable shoes and taking breaks to sit when you can. Either way, I always think the point of Disney races is an excuse to go to Disney and have fun in the parks!

 

[jrmint427]

After completing the Goofy Challenge and making it out to the parks after both races, we slept for 10 hours straight. It was wonderful.

Our plan for the day was to visit Magic Kingdom. We never got the BOG reservations that I hoped for (and I kept checking each day) but we thought we would try anyway – we weren’t successful – and there was no way we were waiting on that lunch line. MK closed at 8:00 PM this day so our plan was to leave early enough to go to Downtown Disney for dinner. But after an exhausting weekend and a long day, we ended up eating CS and just spending our entire day at MK.

I don’t have photo evidence but there is a good chance that our first stop was for caffeine. I think we found coffee at the Cheshire Café again because our first ride was the Mad Tea Party.

We could not wait to ride Under the Sea for the first time. I think the wait was about 30 minutes but it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot to look at in the queue.

Not sure what happened to this sign!

I absolutely loved this ride. I was 4 years old when The Little Mermaid came out so Ariel is the first princess I remember falling in love with. Like many kids at that time, I had Little Mermaid sheets on my bunk bed. I loved the ride and the music, I thought they did a great job!

Our next ride was a classic. I can’t visit MK without a ride on It’s a Small World. As we waved good-bye to the operator above the boats to start our happy cruise I thought, that would be a wonderful job – waving to everyone as they embark on the cruise.

I think I need to ride this more often - you really can find so many "new" things you didn't notice before just because there is so much to look at.

When I took this picture I had no idea that 9 months later I would actually find myself on a gondola in Venice!

After the ride we decided to find some lunch. We ate at Pecos Bill. I don't have any food pictures, but I had a veggie burger and fries.

 

[jrmint427]

After lunch we headed to Tomorrowland for our favorite ride there, Space Mountain.

Our next ride was a close second favorite, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We decided to try another ride we had skipped the year before – the Country Bear Jamboree. While I also remembered this one from my childhood, I would have been okay with skipping it! Do children even like this one these days? For some reason I took a ton of pictures at this show.

My favorite little guy:

Up next was Adventureland for a ride with our favorite pirates!

Next up was another attraction we missed the year before. We were trying to fit in as many new rides as we could. So we went to see the Enchanted Tiki Room. Like the Jamboree, this is one that brought back memories, but I would have been okay if we had skipped it.

 

[emilyindisney]

Congrats on finishing the marathon! No shame in crying- I definitely cried a little bit during my 20 miler training run, lol. I'm glad you were able to get yourself together for the finish line and enjoy the glory! I LOVE your child birth/marathon analogy. I've never had a baby but I'm a soon to be RN whose seen my far share of babies being born and that definitely seems to be the case!

Side note- glad you got a kick out of Hip hop Noel!

Glad you were able to enjoy Epcot after the race. Via Napoli is soooo tasty!

 

[courtneybelle]

Good choice on eating the pizza at Via Napoli soooo good!!!

Looks like a super fun day at MK! You guys got so much done considering how much you had run that weekend!!

 

[jrmint427]

Congrats on finishing the marathon! No shame in crying- I definitely cried a little bit during my 20 miler training run, lol. I'm glad you were able to get yourself together for the finish line and enjoy the glory! I LOVE your child birth/marathon analogy. I've never had a baby but I'm a soon to be RN whose seen my far share of babies being born and that definitely seems to be the case!

Side note- glad you got a kick out of Hip hop Noel!

Glad you were able to enjoy Epcot after the race. Via Napoli is soooo tasty!

I just had my first baby and I think I've already forgotten what those first few weeks were like I found the nurses made a huge difference in the child birth experience, it is exciting that you are soon to be an RN!

Good choice on eating the pizza at Via Napoli soooo good!!!

Looks like a super fun day at MK! You guys got so much done considering how much you had run that weekend!!

Thanks! I think we did fit a lot into that Monday - we were determined to make the most of our time at WDW! We were also thankful the park seemed much quieter after marathon weekend so we didn't have as many crowds to battle and waited less time in lines.

 

[jrmint427]

I realized I forgot to share a funny story from earlier in this day. Of course we wore our Goofy medals out to the park. Many people knew what they meant and it was nice to be congratulated and share stories with other runners.

While we were walking by the castle, a woman with a couple little kids stopped me to ask where she could buy the Goofy medal for her kids. I think I just stared at her at first and started to explain the races. I had barely said the words "half marathon" and "full marathon" when she threw up her hands and walked off! No "congratulations" or words at all lol.

After the Tiki Room we jumped on the Jungle Cruise, another new attraction for us (at least new as adults). We enjoyed this one a lot more! We couldn't help but compare this ride to the Safari at AK, and there is no comparison. But for what it was, we enjoyed our Jungle Cruise.

Unlike AK, we could get really close to these lions!

Our next attraction was another favorite from the year before – The Hall of Presidents. I’m not sure why we love this one so much but we couldn't miss it!

We had been looking forward to riding The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh for the first time. The line was long most of the day but it slowed down later in the day. I think we only had to wait 15-20 minutes. The queue had a lot to entertain kids so the wait would not have been that bad anyway. This was a fun little ride!

Our last goal for the day was to ride Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster. Yes, this was one for kids, but it was the perfect way to round out our Goofy weekend.

We ate a quick dinner at the Columbia Harbour House. I ordered two sides for my meal, the vegetarian chili and the couscous. I wish I had taken pictures. I wasn’t expecting much but I really liked the vegetarian chili and I think I could have made a meal out of just that. I wanted seconds!

By this time it was evening, probably close to 7:00 PM. The park was not going to be open much longer. We were wiped out and ready to head back to our hotel. We took a few pictures with the castle at night on our way to the park exit.

We were lucky to spot the Electrical Parade on our way out! We watched part of the parade before leaving.

It was truly a magical weekend. We managed to visit all four parks, run the Goofy Challenge, and eat at some fantastic restaurants, all in just four days. I couldn't have asked for a better trip!

 

[emilyindisney]

Hahaha, what a strange experience having some ask to buy the medal....um, if you could buy them then everyone would be wearing them, lady!

Glad you had such a great trip!

 

[MickeyWanaBe]

I realized I forgot to share a funny story from earlier in this day. Of course we wore our Goofy medals out to the park. Many people knew what they meant and it was nice to be congratulated and share stories with other runners.

While we were walking by the castle, a woman with a couple little kids stopped me to ask where she could buy the Goofy medal for her kids. I think I just stared at her at first and started to explain the races. I had barely said the words "half marathon" and "full marathon" when she threw up her hands and walked off! No "congratulations" or words at all lol.

After my first marathon we headed straight into Epcot to get lunch in the Land pavilion and as we sat and ate I had a woman ask if she could wear my medal for a picture. It caught me completely off guard.

 

[jrmint427]

After my first marathon we headed straight into Epcot to get lunch in the Land pavilion and as we sat and ate I had a woman ask if she could wear my medal for a picture. It caught me completely off guard.

That is too funny! Did she want to pretend she had run the marathon??

 

[jrmint427]

We flew out of MCO at 6:45 AM the next morning. I don’t even remember what time we had to be up to catch our flight, but it was early. I was still wearing my Goofy Challenge shirt, eager for one last chance to enjoy bragging rights in Florida before heading back to reality. We landed at 8:00 AM, gaining an hour due to the time change. All three of us were back to work this day – we had truly made the most of our vacation time for this trip! I was thankful to be able to work from home this day, but the other two had to actually go into their offices.

Would I run the Goofy Challenge again? I might. I’m glad I can check it off my bucket list, but having two long runs every weekend to train was intense and took over my life for over four months. I have a hard time imaging doing this type of training after having kids, but I know people do it. Another Disney half or full marathon (one or the other) is likely in my future, but not for a few years.

However, I mentally began planning our next trip to WDW almost immediately after this trip! I have loved visiting Disney on race weekends, but I do think it would be fun to take a trip that is not planned around a race. I tried to convince my family to spend Christmas at Disney in 2013 but never quite got everyone on board. We knew we were going to want to start a family soon, so DH and I took a pre-baby cruise to the Mediterranean in September 2013. We visited 7 countries in 9 days on this trip and had a fantastic time – you can read about it here. In February 2014 we found out that I was pregnant! I know we could have still had fun, but a trip to Disney without riding my favorite rides just would not have been the same for me. So no trip for us in 2014.

Our daughter was born in September 2014. Ever since I found out I was having a little girl, I have not been able to stop picturing her first trip to the happiest place on Earth. DH and I are still discussing the right time to take that first trip, but as of now it will likely be in September 2017, just before she turns 3. Unless I am able to talk him into a trip before then, I have plenty of time to plan the details of what I know will be one of our favorite family vacations! Advice and suggestions are welcome :-D Thank you for reading my trip review!

 

[ZellyB]

It looks like you had a wonderful last day in MK. I can't wait to be there myself again!

Congratulations on your new little princess and I know it will be wonderful when you get to take her to Disney on her first trip.

Thanks again for writing this report. It's gotten me so excited about the trip and the races.