The 2010 Disney Goofy Marathon: Highlights

At the finish of the half with Goofy striking a runners pose.

The characters are very nice and will do all sorts of poses and this one I think captures the essence of this event. In fact I was very surprised as I was running in at the marathon (you can see the 2:12 gun time just behind us), I was the only runner who stopped by goofy. And there is a 400 meter section here in which you can observe runners just ahead and yet everyone else did not have a moment for a picture.

I was excited to finish but knowing I had just a few steps to go I was willing to sacrifice a few extra seconds in the rain.

During the half marathon I ended up staying pretty dry because I had my good goretex pants and jacket on, but unfortunately my feet got very wet about mile 9. The remainder of the race I could not really feel my toes. This also contributed to my relatively speedy pace.
Here I am with the "reason I run" yummy treats. I purchased this chocolate and sprinkle/M&M/chocolate topped marshmallow treat during the marathon.

I ended up eating about half this treat then I had to stop so I could resume picture taking. But not before I shared a bit with another runner who was looking at it longingly.

The marshmallow treats at Disney World are so YUMMY and I like to think are the treats of champions.
Close to the finish of the marathon, Tristan and I posed for a picture near Spaceship earth. From this picture you can see that it was still very cold at the finish (I had my hat on and had just taken off my gloves and Tristan had his hat on).

Other than being very cold and a bit windy it was sunny and a pretty day. Luckily the weather forecasters (and even the Disney staff) kept alerting us to the cold so most runners were bundled up for the race.

I had 5 layers on top (my lucky tank, turtleneck, long sleeve thermal, zip thermal and my rain jacket). During the race I removed only one layer on top. On my legs I had my marathongirl skirt as well as thermal pants with a pair of wind/goretex pants as my outer layer.

Here I am with Mickey and Tristan striking the runners pose at the finish of the marathon.

Even with a completely different group of finishers (~7 hours), these runners also seemed not to be intent on savoring their time on the course.

Tristan and I were pretty sure it took several minutes to cross the start line so were ensured that we would make the 7 hour time limit for the marathon.

I like the finish because there is just so much energy and lots of cheering particularly at the Disney events so it is kind of cool to soak it all in.

This past weekend I ran my 5th Disney Goofy Marathon. The "goofy" marathon includes running the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. It is great fun. But this year it was COLD.

Saturday's half marathon started in a temperature just above freezing. But alas that did not stop it from sleeting and snowing along the course. Later in the race this turned to rain. Because of my aversion to cold and wet weather I ended up PR-ing for a half marathon race (and the Disney Half Marathon) with a time of just under 2:10.

Sunday the weather was no better. It was cold and windy. The temperature at the start was about 26 degrees and the wind was ~10 mph. I still have not thawed out!

Starting the marathon, my goal was to complete the marathon faster than last year (a time I contest but is listed as 7:00:55). In fact I even was so bold as to suggest I wanted to break 7 hours. I was an overachiever because I finished the race in 6:58:29. I had 1 minute and 30 seconds to spare!

During the half marathon I was moving quickly and only took 25 pictures along the course. I had only 2 character pictures and only a few of me along the course. It was miserable conditions and I just wanted to finish!

The Disney marathon started off fast as well. I ran it with my husband Tristan. We ran the first 10 miles in 2 hours, the next 10 miles in 3 hours and the final 6 miles in 2 hours. In our defense, the first 10 miles we actually were trying to get warm and other than one bathroom break and about 5 character pictures we were hauling.

The next 10 miles we started our theme parking with many more character pictures, a ride on the Expedition Everest Ride, and some window shopping. Our final 6 miles had many stops for food, beverages, characters and to enjoy the theme parks of Hollywood Studios and EPCOT.

At Hollywood Studios we stopped at the Candy Cauldron for chocolate covered marshmallows (for me). At mile 25 in EPCOT, we split up to go various places for more treats with me going to France (for mousse-for Tristan who would eat it later), Norway (for waffles with jam). Tristan headed to Morocco for Baclava, Italy for Espresso, Germany for some bratwurst and beer, followed by some hot wine also from Germany. I almost missed our meet up time because I took a ride on the boat at Mexico.

After rejoining at the fountain at the front of EPCOT we headed to the finish and crossed the finish line together. Of course this was after a brief break to get pictures with the finishers characters of Minnie and Mickey who were at the finish line.

I will write more later but I had such a GREAT time that I have already signed up for the "Goofy Marathon" in 2011!