Because it's all about that Race, 'bout that Goofy Race 2015 Updated x2 2/14 Diagon Alley!!

[rteetz]

Joining in can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[ZellyB]

Fabulous start - looking forward to reading more!

Thank you.

Villa looks awesome!!

OMG Red Lobster...I hate seafood but I love their cheddar biscuits.

Can't wait for more!

I love seafood, but Red Lobster wouldn't be my favorite choice for it, but the girls love it. Totally agree about those cheddar biscuits though. Yum.

Hi Zelly! Count me in for reading along! I loved your first marathon TR!

Glad you got to the expo without a hitch and were able to get the merch you were looking for! That hat looks nice! I love your Dooney too! I almost ordered myself one of those but decided to pass this time around. As Caitlin said, we're tossing around the idea of Dopey 2018 so maybe I'll get a Dooney then

My goodness- your vacation home looks BEAUTIFUL! With a private pool/hot tub to boot- how nice!

Hi, Emily. The Dooney was a splurge but I figured the Goofy was a good reason to treat myself.

The house was really great. Wish the weather had been a bit better to enjoy the pool and hot tub, but that was okay since we really didn't have a lot of time to use it anyway.

Joining in can't wait to hear all about it!

Hi! Thanks for joining in.

 

[ZellyB]

Friday January 9 - Hollywood Studios​

After a good night's sleep, we got up early the next day to head to our first park, Disney Hollywood Studios!!

Even though we were staying offsite, we had decided to get MagicBands because I thought the convenience might be nice and that the girls would enjoy it. We also prepurchased memory maker (which I've never done before) and knew the bands would make ride photos easier.

Disney park-goers activate!!



We saw that the Christmas tree was still up as we were walking into the park



We had gotten there pretty early, so were waiting in line for awhile. A woman in line behind us saw my Dooney bag and was asking us about the races. She had been registered for Goofy but ended up with an injury and had to defer the race, but they took the trip anyway. They snapped a picture for us before we headed into the park.



Note my awesome Dooney.

Once the park opened we headed for a quick ride on Toy Story. We basically walked on. Chris was lagging behind me the whole ride and then surpassed me on the last screen. BOO!!!

Next up is my favorite ride in all of Disney. TOWER OF TERROR!!! We first checked about riding RnR coaster, but the stand-by wait was already up to 30 minutes and we didn't want to wait for it. We might have waited 4 minutes for ToT if that.



Sophie was really nervous to ride because the last time she did when she was younger it had terrified her. She ended up loving it though this time.



Next up was a fastpass for the Frozen sing along. The girls loved the movie and I actually liked it a lot too. I know many people have Frozen burnout, but we really enjoyed this. The hosts of the sing along are very entertaining and we had a really good time. Chris borrowed Paige's Goofy hat to do some deep thinking while waiting to go inside.



Waiting for the show to start



After the sing along we got a quick photopass picture in front of the hat.



I know the hat isn't popular with a lot of people, but I'll be sort of sad to see it go. Just because it's the symbol I've always identified with the park even though I know it was a later addition.

Construction walls...



We had a little time before our next FP, so decided to ride The Great Movie Ride.

Not something I usually would bother to wait for, but we had some time to kill. Still I think we waited maybe 15-20 minutes which is sort of crazy.

"I'll get you my pretty"



We went for another quick ride on Toy Story courtesy of our FP.



I think Chris won...again.

After that it was time to head for our lunch reservation.

Continued in next post.

 

[Biggie Smalls]

I loved the house you rented. If we went bak for another long trip I definitely am going to go that route. Having laundry access and a full kitchen is crucial for us.

I hate that with the disney marathon weekend it's all about the challenge races instead of being excited about ALL the races. Each race is an accomplishment for whomever is running it and it totally devalues the non challenge runners. (Although I still bow down to them for their awesomeness!

 

[ZellyB]

Friday January 9 Hollywood Studios - Part 2​

We'd had a good day so far with getting on the various rides and we had worked up a pretty good hunger. Plus as you can tell by the sky and how everyone is dressed, it was cloudy and cool, so we were looking forward to sitting down someplace warm for a good meal.

So, off we went to a place we'd not eaten at before.



50's Prime Time. When we arrived right at our reservation time there was a line out the door. Yikes. Took us several minutes just to get checked in and we were directed to wait in the "living room". It was packed in there and hardly anywhere to move and nowhere to sit. It was really pretty chaotic and hard to hear when they would call out a name.



The decor and stuff was pretty fun in here, but we ended up waiting close to 40 minutes before our name was finally called. We got settled into our table and met our server, Cousin Byron. I will say that Byron was great. I can definitely see where the experience here would vary greatly depending on your server, but this guy was fantastic. He was hilarious and we had a great time playing off of him.



I didn't take pictures of anything here, but my sister and I each got a bloody mary that was yummy. The girls got red velvet milkshakes that were super delicious! I got the chicken pot pie which I thought was pretty tasty and really hit the spot on this cool and cloudy day.

After dinner we headed back for a second ride on Tower of Terror with our FP+.



It was another great ride. Afterward Sophie decided she needed a Disney hat to complement Paige's. After a bit of debate between Pluto and Donald, Pluto finally won out.



We ducked in for a quick viewing of The Little Mermaid and then headed off to do something we'd never done before.



The line for this was really long. I'm not sure if that's normal or not, but we waited probably 45 minutes before we got in. I know one of the other choices was Russell from Up. I don't recall what the other one was, but the group overwhelmingly voted for Bolt. I think the artist was really wanting us to choose Russell, but no dice. I had a lot of fun doing this. I'm a horrible artist so I was surprised by how relatively good my picture turned out. But, we all agreed that Chris' was the best.



After the drawing we saw a short line for a character meet, so we popped in line with the girls.



We had picked up a fourth FP+ and after meeting up with Frozone and Mr. Incredible, it was time to head for Star Tours. The FP was really not necessary since I think standby was only like 5-10 minutes, but we used it anyway.



The girls really enjoyed this ride a lot. Although sadly none of us were chosen as the rebel spy.

By this time it was around 5 PM and we all felt like we'd done most of what we wanted to do and since Chris and I had to get up early for the half-marathon the next day we decided to head out. We got back to the house and fixed a tasty spaghetti dinner. Chris and I were both a bit concerned about the forecast and whether we had warm enough clothes for the race. We decided to make a quick run to a nearby Super Target. Chris was wanting a long-sleeved tech shirt and some gloves. I also ended up picking up a shirt and some gloves as well. When we were checking out the guy asked if we were running the race tomorrow. We figured he'd probably seen a few people in there purchasing last minute warmer clothes.

We were in and out pretty quick and headed back to the house for final prep. I took a quick shower and then laid out my clothes for the race.



The shirt was one of two that we had made before the race. As you can see the front says Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge with the dates.

Here's the back



Chris had a matching shirt and was wearing black shorts to coordinate with my black SparkleSkirt. We weren't going to be wearing any fuel belts or anything since the pockets in my skirt could hold everything we needed to carry with us. We laid out our fuel and made sure our Garmin watches and phones were plugged in so they would be fully charged. We both set our alarms and were in bed by around 9 pm. It took me awhile to finally fall asleep, but eventually I did.

Next Up: Half-Marathon begins!

 

[ZellyB]

I loved the house you rented. If we went bak for another long trip I definitely am going to go that route. Having laundry access and a full kitchen is crucial for us.

I hate that with the disney marathon weekend it's all about the challenge races instead of being excited about ALL the races. Each race is an accomplishment for whomever is running it and it totally devalues the non challenge runners. (Although I still bow down to them for their awesomeness!

This is the third time we've rented a house or condo and I love doing that. The extra space, kitchen, laundry and extra bathrooms are just such a luxury. At some point, I would really like to stay deluxe on-site if I can ever convince myself to spend the money. Maybe if we actually go back to run Dopey on day.

 

[rteetz]

I have also only known DHS with the hat but I'm hoping the hat removal brings a new life to that park. We also ate at 50s Prime Time while we were there and absolutely loved it. I only ran the 10k this time but my new goal is to run goofy or even dopey in the near future.

 

[disneybarbie]

looked like a fun day! I love the Walt quote on your running shirt

Is it wrong that the first thing I noticed in your photo was the Dooney bag?! I have four of them and already thinking about which one I might buy on our next trip!

Emma x

 

[ZellyB]

I have also only known DHS with the hat but I'm hoping the hat removal brings a new life to that park. We also ate at 50s Prime Time while we were there and absolutely loved it. I only ran the 10k this time but my new goal is to run goofy or even dopey in the near future.

I'm happy to see them investing in DHS. It is badly in need of some updating, so if removing the hat is part of that then I'm all for it.

looked like a fun day! I love the Walt quote on your running shirt

Is it wrong that the first thing I noticed in your photo was the Dooney bag?! I have four of them and already thinking about which one I might buy on our next trip!

Emma x

I really liked the quote and thought it was fitting for the first leg of our Goofy run. And, it's not bad at all that the Dooney is the first thing you noticed! It's my first Dooney, but I can see how it won't be my last.

 

[ZellyB]

Saturday, January 10​

After finally managing to fall asleep, I slept reasonably well until the alarm went off at 2:45 AM. We got out of bed and got into our running gear quickly and we had some toast with peanut butter and honey along with a cup of coffee. We got our Gamin watches on and I started loading up the pockets of my skirt. I had my phone and some tissues along with one of the peanut/cranberry granola bars we like and then a package of Gu Chomps and a package of sport beans. A veritable smorgasbord in my skirt. I've espoused my love of SparkleSkirts on here before, but the cargo capacity in these things is just unsurpassed. Top that off with comfort and fun patterns and styles and it's a winning combination.

We got headed out of the house by around 3:30 AM and then drove quickly to Epcot. There wasn't much traffic on the way and we were in the parking lot within 15 minutes or so. One nice thing about driving to the races is that you can relax in your car before heading in. We sat in the car until around 4:15 or so and then started walking in. They were directing people with bags off to one side for a check. This included fuel belts which I didn't remember from previous years. At any rate, we had no bags so walked quickly through. We walked through the bag check tents and then hit up one of the porta-potties on the other side. Lines were very short and we were done quickly and joined the crowds walking toward the corrals.

We got to the part where they split off the early corrals (A-H) and kept to the right to follow the I-P crowd. We had landed in K this year which was a bump up from our placement in L last year. I was happy about that.

Pretty quickly we worked our way to our corral. They were checking bibs at each entry point into each corral. We walked in and the corral was maybe 1/4 filled. We found a spot toward the back of the corral against the fence and settled in to wait.



Puffy eyes.

As we were sitting there, we watched two different people climb over the fence. In one case, a volunteer saw them and went over to check bibs. Turned out that one of the runners was from corral P and was trying to join the other runner who was in K. The volunteer told them if they wanted to run together they would need to run from P. The girl was pretty unhappy about it, but she left as directed. The second person we saw climbed over and the volunteer didn't see her. I thought about saying something (and probably should have), but, in the words of Queen Elsa, I let it go.

Chris and I waited until about 10 minutes before the first corral was set to start and made another trip to the porta-potties. The lines were pretty short and we were done quickly. We were walking back to our corral when the wheelchair racers started and shortly after corral A was let loose.


We had decided this time to deliberately be at the back of our corral. In the other races we had tried to get up close to the front, but the crowding was so bad, we decided to give the back a try figuring we'd have some space until the fastest of the L corral caught up with us.

We began the slow march forward as each corral took off with some great music and fireworks. It seemed they were doing 3 minutes between corral starts. I'm not sure if that's the spacing they did after our corral, but it didn't seem to change any as we advanced. There were still A LOT of people walking trying to get to their corrals. Lots of people were charging through the fences. In a few places I saw some volunteers still trying to check bibs, but mostly it was sort of chaos and people were just pushing in wherever.

We both had on some throwaway warmer shirts and some old mylar wraps we had from a previous race. There were some photographers in the corrals as we got closer to the front.



Before we knew it, it was our turn!! The countdown and fireworks and we were off!!!!



Continued in next post

 

[Miffy2003]

I was just ahead in J!! There was a lot of confusion with how to get to that corral, and the volunteers were as confused as the runners!

Can't believe people were trying to jump over fences !!! Goodness me!

Very much looking forward to reading all about your experience!

 

[ZellyB]

Saturday January 10​

We started out easily with our group. We were loving being at the back of the corral and felt like we were luxuriating in all the space!! Our strategy and training had been to take the half-marathon really easy to save as much energy as possible for the full marathon the next day. We are Galloway run/walk/run runners. We typically run doing a 3 minute run/1 minute walk interval but had planned to do a 1 minute run/1 minute walk for the half. So, we certainly felt like we were going at a leisurely pace. Still that first mile went by very quickly.

I tend to warm up quickly once running, so I ditched my sweatshirt somewhere between miles 1 and 2 near a volunteer that was picking up discarded clothing. We soon saw the first character stop of the run which was the pirates of the Caribbean that we had seen in our previous races. Since we already had a shot with this set-up and the line was CRAZY long, we ran on past. It think it was somewhere around in here or maybe slightly before that we saw the first wheelchair racers passing us on the other side of the road at mile 11ish. Only a few minutes behind them were the two male leaders of the race. It's crazy to me how fast they can run these distances.

We ran on and before we knew it saw this lovely sight.



We were trying to manage a decent selfie when a couple stopped and offered to take our picture. We did the same for them and then were off again. Somewhere around here I think were the Nightmare Before Christmas characters. Again, we debated stopping, but the line deterred us again and we've had a picture with them before.

We ran on past the Speedway and shortly after saw Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope. I sort of wanted to stop for this one because we'd never gotten a picture with them before, but AGAIN the LINE!!! Now, as I said, we were in no hurry, but I did want to bank time for one character stop I fully intended to make. So, on we went.

As we entered the TTC area, we both decided we needed a bathroom stop, so we peeled off at the bathrooms here. The line was pretty long and we probably lost a solid 7-8 minutes here. I do know that when I came out to rejoin Chris, it was far more crowded. Basically, the bulk of the L corral had caught up to us during our stop. I was also seeing M, N bibs as well.

On we ran and very quickly we were headed into the side gate of the Magic Kingdom. This part of the race is, of course, the most exciting part of the course and I was so excited. I was hoping that I would still be able to see the lights on the castle even though the sun was coming up.

Sure enough, we turned the corner onto Main Street and saw the castle ahead of us. Even though the sun was coming up, we could still see it with those beautiful white lights! It was so pretty and I was so happy we got to see it.

We stopped for a picture or two on the way down the street. CMs are always available on the sidewalk to snap a picture for you.





The lights don't show up well in the pictures, but in person they were much easier to see.

We ran on down the street and made the turn toward Tomorrowland.





See me? Chris is completely hidden.

Anyway, as we were going through here, we saw the long line for the bathroom across from the Lunching Pad, but we saw people coming out of a restroom over by Space Mountain that looked like it had almost no line. We made note of this thinking about the run tomorrow.

As we ran on past, we saw the line for a character stop that I knew was usually a character from Alice in Wonderland. The line was long enough that I didn't see it was the Queen of Hearts until we were past the end of the line. I impulsively told Chris that we should stop to get a picture. I was getting antsy since we had no character pics yet. BIG MISTAKE. The flow of people just swept over us as we tried to get to the side and we lost each other. I was panicking a little bit as I really didn't want to run the remainder of the race alone. I gave up on getting back to the Queen and instead ran forward a bit hoping I would see Chris. No sign of him, so I stopped shortly after turning the corner and stopped near the Pooh ride. I just kept looking for him and after what seemed like an eternity, I saw him running toward me. Phew!! We agreed not to try something stupid like that again and ran on.

In just a short distance more we saw another character with almost no line, so we stopped.



It's Ulf, the mime from Tangled!! I couldn't believe more people weren't stopping for him. I thought he was so fun and this is one of my favorite shots from both races. I still can't believe Chris didn't do mime hands. Silly boy.

Happy to finally have a character shot under our belt we zoomed on to the stop we'd been banking time for all along. Royal Donald or Mickey. I knew that they'd always had them shortly before the course runs through the castle. We turned toward the castle and... No Royals. I was so bummed. I couldn't believe they weren't there. There was a construction wall there and maybe they felt like there just wasn't enough room, but man...I'm still disappointed about it.

We ran on toward the castle and up on the balcony were Anna, Elsa and Kristof.



As I said earlier, I still like Frozen, but I missed seeing and hearing the trumpeters here. Still we were running through the castle and there's just no way that's a bad thing.

We charged on through and I had told Chris ahead of time I wanted a shot of both of us in front of the castle, so we peeled off for a shot. This line went very quick. They had like 5-6 photographers there, so we were able to get a picture in no time.



We headed back out and ran on toward Liberty Square. The crocodile from Princess and the Frog (I think?) was there, but the line was fairly deep for him and we weren't that interested in him. So, on we ran. Around this point we saw a couple of girls who were dressed as the TARDIS and Dr. Who (#10). I gave them a nerd girl shout-out about loving the Dr. Who costumes. The Dr. Who girl gave me an, "Allons-y" back. For those of you who aren't Dr. Who geeks, that's French for "Let's go" and was a favorite saying of the tenth doctor.

We headed toward the exit of MK and saw Snow White and Charming and I REALLY wanted to stop for them since I've never had a shot with them, but again with the stupid lines. Grrr. Are you sensing a theme here? The lines seemed much longer than I remembered from our previous 2 marathons. Maybe it's just the nature of the half-marathon or something.

Then all too soon we were leaving the Magic Kingdom and passing beyond the halfway point in the race.



Continued in next post

 

[ZellyB]

I was just ahead in J!! There was a lot of confusion with how to get to that corral, and the volunteers were as confused as the runners!

Can't believe people were trying to jump over fences !!! Goodness me!

Very much looking forward to reading all about your experience!

I agree that there seemed to be more confusion then I remembered in previous years. Maybe it's always that way and I just never noticed before. I felt bad for the volunteers trying to keep folks where they belonged. I'm sure that cannot be a fun job. The young lady who we saw did a great job of handling it though. She was polite but firm.

 

[emilyindisney]

Wow- I can't believe you waited 40 minutes at Prime Time with a reservation! Glad it sounds like it was worth it!

The amount of corral hopping I'm hearing about after the fact is frustrating but as you said- the best thing to do is let it go!

I love that picture of the back's of your shirts on main street!

I thought the character lines all weekend seemed much longer than what I was used to. I chalked it up to being in a later corral than my previous runDisney races but I'm glad you thought the same thing (especially since you were in a higher corral than before!) I also thought that the amount of characters seemed less. A lot of iconic stops that I thought were out every year were missing, the Royal fab five being one!

 

[Ariel484]

Getting caught up bit by bit...

So glad Sophie loved Tower of Terror! It truly is the BEST ride!

Ahhh...your review of 50s is killing me. That's one place I always want to go to, but it gets bumped from the list in favor of something else. I really need to try that place!

Great finds at Target! The shirt and gloves match your shoes perfectly! I really love your shirts, you did such a great job on them...and I love your SparkleSkirt (it's a slim cut, right?), but you already knew that.

WHAT THE HECK with the corral jumpers?! They just ruin it for everyone else...

Your strategy to start at the back of the corral is really interesting! I may steal that idea for a future Disney race...

I LOVE your castle pictures!! So, so cute! And I'm so glad you got the picture with Ulf! But please coach Chris on how to pose with characters for next time! Just kidding...or am I?!

I'm with you on the disappointment of not having Royal Donald out. I really thought that one was kind of a staple! So sad.

I do agree that the lines seemed really long in the half! I think maybe because the bulk of the characters are in the MK? Who knows.

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[ZellyB]

Wow- I can't believe you waited 40 minutes at Prime Time with a reservation! Glad it sounds like it was worth it!

The amount of corral hopping I'm hearing about after the fact is frustrating but as you said- the best thing to do is let it go!

I love that picture of the back's of your shirts on main street!

I thought the character lines all weekend seemed much longer than what I was used to. I chalked it up to being in a later corral than my previous runDisney races but I'm glad you thought the same thing (especially since you were in a higher corral than before!) I also thought that the amount of characters seemed less. A lot of iconic stops that I thought were out every year were missing, the Royal fab five being one!

Yeah, I couldn't believe we waited that long with a reservation either. It was weird. They were completely slammed. I don't know if they just overbooked or if the earlier reservations were just running long or what. We were getting a little irritated, but luckily once we were seated things got much better.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought the lines were long. I just thought maybe we were having bad luck or something.

Getting caught up bit by bit...

So glad Sophie loved Tower of Terror! It truly is the BEST ride!

Ahhh...your review of 50s is killing me. That's one place I always want to go to, but it gets bumped from the list in favor of something else. I really need to try that place!

I was relieved she enjoyed the ride, although she was clasping my hand so hard it hurt! Honestly, if she hadn't liked it I might have had to disown her as my daughter.

Great finds at Target! The shirt and gloves match your shoes perfectly! I really love your shirts, you did such a great job on them...and I love your SparkleSkirt (it's a slim cut, right?), but you already knew that.

WHAT THE HECK with the corral jumpers?! They just ruin it for everyone else...

Your strategy to start at the back of the corral is really interesting! I may steal that idea for a future Disney race...

I was pretty happy to find the shirt and gloves because they did match so well. I liked the shirt a lot too, so I'll continue to use it here at home. It is a slim cut although the skirt was really riding up because I had the pockets crammed full. HA! Plus it's a black linen and that fabric has more of a tendency to ride up as well. Still love it though.

And, we were pleased with our back of the corral strategy. Since time wasn't a huge concern for us we figured no harm in starting later and enjoying a little space.

I LOVE your castle pictures!! So, so cute! And I'm so glad you got the picture with Ulf! But please coach Chris on how to pose with characters for next time! Just kidding...or am I?!

I'm with you on the disappointment of not having Royal Donald out. I really thought that one was kind of a staple! So sad.

I do agree that the lines seemed really long in the half! I think maybe because the bulk of the characters are in the MK? Who knows.

Can't wait to read more!!

Thanks on the pictures. I thought they turned out well. And no kidding about Chris' posing. Tsk. Tsk.

I totally thought Royals were a staple. Sigh.

 

[disneyhorselover]

Looks like a fun day at DHS! I agree with you about the hat-I am a little sad to see it go. It sounds frustrating to have to wait that long at SciFi-I've been in that waiting area and it is unpleasantly crowded. At least you had a good meal experience after that wait!

I feel like Bolt is a pretty unique character to do in Animation Academy-your drawing looks great. And what a cute picture of the girls with the incredibles! (For some reason, when I try to do a similar "muscle" pose, it never looks that charming-I think I'm over the age to get away with it, lol)

Did you find it was easy to get a 4th FP? I felt like every time we walked by a kiosk there was a long line...

Totally agree about the lines!! We were in J and I felt like they were longer than we had ever seen them, which was a bit frustrating. I also felt like several notable characters were missing from the course (including the Royal fab 5)

Definitely scary to lose your running partner mid race-the same thing has happened to me and Emily. Glad you guys found each other so quickly!
Your pic in front of the castle is great! I sure wish I was that photogenic after running 5 miles, lol.

 

[ZellyB]

Looks like a fun day at DHS! I agree with you about the hat-I am a little sad to see it go. It sounds frustrating to have to wait that long at SciFi-I've been in that waiting area and it is unpleasantly crowded. At least you had a good meal experience after that wait!

I feel like Bolt is a pretty unique character to do in Animation Academy-your drawing looks great. And what a cute picture of the girls with the incredibles! (For some reason, when I try to do a similar "muscle" pose, it never looks that charming-I think I'm over the age to get away with it, lol)

Did you find it was easy to get a 4th FP? I felt like every time we walked by a kiosk there was a long line...

Totally agree about the lines!! We were in J and I felt like they were longer than we had ever seen them, which was a bit frustrating. I also felt like several notable characters were missing from the course (including the Royal fab 5)

Definitely scary to lose your running partner mid race-the same thing has happened to me and Emily. Glad you guys found each other so quickly!
Your pic in front of the castle is great! I sure wish I was that photogenic after running 5 miles, lol.

We really did have a great day. The Incredible greet was fun. They spent a lot of time with the girls. Chris and I tried out a similar pose on the marathon. Pretty sure we don't look as cute as the girls.

We were able to get additional fast passes fairly easily. There was a very short line at the kiosk, but we wanted RnR and there were none of those left by the time we checked. So, I'd say we had mixed results at DHS.

Thanks about the castle pic. And I've seen shots of you after 5 miles on your trip reports and you look great!

 

[ZellyB]

Saturday January 10​

After leaving the Magic Kingdom behind, we ran on for awhile that was pretty uneventful other than fighting some pretty bad crowding on the course. I've run two marathons before and never felt like I was as crowded as I was at this point of the race. Racer etiquette here though was actually pretty good, so even though it was crowded, it was reasonably manageable. As we were approaching the golf course, I saw a LONG (of course ) character line off to the right. As we got closer, I saw that Goofy was out in his golf gear and I really wanted a shot with him. However with only running a 1:1 interval and the previous stops we had made we were already running with an average pace over 15 min/mile, so I just didn't want to lose that much time. I had gotten paranoid about the wording in the event program that seemed to be more firm about challenge runners completing the races within the pacing requirements. Where previously I would only have worried about staying ahead of the sweepers, now I was paranoid about the 16 min/mile pace.

We did stop for a quick Goofy photobomb selfie.



We ran on from here for a bit longer and maybe around mile 9 we saw another character with a relatively short line.



Genie and Abu. We've never met these characters before so I was happy to stop for this picture.

Pretty soon we were approaching mile 10. I think we stopped for another quick porta potty break here which went very quickly.



We could see runners ahead of us running across the overpass. A few of them shouted down encouragement. Right around in here we saw the TARDIS and Dr. Who girls again. As we went by, I noticed the TARDIS had on a Dopey bib and I commented on it. Dr. Who said those fateful words, "I'm only running the half" I just said, "never say only when you are talking about running a half-marathon!"

Anyway, on we went and up around the on-ramp and toward the final push. We were both feeling really good here. The weather was lovely and I was just having a great time. Somewhere between mile 11 and 12 maybe were some stilt walkers.



Lots of people behind us



Lots of people in front of us



Pretty shortly we were turning the corner and headed back to Epcot.

Mile 12 and Spaceship Earth looming ahead.



Soon we were running into Epcot and knew the finish was near.



And a much better shot done by a professional.



We also had quite a few random running shots for this race. Most were in Epcot. One in MK maybe?







Then we saw the choir and made the turn to the finish.



We walked on past the finish line and claimed our lovely Donald medals!!



As part of the Goofy challenge we were directed off to walk through a separate tent for confirmation of our finish. Except nobody confirmed anything. We were very confused by this because we had also read something about bracelets. We asked two or three different people and they assured us we were good, so eventually we moved on hoping that was the case. After collecting our snack box, Powerade and banana, we walked out to the car and drove back to the house.

My sister had breakfast waiting for us. We climbed into the hot tub, but it really wasn't that hot and the outside temp was cool, so we didn't linger too long. After getting cleaned up and resting a bit, we all loaded up to head for Downtown Disney.



Proudly sporting our new 1/2 Marathon shirts.

We spent a little time wandering around and got some coffees at Starbucks. The area is still a major construction zone with lots of walls up. The girls enjoyed the Lego Store.





We went into the World of Disney store planning to pick up our customary souvenirs. Chris always gets the small Mickey figurine with 2015 on it and I get a small snow globe with the same. Here's where I complain about the merchandise. They aren't making either product anymore. At least not like what we wanted. They did have a 2015 figure that was a photo holder, I think. But the only snowglobe with 2015 was one of those little cheap domed plastic ones. Not cool, Disney. I was not happy. So, we left empty handed.

We headed back to the house where we had a dinner of hamburgers and salad. Just like the night before, I showered and laid out my clothes for the marathon.



If the shirt looks familiar it's because the front is identical to the shirt we wore for the half only with orange print. The back is the same but has a different Walt saying. "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."



There was a chance for some rain during the marathon, so I opted to wear my hat I'd bought back in 2012 at that marathon. We did buy Goofy Challenge hats, but neither of us wanted to wear those until we had actually completed the challenge.

We were in bed by around 8:30 and I dropped off to sleep pretty quickly.

Next up: Marathon Day!!

 

[rteetz]

Woohoo Half marathon congrats! I live the Donald medals I need to run the half so I can get one.

I saw the same plastic snow globes until our last day Sunday in DHS then I saw 2015 snow globes that weren't plastic. My mom collects all of the Disney ones so I had to get her one. I knew she wouldn't want the plastic one so luckily I found it the last day.