OFFICIAL January 2012 5K, Half Marathon, Marathon, Goofy or Dopey Challenge Thread

[hauntedcity]

A big THANK YOU to everyone here for sharing your experience, making great suggestions, and giving lots of support.

My wife and I finished our first half marathon! We were a bit slower than we expected, but we lost a lot of time weaving around people, and had many more bathroom breaks than expected. We drank water at every hydration spot, but when training, we usually only had about 8 oz halfway through. How often does everyone else hydrate during a half? Other than that, it was an amazing experience. I loved running down Main Street, and emerging from Cinderella's Castle was truly a magical experience. We used Jeff Galloway's run/walk method and had lots left in the tank when the race was over. Nothing makes you feel like a total badass like running past people on the uphill overpass just before Epcot!

My goal for next year is to run a local half marathon and get a time that moves me up into D or E corral (we started in F this year). I also want to bring a camera along. I was so focused on the race that I didn't want to carry anything, so we left the good camera in the room, although we snapped a few pictures with our iPhone (which we use for RunKeeper). Foolish me! I would have loved to have that camera along!

See you all on the course next January!

Doug

 

[jeanigor]

I was surprised to see so many Brightroom photographers on the course. If someone stopped for a lot of photo ops, it might make the CD a little more of a reasonable purchase than to get the six shots and the mass 30 second video clip of you crossing the finish line.

 

[papaof3]

Was looking at the Goofy results and thought it would be cool if they showed how you finished against other goofy runners.

Looking for that too. Only have the times of the runners, not how you did, front of back, back of pack??? I love looking at numbers!

 

[papaof3]

Well, just got back last night from a great trip that culminated with me completing the 1/2 marathon! I went from a no running ever in my life, XL, heavy person who on May 1, 2011 when I signed myself up for the race and said I would do the race in 3:30 hours so in corral H and when I started training the couch to 5k could barely complete the one minute of running to losing 70 pounds, moving up from corral H to C bc of recent race times and completing the 13.1 miles and feeling that, although tired, I actually could have run more! After marrying my husband and having my son, one of the proudest days of my life.

It did have some hiccups though. First - the buses from BCV to the race were AWFUL! We got there before 4 am and there were several hundred people in line just waiting for the buses. We didn't even get on the bus until 4:45 am. Then the traffic was awful so didn't get to the drop off point until 5:10 am. Then the walk from there to the corral was packed with people and slow. One of my group was in corral A but thankfully already intended to do corral C with the rest of us bc when we got there A had just left! We were pulling off clothes and running to the starting point to truly start! I was surprised Disney didn't have enough buses.

Then, my poor husband at mile 4 had his shin splints so bad to the point that he called me asking what to do. I backtracked to him and got him to a med tent. They immediately told him he couldn't run and deactivated his bib - didn't even give him a choice in the matter. Although we talked about not worrying about the other re times and not running together, we never talked about what to do if injury. He demanded I go on though, so feeling guilty, I did. I lost about 15 minutes helping him.

I then ran the rest and did not stop once. The most I had run before this was a 15k so I was worried about the distance but felt great the whole time - no aches, pains, nothing. Then as I got through epcot, I was shocked to hear my name and it was my sweet dh from the sidelines waving to me - he went there to see me finish! I was so shocked I started crying which then made me use my inhaler (I have asthma) but thankfully got it under control quickly and still didn't stop running.

So factoring in the 15 minutes extra, I finished about that behind the time I thought I was going to finish. I also felt like Bruce Jenner bc I'm usually the one to the far right being passed by people but this time I was a leftie passing more people than I had ever had in my racing life! I even had to go off the road and on the grass a lot to get around people.

I now want to do the race again to see how I can do without any issues - onward to 2013!

Congrats to all!

Are there any 1/2's in disneyland this fall/winter?

Very proud of our long time friends and your personal athletic quest this past year! Next year hubby will get that Donald!

And yes, buses were bad going to the half, long lines at the BC, and if B and A corrals would have missed the start, that being done walking very fast along with being at bus before 4am. They need to either straighten that out or delay the race as Disney did not deliver on promise for our resort. Bus system was very bad after half with thousands in a 45 minute line for bc after with about 20 people on each bus for the coranado resort, no waiting for them. Need a manager to ***** bus routes right there, cause no one was doing anything about some resorts having more buses and demand than others.

Hope you all enjoyed the sunshine and great weather!

 

[NitroStitch]

Wonder if you cheered for me. I was so over the race at that point and walking and at least 3 people cheered for me by name and I started running again. It was one of my more memorable moments. A couple others were the big hug I got from the girl who put the medal on me and the gospel choir. I, too, will be at the Princess.

I might have cheered for you! I saw LOTS of folks in W.I.S.H. shirts and hollered for every one of them. I also made sure to cheer extra for everyone who looked like they were just about at a wall - I know it helped me toward the end.

 

[NitroStitch]

That's a great time!
I think the issue is that most of us that finished slower than that just post that we finished - because that was the goal

Thank you! My goal was just to finish alive and not get swept, so I did much better than just reaching my goal.

 

[Danhockey04]

I have an excel sheet that has the results for Goofy that I made, it was easy. I just can't seem to find a way to upload it here. I will try to find a host site for it. It has the net clock and chip Goofy time in order, so if interested, I will load it somehow.

 

[LumberDad]

I have an excel sheet that has the results for Goofy that I made, it was easy. I just can't seem to find a way to upload it here. I will try to find a host site for it. It has the net clock and chip Goofy time in order, so if interested, I will load it somehow.

That would be great! Thanks

 

[Shannon84]

I finished my 1st marathon but it was sure harder than I expected! I was maintaining a 13 min/mile pace until a hit the wall and overheated. I thought I was dehydrated so I tried drinking more - big mistake! I think I had some heat exhaustion and likely hyponatremia for over hydrating. It took a few hours for me to feel ok! It was very scary!!!
I walked the last 6 miles and finished just under 6 hours. My "dream" was 5:30 but i was too hot so I'm happy I made it!!
Thanks WiSHers, especially those wet wash cloths outside DHS. They saved me!!!

Amanda

It was great meeting you and I am so glad I had you to hang out with while waiting for the race to start

 

[Shannon84]

Home safely and just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for helping me out!! I am so embarassed to admit how long it took me to finish, but I did it!! I burst into tears when I saw my mom after the finish I was so happy I know my training was lacking due to injuring my knee in a cycling class, I am also super slow to begin with but I did it!! The support out on the course was awesome!!

 

[Danhockey04]

The link below should have worked, if not, let me know.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b3qy4sh5uw32dkn

 

[CoasterAddict]

I hope everyone has made it safely home.
I'm quite pleased to report that my half-marathon time was respectable (taking it easy because of the relay the next day) and my relay time was a personal best by about 14 minutes! I was thrilled. And really tired.

 

[dreams91]

I might have cheered for you! I saw LOTS of folks in W.I.S.H. shirts and hollered for every one of them. I also made sure to cheer extra for everyone who looked like they were just about at a wall - I know it helped me toward the end.

I did the same thing except I was at the Poly. I stayed until I saw the finish line guy. I wanted to make sure the people towards the end got cheering as most of the cheer crowd had left. i took a couple pics of WISHer's but dont know how to post them here...I did post them on Facebook and another friend tagged some of the people.

 

[NitroStitch]

Home safely and just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for helping me out!! I am so embarassed to admit how long it took me to finish, but I did it!! I burst into tears when I saw my mom after the finish I was so happy I know my training was lacking due to injuring my knee in a cycling class, I am also super slow to begin with but I did it!! The support out on the course was awesome!!

No matter what your finish time, you finished! That's a HUGE accomplishment!

 

[ironz]

Well, my RR is a DNF. I had to be smart, as much as it broke my heart to do so. I really wanted the Goofy Medal (to make up for the ugly 5 medal of 2010).
Did the 5K easy peasy and had a blast, with a yummy breakfast at Boma afterwards.
Did the half marathon with a little more effort, but still took about 3:02 to finish, pretty much running 3 minutes, walking about 1:30. But thanks to the injury I suffered to my glutes/upper hamstrings 3 weeks before marathon weekend, my gait is still altered and I was sort of dragging my right foot and leg along for the ride. By that night, my right calf had tightened up with right heel pain, but I rolled it out and got it feeling better.

On Marathon morning, I felt ok, and had a positive outlook. I have walked a full before (not fun, but did it) so still thought I was ok. Started out with a run 2:45/walk 1:15 plan. Should have probably started with 2/2, but hindsight is 20/20. By mile 4, due to my altered biomechanics (I think I tired out the injured muscles doing the half), I was pretty much shuffling my right foot and had a harder impact of the ball of my right foot hitting the ground compared to a normal step with the left. Being a long-time runner/triathlete, who has had stress injuries before, all I could think about was, "I'm going to get a stress fracture in that right foot if I can't step properly and keep impacting it that way." If Goofy was my only "A" event for the year, that's one thing, but I have all of triathlon season ahead of me in 2012, including an Ironman in August. Causing further damage--really, an additional injury to the foot on top of the original glute injury-- just couldn't be worth it. I tried to tag onto a few WISH ladies (Jen, Tracy, and Corinna?)...they were sweet and doing a fairly conservative run/walk plan, but I couldn't even hang with that, worried about what I was doing to my foot and leg. Walked (and cried) a bit more until my friend Sue came along....she took one look at my gait and knew that was not going well. We started doing the math if I walked the whole way, but I had slowed down so much, it wasn't going to happen. And really, I maybe could have really dug deep and run through it, but my major concern was causing more injury. By this point, I had passed where I could have walked back to the start at mile 5....so I figured I would just hobble to the monorail at TTC and get back. But found the med station across from mile 8 and pulled the plug there.

Very disappointed, but I have to believe I made the right decision. My booty is just not healed enough, and considering right after the injury, I couldn't run at all...managing to complete 24 miles out of the weekend isn't that bad.
It sucks to have to be smart about my body, but I'll just have to come back.

Other thoughts:
Expo seemed well organized.

Shirts: does anyone remember if XS shirt size was an option? The smalls are too big, and I'm not the tiniest of the women runners, so I bet having XS as an option would be nice. (p.s. to that...if anyone who reads this would like a size S marathon or Goofy shirt if yours is too big, we could maybe arrange that, since I didn't complete all the races)

Half marathon: I think they have reached (and exceeded) the crowd limits for this race. It was not pleasant in spots due to the crowds. Coming out of the castle felt almost dangerous, esp with some runners cutting over to be in front of the photographers. There are too many sections where the road or pathway is only one lane across to hold that many runners. I did not experience this degree of crowding for the portion of the full that I completed.

Volunteer support: AMAZING. They are so good. Thank you to all of the volunteers.

Goofy bib: I don't like the B-tags, and wearing mine while sitting on the busses kept creasing it, so I was worried it wasn't going to work. If they want to stick with B-tags, maybe do the extra bib for Goofy.

Water/aid stations: I was a little surprised that even late into the half marathon, many runners had not figured out that ALL of the stations were set up as Powerade, then water. Also...to newbie runners...you do not have to all jam up at the very first volunteer at the aid station....they go on for several yards and there is more than enough time to get your fluids.

Also did not love that the Clif gel station was not anywhere near a water station... It doesn't make sense to take the gels without water, but apparently nearly all the runners did that, based on the gel packs on the roadway. I was sort of amused that the sound of the runners' feet was different, as we all were sticking to the roadway through that section until we finally got to the next water station where we could run through a little water and keep our shoes from sticking.

OK...well, maybe I'll be back for 2013 and another attempt. But maybe wait until 2014, if it's going to be a madhouse for the 20th anniversary of the marathon. I like this year's special Donald Medal, but have hated the 5th anniversary medals for the Goofy and the DL half, so maybe I'll wait before I register.

 

[Ronda93]

Betsy - ditto on the runners and the castle pic! They were lining up on the left just outside the arch during the half. A CM/volunteer was trying to wave them on. There are two more photographers on that ramp and I think the bottom one gets the best pic! Bummer on the DNF, but it was right for you. Take care of your bum!

Shannon - YOU DID IT! That's a fact!

Ronda

 

[LumberDad]

The link below should have worked, if not, let me know.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b3qy4sh5uw32dkn

Worked for my, thanks.

Finished 2237 out of 5458 for goofy.

 

[DisneyBoundinDec]

Home safely and just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for helping me out!! I am so embarassed to admit how long it took me to finish, but I did it!! I burst into tears when I saw my mom after the finish I was so happy I know my training was lacking due to injuring my knee in a cycling class, I am also super slow to begin with but I did it!! The support out on the course was awesome!!

YOU DID IT!!!! that's all that matters!!!

 

[DISaholic's]

Back to Life and Reality after completeing the Disney Marathon!

It was so much better than I expected. The whole race experience at Disney was awesome!!! The volunteers and spectators are amazing and running through the parks was just a dream come true. I saw the WISH group and they gave me such a pick up when I was struggling. Even if I didn't know even one of you, your presence outside DHS gave me that boost to keep it moving. I had wanted a 4:45 finish and ended up with a 4:58 due to multiple potty stops/GI issues which always crop up on hot, long runs. Wish it had been just a little cooler esp toward miles 20-26. Not to disappointed though, it was still under 5 hrs. I had no problems with the logistics of the race, Disney did a great job with transportation, etc.

Went back to EPCOT after a shower and a change of clothes and finished the night off with dinner at the Biergarten and watching Illuminations - my absolute favorite fireworks show. I'm going to miss following this thread and everyone's training and excitement, guess I'll just have to sign up for another Disney Race soon!

 

[CaptHomer]

Enjoyed meeting everyone at the Boardwalk Bakery on Monday morning. It was nice to put faces with names. See you all next year, if my knees get better.