Congrats, Charles!
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.
I saw what the Goofy group went through and that is a grueling two days. You inspire others of a mature age that this is possible! I would love to "go Goofy", maybe next year. At the very least, my first marathon at the WDW marathon weekend. Enjoy your success and thanks for all the encouragement and support you offer to all of us.
