Hey everyone. It's Matt. I figured since I've actually met you all several times in person (and lived to tell the tale) I should probably get around to registering on the boards. Also this way you can now mock me in a more direct fashion the next time I try to back out of a race.
Now for the race reports:
Since philly I didn't really train at all. Looking at my training logs, I had the following weekly mileage: 8,15,17,33,8,17. Also during most of these runs I felt really bad. I ran slow and during my two long runs (16 and 12 miles) I had to walk the last mile or so. Given this I was really dreading the goofy. I actually told Cindy that I was going to not run the full many many times during the week leading up to the race. At least I was well tapered
The Half
After waking up at the ungodly time of 2:45 am Cindy and I both made it to the start around 4:10 or so and immediately got into line for the porta-potties. Thankfully there were plenty and the lines moved fast. While we were waiting in line, one women was freaking out that the porta-pottie she used was out of hand sanitizer. I was just happy that the one I used still had some TP.
After taking care of business, we headed over to the W family reunion area and met up with Dave and ThunderMatt. Dave was recording commentary on the race for the podcast and he interviewed Cindy before the race. I've never actually listened to the podcast before, but I might have to start if Cindy is going to be on it.
I didn't really have any plan going into the half, but I knew I wanted to run it slow to save my energy for the full. The start was pretty congested, so I just stuck near Dave and Cindy. We ended up talking nearly the whole time and it was really really fun. The miles just seemed to fly by, we were having such a great time. Around mile 11 or so there was a DJ playing MC Hammer's "Can't touch this" and I danced while running for about 2 minutes or so. Cindy mocked me and said that I was going to pull a muscle.
Near the end I picked up the pace a little bit because running through epcot I got pretty excited. Also I really didn't want Cindy to bet me. Dave heard me say this, and he picked up the pace even more so he could beat me. Right at the finished line there was a lone line of Disney characters cheering us on. Luckily I had enough of a lead over Cindy to give Stitch a big hug before I crossed the line. Even though it was cold out, I'm sure I was pretty sweaty. Hopefully I didn't gross out whoever was inside the costume too much.
I think we all finished around 2:06. Not a bad time and I can honestly say I've never had more fun running a race than I did while running with Cindy and Dave. If all training runs could be this fun, I'd probably run 100 miles per week.
The Full
After waking up at 2:45 am two days in a row, I was insanely tired the morning of the full. I felt like I had no energy and I just wanted to go back to bed. Cindy and I stumbled to the start. We looked around for wish folks, but only saw Tracy and Chet. I later saw Tracy cheering during the race, but I don't think she saw me.
Once again I didn't really have any plan for the full other than to survive, and to hopefully beat Cindy again. Out of the three marathons we have run so far Cindy has been me twice and she wasn't that far behind me during philly either. I ended up going out at around a 10 minute per mile pace. It felt comfortable enough and I was just hoping that I could hold on to that pace for long enough so that once I started walking I would be somewhat close to the finish.
The first part of the race through Epcot was really crowded and I just tried to keep running my pace without tripping over cones or other people in the dark. Once we got to around 4-5 miles, the course opened up a bit more and it became easier to relax and just run. I saw Howard and Steve around mile 6 and said Hello as I ran past.
During most of the race I was kind of bored (the marathon really takes too long to complete) so I tried to chat up all kinds of strangers that were running near me--I'm sure Jody hates people like me. I ended up talking to an army guy in his mid 60s running with a huge american flag for a while. I also ended up talking with a woman from Arlington VA who had run a bunch of the same local races that Cindy and I had run and with some other random wish folks that I passed. One guy named Bob was also running the goofy and he offered to buy me an ice cream if I was at the boardwalk ice cream shop at 4:00 pm.
Sometime during the stretch from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom, my right knee started to hurt pretty bad. Around mile 4, though, I had spoken with two women from team in training and they told me about this stuff called bio-freeze. I didn't have anything to lose, so the next time I ran by a medical tent I put some biofreeze on both my knees. It is AMAZING! My knee pain went away and I was able to run the rest of the race pain free.
Around mile 21 I was just getting ready to consider walking a bit, when I saw Cindy at the out and back portion of the course. I knew that she was only a mile behind me and she looked like she was running pretty strong. I knew that if I was going to beat her, I couldn't take any walk breaks, so despite the fact that I was fading pretty fast I really pushed myself to keep going. This was made a bit easier by the fact that the last 4 miles or so are through Hollywood studios, the boardwalk and Epcot and the crowds were really out in force there. After running around world showcase, I knew we were getting close to the finish and I picked up the pace a tiny bit to finish in 4:29.
It was really good to see you all again, and despite my fears that the goofy would be "the worst weekend of my life" I actually had a great time and really enjoyed both the half and full. I agree with Cindy's comments that the goofy was probably the least miserable of all my marathons.
, we need a dinner at Biergarten followed by a progressive beer trot 
around World 
to the boards!! 
