I ONLY WEAR DRESSES

39.3 Memories from the 2012 Goofy Challenge

This past weekend we ran the 2012 Goofy Challenge at Disney World.  I wrote up a quick post on the Donald Duck Half Marathon and the Mickey Mouse Marathon and in the tradition of my Marine Corps Marathon, here are 39.3 things I want to remember from 39.3 miles of running

1:  During the Marathon, John and I stopped at the Enchanted Castle to get a picture of ourselves.  There was no one there to ask to take our picture but a runner jumped out of line who was doing the Chip and Dale Marathon relay.  He stopped us and asked if we wanted him to take out picture. 

I am overwhelmed and continually surprised by kindnesses extended to me by strangers - this random runner saw us, got out of the pack, and took our photo in front of the Enchanted Castle. 

 2: I woke up at 2 am, twice, for a half-marathon and the full-marathon.  That was the hardest part of the whole weekend. We went to bed nice and early but the adrenaline kept us up till 11pm! :D

3: I swore I would never complete a long distance race in full costume.  Maybe ears or with funny socks but a costume?  Also, I don’t do running skirts.  Then I saw this adorable outfit.  And one of my childhood nicknames was Minnie Mouse.  So I gave in.

And as I was running 13.1 miles in this little number, people were in love with me. :D I couldn’t believe the response - runners were stopping me to tell me I looked adorable, children were running up the sides to high-five me, and after the half-marathon?  We were stopped by the promo people so they could get footage of us. 

On Sunday, I stood out more.  Marathons attract serious runners and although there were a few bright skirts, ears, face paint,  and paws, there were only a handful of full costumes.  If the attention at the half was overwhelming, the attention at the full was even more surprising.

When we do any Disney race, I will always wear a costume and I will always suggest others do so.  I wore my bun-hugger booty shorts and my fave Nike sports bra and had no problems with chafing.  When I got hot during the marathon, I just pulled the dress down and exposed my tummy to the air. 

4: And guess who joined in on the fun?  John only had his Mickey hat on Saturday and when we started running through the park, a little boy saw him and started jumping up and down and screaming, “Mickey! Mickey!”  John gave him a high-give and was grinning ear to ear as we kept running.

After the half, John saw these paws and said he would love to wear them for the marathon.  And he did.  The WHOLE MARATHON - even when the temps went up.  If you think my costume was a hit, paired with John’s paws, we were a super hit.  I never knew he would be excited about wearing a costume to the Goofy Challenge and he really wants to dress up with Goofy ears in future marathons.

5:  We ran the half in 2:21 - we stopped a ton to take photos but I love that with a lot less effort, I busted out my old personal record for a half-marathon with a lot more ease. We stopped even more during the full marathon (longer course, more scenery, more characters) and finished in 5:58.  We exceeded our goal and completed the race in 8 hours and 19 minutes. Next time?  Seven hours.

Eight hours and 19 minutes hours in a Minnie Mouse Costume and pink Vibrams (and John in large paws and Mickey ears).

6:  I didn’t want to stop them while they were running, but I will never forget this duo.   I loved how she tenderly attended to him at the water stations and he kept his hand on her arm for the five or six miles we saw them.  We separated around mile 7 and when I looked behind me, I realized they were smiling.

7:  John calls me his Honey Badger runner - in race photos of me, I tend to focus on the finish line and just keep moving.  I love this picture from the marathon that John got when I was running.  Do you see what I see?  That’s a smile when I’m running.  Not required but always nice!

8:  I finished the 2011 Donald Duck Half-Marathon at a slow time of 2:50.  This year, we finished in 2:21.  What was striking about this difference was that we ran most of the race in the dark - we finished with sunlight only because we stopped to get some pictures.  The faster you run the race, the more likely you are to see fewer characters and the more likely that the first two hours of the race will be pitch black. I’m conflicted about this because it is so fun to run the race with the park buzzing around you - but it’s also fun to run through Disney in the dark!

9: My 13.1 split at the Marine Corps Marathon was 2:13, and my personal record for the distance at the Chicago Half Marathon was 2:20.  My Donald Duck Half Marathon was 2:21, but it was MUCH MUCH easier for me than either previous race, even with the fact I had to stop and sprint to get photos.  I truly believe I will run a two hour half marathon this year.

10: When I got my results, I made this face. It was well-deserved, I’m bad ass.

11: We had assigned corals  but before the half we went the wrong way and John didn’t want to find our way back because we were close to the G and H corrals. 

Then we realized that Corral D, where we were assigned, started more than twenty minutes before the open G and H corrals.  We talked to a lovely woman from Chicago, who convinced us to jump the line and join our corrals - I am always afraid of breaking rules because I never get away with anything.

Michelle G, thank you for holding down the barricade for us and telling us to go join our corral - you saved our legs twenty minutes (almost thirty!) and gave us much good karma. 

12: Around the 4 hour 30 minute mark of the marathon, I turned to John and said, “Umm…how the fxck did I finish the Marine Corps in this time?” 

His response, “I don’t know babe, maybe because running a half-marathon before a marathon is hard? And maybe because you didn’t stop to take four pictures with a bunch of rabbits and a donkey?”

Smart Ass.

13:  I peed a lot. And only once in a porta-potty.  I don’t want to talk about it.  I thought I found a great hiding place once and it wasn’t when the monorail full of people went above me. I really don’t want to talk about it.

Except to say, I prefer running a little dehydrated.

14: I met a woman who has completed 106 marathons.  One day that will be me.

15: The marathon was hard - we’re not used to stopping and starting, and taking pictures brought on an inevitable crash - at mile 15, I started crying because I never experienced a wall during the Marine Corps Marathon but I did then.  John turned to me and said, “Honey badgers don’t cry.  Honey badgers don’t give a shit.  Honey badger ran two marathons yesterday!”  It didn’t lift the wall, but it made me laugh. 

16: Last year, I stopped to go to the men’s bathroom and met this sweet ski instructor dressed as Peter Pan, who joined me in my wait for the shortest bathroom line ever. She ran a mile with us - her parting words, “you two need to have fun - you are doing great, stop being so intense!” 

Guess who we saw again and guess what she was dressed as?

The same woman!  And she was dressed as the cat from Alice in Wonderland, down to the red contacts in her eyes.  

17:  Towards mile 23, John said if we didn’t pick it up, we wouldn’t make a six hour marathon (guaranteeing our goal).  Somewhere in there, I ran an 8:20 mile after running 22 miles before, so we could cross the line at 5:58.  I couldn’t have done this without John encouraging me - I thought my eyes were bleeding, I was so warm and so worried we wouldn’t make it. 

18: I was mean to some walkers at the end and I am sorry about this - I have no memory of the last three miles except the feeling that my skin was on fire.  Towards the end of the race, walkers cluster, spread out, and become much less aware of everyone.  I was weaving in and out so we could make our time and John said he overheard me say pretty sharply, “walkers over there!”  I don’t have one recollection of this and I hope the person who heard it will feel my apology karma - I don’t want anyone to have a bad memory of the end of their marathon and I hope they understand I was running on three brain cells and a Clif gel.

19: The Donald Duck Half Marathon medal was refurbed for the anniversary - so cute right?

20:  And let’s not forget the rest of the bling!

21:  I didn’t get to meet Chip and Dale during the races - we didn’t see them at the Half and during the Marathon?  The line was thirty people long!

But we found them after!

22:  Even John was excited.  And yes, that’s my manly boyfriend hugging Dale.

23: Yes, I wore running gear all day at the parks - guess who forgot to pack more then one outfit? And those are my brand new pink compression socks - they keep my legs feeling like new!

24:  The start of Disney races is an event to behold.  Fireworks for every wave.  Then flames shoot up overhead as you start running which is awesome because it warms your buns right before you start running.  Then there’s this.  Dear Disney - I am one of those runners who would pay a fee to get a photo with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in their running gear.  I really would.

25: We may or may not have practiced how John would drink at aid stations with his mouse paws.

26: I get messages asking me why I don’t post pictures of myself running in races.  Because most people look like shit when they are running.  And when I was running my 4:30 marathon, I really looked like shit.  But here’s a blurry picture of me running so you can’t tell how I look.  Watch that awesome strike though - no heels here. :D

27:  We are pain-free.  Yes, we are sore, yes, we aren’t running ten miles today.  No sharp, stabbing pains.  What a difference.

28: T-Shirt:  “I lost 100 lbs and this is my first eleventh half-marathon!”

29: As I was running, a taller Minnie Mouse in front of John and I turns to her Mickey Mouse husband and says, “Look, it’s a younger, in-shape, and better-looking version of us!  I’ve had three kids so I don’t know if I would be wearing your Minnie dress.”  She looked pretty great so I’m not sure what she was talking about and when I have three kids, I hope I have the time management skills to train for marathons.

30: At Animal Kingdom, I may or may not have lost three minutes trying to pose with these rabbits, Will and Annette.

31:  Also at Animal Kingdom, I saw my first baby armadillo, and met a cranky owl who gave me side-eye.  They brought out several owls, donkeys, sheep, and dogs. Yes, this is why we didn’t have a 5:30 marathon, and I don’t care.

32:  I just love these pictures of John.

33:  This is a really pretty spot to get pictures of runners but it was pretty dark when we ran by.  So I went back and recreated my running moment for you.

34:  When I met Belle, this happened: “I looked for you on the race course because yours was the first Disney movie I saw in the theatre, and I loved it, and I was so sad you weren’t at the Marathon, and I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast a 1000 times, and I’m too old for this but I’m still getting my picture with you and this is really exciting for me.”  Poor Belle. 

35:  After both races, John was walking around like he just went around the park.   If you looked at John you wouldn’t have known he ran 39 miles.  Expect to hear great things about his running adventures this year!

36:  I was a little bit more disheveled looking - whew, hot races! And yes, I even lost my hair tie somewhere at the end. Compare that to my face after the half-marathon, and you can really see why no cameras were running after me after the full marathon! :D

37: Most runners show you a picture of their race prep piles.  Let me show you a picture of us doing yoga in our costumes.

38:  I will forever remember how John said, “I am amazed by you,” after I ran my heart out to make sure we ran under six hours for our goal. I like racing alone but at mile 15, I remember thinking, I will never race the Goofy Challenge without John.

39.3:  Happy New Year.  How has your year been so far? I hope it has been as lucky and super as mine.