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Goofy's Race and Half Challenge
by Cindy and Mike Ezdon
Disney World, Florida -- It’s 3:20 a.m. on Saturday January 12, 2008. The alarm goes off. We are arising out of our slumber at the Pop Century Resort ready to embark on our latest adventure: the completion of the Goofy Challenge. To earn the coveted Goofy medal (because after all, it is all about the hardware), one must complete a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. And does Disney know how to put on a race!
We catch one of the last Disney Weekend Marathon buses from our hotel to the start area. Both races begin and finish at Epcot. The crowd is exuberant and chatty, with some runners dressed as Disney characters (Mike just had to beat the guy dressed as Tinkerbell). Prior to the race, they provided large screen TVs for entertainment, plenty of port a potties, water, and other pre race essentials. The count down to the start begins with fireworks for both races and appearances of Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, and Goofy. It’s 6:00am and we are off!
As we make our way down the racecourse in the darkness of the predawn hours, the close proximity of the runners add to the heat. In less than a mile we are perspiring profusely and clothes are sticking to our skin. The race course varies between wide and narrow. Music blares out from different spots off the road where the glares from the spot lights encourages you to look forward onto the road at the heels of the runners. A road sign reads Magic Kingdom ahead. Then soon the distant roar of the spectators is heard. In the parking lot at Magic Kingdom fans yelling encouragement line the course. The excitement builds as you enter Magic Kingdom and make your way down Main Street. The park is all lit up with people jammed packed cheering you on! The Dumbo ride is going round and round with no line! We make our way around into Tomorrow land and then through the Cinderella Castle where the trumpet horns announce your arrival. Disney Characters of all sorts are around to cheer you on or you can stop and get your picture with them. By now it is dawn and we are at the halfway mark for the half marathon. During the marathon, you are at mile 11 and it is daylight at this point. The half marathon course takes you back to Epcot. Where the full marathon proceeds down the road to Animal Kingdom, MGM, and then finishes back at Epcot. We both agree that Magic Kingdom was one of the highlights of these races. At the completion of the races you receive a Donald Duck metal for the half marathon, a commemorative 15th anniversary Mickey Mouse metal for the marathon, and the coveted Goofy metal for doing both races!
So what drives us to participate in this challenge or any other race? Mostly Fun! It all started about 10 years ago. My mother suffered a heart attack at age 56, mainly due to an unhealthy life style. Mike and I decided to get into shape by running. Mike had run track for 2 years in High School but I had no running experience. It has been a long haul to get to this point, but the journey has been awesome. Similar to most people the initial part of running can be a time of tribulation. Mike had an easier transition into running than I did. He was able to complete some 5k’s and 10k’s before I finally joined the Women’s Running group taught by Susan Pajer and her mentors. This helped me to build an aerobic base and ease into running correctly. After that, the sweaty adventures began with a lot of races and running together.
Mike’s first marathon and my first half marathon were in Quebec City, Canada in the summer of 2003. Since this is where we went on our honeymoon, we thought it would make an appropriate first time experience for running an endurance race. Thank goodness I knew how to say water in French, because the volunteers did not speak any English. I went on to complete my first marathon that spring at the Shamrock marathon in Virginia Beach. Mike and I caught the marathon bug
Our next marathon race was fall 2004 at Steamtown where Mike qualified for Boston. At the Boston marathon, I volunteered at the finish line with food distribution. It was so much fun and I would recommend it to anyone. The excitement and energy that surrounds this race is contagious. I also felt the motivation to improve my performance, so I too could someday run Boston. We completed the Richmond marathon in November 2005 and my marathon time improved. Mike became occupied with his Ironman Lake Placid training and I worked on my running speed. With the help of Johnny Marino’s speed workout on Tuesdays and the marathon training schedule devised by Todd Wiley, I was able to qualify for Boston at the Wineglass marathon in October 2006. Mike qualified too and he had just finished his first Ironman in July. Our friends Sharon and Skip Schanbacker were at the Wineglass marathon race to run it and support us. One of the most important lessons we learned was to always pace yourself evenly when running long distance. So this last spring, Mike and I ran the Boston marathon together through a nor’easter. It was such an amazing experience to run that race! A little rain and wind didn’t matter!
Running is such a great sport that you can do almost anywhere. When we vacation, we look for local races to compete in or simply join an organized running group to get a few miles in. We find that runners are a welcoming bunch and no matter where we go they are friendly and happy to have us run with them!
Improvement with running endurance and speed has been a journey of trial and error. For us to accomplish our goals took proper training, persistence and determination. The support of each other and friends has helped us along the way. We have always found that running groups in this area are about “friends helping friends stay fit”. The memories and friendships acquired are priceless. We all have within us the ability to accomplish our (realistic) goals.
A favorite mantra from Adidas at the Boston marathon is: Impossible is Nothing!
Now that we have been officially certified as Goofy, it’s time to get back out there and have some more fun!
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