I’ll be doing the Disney World Goofy Challenge where you
run a half marathon Saturday morning followed by the full marathon
on Sunday. The course is flat as a pancake but still I believe this is a
respectable challenge. Has anybody done something similar? Is this suicide mission?
Any ideas, tips are welcome.
All I know, is that run is Mickey Mouse.
It is a good time.
M-i-c-k-e-y Why? Because you can!!!
I guess if there are guys out there running 50 marathons in 50 days… this is nothing 
I would ice my legs as soon as possible after the 1/2 marathon. Avoid standing around waiting for awards. When I have done back to back races they have been shorter triathlons or duathlons. I usually aim for my best race on Saturday (1st race) and just try to hang on on Sunday. I figure that trying to leave something in the tank for Sunday just about guarantees two crappy performances. Not sure how that approach will work in your quest. It is really fun doing the Saturday/ Sunday double but Monday sure does roll around quickly. Hope you have some time off.
Did the Goofy in 08, very fun race!
Me and my brother decided to take it easy on saturday and try our best on sunday. Turned out to be ok.
Also, it is flat, but the highway overpasses might seem like mountains on sunday.
Did a lot of doubles in training, big volumes running on saturday and sunday.
Have fun, we will see you there in 2010
Maks
I have a few running friends who like to do doubles. Usually a trail 50k or 50 miler followed by a road marathon.
The number one tip: ICE BATH. Buy a few bags and throw them in the tub. If you’ve never done an ice bath, the initial cold shock is harsh but the recovery benefit is amazing.
I guess I better HTFU 
.
I’ve run both the half and the full, individually. Had a few friends do the Goofy the last few years. None of them especially accomplished runners. You’ll notice that many of the people in the race with the Goofy bibs don’t look like they’d be that great a runner.
One of the tips my friends had was to pick one of them to “run” and not try for maximum output on both. I think they echoed what was said above, run the half and have fun with the full.
I know that if you swapped it and tried to run the full that you probably wouldn’t be real happy around mile 20 to 22. If I remember that’s where you hit a stretch of general nothingness. You’re in between parks and basically just out on the highway.
Save some energy for the Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island scene afterwards.
Oh, and spend the money and stay in the park. That way you dont have to get up at 3am to get to a lot and get to a bus to get to a train. We stayed at the “Contemporary” and got on the train about 30 minutes before the start…extra two hours sleep.
Oh, and spend the money and stay in the park. That way you dont have to get up at 3am to get to a lot and get to a bus to get to a train. We stayed at the “Contemporary” and got on the train about 30 minutes before the start…extra two hours sleep.
That makes sense.
Makes sense…but costs DOLLARS…some +/- $1000 a night, and that does not include coffee, or even internet in your room. We stayed there both nights before and off the resort the other nights we were there.
I did the full in 2008 as my first marathon. I did the Goofy this year (2009). The above statements are accurate. There is desolation between mile 18 and 21 on the highway during the full marathon
I took it easy on both races and ran them with low heart rate (143). I ran them as training runs and even stopped at every character on the Full for a picture in order to keep my heart rate down and to keep it from being boring since I was not racing and had seen it all before the prior year. I was able to start training quickly the following week since I did not race them. It would have been tough to try and race one or both of them though.
Agree on staying on property if possible, but drive to the start. The busses go way to early at 4:00 AM. Beware that there is a about a 15 minute walk to the start corrals from the parking lot/gear bag/staging area. I left my hotel at 5:00 AM and had just enough time to park, hit the portalet and get in my corral before the 5:50 start.
The second day feels like deja vu as everything in the prerace entertainment is the same.
I did the Disney marathon this year (the goofy challenge was filled up).
From a logistics standpoint, staying in the park was key. We stayed at the All-Star resorts but that is also because I had my wife and daughters there and we spent 4 days park hopping before the race and doing the kids’ races. It was nice because we got on the Disney shuttle at the airport when we arrived, got free shuttles to all the parks and for runners they had shuttles to the marathon starting at 3:30 in the morning. No worries about cars, parking etc…Then when it was time to go home the shuttle takes you back to the airport.
Some other things I learned in my first time at Disney as a parent and runner:
My wife got me, her and the kids the extra VIP pass. They have a large tent with stretching area, private bag check, breakfast for the runners (and after 7 family members/others that paid for it can get in and eat), lunch afterwards, their own prota johns and so on. That way when I showed up off the shuttle from the resort I didn’t have to stand around outside in the parking lot as there were chairs, tables, couches etc… inside the tent.Running through the parks is fun, but there are some bland stretches along the highways in between parks. The stretch, like someone else mentioned, around mile 22 or so is a little boring but they had bands/kids out there cheering at points.If you go to the park, don’t expect a great race. I think standing around in line, walking and carrying a 3 year old for 6-7 hours a day for 3 days prior to the race actually hurt my legs! I know come the saturday before the race I was tired and sore from being on my feet and on concrete all day.The last couple overpasses suck and feel like huge hills, even though they aren’t.If you cramp up, like I did, at mile 23.5 and go from a 3:09 pace to running a 3:21 and start swearing and mother-effing your left quad in the middle of Epcot world village while you try to walk it out you will get a lot of dirty looks from the many families there.
Take enough time to have fun and look around when going through the parks. The characters are out in full force cheering you on and you also get to run behind the scenes and see the backsides of some of the parks.Disney is a black hole for money. Every time you turn around, come off a ride, stop to look at the scenes someone is taking your picture and trying to sell it to you or you are being funnelled through a theme store.The race starts early…damn early. It’s also a long (15 minute or so) walk from the waiting area to the start corals.
The kids races were great and the kids had a blast doing the 200 yard mini run and the mile run for the older ones.I am waiting another year until my son is a little older and will go back for 2011.
When you complete the Disney half and full, I saw that receive a goofy medal. Is this additional medal ?
I mean…who complete both…receive medal for Half (donald, I think ), medal for marathon (mickey)…and the 3rd one (Goofy) ??
Or only the Goofy ??
TKS
3 medals.
To the OP, two words: Monorail Hotel.