Marathon Training Week 3: Going Goofy

I have reached Week 3 of MT. Its going well and the transition feels comfortable and natural like it was meant to be. Now having never run a marathon before, I don't know how it will go, but I am confident that I will finish. So confident that I had been tossing around the idea of going down to WDW with Laurie in January and running in the WDW Marathon weekend though I wasn't sure which distance I would decide on: Half Marathon or Full Marathon. I never really imagined I would decide on what I did....

If any of you have been following my journey (well, really OUR journey) you already know how much the Rose family loves Disney. All things Disney, but WDW is our Happy Place. We have a Chase Disney Rewards credit card and with that you receive special discounts for WDW parks, resorts, and events. EVENTS. LOL. They we offering a rather lucrative discount on the races for the WDWM weekend. Namely, for the Goofy Challenge.

Running Goofy has been in the back of my mind. I had an itch to do it. The discount wasn't quite enough to tip the scales towards going for it. I mean, realistically, I had never done a FULL. I couldn't even decided which distance I was going to do in the first place. Then on one fateful day I received a message from Laurie (who was already registered for Goofy). It was the last day of the discount and Goofy capacity had jumped to 82% Full. I was going to go for it when it hit 80%.  I think I knew all along that I was going to do this. I know me, and I would have been miserable standing back and watching Laurie do something that I SO wanted to do. As bad as it may sound, and she knows that its true, I would be overcome with jealousy when she earned 3 medals and the glory, so to say, that would go with finishing the Goofy Challenge. So I decided to buy myself a 30th Birthday present and bought my way into the Goofy Challenge. My hands were shaking the whole time. I was so excited. I still kind of can't believe that I did it and when I think about it, I still get butterflies.  I had major sticker shock. I knew it was going to be a lot, even with the discount, but it was the fact that I was going trough with it. It wasn't until I was faced with the very REAL possibility of NOT being able to do it, I realized how much I truly wanted it. I couldn't face missing my chance. So I am officially registered for the Goofy Challenge!

In case you are not familiar with the Goofy Challenge, it is where you participate (and FINISH) BOTH distance races during WDWM Weekend. See? I couldn't decide WHICH distance to run so now I am doing BOTH! First is the WDW Half Marathon that takes place on Saturday (January 12th if you are interested).

 The HM comes with a Donald Duck Finisher's Medal. Last year's Donald Medal  is actually what made me want to run this event in the first place.

This is obviously an image of last year's medal

The next part of the Challenge is the WDW Full Marathon on Sunday. This year is the 20th Anniversary of the WDW Marathon so you know its going to be phenomenal. Disney always puts on a great show, but for such a big birthday, the celebration is going to be HUGE!

And I CANNOT wait to be a part of it!

So once you finish the Half, AND the Full you get the third Goofy Challenge Medal. Gonna have to leave extra room in my carry on! Speaking of extra room, with a bit of arm twisting, we may end up adding the 5K on Friday and do the Dopey Challenge. No special medal for that, but a fourth for finishing the 5K.

So I was a little nervous about this whole endeavor. It IS a bit intimating. I downloaded the training plan that Jeff Galloway designed just for running the Goofy Challenge and started penciling in the training runs, and strangely, as if meant to be, it fit right into our existing Fall Race Schedule! The long run distances fell on weeks we already had HM scheduled. It was a sign. I have never been one to question when the starts align because I have always believed that things happen as they should, when they should. This was DEFINITELY one of those times. I am back to being excited. I feel like things are falling in place for this year. I will begin 2013 by going completely Goofy!

Until next time, Run On and Be Happy!