The stars were aligning just in time for my Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge in Orlando, FL. bags with one goal in mind: to run a qualifying time for guaranteed entry into the 2010 New York City Marathon on Nov. 7. This time I felt that it was destiny. I wanted to test the reality of that dream, so a week before the race I ran 9 miles at the pace I needed to earn a qualifying time.  I thumbed through the race booklet to make sure our race day morning plans would work to drop our bags off by 4:30. In the end I decided to just leave my bag with Morgan and have her meet me after I finish. At midnight I called Anthony to verify the race day logistics, because he ran the marathon a few years ago.

On our way to Epcot that morning, traffic was being funneled from a 3 lane road to 1 lane for a ½ mile section, and saw a participate walking.  I asked Morgan if she felt comfortable letting him jump into our warm car and a ride over the last 2 miles. It was windy, freezing cold and sleeting. Morgan walked with me to the bag drop. I was running and before you know it I was at mile 5. I paid little attention to my surroundings as I ran through the park. I approached a group of 5 male runners at mile 10. I still felt strong and around mile 11.  Crossing the finish I realized my dream of qualifying time for New York.

Qualified!

Morgan guided me through the parking lot to the car as I tucked my head into my towel. We returned to Disney later to meet Anthony for chatting, shopping and snapping fun pictures. Morgan and I wanted to throw in the towel a little early to prepare for the marathon. This was Morgan’s first marathon. marathon. Starting the program she never imagined being able to run 20 miles in training, but her hard training got her to the starting line to prove otherwise. BANG, the marathon got underway. Morgan was in the 3rd wave, so she had a little more time to wait in the cold.

Glad to be in goofy company with these friends!

It was freezing cold out there, so it was nice running with the pace group clipping away 7:10s. Steve dropped the pace around mile 16 and shortly thereafter another guy from our group followed.  I let another Goofy runner lead through the Animal Kingdom to mile 20. Those last couple miles were extremely cold as I couldn’t keep myself warm with the slower pace. I glad to be greeted by Emily and to put on warm and dry clothes after the finish. We waited in the finish line bleachers to watch Morgan finish.  Morgan and I were very excited about the car’s butt warmers the entire trip!  Morgan drove us back to the apartment for a little rest before going out to Medieval Times.

Anne visited Texas in February to qualify for New York at the Austin Half Marathon.  looking forward to another big time race together.

Follow this link to read the entire report.

2010 Goofy Challenge