Oh So Goofy...

Anyone who has heard me say "I don't think I'll ever run another marathon"...close your ears (or your eyes) now. Are they closed? Ok...for the rest of you... I've done it. I signed up for the Disney "Goofy Challenge" which is a marathon and a half. Literally. During the Disney Marathon weekend in January, the Goofy Challengers run the half-marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday. I'm crazy. An official card-carrying member of the running cult that is my running group of friends. For my thoughts on my first marathon, read here and here. At some point after that, I decided that the training that went into the marathon was just too much and that I didn't think I'd do another one.

But, the Goofy Challenge is different. For one thing, it's harder than a regular marathon, but easier than an ultra marathon (usually about 50 miles or so). I'm the type of athlete/runner that needs some type of "new" challenge to stay motivated. Something bigger or more difficult. I don't get motivated by trying to do something faster. So, running another marathon to beat my original time doesn't appeal to me. For some strange, psychotic reason...running a half-marathon one day followed by a marathon the next does. I think the bigger, better, more difficult rationale is what motivated me to race the Iron Girl triathlon last year. And I had a great time with that.

I've also found that in order to stay motivated to exercise, I need to be officially training for something. After the Iron Girl Tri at the end of the summer, my exercise fell off this Fall because I didn't have anything that I was training for. Yet, now that I'm training for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March, I'm actually motivated to run again. I've also registered for the Iron Girl again in August, so I'll be training for that at the end of the spring into the summer. Once I'm done with that, it'll be time to start training for Goofy. Something about paying a lot of money for a race motivates me to train for it so that I will do well (for me) and enjoy it. So, my $300 should motivate me to train well for the Goofy Challenge! Our strategy, however, will be to run the first 7 miles of the half and walk the last 6 (still finishing under the limit of 3.5 hours) and then to Galloway run/walk the full until we are exhausted and walk the last part (20 miles seems to be my wall). So, for those of you who I've told, "I don't think I'll ever run another marathon" (if you're still reading), I don't think it counts as my "running a marathon" if I walk a significant portion of it. Right? :)

I have to credit my friend Lauren with my decision to do this though...partially because when she told me she was going to do it I said, "Hmmm...wonder if I might do that" and she replied, "Oh, you wouldn't try that...you are the lazy runner". Nothing motivates me more than someone telling me I won't do something. :) (Love you anyway, La La!). But seriously, once I said I actually might do it, she talked me into it. Something about other friends are doing it...this would be the only time we can run it with other people, etc. A lot like the "if you're friends are jumping off a cliff" analogy. Anyway, Lauren and I are running the Disney Princess Half in March together (well, we are going to Disney together...she is much faster than me and will finish way before me, I'm sure) and she is my "Part of Your World" Little Mermaid song duet partner at Piano Bar as well. So, it's fitting that we now have another excuse to go to Disney and run! Maybe that is really my motivation for signing up for this crazy thing...