Finally back from the land of the sun! I was delighted to read Paul's and Denise's race reports - we could have been running together as we all finished around the same time in our respective races. Short story for those who don't want to read the following book: 2:08:04 for the half marathon - 2462 out of 12288 finishers; 876 out of 7327 women; and 37 out of 638 for my age group (50-55) 4:44:23 for the full marathon - 4024 out of 12964 finishers; 1381 out of 6204 women; and 47 out of 405 for my age group. DH and I boarded the plane at 5:30 AM (had to get up at 2:45 -blah!) and arrived in Orlando around noon. We hopped on the Magical Express which took us to the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. From there we hopped the bus to the Expo and reveled in the positive energy. DH was disappointed to find that they had not registered his personal chip, but mine went without a hitch. For any Asics Nimbus fans out there, version 10 is coming out in May, and it looks like a winner. The salesman taunted us with it. After making a few purchases, we returned to the resort and jumped on a boat that took us to Downtown Disney for dinner. We were early and managed to get a table at the Rainforest Cafe without any wait at all. Back at the resort, we laid out our race day garb, timing chips, and other goodies and went to bed at 8:00. 3:15 am came much too soon. A quick shower was followed by a quick breakfast of Clif bar and banana, and we were off to the bus ride to Epcot. Fashion report - black Brooks shorts (5" inseam), black FUG, red Under Armour singlet, white anklets, blue/gray Nimbus 7's, lime green wrist band and Garmin 305. It was 64 degrees with high humidity at the start, but there was a bit of a breeze. I was in the B corral which put me in the first wave. The porta potty lines at the start had long lines, so I didn't bother. I was lucky enough to find a vacant bank of potties around the 3 mile mark and only lost 1 minute for a pit stop. The crowds seemed larger this year, and I found myself running faster than I had planned. I was hoping to save some energy for the full marathon. I particularly enjoyed the steel band at the Hess gas station again this year. As I was departing from the Magic Kingdom, another Boomer looked at me, announced "The party's over" and dropped the hammer. He looked to be in his 70's, and I tried to keep up with him, but he left me in the dirt. I felt very strong for the whole race, and ended up with an average heart rate of 169. After I collected my Donald Duck medal, it was back to the resort to shower and grab a quick lunch before settling in for an all afternoon nap. We traveled to the House of Blues in DT Disney before retiring again early at 8:00. We repeated the whole process Sunday morning - temperature at the start was also a repeat of Saturday with humidity at 100% and no breeze. Fashion report: black Brooks shorts, red Sugoi singlet, black FUG, white anklets, red Nimbus 7's, lime green wrist band, Garmin 305 and lots of Body Glide (but not enough in retrospect). I was in corral C for the full marathon and in the Blue starting group. Again, porta potty lines at the start were terrible, so I raced over to the empty bank of potties immediately after the race began. I jumped back in just as the 5 hour pace group of was going by, and I debated about joining them. One lady that I was sitting with in the corral said her strategy was to keep them behind her so that she knew she would break 5 hours. That was my goal as well, but I didn't really want to do the walk/run that the pace group was doing (OK gang, 20 seconds until we walk, 13 seconds until we walk, 2 seconds until we walk.... you get the picture). They were loud and enthusiastic, but I decided to try to keep just ahead of them. My legs felt a little heavy for the first few miles, but then I loosened up and felt great. I knew I had to maintain an 11:00 minute mile to break 5 hours, but I seemed to be stuck at a 10:30 pace. I kept telling myself that I probably wouldn't be able to maintain this pace. I was still going strong when another Boomer from St. Louis ran up and said she had seen me during the half marathon. She was 58 and doing her 51st marathon - way to go!!! We parted when I dashed to the side to retrieve a banana. Again, the crowds seemed larger and even more supportive this year. I was surprisingly able to maintain my pace for the rest of the race. I started noticing significant chafing at multiple spots during the last couple of miles - not enough to stop me, but I knew I was going to suffer later. The last mile or so was tough – I just kept Spaceship Earth in my sights and kept praying my calves wouldn’t cramp. I ended up with an average heart rate of 162 which I find astounding in light of the heat and humidity. I didn't set a PR for the distances, but I did PR for both Disney races - I was quite pleased with my performance given the less than optimal weather. DH was in the A corral both days and finished far ahead of me, but he hung around after both races so we could have our pictures taken together. What a sweetie! Thankfully neither of us incurred any injuries, and we weren’t sore at all in the days following the races. We slept the rest of the afternoon and treated ourselves to the Fulton Crab House for dinner. I’ve never had Alaskan King crab claws before – they were heavenly. We spent Monday and Tuesday in the parks. It’s always such fun to see the shirts and medals (DH calls them schwag) on the finishers at the parks following the races. I can’t say enough good things about the Disney organization – they really do a bang up job of organizing these two races. The support is wonderful as are the volunteers and entertainment. If you have any thoughts about running one or both of the races in the future, I would say you can’t go wrong. DH and I have already signed up for the 2009 Goofy. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!!

Thanks, Joey! I believe Goofy was capped at 3000 this year, but I heard they are going to raise that to 4000 next year. Seemed like we ran into other goofyites everywhere we went - even on the return flights on Wednesday. If you just want some fun, well-supported races, I would highly recommend Disney. They finally came through with a third shirt for the Goofy Challenge, and the medal upgrades for marathon and goofy finishers were spectacular. I know others don't get excited about the hardware, but I am still a child at heart and really look forward to the heavy metal at the end of the races.

Very enjoyable race report. Glad to see you had a good time and that you broke 5 hours. I ran Disney last year and running through the parks is truly memorable. Now if they can just do something about the heat and humidity on race day.

nice report!! sounds like you had a great time as well!! we need to post some pics and see if we all recognize each other - we had to be running near each other with those times i bet!! need to decide if i want to do the half or the full next year before they fill up as well!!

Way to go, Sue. You ran great times even if you weren't doing two races in two days. To do both races, a person has to be tough. Congrats on your Disney PRs. Congrats also to your husband. TomS

Sue, I really enjoyed reading your report. Awesome races! Thanks for the vicarious thrills Congrat's to your dh also!

Way to go Sue and good results! Disney is amazing as far as organization, I agree. I can remember looking out the window at the Dolphin just 30 minutes after the full marathon and there wasn't a trace of race flotsam and jetsam anywhere. Thanks for the report and congratulations. CNYrunner

No one listens to me when I caution them about running in Florida, even in the winter. Very nice job Sue! I'm glad you signed up again for next year. I'm stunned to see that the Goofy Challenge is already >65% registered. Good grief! Bill