Day 4, Part 1: GOOF TROOOOP!
My alarm went off at 2:15 a.m. Sunday morning. That was real stinking early, but given how things turned out for a lot of runners, I was glad I got up early and was out the door right away. I was on the second bus from ASM and made it to the staging area with absolutely no issues. Others would not be able to stay the same.
I met some runDisney all-stars in one area, then we all moved to another area where
@DopeyBadger had set up. He left by the time we got there.
As we standing in the corrals, the transportation horror stories began. Lots of people stuck on buses that weren't going anywhere. It sounded like a real mess. It also meant no pre-race shots courtesy of
@jennamfeo. Fortunately, she would not be deterred from her efforts to provide us with booze.
Nearly every member of the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) was able to make it to the staging area and corrals, I believe. The group included
@rteetz,
@Bree,
@FFigawi,
@jmasgat,
@flav @TCB in FLA,
@michigandergirl, her friend Angie (right?) and Beth. Almost everyone was starting from C, except Tavel who started at the front of D so she could quickly catch up to us.
As 5 a.m. approached, it was evident we were not starting on time. There appeared to be a lot of runners missing, people in our text group kept reporting not moving in their buses or long waits at bag check. The announcers were stalling, too. Finally, they said we'd start at 5:20, thought ultimately, I think we started at 5:30.
We started at a nice easy pace. The plan was to hit up every character, do some drink stops, ride Everest and ride Tower of Terror and/or Rockin' Roller Coaster. I wasn't so sure about RnRC after my first foray on it earlier in the trip, but I had a few hours to figure that out.
Unfortunately, runDisney thew the Goof Troop a curve ball fairly quickly. We thought we had a pretty good cushion between us and the balloon ladies, but they got sent earlier than we expected. So, we opted not to stop for every character.
IMG-3454 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
By the time we got to Epcot, several of us wanted to use the restroom. Half of us stopped and the other half went on to grab us a spot for the next characters we wanted to see. Phineas and Ferb, I believe. Unfortunately, the bathroom lines were super long and with the balloon ladies gaining on us, we skipped the next several character stops. We also were split from half of the Goof Troop for the next several miles.
At some point before Magic Kingdom, we caught up with the rest of the Goof Trop and stopped for Stitch.
IMG-3456 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
Somewhere around the TTC, we had our first meet up with our all-star Goof Troop support crew,
@jennamfeo and
@Keels. Jenna gave me a shot of tequila because she's the best.
We stopped at some mystery campground setup outside of MK, as well.
IMG-3457 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
Magic Kingdom included more character stops and castle pics.
IMG-3459 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
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Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
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Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
I love running through MK at night, but I sure love that early sunrise light for photos.
616444782 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
The sun meant more heat, though, and I could definitely feel it warming up. I was downing a ton of water and Powerade at every stop and going to the bathroom somewhat frequently, which I NEVER do during a race.
It was evident we weren't going to get the cloud cover and breeze that made the half much more tolerable. I expected heat for the full, but I wasn't quite sure how my body was going to respond. I also wasn't sure about spending an extra two hours on my feet doing character stops and whatnot.
We ran into Keels and Jenna by the Grand Floridian and they gave us some beer. Very refreshing and much appreciated.
I think we only had one character stop between MK and AK, which was the Country Bears for Ryan.
616334397 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
Before we got to AK, I had to use the bathroom again. I spotted a portopotty just off the course on the other side of a ditch. Not thinking, I just ran through the ditch. Unfortunately, there was about 4 inches of water (I hope it was water!) in the ditch, but I had too much forward momentum to react in time to avoid it. Bree said everyone saw me splashing through the water, so at least it looked funny.
On the other hand, my shoes and socks were soaked after that (and I had a weird rash the next day). So, that wasn't exactly ideal.
The Goof Troop continued on into AK where John, Ryan and I had a beer while others used a real restroom. While we were waiting, I reapplied some sunscreen, which turned out to be a huge mistake.
We were going to try to ride Everest, but were told it would be a 20 minute wait. That ended up being a lie since we heard it running 10 minutes later. We did stop and get a pic with Kevin, though.
IMG-3463 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
At this point, the heat was really picking up (I think it was 9:30-10 at this point). I could handle being hot and was getting plenty to drink, plus we were walking more at this point, but the sunscreen I applied kept getting in my eyes. So, for the next couple miles I was trying to deal with that. I soaked my little towel thing with water and tried to rub the sunscreen out of my eyes, but I think I just ended up adding sweat to my eyes. Eventually, I think I wiped off all the sunscreen from my forehead and was fine.
We continued on from Animal Kingdom to Blizzard Beach with very little in between. We were walking more and by Blizzard Beach, I think the heat really caught up to us. Plus, the first part of BB was a total drag, just running around the perimeter of the parking lot.
Blizzard Beach itself wasn't much better, IMO. Sure, it was cool to see a part of WDW I've never seen before, but the paths were narrow and crowded and seeing all of that refreshing water was borderline torture. I fully expect someone to make it into the wave pool or lazy river one of these years if runDisney continues with that route.
We stopped for Olaf and someone found a bag of ice, which we passed around. I put some under my hat.
IMG-3465 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
I don't remember much between BB and Hollywood Studios. But I'm pretty sure that's when we got this truly epic photo with the Fantasia hippo.
616375601 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DHS was fine, but brief. I also don't understand why they thought anyone would want chocolate when it was roughly 80 degrees out.
The line at Tower of Terror looked line as we ran past, so I thought we weren't attempting it. But all of a sudden, John and Bree were both MIA. Ryan finally got a hold of them and they were getting on ToT. The rest of us decided to keep going to the beverage stop put on by
@Dis_Yoda and
@MommaoffherRocker at Mile 24. We found them right off the path between DHS and Epcot and they treated me to jello shot and a Bud Light. That Bud Light was especially refreshing. Thanks ladies!
After 15-20 minutes, the rest of the Goof Troop caught up with us and we committed to finishing the last two miles as a team, no matter what pace we had to do. It was great.
We ran into Max before getting into Epcot.
IMG-3467 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
There were more character stops inside the World Showcase.
IMG-3468 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
IMG-3469 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
Still smiling in the final stretch.
615729206 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
We were supposed to meet Jenna and Keels in the World Showcase to get handed some margaritas for the finish, but we didn't find each other. I'm sure the crowd was wondering why some runners were stopped, doubling back and calling on their phones, ha ha. We just really wanted those margaritas.
Outside of Epcot, I did the first and only live edition of Sundays are for Disney as we pressed on to the finish. It was hot, we were tired and sweaty, but the Goof Troop Roving Road Party was going strong.
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Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
We finished as one big group. It was awesome. (Sorry you got cut out, Ryan!)
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Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
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Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
After the finish I had parking lot beers and some of the margarita that Jenna dumped into her thermos. It was super hot, but that beer was so dang refreshing.
Despite it being my hottest (by at least 15-20 degrees) and slowest (by two hours) marathon, this was easily my funnest. After running my first two Disney marathons alone and for time, I told myself if I made it down there for a third, I was running for fun. The Goof Troop Roving Road Party provided entertainment, companionship, camaraderie and more. I'm so thankful for that group (support crew included!). Thank you for putting up with my bad jokes, worse puns and squeaky shoe. You guys are the best.
GOOF TROOP!!