The Sky’s Awake, so I’m Awake, so we have to RUN!! – A 2017 Goofy Challenge Trip Report*COMPLETE*

[ZellyB]

Oh shoot! I'm sorry that your heels started hurting! That sounds smart to change up your intervals. Variety like that helps me get through mentally at least.

That was it for me exactly. I told Chris that maybe if we broke up the mileage that way it would mentally get me through and it DID help. At least for a while.

I hate this about any long race. Most of the races in my city finish along our canal, so you can always see across the waterway to those approaching the chute and finish line, while you know you still have another 3 miles minimum to get over the bridge and on to the other side. I know some people find this inspiring, but for me is is just so discouraging!

This! I just get kinda deflated thinking how much further I have to go to get where they are RIGHT NOW!

That is great! Seriously Disney pictures should be FUN! This is not real life!

I definitely went in this year determined to have some fun with these shots! I think I succeeded. HA!

UHMMM...Nope, you still look fantastic!!

Aw, thanks!

If you saw the final runners, I must've been pretty close to you guys. I saw the balloon ladies heading into ESPN as I was leaving.

I LOVE that picture with Sadness and Joy!! Way to go @Chris-Mo!

That stinks that you were starting to feel the miles at this point - smart to switch up your intervals like that! Also - you are WEARING those capris! You look great in them!

Yeah, you must have been just a bit ahead of us. I know I saw a cluster of people across the way that I suspect included them, but they were too far away for me to see them clearly.

Aren't you proud of Chris? I am!! This was a breakthrough year for him. LOL

Thanks about the capris. I love those darn things so I was actually happy for another reason for the cooler temps since it gave me an excuse to wear them. Plus allowed me to bond with strangers in a line. That's always a plus!

I thankfully never saw the balloon ladies. That helped me knowing I had a good buffer.

Great picture with Joy and Sadness! I did not stop for them or Goofy.

Can't wait for that finish!

You did so great on your first marathon, Ryan! I love Joy and Sadness so no way I wasn't stopping for them.

Love all your pictures, that sun burst coming through with Lilo & Stitch is awesome & I think your poses are great! I'm jealous of the Big Bad Wolf, very cool photo & sports Goofy, so neat! Better getting into it even if goofy looking than looking all stiff I think. So, I feel your plantar fasciatis pain & running a marathon with it you are tough! I bought some superfeet green inserts for high arches and they are okay, but don't know if they are helping or not really. Luckily it's just my left foot & haven't had any shooting pains since using them & took a week off of running, but still my foot is so tired/achey. I thought it was boots, but now just thinking it was running with out extra supports maybe, I really don't know. Anyway I"m rambling, but I'm anxious to hear the rest & hope your feet held up & no shooting pains. Oh & your husband is amazing running a marathon so soon after surgery!

Yeah, that plantar fasciitis is no joke! I've dealt with plenty of minor sport injuries since running, but never had anything that was such a nagging injury as the PF. It is so hard to get rid of. The pain definitely got a lot worse as the race concluded, but fortunately, it doesn't appear that running through it overall worsened the condition. I'm taking a few weeks off now hoping to get it healed up!

I really did enjoy being silly on those pictures and I do like the shots better than previous years where I only stood and smiled. I've got plenty of those so figured it was time to shake things up.

I have stayed up far to late, and binged-read your report! I am enjoying it so much!

I am trying to figure out how to convince my husband to do a runDisney race with me. Just for the characters!

Welcome and thanks for reading along! There are many reasons to want to do a runDisney race, but the characters are definitely one of the biggest. You should totally do one and then you'll be hooked too. Watch out reading these race reports. They will quickly convince you to do one!

I love that the Big Bad Wolf was there! I think the "rare" characters are the best. My mom has a picture of me with him AND the 3 little pigs in the Magic Kingdom from 1974
It's very interesting hearing all about the path you guys take on the race since I've never done it! Sorry your heels started bothering you, I can imagine the disappointment but for being in pain you still look good and seem to have kept a positive attitude. I'm getting tired just reading how far you've run lol!

How cool that you have a picture with BBW AND the 3 little pigs. What fun. Yeah, initially I wasn't that excited about him, but I do love the way the picture turned out and given that he's "rare" that makes it even more special.

 

[baxter24]

I am with you on comparing childbirth to running a marathon! Except that with both pregnancies, it took me longer to run a marathon than it did meeting our oldest or our twins. Not sure what that says about me as a runner or the fact that my kids can't stand to hang out in the womb!

Congrats on finishing! I am planning on Dopey 2018 as well!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Congratulations!! A marathon is such a huge accomplishment. I'm glad that pretzel and beer helped make the finish more enjoyable too Your finish photo is really great!

 

[ariane37]

I give you guys (and all the other runners) so much credit for completing the marathon. Running-even walking-26 miles IN A ROW sounds very healthy to me, but also like hell although the grabbing a beer part sounds good!
I hope your feet recovered quickly so you could enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[Disneyhayes]

I could see myself doing a marathon of there was beer involved

 

[ZellyB]

I am with you on comparing childbirth to running a marathon! Except that with both pregnancies, it took me longer to run a marathon than it did meeting our oldest or our twins. Not sure what that says about me as a runner or the fact that my kids can't stand to hang out in the womb!

Congrats on finishing! I am planning on Dopey 2018 as well!

Woohoo! I think I just saw that your plans got a lot more definite for Dopey 2018 right??

Many of us just got an early registration invitation from runDisney to sign up for Marathon Weekend 2018.

Congratulations!! A marathon is such a huge accomplishment. I'm glad that pretzel and beer helped make the finish more enjoyable too Your finish photo is really great!

Thank you! Really, doesn't a pretzel and beer make everything better?

I give you guys (and all the other runners) so much credit for completing the marathon. Running-even walking-26 miles IN A ROW sounds very healthy to me, but also like hell although the grabbing a beer part sounds good!
I hope your feet recovered quickly so you could enjoy the rest of your trip!

Thank you and grabbing a beer was definitely one of the good parts. Luckily my feet did recover quickly and we had a great remainder of the trip.

I could see myself doing a marathon of there was beer involved

Right? All marathons should include beer - and actually more and more of them do.

 

[CherieFran]

Oswald! Awesome!

Your family selfie in Germany is great. So nice that people let you jump to the front of the beer line.

For as tough as the race was for you with the heel/foot pain, you managed to hide it really well in your pictures! Congrats on the finish!

 

[Ariel484]

WOOHOOOOO congrats guys!! I know you both had some bumps in the road on the way to this weekend and you guys are amazing for making it through!!

This is why I need to have kids - having a pretzel waiting during the last mile sounds pretty awesome! Love those pics of you guys with the beer, you both seem very pleased!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great race recap!

We opted to head through the bag check to see if we could find the Dis meet folks, but didn’t manage to find anyone. Maybe we were looking in the wrong spot. Eventually we went down to the far end of the tents and stood behind those since it served as a wind block.

AHHH SOOO CLOSE... I didn't do a very good job of making myself visible. But we were literally just about 200 feet from the edge of the tents in the corner of the ports-potties. It would have been easier if the half hadn't been cancelled. I vow to do a better job next year. Maybe I'll have some bright visuals in addition to my poster around my neck.

I only saw the balloon ladies once. I saw them at mile 1 of the 10k when I was on the bus headed back to my hotel after finishing. I would have seen them at mile 2-3 of the HM when I was at mile 10-11. I was really looking forward to that because it's so inspirational to see all of the runners.

Super happy to see you were able to finish the races with all the trials you guys had in training. And finish with smiles. Congrats!

 

[TeeterTots]

I enjoyed your report! Great pics! Such a nice looking couple! Congrats on the finish!

 

[Sailormoon2]

It's a shame that it wasn't a smooth, pain-free race, but I love that you made the best of it (beer and pretzels will do that) and persevered with a smile!!

 

[rteetz]

You are awesome! Congrats on the finish!

 

[petals]

Sorry your heels were hurting but well done for finishing regardless.

You got some great character pictures as well. Love the one with Joy and Sadness. I haven't met them yet, excuse to go back though

 

[ZellyB]

Oswald! Awesome!

Your family selfie in Germany is great. So nice that people let you jump to the front of the beer line.

For as tough as the race was for you with the heel/foot pain, you managed to hide it really well in your pictures! Congrats on the finish!

Thank you so much! It really lifted my spirits seeing the kids.

WOOHOOOOO congrats guys!! I know you both had some bumps in the road on the way to this weekend and you guys are amazing for making it through!!

This is why I need to have kids - having a pretzel waiting during the last mile sounds pretty awesome! Love those pics of you guys with the beer, you both seem very pleased!

I was never so happy to drink a beer in my life. And, yes, having children waiting for you with pretzels at mile 25 of the marathon ALMOST makes up for all the grey hair they've caused me!!

Great race recap!



AHHH SOOO CLOSE... I didn't do a very good job of making myself visible. But we were literally just about 200 feet from the edge of the tents in the corner of the ports-potties. It would have been easier if the half hadn't been cancelled. I vow to do a better job next year. Maybe I'll have some bright visuals in addition to my poster around my neck.

I only saw the balloon ladies once. I saw them at mile 1 of the 10k when I was on the bus headed back to my hotel after finishing. I would have seen them at mile 2-3 of the HM when I was at mile 10-11. I was really looking forward to that because it's so inspirational to see all of the runners.

Super happy to see you were able to finish the races with all the trials you guys had in training. And finish with smiles. Congrats!

Thank you! I'm bummed we didn't realize you were so close. I think everyone was so bundled up that made it tough as well. Plus, once we got out of the wind, I just stood there huddled up and unmoving. Hopefully next year at Dopey it won't be so COLD!!

I enjoyed your report! Great pics! Such a nice looking couple! Congrats on the finish!

Thank you!!

It's a shame that it wasn't a smooth, pain-free race, but I love that you made the best of it (beer and pretzels will do that) and persevered with a smile!!

I wish it could have been a better race, but the experience was still just fantastic.

You are awesome! Congrats on the finish!

Thank you so much, Ryan!

Sorry your heels were hurting but well done for finishing regardless.

You got some great character pictures as well. Love the one with Joy and Sadness. I haven't met them yet, excuse to go back though

I was so happy to see Joy and Sadness and even more happy that I got Chris to play along!

 

[ZellyB]

January 8 – Post Race, EPCOT and Via Napoli

We got back to BCV and met up with the kiddos in our room. I laid out the medals and got a quick shot of them. I was happy to receive all of them and do intend to keep them if nothing else as reminders of a wonderful trip, but they won’t have the same meaning that my first Goofy medals have.

It was already well after 1 PM and I had a FP+ scheduled for Frozen Ever After from 2:05 – 3:05. Chris and I hurried (as best we could) and got ourselves showered and changed and headed back out into Epcot. We decided to walk over since it’s good for me to keep moving and, boy, I could tell I was going to be really sore. Luckily, my heels, while tender, were feeling better since having some time off my feet.

We managed to get into Epcot and started a nice slow walk over to FEA. We saw a photographer and decided a quick family photo in France was in order.

Olaf joined us as well, which was fitting since it was still pretty chilly out.

Drake had also met up with Jasmine earlier in the day.

We strolled on through World Showcase and arrived at FEA right around 2:30 or so and saw that the ride was down. Bummer. I was disappointed, but hoped the downtime would be short and knew that they were still honor our FP later. I didn’t want to wander too far away, so we headed in to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour. In all these trips, this is the first time I’d ever gone into the Mexico Pavilion. There was just a few minutes wait to get on and it was fine - probably wouldn't go out of my way to ride it again. I was happy for anything that got me off my feet though, although I was a little worried if my quads would cooperate in getting me out of the boat. Luckily they did.


We walked back over to FEA, but it was still down, so decided to head over to the Seas with Nemo. On the way, we decided to get some shots in front of Spaceship Earth.

Loving those marathon medals!

After our ride under the sea, we wandered back by FEA and it was still down, so decided we probably just needed to head out for our early dinner reservation at Via Napoli. This was our first time eating there and I was excited!!

On the way over, I realized my shoe was untied and the thought of bending down to tie it was exhausting. My dear Sophie to the rescue!!

Once we arrived and checked in we were seated quickly and had a nice view of the ovens. It was nice and warm in the restaurant and I was thankful since I was still feeling pretty chilled!

We were all pretty hungry by this point and trying to decide what to eat. We finally settled on the biggest pizza we could get, the Mezzo Metro pizza, as well as a family style salad

The salad came out and we all tucked into it. Tasty!

As we were finishing that up, we saw our pizza sitting waiting to be delivered and it was BIG. I worried maybe we had over ordered, especially once it was sitting on our table. Yowza!!

But, I need not have worried. Between the 5 of us we polished that sucker off easily. In fact, we saved room for dessert. Paige ordered this, but I don’t remember what it was called.

It was tasty, but Chris and I got the Tiramisu and that was the clear winner. YUM!!

While we were eating, I’d gotten a notice on my MDE app that because Frozen was down, we could use an anytime FP to ride whatever ride we wanted. FEA was back up by this time, but we opted instead to go see the new Soarin. I was so glad we did. I loved it!!! The new smells were incredible. I did agree with some criticism I’ve heard that the use of CGI is a little heavy handed in some places (most notably the Taj Mahal), but we loved it anyway.

Once we finished with that ride, my body was done. The sun was setting and the wind was still very chilly and I just had enough. The girls really wanted to stay though and ride some other rides, so after some discussion, we decided to let them stay and Chris, Drake and I made a slow walk back to Beach Club.

So pretty!

The girls got in some Test Track action and then texted me this saying Sophie found the car she wanted. LOL. I told her she better plan on getting a good job then!

She also got this picture of Spaceship Earth which I think is great!

Chris and I were both a little worried about leaving them there alone at night, so we kept texting to make sure they were okay. Finally after about the 4th or 5th text, they sent me this.

Smarty pants!

They did get home not too much later and we all gratefully fell into an exhausted slumber.

Next up: Animal Kingdom and we say good-bye to Disney and hello to Universal!

​

 

[rteetz]

You guys got so many awesome photos! I really fell in love with that Marathon medal after I got it. It's probably my favorite of all my medals.

Via Napoli is always great. I really want to try whatever Paige got!

I'm with you on Soarin, the new film was great but the CGI is heavy. Sophie and I share the same dream car!

 

[Ariel484]

Wow, kids bring you pretzels AND tie your shoes for you, too! Neat!

The scariest thing about that text message is that terrifying clown emoji...

 

[ZellyB]

You guys got so many awesome photos! I really fell in love with that Marathon medal after I got it. It's probably my favorite of all my medals.

Via Napoli is always great. I really want to try whatever Paige got!

I'm with you on Soarin, the new film was great but the CGI is heavy. Sophie and I share the same dream car!

She talks about wanting a Corvette all the time. Hey, you might as well dream big right?

And, yes, that Marathon medal is the best! I absolutely love it.

Wow, kids bring you pretzels AND tie your shoes for you, too! Neat!

The scariest thing about that text message is that terrifying clown emoji...

Kids are very useful.

And, I almost commented on the clown emoji being terrifying. I spent some time telling the kids that part of why I opted for Beach Club instead of Boardwalk Inn was that I just didn't think I could handle seeing that clown slide in person! I suspect that's why it was included in the text.

 

[TeeterTots]

Love the pics! The marathon medal is a beauty for sure! Via Napoli....heaven! Their Tiramisu the best!

 

[ZellyB]

Love the pics! The marathon medal is a beauty for sure! Via Napoli....heaven! Their Tiramisu the best!

Thank you! Via Napoli was our favorite meal of the trip. Can't believe we haven't gone there before. Now maybe some of that is because we were REALLY hungry, but we thought it was just all delicious. We will definitely be dining there again when we go next year.