Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The Goofy Challenge Aftermath

Allow me to begin by apologizing. I left you all hanging after posting my brother's account of being swept and the somewhat controversial things we found out from that experience. It has generated some great conversation and I loved everyone's input on the matter. Shortly after posting however, I left for Phoenix on business and didn't answer all of your comments which I traditionally do. The issue has been corrected.

After all the feedback, I think I can say two things: 1) A race, and the medal you might or might not get, means different things to different people. It's great that we all have very defined positions on what we would do, but we have to be ready for the inevitable fact that not everybody thinks the same way. We don't have to agree but at least we have to understand that we won't agree on everything. 2) Having said that, the whole "sign up and run knowing you are not gonna finish" debacle really rubs "traditional" runners the wrong way and I include myself in that group. It's kind of hard to swallow but again, it goes back to what it means to us. But, to each their own I guess. See thing #1.

So, concluding that and after some hard work and great sushi in Phoenix...

My wife was telling me about how fast time flies. Here we are, on the other side of the Goofy Challenge with 3 more medals hanging on my lonely nail on the wall (I should do something about that). It seems like yesterday when I decided to do this and the Challenge was literally a year away. Now it's done.

So what do I take from this? Aside from three beautiful medals of course:

The Freaking Cut-Off Point
I hope all my fellow back-of-the-packers that read this are paying attention. You CAN make it to Disney's Hollywood Studios and be swept afterwards. Yes, there are no more "public" roads once you enter the park but you do have to pass through the main entrance to enter the path towards The Yacht and Beach Clubs and right before that path is the DHS parking lot. Cars park there. So do buses. Like the ones that pick people up. Disney is not only looking to open back the roads, they also want the parks to run normally. By the time we make it to DHS and Epcot, the parks are open with restricted traffic where we are running. Disney wants to end that as quickly as possible so any stray people running behind the Balloon Ladies get picked up in the Hollywood Studio's parking lot. Period.

Let's put it this way: If you make it to the Yacht Club, THEN you are truly safe. Hope this helps.

Running is not a contact sport...
Yet somehow, I ended up really beat up from this. The soreness is expected. In fact, I recovered much faster this time around compared to my first marathon. I'm talking about actual bruising. Here's the tally: I have a cut right under my chest plate from the heart rate monitor. That had never happened before with my current HRM but apparently if you wear it long enough... felt really nice when I took it off and took a shower too. It also cut me right under my right arm. Also there was the knee of course, which I could not bend the day after the marathon. I ended up with a nasty bruise in the back of the knee because of the brace I wore (it was the first time wearing it) and I'm pretty sure I broke something in my foot. I'm not sure what but most of my limping after the race was due to my foot hurting, not the knee. Since it's the right foot (same as the knee) I'm pretty sure I did something to it trying to protect the knee during the Challenge. The pain is mostly gone now, though I still feel it a little.

Where I'm At
Running a marathon or a challenge like this one, tends to put runners in one of two frames of mind: Those who want to do it again or at least who would consider doing it again, and those who are content with that one time and they are done. They keep running but are perfectly happy running 5K's or Half Marathons or whatever distance they feel comfortable. There really is no wrong answer. Running a marathon does not a runner make. Much less a challenge like Goofy.

For me, there was not much thinking needed but I was kind of surprised with my conclusion. Amidst all the pain and soreness, I knew I would want to do it again. Another marathon for sure and most probably another challenge.

I was under-trained and I was injured. That made the whole thing a bit unpleasant and emotionally draining but I pulled it off. Many people would understandably think: "I never want to go through that again." Totally logical train of thought. But my brain is not wired like that. My train of thought was: "Imagine how much better I can do the next time." Yes, it's hard. Yes, I was in pain, but I also had a great time. I can have an even greater time under better conditions.

In fact, having done the Goofy Challenge, I can now totally understand the appeal of the Dopey Challenge. It is totally doable and not as insane as I thought it was. Now, I'm not saying that I'm doing the Dopey Challenge, but I'm also not saying that I wouldn't do it either. We will see... I'm suddenly reminded of women in labor. Not that running a marathon compares to that. Not even close. But I've been often told that for all the agony women go through when delivering a baby, it seems they forget about it or subconsciously decide not to think about it. After all, most women decide to go through with it a second time and sometimes even more than that.

Maybe runners are like that. We block out the agony and only choose to remember the good parts.






14 comments:

  1. Haha, I totally agree. As soon as I finished I thought it was awful!! A few hours later I was ready to sign up for my next marathon because of course I think I could do better next time around. I think that's the mentality of most runners, logic and pain go out the window because we always want to see how much better we can do. At least that's how I am looking at it! But I think my days of challenges are done. I am content with doing "just" the marathon...lol

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    1. "Just" the marathon... because that is so easy right? We are truly a crazy bunch.

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  2. I did Goofy in 2013 before Dopey was an official challenge. I literally posted on Facebook that I was never doing it again (thank you, Facebook, for the On This Day feature as it popped up in my feed last month!).

    I've only run 2 marathons- the first as part of Goofy 2013 and NYC in 2014. I'm planning on tackling WDW again in 2017, which leaves me to consider Dopey for 2018. I guess I'll cross that bridge as it gets closer but after doing several challenges- Goofy, Dumbo, Glass Slipper- I was sort of over it. But Dopey is lurking in the back of my mind.

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    1. The thing about Dopey, when you really think about it, is that running a 5K on Thursday and a 10K on Friday is really nothing for someone who has trained themselves to run a marathon. In fact most training plans have that kind of mileage anyway. The real heavy lifting is training to run the Half and Full consecutively. That is, I wouldn't be aiming for a PR on the 5K or doing anything foolish in the 10K but under "normal" conditions, if you train to run Goofy, you are pretty close to being ready for Dopey. I could be wrong.

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    2. I think it's the four consecutive days of getting up at 3am that kills ya...lol

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  3. These challenges really take their toll on the body. Marathons are beasts in and of themselves, but to couple them with more consecutive distances is truly pushing the limits. I'm dreading 19.3 next week, so I can't imagine how you must have felt! I hope you are able to take some time to rest and recover and get yourself back to 100%.

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    1. Thanks Jen! Actually I haven't run at all since Goofy. I went to the doctor and have to do another MRI so I'm taking it easy. I am getting a bit of cabin fever though. It's been too long.

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    2. Di I mention that you are going to kill it next week? Well, you are.

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  4. At this point, I'd be happy just to get through a mile without any knee pain. To get through 26.2 with tolerable knee pain would be an accomplishment in itself. Kudos to you Mr. "Screw the knee, I'm finishing this bad boy"!

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    1. Actually I'm wishing the exact same thing. I can't seem to run without the knee going crazy. We will prevail! You'll see.

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  5. Not that I'd do these big runs... Far too expensive to run....

    But after running a few races... It made me not like running because of training and all that goes with it. I stopped running for an entire year. Then started running just for fun and started to enjoy it again. I guess I'm not competitive.

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    1. Some people thrive on the competitive aspect but certainly some people do not. Running "just because" is as valid a reason as any. If it keeps you moving...

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  6. I hope your foot is better! And that's impressive that you came out of Dopey wanting to do it again :)

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    1. I wish I could be a bit more humble about it but... the truth is I'm impressed by that as well! LOL I really thought I would finish dreading doing something like that and vowing "never again" but it just didn't work out that way. I can't stress this enough: It's not as crazy as it sounds. It's actually very doable.

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