It Takes Great Friends to run Goofy!

When I received a message from a fellow runner asking what I planned to wear for the predicted cold race weather , I thought nothing of it. I shared with her my running attire, but little did I know what was to come. It was a day later when I glanced at the forecast with predicted lows in the 20’s, “feels like’s” in the teens with possible snow flurries and/or sleet?!? Really? This is FLORIDA! Walt Disney World’s 5^th annual Goofy challenge was beginning to truly live up to its name. Instead of concentrating on planning the logistics of the race weekend, my mind was focused on one main goal – “MUST find warm clothes!” And not just winter items for myself! My poor kids had nothing warm to wear for school or the race weekend for that matter. After five straight days of hitting any and every Target, Old Navy, Wal-mart and Marshalls I could find, I managed to wrangle up the desired items. Let me tell you, there were barely any winter items left. I mean from just a day earlier where there were at least 60 gloves hanging on the racks, empty spaces stared back. Let me add that I had to be creative as well. The outer layer of my racing wardrobe needs to be disposable. Once you start running, the body generates enough heat to sustain warmth. Having too many layers will cause one to overheat. The frustrating issue I kept having was not being able to find any sweats or if I did, throwing away $30 x2 worth of temporary comfort was NOT in the budget. I managed to find boy’s XXL pants X2 – total cost $6, and size L women’s sweatpants x2 – total cost $10. Also, it is not a smart idea to run a long distance race let alone two back-to-back without testing the clothing you plan to wear. How in the world do you train to run in this kind of weather in Florida is beyond me! I managed to find running tights made by Champion at Target. To give you an idea of how I still see my body – I grabbed a size small and large, thinking the large was going to be perfect. The small actually fit, and after a 5K trial run, felt comfortable these would keep my legs nice and toasty. Of course once I realized which size worked for me, I could not find another one. Target had every size but the one I needed. My dear friend, Annette, took on the quest as well searching Targets outside my normal shopping area. I ended up finding one last pair less than a day before the race. But my most prized arctic wear possession was not bought or ever even thought of. Another amazing friend of mine, Amy, who is no stranger to cold weather – thought I might like to wear one of her ski masks, or what I call “The Ninja Mask” (Special thanks to Janet for the “Running Ninja” nickname!) And since I’m on the subject of some pretty amazing friends, one more came to my rescue as well. Sara, who grew up in upstate New York, knows a thing or two about the frigid cold. To keep my exposed skin safe, she dropped off special cream to protect my fair face from the freezing temps. Thank you so much, My Lovely Ladies, for helping this poor Florida girl out!

In the midst of the hunt for Florida arctic wear, I was also trying to eliminate marathon weekend wait times and hassles for the rest of the family. My thoughts were to hit the Expo on the first day, right when it opened for packet pick up as well as check out all the booths without hubby and kids. (You know I can do some serious shopping when I’m not distracted. LOL!) Apparently I and about several hundred more thought the same thing. But if you know Disney, then you know they are the Line Masters. Masses of people were being shuffled into single lines with cast members pointing in the direction of their specific race section and booth. Once you have your race packet in hand, the Mouse had you leave one building to cross directly to another one where the goodie bags, race T-shirts and vendors were waiting. And in typical Disney fashion, the goodie bags were located at the very back of the Expo, forcing you to walk through their marathon racing gear and at least one aisle of vendor’s running merchandise. Pure genius, I tell you, pure genius. It was also pure organized mayhem, but am thankful it was all done prior to the having the family with me.

Friday evening, we checked into the Pop Century hotel and while the kids and Scott laughed nonstop to reruns of America’s Funniest Video Clips, I began the race ritual. First I contacted my cousin, Melanie, who is also taking on this challenge because, well – goofy-ness does run in the family, and to see what time she planned to arrive for the half marathon! She was unable to get a room in the same hotel, but did manage to stay on Disney property. Our plan was to meet up in the corral before the race starts. My next call was to another set of great friends, Sean and Cherry, who would be running tomorrow as well. Poor Sean had injured his knee and would be bowing out, but not before escorting his beautiful wife every step of the way to the starting line. Once I made arrangements of when and where to meet them, I continued the ritual by setting two sets of alarms – one on my watch and the hotel’s phone wake up service, laying out every stitch of racing gear and for one last time studying the map of the course. Lights were out by 9 PM sharp. Sleeping did not commence until 9:30 after I yelled at the kids to be quiet. Bless their hearts; they were so excited to be at Disney. In fact I kept shushing them to be quiet during the ceremonial pre-race procedure because their laughing was bothering me… their laughing! I know, how sad is it to be distracted by laughing children. We have now decided it best to keep the kiddies home for any future races.