My advice for those debating on the Goofy Challenge

 I recently read a facebook post of a friend that was debating on signing up for the Goofy Challenge. This would be her first Goofy and her first marathon. I gave her my two cents but I thought I would elaborate a little more here on the blog in case anyone else was having the same thought.


I know that everyone feels differently about these challenges, but these are just my random thoughts so take them with a grain of salt. .

Well anyway, Last year I remember signing up for the Goofy Challenge. It would not only be my first Goofy challenge but also my first Marathon.  After I did it, I admit I started to have doubts. Why did I sign up for both of these races? After all, my main focus would be the marathon, I could really have cared less about running the half, I've done several halves before. The real "challenge" would certainly be the marathon.  I have to tell you the only reason that I decided to do the Goofy challenge was because I knew I wanted to run the Donald Half Marathon at some point (in an effort to do all the Disney World Races), and so since I was coming down for the marathon anyway, I thought why not run the half and get that additional bling. I was thinking why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak.  So you see, my reasons for Goofy wasn't as much about determination as is was a matter of convenience and frugality!..lol   (bad reasons I know).

Even though my training was going well, I was still having some issues with staying positive but I had my sister to help with that.
If you feel you might be going through the same thing, you can read all about that HERE. Perhaps it might help you.

Ok, so here is basically the point I want to make. Even though I ran both of these races injured, I didn't feel like running the half marathon the day before left me with less energy to complete the full marathon. But I will say that ALL my focus that weekend was on the marathon and for that reason I don't feel like I really appreciated the half the way I should have. I look at that big beautiful Donald medal and I don't remember much of the race and I don't even feel I fully deserved it. I do feel like that half deserves a re-do someday too. But if I do that, it will be a race done all on its own, not in combination with any challenge.

When you run "Challenge" races, do you feel like you focus more on just one of the races in the challenge?  -M

16 comments:

  1. I've never done the Goofy challenge, but have done the 10K + half challenges a few times. I do agree that the main goal and focus ends up being the longer race, but in trying to conserve our energy for the half, my husband and I tend to take our time on the 10K, which allows us to enjoy the race more. :) Either way, you totally earned all those medals because you did complete both races, even if you don't remember it. ;)

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    1. I have done the Glass Slipper challenge twice now ( including the 5K both times) and I do have to admit that I truly did enjoy ALL the races. I think Marathon weekend was just hard for me all around!

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  2. Goofy Challenge 2013 was my first marathon, too. I didn't plan it that way- I was supposed to run the NYC marathon 2 months earlier, but that was the year it was cancelled. I still did Goofy, but I was pretty nervous about finishing the full, especially the day after a half.

    I finished both, and I was incredibly proud of myself. I've since done Dumbo Double Dare and Glass Slipper Challenge and I think I'm s bit over the challenges. I find doing multiple races of longer distances over a weekend means less than stellar performances for both. During Star Wars weekend, I just did the half and I enjoyed myself much more and my legs felt much better.

    I'd really love to do the WDW full again, but most likely, I would do it by itself or do the 10K and the full with a day in between to rest my legs.

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    1. I have done the 10K plus half challenges several times and will be doing one this weekend at Tinkerbell. I feel completely different about those!

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  3. I did a non-official "challenge" in November when I did a 10K at Universal Studios and then did the Avengers Half at Disneyland the next day. I didn't really focus on one or the other. I just wanted to have fun with friends. I don't see myself doing Goofy or Dopey. The excessive cost puts me off, as well as the recovery needed in a place like Disney with so many temptations to walk around and see. I would like to do the full at WDW some day, though. The timing with the school calendar is just bad.

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    1. Yea, the Disney challenges really leave you exhausted because there is SO much else we want to do during our visit!

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  4. I'm confused. Did you train? Did you run the Half? Did you finish it? Did they give you the Goofy medal at the end for finishing both races? Well, guess what? You deserve the medal. Having said that, I often hear from Goofy/Dopey finishers that because of the hectic schedule during the weekend, they feel like they would like the chance to run the races without all the pressure of the Challenge itslef. The runDisney equivalent of visiting the parks "all or nothing" style vs. just taking your time to enjoy the details.

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    1. I think I was just being cranky when I wrote this post...lol

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  5. I think I would like to do Goofy, but Dopey might be too much for me. Just too many early mornings.

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    1. Oh, I personally have no desire to do Dopey. I don't want to get up at 3 am everyday on my vacation!

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  6. I don't think I would take on the challenge of Goofy or Dopey, but am in awe of those that do! The 2016 WDW marathon will be enough for me.

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    1. The Goofy wasn't all that bad. I was just cranky because I was injured!

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  7. After doing both Goofy in 2013 and Dopey in 2014, I have some thoughts on this subject. For Goofy, it was also my first marathon and I just ran the Donald race super slow and had fun. For the Mickey Marathon, I was running by myself (with 20,000 other runners!) and "raced" that. My goal was sub 5 hours and I met that by 6 minutes. Then for Dopey, I ran all 4 races with Christine. We also took the first 3 days super slow and then "raced" the marathon. We both got PR's, but we did not take photos etc. This year I signed up for the marathon and no challenge. I'm looking forward to just one early race morning!

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    1. I think I would have totally different thought on it if I didn't run it injured. Actually I am quite please with how I got through it. I just wish I would have enjoyed the half more instead of having the nagging pain!

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  8. I can honestly say that By the time I ran the full marathon I didn't feel like I had any less energy because I had run the half the day before! Mentally it was just uncomfortable because I was in so much pain physically.

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  9. i do the challenges! I think I always focus on the later race. Dopey was seriously the most fun I have had running ever but even during the Marathon we had to hold back as we had Rebel the next weekend. It is nice to run the last race at whatever pace you feel like. For Princess I did all 3 and held back during the 5k and 10k (added more walk breaks and stopped for every picture) and then did whatever felt good during the half and enjoyed it. My plan for PDC is to take it easy during the 10k and the part of the Half in the parks (which is the first 10k) then push the speed towards the end. we will see how it goes

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