It has been too long since I have been in this world and communicating with all of you. To that end let me start with a brief recap of what has been going on in my world and let's start with my recollections and thoughts as they relate to having completed the Goofy.
I don't know why it is, but the Goofy was harder for me to run then when I ran my first 50k. In the runDisney world when you do all the marathon weekend runs your running what they call the Dumbo. That is a total of 42.4 miles. Now that may sound like a long distance and it is, but I did it over the course of three days where I completed the 50k over just seven hours and all though I would be having rest breaks between the runs it would make a difference, I know it did, but it didn't.
This was one of the hardest runs I had been a part of, the distance wasn't insurmountable,but I think the psychological stress was more then I was prepared for. I had the energy for the 5k,that was easy (don't hate), I was able to do the half-marathon with some anxiety, but the marathon was an adventure in true mental training. I must admit it did not help that I could not keep an accurate record in my head of my pace versus the sweep time and my anxiety was super high through out the entire race. I was always sure I was going to be swept. I literally let my imagination runaway with myself.
Needless to say I did not get swept and I had plenty of time to spare. I ran so hard that I actually caught a pace group. I then had it in my head to catch the next pace group up from that one. I did well for a long time, but my efforts eventually burned me out Audi got passed by the pace group again, but toward the end it was ok they left me with about 5 miles to go and at that time I was fine I knew I would pass e finish as,on as I stayed I forward motion.
The last three were the hardest for me this time, I had noting left in my tank for any speeding was running on empty and that meant to simply keep moving. As I crossed the finish line I was told I looked good, but trust me it was all an act. I often don't think about Disney as an exhausting place, but these runs, these races were totally that exhausting.
After it was over I remember stretching and relaxing on the bed and then ta-da I woke up hours later and ready to go back to bed. I felt good having that level of tired in my bones it showed that I did something remarkable. Would I do this race series again? You better believe it. I guess the one drawback to doing this race was that I've had a hard time getting motivated again. My spring training has been suffering and I need to find my mental motivation for the next race. I accomplished what I had been focusing in for over a year and now, I hope this is not an example of mental laziness or overconfidence. Maybe I don't have enough runs on my plate.... Hmmmm that maybe it.
I think I need to do more racing.
