How I got there and back again:
At my age (49) I'm not able to run all the time. If I do too much running in a week I break down pretty quickly, so I mixed up my training. Also, I began training right after the 2005 half marathon, and by May I was working it pretty hard for the Goofy. Long runs in January to April were 3 to 5 miles. May and June were 6 to 8 miles. By September I had worked up to long runs of 10 miles.
Amazingly, my longest run prior to Goofy was 13.1 miles, and I did 2 of those. I did 8 runs of 10+ miles during the fall, always the day after training, so I started my long efforts with tired legs from the previous day.
A typical week in November or December looked like this:
Day 1 Run 5 or 6
Day 2 Bike 60 hard minutes, lots of resistence, then a hard weight session
Day 3 Rest
Day 4 Run 3 to 5 miles
Day 5 Bike 60 hard minutes
Day 6 Run long, 10+ miles
Day 7 Rest
The one thing I'd change up to mid-December would have been more quad work in the weight room, as my quads, on the outside, were what blew apart and slowed me down.
About once every 2 weeks I did some tempo running, about 9 minutes per mile so the race paces wouldn't seem difficult.
This got me the three medals. In my case, the Goofy was really a tale of 3 races:
Race #1 - Saturday's half marathon. It took me 10:38 to get through mile 1 with the crowds, but after than I carried about 9:25 per mile consistently. I never pushed the pace, and did fine up to the hills at miles 11 (I knew of this one) and 12 (SURPRISE!). I finished and felt comfortable in 2:05.
Race #2 - Sunday's marathon, start to mile 13.1. This was pretty much like Saturday's half, but 10 minutes slower. I had hoped to hit mile 4 in 45 minutes, but I was there in 41. Yes, it was too fast, but the crowd around me was clipping along and I stayed with them mostly out of self preservation, and a desire to get out of the EPCOT merge without trouble. I felt fine and slowed a bit, hitting the half way point in 2:15. Unfortunately in mile 13 I began to feel the bear, and knew trouble was coming fast.
Race #3 - Sunday's marathon, mile 13.1 to 26.2. This quickly dissolved into a survival match. By mile 16 my quads were completely blown, and I was just trying to hand on. Luckily everyone in my running group looked to be following the same strategy. The turn off World Drive towards the Animal Kingdom was really hard mentally, as we were turning away from the finish. Also there is a long and slight slope as you run towards the sewage plant (pleasant smell!), which didn't help. Once out of Animal Kingdom the body was worse, but the mind felt better as we were headed home. The long straight with 2 long overpasses wasn't much fun either. Turning the 180 and heading for the Studios helped, and at mile 23 in the Studios a race official yelled at all of us "how many 5K's have you run?" This was great mentally, as we all had done this many, many times, it was just a matter of getting there. The body by this point was pretty much gone, but you knew the pain wouldn't last much longer. I finished in 4:47, so it took me 2:32 to run the last half of the race. It would have been nice to be more consistent in splits for the marathon, but given my training, I cannot complain.
My lesson learned if I ever think about doing anything so dumb again would be (1) more weight work, (2) a long run of 15-16 would have been nice, and (3) make sure my wife is with me again after the Goofy. I literally couldn't get down into a chair, up out of a chair, or up or down a single step. Martha and Lesley were very helpful, but they sure laughed at me a lot.
If you're thinking about going Goofy next January, you have my admiration.
Sorely,
Craig
.
Congrats on the Goofy!!
DH had a dry short sleeved shirt with him, so I took off all my layers and put on the dry shirt at AK. It wasn't a pretty sight, but the dry shirt sure felt good. What a coincidence your DH was right next to my family.
If I run both next year I may try to run for time instead of just for fun. 
. And for a goofy no less!
