Saturday, October 30, 2010

Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon

There's this running event going on the second week of January at Disney World called "The Goofy Challenge." Some of you may have heard of this. The Goofy Challenge is part of the Disney World Marathon Weekend, and the task is to run a half marathon on Saturday through the park and then a full marathon the next day. If you complete both races, you get three bling-tastic medals. I registered for this race way back in March because I wanted all three pieces of hardware hanging around my neck. Mind you, I had not run a marathon at that time yet. Yes, a medal whore I am, there, I said it.

In any case, I paid an arm, a leg, and a few internal organs for that Goofy Challenge, so I had to work hard to prepare myself for this event. Over the past few months, I have been putting my body through what I call "The Goofification Process." As part of my training, I doubled up races on weekends, back to back. I started out small and worked my way up. My first attempt at the 5k/5k combination didn't kill me, so I moved up to the 5k/10k. Next thing I know, I was running a 10k on Saturday and then another 10k the next day. Eventually, I worked my way up to the 10k/half marathon and then the half/half combination. Amazingly enough, that back to back half marathons in one weekend wasn't too bad.

Fast forward a few months. After running five full marathons over the course of three months, I decided it was time to tackle my version of the Goofy Challenge, which I call "The Endoofy Challenge." Yup, Endorphin Dude was ready for that 39.3 mile run in one weekend. The two races that I chose for this monumental feat were The Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon on Saturday and The Silicon Valley Marathon on Sunday. Halloween weekend. Trick or treat!

First up: Healdsburg. I showed up on race day as an evil vampire bunny, complete with fangs. I paid tribute to my marathon twin, Dave Mari, by wearing a Paul Frank shirt. I thought Julius The Monkey represented as the skull and cross bones was appropriate. Hey, I'm sick of that tortoise always winning, so evil vampire bunny sucked up all his blood and ate him! How's that for a running costume?


I took this race nice and slow. I probably ran about 8 miles and walk/jogged 5. I didn't wanted to stress out my body too much the day before the full marathon. My goal was to complete the half marathon in 3:30, which is the time allotted for the Disney World half marathon. I had fun jogging and stopping along the way to take plenty of pictures. I've come to realize that I thoroughly enjoy running through wine country because there is so much scenery to soak in. I get bored running through residential areas, so it's nice to see vineyards, barn houses, and the occasional farm animal. I also had a lot fun interacting with the other runners in costume. Fun times.







I completed The Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon in 3:14:45, which is 15 minutes faster than I had anticipated. I didn't push myself too hard and my body felt great. After I crossed that finish line, I rushed to the shuttle so that I could be transported back to my car. I then zoomed on down to San Jose to pick up my race packet for part B of the Endoofy Challenge.


Ah, the life of the Marathon Maniac.

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