Walt Disney World Half Marathon

One of the most important rites of passage for every child is that trip to Disneyland, and being initiated into the Mickey Mouse club by virtue of the personalized Mickey Mouse ears. My parents had five kids, so they couldn't afford Mickey ears for all of us. However, because I am the baby, I got mine. That was 30 years ago. I no longer have those ears from my innocent boyhood, so it was very important for me to have the 2011 version. Of course, I had to have my own personalization on it!

Amazingly enough, I was able to convince the powers that be at the Mouse House to embroider my moniker on my ears. Disney is very strict when it comes to their brand. I can understand why. This is the happiest place on earth, and I get that any slight deviation could be deemed offensive to some.

When I filled out the paperwork for the embroidery, it clearly stated in the fine print: "No unusual nicknames, slang terms, profanity or epithets may be personalized."  Of course, I played dumb, and completely ignored the disclaimer. I innocently asked the cast member if I could have my moniker put on my ears, but he unfortunately said no. I then transformed myself into a sad five year old boy and explained, "this is my very first trip to Disney World, and I'm running The Goofy Challenge this weekend. Endorphin Dude is not just a nick name, it is who I am as a runner. I have trained very hard for this event. This is very important to me." Taken aback by my story, the cast member asked me to wait a moment as he excused himself to ask his manager if he could honor my request.  His manager then called his superior, spoke a few minutes, and moments later came back to me and said with a smile, "I understand that you would like to have "Endorphin Dude" embroidered on your ears.  Normally we do not allow this, but since this is not offensive in any manner, we will do it. Good luck on the race." Hakuna Matata!

I arrived in Orlando, Florida, for the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge a few days before the big event.  If you've been following Endorphin Dude's journey, you will know that I've been training for this event for the past year.  In order to achieve Goofy status, one has to complete a half marathon followed by a full marathon the following day. That's 39.3 miles in two days.  For the past year, I've put my body through what I call 'The Goofification Process." This training regimen required me to shock my body into being able run back to back races.  I took baby steps and started with the 5k/5k back to back combination. I worked my way up to the 5k/10k combo, then the 10k/10k, the 10k/half marathon, then the half/half, and in October I completed my own Goofy Challenge by completing the Healdsburg Half Marathon on Saturday followed by the Silicon Valley Marathon the next day. Amazingly enough, I earned a PR for that 26.2 miler! I knew coming into this weekend that I would be able to complete this task, as I have already done so. Hence, I knew I could relax and have a little bit of fun. Need proof of the fun? Here you go:

 

After spending the first day and a half at The Magic Kingdom and Epcot, I headed over to the expo on Friday afternoon.  It's no secret that Endorphin Dude loves race expos, and I was super excited to be there.  I don't think Sandy and Christine, my travel mates, were as exuberant as I was, but they nonetheless indulged me. I proudly wore my Marathon Maniacs shirt so that other maniacs would be able to identify me. Sure enough, there were quite a few out there. 

I hung out at the expo for about an hour, walking up and down and checking out every booth. It's always the same old stuff, I never get tired of it. I like seeing GU packets, "Marathon Ho" bumper stickers, and running skirts. For me, all these things are all part of the marathon experience. I did sense that my travel mates were getting a bit restless, so I finished up and we headed back to our hotel. The three of us had to get up at 2:30am in order to catch the shuttle to the start line, so we quickly grabbed a bite to eat and turned in early.  Unfortunately for me, I didn't sleep a wink. I guess it was the excitement of Goofy that kept me up all night. At about 2:15am, I gave up on trying to sleep and got up to prepare for the race.  

We arrived at the start line a little after 5am. 5am! I swear, this is the earliest race I've ever started. I guess it makes sense since the park does open to public at 9am.  Though I didn't not sleep at all, the excitement of being at this half marathon canceled out any fatigue in my system.  I was so ready to rock this half marathon, but I had to wait patiently wait in my corral.  It took about an hour, but once 6am rolled around, my group got to go!  I knew early on that I was going to take this one nice and easy to save my energy for the marathon the next day.  As I plugged along at the one mile mark, I saw a blue Half Fanatic shirt.  Sure enough, it was the spazzmatic Lu-E.  After our initial greeting, we decided to run this one together.   I told my running mate that I was going to take this was turtle slow, as I was running the full marathon the next day.  Louie was cool with this, and so away we went!

The two of us had a blast, frequently making stops to pose with all the Disney characters. How could we not?  I remember Peter Pan being scared of Endorphin Dude and Mary Poppins being fascinated by Louie’s Asian F.O.B. pose.  It took us 15 minutes to get a shot with The Pirates of the Caribbean, but that didn’t matter.  Louie and I walked a little, jogged a little, and posed a lot.  What was the rush?  Ah, to be able to run a half marathon at Walt Disney World is an experience that's so difficult to put into words, so I'm glad I have photos to illustrate how awesome the experience truly was.

The runner you see in the last photo is Lynette Garcia.  I met Lynette a few months ago via Josie Stidham Phelps, a mutual Facebook friend.  Both Josie and Lynette are incredible individuals who took charge of their lives, got healthy, and lost obscene amounts of weight.  These two spent a good portion of 2010 training for a half marathon.  The Walt Disney World Half Marathon was supposed to have been their first together, but Josie unfortunately suffered an injury and couldn't run her BFF.  She was definitely there in spirit, which no doubt helped her other half to succeed.   

I got to meet Lynette in the most spectacular fashion possible.  As Louie and I casually plugged along at the mile 10 mark, I heard a voice from behind shout out "Endorphin Dude!"  I turned around and saw Lynette run up to me.  Imagine my excitement when she gave me a big hug and gushed, "I hit the wall, and then I saw you."  I didn’t believe that she had bonked because she looked so strong.  We exchanged a few pleasantries and then I told her to quit wasting time chatting with me and to keep on going.  Lynette then zoomed off.  It definitely made me smile when she credited me for giving her that boost of energy she needed to run that final 5k.  I absolutely love hearing stories of people who make positive healthy changes to their lives, and both Lynette and Josie are prime examples.  These two are truly inspiring.

After seeing Lynette, Louie and I continued to plug along.  We looked behind us and saw so many walkers that we decided just to walk the rest of the way.  Neither of us felt that we were in any danger of getting picked up by the sag wagon.  That is, until Christine caught up with us and warned us that the sweeper was not too far behind and that she had to hustle!  The girl ran two miles in order to escape the sweeper!  With that, the three of us picked up the pace!  

When we reached the mile 13 mark, we ran it in!  Woo Hoo!  Waiting for us at the finish line were Half Fanatics Elizabeth McKay and Jennifer Walker along with her fiance Mitchell, who ran the half marathon as well.  I love that these guys were waiting for us at the finish line.  Louie and I took an eternity to get there, so seeing the crew out there made me happy.

Louie, as always, spazzed out, while Christine quietly reveled in her victory.  Christine came into the race fearing that she would not be able to make the cut off time.  She came close to being get picked up by the sag wagon, but she kept pushing herself, and as a result, she got the job done.  This one was a hard earned medal for her. She kept pushing herself and never once did she give up.  I admire that.  I admire her.

Ah, Sweet Victory!

New Year's One Day

I decided to do something a little different for New Year's Eve this year. While everyone else got dressed up to the nines, I went for the twelve. Twelve hours, that is. To close out 2010, I ran around a lagoon for 12 hours. Yup, you read that correctly. Endorphin Dude registered for the New Year's One Day race and ran in circles at Crissy Field in San Francisco from noon to midnight. My biggest fan was there to cheer me on. If you look a little bit to the right of her ear, you will see the marathon caped crusader zoom on by.


I arrived at Crissy Field half an hour early to pick up my bib and timing chip and to claim my spot on the field. All I had with me was a lawn chair and my duffel bag filled with bananas, nuts, Gatorade, and a change of clothes. To my very pleasant surprise, the folks at Dolphin South End, my running club, had a tent set up! Seeing all the DSE peeps and having our own designated tent made me feel like I was part of a team. Ok, I'll say it, I felt like I was on the Olympic team!


Also at the start line were fellow Marathon Maniac, Russ Johnson and Chewbacca's nanny, Christine. Russ came all the way from Georgia! Christine came all the way from Antioch, CA! Ok, that didn't sound as dramatic.

When noon rolled around, we all gathered at the start line. When the race director shouted out "GO!", it made me laugh a little to see all the runners casually jogged out of the gates. I'm so used to seeing elite runners sprint out, but since this is a multi-hour ultra race, this pace is appropriate. I'd like to send a shout out to Mother Nature for not throwing buckets of water at us. She did provide us with some air conditioning, but I'll take that over a shower any day!



The Coastal Trail Runs folks noted that "each lap is 1.061 miles around the lagoon at Crissy Field with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, Alcatraz and the San Francisco Bay." I have to admit, even though I see these San Francisco landmarks all the time, I didn't mind seeing them over and over again as I ran each loop. They all reminded me of why I love this city so much. My goal was to hit 50k, and I knew I had plenty of time, so I took it nice and slow. I ran a little, I jogged a lot, I walked a lot more. Why kill myself, right? It's an endurance race, not a test of speed.

What I love about this run in laps concept is that I know that I could never get lost. I also know that I will never be alone because there will always be someone ahead or behind me. Every time you cross the mat, your time is registered on a big monitor so you can keep track of where you are at all times. The clock was a little off, but as my runner partner of the day puts it, I am a "human calculator" and am able do the math in my head. This gift for number crunching came in handy towards the end of the race! After crossing that mat, you were taken back to what I call "DSE Headquarters," which is where our tent was located. The DSE cheerleaders hung out in this tent and every time anyone crossed, they would cheer us on. Across from the our tent was the snack shack. Another thing I love about the Coastal Trail Runs peeps is that they feed you with every type of snack imagine. You need sugar? They got it. Salt? Swing on by. Protein? It's right there on the table. I never had to worry about bonking.

I had a lot of fun the first half of the day. I stopped at DSE Headquarters quite a bit to socialize. It's hard not to when you are surrounded by your friends. At the half marathon mark, though, I realized that I needed to get somewhat serious! As a result, I limited the socializing and focused on each lap. By this time, my running partner, Alva Woof, found her groove and we ran the rest of the way together. Alva had to deal with some demons early on, so I was happy to see her mentally get over those issues.

The two of us jogged to about mile 18 when we decided to try what we call the speed walker booty shake. You know what I'm talking about--this is the hip gyrating motion that speed walkers do to get their groove on. And yes, you know that you've secretly laughed to yourself every time you see this. I have to tell you, it works. I tell people all the time, never underestimate the walker. These people are athletes. Do you know how many times Yolanda Holder, the Guinness Book of Record holder for most marathons in one calendar year, has passed me up in a race? In any case, Alva and I adopted this technique and it carried us many many times around that lagoon. Functional, yet SASSY!


By about mile 20, I had to change out of the Marathon Maniac gear. I replaced the red with the black Endorphin suit. The funny thing is that I really wasn't planning to go all out with the cape. I really only reserve the full on super hero gear for the big races where thousands of runners and cheerleaders come out. When I arrived at the start line, something told me I had to do it. With all the tourists out at the Golden Bridge that day, it was fun to see the all the curious glances. At one point, a large group of visitors from the East Coast asked if Endorphin Dude would pose for a picture with them! I obliged.

What added to the allure of the endorphin suit was all the fan mail that I received throughout the day. One of the great things about this race is that the folks at home could check on each runner's progress every hour. They can also send emails directly to the race director, and those messages would be printed out and handed to the runners. I was so happy to have received a truck load of emails from all my Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic friends. One of the race officials even commented that I received, by far, the most fan mail of the day. I felt like the Justin Bieber of ultra marathons. Thank you all who sent words of encouragement and jokes to me!


As the day went on, people came and went. Chewbacca and the dog nanny left about five hours into the race. I am very lucky to have Christine because there are not too many people whom I trust with my dog. I am also fortunate that the chiweenie totally digs her nanny. Newly minted Marathon Maniac, Martha Arnaud, also showed up to cheer on her fellow maniacs and DSE peeps. Notice in the photo below that Alva and I are still smiling. Also in the photo is Ken, another fellow DSE member. Ken kept passing us up on the course. Alva refers to him as Mr. Fong. By the way, did you notice the wardrobe change?



When I hit my 50k goal, I did the dance of joy. I had never run anything past 26.2 miles in my life before, so this was a big deal! However, I looked at the clock and realized that there was till two and half hours left in the race. I said to Alva that it was still mathematically possible for us to hit 40 miles if we kept focused for the final nine miles. She was totally up for it, as she is turning 40 this year and what better present could she possibly give herself than an ultra marathon coaster with 40 miles printed on it? We had to hustle though, so the booty shake went in high gear. At times, it looked like we were America's Next Top Model rejects, banished to the lagoon by Tyra Banks because of our awkward runway strut. Believe me, there was nothing high fashion about that booty shake, but we didn't care. EYES ON THE PRIZE and not on the booty! Alva and I kept plugging along.


It got colder and colder as the night went on. I didn't even think to bring gloves, so I had to use my extra pair of socks as mittens. I felt like I was baking cookies with those things on. Alva and I continued to plug along. We were pulling in a solid 14:30-15:00 pace, which was enough to get us to our 40 mile goal. However, when we got to mile 36, I felt we were slowing down and I feared that we wouldn't hit our goal. I went into mild panic mode in my head, though I tried to hide any signs of nerves from Alva. I continued to crack jokes to keep our minds off the fatigue. Alva contributed by telling me stories of her childhood and how her older cousins would torture her by putting fish eyeballs in her 7-Up. At the time, I thought that story was hilarious, but now that I think about it, it's kind of gross and mean. I probably would have guzzled down that 7-Up thinking the eyeball was an olive! Alva and I did what we could to stay focused, and slowly but surely, we racked up the miles.

At 11:45pm, the two of us hit the 39 mile mark. I quickly did some math on that calculator in my head and realized that, even though we were mathematically on track, exhaustion and pain kicked in big time. I sensed that Alva was mentally and physically drained, so I had to work extra hard at not only keeping myself strong, but her as well. I told her that for the final loop, we are not going to chit chat. We are just going to keep our eyes on the prize and the booty gyrating like Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show. The only problem was that when we made it to the half way point of the loop, we had lost about 40 seconds. I knew that if we had continued to walk, we would not make our goal, so I told Alva that we had to pick it up.

I cranked it up to a jog and Alva tried as well. I felt her get further behind me and I could hear the tremble in her voice as she repeatedly chanted "you're about 20 steps ahead of me. You're going too fast." Alva was clearly losing it, but there was no way I was going to leave her behind. We were both in this together and if I had to settle for 39 miles, I would, but for the life of me, I wanted the 40! I just kept telling Alva that I believed in her and to focus on my cape. I don't know how she did it, but she was able to keep up.

We made it around the bend and saw the finish line in sight. At that point, the race director announced, "ONE MINUTE!!" Mind you, it had consistently taken us two minutes to get to the finish line from that point in the previous rounds, so I shouted to Alva, "WE GOTTA SPRINT THIS ONE IN. YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!" It was do or die. We only had 60 seconds on the clock left. I cranked it up to a full sprint and ran like my life depended it. I could see the crowd cheering me on. I sprinted all the way to the finish line with 31 seconds to spare. I then quickly turned around and cheered Alva on, as she approached the end! Nine seconds later, she crossed! The crowd roared for 11 seconds and then everybody counted down to the new year. Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!! Auld Lang Syne, WOO HOO!!


What an epic end to an epic year. I couldn't believe it. I just ran 40 frickin' miles! What a way to close out this incredible year: 32 half marathons, 7 full marathons, 1 ultra. Alva and I were in complete shock. It wasn't until moments later that we fully realized what had just happened. I looked around me and hugged everybody in sight. It was a complete out of body experience, and the last time I felt this level of runner's high was when I ran my first full marathon here in this awesome city. At that race, I had all my friends out there to cheer me on. At this race, I was blessed to have people I care about at the finish line cheer me on. My good friend and upstairs neighbor Lydia was there. Fellow maniacs Valerie Hower and Dane Rauschenberg stood by me. Mr. Fong and fellow DSE member and first female finisher for the 12 hour race Noriko gave me high fives and hugs. Ultra runner and fellow DSE member Chikara Omine brought me Chicken McNuggets! How perfect is that?







Now get this. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the race director announced my name as the ninth overall finisher and first in my age division! NEVER EVER before had I ever placed in the top 10, let alone finish first in my age division. Not bad for my first ultra marathon, eh? Alva ended up finishing tenth and third in her age division, a first for her too.


I have proven to myself that with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can accomplish just about anything. I had an incredible year and to close 2010 out in this fashion is beyond my wildest dreams. I have lofty goals for 2011. I will be going for the Titanium, which is the highest level in Marathon Maniacs. In order to achieve this, I will need to complete 52 marathons in one year. I can do it. I firmly believe I can do it. By this time next year, you will see 10 stars by my name.

Happy New Year!

Zombie Runner Bay Trail Half Marathon

I've always wanted to wake up at 5am on a Sunday morning to run through mud. That has always been my life long dream. NOT! Why oh why do I do this to myself? Do I really love running that much?? I am reluctant to say it, simply because I'm having flashbacks of the cold, rain, and mud as I type this, but the answer is yes. Yes, I really love running so much that I will do stuff like this!

I ran my 35th half marathon today. Well, saying that I "ran" it is a gross exaggeration. I walked it. I walked all of it. The Zombie Runner Bay Trail Half Marathon was nothing like the trail half that I ran the previous week. This one was flat. I walked it because of the rain and mud. I really didn't want to slip and slide into the wet dirt!

About half way through this race, the rain came down hard. Unfortunately, I tried to take some pictures of strutting geese when the downpour happened, and my camera officially died. Hence I have no photos other than the one of my ASICs covered in mud, which I took with my iPhone. This is a shame because I had some great shots with Half Fanatics Mattsaur and Mae Kim, newly minted Marathon Maniac Martha, and the legendary Guinness Book of World Record holder for the most marathons by a female in one calendar year Yolanda Holder. In any case, I walked this whole race with my running partner, Alva Woof. It took us about 4 and half hours to cross that finish line. I'm ok with that. Hey, it's been a long year.

Next up for Endorphin Dude will be the New Year's One Day 12 Hour race. I am so ready to run around a lagoon for 12 hours. This will be final race of 2010.

Summit Rock Half Marathon

There have been races where I feared the DNF. For the Summit Rock Half Marathon, I actually feared the DNS. I was very under the weather the day before and I didn't think that I would be able to show up. However, thanks to shot of NyQuil and a good night sleep, I woke up ready to run.

Brazen Racing puts on awesome events. The Summit Half Marathon was very well organized and the people are very friendly. The only issue I had with this race is not the organizer's fault. Damn hills! Also, my inexperience with trails made it very challenging for me. Dude, check out this elevation chart:

Nonetheless, I soldiered through, climbing what felt like Mount Everest minus the altitude. When I reached the top, I took a shot of GU, looked at the trail straight in the eye and said, "I'm going to run you down!" However, my plan got foiled because of my fear of tripping over a twig and falling on my face. So I plugged along alone in the woods, skipping over rocks and dodging poison oak. It took what felt like an eternity, but when I reached the finish line, I cheered!

Trail races are hard for me, and I worked hard to get to the finish line. It took me 4 and half hours, but I did it. I'd like to reiterate that me being sick the day before had nothing to do with me taking this long to finish. Trails are extremely difficult for me and it will take a while before I can complete a sub-4 trail race! I'm happy to be done and I'm happy with my bad ass medal with a bad ass bird ready to attack!

Las Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon

And there it is, the 2011 Endorphin suit, complete with the Marathon Ho utility belt! Not only is it fashionable, but it's functional too!

I came to Las Vegas with one goal in mind: PR. And by PR, I do not mean a personal record but a PARTY RUN! I got exactly that. This is the final Rock 'N' Roll event of the year and a bunch of Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics showed up ready to par-tay!

Being a Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic is not cheap. I feel like my wallet has gained about 20 pounds because of excessive charges on my credit card! The problem is that my wallet lives in my right butt pocket, so it looks like I've added 20 pounds only to my right butt cheek! But alas, a Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic has to do what he has to do to get those stars and to the next moon. In any case, because of the butt cheek weight gain, I chose to fly in on Saturday afternoon rather than Friday night so that I would not have to spend on an extra night for a hotel, not that Hooters is that expensive. Yes, I am staying at Hooters. Again.

I arrived in Sin City about 11:30am. I walked out of the airport to catch a shuttle, but the line was so long that I opted for the taxi. Big mistake. It cost me an arm, a leg, and a few internal organs to get to my hotel room! In the future, I will just suck it up and wait in line. The cab driver dropped me off and I proceeded to check in. Shortly after, my running partner and Vegas room mate, Dianasaur, arrived. It was great seeing Ms. Saur, and I'm glad she agreed to bunk with me this weekend. We quickly checked into our room and monorailed it over to the Expo to get our bibs.

Go figure, all this time Dianasaur has been hiding the fact that she is an elite runner! I had no clue she's been running with Kara Goucher, Dean Karanazes, Ryan Hall, and Meb! Too funny. Actually, what really happened is that there was a little snaffoo, and Dianasaur ended up with the full marathon corral one bib. I told Diana that she should just go up to the head of the pack, sprint her way out of the start line, and pretend that she injured herself at the mile 2 mark so that she can just run at her own pace the rest of the way. Everyone would think that she was hurt and that's why she didn't get her elite time in! I am such a genius.

Because we got to the expo late, most Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics had already picked up their bibs. I did get so see my good friends Stephanie Elfman Bradsher and Mohan Dutt. Mohan is now known as "Mattsaur," which is derivative of Dianasaur. Not surprisingly, the latter's maternal unit is appropriately named "Mamasaur." I have been given the task of coming up with a moniker for Ms. Bradsher, and if she's cool with joining the Dinosaur family, then I believe Stephasaurus Wrecks would work, as she is the running beast that wrecks up the competition on the course! But if this doesn't fly, then I'll have to come up with something else. The other Half Fanatic that I got see was Lou-E. Not sure what his moniker is just yet.




After the expo, Dianasaur, Mattsaur, and I headed to the food court for a quick snack and then went back to our hotel rooms to freshen up for the pre-race dinner at the Rio. Later on, the three of us took a cab to the Rio and what a thrill it was to see Maniacs and Half Fanatics everywhere! I got to meet so many whom I am Facebook friends with but have not met in person. I also met some new ones and reunited with others. Dinner at The Rio was one huge party. Even though the hotel could not accommodate us and we had to scatter all about, that did not stop us from having fun!


After dinner, Dianasaur, Mattsaur, and I went for a drink before turning in for the evening. I'm not sure why I ordered a Diet Coke, as my pre-race beverage of choice is the Chamomile tea. The combination of excitement and caffeine, unfortunately, kept me up the whole night. It was a good thing I had adrenaline and endorphins working in my favor at 5am on race day! My marathon twin Dave Mari made sure that all Maniacs and Half Fanatics met at 6:30am for the group photo in front of Mandalay, and sure enough, a whole lot of peeps came out for that photo shoot!


From the beginning, I proclaimed that this was going to be my party race, and indeed it was. I made plenty of stops to dance with the bands, take photos with cheerleaders, and at one point, I even jumped into the casinos for a quick round of slots! This half marathon is my 32nd overall 13.1 miler, and I wanted to have fun!






Now do you see what now what I mean by PR? What a fun weekend. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, here's about a million words about my 2010 Las Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon.