Next Exit – Interpol
Wouldn’t It Be Nice – Beach Boys
Roadrunner – Jonathan Richman
These first three do a great job of easing me into the rhythm of the race.
Ca Plane pour moi – Plastic Bertrand
I have to be very careful to not sing along with the “Oh oh oh oh” part out loud.
Cool For Cats – Squeeze
Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 1 & 2) – Camper Van Beethoven
I’m A Believer – Monkees
So Begins Our Alabee – Of Montreal
Groove Is in the Heart – Deee-Lite
Sex Changes – Dresden Dolls
Lowriders – War
I really think this is the single best song to run to; the beat is absolutely perfect.
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes – Modest Mouse
You’re No Rock ‘n Roll Fun – Sleater-Kinney
He’s a Whore – Cheap Trick
Straighten Out – Stranglers
Paper Planes – M.I.A
Comes in a close second to Low Rider for best running song.
The Heinrich Maneuver – Interpol
Good Weekend – Art Brut
My Spine (Is The Bass Line) – Shriekback
Black Steel – Tricky
Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Car – Built To Spill
Street Hassle – Lou Reed
This might seem like an odd addition, but the truth is I love this 11-minute story. It comes up around the 10 mile mark and always reminds me to assess my pace and make adjustments if necessary.
Heroes – David Bowie
That’s Entertainment – Jam
Play That Funky Music White Boy – Wild Cherry
This immediately pops me back into the groove after a few mid-tempo songs.
Losing My Religion – R.E.M
True Love Pt. #2 – X
Coin-Operated Boy – Dresden Dolls
Train in Vain (Stand by Me) – Clash
Direct hit – Art Brut
Nemesis – Shriekback
Who Wants The World – Stranglers
Dreaming – Blondie
Pretty Vacant – Sex Pistols
Oasis – Amanda Palmer
Kool Thing – Sonic Youth
Police On My Back – Clash
This song is a bit dangerous because it tends to make me pick up my pace more than I should.
World Shut Your Mouth – Julian Cope
Bohemian Like You – Dandy Warhols
Essence – Pure Joy
To Hell With Good Intentions – Mclusky
Delicious Demon – Sugarcubes
I Love A Man In A Uniform (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Remix) – Gang Of Four
Crosseyed And Painless – Talking Heads
B.O.B. – Outkast
Roam – B-52′s
1999 – Prince
Teen Devil Worshipper – Idiot Flesh
Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys
Float On – Modest Mouse
Know Your Chicken – Cibo Matto
Sliver – Nirvana
Jerry Was A Race Car Driver – Primus
Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
Kiss Off – Violent Femmes
Ice Cream Man – Jonathan Richman
Boys Better – Dandy Warhols
Rock Lobster – B-52′s
Baba O’Riley – Who
I need to have this song kick in as I’m in the final mile. If I have to, I’ll skip ahead to it.
Peace Love and Understanding – Elvis Costello
Blitzkrieg Bop – Ramones
I always have the Ramones take me into the finish chute; nothing else will work.
I Wanna Be Sedated – Ramones
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker – Ramones
Rockaway Beach – Ramones
Rock N Roll High School – Ramones

Carol immediately went into menu-planning mode and crafted a tapas presentation that would not resemble standard band food. With superb prep assistance from our friend Julie, they crafted a spread that pretty much blew everyone away. Here are just a few of the shots from the evening; more detailed food pictures will be appearing on Carol’s blog in a few weeks.

Two black-and-white underwater shots of dancers in dynamic motion — by a photographer who goes by “gmark” — and a color photo, “Underwater Dancer” by David Peterman, may be the best things here.

Full article here.

(A quick word for those who don’t know what the Goofy Challenge is all about: The Disney World Marathon Weekend in Orlando has a few events, but the most notable are the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. If you sign up to run both of them back-to-back, that’s called the Goofy Challenge.)

Signing Up

Registration for next year’s Goofy Challenge opens immediately after this year’s event, and fills up fairly quickly. The result is you need to commit to this thing almost a full year in advance, which is probably good as it gives you ample time to plan your training strategy.

When you register, pay very close attention to what you are doing! You need to specifically sign up for the Goofy Challenge; if you sign up individually for the half and the full, you will not be entered as a Goofy runner.

Training

Our normal running schedule is to run Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with a long run on Saturday. To prepare for Goofy, we wanted to add a longer than normal run prior to the Saturday run so we could get our legs used to the idea of logging double-digit miles on consecutive days. Starting in late summer, we shifted things around to running our regular runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then adding a 10-miler on Friday before the regular Saturday long run. The first couple weeks were a bit tough, but we quickly started seeing significant benefit from the Friday run and it undoubtedly played a big role in helping us finish Goofy in a decent time.

Speaking of time, we certainly did not shoot for any PRs during this weekend. Our plan was to do the half about 30 minutes slower than normal and the full about 45 minutes slower. If, however, I had been trying for a PR, I would have gone out even easier on the half and saved (almost) everything for the full.

Trip Planning

Both the half and full marathons start at 5:50 a.m., with hotel shuttle buses begining at 3:00 a.m. If you’re from the west coast – like us – you might want to consider getting to Orlando a couple days ahead of time to acclimate a bit to the eastern time zone. We flew in on Wednesday, which helped quite a bit. By Friday we were able to get to sleep at a nice early time to be ready for the early start time.

Lodging

You will likely be staying at one of the many Disney World hotels, but choose carefully. I would strongly recommend staying at the Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter, or the Old Key West. Why? How does an extra 90 minutes of sleep sound?!

Officially, you are supposed to catch one of the marathon buses from your hotel to the start area. That’s all well and good, but doing so means you could end up standing around in the chilly night area for up to two hours after they drop you off in the Epcot parking lot. We stayed at the French Quarter, and both mornings we took a quick five minute walk to the start area. No Disney employee (whoops, cast member) will acknowledge that you can do this, but they also won’t prevent you from doing so. We would get up at 4:30, get dressed and have our pre-race snacks, then leave at about 5:10. That would give us plenty of time to find our corral and take care of any last-minute stretching.

One caveat: There are no sidewalks on the roads between the hotels and the start area so you will be walking on the shoulders of a busy road for a few minutes. Stay off to the side and you’re be fine. Also, approaching from the east like this can make it a bit difficult to get to the official corral entry gates. You’ll either have to jump the barricade (not that I would ever suggest you do such a thing) or walk south until you can enter with the rest of the crowd.

The Races

Generally speaking, we don’t like large races (large being anything more than a couple thousand people). These, however, were so well run and supported that the crowds really didn’t cause us any major concerns. There are a few points where it got a bit tight as everyone compressed down to single-lane roads, but it was rare for us to feel pinned in and unable to maintain our pace (unlike, for example, New York and Chicago).

There are a lot of water stations along the route… almost too many. In fact, we were skipping every other one towards the end. If you’re the type to carry your own water during races, you might want to rethink that for these races; they have plenty, and you can enjoy not having that unnecessary pound or two of water strapped to your waist.

We found ourselves getting a bit bored during the first part of the full marathon, then realized it was because much of it was on the same route as the half the day before. Once we exited the Magic Kingdom, however, we were on new roads with new sights and things picked up a bit.

The Medals

Let’s face it, the real reason for doing the Goofy Challenge is for the hardware. As you probably know, you come away with three medals: one each for the half and full, then one more for completing the Challenge. They’re big and clunky far from attractive, but maybe that’s why we go through all this to get them.