If I were a Disney character, I'd be Scrooge McDuck

It's been two months since I've written, but it's not for lack of training. This is, after all, a training blog. This coming Saturday is my LAST long run before the Disney marathon, which is the second weekend in January. In addition to the full marathon on Sunday, I'm also running the half marathon Saturday, the combination of the two being aptly named, "Goofy's Race & a Half Challenge", or just "Goofy" for short. As I've said to Sidekick Connie many times, I feel like I haven't even started training yet, to which she promptly responds, "You haven't STOPPED training all year!" But, but, but... yeah, I got nothing.

With such a challenging goal on the horizon, you might be wondering why I, being one who loves to talk about both running and myself at length, have not written. The short answer is this: because I've been cranky. I've started about 8 different blog posts, and they all annoyed me before I got through one paragraph. This one is about to fall into that trap, so I'll have to pull the emergency brake right here and get back to talking about Disney.

Disney is supposed to be the most entertaining marathon, the most memorable, the most fun. Perhaps it is. I'm not really a Disney person, though, so it's been hard for me to get excited about it. I started watching a video that someone posted from last year's marathon -- 26.2 miles trimmed down to 13 minutes of footage shot during the race. I wanted to feel inspired, or excited; hell, I'd even settle for anxious, scared, or nervous. But I felt nothing. When I watch something like this about the Boston Marathon, I get goosebumps, or teary eyed, or I can feel the rush of adrenaline, or sometimes all of those feelings at once. I am yearning to find the same kind of passion for Disney, but it's just not there.

It occurred to me that the reason the Boston Marathon is so powerful is because I have so many connections to it. I'm from the Boston area and grew up watching it, including the three times my dad ran it, and the handful of other times that my cousin Matt or other family friends ran it. As a member of a charity team, I spend 6 months with the greatest teammates -- learning about liver disease, promoting awareness and trying to fundraise for the cause, and hearing about the struggles from teammates who either have liver disease or perhaps have a loved one who is on the transplant list. 2014 is also an emotional year as we collectively move forward to that finish line of which many of us were robbed in 2013.

But yeah, I guess Mickey Mouse is kind of cool too.

See what I mean?!?!

Here's where I need your help. Lend me your excitement, your youthful enthusiasm. In the true spirit of Disney, help me to be a kid again. I'll admit I'm not up to date on the newest Disney movies. I don't know who the Incredibles are, I know nothing about cars that can talk, or universities for monsters. I saw the Sound of Music (not Disney, I know) for the first time ever this year, and I kept waiting for Julie Andrews to sing
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Tell me what your favorite Disney movie is so I can watch it in the next 3 weeks, and so I can look forward to seeing those characters out on the course. They say motivation should come from within and blah blah blah, but I'm telling you guys, I've got nothing. I really need your help with this one. Let me be your Disney proxy. Your excitement + my undertrained legs will hopefully carry me through two days and 39.3 miles.