Sue and Earl Fry have run marathons from Portugal to Honolulu, but they're just goofy about runs through Disney theme parks.
The longtime Royal City residents recently returned home after completing the Disney Coast to Coast Race Challenge, a run that got underway earlier this year in Florida.
"In January we ran the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge at Disneyland in Orlando," Sue said. "You have to run a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon the next day."
Runners in the Walt Disney World Marathon, a 26.2-mile course through all four Walt Disney World theme parks, receive a Mickey Mouse medal. Runners in the Walt Disney World Half Marathon receive a Donald Duck medal.
For those ambitious enough to run both races, Disney gives out a Goofy medal.
"You will see Tinker Bell and Minnie Mouse run by," Sue laughed. "I find marathons hard enough in running clothes without trying to dress up."
In September, the couple then ran in the Disneyland Half Marathon in California. In addition to receiving a medal for finishing, they also received a special medal for having competed in the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge - completing a half or full marathon at Disney resorts on both coasts in one year.
Fry is smitten with the Coast to Coast Challenge medal, which features an image of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.
"They are probably the best medals around," she said. "They are our favourite medals."
While the medals are cherished, the Disney fans also enjoy the experience of running through the different theme parks.
"Running through it is pretty neat," said Sue, who works in the utilities department at city hall. "You get all the characters along the way - especially Disneyworld. They have characters high-fiving you. They try and make it really fun."
The Disneyland Half Marathon includes a route that passes through the nearby Angel Stadium.
"They had crowds cheering you on," Sue said. "As you left the field, you saw yourself on the jumbotron."
The couple has been to Disney World six times, having run the marathon four times and completed the Goofy challenge twice.
"Two years ago, when we did the Disney Challenge in Disney World in Florida, they experienced near record low temperatures," Sue said. "At the start of the one-half, they had snow. It turned into sleet for the race."
Expecting warmer weather in Florida, Earl had only a long-sleeve T-shirt for the half marathon. During the following day's full marathon, temperatures sipped to below zero.
"When we got to our first water stop, they were frozen," Sue recalled.
The weather was so chilly that Earl had icicles hanging from his baseball camp during the marathon.
After taking part the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge, the couple was heading to Key West Florida when they were informed that a run was taking place that weekend in Naples.
"By fluke, there was a half-marathon there that week," Sue laughed. "Within a week, we ran two one-halfs and a full."
The New Westminster natives started doing marathons in the late 1980s.
"We had been casual runners. I had taught fitness classes," Sue recalled. "We started doing marathons. Later we started making trips out of them."
Since that first marathon in Vancouver in 1987, Sue has run in marathons in places including London, Portugal, Scotland, Honolulu (four times), New York, Las Vegas, California, Boston (eight times), and Portland.
"I have done 63 marathons now, he has done 39," she said. "Disney is definitely one of our favourites. It is fun."
