Evidently, a marathon just isn't enough for some people. They would prefer to run 13.1 miles first.

That is the task senior Geoff Holmes and several other University of Dayton students set for themselves over the weekend as they headed to the Disney Marathon to take on the Goofy Challenge.

Distance 4 Dreams is a service organization that does fundraising for a local child each year, so that they can go to the Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, Fla., where they are given everything they could possibly want.

Distance 4 Dreams then accompanies the family to Disney World for marathon weekend, and its members participate in either the half marathon, marathon or Goofy Challenge. The challenge is to do both races-the half marathon Saturday morning and the 26.2 mile event less than 24 hours later Sunday morning.

Holmes, a civil engineering major, has been running since his freshman year of college, when he set a goal to run 100 miles over the course of three months in an attempt to become active again.

"When we set out to do it, we were trying to get back into shape," he said. "Once you get out of high school you lose a lot of that competitive edge and it's good to just get out and do something."

Holmes then ran his first half marathon at the Dayton River Corridor in the fall of his sophomore year in 2007. Running was clearly something Holmes enjoyed, because he was already running his first marathon at the Cincinnati Flying Pig event in May 2008. Holmes also got into Distance 4 Dreams late in his sophomore year when he heard about it from his friend Cassy Stangle.

Holmes has done more full and half marathons since, including the marathon on last year's D4D trip to Disney World, and those clearly have become a bit boring for him.

Holmes says he really was not sure about doing the Goofy Challenge, but didn't want to back down from a friend.

"I blame my friend. I'm pretty sure we were playing chicken to see who would chicken out of signing up for it."

Despite not exactly planning on doing both races from the start, Holmes sees it as a natural progression.

"I think the one thing runners tend to do is they look to challenge themselves," he said. "You look at a 5k and you say, 'I've never gone further than that,' and you push yourself to do that. Then you see a half marathon and you say, 'I've never pushed myself that far, I think I can do that'. I think it's been a progression. As a runner you are always looking for the next challenge. This is a unique challenge."

It is extremely unique, and pretty insane. Aside from completing all 39.3 miles, Holmes will have to make sure he keeps his legs from tightening up during the time between his two races. He was planning on doing plenty of resting and stretching, and eating good foods like bananas to help his muscles recover.

Holmes said he was a bit nervous about the event, but his disciplined training through the cold weather should carry him through.

"It [running in the cold] is hard, especially when the wind chill gets to below zero," he said. "Honestly, running through the back country of Oakwood and Kettering in the snow has been one of the most amazing things I've ever done. As with any training, it's hard to get yourself out the door, but once you do, it's not too much of a problem."

With the Goofy Challenge, the weather will not be a problem. but tired legs might be.