Rise and Run

141: Ask Us Anything...Again! Rise and Run Edition

June 06, 2024 The RDMTeam Season 4 Episode 141

Ever wondered what it's like to run 47 races and collect 63 medals? Join us for a spirited conversation with Bob and our vibrant Rise and Run crew, including John, Jack, Greg, and Lexie, as we answer listener questions in our second "Ask Us Anything" episode.

Dreaming of the perfect Run Disney course? We brainstorm epic race routes and debate the feasibility of the return of runDisney point-to-point races. Celebrity running partners are a hot topic too—Bob finds inspiration in Jason Kelce, Jack dreams of Chris Evans, and Greg reminisces about NSYNC, hoping to run with Joey Fatone. Despite some concerns over the quality of Disney's race medals and merchandise, our love for the running community shines through as we discuss course improvements and the potential return of the Star Wars weekend.

Running has transformed our lives in unexpected ways, fostering a sense of community and accomplishment. From nostalgic memories of races to the support from groups like Rise and Run, we highlight the importance of these connections. We celebrate recent achievements from our community members, including impressive finishes at ultra marathons and scenic runs. We share updates on recent races like Chad's impressive run and Kayla's participation in the Great Bacon Run, and invite you to connect with our community on social media and share your running stories. Tune in for race reports, exciting updates on future events, and reflections on the lifelong benefits of staying active.
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Speaker 2:

3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends as we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go, hey gang.

Speaker 4:

It's David Bennett from Kennesaw, georgia. I just finished a training run and I wanted to welcome you and everyone else to the Rise and Run podcast.

Speaker 5:

Thank you, david. Thank you, dave, david, where's George? I didn't hear George on the intro.

Speaker 2:

George was probably sleeping because, based on Instagram, any photo that either David or Greta post, that kid is always sleeping, so it doesn't shock me that he was not present for this intro.

Speaker 5:

You know what tickled me is David gets to the Zoom meetings most every week and when he shows up, either live or in the chat, people will say, oh, there's George, and somebody pointed out. Nobody says, oh, there's David anymore. So, david, you're irrelevant. We love you, brother, and thank you for leaving us that intro and my friends, hello, welcome to episode 141 of the Rise and Run podcast. I'm Bob and I am here with John. Hey, bob, how you doing Great John With Jack Hiya Hiya Jack. How you doing Great John With Jack Hiya Hiya Jack With Greg, hey, hey, hey. Yeah, I got nothing for that one, greg. And with Lexi.

Speaker 3:

Hello.

Speaker 5:

Hi, my friends, Good to see you. Tonight's episode this week this week is our, I think, second official Ask Us Anything episode. We appreciate the great response we got when we asked for questions. I'll say it again, but I'll tell you up front we got too many to answer them all. But we'll take a stab at some of them.

Speaker 2:

We'll hold you, and no, chad, you're not getting your six-hour episode either.

Speaker 5:

He doesn't need it anymore. He doesn't need it anymore. He doesn't need it anymore. In the race report we'll talk about what Chad did this weekend. He doesn't need that six hour one, at least not right now. He'll need it again in the future. We know Chad. He's going to be out there on something really long. Ask us anything. This week in the spotlight Our friend Kayla did the great bacon run. Got to hear about that one, huh.

Speaker 3:

And if you enjoy listening to the Rise and Run podcast, please tell all your friends and introduce them and have them join our Rise and Run family. We want to share in their running and run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, instagram Rise and Run Pod, or you can visit our webpage at riseandrunpodcastcom If you have a question or comment. Race report want to introduce an upcoming episode which I believe we need some introductions don't we?

Speaker 5:

We need some. We need some. Okay, we got one from David, we got one for next week, but yeah, we'll always take them.

Speaker 3:

Awesome, we got one from David. We got one for next week, but yeah, we'll always take them. Awesome, give us a call at 727-266-2344 and leave a recorded message.

Speaker 2:

We also want to thank our Patreons, whose support helps the Rise and Run podcast keep rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please visit patreoncom. Slash rise and run podcast.

Speaker 6:

Sounds good Jack what's up with YouTube? Yeah, so you know what you guys, we've heard a lot of people ask how did the origin of a rise and run podcast occur? Well, we give you the full story on our newest episode on YouTube. So go ahead and check out the Rise and Run podcast origin story.

Speaker 2:

It's a glorious three-hour finale.

Speaker 5:

Mostly America. Yeah, there's probably more stuff in there than you want to know, but we do get the question a lot and we wanted to give you a good, thorough answer, so hope you enjoy that. Thank you, jack. Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by our friends at Magic Bound Travel. Oh golly, what's going on with Magic Bound? I got a note this week from Maggie and she was talking about something I've wanted to do for a long time and that is I'm just going to whisper Okay, a rise and run cruise, all right, all right, yeah, yeah, you can't see me, but I'm doing a happy dance.

Speaker 5:

Yes, yes, as is Greg Greg's doing a silent happy dance. It's Greg Greg's doing a silent happy dance. Nothing, yeah, we're still quite a ways out, if in fact this comes to fruition, but it's something that we're really starting to think about in earnest. Meanwhile, friends, if you're heading to Disney World, if you're heading to Universal Studios in Florida, if you're heading out Universal Studios in Florida, if you're heading out to the west coast, to Disneyland for the Halloween run, our friends at Magic Bound Travel can help you with all your travel needs. Magicboundtravelcom is their website. Be sure to check them out. I want to give a pup date. That's pup date.

Speaker 5:

I noticed last week that when I did the pup date, my pop filter worked so well it sounded like I was saying update, hey news on the shirts. Monica and especially alex at kawaiian pizza apparel and our friend monica have been working really hard on this and I think they've got a great thing going. The shirts are available now at Kawhi and Pizza Apparel. We will put a link in the show notes and we will have a link on our website. But if you forget about those, go to Kawhi and Pizza Apparel and in the search box just type the word Dalmatian, and there's no O in Dalmatian. Now I always want to spell the last part I-O-N. They're all A's D-A-L-A-M-A-T-I-A-N.

Speaker 5:

When you do, the shirts will come up. Look for the one that's got the Rise and Run logo. That's the one that's priced at $30. Now here's the deal. That shirt is $30, no discount supply. That's a great price for one of the KPA shirts. If you happen to be ordering two. If your order is more than $50, you can use the code FREESHIP50, no spaces, and if your order is over $50, it will ship domestically for free. If you want to order a different shirt from Kawhi and Pizza Apparel, you can. You can add it to your Dalmatian shirt order and for anything else that you order outside of the dalmatian shirt, the rise and run code will work for 10 off of your order. So here's a great chance to get a couple of outstanding quality kawaiian pizza apparel shirts for your upcoming disney races and to save a couple bucks at the same time.

Speaker 5:

Now, international friends, if you're interested in participating in getting a shirt, contact me directly, bob, at riseandrunpodcastcom. What we can do is you can order the shirt, have it shipped to my home here in Florida and I'll bring it with me to race weekend. That's not a problem. So things are moving. Look for more info on the Facebook group page. But I think this is going to be a blast. The numbers keep going up Every time I look we've got, oh, other questions. If someone's picked your puppy name off the list, it doesn't matter, we can have two of the same name. It doesn't matter. If you want to invent your own name, that's okay. If you want to participate and you don't want to buy the shirt, that's okay too. You can do that, but it'll be fun.

Speaker 5:

Let's look at training. Next run Disney event, disneyland Halloween is now 13 weeks away. We are down to 91 days till the Expo. Gosh, I know it seems like a long time, but we're getting there. Training schedule this is training week five. If you're doing one of the long runs, your long training race training run this weekend is three miles. Looking further down the training schedule, I see here that registration for the Disneyland half marathon weekend, also in California, is now only 12 days away. It's not this coming Tuesday. This coming Tuesday is registration day for Club Run Disney. The Tuesday after is for the general population. So that's coming up pretty quickly. And while we're talking about that gang. The artwork and themes for that race weekend in California were announced this week. What did you think?

Speaker 6:

Oh, I'm so upset that I can't go. I'm so sad because I am obsessed with these themes, all three of them.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

My only question is how do they match Like? How is it cohesive, cohesive? I've heard some speculation, but the most interesting speculation I think I've heard is that it was supposed to be the springtime surprise themes and they didn't get chosen and they got repurposed for Disneyland surprise big surprise because the half marathon is Mickey Safari and Disneyland doesn't have a safari you, you could grasp at straws to say that oh well, no, this is themed to like. Indiana Jones is what I've heard. Yeah, indiana.

Speaker 2:

Jones, or um, like it almost is kind of giving off like state park vibes, so you could, like you could tie it somewhat, tie that to the Grand Californian Hotel and like that section of DCA, but to me this just sounded like, um, what, what? Uh, three strikes. The three strikes game on Price is right, where you have everything in the bag and you go and you, you pull it out. Okay, the 5k is groot, okay, 10k is ahsoka, and you know, so it's. Yeah, it seems a little out of place, but but that, but that theory does sound plausible. The other theory I did here, though and I I know I'm hoping I'm getting this correct, I know our friend kristin, over at running in makeup shared this, but I know it wasn't. Her theory, though, is that when you incorporate yoga and the yoga races.

Speaker 2:

That's right, that's going to jack, yeah that each race is themed off of a land in um, in dca, but at the same time, though, that doesn't make sense, because galaxy's edge is over in disneyland, not in dca yeah, so but yeah it, the artwork looks cool, it's just the whole theme of everything makes zero sense to me.

Speaker 3:

I heard it's a choose-your-own-adventure.

Speaker 6:

In theory, though, these races are exactly what people have been wanting. They wanted the weekend of each one. Marvel weekend and then a Star Wars weekend, instead of trying to make it a cohesive theme. They're like we can't really fit it into just one weekend, because if we do it once, then we have to keep doing it. You get a car. Yeah, get a car no jack.

Speaker 2:

You bring up a really good point, because I think I made this point when the halloween themes got released. Is you know? You know this upcoming halloween has haunted mansion, hocus pocus and the nightmare before christmas.

Speaker 2:

You could have just done a whole weekend based on one of those particular teams so, like I, I almost kind of feel like they're pigeonholing themselves into what they would be able to do for the future. But again, we don't work for Run Disney. Obviously, I know the teams in land and in world are different and they have their own ways of doing things, but yeah, the thought process just doesn't line up for me 100%.

Speaker 3:

But if you're listening, Run Disney, keep doing Marvel.

Speaker 6:

Yes, please, I'm so obsessed but I can't justify going all the way out to California for a 5K obsessed, but I can't justify going all the way out to california for a 5k.

Speaker 5:

Which leads to my question jack gang, who's going? Anybody heading out in january?

Speaker 6:

okay so thought I'm not gonna sign up for it during this registration. But if somehow, miraculously, the world lines up and I'm able to get time off for it and it pops up as a registration a month out, I would definitely consider it if I could. Unlikely, but it's a nice thought.

Speaker 1:

I was telling you, guys, if it was the half marathon and it was Vader all in. Just go out to California just for a 10K, like Jack's saying, it's not my bag.

Speaker 3:

If it wasn't Groot, I would consider it. I mean, I love Guardians. I like Groot I love Groot, but I feel like if they did an Iron man race or a Black Widow race or a Scarlet Witch race, I would be there in a heartbeat.

Speaker 2:

That makes a ton of sense, alexa. Going back to what you said about the theory of it being a rejected springtime surprise theme, Because they can only do.

Speaker 3:

Guardians, the only.

Speaker 2:

Marvel yeah, they can use Guardians, so that makes a ton of sense.

Speaker 5:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

I also wonder in terms I mean, obviously it's a run Disney product, it's going to sell. It's a run disney product, it's gonna sell. It's a disneyland product, it's gonna sell. Of course, but I'll be interested to see if it will sell as quickly as last year, because there is what is it? A two-week gap now between marathon weekend in disneyland.

Speaker 5:

So you really can't do.

Speaker 2:

You know the massive back-to-back, like you know, I know you know a lot of people dub the phrase dopey to dumbo. Yes, in theory you could still do that, but it's not within consecutive weeks back-to-back, it's actually three weeks, greg.

Speaker 1:

It's the last week of January, right?

Speaker 5:

Expo Day for Walt Disney World Marathon is January 8th. Expo Day for Disneyland Half is January 30th. It's Day for Disneyland Half is January 30th.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so it's almost closer.

Speaker 3:

Well, that goes into February. It's closer to.

Speaker 1:

Princess than it is to Marathon Emotion, oh wow.

Speaker 5:

Okay, yeah, princess is February 20th. It's right in the middle. All right, my friends, if you're heading out, wonderful Good luck. I mean, we obviously support you. We hope you have a great time. We will be and we've got another week to talk about this. There is a chat, a chat group for the 2025 Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. If you want to get in there, if you're planning to go, and we'll be up on that on registration day and working together, and we'll be up on that on registration day and working together.

Speaker 5:

Let us move now to the featured part of the episode. Let's get into some of these outstanding Ask Us Anything questions. We asked, you responded. We have and I'm just going to approximate here 90 questions. I don't think we'll get to all of them, all right, but we'll do like I said at the top we'll do what we can and we're not going to get rid of these. We may come back to them, shucks. We may answer some in the Facebook group, we may talk about some of them at a Zoom call, but let's get started. Gang, who wants to start us off?

Speaker 3:

I'll start us off Bob Cool how many Run Disney races has everyone done and how do you keep track? She also asked how many races in general, but we'll discuss that in a minute. Let's stick to run disney races first. I actually took the time today to make an excel spreadsheet about which weekends I've done, what races I did at the weekends and like count it all up. Guys, I am at 31 run Disney races, including virtuals.

Speaker 5:

Cool.

Speaker 3:

Uh, which is crazy, and if I stick to my current like tentative plan of what I may be hitting my 40th race next marathon weekend in 2026 very impressive.

Speaker 2:

That's crazy all right, alexi. So similar to you now, grant, I didn't make an excel spreadsheet, uh, but I did just, you know, jot down a list here. So so my run disney journey started at wine and Dine in 2016 and my last race weekend was Springtime Surprise in 2024, and, doing each individual race, I have done 19 Run Disney races.

Speaker 6:

I thought it would have been more than that.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, it's crazy, when I started to think about the race weekends in general, I was like, oh, I haven't done a lot. But then, like, as I started making the list, I'm like I have done a lot of races, although, you know, comparing myself, I know, um, you know we just had uh ryan teats on uh the spotlight and I know he just celebrated his 100th run, disney goodness so yeah, so trust me, there are plenty of people that are even you know well above and beyond.

Speaker 2:

You know the 40s and the 50s and everything like that.

Speaker 3:

So now I want to know how many run disney medals I have, because the challenge counts for yes one and you know you're, it's a yeah you can get. We all know that you're, it's a jam?

Speaker 5:

Yeah, you can get. We all know this. You can get four to six medals per weekend and you get a coast to coaster in there Possibly. So, all right, I started and ended the same time as Greg did. I've been to 18 run Disney weekends. I've run 47 run Disney races, 63 medals and a total of 458.4 miles.

Speaker 5:

Whoa I don't know how many other races I've done. I started trying to count the medals that I have in my room that are not run Disney. It's about 60 of them. All of this is from 2016, though 60 of them. All of this is from 2016, though. In fact, the first, the first medal I earned was that run Disney medal in 2016 at Wine and Dine.

Speaker 5:

Prior to that, in the 1980s, I ran when I was stationed in Hawaii, and I have no record of how many I did Now. It wasn't a hundred or anything like that, but I did at least one race a month for four years, so I probably did 30 or 40 over there, but I just have no way of knowing. How do we keep track of them. I actually I actually keep a spreadsheet with all my run Disney races on it. I can tell you that I will hit race number 50 at the Wine and Dine 5k, that I will hit race number 50 at the Wine and Dine 5K. I can tell you that I've been down Main Street a total of 10 times, and it's just fun.

Speaker 3:

You can actually fun fact, you can look on your Run Disney dashboard. There's a place for past events and for some reason two of my weekends didn't show up on there, but that can at least start like helping you keep track of it. If you haven't started and you want to keep track of it, um, you can look on your actual dashboard where your registrations are.

Speaker 5:

That's good.

Speaker 1:

Good tip. Uh, I got 22 live run Disney races that I've done there, plus the 15 K for Skyliners. That's, that's still a lot.

Speaker 2:

Oh yes, I didn't count that one. Bravo, john Bravo, that's still a race.

Speaker 1:

That was there. I got a bunch of vert. I did some virtuals like the virtual Star Wars medals. When you used to get them you had to do the half to get the Kessel Run challenge.

Speaker 2:

The Kessel Run. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but that's it. They're virtuals, but they're still part of that weekend to get that medal.

Speaker 6:

So I'm really close to you, john. I have done 23 run disney races, two of which were virtuals, five of them were challenges, and I have 29 medals in total, and I've been doing it since princess 2018, man I'm low man on the totem pole. That's what I thought I'm going to have to go talk to my wife about this.

Speaker 1:

Get a spreadsheet out.

Speaker 5:

Okay, good stuff. Thanks for the question. We appreciate it. We really didn't go into non-run Disney races too much. It's just tough to keep track of them. I keep all my bibs. You guys do that.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I've got three. They actually sorry. Go ahead, binders Is that where you're going.

Speaker 5:

Binders yeah, I've filled up three of them. I'm on my fourth. Oh, wow, but I do have some of my old bibs. But I do have some of my old bibs. See, back in the 80s you didn't get a medal for a race. I did not get a medal when I finished the Honolulu Marathon.

Speaker 3:

That's sad. That's like when I ran the. Whenever I was doing non-Disney races, I would not do a race unless I got the medal.

Speaker 5:

But that didn't happen until. I don't know when it happened, but it didn't happen in the 1980s.

Speaker 6:

I ran 50 miles thinking I was going to get a medal, finished the race and realized all I got was a bottle of wine A bottle of wine, that wasn't all bad.

Speaker 1:

Same thing, bob. A lot of the races around here you get the shirt and unless you win and even that, sometimes they give like a mug or a uh, like a plaque they don't give you a medal.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, all right, friends, let's move on. So Sonia has a question and Missy has a similar question, so let's tack these two together the favorite costume that you've ever worn, or the best or worst costume you've run in, and why?

Speaker 2:

I can easily answer this one. So, best costume I've ever run in my kawaiian pizza apparel powerline shirt um, you know nothing like you know, finishing your first, uh, your first ever marathon, just dressed in neon yellow. That's a memory I'll never forget. Worst one, though, and not because the the quality of it was bad or anything. Um, it was the 10k for wine and dine 22, the race that was themed to Rai and the Last Dragon I wore. My daughter is obsessed with this dress company called Taylor Joelle, but they also make character shirts as well too, so I dressed as Bandit who is the dad from.

Speaker 2:

Bluey and my shirt had a hood on it with like little pointy ears and I'm like, oh, this is great and I already own it. That way I don't have to go out and buy a costume because I I wasn't going to dress as sisu or anything like that. So I wore this thing and I remember, to quote ali boy, that was a humid race and I remember I would put my hood up for the photopass photographers and I just sweating so profusely because of how humid it was and just you know no air escaping through through the fabric, so if I had to put a quote-unquote, worst uh that would be it but their products are incredible and if you're ever interested in their adult shirts, um definitely go check them out.

Speaker 6:

Very good you guys know I absolutely love dressing in costumes. I'm stuck between dressing up as Rey for Star Wars, because that one's always fun, or I really like Jane from Tarzan I think I had my favorite picture ever taken at Disney and finally a good finish line picture. Okay, no, star Wars, it is John will like that answer because I always have so much fun wearing that costume.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I think you pulled off too.

Speaker 3:

Thank, you Good job. I think my favorite costume I've ever worn would probably. It'd be a toss up.

Speaker 5:

That's okay.

Speaker 3:

Between the teacup costume that me and Jack and Rachel did for the 5k last year and, um, my giselle costume. Yeah, that's cute. I really love my giselle. Hades is on up there too, I don't know I've. I really love my costumes that I've worn. I've reworn them because I love them so much.

Speaker 5:

Nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 3:

Nothing wrong with that at all um, and I don't believe I've ever had a bad costume experience. Yeah, yeah, I don't. I don't think I've had any that like super chafed or anything like that. The the costumes have never been the reason why I didn't finish a race, or whatever.

Speaker 6:

But I will say and it's not technically a worst costume, but I know my first Run Disney race, lexi's like oh yeah, people dress up so much and I was so nervous of going too crazy that I just wore like a little small little princess skirt and then a tiara and that was it.

Speaker 5:

That's cool though.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, but then you get there and everybody has these like crazy awesome costumes. I thought I was overdoing it, so now I wish I could have gone back and went all out.

Speaker 5:

Well, I went from 2016 to like I'm going to say 2022, before I wore anything as a costume. It was just-.

Speaker 2:

I'll say, Bob, you're required to wear something. They might escort you off property.

Speaker 5:

I don't know if you, I don't know if you caught how quickly I said as a costume. I realized, as the words were coming out of my mouth, what I was saying. But you know, streaking was real big in the seventies. Yes, I know, I was around for that too. Didn't do it. Didn't do it. Didn't do it then either, for what that's worth. Uh, but between next week's guest Brittany and Jack, you guys talked me into wearing costumes, and the first one I wore was Sam Eagle, yep, and that's one of my favorites, I really like Sam Eagle.

Speaker 5:

That's one of my favorites. I really like Sam Eagle. Another favorite was the one I just did. I like the Carl costume, the wig.

Speaker 2:

That one was so cute.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, a Hawaiian pizza apparel shirt and the wig and the big glasses and the cane. I liked that one. Those are my favorites, I guess, but I can't leave out Tinker Bob Okay.

Speaker 6:

No, Grandpa Gaston.

Speaker 5:

Oh, did you like that one? I thought that was clever. Yeah, gaston's grandfather, yeah, where I spray painted the wig gray. And I can't leave out Tinker Bob. And I can't leave out Tinker Bob. And the reason that Tinker Bob might be my best is the reaction I get from everybody. I mean, I can tell that, I can tell that people are having fun. I don't care if they're laughing at me or laughing with me, I can tell that people are having fun. And I'm kind of like Lexi. I don't really have a a worst costume that I can recall, though I've been taken to wearing wigs lately. They can get a little warm, but I don't wear costumes on half marathons, so it's 5Ks and 10Ks and I can deal with that. So those are fun.

Speaker 1:

My costume was animal. I get to run in it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah Run run run.

Speaker 1:

Run with drumsticks as a drummer and have a ball.

Speaker 3:

I think my favorite part of you wearing that costume is whenever you came up on the drummers in Epcot and you went over there and drummed with them. That was just brilliant.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's fun Again. I got a new question here for us and this comes from Allison. If you could redesign or redraw a run Disney course, where would you run and, as a sidebar, maybe as a baseline here, what would be your half marathon course?

Speaker 6:

Get prepared, you guys, because we're going to start at my most favorite park ever Universal. Guys, because you know we're gonna start at my most favorite park ever so universal although they really long run

Speaker 6:

they did have races at one point, but no yeah um, I really think running through animal kingdom, like starting the parking lot and then getting to run down that first area down to the um tree of life and then turning, and then getting to go through pandora and then head over to hollywood studios, getting to run through star wars land and, of course, sunset boulevard and then really epcot. You don't, I, I'm, we're running out of miles at this point, which is fine because you don't need to run around the country, because you already do that for the 5k anyway, so just kind of go through the back way. Um, where is it? Near the entrance, I guess?

Speaker 5:

yeah, it's over by.

Speaker 6:

You talk about getting in like between living with the land and yeah yeah, and yeah, and then that way you just kind of go through there, turn around, head back towards the ball and go to the finish line, and that way you can actually do three parks at once, I think that would be the most perfect race, and it's a point to point so people don't get bored for the other half of the race.

Speaker 3:

So completely cutting magic kingdom out of it but that's so far away.

Speaker 2:

But you can get more, more in the park animal kingdom is far away too, but if it's point to point, yeah, but I mean, lexi, if you really think about it, you know, back in the mid-2010s, you know Wine and Dine was a point-to-point race and it was the only half marathon that touched three parks, so clearly it is doable, based on mileage, because plenty of us have done it. It's just is Run Disney going to be willing to employ the idea of a point to point again?

Speaker 3:

and, and I don't know if they are- I mean, I I absolutely loved the first half marathon that I did, so that would have been a wine and dine 2016, just like you guys, which, funnily enough for anybody listening, we didn't know each other at the 2016 wine and dine right, you're, you're giving away the video oh sorry, no, it's okay.

Speaker 3:

Well, by now they would have already watched it okay, yes um, so like we, we were all it was. It's just really funny that half of the hosts were all there and we didn't know each other right but um no, the the 2016 wine and dine half marathon course. I still think that's one of my favorites yeah, started in uh espn oh, that would be so much fun but here's.

Speaker 5:

Here's the thing. I don't see it happening. I don't see it happening. I've talked with some other folks. The logistics of moving and tearing down and setting up is just easier and less expensive to keep it at Epcot. So I think we kind of have that restriction there.

Speaker 1:

The only other cool option would be is do the marathon in reverse. Ooh.

Speaker 5:

You have to run backwards. That'd be hard.

Speaker 3:

Marathon's already hard enough.

Speaker 1:

John. Yeah, john, come on, you get Blizzard Beach out of the way when it's cool out.

Speaker 5:

Yeah Well, I'll tell you honestly, I'd like to see the marathon go back through ESPN again.

Speaker 6:

Me too. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5:

I didn't mind that at all.

Speaker 6:

I loved it Going through the baseball.

Speaker 5:

You went through the baseball stadium. Yeah, you went on different courses at different tracks. Yeah, I didn't have any trouble with it at all, but it was not popular when yeah, I didn't have any trouble with it at all, but it was not popular. When it was announced that that was out, oh boy, it was wonderful.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 5:

And then the first year that we did Blizzard Beach, we ran through Blizzard Beach. That was terrible. Thank you, Run Disney, for getting rid of that.

Speaker 4:

That was such a bad idea.

Speaker 6:

It was a nice thought, to be honest. It's a nice thought to give some change, but it was a bad idea.

Speaker 5:

If you think the path from Hollywood Studios to the boardwalk is narrow, try running through Blizzard Beach. It was daggum sidewalks.

Speaker 6:

I think I actually have footage of it.

Speaker 5:

Oh, do you.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, it was not good.

Speaker 5:

It was not good. So you know I don't have a good route, Everything you guys talked about. The last time I can remember that a race did not start and end at Epcot I wasn't doing it, John, you were there. It was at 5K at Animal Kingdom. Oh, yes, With the weather.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, that was a fun one.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, that was a springtime surprise and there was supposed to be a scavenger hunt involved with it and the weather kind of messed that up. But that's the last time I can recall that a race did not start and end at Epcot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, in the spirit of point-to-point races, if I could design one I would think the mileage would be close. But I think you could do one. You started the ttc, then you run to magic kingdom, come out the same way that we do for the half and the full, go through cone alley. You get to go through everyone's favorite sewage treatment plant, make your way down to animal kingdom.

Speaker 2:

Then actually do more of animal kingdom than just like a small section and then finish in the parking lot of animal kingdom. I think that could get pretty close to a half marathon and you'd be able to run through two parks and, in my opinion, the two best parks in flor.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, I love that All right Sea.

Speaker 1:

World and Universal.

Speaker 3:

It looks like. I mean I'm looking at all of the course maps for the Wine and Dine Race Weekend.

Speaker 5:

I found it online, up until COVID, wine and dine was a point to point okay yeah, and then since covid, they made it a loop yeah, up until covid it was not unusual to start over at the ttc for races.

Speaker 3:

So yeah things, things changed a bit bring it back, run disney, do it, do it all right, I also. I. I will throw this out there, I will. I did really like that. Wine and dine and star wars were kind of the same course-ish, and princess and marathon weekend were kind of the same course-ish okay I.

Speaker 2:

I did like that, so you got a different experience, rather than now we're running the same course over and over, and, over and, over and over again, and I, and I will say in honor of our buddy, uh kristin, over at running and makeup and watching her video series right now where she and her friend Tara ran a marathon through all of the Disney resorts over the course of an entire day. Obviously, I know, not logistically possible with the number of people that participate in the Run Disney race, but being able to incorporate resorts into a race I think would be fabulous, but again, you just don't have. You don't have the space for it but one can dream.

Speaker 6:

They did it during Disneyland Paris, though.

Speaker 5:

Okay, okay, all right, let's move on to another question.

Speaker 6:

All right you guys. I love this question that Brian had asked. It was if you could train for slash run a race with any celebrity, living or not. Who would it be and what do you think their PR would be?

Speaker 5:

All right, brian. Good question, jason Kelsey Because it would be an absolute blast. I have no idea what his PR would be, but I think I could keep up with him for a while anyway, and it would be a riot. And I don't even know if I'd finish. I'd have to knock back a few brews along the course, no doubt. But I'm picking the future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelsey.

Speaker 2:

Bob, it's funny you say that because a few weeks after him retiring, jason kelsey ran a 5k down down to jersey shore.

Speaker 5:

I think I saw that, greg. I think that's what gave me the idea.

Speaker 2:

I think I saw that and nothing made me smile more than the fact that I not great.

Speaker 2:

Who knows how seriously he was taking it I have an idea, but I think it took him like 40-something minutes to do a 5K that works, and the thought that popped in the back of my head that man, I could be an NFL, an elite NFL player, in a 5K. This is something I might do. So actually I'm already marking it on my calendar. Usually around maybe like middle of may every year, um, the eagles organization does um, they their eagles autism foundation um races. Now they do it like a bike race, but they also do running races as well too. So I think I need to sign up for that, so that way maybe I can pit myself against jason kelsey and see if I could put my money where my mouth is Okay.

Speaker 5:

Jack, who would you run with?

Speaker 6:

Well, bob, it didn't take me long to think of this one. So I would love Chris Evans dressed up as Captain America. We would run together and we would say we could do this all day, and then I could be on this captain america.

Speaker 3:

Thank you on your left um, but see, the only thing would be I would let him finish in front of me. That's what I was about to say.

Speaker 6:

I was gonna say you know, go ahead, push ahead. I just you, you go right ahead, make sure you kind of go more in front of me. But that's america's butt, you guys Go right ahead, make sure you kind of go more in front of me.

Speaker 2:

But that's America's butt. You guys you don't want to curse in this week's episode.

Speaker 6:

Jack. No, I learned my lesson, greg, but wouldn't it be cool to say that I kept up with Captain America?

Speaker 5:

It would, that would be very cool.

Speaker 2:

It would All right, I'm going to take this question from a run Disney perspective. All right, I'm going to take this question from a run Disney perspective. I would want to run a race, specifically a run Disney race, with Joey Fatone of.

Speaker 6:

NSYNC All right, he's been to Disney.

Speaker 2:

Correct. So Joey Fatone, back in the early days of run Disney, as as we know it now, there was always two celebrities who were always synonymous with run disney and that was sean astin from lord of the rings and rudy and joey fatone. So the fact that you know, let's picture pre-teen teenager greg being obsessed with in sync in middle school and the fact that he loves running at disney and loves being at disney world, that would be the guy that I would want to run with. And I remember when we started this podcast I was trying to remember of those celebrity run disney connections and I thought, man, it'd be really, really, really cool to get Joey Fatone on the podcast. And I think I found his booking website and I think it was several hundred thousand dollars to book him for the appearance.

Speaker 2:

And that dream slowly, slowly went away.

Speaker 5:

We need more Patreons. Yeah, we need a lot more.

Speaker 1:

Patreons than that. Can you go bye bye bye? Yeah, he could.

Speaker 2:

Oh, John, look at you.

Speaker 3:

Look at you. I love it, the weightiness.

Speaker 2:

But, yeah, so the answer to my question. And, kristen, if you're listening to this, it would be the far superior boy band of the 90s, nsync's Joey Fatale.

Speaker 6:

I'm gonna be honest, when I was younger I didn't know who the difference between backstreet boys and instinct I'll be honest, I didn't.

Speaker 1:

There was only one, that was new kids.

Speaker 2:

I thought, but okay, but new kids was several years before the uh, the 90s boy band revolution are you children done?

Speaker 5:

now? I'm only teasing. I at least know who you're talking about.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to say currently there's so many people that I think would be really cool to run with.

Speaker 5:

All right, I'll run with you, lexi.

Speaker 3:

We've already run together, bob, that's true. I'm going to say Candice Kaven-Bure from Full House.

Speaker 6:

Oh yeah, I can see that for you, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I don't think she's a runner, but she's really into fitness, um, and I just I'm a huge Hallmark fan and so I love all of the Aurora Tea Garden mystery movies and all of that kind of stuff. Don't get me started on Hallmark, because I will talk your ear off um, but she's such a good motivator and like, even on Instagram she's just very upbeat and especially when she posts her fitness stuff she's just like, really works hard. I feel like it would be really fun to run with her.

Speaker 2:

And here I thought you were going to say Dave Coulier. So on the course you could just yell, cut it out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like I said, there's many people I can think of, but I think because I just saw he's going to be around here Kevin Hart. Oh I love Kevin Hart, you know, because he is hilarious. I can have a good time and probably laugh the entire way. Not keep up with him, but I can laugh the entire way. Not keep up with him, but I can laugh the entire way he's fast.

Speaker 6:

He ran the new york city marathon.

Speaker 2:

He did it in four hours and five minutes, I think yeah, but he has to take double the steps of everybody because of how short he is, how tall is he?

Speaker 5:

oh, he's very short. I don't know he's mid five feet, I have to look it up. I'll bet five, five, something like that. Oh, he's taller than me, not much, but I don't know he's mid-five feet, I have to look it up. I'll bet 5'5" something like that.

Speaker 6:

Oh, he's taller than me, not much.

Speaker 5:

I don't know. Look, that's just me guessing.

Speaker 2:

According to Google he is 5'2", 5'2".

Speaker 5:

Wow, no, really that's a wow. Well, you know what I remember seeing him, because when you see him in a movie or something, they, they set it up so he doesn't look that short the time he drunkenly tried to get on stage at the super bowl.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, and it was very, it was very obvious this is not a large man, yeah, yeah, um well, we're telling stories celebrity. So I ran into, uh, cedric the entertainer one time. Very short again, you can look it up how tall he is, but he's really short and I saw shack. Shack is very big, he's tall yeah, never tell you about the time I ran into joe frazier.

Speaker 2:

That's a story for another time which was on the original ask us anything episode.

Speaker 5:

So if you want to hear it wasn't really yeah, it was so go back and you can catch that story. Okay, yeah, that is the story I've told, more than any other story in my life, I'm sure.

Speaker 3:

But also, bob, speaking of being short, I think everybody's short compared to you, yeah.

Speaker 5:

Well, lexi, I guess. But you know, I want to tell you something honestly. You'd be surprised. I generally, unless somebody's really short.

Speaker 1:

Like Alicia Like.

Speaker 5:

Alicia, yeah yeah, I don't notice that much, I don't notice it Just. Or if somebody's taller than me, our friend Kelly, who comes from the West Coast. He's been to one race. Kelly's 6'10" and I feel funny standing next to somebody taller than me, because I never, hardly ever I'm sure yeah, but yeah, it's uh, it's all good, love y'all, no matter how tall you are it's all good it's all good our friend simone asked us what's your favorite non run Disney race.

Speaker 3:

You know that's such a hard question because, like the minute that you ask it, I start thinking about all of the different runs that I've done and how different experience like the experiences were. So like I love Nework city because the crowds were fantastic. It was the first marathon that I crossed the finish line at like there was just something completely surreal about that race. It was a really big moment for me. And then you look at something like uh, the grand tet.

Speaker 4:

Half.

Speaker 3:

Marathon, which was absolutely beautiful. I felt like it was in the sound of music the whole time um and then you look at something like the end of the road half marathon. That was just super creepy and cool and it's like how do you choose?

Speaker 5:

No, I think you know. Honestly. I think it's fair to give more than one answer to this question, because I mean Simone's saying what is your favorite? That's one, but I'm not going to restrict it to one either. I've got a couple. I love Space Coast. I love Space Coast. It's a great course, it's a traditional race and I see a lot of friends there. I like Gasparilla here in Tampa. It's a great event, super well supported. Um. I like the Skyway 10K, also here, actually in St Petersburg, but not Tampa. That's fun. They shut down an interstate highway for us to run off. That's pretty daggum cool. So those are a couple of mine.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, I would say between the Lake Sonoma 50 miler, because I was literally smiling the entire race because it was a dream race, but the Chicago marathon, like Lexi it just. I had a huge amount of crowd support. There was never, not a moment, where there wasn't somebody there cheering.

Speaker 6:

I thought that was just the energy, was just insane. But also I really liked the Great Smoky Mountains half marathon because that was my PR. What was it? Hour, 52 minute half marathon. And I found out later on, after I had come back from the race, that I actually got third place in my age group Third age.

Speaker 5:

I bet it was pretty too.

Speaker 6:

It was gorgeous, it was so hot.

Speaker 5:

Really.

Speaker 3:

It was so hot that race it was one of the unusually hot races, and the last three miles of it were in the complete sunlight and it got up to like 90 degrees in September. Golly, that's rare yeah yes, see, that's so funny, because I ran the same race as jack did and it would not reach my top at all.

Speaker 5:

That makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2:

That makes perfect sense, yeah for me, this is an easy one, and I am going to use one of my catchphrases um.

Speaker 2:

For me, this race is run disney adjacent I knew you were going and, and that is the bird in hand half marathon I knew you guys a good one man, that's a real good one you know I I look back on it, and the fact that you know I've been running now for over over 10 years and the fact that I only discovered this race three years ago, just like, angers me to my core. You know it.

Speaker 2:

It truly does embody community not only just the running community, but also, you know, the community of bird in hand itself um, especially with the amish community. It is absolutely picturesque. It's got camels, yeah right, it's got camels and it's got the pet, it's got the best post-race meal I've ever had before in my life, I mean I'd agree that that that chicken barbecue can't hold a. I'll hold a candle to plastic cheese no, I would go, I would.

Speaker 5:

I would agree with that, greg. It's a darn good win and I agree with what you're saying about that buffet.

Speaker 2:

It's amazing and and on top of that too, and I think what has made it even more special for me over the years, is that you know, when I first went to it, to me it was my first in-person sighting of how strong the Galloway running community is.

Speaker 2:

I mean, burden hand was the first time I ever met Chris twigs in person, and I remember that that was a special moment for me. And then, as that race in my life has evolved and now it's almost kind of turned into a mini um, you know rise and run meetup as well too. I think that's awesome. You know the fact that you know rise and run meetup as well too. I think that's awesome. You know the fact that you know there are people that are coming from as south, as far south as atlanta. You know our friend caroline comes up for it, and you know florida. You know coach twigs comes up, our friend roxanne comes up. You know just the fact that all these people are coming to amish country, pennsylvania, that that speaks volumes about a race, and I love it every year and I'm looking forward to finishing my first horse because I'll be getting my fourth horseshoe come September.

Speaker 3:

That's great. Oh, I love that. Finishing your first horse.

Speaker 5:

No road apples for me, but getting my first horse you ought to do that one time, greg, do that other race and get a road apple. Yep, yeah, that's a very good one. I agree, it's the same weekend as Disneyland this year.

Speaker 1:

This is.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

John, how about you? I do a lot of stuff around here, but the big one around here that I like is the turkey trot on Thanksgiving. Everyone dressed it up as turkeys and Santas and reindeers running through the streets and then, you know, going down afterwards and relaxing and eating some turkey.

Speaker 5:

Cool.

Speaker 1:

That's so adorable, John.

Speaker 6:

I guess definitely see you dressed up as like a Santa or a reindeer or something.

Speaker 1:

I didn't dress up as a Santa or a reindeer, but okay.

Speaker 3:

You're just like watching people dress up right, but now you should, john. Yeah, there you go, now you should.

Speaker 2:

Okay. I should Do it for your grandkids, John.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, maybe.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I could see that, Because the two words that I didn't have in one of my same sentences were adorable.

Speaker 1:

and john and that's out of respect.

Speaker 2:

That's out of respect my friend, that's out of respect for you, okay, all right. Here here's an interesting question that I cannot wait to hear. The responses to this uh question comes from our friend nancy. If you could speak directly to run disney management, what changes would you request? So much to say, but you know, well, go ahead, jack, if you have so much to say okay.

Speaker 6:

So my biggest qualm I mean there's so much to say, but the quality of the products, the actual physical products that they have, it's just gone downhill. Like if I look at my metals, my metals are the ones that I am so sad to say, because if you look at everything 2020 and prior, your metals aren't really chipped the the quality of it, whatever kind of what is it called the lacquer or whatever that's put on it, it's great. I mean, I look at my first metal, my marathon metal that I've ever gotten, I'm like wow, there's no way that that can ever get tarnished or scratched or any way because of the finishing that's put on it. And then I go look up to my dopey metals and there's just scratches upon scratches because the quality of the metals? Now, don't get me wrong, the metals disney has are the most beautiful metals, but disney just does not put the finishing on it that they used to to make sure that those beautiful metals stay the way that they were meant to be and shirts as well the quality of the shirts.

Speaker 3:

Um, there's so many posts on social media now of like the? Um the decals coming off or getting snagged or just not feeling soft. Um, that I feel like we didn't used to have.

Speaker 2:

And you're talking about the race shirts that we get not the separate run-downs of merchandise.

Speaker 3:

Right, yes.

Speaker 1:

Because that merch is a little better, I think.

Speaker 6:

Oh I think so I feel like it's a better quality, except for their mugs. Their mugs, the stuff is scratching off.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the mugs are not, but I feel like that's kind of the way the mugs are in the parks too they are.

Speaker 6:

They went down in quality in the parks too, sadly yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to echo what I said a couple questions ago about the race courses. Yeah, like change them up. Maybe do the same one for the same weekend every year, but like don't do the same half marathon course four times in one year and just put a different sticker on it. Mm-hmm yeah.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3:

Because I mean, I'll be honest, it's making me not want to do it as much, because it's the same thing I've already run before.

Speaker 5:

No, I understand and agree, and I agree with Jack too. I think that Run Disney is nickel and diming us to death a little bit. Why are there no more age groups awards? Oh, I didn't know that was a thing, yeah it used to be.

Speaker 6:

There are no more age group awards.

Speaker 5:

Wow, why don't they? I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah, it used to be.

Speaker 6:

There are no more age group awards. Wow, why don't they? That's. It's not even like there's that many different like age groups.

Speaker 5:

I go to runs in St Petersburg and they have five-year age group awards. Run, disney, run Disney used to have them, but they stopped them. I don't know if they stopped them and they came back from COVID or not, but they've stopped them. They don't have age groups. They used to be nice. They used to send out a little plaque.

Speaker 6:

Oh, I think that's lovely.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, don't do it anymore. Having said all of that, and I go back to what I said about the races too, I agree completely, but these races sell out in two hours. I know, if you run Disney management, why are you going to spend more money on?

Speaker 3:

shirts. Why are you going to? I like it's just one of those things I feel like if you're going this is my opinion if you're going to put out a quality that is renowned as disney and run disney like, why would you want to have any complaints at all?

Speaker 5:

I think that's absolutely correct, but the reason is because you make more money. It's not reality. You make more money this way.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's not reality at all.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, and here we are. We all love run Disney.

Speaker 6:

Oh yes.

Speaker 5:

You know.

Speaker 3:

So we're just We'll all sign up for more races. Yeah, and here we are. We all love run Disney. Oh yes, we'll all sign up for more races, yeah.

Speaker 5:

We got a question, so it gave us a chance to vent a little bit.

Speaker 6:

Can I also put this out there from an economics point of view?

Speaker 6:

If you really think about it, with what Bob was just saying about how the races sell out fast, it may not even be that yes, the races are selling out fast, but the number of which they have to sell has probably changed.

Speaker 6:

So that way it makes it look like the race is in so much higher of a demand. It's like if you're selling a product for, let's say, the coolest thing ever, that you, let's say dopey jackets, they have a thousand to sell, but there's 3000 people running it, of course they're going to make you feel like you have to be the first one get there because now it's something that's so unique and in demand because there's only so many of it. So I mean we may not be getting the total number of the number of people that are running until the end of the race weekend, but it's that supply and demand that they're making us feel like probably I mean maybe not making us feel, but that might be making us feel like we need to buy the registration now because or else we may not be able to get in when they do those like five minute open and close registrations.

Speaker 2:

John, do you got anything?

Speaker 1:

Star Wars weekend must come back, okay.

Speaker 2:

All right, let's drop the mic on that one, I like um I I will say I agree with a lot with what you guys have been saying, especially I. I know I went on my mini rant about when the courses dropped for springtime surprise, and how you know we didn't even sniff animal kingdom, so I I definitely agree. There a few just other random things that I'll add on to this is uh. The first thing is, I think run disney, if you're listening, I think we need to go back to treating the volunteers how they were treating many years ago where they give the people a full day park ticket, like you know this malarkey now of giving them a half day ticket.

Speaker 2:

I understand they're volunteering their time, I understand that, but you can do a little bit more than you know. Epcot after four or or something like that. You know these people are up at.

Speaker 3:

They're waking up at like yeah correct, they're out.

Speaker 2:

They're up at the butt crack at dawn even before we are uh, to make sure that they're out there. Number two, two, I would say let's uh, let's continue to be supportive of our friends in the awd community and make sure that that they are getting all the accommodations they need.

Speaker 2:

I know things have have vastly improved from wine and dine in uh in 2023, but I know there are still some people out there that are struggling with that. So I I would like to see um, that change and um, but yeah to. To me, really, the the biggest thing is the uh, a little bit more variety in the courses. And then the other thing too, jack, going back to what you said, is if you could do something to change the quality of the metal so that, as we are going through the shoot, that a volunteer has the privilege to put that metal around our house.

Speaker 3:

I'd like to see that, yes.

Speaker 2:

I understand why you went the plastic bag route because of everybody complaining about the paint chipping on the metals and you want to preserve them as much as possible, but that is, to me, is a glaring omission that you know that these metals can chip and tarnish and that's why you're doing it.

Speaker 2:

And you went many, many years um, with having the metal that didn't do that and having the ability to have them out to. You know, give a proper congratulations to someone who you know might have just pr'd or ran you their first race ever, or something like that.

Speaker 6:

So yeah, that's what I like to see, yeah, absolutely yeah. And to get it in a plastic bag. You're like oh, Moving along.

Speaker 5:

We have a question from our friend, nicole. Who do you like better, carissa or John? And why is it actually Riley? Nicole, we're not going to answer that one. It's a good question We've become friends with all of them and with Tracy, and we're just going to let that one go, but thank you for your question. I love it. Okay, we had one more another question I want, and it's just a straightforward I'm going to let that one go, but thank you for your question.

Speaker 3:

I love it.

Speaker 5:

Okay, we had one more another question I want, and it's just a straightforward. I'm going to answer this one. Our buddy, Rob, over in the UK, asked if we have any idea what the course records are for men, women and wheelchair. He asked for all the course records. I don't know, rob, and I'll be very candid, I didn't feel like taking the time to look them all up. However, I did take a look at the marathon weekend and I thought this was kind of interesting.

Speaker 5:

For the marathon, both records were set in the second year that the event took place. Both records men and women were set in 1995. Now, if you recall your run Disney history, back then, they were actually paying prize money and they were trying to attract good, world-class athletes. They were both set in the second year and the records were set by the man and the woman who won in the first year, so you had back-to-back winners setting the record in the second year. The men's record holder is Leonid Shvetsov of Russia, in a time of two hours 11 minutes and 50 seconds Wow. And the women's record holder is Judith Nagy of Hungary 231.54. Shvetsov was an Olympian in 96 and 04. And Nagy, as of the time that I looked this up, which was just a little while ago, is still the Hungarian record holder in the marathon. Not for that race. I forget what her record is.

Speaker 5:

For the half marathon, which doesn't go back quite as far, the record holder is Mike Morgan of the United States One hour five minutes 26 seconds, set that in 2013. And the women's record holder in the half marathon during marathon weekend is Taiku Tarauchi from Japan 113.04, set in 1999. So, rob, there you go. Those are the marathon records. I didn't look the others up. Friends, we're coming to the end. We've got a couple of questions. We got some rapid fire questions we want to do. Then we've got one final question from our friend, alan, and Lexi Hit us with those rapid fire questions.

Speaker 3:

I got it Okay from Heather. What is your favorite Disney festival? Food and drink Food or drink. Mine is going to have to be at Wine and Dine the mushroom and steak truffle thing in Canada. I get it every single time.

Speaker 5:

Okay, I had one, but they don't have it anymore. They used to have a Korean booth with a kimchi, a spicy kimchi slaw dog. I loved it. They took it to the African outpost for a little while. Now it's gone. I don't know that I really have a favorite anymore.

Speaker 2:

That doesn't mean I don't like a bunch of them I must say I I haven't done a lot of food booths because I just for some reason in my head I can't justify the money that they charge for the, the portion size that you get. But, um, this past springtime surprise I got the scallops from the canada and those were very, very good, so I would say that's my favorite.

Speaker 6:

Avocado toast in the Food and Arts. What is the art festival?

Speaker 5:

No Hashtag arts. Festival of the Arts.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, but the avocado toast is really good.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I tried a lot of stuff at the festivals. Like I said, nothing really stands out, but I did like the spicy booth they used to have for springtime I think it was. There's at all the spicy, uh, like spicy ribs, spicy. That was my favorite part.

Speaker 3:

Rapid Fire number two from Sonia. What's your favorite pre-race dinner spot?

Speaker 2:

Wherever Bob can get a reservation.

Speaker 3:

Pre-race dinner period.

Speaker 1:

Okay, mine, my pre-race for the last race of the weekend. So if I'm doing the half or the full I try to go kind of light.

Speaker 3:

I'll go to vietnam or terralinas and get pizza okay, I see what you're doing mine, I pretty much always get a hamburger, you do okay that's, that's just my go-to. Like I know it's not gonna upset my stomach, that's, I'm gonna get a.

Speaker 6:

I know it's not going to upset my stomach but I'm going to get a hamburger Mine's anywhere where I can get pasta, because I have to eat my safe foods. I can't have anything greasy, I can't have anything fried.

Speaker 5:

Back when I was maintaining a pretty good pace and finishing these things at a decent time. I like to have fish for a pre-race meal.

Speaker 6:

Flying fish on the boardwalk was wonderful. That's a good one, Bob yeah.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't have anywhere in particular, but I really enjoyed my meal at Morimoto Asia the night before my first Disney marathon.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that did the trick for me. But again, I've only done it one time.

Speaker 5:

But it was a good one. That's just a great place period.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 5:

Number three time, but that's just a good one.

Speaker 2:

That's just a great place period. Uh, okay, number three from jimmy what intervals do you run? That's a tough one, yeah. Yeah, it is because it's gonna it's gonna vary. Yeah, I mean for me just because I don't fall into the typical galloway intervals, because I just I feel like I have too much pep in my step once I'm in a run segment. So for me I range anywhere from a 1530 to probably I max out at like 4530. Like to me, anything above 45, unless the weather is like absolutely perfect. Usually I tend to struggle with that.

Speaker 5:

Again, I have to break things down into two periods. I used to run two minutes, run 30, second walk. I haven't done that for years Now. I usually do whatever my group of run Disney friends that I'm running with does, and that tends to be 30, 30 or something like that.

Speaker 6:

So I don't use the pacing, um, but I guess, if anything, I train for if I'm going to pace a race and I'll train whatever the pace is. So I guess, depending on the speed of it, like a 90-30 or a two minute 30.

Speaker 3:

I stick with 15-30 religiously, but I will say my first marathon that I ever did I did a five minutes run, one minute walk.

Speaker 6:

No, but using these paces are great, though, because they do help you prevent injury.

Speaker 1:

Like, like Bob said, it depends who you're running with. Sometimes, like, like it could be 1530, 30, 30, 45, 30, you know, do, uh, like it could be 15, 30, 30, 30, 45, 30, you know, do, do, do intervals. Walk up, walk a mile, depending on the race you're doing, then get back into it and then do intervals for another mile.

Speaker 3:

So the good answer is whatever works for you.

Speaker 5:

That is the answer.

Speaker 3:

Whatever works for you.

Speaker 5:

Right, that's the answer, okay, next works for you.

Speaker 3:

Right, that's the answer. Okay, next one, nicole. Do you have a favorite gear that you did not expect to love?

Speaker 5:

I do. I do Becky bought. At one of the expos. Becky bought me a pair of Shox sunglasses Ooh, that have the audio built in, and I love those things. I love them as sunglasses and I like them to listen to podcasts on the run. So I I did not expect to like them at all, but they're terrific.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I would have to say my, my shocks. I don't have the sunglasses one. I just have the regular ones, but yeah, my shocks. They're probably my favorite.

Speaker 2:

I don't have the sunglasses one, I just have the regular ones, but yeah, my shocks, they're probably my favorite. I won't go without them. For me, I would say. I think my gym boss, I thought for sure I would not like. You know, like, for me I thought I would need the interval timer in the watch. And then when I learned that you know know, like, once you set your watch, if you want to change your interval you'd have to stop your run and start a new one. And so I thought that when I bought the gym boss and I had to clip it onto my watch, that I was going to find it to be really annoying. And you know, bounce all around. I've never had an issue with it one time and I absolutely love having it right there On my wrist.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is going to be a really strange one In Jinji socks.

Speaker 6:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

I first put them on like these feel like I'm like Trying to put them on. You're like Trying to get gloves on, like a three year old.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Then I'm like okay, they feel a little weird.

Speaker 2:

Now I think I'm starting to like them okay now, john, I have a question for you. Even within ginges, based on our last ama episode, do you still put it on in the exact same order of of right foot left?

Speaker 1:

foot Big toe, little toe then get the other one.

Speaker 2:

I can't, I can't, okay.

Speaker 6:

So I guess, since I'm the last one, I would say my Goodr sunglasses.

Speaker 5:

Okay, because.

Speaker 6:

I never used to run with sunglasses and then I think I got it during Dopey weekend a few years ago and yeah, now it's like a mentality thing. I feel like I have to wear it, especially during my long runs. It kind of helps me get in the zone. I guess it's weird.

Speaker 5:

Cool.

Speaker 3:

Okay, last one from Leslie. If you listen to music while training, what is your guilty pleasure song? Okay, I have two.

Speaker 2:

The first one is my songs know what you did in the dark from fallout boy? I love fallout boy. That's my answer.

Speaker 3:

Anything fallout boy is my guilty pleasure, so I'm right there with you, lexi and then the second one is I will Not Bow from Breaking Benjamin oh, which are like super hardcore, like rock out songs. Yeah, it does not fit my personality at all.

Speaker 6:

You don't really have specific name songs by people, but there's movie soundtracks and I know I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoy listening to Lord of the Rings and if I had to choose one, it would be from the Fellowship of the Ring, where they're all kind of running along the mountain and there's that beautiful song that they have going on while they're trying to keep moving the ring forward. So, yeah, just really any song from Lord of the Rings, probably. I like feeling like I'm being chased or going on an adventure.

Speaker 1:

I got a playlist of all over the place. Mostly it's like 80s, of course, oh really.

Speaker 3:

Really, John.

Speaker 1:

That's not actually. That is not on my playlist. It's basically anything by Rush and no Easy Way Out by Robert Temper from the Rocky Force soundtrack.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Speaker 6:

Can you give me an example in trying to think of the song? Sing it for us, John. Yeah, if you don't mind.

Speaker 1:

No Easy Way Out. It's the song when Rocky's driving I don't know how to hum it.

Speaker 6:

Can you drum it?

Speaker 5:

It's the drum part, yeah.

Speaker 6:

I just want to be wearing like some 80s gear right now with like a headband, like a workout video.

Speaker 1:

Okay, jane Fonda, over here.

Speaker 3:

Leggings Bob, you got one.

Speaker 5:

Okay, eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Möller? No, the honest answer. Leslie, you asked if you listen to music while running. I don't. I don't. I maybe once or twice, but I don't listen to music while running.

Speaker 2:

Probably the only song he listens to is the Rise and Run podcast theme music.

Speaker 5:

I like to listen to podcasts. If I was going to pick one, it would probably be the Gonna Fly Now from the Rocky movie series, but I don't. I really don't listen to music while I run.

Speaker 6:

If it makes you feel better, bob, I rarely listen to music, but when I do listen to music it's the soundtrack.

Speaker 5:

Okay, cool enough. All right, fun stuff. Look guys, we didn't get to everybody's question. I knew we wouldn't. I apologize. We got one more we want to tackle before we leave, but once again, we're not getting rid of these. We'll see we may use them again, all right, last question comes from our friend alan young, and alan asks he asks several questions, but the one that we've chosen here is has running changed your life?

Speaker 3:

I mean, the short answer is yes that's a loaded question.

Speaker 1:

Because yes, the answer is yes. Uh, the community is probably one of the best communities that I've been involved in. You know where? Oh, jack, didn't we run a xyz race back in 19? Okay, 90? Well, you're probably that's too young for you, but he's like I don't think of money back in 2019, we ran this race, or oh, we, we ran this.

Speaker 6:

When they, when you see you again, they all know where you're at what races you guys ran together and it's like a big family I think that's the biggest thing that I found out about this running changed my life I don't know where my life would be if I didn't have running, and that's really all thanks to lexi life. I don't know where my life would be if I didn't have running, and that's really all thanks to lexi, because I don't think I would have ever found it if it wasn't for her.

Speaker 1:

A lot more money in your pocket usually actually yeah I just said 23 disney races isn't it?

Speaker 5:

isn't it amazing? It is, you think about this question. It is John, summarized real well.

Speaker 3:

But I think I mean also, you know the things that we do. You know whether it's a 5K, a 10K, a half, a full, an ultra, you go into it, yeah, thinking, maybe even like questioning, like I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it, and you challenge yourself every single time. You go out and you push yourself to be better, to do longer races, to be faster, to enjoy yourself more pr and fun, um, and I don't know very many other places that it so positively pushes you to be a better person yeah, beautifully said, lexi, you and john beautifully said no, I'll agree with that sentiment.

Speaker 2:

I, I think I mean sure, running has changed my life from a physical standpoint, but you know, going off of what John said, it's changed my life because of not just the Rise and Run community, but the Run Disney community, the Galloway community, all of those various communities have, you know, positively impacted my life for the better and and that's why I'm just so appreciative of each and every one of these, these groups. But I think, from going off of something, what Lexi had just said is running has given me the ability that I can say to myself when times are tough yes, I can.

Speaker 2:

You know if you would have told middle school or high school Greg that, oh, in 20 years time you're going to run 48.6 miles over the course of four days. I would have laughed in your face. And but now I say I, you know, I've done that and I didn't have that. I didn't have that type of confidence when I was not only just a kid, but even as a young adult. And if it wasn't for this sport and wasn't for these various communities, it you know, it has totally changed my, my outlook on life around, and and that's why I I enjoy it so much shoot.

Speaker 3:

I wouldn't even say when I was a kid, I would say four years ago. If you would have told me, I would have laughed in your face Same Same, but it's like you can do hard things.

Speaker 6:

All you need to do is keep taking one step forward.

Speaker 5:

Everything every one of you have said is true, and I agree, and you've heard it from me dozens and dozens of times. Alan, my friend, we have a different perspective, though. Alan is about a year older than I am. You guys know how old I am. Did I think I'd be running when I was 70 years old? No, and I look around at friends. I have my age or close to it and they're not all old and decrepit. But the fact that we can continue to do this, that's truly life-changing. The quality of life is better. And so I say to you who have a ways to go yet keep moving, Keep moving. The secret if you want to keep moving, you got to keep moving and you're going to. Yeah, you'll. You'll struggle. Sometimes it'll get harder, I promise you it'll get harder, but the rewards are absolutely 100% worth it and you get to meet so many wonderful people.

Speaker 3:

You get to be a part of the family.

Speaker 5:

Like the people who are in the family and like the person who asked the question, Alan, and his lovely wife Grace. It's just such a wonderful group to be a part of. All right, friends. That is our Ask Us Anything segment. Lexi, a lot of stuff going on in the weight loss chat. You got something special going on in June, right?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So we decided in our weight loss accountability chat to do a challenge for the month of June. Everyone is choosing their own step goal. I just said that it needs to be over 5,000 to make it more equal for everyone. But whatever, it is to be a challenge and if you meet your goal 26 out of the 30 days of the month, then you get entered into a drawing for drum roll please.

Speaker 5:

I would, but Greg took my buttons away from the top. Thank you, Greg.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, greg. Thank you, greg. Sorry, wait a minute.

Speaker 5:

Wait a minute. You can have this one.

Speaker 3:

Wait a minute, there, you go For a one hour massage from massage envy, generously donated from stoked metabolic training. Donate it from stoked metabolic training. Um, and something from walt disney world that I have not decided what it will be yet.

Speaker 5:

Well, this is cool. This is really cool. I think it's wonderful. I think the idea of the group I said that as soon as you started it I think the idea of the group is great uh, accountability is just super important in trying to change habits like this yeah.

Speaker 3:

I mean one of the things we've talked about from the Facebook page and the various chats, like it's so positive and people are just cheering each other on. We've had some really interesting chats about like metabolism and some of us, you know, struggle with the weight not changing even though we know we're getting stronger, we know that we're gaining muscle, and that kind of struggle. So it's been really interesting to get other people's opinions and just have a place to kind of vent sometimes.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

And I think it's going to be really good. Right now we have the last time I checked, we had 48 people that signed up to do that we have a little Google Doc tracker thing, 48 of us have decided to do this little step challenge thing.

Speaker 5:

Outstanding. That's wonderful. The chats in general, friends. If you're not familiar with them the community chats they're listed on the left side on the Facebook group page Rise and Run Podcast Facebook group page. We have a bunch of them, but the chats in general are excellent and this one's gone very well. And thank you, tom. That's really, really cool. Like I said, I've noticed Tom's been active in this group offering advice and helping out.

Speaker 5:

Oh, yeah, and I think that's special also, so I'm grateful to him for that. That's special also, so I'm grateful to them for that. All right, so listen, while we're talking positive things, I've got some I'll call them family updates. Our friend Jen, who had her surgery a week ago we mentioned it last week she continues to do very well. She was on the customized training call this morning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was great to see her.

Speaker 5:

So we heard from her. And, jen, I'm glad to hear that you seem to be doing very, very well. And our friend Denise had surgery on her foot and she is targeting princess weekend for her return to running at Disney. Denise, good luck, keep us advised on how you're doing running at Disney. Denise, good luck, keep us advised on how you're doing. Coming up next week, friends, episode 142, our buddy, the funny runner, brittany, is back with us. You won't want to miss that. Let's catch up, see what she's been up to. All right, my friends, it's time for the.

Speaker 5:

Race Report. As we mentioned just a minute ago, the race report is sponsored by our friend Tom at Stoked Metabolic Training, stokesfit slash rise and run coaching. Information is also at the top of our Facebook group page. We'll have Tom back and joining us here in a couple of weeks. Give us an update on how things are going. Hey, I missed a couple or I got some updated information. I want to go back.

Speaker 5:

Our friend Anna from the UK said she's going to be the tail runner at the Hokey Cokey swim run event in Charleston in Cornwall. Now the biggest reason I wanted to do that one is because I can pronounce Charleston in Cornwall Dean, our buddy Dean, who did the Keys 100, I think he actually found out later that he finished first in his age group at the Keys 100 Ultra Marathon. Congratulations, dean. Finishing in that thing is an amazing accomplishment. Finishing first in your age group Fantastic Way to go. Let's cut to this week. On Thursday, the CCSF Color Rush in Cedarburg, wisconsin. Noelle and her six-year-old son, maxson, ran this one-mile color run. This was Maxson's first run. That's a PR, maxson, this bell's for you. He's seen mom finish a couple. Now he wants to be a part of them. The color run. Fun continued when they got home, with little brother James getting to be doused in some of the color also.

Speaker 1:

So Saturday in Orange County, california, the Corona Del Mar Scenic 5K. Kayla did that race. It's the sixth time doing this race. She didn't have a time goal but finished under 45 minutes and her pace was at under a 13-minute mile. So it was improvement over her last 5K race. That's a great job, kayla.

Speaker 2:

In Troutman, north Carolina, we had the Lake Norman Half Marathon. Our friends, ileana and her husband, stephen, participated in this event. This is Stephen's first timed half marathon, so we know what that means. She goes on to say that the weather was perfect and the scenery was peaceful. They tried saying we love hills on the hilly course, but unfortunately that didn't work. It says they will try this one again next year and they really enjoyed their medal, so congratulations.

Speaker 5:

You know Jeff would be proud of them. I think they must've been at Jeff Galloway's weekend because he was talking about a race, that it was pouring rain and he was competing and he talked to the fellow who was his biggest competition. The other guy said oh geez, it's raining, I hate the rain. And Jeff went I love the rain. He tried to psych him out. So that's what Ily, it's raining, I hate the rain. And Jeff went I love the rain. He tried to psych him out. So that's what Ileana is doing there. I'm almost positive. We love hills. Jeff would be proud of you even if it didn't work. Let's go to Bridgewater, nova Scotia. The Michelin Tire Trot 5K. Lori was there. Lori had a good time at this event, finished in 27-27, second in her age group on this tough trail race. Lori, great job.

Speaker 1:

The Baltimore 10-miler. Our friend Allie with Out and E did that race. It's an out-and-back course. It was an out-and-back course that was really hilly, Plenty of water, stops, Folks were walking at the end but she was able to stick with her run, walk, run intervals. It was a hard race for her but she said she'll probably do it again. Christina did that. Christina also did that race. It's her first race report. Although I don't think I'll get in a higher corral, she did have her best time ever.

Speaker 5:

That would be a PR.

Speaker 1:

That's a PR then.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, you're right. Let me take this one. Our friend Latia fell, tripped at mile six. That earned her a ride in an ambulance, a trip to the ER, a couple of stitches, lots of scrapes and cuts and a mild concussion. Now she's okay. If you saw the picture she posted on Facebook, she's okay. She says she was honestly a little more concerned about being able to finish than she was about her head. A little rest now for the next couple of weeks. I asked her once I realized that she was okay. I asked her if she remembered to stop her Garmin. She said not until she got to the hospital. So her last mile 237. That's a PR for a mile. I'll tell you, like I said in our note, falling's not funny, but I'm glad you're able to laugh at it. So way to go.

Speaker 2:

Here is a race that we referenced earlier in the episode the Grand Teton Half Marathon in Jackson, wyoming. Heather ran this race. She comments and says it's a beautiful course and the friendliest community ever. She struggled a little bit with the change in elevation but took it easy and felt good at the end. We love hearing that.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, here's a big one the Eagle Up Ultra 50K in Canal, fulton, ohio. Two events going on. We had the 50K and Lori ran that one. Lori's been doing so well this is her fifth 50K, strong. Until the last two miles her ankle started hurting. She thought about going 40, but then the ankle and knee were too much decided. You know, discretion's the better part of valor. Don't push, don't go to a long-term injury. So she finished at the 50K mark. Finished that goal. Chad was there. We'll get to Chad in a minute.

Speaker 5:

Chad helped Lori out during the run. Chad and his two friends. They were playing leapfrog for a lot of the race. Lori says so many friends at the race is the reason she kept running. Wants to give a special shout out and thank you to her husband, peter, who ran the last lap with her. Now we said Chad was there. Chad, we know Chad from many ultra events. Chad said he didn't have any goals for this. One decided to help friends like Lori get to the finish line. Didn't push too hard. In the end now, with this being his second, he did 100K. This being his second 100K, he was able to PR by about five hours.

Speaker 2:

Chad, do you do any races that are under 24 hours? I honestly cannot remember the last time he, just you know, ran like a half marathon or a 10k but uh, now look, he did want.

Speaker 5:

He did want to point out that the other 100k he did it was a catered training run. He took two 90 minute breaks during the event. I don't care, chad, that's still pretty dang impressive.

Speaker 1:

In Des Moines, iowa, the Dam to DSM half marathon, formerly the Dam to Dam I got very what do you call it?

Speaker 2:

Alliteration.

Speaker 1:

Something like that Megan did that. It was a hot and humid day, affected some of the runners. She cramped up at mile eight, she said, and wasn't up to running until mile 11. Gutted it out and enjoyed this point-to-point race.

Speaker 2:

that's a damn good job in fuke varina, north carolina, we have the run, the k 15k. But here's the fun part it's not like the letter k, it's q? U A Y Courtney ran this. It's a 10 K followed by a five K race. She had her best 10 K time in many years and you get three medals. And she is now getting ready to complete her first dopey, which I promise you is many, many Ks and many medals, many, many Ks.

Speaker 5:

And many medals. In Lexington, kentucky, the Run for the Nun 5K. Jordan, with her dad Todd, ran this one 13th year in a row running for the Nun in Lexington. For Jordan it's her favorite local race Lots and lots of hills, but the heat wasn't too bad. Finished first in her age group, got a 5K PR of 27. 2750 and a photo with the nun. It's a cute story. They dress up. It's a guy dresses up as a nun and a nun's habit and if you can beat him they used to give an award if you could beat him. Uh, jordan says they don't do that anymore.

Speaker 2:

Bless you, Jordan.

Speaker 1:

Okay, in Battersea Park, london, the park run 5K. Our friend Rob did that. Rob got a PR of 18.05. Sub 18 is on the horizon for his 5Ks. Great job, rob.

Speaker 5:

Good job, rob. Yeah, rob doesn't usually post his park runs, but a PR that's worth posting. Way to go.

Speaker 1:

18, 18, 1805, yeah yeah, that's worth bragging about. Absolutely good job in atlanta, georgia.

Speaker 2:

It was the braves country 5k. Patrick with his 11 year old son, james ran this one. This was' second 5K and the first time Patrick was able to run with them, which is pretty awesome, he said. The best part is they both set PRs. Highlight of the course here is they got to finish inside Truist Field, which is the home of the Atlanta Braves.

Speaker 5:

That's right. In Albany, new York, the Sarah Lee Delightful Bread Run for Women, 5k. Mary did it. Mary posted a photo. Nice-looking medal. Good job, mary In.

Speaker 1:

Orlando, florida the Best Damn Race. Orlando Leftover 5K. This is a race where they get rid of shirts and medals from the past six years with varying Florida and New Orleans races. Tracy and her boyfriend Chris did that. It was a beautiful evening run. The weather was surprisingly good, ran around the lake, it was smooth and relaxing. It was followed by a fun and party in true BDR fashion with beer from a local brewery.

Speaker 2:

Heading west of Orlando. In Tampa Florida we had the Big run, 5k. Bridget ran this one. She says nice place to run in the middle of Tampa. Community support was great as well and the cheering sections always help motivate her a little bit faster. Way to go, bridget.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I'm familiar with that area. That's a nice place to run. Still in Florida, in Jacksonville, the Pirate 10K Sabrina was there Been a while since she's done any kind of long distance running, so her goal was just to finish the 10K distance, which she did, next up training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

Speaker 1:

In Morrison, colorado, the Revel Rockies run. Jay and Cindy did the half. It started out mighty chilly but warmed up quickly during the race. Seriously uphill for the first two miles gave way to the Revel downhill. I was hoping for a POT this race but wasn't in the cards for him today. But it was a good race with a beautiful course and had a lot of fun. It was also Sydney's first half, so you know what that means. Pr Also. Our friend Jackie did the fall and Fred did the half. It's a beautiful course, she said with great support. Sadly it's the last time for this course. Downhill running can be hard Late pains at mile 18. Finished PR but not the run she was hoping for.

Speaker 5:

Those downhill runs sound easy, but they can be tough. Yeah, they are. Yeah, in the Arizona Sunrides Series, race number two, scottsdale Sports Complex, molly did. This was actually a virtual event because Molly's on vacation, but she knocked that one out.

Speaker 2:

And wrapping up, Saturday in Simsbury, Connecticut, we had the Yukon on Iron Horse 5K. Helena ran this one. She ran this race, got a PR of one and a half minutes and by completing this race she finished a challenge called the Spring Hustle Challenge. So way to go, Helena.

Speaker 5:

Let us move to Sunday. You know when I go to pick the race report spotlight, there are all sorts of different criteria, but when I saw this race it just screamed out we need to know more about the Great American Bacon Race in Orlando, florida. So here to help us learn about the Great American Bacon Race. Our friend Kayla Kayla hiya, thanks for joining us Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 5:

Oh, you know we're excited that you're here. It's good to see you again. We've missed you. We haven't seen you for a couple of months. You know we're getting lonesome, but it's been too long.

Speaker 5:

It's fun, though, kayla, thank you. We're going to delve deeply into the. You know I should have worked up all sorts of puns, john. I don't have I didn't, but I should have. Maybe some will come to me as we're talking, but let's, since we got you here, kayla, yes, let's do as we typically do and learn just a little more about how you got started running.

Speaker 4:

All right, a little more about how you got started running. All right, well, I reluctantly did my first 5k back in 2019 in Allentown, pennsylvania. So, yeah, we're originally from the Pocono Mountains, so we've been in Florida for about four years now.

Speaker 5:

Okay, okay, yeah so 2019,.

Speaker 4:

My little guy was about eight months old and I said to my oldest I said mom needs to lose weight and we're going to do this thing. So we did a pumpkin run and I carried a three-pound pumpkin for the 5K.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

And finished and I said I'm never doing this again.

Speaker 5:

Well run or carry a pumpkin.

Speaker 4:

Both.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

Both.

Speaker 5:

It was bad. All right, you got to start somewhere. Plus, allentown's a little hilly, I think yes, no it it was.

Speaker 4:

It was very silly and I had no idea what to expect. I thought I was running through like a park or something it was. You know, it was a road race okay um, fast forward to covid and we wind up moving to the central florida area and I said, oh, I said you know the weather's nice, I could start, you know, getting back into shape and doing some stuff outside. And then I found run disney there you go and the first race I did was virtual.

Speaker 4:

It was the the expedition Everest 5k, and I said you know what I follow. I started following all these Facebook groups and I said I really want to do this, like it. Just the crowd support and the energy that run Disney brings is amazing. Um, so the following year I did the Coco themed 5k.

Speaker 5:

Okay, so where are we now 21.

Speaker 4:

That was 22.

Speaker 5:

22.

Speaker 4:

Okay 22 wine and dine.

Speaker 5:

Okay, okay.

Speaker 4:

I said this is, this is what I'm doing. So I did the 5k and it was amazing and I said, all right, well, let me see what else I could do. So in the greater central Florida area there's races.

Speaker 5:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4:

They're everywhere.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, there are a bunch of them.

Speaker 4:

So I started getting a little crazy and I'm not gonna lie, I was doing two races a month.

Speaker 5:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

And uh, I'm at the point now where I did my first half marathon last year for wine and dine very good and, uh, I'm working towards my first full in the upcoming marathon weekend in january.

Speaker 5:

Good for you. Well, we look forward to seeing you at that one. I promise that'll be exciting. That's a big deal now, and you're right, orlando has a lot of really good looking races. The only thing that keeps me from coming to them is Interstate 4. I ain't doing that unless I have to, but I've got to know about the great bacon race. Tell us about it and how did it go?

Speaker 4:

So I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw this ad for the bacon race and I was like, all right, everybody loves bacon, what's the deal? So I click on it and I find out that it's like 35 minutes from the house. It was actually at Bill Frederick Park, which is in northern-ish Orlando, and I was like, all right, great, I'm going to do this. So I posted on my Facebook. You know, if any of my friends want to come, that's great, you know, I'll be here. Um great turnout. A couple of my friends were like yeah, we're going, we'll be there. The weather Bob it, the weather gods were on my side.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, we had a pretty nice weekend, didn't we it?

Speaker 4:

was gorgeous. It was 70 when I left the house and there was such a nice breeze.

Speaker 5:

And the humidity for Florida was low.

Speaker 1:

So you guys weren't sizzling like bacon.

Speaker 4:

No, thankfully, but there was sizzling bacon at the end of the race.

Speaker 5:

We'll get to that one, I guess.

Speaker 4:

But the weather was great and I've never been to this particular park before for a race, so it was a new environment for me. It was a double-looped course, which not particularly my favorite type of park Right, I agree yeah. But you know, I dealt with it, but it was nice. It was under the trees, it was around the lake. Um, I was actually, uh, running with some friends, which is not something I normally do that's fun though I'm I'm a back of the packer so okay I'll usually throw on the podcast or an audiobook and I'll just kind of do my own thing and meet up with everybody at the end.

Speaker 4:

But a couple of my friends were like, hey, you know, we're going to take this one easy. You know, do you want to hang with us? And I was like sure, you know, keep me on, you know on track in line. Um, but it was. It was awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better day. And the bacon.

Speaker 5:

Now the bacon. Was there bacon on the course?

Speaker 4:

There was not. When we first got there and checked in, there were volunteers that were walking around with trays of bacon and just you know, walking around to each group of people handing out bacon. I'm like this is, this is pretty awesome.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4:

And then at the end of the race, as you're going through the finisher shoot, you got your medal and there were a couple tables set up with trays of bacon and they had three different kinds they had a garlic salt bacon, they had original bacon and then they had chocolate covered bacon.

Speaker 5:

Oh, my goodness, Never tried that one. But okay.

Speaker 4:

It really. I had no complaints about any of it.

Speaker 5:

Savory and sweet man.

Speaker 4:

It was, it was definitely good.

Speaker 5:

Good stuff. Was there any point along the course where you could smell the bacon cooking?

Speaker 4:

No. Well not along the course, but definitely at the start and finish, where they had it all on the griddles and stuff it was. It was pretty mouthwatering.

Speaker 5:

Oh man, yeah, I would think if you could smell it along the course, that'd be tough. I'd have to cut the corner to get to the end.

Speaker 4:

It would make you run.

Speaker 5:

I think it would make you run faster, make you run even faster. That's good stuff. So a lot of times when we're talking on the spotlight, I'll ask our guests all right, tell our friends why they should come to this race. You can, if you want to, but I think we know the answer. It's just one word.

Speaker 4:

Bacon. That's it, bacon. And there was enough of it to go around.

Speaker 5:

It's a big deal. It's a big deal.

Speaker 4:

It is, and we, actually we celebrated afterwards. Uh, as we always do. It's our tradition to go somewhere on disney property for a celebratory beverage after any of your races after any of that's cool that's cool.

Speaker 5:

We went to the polite pig oh, I like, oh, that's an excellent choice, because Because it was very fitting. But it was very perfect, yeah.

Speaker 4:

A polite punch at the polite pig.

Speaker 5:

Very nice. Our friend Mary was there too. I noticed that. Did you see, mary there?

Speaker 4:

Yes, I did see Mary After we had finished. She was actually very excited to go on vacation this week, so I chatted with her briefly. She's going on a cruise.

Speaker 5:

Oh good for her. Let she's going on a cruise. Oh good for her. Let me take a quick peek.

Speaker 4:

Mary, I'm a little jealous, but enjoy your trip.

Speaker 5:

Mary says that she ran her heart out, enjoyed the race and came in fifth in her age group and top half of all runners. That's a good job for Mary, congratulations.

Speaker 4:

Mary, I think the only negative thing I have to say about the race is because it is in a park and it is along the lake. The trail was a little narrow.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I've been on like that. Yeah, I just had to be patient.

Speaker 4:

So it was. It was tough at the start, you know going through and there were a lot of people there and you know it was. You had back of the Packers in the front of the line and you had the faster people in the back and it just the first like mile was rough.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, that's not a good combo.

Speaker 4:

But once everybody spread out, it was gorgeous.

Speaker 5:

Nicely done. Let's see here Kayla, next Disney race.

Speaker 4:

I will be in Disneyland in September.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, good for you.

Speaker 4:

I'm doing the half marathon and my little guy, mason, is doing his second ever kids race.

Speaker 5:

Awesome, I'll be out there. In fact, I just today booked a rent-a-car for the trip.

Speaker 3:

Nice.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, Yep, We'll see how it works out, but I'm excited about it. We're. We're under a hundred days till that one I don't have. I know I announced the official count at the beginning of the episode, but that was a long time ago and I can't remember what it is that just means I have to start training now? Uh, yeah, training for this thing started. Uh, if you're using a Galloway training plan, it started. I think we're in week five.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I've been. I've been slacking a little bit because of the humidity here, but I'm doing my best.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, don't worry, it's going to get, it's going to go down.

Speaker 1:

This week's like three. This week's only three miles. So yeah, it's an easy one.

Speaker 4:

I like I like training in the rain down here. It's nice.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's about the only break we get. All right, caleb. Wonderful, wonderful run, Wonderful job on the race report. We appreciate you. Thanks for taking the time to join us.

Speaker 4:

Oh, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 5:

You're welcome. We look forward. I'll see you in September, if I don't see you at one of our trips to Disney World in the next couple of weeks or months.

Speaker 4:

Sounds perfect.

Speaker 5:

Mmm bacon, I got to look into that one next year. Let's move on to Savannah, New York, the Montezuma Festival of Races. Laura ran that one in Pomfret, Vermont. Avery ran the Covered Bridges Half Marathon.

Speaker 1:

Okay, In Chicago, Illinois, run for the zoo 10 K for the Lincoln park zoo. Laura planned on PR and fun and that's exactly what she did. It was a cloudy but cool. It was cloudy and cool before the race, but once the sun came out it got hot fast and has some cute character stops.

Speaker 2:

Next up we have the go girl run half marathon in Columbia, missouri. Katie ran this race. She goes on to say we are hills, we are humidity, we are fighting for our lives against cicadas. Now, those are some mantras. Let me tell you. She said, it's quite a small race and she was in the back of the pack for the majority of the time, but she came in one second faster than her princess half marathon, so technically that's a PR.

Speaker 5:

So technically about it, girl, a PR is a PR. Hey, there's supposed to be a bad year for cicadas. Are you guys getting them up there?

Speaker 2:

Nope, I haven't seen that yet.

Speaker 5:

No, okay, well, you'd hear them before you'd see them, I think. Touche, we haven't heard him here either. Hey, let's go back now. Our friend Helena did the 5K in Simsbury. Sue, the Yukon Health 10K in Simsbury was on Sunday. Now you know Sue is working on the 169 cities in Connecticut. This is not a new one, but had a lot of fun that she did connecting with her running friends. This is one of her favorite races, with a great party afterward beer and barbecue. That's hard to beat, Sue.

Speaker 1:

Okay, In my hometown half in St Louis our friend Chris did that. Chris's 84th half marathon was a hot and humid one. Ran definitely slower due to the heat but still finished strong and got third in his eighth group and the medal was huge. All right, when do you go, Chris?

Speaker 2:

In Atlanta, georgia, we have the Atlanta Pride Run 5K. Our buddy, jimmy, who we had on the race report spotlight a couple weeks ago, ran this one. He said there were over 3, 000 runners and a ton of love. He shaved five minutes off of his time last year and I love the photo that he posted because he had a rainbow bluey shirt on. Uh, you look great, jimmy.

Speaker 5:

Way to go and congratulations in riverhead, new york, the muddy princess 5k. Me, megan was there. This is an all-women event, this 5K, with a dozen mud-filled obstacles. What is it with you girls and the mud races? I don't get it, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Megan, covered in mud by the end, had a great time, celebrated, finishing with a cider flight. A couple other notes Chrissy finished her Dole Whip Challenge, the virtual challenge. She's looking forward to marathon weekend. And in Minnesota, melissa coached a Girls on the Run group. I am not real familiar.

Speaker 5:

I'm starting to read about the Girls on the Run in the race reports that you're giving us. It looks like a really an amazing organization and congratulations to you, melissa, and others like you who are willing to give up your time to coach the girls and to get them involved and interested in enjoying running. So good job. Congratulations everybody. That's the race report for episode 141. All right, friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. Episode 141 coming to a close. Hey, don't forget to order your Dalmatian shirt. If you're going to be part of the puppies for the 5k, dalmatian shirt. If you're going to be part of the puppies for the 5k. Brittany will be with us next week. It is a zoom Thursday, so we look forward to visiting with you later today, and until then, happy running.

Speaker 2:

The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer.

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