Rise and Run
Rise and Run
146: Summer Running Highlights with Coach Chris Twiggs
Ready to master your summer race training and boost your running confidence? Join us in this episode of Rise and Run as we welcome back Coach Chris Twiggs for expert insights on tackling recent races, and fine-tuning your training schedules. Plus, we announce a fresh and new YouTube segment where Alysha responds to your burning questions in a host specific Ask Us Anything! We'll also update you on our exciting Disneyland Halloween and Wine and Dine race plans and remind you about the interest form for the potential Rise and Run Cruise in April 2026.
Ever wondered how to safely train in the summer heat? We share essential strategies for running in heat—think sunscreen, hydration, and embracing a slower pace. In our main segment, Coach Twiggs offers a deep dive into the rugged world of the Hard Rock 100, complete with unpredictable weather, trail changes, and the competitive lottery system. We also explore the emotional highs of family pacing and the thrill of tracking runners via live stream.
From the celebratory spirit of the Peachtree Road Race to heartwarming Independence Day race recaps across the globe, we celebrate our community's incredible achievements. Marvel at personal records, humorous mishaps, and the sheer joy of running together. Whether you're curious about overcoming a past Did Not Finish (DNF) or just want to hear some uplifting stories, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice to fuel your running journey. Join us for another engaging session filled with camaraderie, motivation, and the unbreakable bond of our running community!
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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.
Speaker 3:Well, hello my friends, and welcome to episode 146 of the Rise and Run podcast. We are delighted that you're joining us again this week. I'm Bob, I'm here with Jack, hiya With John. Hey, how you doing With Greg?
Speaker 6:Hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 3:With Lexi, hello, and with Alicia, hello. A full house this evening, friends, wonderful to see you. Let's see, you've probably figured out, my friends, that we are out of listener intros, so if you want to dial us up, 727-266-2344. Give us an intro. We'll repeat that number in just a moment. This week our special guest is a longtime friend. We're excited to have Coach Chris Twiggs back with us. Informative and entertaining, I know you're going to enjoy that. In the Race Report Spotlight Bunches of races on the 4th of July none bigger than the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta, georgia. Several of our friends dropped in to join us on the spotlight for that race.
Speaker 6:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram on Rise and Run Pod, check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have a question, comment, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, please call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 7:We also want to thank our Patreons, whose support helps us keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you would like to join our Patreon team, please check out patreoncom slash rise and run podcast.
Speaker 8:All right, you guys. So we had a fun thought for YouTube. We really do enjoy doing the Ask Us Anything episodes, and there's so many questions that flood in that, unfortunately, we can't always answer all of them, and we thought it'd be a really, really great idea to do a YouTube Ask Us Anything, but per host, so each video will be one host at a time. Um, so the first host that's going to be doing the ask us anything will be alicia, so we're going to go ahead and do a post this week so you can ask her any questions you like, to get to know alicia a little bit more, and so we're really excited about that, and then we'll kind of go from there questions can include like alicia, what kind of margaritas do you like to buy everyone at the Expo?
Speaker 9:Ask me all the pressing questions like that.
Speaker 8:But yeah, it doesn't have to be a running question. If you don't want it to be, it could be a personal question and then, from the questions that are provided, if there's so many, she might have to just choose a certain odd number of them. But yeah, it should be fun.
Speaker 9:I'm excited.
Speaker 3:You can ask whatever you want. She doesn't have to answer.
Speaker 6:So there you go, like what's your credit card, jack?
Speaker 10:Oh sorry.
Speaker 8:I didn't give you all of it, John.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you'll yeah. That'll go away when we stop talking about the Mandalorian.
Speaker 3:My friends. Magic Bound Travel is the sponsor for the Rise and Run podcast. Let's see what's going on. Hey, we haven't mentioned on the podcast for a while but that link if you're interested in the potential and we think this is going to happen the Rise and Run Cruise in April of 2026. But the interest form is still in the featured section at the top of the Facebook page. You may have to scroll to your right just a little bit to fill it out. It doesn't cost you anything to fill it out. There's no commitment. We just want to know if folks are interested. We get an idea of how many suites we may have to reserve on the Royal Caribbean ship Utopia of the Seas. I believe it is Yep that we're talking about going on. We're excited about it, even though it's a long way off yet. We want to get that planning. Also, let me remind you that Magic Bound can certainly help you out at Disneyland. All your travel requirements out there tickets. It's not Genie Plus anymore, but I guess it is Genie Plus out there still. Anyway, they can help you with that. They can help you with hotel reservations, either on the park or at the good neighbor hotels nearby. And we're not far now from Princess registration Princess 2025. The best time to get your hotel room reservations in is before race registration, because that's when the prices are at their lowest. If, for some reason, you don't get into the race or you change your mind, you can always cancel your room reservation. Magicboundtravelcom is the website. Check them out. Let's take a look. We've already alluded to it a little bit.
Speaker 3:Training schedules. The first race of the season is rapidly approaching. We are eight weeks away from getting together in Anaheim, california, for the Disneyland Halloween race weekend. I'm psyched. This is training week number 10. Oh, by the way, if you're heading out there, advanced dining reservation days have already started. If you're going out there, you're already within your 60 day window. So take a look at that. I know I need to, but it's training week 10. If you're doing the challenge, you've got a two mile walk and and a nine-and-a-half-mile run this weekend. Wine and Dine's coming up. Wine and Dine is 16 weeks away. You're into training week number two. If you're doing the half marathon, your long run this week is three miles. If you're doing the challenge, it's four miles, and then for marathon weekend, we're also into training week number two For any of the long races or long challenges. Your long run is still four miles this weekend. Let's see, gang, what else is going on.
Speaker 3:12 Ks of Christmas. The virtual registration opened today. Actually, as we record this, anybody pop in? Yeah, me too. Neither. I didn't do it. I'm sure some of our friends did. Annie, I didn't even take a look. What kind of swag do they have this year?
Speaker 9:So, bob, it's similar to what they had last year. They're still giving you a hoodie with the 12 Ks of Christmas on it, and then they give you a corksicle kind of coffee mug. Okay, the difference that I saw with that is last year they gave a hot cocoa bomb and then this time they're giving twining's tea, but the medals are pretty similar to last year. They're still able to be ornaments as well as actual medals. If you want to wear them, how much is this?
Speaker 3:It's expensive. I think it was $2.47.
Speaker 6:$2.67. $2.67, $247. $267.
Speaker 2:$267 with the fee.
Speaker 8:You get three medals, four.
Speaker 3:There you go, jack, get in there Four medals, girl, I wish I could see Jack's face right now.
Speaker 7:Go for it. Jack.
Speaker 8:I think it's great that they have the virtual races. Don't get me wrong, I do too great that they have the virtual races, don't get me wrong, I do too.
Speaker 3:I do too.
Speaker 8:But that's more than the marathon, that's more than the half marathon, that's more than any race offered, that's not even at Disney.
Speaker 6:It's four medals. It's hot chocolate, it's a corksicle.
Speaker 8:I hate hot chocolate.
Speaker 9:Let's cheat corksicle, I hate hot chocolate. You can all judge me for it. Let's cheat this time, jack. I tried it. So this is the purpose of the sign-off.
Speaker 8:That's even worse.
Speaker 6:And they're Christmas tree ornaments. They double as Christmas tree ornaments.
Speaker 3:All right, we're putting Jack down as a no.
Speaker 7:No, I'm so sorry, it's two for one Two for one. You get a medal and an ornament.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 8:That is true. I think that's really nice, because an ornament at Disney is like $20. That's $80, I guess yeah.
Speaker 2:It's okay, jack, you don't have to justify the cost of it.
Speaker 3:Some friends, this is the only way they get to participate and run Disney. I don't do them, but then again I'm 90 miles away, I can get over there and uh, yeah, if I couldn't do any of the races, I would totally sign up for virtual yeah.
Speaker 3:They have their place. They most definitely do, and the folks who do them enjoy them and I like seeing the posts when you finish them. That's exciting and I like to see the excitement when you get the box and you've got your stuff. Like the summer boxes, I think are starting to arrive with some folks now. I've seen some posts on those and people are excited about them and I think that's fun. So the 12Ks as far as we know, at the time of this recording those were still open to register. Our buddy, joe, said he logged on late and had the easiest registration process he's ever had you also want to know what else was pretty easy still getting in.
Speaker 2:If you guys are having second thoughts, I was just about ready to say this you know, the disneyland half marathon is still open.
Speaker 8:Disney, come on well how about that? You know you want to send one of us or all of us? I don't know, I'm just saying.
Speaker 3:But okay, jack, all right. Hey, who knows? Good luck with that, let's see how it goes. Any training updates, friends?
Speaker 2:I got an update. I know last week I had mentioned that I was dealing with a little bit of a either calf or Achilles situation. Thankfully it's mostly gone. It still gets a little sore after I run, but I was able to get back to my paces and felt good and wasn't apprehensive, not hobbling or anything like that, so I'm going to chalk that up as a win. Leaner or anything like that, so I'm going to chalk that up as a win. But the thing that I wanted to talk about today and I waffled on this by putting this on Instagram and on Facebook, but unfortunately my self-confidence isn't there just yet, but I have enough self-confidence that I would like to at least discuss it here on the podcast and that is went out for just my normal maintenance run today and it was 83 degrees when I started. Dewpoint was in the mid-70s for Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3:Pennsylvania is really not all that normal. No, it's quite high for up north.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think we're in the midst of like our third heat wave. Uh, here in the greater philadelphia area right now, and I'm not gonna lie, I I was struggling and even though I had a, a sleeveless shirt on, I just felt very, very constricted. And I was at um. I was at a local track and, for the first time in my life, in an outdoor run in public, I took my shirt off I pulled a tony I, I lost my shirt, and let me tell you that was such a free moment because I felt so less restrictive.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I felt like I was able to breathe a little bit more. I mean, sure, did it help me cool down a little bit? Sure, like maybe a little bit, but obviously nothing earth shattering.
Speaker 2:But the point that I wanted to bring up here is it doesn't matter what shape your body is in. You have the body of a runner. You should embrace you as a beautiful specimen on this earth. You should never feel the apprehension to do that, especially if it is going to be able to provide you some form of relief. And sure, while this wasn't like a huge, you know, public trail, this was just on a track where the local cross country team was finishing up their practice, so it's not like there was a ton of people around, but for me that was not only a cooling moment for me, but it was also mentally a massive hurdle that I have not decided to cross in the you know almost 10 years that I've been running, so I'm hoping that maybe this story can, you know, inspire you, that you know, if you feel like you've ever been holding yourself back in terms of that type of situation, know that you have support in this community. You are beautiful, your body is beautiful and, um, get that feeling free moment if you need it.
Speaker 3:Take no exception to anything you said, absolutely endorse. That's great, greg. I haven't run without a shirt since I was in Hawaii and I'm going to wait at least another three or four weeks into Tom's training before I do it again. Uh, not trying to play one up, I'm really not. But I'm in Florida.
Speaker 3:I went out this morning temp 83, dew point 80. I see 80 down here maybe two or three times a year. Saw it this morning. You know what I did? I slowed down. It's the same thing I say to everybody every week In this heat, and Coach Twiggs, who's with us tonight, he's going to tell you the same thing Slow down, slow down in the heat, you'll be okay.
Speaker 3:Get the miles in. It'll come back to you when the temps start to cool off. I've got one more piece of advice Do as I say, not as I do. I visited my dermatologist today, got some stuff we call it burned off or actually frozen off.
Speaker 3:Wear your sunscreen, do yourself a favor. Wear your sunscreen, especially you youngins out there. It's too late for me. Save yourselves, save yourselves so when you're my age you won't have to deal with this. I mean, it's not a super big deal, but it's something I have to pay attention to and look after. And if I'd worn my sunscreen when I was younger, maybe I wouldn't have so much trouble with it. So wear your sunscreen, it's important. All right, friends, let's visit with our guests for the week. Friends, our guest for the evening is a familiar voice to many, many of you. Our good friend, coach Twiggs, is back with us. Chris has been with us. We were trying to count him up, chris, we think this is your seventh visit, although you haven't been with us since episode 90, so it's been a little while. So welcome back to the Rise and Run podcast, coach.
Speaker 13:Chris Twiggs, thank you so much. It's awesome to be here, as always. I listen every week, so you may only have me on every once in a while, but I get to listen to you guys every single week and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Good grief, even I don't do that.
Speaker 6:Actually I do. We live it, Bob, we live it.
Speaker 7:I listen while we record.
Speaker 3:I listen. I want to make it as good as I can, so when I mess up, I have my apologies and alibis already for the next week, Because you don't. Usually, if you catch them while you're recording, they're not really mistakes. You've got to listen to them later. Anyway, Chris, thanks. Thanks for taking time to join us. We appreciate it, especially on a Tuesday night especially. I know you are getting ready and about to kick off a really, really important event for you the hard rock 100. Now we've had a whole episode dedicated to it and we've talked about it a bunch, but we always have new friends popping in. Let's talk about the Hard Rock 100 and what it is a description of this amazing event.
Speaker 13:Yeah, sure. So the Hard Rock 100 is a it's actually 102.5 miles this year and it is a I like to call it a tour of the San Juans. So this is a hundred mile, 102.5 mile event, a running event that takes place in the San Juan mountains in Southwest Colorado. It starts and finishes in Silverton, colorado. This year it runs clockwise from Silverton to Telluride to Uray, which is where I am now, to Lake City and then back to Silverton and then, in odd years, it runs counterclockwise about thirty three thousand feet of climb.
Speaker 13:So they like to say stop for a second.
Speaker 3:Thirty three thousand feet of climb, little over six miles.
Speaker 13:It's the equivalent of going from sea level to the top of Mount Everest and back, equivalent of going from sea level to the top of Mount Everest and back. And our average, the average elevation. The average altitude of the run is over two miles above sea level.
Speaker 8:Yeah, that's another amazing factor. Yeah, and here's. The other thing, though, is that you get to experience all different types of weather. I know hail's been one, rain's been one, lightning's been one like oh my goodness.
Speaker 13:That's not something I'm happy about, but it is true, that is true.
Speaker 8:All four seasons in one event? Yeah.
Speaker 7:Now, chris, you said this year is 102.5. Does the distance change every year or like? How does that? How does that work?
Speaker 13:Yeah, good, Very good question. It doesn't change every year, but it does change periodically. Um, when I started the the distance, the declared distance is 100.5 miles and there have been a couple of additions to the trails. Um, we go across, we go across several counties and different land management areas and so we have to submit and I'm saying we, because I am now on the board of Hard Rock, which is kind of awesome- so, yeah, so we have to submit permits.
Speaker 13:Just like anybody does for your local 5k, you have to have a permit to run that.
Speaker 13:So we have to submit permits to all these different groups. And occasionally someone sitting in an office somewhere will look at our maps and say you know what we need to change things? A particular trail and the Bureau of Land Management here in Colorado decided that they would rather us be on what they call system trails, which are more extensively used trails, and that way it cuts down on the erosion in the other parts of where that particular area is. And so, unfortunately, it added about two miles to the course in order for us to stay on the system trails. And it's a little agonizing for me, because I hiked this section just a couple of days ago and you can see from where you're standing to where you want to be, but instead of being able to walk literally 200 yards across this field to get there, you have to turn and walk a mile down the course on one side of a creek and then cross the creek and come a mile back and um, but that's it. That's the only way to get the permit is to have that.
Speaker 8:That's like the walls at epcot you can't go the way you want to go you have to to go a long route.
Speaker 13:Almost identical. Almost identical to the walls of Epcot.
Speaker 7:yes, it must be really pretty out there with the identical walls. That's what Epcot has. It's a little out of place.
Speaker 13:Yeah, I mean it's a little unusual. People might have complained, but as a Floridian, I needed to add my own touch to the course. There you go. Well, as you guys know from from when I was on talking about hard rock a couple of years ago, you know that I actually do carry a mickey mouse umbrella hat when I'm out there and and I wear it for the aforementioned hail.
Speaker 6:It keeps my head from getting pinged by the hailstone yeah, yeah, that's nasty, getting caught in hail, and this course is basically still the same routes as past. Like I know, you guys do do this and then next year you reverse it. That still happens.
Speaker 13:Yeah, john, it is. That's still what happens Occasionally, as I said, occasionally there are a few little changes and over the years the course has changed significantly there. What they've done is they've eliminated a lot of the jeep roads that they had to run on in the 90s when this event started, as they've come across old maps that had trails on them and they've been able to get permits to use those trails and to in some cases, rejuvenate those trails that had not been used in some time. It's allowed them to get us off of jeep roads and onto those mountain trails, and so there are changes that happen, but essentially it's been the same it hits those same four cities down here in southwest Colorado that it did back when it started in the 90s.
Speaker 3:Is one direction more difficult or challenging than the other?
Speaker 13:Yes, yes, one direction is more difficult. It's always the direction that I'm going that is more difficult.
Speaker 3:I didn't want to use the phrase easier, that would be silly, but I imagine they present different challenges whether you're going clockwise or counterclockwise.
Speaker 13:They do. They do present different challenges, and I know some people who claim to prefer one direction over the other. The reality is my times. This is now the 17th time I've done this.
Speaker 3:I was going to ask yeah.
Speaker 13:Yeah, and so my times are not significantly different one direction or the other. I mean, they're different from year to year based on weather and sometimes based on my physical fitness, but it's not clear that one direction is faster, at least for me, than the other direction.
Speaker 8:With the ultra running community growing bigger and bigger every single year, I'm sure the difference in the amount of applications or registrations that come in has grown substantially. Has the number of which they accept it also grown? Or like, what's the ratio of the people that have applied versus how many actually get in?
Speaker 13:Yeah, it's small, right. I want to say this year we had between three and 4000 applicants for about 140 spots, and so it's getting harder. It's getting a lot harder for people to get in. No, of course they're not allowing more runners in than they used to. There was a time when it did grow a few, I think when I started I think it was 120. And I want to say it got up to about 150 one year and then they got feedback from the aid stations that it was just a little overwhelming to have quite that number of runners coming through, and so they've sort of settled on.
Speaker 13:About 140 is about what it's been the last few years. They played with the it's a lottery system and they played with the lottery a lot, and so this year was the second year under the current version of the lottery and I did. I didn't get in. I got in 16 times in a row and I did not get in last year, which was the first year they instituted the current version of the lottery, and that's probably good. That probably shows that the tweaks have worked a little bit. And so now there are two categories of runner that will get into the run. Half of them are people that have finished it at least once, and those are called finishers, and the other half are spots Very clever. And then the other half of the spots are for people that have never finished it. Those are called never.
Speaker 13:And so half the spots go to each of those and then it's like an exponential increase in the number of tickets you get in that lottery. So most people, by the time they've applied 10 times, will get in. They've got that many tickets that they're going to get in. But of course applying 10 times represents 10 years of having to get a qualifier and put in for the lottery and hope for the best. My success at getting in so many times just comes from me finding out about this before everybody else did. I'm kind of like that, that, that fan of the band who has been following them before. They really hit it big and um, and I might complain a little bit about the way their music sounds now, but I still I'm, I'm in for life as a fan of that band. That's kind of the way I am with hard rock. I might complain a little bit about the fact that the lottery doesn't favor me as much as I wish that it did, but I can't. I can't quit hard rock because I just love it too much.
Speaker 8:You have to do specific races to qualify, or is it any race that, as long as it's a hundred miler?
Speaker 13:Oh no, there's a specific list of qualifiers and that list changes. Um, this year we added a couple more qualifiers, uh, to parts of the world that did not have qualifiers before. So we have qualifiers really lots of different places in the world Asia, south America, um, you know, obviously North America and, uh, and then some of the races that had been qualifiers are no longer qualifiers. So, for example, jack, when I qualified for Hard Rock, I did it at the Leadville 100 back in 2004. And Leadville is no longer on the list of qualifiers.
Speaker 8:Are you kidding me? That's just as hard. No, oh never mind you ran that. Okay, you look right there Sizzle. Yeah, no, it mind you ran that. Okay, you look right there sizzle.
Speaker 13:Yeah, no, it's not just as hard, but it's hard. But don't get me wrong, leadville is very hard. In fact, leadville was the closest I ever came to a DNF in a race, really. So, yeah, I didn't really know how to handle altitude, I didn't know that, I didn't understand that I needed to acclimate, and so I was fighting cutoffs from mile 50 to the finish of Leadville. So Leadville is no joke and I don't begrudge anybody running it but um but no, leadville's got um less than half of the elevation and Leadville plays out all, all of Leadville plays out between 9,600 and 12,600 feet, whereas Hard Rock goes down to 7,800 and up to 14,000.
Speaker 7:No, that makes sense, that makes perfect sense, you talked about how there's a couple of thousand applicants and 120, 150 people get in. What's the biggest draw for Hard Rock and why do thousands of people keep coming back to try for such few spots?
Speaker 13:I think it's the beauty of the course. To tell you the truth, there are harder runs out there here in Ouray, colorado, where I'm sitting right now the Ouray 100, I ran it in 2019. And I think most people that have done both would tell you the year. A hundred is harder. There's more climb, there's more elevation Um, it's, it's, yeah, uh, it's a lot of out and backs big out, big, long out and backs, which psychologically is a lot harder than doing one big loop. Um, so there are. There are more challenging uh courses, I don courses. I don't think there's a more beautiful 100-miler anywhere in the world, and I mean this is at the peak of wildflower season. I saw yesterday when I was hiking with a group of people. We saw a mama moose with two calves in a pond just soaking in the pond as we went by.
Speaker 13:It's just amazing. I've seen bighorn sheep, I've seen mountain goats, I've seen elk. I've seen all sorts of things. I've seen the most beautiful sunsets. I've seen the most beautiful sunrises. I've seen the most beautiful starscapes anywhere in the world. I think that's what makes people want to do it, because it's just so, so beautiful.
Speaker 9:So, chris, you've talked a lot about the elevation and how challenging it can be. If you're not used to changing to an elevation like that and being somebody from Florida, which is notoriously flat land, how do you, how does somebody, train for something that's at that high of elevation?
Speaker 13:Right, it's a very good question. I've had people come up to me after Hard Rock and say, hey, I'm moving to Florida and I'm still hoping to get into Hard Rock. What's the secret? And I tell them you're not going to like it. But the answer is you've got to get out here, you've got to be at altitude, and when I first come out each summer, when I first come out, I am not strong as I want to be, I'm not as fast as I want to be.
Speaker 13:It's amazing the impact that altitude has on you, and that's what I learned when I did Leadville. I learned that I might feel like I'm running 10 minute miles, but when I look at my watch, it's 15 minute miles. It just it takes so much more effort up here, and so what happens physiologically is the longer you stay at, or to a point while you're at altitude, your body starts producing more red blood cells, and it does that because the red blood cells are what carry oxygen to your muscles, and so there's not as much oxygen in the air here, and so if you have more red blood cells, you can still get the oxygen to the muscles that they need. But it doesn't happen overnight. It takes about three weeks, and so after I've been here about three weeks, my body has produced the red blood cells that I need. That I feel pretty normal time climbing the climbs because I'm not used to the mountains, but at least the air is not the issue anymore once I've been here for a few weeks and then, obviously, while I'm here, I'm out hiking and running and climbing in the mountains, and so I can get used to those things as well.
Speaker 13:So that's the secret. There are shortcuts that people can take, but they're not cheap. There is a company called Hypoxico which makes a machine that will simulate altitude and you can breathe on a mask at a lower altitude concentration of air, and some people will attach it to a tent that they sell and you can sleep in that tent. If you've got a lot of money, some people have actually been known to convert an entire room in their house to be an altitude room. The people that do that are typically professional athletes and they see performance benefits, and those performance benefits actually can happen at sea level too. There are people that never come to altitude, but they'll do that for a sea level benefit.
Speaker 2:So, coach, as we record, the festivities start for you on Wednesday. By the time that this podcast releases, you will be just a little more than 24 hours from the start of the race. When it comes to the race this weekend, outside of not having a repeat of what happened to you in the last little bit of this race, two years ago, when I remember you shared a story with us where you tripped and fell on a pole and broke a couple of ribs, what are your goals for the 2024 version of Hard Rock?
Speaker 13:Well, that's a great question, Greg. First of all, my wife's aunt lives here in Ouray and she has an industrial sewing machine, and so she has attached elastic straps to the bottom of my running vest that I'll be wearing, which means I can store those poles behind me instead of in front of me, so that when I fall, not if, because I know. I'm going to fall again, so that when I fall, at least I'm not going to fall on the handle of my poles again. So you're right about that.
Speaker 13:This particular, hard rock marks a really significant milestone for me, and it's something I have wanted since I started, and for the first time, all of my Pacers are family members.
Speaker 13:So my wife yeah, so we have to go about 42 miles. Yeah, we have to go about 42 miles before we can pick up a Pacer. Now, Pacers here we've talked before on your podcast about Pacers, like pacers I organize for the Disney races. Those obviously are people that are going a particular pace and leading a group. In ultra running, a pacer is a companion for a specific runner. It's someone that stays with that runner to keep the runner on pace but also to make sure the runner is safe at night, to make sure the runner is remembering to eat, remembering to drink, those sorts of things. So we have to go about 42 miles before we pick up a pacer. And so in this direction, the clockwise direction, that'll be here in Ouray, my wife is going to start with me here in Ouray and she's going to go about I think we figured about 15 miles to another aid station called Animas Forks, where my oldest son, Wesley, will start with me. He'll go a little over 30 miles with me until we get to Cunningham Gulch Aid Station and then my younger son, Brendan, will do about the last 10 miles with me over the last climb into the finish. So I don't know how long it's going to take me, but I do know that it's my family who will be taking me there and that's really cool for me, that's really exciting for me. Um. So, yeah, I, if I were to, if I were to bet, I would say I'm probably going to be a bit slower than I was two years ago. And, um, that has a little bit to do with who's pacing me.
Speaker 13:Anthony Lee paced me two years ago. Anthony recently won the Bighorn 100 miler he is. He is a an absolute amazing runner and he was actually lined up to pace me this this year. And then he was at. He had a friend who's going to be doing hard rock for the first time. Ask him to pace her. He had a friend who's going to be doing hard rock for the first time. Ask him to pace her. And he asked me if that was okay. I said of course, and so then that gave me the opportunity to lean on my family. So I might be a little bit slower, but I am going to be just fine with that, because I get to do this with my family, which is something I've wanted to do since 2005 when I started. Unfortunately, my kids would have been about four and six and eight at the time.
Speaker 3:So I'm a little young for that.
Speaker 7:I'm a little young for that yeah, yeah. Is there a time limit for the race from start to finish, and what does that kind of look like?
Speaker 13:Yeah, that's a very good question. Yes, there is. It takes 48 hours is the time limit, and that's 48 hours from go, not 48 hours from when the balloon ladies start. So it's 48 hours. And then some of the aid stations not all of them, but some of the aid stations have their own cutoffs and so if you are in an aid station when the cutoff comes for that aid station, then you are, you're, you're out of the race. So, um, but we have 48 hours and we had someone a few years ago, believe it or not, who finished in 47, 59, 59 wow, he was.
Speaker 13:He was sprinting in to the finish and kissed the rock. This is how you. There's not a line you cross, there's a big rock that you kiss at the end. Kiss the rock with one second left on the clock, which is, to me, is an amazing, amazing accomplishment. I mean, you know how stressful that was. You know, for the last 10 miles at least, it would have been so easy for him to give up, but he pushed and he made that happen and that's just incredible. On the other side of the coin, I know a guy who finished with about 12 seconds over the cutoff and so that was not an official finish, sadly.
Speaker 3:That hurts, that hurts, he's still finished. I mean that hurts, though I get it sadly that hurts, that hurts, he's still finished.
Speaker 13:I mean that that hurts, though I get it well and thankfully, um, thankfully that the person that that happened to uh already had four official okay so it's not it.
Speaker 13:That would have been even more tragic if it was someone's only uh, only time at hard rock, in fact, that that particular runner was the first florida I'm only the second Floridian to do hard rock. Um, the, the person that that happened to was the first Floridian. Um, and he did, he got, he got four finishes and then he had that one. That was just just a tick over, um, yeah.
Speaker 6:So Chris, uh, this race. Does there a tracker for you? How do we follow you?
Speaker 13:Very good question and yes, uh, in fact, there are several ways. The best thing for people to do is just to go to hardrock100.com and all the links are going to be on there. But we are wearing trackers and so those trackers you could click on the tracking link on the website and you'll be able to see me and anybody else that you want to follow Courtney DeWalter, for example, somebody that a lot of people are inspired by, francois Dehaene, who's a former champion, somebody that people might want to track, so you can follow us there and you'll see where we are on the course that way. But this year also, there is a live stream and AeroVipa is going to be doing the live stream, and so they will have cameras out at some of the aid stations. They'll have interviews of people at the aid stations at different times, and so they have promised that they're going to be doing first to last coverage, so you'll be able to see all the runners at some point coming through.
Speaker 13:The other thing that I think is good all the runners at some point coming through the other thing that I think is good is they've also promised that if a runner is having a bad time and decides I'd rather not be on camera right now. That runner can decline and can say you know what? Turn it off. I'm about to throw up, for example. But yeah, you can waste your entire weekend obsessing over Hard Rock just as much. If you obsessed over the Western States 100 a couple of weekends ago, we've got even longer coverage for you to obsess over with Hard Rock.
Speaker 3:There you go. Well, friends, it's this weekend. If you're listening on release day, it's this weekend, so check it out. Shifting gears just a little bit, chris. You've turned your love for hard rock and your experience there into a podcast. Hard Talk Is the Hard Talk. That's not the entire title of it, is it?
Speaker 13:I gosh, I should know right, I mean.
Speaker 3:I think it's hard talk. I don't know Hard talk about hard rock, I don't know. I was looking earlier today, um, but if you, if you search for hard talk in podcasts, you will find it.
Speaker 13:It's, yeah, it's a hard talk by, uh, it's hard talk by the hard rock 100 Endurance right.
Speaker 1:That's what it is.
Speaker 13:There are some other podcasts out there called.
Speaker 1:Hard Talk.
Speaker 13:Yes, we are so excited. We have 19 episodes out now. So we've got a long way to go, long, long way to go before we get anywhere near where you are, but we started this podcast near where you are, but we started this podcast. Dan, my co-host, is the social media director for Hard Rock, and he and I spoke about a year ago almost exactly a year ago, right before Hard Rock last year about doing something like this, and the reason I really wanted to do it was because there are a lot of amazing stories of things that have happened out here at Hard Rock over the 32 years since this event started, and those stories that people have told, those experiences that people have had. We're losing some of those. Those are things that the people that those things happen to, or even the people that they know about that know. About those things, they may not be coming to Hard Rock anymore. Some of them are gone, some of them are sadly have died, and so I wanted to have an opportunity for us to capture those stories and get those stories out there so that these 3,000 plus people that are applying to the event, even if they're not able to get in and run it, they can learn about it. They can experience some of the awesome stuff, and we have had so.
Speaker 13:One of our first episodes was with the very first winner of Hard Rock, david Horton. Then we had another episode that had the first female winner the first year, nancy Hamilton. And Nancy gave me one of the best questions. You guys have some standard questions you like to ask people. My favorite question now to ask anyone that comes on the Hard Talk podcast, nancy told us when we asked her what the experience was like to win the first Hard Rock. She said well, I never really was trying to win, I just wanted to beat Susie. Susie was a friend of hers that she competed against in other events, and so Susie was at the first Hard Rock, and so Nancy said I just wanted to beat Susie. I thought that was awesome, and so one of our standard questions we ask every guest is who is your Susie? Who's that?
Speaker 13:That, that and maybe, maybe it's not to beat that person, but who is that person that brings out the competitive spirit in you? Who's that person that brings out the best in you? And I love that question? So we've asked everyone, um, you know, including Courtney DeWalter that's the most recent episode that we that we just dropped on Monday. We asked, we asked her and she had a fantastic answer to that question as well. So it's been a fun project for us and I'm super excited to to share it with folks, and I've been really gratified being out here now over the last several weeks bumping into people who told me that they listened to it. And you know, you guys, you know exactly what that's like.
Speaker 3:That's fun, chris. That's good. I'm glad to hear that. For you, that's really outstanding. Yeah, I was going to comment on that lesser known runner you had on the latest episode, but you already talked about that. I haven't listened to that one yet and I'm completely candid, I've listened to maybe half a dozen in total while I'm out running. It's a good podcast. It's worth a listen, friends, and you've probably noticed, if you've listened to Chris on our podcast before, he sounds a whole lot better now.
Speaker 13:Yes, I was told by Dan that I had to upgrade my hardware if I was going to do the podcast. So, yeah, so I'm using a little bit better, a little bit different microphone and yeah, so hopefully that does make a little bit of a difference.
Speaker 3:Yeah, customized training friends. This is not the Chris or Bob or anybody else that you hear during customized when we're just coming over our laptops. This is quality stuff here.
Speaker 8:This is professional podcasting kids I mean, courtney dewalter is like the epitome of, like one of the coolest people you could probably interview, so who do you have after her?
Speaker 13:that is like really exciting to talk about um, I mean so I can say that the most recent episode that we we just recorded an episode a couple of days ago with Rick Trujillo and Rick Trujillo lives here in your Ray. He is in the Colorado running hall of fame, he won the Pike's peak marathon five years in a row and he won the fourth edition of Hard Rock and was on the board here, and he is a wealth of knowledge, a fantastic character and one of those people that was here when Hard Rock started, and so we really wanted to capture the interview with him and it's a lot of fun because that one was the first episode that we recorded in person.
Speaker 13:You guys know what that's like, right, do that? So we sat down in Rick's kitchen and interviewed him and had had a wonderful time, and so that I don't know for sure that that's the next episode that is going to release, but that was the most recent episode that we recorded. We also have tomorrow we're recording an episode with Betsy Kalmeier, who is the woman with the most hard rock finishes, and Bob may be interested in her particular episode because she is an Air Force Academy grad and then we also have lined up an episode with Kirk Abt, who has 26 Hard Rock finishes.
Speaker 6:He has the most finishes. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 13:So we're really excited about that, and Dan tells me that one of the upcoming episodes will be excerpts of recordings he gets of me during this year's Hard Rock.
Speaker 2:I was just about ready to say that, coach, I was going to be like, I was going to play producer for you. And I was like if you could make it happen. You should mic yourself up and it just be a journey from the beginning to the end, and I would love to hear what will come out of your mouth you would not.
Speaker 13:It would not be family friendly, I'm afraid that's okay.
Speaker 2:You have a much different audience than we do yeah, but it was um.
Speaker 13:Yeah, dan is. Dan is going to be meeting me at several spots along the course and getting some audio and we'll be piecing that in and I'm sure we'll do a post run uh chat as well, so that I don't know. I don't know when that one will come out, but that'll be in an upcoming episode all right.
Speaker 2:Well, the next time you run hard rock, I'll I'll fly out from you, know, I'll do a freelance gig for you and I'll I'll come up with a rig that we can even capture you while you're running. You know, not, not, not just the aid stations, because that would be podcast gold.
Speaker 8:I'll be your pacer. We'll catch it on.
Speaker 2:There we go there we go.
Speaker 13:You don't know what you're in for. You don't.
Speaker 3:Cause you know he's doing it next year, as long as he gets in through the lottery.
Speaker 13:Yep as long as I every, every time I get in, I'll do it, and if I do it, and if I, if I do it, I'll, you know, absolutely you guys are I. I love it when I you know we have um a past guest of yours, adam earl uh, came here last year and he volunteered and he's out here again this year volunteering uh. So he will, um, you might, you know, text him if he has his phone at the aid station when I come in at animus. He might be able to capture some audio for you, positive or negative.
Speaker 2:Does he wear the cape at the aid station or not?
Speaker 13:I doubt it I doubt that. Although it'll get cold up there at night, so he might like it warm.
Speaker 3:I actually had his name in my notes here to ask you, but I skipped out on it. I'm going to shift a little bit. Of course, a lot of us know you, chris, as Coach Twigs from Jeff Galloway's Customized Training Program, which I've been with now for I don't know five or six years. I can't recall Been pretty successful. Isn't it fun that we're getting ready for Walt Disney Runs again?
Speaker 13:Oh, so I was saying that on this morning's Zoom call with the Customize folks. I'm so excited to have those miles now back on the schedule and looking forward to doing it and I think I told you this. But I'm super excited for Marathon Weekend because my wife is doing Dopey.
Speaker 3:Oh, I may have dropped out before. You said that, chris. I don't recall hearing that, yeah.
Speaker 13:I am so excited for that and, um, I'm not. I think I'm more excited than she is. To be honest, Are you? Wearing dopey. Uh, no, no no.
Speaker 1:Chris does the marathon.
Speaker 3:Just for the 32nd time.
Speaker 13:Yeah, that's right, that's right For the 32nd time. Yeah, that's right. That's right for the 32nd time. It'll be just the marathon, just the marathon. No, I mean, there's a part it's growing on me. The idea of doing dopey is growing on me, um, but definitely this year I'm super excited to just be be by her side, uh, as be by her side as the alarm goes off and I roll over and she goes out.
Speaker 3:Oh boy, we got a bunch of friends getting ready for something. Disneyland Halloween's coming up. We just talked about eight weeks away, so that's coming up pretty quick, our friends who are getting ready. We got any tips for them, for whatever they're getting ready for?
Speaker 13:Well, one of the things that I really want to emphasize, especially right now in the summer, is those and those that are in customized they know this.
Speaker 13:When I give them a long run pace, I always try to refer to it as a speed limit, and I really want everyone that's listening to understand that when you see distance on your schedule, it doesn't matter how fast you do that distance and you can walk that entire distance and you get the same endurance benefits. So, please, when it is hot out right now yeah, right now unless you're in the southern hemisphere it is hot out, and so please slow down, respect your speed limit. There's no extra credit for going faster than what your long run pace is supposed to be. So that's the number one thing that I want to tell people, because you know, as the schedule progresses and the distances get longer, it's we're still a long time before it's going to cool off. So don't worry about speed. If you're, if you're worried about speed, you do that on a different day and a different workout than your long run, uh, but, but please respect that speed limit when you're out there doing the long runs.
Speaker 3:Thank you. We talk about it every week, chris, but you have a little more gravitas in this area, so I appreciate it.
Speaker 13:The gravitas comes from the new microphone. Bob.
Speaker 8:No, no, chris, when we're talking about heat as well, just to kind of emphasize it a little bit more, isn't it like, after so many degrees, you should slow down your pace by a certain amount? Is there, is that a thing or not? Because I know, like, let's say, your, your longer pace should be two minutes slower than what your race pace is for whatever distance it is. Now, when you increase the heat and humidity to it, is there like, uh, like, let's say, every five or ten degrees, do you slow it down? Like by another, by another 30?
Speaker 13:seconds per mile yeah exactly, exactly right, and that that cut off points, uh, typically 60. So that means that in Florida it's almost never, you're almost never not adjusting for that.
Speaker 13:Yeah, so, um, but yes, you should. You should respect that and this is something we've got on on our website on jeffgallowaycom. You can see that, uh, that chart, and. But mostly what you want to do is listen to your body and, if it feels hot, slow down, know the signs of heat disease, heat illness, and respect those.
Speaker 13:I was telling somebody today who has some mile repeats on her schedule and she was concerned about how to do those in the heat and I was pretty much begging her to get on a treadmill. I know some people don't like treadmills, but assuming your treadmill is someplace that's air conditioned, like at the YMCA or someplace like that, hop on that treadmill. This is what they're for. They're for rainy days and really hot days. Get on there, do your mile repeats there or your half mile repeats or whatever they are. And even if you have to do a long run on the treadmill, better that than having to go to the hospital because it was so hot and you got heat stroke and then you're out of training for a couple weeks so, in speaking about the heat, um, I know we've talked about like in preparation for the races at wad disney world you need to make sure you're drinking water in the days before your run, and I mean on your run.
Speaker 7:But um, is there specific advice about especially preparing for these long runs while it is so hot? Um, like a benchmark of how much before the run you should be drinking the water?
Speaker 13:Well, and I want to emphasize, it's not, it's not just about water we really need. We're really concerned about the electrolytes, if you are, and there was someone I talked to recently who was pounding water and she was experiencing the early signs of hyponatremia during her long runs because she was basically flushing those electrolytes out of her system. So I really would like to emphasize not just water, but let's have an electrolyte rich drink. Um, there are a lot of them out there, and so try the ones that. Uh, if the race you're training for is going to have an electrolyte drink on the course, try that. That's going to be the easiest one, uh, for you to to train on, because then you know you're going to have that on the course.
Speaker 13:If not, there are lots of others. Tailwind happens to be the sponsor for Hard Rock, and so I've been using Tailwind in my training because I know that's what they're going to have out there on the course, and my preferred beverage the day before Hard Rock will be Tailwind. And so my recommendation is your preferred beverage the day before your long run. And by preferred beverage I mean if you're skipping coffee, skipping alcohol and having this electrolyte beverage, you're doing a good thing. Do that, and that's going to set you up for success way more than just water will.
Speaker 8:I also have just one really quick thing about electrolytes that I've been trying and probably good for you guys. If you want to try it, especially during the summer months you may not have it for a race but say you have a long run, let's say it's like 10 miles you can do a five miles come back to your place, get an electrolyte pop which will help cool you down, and then also get your electrolytes in and then go out for your next half. Or like, if you're going somewhere, just put like a cooler in your car, fill it up with ice and put electrolyte pops in it, so that way you can have it as a way to cool you down during the summer. I've been trying that. It's been working great.
Speaker 13:Jack, I think that's really good advice. And remember those long runs can be split up as long as you start, as long as you restart the run within two hours of finishing it, it still counts as that same run. And so coming inside having one of those electrolyte pops or drinking electrolyte beverage, those things can help a lot too.
Speaker 7:So is there such thing as too much electrolytes? Because I know we have some people who are training for a half or some people who are training for dopey, and like the mileage is going to be different at different times throughout the summer.
Speaker 13:Yes, there definitely is such a thing as too much electrolytes, but you're probably not going to get that if you're just doing it from an electrolyte pop, like Jack was talking about, or from an electrolyte beverage. The situation where you would get into with too much electrolytes usually happens when you're taking some sort of supplement which are not. Supplements are not a bad thing. Succeed S-caps are a very simple buffered salt tablet that works for a lot of people, but if you're going to be taking those, then you're going to be drinking water. So when people get into problems with too much in terms of electrolytes, it's when they're taking those supplements and they're drinking the electrolyte beverage as well, and that can be a problem. I'm glad you brought that up, so I pick one or the other.
Speaker 6:Okay. So my question is about training the long runs and actually missing them, because, besides having cause, life gets in the way and with and some of us don't have a coach, some of our following the Jeff Galloway plan on the website. So, like this weekend, I think we have like a three mile run and a nine mile run for Disneyland Halloween. I can't do the nine mile run. Should I double it up next week or should I just let it go and wait till the next week for the next long run?
Speaker 13:Right. So assuming you didn't do the nine mile, you'll do something right. You just can't quite get nine in. Yeah, so let's imagine you get six in instead of the nine. Is that a reasonable thing? You think that's possible? Yeah, okay, it's possible. Let's imagine John goes three miles this weekend right, we're negotiating you know that we're negotiating?
Speaker 13:I've heard that. So the rule of thumb is that you will, on the next long run, when it comes up, you don't need to make up a long run, but the next long run, when it comes up, you will walk the difference between what you need to do and what you did last time. So let's say you didn't run the nine mile but you ran six. So now the next long run that's called for is 11. So you will run six and you have five miles that you need to walk. You can do that before you start your six-mile run-walk. You can do it after your six-mile run-walk.
Speaker 13:Or what I typically do is I tell people to bookend their run-walk. So I say, okay, on this 11-mile day you're going to run-walk the same six that you did two weeks ago, only you're going to do a two and a half mile walk to get to where that six miler starts. You'll do your six miler. Then you do a two and a half mile walk back home. That gives you 11 miles of endurance, but your legs are only experiencing six miles of the pounding from the run walk. That then gets you right back on target for your 11 miles. That was called for in that schedule. So missing a long run is not fatal. That does not mean that the whole schedule goes out the window, and that's the way. Using that walk the walk only method to walk the extra miles is how you get back on schedule when that next long run comes around.
Speaker 7:So kind of switching gears just a little bit. But still talking about the training cycle, I know there's a whole chat that we have from the Facebook page about DNFs. If someone DNFed a past race and they're trying again, you know this training cycle and they're just in the very beginnings. You know, as we go through the next five or six months, what is your specific advice on getting back in the mindset of OK, this was in the past and let's move on to the future?
Speaker 13:Yeah, well, I think it's important to to know why. Why you DNF'd? You know, I think, whoever, whoever is experiencing that there, there could be if a thousand people DNF, there could be a thousand different reasons, but it's I think it's really important to get to why that was right. Was the DNF because because I just wasn't fast enough to stay ahead of the balloon ladies? Well then, this time we need to do some speed work. We need to do some things to get a little bit faster. Did I DNF because I had an injury that I didn't allow to heal fully before I jumped back into training? Well, if that injury is now fully healed, then that's no longer an issue. But if that issue is still there, if that injury is still kind of nagging, we need to address that. We need to try to fix that now, while we're still early in the training cycle.
Speaker 13:If the DNF happened because some freak weather thing happened and it was a thousand degrees and I can't move when it's a thousand degrees then well, we just hope that it's not going to be a thousand degrees again and then, and then we do the things that we can best do heat acclimation. Um, that will go a long way If you're, if you live somewhere that it's not hot, already I'm doing some heat acclimation. You don't need to do that now. That's something you would do in the three weeks prior to the event. Um, but I think that's really what it's about. It's figuring out what was the thing that got me last time and how can I beat it this time. We can't ignore it. We can't just pretend it didn't happen, because if we just pretend it didn't happen, there's no reason why it won't happen again. So we have to look at it, we have to analyze it and then make plans to overcome it.
Speaker 3:Awesome, you hear all this great advice, friends. Overcome it. Awesome, you hear all this great advice, friends. I hear it every Tuesday morning and it's enjoyable. We get together on Zoom customized training. Chris, you offer a special price for our Rise and Run friends. I do.
Speaker 13:I'm not sure why it's killing us. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding, yes, because you folks are amazing and I just feel like the very first time that I got to know each of you, and definitely the first time that Jeff Galloway got to know the Rise and Run gang, it just was clear that we have just a lot of kindred spirits here, and and and. So we yeah, so we do. We have a very special deal that no one has. I promise you, no one gets a better deal than what we offer here. It's it's absolutely the best value in coaching that that we can offer. And and yeah, there are. There are some people for whom customized training might not quite be for them, but for those that want to try it out, it's a good value. It's cheap to try it out for a month and, if you like it, sign on for the whole year, because you get an even better deal when you do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and while I sometimes come across as saying things in a light manner, which I mean I was sincere, if you got anything out of the last 10 or 15 minutes of conversation, that truly is what our zoom meetings are like. Chris doesn't sound quite as good because he's not using the same microphone, but the the same great advice is still there and the same sense of camaraderie and kinship and all the stuff that we appreciate as a Run Disney family. It's all right there in customized training. So if you're looking for it, my friends, we keep it pinned to the featured section at the top of the Facebook page. You've got to go up there and scroll to the right a little bit. It's the Mighty Networks, I think, is what the link actually looks like, but it's there. If you have any trouble, let us know and we'll help you out.
Speaker 13:Yep, absolutely, thank you, and that's you know. We've got people in customized, literally. Somebody asked me so what type of people do you coach? Literally from people who are just trying to get out and walk 30 minutes a day all the way to people that are running to? I've got two, two folks that are training for, uh, a 200 mile race right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've got Boston qualifiers all the way down to uh, well me.
Speaker 13:And that's what makes it so awesome, right, and that's what makes the. Run Disney family. Awesome, too, is that you can have people that are finishing with the Balloon Ladies and scrambling to do so, and then you get Brittany Charbonneau on, who is leading the way right, best of luck.
Speaker 3:Best of luck this weekend. I know you're going to do great. I know you're excited. We're excited for you, so we'll be following that, and thanks once again for joining us. It is always our great pleasure really do appreciate it.
Speaker 13:And uh, and yes, if you are listening to this over the weekend, I'm out there somewhere in the dark or in the light. Uh, trying to move slowly toward that big old rock that I get to kiss at the end, doing amazing things All right.
Speaker 3:Awesome, my friend. Thanks a lot, we will talk with you later.
Speaker 13:Thanks.
Speaker 3:Always a wonderful pleasure to talk with Chris. We wished him luck when he was here and I would certainly wish him luck. We'll be watching that. That, that race to me is amazing, Jack, is that something you think you'd like to do someday?
Speaker 8:So it was on my list, um, but I mean, when you're considering races, I mean one of those things you have to really consider about, especially with ultras, is the elevation of what you're running at, and so that would be something that I have to work really, really hard across, maybe a few years before I even try and attempt to register for it, because I mean, running at a different elevation is a different game, and I realized that with one of the ones that I've done before, and it's not something you want to play with.
Speaker 3:The altitudes involved in hard rock are amazing to me. I've made this comment on several occasions that if you were a pilot in an unpressurized aircraft, you would be required to be having supplemental oxygen, to be required to wear an oxygen mask when you're that high and it's not just that, but you're going up and down. Oh yeah.
Speaker 8:Oh yeah. It's like having to go up and down like that, so much it plays with your body a lot. So you have to really prepare for it and, like you said, you just need to get out there for like probably I'm guessing at least two, if you can three weeks, just as used to it.
Speaker 3:If you can do it three weeks, yeah, so it's a definite maybe for you then huh, oh yeah, because I don't see the rest of us doing it. Jack, I'll just be candid about that, it's. It's not on my bucket list, I, but I have tremendous, tremendous admiration for the folks who do it and for Coach Twiggs as a runner and as a person. So we appreciate him joining us this week. Let's see, I haven't talked a 101 Dalmatians update for a while. That's still going on. That's going to be the 5K at the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. We're dressing like as many puppies as we can Need to get. We're going to have Alec on in a bit, alec from Kawaii and Pizza. She'll be on in August, but the shirts are still up there for order. They're also. That link is also pinned in the featured section.
Speaker 3:Now, remember we've got a code with Alec. Rise and Run is our discount code. It does not apply to the Dalmatians shirt, but if you go onto Alec's website, order the Dalmatians shirt and then something else, the free ship 50,. No spaces for free shipping for orders over $50. So people were talking skirts and Alex got some skirts out there too. I personally wasn't talking skirts, but others were, and heck, I'm dressing up as Cruella anyway. So that's still up there. I wanted to remind you on that. You don't have to buy the shirt to join us, but if you take a look at it, I think you'll want to. Alec did a wonderful job for us, keeping the price as low as she could. Speaking of shopping and stuff, john, do we have an update on our shop?
Speaker 6:please. Yes, so we went through all our inventory that we had from leftover Me and Judy Judy's now running our shop and we should have stuff up and ready to be all the inventory up and ready to go by the end of this weekend. By this weekend, so we should be, let's say, Sunday the shop should be open. There's some old old street. We still have the bib boards, we have some stickers, we have some of the old last year's race shirts, different stuff. There's a little bit. There's limited inventory on some of this stuff but we will be doing a pre-order sometime in August and maybe we'll be putting those shirts back up for pre-order or some of our new designs we might be taking, be taking to you guys. But on the shop we do have you listened? We do have hats and visors coming in, hopefully by the end of the month, and they'll be up there for August.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we've got some bags. Our friend Stephanie made that. We're going, you'll see them. We got them, we've we've used them. Stephanie made a couple for us at the springtime surprise race and they're great. We were able to stick them into our pockets, fold them up, stick them into our pockets and then pull them out when we had to get our power aid and our water and our banana and put everything in the one bag. They were. They were wonderful, so they'll be going up there on the on the website also. Friends. One bag. They were. They were wonderful, so they'll be going up there on the uh on the website also, friends. We said at the top of the episode that the disneyland halloween race now only eight weeks away. There will be a meetup saturday afternoon 3 pm and it's going to be. I don't, it's on. It's on the group invitation. If you take a look in the Facebook group for upcoming events, it's somewhere in the downtown Disney area. Is that what they? It's not Disney Springs, I yeah, oh yeah, downtown Disney.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So take a look on there. I think we've got the X marks, the spot in the right place and we hope to see you there. There are a lot of fun. If you haven't had a chance to join us for one yet, they're terrific. We normally we say we start them at three. We normally end up starting a little early. We end up being there for a good 90 minutes and come and go as you want and we'll probably take a group photo at 3.30, about 30 minutes into that take a group photo. So try to be there for that. Look forward to seeing you at that one. Upcoming next week episode 147 is another Ask Us Anything episode. So we hope you'll enjoy that.
Speaker 3:All right, my friends, it's time for the Race Report. The Race Report is brought to you by stoked metabolic training. Stokesfit slash, rise and run coaching is the website. Of course. That's at the top of our page also. Tom's got a wonderful discount for you on his one-on-one coaching. We got started this week in the eight week summer challenge, all of the gangs involved in it, as are many, many of you. I was excited to see the response and the number of people he had at that first Zoom meeting yesterday. That was cool gang. Good to see most of you there also. Any comments on how it's going?
Speaker 7:I'm doing the one-on-one with tom and that's kind of included with the uh summer challenge. But um, mine has got me. I feel like it's going really well. But um, I officially maxed out all of the weights that I have at home. Okay, I went to the gym for the first time yesterday. Um, I went to LA fitness mostly because it's three stoplights away from my house.
Speaker 3:Good reason.
Speaker 7:Um good reason.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 7:And um, I was the only female for on the free weight floor for, uh, about 30 minutes of my 45 minute workout.
Speaker 9:Okay, okay.
Speaker 7:Um, but I didn't let it get to me. It was. It was fine, Um, and I was able to raise my weights, um, and completely maxed out the amount of weight that what I should have been doing at. I think my most increase was 13 pounds until I felt like I was like, okay, this is actually not easy anymore and I'm very sore today.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, I think that's a win. Well, it's a sign of muscle growth. Yeah, delayed onset muscle soreness is a sign.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah, the DOMS is real over here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, but I'm over here. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7:But I'm really enjoying it, and I don't normally enjoy strength training, so no, no, I'm with you.
Speaker 3:I'm with you. I'm totally in agreement on that. I have not enjoyed weight training and I've mentioned this before. I haven't used free weights since I was a teenager, but I'm using them now and between I had been doing a lot of aqua jogging. I'm back on the road again, but between that and working with Tom I shouldn't say this out loud because I'm a jinx, but I feel as good as I have in the last three years I just feel good right now, but I feel as good as I have in the last three years.
Speaker 3:I just feel good right now. I feel I don't. I'm going to leave it at that and not jinx myself anymore.
Speaker 9:On that note, bob, I also feel more energized. I like strength training, but I have never like wanted to get up in the morning and like start my day with that. And I am. I'm finding myself really wanting to do those, those strength training workouts, and I'm excited to do it and, like Lexi, I'm, I'm at home, um, so I'm kind of maxing out the weights here, so I have to figure out a little bit more, but I'm I'm excited for those next steps and each day, um, progressing a little bit more and seeing what I can do.
Speaker 3:It's it's really cool.
Speaker 8:You know what else is great about it? We get to do it in an air conditioned building.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, which is really nice, yeah. Okay, let's begin the race report. I'm going to go back a week to the lift bridge 10 miler in stillwater, minnesota. Jay ran that one with his dad, kevin, and while I'm sometimes tempted to ignore stuff that's been going for a while, kevin's 70 I can't ignore a 70 year old runner finishing away a race way to go. So not only did he finished, he finished third in his age group. How's that? Pretty sharp, I love it. They ran a 10 miler. That's pretty good. Congratulations to both of you.
Speaker 3:Now Jay's getting ready for Dopey and Dad, if I read it correctly, is coming to Marathon Weekend to do the first three races the 5K, 10k and half. Pretty darn good, buddy, I look forward to seeing you there. Congratulations. Let's look at the holiday weekend. My goodness, we had a bunch of runs, so we're going to rip through them pretty quickly. My friends, hope you enjoyed your races. Greg's going to start us out and he's going to start on Wednesday, actually the 3rd, yes, and when Bob says that we're going to rip these out.
Speaker 2:We're going to rip these out like the finale of any fireworks show. We're just going to go right down the row and we're going to set them all off Boom. And it's going to be grand and it's going to be glorious, but, as bob mentioned, we are going to start all the way back last wednesday, july 3rd, or independence day eve, as as some might say and we'll start with the peach tree junior road race in atlanta, georgia.
Speaker 2:And riley ran that one. This is, uh, nick's youngest dollar, it's a one mile run. And nick goes on on to say that Riley absolutely smoked this run. So way to go, kiddo. And now we move on to the big day.
Speaker 2:July 4th, in Kaneohe Bay, hawaii, valerie ran the flight line 5k. So unfortunately though, valerie is hurt. This was originally supposed to be a family of four running together, but unfortunately, due to the injury, only her husband was able to participate in this one. But Valerie's husband finished second in his age group. So way to go. Then our buddy, jimmy, ran the Fireball 5K in Knoxville, tennessee. He got super close to his 5K PR but just missed it. But Jimmy, I know pretty soon that 5K PR bell is going to ring for you again. And then in Lexington, kentucky, the Bluegrass 10K. Our friend Ileana's husband, steven, ran this one. This was his first 10K, so we know what that means. This was his first 10K, so we know what that means. And then also, stephen posted this cute video of their son with a power-up sign. It was neat. Anything with small children signs, it's such a great motivator. So that was a very cute video, and Jordan ran this one as well.
Speaker 3:Ran with her sister, regan, and this was, uh, regan's first 10k, so again we know what that means moving on to I'm not sure where, because mary didn't say the ll bean 10k, she pushed baby z in the stroller, set a 10k stroller pr.
Speaker 2:Hey Bob, actually I know where this one took place. This one took place in Freeport, maine, and here's the only reason why I know this one is our buddy Taryn was on a family vacation and I believe they were road tripping from Louisiana up to Maine. Saw the night before that there was going to be a uh this race. So, in typical Taron fashion, at the last minute ran out to a TJ Maxx, made her own makeshift statue of Liberty costume oh my. And then ran the race.
Speaker 3:Oh my, that's, that's great. And yeah, ll Bean, we're also going to race besides Maine, right?
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:I should have thought of that. Let's go to Myrtle Beach, south Carolina. The 15th annual Independence Day 5K. There Troy and Christina ran that one Said hi to Mickey and Minnie. At the finish line, the Celebrate Liberty 7.1K Again. Not sure where this one is.
Speaker 2:Greg, this one, I don't know Crickets.
Speaker 3:Chadwick and Chelsea were there First, 7.1k for either. Pr Bells.
Speaker 2:Down in Melbourne, florida, we have the five cracker, 5k, monica and the chaos crew were well represented. Uh, child number one and number two took first and second in their age group and monica uh herself took second in her age group.
Speaker 3:So way to go, chaos crew the big event on the 4th of july. We had a bunch of events, but the big one, as it is most every year, occurs in atlanta, georgia the peach tree 10k. We had a great turnout of rise and runners at peach tree. I'm really excited. We've got a bunch of them with us tonight. Gang, why don't you introduce yourselves and tell us how many peach trees you've run.
Speaker 12:Hey everyone, this is Andrew Strickland, also known as the Puppet Runner. I'm out of Macon Georgia, and this was my third peach tree this year.
Speaker 11:Hey everyone, my name is Nick Jenkins. I'm from right outside of Athens and this was my eighth peach tree.
Speaker 16:Hey guys, my name is Dorothy Morgan.
Speaker 5:I live in Kennesaw, Georgia, and this was my ninth peach tree.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Anita Cole and I'm from Beaufort, Georgia, and this was my first peach tree. And this is hi, I'm Noah. This was my fifth or sixth peach tree.
Speaker 14:Hey, I'm David Bennett, better known as Georgia's dad. And I am also in. Kennesaw, georgia, and this is my first peach tree.
Speaker 10:Hi, I'm Sharon.
Speaker 15:I'm from Leesburg, virginia, outside of DC, and this was my first peach tree and I'm Stacey Hughes from Atlanta, georgia, and this was my seventh peach tree.
Speaker 3:A great lot of variety and veteran status. Sharonaron, you're the only non uh local origin yes yeah, so that's cool all right, friends.
Speaker 9:Why don't you tell us some of the highlights from the peach tree race this last weekend?
Speaker 11:it's. It's an amazing event that's put on by the track club every year. Uh, you know, it's one of these that you know, world's largest 10K, with over 60,000 people in the field and probably close to that number of residents from Atlanta out there cheering us on for the full six miles.
Speaker 12:Well, I think what I love about it so much is I hadn't. I've been in Georgia for more than 20 years. It took me forever to actually do Pe tree and I was told it was basically a 10 kilometer long block party. Um, and it really is. The people along the side of the road are so into it. It's, uh, it's such a great environment. I'm the everyone is just just just in a fourth of july mood and from and and it's. It doesn't feel like that big a race for most of it, um, in that you know you're the going, going through the corrals or the starting groups is very, it's like very, friendly and you can wander more easily than we're used to with, with disney, uh, so it's like it's like old home week and then you run and make a few, you know, know, tens of thousands of new friends and it's, it's, it's just, it's a, it's a wonderful experience. It was, it's, it's playful, it's friendly, it's, and it just doesn't feel as big to me as it is.
Speaker 16:Yeah, I love the core support that's out there. So you know there are. So Peachtree is known for cardiac hill right. It's at the beginning of mile three and it's uphill a lot.
Speaker 3:It's actually. It's actually, it's actually right by a hospital, isn't it?
Speaker 16:It is by the cardiac unit yeah.
Speaker 16:Yes, yes, and they have, you know, patients out there cheering you on. It's just really, really meaningful and you've got so many Atlantans out you know if you need extra water, you know. So I was running my first race with my friend today, so, or this week. It was her first peach tree. It was her daughter's first peach tree, so watching it through their eyes was something that was really enjoyable for me, who's done it nine times. It was nice to see them experiencing it and having fun. But they were asking me, like, how many water stops are there? I'm like I don't even know, because there's official ones and then there's a bajillion unofficial ones, because there's just so many people out there with all of the drinks that you could possibly want.
Speaker 16:So it's a fun time. You get to sleep in a little bit because it's not Disney early, but it's still early enough that you get a good workout in before you head home. So it was a good time. It was unseasonably warm. It's always warm.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's always warm, it was unseasonably warm this time around but we did it.
Speaker 15:I always like seeing all the unique costumes, like the Olympic rings were this year and you never know kind of what unique group costumes you're going to see, and that's always fun when you're going down Peachtree.
Speaker 3:That's neat. I did it a long time ago. I don't remember most of this stuff, so it's neat to hear how it hasn't grown in numbers of participants, but it's grown in different ways. That's cool. David, what struck you as special?
Speaker 14:Yeah, I mean people were talking about everything given out on course. I mean I saw even people giving out hot dogs. Even a pizza place was handing out beer. There was, you know, watermelon chunks. One of the church had their priests out splashing holy water chunks. One of the church had their priests out splashing holy water. So, yeah, course support was great. Honestly reminded me a little bit of New York, probably not as overwhelming as New York, which, almost honestly, at times was was almost too overwhelming. So this, this was a good balance. Everywhere at least had someone on the course. People came out, um, whether it was out in front of their house or their church or just found a random um street corner to come out and cheer. Uh, it felt great. And lots of dogs, lots of dogs. So that was that was great, to keep me motivated it has definitely.
Speaker 5:It has definitely morphed and grown into something even more special um, I guess for me it was just like the sheer size of it. It was probably the biggest race that I've ever done, so it felt like there was a lot of people to me, but it wasn't crowded really like high pressure.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, that's interesting you can look out when you're at the tops of hills. You can kind of like look out over and just see you. You can't see road there's oh yeah, it's not like you're crushed in together. No, that's cool. You're over a four lane, you know divided road for most of the race. Um, the only real crushing part is when you're walking the mile and a bit to the margaret station at the end.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah that's also uphill uphill probably uphill right, very uphill yeah best part because I ran with my girlfriend who it was her first time running um.
Speaker 1:But best part for her was every time she saw the fire hydrant her eyes lit up and she would like go and run it because it would cool her off so much oh, okay that's also like another. Plus, they just have fire. Hydrants are non-spring, the whole street wow, wow sprinklers are not just for kids anymore.
Speaker 10:They are for runners in the heat absolutely sharon, if did they leave you anything to talk about yeah, I would say I concur with all of that um and this, except for the sprinkler thing, since I was the only person out of town I had to get on a flight that day and I had to put my sopping wet sneakers in my suitcase because they were drenched, because I ran through all I was.
Speaker 10:I mean, it looks like I had jumped in the pool by the time it was over just from running through the water, but, um, so I have some quirky things that I appreciated about this race. One One of them was that maybe all Atlanta Track Club races are this way, but it was sponsored by Adidas, which I'm the only runner in the entire United States that I know that has always been a loyal Adidas shoe wearer, and I like, no, you never nobody who wears Adidas, nobody except me. And so I was like this is the best, like they had a little shuttle, shuttle, like a a little lane at the end. If you wore adidas, that, like you, if you were wearing adidas, that you could go through and they gave you like a special towel.
Speaker 10:I just that's cool, that's cool yeah because I I don't know like I've been. I've been wearing adidas since about 1996, so it was kind of neat to me. Um, and I really liked the, the where it ended, because I don't know atlanta at all, I've actually never been there before and the park, like you, end in this big giant urban park and it's just like you don't really feel like you're in the middle of the city, like you're in this big giant field with lots of you know. It was well organized and laid out. So, um, for a big city race and I like to do a lot of those like it was just really well done cool, it ends in Piedmont Park right mm park right does.
Speaker 10:Yes, and that was another thing that I appreciated about the race is that, as a galloway person, like for a big not disney race like I found it really easy to do intervals, which I don't find is true at a lot of big city type races, you're right people aren't?
Speaker 10:it was super easy. There were people and I don't know how people get in the corrals other than time, but there were definitely people that were in corral A or B, that were walking the whole thing, so like there was always like a trail of walkers on the right so you could just kind of go in and like I don't know, it was very easy to do that.
Speaker 16:And with the divided highways there's all, or the divided road there's like two rights. So it'd be on either lane right and still kind of stay out of the busy lane.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's people walking and people running in all ways, like we were starting in the back in Lavel and there were people there that was they're going trying to run the PR.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 10:Yeah, I don't know how that all gets sorted out. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It doesn't work well a lot of times. I'll ask our spotlight friends if this is a race they would recommend. I'm not going to bother. Okay, I know the answer.
Speaker 10:I know the answer I'm already signed up for next year, bob, okay I'm really thinking about it guys. I'm really thinking about it guys.
Speaker 16:I'm really thinking about it one more time. They said they're moving to a lottery next year, which? We had in the past Pre-COVID. We had lottery. Yeah pre-COVID we had lottery and now we haven't hit quite the number since then. We got close this year and move into it next year, but they're letting you register through the the 11th, I think uh, for guaranteed entry next year that's the reason why I'm a track club member, because it's guaranteed entry, so I can wait till march oh there you go that's good yeah
Speaker 10:well, you also get to go to the party that's true too.
Speaker 11:Yeah, get that sweet water beer and you're good to go this year uh-huh so that's a question.
Speaker 6:I heard this race was black flag. Correct, correct? Oh, yes, go to black flag. Yeah, and I heard they cut out the after party too, or is that?
Speaker 16:well, when it wins a black flag, they just send everybody home. So the after party was in piedmont park. Uh, for atlanta track club members, um and about 10 30 is when they went from red to black. We started out in yellow, so it just got too hot.
Speaker 3:All right, great stuff, great stuff. Friends, before we let you go, john's got one more question for you.
Speaker 6:Question here When's the next time you guys are going to be running Disney?
Speaker 11:Remy and I will be back at Disney World for the Wine and Dine doing the two-course challenge.
Speaker 16:I will be back at Wine dine with the doing just the 5k with riley as it's her first one beautiful I'm signed up for the disneyland 10k and the wine and dine half, but my big one is the just the marathon from weekend with team and training.
Speaker 5:That's good, perfect perfect all right, I'm signed up for the wine and dine, two course challenge and then dopey dopey is my next one too.
Speaker 1:That would actually be my first uh ever disney race, so oh, you picked a big one yes, yeah, all right, I will be at wine and dine.
Speaker 14:I'll do the challenge. That'll be my first wine and dine and then I'll be back for just the half at marathon weekend and I will be at.
Speaker 10:I'm doing all the races at disneyland um, so that's my next one, then I'll be at all the others okay, great, great, great and I'm doing the challenge at Disneyland and then I'm doing um wine and dine.
Speaker 3:All three races we're going to see a lot of you. In November. We're going to see a couple of you, I'm going to see a couple of you in September, and by January we'll see y'all. That's awesome friends. Thank you for taking your time out of your evening to visit with us. Congratulations on finishing a great race and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 10:Thanks, Bob.
Speaker 3:Thanks guys. Thanks a whole lot for joining us. Glad you enjoyed the race. As I said, we had others who were there. Patrick and Elizabeth were there, kept their July 4 tradition alive. Amanda was there Allie Allie with a Y, not without an E, not with an E, allie with a Y. It was so steamy she couldn't read her gym boss or gym boss steamed up on her. I haven't had that happen before. Jenna did it for her second year, hit two beer stops but still finished in about an hour. That's impressive. Andrew and Molly both PR'd. Carrie was there, as was Holly Marty and her husband Max was there. Patrick. Patrick ran for the first time with the group. He ran as one of the oh the oxen spoon group, one of the uh the slackers slackers.
Speaker 3:One of the slackers, thank you. One of the slackers, marty. Uh. Patrick, if you had to pick a group and it wasn't rise and run that's a pretty darn good group to pick. And finally, the last name I have down here, sherry, was there also.
Speaker 2:So we go from Atlanta back down to Florida. In Winter Park we had the Watermelon 5K and let me tell you, folks, this had a very large run Disney presence to it. Emma and her father, david, were there. This was the second year running for them, for on this one Emily also ran this one wall on vacation. Our buddy, hollywood, also signed up for this race and I got to tell you I don't know what it is with Hollywood and with his clothing, but in a shocker, an absolute shocker, tony lost his shirt during this race again I.
Speaker 1:I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2:I think maybe we need to start safety pinning. Maybe his shirt to his shorts um you know so so it doesn't get lost there.
Speaker 2:but uh, I know, uh, tony had a great time there. Tabitha with um mike, larry and est Esther completed this race as well. It was a course PR for all but Esther. So here's three PR bells Bob's tipsy ducks and love buddy Mary also ran this. Then our buddies Patrick with Emily, michael and Scott ran ran this. Another nice run Disney contingent down there. This has become a tradition for all of them on the 4th of July and they had absolutely great finisher photos with that signature. Watermelon Tracy was also there and I know he didn't post a report himself, but I know while Tony was on vacation he was able to peer pressure our buddy Ryan Teets into also signing up for this race and he joined in that one as well. So for everyone that got their slices of watermelon in Winter Park, way to go, yeah good one In San Antonio, texas, the San Antonio Roadrunners Freedom 4 Mile Race.
Speaker 3:Joseph was there. Great way to kick off Independence Day festivities. Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, the 41st Annual Brentwood Firecracker 5K Andrew. Andrew set a PR on this course, beating last year's time by 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Nicely done, andrew. In Marysville, ohioio, the old glory 5k brandy made a last minute decision to go on this one.
Speaker 2:Ran with her four or four-year-old daughter won her heat in the kids race the founder of the unofficial happy challenge, our friend Laura over in the Netherlands, took place in a two-mile race that started off the FBK Games over in her native land. She was looking to finish at sub-18 minutes and, wouldn't you know it, she did absolutely that. So way to go, laura.
Speaker 3:How ironic. Now, though, that was a Thursday, july 4th race in the Netherlands. Nothing to do with the holiday, of course, just happened to show up on the 4th.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. In Cape Coral, florida, we had the Freedom 5K Our friend David ran. That Wasn't his fastest 5K, but it doesn't matter because he got first in his age group. And then, sticking in Florida, we have the Claremont Freedom 5K. Adania ran this race and this was her first race since her knee injury. But now that this one is out of the way, it's time to focus on Dopey number three.
Speaker 3:Up north to Chelmsford Mass. The John Carson July 4th two-mile road race Sophie and Audrey first, two-miler for each of them, so twin PRs Out to California. The Folsom Firecracker 5K Frank and Carrie. Carrie age group fourth and Frank age group sixth. Nicely done, guys. In Glen Rock, new Jersey, the Glen Rock 9-11 Tribute Run. Our friend Rob ran this one. I remember Rob running this one last year. It's a tribute to the 11 victims of that relatively small area, glen Rock. The 11 victims of 9-11 from Glen Rock.
Speaker 2:In York, Pennsylvania, our buddy Allie without an E ran the Shoehouse Shuffle 5-Miler. Now, Bob, I can't remember the fairy tale with the shoe where everyone lived in.
Speaker 3:The little old lady.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the nursery rhyme. Yeah, I mean, you want to talk about the embodiment of that nursery rhyme? Yeah, it's this race. Allie posted this awesome photo with this gigantic shoe in the background and, according to Strava, she is now the local legend of this particular area. So we are just so darn proud of you. Way to go, allie.
Speaker 3:All right, let me take this next one, the St Pete Pier Run, a 4th of July tradition. It's a four-mile race but not many people race in Central Florida on July 4th. I was there, walked, strolled, did other not much running with Jen and Stephanie. With Jen and Stephanie, dawn and her husband Brian recently married. They were there. We caught up with them after the race and Trina and her husband Jeff were there. But this race goes off in two waves one at 6.30 and one at 7.30. The first group I talked about. We all went off early. Jeff and Trina went off at 7.30, so we didn't see them there. And John Pelkey was the race announcer for this. He was there and his wife, jody, was with him. John's birthday had been the second, which was Tuesday. Jody, the OOHS Freedom 5K Sandy ran this, finished first in her age group.
Speaker 2:Next up in Endwell, new York, we had the four on the fourth four miler. Our buddy, steve, along with family members Justin and Brenda all participated in this race. Steve ran with Brenda. Family members Justin and Brenda all participated in this race. Steve ran with Brenda. This was Brenda's first race greater than a 5K, so PR bell for you, brenda, and Steve mentions in his post that next up for him and I'm really looking forward to this one buddy bird in hand. We'll see you beginning of September In Sayville, new York, a four-miler race. Dina ran that and her first four-miler, so another PR bell. I love this alliteration on this day. Another four on the fourth in Charlotte, north Carolina. Dale ran this first ever four miler Again unique distance.
Speaker 3:So PR and Kristen also ran this. Yeah, kristen was with us last week for that other Charlotte run, so she's still at it. In Lutes, florida, the Lutes Independence Day 5K Bridget. Bridget ran at an average pace so the heat didn't really slow her down. Laura Ann was there too, as Stephanie had a fun time, but it was a hot one it is. Lutz is not far from here, just a little bit north. There's no racing in this part of Florida right now, it's just getting out and enjoying the holiday. The Freedom Four Mile in Tequesta, florida, jen and Steven so they had 1,100 runners out there and each of their bibs had the name of honoring a fallen soldier. In Dunedin, florida, the Kiwanis Midnight Run 5K. Tiffany did this one. It was super fun. I actually, until they started the Pier Run, I used to go to Dunedin. It was super fun. I actually, until they started the pier run, I used to go to Dunedin. This race actually starts at like 1130 at night on July 3rd and runs through to the 4th. It's a midnight run.
Speaker 2:In Little Rock, arkansas, the Firecracker 5K Shelby Allison ran this. She got in her 45-minute training run for the day and at least it came with a shirt and watermelon. Nothing wrong with that for a nice little training run for the day, and at least it came with a shirt and watermelon, not nothing right? Yeah, nothing wrong with that for a nice little training run. Back down to the sunshine state in florida. In jacksonville, angie ran the seacoast bank celebration 5k. Thought about the post race popsicle and watermelon all of mile three. So I'm sure it was quite toasty for that one.
Speaker 3:Whatever gets you through Angie.
Speaker 2:And then in Bristol, new Hampshire, the newfound Firecracker 5K, christina, ran that.
Speaker 3:A Freedom 5K in Greensburg, pennsylvania. Brianna PR this morning for her 5K race, somehow even with the warm weather in Pennsylvania, greenwood, arkansas, the greenwood freedom fest 5k. Joe was there with his buddies. The three amigos were shut out, except for joe's amigo, johnny, who finished first in his age group up in minneapolis the Stars and Strides. They had a 5K and a 10K. I'm not sure which one Pamela ran, but she was there In Cedar Rapids, iowa.
Speaker 2:We have the fifth season races 8K, 5k and kids races. Allison ran the 8K and children Tyler and Grace ran the kids race Again similar theme to a lot of these races Popsicles at the end. And the kids race. You know, again similar theme to a lot of these races popsicles at the end and the kids got their own medals. So they were pretty thrilled about that. And then Megan also ran this with a friend and two dogs who also PR. Now, we're not sure if the dogs PR. It is the dogs. Ok, so two PR bells for the pups.
Speaker 3:Okay, so two PR bells for the pups, Lots of heat and lots of popsicles over the fourth.
Speaker 2:Greg In Tyler, texas. The Freedom Fighter 5K and Little Firecracker Kids Dash. My buddy, Kevin, jessica and their three children ran this one. Their four-year-old ran the Little Firecracker Dash and Jessica watched him while Kevin and the other two girls did the 5K. Great job everybody. In Orange Beach, alabama. The Shark Run 5K. Aaron ran that one In Bethel.
Speaker 3:Connecticut, an 8K run. Sue did this one Town number 158 out of 169 for.
Speaker 8:Sue Getting close.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she is In Orlando, the Ritz-Carlton Red, white and Blue 5K Carolyn hot, she says, not humid, carolyn, I don't know, it was pretty daggum humid, my friend. But I'm glad you hey listen if you're comfortable, that's wonderful. Human, my friend, but I'm glad you hey listen if you're comfortable, that's wonderful. Wrapping up the July 4 holiday races the Independence Day 5K in New Albany, ohio, kayla set a PR at 31 minutes 50 seconds with a rocket pop to cool down at the finish. To cool down at the finish. All right, let's move to Saturday and we've got a race report to play.
Speaker 4:Hey guys, this is Michelle from Georgetown, texas, and I'm just telling you guys I defeated the Firecracker 4-Miler in Georgetown. It was a hot and humid but very fun race. It was a hot and humid but very fun race. Some excellent layout, lots of up and down hills, well-marked course. It was really fun and I had a blast and I'm continuing to do some of these, more of these tough races in the future. And Greg, pr Bell, because this is my first race and a first four-miler. Thanks Greg, thanks guys, bye.
Speaker 3:Thank you, michelle. With all those runs on Thursday, july 4th, we have only one race on Saturday to report on. That's the Freedom Run 5K in Port St Lucie, florida. Amber did it. She was traveling on the 4th. It shows she did this one, donned her red, white and blue and did the Freedom Run.
Speaker 3:It was hot, yeah, it was hot, but the course had a good amount of shade. That's nice. Plenty of water. Uh, characters were limited, but some patriotic chalk art was spotted near the finish line. I saw the pictures. This wasn't a bunch of kids drawn, this was some serious the kind of chalk art you would see at the art festival at Disney World. It was really impressive. So that's Saturday. It's moved to Sunday. First time ever and probably the last time this is ever going to occur on the Rise and Run race report. But I think this is really cool. None of these races occurred in the United States. We have six races to talk about. Actually. Let's see One, two, three, four, five, six. It's actually eight. We'll throw in two more at the very end. Four of them occurred in the UK, two in Canada, one in Argentina, one in Australia.
Speaker 2:It's the world showcase of running.
Speaker 3:Pretty neat, pretty neat. Let's start in the Southern Hemisphere, where it's winter, so racing temps are a little more agreeable. In fact, in Buenos Aires, argentina, the New Balance Series 30K. Jj ran that one. It was cold, it was three degrees Celsius, about 37 Fahrenheit, really windy. That's nasty stuff and I don't think JJ or Valeria liked the cold very much. Good news was there were a lot of long straight passages on this race and the wind was behind them most of the time. The bad news is there were a lot of long straight passages on this race and they were kind of boring. There wasn't a whole lot to see during the race. Jj knocked this 30K out in 2.08, which is a PR in the 30K. He's asked me if I would kick him in the head again before his next race so we can PR. No, I'm not going to do that. I didn't mean to do it the first time. Great job, jj. Congratulations.
Speaker 3:In Australia, the Gold Coast Marathon in Queensland. Rebecca Jane Beck did this. This is her first race report but her sixth marathon. She was a pacer, a five hour 30 minute pacer. This race was on Sunday. Their half was on Saturday. The weather on Saturday was terrible but turned pretty nice on Sunday Course was a little unusual for a marathon. About 12 kilometers from the finish you actually pass right by the finish line. That makes that last 12K pretty tough. You can kind of imagine that kind of picture. Oh look, people are finishing and I've still got about an hour to go. Uh, beck ran 60, 60 intervals there and says she had about 90 percent of her pack finished with her, which is outstanding. She's got one more race before pacing at the sydney marathon sy Marathon very significant this year. This is kind of a trial run before Sydney gets added as the seventh world major, so that's a big deal. I'm sure all of Australia is excited about that. Beck, good job and good luck with pacing. That next one Over in the UK now our friend Andy did the Great North 10K at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Speaker 3:I was a little afraid I wasn't going to hear from Andy. I thought he was just going to restrict it to his YouTube the roller coaster running but no, he put a post up for us. This race is he's calling it the baby brother to the Great North Half Marathon, which I think is the largest half marathon in the world that comes up in September. Great conditions for this one, even a couple of hills didn't stop him from enjoying this one. 6,000 runners in this 10k. It's a fantastic one for newcomers Want to get used to busier runs and grab a nice t-shirt and a nice medal. You can check Andy's YouTube channel for more info on that.
Speaker 3:Still in the UK, in Cornwall, saltash, the Magnificent Seven. Anna says she run, ran, walked and stomped. The Magnificent Seven, hating every second of it. Oh, come on, anna, you couldn't have hated every second. At least I hope not Hating every second of it. Oh, come on, anna, you couldn't have hated every second. At least I hope not. Says the course was lovely with some stunning views, but overall, eh man, she did it. Seven miles under her belt, part of her Berlin and Dopey training.
Speaker 3:Let's go up to Canada now. In Nova Scotia, the Run for the Lobster 5K in Pictou, I believe, is how I'm going to pronounce it Pictou, nova Scotia. Lori was there, struggled a little bit with the humidity even up in Nova Scotia, still ran under 28 minutes for this 5K. Good enough for first place in her age group. Congratulations, lori.
Speaker 3:Still in Canada, the Calgary Stampede Road Race Half Marathon. Lisa found it warm and hilly but finished Proud of her effort. We're proud of you too, lisa. Let's catch up on two more. Our friend rob over in the uk. Uh, late in june he ran the north downs 30k with some friends and rob's normally a front of the pack runner, as you'll hear in just a minute, but his friends were back in the packers so he got a chance to experience that. That that's cool Great views, even enjoyed some Prosecco at one of the race stops Something again I'm pretty sure Rob doesn't normally do, because just a week later he did the Dartford Midnight Half Marathon.
Speaker 3:They've got a half a marathon and an ultra. They all start at the same time, late and they run past midnight. Marathon and an ultra they all start at the same time, late and they run past midnight. Rob makes a good long report on this one. Let's cut to the bottom line. He won the daggum thing Flat out, won it? Not first in his age group, just finished first in this half marathon. Third time he's won an event. Great job, rob.
Speaker 3:Way to go, rob. A quick note on Monday our friend Megan was scheduled to run one of those New York State's Park Summer Run Series run Skipped it in favor of a trip to Walt Disney World. Yeah, I get that. I can understand that. So she found out this one was cut to a mile because of the heat. It's not any cooler in Orlando, megan, but I think you're going to enjoy it more. Anyway, there's air-conditioned rides Air air conditioned rides.
Speaker 3:Air conditioned rides, air conditioned queues. Yeah, there are places to cool off. I hope she's having fun. I'm sure she is. She's got to be All right, friends. That's it. That's it for the race report, for episode 146. It is a Zoom week. This Thursday, the day of release. Please join us. We'd love to see you there. We have a great time. We start at eight. We typically go till about 930. So if you're a little late, pop in at any time you want. Get to know some of your fellow Rise and Runners. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. Thank you for joining us in episode 146. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed recording it. Keep sticking with the training. The excitement's there. That's going to wear off. Now it becomes time for the dedication. Get out there, do your training. I'll say it 100 more times in this hot weather slow down, just finish. Have fun Till we meet again. 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 health care provider or event organizer. You.
