Rise and Run
Rise and Run
153: When Pigs Fly and Run: Race Organization Insights with Emmy Hartman
In this episode of Rise and Run, we’re thrilled to welcome Emmy Hartman, the marketing maven behind Pig Works, who gives us an insider’s perspective on organizing iconic races like Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon. Emmy also shares the stage with friends Julia and Heather, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their adventures during the Paris Olympics. Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or just starting your running journey, this episode is packed with invaluable insights and heartwarming stories that will inspire your next run.
Ever wondered why some runDisney events sell out in minutes while others linger? We break down the fascinating trends of runDisney registrations and share out experiences registering for the 2025 Springtime Surprise Race Weekend. Along with providing training updates, we tackle the challenge of improving walking speed for those dealing with injuries, so you can keep training without sacrificing your health.
From the creative planning behind the Skyline Chili-themed races to the logistical hurdles of major marathon events, Emmy Hartman shares her expertise in sports event management. We also celebrate the achievements of our Rise and Run community, with listener shoutouts and updates on upcoming meetups. Join us for an episode filled with motivation, insider tips, and the joyful spirit of running camaraderie that will have you lacing up your sneakers and hitting the pavement with renewed enthusiasm.
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Pigs Works / Flying Pig Marathon
Flying Pig Marathon Instagram
Queen Bee Half Marathon Instagram
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Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
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Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching (Mention Rise And Run and get $10 off)
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GoGuarded
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 5:Let's get down to business, to the feet, the summer training.
Speaker 3:Hi Rise and Runners. It's Ileana and I know the summer heat has been brutal.
Speaker 5:But just keep swimming. Just keep swimming through the sweat, tears and humidity.
Speaker 2:Soon the weather will cool and we will all go the distance, stay hydrated, smiling, and we will all see how far we'll go.
Speaker 3:Happy running.
Speaker 2:How sweet is that, friends? A little beautiful musical advice and encouragement for training from our friend, ileana. Thank you, ileana, for that wonderful introduction. Hello, my friends, welcome back, welcome to the 153rd episode of the Rise and Run podcast. Thank you for being here. We're so delighted you're here with us. I'm Bob, and I'm here this week with Greg hey, hey, hey. With John hey, how you doing? And with Alicia Hello Friends, it's great to see you this week in episode 153. Our guest is Emmy Hartman. Emmy is the marketing manager for Pig Works, which is responsible for, among other races, the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, ohio. Emmy will give us a little bit of a peek behind what it takes to put on a major event like that.
Speaker 3:I bet it's a real ham of an interview.
Speaker 2:I'm, I got nothing on that one, Greg.
Speaker 3:Some would say it could be pork-tastic, Pork-tastic pork-opolis, Me being the music guy.
Speaker 6:you said like pig works and flying pig. I'm thinking Pink Floyd.
Speaker 3:Pink Floyd okay, Pink Floyd Okay.
Speaker 2:All right, all right, but we'll get to that later on In the Race Report. Spotlight, a special one the Marathon Portu from the Paris Olympics. We have three friends who visit with us to tell us about that. Emmy comes back. She's one of them, and we're also joined by our friends Julia and Heather, so we'll look forward to that in the race report.
Speaker 3:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to our awesome Rise and Run family. We want to share in your journey, as well as their Run Disney journey as well. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod, and be sure to check out our YouTube channel as well as our webpage, riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have a question, a comment, a race report or you want to introduce a upcoming episode, please give us a call on our hotline at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 1:We also want to thank our Patreon, whose support helps keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the patron team, please check out patrioncom slash rise and run podcast. We have two new patrons this week. Well, one is Kay, who was already a patron, who moved from the plastic cheese to the Mandalorian level, and then our new patron is Jamie, who joined with the plastic cheese, thank you. And on YouTube, new patron is Jamie, who joined with Plastic Cheese, thank you.
Speaker 6:And on YouTube we finally released this week Greg's Ask Him Anything episode. I can't wait to hear that one I like to find out about. Greg, and right now Lexi has her questions up there. So if you want to ask Lexi anything, it's like can you? She says, since she's an accountant, can you write off Run Disney as a charity on your taxes?
Speaker 3:Ooh, that's a smart idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a smart idea to ask her. It's not a smart idea to do it? Go ahead and ask her. Hey friends, the Rise and Run podcast is sponsored in part by our very good friends at Magic Bound Travel. We registered for another race weekend. If you don't have your room booked for springtime, surprise, what are you waiting for? They're not going to get any less expensive as you get closer to race weekend. Contact our friends at Magic Bound Travel. Let them know you're looking for accommodations. Let them do the heavy lifting for you and take care of that. Magicboundtravelcom is the website. Check them out.
Speaker 2:All right, we haven't done apologies and alibis in a while, so I'll do one and alibis in a while, so I'll do one. Last week I talked about Stephen and Carter who did a race but didn't report on it. Well, there's a reason. They didn't report on it because the race wasn't last week, it was this week, so you'll hear about it again in just a little bit. How it got moved on there, I don't know. It's probably my fault, but we'll catch up in this week's race report.
Speaker 2:Let's take a look at the training schedule. Disneyland Halloween weekend is one week away. The run Disney season is almost upon us. You've done all the tough work, all the long distances in the training. You're in week 17. You're just going to keep the legs fresh with a four miler this weekend and then I will see you in California Wine and dine.
Speaker 2:Week nine of the training, week nine of the training. And we are in fact nine weeks away from race weekend Opening run Disney season back in Florida. Nine weeks from now, training this weekend three miles with a magic mile included in those three. If you are training for Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, you are now 19 weeks away in training week number nine. If you're doing Dopey, your long run is three miles. If you're doing the marathon, your long run is four miles. I'm not sure why they split like that, but they do. And since we are a week away and this is nice, this is the way I like, the way this comes around, you know, comes into a nice neat package. We're a week away from starting the season. We just registered today for the final run of the season Gang. How did y'all make out?
Speaker 1:Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad today. I got in pretty quickly and I was able to help a client of mine and a friend of mine get into the races, so that was pretty fun that I was able to help them as well. I got in for the challenge, so I'm happy with that.
Speaker 2:In for the challenge.
Speaker 3:Yep, yeah, I'll agree, it was very stress-free, like to the point where you know, I know we've talked about in the past where, like you know, these are the only things you should worry about filling out, and then you can always, you know, go back and change it later. But for some reason I just had this mentality of, like the last two years of registering for this race of I. I know I probably have a little bit of time, so, like, I took my time, I actually researched and got the url for my searchable um results for my proof of time and everything like that, and still made it with plenty of time to go.
Speaker 3:But, all that being said, and maybe I guess I ruined the surprise, but I know we put out the Patreon poll last week about having the Patreons helping me influence what my decision was there was no surprise there, but apparently there were a few people um in the chat this morning, uh, most notably k, who was apparently on pins and needles, wanting to know what I was signing up for uh so, like alicia, because, I'll admit, up until last night I was still waffling on what I was going to do.
Speaker 3:Um, but I am in for the challenge as well. So I'll be able to wear my Baymax shirt again, because I am not fast. But the other fun and exciting part is my daughter will be running her second run Disney 5K. And I am super stoked about that.
Speaker 2:Cool, cool. For only the second time in more than 50 Disney races Now, that's not 50 registrations, that's total races but for only the second time I had a browser that when it went live it did not say over an hour, it said 23 minutes. And I was with our friends in our side chat the Springtime Surprise Race Weekend chat. Springtime surprise race, weekend chat. I'm going to say that by about 20 minutes after 10, we had more people offering agreed slots in the race than we had people requesting it.
Speaker 2:I stayed into the chat for nearly an hour but actually I registered. I just stayed with my original one and it came up just fine. I registered and I had two others that I couldn't give away. They timed out and nobody needed them and that's a good thing. And once again, friends, I am just in awe of how helpful, how friendly everybody was and we got through another one. We've we've got this thing down so well that I'm just afraid disney's going to change it in some way, but it really is going well, I don't know, bob, that joke that I made in the chat.
Speaker 3:When you the fact that you got such a quick time. I said well, it's either one of two things. It's either john's magic has rubbed off on you or run disney knows your ip address and wants you to give a good report and you know that's why they let you in so quick well, I like that, but I don't think that's the case, but but I like it.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, someone asked how you do that and I told him I said look, here's how many races I've been in. This is the second time this happened to me, and the other one wasn't that long ago, but I don't remember exactly when it was.
Speaker 6:So basically, what happens when you join that queue before, when the links open and you join the queue, uh, when you're put in, that you're, you're put in a big pool and you're put in randomly. Uh, so the minute that race opens at 10 o'clock you're randomly set into the queue. It's when you join after 10 o'clock you're putting in consecutively after.
Speaker 2:You're sequential, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah that. So that's how that works. So Bob got the lucky start that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was actually I. I I pressed the go button on three different browsers. It was the second one that I pressed it on, so that's only a minute or so different, but the second one popped in. One of them took a long time to move off of 60, but they all did. Greg, you got some data on when things did sell out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was marking it down during the course of the day, but literally about two minutes before we started this discussion, our good buddy and favorite run Disney weatherman Ryan Teets threw in the springtime surprise chat some historical data.
Speaker 3:So I'll compare and contrast that real quick. So our only two sellouts on day of recording were the 5k and the 10k uh. For the second year in a row, the 5k was the first thing to sell out um in 44 minutes, and then the second sellout of today was the 10k uh. So, as uh devin eloquently put in her facebook stories today on instagram uh, great job, millennials. We did a great job of selling out the hercules 10k, because I know we all love to go to distance uh. So that sold out in 103 minutes. But as of day of recording, the 10 miler, the challenge and yoga are all still available and when you look at historical data here, that isn't too too surprising. Because if you look at 2024, um, last year the only things to sell out day of were the 5k and the challenge, the uh. The 10k took two days and the 10 miler took 104 days. Wow. And then, and then the year before that, uh, in 2023, uh, the 5k sold out in 31 minutes. Then the challenge was at five days, the 10k was at six days and then the 10 miler was six months later. Wow, obviously you know a little difference with. You know the timing and when in terms of when the challenge sells out.
Speaker 3:But I mean, really it sounds like you know, when it comes to registering for this race, as long as you're like not if you're only wanting the 5k that's really the only race that you got to worry about, because if not, you have a fairly good puncher's chance of being able to get everything else and whether that's, you know.
Speaker 3:You know, maybe this is just a difficult time of year for you know, because it's so close to spring break and easter and passover and you know, and all those holidays that occur in the spring. Um, you know the fact that it's warmer down florida, you know, I, I know we all talked about the, the heat and the humidity that we dealt with last springtime surprise weekend, and also it's a more expensive time, uh, to go to disney compared to, say, marathon weekend or princess. So, um, you know, I know a lot of people have been championing this and I'm sure this will make john happy. Is you know if they're having? I mean, yes, they are selling it out, but they're not selling it out as quickly as other races. If they bring star wars back, I think that could could flip the script on that, but um with it.
Speaker 3:I think next year is the first anniversary year for Springtime Surprise, so maybe they'll throw the Star Wars fans a bone and maybe we'll go super quick. We'll just have to wait and see. But yeah. There's your data and historical data brought to you by everyone's favorite run Disney weatherman, Ryan Teets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, ryan. I appreciate you compiling that and I know you've been real helpful with us and we appreciate it. Um, I don't know if I mentioned it or not. I'm in for the challenge. I think I did say that. Uh, I I briefly considered 10k only, but I was swayed by one of my friends.
Speaker 3:Well, and and both lexi and jack who couldn't be here tonight. They are both also in for just the 10K, Okay.
Speaker 6:And I am stalking. I don't know if I'm going to pull the trigger on this or not. I have not planned, but who knows?
Speaker 1:Yeah the thing Can we ask our Patreons?
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, right Ask the. Patreons I like it. I like it, Alicia.
Speaker 6:That's good.
Speaker 2:The answer is yes. I was already told I should go. It has become, or it is becoming, a real farewell event. It's been. I know last year was really nice. I did not buy my Splash Party tickets yet, but I think I will. They're still open, bob. Yeah, it's expensive. I think it's going to be open until the day of the event. It probably will, but I mean I know I enjoyed it last year.
Speaker 6:Once Bob says he's going, it's going to sell out. You know that.
Speaker 2:That's very true.
Speaker 1:I think, besides the themes because I love the themes and that's a huge part of why I do the Run Disney races but that atmosphere that we had this year of like you said, bob, the farewell tour, of like it's the last race season or the last race of the season, um, is a big reason why I wanted to do this one again and why I'm so excited for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it was. It was really nice. It was really nice last year, yeah, for some reason more so than the year before. I don't know why, but it was nice and it's just lovely to see everybody. I enjoyed it. All right, hope you got in my friends. If you did, the race report has a spot now for you to put your name in there for the springtime surprise weekend, so we'll get a chance to see who's going.
Speaker 3:And I know if you are, you know, looking for specifically 5k and 10k bibs. You know, again, those are the only two that sold out. You know, the first thing I'll say is, even after it officially sold out, I saw the 10k opening off and on throughout the course of the entire day. So, um, yeah, you know, you know. So check out the team run disney website and their alert uh tools and such, you know, on various social media platforms to you know. Maybe, you know, grab one, um, you know, at the last minute and then I'm sure we'll get our uh charity spreadsheet, uh, updated. Know, and I know some charities will probably already have them on sale. Some will probably have theirs on sale in the next couple of weeks or so. But if you're clamoring for those two races, those are two avenues that you can definitely head towards.
Speaker 1:That's a good point, greg. I the races do tend to open back up and I actually know somebody that just got a marathon spot last week. So watching watching those does to open back up, and I actually know somebody that just got a marathon spot last week. So watching those. Does they do open? You have to be quick, but you can potentially get a spot back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there was a woman on the customized training call this morning who got in for goofy, so anything is possible, folks. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Hey, a big thank you. You mentioned the charity spreadsheet. A big thank you to our friend Mark, who keeps that up to date. Mark, who also keeps our training schedules up to date for us and posted, does a lot for us behind the scenes. We appreciate it. Training, tricking your training sheets it was a big weekend for training. It was the last long run if you're doing Disneyland Halloween, so a lot of us had 14 miles on there. Some of us who were doing the challenge had multiple days. It was also a relatively long run, I believe for marathon weekend. I think it was nine miles, but I saw I saw a lot of folks doing nine, 14, 17, and 20. So it was a. It was a big weekend for training. What do we got, gang? Any comments on training and how it's going right now?
Speaker 1:I have one, so my training plan is a little bit different than other people's, but I did 13 miles this weekend. Um, and it was really hot here in Minnesota. Um, it, I think, hit almost 90 degrees on Saturday when I was running. And, like you always say, bob, if it's hot where you are it's hot, absolutely A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:And I actually had to stop at 10 and a half miles and go home and get some water and cool down in the air conditioning and then go back out and finish. Not that my legs couldn't do it, but I just had to remind myself like it's better to go and cool off than have heat stroke or something like that. So just reminding our friends that it's OK if you need to take a small break and cool off in the air conditioning, because it is hot in in certain places.
Speaker 3:So yeah, but otherwise great job, yeah, uh, so chalk me up as one of those people that had 20 on uh, the training calendar last week and it was I, I don't know why. For some reason, when we get like anywhere over 17 on a training schedule, I'm always a nervous wreck the night before, and I don't know why. Because I have it in my head, I have it ingrained in my head, I have it in my head. I have it ingrained in my head and I know we talk about it on the podcast every week about when it comes to a long run forward. Momentum is a pace. You can't go too slow.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:It's all about the time on your feet. So I don't know why I get myself all whizzed out about all of this. But all that being said, though, once I got out there and got a couple of miles under my belt, I was completely fine. But the one thing, and kind of the advice that I wanted to impress upon people this week, is, when you are planning out your route, always make sure that there are some type of facilities on your route that will help you in the event that, god forbid, something were to go wrong. So, like Alicia, in your case you were nearby your house, you were able to go home.
Speaker 3:So I did an out and back on a large trail system here in suburban Philadelphia, and I noticed I mean, I had my hydration bladder filled up with two liters of Gatorade and by the time I got just past the half marathon mark, even though it wasn't too, too hot, my backpack felt a lot lighter than it did at the beginning of the race, and I was really nervous that I was almost out of liquid. So, thankfully, on my route um, you know, I had the opportunity. I could have gone into a target, I could have gone into a supermarket, but where I got lucky is there was a Wawa. So those of you in the Northeast you know a Wawa is, or in Florida or in Florida.
Speaker 3:Yep. So I was able to go in there and, you know, grab like the extra large cup and I filled it up with ice and I grabbed water and just kept filling up my bladder that way and then I was like I need some other type of fuel. So I got the Philly soft pretzel, so that was a nice change of texture, and salt to uh, to go along with, um, you know, with my training run, my training run. So you know, but again, if I didn't have something like that available to me, I, you know, my, my run could have went real south real fast. So again, you know, especially when you're going to do, you know, these longer distances, make sure you have those contingency plans.
Speaker 3:And I just gotta say, just like, overall in general, there's something really gratifying about hitting 20, like you know. It kind of like meant for me, like it mentally gives that idea that I mean, sure, when it comes to the marathon, I still got a 10k to go, but you know, it almost kind of gives you like a little bit of that confidence boost that will, if I can do this, then I can, I can do anything I can. You know, I can hit the marathon or whatever. So, um, now I'm totally in taper mode, heading into burden hand, and then we'll pick things uh back up uh in two weeks.
Speaker 6:But yeah, overall great training weekend yeah, greg, greg, when you hit that 20, it's like yep, I'm just seeing blizzard beach in the foreground oh, let's not bring up that parking lot please. I'm almost there. It's a 10K. We're almost done.
Speaker 2:There's something about a wall at 20 or 22 or so.
Speaker 5:That's very real.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is very real, but we'll talk about that later and no spoilers, friends. But if you stick with the plan, you will get past those walls and you'll get past those things and you'll be okay. I wanted to share some stuff. I was nursing what I was afraid was a hamstring problem and I was being a big baby this week Now I first tweaked that thing on Tuesday. I had Thursday, friday and Saturday on my training schedule. Thursday and Friday were walks, so I did those. Friday I managed. Thursday was three. Friday was six I managed to walk three, then do my gym workout, then walk another three. Saturday was 14 run-walk at long run pace. My hammy was feeling pretty good, so I walked the first mile, did an easy run-walk, the second mile, walked three and four, another easy one for five, and then I decided I want to get to the start line at the Disneyland half. So I'm not going to push this any further. I didn't have any real problems. I could feel it a little bit and I decided I was going to walk the rest of the way.
Speaker 2:Now I have learned and learned is the operative word here. I have learned to walk at a pretty good pace. Let me share some things with you. I am a tall person and there is an advantage to stride length, but it is nowhere near what you think it is. Vantage to stride length, but it is nowhere near what you think it is. When I set my watch to to record a walk, it tells me how many steps I've taken every mile. The average person takes about 2 000. Does that sound right to you guys? About 2,000 steps a mile? Probably. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I would say so because my Coros watch. When I specifically tell it to do a walk, it tracks it at half-mile increments. Sorry, let me rephrase that it doesn't do it at half-mile increments, it does it for every 1,000 steps. And usually I'm within a half a mile, so, yes, that makes a ton of sense.
Speaker 2:About 2,000 steps a mile. I think that's about average and that's the metric that you read. 8,000 steps about four miles. I'm at 1,960, something on average. So just a tiny bit less something on average. So just a tiny bit less. So there is a little bit of an advantage there.
Speaker 2:But, friends, to walk faster, the first thing you need to do is shorten your stride. Shorten your stride and increase your cadence. Much more important than lengthening your stride. You do not want to lengthen your stride, and I make the following analogy If I put you on a skateboard or rollerblades or something and gave you two sticks, one in each hand, then I pushed you and told you to stop. What would you do with those sticks? You'd put them out in front of you and stop that way. So if you're pushing your leg out in front of you, you're doing virtually the same thing and you're giving yourself more of an obstacle to overcome. You're putting on the brakes. So, step one shorten your stride and in shortening your stride, increase your cadence. And I'll talk about practicing that in just a minute.
Speaker 2:The second thing and I know you've probably been walking since you're one or so you probably got it down pretty well. But there's a part that when we go to walk at a quicker speed we kind of overlook and it's going to sound silly. Use your feet. Most of the time that we walk, we walk in a casual stride. Our foot gets behind our hip or to the back of our hip, where we're generating motion forward, and we just pick that foot up and put it in front of us. What you want to do is kind of picture yourself as that foot gets behind you, rolling off your heel onto the ball of your foot and pushing your knee forward. Push yourself forward when your foot gets to the back of your stride.
Speaker 2:The other thing you can do is your arms are going to move in conjunction with your legs. I hear some people saying, oh, move your arms real fast. That doesn't work. That's just going to make things tougher. Your arms are going to move with your legs. Let them do so naturally. If you need to do this to increase the cadence of your legs, let them do so naturally. If you need to do this to increase either cadence of your legs, you can shorten the your arms like a pendulum, okay, and you can shorten the length of that pendulum by bending your elbow at a 90 degree mark and keeping your arms up that way, which you do when you run anyway. So I can give you two words of advice Shorten your stride and increase your cadence. What's the best way to practice this? Just the way that the drills are set up for your run.
Speaker 2:Pick a day, pick one of your training days and, instead of running a cadence drill, walk it. So you go and walk the first. Let's do five 30-30 intervals of a walking cadence drill. Do the first one at a moderate pace, at whatever you're comfortable with. Don't push it. Go at a comfortable pace. Count how many times your left or right foot strikes the ground either one, but don't count them both. Just count one. Then ease off for 30 seconds.
Speaker 2:The next time, try to increase whatever that was, whether that number was and I'm going to make it up, there is no magic number. Let's say that number was 38. Go for 39 the next time. An iteration three. Go for 40 and each one try to increase it by one. So just use the cadence drill that we actually have a YouTube video on that Chris Twiggs explained for running. Use that cadence drill for walking. So those couple things increase your cadence. Push with your feet and, if you need to bend your elbows so you can move your arms faster, but let your don't try to drive your legs with your arms. Let your arms move and coordinate them with your legs. If you practice this, your your walking speed will increase. I like to tell people, as you're learning to do this, if you find that your gluteus maximus muscles are sore when you're done, you're probably doing it right because you're pushing with those muscles, that big muscle back there that you haven't done before. So that's my advice on how to walk a little bit faster. Let's let's stroll into a different topic then.
Speaker 2:Disneyland merch released this week the Halloween merchandise. I know I'm the only one going out there amongst the gang. I'll give you. You know, my typical yeah, it's okay. Yeah, Bobby, it's okay. Yeah, in this case, honestly, I looked at it and I went. I doubt I'll be buying any of this Now. I probably will get something, because I don't know if I'm going to be back at Disneyland anytime soon. So I'll probably bring some memento back, but I'm not sure. Alicia, what did you think?
Speaker 1:I liked the colors. I thought it was something different um than we've had before, but one thing I noticed was that I think almost everything had in big writing Halloween and I know that most of the things we can wear all of the time. But, um, you could still wear Halloween stuff if you wanted to. But just having the big letters of halloween I I personally, even though I'm not doing the races, I don't know if I would wear it as much as I would wear my other run disney merchandise that's a good point.
Speaker 3:You know, if ali was here right now, she'd tell you that any any day is part of spooky season and it'd be totally okay to wear halloween's my favorite holiday and I will will start wearing my Halloween scrubs and stuff starting on Sunday.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Wait, hold on. You didn't line up your Halloween scrubs with the release of Pumpkin Spice last week.
Speaker 1:I did not. No, but I ate a Pumpkin Spice cookie today from Jimmy John's, and that was delicious, I got you.
Speaker 2:Calm down, John. So I take it I don't need to make a list of things to bring back for you guys.
Speaker 3:No, I'm good, I'll let you know, Listen, I'm going to go with the Bob, it's nice.
Speaker 6:Or it could be like those guys that buy those big skeletons for Halloween and they're up there all year. Yeah, it's there.
Speaker 1:Well, and they don't always show us everything, so there might be some people that are not showing us that we're like whoa, that's so cool.
Speaker 6:That's true. So, the pass holders Well. The pass holders Well the pass holders. Well, you're not a real pass holder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they won't have pass holders. They'd be Magic Key or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's Magic Key Because they did show the shirt for that. That was my favorite piece of merchandise that they showed, but most people that are coming from the East Coast and other places aren't going to have the magic you pass.
Speaker 3:So yeah, now here's the thing if, in a stunning turn of events, um, you know, bob walks out with a massive bag of merchandise, becky, if you're listening, we'll need photographic evidence, uh, to prove. If you know bob's, you know double fisting. Uh, you know, disneyland bags full merch, you know, plus a lounge fly in ears. I'd love to see it.
Speaker 6:Becky's going to go. Bob needs this. Let's put it in the bag. Let me get three of them.
Speaker 2:That could happen. That could happen. Becky buys more stuff for me. I got it for you, okay, but that could happen. We'll see. But we'll be there together, we'll see how it goes. I could be wrong. I've changed my mind before, but I really wasn't excited by this. The medals, I think, are nice, the medals I was excited by. I'm looking forward to them. I get a coast-to-coast that's probably the least exciting of the medals, but I get one. So that's cool. But hey, I get one. So that's cool. But hey, I'll let you know next week.
Speaker 6:Okay, so you get to coast to coast this week, this weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I will.
Speaker 1:Because he did January and then he'll do that. Okay, there's two tracks, and that was one of the tracks.
Speaker 6:So if you did Disneyland and you do Marathon Weekend, this year you'll get a different one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are different ones. I'm getting whatever one, I get the same one that Bob's getting for that thing.
Speaker 6:But if you do the two in January and February it's the special medal. I guess right Could be.
Speaker 1:I believe so yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was different last year. We'll see what it is this year. Okay, well, that's enough Disney, that's enough Halloween merch. Hey, real quick before we get to, uh, our special guest for the week today, dave, recording August 27th 1964, 60 years ago today, significant day in Disney movie history, the movie Mary Poppins was released. So 60 years ago, you guys remember that no, I don't remember, bob.
Speaker 6:I was born in the 60s. I was not born in 64 I do remember it.
Speaker 2:I it was. It was to our generation what Frozen was about. Half a generation ago, Every kid in school, boy or girl didn't matter knew all the words to every song from Mary Poppins. And, as I'm fond of saying, 60 years later I can still say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards, which is docious, aliexpia stick fradricalarupus. I rest my case. I'm dropping the mic. Now let's visit with our special guest, Emmy Hartman's. Our guest this evening. Emmy is the marketing manager for Pigworks. That's right, Pigworks. What's Pigworks, you ask? Well, it's a race experience company. They aim to create fun sporting events for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds in the greater Cincinnati Ohio area. Pigworks events support charitable causes in the community. They partner with more than 250 charities and raise over a million dollars annually for their charity partners. We will talk a bit about what some of the more famous Pig Works activities are. Probably the most famous is the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon, but we'll get to that. Meanwhile, Emmy, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 4:Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. So let's see Emmy Pig Works and the Flying Pig Marathon. Let's start with this one. How did that name come about?
Speaker 4:Cincinnati, way back in the day, was a big hub for livestock commerce. A lot of people made their money selling pigs and livestock, to the point where the city was kind of known as porkopolis ah, yes yes, so pigs have always kind of been a thing, um.
Speaker 4:And then when the city's bicentennial came up, um, you know they were going to create this park and have you know sculptures and whatnot, and the designer, um, created these like flying pig statues as part of the installation. And it was very controversial. You were either for it or against it. So you know, flying pigs have just kind of been around and kind of stuck, and so that's where we get our name from, and what started as a flying pig has blossomed into the other races that our company does, and so that's where we kind of get tying in the pig to Pig Works as our sort of overall company name.
Speaker 2:Tell us about the other races.
Speaker 4:So in addition to the Flying Pig, we do the Queen Bee Half Marathon in Four Miler. That's coming up in october. Focused event. Men are welcome but it's more about the ladies. Um, and then throughout the year we have what we call the tql beer series. Um we have a 5k in march. Um with in conjunction with bach fest, which is a beer festival. Um we have the 50 West Mile. It's the Friday night one mile of Flying Pig Marathon and then in about three weeks we have our 14K 7K Brewery Run on Oktoberfest weekend. And then we also put on FC Cincinnati's three mile race. They're the professional soccer team here and it benefits their foundation. So we do a lot of the logistics and kind of marketing for that and we work with them and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, tql is a company that sponsors the beer series, but it goes with local breweries. That's another thing. Cincinnati is well known for large German population and a lot of great breweries in that area.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're very lucky. We get to partner with a lot of the different breweries and, you know, beer companies that are local to provide beer and other stuff, you know, at our events. So that's part of the fun. 50 West is a local brewing company and they sponsor the One Mile, but they have provided a lot of beer at other races as well. So it's just kind of fun to be able to work with a lot of. We tend to partner with a lot of local companies and small businesses as well, so that's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Well, you got a lot going on in the area. Well, you got a lot going on in the area. I want to talk about the flying pig specifically, but I'd like to talk a little bit more about you first. Now, friends who are listening know that we do not record these podcast episodes in order, so I'll give you a hint. You're going to hear from Emmy again later on in the episode and at that point I'm going to ask her how she got started in running. So I will pass up on that right now. But I am curious, emmy, how you got started, because you are a full-time employee of Pibb Works and your job is to work on these races. How did you get started with that?
Speaker 4:That's always one of the first questions people ask when I say like oh, I work for the pig, and they go full-time job Because people think that we only do the pig but we are responsible for majority of the major running events in the city. So but yeah, I started out in college working at the Western Southern Open it's now known as the Cincinnati Open, the professional tennis tournament up in Mason. So that's how I kind of got my start in sports and events and I worked there for three seasons so definitely got a lot of exposure and experience to kind of working at a professional sporting event level. From there I worked briefly at P&G as a contractor and then worked at one of our local TV news stations, tv news stations and throughout that I've been, I kept in touch with a lot of my colleagues that I met at the tournament.
Speaker 4:You know the sports world is actually fairly small and especially in Cincinnati, my former boss at the tournament kind of bounced around a little bit, got introduced to the folks at the pig and introduced me to them because he knew that I liked to run and he thought, hey, well, one day if you could get a job there that would be perfect. So I met with some of the pig staff, you know, fresh out of college. You know they didn't have any openings at the time. But you know, I was still working and doing other things and it came up that they needed help with their social media accounts in 2020. And I was supposed to start working with them, literally like the week the world shut down.
Speaker 4:And that got delayed a little bit, and so we got reconnected later in 2021, about February, March and so then I started working for them as a contractor. I was working my TV news station job. I was in the creative services department, so nothing on camera, just doing a lot of the promotional work for the station. And then they offered me a full-time job, and I took it because it was. And then, uh, they offered me a full-time job, um, and I took it cause it was. Uh, you know just where I wanted to be. Loved, my job at the TV station. But, um, this is more the type of role that I was looking for. So that's kind of how I got my start and how I got this job, Um, and I've been full-time for um, about two years now.
Speaker 2:I think it sounds like a smart move to me. How many full-time employees in the pig works?
Speaker 4:We have 10 to 12. And then supplemented by some contractors In the spring semesters. We have an army of interns and then an army of you know event day staff and thousands of volunteers. So that's how we get it going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can tell us more about that in a bit. So, but it's just a. It's a a small centralized group that goes year round, and then you add on as needed.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's, it's a small group. So you know, while I think a lot of people have the perception that maybe you know, these races are hugely staffed, got a lot of people and it's really like 10 people sitting around in conference room, being like I like that shirt color, or sometimes even a smaller, like three to four subgroup committee, you know, being like this is what we should do. So next time you think that there's like 20 people in a boardroom, it's probably three to four to 10 people sitting around going I like that one.
Speaker 2:So Alicia, we could do that. What do you think?
Speaker 1:I definitely think we could do that.
Speaker 2:OK, well, what are some of your responsibilities? Emmy, Okay, well, what are some of your?
Speaker 4:responsibilities, emmy. So as the marketing manager, I do all of our email marketing. So if you are subscribed to our newsletters, that's me. I send out all of our race day instructions, things like that. I run all the social media accounts. We have a different like account for each race brand, so I do all of that. I run all the social media accounts. We have a different like account for each race brand, so I do all of that.
Speaker 4:I run the website. I oversee our digital advertising. We do have an agency that helps us with that. I work with our PR agency. They also provide us with like photography and video support, so working with them on any projects.
Speaker 4:And then I do a fair amount of design work. We do have a designer that kind of comes up with like theme and artwork and then I take it from there to create social posts, graphics, emails, all that kind of stuff. But then I get to help design like medals and shirts and all that kind of stuff. So a little bit of everything. I kind of support each department as needed with any kind of like posters or design or just input on how something may look. And everyone on our staff has done a bunch of other races, but I would say I'm one of the more active ones, so anytime I go somewhere else, everyone wants to know like, oh, is there anything that we could do? You know so, and especially we all. We all travel to other expos to promote the pig, so we're always kind of also scouting. You know what's the latest and greatest.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so you're a part time spy. That's what you're telling us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense what you're telling us. Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense that you would learn from other events. I have no doubt that many, many events learn from the flying pig. All right, I'd like to talk a bit more specifically. I have mentioned this in other episodes, that we have the three world majors in this country Boston, new York, chicago. We all know about those. But then the next level of runs Big Sur out in California, grandmas up in Minnesota, honolulu, disney, the service marathons, marine Corps I always put Flying Pig right up there with all of those, but recently USA Today had another opinion, didn't they?
Speaker 4:Yes, the Flying Pig was voted the number one marathon in the country by the USA Today People's Choice Awards, reader's Choice Awards. So that was very, very exciting when that came out.
Speaker 2:I think New York was number two.
Speaker 4:I think I'm not sure they were definitely up there.
Speaker 2:I can't recall, but yeah, it was flying pig number one in the country. That's, that's impressive.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, um, I always say that people have a lot of pig passion. We've got a lot of dedicated supporters and people that return year after year, who travel, who come from other countries, and I just think that they receive like a really nice Midwest welcome and I think we just we just do it right. We treat people right, we do our best to create an inclusive environment. We have an event during Pig Weekend for literally any age, any ability. So I just think that people are really dedicated and really support us because they support our mission and the fact that we are a nonprofit. Like you said in your intro, we raise money for a lot of charities every single year. There's lots of ways that charities and nonprofits can raise money through our event rather than putting on their own race. So you know, we really do have a local and national impact when it comes to those charity dollars a local and national impact when it comes to those charity dollars.
Speaker 3:That's super, super exciting that you guys hold on to the number one spot. But let's dig into the weekend itself. I think probably what makes Flying Pig such an attractive race is you offer lots of different challenges because, as disney runners, you know we, you know we love a good challenge. You know a lot of us signed up for one today. Um, you know, could you explain to our listeners some of the challenges that flying pig does offer, not just the marathon itself?
Speaker 4:similar to other races and Disney. We offer multi-day race challenges. So if you do the okay, let me back up. Are you familiar with Skyline Chili?
Speaker 3:Yes, we are. That was going to be a follow-up question towards the end of the episode, but yes, Some of us more than others, but I think most of us are Okay so there's when you order at Skyline Some of us more than others, but I think most of us are Okay.
Speaker 4:So when you order at Skyline, if you order the cheese coney, the chili dog, it's called a three-way, and then if you have onions to it, it's a four-way, and then you can get extra cheese on your three-way or four-way. So our challenges are called the Skyline Chili three-way and four-way, with or without extra cheese. So if you do the 5K, 10K and half, that is the three-way. If you do the 5K, 10K full, that is our four-way, and then if you do the mile on Friday night, that's how you get your extra cheese.
Speaker 2:Extra cheese.
Speaker 4:Those are our challenges. The only thing that's how you get your extra cheese. So those are our challenges. Um, the only thing that's a little different is our five can 10 care on the same day. So you kind of do them um right after one another Um, and then our half and full run um concurrently. So you have to kind of pick one or the other Um, and then on top of that, if you do one flying pig race, doesn't matter, you can do the 5k, 10k, half full or marathon relay um and you do a queen bee event, you get the snout and stinger challenge medal I love the way you play with the name.
Speaker 4:That's fantastic yeah, we like a lot of puns and yeah, you know having fun with it.
Speaker 2:It's okay. I'm glad you explained to me the name and where it came from, the history in Cincinnati and all that. I figured it came out of somebody saying, yeah, I'll run a marathon when pigs fly, but maybe not. Let's get back to the race. We've talked before, obviously. We've talked before, obviously. One of the things you told me that might surprise runners who are interested in understanding how these things are put together is how much is decided at the last minute. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 4:yeah. So, and when I say last minute, I think I meant meant more like like something you might see posted on social media, like it doesn't matter really when might have been decided upon, like the day before. So there's a lot of things that we have to plan in advance, like our deadlines are slowly recovering from covid in terms of how early out we have to order things. But then you know there's some other you know logistical things that might have been decided that day, or you know 24 hours earlier. You know, because there's just there's so much that goes on, that sometimes you just kind of have to wait to the last minute, or there's some things that you just can't decide until. You just kind of have to wait to the last minute, or there's some things that you just can't decide until, um, you know you might be waiting on somebody else, another entity, um, so you just really have to roll with the punches and, um, be open to.
Speaker 4:You know all kinds of different solutions, because there's so many variables when it comes to putting on a race yeah um, that you know, you just kind of have to be prepared to kind of roll with the punches and go with the flow.
Speaker 2:What are some of the biggest challenges?
Speaker 4:I think the biggest challenge is part of it is that I think we all know that people just don't read, so you have to make things as simple as possible for everyone.
Speaker 2:You have to say it a hundred times, yeah.
Speaker 4:And so anytime you make a change from the way things have been, you know you really have to like over communicate Anytime there's any sort of change in plan. You just really have to make it simple. You know, especially for new, first timetime runners, when they go to an event like that's, it's an overwhelming amount of information sometimes the logistics to get to the expo, to then at the expo you get your packet and then you get your shirt and then you know whatever else we might be giving you and then to get there on race day and do the race and then get all your stuff. And so you really do have to make it as simple as possible, because not everyone is going to be that person that wants to read all of that or, you know, kind of do your own research. So that is one.
Speaker 4:I think we're really blessed as an organization that the city is very kind to us and our police and medical and fire really work hand in hand with us. I know something that helps us is that we pull from because the race is kind of spread out throughout the city. We can kind of pull from multiple departments, whereas like other races that are more centralized, maybe in the like the downtown area. You know that's a heavier police burden on that, those precincts. So we're lucky that we have so many great, you know, police captains, police organizations that will work well with us to make sure we have what we need. So that can. That can be an obstacle, but luckily for us it's not. Um, the big one is obviously the weather.
Speaker 4:Um, yeah, not much you can do there yes, but again, this is one of those things where you kind of have to roll with the punches and just be prepared for whatever comes your way. Um, you know, pack your raincoat, pack your shoes, pack sunscreen, pack your hat. You know all that May in.
Speaker 2:Cincinnati, I would think you can get. You could even get cold still in May, couldn't you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's spring in Cincinnati can sometimes feel like winter still, so it really just depends. We were really hot this year.
Speaker 3:The year before that it rained it rained, I would say wasn't there like a massive flooding issue a couple of years ago yeah, so like two years ago, um, it stormed during like the very first part of the race.
Speaker 4:It was far away, but we got like a lot of massive rain and, um, specifically on the bridges, so people were running through a lot of water but um, oh, okay, water collected in the in the middle, yeah, yeah, so, um, you know that's a challenge, um, but you know that we've had.
Speaker 4:There was one year this was before my time but there was a fire somewhere along the course. They had to divert runners, um you know, and had to communicate with Boston. Here's how we're going to correct people's times. You know, um, that kind of stuff. So you know anything can happen and you just kind of have to be ready to to work with it and not against it yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2:You're a major qualifier for Boston, I'm sure.
Speaker 4:Yep, yeah 26 miles through a major qualifier for Boston, I'm sure.
Speaker 6:Yep, you got 26 miles through a major city. Things happen, do you guys have like, and there's construction projects that might happen that might get not completed on time. Do you have alternate course routes for these kinds of events?
Speaker 4:So our operations team works pretty closely to make sure that they stay in the know as far as construction things that are going on that may impact us. You know, for upcoming race for the Queen Bee there's construction on the main road that we finish on and we've been told that we will have at least three of the four lanes or you know whatever it is, but you know. So you know our ops team does a great job of just making sure that we are on top of knowing those things and then you know, acting accordingly. So coming up with you know a different route or hey, we'll have to go around the block this way. You know they do a great job. So I wouldn't say that that's ever like a surprise, because we just try to stay on top of it.
Speaker 2:Most of the time you have this core group of 10 to 12 folks, but it gets close to race time you get a lot bigger. Now not counting people handing out water, et cetera. What are the challenges? Handing out water, et cetera, what are the challenges? And even like even including those, the volunteers what are the challenges of going from a small group to I don't know how many you end up with?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we have, um, I'd say like four or five folks that um kind of add on to our full-time staff that help us out mostly operationally. So we have a person that helps run the expo because that way that person can like stay there. You know, because our expo is two days it's Friday and Saturday but we're all at the race site on Saturday so you need someone to, you know, be be hold down the base at the expo. We have, you know, kind of an operations logistics crew that comes in. We have, you know, a sustainability coordinator who helps. She man's her own group of people to help with the recycling and the trash sorting and and all that kind of stuff. You know we have our PR agency that comes in and does a lot of heavy lifting, you know, with interviews and talking to the, you know, the TV news stations and things like that.
Speaker 4:So, and then with our volunteers, and I found this is kind of how I think a lot of races probably do this, or at least a lot of organizations that use volunteers. You kind of have your we call them key volunteers. So they are kind of different experts in different areas, so they kind of oversee operations in a very specific kind of subgroup manner and then they are the ones in charge of the other volunteers. So you have our expo key volunteers who are in charge of checking in the groups, taking them to where they're supposed to be, showing them how to hand out a shirt, check it off on the envelope, all that kind of stuff our folks out on the course. We have, I think, about two training sessions with the leaders to kind of explain the responsibilities and what to do and how to do it.
Speaker 4:So it really does take a whole village to put on these things, but we have you know, our key volunteers, who are very dedicated, who have most likely volunteered for several years or since the beginning, before becoming a key volunteer, and they are kind of their own little like sub experts.
Speaker 3:So I mean to build off of everything that you just said about. You know the, the expert, volunteers and such. Obviously you have your role within the organization, but as it gets closer and closer to, you know race day or or, in this case, race weekend. Are you then required to wear multiple hats? You know not just your specific role, like you know, are you part of, like, you know like a committee or something like that that you know makes you know vital decisions on like day of, or or you know makes you know vital decisions on like day of, or, or you know over the course of the entire race weekend yeah.
Speaker 4:So, um, our uh ceo and ceos like to tell everyone you know the staffing that we have before pig weekend that your job description kind of fades away the last week and during race week. Now I still have my primary responsibilities of, like social media and you know, responding to questions, monitoring what people are saying, just saying kind of getting a pulse on what's going on online. But specifically, like at the expo, you know, I go around, do my content thing for an hour or two the first day and then I'm slinging shirts, handing out posters, just doing whatever needs to be done In case a volunteer group cancels doesn't bring the number of people they said they would. You know there's those things that happen, but it's fun to interact with people. People are very excited and you know you can answer their questions. So that's typically what happens.
Speaker 4:I would say there's not a lot that needs to be decided upon, unless there's a weather or an emergency situation. I am the one who disseminates all that out to people. So you know I might not always be involved in that decision, but I'm the one who then has to communicate that.
Speaker 2:So Very important yeah, very important part of the operation there.
Speaker 4:And putting out on social Um, so I definitely have to be around and ready Um. But other than that um, as long as, like, my social media duties are being fulfilled and whatnot, then I kind of just help where is needed Um, because you never know what, what the day is going to bring.
Speaker 2:Absolutely All right. You're talking to a bunch of runners and all we do is show up and run. We haven't been involved in this before. Give us a peek behind the scenes what what do you think would surprise us to most to learn about in organizing a major world-class event like the flying pig marathon?
Speaker 4:kind of whatever I alluded to earlier about it just being a small group of people deciding because that's literally what it is our designer for a lot of like the merchandise and race shirts and stuff like that provide us options and then we kind of give feedback. But again, it's just us. You know, we're not the people that are really going to end up wearing it. So we try to do our best to kind of put on our participant hat. And if, if I was doing this race, you know what would I want and sometimes I get to make the changes or tweak things. But you know, it really is just a small group of people, you know.
Speaker 4:I know there are some other races that are very open about the fact that it's two people, you know, putting on the race. But I think the pig, because of its reputation, makes it seem so much bigger than it actually is. But yeah, I just think. Yeah, it's really just like sometimes three or four people saying that poster is good. Or you know, you know, for the Queen Bee, for example, we partner with Sweaty Bands. They've been at the Disney Expos, they're based in Cincinnati and so everyone gets the half marathoners get a Sweaty Band, a custom Sweaty Band and they made some designs and then I tweaked them and whatnot, and then we're done. You know it was like three points.
Speaker 4:We like that one. Um, I just think that people would be surprised also like how early we have to order things, like we've already picked out the shirt colors for the pig, like last month. So you know, and we're what?
Speaker 4:less than three months, you know a little over yeah, past right, the current one yeah um yeah, you got about eight months until the next one yeah, and we're picking out, like the um at the flying pig, the sunday participants get a premium bag or premium item and we're evaluating those samples right now because we have to decide right now, um, so there's a lot of things that we have to turn around and decide right away, um, and then there's other things of things that we have to turn around and decide right away, and then there's other things that can kind of wait a little bit longer.
Speaker 4:But, yeah, like we just had to order our queen bee bibs and those designs do not exist until like last week. So you know, there's some things that are you know last minute, some things that are really far out. So that sort of like COVID logistical problem is not completely gone either. So it is really real. And it was much more real back closer to 21, 22. So, yeah, it was definitely hard to get some things where you had to order them so far in advance. Um, that really made it difficult.
Speaker 6:Okay, so for the number one marathon in America now. Uh, how hard is it to get into the flying pig. Is it a? Is it a straight registration? Is it a lottery? Or how do we get into this race?
Speaker 4:It's straight registration, um, so you could sign up right now. Um, I would say that you know, while like it, we have high demand. I just think that, um, we try to accommodate as many people as possible. So, um, when we sold out, I think two years ago, we actually worked with suppliers to say like, hey, can we get more metals, can we get more shirts, like whatever it was, and we were able to open up more spots. So we really do try to accommodate as many people as possible. So the earlier things sell out, the easier it is for us to do that, because there's typically a deadline to get something on a boat which is cheaper, and then a deadline to get something on a plane. So, yeah, we tend to like order things as an estimate and then, once we get closer to that plane shipping date, then you can add on to your order, um, as demand. You know, ramps up.
Speaker 2:Have you run this event before Emmy?
Speaker 4:Yes, I ran the pig in the full in 2018. It was my first full, and then I ran the half course in 2019. And then I've done, um, I did. We have a dog race called the flying fur. Um, and I did that with my dog, I think also in 2018.
Speaker 2:So you've been with the pig, you've run it you and, of course, pig works. You have other races. You got any favorite stories about the race, anything entertaining that happened or anything that has stuck with you over the last couple of years.
Speaker 4:I will say, the year that it rained, I was hanging out in our media center waiting for the half winners to come down the pike and one of our local TV stations actually does a full broadcast coverage. So I was listening to the coverage and they're like oh, the lead half marathon winner is five, 10 minutes away, or whatever. So I'm like okay, I should go outside and go outside, look at the finish line. I'm staring down the road and the like balloon towers that were supposed to be like at the finish line were delivered under um, there's a bridge right before the finish and they were sitting across the road and had moved them because it was raining and it was storming and I was like, well, that's a problem, so sprinted out there in the rain to, you know, move those.
Speaker 4:And a couple other people saw what I was doing, kind of joined me. But that's just one of those things of like, well, someone's got to do it, you know, and I'm the one who sees it. So there's the people that you interact with. You know, at the expo, you know this happened a couple of times, where people drop, you know, their packet or whatever, and you just go over and say, oh, hey, I think you dropped this and they're like, oh, my gosh, I'm just so nervous. You know, thank you so much, you know, and you just kind of give them a hug and you know say, you know, you're gonna have a great time. You know, good luck. No-transcript. They, you know, just need someone to come hand them a bottle of water, you know. So just getting to see that is pretty, pretty memorable and pretty special.
Speaker 2:Good stuff.
Speaker 6:I know me and Bob will get this reference. Is there a flying turkey in Cincinnati? There should be, I guess you're a little too young for that one, I guess.
Speaker 2:Emmy, you don't remember WKRP in Cincinnati?
Speaker 4:Okay, I've heard a lot of stories.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:The chicken wedding.
Speaker 2:With God as my witness. I thought turkeys could fly.
Speaker 6:It's one of the funniest episodes in TV history in any sitcom in television history? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's set in Cincinnati, emmy, come on, you should know that. I mean, it wasn't like they filmed it in Hollywood? Oh wait, yes, they did Bob.
Speaker 6:it was 1978. So I think it's a little bit before that.
Speaker 2:It was well before this time, I know it is, so I think it's a little bit before time. It's well before this time, I know it is. That's a good reference though. Well, emmy, as we wrap up here, how about telling folks how they can register for the Flying Pig or any one of the Pig Works races?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so if you go to flyingpigmarathoncom, that'll take you to our website and it has all of our events listed out so kind of by category. That'll take you to our website and it has all of our events listed out so kind of by category. So Flying Pig, Queen Bee, Beer Series, FC3. And from there you can register. Registration is open for all of our events currently, so go check them out.
Speaker 2:My friend, thank you so much for giving us a little peek behind the curtain. We appreciate you taking the time with us Friends. We're going to hear from Emmy again in just a little peek behind the curtain. We appreciate you taking the time with us, friends. We're going to hear from Emmy again in just a little bit. She did a marathon just a week or two ago. She's going to tell us about that in the race report. But in the meantime, emmy thanks and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 4:Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2:I appreciate Emmy spending the time with us and, as I said, we're going to hear from her again in just a few minutes. Hey, 101 Dalmatians. Reminder those shirts are still available. The link is pinned to the top of the Facebook group. We hope you'll get a chance to join us for that. Hope you'll get a chance to join us for that. We're going to chat with Alec from Kauai and Pizza Apparel next week, along with some other friends, so she'll tell us what the last date is for that and how you can get your Dalmatian shirt or any other piece of Kauai apparel apparel that you would like.
Speaker 6:Okay, talking about the shop and apparel, uh, the pre-sale is over, but I know the visors went really well, that which are in stock. I think there's like two left right now, but we have more visors coming in. Uh, we're going to order some extra headbands for people that didn't get their chance to get them and extra shirts for both the race weekends and the clock logo shirt, so they should be coming in. We're going to be placing the order this week and hopefully by October 1st they'll be shipping them out to you and stuff back in stock on the store.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm excited about it. It's a local vendor here in Clearwater, Florida, so when they're ready we can go pick them up and get them out pretty fast. Judy's been doing a real nice job with that. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3:And as we've alluded to several times on this week's podcast, we are incredibly excited for Bob and all of our other friends who are heading out to Anaheim, california, next week for the inaugural Disneyland half marathon weekend. But if you are running that race and your name is not on our race report document, make sure that you go ahead and add your name, because we will be doing the famous rise and run roll call, so we want to make sure that your name is included. The race report is pinned to the top of our Facebook page.
Speaker 3:I think you just have to go like almost all the way to the right through all the links and everything like that, but it is there, so make sure to get your name on there so we can say your name next week yeah, it is all the way to the right.
Speaker 2:You are correct, and folks have been adding or asking me to add, and that's okay too. You can go in there and ask me that I'll be happy to do it. But yep, it's fun, isn't it, greg, going through the roll call. It's a real hoot. Now what I try to do is memorize all the names so that I can greet every get out. Who am I kidding? All right, um, let's see. We got a meetup scheduled out there in Anaheim, disneyland meetup Saturday 3 PM. Hope to see you there.
Speaker 2:The location is part of the announcement on the Facebook group. It's a picnic area. I believe it is in downtown Disney, close to the Magic Kingdom entrance. Everybody keeps telling me yeah, that's it, and there's a nice Alan and uh and Kelly and others have helped by circling on the map where things are, so they're quite confident. Abel knows where it is, so find one of them, because I don't know where it is, but I'll try to find out real soon. Okay, let's see here. What do we got coming up? Oh, one more announcement, quick. I haven't talked about this for a while. I am an ambassador for a product called Run Gum. We will try to get one of the run gum reps on here in another couple of weeks, but I'll have some run gum available with me to share with you when we're out at Disneyland. So look for me, it's a caffeinated gum. I genuinely honestly do use it. I think it's worthwhile. You're welcome to try it and if you find me, I'll try to get you some.
Speaker 2:Next week, the Council of Costumes returns. This should be interesting. A lot of us are traveling, are on our way out to California, but we'll do the best we can. We have some new names, new faces on the Council of Costumes. The following week we'll have race recaps, disneyland and Bird in Hand. Three weeks from now, jeff Galloway is back with us. Always enjoy talking with Jeff. I want to get, of course, jeff's insight and help on training, but I also want to get his observations on the recently completed Olympics, because once an Olympian, always an Olympian, and Jeff has some wonderful stories about the Olympics. John, I think we've got a couple of reviews. You want to give us one or two of those?
Speaker 6:This was a long one, but I'll give it to you right now. All right, the Perfect Podcast for Run Disney Runners. That's pretty short, john. That's really short, oh you haven't started.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's just the title. Oh okay, Go ahead yeah.
Speaker 6:My eyes are sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Go ahead by Abel runs Disney. So when I yeah, I know when Walt Disney World Half Marathon, my first run Disney event, I crossed the finish line, struggling and hurting. I really enjoyed all aspects of the weekend but regretted my lack of training and preparation. I decided that I needed to do this again but would go more prepared. I searched for podcasts that talk Disney and running and found the Run Disney Run Podcast, the Rise and Run Podcast. Sorry, Thank you.
Speaker 2:You'd think he'd know the name by now, wouldn't you, Greg?
Speaker 6:I don't know I'm looking at the line below. I didn't know what to expect when I turned on episode 90 in June of 2023, but I was immediately drawn into the group's connection with each other and their love for Disney and running at Disney. I wholeheartedly gave them the highest rating as they are essential listening for run Disney fans and even for the non-Disney runners. All six of the current hosts bring their personalities and viewpoints to this show, which is what makes this show so relatable to a large audience. They offer great suggestions from training, fueling and gear recommendation. They provide a platform for amazing guests and the gang honors their community by sharing list their race accomplishments weekly. Their shows and their Rise and Run community have helped me complete so many challenges and continue to inspire and encourage me to accomplish so much more. Whether you're a Run Disney veteran or someone just learning about these runs, rise and Run is your must-add to your podcast rotation. You won't be disappointed.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, kind stranger able runs a Disney. Whoever you happen to be, I look forward to seeing you, stranger, in a couple of days. Of course we know and appreciate able. He's one of our Patreons.
Speaker 3:Oh, we just got an intro from able and I know we're not going to be able to play it for the next couple of weeks, but it's probably it's one of the most epic intros we have ever gotten.
Speaker 3:So you, you folks, are in for a real treat coming up. And also, speaking of abel, just a big shout out to abel even though I wasn't super stressing about springtime surprise registration, uh, my brother hooked me up with a shorter link time, uh, than what I was going with. So, abel, thank, thank you so much for helping me out today during registration. You're an awesome gentleman, a gentleman, a scholar and a true friend. So thank you, bud.
Speaker 2:And yeah, and thanks to everyone who contributes these reviews. I read an article we used to when we first started. We thought that the more five-star reviews you had, the better you'd do in the Apple world of recommendations, and I eventually found out that that wasn't necessarily true. However, people who do research the show and want to look through and maybe haven't heard us before and want to learn a little about it, reading the reviews is very, very helpful and we genuinely appreciate it. I know we've got more the reviews. It's very, very helpful and we genuinely appreciate it. I know we've got more, but I think that's good for now. We'll get some more later on. Thank you all, very, very much. All right, I do believe that it's time for the Race Report.
Speaker 2:The Race Report's brought to you by our friend, tom Stokes. Stoked Metabolic Training, stokesfit, slash, rise and Run Coaching is the website. As usual, I will direct you to the pinned featured section of the Facebook group page we talked last week. Tom has a couple of new training tiers that he's offering. He's offering nice discounts to the first 20 Rise and Runners who register for one of those tiers. If you're registering for the Accelerate tier Rise, accelerate is the code for $20 off. I'm sorry, rise Foundations. Foundations is the basic tier. That's the one you get $20 off. Rise Foundations is the code for that. Accelerate is the second level. Rise Accelerate is the code there. $50 off, and then there's already. His premium tier is already discounted. If that's confusing, hang on. Another week Tom will be with us to explain it all much better Than I just did.
Speaker 2:Friends, let's start out this race report by going back a couple of weeks To the Olympic Games in Paris, where they had, to my knowledge, the first time ever, an opportunity for just plain folks to run the marathon course While the Olympics was going on. How cool is that? Well, we're going to find out, because we've got three guests with us this evening, one of whom you've already heard from, and two others who are here with us. Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast, julia. Hello, heather Hi, and welcome back. Emmy. Hello, thanks for joining, and welcome back, emmy, hello.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining or rejoining us. I'm excited to hear about this. We had to wait a little bit till everybody got home and got settled, and I am so grateful that you carved out some time for us, so let's take some time and talk about it. I would like, please, to start to get to know a little bit about you, as we typically do, and I would like to know, julia, I'll start with you how did you get started in running?
Speaker 7:So I was never a runner growing up. I was always somehow mysteriously sick in gym class when we had to run a mile.
Speaker 5:It was the weirdest thing.
Speaker 2:That's funny, how that happens.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's so weird, so weird. So in about 2016, the summer of 2016, I had a friend who was signing up for the Pittsburgh full marathon, was doing it for charity and raising money, and at that point in time I said you know, I'm kind of bored, Maybe I'll just sign up for the half. And at that point in time I had never run. I couldn't even run a block, let alone a mile. It took me about eight months to work up to that first half marathon finish, it cross that finish line and I think the rest is history.
Speaker 7:Now I've got 17 full marathons and 35 half marathons under my belt and I've got a couple more on the docket. I'm training for my fifth dopey, my first 50k. So I just have fallen in love with it and it's really given me such a great you know hobby to keep me healthy. I've met a lot of friends. I'm a part of a run club in Pittsburgh, so it's really just given me so much and I absolutely am grateful for that first day that I decided to sign up without knowing what I was getting myself into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nicely done, Heather. How about you? How did you get started?
Speaker 5:So I actually ran in high school. I ran cross country and I have no idea how many 5Ks I have done over the years.
Speaker 5:Gotcha right, yeah, and then got into running some halves I guess my senior year of high school. And then got into running some halves I guess my senior year of high school and then kind of took a break in college, got back into distance running about four years ago. So I started running Disney about I guess in 2023 was my first run Disney race and just kept on. Have kept on going since cool, cool emmy.
Speaker 2:How about you please?
Speaker 4:um. So I grew up playing a lot of different sports, um, including running track, like an elementary school, nothing crazy, um. And then I've always just remained active. I did marching band in color guard in high school and college and then my senior year of college I ran my first half marathon at Disneyland, did the Avengers half marathon and the challenge so, and just kept running ever since. I was out there for a college program, not for a Disney college program, just like an internship program for my school, and had the opportunity to do it. So that was kind of like a fun goal to have while I was out there. But yeah, I've done five full marathons now, lots of halves, lots of 10Ks, 5ks, three dopies. So just have kind of stuck with it ever since.
Speaker 2:Very good. I think it's fun to talk to our friends and learn how they got started, and it's just interesting, thanks.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about what led you to go out to Paris. First of all, and as you were making your preparations, when and how did this race factor into the decision, you know, to attend the games and then also, you know, then you'll get you over the hump then to to participate in this as well. So, um, I mean, why don't we start with you this time?
Speaker 4:so my mom actually is the one who heard about the marathon, for all um, she had read that they were not, that they announced it and they were planning to do this, and so she's the one who signed up for the app first, cause you had to, you had to um download this app and connect it to your um tracker of choice and complete all these like running challenges. So I did it too, and that's how you could um earn entries to win your spot at the race. So we kind of did it together, and you know, when you're training for other races, it was very easy to kind of complete these challenges. And so I didn't find out that I got into the race until February of this year and about maybe a month or so later my mom found out that she got in, but she requested to do the 10K instead because of the time limit. There is a six-hour time limit to the race.
Speaker 4:So my mom and I and my dad, we all went over specifically and only because of the race. We weren't going to go to the Olympics at all, we weren't planning on it, we were only going to go because of the race, and people had started finding out that they got in in November or so of last year and so we figured that we hadn't gotten in, so we weren't planning on it at all. But when the opportunity came up we were like, well, now we have to go.
Speaker 3:Yeah Now, were you able to watch any events while you were there, or did you just? Everything was just strictly running the race.
Speaker 4:We didn't go to any events. I mean, we walked around the sites, you know the a lot of the arenas and venues and things were right in central Paris so you could walk around and kind of see it from afar. But we didn't attend any of the games, mostly just kind of focused on being rested and relaxed for the race.
Speaker 3:Of course, of course, Heather. How about you?
Speaker 5:So I also had done challenges over, I think, since I started training for my first marathon, which was the Atlanta marathon in February of 2023. So I downloaded the app and was just like, okay, while I'm doing all this mileage, I might as well try to get one of these bibs, because how cool would that be. Do this race. And I actually did not get in to the marathon until June of this year.
Speaker 2:It was on global Wow.
Speaker 5:Actually believe it or not, and at that point I had totally just given up any thoughts of this happening.
Speaker 5:But I woke up that morning and had an email from the Marathon for All and it wasn't like abnormal to get emails from them because they were constantly sending us info about like signing up for more challenges, doing the virtual race. They were putting together stuff like that. So I didn't really think anything of it, didn't open it even until later that night. I just decided to click on it and it was all in French, so I had to click my little button on Google Chrome and then it had said just congratulations, like you've earned a bib for the marathon. And I was just so in awe I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this. So kind of was like is this even feasible to do at this point? You know I've been running but I haven't been marathon training how much does it cost to get over there, all of those logistics? But just kind of ultimately decided this is not something I will be okay saying no to now that I'm here.
Speaker 5:So I started planning the trip and my husband was not going to be able to go with me because of his work schedule. So I called good old dad and he said I'll go over with you and we flew over on Wednesday before the race. So we landed Thursday morning and we did go see a few events. We went to wrestling on Friday that was one of the events he loves and he saw the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. So it was kind of a cool dual timeline to see it in 2024, so many years later with me.
Speaker 5:And then we also got up and watched the men's marathon Saturday morning. It was kind of close to where we were staying because I had wanted to stay really close to the finish line. Close to where we were staying, because I had wanted to stay really close to the finish line. So we got up and watched that, which was such a blast to see. I was looking at the guys running in. It was probably about like the 40 kilometer mark, so you're almost done. And just imagining oh my gosh, I'm going to be running there in a few hours really got me teared up.
Speaker 5:And I was like I hope I feel good at this point, but you know what? It'll be almost over. So that was super inspirational. And then we also ended up going to the closing ceremonies on Sunday, so got to fit in a lot of good stuff, and I felt like it all was super easy to get to, the city was super welcoming to us and we were able to plan all of that on pretty short notice. So I have nothing but good things to say about it, nice.
Speaker 3:And Julia, what's your story in relation to this?
Speaker 7:Sure. So I had heard about the Marathon Portou, probably about two years ago, I think. I saw it in one of my Facebook groups and thought, hey, that looks interesting. Downloaded the app, started doing some of the challenges. In the meantime, I actually got a bib to Tokyo for this year's race in 2014.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm so jealous.
Speaker 7:Taking two weeks to go over there. So I kind of set it and forget it. I didn't really keep up with any of the challenges. But there was a second way to get in. If you weren't drawn in an individual challenge, if you accumulated a million points, then you would be entered into a lottery and they would choose other people from that pool. A lottery, and they would choose other people from that pool. So I got my email, probably late February, and I said I have to do this. I absolutely have to do this. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Speaker 7:I love the Olympics. I have been glued to it for the entirety of the games, have it on all the time and telling all of my friends, explaining all of the events to them. So I went over Thursday night into Friday morning before the race and it was just nonstop from there. I met up with a friend for lunch as soon as I dropped my stuff at the hotel. I went to the Friday night track session so I got to see the women's 10K and the men's 400 meter hurdles and all of the 100 meter relays, which was amazing.
Speaker 7:The energy was just absolutely insane, unlike anything I've ever experienced. Got a couple hours of sleep, had tickets for the grandstand of the men's marathon, went to a meetup with a group of people from one of my other Facebook groups, took like a two hour nap, ran the marathon. Took another one hour nap spectated the women's marathon, went to the closing ceremony, so I was trying to fit everything that I possibly could in, and then on Monday I did all of the touristy things and came home on Tuesday. So it was a whirlwind, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and just absolutely amazing. I can't stop smiling every time I think about it.
Speaker 2:We're going to hear a little more, but I'm so excited that all three of you got an opportunity And've all said the same thing once in a lifetime chance, and that's fantastic.
Speaker 6:The race, so I guess it started late at night. I get like, uh, and how is that? How was the course support? Was it the same? I guess, as you can see on the TV, for the men's and women's marathon, let's start in reverse. Let's go with Julia.
Speaker 7:So it was electric. Actually, watching back the broadcast, I think that we had more people out cheering for us starting at 9 pm than the men and women did who were the actual Olympians.
Speaker 7:Wow it was completely unreal. You're starting at 9 o'clock and just the streets are lined. You feel like a rock star. I had on a USA tank top and everyone was just screaming USA the entire time by, you know, by the kilometer 40. I was like USA is tired, usa wants to go to bed. It was so uplifting and you got to run, you know, past the Louvre and past the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 7:Now I will say that those hills were the worst hills I've ever experienced. So I know hills they were. They were brutal, which is how the course kept being talked about. But I think you know we were all in it together, we were all shuffling up that hill and what you may or may not have seen is the second hill, which is the large, very steep hill. You go up it and then you have to come down it, equally as steep on the way down. So you're kind of tiptoeing all the way down this hill. But after you made it through that, you kind of got your reward and it was pretty flat for the rest of it. But just to be able to run the same course as the Olympians during the Olympics was just absolutely so amazing that you know it outweighed any ill feelings I have toward those hills right now.
Speaker 5:I thought the crowd support was amazing. I started in the very last start wave, so I did not start until 1010. And for me I thought that was great. I mean I didn't have a problem with it, but it was still full on the whole way. The whole way there were people cheering. But at the start, um, it was almost overwhelming to me how loud everyone was, and this was definitely the biggest marathon I've ever done as far as crowd support.
Speaker 5:Um and I I think I ran like the first two miles with no headphones on, cause I was just like I'm going to be too overwhelmed, too stimulated to even listen to music. But then, you know, I eventually kind of plugged in my playlist I had made that was all things Paris, all things Olympics in France. So you know, I had some Disney hits on there, hunchback of Notre Dame, I had Aristocats, I had um Les Mis, I had, uh, phantom of the Opera, kind of timed for when we would go around the opera house. So all of that was really fun to kind of listen to as we went um on the course. And I think it was really cool when we ran through um the, I think outside of the Louvre, in the Tuileries Garden. That's where the Olympic flame was up in that hot air balloon and you could see it lit up. So that was really just inspirational.
Speaker 5:And I knew that this race was going to be very challenging. And this was only my third marathon. So the first one I had done was Atlanta. The second one was Disney, and for this one I knew I did not want to go out too fast because I wanted to enjoy it. And I didn't want to.
Speaker 5:You know, I didn't have any expectations for this race other than just enjoy it. Um, so my strategy was to kind of just go easy the first half, you know, kind of try to hit, like, um, a two and a half hour mark, which would be moving, but stressing myself out for me. And then, um, I knew kind of the third 10 K portion of the race is where all those hills were. So, um, I got to that point and kind of the third 10K portion of the race is where all those hills were. So I got to that point and kind of looked at my watch, looked at what was going on, and I was like, oh, my goodness, if I keep going, you know, if I can kind of keep hitting some paces, I can get a PR, so a very different race at that point.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 5:I don't want to say less fun, but more competitive for me. So, um, I I was able to do that. I felt really great. You know, sometimes you have those races where you're like in the zone and just wanted to keep, keep picking up the pace. So, uh, I was able to do that. It was great. One of my favorite parts was running by the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 5:at the end you got to go like right on that road right in front of it and it would sparkle and have the rings on it and the crowd support was still great. You know, people could see your name on your bib if you were kind of close enough, and so, um, people would, you know, cheer for me by name and say go Heather, and um, I loved it. I was definitely super tired by the end, could not feel my legs, was in the pain cave, but I was like it's okay, it's worth it, all these other people can do it. So, yeah, I, I loved it, had a great time.
Speaker 2:That's wonderful.
Speaker 4:All right, I was also in the last start group so um, definitely had a very late start after 10 o'clock, but um, so I do more of like a walk run, but I ran like the first two miles. But once I started my um, my walk run portion, I used like a little one of those little timers and I had to hold it in my hand to feel the vibration.
Speaker 2:I couldn't hear it loud.
Speaker 4:Wow I couldn't tell, like I couldn't feel it, I couldn't hear it. I mean, it was just like everyone else said, like it was. The crowd support was overwhelming. Um, when we were still in that central Paris area and even all the way out to Versailles, there were still lots of people out. There's a party, like right outside of Versailles. They had all these different little like spectating areas to kind of encourage people. I got to see my dad at one of them before we headed out to Versailles, so that was great. You know, I had friends tracking me so that I was getting my texts on my watch, and they're like oh, you're almost, you're this far way to go, so that was really fun.
Speaker 4:Um, and you know, I'm a slow, I'm more of a slower runner with the walk running. So, um, I would say, though, at some point I think the spectators turned from like people who were there on purpose to people who were maybe coming home from the bar and stumbled on what was happening. But people were still really supportive and just cheering along the entire way, and, especially once we got towards the finish, there was more of like hard plastic signage on the railings, like on the bike racks, and they were. People were pounding it and, you know, just kind of gave you that little extra energy to get yourself all the way to the finish line and, um, it was very overwhelming, um, you know I'd worked all summer to train and to do it, and so, um, I shed a little tear at the finish, um, but it was, yeah, it was really great. Um, you know, I can't even describe it. You know, it's just one of those once in a lifetime things and it's very overwhelming once you've accomplished it.
Speaker 2:I think all three of you have done a very nice job of conveying the emotion, your Olympic highlight reel.
Speaker 6:You're crossing the finish line.
Speaker 4:Chariots of Fire or the Olympic theme, theme I think you have to go olympic theme to go with the olympics chariots of fire was about the 24 olympics in paris, so yeah 1924, yeah 1924.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's 100 years ago, that's even before my time john, I know ladies speaking of the finish line itself, one of the last questions that I have is you know, obviously the olympics is synonymous with the gold, silver and bronze medals. What number one did you receive a medal for completing this race? And two, what did it look like compared to the medals that were be given out the Olympians over the course of the two weeks?
Speaker 7:Well, I have mine right here for easy access. It has the symbol on it makes 42 and 24, 42k, 2024, finisher. And then on the back it actually does have the olympic rings and the marathon logo, as well as orange who sponsored the entire race. It was totally free, we didn't pay anything oh, wow which was really wonderful and amazing. They did a great job, um. So they are on the medal as well, and it's got the date on it.
Speaker 2:Fantastic.
Speaker 4:We also got a cup. I don't know if either of you guys kept yours, but with the whole sustainability initiative surrounding the Olympics, on the course there were no water bottles or disposable cups. It was all reusable cups, and then they passed these out. It actually has the route on it and they were handed this and go over there and have someone fill it up, and there's your water and there's your cup.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, All right. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for doing really a great job of conveying just how exciting this was. Before we let you go, I'm going to ask I'm going to go in a specific order, because I think I know the answer from Emmy Julia when do we see you at Disney next?
Speaker 7:I will be playing out on Wednesday for the Halloween Half Marathon Weekend Challenge, so I'm excited for that. It'll be my first Disneyland race.
Speaker 2:I will see you there, heather.
Speaker 5:I am also going to Disneyland next but I'm going to the February races.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 5:Off there in February.
Speaker 2:All right. I'm not sure how many of the gang are going out in February. I don't know if anybody is, but that's great. And Amy, as I recall, nothing on the docket at Disney yet. Oh I my.
Speaker 4:Nothing on the docket at Disney yet, oh I, my next Disney race. I'm doing Dopey, oh okay, I'm sorry, that's okay. And then, before that, I'm doing the. This isn't Disney, but I'm doing the Every Woman's Marathon in Atlanta. It's brand or not. Atlanta Savannah, it's brand new.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, is it brand new? Okay, there are other Every Woman's marathons by that title, but one in Savannah is new. Okay, great. Well, we'll see you in January. That's awesome Ladies, great job. Thank you so much for joining us and congratulations on, as you've said many times, tonight a once in a lifetime accomplishment.
Speaker 4:Thank you, bye, thanks.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed that. I enjoyed listening. I got the sense of excitement from our three guests. What a neat thing. I'm glad they had a chance to do it. I hope they do something like that in LA for other friends to get a chance. What a unique and wonderful opportunity.
Speaker 2:All right, friends, let's go to Saturday to Charlotte, north Carolina. The Luau one mile, 5k, 10k, 15k and half marathon. Dale was there. It's an out and back 5k course. You can do it one, two, three times the half. You had to do at least four I haven't done the math in my head and a little more than that, because 21.1k for a half. So you got to do that, dale. I'm not sure what Dale did. He said it was a small race on a nice greenway course, mostly shaded. That's helpful this time of year. You got a great looking metal dale. Good job, spencer. Massachusetts. The running out of summer 5k we're not running out of it in the south, but in the north. It's starting to cool off, except for the exception that alicia just told us about. But it will, alicia, he'll cool off, I promise I promise yeah, it will Very shortly.
Speaker 1:It's going to be very cool again. So I'm okay with warm weather right now.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, I understand, but uh, in Spencer, mass Brian and his 10 year old son, colby, ran this event. Colby knocked four minutes off his last race for a PR and a third place age group finish as he did, his first sub 45 K, colby, that's awesome, buddy, way to go, congratulations, brian finished. Brian finished with a BR, as in beer run, courtesy of the Rapscallion Brewery. Then Brian and Colby enjoyed some post-race protein replenishment at Hot Dog Annie's Out in Denver, colorado. They did the Wicked Wine Run 5K. Sia and Sylvia were there. Really cool running through an actual vineyard. It was hot in Colorado 90s hot for people in Colorado, sia 90s hot for everybody. It was fun. Lots of drinks Nice lemonade, slushy, peach burden and vodka. They had their Chardonnay and their special peach shot. I don't know how you guys get these races done.
Speaker 3:I was going to say the number of booze runs that we've had in the last month. I feel like I don't sign up for any of these.
Speaker 6:I need to look into these more. We know why we don't sign up for them. That's why Okay touche John Touche.
Speaker 2:I did a beer run in Tampa last year. It was okay, but it wasn't a whole lot of beer and that's good. Anyway, cia says they had a PR and fun. Included in the race was one wine drink as the stuff on the course wasn't enough. A glass, a wine opener and a wine bag. But what the heck it's a wine run. A glass, a wine opener and a wine bag. But what the heck it's a wine run. That's the way it should be. In Plant City, florida, the Luau 10K Monica, no frills in this race.
Speaker 3:What no Mai Tais at this one.
Speaker 2:Let's check. I don't think so. And when I saw Luau I wasn't quite thinking Plant City, I was thinking Honolulu. But that's okay, no frills run. Uh, let's see, it's a four loop out and back for this 10k. Back stretches into the sun, kind of sunny, the other half's shady, that helps. Uh, monica was one of only five people running the 10, small run. Now I would have left this next part out. She was the only woman running and so she finished first amongst the women in the 10K. See, Monica, I would have left the. I finished first amongst the women in and left out the part about being the only woman. But look, congratulations to you. She got two medals, one for the race and one because she was the only person that wore a costume.
Speaker 2:In York, Pennsylvania, the 26th annual Rail Trail 10 miler. Our buddies Allie Without a Knee and Tara were at this one. What a great group. That is. Small race, maybe 200 people maybe. And Tara and Allie went right to the back, so they were one of the last to start. They went really slowly, which is just fine. At the end Allie made the report. At the end she was still able to walk with pretty much no discomfort. That's a plus Point-to-point course mostly crushed gravel, with pretty much no discomfort. That's a plus Point-to-point course mostly crushed gravel, pretty much flat, almost all shaded. That helps Nice course support great weather. Allie and Tara, we're proud of you. We're glad you're part of the Rise and Run gang and glad you got a chance to do that race together.
Speaker 3:I love the photos that they posted for this one, because I know in the last two years we have the running joke about if you wear a Rise and Run shirt it almost guarantees you a PR. But I think the new thing that people love to show off now is the Rise and Run visor, and obviously the ladies commented that they, you know, they went in the back but I maybe the rise and run visor might not guarantee a pr in terms of time, but I think it guarantees you a pr and fun. So I I think it's a fashion accessory that is certainly a pr in fashion, greg well and a pr in fashion you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2:I I a PR in fashion, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1:I'm really proud of Allie. She is one of my clients and she had tweaked her back earlier in the week and so to be able to finish the race was a big deal, and I know she had a great time with Tara and I love those girls so much, oh yeah, yep, proud of all the Rise and Run family, sure are Glad they're part of it.
Speaker 2:Let's go to Chicago for the Fort 2 Base at the Great Lakes Naval Base. That's where it finishes in Chicago. Tiffany did this one, a unique event. There may be others, so maybe it's not unique, but an unusual event. This one is measured in nautical miles because there's sailors in charge of this one. There's a 10 nautical mile race, which is about 11 and a half statute miles. Tiffany did the three nautical mile race 3.4 miles approximately. Starts at Fort Sheridan, ends at the Naval Base in Chicago. She did it to honor the memory of her grandfather who did his basic training there after enlisting in the Navy in 1943, when he was only 17.
Speaker 2:Tiffany felt good, despite the humidity. The turnaround point that she did, she realized she was the fourth female in the three nautical mile event. So I had to push herself to reel in the woman in front of her and finish third overall, got a nice cooler bag as a reward and three nautical miles. She just set a PR at that distance. How long is the nautical mile? It is approximately one a little over a mile12, 1.14, something like that. It's, uh, it's, and I haven't looked this up, but the measure of speed of your ship in knots, and aircraft too in knots. So a knot is a nautical mile per hour. So I don't know why they're different. No, there's a bonafide reason for it, I just don't know what it is. But that's the difference, john. It's just a little over a mile, a little over a statute mile.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 6,000 feet, I just looked it up, Okay as opposed to about 5,600, right for a statute mile. It's like the metric and standard.
Speaker 6:That's what it's like Everything runs in a zero, okay.
Speaker 2:All right, anyway, good job, tiffany. Let's go up to Manchester, new Hampshire, the New Hampshire 10-miler. Kate did this one third year doing it. The hills, as described as super rude and gnarly, came as no surprise to her. She planned to do run, walk, keep a steady, hard, but not race pace. But after the first couple of miles she felt so strong she decided to keep a steady run without walk breaks. Even on the hills had a great time. Steady pace was enough to land her a second place age group award. Good job, kate. Our buddy, paula from the hashtag Run Dopey Crew, was also up there. Let's see. We go to Bear Gap, pennsylvania for the Hellbender Half Marathon. Y'all know where Bear Gap Pennsylvania is, guys, you're from the Northeast, john and Greg.
Speaker 6:I know Philly Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know either. I'd look it up.
Speaker 6:That's about it.
Speaker 2:Scranton. It's pretty much. Yeah, it's southwest of Scranton, southeast of Williamsport, where the Little League World Series just finished. It's northeast of Harrisburg and northwest of Allentown, I think, which places it in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 6:Just talk about the Little League World Series, lake Mary's having their parade, I think, thursday at Disney World.
Speaker 2:I'll actually be there. I probably won't be at the parade but I'll be at Disney World on Thursday. Yeah, that was exciting. It's big news here in Florida, but that was pretty cool. Anyway, hellbender Half Marathon.
Speaker 2:Micheline ran this one dressed as Ursula, used it as a training order for Dopey. Felt a little sore afterwards I imagine that it's hilly that's a hilly part of the country up there, I believe. But she did pretty good, did pretty well, learned that she needs to fuel more frequently. Hey, micheline, valuable lesson learned. I hope I'm pronouncing that right, not Michelin, but I think it's Micheline. Let's see Charlotte, north Carolina again. The Yasso Greek Festival 5K. Christian ran it on a beautiful day Proof. She says that summer training leads to fall prs. We're not quite fall yet, but it leads to cooler weather prs. She'd been struggling recently because of heat and humidity, but this 30 second pr was incredibly surprising. She's thrilled. We're thrilled for you. Even met fellow rise and runner friend Anna at the end of the race. Good job, kristen and Anna.
Speaker 2:In New Milford, connecticut, the Sergeant Schoolers Recovery Awareness 5K. Sue still chasing that 169. This is an adorable little town that the gilmore girls was based in, with a town green and a gazebo. This is town, 163 out of 169. It's getting exciting. Sue six to go and she'll have run a race in every town in Connecticut. I think that's really cool. I don't know any other state that does that. That's neat. The TCS New York City Marathon Training Series, 12 miler in Central Park, brenna Brenna ran with Team for Kids so she was able to get a complimentary bib for this race. Met other Team for Kids runners only 10 weeks until the New York City Marathon, same weekend as Wine and Dine, I think it usually is. I don't know if it is this year or not.
Speaker 3:This year it is, but I think I mean we won't know for sure until the schedule gets released, but I think 2025 is one of those elusive years where you could do both Wine and Dine, and New York City.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Not overlap, but we'll just you know, we'll wait and see.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah. Brennan says 10 weeks to New York City. Now, at the time she wrote this, that's correct. At the time we release it it'll be nine weeks, and it's nine weeks to Wine and Dine. So they're the same weekend again this year. Let's go to Youngstown, ohio, the Panathon two-mile race. Megan was there, walked this course with her friends to support a friend and co-worker who is battling breast cancer. Megan thinks she walked more miles to and from the car than she did during the race, but that's perfectly fine. Good job, megan.
Speaker 2:In the apologies and alibis section I talk about a race that I thought had occurred last week, but it occurred this week the West Virginia Spartan race. Stephen and his son, carter, did this one. Stephen did the trifecta. The trifecta is three races in two days the 21K, half marathon, 10k and 5K. Total of 75 obstacles in this Spartan Race they felt great, stayed hydrated, only got a little sunburn. Finished with a smile. That's good. Carter did a 1k with the obstacles and rocked it. Good job, carter. Took off and never looked back. Didn't like the mud very much, did it anyway. Finished strong. Only way to go, carter. Nice job. All right, here we go. The Dorpsloop in Hovelaken. Our buddy Danny did that one. It's been a while since Danny has challenged me with a race in the Netherlands.
Speaker 3:Do you think Danny picks the races?
Speaker 2:just to mess with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've met Danny and I'll meet him again next week. He's going to be at Disneyland. I'm excited about that. He's a nice guy. He's a nice guy. He's a nice fella. But yes, I think he does that.
Speaker 2:It was warm, warm for the Netherlands, 76 degrees. Ran the 10K. Ran it in less than 45 minutes Nice, pretty fast considering the heat and the fact he had to run 11 miles on the day. So did a good job. Danny's a good runner and a good guy, and I like giving him grief because he likes giving me hard words to pronounce. Danny says he hopes they stop with the wooden medals. Wooden medals are neat, but apparently he's got a bunch of them at this point. That's just a personal preference of his, though, and, as I mentioned, he's heading to Disneyland for the Halloween races. Danny, I look forward to seeing you there, along with a lot of our other friends. All right, let's move to Sunday.
Speaker 2:I think this might be the guy who left the review. I'm not sure. There's a fellow here named Abel, who ran the Santa Rosa Half Marathon out in Santa Rosa, california, an out-and-back course that started in the downtown area, headed into a paved multi-use trail. We have some of those here. I love those Lots of shade, which is nice because it started getting warm. Saw his family about a half mile from the finish line that's always a little jolt of adrenaline. Help there, along with the camera crew that was following him, so he had to run fast for the camera crew in hopes of making the event real. Crossed the line with a time one minute 10 seconds faster than his previous pr. You get wine at the finish and the medal is a bonafide, usable wine stopper.
Speaker 3:Abel, I am absolutely so proud of you. You absolutely crushed this thing. And not only did he get a PR in the race overall, but he texted me on Sunday afternoon a screenshot of his Strava. Not only did he get a PR for the race, but he also got PRs in the 10K, 15k, 10 miler and 20K. That's really impressive. I know he's been working his tail off, so way to go, abel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he kept the pace up and everything except 5K he PR'd. Yeah, good job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I spent a lot of time looking at Strava for my clients and his came up pretty soon after he finished and I saw that it said that he got a PR, and so I waited until I saw his actual race report. But I was silently going yes, abel, good job, yeah.
Speaker 2:You think that's the same Abel who left. Maybe. Maybe let's go to Annapolis, maryland, the Annapolis 10-miler. Jen, annie and Mary Jane was there, along with Pat who isn't part of the group, but Pat, we don't care, we're happy that you were there anyway. Low humidities and in the 60s when they got started. That's nice. Great crowd support, happy to get out there and get it done. Jen talked about the popsicles at the end. Annie mentions that the course went by the Naval Academy. That's right, there's a school there in Annapolis. I thought there might've been, uh, over a steep bridge. Twice, bridges can be a real, they can really be tough. Ended the course with the finishers party at the Navy Football Stadium. Annie says she felt strong, finished faster than she thought she would, looking forward to PRing a half later this fall. You've got it coming, annie. Congratulations Jen, annie. Congratulations Jen. Annie, mary Jane and Pat finished that race.
Speaker 2:Reston, virginia, the South Lakes 10K. Sharon was there planning to do an easy race with her 11-year-old son, but he wasn't quite up to it. After a tough football game the night before, temps were great, course was hilly, sharon felt pretty good, so he turned it into a tough football game the night before. Temps were great. Course was hilly. Sharon felt pretty good so we turned it into a tempo run, a lot of back and forth yo-yoing, as she's an interval runner. If you're an interval runner and you're keeping a good pace, you know what she's talking about. You'll see people, you'll catch up with them. You fall back, you'll catch up. I don't know. Some people know what you're doing. Some people get annoyed. I don't care about them because you usually finish in front of them anyway. Let's see A serious sprint to the finish with Sharon saying she and three men putting down on the gas pedal. A good time was had by all. Good run, sharon.
Speaker 2:Canton, ohio. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon. Lori, there's a series of runs in Canton Four of them. They add up to a marathon. I think this was the last one, the half, another hilly course in that part of Ohio. You start in the stadium at the Football Hall of Fame. Lori says it was great to see so many friends at this local race for her. Now Lori was with us a couple of weeks back on the spotlight. She'd been doing a great job with her run, but she is scheduled now for knee replacement surgery sometime next week. So this is her last official race before the surgery, although she plans to keep running right up until the day. This was half marathon number 155. Lori, good luck, you're going to be fine. Give yourself time, let us know how you're doing. We're all rooting for you. I know you're going to be back out there. Just don't rush things.
Speaker 2:St Louis, missouri, the summer Sizzler 10K. Katie said they completed the beach party challenge, which we thought was going to be more elaborate than it was Turned out. You just got a lay at each turnaround point in the loop course. I guess the challenge was carrying the weight of all those extra lays. I don't know the best part of this one. The free Kona ice at the end, proud of her friend Kelly, who completed her very first 10K, is a PR In Canada, uxbridge, ontario to be specific, the 5K Foam Fest. Nicole, cheryl and Sarah were there. The course went along the side of a ski hill lots of steep up and down slopes, 25 obstacles along the way, including low crawls, military-style low crawls through muddy pits, running on lily pads across the pond, the world's largest inflatable water slide and 2.5 million cubic feet of foam. It was a mess, it was sloppy, but it was fun and they're going to be back next year.
Speaker 3:This kind of sounds like if like a Spartan race and wipe out. Had a baby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, in fact like it.
Speaker 3:It sounds incredibly fun, but at the same time I'm terrified that I twist an ankle just thinking about it.
Speaker 2:I think Nicole mentioned it was kind of similar to a tough mudder because even though it was a foam race, they had a bunch of mud obstacles too. All right, let's go to south of the border, down south of the equator, to Buenos Aires, argentina. The 21K in Buenos Aires, the half marathon. Our buddy, juan Jose JJ, did this, the biggest race in Argentina, with 22,000 runners. They used wave starts for the first time, which made the beginning a little more organized, and they let JJ, who's a pretty fast runner, get off to a strong start. It was a good, fast course, no tight turns, always surrounded by other runners. Even though he wasn't feeling well we were talking with him on the Zoom call Thursday night, he wasn't all that optimistic about this Felt great on race day and ran his fastest half ever 126.43 APR. Way to go. Way to go, jj. Congratulations to all our runners. Here's one Go back from last week.
Speaker 2:I remember talking about Jared running a triathlon, but he didn't put in a report. Well, he did. He caught up with that. He apologized for being late. He actually did a couple of runs that weekend the celebration of running 5K on Saturday, then the Lake Nona Sprint Triathlon, his second try this year and in spite of the heat in Central Florida, it was a great race. He even got third in his age group and I want to mention that Melissa finished her virtual summer challenge this week. Congratulations to all of our runners in this week's race report. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend.
Speaker 2:That concludes episode 153 of the Rise and Run podcast. Thank you for spending your time with us. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. No Zoom on this Thursday. We are scheduled for a Zoom meetup next Thursday, the first Thursday in September, which happens to be Expo Day at Disneyland. So we'll see how it goes. We'll see if we can get that worked out, but we'll definitely have one. I'll at least get it started.
Speaker 6:Would it be East Coast time?
Speaker 2:or West Coast time. We will start at 8 pm East Coast time, 5 pm Pacific time. If I can remember that, John, you may have to call me to remind me I'm eating right now. Hold on, yeah yeah, I think we can fire it up and see how it goes. It could be fun. We're getting there, friends. The season's right around the corner. We're gonna see you soon.
Speaker 3:Until we do, happy running the rise and run podcast discusses general information about run disney and is in no way affiliated with run disney or the walt disney company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer.
