Rise and Run
Rise and Run
158: Running the National Parks with Vacation Races
Welcome to episode 158 of the Rise and Run podcast where we embark on a journey filled with adventure, community spirit, and the magical allure of running events across the globe. Join us as we explore the world of Vacation Races, where the promise of breathtaking landscapes meets the thrill of running. Discover the unique experiences these events offer, from delightful s'mores by the fire pit to the sustainable practices they champion. Salem from Vacation Races joins us to delve into the enchanting world of national park races. These events offer runners the opportunity to experience the breathtaking beauty of national parks while fostering a sense of community and sustainability.
Prepare to be enchanted by the magic of runDisney as we unravel the early release of the Wine and Dine Event Guide. We speculate on the timing, ponder the strategic implications, and dive into the Expo's vibrant atmosphere—a hub of excitement and camaraderie. The logistics of the race weekend, from transportation to creative costumes are explored, highlighting the whimsical and festive spirit that makes runDisney events a beloved experience for participants.
The episode also celebrates personal triumphs and community achievements, from the glory of completing the Berlin Marathon to the quirky challenge of running with a pumpkin at Gordy's Pumpkin Run, stories of endurance and adventure underscore the supportive nature of our running community, where every achievement is a shared victory.
Rise and Run Podcast is supported by our audience. When you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
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3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.
Speaker 5:This is Forrest from Denver, Colorado, calling you from the top of the Manitoune Incline. Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Happy running, my friends. Now it's time to get back down. Again who thought this was a good idea.
Speaker 2:Great intro, forrest. Thank you for that. I really hope that Forrest and his family made it back down from the Manitou Incline. I had never heard of that. He sent some gorgeous photos. This thing is crazy steep. It's out in Colorado Springs. It is 2,000 feet of climbing in eight-tenths of a mile and it's basically steps. It's not a hill. They have wooden log steps cut into it, so it's a heck of a thing. But thanks for that intro and I hope you put those photos up on Facebook. They look great. Hey, friends, that's the last intro we have, so when we give you the phone number here in just a little bit, pay attention. We need more intros Meanwhile back at the ranch. Hello my friends. Welcome to episode 158 of the Rise and Run podcast. We are delighted that you're here with us. As always, I'm Bob and this week I'm here with Lexi. Hello With Jack.
Speaker 2:Hi With Greg. Hey, hey, hey. With Alicia. Hello. And with John hey how you doing, I'm doing good, john Good good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for asking.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. I haven't saved John for last for a while so I haven't had to answer that question. This week we talk with Salem from Vacation Races. Very interesting and fun interview with Salem. Hope you enjoy that. We spend time with seven of our friends who recently completed the Berlin Marathon. They tell us all about that world Major. That's a good one too.
Speaker 7:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, just go ahead and share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. So just please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage riseandrunpodcastcom. Say riseandrunpodcast three times in a row really fast.
Speaker 2:Oh, we say it a lot, Jack. We say it over and over.
Speaker 7:But if you have a question, comment, raise your voice or want to introduce an upcoming episode, go ahead and call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 1:We also want to thank our Patreons, whose support helps us keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check patreoncom.
Speaker 3:Slash riseandrunpodcast the Magic Bound team and all of those other citizens of the Boone and Asheville North Carolina areas, as well as Eastern Tennessee. I mean, obviously we had a major hurricane come through our nation. Obviously, all the headlines heading into this storm was going to be about how the Big Bend and the panhandle were going to get slammed and there was major devastation there, but obviously there was equally as much devastation in those regions of North Carolina and Tennessee and obviously our friends at Magic Bound were in the path of that.
Speaker 3:We're very glad to see that, brad and Maggie they've been posting updates on our Facebook page. Let us know that they're all safe and sound, and I was chatting with Maggie this morning. You know everyone from the Magic Bound team is doing well. They still have two agents who are still without power at this time. So you know, fingers crossed that they're able to get that back. But you know, we just wanted to let the magic bound team know, and again those that live, uh, in that area, that we are most definitely thinking about you.
Speaker 3:But, that being said, um, on day of recording today, um, walt disney world announced some major discounts for early 2025, and that includes package discounts, florida resident discounts, annual pass discounts. So if you're looking to get a deal on marathon weekend princess and this even goes into april, so this can affect springtime surprise as well too uh, be sure to give our friends at Magic Bound Travel a ring and they can set you up. And you know, and the great thing about working with a travel agent is that when discounts like this do drop, they are running things for you. First thing this morning I had a text from Maggie saying hey, I can save you some money during springtime. Surprise if you're interested in switching to this resort. And when she told me I could save $50 on just one night alone, I was like absolutely, let's do it. So that's pretty awesome that you have a travel agent out there looking for you. So again, please visit magicboundtravelcom and when you fill out the form, make sure you mention that you heard about them on the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks, greg. Let's take a look at the training calendar. Wine and Dine weekend four weeks away. I'm excited we're in training week 14. Training this week, if you're doing the challenge, it's another double up four miles walk followed by 12.5 miles run walk Marathon weekend Marathon weekend now less than 100 days away.
Speaker 3:97 to be exact, that doesn't seem possible.
Speaker 2:I know we're in what I call kind of the doldrums of the training for Marathon weekend. The training is long but we can't quite see the end yet. But this is the time that's tough. This is when you're earning your victory lap. Let's take a look at what we've got in week 14 on the schedule for the challenges. It's a five and a half mile walk and a 15 mile run walk Just 15 if you're doing the marathon alone. And big news the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend training schedule has begun. Week one of training there is a three mile run. Here's something else I noticed looking through my training stuff we are now less than half a year away. We're almost exactly half a year away from springtime surprise.
Speaker 5:What.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. 182 days till expo day for springtime. Surprise, that's okay, let's not like I said, let's do, let's run the mile we're in. I was going to say let's go through.
Speaker 3:Let's go through one and nine first. Let's run the mile we're in. I was going to say let's go through one and nine first, before we start running about springtime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hang in there, guys. I'll ask if we have training notes. But I want to make a training note comment. Alicia, you had a little piece published in a training journal, or tell us about that piece published in a training journal or tell us about that.
Speaker 9:Yeah, so I got the opportunity to write a piece for Running Lifestyle, which is a website that talks a lot about running and training, and the article featured nine different coaches and it was advice for first time marathoners. So I got to be published in that, which was a really cool opportunity, and, if you didn't see it, I did post it on the Rise and Run Facebook page, but it's also linked on my website, runningwithalishacom, and on my Instagram, runningwithalisha, so if you're interested in reading that, it's there. But, yeah, it was a really cool opportunity to be featured in something, because training and being a coach is something that I'm really passionate about and helping first timers especially is my specialty, so I was really excited well, good for you, we're excited for you.
Speaker 2:You hear the crowd?
Speaker 9:yeah, there was a great response by the rise and run community per usual in the Facebook group so far, so I really appreciate all the kind words from everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome, though I got something to say in a minute about the Rise and Run family, but before I do, do we have any other training notes that we want to talk about? This week? Seeing none. Let me move on. I had an interruption to my training schedule this week. I missed two days when Helene went right past us.
Speaker 2:We actually had hurricane force winds here at our house. Bottom line we're fine. We're fine If I go a half a mile behind me. If I go a half a mile behind me, four miles to the south, those people are not fine. They're devastated. The barrier islands, the storm surge nine people died over there. If you go to our south, it's a mess. Businesses and homes are destroyed. We got lucky. It got interesting here On Thursday night the power went out.
Speaker 2:When the power came back on, that was good news. Bad news because we could see how badly the streets were flooding in front of our house and the water was coming up to our house. We were never in any physical danger. I was just afraid the water was going to get into the house and what a. It would have been a pain in the tail. But the bottom line is we're fine.
Speaker 2:The big reason I wanted to bring it up is because you've heard me say it before I love this Rise and Run family. You mean more to me than I know how to express in words and I heard from so many people, either with good wishes or with offers to hey come stay with us or whatever, that I couldn't keep up and I could not answer everybody individually, so I tried to just make posts on Facebook and I hope you all could see them. But I want you to understand how much it means to me and to Becky and that we love you and appreciate you and I'm just grateful to be part of this community. So all's well here. If you go four houses to our east, they're still without power. I mean, that's what happened over here, but we're okay, all right. Moving on In what is kind of an unusual move on the part of Run Disney, the Wine and Dine Event Guide published this week.
Speaker 3:I have a theory why it got published so early Okay.
Speaker 7:I would love to hear this.
Speaker 3:It's to get everybody to shut up about the change to the marathon course. Well, maybe.
Speaker 9:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it was a situation where I think they saw the response and like let's get everyone to talk about something else. And here's the event guide.
Speaker 2:Maybe I would just say I think this is typical of we run Disney people. Man, we need these races to change. They're the same all the time. We need them to change. Okay, here's a change. What? Why did you change that? So it's going to be, it's going to be terrific, but uh, let's without. It's still a couple weeks out.
Speaker 2:Without going into too much detail, let's uh take a look into the event guide such as it is, and I think I'll kick it off. I want to talk about the Expo just a little bit. I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but the Expo starts on Thursday. One of the things about the Expo friends, if you haven't been down there before, the Expo, especially on that first day, is a blast. It's a homecoming, it's a chance to see all our friends again. So you'll find people and I may be one of them who are over there when that expo opens at 10 or not long after and just hang out for hours and just greet and meet people and have a great time. But the expo is going to start at 10 on Thursday, on Halloween oh, I forgot, I met the expo at 10. Now they got Mickey's Not so Scary that night and then the 5K the next day. I may be a tired puppy, but that's all right.
Speaker 7:You can do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just drag me along, jack, okay.
Speaker 7:I was going to be there. I don't know if I could drag you. You're really tall I've lost a little weight.
Speaker 1:You've been working out with Tom, so you're all jacked up, I am jacked up Both have.
Speaker 2:Jack's been working out, so have I. So I've lost a couple of pounds. So I'll be easier to drag Things if you haven't done before Things to know about the Expo. There's transportation from your hotel. If you're curious about how to get it, just go to the lobby. There will be signs there telling you about the transportation the bus transportation to the Expo at ESPNY World of Sports and back. You can drive yourself. I typically do. It's not hard. There's plenty of parking. You may have to walk a little bit.
Speaker 2:When you get there you're going to do a couple things. You want to make sure you have your waiver signed. You'll get an Expo pass. Those come out a day or two in email. They come out a day or two before the expo. But have that ready on your phone when you get in. It'll make things go a whole lot smoother.
Speaker 2:You're going to go to one building where you're going to pick up your race bibs for all your races. You're going to go to another to get your shirts for the races. The place where you go to get the shirts is what we traditionally think of as the expo. It's where all the vendors have their exhibits. I always tell our friends stop by and say hi to Mr Galloway at the Jeff Galloway booth and look for, look for your friends, look for your Rise and Run buddies. We'll be wearing our Rise and Run shirts most likely, and we will be looking forward to seeing you.
Speaker 2:Expo Run three runs three days it closes at seven on Thursday, opens a little later. On Friday opens at noon, closes at 7, and on Saturday it's only open from 11 until 3. The other thing I wanted to point out when you're going through the event guide, take a look at the discounts that are available at Disney Springs. I'm not going to go through them, but there's quite a few and basically you have to have something that shows that you've run that weekend. A lot of us wear our medals, or I think your t-shirt would be okay. Or if you've got your race bib folded up in your pocket, you can use that. But don't and I'm guilty of forgetting about them a lot myself but don't forget those. Those are some great benefits.
Speaker 1:And even if you're not there on the list and you're going someplace else, just ask you never know, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:It's kind of tough to memorize that long list, but just ask them, hey Bob.
Speaker 3:I did see one that you would be interested in. Yeah 10% off at Homecoming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did see that. Yeah, yeah, arch Smith's Homecoming yeah.
Speaker 3:I know you enjoy some good fried chicken.
Speaker 2:Oh I sure do, I sure do. That's one of my more favoritest places. Even if that's not a word, it still is. It is now. You know what's tough to get it's tough to get a brunch reservation there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was trying to look forward for a wine and dine myself, because I hear the fried chicken and donuts is incredible, but I can never get one that sounds insane.
Speaker 2:I do love that place, that particular dish, greg, I don't get too excited about. I had it one time. It's okay, but it doesn't throw me.
Speaker 9:For our vegan friends. There's actually vegan chicken there. You just have to ask for it because it's not on menu, Just FYI. Really. Yes, you can get a chicken sandwich, chicken on the salad. I think there's something else too, so yeah, I've actually done that.
Speaker 2:Not there, Alicia, at a different place in Orlando, actually in Orlando proper. I didn't even realize I was at a vegan restaurant. Oh yeah, becky knew, but I didn't know. It was a walk-up counter service and I said that chicken sandwich looks good and I had it and it was great. And Becky says you know, that's not real chicken real chicken.
Speaker 9:No, yeah, plant-based chicken is delicious and it's a great option for those of us that can't eat the regular stuff.
Speaker 2:So very good, very good. Well, that's it on the expo. I I hope to see you there. I look forward to it. I love hanging out at the expo. It's a lot of fun. I'll have some rise and run wristbands with me and look forward to seeing you there. Let's talk about the races.
Speaker 7:My turn. So now it's Friday morning, we're talking about the 5K. You guys, it's the start of the race weekend. The corrals open at 345 am, with the start time of the first corral going off at 5 am. So kind of important things to know is that if you're going, if you're staying at one of the resorts, just know that the buses start at 3 am. If I were you, I'd actually get there a little bit earlier than 3 am if you're trying to catch the first bus, because I had it one time where the bus left a few minutes before 3 am. So just a heads up on that. But one of the things that I really like I don't think I've ever noticed this with the information regarding the races is that you can actually have they actually have a section called the snack box nutrition facts and it actually tells you what you're going to get in your box for the weekend.
Speaker 7:And yeah, I saw that I think that's so jack with nutrition information yeah, I'm really excited about some of this stuff, like I'm really excited about um, it's called slice fruit to go. I'm like interesting, we're getting some original toast which is uh, oh, I don't know how to put it away for cookie that's been in there before it's.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've never had it if you don't have something to put on it. It's like you know what melba toast is no yeah it's. It's kind of a pre-made.
Speaker 3:It's hard, it's fine, but you really need something to put on it otherwise well, speaking of the snack box, did you guys see what I'm going to do after the 10k? No so I I forget who posted the the photo of, I think was the top part of the snack box oh yes the um, the, the, the chips, the plastic cheese aka nachos and the skittles.
Speaker 3:And I was just listening to the latest episode of Live in the KG Life podcast and she had the Ox and Spoon crew on and the Slackers and they did this whole section about the odd foods that Jar will eat as training fuel to raise money for. Kelsey's Hope. So I made a joke and I was like I think what you should do is you should take the, the plastic cheese, you should dump the Skittles into it mix it up and then take the chip.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I saw that, yeah, and so and our friends, our friend Sarah, was like that that's amazing and gross all at the same time. So I so, in honor of Ox and Spoon because I'm trying to raise a little bit of money when I run the Philadelphia Marathon end of next month and I was like, if anybody's willing to make a donation to my campaign, I will do just this. And she gave me such a generous donation. So again, from the bottom of my heart, Sarah, thank you so much. But because of how generous her donation was, I said I will do this for you. So if you want to see me eat Skittle-infused plastic cheese with nachos, come find me at the end of the 10K.
Speaker 5:Wait, wait, wait, are you?
Speaker 7:going to take video. Yeah, you got to videotape this.
Speaker 1:We need proof more than just I might donate you some antacids, okay, Greg? Okay, thanks, Joe.
Speaker 2:Got us a YouTube episode kids.
Speaker 7:I know yes, Greg done.
Speaker 1:It's a short.
Speaker 7:Exactly. I haven't done a short yet, so we should do that. But really quick. Back to the 5K, because this is the day before he eats all that stuff. So just to prepare for it, we have a spectacular 5K course, as always, you guys. I mean the first mile, boring, sorry, but the second because you're going from outside the parking lot around the parking lot and then you enter behind Test Track, but after that that it's a pretty epic course. You have basically two miles inside the um, inside the park.
Speaker 2:I mean that's really nice.
Speaker 3:It's the standard 5k I love the going under spaceship earth they have. We haven't done that in a while.
Speaker 7:No and now and I know that that creates some awesome pictures yeah they brought that back I, I love that picture because they did that picture at Marathon Weekend two years ago and I really love that. Other than that, I think really that's it. This course is not timed, you guys. There are not any balloon ladies, so have fun, enjoy. If you want to walk, walk. If you want to have a party, have a party. If you want to walk, walk. If you want to have a party, have a party. If you want to race it, go Three, two, one, go, do whatever you want. Have fun, have a blast. It's meant to be there with you and friends and however you want to enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, five Ks to be enjoyed, sure is.
Speaker 7:It's always a party, I think, with the exception of one race. I think I've always been with a group. We've been laughing and enjoying and just having a ball.
Speaker 2:What kind of costumes are we wearing in 5K?
Speaker 4:Crazy ones, yeah, the most crazy ones, because that's the ones you don't have to run in, that's true.
Speaker 3:You said Sam Eagle's coming back, right.
Speaker 2:Mostly for America.
Speaker 3:Mostly for America.
Speaker 7:Well, that's where the water stop is, Bob. See, you're ready. The one water stop of the 5K America.
Speaker 2:Sam Eagle, we'll be back.
Speaker 3:You should just stand in front of Regal Eagle and you can be an unofficial character. Stop again.
Speaker 9:You should.
Speaker 1:I'll have to think about it. I'm going to have to start in Corral A and get there, because usually we're going there and they're taking the water table down.
Speaker 7:What no when?
Speaker 2:we did the 5K all together.
Speaker 7:no, it was there. The table's there, there's not always a whole lot of water on it. A few cups Maybe, not a lot.
Speaker 2:It's nice to have that water stop.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do 30 to 45 minutes every tuesday and thursday and I don't have a water stop, so we can live without it not to jump ahead, but this was actually something I did want to bring up, because one of the things that they've offered in this event guide that I thought was really interesting is that they were highlighting what was going to be in terms of, like hydration and fuel at the stops this week and I find it really interesting again for like maybe like the third or fourth weekend in a row when it comes to the 10K that we're still only getting water.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that we're still only getting water. Yeah, and I I always find it really interesting that, like during like the pre-race festivities, like john and and carissa talk all the time about making sure that you're hydrated and make sure you take electrolytes, and then you get down the course and there's no electrolytes.
Speaker 8:so I, I always find it really interesting.
Speaker 3:So run disney, if you're listening. I I understand only doing water for for the uh the 5k, but maybe let's start incorporating the powerade back into uh the the 10k.
Speaker 7:But we'll see. See, if that ever happens, tell him, greg, tell him especially for the people that need to hydrate for the half marathon the next day.
Speaker 4:It's not just about right during the that race too, but yeah that's true so, speaking of the 10k, the start groups open at 3 45, and one of the things that I think is really interesting about this event guide is that they they also put the estimated start times of, like when each corral is going to start, um, which I don't think they've ever done oh, I've never seen it before I've never noticed that either, wow what do we have for the 10k a through d or?
Speaker 4:we have a through e for the two. It looks like the first three corrals are about five minutes each, and then D corral D jumps to. How many minutes is that?
Speaker 2:About 30 minutes, 30 minutes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for the whole corral, so I'm guessing that's going to have a lot of waves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure will and then corral e, the last they're saying. The estimated start time for the last people to come across of corral e is 6 12 am, which is over an hour after it starts.
Speaker 7:I tell you what if you're gonna, if you're in the last two corrals, get that extra sleep seriously.
Speaker 4:I remember I slept in my car one time because I had my car yeah, some people do that yeah, but um, I think I mean I wouldn't bank on those times just because it is estimated no and you never know what can happen on race day. But all of the start groups are going to open at the same time, which I think is really nice, compared to a couple of the race weekends that we've had, so it's going to be interesting to see how close the times are to what these estimated are. Yeah.
Speaker 8:You should time it.
Speaker 4:So if it's all spaced out like that, especially if in your Corral C or D you have a good bit of buffer too, yeah, you will. If you need it.
Speaker 2:That should be good yeah.
Speaker 4:So I think it's really going to be interesting about the start times. Also, just take note, there's no monorail or no Skyliner that is going to be operating for the 10K. Also, the 10K is going to have three water stops, which is what we just talked about previously, and the course is pretty much cut and dry. The exact same course is what we had, the typical 10K course. The first three miles are road and that's, that's pretty much it. It's just the road, the highway and then the rest of it's a party. You go through boardwalk and you go around the world showcase and you end at the ball and it's just celebration the whole time, and then I think it's. I think it's a great course.
Speaker 7:I love this course 10K Chef's Kiss. Greg smiled, he liked it too.
Speaker 4:It took me a second. I was like wait.
Speaker 2:I got it. That's Saturday, saturday afternoon. Don't forget the Rise and Run meet and greet that is not in the event guide, though Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Wem. That is not in the event guide, though.
Speaker 2:Doesn't matter. We're trying to get that in the event guide for Marathon Weekend. Yeah, 3 pm, disney food truck area. I'll mention it again at the end of the episode. Then it's half marathon day.
Speaker 1:Half marathon Same basic thing. The only thing different is the bus start at 2.30 in the morning instead of 3. So if you want to get on an early bus, just get up late. Get up early 2 o'clock, be waiting for that first bus.
Speaker 3:Wait, hold on a second. Are we in the same situation again this year, where it's daylight savings time going into the half?
Speaker 9:Yes, that's good.
Speaker 2:Get an extra hour of sleep.
Speaker 7:Wait, but when does it change? Is it at 2?
Speaker 2:It changes at 1 am. Does it 1? There's 2. There's 1 or 2. I think it's 2 am.
Speaker 9:I think it's 2 and that's the problem is that if you set your alarm for 2, it's not, but actually a lot of the.
Speaker 1:I know my Android phone does it. It knows and it automatically adjusts the time.
Speaker 4:I always call the front desk and have them send me a wake-up call just to make sure.
Speaker 2:That's one good way. Another good way is to set it for like 2.05.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And then the third way is to set a timer.
Speaker 7:Oh, a timer might be best.
Speaker 9:I did that last year because you had said to do that, Bob, and that worked too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it works.
Speaker 7:If the start, if the first bus is starting at two, 30 in the morning, you're trying to set it for two, oh, five. You really only have not even like if you're talking about the walk time to the buses you don't even have 20 minutes, I would timer is the best one.
Speaker 2:Well that that 205 is an backup alarm and says, hey, you missed everything but the reason I said one and you're right, it is too the reason I said one is almost every year I will wake up, look at my watch and it'll say 120, and I won't know which 120 it is. You know, I don't know whether it's the first time heading to two or the second time after it goes from two back to one.
Speaker 1:You got to get an old analog clock with your bobbin that's another way.
Speaker 1:That's yeah, wind it up, yep yep, okay, so basically everything else is basically the same. The corrals open at three, 15 and the projected start times are basically pretty close to what the uh, the 10 Ks were. Uh, the race. It's that basic, uh half marathon course I think we did last year for, uh, the wine and dine You're going to, you know, do a lot of road miles up in the go, a lot of road miles. You're actually going to go past Blizzard Beach this time. Go around the back, then come back into Epcot and have a short little run through the park to the finish line.
Speaker 7:We might just get a little bit more of Hollywood this year you get to spend quality time in hollywood, yes, I mean, and I don't mean to put it into this but if you want to see what the course looks like, um, I recorded it for last year, so go ahead and visit passport to run. If you're curious about the course itself, um, it's a lot of road in the back half.
Speaker 2:Yeah, about half of it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's still fun.
Speaker 1:You got a nice little incline coming out of the back of what do you call it? Blizzard Beach.
Speaker 9:Blizzard Beach area.
Speaker 1:yeah, so don't be used to that flat Florida stuff. It's not that bad.
Speaker 9:That's where you're going to want your sunglasses, because it's usually right in your face.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the thing I found interesting about this course is that, essentially to put it into another perspective for those people that maybe are running Wine and Dine or haven't done this course yet it's essentially the Springtime Surprise 10-Miler plus a 5K. Okay, and but, the one thing that I found really interesting and the what popped in my head upon seeing the course was I find it interesting that, again, since this is it mirrors the 10 miler very, very closely and run, disney sent out a survey like literally two days after springtime.
Speaker 3:Surprise was over talking about course crowding survey says and and you know, and we had such a big discussion in our recap show about that, and then it's, and then here it is, the next race weekend at disney world and it's practically the same course again. So I'm wondering if you know the fact that we talked about this before, about the anticipated start times. I'm wondering if that is going to be their response to you know, still having this course but you know, potentially eliminating. You know that crowding, especially on the international ski uh squeezeway section where we go from boardwalk up until hollywood studios. So I'll be interested to see how, how that plays out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now we've run all the races, right, that's it Time to go home.
Speaker 1:You need to go back to your hotel and take a nap, for what's next?
Speaker 2:I'm good at that. I trained for that a couple of times a week.
Speaker 3:No, you know, Bob is exactly right, the. I train for that a couple times a week. No, bob is exactly right, the weekend does not end until we attend the post-race party that takes place in Epcot on Sunday night. So for those of you that are running the half marathon or the challenge, admission to this event is included in your registration to this event is included in your registration, but if you are running just the 5k and or the 10k, you can purchase a ticket for this event. The official party gets started at 10 pm and goes until 1 am, but the nice thing about this is is that your ticket will allow you to get into epcot as early as 5 pm on, uh, sunday, november 3rd, uh. So again, if you want to go enjoy the park before the party officially starts, then you know, definitely go ahead and take advantage of that. According to run disney, um, the uh following attractions will be open for everyone's enjoyment, and that includes Soarin' Spaceship, earth Frozen Ever After, remy's Ratatouille Adventure and and this is the big one Guardians of the Galaxy, cosmic Rewind, without a virtual queue. So that should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:But now the one thing that people do forget about from time to time is that there are things that we are going to be receiving for this party. The first is the actual ticket itself, and according to Run Disney, that ticket will be mailed to half marathon and challenge participants at beginning October 14th, and I know in years past it is come in just like a very non-discreet white envelope. So make sure you know. Maybe in two weeks time, as you're checking your mailbox every single day, you know if there's something that doesn't look recognizable to you, maybe open that up, because that could be your post-race party ticket in there and you do not want to throw that away, uh.
Speaker 3:The other thing uh that I just want to mention real quick is also, as part of your registration with this event, you do receive a 15 disney gift card and that will be issued via email starting on October 21st. So again, the October 14th and 21st are important dates in terms of this event. So, just you know, again, check your mailbox and your digital mailbox as well too, but I know we'll probably do some type of unofficial get together during this event and then, if people want to split off or just go in a big group I know we have a ton of fun with this, um, and you know we'll chat internally about that and then we can uh, let you all know where we're going to meet up at the uh, the official start of the party so when you get your ticket, another good thing to do is take a picture of the back of the ticket oh yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Or link it to your magic band, take a background picture.
Speaker 1:so you have it. Because what are we going to do? We're going to take that envelope, we're going to put it to the side and we're going to get down to Florida and you're going to go. Where's my ticket?
Speaker 9:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that has never happened before to me.
Speaker 4:Me neither, John. I've never done something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also that gift card. I think it's only good up until the end of that week, so it's not like $15 that you can have forever. It's a limited time. I think after 10 days it expires, so you want to use it that night.
Speaker 2:Use it at the food booths at the Wine and Dine Food and Wine Festival. You don't have to. You can use it as soon as you get there. You don't have to wait for that night. But, yeah, use it.
Speaker 7:And just as kind of a reminder if you are not running the half marathon or challenge, or if you have somebody that is that wants to come because you're, you have a ticket to go because you were running the challenger half the tickets are actually still open for you to buy. It is 110.
Speaker 7:Unfortunately, I don't think you can get your annual pass discount on it yeah, so it is that price and then what taxes, but it is still saying that it is open for you to purchase. Another thing I feel like that's not usually said about the party itself, is it? You can enter at what you said? Five, five o'clock.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it is going to seem really crowded at first because it's mixing in the day guests with the guests going to the party and everything. And most people do kind of arrive early, which I do say, go and do Just kind of remember. When the party starts, a lot of the crowds kind of dissipate and it does leave for a lot more free availability to go on rides. It just looks crowded right away. So don't get discouraged. Being like this event's too crowded. I think I'm going to go home early, because a lot of people do go home early and then it's like dead in the parks.
Speaker 2:Well, things yeah about 11 o'clock. Things really do thin out.
Speaker 1:Once the fireworks go off and everybody starts leafing.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and it's a party there.
Speaker 3:I will say too jack to your point about the tickets. I know you know usually you might see on our facebook page, but I would also draw your attention to the run disney marketplace facebook page, because there are a lot of people who either you know, might have purchased a ticket for a family or a friend who, like, no longer can go, or you know they have a ticket that you know maybe they have to fly home sunday afternoon and can no longer use. Usually, sometimes you can, you know, via third party, you know, set up something with them and either purchase a ticket from that person, maybe sometimes at a discount, or I I know a trend that I've also seen lately is hey, if you make a donation to my charity bib, you know, then then, um, you know they'll give you the ticket. So you know, if you are, you know, say you have a, your family down there, or you're bringing a friend that's not participating in the weekend, that is another way that you can, uh, obtain a party ticket as well you'll read that the tickets are non-transferable.
Speaker 2:But we've been doing this for years and it and it works. Okay, kids, that was fun. Every every year we get into bank guide and we say, all right, we're not going to talk about it too much. And then we end up talking about it too much but that's part of the excitement that we feel, and we hope you're feeling it too, because, as I said at the beginning, four, count them, four weeks away, and we'll all be there together.
Speaker 1:oh, we forgot one thing, bob. Before the races where are we all going to be? Not me, but you guys yeah, you're right, john.
Speaker 2:Uh, we on race mornings. As for our friends who have not been there before, because the friends who have been there before know this, when you get off of the bus and you walk into the staging area, there will be a stage, hence staging area. There'll be a stage in front of you and bleachers in front of that stage. There'll be a stage in front of you and bleachers in front of that stage. As you're looking at the stage, if you go to the left side of the bleachers, the Rise and Run crowd hangs out there and it's fun. The Run Dopey crowd hangs out there also. The Ox and Spoon group is not too far away. It's a great gathering place, great place to meet before the runs. I like to get there early because I have such a good time. I might even buy some donut holes for everybody.
Speaker 3:Well, and if you have trouble on the 5K, just look for the seven foot tall blue eagle. It should not be hard to find.
Speaker 2:With the hat on. I think I do top out at seven feet with the headpiece on, but it's good, it's fun, it's exciting. Gang, we're chomping at the bit, we're ready to go. We're going to see you real soon. Don't finish that training now. Get that training in, and that's just going to add to your enjoyment of the race weekend. Talking about races, let's shift gears a little bit. Let's talk about some other race opportunities with our friend Salem from Vacation Races.
Speaker 7:I am beyond stoked because I have been waiting for this interview for quite some time and it's with one of my favorite running companies besides Disney. So don't you guys think, but they're like top tier to me, exactly like Run Disney, in the sense that it's one of the most beautiful races or race companies you could think of, because one before I say the name you get to run through some of the most majestic places around the US, and when I mean majestic, I mean jaw-dropping and, um, I do feel like it has that run desk, I do feel like it has that run Disney essence and the name of that company is vacation races. You guys have really become one of my places that if I want to go do a race, if it's only like two or three races for that year, I will go go look on your guys' website and be like, yes, which one am I doing? Where am I traveling? Okay, what do I want?
Speaker 7:My goals? Wise as and yeah, it's. You guys even stay in your kind of your mantra, or however you guys call it, but you guys are a very inclusive company for all kinds of different runners and it's all kinds of different trails and road races Anything you guys are looking for in a race vacation races, and it's all kinds of different trails and road races. Anything you guys are looking for in a race Vacation Races is where it's at, and I'm so excited to welcome Salem.
Speaker 11:Thank you, so good to be here. I appreciate the invite and the nice words.
Speaker 7:We're excited to have you and I think one of my biggest questions for you starting right off the bat is this is a very young company. You guys started back in 2012. How'd you guys even become vacation races? Because you guys were like the first ones to ever do any races in the national parks.
Speaker 11:From my understanding, my entrance into the endurance event space. Uh, my brother, um, I come from real big family and, uh, my, my older brother, started a triathlon back in like 1999. And this is when, like anyone who was around, dude, even like a sprint distance triathlon was like crazy that somebody's out like doing this, this thing. It was not nearly as mainstream as it is today and, uh, and my whole family would come. Uh, it was called the St George Triathlons in Southern Utah, where we all grew up and where I currently live, and we'd all come and help with the production.
Speaker 11:And I was a student at the time and was really helping more on the finance side finance and accounting and so through that I really learned how events operated and and sort of the dynamic and how the model worked. And so then I, I, you how events operated and sort of the dynamic and how the model worked. And so then I, you know, I got married real young and had kids real quick and ended up needing to get a real job. So I went and tried to be an investment banker. I sold software and some other stuff, but went back to grad school to get a degree and, as I could not shake this idea that I wanted to start a company but I didn't quite know where to start. So really just kind of looked at industries I thought I knew, and that was the endurance event space, uh, back then. So this is like 2012, um. But I ended up uh doing a, uh an internship with a company, uh that used to be called destination races. They did a wine country series motive a few years ago.
Speaker 11:If you ever heard of those, I think so yeah yeah, they do like the nap into sonoma.
Speaker 11:Uh, they got some really good graces in their program, yeah, yeah, yeah, really really really good stuff. So I went and just kind of interned with them, uh, in 2012, and I was sort of surprised and I was like, oh, I know how all this stuff works. Like I didn't. I, I wasn't like, oh, like I learned a whole bunch. I was, I was really surprised by that uh, and I even talked to the guy who was running it, uh, about the idea of doing some national park races, uh, and, and he, he wasn't receptive to it. So I was like you know what? I'm going to go do it myself. And uh, so I started, uh, fall, it was September 2020, nope, 2012.
Speaker 11:I opened registration for the Zion half marathon and we held the race March 23rd, um 2013. And we had about 500 people attend and I lost like $35,000 producing that event and. But it was, it was good and I was real happy with what? With the results? And later that year we did a couple more, one at Rocky Mountain National Park, one at Lake Powell, then the next year we added three more at Yellowstone, grand Canyon and the Smoky Mountains, and then it just kind of went from there. That's how we got started in 2019. I assume you'll ask about this, but for 2016, we took on an ultra marathon company called Ultra Adventures and then in 2019, we started doing these global tours, and so we've kept ourselves pretty busy for the last 12 years you guys are growing so fast.
Speaker 7:Holy cow, you're like you know. States isn't enough, let's go around the world I don't know.
Speaker 11:I'm not fully diagnosed, I'm self-didiagnosed ADHD. I get real bored unless I get something new going on, and so I really started truly I started kind of getting bored towards the end of 2017, 2018. And we started exploring this idea of these global tours and that's been. You know, of course, covid was a fun experience, but that sort of gave us some room room to to explore and and, yeah, we're doing all right right now how does one work with a national park?
Speaker 7:I mean, you guys have to go through so many approvals just to have people like run there. How?
Speaker 11:does that work? Yeah, so it. It actually really started this. Uh, a friend of mine started the ultra adventures, so he was doing these ultra marathons at the national parks, so he and his first event was 2012. So, and I remember I was talking to my brother, the same brother who did the triathlon, who's good friends with with this, with with my friend as well. Anyway, we got talking about, um, you know, you go to Zion again. I grew up outside Zion. Zion's gorgeous, amazing, Uh. But the beauty of the park does not end at the park boundary. Like the boundaries were drawn by some bureaucrat in DC that never even visited the place.
Speaker 11:Like it's silly, they don't even make sense Uh and so and and and we see people all the time driving to the park, miles and miles before they get to the park they're stopping and taking pictures because it's amazing and uh, and so that's. That was sort of the the, the catalyst for it, and and I was real nervous early- on about like.
Speaker 11:Oh, I'm not sure we can run in the park, I don't know what's possible. And and uh, we did, we did some customers, uh, research and I found about 85% of people interested in our events were like yeah, it's cool, it doesn't need to be in the park. As long as it's super pretty and as long as it gets me close to the park, I'm cool with it. 15% are diehards, purists, that's cool, everybody's got their thing and they're like if it's not in the park, I don't want you, I don't, I don't want to hear about it. It's like, all right, they're missing out, but uh, everybody else is having a great time. So we actually don't with, with a couple of of minor exceptions. Uh, we don't run in the parks, we run just outside the parks. But we don't design the courses for ease, we design them for scenery. Yes, yeah. So again, you've run a couple of races of ours and the two that I know of. Again, they're point-to-point courses. That creates some shuttling and the logistics are a little more expensive and a few things.
Speaker 4:But, holy moly, the finish line at Teton is like unbelievable and no, I remember at the Grand Teton race, um, because you know we have Passport to Run and we were recording the video. I remember the video of me saying, oh my gosh, I feel like I'm in the sound of music because it was just absolutely beautiful and, um, I was singing the hills are alive.
Speaker 11:But I didn't record that part well, just wait until you, uh, you come on a global adventure to the uh austrian alps yeah, to the real alps, yeah then you'll literally be yeah those, uh, that are alive.
Speaker 4:I'm not gonna lie and we'll talk about this later. I was looking in the global adventures.
Speaker 11:Yes she was and um, I kind of want to go on all of them, but we'll talk about that in a minute so we don't really run in the parks but again, we run just outside the parks where it's really beautiful and again we we encourage people to go and explore the parks afterwards. It's something like 95% of our participants go hiking after the race. Oh yeah, that's the point. Is you kind of want to get out?
Speaker 11:There's a, there's a quote by edward abbey uh, if anyone's ever read desert solitaire amazing book, uh, especially if you're ever going to visit the, the desert southwest, uh, and I'll paraphrase a little bit, but he but it basically says a man on foot will hear more, feel more and see more in one mile than the motorized tourist will in a hundred miles. Yeah, and I, I really sort of adopt that mantra that there's something about just getting out and running in nature that really, like I don't know, it just sort of connects you to the world and just kind of I don't know it creates a real special environment to really be introspective and just kind of experience life. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 7:The reason why I love your company so much is because you make it so easy for one to even do this event, because of multiple different reasons, but it's like the Disney adjacent for us, because Disney makes it really easy.
Speaker 7:I mean, the registration is the only part that I feel like is extremely hard.
Speaker 7:Yes, but you guys work so well with transportation, you guys have training programs I've seen online, you guys have Pacers, you have basically everything that Disney has, but it's set into a national park setting and, like we said, lexi and I can really truly attest to this Because, like Lexi, I did the Great Smoky Mountains and I did Bryce Canyon and you guys know that if you look at Big Thunder Mountain, that's actually in reference to Bryce Canyon, because there's the Big Thunder Mountain Trail which I got to run through and I freaked out and like when I mean like those courses, I remember my mouth just jaw-dropping through all of it and being able to see, especially with the ultra sunset or sorry, sunrise, the sunset.
Speaker 7:There's just nothing like that and just you don't even have to do an ultra at the ultra events and that's why I love this event, because it's so inclusive of anybody for any kind of distances, um, because you can even do like a half marathon at these ultra events. So even if you don't want to do a 50k, 50 miler or 100 miler, whichever ones are being offered that weekend, you still have the option of doing a shorter distance to still be able to experience the same event. It's really quite beautiful and they're usually they're not there max, that's. Another nice thing is like there's no bad sections of any of the courses that I've personally, of either course that I've done with you and I can, and I can tell you jack I I I actually am a huge disney fan.
Speaker 11:It's a it's. I'm like embarrassed to say it because I'm talking to you.
Speaker 2:You're in the right place.
Speaker 11:We're going to Disney in two weeks. I don't do Disney World, I'm a Disneyland guy.
Speaker 7:That's okay. We appreciate that, no, but we've actually.
Speaker 11:If you go to Disneyland, you'll actually see we have stolen a few things from them, most notably if you've ever run one of our double events, uh, where if you're a day and a half, you get a special medal. Next time you go on grizzly river run, look down when you're loading the boats and you'll see the inspiration for those medals.
Speaker 7:It's Disney magic all around you guys. I'm so happy right now.
Speaker 11:I love Walt, I love the magic of Disneyland, and I really mean this. It's not the first time someone's compared us to run Disney, and that is the highest of compliments that I think I could ever receive, so I very much appreciate that You're in the right place.
Speaker 2:I had a lightning lane pass time set up to do that grizzly run, but it was 106 degrees that day and my wife and I said no, we can't hang anymore.
Speaker 3:But just imagine how quickly you would have dried off, though, bob.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 11:You should have been on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just couldn't wait around.
Speaker 13:So, speaking of grizzly river runs, I was just in Yellowstone National Park and they were having a problem with a bunch of grizzly bears being outside in the town of Gardner that I was staying in, along with elk and buffalo. How do you deal or how can you handle the races with wild animals in these national parks being kind of part of the race, and have there ever been any issues or anything like that?
Speaker 11:the only real issue we had is we had a black bear uh raid one of our aid stations at Bryce Canyon, so that's one. We have had grizzlies, on course, at Yellowstone a couple of times and at Glacier, I know at least once. So what we do is we work very closely with the Forest Service and we try to keep our runners bear aware service and we try to keep our runners bear aware. So, uh, I I do remember the very first year we did yellowstone first. Time is sort of our second year doing this, like our fifth event and, uh, the race, the race, everyone's lined up. So it's like literally two minutes before the gun and I walk up to all the elites that are in the front. I I was like, ok, guys, probably bears on course.
Speaker 13:Everyone got a PR. I was not trying to scare them.
Speaker 11:I was just trying to inform them and just let them know that, like, ok, here's what you do and I give them a quick crash course. Fortunately there's as far as I am aware at least there's never been an attack on a group of four or more. So we encourage people to stay in groups. Bears don't like people, so we try to make a lot of noise and make our presence known. It's if you surprise them, that's when they get real, real upset. So we'll send lead vehicles out to make noise. Uh, we'll, we'll encourage people to to make a lot of noise.
Speaker 11:Some people choose to run with bear spray. It's a safety blanket, it's not, it's it's. It's never had to be used, uh, but but, but certainly if you're hiking, we encourage that and some folks choose to run uh with with bear spray. But that's really what it is. If you come to our yellowstone event, uh, we'll often be able to get the forest service. They'll bring out a little demo where they've got a fake bear, like an outline of a bear, and it like charges you on a, on a thing, and then they've got a dummy bear spray, just so you can see what it's like and see how fast they come. So a lot of what we try to do is educational and, and and how to be safe and how to be a good park visitor, uh, and and and those kinds of things. So, um, we all we did have an elk, on course uh- there all the time at our rocky mountain the first year and we actually had to get our truck.
Speaker 11:it was like in the first half mile the race started and the elk was just there. It was this big buck and we had a truck that had just like honked and that elk did not give two Fs about us.
Speaker 2:Oh, it didn't care.
Speaker 11:No, not even a little, but we were just like basically had to move him out of the way and everyone was like, oh my gosh, it's right there, but we never had an incident. So we've had some run-ins, but I we never had an incident. So we've had some run-ins, but I always tell people, if you have run-ins with wildlife, consider yourself lucky. More often people go and they're like I didn't even see any animals.
Speaker 8:It's like, yeah, if you see something on course, you probably feel yourself lucky.
Speaker 11:Go buy a lottery ticket.
Speaker 9:I love that you are educating people while you're doing these races. I know for Great Smoky Mountain this year and maybe this is the case for all of your races it was no cup, so you had to bring your own cup. Is that for all of your races? And what else do you do to contribute to making sure that the environment isn't littered as you're running?
Speaker 11:Yeah, that's one of the things I'm actually real proud of. The first year we were planning our Zion race and I came across a company called HydroPouch and it's a good dude that ran that sort of the inventor of it. I think he sold it, but he's a really good dude and he invented these speed valves that dispense water real, real fast and only require a single hand. So came across the idea. I was like, oh, that's interesting, we're doing it. So at that time, facebook everyone was using Facebook at that time so we had a decent following. And I got on and was like, hey, what do you guys think of this? And expecting it to be a mixed bag, and it was overwhelmingly positive that people wanted that. So we adopted the cut free idea early and I love it. It's somewhat serendipitous but again, I'm real proud of it because I am not a lead runner.
Speaker 11:I am back of the pack on a good day. Speed runner, I am back of the pack on a good day and I love being able to show up to an aid station and it's not a mess. I mean, speaking of disney, they do a great job cleaning up their stuff. We don't have to do the cleanup because we, we keep everybody running with their own, with their own stuff, and early on I got some pushback from a handful of folks that are like, oh, I run these races so I don't have to carry anything. And my response is always look, you can't carry a two ounce cup and like then you probably don't belong at our events. Like it's, it's cool. Like I'm not even upset at you, that's not even judgy, I'm just saying it's probably not a good fit and uh and and so, yeah, we do cut free, uh, we try to sort all of our trash and send nothing to the landfills. Um, we uh, really really encourage uh people to be out on on uh and explore the parks and to be responsible in their visitation.
Speaker 11:Um, so, again, we, we try to educate as much as we can. You know some things. We, we, we, we've encouraged people to go on certain hikes in different locales and the park service occasionally will come back and say, oh, these trails are really busy and is there any way we can move them to somewhere else? And so we respond well to that. Again, it breaks my heart if I ever hear that we're causing problems for the park service.
Speaker 11:I am a huge lover of public lands. I think they're all underfunded and overworked and so you know I love that we get to run in these beautiful places. And you know, even to tack it onto an earlier question, I'm really grateful that you know Zuckerberg can't go in and rent out Yosemite Valley for the weekend. You know, with the right amount of money, that it's public, that nobody can sort of cordon off certain areas for commercial purposes. That's a really good thing as far as I'm concerned. So the fact that we can't run in the parks I think is okay because nobody can, and I think that's a really good thing because nobody can, and I think that's a really good thing.
Speaker 7:Well, just to kind of first of all stem off of the fact about the Hydra pouch or whatever. So you guys give it for free. You ask it during registration whether you want to have it or not. So you can either bring your own stuff or you can use the Hydra pouch and you don't even have to carry it. It actually has like a little hook on the side. I hooked it onto my shorts and then all I did was have to grab it, get, um, you know, pour the water in, drink what I wanted to and then put it right back on my side. Uh, it was perfectly fine for great Smoky mountains.
Speaker 11:So if you're worrying about holding a cup, you don't, you don't have to and we've got people concerned that like, oh, I'm going to get the aid station, I have to wait in line to fill up my cup. And that's just not it. We've never had that issue. It takes like half a second to get six ounces of water. It's a speed valve and I feel really dumb. We used to work with HydroPouch. They were sort of the innovator. We currently work with our sponsor Nathan who do these cups, oh yeah.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I know, good move. No, I didn't even mention them. Nathan really is wonderful and their cups. We did some testing and the cups people actually preferred, so but it's exactly that. We didn't want to give people excuses or make it a cost thing.
Speaker 11:I've got a. I'm a bleeding heart. I want to make sure everything everybody has access to our events and to the national parks, and that really matters to me. So I want to make sure that it's. Our sort of mantra is, if there is a fee or a cost, that that is unavoidable. We try to bake it in and we try to make things as easy as we can and upfront as we can, and and um, in some ways I'm a really terrible capitalist, uh, but I really care about our customers experience and uh and and uh and all of that sort of feeds into good stuff I really do want to quickly talk about some of the similarities between yours and disney, but some of the things I really want to make sure we talk about is one the registration for sure, the overall ease and accessibility of the website for registration.
Speaker 7:I feel like with Run Disney, it's so frustrating because it's like you have to be there the one second to sign up for this race, and you guys not only have ease of registration. I mean this website. If you go onto it, which is vacationracescom, you can choose tabs with the domestic, domestic events, global events and the calendar. Not only do these races show the difficulty level and a one through five star rating, these races, you guys are actually, if you look at it, some of them are eligible for proof of time. For run disney great smoky mountains was actually my proof of time for the two years that I was allowed to use it for. So you just want to make sure that when you're choosing one of these events, if you are trying to use it for proof of time which I do recommend that all you need to do is just to make sure that it's a road race and that it specifically says a road race.
Speaker 7:Now, obviously it will say, trail races, or I think you guys have some that are mixed as well, but you guys can easily look through the course information. They even give you enough information with travel and lodging to gain an idea of where to even stay, because it is the national parks and it's not like Disney where you do have all these hotels and so on and so forth. That's massive amounts of hotels to choose from, but they do have, um like directions on which airports to use, how to get to the events from the airports. Um the lodging, don't you guys even have like a discount for the race weekends as well, with some of the hotels around?
Speaker 11:yeah, we do what we can to try and negotiate some of that. It's it's, you know, when we don't. We're not these big mega events, it's not 30,000 people descending on a place, so they're a little bit more I don't know the right word bespoke or boutique, whatever you want to say but they're a little bit smaller and and uh, and some of the places are pretty remote. So we view the whole thing as the whole trip is sort of under our purview, I guess, and we feel responsible for it. So we really do want to make it easy to be able to figure out your lodging, whether you want to go stay at a Four Seasons or you want to camp in your car.
Speaker 11:We like giving people options and, you know, honestly, I tell my staff anytime we go somewhere. I was like it's our job to try every restaurant so we can tell people where what to avoid and where to go. Uh, you know, I, I, I, just as last week we were mount rushmore the best hamburger that I know exists in the world is in Custer, south Dakota of all places and um, and we tell people about it that we don't have a sponsorship.
Speaker 11:We don't. I just like, I just want people to have a great time and and we want to. You know, the more we can guide them and give people tips on where to go and what to do, the the the higher the likelihood that there'll be that they'll have a good time. And that's the same way we approach our races is. We want to make it so easy. It's so difficult putting yourself out there. We want to make everything else easy and make everything reliable so you can just focus on you and your performance and know that everything else is taken care of. Nobody bats a thousand, including us, but that's our aim and that's what we really try to do, and we're really responsive to customer feedback and trying to always improve. Even if we're blowing your mind, we still want to get better.
Speaker 4:And you mentioned you're more of a boutique race series About how many people do you usually see at your race weekends, or is it different just depending on which race it is? Or do you usually see at your race weekends, or is it different just depending on which race it is, or like do you have an average?
Speaker 11:on average we're. We're in that about 2 000 person range. Some of our events are a little less, a couple of events are a little more, and but I'm speaking purely about our half marathons our ultra marathons tend to be in the 1500 to 2000 range, but that's spread across four to five distances. So we really do care. We're largely single track at our ultras so we really try to limit the number of bodies on trail to prevent congestion. Our trail fest events tend to have about 750 people. Typically that's our cap and and we usually sell out. And then our global tours.
Speaker 11:They're a little I'll just use the word, they're a little bougie and uh, there's about, uh, we limit those, um, typically in that 60 person range. I think our croatia is only 32, uh, but that's because it's all on a boat and that's how many people can sleep on the boat, but outside of that one we tend to be in the 60 person range. So that's that's sort of the range that we're at. So collectively we're as big, as you know, a large, major marathon over the course of the year, but individually it's much smaller and and what you get with that is more connection and and more, um, I don't know, we we really do have some of the best, I don't know. I constantly say I think runners are great people in general, but but I think our runners might even be the best people, because there's just this camaraderie that you get, and especially at the multi-day events, that I just haven't ever experienced elsewhere and there's real connection. That happens, and I think it's really beautiful, and so that's kind of the size and where we are.
Speaker 4:And as a follow-up question about how many races do y'all have a year? I know, just because I've researched it, some kind of interchange, some you do like every other year or every couple of years, we, we, so that talking about Disney.
Speaker 11:we sort of treat it the same. We put races in the vault and then bring them out, Not Rushmore.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 11:And so that's sort of how we've operated. That model is actually a little dubious on it. When you skip a year you kind of lose a little momentum. So I'm not quite sure if that's's a working strategy, but it's something that we are toying with. Uh, you know places like rushmore, for example, gorgeous course. It might actually be our most beautiful course. I don't personally care for rushmore itself. It's got a weird history, it's whatever. But the black hills of south dakota are jaw jaw dropping. If you're in front of a computer, google Needles Highway, that's like you're running there and like it's so incredible. But that's kind of the idea. But sorry, your question was how many people or how many events it's. I think we're in the 17, 18 uh for, uh, what we call mpe or mass production events, and then, uh, globally, I think we're at 24 to 25 uh, different tours, but that's over 14 countries. There are some countries that do um, we have multiple like iterations. We have like two or three trips that go to iceland every year, kind.
Speaker 7:Again, one of the things that I truly love about vacation races is you guys promote this runner inclusivity and you make it extremely easy, like I said, for any runner to take part in these events.
Speaker 7:And like for ultras and I know we're going to briefly talk about ultras in a second but like for ultras, you give people like a really gracious amount of time to be able to complete those ultras. If you truly wanted to, you could probably walk the entire or hike the entire event and still be able to have time to finish it. Like there are little cutoffs inside them, but you make sure that everybody can finish this event regardless of pace. And I think that is one of the most beautiful things, because sometimes what people worry about, especially as they're, they worry that oh, I see the elevation chart, I don't know if I'm going to get to that cutoff in time, and I know that's stress as a runner out. You guys make it so easy for runners not to stress out for any events, including half marathons or five case. I don't even think you guys even have a cutoff for half marathons.
Speaker 11:That's exactly right. Uh, you guys even have a cutoff for half marathons. That's exactly right. Uh, and our ultras are the cutoffs that you're talking about that we have throughout the race. We call our grim reaper time. Yeah, I actually dress up as the grim reaper do you really?
Speaker 7:you scared me like I thought I'm so worried about grim reaper like thing going on my first event.
Speaker 11:I was like I don't know what that is and I just I dress up as a grim reaper. Everyone loves it. They want to get pictures and stuff. But just to try to take the edge off of like, yeah, this is non-negotiable. You know you got to hit certain minimums, but you're right, we really do try to make it as accessible as we can. Our minimums that we publish are 20-minute pace. Actually, the true minimum is probably about an 18-minute pace, at least for our road races. It's a four-hour cutoff, but even that we're very generous with. As long as an athlete looks like they're in good health and that there's no other safety concerns, we will let people continue. I think we shut down our rushmore half at five hours. That's when we brought down the arch. Um but so. But we left it up because we knew we had a couple of folks that were out there.
Speaker 11:Uh, again at the ultras, talk about a lot of people walking them, or you can walk them. That's what most people do Like. That's the misnomer of ultra running is it's power hiking and, let's be real, it's fast hiking. Very, very few people are running nonstop. It's much more about that. But the challenge is is that pace? It's much more about about that, but the challenge is is that pace? If you're used to running a 18 minute pace on road trails will slow you down and that's a good thing. As far as I'm concerned, it's a lot easier on your body, even if you go much farther. It's much easier on your body and, of course, the the give of the earth itself is a lot more forgiving, but taking a slower pace just can help you go so much farther. So it's very similar.
Speaker 11:We really try to to to keep that. But in some instances I know it it like Antelope Canyon, for example, our 50 K. It's operating at the same time and and there's enough overlap of like aid stations of people, on course, that I'm like let's give them like 12, 13 hours to run a 50k. Take your time, like we're here, as long as you're in good health, like what do I care if you're out there for 12 hours, that's awesome and and and. So that's sort of what we encourage and and I think the most beautiful thing in the world is somebody just trying and and, whether they're trying a 5k for the first time or their 50th hundred miler or somewhere in between, that you're out there, putting yourself out there, and the starting line is is what's beautiful? Of course, I love seeing people finish. I love people seeing people succeeding, but more than that, I love people just trying and challenging their own perceptions of what they can do, and and and that there is nothing more beautiful in the world.
Speaker 7:So funny. You mentioned Antelope Canyon. So this is probably one of the races I've been looking at for years and you guys offer three ultra events and, like I have said already during this podcast, if you don't want to do an ultra during an ultra event, it's okay because you don't have to. There's shorter distances in there as well. For this one, there's a 30K offering and you still see some of the most beautiful sections of the course. Anyways, I'm hoping and asking this I have been as a goal of mine to really introduce the ultra running community to the run Disney community, because, to me, if you could run a marathon, or if you could do Goofy or the Dopey Challenge, you could truly do an ultra.
Speaker 7:And I feel like a lot of people have this pushback because, well, it's an ultra and I'm like, well, if you do a 50K, isn't that just a few more miles than a marathon? How are you feeling after that marathon? And people don't realize how easy it is to kind of go to the next level and, um, my, my myself included when 2020 happened, um, unfortunately, I had the dopey challenge scheduled and then I briefly found myself into an ultra and with vacation races with every beat, with everything so packaged well enough. Now, I don't do research for events, but I do research now and I just find it so easy to see exactly what the average temperature is like, what the trails are exactly like, whereas this one is specifically a sand trail and whatnot. Do you agree or disagree that ultras are pretty accessible, even though we just talked about timeframes, that there really isn't too much of a cutoff?
Speaker 11:I'm really happy when I see kind of new faces. Again, putting yourself out there is the raddest thing that I know of. So there's a reason we do half marathons. I've heard numerous stories of people who show up to an ultra. They don't know what to do. I can do a half marathon, I'm just gonna do that. And then they see the 50k finishers and they're like I could do that. I look just like those people, okay, I could do that. And then they come back the next year and they're doing the 50. And then they then they look at it it's 50 milers, I could probably do that, okay. And then and you see them go up. I've seen people progress from from only half marathoners to doing a hundred milers. And and again, that's if that's not your jam, there's certainly no judgment Like that's.
Speaker 11:That's what's, again, really beautiful about ultra marathoning. It's, it's. It's just this like raw and authentic and beautiful sort of community. You get gatekeepers like you do anywhere else, but by and large, uh, it's it really. If you've read born to run, you know the the author's description of scott jurick as just this like really humble, really nice guy dude. That's what the whole industry is, man. It's.
Speaker 11:It's really this beautiful thing and as we got kind of got into it, the reason is or at least the reason I think the story I tell is is when you're out and you've got, you know, eight miles between aid stations, you're pretty vulnerable and you know to forgive the language, but you can't bullshit your way through an ultra. You know you can show up to a half marathon and not train and probably muster your way, or at least some people can, but not everybody can. An ultra is you just can't. It's really hard to show up and just do a 50 mile or 100 mile or even a 50k without any training or without meaningful training. So, uh, there, there really is something, um, quite beautiful about that. And and again, my, my point of view is I want to see the sport grow. It already has grown by leaps and bounds. There's lots of very good reasons.
Speaker 11:Again, as much as I love, uh, run dis when I did the Disneyland half 2016,. You run it through Anaheim, which isn't much to speak of, and it's not. You know, the park's rad but, like the rest, wasn't my favorite. But at these ultras you're just out there, you're remote, you're vulnerable and you just sort of have to rely on everybody else. And so if somebody goes down, somebody's having heat stroke, somebody's really struggling, has an injury or something, but there's three miles from the aid station, there's no. There are no balloon ladies to come and like sweep you. There's no sag vehicle. There's no balloon ladies to come and sweep you. There's no SAG vehicle. You have to get yourself to the next aid station to get extracted. Of course we have emergency protocols should it rise to that, but really the plan of action is get yourself to the next aid station and that's where we can access you and help assist.
Speaker 13:But I think that vulnerability is also what makes ultra running so wonderful, because the community knows that and they see you and they recognize that we're all being super vulnerable out there and so they help you. I have had stories myself and I'm sure everybody else who's done an ultra has had stories of someone just you just have not having a piece of equipment or not being able to do a thing or or missing something, and someone comes around and says I got you, let's do this. Or if you're, you know, struggling, someone's like nope, you're not, you're not, you're coming with me. And then they just drag you along.
Speaker 11:So I can tell you how many stories I hear at finish lines where someone's like oh, who is this person? They helped me. So, like Pete, you just find your people. And again you're out there for like eight hours in the middle of the night and you find you just somebody's there and it's another human and there's real, authentic and raw connection that happens. And again, I think that's one of the most beautiful things that we get to bring into the world. And to Jack, I think that's that's one of the most beautiful things that we get to bring into the world.
Speaker 13:And to Jack's point too. Jack was saying you know that run Disney people are doing the goofy and the dopey and stuff like that, but then you guys are also going to the parks afterwards, so you're kind of doing an ultra, whether you think you are or not.
Speaker 11:That's exactly right.
Speaker 7:I 13 miles at the when I do Disneyland every trip no, I know with um in terms of meeting people on the course. My first ever ultra with you guys, um, I ended up meeting two people from Nepal and I ran 32 miles with them and I still am in contact with them every once in a while that's what I I mean.
Speaker 11:It's. I hear those stories all the time and and especially on our like trail fest events that are three, four days, and then our, our global adventures, where you're really it's a small group and you're with each other for a week. There's, there's oh my gosh, there there are groups that go and run races together that aren't vacation races, but they met on our global adventures. It's just the best people and it's just such good vibes at all the events. But the more time you get together the better, and it really is awesome is awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, speaking of your global running adventures, what I have appreciated about this entire interview is the multiple ways that you have been able to tie your company to the Run Disney product, something that we love with all of our hearts and obviously, what this podcast is all about. But you spoke of your global adventures product and it almost kind of is in line with another Disney product that maybe not as many people know about and that is Adventures by Disney. Adventures by Disney is this. I have not had the fortune to be on one. My father and sister have and said it was one of the best trips of their lifetime, but it's essentially just guided tours and accommodations and travel and meals for you to be able to experience a location and get access to places that you know the typical traveler and in this case the typical runner might not have access to, and so draw, you know, draws those comparisons of the adventures by Disney to your global adventures and what people can expect if they decide to embark on one of these adventures.
Speaker 11:So, like you, greg, I also have not had the luck of participating in a adventure by Disney, although we've talked about it a little bit I don't know, it's been a minute since I looked and did some reconnaissance on their offering, so I can't totally speak about the comparison. But what I can tell you is about what we do in our sort of approach, the way we look at it. Let's use a place like Ireland. So in Ireland, on our tour there, we try to hit about a 25% classic, right. So we go to the Cliffs of Moher. We start in Dublin, right, like we're hitting some places that you'd probably go visit if you were planning your own trip. 75% of the tour we try and target sort of off the beaten path, with a focus on, again, connection and sort of authenticity within the, the, wherever we we're traveling. So we have local guides. Um, they're, they grew up in the area, they, they know that. You know this wonderful woman, a guide on our iceland tour. Uh, she read us some like fairy tales as a kid, that like talks about the, the goblins that are in the rocks in the mountains and stuff like that. Those were sort of the things that they grew up with and so you really get this again authentic connection with the area. But let me lay out what a global adventure is. It's international. Our focus right now is for people in North America and kind of taking them all over, although I think we'll expand that.
Speaker 11:But the idea is that every morning well, I'll put it this way Everybody rendezvous, typically on a Saturday, in kind of the major city. We usually provide transportation from the airport, so all you got to do is get yourself there. We don't cover your flight to get there. But as soon as you get there, you're kind of with us, you're on the team and we'll get you to the host hotel. We do our opening ceremonies, we sort of orient everybody, have a very nice dinner, introduce the team and then each day we take you out on a really killer five-ish mile trail run, and it's typically early morning, and then we move around the country so we don't stay in that same hotel. We we, generally speaking, don't spend more than about two nights in a single hotel, uh, and, and so we really want to try and show as much of the area as we can. We're constantly on the move.
Speaker 11:So you wake up, you get a little grab and go breakfast. You know people aren't super hungry before their run. Obviously, everyone runs gets all that. You know euphoria and the runner's high and the good vibes of the day. And then the afternoon, you know lunch is included. And then the afternoon we do some kind of an excursion. You know Costa Rica, there's zip lining, there's this incredible like ocean kayak excursion that we do In Iceland. We go on a glacier walk and we go and walk on this incredible glacier and we go out and see puffins. We do a puffin tour, that kind of a thing. All of that's included.
Speaker 11:It's it's, it's all baked in, uh, it's. It's all your lodging, all your transportation, the guides. We have medics there. Uh, we have, uh, all the courses are marked, uh and uh, we do time it, but it's vacation races.
Speaker 11:We don't take ourselves too seriously. There are days where and we tell people like you wake up one day and you're just like, nah, I'm not feeling it, that's cool, it's your vacation, you don't have to run, like there's no judgment, we don't care. And so we have all these things and occasionally we had somebody. I remember the first time we were in Costa Rica and we did the whitewater rafting and there's a couple of like, yeah, not our cup of tea. So they decided and they found a different excursion. No big deal Again, it's, it's their vacation.
Speaker 11:We sort of say here's the itinerary, here's all the stuff we're doing. You can opt in or out of anything. You just got to communicate with us so we know we're not leaving you at the hotel if we're transferring from one place to another. Uh, and, and. So we've got a real, really good group, uh, that does that. And then at the end of the race, uh, the very last day, you do get a real killer medal. Uh, I know this is audio, so I'm showing everyone here. But they look like these uh, and and and they're real beautiful. They're the same quality that you get at our house, but they're really stunning. And and really beautiful, uh, that, if they're, they're the same quality that you get at our house, but they're really stunning and really beautiful.
Speaker 2:If you hold them up to the microphone, okay, no, nevermind.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I'll do that, I'll rub it against the microphone. No, I'm just kidding, but that's but, but that's part of it. And and you know, just just to show our our, our return rates really high people who run our tours, it's something like 65% will book a second tour, that's impressive.
Speaker 11:Yeah, it's really high. People really do love what we're offering. It's fairly unique.
Speaker 11:There's a lot of tour companies out there. They're, generally speaking, more focused on hikes. Again, no problem with that, and it's likely something that we'll start doing down the road. Again, we generally ask that people can maintain a 20-minute pace on trails. Generally speaking, that translates to 15 to 16-minute pace on road. So there is a little bit of that, but there are some instances where someone showed up and they couldn't quite maintain that and we've come up with some modifications on routes and we really do accommodate as much as we can. Even meals and dietary restrictions has been challenging for us, but we've been able to manage those with a number of folks that come on our tours consistently. And, again, for us it's just a matter of trying to keep a real high service level and just doing whatever we can to make people, help them have a good time and help them really explore the area, and a lot of folks have. We really hear two things from a lot of folks. So for any of the listeners, if this resonates with you, you're gonna dig Global Adventures.
Speaker 11:We get a lot of professionals out there that are. They show up and they're like yeah, I always have to plan my trip, or I'm always the one in the group that has to do all the planning, or I'm busy and I don't wanna have to plan my trip, or I'm always the one in the group that has to do all the planning, or I'm busy and I don't want to have to plan my trip. I don't know how to make it good and we just have everything figured out so you can show up as inebriated as you want to be and you can enjoy. We'll get you from point A to point B the whole week and you can really have a good time. It's a really good group.
Speaker 11:We've got we're on whatsapp. We've got this whatsapp group like alumni, where a lot of folks uh, really still talk and connect and and share stories and things like that. It's real active uh, fun group uh, and then occasionally, this is a fun thing that we do we do something we call a super secret trip. It's only for alumni. We, we, uh, and now it's like club 33, something to be, said for that?
Speaker 11:there we we say, uh, we don't tell you the destination, we tell you, uh, the dates, we tell you the weather and what to pack for, and then we tell you the airport that you need to meet us at and then uh and then everyone shows up. We give you a little scratch card and you scratch it off and that shows you where you're going.
Speaker 11:Oh my god, so much fun yeah, it blows minds we don't do them all the time, but we're, uh, we're prepping one now that, uh, we'll have ready for 2026. So if that's something you're interested in, get on one of our tours, because those sell out very, very soon.
Speaker 7:I am truly honored and forever grateful, salem, for you coming on Because, again, I know I've only done two events, but they were so impactful for the two events that I had done. And if you are a Run Disney fanatic, you know that you guys have asked us what events have you guys done at Side Run Disney that you truly have fallen in love with? And that, to me, is Vacation Races, because it truly has the whole Disney package. But, to be honest, it's at a more affordable price too and it has the same kind of magic that Disney has and it's something that's just breathtaking that you can only see once you get there, and it's it's. They truly have one of a kind events.
Speaker 7:Um, I wish we had more time to talk about the trail fests that you guys have. I know we talked about it off the air a little bit but, um, you guys are continually expanding and I truly cannot wait to see what you guys continue to do in the future. You know that you have a forever client in me and if you hey, if you know, if you're ever hiring, I'd be totally down. Um, just saying as a true uh, we're all true running fanatics and this has been such a great pleasure, and if someone is trying to find you, how can they um find you?
Speaker 11:salem and vacation races as a whole so I'm actually pretty easy to get a hold of. I think my, my cell phone is still on our website, where you know we're, we're a sizable company, but I I still like to to to take calls occasionally, um, and certainly my email is available. But, yeah, go to vacationracescom or, if you forgot, you just google national park half marathons and it will come up there and, uh, that's that's kind of the place to start. You know, obviously, join our email list. We've got a.
Speaker 11:Uh, admittedly we're, we're we've not done great on the marketing side, but we're investing there heavily. So we've got a fairly good Instagram page, a Facebook page, if that's your jam, and we are getting into TikTok. That's where all the cool kids are nowadays, so we're going to dip our toe in that water. So just follow us there. And we really do try to be very respectful and try not to spam, email too much or talk about ourselves too much. And, more than that, we really want to put out content about the parks and kind of inspire you to explore and put yourself out there as much as you can. That's the easiest. But, yeah, anyone wants to get a hold of me? I'm not that hard to get a hold of You're welcome to contact me directly, or I've got a really great team that works for me that can talk to you as well, and again, you guys, this is going to be vacationracescom.
Speaker 7:If you're looking for any of the events, it's a really easily accessible website and if you have any questions, again, please go ahead and message Salem or even ask Lexi and I, who have both done the events, salem, or even ask Lexi and I, who have both done the events we are very knowledgeable about. I've researched so much about you guys, so yes, and I'll.
Speaker 11:I'll say the one thing that that I think we do have Disney beat on is at our expo, where you come and check in and pick up your bibs, we actually have a fire pit where you get to make your own s'more. What's better than how is a trip to a national park for?
Speaker 15:not getting own s'more. What's better than how is a trip to a national park, but not getting a s'more.
Speaker 11:That just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 8:So that's one thing.
Speaker 11:I don't think Disney has going for them. If you want a s'more, that's the way to be. We hope that anyone who's interested will join us and let me know. If you heard me on the podcast, I'd love to talk to you. Come and let me know if you heard me on the podcast. I'd love to talk to you. Come and say hi to me. I go to most of the events.
Speaker 2:Salem. Thanks for spending the time with us. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed learning about what vacation races have to offer and I think it may be fun to take a peek and see what they got. Hey, I listened to a new podcast today. My friends A podcast from a couple of our friends. Aaron from the We'll Run For podcast and our buddy Stephanie have a podcast called Pace Yourself it's Just Cancer where they discuss their journey as athletes dealing with the cancer disease and give them a shot. Take a listen. You can find them wherever finer podcasts are sold. They did a good job for their first podcast. I really thought they did a nice job. I listened this morning on my run, so we're good there.
Speaker 2:Reminder 101 Dalmatian shirts are still available at Kawhi and Pizza Apparel. They will be available up until Wine and Dine weekend. That's the last that Alex is going to be able to take orders from for them. They are $30. They're great looking shirts. A lot of folks have them already. No discount codes for this one, but if you buy something else from Kauai and Pizza Apparel, use the discount code RISEANDRUN, you'll get a discount on that item and if your total purchase is over $50, which it will be if you get more than one shirt, use the code FREESHIP50, freeship50, all one word for free shipping. You don't have to buy the shirt if you want to participate in the 5K Wine and Dine weekend as one of the Dalmatians, but we think you're going to like it if you do. This is going to be fun guys.
Speaker 3:Just a quick note that I wanted to pass along. Pass along a day of recording was the official opening date of registration for the 2025 bird in hand half marathon, and the response that we got after our recap episode a couple of weeks ago, um, you know, truly has has shocked me to see how many people are interested in either returning to this race or deciding to run it for the first time. And I know our buddy rob, you know who ran with us, you know to the facebook post and you know it said, you know, happy registration day to all those who celebrate that was funny and uh, so I really did have a good chuckle out of that and it's amazing to see the number of people that are already signed up.
Speaker 3:So if you're interested in getting the absolute lowest registration price for this race, uh, be sure to visit their website again. Uh, rob posted a link on our facebook page. I think I want to say, as of right now, the half marathon registration is 90 and if you do the firefighter challenge, that's 115. And I think that price is good through the end of November. So it's going to be great to see just an even bigger contingency of rising runners out there so we can go get some camel selfies and everything's going to be awesome. So looking forward to seeing as many people as possible out there.
Speaker 2:It's a good event Within your ability to do it. I highly recommend it. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's a great weekend out there in South Central Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1:And if you do want the coveted road apple, you do need to do the Garden Spot Half Marathon in April before you do the Bird and Ant. Okay, so, guys, you know what it's a day recording. You know what happened 53 years ago today. Hold on, hold on. No, what are you going to tell us? It's a test. Next week we're going to give you the answer Disney World opened 53 years ago.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, 1971. Where 1971.
Speaker 5:Where did?
Speaker 2:you go, october of 71.
Speaker 1:October 1st 1971. And Epcot 1982.
Speaker 2:I was in college October of 1971. I was not in college.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even in grade school, yet I was just getting there.
Speaker 2:That's okay, John. The rest of them weren't around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's all right. It's all good guys. I did go to next year. I did go in 72, though oh good for you.
Speaker 2:74 for me First time I got there. Pretty neat. Let's see guys next week. Upcoming episodes. Episode 159 Matt Bowen. You may not know who Matt is. He's a friend of the podcast. Matt is the guy at the Disney races who carries the American flag for all the Disney races. Matt's got some great stories to tell us and he's got a fundraiser he wants us to know about. It's kind of a neat thing. So we'll be talking with Matt next week.
Speaker 2:Okay, my friends, it's time for the Race Report. The Race Report is brought to you by our friend, Tom Stokes at Stoked Metabolic Training. Metabolic training Stokesfit. Slash, rise and run coaching is the URL to find Tom's latest offerings. Also, at the top of our Facebook group page in the featured section, you've got Tom's three levels of coaching and training that he's got available right now. A bunch of us are still at it, still finding it very worthwhile, so if you're interested, take a look.
Speaker 2:Let's start on Saturday in Columbus, Indiana, for the Mill Race Half Marathon. Ileana and her dad, Nelson, did this one. Ileana tried to get a two-hour 10-minute half Ran with her dad, went for it. They stayed on pace for the first couple miles, kept up about a 10-minute-per-mile pace which was going to work out pretty well, but then started slowing down a little bit. Ileana thankful her dad was there to push her on a bit worked hard, did things like counting steps, counting breaths, things we've talked about just to keep a steady cadence. Knew she wasn't going to make 210, but still had a chance to PR and when she saw the finish line she just kicked it in it in. She started her mantra with I am going to PR this thing, Although she didn't say thing in her mantra, but she said it over and over and it worked for her because she repeated it hard till her body was over the finish line, Stopped her watch. She did it 2-12, a one-minute improvement and a PR. Eliana Nelson way to go.
Speaker 2:In Oswego, Illinois, Gordy's Pumpkin Run 5K. Tiffany ran this one. I think I remember this from last year, gang, the Tough Pumpkin Challenge, where you run the 5k carrying a pumpkin. Does that, does that ring a bell? I, I know.
Speaker 3:I do remember talking about this, whether it was.
Speaker 2:Tiffany that did it or not, I'm not sure, but I know we talked about it. Tiffany says carrying a pumpkin is much harder than running with a beer, which she did at the Disney marathon. And then you know what you win when you cross the finish line Another pumpkin, although they're smaller than the ones that you had to run with. That's a neat one, tiffany. Thanks for sharing that. Technically, in Chantilly, virginia, it's the Washington Dulles Airport 5K, 10k on the runway. Brenna and Nikhil did this one. They did 10K on Saturday, hot and humid, in DC. One water stop at mile three and then they ran out of water and they ran out of metals at the finish. I think that's unforgivable in both cases, to be honest. But if you finish they're going to mail you your medal. At one point I'm still waiting on a medal to get mailed to me from a race, but that's okay, we'll get there.
Speaker 2:After the race they explored the Stephen F Udvar-Hazy Center, which is the National Air and Space Museum's wing at Dulles. I had a chance to get there a couple years ago. It's awesome. There are a couple really great aviation museums in this country. The Navy's got one in Pensacola, florida. The Air Force has a wonderful museum. It's actually a series of hangars in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, ohio, and this one now at Dulles Airport in Washington is just awesome. If you're interested at all in aviation, it's a can't miss as part of the Berlin Marathon, and we're going to spend a lot of time on the Berlin Marathon in just a bit.
Speaker 2:There was a 5K on Saturday. We had a couple folks running it Margaret and John ran it, as did Anna, jennifer and Carolyn and I'm going to let that go. We'll talk more about it in the race report spotlight. In Banff, alberta, canada, melissa Leanne ran Melissa's road race. How nice that the people of Banff named a race just for Melissa, so she got to run it. I think that's super. They had to stop for a bull elk on the course, but she did finish. Hey, it's Canada. Eh, what else would you stop for An elk? You got to, like that, learned a good lesson Get out there and train. Gee, we've talked about that, but you get it, I get it. Sometimes life gets in the way. Hasn't been running consistently and it showed Still beautiful day for her slowest half marathon and her slowest half marathon comes in at 209. Melissa Leanne, that's a pretty good slow half marathon, so we're proud of you, said she listened to the episode during the run. That probably slowed you down a little bit too. In and I Holesopple, pennsylvania, anybody, anybody, h-o-l-s-o-p-p-l-e.
Speaker 3:Holsopple, pennsylvania I, I've never heard of it, but that's that.
Speaker 2:That sounds pretty close okay, this is near shanksville and shanksville may ring a bell to you. That's where flight 93 crashed on september 11th. The 14th annual Q Classic in Holzapfel. Chrissy ran this one. Ran it sub 30 for this 5K, four minutes faster than last year. Fourth in her age group, pretty flat course. Views were great, made for an amazing race. Year after year. She's done this one a couple of times, ranted in her Philadelphia Flyers shirt, looking good, chrissy.
Speaker 2:Seattle Washington, the base to space climb. Now this technically is not a run, but what our friend Vanessa did is climbed the 832 steps of the famous, iconic Seattle Space Needle. Done it the past few years. It's always fun. Great vendors, lots of wait for it she's in Seattle. Lots of varieties of coffee. Imagine that. No bananas overlook that one because of the fantastic views Climbing up. I hope you don't have to climb back down. I don't know if it's both ways. Base to space. I think maybe you get to take the elevator down. Anyway, highly recommended if you're in Seattle this time of year.
Speaker 2:In Kennesaw, georgia, the Kennesaw Grand Prix Race Series. Three out of four Dorothy ran that event. Near Little Rock, arkansas, not in Little Rock. Near Little Rock, at the Lone Oak Train Depot. The great Pumpkin 5K Shelby Allison did this one. This was the morning after a big Girl Scout fundraiser and she kind of got her dates mixed up because she didn't really plan to do those things back to back. She actually and I thought this was a funny line she said maybe I thought there were numbers between 27 and 28. 27.5.
Speaker 2:She had extra time, yeah were numbers between 27 and 28. 27.5. She had extra time. Yeah, it's not on the calendar though. That's the problem. There's no day 27.5. Anyway, she says she almost accidentally overslept, but she's glad she didn't. Went out and ran and set a new 5k PR. Way to go, sa, we're proud of you. In Lancaster, pennsylvania, not far at all from bird in hand, the hands-on house half marathon Allie, without an E, ran this one. She had 16 miles on her training schedule. So this half marathon was a catered training run.
Speaker 2:This course was hilly, apparently even hillier than the burden hand run Out and back. So every time they did a hill going out they knew they'd have to do it again coming back. That's tough. There was one hill that was at least one mile, literally straight up. According to Ali, this one literally went straight up 90 degrees.
Speaker 3:All right, maybe not. Do you have to have a ladder then for that?
Speaker 2:You have a rope at the top. We go back to our intro from, uh, from forest. That thing was literal, almost. It wasn't literally, but it was almost like a ladder. Anyway, back to alley without a knee. In lancaster she says the race director must hate runners. Uh, it was a small event, less than 150 people. She brought up the back of the pack, only 24 people behind her. If it's only 150, 24 people behind you, that's not too bad. Despite the hills, despite walking a bunch and that one beast of a hill, she was happy with her finish time and the fact that she's now completed her longest distance yet 16 miles marathon weekend. Watch out, holly, with Adonis coming for you, she's got a real good coach Bob.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I'm super proud of her.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Although she did take one picture of a farm animal, and it was not a camel. I was highly disappointed.
Speaker 2:Oh, she commented on the horses, there't she?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, yeah. She posted a picture of a horse and I commented and said this is not a camel all right, let's go to orlando.
Speaker 2:The margarita run 10k. Jennifer and steven were there. Super fun race planned. The race with this one is a speed drill, for chicago started out on a good pace this is jennifer talking now but by mile four and a half the sun and humidity which are still present here in central florida got tour. Uh kept a decent overall pace now steven.
Speaker 2:Steven knocked out a 10k pr nice yeah, they got to meet with meet with Stephanie before and after the race. Uh, enjoyed a fun party beer and margarita shots. There was a costume contest kids. If you see the photos on Facebook, Jennifer and Steven really went out all out in the car.
Speaker 2:They did but they didn't win. Now, they did post photos of the winners and they looked't win. Bummer, they did post photos of the winners and they looked pretty good. They ran as like a margarita glass and a martini glass or something Pretty clever. But I'm telling you, I'm telling you, jen and Steven did a good job there.
Speaker 3:Well, next year they just have to run as one of those Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville blenders and then I'm sure they'll win then.
Speaker 2:Nicole Nicole, who goes by by nicks did this one. Uh, her first race in preparation for the wine and dine challenge and her first half, I didn't realize. Oh, I think she's talking about preparing for her first half, because I don't think the margarita will run had a half. Uh, it was her 40th birthday and her sister-in-law flew down to surprise her and run with her. That's pretty cool. She even beat her training times in this 10K and that is a PR.
Speaker 3:Also I want to shout out my cousin Brett also ran this race. I got a nice selfie with his medal from him on Saturday morning. So, brett, great job and I look forward to running with you again soon on property.
Speaker 2:Let's wind up Saturday in Blairville, georgia, at Vogel State Park, the Lady of the Lake four-hour race. Holly was there. Friends, let's start on Sunday with the big run of the weekend, one of the world majors in Berlin, and we have a wonderful group of Run Disney friends visiting with us to tell us about their experience at this year's Berlin Marathon. So I'm going to welcome one at a time. I'm going to start with Anna Anna how you doing.
Speaker 16:Hey, how's it going? I'm really good, thank you.
Speaker 2:Good, and now, anna, where are you today?
Speaker 16:Right now I am in Prague, in the Czech Republic, but I'm not from Prague, obviously I'm from England.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us. Let's see who else is here. Heather's here.
Speaker 14:Hi there. So yeah, I'm Heather, I'm from London and I'm already back in London.
Speaker 2:That's good. How long of a trip from Berlin to London.
Speaker 14:We decided to drive out. So we got back. Yeah, we took one look at the price of flights and thought for three of us we could hop in the car for that and some. So it was about 12 hours from Calais plus a couple of hours for us to get to the crossing. Because we did, we have the tunnel cool.
Speaker 2:Let's see Bob's here. Hiya, bob hello.
Speaker 8:Yep, I'm back home already. I'm in uh, groveland, florida, northwest of Orlando, okay everything okay over in central Florida Bob pretty well yeah, yeah, pretty well escaped over there, didn't you? Yeah, it was. My wife, uh, of course, was left here by herself while I was in Berlin, and it was just a uh um, she said it was like a really long summer thunderstorm oh, that's good.
Speaker 2:That's good. I'm glad of that, laura, how you doing laura, doing good, doing good.
Speaker 10:I'm here with my husband, sean. He ran berlin as well good hi sean, how's it going Good? We are still in Germany. We are in Rodenburg right now.
Speaker 2:All right, neat, you going to spend a while in Germany.
Speaker 10:We have one more day. We're going to Neuschwanstein tomorrow and then we'll head back home to upstate New York.
Speaker 2:That's nice Great Lori, Hi Lori.
Speaker 5:Hi Bob. It's Lori from Nova Scotia, but currently in Pisa, italy.
Speaker 2:In Pisa neat.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Doing a little touring of Europe that's fantastic.
Speaker 5:Yes, we are.
Speaker 2:All right, that's fun, and Margaret's with us. Hello, bob and friends.
Speaker 12:I am in a small town called Bad Taltz. If I'm pronouncing that correct, it's between Munich and the Neuschwanstein Castle, which I'm also headed to tomorrow. And for those that don't know, the Neuschwanstein Castle was what Walt used as his inspiration for Cinderella's Castle.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that'd be cool, that would be really cool and Tara's with us. Hey, how's it going? Everybody, Tara, where are you?
Speaker 15:right now, and Tara's with us. Hey, how's it going everybody? Tara, where are you right now? I am currently making my way from the Montreal airport to Ottawa, so I had to kind of pull over, find a good spot to find some data. I did not want to miss this, so I'm really excited to be here with everybody today.
Speaker 2:Well, wonderful friends, thanks for taking the time. It is 3 o'clock in the afternoon in Florida, 9 pm in most of Central Europe, so we managed to find a time. We all could do this and I appreciate you doing it All. Right, let's start here. There was an event on Saturday, a 5K, and we had a couple of people run the 5K, right, let's see, I think we had Anna, bob and Margaret. Let's talk about that for a minute. How did that go, margaret? How was the 5K?
Speaker 12:I thought it was great. We started at a very central point for everybody and part of the course went through what was the end of the marathon. So it was really nice to be able to see that and just kind of get the feels for it the day before and just anybody that. It gave people that could only potentially do a 5K the opportunity to run through the Brandenburg Gate. That's neat.
Speaker 2:Yeah that was really neat, that's neat, that is neat.
Speaker 3:And I would encourage any of our listeners to go onto our facebook page and take a look at the photos of margaret from the 5k, because, margaret, I was in stitches looking at your costume um that you had for that race, because what exactly you know? Obviously it was a a situation where it was like it was jetting out from you and it was the simulate that you were on somebody's shoulders, but I was having trouble whose shoulders? Were you on?
Speaker 12:uh, a traditional german in a leader host and if I'm saying that right, yeah, yeah, at oktoberfest yeah and I just played with it in the perspective of oh, I need to save my legs for tomorrow, so I'm just going yeah, that was great ride with him, and my husband also did it with me too, and he was also in a leader outfit yeah, so, anna, you did the 5k also I did.
Speaker 16:Yeah, um yeah, the 5k was great. There was quite a few of us who kind of dressed up um, some of the the the dopey group were there as well. I was kind of dressed in snow white. I don't think I've ever smiled so much throughout a race. We just had a blast for the whole 5k. It was great doing the course and running through the gate. Should I have run as hard as I did on the Saturday? I don't know. It was wonderful. The medal was really lovely for it as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds fun. And look, anytime you're running with that run dopey group. That's a good time right there. Yeah and uh, I heard, terry, you were out spectating and cheering for the 5k I was.
Speaker 15:I was actually it was a lot of fun cheering everybody on and you don't know what everybody was in the fun outfits, but, um, yes, uh, you know there were a few people and and it was, it was a lot of fun to cheer everybody on. And then we kind of saw our friends and then we scooted over to the end and just really cheered everybody in at the Brandenburg Gate and it was. There was actually a good amount of people but they were kind of quiet. You know, nobody was really cheering. They're kind of all just standing there probably looking for their significant other More cheering on the marathon, less on the the 5k, but still a great turnout for the spectators.
Speaker 2:That was a lot of fun. That's great. All right, let's flip over to the big one on sunday the berlin marathon. And I'd like to know how many folks here and you can raise your hand or say yes was doing Berlin for the first time. Looks like everybody, everybody was doing Berlin for the first time. That's cool. Who's done more than one world major? Oh, we got quite a few of those too. But let's start with Heather. How many of you done Heather?
Speaker 14:just the one previous. So London, uh, but I also live on the London course, so that's my only experience.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. Okay, let's see, anna, you've done more than one. How many is this for you, and which other ones have you done?
Speaker 16:So this is number two. My other one was London in 2020. Well, it was meant to be 2020, but it got cancelled because of COVID, so I did it in 2021.
Speaker 2:Perfect, very good, let's see's see here, laura. How about you? This was my second major, but I've done Chicago twice. Okay, second, second city, third time doing a major outstanding Lori.
Speaker 5:Well, this would be my third, so I've done London and Chicago and this one, and I have Tokyo in March.
Speaker 15:Oh good for you, good for you. How about you, tara? I did Chicago just in October of 2023. And this is my second.
Speaker 2:That's great guys. We all, we all heading for six or seven, definitely. Yeah, I'm getting a. That seems to be once you knock out more than one. That seems to be once you knock out more than one. That seems to be very popular idea amongst folks. All right, let's talk about the race itself and I'm going to kick it off and try if we can make this work. Try and let you talk amongst yourselves on it. But since it was your first time, bob, I'm going to give you first shot and tell us what you thought of the berlin marathon uh, it was different.
Speaker 8:So I've done, uh, obviously, the disney world marathons a few times and, uh, celebration twice. So this was my first time running a marathon outside of florida and then outside the United States, so there was quite a bit of a difference. Um, the expo, uh, if you've looked online at all, was kind of a mess, especially compared to what Disney does on the first day or so. Um, the sorting yourself into corrals was actually not a bad way of doing things. I felt that it was kind of obvious. You just followed the directions to whichever corral you were going. Similar to Disney, they checked your bib to make sure that you were going the right place. Overall, I thought it was a pleasant experience. It was a great course. It's nice and flat, nice and fast, similar to running in Florida, in Central Florida. Here we do have a few hills, so there's opportunity to train for hills, but I didn't need to, so that was kind of nice.
Speaker 12:Good Margaret, your first world major. How'd it go for you? I thought it was great, I loved right gets printed right at that time, and then somehow they scan it in with your chip, so that was interesting. Before you get your bib, though, you get a band that goes on your wrist that you're supposed to keep on during or up to the race and that's kind of like your ticket in that and your bib into the race area. That's just for the runners. So that was, uh, interesting and different, um, and the merch line was like ginormous, like probably a two-hour wait oh my goodness, I had pre-ordered um most of everything that I wanted and I didn't have to go through that.
Speaker 12:But it was neat though, because they held it at, um, a prior airport, what used to be an airport before, so just kind of the layout of it was really neat. They had three planes out there and for us to look at, so that part was neat, other than Disney cool.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm gonna go to Laura and Sean. Laura done more than one, but this was Sean's first. Guys, what did you think of the Berlin race?
Speaker 10:I enjoyed it overall. We lucked out at the Expo. We went right at the time it opened on the second day and got right in. We had no issues with the merch line or anything, so we definitely lucked out there. As far as the Expo goes. The race it wasn't my best race. I had some struggles, but hey, I still got it done. I got my Berlin medal, so I'm happy. The course was nice and flat, so that's always nice. My biggest disappointment was I was one of you know, there was a little mix up, I guess, that people were given the wrong data on their medal and I was one of the ones who happened to get the wrong data on my medal, oh that one as well.
Speaker 10:Yeah, yeah, so I emailed them and have yet to hear back, so hopefully I can get September 29th on my medal instead of September 28th, but other than that it was a great marathon.
Speaker 2:Really close, Sean how'd it go.
Speaker 6:It was good. So I don't know any better, so I kind of went for the ride. I started running in January and my first race was the Disney Marathon. So this really was my first, you know, going for a time, but really enjoyed it. You know, we live in Naples, new York, so it's really hilly, so it was nice to be flat for the first time. So but no, I enjoyed it, you know it was. It was really busy A lot, a lot of runners. I'm not used to that, so but yeah, a lot of fun, did you?
Speaker 4:finish on the 28th or the 29th I finished on 29th.
Speaker 16:I guess your wife finished a day ahead of you she was kicking it huh. So, um, I was one of the unlucky ones at the expo. So when I got there on the friday I got in the queue to get my bib and then all the systems went down and we were stuck for 45 minutes just waiting so and you couldn't really go anywhere because we were like three quarters of the way through the queue. So I was kind of stuck there, um. But once we got through, it was like plain sailing and, like everyone else, I pre-ordered my merch so I didn't really need to hang around, otherwise my husband would have killed me for spending all the money in the world um.
Speaker 16:As for the race, um, compared to London, the crowds are. I would say they're lesser than London there was. There were definitely parts of the course that were, you know, quite sparse um. Me personally, it was a. It was a put one foot in front of the other and get every mile done, because this year for me is being hampered with injury and I, if I'd had the option to defer, I think I probably would have deferred this race. But berlin don't give you an option to defer. It's you either run or you don't. And as I'd raise money for charity, I didn't want to let the charity and all the people who sponsored me down. So it wasn't my best race. But you know, I put my head down, got the job done and I've got the med. I've got the wrong medal, I've got a 28 as well.
Speaker 2:You finished the day early also, okay, yeah, yeah, maybe you ran across the international day. No, it's not that far east. No, never mind. Never mind, like it's half a world away I mean in theory.
Speaker 3:If you think about it, you started the race on the 29th but you got your medal on the 28th, so in theory this is kind of like a back to the future race.
Speaker 8:Yeah if you really want to put it into perspective.
Speaker 3:So the one aspect that I wanted to ask um everyone about, and and laurie, I'll start with you on this one this was the 50th anniversary of the berlin marathon. Did they do anything particularly special? Whether I mean I mean, obviously, merch, you know, we all know that and we all are suckers for commemorative merch and stuff like that. But you know anything that you noticed over the course of the entire event, uh, in terms of how they celebrated the 50th anniversary?
Speaker 5:other than, uh, the merchandise and the metal is beautiful. I got the right date on mine. I hadn't really noticed a big celebration in that regards and I have to echo the expo was crazy busy and some people didn't get a timing chip on their bibs, so that was a problem for a lot of people. But, in fairness to them, this was the first time they went to a timing bib. They used to have it on their shoes, so you know there's always going to be issues. The first year there was nice crowd support. I mean, london blew it out of the water, in my opinion. I did three, so London was the premier event in my opinion. It was super crowded so I never was able to really get up to my pace, but then I had a good day and I got a personal best. So all in all, it was a great day.
Speaker 3:Congratulations.
Speaker 5:Thank you.
Speaker 3:So we'll go from one canadian to another, tara, um, you know, tell us about, you know any? You know, obviously, your second major, first time running berlin. Tell us about the, the sights that you get to see on this course and what really stuck out to you well, of course, the iconic brandenburg gate.
Speaker 15:I mean, you know, even though it's at the very end, being able to say you're, that's the finish, you're going to get to it, although technically it's not really the finish, you have to go further.
Speaker 15:I think it's 400 meters past that, but but it was.
Speaker 15:Um, it's kind of fun because we ended up doing a hop on, hop off bus tour on the friday, so it kind of gave us an opportunity to kind of fun because we ended up doing a hop-on, hop-off bus tour on the Friday.
Speaker 15:So it kind of gave us an opportunity to kind of see some sites and get to know some of the areas. And then when I was running, it was kind of neat to be able to pick out a few places and kind of know what some of the buildings are. But also, too, it really allowed us to be able to see, you know, some, you know where people would live, some of the standalone houses, and so you kind of would get for me, I kind of get in my zone where I'm doing my running and I'm enjoying it, and then I kind of really pay attention to what's around me. And it really did change the whole way through and you going, you know, over canals, actually said that there's more canals in Berlin than there are in Venice, which I thought interesting to hear that, but that's what they said on the bus tour, so that was.
Speaker 15:That was interesting. So then, when they say that the course is flat and fast per se fast but flat there was still a lot of like little you know, bridges that you kind of all of a sudden you're like, wow, why am I losing breath? Oh, I'm going up another, over another bridge. So that was kind of a surprise. Um, one thing, though, that I I kind of had some fun with is that, again, you kind of zone out, and I I really watched the line. So of course it's sponsored by Adidas, so the lines are three blue lines, like the emblem. So it was kind of fun to kind of keep a watch for it.
Speaker 15:And then, when they got close to the Brandenburg Gate, rather than paint it on the beautiful cobblestone street, they actually put blue tape, and so it was just kind of fun to, you know, follow it and really focus on that landmark at the very end. And it's just, you know, you just see everybody just glow, just be well, glow with sweat or glow with excitement. You know so, you know just the it's just and the. When you get to that end, just the crowds explode. You know. So you know just the.
Speaker 15:It was just and the. When you get to that end, just the crowds explode. You know, yes, there are some quiet parts along the race story and there was somebody who had a large speaker and they were all just blasting the music cheering on the crowd. It was great. It was a lot of fun to have all the spectators and just see the different sites as we went around, although I must admit a lot of bush areas. So that would be the time when you would see some people darting off and using the bushes as outhouses or a port-a-potty.
Speaker 2:Corral P. We refer to that as Corral P now.
Speaker 15:Correct A lot of those Corral.
Speaker 2:A through D and then Corral P.
Speaker 15:And not a lot of toilet. There was no toilet paper in any of the port-a-potties that I visited, so that was one big complaint I had. But after 58,000 people, uh, you ran through. I guess that makes sense no no, those four boys were horrific.
Speaker 2:I tried.
Speaker 16:I need to go to the wee halfway and I was like nope, nope no no, no to friends.
Speaker 2:If you're running the Berlin marathon, bring your own toilet paper.
Speaker 14:It's really difficult for me to not make a direct comparison with London. It's a course I've run twice, it's a course I know really well and it's my home, and the crowd support was very different in Berlin. It was a lot more reserved. So when I've run London, my other half he's a wheelchair user. He doesn't leave home. He sees me when I run past home. He sees me when I get home. He does not leave the house. In Berlin he was actually able to get around the city to four different spots and see me at the finish line, which was really lovely as a runner. But it also says how easy it was for him to get around and actually how thin the crowds were in some places.
Speaker 14:So it's kind of it was really lovely, but it's also like oh yeah, it's a very different crowd environment and he did joke that the constant speed that normally happens in London from mile one to the end, where you're high on sugar before you've even got past the London Bridge it's not the same. You haven't got the same constant sort of toddlers out with their bags of haribo trying to feed you every constant opportunity now, this is, this is germany.
Speaker 2:You mean, there's not somebody trying to hand you a beer at every kilometer no, I've got a beer.
Speaker 16:I go give him a beer at mile nine, are you good?
Speaker 14:for you. No, I I wasn't offered any beers and, interestingly, I'm I'm a back of the pack runner, um, and they had run out of gels at the gel point. The only the only evidence of gels was the sticky tarmac that you have oh geez, oh golly so, uh, yeah, that was that was.
Speaker 14:That was an interesting one, um, but and the and the whole inclines that it's not as flat as people say it is, there's, there are some very definite inclines, um, and having to convert myself from running in miles to running in k, um, I had completely forgotten that of course I'm on the continent, I'm gonna have to suddenly run in k. So uh had to sort of change up how I would pace things and, uh, going by kilometer markers rather than mile markers for your planning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I noticed when Tara mentioned there were some hills, I saw six heads bobbing up and down going. Yeah, there were some, although I I do think this is the flattest of the world majors and I know it's the fastest I in terms of records that have been set.
Speaker 14:But yeah, no, at mile one. Um, somehow I hit the decks, just the absolute congestion um. So that's two two grazed knees, grazed hands um and a written off pair of sweaty betty leggings yeah, that's too bad, but you gutted it out. I'm glad you didn't get hurt too badly no, I still got the pb in the end, which was unexpected and completely uh, not on the cards yeah, I run, walk, run and it was hard, the first seven miles, I would say I.
Speaker 5:I got an elbow to the face once it was really congested out there yeah, I would say also.
Speaker 6:Uh, just you know, I've always been told. You know, laura, laura preaches the old time. If you're gonna walk, go to the right. And they don't follow that. They're apparently in the berlin marathon yeah, I get the feeling.
Speaker 2:In europe in general there's not a lot of run, walk, run there isn't.
Speaker 16:There isn't at all, it's not, it's not really a thing over here, like you've got us guys that do it. But you know I get you get some funny looks, especially like where I live, when I run, walk and I'm like I'm running the same pace as you mate, so put your face away.
Speaker 12:I'll add a few things, kind of as a middle of the pack kind of runner, because I'm kind of. I kind of feel like I had a different experience than most of the people on this call, you know. But first of all I wanted to add the corral situation For getting to the corrals with 58,000 people. I thought it was really good because you really just need to be at your corral maybe 15 to 30 minutes beforehand. I got there like an hour before, but they have it set up where it's really really well for getting into your corrals, kind of unlike Disney, disney, I would say. Um.
Speaker 12:One highlight of um the course for me, or landmark, was when we started out, um, we headed towards victory column and that was an amazing sight and I guess I like really have like the two main ones, like where we started and where we finished. That's what really like stuck out in my mind. But I didn't really experience much congestion throughout the course and that could be because I was kind of in the middle and when we started I was in like the second group that started, so like all the really fast runners had gone ahead and then they tell you what time you're going to start. So's no guessing game of like, oh it might be a few minutes, there's all these waves, whatever. So we started very promptly at 9, 45 and um, even though I was doing a run walk and kind of pacing myself some better or slower than I used to, and people were passing me up, I didn't really have much issue with that. I kind of stayed over to the right. I felt like a lot of the course was very wide, so that was helpful too.
Speaker 12:By the time I got to the gel station they were out also. I wasn't planning on taking one because I don't train with that, and I would say that I felt like the crowd support and I haven't done another major, I have done Marine Corps before too. The crowd support I thought was pretty good. I felt like they were lined all along the way and I wonder if maybe part of what may have happened is that as people are seeing their people and moving on, then they're moving towards the finish line. Because by the time I got to like those last two kilometers, especially where you make that turn towards Brandenburg, it was so packed that it was like amazing. It was like you couldn't like not hear everybody chanting and yelling and yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm going to go around the room. Let's wrap it up. I want to ask this question what's up next guys? Any more majors in your future, and when will we see you at disney?
Speaker 16:I'm going to start, pleased with anna um, so my next major is going to be london again. Um, I got a ballot place this year and I'm going to try three others, and you'll next see me at marathon weekend for doping awesome, laura sean.
Speaker 2:How about you guys?
Speaker 10:so I am going to to be doing New York City in November.
Speaker 2:Good, I'm very excited to get another star. You should be.
Speaker 10:And then I'm doing the Dopey Challenge. That's the next time I'll be in Disney.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I have a 100-miler in December Wow. Awesome, and then I'll be doing Goofy in January.
Speaker 2:Goofy. That'll be an afterthought after running 100 miler. Good for you, Heather. How about you?
Speaker 14:I have got Great South Run in three weeks, which is a 10 miler near me, and then I'm back out to Disney to do Wine and Dine.
Speaker 2:That's nice, so we'll see you at Disney in a couple weeks. Where is the Great South? I know you just had the Great North Run up in Newcastle. Where's the Great South Run?
Speaker 14:The Great South Run is in and around Portsmouth and South Sea.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, I actually have an idea where that is. That sounds great. That sounds wonderful.
Speaker 14:So you run around a historic shipyard and other places.
Speaker 2:Neat, very neat, bob, how about you?
Speaker 8:So my next races will be all three for Wine and Dine and then Dopey after that. Other than that, I'm not signed up for anything else.
Speaker 2:yet that's big stuff anyway, bob, that's good Margaret. How about you?
Speaker 12:Next Disney race Wine and Dine and Dopey, and then I have Space Coast Marathon will be my next marathon.
Speaker 2:So you're there, I'm only doing half of that one, but I'll see you there, I'll. I'm only doing half of that one, but I'll see you there anyway.
Speaker 5:Uh, laurie uh, next major is going to be tokyo, and I'm pretty sure I have a spot in new york next year laurie, can I go in your suitcase for tokyo?
Speaker 3:just if that, if that's okay, or or if you need a translator?
Speaker 5:um, just just let let me know well, I only travel with a backpack, greg, so if you can fit my backpack, I'll work on that.
Speaker 3:I hope it's an extra large one.
Speaker 5:He's working on it and then I'm gonna see you guys all at uh marathon weekend.
Speaker 2:I'm doing the, just the marathon just the marathon, said perfectly laurie, but just at just 26 miles. Uh, tara, bring us home. What do you got up?
Speaker 15:Well, actually I'm going to just jump in one thing, though I have to admit I did PR the Berlin Marathon by seven minutes. I'm super, super, super excited.
Speaker 6:I worked really hard on it and I'm very thrilled about it.
Speaker 15:With that said, that means that in four weeks when I run New York, it's in survival mode. So, um, just need to get that star, and so, yeah, new York in four weeks. Um, unfortunately I won't be at a marathon weekend, but I will be there for princess weekend. Okay. And then I'm running London in April.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome.
Speaker 15:Looking forward to that.
Speaker 2:What a great schedule. That's awesome Friends. Once. One more time, thank you so much. Odd times for all of you, different places. Thank you for getting on here. We really appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed it. It was great talking with you.
Speaker 15:Thanks, bob. A lot of fun, thank you.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed that. I'm glad our friends who ran had a chance to tell us about it. Let me let me wrap up here a little bit. There are some folks who didn't make it. Danielle was at the race. She wasn't able to make it to the uh, to the podcast. Dylan Dylan did her first non-Disney marathon, ran it with two of her friends, most of it anyway, a lot of training, had a great time, came in with a 21-minute PR. Jason wanted to be at the podcast but he and his wife Missy were just pulling into Munich so they weren't able to join us. They had a great time. He commented it wasn't his favorite race but he definitely did enjoy it. Jen and Carolyn ran together. They finished sub 5.30, a 23-minute PR. Lori, I know, mentioned that she ran a three-minute PR. Luciana, who goes mostly by Lou, crossed the finish line in just under four hours and 12 minutes a PR, and I don't know if Tara mentioned it on the interview or not. Five months of dedicated training paid off. She PR'd by seven minutes that Berlin Marathon. It's a good marathon for PRs. Nicely done guys.
Speaker 2:Hey, let's stay across the pond and go to Inverness, scotland, for the Loch Ness Marathon. Nikki and her husband traveled for this one. Nikki says the course here in Inverness starts with a few miles of downhill and she thinks she took those maybe a little bit fast because by the last few miles her legs were pretty angry with her Rolling Hills definitely a few larger ones, not like where she trains in Ohio, but even so it was so pretty that the hills hardly mattered. The finish in the city of Inverness had quite a bit of support, even some fun groups sitting outside of the local pub keeping everyone pumped up. Nikki ran a 22-minute PR. Let's see. Now off to continue their adventure in Scotland around the Highlands. Rest, recover and get ready for wine and dine Back in the US of A.
Speaker 2:In Winter Garden, florida, the Hickory Hammock 5K. Laura with her son Sam did this neighborhood event. Ninth year they've been doing this 5K to raise funds for the Edgewood Children's Ranch Helps at-risk youth. It started running intervals 60-30, sam got a little tired, switched to 30-30 and finished strong and Sam PR'd. Way to go, buddy, this bell is for you, sam. After that ran the kids race finished third. Awesome, awesome. He's going to do his first 5K, first run. Disney event 5K at Wine and Dine with mom, laura and Sam. Great job event.
Speaker 2:Alexis did the Boulder-thon 10K in Boulder, colorado, sunday race that she signed up for on Wednesday. Not counting the hill in the last mile, it was a nice race. Even started out on a track to a PR, but didn't ever inhale her with her, forced her to slow down a little bit. Ran a great time for her. That's all that matters. Alexis, a great time for you is a great time. Looking forward to next week's 10K, which she also signed up for.
Speaker 2:On Wednesday, jenny ran the historic Stevensville Distance Festival in Stevensville, maryland, a metric half marathon. I'd not heard of this before. A metric half marathon is 13.1 kilometers or a little over eight miles. Nice course, mostly on a running trail and out and back. Ran with a friend. They used it as a training run. Felt great at the end. Pizza, water, gatorade at the end. A with a friend. They used it as a training run. Felt great at the end Pizza, water, gatorade at the end. A pretty neat medal and some great character stops.
Speaker 2:And wrapping up the race report in West Palm Beach, florida, the 5.61 Iguana man 10K Robbie. Robbie did this small local race in Palm Beach County, hence the 561, which is the area code, telephone area code for West Palm Beach had a 5K and a 10K. As mentioned, robbie did the 10K, 5k runners did one lap take, 10k runners did two. And, surprise, it's still hot in South Florida. That wraps up the race report. Friends, great job everybody. Good Thank you for sending in those reports. We're happy to hear from you. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. That's it for episode 158 of the Rise and Run podcast. It is a Zoom Thursday, so if you're listening on release day, the login information will be pinned to the featured section of the Facebook group. Please stop by. Only two more Zooms this one and then one more before we are all together at Walt Disney World for the Wine and Dine Race. Be well, train strong Until we meet again. Happy running.
Speaker 3:The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your health care provider or event organizer. Thank you.
