Rise and Run
Rise and Run
178: Race Alerts and More with Matt Marcella of Team #runDis
Ever imagine running through the enchanting world of Disney, surrounded by both new friends and beloved characters? We kick off this episode of the Rise and Run podcast with tales of cookies and camaraderie from our recent Marathon Weekend meetup. Get excited as we also chat about Disney's upcoming attractions, including the highly anticipated Villain's Land, and our unique March Madness event focusing on Disney's table service restaurants.
Our special guest, Matt from Team #runDis, joins us to reveal how his runDisney alerts have revolutionized race sign-ups, making them as easy as a Sunday stroll. From Slack to Telegram, discover the best platforms for instant notifications, and learn how you can become the master of your own race destiny. We even dive into the whimsical Balloon Lady Tracker, a tool dedicated to easing your pacing worries. All of this is designed to ensure you're as prepared as possible to embrace the magic of Disney races.
Finally, we venture into the wonderful world of Disney race history, sharing hidden gems like triathlons and inline skating events, unearthed from the depths of blogs and archives. Listen to heartwarming stories of races past, from sandy trails in Florida to Cupid-themed giveaways, as we gear up for the upcoming Princess Weekend roll call. Whether you're a first-time runner or a seasoned participant, the spirit of community and the joy of running shine throughout this episode, promising to inspire your next race adventure.
Matt’s Team#runDisney Links
Team #runDis Website
Team #runDis Facebook
Team #runDisnInstagram
Disney Race Availability Notifications
Give Kids The World Sweepstake
Rise and Run Links
Rise and Run Podcast Facebook Page
Rise and Run Podcast Instagram
Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
Passport to Run
Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching (Mention Rise And Run and get $10 off)
Rise and Run Podcast Cruise Interest Form with Magic Bound Travel
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.
Sponsor Links
Magic Bound Travel
Stoked Metabolic Coaching
Rise and Run Podcast Cruise Interest Form with Magic Bound Travel
Affiliate Links
Rise and Run Amazon Affiliate Web Page
Kawaiian Pizza Apparel
GoGuarded
3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.
Speaker 3:This is Matt Matt Trax at Marathon Weekend at the Rise and Run Meetup, and it's been awesome. Becky has forced several cookies on me, which they were really good, so I'm happy about that. But we're ready for the marathon tomorrow. And try not to think about running 26.2 miles, because that's not even we're not even halfway there for Dopey, but Dopey number three, here we come, happy running. Hey, this is Cesar.
Speaker 4:Samioa, I love the Rise and Run podcast. Keep going, keep on with your training.
Speaker 2:And here comes the episode.
Speaker 5:Matt, it's funny that you would mention those cookies in your intro. Thanks for that one, by the way, because as I look through the window into the kitchen, I see Miss Rebecca in there. Even though we have friends who are making more cookies, she's still in there baking. So we're getting ready for the meetup. So Matt went on to run Dopey and then Cesar joined us and left us a nice intro. Friends, if you haven't seen, come From Away. And if you have Disney+, I think no, it's Apple+, isn't it great?
Speaker 5:yes, apple tv plus, yep apple tv plus if you get a chance to see it. That is a wonderful performance. I highly encourage it. In the meantime, hello everyone and welcome to episode 178 of the rise and run podcast. I'm bob. I'm here this week with John. Hey, how you doing With Alicia?
Speaker 4:Hello.
Speaker 5:With Greg. Hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 5:Go Birds. Yeah, go Birds. We're a little early, greg, yeah, okay, and with Lexi.
Speaker 6:Hello.
Speaker 5:Yeah, everybody's undefeated again, Greg.
Speaker 1:I know, but listen, this is the last time we had the parade. A million and a half people showed up. It was impressive. It was very impressive. Unfortunately, no mummers showed up this time, but that's okay, yeah it's good.
Speaker 5:It's how he recovered from getting the beer can to the head.
Speaker 2:He bleeds for this team, apparently Figuratively and literally yeah, you're still champs till next year's Super Bowl. Exactly, that's right.
Speaker 5:That's right. Well, look, friends, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. We're done with the Eagle Super Bowl podcast for another. For a while, I think this week. This week, our friend Matt not the Matt who just left the intros, another Matt the Matt, who is the fella. He's been with us before. He's created those alerts that help tell us when races open up. He's got a really interesting website, team Run Diz, and We'll be talking with Matt in this episode.
Speaker 4:If you enjoyed the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage at riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have a question, comment, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, please call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 1:We would also like to thank our Patreons, whose support helps keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you would like to join our awesome Patreon team, please visit patreoncom slash rise and run podcast. We want to take this opportunity to thank our newest Patreon member of the Rise and Run family, lauren, who joined the hey how you doing level. And, speaking of the Patreons, I got some very exciting news here at the beginning of our recording session. Before we hit record, bob has given me permission. I'm so excited for this Because, if anybody knows me, I am a huge college basketball nut.
Speaker 1:We are about a month away from March Madness and it was so successful last year, we're doing it again. We're doing the Rise and Run March Madness edition. This year's theme table service restaurants, and the Patreons are instrumental in this because if we have a tie, the tie goes to the Patreon. So be sure to check your inboxes. We're going to have that whole thing set up for you, where you get to vote to be our tiebreaker coming up. So be sure to stay tuned for that in the next couple of weeks and we're very excited to bring it to you. And then, in the words of the great Dick Vitale. It's awesome baby Bob, are you?
Speaker 5:serious. It was fun. Last year we did attractions last year. Guardians of the galaxy one, I believe. Is that I believe? So yeah, if memory serves, but it was fun speaking of guardians of the galaxy.
Speaker 6:Uh, we got news today that on february 24th and Tiana's are going to go virtual queue-less.
Speaker 5:Yeah, virtual queues going away, which means there are no more virtual queues, then is that correct?
Speaker 1:That's correct, yeah which is going to be so nice, because there's nothing more that I love than waking up at 6.55 on my vacation during a non-race day so I can attempt to get on a ride well more immediate.
Speaker 6:What that means is I probably won't run into anyone on race weekend here who's got their phone out at 7 am, that's right trying to get a virtual cue yeah I don't know if you guys saw this, but somewhere on the social medias this is just a rumor, but I heard that disney signed the permit to break ground on villain's land.
Speaker 1:Yes, on march 1st, I believe okay, well, yeah, the, the was it something, something, something approved it, so that we know for a fact. The rumor is they break ground next month, which is exciting, and then the five-year countdown begins for last year.
Speaker 5:That's right, Greg. I mean, we certainly knew it was coming, but it's still. But okay, you know, progress is progress. Right, We'll take what we can get.
Speaker 6:Hey, give me all the villains, it doesn't matter if it's tiny news, say.
Speaker 1:Lexi, are you going to be able to last five years?
Speaker 6:No.
Speaker 2:Come on, they built the Empire State Building in a year.
Speaker 6:I know, Exactly, come on, disney yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, the yeah, the Empire State Building same year as the Hoover Dam. I'm not sure, anyway.
Speaker 6:But I mean, if Villain's Land is going to be as good as I want it to be, take all the time and make it good.
Speaker 1:I'll be sure to play back that quote for you when we're in year three. Yeah, I know, and we're only halfway done.
Speaker 5:And here's the sad truth, Lex lexi almost impossible for it to be as good as you want it to be it can still be great. But you, I know you have such a wonderful, high expectation for it I do.
Speaker 6:But I will say, on the flip side, epic universe, the more that comes out about it, the more I'm like oh, this is gonna is going to be cool.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 6:So I'm hoping that because Universal has raised the bar, that Disney is going to raise the bar, because Disney I mean we all know we're big Disney fans over here and I hope I don't get in trouble for saying this, but we all kind of think that Disney's a little better than the other place A little, well, a little. And you know, I just I hope that they keep trying to one-up each other, because to see Disney one-up Epic is going to be really cool, we win.
Speaker 5:If they try to one-up one another, we win.
Speaker 6:Yeah, exactly, yeah, be really cool, no we win.
Speaker 5:If they try to one-up one another, we win. Yeah, exactly yeah, because, look, I love everybody who listens or knows me knows I love Disney World. I mean I love the magic it gets to me. I've said before there's nothing at Universal that can make me tear up like running down Main Street or something. But the rides in Universal are fabulous.
Speaker 5:Yeah, like running down main street or something, but the rides in universal are fabulous, yeah, and I think, in my opinion, they have the better rides. But that's okay, we got things. Hey look we're, we're looking into the future. We got things coming up.
Speaker 1:I just have this mental image now of Bob tearing up on like the despicable me ride or something like that.
Speaker 6:Yeah Right Men in black.
Speaker 5:Men in black Walking into.
Speaker 2:Moe's that's going away right In Springfield. That area's going away. I heard rumors, Really. I don't know, I thought the Simpsons was going away.
Speaker 5:I don't know. I did have a Duff Spear at Moe's, it was good.
Speaker 6:I've heard that Universal has already scheduled permits for expansions to Epic, so who knows.
Speaker 5:Yeah, all right, let's see here. Friends, let's look. We mentioned YouTube. I want to remind our friends that we are recording the Race Report spotlights and putting those on YouTube. Judy was on there last week. That's the same Judy who sends you your merchandise when you order it, and we have Sam and Sam's mom this week. We'll get to that in just a little bit.
Speaker 5:Friends, the Rise and Run podcast is brought to you by our friends at Magic Bound Travel, by our friends at Magic Bound Travel. Magicboundtravelcom is their website. You'll want to visit that. We're excited about a lot of things with Magic Bound Travel. We're excited to have them. They've been sponsors for two years now. They're going to be with us for a while, for the immediate, for the foreseeable future. Let's say that, certainly, we're excited for our April 2026 cruise. We'll have more information on that coming up soon. On the podcast, we'll have Brad and Maggie join us to tell us, give us an update, even though we are um approximately 425 days away, just guessing. If you want more information, though, certainly magicboundtravelcom is the site. Don't forget to make your reservations for the upcoming race season. I had friends asking if it was possible to make reservations for Marathon Weekend yet, and the answer is not quite yet, but it is not too early to get on their site and request a quote and put your name into the list, so you'll be the first to know when they become available.
Speaker 6:And in case anyone is wondering, this is not law by any means, because you know Disney can change anything, but last year they released the dates on February 27th.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, so maybe sometime next week or the first week of March, hopefully. Oh okay, so maybe sometime next week or the first week of March, hopefully.
Speaker 6:Fingers crossed.
Speaker 5:Yeah, good deal. A few quick apologies and alibis. I do my best on city names, but McCanopy in Florida is actually McAnopy. I learned that from our good friend, Coach Chris Twiggs, who corrected me on that this morning. He told me that the movie. Are you guys familiar with the film Doc Hollywood? Yes, yeah, Apparently it was filmed there in Micanopy. That's who starred in that Michael J Fox.
Speaker 5:Michael J Fox? Yeah, yeah, that's who starred in Michael J Fox. Michael J Fox, yeah yeah, chris tells me it's the same plot as the movie Cars. I don't know. I've seen Cars, I haven't seen Doc Hollywood, anyway, but the other one.
Speaker 5:On a more serious note, last week in the race report we had a friend run a race. It had the number 3000 in it. I don't remember the name of the run, but it had it was 3000 because the race director had a streak of 3000 consecutive days of running Cool. And in talking about it we mentioned that we had a streaker's show a couple years back where we had friends on who had done long streaks, but we couldn't remember any specifics. We forgot. Our friend Todd has an 18-plus year running streak 6,619 days. I don't know how we forgot that. That is really impressive. So, todd, we're sorry we forgot, but we're glad we could bring it up here.
Speaker 5:Looking at the training calendar, princess training has disappeared from the training calendar. It's because it's princess weekend. Look around folks. If you see a tall old guy who looks confused, I'll be there. I'll be at the expo Thursday, probably around lunchtime, and I'll probably hang for a little while. I enjoy hanging out there. I don't like getting there right away the lines are a little too long, but I like hanging out. I'll be looking for you, looking forward to seeing you there. Springtime Surprise is our next event. It is now six weeks away. We are in training week 12 for Springtime Surprise, the last run of the disney world season. If you're doing a challenge, you've got a three mile walk and a nine mile run walk on your training schedule for the weekend. Friends, how's the training going? Any updates? Updates on your training.
Speaker 1:I got an update this week. It's nothing crazy, but it's something I wanted to share because I was very, very proud of myself and in an effort in this year to love me, for me and my running journey, I absolutely smashed my run this past weekend. One of the benefits that I really enjoy about working with Coach Twiggs in the customized training program is, I mean sure, you get a lot of the information that you do that's on the Run Disney website. But what's great about Chris is that there are specialized workouts that incorporate Run, walk, run that get filtered into your training program to either help you maintain your fitness, achieve time goals, distance goals, all the sort. So this particular weekend I had one of these specialized workouts where it was all about seeing if you have internalized your paces.
Speaker 1:I always like to joke with him that whenever I get these workouts, I feel like I'm in high school again, because even though I was an honor student in high school, when it came time to standardized testing I was terrible.
Speaker 1:And so whenever there's like these time goal workouts, I never do well on them. But if I like these time goal workouts, I like I never do well on them. But if I just have a random weekday run, then I smash it. So it had been a really long time since I had nailed one of these workouts and I'm not going to go into all the details of it. But essentially, again, because you're internalizing your pacing, you don't look at your watch and you just try and see if you can maintain your race pace for a particular distance or a particular time. And let me tell you, I shut off that watch when I got back to my car and I was actually 15 seconds faster as my average pace than what I should have been and I was running a 10 mile race pace and I was on cloud nine and I just wanted to like run up to, like you know, the big hill and pretend I was in the sound of music and just like scream to the world about how happy I was.
Speaker 4:So you know.
Speaker 1:I know this like sounds like I'm gloating and stuff like that, but but the point that I wanted to to drive home here is is that I know a lot of times when we have a really bad run, we can internalize that. I mean, heck, I went on that whole soliloquy right before wine and dine about how terrible of a 23 miler that I had. So even though we can sometimes let the negative mindsets of a bad run eat at us for week after week after week, we should, for as much as we do that, I feel like we should also celebrate the runs that we feel like that we've absolutely crushed, because it will make you know it will help your mental health. It will, and also, you know it will help your mental health. It will, and also, you know, mentally help you in running as well, too. That will help you achieve those goals. So make sure you celebrate your highs and learn from your lows, and it's just going to make you a more solid athlete. So that those are my uh, my, my words of encouragement for the week.
Speaker 5:Good job. Thank you, virtual high five. You ready, all right, nicely done, nicely done. No, I'm glad for you. That's good, it's nice. You summarized very well, so good for you. I don't have much Greg, or friends. I don't have much. I know. In the last couple weeks listening to my friends here and listening to friends on customized training calls, weeks listening to my friends here and listening to friends on customized training calls, people have talked about how they've gotten ill and I've just sat back quietly and gone. I've been lucky. I do the things you're supposed to do. I get my flu shots. I try to stay healthy, but sometimes, especially when you're making multiple trips to a large place like Disney World, you're going to catch something, and I did so. I was down for most of the week for training, but that's okay, I'm back now and ready to go. All right, friends, that's pretty much it for our training. Let's visit with our guest for the week.
Speaker 2:Hey, we'd like to welcome back to the podcast Matt from Team Run Diz, whose website and social media accounts have helped Run Disney Runners with all things Run Disney. Welcome back to the podcast, Matt, Thank you.
Speaker 5:Good to have you here, Matt.
Speaker 2:So today, as time is recording, is Wine and Dine Registration Day, and where we found Matt before was Matt came up with the Run dis alerts on twitter. Now x, maybe we'd start there, matt. So what gave you the idea again of getting to run disney alerts, and what has changed since the last time you've been on the podcast?
Speaker 8:so it all started with, uh, our facebook group, um, and noticing that people were constantly checking the run disney website looking to find out like is there another space that might have opened up?
Speaker 8:People were starting to get obsessive with it, to the point where it's like they'd spend all day checking, clicking refresh and maybe a spot will open and it did. Every now and then somebody would find one, and it just clicked with me that there's got to be a better way. I mean, people are spending so much time out of their day just hitting the refresh button, hoping that something would be there for them, and so I started looking into the possibility of setting up a system that would notify people automatically if something happened to open up, and, after doing a lot of research, I was finally able to put something together that automatically sends out the alerts to let people know that, hey, there's a space available. If you want to jump on it, grab it. You might be able to get in and have that luck, and since then it's grown exponentially. We did start, like you said, on X. We've added in Slack, discord Threads and Telegram to our services just as a way to try and enable people to have a multitude of options that they could pick from.
Speaker 2:And is, I don't want to say anyone better, but is there anyone more, anyone better to use? Like is like Twitter or X better than Slack or better than Discord.
Speaker 8:I would definitely recommend. If people are looking into signing up for the first time, Telegram is the way to go. It tends to be the most reliable when it comes to the notifications. Other software has their own little quirks. Telegram is very straightforward It'll send you the message, You'll get the notification. You have the link there. You just click the link and you go in and you can sign up if it's still open by the time that you get there. X, Slack, Discord they all have their little nuances and the apps are constantly changing. So as much as I try and keep up with the little changes that they have, there's a chance you might miss a notification or two with those services, just with everything that they do with their own services.
Speaker 9:So I will be very open. You're the only reason why I even have a Twitter or I don't even like calling it X, but you're really the only reason why I still have it, because if I don't sign up for a race, I'm like, well, I'll just wait for the notifications to get sent out, because I have my Garmin watch and I have the notification set for my watch. So when I'm working and I feel it buzz and I go and look on and see if whatever I'm looking for is available.
Speaker 9:So I do really, really appreciate that. It's super helpful. But I have a really random question. But how do you even get alerted? You yourself know that there is going to be these openings. How do you get it out so fast to people? Is there an algorithm? I don't know.
Speaker 8:This sounds very smart and technological it is and I don't even totally understand. I use a program that uh watches run disney's website. Um, it goes through and it's constantly checking uh to see what's going on with them, to see if anything happens to open up. Um, you know, a lot of people kind of send messages to the different accounts that they're out there and they kind of think that like we're being fed directly by run Disney.
Speaker 8:I can say we're totally not. Like I have no idea why these spaces open at all. And I mean I get that question a lot Like how come, you know, it only opens for a couple of minutes? Why is that? When's the next one going to open? It's all a matter of I have a program that's sitting there hitting refresh instead of having a person sitting there and hitting refresh, and so that reads the website and I have it keyed in so that it knows which one is open, so it can send a list out, let you know if one, two, three, all of them are open. So it's a little tweaking of a couple different programs and it's all just a matter of fine tuning it to match Run Disney's registration system.
Speaker 9:You kind of touched on it a little bit. First of all, you're a huge blessing to this community. Second of all, on average, how long have you noticed these openings last? Are they, like you on average, like one minute? Do I have to ask fast, or it's I don't like? Just so everybody knows.
Speaker 8:On average, there's a little bit of a pattern that goes with it. Um, overall, most of the notifications that you see last about three minutes. Um, and I don't know if it's run disney making adjustments in their registration system of, maybe, charity runners that weren't able to meet commitments and they're trying to open those spaces and fill in with different people and we're just kind of happening to slide in there and grab somebody's spot and run Disney didn't intend for somebody to get that, but there is always, so far, one day at least, where spaces open up in almost all the events for a longer period of time.
Speaker 9:Lately Wait. No, no, no, not every day.
Speaker 8:Not every day, no, there's only. There's usually one time before the race happens, after everything's sold out that it'll open for a substantial amount of time and usually people can get into almost any race of their choice. It might stay open for half an hour, 45 minutes or so, but it gives people a better opportunity. Sometimes there's two days like that, sometimes it's three, it depends, but at least one day where it'll open up long enough that a good chunk of people can get into those races.
Speaker 1:I'm really afraid, now that you know this information is getting divulged, that we're going to to put into, like you know, witness protection program or something like that, because you know I, you know I don't want the head honchos that run disney, you know, coming after you for such great and valuable information?
Speaker 5:oh, I don't think so. I think they want to sell those.
Speaker 9:Well, touche, touche you know, craig is matt's, not his real name.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's true, that is very true, touche, jack, touche, but you know, matt, another alert system that you have incorporated into the team run family of amazing tools since we last chatted with you is the Balloon Lady Tracker. How did that all come about?
Speaker 8:Pretty much it was a spawn off of the whole alert system for the uh race openings.
Speaker 8:Um, a while back there was another Twitter account that had notifications when run Disney did the tracking and did all the push notifications where you could go in, sign up and you know, your friends and family could track you and get alerted to it.
Speaker 8:But they kind of did away, did away with that um, and once I figured out how to do the alerts for the race openings, I saw so many people in the groups always kind of concerned about what the balloon ladies were going to be located. They figured it was a good way to bring it back, um, and so I was able to take the system for the run disney alerts for the race registrations and turn that into the same kind of thing for the balloon ladies. So there's splits that are online, can get sent out without people having to sit on their phones while they're concerned about the mileage ahead of them, and they can just focus on their race and get the little buzz and let them know hey, the balloon ladies are at the 5k point or at're at the 10K and they can focus more on their race and just have that little buzz just to let them know what's going on.
Speaker 1:Speaking of which and Ingrid, I don't know if this is something that Run Disney needs to tackle, if this is something that TrackShack needs to do or whatnot, but I mean, there was a time at least that I remember, when I started back in 2016, where when you hit timing mats, you would either get an email or a text message, like you said, and we have gone several races or race seasons, for that matter where we haven't gotten anything like that, you know. So do you see yourself in the future maybe being able to provide a service like that, or or is that too big of an undertaking for for you?
Speaker 8:fortunately that's a very large undertaking that it's outside of my scope of being able to do and I think a big reason why I run disney cut back on that is I think there's an extra cost that they have that's associated with that interesting okay yeah, so I think that was a way of cost cut.
Speaker 2:Yes, usually those text notifications like that, it's a paper dip and if you had 10 million people going in there at you know whatever price of a request, it gets pretty pretty. It's a pretty penny.
Speaker 9:That's sad. My mom always loved that, like you know where. I think one time they had like the map and you got to follow your daughter or something like that my mom loved that.
Speaker 5:It was a nice feature.
Speaker 8:That's one of the reasons why I've avoided text messaging for the Run Disney alerts too is because I don't want to have anything that involves people having to pay for the service. I like trying to keep it free as much as possible for anybody so that it's accessible to everybody, and once you start hitting text messages like you said, yeah, you're absolutely going to be dipping into money for that.
Speaker 9:I've gotten really curious now. How long have you been doing this for and how did it directly come about, and how did you figure out how to do all this?
Speaker 8:Oh boy, I started the alerts back in 2022, if I remember correctly and and at the time, most of it was just a lot of Google. It was just how do I do this, how can I make this happen? And it was reading a bunch of websites. Now, ai has played a huge part in being able to fine tune these and get them working the way that I need to. I can go in, I can ask what I need it to do. Ai will generate pretty much everything that I need and it works almost seamlessly. As a result of it, the technology just over the past three years has jumped so much that it's made it so much easier to make these alerts much better.
Speaker 2:And something else. With the alerts, you now have sponsor tabs on them, right? So if you wanted to sponsor the alerts to help offset some of the cost, you can help sponsor, which when the alert comes through, it'll say this alert is sponsored by Rise and Run Podcast or something like that.
Speaker 8:Yes, that's correct. Yeah, we offer the advertising. We had some messages from different companies and people that were interested in finding out how they could advertise on there and figure it's just a good space. If anybody wanted to do that, we have information up on our website and how they can sign up for advertising for that.
Speaker 2:Besides the run Diz alerts, or whatever we we call them now. Uh, your website, your website, is like a plethora of information for everything run Disney, from the race alerts to course maps, the flyovers. Uh, from the race alerts to course maps, the flyovers, past race data, from what time they sold out, how many people are in the races. Can you elaborate on part of that? Like especially, where do you get the information from?
Speaker 8:It's funny to see, because it's so much of, how many times in our Facebook group people mention these things and it's the same questions that come up over and over again. And it's funny to see how many people are interested in how many people ran last year, how many people finished last year, how many starters did they have, how quick did it sell out, especially on a day like today when people are planning like, hey, do I need to take time off from work, when people are planning like you know, hey, do I need to take time off from work? So the alerts helped a lot with the sellout information because I'm able to go back now and I can actually track how quickly races are selling out by looking at the alerts and seeing. You know, like today was less than an hour for the 10K. So I could just look at the old alerts, pull that up and then put it into a website so that anybody that's curious in the future can go back and take a look for themselves and see.
Speaker 2:Something else that I found very interesting on your website was all the race medals from the beginning till this year, with all the challenges and even some of these very obscure races that Disney does or did do, like the inline roller skating and the triathlon. Where did you get that information from? I mean because not many people know they had a triathlon.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I mean that took a lot of digging online. That took months to go through and research and it was finding old blogs that were out there and reading people's experiences and then finding, hey, they did this, and then they went off and did the inline and then they did the triathlon pieces and finding all these amazing old pictures online that people have that you have to actually actively look and know what you're looking for in order to find it. It's not just typing in run Disney and hitting it. It's going through eBay photos to find some of these medals that people just have listed for sale. I mean it's old Flickr accounts that you can see photos from the triathlons that people were doing and there's just so much out there. But it takes a lot of digging. So having the medals in one place so that people can see them without having to go and do that research, hopefully, you know, makes it a little bit easier for people that want to see the history of the Disney sports events.
Speaker 4:It's really cool.
Speaker 1:No, it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:I'm actually on the medal page right now as you're talking, and the thought or the word that came into my mind as I'm looking at this is there is a good chunk of your website that I would essentially call a run Disney encyclopedia, because there is, you know, between the pictures and the fact that you can enlarge them, and you know, I would almost like want run disney like.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they have their own historical records, but I would love for them to go back themselves and go on your website.
Speaker 1:You know when especially when it comes to metal design, because something that I just learned a couple of minutes ago is, you know, back when the half marathon was, you know, a new race weekend incorporated into marathon is there are all these medals of like, essentially like a silhouette of, like donald's head and his bill, and these are just like some really, really unique looking males like I mean, especially the one I'm looking at folks that you know, if you want to follow along as we're chatting here, you know, if you look at the 2012 marathon weekend half marathon medal, I mean the the fact that like it's, it's shaped like donald, that has the year, but like it also shows it's the half marathon, but it's also the 15th anniversary of running up like it was.
Speaker 1:It's so simple, yet so well done, that you know. I would love for their designers to be able to use your website to draw inspiration for future medals, and I guess my follow-up question to that is one of the other historical pieces that you have on here are old course maps To get those. Was that the same process that you had to go through in order to get all these amazing metal photos as well?
Speaker 8:Thankfully for the course maps. That's something that, ever since I started our Facebook group, I've been tracking and keeping. We had a folder of all the old course maps, um, and then every time they released the new one, I kept them in this folder, just in case in the future I'd ever need them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was just pure happenstance no-transcript to show that there are other routes around Walt Disney World that do not have to all start and all end at Epcot. You know, we all know you actually can do a 5K in Animal Kingdom it is possible.
Speaker 5:So Run Disney hop on this website, asapap please but they'd have to tear down and reconstruct the stages. Greg, I know, but you know it gives people, it gives people jobs so let's
Speaker 1:look at that from from. From that standpoint, I like that all right.
Speaker 4:So not only can matt's um notifications help you get a race bib on your own, but it also has the ability to have charity trackers. Can you tell us more about that, matt?
Speaker 8:Absolutely so.
Speaker 8:On our website we do have a listing I try and make it as comprehensive as possible that has all the different charities for each race weekend along with links to their sites that people can go to and register for the charities, and in addition to that we also try and show what availability they have for each race to kind of take the guesswork out of which charities they want to try, for A lot of people have loyalties to certain charities and so that really isn't designed for them.
Speaker 8:This is more for the person who didn't get the registration today and wants to be able to get a wine and dine bib. As soon as I get the information updated on there tomorrow, or so you can go on and just take a simple look. It's a green checkmark and a red circle telling you what's available, what's not available, um. It updates approximately every hour or so, give or take, depending on how well our system talks to all the different uh charity systems that are out there. But it's just a way to try and take the guesswork out of it, because run disney site isn't very good when it comes to updating which charities have availability, um, or which charities are actually involved in that race weekend. So this is a way to try and eliminate all the searching that can go on looking for a bib.
Speaker 4:That's really nice that you have that, because I know that when I didn't get Adobe Bib in 2020 for 2023, I was looking at all the charities and it was super hard to try and find out who had a bib, who didn't, and ultimately, your notifications is what helped me get a bib. But both routes is an amazing thing to have the opportunity to see it at an easier standpoint.
Speaker 8:Yeah, we like to try and simplify the process as much as possible. I mean, there's so much information out there when it comes to run Disney that you know the amount of Googling you can do to try and find everything can take hours, days, depending on your experience with the process, and so we just try and make it as basic as we can, get the information to you and help get you registered as quick as you can as quick as you can.
Speaker 1:Another tool that's on this website that I want to direct our listeners to, because I know in the past we have talked about the when it comes to proof of time. We have talked about the mcmillan calculator over and, over and over, because that's the, you know the, the quote unquote rumor that, that's what you know.
Speaker 1:At least that's what we think that run disney and track shack uses in order to convert times, and I think, matt, you have developed a tool in terms of proof of time calculator that is a lot simpler to use than the mcmillan calculator. So if you're ever in one of those areas, folks, please visit matt's website to um to use that calculator to see how close you are with that proof of time. You know, and it's even broken down by race, weekend and such, because the test that I wanted to do is I have I submitted a proof of time for springtime surprise, because I knew I made the cutoff. But I was interested to know if that time that I have during a 10 mile race would also be good enough for, say, a challenge at wine and dine, or say princess, and technically it wouldn't. The equations you know, in the way that would factor out it would. I would just be like two minutes slower, or something like that. So it definitely takes into, you know, account all of those specific times for the specific weekend.
Speaker 1:So awesome, awesome job, matt. My question, though, is I know you said to Jack earlier, ai plays a lot into this how much time do you spend per day on this website? Because you have a lot of fascinating tools that need to be updated constantly. How much time are you devoting per day to this awesome website?
Speaker 8:It's. Honestly it's not that much. Um, lately I've been putting in a little bit more time just to try and refine things, get things working a little better, like the pace calculator. Uh, actually just updated that today. Um, just took what we had up there, gave it a cleaner look and made it a little bit easier to use. I mean, if I'm putting in maybe an hour a day tops on this, that'd be probably a high number, but it all depends on what's being updated. The charity stuff those take a lot longer to go through and input and get our systems, you know, looking at the right websites. The other stuff luckily it's already built. It's just a matter of maintaining. So, with the course maps or the metals, it's just a matter of's just a matter of maintaining. So, with the course maps or the medals, it's just a matter of adding in a little bit here and there just to keep things running. Now that we've got a good foundation, keeping the tools, building them and making them a little bit better. It's thankfully not that long overall.
Speaker 2:Let's get the website out there. The name of the website is TeamRunDiz. That is correct. Team, team run discom. The other thing, your community I mean I know you are really up to date on getting information out on race weekend of uh, like this weekend not that this weekend, this today you had a little cheat sheet out of okay, registration. Here's the tips for registration, what you need, the times that everything sold out last year. So you basically had an idea of am I going to be able to get in, am I not going to be able to get in? I mean so your community Facebook page. Can you talk about that?
Speaker 8:Yes, sir, group has been around since 2012. So pushing on 13 years this year. Well, so pushing on 13 years this year, we've always. We started, actually originally on Twitter before it was X, and that's how the whole hashtag run is came around. It was just a bunch of people talking about run Disney events and you know, we started off with just about. I think there were 60 of us on the first day and we've grown to over 35,000 people in the group now.
Speaker 8:We try and keep everybody as up to date as possible. It's kind of the same principle as the website, but for people who may not know the website exists, we try and give the tools in there, make sure that everybody can get in as much as possible to the races that they want to, that they have the tools they need. Uh, as far as the training goes, um, trying to help people make sure they stay on course, it's a great group of people. Everybody, you know, plays a role in there. We have several people who help contribute during the process and going into race weekends, so it's just a great environment for people.
Speaker 1:Since the last time we talked to you, you have, you know, had so many more tools added to your website in order to help out the incredible run disney community. What's next for team run dis? Do you have other ideas cooking that you that you want to explore, whether that be through alerts or on the website?
Speaker 8:I do. One of the big things that has been something that I've always wanted to do is to actually get an interactive chat bot going that people you know, specifically when they're on a race weekend can just. If they have a question, they can ask the bot. The bot will give them the answer and they can be on their way. You know simple stuff that takes time to look up on a website. I want to make it as easy as possible, so you send a message off, you get your answer back and you can keep going If you want to know what time the expo is open until.
Speaker 8:You just send your message and you keep going. You don't have to wait for a response on a Facebook group. You don't have to go and try and figure out the expo page, the digital guide that they have, and figure out okay, where do I go in all of this to find the information Something that will simplify people's experience at the actual races, and I feel like that's a big thing. I've already started down that path before. It's a lot more work, unfortunately, than I had put into it the first time, so it's something that I'm working to try and develop so that it's something that people can use sooner than later, hopefully.
Speaker 2:Matt, thank you very much for joining us again on the podcast. If you still need to find a registration, remember to go to Team Run Diz and look at the Diz alerts and they will hopefully get you in a race weekend. I know some of our co-hosts here gotten in because of Matt and his alerts and hopefully he can help you out also. Matt, thanks again for joining the podcast.
Speaker 8:Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Well, matt, thanks again so much for joining us. As we mentioned during that interview, it is just so impressive to see that when we interviewed you the first time, pretty much it was just the alerts, and now it's a conglomerate of alerts across multiple platforms and a website and historical information. It's all really, really impressive to see. So, again, folks, if you have not visited yet, please visit TeamRunDizcom to access all of these wonderful tools and pieces of history. It is definitely worth your time. The one thing that we chatted about during that one particular interview was, you know, not only does Matt have the alerts, but he also has that charity tracker. So again, with Wine and Dine registration last week, if you want to run this October and you're still looking for a bib, that is an excellent place to find a charity that it means something near and dear to your heart and run on behalf of them.
Speaker 1:And one of the charities that we love to support here at Rise and Run is our wonderful friends over at Give Kids the World, and our buddy, ken, actually reached out to me a couple of days ago. He wanted to let the Rise and Run community know about a particular raffle that they're currently using as a fundraiser. It's called their Magical Celebration Vacation Chance to Win. This is open now and is still open for about a month. It closes on March 17th at 11.59 pm. We have a link on our Facebook page, but also I'll be sure to give to John to add to this week's show notes. But it is a chance to win a vacation of a lifetime in probably the most exclusive room in all of walt disney world and that is, or maybe in all of the world or all the world.
Speaker 1:You're absolutely right, bob, and that is the dream suite that is inside of cinderella's castle. You know the one where one where it's rumored that you get locked in there for the night once you're in there and all that jazz.
Speaker 1:So I just want to go over the details real quick of what is included. If you are the grand prize winner and this again, this is a fabulous opportunity. It's a one-night stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite and this is all for four people I should mention this at the top Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. So you know nothing better than waking up and then walking down a couple of stairs and you know be greeted for breakfast. It will also include a two night resort stay in a standard room at a deluxe disney resort hotel, a three-day park hopper ticket for four people, a 500 disney gift card and domestic coach round trip airfare.
Speaker 1:Wow, again, all you have to do is just enter this raffle. I think it's a situation where they have like various amounts for like one ticket, five tickets, 10 tickets, you know hundreds of tickets. So, again, find that link on our Facebook page or in the show notes or visit their website, which is gktworg. You can find the information there and enter this and again, you have about a month to do so. So what a fabulous opportunity and also raising money for an incredible charity. So be sure to go check that out. Sounds like fun.
Speaker 5:Thanks, greg. Friends, we've been talking about it for a couple of weeks. It's a rise and run tradition. It's time for the princess weekend roll call. Looking at our friend rob helps a lot with the race report. The file helps in adding names and he keeps track of things for us. Also sent me a sent me a spreadsheet earlier today. Our numbers from 24 to 25 on the roll call are up a little over 20%. The biggest increases are in the challenge it's up about 25% and the 10K. The 10K is just about twice as many people as last year. 259 names well, 259 entries on the list. We typically have more names because some of the entries have multiple names on them.
Speaker 5:So let's get started. I want to kick it off. We did ask you to tell us if you were running, and obviously many of you did, and most of you told us what you were running. But there were a handful who said I'll be there. Good, so I don't know what Faye, janie, judy, rachel and Yar Yarissa are running, but I know they'll be there. However, we do know who's doing the rest of the races and let's start with the Fairy Tale Challenge.
Speaker 1:All right, here we go. Amanda D, andrea, angela and her daughter and it's her daughter's 18th birthday. Very exciting, angela running her first half and first Run Disney Challenge. Anita and Anne-Marie.
Speaker 4:We also have Ashley running her first Run Disney event and first challenge. Avery, brandy B, brandy C, brittany and her BFF, sarah Brooke. Carissa, carol it's her first challenge Carolyn and daughter Sabrina and Carrie.
Speaker 2:We have Christina Claudia, courtney B, courtney G, danielle perfect challenger Debbie H, debbie W, denise, dylan and Donna.
Speaker 5:He. Elizabeth is running the challenge, as is Emily, her first challenge. Emmy will be there. Erica with her husband and father, aaron. Faith is doing her first race ever. What a place to pick. Yeah, it's a good one. Doing the challenge, that's great. Heather's doing the push rim division, another Heather doing her first run, disney race. We have a Heidi who's doing her first princess challenge and another Heidi. We have Helen, who's doing her first half and first challenge.
Speaker 6:And we also have Jeanette, jen, another Jen, jenny, who's doing her first challenge. Jennifer, we have four Jessicas Jenny, who's doing her first challenge. Jennifer. We have four Jessicas One Jessica is doing her first half and first challenge, and another Jessica is doing her first Princess Weekend and first challenge. And then we also have Jordan doing the challenge.
Speaker 1:Continuing on. We have Julia, julie, who is a perfect challenger. Caitlin F, caitlin W, caitlin D First Florida Run, disney Race and Coast to Coast. Catherine, katie's running as well. Katrina, kaylee this is their first run, disney race and Kelly with her husband.
Speaker 4:We also have Kendra doing First Coast to Coast Challenge, kim Kazay, kristen, larry, laura with niece Kaylee. Laura J Laura from Decatur she was actually the first ever to call in for a hotline to let us know that she'd like to be part of the roll call, so thanks for doing that. We have Lauren P and Lenore.
Speaker 2:And we have Leslie, lexi, not our Lexi, a different Lexi, lindsay, liz, luciana, megan Mara, margaret Maria first run Disney race and Monica with the kiddos number one and two for the 10K.
Speaker 5:Natalie will be there, as will. Noel. Paige is doing her first coast-to-coast, Pamela is running, Renee, Rhea, Richard Riley, Sarah C and Sarah. I will be there.
Speaker 6:We have Sherilyn, Stephanie, Sunny, Susan, Suzanne and Alex, a mother-daughter team. Taylor, Teresa is running her first run, Disney race. Tiffany and Tanya and Dan.
Speaker 1:And then, wrapping up the fairy tale challenge, we have Tracy, trina, tricia and Valerie.
Speaker 5:Alright, alright, Rise and Run Fairy Tale Challenge Runners. Now here are our friends who have signed up. Rise and Run Fairy Tale Challenge Runners. Now here are our friends who have signed up for the half marathon.
Speaker 4:To start off, we have Adam who is pacing the 215 group with our lovely Jack Allison, amy, ashley, bethany, our very own Bob, kathy, charlotte, chelsea, Christina.
Speaker 2:And we have David Elise, elizabeth Haley with Bestie Megan and Amelia Hannah M. Hannah S is running first half marathon.
Speaker 5:Holly Ileana, jack Jackie with children Robert and Lindsay, jennifer Jordan doing a first half first run Disney race. Callie first race at Disney World. Kate first half marathon. Kate G, kate S Molly doing her first run Disney race. Rebecca Ryan Molly doing her first run Disney race. Rebecca Ryan N and Ryan S Ryan S is a pacer.
Speaker 6:And rounding out the half marathon, we have Samantha, stephanie running her first run Disney race, steven running his first run Disney race. And Susanna.
Speaker 5:Okay, we are giving you a standing ovation. By the way, friends, you just can't tell. Can I sit down now, bob? Yeah, go ahead, okay, thank you, sorry, okay. Okay, on to the 10K.
Speaker 1:Running the 10K.
Speaker 4:Running the 10K we have Amber, carol, kathy, charlotte, chelsea and her husband Chrissy, christine, dorothy Faye and Grace First 10K, holly Gina doing her first 10K and first run Disney race, judy Caitlin, lindsay, Lisbeth and Nona, mary Jo, mary Matt and Robin, his wife, and Ryan, his son.
Speaker 5:I need to make some. I need to break in here to mention something. The Judy who's here is the Judy who I identified at the beginning that I didn't know what she was running. So I guess she's running the 10K and now you know. And now you know, that's our, that's our supply person Judy.
Speaker 2:Rounding out the 10K. We have Megan Skyler, stan and Sue 10K.
Speaker 5:I'm going to miss the 10K. I'm going to be back here running a 15K back in Tampa, but let's finish up with the 5K and we've got a pretty good list here on the 5K. Start with Alex Allie, without an E, amanda Angela and her daughter for her daughter's 18th birthday. I think they're also running the challenge.
Speaker 1:Yes, yep, angela Anne-Marie Ariana daughter for her daughter's 18th birthday I think they're also running the challenge.
Speaker 5:Yes, yep, angela ann marie ariana, nine years old, first run disney run. That's cool, I love that's awesome I love seeing that. I'm sure we have some other youngsters in here too. I think it's wonderful. Ashley will be doing her first run, disney austin first run disney along with caitlin and bethany and we also have some guy named bob um yeah, yeah, I'm doing I've said it before I'm doing this one. I'm skipping the 10k because I'll be here in tampa, and then I'm back for the half now, bob, I gotta ask though you have not mentioned anything to us about a costume for the 5k.
Speaker 1:Is this top secret information?
Speaker 5:no, I don't have anything exciting. I I may. I may bring back uh gaston's grandfather okay but that's about.
Speaker 2:That's about all I've got you got a pirate hat for the 15k no, no, I don't.
Speaker 5:Maybe I'll wear an eyepatch and run in circles.
Speaker 1:Also we have Brandon and Emily, brandy B, brandy C, brooke, christine, claudia, courtney, debbie, denise and Caitlin and mother-daughter team Also running. We have Dylan Donahue, elizabeth, erica and her cousin, Heidi, holly F, holly M with her mom, kathy, and this is her first Run Disney event. Jackie, james and Jennifer this is their first Run Disney race for both of them and Jenny.
Speaker 4:We also have Jessica B, jessica M Jordan, jose, first 5K and First Run Disney Race, julie Catherine, katie, kim, larry, lauren and daughter Charlotte, first Princess Weekend.
Speaker 2:And we have Lenore, lexi B, lindsay, liz Luciana, megan Mara, margaret Marissa First Disney Run Melissa and Monroe, who's five years old. It'll be Monroe's first run Disney weekend and first 5K.
Speaker 5:Wow, five years old run the 5K. I can't imagine that's great. Michelle will be there, monica this time with her husband and kiddo number three. Natalie will be there, norma Paige, pamela Rhea Riley, sarah G and Sarah I.
Speaker 6:And then, last last but definitely not least, we have Stephanie Taylor, tiffany A, tiffany E Trina and Tricia.
Speaker 5:Our 2025 Princess Weekend Runners. Roll Call Friends. Thanks for putting your name into that. I think it's a neat tradition and, judging by the response, I think you all like it too. It's a lot of fun. Good time for me to remind you as I sit here on a Tuesday night, my wife just brought me out a cherry habanero cookie.
Speaker 1:And she didn't bring out any for the rest of us. How dare you, Becky?
Speaker 5:Text message them to you, or something.
Speaker 10:Okay.
Speaker 5:They've got a little bit of heat to them this year, not too hot, I don't like them too hot. But having said that, I'm not finishing this one until she comes back out with a glass of milk. But anyway, I'm looking forward. I know other friends are planning to bring cookies to this year's meetup too, so that's wonderful and exciting. I'm looking forward to that. That meetup is 3 pm at Disney Springs. It's in the food truck area, not hard to find.
Speaker 5:You come out of Orange Garage if you're driving over or I'm not sure where the buses leave you off, regardless, the big landmark is the balloon. If you can find the hot air balloon, turn to your left. Starbucks is there. Keep going past Starbucks and past the restrooms and off to your right there will be the food truck area. Three o'clock is the time we list to start. Folks start arriving early At 3.30 or as close as we can. We'll take a group photo, so please try to be there if you can. I'd love you to be in the picture. I hate to see people left out of the group photo. We have a wonderful time at these.
Speaker 5:If you haven't been before, please try to get by. I know I know for many of you. This is your trip to Disney world and you want to spend it in the parks. I get it, especially those of you with children. I get it completely. But if you come by, I know you won't regret it and you're going to enjoy it. So 3 pm, saturday afternoon, hope to see you there.
Speaker 5:Hey, I was talking with a young woman named Emily who is involved with an application called Holler Hype. We're going to have Emily on next week, but I'd like to ask you, or suggest to you, that you look this one up. It's available for Apple and for Android. Hollerhype H-O-L-L-A-R-H-Y-P-E. It's a way of sharing messages with one another during a run or during really any event, but it looks kind of neat and looks like the kind of thing that the Rise and Run family would enjoy using. I've downloaded it. I haven't used it yet, but I think it could be a whole lot of fun. More on that next week.
Speaker 5:All right, my friends, it's time for the Race Report. The Race Report is brought to you by Tom Stokes at Stoked Metabolic Training, stokesfit slash. Rise andruncoaching is the website. Information's on our Facebook group, pinned to the featured section. Check that one out. Let's kick it off on Saturday in Claremont, florida, over around Disney World there was an event called For the Love of Chocolate 5K. We had a couple friends who ran that, but most notably tonight visiting with us in the Race Report Spotlight, laura and Sam did that one. Hiya guys, how you doing.
Speaker 5:Hi Good, glad to see you. This is going to be fun. Glad you had time to come join us. We want to hear all about it with sam's schedule. You know it's really hard yeah, I'm sure he's got you know briefings. And yet what? What season? It's baseball season. You playing baseball, sam no soccer soccer okay, good, good sport.
Speaker 10:Down here in Florida, you know you can play soccer all year round you play pretty much anything all year round, yeah. Yep.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's a. It's a hotbed of soccer. I remember from my refereeing days it used to be Clearwater, used to be a real hotbed of amateur soccer. I don't know if it still is or not. Nevertheless, it's not the rise and play soccer podcast, it's the rise and run podcast. So we want to talk about running. I always ask people, sam, and I don't think I've ever asked you this question how did you get started running? What made you want to do this?
Speaker 7:uh, it was like it's. I'm just in the habit of just running and because I skipped a school run for 5k on last Saturday. So, yeah, so my question is how did you get?
Speaker 10:into running.
Speaker 5:Why did you want to start running?
Speaker 10:Not this race, but why did you just want to start?
Speaker 5:Because my mom that's a very good answer. It's a very good answer. I'm like, oh, I should do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I and and you tried it and I I guess you liked it right. And? And soccer, you just stand there right, you don't do anything else, right? No what do you?
Speaker 7:do. Well, the only thing that you just stand there, it's goalkeeper, but you have to block the ball.
Speaker 2:So but you do a lot of what else in soccer you like, just run around, try to get the ball and yeah, so running, soccer, running in this sport it's a good thing.
Speaker 5:So you've been doing it almost all your life. That's impressive, Laura. What about you? Why don't you get started?
Speaker 10:Well, that's a great question. So you know, it wasn't until I think I moved down here. I graduated my first undergraduate in the early 2000s and then I came down here and, being close to Disney, I started to learn about. It wasn't run Disney at the time. One of my first was they used to have a around Mother's Day, a kind of like a heart race, and it was more so the parking lots, not too much of the park how about that?
Speaker 10:um, so did that one? Um, because it was also the mini mouse like mini marathon weekend, something along the lines of that name.
Speaker 5:Okay, um about when was that laura? How long ago? I want to say oh, 2008 yeah, a long time oh yeah because the thing is, our guest, our guest tonight, and I know you haven't heard him yet. Matt is kind of a run disney historian of of sorts, and I don't recall him talking about that, john yeah, well, there was a mini marathon weekend yeah um, so that was in 2008 and actually I did the tower of terror, but it was the night races when they did the 13k.
Speaker 10:But they had a. They had a six and a half k so my goodness, first race 2007 was the tower of Terror, 6.5k I bet.
Speaker 5:That was a PR.
Speaker 10:So yeah, and so just started getting into all the Disney races and then. I had kids and took quite a hiatus from it and came back I did the marathon. My first marathon was, oh goodness gracious, back in 2011. And I said I would never do a marathon again unless it was goofy, because they didn't have dopey yet Okay, so then I did dopey or goofy right.
Speaker 10:And that was the year before they announced dopey. So I was like, oh, I guess I'm going to have to do another one because you have to do dopey. Um, so when I took the hiatus, I guess I'm going to have to do another one because you have to do Dopey. So when I took the hiatus I came back and my first race was back, was for Dopey.
Speaker 5:Laura, you look too young to have been running this long. That's a good thing.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's cool. All right, let's talk about this weekend the run in Claremont.
Speaker 10:Yeah, so it's at Southern Hill Farms. It started off as a blueberry farm and they've just kind of grown as far as like the farm and they now do like strawberries and other vegetables and sunflowers and all sorts of vegetables and sunflowers and all sorts of um, so they have a few races there each year. Um, this was put on by the Florida running co and you're, for the most part, you start, in the center of their fields and they now have this beautiful. It was like almost like a runway, but it was bricks, um, and then you get into their field and you run around the perimeter, um, and then you finish back in the middle. So it was a loop, um, but I wasn't quite prepared. I've heard about it and I think I forgot about it, but what happened when we were in the field, sam?
Speaker 7:sand. It's like the worst part about the race, like we were running on, we were like walking on sand and it's like slippery and I'm like just that big loose dirt sand like being at the beach yes, exactly like
Speaker 10:when you're first walking onto the beach near those sand dunes that's tough sink into it yeah yeah, so our plan kind of went out the window with our intervals. All of a sudden it was let's just walk until we find an area where we can actually run yeah, had you.
Speaker 5:Had you ever done anything like that before, sam? No no, I don't think you're excited about doing it again either, are you? No, no, no, see this. In this case, I'm glad we have video on. That was good. That was a good reaction, sam. So what did you? I understand it's tough. It's tough to run in that stuff. Your legs get heavy and it's hard to do Well, and I don't want to break my ankle yeah, you know, yeah, sure notorious for doing something like that so what'd you end up doing you?
Speaker 5:I think you answered already.
Speaker 10:I think you said to start walking a lot more yeah, we started with our 30, 30 intervals and then, you know, once we got into like the thick of it, we just walked a little bit more um, when it was, when it got back to kind of grassy area, we just started back with intervals, um, and until we made it towards the end, um, since it was looped, you had, you know, the faster racers coming back as you're going forward, but they have you running on the left-hand side, which was unique, because over here you want to run on the right-hand side, but in the cones they're like stay left, stay left.
Speaker 10:But yeah, and then what happened towards the end, once we got back onto those bricks, what did you do at the end? Just the whole way? Yeah, you ran the whole way. And when we got even closer, what did you do? Sprint all of a sudden he just tried.
Speaker 5:You were trying to beat mom, weren't?
Speaker 7:you yeah what happened, the worst thing ever. He beat me by 0.1 seconds.
Speaker 10:I'm like, oh great. So he took off and I said oh no, nope, not doing this. So I take off after him. And you hear the, the people that are cheering, everyone in, you know, they're cheering for sam. And then I hear this one lovely lady go go, mom, go mom. I hit that mat a tenth of a second faster what do you think sam she?
Speaker 5:what do you think of mom? She beat you. That's pretty. I mean, I'm pretty impressed by that. What do you think?
Speaker 10:I don't know I'm sure it won't last much longer it, got it got up.
Speaker 2:Wait a little bit longer next time, then you've gone to sprint, so you take her by surprise that's what you gotta do.
Speaker 5:John's giving you strategy, sam. What do you think?
Speaker 10:yeah we'll see what the next one? Uh, it was also cute. Um, you know, there were a couple costume people. Cupid was along the race and he was okay giving out random items to people.
Speaker 5:I got these uh heart sparkly sunglasses um did you get anything sam from cupid no, I didn't get anything, no well, I see something and I don't know you got a plant I gotta
Speaker 7:describe the plant it's like a little man when it's cupid so it's cool, it's cool.
Speaker 10:It looks like a chia plant it kind of I don't even know what it is, or I don't think you have to keep it alive or yeah I'm not but, I'm not sure looks like grass growing out of cupid's head there you don't really have to keep it alone. So yeah, finishers, we got a really nice little finisher metal. It's's a heart, it's got chocolate.
Speaker 7:That's nice.
Speaker 10:Yeah, and then you got to pick a plant and what was the best part after the finish line Strawberry donut Strawberry donut.
Speaker 7:Strawberry donut.
Speaker 5:How many did you eat?
Speaker 7:One, just one.
Speaker 5:I'm like, I like two like two, you were behaving yourself well, they were kind of keeping track oh, okay, okay yeah, they were marking your bibs when you got the donut. All right, friend, sounds like a good weekend. You're going to do it again nope no, didn't like that sand huh maybe not this one, but what are you doing next?
Speaker 10:springtime surprise springtime, okay, yeah he'll be for disney, he's got springtime and then we've got um. They do a lucky charm 5k, but it's within neighborhoods, so sounds like saint patrick's day, right yep, right around saint patrick's day and then I'll be there this weekend at Princess.
Speaker 5:Good, so I'll see you Well in podcast world. I'll see you later today. Yeah right, which is actually two days from now.
Speaker 2:You might have seen him already.
Speaker 5:That's right. It gets very complicated. It's good, though, all right. Well, guys, thanks for joining us. Yes, I appreciate it. It was fun and we look forward to talking with you later.
Speaker 10:Happy running.
Speaker 5:Well, that was fun. As we mentioned, there were others there. Our friend Mary was there. Mary said the same thing about the course. It was tough, even with trail shoes on. Still had a good time, though. Mile and a half had family cheering for her. That helped a lot, mary, as did sam, and laura mentioned the strawberry donut. Apparently there's also fruit and chocolate at the end and she liked the plant that they got. Also tracy was there. Guess what? Tracy talked about how tough it was to run through the sand in the farmlands and it was actually kind of narrow. I think Laura and Sam brought that up. Tracy wasn't trying to race, just wanted to get it done because she wanted to get to the strawberry donuts. They must be really good.
Speaker 5:Continuing on, let's go to baton rouge, louisiana for the mardi gras mambo 15k. Emily, second time running the race and second time running a 15k, shaved almost four minutes off her time from last year. That's a brand new pr. Emily's been training with Kristen. They focused hard on taking things slow the first part of the race but ultimately last mile or so tough as the temps started to rise. The henwood was strong. She finished age group third place in what I think was a really competitive event. So that's outstanding, almost as outstanding as her finished photo. I'm telling you Emily's got some hops guys. Emily really got up in the air on that finished photo. Nice job. She's still going to sign up on this one year after year. I think it's a good one. No doubt she enjoyed it. Good job, emily.
Speaker 1:I really wish they would serve King Cake at the end of this race, like I mean if there's one thing I would run, for it would be King.
Speaker 5:Cake. They might, greg, they might. You know, I don't copy down everything our friends say. I don't remember if Emily referenced King Cake or not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll have to dig through it again.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I saw some reference to King Cake somewhere this week, but I'm not sure where. In Florida, lake Apopka, the Lake Apopka Scenic Trail, 30k that's over there not far from Disney World. Jared ran it. Bus was about an hour late to the start line but the course support was great. It was a crazy headwind. It was windy on Saturday, real bright and sunny Made for a heck of a tan, jared says, thinks this might be a one and done though it was. Pretty trail run, lots of Florida wildlife, including a bunch of gators.
Speaker 5:In Newcastle, newcastle-upon-tyne, actually, over in England, our friend Andy did the run, newcastle Valentine's 10K, first event of the year back on home soil for Andy. This one speaking of home soil, just a little over a mile from his front door Race had multiple distance. Andy did the 10K and it was two laps around the Newcastle Town Moor which is his usual training route. Organization. Not great on this one. The half started first and then 10 minutes later the 10K and 5K started at the same time but on different sides of the same path. So it was kind of a mess when the front of the Packers and the 5K almost smashed into the middle of the Packers and the 10K. I'm trying to visualize. This Doesn't look good. One thing settled out Andy did great, found a pace, finished with a time of just a little over 55 minutes and outstanding 10 K my friend best 10 K time for him in a little while. You can find out more about it on Andy's YouTube channel. The roller coaster of running.
Speaker 5:Katie in St Louis did the final race, the final four out of four, in the Snowball Series 5 miler. Again, friends, sometimes I miss reports. I've seen reports on the other races from Katie. Didn't see one this time. In West Wigo, louisiana, mandy did a 10K in the run on the bayou and Mary Jo was in Howie in the Hills, florida, for the Howie in the Hills 10K.
Speaker 5:In Kissimmee there were a bunch of races in the vicinity of Disney World, this week in Kissimmee in the vicinity of Disney World. This week in Kissimmee Kayla took a break from hair braiding to run her first race after Goofy in some new Diodora shoes wound up with a coarse PR and negative splits between miles two and three. Loved seeing some folks in Valentine's costumes. Doesn't say where this is, I didn't catch it. It's probably in the Houston, texas, area. Brandy was doing the Love Struck 10K Down in Naples, florida, the Picayune 10-Miler Trail Run.
Speaker 5:Rob did this one Nice course Mix of gravel roads, single-lane trails and sugar sands at mile nine, which really kind of like the folks who did the race in the race report earlier talked about. Running on that kind of surface can make you question your sanity. He finished the race feeling great. Had a hot breakfast of pancakes and sausages provided by one of the sponsors Made him feel even better. Had a hot breakfast of pancakes and sausages provided by one of the sponsors Made him feel even better. In fact he's felt so good that later in the day Rob did the Edison Festival of Lights 5K in downtown Fort Myers. A group from the local run club dressed up as superheroes ran the race along a parade route. Kids and adults alike were delighted to see Dad Bod Thor making his way through the course. Hey, rob's description, not mine. Good job, rob. I'm actually going to hear from Rob again.
Speaker 5:On Sunday there was a hot chocolate run in Charlotte, north Carolina. Denise did it, really cold but thankfully the rain held off. That's good. Need to run some more hills and speed drills to get faster. Denise says Thanks to her friend Jenny for encouragement along the way In Syracuse, new York and I'm going to guess that it was cold. Steve did the Lake Effect Half Marathon guessed that it was cold. Steve did. The Lake Effect Half Marathon Starts off by saying it was cold, but not crazy cold for Syracuse in February. Pretty good, no wind, that helps. A lot Snow on the ground, but no fresh snow that helps too. Mostly residential course, two loops, a north loop and a south loop, made a lap around each one. So one lap for the quarter marathon, two laps for the half. This one benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central New York. Worthy cause. Steve said he would definitely run this one again.
Speaker 5:Out in Colorado, the Loveland Sweetheart Classic. Alexis was there Cold, snowy and icy on the sidewalks, first four-miler, first in-town race for first four-miler PR. She got a late start but once she caught up with the pack the race was less confusing. Yeah, I like having folks to follow too. Alexis Fell once on the ice about a mile and a half in, so she decided to stay off the sidewalks as much as she could. After that Skipped the ice cream at the finish line. Probably a good call, ice cream in snowy, icy conditions. Eh, did grab a mini cinnamon roll and a hot chocolate. That sounds more appropriate. Let's see here.
Speaker 5:I guessed that the Love Struck run was in Houston and here again I've got it listed twice. Brandy was earlier. She did the 10K, jennifer did the 10K also. It was in fact the Houston Running Company Love Struck 10K, a new location for the race this year, which Jennifer wasn't quite as excited about because the old one was five minutes from her house had a whole lot better parking situation. This one takes place in a new park, a little bit cramped because it was on a sidewalk for a while. Since she was doing the 10K it thinned out because it was two loops. So after the 5K finishers were done it was much less crowded Usually not a fan of double loop. Happy to have it this time because she had the sidewalk to herself for the second go round. Good job by Jennifer, second in her age group, congratulations.
Speaker 5:On Sunday in Texas, the Austin Marathon. Now Derek signed up for this. It was the final leg of the Austin Distance Classic, but he moved down from the full to the half because he signed up for another half marathon in two weeks. That sounds like a wise move. Derek Robbie was down in Fort Lauderdale for the Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Half Marathon, 20th running of this event, so the medal was extra special. One big medal with charms, dangle charms underneath replicas of the last six. The course headed out of downtown Fort Lauderdale east to the beach on the Atlantic there then north along the beach with a turnaround about mile nine. Not a great time but Robbie got the job done. Good job, robbie. In Hilton Head, the Hilton Head Island half marathon. Dorothy was there to run that one. Stacey was in Apache Junction, arizona, for the Lost Dutchman 10K. Beautiful morning to run along the Superstition Mountains with her running bestie and her older sister Second year in a row running this race. For a proof of time Shaved almost four minutes off of last year, thanks to Alicia. Alicia that's you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is me.
Speaker 5:Yeah, good job. Good job on that and good job by Stacey. Four minutes on a 10K, that's significant. Nicely done, so she got her POT, I presume.
Speaker 4:She does have a POT, but she's going to try again for the next race. That's out there to get an even better one. Good for her.
Speaker 5:Yeah, good for her. But congratulations, let's see Out. In San Diego they had a Coronado 10K. Jennifer was there, sent us some great photos of the event. And finally, I don't usually put cycling events in here, but remember Rob, who had two races on Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. He did a 44-mile bike ride, the Colusa Royal Palm Cycling Challenge on Sunday, just to you know, just to keep loose. Good job, rob, good weekend, congratulations, friends. That's the race report for Episode 178. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. Thank you so much for joining us for episode 178 of the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 5:It's a race weekend, jack and I will be looking for you. Jack's there for the half. I'll be there for the weekend, except for a couple hours. Exciting times, it's always fun. This for a couple hours. Exciting times, it's always fun. This is a fun one. A run down Main Street is always delightful. If it's your first time down there, I'm excited for you and I'm looking forward to meeting you and saying hello. Have fun, looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Until then, happy running. Affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer. Thank you.
