Rise and Run
Rise and Run
180: Setting Sail With Rise and Run
We explore the magic of Disney running and the community that rallies around it, highlighting our upcoming Rise and Run Cruise; inspiring stories from the recent Chattanooga Marathon Weekend; and introducing the innovative HollarHype app.
- Magic Bound Travel gives us early insights into next year's Rise and Run Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas
- Stories from the Chattanooga Marathon
- Introduction to the HollarHype app for motivational boosts
- Encouraging friendships that help you reach your running goals
- Upcoming races and listener participation opportunities
- Celebrating personal records and milestones together
If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family, because we want to share in their running and Run Disney journey.
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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 4:I'm Hannah from Atlanta, Georgia, and I'm here at Walt.
Speaker 3:Disney World weekend at the Run Fit Fab pop-up and you're listening to the Rise and Run podcast Happy running.
Speaker 7:Hi, I'm Natalie from the Stride Sisters podcast and you're listening to the Rise and Run podcast. Happy running.
Speaker 8:Well, hello my friends. Welcome to episode 180 of the Rise and Run podcast 180, my goodness, Thank you, Hannah and Natalie, for those introductions from back in Marathon Weekend. Hannah and Natalie are the Stride Sisters from the Stride Sister Podcast. Check them out, it's a lot of fun Friends. I'm Bob and I'm here this week with John. Hey, how you doing With Lexi?
Speaker 9:Hello.
Speaker 8:With Alicia. Hello With Greg hey how you doing With Lexi, hello With Alicia, hello With Greg, hey, hey, hey. And with Jack.
Speaker 2:Hiya.
Speaker 8:On this week's episode we spent some time talking about a new app that I think our Rise and Run friends are going to enjoy. It's called Holler Hype. We'll get to it later in the episode. We'll get to it later in the episode.
Speaker 5:On the race report, spotlight friends amanda and lesa joined us to tell us about their experiences at the chattanooga tennessee marathon weekend if you enjoy the rise and run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the rise and run family, because we want to share in their running and Ren Disney journey. Remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod, or you can visit our website at the riseandrunpodcastcom or check out our YouTube channel. If you have a question, comment, race report or you want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave a recorded message.
Speaker 10: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 out patreoncom slash riseandrunpodcast. We'd like to welcome our newest Patreon, debbie, who joined the how you doing level the how you doing level how you doing.
Speaker 8:How did that get named?
Speaker 11:I don't know it's a jersey thing hey jack, anything new on youtube yes, on saturday we released the princess half marathon, the Princess Half Marathon video with the Galloway Pacers point of view, so very, very excited about that. Not this week, but the following week, the video that will be coming out will actually be the most common questions answered about Pacers.
Speaker 9:Okay.
Speaker 11:I feel like I get a lot of the similar questions. So now you get to see what the POV is like running with us, and now we get to answer those questions as well. So tune in for that.
Speaker 8:Yeah, good stuff, Jack. I got a chance to watch it. It was fun to relive the half marathon. It was also fun to watch you and Adam interact as pacers. Nice job on that.
Speaker 11:Oh, thanks.
Speaker 1:Hello, Rise and Run podcast. This is Brad and Maggie from Magic Bound Travel. We are proud sponsors of the Rise and Run podcast than likely. We can help. If you want to go to magicboundtravelcom. We're here for you and our services are completely complimentary. We don't charge a thing, we only offer our expertise.
Speaker 3:Wait a second. I had to step out of the room for a second our expertise.
Speaker 1:Wait a second. I I had to step out of the room for a second. Who invited these two do their own ad? We're bad. Somebody sent us a link.
Speaker 3:Okay, someone sent you a link well, brad and maggie, we are thrilled. Thrilled to have you here to do uh, I guess we'll call this a little bit of a maybe not a deep dive, but a sneak peek of things to come for both Magic Bound Travel and the Rise Run podcast, for not only this year but next year, because 2026 is going to be an absolutely massive year for both of us. And since you're here and you did your own ad, I guess we have a couple of questions for you. So could you stick around for a few minutes and answer a couple of those?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would love to.
Speaker 8:All right, perfect, that's good, that's because otherwise we don't have an episode. But anyway, exactly.
Speaker 3:All right. First thing that we should tackle is Day of Recording. Club Run. Disney had the opportunity to register for Marathon Weekend and we are now day of release, less than a week away from general registration for the biggest race on the race calendar. Obviously, that registration is taking place on Tuesday, march 11th. Now, as of again, day of recording, disney has not announced when they are putting 2026 packages and rooms on sale yet, but what can our listeners do now to prepare for their accommodations that will tie in to these races come January of 2026?
Speaker 4:Well, right now we we already are building our lists, so a lot of our repeat returning customers, guests, are already kind of sitting in our virtual queue, um, but if you go to our website that Brad already mentioned, the magicboundtravelcom um, we have dedicated links, uh for those uh quote forms. So best thing really is to go ahead and get that in If you kind of have an idea of the dates that you want to travel for your what we call the race cation, so that you already have that completely out of the way. We know race registration morning is stressful enough, and so this is just one less thing that you need to worry about having is already have your information in, and so, of course, as soon as we get 2026 information, those that are in our queue are the first ones that we're going to be tackling and working down the list.
Speaker 5:And hopefully they'll release them to us soon.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 5:I know I'm waiting.
Speaker 4:I'm like waiting with bated breath Like come on Well and it uh last year, it came out last week, so it came out February 27th or 28th, can't remember, um, in 2024. And so you know, any day now, and of course there's that nice, big, beautiful additional park coming uh down the road that is putting a lot of pressure on everyone.
Speaker 9:It's pretty epic.
Speaker 4:It's going to be an epic year. It's going to be a really really great, big, beautiful Epic year.
Speaker 11:Look at you just being so funny.
Speaker 10:Drop the mic Okay.
Speaker 4:Game on. It's on like Donkey Kong.
Speaker 1:literally, we are the ones who win in this glorious competition of theme parks. So we are the ones, yeah, in this glorious competition of theme parks.
Speaker 4:so we are the one, yeah that's a fact so also, don't forget not just your walt disney world marathon weekend, but also go ahead and be thinking I mean, we will have, hopefully, all of 2026 um, and so that's also going to be your, your potential princess weekends, your springtime surprise and then all of your other vacations that are going to be coming in the new year to Walt Disney World. But, of big importance, something we're very excited to be here to talk about is that getting in those dates for springtime surprise is going to be pretty critical because it's going to be fall, that's the end of the season, and then we're going to be moving on into our first ever rise and run.
Speaker 4:So what we'd really love is to know that we've gotten people taken care of, especially those that have already registered and are booked for the cruise. We'll definitely be getting a lot of push from us to get their their pre-cruise travel booked, but anybody else that is thinking about it we really would love. It does sound like pop century has kind of become the hub. Yeah, it has, I think you know, after you had Myra on the podcast, like we really, yeah, that's, that is a done deal.
Speaker 8:That was it, yep.
Speaker 4:We all, we all need a bit of Myra. Maybe we could get her to come on the cruise.
Speaker 5:There we go. That would be so fun. I wonder if she's ever been on a cruise.
Speaker 4:I might have to message her and see she's fishing now. But what we would like is that and regardless if people are not staying on site, if they're staying over at Grand Floridian or wherever it is on property is that we'll have multiple ways for people to get to the cruise, get over to Port Canaveral, but if we have enough of us. So I think a crew charter bus can hold 53 is 55. Right now is this yes, we can easily get a charter bus at a very reasonable rate. Probably would be about 15, $16 a person to add on to uh, have the party bus go from pop century parking lot out to port canaveral.
Speaker 4:So you know, maybe people could uber over or mini yeah, minivan yeah minivan whatever it is, bus cruise yes um, I'll get over there, or people can drive and and park whatever's for them.
Speaker 8:Can you leave your car parked in like the parking lot for a week? You?
Speaker 4:can yes. You just have to let them know.
Speaker 1:and you know, park it off, Make sure you tell the front desk if you do that and they're perfectly fine with you doing that. That's good to know.
Speaker 3:Nothing is more magical than coming back to property and finding out your car is in trouble.
Speaker 9:You're right, you're right.
Speaker 4:But they do. They do it all the time where people will drive to the uh what disney world?
Speaker 2:and then they take the disney yeah bus over like yeah, okay, good, good to know I just want to jump in um and in case we have some new listeners or listeners that haven't heard about the cruise before. What maggie is talking about is that after springtime surprise in 2026 we are doing um a rise and run cruise, um on the utopia of the seas. It's a four-night cruise that, if you would like to come on, it's a collaborative cruise between magic bond travel and rise around podcast um, and so Meggie and Brad are here to tell us more about that. Do you want to tell us some more of the good news where we're at for the cruise?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's been a while since I've given the running update. So we now and yeah, so to recap, it would be leaving. We would be leaving Walt Disney World or from wherever people are coming and getting on the ship, on Monday, april 20th 2026.
Speaker 1:And then Not just a ship.
Speaker 4:The.
Speaker 1:Utopia of the Seas. One of the finest Royal Caribbean ships there is. It's magnificent. We were just on there a couple weeks ago. I interrupted Go ahead, yeah.
Speaker 4:So yes, we did the three night. This will be the four night, so I'm excited. We did not get a day at sea, so this will have that added benefit. And then we will get off the ship on Friday and go back to the real world and say goodbye to everyone. Until the next Run, disney season begins.
Speaker 1:What a way to celebrate the end of a season.
Speaker 4:What a way to celebrate an incredible podcast. This season and a way to celebrate an incredible podcast, so this is exciting how many years since you guys started the podcast.
Speaker 8:By then. Well, it's four years this October.
Speaker 9:So by then it'll be four and a half. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 8:So I remember, I remember the first time you and I talked about sponsorship. Yeah, one of the first things I said is you know, I'd like to do a cruise someday, I think, and now we're almost there. It's pretty exciting.
Speaker 4:And just think back to that first conversation, the size of the community then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's probably double, you have enough to fill the entire utopia of the seas.
Speaker 4:Let's go no way 4,000 people so we are currently at this is so exciting Um 35 state rooms. That is 72 people of all ages.
Speaker 8:That's counting us right.
Speaker 4:Including Yep yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay, including all of us, including yep, yeah, okay, including all of us. Yep, so 72 currently, and we do still have 14 of the discounted interior staterooms. Great for folks that either want something very, very affordable to split the cost, even if it's just finding a friend also has a refundable $200 deposit. So if you're kind of like maybe I'm not quite sure, or whatever, like that's a great one to lock into because there's a lot of flexibility to when final payment time is coming up in February, like if it's just not going to work out, can let that go and get that refunded. But also I did a little update on the price check into those interior state rooms. Now, if you were to book that exact same thing with a non-refundable deposit, it would be a little over $300 more. So it's now it's really starting to show its value and the closer we get to the sailing, that interior stateom is going to be good. So we're hanging on to those.
Speaker 4:But we're still able to book everything else that's available on the ship right now and just the current availability. And and then there's always I mean every every month there's great sales. So I think Royal Caribbean still has the buy one, get one, 60 percent off great sales. So I think rural Caribbean still has the buy one, get one 60% off. Sometimes they'll toss in some little extra savings. So yeah, so we still have a lot of availability.
Speaker 1:But. But availability starts leaving and going fast. So I want to put a little hustle on the Rise and Run community to say now is the time to go ahead and book and get in on this, because as the ship fills, just like any other Disney resort hotel, they yield their rates and rates will go up. So now's the time to jump on this and we'd love to go ahead and get you on the inaugural podcast cruise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool. Why don't you remind our friends how, if they want to get booked, how they would go about doing that with you guys?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we have a really easy dedicated page off of our website it is. It is all about all the details that we're talking about now and a very simple quote form. We try to get those turned around super fast with one of our dedicated teams. So everyone that's in our Run Disney kind of specialist team is also helping take care of all of the guests on this and then. And another great thing to note is that Royal Caribbean's deposit or, I'm sorry, hold policy is really great. We can put a hold on an actual stateroom for a week before that deposit is due. So if you're scared that maybe a room is going to get gone, there's a certain room type you want, we grab it. You can kind of hang on to that while you finalize plans, and if it's just not something to move forward with, you know we can let that fall off.
Speaker 8:A quick note on interior rooms. Yeah, I've not been on a lot of cruises half a dozen maybe and I've done interior room once, the. The bottom line is that on most cruises you don't spend a lot of time in your state room aside from sleeping right.
Speaker 8:So if you're new to cruising and you're going, oh, I don't want an interior room. Yeah, it's kind of nice to be able to get out on the balcony and see the ocean, but you're not going to do that a lot. I mean, I got one of those rooms. I like them.
Speaker 4:Right, and then you leave and you're like, oh, I wish I'd had more time to spend on my balcony.
Speaker 1:So one of our travel advisors, missy, was with us on our familiarization trip on the Utopia a couple weeks ago and her husband. They had the interior room which, Missy, is your travel advisor.
Speaker 8:Right.
Speaker 1:And so which?
Speaker 8:Missy is your, your travel Right and um.
Speaker 1:and so he said they've never slept more soundly, because you are. I mean it is a dark room, you are closed off and uh, and so we had to kind of come and get them and say, y'all, we have a meeting to go to together, let's go.
Speaker 1:And uh, they were enjoying some extended sleep, so it's's a. It's a nice room for rest, but again, you're not in there that much during the day, so it's so save money and just go back to your room to sleep well we just talked about, uh, not being in the room very often.
Speaker 5:But what I know some of our listeners are curious about is will this be a really structured schedule that we're going to have rise and run events all the time and not be able to be in the room at all or be busy, or do guests have the flexibility in their schedules? You know what? What is kind of the feel of what this cruise is going to be like?
Speaker 1:You know, when we were on the ship the whole time we were imagining this podcast cruise going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was really fun for our team to think about, like what's a good flow that both has engagement with y'all's team, with folks that are obviously listeners, but also just ways to celebrate the end of a run Disney season and relax.
Speaker 1:So this is going to be very flexible, very accommodating to people to do what they'd like, but also some organized gatherings with the entire group.
Speaker 1:None of the gatherings with Rise and Run podcasts are going to interfere with like dining or shows or Perfect Day at Coco Cay, but we really want to gather for some of the key moments, like the Monday sail off party on the pool deck as well, as I know we've been talking together, doing a live podcast recording with the entire team and having a live audience with that, which would be super fun. So and there'll be some also some informal meetups here and there and Maggie's I mean we've been brainstorming together and I know Maggie's got a couple other things that are on the periphery too. But we want to emphasize this is fun, this is going to be flexible, this is going to be exciting and it's not going to be an over overly intense schedule and really which is accommodating both celebrating all the things that you can do on that utopia, because that is an amazing ship, but also really connecting with a podcast and the team members that you love and you can listen into and and celebrating the end of a race season.
Speaker 8:I love sharing time with friends, but I think the bottom line is nobody has to do anything that they don't want to. If you don't want to come, we'll see you next, We'll see you at something else. Yeah, I think I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 4:And for such a massive, massive ship, it is absolutely amazing how often you will run into people that you know we were on there with several other two other smaller agencies that we do a lot of partnership activities with, and I mean constantly in a lounge, in the elevator, at a venue. I mean we were constantly seeing people. So you know, it's exciting to think about when I picture the Saturday meetups, for example at Disney Springs, and just all the multiple little conversations and groups that are going on, and seeing afterwards all the pictures on the Facebook group of different people that have found each other to do runs together or found each other to do park time. Like think of that as an extension on the ship is that people will have that flexibility to just go grab a table around at the Pesky, parrot or Bolero's or some group.
Speaker 3:I was going to say I feel like I'm going to have at least one informal meetup at the Pesky Parrot because I've been doing a lot of YouTube blog research and that place looks awesome. You'll be able to find me there at least one time for an informal meetup.
Speaker 8:Well, that's the way I'm looking at it.
Speaker 2:You're buying the margaritas, Greg.
Speaker 3:Oh no, you still are buying the margaritas. Good for you, girl.
Speaker 4:Good for you. To the beginning of the podcast. I kind of have to buy.
Speaker 8:Kudos to. Alicia for that one.
Speaker 3:In terms of activities for that one. In terms of activities, this, you know, this cruise is still a year away. There's still a lot of brainstorming and a lot of planning that has to go into. But you know the one, you know, the one idea that we're kicking around though maybe you know whether it's a separate event or part of the podcast recording is some type of like rise and run trivia and alicia, that would be an absolutely like great opening question is who's synonymous with buying margaritas at a meetup? I mean?
Speaker 3:so you know it's going to be things like that that will be, you know, definitely joking about it and chatting about. You know, all throughout you know the this cruise time for sure yeah, it can be like who knows your podcast host the best?
Speaker 4:Yes, that is great, and of course we have to have some type of 5k.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Everyone will, especially if if those of us that do the challenge like we might not be in the mood to go and run a 5k.
Speaker 1:And there's an amazing track on the ship. It's a fantastic track, but you know, and there's an amazing track on the ship.
Speaker 8:It's a fantastic track We'll get metal.
Speaker 4:Having some kind of self-initiated, self-paced, either in small groups or by yourself, to do a 5K, and there's plenty of creative ways you could do that On the track, on the treadmill. A perfect day, the streets of Nassau, if you're careful with the drivers. I don't think.
Speaker 9:I would do that I was going to say on the boat, no no, thank you.
Speaker 4:So lots of great, exciting things to come. That will be a lot of fun, but again, all totally own choice.
Speaker 11:So, with that being said, with the flexibility of the schedule and just thinking about the cruise in general, so when it comes to like the rotational dining now, I've only ever been on one cruise and I'm just curious, with it being a rotational dining, are we all in? What I mean? All I mean, is there all the rise of runners going to be able to eat together, or how does that really?
Speaker 4:work Well, and so so Royal Caribbean is actually is is static.
Speaker 4:Disney Cruise Line rotates which is the one that kind of like you move with your group to a different venue each night. I'm glad I asked that. Yeah, you have another exciting Disney cruise to be planning. That's a good question. Deciding Disney cruise to be planning, that's a good question.
Speaker 4:But Royal, it's really nice because it is if, if any listeners have cruised other cruise lines before, it's kind of that traditional way where there is one massive, huge, fancy dining room. You can go on your t-shirt and shorts if you want to, or you will see on the themed nights people go all decked out. So all is all is acceptable, but it is more your typical. Like larger tables. There are some smaller ones that can be requested, but most of the time it's going to be six, six to 10 to 12 people at a table.
Speaker 4:There's two different dining times and so because we are going to have such a large group and because it would be very difficult for them to say, okay, we're going to have all of us at this one dining time, it really is more ideal that, as people are booking, book what's comfortable for you. If you, if you're the type that likes to eat earlier, go ahead and book that. If you don't and you don't eat until after eight o'clock, book the later. So what we'll do with the group coordinator is actually have them assign tables so that the early dining kind of all sit in the same general area and can mix and mingle. The later time can be mix and mingle, but that's only if people choose to even come to that main dining. So it's there. If you want to, you could be like us and you could get pizza at four and then still go to main dining at 5 30 and then go get something later because it's unlimited food nice food y'all so, and it's after the race weekend, so you you're just refueling your body, yeah, all of
Speaker 4:it you could have a progressive dinner. You could have pizza uh at, I forgot what it was called, you know or you go have the hot dogs, and then you could come to the main dining for the dessert.
Speaker 1:I usually have a progressive 45 minutes where I'm hitting four different places, so it's easy to do.
Speaker 4:So there's that. So that is always available. For dinner is your main dining assigned time and you always go to the same table, you always have the same waitstaff, so they get to know you, you get to know them, and but there then there's also I mean, I think there's like 20 plus dining venues on this ship and most of them are included in your cost, so grab and go.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's a Mexican place up on the pool deck. There's a thing that looks like a cute little food truck that's got different things changing out throughout the day. There's the pizza downstairs there's. If you need a quiet spot. Central Park is now my favorite area. It literally feels like you have been transformed into the middle of a botanical garden.
Speaker 4:And you're on a mega ship at sea and there's beautiful little tables around there, there's a bistro. You can walk in and get all of those things Again, all of that's included. So lots of different options that are all inclusive, but then you also can make reservations if you wanted to. This could be something that you know. Small groups are just like hey. Who wants to go to chops together one night? Who wants to go to Giovanni's?
Speaker 8:Which we it's amazing.
Speaker 4:So there there are um more upscale. You know signature dining that people could pay for too.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm looking forward to our head waiters and assistant waiters, at least in the main dining room, becoming massive fans of the Rise and Run podcast. Because obviously by the time they're done with us. They're not going to forget us and they're not going to forget the podcast, so that's going to be great.
Speaker 4:That's great.
Speaker 8:Probably true.
Speaker 4:Oh, so sweet, and they do, they totally remember.
Speaker 10:We will be going to some ports, nasa perfect day at Coco Cay, and is there going to be any excursions available for us to go on? Anything else available for this cruise?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so closer to time. Actually, I looked in my app today, where I've already got my room linked and there's already some random stuff that's populating now for NASA. But as we get a lot closer, a lot more of those excursions are going to show up and again I mean they could be everything from $30 to $500.
Speaker 4:I mean it's the limit of the different experiences, Lots of options, Lots and lots of options for Nassau Again. I love Nassau. There are certain places that we love to get off and it's a nice little hike, Hike up and do the art area and their Umbrella Street and things like that. There's plenty of things you can do that are just more self-guided Go and explore, hop off, go get. Oh, what is the? What's the restaurant that's right there at the port? Senior Frogs, I think that's the one.
Speaker 9:Yeah, there is a Senior Frogs there, yeah.
Speaker 4:It's a really, and they've redone the port area, so it's just. It looks a whole lot nicer than, I guess, our very first time there, so there's a lot of things to do.
Speaker 1:It's also a really great day to stay on the ship. That's my plan Staying on the ship where everyone's exploring the island and Nassau. You know you have a lot more amenities available to you on the ship and it's just a little bit.
Speaker 4:they still have pool parties going on they've still got some trivia and things, so it's not like everybody just shuts down if nasa's not your thing, yeah yeah, or say hello, spa day right the spa is empty.
Speaker 4:The pools are nice and quiet. Um, one big excursion, which I don't. We probably won't be able to afford it. I cannot wait to see what the price tag is going to be on this thing. But it is not going to be on the list and, Brad, maybe we need to have a little bet if it's going to be ready. But they are renovating so there is a strip of land that's right next to the port. So anytime you're on any ship, you see, when you get off at Nassau, you've got the island on one side and then you've got this strip of land that used to have some homes. Huts got really dilapidated over the years. They are renting that. So there's it's a collaboration between Nassau and Royal Caribbean and so they are going to make it a private beach club, so it'll be called the Royal Beach Club. When we were there, you know, you see all the concept art online and on the websites, on social media, and right now it is just one big pile of dirt.
Speaker 1:If they're building like Universal, it'll be there. If they're building like Disney, we'll see you in 2030.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they say it's supposed to be open in December of 2025. We'll see. My hope is that it will be open by April 20th 2026. But I'm sure it will be a hefty. So it'll still be nice to be able to see it over the top of the ship. But yeah, so there'll be a lot of different excursions. Same thing for Perfect Day is there is so much to do on that island that's already included in your cruise fare If you want to do the big, huge, uh, water slide which we did and it is fantastic, you know there's.
Speaker 4:there is an extra cost to go to thrill Island. There are two private beaches that are absolutely beautiful and amazing. Um, that have an upcharge to have that kind of private access area. But even if you don't, there is so much space, beautiful scenery places to spread out. The food is amazing, so I love Castaway Cay, but I think perfect day One meal.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So there'll be a lot of those extra things that will be coming up and we'll make sure that everyone that's booked is kind of well aware. And it may be that, you know, we don't have something that's organized as a whole group, but there may be smaller groups that say, hey, I'd love to find other people that are interested in doing this one and going in together.
Speaker 3:Brad and Maggie. We have talked about a lot of various topics related to this cruise. For someone like myself, who will be a first-time Royal Caribbean cruiser, or maybe just a first-time cruiser in general, where can people go to learn more information about the cruise itself or the specific rise and run cruise moving forward?
Speaker 4:yeah, so we've we've been talking about this with the gang is that you know a lot of people all of the listeners that are part of the Facebook community have also seen there's the Facebook chats that happen for all the different categories of races and things, and we've had one for the rise and run podcast cruise, and so that was good kind of preliminary information.
Speaker 4:We'll still pop some stuff in there as we need to to again attract people, make them interested, but what we want to do in the near future is to create a private Facebook group so that those people that have already booked now will be invited to become a part of that, and that will be similar to if you've ever if you've ever been on a Disney cruise or honestly, Disney cruise is probably the only one that does it like really intensely where there's a dedicated group just for that sailing. We will create a dedicated group that is just for our special podcast group for that sailing, and regularly be putting in things about the different types of dining, the pricing, on what to be prepared for for the internet package. What are some key dates that are coming up, Because they do do things a little bit different. There are some ways that for the shows and entertainment, you know there are times.
Speaker 4:March 1st will be our magic date to make reservations if you want to have some preferred seating. And that's just. My. Equation is like the lightning lane, for you know the.
Speaker 1:Aqua 82. March 1st next year.
Speaker 4:Yes, march 1st of 2026. So all those kinds of things and for a place for people to be able to ask those questions and um, and just get excited together maggie said the for the aqua theater and the aqua 80.
Speaker 1:What is aqua?
Speaker 4:80, 82.
Speaker 1:aqua 82 is the best show I have ever seen on any cruise line ever. I have never been and I'm a child of the 80s, so it wrapped me in in and had me at the very start and I was anticipating everything. I've never seen a more exhilarating, thrilling entertainment show that was from from skilled dancers to divers and all the performances all the and all the, just the technical difficulty, even some of just the lighting and sound.
Speaker 1:It blew me out of the water. Now I know Disney Cruise Line is known for their Broadway shows. This had me on the edge of my seat for the entire show. It was amazing and one not to miss.
Speaker 8:Sounds okay.
Speaker 4:Our group. We chose to do kind of an 80s themed dressing up uh night of our own, and that's another fun part. Other cruise lines do it as well. We'll have different theme nights challenged by choice so it is totally challenged by choice.
Speaker 4:they will put in the in the app, in the scheduler. There will be like a white night. Well, a lot of people get all dressed to the nines wearing their white tuxedos and their white dresses, and then later on the night, in the night that turned into toga night and that's when they do the silent disco over in the solarium. Everyone's wearing a sheet, so people can more than just a sheet. Some people were only wearing just a sheet.
Speaker 4:It was good people watching too for that whole interesting night, um, but you know, that's something else we can think of is if we want to, as a whole group, say we're gonna do this do our own theme but a lot of other groups had chose, chosen, to do 80s, uh night for that aqua 80s too, because it was you, just you, back in time.
Speaker 10:I'm still living back in time, so In the Mandalorian, that's right.
Speaker 11:Wait, DeLorean, sorry.
Speaker 8:No, you nailed it Jack Back in time in the Mandalorian. That's good. Well, guys, we're just getting started really. So, friends, if you're interested, you've still got plenty of time. But what's I mean? You can register for this thing right up until February of next year, I believe. Is that right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so the final payment, yeah, final payment date for this cruise will be February 4th, so that is definitely kind of the drop date. I mean, you could possibly book after that, but we really would like to towards that end of the year, february being the absolute latest, because then we know exactly how many we have and of course we want to have fun goodies. We want to have some some fun gifts to give.
Speaker 8:So we, and we don't want to push. We don't want to push there. We don't want to risk the ship being full.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 8:We want plenty of opportunity for our friends to maybe have some choice in state rooms and yeah. So look, and I I know I know a lot of friends are listening and go oh, I really love to go but I have to work, or I really love to go but kids have school. I, I understand that and I'm I'm sorry that not everything can work out, but we think this is going to be great and we hope you're going to be able to join us and kids are welcome to bring your family.
Speaker 4:We actually do have some kids that are within that 72 heads that we already have, so that's not a great thing, it's. There's something, literally from six months to 106.
Speaker 10:So just looking also for springtime surprise 2026 registration is July 29th. So you know you'll know if you're getting in. If coming down to, I guess, by July 29th, that'd be a good date also, I would guess yeah.
Speaker 8:All right, all right, look, let's leave it here for now. We'll, brad and Maggie, we'll have you back as we get closer. Probably we'll have you back. No, probably we'll have you back a couple of times here over the next year to talk about this and other exciting things that are going on at Magic Bound Travel. In the meantime, we appreciate you spending the time with us and to getting us motivated and kicked off and getting ready for the inaugural Rise and Run podcast cruise.
Speaker 4:Thanks, guys Can't wait.
Speaker 8:Thanks, all right friends. Something to look forward to next year's cruise, something to look forward to a little closer to today Springtime surprise. Springtime surprise is now four weeks away on your training schedule, training week 14. If you're working on the, the challenge, you got a one mile walk, a four mile walk and a 10 mile run walk. And looking at and I'm not looking ahead, but knowing the way the jeff galloway schedules work, two weeks from now should be your longest training episode, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I believe, for the schedule that Coach Twiggs made up when Mark made those awesome graphics. I think at least the run-walk two weeks from now will go out to 12 miles. So again, same philosophy like we've talked about. Why is it for the half marathon I go out to 14 when the race is 13. Yeah, same concept applies here.
Speaker 8:Right, right. So there you go. So we're, we're getting there, friends. And hey again, a lot of our friends are doing springtime surprise for the first time or doing a run Disney event. So Tuesday, five days from today, is the registration for the masses for Marathon Weekend 2026. My goodness, time just flies. It gets away from you.
Speaker 5:But at the same time it is earlier than it normally has been yeah.
Speaker 11:What is it usually? Is it April April?
Speaker 3:right, usually it's April. Yeah, yeah, usually Wine. And usually Is it April April, right? Usually it's April, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5:Usually wine and dine is in March. It's been sporadic the last couple of years. They're doing something crazy.
Speaker 8:Let's chat about that. Well, in a minute. We'll chat a bit more about that in a minute, but first, since we're on the training schedule, I'm going to ask friends if we have any training updates in your personal training for the first time in forever, I'm only training for a 10k why bother jack?
Speaker 11:well, because I I have a goal for this one, because it's the only race I'm doing at springtime. My goal is to do it anywhere between 50 to 54 minutes okay with seeing characters oh, wow so that's my goal and I was like I didn't go all out. The overpasses will suck, but they're all in the beginning, so that's fine and then just go for it yeah and I'm gonna be doctor seeker. I'm gonna be seeking out some characters nice, you have a pot right I do yeah for this one you should.
Speaker 10:Probably.
Speaker 11:You'll be in a earlier corral, so it might help a little bit with the uh character stops yeah, because this is, um, I'm very excited because I had twigs redo my schedule yesterday, so monday, so um, but yeah, so had that schedule redone, because the focus this year, after hearing the prices and I know he said I talked about this during the ctp call today, tuesday um, I really want to focus on speed because I needed another proof of time. I've been focusing a lot on ultras and longer distances and so this time around I would like to get a proof of time. That's a PR preferably, so a sub 150 would be great for a half.
Speaker 11:Oh yeah, my best is a $152.48. So if I get a PR in any way, I'd be good. That way I could do Dopey one last time, because once I saw that the Dopey prices shot up by another $50, to be quite frank, disney is almost pricing me out of the Dopey Challenge.
Speaker 8:They're getting there, Jack yeah.
Speaker 11:Yeah, it's going to hit $800 real fast. I remember when I did my first one it was $679, and that was in 2023. So I want to do it one more time and then I feel like I'm going to be okay after that and just really enjoy doing the marathon and everything, because I really do enjoy the marathon there. Having one race, or even just two, throughout the weekend is great.
Speaker 11:But yeah, I want to focus on speed so I can get into corral a for dopey challenge for my last time yeah, good goal and just to clarify really quick this is for dopey 2027 that I'm trying to go for um I just need a proof of time for it, unfortunately, because I won't show up.
Speaker 5:I'm going to be a little busy during Dopey 2026.
Speaker 11:I know we're going to host our own Dopey challenge of sorts. We're going to have our own 5K. I'm going to make us medals and everything, and that's going to be really cool Nice.
Speaker 8:Very good. Anybody else with training updates?
Speaker 10:I don't have a run to train update, but I've been hitting the gym a little more because I think I kind of been slacking on that. And you know, even though it's not the weights or the stuff I'm doing, I just relaxed it. Getting back to the gym, getting working out with the weights, like with Tom's program, using his program as a guide, uh, I feel a lot, a lot better, you know, cause it's it's doing something. I know it's winter, it's tough, it's just something to get yourself going and, uh, it just makes me feel a lot better about myself because I'm actually doing something Good.
Speaker 11:Show us your guns.
Speaker 8:I can't see that one.
Speaker 1:It's an audio.
Speaker 8:Look at that. That's an audio podcast.
Speaker 11:That's not a mound. That's a hill right there, John. That looks awesome.
Speaker 10:It's the Jersey Shore workout. You got to do arms so that arms look good.
Speaker 3:I thought you're gonna say gym tan laundry or something no, that's mine.
Speaker 3:This is before these guys but, john, you're absolutely right when it. When it comes to, you know, doing the weight training I'm not specifically doing tom's program right now, but I've been trying to focus on, even though I hate running on the treadmill. I have been doing more treadmill runs these past couple of months because I learned after the marathon down Disney in January that there were very specific parts of my lower body that were very sore and very fatigued during that race. So I knew that targeting lower body strength training will help me in the future. So in talking with Coach Twiggs he's been recommending listen, if you're ever going to lift and supplement that with your running training, you should always do lower body on the days that you run so you're not fatiguing your legs a day later in preparation for your run. So I'll do my 30 to 45 minutes and then hit a couple of machines leg presses, and that's been really really helpful too.
Speaker 3:And I will say the other thing when it comes to weight training and this is something I want to thank my wife for We've been doing a lot of more family walks these past couple of months, but the thing that my wife has really gotten into is walking and exercising with a weighted vest and let me tell you that is doing wonderful things for her and I've given it a try a couple of times here and you know, sure it will slow down your paces a little bit in terms of your walk pace, but it's really going to help develop a strong core, you know, develop strong hips.
Speaker 3:So, you know, as we get older in life you know we, you know we don't have weak hips or anything like that and you know it's gotten to the point where I'm actually so jealous of her weighted vest and I stole it from her the other day for my walk.
Speaker 3:Now she already told me that's what I'm getting for father's day, so, um, so, no surprises there, but, um, yeah, so if it's, if that's something that you're interested in terms of like going along with your cross training, definitely look into that. Um, there are very reasonable rates on amazon. I know the one that we got for her was not all that expensive. And if this is something that you are going to explore, I believe the recommendation is and Grant, do not take this as medical advice or training advice, because clearly I am not a PT or a physiologist or anything like that but that you should look at a vest that is at least 10% of your body weight. So you know, there's ones that are like set poundage that you can buy, but then there's other ones out there that you can like put in weights and take weights out and everything like that. So definitely give that a look if that's something that you're interested in as a good form of cross training.
Speaker 8:Okay, One of the things we brought up earlier is that this Tuesday is, in fact, registration day for marathon weekend. I've seen a lot of chats both. I've seen a lot of traffic both on the Facebook group page and in the community chat about registering for dopey let's. Let's talk nuts and bolts. First, the actual act of registration. I would encourage you, my friends, to log on and become part of the walt disney world marathon weekend community chat group in the facebook group and be there on tuesday morning for registration.
Speaker 8:I said this for every registration we have and we're getting better at it from race to race. We have a good success rate of helping our friends get registered. So if you're a little nervous about it, I would really encourage you to join us there. If you're a little nervous about it, I would really encourage you to join us there. I've also seen some questions folks talking about registering for DOPI for the first time and I think before registration date might be a good time to just chat about running DOPI a little bit, what it involves and what you're getting yourself into. Who'd like to kick it off?
Speaker 2:One of the biggest things that I would say for if you're thinking about DOPI, is to really look at your schedule, look at what the training plans look like and plan for that. Dopi is intense and it takes a lot of time and effort, especially around the holidays, to get those simulations in. So make sure that you're willing to put in the work so that it can be the best experience that you can have.
Speaker 10:Going off what Alicia just said. Look at your schedule. Also, look at where you're at. If you never ran a 5k before, I do not think dopey is a good idea to start with, because even though you have almost a year to train, it's a lot of running and a lot of wear and tear on your body, just the training alone for this, then the race itself.
Speaker 8:I get asked what's the hardest part of dopey, and no doubt to asked what's the hardest part of DOPI, and no doubt to me it's the training. And Alicia talked about simulations. If you're new to this, what she's referring to is towards the end of the training cycle you're going to have times where you're going to go out two, three or four consecutive days and run simulations of the actual dopey event and they culminate in practically doing a dopey. And I'm looking at the Jeff Galloway training schedule. There are other training schedules, but they all involve a lot of training. There are other training schedules, but they all involve a lot of training. It's going to a good chunk of this training, depending on where you live, is going to be in some very hot weather. The Jeff Galloway plan starts at the end of June.
Speaker 8:It runs 28 weeks, I believe. But great answer Coach Twiggs gave today to a person that said when does Galloway train? When does when does marathon weekend training begin? And Chris said well, if you join customized training today, marathon weekend training will begin tomorrow. And he's right yeah, he's right, because you're just going to want to if you're already trained, mm-hmm, I would not discourage anybody. It's a wonderful, wonderful experience and it's a great accomplishment when you do it, but go into it prepared, understanding that it's an awful lot of hard work to get there.
Speaker 5:And I know we've mentioned a couple of times already but if you're looking for a training plan and you have decided that you don't want to do like customized training or anything like that, if you go on the Run Disney website and click training and training programs, it has the Jeff Galloway plans for all of the challenges and all of the race distances so that you can pull up and match, like it just has week one, week two, week three, and then you can put it into your calendar and, like Alicia said, you know, plan for the holidays and like if you have big vacations and all of that, and make sure that the training schedule fits with your personal schedule.
Speaker 8:Yeah, that's where having a coach helps, and Alicia is a coach and I know she does a good job with that.
Speaker 9:And.
Speaker 8:Coach Twiggs in customized training does a wonderful job with that. We'll probably have Chris on here. He hasn't been with us for a while. He's probably forgotten how to log in. But yeah, we'll get Chris back. But a coach and those aren't the only two options A coach can really help you out working that schedule. But yeah, lexi, you're right. I mean, for the first couple of runs I did all I did was print out the Jeff Galloway calendar. That's how I trained.
Speaker 11:And kind of continuing with that. Another great thing If you are going to do Dopey, don't feel like you're doing it alone. Do it like, get with other people that are doing the races as well. Um, and have that accountability partner. It's so easy If you're training by yourself. Be like you know what I'm going to skip this one today. No, have that accountability partner and be like hey, did you do your workout today? Yeah, I did my workout. Did you do it? Of course I did so. It always makes it very much accountable. That's how Alexi and I were when we were roommates and with accountability. I think that's why I like CTP so much with Chris Twiggs, because I mean, he knows if you're not doing your workouts.
Speaker 8:He's like Santa Claus.
Speaker 11:Yeah, and it's a really great plan to work off of and just speaking from experience myself, as a number of us have done it but like literally going from injury in November and then not being able to run till mid-January of one year and only having three months to go from zero miles to 50 miles for like Sonoma coming from an injury, to go from zero miles to 50 miles for like Sonoma coming from an injury. Not only did he like train me so well to make it a very safe race for me, it was actually an extremely successful race and I ended up running about a three and a half hour PR with within a 50 miler. So that's just one example of having someone there in your court ready to help you out.
Speaker 8:Jack, I feel like I have about 5,000 accountability partners because I can't get on this podcast and tell people to do the training and not do it myself, so I have to get out there.
Speaker 2:A good support system is important.
Speaker 10:So, to jump off of Jack's thing, what's also good for dopey training? It kind of helps you out up until November because New York city is like one of the last major marathons to run. A lot of cities and a lot of groups have marathon training programs going on so you can even piggyback in with them. Try to find some, because they're they're doing their long runs also on the weekend that you got to do and all that other stuff. It's that little motivation after November when they're done, because their finish line was the first week in November for, like wine, our wine and dine weekend and we have another two months to go. But it's a start.
Speaker 3:It's going to get you going and maybe you'll find a couple of friends will still run after you I'm going to take this conversation in a whole new direction, and that is if you are waffling about do I do dopey, shouldn't I do dopey, I'm going to tell you this. My best advice to you is there's another challenge for this weekend and that's called the goofy challenge. And there is nothing wrong with the goofy challenge and my hot take is I enjoy goofy more than I enjoy dopey. And great, I've only, I've only done each challenge one time.
Speaker 3:But my, my experience in Goofy was a thousand times better, because you know a lot of people will say well, oh well, it's only 9.3 more miles.
Speaker 3:You're absolutely right, and the mileage isn't the difficult part of that. It is the two additional wake-ups at 2 o'clock in the morning that will absolutely kick your butt. So if you are not that morning person or you feel like that, you can be affected by a lack of sleep in relation to your training and then running. I highly, highly, highly recommend you sign up for Goofy instead of Dopey, because in my mind it's a wonderful event. You're still doing a majority of the miles, you still get two trips down Main Street USA. You're still getting, hopefully, those marathon Mickey years as you're crossing the finish line on Sunday and you're still coming away with some sort of challenge medal as well. So, again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing Dopey, but for those that might be on the fence, if you want to embark on a challenge that's associated with marathon weekend and you're not sure if you can handle dopey, I think goofy is a fantastic alternative.
Speaker 10:You know what? You don't need to do a challenge at marathon weekend, Correct, you can do just the marathon or just the five K. I know everyone calls marathon weekend dopey weekend or the dopey and it gets a lot of what's what? Do you want to call it A hype? But people are doing their marathon, People are doing their first 5k. I mean, that's, that's all it's about. You know, don't think you have to do a challenge this weekend.
Speaker 11:And I will say this marathon weekend is my favorite weekend out of all of them. There's just something different in the atmosphere, a different feel to it.
Speaker 8:Oh, it's the biggest and busiest.
Speaker 11:Exactly, and it's just to me the magical essence of it is just increased at this point because it's again, like Bob just says, the biggest and busiest, probably the most runners you have all weekend, and even if you just do the 5k or the 10k you're you're going to feel that magic as well. It's just a very exciting weekend. So if you're going to consider any races to do this year, I really do think marathon weekend is where it's at.
Speaker 5:And hey, if you don't want to do one of the races, go for it. Oh yeah, it's fun because, I mean, I, I now have a tradition of cheering for four marathon weekends, I think I think I did four marathons and you were there for all of them, so oh, yeah, oh, this will be an anniversary year for me, um no luggage tag exactly.
Speaker 5:I get a luggage tag for my five year you're giving out luggage tags at the spot right, um, no, but in all seriousness, cheering for the marathon is one of the highlights of my run disney season. Um, I love getting out there around mile 20 to 22 and cheering and seeing all of you guys run, and I'll run it again eventually. But you know, right now, cheering I just it makes my heart so happy to be there and give hugs when they're needed, and give cheers and give that little boost through a pixie dust on you so you can get those last four, uh, depending on where I am, four to six miles. Um, but also I want to say you know, as you're looking at your training program, as you're looking at conquering one of these races, whether it be a 5k or the dopey challenge, you know, yes, the training is a lot.
Speaker 5:Yes, when you look at the schedule, the training is overwhelming. But when you're starting out now on, well, as you're listening to this March 6th, you are on the day one. You're not going out tomorrow and running four races and 48.6 miles. You're going out and you're running three miles. You're running your first weekend. You're doing five or six miles. The next one you're doing seven miles. So one of the important things to remember whenever you're looking at registering for these races is you're not only going to be training physically, but you're going to be training mentally to get to the point where you can cross that finish line and get those medals.
Speaker 8:Okay, let's wrap up with this who's? Uh, let's wrap up this part with this who's registering on Tuesday? And what are you registering for, Alicia? What are you registering for?
Speaker 2:I'm registering for just the marathon.
Speaker 8:Yeah, that's the rise and run way, to say it, just the marathon.
Speaker 10:John. Okay, so right now it's the 5k and just the marathon.
Speaker 8:Well, no, no, no, no. If you're doing the 5k, it's the 5k, and the marathonk is the 5k and the marathon.
Speaker 10:Okay, the 5k and the marathon because you know we got to get dressed up as aliens for our toy story thing yes like my so. But talking about registration, my first goal is the marathon. Then I'm going to register for the 5k because I want the marathon more than the 5K.
Speaker 8:Lexi, how about you?
Speaker 5:I am not registering for a race, but I will be cheering.
Speaker 8:But you'll be there.
Speaker 5:I will be there Because I'm going on Jack's wedding cruise. I will get there on Friday afternoon and then stay through the rest of the weekend. So I will definitely be cheering for the marathon at Coronado Springs, like always.
Speaker 8:Jack, are you registering for anything?
Speaker 11:I sure am. I was very adamant about doing just the half marathon. And then, the more I thought about it and it became two things. One, if David and I wanted to do the wedding photography with Disney that weekend, it's unlikely that they'll let us do it on Sunday because the way that the marathon goes through the park, so that means the only day would be to do it on Saturday and they only do it in the morning, like before park open, park open. So that probably means I won't be able to do the half marathon for that and, to be honest, this might be a hard take. Please don't hate me. I really don't like the half marathon theme. I really don't. To me, with the whole hearts and love, that just to me, is like that's more like princess, you know, fairy tale, hearts, love, that's how I kind of see it. I'm like, well, I would just go to princess marathon weekend. You know, I kind of wish it was just a little bit something different.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I get it. The girl who's getting married that weekend doesn't really want to do all the hearts theme.
Speaker 11:No romance.
Speaker 8:It makes sense. It makes sense.
Speaker 11:But that means I'm going to do the marathon. I love the marathon theme. I think that one looks pretty solid.
Speaker 5:If I could get the medal without running it, I would totally do that.
Speaker 8:Okay, Greg. What are you registering for on Tuesday?
Speaker 3:Like I said last week when we chatted about this, I'm still holding strong, fast and true to running just the half marathon. So I'll get all lovey dovey, since Jack doesn't want to there you go.
Speaker 8:It's a tough job. Somebody's got to do it good for you.
Speaker 11:I'm going to be all lovey dovey taking wedding pictures at Tower. Jack wants no love, no romance.
Speaker 10:No love for you, no 10K for anybody this year.
Speaker 8:True. After, yeah, no Dopey Challenge this year, because after saying, after completing my fifth Dopey this season and I said that's it, I'm not doing it anymore. I've had time to think about it and I said that's it, I'm not doing it anymore. I've had time to think about it and I'm not doing it anymore. I'm doing the 5k in the marathon, hopefully with you, john. That sounds good. Uh, yeah, you mentioned John. Let me, let me bring it up again. We'll, we'll talk about it more. The uh, the race theme for the 5K. We had the Dalmatians last year. That went over so well. We're going to do the aliens from Toy Story this year. I think that'll be a lot of fun. I'm trying to get up with Alex from Hawaiian Pizza Apparel I haven't done it yet See what she can do for us in a shirt. I know she has them, but I'll see if she can modify them or personalize them for us in some way. So all of us will be there again. Marathon weekend Nobody's doing. Nobody's doing a challenge.
Speaker 11:Oh yeah, no.
Speaker 8:That's interesting, but what that does mean is you'll see us on the course cheering too. I will.
Speaker 11:I will be on the course cheering the half where are you going to be at, like a magic kingdom? I don't know.
Speaker 8:I don't, I haven't thought about it.
Speaker 3:You're gonna find the loviest spot of the half marathon.
Speaker 8:What I enjoyed is what I enjoyed last year really isn't available, not last year, the last time I did this. The last time I cheered the half during marathon weekend was oh golly.
Speaker 3:It was 23 when you created the traffic jam at Shades of Green.
Speaker 8:Yeah, it was great, though, right across from the Poly and it was terrific. I don't know I'll find a place.
Speaker 11:I'd get in line to meet you, Bob.
Speaker 8:I appreciate it. I'll find a place. And what I will probably do, jack, is I'll find a place. And what I will probably do, jack, is I'll find a place. Yeah, maybe Main Street.
Speaker 11:You'll have a sign right.
Speaker 8:I'll get one.
Speaker 11:I mean, you might not need one because you're so tall.
Speaker 8:And then I'll take transportation back to Epcot to watch the finish.
Speaker 11:We should put like a little beacon on you.
Speaker 8:I have a bright yellow baseball cap and we used to call it, the beacon.
Speaker 5:I don't think anybody has problems finding Bob.
Speaker 10:Bob's under 200 feet. He doesn't need a little beacon on his head.
Speaker 8:Very good, john, very good. Ah, shucks, let's see. So that's what we got going on. Oh shucks, let's see. So that's what we got going on. Friends, our next guest is a partner who's worked on this application. Well, we're going to let her tell you about it. So, joining us this evening, we are pleased to have Emily Zuccardi, and we're going to talk a little bit about Holler Hype. Emily hi, thank you for taking the time to join us.
Speaker 7:Hey Bob, thank you, it is a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 8:Good deal. Look, this sounds exciting. This sounds to me like something our friends are really going to enjoy, but I'm not going to try to describe it. I'm going to ask you, please would you tell us a little about what Holler Hype is, and just in general. We'll get into some details later, but just in general, how it works.
Speaker 7:Yeah, absolutely so, holler. Hype is this app that my team and I created that lets people give and get these real time boosts during what we call life's uphill moments, and we're very voice obsessed. We are obsessed with being in the moment, so for us, we call these magic moments hypes. A hype is a real time voice message that you are able to send to somebody while they're out there doing their thing. Think in the case of Run Disney we're all thinking the marathon, the half marathon, the 10K, and when you send one of these hypes, it just drops in through your headphones over the music. A lot of folks say oh my gosh, I completely forgot. I even turned this thing on. That hype felt like it came out of nowhere, felt super special and it's all one way. So part of the best part is there's no responding. Hypes are like giving without the expectation of getting something back.
Speaker 8:You just feel it. Okay, how do we start? How do we get this application?
Speaker 7:Especially for the Rise and Run folks, we have a promo code called Rise and Run. So if you go onto the App Store either Google Play or the Apple App Store just download Hollar Hype H-O-L-L-A-R, not E-R. Worth pointing out.
Speaker 7:Yeah, you hype and when you create an account, there's going to be a little field that says hey, you have a promo code, rise and run. One word, um. And when you do that, you will be prompted to create a group and because of the amazing rise and run folks, you get to create an unlimited group. That's one of the perks of coming in through the Rise and Run group. So, yeah, when you create a group, you decide, like, who's going to be in my hype crew? Is it my friends, my family, my co-workers? For you it's going to be unlimited amount of folks that you want to invite in there.
Speaker 8:Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 7:Yeah, so that's the best way to get started. Everything in Holler Hype is group-based, so it is not like other social media apps where you find friends really gathering people that are kind of already in your hype squad, or you can join the Rise and Run group and support each other in that aspect of community. That's the best way to get started.
Speaker 8:So, emily, I've got my phone in front of me right now and I've downloaded Holler Hype and, honestly, I can't remember you sent me a code. I know that, I can't remember if I used it when I logged in at first or not, but when I go in and I go and I'm on a Android phone, I imagine the interface is very similar for both phones. Yes, but when I go to groups, I have find group, create group and I have a rise and run already that's the one that you're talking about that if we put the rise and run code in, we would be in that group.
Speaker 7:Yes.
Speaker 8:Okay, so when I look in there now, so I've clicked on rise and run and I see Alicia, me and you, but that's because nobody else knows about it yet, right.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that was our sneak peek test run.
Speaker 8:Okay, but would this still work now? Would someone else get into this group if they put the Rise and Run code in? Yes, okay, all right. So Rise and Run, all one word. When you download the app, you put that in for your group code and that should bring you into here. That's cool, all right. So now the other thing I see here. When I go back, I see create new campaign. What would that?
Speaker 7:mean for this promo with you guys. If there are charity running, folks especially that are listening in, that's a special feature that lets them create a campaign, meaning they can drop their personal fundraising pages URL right in there. So basically, when they're going out for a training run or they're doing the big race and they have their friends, family hyping them up, after they send a hype they're going to see a button that's like hey, Bill's Bill just heard your hype, why don't you tack on a donation? So it makes it very experiential.
Speaker 10:That's actually great, because I was going to bring back our fundraising thread.
Speaker 8:Oh, this is something folks will like very much. Oh, yes, I really do. All right. So, emily, I'm looking now at my application and down at the bottom I see a link that says go live. So if I'm going out for a run and I want to have the ability for someone to send me a hype, that's what I click, right, go live. And then if I hit, get going oh, I see all sorts of things here Set your status. What would that mean?
Speaker 7:So when you're going live, we are really focused on being like a lifestyle app. It is fantastic for runners, it's really taken off with runners. But we want to make sure that this go live experience is very flexible because we find that people use it at the gym. Side note, people have also used this in medical appointments. The complete opposite scenario of going running.
Speaker 7:The reason I wanted to mention that is because when you go live, you're really just letting people know what is up, what's going on, that uphill moment in life. What is that in front of you, what does it look like? And you can say whatever you want, almost like a tweet, so you know maybe a sentence, and then you pick one of those fun GIFs that you might see on your screen.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I did see them yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah, those are just like fun ways to kind of signal how you're feeling. You know, there's like a cartoon of something like sweating its eyebrows off like a melting bunny face, someone trekking through the snow up a mountain that looks like, you know, completely vertical.
Speaker 8:I don't know if it's a cucumber or an alien running in this one, but anyway it doesn't matter. Yeah, I think you're talking about the watermelon.
Speaker 7:It's like running and then it stops to do a bunch of dance moves. Yeah, I mean, the fun thing is people truly choose the wide variety of what you see there. Um, because we're a lifestyle app, so it's really about letting people know how you're feeling, and we make it easy for you to actually express what's going on. So when you go live that's basically the nutshell is let people know what's going on, choose the fun gift that shows how you're feeling about it. And then there's a couple of other quick controls to like do I want people to see how far I've gone? Turn on the distance toggle? Do I want people to know what the weather is where I'm at? We see a lot of people hyping from different parts of the country, different parts of the world, so that makes it kind of fun just to keep the context there, and then you're kind of ready to go. That's it.
Speaker 10:So the distance toggle. So is that? Does that get that from your tracker or is that getting that from the app?
Speaker 7:It's getting it from the GPS tracker of your phone. So when you first go live, you're going to be asked a question from, if you're using an iPhone, from the iOS settings like, hey, is it okay that we are using your GPS? And you say, yes, we don't display a map for safety reasons, we don't show exactly where people are.
Speaker 7:We just show in real time the mileage that you've covered so that the people hyping you on have a little bit of context, helps them be in the moment, feel like they're really with you and send a hype that sounds like you're really together, instead of a voicemail. That's one of the most frequent pieces of feedback I would say. People are like, oh my gosh, this feels so different than a voicemail or than a voice memo, because it's real time and it feels like we're really together for a moment.
Speaker 8:As I mentioned to you before we started recording, we make a lot of use of the Facebook community chats, and people will do that while they're out running. My problem with exchanging chats while I'm running is I don't feel like texting when I'm running, or not necessarily reading texts either, but this way I can hear from friends. Now I can't reply, though can I through Holler Hype?
Speaker 7:That's right, bob. So hypes are all one way. You know. It's like giving without any expectation of getting something back. We actually heard from one of the first folks that used Holler Hype. He was local around the Boston area where I'm from part of a running group called the Boston Bulldogs. He was celebrating his first year of sobriety and he had so many folks sending him hypes and he emailed me the following day and said you know, this was already one of the most important days of my life, but on top of that I got 68 reminders from people along the way that really helped commemorate how special this was. And thank you for not allowing me to reply to these things, because I would have ended up with a super long to-do list after my first time marathon experience.
Speaker 8:That's a good point, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 10:That's a great point. Can you save any of them?
Speaker 7:Yes, actually, they all automatically get saved for you. We have a hype history part of your profile and we do hear that people love to go back there and kind of relive some of their hardest training runs or their favorite races. I know I've gone back there to hear hypes that my grandmother had sent me a few years ago.
Speaker 8:Oh, how about that?
Speaker 7:It can be pretty special.
Speaker 8:How about that Now? Do I need to be listening to something else, or can I just open Holler Hype and say I'm live and put my headsets on?
Speaker 7:Yeah, you can. You can use Holler Hype on speakerphone even without headphones. The most magical experience, in our opinion and from what we hear from loads of holler hype users, is that when you have your music going and then a hype comes in, it kind of feels like your own personal movie moment or like your own music video. We hear that a lot and I think it's because of them dynamic, of the experience. Your music just goes down a little bit, or your podcast if you're listening to that, and then the hype comes in, and after the hype finishes playing, the audio goes back up so it doesn't interrupt whatever you're listening to completely, it just kind of sits on top of it at the right volume so it doesn't break your flow. I know if I'm listening to my favorite pump-up jam, like going up a hill, I might be psyched that my mom is hyping in, but not at the expense of my music just stopping.
Speaker 7:So yeah that was uh important.
Speaker 8:Emily, now you've done something special for the Rise and Run community here. Can you tell us about that?
Speaker 7:Yeah, no, I'm glad you mentioned that. So one of the perks that we, like Holler Hype and Rise and Run, are offering to everybody that comes in through this link or through this code is that they're going to be able to make their own free friends and family group. A lot of people that come into Holler Hype are members of multiple groups. For example, like we work with American Cancer Society and the folks that are on those marathon teams, they come in through the marathon group but then each of those runners wants to make their own personal group as well, and if they came into the app Rogue, they would only be able to make a group that has up to 10 people. So this perk is that you get to make an unlimited group for your own personal reasons.
Speaker 10:We have the Rise and Run group and I created a family group. I holler out, right. So can I do a different holler to each group? Or is it just like in the middle of the run or the event, whatever I'm doing, not feeling great, I need to like say, guys, I need something else. Or I want to say to my family group guys, I need your support. Is that something we can do like later on and rehype ourselves or holler ourselves or whatever it is?
Speaker 7:or whatever it is. So when you're going live, you decide is my bat signal going to be seen?
Speaker 7:by all of my groups, or is it just going to be, okay, my zaccardi family group, or is it going to be the rise and run community, or is it going to be all the groups that I'm in, because I could really use to boost from, like, anyone that I'm connected with here in Holler, hey, and that that's really how the groups work. You know, sometimes we see charity teams especially. They might be going live for camaraderie reasons, so they go live only to the group of, you know, maybe 20, 30, 50 runners that are all a part of that charity group and then, for whatever reason, on a different training run, they're like nope, I want to open this up to everybody my friends and family group, my run club group, also my charity group. So that's where the flexibility comes in.
Speaker 8:Emily, can you give us an example of some of the things, some of the ways this has worked with runners?
Speaker 7:Yeah, one of the favorite things on my end that we've seen is that when somebody comes into Holler Hype through a community and then they make their own friends and family group, they might not even know that. This is like the gift that keeps on giving. And the example really that comes to mind is when we were working with American Cancer Society for the Philadelphia Marathon back in November. We saw in our data that one of those runners created a friends and family group of 14 people and then two of those folks that sent her hypes during the Philadelphia Marathon went off and created their own friends and family group for run Disney events that were coming up in 2025. Now we had no idea.
Speaker 7:So the first runner her name was Jen Um. She was super enthusiastic about her whole experience in holler hype. Um, you know, got those friends and family in there and then we saw somebody um make their own group for the World Disney World Marathon and she got over 20 hypes. And then a different one of those friends that was hyping up that original ACS runner made one for the Disneyland Half Marathon and she got over 20 hypes from like over 10 different people.
Speaker 7:So it's really special when we see that just from hatching these magic moments of real-time connection between people that care to support one another. They have these light bulb moments oh, I'm doing this race or I'm doing that event, or I want to bring this community together and because the app is pretty flexible and easy to use, they're able to kind of take it and run with it and we just love seeing that, because, at the end of the day, we're really about this social impact of helping to make sure that people feel supported in these specific moments, the specific uphill moments of life that they're going through. So we just love to see that.
Speaker 8:Here's a question I know our friends will want the answer to Is there a cost?
Speaker 7:For anybody listening. No, so it will always be free to receive hypes and to send hypes. It's always going to be free to create a group within a limit, so you can always create a group and holler hype for up to 10 people, and that's where the limitations come into play. We work with non-profits and with brands and with race organizers on a whole suite of premium features behind the scenes, and that's where the cost comes in that's where that, yeah, runner and a supporter um.
Speaker 7:There's no cost okay, you can feel good about inviting people to this thing, because there's not a price tag on the other side of it for them.
Speaker 8:Well, that's nice. We appreciate that. Look, this sounds like fun. It sounds like something a lot of our friends would like to use, so I'm pretty excited about it. Let's summarize it's Hollar Hype, all one word H-O-L-L-A-R-H-Y-P-E. Find it on the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store. What if friends have questions, emily, is there a point of contact or is there someplace they can go to for more help?
Speaker 7:Absolutely. Anyone can always feel free to email us at team at hollerhypecom. We check it all the time. You're either going to hear from me or my co-founder, jordan, and we love hearing everything from stories to feedback, ideas, suggestions, so just reach out.
Speaker 8:Don't be shy, friends, it's going to be fun. I think we're going to really like this, emily, and thanks for contacting us. Thanks for taking're going to really like this, emily, and thanks for thanks for contacting us. Thanks for taking the time to come tell us about it, and I promise to be in touch with you and let you know how it goes.
Speaker 7:Yeah, are you kidding? This is so fun.
Speaker 8:Now look, I haven't used Holler Hype yet. John, have you had a chance to use it? Or, alicia, I know you've signed into it.
Speaker 2:I did sign into it. I haven't had a chance to do much more than that, but I love the concept of it and I think that our friends will really enjoy it.
Speaker 8:I think they will too. Friends, I hope you get a chance to use this and then, when you do, you can explain to me how I need to use it.
Speaker 10:Let me explain. I signed into it, but I signed it Like when you talked about we're having her on the podcast to talk. I downloaded the app and signed up for it, but I didn't go through our link.
Speaker 10:So I was automatically in our rise and run podcast group there so we can broadcast together. So if you do do this, the link that she gave you and a link where we're going to put in the show notes, please use that to join Hollerhype and I think, just talking before this interview about dopey training or any training, this might be a great way to get you through those races.
Speaker 8:I know this family and I know a lot of you are really going to enjoy this. If we can get it going Like we just talked about during training, it'd be ideal. Emily's really excited about having the Rise and Runners use Holler Hype and she gave us that link that we can use. So let's give it a try, gang. I think you're really going to like it.
Speaker 10:Okay. So something else that I know with the registration, if you're going through the charity bibs thing, I do have a fundraising thread that we're going to put out every month so you can post your links on. There's one up there now for the month of March. I usually put it out the first of March. Some days I forget that. It's the first. I'll put it out the second, but go up there, put your fundraising links in there and hopefully some of the other people in the Rise and Run crew can help you reach your fundraising goals. Also, with that Holler Hype feature the Holler Hype there is a fundraising feature.
Speaker 10:Yeah, there is so remember that also when you do sign up. So if you're out there doing the Holler Hype and you're doing for charity, you can add your link to your holler and they can donate directly to you there.
Speaker 8:Emily explained that when we were talking with her. That's another neat feature about it, so that's exciting. We talked about doing the aliens. Hey gang, did you see the picture of Alan with his alien?
Speaker 3:No, yes, that was quite a good photo.
Speaker 8:It's fantastic. It's fantastic. Our buddy Alan had a birthday here a couple of days ago. Happy birthday, alan. He he's got a, uh, he's got a surgical procedure coming up, but he's going to be okay. It's easy for me to say you know what the definition of minor surgery is.
Speaker 8:It's surgery that somebody else has right. That's minor surgery. This is. This isn't minor surgery, is? It's not a needle? It's surgery that somebody else has right. That's minor surgery. This isn't minor surgery, but Alan's going to be good. He's in great shape. I think he's going to be fine, but we do wish you the best, alan.
Speaker 8:Okay, friends, it's time for the Race Report. Race Report sponsored by Stoked Metabolic Training. Our friend Tom Stokes, stokesfit slash riseandruncoaching is the link. Check out Tom's programs in the featured section at the top of the Facebook group. John talked about golly, hey, coach Tom, I got to get back. I got to talk to you, buddy. I got to get back into the program. I really do. I really appreciate and enjoy and like the program and know that it's helpful. But I've been goofing off here lately, so I got to get back to it. All right, let's roll with the race report.
Speaker 8:A big one in Saturday in Jacksonville, florida. The Gate River Run 15k is america's biggest 15k, might be the world's biggest 15k. It's also the us track and field association 15k championship. I did this one years and years ago. I I'm trying to, I can't, even I'm not going to waste time remembering how long ago it was, probably back in the 19, early 1990s. The thing that I've never forgotten about it is the bridge at the end. Man, it's like climbing a wall. It's steep, but we had a bunch of friends doing it. Let's go. Amy did it. Amy loved it. Let's go, amy did it, amy loved it. It says, basically, a Jacksonville party Cut 10 minutes off of her time from last year and had a blast. Angie was there, ran for fun and she was successful. She had a lot of fun. She caught a donut hole on the run. That's a skill that you don't practice often, catching donut holes, I think that's pretty good. I sure couldn't do that. That's a skill that you don't practice. Often catching donut holes, I think that's pretty good.
Speaker 4:I sure couldn't do that.
Speaker 8:That's pretty good, I agree. She counted every dog that she saw. She came up with 106. 106 dogs in nine miles, that's approximately 12 dogs per mile. Yeah, that's pretty close. And enjoyed all the live music and the spectators along the course. Ryan was there and ran it. Jen did it Jen's first 15K. We know what that means. Jen wore her Rise and Run junk band to rep the podcast. Thanks, jen. We had two Joys there. One Joy ran the 15K, another Joy ran they have a 9K option there and it was Joy's first 9K. So she says the worst part was actually going over the bridge grates. You know the grates in the bridge instead of the asphalt. They put them out there to save weight and some people just hate going over those things. I know Becky, my wife just hates going over those. If you ever have to walk across one.
Speaker 10:Don't they put a rug out there for like Boston or something, or?
Speaker 8:Chicago. Some. I have seen that done at some events, john, yeah yeah. But they don't do it here in Jacksonville. You just go over the grates. I've never really worried about it. So what Joy says here is thankfully that fear was replaced with fireball, tequila and donut holes. So to heck with the grates. Enough, fireball and tequila. You don't give a darn about the grates. Fireball and tequila, you don't give a darn about the greats. Also in Jacksonville this weekend, julie, our friend Julie, an AWD athlete who uses that A-linker, is doing the Spartan Super 10K. I think Julie actually shows up twice on the race report this weekend Up in Kentucky, in Louisville, the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, whiskey Row 5K. Ashley did that one. The Fresh 15K was in Tyler, texas. Kevin and Jessica and the rest of the family, ellie and Maggie and Oliver, were all out there. Kevin posted that everybody in the family said a PR except for him. So let me look. One, two, three, four PRs.
Speaker 3:Coming right up.
Speaker 8:But no PR for Kevin, let's see.
Speaker 3:It's okay, kevin, I'm still proud of you.
Speaker 11:We are Kevin, we're glad, yeah, did anybody else think of Mean Girls at that point. None for Gretchen Wieners.
Speaker 8:Let's see. The first six miles for Kevin were going good, but the hills and his hips in the last three miles did him in. Let's see, it was his son's first 1K. That's Oliver. He was awesome. The daughters, ellie and maggie, shaved four minutes off of their 5k record and jessica did the 15k. She improved also. We already covered them with the pr bells, so nicely done. In addition, our friend sean was there. Sean was running the 15K In Nashville, tennessee, the Nashville Zoo Run 5K.
Speaker 8:Alley did it. It said it was really windy in Nashville the afternoon, run kind of hilly. I've done runs in Nashville before and it certainly can be hilly. Had a fun time. First sub 30-minute 5K that's a PR. 5k that's a PR and a pretty good landmark, a pretty good milestone getting that 5K under 30 minutes. Great job, allie. She'll be at Springtime Surprise, the Forsythia Festival in Forsyth, georgia. Catherine was there. After a year of racing she finally managed a new PR, shaved a minute and 42 seconds off, all while listening to the podcast she'd missed earlier in the week. I think listening to the podcast is good for a 5% increase in your time.
Speaker 3:Throw a Rise and Run t-shirt on top of that and go even faster.
Speaker 8:That's where I was going, Greg Rise and.
Speaker 3:Run podcast slash shop.
Speaker 8:Yeah, yeah, yeah, Put merch on there. That's good for another 5%, Catherine. Congratulations on the PR. Boca Raton, Florida. The Community Spirit Race 5K. Holly was there. We had a Best Damn Race in Orlando. Had quite a few friends there.
Speaker 3:Watch your mouth, Robert.
Speaker 8:I know we're going to call a BDR going forward. Heather registered but they did some course changes. Heather's our wheelchair athlete. Construction and course changes made this one unfriendly for wheels, so Heather will live to do another race. The Muscle Mouse crew Tom, kim and Adam did the half PRs for the whole crew.
Speaker 8:Good times guys. The crew ran Princess, so this is their second half in two weeks. All of them under 214 very impressive guys. Roxanne did the half, had a great time, so thankful she says to get that she gets to do this thing called running. I understand that. Uh, also, we had 10 case here. Danny did the 10 K, our buddy Danny he PR and I don't know what Danny's time was, but Danny's pretty fast. So Danny PR and a 10 K. That's impressive. Mary's got a new PR and Mary even commented. Greg wearing wearing the Rise and Run shirt helped.
Speaker 10:Absolutely, they're very aerodynamic.
Speaker 4:The.
Speaker 10:Olympics might ban them, that's good.
Speaker 3:You know we actually made a new merch idea a couple of years down the line. You know how you get those custom race kits. I think we should come up with a Rise and Run race kit.
Speaker 8:Okay, oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, that's big in cycling too. All right, now, tracy was there. Tracy ran the 5K 10K challenge. She has done the BDR Orlando half three times, so she changed it up this year, did the 10K. Had enough time for a couple of drinks to check out the medals. Then back to the start line for the 5K. The course had a lot of the famous Orlando cobblestone paths, but the people in the after party made it a great time year after year. Now one thing, one distressing thing and this is has nothing to do with the race because they went to World of Beer, which is a chain, and World of Beer had no pineapple cider to serve because Disney had bought out all the curry brewery stock the week before during Princess Weekend. So no pineapple cider for Tracy.
Speaker 8:After the 5 and 10K challenge, down in Miami, florida, the CMEX Quarry Quest 5K. Robbie did this one. This takes place at an above-ground mine. I didn't know there were such things as above-ground mine. I didn't know there were such things as above ground mine mostly packed sand and gravel, had a hill towards the end of the race, about two and a half miles in. Robbie had a strong run, finished third in his age group way to go. Our friend Shelby Allison did a half marathon in Little Rock the Little Rock half in the Woodlands, texas. Lindsey did the Woodlands half marathon. She got a PR and a Run Disney proof of time. Flat course mostly lined with trees, that's nice. Course, mostly lined with trees, that's nice. Warmed up quickly when the sun came up. But that's Houston. The Woodlands is a suburb or an area around Houston. Her husband also said a PR for the full. So congratulations, lindsay and husband.
Speaker 8:In Bel Air, florida, which is I don't know how I missed this one. I mean this is literally just up the road from me. The Sunset 5K I'd heard so much about it. My friends, richard and Krista friends I've made from running events here locally they did it Said it's a great course along the golf course in the intercoastal waterway with an excellent after party. I need to put it on my calendar for next year, friends, we had a couple of weekend long events and the first one I want to talk about occurred in Chattanooga, tennessee. It was Chattanooga Marathon Weekend. We've got two guests with us this evening who participated in that and joined us for the race report spotlight. Welcome amanda, hi and lesa hey, there thanks, guys.
Speaker 8:Thanks for taking the time to join us. Oh, I want to hear about this one in chattanooga, but I like to start, and I I always do with learning a little bit about you, and I just like to ask the question as to how you got started in running.
Speaker 9:Amanda, we'll go alphabetically so you can go first okay, um, I started running in 2012, um up until probably 2019. It was kind of a love-hate relationship. I understand that I had a tragedy strike. I lost my running friend and my sister-in-law to a car accident.
Speaker 10:Oh my.
Speaker 9:Running actually became my coping mechanism. Now I'm in it.
Speaker 8:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, sorry, I mean that's kind of a rough way, but I understand yeah it's a great way to remember her, though oh, that's wonderful, I understand I actually do the smoky mountain half every year in her memory.
Speaker 8:So that's nice. That's nice. I, I, uh, I had a friend who passed who I had done the first two dopies with, and the next time I did dopey I wore a picture on the bib and did that one. So yeah, I understand it's tough, but I'm glad you're able to do that. All right, lessa, back to you. How'd you get started?
Speaker 6:huh, um. So in 2011, I was babysitting for a family that was doing the turkey trot in the local in in my hometown, and so I joined them. I hadn't really ran and I have. I didn't know about running, it wasn't anything I was doing seriously and I like the cups on the road. I didn't know like you just throw them down and people pick them up, and so I was trying to pick them up and they were like honey. You got to keep running. And I thought, well, all the cups, but I didn't, and they were like honey, you got to keep running and I thought well with all the cups.
Speaker 4:I got all the glitter, but I didn't know.
Speaker 6:there were like volunteers and people from the city that cleaned those up. That was in 2011. And then 2017, I did my first half and that was something that was a personal pride of mine. Someone had told me it was actually my former boss. She had said I came into work one day and I said I think I'm going to do this half marathon and it was going to be the haunted half and the the local haunted half where is?
Speaker 8:where is that?
Speaker 6:um, I live in the tri-cities in tennessee, so it's um. That would have been in, it was, I think, jonesborough that year. Okay so, but we're close to johnson city oh, that's the goose.
Speaker 9:Uh, goose patch right yeah, the goose chase.
Speaker 6:Yep, yeah, I'm glad you've heard of that I've heard of johnson.
Speaker 8:I've heard of johnson city from wagon wheel oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, we're actually east of the cumberland gap, all right, um my boss said, honey, you'll never do a half marathon, and um that was probably in 2012 you yeah, right so that's the worst thing you can say to us.
Speaker 9:We will prove, we can that's a good thing in 2017.
Speaker 6:I did my first half and I signed her up for the text updates throughout the course, so she got a text every time I hit an interval nice um a checkpoint and so um.
Speaker 8:I've done 21 halves now yeah wow guys, that's great congratulations thanks yeah that's awesome. I like those are two. I mean one sad, unfortunately, but uh, two, two great stories. Glad to hear it. All right, let's talk about chattanooga marathon weekend and it, and we had events Saturday and Sunday. An event like this, was there an expo involved?
Speaker 9:Yes.
Speaker 8:How was that?
Speaker 9:It was good. They had lots of nice merchandise and I managed to score some discount coats. For some future races I want to do Chickamauga Chase and Secret City Half.
Speaker 10:Was it a big expo? Because I'm looking at pictures and it looks like it's in a big building.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it was in the Pavilion, the First Tennessee Stadium Pavilion, so I guess it's like a baseball field.
Speaker 8:Yeah, sounds good, sounds good. But we had runs Saturday and Sunday. Lessa, you ran both days, right? Yes, what did you do on Saturday?
Speaker 6:So Saturday I did the 10K. I did it in an hour and 25 minutes, which was a PR for me there you go. I'm usually a pretty slow runner, so I was hoping to be. I was hoping to be under an hour and 45 or under an hour and a half, just with the pace I calculated in my head. But I'm not. Sometimes I'm not that good with math, but I've. I've been training and trying to get my halftime up or down, I guess.
Speaker 8:Yeah, improve it yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah To improve that, and so I just was doing the 10K just for fun, because I wanted to do the part of the challenge. So I wasn't I didn't really go into it with any expectations to PR, but once I did I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with that. I'll bet you were congratulations it was a great course, um, it was flat, um pretty good, uh through downtown okay oh yeah, there was, the second half was a little hilly oh yeah, the second half was a little hilly, but the first half was flatter and we ran through downtown and it smelled delicious.
Speaker 6:Sometimes Chattanooga has a not delicious smell, but I guess the brunch places had some very delicious smells, and so that was, and all the art and the murals. I hadn't been through that part of town before, so it was nice to see those.
Speaker 9:Yeah, Mandy, you were also yeah they took us through the smelly part like the restaurant part of town. Yeah, because you, because many, you also did the 10k on saturday I did um, yes, I also did the 10k on saturday because it was the 10th anniversary. Um, and it was the first year they offered the 10k race. Um, I had done the 5k last year. Um, I managed to pr with this 10k. Uh, it was the second one I'd ever done nice, that's good good, I would.
Speaker 9:My garment gave me a hour and 14 minutes, um, but my chip coming in my last three minutes because there was a lady that I had been, we had been passing each other the whole race and she tripped and fell and broke her tooth on the side and I was afraid she'd hit her head or something and her nose was coming out and I stayed either until the volunteers showed up. I lost about three minutes and I finished technically an hour and 17, but either way it was a pr that's good stuff.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I'm thinking of changing my instagram name to runs with nurses, because when I go to disney a lot of and at my age I need it so, yeah, you feel a little more comfortable when you're on the nurses. So the course was relatively flat. You had a good time. You enjoyed it. Much of a post-race celebration for the 10K.
Speaker 9:Yeah, they had a food alley. They had a drink. We had a drink ticket on our bed.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and then the expo was still open in that pavilion area, so the merchants and the vendors were still open. There was some stretching and some events like that, but I was impressed, like Amanda said, with the food truck alley and what was offered there, and so that was really nice Awards ceremony, since it was the 10-year anniversary.
Speaker 9:They had a lot of signage up and decorations and the step booth that she was talking about. They had signs that you could hold up. I actually got a chance to help with a photo op. There was a girl who completed all 10 years of the 5k so she had her 10 medal and then she had the 10 year medal that they gave her in addition for completing it. So I had five on one arm, five on the other and her 10 around her neck and I helped her with her potty.
Speaker 8:Very nice, very nice. Now, lyssa, you're back on Sunday for the half.
Speaker 6:Yes, I did Sunday the half which I've done a half consecutively every month since October. I would have done one in September but it got postponed because of the flooding out in closer to my side of East Tennessee, in greater North Carolina. So since October I've done a half every month. So this was my March half. I didn't have one on the calendar and I was actually at a conference. I'm a teacher and so I was at a special ed conference in Cleveland, which is about 30 minutes away. So I thought if I'm going to be in town I might as well to knock out two birds with one stone, and so I got my half and I ended up PRing again for the half.
Speaker 6:My goal for the year is under three hours and originally when I had set that goal or resolution or whatever you want to call it, I had set that for by November. I wanted to do that with the secret city. Like Amanda had mentioned that she wanted to do that one, I've done that one the past couple of years, and so I had PR PR'd previously there. So that was kind of a goal to get under three hours to that one. Um, because when I first started at Secret City I think my time was 3 32, so I was two minutes over. They didn't cut me or anything, but I I wanted you know that 3, 30, then um, so now I want to be under three hours by November, but I was. I was three hours and one minute at Chattanooga for the half, so I'm getting close.
Speaker 8:It's coming.
Speaker 2:It's coming.
Speaker 8:Yes.
Speaker 6:I'm so excited.
Speaker 8:Okay, you do it. You're doing great Both of you. I think that's exciting. Sounds like this was a fun event recommended to others.
Speaker 6:Absolutely.
Speaker 8:There you go it was a great atmosphere.
Speaker 9:They were very entertaining.
Speaker 8:Yes, they rehearsed that absolutely, John. Do you see how they did it? Exactly the same time I got a couple of other questions before we leave too.
Speaker 9:First of all, so we talked about the 5K that's run on saturday yes, the 5k and the 10k go concurrently um the 10k, the 10k course, the first half of it's the 5k, but then we keep going and what about the half in the marathon that's on sunday?
Speaker 6:yes, I believe they run concurrently as well yeah, they started at the same time and some of the more prestigious runners were finishing when I was finishing the full, when I finished the half, and I think they were kind of taking some of the signs down when I was coming through as far as where the splits were. So to me it looked like a loop. So you would go through and you would see like full marathon mile 18, full marathon mile 20. So that way. And then I saw full marathon mile 26 at the end, second part of the course for runners to do that.
Speaker 6:But one thing that impressed me with, with both sides of the races of the weekend, was the photography. I was pleasantly pleased with that. I, by the time we were about to start Sunday morning, the pictures had been loaded from the 10K and the 5K. So that was neat to see. It kind of gave me an oomph of hey, I looked great yesterday, I can do it again. And then Monday, monday afternoon, the half marathon, which the volume, you know, was a little higher, so I guess it took a little longer. But great quality photos and great quantity as well. And even my husband was impressed with those. He was like how did you get all those pictures? Like is it because you did the challenge? He didn't understand it. That, just that was the participant part of it.
Speaker 8:Did they include the photos in your race entry fee or was it an additional fee?
Speaker 6:um, I guess it was included, because I didn't see extra, you just go under, like the website, under results, and then the pictures are right there too.
Speaker 8:That's good. Some events do that, so others charge.
Speaker 6:Right yeah, when I did Rock and Roll last April they were separate.
Speaker 9:Yeah, when I did Battlefield back in October, november they charged, and that was the first time I'd ever been charged for additional pictures.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I don't pay it.
Speaker 9:It was disappointing. I didn't either.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 10:So before we started recording what's a chicken tender?
Speaker 8:The chicken tenders.
Speaker 9:Well, they say you are what you eat. But I also raise chickens. That's kind of my other hobby besides running.
Speaker 6:My husband just brought home four chicks, so we have four. That we're. They're still little babies and they're in, or I guess, duties. I guess they're called duties, maybe I don't know, but they're about hand size right now I don't know. So we've got some too, so I'm going to be learning how to be a chicken tender as well that's right, john.
Speaker 8:We got two chicken tenders here and you know what's great about it if you chase the chickens, you get faster.
Speaker 9:I saw that in I have a shirt that says uh, chasing chickens is my cardio.
Speaker 8:Okay, oh good.
Speaker 9:Yeah.
Speaker 8:Listen, I want to thank you for joining us. It's been a lot of fun. I knew it would be, but all good things have to come to an end, and it sounds like a good event and something to look forward to. Hey, how about run Disney events? Do you guys do run Disney events?
Speaker 6:I am. I took off next Tuesday so I could register for Dopey.
Speaker 10:So did you ever do Dopey before?
Speaker 6:No, it'll be my first one. It'll be my first run Disney. I haven't had the opportunity, but I will this year.
Speaker 10:That's called going big John. Will it be your first marathon also?
Speaker 6:um, it'll be my second complete marathon. I had the nashville rock and roll. I didn't finish. I got cut with time because I'm like I said I'm a little slower. Um, I missed the checkpoint at 10 o'clock. I got there at 1004 um. So I didn't finish that one. But but I did finish the Savannah women's marathon in November.
Speaker 8:That's great.
Speaker 9:My friend Shay did that one. She said it was great.
Speaker 6:Neat. I loved it and my favorite part of that which I don't want to take away from the Chattanooga one, um, but my favorite part probably, um, maybe around mile five was women were coming the opposite way and there were high fives and and and shouts and encouraging messages and it was just, it was really encouraging and uplifting and I'd never had had so many high fives or anyone like talk to me or have that much interaction in a race before. So I really, really enjoyed that part of the Every Woman's Marathon.
Speaker 8:That's really cool, Amanda. You heading to Disney anytime soon.
Speaker 9:I had not ever aspired to. My friend Shay and Jimmy are both Disney fans, so I'm thinking maybe next year I'll aim for Wine and Dine.
Speaker 8:Wine and Dine Good one, oh good, good one okay.
Speaker 9:I don't think I'm quite ready for dopey, but maybe someday all right, friends.
Speaker 8:Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it and we look forward to talking with you soon, thank you. Thank you now. Chattanooga was a weekend event. We had another weekend event, this one in Lakeland, florida, the race to end cancer at 10K on Saturday and a half on Sunday. Luann did it, missed Princess, so she made this her own challenge. Pelkey was the race announcer. Luann got a chance to chat with John on Saturday. On Sunday she scored her first ever sub three hour half. That's a PR Nice job, luan. Erica mentioned that she was there and did the 5K. I didn't know they had a 5K, but apparently they did.
Speaker 8:The biggie on Sunday is Tokyo. We had three folks do the Tokyo marathon Lori, danielle and Carrie. I've invited that crew to join us for the race report spotlight next week. Let's see who's available. So far, carrie has told me that she is. I'm hoping to hear from some of the others. Uh, we, I always want to get the world majors on for the spotlight, but with tokyo, with the time difference and people making travel arrangements, we got to put it off a week.
Speaker 5:So we'll get them next week and I got to plan the travel for carrie um while she ran the tokyo marathon and she celebrated by going to Tokyo Disneyland. But she said she messaged me after the race and she said it was tough but I did it.
Speaker 8:In Atlanta we had the Publix Marathon this weekend. Nick did it Well. Nick had to defer until 2026, so Nick will be back for next year. Patrick did his first marathon On Saturday. They had some races, including a kid's 3K that his children got to run. This was James' first 3K and Charlotte's first official race. Those are worthy of PR bells for James and Charlotte.
Speaker 8:Daniel did this one. Daniel's an AWD with MS. He ran with his friends from Team Achilles, managed to PR his marathon time by 39 minutes. That's impressive. Yeah, it is Said it was an amazing day. I agree Great job. Daniel Also had a half marathon, the public's half. Abby did it. She got a gold to run in all 50 states. This was number seven. Abby managed to PR by two minutes. It was chilly and hilly, but a lot of fun. And Anita was there. Wasn't sure how the half was going to go for her when she got into it. Anita is one of Alicia's clients. Alicia has been setting her up for getting a better POT. She ended up with a PR and that POT she wanted. Yeah, she did. In new york, the new york roadrunners washington heights, salsa, blues and shamrocks 5k that's a heck of a race. Name grace was there, grace says. It seems like this is always one of the coldest races of the year.
Speaker 3:this year, the real field temperature was 10 degrees she's not wrong there, because I was in new york city on saturday and when I was walking around manhattan before the broadway show that we saw, it was warm and then we we all had to take our jackets off and by the time we got out of the theater at like 5.30, I wish I would have had my winter coat. It changed that quickly. It was insane.
Speaker 8:Wow, wow, yeah, the photos that Grace posted showed a lot of the support personnel really bundled up. Let's see. Grace said she took it easy, used the race as a warm-up for the rest of her long training run, which she had for the rest of the day. She got home and finished the 12 miles that she needed for her training, definitely hoping the weather will be a little nicer for the New York City half in two weeks. Out in Arizona, julie did the Arizona Distance Classic Half Marathon in Oro Valley, arizona. We had a hot chocolate run this weekend in Seattle, cool morning. This one starts and finishes at the Space Needle. Here's a trivia question you know what? The Space Needle, what that was erected for you kids are too young.
Speaker 2:The World's Fair, that's right, alicia, you know what the space needle, what that was erected for you kids are too young.
Speaker 8:The World's Fair. That's right, Alicia. The World's Fair. Remember what year?
Speaker 2:No, before I was born it was before you were born 1962.
Speaker 11:Was it the year that it's a small world, or like?
Speaker 8:No, that was 64. That was New York. Yeah, the World's Fair used to be well. Now we've got Epcot, which, if you're too young to have ever been to a World's Fair, it's not much different than Epcot. Anyway, let's get back to it.
Speaker 8:Vanessa was there. Vanessa ran the 15K, as did Laura, laura's first 15K. Really enjoyed the hot chocolate and pretzels with the chocolate dip afterwards. Sarah did the 10K. Met two new run Disney friends on the course up there in Seattle, kept consistent run-walk intervals and pace despite a hamstring injury. Hope that's going all right for you, sarah. Beautiful Seattle views and plenty of on-course support, including gummy bears. She will definitely run for chocolate. Anthony was there and Anthony did the 5K. Yeah, here's Julie. I mentioned Julie with her A-linker back on the schedule here still in Jacksonville the Spartan Sprint 5K, the VA wave this one was Julie did that.
Speaker 8:Our friend Rob over in the UK did the Dartford Half Marathon. Rob didn't say much about it, he just posted a picture of himself getting Wazowski'd and man he did. The person didn't even realize they were doing it, but it was perfect. All you can see of Rob is his singlet and his bib and but I trust that it was in fact Rob and he finished it. We'll finish Sunday with a different Rob, this one in Hampton, new Hampshire. Rob did the half, said it was frigid but fun. Good portion of the race is along the coastline, which is right where you want to be when it's cold Amazing views. That views helped him forget how cold it was. Great gathering afterward with soup and beer Soup at the end of a half on a cold day Sounds pretty good. That finishes the weekend's race report.
Speaker 8:I've got one more I've got to mention here. Our buddy, tony, did his own unique K2K challenge. I think Tony's just wanting us to know he was on a Disney cruise. So Tony did the Lookout K and the castaway K 5k. We know the castaway K 5k thing is a thing. It's got its own metal and all that. I think he made up the lookout K.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was surprised he didn't end up in Disney jail after doing what he did but he held up a shirt that had the lookout k5k on it.
Speaker 8:I thought, didn't he and his, I think?
Speaker 3:it, from what I was understanding after chatting with him when he uh got off the boat is they're not ready to like, advertise that, I guess, like the path isn't fully open yet, or something like that. So when he, when he put up his Instagram reel and shared it on our Facebook page, I don't know if the restricted path that he was on was part of what will be the official route, or whatever I mean.
Speaker 3:to me it's still crazy that the island still isn't 100% finished yet Guests have been going to it for a couple of months now, but I mean, um, you know the, the review that I got from him is that, while castaway is completely immersive and absolutely beautiful, lookout is one of the most incredible beaches he has ever been to. So, um, yeah, so it's very jealous. But of course you know, like you said you, he had to do it in order to buy the merch that they had available. And we're Run Disney people and you know how much we love merch.
Speaker 8:Yeah, they make up your own run. Nice job, tony. Way to go. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. Thank you so much for joining us for episode 180. We hope you enjoyed it. We hope if you get a chance, you'll look at that cruise. I also hope you get a chance to look at that Holler Hype app. I think that's going to be fun. Springtime's going to be upon us soon. We look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, 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.
