Rise and Run
Rise and Run
192: Vella Shpringa With Bird In Hand Race Director Lowell Ladd
What does it take to create a race experience so special that runners travel from across the country to participate? Lowell Ladd, race director of the Bird in Hand Half Marathon Weekend, joins us to reveal the behind-the-scenes magic of organizing this beloved event in Pennsylvania's Amish country.
From handcrafted horseshoe medals to running past actual camels at mile 12, this race offers experiences you simply won't find elsewhere. Lowell shares how the local Amish community embraces this event so completely that they regularly turn away volunteer help – a rare challenge in the racing world! We learn about the massive pre-race festival, the beloved community picnic with legendary BBQ that begins cooking at 3:30 AM on race day, and why this event has earned its reputation as "runDisney North" among our listeners.
As summer heat intensifies across much of the country, we discuss essential strategies for adapting your training. We share practical advice for adjusting expectations, modifying workouts, and staying safe while building that valuable heat adaptation that will pay dividends when temperatures cool in fall.
Thomas Stokes drops by to announce the winners of his special scholarships and details about his upcoming transformation challenge starting July 7th. In our race report, we travel from Houston to Ottawa, where Marina shares her experience completing not only the 5K and 10K races on Saturday, but following them with a half marathon PR on Sunday – and capping off her weekend with a surprise King Charles sighting! Plus, we hear from runners in Argentina, Scotland, and across North America completing their Memorial Day weekend races.
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3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. This is Brandi from Houston, Texas, calling you from the finish line of the Cinco Cinco 10K.
Speaker 1:Happy running. Hi, this is Kate from Glendora. I'm here at the meetup at Disney Springs and you're listening to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 4:All right, more great intros, brandi. Good hearing from you. Brandi's over in Houston, where I'm sure it's nice and steamy this time of year, but she contacted us from the finish line of the Cinco Cinco 10K, which she did a couple weeks ago. Good hearing from you, brandy, and Kate. Kate, that goes back to springtime surprise. Thanks for recording that for us, kate. Hello, my friends, and welcome to episode 192 of the Rise and Run podcast. We are so delighted that you're joining us this week. I'm Bob and I am here with Alicia. Hello With Lexi, hello With Greg, hey, hey, hey. And with John, hey, how you doing? I'm kind of warm, john. It's kind of warm out, but I'm okay. Good, good, I'm going to make it. I got the fan blowing behind me. I don't know if that'll hydrate. Becky brought me a glass of iced tea, so I'm good to go.
Speaker 2:You know, Bob, that's one thing I've never really understood. Obviously, I know you acclimate a little bit, but if it gets so hot, why don't you take the podcast studio indoors?
Speaker 4:I like it here.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:This is my place, I mean. I know people would get upset if the crickets went away, crickets would be gone. And you'd pick up on the echoes if I went into one of the rooms.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 4:Now what'll happen? We're about to get into hurricane season. Happy hurricane season to those of you who celebrate it starts June 1st. What'll happen? I'm sure one of the recording nights we'll have some thunderstorms in the area, so then you'll hear how much different it sounds when I go indoor. Let us see friends. This week we are happy to have Lowell Ladd, the founder of 2L Race Services and the race director for Bird, in Hand. Lowell is here to talk with us about what it takes to be a race director and specifically what goes on up there. At that outstanding weekend in September in the Amish country of Pennsylvania in September in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, our friend Thomas Stokes visits. Right before the race report, tom stops by to tell us what's going on, what's coming up and to announce the winners of his scholarships. So stay tuned for that. You might be in for a surprise. In the race report spotlight, marina joins us to tell us about the Ottawa Canada International Race Weekend.
Speaker 1:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage at riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have a question, comment, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 5:We would also like to thank our Patreons, whose support helps keep the rise and run podcast rising and running, and we would like to welcome scott to the plastic cheese level of the patreon team. If you would like to join us on our patreon team, please check out the patreoncom slash rise and run podcast the rise and run podcast is sponsored by our friends over at Magic Bound Travel.
Speaker 2:With Memorial Day being this past week, we have hit the unofficial begin of summer and there are a lot of fun and exciting things occurring down in Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This summer In Disneyland, you got the 70th anniversary celebration going on over there and then, as we were recording this evening, on a Tuesday, the news broke that the new Disney Starlight Parade will debut in Orlando on July 20th will debut in Orlando on July 20th. I mean, I cannot remember the last time Walt Disney World had a non-holiday evening parade, so that is super, super exciting. If those are events that you would like to see with your own two eyes, be sure to visit magicboundtravelcom, chat with one of their amazing travel advisors to get a no obligation quote so you can enjoy those magical experiences this summer.
Speaker 4:Hey friends, alicia told you gave you the number to call to leave us a recorded message. Kind of reminded me of something. Now we are approaching our 200th episode. We don't have anything particularly special planned, but we would like to invite you to participate. If you'd like to call that number, 727-266-2344, leave us a little 30 second message uh, celebrating, honoring, telling us a funny story about something that happened that you've heard in the first 200 episodes. We think that would be cool, we think it'd be fun and and we're going to play them that if we get swamped and we have so many that we can't get them in one episode, we'll stretch them out, but if you send us one, I promise we'll play it. So we have so many that we can't get them in one episode, we'll stretch them out, but if you send us one, I promise we'll play it. So we look forward to that.
Speaker 2:Help us out and, speaking of our listeners helping us out, we will do social media blasts, both on facebook and on instagram, but in two weeks time we are going to be doing another listener questions episode. So if there are any burning topics that you want us to chat about you have just general run Disney questions, running questions, traveling to the Disney parks questions or specific questions for the hosts, be sure to post those or you can email them to thegang at riserunpodcastcom and we will compile that list and we will try to do our absolute best to answer as many of them as possible. Again, that's for our episode coming up in two weeks.
Speaker 4:Sounds good, sounds good, great Thanks. Let's look at the training calendar. Friends, as of the day of recording, as of, well, two days ago, because we anyway we're 14 weeks away from the Disneyland Halloween Expo out in California. That means that as of today, we're 100 days away. So if you are preparing for the challenge, that race weekend, you are in training week four and your long run this weekend is five miles. That's what's up on the training calendar. Let's see we're still about four weeks away from registering for Princess and still a ways away. Later on in June, training for Wine and Dine will start. But that's what's going on in the training calendar. Training updates what do we got my friends?
Speaker 2:yeah, bob. So this past weekend I had my first magic mile in a really long time.
Speaker 2:Thanks to all the travel that I've had these past two months, I've had to keep pushing it off and off and off, but finally got it done and gosh, I still don't think that I am the best at those. I know. I mentioned it on the podcast previously. I almost kind of equated to standardized testing In school. I did fairly well, I was in honors and AP classes, but God put the sat or the act in front of me and I I shriek and I feel like it's the same thing in running. When you know I do my, you know race rehearsals, you know I do a pretty decent job at hitting my paces. But boy, when it comes time for that magic mile and trying to run all out, boy, I just I get in my head.
Speaker 2:But at least I I had close to a 30-second improvement which, in terms of, a magic mile is pretty significant, so looking forward to those new paces from Coach Twiggs. I guess that's the blessing and the curse is you get a faster magic mile, but then that translates to faster race paces.
Speaker 1:You did great, greg, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I mean, Greg, you know that rule about we don't want to puke during a race. I was almost there.
Speaker 4:That's okay. Almost is okay. Yes, almost is okay. Almost is okay, yeah. Rule one no dying. Correct, that's the most important rule.
Speaker 4:Rule two no puking. But almost almost is okay the thing about those I get it, I do them. I'm not excited by them, they are just a tool. Okay, correct, they're not a race, they're not a training tool, they're a measuring stick. So if you're doing your magic miles, that's what they're there for. They're a diagnostic tool to help you, and there really is no such thing as a bad one, because, again, it's just to help you. So great job, greg. Thank you.
Speaker 4:I'm going to talk again about summer training. I know I talked about it last week and I'm after this. I promise friends to to give it up for a little while. I'm not sure how long, but a couple of things. It has turned really hot in central Florida and the humidity is way up. Later in the race report I'll talk about our friend Adam, who did an amazing event this last Friday. But I was out Saturday for 10 miles Not at this point in my training, not particularly long, but by golly it was just really hot and what you have to do is just accept the fact that the heat is going to slow you down and not force things.
Speaker 4:Go ahead and use Jeff Galloway's rule of thumb. Things go ahead and use Jeff Galloway's rule of thumb 30 seconds added to your pace for every 5 degrees over 60 degrees. 60 degrees around here is winter temperature, but I do use it. Okay, I do use that rule of thumb, do I? When I looked it up, between my magic mile pace and my long distance running pace and the heat, I think I was supposed to be running 17 minute miles. Did I do 17 minute miles? No, I didn't. But I went out with the attitude of I can't, I just going to go at a pace that I can maintain. And I actually walk quite a bit more than I normally do. In fact, I developed a new method here Instead of run, walk, run, it's sun, walk, run, sun, walk, sun and what I actually have it backwards.
Speaker 4:I was able. I got out early enough. I was able to run most of the first four miles. Then I got into a trail area that is pretty well shaded, so that when I was in a shady area, I did my run intervals. When I got out in the sun, I walked kids, I just walked. That was it. And in the last two miles on the way back, I'm out in the sunshine and I'm not going to make myself ill. I'm not going to risk heat problems, I'm going to walk.
Speaker 4:I am fond of saying I. This is at least I know. I said it twice last week summer training equals fall PRs. But there's another lesson there, and that is you don't have to force the summer training. You're going to get the advantage once the weather cools down. Hot and cool are different depending on where you are throughout the country. We acclimate differently and I was out this morning. This amused me. I was out this morning. I got out at 7 am, the temperature was 81 degrees, the dew point was 75. The feels like was 90. And the weather actually reported a wind chill of 86. I got a kick out of that. But again, just you've got to throttle back, you've got to stay within your limits and just trust that you're going to build the endurance and it's going to help you out when the weather cools off.
Speaker 5:And what is it that you always say, Bob? If it's hot where you are, then it's hot.
Speaker 4:If it's hot where you are, it's hot. That's absolutely right Down here. I may go out 70 degrees and a 65 degree dew point and feel, oh man, this is great. You live up in the Northeast or up in Alicia's area. That's pretty warm and it affects you as it affects us both the same way. We just acclimate differently. So I'm not telling you what's hot. You define what's hot. I think 45 is cold, okay.
Speaker 2:And the one thing I'll add on to all of this is, you know, as we enter the summer months and the higher temperatures, is that you know similar to what you were saying, bob it's okay to make adjustments. I mean, frankly, it's ungodly hot, you know, or maybe you know like, set a rule for yourself, like if the temperature is above you know so many degrees, if you have access to it, find yourself a treadmill.
Speaker 2:you know, and because you know, similar to what you were saying, bob is you know, depending on your training pace, if you're using that fought, using that 30 seconds for every five degree rule, you could eventually be getting to the point where your training run would turn into a walk, and again, there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever You're right.
Speaker 2:So if you prefer to be outdoors or don't have access to a treadmill, then definitely go that route. But again, if you want to be able to practice those paces, obviously that's one way to go. And then the other thing you know, speaking of my past training run from this past weekend, is, you know, for those of us that do follow the Galloway Method, the one thing that we have learned through Coach Twiggs is you can still figure out your magic mile by running a half mile.
Speaker 2:Yes, Good point, Greg so essentially what you do there again. You would still, you know, do some semblance of a warmup, but then you would run two laps on the track, or you know, 800 meters or a half mile. Yeah, yeah, as quickly as possible. Then you would take that time, multiply it by two and then add 18 seconds Right, and then that will give you your magic mile time and then help you with your training paces. So again, make those adjustments, be smart and, most importantly, stay safe.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that works out remarkably well. I had a magic mile. Two weeks ago I did it, but it's the last one I'll do, probably till October or November, because it's just too hot to push that hard over that distance. So I'll do that half mile thing. That's a great point, greg.
Speaker 6:Thanks for reminding me of that like if you're going through a park where water fountains are, maybe by a well in my area they're quick checks and seven 11s so you can stop in grab a bottle of water or cold. It's air conditioned sometimes so you can cool yourself down so that if you do want to get your training out in the outdoors cause I know some of us despise the treadmill, you know just play it safe, plan your routes accordingly. So there's good places like shade and uh, places you could stop and, you know, rest and get something to drink.
Speaker 4:Here's another good tip, John If you do stop into one of those places, when you get to the checkout counter, step back a little bit so your sweat drips on the floor and not on the counter.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I know another cool thing Most of the time, you know, they take Apple pay or Google pay, and I know my Garmin has the credit card on it too, so you don't have to give them a sweaty $2 bills, $3 bills.
Speaker 1:I've done that before and they weren't very happy with me.
Speaker 4:Good for you, good for you.
Speaker 6:It's like when you go to the beach. We do not accept wet money.
Speaker 4:All right, All right, friends. Look, if the hot weather hasn't reached you yet and I know some parts of the country, I read the race reports I know some parts of the country are still relatively cool and God bless you. That's wonderful, it's coming OK. I promise it's coming OK, friends. Hey, let's visit with our guests for the week.
Speaker 2:One commonality of the Rise and Run podcast Run Disney and just running in general is a sense of community, and there is one race in this country that embodies that concept to the highest degree. According to the race website, this race has quote some things that can't be described like the sense of community that follows you well after you cross the finish line. But this week we are joined by someone who might be able to shed some light on those indescribable things. We would love to welcome Lowell Ladd, the race director of one of our favorite races, the Bird in Hand Half Marathon. Lowell, welcome to the race director of one of our favorite races, the Bird in Hand Half Marathon. Lowell, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 7:Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:The first question that we're going to start off with here is can you give us just a very brief history of the origin of the Bird in Hand race weekend?
Speaker 7:The Bird in Hand race predates my involvement with it. The race, I believe, started in 2010. And the group in Bird in Hand, pennsylvania decided that they wanted to have a race. There was a member of the community that felt like that community would benefit from having an event like this, so they decided to start a half marathon and 5k, and I believe the year was 2010. I actually ran the race and won the half marathon in 2011, the second year that they had it.
Speaker 7:So my foray into the world of bird in hand was not as a race director, but rather as a participant. I went out there and chase the buggy and managed to be the first one across the finish line trophy down in my basement, so awesome.
Speaker 7:So that was my welcome to bird in hand. And then I ran it a couple of years later with my wife, kind of as a middle of the pack experiential thing, and all along the way I actually got into race directing myself with other events, and so they had a race director. That did it for, I believe, one year. Things didn't work out.
Speaker 7:They brought in another gentleman who did a really good job with it for a number of years and in 2019 slash 2020, he reached out to me and said you know I'm not going to be able to time this event anymore, but I want to keep directing it. Can you take over some of the timing duties? And I said, yeah, I'd love to. It's a great event. I'd love to be involved in that capacity. Covid came in and like wow, flipped everything upside down. He could no longer continue race direct. He got out of the whole event business and the good folks at Bird Enhance said, hey, you were going to take over the timing. Can you take over as race director for this event and help us keep it going? And I said, yeah, I'd love to do that. So in 2020, in COVID, I jumped in and took over as race director for the Bird in Hand race as the Bird in Hand race.
Speaker 6:What goes into planning this race from start to finish?
Speaker 7:You know, when I talk about the Bird in Hand race, it really I'm the race director, which means I wear the title of being in charge of the race. But it really is so much more than a race. It really is a much broader event. So there's a lot of people involved and there's a small group of us that really pull all the pieces together. The pre-race festival with the gigantic tent, which is bigger than anything I've seen, the expo, the pasta dinner all that stuff is really kind of attached to the race but it's also a separate part of it.
Speaker 7:The picnic that we have on Saturday is welcome to the community, Like anybody can go to this free picnic and take part. You do not have to do the race. So it just gets thousands of people that come out and do this and it sits kind of on top of and combined with the race. But the event as a whole is really so much broader than the race. So because I wear the race director role, like normally you take the race directors in charge of everything, but I really am not. I'm in charge of the race, part of this and I work with everybody else, but there really is a small group of six or seven people that make sure that everything comes together for the event, as a small group of six or seven people that make sure that everything comes together for the event as a whole.
Speaker 4:We need to talk about that picnic. That is fabulous. That is one of the stars of the show. How long does it take to get all that organized?
Speaker 7:I mean, we're already working on it. And when I say we, like, I don't really myself have anything to do with the picnic other than being in the small group meetings. And you know there's there's people that know how to do their part of this big event and they really run with that and there's some collaboration, sharing a bouncing of ideas. But you know, the picnic itself, um, is amazing as far as how many people they can get through there and serve and the food, like I've seen them walking around with like just handing out ribs to people that they start cooking at like three 30 in the morning.
Speaker 7:I'm there early on half marathon morning and for people that don't know, you know the race is two days. So it's Friday night with the five K all day expo and then Saturday morning with a half marathon, and so I'm out there pretty early on Saturday. Other people out there pretty early, those people that are that are smoking stuff up with their smoker, are there incredibly early, um, and it is taunting and tantalizing to smell that at that hour before I've even had coffee or breakfast. But they get it going early and it that's just part of the picnic and what goes into that part of it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was getting influenced just last year when I was sitting at the pasta party and I could see them seasoning the ribs.
Speaker 6:And.
Speaker 2:I wanted them at that point and I knew I wasn't going to be able. You know it'd be. You know, almost 12 hours later, until you know I'd be able to enjoy them. So that's wild that you know people are there that early to start an amazing event.
Speaker 7:And I think the chicken may be some of the best I've ever had. Agreed, yeah, it is. It is delicious. I don't have time to enjoy much of it. Usually I'm there at the end eating whatever scraps are left over, and they're still amazing and so good, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So bringing in the picnic that talks about the community aspect, which is really special with the Bird in Hand race Outside of the Bird in Hand fire department, what other community organizations are involved in the planning of this event?
Speaker 7:It really is people that are associated with the fire company. I'm really the only outsider so I live an hour east of Bird in Hand and to the best of my knowledge, there are no timing companies that are in the Amish community. So the plain folk have to go outside of their circle to get someone with real race experience. And not to say that there aren't other races in Amish areas of the United States. I know there's one in Ohio and then the Garden Spot Race in the spring is a sister event to this one. It's the Road Apple Award. If you do both, you get the plaque with the road apples on it. So you know that is the same general area.
Speaker 7:But you know the Amish community that puts this race on really like they've got this event they could really handle and they don't really need much outside help. Because I'm the race director, all the race related questions funnel through me. So people go to the website to register and they have questions about things. It usually comes through me and we always get people that say like I love this event, I want to volunteer, I want to help out and like I'm involved with other events. I've never seen anything like this where I have to continually say like you don't really need any help because the community is so strong and so committed to this event that they really have a surplus of help, which is kind of insane. But they got this event, every piece of it. They are fully staffed and they have so many people in the community that want to be involved with this.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, and it's obvious too it really shows up during the weekend.
Speaker 5:So, as someone who has not been to Bird in Hand, what would you say is the biggest draw that people have for the race, like what is your favorite thing or the favorite thing of most of the participants?
Speaker 7:People love the food. The pasta dinner, the picnic is a huge piece for a lot of people. How welcoming the people are that are involved with this event, like anybody that you talk to when you go to this event, like they all want to help and it's you know, it's not a small event. It's got a lot of moving parts and everybody really wants, like every person that comes to the race, to have a good time and feel welcome and feel invited and they really don't want to treat you differently if there's one person there, or 100 or 1,000 or 3,000 or more, as the case may be with this race. So it's really very welcoming and people just smiling and having a good time coming and going. It's not like a lot of races where people kind of fly in in and fly out of there as quickly as they can. People hang around. There's a lot of side activities to keep people there, like just enjoying the atmosphere and the place and the people that are there well and reading your bio it sounds like you know with your racing company.
Speaker 2:You know you cover a lot of races here in the Northeast, especially Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But what is a unique challenge or aspect from the timing perspective and the race directing perspective specific to Bird in Hand? Are there any?
Speaker 7:Really. I mean, there's road apples on the road more than most other places when we put the mats down.
Speaker 7:Our mats are going to get dirty, but that's really small Because of the volume and the backcountry roads, like setting up the starting line on a main roadway is a little bit of a challenge.
Speaker 7:Sometimes they're trying to keep the road open as long as they can because they put a ton of people in a farmer's field and access to that is a lot of crazy moving parts. Farmer's field and access to that is a lot of crazy moving parts. It's not like most other races of this size have like a school or industrial complex somewhere to park all these cars and with this race it takes over a farmer's field and we have to worry about, like, how much rain can we handle in X amount of time the days before before we have a problem. We have to go to plan B, which is putting them somewhere else and busing them in or shifting the course somehow, things like that. So probably the parking is definitely a big challenge. That's not a timing specific problem, but I have to be prepared to pivot with that if we have to make any changes to the course, if we can't finish on a field because it starts on a road but it actually finishes on a farmer's field.
Speaker 4:Sure does. Does planning go on year round or about when do you need to start for each year?
Speaker 7:I mean we have a meeting a couple of weeks after the race where we talk about, like you know, what went well, what needs to be improved, and like it's really amazing that like there's not anything that has to be fixed Best, we can tell nothing is really broken. It's more like fine-tuning. What can we do to make things a little bit better, to make this go a little more seamlessly? There's always some curveballs with some of the side things. Some years people want the balloons and some years the balloons go up and sometimes they don't.
Speaker 7:What can we do to collaborate with the people that put the balloons up? It's not our thing but happens to happen there. Little things like that, that like it's just little niceties, that like everybody wants everything to be 100 out of 100 and if it's 98 we're like what can we do to make it a little bit better? But we really start going over that like a couple weeks after the race. I mean it goes slow but it really does go year round and I'd say you know it's full bore from like six months out really just pushing on to get things ready.
Speaker 4:I believe it and for friends who haven't been there, when Lowell says balloons, he's not talking about the balloon ladies or balloons like that. He's talking about hot air balloons that transport people, that launch from this same area that the race begins. Very beautiful. If they have the weather for it, it's gorgeous.
Speaker 7:Yes, when it cooperates.
Speaker 4:It's awesome. Yeah, it's really nice. Is there something, do you think, that makes running through Amish country different than your regular road race, your average road race?
Speaker 7:I mean you know it's not, it's not a city event. So like you don't get on these desolate roads where, mean you know it's not, it's not a city event. So like you don't get on these desolate roads where there's no cars and it's easy and it's flat and run as fast as you can. I mean, people don't generally go to bird in hand to see if they can shave a few seconds off of their best half marathon time. It really is. Go out there and enjoy the experience. You know the time before the race starts, getting together as a group going out there on the course. You know the time before the race starts, getting together as a group going out there on the course enjoying the aid stations which are, you know, at Amish schoolhouses like one of the schoolhouses and just real quiet, calm countryside.
Speaker 7:It's not an easy course, it's not an exceptionally difficult course. It's beautiful.
Speaker 4:I think you know people go for the experience before the race, during the race and afterwards. Yeah, it's a. It's a lovely course. Rolling hillside, central pennsylvania, uh, amish country.
Speaker 2:Gotta love the kids at the age station that's always a lot of fun it's so funny to hear you say this isn't a race that you know you go to aim for a pr and like I'd still laugh to myself this day that actually my first ever burden hand is my half marathon pr and I have I have never been able to to get any closer to that.
Speaker 2:So but again, you know, bob, you're absolutely right. Definitely a ton of rolling hills. I will say that, one hill at like miles six and a half, seven, where I think you turned three times and you're still continually going uphill that one, not as rolling as some of the others, but it is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 6:What was the most unexpected situation you had to deal with?
Speaker 7:Well, we had talked about you know we talk about contingency plans. It's a big race, like what do we do if the field floods, for parking and other things, and we had talked about what do we do if we get a thunderstorm.
Speaker 7:You know what do we do, and I think it was two years ago that on Friday night, you know, we're looking at the radar and we're like there's thunderstorms popping up and you know the thunder got pretty close and the challenge with this race was, you know we were like, okay, are we going to call it or not? Now the local community people are what about? What's the big deal with a thunderstorm? Like we go out?
Speaker 7:and look at the fields, like you know, maybe we go inside for a little, but it's. They don't look at it as like a big deal. They don't have to panic button. Um, you know, a lot of the out-of-towners are like we can't, we can't run Like we got to go hide in our cars or we got to go in the tent. So it was an awkward situation where we hadn't been, we hadn't had to deal with it. Up until that point, we kind of talked about it in the background and passing. We're like we'll deal with it.
Speaker 7:It comes up and it was just a strange thunderstorm that basically popped up on top of us and we didn't have a lot of options with what to do with it. Um, that was definitely a challenge that we really had to wrestle with, like, how are we going to deal with this going forward, knowing that we don't have like a big building to put people in? We have a tent and that's certainly safer than you know standing in the field, but we don't have the protection and we can tell people to go to their cars and how we're going to communicate that to them, and you know, how long can we push the start of the race back, and some little things like that.
Speaker 6:I think I remember that I was driving out that morning and I was coming in through all the storms and I guess luckily it broke, held off for the race and you guys got it on, no problem.
Speaker 4:So you've never been stuck in a situation where you had to call it or shift it or anything like that.
Speaker 7:Then no, I've. I've never been at any race ever where we had to cancel because of the weather. You know I timed a lot of events. I've been to track meets where they pull the kids off the track in the middle of a race and they pause it and then they go back and finish it later. Um, and I've I've got different race that I put on in gettysburg where we had thunderstorms for an hour and a half leading up till 25 minutes before the race started and we didn't know if we'd get it in, but we got a window and we got it done. So we've had a couple calls but we've never had any where we had to just say we can't do it today. Yeah Good, the Friday night is tough, you know, with this, because we've got darkness and there's no lights out there. It's it's not like a city. We don't have street lights. So you know, if we push it back significantly, it gets dark and dangerous.
Speaker 4:Right Understood. You know, from just a race director perspective, in general we runners I got a feeling there's a lot of things that you do that we don't know about. Is there something you can think of, Maybe?
Speaker 7:there's something that most runners don't realize goes into prepping for a race. As a race director, the biggest challenge is the race director in the race has to think about everybody. You know what is the group need and, as a participant, you think what do I?
Speaker 7:need and sometimes your needs aren't really in the majority. Sometimes you might be in a very small minority. You know it's like I need something specific. Well, that only applies to two other people out of 3000. So you know, do I really need to get what I think I deserve? As a race director, you sometimes feel bad when somebody comes up with a problem and says you know, I want this to be fixed. And sometimes you can fix it and sometimes you can't. And when you can, it's like I have to help a lot of people and if I spend five minutes fixing everyone's problem, the race doesn't start today, it's going to happen tomorrow or the day after. So sometimes, unfortunately, you cannot fix all the small problems that come up, and that's tough and people don't understand that because they only see like their little piece of it and they're like I need to get this changed or whatever special circumstances come up. There's countless versions of that.
Speaker 5:Speaking about what goes in as a race director, what is the night before the race Like for you? Like, do you have nerves, do you have a specific checklist, or is it just kind of coffee and a prayer and we hope this goes well.
Speaker 7:Well, because it's a two day event, you know this is a longer, more drawn out event than like a five. You know, just if it was just a five K by itself and there wasn't an eight hour expo beforehand, um, it would be a little bit different. You know the setup for it. So the you know 5k is on Friday night, the half marathon Saturday morning. I get out there at about nine o'clock AM on Friday. Some people are doing setup Wednesday and Thursday. People that are out there they'll chip away at a few tasks and you know the tent goes up days and days in advance and there's some things happening in the days before.
Speaker 7:But as the race director, you know it's Friday is a long day. Things don't happen too fast until about five in the afternoon. It's a nice casual pace where people are trickling in and enjoying it, nobody's rushed, and then we get to late, late afternoon. It gets a little bit frantic. We start worrying about are we going to be able to get all the cars in? You know we're going to have any problems that. Are we going to have a line at packet pickup where people can't get their bib in time to go when the race starts? That's when we start to worry and then you know, as race director, director, it's technology.
Speaker 7:Like something always goes wrong. You know we're on a podcast now and like how many things may or may not have worked just perfectly, like there's always something that doesn't work the way you want it to. And how quickly can you troubleshoot it? Can you get things fixed, but ideally before anybody even notices that they weren't working right? So little things like that, right, so little things like that. But I've I've done enough versions of this race and enough races in general that I don't sweat the small. I don't sweat it too much, partially because I work with good people with this race and things don't. As a race director, if I'm in charge of 100 things, there might be 95 or 98 that go well and there's a couple of things that don't go right.
Speaker 7:If they came down on me and really like, made me sweat, I might worry more, but they're good to work with, they're good people, they're kind when things haven't gone perfectly. We had a timing issue the first or second year that I directed it, where things didn't go perfectly and we had to clean some things up and the award ceremony was delayed a little bit and they were like don't worry about it. Like we know, you did your best, you made some mistakes, you'll address them next time and it'll be better, and it has been since. So that makes it a lot easier for me as race director to work for this race and work with these people, because they're kind and easy to work with outstanding speaking of unique challenges, the one thing that I just thought of and again we had mentioned this previous in this interview is it's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Obviously the Amish are one to not embrace the technological advances that we have available to us today. If a change needs to be made last minute, how are you communicating with that specific community? Who is helping also support the race?
Speaker 7:Right. So one thing I had to learn before I was involved with this race is you know, the Amish community is not one size fits all. They're not all the same. There is a broad spectrum of how traditional they are versus more modern and everything in between. So you know, with all the people involved with the race, when I go to the race meetings, you'll see people at those meetings. You know with all the people involved with the race, when I go to the race meetings, you'll see people at those meetings and you say that looks like an Amish person. And they talk like what you would think an Amish person talks like.
Speaker 7:And there's other people that you say I wouldn't know that they're Amish because they don't dress the same as the person next to them who's dressed more traditionally, and they don't all talk exactly the same and they've got different levels of comfort with technology. So there's really layers of you know. This person will talk to these people that are spread out on the course and if something needs to be communicated, a lot of it funnels through ems where they'll get to people out on the course and then they'll talk to the people that they need to at the aid station. But you're right, the people you know at the one room mama school houses they don't know how cell phones that they're sitting on the aid station.
Speaker 7:But you're right, the people you know at the one room Amish schoolhouses they don't own cell phones, that they're sitting on like waiting for someone to call them and tell them what's going on, and they do call it the valley of no wires out in part of the course, because there are no wires out there?
Speaker 4:Which just adds to the scenery.
Speaker 6:Right, talking about this weekend, something that we all talk about is the camel. Okay, can you give us a backstory on the if you know about the camel, like why it goes through this guy's backyard and there's a camel in the middle of Pennsylvania?
Speaker 7:Yeah. So as I understand it, the two brothers who really made this race happen were the Smucker brothers, and they own a lot of business. The one brother is still in Burdenham. The other one has gone out to Ohio, I believe Jim and John Smucker. So if lore serves me correctly, jim Smucker was the brother who was a runner and had the idea of starting this race and he pitched to the community and they embraced it and they launched the race and he was heavily involved for a period of time and then he moved out to Ohio. I believe he's since come back once or twice. I've seen him. We got him set up doing some announcing one year at the finish line, his brother, john, and I hope I don't get this wrong but his brother.
Speaker 7:John still lives in Burden Hand and has a number of businesses and a lot of property and I believe that he owns the farm where we do the parking and he owns the property farm where the camel is, or camels, and we basically cut through his yard. So most of it is paved and there's a stretch at about mile 12 when you get on this dirt path road through a farm.
Speaker 7:You go by the camels and you see the other animals that are out there. That's his property. You run down his driveway, basically, and out his backyard, which really is just a monster. Why he has the camels, I don't know. I think he just has an eclectic taste for animals and takes it beyond what most people have for wildlife in their yard. Beyond that, I'm not exactly sure, I mean the only working theory that I yard. Beyond that I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker 2:I mean the only working theory that I have and I have not been to one in many, many years. But my grandfather used to run bus trips out to Sight and Sound, which is this massive, massive theater in Lancaster County, and it puts on these beautiful productions. They're mostly of biblical tales and but they love incorporating live animals into them. And then the one show I saw was a telling of noah's ark and I remember at one point like the even, like the size of the theater, become part of the stage and you're almost like feeling like you're inside noah's ark and they had live animals and like make a disney connection here audio animatronics of other animals. So maybe this gentleman was the provider of the camels, for no, you know that production of noah's ark, you know all those years ago.
Speaker 7:So it is entirely possible. It would not surprise me. I know exactly where that theater is. I drive by it all the time, going out with 30.
Speaker 4:That's your story and you're sticking to it. Huh, greg? Yeah, absolutely All right. Well, since we're talking about things that make this race unique, that metal what a neat thing. That is an actual horseshoe. Do you know how this started? Has it always been the medal for the race? And I'm kind of curious how long does it take to weld all the finisher plates to those horseshoes?
Speaker 7:Some of those I don't know the answer to. When I did it, I did not get a horseshoe medal, so 2011, it did not have a medal. When I started in 2020, it did. So somewhere in between there somebody had the brilliant idea to make such a unique metal. I do not know. There's a lot of hand crafting that goes on with things associated with the race, and the horseshoe metal is one of them. They also do some really neat locally made charcuterie, trays and cutting boards and things like that for the people that do.
Speaker 7:the Fire Company Challenge, which is the 5K and the half marathon and all those things, takes more time than I can even wrap my mind around and I don't think that they quantify the hours that go into it, because they just do it for the race, like they feel like this is what is good for the race, this is a nice community connection to it, like we're just going to do this.
Speaker 2:I'm sure somebody could put a number of hours on it for how long they take to crank out, but it's okay, it's a ton and it really does reflect the vibe of this race, that it's so, you know, handcrafted and individualized it absolutely does so continuing with this theme of unique rewards and and you mentioned it previous um in this interview we got to talk about the road apple, explain what the this special challenge is and the process of well bronzing poop yeah, not bronzed exactly, and I have not had the honor or privilege of being involved in the process other than it being talked about and, you know, demonstrated how amazing the outcome is.
Speaker 7:So the, the, the pumpership I don't know what year it formed, but Garden Spot Village is located, uh, I'd say, seven or eight miles Northeast of Burden Hand and they have a spring half marathon. They actually used to have a marathon which I ran back in the days when I ran the Burden Hand race, um, and at some point they got together and they said, hey, let's race um. And at some point they got together and they said, hey, let's, let's be sister races here. Um, people that do both races need to get something that that ties this all together. And what ties amish country together?
Speaker 7:but the horse apples, the poop that the horses leave on the roads, and somebody had the idea that if they gather those and they get the good intact ones that are picturesque, they put them in, I believe a kiln to dry them out and to make them sanitary, and then they actually Mount them on really nice plaques with, um, you know, some artwork to display that you've done this road Apple, that you've sorry that you've earned this road Apple award, which is not just one, I believe it's usually three that go on it.
Speaker 4:They are amazing. I won't earn one but because I live too far away to do both races, but they're wonderful and again what a special thing.
Speaker 6:I know these people are so proud carrying around a plaque with road apples on it at the end of the race weekend, which is just hilarious.
Speaker 7:Well, they absolutely are, and that's one of the biggest questions concerns that people email about ahead of time is I did garden spot? What do I need to do to make sure that I get this coveted road apple thing? I want to make sure that I don't miss out somehow.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I understand that.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of the road apples, that's kind of a funny topic. Have you ever had a funny or unexpected challenge while setting up this race?
Speaker 2:Like did the camel get loose? Or anything like that.
Speaker 7:I honestly can't think of any humorous stories about things that have gone sideways in a funny way Loose animals or anything like that. Um, unfortunately I can't think of anything. It's just a lot of details usually that go into it, and I think it's also because this race is fairly mature that everybody knows how to make things go well. So like there's not a lot of drama with it on the organizational, and there's a lot of work. There's a the organizational and there's a lot of work. There's a lot of thought, there's areas that want to be improved, but people really do know how to make sure that this thing goes well. So you know, much as I love a good story about things going unexpectedly sideways, I can't think of anything right now that's a humorous story about that.
Speaker 1:No slipping in the road apples.
Speaker 7:Nothing that I can think of, but again I don't put them together. I'm sure there's got to be some funny stories from the gathering and or assembly of those, but I have not been in the trenches on that project.
Speaker 4:That's a good thing. I mean all said and done. You can't think of anything like that. That's actually a good thing, that's great.
Speaker 5:So we've talked a lot about the preparation for the race, but, um, the race is coming up not too long from now. What is one thing that you are excited about this year's race?
Speaker 7:It's really going to be pretty similar. I mean, every year it gets bigger. Of late. The last couple of years, like every we seem to get bigger and bigger and we've had at least one year where they say this is what you know, we're comfortable expecting this order, this many bibs, and we get to like Friday, you know, late afternoon, and we're like we're going to run out of bibs.
Speaker 7:Now I'm a timing company so I've always got, you know, my bibs just in case, cause we don't want to turn anybody away. But managing the growth of this race is exciting and also a little bit nerve-wracking, because people overwhelmingly have a great experience here and when they do they go to other people and then it kind of grows, but you don't want it to grow so fast that you get growing pains and you overstretch and things don't go well. Growing pains and you've overstretched and things don't go well. So there's a real like challenging balancing act between, like getting excited about the growth of this race and having more people out here, but also being cognizant that we don't want to grow too fast and not have the same experience that we've had year after year.
Speaker 4:By the way, lexi said it's not too far off. I just looked it up as of the day that this recording releases, you're exactly 100 days away from Expo and 5K day, so there's something to celebrate.
Speaker 6:There's the 5k, the half marathon and the fireman's challenge. Right, if I'm thinking about signing up, how do I do it and when?
Speaker 7:is the last day we can sign up for this race. Signupcom is where we take all the registrations. Now, in this day and age of technology, um, some races have. A lot of races have gone all digital.
Speaker 5:You have to do everything digital.
Speaker 7:Well, it should come as no surprise that, in bird in hand, that day is not coming any day soon. There are a lot of people in the community that do the run and you can see them from the way they're dressed in the race pictures.
Speaker 7:There's a sizable paper registration process that will take place on Friday of race weekend, so you can sign up online. We do have to cut it off about a week and a half out because of the half marathon 5k. We do take mail-in registrations, which a lot of races have gone away from, but this race still does that, just because of the people that are involved so all that data has to come together and we got to get the people bibs, so you got a separate bib.
Speaker 7:If you do the 5k and a half, we don't do a single bib because if we did people would probably lose it after Friday and then we'd have to deal with the replacement. So we do separate bibs. Those have to be brought together, that whole process. So the online registration ends about a week and a half before the race. I don't remember the exact date, but we do take in-person registrations on Friday at the expo. So people that decide I'm going to come and do it, you know last minute, they can just walk up and do it. We strongly encourage people to get there early because you know that 5k starts at 630. If you roll in at 545 and get stuck in the line, the race starts at 630. So it does require that you build in the time to deal with parking and all that goes into it. But yes, you can sign up the day before.
Speaker 4:Get there early, hit up the pasta party, maybe beforehand, and then you'll have no problem making the start of the 5k.
Speaker 2:Nothing like a last minute carbo load for a 5k.
Speaker 2:Well, we want to thank you so much for your time and providing so many Insights to Just an absolutely fabulous Weekend, a weekend that, as you mentioned One of your previous answers, is Growing even within Our rise and run community as well. So, again, john and I will be out there, along with a bunch of our friends, so hopefully we got a chance to give you a good old handshake and share a whoopie pie with you. And thank you for your efforts and again, just thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast.
Speaker 7:Yeah, make sure you do track me down, but do it early, get there early and things get a little crazy late afternoon on Friday, as you know. But definitely want to say hi and hope we get a lot of you out.
Speaker 6:One thing that we forgot to mention, which I thought also that is really great at that event. It's to me it's like, because we're at an Amish country, technology is a little different out there. There's like cell phone service is not as good Like the after party on Friday night with the s'mores and the big fire going. It's like going out camping in the woods and just spending, spending a time and just turning off all technology and reconnecting with nature, which I thought was really cool about that race to that weekend.
Speaker 2:No, you're absolutely right, john. It invokes a lot of special feelings and you know, I know we've talked, you know, offline, about this. You know it's kind of fun to think that Bird in Hand is kind of turning into like Run Disney North, you know, in terms of, you know, the community and the family getting together. You know, like we mentioned in the interview, right now we have 26 Rise and Runners signed up who are participating in some form and fashion for this year's race weekend, in some form and fashion for this year's race weekend. Not to mention there's going to be a ton of people there from the Extra Mile podcast and then, on top of that, the Customized Training Group as well too. So it's just, it's going to be a wonderful family reunion. So if you are one of those people that is not signed up for the Disneyland Halloween weekend and you know Lancaster, pennsylvania, is a manageable travel distance for you Highly highly consider this race.
Speaker 2:I promise you and again, based off of this week's interview, you will not be disappointed in your decision, and if you have any questions at all about the race, feel free to reach out to myself, john Bob or anybody else you know in the Rise and Run community who has participated. We'll be able to give you any and all advice possible.
Speaker 4:There is a group chat for that race.
Speaker 2:I believe. Yes, there is Yep.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you can use that also Very good.
Speaker 2:And then, before we move on to the race report for this week, I just want to give a quick shout out to our friends Kristen and Devin over at the Run Fit Fab podcast. They had me on as their, I guess, first secret surprise guest. I mean, obviously it's not a surprise or a secret anymore, since I'm telling you and the episode's been out for a couple of days. But, um, you know, if you need something outside of rise and run to listen to on your long run this weekend, be sure to go over uh and download and subscribe at the run fit fab podcast. It's always a blast, uh, chatting with the two of them. We talk about favorite memories and favorite foods and hotels and hot takes and everything under the sun. Again, it's a pleasure chatting with the two of them. Podcast turned out great. So again, be sure to subscribe to the Run Fit Fab podcast.
Speaker 4:I think we had them on about their podcast back when we were doing podcasts we listened to, Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean in theory, I think the two of them you know in terms of. You know we always make that joke about the SN as well too, since they're you know both. You know nutritional and run coaches, and you know strength training coaches as well too.
Speaker 4:Right, nice people too, who dropped a really cool Facebook post about being a CEO slash executive director of a magazine and equating that the first 30 days in that position, equating that to a marathon run. She's also a Rise and Runner. She'll be with us next week. We look forward to that. All right, my friends, it's time for the Race Report. Race Report sponsored by our friend, tom Stokes, stoked Metabolic Training, and he happens to be here with us. Hiya, tom, oh, hey, bob, it's good to see you, my friend, it's been a little while. I'm glad you had time to get and join us, so that's great. Glad you have me on, tom. What's new? How are you doing? What's new with you?
Speaker 8:Oh, just just living my best life in the middle of race seasons, feeling the low, and I think that tends to be the case with a lot of people that I'm talking to in the in the run Disney community. They're feeling the low before the, the training kicks in a high gear and a month and change.
Speaker 4:Yep, I think you have nailed it. But what better time than to dedicate a little more time to maybe some strength training, some overall fitness and stuff like that? We talk about it every week, Tom. We talk about the link Stoked Metabolic. I don't have it in front of me here. It's stokedfit slash, rise and run, I think, isn't it? There we go and how the information is pinned to the featured section on our Facebook page. The information is pinned to the featured section on our Facebook page, but it's been a while since we've gone through it in some detail. What's available for our Rise and Run friends right now?
Speaker 8:Well, we've got two options. So first option I'll talk about is the Accelerate, which is our group coaching format. It is a whole lot of Rise and rising runners adding strength to their routine. We meet weekly, we talk fitness, nutrition and a whole lot of run Disney in between. I'd be lying if I said it was all business on the call. It's about 50% fun, maybe 75, sometimes depending on who's on the call, and then, uh, 25% of the other stuff, but basically 24 hour access to me on your fitness and nutrition journey. We dial in your macro macros, help you out with the nutrition side of things and make sure your strength training compliments your run training.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 8:I don't want you. I don't want you squatting 315 pounds a day before a race. Bob Okay, I won't.
Speaker 4:I promise. I promise no worries, all right.
Speaker 8:Uh, the other option, if once a week group calls aren't enough with me is the one-on-one option. We really dial this in around your training schedule. You know, whatever your, your running coach has built out for you, I'm going to take a look at that and build around it. If you've, if you've got a little more on the scale to to dial in, we look at your nutrition on a week to week basis. Look for opportunities. It's a, it's a learning process for people. So we're never going to say, hey, come down to 1200 calories tomorrow If you're, you know, 380 pounds and you've got some to lose. I can't starve you because I want you fueled for your runs, I want you fueled for your workouts and want to make it a sustainable journey for you there you go that's, that's the key.
Speaker 4:And you know, you kind of I'm not going to say joke, but kind of offhanded about how it's 50% fun, but that's uh, that's community building too, and I think that's a part. That's what keeps people coming back.
Speaker 8:I love that community, I get them every Thursday night and it's just so much fun. I have to remember that we have to talk a little health and fitness sometimes on the calls, because sometimes just good catching up with everybody, especially not seeing them, not seeing them in between race seasons, right right.
Speaker 4:And then you get guys like me who disappear for a while and come back, and that's always nice.
Speaker 8:You chopped off a finger, so we'll give you a break.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think I've said this before. I said I had an excuse and then I started looking for excuses. But great program, great program, very worthwhile. I said I had an excuse and then I started looking for excuses. But great program, great program, very worthwhile. I'm back and I'm glad to be back.
Speaker 8:Sometimes you bless us on the calls with an appearance.
Speaker 4:I know, I know Well, thursday nights are our Zoom call night, but it's every other week. So, let's see.
Speaker 8:Try not to make them interrupt.
Speaker 4:No, it's all right, because you are done 30 minutes before we begin.
Speaker 8:Give you just enough break to eat your dinner. It works out.
Speaker 6:So, tom, last time you were on, you were talking about a scholarship for some of our listeners and other people and you said the exclusive is going to be here. When you announce them, do you have the winners?
Speaker 8:You get the exclusive, all right, only because you're my favorite All right, you have the winners and I told myself one six-month one-on-one two, two entries for six months into the group coaching program. If I said three months on that one, you just got a free three months Cause you know it was a holiday weekend and my brain's a little fried. But our big winner, a big winner is Samantha Middlemiss, and I don't think Samantha knows that she was entered in this, but I know she is a listener and the first line says applying on behalf of my friend Samantha. Oh, she can't do it on her own. Okay, even though you weren't the one telling it, I really want to look, I really want to get to know you more and help you get through what you're going through right now and focus on your training for dopey to Dumbo. I will nice knowing that I will be there alongside for those races kind of spoke to me. So I would love to just see at the finish line on both of those feeling confident and crushing it.
Speaker 4:Dopey to Dumbo for time this year too, huh.
Speaker 8:Oh yeah, all right, that was a decision made on a cruise ship, that Dumbo one.
Speaker 4:These things happen After a few beverages, perhaps.
Speaker 8:It was the night the morning after it said oh, there's a cruise ship now, what is that? Let's do it All right. And then back to our. So I said two, let's go with three. Jan Stoke and I'm probably pronouncing her. This was another one where her daughter told her you need to apply with this.
Speaker 8:And just what she wrote, you know spoke to me she said you know, after my daughter's been working with you since the past transformation challenge, seeing her change her life and get healthier and drop I want to say it was 40 pounds. Oh nice, let's get mom involved, because that is a struggle I had for years convincing my mom to live a healthier lifestyle, and it took two grandchildren to get her there. So if, angela, if your mom is down she is in Jan, you are in nice. There you go. Another awesome one Tiffany Embry yes, his name, and this was like an, like god, I want to pick you to win, because she's in every race and just is constantly telling me how she's working on herself and getting better and the finish line keeps moving for Tiffany. So I was like I just want to keep her on that journey and keep her going. So, tiff, I can't wait to see you at Wine and Dine. I hope I see you beforehand.
Speaker 4:So there's our scholarship winners. Huh, All right.
Speaker 8:I said I was making a third one. Oh, oh, Throwing in an extra in here tonight, Wow a bonus. So, Kelly Hammond, you are in just another awesome story. I don't want to share too much people's personal information, but just, Kelly, your story got me and the hard thing about doing these giveaways. I did it because it was my five-year anniversary of Stoked Metabolic One year just being with you guys and knowing everybody, and I was like let's give something a little back. And I might have cried reading through some of these yeah it's all right man, that's all right.
Speaker 4:I think that's why I love run disney. That's I do. I. Yes, sir, I do love run disney, love this family.
Speaker 1:It's awesome well, congratulations to all of those winners. So, tom, what is up for next, and when can we expect to see you next?
Speaker 8:When can you expect to see? I mean, well, I'm registered for like every race and, yeah, except Halloween, which every time telegram goes off, I almost make a poor financial decision. But I feel like you're asking more, more towards um, the health and fitness thing, and I get this question on every one of our group calls, every single one of the group calls. When the heck is the next transformation challenge? And we are recording this on Tuesday. That means I have to have my website live by Thursday, but I know you all love holiday weekend, so July 7th will be the next one Great Eight week challenge, which puts us ending right before Labor Day.
Speaker 8:Oh, perfect, keep you accountable during the summer. And the first 20 people that sign up through the Rise and Run link will get a one-on-one call prior to dial in their goals and a check-in call midway through. So, while it is primarily a group program, first 20 to sign up are going to get a free. Let's set you off on the right foot. All right, and I just came out with that right now because I've had a lot of caffeine today and you guys just put me in a good mood, good.
Speaker 4:All right, what's the fee for the challenge Tom?
Speaker 8:It is through Rise and Run $47 for the eight weeks.
Speaker 4:Guys, it's a great deal. Honest to goodness, it's a great deal. Normally $97. Yeah, it really is Very normally 97. Yeah, it really is very, very, very worthwhile. Uh, help you on your cross training. It's a help you on your overall fitness. I I don't I'm candidly, I don't take enough advantage of Tom and the metabolic part of the training, the strength training. I I'm pretty good at sticking with the metabolic.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we need to, tom, we need to. I packed on a couple pounds that I don't need, so we'll work on that. But we'll do that. We'll do that in another forum, my friend, make it happen. Well, tom, thanks for joining us. My friend, it is always a pleasure. We always love seeing you here. Come back anytime. But, more specifically, let's plan on coming back in early July when the challenge kicks off, and we'll get that started officially. Sound good, let's do it All right. All right, tom, thanks. Thank you guys.
Speaker 4:All right, looking at this week's races, I'm going to go back to an old report that Daniel left us, and I'm going to do it because Daniel ran with his daughter, catherine, who's 10 years old, and she ran her first 5k. This was a week ago at the Mental Health Matters 5k in Charlotte. She worked really hard, stuck to all the training that her coach that would be dad laid out for her, and she's already asking to run another race in the fall. So, catherine, your first 5K. You know what that is, kids. That's a PR. The next one I'm never sure what day this race occurs, and I usually give our friends who put this in a little bit of grief, because if you're posting about the Castaway Cay 5K. I'm not so sure you're so much giving us a race report as you're going. Neener, neener, I was on the Disney trip and you weren't. We had a couple friends this week, rebecca and Alicia. Alicia, how are things at the Castaway 5K these days?
Speaker 1:Well, it's been a number of years since I did it, so it was a little bit different. Um, the last time that I did a race on the island was actually an organized one with Marathon Weekend, but even signing up on the ship was how you did it before. So I made my way off the ship early in the morning and went all the way to the bike rental, which is where you sign up now. So if you have a Disney cruise coming up, that's where you have to go. And I asked the lady for a refresher on the course, which I'll get to a point on that in a second but I should have listened to her a little bit more closely because I messed up.
Speaker 4:A lot of people do.
Speaker 1:But they had a water jug sitting right there to start and it was ice cold water. So I drank a little bit of water, took a selfie and started on my way. And so I was going along and I was point like not even point one into the run and I got to a intersection and there was a sign and the sign pointed to the left and so I followed the path down the left and I went this is not the airstrip we used to run on like well, she didn't say it was different, but maybe it is got all the way down.
Speaker 1:There was a guy, um a worker guy that was on a where those like a tractor? Yeah, and he was like you took the wrong turn. I'm like what? So I added like 0.15 to my mileage, not that big of a deal. Went back down, fixed the sign so nobody else had the problem.
Speaker 4:And went on my way. How philanthropic, that's nice Right.
Speaker 6:You know, horror movies start that way.
Speaker 1:It's a lot faster to get to Serenity Bay that way, but anyway it was really fun, but really really hot.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, it's hot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was very grateful for those water stations. I definitely utilized them going both directions. But it was a special day for me because before we went on the cruise, I looked at the date I have it written on the bib from my first ever 5K, which I also did at Castaway Cay, and it was the same date in 2013.
Speaker 1:So it was 12 years to the day that I did my first ever 5K and so I was kind of emotional during the race quote-unquote race like right because all of the things that have happened since I made that decision to do that 5k have really impacted where I am in my life, and so it was really special. I did try to beat my time. That I did all those years ago. I missed it by a couple of minutes. It's not the big of deal. It was very hot. Coming from Minnesota I was not used to that.
Speaker 4:Right, very true.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was really, really fun and I got a medal that I haven't gotten that type of medal at the Castaway Key 5Ks before oh okay so yeah, I was really happy with how the experience went and there was a bunch of other runners that were out there and we gave each other encouraging words and, yeah it was, it was just a nice time.
Speaker 2:And I made my way back to the ship, ate some breakfast and then went and explored the island years to the day.
Speaker 1:Do you have another cruise booked for May of 2037? I don't think they're booking out that far yet, but I will put it on my calendar and make sure to do that.
Speaker 2:Who knows?
Speaker 1:By that point, disney Cruise Line could have like 20 ships and four private islands.
Speaker 6:Right, yeah, I would like to do one at lookout k once they have theirs actually set up and
Speaker 4:not do it the tony way, tony way, right tony way, yes, the illegal way yes, our friend rebecca did the did it also, but she wasn't on the same cruise as you was she?
Speaker 1:I don't believe so.
Speaker 4:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I did see a number of people out there running, but I didn't recognize anybody and nobody said anything to me.
Speaker 4:Okay, All right, well, very good Thanks, it's a nice update. Yeah, it certainly has changed a whole lot since we did it years ago.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But they're still doing them. So that's neat and if you get a chance to do it and you want to let us all know that you were on a disney cruise and we weren't, go ahead and put it in radio report and I promise we'll bring it up. I'm going to move on to friday and we this was a rare, unique event Our friend Adam was celebrating his 46th birthday.
Speaker 2:In the most sane way possible.
Speaker 4:Yes, the Pinellas Trail runs not far from my house. Adam lives over in Tampa so I offered him the opportunity to come stay over here. He made his own plans. There is a Pinellas Trail race but it's in the fall. But Adam's birthday isn't in the fall.
Speaker 4:The Pinellas Trail race is a 46-mile event. Adam decided he wanted to do the 46 event on Friday and he did. Let me tell you, friends, it was well. It was hot period. It was hot, the uh. The good news was the humidity was a little lower than normal. But the bad news was associated with that, the ultraviolet effect, whatever you see it in the weather forecast or weather report. The sun just was brutal. There were no clouds in the sky. There is some shade in the first half Now. Adam started at about 515 in the morning. Sunrise here is about 6.45. So he had a little bit of time before the sun came up and then the trail is somewhat shaded for a while. But once he got to about marathon distance in the northern part of the trail, he did 26 miles. Then he went up and then turned around and came back to finish at 46 miles. Those last 20 miles were just rough, but by golly he did it. He did it and he picked up a family friend at the 26-mile mark approximately and he and Chris ran the last 20 together. I was hop skipping, jumping ahead, providing ice and whatever they needed, but it was impressive. So, adam, congratulations. And and this is significant, he did this 46 mile event before this year. He PR'd. All right, let's continue.
Speaker 4:On Saturday in Chicago, illinois, the Soldier Field 10-mile and 10K event. Jennifer was there, did the 10-mile run, said the views and finishing in Soldier Field, home field for the Chicago Bears was amazing, in honor of those that have served this race, partners with the Road Home Program to bring awareness and support to that program's mission. Big weekend in Buffalo, new York, the Buffalo Marathon weekend. A couple friends running Amy. Amy did the 5k. Not a big 5k fan Amy isn't but she noticed that her paces on five mile and 10k runs were faster than 5k. So she decided it was time to go back and do a 5k. What better than one in her hometown? So she did the 5k for the first time in a long time. Weather was cool, just about perfect, and in fact she did establish a new PR in the 5k by two and a half minutes in the 5k by two and a half minutes. Michelle was there. Michelle ran a PR a sub 230. That's a 26 minute PR. Couldn't have asked for a better crowd, better race support and better runners with her. Buffalo is a true all-American city. Fun fact, if the crowd starts cheering extra hard at the end and you can hear them they might be cheering for the marathon leader who's finishing at the same time and not you. I don't know, michelle. I think they might have been cheering for you too. Let's see Stacey ran the marathon, completed those 26.2 miles with a PR of seven minutes faster than her last marathon. So she definitely wanted to ring that bell. And you got another bell here too, stacey. Great job, timothy.
Speaker 4:Another marathoner. Long-time Rise and Run listener. First-time race reporter. Every marathon he's run up to now has been a pr. This was no exception. Perfect weather says there's a mural in buffalo that says keep buffalo a secret and he thinks the marathon course reveals why that's so just a gorgeous course. Official time was 4.23. That's a 31-minute PR from his last marathon at Disney in January, justin. Justin did his first marathon. Well, that's another PR. Knocked it out in five hours and 20 minutes. That's a great time for a first marathon, justinin, great support on the course from the local community, the volunteers and his wife and daughter, and then in the comments section from other race reports, kelly and chris both commented that they were also at the event in Buffalo, in Louisville, ohio. It's probably Louisville Ohio. It's Louisville, kentucky. It's probably Louisville. Anyway, the Ray R-A-E. Ray of Sunshine 5K, lori did it, still cold in Northeast Ohio. Well, golly, enjoy it, lori.
Speaker 2:No, she's not wrong. I mean this weekend at one point I was in a sweatshirt and sweatpants in Memorial.
Speaker 4:Day weekend.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it hasn't officially hit you just yet. It's coming, I know it's coming, it's coming.
Speaker 6:We had a little sneak peek today.
Speaker 4:Yeah a little bit. Yeah, so Laurie says the race requested that everyone wear their race shirt, which is a little unusual. Lori's gym boss was sitting on the table at home, so she had to use a timer on her phone for her intervals. This is a post-knee replacement. 5k PR for Lori. Good for you, Lori, Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Wait, I want to go back to this wear the race shirt thing first. Yeah, I mean, like we all know in, like you know, the running circles, that that's bad luck. Like, did this race also feature a ton of black cats and running underneath?
Speaker 6:ladders. I would guess it's something like when they do like a whiteout at a sporting event. Yeah, I think that's what they're going for, oh, okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think they were going for that. In fact, I think Lori commented on how colorful it was to see everybody in their bright-naked colored race shirts. Pretty neat. Yeah, you're right, and I think it's different here in the US than it is in Europe. I think it's more common in Europe. I think I remember our friend Laura telling us that it was fairly common to see people wearing the race shirts. We're over here not so much. Oh, you do see it sometimes.
Speaker 4:Let's go up to Alberta, canada, where Melissa Leanne with her boys Landon and Austin did the Popcorn Run 5K on a beautiful morning they ran with Melissa's friend Monica and her family. Really great morning. It was a fun morning and the boys liked the metal, the popcorn at the end and the lemonade. In Chestertown, maryland, the Chestertown Tea Party distance race. Brianna a 10-miler fun little out-and-back country road, small-town race. Just a couple of hundred people running the 10-miler. Fun little out-and-back country road, small town race. Just a couple of hundred people running the 10-miler. She signed up for this one, she says, after a disappointing broad street run. But this was a much better day. Brianna got a four-minute PR Up in Cedarburg, wisconsin, the Cedarburg Half Marathon.
Speaker 4:Noelle with her seven year old son Maxon, second time doing a 5k, but Maxon's first time receiving a medal, not a PR, but Maxon loved hearing his name as he crossed the finish line. You like hearing it on the podcast too, buddy, I hope you do. Uh, they stuck around ate some pancakes, waited for her husband, ben, as he completed the half. Ben had a and I like I like the way she phrased this. Ben had a PB because he's from Wales, so he didn't have a PR, he had a PB. Do we have a PB bell, greg?
Speaker 2:You know days I'll get a British-sounding monorail.
Speaker 4:Sounds an awful lot like the PR bell Actually here we go.
Speaker 2:I have an idea. If you are subscribing to the idea of the PB, maybe we'll do the Skyliner tone as opposed to the monorail tone, so maybe that can be our delineation there, you're the man, but three minutes personal best for Ben.
Speaker 4:Great job. Traverse City, michigan. The Bayshore 10K half and full. A couple of folks there. Adrian ran the full, ran strong and smart, used intervals, finished in under four hours and 50 minutes. Very good, gorgeous course, amazing volunteers and what really helped and we hear this almost every week the amazing holler hypes from the Rise and Run family. Best part of this for Adrienne, looking over just as she's about to cross the finish line seeing her baby girl's face light up as she was cheering and clapping for her mama. Nicole was there around the half, set out for a proof of time in PR, got them both A PR and a proof of time. That's the first time a POT for Nicole since having kids, but she's even faster now. Official time 2 hours 21 minutes. A little bit of a mix-up with race pacers, but a great course. Beautiful weather, most sparkling, clean porta-potties worth noting, pretty metal, lots of crowd support, great volunteers. Gina ran the half. Gina not as prepared as she wanted to be due to a string of injuries, but she did finish. Good for you, gina. Don't force yourself back after those injuries, just stay within yourself. Beautiful, flat course. She took some great photos of this course.
Speaker 4:Greenville, south Carolina, had to take flight 5K. Lauren was there. Great way for a teacher to kick off the first day of summer break. Outstanding Weather, was splendid, great turnout. They started with some special forces paratroopers presenting the US colors, airborne style and, according to the chip timing, which is all that matters, a PR in the 5K for Lauren.
Speaker 4:The Texas hometown 5K was in San Antonio. Joseph was there. It was hot, humid and hilly, the deadly three H's, but he kept steady with his pace and knocked out a sub 60 10K. Finished second in his age group. Great job. The award included a special pin that attached to the medal. First time Joseph's placed in a race in 12 years. Congratulations, joseph Tracy ran the Ole Ole 5K in Winter Springs, florida. Yeah, hot and humid, the rain held off for the race. When it gets like that, tracy, I almost wish it was rain, wasn't a PR, but a good, solid run that earned her second place in her age group. They had one of those podiums, you know the three-level podium. I'm glad they don't have those near me, I'd fall I got to say I loved her photos.
Speaker 2:It had such a unique finish line yeah, the sugar skull that you essentially ran through its mouth. I thought that was awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Definitely a lot more theming than the Monopoly race that we had talked about the other week with our buddy Allie without an A?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it sure was. Knoxville, tennessee, the Knoxville Expo 10K. Jimmy, weather was amazing. Jimmy missed his PR by a minute. Melanie was there too and said it was a great race. We had one weekend long event. It was up with our neighbors to the north, up in Ottawa, canada, and we are delighted that Marina is here with us to talk about the Ottawa International Marathon weekend. Marina, hi, thanks for joining us and welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Hi, it's great to see you. I'm so happy to be here. Have you calmed down at all?
Speaker 3:Taking it easy today, trying to get the recovery in, but yeah, it was a challenging weekend.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was afraid maybe you had scared your husband when you were yelling last night when I sent you that message.
Speaker 3:He thought that something was happening with the kids. He came up like what's going on and couldn't understand why I was so excited. And then he's like oh, it's that podcast you love listening to in the car. And the kids know the podcast too, because they know on the day it comes out that mom needs to listen to her podcast while she's driving, when I'm driving the kids to school, so they, they are fans as well.
Speaker 4:I absolutely love that. I get that from a lot of young families and it tickles me to no end. I really do. Well, hey look, we're glad you're excited and we're glad you're here. This sounds like it was a pretty neat event. It went Saturday and Sunday right.
Speaker 5:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:And you had two races on Saturday.
Speaker 3:Exactly yeah, the 5K and the 10K, both which were in the late afternoon, early evening.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, which is a challenge, you know, with the limited recovery time, because my half marathon was Sunday morning at 9am.
Speaker 4:Oh, that is pretty. It is pretty quick turnaround Now 5k first or 10k first 5k first 5k first and then did you have much time in between the five and the 10?
Speaker 3:A good amount of time. Enough time to change into another running costume in true run Disney form.
Speaker 4:Atta girl, what kind of costumes did you wear?
Speaker 3:My husband said the tiara probably wouldn't be appropriate for a non-Disney race, but I did have three different running tutus, one for each of the events, lots of glitter, glitter lips and some sparkly headbands.
Speaker 4:Very nice.
Speaker 6:Heart-shaped sunglasses.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, one in red and one in pink. The red ones were for the Saturday events.
Speaker 4:Glitter lips, John. Yeah, I've done glitter lips. I have not, so one time, one time I think it's going to be one and done for those, but yeah, they're special. Um, so how did those? How did the Saturday races go? What was the weather like? How was the course? How did the races go for you?
Speaker 3:So the nice thing about this race weekend is the different distances. All are different courses, so there's no repeating different segments. Well, that's great yeah, so it was cool. A little bit of mist in the air, um, beautiful courses. Uh, 5k took us running along parliament, which is like our capital building.
Speaker 4:Oh sure.
Speaker 3:The 10K took us sort of down the Rideau Canal which is fun fact, the world's largest outdoor skating rink, how about that? And sort of looped back around sort of one side of the Rideau Canal, over the bridge, the other side and back to the finish line. So everything you know. The city's in bloom we have. We just finished our tulip festival, so tons of flowers, beautiful course, cool temperatures which was great and wonderful courses.
Speaker 4:Lovely. Yeah, I knew about Ottawa being the capital and the parliament building, and all that Didn't know about the world's largest skating rink.
Speaker 6:So there you go.
Speaker 4:I learned something that's cool. So what time did you finish up Saturday evening?
Speaker 3:My corral left the tent at 6.46 pm. I ran with my husband, so I ran a bit slower than I would have normally and I was trying to save some energy for the next day. Uh, it took us probably an hour, just over an hour for the 10k that's solid yeah, and then each race bib for the 10k and for all the longer distances comes with a free beer on the bib, like a little coupon.
Speaker 3:So understand, yeah you don't get a character photo, distances comes with a free beer on the bib like a little coupon. I understand, yeah, you don't get a character photo but you get a free beer at the end. So that was nice. We hung out a bit it was a nice sort of party atmosphere afterwards and then headed home so I could sort of rest and get ready for the big event the next day.
Speaker 4:You live in the general area, then, of Ottawa.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I live in Ottawa. I'm not a native Ottawa person. I'm from Montreal originally.
Speaker 4:That's not far away, is it?
Speaker 3:Not too far away at all, but we moved here a couple years ago. It's actually been five years.
Speaker 4:So you ran with your husband for the 5k and he slowed you down.
Speaker 3:But he was telling me that he was trying to help me pace so that I go too quickly and then, you know, lose steam for the next day. So that.
Speaker 6:That is a, that is a man. Move right bob I think so.
Speaker 4:Let's give him a shout out. Marina, what's your husband's name, please?
Speaker 3:raj raj yeah raj.
Speaker 4:congratulations, raj. We're proud of you for pacing the wife for that 10K and we understand that you had to back off a little bit. So we get it, john, and I get it, buddy. Yeah, all right. So you get done Saturday and then you're back on Sunday for the half. Now I'm going to ask you the same thing and tell me about the half, but this was called an international marathon, ottawa International, I think. At least that's what I copied.
Speaker 3:Exactly yeah, we actually had a US runner finish third, I believe, in the full marathon. He actually just ran Boston a few weeks ago.
Speaker 4:So lots of elite runners running both the full distance and the 10k yeah, we were kind of curious why it was an international, because otto was not close enough to the us to run through both countries. So that would be quite the ultra if we did that, I think it's a straight run.
Speaker 6:I don't know if it's even straight. It's 26 miles. I don't even think, oh yeah no, no, no, I don't think.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, I mean it's no uh-uh, um, all right, so I've kind of interrupted you, marina, tell us about this half marathon so the weather was lovely, not not too warm, but, uh, lots of sun.
Speaker 3:um again. Amazing course ran through both ont, which is the province where Ottawa is located, sure, and then on the Quebec side, in Gatineau, across two bridges in the back, okay. Very Canadian, you're cheered in both English and in French. Well, there's the international part.
Speaker 4:There you go, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:You hear people yelling things like which means go go go in French and holding signs up that say you know, run like there's a poutine at the finish line.
Speaker 4:That's perfect.
Speaker 3:Very Canadian.
Speaker 4:Get you a Molson's at the finish line.
Speaker 3:No, we actually had a local beer company Beyond the Pale, which is a local company brewery that was sponsoring the event. Okay, so yeah, tons, tons of crowd support. I was really surprised this was sort of my first non Disney big marathon and just so many crowds cheering us on, and I think someone had mentioned almost like 200,000 spectators along for the whole weekend, sort of cheering people on different neighborhoods, people would be handing out freebies and snacks, setting up misting stations, so just really wonderful crowd support which kept me going.
Speaker 4:And despite running 15 kilometers a day before you knocked out a proof of time in the half, didn't you?
Speaker 3:I did. I hope it gets me into a good corral in the marathon in january, but managed to make it.
Speaker 6:It was 207, yeah 59, so just under 208 minutes yeah yeah, that'll get you a good corral, that's definitely b I think I would.
Speaker 3:I hope so because I have another backup race planned in a few weeks, on Father's Day, just in case, a smaller race, not in Ottawa, you're in Quebec, you're my parents' cottage, just as a backup. But very proud that I was able to finish after running those 15K on Saturday.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you did great, you really did.
Speaker 6:It was the warm-up, that's all it was.
Speaker 5:It was the warm-up.
Speaker 6:That's all it was. It was the warm-up.
Speaker 3:For some reason, though, challenges don't seem to be very popular at this race. I mean, out of all those 36,000 runners, only 250 did this particular challenge, wow, wow, which is unusual because I hear, you know, everyone hears about Dopey and the Goofy Challenge and it's like so such a big part of run Disney culture and not a big thing here.
Speaker 4:That's interesting Because I go to other. I go to other weekends stateside and if they have challenges they're popular. Yeah, so that's interesting. So you had a great race weekend, but your big weekend wasn't over. You got to see a visitor yesterday, didn't you?
Speaker 3:Yes, once in a lifetime opportunity. So I had planned Monday off. I canceled clinic. I had no patients booked. I was going to rest, recover, maybe go to the spa, and my hubby said, well, the king's in town, maybe we should go.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Once in a lifetime thing. Yeah, we went downtown and he was visiting a local farmer's. That was. The plan for Monday was to visit a local farmer's market, sort of meet with community members. Drop a. There was a street hockey game going on. He dropped the ceremonial puck so we went, got this amazing spot right along these metal dividers they had set up and it wasn't quite clear where he was going to go along. That blocked off space. But he, like, came sort of right in front of those metal dividers standing, didn't get to shake his hands. The people next to us did, but I didn't know, that.
Speaker 6:That's close.
Speaker 3:So close he did. I think he did hear me. I yelled quite loud, because he kind of looked back and waved it's just so special because I mean it's a big deal, it's a big deal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you got a great photo.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, I sent it to all my family members and saying look who we saw today. And very special. My kids didn't believe it, but then when we were watching the news later that night kind of zoomed in, screenshotted it and showed them like hey, there's mom and dad, like right there. The King and our prime minister was there as well.
Speaker 4:Of course, yeah, yeah it was actually a runner.
Speaker 3:Fun fact, ran the London marathon back in 2015.
Speaker 4:Your PM did huh.
Speaker 3:Our PM did. He actually was on the course cheering the elite group of runners on the full marathon and I guess the first few corrals of the full like cheering them on yeah, that is cool much. Running culture is such a big part of our city well, marina, sounds like a great weekend.
Speaker 4:I appreciate you joining us to tell us about it. What's ahead for you now and when will we see you at Disney again?
Speaker 3:So I'm registered for the Disney full marathon. My husband's registered along with me, so he's going to start training using Jeff's plan. We actually got to meet Jeff at the expo and he inspired my husband to sign up for this full marathon. So that's the next Disney race and then I have a local race in Lake Brome, quebec, scheduled a half marathon on Father's Day.
Speaker 4:Cool, that sounds great. That sounds great. Well, marina, once again, thanks for joining us. Thanks for sharing your story of a really great weekend, king sighting and all that was terrific and we look forward to seeing you in January.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much. This is wonderful Bucket list talking to you guys.
Speaker 4:We love it. We love it, Marina Thanks.
Speaker 6:Bucket list. She meets the king and we're a bucket list.
Speaker 4:I know I'm dropping the mic on that one, john. Continuing now. On Sunday in Edinburgh, scotland, the Edinburgh Marathon Festival Half Marathon. Jennifer Jennifer said during the race the winds were sustained in the double digits and reached gusts in the 30 to 40 mile per hour range. Yikes, a headwind. For the last two miles added nearly a minute per mile. Yeah, I absolutely understand that. But still, despite the weather and all the travel, she finished this half marathon in an hour 40. That's an 18-minute course PR and an indication of how far her running has come in the last six years. A beautiful race, and she had one of her all-time top cheer squads at the finish line. I saw the photos. I think it was Jennifer's sister, niece and nephew, but I'm not positive.
Speaker 4:Madison, wisconsin Tracy did the Run. Madtown Half Beautiful course. She went to college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, so it was really fun to see some of the sites. That brought back bunches of memories Great weather, not a lot in terms of crowd support, a couple of absolutely awful hills. Otherwise a great race, though Went out way too fast, as she usually does, but about mile 10, knew she had a good shot at her goal for this race. Came in on this half at just a little over two hours and 14 minutes under her two hour and 15 minute goal. A new pot and a new pr by five and a half minutes.
Speaker 4:Down in buenos aires, argentina, the fiestas mayas 10K. Our buddy, jj, was there. Now Memorial Day in the US is the unofficial start of summer. That means it's the unofficial revolution. It's Revolution Day in Argentina. I don't know if they call that the unofficial start of winter down there or not, but of course the seasons are flip-flopped. It's a classic race and this year it brought in over 10,000 runners. Course is known to be one of the fastest in Buenos Aires. It tracks a strong field including elite athletes. Give you an idea of the level of the elite athletes. The winner clocked in in under 29 minutes for a 10K. Jj was at the start early. He was able to get lined up towards the front of the field. He settled in early, kind of played a mental game of trying to catch the next runner. He finished with a PR of 39 minutes and 30 seconds for this 10K Outstanding JJ. Congratulations of 39 minutes and 30 seconds for this 10k outstanding jj, congratulations.
Speaker 4:The run to remember half marathon was in boston. Rachel and ken rachel says this run was fantastic with perfect running weather, possibly her favorite course that she's run, but you saw so many great parts of boston. Also great to see so many first responders running the race and cheering. Mike was there. Mike says one of his slowest tasks just didn't get in the training. That's fine. Mike Still managed to secure a new proof of time for Disney, as his past one had aged out. All in all, a good day with great weather, as his past one had aged out. All in all, a good day with great weather, interesting course and a giant medal. And of course, monday was Memorial Day in the US so he had some runs.
Speaker 4:Rob was in Ridgewood, new Jersey, for the Ridgewood Run Perfect weather, the best he's felt running in quite some time. Started out a little fast I'll never learn, says Rob, but as the miles clicked off I was feeling pretty good, had negative splits. The last two miles Finished with what he calls a respectable 52.30. I call it an outstanding 52.30, rob. Way to go. Sharon was in Ashburn, virginia, for the Ringing in Hope a salute to our troops.
Speaker 4:10k on Memorial Day. Signed up for it just before the last one, so because it was last minute, she missed the fact that they were using 10-year age groups and no medals. Boo, she planned an easy run, played with her intervals a bunch, trying to find the best race option. Best part on this one was her boys coming out to cheer. She ran a strong and outstanding 51-minute pace for this 10K. Mel did the Memorial Day 5K in Green Cove Springs, florida. About 50 people showed up, two water stops, even a doggy water stop. The heat kind of got to her, reminded her that she'll be on the treadmill for the foreseeable future. Mel, I understand. The Boulder Boulder 10K occurred in Boulder, of course. Boulder, colorado, kenda did it, 50,000 other runners. This fun race finishes with a lap around Folsom Field on the University of Colorado campus. Lots of community support, lots of entertainment on the course.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Boulder, boulder, did anybody see the video of the finish of Connor Mance winning, winning that 10k?
Speaker 4:I did not greg it.
Speaker 2:It's impressive. I mean he's probably a good coming into the home stretch, maybe like I. I think that the race announcer said like four to five seconds behind the leader and there was even like a slight uphill heading into the stadium and he just puts on some jets.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And I mean it wasn't photo finish. I mean he won by like a half a second, but to gain that much ground in such a short amount of time was really impressive.
Speaker 4:That is. That sounds really impressive. It sure does. So let's finish the race report in Weston, florida, where Robbie did the Memorial Day Classic 5K, 37th running of this race. He's in South Florida. It was hot and humid. Of course it was. The final mile of this race features the Soldier's Mile, where pictures of fallen servicemen and women are posted along the course. And there we have it, friends. The race report for episode 192. All right, my friend, and if you run you know you are our friend. That's it for episode 192 of the Rise and Run podcast. For episode 192 of the Rise and Run podcast, as I said at the top of the episode, as we approach 200, if you'd like to give us a call, leave us about a 30-second message that we can play for episode 200. 727-266-2344 is the number. We hope you'll do that. No Zoom this week. We'll be back on the Zoom call next week. It's hot in a lot of places. It's going to get hotter. Go easy, have fun, happy running.
Speaker 2:The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer.
