Rise and Run
Rise and Run
198: Full of Helium and Insight: A Chat with runDisney's Balloon Ladies
The iconic Balloon Ladies return to the podcast, sharing the story behind runDisney's most recognizable pace team. Molly and Kathleen pull back the curtain on what it really means to maintain the critical 16-minute pace that determines whether runners complete their Disney race journey or face the dreaded sweep.
Their fascinating origin story begins with dollar store balloons and evolves into a runDisney institution that combines precision pacing with compassionate support. Discover how they sync watches with race officials, navigate crowded courses, and use everything from dad jokes to Disney songs to keep struggling runners motivated. You'll learn why they're not the ones who sweep runners (contrary to popular belief) and gain invaluable advice for staying ahead of them on race day.
The episode also breaks down the newly revealed Springtime Surprise Weekend themes featuring Zootopia, Winnie the Pooh, and Inside Out. The hosts debate costume ideas and race strategies for this unique April event that culminates in the inaugural Rise and Run Cruise.
We spotlight the Dragon Master Initiative charity team, which funds pediatric cancer research through runDisney charity bibs, and share an extensive roundup of July 4th race reports from listeners nationwide—including a memorable flooded course in St. Petersburg where runners waded through knee-deep water while lightning flashed overhead. This episode delivers essential runDisney insights you won't find anywhere else.
Rise and Run Links
Rise and Run Podcast Facebook Page
Rise and Run Podcast Instagram
Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching (Mention Rise And Run and get $10 off)
Rise and Run Podcast is supported by our audience. When you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Sponsor Links
Magic Bound Travel
Stoked Metabolic Coaching
Rise and Run Podcast Cruise Interest Form with Magic Bound Travel
Affiliate Links
Rise and Run Amazon Affiliate Web Page
Kawaiian Pizza Apparel
GoGuarded
3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.
Speaker 3:Hi, this is Riley and you're listening to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 4:Who in the world was Greg? Who the heck was that?
Speaker 1:Oh, some random kid, john, found on the side of the road. Did you wake her up to do that live? No, in theory she had been awake for several hours because, if you remember, we got woken up by the fire alarm at Animal Kingdom. Lodge the morning before the 5K. So we were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that morning.
Speaker 4:Nice. Well, friends, that's Greg's daughter, riley, with our introduction to episode 198 of the Rise and Run podcast. Thanks for joining us. We're so glad that you're here. By the way, we're out of intros again, so when John gives you that phone number here in just a little bit you can call us. You've been calling it to leave us episode 200 messages. You can call it to leave us an intro. Friends, welcome, I'm Bob, and this week for episode 198, I'm here with Jack.
Speaker 3:Hiya.
Speaker 4:With Craig hey, hey, hey. With Alicia, hello. And with John hey Bob. How you doing? So far, so good, john, I appreciate it. Friends, this week we continue down the path of revisiting with old friends of the podcast, the Balloon Ladies, molly and Kathleen. Return you don't want to miss that. That's a lot of fun. Return, you don't want to miss that. That's a lot of fun. Race Report Spotlight's going to take a vacation this week because we had a holiday and, by golly, I didn't remember this many races on July 4th. But, friends, you never disappoint. You lit up the race reports on Facebook so we got a bunch of them. Too many July 4 races to do a spotlight this week. We'll return to the race report spotlight next week.
Speaker 2:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share it with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share you're in your run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have any questions, comments, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 6:We also want to thank our Patreons, whose support helps us keep the rise and run podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the patreon team, go ahead and check out patreoncom slash rise and run podcast the rise and run podcast is sponsored by our friends over at magic bound travel.
Speaker 1:I. I know we're getting ready to gear up for the run Disney season but, believe it or not, dave recording Disney themselves announced all of the wonderful things that are want to be able to celebrate that down at Walt Disney World with whether that's the Candlelight Processional or a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party or the new Jollywood Nights. If you want to be able to do any of those things maybe just after Wine and Dine this year, but before Marathon Weekend be sure to visit our friends over at magic bound travel. Magic bound travelcom is the website they can get you that free, no obligation quote. Be sure to go check them out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, good point, greg, you know. You know what I just did. Next July 4th is the nation's 250th birthday. I thought Disney World would be a great place to see the fireworks for 250. So I reserved a room for next July.
Speaker 4:Another thing I wanted to remind our friends about. You know we haven't talked much about the cruise lately. You know we haven't talked much about the cruise lately, but those of you who are going on the cruise and Alicia and I were talking about this earlier you don't absolutely have to have a passport, and if you want to see the requirements for traveling without a passport, they're on the Royal Caribbean site. But it's a lot easier if you have one Now. Ours expired this spring and I went online to renew them and golly, I heard all the horror stories about how long it takes. They took about 10 days and they're in the mail already. I expect to get them this week. Nevertheless, if you're traveling and you want to look at your passport, now's the time to take care of that. Don't let that go, because next thing you know you'll be at the last minute and having to pay for the expedited service.
Speaker 4:Let us take a look at the trading calendar. We are looking at the Disneyland Halloween and we look at the challenge race numbers. Hey, disneyland Halloween fans and friends, you're eight weeks away from starting next run Disney season. You're in training week number 10. And if you're doing the challenge, you've got to double up this weekend two miles followed by nine and a half miles. Two mile walk, nine and a half run, walk at long run pace, wine and Dine. 15 weeks away, training week number three your long run this weekend is three miles Still early in that training schedule.
Speaker 4:And for the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend yeah, we're 26 weeks away that's right half a year away from the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. This is training week number two. World Marathon weekend this is training week number two. Again, we're giving you the numbers from the experienced runner training plans that Run Disney has. If you are doing the marathon, the experienced runner schedule has a seven mile long run this weekend and if you're doing dopey, it's got a four mile long run. Now, like I said last week, I haven't figured that out yet, but as we go forward I think it'll make more sense. So, since we're talking training, we're well into it now. We're training for those three events and we're into the second week of marathon training. How's it going, friends?
Speaker 7:So I actually haven't been running Um after I got back from the cruise and did the Castaway Key 5k um, I've been having some back problems. So I have been just trying to work with my body and seeing where I'm at um and slowly getting back into it. So for about the last month I've consistently been doing yoga every day. I've only missed like a couple days here and there and I've been trying to get back into walking. And so what's today, tuesday? So yesterday I did a 45 minute walk and it went okay. I didn't have any back pain. I'm going to go again tomorrow tomorrow and hope that it goes okay, and if I can get all three walks, I'm hoping that maybe next week I can run it a little bit and things will be okay. But my message to everybody is if you're having something that's going on, just be patient with your body. I know it's hard, but it's better to be patient and do what it can do than try and do too much and get hurt worse.
Speaker 4:So yeah, patience is key. I like to tell friends who are recovering from injuries do not measure your progress in days. Measure it in weeks. Weeks rather than days, month rather than weeks. Progress is not linear. You're going to improve and then you're going to fall back a little bit.
Speaker 4:When I was coming back from some injuries, one of the things I did and it depends on where you live, but this worked for me I would walk the equivalent of a block and then, when I came to the street, I would jog across the street. So I mean, that's almost like a five second run, 45 second walk, or something like that. But that was a way of starting for me, that I broke it down that way. So you can give that a try. Uh, let's see, I'm not recovering from anything. I ended up with my own little mini challenge this week in terms of training. I ended up with my own little mini challenge this week in terms of training. Didn't plan to do it this way. It just worked out.
Speaker 4:Tuesday, thursday, saturday is normal for me, but I had a race this Friday, july 4th, which I will go into some detail about later. It's a good story. So I ended up what I did On Thursday I walked two miles. On Friday I splashed slash, hawk, slash, ranch slash, treaded water for four miles. And then, uh, saturday I had 10 miles, did it at long run pace. As I've told you before, I take that speed limit thing seriously. So did the 10 miles. That starts getting hot here. I walk it in, but I'm still. I'm still getting within my speed limits, doing fine, making progress. That's the key to this keep your training on schedule and keep making progress.
Speaker 2:I started. Well, I haven't. I didn't run this weekend. I had a lot of things going on with the weekend, but I did start Tom's program this week.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 2:His training program. I took it easy. I did not try to, you know, set the records of what I had, what I had before. When I finished up the last one I dialed it back so that I'm not going out there and hurting myself and setting myself back for anything else. But it, it was fun, it was interesting. He had a good little workout for me and I'm going to try that. And then also I add a little, uh, balance exercises and, you know, hip training for my hips to help keep everything loose, because that's one of the biggest problems I find when those get tight, everything below just starts to hurt.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you guys who are getting older, you know your hips and your balance. It starts to go. So it's good that you're working on that, john.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you're doing. Once you hit 45, it's all downhill I found you guys got a couple. You guys got a couple years to go.
Speaker 4:Oh, golly, that's not true. You too, you too, bob, you got. Yeah, that may be true, but uh, no, 45. Come on, man, you're in the prime. That's good stuff I.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to provide a quick update from what I had chatted about last week is? You know, bobby, you and I had a conversation about the magic half mile and whether you thought it was in lockstep and not. You know, I thought it was a little, a little too fast for me so I I channeled our um our friend caroline, who loves to negotiate with Coach.
Speaker 7:Twiggs.
Speaker 1:And I was like. You know, this is such a big improvement I don't know if this is realistic. And he shot back at me. Greg, you're going to have to come to the realization that you're getting faster. You are. So I was like yes, sir. So I've been trying out the new paces for the past week and I must say and it kind of took me back a little bit to our listener question episode that we had a few weeks ago when we talked about imposter syndrome, because I am.
Speaker 1:I'm not there yet, but when it comes to the half marathon distance and the 10 miler distance, my magic mile is now telling me that my race pace should be in the low tens.
Speaker 8:And I don't think.
Speaker 1:I've ever seen that before in the time that I've been with customized training, time that I've been with customized training. So you know, so there's part of me that is trying to get over this mental hurdle of you know. Am I going to be able to achieve that? And then, if so, am I going to be able to achieve that? For an extended period of time, and I've been trying to mentally work with myself to be like, okay, in the these last two runs. Yes, I have hit those paces. Do I feel terrible afterwards? Absolutely. But conversely, I can't judge everything based off of one week of new paces. It's going to take time to get used to these new paces and there will be days where I will not hit those paces, and that's okay. So I think I just need to keep reminding myself and my friends and my co-hosts here, just reminding me that new paces like this do take time.
Speaker 1:It's not going to instantly come to you. So that's where I'm at in my training cycle.
Speaker 4:No, but it makes sense to me that you're getting faster for a variety of reasons. You got two curves that are intersecting with one another. One is your training is getting better and two, your weight's coming down and those things. That's a good tandem, brother.
Speaker 4:That's a good thing to do. Sean talked about working with Tom. I'm also doing that. I got to work on my weight. I get lazy and it's easy to put weight on, so I'm I'm working on losing some of that, but that's all good. Greg, I think that sounds terrific and congratulations on that.
Speaker 4:Thank you, hey, uh, run Disney did us favor, as if we needed something to talk about this week. But Run Disney, instead of dropping the themes for an upcoming race weekend on like a Wednesday which they've done sometime they dropped them in time for us to talk about springtime surprise themes. What do we think, my friends?
Speaker 7:I'm so confused of what to do Really.
Speaker 1:All right, give us the conundrum alicia okay.
Speaker 7:So I literally told john this year you are smart you only did the 10 miler. That's what I'm gonna do next year. I was all set only the 10 miler great distance. And then the themes came out and I love winning the pool.
Speaker 7:I know right, okay, but if I do the 10k and the 10 miler, I might as well do the 5k. But I really, really, really like the yoga and I said I wasn't gonna get up for the yoga before the cruise. But now I'm like, well, maybe I do the 10k, the 10 miler and the yoga and that's about the same price as the challenge, because I don't really need the challenge medal or the 5K. And so I'm like I don't know what to do?
Speaker 1:I have never seen you this conflicted before.
Speaker 6:I know, I know that's how you know Disney did it right, right, good point.
Speaker 2:It's the big change they made after last springtime, where they changed the date on us for yoga, yoga right yeah, that's.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's pretty sneaky, I gotta admit. I thought the artwork for the yoga was pretty cute oh yeah, not. Yeah, I'm not doing it I'm not doing, not that cute, but I thought it was pretty cute uh, that's, that's a weekend. I like to do that challenge.
Speaker 1:I like that weekend challenge yeah, it's a good challenge like you, alicia, I am conflicted not in terms of what I'm going to run. I I know I am. I am locked in for pulling a john and just doing the the 10 miler. What I'm conflicted on is how I feel about the themes. Now, granted, I know we went on this whole diatribe during princess about, you know, a theme should not dictate how you should, you know, make your decisions because obviously, regardless of what the theme was when it got released, I knew I was going to run the 10 miler because I love run disney, I love my friends and I love running with my friends, so that really didn't matter. But obviously we're on a podcast, so I'm going to talk about my thoughts and feelings when it comes to this.
Speaker 1:And I'm conflicted in the idea of. I'm really excited and I'm really over the moon that they have now started dipping into intellectual property. That has never been done with one disney before right especially with zootopia, and they're gonna just be printing money when it comes to the 10k stuff and with winnie the pooh now my only caveat there, though, is if I'm because, you know, the whole thing is dynamic duos to me. I find the dynamic duo of winnie the pooh being poo and piglet, not poo and Tigger, but I understand.
Speaker 1:I think Tigger sells more merchandise than Piglet does. So I get that, but then on the flip side of it, I'm like the 10-miler theme and the challenge theme, for as innovative as I thought the 5K and the 10K were, I thought those two were lazy.
Speaker 6:Yeah, okay, because.
Speaker 1:I can't remember what race it is during Disneyland. Maybe it's the half marathon. I know it's one of them. They're using Joy for Disneyland in 2026.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then with Genie and Aladdin. I can't remember the race, but I remember Genie was the challenge I think it was for a wine and dine a couple of years ago and obviously Jasmine. I know Jasmine's not part of the challenge, but Jasmine gets usually featured in Princess Weekend, so I felt like there were other duos that they could have gone with. When I saw this thing of duos, I was like Kermit and fozzy would have been like a really really good dynamic duo. So I I'm, you know, like I said, really, really conflicted on that.
Speaker 1:I will say, though, now, while I think inside out is kind of lazy because I'm only going to do one race this weekend, I'm actually glad that I'm doing the inside out because, going back to the person who gave us our intro today, not I don't know how many people know this, but my daughter, riley, is named after riley because of that movie.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. Um, you know, my wife was pregnant when we went to go see that movie and it emotionally just filled us with all of the emotions and I was like riley was a really cool kid in that movie and I was like I think that should be our daughter's name and my wife agreed and so that that movie in that franchise really holds a special place in my heart. So I'm looking forward to getting that medal and that shirt and everything like that. But, like I said, I was just really, really conflicted on that. Um, although my my mini, mini, mini, tiny rant though is, I was looking at the pricing. Now I understand, in this economy, pricing is going up and up and up. The thing I don't understand, though, was, in comparing weekend to weekend, the price of just the 10 miler is 10 cheaper than the half marathon during marathon weekend. To me, I don't understand how they can charge that price when you're gonna get a 5k less of entertainment and race.
Speaker 1:I I'm still trying to figure out that pricing structure and how they how they figure that out, you know, especially because there's always such a like a, a small price gap between, like, the half marathon and the marathon during marathon weekend. Obviously it's, you know, get double the distance. But that was. That was the only thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way was when I saw that price. But again, I understand. Number one it's Disney, it's this economy. Obviously, the race is continuing to sell out, so why not charge more?
Speaker 4:money.
Speaker 1:But that was just like. Oh, it's like I know I'm going to pay it, but maybe begrudgingly pay it.
Speaker 6:You know a duo they could have done. That would have been really cool is like Ken and Barbie from the toy store movies.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would have been a cute one.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and then you can have it where it opens up and it's a new outfit they're wearing, like their tropical vacation wear or something like that.
Speaker 1:Well, let's go over the John, because I think John's going to be a little depressed.
Speaker 6:Sorry.
Speaker 2:Well, I am kind of not depressed because I don't really. I don't have to do the whole. I depressed because I don't really. I don't have to do the whole, I don't have to do the whole weekend now oh good point oh yeah but if you really wanted a dynamic duo, anakin and Ahsoka, come on, you could get your Star Wars in there.
Speaker 6:That's fair. But you know, but no, that's not gonna happen next year. I'm telling you that next year is the anniversary year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no 77, so two more years for is when they're oh, oh that's right, we've talked about it it's the Star Wars anniversary. Yes, it would this year is the anniversary for Springtime Surprise, which, for the second race week in a row, they made zero mention of an anniversary, which I think is it was bizarre.
Speaker 2:It's not an anniversary anymore, right.
Speaker 1:I guess so. But you know, john, I was thinking of you in terms because Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm always thinking about everybody.
Speaker 1:But for a long time I was saying that take it to the bank. The fifth anniversary of Springtime Surprise is going to be Star Wars. And obviously it wasn't. And I think I now know why a little bit, because I was listening to our friends Kristen and Devin their podcast, the Run Fit Fab podcast. They had Carissa Galloway on a couple of weeks ago and they were asking her what her favorite themes are and costumes that she's worn and everything, and she was saying that it's actually difficult to do star wars themes because lucasfilm has such a strong say over what characters and phrases and and visuals can be used during, um, those races. So now I think it makes more sense as to why, like for Disneyland last year, it was just the Ahsoka 10K as opposed to a full on Star Wars weekend. So they probably just don't want to go through that hassle or anything like that. But, john, I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for you for 2027, that you get your at least some semblance of Star Wars, hopefully.
Speaker 6:Hey, john, there's nothing but hope. I love Star Wars.
Speaker 4:Changing just a little bit. I think the themes look great Again. It's very rare that a theme will make me run a race or not want to run a race, but I thought they looked great. The artwork looked great. My favorite thing that came out today, however, was the caveat for those who intend to dress like poo.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:I got a hot take on that one too, let's hear it, John. Well, first explain what it is, John, what the warning was.
Speaker 2:So if you're running as Pooh, you must wear pants. Okay, but they don't say that about other characters, donald.
Speaker 1:Duck doesn't wear pants. That's a very good point.
Speaker 2:Shippendale the rescue rangers don't wear pants. Launch Pit McQuack wears pants for some reason. I don't understand that one, but you know everyone else. If you're a duck character, you don't need pants. If you're a chipmunk, you don't need pants, but if you're running as Pooh, you gotta wear pants.
Speaker 1:Why are they discriminating against bears?
Speaker 4:I don't understand this. What about Jimmy the Cricket? Does he wear pants?
Speaker 6:Actually I think he does, yeah, he does, yeah, yeah, yeah, he wears a tracksuit.
Speaker 4:Okay, oh good.
Speaker 2:Wait, did you see the other caveat?
Speaker 6:What's the other caveat?
Speaker 2:The POT.
Speaker 6:What is it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that was a mistake, I think, oh, okay because the proof of time.
Speaker 1:What did you see, John?
Speaker 2:Proof of time required for starting group placement, if you claim you will finish a half marathon in one hour and 55 minutes or less.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that was a mistake. That should say 10 miles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, correct, that's what it was last year, because I remember I was able to submit a proof of time for the challenge last year and it was still the 155. Yeah, so that was definitely a typo.
Speaker 2:Okay, that was key. I mean that's big for.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a quick half marathon, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but no, I'm sure that's incorrect. I'm sure that's your cutoff time for 10 miles, not for a half, because that's about what 11 minutes a mile for a 10-miler or something like that in the ballpark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's like around 11 and a half.
Speaker 8:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Alright, so now Grant, I know she's not here tonight, but Lexi said that she is going to be gunning for the challenge. I'm locked in for the 10-miler. What's everyone else's plan?
Speaker 4:I like for the 10 miler. What's everyone else's plan? I, I will. I like that challenge and I will probably do it, unless something happens to change my mind between now registration time.
Speaker 7:I still don't know. Ask me when it's the day that you'll be there. You'll be there yes, I will be there. I will be doing something, I just don't know what I think we'll all be there.
Speaker 4:I, I keep, I don't forget, but I just doesn't pop into my mind. That's the race weekend that we get on the ship on Monday, yep, so that's a big deal. That's exciting.
Speaker 6:And John, you're in for just the 10? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know what I want to do. I mean, I might just do a 10 miler, you know, depending on what I feel like. I mean, I didn't sign up for springtime till like last minute last year, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1:You know what. Thank you for bringing that up, john, because that was the other thing I wanted to talk about with. The theme is, I know I forget what we were chatting about, but I remember saying something along the lines of, like they really need to come up with a great theme. I don't know if they're worried about it or not, but you know, usually the past couple of springtimes, day of registration, the 10 miler and the challenge usually don't sell out and I, you know, like I've always thought, okay, well, you know they, they have the proof in the pudding now of you know, several years in a row of that not happening. I wonder if they would come up with a really incredible theme to be able to make this like any other registration day. And I'm like is Dynamic Duo is really going to do it? And I don't think it will, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if it does, though.
Speaker 6:It's still creative, though, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm pretty sure that the 5K and the 10K will sell out. I mean especially the 10K.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:But I'll be interested to see how that all goes down. But you know, bob, something I just thought of if you're going to do a Zoom for registration day, we probably should get MagicBound in that Zoom for registration day. We probably should get MagicBound in that Zoom, so not only can everyone ask their questions about registration, but they can also ask questions about the cruise as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's fine, they're always welcome. I'll send them a special invitation, but yeah, they're always welcome. That's three weeks away, guys. It's three weeks from the day that we're recording his registration, day 19 days from the day that this podcast releases.
Speaker 2:I was talking to a Run Disney volunteer after springtime this year and we were talking about like the weather. It's one of the reasons why she said you're never going to see another half marathon at springtime is because of the weather and the heat. It's warm yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, half marathon at springtime is because of the weather and the heat. It's warm, yeah, yeah, and that's probably another reason why people you know running a five and a 10 K is you know you're out there for what? An hour an hour, 20 minutes tops on those races, maybe a 10 milers a long distance in that heat.
Speaker 6:But you know what, though the, the, though the, the, every weekend that disney hosts, there's always something very truly special about it. In this specific weekend, I know it may seem like it's not like the one that everybody goes to, in the sense that it doesn't sell out as quickly as some of the other ones, because probably the heat, but it is like the party, oh yeah, the stress is gone of any sort, it feels like, and, granted, I would love to be there. I haven't said it yet, but I am unfortunately not going to be doing it. I was only going to sign up for the Star Wars weekend. They almost got me with Pooh Bear and I love Zootopia, but I am saving up for a Disney race that is not in the States. I'm going to be trying for Hong Kong Disneyland. Okay, Cool.
Speaker 6:Yeah. Very nice and it looks like it's the same weekend as Wine and Dine, the last two Hong Kong Disney races that they've had.
Speaker 7:Oh interesting.
Speaker 1:It's not technically run Disney.
Speaker 6:So I can't say I'm doing run Disney. But it's super cheap. It's only like $60, $70 for the races.
Speaker 4:So all you have to do is buy the airplane flight to Hong Kong and you save $30 on a race.
Speaker 6:But here's my thing, though, is I have a travel credit card. Yeah, and I don't use any of my miles. So if I just put all my miles towards the race weekend, then all I do is have to do the hotel, the park tickets and that. And the park tickets are only like $65, $70 per day and if you stay two or more nights at the hotels, they actually give you a discount to stay at the hotels with the tickets included.
Speaker 4:Jackass sounds smart.
Speaker 6:Sounds smart.
Speaker 4:Stay at the hotels with the tickets included jackass sounds smart, sounds smart sounds like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sounds good. You know, has anyone started thinking about costumes yet?
Speaker 2:well, I, know it's happening already I wasn't.
Speaker 6:I wasn't gonna, you know, wear proper race shorts. If I was gonna run for poo, I was just gonna, you know, run in my underwear, but you know you're gonna run.
Speaker 2:You gotta run there yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4:I like that, john, I like that?
Speaker 1:that was cute I showed I showed riley the uh, the artwork for the 10 miler and she just looked me dead in the eye and she's like you have to dress up as joy. And I was like, okay, I'll, I'll channel my inner britney charbonbonneau here. And then the thought washed over me of, hey, remember that time that I wore a blue wig during Springtime Surprise last year, and I said I would never run in a blue wig again. Somebody tells me I'm going to be running in a blue wig during. Springtime Surprise.
Speaker 4:You'll be okay. Yeah, I've done wigs, you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:I said, I picture already the girls got the costumes ready for the 10K and Bob's going to be Christopher Robinson.
Speaker 4:Christopher Robin. I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker 2:That's so adorable. I saw it already. That's it.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, there's so many ideas. If you had a big group you could do the Heffalumps and Woozles.
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh, that'd be cute we need the uh council of costumes back yes, we do, and actually this would be the perfect opportunity.
Speaker 1:Speaking of britney, remember how we she was talking about she could be kanga, and yeah, hugo could be right, right, she has her in now there you go
Speaker 4:right, if you're listening, there you go, britney. Good suggestion from greg. All right, friends, look, that's it. And you know what? Springtime's prize, last race of the season. Man, where did the season go? Seems like it hasn't started. Oh, it hasn't started yet. Okay, all right, listen, let's. Let's go down the road.
Speaker 4:We've been on the last couple weeks and visit with some old Rise and Run friends. Friends, if you have run a Run Disney race, you've probably seen our next guests off in the distance or maybe right behind you, moving along steady 16 minute per mile pace and serving as a gentle reminder to keep going. That's right, my friends. The Balloon Ladies are back. They were with us in episode 51 back in September of 2022. And we actually replayed that episode once. But as we celebrate closing in on the 200th episode, we wanted to invite them back, just as we have with other friends from the first couple hundred episodes. Beloved by many, feared by some and absolutely essential to the Run Disney experience, the Balloon Ladies are more than just pace markers. They're cheerleaders, they're motivators and they're part of what makes Run Disney events so unique. So this week we are happy to welcome back Molly and Kathleen to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 9:Yay, happy to be back.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you so much for giving your time. We appreciate it, boy. The first episode was a big hit and we have we've picked up. A lot of folks have gone back to listen to it, but we've picked up new listeners and I know we've done this before, but for listeners who might not know, please tell them who are the balloon ladies and what exactly you do at the Run Disney races.
Speaker 8:All right, we are the 16 minute pace keepers for the Run Disney race. You really use us as your visuals so you can see where you are. If you're on pace, if you're in front of us, you definitely get to finish the race. If you're behind us, you just know you need to keep up. So that's who we are.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but you're, I mean you're more than that.
Speaker 8:Well, we're fun, we're exciting. Yeah, we tell dad jokes, you know we're going to keep you entertained.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, it's a good group. Typically, how many of you are there for a race?
Speaker 9:So at any one race there's generally three to four of us that are out there. There's about five or six of us seven that rotate between the different races.
Speaker 4:No balloon dudes yet, huh.
Speaker 9:No, we have a few friends that follow along with us in the back and stick around and also serve and offer some encouragement to folks, but no balloon guys yet at Walt Disney World.
Speaker 4:Okay, all right, keep an open mind. Okay, let right, keep an open mind. Okay, let's see. Kathleen, how'd you get started in the role? I mean, were you a runner before you started this, or did you just go into this?
Speaker 9:I had graduated from grad school here in Orlando and heard about this thing called a half marathon and then I heard you could do it at Disney World and I thought that was the awesomest thing ever, especially from growing up up north and so I reached out to our local running store and Track Shack, which is right around the corner from my house, and I joined a group called Marathon Fest. So I started training for my first half, which was the Walt Disney World half marathon in 2008. So I registered, trained, signed up for that one, so I got in with a real good group of folks training for that. Then I did my first full marathon later that year, the Marine Corpsathon. And then, in the background, disney had reached out through Track Shack. There was a partnership there through the running groups through Track Shack. So the Galloway Group, marathon Fest and looking for some folks to help kind of just make sure to keep that 16 minute pace kind of at the end of the.
Speaker 9:Yeah, so I am not one of the super originals, I'm like the next tier in.
Speaker 4:The second generation.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I think it was Sue. She had an injury at the time. Sue is still a balloon lady had an injury at the time. Sue is still a balloon lady. She does typically the 10 Ks, but she had an issue and I and I had just come off. I think the Chicago marathon might've been at that time and so I stepped in and did the Disney full marathon back in 2010. I went upstairs and verified my medals to double check that race.
Speaker 4:I get it, I understand.
Speaker 9:And then I did a princess after that, but uh, we didn't have balloons in the beginning. Uh, I think we sort of came upon it ourselves like, hey, it would be good if they could see who we are, Cause we all wear the, the pace badges. Um, so I think a couple of us, I know I went to the dollar store and picked up a Disney balloon, you know for a dollar, and we strapped it, and I guess the rest is history.
Speaker 4:The rest is history. Molly, how did you get started?
Speaker 8:I actually started in 2004. My company at the time was sponsoring us to do a half marathon at Disney and I was like, oh sure, why not? I play soccer, I do softball, I'm sure I could do 13 miles, no problem, you know, because that's what we all think right. And so I was able to finish my first half marathon Back then. That's when we had two separate, or we had both races on the same day. At one point, the full separated from the half, and the half people got to finish and the full got to keep going. So that's what I did. As I started that year. That was my first half, and then I decided, oh, I should train for a full. So I trained for the full for next year, for 2005. And then I did New York in 2005. Well, new York and Disney, disney. And then I did the first Goofy in 2006. So I kind of just kept going after that. So, yeah, and then got pulled in by Sue as well, and that's how it all kind of began. It was fun before your involvement.
Speaker 1:You know, let's say that with the og, uh, balloon ladies and and sue there, what was the process for run disney in terms of, you know, having a, you know, a visual representation of the back of the pack in that pace? Was there a pacing requirement at the time or was it once the balloon ladies got instituted? That's when we started having the 16 per minute mile.
Speaker 8:No, they always had a 16 minute mile pace, but it was the Disney bikers who were back there, and so you were a runner and you had these people on a bike saying come on, you're too slow, you're too slow. You need to get going and that just didn't work, and everybody was like come on, you're on a bike break, You're not out here doing the miles with us. So that.
Speaker 8:And everybody was like come on, you're on a bike, give me a break, you're not out here doing the miles with us. So that's when Disney was like maybe we need some visuals. And that's where we kind of went out there and kind of like Kathleen said, we said oh, let's put on some bright clothes, maybe we'll stick out. Well, everybody wears bright clothes. You can't stick out like that. Yeah, I, everybody wears bright clothes.
Speaker 4:You can't stick out like that. I was wondering if you ever considered anything other than balloons.
Speaker 8:I don't think we did because we needed something that would be higher than us, because we're all I mean we're not really tall people, none of us Heather's tall, I mean, but none of us are real tall, so we're kind of shrimpy, I mean. So the balloons float and they were great and they helped us and everybody could see us.
Speaker 4:They're excellent.
Speaker 8:They were cheap.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's good too. I'm trying to think of what else you could have flags. I'm just thinking that the history of Run Disney would have changed if you had decided on big headdresses. I don't know.
Speaker 8:Right.
Speaker 6:Exactly, did Disney provide the balloons after that first experience, or I?
Speaker 9:have a couple races where I there's, there's a couple pictures where it's a, it's a dollar mylar balloon, dollar store mylar balloon. But I think eventually they came in and said, when people started talking about the whole balloon, lady, balloon, lady. I think that's where they came in and said, okay, well, we'll supply you with the balloons. You know, you don't, you don't have to pay for your own balloons.
Speaker 8:I think it was after we did another podcast and everyone was like, well, we need to call you balloon ladies If you're buying your own balloon. And Disney got ahold of that podcast and everybody was just up in arms that we had to spend a dollar each on our balloons. And everybody was up in arms about it.
Speaker 4:So Disney raised the prices on all the races by $30.
Speaker 2:So what do you guys do with the balloons after the race? Do you give them away, do you keep them, do you let them fly in the air and go away?
Speaker 8:That's not environmentally nice.
Speaker 4:No, I can't do that.
Speaker 8:Absolutely not. I used to give them to my kids because you know they actually have. I mean, my daughter's going to turn 18 in a month and I've been doing this pretty much her whole life.
Speaker 1:So when they were little they really liked the balloons and stuff like that, and sometimes we'll give them to cousins or you know, it just depends, but usually we bring them home or I bring mine home yeah, I bring mine home unless I see somebody in the parking lot that you know when I'm getting into my car or whatever, and I'll just kind of hand, that's cool yeah, I have to ask because earlier in this episode we chatted about, you know, the springtime surprise themes got released and a couple of years ago, maybe it was two, when there was like the adventure is out there and there was the 10K that was themed to Up From a Balloon Lady perspective, what were the thoughts that went through your heads thinking, oh my God, there's a theme race that has a house with hundreds of balloons attached to it. Are we going to have imposters? What was the thought process going through there for the two of you?
Speaker 8:I think for me it was oh, they're going to have a lot of balloons, not just a single balloon, and if you can afford to have that many Disney balloons more power to you.
Speaker 8:Run. Disney does not let anybody cross the start line, though that has our balloons or anything like us, because they don't want imposters out there further up in the corrals scaring people. That's not nice, it's not fun, and people do freak out, um, and so they make sure that we are known, we have the balloons, and they do confiscate a lot of balloons. So god.
Speaker 1:Well, what does one of those disney balloons go for now? Because I've never purchased one. So I I'm I would be really interested to know the level of commitment that some people would pay to do that I think they're like 20, 22 dollars maybe.
Speaker 9:I don't know why the number sticks in your hand, the ones that light up I know are at least 30, if not more
Speaker 8:that's wild yeah, all that for helium and remember first, when we had the star wars races, we had the giant death star balloons so those have been more than that wow I don't know, but I'm sorry I missed that.
Speaker 4:That would have been cool.
Speaker 8:Yeah, those were great balloons.
Speaker 9:They were fun.
Speaker 6:Now that we kind of got to know how you guys started. How do you guys now start your mornings for race mornings? Do you get nervous, excited, or are you? Are you just caffeinated or like what do you do for your morning rituals before races?
Speaker 9:I have, you know, in my iPhone I have set to a 2.30 wake up because, just like Molly, neither one of us typically stay on property before a race. So we drive up I-4, you know that morning and you know over the years have come into some snags with different traffic or construction on I-4. So we try to get there early, usually sit in my car for a little bit, eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, drink my coffee, and then there's usually a text going amongst us like hey, are you in the parking lot, where are you? Like hey, are you in the parking lot, where are you? So we'll walk up together and then go to the um, the, the sag tent, which is actually the ending spot where they typically bring you. We have a meeting there. Meeting there, um, where we get our balloons, get our um bibs for the um, the pace bibs, and kind of just chill out there for a little bit until you know it's about time, and then we head out to the corrals.
Speaker 4:By pace bibs. Kathleen, you're talking. You wear one that says 16 minute per mile pace or something like that, right?
Speaker 9:Yeah, that's correct. Usually we'll wear them. You know, some of us will wear them on the front, some will wear them on the back and we'll, you know, use the bathroom and we use the port-a-potties, just like everybody else does.
Speaker 8:You have to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 4:We refer to that as starting in Corral P.
Speaker 6:I've actually seen you guys. One morning I wasn't running an event, I think it was like a 10K one race weekend and it was in 2023, when I lived there, because I remember I was going to cheer and you know, what's the crazy thing is is I didn't realize that you guys didn't start right at the very second the last person crosses the line, don't you guys like? Wait a minute and then you go because they they held there for a second. Yeah, they held there for a second, yeah.
Speaker 8:They held there for a minute. It depends on the race. Yeah, Sometimes if it's a really crowded race or if it's really hot, as we tend to have in Florida, sometimes they'll hold us for 30 seconds A couple. I mean. Back in the day we probably got held for a minute or two with the princess races due to the amount of people that need to get going and and we don't want to catch up to them right away. We need to give people a little bit of a break. Plus, we have to sync up with disney. We we cross the start line and then we all wait and one person from run disney counts down and then we all sync our watches. So we are all on the same point. Everybody, they're on the radios with everybody, so everybody across the entire place is on the same time.
Speaker 6:That's so cool. I would feel so special being like yeah, that's right, Disney knows exactly where I'm at this very second. Bring it on.
Speaker 2:So technically, you're the second 16 minute pace group that's out there on the course. Technically, you're the second 16-minute pace group that's out there on the course we have the Galloway Pacers and then, there's 16-minute group and then there's you guys, correct?
Speaker 8:Correct. Yes, but they're usually a little ahead of us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they're a little further up in the corral, yeah.
Speaker 7:So, being those 16-minute pacers, it must be kind of tough to stay on that exact pace, and especially for those longer races and having to do it for so many miles. How have you had to adjust accordingly during the races to make that hit that mark?
Speaker 9:So, as Molly said, our watches are completely synced up with Disney. As Molly said, our watches are completely synced up with Disney. And then we get a little chart before each race of time-wise, where 16, 32.
Speaker 8:We don't do public math after that.
Speaker 9:So we know exactly where we should be on each mile marker. So we do our best. We are human, but we do our best to keep the pace as much as possible. Sometimes we get there a few minutes or, excuse me, a few seconds soon, maybe 10 seconds. So then what we'll do is we will wait there at the mile marker and we will not proceed until the watch clicks. You know the 16 minute pace and then we move on. Now, sometimes it gets a little bit of a challenge. You know we've all been on board while where it gets super congested, or you know towards the end in.
Speaker 9:Epcot, where it's just a madhouse everybody's trying to finish, that becomes a little bit more difficult. Or if you're, you know, going up that hill or one of those you know pin turns in Epcot, it does get to be a little bit of a challenge, but we do our best to stay on the 16 minute pace and hit those mile markers every 16 minutes.
Speaker 8:And sometimes we are slow. So we do have to jog a little bit, especially when it's on that up ramp. You know, and everybody has their day, it doesn't matter. Sometimes your legs hurt, sometimes you're tired, sometimes it's hot, sometimes you're feeling great and you're like, yeah, let's go. So, just like everybody else, we have to adjust how we are in that time, because we can't go out too fast. We don't want to burn ourselves out, we don't want to burn anybody else out and we need to make sure that we keep that pace. But then too, if we're trying to get up that hill, we might need to take a jog, and we just let people around us know hey, we're a little bit behind pace, don't freak out, but we've got a jog.
Speaker 9:And some people you know that are getting frustrated. Everybody's hot, you know, after a while and just kind of patience is running a little bit thin. Some folks, you know, will'll we'll point to their watch and say you're going faster than a 16 minute pace. You're going, you know this, you're not going the right pace and and we try to be as as kind and with folks as we can, we're like, well, we, we stop every 16 minutes. You know we were on, we keep the pace every 16 minutes. Um, so we, hopefully we express that to folks so they understand that you know we're not trying to beat them. You know our goal is not to see how many people we can pass so folks get taken off the path. We want people to finish. We want people to give it their best and do their best and work their hardest so that they can get to the finish line.
Speaker 4:Let me jump in for a moment with something that folks who are new to this may not understand. You're there as a guide. You're there to help. You don't sweep anybody. That's not your role. So the fact that you're ahead or behind it's a pretty good indicator that you need to do something, but that doesn't mean you're swept. It's the cyclist who do the sweeping, right yeah?
Speaker 9:And at the end of the day, we don't take anybody off the course. That's the run Disney officials that make the decision of where to cut or not cut the well, if they have to cut the course or if they tell folks, hey, you know you might want to get ahead this way, or you know where folks are saying, nope, your race is done. You know you're not keeping the pace. That's all on the Run Disney folks and they do the best job they can, and those are good folks too that are trying to. You know they want everybody to finish too and they want people to have a good race.
Speaker 2:That's a great question. Cutting the course, I know, besides the course being cut short for the half marathon in 2024, they also cut the course in Epcot. Do they hold you to the other group comes around, or do you? How does that work?
Speaker 8:For the half marathon that got cut drastically. We actually just stood and decided we became our own character stop and we just had a great time seeing everybody and having fun. Like they actually had to put two run disney people with us to keep the crowd to get every.
Speaker 8:We are not. We would never finish, we would never continue on like that. That that's not what we're there for. We're there to help, encourage and get everybody going and that was like such a one-off. That was so weird that year that they cut the course like that.
Speaker 9:One year I did the full and they did completely cut Blizzard Beach out.
Speaker 8:Some folks had done it in the beginning.
Speaker 9:Other folks had not, so we just followed where they told us to go.
Speaker 4:Okay, okay, interesting, question yeah.
Speaker 7:So, with our friends who may be deciding to walk the race and need that 16-minute pace, or have been instructed by their doctor due to an injury, what advice would you give them to do their best to try and hit those paces?
Speaker 8:Really you need to start as far up in your corral as you can. You know we always joke the shorter your stride, the faster you're going to go. So you know, I always tell girls, women especially, if you look down and you can see the tips of your toes in front of your boobs, you're good. You shouldn't see the tips of your toes in front of your boobs and then your feet are turning over quick enough, guys.
Speaker 8:I can only tell you so much, but as long as you have a quick turnover and you can get the pace up. But you also need to practice. You can't just get out and say, oh, I've been injured and I haven't been doing anything, I can walk a 16 minute mile, get out and say, oh, I've been injured and I haven't been doing anything. I can walk a 16 minute mile Like Kathleen and I and several of the other balloon ladies. We were runners before we started walking. We practiced, we trained, had a lot of our training miles. We do the 16 minute walk pace.
Speaker 8:We don't just go out there because some of us want to run, some of us are faster runners and we actually have to slow down. It's a different thing to practice and it's different on your legs, your hips, your body, your movement and your mental psyche. You know across the board. So you do have to practice it. You can't and you can't just practice for a mile or two. You need a good 10K practice to make sure that you can maintain that pace. And if you can't, you know, get farther up in your corral so that you can have a little bit of a head start, because now that they do so many waves within each corral. You've got a good two minutes, three minutes at the beginning of each corral before you would even be close to us. So you have to plan ahead and think about and ask the Run Disney people ask them what they suggest or what timing they have. Or you know, I'm in corral, you know whatever it is and see what they suggest too.
Speaker 9:But I would also say you know I'm not trying to be discouraging here, but be honest with yourself and there will be other races. I mean if you are severely injured and we've seen it all at the start line. We've seen people in wheelchair not like the push wheelchairs, like I came out of the hospital and they put me in a wheelchair.
Speaker 9:We've seen people in walkers boots, tons of boots, crutches one time Crutches, yes. So be honest with yourself. Some of those folks have no intention of finishing. They just wanted to kind of come out there and cross the start line. But you know there will be other races. If you are severely injured or if you have a major health thing or a major stress stressor in your life, you know, think about yourself before you push yourself too far.
Speaker 2:Okay, do you take different approaches to the different weekends, like marathon weekend, and the challenges different than from springtime? Surprise.
Speaker 8:Marathon weekend is a beast in itself for anybody and everybody. It doesn't matter which race you're doing. There's so many people for everything. I have paced Dopey. I did the original Dopey, or inaugural Dopey, as a pacer, as a balloon lady, and that was rough. It's hard. It's something you just have to mentally get to. A lot of the other races we do tend to do the 10K and the half marathon challenge. A lot of the other races we do tend to do the 10K and the half marathon challenge. I know Heather really enjoys Goofy. She seems to like the half marathon and the full marathon. For me personally, like springtime and Goofy and Dopey. If I start getting up early beyond two days in a row, that third day man, I just can't even comprehend what's going on. And that's your longest race always and you're so out of it.
Speaker 9:I would say um, I I do enjoy the, the back-to-back with the 10 K and the half marathon, obviously going into a full, and I have typically done the fulls the last several years, Um, but I only do the, only do the full.
Speaker 4:I do not do two. No, no, I get that. Yeah, no, that makes sense, it makes perfect sense. I can completely understand that, because I mean it's significant and important that you can keep that pace. Uh, you've kind of alluded to some of the things like interacting with folks and all that. I'm going to ask what are some of the most memorable or maybe emotional moments you've had on the course?
Speaker 9:I had this one lady, um, her name was Renee and I think her daughter was Chrissy and um, renee the mom, she was struggling at the end of Princess. I mean she was struggling, I think it was hot, I mean as it typically is. But I remember coming through the back of Epcot and I kept saying, you know, I always look for people's names on their bibs because I always call them out my name. I'm like all right, renee, we're doing this, we're doing this.
Speaker 9:And I could tell, you know, you can tell, when there's one person kind of carrying the other person along, and that was a struggle, I could tell for the both of them to get through it. They crossed the finish line, they didn't get picked up and then at the end she came up to me in just tears of just joy and saying, oh my gosh, thank you so much, thank you so much, as a lot of people do with us at the end of the race, do with us at the end of the race. But then she ran it up. She kind of figured out my name on Facebook and whatnot and found me and sent me just the nicest message, and so you know she kind of went on and how much it meant to her doing this race with her daughter, and it's those kind of moments that really feel like we're doing a good thing and we really are helping people has to make you feel just wonderful.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I've got. I mean always. There's many stories. One that always comes to my mind, it was a marathon. It was when we were still going through Wide World of Sports and I had this older gentleman and I want to say he was almost 80, doing his first marathon, and we were going, you know, we were, you know, back and forth, back and forth for most of the race and by the time we got out there we were at miles 16, 17, 18, something like that, and it was hot and everything.
Speaker 8:And I went to get around somebody and he was right in front of me and he tripped. Oh my God, my heart went out and I was like no, so I ended up. We got him up and because you know we're back there, we also know all the medics, we know all these people. So I was calling for our one medic. Her daughter was with her there at that time too and I said I need you guys to go ahead, I need you to get a half a mile ahead, I need you to prep. This is what he's got. We need to cover his knees, we get it cleaned up, we need to do all this stuff.
Speaker 8:So they went and she had her daughter get everything set up. She quickly got him bandaged up everything and he kept going and he finished the race and because, oh my gosh, my heart was just sinking as soon as that happened. But it's things like that. You can get going, you know, it doesn't matter what it is, if you've got the will, you've got the way and if you're capable. But if you're really injured sometimes you do just have to stop, like Kathleen says, and you just have to know what is your, what is your point, because sometimes it's mental, you know, and sometimes it's not.
Speaker 6:On the other spectrum. What is the funniest thing that someone has said or done to you?
Speaker 8:I feel like I have so many friends now and some of them don't always want to, don't want to finish the race, but they want to start the race. So by the time we get to them especially if they can hear us, because we might be kind of loud and obnoxious- they're like oh, thank God, you're finally here. How did I make it so many miles without you catching up to me? Those guys always make me laugh, so then we just joke with them and have fun.
Speaker 4:I can picture that. I really can. I had a personal story. I had one time and I had a total knee replacement in the month of February. I did the 10K at springtime, surprise, knew you were going to catch me, didn't know you at the time but knew you and I was surprised. It took as long as it took, but you did and I took myself. It took as long as it took, but she did and I took myself out after that anyway.
Speaker 8:But it's always fun because you get to keep going. And sometimes it's also that challenge Can I get to the castle? Can I get to mile six? Can I get to mile 10? You know, it's that personal challenge too.
Speaker 4:I'd have gone further, but Alicia wouldn't let me.
Speaker 6:Probably a good decision on a new knee. So since we're talking about funny things, at the very beginning you guys said that you guys like to tell dad jokes. Can you please give us a few? I love a good joke, um, why was?
Speaker 4:six scared of seven I know this one, so, so I'm going to stay out of it.
Speaker 9:Same, I don't know I don't know this one, because seven, eight, nine, oh Now what I'll end up doing when we get out on the highways. Like I don't have a ton of them stored in my brain, but I especially you're getting a little delirious at certain parts of the race.
Speaker 9:But I'll Google them up, I'll have them ready to go, and I'll start asking Dolly and the other girls, and the funny thing is you don't know if anybody's paying attention to us or not, but you ask a real stupid one and then you'll get a random answer from several feet in front of us. So I think it does help distract people, and that's why we do it.
Speaker 7:You know, Do you ever sing songs or like do chants or anything All the time?
Speaker 8:Oh yeah, and it is a threat and a benefit.
Speaker 5:Right, if you don't want to hear us.
Speaker 8:You can speed up and if you want to sing with us, hang back.
Speaker 9:Yeah, and every time I will remind the girls, when we hear the Hercules song, that the Michael Bolton version is so much far superior than any other version Go the distance. So I, you know I sing a lot. We all sing along generally with the Disney songs.
Speaker 6:I tried doing jokes when I paced my first ever race at Disney.
Speaker 4:It was silent when I after I said it.
Speaker 6:I don't know if it was, maybe it was just like the way I said it.
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 6:Granted, there wasn't.
Speaker 1:There wasn't many people around me, but I was trying, but my partner was, but everybody else silent exactly all right, molly and kathleen, we have talked about the motivational stories of being a balloon lady, the funny stories of being a balloon lady, but in a bigger, grander picture, all of you are rock stars of run disney. You are, you know, in the same echelon as jeff galloway, the race announcers, dj cj. You know, like you, like you, are a named establishment within this sport, within the Disney running sphere. Kathleen, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 9:It is fun to be a balloon lady. I'm not going to deny that. But our purpose out there is to help people finish the race and to be the visual reminder of where we are out in the course. So while we do enjoy taking pictures and we're happy to take pictures with folks at this, you know, at the end of the race or before the race, you know we're out there to help folks finish. So we just try to do our best and and remind folks. You know we're human, some of us have, you know we're human. Some of us have, uh, you know, have some of the same struggles that the folks training out there do.
Speaker 9:Um, but it is fun to be a balloon lady. I'm not going to sit here and say that it's not. Um, like a lot of times, we have annual passes, so I'll wear one of my run Disney shirts to a race or something and somebody will say something about it Like oh, I don't did that race. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then my son he's, he'll be 13 this month, he goes, my mom's one of the balloon ladies and you know so. So every once in a while you'll get a oh, okay or a wow, really, you know, and we'll just kind of chat about it. But you know we're. We're out there to help folks finish the races, that's. That's what we're there to do.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I, I agree, it's exactly. It's fun. We we know how big the balloon ladies have gotten over the last several years. We're here to help people. We like it too, because then we know, people know who we are, they acknowledge us, they know that we're real life people too, because they see us in the airport, in the grocery store, wherever the case may be. And you know, I enjoy the people that we've met, the friendships that we've made. You know just all of the things that come with it. Because I'm a social person, I want to help as many people as I can. I just want to be out there and be with my friends, and it doesn't matter if I know you or not. You're my friend at the beginning, at the middle, at the end. You're my friend.
Speaker 4:So and if you run, you know, nevermind, we'll do that, we'll do that at the end of the episode. Hey, you're out there. I mean we've talked about it and sometimes we gloss over or forget about this. How do you prep? Do you have any race day gear bag items? Do you have any must-haves for the course?
Speaker 9:I don't go out there without a bag of pretzels. That is usually my go-to and I'll share with the girls. I always have pretzels. Uh, the little stinger chews. That's kind of my uh, nutrition of choice. Um, I do the salt tabs, especially when it's oh yeah, so usually they're my go-tos. Um, I'll be honest, I brought out one of those Uncrustables this time to the race course. That was not a good idea.
Speaker 4:Didn't like it, huh Okay.
Speaker 9:Because that jacked up my stomach in not a good way. So I learned the hard way on that one the whole don't do anything you didn't practice with.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I did exactly that Nothing new on race day right.
Speaker 9:Yeah, but typically the other stuff is what I pack and usually that that'll sustain me. I'll have a peanut butter and jelly in the car beforehand and then I'm usually good.
Speaker 8:And one thing I have learned over the years is I always have my own Tylenol, my own Aleve, because you never know if they're going to have any. I also bring an Imodium, because if you need one, you need one, and they don't sell them on property. Bring an Imodium, because if you need one, you need one, and they don't sell them on property, and so I always bring that with me. I also try and carry a little thing of Vaseline and my own water, because you never know when you're going to need something. I need a little snack, whether it's a gummy, whether it's pretzels, because Kathleen's got me hooked on pretzels. Now it doesn't matter. I've always got a little bit of food and my own water bottle and then some mints.
Speaker 6:If someone wanted to track you during the races so they could see where you're at. Is that even possible for someone to track you guys so they know where you guys are at during?
Speaker 8:the race. As soon as bib numbers are out there, somebody in the world finds our numbers and puts it out everywhere. Everybody finds our names. They know who we are. You may not know exactly what race we're doing, but for the most part there's enough people that know all of us and we'll just search for all of our names depending on what they think we're going to do. So usually the Run Disney, run, run Disney Blah Facebook pages. I know my bib number gets out there pretty quickly.
Speaker 2:I give somebody a really good tip, I mean don't track them, track the 16-minute pace group, because if you're ahead of them you're definitely going to be ahead of the Bloom ladies. Yeah, that's good advice, john.
Speaker 6:They're normally, I think, two minutes ahead of you guys, from what I remember depends.
Speaker 4:Depends on where they're on the corral, I think jack where that 16 minute group starts, but yeah, but they're going to be ahead.
Speaker 1:So that, john, that's great advice, I think so when I think of the balloon, ladies, I I think of all of you women as, as you know, superwoman, you know bat superwoman, you know bat girl, cat woman you know or? Whatever Marvel property you want to go with it. I guess I shouldn't have said DC you know superheroes there, but obviously you ladies are human as well too. From a balloon lady perspective, have you ever had any struggles on a course before?
Speaker 9:So I would say, you know, the hot days are hot for everybody, whether you're a runner, a walker, a balloon lady. I think it was January, it was the 2024 full marathon. I was having some issues with my lower back leading up to the race. I was in physical therapy but I was walking. I was like, you know, I'm like I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. Around Christmas time I did something and I messed up. I had real bad sciatica pain. But again, you know, first couple of weeks, first week of January, I was like I'm pushing through this, I can do anything. I can do anything. It's just, you know, I'm just going to walk it. I've done this before.
Speaker 9:Um, if anybody remembers, you know, towards the back of the pack, you know it started raining, walking into magic, or you know, walking up the road up into magic kingdom, and I was just, I was starting to struggle and I told Heather and Jane at the time. I said I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, ladies, and they're like oh, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine. Um, but something just clicked in my head and a lot of it is mental right, as soon as your brain tells you you're not going to finish. Well, that was the end of it. So I knew a sag bus was coming up and I said I'm done, I'm like I'm not going to be able to keep this pace. I can either cut it off here at mile five or six or whatever it was, or I can suffer through it, probably do worse damage to myself and and then not finish anyway.
Speaker 9:So, um, I pulled myself and so as soon as I got off, uh, the the the path, I let um, one of the the lead, uh, bike people, bike people. Let them know I was coming off the race. And as soon as I got to the bus I said cut my balloon, because I didn't want to make a big deal that one of the balloon ladies had gotten picked up. And I got on that bus and it was a long, cold, wet ride back to that sag tent. And I remember getting off the sag tent and them handed me my medal and my little food box and I was just so defeated. So I know what it's like to be picked up by the bus. Now I put myself on the bus. Not everybody has that choice, but it is hard and you know it took me a little bit to get over that. You know I had a rough couple days but I still think I made the right decision at the time. I was not going to have a successful race, and there's other races, you know there you go, yep.
Speaker 9:So that was a struggle for me. That was really hard, but I came back. I did Princess that year. I think I did Springtime after that.
Speaker 1:So there's other races in the future maybe have either found themselves in that position once before or if if God forbid that ever happened to them. You know. To help them navigate the mental side of all of this, what advice would you give?
Speaker 9:Um, I would, you know, reflect back on your training. You know you gave it your best effort and there will be other races that you can train for, maybe train differently, kind of look back and see will be other races that you can train for, maybe train differently. Kind of look back and see what was good about what you did, what was not so great about what you did, and see what you can take from that experience and put that into your next race.
Speaker 4:All right, I'm going to switch gears. Disney costumes run Disney costumes. Have you ever done it? And if not, would you? And then the obvious question is what would you run as?
Speaker 8:I have not done it because I don't train in a costume and I try not to wear anything new for a race and when you're looking at 13 miles, that's a lot of issues that can happen, that you're not ready for If it's a simple costume that is just like a running outfit, that's a different story. I've worn things that are just a simple running outfit tank top, skirt, something like that but full-on costume I don't have the energy for that usually they are so pretty and so cute and so awesome, but hot and chasey.
Speaker 4:They can be.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I've never. I've never worn a costume during the races. Every once in a while I'll find an Etsy shop or something that has kind of a fun shirt keeping with the theme, but now I've, for the same reasons. Molly gave the balloons enough of a costume for us those are good.
Speaker 4:I like it.
Speaker 6:So what do you wish? More runners? Kind of understood about your guys' role.
Speaker 8:Just that we are not the mean people and not that run Disney is mean per se, but they're just trying to get the parks open, the roads open, stuff like that. We're just visuals. You know, we are not here to be mean to you. We may encourage you, we may give you advice or suggestions, but really we just want to help you in any way we can. And if we need to give advice or something and you don't like it, that's okay, we get it, because people give us that same advice.
Speaker 4:What's the best advice you've never mind? Let's leave that one.
Speaker 2:Besides what I said before about tracking the 16 minute Galloway pace group, if they're on the course I know they're not on the course for the 10 case Uh, what advice would you give to runners worried about staying ahead of you guys or ladies?
Speaker 9:I would add on, or just kind of footstomp, what Molly said about folks need to get to the front of their corrals. Um, try to get there early. I know it's an early wake up call, but try to get to your corral as early as you can and practice the pace or practice a slightly faster pace. That way you know you do have a little bit of buffer. You know, when you get out there on race day.
Speaker 8:I think, another good suggestion too, especially for the people that do not live in Florida and train in the cold weather. It's great that you have to train in your pants and your long sleeves and your heavy clothes, wherever you're at. Just know that you cannot wear that in Florida. You can wear it at the beginning, but you need to have throwaway clothes. You know, disney takes all of the throwaway clothes. They wash them, they launder them and they donate them. So don't think that if you go to Goodwill and buy a five dollar sweatshirt that it's going to go to you know someplace bad, it goes to a good place, it's washed, it's clean. But just know it is too hot and humid in Florida for most people to wear pants and long sleeves and big heavy hats. Just dress appropriately. Wear layers, you know. Don't be afraid to get. Take layers off.
Speaker 9:We don't want everybody naked, though that's right, that's right there was some girl and she was in this beautiful like cinderella thing but it was zipped up to her, you know, up to her chin, and had these sleeves on it. It was like tights and at one point I said to her you need to unzip that, you are going to overheat. And I see all the people, especially with the braces, where you get the long sleeve shirts. People wear them to race day and I just want to say save it for after the race, don't wear long sleeves.
Speaker 9:And if you don't want to say like save it for after the race like, don't wear long sleeves, you know, and and if you don't want to even go out and buy like the freebie clothing, chances are they'll be. I do. I do my best shopping for my throwaway clothes. In the corral there's always stuff that people throw like I, I think I wore a bathrobe for like four miles that I got off of the stuff people throw away.
Speaker 9:You know there's plenty of clothes or you know you can bring your own. But to Molly's point, people overdress for some of these races and I think not good. You know, consider, consider the temperature.
Speaker 4:You do, you're right.
Speaker 2:And another thing I always hear this story. I don't know if it's true or not. If you make it to Epcot, you're not getting swept.
Speaker 9:That's not true. Not the case. No, no, you are. And we say this to everybody because people ask us that all the time. There's the big rush to get into Epcot and people say am I safe? Am I safe? Am I safe? You are not safe until you cross the finish line. That is your guarantee that you are safe. So, um, again, disney wants to be able to open the parks up. You know, um, but you know, if you're, if you're in epcot there and you're getting in line for the margarita or the beer or whatever you know, and they're passing you by, there's no guarantees that you're not going to get picked up.
Speaker 4:Well, it's come time we have to wrap this up. The last couple of weeks we've so much enjoyed revisiting with old friends and, of course, tonight's been delightful, as I knew it would be. Kathleen and Molly, if our friends want to connect with you, follow your story, is there a way that they can do it? Instagram, Facebook, anything like that?
Speaker 8:We do have a Facebook page. It's Balloon Ladies Fan Club, so look us up there, friend us. We like to talk to people and post your pictures with us. We'd love to see the pictures. We never get to see the pictures.
Speaker 4:Oh, thank you so much. It was delightful. We really appreciate you giving us your time once again and we look forward to seeing you. It won't be too terribly long now. We'll see you in October.
Speaker 8:Thank you been great guys, thanks folks so there you go, friends.
Speaker 4:Once again, the balloon ladies are our friends and they're delightful people. They genuinely are. We just had Molly and Kathleen, but the rest of the crew, they're there for you, they're there to help you and that's what they want to do. So that's what the balloon ladies are all about. Quick note we we were talking on the other side of the interview about costumes for the springtime surprise race weekend. Let me drop a reminder here that the alien shirts for marathon weekend Aliens shirts for Marathon Weekend 5K are available from our friend Alec at Kauai and Pizza Apparel. The link is pinned to the featured section on the Facebook group page. I noticed several of you commenting that you've already seen this and already ordered yours. They're good looking shirts and Alec does a great job with them. So they're available and please, it's a lot of fun Run with us. We'll have. Let's see if we can get a couple hundred aliens scurrying around Disney World on the 5K next January.
Speaker 4:We started last. We started a couple weeks ago talking with representatives from some of the charities that that sponsor bibs for Run Disney Race weekends. We've got another group with us this week, the Dragon Master Initiative. So for the month of July, we welcome another charity. This time it is the Dragon Master Initiative.
Speaker 4:Now, if you're like me, that's a new one to you, but here to tell us about it we have the president of the Dragon Master Initiative, amanda Haddock. Hi, amanda, hello. And a friend of mine from Instagram, a person I've known for years, jocelyn Henderson. But Jocelyn, I've known you for a while. In fact, when I see you at Disney, it's always hi, mom, because Jocelyn is momrunsdiz on Instagram and I think a lot of you probably know her through that. Jocelyn, good to see you, good to see you. And it sounds funny saying Jocelyn and not mom. But you know respect. All right, ladies, thank you for joining us. This is fun. Amanda, you got in touch with us through email and I was getting emails from the. I'm going to throw out the DMI. You know, act like I know Dragon Master Initiative real well now. And finally, I said I need to look into this group and see what they're doing. So tell us if you would please tell us about Dragon Master Initiative.
Speaker 3:Sure, well, we started because my son, david, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer when he was 16. And David was. I would fill the whole podcast if I tried to tell you about David, but let's just say that he was a super sweet kid, very kind, really cared about other people, and so when he was facing this diagnosis he really wanted to help push research forward. We didn't discuss it with him in great detail because he didn't want to, but he knew that he had an aggressive form of cancer and he really wanted other kids not to have to suffer like that. And so with his journey and since he's passed away, we were really focused on not just his care, of course, we were very focused on his care.
Speaker 4:Of course.
Speaker 3:But how can we use what he was going through to help other people?
Speaker 3:And so he participated in some research projects that he volunteered for, and he was always, if they asked, he said yes, he didn't ask them, you know, if it was going to hurt or if it was going to take a lot of time, or he didn't care.
Speaker 3:He was like I'll do anything I can do to help. And so we've tried to kind of carry that spirit forward and and the the core of that to us was what's the most impact that we can have, and my husband and I are both computer geeks and what we kind of came around to was the sharing of information was the area where we could have the greatest impact. So what we've done is help build out an infrastructure that's web-based, where researchers can put their raw data on patients, so genomic data, their clinical records, their scans. We've got bio samples, like everything we can get on a patient longitudinally, from when they're diagnosed through when they're cured or when they pass. We've got the whole journey, and then we make that available to researchers worldwide so they don't have to be at a top hospital to do top quality work.
Speaker 4:Wow, that is quite an initiative. That's impressive. Jocelyn, how did you get hooked up with this group?
Speaker 5:I was introduced to Amanda about, I'd say about seven years ago. It's been a while. It was pre-COVID because I, you know, running Disney races, had saw different charities and I wanted to charity run Immediately when I met Amanda. You can't help but to love her and love what she's doing, and so it's just been something that I've been doing. Every year I try to run at least one race with Dragon Masters, and actually I got my son, you know, running for Dragon Masters this past Princess Half Marathon I mean Half Marathon weekend, so he himself wanted to fundraise. How about?
Speaker 4:that.
Speaker 5:Something amazing for this.
Speaker 4:How about that Very, very cool. Uh, how long has dragon master been involved with run disney?
Speaker 3:so we volunteered at uh princess weekend. What is?
Speaker 4:2015.
Speaker 3:Oh, a little while now okay we we were actually volunteering with another charity back then and then we actually ran a race just to see if we thought we could make an impact here, and I think our first official race weekend was probably 2016.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, so was mine, but that's that's entirely different. So you're coming up. This would be your 10th year now to be involved with Run Disney.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know I need to double check that, Cause it this might be our 10th year. Yeah, it's a we've as an organization, but I don't think we've passed 10 years with Run Disney yet.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, we we lose track with that COVID year where we lost everything, but but anyway, it's been a little while, that's cool.
Speaker 6:So how can friends just go ahead and secure a charity bib? Are there requirements? What do you do?
Speaker 3:That's a really good question, actually, Because I think it changes over the years. At least it has for us, and I don't want to speak for other charities. But when charities are new, they're like, yeah, yeah, everyone come in and then you start selling out your team and so you're like, oh, maybe we only want people that are actually serious about doing this. So, um, so we, we try. Uh, you know we we certainly always want to welcome new runners with us, but we also want to make sure that they understand that this is a fundraising commitment. It's not just to run. So that balance is important. But they just fill out the form online and, generally speaking, if we have space, then they're in. We don't have a big formal application process, but then we do try to have some conversations after they sign up and go OK, you signed the little thing saying that you're fundraising, just making sure you understand that and let's move on and, you know, have some success with this.
Speaker 4:So I understand. Yeah, what are some of the fundraising requirements for the races?
Speaker 3:Well, it varies by distance and also a little by race weekend. So the race weekends that sell out really fast tend to have a slightly higher fundraising commitment than the other ones. I think our 5k starts at 635. Okay, which I, since I'm on with you guys, I'll address a little, because, because people are always like oh, that's, you know, it sounds like a lot right.
Speaker 4:Oh no, it really doesn't.
Speaker 3:Good, good, good. But you know charities have to like report any fundraising expense and we're buying the bibs.
Speaker 4:So that's right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're down for the cost of that bib out of the gate and then also other things, you know shirts, medals, parties, all that kind of stuff factors into the cost of having a runner out there. And even for us, you know we're almost entirely volunteer driven organization, but there's still just a lot of hard costs associated with those weekends. So if people think that the fundraising costs, you know why is not double I hear that a lot why don't you just double it? And then you know, but we can't, we can't really do it for that and still actually make money to put toward the cause.
Speaker 4:So when a person registers through Dragon Master, does the registration fee that they pay to run the race, does that count towards their fundraising?
Speaker 3:Yeah absolutely yeah, and again it's different, I think, with every charity, but for us we have them pay a fee just to make sure they're serious, right, they're committed to doing this, and then they fundraise for the rest of the commitment.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, I think that's common, I do, and from our experience, 600 for a 5K or 635, I think that's probably a little below the mean from what I've seen, so that sounds fair.
Speaker 2:I signed up with you guys to run a race. What are some of the team benefits that you guys have if I do sign up with you?
Speaker 5:Again. I have run with Dragon Masters for several years. I always look forward to an amazing package from Amanda. You normally get a Dragon Master shirt. Once she gets to know you, she might do in a little something extra. There's also a team luncheon, normally on Saturday. You know, so you get to meet other charity runners. Again, it's really fun. Great time Also. Um, also what I like, we get an extra medal. Um, that's a perk of running dragon masters as well at the end of the race um amanda's.
Speaker 5:There you get a nice medal um something that I've um liked. That had that that dragon master started post-covid was you're. We're running for a dedicated child. Um it's uh, it's um a picture um Amanda or or her daughter sends you, um. You get a detailed story um about a child's life and about that child, and it makes it a little more meaningful for me.
Speaker 5:That's a gift because, um, I actually have mine in post-race, that they're still on my desk at work. You know just something, just for me to remember why I'm running and why I ran that race. So that alone is a perk you get for running, for this charity.
Speaker 4:That's a great thing. I love that.
Speaker 3:Can I just say, too, that that idea came from one of our runners. Yeah, so uh, and. But it's been such a cool community because they come in and get interested and then they're like, oh, what if we do this, and what if you know, and, and so we try to take our lead from what they say is meaningful and valuable to them. Um, and I would love to take credit for that. But that runner card idea came because one of our runners wanted she wanted to have a kid for every mile of the marathon. So she's like, can you tell us your kids' stories? And we're like, yes, we can, but if we do that, can we share those stories out with the team? And it just became a whole thing yeah fantastic.
Speaker 6:So what kind of ideas do you have for someone who's trying to fundraise? Is there any fun things you guys do to kind of help inspire the person to fundraise? More Like what kind of things do you do?
Speaker 5:Well, as a fundraiser. And then I'll let Amanda, I automatically I start with family and friends and coworkers, I hype them up. They know, you know, I always like Princess Weekend, so hey, around January. I always like princess weekend, so hey, around January I'm like, hey, it's almost that time it'll open up. Also things like getting on Facebook and dedicating a song. I let, I let friends, I said, give me five dollars and you can dedicate a song. I had a very interesting playlist but just being diligent, because you'll be surprised.
Speaker 8:I bet you did.
Speaker 5:And again, I always tell people to be genuine, you know, and signing up, more importantly, for a charity that you really believe in, not just a oh, I want to run a race. Like I said after meeting Amanda and meeting again, I love Amanda's husband, I love her, but I love Richard. Knowing them it makes me want to run for this charity. So that makes it easier when people see it's a charity that you genuinely care about and you want to fundraise for.
Speaker 4:That might be all the time we ask folks. That might be the number one thing that people say is is get a charity that you can get behind and it means something to you. And Amanda, you have any suggestions for our friends?
Speaker 3:Sure, let's see Some things that I've seen be really successful. It's always great if you can share your passion, right? I mean, obviously running is a passion for everyone. So doing things, like Jocelyn said, that involve them in your run. I've seen people have their race costumes sponsored, or even just their race shirt. They'll write like if you're crafty, you can do all kinds of stuff with that. But even if you're not just a Sharpie and you're writing their names on your shirt or dedicating a mile to someone that they may have lost from cancer or something like that, that's always really successful. But other passions can also be a really good way of fundraising.
Speaker 3:So if you like to cook, you could either make things or teach people how to make things. Like virtual classes are really popular. That's neat. You know we've had people do chili cook-offs at work. If you work in a traditional work location, there's a lot of fun things that you can do and just tell people hey, next Friday, plan on eating lunch here, we're going to have a chili cook-off and you can get almost the whole building to participate in things like that. Rib cook-offs and all kinds of crazy things happen.
Speaker 3:We had a police department once. They had a team of people, like seven people running, and I was really a little worried about the fundraising because, like a lot of times when you're in a public position like that, they can't necessarily, you know, like federate, like a normal person would, because it could be seen, as you know, putting pressure on others and they're in a position of power and stuff. So they had one very talented person and they made her paint Christmas ornaments that they, I think they took some custom orders, but they definitely just had like a booth set up in the lobby at the police station and people were just buying these Christmas ornaments to help raise money for pediatric cancer. They were beautiful, oh my gosh, they were so cool. And of course, you know all kinds of customizations and things. So, yeah, I think you know people have a lot of different talents, so use those and share them.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 4:Wonderful suggestions. I love asking the question because we get some of the same answers, but we get different ones, and that's. Those are great. Thank you so much for that. If our friends want to run for Dragon Master Initiative, where do they go?
Speaker 3:Well, they should just be able to go to dragonmasterorg and that's dragonmaster, no S at the end of masterorg and look under our events, and all of the different races are there.
Speaker 4:And this should also be on the spreadsheet that we maintain for all the charities, so we'll have a link there as well.
Speaker 2:We're on the website. Do we have availability still available for some of these races?
Speaker 5:To reach out to her specifically for the distances, but they are available for all the races.
Speaker 4:Okay, very good, very good.
Speaker 3:Every weekend has something available.
Speaker 4:Yeah, One more note I made while you were talking, and I may be wrong, amanda, I try to listen carefully. You talked about your son, but I don't remember telling us his name. What was your son's name? His name is David, david Thank you is David, david, thank you, thank you. David would be proud, I'm sure. I'm sure. Absolutely Well, amanda and Jocelyn. Thanks so much. I look forward to seeing you. I know, amanda, you said dopey Jocelyn. I know, princess, anything before that?
Speaker 5:Wine and dine for me. Yeah, jocelyn, I know Princess, anything before that Wine and Don for me.
Speaker 4:Yay, all right, that's great. Well, we look forward to seeing you then. Thanks so much for joining us, and we'll see you later.
Speaker 3:Thank you Thanks.
Speaker 2:That was a great interview. If you do want to run for Dragon Master I know they're having a little bit of an issue on their webpage right now Reach out to them through email at info at dragonmasterorg. That's master, no S. Please Right and reach out to them and tell them what's going on. I know they have bibs available. Just give them a quick email.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it seems like a good group. Of course, the charities that Run Disney works with they're all good groups I mean you can't go wrong with it.
Speaker 2:They're legit. They're legit and you know they're a nonprofit and you know a lot of this stuff gets done with volunteers and that might be part of their webpage too.
Speaker 4:Hey, john, a couple people on Facebook have talked about the mixtape. How's the mixtape going, okay?
Speaker 2:so our mixtape is going really well. It's going to be perfect for some of those long runs coming up. We're about 80 songs right now. It's about almost five hours of mix. So if you need a good five-hour run mixtape's there for you.
Speaker 4:Remember it's a speed limit. It's okay if it takes you five hours to do 10 miles. Just don't exceed the speed limit. So the link that's in the Facebook group is good for the mixtape, john.
Speaker 2:It should be. I will check it again. I know a lot of people did it. I know some people that are on the Apple product were having a little problem adding songs. You know, I don't think Apple wants to play well with Spotify.
Speaker 4:No kidding.
Speaker 2:But people have done it All right.
Speaker 4:So we're good to go. So enjoy the five-hour tape. Happy running. Oops, it's not the end of the episode. Nope, relax, we got time to go. In fact, let's take a look here real quick. Hey, did you guys see that there's an October run in Kissimmee, florida, a 5K, the Rise and Run 5K.
Speaker 6:No.
Speaker 7:Are we?
Speaker 4:sponsoring that.
Speaker 1:Are we getting royalties from this?
Speaker 4:Alicia, get our attorneys on the phone, will you please All right, I will.
Speaker 6:We are LLC'd, my friend.
Speaker 4:That's right. Can you imagine? We said that cease and desist. There's a Rise and Run 5K in Kissimmee in October. I'm probably not going to go over and do it, but you all know Kissimmee is right in the Walt Disney World area. I would love a lot of our friends to show up in their Rise and Run shirts. Yes, please do 5K, wouldn't that be cool.
Speaker 1:And they all have to run together.
Speaker 2:If the race announcers are Bob Greg Alicia, it's a problem.
Speaker 6:I would love to see their medal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, somebody brought that to my attention, if they're selling our merch, we really have a problem.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:I should have remembered who brought it to my attention and give them credit. I'll try and do it on the next episode. Speaking of the next episode next episode 199, staying with our theme of visiting with friends, grace and Alan Young are with us. They'll be back. They were with us earlier. They've become wonderful friends of the podcast. Many of you know Alan and Grace. You know that Alan is the only person who's not only done this will be Walt Disney World Marathon number 33, only done. This will be disney walt disney world marathon number 33. But alan holds the distinction of also doing the only marathon that was run in disneyland. In addition to that, wonderful people should make for a great episode.
Speaker 4:And now it's time for the race report. Race Report sponsored by our friend Tom Stokes. Stokes Metabolic Training, stokesfit, slash, rise and Run Coaching is the site. John and I and Alicia also is in on this We've all talked about it. We're we are actively involved in Tom's 8-Week Challenge. It's coming at a great time for me. I need it. It's an excellent challenge. I hope you're in it also, friends. If not, I don't know if it's too late, but I know it's not too late to get involved with some of Tom's personal coaching. It's very beneficial, highly worthwhile.
Speaker 4:All right, we've got a long one this week, lots of races. I hope I didn't miss any. I went through them as late as this afternoon. Had to shorten the summaries somewhat, so here we go. Let us start on Thursday, july the 3rd, in Knoxville, tennessee, where Megan and Jimmy ran the Fireball Classic 5K. Megan and Jimmy ran the Fireball Classic 5K. Megan said the course took them by Nayland Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers. No medal for this race, still fun. Jimmy walked this one since he's going to show up at another race on Friday.
Speaker 4:All right, let's go to the holiday, friday, the 4th of July, and I'm going to start it in St Petersburg, florida, for the St Pete Pier Run. This is a four-mile event. Two start times 6.30 am and 7.30 am. John Pelkey and his wife, jody, were the race announcing crew and we had several rising runners there, myself included. I didn't get to see everyone. I got to see quite a few folks.
Speaker 4:But let me tell you, friends, I'll take a minute to tell a story on this one. I got there early. I did the 6 30 wave. I got there early because I knew john was going to be there. He and I were talking at about 6 am. We're talking about the weather, which at that time looked really kind of nice. It was a pretty sun starting to come up and we had been watching the weather forecast. We said they're going to be OK, john, I don't think the rain is going to start till about 1030. That's what I heard too. We're in great shape.
Speaker 4:I said goodbye, got in the line to start and at about 620, it started to rain. Now that wasn't pleasant, because you're just standing there and it's raining. And it's a warm day, it's not particularly cold, but the rain wasn't. A lot of fun, lot of fun. Then we got going and it kept draining harder and harder and harder, and some of the streets in this part of Florida do not drain well at all. My friends.
Speaker 4:By the time we got a mile into that race we were running in water. That was for me about middle of my shins deep. Now you're not running anymore at that point You're just wading through 18 inches to two feet of water. It was a riot. I will tell you I kind of had fun with it. I will tell you I kind of had fun with it. But on the other hand, I'm running along and around mile three, I'm in some of the deepest water and I see lightning in the area, hear the thunder and I'm thinking, well, this is not good, but what can you do? I got out of the water where I could. I got up onto the side side, up into the grass. I don't know that that was much of an improvement and we kept going hey, here's some lessons learned from when you have to run in really rainy days. I knew some of this stuff already. I had a hat, a hat with a brim, really important in rain.
Speaker 4:The rain got so hard at one point, with the wind blowing, that even though it was relatively dark, I put my sunglasses on because the rain was blowing into my face enough it was tough to keep my eyes open. So I had my sunglasses with me, put those on. We just powered through. We got some great stories. Let's see who else was there. Kaylee was there. I saw Kaylee on the course a couple of times. I think she was a little bit ahead of me. Kayla was there. Kayla did the two by four challenge, which would mean that she ran both events. Now we need a PR bell because this was Kayla's first four miler and her first eight mile challenge.
Speaker 4:I failed to mention that, while they couldn't do much for us who were on the course from the 630 start, what they did do for the 730 folks is they shot an email out and said hey, hold what you got, we're going to put your start off until 830. And in doing that, by then the rain had pretty much stopped and the streets had a chance to dry. The drain had a chance to drain, so the 830 start wasn't quite as bad. Let's see. Stephanie ran this one. Stephanie posted a video on the Facebook page of the folks running through some of the deeper stuff. It was incredible.
Speaker 4:Lisa was there. She trudged through on the early run. I think she ran the second race, but she also. Cynthia also posted a video of the first one. And then Trina ran with her son Frank in the second wave. That wasn't too bad, except that there's this is a nice event. It's been going on for a couple of years. I've run all of them. Each one is its own story, but the after party in the expo area is in a part of the pier that they call the beach.
Speaker 2:It was the mud pit for the after party, did Pelkey give you one of those infamous announcements? Well, here's the deal, or whatever. So here's the thing. So here's the thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, we didn't get it. So here's the thing. In fact, when I finished he was there on the side. I ran up to him and I said so, john, here's the thing Running in water that is almost knee deep. But he had already heard about that, but it was fun to see him. You know Jody's birthday was the 4th of July. Happy birthday, jody. Jody's going to be with us in an upcoming episode and John's was actually July 2nd, so it's good to see both of them there.
Speaker 4:The big race this weekend, as it is every July 4th, is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, america's largest 10K run. We had a slew of runners who were there. Some of them left us report. Allie says this was much nicer temps than last year, a little bit cooler. She's returning from some injuries. Got to run this with some friends, had some run Disney folks strike up a conversation with her when they recognized her costume, which I thought was terrific. Allie ran as Winifred Banks. Allison was there. Amy was there. Amy managed to recover from what she calls the hill where all hope is lost around mile three. She finished strong. I've heard others. Atlanta can be really hilly. We had another. We had two other Amy's run. This one. Anita was there. Ashley said she PR'd in fun. She'll be back next year Nice meeting with friends from Atlanta's Marathon back in March to run this race.
Speaker 4:Today Brooke was there. Brooke ran with her husband Fisher. This year they went with a goal to PR in fun while also getting out of the heat as fast as they could. They did it, already signed up for next year. Dale did this first time doing the Peachtree. Most everyone who commented talked about how great course support was Said. One of the churches had their pastor out splashing people with holy water. I've heard of that before. Dale got a five-minute PR on this course. That's impressive. This is a tough course to PR. It's hilly, it's crowded and it's usually warmer. That was a little cooler than normal. But nice PR Dale. Elizabeth was there, as was Jessica, and Katie Kim was running it for her first time. A lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again. Pr and Fun loved every minute. Some of her best running friends. Matt did his third Peachtree, his second with his girlfriend. The vibes were high. The spectators were amazing, as always.
Speaker 1:Now, matt. I do need to know, though do they have pizza cones at the end of the Petrie road race, because I know that's your favorite post-race snack.
Speaker 4:That's a good question, greg. I don't know. I know they got a nice. I think it ends in a Fremont park and they had a nice. I did this thing a hundred years ago. Well, all right, quite not, not quite that long, but I did it a long time ago. Uh, nick was there. Patrick, two Patrick's were there. Sharon didn't have a PR, but she beat last year's time by four minutes. Sherry was there. Todd said he left home at two 45 to get there PR the race by eight minutes. He said he was motivated to get home and take a nap. But that's again, this is not an easy race to PR. So there you go, Bunch of our friends running the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, glenrock, new Jersey, the Glenrock 9-11 Tribute Run 5K. Rob does this one, I think, every year. This is the 18th one Most runners they've had since 2015. Rob got an age group PR A little bit under 25 minutes. That's a great 5K.
Speaker 1:That's awesome Way to go, Rob.
Speaker 4:Eight minute per mile pace His best pace in over a year. Good run, rob. In L go Rob. Eight minute per mile pace His best pace in over a year. Good run, rob. In Lutz, florida, that's right, l-u-t-z is pronounced Lutz the Lutz Independence Day 5K. Laura Ann met with Andrea. Andrea was there too at the start line. They ended up pacing another Disney runner to the last mile to help her finish and they told her about the podcast. Thank you, laura Ann and Andrea. Robert was there also In York, maine. Four on the fourth. Rob did this scenic out and back course that runs right along the coastline. Good weather for this race Made for a great way to kick off the holiday weekend.
Speaker 4:In Lakeland, florida, jessica did the red, white and blue 5k Sounds like a beer run, let's see. Went through downtown Lakeland as an out and back to the brewery where it started. No PR, but she was able to hold race pace despite not really doing much maintenance training. The finish line had a pancake breakfast and a free beer, pancakes and beer. Breakfast of champions. Good job, jessica. Tyler, texas. Jessica Ellie and Maggie Oops, not Maggie. Maggie got hurt, couldn't run. Jessica Ellie and Kevin ran the Freedom Fighter 5K. Weather was unusually cool and cloudy about 75 degrees in Tyler, texas. Jessica says doesn't remember a July 4th with temperatures this cool, which for a run, made it nice.
Speaker 1:Kevin, I'm sorry this episode isn't 200 hours long. If you were on the Zoom last Thursday, if you know you know that's right.
Speaker 4:That's right. Let's go to Endwell, new York, because all's well that ends well. The four on the fourth Steve, it was his fourth four on the fourth, of course. It's known for hills, particularly in the first couple of miles. The fourth the course is known for hills, particularly in the first couple of miles. The finishers had a local Tex-Mex restaurant serving breakfast burritos. They even had a cold brew coffee station and an ice cream truck handling out treats, including Mickey bars, up in Endwell, new York.
Speaker 4:In Reston, virginia, taylor and Brian did the Firecracker 5K Over in Claremont, florida. The Advent Health Claremont Freedom 5K. Sherilyn was there. Mary Jo said it was a great training run to cap off week. One of Dopey training. Delicious watermelon at the finish line. Watermelon's a great treat on a race course, whether at the finish or if you're lucky enough to get it along the way. That's helpful. Adanya was there. New course a little hilly, a little humid, but plenty of water stops. All things considered, she did pretty darn good.
Speaker 4:Chelmsford, massachusetts, sophie and Audrey ran the John Carson July 4th two-mile road race. A bunch of family members ran with them, including mom Haben who got first place in her age group and did it on her birthday. How cool is that Great crowd support? Because the holiday parade followed the race right away, so the folks were already there. We were in Claremont, florida. Now we're in Claremont, california. Different spelling Claremont Freedom 5K. Kate was there. Fun local race, lots of families, lots of doggies on the course, fun vibes, a little bit of a tough uphill ending but all in all felt good to be active. Nice job, kate. Marysville, ohio. The old Glory 5k.
Speaker 4:Allie ran this one. She was traveling to visit family. Signed up for it at the last minute. It's a local 5k in Marysville. Went out too fast. Most of the course was in the direct sunlight. She struggled a little bit towards the end. Came up about 30 seconds shy of a PR. Still had a great time. Nice metal and shirt at the end of this one.
Speaker 4:Continuing the firecracker 4k at lake line park in cedar park, texas. Derrick ran this one in the rain wasn't too bad. Set a pr gun time of 40 minutes 36 seconds. The metal was made out of wood. Looked very nice. Good job, derek In Wall, new Jersey.
Speaker 4:Firecracker 5 miler. Heather signed up for this race less than 12 hours before the start. Nothing like planning right. Heather Ended with a decent time of an hour five minutes, not her best ever, but her best after turning 40. No medals. They got roses or flags at the finish Somewhere in Illinois, I think our friend the treadmill queen, our friend the Treadmill Queen, kayla, ran the Firecracker 10K.
Speaker 4:Hilly hot and a ton of fun for the Treadmill Queen and her guide for the day. Good job, kayla. Let's see another Firecracker on the Firecracker. 5k in Melbourne, florida, monica and the Chaos Crew. Let's see what they did here. Second place age group finishes for kiddo number two and for Monica. Third place age group for kiddo number three. First time she's ever won an age group award and a first ever 5k on her own two feet for kiddo number four. Well, her own two feet for kiddo number four. Well, kiddo number four, that's a PR Hashtag. Dopey baby, according to the pictures, did not really enjoy the kids race, but everyone loved the rocket pops that they got at the finish Up in Nashville, tennessee. Jimmy would be back, jimmy, there for the music city. Fourth of july 5k in centennial park around the parthenon. You guys ever seen the parthenon in nashville?
Speaker 1:I have not, but I've seen plenty of pictures, but not in person.
Speaker 4:It is a full-scale replica of the parthenon in greece's really pretty cool.
Speaker 1:It's by Vanderbilt University right.
Speaker 4:Oh golly, greg. You would ask that I don't know. It probably is, but I don't know to be sure. I do remember going to the park and to the Parthenon. It was neat. Park was beautiful, jimmy says, but there wasn't any shade for about half of this run, so it was pretty hot. They actually registered dogs for this race For $15, the dogs register and they get a bib, a medal and a bandana.
Speaker 1:I can't believe a dog would carry cash on them.
Speaker 4:I don't know, maybe they used debit cards, I don't know. Hey, another Firecracker 5K, this one in New Smyrna Beach, florida. Rebecca was there. This is a beach out and back. Weren't any cones keeping people out of the way on the beach? I mean, they're literally running along the beach. It was kind of chaotic, but overall it was a fun way to start a holiday weekend. Rebecca finished as the first place female in this race.
Speaker 1:You know, Bob, we really missed an opportunity here. We should have created a rise and run drinking game where anytime you say Firecracker 5K, everyone's got to take a drink.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, there's a bunch of them. I tried to put them all together but I couldn't. I just lost track. Let's go to Chester, connecticut, where Miss 169 herself, sue, did the 47th annual four on the fourth race. It's a hilly course but this is just about the cutest town in Connecticut If you want to know what it's like, think Hallmark movie. Independence Day 5K in Needham, massachusetts. Jake was there. Hot weather's coming, jake says, to Massachusetts, but it held off enough for the 8.30 start of this race, which led to a 26-minute finish in this 5K and a 52-second PR. In Pittsburgh, andrew ran the Brentwood Firecracker 5K. There we go again.
Speaker 1:Drink.
Speaker 4:Firecrackers. Denise, on a beautiful day, ran a hilly but great race at the Red, white and Blue 7.4K in Huntersville, North Carolina. Now I got to expect Denise has run this one before, or she'd have told us this was her first ever 7.4 kilometer race, which would have been a PR. There's got to be a story around that distance. I don't know what it is. Up in Huntsville, alabama, they had a Freedom 5K. Judy was there, said it was a beautiful morning. Maria was there Also. They both ran that race.
Speaker 1:Hold on, let's go back to Denise for a second Bob.
Speaker 4:Yeah 7.4. Yeah, the date July 4th. July 4th, there we go there, we go. Broke the code. Thanks, Greg.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. The Da Vinci code over here. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Let's see. We're in Glen Ellen. I believe it is Glen Ellen, illinois. Vicki did the Freedom for Myler Out in Las Vegas the 4th of July 5K Sarah. Sarah wins the award for the most creative report of the year, maybe ever. It appears that Sarah was unable to make this race and at the last minute George Washington showed up from out of time and took her place. You got to see it, friends. You got to see the costume or the mask that Sarah ran in and read the report. It's pretty clever. Good job on that, sarah. Chris was there. Chris ran into Sarah. I mean George pre-race Good size group for this race, kind of like a turkey trot, and there were some speedy runners there.
Speaker 4:Really great medal for this one. Chris says he thinks his rise and run visor helped him with his pace. For this one, I think early data indicates that the rise and run visor is worth about 10 seconds per mile. I think this one's in Erie, pennsylvania, because that's around where Michelle lives. It's the 6th annual 10th Street beer mile which she has watched from her porch for the first five years, but she jumped into the sixth one. Uh, let's see. One mile, four beers, that's a lot. And and Michelle says this is for a person who has maybe one beer a week. They use dynamite To start the race and then they go. Hey, with all that, michelle finished. First female Way to go Michelle, very cool.
Speaker 4:Dina was in Sayville, new York, west Sayville, specifically For the Iron Horse 4 miler it's a hometown favorite race. Raises money for ALS. 4-miler it's a hometown favorite race. Raises money for ALS. Took off with her A-goal of the PR insight, crushed it by a whole six minutes, even better, ran smart, negative splits, crossed the finish line feeling strong and fired up. Well, you earned that. Do you know where? Way to go? In Santa Clarita, the Santa Clarita Independence Day classic Jackie Fun 5K along the 4th of July parade route. So lots of people were cheering as they're waiting for the parade to start. A decade's PR in this 5K For Jackie those count. In Brigton, maine, the four on the fourth Holly did there. Lots of hills, good weather, though no metal, but a great slice of watermelon at the finish.
Speaker 4:Angie's in Jacksonville, florida, for the Seacoast Bank Celebration 5k. Hot and humid. It's Jacksonville, it's July. Her inflatable eagle costume made it even hotter. I can only imagine she wore the eagle costume. It was a fundraising promise to her donors Glad it was only three miles. I understand. I absolutely understand. Having worn a Groot costume for a 5K, her amazing friend also dressed in a cone costume and they did a dead last start to help Angie raise money on this one.
Speaker 4:Albany, ohio, new Albany, ohio. The Independence Day 5k. Kayla and Austin had a great time despite the heat and humidity. They also ran a race on Sunday, the Run Wild 5K at the Columbus Zoo. That was a lot of fun. That race, the Sunday race, was their son Colby's and Colby's 19 months old first 5K ride in a stroller. I'm not sure we have stroller PRs, so still that's cool and fun. Kayla and Austin, good job.
Speaker 4:Cape Coral, florida. The Freedom 5K carried it. A little rain stopped right before they started. Carrie ran her Rise and Run bib boards. She's coming back from foot surgery. She's happy with her 28-minute time, carrie. That's a good time period in a 5K, so congratulations on that. Humidity was high, it was tolerable, the views were amazing and friends.
Speaker 4:We're finishing up the 4th of July with the Greenwood Freedom Fest. It's a 5K in Greenwood, arkansas, which is close to Fort Smith, arkansas. Our buddy Joe was there. Only two amigos on this one. Gary took first in the age group and Joe took second Dos amigos. Dos amigos On the 4th of July. That's it for the 4th. We did have a couple of other runs In Winterplock, florida, on the 5th.
Speaker 4:On Saturday there was the Track Shacks Watermelon Run and our friends who left race reports. They all had great watermelon costumes. They looked really good. Heather and k were there. Heather said her friend convinced her the night before to sign up for this. One wasn't her best 5k, that's all right. She ran into k and other disney friends on the course and of course, and again, they all look great their watermelon costumes. Tracy was there. Always run worth the run for a cold slice of watermelon and a keepsake cooling towel. Now, after the race, tracy got to judge the watermelon eating contest and saw our run disney friend tracy woo was there. So I saw john in st pete. Tracy saw tracy woo over in Winter Park. Erica ran this race. Erica also had a great-looking costume. Erica ran this one virtually.
Speaker 1:Hey Bo, can we go back to Heather for a second? I'm not sure if you were still on the customized training call, but this is really exciting for Heather. She just signed up to do the 110-mile challenge at the Donna next year. And she is attempting to be the first chair athlete to complete that challenge. So, heather, we are behind you. No joke here. 110%.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there you go. I like that. I think she'll do it. Hey, let's go to the Serial City Half Marathon. Our buddy, mark a run Disney patroness did this one. Now you may be looking at the notes. Anybody want to guess where the Serial City Half Marathon is?
Speaker 1:In Kellogg.
Speaker 4:No, it's not a bad guess. Close, I think right, right Got the right idea. See, you's not a bad guess. Close, I think right Got the right idea. See, you guys are a little too young. Even I think John's a little too young. I know Battle Creek Michigan. Well, you know Battle Creek Michigan, but back in the day you would collect box tops for some goofy gift.
Speaker 2:I know he's box tops for that and he box tops for school gifts.
Speaker 4:And you would mail them to Battle Creek, michigan, and then you'd wait which six weeks or so, which, for a 10 year old, was an eternity. Yeah, you got that little submarine.
Speaker 2:You put the. You got that little submarine. Bob, you put the little baking soda in.
Speaker 4:So that's right, that's right, john. Yeah, yep, yep, yep. Making soda in, soda out, that's right, that's right, john. Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep. So anyway, mark did the half marathon there. So this one starts with 50 plus hot air balloons launching Pretty cool, and the balloons follow the runners into the Kalamazoo Valley. That's fortunate the winds are blowing in the correct direction. But Mark, who does a lot of races, says this might be the best non-run Disney event that he's done. Pretty cool In Newcastle, england, the Great North 10K.
Speaker 4:This is another huge 10-kilometer event. I don't know in terms of entries, which one's bigger this or the peach tree, but we had two friends doing it. Ian did this one. About 10,000 runners took to the streets, which included crossing the iconic Tyne Bridge, the Tyne River, newcastle upon Tyne. The bridge is actually the model for the Sydney Harbor Bridge. They cross it twice. Ian finished in a very respectable hour and two minutes.
Speaker 4:Andy did this one also. This one starts 10 minutes from Andy's home. Said the course has been changed. He's done it before. The course has been changed to add an extra uphill. That's always nice. This one made it a little bit tough, started a little too fast, missed his time goal. He's been a grump ever since, but he does want to shout out to his daughter, lena, who ran. She, lena and andy ran a charity event the day before that. They did a mile around. Oh golly and I'm going to butcher this one Is it Lee's Park or Lisa's Park? Ended up in the St James Park home of the Newcastle United Football Club and they had a blast. Notice, andy, I said football club and not soccer team. I did that for you, buddy. Let's wrap up the race report. Let's wrap up the race report.
Speaker 4:On Sunday, july 6th, still in England, the in Cornwall, saltash, cornwall, the magnificent seven. Anna did this one. Anna did this one. Whoever knee, whoever named it magnificent, really needs a trip to the loony bin, as some of those seven hills and seven miles were horrible. 800 feet of elevation gain that's significant. Ana did get an 18-minute course personal best and an official two-minute seven-mile personal best overall, but she made a big mistake at the end. At the end of this race, you have an option you get a medal or you get a beer. Ana took the medal. Thank you very much. She regrets it. She wishes she'd taken the beer.
Speaker 2:That reminds me of my favorite John Crook story. You're a big Phillies fan, right? Remember John Kruk.
Speaker 4:Kruk is the Phillies color commentator on television. He's a riot.
Speaker 2:They traded for. I forget the guy's name. He was 20, kruk was 28. They traded for somebody and he, because the other guy, had all jewelry in 28. So he traded with John Kruk. He goes yeah, I traded for like 10 bucks in two cases of beer. It's a sad story. He goes uh, the guy got divorced from his wife and the beer is gone.
Speaker 4:I bet the beer didn't last long. Not in that locker room, that's for sure. Kruk's great, kruk's hilarious not in that locker room, that's for sure. No, crux Great Crux Hilarious. He does. Like I said, he does the color commentary on Philly's TV games, not for all of them. For most of them he doesn't. For most of the home games he doesn't travel very far, he won't go West of the Mississippi, but he's a riot. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 4:Well, listen, friends, there we have it. I made it, we made it. We made it to the end of the race report for episode 198. All right, friends, we creep closer to episode 200. We plan to continue after, but it's a big one coming up. We thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it. We hope you had fun, friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. That's the second time you've heard that this episode. I hope your training is going well. Stick with it. It does pay dividends. We know it's tough. We know the summer months are difficult to run, but we know they pay off when the temperature goes down and the humidity drops. So hang in there and until we meet again, happy running.
Speaker 1:The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your health care provider or event organizer. Thank, you.
