Rise and Run
Rise and Run
214: 2025 runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Recap
Start with a sunrise 5K in costume, add a social 10K with better photo flow, then stir in a half marathon that put course design under the microscope. That’s the arc of this Wine and Dine weekend—equal parts magic, logistics, and heart. We walk you through the expo’s new rhythms , a refreshed core runDisney merch line with some questionable shirt cuts, and the small tweaks that make or break a big weekend when sleep is scarce and plans are tight.
From Moana-and-Maui family fun to smart walk-run comebacks, the 5K and 10K reminded us why these miles feel so welcoming. We share how the 10K’s streamlined finisher photos and steady water stops kept the vibe smooth, even without electrolytes on course. Then we get candid about the half: the narrow out-and-back to Blizzard Beach that packed two-way traffic on one side, frayed tempers, and raised safety concerns. We talk heat, hydration gaps inside the parks, and where an extra aid station near Tower of Terror could change the day. Along the way, we spotlight wins that matter—stomach issues managed with grit, an age-80 finish powered by training and belief, and PRs earned in sticky weather.
What tied it all together? Community. Our Disney Springs meetup turned buttons and cookies into new friendships, and Myra’s legendary bus energy somehow wrangled a flawless group photo. Out on the course, familiar cheers, shared pacing, and quick humor turned long miles into memorable ones. If you care about runDisney tips, course strategy, expo intel, and how to build a better race weekend, you’ll find plenty here to steal for your next start line.
If this recap helped, follow the show on your favorite app, share it with a runDisney friend, and drop us a quick rating or review. Then tell us: keep this half course, or time for a rethink?
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Hey, Rise and Run fam. It's Amy in Nashville calling you from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. I just ran a 10K around the U.S. National Mall. And man was it amazing. So many great sites and so many great people I got to talk to. So I hope you guys are training hard, running well, and we'll see y'all soon. Happy running.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, good job, Amy from Nashville. Thank you for leaving that report. No, that intro for us. Reports we get later. We get intros at the beginning from the steps of the Capitol. We had a bunch of friends who were in the U.S. Capitol this week, but we'll get to that towards the end of the episode. But for now, greetings, friends. Welcome to episode 214 of the Rise and Run podcast. We are happy that you're joining us again, or maybe even for the first time. Delighted to have you here. I'm Bob, and this week I'm joined by Jack.
SPEAKER_09:Hiya.
SPEAKER_03:By Greg. Hey, hey, hey. And by John. Hey, Bob. How are you doing? I'm doing John doing well, about as well as I was when I saw you uh about 36 hours ago. Yep. It was a good weekend. We'll really get into that. Hey, this week, of course, it's our wine and dine recap episode. So we'll be spending a lot of time talking about that. That's going to also be our race report spotlight this week.
SPEAKER_09:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. So please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and Run Podcast.com. If you have a question, comment, raise report, or just want to introduce an upcoming episode, go ahead and call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
SPEAKER_04:We also want to thank our Patreons whose support helps keep the Rise and Run Podcast rising and running. If you would like to join our Patreon team, please be sure to check out Patreon.com slash rise and run podcast. And this week we want to welcome a new member to the family, someone who just completed the Marine Corps Marathon. We would like to welcome Lance to the Hey, how you doing, level? And uh speaking of Patreons, uh, it should have hit your inboxes by now. Uh but all members of Patreon, um, you received a special message. We need your help in planning a particular episode that we are going to be re-recording in a few weeks. But that's all I'm gonna say for right now because we're a podcast and we love a good tease. Uh so patreons, make sure you go uh check out your account to be able to help us out there. And again, if you're interested in joining, visit patreon.com slash rise and run podcast.
SPEAKER_03:All right, your secret is safe with me, Greg. But is it secret with the Patreons? Oh, we'll see. We'll we'll see if they keep their mouth shut, that's for sure. Maybe they'll spread holler hypes about it. Maybe we'll see. Hey, my friends, the Rise and Run podcast is proud to be sponsored by the good folks at Magic Bound Travel. MagicBoundTravel.com is their website, website. I saw Brad and Maggie from Magic Bound at Disney this week. Really didn't get a chance to speak with either one very much, but that's gonna change in the future. We're getting closer to the inaugural rise and run cruise, which by the way, I scouted out this last weekend on the utopia of the seas. And I gotta tell you, I was impressed. And I'm not trying to sell the cruise. I want you all to go. I know you can't all go, but I I will tell you that I was it's a huge ship. It was fun, the services were very good, the food in the main dining room was very good. I just have a lot of positive things to say about it. Uh, if there are any negatives I had, I thought they could have communicated a little better, but now that I've been on board and we get Brad and Maggie to help us out, we'll do some communic communicating for you. And I think what we want to get going here pretty soon for those of you who are going to join us in April, are perhaps some Zoom calls where we can ask questions, answer questions, and spread information. But Magic Bound Travel, your site for all your travel needs, especially Disney, Universal, Cruising, Magicbound Travel.com is the site. Check 'em out. Let's look at the training calendar, guys. We uh dropped the big one off. Actually, we did it last week. That uh we are now, oh, I don't have that's right, I don't have a date for next year's wine and dine, so I can't tell you how many days we are out from expo day. But I can tell you that we are now 69 days out from expo day for marathon weekend. Getting here quickly, ten weeks away. We are in training week number eighteen. If you're running the marathon, your training schedule is calling for six miles with a magic mile. That's six, including the magic mile. For the goofy and dopey challenges, four to six miles. And I will mention now, we'll mention it again the next couple of weeks. If you are arriving at Walt Disney World on Expo Day, your advanced dining reservation day is coming up November the 8th.
SPEAKER_04:Hey, Bob, one thing I just wanted to mention real quick, now that Wine and Dine is in our rearview mirror, I saw on our Facebook page uh a couple of people were asking about the date for next year's Wine and Dine Ready Game. Yeah, something you were alluding to that, you know, you wish you could say how many weeks we were away. Um I I know a lot of list listeners on that page were able to answer the question, but you know, just in case if you were curious um yourself, usually I mean actually in the past, Run Disney used to announce the new race season at Wine and Dine, but that was before like Disneyland Halloween was a thing and such. Usually now the new time frame is right around Marathon weekend or shortly before there. That's that's when they have been giving us the dates for the new uh the new season. So I would keep your eye to Run Disney social media, like I said, you know, around the holidays, maybe just before marathon weekend, and usually they'll drop uh that whole slate, and we'll have to wait and see if uh they stick with October or if they uh take it back to November. So we'll have to wait and see.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm curious to see that too, Greg.
SPEAKER_08:And with that all said, Greg, you know what that means? It's gonna be in August. They're gonna drop that that announcement tomorrow. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Right, or if they could do it at 11:30 tonight, they would. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be all right. Well, hey, we know roughly when it's gonna be, but yeah, yeah. That it was different. I don't want to get too far into it. It was different this year not being on the weekend that returns to standard time. So we didn't get that extra hour of sleep we usually get. But we did get a little extra hour of darkness. Yeah, in the morning.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, which I think which we'll talk about that later, too.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, let's get yeah. It's so easy to get ahead of ourselves. Yeah. For the pod, John, come on. All right, let's take a look. Disneyland Half Marathon weekend is 13 weeks away. That's in the end of January. We're in training week number five, and your distance for this weekend is three miles. And we're into Princess Training now. Wait, training for Princess weekend, which is 17 weeks away. Training week number one. The distance is three miles. Let's see, friends, while we're on it, do we have any training updates? Greg or Jack, you have any updates to your training?
SPEAKER_09:So, as you guys know, I've been walking a lot because I'm a hips. But this past week I actually started running again.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'm glad to hear that, Jack.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, it felt super nice. I went in, uh, I called Twigs yesterday, and you know, that way out we were on the same page because I I had questions because I was like, if I'm just getting back, I just want to make sure that I can safely get back and still be able to do the marathon, whatever. Absolutely. And so talked about some one run walk-run ratios and some future workouts a little bit, and uh I'm hoping for the best. I think this hit hook has been doing some good that I've been using, and um I go for another run tomorrow. So let's continue on, continuing on.
SPEAKER_08:Put that ego back aside. You know, you're not where you were the jack prior to the injury. Don't try to be, oh, I could do a eight-minute mile. Boom.
SPEAKER_09:I well, you'd be proud of me. I've been doing anywhere between a 12 to 13 minute mile.
SPEAKER_08:Perfect. Work your well slowly, work it back in.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I think I when I was talking to Twiggs, I think I was, you know, I'd be cool with like a 12 or a 12 and a half minute for the marathon. I think that would be good and steady because that way I'm not going my normal, but also, you know, just having fun. Goal is to have fun, and hopefully there will be Everest to ride on this marathon. I'm a little worried it's not gonna be uh curry because the way we usually exit for Animal Kingdom, you you can't exit that way.
SPEAKER_04:So no, Jack, I I was thinking the exact I mean, not to go on a huge tangent here, but when I was down in Disney just before Wine and Dine, I spent some time in Animal Kingdom, and I um I paid homage to you and John and the I went on dinosaur uh one last time, and it that whole section is a walled city to get back to dinosaur. And as I was walking around the park, I was thinking to myself, I I'd be very interested to see that course map for Marathon Weekend in terms of how we're gonna be able to touch that park and get in and out. So hopefully, you know, within a couple of weeks, we're gonna get that that event guide. So I'm looking forward to that map.
SPEAKER_09:I'm nervous.
SPEAKER_04:Don't be nervous, Jack. I'm not nervous.
SPEAKER_09:Animals, okay. So here's why. Here's why I'm nervous.
SPEAKER_04:I would only be nervous if we had to run on the safari. Then I'd be nervous, but you don't have to be nervous about that. You'd be faster.
SPEAKER_09:But like, okay, so here's my little my little tangent as I'm trying not to go on a tangent now.
SPEAKER_04:The tangent to the tangent.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, the tangent to the tangent. Um, Animal Kingdom, as you guys know, is my favorite park. And it you this is like the only race that you get to run through it.
SPEAKER_03:And it is anymore, yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, and for me, like whenever one of my biggest things I love looking forward to during the marathon is when I get to see the sunrise over at Animal Kingdom, and I'm like, now this is this is just truly magical. Like, that's how like it's like running over there is like how you feel when you run through Magic Kingdom on the way there, you know what I mean? You get the to me, there's two big points. It's it's going through the castle and then running at Animal Kingdom, and then after that, you're just praying the for the finish, you know?
SPEAKER_03:Like you get that long road to you get back to Yeah. So you get back to Blizzard Beach and then you can celebrate there.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But um, but yeah, that's just my thing is I'm just I'm worried that the thing that everybody finds as one of their top things to look forward to, which is riding Everest. I just don't see it happening unless they just do a loop a lot around the lake and exit out through the front.
SPEAKER_03:Well, well, look, we'll have to see. Let's let's put that on the back burner until we have more info.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Psst.
SPEAKER_03:Jack, bottom line, I'm glad to hear your hip feels better and you're getting better. I'm I'm happy to hear that. I know you're happy about it too. So that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_04:Greg, anything new? Well, well, first of all, Jack, uh I hope you're like Shakira and your hips don't lie. Uh and things can continue to go well for you.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I even got that reference because I'm old.
SPEAKER_04:Uh Shakira aside, uh, training for me uh has been going very, very well. I'm about a week and a half out from running the uh Rocky run in uh the city of Roller Lee Love here in a couple of weeks. So a lot of focus for me has been speed work. And uh I I know that the the Will Run for crew uh made fun of me the other week by posting that Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift engagement photo meme, and they added my name to to Travis and Speedwork to Taylor, and uh I think that that encompasses uh my my thoughts right now in terms of speed work, but it's been going really well. Uh coach has been having me do a lot of 800s, and I think out of like I don't know, the 20 that I've done over these last couple of weeks, I I've hit the speed work on all of them except for one. So that that's that's amazing. Yeah, that's all right. Um I'm really happy. It you know, it's amazing, you know, to see my progress in terms of my paces over the last two months, you know, just scrolling through all the activities and just seeing that average pace tick down and down and down. I I'm just real excited. I mean, I'm sure. Am I running this race to get a POT? Absolutely. But at the same time, though, I think it's also just I want to do it for personal validation for myself that you know these new paces for my myself are is not a fluke, and and this is something that's going to even hold up in um you know a race scenario as well, too. And I'm I'm really excited. Um, our friend Rob, uh who helps us out with the race report all the time, uh, he's coming down from North Jersey and he says he's gonna run this with me. So um it's nice to have a built-in pacer and a friend to be able to make sure I don't get the monkey brain um when I go up Mount Drago, as they're calling it uh during during this race. Drago Drago from uh Rocky IV, I think. Yeah. Um Jack No, the Drago I know is the one from Game of Thrones.
SPEAKER_03:It's Drago, DR.
SPEAKER_09:Drago Sarah, Drago.
SPEAKER_03:Drago is motion. That was, you know, I love the Rocky movie. My favorite movie of all time is Rocky, the original.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, no, no, no. The first two were great. I don't remember anything. I don't think I remember. Mr.
SPEAKER_03:T was in three. Yeah. The only reason I didn't rock out of Rocky IV is that I saw it on an airplane. I know that sounds like a stand-up comics line, but that's true. I saw otherwise I would have left. It was terrible.
SPEAKER_08:Nah, four wasn't bad. Rocky V was the bad one, I think.
SPEAKER_03:Wasn't that the one with Drago was terrible.
SPEAKER_09:Bob, are you a completionist? If you start a movie, do you have to finish it?
SPEAKER_03:I don't know that I literally I doubt that I ever have walked out of a movie. Now, on TV or so, if I'm sitting at home, oh no, I'll cut it off.
SPEAKER_09:But on an airplane, you didn't want to change it.
SPEAKER_03:Didn't want to walk out of an airplane. I'm tired. I'm gonna go sit on the wing. I'm tired of watching this. No, it was I thought it was bad. Now on the review section, the movie review section of the video. I know we have a new segment.
SPEAKER_04:Alicia's not here this week, so we have to replace it with what yeah, what would Alicia do with uh movie reviews?
SPEAKER_03:I saw the original Rocky in Alaska in 1976. Or was it 76 or 76? That's about right, I think. Yeah. It might have been what the time I got up there, it might have been 77. I I can't recall. But yeah. And it was, I I loved it. One of my favorite, it is my favorite movie of all time. All right, let's move on. Where are we moving to? Greg, you were wrapping up your your training.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yes. So yeah, so again, overall, very happy. Um, you know, looking forward to this race and taking you know that information and maybe getting myself some new goals for 2026. But we'll save goals for a end of the year episode when we need content to fill out the end of the calendar. Maybe maybe Thanksgiving. Maybe Thanksgiving. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_03:All right, as mentioned earlier, Alicia's not here to tell us what Alicia would do, but we will hear from her, I believe, in this episode later on, because she was with John and me as we finished, we ran the Walt Disney World Wine and Dine weekend. And I'm just going to kick it off by saying, gosh, it was so wonderful, so great to be back with the entire Rise and Run family that was there and to see so many people, to to meet so many new friends for the first time, and to see others we haven't seen for a while. I just couldn't have been more tickled. That to me, that's what it's all about right now, and it was wonderful. But let's take them in order, John. What's up, Bob? What did you think of the expo?
SPEAKER_08:Which expo are we talking about? Okay, so I I lucked out got a nice.
SPEAKER_03:There was more than one?
SPEAKER_08:Well, three parts of it, right? So Lucked Out got a good cue for the expo that morning. As you usually do. It was pretty good. It worked out really well for me. Uh this trip I had my granddaughter with me, so I wasn't and we and my grand my grandson was with us and my two nieces. Uh so we didn't want to spend a lot of time at the expo, and we were hoping for an early uh cue time. So which we did. So but it was enough where we did not have to go be the first group in line for the merch expo, so that was really well. So we were able to walk up, walk right in, get our bibs, come back out. I did not see the bridge there this year that you checked your biblic that you checked your scanner with like when at the same time.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't see it either.
SPEAKER_08:But I didn't look for it, so usually it was right in the center, check your bib here. I didn't see that. Uh if it's there, I missed it. And when we walked out of there, it was okay, oh wow, look, we're getting called for our recording queue for the merch expo. And walked right through what's we had walked all the back down, got in, and there was something we didn't do. My granddaughter's a big stitch fan. We did not tell her about the sneakers until she saw I was gonna ask about this. And she's like, You want the sneakers? No, I don't want the sneakers. Oh, they're snitch? Okay. And that was that went that went really smooth. Got some merch. I wasn't a fan of some of the merch. Those shirts were a little strange. I they were strange, I would say. They're like mesh. They were like a weird shirts we're wearing out. I've gotten one already. No, no, not those shirts. The ones in the Run Disney. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, right.
SPEAKER_03:I call them the I Did It shirts.
SPEAKER_08:The I did it shirts. They had like a little mesh, like I don't know, like top part.
SPEAKER_09:It was a little like a little breathable section on the arms.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, like a sheer part. It was a little strange, but besides that, the jackets look nice. The the for my granddaughter wanted the entire uh jumpsuit collection they had there was the matching Wine and Dine pants, jacket and shirt. You know, this is a very expensive weekend. Uh oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. What's up, Greg?
SPEAKER_04:Uh so actually, I was gonna direct this one to to Bob. Uh Bob, when you and I spent some time together before the weekend kicked off, I remember the one thing you were excited about was the core line, or the I guess this season's edition of the core Run Disney Line uh merchandise. Was it all brand new stuff? Was it some stuff and some of the old stuff? What what were your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_03:Well, first of all, I did like it. And secondly, I think it was all new, Greg. I didn't go ahead, John. I think it was stupid, Bob. I think it looks like new stuff. I I didn't go in there with that question in mind, but as I think back on it, I don't recall seeing anything. Because I had the shirt from last year, the blue and the yellow one with the polka dot one, yeah. Yeah. In fact, I wore it, I think, Monday. But I I thought that stuff, John, I thought that stuff looked pretty nice.
SPEAKER_08:That that that was good, yes.
SPEAKER_03:That that's that that section is getting larger. Oh, really? Okay. Uh it it it surely is. Now I I picked up a t-shirt. It's uh it's kind of a blue with uh like a Mickey silhouette on it. A running Mickey silhouette. Looks nice. There were I picked up a running tank until I scanned it in and it said woman women's extra large, and I went, ah, it's not gonna work. So I put that one back. They didn't have one in my size, but yeah, there was a a fair amount of of merchandise there, Greg, and I thought it looked pretty nice. I don't go shopping for the weekend merch. By golly, I've got enough of it. And I've got four new long sleeve shirts, one of which I'm wearing right now. And to be honest, I don't even know which one it is here to me. Uh uh 10k. 10k, okay. I'm serious, I didn't even know. Uh they're all long sleeve this year, all the race shirts from the yeah, typically one and dine.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, usually it is it's springtime and princess or short sleeve, and wine and dine and marathon are long sleeve.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I go back to, I think they used to have the 5k was a short sleeve, and the others, but it doesn't matter. Oh, true.
SPEAKER_09:You know what? I enjoy having the short sleeves more because I actually would wear those more often. I would ever, ever wear my long sleeves because they're not for me. If I have a long sleeve shirt and I'm working out in it, I want the thumb things so that my sleeves stay down.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_09:Um, because if not, then it just it's just annoying. And um, and honestly, a lot of the ones that we got in the past before Brooks, um with the exception of Champion, because those shirts were amazing, and we'll always wear those. Like, I just don't wear any of the other ones because like all the other stuff is like coming off, like all the details and everything. So I just don't wear them anymore.
SPEAKER_04:I I know we have a lot of friends in the community. Uh the two that come to mind for me, uh Joe, uh DVC runner on Instagram, and our uh friend Vern uh runs on pizza. Um, they have I think some great tutorials of how they always take their long sleeve shirts and and turn them into short sleeve shirts. So it's really yeah. If you need resources, uh definitely go check out those two uh Instagram accounts.
SPEAKER_03:Certainly can be done. Yeah. I and I should do it. I mean, I've got the long sleeve shirt on that. I'm shocked you're wearing a long sleeve shirt. Oh, it's freezing down here. I'm looking at the current temperatures, 68 degrees. Yeah. Oh my god, I'm so sorry for you. Yeah, it's really chilly. Uh I don't know where my gloves are. I'll have to look for them later. But if it gets a 65, I'm out of here. Show's over, okay?
SPEAKER_09:But uh I'll believe it when I see a winter jacket on, Bob.
SPEAKER_03:I don't have I don't have a winter jacket. You don't have a winter jacket. I genuinely don't. No. Merry Christmas. If ever I if I ever had to uh get in cold weather, I'd have to layer up. I'd have to put on uh a windbreaker and a sweater, and yeah, I'd have to layer up. Couple other notes on the expo. Uh number one, the exit changed. It wasn't that long ago that the way that we entered changed. I got there early. I went with my friend Stephanie. We got there around 10.
SPEAKER_04:And that is early for you.
SPEAKER_03:It is, it really is. But see, I had been at the park since Monday, and you knew that, Greg, because we saw each other. But uh, when we got off the ship, we headed over to the park. So we got there on Monday. Um what what Stephanie does, and I kind of liked it, is she gets there at 10 and she goes right to the expo. You know, skips the bib pickup and all that and goes right to the expo. It was great. I mean, there was nobody there. We went in from up top, as we used to always do, and headed down and had a good time. I got a couple minutes to talk with Mr. Galloway, said hi to Chris. Uh so I enjoyed that. But then when I did go over to get my bib, it was uh it was not a long line there either. So that went by pretty quickly. But one of the things that has changed is you know how you to exit, you used to have to go upstairs and then you had to go to the left. Past the ESPN grill.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:Even if you wanted to come back in, you had to go out the door and come all the way back in again. That area is blocked now. It's just closed, the doors are closed. So you can't even get to the ESPN grill. You've got to go out the same way you came in if you're coming from the top.
SPEAKER_04:Not knowing this, I have a theory, but that theory I think will lead into another conversation about the expo, but I'll we'll get to that in a second. Okay.
SPEAKER_08:Well, going back to that, Bob, uh, in the morning when I got my baby, I was able to, if I wanted to go into the expo, I could have gone in in up top. But when I came when I came back to get after I got my merch from the Run Disney merch and the sneakers, they said no, you have to go down the stairs onto the soccer field and go all the way around.
SPEAKER_03:Which isn't the yeah.
SPEAKER_08:But the one thing they did, they did move the beer tent down to the down to the field.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, why?
SPEAKER_03:But uh I'm not sure. But speaking of the beer tent, they saw remember here here we go.
SPEAKER_04:Here's here's the big controversy of the expo.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if it's a controversy, but remember how we always we'd have these cups and I'd forget to bring them back. And I, you know, in in uh 68 Run Disney events, I've never refilled a cup. Well, that's not a problem anymore. They didn't have refillable cups, at least not at the expo. They did not have refillable cups.
SPEAKER_04:I I remember we're looking at my phone for one of the first times on Thursday morning, and the the you know, now that we've moved our community chats over to our Discord channel, uh, the wine and dine chat just blowing up everyone talking about the cups. And I was like, what is going on? But um thanks to and great, and this is why social media can be terrible for things, but also go, you know, you can get information you know quickly too. And I did see a little bit later on in the day, um and it wasn't just him, but there were there were multiple reports. But our friend, uh, as I always call him, the Adam Schefter of Run Disney, our buddy Ryan Teats did did some investigative journalism uh for the Run Disney community. Apparently, the reason why there weren't refillable cups at the expo is that all of the food and beverage at um the ESPN complex is now done by a third party vendor. Going to my theory now, Bob, about why you didn't go past. The ESPN grill. I'm wondering if that establishment is now not going to be operating for a while since those were always Disney cast members, I believe, that were were working that that eatery. So maybe that's why, you know, since that was maybe closed or temporarily closed, maybe that's why you guys were getting funneled out the same door that you come in.
SPEAKER_03:But I didn't even notice. John, did you even notice if it was open? I no, I know it. I think it probably wasn't. No, I don't think so. I think I saw no activity there. I again I wasn't looking for it, but I didn't see any activity there. And you know how usually when you come, if you were go out the ESPN grill door and turn left, there would be a bunch of well, there'd be the bar there on your left, or the beer service there on your left. Nothing doing. Nothing doing.
SPEAKER_07:There was, I think there was a food and beverage.
SPEAKER_08:On the right? In in the expo at the on the on the floor. I think. But nothing made. It was like a pretzel, I think, or something like that.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, okay. There was something. And then they in the last couple of running events, they've served some light lunch type at the top of the stairs just to the left. And they were doing that. I didn't uh I didn't partake this year, but they were doing that. Uh let's see, John, you got any other notes from the expo?
SPEAKER_08:I don't The only thing I would recommend, I yes, something I would recommend at the expo. Shirt pickup for the challenge was a little challenging, if you would say.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I didn't have a real problem, but you went to the corner, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Speaking of the shirts, the the one thing uh I wanted to pass along, and uh we'll I'll mention his name again here. I I know uh Ryan had posted on his Instagram stories, uh, and maybe this is just you know a quick FYI for everyone uh coming up for Marathon Weekend, especially if you're doing goofy or dopey, is in his shirt bundle that he got for the challenge, apparently one of his shirts was a men's shirt, and the other three shirts were women's cut shirts. So, you know, just uh a little you know bit of info there that when you go to uh pick up your shirts, I guess just double check that you have consistent cuts across the way, and also be able to um you know if you feel like you're in between sizes or something like that, be sure to try them on because if you need to size up or size down, they do offer that shirt exchange area as well, too. Uh so uh you know, just be cognizant of that.
SPEAKER_08:And it was used pretty much because they were they they ran small, they ran really small.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I wouldn't say really, really, they ran a little bit small, they did. Yeah. Um the person who gave me my shirt said check them before you leave for size, which was easy to do. I just rolled to the back and checked them all, they were all good. But that's that's good advice. I I had a good time. I I almost always do. I was out of there. I got I got number 75 or something in my virtual queue, and because I'm not John, but that there was plenty of merchandise, what I was looking for anyway, so I thought it was fun. And I didn't go back this year. I usually go back to the expo, but that's because I had an opportunity to talk with Jeff, and I actually had a good long time to talk with him uh early, so I had no real reason to go back.
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:So, how is the 5k, you guys? Because I'm sure you're getting ready. First race of the weekend. What do you think?
SPEAKER_04:John, I want to know how long you sat in the tattooed parlor chair.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, I'm still sorry. It was a long time getting tattooed up.
SPEAKER_09:You looked great, though. Thanks, thanks.
SPEAKER_08:Went back to the 80s with that hairstyle a little bit.
SPEAKER_04:Listen, John, we've been asking you to bring the mullet back for years now.
SPEAKER_09:Gosh, yes. I still want you to do it. I think you'd look great.
SPEAKER_03:Tell folks what you're talking about, John.
SPEAKER_08:So 5K, my granddaughter decided what costumes she wanted to wear, so she wanted to be Moana. So guess who I was? Maui. And my wife was hey, hey. So that was our costume setup for the 5K. It was a good idea.
SPEAKER_04:How did she do with the uh the 2 a.m. wake up?
SPEAKER_08:Okay, so 2 a.m. wake up, I get come on, Riley. Because the night the day before, for an 8 o'clock wake up, uh I don't want to get up. I'm tired. I'm like, this is gonna be fun tomorrow. I got come on, Riley, we gotta get up. Riley, we gotta get up. Okay. Let me get my costume on. So I was like, whoa, different, different child. Who is this? But yeah, so that that that was that was easy. You know, but you but you know, Greg, having uh a young child stand around all morning for an ex for the early early meetup and standing in the corrals, they do get a little bored.
SPEAKER_04:Unless Becky has donuts, then things usually turn around.
SPEAKER_08:Oh yeah, Becky was not there. I know she wasn't there. She's in she's in retirement, remember? Yes, I know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:She doesn't get up anymore.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, golly, no. She never did. She would occasionally be there at the end of the longest race, but I think she's retired from that too.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, she's trying to recruit Diane to go shopping. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Before we get to the actual race itself, uh, John, and I apologize if I'm getting the race uh wrong, but I saw reports on Facebook that there were some bus issues at Saratoga, and I know that's where you stay. So, what was that experience like?
SPEAKER_08:I would not say an issue for me, but usually I get that first bus. Unless the bus became before 2 30 at Saratoga, the bus came about 245, 10 to 3. I got on it, boom, nothing, and it was fine. But then I heard rumors that there was delays of the buses coming into Saratoga, and that that's all it was. I mean, that meant but then I talked to other people, said, No, we got a bus at uh 3 30 and everything was fine. So I don't know if it's you know, when you're writing the reports, oh, you know, when the the time multiplies when you're waiting in frustration.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, you know, so well, the other thing I wondered too, with those really, really big resorts, you know, like a Saratoga and Old Key West, I wonder if some people get confused on the idea of the resort that has just the one bus stop or the ones that have the multiple bus stops, and you know, do the drivers you know get to all of those bus stops? So maybe that's where part of you know the issue could have lied. But obviously, not being there, uh you know, I'm not gonna Saratoga has one official bus pickup, which is wild to me that it with how yeah expansive that resort is.
SPEAKER_08:But I think but I think that I did see a resort bus floating around that morning.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, okay, interesting. You know, but you know what? Things would go smoother though, and and this will be a good segue, if they had Myra buses at uh that's just where I was going.
SPEAKER_03:There was Myra bomb. No problem with the buses at Pop. Uh Myra takes care of that. Uh I was I was pleased she recognized me when I walked up. I don't think she actually knows what I look like because I'm always wearing a wig or some kind of crazy costume. But yeah, Myra was there. It was all good, no problems with the buses from Pop. The one thing that I did not understand is that the buses from Pop would leave full and then drive to uh Art of Animation and just slowly drive by the pickup point at Art of Animation before heading over to Epcot. Don't know why they did that. They did that for the 5K and the 10k, didn't do it for the half. Was it a floater bus, Bob? No, I don't know. It was at a number 11 on it and all that. And I don't if if there was room to put people in by picking up up at AOA, I would get it. But the buses left full. And AOA had their own buses too.
SPEAKER_08:So that's something that's weird with uh Saratoga is direct pickup at ill old Key West. It's a shared bus line, but use this dedicated bus at Oak Key West and a dedicated bus at Saratoga for the first couple of stops in the morning, but later on, and the on the way back, they let you go to both.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's right. Now, on the way back, right, it was shared. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's normal. Um, comments on the 5K, and just in general, the layout of the start area has changed just a little bit. Not much. Yeah, not not really much, not even really worth talking about much. Uh they've just moved some things around just a little bit. You'll notice when you get there, but only because you've done it before, it it's not a significant change. I I know where I usually go to when we come in, I usually turn left immediately to get my cup of coffee. This time I had to walk a little bit, it but it was all fine.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, and I think they shifted the stage down a little bit to accommodate that change. I think that's accommodate that change they had.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I went looking at it.
SPEAKER_04:Here's the important question, though. Are the bleachers still missing?
SPEAKER_03:I was just gonna say, Greg, I went looking and the bleachers were still there. Perfect. And I love it. More bleachers? If they did, it was it wasn't a lot. It was about the same, but maybe more. Uh I looked, I looked over and I get pretty early. I usually get on a bus that leaves the resort around 3 a.m. Not necessarily the first one, but it's pretty early. And I get over there and I'm always saying, We're gonna meet up here, and I stand around and John's there, and maybe one or two other people, and I go, Oh man, it's gonna be quiet this year, nobody's here. And the just you start looking around, and all of a sudden there's 30 or 40 people there with you, and it's all great. Um, I got up Tuesday, uh Thursday, no, Friday. I've got I'm gonna run out of days. I got up Friday morning, and my costume I had a black Chinese wig with a top knot. And when I put it on, this silver hair at the side looked ridiculous. So Becky says, we need to go to Walmart. Well, we ended up at one of the Halloween stores, and I bought some black hairspray, that temporary washout hairspray, and it it works, but at 2:30 in the morning I look and I'd sprayed my ear completely black, but it washed off pretty easily. Uh, but that went over okay. 5K is 5k, it's the same course. I noticed on Strava it says uh this is your fifth time doing this course, and you are trending faster. Well, faster is 21 minutes a mile for the 5k. So I'm trending faster. I'm down under 21. But the 5k is for fun. I mean, they're all for fun. But golly.
SPEAKER_08:It was a little different though. It was a little different because we did come in where we usually go out for we but we came in by the back of space.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_08:And went around Guardians of the Galaxy. We didn't go by Mexico like we usually go in.
SPEAKER_03:Well, we must have done it before. Strava thinks we've done it before, and so I'm good with that either way. Um yeah, I I ran with a ran. I walked I walked slowly and leisurely with a bunch of different folks. I didn't John and I didn't walk the 5K together at all. He had the family with him, so that was all cool. And what did I do? I was in Corral B, but ended up dropping back to D just to be with friends. No. Oh, come on, once again, who cares? The only thing uh the only thing I didn't like is I I had some other friends who were in B, but I had already promised somebody else that I'd drop back to D with them. So and nobody ran alone. It was all good.
SPEAKER_08:That was one of the odd things with me. My wife got B, my granddaughter got D, and I got E, which I thought was very interesting because I have a minor.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I was sorry to say that, yeah. No, you could have got that fixed. I I know, I mean, we have another friend who did. You could have got that fixed if you wanted to. Because you go into race relations they'd have fixed it.
SPEAKER_08:But it's it's kind of weird. I like I'm my waiver, uh not my waiver, my uh thing. I am the registered guardian of Riley for this event. You would think that we would both be in the same corral, at least. My wife No, that shouldn't have happened.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Should not have happened, could have been fixed, but you worked it out. You know what? Go down to eat, big deal. Yeah. Now the only problem is you wait longer to start, that's all.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But I I don't know. That's about all I have to say. But the 5K was fun, the weather was warm, but who cares?
SPEAKER_09:Okay, when you guys mean warm, like give me a, for instance, like it was it like 70 in the morning?
SPEAKER_03:It was probably in the low 70s, probably.
SPEAKER_09:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And you know that actually the temperature goes down before it goes back up. You start at 5 a.m. You get out there at 3, 4 a.m. The temperature is going to go down until the sun comes up. Then it's actually going to it takes about 20, 30 minutes before the sun starts heating the earth, and the temp comes back up. And unfortunately, here's the the humidity came back up. The humidity got the dew point got into the high 60s and low 70s, and it had been much lower earlier in the week. But eh, what the heck, it wasn't that bad.
SPEAKER_08:I was in a full costume with the wig, and I was it was me, it was hot, but yeah, it was it was good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_04:All right, 5K is done. Now, Bob. Or I should I say Schwin the reindeer.
SPEAKER_03:That's good. That's good.
SPEAKER_04:How was the 10K?
SPEAKER_03:I'll tell you the 10K in a minute. I got one more note that doesn't have to do with the 5K, but has to do with after the 5K. Uh coming back on the bus. Remember, and I think it was towards the end of last season, where we read a poem from the fat bloke from England. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I met the fat bloke from England. His name is Ian. He's a good guy. He's not fat. He's not. He really isn't. He was just a friendly man who uh said hi to me, recognized me coming off the bus, and uh and that's another that leads me to another one. Yeah, he recognized me coming off the bus. We had a nice conversation. He said, I'm the fat bloke from England. I said, That was brilliant. I really enjoyed that. That was very, very nice. So I had a good chance to talk with him. And he showed up at the uh, I think he showed up at the meet and greet. I'm pretty sure. I know I saw him. I think he I think he hit Bob. I saw him and his wife. I saw them that weekend. Um what you uh you know, it's funny that you would say that to me, Greg, because one of the questions, one of the things that'll happen to all of us, I guess, is uh I'll be walking along and some of them will ask if I'm Bob or if I'm the real Bob or if I'm the Bob from the podcast. And I'm always looking for a good answer. And I think my answer should be no, I'm Sven. But only a few people would get it, I think.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it all all depends if everyone listened to the uh the episode before the 10K.
SPEAKER_03:I know I'm not gonna live that down. Uh but that was the that was my note from the 10K. Are you the real Bob? I got that question a couple of times. Are you the real Bob? I don't if you see him, let me know. He owes me money. But uh it was 10K again. Look, I'm strolling. I'm in B. No, D. I'm in D for 10K, but uh they go to G. So I manage to start with groups of friends, lose them somehow, find them again, find new friends. On the 10K, I lost and found John a couple of times. Uh I tend to finish by myself only because I stop and spend time talking. 10K, good course. Yes. Yeah, it was nice. Most of it was most of it was uh within a park. Um I'm trying to remember specific details about the 10K any fun events. You and I you and I were together for a bunch of it, weren't we, John?
SPEAKER_08:We were there for pretty much uh right when we came out of uh by the skyline where we met up at Tarant.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah. This I think is funny. We got some good photos.
SPEAKER_04:I'll say your your photo back in the park in Epcot with her was absolutely epic.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we got yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08:Well double Mike Wisowski photo of the game.
SPEAKER_03:What it happened is when I'm when I'm with somebody new, doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman, and a photo pass is coming up, I go, oh I this photo pass, this is fun. I always do something special, and they don't tell them what, and then I wait and throw my arms out in front of their face. Well, the photo that I posted was a reaction of John and Taryn afterward, and it was good. The photo I've got the I've got the the Mike Wasowski photo also. I haven't posted that, I probably should. Um here's something I noted. I finished with Taryn. John ran ahead of us.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:But Taryn and I continued to walk on. I finished with Taryn. I have 33-0 finisher photos. Coincidence? I don't think so. I've never had more than, let's say, six or seven finisher photos. I got 30 this this race. But the sun comes up late this time of year in Florida, so even at the finish of the 10K, the sun had just come up. They've done something different with the post-race photos. And I think it's a good idea. Instead of you know, getting it's kind of like instead of choosing your cashier at the supermarket and hoping you're in the fast lane, they just run one line. And as soon as somebody comes open, you go to that line. Like the uh like the guy in charge of Corral P at Burden Hand. All right, you go this way, you go that way. It makes it a little faster.
SPEAKER_08:The the line looks long, and we we were in a long, long line, but 12, 13 minutes really, it's all it was to get through the line. Because how many three? Table two, four, table one, boom. So it went quick.
SPEAKER_04:When when you guys posted the photo of that in our host chat, the the one thing I was curious about is you know, I I think it made sense having those stepping repeats under a tent so that you know, especially on you know the the last day of you know the weekend where the sun is up. I I know a lot of the fo uh photopaths or photographers sometimes struggle with sun glare and stuff like that. But I don't want to say it's a concern, but what are your thoughts and seeing it live in person? You know, sometimes like when we all get together, we have a pretty sizable group. Yeah. Can they manage groups like that on in this new system or or not really?
SPEAKER_08:There was a there was three on each side, and I think there was one at the end. So I think if you had a big group, they probably would have thrown you to the end so you can spread out wide.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_08:We'll find out at Marathon Weekend.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah. Uh the the other question I had for you guys in terms of the 10K, just because this is a cause that I have been championing every race weekend until it gets changed. On course hydration, are they just still doing water for the 10K or was there power aid? No. Water. Just water. Just water, okay.
SPEAKER_08:And I heard one of the reasons why I think with the water in the park only is because Gatorade makes the ground sticky and messy.
SPEAKER_09:I mean, I get that, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I totally understand. But yeah, like I said, the only reason why I always bring it up is because you know, John and Chris do a fantastic job in in the pre-race area talking about you know making sure that you're properly hydrated for you know those races, especially you know, if they do get warm. And I I know for at least for Sunday, it got warm for you guys. But you know, it's just uh you know, I always find that to be a little bit of an oxymoron that they're you know, they're up on stage talking about electrolytes, and then you get out in the course and there's no electrolytes. So, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, yeah, I I didn't again, I didn't have any problem with it. It was okay, plenty of water stops. Good course, a lot of fun. Now that I'm I'm sitting here strolling through my photos, and uh we had other friends we ran with.
SPEAKER_08:It wasn't just uh Taryn and John, but Carolyn and uh was Aaron with us for a while or Carolyn and her and the other person.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, uh uh Sandra. Sandra, yeah. Caroline and Sandra, yeah.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:They were with us, of course, for for most of it now that I think about it.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know what? I'm I'm violating my don't name name rules because I I hate doing that because I know I'm leaving somebody out. But yeah, Caroline and Sandra were with us most of the race.
SPEAKER_04:Another question I I had have about the course for you guys is obviously I don't want to say there were massive changes to this this course, but but enough to make it different than in years past. With not having so many highway miles in the beginning and and not having to do those like crazy hairpin turns like out on like the roads that lead into like the Epcot entrance and such. Do you think that provided a better flow for this course or or nothing too noticeable?
SPEAKER_03:I don't think it was much. I guess it wasn't noticeable, Greg. Okay. Because neither John nor I can come up with anything. Fair enough.
SPEAKER_05:So I'm guessing it wasn't that noticeable. Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_03:We got together Saturday afternoon for the rise and run meet and greet at the food truck area at Disney Springs, and it was fabulous. It was fabulous.
SPEAKER_04:You guys had a great group, it looks like.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, it was wonderful.
SPEAKER_04:Very sizable.
SPEAKER_03:We come back off the ship. You know, we pack here, we head over to Port Canaveral. We got everything for the week for the ship, and then for when we get on, when we get back to Disney. And I bring all the cookies up to the room, and Becky says, Where are the iced cookies? I said, There are there is nothing else left in the car. She goes, Well, they're not here. Son of a gun, they're not there. Uh I made a round trip on Tuesday. I left Disney World at 8:30, came back here, got a box of cookies, and got back to Disney at one in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_04:So it was part two of the Pirate the Princess challenge?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Timing was better this time, though. I only I didn't have much traffic trouble at all. They've improved, they've improved the highway just a little bit, but enough to make it much better. So we had all the cookies there. We had quite a setup. Uh we went to Becky and I went with other friends, Richard and Krista, to brunch at Art Smith's. Well, actually, it was lunch. I thought it was brunch, but it ended up being lunch at Art Smith's uh at 1.30. So we got done there about 2.30, 245. I went over, I had help. Richard helped me bring stuff down. I think it was just the two of us. And Becky and uh Krista and some others, about two, like I said, about 230, 245, securing the beachhead. By golly, they're getting good at that. They really are. Uh so by the time we got back with the cookies, everything was really in good shape. We had the buttons, of course, the Mickey buttons. I have some of the rise and run wristbands, which are green this year. Um, then we had four big old boxes of cookies, and we had a bunch of folks there who had a terrific time. When'd you get there, John?
SPEAKER_07:I got there about 2 30, quarter to three.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_08:No. And there was about 25 people there already, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_08:I was there early. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Folks show up early. I it's it's become we don't have a playbook, but it works pretty daggum well. Somebody well, Becky's good at it, by golly. Becky will get a table, and it's not she's not the only one who can do this, but Becky will get a table and she'll sit there and kind of consolidate things, and then she'll be on the lookout. Oh, there's an empty table. Go, go, get it, go, go, go. But next thing you know, we've got five or six tables there, and we got room for everybody. It was nice.
SPEAKER_08:I did have trouble getting the banner into the Hollywood. Did you really? Yeah. So I brought I had the banner in my hand, and I'm coming in because I and they go, okay, get you gotta go to security because you know, something always ticks off. I I had the pins on, so the you know, the pins set off the metal detectors. So they go, okay, look at your bag. Oh, oh, that's your phone charger, that can help set it off. Okay. Oh, what's this? Oh, it's a is that a poster? Yeah. Okay. I thought I'm gonna tell him. Oh, can you unroll it? Yeah, goes, well, what's this for? I go, oh, it's just it's just a post I got that I have, you know. Okay, but it's nothing vulgar, nothing, you know, political. He goes, Okay, I just don't unroll it in the park. It's not allowed. So who knows? You're on to us.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. I I I very rarely get much hassle. Uh I had all the cookies, everything was passed. I was on my way, and one of the security guy guards says, uh, what's this for? I said, a meetup. Well, do you have a permit? Do you have what? I've been doing this for years. And he calls a supervisor over who looks at me, smiles, and just waves me through. You know, somebody a little overzealous. Richard had two big boxes of cookies, and I said, just walk through, they'll just you'll just go right through. Because you're not gonna set anything off. And he did. But I've got a little cart, it's almost like a stroller, but it's designed to carry uh groceries mostly to help you get them in out of the car. And I use that, and when I when I do that, of course, then I've got to go through the different uh but we got in, everything was good. I really, really appreciated, friends, that the number of people who came to the meetup for the first time. And it was it was interesting and fun for me. I kind of hung to the perimeter of the group for the first 20 or 30 minutes, and I could I could see people just kind of standing and looking in. And I sensed, okay, these are folks who are here for the meetup, but they're not really sure what they want to do. So I would spend just a couple minutes introducing myself, speaking with them, pointing out where the buttons were. The buttons are one of the best things we've ever done. Because then everybody can can know one another. Whether they do or not, they can pretend that they know one another. That's great. Um plus they're neat. Then I showed them where the cookies were and where the wristbands were, and at that point, I just cut them loose. And in every case, the folks quickly meet other friends and start to talking, and that is that just makes me feel so good. And it's a wonderful thing about this family. So the meet the other interesting part about the meet and greet Myra showed up. I invited Myra and she said, I'm gonna try and make it. And when I got off the bus after the 10K, she said, I'm gonna be there. Great. And she got there pretty early. She probably got there right at three o'clock.
SPEAKER_04:Which I'm impressed because technically the expo goes until three on Saturday. Oh, she got off early. Oh, good for her.
SPEAKER_03:She got off early.
SPEAKER_04:I also love that she came in her vest. I I love that.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that you would have loved to see her on Sunday morning because she still had her button on her vest.
SPEAKER_04:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:But the really fun or funny part of Myra being there was at 3:30, it's time for the photo. It's like hurting cats. All of a sudden I hear this voice. Everybody over here. We're taking a photo. Come on, everybody, come on. Myra was rounding them up. Still working.
SPEAKER_08:Still working.
SPEAKER_04:Listen, I I think that just solidifies the fact that Myra has to come to every single uh meetup now to help uh well I think she had fun. Help out, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I think she had fun, and I think that if we remind her, I'm not gonna be at pop for the next two weekends.
SPEAKER_04:But I think we'll have plenty of friends that are there, so I'm not too worried about that.
SPEAKER_03:I think she would show up. I think she had a good time. That was good. So as usual, the meetup went until about well, golly, what happens is people make dinner reservations around 4 30 or 5. And that's that's kind of when things break up, is when people have their dinner reservations. Do you ever count the number of people in the photo, John? No, not yet. I think that's that's another story, but I will. Have you? No, uh that's John.
SPEAKER_09:I feel like you have.
SPEAKER_08:No, I haven't. What I usually do is I go up, I blow it up real big on my computer, and I put dots, and I so I can say, okay, one, two, three, and I can so I know I don't double count somebody.
SPEAKER_03:I have the photo. I'm looking at the picture right now on Facebook. I'm thinking about 85. I was gonna say it's a minimum of 75.
SPEAKER_04:You know what you should do? You should put the photo into like Chat GPT or something. I've tried that and it's uh bummer.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, it doesn't work. This is a wonderful experience. I trust that those of you who made it had a good time. I it is my real hope that those who haven't been before get a chance to to make one at at an upcoming event, and I think you're going to love that I've said it before: people who come come back, and people who come make new friends, and they become longtime friends. They become hard and fast, run Disney, and rise and run friends. And I don't know anything better than that. It's really awesome.
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, so Sunday morning, even after I heard of those little uh bus incidents at the 10K. I think it was a 10K, I think it was, not the uh 5K. Yeah, they go back, it was a 10K because and I said, let me get out there at because the buses were supposed to start at technically 2 30. Let me get out there at 2 o'clock. I got out there at 10 after 2. There's a bunch of people out there already, because I guess they didn't want to worry about the bus issue either. And uh but the bus came with the bus came right like 20 after two, so it was it was pretty pretty good. There was no no big issue there. And the time we got there we we walked in and had our last meetup of the pre-race season. So that was not a problem. But how do you want to go with this? What we go uh Bob, any different between your buses? Your buses are fine. Oh, our buses were fine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Come on, man. It's pop century. Buses are fine. I you never know. No, no, no lost bus drivers or anything like that. I you know, honest to goodness, I mean I count my races. 68 run Disney races, never been lost. But I have friends here uh who live in the area who are friends of ours outside of running. And Richard and Krista got on their bus for the 5k. And I don't know if it's their first run Disney event or their first run Disney Challenge. Bus got lost. And it got big time lost, but they got there.
SPEAKER_08:Me and Bob were actually in the same corral for the uh for the half, so we're 10k and half, yeah. 10k half, yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Which corral was that?
SPEAKER_08:D. D.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, very nice.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, yeah. It went to G, so I was very happy.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, even even though uh we we always end up in the back of it. But we don't care, you know.
SPEAKER_08:So and there was no A B, no sub corrals this year. Like they had.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, I was gonna ask if Run Disney learned reinvented the ABCs.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I mean they they still send you off in waves, but yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, but there wasn't no sub corrals out of the corrals, which uh who knows? That could change you know, January. But it was good. We had I know the half marathon course was a little interesting, I would say, but I mean some people don't like it. Some people said there is some problems with it I can see that need to be maybe addressed in future races if they're keeping this course, but it wasn't that bad. I mean, we had a good time like uh going through the course.
SPEAKER_04:What what were some of the potential issues, John?
SPEAKER_08:I did not like like okay moving the water stop off of I guess what do you want to call it, the pathway between oh the uh international squeezeway. Squeezeway to the boardwalk. That was fine where they had it, but you did not get another water stop till you left Hollywood Studios. So I mean it was a little warm that day. It's just a little, I think there's just a little uh like I know what I'm going I need some water, like like right about here, like right about like you know, you're going down by you know the tower of terror would have been perfect, not a perfect spot for it, but right there, I'm like, you know, I hope there's a water stop coming up soon because I'm starting to feel it. You know and uh but then there was right when you come out, you down that little ramp, there was a water stop there. The other thing that I did not looking at the course map, I thought we were going out one side of the highway, coming back on the other side of the highway when we get going down to Blizzard Beach, but it was the one side of the lane, so you had the out and back was on one side of the highway, so it's basically two in it, two, three people on each side, so it got very tight again there going down, which I thought was kind of uh, you know. But but that was it. Fun thing was I ran Blizzard Beach when it was not dark uh in the dark, which I thought was something that N would never be able to do. But yeah, but it and it wasn't that bad, Blizzard Beach.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, every everybody gives it a bad rap. It's not that bad. Right. Uh well that but but we only wrote around about half the parking lot. I mean, they cut it off in half.
SPEAKER_09:Did they really?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. They just you didn't run the full outside perimeter. That's not horrible. It's not, it wasn't, Jack.
SPEAKER_04:And as far as I can you can make the argument that okay, this is more so for the marathon course. I would contend that that stretch on Western Way from Animal Kingdom to Blizzard Beach is a hell of a lot worse than the actual parking lot itself.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the Blizzard Beach got its bad reputation the very first year. I mean, it's never got to go inside. Yeah, it's never fun to run around a parking lot, but you had the entire outer perimeter of Blizzard Beach, then you went into Blizzard Beach, and that was a mistake. And then you came back out, and it was really hot that weekend. And the sun's beating down on a black asphalt uh parking lot, and there's no shade. Yeah, and Blizzard Beach got the reputation. It's not great, it's never going to be great, but it wasn't that bad.
SPEAKER_04:Speaking of uh the the the Blizzard Beach parking lot, big shout out to Oxenspoon with uh an excellent new song all about the Blizzard Beach. Oh, really? That that was brilliantly done. So I need good job, Slackers.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, I need to check that out. Uh I'm sorry I missed it.
SPEAKER_08:Um and I think they had roller skating fairies in there. They did trying to entertain you while you were running by.
SPEAKER_03:They did. You barely noticed them, but they had them. I don't know how entertaining it was. But they were there. Give them credit for that. Uh I liked the out and backs. I did. I liked seeing people come by uh and saying hi to them and you know, meeting people on the course. I enjoyed that part. Uh I enjoyed seeing, and I'm gonna give him a shout-out right now. I can't give this guy a big enough shout out. I enjoyed seeing our buddy Joe on the half marathon. He had done the 5K, he had done the 10K, and I'm just gonna be like I told Joe this too. I wasn't sure he was gonna make the half. But by golly, I saw him at about mile seven. He looked great. And I got to I got to see him, and I got long enough that I could say to him, Joe, I can see back behind you for a long way, and I don't see any balloons. And he made it. I'm so daggone proud. I think that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_04:Where to go, Joe.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah. I think many of our friends know who Joe is, but Joe turns 80 in a couple weeks, and he knocked this thing out.
SPEAKER_08:So I saw him too on the out and back, and I'm like, okay. Oh, there's Joe. He's looking strong. He he's looking looking strong. I mean, I was like, I have a private chat with him with uh a couple other with the with uh with the with this with Chris, and he goes, Yeah, I don't know. I got I I I only did like a 17-minute pace. This ain't gonna hack you because I know I'm gonna and of unfortunately Joe went out of the last corral. He went out of G, yeah. Yeah, so he was nervous about that. He goes, 17-minute mile. I go, I don't know if I'm gonna do it. Just relax. You'll get there, you'll get there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, boom, he I kept I kept telling him we'd be proud of him regardless, and we would have been proud of him regardless. But by golly, he did it, and that's really, really noteworthy, I think. That's that was that was that was that was really good. I mean, I was really proud of him.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, because I'll tell you, go ahead, John. He put the work in. I mean, I every day he goes, I got my got my I got my 30 35 minutes in today, got my 35, I got my long run. I go, oh, this long run was killing me. He did the back-to-backs, everything like that. So I I he was a stickler for every weekend.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna be candid with you. I did as much of the training as I could. I trained up to 14 miles a couple weeks ago. I had a hard time on that half. I had a hard time at the finish. I had fun on the course. Uh I was going at the paces I was going, I was going fairly quick. Fairly well, that's that's crazy. I was going quicker on some than others, so that I would be with one group of people for a while, and then they would lose me, and I'd pick up another, and then I'd lose them. And towards the end, I was I was struggling.
SPEAKER_08:I didn't realize it. I mean, you didn't look it personally. You looked good. I mean, coming in. We're coming up that hill, going to see Jody and uh Yeah, right. You look you look good. I mean, you're what's that? That's about mile twelve?
SPEAKER_03:Nine no, uh no, it's nine point something.
SPEAKER_08:Was it okay?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's nine point something.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, so you you look and you know where did we where did I lose you?
SPEAKER_03:No, what you I probably not long after that. Oh, I think inside uh inside Epcot, I think. I did slow I did slow down the last two miles. I slowed down considerably. And uh but I will also say that I got I did get a little emotional at the end of it. I get emotional at the end of a lot of Disney runs. But I did think to myself that you know it was ten weeks ago, I couldn't walk.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, you you did a Corral P stop in uh in imagination. That's an incredible.
SPEAKER_03:That's where we lost you. Right, right. So it uh it started, yeah, it started like I said, Disney Disney just brings out the emotions in me. But I did uh I did start thinking about the factor where where I was is there's no real excuse because following the surgery I almost immediately felt really good. Still have some little tiny problems with the muscles in my lower back, but it's nothing, man. And uh to be able medically, medically to be able to do that in in eight weeks. Well, I don't know. It meant a lot to me. So and I'll tell you what else meant a lot to me. I say this and I I need to say it again. Everybody, all the people I run into who asked how I was doing and were concerned about how I was doing. I I I do recall myself coming in around coming towards the end of the race where we're getting close to the corral, and I'm just looking at the people in front of me, and I realize I don't know all those people in front of me, but I know that many people. And uh the number of them were all supportive and in your corner, and we're there for one another, but it it affected me, it meant a lot to me. I got by the time I got a chance to talk with Jeff, I had a hard time saying anything. So uh it was another Disney event, another race weekend complete.
SPEAKER_04:The one surprise I wanted to ask you guys about uh was did anyone catch a glimpse of the triumphant return of the one, the only Mr. Jogging Jack Sparrow.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yes, we both did. Yeah, we saw him.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:We both did, and the first time I saw him, I thought his costume had been changed.
SPEAKER_08:Really? It wasn't it hadn't. No, it hadn't.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_08:I only I I only saw him on the 5K, I think. Or the 10K. I don't think I didn't see him on the half.
SPEAKER_03:I John, they run together on me. I can't tell you, but I think he was there. Okay. I do think so.
SPEAKER_08:I think usually he's mirandering around after the race, you know, but he he wasn't there after the the race.
SPEAKER_04:Well, well, m Mr. Sparrow, we're we're we're glad to see you back on the course. And uh I I know Jack and I have brought this up several times on the podcast, but the invitation is still open, my friend. Yes. We would love to have you on the podcast and and uh you know we could talk in pirate speak. We can we'd be we'd be willing to drink some captain, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Um you keep calling him Mr. Sparrow, he's not gonna join.
SPEAKER_04:I know that's his that's his father. I I understand that. So yeah, so but but yeah, Jack Jack the again, Captain, the invitation is still on the table.
SPEAKER_03:I was glad to see him. Hey, before we leave the race, I I did my very, very best. You know, we're gonna do the race report here in a little bit. We cannot do a race report for a run Disney weekend. I did my best to come up with the list of people who said they PR'd. Here it is, real quickly. Valeria PR'd by two and a half minutes on the 10K. Ali with a Y got a PR and the half. Erica got a seven-minute 10K PR. Jason a 10K PR. And I got Mary Joe with a 5K PR. If I missed you, it's I'm sorry. There were so many. If I missed you, I'm sorry. But those are the people who I have who did PRs at Wine and Dine. Uh last thing we did before we called it a weekend, we had the after party. I uh I got I didn't get over there till Golly, about 10 o'clock. I I got there just about as they were opening. And uh John, you were there before me.
SPEAKER_08:What we did do is I had dinner uh at Germany. So a couple of Joe's friends that came out, so we celebrated Joe's 80th birthday and his accomplishment at Germany, which is what Joe wanted. So we did that. Then we just walked over to uh at the end, walked back to the uh Regal Eagle. I'm not calling it the Regal Beagle this time, the Regal Eagle, and uh waited there for watched some fire, heard some Smash Mouth, and uh and went to uh watch the fireworks, and then everybody started showing up. And then uh I basically me, Diane, uh I forget who else. I can say names. I we went off to go do some uh oh Rob was with us, we went to do some rides, and uh who do we pop into? Who pops up in front of us?
SPEAKER_09:Jockey Jack Sparrow. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_03:Allie with an E. Allie with an E. The OG Allie. The OG Alley with part of her posse. Jim was there and uh Casey?
SPEAKER_05:Was Casey there?
SPEAKER_03:Casey was there, yep. So I I stopped a little bit longer and uh Kay was with me. And we talked with Allie a little bit longer, John and his his uh and Diane went on. I was gonna go to Frozen if the line wasn't too long. Kay was kind of in the same boat as me. We got to Norway, we looked and we went, eh, we're going home.
SPEAKER_09:Wait, how long was it?
SPEAKER_08:Well, well, here's what happened. So we get up there, we when we left the American pavilion, it said it was 20, 20, 25 minutes. We get there, it says 70.
SPEAKER_09:There was a line outside?
SPEAKER_08:Yes, and it started to rain a little bit. But wait, but all of a sudden it dropped down to 60. We're like, oh, okay, it's going down. So but it's starting to rain, so we're like, let's try to get in here and uh do this. And then at we got then we said, let's just time it because it started starting to rain a little bit. We said, let's get inside 20 25 minutes. Yeah, no big deal. With the test track test track, same thing. Long line, boom.
SPEAKER_03:Our heart wasn't in it, John. We read, I don't think either uh Kay or I really wanted to go to Frozen.
SPEAKER_08:So Katie was ready to fall asleep on the table out there in front of uh eagle.
SPEAKER_03:We just kind of looked in and went, no. Sorry, John. And we kept I didn't realize Kay was at pop, so I ended up giving her a ride back.
SPEAKER_09:I thought, wait, doesn't she live nearby?
SPEAKER_03:She does, but there are a lot of folks who will uh take the resort uh for the for one or two days just to get the bus and make life a little easier.
SPEAKER_08:And Kay did do another one of those all-night no sleep deals with the makeup on before I go, did you sleep tonight? Nope. Okay, make it was done the night before. I'm like, okay, that's K for you.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah, so I I didn't do much in the after party. I generally don't anymore. Even Miss Rebecca has decided she's not coming anymore. And I get it. She doesn't do that much when we get there. And for the price of a ticket for her, it's uh it's not worth it.
SPEAKER_09:I feel like every time I went to one of those for Wyandine, it rained.
SPEAKER_03:It rains. It rains a lot. I think it's one of the reasons they stopped having night races in that time of year.
SPEAKER_09:No, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03:They would get rained out a lot.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, it was it did it did it did it really was it really did it? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:I left no, it didn't rain that badly, John. It was one of those deals that started raining badly enough for me to put my poncho on, and as usual, that worked perfectly. The rain stopped.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_08:But it is a fun time. The after party is a fun time. If you after the race, go home, relax, sleep a little bit, and nap, and don't try to do a whole park day because it's it's a it's a long day because you're up at two o'clock in the morning. Yeah, this party's getting over at one. It's a 24-hour day, basically.
SPEAKER_03:And the beauty of it is the Rise and Run family, and it gets more and more wonderful each weekend, and I can't say that. Enough. So thank you, friends, for making it a terrific, terrific weekend.
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_03:Now, so far, we haven't asked that question. What would Alicia do? Because Alicia's not here. However, she was there this weekend and she sent us some thoughts that she had about the races at wine and nine.
SPEAKER_00:So the expo was pretty good. Um, I got there right as it started. I went straight and got my bib, which was great. Um, I got right in. I didn't do it, have to do like the back and forth in the room, just went straight in, got my bib, got my little gift for being perfect, which was um a wine hold, a wine bottle holder to keep it cold, and a wine stopper, which was really nice for the 10 years. Um, I wasn't expecting that, so that was really great. Um, and then I went to the official merch. It was my time, so I went and did that. Um, I got a couple tank tops, and then I went and got my shirt in the official expo area, which honestly I was kind of disappointed by the official expo area. I felt like it wasn't the same types of booths that there usually is. I mean, there still was fit to run, and of course, Jeff's booth was there, but I feel like it was a lot of places wanting to clean glasses and not the same type of booths that we've seen previously. So I don't know if that's kind of a new thing or what was going on with that. But overall, I had a good experience at the expo. And then for the 10K, the 10K went pretty well. Um, I ran by myself for that one, and I wasn't really sure what I had planned. I was talking to Sarah before the race, and I just kept saying, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Um, but I just ran through and it went pretty well. No complaints, weather was nice, um, the course was good, and I was happy with what I did for that race. The half marathon, however, wasn't the greatest race for me. Both mornings went pretty well. I was in corral F. And so I just moved to the very front of the corral for both days, um, which worked out perfectly fine. I had plenty of time to get through the races and everything. But for the half marathon, I had the plan to meet up with Kay. Kay was starting in corral C. She was just gonna stop for the characters and I was gonna meet her, which I did. However, I had stomach problems the entire race. So I kept having to stop. She was an angel, she um was very patient with me. She just kept stopping and going to characters. Um, but the fact that my stomach was pretty upset was not the most fun. But a major win that I learned from this weekend was that I can have something go wrong and still be okay and know that I have the determination and the grit to get through it. I just had to keep moving and put one foot in front of the other. So if any of our listeners are ever in that position and they're having something that's not going great and you're not dealing with an injury, because obviously that's a different story. Um, but if it is something that you can safely maneuver through, I definitely would say that keep putting one foot in front of the other and trust your training. Um, you got this. But my thoughts on the courses were again, the 10k was great. That was perfectly fine. I didn't really notice any problems with that one. But the half marathon course, I really was not a fan of. I think that Run Disney needs to re-look at that course. We did a number of miles down and back to Blizzard Beach, and Blizzard Beach parking lot. I am I don't mind Blizzard Beach parking lot, so that part was okay. But the down and back, we were on only one side of the road. So, I mean, there's four lanes and basically two lanes to go down and two lanes to come back. And all of the runners were upset with the walkers, all the walkers were upset with the runners. I saw many people running into each other, getting in fights, not physically, but getting really frustrated with each other. And overall, it just really didn't make for the most fun experience for the race weekend, unfortunately. And I usually really like the wine and dine half course. So I was kind of disappointed by that. But obviously, being perfect, I will be back for the challenge in the future. Um, but I do hope that Run Disney makes some improvements and doesn't continue with a course like this because I do think that there is a lot of safety measures that um are not great with something like this. If an emergency were to have happened, there would have been no but no place for us to have gone, um, which is unfortunate. But again, the positives. Kay was amazing. I'm so grateful for Run Disney Friends. Um, I did see a number of my clients out there on the course, which is always fun to say hi and get pictures with them. Other Run Disney friends got to see them. So yeah, overall, minus my stomach issues. I think that it was a pretty decent weekend. Um, and then for the after party, that was fun. I went and said hello to people at Regal Eagle. Um, and then I just went and got some dinner at Morocco. I got the flaffel. There's not a whole lot of vegan options at the food and wine festival, so I got that. Um, and I did get the drink that they were doing special for the race weekend. Um, I always have gotten a cup that said wine and dine with a year. So um I did keep up that tradition. But overall, it was great. And again, I really hope that if our friends are ever in a situation like I was with my stomach, just do your best to keep moving forward as long as it's safe for you to do so. So that is my race recap. But yeah, it was great weekend. Um, I'm excited for marathon, and I'm excited to see our friends again in a little over what, four months, three months?
SPEAKER_05:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_03:I want to talk about something. Somebody pitched an idea to me I think is really neat, and that is having regional rise and run meetups, having area coordinators to get together and say, hey, if you live in the, and I'll just pick a place, if you live in the uh greater Milwaukee area, just a random shot there, Milwaukee. There are 10 or 12 of us here who are rise and run friends, and we're gonna get together at this race, or we're gonna get together at this place to grab a meal or something. I think it's a neat idea, and I think it's something I'd like to talk about on the Zoom this Thursday. So it's a Zoom Thursday, and of course, we want to hear your stories about wine and dine weekend. And now, please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. Racepart is sponsored by Thomas Stokes of Stoked Metabolic Training. Got a chance to see Tom. Uh he joined us at the meetup. I was glad to see that. I saw him also on the course, I'm almost certain. I I thought he had photobombed me on the course, but he photobombed me at the meetup, and that was cool. It's good to see Tom. I need to get back with him. I talked with him briefly. Uh, I want to get back to the gym. I'm ready to get back to the gym. I need to do it cautiously, but I'm excited about doing it. Anyway, y'all knows Tom is our strength conditioning and nutrition coach, an excellent nutrition coach. More information, Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching is the spot, or his link is pinned to the featured section at the top of our Facebook group page. Let's start off the race report. We're actually going to go back a week. Now, as you know, we were all at Walt Disney World last week, and the episode 213 was recorded prior, so we couldn't recognize the Folks who did their races that week. We're going to do the best we can here. There are a bunch. I'm going to rip through them pretty quickly, but I want to recognize the people who are out there. So let's go back a week. Start on Friday in Dayton, Tennessee, where Amanda did the funny. Nope. No, she didn't. She did the funky, the funky monkey 5K glow run. First of three races for Amanda. So proud of the RC3 Couch to 5K group for completing their program, for which Amanda was a mentor. Let's go to Saturday. And in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, Laura, the TCS 7.5K run. Thank you, Laura, for a race that I had no problem pronouncing. This is Amsterdam's 750th birthday. That's why it's a unique distance of 7.5K. They thought 750K might be a bit too much. No time goals, just pure enjoyment. Up in Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of folks ran the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon. Ashley had big goals for a sub-three hour race and a PR finished at 258-41, breaking a 10-year-old half marathon PR. Courtney, first half marathon. There's another PR. Courtney said it was so much fun to meet someone from the Rise and Run family at her first race. Great. Oh, Courtney adds that the Hills were brutal. Hills can be tough in Louisville. There was a running festival event in Baltimore. Several folks there running the five, running the Chessie Challenge, it was in at the Baltimore Running Festival. During the 5K, we had Kelly and Kim and running the half marathon. Divya. There was a kind of a special event in Kissimmee a couple weeks ago. The Rise and Run 5K. Now we didn't name it. They stole our name. But we had a wonderful group of people who went. Let me run through their names here. Donna was there. Donna set a seven-minute PR at the 5K. Heather did a PR pace, rolled a PR pace of 2254, was first female and sixth overall in the wheels category. Jen was there. She talked about winning the award for Team Spirit, which we're going to talk about in a little bit here before we leave this race. There's a costume category. Kay was there, of course, in costume. Kayla, Kayla kind of organized the Orlando crew. Didn't expect the type of outcome they had. They had a whole lot of fun. They got interviewed and had their pictures taken for promos. Margaret ran as a podcaster in her costume. She said people kept calling her Bob. Margaret's two feet shorter than I am, but close enough. Close enough. Mary said it was a good race to put her sneakers on after Chicago. Tracy was there too. Guys, you were amazing.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, you were.
SPEAKER_03:In a way, I'm happy I wasn't there because I saw what a splendid job you all did, especially Margaret and Kay with the post-race interview. And I'm thinking, I couldn't have done that well. I'm glad I wasn't there. But they talked about the award they won. I am I am showing my friends here. This is the Spirit Award. I have I'm holding up a nice heavy, probably uh five by nine, heavy acrylic award. It's called the Spirited Award Spirit Award, Fueled by Spirit at the Rise and Run 5K at Neo City in 2025, presented by the Rotary Club of Kissimmee West. Friends, this is amazing. We will uh I'll keep it with me. We'll keep it in a place of honor here. Uh if I think about it and if I'm not afraid to break it, we'll bring it to the meetups. I'll I'll have it again at the uh Zoom meeting so you all can see it. It's it's fantastic. You did an amazing job.
SPEAKER_04:I was so bummed because that was the weekend I was there for work. Yeah. And I was desperately like looking at my schedule, thinking if it was there any way that I could get over four. But I think the race started at eight. Yeah. And my call time was nine. I was like, there's there's just there's just no way. But yeah, I agree with what you had to say, Bob. I think it was better that none of us were there because I I think it it goes to show the community that has been built, thanks to all of our wonderful friends, and the fact that they were able to wax poetic about this community on a dime, uh, I thought was really special. And I I know that the accounts that were sharing the photos and the the Instagram reels, I I know we started following them. So, you know, folks of uh Neo City and Rotary Club of uh West Kissimmee, you know, reach out to us, the gang at Riserun Podcast. We would love to chat with you. I don't know if there's like a sponsorship opportunity that we could help out with for future races and stuff. So we we we'd love to be a part of it more. That's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_03:I will try and get in touch with them. But uh and they and our friends did a magnificent job. But spontaneity, they don't know if that was the sixth or seventh take that we saw.
SPEAKER_04:True. That that's very true.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they kept they they told us, I in fact, Mary, it was, I think, who was on one day. I think she was the one telling me that. They kept saying, All right, let's do it again, let's do it again. She goes, My knee is killing me. I need to get up. But all right, I want to move on with the report, but I do want to thank the the Ryzen Run family. Uh I'll be there next year. Uh barring something unforeseen, I will be there next year. The Booze and Bruze 5K was going on in Binghamton, New York. Steve volunteered as a scare actor instead of racing, adding a unique job to his volunteer resume. As you might guess, he had more fun scaring than he usually does running. Sue in Iveryton, Connecticut, running the Pumpkin Chase 5K. Not too fast, but no better way to spend a Saturday morning in New England. Plus, she always runs a race on her birthday. Happy 62nd birthday weekend to Sue. In Toronto, Canada, the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Weekend 5K. Marina did it. Rachel running her second 5K and hoping for a personal best, did in fact shave over four minutes off her finish time from her previous 5K. So there's another PR. Amanda's back for the second of her three races this weekend. This one in Knoxville, Tennessee, the inaugural on the field 5K. Amanda said it was a fantastic event. Had some issues with a backup of runners trying to enter Neeland Stadium to finish on the field. And it was a significant backup. Jimmy, who was there, said that the race started off great. He stopped his watch at 39 39 minutes, entering the stadium. And by the time he finished, it was an hour and 19. That's a backup, John. Yeah. In Winfield, Illinois, the Cantini 5K at Cantigny Park. I did that just for you, Caitlin. Caitlin was kind enough to let me know that that word is pronounced Cantini. I thought I'd butcher it the second time just for fun. Uh let's see. Caitlin's unofficial five, unofficial three weekend challenges almost over. 10K last week, 5K this week, and she was at Wine and Dine for the half just a couple days ago. Up in Westchester, Pennsylvania, Brianna did the Unite for her 5K running net in honor of Aaron. Kept it easy since she's doing Marine Corps marathon this weekend, but still had a great time. In Italy, the Rome Half Marathon, dog run one mile. Mike, Mike and his Mike is the runner here in the dog run one miler, because his paw rents. You get it, John? Paul? Yes. Not parent paw. Okay, good. Luciana and Giovanni ran this one.
SPEAKER_06:So does a dog run one mile run count for seven miles for a dog?
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. That's a great question. And do they get a medal? And if they do, does it drag the ground? I don't know. We go to West Lafayette, Indiana for the Boilermaker, the Purdue Boilermaker half marathon. Sarah did it through the Purdue campus. Good run, well organized, lots of aid stations. Started and finished at the football stadium. Emily ran the Battersea Park Half Marathon. Event was in Hershey, Pennsylvania for the Haunted Vineyard 5K. Really nice weather, gorgeous scenery. On the way home, stopped off at Bird in Hand. Katrina was in Houston for the Shipley Do Nut 5K. Donut. Donut, not do not. Well, the way it's spelled and hyphenated looks like it's do not. I think there's a pun in there somewhere at the Sam Houston Race Park. Lucas, Olivia, and Katrina all PR'd this 5K in fun. Jessica did the Savannah River Marathon in North Augusta, South Carolina. Two loops crossed state lines into Augusta, Georgia. Got her fastest half marathon time yet, despite all the hills and the bridges. In Spartanburg, South Carolina, Reynolds did the Walk a Mile in Their Shoes 5K. This organization is an excellent ministry that supports foster children. And Reynolds wound up with a PR. Christine, the New Orleans Deutsche Haus Oktoberfest 5K. Another PR. This one by more than a minute and finished 16 of 36 in her age group. Good job. In Amokley, Florida, the 5K trail run. Rob with Ash and Beckham, the Wonder Pups. Fifth overall. The dogs would have won. Except they had to drag Rob's 220 pounds along with them. Finished last Saturday in Chicago, the Chicago area edition of the spooky sprint run. Tiffany did it. She did the volunteer then run option where you show up early, help with big bib pickup, then run any of the races for$15. Got everyone checked in, a couple minutes to spare, ran the 10K. And they're up fourth overall and second female, first masters. Very successful race. Tiffany, congratulations. Let's go to Sunday in Stowe, Vermont. Rob did the Heady Trotter Four Miler at The Alchemist in Stowe. Except for Run Disney. That's the furthest he's traveled for a race. No medal, but everyone got a can of the award-winning Hetty Trotter beer. He would be more excited about that, Rob would, if he in fact drank beer. Megan was in Bayshore, Long Island, New York for the Catholic Health Suffolk County Half Marathon. A man is in Chattanooga, her third race of this weekend, the Desmond Doss Four Bridges Half. Ended up with nice weather, a little bit of rain. Managed to meet some new friends and snag a new PR. Just under two hours and 50 minutes. Not awfully far from you, John, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Atlantic City Marathon. Pete did it. Hasn't run a full marathon since 2017. Always enjoys taking part in the AC Marathon series. You got a triple threat medal this weekend for completing their April Fool's half and the Bungalow Beach Five Miler before running the AC Marathon this week.
SPEAKER_06:That's a pretty cool looking series down there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that's a pretty big event, I think. Yeah. One of the bigger ones in Jersey, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, speaking from New Jersey to the United Kingdom, I don't know that there's a transition there, but let's go to the United Kingdom for the Hampton Court 10K in Hampton Court, the home of King Henry VIII. Anna. No, I always do that. It's Anna. Anna and Amy ran it. Anna says they did the group dressed as the six minus one wives of Henry VIII. Got a lot of love for the costumes, and they were pretty cool. Amy comments that as you would imagine, the grounds were beautiful. The PNC Atlanta 10 Miler took place in Atlanta. Sherry, Patrick, Dorothy, and Ashley were all there. Out on the West Coast, Riverside, California, the mission in run, 5K, 10K, half. Kayla did the 10K, not a PR, but she did make it back in time to chase her son, who was doing the half K kids race. Stephen did the half as part of his 17-mile dopey training for the weekend. Good event. If you're out on the West Coast, he says he would definitely recommend it and plans to do it next year. Here's a big event for the week: the Detroit International Marathon in, of course, Detroit, Michigan. This is a neat one. It was on pause for a while over COVID, but now it seems to be back full strength. Brian says he's thrilled to have clocked a PR for the first half of the marathon. The last half, well, that was the last half of a marathon. And we understand that, Bryant. Cass did her first full marathon. That was a PR. Christina ran the half at this event, fifth time running this one and her 15th half. They go over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and cross back to the U.S. through the tunnel, making it the only underwater mile and the only international race in the world. I didn't know that. I'm sure the only underwater mile. I'm surprised there aren't more international races somewhere, but hey, Christina, I believe you, okay? Jared ran the Supreme Challenge. That's the one Miler, the 5K, and the full marathon. Uh testament to his uh performance and perseverance. He says it poured rain the first three miles. Everybody got completely soaked. Oh, and then for fun, they got 15 to 20 mile an hour headwinds most of the race. Not pretty, but marathon number six is in the books. You know what those are, Bob? What's that, John? Invisible Hills. Oh man, you know, you are right. You are right. And you know, the worst part about them is you don't know when you're at the top.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, with the hill, you can see the top with that daggum wind. My goodness. Looks like Jeanette did the same thing. The one mile and the 5K on Saturday, ran those with her daughter and husband on the seven-month anniversary of a car accident they were involved in that resulted in traumatic brain injury for Jeanette's husband and multiple leg fractures for her daughter. Uh, but they did knock out the races on Saturday, which is wonderful. For the marathon on Sunday, weather was really wet. We've already talked about that and Wendy. But that made Jeanette just cranky enough to push forward to a marathon PR. That's pretty challenging. Good job. Jessica finished in just over five and a half hours. That's the 35-minute PR. Nancy says Saturday the weather was perfect. The one miller in the 5K. On Sunday, running to Canada and back for the half marathon was amazing. And we finish up with Nicole, who did the half 13.1 for her and the kids' marathon for her daughter Clara, who's seven years old. Now I've heard of this before, and I'm not sure if it's just up in Detroit. But this kids' marathon is kind of neat. They give them, I don't know what period of time. It's at least a month. It may be longer than that. To log 25.2 training miles. Then they show up on race day and run the last, and they call it the kids' marathon. I think that's really neat. Uh let's see. Three of Nicole's brothers-in-law ran the half. No PR, but 20 minutes faster than last year. That's pretty good. So that was Detroit. Let's go now to Rochester, Minnesota for the hot cider hustle. Katie did it and ran a 12-minute PR. Avery was in Northampton, Massachusetts for the Happy Valley half. Kelly, with her husband Bob and Dad Frank, did the Mary's Place by the Sea 5K on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. This year, Kelly ran walked her way to a sub-34-minute finish, which is a new 5K PR. Her nearly 80-year-old father did his first race ever, ended up winning third place in his age group, and of course setting a PR. Kelly's husband, Bob, is working through some knee issues, but he stuck with his intervals and finished, and that was his goal. Great job. Yvette shows up for her second race of the weekend up in Pedlers Village in Pennsylvania, kind of a neat place. The Scarecrow Shuffle 8K. Felt great crossing the finish line. Afterwards, she went to Lucky Cubcake in Peddler's Village. Got a cupcake and iced caramel latte because, by golly, she earned it. Vicki was in Naperville, Illinois for the Naperville Half Marathon, rained the entire time. She still finished with a time of one hour and 40 minutes, more than two minutes faster than the last month, and put her in the top 5% of her age group and all females. That's an outstanding race, Vicki. Congrats. Jeff was in Des Moines, Iowa for the Des Moines Half Marathon. Jimmy's in Roswell, Georgia for the running of the pumpkins 5K. Had a great time seeing people in their Halloween costumes. He wore his bluey bandit costume. Great course, thinking this might be his Halloween run each year. The nationwide children's hospital Columbus Marathon took place in Columbus, Ohio. Tom ran the half, as did Kayla and Austin. Rainy weather again, but Kayla says she hit her goal of a sub-230 half. PRing at two hours and 25 minutes. And this was a first half marathon for Austin, so there's another PR. Rebecca was there, enjoyed it, says 100% she's doing it next year. Back to the UK, York specifically. Andy, the Yorkshire Marathon. Didn't hear from Andy, or I may have missed it.
SPEAKER_08:I did see it pop up, I think, while I was down while we were down in uh Florida. Uh his he put it he put a YouTube video up on it, uh Roller Coaster of Running.
SPEAKER_03:So Roller Coaster of Running, yeah. I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_06:It's on his YouTube channel. I didn't check it out yet. I'm sorry, Andy.
SPEAKER_03:No. And I meant to apologize at the top. This list is very long and it's a couple weeks old, and going back through Facebook, I may miss some. But we'll see. Let's continue on. In St. Louis, Missouri, the City Sprint 5K. Katie was there. Gusty head winds made even the downhills feel like uphills on this rolling course. Love it when the city comes together for this event. And uh as others have said about different races, she would 100% do the city sprint in St. Louis again. Back to Rochester. The hot cider hustle. Katie did it, completing her second half marathon and getting a 12-minute PR. Orlando had the spooky sprint 10K. Jen and Tracy did this one. So much fun being in costume hanging out with Run Disney friends. There were two Tunnel to Towers events, one in Wall, New Jersey, where Kelly ran with more than 1,500 participants, running along streets lined with the pictures of every first responder lost on 9-11. Cynthia did one in Trinity, Florida. That race was back after a one-year hiatus. Makes you cry, but that's usually okay. And the last event I have, again, going back over a week on Sunday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Bethlehem Running Festival. It is in fact a three-day running festival. Keith was there running the half. This course was nothing but up and down hills. He still managed to finish in under two hours. I've heard that about this race before. I think Bethlehem used to be the headquarters for uh Runners World magazine. And maybe it is, and I'm not looking that up. So if I'm wrong, you can pick me apart on it. But Keith also ran the 38-mile trail run, his first ever trail run, the 5K and the 10K over the weekend. So four races. He he did the festival. Good job, Keith. All right, now let's continue with this week in the traditional race report and start on Saturday in Queens, New York with the Diplos Run Club, New York 2025. 5K Monica was there, got a 5K PR. She used to run 5Ks in 45 minutes, but her chip time said 3528. Her watch said 3725. That's a PR either way. Good job, Monica. Lauren ran the spooky sprint in the Greater Atlanta area at Docula, Georgia. D-A-C-U-L-A. I'm thinking the spooky sprint, if you could add another R, this would be Dracula, Georgia. Anyway, uh she raced it as Tinkerbell. Magic was in the air because even with a chilly start, she got first place in her age group. PR'd the distance by a little less than a minute. Nice job, Lauren. Phaedra did the 10K at the frightening 5K and terrifying 10K Halloween races in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She tried to bring a little magic to the court with her mini costume. This was the same race that one year ago was her first race ever. And her chip time was just a little over 41 minutes then. 4148 exactly. This year, 3630. What a great improvement in just a year, Phaedra. Good job. Sherlene was at the Special Olympics race for inclusion in Kissimmee, Florida. Beth was in Cape May, New Jersey for the hollowed half marathon. Ran it with her cousin and fellow rise and runner, Kathleen. Her nephew Patrick ran his first half marathon with the goal of completing it in under two hours. He knocked it out in a little less than 156. That's a great first half, and of course a PR. This was a beautiful course with perfect weather, good crowd support. Can't wait to do it again in the future. But half marathon PRs for Beth and Kathleen also. In, and I hope I pronounce it correctly, El Shaltan in Santa Cruz, Argentina. JJ Juan Jose ran the Ultra FitzRoy 60K at a Glacier National Park in Argentina. And if you haven't seen the photos, look for them on Facebook. This is spectacular. Race was brutal. Started at 6 a.m. You know, it's it's getting to be fall here in the northern hemispheres with spring in the southern hemisphere, but even so, the temp at 6 a.m., 25 degrees Fahrenheit with snow and strong winds. Had to try to find a balance between keeping warm without sweating too much. That's important because the any moisture, any sweat freezes once the wind hits you. Uh the first part of the race went through that Glacier National Park with just breathtaking views. JJ stopped to take some photos. Would have taken more if the snow hadn't been falling so heavily. He had a neat way of regulating his temperature. If it got too warm, he would just simply take his thumb out of his glove. That was enough to cool him off. And if he got too cool, he put his whole hand back in the gloves. It worked. I forget what his goal time was on this 60 kilometer challenging event. I think it was in the 10 or 12 hour range. He did it in seven hours and 38 minutes. JJ, that's awesome. Congratulations. The Cleveland 5K and a half in Cleveland, Tennessee. You thought I was going to say Ohio, didn't you, Jack?
SPEAKER_09:I sure did. I sure did.
SPEAKER_03:Tennessee. Amanda there. I don't know what race Amanda did, but she finished with a 31-second PR. So good for her. Back on Sunday. I think it might have been the 5K and then the half on Sunday. We'll see. Mary did the Ocean Isle half marathon. I'm not sure where Ocean Isle is, but Mary knows. Her first half marathon. That's a PR. Been working for it for a year. Happy she actually hit her goal. Congratulations. Thanks for all the hypes and encouragement. Hypes are the topic of the episode. She's got a beautiful finish line photo with a big smile. A video, actually. A big smile and a congratulatory hug. They did the mash. They did the monster dash of 5K in Dublin, Ohio. You thought I was going to say Ireland, didn't you, Jack?
SPEAKER_09:No, I didn't actually.
SPEAKER_03:Kayla did it. Beautiful park for a race course, lots of fun costumes. The Five Peaks Trail Series Cider Run in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. Nicole did it. Three loops of the course for a total of 21.2 kilometers. Lots of beautiful fall colors, but the course was kind of plain with an all-forest route. Not short on elevation, though, over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Now, after finishing, Nicole took time to celebrate and then head to Came 2 of the World Series. The big event on Sunday was the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Virginia, 50th anniversary race. We had a bunch of folks there. Let's see what we've got in terms of reports. Allie with Adonese says her race did not go as planned. She had some real hip flexor pain, which almost took her off the course. She walked about 21 miles of it as fast as she could. Gave herself a big enough buffer to beat the gauntlets. Then she had a lot of wiggle room after that if she really needed to slow down. She did beat all three gauntlet cutoff times walking. Kind of some pretty serious pain. Still determined to finish about mile 23. Greg, that's when you saw her, huh?
SPEAKER_04:Well, actually, I saw her several times, but it was that it was at mile 23 where I returned the favor uh that she did for me last year uh at the Philly Marathon, and I had a nice crisp diet coke waiting for her.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah, that's helpful. That's helpful. And I'll tell you, I mean, it's it's all personal preference, but at that point, I'd want the sugar from a real Coke. But it works for it works for Allie, and that's all that counts. Uh let's see, she says that uh Tanya was waiting with the Will Run for crew, and they were also walking in. So she finished the last few miles together, which really was nice to have company. Let's see. Amy was there. Brianna was there, says most beautiful course with a little bit of everything. Uh long side. Section surrounded by trees, the National Mall with the monuments, the Capitol building, the city streets, lots of spectators. Around mile 19 decided to just walk because the race wasn't about goal time. Well, it is and it isn't. You've got to pass those gauntlets. But she had no goal PR type time involved. Pet the dogs, did the whiskey shots. Oh, nice. Took pictures, saw friends running and spectating, had an absolute blast most of the way.
SPEAKER_04:You know what I credit her uh good experience? Is uh she had one of those laboo boos or whatever those like creepy doll things, whatever they're called. She had one of those attached to her hydration vest. Apparently, she got a lot of great comments for that. So I credit that for giving her a great finish.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, very good. Carrie did the race. Chadwick ran in honor of his uncle, Gunnery Sergeant Samuel D. Helms. Passed away in 2019 due to complications from his service with the Marines. Uh Met's A goal set a new PR by eight minutes. David was there. David ran all 26.2 miles with Rachel, helping her blow away her old PR. Proud of her, grateful for everybody's support on the course. And I'm following up again on Holler Hype. Uh Divi had hoped to be there but switched to virtual. Jason was there. Jen was there. Jen says she didn't have the race she wanted to. But she had the family there to start the race with her and then pick her up and bring her to the finish. Once again, the holler hypes were there at the right time. Uh kind of wishing she had taken a picture with Diana, because the Coke that Diana gave her was a lifesaver. Jen says this experience will only make her stronger. I'm sure you did great, Jen. Kate said it was a good day for a marathon. Lots of people out cheering. Next time, hopefully, she will be better and her performance will be back more to normal. So she wanted to tell our friends that she just wasn't feeling well and she didn't know why. So she got medically checked out and she's saying, if your running's terrible for no obvious reason, get yourself checked out sooner rather than later. I think that's good advice. Kelly was there, Lance, our newest Patreon, said he never dreamed he'd be a runner. But Amy and their daughter decided to run Princess in 2024, so he joined them. Two years, 30 pounds, and one rise and run community later, Amy and he finished their first marathon as part of their dopey training. Well, first marathon, Amy and Lance, that's of course a PR. Margaret did the race virtually. Margaret was with us in Winandine. Megan, who had retired from marathons three years back.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we we thought so.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, we know we know. I and I hey listen, I I'm not giving her grief at all. I mean, that's I get it. I get it. I mean, in our in my heart of heart, I thought she'd be back, but you know, she can make whatever decisions are best for her. I she has earned that. Anyway, Megan stopped for pictures, pet the dogs, got emotional on the blue mile, did some running, overall had a great time. One of her favorite tours of DC to date, and she's done this one several times. Nancy says the hills were tough, but her training kept her strong and prepared. Got to spend some time with old friends, picked up some new ones along the way, finished with a five-minute PR. Rachel! Saw Rachel at the 5K at Disney World, along with Tara. They didn't head it up. The sights of DC are simply terrific. All the monuments, the towns along the Potomac, the historic site still take her breath away. Crowd support was amazing throughout the race. The Marines never stopped cheering their hearts out. The Blue Mile, the Blue Mile must be very special, and I'm sure that it is. And as we mentioned earlier, ran with David. David pace for her. Rachel set a 31-minute marathon PR.
SPEAKER_04:Rachel, I am incredibly proud of you and all of your accomplishments, but the only thing I do have to say is I would like my skirt back.
SPEAKER_03:But you look so darn good in it, Greg.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. Thank you. No, so the the the quick story there is uh I I guess she had had this skirt previously or whatever, and um and and Rachel has lost a little bit of weight, so I guess it kept Jack. Similar to your situation, um, that one wine and dime where it poured on you, and you had to like keep like hoisting up your your skirt and became really annoying. Yeah, so apparently she was dealing with that for a while. Oh no. So she was like, I guess she tried to like put it in her hydration vest, and that was like causing issues for her. So David was like, give it to me. We're gonna give it to Greg the next time that that we see him. And she's like, Well, he's not gonna want to have to deal with that. And he's like, and David was like, Yeah, he will. You rocked it, buddy. I I I saw them, I think this was the third time. Yeah, this was the third time I saw them. Uh, we were about mile 16. Michael and I uh from Will Run 4, we were right in front of the Washington Monument, and all of a sudden I see David coming holding this skirt, and he just throws it at me. And I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do with this for for the next couple of uh hours? So I was like, yeah, went in DC, so it was I've lost enough weight that I was like, let's give this a go, and it fit me pretty well. So it certainly was stunning. You have an endorsement from me, Dottie, uh Dottie Ronnie's guys. So stunning.
SPEAKER_03:Roxanne was there at the Marine Corps marathon, as was Stephanie. Mentioned that Tara had been at Disney World. She was there with her husband Brian. Timothy did his fifth marathon, and it went as well as he hoped it would. Timothy's father was a Marine, and when he registered, he knew he wanted to pay tribute to him somehow, so he designed a shirt in his memory. Unfortunately, Timothy's father-in-law, who is a proud Army veteran, passed away unexpectedly last month. So he ran with both of the men on his chest and it gave him a little boost. He nailed it with another PR of 356, a sub-four-hour marathon. Great job. That's awesome. Our friend from the Wheel Run 4 podcast, Tom, did this one. You see Tom, Greg?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so to be honest, I while I was there for our entire Rise and Run family, Tom is one of the main reasons why I wanted to go down and spectate this event, you know, ever since um, you know, Aaron's passing back in in March, you know, he really took to heart, you know, the idea of crushing goals. And this and this was a run that Aaron had done many, many times before. So I think through him having that thought process and a lot of peer pressure from uh Megan, who you know you were talking about before, um, and and I think the the will run for community, I I think that's what got him to want to sign up for this, and and he smashed it. I mean, he he did such an incredible job. And I I wasn't there to witness it myself, but um, in cheering with Michael all day, uh, he was telling me that he um I guess Aaron had run this enough times that she got like an automatic qualifying bib. Oh wow. So Michael was able to get her bib and gave it to them and gave it to him the night before the race, so he got to now obviously he had hit his bib, um, but also hers that to carry along the entire well and he looked really strong. He beat those gauntlets, and what I loved is that so the last time we saw everyone was um at mile 23. Diana and a lot of the will run for community, instead of bouncing all around um town, they just set up one spot uh just before mile 23. They had Halloween candy, little shots of uh coke, little shots of pickle juice, beer, all sorts of stuff. They had fat heads cut out of Tom and all these signs and stuff like that. It was it was truly a a spot to celebrate Tom, and I loved being able to be a part of it. And um, I got the while they had the the finisher or the finish line this year closed to spectators uh because of the anniversary and how many more runners there were. Um I I did get the chance to you know chat with Tom at mile 23 and then just tell him how proud I was of him and um you know that he did at what he set out to do in the crush's goals, and he absolutely did that. And I'm just I'm so incredibly proud of him.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that's a good way to wrap up the Marine Corps Marathon. That's the last person I have on my list in alphabetical order. So congratulations to everyone who was up there in DC this weekend and come and challenged the Marine Corps Marathon. Let's continue. Let's wrap up the race report. Go to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, the Niagara Falls International Marathon. Amy did the 10K there. Her race was its own slice of beauty, both in the weather and the scenery. Race turned out to be more of a reminder of why Amy loves running than about speed, but that's 100% okay. Amanda volunteered and then ran the Spooky Sprint 5K in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ran it with a friend they both placed in their age groups. Lauren did the headless horseman half marathon somewhere in South Carolina. Was picturesque. The weather was chilly to start, but this cross country trail course traversed a thousand acres of the Stable View Equestrian Center and featured great views of the horses and the sand hills of South Carolina. It was her first cross-country half marathon. Lace and her son Leon did the Captain Jack's treasure run, their first 8K together in Redmond, Washington. Rainy day, so they were completely soaked by the time they finished. Thanking everybody for the holler hypes, and again, first 8K. It's a PR. Molly did the wicked 10K, which she told me was a local run. That's good. Now the medal says Arizona, so it's somewhere local in Arizona. Uh first race report Molly's done in several months. Always enjoyed this race. Love seeing everyone dressed up. And finally in Canal Fulton, Ohio. Lori did the haunted forest half marathon. Race started out in the low 30s. It's hard for me to believe temperature in the low 30s in the U.S., but they are in some places. Warm to the upper 40s. This is the furthest uh Lori's run at a 35-30 interval since having her knee replaced. It's she's just doing great. Slowly building the intervals back up and doing a wonderful job. And there, my friends, finally, we have the race report for episode 214. Alright, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. That is it for this week's episode. If you're still hanging in there with us, we hope you enjoyed it. Uh if you're still hanging in there with us, the uh Zoom call should start in just a couple minutes. Uh we hope to see you there. We'd like to talk about that idea about some regional rise and run meetups. That's gonna do it, friends. Hope you participated in one of those wonderful events this weekend. We were really, really happy to see you at Disney World. But until we see you again, happy running.
SPEAKER_04: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. It should always consult with your healthcare providers or event organized.
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