Rise and Run
Rise and Run
223: Running Into 2026 with Jeff Galloway
A fractured kneecap, a missed flight to Honolulu, and a coaching mindset stronger than ever—Jeff Galloway joins us with candid lessons on healing, pacing, and performing when it counts. We kick off the new year one week from Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, and Jeff brings the practical wisdom runners need: how to decide when it’s safe to return from injury, why walking long sessions preserves endurance, and how run-walk-run keeps you moving without adding stress.
We get specific about race-week decisions that make or break your day—starting slower than you think you should, choosing a conservative pace group for built-in support, and fueling in simple, steady doses to avoid GI surprises. Jeff shares a clear rule of thumb: two to four ounces of water and 30 to 40 calories of sugar every two miles, with a smart pre-start snack inside 30 minutes to prevent an energy dip. We also talk character stops, run-by selfies, and the moment to pull back if swelling, pain, or loss of function shows up midrace.
Beyond the logistics, we celebrate what makes Run Disney different: kindness, camaraderie, and the friendships forged at 3 a.m. in a parking lot and on quiet miles after Hollywood Studios. Jeff reframes success to include six-minute miles and sixteen-minute miles, reminding us that progress is personal and community-powered. He previews 2026 plans—from Greece with Dean Karnazes to a Munich race weekend—and shares how mantras and community help quiet the monkey brain during recovery.
If you’re tapering, coming back from a setback, or toeing your first Marathon Weekend start line, this conversation is your calm, clear plan. Listen, share with a friend training for Disney, and tell us: what pace group are you choosing and why? Subscribe, leave a review, and join the Rise and Run family as we cheer you to the finish.
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Merry Christmas Rise and Run Podcast. This is Andrew in Atlanta enjoying a post-Christmas paper run and enjoying this 70-degree weather right before the cold front comes slamming in. We baked Christmas cookies yesterday, and it's only 13 days till I'm at the expo. Can't wait to see you guys.
SPEAKER_06:Think the miles are easier with friends. Hope your running adventure is everything you want it to be and more. And hope to see you out there. Fallon from Anaheim.
SPEAKER_09:A couple of messages to welcome you to episode 223 of the Rise and Run podcast. Thank you, Andrew, from Atlanta with that message around Christmas time. Yeah, I know it was last week, but uh hey, we didn't want to we didn't want to let that one pass. And then our friend Alan with a message for Marathon Weekend, a wish for all of us, and a notation that the miles are easier with friends. And that's true, friends. And we are happy to welcome you to episode 223. We're so glad that you're here. I'm Bob and I'm here this week with Greg. Hey, hey, hey, and happy new year. There you go. With John. Hey, how are you doing? And with Alicia.
SPEAKER_04:Hello.
SPEAKER_09:Happy New Year, friends. New Year's Day 2026. Where has the time gone? My goodness. Wasn't that long ago when we were saying, all right, we'll get back to race the race season pretty soon. And now here we are, a week away from Marathon Weekend and into a new year. And to help us celebrate 2026, our friend Jeff Galloway is with us this week. That is always a pleasure. Always inspirational, entertaining, and informative. We hope you're going to enjoy that. Now, stick around at the end of the episode after the race report. Short race report this week. Our friend Mark comes back to continue for the fourth year a marathon weekend tradition here at Rise and Run with his rendition of the impossible dream from the man of La Mancha. No spotlight this week. Schedules are rough. We'll get back to the spotlight in 2026. Love it too much to let it go. So we'll be talking to you about your races again come January.
SPEAKER_11:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcasts, please be sure to share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in not only your Run Disney journey, but theirs as well. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Be sure to check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and RunPodcast.com. If you have a question, a comment, a race report, want to sing old Lang Zine, or introduce an upcoming episode, be sure to give us a call at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message. Actually, you know what, Bob, there's one other thing that I think you know people could also do on the the hotline. And actually, I I think you and I got this privately. Um, we got an apology. Usually we don't get apologies and alibis on the uh the hotline, but uh our our friend Michelle was very kind to uh retract some shall we say NFL rivalries uh from the the the the the past weekend and uh I'm glad that she corrected her ways. That that's all I'm gonna say. And go birds.
SPEAKER_09:All good natured, all good front, all good fun. But that was cool, Michelle. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:We also want to thank our Patreons whose support helps keep the Rise Around Podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check out patreon.com slash rise around podcast.
SPEAKER_09:Hey, our friend Jack's not here this week, but she's busy working on a YouTube video. She asked us to tell her what our five favorite running movies were. So she's putting together the results and uh is about to release a YouTube video. I think we'll talk about it in some depth in a couple of weeks, but that video, the Rise and Run top five favorite running movies, should be out by the time this episode uh releases. Friends, the Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by the good folks at Magic Bound Travel. Magic Bound Travel, the place for your run Disney, your Disney vacation needs. It's time to get serious about that cruise. It's 2026 now. Golly, when we started talking about it, I think it was 2024 when we started to talk about it. And now we are only a little over a hundred days away from sailing, 109 actually, days away from sailing. There's still time if you'd like to. I mean, you know, if you still you got somebody you still want to give a Christmas gift to, you could get in touch with Magic Bound Travel, book them, book them a cabin, they'll love you forever. We'll be see you on the inaugural cruise. If you're going, we're going to start uh have some more information for you soon. Meanwhile, we're hoping we're hoping to see Brad and Maggie and some of the many other Magic Bound Travel agents at Disney World here next week. But Magicboundtravel.com is their website. Please check them out. Well, let's look at the training schedule. Marathon Weekend is now six days away, six days till Expo Day now. Expo is on a Wednesday. Folks will be getting in earlier than that. Guys, just I off the top of my head, when are you getting in and where are you staying, Greg?
SPEAKER_11:So I actually am already there, Bob. What? Yeah. Wait a minute. I know. I I know that that whole Mandalorian thing. I know it gets a little confusing. Yeah. Uh no, so I I uh arrive here day of release. Uh so getting in some park time before uh embarking on a Disney cruise to celebrate the wedding of the one, the only the Mandalorian herself, Jack. I'm very, very excited that she was very kind, uh invited me to uh her wedding and was able to go. So yeah, we'll be we'll be celebrating Jack. Uh and I know uh Lexi's also on the sailing as well, too. So the the two of us will be celebrating Jack that week, and then I will be getting to the expo late on Friday, and then running Saturday and seeing so I'll see friends on the uh in the race on Saturday morning, and then I cannot wait to see everybody at the meetup. So really really looking forward to that. Oh, and where I'm staying, I'm will be at the uh I'll be at the Polynesian.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, okay. How about you, John? I'm coming in uh Tuesday.
SPEAKER_09:Tuesday, yeah. Tuesday, and I'll be staying at Steratoga. I'll be there Tuesday also, staying Port Orleans French Quarter. Excellent choice. Alicia, are you already there?
SPEAKER_01:Not quite yet. I'll be there on Monday. Um and I think I'm staying at Wilderness Lodge. I don't really remember for this one. They all bleed.
SPEAKER_09:You just you just know you're going home, huh?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Well, that's where we'll be, friends. We look forward to seeing you. Uh Wednesday Expo Day for me. I think Wednesday expo day for everybody except Greg.
SPEAKER_08:So kind of kind of hard, Greg, right?
SPEAKER_09:Right.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, I mean it would be really rude of me to ask the Disney Dream to go back up to uh Port Canaveral, you know, so that I could go to the expo and then and then make my way to Castaway. So yeah, I'll I'll uh don't you got it to the private jet? Helicopters. Helicopters. Okay, it's not a lot.
SPEAKER_09:You were a pilot, you could pick me up, it's fine. Not a long flight. It's not a long flight. You could do it. All right. All right. It's exciting. And you know what I keep forgetting about, guys? And I shouldn't. I keep forgetting about the excitement of people who are doing this for the first time. You know, and I I I envy you at this point because it's it's a wonderful, exciting uh event, and you have everything to look forward to. And we look forward to seeing you there. But let's let's go on, let's continue down the training schedule. You still have miles on your training schedule. It's week 27 of the training schedule. Uh, for the challenges, you got four to six miles for the marathon. You've got six miles. I'd strongly encourage you to do them, even though the bulk of your training clearly is behind you now. Just keep the legs fresh and go out and take your time, relax, do those miles. Uh, Disneyland Half Marathon weekend is now just four weeks away. Four weeks away, end of January, training week 14. And if you're doing the challenge, you've got a double up. Four miles walk, 12 and a half miles run walk for Princess. We are eight weeks away from Princess Weekend. We're in training week 10. Double up there also. Two miles and nine and a half miles. And for springtime surprise. We got all four training schedules, all four no four training schedules going. Uh Springtime Surprise, 15 weeks away. Training week three, four mile long run.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, Bob. So obviously, like you said, you know, not much in terms of training right now. Because, you know, I think John, before we hit the record button, you said we're we're in bubble wrap mode. Bubble wrap mode. Was that the phrase that you used? Yes, bubble wrap mode. Yeah, so but yes, it is still important to do your training. And so I'm I don't think probably any of us have training updates, but but I think one update that we could share with the listeners this week is uh obviously we had a pretty major holiday last week, um, known as Bob's birthday, uh, but also Christmas, and obviously a time of friends and family and and you know receiving and exchanging gifts. So you know, so in lieu of training updates, we're gonna go with holiday gift updates here. And I'm gonna throw it out to my friends here. Did anybody get any fun running and or Disney uh related gifts this holiday season?
SPEAKER_01:So the only running gift that I got um was some scratch hydration that came in an Amazon package with something else, and my mom decided to wrap it up even though I paid for it. So I opened my own gift to myself.
SPEAKER_09:That is so thoughtful. I know, it's a great you know you got the right flavor, right flavor, right size, right color. Everything was perfect.
SPEAKER_05:Perfect, yeah, perfect. Oh boy.
SPEAKER_08:That's the way to go.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_08:I got uh in gingy socks.
SPEAKER_01:Oh you like those. That's great.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, they're like that's my new go-to. Yeah, I I they're weird getting on at first, but I mean they're they're so comfortable, and I mean I've had not had major toe issues since I started using them.
SPEAKER_11:Now, John, are you still doing your superstitious thing where you put put on the one one sock, one shoe, or or or I I forgot what the order is.
SPEAKER_08:So it's but so it's uh right sock first, left sock next, left sock left, left shoe first, right shoe second.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_08:Now now now it's big toe in first, and then and then they are they are they are interesting to put on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:Now now as you're putting it each toe into its slot, like are you saying like this little piggy?
SPEAKER_08:Ah, there's two, there's two piggies and one one. Right.
SPEAKER_11:Oh, that's the worst, right?
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, yeah. You know, you reminded me there's a classic all-in-the-family scene, which I think some folks here may be too young to remember, but uh Rob Reiner and uh Carol O'Connor. A sock and a sock and a shoe and a shoe. Come on, meathead, everybody puts on a sock and a sock. No, not me. I put on a sock and a shoe, and then a sock and a shoe. It's a uh it's on YouTube. You can find it. Yep. Uh let's see, running gifts. Well, I think anybody that runs and their family knows they run, they're gonna get running gifts. I don't know they got anything especially entertaining. Uh Becky got me some rechargeable hand warmers instead of those chemical.
SPEAKER_11:I've got those too.
SPEAKER_09:Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh I haven't I told Becky I was gonna put them in my pockets and walk around with them just to get used to them. They're a little big, but I think they're okay. They're not that heavy. When I first picked it up, I thought, oh geez, he's gonna be too heavy, but the case actually takes up most of the weight. Um my my darling daughter lives in the Boston area, not far from the New Balance, I don't know, factory or I don't know if it's I don't know what's up there. I think New Balance are made up in Boston. I've got enough running shoes to last till I'm at least 87. So I literally just last week, and I may wear these marathon weekend, got a pair of the new balance out that she gave me last year. So now I have three more, I have three more pairs. It's appreciated. They're good shoes, they're the right size. But uh golly, I've I've got them. And you know how much room that takes up in our house? Oh, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_11:I can't put the whole wing on.
SPEAKER_09:I can't keep the car in the garage because of the shoes that are out there.
SPEAKER_11:Between the shoes and the plastic cheese that you hoard, yeah. No wonder why you have to park outside.
SPEAKER_09:Well, that's about that's about as entertaining. I got new metal racks. Need to put them up. Yeah. But there you go. That those are my I guess fun Christmas running gifts.
SPEAKER_11:Nice. Yeah, my my family uh I was very blessed to get a lot of uh great running gifts uh this year. My uh my dad got me uh similar to you, Bob, a new pair of running shoes. So I've been glad to test those out and give those a go and got Coach Twig's uh blessing this morning on the customized call to use those for uh marathon weekend. My dad also got me. He paid for my registration. So, folks, I am officially in for the burden hand half marathon.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, good.
SPEAKER_11:So I will uh I'll see you all next September.
SPEAKER_09:I know that was never in doubt, but that's good.
SPEAKER_11:Correct. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_09:I mean, I've I've got my hotel room. I don't have registration yet, but I've got my hotel room. Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_11:Uh my sister uh got me because I was, you know, I always struggle coming up with a list, and so when I do come up with a list, then she goes ahead and she like buys everything for like my dad and my grandparents and such. And then she texted me, she's like, I need more ideas because everything you put on your list I purchased, you know, for other people as gift ideas. I'm like, oh great. So um I got this idea from my good friend and now new shocks influencer, uh Tony, aka Hollywood. Uh, he's been waxing poetic lately about these sharper image uh compression boots that you can get at Costco. So essentially they're the like knockoffs of like NormaTech boots. Yeah. And they're like a fraction of the price. And so my sister, so my sister got me those. I tested those out a couple of days after Christmas. Those are really, really nice. Uh, so I I was very appreciative of this, but I think my favorite one of my favorite, now this isn't necessarily a running related gift, but it is any true Run Disney fan will appreciate this. And this gift came from my wife and my daughter, and I open it up and uh it's a little suitcase, and I'm like, you know, I I'm not gonna be able to put anything into this. No, you know, it's only you know a couple of inches tall by a couple of inches wide. And I open it up, and it is a pair of socks, and it's a pair of underwear, and the print of both of these items is that of the carpet of Orlando International Airport.
SPEAKER_01:That's great.
SPEAKER_11:That's wild. Yeah, I I was gritting ear to ear because I just thought that was an amazing gift, and but so funny all at the same time. Because trust me, uh how many of us when we arrive at Orlando before we head down the baggage claim, we're always taking a photo of you know our feet on the you know the famous MCO carpet. Oh yeah, people do it all. Like it's it's like a right of passage. You have to you have to take your your uh your picture of your feet on the carpet, and then you have to get a video when you're on the tram going over the baggage claim of uh Buddy Dyer welcoming you into uh into Orlando. So yeah, so I I thought that was great. To which then I was I wanted to start like panic crafting because of coming off of the cruise right into marathon weekend. I'm really not doing like an elaborate costume or anything like that. But then I had this idea, I'm like, wait, I have underwear and I have socks. I wonder if I could get like a running outfit of like all NCO carpet. So I think after uh after this uh race weekend, I'm gonna reach out to Alec over at Kawine Pizza Apparel and see if she can like make a like a matching set or something like that to go with my socks and underwear. But yeah, but no, it was a great Christmas. But but I thought my my co host here would uh would that that that fun little gift.
SPEAKER_09:Now you mentioned you talked. About costumes, and you mentioned something. I I started on my costume for the 5k, and I went and bought the I was gonna make the claw machine, big cardboard box. I was gonna wear it and all that, and then Disney sends out and I golly, I know them. I should have read them before. Disney sends out the uh costume guidance, and actually, actually, it's for Princess, but it's just no cardboard boxes. Boo. Well, I th I thought you were being Bob Lightyear. I am now.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, I was gonna say, I thought there was a whole poll that we were we were gonna do that, but then I thought about you know, it's the aliens and the claw.
SPEAKER_09:I've been chosen. But um, yeah, I was gonna do that. I had an idea. I saw some do-it-yourself ideas on uh it wasn't Etsy, but I saw them somewhere. And I started down that road, and then I read the instruct, not the instructions, but the guidance. I went, nope, that's not gonna work. Back to Buzz Lightyear. So that's the way we're going. Store store-bought Buzz Lightyear costume, but I'll do my best to pull it off.
SPEAKER_08:Remember, no masks.
SPEAKER_09:No masks. That's right. No masks. It has a hood, it has a purple hood, but no mask. I should see if I can get like a fish bowl to be a no, I'm not gonna do that. That's probably not a good idea.
SPEAKER_08:Bob Bob's suffocating on his fish bowl. Break the glass, break, break the glass.
SPEAKER_09:Break the glass, yeah. Oh, golly. Hey, I you know, I didn't I didn't have this on a schedule, but since we're down this path here, for the 5K, the way we did it last year with the puppies is we all got together around 4 a.m., I believe, for a photo. Roughly about that time.
SPEAKER_08:We waited a little bit for some people, but yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. Um, and then I took off from the last corral. I don't that's not what I had on my bib, but I encouraged as many folks as who wanted to stay together to take off from the last corral. That way we could, in fact, all stay together. And I'll be walking the thing, I'll be walking it at a casual pace. So that's my thoughts on that. We'll we'll stay together. We'll get a photo around 4 a.m. around the stage, and uh then a bunch of us will take off out of the last corral. Anyone is welcome to join us there. On the other hand, if you want to go out of an earlier corral, you're free to do that as well.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, I think that's why we picked four. So if you want to get to when the corral started opening, you can get to your corral if you're in A, A, B, or C. Yeah, so we didn't hold anybody up that way.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:Friends, I think of all the wonderful things that have happened to us during this podcast, and one of the things that I love best is an opportunity to have met, known, and I'm going to be bold enough to say become friends with our next guest. Jeff Galloway is a former Olympian in the 10,000 meters. He was at the Munich Games in 72. You know him. He is our mentor, our guide, and what better way to kick off 2026 than to have Jeff back with us on the Rise and Run podcast. Welcome, my friend. We are delighted to see you.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm so glad to be back, Bob. And uh yes, you and I have been friends for quite a while, and I treasure that friendship. I really enjoy the many friendships that I have made with uh Rise and Run folks.
SPEAKER_09:That's wonderful. That is wonderful, Jeff. Uh it's tough for me to put into words sometimes, but it's a big deal. You've been a guiding light for a lot of runners. Again, more than I'll ever know. And uh not only in running, but in in uh in your philosophy and attitude towards life. And we just can't thank you enough. But let's get going. Let's look. First thing I think a lot of our friends want to know. I think most of our friends realize you're banged up. You hurt yourself. And what we want to know, I'm gonna let John ask this question. John, go ahead. You're up. Oh, how are you doing, Jeff?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm uh actually uh improving at this point. For those that don't know, um, when I decided to take on my another marathon about a year ago, um, I set up a training plan which worked extremely well going into the fall. I wasn't having any lingering issues with any of the long training runs. Things were going well. And then I in uh October I had a series of things that uh that happened. A lot of them were just bad luck. Um the first thing uh was an irritated nerve that woke me up in the middle of the night uh with extreme pain. It was literally a pain in the butt. I'm not laughing at it, but yeah. Yeah, it was a glute issue, a nerve, and it was so painful that not only could I not sleep, I couldn't think about anything else, and I really couldn't walk.
SPEAKER_09:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:So went to uh urgent care, um went through a couple of doctors who believed that it was inflammation of uh nerve tissue, and sure enough, um anti-inflammatory did away with it in four days, and I was back regular training. Well, uh another four days down in Orlando uh walking around the neighborhood where uh Weston and Carissa live, and I slipped on a patch of slime on a sidewalk, and my feet went right out from under me as if it was ice. Um, and I was leaning, I was headed towards um hitting my head, so I fended myself off of the ground as my uh trail leg came down toe first on the concrete and did some significant damage to the toe joint. Um so went to the doctor, uh was um sedentary for three weeks to let it heal. And it did uh after three weeks. Uh so I had lost all of my buildup to 20 miles, which I had had built up to. And so I set up an innovative plan to come back in uh four different runs. I did a seven-miler, an 11, uh, a 16, and then a 21.5 with five days in between each. And it worked. I had no problems with recovery or whatever. Now, here's where it got really weird. So I'm I'm only a few days away from leaving for Honolulu, and I've done my 21.5 miles, which for Honolulu is is enough distance for me to do. And um I'm doing an interview with uh of all folks, the New York Times. It's uh one of these all-day interview type things uh in my home. So before we got started, I uh was just walking around my living room and tripped over something and landed right on my kneecap. And I've never had anything like that before, but it happened and it uh fractured my kneecap. Um well it didn't swell up a lot at first, and they were all set to do the video, so I was ready to go, and I went for two and a half hours of the interview, uh, and then they wanted to do some uh other um uh video with me and Barb just sort of talking, you know, about what we were gonna do and so forth. Um meanwhile, the uh Patella injury has swelled up like a football. And and uh I realize it was something really significant. The other stupid thing that I failed to do is uh drink fluids throughout the day and um and eat something to keep my blood sugar level up. So about uh 15 minutes into Barb and I doing chit-chat, I fainted.
SPEAKER_09:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:I I have never fainted in my life. This is that was another totally new thing. Um it was later diagnosed as uh a uh the uh vagus nerve sensing all of the stress that I had taken on, and it just was overload, and it just said it's over. Well, fortunately, Barb was right beside me, and she buffered my fall to the slate floor below.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, golly.
SPEAKER_00:And she shouted to the videographer who ran around and uh cushioned my head so that it didn't hit the slate. I mean, it could have been a total disaster.
SPEAKER_11:I was just about ready to say, Jeff, uh I would be curious to know the New York Times perspective on this. You know, they're thinking they're going into your home thinking, oh, we're here we are doing a day-long expose on Jeff Galloway, and it goes from expose the potential breaking news that you know all of this stuff is happening to you. But you know, in terms of that goal that you had to be able to run Honolulu, what were some of the emotions that you were going through, maybe once you came back from consciousness, of course, you know, from from fainting and such, what was the thought process that happened that day and then the the days afterwards?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was a total shock. Uh, and they uh brought the uh ambulance in and took me to the hospital and did four days of tests because you know the fainting after you've had a heart attack and heart failure is is a big deal. And uh fortunately they found absolutely no signs that anything was wrong in that area. Excellent. Um, of course, the knee is a totally different issue, and uh it's it's terribly banged up. The doctors, after looking at all the data and everything, um, and we're talking about I got out of the hospital only one day before I was supposed to fly to Honolulu, and they said, You're not going to Honolulu because you should not be up in the air for eight to ten hours one way on a flight. And um I reluctantly said, Okay, I'll I'll obey you, because I knew how much fun it was going to be out there with all of our people coming in from all over. We had several hundred people coming out to that. And anyway, um so the thought process uh then went back to survival, which uh during my 67 years of running, I've had to deal with situations that have come up with my running, and it's all about what do I do now? I mean, this thing's happened, it doesn't do any good to complain or feel sorry for yourself or whatever. What do you do now? And so I just kept pinging my orthopedist about this, and uh I came up with a plan uh and uh he got me this innovative brace to keep the knee straight. Um and I I just did not put any goals because it's not realistic when you have a fracture like that to set any goal, any timetable whatsoever. So I'm into a coaching mode now. I am totally into a coaching mode, and I am just really excited about going to Walt Disney World during the big weekend coming up next week, and helping people with problems that are probably going to be worse than I have.
SPEAKER_09:Well, there are a million stories in uh the Run Disney community. There really are. Yeah, there really are.
SPEAKER_00:But a lot of mostly good stories, but challenges.
SPEAKER_09:Of course, and overcoming challenges. Let's let's dig into this whole idea a little deeper, uh Jeff, about uh recovery from injury, because you you just alluded to it. There are other friends we have who either have or will have to face, maybe not a fractured patella, but some injury recovery.
SPEAKER_08:Coming back from injury, what is the biggest mistake runners make in the first few weeks after an injury?
SPEAKER_00:They don't let the injury heal. Uh, the most important thing you can do in the first two weeks is allow for healing. Uh first of all, there is a readjustment that an injured area has to make to get junk out, uh, to try to not allow too much inflammation to go in if if that is an issue. And there are a lot of other issues depending on what the injury is. So the second thing, which is tied directly to not letting it heal, is that runners don't get a doctor involved. And and you you really have to do that if if there's any chance that you could be re-injuring it by getting back out there. Uh and uh I tell you, doctors who uh have a good reputation with runners are one of the greatest groups of professionals that I have ever met in my life. They really want you to get back out there.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And by not going to your doctor, getting advice and uh treatment mode, you're gonna slow down that healing process and you could actually reverse the healing process and make it worse.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Finding that right, Doc. You know when you found him or her. Because and I I don't like to tell stories on myself, but recently my doctor said, I know how important this is to you. I'm gonna get you to this guy, and everything turned out very well after that. But in addition to a physical side of recovering from these injuries, there's a mental side of recovery, especially when you fear you might lose fitness or you don't really we don't really lose our identity as runners, but we kind of fade away from the community a little bit with something as serious as what you've gone through here. How do you deal with that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, the first thought that um I have heard come from injured runners, and I certainly felt this way too from the time I got my first injury 67 years ago. And that first thought that's gonna hit you is it's over. I'm not designed to run. I I got injured. Uh, this is gonna continue to happen. I'm gonna destroy my knees or some of the other myths that you will hear out there or see posted on websites. Um, the fact is that the body is designed to heal itself with running injuries if you let it. And uh, so that's why it's so important to bring in the right people. But almost every running injury is healable. And so you you just have to focus on the fact that it will heal. Uh, I'm gonna do what I need to do, I'm gonna listen to my doctor, uh, and have a series of positive mantras. And by having these mantras saying, I am focusing on healing, my doctor told me to do this, I'm going to do this, uh, those are cognitive thoughts. They turn on your human brain. And when you do that, you will push away the garbage that comes out of your monkey brain because it will come out. And it will, particularly when you've got an injury and you've got cortisol and other hormones going through your system that tend to depress you. The positive thoughts and the positive mantras can turn your brain in a positive direction.
SPEAKER_09:That's when we turn to communities like this, like customized training, like Jeff Galloway training, like the Run Disney family. We are all in this to help one another, and by golly, it works. It works. The help from our fellow runners. Yeah, absolutely. So important. So I'm not jumping the gun, but how do we know when it's safe to return? Not just physically, but emotionally. How do we know when it's safe to get back out there?
SPEAKER_00:Again, that's when you have to rely on your doctor's advice. Because um we're going to um, as runners, we're going to jump the gun. Uh it it is going to happen. And uh I made that mistake so many times that I I finally got it. Um in going to the people that um I respected and saying, okay, I'm I'm putting my running fate right now in your hands. And uh I was never let down by the professionals. Uh it it really allows you to get an experienced set of eyes and uh with their instrumentation to be able to say, well, it really appears by the data that enough healing has happened, but here's what you need to avoid. And uh and that is the best advice I can give you on that.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. I'm smiling, Jeff, because you're a bit older than I am, but not a lot. Not much. And there is some wisdom from experience, I think. Been through this before. Get what you're saying to me. One of the issues is sometimes that injuries, particularly a lower limb injury, we're running on, like your you like your knee. We know it's healed, but there's that back of our brain and we get back out there that goes, Oh, I don't know if I want to test this out. That's a tough hurdle to overcome, I think.
SPEAKER_00:I'll tell you a story. Um, in my uh pursuit of the uh Olympic trials to try to make the Olympic team, um, I was getting really, really close to the time I needed with six months to go before the Olympic trials, and I was really excited. So um uh as a member of the Florida Trick Club, we were flying out to San Diego to run in the National Cross Country Championships about six months before the trials started. And um suddenly, the few days before we went out there, I realized that my Achilles tendon was inflamed, and um I I could run on it, and I I even tried a fairly hard workout, and it held up during the workout, but it was even more sore and more inflamed afterwards. So again, I went to the doctor and I said, I really want to run in this national championships, but I I don't know whether I should, because I could really compromise it. And um so the advice he gave me, he uh after he analyzed it and then showed me the data on it, he said, you know, you could you you could run this this race, but if you backed off your pace and didn't push yourself to the limit, uh it's very possible that this thing uh after that race could heal up in a a couple of weeks. And then you still have six months then to get right back in shape, and and two weeks off uh at your level of fitness is not going to compromise this goal. And um I I thought very seriously about dropping out of the national championships, but I knew the team needed me. And in fact, we won the national championships that year, and uh so uh I ran in it, but I didn't go all out, but it was good enough for us to win the team title. Uh the hardest part though was the two weeks, which ended up being three weeks afterwards, of total layoff and not running a single step and uh doctor's orders. And uh I had to keep telling myself this is helping me, this is gonna allow me to heal up, and then I can pursue my goal. If I run, I'm gonna screw up, and I probably won't even get to the Olympic trials. Uh, sure enough, after three weeks off, I was able to start back gradually. And one month later, I set a series of personal records one month back because I let it heal. And then it was 100% when I came back.
SPEAKER_09:You had the mental discipline to do what needed to be done. And spoiler alert, friends, he makes the Olympic team. Oh, I hope I didn't, I hope I didn't give anything away there.
SPEAKER_11:You know, Jeff, one of the selling points of the run-walk-run method is that it helps prevent injury. Obviously, it can't fully avoid it, you know, as it's evident to all of us, you know, injuries do happen. But in talking about your method, though, how can run-walk-run help runners return safely after an injury?
SPEAKER_00:Well, in terms of prevention, um the major stress that runners put on themselves is lifting the body off the ground and then absorbing the shock of lifting your body off the ground. Uh running. Uh walking uh is very unlikely to cause any injuries unless you have too long a walking stride. Uh and that's easy to correct. Uh but the bottom line, if you want to uh avoid injury, especially once you start to feel the precursors of injury, is to drop back into a more liberal use of walking versus running. And in a lot of cases, if you truly suspect that it could be an injury coming on, it's best to just walk for a week or two. You're not going to lose any significant conditioning if you do your walks every other day at the amount of time that you would spend running. And it is very likely to heal up a potential injury, just as it did in my case with my Achilles tendon. So the key element then, once you have an injury, is if you are able to walk, which most injuries allow, realize that walking on the long ones will give you all of the endurance that you would get if you ran the long ones. So, but walking is going to reduce the chance of making the injury worse and increase the chance that the injury is going to heal up. Yet you're not losing any endurance. You can even push your um your uh distance further and further back. I have trained several hundred runners who uh got injured during the middle of a training program, and yet they had this marathon they wanted to go to. And so after conferring with them, I believed it was possible for them to walk. And uh again, several hundred of these people walked every single one of the long runs for three or four long runs, or in some cases more than that. And as a result of that, they kept pushing their endurance up towards marathon distance. They were able to do the marathon, and some of them healed up so well they were able to set PRs and qualify for Boston at the end of the program. So they're just a whole lot of success stories among those that dialed back the amount of running when they were injured and uh did allowed the walking to keep them in shape.
SPEAKER_01:So, Jeff, you just talked a lot about walking, which is a great cross-training um exercise as well. Is there any other forms of cross-training that you feel would be beneficial to help with recovery?
SPEAKER_00:It gets tricky. Um, however, the one that has been the best, even better than walking, is water running or aqua jogging. Because when you run in the deep end, or at least water that's over your head with a flotation belt, uh, you are able to, uh, if you do the aqua jogging correctly, you're going to be able to keep those legs and the uh cardiovascular system uh in uh really top shape. Uh you won't lose any of that. There are lots of stories, even of world-class athletes that have been unable to train running-wise for as long as eight weeks, but they did the same workouts in the pool that they would have done on the track or on the road. They came out of that six to eight week off, and some of them actually set American records or personal records in coming back. So this is a very powerful tool to use. And then the walking serves you by keeping the feet in good shape and the uh adaptations of the leg movement. Uh, it's basically the same as running, it's just slower.
SPEAKER_09:Jeff, we'll talk more with our friends about aqua jogging at a later time. Uh, but there's information on the Jeff Galloway website on aqua jogging, correct? There is. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_08:So we'll we'll tell friends, we'll tell you how to look that up. And I know you talked about this before. You have an elliptical bike?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Uh the elliptigo, which is an elliptical bike, uh, and I I have never really used it as a bike. I put it up on a trainer. And uh I've done all of my elliptico workouts on a trainer. Um it you can set the resistance as you wish, and it really provides a tremendous workout without any pounding. There is some limited research showing that runners can either maintain their fitness when injured, or even increase it by doing some anaerobic workouts on the elliptigo. Uh, there are very few uh types of elliptico workouts that have ever caused any uh problems with uh irritations or injuries or whatever. So it's a it's a relatively very safe mode to use. Thanks for bringing that up.
SPEAKER_11:Jeff, thank you so much for going into such detail about the injury struggles that you have gone through and you know, taking your wisdom in terms of previous injuries and this current one, you know, to help our community be able to navigate those now and in the future. But you know, you had mentioned this a couple of minutes ago during the course of this interview, is that you know, we're one week away from a really big event, and that is the 2026 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. We have loads of friends within our community who are taking on distances that they have never run before, and that includes from all the way from the 5K all the way up to the dopey challenge. And if there's one person that I know can impart a lot of advice to our community, it's you. So, in terms of advice, what is one thing first-time marathon weekend runners worry about that they really don't need to worry about?
SPEAKER_00:Well, in terms of um the uh worry factor, it is more focused on those doing either the marathon or a series of events in a row, which they haven't done before. And the this is you know, human nature. You you're you're doing something that's strenuous, that's challenging, uh and you could fail, uh, but we're we're gonna back you up uh at at the um Run Disney events with supportive people, uh folks that uh mostly use run, walk, run, and our Galloway pace groups. Uh it's always better to pick a pace group that is slower than you think you're able to go. Uh the pace groups are fun, they're supportive, they pull you along, they they really give you a group of people that uh you're going with, and it takes what would be an individual sport and it puts it into a team format. You're part of a team. You're all taking the walk breaks at the same time. Um the other thing that's really crucial here for beginners is that it is always beneficial to start out more slowly than you're currently capable of doing. This is not only true for those who are beginners, but what you're doing is you're saving your resources, and those who are veterans trying for time goals, uh, such as qualifying for Boston and other things, also tend to find that going out more slowly saves the muscles. Uh, it reduces the wear and tear on the weak links that get injured, it uh uh saves your energy resources, it keeps the body heat from rising too high, which can shut you down. So it's all good to be able to slow down in the beginning, and the best way to do that is to change up your run-walk run. So if you have been using something like uh a 3030, but you you're just you weren't able to get in all the long runs and so forth, drop back to 1530 or 1030 and find a Galloway pace group that will be doing that, and we have them in the race. Uh, and you will have a whole new set of friends by the end of the race.
SPEAKER_11:All right, Jeff, now I'm gonna take the question I just asked you and flip it on its head. What is one thing that runners do not worry about that they should?
SPEAKER_00:The the main thing that I hear about is digestive problems during the race. Uh and uh that obviously uh can not only involve not feeling very good as you go through it, but digestive problems can shut you down and uh and keep you from your goal. Uh so you want to stay with the feeding uh method and and strategy that you've been using in your long runs uh as long as it's been working. And uh you want to find simple things to take in regularly. My rule of thumb, based on a lot of research, is uh every two miles, two to four ounces of water and 30 to 40 calories of sugar. Um the simplest way to take that in is actually defiz Coca-Cola. Uh that's what I've used forever in uh my long runs and and races, marathon races. And uh it uh I've never heard of anybody that's gotten any significant gastro issues with de-fizz coke uh two to two to four ounces every two miles. And and uh uh as you go through, if you feel that you need a little bit more water, you could add to that.
SPEAKER_11:So what I'm hearing is the night before race, do not binge dole whips and churros that could end badly for you in race tax.
SPEAKER_00:Good question. Uh you've heard this before, but too much loading the night before can lead to unloading on the course itself, and that can be downright embarrassing, uh, among other things.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:But the uh the the fact is that um the what you eat the day before is not really going to help your performance, but it can hurt your performance. Uh, you do want to continue to drink water regularly throughout the day, six to eight glasses of water uh just regularly throughout the day, because that will keep you from getting dehydrated. You also want to keep your blood sugar level up by having some simple snacks that you know are easily digestible because you've used them before. And don't overeat uh in the uh afternoon or evening. Uh those are the the really simple things there.
SPEAKER_09:How about race morning? Uh before we get to the corral, and we're in the corral for an hour plus. Anything we should think about there with nutrition?
SPEAKER_00:That's a very good point because you you will be waiting for a good while before the start. Uh is a great chance to bond with uh potential friends, right?
SPEAKER_09:We love it, yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:But you should be uh taking with you an extra snack or two that if you need it, you can sip some water while you're waiting, and also to have a very small snack. Now it's best to wait to take a sugar snack until 30 minutes before the start, because if you take a sugar snack longer ahead than that, you can engage the insulin response to sugar. Whereas if it's less than 30 minutes before, there's very little chance that you're going to engage that insulin response, which then is going to cause your blood sugar level to crash. And very early in the marathon or half or five or 10K, you don't feel like doing it.
SPEAKER_09:Right, right. Terrific, very helpful. Thanks. Uh here's one. I've never asked you this question, Jeff. I'd love to get your perspective. We all have our ideas, but how do you believe that Disney running is different from other road races that our friends might have taken part in already?
SPEAKER_00:Well, first of all, and I've I was uh uh asked this by the New York Times people, uh, what what is this stuff about uh the Run Disney events? Well, first of all, I've never I I've been around the world. I I've run um on six of the seven continents. And by the way, I'm not going to that seventh continent. I mean, I'm allergic to cold, but um I have given thousands of clinics all over and uh just a lot of exotic countries and so forth, and and run with a lot of great people. Um some of the highlights of uh of the diversity that I've seen in some running groups, uh in several clinics that I gave in Saudi Arabia, um one the the clinic that had the the greatest number of nationalities that I've ever talked to in one clinic. 17 different countries these people came from in one clinic that I gave over there. Um I also gave several clinics over in uh mainland China. Um I worked for several years with a group over there that was the largest um uh online uh service for runner runners over there. And these runners were as friendly and as energized and as passionate about running as any of us are. It's just so great to travel to these exotic places and see people that care about this and want to help others come into it just the way we do. Um so there are just so many benefits that we have, but out of all these places I've gone, there is one place that stands out way above any of the others. And it's the Run Disney events, either at Walt Disney World or at Disneyland. It's just a different feeling that you get there. Uh folks are on the same page, they support one another. Um you almost never hear anybody argue. It's it's incredible, especially in this day and age. Um and I um also have to say that because of the sheer numbers of people that are attracted into these Run Disney events, people who um the majority of whom come from a sedentary background. So they have made major, major health changes in their life. And you you look at the the hundreds of thousands now who have entered Disney races and changed their lives as a result of that. Run Disney is, I, in my opinion, the organization in our country that has made the greatest impact on improving the health of the average person in our country above any other group that I have ever known about. That's quite a comment. And I I think you're spot off. I truly believe it. Because, you know, I'm on the front lines at the expos with people coming by spilling their guts, telling me the stories of what they've done and then how they've brought all these other people into it. It it's just an amazing lifestyle change operation that's going on now for the benefit of the individual and our nation.
SPEAKER_09:And not to be patronizing at all, because I sincerely mean this, and Jeff Galloway's had a lot to do with that.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm very proud and lucky to be a part of this team.
SPEAKER_01:So, Jeff, let's stay on the topic of Run Disney. And one of the unique things about the Run Disney races is those character stops that we love to see out on the course. How do you how would you suggest that somebody go about those character stops without sabotaging the race?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's it's a tricky thing because let's face it, there are a lot of folks in the Disney races, particularly in the halves and the full coming up, that are on the borderline of being able to stay in the race and beating the balloon ladies. Uh, and if you're one of those, or you suspect that might be the case at the end, the best technique that I have seen is to do a um a run by a character stop. And in other words, find a vista point where you can do a selfie as you're running or walking by the character so that you can get several shots as as you're going by. And uh you can have fun with it and make comments and even get response from people that are in line waiting for the character. Uh I've seen that uh happen, and it's really quite entertaining to be near some of these characters.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah. What are some of the most common injuries you see during Marathon weekend?
SPEAKER_00:The most common thing that uh that pops up uh is folks who try to do things that they see other runners doing when they've never done them themselves. Uh I'm talking about uh doing uh some warm-up, exotic warm-up exercises that uh they haven't trained their bodies to do. Um the other uh issue is let's say you're talking to somebody in the uh in the corral, and that person has run a faster time than you have. So uh a lot of beginners assume that uh a faster runner must know a lot more about things. And so they try to stay up with this faster runner, thinking that the runner's gonna pull him through, him or her through. And uh it just doesn't work uh that way. Uh so there are a lot of overextension uh injuries and exhaustion uh situations that occur when you try to mimic people that uh you really shouldn't mimic. Um the other thing that uh I have seen is uh after the race to um be so excited that you overdo it in going to the parks. And uh I've had a lot of folks who uh were so proud of getting in an extra 30,000 steps uh all afternoon and evening in the parks, and then they said they came down with uh an illness or they uh were so tired that they couldn't go out and do the parks for the next two days, had to stay in the hotel room. Um you know a lot of the things that um are positive about Run Disney can turn the other way if you don't do what works for you. And and that's the major theme of the problems that I just mentioned. Instead of staying with things that have been working for you, they see somebody else doing something, they think that that's gonna help them go faster, and it almost always reverses itself.
SPEAKER_08:And for a follow-up to that question, if a runner feels off during a race weekend, how do they know whether the push-through or pullback?
SPEAKER_00:It's always a gut check. You there's no answer to that, there's no hardcore uh measurement uh of whether you should be pushing through in a case like that. Um however, uh there are some signs of injury that are the best guideline. Um first is inflammation. Is there an area that has swelled up during the race? Ums of function. Um a very good friend of mine recently did uh the Marine Corps marathon, and for the first time in his life, after over a hundred marathons, he found himself leaning to the side uh during the last few miles of the race. And uh his muscles on one side of his legs just weren't holding up like they had in every other marathon that he had run. Um the other uh things about uh function, uh your foot isn't quite moving the way it should, so it throws the knee off or the hip off. Um you also have um uh the third um reason for injury or third symptom of injury, and that is pain. Um if you're getting pain while you're going through one of the events, something is wrong. Uh don't just try to gut your way through that. Try to get some control over that pain. Uh now I'm not saying that every pain means that you need to drop out, uh, but you really do need to try to get it under control and not allow the pain to keep increasing.
SPEAKER_09:Good advice as always. I want to maybe bring us back and get towards summing things up here, but we're not quite ready to let you go yet. All right. How's the knee holding out? Fine. Absolutely fine. Okay, we got a couple more minutes. Friends, you know that Jeff's been an inspiration, not only to me personally, but to so many thousands of recreational runners and professional runners. Now, I know you're not running right now, but after all these years in and around running, Jeff, what does success in running look like to you now?
SPEAKER_00:What I focus on now is helping other people get more enjoyment and allow others that I'm working with to be able to do things that enhance their life and give meaning to their life. Uh, one of the key elements that brought me into running was the fact that as I started to increase the distance, I would finish these exhausting runs. And about half an hour later, I wasn't as exhausted. Uh, I was getting this feeling of, wow, I have done something significant today. Uh I've heard that word, those words said, those phrases like that said uh among tens of thousands of runners now over the years. There's something about increasing distance that gives you a greater sense of respect for yourself. And it really propels you to do things. So when I can instill this lesson in the people that I'm talking to, that I'm teaching, that I'm coaching, uh, it's a success. And uh I keep looking for better ways of doing that.
SPEAKER_09:What I love is that success could come in a six-minute mile or a sixteen-minute mile. It's all internal to us and how it makes us feel.
SPEAKER_00:That's exactly right. And I'll tell you, uh my it took me four years of running in high school before I could get my mile time down significantly below uh six minutes in in a uh even a two-mile event. Um and now 16 minutes per mile for me is a challenge. Uh so I I'm I'm out there with everybody who struggles to keep up with uh some of the closing times here, and I'm developing new techniques to help you do that.
SPEAKER_08:I know. Keep us informed. I will. If you could give one piece of advice to a runner standing in the corral for their first marathon, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:Restrain your enthusiasm. Uh go out there nice and slowly. And the best way and the simplest way to facilitate that is um to line up near the back of your corral and um let the runners get a head start on you before you cross the timing field, because your race time doesn't start until you cross the field. If you let the runners in your corral get a little ahead of you, they're going to start weaving and um and thinning out so that you don't have as much of a crowd to deal with in the first mile or two at least of the race itself. So you've got a good opportunity by restraining that enthusiasm to make things better for yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Do you feel like there is something that recreational runners, like all of us, get right um in the terms of the running journey versus how elite runners might miss on the course?
SPEAKER_00:Elite runners uh tend to be more focused on themselves and also specific times and so forth. Um they're generally not as happy with their performances as average runners are. Uh because when you reach uh when a more um competitive or elite-oriented runner achieves a time, they're already thinking of the next time. And uh and the average runner really does bask in the glow for days or sometimes weeks after achieving a PR. And and they appreciate it so much more. Uh the other major uh difference is in running with friends and developing friendships along the way. Uh friendships are really uh some of the treasures of running, and they are continuing treasures. Every run in a group or a race is an opportunity for meeting not just friends but really good friends. And I hear this happening all the time, especially at the Run Disney races. And so when you've got this really fantastic opportunity of enhancing your life and enhancing your friendships, this is uh something that you don't want to take for granted and don't get too caught up on trying to improve times at the expense of that. Now, the good news is it is possible to do both. You you can pursue a time goal, and at the same time, you can enjoy your friendships and you can uh get into the enjoyment of any race that you would go into. So possible to do both, but uh I I must admit to sign off on this question, when I was running at the world-class uh level, there really wasn't much of a sense of humor as we ran those races together.
SPEAKER_11:Jeff, are you at a point in your recovery that you can look forward to future milestones or goals in your personal running journey?
SPEAKER_00:There are a lot of uncertainties about my um situation right now because of the fracture. Uh, fractures are are serious injuries and they um they're very individual. Uh there is no timetable for uh a fracture healing. Uh so I have to uh deal with a lot of uncertainties right now as to when uh I will be back. However, every day I'm able to get out on uh a walker or uh crutches and uh be able to move my legs, and they are responding uh a little better every week. Um and uh I'm fine with that. Uh I will be totally honest with you. I wish it was proceeding more rapidly than it is.
SPEAKER_05:Of course, yep.
SPEAKER_00:But but it's going to heal, and and I know that I will be back, and I know I will be out there getting my next marathon. But I'm not gonna tell you the date that I do it, but but when it does heal enough, I will get that date out there for you.
SPEAKER_09:I'm I'm not laughing because it's funny. I'm laughing because it makes me happy. It brings me joy to hear you say that. That's wonderful. Now, in the meantime, I'm guessing you're still working on projects, events, coaching. Is there anything we can share with our listeners that maybe might be coming up, Jeff, that in uh your coaching world?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. The um this year, this coming year, the 26th, is really going to be a travel year for uh Barb and I and and our little Galloway team. Um first of all, going back to Greece. Oh, yeah. Uh we have uh set up a uh uh retreat over in Greece to uh go to historic running sites. Uh and um we're going I'm going to uh put this on with Dean Karnassus, who is a Greek American, and there is just no no better grounded person in Greek heritage of running than Dean. Uh he's a friend. Um really looking forward to this very much. Uh I'm also writing an historical novel about Phodipides, and so I will be uh telling folks uh the gist of what I'm finding in the Research I've done about the history of Phidippides and how I truly believe that Phidippides and his fellow messengers had a much more important role in the winning of the Battle of Marathon than has been divulged so far. And I'm very, very excited about that. Another really exciting trip that we'll be making this year is back to Munich. We're going to have a weekend, race weekend in Munich, Germany. Going back to Olympic Village and visiting the amazing places that over there, the places where I ran when I was over there, talking about things that went on behind the scenes during the Olympics over there. Again, looking forward to greatly.
SPEAKER_09:I imagine you are.
SPEAKER_00:And we've got a few other things up our sleeve, but uh they uh they aren't to the point that I can uh divulge right now. Oh yeah, there is one more. Um we are uh initiating a new Galloway training program uh that has a physical location up uh just north of Chattanooga, Tennessee, but um that that group is putting together a tour package over to Mount Kilimanjaro. And uh the leader of that is a friend of mine who went on that trek uh this year, and uh he has uh contracted with a group that does the Sherpa stuff over there. So anyway, it's it's a very interesting thing. Quite honestly, I am not going to be doing that. It's just a little bit above my running pay grade right now to do that. But uh for those that are interested in adventure type stuff, it has a great appeal.
SPEAKER_09:Sounds exciting. And again, glad to see you're active, working, staying in the sport that you love so much, and you brought so much happiness to so many people. Now, you mentioned you will be spending some time at the expo. Absolutely. I imagine your hours gonna be reduced maybe a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Uh they probably will. Um right now it's just a lot of variables that we don't know yet. Uh and uh it's gonna be what uh my mobility uh is is gonna be about uh by next week. I am improving significantly every week, but I will not be walking on my own next week. Uh so uh I've just got to figure out how I'm gonna get around. But I will be at the booth for uh some significant hours. All right, Mr.
SPEAKER_09:Galloway. You be patient and don't overdo it. You got you got me.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. I you know, if you hadn't said that, I would have just thrown down it.
SPEAKER_09:Well then I'm glad I did. Uh hey, uh will we see you at the finish line? That may be a little bit of a logistics problem, huh?
SPEAKER_00:It doesn't look very good about that. Uh, you know, the logistics, including all of the traipsing around and so forth, um doesn't look like that's gonna be a good idea for me right now. Uh I'm certainly hoping that uh by princess uh that will be part of what I do.
SPEAKER_09:We'll cut you some slack on that. It's tough to put into words how much I enjoy chatting with you, Jeff, and how much you help this entire community. We love it, we love you. Hope you had a great holiday. Hope you and the Galloway family have a wonderful 2026. Happy New Year, my friend. I'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thank all of you. You are just the soul of our sport and the soul of Run Disney, and I look forward to seeing you in a week.
SPEAKER_10:Caution Runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_09:Once again, many thanks to Jeff for joining us. John has come up with a list for Run Disney Marathon weekends.
SPEAKER_08:So here are the top things to look for at a Run Disney Marathon weekend from the home office in the Gamora parking lot in Epcot. The Gamorra Park. That's right. That's good. That's it. Yeah. So number 10, the runner casually wearing all six dopey medals before noon like it's completely normal. Yeah, no big deal. Yeah. Number nine, runners half asleep, fully dressed in costume.
SPEAKER_09:Sometimes that's entertaining.
SPEAKER_08:Number eight, the one runner doing flawless runner math at mile two and absolutely no clue at math at mile 22.
SPEAKER_11:Johnna, why are you talking about me like that?
SPEAKER_08:No, you were you were very good for runners math at mile 22 last time I ran with you. Okay, I'm tracking this guy. We got okay, we can we can walk it in. We were we still made it in. Number seven, backstage areas you didn't know exist and probably never see again. Bob, this is for you. Number six, the quiet tears on Main Street when the castle appears and the emotions hit. No doubt about it. Number five, spotting family or friends exactly where you need them the most. Yep. Number four, the medical tent looking like a luxury resort by mile 21.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, with no vacancy, typically.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah. Although I gotta say, that nothing is more euphoric. I think it's usually that medical tent that they set up in the Blizzard Beach parking lot where they are just passing out the bags of ice. That's always been a godsend to me.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, yeah. That could, yeah. I don't know if that'll happen. We'll see. Yeah. It's not forecast to be that hot this year.
SPEAKER_08:We'll see. Number three, the real marathon starting after Hollywood Studios when the course gets quiet and the mental game kicks in.
SPEAKER_05:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_08:Number two, we all have done this one, I think. The proud wobble back toward the metal photo backdrop.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, the wobble walk. Yeah, looks like he just came off the horse.
SPEAKER_08:Yep. And the number one thing to look for at Run Disney Marathon Weekend, strangers becoming family, because no one understands this journey like another marathon runner.
SPEAKER_11:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_09:100% true. Goodness said it better myself. And there you go. I needed a ta-da sound, but I don't have it. That's the uh the top 10 list for marathon weekend.
SPEAKER_08:Gotta throw my pencil now. Okay, sorry.
SPEAKER_09:Courtesy of our buddy John. Thanks, Sean. Good stuff. Friends, we love our Run Disney family, and we share news. Sometimes it's not always great news, but I don't want to overlook these things because they're important. And I I want to recognize some things that happen. Uh, this happened back before Christmas. Our friend Karen lost her father. He'd been battling melanoma skin cancer, and he passed before the high. It's a tough time, and it's it's always a tough time to lose a loved one. Holiday season may be even a little tougher. Karen, you know, our our thoughts, our prayers are there with you and your family. And I'll repeat what you said in one of your posts. Friends, we spend a lot of time outside. We spend a lot of time in the sun. Use your sunscreen and get checked regularly. You can ask your primary physician or a dermatologist. Get checked regularly. I will toss in a personal note. I see a dermatologist twice a year. And I've had some carcinomas removed. Nowhere near as serious as melanoma cancer. So again, protect yourself and Karen, we're thinking of you in this tough time. Hey friends, uh, we have talked about the meetup. I will talk about it one last time. And when I get to Disney World next week, and you send me a message and say, Is there a meetup? Is there a meetup and when and where? I will answer you as though it's a perfectly legitimate question. But here you go. The information is on Facebook. 3 p.m. food truck area Disney Springs. If you don't know where that is, that's not hard to find, but there is a little map there that might help you. We said it all the time. You look at the big old blue hot air balloon, you turn left, assuming you're not treading water at the time. If you happen to be in the lake, you'd have to turn right. But if you're on dry land, turn left. There is Starbucks. Continue to the left of Starbucks, and there you will find us. The meetup takes place at 3 p.m. There are normally folks there a little bit early. It goes until we stop going, which is usually around 4.30 or 5 when people have dinner reservations. The time I don't want you to miss is 3.30 when we will take a group photo. And at this group photo, we're going to raffle off the American flag that our friend Matt carried during the 5K. We being the Rise and Run podcast made the donations to charity to buy that flag from Matt, and then we will raffle it off at the expo. Uh cookie baking begins probably let's see, tomorrow's New Year's Eve. I think we'll take a break. Cookie baking begins on Friday. Becky's out of her uh sling, she's begun her rehabilitation, and I think one of the things she has to practice in rehabilitation is scooping out cookie dough and putting it on a cookie sheet. I think that's good for her. I think that's good for your shoulder. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. It's good for your stomach, too. It's not it it the only thing it's doing for my stomach is making it easier to find. That's not necessarily a good thing. Uh, but there you go. Meet up. We hope to see you there. You know, uh this Thursday, January 1st, is a Zoom Thursday, and I'm gonna go with it. If it was New Year's Eve, I think we'd cancel it. But I think on New Year's Day by 8 p.m. in the evening, Eastern time, I think most things have quieted down. So we'll get a chance to get one last pre-marathon post-Christmas conversation in, and then that lines us up for two weeks after when we'll be able to talk about all the exciting things we did at Disney World on Marathon weekend. So it will be a Zoom Thursday. Instructions will be, in fact, they already are by the time you hear this, posted to the Facebook group.
SPEAKER_11:So unfortunately, Lexi couldn't join us uh on this week's episode, but she did uh send us a message uh to pass along to the community. Obviously, Lexi is, as I uh you know, made a comment during John's top 10 list there, uh, she is our resident cheer expert when it comes to the marathon at mile 20. Uh so she is heading up a rise and run cheer squad. Uh, she's gonna head to her typical place right around Coronado Springs. Uh, I think according to her, it looks like they're planning on meeting around 9 or 9.30 in the food court area of Coronado Springs. So make if you want to join her, be sure to make your appropriate transportation options, whether that's you know, going bus to bus via park or using the you know the race transportation from your resort, or maybe you're already at Epcot or something like that. So um, you know, make your plans there. But one of the great resources that we have for this cheer squad is if you have joined our Discord group, uh there is a specific chat for the cheer squad. I know we have a bunch of people in there, and Lexi is in there answering any and all questions. So again, if you're interested in joining the Rise and Run Cheer Squad, you're meeting between 9 and 9.30 in the Coronado Springs food court area, or if not, always shoot Lexi a message on Facebook or within the Discord server as well, too. And I'm sure she will be happy to help.
SPEAKER_08:And another place you can talk to Lexi is at the meetup. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_11:In terms of my cheering, unfortunately, I can't I can't make it out to Lexi because I actually fly out marathon day. So my plan is because I'm staying at the poly, it's a real easy walk for me to get over to the TTC. So I think I'm gonna try and post up over there along the guardrail. So I think in terms of the marathon course, that's like mile 10, 10 and a half or something like that. So I I I won't have a sign, unfortunately, but I will I'll be sure to be screaming my head off and and cheering for as many runners as possible. So you'll be able to see me there.
SPEAKER_09:Mile 10 or so?
SPEAKER_11:Oh, yeah, mile 10 at uh TTC. Yep.
SPEAKER_09:I should be there by noon. No problem. Uh friends, I mentioned it at the top. Stick with us after the race report. It's not a long race report this week. Our buddy Mark joins us for a rise and run tradition. And now. Please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. The race report sponsored by Thomas Stokes of Stoked Metabolic Training. I haven't been in touch with Tom lately, but I will. I promise. I will. He is a huge help as a strength and nutrition trainer. Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching is his URL. You can check out his website for programs he's got going on. You can also check out that link at the top of the Facebook group page. Please do that. Alright, let's take a look at the race report on Saturday in San Diego. The San Diego holiday half marathon and 5K Ruth, after a year of some setbacks, is happy to be back and doing any running. It's the first year that she's done the 5K at this event. Had to run it easy, enjoyed the heck out of it. Jennifer was there. She ran the half. First year for her to run the half on such a beautiful course. And today, the day that we're recording, Tuesday, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, Lauren ran the Sea Pines Dolphin 5K on a day that was sunny, beautiful, and about as windy as it could possibly be. This is the first time ever that Lauren has run a beach race, meaning actually running on the sand while getting pushed around by all that wind. Expected it to be a slow pace, but mile by mile she found a rhythm, leaned into all that chaos, decided to just trust her legs and go for it. And the result negative splits for the three miles and a 5k PR. And there we have it, folks. The race report for episode 223 of the Rise and Run Podcast.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:Hey friends, before we leave, you know we're big on tradition. At least I am. I love traditions. A tradition before marathon weekend, and we started this. Well, I'll check with my friend here in just a moment. I'm gonna say this is the fourth time we've done this. But our buddy Mark is back with us. Mark, a longtime friend of the podcast, a big helper, takes care of those beautiful training schedules that y'all love so much. Mark, welcome back. Golly, it's good to see you.
SPEAKER_13:Good to see you too, Bob. And it is four, and I can keep track real easily because it's the number of dopeies that I've done.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Hey, I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_13:Started doing it with my first one.
SPEAKER_09:There you go. Yeah, the year before, the very first year, I think I played uh probably uh a recording from the uh Broadway cast or something. Some riffraff, some uh was that that was Richard Harris, I think.
SPEAKER_13:I'd have to go back and listen. There's there's a couple good versions out there.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. Yeah, and if it was Richard Harris, that wasn't really a good version. Great actor, not a great singer. And I may I may be totally wrong about that, but that's part of the fun. Mark, let's catch up just a little bit. How are things going for you? How's your training going? What's coming up?
SPEAKER_13:Things have been a little weird this year. I did uh funnily enough, this also happened the first year, which is actually kind of what led to this segment happening. I was in the Wizard of Oz again locally. Yeah, okay, yeah. Same role. Same same role, same production.
SPEAKER_09:Cowardly Lion.
SPEAKER_13:Cowardly Lion. Yeah, yeah. Great deal of fun. It is really hard to keep up with a running training schedule while also keeping up with the interproductions.
SPEAKER_09:I believe in I do believe in ghosts. I do no spooks, right? I do believe in spooks.
SPEAKER_12:I do, I do, I do believe in spooks.
SPEAKER_09:My father. That that was my father's favorite movie. The thing came out in 1939 when he was 12, and uh it was his favorite movie. When it would come on in TV, he'd love that line. I totally miss spooks.
SPEAKER_13:I do believe it's in the stage show, too. As it should be, that's great. Yeah, no, it's a it's a fun show, but so it I've been playing a little bit of catch-up on that and getting ready. I will be down there for Marathon Weekend. Like I said, I am doing Dopey number four. Number four. I am a crazy person.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, you are. You'll catch in past me, I I think. Um, I did five. I got permission from Mr. Galloway to call it after five. He said, Bob, I called it after five. If anybody gives you a hard time, tell them I said it was okay.
SPEAKER_13:Well, the story there is I understand it, there was an entire familial intervention to make that happen. That wasn't necessary for you.
SPEAKER_09:Well, it was close. It was close. Yeah, it was kind of similar, but it's all good. It is and I'm happy to still be going. But I'm glad you're doing it, man. I think that's one for you. Are you pacing any of the events?
SPEAKER_13:I actually don't know the answer to that question yet. I need to talk to Mr. Twiggs and find out. I I probably won't be pacing the half because I'm running with a couple friends who are doing their first ever half marathon. Oh, that's cool. I am probably going to be pacing them, but not. I understand, understand.
SPEAKER_09:I I think that's a real challenge to pace any maybe the marathon, but trying to pace the half and then run your own marathon, I think that would be uh tough.
SPEAKER_13:As we did last year. Um did you?
SPEAKER_09:Okay.
SPEAKER_13:Coach Twiggs was kind enough to make my my pacing assignment one of the slower ones so I wouldn't be completely dead for the marathon.
SPEAKER_09:Well, as it should be, yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, okay, good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_13:So we'll see. I'm I might do a slow marathon if he needs somebody. I'm I'm running for Give Kids the World again, so I'm I'm easy to slot in. And then I'll be down for Princess and I'll be down for springtime.
SPEAKER_09:Outstanding. I'll be looking forward to seeing you down there. It's just uh at the time we release here here, it's just a week away. Isn't that surprising? Gosh, it came up quick. Oh, we got those holidays out of the way. You know, that that gum Christmas and New Year's, get them out of the way, then we can get serious.
SPEAKER_13:Right. And start running.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. But friends, if you're new to this, now I I'm sure some of our listeners know what we're talking about. But if you're new to this, I know that when I first took on Dopey, I used the words, before I took on Dopey, I used the words, this is impossible. But then I looked and 7,000 people do it every year, round numbers. It's not always about that. It's in it's in the ballpark. And I thought, well, maybe there's a way. And it became my impossible dream. And there's a song of that title from the Broadway play and movie The Man of La Mancha. You've heard it before, but we're going to ask Mark to perform it for us now. And I just I love listening to work to the words and thinking about the goal that you've set and the unreachable star that's in front of you.
SPEAKER_12:To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foreign, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to come where the brave dare not go, to write the unrighteous wrong, to love pure and chaste from afar, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable star. This is my quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far, to fight for the right without question or pause, to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause. And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm late to my rest and the world will be better for this That one man, scorned and covered in scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage To reach the other each starvo, my friend Bravo It gets me every year and uh the lyrics, the words, the message, and you did such a wonderful job with that.
SPEAKER_09:We thank you so very, very much.
SPEAKER_13:I'm happy to do it. It's it means a lot to me too.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_09:Music sometimes really, really gets to me. And when as I listen, as I mentioned as I was talking to Mark, as he listened to the lyrics and the words of the impossible dream, I recall the days prior to 2019 when I thought Dopey was impossible. Turns out it's not. Turns out it is an achievable dream. You just need to continue. You need to strive when your legs are too weary to reach that unreachable star. We're pulling for you, friends. We'll be there. Hope to see as many of you as possible. Good luck to everyone. Until we see you again. Happy running.
SPEAKER_11:The Rising Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information about advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice. It should always consult with your healthcare company or other organizations.
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