236: One Runner to Rule Them All

A half marathon through Hobbiton sounds like pure fantasy until you hear what it’s really like underfoot. We’re joined by Kerry Flynn, a lifelong Lord of the Rings fan and seasoned half marathoner, to break down the Middle Earth Halfling Half Marathon in New Zealand: the small-field logistics, the afternoon start, the trail terrain on a working farm, and the very real elevation that turns “cute themed race” into an earned finish. She also shares what surprised her most, how photo ops and characters work outside the Run Disney machine, and why the post-race celebration feels like a perfectly on-brand reward.

Before we head to Middle Earth, we do a Springtime Surprise training check-in and cover community announcements, including Jeff Galloway memorial run details and our plans for a special tribute show. Then we tackle fresh Run Disney news with reactions to the Summer Virtual Series themes, the medals, the extras in the box, and the big question of virtual races versus saving for a live weekend at Walt Disney World.

We wrap it all up with our Disney Movie March Madness finale and a stacked race report from the Rise and Run community, plus a spotlight chat with Tom Stokes on what most runners miss when they hit a plateau: underfueling, skipping strength work, and training without a year-round plan that matches your race calendar. If you’re into Disney running, destination races, run-walk-run strategy, and real-world training talk, this one has it all. Subscribe, share with a run buddy, and leave a review, then tell us: what’s the most “impossible” race you’d actually train for?

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Transcript

Cold Open And Welcome

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Hey babies, it's not Dickey V saying it is time to rise and run. Get those packages picked with your diaper dandies and your PT Peters.

SPEAKER_08 0:55

Pretty soon, it'll be time to get on the bus at the resort. Wait a minute, was that the Dicky V? A perfect intro to tonight's episode as we wrap up our March Madness Final Four.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Andrew, that was a great intro. BMOC, Big Man on Campus, Dipsy Dude, Dunkaroo. Way to go. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_08 1:20

You and Andrew will have to get together. That's Andrew who gave us that Dicky B. Nice job. Nice job, both of you.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Onions.

SPEAKER_08 1:27

Okay, that was Bill Rafferty, sorry. Okay. Golly, 10 seconds into it, it's already out of control. But uh, friends, welcome to episode 236 of the Rise and Run Podcast. Happy to have your you here. I'm Bob, and this week I'm here with Greg, who you've heard from already. With Greg. With John. Hey, how are you doing? With Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:51

Hiya.

SPEAKER_08 1:52

And with Alicia.

SPEAKER_11 1:53

Hello.

SPEAKER_08 1:54

Well, friends, this week we do, in fact, finish up the Disney movie March Madness as we go from the round of 16 all the way to get our champion. We're also going to chat with a friend, Carrie, who's run many half marathons. We've asked her to come especially to talk about a unique half marathon she ran not long ago. In the spotlight, our friend Tom Stokes joins us. He's going to talk about what the last challenge was like and what plans he has going forward.

SPEAKER_07 2:28

If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast. We are 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, a bad dicky V impression, or want to introduce an upcoming episode, please give us a call at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

SPEAKER_12 3:06

We also want to thank our Patreons who support help us keep the Rise and Run Podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check us out at Patreon.com slash Rise and Run Podcast. And we'd like to uh recognize a new Patreon, Sarah, who joined at the Plastic Cheese Level.

Training Update And Community Announcements

SPEAKER_08 3:24

Yeah, welcome, Sarah. Thank you for joining us. Thank you to all of our Patreons. And thank you to Magic Bound Travel friends. Magic Bound Travel is the sponsor of the Rise and Run podcast. They are there to help you with all of your travel needs, especially those involving Disney vacations, universal vacations, or perhaps cruises. MagicBoundTravel.com is their website, the place to go to fill out a no obligation, no cost form to get information on how they can help you with your future travel needs. MagicBoundTravel.com is that website. Again, check them out. All right. As we do, let us start it off by taking a look at the training schedule. You know, it's it's kind of sad. We're not going to be able to do this in a couple of weeks. Training schedule will have nothing on it, but we'll get by. We do every year, we'll get by. Meanwhile, springtime surprise friends, we are excited. You know what I know when I always forget, gang? Not forget, but I tend to overlook. We're talking to friends who are going to be doing their first Run Disney event in a couple weeks. And I hope you are as excited as I was when I was two weeks out from my first run Disney event. But we're looking forward to seeing you there two weeks from now is springtime surprise weekend. So we're in training week 16, where you have a three-day rehearsal. Two-mile walk, five-mile walk, twelve-mile, run, walk, run. And that, my friends, is it for our training update. A couple of announcements. You should have seen it on our Facebook page. I will, I have not yet pinned it to the featured section. It will be pinned by the time this episode releases. A Jeff Galloway memorial run, or celebration run, is a better way to put it, will be occurring in Atlanta on Saturday, April 25th. Yeah, information that is open to everyone. Information on how to get there. They've got a link, it's a sign-up. Uh they're running a 5K, they have a one-mile fun run slash walk. And I am told there'll be uh some presentations, some words said after the races are over. So please, if you're in the area, consider it, I hope. Oh, in that same vein, all right. We are putting the finishing touches on a tribute episode for Jeff that will air the week that we are on the cruise. Uh we've had some wonderful guests. I don't I don't see any reason not to let our friends know who's going to be joining us. Ambi Burfitt, winner of the Boston Marathon and editor-in-chief of Runner Runners World magazine, college friend of Jeff's will be there. Dean Carnassus, legendary Ultra Man Marathoner, another good friend of Jeff's. In fact, they were planning a trip to Greece here in April. Yeah. Uh Bill Rogers, four-time winner of the New York City Marathon, four-time winner of the Boston Marathon, another college friend of Jeff's. Chris Twiggs, Coach Chris Twiggs has known Jeff for quite a while. And then members of the Galloway family will be joining us. So that episode will air April 23rd. Yes, that's correct. Yep. Yeah. While we're on the cruise. And but because we're doing that, because we're wrapping up the recordings of that, you can imagine it's been a challenge to get all of those people. They're not all together. We've recorded them at separate times. The Galloway family, their only available time when they could get together was Thursday at 8 p.m., which would normally be our Zoom time. I thought about ways maybe to either start it early or whatever, but I think I would prefer to put it off one more week so that we can all get together for a Zoom on April 9th, and that would be just before we leave for uh Springtime Surprise. So no Zoom this Thursday. We will have a Zoom next Thursday. And one last quick announcement Springtime Surprise being two weeks away. The roll call, the rise and run roll call for all of the runners in Springtime Surprise, that will be recorded two weeks from tonight, which will be April 14th. Thank you. Thank you, Jack. April 14th, two weeks from tonight. So get your names in there on the race report so that we can recognize you as being someone in the roll call for Springtime Surprise.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_08 8:47

All right, so we as frequently happens, Disney drops some news on us. We know now the themes for the three 5Ks of the summer virtual series. And as usual, I turn to my friends and go, what do you think?

SPEAKER_11 9:05

So I really like them. I'm just upset that they're not used as real, like as a live race. And I don't want to say virtual races are not real races because I I mean I think they are. It's just like I mean for a live race because I feel like those character meme greets for like, oh my gosh, Emperor's New Groove, that would be so cool to see Isma out or Kronk or like I mean it's always great seeing the Hercules characters out. Pocahontas would be so cool to see out. Um, because you don't even see her out that much. And I think the other thing that really upsets me is that like I literally said, I think last week, wouldn't it be cool if Pocahontas was finally on a princess weekend medal? And um, well, I mean, she's been on one.

SPEAKER_15 9:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 9:53

Literally, she's like the only one that's only had one that I can think of off right off the bat. And I'm like, well, if they're using her for the virtuals, then there is no way they're gonna use her for the next princess weekend, which means they're probably gonna stick with the same olds, which are Cinderella, Aurora, um, Frozen, or Beauty and the Beast. And I feel like I'm forgetting, like, you know, the classic ones. The classic ones are always the ones that are on there. So I'm kind of wanting personally, would love something different.

SPEAKER_07 10:24

All right. Run Disney, pull up a chair. Let's sit down. Let's talk. I'm gonna go get a drink. I'll be right back. First of all, before we get to the part that I think everyone wants to hear my thoughts on.

SPEAKER_11 10:38

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 10:39

This is the biggest hodgepodge I think I have ever seen before in my life. Like, I I feel like they took Disney IP of the 1990s, yeah, mixed it into a bowl of spaghetti, threw it up against the wall, and whatever stuck, that's what that's what they went with.

SPEAKER_10 11:02

Yeah, they don't go together.

SPEAKER_07 11:04

They do not go together whatsoever. But all right, let's get to the crux of it. And this is the reason why I wanted Run Disney the pull up a chair next to me. I have I I got a message from our our friend Natalie over at the Stride Sisters podcast, and uh and her text message read to me I think Run Disney is actively trolling you.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

That'll be fine.

SPEAKER_07 11:28

Because for the second virtual race in a row, my response is Run Disney, you were this close. Yeah, I'm excited that the goofy movie continues to get love. I and I I know that the film, I believe it was this uh this or last year, celebrated its, it was either its 30th or or or 35th anniversary. There was the documentary that went out on Disney Plus. I watched it, it was wonderful. But if you really wanted to pull at the heartstrings of the millennial generation, why why in the artwork did you not include Power Line? Because let's be honest. Obviously, Goofy is iconic. Clearly, Max is his son. I understand the movie is called the Goofy Movie, and then I think they even threw in a nod there when I was reading like the text of it. That because in theory, there was a sequel called an extremely goofy movie. But in theory, I think what makes that movie so iconic is not goofy and max, even though it had this wonderful, you know, father-son, you know, relationship movie, what drove that movie home was Power Line. Unless you're gonna sneak him onto the metal last minute, and then I will take this whole soliloquy back. But why not put him in the artwork? And that would guarantee that you will sell out this challenge. But again, I just reiterate you were this close, and I can't wait to see how I get trolled in the next virtual series.

SPEAKER_08 13:13

It's an audio podcast, it doesn't matter how close you put your fingers to the mark. Nobody can see them.

SPEAKER_12 13:19

It'll be a Ghostbusters podcast, a Ghostbusters mobile.

SPEAKER_08 13:22

Well, that'll be a crossover.

SPEAKER_11 13:24

Craig's just being goofy.

SPEAKER_08 13:26

Uh I am being goofy, Jack. Any other thoughts? I think I should drop the mic thing, but Alicia, you're welcome to give it a shot.

SPEAKER_10 13:34

No, I was just looking at the the extras they're giving, and I don't we don't need to put this on the podcast, but they're kind of a hodgepodge too.

SPEAKER_05 13:44

What are they?

SPEAKER_11 13:45

Extras. So oh, like the gifts with the medals? Oh no, talk about them because I don't even know what's going on.

SPEAKER_10 13:52

So, Greg, going along with your hodgepodge of themes, it seems like normally when we've had the virtual series, they've had um things that kind of went along with it. So when it was the Valentine's races, there was a heart blanket and it kind of went with a theme. I mean, this does go with the theme, but the little extras are also kind of a hodgepodge. You get the four commemorative commemorative finished medals, which makes sense, a Pocahontas jumbo trading pin, a Cusco Llama Potion bottle lighted cube, a 16-ounce Hercules souvenir cup, one of four designs of a goofy movie themed socks, a box of twining strawberry, raspberry, or peach mango tea, a mission cooling towel, and then the digital digital bib and certificate like you normally get.

SPEAKER_08 14:53

Right. Right. I think the tea and the cooling towel have become standard in the boxes too.

SPEAKER_10 14:59

Okay, but it just seems kind of like th throw a bunch of things in there. I don't know. Um it could be cool.

SPEAKER_12 15:07

I guess we'll have to wait and see what they look like, but and how they would troll you, Greg, is they would have power line socks and you won't get them in your box.

SPEAKER_10 15:14

Right, that's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_07 15:16

I I will say the uh the the I I don't want to script the brand name here. The the Rockham socks, those are great quality. Um, remember how we I joked around the holiday season that I got I received the um the MCO carpet boxers and socks. Yeah. That that that's the company that provided them. And the quality is awesome. And I have seen the goofy movie themed socks. So at least the there is something of substantial quality in there and with a decent you know monetary value attached to it. But no, John, you're absolutely right. If I did sign up for this, I would get a you know, probably a pair of socks that had Bigfoot on them as opposed to you don't be crazy though, Greg.

SPEAKER_11 16:02

Let's say you didn't do the virtuals, and then all of a sudden this race medal for Goofy has like some way where they could put music to the medal if the medal opens up, is like stand out, woo, you know.

SPEAKER_07 16:16

And again, if they do that, I will I during the apologies in the hellabi section of that next week's podcast, I I will I will issue a full-fledged apology, but until until that happens, my my thoughts had to be shared.

SPEAKER_08 16:33

Well, you weren't shy, Greg. No, not at all. And it was good to hear from you. All right, no, the question becomes then who will be online April 7th to register for the summer virtuals?

SPEAKER_11 16:46

I can't. And I see a lot of that financially, no, it's expensive.

SPEAKER_08 16:52

Head shaking. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_11 16:54

I would just put it towards a live race.

SPEAKER_08 16:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 17:00

Well, we'll see how it goes. And if you're interested in doing it, have fun, good luck. I'm sure the medals will be I really I'm sincere about this. I'm sure the medals will be gorgeous.

SPEAKER_12 17:09

These are good things for people that can't always go to the Disney races. Absolutely. If you want that Disney vibe, yeah. This is what this is for you.

SPEAKER_07 17:19

I mean, and and the other nice thing about this virtual series is that unlike the like the 12ks of Christmas, you you're not forced into purchasing the whole allotment. If you just want to do the Pocahontas or the Emperor's New Groove, you can you can do that. It just they do offer that challenge option as well. Right.

SPEAKER_11 17:40

I don't know what you guys think in general, but honestly, the virtual races, the medals themselves are almost always, I think, some of the best medals that Disney's done. Like if you look back at like the medals where they did with the um the what is it? The the cruise, the jungle cruise medals, like where they did all the attractions. Look, those were freaking epic. I wish they would make those for like live races, but I mean and and the boxes usually pretty cool. They come yeah, right.

SPEAKER_08 18:10

Oh, they do a nice job. If if you're not familiar, friends, if you're not familiar with the Disney virtuals, they do a nice job of packaging and presenting the medals when you get them. You'll get them in the mail. Uh, they look very nice. The boxes, as John just said, look great. Uh the medals are all in there, the gifts are all in there. They there's no nothing second class about it. It's top top shelf Disney all the way. And John pointed out it's a great way. If you can't get there, it's a great way to share in some of the Run Disney magic. So if you're if you're interested, April 7th is registration day. Hope you get in.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_11 18:55

You guys, I'm so beyond excited about this interview for today. Um, I actually found um this person who I'll mention in just a second on Instagram. I saw your reel of a very, very special and very unique race that you cannot find anywhere else other than in New Zealand. Hint, hint. And it is one of the big dream races of mine. And I'm so excited and honored to have her here tonight. Tonight we have Carrie Flynn, who traveled to Middle earth and went to a little known town as Hobbiton to run the half marathon there that is known as the Middle-earth halfling half marathon. So, Carrie, go ahead and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_09 19:41

Thanks so much for having me. It's such an honor to be here. And wow, I'm so happy you discovered me with that reel. The fun fact is, I did that race about a year ago now. I knew it. I knew it. It was my end-of-year goal. Like it was like a personal goal for me to make a reel about the experience because I don't know if you know, but this this year, the race that was just run, it sold out in a matter of minutes. It did not sell out. And so essentially I saw that happen and was like, I need to produce content. I need to make a lead that explains to people like what this race is, um, which I'm happy to obviously chat with you about it more, but I'm also just so happy to hear that's what brought us together today.

SPEAKER_11 20:28

Yes. Okay, so just so you know, and and our listeners know, I'm actually a big Lord of the Rings fan. Um, the trilogy I think is by far one of the best trilogies ever made. And you will probably never see movies like that made again in that capacity. If if you are curious, just go and watch the movies. They're fantastic. Um, now they're different than the Hobbit movie trilogy, but we're just gonna go with the original Lore of the Rings trilogy. But um, before we get into all that stuff, I just want to get into an introduction of really who you are, how you got into running, and what made you ultimately decide to run to like Middle Earth.

SPEAKER_09 21:10

I'm glad we're so on the same page. Uh yeah, my personality growing up was also Lord of the Rings. I'm absolutely obsessed with the franchise and the books. And, you know, I know you said they won't make things like that before, but I'm like again, but they are now making a gold movie. And I am optimistic that it is going to be, we'll have to circle back when that comes out. Um I um and getting into running, I didn't grow up a runner at all. I was like really not an active person. I was too busy sitting on my couch watching Lord of the Rings and like being around my computer and like, I don't know, playing Neo Pets and things like that, as a millennial woman does. Um, but I did, I started getting into running my senior year of high school because my sisters, who they're a little older than me, they found out about Run Disney. And we had grown up always being Disney people, like a Disney. Family. But again, none of us are really into running. And they discovered this back in 2010. And so it was like, let's do it together as sisters. This was the Disney princess half. And we did it together. And what began as like a fun one-time thing turned into me now having done 43 half marathons and being running is like my main hobby. And it's like huge for me when it comes to mental health and just community. I'm sad to report that I did, though, just re-break one of my toes. So I am I was I was doing really good on my training. I'm running, I'm based in Brooklyn, uh New York, and I'm training for the Brooklyn Half Marathon that's coming up in May. That is currently on pause because I was too bad. But it's okay.

SPEAKER_08 22:45

So it'll get better, but that is that is a shame. I'm sorry to hear that.

SPEAKER_09 22:50

I I got a boot on. I'm I'm back to my my old lazy ways for temporarily. Um, but yes, I do love running um and I love half marathons in particular. I've done three marathons, one or two with Disney, one was the Boston Marathon when I was in college. But I just love a good half marathon. So back to thinking about the Hobbiton race, when I saw that, and I know you discovered my me and my video on Instagram, I had also discovered it on Instagram back when it first started. I think my feed, it just was perfectly catered to me. And it had started in 2022, and I remember seeing a post about it. I don't even think it was a video, I think it was just like a still image about this race, and I just like tried to find out about it, and there was really nothing online. But um, later on, a few years later, one of my uh former colleagues did it. She's Australian, so she did it, and I was like, all right, this race is real. It's not spam.

SPEAKER_07 23:48

Carrie, I have a question for you about the logistics of the race. I mean, I I guess this could technically be applicable to Run Disney as well, or or as I love to say on the podcast, Run Disney adjacent. But talk about the expo for this event because I feel like with such the lore of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, would you go as so far to say that the expo could have doubled as maybe like a Comic-Con event of like people you know dressed up as Gandalf or you know, or any other characters from the franchise?

SPEAKER_09 24:24

Great question. I think the expo could have been bigger than it was. It's not like Renditia overall is an operation, as we all know, is gigantic. Like there are so so many people, tens of thousands of people that do these races now. This race is only 1,700 people, which is like small. And so you put that into context of like New Zealand itself and and Hobbiton, like the place where it takes place is this tiny farm. Like it is majority farmland. So there wasn't really this like giant expo experience, and there wasn't anything beyond what happens like on the in the Shire. Um, because there's just I think just not that much space and infrastructure. So when it came to the expo experience, you could have picked up your bib and looked at merch the day before. I didn't, and we don't need to go into this, but I almost completely missed this race because our flight uh got canceled. From I ended up back to like this being a whole experience. I went spent one week in New Zealand and one week in Australia. I built a whole like two-week vacation around this race, and we were flying uh from South New Zealand to the North Island, and again, our flight got canceled. We spent a dumb amount of money on another flight to make it in time. So I didn't go to any early stuff, but I went, they don't require it. You you can pick up your bib day of, and they said there's merch available, like, don't worry about it. It is very different again from Run Disney, where it's like, I'm gonna be late. I'm gonna show up a day. You have to like kind of do that behind the scenes. Um, so yeah, I and back to merch too. I didn't even pre-order anything, but I did end up buying a hat on site because I'm like, wait, I'm here. Why am I not? Why am I not taking full advantage of this experience? Um, so so what it comes down to, it's a little bit a different experience. The other thing that I'll say that they do offer is tours of the Shire. Like you can go to Hobbiton and do this whole experience anytime, you know, like that, those run all year round. And they gave you discounted versions of that tour the day after. But I had other things to do in New Zealand, so I didn't stick around. Um, but maybe I'll go back.

SPEAKER_10 26:29

So you mentioned that it's a farm. Um, did you stay near there or did you have to take transportation? And what did that look like?

SPEAKER_09 26:36

I ended up staying in Auckland, so like the quote unquote big city of New Zealand and not any core closer. I didn't even look for cut options at our closer, but it really wasn't that long of a drive. And we ended up just renting a car uh because we just like, I guess, wanted control of the situation. Um, there is transportation though. I did look into it uh that there is uh kind of two buses, shuttles that come in from different places. So again, not as sophisticated of an operation as Run Disney where you have hotels everywhere and tunnels everywhere, but it there is opportunities. Uh, but we just decided to get a car. But it's the same thing. I'm like, okay, wait, is this real? I had to reserve a parking pass. And I didn't get the parking pass until like, I think like a week before. And it was like, we have limited parking. And I'm like, I hope, I hope I have this parking pass. Like it ended up completely again being like no big deal. And it was really nice to be in control. Like we could drive there, you know, when we wanted to leave right after the race when we wanted to. It was it was nice to have that ability to drive.

SPEAKER_11 27:38

Was there public transportation offerings? Or how do you how would you get there otherwise?

SPEAKER_09 27:43

That's such a good question. But there must be. I feel like I should like we eat. No, the fun about it about it. There's, you know, only so many people. Some people I talked to were like local people, like who do this as well. It's not just like people like me who are like from New York, but it's also people who uh are nearby and perhaps have a car or perhaps use, you know, buses. There, there is that. I I think it's not, it didn't seem as like out of middle nowhere type of transportation because again, they do tours all the time. So I think you're that's true.

SPEAKER_11 28:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 28:18

So hearing you chat about the farm, you know, where they do the tours, to to make a completely opposite um correlation to this, this kind of reminds me um when I was in Hawaii a couple of years ago, uh, going to Kahalua Ranch, where a lot of exteriors and and you know landscape shots were sh, you know, shot for like Jurassic Park and King Kong and 51st dates and such. In terms of the farm itself, I'm assuming, because I grant, I I've seen all the Lord of the Rings films, but I I'm not as mega of a fan as you and Jack and the rest of the people that that participate in this race, but I'm just assuming that the farm houses the exteriors of uh of these you know locations from the movie, and like clearly the interiors were probably shot on sound stages, correct?

SPEAKER_09 29:14

Correct. Yeah, the farm itself, like where this race is, is the quote unquote shire. Like it is like where the hobbits live. Like so it has those, and what people, when they go to New Zealand, will take photos in front of the like hobbit houses, like those round doors. That is like what you see, the the external of that. I I mean you can open the doors, but what shook me, I guess, the most about the experience is that it's actually like a working farm. Like it is not just a movie set that you go to, and it's not like nothing's going around around it, like in in some of the other things that you mentioned of like you have to drive far out, and then it's just you standing in a field. Like, no, this is actually which is also other scenes of Lord of the Rings that you can find elsewhere in New Zealand. But this is like people work on this farm. There are sheep everywhere. There is like actually like crops grown. There at one point in the race, you run through a cornfield. In Hobbiton, there are like pots of honey and there's actually honey in it. Like, it is this like weird, like community that makes it even feel more, I guess, like like you're transported to Hobbiton in the Shire because there's actually people that are like living here and caring for this area.

SPEAKER_07 30:26

Now, did you have to dodge any sheep during the race?

SPEAKER_09 30:30

Uh, not dodge sheep, though. I did witness a sheep like jump towards a fence and get caught temporarily and got itself out, but I did like stop and stare because even though there are people around, it's not that many people on a race where I'm just like, how do I get someone's attention? You know, when I'm like running around a farm field. Luckily, the sheep found itself out. Um, I will say I heard uh I did this race. I don't think I said that I did this race with my my husband, my sister, who is the one who first introduced me to Run Disney, and my mother-in-law. And my sister after the race was like, there was a lot of sheep poo. Like I didn't really notice. Like, I was just like running, running. Like, I didn't really look unnecessarily at my feet like as much to notice that. But again, work and farm to be expected.

SPEAKER_07 31:20

Yeah. Listen, here in the Rise Run community, we're used to that because we love the burden hand half marathon. There are road apples all over the place. So little sheep poo would uh would never uh scare us off.

SPEAKER_10 31:31

Good to hear. So minus the sheep poo. Um, tell us about the terrain. It it looks like there's some definite hills that you go down, and it it's it's a trail race. So can you tell us more about that?

SPEAKER_09 31:44

It's a trail race, and it was my first trail race, probably first and last. I like knew that going into it because I keep saying it was on a farm. Like you think I would know what that meant. But uh, but yeah, the terrain. It was truly like every step felt so precarious. You're just like running around on these like little fields where it's not really a clear path at some points. Like it's like felt like you could, it was just the length of my feet, like as or sorry, the width of my feet. And if I took a wrong step, I would twist my ankle. Like that's like literally how I felt running this race. It was it's so interesting. And yes, very hilly. I mean, I'm I'm familiar with Hells as a Run Disney person. I run up those ramps, right? But these, this was something of another. I don't actually have the the um footage in in front of me. I did track it on my uh watch, so I do have it somewhere. But what was wild about it, whatever is the highest distance is halfway through the course. And I remember being so annoyed when I looked up and like saw that. And I was like, and I could see people that I don't really think anyone does this race for time. Like and feel that as you're like seeing people look at that hill and like walking up that hill down that hill. So yeah, it's that was like I mentioned earlier. I wanted to make this video because I wanted to tell people that, like, okay, guys, this sold out. It's so cool, it's so magical. It's in New Zealand, but like it is not easy, it is so hard.

SPEAKER_12 33:15

So this is like probably a pretty hard course. Was there a I sh you shall not pass moment on this course for you?

SPEAKER_09 33:22

It literally, like a mile two. I was like, I had told myself that like I'm not gonna run another marathon until I have like a midlife crisis. Like, I just because people like know I run a lot. They're like, oh, marathons. And I'm like, no, marathons are too much work. Two miles into this race, I was like, should I run the New York City marathon? Like, that's what I like because I was like, this is so difficult. Like it's just that I'd never had to think so much about every step that I make and just like feeling the activation of those like little muscles that I clearly should have worked more before this race. Um, so yeah, there there there was uh there was that feeling. Um, but I kept going because you know, I persistence carries on. And I and I think too, um, what was nice about it is uh I think I said earlier, I'm not a runner for time. I was like, I just gotta finish. And the also thing that kept me going, I feel like when I'm in Disney, I'm like, you know, I'm gonna have I'm a big wine and dine person. So I'm like, I got the big party at the end of the night for this. There is a like mini party almost like uh a little over a mile left is the Green Dragon Inn, which is like bar of Hoboton, like at the bar of the Shire. And you get to go and like get a beer or like a wine or a cider. And so that also was running through my head as I was like, did I make a mistake for this race? And I'm like, I just gotta get to the Green Dragon Inn. Uh and yeah, that that was worth it for sure.

SPEAKER_11 34:51

So out of curiosity, during the race, did they also offer second breakfast?

unknown 34:57

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 34:58

There was like not, there was a good amount of like water stops. And one thing that was cool about the race, very different from Run Disney, but makes sense of a um uh of a working farm, is you had to carry your water cup the whole time. So I had like a squishy like water cup that was like tied on my like finger. And so there's a lot of those, but I I don't really remember snacks until I think like one of the like towards the end, there was like maybe a like jelly bean, but I was like, I don't need those. At the Green Dragon Inn though, there were gummies, and I definitely shoved a lot of gummy and gummy bears in my mouth. Love that. So that was my second breakfast.

SPEAKER_07 35:35

I guess love it, love it. What's I think special about this race, and again, I think what can draw the Run Disney runner to it is I mean, not only do we love a good theme, but on course entertainment and looking at your posts and looking at your video, you have selfies with what you know we would get used to on a course, and that is character stops. Talk about those types of interactions. How many of them were there? You know, was it you know official movie characters? Was it more of a cosplay type thing? Do they have photographers available? What is that whole situation like?

SPEAKER_09 36:11

Great question, because I agree. That's one of the best parts about Run Disney is the amazing photos you you get. And when I'm again not a person running for time, I'm like, I will wait in this long line to take a picture with Baby Oda. I went in with the same outfit, obviously, to this race. And uh what was nice about we talked about the expo, but we didn't talk about like kind of the pre like race. Um one thing I'll say that I loved about this race is opposite of Run Disney, it started at 2 p.m. Concept. Like I slept in and it's I didn't stay far away, but I did want to get there early enough to like see what it was about, and I'm so glad that I did because there was like entertainment, and part of the entertainment was characters. They had someone dressed up like a dwarf with an axe. Like, I don't think he was Gimli the character, but he was like of that, you know, group. Um, so there was him, and then the pre like run warm-up was led by Gandalf. So someone in a whole like fit doing the whole you shall not pass as our stretches. And then when it came to on the course, one thing that was cool and inspired photo stops was there were like signs that had quotes from the movies that you can take photos next to. No, there weren't official photographers there, but like no one's really running for time. I just asked people to take photos like of me, and everyone was so nice about it. That's kind of what you did with each other. And it also the photos came out really well because you're running like in the daylight. Uh, I did have the benefit of the weather being perfect, but it didn't feel like that problem of like that's hard when you're doing it early in the morning and it's dark out and there's no light. Didn't have that problem. And then the one of the first characters on the course I remember was an ogre, full getup. And that was like, yeah, official from the course. Like that wasn't just just a random person running. That was a purposeful stop. Uh there's and then there's a few more stops. I remember there was uh like there's women who were all on horses. Like is oh, I forgot what they're called.

SPEAKER_11 38:06

Were they? Do they have like the they're all in like black cloaks and stuff?

SPEAKER_09 38:11

Not the scary like ring race, not like the, but maybe I don't know. Well, I'll have to unlock our like our lore brain, but we'll get there. We'll circle the so there was that. Um, and then the one thing that is is really celebrated at this race is halfway through there is a lake. And so you can stop there and just like jump in the lake and live your best life and just float around. And there is a professional photo there that is like you like running across the lake, and then there's a professional photographer at like Hobbiton, like the Shire, like in front of the Hobbit houses. So you can have that like beautiful photo. So I remember I had that, and there's uh someone playing like I think it was like violin or other like string instruments, they're like dressed up as a Hobbit, like there. So so there's a few. It's not not as many as Run Disney for a like half marathon, but I felt really happy looking back at those photos. Oh, obviously, there's finish line photos. You gotta get the yeah, like you know, glory to be done with that.

SPEAKER_11 39:14

Okay, I thought of it. Riders of Rohan, because I know in the films when they when they actually filmed it was actually all females that were the riders that were impersonating males.

SPEAKER_09 39:23

That sounds so right. Well, I'm smart. The time you spent watching and reading paid off. Maybe that should give you free admission actually into the race.

SPEAKER_11 39:35

Well, speaking about admission or registration into the race, if someone were to actually want to register, how much does this race cost?

SPEAKER_09 39:44

If we're comparing it to like Disney prices, was it like, oh, not so bad or similar or I was remember, I was looking at this last night and the issue was that it was in New Zealand dollars. Um hold on, let me I literally I remember what it was, so let me just do the conversion. Okay, it was I think 250 New Zealand dollars, and that is 150 US. To me, I was like free, like you know, yeah, right. Whereas when you run Disney, you do the conversion, and I'll say that too about a lot of traveling in New Zealand and Australia as someone in the US, like the conversion rate's good. Obviously, you have to get there, and that is not necessarily cheap, and hotels are not cheap, and you know, with me, you have the flight trouble, but uh but when it came to the race registration fee, I was like really pleasantly surprised about that. And I think it just really comes down to that it's like not that big of a race, there's not that much like infrastructure that they need to build around it, it's just you know, obviously, like paying for it and the cleanup and all that, and the photographers that we mentioned. But but I was pleasantly surprised about that.

SPEAKER_11 40:46

I can see why they keep it to a limited number. It's not like a Disney Way race where you can have so many people on the roads and some wide portions of the roads and whatnot. I've with with trail races, I do see, especially when they're single track, which is exactly parts of it that the race that you guys did um is or has. Um, but because I feel like it's a land where like you don't want it ruined by runners, like a whole big huge number. Because I know there's some uh courses out there of races that only accept like 800 runners for that, but it's such a big race that so many people try and get in for it, and it's always so hard to get in for, like, uh Yeah, agreed.

SPEAKER_09 41:28

And to the point we talked about transportation and cars, there's only so much like room for people, and and yeah, you don't want to burden that.

SPEAKER_11 41:35

I don't know if this is gonna be true or not for next year, but I wonder if they're going to have the race next year because they will start um being in um I think they're in pre-production right now because there was a film Greenlit with Gandalf Roto and I believe Mary Sam and Wait, there's another movie other than the Golden movie? Yeah, I swear there is like another wait, hold on. I was looking at it unless I'm seeing fake news on Instagram.

SPEAKER_09 42:05

Oh, but there's a chance, and and I one thing I'll say is so like I said, I spent a week in New Zealand and I was on the South Island and I did like an official Lord of the Rings tour, obviously. And the enthusiasm that I heard from people around that like they would love that. Like, and and also at that time, I was told there were some parts of the set and areas we couldn't go because things were being filmed, like and things are being prepared.

SPEAKER_11 42:29

So, okay, so I just looked it up. So we're both right in the sense that it is Gollum, but it's Frodo Baggins is still coming back for it. Um, Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo Baggins, is coming back for it. It's gonna be called The Lore of the Rings, The Hunt for Gollum and Um Annie Circus. It's supposed to release in 2027, which makes me still think that I don't know if it would be curious if they have the race. I would love to do it if they did.

SPEAKER_09 42:52

It will definitely incentivize more people to go to New Zealand, which I think is what people New Zealand love and under and understand how much like jobs it brought to New Zealand and how much money it really brings to the country is one of those things that I think is just very positively viewed there. But I I said earlier, one thing that really shook me about this experience is that I did this about a year ago. I registered in August of um that like the prior year, and there was availability, the race is in March. There was availability for that race like weeks prior. Like it did not like it did not sell, it sold out in the end, but it was no big deal back then. Yeah. And it it made me think that I'm like, well, yeah, the the TikToks, it worked, like, you know, like and people are finding out about it, which is great to see. But it was it was really uh surprising to me and and and sad that it's like now this race is like something that is so limited, and people are gonna be like so sad that they aren't able to get into. But yeah, but there's reasons why it can't be bigger.

SPEAKER_07 43:53

Carrie, a little while ago, you had mentioned that when you completed this race, it was the most difficult race you had ever. Done before. And looking at you, you know, your coverage of it and other photos and videos and such, I mean, this thing's got some hills to it. What was your final elevation uh gain over the course of this half marathon?

SPEAKER_09 44:16

I wish I had a good answer for you, Greg. I really should have looked this up beforehand because I did record it. I did have the struggle of I don't have a working phone when I'm in like interrash. I did like the phone I had didn't have, I didn't have music the whole run. This is my first run I had done in forever, and I didn't have music. So I still have uh, you know, I'm scared about that and thinking about that. But I did record it on my watch, so I do have that, and I will get back to you and maybe you can edit it in there, but it's it's somewhere. What I'm saying is it's it's a lot. It was too much for me. I was not physically or emotionally prepared for that. Um, but one thing that in terms of this race, so I did the running version of the half marathon. They actually offer four races this day. So there's a, because there's a run walk version. I didn't not run walk together, running version and a walking version. So I mentioned that my my family did it. Um my mother-in-law did the walking version of the the 11s run. So it's like 11.1k. And then my sister and my uh husband did the walking version of the half. So like there are alternatives. Or sorry, no, they did the running version of the other options, which I think was so cool of them that they set up and they essentially stagger it as well. One thing they'll say is that you, if you choose to run, like you kind of need to pick up the pace because they want to make sure that people are doing it. But it did just really, I think, make this race accessible for people. That is something that I really appreciated.

SPEAKER_11 45:48

What kind of um time frame did they allow for you guys to run in? Like, were you given like four hours, five hours? Because there's people jumping into water just swimming and having fun.

SPEAKER_09 45:59

I think it was like when I I think I told you it started at two, and I think they're they do the medal ceremony at 6 p.m. like right before 6 p.m. Okay. Me, I didn't end up jumping in the water because I'm like, I'm not a triathlete, I don't like to like run while wet, but I did sit back and hang in the green dragon, and I wasn't worried about finishing off.

SPEAKER_07 46:25

All right, I did find it. Elevation gain was 603 meters. Oh, which when you when he you uh convert that defeat is just shy of 2,000 feet of elevation.

SPEAKER_09 46:41

I'm sad that I know that now. But um, but thanks around. And yeah, let's just say it felt like that, but it was it was so stunning. And one of my favorite photos that I took from the race was me at the top of like the halfway point where I asked the girl behind me, I was like, Can you please take my photo to appreciate that we just got to the top, and I don't even know if it really does it justice, but it is like you look out and you're like, this is beautiful country and a beautiful piece of land, and it's just so stunning to look around because even so, like you're not, you didn't even see that many other runners, like when you're like at the top there, because there's just not that many people, and you know, people are jumping in the lake and such. Um, so so yeah, man, I I felt that the next day for sure.

SPEAKER_12 47:25

During this race, I guess you know, Run Disney races, most people dress up where there are elves and uh hobbits running around, of course, also.

SPEAKER_09 47:35

There were definitely, I went into this race with that Run Disney attitude where I was like, I'm dressing up. And for me, I've always loved the character Arwen, who's you know, then an elf. And I was like, that's what I'm doing. And so I had long sought after there's a brand called Black Milk, and they have like this dress of hers that I like looked and I was like, that looks like something I could like actually easily run in and like make it. And I was the only person like who had worn that, and I got so many compliments from people, like that's so beautiful. The thing of the dress, though, it did have these really long sleeves, so like it was hard to run in, but also made it fun. It was like an attraction when I was in misery during that elevation we discussed. Uh, but yes, other people definitely intended to it. There were a lot of hobbits for sure, a lot of uh group costumes. I saw this, I didn't see someone this year, but it's someone in the past who dressed up as Andy Circus, who's in the Gollum costume, as in like him when he's filming in the movie. Yeah, it's like those like memes of people where it's like you would only you'd be like, What are you wearing? It's like yeah, there's there's like a green screen situation happening here. So, yeah, people really lean into it, and and I love to see that.

SPEAKER_07 48:44

All right, Carrie, let's head to the end of the race and let's talk about the precious. Explain the I guess the medal that you received, or or what was the prize that that you got as you crossed the finish line?

SPEAKER_09 49:00

You do get a medal and it's beautiful. It's like a wooden medal with a hobbit running. I this got got I I think I said in the expo, I ended up buying like a hat too, and it has that same image. It's so beautiful. But the highlight of the race, and I actually have it at my desk, so I will show you guys, you get a stein. You get like an actual stein as part of it. And as we discussed, the like cost of admission is$150. And I'm like, I would have pay$150 for this stein. Wow. Like it is like such a good, good actual prompt. Oh, and also my water cup, I just realized it's in it. I kept beer. Um, so that is the highlight for me. Uh, you also there is an afterwards race party. It brought me back to the early days of wine and die when you got handed like a beer and a wine. Like I finished this race and I got handed a beer, and I was like, yes. Like that is what I'm pouring this straight into the Stein. So there was very much a celebratory uh aspect of the end. Uh, and then there's also a bunch of food trucks like around two that they had set up that was nice. I uh ended up getting like some Momo as like a post-race snack because I was I was hungry, and also it was like dinner time. It's like you know, close to 6 p.m. It's like let's let's celebrate. So yeah, the the metal is is for sure one of my favorites. It's what was weird about it. I'm so used to things clinging, clacking on my neck, but with the wooden one, it didn't do that. But I think it's very beautiful.

SPEAKER_11 50:30

Do you think this is probably one of your favorite races you've ever done? Or how would you rank this among I know you've done a lot of Disney races. You've done 43 other races. Where does this rank?

SPEAKER_09 50:39

Well, 43 other halves, and then I've done random other things. But I think in terms of halves, I I think this is the best race that I've done. It's just so special. And I I think obviously the trail aspect we talked about, it like was was maybe not my favorite doing a trail run, but it it was just so I I run for experiences, and that is an experience I'll never forget. Right. And and to like just being in in New Zealand and looking out and and people just really loving it. You know, even we're all in misery, and I remember hearing someone next to me being like, man, this is what it was like to go to Mordor, I guess. Yup, like that's how we feel. There was very much this camaraderie at that race that that I know is is true to a lot of the races that we all do, but but it was truly special and something I I hope to never forget. Though I'll say I did my first Front Disney race in, you know, 2010, and then it like like was the bug was activated, and I've done so many races. I don't think I'd do this race again. Like I loved it so much, I think it's the best race I'd ever done. I'm I'm not hopping on a plane and designing myself to do that. I think part because it was it was obviously so difficult and and the magic of it wouldn't be as special the second time around. Also because it's I I think about too, it's so limited. Like I want more people to experience it. Like I had my time and it was incredible, but uh I'll I'll stick to the pavement the next time.

SPEAKER_11 52:06

I wonder how many people were actually listening to Lord of the Rings soundtrack as they were running through Hobbiton.

SPEAKER_09 52:12

I had that downloaded on my phone because yeah, this but it was like that was one thing that I think too, I'll I'll never forget about it. Of not I'm someone who really thrives off of music and having to just be with my own thoughts for all that time was was a good lesson in self.

SPEAKER_11 52:29

Well, now that we've completed the um half lane, half marathon, what are you doing now? Do you have any um upcoming races that you're really stoked about or what you got going on?

SPEAKER_09 52:43

So I uh I was a big Run Disney person. I'm also a big New York Roadrunners fan. So I've been a member of that since I moved in New York in in 2014. The first year I moved here, I did what's called the five borough races. So there's races that are in each of the boroughs. I did all of those that year. And I try to every year, at least now. I don't necessarily do all of them, but I love to do the Brooklyn half because in part that's where I live now. Uh there were two years that I couldn't do it because I was seeing Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour. Just happen to line up two years in a row. Very weird. Um, so now that the Eros Tour is over, I uh am back in my Brooklyn half running era. But yes, I currently have a broken toe. Um, I think I will be healed by the time. Will I be trained for the race? Probably not. Like, probably not as I should have been. But that's one thing I do love about uh the races here as well. Like I don't, it doesn't need to be an amazing like time. It'll it'll be fun. So that's really what I'm looking forward to next. And then every year, pretty much since I think it was 2013, when I got into wine and dine and started doing the challenge, um, I I I've done wine and dine. And so I I look forward to that. Like that is like really the highlight race for me. It's I've gotten every year I get more of my friends to do it with me. So I think this year I have this group of people coming along. Uh, so I'm I'm very excited for that as well.

SPEAKER_08 54:10

Well, Carrie, that was great. I mean, it was exciting. It I enjoyed hearing about your adventure, but I think you probably picked up on the fact that I was out of my league when it comes to uh Lord of the Rings. But let's bring it back to something I know a little bit more about. You've run a mess of Disney races. Now you talked about a couple of them, but tell us about some of the others that you've run.

SPEAKER_09 54:34

A mess of I was just I had to go to a friend's birthday party. We had to each share one fun fact. And my my fun fact was I run 43 half marathons, but 28, I think, were with Run Disney. So the last thing I've been in New York, and I do a lot here, I've done a lot. It helps that I started doing them in 2010, and then I pretty much didn't stop. Uh, and I used to do the ones that I used to do the the big weekend, the marathon weekend. I also did um first time I went to Disneyland was because of Run Disney. I did the Disneyland Princess Half, um, and then I started doing Wine and Dine. I think one of my favorite ones I remember, this wouldn't be on the list, but the 10 Miler of Tower of Terror. I love the night races, and I and I love uh obviously Hollywood Studios and Tower of Terror. So at that, also um, one of my favorite ones when I think about races that are really memorable for me, I also went to Disneyland Paris for the first time because I was hoping they would come back. They never knew. Castle the Chateau was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

Right.

SPEAKER_09 55:34

It I thought about it when I was running the Hobbiton race because running through farmland is what I thought about with the Disneyland parents.

SPEAKER_08 55:42

When you get out of the park, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 55:44

Exactly. So so that's uh brought me back to that. But I I think I'll always be a fan of wine and dine, and I'll do wine and dine for as long as I can. But I am very nostalgic of the fact that like wine and dine is so different than when I started. When I started was when it was a night race. Also, when I started, it was no big deal to register for. I was looking back at the old, I was trying to find old Facebook photos of this, and I found a post that I sent my friend that was like, oh yeah, my sister registered. You should register in the next few weeks. Like was what I said, like it was no big deal to register for these races back when I started. Um, and so you know, that's something obviously I'm a nostalgia for, but I'm so happy that so many more people do these races now. And it used to be so like wild that they would hand you a beer and you'd have these late night parties, and I just remember people like getting tequila shots and like passing out. What is like Epcot was it's a party now, but it used to be so insane because you would run a half marathon and then do tequila shots and then pass out.

SPEAKER_08 56:51

In that order, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 56:52

In that order. Um, so yeah, I I'm a big those are some just memorable moments of of the Disney races. Oh, one race too. I think the last race that was before they changed it to a morning race was when there was a huge Florida storm at night, and the race ended up getting cut, the half ended up getting cut by six miles. And like, I don't remember people obviously, whenever this happens, being so devastated of like, oh, I trained for this. This is so sad. And I remember me and my friends being like, let's go! Like, you know, these miles, and then we have the after party right after. Obviously, it's a very different mindset this time.

SPEAKER_08 57:28

Yeah, that was 2015. Yes, it's a last night race. I know it was because 2016 was my first wine and dye.

SPEAKER_09 57:36

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_08 57:36

So that was the first time they went through the daytime.

SPEAKER_09 57:38

So you never experienced the madness.

SPEAKER_08 57:40

Never did that, never saw the Osborne lights.

SPEAKER_09 57:44

Oh, that was so cool. Yes. Uh, but now it is I get, I definitely get why it is a morning race, but I do miss the fact that it wasn't, you didn't have to. One of the things that I respect people the most who dopey, and I have never done dopey, I've done goofy twice. Is that I my sister has done dopey, she's amazing. I think the hardest for me is waking up that early four days in a week. Yeah, like it just breaks you because like you have to train for that.

SPEAKER_08 58:13

Well, I didn't train for that, but it's tough. It is, it is.

SPEAKER_09 58:18

I respect that so much. Maybe one of these days I'll go dopey. Just like I said, maybe one of these days I'll finally run the New York City Marathon. But for now, I'll keep sticking to Run Disney, which I I know and love. I uh you had mentioned uh Springtime Surprise. I'm not I'm not doing that this year, but I'd done that before. And one part I love about this, we talked about the good like bling at the end of the race. One of my favorite things about Run Disney is the shirts that you get. And the shirts at Springtime Surprise are my favorite because they're short-sleeved and they're usually cute characters. So that's that's the reason that I always like to do that race. So maybe catch me back there next year.

SPEAKER_08 58:56

Now you talked about doing New York. Didn't you kick us off by saying that you had done Boston?

SPEAKER_09 59:02

I did. I was I went to Boston uh for college, so I did do Boston. Yeah. It was an incredible experience. But uh, you know, I got my toe injury now back when I I ran at my senior year of college and I trained really hard. That was I had done my first uh marathon prior to that. I I had done uh at Disney, and I I remember I trained so hard for that and I did I did well, but I ended up getting injured my senior year, and so I like um displaced my knee and I was ended up having to like drag my leg for half of that race. And so it was incredible to do Boston, and it's it it is true that's one of those races that people like the all the streets are just full of people the whole time, like in New York, you know, it's like you he feel that community around you, but that was a very hard race for me. Like we talked about most memorable races. I mean, I'll never forget that, but not in the best way, right?

SPEAKER_08 59:53

Not necessarily for great reason, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I don't think anybody would forget doing Boston. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:00

It was so cool. I hope to like do that's where, like I said, one of these days I'd loved in New York, but I hope to do New York at the healthiest I've ever been, not with any injuries.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:09

No, you want to enjoy it, of course.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_11 1:00:13

It has been such a good time, really just chatting with you. You seem like such an energetic, happy, positive person. And the many races that you've done, I mean, honestly, genuinely speaking, probably could talk forever. Because I mean, we talk about Run Disney, which is why we started doing this podcast because we talk so much about it. Let's just do a podcast, you know, about it. It it you talk about the things you love and you can tell that you're just extremely passionate about it. So, with that being said, how can people go and find you on um any um platforms?

SPEAKER_09 1:00:47

And yeah, thanks so much for having me here. I I said I've I've been doing Front Disney for what feels like almost my like whole life, like for such a long time, but it's something that I just like, you know, do with my friends and I talk about, and friends know. I remember when I was in college and I did Front Disney, my friends in college would be like, You're going to Disney again? Like I would just like leave college and be in Disney World and people are just confused. Um, and I still do that now in my life. And but it's uh my my job uh is is a very like I'm I'm a media reporter. And so like I'm constantly like on podcasts, Target B TV, talking about the media industry, but like not necessarily always talking about like my passions and my hobbies. And I'll just say that like running is something that like keeps me going, gives me the energy that I need to like be happy and excited in these conversations. It's free for me, it's very huge for for mental health and and just wellness. And I think Run Disney was what unlocked that, right? Back in 2010 when I was like, I'm not a runner, like I've never been a runner, and here I am where running is a huge part of my life and connects me with great people. Sorry, that's just uh my little self-screen note of I'm so happy and honored to be here and where people can find me. My name Carrie K-E-R-R-Y-M Flynn is uh my handle across all social media. And yeah, you'll notice that I post a lot of stories that I write. I'm trying to do, you know, more uh video content, you perhaps shall see. So maybe next time uh when I'm doing a Run Disney race, I'll make some good Run Disney content. But I haven't got a lot of competition there. There's a lot of amazing people producing Mage and content. Uh another shout-out I'll give to jogging jock. Jogging Jack lore is something I could talk about all day. Like I very much vibe with that man and that attitude. So yeah, so maybe uh I'll be inspired by you guys, inspired by jogging jack to share a little bit more about my running journey online. I really appreciate you guys having me today.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:37

Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:43

When it comes to March Madness, I will admit the first weekend, first and second round of the actual NCAA tournament wasn't really all that impressive. But boy, did they deliver this weekend. And we're gonna see as we go through our Sweet 16, our Elite Eight, our Final Four, and our national title game here. We're gonna see if there's any heroics here and see if any of these movies can pull a Yukon and just throw up a prayer from half court to take down the number one overall seed and make it to the to the big dance here. So we're we have again not a ton of games this week, but this is gonna go pretty quick. But we're excited to be able to crown our champion to uh to go along with Boma and uh God, I can't do we remember what attraction won the year we uh Dinosaur Dinosaur.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:42

Dinosaur. It was Guardians.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:46

Guardians, that's right. Okay, so so who will have that one shining moment right up there with Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind, and Boma in the uh Rise and Run March Madness. So let's start it out. We're gonna go to the first game in the Suite 16. We're up in the Bob uh portion of the bracket, which means we get to start with Bob. And the first matchup is the eight-seed Lady in the Tramp versus the 12-seed Peter Pan. Bob, where does your heart lead you?

SPEAKER_08 1:04:23

Yeah, we're digging pretty deep in here. We got a 12 and an eight. I'm looking at some of the great movies that got passed by, but that's not what you're asking right now. You're asking who I'm voting for, and it is Peter Pan.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:36

Peter Pan, okay. Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:40

As much as I love Lady and the Tramp, I love Peter Pan. Even the live action movies, like every version I've seen so far, Peter Pan has always been so good and animated exciting.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:54

The Lost Boys take the 2-0 lead, Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:04:57

I'm gonna go with Lady and the Tramp.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:00

Animal lover over here taking the cards. Alright, John, what do you say?

SPEAKER_12 1:05:05

So I'm off to never never to land. So uh it's Peter Pan.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:10

Alright, Tinkerbell lives. Everyone does believe in fairies. And a 12-seed makes it to the Elite Eight. Okay, last matchup, and John, I'll start with you this time. The two-seed 101 Dalmatians up against probably the Cinderella or one of the Cinderellas of this tournament. The 14-seed, the rescuers.

SPEAKER_12 1:05:38

I still like the rescuers. I mean, that that that was a classic movie for me.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:43

Alright, Bob Newhart takes the lead. Jack, does it go 2 0 in your mind?

SPEAKER_11 1:05:48

You guys know how strongly I feel for the rescuers, but because it's not rescuers down under, and I do have a very strong feeling towards uh I love 101 Dalmatians, I think I'm actually. Gonna have to give the dogs this one.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:04

Go the animal lover, Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:06

Well, yeah. So but also a rescuers fan. I love dogs, and so and I love 101 Dalmatians, but I I'm gonna go with the rescuers on this one.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:18

Okay, 2-1, Bob. It comes down to you.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:22

No, let's see what the Patreons have to say. I'm going with the puppies.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:26

Okay. So we go to overtime. Now, Jack, listen carefully here.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:33

Is it an 8% chance they did it with 65% of the vote?

SPEAKER_07 1:06:42

Cruella Deville. Oh Cruella Deville moves on to the Elite Eight.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:51

I'm glad they got 35, Prissa. I feel like the rescuers don't get enough love in general.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:57

All right. We move down the bracket to uh 1980 to 1999, Alicia, because I know how you're gonna vote here. First matchup: the one-seed Aladdin versus the five-seed Mulan.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:11

Hmm. I really don't know. I really wonder what I'm gonna choose.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:19

The sarcasm is set to 10 right now.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:22

Mulan, please.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:24

Mulan. Robert. Aladdin.

SPEAKER_12 1:07:28

All right, one the one, John. I gotta go with my boy Robin Williams there. I gotta go with Aladdin.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:34

Jack, what do you say?

SPEAKER_11 1:07:35

I of course have to agree with Alicia and go towards the direction of the dark side of the moon.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:43

All right, a lot of overtime action here in this round. So we go to the Patreons, and with another 65% of the vote, that street rat Aladdin makes it to the Elite Eight.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:05

I wish you were a visual podcast, or we were a visual podcast because both back and my mouth dropped.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:20

Alright, and then second matchup in this bracket. And uh Jackson's you're you're stunned. We'll start with you this time. The two seed Beauty and the Beast versus the three-seed The Lion King.

SPEAKER_11 1:08:34

You know, I like to read two, like the oh, I think I'm gonna go with Beauty and the Beast.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:38

Okay. Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:40

I do love to read, but I'm gonna go with the Lion King.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:44

All right, we're all tied up. John.

SPEAKER_12 1:08:46

I'm going with uh The Lion King.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:50

Lion King? And Bob, what do you say?

SPEAKER_08 1:08:52

I got two movies here that I like equally well. But just on the strength of the BR guest scene, which I think is one of the great scenes of all time, I'm going to vote for Beauty and the Beast, and we'll go back to the Patreons.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:06

We're going back to the man so much overtime.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:09

So much overtime. I love it.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:12

All right. And this one, even in overtime, was a buzzer beater.

SPEAKER_11 1:09:18

Really?

SPEAKER_07 1:09:19

With 52% of the vote. Look, there's a lion over there.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:28

Yeah. That that deserved to be close. I'm I'm glad he didn't watch that.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:34

All you gotta buy is merch, Greg. So you can't. I know.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:36

Yeah, so yeah, so the continuing of the update of the saga of the um the lawsuit. Apparently, the comedian now is selling merchandise. And I sent this post to Alicia this week. He's selling merchandise of that comedy bit he put onto his shirt to help pay for his legal fees. So I can't wait to see how this plays out. Right. It's a dagum joke.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:57

Come on, folks.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:59

All right. Moving up to the 2000 to 2026 bracket. First matchup. And uh I'll start with Bob on this one. The one seed Zootopia versus another Cinderella in this dance, the 13-seed Lilo and Stitch.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:18

Yeah. I again, even though they're a one and a 13, I think it's a tough choice. But I will go with Zootopia.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:27

Zootopia, okay. Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:30

I think these are both fantastic movies, but I have to go with Lilo and Stitch.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:36

Okay. One to one. Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:10:39

I love Lilo and Stitch, and I'm so sorry, Alicia, but I have to vote for Zootopia. It's okay.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:45

I'll forgive you.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:47

Alright, two to one. John, bring us home.

SPEAKER_12 1:10:50

Ohana.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:52

Oh boy. All right. Man. That's good. I mean, it's good.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:57

This should be close. It really is.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:59

It should be close, and I'm glad that we're also getting uh getting the Patreons involved. Yeah, me too. Awesome. Alright, so another overtime game with 60% of the vote. Even though this song is in the movie, you better uh make sure that your hips don't lie. Shakira, Shakira, and Zootopia moves on to the Elite Eight.

SPEAKER_12 1:11:26

So that number one team held on to the ball.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:29

Yes. Yes. They did hold on to the ball, or you know, they they they should, you know, they threw it up in the air as opposed to trying to throw it down court and uh have it get ricocheted. So all right, last matchup in this part of the bracket. Bob, start with you. The two-seed Moana versus the 14-seed Emperor's New Groove.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:50

All right, here's the one tonight that I'm going to kick back to you, Greg. Because again, I've seen Moana. So much has been said about Emperor's New Groove, I don't want to vote against it. So I'm just going to abstain here.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:03

To the uh to the One More Run family. I apologize, but I'm going Moana on this one because I know I know AJ's daughter has been very, very particular of my stances of Emperor's New Groove this entire bracket, but I'm so sorry. Moana gets my vote. Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:22

I'm gonna go with Emperor's New Groove, but I love Moana.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:25

Okay. One the one, John. Moana. Alright, 2-1 Moana, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:12:33

I would really love to say pull the lever kronk, but I just love Moana. It's such a good movie. Great music.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:41

Alright, we're going beyond the reef, and Moana moves on. Alright, let's quickly go down to the Pixar bracket. First matchup, Jack. Start with you. The four seed inside out versus the eight-seed, the incredibles.

SPEAKER_11 1:12:58

Oh. Inside out.

unknown 1:13:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:03

Alicia.

unknown 1:13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:13:05

I have to go with Inside Out. I I love the core memories.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:08

All right. 2-0, John.

SPEAKER_12 1:13:11

I am going with the Incredibles.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:13

Okay. John's grabbing his super suit, so Bob, what do you say?

SPEAKER_08 1:13:17

Must be a guy thing. I'm going with the Incredibles, also.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:19

Going with the Incredibles and another overtime game that gets kicked to the Patreons. And with 57% of the vote, grab those core memories inside out, moves on. Alright, our last matchup here in the Suite 16. And uh John, I'll start with you first. The two-seed Toy Story versus the three-seed finding Nemo.

SPEAKER_12 1:13:50

Yeah, this is a good one, but um thinking of something orange and it's small.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:58

One-o for Nemo.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:03

All right, Alicia, what do you say?

SPEAKER_10 1:14:07

So both great movies, but I was at work the other day and somebody had on this movie in their room, and I got very distracted watching it. Finding Nemo.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:18

Okay, two oh for the fishes, Bob.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:21

I've been saying it since week one. Toy story for me.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:25

Okay, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:14:28

Hmm. Peace Sherman 42, Wallaby Way City. I remember it again.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:33

All right. Finding Nemo upsets the OG Pixar film and moves on. All right. We're now in the Elite Eight. Go back up to the Bob era. And Bob, I'll start with you. So here we go. Our our final matchup to go with the final four here. The two-seed 101 Dalmatians versus the 12-seed Peter Pan.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:56

So Cruella versus Tinkerbell.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:59

Yep. Um, two former costumes.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:02

Yeah. Peter Pan's a classic, but it's again a little nostalgia. I said it the first week. It came out the year I was born. I think, however, I'm going to vote for 101 Dalmatians.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:19

Okay. John.

SPEAKER_12 1:15:22

I will be going with Peter Pan again.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:24

Alright, one the one. Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:26

Gotta go with my dogs.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:28

Okay. 2-1 puppies, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:15:32

Oh, the cleverness of me. I want to say Peter Pan.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:36

Okay, so that's 2-2. So we don't have a Patreon vote for this one. Oh, okay. So it comes to me.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:42

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:43

As a tiebreaker. And uh again, two fantastic classic movies here. But I'll never grow up. The 12-seed Peter Pan is going to the final four. Okay. All right. Next up, John, I'll start with you. The one seed Aladdin versus the three-seed Lion King.

SPEAKER_12 1:16:11

This is a good one. This is a tight, tight one. They're going back and forth all night long with this one. And I gotta go with Aladdin on this one. Okay. Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:16:27

How new world?

SPEAKER_08 1:16:30

Alright, 2-0, Bob. They should be tough by now, and they are, but I'm going to put Aladdin over the top.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:38

Alright. Alicia, how would you have voted?

SPEAKER_10 1:16:41

Lion King.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:42

Lion King. Okay. Alright.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:44

Totally legit. I mean, you know, either one of those. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:47

They're both great movies.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:50

Alright. Our next Elite Eight game. Alicia, start with you. The one-seed Zootopia versus the two-seed Moana.

SPEAKER_11 1:16:58

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:03

This is not as hard as the first week when I had to choose between Lee Loditch and Enkonto. But it is kind of hard. Um I like both of these movies. But I guess I'm going to choose Moana.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:18

Okay. Moana? Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:17:26

That's not an answer.

SPEAKER_12 1:17:29

Can we keep that sound effect out for the absolute thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:31

Oh no, it's going to stay that same board for sure.

SPEAKER_11 1:17:34

Here, I'll I got you. I got you. Okay, ready? Here you go. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Try everything.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:42

All right. One the one. Again, if you haven't seen the movie, that's a vote for Zootopia.

SPEAKER_11 1:17:47

Oh, sorry. Yeah, I don't see the titles. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:50

All right, John. What do you think? I'm going Moana. Moana 2-1, Bob comes down to you.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:56

Go ahead and vote, Greg. I'm gonna go for Zootopia.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:00

Okay. Both solid flicks. Um, I'm gonna put Moana over the top. I I think uh again, I I enjoyed the the female empowerment of this movie. Um, I think it's a great message for uh for women all across the globe. And then the other thing I gotta go with, big shout out to my boy and soon-to-be-named Disney legend, Lynn Manuel Miranda, uh, who uh who wrote the music for this. So Moana will come out of this region. All right, actually, and I think that's our last. Oh no, we we still have Aladdin made it through, so we still have one one seed hanging on. And all right, Pixar region, Elite Eight, Bob, start with you. We're going the three-seed finding Nemo versus the four-seed inside out.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:52

Inside out, please.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:54

Okay, Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:56

Again, both. I mean, it's supposed to be really hard now. Uh both really good movies, but I'm gonna go with Inside Out.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:02

Okay, 2-0, John.

SPEAKER_12 1:19:04

Uh I'm going with Nemo still.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:08

Okay, 2-1, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:19:11

I love those core memories. Inside Out.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:14

All right, inside out makes it to the final four. All right, let's get our first match up the left side of the bracket. Bob will start with you. So this is the one-seed Aladdin versus the 12-seed Peter Pan.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:32

Oh, okay. Oh, gosh. Yeah, yeah. Oh boy, I hate I hate to abandon the classics. All right, Peter Pan. Peter Pan, okay. Alicia.

SPEAKER_10 1:19:46

Aladdin.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:48

Okay, one to one. John. I'm going with Peter Pan. Peter Pan, okay. 2-1. Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:19:55

You know, I've been so steadfast with Peter Pan, but I really do like Aladdin, so I think I'm gonna go for Aladdin on this one.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:02

I cannot get over how many overtime games we have this week, and I absolutely love it. I'm not surprised. So I I am the deciding vote here to go to the national title game. And um I love Robin Williams. I think his performance uh in Aladdin is absolutely phenomenal. Uh, I believe the the gentleman, speaking of Disney Legends, the gentleman who is the lead animator on the genie, I believe he is getting inducted as a Disney legend at D23 this year. But I think I gotta go back to something Bob said, and there's something about the classics. And and granted, obviously, Aladdin is a classic from my childhood, being a kid of the 80s and the 90s, but to me, Peter Pan is a quintessential Walt Disney animation production. So I'm gonna put Peter Pan into the title game. Okay, all right, and now we'll go to the right side. Bob, we're going the two-seed Moana versus the four-seed inside out.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:16

I will put Moana into the title game.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:21

Okay, John. I'm going with Moana. Moana 2-0, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:21:29

Um Moana.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:33

And that doesn't Alicia, how would you have voted though?

SPEAKER_10 1:21:37

Well, that's what I'm trying to decide. Because I mean there, I mean, Riley is a girl that's trying to figure out her life, and then you have Moano who is also trying to figure out and go through a storm of life, and I really don't know. But I guess I would have chose inside out, but it doesn't matter anyway.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:03

That's okay. I'm I'm I'm very happy to hear your analysis on that.

SPEAKER_12 1:22:07

Yes, it it wasn't a shutout.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:09

No, it was not a shutout.

SPEAKER_12 1:22:10

Right.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:11

They put up a good fight. All right, so this is it. The last game, and Alicia, I'll start with you. Our national title game here, Peter Pan versus Moana.

SPEAKER_10 1:22:25

Moana.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:26

Okay, John.

SPEAKER_12 1:22:28

I'm going with the classic. I gotta stay with Peter Pan. Peter Pan, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 1:22:34

Moana.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:36

2-1 for Moana, Bob.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:39

Hey, Greg, you get to vote.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:41

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_12 1:22:43

Come on, Greg. Second structure, second structure to right, Bob.

SPEAKER_10 1:22:48

All the comments.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:50

Exactly. And that's gonna be the tough part is that everything is now gonna fall on me.

SPEAKER_11 1:22:56

Oh wow. Um you made this list to be fair.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:02

I I made the list. I didn't rank this list, but I I made I made the list. You are correct in that.

unknown 1:23:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_12 1:23:12

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:14

Um I got a I got a quarter if you want to flip it. Do that. No, I I I to me films like Moana do not get made unless you have a strong backing of storytelling from the past. And for that alone, I'm gonna say our national champion is Pan and Wendy and Michael and John and the Lost Boys and Tinker, Tinkerbell, and Tinker Bob.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:51

Are cutting down the nets here in 2026. So congratulations, Peter Pan, on a triumphant victory. Grab the uh grab the ladder, one shiny moments playing in the background, and uh congratulations and thank you all for participating in this year's rendition of Rise and Run March Madness.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:15

And let's just do this quickly. I asked our friend, I asked everybody in the group here, because a lot of us had movies that we really loved that went out early, that if you just out of the 64 that we had, give us your final four. And if you want your own national champion, don't need any explanation, just if you could pick four movies, and you can pick them from the same bracket, okay? So what would your final four and your favorite Walt Disney movie of all time be?

SPEAKER_12 1:24:53

John, kick us off. Okay, so I'm old school, so I got three of them coming out of uh what do you call 37 to 79? Yeah, nice. Uh Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and the Rescuers. The other one's actually Toy Story 3 is my other one, because I really like that movie. It's it's kind of got that, I don't know, it's kind of have that Peter Pan vibe too, in a way where you're growing up and it's time to move on. But uh, but my number one movie out of that would be Pinocchio. Nice. How about it, Jack?

SPEAKER_11 1:25:29

I'd really say um probably Zootopia for sure. Uh I'm like looking at all the list again. Zootopia Rescuer is down under uh Mulan and Tangled, because she's also um probably my favorite um princess out of all of them, even though I love Mulan, but she's a warrior, warrior princess. Um so she's different, she's number one in that. Um, but my favorite all-time Disney movie out of all the ones on this list is actually Rescuers Down Under.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:05

Cool. Greg? Oh wow, this is so tough. But um I am going to grab believe it or not, I would actually grab Peter Pan out of um out of out of there. Um I would also do I would do Princess and the Frog. I I love that film. Uh I think it's I think it's splendid. And uh I great I know it gets a lot of play in Run Disney and and people are like sick of Tiana, but I know I just I love that film. Um Little One out of left field here. Um I'm going big hero six. All right.

SPEAKER_11 1:26:43

Oh my god, I didn't have that on my list. Can I add that as a third one?

SPEAKER_07 1:26:47

No, it's only four. Yeah, yeah. Uh, and then out of the Pixar region, I I would go inside out as well. And out of all of those, uh, for me, believe it would be inside out because again, it just has such a resonating sense in terms of my life, in terms of picking Riley's name and parenting and and all of that, just all you know, wrapped up into it. So, yeah, that that's the ultimate one for me. Nice. Alicia?

SPEAKER_10 1:27:19

So I know some of these are gonna be like obvious because we've talked about the whole time. Um, but honestly, I did like write the list and then rewrite them um a couple times trying to decide which four I wanted to choose. But Mulan is obviously in there in Kanto, Emperor's New Groove, and Lilo and Stitch. And then my top is Mulan.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:43

All right, very good. Yeah. When I looked at this and I and I tried to make my best opinion based on what I've seen. The classics, I do love them, but they they're aged a little bit. So out of the classic region, I stuck just with Pinocchio. I admire John for picking three. I appreciate it. I ended up with three uh uh Pixar films, and uh two of them uh came up the very first uh week that we did this, and that is Up and Monsters Inc. I love them both in my final four. So Pinocchio Up, Monsters Inc. And I've said it all from the very Toy Story. Toy Story is a very memorable and a favorite Run Disney animated feature to me. That would probably be my national champ of the animated movies, of the all-time Disney movies. Well, we'll save that for later. That's the twenty the 2027.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:44

Yeah, 2027.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:45

Yeah, we're running out of ideas for brackets. All right, thank you. Thanks for playing, friends. Greg, thanks for your work on that. Uh, I appreciate it. I know it was a labor of love, it's all fun.

Next Week Preview And Housekeeping

SPEAKER_04 1:28:57

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

Spotlight: Tom Stokes Coaching Updates

SPEAKER_08 1:29:01

Hey, announcements, friends. First of all, upcoming episodes next week, we have a legend in American running visiting us. Jim Ryan. When I was in high school, Jim Ryan was one of the most famous athletes in the country. He was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes. He was on the U.S. Olympic team in 64, 68, and 72. Uh 68, he won the silver medal in the 1500 behind a guy named Kipchogi Kenu, who went on to be one of the top running athletes of all time. As was Jim. So Jim Lyon will be with us next week. Reminder: we're not going to have a Zoom this Thursday. We will have it a week from Thursday. That's still before springtime surprise. So hope to see you there. And now, please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. The race report, sponsored by our friend Tom Stokes of Stokes Metabolic Training, Stokes. And let me tell you, no, I'm not going to tell you anything. Tom's here. Hiya, Tom.

SPEAKER_12 1:30:19

Hey, Bob.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:19

Hey, everybody. Good to see you, buddy. Good to see you. We're going to let Tom tell us what's going on. Uh, first of all, it really is nice to see you. We're going to see you at Springtime surprise, Tom.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:31

You will absolutely see me at Springtime, be there all three days, and I swear I'm going to get enough rest to make it to the meetup. Nice.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:39

Nice. You can rest at the meetup if you want. We don't care.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:43

Fall asleep. Yeah. Much easier when I stay on site. Not when I do the drive home.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:49

Right. Very oh, yeah, yeah, very true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:51

How far away from the park do you live? We're by MCO, so close enough that we don't need the hotel, but far enough that it's a hike.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:00

Okay. Gotcha. Well, good. Good. We're looking forward to seeing you there. And uh I definitely want to see you at the meetup. That'll be a lot of fun. So, Tom, you just concluded your spring six-week challenge. Why don't you tell us how that went?

SPEAKER_00 1:31:18

This one was, yeah, six weeks, kicked off the new year, and it was great, really. I never, I'll be honest, I never know what I'm gonna get because you're welcoming in, brand new faces, and everybody was pretty awesome. I gotta say, everybody that was involved was they asked the right questions, they put in the hard work, and and it just just shows from the winners. They they absolutely crushed it. Speaking about the meetups, I was I was fortunate enough to just by chance when we were out in uh Disneyland, I met one of our winners. I didn't know he was gonna be the winner, and he said, you know, I'm I'm my name's Todd. I just signed up for your challenge. My daughter signed up, introduced her, and excited to get going once we get back to uh back home from Cali. Todd, you dove right in, man. The guy lost 22 and a half pounds.

SPEAKER_08 1:32:05

22, yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:06

Which which is which is not common. That is that is that is the extreme end in six weeks.

SPEAKER_08 1:32:13

Six weeks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:14

That's that's uh quite a bit. Yeah. He he retired halfway through, so he was able to double down and uh really put in the hard work, but eight and a half percent of his body weight just gone six weeks. That's the real that's the real factor in percent of body weight. So looking forward to seeing him at the next race. And then you know, female winner, it's it's crazy because a lot of people think you get to a certain point and you just get you get stuck. Well, our female winner, I was I've been working with her since October of 2024.

SPEAKER_08 1:32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:49

And she's just consistent, consistent, and it's a pound here, pound there. But every time there's a challenge, she she buckles up, and uh Heather, Heather absolutely killed it, and she dropped an additional 14.6.

SPEAKER_08 1:33:04

So I think she's down 70 since she started with you, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:08

70 since starting.

SPEAKER_08 1:33:10

I congratulate her on not gaining weight in between. You say she pound here, pound there. That's great. It's so easy to say, oh boy, I made this goal. Now I can eat again. And you kind of can, but you can't go back necessarily to what you were doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:29

Well, she knows I I don't go the I never want to go the starvation route. Like working with a lot of learners, and you know, when you ask about the the next thing, I'll kind of talk about that. I can't starve you guys. I can't want to do that. You need fuel to run.

SPEAKER_08 1:33:44

Yeah, so sometime uh June or July, we'll we'll have you come back on and talk about weight gainslash weight loss during marathon training. It's surprising to some people.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:55

That'll be the next uh big challenge, sometime around June, whenever Dopey training kicks off, marathon weekend training kicks off for all of the people that message me two minutes after the challenge enters. You heard it here, it'll be June. Yeah, there you go. Every time I'm like, I get it. Hey, I thought about joining, I didn't do it. It looked great. How do I uh get in the next one?

SPEAKER_08 1:34:14

That's good, Tom. It's fun. That's a good thing. We want people to be excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:20

It was fun, and I'm I'm a people person, so I love meeting everybody new and then seeing everybody at the races. Like, I can't wait to get to springtime and meet all the new faces that I've only met virtually at this point.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:32

Yeah, uh yeah, well, that's hard to believe, Tom. You a people person.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:36

That's you know, you're with them on Zoom. I'm I'm with them on Zoom twice a week for six weeks. You meet everybody, and it's like, okay, I haven't seen you in person. I haven't met this one. And there's still some, you know, I've been with for a year, and we never met in person up until Princess. And it's like, oh my god, this is our first our first in-person meeting. It's all a bunch of hugs. You know how you guys know how sure.

SPEAKER_08 1:35:02

One of the neat things is you find out that not everybody is two inches tall, that they they actually are bigger than the I know, I didn't realize we met.

SPEAKER_12 1:35:11

So, Tom, but besides these challenges that you put up, which are really great and really uh exciting, what else do you offer?

SPEAKER_00 1:35:18

Yeah, so I when I started this whole thing up, it was all just one-on-one where we meet, we meet weekly, 30 minutes, cut through your problems, cut through your struggles, look at the successes, what's working for you, what's not, how your energy feels, are you fueled? Any injuries, and and and modify on a weekly basis. Do what do we have to dial in to get you to where you want to be? Where do we got want to go? And I I love the one-on-one because I got I got my regulars. I see, I see every week. We'll give Val a shout out because I see her every Friday at 2:30. And she is she's the last thing from you know before my weekend kicks off. And I'll love it. And right before her, give my shout-out to my my two Brits on the other side of the pond out and repping the London course, Heather and JC, congratulating on your engagement. And it's like, I just jumped from England to Argentina working with people. It is absolutely it's crazy. But you know, that's that's the core, the one-on-one. And eventually my goal is to get you to where you don't you don't need that. So, and not to say that the group coaching is only for people who have graduated one-on-one, but that's how it started. It was, hey, I don't need to see you every week. Things are going great, scale's moving, or scales where I want it to be. I'm feeling good with the training, feeling good with the support. Can I can I downgrade? Can I can I switch into something a little less intense? So that's where the group coaching was born from. And, you know, we meet weekly as a group, Thursdays, 6:30. I've seen a couple of you on there every once in a while. Alicia gets to join in on the chat every once in a while, and everybody harasses her with run questions. Bob pops his head on every once in a while and gets confused for our other Bob. Yeah. Dad Bob.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:02

And uh it's just a it's a good time. So the group coaching, you know, you get the workouts, you get the nutrition guidance, and then I alternate between where we do open forum calls where we just chit-chat. What's what's the struggle? What's your challenge? Or or I come in with something. The, you know, I've got a laundry list of requests this month where it's, you know, this coming Thursday, we're talking about what's your why, how to how to remind yourself of your why and keep your mindset right during a tough training season. And, you know, following that, something as simple as as simple to me. We're doing meal prep the following Thursday. And then after that, they they threw me for a loop. Physiological changes between males and females as as we age, which That's a good one. Yeah, that's gonna be I'm excited, and I'm glad that that was the third request I got for the month of April because it gives me a chance to just really geek out. And I like to I geek out on this stuff. So the group, fantastic group, and uh everybody's like family, so I'm a little comprehensive on who I bring in sometimes.

SPEAKER_08 1:38:08

Uh no, no. I think you're going to, I think you have found and will continue to find that the people you bring in are just gonna people be like the people who are already in.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:17

That's such a good crew. They know, they know I love them. I love our Thursday calls. I say Thursday, and April's gonna be all crazy. We're gonna go Wednesdays because we got race season coming up.

SPEAKER_08 1:38:26

I'm always impressed, and you're right, I do not come all the time, but I'm always impressed by how well prepared you are, Tom, when you're making the presentation. It's clear that you've uh done your research and that you're ready to let the people who are online know that you know what you're talking about. So it's good and worthwhile stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:44

I am very fortunate. Uh, you know, not to give out too much of my too much of my age, but I did spend 10 years doing something I absolutely did not love. And anybody I think knows me from the course, I'm a cheerful, happy-go-lucky person, and that was not always the case. And that was from doing 10 years of just something I didn't love. So to be able to take what I love and what I'm passionate about and and help other people with it, just I could do this all day. I feel like Captain America out there.

unknown 1:39:14

Right.

SPEAKER_10 1:39:14

Yeah, they're absolutely fantastic. You alluded to it before, Tom. So what do you have coming up next?

SPEAKER_00 1:39:20

Ooh, so again, I I just love talking about this stuff. And one thing, one thing I've really been doing with my clients lately is or anybody new that's starting, is what's what's the end zone? What what's the end goal? And I've got a lot of people that say, hey, I'm doing dopey in January. Well, we're in March, so there's a there's a long runway there. What other races are in between? What is, you know, what other things do we have going on? And and how do we how do we bridge the gap between point A to point B? So I'm looking at that, and you know, there's there's common denominators in in most people. So it tends to come down to three things on my end that that I find a lot of runners tend to be missing. A, underfueling the training, B, not doing enough strength work to support it and finding themselves getting injured. And and C, just training the same way year-round, you know, with without structure around the race calendar. So a lot of people just go into the gym, they do what they're comfortable with, but it doesn't take into the effect that, hey, your run coach might be giving you a ton of miles come December, because November, December, because you're doing Adopte. Well, we need to scale back our volume because you know, you've got that big, big race on the calendar, and that's your big goal. So that's where I'm starting to look at the let's look at the bigger picture. And, you know, those three things, it's why a lot of people get stuck. So instead of you know just trying to give it all in one short answer, I'm gonna break, I'm doing a free workshop, gonna break it down step by step, April 9th, 7 p.m. Eastern. It's a Thursday night, and um calling it the run run strong method, because because that's what I try to do. I try to run strong and and just feel confident on the course. I'm gonna go through fueling properly, how to structure your train strength training, not only structure the strength training, but align everything to the race schedule so you'll see progress throughout the year and hopefully, hopefully have your best finish yet. So, really ideal, you know, if you're a runner who just, you know, you feel like you're putting in the work, but not getting 100% of the results you want, that's that's my goal with this one. So it'll be about I usually schedule them for 60 minutes, and as I started building, I I went up to 90 minutes on this one. So it'll be a little long, but everybody that registers, everybody that registers is going to get the replay. You'll have access to that and got some other fun, fun giveaways along with that.

SPEAKER_08 1:41:53

How about challenges? What's coming up there?

SPEAKER_00 1:41:56

Challenge, that'll be what early June. I'm working on getting the date off, but right after this workshop on the 9th, I'll kind of shift gears into let's get ready for that next challenge. That'll be the summer transformation. But I also I had a request, and Casey, if you're listening, I hope you're listening. This one goes out to you that why the heck don't I align these challenges with when Dopey training tends to kick off? She said, You're on your sixth dopey. She goes, My hardest part of the year is those first couple months, which is odd because I feel people people tend to struggle in November and December. But yeah, she said, My my hardest part is to just get going. Once I get going, so a lot of it'll be focused around getting going, putting in the right, you know, strength habits, nutrition habits, me, me holding you accountable to, hey, are you doing your running? Since you've got this big old challenge, it won't just be, you know, it'll kind of be themed to dopey, but if if you're not doing dopey, if you're not doing marathon, it'll still be just like every other transformation challenge, you'll get the strength workouts, get the nutrition guidance, and tailored towards your goals.

SPEAKER_08 1:43:05

Sounds good, Tom. Looking forward to it. You know, I'll play along to the best of my ability.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:11

No chopping your finger off this year.

SPEAKER_08 1:43:13

Did I do that last year? I I know I did it. I can't remember how long ago it's been. It's it's pretty well, it healed up very nicely. I had a dog a little bit. Yeah, that's okay. Look forward to it. Highly recommend it, friends. Uh, Tom knows what he's talking about. He's a good guy and he looks great in a tutu.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:30

I look okay in a tutu.

Race Report Roundup Begins

Saturday Race Highlights

SPEAKER_08 1:43:32

Hey, Tom. Thanks for the time, man. We always appreciate we always appreciate you. And we'll see you soon. Thank you guys for having me, as always. Always fun chatting with Tom. And his program is excellent. So if you're interested, Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching, or you can look up at the top of the Facebook page there in the featured section. So let's continue with the report now. Hey, I missed this earlier. It's not a race, but it's a big deal. Our friend Divya has extended her running streak of at least one mile a day past the 3,000 day mark. That's a lot of days. It's like eight and a quarter years. I know there are people who have more. We we chatted with a friend, and I'm always embarrassed I remember names, who is way up there in numbers. But that's a big deal, DVA. Congratulations. Start the race report on Friday this week in Birmingham, Alabama. Erin and her middle daughter were at the second most famous racetrack in Alabama, right behind Talladega. And actually, not far from Talladega. That is the Barber Motorsports Park. It's in Indianapolis. It's in it's in Birmingham. But they did the Indy 5K there. They ran on the track. It was Aaron's daughter's first 5K. We know what that means. Now, throughout the day, the track was active. So you if you got there early and you paid your registration fee, you could watch the team's uh the race teams testing. Now, but Aaron couldn't get there until about 4.15. The race started at 5.30. Uh the 5K took one and a half laps around the track. After they finished, they had to walk through the pit area, up a hill to catch a tram, back to the parking area, and an excellent post-race activity. On to Saturday. Let's start here in St. Petersburg, Florida. Fort DeSoto Park, to be specific. The Shamrock Distance Classic, Half Marathon 10K, and 5K. I was there. I like these races. I love the series that St. Pete does. It's outstanding. They have four races every year. A couple of them are at this park. They do something that drives me baddie, though. Every year they will announce a start time. The start time for this one was 7.05. And every year they'll say, Well, the sun's not up yet, so we're going to delay the start a little bit. Friends, you could probably go somewhere online and say, What time will the sunrise at Fort DeSoto Park on January 3rd, 3822? And you could look that up, and yet they always have to delay. Because the sun's not up. And then traffic gets tough in there too. It becomes a one-lane road going in. What was the dew point, Bob? Golly, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_07 1:46:38

Does that factor into when if they delay the start or not?

SPEAKER_08 1:46:41

Nah, it doesn't. What they what they're trying to do is they're trying to wait for uh uh Trina and Jeff to get there, but it doesn't. More on that in just a moment. Uh I had registered for the half. I dropped down to the 10K, not because of any physical problems or anything. You probably saw on my Facebook page, my mother turned 93 that day. If I had gone and run the half marathon at the speeds I'm currently running, she'd have been 94 by the time I finished. No, no, that's not right. That's not right.

SPEAKER_07 1:47:12

But Bob, when it comes to events uh and motivation, you're pretty good at that because remember, when you finished your first dopey, you you picked up the pace for me because I had I had the coveted and Disney. Again, if you're listening, bring back the California Grill brunch. And I remember you kicked it in the high gear for me because you knew I needed to hit that reservation. I did.

SPEAKER_08 1:47:32

I needed to get back 11:30 or 12 for you. Yeah. Uh those were different days, Greg. That was four surgeries ago, and those were different days. But uh yeah, I was able to do that. Now I did it. I mean, the 10K went fine. Uh I did not I did not beat my age, which you know I try to do 72 minutes. I came close. I think, in fact, I think I probably came within a minute. Uh faced third in my age group. There were four people in my age group. So that's okay. Those those they're two fast guys. Now Jeff and Trina were there. And God bless them. I'm looking, I'm in the back, you know. I'm getting ready to start in the back. I'm looking for Trina and Jeff. No joy. Well, they frequently don't get there in time. You see Trina running up to the start. It's an not an out and back course, it's a nice course, but there are out and back places. And as I'm about to turn, I guess I'm at about two miles. I'm about to turn on to a loop. I can see Trina coming. So uh Yeah, I I probably waited for her for seven or eight minutes to all right, it was probably 15 or 20 seconds. Uh so I could say hi. So I saw her there, they hit traffic, they got to the start line late. She was hoping for she got a PR last year, was hoping for one this year. But and this is what happens, you get started late and then you go out too fast. Then it got warm. It didn't get warm. I mean, when I finished the 10K at approximately 8 30, it wasn't bad, but it did warm up after that. And there are lots of nice things about racing at a beach park. Beautiful views, you get to see the bay, flat course, no shade. So there's no shade. Uh so Trina finished her half a little over three hours. Jeff wasn't far behind. Biggest disappointment is that when she finished, the post-race party area had all shut down. That is disappointing. St. Pete Running Club, well, it's not St. Pete Running Club, but the St. Pete organizers usually do a much better job than that. So I was sorry to hear about that. Uh I had a couple other friends there. Abby, who I remember from the 5K, the fur baby 5K, a couple weeks ago. She left me in the dust real early. She came running by, she said hi Bob, and that was a No. She did pass me. She did the half, I believe, as did Sarah. Sarah ran with her friend and trainer Laura. Sarah finished in just a little over two and a half hours feeling strong. That's great. It's her first race that she tested out, galloway intervals. She'd been a straight through runner before that. She'll be back, doing another shamrock. She and uh Laura had a great running outfit for St. Patrick's Day. Green tutos, white shirts look terrific. I also saw Sarah as she passed me. She did leave me in the dust pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_12 1:50:38

Good event. Next year, if they have it at the same time, sunrise in St. Petersburg, Florida on Saturday, March 27, 2027, is 727.

SPEAKER_08 1:50:50

So 727, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 1:50:52

So schedule it for 7:30 and you have no problems.

SPEAKER_08 1:50:55

Yeah, they won't. They'll schedule it for 7. I promise. I don't mind. I get there early. This one I think is over in the Orlando area. The great to donate for organ donations 5K, 5 or 8K. Debbie did the 8K. Mary ran with her friend Donna. It was part of Mary's 12-mile training morning. It was Donna's first 8K. There's another PR. The goal was to stay under 16 minutes a mile since two weeks ago. They averaged 17 minutes a mile on a, I believe it was a 10K. No problems today. Donna came out wanting to make her goal. She did it, averaging 15 and a half minutes per mile. That's progress. That's outstanding. Congratulations. Over in Winter Park, Florida, the Winter Park Road Race. This is the last race, just like St. Pete has a series. Track Shack has a series over in the Orlando area. Tracy was there. Tracy said, a course PR. This being the fifth time she's done this race. Sorry to see the season ending. Warm and humid. Might have been nice if the 10K started before 7.30. VIP area was nice with food vendors and adult beverages, as well as a VIP corral pea.

unknown 1:52:24

Nice.

SPEAKER_08 1:52:24

Must be nice, Tracy, getting in the VIP area. You have to tell me how to work that out sometimes. The challenge medal, completing the sixth race was gorgeous, and the best of the past five years. Heather was there. She rolled the two-miler and the 10K. Not a fan of the brick streets, I can imagine. And there were a couple of unexpected hills in the 10K, but Track Shack puts on a great race there. In Archer, Florida, the Archer Braid Trail 5K. Debbie wanted to try for a PR. Didn't think she could due to recent injuries. When the starting gun went off, she tried to go for it anyway, ran as hard as possible. Felt like she was going to die the entire last mile. But across the finish line, sub-30. Not a PR. That's still an outstanding time. Sub-30, that's a milestone time for a 5K. One first place masters for women, not first place age group, first place masters. Typically 40 and over for masters, I believe. That's a big deal. I remember winning Grandmasters one time in Dothan. And when I when I went up, they just called people's names and everybody just kind of walked up. I went up for the award and I said, I'm I'm your uh I was great grandmasters. I said, I'm your great grandfather. He gave me the ribbon. Go to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Kraft Beer Half Marathon. Kayla, Kayla's on state number seven for her 50 halves in 50 states. For Kayla, three race weekends, three states 50 miles. Wants to give a huge shout out to Melody, who got her through today's race, with a seven-minute PR. Over 600 feet of elevation gain. That's no joke, but they're able to run the downhill and walk the inclines. She met an amazing human wearing a hat with her name on it. And speaking with him, his daughter was a runner. She took her life in her teenage years. He now runs with that hat on to honor her memory. Now, Melody, of course, was also there. Melody had signed up for the five-miler, but she ran the half to help Kayla. Sometimes it's not about the pace, not about the PR. It's about showing up, sticking together, and having an absolute blast along the way. That is beautifully said. Melody couldn't agree more. Still in Florida. These Florida races are going to end pretty soon, my friends, I promise. About two more weeks, you're not going to hear many Florida starters. But Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Springtime 10K. Kimberly forgot how hilly the course was. Still one of her favorites. Going through the neighborhoods around mile four or five, she thinks that they may have a competition there for the best unofficial aid station and decorations because they showed up and brought the fun. Beautiful medals on this one, too. No PR, but she got the best compliment ever from the volunteer at the 5K Matt, who said, You are not supposed to have this much energy and be this happy in the middle of a race. Good for you, Kimberly. Lola was there with her sister B. They did the one miler and the 10K. Another first, B's first 10K. There was a run in Calverton, New York, the Andrew McMorris Top Run 5K. Andrew McMorris was a young man who was struck by a drunk driver with his Boy Scout troop and killed about the age of 12 or something like that. Had his life ahead of him. Ashley was there, as was Dina. Dina says getting a run for such an important cause is something she never takes lightly. 31 degrees in Calverton, New York. Felt like 19 with the winds. That's a character builder. It surely is. The turnaround at mile one and a half put them straight into the wind. In fact, Dina's visor flew off just for dramatic effect. She came within 30 seconds of last year's time, but considering the wind and the conditions, that's a win. Nice job, Dina. In Peoria, Arizona. I didn't know there was a Peoria, Arizona. Illinois, I know. Didn't know Arizona. Anyway, they had the hippity hop half marathon. And Kim hippity hopped her way through that first race for Kim since Jeff passed away. It's mentally hard for her to put on her true shoes and train after that happened. Her husband wouldn't let her quit. And Kim, you know Jeff wouldn't want you to quit either. You know that. Now, a funny thing happened during the race. People started running with her, kind of like an unofficial pacer around mile three. So she felt she was keeping Jeff's run-walk-run legacy alive. Overall, very successful half on a warm day in Arizona. We go from Arizona to the Czech Republic, where Rodrigo ran the Prague half marathon. This is the first race in what Riga, what what Rodrigo is calling his two-thirds of a goofy challenge. He'll be back tomorrow with another half. Chilly weather in Prague, around 37 degrees. At least it was sunny. Great day. Now he is on his way to Berlin for the second half of the weekend. Excited because he's heard it's one of the best halves in Europe and around the world. So we'll hear from him tomorrow. Well, we'll hear from him on tomorrow's part of the race report. We'll hear from him later. You get it. Go to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Charlottesville 10 Miler. David was there, a little bit apprehensive leading up to the race. Running's been less consistent, hasn't been feeling the greatest in the last few months. Glad he towed the start line. Absolutely. That's the way to do it, David. Uh it was a perfect day to run on a wonderful course with so many friends. Ended up just a few minutes off of his PR time. Still had a wonderful time, ran with a smile for most of the race.

SPEAKER_07 1:59:01

These were some great photos that he posted. I love Charlottesville. It is such a beautiful town. And if you want a fun fact, and this this one actually especially goes out to our buddy Tom over at the Will Run 4 podcast. Dave Matthews has his own winery there.

SPEAKER_08 1:59:20

Huh. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Just another reason to go. So let's go from Charlottesville to Louisville. Louisville, Kentucky, the time to Patty 5K. Sarah was there. Cold and foggy at the start. Had about a 30-minute delay because they didn't know when the sun. No, no, the sun's not a problem here. 30-minute delay here due to volunteer issues. Beautiful course. Running through one of the best parks and trails in the city. But this is an extremely hilly area. I've run just once in Louisville. I know it can be hilly. Overall, had a great race, some health issues lately, ended up switching from the half to the 5K. Came away with an age group win and a continued focus on not letting the hard days beat her. Outstanding. That's another one. A couple of that theme's running through the race report today. Get out there and give it your best. Jeff would be proud of you. Back in Tallahassee, it may be the same race. I know I talked Tallahassee earlier. Regardless, we had the Gulf Winds Track Club Springtime Races. Kim ran the 10K there. If that's a double up, Kim was there for the 10K. And Mobile is Azalea Trail Runtime, the Azalea Trail Run 10K. South Alabama this time of year, the Azaleas are gorgeous. So I imagine this was a beautiful race. Jody was there. Beautiful weather for a great run in downtown Mobile. She talks about the gorgeous oak trees lining the streets, but again, I'm sure the Azaleas were in bloom and spectacular. She hadn't run in quite a while. Been doing more walks or hikes, but she did a trend treadmill 10K on St. Patrick's Day. And now this 10K in Mobile, and she's feeling good. In Riviera Beach, Florida, Mara ran the half marathon at the Run Singer Island half and 10K. First race with a pacer for the entire race. She ran with the two-hour pace group. I think she kind of used it maybe to run with and also as a guide because she kept telling herself to keep that pacer in sight. Course takes you over a large bridge twice. And the second time up, she thought she might be losing the pacer, but she managed to catch back up to her, going down the bridge. When the mile left, the pacer said, Hey, look, if you got it in you, push yourself. She did. She finished at one hour 57 minutes, a sub two hour half, and that is a PR. That's something we'll talk about later. Pacers really can help you out, especially if you're new to a distance. In Canal Fulton, Ohio, the Canal Way Classic Spring Peeper Two Miler, followed by a five-miler. Lori was there. Did them both, did the two-mile as a warm-up race, followed it with the five-miler. It was like 22 degrees and snowing at the finish of the five-miler. People, get your weather in order up north, will you? It's springtime, by golly.

SPEAKER_10 2:02:37

I would love that, Pub, but it's it's gonna snow again. Is it really?

unknown 2:02:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:02:43

Oh man.

Sunday Race Highlights

SPEAKER_08 2:02:44

You're coming out of it though. Baseball season's here. Yeah, you probably still got at least one more. All right. Let's wrap up Saturday in Chattanooga for the rump run 5K. Amanda was there. Cold in Tennessee. Beautiful run with the Southern Soul sisters. I'm not sure what this means. Amanda says she also saw her nurse mom, Kristen. Kristen is not Amanda's mom. I think Kristen is Amanda's age, I think. But it means something to Amanda. She looks forward to this race every year because it helps people in the area get screenings and reminds everyone that colon cancer is preventable, treatable, and beatable. And she is 100% right. So take care of yourself, friends. Continuing to Sunday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Cambridge Spring Classic 5K Road Race. Jake ran with his son Teddy. You may remember them from a race report a while back. Teddy was with us. Been a hectic, stressful week. So Jake was glad to hang back with Teddy, let him lead the way. They finished together just a bit over 30 minutes with a big sprint to the finish. So that's a that's a good finish time, Teddy, just a little over 30 minutes. Great job. Rob was there too. Rob saw both Jake and Teddy, got a photo with them. He also talks about this one being a chilly 33 degrees. There was a new course. The race has been around for a while, but they changed the course this year. A few more twists and turns than the old route, but it's still flat, still fun, and the perfect place to set a good pace. He was pleased with his 25 minute, 19 second finish. Yeah. That's smoking, Rob. Good job. Audrey and Sophie and their mom were there. Fun to see new parts of the city on the new course. Flat, more turns, just like Rob said. Still, it's Audrey's first springtime run of the year, and she's determined to go from not running at all for the past month to a regular training schedule. So she made up a new phrase that describes that. Since jumping back into something is called cold turkey, then she thinks the opposite of that of quitting because it's not gradual and coming back into it right away should be called coming back now, not getting out, coming back, should be called hot turkey. What do you think? I like it.

SPEAKER_07 2:05:33

Are we in like a gobbler situation here?

SPEAKER_08 2:05:36

I don't know. You're talking about the Wawa sandwich?

SPEAKER_07 2:05:39

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_08 2:05:41

Not many people know about that. I don't know. Cold turkey, hot turkey. Hey, here's what I'll give you. Audrey, if it works for you, by golly, it's great. All right, I told you Rodrigo would be back. The Berlin Half Marathon, easily one of the most fun races he's ever been to. To say the least, the vibe is electric. Contagious reminds him a lot of Disney races. If you're thinking about doing it, don't think twice. It's a top event, a really fast route, and a must-do. Good job, Rodrigo. Good weekend there. One in Prague, one in Berlin. That's cool. In Haverill, Massachusetts, the Hill Thrill 10 Mile Road race. Jessica had 12 miles on her schedule, so she knocked out two on the treadmill before heading over. By the time the race started, it was 26 degrees with wind. Only 51 runners on the 10-mile course. And she was the only person doing run-walk-run intervals. Felt good through the first 10K, then around mile seven, her back started giving her trouble. By eight and a half, the pain was hard to ignore. With the final mile and a half being all uphill, had to make a tough decision, but made the smart call. Knowing that she'd already done 10.5 miles for today. She decided that this would be her first DNF to avoid risking injury, especially with springtime surprise just a couple weeks away. Yeah, good call, Jessica. We want you to get to that start line, that's for sure. Our buddy Joe was in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and did a half marathon with the London Crazies. That's the group of ladies that he ran London with. He took third place in the 70 to 99-year-old age group. Joe is 80. Two young 73-year-old whipper snappers beat him out, but he was pleased to come in at 343. He thought he was slower. I think that's fantastic. 343 at age 80. Chances are you get yourself a good corral position. Not even a good corral, a good corral position. You can beat the balloon ladies with a 343 pace. Joe, way to go, man. We're proud of you. Debbie Blake and Kirby were at the Greater Goldsboro Road Run, 10K and 5K in North Carolina. This is the event, and I remember talking about this at last year's race report. This is the event that ended up in a hospital stay for Debbie last year. Remember this event where she strayed from the course, was discovered off the course, and ended up in the hospital with uh a type of amnesia. Didn't know how she got there. Not this year. First, Kirby ran an awesome 5K, got first in his age group. Blake and Debbie started together, and when Blake's hamstring started to flare up a little bit, he sent Debbie ahead. And Debbie this year knocked out a new 10K PR of just under 57 minutes. First place in her age group. Outstanding. Blake hung in there and also pulled out a new 10K PR, 5945, sub-60, age group two. Boy, that's a successful weekend. Way to way to go, guys. Way to go. It was Love Run Philly Half Marathon weekend. Julia was there. Pleased to report she's back in the sub two-hour club after an injury last fall. It was slow going coming back. But that's the way to do it. That's the way to do it, Julia. Slow and patient. For reference, she was almost an hour slower than the Dopey Half and 15 minutes slower at Princess. So she's really pleased with her progress and is working towards a new PR. But you're doing it the right way. You're doing it with patience and just sticking to it. Over in the Netherlands at Hengelo, Laura's son, four-year-old Walt, just turned four last month, did his second 500-meter race. Way to go, Walt.

SPEAKER_07 2:09:58

I love seeing this post.

SPEAKER_08 2:09:59

Way to go, buddy. Me too. I always think about when I was maybe 10 or 12.

SPEAKER_07 2:10:05

I mean, and he's got a great coach in Laura. Let me tell you. So I mean, watch out Laura's pretty soon. He's going to be out running you.

SPEAKER_08 2:10:13

Laura thinks she enjoys it, thinks he enjoys it. He's really happy with the family came out to watch him. That made him happy. His next kids' race is going to be a one-kilometer race in their hometown of, and I'm going off my notes here. I believe Laura's hometown is Encede. I think that's right. She'll tell me if it's not. At the Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors, Lisa ran the Golden State 5K. An open, relaxed corral start, flat course that included going around the San Francisco Giants Stadium before finishing back at the arena. The spinner medals there were much bigger than she expected, but no plastic cheese. What's the point of running if there's no plastic cheese? Okay, she's still all right. She's ready to sign up for next year. There was a Big Footer 5K in Mentor, Ohio. Michael did it. Very recently decided to start a running journey at the tender age of 59. Ah, just a kid, Michael. Lots of good running years ahead of you. Learned about the run walk method from Jeff shortly before he passed. Wish you could have had the opportunity to meet him. I wish that all of you could have met Jeff. I know many, many of you did, and I know some didn't. What a wonderful human being. But Michael ran a conservative run walk ratio of 30-30 and completed his first official 5K. There's another first official PR. In Shelby Township, Michigan, Liz and Mark, with their friend Salvador, ran the hootie hoo 5K. All right, who's the Gomer Pyle fan here? And no Gomer Pyle. John, you remember?

SPEAKER_12 2:12:05

Yeah, I remember I remember Gomer Pyle. That was one of those uh I I probably didn't see it live. I don't know, maybe, but uh I it was one of those uh Sunday morning uh TV shows.

SPEAKER_08 2:12:16

Oh yeah, you didn't see it live then. It was prime time. Gomer Pyle was prime time. Yeah, Gomer Gomer was a character on the Andy Griffith show originally. I've seen I think I've seen every one of those, but not live. Yeah, he left no he left the Andy Griffith show for his own spin-off where he joined the Marine Corps at Gomer Pile and USMC.

SPEAKER_12 2:12:34

Yeah. Oh yeah, 19 1964. Uh I wasn't around for that.

SPEAKER_08 2:12:39

And we should have a we should have a password so we should know who one another are. And I'll go, who do, hoody? I don't know. I didn't look to see if that's what this one was named after up in Michigan. Anyway, uh Liz, Mark, and uh Salvador there, a la Jack. They were totally surprised by how hilly the course was. That's your reputation, Jack.

SPEAKER_11 2:13:03

I know. But I researched the newer one coming up.

Wrap Up And Happy Running

SPEAKER_08 2:13:07

Uh-oh. Uh chilly morning, 43 degrees, lots of wind in Michigan. Liz was fine, shed her jacket by mile two, but the guys, they're in running shorts, as John would have been. I would have had three layers on. Uh great support for this race. You get a seed box instead of a medal at the finish. PRs for Liz and Mark. Let's finish up with an Ultra, the 48-hour Ultra at Stevie's Roost, Sylvania, Georgia. Morningstar went with her 13-year-old daughter, her sister, and her sister's 13-year-old daughter. Now, Morningstar says watching two 13-year-olds go out there to be part of an ultra weekend was pretty incredible, and I think it's pretty cool. Course was a 2.71 mile loop through a pine forest. Morningstar finished 81 miles. Jennifer did 35 miles, Sarah did 33, and Trinity got out there for multiple loops, not sure how many, but she crushed it. All of those numbers are amazing. I mean, yeah, 33, 35, and then 81. Wow. Nice job. Uh Morning Stars comments the ultra community was amazing. Everyone was so supportive, encouraging, and welcoming. That's one of her favorite things about the sport. And just real quickly, Kylie posted that she did the virtual Kentucky Derby mini marathon, which she had to defer from her entry last year. And that, my friends, is the race report for episode 236. All right, for another another big week, another good episode. Thank you for hanging with us to this point. Hope you enjoyed it. I think our interview with Carrie was a lot of fun. And of course, we enjoy running through March Madness, even though when we get done, we can't always agree. But that's what it's all about. And we hope uh we hope to hear from you. If you had some different opinions, let us know. Friends, and if you run, you know you are our friends. Thanks for joining us. Two weeks. We'll see you in two weeks. But until then, happy running.

SPEAKER_06 2:15:40

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 provider or event organizer.

SPEAKER_02 2:16:03

We have to be sponsored for every heart that runs the same.