244: "No Other Direction but Forward": Fireman Rob Ignites the Course

He’s the runner you spot from a distance, not because of a character costume, but because he’s carrying the weight of a whole profession. Fireman Rob joins us to explain why he races in full firefighter turnout gear and what that choice has to do with mental health, hope, and letting people know they’re not alone.

We talk about the realities behind the gear: the heat you can’t escape, the sweat-soaked weight that only gets heavier, and the mindset required to keep moving when there’s no “easy mile.” Rob shares how he trains for the uncomfortable, how the fire service teaches calm under pressure, and why the most important skill is learning to talk to yourself kindly when you’re hurting. He also opens up about being part of search and recovery at 9/11, the lasting impact of trauma, and how running became a way to keep moving forward one step at a time.

Before the interview, we hit the latest runDisney conversation starters, including the 2027 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend themes and artwork, the excitement of seeing Jasmine finally headline the Half, and the budget trade-offs many runners are making as prices rise. We also share a practical “What Would Alysha Do” on adapting your training plan when life throws a curveball, plus community updates, YouTube content for Disney resort running routes, and a packed race report full of PRs and proud finishes.

If you take one thing from this, let it be Rob’s reminder: keep moving forward. Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, share the episode with a running friend, and leave a review to help more Run Disney runners find our community.

Fireman Rob Links
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Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching (Mention Rise And Run and get $10 off)

Transcript

Cruise Intro And Welcome

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Every listener by signs from training skills and tails and line of inspiration in every line. We may follow us again, like community and friends.

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Rolling as along we belong in this rhythm and Rise and Run family.

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This is Holly coming to you from the Pesky Parrot on the Rise and Run cruise. I hope you're having a great day, and I hope you have a great run and have a great time listening to the Rise and Run podcast.

SPEAKER_11 0:57

That is my fellow New York Yankees compadre Holly. Holly, thank you so much for your intro again. Another Rise and Run podcast cruise intro from the meddling ceremony at the Pesky Parrot. So, like Bob said last week, we have a bunch of those in the can. So if you want to give us a call, Jack's gonna give you the number here in a second. If you want to give us a fresh intro that's not from the cruise, uh, she will give you that info to give us a call and give us an intro. But folks, welcome to episode 244 of the Rise and Run podcast. This week I am joined by my incredibly talented and beautiful friends, Alicia. Hello, Jack, and John. Hey, how you doing? I'm doing swell, John. You know, I'm I'm getting used to this. You know, Bob is just, you know, I I think in this year of our lore 2026 is uh, you know, discovering, you know, the his sense of adventure and his sense of travel. And I I don't think he's I think he's missed more episodes in this calendar year than he has in the entire history of the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

Well, tonight's a special night why he's missed exactly.

SPEAKER_11 2:13

He has a very, very good reason as to why he is missing this week, and that is day of recording is do we want to call her the matriarch of the Rise of Run podcast?

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Um I don't want to be copying, you know, the we'll run for it. Oh, that's true.

SPEAKER_11 2:28

We we we could be accused of that, yes. Uh this uh today is Becky's birthday, everyone's favorite cookie baker for the uh for all of our meetups. So on behalf of the four of us and the rest of the Rise of Run community, even though she most likely will not be listening to this, happy birthday, Becky. And we hope you are enjoying a Long Island iced tea somewhere along uh Walt Disney World property. And we hope you are having an absolutely epic birthday. But have no fear though, if you enjoy the docile tones of Bob's voice, you will hear them in this episode because Bob was part of our featured interview uh for this week. And speaking of the featured interview, we are chatting with our new friend, Fireman Rob. I bumped into him on course at the 10 Miler uh a couple of weeks ago at Springtime Surprise, and I was like, Hey, would you like to be a

How To Connect With The Show

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guest on our podcast? And he was like, It would be my pleasure. So we had an absolutely wonderful time chatting with him. So we will be sure to play that a little bit later on in the episode.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

If you enjoy the Rise A Run Podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise A Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. So please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise Around Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and Run Podcast.com. So if you have any questions, comments, race reports, or just want to introduce an upcoming episode, please go ahead and call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

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And there you go. There's that phone number. So if you want to leave us some non-cruise related intros, give that number a call.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

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,

New YouTube Resort Running Series

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Rise and Run Podcast. And we do have a new Patreon, Julie, and she joined at the plastic cheese level. Thank you, Julie.

SPEAKER_11 4:37

Thank you so much, Julie. Hey Jack, uh, little birdie told me that we have a new uh YouTube video.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

We do, and it's not just a YouTube video, it's actually a whole series I'll be doing on the channel for you guys. I know a lot of us will be traveling this year, and whether you would like to run the Disney resorts virtually on the treadmill, um, or if you're trying to plan where you want to run uh when you come and visit Disney World, if that's where you're traveling, um, please go ahead and check out our YouTube channel. Um, right now I just started the first episode, which is, I guess you could say the monrail loop. So I go and take a run over at the Polynese and the Grand Floridian, head to Magic Kingdom and back. And it should be a pretty relaxing video. Again, it's I think it's informative in the sense that you can learn where the best places to run are at and have a really nice run on the treadmill if you're just going for a nice jog. And at the end of this series, I will be doing one video where I will combine all the um locations and I will rank them from best to worst based off of four factors. Um, I don't think there's a worst place at all, but you know what I mean, like least favorite out of all of them. But um, they will be having four categories for this last video where it'll be based off of mileage, how many miles that you can get um at the location that you're running at, shade, because that is the most important part when you're running in Florida. Is there any shade? Um, it's also gonna be the enjoyability factors. Like, is it the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen, or is it kind of repetitive? I don't know. Um and I already forgot what my fourth one was. But that but that video is, you know, it's it's we call that a tease.

SPEAKER_11 6:24

We we call it a tease for the future.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

But there's four, I can't believe I forgot the last one.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

Like instead of Stacy's must-do, Jack's must-do running courses, huh?

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yes, yes. And again, they'll be all completely ranked. I'm so excited. And um not only that, but this is gonna be a fully packed YouTube um for the rest of the season. I'm very excited. As of right now, between I guess beginning of June through um end of December, um, there's at least 32 episodes planned already. Not necessarily in this run series. There's gonna be whole different ones and challenges. I have a one that I'm so excited to share with you guys, but it's gonna take me a hot second to do. So if you guys want to go ahead and check out YouTube, go ahead and check out Rise around podcast um on YouTube. And I hope you have fun.

SPEAKER_11 7:18

Excellent. That's really, really

MagicBound Travel And Park Updates

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exciting, Jack. And we're glad that you're you know living in the backyard of Walt Disney World and are able to get such awesome video content for us. So we really, really do appreciate all your hard work with that. The Rise Around Podcast is sponsored by our wonderful friends over at Magic Bound Travel. And uh, you know, day of rec uh recording here was a big day in uh Walt Disney World. Uh Muppets officially opened, Soren officially opened, uh Bluey officially opened at uh at Animal Kingdom. Apparently, the virtual queue was gone in seconds uh for the entire day. Uh so awesome. I mean, I I'm trying to remain spoiler-free as much as possible, but every single thing that I'm hearing about Rock and Roller Coaster, I'm just hearing that they nailed it. Don't tell me. So I know I'm not gonna tell you because I'm trying not to watch Jack. So but if you're looking to get down the Walt Disney World to experience some of these new updates to attractions that we love, be sure to visit magicboundtravel.com. Go over there, fill out a no obligation quote form, and then they will be ready to help you start planning that magical vacation. And I I know we mentioned this the other week, but if you are using Magic Bound in terms of planning your race cations at Walt Disney World, always know that you will be paired with an agent who has Run Disney experience of this. If you're brand new to any of this, Magic Bound is the perfect place to be able to perfectly mold together that Disney vacation with the Run Disney experience, and they'll you'll be in fabulous hands. So again, visit magicboundtravel.com. All right, we have uh a couple of apologies and alibis uh to mention this week. And and in theory, the apology has to become on behalf of myself because as we mentioned last week, we had to record the show a little early because I was traveling abroad for work and I needed to get the episode done before I got on an airplane. Uh, so uh, and you know, as Bob mentioned, you know, there was a chance that we could have missed a couple of um late breakers in terms of the race report. And we did have a couple of those, so we just want to quickly mention those now. Josh finished the uh the capital city

Missed Race Shoutouts And Countdown

SPEAKER_11 9:50

marathon in Olympia, Washington. Zach ran his third best half in Wellesley Island, New York, and Chris and Sarah ran rock and roll uh Las Vegas. Uh Jack, you've run that one before, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

I did. It's a lot of fun, highly recommend.

SPEAKER_11 10:10

Awesome. So to Josh, Zach, Chris, and Sarah, congratulations on your races last weekend. All right, let's look at the countdown to training. And unfortunately, we're still not training for anything specifically Run Disney related. But uh one thing to note is we are five days away for registration for the 2027 version of the Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend. We're gonna talk about those themes and that artwork that got released here in a couple of minutes. So, but in terms of registration, unfortunately, I do not have this confirmed with Bob. We will try to get this confirmed via Facebook ASAP. But I would imagine we will be hosting some type of Zoom call, uh, you know, probably in like the 9:30, 945-ish time frame on Tuesday morning, uh, so that way we can all commiserate together and celebrate our triumphs and share credit card numbers to help people get into these races and everything like that. So again, um, you know, if that does happen, which again, I think it's going to, um, that is occurring this upcoming Tuesday. But, you know, in terms of other races that we got going on, uh, you know, I know a boatload of people are coming up to my neck of the woods here in Pennsylvania for uh bird in hand, and we're getting close to uh double digits. We're only 106 days away um from the race. Uh Space Coast, another big one, uh hundred and seventy-nine days away for that one. But in terms of the Run Disney training, we're just about a month out for training to start for Wine and Dine, and then the week after that, believe it or not, training starts for Marathon Weekend. So, you know, before we know it, we'll be giving you those Galloway training numbers, and we're gonna be getting ready for another wonderful Run Disney season. All right, so even though we don't have anything specifically that we are uh

Training Updates And Rita’s Panic

SPEAKER_11 12:30

training for Disney wise right now, obviously we're always training. So I will ask my co-host here does anybody have any training updates?

SPEAKER_04 12:39

I did a marathon this weekend, Greg. You did? Yeah, I watched the Star Wars marathon on uh TV this weekend, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Congratulations, John.

SPEAKER_11 12:50

I didn't see it posted on Strava, so that means it doesn't count.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

Okay, but I did but I did run on Monday, so I did run on Monday, had a good run. Uh I'm kind of I'm trying I'm training for burn in hand. I got some summer races that I'm still trying to go for, and that's that's what I'm doing. And I'm hopefully it's going pretty well. I feel good. My knees aren't hurting as much as they used to, which I think is a good sign. So it's it's working.

SPEAKER_11 13:19

Now, my question for you in terms of trading for burden hand is when you finish your run, are you eating chicken immediately afterwards?

SPEAKER_04 13:30

No, no, not not immediately.

SPEAKER_11 13:32

Not immediately, okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:33

But at some point, but at some point in time. No, but when I get to the 10 mile run, I make sure I stop at Rita's.

SPEAKER_11 13:40

Oh, good call.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

What's Rita's? Rita's lemon ice. Italian ice. Italian ice, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 13:47

Or for my Philly friends water ice. Woodah. Now, John, I must say I'm a little concerned about Rita's and association for this year's race. Because our friend Lizzie that we have run this race with the last couple of years in a row, uh, she sent me a photo uh the other weekend. Uh she was doing a uh girls' trip out to Amish Country. And apparently they have demolished the Rita's that was pretty close to Bird in Hand. No. So I'm hoping that either they can find a new location or maybe we'll be getting a new sweet treat. So time will tell. As John I I know, I know you can't see this. Obviously, clearly, we're not a video podcast. John is frantically on his keyboard now, trying to Google map the next closest readers to Burnington, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

He's got the biggest smile on his face, though. I feel like he's determined.

SPEAKER_11 14:54

But but he's concerned at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Maybe they're building a new one.

SPEAKER_06 14:57

Maybe.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Okay, we'll kind of find

Princess 2027 Themes And Pricing

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out.

SPEAKER_11 15:00

We're gonna find out.

SPEAKER_06 15:01

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_11 15:06

All right, well, while John uh uh continues to panic over uh Amish uh water ice and Italian ice on Google Maps. Um, you know, the one thing that we didn't get to talk about last week, because again, it's my fault because you know we recorded early in the course the next day. Run Disney released the artwork for the 2027 version of the Princess Half Marathon weekend. So we figured we'd take some time this week to chat about that. And uh Jack, uh, you said you had some thoughts on the situation.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

I honestly think it's absolutely beautiful. I love Tiana, I love Snow White, I love Jasmine, and then have Ariel as a challenge. I mean, you never see Jasmine or Ariel anything higher than a 5K or 10K. I don't even think Jasmine's ever been a half before, correct?

SPEAKER_11 15:59

Not that I'm aware of.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

There was statistics floating around. I don't believe so. I see, and I'm really excited for them. I've finally she gets a half marathon, and that is the race that I would like to sign up for. Um, ideally, I would love to do all of them, but you know, races are starting to get expensive. I mean, I'm looking at um the princess half marathon price right now $269. I remember the day when it was $180 back in 2018. I think it was $180 before tax. So I think they priced me out of the challenge. Inflation, man. Yeah. But here's my thing. I I love Disney. I will always want to do it at least once a year. Um but I think I'm gonna start putting money towards other races that I have yet to do. And you'll see that on YouTube. I've got stuff planned, you guys. I'm gonna keep talking about YouTube now.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

So, Jack, who would you say was never more than a half?

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Jasmine.

SPEAKER_11 17:02

So I'm I'm looking here. So, shout out to Matt, um, our buddy over at Team Run Diz. He added a new feature to the website that gives a breakdown of what princesses have been used each year for each race. And uh, Jack, your assumption was correct. This is the first time that Jasmine has been featured as the uh the princess for the half. Uh, she was used in 2025 as the 10k, and then she was also used as the challenge in 2019.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

And now we just need Pocahontas to be on here at some point. She's only been, I think I believe once. You can you can't, yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where's Polkahannes and all this?

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Where's the summer challenge this year?

SPEAKER_02 18:04

I know, and I and I love that it's virtual, but she needs to be on Princess Weekend. I agree. You know what I mean? That's upsetting, but uh overall great weekend.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

And someone brought up a point you're reusing the same princesses. Disney only has so many princesses.

SPEAKER_11 18:20

Thirteen.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Right. Thirteen. Yep. Someone said maybe maybe you should make them like heroines, and that's the right word, right? Heroines. Yeah. Heroines. Not the drug, not the drug. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 18:35

That'd be a much different place with it.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

Yes, yes. And and so you could have more of these women on the Princess Weekend themes.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Yeah, I think they could do a little bit more um bringing things into it. But I do think that it was nice that they put them in a running form on the images. Um, I I know they've done that in the past, but um I feel like it just makes them seem like it's meant to be for a running race rather than when they're just kind of sitting there all pretty, pretty princesses. Um, but yeah, I'm glad to see Jasmine um as a half marathon this year.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Can I put a technicality out there? There is more than 13 princesses that Disney owns. Because don't okay me, John, because here's the theory.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Okay, there's there's another one. I know one other one.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

There's more than just one more. But like you got Vanilla P who's technically a princess. You I'm from Wreck It Ralph. You have, if you want to talk about like random stuff, I mean, you got in Robin Hood, you got a character in there that's a princess. You got um there's other princesses out there. I gotta write a list. I'm gonna make a list, I'm gonna watch all the movies.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

Princess Leia.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

That's what I was gonna say. Star Wars. Thank you, John. See, you got me. You got me.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

And why didn't I know it's called Princess Weekend, but like we don't keep necessarily like with a a straight theme for the other race weekend. So why can't it just be like important women in the Run Disney like or the Disney realm? I don't know.

SPEAKER_11 20:15

No, I I I understand what you're saying, Alicia. I mean, to me, the way that I look at it is obviously a major factor of the Walt Disney company is branding, and obviously they have branded this as a princess weekend, so obviously it it has to revolve around that. But a direction that I would like to see Run Disney go in with this so that you know you know the chatter can can die down a little bit about oh, I'm sick and tired of them using Moana, I'm sick and tired of them using Tiana, is instead of selecting four of the princesses that are that meet that criteria within the Disney portfolio, is just pick one. And then and then have characters in the movie, correct, and then have other you know, with within the races, like let's take Moana, for example. You could use Moana for the the half marathon, but then maybe you do I would love a Pua and Hei Hei. Exactly. Pua for one race, hey Hei for another, I don't know, maybe Kakam, you know, Kakamoras or something, or and then you'll have like Maui for the challenge or something like that. So you it so it still like falls under the princess umbrella, but then you know it it gives you more variety in terms of artwork and design and and everything like that. But at the same time, though, I can you can make a counter argument that maybe that's not the smart play. Because what if someone despises Moana? Well, then I'm not gonna. To go to that weekend, but at the same time, I feel like Run Disney would have zero issue in terms of selling out a race within the day, regardless of whatever the theme is going to be.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

And I know no one can see what we're looking at, but John just posted a whole list of princesses that are not on the official lineup. But oh my goodness, they have Kita from Atlantis, who is the princess, and she has been somebody I wanted to dress up as for one of the Run Disney races so bad.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

I mean, there's Merel Dawn here too, Jack, which I know you love.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Oh, I love dressing up as her. She's one of my favorite costumes.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

They dressed up as her for one of the Halloween costumes or Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween podium one year. I love doing that one.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

And Anna and Elsa?

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Well, no, because they they've had plenty of frozen stuff. Yeah, they've done Elsa, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Yes. Kiera from uh Lion Kings. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Jane Porter from Tarzan. They got a bunch of bunch of them. You could do a lot of these heroines as you can say it.

SPEAKER_11 23:06

So it's interesting. I just looked up what a definition, what the definition is of a Disney princess. Now, granted, this is according to Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. But I guess in order for them to be officially labeled a princess, there they must be the main protagonist in a Walt Disney animation studios film. She must be royal by birth, marry into royalty, or be considered a princess due to an exceptional heroic feat, Ala Mulan. And then format, she must be a human or mostly human, I guess that that goes out there, aerial, uh, and debut in a an original animated feature film, thus excluding television series and sequels.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

So Star Wars can count, because they got so much animated stuff. John, you gotta look and see your you know history. Is Princess Leia in anything animated?

SPEAKER_11 24:17

But that wouldn't fall under Walt Disney Studios animation, though, and that's that's the technicality there. Yeah. But go going back to this year's princess themes, uh, I I like the artwork. I don't love it. There's there there's something about the um the faces? Not necessarily the the faces, like like I like the the idea of there like of a little bit of symmetry be between the four, like especially like when you when I'm I'm looking at the banner graphic right now that's on the the princess half um webpage. And obviously, you know, the the way that the the eye looks pretty similar for both jasmine and ariel and and such. You know, and I it's weird, like I'm back and forth because like I like the idea of like the determined face that they all have because obviously they're participating in a running event, but at the same time, it also kind of has like this is gonna be terrible to say, but almost kind of like like a mean-ish tone to it as well. So like I don't know, I I can't I can't balance it between are they determined or are they angry and upset that you know they're going through Blizzard Beach parking lot or something like that, you know? Um, but the other thing too is I I can't remember what if it was I think it was two years ago, our our comments about the the princess themes were that we thought they were very, very simplistic. And and I remember we I I think I had made a joke that like did like a 10-year-old like come up with the the design choice, or you know, it was just it was too simple for me. And I feel like this is like a step above that, but a downgrade from that beautiful like stained glass concept that they went with last year. Because I mean I I remember saying that to folks um last race season that even though I've never done a princess before, I think this was the first year I had FOMO about not getting the princess metal because they really did a nice job with the artwork and the metal design on all of these. So, yeah, but so that's where I I I stand on the artwork.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

I I get you I get you with the artwork because it's it reminds me of what they do with color forms. I don't know if you had those when you were a kid.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

What is that?

SPEAKER_04 26:40

Okay, so basically the way Jasmine and Ariel look, and Tiana and Snow White, it's the same body, right? But it looks like okay, here, let me put a red wig on it. Now I got Ariel. Let me put a black wig on it.

SPEAKER_11 26:59

Yes, yes, yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

And it that's exactly what it looks like to me. Let's put the colors on it. You put the covers the colors over the top of the bottle on the bottom, and there's your artwork. I mean, it's the same body style for everybody. The k the princesses are cool, but I mean, like I said, I guess running princesses does not really work well in this in this for in this uh this this format to me.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

You know what would be really cool is if it was Princess Weekend, but on the reverse side, they're villains.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Well, they did that for Wine and Dine. Yeah, which made no sense. Now that they made no sense.

SPEAKER_11 27:35

No, I agree. If if you would have done villains, yeah, it would make sense to do it with a Princess Weekend. Well, didn't they do that now that I think about that? Wasn't there a year? Let me find. I remember is we had made this comment with uh It was last year, wasn't it? Mulan. Um, all right, so Mulan was used it was 2025. I think we had made a comment. Okay, this is all coming back to me now. I remember we liked the artwork from 2025 because that year it was Mulan, Jasmine, Aurora, and Snow White. And within the artwork and the metal, there was some type of nod to the villain associated with that princess. It the the year that I was talking about in terms of not liking the artwork was 2024, when it was Ariel, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Anna and Elsa.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 28:35

So so they they they have done something like that before, but again, with having princess in the brandy, I think the the princess always has to be you know the the main focal point. Well, that was a very healthy discussion, but let let's let's tie a bow on it by asking who's registering on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

I think it's only me. I'm sure Bob is.

SPEAKER_11 28:58

I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure Bob will probably be doing something.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

I know, I know, because that's is that is that the same we could guess Barilla again or no?

SPEAKER_02 29:05

It is. You know what? He might only do like the 10K or something. I feel like he wouldn't skip out, you know. He usually does every race.

SPEAKER_11 29:13

Well, that one year he did what was he called it the Pirate the Princess Challenge or something. I think that was the year he did the 5k, then drove back to Tampa, did one of the races there, and then came back for the half. So maybe he might do something like that again.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

I know he said that he'll be at every race weekend, it's just a matter of if what or if he's doing anything. So

Costumes, Villains Ideas, Registration Talk

SPEAKER_03 29:40

I guess we'll have to find out next week.

SPEAKER_11 29:42

What I want to know is, I mean, you know, obviously Bob has really taken a liking to doing costumes. Tiana is the um the princess for the 5k. So what kind of princess in the frog costume do we think we could come up with for Bob?

SPEAKER_02 30:00

What if he dressed up as a if he did the 5K, you know, he'd probably find a good like frog costume. That's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_11 30:07

Okay, all right. A couple of frogs.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Like someone could be like the lily pad, or and then someone could be like, what's that one character that he's so cute, but he he dies. Sorry if I ruined that movie for you. The lightning bug guy, yeah. Ray, that's right. Yeah, that scene makes me like cry every time. It's so sad. But then he gets to be. Here we go. Here we go.

SPEAKER_11 30:33

We we do we do a group, we do a uh he does a couples costume. Becky, Becky comes out of retirement, Bob can be again, yeah. Ray, uh Bob can be Ray, and Becky can be Evangeline, and then they can be two and they can be two stars.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

That would be so cute.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

Just go back. Gasparilla is not the same weekend as Princess.

SPEAKER_11 30:57

Oh, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

Gaspar Gasp Princess is February 25th through March 1st, 2027, and Gasparilla is February 20th and 21st, 2027. So it's the week before. Okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_11 31:10

So uh but going back to Bob's costume ideas, I can't wait uh for him to listen to this and be like, what are you folks getting me into? Uh uh maybe Lewis. I think he would make a good Lewis. Yeah. Get him, you know, a cool alligator hat or something like that, and a mini trumpet. Dr.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Facilier.

SPEAKER_11 31:31

Ooh, okay. All right. I like that. Facilier is tall. Okay. The last one I thought of is Bob just dresses as a giant beignet.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Oh my gosh. He should totally, and you know what you can do is probably get some like beignets from like the night before over at Port Orleans, heat them up in their microfave microwave, and then you you get the smell, and also you can have it on a platter so people can have a beignet.

SPEAKER_11 31:57

I mean, K K did that a couple of years ago uh when Tiana was part of Wine and Dine.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_11 32:05

She bought them the night before. Jack, she did not heat them up, but they did smell pretty good the next morning to this morning.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

So we're planning Bob's costumes and he's not even here.

SPEAKER_11 32:15

Love it. I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_06 32:17

Caution runners, the topic is about to

What Would Alicia Do

SPEAKER_06 32:20

change right now.

SPEAKER_11 32:23

All right, comes to that very, very important time of the podcast where I turn to the microphone, I turn to my computer screen, and I ask, hey, how you doing? No, no, no. That's my line. I know that's your line. I ask, what would Alicia do?

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Yeah, Greg. So last week we talked about um rest and recovery, which I've gotten a lot of good feedback for. So I hope that our listeners are taking that to heart and taking some time for rest and recovery. Um, but this week I wanted to chat about being able to adapt to what life has to throw at us. Um, I was all set, I got all my stuff laid out for my long run today, um, went to bed early, had my alarm set, and then I woke up with a little bit of a stomach bug. Um, and so I wasn't able to do my long run today. And I know that I've seen a lot of posts about people having brainstorms and different things across the country. Um, and I just wanted to remind our listeners that things will come up. Um, and yes, we need the training plans, but they aren't set in stone. You can adjust. Um, and so not using it as an excuse for things to just get in the way of your training. Um, but if there are things like today that I have no control over, taking the time for my rest and recovery and extra hydration um and adjusting things accordingly. Um and so I hope that if you're feeling frustrated out there with little things that are happening that you feel like are out of your control, um, that you take a step back, take a breath, um, and are able to reassess and pick up your training um when you you're able to.

SPEAKER_11 34:14

And that's what Alicia would do.

SPEAKER_06 34:17

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_11 34:22

All right, folks, before we get into our uh featured interview for the week, uh John has some breaking news for us.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

It looks like opening soon. Uh Rita's of Gat PA, which is five miles away from uh the bird in hand, I guess, uh, zip code. So there's uh Rita's coming soon on Lincoln Highway.

SPEAKER_11 34:45

Well, there you go. So rest assured for all of you that are traveling all

Rita’s Breaking News

SPEAKER_11 34:50

over the country and internationally. Uh I I did I did uh learn just the other day that we have a couple of Canadian friends uh coming down for uh bird in hand as well, too. So have no fear, there's a better chance now that Italian slash wood or ice will be available at this year's race.

SPEAKER_06 35:08

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

SPEAKER_11 35:14

In the Run Disney community, there are plenty of icons. But the other thing that I think is synonymous with the Run Disney community is that we're just a bunch of crazy people that love to run these varying distances and wear some very elaborate costumes. But our guest this week is known for his costume, but the funny thing about

Interview With Fireman Rob Begins

SPEAKER_11 35:40

it is he doesn't really dress as a Disney character. This week we are joined by Fireman Rob, the man that you've seen on the course who runs all the miles in full firefighter gear and inspires thousands with every step. He's an endurance powerhouse, and to us, he is a living reminder to ignite the fire within. Fireman Rob, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. I'm ready to go do a dopey race right now.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

I don't know about you guys, but I after that, Greg, I'm I'm ready to do the dopey right now.

SPEAKER_11 36:18

I love the enthusiasm because you know, as we're gonna talk about, you know, over the course of this interview, you know, just the physical and the mental feats that you put yourself through are truly incredible. But you know, let's get a little bit of the backstory here before you know you jump into your next dopey here. And that is for someone who might be new to the Run Disney community, tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Yeah, so I I've been a uh firefighter for the city of Madison for since 2000. Um, I worked as uh search and recovery at September 11th. Um, I was only a year in the fire service. I was 23 years old when I that happened. Um, I was a military medic um for the United States Air Force. Um, I've got you know some world records here and there. Um, I've only finished uh let's see, I just finished and I just did this tabulation uh yesterday in my fire gear since I've started this in 2011, and I do it all for mental health. I do it for so people know that they're not alone. I've done over 1,450 miles in my full fire gear since 2011 just for racing.

SPEAKER_10 37:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_11 37:29

Did you notice how he used the famous Run Disney just in there? You know, just the marathon, just 1,450 miles. Not not my first rodeo.

SPEAKER_05 37:42

Which leads to if that's just racing miles, you train in your gear also?

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, so I train in my gear, but I also train in um like a sweatsuit. So like you know, the old wrestling, like yeah, the nylon, plastic kind of stuff. Exactly. Exactly. I I train in that just I call it tolerance training. You gotta you gotta you gotta be able to tolerate the uncomfortable so that you can do great things.

SPEAKER_04 38:07

You started running in 2011 in your fireman's gear, but when did you start running?

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Oh, I've been running since I was a kid. Actually, I was a swimmer when I was young. Uh when I was young, um, we had a pool right up the street from our house. And uh my mom, you know, you know those uh commercials that you used to have when we were kids. Uh uh, it's 10 o'clock. Where are your kids? They always knew we were at the pool. And uh so I swam since I was super young competitively, um, played basketball, played water polo in college. Um, my first triathlon actually was um at Disney. Uh it was actually the half they used to have an iron uh half iron man at Walt Disney World. It was in long, it didn't last long, it was so hot. I got passed by an 83-year-old on the run course. I wasn't wearing my gear. Holy cow, but I bonked. And it was I learned how to be humble. But uh yeah, I've been I've been running ever since, and um, doing it in my gear is a totally different bird, and uh it it just helps me to understand why I'm still out there. Um, the pain is actually part of the the pleasure for me.

SPEAKER_05 39:12

When did you get started running at Disney?

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Uh let's see, I have one on uh oh five. Oh five. Oh five was my first Disney Marathon. Um, yeah. So I actually have that downstairs, that metal downstairs, it's hanging up there. That's that's a proud, it's a proud metal. I uh absolutely yeah, I love it. It's um yeah.

SPEAKER_11 39:31

So you weren't kidding when you said this wasn't your first rodeo in terms of you know all these challenges and such. But you know, Rob, I do want to backtrack a little bit here before we get into the running and the mental training that you put yourself through. You mentioned, you know, in your introduction that you have been a professional firefighter for over 20 years. Enlighten me and enlighten the the rest of our listening community. What is the difference between someone like yourself who has this as their career versus, say, a volunteer firefighter? Both heroes, by the way. But what is the difference?

SPEAKER_01 40:07

So it's it's always an interesting thing because you know, volunteers they have their own jobs, they have their own lives that they have to, and then on top of it, they're going and doing the jobs that we do that I get to do, uh, luckily as a career firefighter. So um my my job consists of I do 24 hour shifts. So we work from 7 a.m. till 7 a.m. the next day. Um, we're at the firehouse the whole day. We cook two meals um during the day. If it's my cooking, we're ordering out because I suck at cooking. Um but uh yeah, we and we we train during the day. We have some downtime. Um the station that I'm at is uh one of the busiest in uh the city of Madison um between the three rigs. So we have a medic unit there, we have a tower ladder, and we have an engine. Um last year we uh responded to 10,800 calls um just in our station that's between the three rigs. So holy cow! It's a busy, it's a busy station. And so you you sometimes get sleep, you sometimes don't. Um we're we're pretty busy there. Um, and then I have to mix this is the hard thing, is like you mix the fire station with home, and that's the hard thing, is like when you leave that station, we could have had really tough calls, a long night. Um, you have to come home and be that human being that you need to be at home for your family, for your kids, um, for yourself. And it's not an easy profession. It definitely is not an easy profession to be in um to for longevity. And my son just started. Uh, he actually just got on with the Raleigh Fire Department in North Carolina. Um, he's 19 years old. Uh, and uh I love it. But it makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 41:44

Yeah, I bet you're proud, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Super proud, super proud.

SPEAKER_05 41:47

You should be, man.

SPEAKER_11 41:48

Yeah, super proud. All right. Well, Rob, thank you so much for you know providing you know that that detailed breakdown of you know the career path that that you are on, and now that your that your son is embarking on, which is incredible. But let's now start molding in the career firefighter and then not just running at Disney, but just running in general. Walk us through what exactly you were all wearing on your body during a race.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Everybody sees the outside, so they see the helmet. Um, and that's a leather helmet that I wear. Um, Phoenix Technology always gives me a helmet since I started this, it's an amazing helmet. Um, and then I have a tin on the front um that actually says hope. Um, and I hope that everybody reads that because that word in itself, I know without action doesn't mean anything, um, but with action can create some great things in your life. And I have my my bunker jacket, I have my bunker pants, and then I wear underneath it to not chafe, I have to wear full spandex. So I have to wear a full legs, leg spandex, and I have to wear full um top, um, long sleeve shirt underneath. So it's not nothing's nothing's airing out underneath at all. Nothing cool, right? No, nothing cool. And then I wear tennis shoes. So I'm I'm I'm only I I always say I'm like a third smart, not not anything that um you got a good base though, a good base. And and when I started, I actually wore the air pack. I wore the air pack, which is about 35 pounds. I wore that for many, many years. I got a knee replacement in 2023. Um, and I kind of had to, you know, use that third of smarts that I have and uh go, you know what? I I can back down a little bit. So yeah, so of that 1450 miles that I've done um since I got the knee replacement, I've done 500 of those since the knee replacement.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

So you said the air pack was 35 pounds. How much is everything altogether?

SPEAKER_01 43:48

So everything altogether, if I really weighed it out, would be uh way about 55 55 pounds or so. And every time I get water on it or as I sweat, it's It just weights it down. Everything there's no it it absorbs everything and it's it just gets heavier as I go on.

SPEAKER_05 44:08

That that weight is tough in itself. I get that. But I think the toughest part, especially where we're running in Florida, has got to be the heat.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Yeah. Everything stays inside. And that's that's the hard thing for for me is everything just is it just sweats. Yeah, it sweats and it just it wears on you. I mean, all of you done races, you know, it wear it wears on you as you go on, and like I have no reprieve. I always love when people go up come by and they go, um, oh, can you feel that breeze? And I'm like, Nope. But I appreciate you saying it.

SPEAKER_05 44:43

I I recall, and you're not gonna remember this. I recall this last marathon, it was warm. Oh, it was warm, and I was having a hard time. And I I did catch up to you on the course, and I walked by and I said, Brother, I'm gonna stop whining.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

I you know what the funny thing is, I remember somebody coming up to me and saying that because I love that. It's like, yeah, all right, I gotta stop whining too.

SPEAKER_05 45:07

If you can do this, I'm gonna if you can do this, I'm gonna stop whining about it being so hot.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

So I don't know if you remember the marathon course where um on the back side of it where Chewy was. Chewbacca? Yeah, one of the one of the character stops. So some some lady, I can't remember what her name was. I wish I did, but she would run ahead and hold a spot for me. And so we got up, and then I got into that line, and I'm sitting there, and it this was one of my favorite character stops ever. I go up there and Chewy's right there, and I just leaned into him and he held me up. I was like, This is the greatest thing I've ever had. Yeah, you know, like it's this big furry dog or whatever the heck. I don't know what Chewy is, but I don't think any of it, whatever he is, he held me up perfectly, and uh and they got a picture of that, and it's it's just one of my favorite pictures.

SPEAKER_11 45:53

Of all characters, though, to cuddle up to, you pick the furriest one with how hot you are already to begin with. That's exactly right. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, it's perfect height.

SPEAKER_10 46:04

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

He was hoping for Chewy to carry in the rest of the way. Not talking, John.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

See, now this is this is what I didn't think about. This is that one-third smart. We're going right back to it.

SPEAKER_03 46:19

So, Rob, speaking of having the different temperature influences and then also having that extra weight, how do you train differently with wearing the gear and everything during those races?

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Yeah, so a lot of it's just tolerance training. It's it's it's getting my mind to to be able to push myself past some points of physical, um, really uh limits of uh, you know, there's many times that I've blacked out on courses and still kept going. Right um at Iron Man Kona, I did that the last mile. I don't even remember the last mile. I had to watch it back on video. Um, and uh the biggest thing that I always say is like, you know, when you go out there and race and when you push yourself beyond limits, I mean, these races, the dopey, the, you know, you do any of the challenges that Disney has, um, that you're pushing your limits, you're pushing that envelope. And so the more that you can train yourself to just be okay with not being okay, and it works for the racing and the mental side, that's the difference maker right there. Is you know, I can train the miles, but if I don't train myself to to embrace the suck when it happens, there's no point.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

So I got a question. So you said you embrace the suck. Yeah, uh, being a firefighter, how much is that training ties into your job? Because you're thrown into crazy situations.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Yeah, embracing the suck to make it suck just a little less um is kind of is kind of the nature of the beast in the fire service. The fire service um it teaches you to have calm under pressure. And when you have that calm under pressure, it creates a different dynamic in your brain. Um, it's a it's that task orientation. And uh for me, like you know, that the last uh marathon, I had to go to task mode. I knew balloon ladies were somewhere on the course, I knew that there was the heat was there and that I was I was I was blanking out, but I had to keep going. And and so firefighting has really brought me to that point as well as racing to find that ability to just push when there's nothing else in that tank. And that's where passion and my why comes into play.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

Absolutely. So you talked about taking that mental um struggle from doing the firefighting into um the running. What about vice versa? Have you used the mental strength that you've learned from running to go back into firefighting?

SPEAKER_01 48:55

Oh, completely. That is that is a perfect question because that is um that's how I have survived in firefighting, to be honest with you. Like when I started racing, I was I was in a place of of really I was not good. I was not good. I was not the best self I could be. I was not even half of the self I could be. Um, I was going through the motions of life. And for me, racing really gave me that understanding of why, the purpose of why, um, why I'm out there. Um, the pain let me know I was still alive. The pain let me know that I could I could do tough things in this life and still be okay. Um that really translated well into the fire service. I think I became a better firefighter. I became a better mentor, um, just understanding that when we put limits on ourselves, we actually put limits on our opportunities and our abilities. And for me, when I started doing these races, um, like we had talked about before, I don't I I really can't tell you how I finished some of these things. I don't know. I don't know. It just happened. Um, and that translated in the fire service to be able to um do crazy things.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

With all that being said, what is like the hottest or the toughest race you've ever done in your gear?

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Yeah, that that's gonna it's gonna go right back to the Iron Man Kona. Um, I was invited there in 2012, not because I was fast. Um, these are the world championships, and I was invited there.

SPEAKER_05 50:28

This is the full try then. This was this is the full.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

This is a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2 mile uh walk run in the lava fields of Kona, like iconic Kona. Um, my my the funny thing is, my my coach always said, you know, Rob, you look like a bear on the bike at the circus. So you you can imagine me going through these Kona fields with the with the 20 mile an hour winds, and it was a brutal day. Like you go back and watch some of the video from that day, and there's a lot of people that said that was one of the more brutal Kona races there was. So for me to get to even the run course on that um is amazing. And then when I got on the run course, there was so there's so much fun on the run course, let's put it that way. I got on the run course, I was so depleted, I was so beaten up from the bike um that I'm going out there and I'm walking, and and uh one of my sponsors was Xterra wetsuits, and uh the president comes up and CEO comes up and he goes, What do you need? You look you look like crap, and I was like, Yeah, I do look like crap. Like, I need a burger or something. He's like, All right, I gotcha, I gotcha. And so, like, there's so many people out there, and everything on that Queen Kamehameha Highway looks exactly the same at dark. So you play these mind games and you're looking at the street like oh, I'm almost there, and then you're not, and then you just keep going. And there were so many mind games I had to play with myself that day um to be able to finish. And I finished with like 15 minutes to spare. You have 17 hours to finish. I finished at like 16 hours and 45 minutes, and uh the last mile is on Alehi Drive, and my dad, my dad passed in 2019 of cancer, but my dad was always a mile out from the finish line, and it's because he knew the importance of that. He knew the importance that that was my finish line. That was where I knew that I had done the work. That last mile is just it's that's celebration, that's fine. But I knew that I had done the work, and so he and um two of my good friends, Alan Pedalensk and his wife, were on the one the corner um on Alehi Drive. That was the last thing I remember before I crossed the finish line and I hugged my wife. I don't remember Aley Drive at all. I don't remember the finish line, what I did. Um, one of the pros at the uh next morning says, Oh, so great to see you, Rob, at the finish line. I was like, Yeah, it was great to see you too. She's like, You don't remember me. I was like, No, I didn't remember seeing you, but it was like completely blacked out. I wish I would remember it because I I heard it was pretty cool. Um, but I saw my finish line and I was happy I didn't do anything stupid.

SPEAKER_05 53:10

And it never came back to you.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Never came back to me. I still don't, I still the only thing I can remember is just turning on to Oleahy Drive. And um, yeah, I've watched the finish line many times and um it was pretty cool because the the mayor came out and uh and bowed before me. It was it was amazing, it was just an amazing adventure um that you that you do for a bigger reason. That's the only way that you can finish these things. I know I wish I'd been there too.

SPEAKER_05 53:39

Hey, listen, let's get back. I mean, that's wonderful. Let's get back to Disney for a second. Yeah, I'm sure you get recognized on the course by cast members and and other folks now. How's that feel?

SPEAKER_01 53:48

I I love it. I've I've I've been a Disney kid since I was young. It's uh it reminds, you know, Walt Disney is one of those guys that I wish I would have been able to meet. Um, because what he created with this, um, the ability to dream, not just as a child but as an adult, the ability to aspire to whatever you want to be able to do in your life, um, and to have that feeling, like when he said, uh, to all welcome. This is your place. Every time I go to Disney, I feel that. I feel that. And they they call it on the the island, they call it the mana. And it it's that feeling that you just you just get every time you go. And so for um Disney, it's it has a special place in my heart. Um, my parents always took me there. I worked there as a lifeguard at at Blizzard Beach for a little while. No way, yeah, yes. I was I I went there on the college program. Um, so yeah, so it's it's got a huge special place in my heart, and um just uh being able to run through the parks, being able to have people out there who are doing maybe their first half, their first full, and inspire them to keep going. Um, I feel like I I'm I maybe make Walt smile every once in a while.

SPEAKER_11 55:02

I love hearing you talk about Walt so much, and my follow-up to that whole statement is what does it mean to you, Rob, that as part of almost every single Main Street USA, but obviously most importantly, Walt Disney World and Disneyland, that there are firehouses there. Right. What what what does that mean to you? And do you have you know any of your station's patches in in either of those buildings at all?

SPEAKER_01 55:29

I I I don't, but like Walt lived at that one. He lived at the firehouse, he lived above the firehouse. Like it was, and he always he always cherished the first responders, and that was such a big thing for me. Is like I I get chills just thinking about it, is like that is something that is so huge for me that they have that as an icon and on Main Street, uh, you know, both at Disneyland and at Disney World. And uh for for me to see like Walt's last day was in a fire truck. That's I mean, I don't know if I remember a lot of people remember that. It was his last day was driving around in a fire truck at Disneyland. And um, I always used his I have his quote on on something down there that says, It's fun to do the impossible.

SPEAKER_05 56:13

Oh, yeah, we know that one.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

Yeah, that is something that I I I just ingrain in my head every time. I mean, that's the only reason I have the world records. That's the only reason I have all these other things. Is it you know what? It's fun to do that because why not?

SPEAKER_11 56:26

Yeah. All right, Rise and Run community. What we need to do is we need to start a campaign so that one of these race weekends, Rob, you're you're like the the veteran or you know, the the first responder of the day that's allowed to take home the the flag from Main Street that day, just for that answer alone.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

Why do you gotta make me cry, Greg? That's like one of my biggest, that's one of my biggest dreams. Let's make it happen, folks. Oh man, that's one of my biggest dreams. Like I wouldn't I would lose it. I would lose it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:02

All right, we've established that the folks know you, and you just brought it up a second ago. I bet a lot of folks don't know that you are in, or at least were in, the Guinness Book of World Records.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Yeah, yeah. So uh 2015, um, a lot of times you have to do something crazy to make people understand, to make people listen and kind of open their eyes to something new. And for me, I was like, you know what? I want to break the world record for the most number of Iron Man 70.3s, which is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run in one year. And it was held, it was um held by uh James, James Lawrence. Uh he had done 22 in one year, which is crazy, you know, which is crazy enough. And so I was like, all right, well, let me let me start this up. And I had to orchestrate my schedule. So picture this. I have to orchestrate all these races, travel to all these races, they're not all in Wisconsin. I have to work at the firehouse, my kids were young, um, and I have to, you know, keep myself sane. And I was speaking as well at the time. So there's a lot of things that went into this whole year of being able to do it. And my wife was amazing to be able to just allow me to do this crazy thing and and support me throughout the way. And my parents went along for a lot of the races, and um, yeah, I did that year I did 26, but um three of them didn't count. So I I finished beating the world record with 23. Um, the cool thing is that um everything in life happens for a reason. And number 22 um happened to be in Arizona, and it was an add-on race that I didn't I didn't think about. And I had gotten a call. So um only the brave is a movie about 19 hotshot firefighters, um, Granite Mountain hotshots um that perished. Um the fire overran them. And I was called by one of the parents of one of the firefighters who had died that day. And he said, Will you carry the flag for our boys um during that race? And I said, Yeah, uh immediately. And thank God Iron Man, Iron Man was amazing that year. They helped me get into all the races I needed to get into. But I did that race that day, um, carrying much more than just the weight of the pack and the helmet and everything like that, um, but carrying the weight of remembering uh the sacrifices that people have made before me. And um carrying that across the finish line to tie the world record was probably one of the most powerful things that I've ever done. Um, because of the fact that it was doing it for something bigger than yourself. And the medal and um my race bib, everything went to um Ashworth is the dad. Um, and so all of that stuff's with them. And it was a pretty cool race. It was one of the most iconic races. But the funny thing was is we're running to the finish line. No, not running. Why why would I say running? Uh, walking fastly um to the finish line. And um, we're about a mile out, and one of the um women that was walking with us was uh close family with um the those gentlemen, and uh all of a sudden in her back pocket her phone starts to play some music, it's like Metallica, and she starts to cry a little bit. I'm like, what's going on? She goes, This is a song that they played in their um buses when they're going to fires. And she's like, It was in my back pocket, I didn't have my phone on. And so it's just one of those things where it's like there's so many things that happen in life that we're not meant to know why or when. But if we just put ourselves out there and give it the ability to show itself, oh man, it it is an amazing adventure.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:56

It reveals itself in a bunch of different ways. You never know where, you never know when, you never know who.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:01

It's uh it's a great way to go through life, Rob.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Yeah, it is. And for so many years I was lost and I found myself with doing this stuff, and I tell you, I I I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe the temperature in a few races.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:20

You're out there running in full fire gear. So, what does representing the firefighters at all these events mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:27

Um, it it means it means um giving people an ability to see what I'm doing, give an ability for people to take away what they need in that moment. Um, everybody looks at firefighters differently and they get motivated by them, they feel inspired, they feel safe. Um, and I think wearing the fire gear and being able to represent the fire service, and that's a that's a heavy burden um because there's so many great men and women that do this job every single day who sacrifice, who have sacrificed. Uh, one of my best friends in the world um was a line of duty death a year ago in Chicago, Dave Meyer. He was on the pile with me at 9-11. Um, there's a lot of people who have uh given more than they've got. And um, I think it's it's so important to be able to wear that and honor it. Um I never uh uh unbutton, I try to never unbutton like in the beginning. I did I once, but I've never um take off my um fire jacket. I always keep it as close as I can because I want to honor it. I don't want to take it off. I don't want to um some people have asked to carry my helmet and I wear my helmet because it's about honoring the profession that I loved my entire life and honoring those who have paid that ultimate sacrifice. And I think it's so important um that I look the part and give that honor to the gear as well. And so being able to be out there as a firefighter wearing that gear, it's it's an honor every single time I do it.

SPEAKER_11 1:03:04

Well, Rob, I think the the honor is all ours in terms of just this conversation and and just the the wisdom that that you've imparted. But you know, I think we we would be remiss if you know we didn't dig a little bit deeper into this, you know, and you've mentioned it a couple of times here. Early on in your career, you're at the front lines of 9-11. If you if you want to just talk about that experience and then maybe also shape it in the way of how did that experience influence your career and then your mental fortitude, which I'm then sure probably does translate to your running adventures.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

Yeah. So I was I was only barely a year. So I had gotten into the firehouse um out of the academy in October of 2000 and um gotten into the stations. And I mean, it was I was barely into my career. Um, so when I got to 9-11, um, I I had actually had a fire at the firehouse. Um, there was a fire in our district the morning of 9-11. Um, we got back to the stations. I was up in the showers um and heard on the radio that uh a tower had been hit in New York City and didn't think anything of it, um, but went downstairs and watched the television and it uh saw the other one had been hit. And um, I was called by my rescue team that I was on, and they said, Can you get to New York? And I said, Yeah. Um, how do I get there? And they said, You we gotta drive. And so I drove uh from my house to New York City because that was the only way we could get anywhere at that point, and uh got there. Um, we got our badges um and went to the pile and got after it. And so it's it was um it was surreal. I don't I don't think I I I could fully grasp what I was going into um at 23 years old. Um it looked like a movie scene. Um when I first got there, they had movie lights out, um you know the the the vastness of the the rescue scene. Um it's almost it almost takes your breath away to think of well, we got to get through all of that um to see if there's anybody there. And I think at the time um it was more of um recovery. Um once I got there, even and that was the hard that was the hard, harsh reality. And we had bucket brigades, we had times that we go and do tunnel network where we'd be climbing just through the concrete, and um, we'd have amazing individuals that were not meant to do this, but they're um welders that would come and cut the rebar for us um with our welding torture. I mean, it was unbelievable um to me as I got older, and I took a step back because the mental toll it took on me was a lot. Um, there's there's stories that I tell um when I speak a lot. Um um that I've that I've told before and and they still hurt um but there's a lot of stories that I that I have um that I keep that I that I that it's um it's uh it's a deep scar let's put it that way it's a deep scar that I I can never get rid of and I think that's a lot of people understand um who have mental health issues is that it's not like a cold or a flu. You can't take medication to just make it go away. It's always going to be there. Um it's how you persevere through it. And for me 9-11 um one of the cool things I look back is um they had lunch pails or lunch boxes uh gray sacks um that the American Red Cross had but the children in the schools in the local areas had written uh messages and they had colored and all this stuff and I had that one um the little note that I had was amazing it had the towers it had a flag and it was proud of you and it was just one of those things where you just it it takes you back to why you're out there um it takes you away from the death the destruction and and the um the just the feeling that you're not gonna you're not doing anything that's beneficial um but I uh I was exhausted and and I'm sure there's many responders that can speak to it as far as um it it it takes your life away for a while and getting into racing I had to start speaking about 9-11 because people were asking I had to find what the positives were for myself um and I think the positive that the best one I came up with was the amount of people that came together with no other um direction of travel but forward but inspiring other people to just keep working keep digging keep crawling didn't matter what it was but it was all about that forward movement and and racing that's all it is about it's about forward movement whether you're crawling walking you know whatever it is you keep moving forward and that's that's how we live our lives and with mental health that's you know how I have to live my life is I have to look forward. I can't look back all the time and sometimes I need to to just remind myself of how far I've come um but it's always that constant moving forward that's so important. And 911's a big part of my life and it's um changed a lot of things in my life and like I've said before I wouldn't change a thing. I mean I've got me uh some health issues that I deal with from it from breathing to um GI stuff but um it's gotten me where I'm at and uh it's continuing to get me to where I need to go.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

Rob I know that you said that on your helmet um you have the word hope which is one of my favorite words um and you've talked about a couple of Walt Disney quotes but is there one specific that you think of while you're going through these races um that really helps get get you to that finish line this is this is gonna sound different but it's um on my mental health journey and and it and it and I actually already said it um it was when he invited everybody into the the Disneyland and it was to all who come welcome and for me that that means so much more than just welcome here.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:30

It means to all who come to get better to all who come to change their lives to all who come to make a difference in this world welcome we're here with you and that is the whole point of what we do this for and that's that's my favorite one.

SPEAKER_11 1:09:48

I love it Rob I am fixated on this idea of moving forward and and trust me from now on for not only just a run Disney race but just running in general I think that is going to play on a loop in my head so so thank you for that I really I truly truly do uh appreciate that but you know let let's bring this back to the to the running community a little bit here and you know talk about the mental side of running of outside of the idea of keep moving forward what advice can you impart to the Run Disney community that when times are tough when when you're slogging it on Western way out of Animal Kingdom or the the lovely Blizzard Beach parking lot or something like that what other mental tips have you learned over again throughout your career as a firefighter but then also motivational speaker and runner extraordinaire in in this incredible setup that that you think would be beneficial to the community?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:57

Yeah I think the one thing that I always say and I had to learn this um through many many miles um is you have to learn how to talk to yourself kindly and it's a very tough thing to do um we are naturally pessimistic we are naturally um going to think of the negative side first and for yourself to be able to learn and teach yourself to be able to talk to yourself kindly in those states of distress in those states of um of fatigue is so critical and that only comes with putting yourself in those situations and a lot of people will train the miles they'll do the miles but they won't do the uncomfortable miles. It's raining outside or I'm tired today I have a cold or whatever it is. Those are the uncomfortable miles where you learn how to speak to yourself in a nice way or speak to yourself in a motivating way. And it's so important um Jocko Willink one of my favorite quotes he ever said um he was talking about something that he used to say to his guys as um they used to complain like the mission's not going today and he'd say good we have more time to train don't have the right gear that we need for this uh this mission good we'll learn how to do it with the what stuff we have and it was such a powerful statement and he and he said it and I was like man that's so true like we can't control what we can't control and my dad always said that he said control the controllables and it's so hard to do that when you're stressed out but it's so true in those circumstances it's hot out good I get a I get a good sweat you know I get to lay on Chewbacca um you have to just reframe that mind and that's where that mental toughness comes into play but that isn't built overnight that's not built sitting around it's built in the times of uncomfortableness aside from laying into Chewbacca what brings you back to the run Disney events specifically the people yeah that's the answer man yeah you can't you cannot get better people like when you're out on that run course everybody's there because they love to be there like I you can't how many other places can you say that they love to be there they love the philosophy they love the the culture they love you know getting to run through Main Street like like I mean I get it there's people that don't understand that and that's fine there's stuff for everybody but there's that culture of Disney there's that feeling that Disney can give to a lot of people and that's that run Disney community is everybody's in it not for the PR not for the the um amazing unbelievable courses they're in it because of what it is and what it is is so much bigger than just a race.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:50

Jeff Galloway called it the greatest force for fitness in the United States and I think he was right.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:58

By far oh by far so with everybody that you've met during the race weekends um at Disney which one is the one story that you that has truly stayed with you throughout all this time that's a that's a tough one um gosh there's so many great stories there's so many people that come up that that uh will tell me their stories or will will um you know walk with me for a little bit um gosh that's a good one um I would have to say here's my my my greatest story so my dad had passed in 2019 and my brother not not a runner I mean he was a swimmer in college and um I was like Jay you want to do a half marathon with me for dad and we wore I didn't wear my gear that year because well I did wear my gear yeah I did but we wore um uh Papa was what our kids called uh my dad and so he and I did the half marathon together for my dad and that race in itself um was just so powerful the whole time just knowing that my dad was there and that Jason and I were uh going out there and um doing it for him and I think you know the amount of times that they took us and showed us the way of what um a positive life can be, what a productive life can be and how we can make an impact in this life um that was one of the cooler races that I've ever done and I've done a ton of them but that was that was um an impact that I'll always remember.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

I know that Bob has spoken and um a couple of us have seen you on course what do you hope that people feel when they see you on the Run Disney courses that's the hardest thing is like I always want people to take away what they want.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:52

Sometimes um they've they've had the fire department come to their house maybe they had a fire or maybe they had a loved one that was saved by one of the one of the medic units or maybe they have their own uh firefighter their their police officer or their military and they're like yeah all right this is what I needed. And I think that's the great thing about being out there in the gear and being able to allow people to have that moment of what they need as they're coming to pass me because everybody passes me um and and have that moment and then when they get to me whatever they want to say that's what I love to that's what I love is like hey my my brother's a firefighter or you know I needed this or or or Bob's you know I can't complain now you know that that is exactly what you you needed at that moment. So for me um I think the thing that I want people to take away from that moment is whatever you need you take.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:48

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:48

Hey Rob you got a favorite race weekend I I I have to say the the um January one the marathon race weekend weekend is one of my favorites um I'm doing I'm doing uh wine and dine this year um which will be awesome and then next year I think I'm I'm be doing every single race um so that'll be that'll be a fun adventure yeah it will um it'll be exhausting but fun um but yeah no that I think that's that's one of my favorites it's uh iconic um and uh yeah it's just so many fun things to do that weekend it's big lots of folks yeah yeah you know Rob something that just dawned on me is obviously you know you wear the gear for every single race in your situation does it really matter what the the weather's like because you're you're gonna sweat profusely into this stuff do you bring multiple sets with you or what what is the cleaning routine because I can't imagine what that gear smells like on marathon stuff oh my golly uh it is it smells awful like there's no there's no getting beyond it I feel sorry for some people standing around me and they're like it's good it's got a shower or something um it is it is one of the most breeze like it doesn't even work I've tried everything and well it's because it's like the fire gear so it's like Nomex and so like it to wash like I've washed it so I've I've gone through I think at least and since 2011 I've gone through almost eight pairs of gear since 2011 and just because it just I I wear it and I'm I wear it hard and yeah washing it is an interesting I actually had to wash it because I just did the Marine Corps so I'm I've got to wash it again. So but it it just beats up the washer too so it's it's one of those it's one of those great anomalies. But yeah no it's it's a it's a stinky adventure that's for sure we're doing some rapid fire here.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:47

So uh here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:49

No pun intended here okay um favorite park to run through that was that was how am I supposed to respond to that was I like that he starts out and then he says rapid John he's going for the fire extinguisher right now I know I know I know rapid fire all right uh favorite park um it's gonna be actually MGM or okay there's a deep cut a lot of Disney Studios yeah I love running through Disney studios most underrated race snack oh gosh most underrated race snack pretzels oh I like that I like that what what is the harder challenge firefighter training or mile 23 of a marathon in the Florida humidity mile 23 by fire okay mile 23 by fire because all that thing that led up to that it hurts more oh man all right Rob with all the extra calories you're burning favorite post race meal ohana dinner answer good answer that is that is my favorite post race meal that is a good one yeah it is yeah bread pudding you can't you can't beat it oh amen all right and then what is your go-to Disney attraction after a race weekend I am an avid fan of sitting on Main Street and people watching oh cool that's great I love it doesn't matter where especially after marathon weekend with that funny walk everyone has yeah it's so great isn't it yeah everybody looks like they have stuff in their pants and pockets and yeah it's it's an interesting i've never I never walked like that before I don't and I love hearing the metal I love hearing the metals clang challenge exactly that's that's great pride that's great absolutely great I agree hey before you get out of here tell us about your podcast yeah so I've uh I've had a podcast for almost seven years over 400 episodes um I do it's called Forging the Fires uh podcast with fireman rob and it's all about mindset um I've interviewed everybody from the uh general of the 10th mountain division to uh Space Force Command to multiple different CEOs from companies to pro athletes business owners uh you name it they've been on it I've had a I had a gentleman who was a Vietnam War pilot um who was in the Hanoi Hilton for almost 3,000 days um it's it's an amazing adventure to be able to give a piece of knowledge from individuals to um others to consume and like I always say take away a piece of it um to make themselves better and so it's it's it's a fun adventure to be able to talk to people and and to be able to um leave that legacy and leave that voice of theirs um for others to hear.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:48

And if you already said it I apologize but let's repeat it anyway what's the name of the podcast uh it's Forged in the fires podcast with fireman Rob.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:56

Outstanding wow that sounded like I just did a like a little pitch there.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:00

You did that's okay that's what I wanted you to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:02

That's good it worked I'm gonna check it out.

SPEAKER_11 1:22:06

Oh yeah I'm actually pulling up Spotify right now well Rob thank you so much this has been just a truly epic interview and I I think anyone who listens to this I feel I can take at least some nugget of knowledge and apply it to whether it's their everyday life their training or you know their their next you know mental exercise in in life or in racing so we we truly thank you for your your time and your knowledge and your passion and most importantly your service as well um we we are so greatly appreciative of that. Thank you so much for not making me wear your firefighter helmet uh when I approached you during the 10 miler uh to uh secure this interview you know and it's funny yeah I sit back on it now and I complained about wearing that wig uh for a majority of the race and I I don't have a leg to stand on now because of everything that you wear. So on behalf of you know the rest of my co-host here and the and the entire RiseRun community thank you for your time your service and we look forward to seeing you hopefully with freshly scented a laundered uh a fireman setup uh on a run Disney course soon yes that would be that would be much advised I appreciate I appreciate what you do and I appreciate um your community and um the positivity and uh the drive that you guys uh bring forward because it's so needed. Caution runners change of topic

Merch Drop, Zoom, Race Report Starts

SPEAKER_11 1:23:40

ahead all right a couple announcements before we get into this week's edition of the race report um first thing we wanted to mention is that uh we got a message the other day from our friends Devin and Carrie over at ZippityT's and uh those ladies wanted us to pass along a message to all of you that coming up on Global Running Day, which is June 3rd at 8 p.m Eastern that is when they are going to be opening their pre-order for uh I guess what is they're describing as part one of their launch of all of their marathon weekend merchandise uh that they've been selling obviously those two come up with some really really awesome designs and um obviously you know you can't go any race weekend or any expo without seeing some type of Zippity DT's uh merch. So if you're interested in obtaining one of their brand new designs again all themed around this year's Marathon weekend that pre-order opens on June 3rd at 8 p.m eastern and the pre-order window is going to close on June 7th. And if you would like to save a little bit of money if you use code RISENRUN all one word uh and I think capital letters two by using that code you will get 10% off your orders. So ladies thank you so much for sharing uh that discount code with us and we wish you all the best of luck on a very successful pre-order drop. Also this week is a Zoom Thursday so be sure to join us uh you know here day of release and uh you know maybe you can wish Becky a belated birthday I know Bob said that he was uh going to at least start the zoom call uh from Walt Disney World so you can probably uh send your birthday wishes to Becky and then obviously we can chat princess themes and summer training and and everything else that everyone is up to um you know this summer and you know just looking forward to getting the community back together.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:56

And now please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report.

SPEAKER_11 1:26:10

The race report is sponsored by our friend Thomas Stokes over at Stoked Metabolic Training uh if you're interested in any of Tom's services be sure to visit Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching now obviously uh you know I know I mentioned in the beginning of the episode we had a couple of apologies and alibis of races that we missed but there's actually one more that we want to mention because one of our youngest listeners participated in a race and apparently she loves hearing her name. So we uh are gonna go back to last Sunday in Charlotte North Carolina and they held the Mental Health Matters 5K Daniel and his daughter Catherine participated in that event so Daniel and Catherine go on to say that they didn't have as as much time to train this year as they did last year but Catherine still managed to run a PR of 36 minutes 30 seconds so Catherine this PR bell this special PR bell is just for you congratulations and plus uh they go on to say that they really were happy to be able to support such a wonderful cause and pet a lot of animals all right let's now head to this week and we start on Thursday in Rochester New York for the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge three and a half mile run Matt ran that moving to Saturday in Spring Lake New Jersey Kelly ran the Spring Lake five miler This was a large race with almost 10,000 runners. Really good race and crowd support along the route. Kelly's paces were great and she was headed towards a five-mile PR, but however, someone had a significant medical emergency right in front of her between miles three and four. They tended to uh this person for more than 20 minutes until EMS arrives. And thank God this happened in front of Kelly because Kelly is a nurse. Thankfully, she was alert before uh she was put into an ambulance. So great to hear that. Uh, she finished strong and per her Garmin, she got a PR anyway. Way to go, Kelly.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:40

Impressive.

SPEAKER_11 1:28:42

All right, John mentioned this earlier in the episode that a new Rita's is being built in Gap PA. And our friends Michael and Terry were also in Gap PA to run the White Horse Gallup 10K. They said that this race is just 10 minutes from Burden Hand. So Rolling Hills and Road Apples was the theme of the day. Despite the rain, because yo, I know here in the Northeast we had absolutely lovely weather this holiday weekend. Um, but despite the rain, it was beautiful to run through the Amish farmlands, which had a killer hill near the end. Both Terry and Michael placed third in their age groups, and Terry PR'd by two minutes and 15 seconds. All right, we move from talking about Rita's Italian ice to talking about Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches because Glenda ran the Chick-fil-A 10K in Newport News, Virginia. This was a great course with so much beautiful scenery. They had a fake cow on course and uh some at the finish line as well, and you got a Chick-fil-A sandwich at the end. And um, and Glenda thing said all races should have uh Chick-fil-A sandwiches at the end. Uh, and I don't fully disagree with that. Now, obviously, Alicia, I know you don't need chicken. That's okay, but but but do you do you go to Chick-fil-A?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:13

I don't, but uh, when I could eat it, I did, and I did enjoy Chick-fil-A.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:17

So I'm gonna go around the room real quick here. What is everyone's Chick-fil-A order? I get the grilled chicken sandwich.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:23

Grilled chick-shall. Okay. Waffle fries, you know. Can't beat waffle fries. All right, Alicia. What did you use to get?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:32

Yeah, mine was the original chicken with extra pickles and waffle fries.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:38

Extra pickles? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:40

Gotta have my pickles.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:42

Jack.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:43

Chicken nuggets with waffle fries and ranch, extra ranch.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:48

So you're so you're like Riley. Yes. Most of the tray is filled with ranch, and then there's chicken on the side.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:57

Do you dip the fries? Wait, do you dip the fries in the ranch dressing also?

SPEAKER_02 1:31:00

Oh gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_11 1:31:05

I I Jack, I think you can actually buy the the big condiment containers of the ranch in like supermarkets and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_10 1:31:11

Really?

SPEAKER_11 1:31:12

Yeah. Yeah. Or you can buy that at the store, I think. So so there you go. But I I do enjoy a spicy chicken sandwich. I I really enjoyed the the limited time um jalapeno ranch thing that they were doing a couple of weeks ago. But my new go-to being on the um the weight loss journey and trying to pack in as much protein. I I saw this hack on Instagram a couple of months ago. You buy a grilled nugget, and then as the side, instead of the fries, you get the mac and cheese, then you split it between the two containers, and then you get a packet of ranch, don't use the whole thing, and a packet of buffalo sauce, and then you mix it all up, and you have like a buffalo chicken, ranch, mac and cheese, and it's I did see this, and you get a lot of protein out of it. So that's that's been my go-to. So there you go. So, ideas for you all. I if you're hungry now, I'm sorry, but I just figured it would be a good uh conversation here in the race report. All right, we move from Newport News up to Buffalo, New York. For it was the Buffalo Marathon weekend. We had a couple of friends there. Um, our buddy Amy ran the 5K. Katie participated in the half marathon and said that this was uh her first half in two years, and she PR'd by four minutes. Special thanks to Coach Alicia for all of her support, guidance, and encouragement. Way to go, Katie.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:45

Congratulations again, Katie.

SPEAKER_11 1:32:47

And our buddy Michelle uh from Erie was also there, and she participated in the marathon. Uh, she had a goal of getting a marathon POT, but at about mile seven, her knee started to give her some issues. She lost the pacer who was the one that can that convinced her to do this full. Uh, she knew it wasn't going to be going to go that the way that she trained, uh, but she had her holler hypes going. Um, she was thinking of Jeff Galloway and Lauren, and the says that the amazing people of Buffalo were cheering her on the entire way. And even though she didn't get to ring the bell, she's so happy to have been able to finish this marathon. And you're absolutely right, Michelle. Any marathon or any race that you finish, you should be proud of. So, way to go to all of our runners in Buffalo, New York.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:38

So, after the Buffalo marathon, do they get Buffalo inks going on down the uh line of food here?

SPEAKER_11 1:33:43

It's not a bad idea. I I would co-sign on that for sure. Heading south to Orlando, Florida was the alt social Memorial Day 5K, and our buddy Tracy was there. Uh, she says that this was a big event at the Ritz Carlton with lots of activities. The 5K ran around the back nine of the Ritz golf course. This is nice. The event didn't start until 10 a.m. You know, definitely not like a Run Disney 5K, that's for sure. But what's really cool is that Tracy won a raffle for a free day pass to the Ritz. That's a pretty awesome raffle prize for sure because I I know that's all the rage now. Have you guys ever tried this by getting a resort pass to a hotel before? Definitely check it out. I know there's a couple of sites that uh out there that do it where you can just like like I did last summer, I paid like 30 bucks and I got to use like a hotel's pool and gym and and stuff like that. And yeah, it's a grand and glorious time. So definitely check that out. But congratulations, Tracy. Noelle is up next here on the race report, and she ran the Cedarburg 5K, and that happened in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Noelle says that this was her best 5k yet. Um, on our on their way to the race, she saw a cardinal and she took it as a sign from Jeff saying that you can do it. She ended up running the whole time, she got her fastest mile ever, and got a sub-35K with a time of 2949. Way to go, Noel. Let's head over to Chicago, Illinois for the Soldier Field 10K. Soldier Field being the home of the Burst. Uh Dika. Ditka. John, if if if you had God versus Ditka in a game, who do you got? Ditka. You got Ditka? I got Ditka as well, too. If you didn't watch SNL in the 80s, I'm very, very sorry. All right. Anyway, first up at the Soldier Field 10K, uh, Tiffany was there. Her goal was to finish in under 125, and she ran it in 124. Excellent. After the race, uh, she headed to Jackson Park to participate in a park run. So uh nice job double dipping there. Leslie was also at this race, and she goes on to say that this was her strongest race yet. She's been working with our friend, Coach Brittany Charbonneau. Now, Leslie lives in Colorado Springs, but wanted to take advantage of a flat course in Chicago. And she said that the weather was almost perfect. It stayed cool and overcast the entire time. Excellent work. And then also, uh, Sarah was there and she said she was in Chicago for her son's graduation from uh Navy boot camp and at the very last minute, and she said, literally at the expo, um, her husband and her decided to sign up for the race. She highly recommends it. Flat and fast, nice water views, and she only finished one minute behind her husband. So this is uh next up, we have a two-part event, uh, and this was part of the Ottawa Tamarack Race Weekend. Uh, Marina participated at uh in several events. So part one was the 10K and 5K, which is part of a challenge uh that was a 5k, a 10k, and a 21k. And uh Marina said that on part one here. Uh Theodore, who is her eight and a half year old son, uh, did his first 5K with her that weekend. So, Theodore, here's your PR bell. And like I said, we will be back to hear about part two a little bit later on. Wrapping up Saturday in St. Cloud, Florida, we had the Olay, Olay 5K, and our buddy Heather was there. Uh, she goes on to say one word grass. Uh, she said it was hard to roll, but she had a great time. And Heather, her mom, and her friend Ryan all made the podium at this event. So, congratulations to the three of you. Way to go. Moving to Sunday, Marina is back here for part two of this race. And uh, this was the half marathon portion or the 21k. So uh hopefully you enjoyed that event. Head over now to Madison, Wisconsin for the Run Mad Town Half Marathon. And at that race was Carlos, Terra, and Cecily heading across the pond in Edinburgh, Scotland. Megan participated in the Edinburgh Half Marathon. She said that the UK is experiencing the heat wave. And Megan, you're absolutely right. I was in Amsterdam uh this weekend, and when I was on a canal cruise, uh it was quite toasty. Uh, I I know it was close to 90 degrees. I don't know what that translates to in Celsius, but no, you're absolutely right about the heat wave. So Megan decided to play it safe. Uh, she took her time and just enjoyed the course, and she even enjoyed a pint of Guinness at the halfway point. Then backs stateside in Boston, Massachusetts, it was the Boston Run to Remember Five Miler and Half Marathon. Ashley was there and she said she has been chasing a half PR and a new Disney POT since 2022. And finally, on a cool and damp day in Boston, she beat it by four minutes, coming in in two hours, 17 minutes, and 42 seconds. Way to go. Uh, and then actually wanted to also pass along that this race honors current first responders and our fallen heroes. And then uh actually, you just heard him on last week's episode. Our buddy Jacob, who was part of the London Marathon recap, was also at this event. And he said, having never done a five-miler before, we all know what that means. And Jacob finished in a solid 44 minutes and six seconds. Congratulations, my friends. Now, actually, we do have a bunch of races here on Monday because uh, again, Monday was Memorial Day, so again, a bunch of events here. We're gonna start with my buddy Rob for the Ridgewood run. Rob says that this was perfect running weather for the 49th edition of this run. Had some strong rain uh the hour earlier, so just enough miss to keep everything cool. And he he he sent me a message because he was so angry at himself. He missed an age group PR by eight seconds. Uh, but he came in with a very respectable time of 51.54. Way to go, Rob. Heading down to South Florida, to Western Florida, specifically for the Memorial Day 5 classic, our buddy Ravi was there. It's South Florida, so of course it was hot and humid. Didn't help that it rained right before the race started. Uh, the final mile had pictures of uh fallen service men and women. Uh, but Ravi also did say that even though that was a very sombering moment, that this event had a really great medal. In Vermont City was the Vermont City Marathon and Relay, and Lucy participated in the relay. In Laguna Hills was the Laguna Hills Memorial Day 10K, and Richard was there. Richard says that this is a point-to-point race supporting the U.S. Marine Corps Dark Horse Battalion. Weather was good, high 60s, mostly overcast skies, and the route was mostly downhill, but not completely. So definitely not Florida um terrain, but the terrain was varied, city streets, um, you know, with some cement, some gravel through some really parks, and really only had one uh pinch point. So way to go, Richard. We'll go back over to Europe in Western France for the Les Sebles. Oh boy, anyone take French in high school? Uh Les Sebles Olones half marathon. Again, that I know I probably did that wrong, so feel free to make fun of me on social media for that one. You know, just as we were mentioning before in London, you know, there was the current heat wave in Europe, so it was naturally a hot one. Marianne had a one hour and 50 minute goal, uh, but slowed down in the heat and ended up at 207. Not bad by any means whatsoever. And she's very happy with it. And her uh nephew is already in really good running shape because uh she was able to keep up with his 535 kilometer pace. Head down to the Lone Star State in Houston for the Houston Running Company Memorial Day 5K. Our buddy Jennifer was there. She's done this race the past several years, but this was uh her husband Steve's first 5K in like forever. Uh so yes, this is a PR for him. And Steve, here's your PR bell. But also occurring in Houston, Texas was the Memorial Day half marathon, and Katrina was there. It was Katrina's 44th birthday, happy belated birthday, Katrina. And uh she PR'd the half by 15 minutes and 25 seconds. That is one epic PR. This course had hills, but they uh they didn't take her. Um, who knew Houston had hills? She ran her first PR bell and in uh and got the metal engraved as well. Another shout out to Coach Alicia, I know her, and Coach Tom as well.

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Congrats again, Kat.

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All right, moving up to Charleston, West Virginia for the big timber trot. My buddy Ileana was there. She said after three days of rain, the trail was muddy, the climbs were hard, and she had to walk a lot of it. Ileana thought that she would never be a runner, and she never thought she would enjoy running. But I think after this race, she truly does love it. Now, uh, she said that this race was challenging, it was fun, but she also enjoyed that it was very peaceful. Way to go, Ileana. And to wrap up the race report, our buddy Yvette participated in the Philly 5K around Fairmount Park. Uh, you know, again, I mentioned it before, you know, here in the area, there was pouring rain, 52 degrees. So, again, not Memorial Day weekend weather around here, but she loved the medal. Uh, it the medal has uh the Liberty Bill on it with uh 250 again, celebrating the big birthday this summer for our country. She said there was zero pressure as there were lots of walkers, and this is advertised as a race for anyone, and that's exactly what she saw. Um, she loves these kinds of races that just embrace everyone, and Yvette, I cannot agree with you more on that one. And that concludes the race report for episode 244 of the Rise and Run Podcast. Well, friends, if you run, you are our friend. I know we've been talking about hot weather, especially over in the UK. So, you know, though that summer training is upon us now. Hopefully, we can be there in your ears to help guide you and to help motivate you during all these, you know,

Closing Motivation And Sign-Off

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sluggish and human ruddens that we might be experiencing these next couple of months. But take the words of encouragement that Fireman Rob gave us in this interview, and that is always be moving forward. If you can do that, you are going to be successful in whatever goals and whatever ventures you have set out for yourself this race season. Regardless if you're training for a 5K or you're prepping for Dopey or a World Major, know that we are behind you 110%, and we are so incredibly proud of you. So keep moving forward, and until we chat again, happy running. The Rising Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice. It should always consult with your healthcare provider or other organism.