116: Running Towards Inclusivity

Brace yourselves for a riveting conversation filled with inspiring tales of resilience and inclusivity in the running community on this week's episode of Rise and Run Podcast. We've got a full house of exceptional guests, including runDisney athletes Tiffany and Kayla, who share their unique experiences and challenges as athletes with disabilities. Our good friend Matt Desmond also joins us, recounting his incredible weight loss journey and newfound love for running. Plus, we're joined by Race Director Rob Fiero, giving us an inside look into the world of race directing and the Ghost Train 100 mile/30 hour ultra race.

Strap on your running shoes as we journey through the inner workings of runDisney events, from detailed training schedules for marathon weekends, Disneyland, and Princess races, to an in-depth discussion on the newly revealed Springtime Surprise medals. We're not stopping there; we delve into recent policy changes at Run Disney and their impact on athletes with disabilities. Tiffany and Kayla walk us through their experiences, highlighting the urgent need for inclusivity and understanding within the running community.

In the second half, race director Rob Fiero takes us on a fascinating ride behind the scenes of the Ghost Train 100 mile/30 hour ultra race in New Hampshire. From the origin of the race's spooky name to the tireless efforts of the organizing committee, we uncover it all. Our friend Matt shares the challenging journey of his transformation from 640 pounds to 215 pounds and his passion for running post-weight loss. Gear up for some lively race reviews from various locations, and a heartening discussion on appreciation and encouragement for runners. So, what are you waiting for? Tune in now, and let's hit the ground running!

Ghost Train Website
Ghost Train FB
Rise and Run Links
Rise and Run Podcast Facebook Page
Rise and Run Podcast Instagram
Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
Passport to Run
Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching 

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:04

3am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run Podcast. Join our group of Run Disney Friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.

Speaker 3 0:36

Hey, this is Kayla from Kissimmee Florida, and you're listening to the Rise and Run Podcast.

Speaker 4 0:41

Kayla, thank you for that lovely introduction. Pick that up at the Wine and Dine meetup. Good to see you there. Shucks friends, welcome.

Speaker 4 0:50

Welcome to episode 116 of the Rise and Run Podcast. We know you got probably have some long runs to do this weekend, so we're looking at a long episode here. So let's get it started. I'm Bob. I'm here this evening with Allie, with Jack, with John, with Alicia, with Greg and with Lexi. A full house, my friends, our guests this evening, and we've got quite a few.

Speaker 4 1:26

We talk with our friends Tiffany and Kayla. Kayla's been with us for the first time for Tiffany. They are both Run Disney athletes with disabilities and they want to talk a little bit about what's going on in the AWD community and the problems they're having with starts at the Run Disney events. So we've got that. We've got Rob Fierro. Rob is the race director for the Ghost Train race up in New Hampshire. Lots of interesting stuff about Ghost Train and then a lot of interesting stuff about race directorship in general. Our buddy, matt Desmond, is with us this evening. Matt's got an incredible story about a personal journey, a personal accomplishment of his. Our race report spotlight tonight. We're going to keep it internal. Jack had a big race this weekend. We'll kick off with. Her and a couple of the rest of the gang have some things we want to share.

Speaker 4 2:28

Hey, friends, if you enjoyed the podcast, please share us with your friends. Introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their journey, their training journey, their racing journey. We just want to make them part of the group. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, and, guys, if you have been sharing, thank you because that Facebook group is really growing, so we appreciate that. Check us out. Follow us on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, riseandrunpodcastcom. If you've got a question, a comment or race report, or if you want to introduce an upcoming episode, please call us. 727-662-344 is the number. Leave us a recorded message.

Speaker 4 3:17

The Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by our friends at Magic Bound Travel. Hey, I noticed they put up a notice about Universal. Get ready your holiday gift. Wrap up, wrap it up with a bow. Call Magic Bound Travel. Look into a vacation at Universal or at Disney World. They got a deal right now on Universal Buy three days, get two free days worth of park tickets. Ask them how. Check it out at magicboundtravelcom. Hey, on the YouTube channel, jack. What's new on the YouTube channel?

Speaker 3 3:57

Yeah. So this week is going to be really fun. Because I had done a relay this week, I thought it would be a kind of fun idea to kind of tell you what's like doing a relay and how fun it can be with doing with friends and it's so much more realistic than you think. I know the term 100-miler relay sounds intimidating sometimes but in all realism anybody for any distance can do it. I mean depending on which relay you choose. I mean you could have anywhere between four to six people to do it. So when you split up the miles it's really not that bad, and getting the chance to do it with friends couldn't ask for anything better.

Speaker 4 4:34

Yeah, they are a lot of fun. I haven't done one in a long time, but they're really neat. Also, hey, I'm just as a personal aside, jack I enjoyed the thing you did about Disney Expos on the last week's YouTube.

Speaker 1 4:47

That came out very well.

Training Schedules and Medal Reveal Discussion

Speaker 4 4:49

So check that out please, friends. Youtube Channel Rise and Run Podcast. A couple of quick apologies and alibis last week's interview with Jeff and Barbara, which really was received extremely well, but Jeff kept having problems with his audio. That wasn't on our end, in fact I was there, of course. Then I listened to the final recording. Greg did a heck of a job with what happened, but still there were some drops there, some things. I just wanted to explain what happened and the other thing in our spotlight Diana wanted to mention that she said Kristen had helped her through Dopey, but she identified the wrong Kristen. It was the Kristen at Run Fit Mama, the Kristen who, by the way, we're going to have on next week's episode. So there we go. We got the Christians in the right order, all right, it's time to look at the training schedules. Upcoming week 25, a marathon weekend training. We're now just three weeks away. What, yeah, it is. I know, I know, remember. Oh golly, think back. We signed up for it in June, right?

Speaker 3 6:11

Yeah.

Speaker 4 6:11

We signed up for it. Well, when we signed up for it before then we started training in June we looked at these numbers and we said, no, I don't know, they're kind of scary. We're there and the thing is, you've done the work to get there, but this is the big one. This is the long training weekend. If you're doing Dopey, this is the one we talk about as the final Dopey sim. It's 45 minutes on Thursday, a five mile walk on Friday, a 12 mile walk on Saturday and a 26 mile run walk on Sunday. We're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a minute.

Speaker 4 6:50

Disneyland the week after week 14 of the training for Disneyland. It's four weeks away. You've got, if you're doing the challenge, you've got a four mile walk and a 12 and a half mile run walk. Princess now 10 weeks away. Gosh, we're close to single digits for Princess in terms of weeks. Now the Princess long run for week eight of training is eight weeks Before we talk about the long training run for this weekend Run. Disney showed us the spring time surprise medals this week.

Speaker 7 7:26

Friends what were your thoughts? The 10 mile is awesome.

Speaker 5 7:30

It's gorgeous.

Speaker 6 7:31

I really like the up one and how it has the mobile feature. I was. I love all of them, but I was a little bit disappointed on the stitch one. I wish that it just had a little bit more, but I still love it.

Speaker 5 7:46

Yeah, like a little more stuff that it does or something like more to it.

Speaker 6 7:49

Yeah, just something extra, but I'm sure it will be amazing in person. I wonder if it's going to do anything special?

Speaker 7 7:56

It'll cause havoc.

Speaker 3 7:59

It'll cause havoc, for just thinking like the challenge is havoc if you really think about it. So it makes sense.

Speaker 2 8:06

while he's on the challenge, Well, the one thing that I picked up on was not necessarily when the blog posts went live and all the Instagram photos and everything like that, but it was actually, I think, the email that came out. I can't remember if it was Monday afternoon or on Tuesday, but it was like that run Disney strides newsletter or something like that. And on the email there was like an animated GIF of like the outlines in the medals and there they were like showing some movement, like they were showing how, like in a silhouette form for the 10 K metal, you know how the house and the balloons moved up and down and how I think Simba like pounces or whatever. But for the stitch metal they did show some type of spinning element in the background of the metal. So I'm hoping that they do release is. You know, usually when they make these metal announcements not only are there the photos, but then usually on Instagram they do like a little quick you know Instagram reel or something like that and shows.

Speaker 2 9:13

You know the movement of them, so hopefully they put something like that out. But the good news is that usually they have the medals on display at the expo, so when we're down there for marathon weekend we'll be able to get a really good close up view. But I'm right with you guys, I think the 10 miler metal is really really neat. I love the up metal. I wish the 5K had a little bit more going on with it, but I'm glad that Tinker Bob I mean Bell is on the metal there. But again, just really really excited and based on the fact that they were taking the photos, at least for the 10 miler metal in Animal Kingdom, I really really hope that we get to run through that park for that race.

Speaker 3 9:56

The only thing I have to say is is I think the medals look beautiful. Now, with it being the end of the run Disney season technically at that point, I just pray that Disney, if you're listening for the new season coming up, please stop using the same finish so the medals don't get damaged all the time, because all the race, all the medals from pre or, sorry, post pandemic are used. I don't even know what kind of finish that is. They keep scraping and everything, whereas I actually, when I moved, I looked at all my medals and put it up and everything pre pandemic like those medals are looking great. I just go back to using the better finish, that's all.

Speaker 5 10:36

I'm saying I have a hot take. I actually really like the 5K metal because it shows a lot more of the metal finish and that's kind of where my thought was with. That is like I like a really classic looking metal.

Speaker 2 10:48

I never thought of that. That's a good hot take, Allie.

Speaker 5 10:51

Yeah, I agree with you. I like when the medals do stuff and like they're kind of got some stuff going on with them and not a whole lot going on there. But I do like how classy it looks.

Speaker 9 10:59

I will also say there's one metal that we haven't seen yet. Oh, the coast to coast.

Speaker 3 11:07

Yeah.

Speaker 9 11:09

So like it makes me wonder, are we going to have a reveal on race day, or are they going to because the marathon coast? To coast is apparently like they have the two different tracks, you know. So we have all of the medals for the race weekends, except for the coast to coast.

Speaker 3 11:30

I wonder what they're going to do. Oh, the ideas.

Speaker 9 11:34

I know, I know there's so many options and, like you, look at the past coast to coast metals and, like I'm so curious, Maybe it just spins and takes more money out of your wallet, right, yeah? You're going to make a vacuum for your wallet.

Speaker 4 11:52

No, that's an interest. It's getting late, though. It really is late not to have that one revealed.

Speaker 7 11:58

Like they said, they're going to make the big reveal, probably during marathon weekend.

Speaker 4 12:02

Yeah, perhaps John.

Speaker 7 12:04

We'll have to see when they give them out in Disneyland. That may mean that it's a surprise surprise.

Speaker 9 12:09

I think that would be kind of cool. I mean, we never get anything like that. So I mean, I like that idea, what I?

Speaker 4 12:16

need you? We'll find out. What can I say? We'll find out, my friends, all right, I talked about it already a little bit of a longer episode, because we know a lot of you have a lot of miles to put on this weekend's calendar. So, my friends, thoughts on this weekend.

Speaker 2 12:38

What I'll say about the final simulation weekend is that and you know I can be perfectly honest here and I don't want to sugarcoat it this, this weekend is the toughest part of the training cycle for for this race weekend.

Speaker 2 12:54

That there's no, there's no if, ands or buts about it. It is imperative that you get it done so that you will be successful for marathon weekend, and I think I might have mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. But, to be honest, I think what makes the final simulation the hardest is that physically Sure, it's going to be tough, but it actually, I think, is going to be more of a mental struggle than it is a physical one. And and I say that in the sense because what's great about doing goofy or dopey or you know, or if you're doing two course challenge or glass slipper challenge or something like that is sure, you're putting in a lot of time and you're putting in a lot of miles, but you're doing that with your friends and you're doing that with on course entertainment and fuel that is being provided for you by run Disney. Here. You're responsible for all of that, and the only person that you're hanging out with is you and your thoughts, and sometimes that can be a really, really boring thing and that can eat at you mentally. So my suggestion would be to do what Barb Galloway had mentioned in last week's episode, is that, if you are getting into these mental states you know, do some extra mental exercises that will turn off what the Galloway is called the monkey brain. You know whether the big one that Barb mentioned was counting your steps. I think that that will help.

Speaker 2 14:47

Now, can you do that for? You know, for 13 or 26 miles? Probably not, but you know some other strategies. I remember the last time we had Brittany Sharpen on you know she talked about, you know, looking for money or, hey, for this particular mile I'm going to try and find things that are this color. I think if you do various things to help you distract yourself, that will make the mental side of it easier.

Speaker 2 15:15

Now, obviously, this is probably a little last minute to be able to do this, but my other recommendation would be is that if you have the opportunity to find a race this weekend that you can sign up for at the last minute, I would highly recommend you do that, and I think there was Bob. I think what you did and Jack, what you did this past weekend was really really smart. The fact that and obviously, jack, your situation was a little bit different. You know you're running an ultra and a relay, so obviously it wasn't back to back, but you were doing a lot of starting and stopping and starting and stopping and, bob, you did several races as well and doing that whole concept of a catered training run. You know you're almost getting a two for there. You know you're killing two birds with one stone in terms of you're getting the miles in, but you are having that extra support as well too. So I'd be very interested to hear, jack and Bob, your thoughts on how was having a race part of your simulation helpful in that journey.

Speaker 3 16:21

I think it's really important to like, if you're going to have these long training runs like you are having right now, I think it's always a good idea that a way to entertain yourself through these long runs is maybe potentially just signing up for a race. That will be that certain mileage for that day that you're training for. So it wasn't originally planned to be like that for the Daytona 100 relay but it kind of became something like that and I know Bob can agree with this too. I mean having something to look forward to during those times of those weekends. I think it's kind of really important to be around the people that are going to be there to support you and move you and motivate you. I think that's really great.

Speaker 4 17:02

One of the things it did for me was to make sure I got out there.

Speaker 3 17:05

Exactly exactly, and I think that's something really really smart to do. Obviously, if you're thinking about maybe for princess and you're thinking maybe I should go find a 10 miler for one of those weekends, for a simulation weekend, I think that's really great, I think it's a wonderful idea and just to try and plus you get a medal. I mean, why not do the distance and already get a medal for you?

Speaker 9 17:28

know, I mean we all know. That's why we do the races right.

Speaker 3 17:31

Is for the bling. I will not lie. I did not think I was going to get a medal, because sometimes I worry about ultras, because they don't always have medals at the end of it.

Speaker 2 17:42

You love the bell buckles too.

Speaker 3 17:44

Yeah, yeah, I mean I've done ultras. I've only gotten one buckle. I'm going to work my way towards another one, though don't worry, it's in the future.

Speaker 5 17:53

Yeah, sometimes you just get the sense of accomplishment. It looks seems like and that's what you're supposed to. But it's nice to get a medal.

Speaker 3 18:02

But before I let Bob continue just really quick. We're going to mention more about the story later about that relay, but I also kind of really wanted to make a special announcement. Today. I'm really excited, kind of emotional about it, Not sure how I feel More excitement than nervous Because of this. Weekend was a trial for me because not only was it a relay but it was for me a chance to see what I wanted to do and push the limits and find a race that would work for what I was looking for to the future. So I am officially announcing that the Daytona 100 will be my first solo 100 mile race next December.

Speaker 7 18:43

All right, awesome Way to go, jack.

Speaker 3 18:46

Thank you. I had a lot of people reach out to me and say you know, I know you're thinking about it. If you need somebody to crew at pace, I'm like. First off, I just want to say thank you to Dean and Adam, because they mentioned it already first off and they were an amazing team to have. So very exciting to have that. But just, I feel very humbled. So thank you.

Speaker 7 19:08

I know we put a lot of maybe undue pressure on ourselves to get these long this simulation. If it doesn't go well, it does not mean failure for that whole training cycle.

Speaker 3 19:22

You know, sometimes you have to have a run that doesn't go well for the next one to go amazing. And I know that sounds really weird and you're like why? Because sometimes you know not every run is going to be good but you learn from it and I think that's what makes that run good is because you have that experience.

Speaker 5 19:39

Also, we've been working really hard all this whole training cycle and so your body will be tired and you may struggle through your last one, and that's what your tapers for is for a lot of recovery. So remember, if this one, if you're slogging through this one, it doesn't mean you're going to slog through your race day. It just means you know your body's kind of breaking down and doing the training thing, and then you get a long rest period and you'll be brand spanking new when you're ready to go out there on race day.

Speaker 7 20:07

And Christmas cookies coming up.

Speaker 9 20:08

Yeah, yes, and also one of the things that you have on race day that you may not necessarily have on a training run is the adrenaline.

Speaker 3 20:18

Plus, race day is a celebration. You guys, this is your last. This weekend will be like your last kind of feel like for a run. You know what I mean? Because when you get to the start line, you're going to be like, yeah, that's true, but, bob, you had a heck of a weekend. Why don't you go ahead and describe what happened to you.

Speaker 4 20:38

Let me share. I did my. I finished. I had, because of my race schedule, I had my dopey four in a row scheduled for this week. I want to share because I want our friends who are listening to know if they're not sure about this coming up, if they've got it coming up and they're feeling a little uneasy, you are not alone. I've done this. This is four dopeys, five Disney marathons, and I'm telling you I thought it was hard. Now I did the schedule calls for a walk walk three on Thursday yeah, got that. Walk six on Saturday walk six on Friday Okay. I did use organized races. I went over to the space coast to do the space force 10 miler on Saturday. I did some run, walk run on that one. That went okay. More on that later.

Speaker 4 21:43

But I drove back over here, finished the race, hopped in the car, drove back over here and I really did not sleep well at all Saturday night, going into Sunday morning. And it was because I was there's only one word I was dreading getting out on Sunday and going to that, doing that 26 miles To the point of and I'm not joking or I'm not trying to be dramatic to the point of at three o'clock in the morning thinking to myself why am I doing this at all? Why don't I just quit? Why don't I just blow it off? I don't have to do this. It was that bad. But I can't do that. I can't do that I have. How am I going to explain that to all of you?

Speaker 4 22:37

So I got up. I got up Sunday morning. I had a half marathon on my schedule. I really even sitting in the car at the half, I was looking for you, allie. You weren't there. Allie did it.

Speaker 4 22:52

Allie did this event last year. She knows what I'm talking about. In fact, she did exactly, almost exactly what I did. I just did. It took a different route coming back, allie, but I started. That's the big thing. You've got to get started, get out there. Give yourself, give yourself the grace to get out there and get started. Put your foot in front of one another and get going.

Speaker 4 23:15

For a reason which I may explain later in the season, I did run, walk, run for the entire half marathon and, in fact, it was my fastest half marathon since 2020. Now you got to remember where I've been since 2020. I've been walking most of them and this one wasn't a whole lot faster than when I walked to Jeff Galloway 13.1 a couple years ago, but still I did that, got to the halfway point, felt okay, turned around and I had about four miles to go till I was going to meet Becky. And once again I'm telling you guys, I'm just I'm hate, I just I was really struggling. I know all the mantras, I know I thought about Barbara Galloway telling us you can do it. It wasn't working. And again I'm thinking, oh, what the heck.

Speaker 4 24:14

So I stopped for a little bit. Becky brought me some. She brought me my hydration vest, which I did not use for the half, but I picked it up there. She brought some watermelon. I don't know what she put on the watermelon, but I talked to her for a while. In fact I said to her just drive me home, because you don't want that.

Speaker 4 24:33

All right, you're right, I don't want that. I got out, I started going again and I felt pretty good. Now again, it got hard again as we went along, but about 20 miles into it, the you can do it started to really kick in and the things that we talked about. If you haven't heard episode 115 with Jeff and Barbara Galloway, listen to that one. There are some great motivational tips in there and I kept hearing Barb's voice more than Jeff's, and I think it's because I've heard Jeff so much that Barb's new spin really hit home for me and I started visualizing some of the things that we talked about.

Speaker 4 25:19

I visualized when I got into my community, where where's the choir? Oh yeah, that's the choir. It's going to be over there. And then I'm going to turn the corner and Jeff's going to be there and the race and outtries are going to be there. And what I?

Speaker 4 25:32

I get a little emotional at that point because I realize now, three, six, 10, it ended up being 25 and a quarter. I think my math was off a little bit, but that's close enough. I start. I realize I can do this and I wanted it to be special. So I called Becky and I said look, I just turned onto our block. Please come finish this last 100 yards with me. There's a message in that too. My friends, we all do this training.

Policy Changes for AWD at Run Disney

Speaker 4 26:08

Greg talked about being out there by yourself, and he's right, but there's somebody in your life who has helped you in this, and it's really a good time of year to think about that and to say thank you to that person, whether it meant that they had to rearrange their schedule for you, or if they were actually out there helping you, or whatever it was somebody's helping you in this. You're not doing it 100% by yourself. I finished this thing. I felt like a million bucks. All that junk that went through my head early in the day was gone. I know I'm going to get down to Disney World. I know I'm going to be okay and I know you can too. Just keep going, keep moving forward. You can do this. All right, friends. Thanks for listening. I have confidence in you. Good luck, let's move on. We had a chance to talk with, as I mentioned at the top of the episode. We had a chance to talk with some of our athlete with disabilities friends and some of the problems they're facing at Run Disney events.

Speaker 2 27:17

One of the goals that we have for the Rise and Run podcast is to foster a community where everyone feels welcomed and embraced, regardless of pace and or ability, and over the last several weeks, several of our friends in both the Rise and Run and Run Disney families have been tirelessly working to make sure that their voices are heard. A few weeks ago, during our Wine and Dine Half-Marathon recap episode, we asked our friends in the AWD community who were impacted by the recent changes Run Disney had made to their policies and procedures to reach out to us to discuss their experiences. Our hope is that we could offer a sounding board to make sure that their voices could be heard so that positive changes could be made to provide a safe environment for all, and this week we are very happy to welcome two friends to do just that. First, we're going to welcome Tiffany for the first time ever to the Rise and Run podcast. Tiffany, how are you?

Speaker 10 28:22

I am good.

Speaker 2 28:23

Thank you for being here and making her second appearance on the podcast, our VIP or, as she likes to put it, our visually impaired person, but she's also a very important person as well. Kayla, welcome back to Rise and Run.

Speaker 11 28:37

Hi, thanks for having me yet again.

Speaker 2 28:39

Awesome. So before we get into the conversations real quick, let's just quickly highlight the disabilities that you two ladies have to deal with on not just during the Run Disney event, but in your everyday lives. So, tiffany, once you go first, could you describe your disability to us?

Speaker 10 28:56

Absolutely. I actually have two disabilities. The one that most people assume I'm in AWD for is that I am deaf, and I went deaf about nine years ago but grew up hard of hearing my whole life. The main reason I am disabled is I have something called associative identity disorder, which in my everyday life I need to make accommodations, I need to look at what I'm going into and navigate how I'm going to have the best output and outcome for the day. So I have a service doc who does both some hearing tasking, but she primarily will task for me for my associative identity disorder, also known as DID.

Speaker 2 29:32

And Kayla, how about yourself?

Speaker 11 29:34

I have a corneal degeneration disease, so basically my corneas, which is the front part of my eyes, will degrade over time. The only thing to fix that right now are corneal transplants, which I'll get those, and then the disease that I have will slowly degrade the new transplants over time as well. So I just have continually degrading vision.

Speaker 2 29:53

Thank you, kayla, and if you want to hear more about Kayla's story, definitely go back and listen to episode 91, where she was our featured guest, and she talks more about those corneal transplants and what she deals with on an everyday basis. It's really, really fascinating stuff and a great episode. But let's get into the crux of what we want to talk about, and it's the changes that were made for the AWD community, especially the non-wheel dependent AWD participants at the Run Disney events. Kayla, can you just very, very briefly go over what were the policies used to be prior to one in Dine 2023?

Speaker 11 30:33

So, as an athlete with disabilities, you would register and you would check that box during registration. For me, I would register with a human guide. We would show up to race morning. There would be an athletes with disabilities tent that we would check into. We would receive a sticker on our bib designating us as an athlete with disabilities or a guide, and then we would do a walkout of sorts. So we would be taken to our own sort of corral or holding area off to the side of everybody else, given our own space, and then A would go, b would go and we would go into the back. We would be funneled into the back of the B corral and those were the policies that used to be in place for a typical race morning.

Speaker 2 31:19

Now, Tiffany, could you explain to us what changed?

Speaker 10 31:24

So two weeks prior to race weekend, I received an email telling me that, with me and a service dog, that I was no longer allowed to go into the AWD corral that has got much more room and that I wish just to go into my standard corral that I was given on my bib.

Speaker 11 31:42

They also changed our check-in procedure Again. We used to check in race morning at the AWD tent and they moved that to the expo, so we now have to go and check in at the expo.

Speaker 10 31:55

For me checking in the expo. I appreciated that more because it's not 3 AM and I'm trying to get my brain to work. Checking at the expo to me gave me a little more wherewithal of what time of day it is. I can explain things better. I can ask every question I want, other than race morning. That's always a bit of a terror at 3 AM and you've got questions and race starts in two hours. So that accommodation I actually appreciated. Kayla will probably chime in with, though we don't appreciate that we can't even get to them anymore race morning to talk to them.

Speaker 11 32:27

Yeah, yeah, Going to the expo. I mean, logistically it makes more sense. Everybody has to go pick up their bib, Everybody has to go there anyway. So yeah, instead of doing it race morning it does make way more sense to just check in at the expo. That way everybody has everything figured out before race morning starts, so that I'm OK with.

Speaker 2 32:43

Great. So obviously, tiffany, thank you for segwaying into this conversation so properly for me. Really do appreciate that. So we talked about the check in process at the expo and how both of you agree that that was a positive change that was made. Were there any other positive changes that, in both of your eyes, worked well for this weekend, or was that pretty much it?

Speaker 10 33:08

For me, that is the only positive change that came out of their new policy implementation.

Speaker 11 33:14

I would agree that was the only positive thing.

Speaker 2 33:17

OK. So now that we got all the positive out of the way, let's focus on the negative here, because, again, the only way that we can learn to get better is by acknowledging the struggles that we either have as people or organizations or everything like that. So let's just go through some of the highlights of what did not work and obviously based on what everyone said, not grant. I understand I was the only non-rise and run host that was not there. I know John can probably speak to this. There was a lot of other logistical changes, even outside of AWD, especially the whole Corral E situation and the times of when you were allowed to enter the Corrales and when they closed and everything like that. But, tiffany, in your eyes, what was the biggest thing that did not work well for you, your service animal and the AWD community in general?

Speaker 10 34:14

So for me for the 10k I had Ms Violet with me the entire time, my service dog. The half marathon. I'm not comfortable with having her run the whole time for that one, so I got to bring her in at mile 11. 10k morning I mentally was not doing well because I'm supposed to go into a Corral that I have seen nothing but cram sardine videos of with a four legged dog low to the ground. I didn't understand how the chute system worked. I've always been an AWD crowd.

Speaker 10 34:46

Last season was my very first, so I didn't understand that. You come out and down and then, as Kayla puts it so nicely, that pivot suddenly and I've got a dog next to me and everyone is just wanting to get out on that race course. The only thing and even this didn't go well that prevented my dog from being trampled is that I was lucky enough to have four other people with me that I've met through the Run Disney community that boxed us in. She still got pushed. We got shoved because they're thinking, oh, there's an empty spot in front of us. No, there's a dog there. And we've gotten pushed then.

Speaker 10 35:24

And I am so lucky I had those other gals with me because I mentally was not doing well, knowing if something happens to my very expensive service dog, run Disney is not going to help me with that, they're not going to pay the vet bills, they're not going to replace her, they're not going to do anything.

Speaker 10 35:40

I know, coming into this next race weekend I only have one person with me. What I didn't understand is I spoke with the person that's in charge of AWD at Run Disney prior to the race and I expressed that concern with her about having a service dog in that kind of corral and she's like oh, this new system is set up, it'll be fine, but nobody could articulate how it would be OK. That morning it still was not OK and I am aware they have a modified, small AWD corral still that I was told prior to race weekend I would have been able to use with my dog, but for some reason the Expo I was no longer allowed to go into that small modified AWD corral. I am nervous going into this next race weekend knowing I only have one person with me and that is not enough to safeguard my dog in the middle of that chaos.

Athletes With Disabilities in Run Disney

Speaker 2 36:32

Kayla, how about you? What did you find to be the most difficult situation? I mean, obviously, again, you're not dealing with a service animal, but obviously with a visual impairment. Obviously, I know a big theme that we saw all throughout social media was the corral situation. But could you expand on your corral situation or were there any other major highlights for you in terms of things that just didn't work?

Speaker 11 36:55

Yeah, there were a lot of things that obviously I did not know were not going to work until you show up at the race morning and figure that out for yourself. But even me and my guide for WINE and I, we didn't stay together. So then we were trying to locate each other race morning and when we had the AWD tent we could just be like all right, we had the AWD tent at 3.45. And we'll check in and we'll get off to the AWD corral and it'll all flow a little smoother. So even just trying to explain, as a visually impaired person, where I am so that she can come get me and I don't want to go to the corrals without her.

Speaker 11 37:30

So for the 10K it was just me and one other guide. We made our way to the corral and we were in corral C. So we ended up doing that big U turn into the start shoot and I almost fell just doing that U turn, Because again there's people and they're pushing and they're shoving just because everybody wants to get out of that corral. Right, Everybody wants to start the race and there's mylar's everywhere and there's throwaways and there's that barrier. So we really struggled just navigating in the corral. And when we got into the corral, we stopped and there was a screen directly in front of me and there were speakers directly in front of us as well. So now I'm being even more visually impaired by that blinding screen, and then I can't hear my guide over the speakers, so I can't hear any of her directions. So yeah, just challenges like that. Just even getting to the start line made it so much more difficult, without that space, to exist as an athlete with disabilities.

Speaker 2 38:36

And in your conversations with Run Disney themselves, or even, you know, your fellow community members within AWD, was there any you know statements as to why these changes were made?

Speaker 10 38:55

That's what we've all been asking, I feel like if they would actually tell us why, an actual, real why, it might help us a little bit understand. But I have yet to hear an official why, other than it just happened, from what I understand, it wasn't implemented by the person in charge of AWD or even taken her advisement into consideration for it. Safety needs to be put into consideration for the other participants and myself, and at this point nothing is being done. I understand that not one accommodation is going to help everybody, because everybody's disabilities are different, Even within Kayla's disability, something one person may or may not need, the other one may not Same with me. But the problem, I see, is that the one accommodation we were getting that helped many people is just gone, and so, as of right now, I don't feel like there's any accommodations really being afforded to me, unless I'm that morning. They may change something.

Speaker 10 40:04

There were some of us that were allowed to be moved up into a different corral but that still didn't take in accommodations of my dog and her safety or your safety. Running next to me with my dog in a corral trying to get out there on the course you could trip my very first race she did get run into because it was a very dark corner and that doesn't. That's nothing run Disney maybe couldn't have necessarily fixed, other than putting a light, but for the other runners, safety as well. Things need to be taken in accommodations for those of us with the disabilities, and the yellow sign that we put on their back is somewhat helpful, but not really in the long. It's helpful for everybody else, but it's not helpful for us and we're the ones that need the accommodations first.

Speaker 2 40:45

Would you both say that a majority of the concerns from a safety standpoint are mostly focused on the corral situation, as opposed to you know, regardless of whatever your pace is, we're all on the same course together. So you know, so you're used to, you know, making sure that you have your guides or your animals and everything like that. So is it's technically, would you agree, it's technically safer for you once you're out. You know, on the course. You know, maybe, like you know, the first, like quarter mile in to make sure that everyone's spread out. You know, versus the situation that you have to deal with in the corrals.

Speaker 11 41:24

At least for me. Yeah, the crowds situation is definitely a huge hazard and then, depending on the race course, even the race course, can you know, it's dark, it's narrow. There are tons of other people which, again, when we had the adb crowd situation, it was easier for me to beat out a little sooner and to get, let's say, for example, the Walt Disney World Half marathon to get onto World Drive and all that a little faster, to get into Magic Kingdom a little earlier, so that way I'm not trying to navigate tons of people down Main Street or when it's dark, or over the trolley tracks or anything like that. So again, I can only speak for my situation in my visual impairment, but for me it was one of the safety of getting out and then two, securing safety on course, because with less people I can hear my guides better, or if we need to make an emergency situation, there's not, we're not being, we're not stopping a bunch of people, just things like that.

Speaker 2 42:20

Okay, good to know when we'd like to take the conversation is obviously. I'm sure both of you have been in contact with run Disney about. You know again what went right and what went wrong after one and nine. What are your suggestions to them about how to make this situation a better experience and, more importantly, a safer experience for everyone in the adb community?

Speaker 10 42:49

So I have not been in touch with run Disney since race weekend Because I'm we're now in this in this spot where, for the next weekend, the classification that I pick on the drop down box for athletes with disabilities they have to get a hold of me and they have to call me. I don't get the form letter everybody else gets now and they still have not gotten in touch with me. But after the 10k I did check in with the person that runs a wd and let them know that that was not okay for my service dog to be in a regular corral. We I was like we got shoved.

Speaker 10 43:27

We've got people that were upset because we weren't moving and the response wasn't nice. It wasn't mean, but it was like, oh man, I don't understand why people aren't better. That's not the point. Other people you can't dictate what other runners are going to do. You need to help your athletes with disabilities. You need to go. Wow, what can I do to fix that for next race weekend? And that's not what I received at that time. Again, I'm still waiting for them to contact me for the marathon weekend, which is a little odd that we're four weeks out and I still have not heard anything.

Speaker 11 44:05

I mean the system that they had in place. I have praised and I have held up for ever since I started using a guy team in 2020. It seemed to seem to move pretty seamlessly. It seemed to be a really good system that they had, and I don't know if they just they wanted to try something new, or if it was resources or staffing or what for this one and nine weekend, but if if they really wanted to make sure the person was doing well, make sure the people that were getting accommodations are the ones that truly needed them.

Speaker 11 44:38

For the Chicago marathon, I had to have a doctor's note filled and signed out by my physician basically saying my prognosis and diagnosis and why I needed those accommodations. If we're on, disney wanted to move to a system like that. I really don't know any athlete with disabilities who truly needed accommodations that would turn that down. I also really just think they need to ask our community what we think we need, because, as a person dealing with a disability for 30 years, I've got it kind of figured out by now, and so I really think that one they should. They should really ask the disability community like hey with, or even we thought about trying something new. What do you guys suggest? Or here's an idea. Will to throw it at you, but honestly I think they had it. I really do think they had a really good system with the adc corral and if they brought that back I know all of us would be feel relieved.

Speaker 2 45:36

So essentially a classic example of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Speaker 10 45:40

Absolutely.

Speaker 7 45:42

Race morning. I know like they talk about the corrals. There was a booth I heard that was kind of like in the stark group, but you're not allowed to it.

Speaker 10 45:53

It was near the, it was near the corrals, but we're not allowed to go near it unless we were in a wheelchair or how to gold star right.

Speaker 7 46:00

Is that what it was?

Speaker 11 46:02

a gold sticker Yep.

Speaker 7 46:03

Okay.

Speaker 11 46:05

Yeah, the morning of the half marathon I all I wanted to do is express my concerns to somebody at the athletes with disabilities. I just wanted to talk to someone and explain to them how the 10k what you know kind of again express my concerns over this did. I do not have high hopes for the half marathon and I went up to like the opening in the barrier to get to the athletes with disabilities tent and the people at the gate turned me away. They said you're not a wheelchair and you don't have a sticker, so we cannot let you anywhere near that tent.

Speaker 7 46:36

We're in prior events. You can see that tent and talk to somebody for any kind of problem you would have had.

Speaker 10 46:44

Yes, prior weekends we were required to go to that tent. It wasn't available to all athletes with disabilities.

Speaker 11 46:51

Yeah, again I talked to and that I was. I was steamed after they turned me away from that tent. I was like I'm an, I am an athlete with disabilities. If you want to call it wheel chairs, call it wheel chairs and be done with it. But I even asked. I was like can I gear check at? Like if I brought a white cane morning of is it, can I gear check that at the athletes with disabilities tent? And somebody had told me, yes, I can, and then nobody would let me anywhere near it. So I'm like thank God I didn't bring it because I would have had to carry it the whole.

Speaker 10 47:19

So, yeah, come race morning, any athlete that wasn't a wheel athlete or an athlete with a disability didn't have wheels. We were just left on an island by herself with nobody to be able to check in with, connect with or anything, which is not okay for the athletes with disabilities to. You could hunt down the person that's in charge of a wd If you know who she is, and then even then she's very busy that morning but it it kind of felt like, yep, we gave you, like I got a silver sticker because that meant I could have my dog and it was like good luck and no, no concern for our, our safety and whatnot. One thing I do want to point out. I know I've got a lot of backlash. I'm not in the best running shape. I'm new at this. It's been an amazing community for me. I it's been a saving grace for me in, anyways, and I've had some pretty negative comments come at me and my, my DMs over the awd stuff, and one was well, you're deaf, you don't need anything. Well, that's like I said, that is not my only disability, and one of the things that I wanted to point out was well, you're just fat. That's why you want extra time. I can do a 16 minute walking mile if I have to, but the bit of extra time is given when we have that corral is so if I'm having an issue with my disability of did, I can step off course, get fix what I need to do, address the issue and get back on course and go. I'm not upset that I didn't get that corral because I want extra time. I'm upset because I need those accommodations with my service dog and my other disabilities and that I need to be having those accommodations given.

Speaker 10 49:01

I think the biggest thing that kind of like we were like whoa, wait, hold on is that we all signed up for these races this year Under the pretense that we were getting the same stuff we had last year. These changes, because they happen, should have been given to us prior to any registration for the season, because the amount of money I have to save and skimp and move around to pay for the races and then you're going to change my accommodations for it and that was a huge hit to me. I was very we were a lot of us were just a wreck two weeks before the race. Many of us with disabilities are already worried about the upcoming race. And okay, do I got this set up as? Okay, my dog's going to be good. Do I have my guides in place? You know, we have to go through this checklist of our own life that we do on a regular day with our disabilities. And now you're going to say, oh wait, I'm taking away your accommodations and I'm going to be on the race weekend.

Speaker 10 50:02

I don't know many of us that mentally went into it like, yes, I got this, and for me it was my very first half marathon ever and I was terrified and my, my concern was I'm going to have been wasted all this money because one Disney isn't a big. Hey, we'll refund you and I'm not going to tell you that's not on run Disney. But you left us for two weeks really, and I will say for me it was nice to see non awd people come out and champion for us and stick up for us and put it out there, and I'm not going to be quick to send the email I got to anyone who wanted to see it, so they weren't hearing hearsay, they were reading what they told us two weeks in advance. I do think the setup they have for a registration is a little messed up because we're not going to be able to get our registration that morning, so that we make sure we get our spot, so that we don't get a sell out moment and that drop down box that you just tick a box and then go on, you do it quickly. The way they have it set up right now is that if you tick I want to guide because you know you need one, because I did that myself, I need a guide and my dog I'm not going to be able to get it out of the way with not trying to give me anything else and it's hard to read that quickly all your different options come registration warning, because you're trying to make sure you get it checked out in time.

Speaker 10 51:31

One thing that might kind of get run Disney to take notice is if we all check the very last box now which is where you put your other accommodations. So I don't just check human guide anymore, I check the last box and I have to write human guide, service, dog and d ID accommodations. That's what forces them to call me now. If you just check the box human guide, they think, well, we don't need to do anything else done the registration system with the constraint and that frantic thing everybody has the ad shouldn't be a drop down and you have to figure out which one you want. You should be able to just check that box and they should just contact every single person that checks that box, because you know we all got five different laptops open and iPads and phones and there shouldn't be a drop down menu for disability accommodations. Yes, your t shirt size absolutely drop down menu, but disability accommodations should be something you're frantically trying to figure out.

Speaker 10 52:50

I don't feel like any of us should just be checking a box and calling it a day. We have disabilities that need different accommodations. I've flat out heard from from Disney say there's not one that will cover everyone. So then why do you have single options If one isn't going to cover everyone? You should contact every ad athlete and ask them what they need.

Speaker 2 53:12

Really really insightful stuff. Thank you so much for sharing, Tiffany.

Speaker 11 53:17

One of the frustrating things again, where we were in the corrals me, and luckily I had I luckily, same as Tiffany for the half marathon I had four people to inbox me for the half marathon to make sure I get to the start line, okay, and we were having this conversation of why did I even check that box? You know it, my guides register themselves, they pay for themselves, they pay for their travel and their hotel and everything else to show up and guide me through this half marathon and and run. Disney basically said, okay, go to your normal corral. So I was like, why did I even check it when I could have shown up, ran with two girlfriends and it wouldn't have made a difference?

Speaker 10 54:00

Or has you have? You also said, you can print your own yellow sign at home.

Speaker 7 54:05

Let me ask you a question about your guide. So your corral CRB, your corrals, your guides in D or a different corral, how would you have to drop back to them, or do they try to get you in the same corral?

Speaker 11 54:18

My guides for wine and dine were one was in C, one was in D and I was in E. Now we were. I was fortunate enough to talk to somebody at run Disney who put us all in the same corral, but I also know athletes with disabilities that were not given that accommodation and they had to drop back to whoever was the lowest.

Speaker 10 54:38

See, I think one. It was the squeaky wheels that got the better corral I got to be because there are four of us at the AWD table at the expo going. Hold on, wait up what's going on. People with disabilities are constantly fighting for stuff they need, and if you don't have the loudest voice, you're they're not going to accommodate you, and that you shouldn't have to have the loudest voice to be accommodated. You shouldn't have to be putting up a stink for them to give me corral be traditionally. What happens, though, is that if me and my guide, if my guide had corral be and I had corral see my guides to go to see with me. Now if my guide had a corral after me, they come up to me. You always, from what I understand, you go with the athlete with disabilities. Their corral that's on their, their bib. But it's interesting, I got corral be that morning at expo because it was me and two or one other AWD athlete and both of our guides there that they gave me be, but Kayla, you got stuck in C.

Speaker 10 55:42

Yep doesn't make sense that that math is not adding up. If one person says they need that, you know a certain corral or I need this accommodation, why aren't we all given B?

Speaker 11 55:54

Again, if they, if they wanted to individualize accommodations because they didn't think that the blanket accommodation was working for everyone, that's fine. But again, you really have to, like Tiffany said, you really have to talk to each individual athlete and really find out what their needs are to give them the best race experience possible.

Speaker 10 56:14

Like I'm advocating anyone I know. Go back in all your registrations, click that last box and just write I need accommodations, other other guide and other accommodations, and that forces them to have to get a hold of you, which I think they should do. For every athlete with a disability regardless, and I think that's what Tiffany even said, there's not a blanket thing, so why are you blanketing us with you think we need?

Speaker 2 56:38

Well, ladies, this is very, very insightful stuff and thank you for sharing you know, your triumphs and your struggles that you know you've had to, you know, endure, you know, over these last couple of weeks, and you know it's in our heart of hearts that you know things do change for the better, so that, you know, everyone in this community has the exact same experiences, you know, and magical miles. The last question that that I have for you before we wrap up is, obviously, both of you have, you know, said your piece, both publicly and to run Disney themselves. Obviously, we have a massive family, you know, across this podcast and across the run Disney community, who are here to support each and every single person in the a w d community. As a non a w d runner, what can we do to help you?

Speaker 11 57:39

So if you feel so inclined and you were either at wine and I never heard about what happened in wine and I really want to reach out and contact run Disney, go to run Disney calm. At the bottom there is a contact us form and you can fill out. You can pick from a drop down menu athletes with disabilities express those concerns and then that email goes directly to the a w d team at run Disney. So if you're talking like race course I've said this once, I'll probably say it 100,000 times If you see me, you know. Just give me a little space. Also, open your shock. Headphones are also a great way to help out on course, especially being a visually impaired runner. So if you have big headphones on and you can't hear me when I'm walking or changing directions and then I can't see you, that could lead to lead to some accidents out on course.

Speaker 10 58:28

So just be aware on course and be kind to your athletes with disabilities, especially now we're all kind of going through a very tough time for me definitely reaching out to run Disney and expressing concerns that you've seen or that even you've heard like now you've heard our our first person stories of what our issues were, and I know run Disney has taken notice of many people emailing prior to wine and dine and even got a little worried because I know some people were citing case law and stuff to them, and so they're taking notice of those other people that aren't a w d athletes going. What are you doing? And that support, I think, goes a long way, both with us as a w d athletes and run Disney saying we're seeing these people, saying no, you still need to help these people out. We want them in our community. They deserve to be a part of the run Disney community. So contacting run Disney through the website is a huge thing, just so you know that somebody's hearing you.

Speaker 10 59:27

For me, on course, it's a little different. I can't hear you if someone is, and I don't put death on my back because up until this last race I was a solo runner because I don't didn't know anyone yet. And I don't put death on my back because, as people would go past me and say encouraging things, I'm assuming I would just say thank you and I don't want people to be discouraged from not doing that. So for me also, if you see someone with a yellow tag on their back, also look around, because I know there's several service dogs. If you see that yellow thing on my back and you look around me, you'll oh, there's a dog there. Because you're not going to say look for plus, she blends in because she's gray. But if you see those tags on our backs, take more notice of what around you is happening and giving them that space. Maybe going to the left. Don't stop encouraging us as you go by, please. It's a huge thing for me to accomplish some of these goals and some of these races. Just people give me a thumbs up as I went by was a huge thing, but on race course, give us space. If you know us, you know it's a little different.

Speaker 10 1:00:36

I know when I saw Kayla at one of the the character steps, I said her name and I knew instantly. She was like who I knew. I need to say who I am because she can't see me. And then, even funnier, later in the race there were people coming up behind me and for me, with the ability of this building, now there's someone in my bubble that I don't know who and I look over and I asked my guide do we know who that is? And they said no. So I looked even closer and it actually was Kayla and I was like, oh no, no, she's fine, go ahead and come through, but even we're watching out for each other. She went through and I know she has two guides with her for this race. So I was like wait, where's her other guide? Because I wanted to make sure they stayed together. So the best thing is don't interfere on what we have set up, but don't also avoid us like the plague either. We need that support from the community on race course as well.

Speaker 2 1:01:26

So essentially, I think to summarize is just offer space and, most importantly, just be kind, and thankfully that's not hard hard to do so. Again, if you see these awesome individuals on the course, please show your utmost respect. But, kayla Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us. This was a very insightful and eye-opening conversation and again, we really hope that positive changes are made for you and the community and then that way you can have such a magical experience during these races. So thanks again for joining us.

Speaker 10 1:02:05

Thank you for having me. Thanks, guys.

Speaker 2 1:02:07

Well, kayla and Tiffany want to thank you so much for your time and your thoughtful insights into everything that occurred during Wine and Dine weekend, and I just want to offer a quick addendum to that conversation.

Speaker 2 1:02:23

I know we had chatted about things that those of us that are non-AWDs can do and if we would be expecting any changes coming up for Marathon weekend.

Speaker 2 1:02:34

But after that recording and prior to us recording this episode right now, apparently an email did go out to the AWD community in reference to Marathon weekend and from a couple of comments that I've seen on social media that apparently that correspondence that was sent out is pretty much in line with the correspondence that was sent out during Wine and Dine, meaning that not many of the policies sounds like we'll be changing.

Speaker 2 1:03:12

So, with that being said, and knowing that you know some of our friends in the AWD community are still frustrated by what happened and the fact that, at least from an email correspondence, not much seems to be changing, we here at the podcast just implore you to again show kindness, show support, you know, especially in the crowds and obviously on the race course. You know everyone, I think, takes everything into consideration in terms of offering space, you know, for race chariots and wheelchairs and guides and everything like that. But obviously I think a lot of the tricky logistical difficulties come in the corrals themselves. And again, just be mindful of your surroundings in terms of where you are and if you are near an AWD athlete, and just make sure that they feel welcomed and that you support them, and it will make for a much more successful weekend for our entire community as well. So again, just be kind and be supportive of one another.

Interview With Race Director

Speaker 4 1:04:18

And I think it will be a more enjoyable event for everyone. I appreciate Kayla and Tiffany taking the time to explain things to us and hopefully things will go well for them. I'm sorry there aren't any changes, but hopefully things will go well for them. Let's move on, my friends. We had an opportunity to chat with a race director.

Speaker 5 1:04:41

Okay, friends, I am going to start today's interview by posing a question have you ever been to a race and you've thought to yourself, man, I would have done things a little differently? Or maybe you went to a race and you said, wow, the way they did this really was awesome. Or maybe you didn't notice anything all about the race and it just ran so smoothly that you had, you know, no complaints or no excitement. It just everything ran smoothly. A lot of the weight of that rests on the race director's shoulder, and we have not yet had a race director on as an interviewee yet isn't that right guys.

Speaker 4 1:05:16

That's correct, Ali, first time.

Speaker 5 1:05:18

Tonight's guest is Rob Fierro, who is the race director of the Ghost Train 100 mile or 30 hour ultra race in Brookline, New Hampshire. Rob, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 8 1:05:29

Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

Speaker 5 1:05:31

Awesome, we're happy to have you. So I'm going to start out by asking you the question we asked most of our guests, which is how did you get involved in running?

Speaker 8 1:05:39

Oh no, that's a good question. So I got involved in running probably close. Well, all right, I ran in high school. I did cross country. I was terrible at it, but I had hours to kill between the time that we got out of class and that my dad would come and pick me up at the end of the day. So I had to do something. So I did cross country. It was terrible at it.

Speaker 8 1:06:07

And then after I didn't run it for I don't know 20 something years, and then I was actually studying. I was taking classes at a dojo locally here, tokyo Joes, to become, you know, focusing on earning my black belt. And part of the black belt test you had to run. And finally, you know, I was old enough to understand that I should probably try that before the day of the test and see how it goes. So a friend of mine and I, who was also she was going up for a belt also. We started getting together at Mind Falls Park and we spent the summer, probably twice a week, meeting and trying to get to three miles. And then at the end of the summer I got through the test and I was like, oh, this was kind of fun. I'll take it up again in the spring, not realizing I gotta start from scratch.

Speaker 5 1:07:08

So, yeah, that was my history with running, but I've been running ever since, you know, I think I said you were our first race director, but I also think you might be our first black belt. That's ever been one of our guests too. Is that right King?

Speaker 4 1:07:21

That could be. We don't usually ask Ali.

Speaker 5 1:07:25

That's true, we're gonna have to start asking.

Speaker 3 1:07:26

I think I would love to have a black belt, but I just don't think that's in my cards.

Speaker 5 1:07:31

It's pretty awesome. I mentioned some of the things that people might think about when they think about a race director, and I tend to think that you do those things really well. When I went to GoStream, I was really blown away by how well it was run. So I'm gonna ask the same question, but sort of phrase a little differently how did you become involved in race direction?

Speaker 8 1:07:51

So another great question. I started with event work probably around 2006. My wife and I started volunteering with our local humane society at some of their events that they were putting on and we didn't know anything. We were just kind of tossed in to do whatever and started doing more and more with them and we're still involved. And then I learned about GoStream, kind of focused on.

Speaker 8 1:08:24

That was my first Ultra. Actually, my second Ultra was my target, first Ultra. And then I was friends with Terry and Kurt, who were the former race directors, and they asked if I wanted to kind of help out with the committee and I started doing some of the social media for them and helping out. They weren't online a lot of the day so it was great I could get back to people quickly and tag Terry or Kurt if they it was a question they needed to answer. So, yeah, so that's pretty much how I got involved and then started doing Mindful Summer Trail series and then in early 2021, Terry and Kurt had decided to step back from GoStream and Terry asked if I'd be interested in doing more and an opportunity to give back to the running community. Yes, please. So I stepped forward.

Speaker 5 1:09:29

Kind of brought up the GoStream committee and so I'd like to know how long has GoStream been running and kind of what goes into putting on something like this.

Speaker 8 1:09:40

So GoStream started in 2009. So, whatever, that is 14 years or something like that, and it started out with just a 15 mile race and we've got five races now, and it really was just a group of friends that got together to do 15 miles on the rail trail. Yes, we do have a committee. We've got about eight people on the committee at the moment, in addition to myself, and many of them have been actually working on GoStream every year since for a number of years, going back as far as 2009,. Gostream actually started with. Steve Latour was the first race director, and Buddy and Cindy Lou Doherty had come up with the idea for a fundraiser for the trails to have a race on the Grand Atom Rail Trail, or, as all of us know it, gostream Trail.

Speaker 5 1:10:38

Right.

Speaker 8 1:10:39

And yeah, that's what started it. They've been involved ever since and absolutely could not happen without all their involvement. The history and the knowledge that they bring and the ability to do all the behind the scenes work that needs to happen is just absolutely crucial.

Speaker 7 1:10:59

You talked a little bit about GoStream and the trail. What is GoStream? For example? Why is this race named the GoStream Ultra?

Speaker 8 1:11:09

So it's named GoStream. I believe Buddy Doherty came up with the name. The trail that we run on used to be a railroad track. There used to be train tracks from Lake Botanipo in Brookline down to Boston to carry ice Used to be the biggest ice factory in, I think, the hemisphere. It was huge in Brookline, new Hampshire, and they had hundreds of thousands of square foot of space and they'd harvest ice in the winter Lake Botanipo's, spring fed and very pure, and they would truck it down to Boston and other points for ice in the summer.

Speaker 8 1:11:52

And Milford got into that because they were a big granite town so they shipped granite down. They built a railway from Milford to Brookline to hook in with the train and then they were shipping granite all over the country. And that's pretty much the train aspect. All that, of course, kind of fell out of favor, as so many trains, so much of the history of the trains got wiped out when we opened the highways. So the rails got torn up, all the metal got reused for the wartime effort, world War II. But we actually used to have trestle not the trestles but the ties, the railroad ties on the course, which caused a lot of bloody knees and tripping. But one of the benefits of the ghost train revenue has been that whole section now has been graded and covered. So now people are running on a nice flat surface versus the uneven rail tie.

Speaker 5 1:12:58

We thank you for that.

Speaker 8 1:13:00

That was a big, huge thing, but yeah, so it's basically with the idea that sometimes in the middle of the night you can still hear the ghost train going through.

Speaker 5 1:13:12

I can attest to that. Running through 2, 3 am, when you start to get the loony bins that you can start to hear some ghost train whistles off in the distance among shadow people and random animals and stuff.

Speaker 8 1:13:28

I like that shadow people.

Speaker 3 1:13:30

You have people scaring the runners out on the course. That would be fantastic. I mean idea for next year.

Speaker 8 1:13:39

I thought about putting like characters or ghouls or things like that out on the trail like randomly moving them around. So when people came by, all of a sudden there'd be something new there and I kind of forget. Maybe that's a bad idea.

Speaker 3 1:13:53

I don't think that's a bad idea. I think that's awesome, cause it makes you second guess yourself and you know, if you're gonna second guess yourself, it's gonna be for 30 hours, I think All right.

Speaker 6 1:14:03

So can you tell us how Halloween plays a role in this race, and is the trail actually haunted?

Speaker 8 1:14:09

Of course the trail is actually haunted, that's the only answer.

Speaker 8 1:14:17

So the race. I actually don't know why they chose the date they did, but it's a perfect date because ghost train falls right in like the middle to late October timeframe. It's the time when the foliage is at the peak, the leaves are the most beautiful and somewhere back in the past they started out with some Halloween theme and we've kept that going and it makes it a lot of fun because you know we can the way we do it. People will start the race at 9 am and we don't really start decorating like the day before or anything we kind of add things during the day and then throughout the day, so things keep popping up.

Speaker 8 1:14:59

And then this past year people were doing a night race. It was the first inaugural year for a race that started in the evening, so we did some extra lighting and so on. So these things kept popping in and, yeah, it just makes it a fun theme and a fun event and it's actually evolved really cool where a number of people will wear costumes. You know, Al, I'm sure, saw a few while she was there.

Speaker 5 1:15:31

Yeah, and I think our friend from Rundopi, Paula, won a Best Costume Award during the event last year.

Speaker 4 1:15:39

Yeah, no surprise there. You mean to tell me Ali was not in costume, though.

Speaker 5 1:15:44

I wasn't.

Speaker 5 1:15:45

I didn't actually intend to. So Rob kind of alluded to something and I didn't actually intend to run that long, so I was just gonna kind of go for a little bit, and but Rob alluded to that there's quite a number of distances that you can run in this race now. It started as a 15-miler, like you mentioned it's I mean, I'm using air quotes because it's still a smaller race as far as but it's famous for its 100-miler or 30-hour. But you added a number of races to this now too, so people can participate and see all the decorations at night, which I love. Like that's my favorite part. The 15-miler was during the day last year, or, sorry, the year before last year. This last event had the 15-miler and it also had an additional event or two.

Speaker 8 1:16:37

Filming in on that. We had two new races because we added the night race and the 30-hour relay.

Speaker 5 1:16:43

Oh, that's right, there's a relay now. Yep, yep, yep, yeah. So there's a lot to be able to sign up for.

Speaker 4 1:16:48

Seven and a half miles is the shortest, correct, rob Goes from seven and a half to 100.

Speaker 8 1:16:56

Yeah, seven and a half is the shortest distance and then 30 hours. Whatever you'd like to do, I think the maximum on that is 115 that we've had. Ah, wow.

Speaker 3 1:17:08

So this goes back to costumes really quick. So I'm just curious, you know, can you like? Do people actually change costumes throughout the day, or is it just usually they're stuck in one?

Speaker 8 1:17:22

I feel like almost Allie should answer this, but you know, you and Paula first, I believe, but last year I think so. Paula and her Disney crew did six miles, and every 15 miles they changed costumes.

Speaker 5 1:17:40

I love that. Yeah, and the reason why I was able to twist Paula's arm to go out and do another 15 with me was I was like everyone needs to see you in your costume. You have to give them that inspiration. And she was like, okay, I was probably gonna do it anyway.

Speaker 8 1:18:00

Yeah, she looked fantastic. She had a great costume.

Speaker 3 1:18:03

Now with the aid stations. First off, what kind of stuff do you have at the aid stations? And the second off is oh sorry. And second of all, so is there just one aid station where, like, once you finish the loop, that's it, or is it kind of a there and back? Is there one that's seven and a half miles and then back, of course, at the start, slash, finish? How does that work?

Speaker 8 1:18:28

I think a lot of people joke about this, but it's very true. We kind of have a buffet with a running problem in it.

Speaker 5 1:18:38

Yeah, it's like ghost train 30 hour buffet.

Speaker 8 1:18:40

It's a 30 hour buffet and, yeah, we put a lot of work into planning it. So we've got an aid station at Brookline where the ultra and 15 mile races start. We've got an aid station in Milford where the night race starts and the turnaround is, and then we've got a middle aid station, because sometimes you just need a snack in between the two. Of course Of course, why wouldn't you?

Speaker 5 1:19:13

Or a porta potty or a headlamp or you need to sit by the fire. I mean, they're really incredible aid stations.

Speaker 8 1:19:19

Yeah, or you need people to cheer for you as you exit the porta potty.

Speaker 5 1:19:23

A little dance party. Yeah, that was one of the things in my recap that I really liked a lot was that people cheered for you Once you got into the nighttime and you were in your big miles every time you left the porta potty the aid station would cheer for you because you were able to stand back up after sitting down. Oh, I love that. That's great, that's amazing.

Speaker 4 1:19:44

Yeah, that's good stuff.

Speaker 8 1:19:46

Yeah, and I got on that note. Call out Carrie Talbot and her family. For the last number of years they've manned the middle aid station.

Speaker 5 1:19:55

Oh, they're great.

Speaker 8 1:19:56

From midnight to 6 am and she's got younger children and they're all out there and they're having a blast. Wow, yeah, it's a big party. They had disco lights this year. Yeah.

Speaker 8 1:20:10

Yeah, so she's fantastic. But yeah, as far as what we have at the aid stations, like Ali mentioned, we've got assuming the weather is amenable to it we've got the fires set up so you can kind of warm up and get a little atmosphere, sit around, chat with some of your fellow runners. The middle aid station tends to be more snacks, water, tailwind, all that kind of stuff, and then Milford and Brookline tend to be a little more full service and boy, we've got everything from like your kind of typical ultra-fair of, like you know, candy and potatoes to. Let's see Milford. The last couple of years has had barbecue sandwiches and they're known for their grilled cheese. Their grilled cheese is amazing. In Brookline we had vegan blueberry cobbler, vegan apple cobbler or apple crisp, and this year I finally had it. I didn't get it. Last year my friend Carrie Ann made oh, what was it? Sweet potato casserole? Yes, I had that too. I had that too. I had that too. Sweet potato casserole, what?

Speaker 5 1:21:27

Yes, I had that too. It was so good. It sounds good.

Speaker 8 1:21:30

Oh, so delicious. So we've got a whole sort amount of foods. It's really important to us a couple things. We want to make sure that you just don't have the same selection of foods for 30 hours.

Speaker 3 1:21:43

Yeah, I think that's really important. It's helpful to have something different.

Speaker 8 1:21:47

Yeah, yeah, we try and switch out every like four hours or so to you know, and we'll do you know, snack foods all night. We'll do more dinner at night and breakfast in the morning. It's also very important to us. All the aid stations are food inclusive. So we've got, you know, vegan food. We've got gluten free. We've got you know a number of options and I love them.

Speaker 8 1:22:15

Some of it's very subtle that probably a non-vegan wouldn't realize. For example, like we buy a brand of chips I think it's Lay's because those are vegan. No other runner that's non-vegan would notice oh, they're Lay's chips, they're vegan, right, but everyone eats Lay's chips and loves them. So you know, that's a simple way that we can make sure that there's a you know, at least some foods available, for example, that everybody can eat.

Speaker 5 1:22:45

When you say some foods, you literally mean a full like six by eight table of food for each type of dietary needs. So there was. You know, I had three different wraps I could choose from. I had my own macaroni and cheese, my own grilled cheese, my own, like you said, the cobbler's, like it was. It was awesome, it was really incredible. And the volunteers are incredible too. They do a really good job making sure everybody's taken care of and has everything they need.

Speaker 8 1:23:14

Absolutely.

Speaker 5 1:23:15

Yeah, no, it's, it's very important.

Speaker 8 1:23:17

It really makes me very, very happy when I read a comment on Facebook that, oh, I've got a special diet and I always go to races with my own food, but I didn't use any of my food at your race and I could enjoy all the treats that you had out and with everybody else, and that just makes me feel so happy.

Speaker 4 1:23:37

That's outstanding. I think we're. We're kind of getting into this a little bit as a race directing, as a race director. Aside from coordinating this fabulous menu, what are some of the challenges in general as being a race director? What are some of the things that you do that perhaps runners don't even think about?

Speaker 8 1:23:59

Oh, there's a lot, I'm sure there are.

Speaker 8 1:24:02

Yeah, I mean, my outlook is the runners shouldn't have to worry about any of these things. You know we coordinate. Melody Miller is one of our, one of our volunteers on the committee and one of her jobs is she coordinates the bike patrol. So we have people on bikes out to make sure that people are safe and don't need any help. You know, and obviously runners notice them. They're hard to miss. But but and I think they really appreciate having the bike patrol out there but there's other things too Like we coordinate with.

Speaker 8 1:24:43

We members of the committee are good about doing this. They coordinate with the local emergency services so they know the race is happening. We'll you know if. If there is an incident, we'll know how to get to that person. You know we'll, we'll work with the emergency responders to get through the.

Speaker 8 1:25:03

You know whatever access point most quickly and you know, all the way down to this past year we had a bit of a snafu with timing. We, totally not the timer's fault. Norm is amazing, he does a great job. There was a bug in the software and yeah, so we we had to kind of scramble a little bit to figure out what we're going to do, but luckily that was completely transparent to the runners, so they I just had to stand there kind of stupid in front of the night race for an extra minute or so going. Come on, norm, I need to start the race. Are you ready to go? Yeah, um, but uh, yeah, things like that. It's nice when they're they're transparent to the runners and they don't see it and they can focus on their race and their goals.

Speaker 4 1:25:57

What's the cycle? Like Rob, I was going to guess that you start next year's as soon as last year's ends, but I got a feeling you were already well into the planning for 2024 before 2023 even kicked off.

Speaker 8 1:26:11

Uh, I would say, probably a day or two after the race is really when 2024 planning for me started. Um, some of the most important things are anytime you do an event, something's going to go wrong or something could be better. Um, even if nobody noticed it, you know, I still noticed it and I want things to be better and um, so, yeah, it's making note of those things and starting to plan to address anything that you would like to see different or better for next year.

Speaker 7 1:26:42

Talking about planning for next year's race. What's the size of your race usually and do you plan on expanding it? Do you talk about expanding it or maybe cutting it back, or how do you guys deal?

Ghost Train Race

Speaker 8 1:26:54

with that. So we expanded this past year by adding those extra races I'd mentioned the 30 hour relay and the night race, um, and for one reason or another, we did um expand the ultra to probably the largest field size that we've had, and it was actually good in a way, because I think we realized it was a little bit beyond what we could handle. Um, our biggest limitation is parking and um, actually, we always thought parking was our biggest limitation, although this year, uh, we allow people to set up tents so they can, you know, support and cheer their runners and so on, and we've always had a ton of room, and this year we actually were running pretty low on room. So now we know, okay, our field size for the ultra has to not go beyond about 400 people. Um, so that's a good place to be. We now know that and, uh, and this year we'll, we'll cut it at that, um, so, yeah, uh, total race size Last year we had close to 800 runners.

Speaker 8 1:28:05

Between all five races, um, biggest one is the, the 30 hour ultra, which had uh, 432 last year. Um, and then behind that, the, the night race had great attendance and the 15 mile has great attendance. Uh, the relay we kept at a fairly small size. We kept it at 10 teams, which really means 13. Um, and then the 15 mile relay. Um had a number of teams as well, but uh, yeah, by the time you add them all up was about, uh, about a 775 or so.

Speaker 3 1:28:44

So I know, with some races, um with ultra, as they do buckle, you guys do buckles for the finishers or metals, or what do you guys? Is there anything you guys do for finishers?

Speaker 8 1:28:57

Uh, something I started last year in what 2022 was offering something to all finishers. Um, before that we'd offered well, we'd offered things to the 100 milers and let me come back to them but we started offering and this was actually a little contentious, because the conservation committees of Brookline and Milford are the ones who sponsored the race, put on the race. Um, they didn't want a whole bunch of plastic type stuff that we, you know, got as awards that we're just going to go into landfill. So I was able to procure these little wooden trains and you can see they're very thin a little piece of string, uh, and then we write on the back um the year and um how many miles that person has gone. Um, so it's an ornament, yeah.

Speaker 8 1:29:52

And it can be used as an ornament. You can make it a metal. Uh, I've I've seen one of the guys um hung it off his mirror in his car. Um, really, any, any way, you want to do it and it's really nice because it is, you know, you know um wood, it's not plastic and I'm going to fill up a landfill, so that's for for everybody who runs. Uh gets offered that for a hundred mile finishers. Um, we have two traditions. Uh, one, they get offered a railroad spike. Um, and we write on it goes chain trail races in the year. Um, so that's their memento. When everybody gets that, no matter, you know well, everyone that finishes a hundred mile gets that.

Speaker 8 1:30:34

Um, if a runner would like a belt buckle, they're able to purchase one. Uh, adam Dodge is one of our um, I'm going to call him a volunteer. He comes up and runs the race every year and he, completely on his own, he manages the whole belt buckle project. Um, he, he puts the money up front to to order the buckles. He brings the buckles from where he lives. Uh, he'll sell them at cost to the runners and uh, yeah, and they're fantastic Uh. So, uh, those have been available as long as I can remember. Uh, so I don't know what year he started doing that, but yeah they're, they're great buckles and uh, and again, we don't make any money on those. Uh well, a lot, of a lot of races. They'll give you the buckle, which basically means they're charging everybody for them, no matter if you finish or not. Uh, so we don't, we don't do that, we, we just charge the race fee and you can buy the buckle when you're complete the race.

Speaker 5 1:31:35

One of the things I love about this race is how unique it is, and it's one of those races you can't really know until you actually do it how fun and unique everything is. Um, what are some of the landmarks or characters or owls you might meet along the way when you're running this course?

Speaker 8 1:31:55

We've got a very interesting trail. There are a lot of what would? You call it? What would you call the things along Route 66?

Speaker 5 1:32:06

Oh, like roadside attractions.

Speaker 8 1:32:09

Yeah, we have a lot of trailside attractions, let's call them those. Yeah, I think probably one of the better known ones is the Kebler tree. So there's a tree that has been decked out. It's got a little Kebler elf sign, it's got a little doorknob on a section of trunk that looks like that. There's little, you know painted rocks that people put out front it's, it's cute, it's, you know, kind of something out of the middle of the woods. You know, one of the ones that's very less noticeable is the tree that has a horseshoe on it. Oh yeah, yeah, did you see that one?

Speaker 5 1:32:49

Yeah, but I don't know what it is. Oh, it's just a tree with a horseshoe on it. Oh, you're gonna tell me a big story about it.

Speaker 8 1:32:56

Oh yeah sorry, no, it's just someone put a tree on it. But you know, I just think it's kind of cool. So every time I go by I touch the horseshoe.

Speaker 5 1:33:04

Oh yeah, absolutely, and you guys put up a lot of decorations and stuff too, which makes it really fun and unique, like there's a lot of little scenes happening with skeletons doing stuff and you know, there's almost like Christmas lights let's say it again, halloween lights. I've found a bunch of things in the tunnels and you really do a great job making sure everybody's entertained along the way.

Speaker 8 1:33:28

We do want to keep it entertaining and yeah we try and mix up the decorations every year a little bit and we tried to use it this year and I don't think it was noticeable enough. But there's a section of the trail where literally like 12 or 15 feet over from the trail but up a little hill, is like a six or eight foot cross. Yeah, and I know my friend Melissa and Matt went out and they put like little spotlights because I figured we'll light up the cross and it'll be kind of, you know, ominous maybe.

Speaker 5 1:34:04

Yeah it was a little weird when we went by. We were like, oh, what's happening?

Speaker 4 1:34:09

Oh, so you did see it right.

Speaker 5 1:34:11

We did yeah.

Speaker 4 1:34:12

Mission accomplished.

Speaker 8 1:34:14

Yeah, there's a number of things out there that are, you know, quite interesting, and you know that doesn't even count the wildlife, you know we had to pause. They paused the race a little bit along one section this year because there was a bear walking around. Oh, and then, you know, no big deal, just a bear, and then, of course, all the spooky things that come out, especially during the new moon.

Speaker 5 1:34:44

Yeah, a spookiest thing I saw was a beaver this year, but it was pretty cool.

Speaker 8 1:34:50

That is pretty spooky.

Speaker 6 1:34:51

So let's talk a little bit about how Ghost Train is inclusive to all. It's a very welcoming and affirming space for the LGBTQIA plus community. Can you speak more on that, and what LGBTQIA plus organizations that you partner with?

Speaker 8 1:35:07

Well, that's a very good question. So we partner with Pride On Foot, which is a local organization out of Boston that promotes inclusiveness, and you know, when I got contacted last year by Sue, she said you know, hey, do you want to be a partner? Well, yes, yes, I would. In fact, I'd like to think that we're already very welcoming, but if we're not doing something that we could be doing better, we'd like to improve it. And yeah, so we partner with them as well as many of the TARC races local trail animals running club. They put on a number of races. They partner with Pride On Foot as well. Trail Sisters is another partner of some of the local events. We haven't happened to partner with them, although I think that we meet all the requirements, but yeah, it's very important to not only myself but everybody on the committee and everybody in the community that we're welcoming and it is a safe space. One of the things that you know Sue taught me is that we want to make sure that we're including non-binary in awards and any other recognition. I don't know why, I'd never even thought of it, but you know I feel dumb in hindsight. But you know, we immediately made that change and made sure that we've got, you know, categories for everybody. And, yeah, it's very important to us that people can feel safe and come and run the trails. And I know this wasn't your question.

Speaker 8 1:36:54

But just to add onto that, I worked with a woman this past year who she had taken out a restraining order against somebody that she knew that kept showing up at trail races. And she contacted me and said you know, I really, really want to come to GOES train. That's my, I love that race, I want to participate, but I'm scared and said, well, let's, you know, let's get this figured out. What can we do when, you know, I, we work together.

Speaker 8 1:37:27

I talked to a friend who's a police officer. I talked to another friend who's an attorney, you know, and I basically got some good advice. I worked with her to say, hey, this is, you know, let's, let's do this. And luckily it didn't turn out to be an issue because he was in prison during the race. But you know, I was just so happy that she could come, she could feel safe and she knew that, you know, even if that hadn't been the case, that she'd be able to come because we would be prepared to make sure that she was safe. So you know, certainly, on all fronts, we want to make sure that we do anything we can to make sure our runners feel welcome and accommodated.

Speaker 6 1:38:14

I love that you want to help and make everybody feel included. That's very, very important to a lot of us. So can you also talk about how GOES train gives back to and includes the community?

Speaker 8 1:38:27

Definitely so. We were actually just adding up some numbers today. So since 2009, we have a GOES train, the race has raised $225,000 a little over Wow. Yeah, that's very impressive. And I mentioned the project to ease out the rail ties. So there's that there's a new tunnel that went in. So Wait what. The monster tunnel. That's new. That's new.

Speaker 8 1:39:01

Oh wow, three years old or something. And that was. That was GOES train money. That went to, you know, to the matching part of a grant, because obviously that was an expensive project. Yeah, it's a nine foot tunnel, it's big, it's big. So that's, that's in there. The trestle bridge where you saw all the jack-o'-lanterns, that was GOES train money. Yeah, there's a few other projects, but, needless to say, you can keep seeing the improvements on the trail and and they've really worked hard to the conservation committees of both towns have worked hard to make the trails more accessible and available to not only the runners but the entire community.

Speaker 5 1:39:49

That's awesome. I mean, it really is a very unique race and I can't recommend it enough. I know, with only about 400 spaces for the 30 mile altra, it's not a huge race by any means, but if people can come out to do it, you know, if not this year, if not next year, you know, put it on your list because it's just an awesome race and it is run very, very well. So we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. I want to talk to you really quickly about if people do want to register, when they can do that and if they don't make it onto the initial registration, because I know it sells out very quickly. What is the wait list like and how does that work?

Speaker 8 1:40:29

Sure. So registration will open on ultra sign up or GOES train on January 27th at 2 pm, because that will matter. I don't know how quickly the ultra will sell out, but I suspect it's going to be within a day, if not less. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. Some of the other races will sell out as well. I expect the night race will sell out.

Speaker 8 1:40:54

The relay will sell out very quickly the 30 hour relay and then we open the wait list and the way that works is once the race fills up in order, people can join the wait list. So we take people, then, you know, as people drop from the race or whatever happens, in chronological order. So first come, first serve, we'll send them an invitation to come off the wait list and join the race. It's always a bit of a stressful thing because we go right down to the week before the race is when we cut it off, and up until 2024, we've always been able to let everybody in. I'm saying that starting this year we probably won't be able to let everybody in. It's going to be too many people, but you know, people who get in early and sign up on the wait list earlier. The stress level will be much less, because you won't be finding out 10 days before that you're going to do the race.

Speaker 8 1:42:02

I just want to send a thank you not only to the committee members, but if you don't mind, I'm just mentioning the names I mentioned Buddy and Cindy, lou, drew and Brendan finish out the committee from the Brookline side. Chris and her daughter, lori represent the Milford side, and then kind of some members that aren't involved in the conservation committee Melody and Carolina round out the team, and I couldn't do it without them. It's such a big race, so many things going on, that having their knowledge and their dedication there really is what makes the race.

Speaker 5 1:42:47

Well, that's very sweet, yeah, so we appreciate you guys so much. Thank you so much for putting on this race and thank you for talking to our friends as well. Thank you so much for coming on, rob.

Speaker 8 1:42:57

Thank you again for having me. This was a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 1:43:00

Rob, we appreciate your time. Good stuff, even though most of that we talked about ghost train, which makes sense. That's what Rob is the race director for. A whole lot of what he talked about applies to so many of the races that you take part in and maybe it gives you a little bit more appreciation for some of the challenges that those men and women go through. I thought it was pretty interesting.

Speaker 4 1:43:24

A couple of notes, friends, before we continue. We mentioned when we talked with Jeff last week. He talked about the JG 13.1 weekend in March and I've mentioned it several times. We're excited about it, but registration is currently on hold. If you recall, jeff talked to us. He said he's got new things coming up. Well, apparently some of those new things have to do with the registration, so no registration right now. We will be sure to let you know when that registration is back open again. Hey, patreon, our Patreon link, patreoncom. Take a look. When to support the podcast, we've got several different levels there. I want to welcome some new Patreons who have joined us. At the happy running level we have Amy with two E's, amy with a Y and Camille. So Amy, amy and Camille, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 4 1:44:32

Friends, you know, there are a whole lot of stories in the Run Disney universe and there are a whole lot of stories in the Rise and Run family Stories about overcoming obstacles, illnesses, injuries. Our good friend Matt, who's been with us for a long time In fact, matt was a very active member in the Facebook group even before the podcast came along he has an incredible journey he wanted to share with us. So, matthew, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. How's it going, bob? John? It's going well. My friend, thank you for taking the time to share with us. We appreciate it. You've been a friend of the podcast from the very beginning and actually a Facebook friend before the podcast, so we've known each other a little while now. We sure have, yeah, but you have been on quite a journey, my friend. I have been. Yeah, why don't you tell?

Speaker 1 1:45:28

us about it. So well, I tell you, you know, the last couple of months kind of looking back through my time hop app and seeing my photos of myself 10 years ago. It's who was that guy?

Speaker 4 1:45:42

It's dramatic.

Speaker 1 1:45:44

I weigh 640 pounds at my highest weight. I weigh 15 today. So you know how did I even get that big to begin with? I honestly don't know. Probably a lot of depression, doing the wrong things, drinking alcohol, tons of alcohol, eating the wrong foods. I just got to a point where I was comfortable being the fat guy and people around me were comfortable with me being the funny fat guy and kind of encouraged that whole thing, which you know.

Speaker 4 1:46:19

Yeah, enablers.

Speaker 1 1:46:21

Yeah, you know, if you got enablers, cut them out of your life immediately. That's one of the first things that I did, but how old were you when you hit that max weight? Oh, God, let's see, I was 32, 33. I'll be 40 in April. Wow, wow, wow. It's been quite the journey.

Speaker 4 1:46:43

Yeah, 400 pounds you've dropped. How'd you do it?

Speaker 1 1:46:48

So I started out with I had a gastric sleeve surgery done in 2017. And fairly well, I dropped down to from 640, down to 385. And in the course of all that weight loss process I ended up developing GERD, which is a gastroparticle reflex disease, and I would wake up in the middle of the night choking on stomach acid. And I was sitting there thinking something's not right, something's not right and of course, you know, at that time COVID was going on so I couldn't, you know, get into the see the doctors or anything like that. So I finally called and got an appointment with the surgery center that I originally had my surgery through and they're like we're going to do a bunch of tests and everything. By that point, because of the stomach acid. The only way to really kind of cure that is to eat like really carby foods to kind of tamper that down a little bit. So I bloom back up to 465 at that point. But they ended up doing a stomach acid study. A pH study is what it was called.

Speaker 1 1:48:04

You go in, they put like a nasal gel in there so you can. You know the only thing when they shove a long tube up to your nose, down down to your, it's not fun. I ended up ripping it out after like six hours.

Speaker 1 1:48:22

But they did. The study came back and they're like well, this isn't, this is actually worse than we thought. It's not stomach acid, it's bile acid from your intestines and that's really not good. So the surgeon said you know, I can cure it. So what we're going to need to do is we're going to need to do a duodenal switch. So we're going to re-eroute your intestines and we're it's going to be. It's going to be a process. He's like you'll never be the same again, but he's like you're going to be a lot healthier. And he's like just trust me on this. So I said okay. So they got me in March of 2021, on the day of the surgery, with 465 pounds, when it was supposed to be an hour and a half operation. Nine hours later.

Speaker 4 1:49:07

Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1 1:49:08

What ended up happening is they got in there and they saw my gallbladder and it was so heavily inflamed that they had to remove it. But it was so infected that the surgeon said that when she went in she said that it was the longest gallbladder removal she's ever done. It just scrubbed out halfway through the procedure because her back was killing her. That's how long it took. But it was just so effective that they were worried that if they nicked it wrong and the infection seep out, they said it was so effective that I would have died on the operating table because it would have just went into my bloodstream and killed me. So that was quite the eye opener. But once I finished recovery from the operation, I was watching YouTube and saw some YouTubers that went to the wine and dine half marathon in 2019 and I was like, wow, that looks like a lot of fun. I think I'd like to do that. I think I'd like to train for that and trained. My first one was in 2022.

Speaker 7 1:50:14

Was this problem a byproduct of the surgery, or is this something else that you had to deal with?

Speaker 1 1:50:19

So the gallbladder issue was more a result of rapid weight loss the bile acid thing. The surgeon thinks that the prior surgeon that did the operation didn't do a very good job, so he thought that maybe there was something that he might have done wrong in the procedure. But honestly, it ended up being better for me because with the sleeve, when I get down to 385, that's probably the lowest you're going to go with this. So getting the duodenal switch has allowed me to get down to even further than I ever thought possible. I mean, the sweatshirt that I'm wearing is an extra large and I'm in 36 inch pants, like I've never worn 36 inch pants before. Matt, that's amazing.

Speaker 7 1:51:10

That's a great story.

Transformation and Running

Speaker 4 1:51:13

Let me make an editorial comment here, because a lot of friends who don't know think that, oh, you get the surgery and that's it. It's that simple you get the surgery and then you'll lose weight automatically. That's not the case. It's not. It helps, but you still need to take action on your own, don't you?

Speaker 1 1:51:31

100 percent. You've got to make sure you're eating right. You've got to make sure that you're exercising. You know, with a duodenal switch, you absorb about 20 percent of the calories that you eat. In theory, you can eat more, but you still have to make sure you're eating the right things, because you want to. The way that I look at this is that I need to look at my food as a fuel source for my body. You know, it's nice to have some foods like. You know, I love pizza. I can't eat pizza every day, right, that's not a good fuel for my body, but I can have it once in a while and that's.

Speaker 1 1:52:10

I think that's good advice for all of us and that's the way that you have to look at it Is that when you're doing anything regardless whether you're just doing a diet or if you're doing something dramatic like like a surgery you have to change your relationship with food and that person. I did.

Speaker 4 1:52:28

Yeah, now let's get back. You've had, you've had this dramatic nine-hour surgical procedure. You're still weighing over 400 pounds. And you decide Gee, that running looks like fun. You're still weighing 400 pounds. My friend, how did that go when you got started?

Speaker 1 1:52:46

It was a challenge. I actually ended up taking a little side gig through a company called shipped which is very similar to Instacart, so I was doing like grocery delivery and stuff like that. So I was Walking around the stores and I was walking on the store shopping for other people it's kind of getting the cardio in that was losing, helping me lose the weight and then eventually got down to a point where I was like, okay, I can start working, running into all this. You know, the first time I ran I ran maybe a 24 minute mile, but Me was to continue moving. Did you start?

Speaker 4 1:53:23

out with Run Walk.

Speaker 1 1:53:23

Run. I did. Yeah, I started out with the Run Walk. Run Went for as long as I could on the running portion, which might have been 20 seconds, and then I would walk until I felt like I could catch my breath again and I'd start again with the, with the run, and I eventually built up to the point where now, you know, with wine and dye, and I think I was doing a 15-minute mile for the, for the half marathon.

Speaker 4 1:53:51

Yeah, that's awesome, it's great, that really is so, from a little over 400 to now a little over 200, another 200 pounds over a period of about two years, about two years, because it was March of 2021 that I had the surgery.

Speaker 1 1:54:05

So yeah, about two years to just a little over.

Speaker 4 1:54:09

Wow, that's awesome. How's the running going? You said 15 minutes a mile at wine and dine.

Speaker 1 1:54:14

Yep, 15 minutes a mile one and I Haven't done too much running because it's really cold up here in the Northeast.

Speaker 7 1:54:24

One degree. Okay okay, I'll take that. I'm down south a little more and we got 36 today, so yeah, I was big as a high was like 23 today, so oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 1:54:38

It's a little bit too chilly for my blood, but we'll take it.

Speaker 4 1:54:42

I've I've been there, but I'm not there now. And, yeah, okay, I get it, but that's not the topic at hand. The topic at hand is this amazing transformation, this amazing journey, matt, how you feeling now I feel amazing.

Speaker 1 1:54:57

I feel absolutely amazing. Yeah, it's those race mornings. You know, getting up at 3 am, I get a little nervous still because you know one thing that would the Diwagno switch that they don't tell you is that when they change, when they say you're gonna change your intestines and they're gonna change your life, they change everything about your life, including your bathroom visits. There are times, like before I go on a race, I'm taking, you know, six a modium to make sure that Things stay stopped up, because I don't want to have to stop suddenly on the course. Okay, I understand, want to stay ahead of those balloon ladies for sure.

Speaker 4 1:55:34

Yeah, yeah, I understand, you've done. What else have you done at Disney? You, you started. You said your first race was 2019.

Speaker 1 1:55:44

No, I saw it in 2019. My first event was the springtime surprise 5k. That first springtime surprise over the did the the 5k at Animal Kingdom right, right the nighttime event.

Speaker 4 1:55:59

Right, the nighttime event. Yeah, john was there.

Speaker 7 1:56:02

I was at that one. That was an interesting event. Yeah, it was very fun.

Speaker 4 1:56:07

Yeah, yeah, and then you did this last. We've already talked about that. You did this last wine and dine, which was awesome. We got a chance to see you there. What's next? You got any races on the schedule.

Speaker 1 1:56:20

Yeah, I'm looking at springtime surprise in April. I think that's one of my favorite events. It's to do the springtime surprise. Of course, we got the you know the the 12k's of Christmas event going on right now, which I'm working on right, but my next in person once you get a few more degrees out there, I think right, yeah, especially this weekend.

Speaker 1 1:56:41

I'll do it because it's supposed to be in the 40s this weekend. That's what they're saying, so we'll see. But springtime surprise will be my next in-person race, I think, and then I'm shooting for Wine and Dine next year because that's one of my favorite events. 2025 will do dopey. Wow, what a goal Matt.

Speaker 4 1:57:01

What a goal. That's awesome. Are you at a goal weight now? Are you? Are you happy where you are?

Speaker 1 1:57:07

I'm pretty happy where I'm at. I just need to stabilize my weight because I've got all this excess skin that's got to come off.

Speaker 1 1:57:13

Understand it does interfere with the running a little bit. So Want to get down, get, get the weight stabilized, you know, once I'm no longer fluctuating because right now I bounce between 215 and 225. So I think once I get down to like, if I can stabilize between 215 and 220, then I'll be able to have the VX of skin removed. But that's probably gonna be a 2025 thing. My goal is to do that after the 2025 run Disney season so that way I can recover, and then the next time you probably see me will be Springtime surprise 2026 after that, because I don't think I'll be able to do a lot of running for a while. You know, recommend I think it's the remunse of hardly any activity after that surgery because it's gonna be a Basically a total body lift.

Speaker 1 1:58:08

They're gonna remove skin all over my body. I've actually seen pictures of people that were my size that had their excess skin removed, and One guy had almost 40 pounds of skin removed. Wow. So I'm guessing that I might be somewhere in the 30 to 40 pounds of excess skin. So I could probably schedule it now and be fine, because I don't want to go too, too low on my weight. I don't want to look sickly. I think right now I look pretty good.

Speaker 4 1:58:41

No, I think so too You're. I mean, you're fairly tall, aren't you, matt? You're then? I'm not being obnoxious, I don't notice. Five ten, five ten, okay, that's yeah, that's, that's decent, that's about average for men. Five ten, but Wow, an amazing story. An amazing story, matt, thanks for thank you for coming on here and taking time to share it with us. Gosh, who knows, maybe you've motivated somebody or Maybe you've given somebody some encouragement and the way that is.

Speaker 1 1:59:12

If you're you're thinking about doing a run Disney event, you're, you're like, oh my god, I'm too afraid to do it. Still it. I think my. So when I did wine and dine 2022, I was gonna sweat twice, but I kept moving. Mm-hmm, did, actually, did the math. So if you, if you look at my time for 2022, it was a three hour and 45 minute half marathon, but it wasn't true half marathon because I was part of the group that they Cut about three miles off the course for, so did that in about three hours and 45 minutes. And then, at wine and dine, this year, I did the full half marathon in three hours and 35 minutes.

Speaker 1 1:59:56

Outstanding like I said, if you're thinking about doing a run Disney event, you're worried that you can't do it. Sign up. There's a whole community of people out there that are rooting you on who. They know you when you cross that finish line. They are happy that you crossed the finish line.

Speaker 4 2:00:14

Absolutely true, hallelujah, you are correct. Inspiration on my friend Matthew Desmond. Thank you so much for sharing that story, absolutely. Thank you for having me on, matt. Amazing stuff. Thank you for sharing that with us. Looking forward to seeing you, matt, at the springtime surprise weekend.

Speaker 4 2:00:33

Hey, friends, upcoming episodes next week our friends Devin and Kristen will join us to talk about nutrition and Other things to help you prepare for marathon weekend. Then, right after Christmas, alan and his wife Grace Alan young and his wife Grace Alan has been to every Disney marathon the 30 that occurred at Walt Disney World and the one that occurred at Disneyland. Also coming up, our friends Jar, oxen, spoon. They've published a new video not long ago your golden training guide on YouTube. You might want to look at that. It is brilliant as usual. All right, friends, it's time for a race report. So let's pick up.

Speaker 4 2:01:26

On Thursday, megan did the twice the night before Christmas 5k in Firestone Park, columbia, ohio, where they ran through over a million lights. Good thing they ran through them and not over them. That wouldn't have been good. Good job, megan. We had a run on Friday, the Huntersville 5k part of the Challenge, north Carolina. Kristen was there. Let's move to Saturday. We've talked about it a little bit, but let's talk about it a lot now. Daytona Florida, the Daytona 100 mile relay, jack, tell us all about it.

Speaker 3 2:02:05

Yeah, so this past Saturday I ran my first ever relay. It was fun, extremely exhausting. Yeah, I got to yeah, I got to run it with, with a team of. It was me, dean and Adam. We're a team of three. You can have up to four runners. There's probably only one other team that had three people and then one other team that just had two, but most teams were four people.

Speaker 5 2:02:38

Yeah right.

Ultra Relay Race Experience

Speaker 3 2:02:40

It was good, it was fun. We had a plan to starting out and Adam would start out first, then Dean, then I and and Adam just freakin bull, bullets it and like he runs like a 823 hour or something crazy yeah wow then it was insane.

Speaker 3 2:03:00

And then I was like, okay, we go fast today, all right. And then Dean just pulls out crazy numbers and I'm just like, oh, okay, well, I mean I thought I was gonna just do like a 10 or 11 minute average mile. And then I have this fear of getting lost and I Was afraid that I didn't see any runners. So I ran faster so that I could find a runner. So I knew I was going the right direction. So I read I ran Gosh, my first mile was 823 and I my first section, so I had eight legs. My first one was an average of 845 pace, which was insane.

Speaker 4 2:03:41

Um, yeah but that these, these events have a way, a way of doing that to you, I think, because you've got your other friends out there and you want to keep up and you don't want to let them down. And you End up pushing a little harder than your plan, don't you?

Speaker 3 2:03:56

Oh yeah, I mean, we thought we were gonna finish around midnight, which would have put us at about an 18 and a half hour finish. We, like, we were feeling good, we surprised ourselves, we kept being surprised, we're not gonna run this fast, we're not gonna run this fast for the whole thing. We finished in 16 hours and 40 minutes 19 seconds.

Speaker 5 2:04:16

Ali, would you have? Yeah, I'm curious how, when you do the relay, how many miles consecutively you would run and then you'd pass off the baton to the next person so if, when you look at the thing, it would say you can allow to have a runner exchange at certain points.

Speaker 3 2:04:33

So basically, so I I came into this race thinking it was gonna be like a relay, like in high school, like for track, where you got like some kind of baton. That's not the case. Yeah, your baton was was the bib, so each person had their own personal bib that had their name on it, and then you had this bib that you would kind of snap around your waist and then, whenever you were going up to the next runner, you would take it off and hand it to the next one, because that was the one that was gonna have the timing on it. And so Adam did a great job with figuring out who was gonna do what mileage and how, because we were originally supposed to have four runners. We went down to three, back up to four and then down to three and then we said let's just do three.

Speaker 3 2:05:22

Yeah so that meant that we were all gonna be doing over Like basically an ultra distance, because originally it was supposed to be just 25 miles per person. And I just said to Adam was like hey, I'm not trained as much past, you know. So I'm okay with the 50k. Anything a little bit more than that might be pushing it for me because I've been having a few heal problems. But yeah gosh, adam killed it with like over 38 miles. I did a 50k, which is just over 31 miles, and then Dean did Almost 31 miles, so basically a 50k as well. So that was holy crap.

Speaker 5 2:05:59

So you did that consecutively. It wasn't like you do 10 and then the next does 10, and so it was like you did your 31, like stint altogether.

Speaker 3 2:06:08

No, so that's the great thing about relays and this is why I think people should do it is that it's it. It's just kind of fun like I'm alternating every other gosh. I think my longest stint was 6.1 miles and then I would. I think my average was about a four mile section, if not like a three and a half. There'll be times where I know Dean joke because he's like why'd you give the old guy the nine miles, the longest miles stint? It's like wasn't me, that was Adam Putting blame on you, but yeah, it was. And I kind of laughed because like these guys got the most amazing Views during their sections. And then then, my first time going through, have you guys ever seen like? Has any of you guys seen like the Halloween little episode they did where they're all trick-or-treating, everybody gets a treat and then one kids gets a rock.

Speaker 4 2:07:05

I got a rock, charlie Brown got a rock, of course, yeah and he's like everybody's like what'd you get?

Speaker 3 2:07:09

and you're like I got a rock. So sometimes that's what my segments felt like. So by the time I get off, I had like my first segment. I was like, oh my god, I'm so excited. We just, these guys just had amazing views, because I know I saw them, because we drove by them. And then I get my segment and I'm like just dodging dead armadillos. I was like this there's certain areas where I'm just like this just feels like I'm running on a sidewalk back in Atlanta somewhere rule. And then these guys get this beautiful beachfront segment with this beautiful bridge through St Augustine. And then here I go, I'm excited, oh, okay.

Speaker 2 2:07:52

You know, all I can imagine now is Jack interacting on the course with someone and their responses.

Speaker 3 2:08:06

I'm excited to run this as a 100-miler solo. It's a really beautiful course. I just feel like my little segments I had sometimes were a little bit funny.

Speaker 5 2:08:14

Well, then you'll get all of the views when you do the hundred-miler.

Speaker 7 2:08:19

Where did this start this? This wasn't a loop race, right? This was a point-to-point.

Speaker 3 2:08:23

No, so that's what made it difficult. So when you're does a reminder it for, I'm sure, whatever, if you ever choose a relay Just kind of always know that if it's gonna be a point-to-point is better just to take one car, which is what we did, and we left our other cars At the start line. So we started in Jacksonville, florida, and ran all the way till Daytona. It wasn't, honestly, it was a beautiful race. It felt long.

Speaker 3 2:08:48

So here's the weird thing about doing relays and if you end up doing like Ultra distance or even a marathon distance or whatnot, is that I Felt more tired running these 31 miles than I ever felt tired during my 50 K's that I've done in the past, because this was a span over 16 hours and 40 minutes, whereas those were a span of like maybe five hours, six at most you know what I mean and you just do it all in one stint.

Speaker 3 2:09:16

But the crazy thing was is that as we were alternating about halfway, maybe around 75 mile, eighth, now 60 miles, and after we were switching in and out so fast that it never felt like a break. So we're really just racing to get to the next spot so we can get there in time before our runner gets there, get your stuff back on and then send off the next person and then try and find the next spot. So I'm calling it an ultra because I know there is breaks in between, but really during ultra is your a stations anyways and those. So, yeah, I consider it an ultra but no buffet right.

Speaker 7 2:09:56

Oh.

Speaker 3 2:09:56

Oh, they're a buffet. I was just afraid to eat it because, like again, I felt like whenever I get to my little second I was like, oh, there's food. Oh, I shouldn't eat that because I know my segments coming up soon, mmm. So public's like Dean, save the day with some pub subs, man, we were waiting for. And there's like this public's right next door, we're like. We texted. I was like do you want a pub some? Yes, and so we get them. We come back out, and I think it was. I care, I think it was my turn to go next. So I just kind of kept the sub there and I didn't eat mine right away. But we know, no, it was Dean's turn, that's right. So we told Adam he was just a wolf in this huge sub down so fast. He's like oh, my god, this is the best thing ever. I Don't know, that's just a turkey and cheese sandwich. My friend and so I ate. My son was like holy crap, that's true, mother of pearl.

Speaker 5 2:11:02

Oh, this is great, it's not crazy how, like the most normal food when you've run a really long distance tastes so good like it's like a five-star restaurant.

Speaker 3 2:11:13

It was a good race. It was the I think it was its fourth ever Daytona 100. And what made this race so cool is the fact that because we were going at a certain speed, like we were booking it, and we got seventh out of 16 relay teams and remember we're only three versus most of them.

Speaker 4 2:11:32

Yeah right, that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 2:11:34

Yeah, we are also third place co-ed team and with the speed that we were doing you know, right, the speed that we were doing we were actually yo-yoing with the 100 mile first and second place, third place runners and that was a sight to see, because it's like I Don't know. I love watching that kind of stuff and seeing people just push and keep pushing and like literally what was awesome was is, as I was continuing in the last little leg, adam and Dean got to see, while I was running at the finish line, the first and second place females for the 100 Milers finished 18 seconds between each other.

Speaker 3 2:12:14

Oh wow, after a hundred miles, they were averaging, at least, at the very least, like a nine and a half minute mile for it, a hundred.

Speaker 8 2:12:22

Wow.

Speaker 3 2:12:23

Wow. And then the second place guy, he. It was his first ever 100 miler.

Speaker 4 2:12:28

Hmm, wow, awesome. What was the weather? Like Jack.

Speaker 3 2:12:32

Um, you know a dew point, and I'm just kidding, um, but yeah, I do know. Yeah, it was, it was human it was probably maybe For 50 degrees, something like that. Oh yeah, at the start, and then it warmed up to about, and now Adam and Dean probably would correct me for it, but I'm pretty sure it's around 50 degrees, because I was cold.

Speaker 4 2:12:56

Wow.

Speaker 3 2:12:57

Um, I have to look again now. I'm gonna feel embarrassed if I'm wrong. Um, but it did get up to about 74 75 degrees during the day. My face actually, when I got home I was like, oh wow, I'm slightly burnt.

Speaker 4 2:13:09

Well, sunburn, yeah being out there.

Speaker 3 2:13:11

It was definitely hot and we were going out fast in beginning because we could. But once it got hot we definitely slowed down a little bit. But when that some went down, oh my god, it was like a second wind.

Speaker 4 2:13:24

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 2:13:25

Yes, it's like a drug almost but, um, just to kind of wrap it up, because I know we got other people who did races this weekend and we're so excited for them as well, but just kind of kind of wrap everything up, though. I just want to say a huge thank you to Adam and Dean for let me be a part of your guys's team and it was really something special and I Just want to let you guys know it meant a lot to me that I don't know that you guys, yeah, that we were all working together making a common goal and we killed it this weekend, you guys, and I'm forever proud and hope to do Another relay with you soon.

Speaker 4 2:14:04

Those events are special. I mean, I did one long time ago, boys and girls, but I still remember it and Maybe, maybe, I'll tell you the story one of these days. But yeah, they're special events and you, they will stick with you. Good stuff, jack. Let's move on. Let's move a little bit further south In Florida, still on the Atlantic coast which I was a little surprised when you said it was 50 in Jacksonville because it was 70 at the start of the race at Cape Canaveral.

Speaker 4 2:14:35

The Space Force t-minus 10 miler made a bunch of rise and run friends there. I was there. Britt was there. I missed her but I saw her post it. Donya was there. She met friends before the race. She was not too impressed with the organization of this race but she did PR in front. Let's see Jared. Laura Madge was there. That's Madge from New Hampshire alley. Mary was there. Mary said her highlight was seeing a bunch of her rise and run friends. But that's about it for highlights. This is a one and done event for Mary. Well, her, we'll hear more from Mary this week. Nicole was there. Nicole lives over there. I didn't see her.

Speaker 4 2:15:26

My comment on the race the Cape is Historical area. I am old enough to remember Alan Shepard's launch. So it's a big deal for me to be on the Cape. This was day three of my dopey sim, so that helped I'd mostly walk this. I did run, walk for I think three miles. Got to the section where they had the astronaut memorial for the Apollo one Astronauts that were lost. I was a little disappointed that the Space Force personnel there did not know it was for Apollo one, but I got to agree with the comments from our friends that this is probably a one-and-done for me.

Speaker 4 2:16:12

Now, if you're looking for a 10-miler to set a proof of time for Disney, this is a good one. I mean, you're not going to find a flatter race anywhere. But the organization was not cool. Uh, they did. Post race refreshments did in feature a bottle of water, so that was nice. I think they had a bag of chips at some point, but that was gone by the time I finished and I did not finish at the back. But what really cinched it for all of us, I think, is this was a point-to-point race. You park on a 10,000 foot runway at one end, then you get into a little bus that takes you to a bigger bus that takes you to the starting point. You finish the 10-miler and you're supposed to be a bus to take you back to parking. There's an info booth there. I went to the fella and I said my head in towards the buses and he goes yeah, just turn right around here and the buses are over there. There ain't no buses. It was about a two, two and a half mile walk back to parking.

Speaker 2 2:17:16

I was going to say I was really going to hope that they were going to put you in a space shuttle back to your car.

Speaker 4 2:17:20

It would have been nice, but yeah, so not cool and I know a lot of people didn't like it. You would think I remember last year when this event occurred people said oh, this is the inaugural event. There are some growing pains. Well, apparently it got worse. So there you go, the Cape Canaveral Space Force T-minus 10-miler. Let's move on. Still in Florida, Vero Beach, the Candy Cane 3K. Lucy was there short course around the local high school and downtown. It was pretty. It went kind of fast. Lucy finished first in her age group and sixth overall for women. Post-grace refreshments included beer and holiday cookies. Beer and cookies. Breakfast of champions. Way to go, Lucy. In Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Jimmy did a Pigeon Forge 5K Super wet morning. He just tried to finish it without getting hurt. Guess what? Finished first in his age group. Wow, that came as a surprise. Yeah, he did, yeah, way to go, yeah good for you, jimmy, good job.

Speaker 4 2:18:29

Jimmy Kaley was in Fisher's, indiana, running the Jingle Bell Run 10K. Molly was in Tempe, arizona, for the here Comes Santa 5K and in Palm Harbor, florida, judy, our buddy Judy, did the Reindeer Run YMCA. This one, I think, was a 5K. Judy finished third in her age group at the Palm Harbor Run. I think Judy's got another run this weekend. Oh, here it is right, here in Safety Harbor, very close to Palm Harbor, palm Harbor that evening Judy ran the Santa's Twilight Race, tiffany was there. Also lots of photo ops. This is a pretty area. Safety Harbor is a nice, pretty town just north of here. A lot of photo ops on the route along the water, very festive costumes, neat lights. At the start and finish line they had cookies, hot cocoa at the finish and an unadorable gnome medal that doubles as a tree ornament. In Orlando, florida. The Reindeer Run 5K Amber very festive holiday run with a cookie-cutter finishers medal. Kind of a neat highlight for Amber was being able to pet stingrays during the last mile. This is in Orlando, but it's actually a lot of. It was at SeaWorld. Marla was there, as was Sam. This was Sam's first 5K.

Speaker 4 2:20:05

So David Did the inaugural rockin' round the Bell Tower 5K in Fort Myers. David's plan was to kind of take it easy round the course but you know how that competitive spirit kicks in. David ends up second in his age group, ran a good time, a little tight hamstring there. So he's strapped up right now and, in his words, smelling of Ben gay. Even the dogs are avoiding him because of the Ben gay smell. Might have to push his long, dopey training run back a week. David, do what you need to do. Take care of that. One line you want to be sure to cross in January is the start line, because I know you can handle it from there. My friend In Miami, the miles for migraines, amelia finished second in her age group and fifth overall for women in that run. Great job, amelia.

Speaker 4 2:21:05

West Palm Beach, florida. The Garden of Life Palm Beaches 10K. Jennifer. Jennifer came down from the Philadelphia area for this one ran with her friend Michelle as part of a catered training run. Did and ended at the back of the pack but achieved the goal, coming in before they opened the roads and closed the courses Always a good goal. Best part of this series is the goodie bag from Garden of Life with over $200 in supplements. I started saying Jennifer came down from the Philadelphia area. Jennifer may have still been here. I remember Jennifer was here for Space Coast. I don't think she went up and came back. I'm going to guess that she probably stayed here with her husband Steven.

Speaker 5 2:21:50

I love Garden of Life supplements. I know it's a really weird sidebar, but they're really good quality. When they say that they had over $300 worth of supplements in the goodie bag, that's very exciting to me.

Speaker 4 2:22:02

You know where it is you know how to get to it.

Speaker 5 2:22:05

next year I'm going to have to do it.

Speaker 4 2:22:07

Yeah, all right. No, that's cool. No, I appreciate it. Ali. In St Louis, the St Louis Track Club Frostbite Series, race Number One. This is a 12K. Katie did this one. Katie says I am not Elsa and the cold bothered me, and always has. So what does she do? She registers for the princess run, where she has to do most of her training in the winter. Still worked out, though, Way to go, katie. Laura was at SeaWorld Orlando for the Greg Wormuth Reindeer Run and, having said that, I may have gotten my Orlando SeaWorld Runs mixed up. However, you know what? I think these are the same. I think it's the one I talked about earlier, the Reindeer Run 5K. So anyway, laura does this one. It was her son, sam's first 5K. Sam buddy, this PR bell is for you. Sam ran 60-30, like his mom did. Sam took control of the gym. Boss raised his hand. When he stops Laura's raised on a great Galloway runner there? Absolutely. Way to go. Wonderful etiquette.

Race Experiences in Honolulu and Ventura

Speaker 4 2:23:20

Great race. Lots of fun things to see Santa, dolphin, stingrays and, of course, rudolph. Now this is has anyone come across this before? At the finish, bananas and a bag of rice. No, cooked, I presume. I hope so. Never had a bag of rice, I mean carbohydrates. But anyway, let's move on to Huntersville, north Carolina, the Huntersville Half Marathon. Kristen ran that one out.

Speaker 4 2:23:51

In Ventura, california, jackie did the Santa to the Sea 5K. One of Jackie's favorite races. Loves the course. Loved it so much that she PR'd the thing. All those training miles look like they're paying off. Hasn't really been doing speed work but the endurance is making her faster. See y'all at Dopey Jackie.

Speaker 4 2:24:14

Honolulu was Honolulu Marathon Weekend and it starts on Saturday with the Honolulu Mary Mile. We had quite a few Ryzen runners in Honolulu over the weekend. Dawn and Jen did the Mary Mile. They did it as day three of their dopey sim. For Jen she added distance. Of course there's more than one mile on day three. Of course there's a quick out and back. It was packed. Children in strollers were allowed. It was more of a family fun type event. Great crowd support and at the end they got to watch the elites run. I guess the elites competed in this one mile run. They all commented on it, said it was awesome. Since Dawn and Jen have not officially raced that distance before, I guess we got two new PRs.

Speaker 4 2:25:06

Valerie was there. Valerie ran with her son. Her son ran actually in an earlier corral, rocked it, pr'd his mile time. I don't have Valerie's son's name but this PR bell's for you. Valerie said the rest of them put in an honest time and sadly couldn't run towards the end because it was so crowded. When it finally thinned out Really had fun. We got to see Santa arriving by canoe only in Hawaii. My friends Long Island, new York.

Speaker 4 2:25:39

The backyard ultra in Bledenburg Park, lexi was there. This is an interesting ultra. It's got a 4.167 mile loop. You got 24 hours to finish it and you get different awards depending on how far you go in this event. Now, lexi, she finished four loops so she got the more than a half award. It was harder than she thought it was going to be Roots, rough spots on the trail. She decided to bow out. She had planned to go further, decided to bow out, didn't want to ruin her chances of hitting that start line at January in Dopey. I understand that. Good decision, I think, lexi. Overall beautiful trail, spectacular weather Wanted more, but I think she made a good decision there. In Helen, georgia, the holiday trail half marathon Ashton and Jordan. It was Jordan's first half, which he ran on his birthday. There's a PR First trail race for both of them. Ashton's comment what everyone says about the trail race community is so true Made a whole bunch of friends along the way and got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jack, around mile nine.

Speaker 3 2:27:05

You know what I just ate while we were recording? A jelly sandwich, because no one needs peanut butter Actually, that's a lie, but jelly sandwiches are better.

Speaker 4 2:27:15

All right, let's move to Sunday, back to Honolulu. As I mentioned, it was marathon weekend, a race that holds a special place in my heart. Everyone who was there commented on the heat. Friends, it was Hawaii, all right. How hot was it.

Speaker 4 2:27:31

I can tell you I guess it was probably a high of 81, because it's winter in Hawaii and if you're going to go to the Hawaii Marathon in 2043, the high is probably going to be 81, because the temperature just doesn't vary much in Hawaii. Summer time highs are 80, summer time highs are 90, and it doesn't change very much.

Speaker 5 2:27:53

Was the Honolulu Marathon, your first marathon.

Speaker 4 2:27:57

It was yeah.

Speaker 5 2:27:58

Oh yay 1988. And it was 81 degrees.

Speaker 4 2:28:04

Yeah, I'm sure it was Somewhere between 79 and 81. That's pretty typical. Lots of you was there. Like I said, we had quite a few rise and runners. Ashley was there. Ashley is with a military family over there. This is their last marathon before the PCS. Pcs means permanent change of station. They'll be moving somewhere else.

Speaker 4 2:28:26

It's a great event, it really is. Carolyn was there and ran the 10K. There was no 10K when I did it. They got a 10K there. Now Carolyn says the crowds are back to pre-COVID levels. I think Carolyn lives in Hawaii because, well, I just think she does.

Speaker 4 2:28:46

So many participants, if you never done a marathon and wondering if you can do one, this is a great one to do it. One of the big pluses is well, it's in Hawaii. That's one of the big pluses. But the other one is there's no cutoff time. I think I read that the last finisher the Marathon here finished at 17 hours. Cindy was there. Marie was there I don't know if it's Marie or Mary without an eye, but she was there, enjoyed the scenery. But this I can't mess up. She got a surprise PR. Dawn was there. I saw a bunch of posts from Dawn, along with her friend Jennifer.

Race Reports and Food Adventures

Speaker 4 2:29:29

15 minutes of fireworks to start the race. That's new. Well, I don't know how new it is, it's new since the 1980s. It starts through downtown Honolulu. All the holiday decorations are out, so that was kind of fun to see. Then you go through Waikiki. Over the other you go around Diamond Head. There's at least one big hill in this thing which is kind of rough, but that's okay. You still get these spectacular views. The race ends back in Waikiki. I assume it still ends in Kapiolani Park, a very pretty area just off of Waikiki. Actually, the other thing about this race, it's not New York or a major like that, but crowd support is really pretty good throughout most of the event. That's fun, especially at the end, I remember. You get back. You get a medal. We didn't get a medal back in the 1980s, didn't give medals back then. But you get your medal, you get a shirt and then you get a banana and a mala-sada. Did you have a mala-sada while you were over there, greg? Yes, I did.

Speaker 2 2:30:35

I again couldn't sleep in too often, so, to use a Disney term, I rope dropped the Leonard's truck in a random shopping center and sampled a bunch of mala-sadas Nice. They were delicious. What is it they're so good? So mala-sada and Alicia correct me if I'm wrong here. I believe it is a Portuguese doughnut, really. Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:31:00

So very light cinnamon sugar on the outside, and then we got ours with a bunch of different custard fillings, so we did a traditional custard chocolate and there was one more that we got. I can't remember, but they were absolutely delicious.

Speaker 7 2:31:19

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:31:19

Professor, champions.

Speaker 4 2:31:21

Yeah, they're good.

Speaker 2 2:31:23

Large Portuguese influence in Hawaii Absolutely yeah, I had lots of Portuguese sausage that trip, including at a McDonald's as well.

Speaker 4 2:31:33

Oh yes.

Speaker 2 2:31:34

There's an exclusive breakfast that you can get at McDonald's in Hawaii. That's eggs, spam, portuguese sausage and rice, and I was like, well, you're not going to find this at your typical McDonald's and try it out.

Speaker 4 2:31:48

No, it was halfway decent. They used to serve saimine at McDonald's, I don't know if they still. It's like ramen. Anyway, let's wrap it up. Tara was there also. Tara put some great photos up, said she was a little slow who cares? Wanted more water on the course. That's a big deal, but good photos. In fact Tara got a photo with a rainbow in the background. So congratulations, friend. I know Karen was there too, although I didn't hear from her on Facebook. Congratulations, friends. I'm glad you enjoyed the marathon in Honolulu. Hope you enjoyed your trip. Safe journey home. All right, let's get back to the contiguous 48.

Speaker 4 2:32:33

In Hamerl, massachusetts, the Jingle Bell Half Marathon. Riley is pacing races. Riley paced the two hour and 40 minute half marathon group. Riley's last race of 23 nailed the two hour 40 minute time ran with her friend Erin. Rolling Hills made it kind of tough to set a steady pace. They did a great job. Riley's looking forward to Goofy. The marathon at Goofy will be race number 100.

Speaker 4 2:33:07

In Phoenix, arizona, the hot chocolate 5K Mollie ran that. I think that's Mollie's second appearance on the race report this week. Thomas and Georgia the Christmas Lane 5K Catherine tried to do some speed work but again had some hills not really prepared for, still had fun, lots of lights and PR'd. In fact, your comment is that she PR'd for the first time ever. Yeah, that's what a PR is. First time ever, so good for you. But look, took four minutes off and again, credits training for Dopey for doing that great job. Catherine Talked about it a little bit earlier.

Speaker 4 2:33:48

The Florida holiday distance classic half marathon goes from Madeira Beach to Taylor Park in Florida. I did that one, my fastest half marathon since 2020. Finally, beat the walking pace I did at Jeff's 2021 13.1,. Then turned around and, as I described earlier, did about 12 and a half miles back to the house to finish off the Dopey Sim weekend In Dallas, texas. It was BMW Dallas Marathon weekend.

Speaker 4 2:34:20

Tracy was there. Tracy ran the half. Excellent finish time for Tracy. This is part of her dopey training. She did it with friends. She did four miles before and six miles after. Kevin and his wife were both there First marathon for both of them. Two PR bells please. They did great. Kevin said he finished at about six and a half hours and that his wife beat him by about an hour. So that's pretty daggum good for a first marathon.

Speaker 4 2:34:57

A couple of observations. Maybe one of the biggies is they're both thinking that, going forward, maybe half marathons only accept, of course, for dopey in 2025, and that'll be a marathon. Amy was there. Amy ran with her friend Brenna. They set out with a gold finish sub four hours and crushed it with an official time of three fifty six Course was haler than they, than it was last year, but the weather was perfect, so they pushed through, accomplished their goals. Next up, they're going dopey to Dumbo and I gotta tell you the photos on Facebook. They look great. They were matched in their outfits, from shoes to hat. Look terrific. Great job, amy and Brenna. In Montclair, new Jersey, the 2023 Montclair Donut Run 5K. John, tell us about it.

Speaker 7 2:36:00

Okay, so this is the tenth running of this event, I think this year and how we talked before with Rob how a race director can make the event. They have a new race director this year, so I think the event was a lot better than the last couple we had. So I mean, they had a guy running with a. They had a little thing this year. He had an elite athlete dressed as a donut and if you beat the guy you got a hundred dollar gift card for the Montclair bread company, which seemed pretty cool. Then kind of Disney, yes, but not like the choir. Right at the end of the race, about about mile three, they had a band playing and when I was going by was playing going to fly now. So you know, you gotta get that little extra bump going on in there.

Speaker 7 2:36:52

Yeah, so it was a really good race. They changed the course a little bit from last year. It was a lot warmer than last year, so last year it was 35, this year was only 48. So it seemed very warm compared to last year and I met some of her friends out there. I met Michelle. Michelle was across the street and she saw my shirt and goes rise and run. I love your pot, loved the podcast. Then I said I'm John. He was oh my God it's.

Speaker 7 2:37:19

John and also Jane. Jane was driving by the street and saw me and yelled out of her car. So, Jane, I did see you. Yeah, she asked if you saw her. I know Michelle's friend I forget her name, I think it's, it might be Daniela. She ran her first 5k, so I know she got. She gets a PR bell, greg, and basically that was it. It was just a, you know, quick 5k.

Speaker 3 2:37:52

So I have a very solid, important question.

Speaker 7 2:37:56

Yes.

Speaker 3 2:37:57

Did you get a free donut?

Speaker 7 2:37:59

Oh yeah, sorry, At the end of the day I got I got a donut shaped metal right. Lots of donuts. Oh, I love that. Lots of donuts, cool. And at the end they gave us like a mason jar with four like a munchkin type donuts Glazed up with glazed up with lots of sugar and sprinkles.

Speaker 3 2:38:20

Okay, you can't do a donut race without having donuts. I mean, I'm just saying no, you're right, that's awesome yeah.

Speaker 7 2:38:25

It's it, you're right. That's why it's the Montclair donut run, or now they call it run Montclair.

Speaker 4 2:38:32

So yes, All right, let's see who else was there. John mentioned several. There was there Christina, daniella, joe, phil, kim and Jane, all at the donut run in Montclair. Thanks, john. In Animal Kingdom it was the cast members, friends and family 5k and we had a bunch of friends there. Britt did her second run of the day, one of the most enjoyable races she's done, just being in the park before sunrise and Animal Kingdom was beautiful, all lit up. A couple of characters stops had really long lines but with a three hour time limit for the 5k, who cares? Tracy was there a good time. Introduced several of her friends to the fun of run Disney with a little bit smaller scale, not quite as many folks there. Cheryl Lynn was there. Margaret got to participate. Her friend Margaret has an ankle injury and was on crutches for this event. Of course her crutches were decorated this is Margaret from the.

Speaker 4 2:39:40

Council of Costumes we're talking about. They look like candy canes.

Speaker 7 2:39:43

They look like candy canes.

Speaker 5 2:39:43

Yeah, they did. Yeah, margaret, I hope you heal up quickly.

Speaker 4 2:39:48

Yeah, I hope so too, of course, because Margaret's scheduled to do Dopey and then Dumbo Yep, and I'm betting she's going to wear costumes for those races. Absolutely.

Speaker 3 2:40:00

Also, can I just say how cool it is that they do these races for cast members, because when I was a cast member they definitely didn't offer it, and if they, did I would have a heck of a yes signed up for it. That's so cool.

Speaker 9 2:40:13

I totally agree. I didn't see anything about a cast member race whenever I was there.

Speaker 4 2:40:20

No, I'm sure you're right.

Speaker 3 2:40:22

They did one like a race every year, but it was like a canoe race. This race would have been fun to do.

Speaker 2 2:40:29

And I will say this If I saw the pictures correctly, Kermit the Frog was on the medal. And. I believe and I believe this is the second time that the Disney Company has done a cast member 5K with a Muppet on it. So run, disney, I implore you. Next spring time surprise, can we please have a Muppet themed race? I would like that.

Speaker 4 2:40:51

It would sell out in the heartbeat.

Speaker 2 2:40:54

Yes, it would be a glorious three hour finale or if it's a half marathon, a three and a half hour finale.

Speaker 4 2:41:02

But mostly America. All right, yeah, neat stuff and it'd be fun. Greg, sounds good. Let's move on. Washington DC the jingle all the way 5K Jennifer. Jennifer ran it as part of her long run. She did in just about 22 and a half minutes With an Arrage Group top 20 for all women Couple runs.

Speaker 4 2:41:27

In Tampa this weekend there was a jingle bell run, 5k over by the stadium, I believe over by Raymond James Stadium. Jessica ran this one. I'm thinking this is a pretty small event, no bibs, but the event was timed by a volunteer using a cell phone. That's a first. I hadn't heard about that before. Lots of costumes, but Jessica said and Jessica was wearing Mickey ears, said she only saw one other pair Treated this as a catered training run with three water stops. That's a bunch for a 5K. Lots of snacks and drinks Pre and post race Plus. She commented on an outback lunch. I don't know if she went to outback for lunch or if outback was there catering post race refreshments. Either way, cool stuff. Good job, jessica.

Speaker 4 2:42:22

Still in Tampa, it was hot chocolate run weekend in Tampa. Kayla was there. Kayla started a little fast, expecting the weather to warm up and then she'd slow down later. Wound up running with Amy and Kayla finished with a PR. Had a good time meeting her friends, amy and Mary, who was also there. So let's see. Amy said she was dodging snowstorms in training. Amy lives up in the Buffalo area, buffalo, new York, then went on to Florida, met up with Kayla, decided to run together, made the miles go by much quicker and the heat much more tolerable. What heat, what's she talking about? Anyway, chocolate at the end made life much better. One more long run for Amy until Dumbo is where she's heading next. And then Mary. Mary was at Cape Canaveral. I saw her there. She did the 10K in the hot chocolate run in Tampa, had a blast, helped her daughter, paige, finish her very first race. That's a PR.

Speaker 4 2:43:35

In College Station, texas, jason ran the BCS Marathon. Course directors do this. We should ask Rob this question why do you say that the course is flat and fast when you know it's not Well? In this case, jason said he was a little misled. No huge hills, but plenty of hills. And the winds the winds can get pretty rough in Texas Pips in the 40s, very windy. Did it as a catered training run, as it was his. This marathon was the fourth day of his dopey simulation weekend training. His goal was a PR but he came up 12 seconds short. But, jason, if you're doing it as part of your dopey sim, that means you did a bunch of miles of three days before and to come up just 12 seconds short of your PR, pretty darn good.

Speaker 4 2:44:30

In Portland, oregon, the holiday half marathon Kristen said it was pouring rain up until the start of the race, wasn't too bad during the race, but nothing like starting out a half marathon drenched. Tried to take it easy, ended up being exactly three minutes short of her PR. Again, that's pretty good. The last dopey simulation for her is this coming weekend. Our mom, cindy, did the 10 miler as opposed to the half.

Speaker 4 2:45:04

Kristen is preparing for the coast to coast in January. Nice big medal for this event in Portland, but it was already peeling when she got it. Well, maybe that's preparing her for the Disney races also. I don't know. Same supplier, that must be Haverhill Mass. I know we talked about this earlier. They must have had a shorter event on Saturday because on Sunday they had the jingle bell half. Heather was there. Heather said the course much healthier than she remembered. But who can complain about a 50 degree day in New England in December Fog, cleared, rain held off, really good conditions for most of the race, lots of costumes to make her little Disney heart happy. And then Becky chimed in and said she was there too.

Speaker 4 2:45:55

From Pass Christiane to Biloxi, mississippi. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon, mira. Cold in Mississippi, windy but beautiful course along the coast, super fun finish at the local baseball stadium. Ran with friends which made the event go by so much faster. Had a blast. This is a great run for her marathon in 50 states goal Out in Roseville, california, frank and Carrie did the Santa Hustle 5K which is part of a series throughout the country, 38 degrees, out in Roseville, california, to start. Both Frank and Carrie finished fourth in their age groups and they were sporting some great Christmas costumes. Hey, I almost passed this one over because I don't typically include virtuals in the race report. But out in Kirkland, washington, they have an event called the 12 K's of Christmas and our friends Josh and Kimberly did this one. Another hilly course, but it finishes on a long downhill. That's the way to do it. Pop Tarts at the end and for cross training. Josh even changed a tire on his way into the race.

Speaker 5 2:47:18

Hey guys, one thing I want to add is if you want to get a shirt before marathon weekend, I will be able to ship orders out this week and you still have time to get them before marathon weekend starts, I would say later than this week. It'll be pretty iffy, just based on the time frame of getting it to you. So if you'd like a shirt, I just updated the website with some more products, so go ahead and get your order in. But I would say, if it's probably, if it's beyond, like Saturday or Sunday, it'll be difficult to get it out to you in time. So go ahead and place those orders and we can see you on the course.

Speaker 4 2:47:54

Allie, thanks for all you do with that. I know you're up there in New Hampshire by yourself taking care of all this distribution. I know we appreciate it, and I'm sure our friends do too. So thanks very much.

Speaker 4 2:48:08

All right, my friends, and, if you'll recall, if you run, you are our friend. That's been a long one. I hope it's helping you get through this dopey simulation. The rewards are worth it. I know it's hard, we talked about it at length, but the goal keep that goal in mind. You're going to finish. You're going to finish upright and with a smile on your face and you're going to feel so dagum proud of yourself. It's a good deal. We look forward to it. It's a Zoom Thursday, last Zoom before Christmas. Instructions are already up on Facebook. That'll do it, friends. Episode 116 comes to an end. Until we meet again, happy running.

Speaker 2 2:49:11

The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer.