With WDW Marathon Weekend nearly upon us, we celebrate by visiting with runDisney legend Alan Young and his wife Grace. Not only is Alan a perfect WDW marathoner, he also completed the only Disneyland marathon as well as the LA marathon which, as he explains, was a requirement for Orange County residents who wanted to run the marathon at DL. Injury prevented Grace from being perfect, but she's completed an amazing 27 WDW marathons and will join Alan in 2024.
And speaking of celebrations, it's time for all of our Rise and Run friends to stand up and take a bow as we go through the Marathon Weekend Roll Call. There are more than 350 names on the list this year!
We wrap things up with a Rise and Run tradition. The Impossible Dream from The Man of La Mancha speaks to the challenges of this weekend. We're fortunate to, for the second year, have our friend Mark with us to sing this incredibly motivational song.
So whether you're running with us or cheering from the sidelines, this episode is a testament to the joy, the struggle, and the unity that defines the runDisney community. We packed this episode with celebrations, strategies, and stories that resonate with every runner's heart. Join us, and let's embrace the magic together.
Rise and Run Podcast is supported by our audience. When you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
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Magic Bound Travel
Stoked Metabolic Coaching
Affiliate Links
Rise and Run Amazon Affiliate Web Page
Fluffy Fizzies
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Kawaiian Pizza Apparel
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With WDW Marathon Weekend nearly upon us, we celebrate by visiting with runDisney legend Alan Young and his wife Grace. Not only is Alan a perfect WDW marathoner, he also completed the only Disneyland marathon as well as the LA marathon which, as he explains, was a requirement for Orange County residents who wanted to run the marathon at DL. Injury prevented Grace from being perfect, but she's completed an amazing 27 WDW marathons and will join Alan in 2024.
And speaking of celebrations, it's time for all of our Rise and Run friends to stand up and take a bow as we go through the Marathon Weekend Roll Call. There are more than 350 names on the list this year!
We wrap things up with a Rise and Run tradition. The Impossible Dream from The Man of La Mancha speaks to the challenges of this weekend. We're fortunate to, for the second year, have our friend Mark with us to sing this incredibly motivational song.
So whether you're running with us or cheering from the sidelines, this episode is a testament to the joy, the struggle, and the unity that defines the runDisney community. We packed this episode with celebrations, strategies, and stories that resonate with every runner's heart. Join us, and let's embrace the magic together.
Rise and Run Podcast is supported by our audience. When you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Sponsor Links
Magic Bound Travel
Stoked Metabolic Coaching
Affiliate Links
Rise and Run Amazon Affiliate Web Page
Fluffy Fizzies
ZenGrove
Kawaiian Pizza Apparel
GoGuarded
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:Hi, this is Anne from Montreal, Canada.
Speaker 1:And this is Jamie, also from Montreal, canada. We're training for the Walt Disney World 5K and you're listening to the Rise and.
Speaker 4:Run Podcast.
Speaker 5:And Jamie. Thank you for that. That's a nice little intro. Good luck on that 5K. Hey, jamie, we're going to be looking for you at Walt Disney World and it's coming up real soon. Hello, my friends, welcome once again. Welcome to episode 118 of the Rise and Run Podcast. We are, as always, delighted to have you with us. I'm Bob, I'm here with Jack, hi With Alicia, hello With Greg.
Speaker 5:Hey hey, and with John. Hey, how you doing Bob. Happy birthday Bob. Oh, thanks, thanks. It was only a couple of days ago, yeah, I feel old John, it's fake.
Speaker 7:Every new runs a PR, Bob. Every new runs a PR.
Speaker 5:A decade PR. I think we'll baseline that first, before we start counting them as PRs.
Speaker 3:Okay, we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I got a little story to tell about that. When we get to talking about our training, friends, welcome. Let's see our guests this evening. As we get close to Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, we are honored to have Alan Young and his wife Grace. Alan is a perfect marathoner. For all the Disney marathons We've had our friend Chris Twigs, who is perfect at Disney World. Alan, however, also did the one out at Disneyland. Alan and Grace are great guests. We know you'll enjoy that. Our friend Mark visits with us. Later in the episode Mark's going to sing a song for us. That has become a tradition as we get set to take on the tough challenges of the Disney World weekend.
Speaker 5:No spotlight this week. Instead, you are the spotlight as we go through the roll call of all the runners that have signed up for Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. That might take a while. There are a bunch of you and we're proud of you. We want to make sure each and every one of you gets counted.
Speaker 5:My friends, if you enjoy the podcast, please share us, as you've been doing. Share us with your friends. Introduce them to this podcast because we'd love to have them join us. Remember to follow us on Facebook. It's Rise and Run Podcast on Instagram. That's Rise and Run Pod and check out our YouTube channel. You can visit our webpage, riseandrunpodcastcom. Of course, if you got a question, a comment or a race report or you would like to introduce an upcoming episode, you can call us. Leave us a message at 727-266-2344. The Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Magic Bound Travel. Magic Bound Travel, the place to go for all your Disney vacation needs and your universal vacation trip and the cruise trips Disney Cruise, royal Caribbean. Magicboundtravelcom is the website. Check them out. We'll be looking for our friends from Magic Bound at this weekend. I know they're going to be there in just a couple of days. Jack, what's new on the YouTube channel?
Speaker 6:I know this past week we debuted the Marathon Weekend what to kind of expect from what we learned from the Event Guide and now we'll be doing the Disneyland Race Weekend Event Guide. So look out for that.
Speaker 5:Good deal, jack, an apologies and alibi section. We have a bit of one this evening. Greg, why don't you kick it off?
Speaker 2:Sure. So last week I was alerted that in our Marathon Weekend Facebook chat group there was concern and some confusion about running and spectating on Main Street, usa, when I talked about that portion of the Event Guide. So I just want to reiterate and I believe when I double checked what I said was correct that spectators are allowed to cheer on Main Street between 5.15 am and 7.45 am for the Half Marathon and if you enter the park before 7.30 in the morning you do not need a theme park ticket. If you enter after 7.30, you will need theme park admission.
Speaker 2:Where I think there was a little bit of confusion is and this is where my apology comes in is that when I said once 7.45 hits, I said that they'll be sweeping everyone out of the park in order to get it ready for day guests. And in terms of Run Disney that was probably not the perfect term to use I meant that in terms of they just wanted to clear those cheering on Main Street so that they can open the gates for participation in the go around the park in the Magic Kingdom. I did not mean sweeping in terms of the runners and everything like that.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to offer an apology on that from beginning. If you have any questions at all about the times of when you can spectate on Main Street for both the Half Marathon and the full, just double check and consult that event guide that's posted on the Run Disney website. So I'm so sorry I used the S word.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you got to be careful about using the sweep phrase around Disney runners. In fact, at the house here we just move dirt into a dustpan with a broom. We don't do that S stuff. But you mentioned the community chats, greg. They're always getting new folks into the Facebook group. If you're not familiar with them, there are a bunch of community chats listed on the left-hand side. There is one for Marathon Weekend, there's one for the Marathon Meetup. They're a lot of fun and they're very active Good place to go to ask questions and chat with your fellow Rise and Runners.
Speaker 5:I've got an apology and our friend Patrick pointed this out to me. I was talking about the rain in Orlando last week and I said hey, if you watch this particular football game that was played at Camping World Stadium, well that's on me. I knew the game was in Orlando. I knew Camping World Stadium was in Orlando. What I didn't realize was that the University of Central Florida has a stadium on their campus, the FBC Mortgage Stadium. In fact that is where the ballgame was played.
Speaker 5:The reason that this is important is because there's a whole bunch of facility workers who really worked hard to fix that turf after the game. It got absolutely destroyed with all the weather, all the rain and all honesty as a football fan, considering the amount of rain that they got, that field held up pretty well. The painted areas, particularly in the center of the field, got wet and slippery, but that seems to happen everywhere. The painted areas in bad weather get slippery, so that held up pretty well. It was not Camping World Stadium, it was FBC Mortgage Stadium. Patrick, thanks for pointing that out. I appreciate it. Let's talk about what's coming up on our episodes. We normally do this at the end, but there's a reason I want to bring it up right now and I'm going to ask Greg to help me out.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah. So it's one of those things where, obviously, the next couple of weeks are going to be quite busy, not only for you, but for all of us here at the Rise and Run podcast. So just, I want to give you a little glimpse into what you'll be able to listen to over the course of the next several weeks. So next week there will be a new episode.
Speaker 2:We are now right now we're going back and forth, we're talking internally about when we're going to release that episode. We might do an early release, prior to the start of the weekend, or we might do our typical Thursday drop not 100% sure yet, but for that episode and this is, folks, this is one you're not going to want to miss we have the Run Disney Race announcers back, and this time we got our friend Tracy to join us as well too, so it was wonderful getting a chance to chat with her. So it's all brand new material is due to their availability and our availability. We had to record that entire episode earlier in the month, but it's all brand new material for you, featuring the Run Disney Race announcers. Again, that's going to be dropping sometime next week during Marathon Weekend.
Speaker 5:I'm looking forward to it, greg, because I was laughing so hard that I know I missed some of it. I'm going to be like here are the parts that I missed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, having the chance to edit this one early. I agree with you, bob, it is laugh out loud, funny. So get ready for that one. Then, the following week, the episode that's going to be releasing on January 11th. That is going to be one of our rewind episodes. We're going to be rewinding an interview that we did with our friend, misty, all the way back in early 2022. Yeah, so if you don't know who Misty is, she was the woman who had her bib stolen during the 2022 Princess Half Marathon Weekend and she highlights the epic story of losing her bib and then actually finding it on the race course. So it's one of those stories that we don't want to miss and we're actually.
Speaker 2:The reason why we're playing that episode is we're doing that in honor of the infamous Patty Pan bib stealer on Disneyland. So we figured that that would line up very, very well with the return of Run Disney to the West Coast. So now I will say that episode does have new material in it as well. We actually talk about some Disney hot takes. That was really, really fun to record. So again, just because it says rewind, you know it isn't a full replay of the whole episode, it's just that interview Again, episode 119, releasing next week with the Run Disney race announcers, and then the following week, on January 11th, that will be a rewind when we do not talk about Bruno.
Speaker 2:But then the following week after that, january 18th, we will be back with you with live current episodes and there we'll be highlighting our recap of the 2024 Run Disney Marathon Weekend. So thanks for being so patient with us because, again, a lot of travel schedules, a lot of logistics that need to be figured out in all of this. But again, don't worry, even though we're not giving the episodes to you live, you're still getting brand new rise in Run material.
Speaker 7:So, greg, I got to talk to you about last week. So, as you guys know, we gave you guys a lot of long episodes in the last couple of weeks for our training runs. We kind of caught up to the end of our quota for storage space for doing our podcast. We had about two hours a little bit less than two hours, and 42 minutes left of time, and our editor, just like a great Galloway Pacer, brings us in just on time. Greg, greg, great job.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, yeah, it was. I remember we were chatting and you had asked me if it was going to be close and I was like I think it's going to be over and obviously there was some obvious stuff that needed to be cut in. You know we have dead air because, you know, folks, there's a lot of editing that goes into this.
Speaker 4:We're not perfect two hours and 40 minutes straight.
Speaker 2:But yeah, once the end of that song hit, I was like, oh my gosh, we are like 32 seconds under. This is incredible. So so worked out and we didn't have to pay the four extra dollars.
Speaker 5:It's actually two. Yeah, it's actually. It's actually two dollars, greg. Okay, it's two dollars. I want my two dollars. We went to a different tier with Buzzsprout. It used to be four dollars, now it's two. So, but I never doubted it, greg, I knew we had it all along.
Speaker 1:Thanks.
Speaker 5:All right friends. Hey, as we typically do, let's look at training. Marathon weekend is coming up. I hear Marathon weekend. Oh gosh, by the time you listen to this, you're probably getting ready to pack. So you know it's a week away. There's still a training schedule and I would encourage you to try to stay with it. I know I will tell you from my personal experience motivation wanes a little bit after you finish that last simulation. However, don't let your don't let all your hard work get. It's not going to get wasted, but continue with your training as much as you can. You've got seven miles on this weekend. Take it at a nice easy long run pace and you'll be good to go Disneyland.
Speaker 5:Two weeks away. If you're doing one of the long events the same thing that involves the half marathon, it's a 14-miler. This is your long run for training, week 16. Princess Princess is now eight weeks away. If you're doing a challenge, you've got a two mile walk and a nine and a half mile walk run for week 10 of your training schedule. And gang, this one threw me for a loop when I first noticed it. As of today, the day of our recording, not the day of release, but as of today we are 100 days away from the springtime surprise expo. We're about to be double digits to the last race of this run Disney season.
Speaker 3:But as of release isn't that something, Jack?
Speaker 5:Yeah, time is just flying. But as of release, you are 14 weeks away from expo day. Your long run is four miles. Final training thoughts I just commented keep going how we doing kids training still going, okay.
Speaker 6:I've been having my heel act up quite a bit this past week and I've been icing it and it's gotten better, but because of that I didn't do my last long run. I was supposed to do 12 by one mile repeats and I just I forgot it because I'm like well, the race is two weeks away. I don't want to aggravate something that's already bothering me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 6:And, with that being said, so I just kind of I've been doing really good about keeping up with my yoga and I've been very happy about that, and I've been still doing my runs, just obviously just the shorter runs, like my Christmas run with Christmas lights.
Speaker 5:I don't. I don't want to change anything I said about continuing to train, but I will say that it's most important to cross the start line.
Speaker 6:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 5:Meaning if you're risking aggravating an injury or something. Now's not the time to test it out. Now's not the time to test anything new, so it's tapering time, friends.
Speaker 5:I had an interesting experience. I shared this on Facebook. On the 23rd, which was Festivus, of course, I went on a training one including a magic mile. It was my last training run as a person in his sixties and it went very well. I was surprised. My magic mile time is coming down. It's not where it used to be before all of this nonsense with surgeries and broken toes and falling through bridges and stuff like that, but it's coming back and it's because the training plan works, so that that was significant for me.
Speaker 5:I didn't. I didn't think about it when I went out. I didn't think about till I got back that that would be the last time I took a run as a 60 something. I came back and looked at all the medals I have here on the wall and again I put this picture up and I realized that, with the exception of one of them, they were all earned by a 60 year old. So my message was it's never too late to start. That that's one thing.
Speaker 5:The other thing I wanted to say on a personal note is that the response that I got to that, to include the birthday wishes etc. Was overwhelming and humbling. I started by saying to myself I'm going to respond to every one of these and it got to the point where I couldn't do it. It was just too many, and that's because of this wonderful family that we're part of, and I can't thank you enough. I read words like inspirational, but you know, I hope you know that you inspire me.
Speaker 5:That's the reason that I continue and that's the reason that today I did my first training run as a 70 year old person, and I don't know why, but I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit. I started out the first mile or so I'm going. Good grief, what's going on? It's only been two days, but I use that trick that we've tried to share with you before. When the run goes bad at the beginning, give it 10 minutes, and I said to myself all right, I'm going to cut this out for at least the first mile. And I did, and things picked up after that. So I'm continuing my training. But again, my friends, thanks to all of you. That was. That was awesome, gang. We are a week away from Marathon Weekend. Do you have anything you would like to share with our friends, perhaps first time down? Perhaps they've done it before? Anything you want to talk about about Disney Runs?
Speaker 3:I would like to say to anybody who's going for their first time, or even if it's not your first time, make sure that you're taking the time to soak up every bit of it, because we do all this training and we're waiting for the weekend to come and then it's there and it goes by in the blink of the eye and you want to make sure that you're taking it all in. I know that when I did my first one, I kind of had imposter syndrome because I was like, well, that happened. I know I did it, but it happened so fast and so just take in every moment going down Main Street at the expo meeting all the friends all of the things.
Speaker 5:I could not agree more.
Speaker 6:Because it's Marathon Weekend and there is obviously four races. There is one thing that I've kind of stuck to for the most part, and that is practice getting up early, at least a few days prior to race weekend. So that way your body is used to getting up at that time and then you're used to going to bed earlier because of it and then, with that also kind of coinciding with it, don't take a nap. This is my personal opinion. Do not take a nap after one of the races during the race weekend, because if you do, then you're going to sleep and then you're not going to be tired for later in the day. So that's just my big thing. Is that okay? So if I don't take a nap, okay, so I have some energy bar that I have in an earlier part of the day to kind of, you know, keep my energy going and then go to bed at like six.
Speaker 6:I've had some of the best sleeps. Like you want to talk about Tower of Terror, ten, myler, me and Lexi went to bed because we were both really tired. We went to bed, I think we laid down at 5pm, fell asleep at 6pm, woke up feeling so refreshed. I'm saying you guys, it works, had a good race.
Speaker 5:Good and I'm going to throw out a check that works. It works for you and you should do it. And I agree 100% now, and it may be and I'm not joking or trying to be it may be a function of age, but I will end up. I will end up napping a little bit. However, I agree 100% about getting to bed early, absolutely Get to bed early. I try to get to bed by 7. If I fall asleep, wonderful. If I don't and we've talked about this before at least I'm lying down and relaxing and lowering my heart rate and relaxing my muscles, etc.
Speaker 5:So get to bed early if you can sleep, great. And Jack's suggestion sure it works for her and I think it's a great idea. Doesn't work for this old guy.
Speaker 2:The advice that I would give to everyone, whether this is your first run Disney Race weekend or your 20th, is make sure we're going to talk about this a little bit about things to pack that you shouldn't forget, but remember to pack your patience, yes.
Speaker 6:Greg, oh, that's so good, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things where you will be going through a lot of processes throughout the course of the entire weekend and you may have it in your head that, oh, it's going to go like this, I'm going to be in and out and everything like that, and unfortunately that's just not the case.
Speaker 2:I'll give you a perfect example.
Speaker 2:Last year marathon weekend, I thought one of the quickest things of the entire expo was going to be picking up my bib and it was close to an hour long process because of a massive line that's snaked all throughout the ESPN complex and then finally getting into the building and then you know getting the bib and the whole nine yards.
Speaker 2:So that's just an example. You know the fact that you know having to have the patience to wait for the bus and then having the patience to ride the bus and make sure that your bus driver knows where they're going and everything like that. And then, especially with patience as it relates to, you know, this is our first marathon weekend where all the races are going to be leaving from the parking lot area for everyone that was not at Wyandine. This is going to be a new process for us. So have patience. And but you know. Like we always say, though, even though there might be frustrating or stressful things related to marriage, you know marathon weekend, just be patient and be kind to one another, and you're going to have an absolutely fantastic race weekend.
Speaker 6:Another thing that I feel like I specifically learned during dopey, but kind of also during this past Wyandine weekend, because I did three races then and dopey's for it. Regardless, if you're doing, I would say, two races or more, you're going to feel extremely exhausted. And if you say you did the five K on Friday and then you have the 10 K on Monday and you know you're going to be tired, modify your park day. Save yourself, save your legs on the days that you know you're going to need it the most in terms of races, especially man, especially for the half marathon and marathon days. Like I know, I'm going to the parks early on Saturday by definitely I'm not staying very long and I won't be doing much. So so kind of make sure that I guess. I guess modify your expectations, because I know it's a Disney weekend but it's going to be a long and exhausting but wonderful weekend. So just kind of remember, take care of yourself, you guys.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'll add just one thing, Greg, I agree with. Well, I agree with everything that's been said Patients on the course. Patients on the course is important. We know good running etiquette. We know that not everyone at Disney races follows good running etiquette. You're going to get boxed in behind walkers. You're going to want to move around? Relax, Relax, You'll get there. Just have patience on the course and you'll enjoy the whole thing. A whole lot more Good stuff. Greg, I think you mentioned talking about things to pack, so I asked the gang to make a list each one of us of things that they want to remember to bring to race weekend with them, Things you might, might miss. So let's go over this. I want to see whose list gets exhausted first, and I will ask Alicia to start us off.
Speaker 3:So the first thing that I would say to not forget is, if you need any medication or if you take an inhaler, to bring that with you.
Speaker 5:Okay, the good one was that on anyone else's list.
Speaker 7:No, you got a unique one. And I should. I should remember that too.
Speaker 5:You get a gold star. Alicia Jack, you want to go next?
Speaker 6:Well, you guys, we're going to be out there for a while, especially on the marathon day. So bring some suntan lotion, because you might need it.
Speaker 5:Not a bad idea. I had that one, john had that one, oh, okay. Nice to go. I thought about it, I didn't. I didn't put it on my list, greg.
Speaker 2:So I know this isn't applicable to every runner, but your gym boss timer.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Especially if you're a Galloway runner, because that thing is a lifesaver and the beautiful thing about it is you don't have to rely on your phone for it. You know, in case the battery dies or something like that, you just pop a AAA battery into that thing and that thing has lasted me several marathons. So, yeah, it's an important tool to have, especially if you're a Galloway runner.
Speaker 5:That's a good one. Greg Wasn't on my list, but that's a good one. I used to replace the batteries in my gym boss before every marathon weekend. The one I have now is rechargeable, so I don't need to do that. But good one. John. I'm going to jump in front of you. I would say remember to bring a hat or a visor. I don't know if you typically wear one in your training or not, but if it gets to raining you're going to wish you had one. So a hat or a visor in case we get rainy weather. Now I'm two down, bob.
Speaker 7:All right, okay, I'm getting thrown out of here soon.
Speaker 2:Well, John, give us one off of your list, so you at least get one in.
Speaker 7:That's good, John. Okay, If you can bring Mylar blankets before the race.
Speaker 5:Okay, I have something warm that you can throw away, so I'm going to check one off of my list here John.
Speaker 2:I will say over the holidays. Speaking of Mylar blankets, I did see on an Instagram story from our friend Amanda over at Once Upon a Marathon. She put out a link, for apparently they now sell Mylar ponchos.
Speaker 3:I saw that. It's kind of awesome.
Speaker 2:That like talk about a brilliant mashup of two things that would work amazing for this race weekend. And I want to say I can't remember off the top of my head, but I want to say it was like maybe a four pack for like 20 bucks or something like that. So yeah, if you just go, you know, if you just search, you know, mylar poncho and Amazon, I'm sure something will come up.
Speaker 7:Yeah, but then, greg, you got to take it off for you to start line. Then every time you hit a timing mat, yeah, you can't write. So oh wait, you never hit the last, yes.
Speaker 5:You may hear that announcement once or twice. Not to take your Mylar blanket across the start line. I'll leave that to our race announcer.
Speaker 7:Friends to give you maybe put the bib outside the Mylar blanket. Maybe that might work.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, all right, so we've been around once. I still have three items left on my list.
Speaker 6:I'm good to go for another.
Speaker 5:All right, go then. Jack go ahead.
Speaker 6:Okay, well, in terms of potentially need a poncho, you know what you also might need if you're doing more than one race and extra pair of shoes, because of the foot Jack I had that I got you because you know it's important.
Speaker 5:Alicia.
Speaker 3:And doing all those miles. If you're doing more than one race, you might need some body glide or Vaseline or something. Oh yeah, you're chasing.
Speaker 5:That meant to be oh yes, absolutely, absolutely, in fact. That should have been on my list, it's not, but see, that's why we do this.
Speaker 3:I need another gold star. Yeah, that's why we're doing this.
Speaker 5:Yes, see, I would have driven all the way over there, alicia. No well, that is something you can get at the expo, by the way. Yeah, yeah, that's one you don't want to forget. Good one, great.
Speaker 2:All right. The next one for me I know last week Devin and Kristin both mentioned this several times during that interview is some type of recovery tool, whether that is a stick, a foldable foam roller my personal favorite, the BFF, which I think is a foam roller on steroids. Yeah, so some type of you know, regardless of whatever race distance that you're doing, the fact that you know you can have that back at your resort room, you know, before you head out into the parks. Just you know, do a little bit of foam rolling and that will do wonders for your body, for recovery, so you can go to the parks and you can prepare yourself for the next day's race if you are doing multiple events.
Speaker 5:Okay.
Speaker 7:John go. Well, that's my last one, so I'm done after this one. So everything else was picked already. I bring Ziploc bags. I bring it for my phone, I bring it for like, if I need like aspirin or any kind of medicine that you don't want getting wet or lost in your little pouch. Ziploc bags.
Speaker 6:So to go hand in hand with Ziploc bags, bringing an extra battery with you on the course, even if it's like one of those ones that what's? The ones that you can get in the parks and you could switch that.
Speaker 5:You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. A charger a phone charger.
Speaker 6:Yeah, get yourself like maybe something like that, a small little charger to be able to stick in a pocket or something. Because, especially during the long races, if you're out there taking pictures and characters and all of a sudden your phone dies, I mean that would suck, because if you're trying to meet up with people afterwards you can't communicate, you know, okay.
Speaker 5:So that is honestly something I've never had problems with. My battery has always lasted, and it ain't because I'm speedy.
Speaker 7:Just don't turn the my Disney experience app on. Just close that down before you start racing. Okay, that thing kills your battery.
Speaker 3:I am okay now with the phone that I have, but when I had my previous phone I had to bring an extra charger.
Speaker 5:Oh, years ago my phone would die.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, well, even last. I think I didn't have this phone last year, maybe. Maybe it's been two years, but yeah it would. My phone would die. Well, see like.
Speaker 6:I like, before I ever started bringing around my GoPro, I would take video on Snapchat for my family because they wanted to see what the race would look like, and so that took up so much battery just because I kept taking it out and then I wanted pictures and everything. So that's why, like, my phone personally would die Okay.
Speaker 5:All right, I'm going to take one that hasn't been mentioned yet Sunglasses, that's on my list, yeah. Whether you train with them. I do, but sometimes people don't train with them. Bro, You're going to want them particularly coming out of Magic Kingdom on Marathon Day. The sun is coming up and you're looking right into it, so I've got sunglasses on my list.
Speaker 3:Especially for that new course we're doing when we come out of Blizzard Beach and we come around and we're going to go up that hill. It was very sunny for wine and dine, so I assume it's going to be very sunny for Marathon weekend as well. My next one is any fuel hydration protein that you need over the weekend to bring those.
Speaker 6:So if you're trying to get into a virtual queue for some of the attractions that require it, like Tron or Guardians of the Galaxy, please make sure you have your alarm on. I know it's weird to say, especially when it goes off during a race, but if it matters to you that much that you want to get onto an attraction like that later in the day, make sure you got your alarm on.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it is funny. It amuses me on the course when, all of a sudden it what is it like 7 am.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 5:You look down and half the runners are on their phone. Time to get a virtual queue Greg go ahead.
Speaker 2:Well, with Alicia and yours last two, my list is officially exhausted.
Speaker 5:All right. So, john, you and Greg, I think you're winners because you're out. I have one that we've talked about, but I just bought a bunch of those rain ponchos off of Amazon where you get I think I got 10 of them for $12 or some nonsense like that and they're nice easy, they fold, small and when you don't need them anymore, you get to pretend you're the incredible Hulk and you just rip them off and it's really cool.
Speaker 3:I have one more on my list, and that is if you are somebody who uses rock tape or KT tape. They do sell KT tape at the Expo, but it's always good to have your own, so bring in that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I have gloves on my list, but I get cold easily, so that's something I wouldn't normally think to bring to a race, but I think one of the races might start in the high 40s and I'd be happy to have gloves.
Speaker 6:Well, that exhausts mine. Here's something to kind of remember about that, though. If you guys bring something and you want to not wear it on the court, like you start wearing it on the course and then you decide you don't want to wear it, if you bring something that you want to kind of throw to the side, disney will donate that.
Speaker 5:That is correct. Disney donates all the recovered clothing, so that's a good thing to remember.
Speaker 6:But I have one last one. Again, this only comes from one experience that was not me, but I know of somebody. Please make sure that when you're on your way to the race you actually have your bib on, because I've known somebody that's had to go back.
Speaker 5:It was really you won the check. No, it actually wasn't, I was really proud of myself.
Speaker 6:No, I felt so bad for him. I think he got to the race and then had a race back to the hotel.
Speaker 7:Oh, wow.
Speaker 6:And then come back with somebody who I was listening to a conversation near by. That sucks, but if anything, put your bib on to your costume or whatever you plan on wearing the night before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think a lot of us do that. Just put it on and forget about it. Yeah, there was somebody on my bus last year that was like wait, as the bus was starting to pull away, and they're like what? And they were like I forgot my bib, I have to get off the bus.
Speaker 1:So it does happen, so it does yeah.
Speaker 6:It's so early in the morning. Your brain is only half on.
Speaker 7:You know what I mean, so yeah, Just something going back to Jack's with the virtual cues, especially for the virtual cue for the expo, for that stuff. Oh yeah, that 45 mile thing, make sure if you're using a VPN on your phone you turn it off or your computer, because it will affect your 40. You can be right there in the expo and if your VPN is on it's going to say you're over 45 miles away, so you might want to turn that off. Don't ask me how I know. Just I know All right.
Speaker 5:All right, gang. Good stuff, good last minute advice for folks. All right, let's visit now. Let's visit with our guests for the week.
Speaker 5:Friends, on the on the eve of marathon weekend, we are privileged and proud to have with us two special guests, two special guests this evening. You may know them, you've seen them on the Facebook page Disney icons in the running world. Alan Young and his wife Grace are with us this evening. Hi guys, good to see you. Hi, welcome. Welcome to the podcast. We're so glad, at this very busy time of year, we're so glad you took the time out to talk with us. Now. Alan, not everyone. Many of our friends know who you are by name, but not everyone does. In short, you are a perfect marathoner at Walt Disney World, but there's more to this story. Isn't there? There's Disney land, but not only have you run on correct me when I'm wrong here not only have you run all 30 at Disney World, but you ran the marathon at Disneyland, and there was more to it. You had to run other marathons before you could run the Disneyland marathon. Is that right?
Speaker 8:Correct In 95, there was the Disney World marathon in January and then they had the Disneyland marathon in March. But if you lived in Orange County or Los Angeles, the race director who wasn't, who was from here, he wasn't from the Orlando area decided that Disneyland should not compete against Los Angeles. So in order to run the Disneyland marathon, we had to run the Los Angeles marathon three weeks before. Aha.
Speaker 5:What I was aware of that, Alan. I did not know the reason for it. I get it now.
Speaker 7:So three weeks before, huh.
Speaker 8:Oh, wow. So the longest challenge is actually 52.4. It's the Los Angeles Disneyland marathon and we got an extra shirt, but there was no extra metal.
Speaker 5:Grace, you've been very active in all these also, haven't you? How many of these marathons have you participated in?
Speaker 9:In Disney World, I've done 26. And I did not run the Disneyland when it was there. Overall, I've done 43 full marathons.
Speaker 5:Wow, wow, that's very impressive. Yeah, what are some of the others that you've run? Any favorites?
Speaker 9:Big Sur is a favorite. I've done Big Sur five times. We have traveled and I've done Boston, portland, oregon, silicon Valley, which I think is now gone Rock and Roll in San Diego.
Speaker 5:Good ones. I understand that Big Sur marathon is just gorgeous.
Speaker 9:That's definitely a favorite of mine.
Speaker 5:Tough one though, isn't it?
Speaker 9:Very hilly.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah. Here in Florida we're not sure what hills are.
Speaker 6:I was literally just about to ask what was your guys' favorite marathons out of all the ones you guys have done. Big Sur, that's like a dream one.
Speaker 5:Alan, I'm sure you've done some others right.
Speaker 8:Yes, I've done Boston five times, los Angeles, orange County, portland, silicon Valley, san Diego, rock and Roll Las Vegas.
Speaker 6:Which one's your favorite, non-disney.
Speaker 8:I would probably say it's for beauty, big Sur, it's just gorgeous. Okay, fair For tradition Boston yeah, Good answer.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hey, let's back all the way up. When did you two start running, alan? When?
Speaker 8:did you start running the late 70s yeah?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so you were not a runner in school then I was.
Speaker 8:I mean I ran in high school a little bit, but it was just. I didn't really have any time when I was in school and it was stressful, so running was convenient. I could just get a pair of shoes and then just start running around the apartment complex I live and just because of the school schedule I basically ran at night.
Speaker 5:How about Grace? When did you start running?
Speaker 9:I started running after I finished college in 81 and not on a very consistent basis, had a couple of friends that were trying to go jogging so I'd run with them, ran a little bit on my own and it was a few years. It was about mid 80s that I was more influenced by Alan, because in him at that point and he was doing a lot of five keys and 10 keys every weekend. So I started doing some five keys and I remember thinking that how could you manage to do a 10 K when I would be breathing so hard, pushing, pushing myself to run fast on five. And it went from. There was I didn't start doing the full marathon distance until 94. For a number of years that I just did this shorter distances, five, those 10 Ks that I eventually started doing house.
Speaker 7:Good, great, okay. So, alan, for you, I got a question for you. So when did you realize, or the idea of you being a perfect marathoner at Disney World kick in? Was it like accidental? I was like, wow, I just did 10, and now they came back to you saying you're perfect. Or was it just something that? How did that come about?
Speaker 8:Well, number one. It was really by accident. Grace has been running for a while and I was a member of the subscription to the New England runner and so the ad for the Disney World marathon came out there. So I asked Grace and we wanted to go to Disney World. So we filled it out, sent it in and then we signed up for it and after 95, the Disney World in Los Angeles and the Disneyland. I really had to push for the Disneyland because it was a five hour hard cutoff and then we got lost. So they had we were supposed to be in the back by 450, but they extended it because we had to go out and run in the parking lot for another mile before we got to come in.
Speaker 8:The finish was on Main Street. The problem is I seized up and muscle fisculations and I fell over and they put IVs in me but there wasn't any medical tents. So Grace actually held the IV bottles. Oh my goodness, I was on my legs so I literally got wheeled out of Disneyland and I thought that was it, I was done, I wasn't going to run another marathon. So after after five years I mean, we got a little plaque and then it was kind of like, okay, that was going to be about it, and just, we just decided that it was a nice place to run, and it was. It was safer because they owned the road. So I didn't get hit by a car because I've ended up on three car hoods over the years, oh my. So it just, it just really was completely unexpected and it just started. It kept rolling along.
Speaker 5:We didn't plan it, didn't plan it, it just came to be.
Speaker 2:Alan Grace, I want to hop in the Mandalorian here for a second and you know, obviously, having that perfect status, it puts you in this very exclusive group and I know in the past you know we've talked to Jeff Galloway about this and we've talked to the Chris Twigs as well. But what in your mind, and Grace in your mind as well, what would you say was like the key, like I don't know year or pivot point in terms of how run Disney has evolved from being a race that used to start in World Showcase in Epcot and people wearing cotton t-shirts to the mega corporation that it is now. You know, with over, you know, 15,000 runners doing, you know, the half or the full marathon. What in your mind sticks out, as you know, the key turning point in all of this.
Speaker 9:I think team and training was a big part of a change in that evolution. Road races didn't used to have the amount of entertainment that they have now. In the early Walt Disney Road marathon they didn't have that many people cheering. They used to send out survey forms for everybody to fill out in the early years and they'd ask you everything and everybody's complaint was well, there's, you know, you're out in back and there's nothing to see and no entertainment. So that changed, that they started to add employees out there and add more entertainment to the course.
Speaker 9:But once I think, team and training started to become pretty mainstream, it got a lot of people off the sofa and thinking about doing races and going to Disney to do a race. That probably weren't traditional runs, Traditional runners in the old race mentality. They wanted to go do an event, Take their family to Disney World, and it got people that weren't per se athletic or runners to get involved and I don't see them as much involved now but for a period of time over the years they were very actively involved in sharing team and training groups. Now we've never participated in that as team and training coaches or runners, but it has been something that has been on the course.
Speaker 8:I think. I think the big push which I don't know if they really expected this or not was inclusion. And when I first started running, females could not run a marathon. Yeah, isn't that something? 1984 was the first Olympic marathon and it was the first time that females could go over 1500 in the Olympics. Less than 10 years later they had Disney World, and if you looked at the videos on the first Disney World, there were some females, but it was predominantly male, and then it just bloomed from there. I don't think they expected it to be as big as it was.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's definitely grown. And women's activity in the sport of running I've seen that grow markedly since I got into it in the 80s. I think that's excellent, though. That's wonderful.
Speaker 6:If you had to choose between the two, which one would you do, or prefer Disneyland or Disney World?
Speaker 8:Disney World. They own the roads. I mean, disneyland has character, but there's no other race that I can even imagine. That is a loop race, even that. Basically, you all run on their own roads. I mean, cone Alley is Cone Alley because it's their road, but they have so many cones that you can't really step over.
Speaker 9:Disneyland was a two loop course and that in 1995, and that was the only year that they did the full. So if you're comparing Disneyland to Disney World it's comparing a half to comparing a full and there's just so much on that full course to be able to get to go through all four parks and so much to see and so much entertainment and they have very good support for runners. Compared to any other race, I think that Disney does a great job with the support for the runners for the full 26.2 miles. So it's hard to compare for me the two in that regard.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they are kind of in a league of their own, aren't they? The races are coming back to Disneyland. A lot of folks are very excited. I'm sure you are too. Now you mentioned being perfect at Disneyland. I assume that's for all the halves, except for.
Speaker 8:Tinkerbell yeah, I'm not perfect for Tinkerbell.
Speaker 5:Okay, I'm not going to take any personal offense to that, despite the costumes that I may wear sometimes. That's okay, I'll let it pass. But what can you tell our friends about running at Disneyland, because a whole bunch of them have never been out there. What would you like to share about running at Disneyland? You've talked about some of it already, but is there anything else you'd like to highlight?
Speaker 8:Well, number one. It used to start next to Disneyland but it used to start on a public road and it still will. And then you went into the parks and then you exited the parks and then you ran on streets. One of the big features was running through Angel Stadium on a couple of the runs and that's gone this year. But I think that they really tried to do a good job on it, but there's just not enough room in the parks to accommodate all the miles or all the people. They have to stretch it out somehow. And they brought back the perfect program, even for the Disney One Half Marathons, and the perfect program has gone.
Speaker 8:Gangbusters and it's really Disney was the one that actually started that. They had legacies at Los Angeles, but they have a meal. There's no other equipment and the grizzly vets of the Big Sur are still recognized, but they don't really. They recognize them and they give them the meal, but they don't really do anything else. Disney was the one that actually started the legacy programs and now, with all the legacies on the line and dine and princess, and even the perfect year people, it's really been amazing and people strive for it. People are pushing themselves to do these things that normally I don't think they would do in other situations, and I really think that it includes all different types of body types. I don't look like a runner and if you see me run, I'm not a runner.
Speaker 5:Yes, you are. You cross the start and the finish line. By our definition, you, my friend, are a runner.
Speaker 2:So, grayson, I know that both of you live very, very close to Disneyland and obviously that is your home park. I remember you said on the Zoom call how many minutes is it from your front door to Main Street USA? It's exactly one mile, One mile okay, one mile.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so extremely, extremely close. Obviously, there have been all sorts of swirling rumors over the years in terms of why the Disneyland races went away, and in nobody will ever know that, but the fact that you are truly locals to Disneyland. Have you ever heard of what allowed Run Disney to come back to Anaheim? Was it the situation where the city council was okay with it again, or was it more of a push on Disney's end? Have you ever heard anything about why everyone's gonna be able to race there for the first time since? Was it 2017, 2018?
Speaker 8:Yeah, I think that the city council had something to do with it and the previous mayor if you follow Anaheim politics was basically kicked out and arrested.
Speaker 5:Oh my, oh wow.
Speaker 8:Okay for basically selling some of the property around Angel Stadium for possibly taking bribes. I mean, yeah, there was a lot of stuff going on, but there was also a tremendous amount of construction going on too. And there was a lot of construction going on now and we've already been to the homeowners meeting where they basically they're planning for at least another part, and there's a major expansion even in downtown Disney. We don't have a Disney Springs for downtown Disney. Disney's a very good neighbor, but they're pretty locked into how much territory they really have.
Speaker 2:Of course yep.
Speaker 8:And it wasn't like things that are different that most people don't realize there's Disney parking, but Disney parking in Orlando is Disney. Disney parking in California is Anaheim. Disney doesn't get revenue from the parking. The city of Anaheim does.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Because I remember when everything had or when Run Disney had went away. I remember hearing stories again not that I'm tuned into Anaheim politics by any means whatsoever, but I remember reading headlines and some stories about how, you know, there was a big push for city council members running on a platform of we are pro Anaheim and anti Disney and everything like that. But then but see the dynamic shift, especially during COVID, because you know, here you are 2017, 2018, hearing these stories and then during COVID they're essentially doing press conferences with guardians of the galaxy mission breakout in the background, essentially trying to lure people back and hoping that the Disneyland gates could reopen. So to see such a dynamic shift in the span of just a couple of years, it was really really fascinating. And obviously I think that benefited Run Disney and that were at least you know, for you know the calendar year 2024, we're gonna get two rates for weekends out of it, which is awesome.
Speaker 8:Disney is a good neighbor for us. I don't know many courses that they sweep the sidewalks a couple of times a week. No, you're right about that. I mean we have a good running path around. We can go out of our house and basically run around DCA and Disneyland and it's 4.2 miles. We cross the street and we're in the Anaheim resort area. We're about 150 yards away from the edge of the parking lot Pretty sweet.
Speaker 6:That's so cool.
Speaker 8:And then we have the cheapest utilities of Orange County because of Disney.
Speaker 5:Aha, gotta love that.
Speaker 9:City of Anaheim has the public utilities, so we have much cheaper water and electric than the rest of Orange County.
Speaker 5:So there's a trade off there, huh, you started to talk about this when you talked about legacy runners at Disney. What are some of the special things that Disney does now for their perfect and throughout the years, that Disney's done for their perfect marathoners?
Speaker 8:For the five years we got the little plant.
Speaker 9:I think they mailed that to us. We didn't even know that they had it. I don't know if they handed it out to some people, but we got that in the mail and we're kind of surprised. The big year when the legacy thing really happened is after 10 years.
Speaker 9:Okay, because in 10 years. They gave them a mousekirt and they did a special dinner event. It was pretty short but everybody came to that and all the perfects that were there were thrilled to get acknowledged. They got an extra t-shirt. They had a video film they put together with race finishes and some media that they had put together. It was very fun. I thought it was very interesting because I had been hurt so I'd already missed a couple of years. But I talked to people who had been sick, who'd been injured and who muscled their way through regardless so that they could keep that legacy. And I'd never, with all these races other than LA Marathon Legacy which we've been around LA hadn't heard that much about legacy learning, but when we got that mousekirt after 10 years, when he got that, all of our running friends wanted to be legacy for every race they could.
Speaker 9:All of us had been a subject, but it wasn't that much of a subject before.
Speaker 8:For 15 years. We got a plaque. They handed us a plaque at the end and we really didn't know what was going on. And all of a sudden they came up and they said they just retired your number. You get the same number. Oh, that's cool. For 20 years they basically had that's up here. And then for 20 years they basically did a big thing. We got a legacy t-shirt which nobody else got, and then we got a jacket and then that was in our bag and then they had a dinner for us and then basically they announced and then they handed us all a ring. So we all got perfect ring. So even Jeff and Barb says the only two pieces of jewelry that Jeff has is his wedding band and the perfect ring. Is that right? And then for 25, they gave us another jacket and then they just gave us a piece of paper and people are kind of going what's the piece of paper? And I said this is great. They gave us registration for life.
Speaker 9:Oh yeah, and as long as they don't not complete it so long as they perfect.
Speaker 8:And then for 30, we got the special point which I didn't even know that they had a coin. And then we got the acknowledgement at the 30K mark, the plaque, and then we got another jacket and we've been getting the special ribbons. So for the last 15 years every race there's two ribbons there's the general ribbon and there's the perfect ribbon.
Speaker 6:You get to start in the same corral every year then, since they retired your bib number.
Speaker 8:No, my bib number is a little bit, because my bib number is 1456. All I get by some most of the perfects are in the double digits or three digits. Mine's in the four, but usually they put us in eight because we're getting older and I didn't start, I didn't even start, disney until I was 40. So it's you know, we're all getting older and a few have passed away over. Some have dropped out the oldest one, 80, rudy. He decided not to run anymore and we lost two last year due to a coin accident. So, oh my.
Speaker 5:We've talked about this with our good friend, chris Twiggs, who, as I'm sure you know, is the youngest of the perfect marathoners. Yeah, but not only do you have to be dedicated, not only do you have to persevere and work hard and grace is a great example. You gotta be a little lucky, because you get that injury that you really can't do anything about. You're not a perfect marathoner anymore, and it wasn't because of anything you did or didn't do. You just have to have a little luck on your side. Chris tells a story. I won't retell it here. He almost missed one year, had to do with the birth of a child, but he managed to sneak it in there. So his streak continues also.
Speaker 7:Okay, so talking about perfect marathoners, how many are left? Do you know?
Speaker 8:There's about 50 in the Disney World group and including Disneyland.
Speaker 5:Wow, that's honestly more than I would have expected.
Speaker 6:So you kind of mentioned earlier that the races started in cotton t-shirts and just kind of regular running shorts and stuff. When did it become a thing that people wore costumes? Was there like an advertisement where people were like where Disney wanted you to wear costumes, or did it just randomly come about?
Speaker 8:That just randomly came about. But the first two mile fun run around World Showcase it was a one size fit all t-shirt. There was no metal and it was Jumbinoit Bill. Rogers and a little Salazar.
Speaker 5:Okay for your youths out there. Those are great American distant runners of the 70s. I would say for most of them, alan Grace, with all the experience you have. We have a lot of friends who are in another week. Many of them are going to hit Disney World for their first race ever, whether it's gonna be the 5K or whether it's gonna be the Dopey Challenge. If you could talk with them and you can, by the way, right now what would you tell these folks who are heading out for their first run Disney event First?
Speaker 8:go to everything early. If you wanna go to the Expo and get the run Disney merchandise, try to get in the queue or go early. Or if you know someone that can pick it up, pick it up. Try to go out and get the electrolyte and the nutrient, whatever they think that it's gonna be on the course, and try that. Prepare for basically cold, medium and hot temperature and, especially on the West Coast, prepare for wind, because they ended up shutting down the superhero's finish area because of wind and they almost can the race because of the wind.
Speaker 8:Wow, I think go with the attitude of basically make sure you have enough time when you're running and if you wanna have a character stop, make sure you have enough time to do it, because the best souvenir is a finisher metal that you use rather than a picture on the character if you're gonna have to wait five or 10 minutes for that character and it's gonna be critical to your time. And take extra stuff to the start area. Take an extra pair of socks, take an extra shirt if you want to, because the bag check seems to be pretty good and seems to be safe. And take an early bus, because in year two the first bus was the last bus.
Speaker 5:Uh-oh. Well, I don't know that. We've I don't know if we've run into that problem. We haven't run into problems of buses getting lost, but yeah, we tend to take. I say we, the folks here, tend to take early buses and we encourage others because we like the time to socialize before the race. Grace, do you have anything to add that you would tell first-time runners at Disney World?
Speaker 9:At Disney World. I would say sometimes the weather changes more there than it does here. I've started the race. I don't remember what year it was, but it was like 66 at the start. It was 42 when I finished. That never happens in our weather in California.
Speaker 5:It doesn't often happen here, but it does. Obviously it did.
Speaker 9:So you know, my advice would be to you know, take pack some extra gear just in case, in case the weather changes and you need a hat or gloves, or because in Florida it's kind of hard to find cold weather gear when you're at the race expo Out in California you can find virtually anything that you wanna be prepared for that. So we've come for the weekend and had rain, freezing, cold and hot all the same weekend in Florida. So, and now we've got the advantage of apps and more weather reports to give us more information, but we didn't used it like that much information going in a week early. So that would be my advice. For me personally, I need to remember if it's cold to keep my core warm. So if it's cold I tend to wear a hat or gloves and make sure I probably have on the mask, because I have experience with type of thermia and that's you know. It just doesn't make for a good race.
Speaker 5:You're not gonna have a good time if that happens. Hopefully we'll stay dry. That's the big thing. If you can stay, you can deal with a lot of stuff. If you can stay dry when it starts to get wet, that's when things can get a little ugly. But here we are at the time of a recording, a little over a week. From the start, weather looks like it might be pretty decent, kind of cool for Florida standards, but not cold. So I don't wanna commit to that. It's 10 days out, but it's looking pretty good.
Speaker 8:One of the things that happened in the past which some people forgot about is Disney used to go with the paper jackets and pants and one of the Disney jackets was actually a paper jacket. Yeah, so it's on my website, but I mean I can put a picture of it the fan of it, please. So and because people weren't prepared, and then they were just, they sold these paper jackets.
Speaker 5:Yeah. I said yeah as if I remembered them at Disney. I don't. I remember Jeff had them one time at the end of one of his races in Atlanta.
Speaker 7:I think someone was selling them at the expo last year. Really it looked like little painter suits basically.
Speaker 8:Right painter suits.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8:There's been so much that has changed. Oh, one of the interesting facts about the Legacy Runners is that if we've run all the marathons at Disney World, nobody can say that they've actually run all the marathon courses, because for a while especially when they had the HA the same day there were two courses at the beginning and it met up by Test Track, so there was a A course and there was a B course, but you couldn't run them off. Oh, interesting.
Speaker 5:How long did they? I wasn't aware of that. How long did they do that they?
Speaker 8:did it for a couple of years because it was just too much to get everybody through that area around the start of EBCOT.
Speaker 5:So there was actually two courses. And the half and the full went off on the same day.
Speaker 8:Yes, and when they split the half and the full into two separate days and we actually were interviewed for this Disney thought there was only going to be 15 people that were going to vote.
Speaker 9:Oh really.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, they didn't know it was going to be so big.
Speaker 8:Surprise.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 8:And then they got a lot of grief when Minnie came about because Minnie was the 10K and they said that basically because there were so many females running that they really need to elevate Minnie to the marathon. And that's why, if you see later on, the 10K is not Minnie's anymore, she got moved up to the marathon.
Speaker 5:Yeah, she and Mickey are in the marathon. Yeah, good stuff, grace Allen, it's a pleasure. Before we let you go, however, we have a thing we do sometimes we call them rapid fire questions. They are exactly what they sound like, and I'm going to ask Alicia to fire away right now.
Speaker 3:All right, so the first one is Sleeping Beauty Castle, or Cinderella's Castle.
Speaker 8:Sleeping Beauty.
Speaker 3:OK, do you prefer small world at Disney World or Disneyland?
Speaker 8:Disneyland.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that one's way better Hollywood Studios or California Adventure.
Speaker 8:I'd say Hollywood Studios.
Speaker 3:What would you say, Grace? I'd probably say California Adventure. Is Dolwha better in Disneyland or Disney World?
Speaker 9:Disney World has more flavors usually.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's true, but I feel like Disneyland is so iconic by the Tiki Birds. They're both good, all right. And then last one, the Great Moments with Mr Lincoln or the Hall of Presidents.
Speaker 8:Great Moments with Lincoln.
Speaker 9:I agree An iconic thing.
Speaker 5:I kind of started the world of what do they call it Not?
Speaker 2:animatronics.
Speaker 5:Animatronics, that's the word. Yeah, thank you. Started the world of animatronics, sure did Grace and Allen. Thank you, busy time of year for you to spend this time with us. We are so grateful, and not only that, we're very excited about seeing both of you here next week. For Allen it'll be number 31 and for Grace number 27. Actually, for me it's 32. 32, we've got to count Disneyland. I don't want to leave that out. You are right, my friend, I should not leave that out. But I am most excited about meeting both of you in person. And thanks again.
Speaker 7:Thank you. Thanks, Allen and Grace, for that interview. That was great. If you're following Allen and Grace on our Facebook group page, Allen's like the historian of run Disney marathons. He posts all the little items and shirts and trinkets that they've gotten over the last 30 years of racing and it's pretty interesting.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it is. I really appreciate Allen. He's jumped in and become a big part of the Rise and Run family and it's really wonderful to have both him and Grace with us. Look forward to seeing him. Remember, look for him at the Expo or at the meetup. I know he'll be excited to see you and maybe, just maybe, if he has enough with him, you're going to need somebody to help him carry all those bracelets he's going to have. I think that's fantastic, that they dedicated that much time, effort and work for us. That's really cool.
Speaker 5:Friends, we say this often when you head over to the Expo Don't forget, please, to visit with our friend Pam at Fluffy Physies. Tell her maybe you'll pick up your Expo order. But even if you're not ordering anything, just go say hi to Pam. You'll enjoy that. Tell her you heard her on the podcast, although we didn't have her on this time, but she'd been on a couple times before. She's always a delightful person and I say this every time Go visit Jeff Galloway, and this time I want you to stop and say hi to Barb. Also, tell Barbara you heard her on the podcast and tell her what a great job she did, because she really did so. I think she's going to get a kick out. They love to see you just as much as we do, and stop by and say hi to him.
Speaker 5:Reminder, our meetup is at 3 PM at Disney Springs in the food truck area. Last I looked, I don't know if we went over 100 people who confirmed they were going to be there or not, but we're right around that number. We really are excited to see you there. However, many people are there at 3.30. We'll take a group photo right around 3.30. Doesn't mean you have to leave after the photo, but we'll try and do that at 3.30, so you know what time to look for Friends, time for a tradition that has grown by leaps and bounds, the Disney World and we will do Disneyland Race Weekend Roll Call.
Speaker 5:Now, this is a reflection of all of you who have added your names to the Race Report in our Facebook group. We are going to call you out. The rules are as follows when you hear your name called, you should need to stand up. If you are on short final and the seat belt sign is on, you are exempted from that rule. This daggum list friends, however, is so long that we'll break it down A through M, stand, n through Z, then we'll do it that way.
Speaker 5:We did our best to capture everyone's name. We did our best. If you put a note in there for us to read. The only thing I'm going to tell you friends, some of you put in the charity that you were racing for and God bless you. That's wonderful. But so many of us are racing for charities that I did scratch through those, so I didn't list those. Also joining us to help us out and we will hear more from him later in the episode our good buddy, mark, is here to help us with this list of and friends for the marathon weekend. There are over 350 names on this list. It's fantastic. It is awesome the way you've responded.
Speaker 2:Mark, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for coming out with a bullpen for us for this one. We appreciate it.
Speaker 5:Happy to be here, all right, so let's begin with the Dopey Challenge. Alicia, take it away.
Speaker 3:So we have Abby, who's first time dopey here, adam Adrian from Canada, first time dopey, Amy from England, aliyah, first time dopey, allison L and Allison O, both first time dopey here. Alyssa, amanda and Amy.
Speaker 7:OK. So coming up next, andrew is doing his first dopey. We have Angela, angie, anna with the first dopey, ashton's first dopey, beth's first dopey, bob's fourth dopey, brad's and Brian.
Speaker 2:We then have Britt doing her first, dopey Brooke as well doing first. Dopey Charlie, their eighth dopey Christina doing her first. Dopey Christopher and Lauren doing their first. Dopey Sissy and her husband Connie, sixth dopey Crystal's doing her first, as well as Dale and this is actually Dale's first run, disney event oh wow. Danny doing his first dopey and first marathon.
Speaker 5:No flag next to Danny, but that's Danny from the Netherlands. David B is doing his first dopey, david W will be there, debbie and her daughter Meredith doing their first dopey, devin, dina first dopey, first marathon. Elizabeth, ellie for the first dopey, aaron, aaron R and Gabby.
Speaker 6:All right. So we have Grace, heather C with push rim, heather M, first dopey, heidi Adania, jacqueline, jackie and husband Fred. It's their first dopey and their first marathon for both of them. James and Wendy it's going to be Wendy's first dopey. Jared and Jason.
Speaker 4:We've got Jeanette with her mom, louise, doing their first dopey. A perfect dopey. Jeff, jen. Jennifer D her first dopey, jennifer IS first dopey. Jennifer P first dopey, jennifer V first dopey. The Jennifer's are out in force for that. Jess first dopey and her first run Disney event. Jessica C first time dopey and Jessica F first time dopey.
Speaker 3:We have Jessica G Jody, first time dopey. John or John Josh first time dopey. Joshua, julia, kate, Caitlin doing her first dopey and first marathon. Catherine, first time dopey. And Catherine with brother Nathan first run Disney and first dopey.
Speaker 5:OK, we are approximately. I said M, we're approximately halfway done. The dopeys there are that many, so A through J, you may be seated, Take it away John.
Speaker 7:Ok, so Kathy is doing her first run Disney event and her first dopey. Katie's doing her first dopey. Katrina's doing her first dopey. Kelly's doing first dopey Kendra's, first dopey Kirk's, first dopey Kristen L first marathon. First dopey Kristen S first dopey Kristie and Kristen.
Speaker 2:Continuing on. We have Christina with daughter Lindsay their first dopeys Laura, lauren, laurie with her daughter, hannah, first dopey, and first marathon, lena Lexi different Lexi, though not our Lexi first dopey. We have our good friend Leah, lisa B, lisa C and Lisa H, and she is doing her first dopey.
Speaker 5:Lizzie will be there, as will Lucy, luke, maggie doing her first dopey, margaret, mark B, our buddy, mark H and I will violate my rule here because, mark, I know it's such a big deal for you that you've worked at Give Kids the World so long or so often that Mark's running for Give Kids the World. Mark W, marty's first dopey and first marathon and Mary's first dopey.
Speaker 6:I have Mary Jo, first dopey and first marathon. Matt H, matt K Now listen to this one Matt, sean, jordan and Nicky family of four all running first dopey together.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome, awesome.
Speaker 6:All right, we also have Matthew D, megan first dopey, melissa first run Disney event and first dopey Melissa M, melissa R first run Disney and first dopey, as well as Michael first dopey and first marathon.
Speaker 4:And then we've got Michelle, who's running her first dopey, first marathon and first run Disney event for the hat trick. Monica Morag, first dopey. Morgan Nick running his second dopey and 12th marathon. Nicky Olivia running first dopey. Patrick, first dopey, first half marathon, first marathon and first run Disney event. That's what.
Speaker 5:I get Bravo.
Speaker 4:Bunch of PRs there, absolutely Rachel running a second dopey and Renee.
Speaker 3:And to continue, we have Rob Ryan, another Ryan running his seventh dopey and 10th marathon. Sabrina, whose first dopey. Samantha, first dopey and first marathon. Sarah, simone, first dopey, shani, sean and Sherry, who is also doing their first dopey.
Speaker 7:OK, we got Steve's first dopey and first marathon Stevie, tara, kayla's third dopey, tony, tracy's first dopey, first marathon, tricia, troy and Victoria. To round it all out, oh wow.
Speaker 5:Round of applause for our dopey runners in the Ryzen Run family. All 140 of them are actually more than 140, because some of those lines had multiple names. We're proud of you, gang. We're proud of you. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So next we move on to the Goofy Challenge, and the first thing that we have is our good friend from the arm wrestling capital of the world, abel, who is doing his first goofy and first full marathon. We have Alyssa doing her first goofy, andrea, ashley, brian his first goofy Carissa, carrie, dawn and Dylan.
Speaker 5:Doug will be running his first goofy Jack. Jack's doing the Goofy Challenge Jan doing her first goofy, jody, karen Kay, kristen, laura, liz first goofy, and Mary.
Speaker 6:All right, we got Michael, natalie, rachel, riley, ryan, sarah, first goofy, sean first goofy and, of course, tara first goofy.
Speaker 4:Those are our Goofy Runners Round of applause for our Ryzen Run marathon runners from earlier in the episode Alan, the perfect marathoner, and Grace, allison, alicia that's me, amy, that's you, amy E, amy L, ashley, avery, brandy and Brittany L first marathon.
Speaker 3:We also have Brittany M first marathon. Chadwick, who's doing his first marathon on his own since his wife is seven months pregnant. Our friend Chris Twiggs, who is a perfect marathoner. Kristiana, 13th in-person Disney marathon in a row. Kristina Garen first marathon. Haley, first marathon. Hannah, first marathon. Heather E first marathon Heather O and husband.
Speaker 7:We have Heidi's first marathon, jennifer, jessica, joe, ellen first run Disney event, john Kelly first run Disney first marathon, carrie, ann Carrie first marathon, kevin first run Disney event and Kim's first marathon.
Speaker 2:Then we have Kristen D, kristen F and then the following people are all running their first marathon Laura, lauren, luanne, madeline and this is also Madeline's first run Disney event Megan Melissa, rachel F and Rachel L Winding up our list of marathon runners Sarah R, sarah C first marathon.
Speaker 5:Sarah N first marathon. Taylor and Taylor's fiance Brandon running first marathon. Tiffany running 13th marathon. Let's wrap it up with Tracy and Tucker, both running their first marathon Our Disney marathon runners.
Speaker 6:All right, you guys, you know what's next the half marathon. All right, first off, we have Abby plus baby for our first half is what it says.
Speaker 2:So hashtag, wow, pr for both Half marathon baby.
Speaker 5:I'm not sure could be 13.1 baby.
Speaker 7:Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 6:That's awesome. All right, we also have Alicia and Camille. Alyssa with her first half and first run Disney event, we have our own.
Speaker 1:Hallie.
Speaker 6:We have Amy Anna Becca running with sister Erin who's doing dopey. Bethany, caitlin, don and Erin.
Speaker 4:Picking up. We have our very own Greg, that's me, jeanette, Jason, jay, who is going to be trying to walk the half marathon in a boot, which Bob can confirm can be done, and dad Kevin, jen, julie running half number 50 of a goal of 50,. Kate, kayla, kelly and Lori.
Speaker 3:And to continue, we have our very own Lexi, Lindsay, Lori, Mandy, Peyton and Blake, Blake's first half marathon, Ravi, Sean, Sherilyn, Sonia and husband, his first half, and Tammy.
Speaker 7:And to round it out, we have Tracy, Tylin and Valerie.
Speaker 5:All right, that's our half marathon.
Speaker 7:We're getting there kids and you can all sit down. Now, if your name was raised right, rob, that's right, that's right I hope you're not still standing.
Speaker 5:Yes, the dopies are still standing, I think. Oh, golly, golly. I hope not. Jeez, I'm going to be tired enough running dopey to instead. Oh, what's good practice for the corrals?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 7:All right and slowly forward while you're doing this, ok.
Speaker 2:Next we move to the 10K. We have Alicia, camille Caden and Zara, becca, brandy Carissa and Charlie David doing their first 10K, erin Grace myself, hannah and Jeanette Jen.
Speaker 5:Kim Laurie, lexi, monica, Nicholas, peyton Blake and Jean this is Jean's first 10K Rob, sarah and Scott.
Speaker 6:We got Sue Tiffany with dad first 10K and dad was at Disneyland opening day. Oh, that's really cool.
Speaker 5:That's very cool.
Speaker 6:Yeah, we have Tracy, and that rounds it up for the 10K.
Speaker 5:You got it, you got it.
Speaker 4:All right, all right and run 5K runners Anna April, becca Becky with Bob, brenda, who's at her first run Disney event. Carl Dawn Delaney Diane with John Amelia, 10 years old, and Sam, eight years old, running with mom Kristen their first 5K and first run Disney race.
Speaker 3:We have Heidi running with her partner Missy it's Missy's first run Disney race. Jamie Joy from Canada. Carrie Ann, laurie R first run Disney race. Laurie W, mary Megan Nicholas first run Disney race. And Sarah.
Speaker 7:And rounding out the 5K, Tommy first run Disney with wife Tracy, who is doing dopey, and Tracy All right.
Speaker 2:Last but not least, we want to recognize all of our rise and run friends who are doing the virtual options of these races. So we have Andrew doing the 10K, anna doing the 5K, jessica the 10K, joe virtual Joe that is doing the 5K and half Joy from Canada, doing something unique here she's doing the 5K live, but then rest of the dopey on Disney property. Then Megan's doing the 10K, sarah is going to be just like Joy doing the 5K live and the rest of dopey somewhere on Disney property. Then Sean is doing the half live and then the rest of dopey elsewhere and, in rounding it out, stephanie is doing the 5K. And that is all of our virtual runners.
Speaker 7:And for virtual, you can ask Joe where's the best place to run.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, Joe will tell you the loop of Hourglass Lake at Pop Century and Art of Animation. But based on the number of times he did those loops, I'm pretty sure he has all the factoids about the decades memorized. So if you want to know, ask Joe.
Speaker 5:All right, my friends, you can all be seated, unless you happen to be listening to this while you are, in fact, at Disney World taking part in one of the races, in which case you probably don't want to be seated. My friends, this is just remarkable, the number of people who are going to be there. I'd love to say, well, I'm going to say it, we hope we see all of you. I think that's probably impossible, but we want to see as many of you as we possibly can. And again, I am overwhelmed by the response we get and the growth we see in the community. The reaction we get from everyone. It is just fantastic. We wish each one of you the very best. That's always fun and it's getting more fun every race. Now, as long as that roll call was, it's time for a very short race report.
Speaker 5:Katie was in St Louis, the St Louis Track Club Frostbite Series race number two a 10-miler. In Lansing, Michigan. Emily ran the Playmakers Holiday Classic 5K. Children Henry and Carolyn finished their first ever 100-meter sprint. Emily got a 5K PR Coming in at just under 30 minutes. That's a great run, emily. Last race until Princess 5K in February In Vieira, florida, run Run Santa One Miler. Margaret and John joined over 1,100 other Santas for this particular race. In this race, everybody has to dress in the Santa suit that's provided for them, so it makes for a fascinating experience. I imagine it's kind of tough on Margaret having someone else providing her costuming for a race, but she pulled it off.
Speaker 6:That would be so much fun.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it looked pretty cool. Photos are neat.
Speaker 6:Is Beard included Great question.
Speaker 5:Jack, I don't think. I do not recall seeing Beards in the photos. Margaret's 40th race of the year still her ankle's given her problems 90% better. But just to be cautious and make sure that she makes it to the start of the Dopey Challenge, because Margaret's scheduled to do dopey to Dumbo, she used her knee scooter again, which of course was decorated.
Speaker 5:In Arlington, Texas, there was a Christmas Day 5K. Laura was there. Fairly small local run, but it was the only one available to her during the short time she was visiting the family in the Arlington area. 40 degrees, a little colder than she expected, but got it done. It was a nice way to start Christmas Day In Seattle, Washington.
Speaker 5:Vanessa did the holiday fun run. The race has a kids' dash, which was adorable, of course, Plus 5, 10, and 15K options as a loop around a lovely park in Seattle. Vanessa did the 15K. Really enjoyed it. Cold day, sunny, though Lots of mud and puddles on the route. Now, how much fun is that? Right, Mud and puddles on a cool day, yeah, Best to use trail shoes if you're going to try this one. No course support. But there was a hot chocolate bar at the end, which is nice, and the holiday costumes were cool. Vanessa ran in her figment shirt for this run. And wrapping up this rather short race report, in Hudson, Ohio, Laurie and Peter did the frosty 5-miler. Peter was amazing. He walked the 5 miles at a little over a 14-minute pace. That's a good pace for walking Peter 14-19. Very good. Laurie ran 50-25 intervals, came in at 54-48, and that is a 5-mile PR for Laurie.
Speaker 2:I want to go back to Vanessa's run real quick. What do you think would be on a hot chocolate bar?
Speaker 7:I'm very intrigued by this Marshmallows right, I mean obviously marshmallows.
Speaker 2:Apple bit sticks, oh okay.
Speaker 5:I think we're kind of out of options.
Speaker 6:No, I'm not even on it because I would eat that chocolate bar.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's not a literal hot chocolate bar. Okay, whipped cream, that's a good one. That could be whipped cream.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's an assortment of marshmallows For the marshmallow kind of sour stuff. Okay.
Speaker 5:All right, friends. That's it for the race report. We've talked about it before. What's up coming? Greg told you a lot about it that coming up maybe early next week, maybe on Thursday, episode 119, with the Run Disney Race Announcers. It's a lot of fun. There's something I'd like to do in the last episode prior to Marathon Weekend and our friend Mark joined us to help us out with this. So, mark, welcome back Mark to the Rise and Run podcast. It's always a pleasure to have you here how you doing.
Speaker 4:I'm doing better than I deserve, bob, very good to be back. I know I was on the Customized Training Plan.
Speaker 7:Call me. You don't have to pay residuals to twigs for that one.
Speaker 4:I'll check in with him and see what's going right.
Speaker 5:Good stuff. Well, mark, a pleasure again to have you here. Good day to you, my friend, it's good to see you. Friends, a lot of you. Many of you may not know the valuable contributions Mark makes to this podcast, to the Facebook groups and to the whole family. I'm going to ask him to talk a little bit about each one of them, but let's start with those glorious training schedules that Mark puts out for us every week and the questions to you, mark. Those are awesome. How'd you get started with those? What was the motivation and how'd you get going with them?
Speaker 4:If I remember right, I actually started doing them for the first-timers group that Alicia runs. I started doing them before the podcast had gotten very big. It was right. I think it was the year you guys started. Actually, I met most of you through that first-timers group, that's right. Yeah, that was just kind of a way. This is the way I deal with the world is. I really appreciated all the help and support that I had gotten from that group and the bazillion questions I asked when I was prepping for my first marathon. I thought this would be a fun way to go back. Also, as I recall, it was the 90s-themed marathon and I just really enjoyed that theming, so it would be fun to have one that was themed instead of just having to cut and paste out of Jeff's plans.
Speaker 5:The 90s-themed marathon.
Speaker 4:Just last year that was recently.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was right. Yeah, well, it's really good that you came along, because prior to that, that segment on the Facebook group was me going to Jeff's training schedule and cropping a screenshot of the week and popping it up there. It was functional but it was not pretty.
Speaker 4:But functional is what you need. People just need to know how far to run. Yeah, but this looks a heck of a lot better. Yeah, yeah, it's fun to engage with. I had probably too much fun speaking of themes that I enjoyed with the Springtime Surprise plans that we just started posting.
Speaker 5:I really like that adventure theme. They're great. Now, on the Rise and Run podcast Facebook group page, you added a little bit something extra. You came up with kind of a question or a theme for the week.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I borrowed that. We were talking before about podcasts we listened to and I actually borrowed that from the Be Our Guest podcast and they have a question every week where they justify his posts and talks about things that he's processing as he's going through his marathon training. We have a lot of new people and it can be intimidating when you first join a group to dive in and to ask questions and to feel like you're bothering people, even though we would say they aren't, but it still feels like for some people it can be hard to do that reaching out. So I thought it'd be nice just to have a conversation starter and to let people ask questions or maybe even kind of practice the questions they might ask anyway, yeah, it has been well received.
Speaker 5:It's a lot of fun and it's appreciated.
Speaker 7:Okay. So, mark, last year you did something that was really cool. You did a pacing sheet or a buddy sheet, however you want to call it where you said, okay, here's people that were willing to run with people. Here's the intervals or paces we want to do. If you want to hook up, let's get together. You want to talk how you got that idea and what started that?
Speaker 4:I think I actually also borrowed that idea from the BR Guest podcast.
Speaker 5:They do something similar. We're going to owe them royalties in a bit here. We got twigs, and now we got the BR Guest group.
Speaker 4:You had no idea what you were getting in for when you invited me on this evening.
Speaker 5:I had an idea.
Speaker 4:But they do have a similar idea. They're very big on the same concept. That Rise and Run is that we're all in this together. This is a family affair.
Speaker 4:And their slogan actually is you never run alone. So it just kind of sprung out of that. I do it a little differently. I don't think they put in the categories for things like are you planning to ride Everest or are you planning to stop in Guilherme in Mexico, but it's the same concept. The idea is again, and especially for new folks that are just joining us or who this is their first marathon, it's a lot. No matter how well trained you are, no matter how prepared you feel, 26 miles is a long way to go, oh golly, yeah, especially if it's at the end of Dopey. So having a chance to have, if nothing else, because I know it's hard to fill out and we don't know our corrals until practically the day of yeah, until you pick up your bib.
Speaker 4:So you can't know for sure whether you're going to be in the right crowd to run with someone else. But at the very least it's kind of turned into a way for people to say I'm open to people running with me, I'm willing to. I'm not one of the people who just needs to run their own race and there's nothing wrong with people that need to run their own race and be in their own head but this is a way for somebody to say, hey, I'd be glad to have somebody to keep me company. Let's figure out what pace-ish we want to go.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I know you did it for Wine and Dine. Will we see it? We haven't seen it yet. Well, as of the time that we released this podcast, I think you expect maybe to have it up.
Speaker 4:Yeah, my plan is to have it up before this drops.
Speaker 5:Okay, so we'll look for it with one week to go to a race day, and that's cool, that's plenty of time and, as we've mentioned before and we'll mention again, you can always find us to the left side of the bleachers facing the stage. So if you need a place to meet up with someone that you may wish to run with, that's a good place to do it. The other thing, Mark, that again you've worked very hard on that charity sheet, which is still pinned to the top of the page. Now it's getting kind of late in the season. I think there are probably still some races that you could look at, Probably springtime surprise.
Speaker 4:You could even princess the princess.
Speaker 4:Yeah, this is my first year doing that and what I have discovered? I'm learning lots as I do it. There is a cutoff for the charities and it's usually a few weeks before the race where they just at that point you can't get in anymore. They have to do whatever they do, whether they give the bibs back or however they do it. So a lot of charities do tend to offer their remaining bibs at a reduced fundraising rate towards the end, because they've paid for them. To get them, they have to pay Disney for them. So they'd rather at least make back what they paid to get the bib and maybe a little extra then to just lose it entirely.
Speaker 4:I try to keep the spreadsheet up with that, but the truth of the matter is they don't typically post that to their main page. They're posting it in emails to their supporters. They're posting it sometimes on the run Disney marketplace pages, but I don't see them all. So I do my best to keep it up. But especially if you're getting close to a race where something has changed and you know it's January and you've decided suddenly you're able to do, princess, your best bet is always going to be to reach out directly to a charity and ask, even if my spreadsheet says they don't have any. They might, because things change, especially when you get close to race day. People don't reach their minimums. Life happens. But yeah, there's still worse. And bibs available for princess. Last I looked, there are definitely plenty of bibs still available for springtime. Last I looked, I'm a few weeks behind. The holidays have been busy, oh, of course, for everybody, and I've been focused on getting ready for the marathon myself.
Speaker 5:Sorry, yeah, I understand that too, absolutely 100%. Understand that, folks, friends if you're. If you're not quite sure what we're talking about, if you go to the rise and run Facebook group at the top of the page where the featured post are, they're pinned up to the top. You can look there. There's a charity spreadsheet and it will tell you for each of the events that occurs at Disney World or Disneyland or just WDW.
Speaker 4:No, I had Disneyland.
Speaker 5:Disneyland. Okay, great Like.
Speaker 4:Disneyland at this point.
Speaker 5:Yeah, there's a list of charities to participate and if you're interested, seek that out and take a look and see what still might be available later in the season. But you started, mark. You started talking about getting ready for the marathon. What are you doing this next weekend? What races are you?
Speaker 4:running. I'm doing dopey again. Yeah, baby, it was so much fun last year I decided I wanted to come back and do it without a torn muscle this year.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, good, good, let's, you know, knock wood somewhere. Let's get to the start line healthy. You've had a good training season, mark. You've made some really good strides.
Speaker 4:It has been a surprisingly good year. It's been very strange for me as as a kid who was seriously asthmatic and as someone who is, oh, on the larger side, the the amount of progress I've made this year has been exciting and slightly mind boggling.
Speaker 5:Mark, I think it's a testament to your dedication number one, but also the training plan and the success, the fact that if you can stick with it and I've observed this myself it does work. Sometimes we question it, but by golly. When we put it to the test, it seems to work.
Speaker 4:It's been working really well for me. If people have any doubts about the Galloway method, I've I've made a lot of progress this year.
Speaker 5:You certainly have, and you should be proud. We're proud of you. All right, this is a tradition, my friends, a tradition that I started again as Mark alluded to before the podcast. I used to do this in the Facebook group page. There's a song that I think it's special to me and I think it encapsules what we're trying to do here with and I don't care if it's the 5K or if it's the dopey challenge If it's something that's meaningful to you, something that you have had to work for very hard, something that you may have thought was impossible that I think this is for you also.
Speaker 1:To dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with a wearable sorrow. To run with a brave dare. Not go to hide the alrightable long. To love pure and chaste from afar, to try who wants it to weary, to reach the unreachable stone. This is my quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. To fight for the right, without question or pause, to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause. And I know, if I'll only be true to this glorious quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm late to my rest, and the world will be better for this, that one man, scorned and covered in scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars.
Speaker 5:Gets me every time. Gets me every time, mark, thanks. I listen to the words. There's a line at the end that gets me, and the world will be better for this, and I sometimes think about that and I sometimes friends, you need to think about that too. You never know who you're motivating. You may never know who's watching you run down the street every day and thinking you know, maybe I could do that. Or listening to you talk about what we do in these runs, who changes their life. Also, I know it's changed mine. That will always be the ultimate song before we head off on our own quest. Mark, thank you so very much. We appreciate it, yeah it's always a pleasure.
Speaker 5:All right, my friends. We have before race weekend. We have a zoom meeting on Thursday night, so instructions are on the in the Facebook group. Hope to see you there. You sure got plenty to talk about. All right, that's it, friends. Episode 118, the final episode of 2023, comes to an end. We are going to see you very, very soon, my friend, and if you run, you know you are our friend. We couldn't be more excited. We look forward to seeing you. Until then, though. Happy running.
Speaker 2: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 health care provider or event organizer.