119: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Magic: The Voices Behind runDisney

As the dawn of a new Marathon Weekend approaches, the Rise and Run family is buzzing with excitement and anticipation! Picture the scene as we, Bob, John, Greg, Alysha, Lexi, Allie, and Jack, gather round to share our pre-race jitters and triumphs. We've all been there—tying those laces, adjusting our bibs, and taking that first exhilarating step across the starting line. Our special guests, the voices that have spurred thousands to push through the last mile, join us for an unforgettable episode. The runDisney race announcers provide an insider peek into the magic behind the microphone, adding an extra layer of sparkle to our marathon conversation.

Venture with us through a journey that's more than just about setting personal records and cheering from the sidelines. It's a heartfelt exploration into our 2024 goals, from Jack's dream of launching a run coaching business to each host's individual aspirations like conquering an ultramarathon or enhancing our core strength. We laugh over the whimsical tales of our costume adventures and marvel at the Disney races that bind us together, creating a tapestry of memories and dreams painted in the hues of our shared passions.

To cap off this rollercoaster of inspiration, we spotlight the incredible stories that define the runDisney community. Our announcer friends Tracy, alongside Riley and John, invite listeners to the finish line where emotions run as high as the runners' endorphins. The tales of perseverance and support remind us of the power of our running family, as we revel in the traditions that mark the culmination of months of dedication. Whether you're here for the nostalgia, the motivation, or the pure joy of running, this episode crosses the finish line with flying colors.
 Race Announcers Links
Tracy Wiu Instagram
John Pelkey Instagram
Riley Clermont Instagram
Carissa Galloway Instagram
321 Go!
Rise and Run Links
Rise and Run Podcast Facebook Page
Rise and Run Podcast Instagram
Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
Passport to Run

Transcript

Speaker 3 0:04

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

Speaker 5 0:36

Hello Run Disney Family and welcome to the 2024 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 3, 2, 1,.

Speaker 7 0:46

GO and you're listening to the Rise and Run Podcast.

Speaker 1 0:51

Well, that was fun. Who are those crazy kids? Anyway, we'll hear more from them in just a little bit. Friends, welcome to episode 119 of the Rise and Run Podcast. Look around, we've made it, it's race weekend. This is exciting. I'm Bob and I'm here to talk about it with John. Hey, how you doing With Greg? Happy New Year With Alicia. Hello With Lexi. Hello.

Speaker 4 1:26

With.

Speaker 9 1:26

Allie Hi friends and with Jack what up.

Speaker 1 1:30

Hey, my friends, happy New Year. All right, guys. Gosh, this is the weekend we've been waiting for. What do we got tonight? We got a couple of special guests, folks that you have probably already heard from today earlier on. Our friends, the Run Disney Race announcers, are with us this episode. We appreciate them sharing their time. I think that's going to be a fun one.

Speaker 1 1:59

My friends, if you enjoy the podcast, please share us with your friends. Introduce them to the Rise and Run family. You've been doing a good job of that. Keep it up. The crowd keeps growing. We are so excited about seeing as many of you as we can in the next couple of days that I just I don't know. I just don't know what to do. But please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram, rise and Run Pod. Check out that YouTube channel that Jack's doing such a wonderful job with, and our webpage at riseandrunpodcastcom. And since I'm talking about how Jack does a great job, john does a wonderful job on the webpage. Also, if you got a question, you got a comment or race report, you want to introduce an upcoming episode, please call us 727-266-2344. Leave us a recorded message. A couple of our friends have been doing that recently and we appreciate it.

Speaker 1 3:06

Friends of Rise and Run Podcast, sponsored by our good pals at Magic Bound Travel. Hey, if you're enjoying your accommodations and you work through Magic Bound which I know I did, I hope you're having a great time and I hope that they were able to help you out. We're looking forward to seeing. I forget who's here on the weekend, but I know a bunch of the folks from Magic Bound Travel are here. Magicboundtravelcom is the website. Check them out.

Speaker 1 3:38

Now, friends, let me explain something to you. If we sound a little disjointed here and if you're looking around wondering how we can be there where you are and still be on the podcast, we're recording this one early. So if we're sometimes not so sure, if we chuckled a little bit when Greg said happy New Year and we're still it's still not Christmas yeah, we're doing the best we can, but that's the only way we could get this one out for race weekend was to record it out a sequence. So we'll do the best we can. With that said, let us do as we always do and take a look at that training schedule. If you're running marathon weekend, your training schedule is live right now. You're in the middle of it. So enjoy all that hard work you did. Now is the time to enjoy all that effort. Well, we can look Disneyland now. The race is one week away.

Speaker 3 4:43

So jealous of everybody.

Speaker 1 4:45

Yeah, we are in training week 15 and you've got a four mile run just kind of easing in to your race at Disneyland, greg. It's wonderful. I don't know if I'm jealous but I am. I'm hoping to live vicariously through some folks who tell us how how much fun they had, and I hope our friends Jack and Lexi have a great time out there.

Speaker 3 5:10

I was going to say I'm still trying to figure out a way how I can shove myself into one of their carry ons or something like that. So, Jack, I know you've trialed this yourself. Once you figure it out, let me know.

Speaker 9 5:22

I think there is some kind of like you know just what's it called when you're trying to make yourself a small contortionist. There you go, We'll work on contortion, Okay, Greg.

Speaker 1 5:33

Let's look at the more training this weekend. Princess Weekend now we are in training week 11 for Princess Weekend. Princess Weekend now seven weeks away, you have a four mile run with a magic mile for Princess Weekend and for springtime surprise, we are into training week three. That's right, we're in the training week three for the last event of the run Disney season. As we sit here at Marathon Weekend at Disney World, training week three, your long run on the weekend is three miles, proof of time for springtime surprise is due soon. So if you're running springtime surprise, you've got a POT and haven't submitted it. Take a look at that and make sure that you get it in. Don't miss out if you've got one. Friends, since this, technically, is our first episode of the new year, let's take a little look ahead amongst the rise and run gang here and let me ask you, my friends, what are some of your goals for year 2024? Alicia, why don't you kick us off?

Speaker 8 6:58

Sure, I have a lot of goals for 2024, but I thought of three right off the top of my head. So my first one is that I want to rock the marathon, which for me that just means finish and have minimal pain and just do well. And then I would like to continue to grow my run coaching business and I would like to get faster and potentially have a PR for the springtime surprise 10 miler.

2024 Goals

Speaker 1 7:24

So there you go, those are my running goals yeah. I especially like that marathon goal of rocking the marathon, meaning finishing. I like that. Yeah, I agree with you 100%, greg. How about you I?

Speaker 3 7:36

think for me, I have to go back and listen to last year around this time when we talked about goals as well, but I think two of my main focuses is that I want to get faster, but not necessarily faster. In general, I want to keep it relative to like specific distances, if that makes sense. I would love to be able to get a new 10 K PR and get it fast enough that it could be used for a POT, because I know just the way that my body composition is and where my paces are at currently and everything like that. I know that getting a sub two hour and 15 minute half marathon is just going to be really, really difficult for me, but I feel like if I could get around an hour or a sub one hour 10 K, that would be a huge goal for me and I think that would put me in. Even though they don't advertise like, oh, this is the time that you need for a 10 K to submit for a POT at least gets you in the ballpark, you know what?

Speaker 1 8:45

we've done in a lot of time. It's like 63 or 64 minutes, Greg, something like that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 8:53

So probably, if that's the working theory, I need to shave maybe two to three minutes off of that from my PR time. That I said a couple of years ago, so I would love to look forward to that. And then I do have grand aspirations in terms of what I want to do for Marathon Week in 2025. We'll need to lock those down, though, but I would love to be able to get a marathon, yeah you will.

Speaker 3 9:23

Because, I think that, based on my experience a couple of weeks ago at Frosty Looper, I learned some things about myself that I think that could be a very realistic goal for me. The thing is that, with the four marathons that I have under my belt, two of them are at Disney. One was a unique ultra type situation and the third that was you know, I guess like the most conventional marathon I ever ran. I got poured on for 23 miles. So, obviously you know.

Speaker 3 10:03

I have a very unique marathon story. So not ideal, greg, not ideal. So so that's what in terms of racing, but then also just in general, continue to get healthy over 2023. I was very happy with myself I lost about 40 pounds on this health journey that I'm on. I want to continue to do that. And then the other thing, too I know we talked a lot about this with Kristin Devon a few weeks ago I just also physically want to get stronger as well, too. I really need to do a focus. As much as I love my running, and I'm very committed to my running, I need to get as equally committed to strength training as well. So so I know that's a little bit of everything all over the place, but those are my goals for 2024. But, jack, how about you? What are your goals?

Speaker 9 10:49

I'm kind of right there with you. There's some things that I really want to focus on, and you nailed it with one of them. For me, I really, really, really want to focus on strength training. That's a huge thing for me this coming year, and especially if I want to be like you, alicia, and be like a run coach. I want to be able to. My goal is to hopefully have a run coach business, maybe in two years, year, I don't know, but I would like to be able to have it where it's like running and then cross training, whether it's strength training or yoga, and then I would have like a stretching gravity yoga sessions as well to help with prevent injury. I love that, thank you, that's very cool.

Speaker 9 11:30

I love that idea. So I definitely want to focus on learning, strength training and getting my NASM certification, which is if I want to work in gyms. Another thing I would like to try and goal wise is I don't think I've ever said this on the podcast, but I've been having a lot of digestive issues and it just continually feels like it's getting worse. So I got health insurance again, so hopefully I can get that all figured out.

Speaker 1 11:54

That's good.

Speaker 9 11:55

My goal is to do my first ever 100 mile solo ultramarathon. It'll be the Daytona 100. And the second goal that I didn't say in it was I want to do a sub 24 hour 100 miler which means that, based off of what Adam said, you need to keep your miles between 14 and a half minutes, which means your running mile needs to be an average of 12 minutes per mile. So the 14 and a half encompasses you being at the eight stations.

Speaker 1 12:24

You will allow for breaks. Yeah, yeah, understand that.

Speaker 9 12:29

I think I could do. Adam says I could do it and Dean says I think.

Speaker 3 12:32

I think you can too, Jack.

Speaker 9 12:33

I can't appreciate that so.

Speaker 1 12:35

No, I'd say ambitious, but I think you can.

Speaker 9 12:37

I mean, my times for the relay itself weren't bad, so I feel like I know I can do it if I just put in the time and effort. But yeah, that one more, one more. I want to get my first running stone so I could submit to UTMB at the end of next year.

Speaker 1 12:56

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 9 12:57

Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:58

We will look forward to that.

Speaker 9 12:59

We can't go there.

Speaker 1 13:01

That's cool.

Speaker 10 13:01

Jack, that's cool. Here's my hat trick here for my goals. Okay, first one, like everyone else says, stronger and healthier. And I think it's working on the core, because I think that's where I I lack, because you know that's it's not the beauty muscles, you know, not the beach muscles, you know, it's just a getting stronger, getting healthier. And the other one is this weekend I'm Hopefully gonna have my Drink crossing the finish line.

Speaker 3 13:36

Amen, bro, way to go. Have you thought about what drink you you might get?

Speaker 10 13:41

That's gonna be a margarita, Hopefully okay. Don't know which flavor, yet Do whatever I could get quick, whatever I get quickly, yeah that's true. Let's, let's, do a flight.

Speaker 9 13:55

Not, we're talking maritas, are you can get the one that's frozen with all three different flavors? Oh, it's gonna cool your eyes down. That's what it's for.

Speaker 3 14:03

All right, jack, the one that's frozen with the three different flavors. Is that the Neil Patrick Harris one?

Speaker 9 14:09

What is that?

Speaker 3 14:11

So I remember the one time actually I think I was with you, bob we went to chose a day margarita, and, and we, we were looking at the flavors and I swore there was one on the menu. Oh, that was specifically crafted by Neil Patrick Harris himself.

Speaker 1 14:27

No, I think you're right. I don't remember specifics, but that sounds very familiar, greg Okay.

Speaker 9 14:32

I know, Feel like I'm gonna hurt this.

Speaker 1 14:39

He's always involved in pH, is always involved at Christmas and the Christmas processional, and I and I think yeah, I think it was something like that, greg, I just don't remember the details- no, well.

Speaker 3 14:51

Well, John, if you get that one, you'll have to try it to let us know and see if it's legend. I hope you're not lack of some tolerance, because the second half of that is dairy wait for it, wait for it.

Speaker 10 15:04

I'm looking at it right now the black magic margarita.

Speaker 1 15:09

That's it, yeah, there we go yeah, yeah good job, John.

Speaker 9 15:13

Yes it sounds dangerous, neil Patrick.

Speaker 10 15:17

Harris.

Speaker 9 15:17

Yeah, I thought he was like a PG kind of person, but you know I'm he's not dangerous.

Speaker 3 15:21

Oh, no, he, he's really big into magic. He's got like a whole like magic magic and like illusion Newsletter and stuff like that. Yeah, he's really into a PG for Neil Patrick Harris.

Speaker 9 15:34

Because he doesn't know how I met your mother and that one movie gone girl. Okay, I take that back. He's like a PG 13.

Speaker 10 15:41

Watch, no, watch a Harold and Kumar. Forget about, oh yes.

Speaker 1 15:50

All right Goals for 24,. I'm gonna try and get younger in 24. I don't know how that's gonna work, but I'll give it a shot. The last three years have been years of recovery. The goal for this race weekend, once I was able to start training for it again, was to, you know, finish up right, smile on my face, that kind of deal, and I think we're gonna knock that out.

Speaker 1 16:14

But going forward into 24, I am hopeful that I can regain some of the paces that I had back in 2020. I don't know, I don't know how likely that is, but I'm gonna work on it. I'm gonna work on it. I used to be able to get proof of times for all the races and I'm hoping I'm able to do that again. So, after we're done this weekend, once everything goes well and I'm really I'm really excited about it and hopeful that it will it's time to start working on picking up the paces again. So we'll see how that goes. Specific goals, like I said, would like to make it back to approve a time. Don't know if that's realistic or not, but that's what I'm gonna work for and no Specific races. Would like to make it out to Disneyland for that Halloween race. I'll be fun. That would be fun.

Speaker 9 17:13

I wish I can go, yeah.

Speaker 1 17:15

Well, that'd be fun. I Don't. Right now I Do not plan to register for dopey 25. I'll be there.

Speaker 1 17:26

I'll be there, but I I right now, I will have done for and and for next year I think I may let dopey go, but we'll see. I never know. I change my mind all the time. So so all right, friends, we got some. We got some goals. We can play this back 12 months from now. See how we did.

Speaker 1 17:48

All right, my friends, you know them. You love them. In fact, if you're listening to us While you're standing in the corrals, they're right up there in front of you. This gets very confusing. You can be listening to the race announcers and we're going to be speaking with your run Disney race announcers. Race weekend friends. Gosh, glad you're here. It's exciting. You know so many things go into making run Disney special. You do for sure, but maybe nothing as much as our friends who are here with us tonight. And that is a good chunk of the run Disney race announcing crew. They're familiar to all of you. Let me please introduce Tracy, hello. Riley, hi Everybody. And John, hey everybody. Friends, it's, it's great to see you. I love talking with you guys, love seeing you at Disney. You do to me. You are the spirit of this race.

Speaker 1 18:55

I've told this story before, but I'm old. I'm allowed to repeat myself when, when we came out of the pandemic and I headed in to that first 5k at wine and dine and things weren't like they usually are and it was a weather was kind of nasty and I wasn't that excited and I heard Actually, the first person I heard was Carissa and John was there and I kind of went ah, I'm home, this is great. So thanks for spending some time with us, especially this close to the holiday. I know your time is valuable. We appreciate it. Tracy, I'd like to start with you, since John and Riley have spent some time with us before. Let's just get a little bit of background. When did you join this crew and how'd you get started?

Speaker 7 19:43

I don't remember.

Speaker 1 19:46

Okay, moving on next question to no good.

Speaker 7 19:49

No, I joined like kind of like a one-off races. I think it was like 2015 maybe, but it was like one race here, one race there. I started just at the um, at what ESPN Wild Role Sports by the um at the dugout, and just like cheering people on and then Slowly, you know, work my way up and officially, like with the contract, it's been since 2019, but of course, okay, half of that went away, right, very quickly.

Speaker 1 20:22

Yeah, we lost a good chunk in the 21. Yeah, yeah, well, that's fun, what's good? So you just like you said, you just worked your way up from. You started the ESPN and now you're, you're part of the crew. It's, and it's great that. See you every race.

Disney and ESPN Race Announcements

Speaker 9 20:37

Thank you, wait. So I'm curious to Disney come out to you and and was like hey, would you want to start cheering for For the run Disney races, or how did that all work? How'd that even come about?

Speaker 1 20:49

Yeah, she's actually looking for a job.

Speaker 7 20:54

A very dear fellow actor friend of mine, carol Sara Gusa, shout out to her, message me that Disney was looking for ES for sports host for ESPN and and specifically Spanish speaking sports host. And obviously I speak Spanish because I'm Asian. Lucky me I get to the audition and the entertainment stage manager With somebody I had worked with my first job at Disney, which was that who wants to be a millionaire? Play it back.

Speaker 10 21:30

I love that, oh, yeah, right.

Speaker 7 21:31

Sorry, entertainment stage manager was one of the writers for millionaires. I walked it. And then our show director Wow, I can't think of names. I'm in the middle of a shoot right now, so my brain is a little messed up. John Feehlin.

Speaker 5 21:46

John Feehlin.

Speaker 7 21:48

He was the show director for Millionaire as well. So I literally walked in, I just started talking to them and they're like, okay, well, here's the deal with ESPN, here's how much you get paid, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, do I have to audition? And they're like, oh yeah, you should. So I'd worked with them for years and then so I just started working at ESPN doing like announcing for what is it called, like opening ceremonies and whatnot for sports, and then award ceremonies. And that's when I met Riley and I actually give kudos to Riley, because I believe that Riley said some good words about me to the Run Disney team. And then that's how it happened.

Speaker 6 22:29

Thank you, ralph. Well, you're welcome and it was obviously well earned and well deserved. But you and I when you and I first started working together yeah, it was at Champion Stadium I would do video hits for the big race, for the half marathon or the marathon, and then I would come over to ESPN Wide World of Sports and you and I would both sit in the home dugout while we had one high school band over on the third baseline, another high school band right above us, and in the rare times where they weren't playing we would talk and try and encourage, but for the most part we were just introducing the bands back and forth. It was a great time Cause the bands in that stadium. You could tell that the runners, the athletes, were really stoked by that, because otherwise I think ESPN Wide World of Sports is what probably your least favorite part of the courses. I always hear that.

Speaker 1 23:13

Yeah, you know. Yeah, it blows hot and cold. Now that it's been gone for three or four years, I start reading about people wanting it to come back and that's going to be the way. Speaking of that kind of thing, anything new for and I'll throw this open to everyone anything new for the race announcers this season or this race weekend.

Speaker 5 23:33

Well, I mean, I think the biggest thing that everybody saw was that all of the races are going to be starting from the same place, that not going to be back out on Epcot Center Drive, and I mean that.

Speaker 5 23:46

Let me start with the fact that, logistically, for all the folks that we work with, the people who really do the hard work, the techs who have to build and take things down, put them up and, at a moment's notice, this makes it much, much easier, because they had to essentially tear that entire stage down the morning after the start of the half and then build it again after the parks closed the night before the full. So it was a real pain. I will say I enjoyed my time out there and nostalgic to be on a closed road in the middle of the morning, in a road that you generally see a lot of cars. It's very busy. It had a really cool feel to it. But I think logistically it's just going to be a lot easier doing everything from the same place and most of what I've seen is people are kind of excited about it. I know there'll be a few people are like, oh, I really liked it out there, but I think it's going to be good.

Speaker 4 24:42

Well, also, if a bus arrives late or gets lost, it's a little quicker to the start line. I know that happened the first year. I ran a marathon and doing that mile and a half, as you're stressed out, making it to the crowds, yeah.

Speaker 1 24:53

I'm not going to miss that walk out, Ali. You're right, I agree with that. That'll be an improvement, I think, and I'm an optimist.

Speaker 6 25:02

I think it's going to work out just fine, yeah we'll be curious to see if there's enough room or how they're going to structure the corrals and all that kind of stuff, because I know that was a concern at the Wynyndyne and I know corral E. There was a lot of talk about how corral E thought that they were cut off and obviously we'll probably have what a few corrals beyond E for the big race, for the main race.

Speaker 8 25:23

So, speaking of marathon weekend, I'm curious what you are looking most forward to during the next weekend. Let's start with you, palki.

Speaker 5 25:33

I mean, it's really the same thing every weekend is how much we laugh when we're out there. It's just such a fun thing. And Riley and I have been working together in shows for nearly 30 years at this point and we've been in bands together and worked in shows, plays, independent films, and now he lives. He got the hell out of Florida and golf club. All right, I'm going to give you that one Good for you. And so we have a whole, we have a whole long weekend of talking about the Kennedy assassination the latest Rolling.

Speaker 5 26:06

Stones album, movies, bands watch you know exactly all of that stuff. So that's it. It's just a fun and exhausting weekend and I said this, I think, on Carissa in my podcast three to one. Go to the podcast. Please listen and rate it.

Race Announcer's Experience and Disney Races

Speaker 1 26:24

I've heard of it. I've heard of it.

Speaker 5 26:27

Yeah, one of the race weekend for a race announcer, or the way I see it, is that great Jim Balvano speech about how to live your life at the B foundation, about you know every day, you should, you should spend some time in thought, you should have your emotions moved to tears, you should laugh and that weekend just covers it. I mean it is. It is to quote the great late leave on helm and I am playing only to Riley at this point in this podcast. It's an adult portion of life that weekend for us, cause you're exhausted. There are moments where you're frustrated, but in the end, when you know when that, when it's that Sunday night and you're back at home or in back in the hotel room and it's all over, there is that little bit of melancholy that was gosh. You know we should live at that height all the time and or I don't know man, my age could do that, cause I'm like old and stuff.

Speaker 7 27:17

But for me. I'm super excited because this is actually my very first full marathon weekend.

Speaker 6 27:24

Oh, awesome.

Speaker 7 27:25

But this is my first year doing it and I'm also excited because I'm not working my day job, which means I can just sleep after.

Speaker 10 27:34

Oh sleep.

Speaker 7 27:35

Cause usually I'm like I'll do like the 5k and then I go straight to work. So I'm excited. So for me that'll be fun. And I'm kind of nervous about marathon day because I've never worked that long of a day.

Speaker 1 27:51

Well, it is long yeah.

Speaker 7 27:53

It's fun though.

Speaker 1 27:54

Oh, I love it.

Speaker 7 27:55

I love the finish line. It's my favorite thing in the world. But I'm a little nervous. I'm like is my voice gonna hold up that long? You know, will John and I fight by one o'clock? I don't know. I'm rushing.

Speaker 6 28:07

You got it easy because we have a tremendous amount. We have a grid. Now we actually are allowed to take breaks scheduled breaks back in the day. You were just out there the entire time and that was exhausting, but we did it.

Speaker 7 28:20

It's hard to take breaks, though, because you wanna be there. You don't wanna leave a lot of times and you have all your friends who are running and you wanna be there when they cross. So as much as you have scheduled breaks, you're like I don't wanna go.

Speaker 2 28:30

Mm-hmm so it's hard.

Speaker 5 28:33

I like the state for management that I enjoy the breaks For management. If anyone who manages this I do enjoy the breaks.

Speaker 1 28:40

I don't know if they listen Sean.

Speaker 5 28:42

It used to be ego, because we were all like I don't need a break.

Speaker 6 28:46

Well Tracy said it's real about. You know you don't want to miss, especially if you've talked to people. You know you wanna see the end of their story.

Speaker 1 28:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 28:54

But to John's point, we also feel an obligation to each other that you know. If one person stays out there the whole time, then you're kind of making everybody else look bad. Who's trying to take a break? So we don't have to unionize.

Speaker 1 29:05

I got you, john. Management doesn't listen to say listen to three, two, one, go the park yeah.

Speaker 5 29:10

Oh God, I hope not, I actually got called out for something I said there by management, so I better be careful.

Speaker 9 29:16

No, you didn't, not in a bad way.

Speaker 5 29:19

I told them that I work a basketball tournament every Thanksgiving weekend at the college basketball tournament. It's one of my favorite gigs, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I really never get to have a Thanksgiving 2020,. One of the good things about it was I actually had a regular Thanksgiving and that Thursday they packed the games together as close as possible, so the kids aren't there for as long. The teams and the fans, you know they wanna get to Thanksgiving, but that robs me of literally any opportunity to get anything to eat, and I mentioned that they used to give us a turkey. They used to give us turkey at the press place where I eat, and now it had become Asian chicken wraps, which are delicious, but not turkey on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 30:01

Yeah, not the same right.

Speaker 5 30:03

Last couple of years I haven't gotten to eat at all and I mentioned that, like this year, I had a Nutri-Grain bar and a handful of cashews. That was my Thanksgiving and one of our managers out there who's just absolutely wonderful and I love her she just came up to me and just grabbed me by the lapels and she said bless for me and had all these plans to feed me. And I was like, no, I'm just telling people what my day is like, so I think they only. She said she was only listening because Riley was on that episode.

Speaker 5 30:30

So Ah is her name, begin with a G. Of course it does. It does.

Speaker 6 30:35

Yes, it does we love her, we love her.

Speaker 4 30:38

So we know John and Riley's answer to this question. But Tracy, I'm wondering have you ever had the chance to run any of the Run Disney races, or would you like to?

Speaker 7 30:47

I have run many Run Disney races oh hi, many, many, many. I don't remember what year I started, I think it was the second or third princess. I've done nine halves at Disney.

Speaker 9 31:00

Wow.

Speaker 7 31:01

Wow.

Speaker 2 31:01

Oh, wow.

Speaker 7 31:02

I don't know how many 10Ks and how many 5Ks I've done, two coast to coasts. And what's actually interesting is my last Disney race was Star Wars, the first Star Wars race. And I will admit, I am not. I am the complete opposite of Carissa. I don't train well, I party a little too hard, I don't take care of myself as well, and I remember the Star Wars half. I was like at mile six and I'm like why am I doing this? This is painful. That was the last race I did and, lucky me, I got hired the season after. And what's so funny is for years I would run and I would look at Carissa. I never met her and I was like how do you get that job? I want that job. That seems like such a fun job and I got that job.

Speaker 1 31:54

And here you are. That's so cool.

Speaker 7 31:55

That's a story oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, princess, princess I think it was 2011 or 12 was my first princess and that was my first half, and I love that race more than anything, so.

Speaker 4 32:10

The Star Wars race, I would say, is a little harder. That half was harder because it's so much hotter. In April it was so hot, it's so humid.

Speaker 7 32:18

And I remember this is a funny story. Actually we were running whatever. That street is going to Animal Kingdom and then it loops back around the same road and I had only been doing some of the races. At that point I had done maybe two or three races and I remember going telling my girlfriend I'm like I don't want to finish this, I don't care, like let's just get swept or let's go hot and go the other way and skip whatever four miles and just finish. And I'm like I don't care about my time, I don't care about that, I just want to finish. And some lady heard me and she goes oh, I know who you are, you better not do that. And I'm like oh, oh.

Speaker 7 32:54

Oh, I'm like how do they know who I am? Yeah, and then I didn't cut and I finished and my time was like right under four hours for a half and I was like I'm never doing this again.

Speaker 4 33:07

Oh gosh, I don't care, since you ran the races before and you knew all of the announcers through work and stuff like that. But you also don't realize necessarily. But you guys are our best friends, even though you don't know who we all are. But we know who you are and you're in our ears for hours before the races so we consider you family. So I'm sure that person was big sistering you being like you. Better not do that, I'll tattle on mom.

Speaker 7 33:41

Angry mom like don't you tell on me, Right? But I finished and I never did it again. I was in the industry. We'll see one of these, but I'd rather work it than run it.

Speaker 9 33:53

Let's be honest, are you guys all going to the Disneyland races?

Speaker 6 33:57

Just Carissa.

Speaker 9 33:59

That's a crime. It would be fun to have all of you guys, though. Oh, that's so sad.

Speaker 6 34:03

They do a whole and John, obviously you can speak to this too they do a whole different. Their approach to run Disney is completely different than what happens at Disney World.

Speaker 4 34:12

Oh, interesting, I know.

Speaker 6 34:14

Carissa, we'll go on Thursday, we'll have our costume fitting, we'll have a read through of the scripts and then that's pretty much it, and then we go out there and it's improv and it's bullet points and we love that. We thrive on that. I think out in Anaheim it's much more scripted. I know John didn't Carissa mention that she has an eight-hour rehearsal.

Speaker 7 34:32

She loves it. She loves it. Eight-hour rehearsal she loves taking part in it.

Speaker 6 34:35

But, yeah, they have an eight-hour rehearsal for it. Yeah, so it's very different.

Speaker 9 34:41

Did they at least invite you guys? And you guys were like nah, man or no, that's so crazy, they're only taking one run. Disney announcer.

Speaker 5 34:50

Hey, let's see if they're listening. We're not allowed to make eye contact with anybody from West Coast Run Disney. Yeah, they came down in the memo.

Speaker 1 35:00

In a memo.

Speaker 7 35:01

They had the races there before they had their own announcers.

Speaker 4 35:04

Yeah, california. Oh, I figured there was a.

Speaker 7 35:08

But they had the same announcers. Every at least the two years I ran it was the same announcers and Carissa was there, obviously. But so hopefully those people are back. We don't know.

Speaker 1 35:17

Yeah, west Coast crew, that does make some sense, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 35:21

Wait, so you ran the half marathon in Disneyland, correct? Yes, I did that in the Tinkerbell half, so is the course, pretty much the same as the one that you ran, do you?

Speaker 7 35:32

still go to the stadium. I have not looked at it. I'm sorry, but yes, I remember running through Angel Stadium and that to me was just precious because I'm a huge baseball fan. So I was like, oh my god, that's cool.

Speaker 1 35:43

Yeah, that's cool. This one does not go through the stadium.

Speaker 7 35:47

Oh, it does.

Speaker 1 35:48

Yeah, it goes around it or near it, but it doesn't go through it.

Speaker 7 35:51

I will say Disneyland's vibe is a lot different because there's not a lot of park to run through.

Speaker 7 35:56

So, a lot of it is outside so, but there's so much community involvement Like I remember they had a whole, I don't know I would say two, three miles of just classic cars and I'm not a car person, but that was still really cool and then so many bands, like high school bands and whatnot. And, honestly, the thing I love the most about California the weather is so wonderful compared to here or to in Orlando. So when I did Disneyland it was in Labor Day weekend, I believe, and it was. I was training in the summer in Florida and the year I did it they said it was record heat for Anaheim. Yet I was like this feels like air conditioning, whereas people in California were like, oh my God, it's so hot. I'm like this is the best thing for people, it was heaven. So that makes it. I just found it so much easier to run over there.

Speaker 10 36:50

If you guys could design your own dream race weekend, what would the theme be?

Speaker 6 36:55

Oh, oh oh, oh, oh. Mine would be. All it would be adventure movies. So it'd be 20,000 leagues Swiss family Robinson. You know what's? Another great Disney adventure movie.

Speaker 11 37:09

Oh, rescuers.

Speaker 6 37:11

Oh, here you go. I would theme the entire weekend around the David Hartman 1970s Walt Disney vehicle, when one of his pictures was really struggling Island at the top of the world. The entire weekend would be based on a very obscure 1970s Disney called Island at the Top of the World, which involved a balloon kind of this is a derogable. There were pure whales and magical Vikings until I mentioned David Hartman who at the same time, I think he was right on the cusp of hosting Good Morning America.

Speaker 1 37:42

Yeah, I remember.

Speaker 6 37:43

But it was pre-GMA David Hartman. He was going on a huge sold out.

Speaker 2 37:50

Good one. That is quite a deep time.

Speaker 4 37:55

I just want to know what the medals will be like.

Speaker 6 37:58

They would all be made out of. You know, walrus tusks Unatically. It's the theme Fake, fake walrus tusks, yeah, clearly.

Speaker 5 38:07

Yeah they're better called the fake, Not real bro.

Speaker 10 38:10

We don't want Pita here, yeah right.

Speaker 5 38:13

Card-carrying member. Yeah, so you really don't want me here, clearly. All right, I would say, riley, as much as I would like to theme an entire Apple dumpling gang race weekend, which I think, with you, is every Tim Conway character ever in that.

Speaker 1 38:27

Oh, I like that.

Speaker 4 38:28

If I were doing it, I would just I remember you have to dress in these costumes too, so that's absolutely for you guys, absolutely.

Speaker 5 38:36

But I would do the Disney that I remembered as a kid. So it would be the 5K would be 40s, the 10K would be 50s, the half marathon would be 60s and 70s. Sadly, and good luck with that one would probably the tougher of all of them, but that would be the full marathon. So there would be the original rescuers, maybe, and the Apple dumpling gang.

Speaker 9 38:59

That would be so cool.

Speaker 5 39:01

Escape from which mountain. I would love to be dressed. Just dress me as Ray Malan from Escape from which Mountain and whichever person actually guesses who I am, you get an hour straight off your time Because.

Speaker 6 39:13

Nice, escape from which Mountain.

Speaker 3 39:18

I can't wait for our listeners to hear this episode and then try to search these titles on Disney Plus. And then, all of a sudden, the people out in Burbank are going to be like man. There's a massive increase in the Apple Bottom Gang.

Speaker 4 39:31

We got to reboot Apple Bottom Gang.

Speaker 6 39:33

We need a live action remake of Island at the Top of the World. Sorry, it was already a live action movie. This is what it's like An animated version of Island at the Top of the World Fixed arcs to do it yeah.

Speaker 7 39:46

In the trailer. These guys are just talking about stuff that I just do not comprehend, and it's like three in the morning and I'm like what Stop?

Speaker 1 39:55

I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 39:56

Why aren't they doing animated versions of former live action movies? Where is 20,000?

Speaker 1 40:02

Under the Sea.

Speaker 5 40:03

The Pixar animated version. Come on, people.

Speaker 1 40:05

Old Yeller. Yeah, I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 11 40:09

I just looked up which Disney movies were in the 70s Black.

Speaker 6 40:12

Hole, black Hole.

Speaker 11 40:14

Oh yeah, that's one of them. Yeah, unidentified Flying Oddball. Yeah, I don't know that one Escape from which Mountain?

Speaker 1 40:24

Sure.

Speaker 11 40:26

You've got the Biscuit Eater.

Speaker 6 40:29

The Biscuit Eater is one of their like vlog. What's a Gus Gus is?

Speaker 11 40:32

one of them, oh Gus. And then the Aristocats was in the 70s. Oh, I know that one let's see Wow, ok, my favorite the many adventures of Winnie and the Pooh was in the 70s. The original rescuers.

Speaker 4 40:47

Man, a crew themed race would be so cute.

Speaker 6 40:49

Was that 60s Bedknob's and Brute Sticks? Probably 60s.

Speaker 11 40:52

Bedknob's and Brute. No, it was in the 70s.

Speaker 4 40:54

Yeah, it was in the 70s. I love that movie.

Speaker 5 40:58

I can't get out of my head, Mike can't get out of my head the race that's themed Old Yeller and what the last part of the entertainment is Like. The mile 24 gets really dark and I don't know that that.

Speaker 4 41:14

I feel like it should fork, and one route would be the really dark ending. And then one route is your parents turned it off before it happened and that's what my parents did. I don't know if anyone else has said, but they were like, OK, we're going to shut this movie down Also.

Speaker 11 41:29

I never saw the. It's a choose your own adventure.

Speaker 4 41:31

I never saw the second half of Sound of Music, so I had no idea there were Nazis in that movie. I just thought they sang in the hills and that was it.

Speaker 1 41:40

Old Yeller is the first film. I can remember my father taking me to when it came out and he, before we went in, he told me yeah, yeah, yeah, he prepared you Spoiler alert yeah.

Speaker 7 41:54

I would love to see a race that is themed on the rides. Like you know, like the Tower of Terror 10K, I love or do one day, that's just all Magic Kingdom rides, Past ones that are gone, and the next day I've got rides or whatever. I think that would be really cool.

Speaker 1 42:13

That's cool.

Speaker 7 42:13

Love that.

Speaker 11 42:17

Right Rides and stays gone by. Oh, that would be cool.

Speaker 1 42:21

I could see that happening. One of the springtime surprises, who knows?

Speaker 7 42:27

I'm going to take credit for that, if it does happen.

Speaker 1 42:29

You got it. It's recorded right here. You got proof.

Speaker 7 42:32

Yeah, there's proof.

Speaker 3 42:33

Well, speaking of favorites, let's go to a different side of this question. Is there a particular race distance or race weekend? Great, I know, right now we're all down there for Marathon Weekend, but is there a specific weekend or a specific race that you all specifically enjoy announcing? And if so, why? And, riley, why don't we start with you?

Speaker 6 43:00

No, I mean, there's really no, I mean it all blends together for me, you know. In other words, I can't be that specific about the length of the race. That doesn't really matter to me. I just enjoy the entire weekend and the one thing I'll say is that that first morning I enjoy shaking the rust off a little bit. I always surprise myself, and I'm pleasantly surprised, by everybody else's performance, that we all, just, you know, I mean, it's just, we don't see each other that often, you know, for months on end. And then you get together that first time and it just bang, it clicks and it's right there all over again. I love that. So I can't really say that there's a distance. Or again, you know why did I choose my favorite? Just because there's just such a. It's the first race, the season, everybody's so glad to see each other, it's such a party. There's so many great costumes, but every weekend is just a blast. I know that's not a, you know a fun answer Much fairer.

Speaker 3 43:50

I think it's very fair. No, it's totally justifiable. Absolutely, Tracy. How about you?

Speaker 7 43:54

For me it's princess, because it was my first race and I'm just, you know, a total girl power kind of person and I finished that race the first time with three of my girlfriends who had run a few races before. So and they slowed down for me and I love watching like a bunch of girls together finishing together and like cheering each other on. I just like the female camaraderie. It's a big deal to me.

Speaker 4 44:16

So I love that. I love that too.

Speaker 1 44:19

If you're listening, don't tune it out. Last year was the first time I ran Princess. Princess was the last of the Disney races that I ran. I enjoyed it very much. It was great. So I appreciate everything you said, tracy. And it's there and I agree 100%. But no guys, don't turn it out. It's a good race.

Speaker 3 44:36

All right, John, round us out here.

Speaker 5 44:38

Yeah, I would go with Princess for a different reason. And I love them all. I mean, every weekend is a lot of fun, but I will go with Princess for this reason. You know, wine and dine you're jumping back in again and there's always that, to Riley's point, there's that trepidation I've got to ramp up again for this because it is. You know, it's just a weird thing to put your body through for a few days. Marathon weekend is great, but that last day is a killer. It can be a killer. Luckily we've mitigated that to a little bit. Like Princess, usually the weather cooperates more than any of the other races, because it's you know we could throw springtime out just for the possibility of how hot it can be. So Princess usually cooperates and I kind of feel like we're a little well-oiled machine then. So I enjoy them all. But I'll just incrementally give a little extra to Princess.

Speaker 4 45:28

Follow up to that question. So we kind of know what you like for your race weekends now as far as like, what's your favorite to announce? But I want to know you know you get dressed up every single race and I'm wondering which is your favorite race that you've ever done in terms of your favorite costume or your favorite theme of the race. I know my favorite costume of any of the announcers of all times was Tracy when you were at Fede. That was such a great costume and I was like blown away when I walked. I think I couldn't speak. I was like just pointed and was like this awesome, and then just like you were like okay, weirdo, but I thought that was my favorite. But what's your favorite?

Costume Stories and Favorites

Speaker 7 46:13

I would say that one creatively was my favorite. But again, I keep going back to Princess. I'm such a girl but I love Princess because I get to look cute every day. Yeah that's fair, Okay, whatever, but Princess, they always make, you know, put us in a princess outfit and I just love that and I get to be girly. You know it's better than being a. What was that time? And I complained about my outfit. I was a goat.

Speaker 5 46:40

You're gonna have to narrow that one down. You're gonna have to narrow that down. Tracy, that time you complained about your costume. You gotta help me out there.

Speaker 7 46:47

No, it was a half last year for Marathon Weekend.

Speaker 5 46:53

I remember, oh, I remember.

Speaker 4 46:55

They only worked for you. Last, what was the theme? That you were a goat.

Speaker 7 47:00

So they brought me in last minute. It was a very last minute call, Like I found out a week before if I could do just the start line. And Carolina, who is another race host, was dressed as Esmeralda and she looks stunning. And then I get to the, I didn't have a costume fitting or anything and I showed up and they give me this giant sweatshirt and this hat with ears and they're like here it was. St Jolly who's Esmeralda's goat and I was like I don't wanna be a goat.

Speaker 4 47:33

You're just pointing at Carolina being like, but she gets to be. I was like, which is?

Speaker 7 47:38

pretty and she has this beautiful wig and I'm like aw. And then I remember going out to the start line and I could see myself on the monitors and I just looked like a giant marshmallow.

Speaker 6 47:50

Oh, you were an incredibly cute goat.

Speaker 1 47:53

I can picture the costume person going. I've got a last minute sub. Well, there's a goat outfit over there, we can use that.

Speaker 7 48:01

They give me crap now, because now everyone's like we have to make sure Trace is cute or she's gonna win. No, it's a series of emails.

Speaker 5 48:09

There's a series of emails going around about is this gonna be cute enough for Tracy?

Speaker 7 48:15

I mean, I am grateful for the job and we'll wear everything, but when the other girls are looking adorable and I'm a goat, it's sad.

Speaker 4 48:24

What about you, John?

Speaker 5 48:27

Well, and I can't remember what the character was, but they gave me a onesie last season and it was the. I could just put it on like that it was the quickest.

Speaker 5 48:34

Sometimes, because sometimes you've got like a stormtrooper costume and it's 30 pieces and there are belts and things that don't fit. So that was good, but I would say my favorite, for a couple of reasons, is we did a 10K with, I believe, brave as the theme and I got to wear a kilt and I never got to wear a kilt before, and it was also the race where Weston Galloway asked Carissa to marry him and I was in on that, and so there's some really great pictures of me in a kilt and in a very lovely moment. So that was my favorite was wearing the kilt, and I'd like to see more onesies because it just makes for an easier morning.

Speaker 4 49:13

What about you, Riley?

Speaker 6 49:14

I was Sam Eagle one year. I forget the race, I forget the year, sam Eagle. But I was Sam Eagle and the costume was great and there were several other Sam Eagles that had to get pictures with me. It was awesome. But, yeah, that was my favorite by far was Sam Eagle.

Speaker 4 49:27

Wouldn't a Muppets theme race be? Like pretty awesome to do too.

Speaker 7 49:31

I can't imagine.

Speaker 11 49:32

I can't wait to see your costumes.

Speaker 4 49:34

And so, if friend Disney is listening, we want a Muppet theme drink.

Speaker 3 49:37

No, no no, ali Ali, we don't need them to listen, we just need John Tracy and Riley to sneak us into one of their meetings. And then we'll just start dropping hints left and right like nobody's business.

Speaker 6 49:52

We are not involved in any meeting like that. All those things are made for. We even show up.

Speaker 9 49:59

But it has to be for the half marathon though. That way it could be like the grand finale, the grand three hour finale. Yeah, mostly.

Speaker 8 50:07

America yeah.

Speaker 7 50:08

We don't even know what we're wearing to like the day before the 5K.

Speaker 1 50:13

Yeah that's what I've heard, yeah.

Speaker 4 50:15

Oh, so it's like a surprise every single time.

Speaker 6 50:17

They do such a great job. Our wardrobe people are the best. They do such a great job If you see us in hats or headgear, there's somebody in that department now who's hand painting all that stuff. I mean they just do a fantastic job.

Speaker 5 50:28

My wife, who does events, is an actress and does events and people will see her out on the course as Sarge and a number of other things. She often is doing an event. She's often doing an event somewhere week or two weeks or so before the race and the costume. People will tell her what we're wearing and she'll know. And she's like, do you wanna know? And I really don't, I really don't wanna know until that day that I get there. It's part of the fun, that's cool.

Speaker 4 50:52

That's so cute. So do you guys get to see each other before race morning, or okay, so you get into costume and you just kind of come out of the dress. I just imagine this like montage, like it's like the 80s, and everybody's like goes into a dressing room, you come out and like reveal what you are and wearing for the day.

Speaker 7 51:11

Exactly what happens, except for the whole dressing room part.

Speaker 5 51:14

You see, there's a public bathroom across there.

Speaker 10 51:18

You two stand behind the screen.

Speaker 6 51:20

Our director always puts on a brown eyed girl, and then we just put on a bunch of different hats and giggle.

Speaker 4 51:27

That's what I imagine, yeah.

Speaker 10 51:30

Wow.

Speaker 5 51:31

I was gonna go with the one and only I was gonna go with the one and only by Chesney Ox from Doc Hollywood for the song Riles. But all right, brown eyed girl, that's cool, I'll go with that too.

Speaker 6 51:41

I think there was a Julia Roberts movie where she's putting on a bunch of different outfits and giggling and brown eyed girls playing in the background and that movie was Island of the Top of the World.

Speaker 3 51:50

Oh yeah, yeah, that's right yeah.

Speaker 10 51:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1 51:54

Riley, it's not a visual. Riley just dropped his mic. You can't see that it's not a visual.

Speaker 6 52:00

You can find a nickel.

Speaker 5 52:04

Riley's a good physical comedian, though I'll give him that you can pull some stuff off.

Speaker 11 52:10

Do you guys ever get stumped for something to say? Or has someone ever flabbergasted you with one of the interviews that you've done? Like, what do you do on the improv, since whenever you're all the sudden go blank?

Speaker 7 52:28

Have you met these guys? These guys don't stop talking. That's true.

Speaker 1 52:33

That's good. That's good, number one. Number two I love the fact that there was a pause there where nobody had anything to say before you jumped in Tracy. That was. That was perfect also. But I'll say this that depending.

Speaker 6 52:46

Obviously, you know, with Tracy and I out in the crowd and out in the corrals, there's much more of a chance for that time to happen, and whether it's something that's really, really, you know, sad or harrowing or something that's very, very funny, the thing that's the best about this group of people is if one of us, you know, is in the middle again, I told the story, I think on your podcast, john, about the woman one of the first times that we featured someone who had just a really heartbreaking story, and the woman was so upset and she basically collapsed in my arms after she told her story, and so I'm searching for a way to segue out of that.

Speaker 6 53:24

But you don't need to, because John and Carissa or Tracy are right there to pick that up. In other words, there's such a great, you know, improv sense, but also a shorthand between the four of us, because we've known each other for so long on stage and off stage that we can literally tell see, here, you know that, hey, let's help him or her out with this. So there's never been a time thankfully, knock on wood and all caveats and qualifiers where I think any of us were left, you know, stumped or silent or anything like that, or flabbergasted, simply because we know that there's three other people that are going to come right in there and support you, no matter what's going on, whether it's happy or sad.

Speaker 4 53:58

I feel like. I feel like I've seen Tracy flabbergasted once on Princess Weekend, when there's those dudes that dress in like tutus but don't wear shirts.

Speaker 3 54:10

I was going to bring up the same guys, but reference that to John and Riley, because they always are impressed with the. You know the fact that they have all the makeup on their bodies, but then they also want to know how to get that body as well, too, Thomas and Adam, the two two guys yes.

Speaker 7 54:25

I think in all my years of life that was the only time I've ever been completely speechless and at first I was like I'm going to be in so much trouble. But I mean, come on, you got to admire the hard work and dedication they've put into their I do.

Speaker 1 54:39

Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 7 54:41

I was quite impressed with the physics.

Speaker 5 54:44

Not every distance runner spends that much time on arm and chest day that those guys do, because they man.

Speaker 6 54:51

But those guys are so great I mean I don't know if you follow them, if you follow them on social media they're always raising money for great causes. They're always preaching inclusivity, and when you brought up the, the princess, and talking about guys, don't stay away from the princess those two guys and many others of their ilk come out and they, they take part in it from a standpoint of, of support, of. You know, I think I think was it in frozen, or frozen too, when the boyfriend shows up, christoph, is that a thing, yeah Right Shows up and said I'm here to help, Now I'm here to take over. You know what I mean, but I'm here to support you and what you need to do, and those guys embody that. They're always out there supporting the ladies.

Impactful Stories and Support in Running

Speaker 4 55:32

That's awesome. Well, in that same vein, I do want to ask you guys a question about some of the stories that you've heard. So, especially where you know Riley and Tracy, you are kind of the person on the street, sort of talking to the people as they come through. But, John, you also hear a lot of these stories as well too, being like one of the stage announcers. Are there any stories that you can share with us of people that have affected you, you know, or just people that you love to see each time, or anybody who kind of sticks out?

Speaker 7 56:06

It's interesting because I think Riley and I have such a different experience being in the corrals, because I'm more in the front corrals and Riley's more in the back. So in the front corrals you see a lot of the same people, which is kind of fun, but they're also I don't get as many of the gut-wrenching stories because you know they're all elite well, not elite, but you know what I mean. They're really crazy athletes. But what was cool with the athletes with disabilities? I've gotten to know so many people over there and I know they changed it last year. I don't necessarily understand how the change was, but they would be writing corral A but on the side. And I've gotten to know so many people there and they've talked to me about their disabilities and why they're doing what they're doing and how their guides help them and that stuff is great and I've made such amazing friends over there with those guys.

Speaker 7 56:59

But it's also fascinating and kind of makes me feel bad about myself because I'm like you're here with whatever issue disability you have and you're doing a race and I'm like I don't remember the last time I ran three miles and these people are still out there going every day and there was this lady gosh I forget her name, but it was her and her two daughters and she was like I wasn't supposed to be alive and she had cancer and she was supposed to like she had like a year to live or something. And then, like five years later, here she is and she's running every race and I'm like, are you kidding me right now? So it's so inspiring and you have to remember everyone out there does have a story, whether it's just proving to themselves that they can do it or not, or overcoming something amazing, and it's such a blessing, I guess, to be able to be a part of that, and it also reminds me of how lazy I am, which is terrible. Well, I don't know about that.

Speaker 4 57:53

I love that too, because, like, when I go into the corrals, I look at these. You know, sometimes you know 10,000 people and I think about that. Like every single person in this corral has something that they're overcoming, something they're dealing with, something they're doing. That makes this a big deal for them. And I like to like soak that in because it's just amazing, especially at the run Disney races and you guys highlight that the fact that you go around to each person and talk to them it really inspires me to just do a good job and then also it makes me feel connected.

Speaker 6 58:27

That's why we call it the run a Disney family, because you know every single person out there has something going on and every single race we deal with people you know, hear their stories. You know cancer survivors are running in the memory of you know of somebody. Yeah, I mean, it's every single race. So that's why I think Johnna Carissa did such a great job of always reminding all the athletes that you know be kind to each other out there, look for you, look out for each other out there. I know the course gets narrow, I know the course gets boring at times. You know human nature is human nature, but that person running next to you that just elbowed you or pushed you by accident, you know god only knows what they're carrying with them. So I think we all need to give that extra thought and I think that the run Disney family does a great job of that for the most part, of looking out for each other.

Speaker 1 59:11

Oh, I couldn't agree more, Ronnie Couldn't agree more.

Speaker 5 59:14

Yeah, and it's remarkable because for the most individual of the sports you can have you talk about, you know you don't to go out and run any distance, you really you don't even need a pair of shoes, hello Kenyan runners, you just need to get yourself up off the couch and go and run. And even it's the most individual of sports, but you really do seem to have the largest support group of any really participatory sport. You know, it is remarkable, and I spent a good deal of time in the corrals too before I was promoted to stage. And just to Riley's point, they I wish I had a better memory for it, but all the people overcoming medical issues. Obviously I think this time Riles correct me if I'm wrong you know someone who'd had a mastectomy like two weeks before and seven days.

Speaker 6 1:00:05

Sorry, see, there it is Before the race. They're 5k. Yeah, she had a mastecter, a double mastectomy, wow.

Speaker 5 1:00:09

That's incredible, yeah, and then out there racing and all those, and then one one's. For me, damn it Is when we people, people who have been running together, and then one year somebody's not there anymore. I shout out to team Carol, my friend Carol Smith, who one of the first people who ever reached out to me and expressed that she enjoyed what I did. She thought I was funny and it was great, and we developed a relationship and she went from and she was a multiple time cancer survivor and just fighting cancer for a long period of time. And the last race she did, her whole family brought her and they and they, they actually pushed her in a in a decorated cart that looked like I think it was a chariot I don't know if it was a Hercules chariot or I can't remember but we all knew that that was the last time we were going to see her and that, yeah, to quote the great David St Hubbins, way too much perspective, way too much perspective. It's a spinal tapper.

Speaker 6 1:01:16

That's the juice that's the juice of the gig, what John just said. How many gigs do you have as a performer, as an actor, where you know you're, you're, you're well compensated, you're taken care of and you get out there and you perform in front of literally thousands of people and, on top of all that, you have the opportunity to make these connections, to share those stories, to, to become friends with these people? That's what I find so insane is that you know, through social media and then these races, we're all getting to know each other. We're all. We have a history. Now there's a context for our relationships, as opposed to just you know, hey, this is James and he raises, he's raising money for Duchin. It's like we see James every single time and every single time we love shouting him out, you know and that's just one example, but it's a great great job.

Speaker 8 1:01:59

It's truly a family.

Speaker 6 1:02:00

I'm very, very, very thankful for it.

Speaker 11 1:02:03

Well, we wanted to say thank you guys for fostering, you know, such an accessibility to you, to you know, like we know, that we can come up to you and say hello and you'll say hey back and throw your Mylar blanket on you or something, yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 1:02:18

Of course.

Speaker 11 1:02:19

You know, like you guys have been, you know kind of the voices behind Run Disney for us, for you know all of the listeners for so long now and, like you know, it's that comfort feeling that when we go to the start corral, like we know we're going to hear one of your voices and it's just like, oh yes, we're home again.

Speaker 6 1:02:42

So thank you guys for for being so friendly and open.

Speaker 5 1:02:46

We're very lucky.

Speaker 1 1:02:48

Very Guys, I'm curious which do you prefer, the start line or the finish line?

Speaker 5 1:02:55

For me, the, the finish line is more fun. Fun because it's unscripted. It's you know, it's very free form we don't really have, they don't really give us much that we have to say there. There are a couple of things sometimes that they might want us to shout out, and you know the start line.

Speaker 5 1:03:12

It's still you know when, when you're the person on stage sending off the waves and all three of us have done that any number of times you know you're trying to say on a schedule, it's, it's, it's fun and it's energetic. But, as you know from just speaking for myself as a improvisational performer, finish line is where you can, just you can really try out material and that's an awful lot of fun as a performer and you get to see and again, you see your friends that are coming in. But you just, you know you try not to say the same thing every finish line. You try to have some fun and and, and any performer will tell you if, if you know, if Tracy and Riley are laughing at something I've said, I'm like okay, well, that that landed.

Speaker 5 1:03:53

well, you know, that's so, that's for me the finish line is just a little more joyous and a little less feels, a little less like work, but it can get tiring. On marathon day I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1 1:04:05

Oh yeah. Well, it gets tiring for the folks out there too. You know that, you know that.

Speaker 5 1:04:09

Oh, they're just running. I have to come up with funny things to say it's exhausting.

Speaker 7 1:04:14

To me, to me, finish line is is is the best, but for a different reason. I think it's just watching people finish you know, mostly first timers Because there's just that feeling like you just accomplished something so great, whether it's a five carer or full like. And I remember my first, when I finished my first race, my girlfriend grabbed me by the hand as we were crossing and she goes you will forever be a half marathoner. And I remember and that sticks to me so much, because no one cares I mean, for the most part no one cares about your time, but I've done it. And to see those people who are like I've never going to be able to do this, and watch them finish and have that joy, I love watching those people just enjoy it.

Speaker 6 1:04:57

So no, that's why it's the finish line, because you get to see the, the end of the story. You know the story that you started telling hours before you get to see that, and there is nothing better than slapping high fives, getting the big sweaty hugs. I mean I, I think we all love that because it is. I mean that that's a component of this gig that you just where else, what other gig on the planet do you get that, where you're spending hours with these people, or a whole weekend with these people, and then at the end of the races, there's literally that, you know, a hug and pictures and all that. Hey, john, what you just said about making jokes the whole time, I, I, oh God, where did we go? Let me get this back.

Speaker 6 1:05:32

Brian Davis, who's on social media. I know he, I wrote down this quote of his about what we do, and this is going to sound self-serving and it is, but I think I just love what he had to say. He said, quote you have a choice you can run for multiple hours covering 13.1 miles in the heat, or you can be forced to be publicly funny and spontaneous for the same duration while talking the entire time, but never stepping outside Disney boundaries. And I said I thought that such an app description of you know, of what we do. We don't compare what we have, what we go through physically, mentally or emotionally at all to what the athletes do. What you guys do is unbelievable, unbelievably tough, but I just love that somebody recognize it. Yeah, you know when you're not dealing with a script and you got to be entertaining for that many hours that hour of the day. Yeah, you know it has its own challenges. John. How self-serving is that? You tell me, was that really?

Speaker 1 1:06:25

self-serving. That was good. I'm not going to. That was good, riley. It was good because let me hear out you don't need to be self-serving. I'll inflate your egos a little more, okay, all right.

Speaker 1 1:06:36

I'm glad to hear you. I'm glad to hear all three of you say finish line, because I love seeing you guys at the finish line. I love it. I love the race. We talked about visualization. I did my last training run for Dopey 3, 6, 10, 26,. Right, it hurts, man, I'm old, it hurts. I start visualizing. I come back into my neighborhood and I go yeah, the choir is going to be right over there. Oh God, I love seeing the choir. You know, I mean, and I'm going to turn the corner, jeff, jeff's going to be there, and then the race announcers are going to be there. And you were part of what motivated me to finish that stinking simulation run, even though I'm hurting, and I just you're a big part of it, guys. You're a big part of the whole thing and we love you for it. Thank you, it was very mutual, very mutual.

Speaker 5 1:07:36

And I'll shout out to our old friend Alan Brune, who directed the marathon the very first year that I, chris and I, hosted. He came up with the idea of the Hallelujah chorus at the final mile and when he was telling me he was laying out to me what some of the because I didn't know anything about the marathon going into that.

Speaker 5 1:07:53

He just knew I worked in sports and I'd done a play at the Civic Theater with the meeting to meet from that and he's like, well, here's some of the things we you know with the characters, maybe he goes. Oh, and I came up with this at the final 26 mile mark or whatever. It's a Hallelujah chorus and I just thought that's genius. And one years ago, a couple of years ago, somebody was like I was thinking, we were thinking of moving that and I that was a hill I was going to die on. I'm like you can't do that.

Speaker 5 1:08:19

That's so perfect. So Alan, our good friend Alan Brune, shout out to Alan Well done, my friend.

Speaker 1 1:08:26

And when they were gone, when COVID they were gone, I missed them, boy, and when they came back I darned their wept. It was that big a deal.

Speaker 10 1:08:37

So we have some quickfire questions for you guys, mostly Disney related. So here we go Dole whip or premium Mickey bar, mickey bar.

Speaker 7 1:08:46

Dole whip.

Speaker 10 1:08:47

Dole whip, okay. Correct answers Okay.

Speaker 7 1:08:52

With rum, though at the rum.

Speaker 6 1:08:55

Oh yeah, there you go. Okay, why didn't you know there?

Speaker 10 1:08:58

was rum involved. Best ride at Disney.

Speaker 7 1:09:03

Disney World or Disneyland.

Speaker 10 1:09:05

Anyone yeah?

Speaker 7 1:09:06

Dinosaur. Right answer Tracy Dinosaur. Or and Indiana Jones, which is the same ride. But thank you, you just got to get the iguanodon for crying out loud.

Speaker 5 1:09:22

I'm old school Space Mountain. Run the race or announce the race. Announce Announce Announce. Yeah, we knew that one, John You're good, and that's all

Speaker 7 1:09:32

good.

Speaker 1 1:09:33

And we're glad, we're glad. That's the answer. Not that we wouldn't run with you, we would.

Speaker 7 1:09:38

But I would like to run it again one of these days, but Chris and John get first dibs.

Speaker 5 1:09:45

Plus they pay us to announce. So come on people, I'm I.

Speaker 1 1:09:50

Think I've laughed more. I've muted my mic because I get laughing so hard I start to cough. I think I've laughed more tonight than I have. It's been a long while in the episodes here that we've recorded. This was a lot of fun. Again, it is race weekend now, friends. You know we're recording this before race weekend, quite obviously, but if you're listening, it's race weekend. Those are the folks who are up there. Those are the folks who are helping you get started and wrap this race up. What a wonderful group. Thank you so much, john Tracy and Riley, for spending your valuable time this holiday season with us. Merry Christmas and Again, you know this time shifting thing is tough because we're seeing you, but we'll see you real soon.

Speaker 5 1:10:31

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 1:10:34

There's a reason run Disney selects those folks. Those are good folks, good friends, love the whole run Disney Mentality, the run Disney spirit, and I think they do a wonderful job of embodying it. We thank them so much because this is a pretty busy time of the year when they asked, when we asked them to join us, and they were happy to do it. So thanks, guys, always a pleasure and we're glad to see you this weekend Speaking friends of people we're glad to see. Now.

Speaker 1 1:11:06

I know that some of you have already been to the expo, but others have not and Some of you may be going back. That's a trick I kind of use go back a couple days after it starts and it's not quite as crowded. Want to encourage you, as I do every year, to visit Jeff at his booth. Say hello to Barbara, tell Barbara you heard her on the podcast. She'll get a big kick out of that. You can't miss her. She's there almost all the time that Jeff is there and usually I Don't think many people know who she is. So say hi to Barbara. She is a lovely person, you won't regret it. And of course, jeff's there. Coach twigs is there, chris. Say hi to Chris, our buddy Pamela over at Fluffy Physies.

Speaker 10 1:11:55

Don't forget to drop by and see Pam also some of your, some of your paces will be at the table too.

Disneyland Runners and Marathon Weekend Excitement

Speaker 1 1:12:01

Yeah, yeah, coach twigs is there with the Pacers. Sometimes they're there to answer your questions about pace groups, which they'll have for the half and for the full marathon and, by by the time that this is released, that information should be on our Facebook page as to what pace groups are wanting out of running out of what corral and what intervals they'll be running, and Just as a reminder to everyone as we enter 2024, you know we're definitely looking to expand our offerings over at Patreon and if you're interested in becoming a patreon member, you can join us at patreoncom slash rise and run podcast.

Speaker 3 1:12:43

And I will say, being down here for marathon weekend, I'm very excited because a couple of weeks ago I had put up a poll to our Patreons because for the first time ever in my life I am activating my first ever annual pass and I knew I wanted to celebrate that by having an adult beverage. So I put up a poll of a couple of different places where I should go and do that celebration and, thanks to our patreon members, they chose the cava over in the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. So Actually, probably on the day of this release I will be Somewhere In you know the long line at the cava to hopefully get a seat at the bar or something like that and I'll be sure to share out a photo and everything like that. Really excited. So thank you to the patreon's for selecting that location for this big Step in my Disney career. Hopefully I get to continue it. But yeah, if you're interested, join us over on patreon. Patreoncom slash rise and run podcast.

Speaker 1 1:13:51

All right, my friends, just as it was one week ago at this time, it's time to take a look at the roll call. This time, for the Disney land races is exciting. Not quite as many names on this one, but still quite a few Joining us to help us out with the roll call. You heard them last week. Our buddy mark mark. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2 1:14:16

Happy to be here, bob Thanks.

Speaker 1 1:14:18

All right, let's kick it off Alicia.

Speaker 8 1:14:23

Take it away dart the weekend off. We have the Dumbo double. Dare challenge Ables doing that. One, alan and Grace Amanda, amy G, amy L, amy M, amy S, anna, brian, and see ya.

Speaker 10 1:14:40

Okay, also Christina, sissy and her husband, connie, fifth coast to coast, craig Daniel, devin, doug, erica, aaron and Becca sisters and our own, marty McFly jack.

Speaker 8 1:14:57

That's me.

Speaker 3 1:14:58

We also have Jason C also doing this with his wife, who is doing to 10k on their anniversary. So happy anniversary, you two crazy kids. We have Jason H with Jessica J, jen, jessica, jody without an E, jody with an E, our good friend all the way from Israel. Jonathan, karen and Kelly and her husband.

Speaker 1 1:15:25

Kristen F, kristen L, lexie, leah, lindsay and Anthony, liz, margaret, mary, melissa and Natalie.

Speaker 9 1:15:38

We have Rachel Ryan, sarah Skyler, tara P, tara W, tracy and Vanessa, and that rounds out the Dumbo double dare.

Speaker 1 1:15:51

There you go I.

Speaker 3 1:15:55

Have to say, every time I hear the name of that race and and I would love it if they did it one year the fact that you heard double dare all the time I really wish they would do a logo that was like mashed up Dumbo with the Nickelodeon Game show logo, because if not I would immediately sign up for that and then keep my fingers crossed that they hired Mark Summers to be one of the race announcers and they slime you at the finish line.

Speaker 2 1:16:20

Yes, yes, I love. It All right for the Disneyland half marathon. We have Alex running first half marathon and first run Disney race. Same for Alexis, amy, beth, brandy, carrie, sherry, chris, christina, don and Elizabeth, who's running her first Disneyland race.

Speaker 8 1:16:45

We also have Ethan, jennifer H. Jennifer is Caitlin, kate, katie K, kayla, kelly, l and Kelly are Okay, also Kevin Laurie, that's half number 150 for Laurie.

Speaker 10 1:17:02

Mary Ellen, michael, molly, rob, robert, sarah, sean and Sonia and Wrapping out the half marathon Taylor, tracy and Victoria.

Speaker 1 1:17:15

Outstanding. I think it's cool how folks have timed some of these and some of our friends have done it to make the Disneyland race a Special event, like Laurie at half number 150. Also, the Rob there is coming from England, I'm 99% certain, so I want to recognize that too.

Speaker 3 1:17:32

Then doing the 10k. We have Cindy, who's doing their first run, disney race, leslie, rob, sarah, tracy and Victoria for the 5k Abel, amanda, amy Anna's doing her first in person run Disney event.

Speaker 1 1:17:52

Brian, christina, jack will be there.

Speaker 9 1:17:57

Jason, jessica G, jessica M All right next, we have Jody without an E, jody with an E, oh and Jonathan from Israel.

Speaker 2 1:18:08

We have Karen, katie, kelly, kim, kristen and Tracy, lexi our own Lexi, lindsay and Anthony we have Liz Margaret, mary Marine her first Disney race Natalie, rachel, rob Ryan, sarah C and Sarah G and to finish up the 5k, we have Sarah W Tara P, tara W Tracy, vanessa and Victoria.

Speaker 10 1:18:40

Okay, the kid races, something we hope comes back to Walt Disney soon. We have Caleb with his parents, rachel and Monty Ruth Payton. Kennedy with mom and dad Jessica and Abel. Mason and mom Kayla first kids race. Caden first run Disney race, riding with his two cousins and last but not least, our virtual runners.

Speaker 3 1:19:03

We have Joy doing the Dumbo double dare and 5k, lucy, sarah who's gonna do the 5k live, and then the challenge Somewhere on site, virtually, and then Stephanie is doing the 5k.

Speaker 1 1:19:19

All right, let's hear it for our Disneyland runners Outstanding, Outstanding, as I said last week. Awesome guys that you're so active, so interested and so involved that you put this down and we can read them off for you. We love it. Good luck to all of you.

Speaker 1 1:19:38

All right, my friends, it is time for a somewhat abbreviated and modified version of the race report now, since we really don't have info who on who ran last week, because we're a week ahead of last week, although we're in this week, which would think you would be behind. Never mind. Here is who we have In the race report who has scheduled to have run last week on New Year's Eve. Grace is running the New York Roadrunners Midnight Run, jennifer is doing the New Year's Eve 5k in Bloomsburg, pennsylvania, and Erin is doing the Lululemon 5k run with the roses run with the roses at midnight. Not sure where that is might be out in Pasadena, we'll find out one of these days. There is one run scheduled January 1st. Rob is doing the Glen Rock, new Jersey, midnight Run. That's who I've got on the race report for episode 119.

Speaker 1 1:20:52

Friends, that does it for episode 119. We hope you're enjoying this. We hope you're having a wonderful time. If you're at Disney World, we'll be looking for you. Please look for us. Just like Jeff said when he was on, we truly, truly love Meeting and interacting with you. Don't make the mistake of thinking we're too busy for you, because you are the reason that we do all this and we appreciate you so much.

Speaker 3 1:21:21

And we can't wait to see you at the meetup on Saturday as well too.

Speaker 1 1:21:24

Yes, greg. Yes, thank you, I was looking at that Meetup reminder. I think many folks know meetup Saturday 3pm at the Disney Springs Food truck area. I would like to get I'm gonna put this out I would like to get a group photo at 3 30, so let's make a group photo time of 3 30 now, I hate to do that sometimes because people go okay, there's the group photo that I'm gonna leave, but I don't want people to miss it who Are trying to get there, and so around 3 30 we'll try and get a group photo with everyone there.

Speaker 1 1:22:04

We hope to see a whole bunch of you, friends. Our next get together on zoom will be next Thursday, january 11th great chance to recap what happened at Disney World. And heck, maybe, just maybe, if you're out in California, you can join us after the expo out there. That would be fun too. You can tell us what's going on. All right, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. Thank you. Thank you for being with us all of 2023. Best of luck to you in 2024. Happy New Year. We love you, we appreciate you. Happy running.

Speaker 3 1:22:57

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.