Ever wondered how a marathon can both break you and make you stronger? Our Rise and Run team is here to take you on a journey through the triumphs and trials of the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. We recount not just the miles but the smiles, the grit, and the wit that comes with enduring this magical, grueling feat. This episode is a heartfelt homage to the resilience of runners and the spirit of the running community.
Strap on your earbuds and join us as we navigate race day's twists, turns, and tales. We explore the expo and its merchandise frenzy and review all of the weekend's races with their blend of enchanting characters and routes. The episode isn't just about the distance covered; it's about the emotions unpacked and the relationships that strengthen with every step. Let's reminisce about the energizing cheers, the character costume fun, and the communal joy of the Disney races that inspire us to push beyond our limits.
As we cross the finish line of this episode, we don't slow down. We zoom into the future, brimming with advice for recovery post-Dopey Challenge and strategies to ward off the post-marathon blues. Our stories are raw, our advice is real, and our commitment to sharing the highs and lows of marathon running is unwavering. Thanks for tuning in and becoming part of our Rise and Run family, where every stride tells a story, and every runner has a home. Let's keep the pace together, one episode at a time.
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Ever wondered how a marathon can both break you and make you stronger? Our Rise and Run team is here to take you on a journey through the triumphs and trials of the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. We recount not just the miles but the smiles, the grit, and the wit that comes with enduring this magical, grueling feat. This episode is a heartfelt homage to the resilience of runners and the spirit of the running community.
Strap on your earbuds and join us as we navigate race day's twists, turns, and tales. We explore the expo and its merchandise frenzy and review all of the weekend's races with their blend of enchanting characters and routes. The episode isn't just about the distance covered; it's about the emotions unpacked and the relationships that strengthen with every step. Let's reminisce about the energizing cheers, the character costume fun, and the communal joy of the Disney races that inspire us to push beyond our limits.
As we cross the finish line of this episode, we don't slow down. We zoom into the future, brimming with advice for recovery post-Dopey Challenge and strategies to ward off the post-marathon blues. Our stories are raw, our advice is real, and our commitment to sharing the highs and lows of marathon running is unwavering. Thanks for tuning in and becoming part of our Rise and Run family, where every stride tells a story, and every runner has a home. Let's keep the pace together, one episode at a time.
Rise and Run Links
Rise and Run Podcast Facebook Page
Rise and Run Podcast Instagram
Rise and Run Podcast Website and Shop
Rise and Run Patreon
Passport to Run
Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching
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:Hey, this is Melissa Dee from Syracuse, new York, at the Run Disney Expo for the 2024 Run Disney Marathon. Just wanted to give a shout out to Rise and Run for being amazing at getting me through all those long running miles as we train for Dopey this year. And thanks so much guys. Enjoy the episode.
Speaker 1:Melissa. Thank you, boy, we got a lot of good intros. I know John was walking around getting him. We've got a lot to get through, but, melissa, thank you for that one. We're going to talk about that idea of the podcast getting friends through in a little bit. Friends, welcome.
Speaker 1:Welcome to episode 121 of the Rise and Run Podcast. I'm Bob, I'm here with Jack. Hi With Allie, hi, friends With Lexie. Hello With Alicia. Hello With John, hey, how you doing. And with Greg, hey, hey, hey, a full house and we are here to talk about the amazing, fantastic I run out of words to describe it the Walt Disney World Marathon Recap. Hey, we've missed you. We're a little late getting started here. We all had to figure out how to work our equipment again after being gone for two weeks. I'm running around looking for cables and all that, but, gosh, how wonderful to see so many people. I don't want to get bogged down in that right now. We've got a lot to talk about. The Marathon Weekend Recap no race report spotlight tonight. We'll try to pick that up next week as other than Disney runs come back and we'll be looking to talk to you.
Speaker 1:Friends, if you enjoy the Rise and Run Podcast, please share us with your friends, introduce them to the podcast, introduce them to the family. I know you're doing a wonderful job of that. We love watching the podcast grow. We love watching the community grow. Oh man, it means so much to the family. Remember to follow us, please, on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast and on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our website riseandrunpodcastcom. Look if you've got a race report. We're pretty flush with the intros right now, but if you want to send one, be our guest. You can call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message. I just mentioned the YouTube channel. Jack. What's new in the YouTube channel coming up?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so this week we will be featuring Alicia. She is going to explain what it's like working with a running coach and that's going to be great. So on Friday and then the following two weeks after that are all going to be Disneyland related. So anything that's going to be what to expect with the expo and then what it's like to run at a Disneyland race.
Speaker 5:so far, I love that. I can't wait to hear that, Alicia. I know it changed me a lot when I started working with a running coach.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it's a bunch of tips and tricks and then I talk a little bit about my run coach business, so I hope everybody enjoys it. I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1:Thanks. Well, great Jack. Thanks, all right, a little bit of a different apologies in alibi sections at the top of the episode. These are really not. This is kind of this is a catch-all section right now. We've got a couple things. Jack, would you like to say something to folks who are concerned about your injuries?
Speaker 4:You know, bob, it's been a heck of a past two weekends. Really quick, just to kind of explain overall, so that way it's just out and over and then we talk about the races. If you know, I was supposed to be running goofy this past marathon weekend. I did the half-half marathon, but the week prior I was having a lot of GI issues as well as chest pain and it just.
Speaker 4:I went to urgent care the Wednesday that I was supposed to leave and they're like you're good to go. I was like, are you sure? Because it doesn't feel like I'm good to go, and they said yes and I was like, okay, so I thought it would go away and it didn't. So I decided to opt out of the marathon because of that. And then I saw the doctor a different doctor on Monday and I'm good. Just a heads up, it's just. It's apparently chest pain due to anxiety and stress and it can last a week to up to a month, but luckily I was able to run Disneyland. I did fall at Disneyland. There's that second injury, I promise I'm okay Little bruised and bumped, but we're good, it's great for good.
Speaker 1:All right. I would like to reassure our friends that we all can see Jack. She's got a big smile on her face as usual, and again it reflects on the family here at Rise and Run the amount of concern that our friends had, jack.
Speaker 4:I appreciate it. Want to make sure you were okay. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1:So we're glad you're all right. Allie, you've got an announcement for us.
Speaker 5:I got a quick apology. I would guess I would call it. No, I don't know about that.
Speaker 5:I just want to say that I have to take a little bit of a step back from the podcast. I know I have some really exciting stuff that's going on in my professional life and I'm getting the opportunity to do some really fun and exciting coaching. I know you guys know I'm a roller skater and I roller skate for a living and so I'm getting some really cool opportunities and so I just need a little more time in my life to be able to do that. So if you don't hear me for the next little bit, that's because I had to take a little bit of a step back to do some really exciting things in my personal life. But I am still going to be here in the family and here following along on your running journeys, and I hope to see you guys kicking butt through the rest of this run Disney season and maybe I will be able to come cheer sometime for maybe springtime or maybe wine and dine, who knows?
Speaker 4:I'm not going to miss you. I know you're going to come back.
Speaker 5:You can't get rid of me that easily. I'm like glitter I don't go anywhere.
Speaker 7:Just what I thought it was out. You pulled me back in.
Speaker 8:I mean, I still have glitter in my hair from Disneyland and I've watched it like three times.
Speaker 5:So I'm like that Disneyland glitter.
Speaker 2:But in all seriousness, ali, yeah, we're beyond thrilled for you To explore all these wonderful coaching opportunities and, like I told you when you shared the news with us, I like to make the correlation to the Japanese language. Everyone knows that to say goodbye in Japanese is Sayonara, and when I was an exchange student, I learned that people really don't say Sayonara in Japan, because that means the forever goodbye. So, they have more of a like, more casual way and just saying Jane.
Speaker 5:Which means see you real soon, exactly.
Speaker 2:And that's this situation. You are forever in the hearts and minds of us here in this video chat right now, but in the podcast family and we know you're never going away and we're so indebted to you for the contributions that you have made and that you will continue to make, and we're beyond thrilled for you. So we love you.
Speaker 5:Thanks. I love you too.
Speaker 1:We are excited, but I don't think I can go on anymore All right friends. Happy running. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:I'll make it through, but no gosh. All right, ali, that's great. We'll always love you. So thanks for and yeah, and you were right, ali, thanks for bringing that up. So the rest of our friends are wondering Did Bob do something to Ali? We don't need that. Let's change subjects here. Before Christmas, we made an Instagram post I don't think it got hit a whole lot, but we had enough folks looking at it that we wanted to answer the question and that Instagram post asked what our favorite Christmas movies were, and someone got them. All right. I'll tell you what. Let's go around the room here and give the correct answer. I'll go ahead and start, and everyone that I saw got me right. I guess I'm just that transparent. My favorite Christmas movie was a Christmas story and there's a lot of reasons why, but we got a lot of things to talk about tonight. If you're interested, I'll explain later, but not right now, lexie, which one was yours.
Speaker 8:Mine was the night they saved Christmas. An oldie but a goodie. Never seen that.
Speaker 1:That was very popular. I haven't either, but that was amongst some of our friends. That was a very popular choice, Ali. Yours was.
Speaker 5:A lot of people got me pegged. I am the nightmare before Christmas, yeah that was yeah. That tracks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that tracks, Greg yours was Like Ali, it's easy to peg me. I was a muppet Christmas Carol.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, an excellent choice, by the way, greg, very good one.
Speaker 7:John, mine was Scrooge'd. You know I was going to go with Die Hard but I had to go with the official.
Speaker 1:Christmas movie Scrooge'd Scrooge is a good one too. I shouldn't say, oh, that's a good one, that's a good one Inferring to the others. I don't like yours. I probably hadn't seen the other two.
Speaker 6:So Alicia, which was yours, Mine was how Grinched on Christmas with Jim Carrey.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 5:Good choice I also. I want to point out that someone had for the Grinch one. Someone put some pretty like shade on there. When they said the, what did they say? They said the cartoon one, not the Jim.
Speaker 6:Carrey.
Speaker 8:The animated one, but the scary one.
Speaker 6:I specifically like the Jim Carrey, which is funny because I'm iffy on his movies, but I always have to watch that one.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I like both. I do like the cartoon one a little bit better, but I totally love Jim Carrey doing the Grinch too See.
Speaker 1:Alicia, I agree with you. To me, Jim Carrey's hit and miss. He's done a couple of movies I think are just awesome and a couple that I think are just awful. Yep, yeah, jack, wrap it up. Yours was which.
Speaker 4:It was a Christmas vacation, but like you, john, I almost put die hard, but you know how some people are hurt. Debatable Is it a Christmas movie? It's not, so I went straight up Christmas and Christmas vacation is what it is.
Speaker 5:Christmas vacation is my close second, that is one that I watch every single year.
Speaker 7:It's a beautiful. It's a beautiful.
Speaker 4:See, I didn't ever use them all.
Speaker 2:I also got crap for my daughter because we have a family tradition that on Christmas Eve we watched the Polar Express and now one is a very close second and she was a little myth that I didn't have that one, but I mean Well, she can come on and she can do hers next time, that's right, there we go, tell her to get her own podcast and then she can.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't put it past her Probably three years. No, it wasn't really a contest, but since only one person got them all correct, we actually do have a reward, allie. What do we have that we can send? First of all, who is our winner and what do we have we can send them?
Speaker 5:Our winner is Kristen L, or on Instagram, grow and glow life, and I have a few things that I could send. So, if you want to DM us, I think we have a rise and run tumbler, we have some shirts, we have a couple of things. So we have, we have some things that we could send you.
Speaker 2:Fabulous prizes.
Speaker 5:Fabulous prizes so we'll reach out on Instagram and message us back with your address and we'll send something to you.
Speaker 1:Cool stuff. Thanks for those of you who did participate. That was fun and we just did it for fun, but we figured hey, we got the stuff, let's reward the person who got them. All right Way to go. Maybe next Christmas our movies will change. Who knows? Never, never. Next Christmas there will be three people saying the Bruce Willis movie Die hard, die hard.
Speaker 4:Yippee-ki-yay.
Speaker 7:I'm gonna cut it right there Not a Christmas movie.
Speaker 4:All right.
Speaker 1:All right, look, look, look. We don't need a two hour and 40 minute episode today. So all right, friends, let's do something we've been doing every week for a while. Let's look at the training schedule. Princess weekend is now just five weeks away. We are in training week 13 of princess weekend. We'll see you there.
Speaker 1:Before you know it, if you're doing any of the long runs on the princess weekend, you have a four mile run with a magic mile this weekend. Reminder, I think you've done them already, but remember that the magic mile is included in those four miles. Best way to do this is to do one really slowly, then do your magic mile, then do your last two. Magic mile is a measuring stick more than it is a training tool, just a way to base your paces for the rest of your training. Springtime surprise.
Speaker 1:I hate talking about the last run of the season. We just finished the big run of the season. We're talking about the last run of the season, but it's 11 weeks away. We are in week five of that training schedule. In fact, if you're doing the 5k alone in springtime, that hasn't started yet. For the rest of them, if you're doing the challenge or the 10 mile run, you have a three mile run this weekend. I saw questions and this comes up all the time. Folks who did dopey ask hey, I'm going to, princess, where should I pick it up? My best recommendation is just pick it up where it is right now.
Speaker 5:You'll be in good shape, just go with that, get out your tracks and keep training.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know where you are. You're right. You're right. We're in that time Speaking of training and what's going on and coming off of dopey. It is not unusual at all to suffer from what we have phrased, and I think I need to give credit to Brittany Charbonneau for this. I think she was the first one I heard call the dopey downers. It's just a feeling after you have worked so hard for so long for a major goal that you're trying to accomplish, you do it and you kind of go all right now what? So if you're feeling it, know that you're not alone. If you need to take a little time, take a little time. I will tell you honestly, I did zero last week. I should have, but I didn't. But then get back out there. You don't wanna waste all the effort that you've put into it so far.
Speaker 4:I would say another way to kind of help with your dopey downers. I have a tendency to do this. A lot is just to go back on YouTube and watch videos from Marathon Weekend specifically. Just be like oh, I remember that part of the course. Oh, I remember those. That's too funny.
Speaker 8:And you can check out our passport to run videos for the half marathon that's gonna be up yes, it is up right now the half half marathon.
Speaker 5:I had asked Alicia because I was feeling a little bit down as well too If she'd ever encountered anything like this. And so I was feeling a little depressed, sad, edgy, a little anxious, nervous, maybe a little annoyed, if that's the right word, and I just wasn't feeling myself. And so I also looked it up on the internet too. And there is something that happens to your body post marathon, especially if you've been training really hard and then you taper down, and it happens, like you said, alicia, in your taper as well too, where you can just feel like this just I don't know unrest inside of your body.
Speaker 5:And so you have to think about your sleep patterns. Keep sleeping like an athlete, getting a lot of rest, getting nutrition, like you should be hydrating. Continue to do that. Your hormones will settle down, because your hormones are affected when your marathon training, your cortisol levels get higher when your marathon training, and a lot of this stuff needs time to get back to normal. So I think that the consensus that I read on the internet was like somewhere between like 30 days or so, like it kind of some said like 20, some said 40, but it seemed to be around 30 days before your body kind of gets back to normal too. So if you're feeling some extra emotions or things just feel a little different, or your running feels a little sluggish or something like that, that's all normal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like to think that I am not prone to that, but that's bull. I'm just like anybody else. And yeah, I had those same feelings, ali. I don't wanna call it depression, that's an exaggeration.
Speaker 5:Right right.
Speaker 1:Didn't feel my, wasn't my normal up. Let's go rah, rah self, and. But the big thing I want to share with our friends is don't number one, it's normal, expect it, you will get over it. Don't let it ruin what you've worked up to so far. Don't put yourself back. Don't drop out for four, five, six weeks and then put yourself back, have to start all over again. Get out there, put a couple of miles in, do the old 10 minute rule. Go out for 10 minutes. If you're not feeling it, come on back. But most of the time that's a great idea. Yeah, I wish it was an original idea, but it's one I've read. Most of the time you'll find that you're gonna complete your training run. So keep it up, friends, get out there. And then we got a whole bunch of folks, as I said already, they're still pointing to their first one, so we were excited for them too and we wanna get them across those finished lines also.
Speaker 7:And, like you said, bob, even there's nothing on your schedule, like I have nothing on my schedule, so right now, hopefully bird in hand shooting for that one. So just get those little 35 minute weekly runs in just to get yourself. Keep some of that momentum going, like you said.
Speaker 8:Yeah, just keep moving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you can do one long one a month, if you can get out there for 10 miles once a month or so, that's gonna keep you in great shape.
Speaker 8:Yeah, so good idea, I would even say, just you know, maintenance of 30, 45 minutes twice a week and then on the weekends, three to six miles, and then, whenever you need to ramp up, then you can ramp up easily and you're not starting from zero, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, tonight we really wanna talk about the wonderful weekend that was two weeks ago. Now we are going to talk about Disneyland next week, but this week we wanna talk about the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Let's kick it off. Let's start in order and let's talk about the expo. Who was there on Thursday? I know John and I were.
Speaker 6:I was there, I was.
Speaker 1:Alicia. Well, I think it was just the three of us that were there Thursday. Any thoughts?
Speaker 8:on the expo. It would be. Wednesday, wednesday. Yeah yeah yeah, you're right, it would have been Wednesday.
Speaker 1:I'm so used to every other weekend it's Thursday. Every other Disney weekend it would be Thursday, but yeah, it sure was on Wednesday. In fact, for the first time ever, Becky and I got there on Tuesday, so we got over to the expo earlier than we normally do. Found us. The lines were just yeah, it was pretty crazy. I think it's been worse, but the lines snaked quite a bit. John, you went through them before I did. What was your experience?
Speaker 7:Wasn't that bad. I mean I lucked out again. I got a very early cue spot for the merchandise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's no longer luck, John, with the rate that you're doing it. That's just, it's science. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 7:It's yeah, right, it's science.
Speaker 1:You've established something. We don't know what it is.
Speaker 7:I don't know yet. I hope it stays true. I could do it for that, but I can't get a darn. What do you call it, Tron?
Speaker 6:but you or Tron, oh really.
Speaker 7:I did get a Tron cue at the one o'clock hour with Bob, but still that was it. But the first morning ones I can't get. But for race weekend, for expo, I've been doing good Knock on wood. But the lines weren't that bad going through. So we went in, got our merch, which was OK for me. I didn't buy a lot this year. I bought a jacket, a key chain and an annual pass shirt and that was it. Then headed up to the bib pickup, which was kind of nice in a way that it was all in one level last year, so me and my wife can actually stay in the same line and not have to split up.
Speaker 7:But it looked large because where we cued up, where we picked our bibs up for Dopey last year, was a cue area for everybody and it looked like oh my god, but it moved pretty quickly it was pretty long it was long when Bob and I were in there. It was long.
Speaker 1:But it seemed to move quickly. We were in there a while. Yeah, it was long A lot of photos taken in there, which was. That was kind of fun. I got to see a lot of friends going back and forth, Got a lot of pictures in there.
Speaker 5:John, I didn't see key chains. What did the key chains look like? It had marathon weekends, big key chains. There's always something I miss in those.
Speaker 1:I didn't see it any.
Speaker 5:Like friend Disney ones. Maybe they sold out before I got there.
Speaker 1:I didn't see it. I did see Alicia in the line for the bib pickup though. Yeah, alicia, I thought that was pretty long.
Speaker 6:It was long. My mom was like I'm just going to sit out here and enjoy the weather, and I was like OK, that's fine, and I got in there. And she was like I'm so glad that I waited on a bench and didn't have to stand in there forever and ever. It took a long time, but we got through it.
Speaker 1:I got there right at 11. I remember that now because I was looking for our friends Alan and Grace, but they were a little bit late, so I headed up your way and you were already in line, but not far ahead of me.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I had done the official merch first because I got a decent virtual queue, so I did that. I also didn't buy a ton this time, and then I made my way to the bibs.
Speaker 1:Our virtual queue and I was fine with this. Our virtual queue hit around 3 o'clock so I was at the expo for about four hours, but I had a great time. I just had a lot of fun. Quick hi to Chris and Jeff because the lines are always long to see. They might go back and see them later. It was a long line to get into the health and fitness expo after we picked up our bib.
Speaker 5:That line stretched and snatched for a while. I don't know if this is true, but is that the first time that there was a queue to get into that expo?
Speaker 1:No, I've seen it before. This was as long as I recall it being, but I've seen it before.
Speaker 7:It was up top. They had the door up top queuing out, but then they decided to move it onto the field and you went through the bottom.
Speaker 8:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 7:Yeah, because he came out of the back of the expo. For that one went across the baseball fields and went through the bottom level.
Speaker 1:So you didn't go down to there. Oh, that's different, john, that's different we didn't say yeah, you got in.
Speaker 7:Right before that I was outside hanging with Hollywood and we saw it and we just started to head back in Because you want to meet you, bob, because that's where you were hanging out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I just find it funny that when you're picking up your bibs, there's only one booth for Goofy. You can't get lost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the lonely Goofy booth. Yeah, I'll buy it.
Speaker 5:I think, it was just me and you, Jack, that we were the only ones who ran Goofy, apparently.
Speaker 1:I think there were. I mean, we got the Ryan put the stats up. I think Goofy only was like 1,200 people. That's off the top of my head. I didn't look it up. The line to get in snaked so long that when I was talking to our friend Coach Twiggs, he had plans to go outside and demonstrate acceleration gliders to people. Well, he did it once and when he came to come back in he was told no, you have to get in that line. He said wow.
Speaker 5:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:That's the end of that. He did it once and that was the end of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was interesting following the expo on the first day from the social media side of things. I didn't fly down until late Wednesday night and when I saw the photos of the line going around the soccer fields when you left bib pickup to go to the expo, I mean I would have to think from a logistic standpoint that made a ton of sense because then you're cutting down on the traffic going up the stairs and in that whole center congregating area. But I mean the fact that they decided to stretch it that far really goes to show how many people are coming on that first day and how crazy busy it can be.
Speaker 1:That was fun. I missed that. That must have happened after I was inside.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it happened, I think a little bit after we were there, bob, but it wasn't much long after that, because I did hear people talking about it.
Speaker 7:It had to be close. Yeah, because I saw you go in the front door, the top door, when we were hanging with Boyd, and then next thing we know that line's gone. They're all in the soccer field.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so it had to be right after.
Speaker 1:I had a blast at the expo, really enjoyed it. Don't know that I bought anything. Did get to the Disney merch thing, becky, and I picked up a jacket. I like it. It's the marathon weekend jacket, not the dopey jackets were gone, of course. I think they were gone by. Let's see when did it open? Nine, I think they're gone, done by 902 or something like that.
Speaker 7:No, supposedly there is some out later on in the day. They must have re-done them. Yeah, larger sizes yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't see them. I didn't see them. I am happy with the marathon jacket, though I got my big mug.
Speaker 5:The marathon mug is so big and so wonderful and that's kind of the thing I get every single year Just reminds me of how wonderful and strong I am every time I have my morning cup of tea.
Speaker 4:I love that.
Speaker 2:Well, Jack and I went to the expo on Thursday. Actually, you could say that Jack and I had a day-long date together.
Speaker 5:It was absolutely lovely.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we got to the expo right for opening and we were chatting about what we thought our experience was going to be like, based on the fact that we were going on the second day, and we're like are we going to be able to, how many friends are we going to bump into and how long are we going to be there?
Speaker 2:Because I remember last year being at the expo for five hours and trying to eat lunch Because you're just having so much fun chatting with your friends and getting excited for the weekend, and even though, from a sheer crowds perspective, it was extremely, extremely manageable. What did you say, jack? We were there. A good two hours. Yeah, two, two and a half hours Because every time that we thought we were about ready to go, we'd bump into somebody, whether that was Coach.
Speaker 2:Twiggs. And then on the way back, right near the exit was BB Brooks' booth and we stopped the chat with her for a little bit and then that turned into a 20-minute conversation and everything like that. But yeah, so very, very manageable. But even on that second day still got a chance to bump into a lot of friends and it was just as much of a wonderful time as always, even if you're going on the first day.
Speaker 5:It was a lot of fun. I went on Friday and I had the same experience too, and I ran into some rise and runners. At the expo I saw Jennifer, and then I also saw Chris Twiggs and a bunch of other people too. So it's yeah, you run into people everywhere we go now at Run Disney Races.
Speaker 1:I went Friday incognito but it didn't work because I opened my mouth. But I love it. Friends, don't get me wrong, I really do. The only problem was when I went Friday, I didn't have much time and I learned. I learned that I'm not using resort transportation to go to the expo anymore. That was not cool. What?
Speaker 4:happened.
Speaker 1:Well, it just took. It took From the time I got on the bus at Port Orleans, french Quarter, until we got out of the Port Orleans complex was 30 minutes.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we sat and waited for a long time. Then we went to four different stops I believe Could have been three and I knew I was in trouble when we got there. We got there at three and Becky and I had dinner reservations at Disney Springs for 30. So I'm thinking I leave here at 3.30. And the bus driver says I'm going on lunch. Nothing against the bus driver. The bus driver gets a lunch break. But I thought oh golly, and so I probably waited 40 minutes for the bus to get back. Everything worked out, but I have a car when I go there, so I'm not going to rely on the expo buses. I don't want to. I mean, I suspect others have had great experience with the expo buses. This was just my only time using it and it will remain my only time using it.
Speaker 6:Yes, sometimes if they stop at other locations, it's not always the case, so that can get long. Sometimes I've had really good experiences, sometimes I've had poor experiences, same with going to the races. So you just never know what you're going to get back.
Speaker 1:Two and from the races was great, but for the expo not so cool.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of the expo, I actually I am curious to hear Lexi's thoughts on this, because you know, obviously we saw the photos Wednesday of the massive queue line to get bibs. Jack and I go Thursday and it's a ghost town in terms of bib pickup. And then, Lexi, when you arrived at the expo, you sent us a photo that everybody was queued up again. So, how busy was it on Friday?
Speaker 8:So I went on Friday at it would have been probably 2pm, no 1pm. It was around 1pm and the line for bib pickup was all the way upstairs and winding around that upstairs room.
Speaker 5:Yes, yes.
Speaker 8:And I was there. I was in line for probably 45 minutes. Wow, wow I'd never had that experience before no, never on a Friday Right.
Speaker 1:I was going to say it's all the goofy runners, but we already determined that there just weren't that many.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's only 1200 of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 8:That's what I was thinking too. I'm like there's not that many goofy runners.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 8:Maybe there were just a bunch of individual marathoners.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing I was, I could see something like that for, say, friday like late afternoon.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or like on Saturday for maybe locals who are just doing the marathon or something like that, but it was I just I've got an interesting. I thought it would just be like a sliding scale down that would be. You know, wednesday was your busiest, and then it would just trickle down and down. The fact that there was a U shape is that's super intriguing.
Speaker 8:Even when we got into the room to go into the different booths and everything, the line for the half marathon was huge.
Speaker 6:One of my clients was slamming.
Speaker 8:Every single number category had at least 10 people in line, except the goofy booth, for whatever reason.
Speaker 4:I walked straight up to mine.
Speaker 8:I ain't no one in line and even when I went to the expo where the vendors are like, it was very crowded there too. I didn't really have to wait in line to get my shirt, but it was pretty busy and because I knew I needed to save my money for Disneyland, I didn't even go into the run Disney merch area. Oh discipline.
Speaker 2:I'm so proud of you. That is a level of self control that I didn't know what you could have Good for you.
Speaker 8:But see, I knew that if I went in there there would be no self control.
Speaker 7:It does not exist, it's fine, I'm buying another suitcase to go home with.
Speaker 4:It's all with Disney land.
Speaker 5:Yeah we'll hear how that happened, how that worked out for you next week.
Speaker 2:I have no answer to this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah, absolutely, because you know goofy is a great event. It just surprises me that the numbers are so low, but I'm not going to answer why. I have no idea why. Maybe I'll run it next year and find out. All right let us move on to Thursday morning and the 5K. I got there, I saw John, john. Thoughts on the 5K.
Speaker 7:It was okay, it was a 5K. You know we had a good time walking. Bob was being Mr Character, again being dressed as goofy People are stopping him, grabbing him, taking pictures.
Speaker 1:That was my only character for the weekend. Goofy, it was easy to do. You've seen the pictures, I'm sure.
Speaker 5:So Bob was just dressed as himself.
Speaker 1:I was. It was Yep, I have my big hands. I painted them white and tied these two fingers together.
Speaker 2:That was fun. His ears magically grew two feet, it was like a little bit they did.
Speaker 4:Do you have a son named Max?
Speaker 1:I do In fact, here you go.
Speaker 4:I thought for a second. I was like no, you don't.
Speaker 8:So for everyone listening, he's holding up a picture of the Power Line.
Speaker 1:The goofy movie the Power Line Max from the goofy movie game.
Speaker 7:Yep, my wife and Becky. They kind of ran together. They were dressed as mini-mouses. Yeah, Becky had a little different vibe for the polka dots on her costume she did. Do you want to tell them Bob?
Speaker 1:She did. She had Rise and Run the circular Rise and Run stickers.
Speaker 6:No.
Speaker 1:It was pretty nice. I need to do more characters. I'm not going to do them for the long runs I don't see that happening. But everything that we talk about doing characters or dressing in costumes is true. It's fun, and it's fun as much for the people who are out there as it is for you.
Speaker 1:With goofy, I had and I love this. There are a lot of little kids in the 5Ks with their moms and dads. I think that is fantastic. I love seeing it and most of the little kids love goofy and I had so many of them just walking up to me and just saying hi goofy, I just ate that up. I had Sam shout out to Sam, hi, sam, sam. Kristen told Sam that's Bob from the podcast. Sam didn't run up and say hi goofy, he ran up and say hi Bob, and for some reason, even though we were walking, we must have passed one another five times. So I heard from Sam a bunch of times Shout out to Sam, my other. My only comment on the 5K, john, I thought it was more crowded on the course than I recall at any previous race. I thought the 5K was really crowded. I don't know why. Maybe it's because we were where did we start? We started to see.
Speaker 7:No, we started back further, I think, because where was Becky E?
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no. I think D D D. I think he was in D D yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah, because Diane had C, I had B, I had C and Becky had.
Speaker 1:I had C for that race, but Becky had D, so we started in D yeah. So we started in D. Yeah, yeah, becky's halfway through her farewell tour. She means it this time I'm not kidding.
Speaker 8:I was just about ready to ask this. Didn't we hear this last year at this time we did.
Speaker 1:We did Remember how Brady came back for a year. I think Becky's back for a year. I don't think it. I'm quite confident.
Speaker 2:But wait, now she's going to follow the Brady complex. That means next race season. She's going to take the whole season off and then she's going to move into a commentating role for the following season.
Speaker 1:So Becky and Carissa, that'd be interesting.
Speaker 2:There we go, the perfect combo?
Speaker 1:That would be interesting, but the 5K was fun and it usually is. So those of you who did the 5K hope you had a good time. I hope we saw you. I enjoyed it and I know John and Becky and Diane did too. As I mentioned, I went back to the expo that afternoon and then 10K Thoughts on the 10K. Now we pick up some more friends at the 10K Right. Who else did the 10K? I did the 10K, did the 10K.
Speaker 4:I cheer for it with Diane.
Speaker 1:That counts. That counts, Greg. What do you think of the 10K?
Speaker 2:I have said on this podcast several times before and I still hold true today, that that course is the perfect run Disney 10K course. You got the little bit of the road and you knock it out right in the beginning and then it's just all wonderful sites to see that there is nothing better than running around World Showcase and the Crescent Lake Epcot Resort area in the dark and at sunrise and everything like that. It's not running down Main Street, usa, but I mean it's pretty darn cool and I love it. I went into the race not knowing exactly what I was going to do or who I was going to run with and then right at the last minute our friend David down in Kennesaw was like hey, I just I need to take it slow, so what do you want to do? And him and I did the entire race together and had an absolute blast.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I mean not much to say outside of a wonderful course, wonderful company and it was nice to you know. Again, similar to what you guys said about the 5K, you know how did at times and everything like that, and I remember my 10K experience from Marathon weekend last year being really disappointed that I didn't get to do any character stops because of the lines. But I think Run Disney has heard that feedback and they have reacted appropriately to it and I think you're starting to see a lot more characters on the course and making the lines a little bit more manageable. We definitely stopped, for it was Peter Pan and Wendy.
Speaker 5:And that's a cool one.
Speaker 2:I mean we wanted to do it because David was actually dressed as Peter, so it worked out really well. And I mean sure you know the line stretched across that, the bridge that connects the UK to France, but it moved to the pretty good clip. We probably waited no more than 10 minutes, you know. There was no, you know, fear of the balloon ladies approaching us. So yeah, overall it was. It was a wonderful race.
Speaker 1:You reminded me, the only character I stood in line for all weekend was at the 5K Anybody?
Speaker 6:want to guess Goofy.
Speaker 1:That was about a gorge Gorge I was getting. I was getting good at gorge, how you doing, and the kids were loving that. Yeah, I was getting a little bit of a minute line. Tenka had fun in the 10K. I met up with some friends Kara, our buddy, caroline Caroline could, was not supposed to run, so I said to heck with it. You know, caroline, I walk these anyway. Caroline, lauren was with us and then Stephanie caught up with us. It was a fun group to walk with. I enjoyed it. The weather was good for the 10K. Stephanie gave us lessons, lauren did a nice jump shot. I can no longer get off the ground. That's not in my lexicon anymore. And Stephanie decided hey, the way to get good looking jump shots is to put your hands in the air and skip. That was really entertaining that was really entertaining.
Speaker 1:Caroline didn't know how to skip, I kid you not, and I've got one picture of me skipping with my hands in the air. I'll try and get it to you guys. It's not quite as funny as it should be, but it's funny enough. So that was the 10K for me, john. How about you 10K?
Speaker 7:was very interesting in the corrals in the beginning. So C corral was huge. I mean it was probably the size of two corrals, I think, wide. When we got up there we had two medical emergencies in there which was very scary. Because they're doing their thing. Their race announcers are talking and they have the speakers and now someone's yelling medic holding their hand up. How do you get there?
Speaker 5:I never got to that.
Speaker 7:So I was guiding Rachel Rachel's a nurse, so Rachel ran over there. Luckily, when we got there somebody else was taking care of the person on the ground. But then, once that happened, disney Medical came in and took care of that person. Then within 15, 20 minutes later somebody else went down. So the same thing over again. Trying to get people there was very interesting. Trying to get the first responders that were there to get to these people is a little interesting On the course, the bikers going up and down the course and the medical tents around. And if somebody gets hurt you can say here I'm at mile three, but yeah, I'm in corral C when I've had that happen before, john, actually in multiple different races.
Speaker 6:I've had that happen where it happened, in the corral. It is scary because everybody's screaming medic and it's like can anybody hear us? Are they coming? Is the person going to get help in time? So yeah, that's scary and I'm glad that they got to them.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and the one person they wheeled back out in a wheelchair, so I'm assuming they were okay. So it kind of did work out pretty well for them, I hope. But besides, that 10K was thinking fun race, that's the best 10K. Course, Greg, I agree with you, Not that one where you're run all the way out on the highway for like five miles to get a little taste of Epcot at the end. But this was a good one. And of course, coming down boardwalk we saw Jack and Diane.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was a little ditty though.
Speaker 1:A little ditty about.
Speaker 4:Jack and Diane, that's right, I still need to hear this song because you guys have mentioned it somewhere.
Speaker 1:I mentioned that. That's right. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw it. It was from the 80s.
Speaker 4:Okay it was a great song.
Speaker 5:It was very popular so.
Speaker 7:No, you probably never heard it. It's a guy called John Cougar sang it, the who became John.
Speaker 1:Cougar Melanchem. Was that before or after? He was John Cougar Melanchem.
Speaker 7:So he was Johnny Cougar first, actually. Then he was John Cougar, then John Cougar Melanchem. Now he's John Melanchem. He changes his names constantly.
Speaker 4:I've never heard of him.
Speaker 1:You can look that one up.
Speaker 7:It's a video. You can watch it on YouTube, you know.
Speaker 4:I bet you he has a great music video and I bet you there's somebody named Jack and there's someone named Diane.
Speaker 5:It's about half of our listeners feel like they relate to that. And then the other half feel really old and are taking ibuprofen right now.
Speaker 1:I'm going to bed Easy on the old folks there, allie, I'm one of you right now.
Speaker 5:I feel like I need to take an ibuprofen. And I know, the song.
Speaker 4:I've never heard of him ever.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, but Jack and Diane were there. That was cool.
Speaker 7:I go, Diane, where is the cowbell? Oh, it was a quiet zone over there, we couldn't be loud oh that makes sense I don't like when they do that.
Speaker 4:I get it.
Speaker 8:But I don't like that they do that.
Speaker 4:I mean, like it was, it was still cool. I had a lot of fun cheering. It was really cool to see the very first person come by and then obviously wait till, like.
Speaker 1:I wasn't me, was it. I mean you're so fast, Bob.
Speaker 2:I can barely see you it was a quiet zone, but when you got on the boardwalk everyone's yelling and screaming oh, absolutely, yeah, I mean I think that's what makes that course really special too is that for a short course you can have the spectators, especially around the Epcot resorts, because you know again. You had the Mellon Camp crew parked out in front of the Swan Dolphin and then when I made the turn just past Jelly Rolls and the Atlantic Dance Hall, I bumped into our buddy Devin from. Zip-d-t's and.
Speaker 2:Fitfab Disney, and so it got to chat with her for a couple of minutes and, you know, even though I wasn't in the bad place mentally, you know just getting that support and seeing loved ones and friends and everything like that, you know, really, can give you a little extra pep in your step.
Speaker 4:That's great. So I just want to say also that you do not need to necessarily be staying at any of those boardwalk resorts to be able to cheer there. An easy way to do it is just don't lift to the Disney resorts. Take a lift or Uber to like this.
Speaker 4:I went to the Swan Dolphin Reserve and it was a quick five minute walk over to the boardwalk and no one ever stopped me or said anything to me. So if you want to go and cheer, that's a great place to cheer at, because we were right at mile three and it was great.
Speaker 7:Good plan. That's what Diane did too, so she did that same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jack, I'm glad I worked out for you because I know you and I were strategizing about that on Thursday. So because I mean I've heard stories that it's easier to get into the Fort Knox than it is to get into the boardwalk without a dining reservation.
Speaker 4:So you know me, I am Jack, what I can do? Anything.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, sir, do you know who I am?
Speaker 1:I'm on a podcast and I have two YouTube channels, so we finished the 10 K and then we're wondering what's going to happen to the half and we find out Friday afternoon that the half's been shortened. I got to say something here. I think Run Disney handled it absolutely as well as they possibly could.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah.
Speaker 8:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yep, and look, my friends, if this was your first half, if this was your first dopey or goofy challenge, if this was your first time where you were going to maybe you only signed up for the half and you were going to run through the castle I get it that you're bitterly disappointed. I do. I understand.
Speaker 5:I'm disappointed too.
Speaker 1:You know we're disappointed for you on your behalf? Yes, we are. But I really was afraid that we were going to lose the whole race and I also was afraid we were going to we'll talk about it in a minute. I was afraid we were going to lose our meetup. And the thing is, had that storm, it was a frontal storm, so the front's moving basically west to east. If it speeds up by a mile an hour and gets there earlier, we miss the race. If it slows down by a mile an hour, it gets there later, we miss the meetup. It hit perfectly it couldn't hit any better.
Speaker 1:We really lucked out. But that's a tough decision and you cannot mess with lightning. I have talked to people. I mean you know that I live in Florida. I go over to the pool. Lightning in the summer is a common occurrence. If I hear thunder, there's a lightning detector over there. If I hear thunder, if I see the lightning detector go off, I'm out of there. Now, most of the time the lightning doesn't come to that immediate area. But in lightning you can only be wrong once. So I'm not taking a chance. So run. Disney did what they had to do. Now, to those of you who went out and did the extra six miles, you have my I Undivided admiration. Good for you. I saw there was only gonna be seven miles. I went.
Speaker 2:Yay, I Get a break so I have a question for everybody, and I've been holding on to this one Since marathon weekend, because I know I like to harass all of you, because we have our own Facebook chat and we, you know, talk on a daily Basis and and we utter some really great stuff and and usually I'm the one that chimes in and says folks, let's save it for the pod. So again I've been, I've been on this one for two weeks now and I have to ask Do you think the fact that this was the first time coast to coast was back, do you think that factored into their decision as to whether or not this race was gonna run or not?
Speaker 7:Oh. I think, the same thing. How do you have a coast-to-coast challenge and the half or half or full that weekend and you don't have a half?
Speaker 1:great I I think they would have done regardless.
Speaker 4:I think they would have done whatever they could to get whatever they could in Probably not they have done in the past, where they did the half marathon and marathon on the same day. They have done that, so I'm sure that would have been an option if it was. Available yeah, if there was good enough weather to at least do half the race. I could tell I understand why they chose that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. I remember that, you know. As you know, speculation started to fly, you know, during the course, the entire day. I went back to Gerald Resnick's video of the of marathon weekend 2017.
Speaker 2:That was the year that the that the half got cancelled because lightning rolled in around 2 am or something like that. Obviously, that puts the volunteers at risk and I remember it was at that point where, you know, they called it and they had, I think, the options where you could either get a full refund for the race you could run, yeah, part, yeah, you're right. You're right, jack, park ticket. You could run the half, but on Sunday during the full, and then they parked buses and I think that that year, animal kingdom was like the half marathon point or something like that, so you just run the half and get on the bus and get your medal, or you could run the full.
Speaker 2:And I remember it starting to have a mental game with myself of if that was going to be the situation, what was I going to do? Because I need, I want to get myself mentally prepped for that, and you know. And then you know, talk to my wife about you. She was flying down about you're bringing me more fuel and maybe like my hydration vest or something like that, and I I went into that thing that if that was going to be the case, I was going to run the full, because I had the blessing of the two most important people that I needed from that weekend, and that was number one, my wife, and number two, chris twigs, and the fact that both of them gave me their Blessing that I could potentially run a full on on Sunday but again it you know didn't happen and you know, so I'm glad to everyone.
Speaker 2:At least got to get some miles in during that day.
Speaker 7:My first run Disney race was the 2019 Star Wars 5k. Yeah, we got. I remember that one. We got pushed on the buses and then you know it's okay, get out of the course. We might be canceled, we might not.
Speaker 5:You got pushed on a bus, I got pushed into a bathroom. Is it a porta potty? I hope no. No, it was like the one that's near the up cut ball.
Speaker 7:Okay, so yeah, I got pushed back on a bus and they said we can run it, start it, and then that was. That was I granted it was a 5k. They gave us 2.1 miles so we lost a mile on it, but still, my first race was the late Cut, cut short. But you know what? I'm here still running because they made the right call and that's yeah.
Speaker 7:Well yeah, they did the right call. I mean, whatever they did was gonna be wrong in someone's eyes, and you know it's just unfortunate that people thought that you know they did the best they can do and them throwing that course together in a matter of how many hours.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think they had a back.
Speaker 1:I think they had contingency plans.
Speaker 7:But throwing all the moving, all the stuff around, all the mile markers, right.
Speaker 8:You know, yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 7:Yeah, overnight, so that morning boom.
Speaker 6:Mm-hmm, that's a good point, john.
Speaker 5:Well, I don't know if you know noticed how like closely it resembled the 10k course that you guys ran the day before, and so I mean I've said it on this podcast before and I'll say it again but that is the most perfect half of a half course that I have ever run. You get the, my the, you get the highway miles done in the beginning and then it's nothing but sights from there on out. Did I quote that directly, greg? So?
Speaker 4:The day prior. I know I mentioned earlier on in this episode that I was having chest pains, that the day prior we had gone to Animal Kingdom and we were waiting in line for the safari ride, and it Wasn't saying it, but it was getting really bad. I almost walked out of the line because when it was a long way and I just I had trouble standing there with all issues that I was having and I Was really, really worried that I wouldn't have been able to do the race or even finish it. I think deep down I knew I probably could have finished it, as long as maybe I walked it. But Personally and I know I feel bad thinking this but I was kind of really happy to get cut in half because of All the issues leading up to the race and I didn't have answers at the time of what was going on with me and never.
Speaker 4:And the more I worried, the worse it was getting and it was becoming a little bit harder to breathe. Um, so, yeah, so I decided to go from B corral to E corral to run with Lexi and Mark and I'm really happy that I did it because my it felt better to move. The problem was is like Clearly something was wrong and I wasn't able to run like I usually do, so I'm glad that I was able to be with them now. With that being said, we did get separated, I think, around mile three, I think yeah, it was, yeah, because I went to go get footage of, like, megara and Hercules.
Speaker 4:I was like, oh my god, this is awesome. And then I turned around, it was so dark and so crowded and congested because they were trying to get us going that I could not find them. I literally stood at, I think, the mile marker three for a few minutes. I'm like I still do not see them and I was like I was really nervous because I didn't bring my phone, because I was afraid my phone would get damaged. So that wasn't I. I don't know.
Speaker 4:That was probably not the best move to not bring it, but I was afraid not to have my phone, especially with Disneyland coming up so soon. So so I mean, and overall ended up being a great race, or even I felt so bad I got separated from you guys. But yeah, it was a great race and Disney did what they needed to do with the weather coming in and, honestly, they jam packed a whole lot of entertainment and I I was very, very impressed with it. It was just the only thing I had to say is because we were in a further back corral, it was sometimes like running in place.
Speaker 8:Yeah, it was super congested. I was one of the Maybe it was like 50 50. Half the people were really upset and half the people were kind of happy about it. But I was one of the ones that was happy about it because I Was not planning on running the half, because my body is just not where I could do two half-marathons Within a week from each other right now. So I was. They announced that they were doing 7.1. I was like I can do 7.1 and a half because I was gonna Save myself for Disneyland, but I feel like they crammed 13 miles of entertainment.
Speaker 4:I did a wonderful job with that, yeah, and then I don't know.
Speaker 8:I mean Jack and I got separated. So I mark and I finished pretty close to the balloon. Ladies. Well, I say that they cut the course Right after we passed that point.
Speaker 8:So I forgot about that they cut it again Towards the very end of the race, to where people did not go around world showcase, yeah. And then so it would be six miles instead of seven miles. And then they brought the balloon ladies to right in front of test track and, I remember, turned into mark. I'm like the balloon ladies are ahead of us and I'm like, how did that happen? We knew what our pace was and then I noticed that they weren't moving and People were just like stopping and taking pictures with them. I was like Character stuff. And then we realized they must have, you know, funneled people through and as I was standing in line to get on the bus Is when the bucket dropped out, that's right, clouds, that's right, and that's why they had to cut it again, because that forecast storm got there.
Speaker 2:Like see, it was really interesting to hear you say about. You know the two different camps of people. You know either those are really disappointed or really happy. I Fallen to the camp that was really disappointed because, I had one goal for this race weekend and that was To get the Main Street when it was still really really dark outside. Always yeah.
Speaker 2:I vote. I've gotten there. You know great, you know that, like the exterior lights are still on the Main Street shops and everything like that, but usually the Sun is like just peeking up over the castle and.
Speaker 2:I wanted that, like that run Disney PR, you know, material moment of, like you know just, you know, seeing Cinderella's castle and it being pitch dark, and you know, even though I didn't have a POT, I had been working really hard to, you know, speed up my pace is, and I had this plan, and, and Hollywood and another friend were gonna pace me, you know to, to get me there, and everything like that, and obviously that that all fell apart. Plus, I had the best corral placement I have ever had for marathon weekend. I got, you know, I got into see and, but again it just it didn't pan out and and and that's okay, there's gonna be more run Disney races. There's gonna be other opportunities for me to run down Main Street USA. But going back to your comment, though, about cramming a half marathon Amount of entertainment into that course, folks, the national nightmare is over.
Speaker 2:I Finally got my picture with power line Max, because I I saw that a list had gone, leaked, of the characters once again, and I I knew that, okay, I'm like, I have this time goal to get the Main Street, and then I'm like, and then I'm just gonna shut it down and I'm just gonna have a lot of fun. And then when that list came out and I saw him, I'm like crap, I'm gonna have to run a lot further because I I didn't want to be in a Massively long line. So the fact that the course got cut, I was like, oh, I really hope they still have him, and and what?
Speaker 2:and what he was out behind living with the land, I think yes, re-entered up, cut yeah, so I.
Speaker 2:Remember I was running along, because I actually spent a majority of that race by myself, because, you know, other people were, you know, wanting to save their legs for you know, for the marathon the next day, which I totally respected.
Speaker 2:So I'm just jogging along all by myself and you know, I see this relatively short line but I can't see who the character is and in all of a sudden I get up there and I see him and I'm like I'm merely doing the bowed face and I get into the line and, no joke, within 30 seconds.
Speaker 2:I had a text from John, I had a text from our friend, tara, I had a text from my buddy, david, and I had a text from Hollywood, all in like, just crammed in, greg, power line, max, mile four, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, I just got in line and then all of a sudden, I see David in Hollywood, about 20 people Ahead of me, and they had a whole big group of people and they're like Greg, get up here, get up here. And then, you know, so I, like you know, politely, like you know, made my way forward and they're like you're part of this group shot. And I thought to myself no, I've waited for this moment. I'm getting my photo by myself. I let that group of 20 get their photo and then let them move on, and I had my shining Lori, so good way to stand up everybody way to see eye to eye.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad, that happened and and Craig from beyond the mouse, if you're listening, I hope you got that moment for you as well, sir good deal I have.
Speaker 1:I have one last comment here about this shortened event. Again, kudos to those of you who did the other six miles were proud of you. Those of you who didn't like me, you finished your challenge, you did. You did the mileage that run Disney defined as the dopey challenge that weekend and you did it. So a couple weeks later, did it or didn't do it doesn't make that big of a difference. I just know I got a dopey challenge medal on my lawn. I earned it and you did too.
Speaker 8:Hey, that just made the the marathon, with a few less miles on your legs. What here's?
Speaker 5:the, the experience that I had, which is a little different, as I had decided last minute that, because of the the things that I want to be doing professionally, I was gonna try to save my legs from doing a marathon. And so I was thinking, you know, I'm just gonna, I signed up for goofy but I'm just gonna do the half and when the half got cut short, I said, well, this is a really rare opportunity where I can run the miles the next day. So I wasn't really that bummed about missing the six miles and I thought I'll just start the marathon. And then, you know, maybe Greg is at TTC and I can meet up with him and share with him. So it was kind of a weird, weird little experience. I didn't have that kind of Down feeling.
Speaker 5:But I know that Jen that I was running with it was her first goofy and she struggled with that a lot and she took that, she took that piece of Wisdom that you're saying, bob, to heart and I think that really helped her through. It is Not only do we, not only do we go to the parks and we get all these extra miles in that day and we're doing all of this, we are really, really walking a lot that whole weekend, probably doubling our mileage, if I could guess. But but you're right, she did do the challenge that was laid out in front of her and she crushed it.
Speaker 7:So, those metals, she earned them one thing that I saw on the half marathon course Half half marathon course, that was pretty interesting. The first character stop was what, like three quarters of a mile in and and so we're coming back around. We see the balloon ladies coming by, that character stuff and all of a sudden we see people Running across the median back to the other side of the road. I'm like, oh my god, they're cutting the course. No, they saw that the because the first character. I forget who it was. I think it might have been Berlin or yeah, it was something like that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, but he was there in the beginning.
Speaker 7:Yeah, when they saw that the line was empty, they were cutting across the course to get the picture. And they get the picture. Oh and then they're running back across. Then you see the guys go, guys, characters closed, characters closed. You got it. Don't come across the median, oh my gosh, I missed that. Who would have thought that I'm like? I'm gonna get we get cheaters here that are cutting out three and three and a half miles, but no, they were they're adding extra miles to get a photo.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and then pop, going off of what you were saying about you know Everyone, you're taking that extra effort that you know if you wanted to get 13.1 on your watch for that day, again, it was awesome to see. Again it was. It was shades of you know, seeing videos and and social media posts from you know what happened in 2017. I just want to offer a, a big thank you to our community because when the news went down, I Jack and Lexi and I were all staying at pop and so we like pow wowed in the food court, that the chat about things. And then I had started talking with Kristen over at the dopey strong group and I know she was trying to figure out what to do because you know she had so many clients that were trying to figure out. You know, do I do the whole 13 or? And then you know so then that's when we came up with that idea of the go with the flow six Miler that we were gonna, you know, do a little bit later in the morning on Saturday, once everyone had gone back.
Speaker 2:But obviously we did end up canceling again. I know it was an impromptu thing. It was, you know, wasn't extremely, extremely organized by any means whatsoever. But I just want to offer apologies that you know if you did have your heart set on Joining us for that. But again, you know, just like what run Disney said, you know there was still a very high risk for lightning at that point. So that's why you know we did scrap it out of everybody's safety and everything like that. But for those of you that did get out there whether it was our glass lake, crescent Lake, I know a lot of people you know at the, the moderates and the deluxe is that actually have the gyms. You know went on the treadmill and got you know they're final six miles in.
Speaker 5:People were there before the races doing yeah in the parking lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for those of you that did that, congratulations, kudos the way to be determined and everything like that. And again, congratulations to everyone who decided not to do that, whether that's saving your legs or or, you know, just choosing not to. But you know, I'm just, I'm very proud of the run Disney community in general, forgoing with the flow and you know still, you know taking their lumps and Figuring out what was best for them so that they could still have a safe but a magical race weekend.
Speaker 1:That afternoon we had leather was gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Again, we sure got lucky. We had an amazing turnout at our meetup. I'm sure you were all there for the cookies. Normally, king, that was a lot of work, but golly it was Wonderful. I I love seeing so many people. I'll tell you what else I love. I love about this rise and run family. I try to get around and see absolutely as many people as I can, but it doesn't matter, because you're visiting with one another, and I thought that was spectacular and I really appreciated that. I do want to shout out to Alan and Grace for making I don't know how many Hundreds of those bracelets that they made for distribution not only to the rise and run family to but to others in the run Disney family. Great to see both of them. Those were really appreciated, though that mine will be with me for a long time.
Speaker 5:I hope yours will too as well as well as Sarah and Shawnee.
Speaker 4:I loved all the bracelets, you guys. Thank you so much. I mean, I just was, yeah.
Speaker 8:All, all the way through Disney and races, and every time I looked at it just made me smile.
Speaker 1:My first friendship bracelet I've gotten as an adult, I Started turning circles to the right because my right arm the drag.
Speaker 1:But hey, love it guys love it, absolutely love it. I can't remember where I got them all. I had so many on, including the one that John gave us last year. Yeah, I had so many on that. A Racer on the course who I'm not sure knew me may have, I'm not sure, said hey, I see you were in bracelets, here's another one. That was cool. So I did. I really did enjoy and appreciate that. But Gosh, that was so much fun. I enjoyed it. We Becky. I got there at 230, I believe. Becky wanted to establish a beach head. I mean, it's right on the lake. You know she wanted to get a table and she figured we branch out from there, which is exactly what we did, but by 235. I Don't want to say it was crowded, but there must have been a dozen people there by 235. And yeah, when.
Speaker 5:I showed up at 3, when the when the event was supposed to start. Yeah we're already several people there like I would say probably 30 40 people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were a lot. I did not get the cookies. They were in the car and Becky kept saying well, people are here to get the cookies. I said no, I said that we'd start this at three o'clock. I'm not gonna have people showing up at three o'clock and have all the cookies be gone because so many people were there early. But it was, it was wonderful. I don't want to again you start mentioning names. I did want to single out Alan and grace for all their hard work on those bracelets and I'm glad. I'm glad you pointed out the others as well. Thank you very much. But just, it was awesome guys, it was awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. It's amazing To go back to a point that you made, bob, earlier is that we have made such wonderful friendships within this community, and but I think what is a testament to the strong bond of our community is what you said before is that People didn't need to talk to the seven of us.
Speaker 2:People were talking to each other and sharing stories and, and you know, sharing experiences or coming up with pace groups or Creating friendships are gonna last forever. Or you know, future roommates for races and everything like that, dining buddies and, and that's that's what this podcast set out to do, you know, two and a half years ago. And to see that the fruits of the labor of the podcast turn into that is Just so special to see and I'm so proud of of this community and what they have done for one another to support each other, is is truly special, and the fact that, yeah, it's just gonna continue to grow and grow and grow is is just a very, very beautiful thing. So thank you to everybody who came out this weekend. We really do appreciate it.
Speaker 1:It was awesome. It was awesome. We're gonna see you again. All right, we, even though we've been talking nearly an hour, let's get to the biggie. Let's get to the marathon and Thoughts on the marathon. I think John, alicia, allie and I completed the marathon this year. Who would like to kick it off?
Speaker 6:Can I? Only because I also wanna give a shout out to Alan and Grace Young. I got to walk from almost where security was to where our meetup spot is, pre-race with them and chat with them, so that was really cool. So I just wanted to give them a special shout out. I really enjoyed that experience.
Speaker 1:Lovely people both of them, oh, absolutely Again. What a wonderful addition to the family here. And I know that's first I met Grace. Well, that's first I met Alan too, but I've been on Zoom and chatted with Alan in the past. Just lovely people, alicia. Yes yes, Really really appreciated having him with.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I enjoyed meeting them too.
Speaker 6:For the actual marathon. It was not my worst marathon, but the rain was not fun. Yeah, I was really really grateful for Greg For myself. When it started raining. I was just coming into the TTC parking lot and I knew Greg was there and I knew where he was and he was under a covering, so I got to stop for a couple of seconds and say hello.
Speaker 6:So I really appreciated Greg being there. And then my mom went to Animal Kingdom. She actually brought me dry clothes, but I didn't end up changing because I thought it was gonna be harder to get the wet stuff off and get new stuff on.
Speaker 6:But overall I really enjoyed the marathon. I know a lot of people said they didn't like this course Besides, for there was a lot of uphills and I struggled with uphills, but besides that I really enjoyed it. I liked that I got to see a lot of friends going into Animal Kingdom and at Blizzard Beach, so that was really fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was the Blizzard Beach thing. It's just another road. The past couple of years we've done Blizzard Beach, though it's been hot and the sun is beating down, so this time it was cloudy and rainy. It was just another part of the course.
Speaker 4:Bring back ESPN.
Speaker 1:I'd like that. I don't know. Welcome to Jack. I would like that, jack, I would.
Speaker 5:I started this marathon with John and Rachel and they found me in the corral and I was very nervous about starting this because I knew that I wanted to get the six miles in. But that was Saturday when I was thinking that. And then Sunday rolled around and I started thinking I can do this and I prepared and I brought all the gels and I brought all of the socks which I'll talk about in a second and I was mentally prepared. But I knew that I had to get to the front of Corral Sea and it was really nice to be able to. When we got in there During the half marathon I usually look for Bob or Greg, or I try to find someone who's in my corral and it's honestly usually Greg and we start together.
Speaker 5:And I didn't see Greg on Saturday and so then the next day I didn't see any of my rise and run podcaster buds, and so when I saw John and Rachel wave at me and text me and say we're here, that was comforting to me, so that eased a little of the anxiety that I had and it was just really nice. And then Erin was also in there from the We'll Run For podcast and it was just really nice to be with family when I was so nervous. And then it started and we just did our thing and we ran our intervals and it just felt like we were going. But in my head, mentally, it was really a struggle because I hadn't come in prepared to run a marathon and I was having all of this.
Speaker 5:What do they call it? Imposter syndrome maybe? But I just felt like, oh, why am I here? Why am I doing this? I'm not gonna be able to finish this. What am I doing? Doing? Who am I to think that I can do this? And then it started pouring and it started and it wasn't supposed to rain and it started pouring and I think it mentally broke me when it started raining.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, and I started just being like I'm gonna do it. And then I realized I started having a theory about marathons and I realized that every marathon's really hard been really hard, for me especially when I start out strong and then I'll get to that point where I'll go.
Speaker 5:I start going, what am I doing? And like I'm in pain and why am I doing this and can I actually go on? Can I do another 13 miles of this? And once I mentally break, it's like my whole brain cracks open and a light starts shining out of it and I just go. I was meant to do this and I can do this.
Speaker 6:And I just laser focus.
Speaker 5:And I feel like you have to be this caterpillar in a cocoon every time you do a marathon and then, at the point at which you think I can't go on any farther, you need to crack open and become a butterfly and fly the rest of the race. So that was kind of the experience I had when it started raining. Now I will say all of you guys who said that you shouldn't bring extra socks to a marathon, I am now going to say I told you so because my friends are trying to get the entire race and I had a lot of fun and I actually I really want to thank Greg as well for being there at the TTC and I think you knew when you saw me that I was going to start keep running, cause I said to you I'll probably stop and share with you. And then you gave me a big hug and you said I'm proud of you, go get them and or go get that medal. I think is what you said, and that was really, really awesome. And you also did me a big solid by. I don't think you did it specifically for me. I think you you stayed and cheered for everyone, because I know that's just the type of person you are. But I asked you if you could get me the balloon ladies bib number and you came through with it and I really needed that in this race, cause I did finish pretty close to the balloon ladies. So thank you for that. But then, all in all, I just stayed like laser focused.
Speaker 5:I was a little disappointed I didn't see Bob, because you know, bob is kind of one of those anchor people that I see every single race in the corral. I did see Alicia, I saw Jack and Lexie. Of course I started with Greg, I mean, I started with John and I saw Greg, but I didn't see Bob and that really upset me during the race. So when we were, when we're loading in for the start line, I kept I was in the corral sea, I knew he was in corral D I kept looking for him. I didn't see him and I just went man, that's such a bummer. Maybe I'll see him on the course. I didn't see him the entire course and then, as I was coming out through the shoot, I was like, can you go and pick up my race box? I turned to my left and I went oh, hey, bob.
Speaker 5:He was right there next to me. So I was very fortunate to get to see all of you guys and and I mean that was really special marathon for me.
Speaker 4:You did amazing Well. I'm proud of you.
Speaker 7:I didn't have no doubts you were doing it. You looked at your focused in the corral that morning. You put on a good face if you're nervous.
Speaker 5:Oh, thanks, I appreciate it. A lot of my nerves being gone were because of you, john, so thank you.
Speaker 4:I'm so sorry I did end up joining you in the morning.
Speaker 5:I know, I know, but you made the right choice, Jack. You know, without knowing what was going on with your body. Like you, definitely made the right choice, I know in retrospect maybe you could have run it, but you didn't know that at the time and I think it was smart to not try.
Speaker 4:Well, like I'm happy with my decision. Was it easy? No, because I woke up the best I felt all week, but I also felt very kind of shaky in the morning and weak it was really weird. Ma'am, I'm so proud of all you guys watching you guys on the course and seeing you guys and hugging you guys. That, to me, is worth every bit of not being able to run.
Speaker 5:It meant a lot Actually, like when I saw you twice.
Speaker 6:I was just going to say I saw you twice.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you guys are sneaky like that. The second time I saw you I was like crying. I was so excited to see you guys again.
Speaker 8:Yeah, so Jack and I cheered right before my 19 outside of Coronado and, if you've been on social media, we did not see any rude people at that time, oh yeah. And we did not get yelled at or anything.
Speaker 2:I was like Lexie, were you the one that went to McDonald's?
Speaker 8:Yes, it was me, Because I can eat McDonald's. I'm gluten free if nobody knows.
Speaker 8:So I don't eat at McDonald's, but no, we were standing there. There was a group of maybe, when we got there, 12 people, 15 people, and we were right at the curve, so the guy didn't let us on the bridge and they didn't let us on the course or on the road. So we were right at the corner of the sidewalk. That was like maybe eight feet long and I mean we cheered there for a while and saw everybody and we were watching the tracker and we got really upset because whenever we first got there, we were like, oh, I think we missed Alicia.
Speaker 5:I know I'm really worried.
Speaker 8:Because your tracker had you already passed 19 when we got there and we were like I don't know where she is. And then the same thing happened with Bob and we're like I think he passed us, I don't know. And then, lo and behold, five minutes later, there you come, and then we were going to go to the finish and then we're like no, let's go to mile 24 and give them a little boost right before you enter the parks and have that boost of adrenaline.
Speaker 8:And that was really fun to see all of you guys there too and all of the listeners who came up and hugged us and said hello. I know some people just waved and didn't come hug us, but I understand not wanting to take extra steps whenever you're running a marathon. But it was so good to just be able to be there and cheer on everyone who said hello and all the awesome costumes.
Speaker 6:And it was wonderful, speaking of the listeners the amount of listeners that I saw, on course that recognized me and said, alicia and yell to me. Thank you for doing that, because I'm not usually the one Except for that race I'm usually wearing a mask, so a lot of people don't recognize me, and so the fact that I got recognition really helped get me to keep going, and so I appreciate that. And I also appreciate that you took the time to say hello, because I know some people are scared and we're not scary, I promise. We appreciate you saying hello, so thank you. You're a little sweaty hug.
Speaker 4:You're a little scary.
Speaker 1:Alicia A little.
Speaker 4:You're scary, there you go.
Speaker 7:I got it. I got it, rachel, for this event this whole weekend, which was really a great experience first time doing it. Every race says you're giving up your race, but you're also that person's putting their race in your hands, so you've got to make sure that you get them through, which was a little nerve-wracking for me, like I go, because my training cycle was not what I wanted it to be. So I was a little nervous about the marathon but I said I'll get through it. But it was a fun race. I mean Miles. When we came underneath the Water Bridge by Magic Kingdom, a little bit of drizzle and I'm like, oh, it wasn't supposed to rain today.
Speaker 6:No.
Speaker 7:Then we got a lot of drizzle coming in. Yeah, Then I see the text. Greg, I'm by the TTC. He wasn't by the T-cups, but Greg was there for me. My mile 10 buddy was a little early, but it was great to see you, Greg.
Speaker 2:No, I was debating on what I wanted to do in terms of cheering and I thought about doing everything I could to get over the Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 2:But I was just having so much fun at the TTC and had the opportunity just to see all of you and so many people that that plan of spending a little bit at the TTC and then hopping on the monorail to get onto Main Street it would have been impossible, because when I got to the TTC to start cheering, I got there maybe around 525.
Speaker 2:It was already three deep there and I was like, if it's three deep here, it's going to be like 10 deep on Main Street and I wouldn't be able to see anybody. So then I made the decision in that moment that it was more important for me to be able to see the people that I love and care about and cheer them on in a more intimate setting, as opposed to getting on the grand and glorious backdrop and everything like that. So, john, I do apologize I will say the only beef that and I've already told you this before but the fact that as I was following tracking and I knew you were getting your margarita, I thought for sure you were going to bring me one.
Speaker 2:And the fact that you didn't it did break my heart a little bit, but I know that maybe we'll have that opportunity next year.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that was fun. So then going down Main Street I mean those people on Main Street were amazing because they're out in the rain, pouring rain, cheering us on like it was a sunny day. They didn't care, so, which I thought that gave us a lot of energy going through Magic Kingdom, and which was great. Then we just basically ran the rest of the way to Animal Kingdom, got to mile third, got that to the 30K mark I had to do my own math this year because Greg wasn't with me, but it worked out. And Blizzard Beach wasn't as bad like everybody said. It was, because it wasn't hot, it was just. But there was no aid station in there, which I thought there would have been an aid station there. Then, going behind Blizzard Beach, we are seeing the McDonald's across the street and it's like do we play Frogger and get some hash browns or do we just keep going?
Speaker 4:Frogger, frogger Listen.
Speaker 2:I've heard things I saw an Instagram video years ago about apparently, if you're desperate, if you're hitting the wall, all you need to do is find the McDonald's on your route, grab a hash brown and a Coke and apparently it changes your life.
Speaker 7:Yep. Then on the back stretch, there we met up with Alan and Grace, which was great to see, oh, that's cool. You know, got to run with them for a little bit. Then oh I forgot to say going into Blizzard Beach. For the last three years I've seen Lexi giving us the cheer on, which is like another. I guess Marathon staple for me is seeing Lexi by Coronado every year, and Jack was there too. But you know.
Speaker 4:Thanks, and that is good of a cheer. Well, you know what when Lexi was I'm gonna put a hood on and just cover my face next time.
Speaker 7:I know Marathon week in Coronado. Lexi's gonna be there for us.
Speaker 8:Yes, that's my spot.
Speaker 7:That's her spot. And then the big surprise was coming in through Marathon, coming in through Epcot, seeing Lexi and Jack at mile 24, gave us a great boost. And I told Lexi, is there anything I get you? I said, yeah, the last two miles, can you run it for me? But yeah, but we were good.
Speaker 5:I didn't think of that. I should have said that too. Did they do it?
Speaker 7:No, they didn't wanna do it. I tried to get my bib. It was a little sketchy going on over there.
Speaker 8:I mean, I look like a John, so I could take on those last two miles for ya.
Speaker 7:And my wife ran the 5K and a John bib because Disney messed up the registration. I don't wanna be like a bib thief. I go no, you're fine. Then when we're getting there to Mexico, I go Rachel, margaritas. I go yep. So we got that Margarita and walked the rest of it in and that was one of my bucket list items. Is getting that margarita? Bucket list item is the rest of you guys.
Speaker 5:No, I do have one quick thing to also add to. It is that we did see Greg twice During the marathon, as well, because I was at the finish line? Yes, he was, and that was really special too. It was nice to get a hug at the finish line from my buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I wasn't sure you know, in terms of a timing perspective like, how to handle everything. So once the the balloon, ladies past the TTC of my wife and daughter were going out To start their day in Magic Kingdom, so I knew I had some time so I wanted to join up with them and Let me tell you you want to talk about the most opportune time to get rides done on a Walt Disney World vacation. It's on Marathon Sunday he's. In the span of 90 minutes I got six attractions done, including walking onto mine train, which wow my mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no joke. Yeah, the early entry was a little delayed because they were still trying to filter out the last couple of runners and spectators off of Main Street, so they, so we probably got let in around like 840 or something like that. But yeah, we got so much done and then I was like, listen, I'm gonna go to the the finish line and cheer. You know, got a little bit of sunburn, but that was well worth it To to see everybody. So but yet now I had in my first ever cheering experience. I had an absolute blast. Did I have FOMO? Absolutely? But being able to just see everybody and cheer them on.
Speaker 2:And and, ali, I'm glad that I Mentally helped you in a couple of different ways, because yeah after you left I got a little nervous over the course the rest of the day because Not many people know this, but when it comes to sporting events I can get very, very passionate and, like when I was in college in the basketball band, I've said some things to some referees that I should probably get my Mouthwashed. I was so poor.
Speaker 4:I don't believe it, Captain?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, and I remember and I remember I saw I saw David and I was like really tuned up and like the whole cheering mode and apparently I gave him some like Pep talk that included a couple of F bombs in it and stuff like that and he admitted to me later on that day that that was exactly what he needed, so I was very glad to hear that and I think I was kind of on that level with you, ali, but but maybe not as many F bombs.
Speaker 2:The only thing I remember saying to you because, again, at this point I knew you were, you know, gonna, you know, take a little bit of a break from running, everything like that I remember looking at you and being like, if you're taking the break, you're doing this damn thing. Yeah so, of course, and then after you left, I'm like I hope I wasn't too harsh.
Speaker 2:But, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I had so much fun doing it. I was just glad to be able to cheer for so many people in so many different spots and, you know, getting Getting the little heart from Alicia she was, you know, running by at the end. It was really cool. Bob, I I was screaming your name, I was losing my voice at the end because I saw you Coming in and I'll let you know. Obviously I don't want to steal your thunder in terms of your story, but I knew I wasn't gonna get you because at that point you locked eyes with Jeff Galloway and you just started Bolting towards him. So I knew I wasn't gonna get to you. But it was just. It was so wonderful to see everybody. So but again, if I said any Explicitives and my cheering towards you over the course, I I apologize and I promise it comes from a place of love.
Speaker 5:Well, when I saw Bob at the end and I, I, I looked at him, I, I was like what, what was your adventure? Like you know, because I didn't see you the whole marathon. And and I wonder, bob, how?
Speaker 1:was your marathon? I don't think a lot of folks did, because I started out in the AWD area. Yes, I Did send a note, but I guess Nobody realized where I was. I didn't. I've been listening lovingly to everything and this was a very emotional weekend for me and I've been trying to Figure out what I want to say and how to put things into perspective. Let's start here.
Speaker 1:I've known Kim me shoe and her son Woody for I Don't know eight or nine years. I, kim and I were talking. I don't know how we first met, but we met a long time ago and then I met Woody, I Guess about 2018 or 19. It was at the Space Coast have Marathon. So I've I've pushed him before. I Think most of our friends know that I pushed Woody in his chair for most of the marathon. I did have help, did have help Kim pushed some, mom pushed some and a couple friends of Kim's caught us. Kelly and Christine caught us about halfway through and helped also Until we got to the hills. The hills were reserved for Bob, but that's fine. That's what I wanted.
Speaker 1:I Wasn't sure it was going to work, that I'd be able to start with them and I knew if I had to start from D. I wouldn't catch them because you know the AWD started like B2 or something like that. But once we got going and once we got started, any died. Any doubts I had about finishing the marathon were gone. I Knew I was going to finish it Absolutely. I knew Woody would pull me through. He pulled me through on a half marathon while I was wearing a boot. I knew he could pull me through in a full marathon. There there is a fair amount. I got a fair amount of reaction, instagram and Facebook and, believe me, my friends, it's appreciated. I appreciate your kind words, your comments. I take them the heart. They mean a lot to me. But the real heroes of this story that we can't overlook are Kim and Woody. Kim Did the first three races. She did to she and Woody did dopey for crying out loud. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:She did the first three races without me. I don't know if she had help in them or not, but she did him without me. It's Push in the chair is not that hard. It's not hard on level ground. Woody goes about 175 and the chair probably goes another 20 or 30 pounds. It's about 200 pounds and On level ground it's fine. It is a challenge to push uphill. My back was pretty sore at the end of the event. It's an even. I Want to say it's a bigger challenge going downhill Because, especially when it was wet, I was afraid to like pull it so that it doesn't go break the brakes are for decoration.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, the brakes are so wonder your back hurts. And the other part is the front wheel doesn't turn, so when you need to turn you have to push down on the chair.
Speaker 5:Oh, and you pivot it or two wheels.
Speaker 1:Oh now again, I probably push 20 miles my best estimate, Because Kelly helped quite a bit, especially towards the end on the level ground. But then the hills became Bob territory. Okay, we're in Bob territory. When we we started out my idea I was just obsessed with Kim and I said, hey, let's run 1530 and walk every other mile. We did that for a mile and I knew Kim couldn't keep up, but it worked out and by the time we finished we were keeping a decent walking pace. We finished at a less than a 16 minute pace. Oh, by the way, I had a poncho. I brought a poncho with, so I kept it on for a while. I also ran into a perfect marathoner on the course. No, I literally ran into a perfect marathon.
Speaker 5:Oh, no I.
Speaker 1:Told twigs. I was trying to help him out in his in his quest to become the last man standing that the diagram chair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the diagram chair is so long that it's tough and people don't see it, so I Didn't really hit him. But what happens is if I'm pushing and someone decides they're going to cut left or right in front of me, they're gonna hit the chair. There's nothing I can do about it. Look, I've been. I've been pointing to this weekend. My first marathon was in. My first dopey was 2019 and I adopted the Instagram handle Bob is 65 and dopey. And Then I did the next year and somebody said you're gonna change it. I said nope, not till I get to 70. So I've been pointing to this one for a while. It's been a major goal. Especially April 2020 is when I, when I hurt my Achilles tendon for the first time and then I dealt with three years of rehab, two surgeries, a couple of significant Hamstring strains, falling through a bridge Remember one member of the falling through a bridge episode? That's like two years ago. I Still have the lump on the side of my leg no joke, breaking a toe. It was one thing after another. So this goal was significant. And again, when I knew, when I, when I knew I was teaming up with Woody and that's that's the deal. That was it. That's a team. When you do that, I Knew I was gonna make it. I looked it up 6344 people finished the dopey this year. 6307 of them were younger than me.
Speaker 1:I, in our training I kept visualizing the end of the race, how I would come around the corner and see the choir and this is part of why I didn't see you, greg, because I had tunnel vision. I saw the choir. I stopped with a picture in front of the choir with Woody that was awesome Came down and I could visualize again that I'd see Jeff and then I'd see the race announcers and then we crossed the finish line. So I did see Jeff. I Gave him a big old hug and he said to me we did it. And I said, yeah, we did, because he's as much a part of this for me as anybody else saw. Riley was first big handshake, big hug with John. Chris had just got a fist bump but she had the microphone in her hand and she was very kind and I was with at this time. I was with Kelly who had helped push and we decided we were gonna run across the finish line. I actually was feeling good. I could have run Quite a bit at the end here I was feeling quite good.
Speaker 1:We ran across the finish line and the fella in front of us Got across the finish line, took and I am not exaggerating, friends two steps and came to a dead Stop directly in front of the chair. Well, I hit him and I did. I really didn't feel bad about it. He didn't get hurt. The the run Disney folks who are there at the finish line saw this happening. They saw him stop. They tried to grab him and pull him, but Didn't work. Didn't work, didn't work. We hit him. So look, finishing Becoming 70 in dopey. It was a big deal, it was emotional and I'm glad I got to share it with you guys.
Speaker 5:I'm so glad I got to share it with you too, bob. I also forgot to mention too you know you mentioned people carrying you through the race, someone pulling you through the race Jen, was that for me? Heidi was that for me? Heidi was that for me? You guys cheering was that for me? Meeting people that Listen to the podcast, that it became my new friends on the course was that for me? And I think a lot of people have that unique experience. I don't think that you can get through a marathon alone Very easily. I know some people do it, but it's not been my experience in the last four that I've run that that you can. I think you really do need that support and and that family and I think that it's one of the greatest things about this podcast that we've Built as a family of friends who can get us through these amazing goals.
Speaker 2:Two things I wanted to mention. You know, hearing your experiences, bob. First, you know there are a lot of things cheering and seeing people finish that really make me smile. But nothing makes me smile more than than Woody's smile and his excitement and just Jubilation that he has participating in these events is is awesome. I mean, you know, even seeing him at the finish line, you know, drinking his fireball shot.
Speaker 2:I mean he must have given me ten fist bumps and that was just. That was amazing. So I was, I was very glad and blessed to be able to see that that moment. But the one thing I didn't want to follow up on really briefly though, you know, speaking of you, know you starting out with, you know, with Woody in the AWD corral.
Speaker 2:Obviously, I didn't hear about everybody's experiences, but I did have the opportunity to talk to both Kayla and Tiffany, who we had on a couple of episodes ago, to compare and contrast their experiences From what happened with marathon weekend and with wine and dine and the trials and tribulations that are going on there. I am happy to report that, at least from the two of their perspectives, things were better this race weekend. So, for those of you that have been championing these athletes, thank you so much. And you know sharing Kayla's messages and Tiffany's messages and you know sharing that podcast episode. You know I really hope that did instill some positive change, not only within the AWD community itself, but also run Disney, recognizing that things needed to change.
Speaker 2:But I will say, though, from what I understand, though, while things were massively better, there is still room for improvement. You know, it sounds like you know, some people who got accommodations, other people with the same disabilities did not get those accommodations. So obviously we still need to champion for those people that need, you know, the special assistance and everything like that. But again, I just I want to. I do want to tip my hat, though, to run Disney for taking the feedback and making suggestions so that everyone could have a safe racing experience.
Speaker 6:On that note too, I just want to give extra kudos to both John and Bob for being guides and helpers with the athletes with disabilities that they helped on the course, and I also just want to say to each and every one of my co-hosts how proud I am of every one of you for what you did this weekend.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Okay, yeah, emotional event even now. Friends, if you did it, you know you get it. If you haven't, you will, I hope, and you'll understand and enjoy it. It's just a unique experience Monday. Monday, the parks, any notes? I mean it's fun, it's still. There's a big buzz about everybody finishing. Most people stay. I guess locals go home, but most folks stay. I'm a quasi local. We stay the next day and we had a good time. John and I went to breakfast, made it over to Magic Kingdom Park, saw our friends, the run dopey girls, they saw us.
Speaker 7:The photo bomb just bought a bomb.
Speaker 1:This, yeah, that was fun. I enjoyed that. John, you got to ride Tron, I didn't. It our our reservation time ending up being about our dinner time. Becky and I went up to California Grill for dinner, so we didn't make it over there I said.
Speaker 7:I said goodbye to Bob like three times that day, that's true. So, bob, see you later. Okay, see you whenever we come down again, boom, then we find Bob it over here. Then boom again, there's Bob, again we. So it's like you know what. We didn't want the weekend to end. It was a really good weekend.
Speaker 6:Bob, it's not just me.
Speaker 7:Well, how do you miss Bob?
Speaker 6:Right, that's the thing. If he's there, you're gonna see him, and then it's hi Bob.
Speaker 1:Well, that's like when we're rolling through Blizzard Beach and or anytime it was an out and back, so many people, and Kelly turns to me and goes do you know everybody? I said no, I don't. I don't a lot of them. A lot of them know me, but I don't know them all.
Speaker 8:It was so funny, the police officer that was standing by us in Coronado. He was like I didn't realize I was standing by celebrities.
Speaker 1:It's fun, my friends. It's fun and we appreciate it. We genuinely do.
Speaker 5:It was a really busy weekend this weekend. I feel like it's normally very busy on Marathon weekend, but it seemed extra busy in the parks Saturday, sunday and Monday.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think so too. Yeah, I think it did. Allie. Now, greg, you spent the best part of the week there, didn't you?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I made the decision because, even though I enjoyed running Dopey last year, it mentally did something to me where I didn't like the fact that it was running the race, getting up, recovering. I would get to spend maybe four hours with my family and then I'd have to depart to you know, go back and get ready for the next day.
Speaker 2:So we made the decision that they were going to come down later and then I was going to spend the entire week. So from a crowd perspective, yeah, things definitely did dip down, especially, I want to say, by Tuesday. But what was also fun, though, was that we got to stay through. By staying through the whole week, we got to go to the first couple of days of Festival of the Arts or as I like to call it, hashtag farts and that was a lot of fun to you know, to check out all the artists and their artwork.
Speaker 2:And I got a postcard of a power line goofy movie montage, which was pretty cool. My daughter wanted the elusive popcorn bucket which thankfully you did not have to wait in a seven hour line for everything like that.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, staying that whole week. You know if you're looking to do that. You know if you want to add days onto the end of your trip as opposed to the beginning, I would definitely recommend that. You know, middle of the week was pretty quiet now, greg, as you got towards the weekend because of Martin Luther King and hashtag farts.
Speaker 2:You know, things did pick up a little bit and then the weather was all over the place. There would be one day where it was, you know, 75 and super humid, and then, our last day, we were shivering, so, but again that's always the gamble that Tueson Tuesday night.
Speaker 5:That was crazy, yeah, so it's a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1:Greg, it's 75 today in the overnight low. We have wind chill warnings here down to 25 degrees. Wow yeah, temperature won't get there. Temperature get down to 40 or so, but the winds are going to kick up.
Speaker 7:So to go back to Epcot and watch Illuminus again.
Speaker 2:Oh god, you know what it's funny. So yeah, we so I know a bunch of us were going to try and meet up at Epcot that night and ended up just being John and I and the Bennett and the Bennett's joined us and we watched Illuminus. And it was funny because I remember going up to everybody and I was like you remember that hot take about I went harmonious back. I really want it back now because Illuminus oh boy, I did not like that show one bit Really. No, oh no.
Speaker 1:I never said it. No, I didn't see it either.
Speaker 2:I mean Grant, I'm very glad that the infrastructure for that show is a lot lower. You know, key, you know you don't have tacos out on World Show Gays Lagoon. But the fact that there was music about, or they were talking about, like the circle of life and death and everything, and then there was this mashup of Toy Story music with Coco, of like the most depressing songs, it made zero sense to me. And I remember, you know, I even said to my wife I'm like I never need to watch this again. So so consider me still on the bandwagon of Bring Harmonious back.
Speaker 4:Wait. So it's like that kite show in Animal Kingdom, where it's like they go around the kites look cool and then all of a sudden, when they go to the ground, they look like they're dying.
Speaker 2:I never saw Kite Tales but, so I don't know how to compare. But yeah, this was different thing.
Speaker 7:It. I see it being replaced in a matter of a year and a half. Yeah.
Speaker 5:We did the next day. We did I think we did Magic Kingdom in the morning, took our metal pictures and then we went and hung out with you and your family, right, greg, that?
Speaker 2:night. Yeah, you and your new bestie.
Speaker 5:Me and my new bestie, who we're. Our album drops next month. Me and my new bestie and we rode Slinky Dog and I feel like that was like the best way to end a wonderful weekend Was just to ride a roller coaster on out into the sunset.
Speaker 1:Very nice, very nice. Alright, my friends, I am looking at my wall. I have one metal rack that is just for Marathon weekend and I'm looking over there and I think there's room for at least one more set of dopey metals.
Speaker 7:It ain't coming next year, bob is 80 and dopey. I'd love to do it.
Speaker 1:I'd love to do it. The oldest finisher this year was 80. I don't know. We'll see who's doing it next year. Dopey, yep, no hands are going up, my friends.
Speaker 5:Zero. It's too soon too soon to ask that question.
Speaker 6:I'll be there for the marathon, but I'll be there and probably for the marathon.
Speaker 1:I said that this would probably be my last dopey and it may, but I'm not committed to that yet. I think I may have at least one more left in me.
Speaker 5:I would love to cheer and support next year, because I realize now how important that support was to me and I want to give back.
Speaker 1:Good deal, good deal.
Speaker 6:And I just wanted to give a special shout out to Courtney, who is one of my run coaching clients. She did her first dopey. We worked really hard to get there, so I'm super proud of you, courtney. Jimmy did not do marathon weekend. He did a half marathon called what's it called? Something about a unicorn I want to be a unicorn half marathon and he did his first I saw other pictures.
Speaker 1:I don't remember the name of the marathon. Yeah, it's something like that. It was a half. It was a half, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yes, it was his first half marathon and I'm super super proud of him. We've been working really hard to get up to that level, so I'm super proud of you, jimmy. And then Amy also did the half marathon at marathon weekend, so I'm proud of you as well.
Speaker 5:Well, nice job guys.
Speaker 1:Way to go. Okay, friends, gosh, what a wonderful weekend. Hey, I heard from our friend Pam. I hope you got a chance to see Pam at Fluffy Fizzies when you were at the expo. I know she enjoys seeing you. She has just launched her new destinations collection, which is offering Disney sense, and I think we need to have her on here in a couple of weeks before we get to Princess weekend to tell us all about it. But meanwhile, check out her website, fluffyfizziescom, and look for her destinations collection. Okay, upcoming next week. Let's talk Disneyland.
Speaker 1:Now, friends, it's time for the race report. Okay, now, this episode is long enough. We cannot cover 350 or 400 race reports. God bless you for turning them in. I promise you I've read everything that's been posted to our Facebook site. I think it's wonderful. We do need, however, to sound this special PR bell for everyone who participated in that 7.2 mile half of a half and congratulations. We're pretty sure none of you have finished an official distance like that before. Let's take a look at our friends who were running on the track. And we're running on the track, we're running on the track. We're running on the track. We've got our friends who were running elsewhere this past weekend. This would actually be the weekend when some of you folks were in Disneyland.
Speaker 1:On Saturday in Tempe, arizona, it was rock and roll weekend in Tempe. The 5K was on Saturday. Molly ran that one, as did Jennifer and Heather. Jennifer noted it was really cold to start, but they had a good time and I believe all three of them show up again on Sunday In San Diego, california. Jennifer did the resolution run. Sunny but cold. Not bad for Jennifer, says an old lady. No, jennifer, you got a ways to go yet, my friend, congratulations. But I don't think you're in the old lady category yet.
Speaker 1:Steve, our buddy Steve in Binghamton, new York, ran the January freeze 10K series number two. Now, he didn't make number one, he was busy in some little event in Florida that we've just spent the last hour and a half talking about. Steve's plan here was to go out, take it easy, decided he wanted to drop back and see how many people he could pass using his run, walk, run. The number turned out to be 25, but he ends up finishing third in his age group. Good job, steve. Will he do the January freeze series number three? Stay tuned to find out. I think that's a couple of weeks away yet Moving to Sunday Rock and Roll weekend. Molly, jennifer and Heather did indeed do, both of them, pretty course. They apparently had a great time. Congratulations, ladies.
Speaker 1:In Houston, texas, the Aramco half marathon. It was Houston marathon weekend. That's a pretty big event. Both Jennifer and Lisa were there. I did not see a report from either one of them. Maybe they'll put something up later on. It was also the weekend for the Key West half marathon.
Speaker 1:Valerie was supposed to do that one but her plans changed. She had to do it virtually. She did 18 laps in her subdivision but kept her interval intervals, her 45, 30, up for the entire half marathon. She ended up running in the rain, much like last weekend. She's gotten the point that speeds not the focus, the miles in the journey are. We couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1:Our friend Laura from the Netherlands, randy Walterslop, 5.1 kilometer run. I nailed it. I got that perfect. I'm sure I did, and that's right. 5.1 kilometer run. I wonder if she's gonna PR this one. Pretty cold, 28 degrees Fahrenheit, rained. That's pretty rough. What was it? It felt like 28. I don't think the absolute temperature was 20. I think the wind made it feel like 28 because it rained. It didn't snow. Laura's been doing really well. Lately Laura's really picked up her pace, especially since Walt was born. This was a 5K PR for Laura and, of course, at 5.1, that's got to be a PR. No medal for this race. You get a discount if you run with that one. That's you know. I wonder if others will adopt that Besides, she didn't think the medal was all that special. Laura is going to track down more PRs this year and I know she's gonna nail them. Good job, laura.
Speaker 1:Wrapping up the weekend in Batal Rouge, louisiana, it was Louisiana Marathon weekend, heather with her husband. This was Heather's first half marathon, a PR. Start it out bitterly cold. It has been cold even in the deep South Texas and Louisiana but it turned into being a really great weather day for a race. Heather, nervous at the start line? Well, that makes sense. Nervous at the start line for your first half marathon? Sure, I understand that. Even with being a little bit under the weather, her training served her well. There's a good message there Finish close to her goal time. Princess challenge is up next for Heather.
Speaker 1:Before we wrap things up, friends, we a very special thank you to all of you. We hit a significant milestone right around no, right around the first year, right around marathon weekend, the Rise and Run podcast surpassed 250,000 downloads. Yeah, all right, friends, raise your hand. If you ever saw that one coming, I sure I know. I remember being very excited when we got our first thousand. Now, a quarter of a million later and going strong, and, my friends, that is a reflection on you, on your loyalty, on your friendship, on your becoming part of the family and on helping to spread the word. Also, we really appreciate you. On to the next quarter of a million, my friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend.
Speaker 1:The season is the Run Disney season's now just half over, just a little bit over half over, no doubt. This last weekend, though, was the big one. Hope you had a chance to participate, hope you enjoyed it, just when we thought things couldn't get any bigger or better. You, our friends, you outdo yourselves. It is so exciting to be on the course and know that we have friends all around us. So many of you challenged yourself this weekend to a first time event. The emotions were running high Among many of you, us included. We understand. It doesn't matter how many times you've done a Run Disney event, but especially this one, especially Marathon Weekend, when you come around World Showcase and you run down that finisher chute, it's a feeling like no other. We are proud of you. We are so honored to have you as part of this wonderful, amazing Rise and Run family. I'll see you in February and until then, 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 healthcare provider or event organizer.