123: 2024 WDW Marathon Winner Stephanie Muscat

As we lace up for another episode of Rise and Run, the thrill of victory is palpable through the inspiring tale of Stephanie Muscat, whose recent triumph at the Walt Disney World Marathon is nothing short of magical. We're not just celebrating her win; we're getting a firsthand account of Stephanie's journey from competitive swimming to marathon champion, and the mental strength required to cross that finish line first. Tracy also chills us to the bone with his Frigid 5K adventures in Provo, Utah, reminding us that every race, whether in the warmth of Disney or the icy grips of Utah, is a unique testament to our love for running.

Our discussion takes a turn around the track of perseverance, as we consider the rigorous training sessions and strategies we've all faced. From my own grueling 14-mile runs to Stephanie's disciplined approach to marathon preparation, we explore the highs and lows that shape a runner's path. We laugh over rogue Hawaiian waves and commiserate about the coldest races we've endured, sharing tips on how to brave the elements. Our camaraderie shines as we rally around the idea that whether you're a seasoned marathoner or just starting out, each run is a story of personal triumph.

We wrap up with reflections on the sheer joy of participating in runDisney events and the anticipation for future races in iconic cities. Stephanie's heartfelt recount of her Walt Disney World Marathon win, from the cheers at Cinderella's Castle to the overwhelming emotions at the finish line, leaves us both inspired and eager for our own next big race. So, tighten those shoelaces and join us for an episode where every step is a celebration of the runner's spirit, and where every story is a victory lap in the making.

stephanie___rachel Stephanie’s Instagram
Tracy’s Podcast
Movies That Make Us YouTube
Movies That Make Us Instagram

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

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:04

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

Speaker 3: 0:37

Stephanie Muscat, you just won the Walt Disney World Marathon. What are you going to do now?

Speaker 4: 0:44

I'm going to the Rise and Run Podcast.

Speaker 3: 0:47

Yeah, baby, that's the way to do it. I'm going to the Rise and Run Podcast, stephanie thanks. For the third year in a row, the Walt Disney World Marathon Champion joins us. Hello, my friends, welcome back to the Rise and Run Podcast, episode 123. I'm Bob. I'm here with Alexi, hello. With John, hey, how you doing. With Alicia, hello. And with Greg.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 3: 1:18

Friends, do not adjust your set. It's me. I'm the one who's having a little trouble tonight, so you may not hear me as much as you usually do. The voice is going on me a little bit this week. As mentioned at the top, we've got the Walt Disney World Marathon Champ, Stephanie Muscat, in our Race Report spotlight. Our friend Tracy is here to let us know just how frigid the Frigid 5K was in Provo, Utah.

Speaker 2: 1:48

And if you enjoy the podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run Podcast, because we want to grow this family and we want to share in not just yours but their training journey as well. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod, and check out our YouTube channel. Also, be sure to visit us over at riseandrunpodcastcom. Lots of great information about the episodes, our affiliate links and all sorts of great stuff over there. John does a wonderful job, but if you have any questions, comments, race reports or you want to order a pizza for this weekend, just give us a call at our hotline 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

Speaker 5: 2:38

And, speaking of YouTube, we have the episode up that is about the Disneyland Expo and what to expect, and we had a lot of fun going through recording that, me and Jack, so make sure you go check that out. And also I have to do a plug for the Passport to Run. We have all of the Disneyland races and the half of the half at Disney World up on our YouTube channel.

Speaker 3: 3:05

Friends, the Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our good friends at Magic Bound Travel. You may not have heard about them the last week or two. That's just because things got so busy. Magic Bound never left us. We never left them. We are glad to be talking. I've reposted their link at the top, the featured section of our Facebook page. I was talking to Maggie and Brad just a few days ago. They have a new class of agents. They have hired eight new people, largely because of all the volume of work that you, our friends, have been sending to them, and, if I'm not mistaken, maggie told me that all eight of them have some tie-in to the Rise and Run family. So we think that's pretty cool. Hey, now's the time I've done this myself. Now's the time If you're thinking of going to the Halloween race in September in Disneyland. I know you haven't registered yet, but get the room booking lined up now. You can always cancel it if you need to, but get it lined up now. Magicboundtravelcom is the website. Check them out.

Speaker 2: 4:12

Can you believe that that registration is like two weeks or two or three weeks away or something?

Speaker 3: 4:16

like that. Yeah, it is it's 13th, I think, right.

Speaker 6: 4:19

It's the 13th for regular people.

Speaker 3: 4:21

Yes, which is Mardi Gras. By the way, 13th is Mardi Gras, tuesday.

Speaker 2: 4:25

That's a good time's roll, and now I want King Cake. Just have a quick apology and alibi. Last week on the episode and actually, well, this is an apology slash alibi. I also want to let this be a major shout out Major kudos to our buddy Abel, who absolutely nailed it last week.

Speaker 3: 4:47

Yeah, he killed it, he did great.

Speaker 2: 4:49

As our special guest host. Thank you for filling in for me while I was roughing it on another business trip in Hawaii. Oh actually, man, it was really really tough. But, abel, you did an amazing job. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 5:03

But the one thing I wanted to mention is I know that a couple of mentions were made while I was editing that the reason why Abel was on is because he won a Patreon contest and all of a sudden I heard that and I'm like oh no, our Patreons are going to think what contest did I miss? You didn't miss any contest at all. But the reason why Abel joined us is last fall, as Bob and I were trying to get over the hump to raise money for our charity bibs on behalf of Give Kids the World. Him and I had come up with this contest idea of doing a raffle and we would pick one random name, as long as you made a $5 donation to us to be a special cohost. If you remember that from many, many months ago, that was the contest that Abel won. So, patreons, please don't be upset with us. There was not a special contest that you did not know about. Abel won that through that little raffle that we did. That included everybody. But it's something that we're kicking the tires on, an idea of because we thought that was so successful of maybe getting our Patreon members involved in as a little guest host spot on the podcast.

Speaker 2: 6:14

So more details to come on that soon, but I just wanted to clear the air on that. But, speaking of our friends over at Give Kids the World, I just want to give a major shout out to our entire community. The new rep over at the village who is in charge of the charity bibs with Run Disney had gotten in contact with me and said you know the registration deadline was coming up and they did have some availability. I put out that message on Facebook. Folks, I spent a majority of my weekend in front of a computer emailing you, emailing him. I know a lot of bibs were purchased in the last minute. So, on behalf of all of us here and everyone over at Give Kids the World, thank you for being such an amazing members of this community and sponsoring and supporting such an amazing organization as well. So kudos to all of you.

Speaker 6: 7:08

Let's talk about training. We have Princess Weekend coming up, 21 days away, three weeks, 508 hours, as of this recording, and your training for the week four miles and a magic mile. Springtime is coming up, 63 days away, nine weeks away. Your training this week is three miles and a magic mile. How's training going for everybody? Is everybody training back running after Dopey Dumbo and whatever's going on?

Speaker 3: 7:39

John, I just want to jump in. I want to give credit where credit is due on that 508 hours. Our friend Carrie on Facebook is the one who's keeping track of that. That math is much too difficult for me, so I'm accepting that Carrie's 508 hours is correct and I want to give her credit for that. But yeah, I wanted to talk training for a minute because I sometimes think I don't know this. No one's ever said this to me that our friends who listen may think that some of this is easy for us because we've done it so many times before, and that they have a hard time. And I'm here to tell you, oh no, no, it's not.

Speaker 3: 8:18

I had all my training schedule because I'm doing the challenge. I had three miles, six miles and 14 miles this weekend. Three miles, that's fine. Six miles is a walk. It was 80 degrees but it's a walk. I get up Sunday morning. I'm telling you, my friends, I did not want to go. I'm lying in my bed, it's chilly, windy, gray and I'm thinking I don't want to do this. But I did what I tell you to do. I went out anyway and I really thought. I said I'm going to try 10 minutes. Okay, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to try three miles. Okay, at four miles I was committed to eight, but I said eight's going to be enough. I got to eight. Anyway, let me make this long story short. I just kept going and I did finish, and I finished and I felt pretty strong. So my message on training is no, it isn't easy, yes, it is important, and if you give it a try, you just might surprise yourself.

Speaker 2: 9:24

Training for me is going pretty well. I really hadn't done much post marathon weekend just because I had a quick turnaround between my vacation post marathon weekend and then my business trip off to Hawaii, but I was able to get a run in in paradise, which is absolutely amazing, actually funny story. The morning I went out for my run, the waves were so violent along the coast that, actually, I was running up on this very, very narrow pathway and, all of a sudden, just very, very big wave is coming and crashes up and actually goes so high over the rocks that it actually landed on the walking path, you know, and you're right by the resorts and everything like that, and if I would have been maybe 10 seconds faster, I would have been soaked and that would have made an amazing story. So definitely avoided that one Um, but yeah, nothing better than running, um, you know, in palm trees and along the beach and everything like that. So where I'm at with my training, though, is I just did a magic mile because I had a wonderful phone call with a coach, twigs. He got my schedule set for all of 2024 and all the goals that I have, especially because my goals have now adjusted thanks to that wonderful news that we got out of Disneyland that I didn't get a chance to talk to you all about last week. I'm beyond thrilled that they changed the POT back up to 230 because that that makes things a lot more potentially not going to wood a lot more realistic for me so I'm able to shift my mindset and everything like that. But I got to say I make this joke to coach twigs every time I do.

Speaker 2: 11:05

A magic mile is I was a pretty good student in high school and everything like that, but I was a terrible standardized test taker and for me I feel like the magic mile is the standardized test version of running, that no matter how many times I do it, I can never get a good time. And then I get my new paces and I go out there and I'm like I'm running faster than my paces and I'm like I should just do a new magic mile. And then I go to do that, I get my get in my head and I'm all sorts of screwed up. So if anybody has any advice on how to not mentally focus so much to the point of nerves for a magic mile, I'll take it and I'll try to employ it. But but yeah, but that's where I'm at with my training.

Speaker 5: 11:48

Unfortunately, greg, I don't have any wise words of wisdom for you, but I'll talk about my training a little bit. I am still healing just a little bit from twisting my ankle a week or so ago. It's almost back to normal. It still kind of hurts if I like turn the wrong way, but I'm going to go back to orange theory tomorrow and do the bike so that I'm not like putting all of that pressure on it on the treadmill. And I know I've mentioned this to you guys, host wise, but I don't think I've actually said this on the podcast.

Speaker 5: 12:28

I am kind of taking a little break from long distance running. Right now I'm not scheduled for any races on the calendar. I think my biggest problem and I know some listeners can probably relate to this is just the feeling of burnout, and you know as much as I know that I love run Disney races. I just need to take a step back from running them so that I can fall in love with running again. So I'm going to stick to short distances, work on speed.

Speaker 5: 13:00

But my main focus for 2024 is going to be on weight loss and kind of, you know, getting my health back in order. As many of you know, this last year for me and Jack both of us has kind of been pretty trying as far as like the job stuff goes. So we're fingers crossed, hoping for some changes in that and just going to look forward to a bright and sunshine a 2024. I right now I'm just going to stick with orange theory and some weight training and walking my lovely puppy and hopefully get up to Disney and cheer some for the races. I just don't know which ones yet, so I'm not going anywhere. You'll still hear my voice on the podcast. I just won't actually be in person running the races.

Speaker 3: 13:54

Okay, lexi, very good, very good, thank you. Question came up. Of course, it wasn't quite as cold this last weekend as it was the weekend before in most of the US, but it led me to think it's pretty chilly still in parts of the country and, I'm sure, where some of our friends are listening, gang, what's the coldest race you've ever participated in?

Speaker 6: 14:22

The coldest race I ever raced in was the like. You guys know, I'm up in Jersey and they have the Montclair Bread Company 5K donut run. Yeah, yeah, every year in December. Back in 2019, it was 23 degrees.

Speaker 2: 14:40

Those are some hard donuts.

Speaker 6: 14:43

They tasted great though.

Speaker 3: 14:44

I'll bet Alicia.

Speaker 1: 14:46

The coldest race that I ever have done actually was in Florida. Yeah, it was during the 2019 dopey that I did that. 5k was extremely cold, really. Yeah, wasn't that the year that?

Speaker 3: 15:04

I was really cold. I was there. I don't remember it being that cold. Was that the snow year?

Speaker 1: 15:08

No, no, it didn't snow, but I remember being really extremely bundled up and my mom did the 5K that year and she had a scarf and a hat and everything on, and we're from Minnesota, so like for us to be cold, yeah you're right, but I do go out in cold weather all of the time when I'm training.

Speaker 1: 15:31

I personally don't go out if the feels like temperature is less than zero, just for safety reasons. I could. I have the equipment that I need to do that, but I have a treadmill, so I just choose to stay inside if it's that cold, yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:50

And while I don't remember that, alicia, I'm confident you're correct. You see, I walk the 5K with Becky so I can bundle up, so I never worried about how cold the 5K's are. I can think I'm going to cheat a little bit here. There are two sporting events I can think of. One was a cross country skiing event. It was in Alaska. It was minus eight. That's pretty cold, but it was a sunny day and that. You get used to those temperatures in Alaska, just like Alicia gets used to colder temperatures in Minnesota. If you're living in a cold climate, you get used to it and you have the equipment. So it actually was okay. The coldest race I've been in that's got to be Jeff Galloway's run last year.

Speaker 7: 16:41

Oh yeah, the feels like temperature was 19.

Speaker 3: 16:44

Yeah, that was miserable. He moved it to March, so it'd be nice and warm.

Speaker 5: 16:50

It was not.

Speaker 3: 16:51

It will be this year, though I'm guaranteeing it personally.

Speaker 5: 16:53

I think my coldest race was I don't remember what year it was, I think it was 2018. 2019. The Atlanta Hot Chocolate 5K. I remember like my fingers like I couldn't move them, my fingers were so cold and I had gloves on. I ran that with some theater friends and I just remember it being so cold. I have pictures in my face, like right here, where my cheeks are were just red and my nose is red and I had a scarf over my mouth so that I would stay warm. So that one was the coldest race. And there was one time probably maybe it was 2020 where it was just so cold in Atlanta. I remember Jack and I both went on a run on the same day and her fingers turned blue and I just remember it just being really, really cold, they can get chilly, sure can.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Yeah, I don't remember what the temperature was when you mentioned that your face was all red. I just want to throw this out there, as person that runs in the cold quite often, something that can help. If you don't have, like, a neck gaiter to put over your face or a balaclava, you can put Vaseline on your cheeks to help with the wind. So anybody that's listening that wants to go in the cold, that will help.

Speaker 5: 18:20

I didn't know that that's an NFL players trick.

Speaker 1: 18:23

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:24

Yeah Well, let's see. I don't know that any of those were as cold as what Katie told us about last week in St Louis. I think she said the wind show was minus 18. I don't remember a wind show when it was minus eight. That was colder than it was in absolute temperature in St Louis. I can't remember the wind show, my goodness. I barely remember what I had for breakfast. And then we have another cold story coming up here on the Rays Report spotlight in just a little bit. Thank you, gang. Appreciate that Good stuff. Friends, let's visit with our guests for the week. Friends, we are very excited. For the third year in a row, the Walt Disney World Marathon Champion is visiting us on the Rise and Run podcast, stephanie Muscat. Welcome to the episode.

Speaker 4: 19:16

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 3: 19:19

We are delighted to have you join us. Now a little background, if we could. Stephanie, you grew up not so much as a runner, as an athlete, but as a swimmer. Is that correct?

Speaker 4: 19:33

That is correct. I started swimming when I was around five or six years old, I want to say, and I basically lived in the water up until I was 22. And yeah, that was all I did. We would do dry land practice during the summer times and we would all hate running.

Speaker 3: 19:57

Hate it, of course.

Speaker 4: 19:58

Yeah, I was struggling to run even a quarter of a mile. So from that to now, a marathon is nuts.

Speaker 3: 20:06

But you did swim for Grand Valley State up in Michigan, right.

Speaker 4: 20:10

Yes, yep, I swam up until my junior year of college and realized I kind of needed a social life. I wanted to enjoy college a little bit more, so stopped my junior year and that's when I took up running.

Speaker 3: 20:24

Oh, all right, Now one more for me here. You are up in the Grand Rapids, michigan area, is that correct?

Speaker 4: 20:32

Yep on the West Coast, yeah Up Michigan.

Speaker 3: 20:35

I haven't been in Michigan for a while. That doesn't sound like a Michigan accent that I'm hearing here.

Speaker 4: 20:41

Doesn't Born and bred.

Speaker 3: 20:43

My talented year. I picked right up on that, didn't I?

Speaker 4: 20:47

No, I moved from the Manchester, england area December of 2003.

Speaker 3: 20:54

Okay.

Speaker 4: 20:56

Moved to Detroit and then went to Grand Valley and stuck around on that side of the, on this side of the state, after college.

Speaker 5: 21:03

Going back to the swimming thing, I was a competitive swimmer in high school too. Have you ever thought about doing like triathlons? Or have you just stuck to either solely swimming or solely running?

Speaker 4: 21:15

I've only ever done like one or the other, and the reason I do like swimming and I feel like I can ride a bike, and pretty good at riding a bike, so I'm like I could be a pretty good triathlon no triathlon. The one thing, though, is I hate swimming in open water.

Speaker 5: 21:34

Me too, I would much rather do a lot of it.

Speaker 3: 21:39

Triathlon is a British term, stephanie. Yeah, triathlete 100%.

Speaker 4: 21:45

I didn't just make my own word up or anything that is a British term Also another reason why I can't do it.

Speaker 5: 21:54

I totally understand, because I've looked for triathlon specifically that had the swimming in the lap hole. Yeah, I was like that's the qualifier, that's what I want.

Speaker 2: 22:06

Yeah, stephanie, before we get into the crux of your experience from three weeks ago down in Walt Disney World. You know, keeping off of this theme of you know going from one sport to the other, what was it that made you make the transition from swimming to running?

Speaker 4: 22:26

Yeah, that's a good question and I honestly can't pinpoint what exactly happened. But during the off season from swimming, there was a local rec center buyers and get this the indoor track that we had. It was 11 or 12 laps to make one mile. So if I was running on that track I would run two or three laps and be like all right, that's pretty good, and that wasn't even close to being a mile. So, going from that and then suddenly I don't know if I just kept pushing myself a little bit more and like just kept doing another lap and another lap, and then it slowly got to that mile and I feel like something clicked during maybe as I was training to do one mile or 11 laps around this track, something clicked and I was like I actually enjoy this. I enjoy this sport, Also the fact that it is free in a way, like you don't need anything.

Speaker 4: 23:24

You can go running shoes, you can go run outside. It's not like you need membership or anything, it's just you yourself and a pair of shoes.

Speaker 2: 23:33

I've been saying, jellis, though, that your indoor track is only 11 laps for a mile. When I've been training for plenty of races in an indoor track at my old local YMCA, it was 16 laps for a mile, and that is just that. That's just mind torture, it's absolutely terrible. But you know the fact that you go down and you run this race. Does Disney have a special place in your heart? Have you gone previously before Marathon Weekend and, if so, what are some of your favorite Disney memories?

Speaker 4: 24:05

Yeah, so I went on my first ever Disney trip from England when I was five years old and I've been going every single year. When we lived in England, we would come over every year for about two, two and a half weeks at the time and we would live at Disney World for that whole time. And it's so special. I wish you could see my room like I have it's like surrounded by Disney stuff in here. It's absolutely crazy. I'm obsessed with Disney, obsessed with Disney World, and now I go. I take my two boys. I don't think they're as excited as I am to go.

Speaker 4: 24:42

I'm always, but they love, they love it, they love it. It's just a special place. It's like my second home and I try and go as much as I, as much as I possibly can.

Speaker 6: 24:55

Okay, so let's get into the run Disney and run Disney part of this episode. Prior to this event. This was your marathon event here. Have you run any run Disney events or did you hear? How do you hear about run Disney?

Speaker 4: 25:12

Yeah. So I did the wine and dine in 2022. And that was my first ever run Disney event and I can't even explain like the feeling that I had like when I signed up. When I got to the expo and seeing all of the excitement and just the whole event that they put on, even leading up to the race, was absolutely incredible. Showing up at you know 3am to Epcot and you have the DJs going and all of that they really got me hooked. After that first half marathon that I did that wine and dine one and then obviously, they rent out Epcot to all of the runners at the end to do the after party and I just thought that was the greatest thing in the world. So they definitely got me hooked and I was like, okay, what's next?

Speaker 4: 26:07

I knew I at some point wanted to do a marathon. I wasn't totally sold on the idea, but I like pushing myself, I like doing what I can to my body like the next level, and I've done. The most I've done was a 25 K, which is about 15 miles, 15 and a half miles, and I remember calling my sister this was probably a week before registration for the for the Disney weekend and I I was like shall, what do you think about as running a marathon? And she was like absolutely not remember. We both said never gonna do a marathon.

Speaker 4: 26:41

And I was like I know we said that but something's changed and I think it took me about 15 seconds to convince her to do that Disney world marathon weekend with me and never say never, never regretted it yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:55

Is your sister still in England or is she in the States also?

Speaker 4: 26:58

She's actually in New York City. She lives in Long Island City, right outside of Manhattan.

Speaker 3: 27:03

Does she have a background?

Speaker 4: 27:05

in running. No, she swam as well and she quit swimming way before I did. But kind of took up running to to fill in like the free time and stay fit and healthy. But same like she trained herself and wanted nice.

Speaker 3: 27:23

Yeah, that's outstanding, it really is.

Speaker 5: 27:25

So you said that you went from the 15k to being like, okay, I want to run a marathon. Had you run other race distances, or is running just something that you're like? I just do this in my spare time and see how far I can go, kind of a little bit of both.

Speaker 4: 27:43

I remember doing my first ever, my first ever 5k. It was like the Susan uh Coleman 5k in Grand Rapids and I finished that 5k and I thought I was going to throw up and die at that finish line. It was the hardest run I'd ever done in my entire life and I think that was the race though that kind of got my, got me interested in running I don't want to say competitively, but running races. Um, the atmosphere, the cheering squad, you know the race goodies at the end and the snacks and stuff, it was like a really, really fun environment and a fun atmosphere. So then I kept pushing, like just a little bit more. You know, I started off with that 5k, did a load of 5ks, pushed myself to do a 10k and I was like, all right, let's keep doing 10ks now. Um, and then I did a handful of half marathons. I've probably only done I don't know like six or seven maybe half marathons and one one, 25k, and that 25k was last, last June, so not that long ago.

Speaker 3: 28:46

Stephanie, what? How did you qualify for the elite corral?

Speaker 4: 28:50

Um, so I did a half marathon in October and I did a time of 118. But that would not have qualified me.

Speaker 3: 29:03

Really.

Speaker 4: 29:04

No, it would have, but I was too late to after, because I think the Disney was like end of the cutoff. Yeah, so I did actually do a half marathon of January last year and I got about 120. And then when I did the half marathon, the wine and dine, I did 127 at that one. So all of those halves that I did allowed me to get into that elite squad.

Speaker 3: 29:29

Just out of curiosity, what corral did your sister start out of?

Speaker 4: 29:33

She was in A2.

Speaker 4: 29:34

So I signed up and she signed up as well. I was like shall you have to go and run a half marathon right now and you need to go as fast as possible because I want you to start in corral A with me. I didn't know I was going to be in the elite squad at all, but when we had done the wine and dine the year before, she ended up in the last corral because she didn't have a time. So I was done and I probably waited like two, two hours or so for her to come through that finish line, just because she had to start so far back. So she pushed it and she managed to get into corral A, Thank goodness. And I remember going up to the expo and we were both like I hope we're in corral A, I hope we're in corral A. And the guy gave me my paper and it said elite and I had to like double check. I was like what, what is this? Even I was like I saw the.

Speaker 4: 30:22

E at first and I was like, oh great, there's anything wrong with that at all.

Speaker 3: 30:29

You're right, Stephanie.

Speaker 4: 30:32

I wanted to kind of start, you know, in B or A, and when I saw that on there I was like, oh my goodness, this is crazy.

Speaker 2: 30:39

So in talking and having all these conversations about okay, I want to start tackling the marathon distance. What was it about the Walt Disney World Marathon that you wanted that to be your first ever marathon?

Speaker 4: 30:55

Yes, so when? So my sister's name is Charlotte, so when I called her I was like, okay, let's do this marathon. But we want to make it somewhere fun that we love and isn't like a serious, like like a Boston or a New York or a Chicago marathon where it's like very, like very, very serious. We wanted somewhere that we love going to, that's going to be fun to run around. You've got the characters, you've got all the parks. Like how often do you get to say that you've run through all of the parks in like a three hour time frame? Like you never get to do that. You got to run through the castle. So like let's do Disney, just because we love it both. We both love it so much. Let's do Disney and make that our our thing.

Speaker 6: 31:43

It's race day. What goals did you have for this race, and was it to win this race?

Speaker 4: 31:49

My goal was to not win the race. My goal was to be around three hours. I would have been. Originally I went into this before I'd even officially started training. I was like less than three, 20, 315 would be great. And then the more training I did leading up to it, I was like you know what, around three hours I would be really, really happy with.

Speaker 4: 32:13

I had sat down the night before the race. So my one thing that I do before every single race is have a glass of red wine. So we went to the bar, had a glass of red wine, just try to like relax. I got, I was so nervous and I'm looking up the results from the past couple years or so. Well, I'm drinking my wine and I see that some of the girls have been close to three hours and I was like, oh, that's sort of my ideal time. If that's the results from the past few years, I might have a shot at sort of placing.

Speaker 4: 32:48

But didn't have. I had no expectation of placing at all. It was my first ever marathon so I really had no idea how it was going to feel or how my body was going to react or if I was kind of going to hit a wall at mile 16 and not be able to finish. I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn't know how it was going to feel at all, but so I didn't have any expectation of winning or placing until I sort of saw the results from the past couple years and I was like maybe there's a possibility of getting up there at least.

Speaker 6: 33:19

Was there anything special about mile eight that you wanted to do?

Speaker 4: 33:23

Mile eight was where you got to run down Main Street and I only thought that you ran through the castle during the princess. So I'm running down Main Street and I also knew that my parents were there. So I'm running and I'm still in. I'm somehow in first place.

Speaker 4: 33:40

I took off and I'm immediately in first place and I was like, as long as I can hold on to first place at mile eight, my parents will get to see me running down Main Street in first place and run through the castle, and then I literally don't care what happens after that, as long as they see me there. And so, anyway, I'm running down Main Street and they have us turn and I went oh my goodness, we get to actually run through the castle. And I had like tears in my eyes. I just like the cheering of everybody, but I will never forget the cheering. I won't forget the bells, the crowd, the guy on the bike leading me through the castle and I was like no way is this real life right now? What the heck is going on? I didn't expect this at all. I was like super emotional at that point. And my parents also got to see me in first place running in our like our home basically.

Speaker 5: 34:36

As you were in first place, did it ever cross your mind to see any characters? Did you stop for any? Or were you just like, once I'm in first place and I see Main Street like this is this is my goal? Yes, yes.

Speaker 4: 34:52

So I knew that if I potentially stopped to take pictures I might not start again. Also, I am actually very competitive so I didn't want. If I was in first place at that moment I was like I want to hold on to this for as long as possible and then I'll get my pictures afterwards, like when I cross the finish line or I'm at the park later on that day. So I didn't stop to take any. I did wave, I gave. Who did I give a high five to? I gave one of the characters a high five as I ran past. I forget which one it was, but that was about it.

Speaker 5: 35:22

So, as you're talking about running through and you know, not knowing if you're going to stop and how did your training change, like going into the race and like how long did you run before you went to marathon weekend? Like what did that kind of look like?

Speaker 4: 35:42

Yeah. So I did do some like kind of extensive training, I guess leading up to the marathon. I followed a plan that had me running about. I think my longest run was around 20, 22 miles somewhere around there. So I knew I was up there. I didn't want to run the full 26.2 or more, like just in training, because I went into this with my sister and we said we're both, we're not going to do it until we do it together at this marathon. So we held off on running that full distance until that day. So the training, the training was good. It's like, honestly, it's a full time job. I'm sure you will know it's like a full time job.

Speaker 3: 36:23

Training for a marathon it's a lot at that level it certainly is, yeah, yeah, very impressive. Yeah, you mentioned the bike riders. What kind of feedback were they giving you? How are they helping you out?

Speaker 4: 36:35

Amazing. First off, I, as soon as the I think his name was oh my gosh I was like oh my gosh, his name is. I follow him on Instagram now, the guy that was leading me. As soon as he came out, I couldn't even tell you where I came from, but the next minute I have this guy next to me on a bike who which I just have to say you have someone following you for three hours during like a really intense moment of your life, and then they just kind of float off at the end, you know, to let you finish that race by yourself. And it's so sad because you don't. You don't know him, he doesn't know you, but he's just led you to victory on this incredible journey and it's like really emotional. So I'm really glad that I got to find him on Instagram and he sent me a video of me running down Main Street that he took on his own and I was like this is the best thing you could have ever done, just absolutely incredible.

Speaker 4: 37:30

So I think it's really cool that you, like you're given one of those bike riders and they kind of lead you through that way. I didn't talk too much to him, I tried to keep in my own head and like like race in my head in a way. But I did talk to him around mile 19. And that was the Blizzard Beach parking lot.

Speaker 2: 37:52

So one of our personal favorites.

Speaker 4: 37:54

Yeah, On the Facebook groups everyone else's too. It seems like everyone loves that parking lot. Oh my gosh. So, as you know, you run into the parking lot, you do a loop and you come back out the same way, so you can see people coming in. Oh yes right, right.

Speaker 3: 38:11

So you got to saw the second place runner there.

Speaker 4: 38:13

Yes, exactly, but I didn't know who she was or where she was placed, except I knew that this girl who was entering the parking lot as I was coming out had a bike rider with her. So I turned to my guy and I was like, who is she? And he goes, it's so, and so she's currently in second place. And I was like, oh my gosh, she's second place. Like how far behind is she? Where am I at in terms of like keeping up front? And he goes. She's still about five to six minutes, maybe, just less than a mile behind you, and this is at mile 19. So then my heart rate I know it's it's racing pretty hard because I'm running a marathon, but now it's like racing even harder. I'm like that's it's far, but I still have seven miles to go. Like anything could happen. I could slow down, she could be playing the long game where she's going to start sprinting for that last 10k, and I'm not a sprinter, so she's got me on that If that happens. But then it started raining a lot.

Speaker 3: 39:14

Oh, that's when the rain. Okay the rain hit you there at Blizzard Beach. Yeah, it hit the rest of us as we were going into Magic Kingdom, but that makes sense.

Speaker 4: 39:22

Yeah, I was like, oh, maybe it's just like a little bit of water spraying from the water park, because it was a 0% chance of rain the whole morning that whole it was low yeah.

Speaker 4: 39:35

I was like, oh, it must just be a little straight. And then it was like downpouring. But I tried to think of this, like I tried to use it to my advantage. I've the weather here has been it's been warm for the winter but it's been rainy on days, so I've been training in the rain. So I just had to like grit my teeth and push through it and try and use that to my advantage.

Speaker 2: 39:55

Was that the first time that you asked about? You know the distance between you and second place? Yes, okay.

Speaker 4: 40:04

That was the first time and I had, honestly, no inkling at all about where really anyone was. I could hear that he would do the walkie talkie as I was crossing certain paths or certain mile markers and I could hear people radioing back to him or back to whoever was, on that frequency I guess. But I just assumed it was like for the guys in front or I don't really even know. I was like in a world of my own, I guess. No, I never. I never asked besides mile 19. I didn't ask where anyone was.

Speaker 2: 40:40

Interesting, Okay, so what I'm curious to know is you know?

Speaker 2: 40:44

you won or the gap between you and second place was five minutes and actually, fun fact, the woman who came in second place is actually from the town that actually I used to live in three years ago, so it was really cool to see that local connection there. But I'm looking at your splits here. You had about a 90 second lead on her at just shy of the 10k mark. Then you up to the three minutes at the 10 mile. You had about let's see here just under four at the half and then you really started to open it up. You know again, around that Blizzard Beach parking lot to you, when was the moment during that race that you knew this was yours and you had it in the bag?

Speaker 4: 41:37

That was probably right after, right after, definitely right after Blizzard Beach, when I saw her coming in and as I was coming out, that was that was the moment to me where I was like I really got to, got to keep what I'm doing and keep pushing. If I can go faster, go faster. At least maintain what I'm doing. I can't. I don't know what she's going to do. She might pick up her pace. I'm hoping she doesn't, because a marathon is a long way to go. If I can just keep doing what I'm doing, or even a little bit more, I should be okay.

Speaker 4: 42:09

And it was probably when we entered Epcot for that final lap around the world, world showcase. And that, I think, was when I was like, holy crap, this is, this is actually happening. I've got, you know, a couple miles to go, and if I can just hold off for a little bit longer or just keep pushing and hope she doesn't catch back up to me, this might actually happen. And the weird thing is the night before I'm laying in bed and I'm not, no one's really sleeping. I feel like I'm nervous, I'm not going to wake up if I fall asleep, and so I'm laying in bed and I have, like this weird sort of like dream, but I wasn't really asleep, but I like envisioned myself crossing the finish line in first place, and so to get to see that weird like vision come to life is just a really weird experience.

Speaker 1: 43:04

Can you describe more about what the motions were when you were crossing that finish line? It was going through your head that that kind of dream was reality now and you had just won the Walt Disney World Marathon.

Speaker 4: 43:19

I even like right now I have like goosebumps going through because I've told everyone that I never, ever want to forget that feeling of turning that last loop. And you can see the finish line. You can see the spectators down the one side and there was a guy there waving a like an airplane thingy that they guide the airplanes in with. I could see him doing that.

Speaker 4: 43:41

That was when I was like they're about to announce that I'm going to be the first place female and I had like I had tears in my eyes, I think I covered my mouth and then I was like, do not cover my mouth because they're going to start taking photos and so I like put my hands away and they had the, the, the tape up or whatever, the two people holding the tape, and so I, you automatically have to throw your arms up in the air right there.

Speaker 4: 44:08

And then I crossed the finish line and I covered my face again and I was just in. I was just like there is no way this is real right now. There is no way this is real. And I stopped my watch and I don't even think I took someone threw me a bottle of water, but I suddenly had like these like reporters and like the people, like the cameras right there in front of me, immediately asking me questions, and I was like what is going on? This is absolutely insane, like it was just an absolute dream, and I that last, like point one or whatever it was. That whole point one was like do not forget this feeling that you are feeling right now, do not forget the noises that you're hearing, do not forget the people that you are seeing and that finish line at the end. Never forget any of this.

Speaker 5: 44:57

I love that you were, like mentally conscious enough in that moment to be like. I want to remember this Because there's there's only a few moments in life that you want to be like. I'm going to snapshot this to remember, like on whenever I'm dying one day, like you know. But I think that's really cool that you, you had that mental consciousness in that last point, one of like no, this is one of those moments that I'm going to think about when I'm 90 years old.

Speaker 4: 45:25

Yeah, I will. I will never, ever, ever forget it, and my parents luckily got a video of me crossing.

Speaker 6: 45:33

Oh.

Speaker 4: 45:34

I watched that video and you can hear the people in the podium saying and here is your 2024 female Walt Disney World champion, or whatever. Whatever they said and just like re hearing that and knowing what I felt when I heard that is I just love that I'm able to hold on to that video forever.

Speaker 2: 45:54

So, Stephanie, unfortunately I didn't have time to do the research to find this out, but again, the major storyline you know coming out of this race is your first ever marathon and you'll win the dang thing has. Have you like done any research on your own, like checking, like, I don't know, like Guinness Book of World Records or something along those lines in terms of like, has this ever happened to anybody else? Like, have you researched that at all?

Speaker 4: 46:23

I haven't. I haven't. No, oh, actually I think wasn't there a girl a couple of weeks ago who did do a marathon debut? I don't know if she won it, but she did. She win it, though. I think she got like one of the best American qualifying times. I think someone else just did it right, but right after I did it. So if it's, if I was the first person ever, she was second after me. But no, I haven't researched it.

Speaker 2: 46:52

All right, that will give us some homework to do in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 3: 46:56

Stephanie, had you won other events?

Speaker 4: 47:00

I won the Naples half marathon last year, but it was totally by accident. The two girls that were supposed to win got lost on the course.

Speaker 7: 47:09

Oh my.

Speaker 4: 47:09

God, I did get to run and break through the tape, so I like half won.

Speaker 3: 47:13

Oh, it's a win.

Speaker 4: 47:15

In a way, and then I did actually come second in the wine and dine, but also, that wasn't. That wasn't a win either. So no, this was my first real win.

Speaker 3: 47:23

My goodness, my goodness, that's remarkable.

Speaker 5: 47:27

You came through all of the reporters and you got through all of that. Did you just like, crash, like I'm done, get me some food and sleep? Or were you hyped up on adrenaline?

Speaker 4: 47:39

I was so hyped up. The weird thing was I felt like I had a lot of energy even after I crossed that finish line and even to this day I'm like could I have gone faster? I didn't feel like I was dying at the end and I keep watching that video back that I got of me running through that last part and it looked like I was sprinting. And even afterwards I felt great. Like I felt so good, like I didn't expect to feel as good as I did, and I'm sure it was the adrenaline and living on that high. And then I quick ran back over to the spectator line to cheer my sister in as well and then I'm living off of her high and the ball just kept rolling.

Speaker 4: 48:22

We did go back to our hotel and I had, like, running a long distance like it kind of messes up my appetite, like I wasn't. I had to force myself to eat, which most people are like, oh, you didn't scarf down an entire breakfast. I'm like, no, like I really. It was like a struggle to eat right afterwards, but I knew I had to. We just kind of hung out in our living in our bedroom for a little bit and watched some TV and then we ended up going to Disney Springs, just walked around there for a couple of hours and then got back into bed super early that night.

Speaker 4: 48:54

The next day we went to Epcot and we ended up walking like I don't know like 13 miles or something. It was pretty slow, but you know, we had to do the full Epcot experience and it was so funny because everyone was wearing their Mickey ears, they all had their Disney marathon or dopey challenge t-shirts on and every single person looked like they just got off of a horse that they had been riding for like 12 hours. Like everyone's legs were like so stiff. So we knew we were in the right place.

Speaker 3: 49:23

Yeah, among friends, for sure.

Speaker 6: 49:27

So the reverse goofy she did.

Speaker 5: 49:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:31

Yeah, there you go Right.

Speaker 5: 49:33

Right. So now I have to ask, since you mentioned dopey, do you have dopey or goofy on the horizon? Is that something else you want to accomplish or are you like no one marathon, like let's just live this in infamy and not touch it?

Speaker 4: 49:50

Right. I'm honestly so stuck. I'm so stuck. I'm like, do I? So? Disney did invite me back next year to run it again and I did say yes. But I'm also like, oh my gosh, like it was a hard decision, to be honest, because I feel like that was my first one. I won it. Do I want to try? I'm never going to replicate what just happened. That's never going to happen. So it was a hard decision, but I have to do it. But do I do it as a dopey? I don't know.

Speaker 3: 50:25

I don't know, it is kind of the ultimate mic drop moment, isn't it? One marathon. I want to see you.

Speaker 4: 50:33

Right.

Speaker 6: 50:33

Going out on top. That's where you go.

Speaker 2: 50:37

Some of you just said Stephanie. That made me think about you. Know, we're very blessed. This is the third year in a row we have the female marathon winner here on the Rise and Run podcast, but this was a question that we never asked. Brittany or Katie is as the winner of the race. Obviously, you just mentioned the invitation that you got to come back next year, but are there any other types of perks or privileges that you get, either from Run Disney or Disney itself for being the winner, or is it just the mouse ears and the medal, like the rest of us?

Speaker 4: 51:15

I did get an email yesterday confirming my address, because they are sending an award in the mail, so I'll keep you posted.

Speaker 2: 51:24

Very cool.

Speaker 3: 51:25

If you post it on what comes. Yeah, they used to do those for age groups, stephanie, and they're nice, and I imagine the one for the overall champion is really nice.

Speaker 4: 51:36

Well, when I came second for the Wine and Dine, they sent me a pair of Schox headphones, which I've wanted forever. So I was like this is the best sort of gift. Like what else did I want? Like headphones for running, it's perfect. And then a super cute, like little award, like a plexiglass award with my name and everything written on it. So I was like this is great. So I can only imagine.

Speaker 3: 51:57

You alluded a little bit, stephanie. What's next? You have Boston on the horizon, or?

Speaker 4: 52:02

So, yeah, I think I'm going to try and enter into Boston for 2025. New York would be a fun one. It actually runs right past my sister's apartment, so I'm like how cool would that be? Like she could stand there and wait a minute or do it with me, whatever she would choose. But then I am doing. I did just sign up for the Brooklyn Half Marathon. That one is in April and then I'm going to probably do. I think there's like a 5K Irish jig that's coming up in Grand Rapids, so I'm probably going to do quite a few local races too.

Speaker 5: 52:34

I can definitely recommend New York. Amazing, you sent that one. I did it last year. It was the most faith. Like I love Disney races.

Speaker 1: 52:44

But New.

Speaker 5: 52:44

York was my absolute favorite race I've ever done in my life.

Speaker 4: 52:47

That's good to know. That's really good to know. I was kind of nervous, like I know, at the start of this I mentioned like I didn't want to do too much of a serious marathon, if that makes sense, but it's good to know that that was a really good one.

Speaker 5: 53:01

Your favorite Hands down, like the crowds, the crowds. Like that's all that just made it for me and New York is one of my favorite cities, but like top notch, it was amazing.

Speaker 4: 53:13

Good to, that's good. That's really good to know.

Speaker 2: 53:16

Well, something that I just thought of Stephanie is I mean obviously you're ran an amazing time and I mean the course is certified. Is your time from a couple of weeks go fast enough to be a BQ for Boston next year?

Speaker 4: 53:31

It is yes.

Speaker 2: 53:32

Amazing, ok, awesome.

Speaker 3: 53:34

I don't have it in front of me, greg, but I'm sure not only is it good enough, but it's good enough to survive any gaps or anything. Yeah, that's well under Yep.

Speaker 2: 53:42

Excellent, well, congratulations.

Speaker 1: 53:44

Thank you.

Speaker 4: 53:45

On multiple fronts. Not many people can say that they ran and when their first marathon in their favorite place on earth.

Speaker 2: 53:52

So I feel very lucky to be able to say that that's true. You know, they say Boston's the unicorn race, but that might be a unicorn in itself, right there.

Speaker 5: 54:01

So, so, in wrapping this all up, winning your first ever marathon is so inspiring and I know a lot of people listening will just like I know I'm smiling listening to your story, so I'm sure everyone else will. What advice would you give a runner who is currently training for their first attempt at a 26.2 race?

Speaker 4: 54:28

Just know it's going to take a lot of time to train for that, but I feel like you're already winning If it's already in your mind that you want to do it. Whether you're running it, walking it, doing a combination of both, you are already doing so much more than you probably ever thought you could. So, showing up to that starting line, whether you feel prepared or not, as soon as you take that first step onto that marathon course, you're already a winner. In my opinion, not many people can say that they've done a marathon, at whatever speed. It doesn't matter the speed, just keep pushing to the best of your ability. Everybody's different. Whether you're, like I said, whether you're walking it, running it, it doesn't matter You've done a marathon.

Speaker 3: 55:15

That's lovely. Well, Stephanie, I'm sorry we couldn't offer you a ticker tape, parade down Main Street like the Super Bowl champions and all that, but we are delighted, happy and proud that you joined us here on the Rise and Run podcast. Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 4: 55:31

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome.

Speaker 2: 55:36

Well, stephanie, it was an absolute pleasure speaking with you and I'm so glad that we're able to keep the tradition alive of having the female winner of the marathon on, and hopefully it's a tradition that continues for years and years and years. Interesting fun facts that we were able to pull from our previous guest from last year, katie, who won the marathon. She did return but actually came in sixth place, so still a really awesome time. Glad to see her up there with the elites back in the top again. And then the other thing that I did want to note too is it was a very interesting storyline that a lot of us were following.

Speaker 2: 56:14

A young lady by the name of Haley Chura we thought was going to pull a Brittany Charbonneau. She won the 5K, the 10K and the half of the half. So I know all of us we were on pins and needles to see if this was going to happen for two times in three years, but Haley did pull in an impressive finish. But she actually finished fourth in the marathon. That's a huge, huge accomplishment in itself. And if you're interested in hearing more about Haley's story, I know our good friends Carissa Galloway and John Pelkey had her on their podcast 321go. So if you're interested in hearing more about her story, be sure to go check out their podcast as well.

Speaker 3: 57:00

Friends and announcements. We finally have some news about the Jeff Galloway weekend. Registration is open again JeffGallowaycom. Look for Jeff's race weekend across the top. Big change in format. The idea is to emphasize almost an entire weekend, a race retreat type weekend, with plenty of opportunity for meetups and classes, with Jeff leaving there hopefully excited about running instead of just getting your medal in your t-shirt maybe have some personal time with Jeff, et cetera. Now there still are some questions and I hope to have more answers next week. We will have Jeff on. Between now and then, these I want to remind you if you register, please use the code Bob10, b-o-b-1-0, no spaces, because it'll save you 10% on your registration fee. The other thing is I was approached by Weston. We may and I'll have more information later we may have a race retreat entry to give away to one of our Rise and Run listeners. I'll let you know more just as soon as I find out.

Speaker 5: 58:15

And our good friend Pam over at FluffyFizzies had a really cool announcement. She has released the World Showcase scented compressed towels and I don't know if you've used these, but they're really cool. There's 10 towel body wipes in this little bitty tube and they remind me of the little bitty as kids we would get the washcloths that you put them in water. So that's what it reminds me of. But she has some really cool scents too. She has springtime in France and German salted caramel, canadian maple popcorn, so I think they sound like they could be really, really interesting. So make sure you go to fluffyfizziescom and use the code happy running.

Speaker 3: 59:15

Very good. You can order them for delivery or you can order them to have picked up at the Expo at Princess Weekend.

Speaker 1: 59:21

And if you're looking to get some clothing tank tops, shirts, dresses, skirts with different patterns on it or your favorite character themes Kauai and Pizza Apparel has all of that for you. You can still get it before, Princess, if you're looking and want to do a rush order. Otherwise, there's always springtime or races down the road, and you can use the code riseandrun on their website.

Speaker 3: 59:48

And that's a 10% savings, also, I believe, from Kauai and Pizza. Apparel Good stuff there. Friends going to Princess, we do have a meetup scheduled Saturday 3 PM in the food truck area For new folks, no charge. It's just a chance for us to get together, meet one another in person. We always have a good time. If we have a meeting at 3, we'll probably take a group photo at 3.30. The last couple of times we've done this, folks have been there until around 5 o'clock. So if you're running Princess Weekend, we sure hope to see you there.

Speaker 2: 1:00:22

And to round out this section of the podcast, we just want to mention our Patreon link, patreoncom slash riseandrunpodcast, and we want to welcome our newest member to the Patreon family, our buddy Steve from Windsor, new York, who joined our Mandalorian level. So we're very excited that he grabbed Grogu and is heading with Doc back to 1985. So we really, really do appreciate your support.

Speaker 3: 1:00:49

Friends, an update on some news I shared last week. Our friend Heather, who typically competes in the push rim division in a lot of races, is not only out of ICU, she is now out of the hospital and recovering at home. No holding Heather back, she's going to be out there rolling with the Roll Disney crowd very soon. Hey, john, we haven't done reviews for a while. Do we have any new ones?

Speaker 6: 1:01:14

We have a new one. It's from our friend Pat underscore OD, underscore three, the quintessential Run Disney community. I was fortunate to stumble upon this podcast mid-dopey training this season and boy am I glad I did. The Rise and Run group is the epitome of the Run Disney spirit. The gang is just as warm, inviting and relatable as friends you make in the corral on race day. The information and interviews are very insightful and give you your Run Disney fix in between events. Far and away this is the most inclusive group I've seen. Strong Facebook community that feels just as integrated as the show. Everyone is so positive and really strive for inclusion across the board. I mean, what podcast do you know that will compile a race report for several hundred strangers on the internet every week? Keep up the good work, friends. Patrick from.

Speaker 3: 1:02:06

Orlando, florida, patrick, thank you. And speaking of, we're almost there, not yet, not yet. Let's see what we've got coming up next week.

Speaker 5: 1:02:15

So next week, in our episode 124, we are going to have our new friend, michael from Michael Does Dis on Instagram, coming to chat with us. So really excited to talk to him.

Speaker 3: 1:02:28

Thank you. Now it's time for the race report. All right, friends, let's start. On Saturday in Baton Rouge, louisiana, the Mardi Gras Mambo 15K. Emily was there, great Mardi Gras theming for the race. Great Mardi Gras theming at Emily's costume. Emily's first ever 15K. That's a PR. And she finished in an excellent 15K time of less than one hour 24 minutes. I consider anything under an hour and a half and a 15K to be outstanding. A lot of friends at the Houston Hot Chocolate Run doing the 10K. Amy was there with two friends looking absolutely fabulous in their coordinated outfits. Kim was there, kim ran some of the race with Amy and Kim A set a PR. Rachel was at this event. Jennifer. Jennifer did the 5K, really had fun. Eight minutes faster than two years ago. It's a sign that she's recovering from all that she's been through in the past 12 months. Way to go, jennifer. We're proud of you. And running on her birthday, brandy ran the 5K. She finished On her birthday, went out for brunch drinks afterward.

Speaker 2: 1:03:56

the loaded bloody Mary looked Spectacular you know, that's one drink I just can't get into, and I don't know why neither they're crazy.

Speaker 1: 1:04:07

I like a lot of Mary.

Speaker 2: 1:04:09

I mean the thing is, I don't like tomatoes. But oh, that's a, that's a major stumbling block, yeah, but I mean, but you would think, though, in like a different form, with all sorts of different accoutrements On the cup and stuff like that, but no, I just I can't get into it. I don't know why.

Speaker 3: 1:04:24

I think I've seen them with a cheeseburger on a stick.

Speaker 1: 1:04:28

All the Chikouterie on top of it, and then it will just you'll forget about everything.

Speaker 3: 1:04:33

Yeah, nevertheless. Hey, brandy, we're glad you had yours, glad you had a good time. All right, friends, let's move now to Provo, utah, for the frigid 5k another appropriately named event and Our friend Tracy is here on the race report spotlight to tell us all about this event. Tracy, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 7: 1:04:58

Hello friends, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:04:59

We're glad you're here. So, tracy, we wanted to get you on the race report spotlight for a very special reason, but we're gonna, as we like to say in the business, bury the lead on that one a little bit.

Speaker 2: 1:05:11

So, but let's talk about this race now, before we officially hit the record button. We were just chatting with you that this actually isn't a local race for you, so so tell us about how you found, how you found this, why you put on your schedule and and why maybe there was a little apprehension of traveling to this town for for this run.

Speaker 7: 1:05:32

Yeah, so I'm based in Taylorsville, utah, which is about 15 minutes or so outside of Salt Lake City. I'm a University of Utah graduate big you of you fan and Provo is about 30 miles south of me and that is known as BYU country, and Utah and BYU are very heated rivals and a lot of people Don't really realize how big of the rivalry it is.

Speaker 7: 1:06:01

Oh yeah, it's. It's so interesting because you've got kids who played together in all the leagues growing up who are now on opposite teams. You've got family members who sometimes, like the parents, played for BYU and now play for Utah Split families. Then you add in people who are Members of the LDS church and people who aren't, who go out each other, and so there's a whole religious aspect to it. So, yeah, so Provo sometimes when you hear Provo, for me that it's like, oh, I don't want to go down there. But they had a Interesting course. It was the frigid 5k. I was a weaker or so outside of finishing up with Doing the Dumbo challenge, which was just after doing dopey, so I was like you know, it's been a couple weeks time to kind of get back into it and, and this one at the very end. Then they had the opportunity to do a polar plunge, which I've never done and I'd say you know what that's worth a drive down, down south into enemy country. So we'll go down and check it out.

Speaker 3: 1:07:03

Yeah, enemy territory as you refer to it, right?

Speaker 7: 1:07:07

Exactly, yeah, so, mike, all right, I and in fact I actually wore a. I didn't realize it till I got out of the car, but I had a university of Utah sweatshirt on. This would be interesting, but luckily people were cool.

Speaker 3: 1:07:22

I imagine they were cold, as a matter of fact.

Speaker 7: 1:07:25

Yeah, I think at that point everybody was like we're just gonna sign up, we're just running, and yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:07:31

So so, with this course being a 5k, obviously a little bit shorter of a distance than you know, dumbo, that you just did any course highlights for you.

Speaker 7: 1:07:39

It was kind of nice. It was down. It starts at the Utah Lake, which is just down in Probo, and there's a, there's a boat house, so it was a nice staging area and then we got to run along there. Utah's got a pretty cool system of Trails as paved trails that run all the way from, I think all the way up into Ogden, down into Probo, so it's about 90 miles or so of paved trail all along the Jordan River Parkway, and so we got to run by the Probo River Trees. There were farm, some farmland areas off to the side. So it was. It was quite a decent little course. You had to. At times it was a little crazy because some of the trees next to the pavement had grown underneath, and so you're.

Speaker 3: 1:08:23

Oh yeah, I kind of pushed it yeah.

Speaker 7: 1:08:25

You kind of pushed up so you almost had, like the, the speed bumps so you kind of had to watch out for that. But it was a pretty wide course so it wasn't too too crowded or anything. So there was room for everybody to spread out and and enjoy themselves. So it was a nice race. It was about 34 degrees when we Finished. It was, I think, 33 when we started, in 34 when we finished. So but you know, once you get going, the sweatshirt about sweatshirt came off about a mile and a half in Just tied around the waist and then finished up.

Speaker 3: 1:08:55

Probably, I'm gonna say probably, not bad for that time of year in that part of the country, is it?

Speaker 7: 1:08:59

not bad? No, and in fact last year they actually had a snowstorm during the race, so they had epic photos Sometimes. Sometimes it's hard to run outside in Utah because you're like I'm not sure what the weather is gonna be. We could be like balmy and it could be, you know, 40 45 degrees. In January it could be Five, so you, you never really know. So it's kind of an interesting mix. But this was quite enjoyable as a nice sunny morning and and quite comfortable. So yeah, it was great.

Speaker 3: 1:09:27

Nice, very nice. Tracy, how long have you been running?

Speaker 7: 1:09:32

I Started on the. It's been when was it that? I think it was the 2017 Disneyland adventures half. I think it was the 2017 race. I had a friend who Did the tinkerbell at Disneyland and was telling me about how you get to run through the parks before they open, and I was like, oh, that's, that's pretty cool. And so she said I don't think I'll ever do another one. And I said, well, if you do, let me know and I might join you. And then, a couple years later, then she said, well, I'm gonna do another one because it's Avengers themed. And I was like, oh dang, that would be cool. I started running and so I was. I was in my early 40s when I started. I was not. I Wasn't that. I see some of these and it was cool. On the course, you see these kids who are like eight Do one of the first five times like I wish I would have started back then, because it was a lot easier.

Speaker 7: 1:10:21

It's tough now.

Speaker 3: 1:10:23

I hear you never know. You never know, tracy, you never know you start, you might burn out.

Speaker 7: 1:10:28

You never know. That's true, that's true.

Speaker 3: 1:10:30

And it's working for you. You're doing great.

Speaker 7: 1:10:33

Yeah, I'm not a super fast runner, but I'm consistent and. Keep the weight down and keep the blood sugar down.

Speaker 3: 1:10:40

Yeah.

Speaker 7: 1:10:41

I found that it helps that if I have a A race and I have a deadline, that it forces me to out and run and do the training. Yep, absolutely I suppose to, if it's just, if I don't have a race set up. But it's a Wednesday night, I'm like I don't want to go to the gym, address other, watch Netflix and hang out and gotcha.

Speaker 3: 1:10:58

You know, absolutely, I do, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 6: 1:11:02

And you train at a very interesting place, don't you?

Speaker 7: 1:11:05

I do. So, like I said, the weather in Utah is kind of unpredictable at times. We we get very cold and snowy in the winter and then in the summer we'll get to a hundred, a hundred and five degrees. So it's. It's just we're so varied. You know, I have friends down in Florida who are like you know you have that fairly narrow range, you do. You have like a 10 or 20 degree difference throughout the whole year. We have a hundred, eighty to a hundred degree difference.

Speaker 7: 1:11:29

So when the Olympics first came in 2002 and now we're looking like we'll get them again in 2030 they built a speed skating rink out in Kearns, which is right now about five minutes from my house. It's on the west side of Salt Lake, it's kind of southwest, about 20, 25 minutes or so, but they do Olympic events there and in fact this last weekend the US national team was competing against a whole bunch of international teams for long, long-form speed skating. So anyway, so they built the ice rink and then they have a rink, a running track Around that, and it's open to the public, and so I've purchased a year pass and so I just go train at the over at the Olympic Oval and it's about a third of a mile. You just run laps and it's it's nice because sometimes you get somewhere where they'll the the rink is like you know, maybe like an eighth of a mile, and so then you're just doing so many laps.

Speaker 7: 1:12:29

So to do a third of a mile, it's it's nice because you're like it's not too long. And then you're the bathrooms. Are there the drinking fountains there? I'm five minutes from the house and so I could go in the middle of the day when it's 100 degrees or if it's snowing. But it's cool because sometimes they'll actually be Like speed skating events going on like training. If it's like a competition, they close it off and then it's just for the skaters. But there'll be people who are training there, who are doing speed skating and stuff while you're there, and that's pretty fun to watch that'd be pretty neat.

Speaker 6: 1:12:59

So after this race there is a plunge. Now, how did that? Go or why do you want to do a plunge?

Speaker 2: 1:13:09

Have you thought?

Speaker 7: 1:13:09

out yet I was. I'm like it's. It's kind of like when I did dopey and Dumbo, it's like. Well, this seemed like a good idea when I signed up at the time you're like what did I?

Speaker 7: 1:13:19

what was I thinking? What was what's going on? Yeah, so after we finished the race and there was a, there's a huge line because, like I said, I'm a slower, slowish runner, so I was towards the back and then of course, you have the, the people there with their kids and stuff, that finished after me. But there was a line around the Boathouse to get over to the, to the area where the plunge was happening. And so at first, when I finished the race, I'm quite warm, I'm feeling good. And then we're waiting in line and I'm like okay, I'm starting to cool down. And so then the sweatshirt comes back on, and and then by the time you finally get up to the ice, now you're like oh, it's a little chilly. Now I'm not sure I'm fan. If I would have jumped in right away, it would have been fine, but it was. It was pretty great.

Speaker 7: 1:14:01

They they had. They have a dock that comes off of the Boathouse, and so you were able to walk up the dock, and then they had tables set off to the side so you could put towels and stuff right there, and then they had cut out a large section of ice. They had Two docks parallel to each other and on the one side when you jumped, and then on the other side they had ladders that were Ziplined attached so that they wouldn't come off and so you could climb right out. They had fencing on either side, so there was no way that you would like go under the ice. There was no way, right. Any like was like was frozen over. Like was frozen over, okay.

Speaker 7: 1:14:39

So they had to carve it out and then scoop out all the pieces, but it was. It was pretty wide open. And then they had a photographer On the on the ice on a ladder that was taking photos for everybody. So that was really cool, because they didn't want to slow people down in people handing off of their phones and stuff like that. So, anyway, as we got closer, I had I had actually run in a, in a swimsuit, and then I had Running pants over the top of it, so I was able to just take off the running pants, take off the shirt, put them in a bag, got to the edge of the ice and they said jump in the middle, don't try and jump out to the ladder, just jump in towards the middle.

Speaker 2: 1:15:18

And so I was like, okay, and In we went okay, now to wrap this up, I do have this question. You know you said you just did dopey and Dumbo and and you compared the plunge to that. So it's a situation where you finish and you're like I'm never doing that again and then two weeks later You're like when is it time to sign up? So my question for you, tracy, is, now that you know a couple of days have passed post this polar plunge, are you gonna do it again?

Speaker 7: 1:15:47

You know I would think about it. It was. It was actually quite a bit of fun and I wasn't sure what to expect. So it's kind of like dopey you go now that I know that I could do that. Now if I did it again I might enjoy it more. You know that type of thing. But but yeah, it was a balmy 34 degrees. I don't know what temperature the lake was, but it's obviously colder than that. But warmed up quick there after they had hot chocolate.

Speaker 3: 1:16:08

So it's got. It's got to be over 32. Yeah Well, it does, I mean really. So it's probably not much different than the air, probably. Yeah well, you're a better man than I am, tracy. I don't think I could do that, but congratulations to you. Hey, real quick. Next Disney event for you Is there one planned?

Speaker 7: 1:16:27

I'm very curious to try and do the the Disney mad 5k and 10k for Halloween. Okay, I'm not really doing the challenge because the, the, the half marathons, the hocus-pocus, and I'll be honest, I've never seen that movie, so the metal didn't really interest me. But I love Chippendale, which is the 5k. Then they're doing a hoted mansion for the 10k and I was, like you know, I kind of want both of those metals. So, and California is a lot closer to Utah than Florida is.

Speaker 3: 1:16:53

So sure is. That's why I was wondering if you get over there, yeah, so well, I hope to do that one myself, tracy. I really hope to. We'll see how it goes.

Speaker 7: 1:17:01

Okay, you're there.

Speaker 3: 1:17:02

I'd love to see on the course. It'd be wonderful, tracy, great, great report. Great having you with us. Thanks for your spending the time. We really appreciate it. Thanks you guys. We wanted to give one more shout out to Tracy. We forgot to mention this in the interview. Tracy has a podcast. His podcast is called movies that make us. He described it as like a book club for movies and in Powell, tennessee, jimmy ran the Oak Ridge five-mylar.

Speaker 1: 1:17:31

He finished towards the back of the pack for this one as it was a cater training run and he had to do two miles afterward, but he was happy with his time. So great job, jimmy.

Speaker 3: 1:17:41

And that's the most important part.

Speaker 1: 1:17:44

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 1:17:46

Binghamton, new York. Remember last week it was really cold in Binghamton. This is race number four of the January freeze 10k series, steve, who we just mentioned. As our newest patreon Said, it was quite a bit warmer than it was last week. I don't think it could have been much colder. This one had three two-mile loops so you could, as you're going by, you could drop stuff off in your car. That was nice. No medals, the winners got pies. No pie for Steve. But he did negative split almost every mile, which is pretty dad gum good. And in the drawing afterwards he and his wife Brenda won future entries into a half and a 5k. Brenda won the half, steve won the 5k. Brenda sent a note saying that they might swap, but heck, that's pretty good. Finishing out Saturday the greater Long Island Running Club Icebreaker Marathon. The Camden County runner, jack, did this one a well run event, no frills up in New York. Jack not only PR'd this race but he BQ'd also.

Speaker 2: 1:18:55

Way to go, jack, you're so damn inspired. Way to go.

Speaker 3: 1:18:59

Very impressive. After the problems Jack had in Rehoboth last month, he felt like this one was really redemption. Well, if you're going to redeem yourself, jack, bq and PR, a pretty dag gum, impressive way to do it. Let's move to Sunday, the New York Roadrunners Fred LeBeau Half Marathon. Rob left us a video race report on the Facebook page. He called it and I quote, by far the worst conditions. He's run in Poor rain for two hours and just when everybody got soaked the weather turned really cold. Still was a well run event on a great course and Rob did well.

Speaker 3: 1:19:35

Big one in Celebration, florida, right outside Disney World, in fact, one of the favorite signs that the Celebration Half Marathon read we may not be Disney, but we don't make you get up at two in the morning either. Yeah, I like that. I forget who posted that. That's pretty good. I know Jared was there. I know our friend Christina was supposed to be there but she had a stress fracture from Marathon weekend so her husband David ran instead. Michael was there. Michael commented fun race, fun. After party.

Speaker 3: 1:20:09

Several folks commented on the after party. Tabitha and my husband and wife had a great time. Felt so much better than when they did it last year Tabitha set a course PR. No PR for Mike, but he also had a great time. Jody was there. It's kind of a hometown run for Jody. Another great time. Another comment about how great the after party was. Support from local restaurants Highly recommended. Jody PR'd this one at 231. Just one minute past that POT time Great PR, jody. You know I'm tempted to do some of these races and then I think Interstate four and we'll think about it later.

Speaker 3: 1:20:50

Still not done. Tiffany was there. Great run for her. It helped her beat the post marathon weekend blues Excellent swag. Tiffany will be at Princess next. And then Jen, who runs with Adam as her guide. Jen was on with us a while back. Jen PR'd this event. Way to go, jen.

Speaker 5: 1:21:11

And next up we have the Miami marathon and half marathon. We had our friend Amelia run this. She said that it was a hot and humid race and a lot of runners needed assistance, but she did make it through. She waited about 20 minutes for medals. She says she's not going to do this one again, but, guys, did you see that medal?

Speaker 3: 1:21:32

Yes, pretty cool yes.

Speaker 2: 1:21:33

I laughed out loud when you said that who gives out ninja stars as a medal?

Speaker 5: 1:21:39

Yes, and I even saw a post on the Miami marathon shared that said hey, you might not want to go through TSA, tsa might not Checked bad I was like what the heck? But it was still. It looked awesome.

Speaker 3: 1:21:58

Yeah, comment on the Miami weather it was warm here the day before and I think the weather was still warm down there. Like I said, it was 80 when I did my six miles on Saturday and that front was heading over, so I think it was still plenty warm, plenty humid in Miami. Good job, amelia. Going from warm to chilly, the frigid five-mylar in Concord, ohio, lori, wet and cold. Lori did a jack and we know what that is. She didn't check the elevation. This ended up being a part trail, part bike path, part mountain bike path. Pancakes at the finish. No thanks, says Lori. She wanted to go home and get warm. I figured the pancakes were probably soggy anyway. So, wrapping up the race report for the week in Lakewood, colorado, the Yeti Chase 10K Summer was there. Describes weather as perfect Tough race, lots of hills, but she's still peyarde.

Speaker 6: 1:22:58

So summer? Was that the disco Yeti, or was that the tumbler?

Speaker 3: 1:23:05

No zoom this week, friends. We have one last week, we'll have one next week. Hope to see you there, friends, and if you run, you know you are our friends. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Rise and Run podcast. I'm excited for you folks who are getting ready to do Princess. It's kind of like having a birthday around the holidays. Princess gets lost a little bit in the marathon weekend chaos and especially with Disneyland getting thrown in there. But it's a big deal, it's a great event and if you're heading to a run Disney event for the first time or heading to this race for the first time, I know you're excited about it and we're looking forward to seeing you there. All right, that wraps up episode 123,. My friends, until we see you again, happy running.

Speaker 2: 1:24:06

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