128: Mickey and Muscles: A Conversation with The Tutu Guys

Every step tells a story, and in our lively chatter with The Tutu Guys,  Adam and Thomas, each stride is wrapped in whimsy and a burst of charity-driven energy. We unfold tales of tutus trotted out for good causes, gym intimidation that turned into triumphs, and the unforgettable embrace of the runDisney community. Our guests dazzle us with their race day sagas, from sporting playful outfits to their heartfelt encounters with fellow participants, painting a vibrant picture of the joy and unity found in these magical events.

As we swap stories of fitness journeys and the evolution of our racing attire, the laughter is as palpable as the sweat on a marathon runner's brow. We take a nostalgic jog through the delightful themes of past RunDisney events, celebrating the infectious spirit and camaraderie that make these races far more than just finish line feats. The transformative power of the runDisney experience shines through, contrasting the solitary pursuit of weightlifting with the communal cheers that propel us towards our personal bests.

Rounding out our run, we highlight the admirable strides of our running community in supporting charitable causes, demonstrating the profound impact of lacing up for something greater than a personal record. Our guests share their passion for organizations like Girls on the Run and the National Down Syndrome Society, truly embodying the heart-pumping philanthropy that makes each race an avenue for change. Join us as we cross the finish line of this episode, heartened by the stories of perseverance, celebration, and the runners who inspire us to go the distance for a cause.
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Runningwithalysha Alysha’s Run Coaching (Mention Rise And Run and get $10 off) 

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 4: 0:36

Greetings friends. Welcome to episode 128 of the Rise and Run Podcast. We are so happy that you're here with us. A notice didn't have a recorded intro. I failed to get any at Princess Weekend Shame on me and we've run out. So between now and springtime surprise 727-266-2344. Give us a call, Leave us a recorded intro and then you won't have to hear me starting things out, but I'm still glad you're here. I'm Bob and I am here this evening with Greg hey hey hey With John. Hey how you doing With Alicia. Hello.

Speaker 4: 1:24

And welcome back. Jack is back.

Speaker 2: 1:28

Jack is back. Back again, jack is back.

Speaker 6: 1:32

Hey guys, I've got a song going on. I love it. Just a theme song. Now Look at that.

Speaker 3: 1:36

I know Good to see you, jack.

Speaker 4: 1:41

I'm sure it had nothing to do with our guests for the week, friends, our guests for the week. If you've seen them on the course at Disney World, you know exactly who they are. If I just say the two, two guys, adam and Thomas great guys. We know you're going to have fun listening to our conversation with them. I know we sure had a good time In the race report spotlight. Tokyo Marathon was just a few days ago. Our friends Jason and Arno were there and they had a chance to join us Jason still in Tokyo, arno back in the Netherlands, and we all got together for the race report spotlight.

Speaker 3: 2:30

If you enjoy the podcast, please share it with your friends and introduce them to the podcast we want to share in their training journey. Also, please remember to follow us on Facebook Rise and Run Podcast and on Instagram Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have a question, comment, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

Speaker 4: 3:00

John, thanks. We also want to thank our Patreons who support helps keep the Rise and Run Podcast rising and running Patreons, like our new friends, our new Patreon friends Holly, courtney and Robert. And I also want to thank our friend Abel from out in California for upgrading his Patreon status.

Speaker 2: 3:22

The Rise and Run Podcast is brought to you by our friends over at Magic Bound Travel. I'm hoping that the initial rush of that early 2025 registration has died down for them and the workload isn't as insane, but I know they did a great job in helping all of our friends get those early bookings for January through October of 2025. But if you're still thinking about a room, a racecation or just a regular vacation, be sure to contact our friends at magicboundtravelcom. Now let's take a look at the training coming up the good old springtime surprise race weekend. We are officially six weeks away. We are in week 12 of that training program.

Speaker 2: 4:18

If you are doing the Ohana Challenge this week, you do have a double up. You have a three mile walk followed by a nine mile run. So I'm just chomping at the bit Now that princess is over. I can't wait to see Bob and Alicia and the rest of our friends down in springtime. I think it's going to be an absolute blast. Now the other thing that we did want to mention out. This isn't specifically training related, but we did want to let you know that Weinendine is only a mere 34 weeks away, but we are just less than one week away. This coming Tuesday is registration for the 2024 Weinendine half marathon weekend, and I cannot believe it is here already.

Speaker 2: 5:13

I know is absolutely insane. So quick, quick poll around the room here today. Who's going to throw their hat in the ring for Weinendine?

Speaker 5: 5:21

Well, I'm already signed up. Oh, that's right, miss Perfect. Challenge over here is already registered.

Speaker 2: 5:27

I forgot about that. I'll be there.

Speaker 4: 5:30

You betcha, yeah, I'll be there, I'm going to do all three. I wasn't, I was just going to do the challenge, but then say, through the Muppets in the five games, the Swedish chef push you over the edge. The Swedish chef did the Muppets in general. The Swedish chef, oh yep, sure did, Absolutely Awesome.

Speaker 2: 5:49

John, I know you're in the predicament like me with Halloween, but what's your official status for Weinendine?

Speaker 3: 5:55

Right now I don't think I am doing it, but that could change by Tuesday. I could change.

Speaker 2: 6:00

It could change by Tuesday. And Jack darling, how about you?

Speaker 6: 6:04

Well, so I just found out that I got into the 5k for Disneyland Halloween Nice.

Speaker 6: 6:10

Yeah that's cool, and so I was only planning on doing two race weekends with Disney, just because there's so much going on, especially that fall and winter. So my thing is is I'm not sure yet. But the other part of me is, is I put in my name for the lottery for New York? So I was debating about doing like the 10k because I put my name in the lottery for New York and, you know, do the 10k, fly out to New York, go to the expo same day and then do the race the next day. Is that feasible? I mean, you never know, but I don't know. I'm up at the air for Weinendine personally.

Speaker 3: 6:57

And just for you guys to know, weinendine registrations next week. The lottery gets picked for New York City at the end of the month.

Speaker 4: 7:06

So yeah, timing's terrible.

Speaker 6: 7:08

But here's my thing about it, though, is you can still get into the Disney races. It would be by chance, like how me getting into the 5k for Disneyland was by chance today.

Speaker 2: 7:17

Absolutely.

Speaker 6: 7:18

Yeah, I mean, there's still going to be plenty of other opportunities. You just got to be right smack down Gotta be quick yeah.

Speaker 6: 7:25

Yeah, because literally I put in for the challenge today too for Disneyland, and I pressed it. I got charged for the race and then they said it got closed out and then I got my money back. So it can happen like that. But I mean there's going to be plenty of chances and plus they even have springtime being sold right now. I saw that open up, I think earlier today. By today I mean Tuesday. So I mean it's been opening up on and off. So I'm thinking if, even if I don't sign up this weekend, I can find out about New York and if I didn't get in, then I'll just go ahead and sign up.

Speaker 3: 7:56

There's always the charry route too. Absolutely.

Speaker 6: 7:59

Absolutely, and that's a wonderful thing to have an option for as well. So Absolutely.

Speaker 4: 8:05

Yeah, there is a chance. Friends, I want to remind those of you who want to register for Wine and Dine this coming Tuesday highly encourage you to join us in our community chat on our Facebook page, the 2024 Wine and Dine Weekend Community Chat. We help one another with the registration process and we've been very successful with that, so look forward to seeing you. Besides, it's fun, so look forward to seeing you there. A interesting question asked on Facebook. I wanted us to explore it just a little bit here before we bring on the two, two guys. And that question was when you enter a marathon, do you know, going into it, that if you've done the proper training, that you're going to finish it? Or do you sometimes think that? And the questions being asked, I'm pretty sure from the perspective of I don't know if I want to register or not because I never done one before. So how confident are you when you tell the start line that you're going to finish a marathon?

Speaker 6: 9:15

Okay. So this is what I'm going to say about that is is, if you sign up for a marathon, you're not sure, oh you know, am I going to complete it? Heck yeah, you're going to complete it because you know, when you go to that start line, that you put in the work and you showed up to be able to put those workouts in and those runs in. You go to that start line Remember we always say this that race is like a victory lap. That's what that is. You did everything. So you should know, in full confidence, that you can do it, and the only person that could stop you is you. So don't let that mentality be in your head, thinking, oh my goodness, I'm not going to finish it because, yes, you are, you did it, you know. I would say go for it. If you're thinking about it.

Speaker 2: 9:59

I'll agree with everybody here. I think as long as you get the training in, you should have all the confidence in the world. Now, great, there's a difference between being cocky and being confident Absolutely. So obviously you know when you go to the toe of the start line. You definitely need to check your ego at the door or check your ego at the start line.

Speaker 2: 10:22

But the one thing I will say, you know, in terms of like knowing that you can do something, you know, the only time when I would would ever have. Maybe the negative thought side of that coin is like, you know, for me, you know, this spring I have two goal races that I'm hoping to get POTs at a 10 K, hopefully, and at a 10 miler as well. I have all the confidence in the world that I'm going to finish those races. I just don't know if I have the same confidence level that I will that I will hit that time goal that I'm looking for. So I think it's okay and it's healthy to have that mental aspect of it, you know, weigh on you a little bit. But again, as long as you're doing the training, you are absolutely going to cross your finish line, no doubt about it.

Speaker 6: 11:09

I also want to put this in there, and I feel like this should be for all races too. I mean personally, I mean you guys could definitely tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like it's always good to kind of have a plan for the worst, hope for the best kind of feel, so that way, if something does go wrong, you don't stress over it, because you already know what the answer is is how to fix it. So I think that's great and believe in you. I think that's wonderful. Just do you. You could do it.

Speaker 4: 11:37

I think having backup goals are very wise. I am confident if I complete the training. I'm confident when I tow the start line that I'm going to finish a race. But I've got to say this there are no guarantees. Yeah, there are no guarantees. You don't. You don't know. Look at the best in the world and there are times that they won't finish a race. So I throw that in because, although I am confident, although I would suggest it, if you're and it sounds like you have the attitude that you want to put in the effort and do the work you should expect to make it but there's no promises. Do the best you can.

Speaker 6: 12:22

Anything is possible if you just believe.

Speaker 4: 12:25

I love it. Jack, let's drop the mic there. Let's visit with our guests for this week. If you have been a regular at the Walt Disney World runs over the last year or two, you have certainly met the friends who are visiting us tonight Tom and Adam. The two two guys have become a fixture on the course and we are pleased as can be that they're here with us this evening.

Speaker 4: 12:53

Tom, Adam, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Hey, thank you, Thanks for having us. Oh, it's great to see you guys. I'm really, really looking forward to this. I'm hoping it's going to be a lot of fun. I was, first of all, thank you to our friend Pam from Fluffy Physies for making an introduction so I could get in contact with you, and then I was really fortunate at Princess Run on the Half Marathon to meet up with both of you, spend a little time going back and forth on the course. That was great, that was fun. I want to talk more about that in a little bit. Guys, let's get started. Let's start with how long have you two known each other and how did you meet Adam? Can you tell me?

Speaker 7: 13:40

the exact date.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Yeah, it was August 16, 2020.

Speaker 6: 13:44

Not that long you were going to quote some kind of mean girls quote.

Speaker 1: 13:48

No, no, no, not in this instance. I know the exact date because it was my birthday. I knew it was a birthday but I didn't remember the year.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Yeah, that was 2020. And we were in the parks and it was still COVID protocol. Everything was social distance, oh yeah. And we were at Hollywood Studios, at the Brown Derby, and we typically sit outside while there's no bartender Ron's not out there so they had the tables separated and there were two tables on that entire patio. I had one, me and my wife did, and then Tom and Kim his wife were at a table and we're just kind of sitting there enjoying an empty park. Essentially, and outside of the two two guys, my other alter ego is the Trooper Dude. It's the Storm Trooper helmet I carry with me everywhere. Oh yes, I've got a bag with it and it's monogram and it actually has my hashtag on it. And Tom being the social butterfly that he is just looked over and he goes, hey, who's the Trooper Dude? And it was like, oh, that's me.

Speaker 7: 14:54

I looked up right away. I pull up the account and it's just this guy in his Storm Trooper mask the whole time. So I had no way of telling if that was the guy.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Yeah, for a long, long time there were no pictures of my face anywhere on the account and stories included and even if you still look at it, if you look at any static post, I won't actually show my face and there's kind of been this thing and kind of changed my perception on it. But at the time Tom couldn't look at my Instagram and be like oh yeah, it's that guy, because my face wasn't there and I looked over and kind of started talking about the Instagram a little bit and then I noticed Tom had his water bottle and I think he's probably drinking from one right now, but it's covered in stickers and there was an orange theory sticker on it. And I looked at him and I've been going to orange theory for about two years. I know COVID kind of threw a wrench into some of that, but I was like hey, who goes to orange theory? Like yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:53

I've seen Tom Like it's obviously Tom, yeah, he goes, yeah, I'm a coach. And I was like, oh God, here we go. And we just started talking and chatting Tom's like hey, we got a reservation at Ogis, Do you want to join us? And we went and we sat at Ogis for and it's a 45 minute- limit but when you're regular it's.

Speaker 7: 16:21

During that time they were literally during that time.

Speaker 1: 16:25

And they were only letting us start there for two and a half hours, oh wow, Chatted and it's cool. It was finally like hey, I got to go. There's some other people that are kind of waiting for us.

Speaker 4: 16:36

And Tom and Kim followed and we just hung out, yeah, and we had to get out of our condo. Nice, nice place Over on the boardwalk, yeah, good one and, as they say, the rest is history.

Speaker 1: 16:48

That's a good story.

Speaker 4: 16:49

That's neat. Another I mean just another example. Well, at this point now, when you two met, had you done any run Disney?

Speaker 7: 16:59

events. So I had at that point, before COVID, I had done Star Wars challenge, dark Side Challenge, twice, did it twice and then the world shut down and I kind of didn't do it again. But I had run those solo which you know. I could dive into that a little later, but I ran those solo and that was a whole different vibe.

Speaker 4: 17:24

Yep.

Speaker 7: 17:25

Not knowing anybody.

Speaker 4: 17:28

Yeah, and then actually that Star Wars event was the first one we lost in COVID. Yeah, now we don't have the kind of strongest topic to go through, you're right. But before we begin I'd like you to remember just how you grew up with movie and to keep your political smile from your Membership. Got Princess in and then, but that's behind us.

Speaker 7: 17:40

I was going to do my third Star Wars race, so it must have been the last one. They did was 2019. Yes, yes, because that's the year I got married on the date of the 10k and I was told very sternly You're not running a 10k the morning of our wedding.

Speaker 1: 18:00

Anniversary coming up here was April 20th.

Speaker 7: 18:03

April 20th, yeah, so it's only fair I get my race back on this anniversary, that's right, that's right oh very nice, very nice.

Speaker 4: 18:11

So, tom, you had done some, but, adam, at this point you still hadn't.

Speaker 1: 18:16

I had never done any race. Yeah, I don't want a Disney race. Yeah so, princess of 22? Okay, that was Tom. I mean, fast forward, what 18 months, I guess at this point, because it was about that. Yeah, so, uh, my wife travels a lot for work. She goes to a lot of different places for conferences and she happened to have a conference going on at the Coronado so we were gonna be down there, that, and Tom texted me on Tuesday, mind you, for a Saturday race. It was like hey.

Speaker 7: 18:47

You want to round up on.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Yeah, round upon which we didn't know at the time. Caveat he goes hey, I know someone that has an extra bib. Uh, they're not gonna be able to run. Do you want to run as this guy? I was like, no, not particularly, and he goes uh, yeah, you're gonna run with us and.

Speaker 1: 19:09

It's like. All right, I got nothing else going on. My wife got up early for her conference. I would I would have just been hanging around the hotel most of the day or hanging out parks by myself. So I figured why not wake up at two o'clock in the morning?

Speaker 4: 19:20

All right she. I say she got up early.

Speaker 1: 19:22

She didn't get up at two o'clock, she was up at four, but it was still. Uh, it was an interesting experience, to say the least. And Tom goes, I'm gonna run in this aerial and I'm like, of course you are. And uh, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect and he was like, hey, you're going for a run. He didn't tell me we're gonna go dress up at three o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 6: 19:44

He had a costume for you too.

Speaker 1: 19:46

No, he didn't. But you know what's great, amazon Prime. No, no, he was going as Ariel. He was going as Ariel and Kim, his wife was running as Sebastian. So I figured I'd just be a flounder. So I googled, or I googled. I Amazon a t-shirt had flounder on it. I found a shimmery blue skirt Uh, this is before tutus, it was an actual skirt and then some bright yellow leggings and some blue sunglasses, and then this, like it was a plush flounder that I carried with me for the race and Tom's.

Speaker 1: 20:25

Tom's really easy during these races because it's like he just needs to find pants and now he doesn't.

Speaker 7: 20:32

That's right I have leggings for that one, because I wanted to, you know, get the mermaid tail down.

Speaker 4: 20:38

Yeah yeah, tom's not big on shirts. Um, in fact, the morning I saw I'm I'm wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and Tom's not wearing a shirt. Adam, did you have a shirt on in springtime? Oh no, it's spring, princess.

Speaker 1: 20:55

When I saw I had a woman press on, but yes, yeah, yeah, you had a top on the day we met, we were. It was Maleficent, I believe, outside of the gas.

Speaker 8: 21:02

Yes, yes, yes, yeah, you got it right, so I actually, uh, the happiness collective on edsy.

Speaker 1: 21:08

She makes running skirts and tops that are fantastic. So I just order a lard, a women's extra large, and it fits me quite. Snug, works. Huh, not as tight up here as I would hope you can actually pin it in the back, but it's real easy to find like a put together kind of dress and top and then you can kind of throw, you can throw a tutu on underneath it. Uh, they've been, they've been great. So most of the running skirt dresses I don't know really what they're called I picked up off edsy and then some of the others, like dopey. Uh, when we run the marathon is literally a green tutu and a it was a green tank top and the tank sheer came off at what was a mile six, I think seven, like it started pouring.

Speaker 4: 22:02

Oh, yes, it did.

Speaker 3: 22:02

Yeah like we had a mistake.

Speaker 1: 22:05

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:06

I decided.

Speaker 7: 22:07

We did the same costumes for dopey round, my third dopey and his second dopey, and I said you know what? I take the shirt off anyway. Why even carry it for the 26 miles? Well, because when you get to mile what is it? 12, an animal kingdom? 13, somewhere around that neighborhood where you start, everything starts to blur. You need a shirt to ride expedition Everest. Apparently, that's right. Oh, I found that out the hard way. But you don't need a shirt to go in the gift shop and buy a shirt.

Speaker 7: 22:36

So there you go $38 shirt that I'll never wear again.

Speaker 1: 22:41

My first marathon. We ran and you had the shirt and it was the. It was the first. Dopey was in 23. We you ran and you carried the shirt with you, so you just put it on, didn't think about it. And when we got to test track they said, yeah, you can ride it. But you got to put your shirt on and we did. Didn't quite click Until this year, when you didn't have your shirt, that we needed a shirt.

Speaker 4: 23:03

That's funny.

Speaker 1: 23:04

And the worst part is at this point, neither one of us had a shirt on in 24 because of the the rain it was pouring. Tom goes and buys a shirt. We go through the entire line. We probably walk past four or five cast members. Neither one of us have a shirt on. We're standing the line, we're the next to ride. No one said a word. The gates open and the cast member goes. You need to have a shirt on. Like you couldn't have told us Only 30 seconds ago. So now we're those guys. You were gonna get away with it jeez, do you still have the shirts?

Speaker 4: 23:37

It's in the closet. Here's what you do Autograph it. Raffled off for your charity. I like it. That'd be a, that'd be a moneymaker. So Let me see, I'm gonna try pieces together, because time you said you ran solo earlier yes, before you met up with adam in costume, or no?

Speaker 7: 23:58

so no costume. No costume for the first two. I knew you, yeah, I knew you when we, when I ran my first dopey but new costume during the star wars weekend, I had a pair of compression tights on and that's about it. That's about it. And I was, I went in.

Speaker 1: 24:17

You're a sparkle dress didn't sparkle to to not not until the first, not until my first dopey.

Speaker 7: 24:24

Oh, that's right. Yeah, so three years ago. But I ran those first two and Something somebody mentioned before oh, runners don't, lifters, don't run, you know you don't get a lot of us there. And I was big on still them, huge on weightlifting and Just trying to get out of my wheelhouse do something uncomfortable and I'm like, oh, I love disney, I love star wars, let's try this out. So I went, did the run, absolutely fell in love with it, but I ran by myself and didn't know anybody and I'm like that was fun. And now, now I go home.

Speaker 7: 25:00

And then I did that the next year Again and then, like I said, I hadn't done one for quite some time. I think that when they came back and dopey came back, I was like you know what? I never run a marathon before, never done all four events at once. I'm gonna go big or go home. And I ran that for charity and I told you know the people I was Raising money with. I was like I will run this whole 48.6 miles in a tutu. If you donate to this charity, if you donate bills on the run, I will run 48.6 miles in this tutu, and that's kind of where it started for me the tutu thing Okay.

Speaker 4: 25:42

Okay, I was going to ask that question. Beach to it. That's all right. That's, that's cool. And, by the way, guys, who's who's wearing a tutu this evening? Uh that would be me that would be adam staying totally in character and tom, to his credit, he's wearing a shirt tonight. Hapish right, well, we got it yeah.

Speaker 6: 26:04

He has a mickey on it, though, and mickey's got, like these, bomb cool muscles.

Speaker 4: 26:10

He's got muscle mouse. He's got the muscle mouse on it, the muscle mouse.

Speaker 6: 26:14

I think it's great.

Speaker 4: 26:16

That is tom's instagram.

Speaker 7: 26:17

Handle the muscle mouse best birthday gift from my staff ever. If they're listening, isn't that cool, if not, they're fired.

Speaker 4: 26:27

Hey, we love it, man. We love increasing the uh listenership. That's good. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 3: 26:31

Speaking of tutu. So when did the costumes or the theme of costumes start with you guys?

Speaker 7: 26:38

So my first dopey, which would have been First one, back after covered, we're in 20, we just did 24. So 23, 22, 22. I did dopey on a whim and I wore a tutu. Based on just you know. I said I was going to raise money for girls on the run and I told everybody, if you donate, coach tom's going to wear a tutu out there. So I broke out the tutu. That's kind of where it started. But god, it's grown into so much. More. Grown is so much more.

Speaker 4: 27:07

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:08

Yeah, I think Again, after that 10k we're like, hey, we'll run as the little mermaid and he ran as a woman. I was like, all right, cool, what are we gonna do for the next race and springtime? The 10 miler was the only option. So we did that and it was the tower of terror, 10 miler. And we decided, you know what, let's all just get matching shirts. So they were tank tops, that's. Uh, I mean, it had the logo for Hollywood, tower of terror, and we got these maroon colored tutus and basically ran in matching tanks and tutus with, uh, tom's wife, so it was a three of us. And then there was no more run disney until, uh, food and wine.

Speaker 7: 27:53

I got them hooked right, you know, got them hooked at princess, the point where he went hunting for that uh charity bit. No, it wasn't a charity, but it was one of the last minute pop-ups, I believe. Yeah, that was one of the last minute pop-ups.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Yeah, we, we. No, actually for the, for the 10 miler there were still, they were still available. It wasn't, we didn't even have to travel your 10 mile was still available for that one, we didn't have to. Only did the 10 miler, yep, that's why we only did the 10. Yeah, exactly, uh. So we did that and then it ended and it was like all right Well uh, what are we gonna do next? And in 20, it was, uh what November of 22. That's when the ugly stepsisters debuted.

Speaker 6: 28:34

Oh, that's okay, I had a. That's the picture I remember of you guys.

Speaker 1: 28:38

That's the one on the on our sticker. That's our logo. Yeah, that was Kind of the start of well we're now, we're just gonna be obscene.

Speaker 7: 28:49

So let's get weird with this.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Let's have a good time and I'm blanking because that, oh, I know I know what it was. So the first day was the 10k we did uh, I ran as Aladdin, right, oh, I love it Was that? I was jasmine? Yeah, you were jasmine, I was Aladdin. Um, kim was a boo, my wife was a boo and Jackie was raj.

Speaker 7: 29:13

My sister was raj and uh Hannah was carpet, she was carpet.

Speaker 1: 29:18

And then, uh, that that was fun. And then the next day we decided you know what we're gonna? I found I think it was another etsy find. Um, it was lovers dovers on etsy. They have aprons that are themed and I we're like you know we should run as the ugly stepsisters. And we found these obnoxious bows on amazon, ordered the aprons and then a white tutu and there's really not much more to those. They're. They're pretty skimpy.

Speaker 7: 29:48

Tutu not difficult to wear during a race. Very easy to run in a tutu very easy. Depending on the size and weight, very easy. But when you put that big, heavy bow on and it's clamping her in your head for For 13 miles, not so much fun, oh.

Speaker 4: 30:03

Noted okay.

Speaker 1: 30:07

Had less issues than others.

Speaker 4: 30:12

Not gonna drop any names, I guess.

Speaker 1: 30:15

So that was, that was the start, and then from there We've just continued to think like, all right, what's next? You know, all right, we've done that and you know what are we gonna do. And now it's easy to. We've done so many of them. It's like you know what. It's okay to repeat. So I think we've done the stepsisters three times now. When we were going out to disneyland it's like we had there was so much happening back to back because we did the dopey and then we did disneyland. So it was the 67.9 miles or whatever, and the 69.7, whatever the number, you said, um, you know what we got. To just keep it simple, and that's why we decided to do the stepsisters again for disneyland Of all the times, the worst time, because it was like 40 degrees out there. That was cold, that was a cold start.

Speaker 4: 31:03

Yeah, jack was out there. Not only is it okay to repeat, I think you're, you will, if you haven't already find that people. People will have favorites and they kind of want to see them again, like, oh, I missed the stepsisters, I'm looking forward to seeing the next time you run.

Speaker 1: 31:20

Yeah, I. I think the stepsisters are just iconic. I do. We've been asked before like what are our favorite costumes? And it's I think it was, since it was so recent. When we got asked last time I really did like our dumbo costumes for disneyland, I shockingly have gotten some of the best feedback about the dumbo ones. Yeah.

Speaker 7: 31:43

Yeah, I remember you were dumbo in disneyland and my wife was timothy and she killed it as timothy, and so much positive feedback about that one. Yes that is.

Speaker 1: 31:56

That's probably my, my second favorite, like After I've had time to kind of digest all the thoughts, like I love being the princesses and we come up with these different ideas. Like this past it all started with uh bell, so, uh, I believe tom ran as provincial bell and I ran as princess. Oh yeah, uh that was a big argument.

Speaker 7: 32:17

Who gets to be?

Speaker 1: 32:19

Who gets to be the pretty one?

Speaker 7: 32:22

Who gets to be, you know ball gown and beautiful. And who gets?

Speaker 1: 32:26

broke and that is In that instance, I got to be Beautiful bell and he got to be provincial bell, who's beautiful in all of her own ways. And kim was uh guest on for that one right, who's guest on?

Speaker 6: 32:39

so how was that gone about? Did you guys rock paper scissors, this kind of stuff, or what would you do?

Speaker 7: 32:46

because I'm greedy. I tried you know, we did the challenge that weekend and I tried taking both of the you know beautiful done-up ones and I was like, come on, I get to be one of the pretty ones. And I was like I really want to rock cinderella. So I got pretty cinderella, he got poor cinderella.

Speaker 1: 33:04

You know I got and you know what I rocked. I was hideous, it was great. Honestly, I have a wonderful fairy godmother. If you, if you see, if you saw my picture and then saw tom's, you'd be like I need to hire that fairy godmother and killed it as fairy godmother. Yeah, she did, she did, but that weekend, you know, you again, tom's like I want to be the center of attention. It's like that's great. I do too. So let's duke this out and figure out who's gonna be pretty today and that was me Okay.

Speaker 1: 33:33

I'm got to be pretty the next day.

Speaker 2: 33:35

Awesome gentlemen in in relation to costumes, and this can maybe go back to the origin story of the two two guys. Obviously, though, I think one of the ways this comes about is, you know, becoming a staple Of the run disney family, and the one person who can propel you To a high status in that level is riley claire mott. So when you're walking in the crowds to go up to the starting line, how did that relationship start? Did riley find you or did you just, you know, have your awesome get up and you just happen to be on the right side and you made loving eye contact with him and the rest of his sister. I'm curious, which way did that go?

Speaker 7: 34:20

I don't recall the first time.

Speaker 1: 34:23

I was sitting here like racking my brain. Our first time riley saw us and. It just like it stopped. And all of a sudden there's a camera in our face and it's riley, and he's what's your names.

Speaker 7: 34:38

Uh, I think we both froze, we weren't the two of you guys at the time though.

Speaker 1: 34:42

Like I know, for a fact. We had not created that moniker. It wasn't a thing. That all happened after what? I think it was the uh, it was anastasia andrizella. It was wine and dine, because I do remember being on camera for him. I don't know, but the first time happened stance. The second time, totally planned out. Yeah let's make the right side of this.

Speaker 7: 35:08

Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:09

All right, so we got to be up there. Let's wait, they're bringing the tape back. There's riley and Stop right here.

Speaker 7: 35:19

Oh man, we're accidentally at the back of of this, oh no how did that happen?

Speaker 4: 35:23

We?

Speaker 1: 35:23

get back here and now we don't even have to like. We could have been on the complete other side and riley would, I would find, as he's found us, uh, on Instagram or facebook. He'll message us and say hey, I want to talk to you guys. You know, today, make sure you, make sure you're on my side and give a shout. And it doesn't always work out, and if we don't talk to him, it's not the end of the world. We're out there to have fun and I think when you look at their job, when you look at riley's job and and carissa, right right, they're out there, they have to talk to people and they have to keep people interested.

Speaker 1: 35:59

The last thing they want to do Is hold a mic into someone's face and then just that's right, yeah, so they, they look for people that they know will engage with them, that can carry on a conversation, that are there having fun but, most importantly, promote positivity that has run Disney and that whole family. So I think, while the first time was an accident, we both kind of gravitated towards each other in that spot because, hey, I at least know for this wave, got somebody that I can talk to and it's not going to be awkward I mean, it can be for various reasons Hashtag, glitter packs but we're at least going to have a good time.

Speaker 6: 36:39

Now I'm curious you guys. First off, this has been an amazing conversation. It's a lot of fun. Second of all, so how did the name even come about then? Like, was it you guys with someone? Be like hey, pointing at you guys, and be like, hey, the two, two guys, or how did that happen?

Speaker 1: 36:55

May I feel this one time. So, tom, when he first not first after a little while he started making fun of my actual trooper dude name and when I would introduce yeah, I'm the trooper dude, like I would say it, and Tom would, just from the background, he'd like the trooper dude.

Speaker 1: 37:16

So it was kind of this moniker that he had given to me. It was the trooper dude. So we're running around and he's got his own Instagram account. I kind of had mine. It was just how do you blend getting all of these people connected when, if you look at my account and look at his account, his is more fitness, mine is more? Just weird. You know I don't want everything and I say this, but my account is pretty much.

Speaker 1: 37:42

Now, if you look at like the last 10 photos, it's just run Disney. I was gonna say I didn't want it to become run Disney. You want, I wanted to have a place where we could. We could be together on a page and we're out on the course and not have to give out different names like I'm the trooper dude, I'm the most mouse. Hey, together were the two, two guys and it originally came out as the two, two guys. I put two E's in it and I realized a lot of people thought we were that. I misspelled it. So that lasted for one sticker run. So there are people out there that have the two guys, the two two guys.

Speaker 4: 38:19

You can raffle them with with the t shirts from the from the ride.

Speaker 1: 38:24

But it kind of came about as well. What are we? Were two guys running into two guys. He's the muscle mouse, I'm the trooper. Dude were the two two guys. So that's pretty much where it came from. Thank you, summed it up 100%.

Speaker 4: 38:38

It works. Let's talk about I observed this being around you on the course. Let's spend some time talking about the community and the fun you have on the course, and I'm just going to let it go with that intro and let you tell me some stories of people you've met. Are things that have happened on the course that are memorable for you?

Speaker 7: 39:01

The most memorable moment in run Disney history for me just happened at Princess weekend and we have made some amazing friends across the board. But Stacy and her daughter Adriana. Her daughter's in a wheelchair. She's got a rare genetic disorder and she is the oldest living with this rare genetic disorder. And if you've seen her on the course Adria loose crew, If you've seen her, she is infectious with laughter and joy. This young lady All while her mom pushes her in a wheelchair. And we were coming up one of the ramps and her mom's like, do you want to push her? This girl left the entire way cracking up that a man in a suit who was pushing her up that ramp. And I was like, do I run or do I stop and cry, like I'm thinking about it? Now she's just. You know, her mom pushed her through dopey for 48.6 miles.

Speaker 4: 39:58

Yeah, and that's something amazing. She didn't just push her.

Speaker 1: 40:01

She ran. She had a great time. They stopped every single picture. And I think they still had a better time than we like. Just an absolute beast of an athlete, oh yeah.

Speaker 4: 40:16

That's amazing.

Speaker 1: 40:17

I pushed. I think for less than a mile, and I was struggling and pushed it uphill and then we got the part where we were coming down that ramp and it started to get away from you. And that's when she told you how you got to put the strap, like I put that around your wrist.

Speaker 7: 40:30

It started getting its own momentum as we crested. Oh yeah, Like wait, what if it gets away from me? Because I don't want to be that guy.

Speaker 4: 40:39

Come back. Come back, if that was a shining moment.

Speaker 1: 40:44

best memory, his second best memory was being able to run in front of Adrian and shout wheels on the left and get people to move and part out of the way.

Speaker 7: 40:55

Yes, there is some good for you. She gave us that power of people clearing out. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 41:03

That's for you. I have some experience in that field and just yelling wheels on the left A lot of time doesn't help. So the fact that you are running interference.

Speaker 7: 41:13

And when you're 220 pounds with the turns around and sees you Yep.

Speaker 1: 41:19

They all move. And you had on your, your Maleficent horns that day too, right? Oh yeah, or was that no?

Speaker 7: 41:26

we're more upset that day.

Speaker 1: 41:27

It was my office. Okay, it all blurs together.

Speaker 2: 41:31

What an awesome story. Thank you so much for sharing. Now, the one thing I have to ask you know scrolling through the two two guys Instagram page and both of your individual pages is that clearly, you both enjoy the gym as much as you love the track and and the open road, and and clearly you guys don't skip leg day. That that's for sure. So my question for you is and and and let's let this be a little bit of an educational segment for our listeners here. Obviously, the two of you really enjoy lifting as much as you do running. What are some good exercises in terms of weightlifting and strength training that us, as runners, can use that would be beneficial to help improve our running performance?

Speaker 7: 42:20

I'm not going to go on for three hours about about this, but I'm going to try not to and think about the, the muscles you use while you work out. For number one, you're using your legs a lot, all the muscles of the legs. So squats, deadlifts I definitely think a lot of runners would benefit from more calf raises, because I hear about a lot of runners getting calf injuries. So if we could strengthen those muscles we can prevent those injuries. But then you've got the inverse.

Speaker 7: 42:49

What happens with a lot of runners? They have strong legs and not much on the upper body. So your body wants to be balanced. When you're in balance, that's when things creep up, that's when you get injured. So, mixing in I mean you've got different foundational movement patterns the squat, the deadlift and the lunge runner should be doing all those. Mix in some calf raises, but also don't shy away from the upper body. Work like a bench press, like a row, like a pull up and shoulder press. It doesn't have to be crazy fancy. Those are the staples that have worked for years and years and years and I think all runners would benefit from incorporating them.

Speaker 4: 43:28

Emphasize repetitions or emphasize weight.

Speaker 7: 43:31

We get a lot of repetition as runners, so a lot of repetitive movement. I would say build up the weight, build up the strength, because that's not something you know. If I was just running, my body is going to get used to just carrying 220 pounds in a in a certain movement pattern. So focus on building up that strength. And one thing I'll say don't be afraid of looking like me. A lot of people say, well, I don't like you, that's why I don't do a strength training routine and good luck. 15 years to put on 10 pounds, it doesn't happen that easily.

Speaker 4: 44:08

No, it doesn't. No, I think the average person doesn't. Well, you know better than I do, but I hear that too and I, but I do know no way. No, it's a little bit of genetics involved too. Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 7: 44:20

So no, that's my dad's head up too much. Start talking to you and.

Speaker 2: 44:26

I guess a follow up question then to that as well, as you know. Okay, so thank you for listening off all of those different exercises. The follow up to that would be what advice would you give someone who might be apprehensive to attempt to do these exercises at their local gym? I will admit it, you know, for me it was a mental struggle, especially in college when I would go to you know the local fitness center. There and you know, you just see a lot of you know guys and gals who know what they're doing and the racking lots of weight and they can seem really, really intimidating, and I've gotten over that over the years, but but that little thought still sits in the back of my mind from time to time. So what advice can you give someone to? You know, give them that little push to say you know, even though the weight night might not be a lot, you're still gonna have a great benefit to your body.

Speaker 7: 45:17

I'm gonna I'm gonna start with the fitness coach side of this and I'm gonna let Adam chime in, because I know he's got a story to back it up. Okay, great.

Speaker 1: 45:25

I was gonna say why don't you let me go first, and then you can see if my story ties in with yours.

Speaker 7: 45:31

So I started. I didn't start working out until 23. So you said college, right around the same time, didn't start. And what did I do? I signed up for a gym membership because I'm like I want to build muscle. I think ask anybody who's listening on this podcast, what are we all comfortable doing? Running, it doesn't take, you know, it's one foot in front of the other. Most people are doing that every single day of their life. So it's very cool.

Speaker 7: 45:57

I went into the gym because I wanted to build muscle and what did I do? I walked on the treadmill for the first month. Eventually I did start trying to lift weights and I did not know what the hell I was doing. I had no clue, I was lost.

Speaker 7: 46:12

But I watched people, I watched what other people were doing and one guy just came up to me just like kind of like why you just described? And he was like hey, buddy, do you mind if I ask what are you trying to work on? And I deer and headlights and I said I don't really know. And he goes Well, what you're doing there. And he kind of spent three minutes with me and educated me on the what I was trying to do better way to do it and I was like so these people aren't too intimidating, you know, they're not people to be scared of. And I think Adam's had a similar experience, because I've been coaching Adam for what? Two years? Now It'll be two years in June, two years June on the strength training side of things. And he came from you know, more running and cardio based and group fitness classes, but wanted to put on more muscle. And what happens? What happened when you eventually were trying to increase, increase your weight a lot.

Speaker 1: 47:13

I was going to take. Take it even further, step back. You talked about just that intimidation of going into a gym. I didn't do any physical exercise until 2018. Outside of outdoor stuff like I snowboarded, did wakeboarding, hiking in Montana, like in the different places that we've lived I was, I was afforded the ability to do stuff outside. I had. I walked a lot for my job in downtown Seattle, like my entire territory was outside. So I was still active. But I wasn't doing any physical fitness. And it wasn't until we were living in Texas in 2018.

Speaker 1: 47:45

And I was like, all right, I've got to do something. And I guess when, when that had been 33. And I was like I need to do something. And I had some friends that had just moved to Texas and were like you should come join an orange theory class. I was like that sounds awful. And about six months later I was you know what, let's, let's go. And I took my first class and it was like hey, there's a bunch of people that look like me in here. It's group fitness. There's somebody that gets on a mic. It's 45 to 48 minutes, depending. It's 23 minutes on a treadmill. It's 23 minutes on a weight floor. There's somebody sitting here saying here's how you do it. You watch the person do it and then you get done and you all high five each other and you smile and you make friends and you feel accomplished and you feel like you've done something and it was like all right, this works for me. This is this is exactly what I want, because it had cardio, you had weights, and I was like, wow, I'm actually lifting weights and I felt strong and fast forward to 2020.

Speaker 1: 48:44

Covid happened and then I was in like some of the best shape what I thought at the time in 2019. And then COVID happened and I just couldn't get back into it and I finally told Tom I'm like, look, I need to do something different. I'm tired of just kind of getting stuck in the rut. It was a lot about my diet, what I was eating, how I was feeling myself, the different programs. If you think about orange theory, you want to like. I'm not trying to say anything bad about orange theory. I think it's great, but for my fitness goals and what I wanted to do, which was to put on mass and gain additional muscle, 23 minutes on the weight floor isn't going to cut it, especially in those types of fitness classes where you don't have that repetition, you don't do the same exercises day in and day out. Tom talked about repetition he's not kidding. Like the first three months I had five or six days programmed and it was literally the same exact thing on Monday each week, same exact thing on Tuesday. It's like I guess I'm just going to do these same 10 exercises for three months and that's exactly what I did.

Speaker 1: 49:50

And I remember going to the gym the first time because I asked how, like, what gym should I go to? And Tom Googled it and he goes you should go to this one. And it's the gym Jax. And I looked at it and I was like there's a bunch of meatheads in this gym. It's not a planet fitness, it's not an LA, it's not a crunch. This is where people go to work out and work out hard. Everybody there looks as good as Tom, if not better and probably better.

Speaker 1: 50:23

I walked in just completely intimidated. I'd never racked a weight, I'd never done any of it and I was like here we go and I would set up my phone and I would record myself doing things and I would send it to Tom and he would give feedback and say don't do this Make sure you you know, try to rip the bar apart as you're pressing it away and make sure your shoulders are like he was giving me feedback. And then I remember one day I was. I was like you know, I'm feeling strong and I went to, I was doing a decline press and I went to push and the bar got stuck and I'm literally looking around like this is on my chest, I can't get it off. This guy comes up and he goes. You could have asked for a spot and I was like I just you were in the middle of a, not just this guy, this guy that was bench pressing like 415 pounds.

Speaker 7: 51:15

Monster of a man is how it was described to me.

Speaker 1: 51:18

Yeah. So at the time I was I think it was around 170 is what I had on the bar and I looked over at him and he had 4, 410. Oh God. And he was not. It wasn't just a one rep, he was, he was four or five at 410. Just this big beast of a man and he goes. Why didn't you ask? It was like man, you, you were in a zone. He goes yeah, but it's family and it's so stupid. We talk about the run Disney family, but the gym community is just as much of a family and people care just as much. The nicest guys are probably the ones that you look at and think that guy probably hates me. No, he probably wants to help but doesn't want to come interrupt your workout or try to come off Like he knows.

Speaker 4: 52:07

Yeah right.

Speaker 1: 52:08

He very similar to Tom. He goes do you want feedback? He goes I can give you some pointers or I can walk away and I said no, feed me.

Speaker 8: 52:16

Like I want to hear it.

Speaker 1: 52:17

And he spent like Tom. Like Tom, sir. He spent three to five minutes with me and that guy showed me the form and the rep and what I was doing with my feet and my feet were kind of like this whole thing and I was like, okay, that's great, I love it.

Speaker 4: 52:33

Yeah, here's an observation People who are good at and enjoy their sport and there are exceptions, but people who are good at and enjoy their sport want you to enjoy it too. They want to share that enjoyment, and I see that in your story, I see that in our run Disney family too, and then a lot of other things I've done.

Speaker 7: 52:53

You bring it right back to that, Like we just. We had breakfast after princess with Chris Turner and CC Turner on me. I love him.

Speaker 7: 53:03

He's amazing and I have the run bug now. I I did the best damn race this past weekend and I started asking them like so you know, if I were to continue training, what do I need to do? This? Like I want to challenge, I want, I would love to do one of the world majors. So what do? Like? I started asking him and then I realized we're having breakfast and I'm like, hey, you know, I wouldn't want somebody, while we're trying to enjoy breakfast, asking me all sorts of fitness advice. You know, actually I would have gas up my head. But let me know, like you as a run coach is, is that, are you cool while we're at breakfast? And he was like he started rambling I love you, chris, I love you. And he was like yeah, dude, you can do it. And I ran best damn races weekend and he's texting me about my time and all this awesome stuff. And I'm like, wow, I'm now part of the runner community. There you go.

Speaker 1: 53:53

I got FOMO. When Tom goes, I'm running the best damn race and I've never run a race outside of Disney before and Tom goes, I'm doing best damn racing. Unfortunately, due to prior engagements and jacks, I couldn't. But that night I was kind of, or it was Tuesday night. I'm looking through my phone and I get an ad on Facebook. It's almost as if they're listening. They are.

Speaker 4: 54:13

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:15

Eight river run in Jacksonville.

Speaker 4: 54:17

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:17

But I looked at it and me and all my wisdom said you know what that's?

Speaker 1: 54:22

only a 15k. But I was like you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for it. And I did. And then I realized there's some people within the running community who are Disney Pacers. Katie Merck, who paces with CC most most of the time, texted her. I was like, hey, are you doing this by chance? And she goes? No, and I go. I just signed up and she goes. Oh well, then I'll sign up. And she signed up and ran with me and paced me for the entire race and had one of the best times finishing times and just all around great time Cross the finish line and texted Tom and I was like Are we runners now?

Speaker 4: 55:02

Of course you are.

Speaker 7: 55:04

We damn hard because my wife had hit a PR at this damn race half and yeah the bug hit her. She was like I got my PR. It was hot, it was humid in Orlando, it was not like Princess weekend. Bless Disney for doing these at 5am. I know we cry about it, but running at 730 in third downtown Orlando doesn't compare. But she hit her PR and I was just super proud and I'm like, yeah, we are, we are a runner family now.

Speaker 1: 55:32

It's so weird too, because with Disney there was a high that kind of comes with the race. You're not really. I say we are, as in the two, two guys and a lot of people who do the race aren't doing it for time. There's character stops.

Speaker 4: 55:46

Right.

Speaker 1: 55:46

You don't have a. You might have a 16 to 18 minute mile or like our last one during the half in the castle, during Magic Kingdom. I think we were there for 28 minutes because of the lines, you know. But you know we have to make that time up. But running an actual race, it's like all right, we're going, we're going, you don't really think about it and then you cross that finish line and I've been asked this by so many people since I've started running.

Speaker 1: 56:11

Running quotes Like why do you do it? Do you get the runners high? It was like, honestly, while I'm running, no, I hate it, it sucks, I don't enjoy running and that's the truth. But there are moments that you cross like a finish line and this was this past weekend. It was euphoric, it's like you know what, the last hour and a half sucked. But I would do it time and time and time again to feel that exact feeling. And I had that happen when the first time I remember it happening was when Tom's wife, kim, completed her first half, first half, with us. She finished it and I wasn't emotional, but I looked over at Kim. Kim was emotional.

Speaker 9: 56:55

And I was like oh.

Speaker 1: 56:55

God, there it is I feel it now I'm not crying, I totally am. And it was the next day that Tom and I did the full it was for Dopey and I crossed that finish line and I was like, yeah, no, I can't. I'm crying now, like I can't stop the tears, and it was just it all kind of came in and you to cry. Yeah, it was like Tom just goes, just just cry. It's okay, Cornelius, you can cry.

Speaker 4: 57:17

We get it.

Speaker 1: 57:18

That's how I felt when.

Speaker 4: 57:19

I first Dopey, we get it. I promise Coming around world showcase knowing you got it, oh man.

Speaker 7: 57:25

Oh, one and done. I said air quotes for runners. Guess what?

Speaker 5: 57:32

Well, both of you guys just described, you are runners, we're all runners. So we are part of the family, and it's a great thing.

Speaker 7: 57:40

Yeah, I think that that's what it's been for me is. If you think about like weightlifting, which has been my background since 23 years old I'm 38 now it's a very put my headphones in and be a solo sport and go into my Zen zone, and for a lot of people, running is that too. But with run Disney, there's just so much community. My first two races I didn't know about it, but the third one, like meeting people at the finish line and just hanging out with people and then, with the two together, we started just getting to know more and more people and just like you hear their story and you're just, you're amazing, dw Burge, like amazing, amazing soul. That's what I was saying.

Speaker 1: 58:21

The family and the people that you meet in the moments where you don't think you're going to be inspired. There was a podcast that DW was on and I was listening to it and all of a sudden he said the two, two guys. And like I'm on the treadmill at the gym and I kind of looked around like did anyone else hear that? And it was like wait, you're telling me that this beautiful man was inspired by us. Like I'm not going to be inspired by you, I'm not going to be inspired by you. I'm not going to be inspired by us. Like how did, how did we potentially inspire him?

Speaker 1: 58:52

And it was after that podcast that a lot of people had reached out and said you inspired my son to feel more comfortable running and you inspired my daughter and my husband wasn't ever going to do one of these. And then he saw you and he was like well, if they're doing it, I can do it. Just all of the different people. And even in this past uh, princess race, we finished and there was a girl that came up to us at the end I don't know if you're, I think you were standing there she came up and said I followed you guys for two miles she goes. I was struggling and then you passed me and you were joking, you were going back and forth Smiling in the two two.

Speaker 7: 59:32

you know you were just she goes.

Speaker 1: 59:35

I just helped me get through those two miles. Yeah, we're just cutting up having fun like we. We didn't go out there to help anybody else get across the finish line when we started this, but now you know, if we help just one, one person, get a smile on their face and get a little extra gashed across the finish line. I'll wear a 2-2 all day.

Speaker 4: 59:53

Absolutely Well. Not only that, but it's a pretty good drafts. Running behind you guys.

Speaker 7: 1:00:00

I like the draft yeah it is.

Speaker 4: 1:00:02

I used to cycle and people used to love to get behind me. Bob is like riding behind a truck. So good stuff, Fellows. What's coming up next?

Speaker 7: 1:00:12

So obviously, right around the corner, we've got springtime surprise coming up. Which surprise to me, surprise to Adam is a Adam's not gonna be able to join my wife and I. He's got a cruise booked and I'm poor guy, you know, as we talked about early I'm earlier I'm probably gonna be in the doghouse for this one because it is my five-year anniversary and I swear up and down Springtime surprise is usually a week prior, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 1:00:43

That's why we booked when we did. We booked our cruise that weekend thinking it would be the weekend prior and Unfortunately it's not the case.

Speaker 3: 1:00:52

That's why they called the surprise John right.

Speaker 7: 1:00:56

So let's hope I'm not in the doghouse, but I'm excited to. I'm excited to rock the tutus with just the wife, even though we're gonna miss Adam.

Speaker 1: 1:01:08

At the finish line for the was it the half? I At the finish line at the half. Dw finds us in in the adult beverage line and he walks up to Tom and he's got a stuffed stormtrooper doll with a handmade pink tutu oh wow. Ends it to Tom and says here I made you this. This is what you can have during springtime so that you don't feel lonely.

Speaker 4: 1:01:38

That's amazing.

Speaker 1: 1:01:40

But I think we we've come up with a viable solution. Jj is Gonna be a stand-in tutu guy. Potentially we've joked about it there's another really good dark-haired bearded man who Is gonna stand in my place.

Speaker 4: 1:01:58

Okay, Okay, didn't have to audition or anything, just see if I can fake Riley out.

Speaker 3: 1:02:09

You know, we got to cut that out now because if you listen, I'll find out.

Speaker 1: 1:02:13

Yeah, we'll find out yeah, find out if Riley listens.

Speaker 4: 1:02:18

Hey guys, before we get out of here, I, I'm. I know you do some work for charity Through your runs or maybe through some other things. Can we talk about that? Tell us about that a little bit absolutely so.

Speaker 7: 1:02:29

I think my first charity run Was my second year doing dopey and I ran dopey the first year and I was a fell in love with it and convince Adam to do it. Well, adam got into dopey and dopey over here did not get in. So I said how the heck can I get in this race that? I just convinced this dude to run 48.6 miles with me. How do I get myself into it? So I started looking up the charity route and reached out to girls on the run. So you know I'm a fitness coach, I'm based out of central Florida and girls on the run works with email, elementary, middle school, high school athletes that you know to build life skills and all that like fun stuff, and it just resonated with me. I'm like I want to help more kids get into sports. I think the physical fitness program in school is not the best. It definitely wasn't when I was there because I hated the gym and I said this this looks like something I could really buy with.

Speaker 7: 1:03:28

So Raise money for them wearing, wearing to do. Actually, my first year was with them and then second year I didn't get in. So I ran with them two years in a row, ran with them two years in a row. I've also run with national Down syndrome society. Again, adam got into California and I only got in for the half marathon there and he was doing the challenge and he's like I don't want to do this by myself. And our lovely friend Michael does Disney Reach out to the people at national Down syndrome society and set me up with them and I raise money for them. You know, met their crew out of the race and it was just, you know, phenomenal experience Just running with them, meet, hearing their stories and raising money for such a good cause. You know I'm doing something I love in a tutu, dressing like an idiot. I might as well give something back. You know, using the platform to raise money and help others totally totally understand.

Speaker 7: 1:04:28

It's been awesome and I do it again. I do it again in the heartbeat.

Speaker 4: 1:04:32

Well, you're gone all right. Oh yeah, guys, really I knew I was going to enjoy the evening and I really have. It's been a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun meeting you on the course, friends. I'm going to tell you about Tom and Adam the same thing I tell you about all of us. You see the two, two guys on the course. I promise they want you to say hello, don't matter whether you know which one's Tom, which one's Adam.

Speaker 7: 1:04:58

Just say hey, tutu guys, hi, good to see you, and I'll reiterate that you don't have to be the person that holds their phone by their waist and tries to snipe out a picture of us, because the second I see you, I will bust into a pose. I will tell you Don't try to hide it, come and be in the photo with us. We, we, we don't wear tutus to hide, and yeah, no.

Speaker 1: 1:05:24

If you think we're running without shirts to not have our picture taken, boy Do, I have a story for you. So, friends, enjoy it make their day.

Speaker 4: 1:05:32

Thanks, guys. If, if our friends want to follow you Social media or get in touch, or how can they do it? Well, our page.

Speaker 1: 1:05:41

As in is in the name of this podcast. I would imagine we're the tutu guys and you can find me on my own page doing my own weird things as the trooper dude.

Speaker 7: 1:05:53

And you can find me as the muscle mouse. Awesome, it's been a blast, tom.

Speaker 4: 1:05:58

I'll see you at springtime. See you there, adam. I'll see you further. You'll see me further down the road.

Speaker 1: 1:06:04

You'll see me further down the road. You see my dog.

Speaker 4: 1:06:07

Ganger. Yep, sounds great guys. Thank you very much. Awesome, awesome, thank you. I'm telling you, friends, you can't miss the two two guys on the course. If you look over and you think I wonder if they're the two two guys, they are, I promise.

Speaker 2: 1:06:22

You know I will say I am kicking myself though a little bit. One question I wanted to ask them Is I wonder if they have any beef With the guy who is equally as jacked as the two of them, who does the body paint, um, that that gets called out on on race weekend. I don't, I don't know the, the gentleman's name or anything like that, but I'm like that would be fun to have like an epic, like fake rivalry between between the two of them.

Speaker 3: 1:06:50

That'd be fantastic a little pose off at the end. Yeah, a little pose off.

Speaker 4: 1:06:53

Yeah, got to tell you I'm not as familiar with the other fella, but Tom and Adam have a blast on race weekend. They have a great time on the course and, just like we say all the time, they would love to see you. We would too. So if you see any of us, please Say hello. Let's take a look here. Announcements for this week. I mentioned this last week. I'd like to try to keep up with what's happening in the rise and run family and if you post something in social media I may bring it up here. I would like to acknowledge our friends Stephanie and Amy Beth, who both underwent surgery last week and both seemed to be doing Just great, and I'm really excited to see that. In fact, I think both of them have already been out walking and getting some training miles in. I'll tell you that's impressive, ladies. It's outstanding.

Speaker 4: 1:07:59

A friend of the podcast, matt from the Disney Day Drinkers Club he was on with his buddy. Skip a couple episodes back. Matt is an active duty army chaplain who just completed airborne school. Congratulations, matt. Friends who don't know what that is, that's Three weeks of training at Fort Benning, georgia, where they teach you how to leave a perfectly good airplane and land on your feet Coming down in a parachute. I'd never really interested me. I was perfectly happy staying inside my perfectly good airplanes.

Speaker 2: 1:08:42

And the last bit of wonderful news that we like to share is that the rise and run family has grown by one more Hashtag bird in hand baby has now graced us on this wonderful earth. Um, our wonderful friends, david and his beautiful wife, greta, welcomed their first son into the world on Monday, so we're beyond thrilled. Um, we hope that, uh, hashtag bird in hand baby gets to a run disney race weekend as quickly as possible. And, and, greta and David, just so you know, if you do want to run the races, I know there are plenty of babysitters out there that that will watch. Uh, you're, uh, you're adorable little one. Now, uh, what, will you go and run those races? So, but, from all of us here, congratulations. We are absolutely over the moon for, um, two wonderful new parents.

Speaker 4: 1:09:38

Yeah, congratulations, guys, we're happy. We're happy for you. Ah, let's take a look here jeff's race weekends coming up just in fact, from the day this release is, I'll be heading down in one week. So jeff's week, race weekend in Atlanta. George, I hope to see you there. You can still sign up. We still have a code rise and run all one word good for 15 off Of all those clinics in great time to spend with jeff and with the rest of the rise and run and Galloway running. Family. Springtime surprise will be with us before too long. Reminder that the meetup saturday 3 pm In the food truck area. We'll talk more about that as we get closer, but we look forward to seeing you there.

Speaker 4: 1:10:29

Upcoming episodes episode 129 next week. We'll do a live intro, we'll do a race report, but the bulk of that episode is going to be a rewind. Let's go back and revisit with our friend, the hand cyclist, wendy larson. I'm hoping to get wendy back on the rise and run podcast In a couple of weeks, so this would be good time to catch up on what she talked about the first time she was here and then episode 132 weeks from now. You requested this one, allison and penny, to rise and run friends, who many of you said would be a great interview. Well, we're going to find out. Allison and penny will be visiting us In episode 130. All right, my friends, it's time for four, the race report.

Speaker 4: 1:11:27

Let us start on friday a springtime surprise 5k at surprise stadium in Surprise arizona. Now I'm not making this up surprise stadium, surprise arizona, springtime, surprise 5k. This is the spring training stadium for both the texas rangers and the canada city royals. Out there in arizona, halle and her husband ran through the stadium, got a neat shirt, a medal and, as a result of running this race, got a buy one, get one lawn seat to an upcoming spring training game For the rangers. I'm pretty sure halle said, uh, they both pr'd, with hailey improving from A little over 26 minutes to about 25 and a half minutes and her husband going from 24 down to 23. Pretty dag gum, quick for both of you. A great run. That sounds like fun running inside of the stadium. I hope you enjoyed it.

Speaker 4: 1:12:33

On saturday in four sythe, georgia, the for sythia 5k. Beth was there. She's working on a proof of time for marathon weekend One to see how fast she could do this. One Course started downhill and beth says she took off way too fast but, despite a little bit of poor planning and the fact that it was cold, it was foggy and it was wet, still beat her time goal by 44 seconds. So good job, beth.

Speaker 4: 1:13:05

Uh, you heard adam talking about the best damn race, orlando, which he did this last week. Well, we had a bunch of folks there. Joe ran the half marathon, as did kate. Kayla also ran the half marathon. Kayla says she wasn't feeling all that well, actually fell back into last place in this race Finished. But you know, in spite of having a rough day, all in all she had a good time. Great lesson learned no matter what place you're in, run your own race. Good job, kayla. Uh, kelly was there. Kendra. Kendra ran her first sub three hour Half marathon. That's a pr. Actually got to run down the street where the finish line For the marathon trials in orlando was. It happened just a couple weeks ago. That's pretty cool. Our buddy michael was there. Michael finished half marathon number 30 and mary. Mary ran a 10k pr, got a slice of pizza and a selfie with the one and only dj cj and got a chance to ring the pr bell.

Speaker 5: 1:14:20

We'll hear from mary again on sunday in kingston, tennessee, jimmy ran the white stone 12k. He had a rough time with this one. There was a lot of hills, but he managed to get a pr by seven minutes and got third place in his age group and had his fastest mile. Great job, jimmy. I'm really proud of you.

Speaker 4: 1:14:40

Good job, jimmy. Back in florida lakeland, florida, to be specific, the holless cancer center. Promise 5k luan and her son foggy day, a little bit warm but not too bad for running. Finish this one in honor of her mother, a breast cancer warrior. Race announcer for this one our buddy john pelkey.

Speaker 4: 1:15:04

In jacksonville, florida, the gate river run. This event's been going on for a long time. It is not only the us national championship 15k event, has been since 1994, it's the largest 15k in the country. Good course, I ran this one years ago. The bridge comes at the very end and the bridge is a booger. Adam was there. Adam Secured his pot. We talked about adam earlier. He secured a pot in this race which I think he told us he entered at just the last minute. Jessica. Jessica ran it at a party pace and actually took a photo with a taco. All right, there's a little more to it than that. She took a photo with a guy dressed like a taco. It's a good photo, though. Angie was there. Angie had a lot of fun. Nine-mile-long party with bands, donut holes, popsicles and pop-up homemade bars all along the course.

Speaker 4: 1:16:10

Little rock arkansas a little rock marathon weekend. Shelby allison did her first 10k and half during the weekend. First 10k and half Gotta be pr's right. Shelby allison started running back at the end of november. Can't believe she's already done a half marathon. That's pretty dag gum good. She says she's gonna be waddling into the office tomorrow, but she's gonna be wearing her medals Well earned, great job. Way to go. Friends. Let's move to sunday and go halfway around the world to tokyo, japan, the tokyo marathon. We had three rise and runners there. I'll talk about the other two in a moment. But we are very happy that jason who is still in tokyo, by the way Is able to join us tonight for the race report spotlight.

Speaker 8: 1:17:08

Jason, welcome Well thank you very much. It's my absolute pleasure to be on it's good to be here now.

Speaker 4: 1:17:14

We're gonna I think we're going to have to realize that you are, in fact, halfway around the world and we may break up every now and then. Nevertheless, the technology is amazing. We've been talking for a couple minutes. Oh boy, this is a biggie. Your second major, second world major. What was the first? It's my second star.

Speaker 8: 1:17:34

My first was chicago last year. Yeah Well, they're all good ones.

Speaker 4: 1:17:37

So good, they're all. They're all good ones. I was gonna say that's a good one, but they're all good one, so that's cool. Um, look, let's start out. We'll take a few minutes here. When did you get there and how long are you going to stay? We?

Speaker 8: 1:17:53

got here, we left thursday morning and we flew through the night. We're day. I don't know what you did, yeah right probably we lost the day. We got here friday night about 6 30 japan time. Okay on friday night.

Speaker 4: 1:18:11

We have that day waiting for you. Okay, when you come back, we'll give it back to you, okay.

Speaker 8: 1:18:16

Yes, yes, we actually land before we leave. So that amazing Go ahead, uh, and we're here. We're here till thursday, we leave thursday night.

Speaker 4: 1:18:26

Okay, okay. So, as we're speaking, it's Wednesday morning in japan, so you got another 36 hours or so. You had a beautiful place. Is that a uh? Is that a hotel or?

Speaker 8: 1:18:38

Yeah, we're staying. We're staying a couple of nights or three nights at the tokyo disneyland hotel. Which is right outside of tokyo disneyland park.

Speaker 2: 1:18:48

Oh, the jealousy that is raining through this call right now is incredible. No, it's awesome.

Speaker 4: 1:18:55

If you look on facebook, jason posted some beautiful photos and he gave us a little tour here Just a couple minutes ago, so that's fantastic. I'm very, very excited for you. Um, let's just step through the race just a little bit. What was the?

Speaker 8: 1:19:12

expo like Expo was. It was fine for me. I didn't get to go to the expo till Saturday morning because we didn't get here till Friday night. I'd heard Thursday that it was extremely chaotic. For instance, the Tokyo, the specialty, asic's Tokyo Marathon jackets were mostly sold out in the first half hour or so. There were still some jackets. Apparently the jackets are the hot item.

Speaker 8: 1:19:40

There were some when I got there Saturday morning but they were all triple X, which was about a double X in the US size, and so I got one that's a little big on me, but it fits okay and I wanted the jackets.

Speaker 8: 1:19:54

Yeah, man, there wasn't a lot of merchandise left the ASIC's merchandise. When I got there there was very little. There were some bags and, like I said, a few of the triple X jackets. It took me probably 10 minutes to get through the line to pick up my bib and I had ordered the official race shirt and the bib magnets because those were pretty neat looking. So I pre-ordered those and I got through bib pickup and all of that within 10 minutes or so. So it wasn't bad at all. And then the vendor area is huge. It was massive and it was pretty crowded there. But I kind of looked around and picked up a few things but I didn't get a hold of there. But it was very well done and lots and lots of vendors there.

Speaker 4: 1:20:40

Cool, cool. Now I know like a half a dozen Japanese phrases. Greg spent some time in Japan. You told us you know absolutely none. How are you getting around?

Speaker 8: 1:20:52

We've been pretty lucky and we found enough people that speak enough English that we can communicate, and we also are using Google Translate. Oh yeah, that has helped tremendously when we're having difficult communicating, so I found it very easy. We haven't had any problems at all.

Speaker 4: 1:21:09

I remember a tour guide telling me if you get lost, look for a young person. Young people learn Japanese in school and they like to practice.

Speaker 8: 1:21:19

Yes, there was one night at one of the local restaurants before the marathon and we were trying to figure out how to order, because you had to order from a machine outside the restaurant and then bring a ticket inside to get your food. And so we were trying to figure it out because it was all in Japanese and the gentleman that was trying to help us didn't speak English. But there was one of the. There was a young lady in there that was one of the customers and she spoke very good English and she helped us out and got us through that without any trouble. Cool, cool stuff.

Speaker 4: 1:21:57

Well, let's go to the race. How'd the race go? How was the weather? Tell us about it.

Speaker 8: 1:22:03

The weather was absolutely beautiful. It started. It was probably about 40 degrees at the start. Sun came up, warmed up a little bit, but it was still, I would guess, lower 50s. For a high it was not bad at all.

Speaker 6: 1:22:17

That's beautiful weather.

Speaker 8: 1:22:19

Beautiful weather. Oh it was. It was beautiful weather. A lot of people were complaining about it being cold, but I enjoyed it. I don't mind the cold at all. So the weather was beautiful. It was sunny. There was no rain. It's been raining since then.

Speaker 4: 1:22:35

Oh, okay.

Speaker 8: 1:22:36

But the race was good. I got to. I left my hotel about about seven o'clock in the morning. It took me about 45 minutes to get over to the starting area using the subway system, which is very intricate, and we practiced it the night before, which I'm glad I did.

Speaker 4: 1:22:51

Very smart. Very smart yeah.

Speaker 8: 1:22:54

Yeah, it's a great system, but until you figure it out it can be a little confusing. Agreed, so I practiced the. I did a dry run through the night before and that helped a lot, but also on race morning, as soon as you got off the train, there were volunteers everywhere pointing you where to go. They had signs with the different gates that you're supposed to enter through. They had multiple gates.

Speaker 8: 1:23:17

Most of the non-Tokyo-based people went through one gate because they had English-speaking volunteers there to help everybody out At least that's my understanding and then from the gate you go through or you go through security and then the gate and then off to your corral. And I had heard horror stories about the Port-au-Potty situation getting into the corrals. I don't know if they increased the number of Port-au-Potty's or what it was, but there was plenty of them and the lines weren't that long and they were very well organized. They had volunteers at the beginning, at the end of the lines to help people where to go, and they had volunteers lined up along the line of Port-au-Potty's that, as a door opened, the volunteer would hold the door and wait for the next person to come in and then shut the door behind them.

Speaker 8: 1:24:01

Wow, Wow very good the timing for all of the cut-offs. They have very specific cut-offs for different areas, like the first 5K and then the next cut-off is at 11K and if you don't make that cut-off they pull a rope across the course and you're done. And they're very, very tight cut-offs. And the problem with the cut-offs is the cut-offs are based on gun time and not on chip time. So if you're starting in one of the back corrals.

Speaker 8: 1:24:28

You're already behind the eight ball. I don't know how long it took the last people to cross the start line. I was in corral G and they went all the way to corral L and I was at the back of my corral because I just took my time. So I was at the back of my corral and I crossed the finish line. The gun went off at 910. I crossed the start line at like 935. And I was somewhere around the 16th. Thousands of persons all about halfway through the group of people to cross the start line and that was 25 minutes. So within an hour they had everybody through the starting gate.

Speaker 4: 1:25:06

Yeah, yeah, but if they're cutting off based on gun time, some people are an hour behind, wow.

Speaker 8: 1:25:12

Yes, yeah, the first cut-off was so gun time was 910. The first cut-off was at 1025. And so you had to be to that first 5K by 1025.

Speaker 4: 1:25:23

No 5K no, okay, yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 8: 1:25:24

Yeah, it's 4.9K, I think is actually what it was.

Speaker 8: 1:25:26

Okay, and they had information at those timing mats to let you know that, hey, you're getting close and stuff. The race volunteers were amazing. There were volunteers everywhere, volunteers all along the course, medical volunteers, volunteers to help you out if you had questions. The aid stations were very well stocked. You were supposed to stop at the aid station table based on the last digit of your bib number. My feeling is, as it got further and further along, some of the like the one to two and three to four tables had closed up. They had run out of things. So my guess is that people weren't abiding by that and they were just stopping at the first aid station. But then so they were standing there and none of them left. They were all still there and they were saying keep going, keep going, there's more down there.

Speaker 8: 1:26:20

So pushed us down to where the water and their electrolyte drink which is Pekari Sweat, is their electrolyte drink that they have on board, which is an interesting name.

Speaker 3: 1:26:30

It is it is. That is actually not that. Oh, it's delicious.

Speaker 2: 1:26:34

It's Oishi desnaes.

Speaker 4: 1:26:35

we like to say Well, you like to say yeah, you like to say what else?

Speaker 8: 1:26:46

I took it easy. I had a great time, I took lots of pictures. I thank the volunteers and you hear stories of how quiet the course is and it's certainly not as raucous as Chicago was. In Chicago there were a lot of places where they were five and six deep and they were pushing like into the course. There was none of that. Everybody was very polite. They were staying on their side of the rope or the gate or wherever they happened to be, but there were people from start to finish. It was lying all the way and they would clap, they would cheer people. If they saw somebody that was wearing a charity shirt of someone that they supported or if they recognized the country that they're from, they would absolutely cheer them on very loudly. And one thing that I did notice the volunteers. They were very polite, respectful, doing their job. If you thank them, just said thank you for what you're doing, they would stop whatever they were doing and clap and smile and cheer you on. It was amazing. They really enjoyed when people would thank them.

Speaker 4: 1:27:49

That's great.

Speaker 3: 1:27:50

I'm looking at the map of the course and we were talking about it before. It's a point to point, but there's a lot of out and backs. It looks like. Did you guys see any of the elites on your way through?

Speaker 8: 1:28:05

I wasn't fast enough to see some of the elite runners. I saw some of the probably the first couple hundred or so on some of the early out and backs and there was one really long out and back, I don't know two thirds of the way through the race and I saw a lot there, but I didn't see any of the really really elite fast runners there.

Speaker 6: 1:28:28

So my question is as you said that they went all the way back to L for corrals, what was the actual cutoff times for the entire race in general? So, theoretically speaking, if you were in Corral L, how much time did you have to run the race? Do you know?

Speaker 8: 1:28:43

I can't remember. I know I looked at it. Because I know Tokyo has the strictest cutoff time that anybody I want to say it was six and a half hours, but it may have been seven hours, I can't remember. But I think it was like six and a half hours, I think, but don't quote me on that.

Speaker 3: 1:29:01

I'm looking right now Seven hours OK it is seven.

Speaker 6: 1:29:04

Ok, so it's Disney. Wheelchair gives you two hours and 10 minutes, but it's also gun time.

Speaker 4: 1:29:10

Yeah, gun time is a big deal. You lose an hour on that.

Speaker 8: 1:29:13

Yeah, yeah. So if you're starting in L, you're probably 45 minutes to an hour behind. It would be interesting to see what time the last starter actually crossed the start line and I don't know what that was yeah, Gosh the race started.

Speaker 6: 1:29:27

I think those people were fast, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:29:30

I'm going to interrupt for a second and I'm going to welcome our friend from the Netherlands, Arno, to the discussion. Arno, good to see you. Hi guys, Jason's been telling us about the weekend and I'm just going to hit you with the general question Arno, how'd it go?

Speaker 9: 1:29:48

It was an amazing marathon. I had a rough time the second half of the race Because I've been struggling with a knee injury a couple of years ago. Yeah, I recall Somehow acted up a little bit the week before the marathon and yeah, during the marathon, after around 30 kilometers, it started acting up and yeah, I had a hard time after that, but I got to the finish. So, and yeah, the crowds in Japan are fantastic. There were more people dressed up on the sidelines than the runners were. Oh really.

Speaker 4: 1:30:24

Really, that's interesting. That sounds like fun. Now, this was not your first world major. How many have you done? This might fit.

Speaker 9: 1:30:32

Fifth what are you missing? Yeah, Boston. I know. I know Boston.

Speaker 4: 1:30:40

Yeah.

Speaker 9: 1:30:41

Yeah, it's a tough one to get into, so I'm hoping to try and qualify this year to run it next year.

Speaker 4: 1:30:49

But you're competitive. You'll make a cut off time, won't you Assuming you?

Speaker 9: 1:30:56

need holds up. Yeah, my knee is kind of a problem and up to now I'm always filming my marathons, so I've never run the full marathon. Gotcha.

Speaker 3: 1:31:07

Gotcha.

Speaker 9: 1:31:08

I'm not actually sure what my time would be if I just keep running and not go?

Speaker 4: 1:31:13

Put the camera down, yeah.

Speaker 6: 1:31:15

Did you tape Japan? Yeah, ok, good, because I can't see it. That's a dream race, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:31:24

Hey, so Arno Jason was telling us about the course. We just want to get your highlights here. I'm looking at the course map. You passed by some pretty iconic things in Tokyo. You have the Tokyo Dome, which was just made famous a couple of weeks ago because of Taylor Swift playing there and then having the high tailored over to the Super Bowl. You go by the Tokyo Skytree I guess that was at like the 20 kilometer mark. You got the famous Tokyo Tower. So again, really really big landmarks in Tokyo. But what were some visual course highlights for you?

Speaker 9: 1:32:02

There are a couple of the temples they run past. They're really visible. A lot of the other things are kind of off course. You can't really see them that well, apart from the Skytree, of course. It's an obviously really big site. So for me, just the sight of running through the streets of Tokyo just because everything is just so different, it's a cult structure just being there with all the Japanese letters and just being able to run through those streets was amazing.

Speaker 2: 1:32:39

Speaking of the streets themselves. Now, this question is for both of you. If there's one thing that Japan, and especially Tokyo, are known for when it comes to their streets outside of being extremely clean, is there are vending machines everywhere where either one of you tempted to go off course and buy something out of a vending machine while you were on course.

Speaker 8: 1:33:02

No, I thought about grabbing a nice coffee out of one of the vending machines.

Speaker 4: 1:33:07

Yeah, all right. Yeah, but didn't do it. Huh, all right, good question, greg, I didn't do it. Any course highlights, jason, same question that Arno was asking. Any visual course highlights or historical or iconic places?

Speaker 8: 1:33:23

As Arno said, the temples that we ran past and I just was just taking it all in and the diversity of the different types of buildings, whether it be the business districts and then the shopping districts, with all the bright signs and lights, and it was just all amazing.

Speaker 4: 1:33:40

Oh neat. How about the finish? Describe the finish, jason.

Speaker 8: 1:33:45

Well, by the time I finished, as people crossed the timing mats, they stopped, uh-oh, and so three feet from the final timing, I think there were actually people stopped between the last and the next to the last timing mats that they had. They had three or four timing mats and so I was trying to push myself around just to make sure that I actually finished and was trying to get through there, and then it was a long walk from the finish line to where you actually got your medal, and at one point I was looking around at the people that were setting off to the sides like do any of them have their medals? Did I miss the medals? But no, it was just a long walk to get to the medals and your little food bag and stuff that you got afterwards.

Speaker 4: 1:34:32

Cool Arnaud. How about you? What was the finish like for you?

Speaker 9: 1:34:35

That was exactly the same for me.

Speaker 9: 1:34:38

I checked the other people's offer to medals because it took so long to get there and because normally at Marathon you have a couple of different mats to get over at the finish line. So I wasn't sure if I was actually over the finish already and I couldn't even get through the crowd. And I'm looking back to see if I actually crossed the finish. But yeah, it was really crowded at the finish. But just coming up to the finish was really good and there were crowds everywhere, but especially that part at the finish it got a lot more crowded.

Speaker 8: 1:35:16

I don't remember the name of the street, but that street that was like brick paved before you made that final left hand turn to the finish line. It was probably the most closed in part of the course. And it was loud and amazing. I wish I would have taken a video of going down that street, because that was probably one of my favorite parts of it. That was amazing.

Speaker 9: 1:35:39

Yeah, I was running intervals, so I was doing five minutes of running then one minute of walking, and that last part of the race I stopped the intervals. I just wanted to keep going because the crowd was just cheering everybody on so well. So yeah, that was really good.

Speaker 6: 1:35:53

With that being said, I feel like Tokyo and Boston are two of the hardest races of the majors to get into. How'd you guys get in? Did you guys do lottery, did you do charity, or did you go with a running travel group? How did it work?

Speaker 9: 1:36:10

Yeah, I cheated. I used to travel agents, that's not cheating. But I tried to get in through the lottery before, and even that system for the Tokyo marathon is just a little difficult to get through, so I figured I'd try and do a travel agent for this. So the only one that I have to focus on after that is Boston and try and qualify for that.

Speaker 8: 1:36:38

I've got a little bit different story and I'm probably going to get some hate for this. I got in through the lottery. Wow, oh, hold on, it gets worse. I wasn't going to apply because I've got a busy year coming up this year. I put in at the last minute. On the last day I was at work I saw it was the last day to put in for it, so I thought, eh, I'll throw my name in for it. See what happens. Forgot that I applied for it, didn't tell anybody that I applied for it, and then I got the email.

Speaker 3: 1:37:13

Wow, oh no.

Speaker 8: 1:37:15

What am I going to do? Yeah, I don't have time to do this. I've got a big race coming up in three weeks. Like I can't schedule the Tokyo marathon in the midst of all this mess and so I wasn't going to do it. I've only told a couple of people that I got in. I told my wife, I told my running buddy and I said I don't think I'm going to do it. I got on customized training Zoom call the night after that and I told Coach Twiggs. I said I got into Tokyo but I don't think I can do it. And he blatantly upfront said you would be a fool if you turn this down, because I agree I can't defer it. He said you would be a fool and he's the one that convinced me to do it.

Speaker 4: 1:37:56

And he was right, wasn't he? I figured you would have heard the way you were talking earlier.

Speaker 6: 1:38:01

I was like there's no way I think he got in through lottery because he said he had a trial and do the subway system. I was like oh, he's so jealous.

Speaker 8: 1:38:14

It was totally unexpected.

Speaker 4: 1:38:16

Jason, what's next? Will we see you at Disney or you have any races on your schedule coming up?

Speaker 8: 1:38:22

I've got a lot of races coming up. I've got Blackbeard's revenge 100-miler coming up in three weeks. I'll thank some, north Carolina. I on a whim got into springtime surprise 10-miler so I can get the second coast to coast model. I have the three Halloween races coming up at Disneyland and New York and Berlin this year.

Speaker 4: 1:38:51

New York and Berlin this year, wow, wow.

Speaker 8: 1:38:53

Nice.

Speaker 4: 1:38:53

That's a nice year.

Speaker 8: 1:38:55

I'll have four of the stars by the end of the year. Yeah, that's what I was saying, why I was surprised I got into Tokyo. I didn't want to do it, wow.

Speaker 4: 1:39:01

All right, arnaud, that's going to be tough to follow, but what you got coming up, my friend.

Speaker 9: 1:39:07

I have a race in May that I'm going to try and use for Qualified from Boston, but it's here in the Netherlands. Yeah, and I got in through a travel agent to sign up for Dopey already 25.

Speaker 4: 1:39:21

Excellent, I'm running.

Speaker 9: 1:39:22

Dopey, finally, it's been five years.

Speaker 4: 1:39:24

It's been a while. Yeah, I look forward to seeing you there Before I let you go. Arnaud's YouTube channel Run. Arnaud Run, is that correct? Yeah, yeah, jason, you got something we can plug, no, okay.

Speaker 8: 1:39:41

I don't. I'm not that creative.

Speaker 4: 1:39:43

I'm a fan. I think that the Dutch tourist board should pay Arnaud a stipend for the travel logs that he does. They're gorgeous Really worth looking at Thank you.

Speaker 4: 1:39:56

Oh no, no joke, I joke around all the time, but the videos he puts up of the runs through the Netherlands are awesome, make you want to go there. Good stuff, his pub runs, right, his pub runs. Yeah, yeah, a couple pub runs. Yeah, a lot of good stuff. A lot of good stuff. Spelas again from all parts of the world, from Asia, from Europe and from North America. This eight technology grand. Thanks for spending the time with us. Loved hearing about it. All right, sounds good. I can talk for hours. So Great to talk with Arnaud and with Jason Marla. Our friend Marla was also there. Marla took some great pictures on the course, showed us a bunch of photos, the stuff that was available, the people in costumes, lots of different things Interesting. Unfortunately, marla couldn't join us for the spotlight, but great job to you as well, marla.

Speaker 4: 1:40:51

Let's come back to the US of A in Peoria, arizona, the Arizona Half Marathon. Jennifer actually ran the 10K, the Half Marathon weekend. Finished it in an hour. That's a good time. Jennifer, fourth in her age group, dedicated this run to her dog, morgan, who she lost earlier in the week in Jennifer Hartman's, who she lost earlier in the week in Jennifer Hartman's. Goes out to you for that. I know how tough that is and we're thinking of you, but glad you were able to finish this race In Napa Valley, california to Napa Valley Marathon. We had several folks there Brenna and Sarah ran the marathon, I believe, and Kat and Kayla ran the 5K. I say I believe because I didn't see a report from the Napa Valley Marathon. I hope everything went all right in that one here in my neck of the woods, the Skyway Bridge 10K in St Petersburg, florida.

Speaker 4: 1:41:47

This is a big event. Seventh running of this event, six live. One virtual Ashley was there, our friends Dean and Judy and their buddy Jamie was there. Laura Ann Laura Ann running it for the sixth time was the bus. She says the logistics for this race are remarkable because you park at Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play their home baseball games. Then you get into this incredibly long line and take a school bus over to the start point. They must have had every school bus in Hillsborough County there there were hundreds of them and the line moved constantly. They did a great job there. Once you finish you've got to take a bus back and once again, organization was terrific. Now Laura Ann said the bus getting there was great, but they got lost coming back and parked about a half mile away. She always has a great time at this one. It's a good event. Tiffany was also there.

Speaker 4: 1:42:56

I ran this one. My comment give you an idea how big this one was and I think there were about 30,000 people in this one. When I ran the half at Disney World during Marathon Weekend, there were 41 people in my age group. At this rate, at this race there were 102 people men, 102 men in the 70 to 74 year old age group. I think that's impressive.

Speaker 4: 1:43:28

One more note two years ago and if you follow the news certainly if you live in this area, you remember this, but if you follow the news, it made national news A drunk driver went past two police checkpoints and was racing up the road. The race actually takes place on Interstate 275. Was racing up the road. The only thing between this drunk driver and the back of the pack of racers was a Florida State trooper by the name of Tony Shuck. Tony's a woman and Officer Shuck took her vehicle and hit head on this driver to keep that other driver from getting to the back of the pack. What a heroic act.

Speaker 4: 1:44:16

Well, I bring it up because, as I'm finishing the race, I'm maybe a half a mile out. I look over. I see two Florida troopers, a man and a woman. I say hi, do that all the time, thank them for being there. And I did a double take and the woman was Officer Shuck and I got it little. I got a chance to shake her hand, look her in the eye and say thank you. It could have been me, but what a hero and what an honor to meet her there. Okay, that's the Skyway Bridge. 10k. Let's go to Rome, italy, the Roma Ostia Half Marathon. Luciana ran that one. Let's see New York Roadrunners, washington Heights, salsa Blues and Shamrock's 5K. Grace was there, ran this one before. Always a fun time Bands, local run, clubs out celebrating and a great but hilly course finished sub 30. That's always a wonderful goal for a 5K and for Grace, this was a course PR, grace, those count.

Speaker 2: 1:45:26

In Orlando, florida, mary hit the course for the second time this weekend and she participated in the Tree Foil Cookie Chase 5K. This was a last minute decision for her, but she says it's a beautiful course of an out and back right on the lake. We'll do it again. And of course there were Girl Scout cookies at the finish. So I have to ask real quick I know we're at the tail end of Girl Scout cookie season, but what is your go to cookie?

Speaker 4: 1:45:56

Oh, great question. I mean, this is almost a cliche. I'm going with the thin mints. Okay, Alicia, how about you?

Speaker 5: 1:46:06

Mine used to be the taiglongs, but now that I'm allergic to peanut butter I can't have those. Do they still have the ones with the lemon on them, or is?

Speaker 2: 1:46:17

that, the lemonades, the lemon icing, yeah, I like those ones yeah it's been a while. That would be my choice.

Speaker 3: 1:46:25

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:46:27

John, how about you?

Speaker 3: 1:46:28

The Tree Foils those in a glass of milk.

Speaker 4: 1:46:33

You're solid, they're like a short break cookie, I think yeah, tree Foils, yeah, nice, very nice, well so, congratulations, mary.

Speaker 2: 1:46:40

Way to go. Then in Seattle Washington, we had the Seattle Hot Chocolate Run. Sarah ran the 10K and Vanessa ran the 15K. Next up is the One City Marathon in Newport News, virginia. Mike ran this one, a 16 minute PR, and he got a Boston qualifier by running a 301. Congratulations.

Speaker 4: 1:47:08

Mike, yeah, way to go.

Speaker 2: 1:47:09

Mike. Next we have Hannah Marie, who ran the half, with Samantha Lee running together for their second year. This was their fourth half and it featured a special appearance by the Quitter's.

Speaker 4: 1:47:25

Chair. Somebody on the course had a great sense of humor, set up this thing. It had beer on a table next to it. It was very inviting. I think, an old recliner sitting out on the road and he labeled it the Quitter's Chair. And let's see. Hannah Marie said she really thought about at least posing for a picture in it, but she didn't do it.

Speaker 2: 1:47:53

Well, it's a good thing that she didn't do it, because she finished this half marathon with a PR In Reston Virginia. Our Peloton pal Sharon ran the Reston 10-Miler. She said it was good running weather, a hilly course but felt great and beat last year's race by seven minutes and she's hoping that she's locked up an A-Curral for the next run Disney season with a PR. She also did comment that the race did have really nice swag, which included a medal and a full zip-up jacket. Yeah, it really did look good too.

Speaker 2: 1:48:34

And then, rounding out this week's race report, we have the fresh 15K in Tyler, texas. Jessica ran this with her husband, Kevin. She said it was a tough course with a lot of hills, though she started way too fast and being drained those last few miles, but managed to beat her 15K PR time by just over one minute, which is a PR. Their girls, ellie and Maggie, also ran the 5K. They had it blast and they also PR'd BEEP, beep.

Speaker 4: 1:49:10

BEEP, beep, nicely done. Let's wind up the race report with Stacey, who finished her last 5K from the Disney 100 virtual series, and she did that with a PR. Beep, beep, nicely done. Friends. Thanks for sending in the reports. We appreciate it. We like sharing in your victories. That's it, friends. Episode 128 of the Rise and Run Podcast comes to a close. We hope you enjoyed this one as much as we did, friends, and if you run you know you are our friend. It's a Zoom week. Instructions are posted on the Facebook page. Log in, join us, come chat, just have fun. It's BYOB. I can't message anybody a beverage, but you're welcome to bring one with you. We sure look forward If you haven't been before. Drop in. It's a friendly place. We think you're going to enjoy it. Get to meet more of your fellow Rise and Runners. That's it, guys. We're going to see you pretty soon, but until then, happy running.

Speaker 2: 1:50:33

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.