Rise and Run
Rise and Run
189: Deep Dish or Thin Crust: Vern Runs on Pizza
"Why did I ever think this was a good idea?" That 3AM alarm for Disney races is something we all question—but then the magic happens. This episode, we're joined by Vern (@RunsOnPizza), whose vibrant interviews with costumed runners have become a beloved fixture of runDisney events.
Vern shares her journey from nervous first-timer in 2018 to the unofficial sideline reporter of the Run Disney community. What began as a simple desire to give creative runners a platform has evolved into something truly special. With her broadcast journalism background and genuine love for the community, Vern arrives on the first bus (before 3:15AM!) to capture the stories behind the elaborate costumes that make runDisney races so unique.
"When I started in 2018, I don't remember seeing half of what I see today," Vern reflects on the evolution of race costumes. From foam constructions to motorized elements, the creativity continues to push boundaries—and Vern is there to document it all.
The training lull between Disney seasons can be challenging, but Greg reminds us that finding local races is key to maintaining motivation. Meanwhile, Alicia celebrates two years of her run coaching business, specializing in first-timers and marathon training with personalized weekly plans.
We spotlight the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon with Sarah and Ashley, who take us through the unique experience of running through Churchill Downs. Plus, our extensive race reports from Flying Pig Marathon, Indy Mini, and races across the globe showcase our community's incredible accomplishments.
Whether you're planning your next costume or searching for summer race motivation, this episode captures the heart of what makes our running community so special—the creativity, support, and shared experiences that keep us rising and running.
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3 am again. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. Join our group of Run Disney friends. As we talk about running at Walt Disney World and beyond. We'll discuss recent runs, training, upcoming races and surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners. Well, the alarm's gone off, so let's go.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Jennifer and I just ran a marathon in Antarctica, and you are listening to the Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 4:Hi, this is Dan from Lyle Illinois. We're here at the Rise and Run meetup for Springtime Surprise Weekend.
Speaker 5:You're listening to the Rise and Run podcast. So Jennifer Jennifer sends us an intro. She did a marathon in Antarctica. How cool is that gang? That's really cool. In fact, it's probably, yeah cold, but that was neat. That was from a couple weeks ago. Thank you, Jennifer. And then I said we'd probably double up. Dan left us one from Springtime Surprise. So two intros this week to episode 189 of the Rise and Run podcast. Hello, my friends. As always, we are so happy to have you with us this week. I'm Bob and I'm here with John hey, how you doing. With Alicia, Hello. With Lexi, Hello. And with Greg hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 5:Good to see you, my friends. This week Runs on Pizza. Good to see you, my friends. This week Runs on Pizza. Our friend Vern you may know her from her Instagram Runs on Pizza account where she interviews costumed guests at the Run Disney events. Pretty neat, nice conversation with Vern. In the Race Report Spotlight we step back a week to the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon that our friends Ashley and Sarah ran.
Speaker 6:If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook Rise and Run Podcast. On Instagram Rise and Run Podcast. On Instagram Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage riseandrunpodcastcom. If you have questions, comments, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 4:We also want to thank our patrons, whose support helps keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check out patreoncom slash. Rise and run podcast.
Speaker 2:The Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by our friends over at Magic Bound Travel. I know that I think they're finally breathing a sigh of relief that that initial rush of the Walt Disney World 2026 packages is now in the rear view mirror. And they can. They'll just be, you know, coming in more, you know steadily, and more, more spaced out. So so great job to all the travel advisors out there for handling that mad rush. But here's the thing that we learned, though you now can get an MBTs queue for Disneyland. So if you're one of those lucky few that, a couple of weeks ago, got registered for what could be the last race in a really long time at Disneyland, get yourself in the queue to get a vacation package quoted for the Disneyland race weekend in 2026. So again, magicboundtravelcom is where you can get that no obligation quote set up. And then the other important thing we wanted to pass along we got an update about the inaugural Rise and Run Cruise Gang. You ready for this one? I'm so excited with this.
Speaker 5:I'm ready.
Speaker 2:41 state rooms have been booked for this. Over 80 people right now are slated to attend this what is hopefully going to be an awesome, awesome time in April of 2026, following springtime surprise. So there's still plenty of time to join us for this cruise. So, if you're interested, again magicboundtravelcom they have a special button right there that will take you to the podcast cruise information. We have it linked on our Facebook page. It's everywhere. If you want to be part of it, head on over there, get your no obligation quote and hopefully you'll set sail with us.
Speaker 5:It will doubtless be the event of the season. Hey, here's an unscripted one. Alicia, How's your plant-based Rise and Run chat group going?
Speaker 4:We haven't really had much conversation in the last couple of weeks but a bunch of us have been sharing recipes as we find them and it's been really cool to see what people are using as their different protein sources and just kind of have a little bit of a community for people who understand each other and the struggles and the benefits that can come with being a plant-based runner.
Speaker 5:That's what it's called right, the plant-based chat, or if folks are looking for it in our community chat groups.
Speaker 4:It is called Plant-Based Rise and Runners.
Speaker 5:Plant-Based Rise and Runners, pbrrs Sure, all right, cool. Hey, friends, I'm going to put this up front, not an apology or an alibi. I just want to put this up front because it's important. Jennifer Hudson's a good friend of the podcast. She's been a friend of the podcast for years. She went over and ran the London Marathon, which, by the way, we'll be recapping in the next episode. I know it's a couple weeks ago, but we want to get everybody together.
Speaker 5:While there, jennifer's husband, dan. I don't know if Dan had a heart attack, but he had something that required heart surgery, a triple bypass, in fact. He's doing quite well and, as of last, as of just looking a few minutes before the podcast started here on Tuesday, uh, he's out of the hospital. However, it's going to be a couple of weeks before Dan's able to fly back home. So Dan and Jennifer are still over in England, which, while that sounds like fun to have an extended vacation, this is not the way to do it and it's also obviously not the way they planned. There is, if you are interested in helping out, there is a GoFundMe site. That link is in our Facebook group and we will also put it into the show notes, so take a look at that. If you are able to help out. Let's look at training. Holy smokes, we were just lamenting the end of the run Disney season and what do we have? We're back on the training schedule. Kids Disneyland Halloween kicked off today, not today. Well, yeah, technically today. Technically today, the day that we're recording.
Speaker 6:we should have did 30 minutes right bob 30.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I does it say 30 or 30 to 45 anyway, yeah, it's the weekly run started today. This is week one of training. I think is what I'm trying to say. The long saturday run, long Saturday run for this week. Hang on, two miles, you can do it. Hey, it's got to start somewhere, kids, I mean, if you're coming off of last season, two miles is going to look silly, but if you're coming off thinking that the trip to the mailbox at the end of the driveway is long, you got to start somewhere. So, two miles it is for this week. It'll build quickly enough. Let's see what else we got. We've always noted also noted that while Disneyland Halloween is 17 weeks away, so is Bird in Hand, an event that many of us will be participating in and talking about that just in general. We haven't done a little training update on our own for a while.
Speaker 2:So, uh, greg, you had some thoughts you wanted to share, I think, about training at this time of year, absolutely yeah I'm going to preface with what I'm about to say is to say that I have not lost any motivation for running like I, I'm not we the the dopey downers or the dopey doldrums or or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Um, so I'm happy about that. But at the same time, though, I have been able to recognize that my training hasn't been to a consistent level, that it has been for the last couple of weeks, and that has to do with I've been traveling a lot for work and other special events. I've just been very busy with work being an assistant coach for my daughter's softball team. So right now life is throwing a lot at me, and sometimes running does have to take a little bit of a back seat. But again, I'm, you know, keeping that positive mindset, in the sense that it's not like I don't have the, the motivation to, to get out there and, and you know, put some miles on my feet and whatnot.
Speaker 2:But the advice that I wanted to offer and I think this is going to segue nicely into a topic that Bob wanted to introduce for us tonight is, if you ever feel like you're getting into that area, especially in, you know, what we're calling the, the lull of the run Disney season right now is go out and find a race to start training for, you know.
Speaker 2:So, whether that's, you know, a local 10K or a half marathon. I mean, obviously you know when we get to the race report later in this episode. I mean, obviously a ton of great runs happened this past weekend, but there's still a lot of great runs that are still going to be coming up here in the late spring and early summer. Before we get into, you know, your typical busy fall races and then you know the return of Run Disney and such. So again, if you ever feel like that, just find that next thing that will allow you to create a training plan and just get out there and get right back to it. As long as you're getting a couple of miles every single weekend and trying to get those maintenance runs in there, you're definitely not going to lose any of your training, which is a fantastic thing. But if you feel like you're slipping, this could be a good motivational tool for you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it is. I agree 100%. In fact, I want to ask my friends here what you got coming up between now and the time we get back to Disney. Is anyone going out for Halloween? I don't think Jack is.
Speaker 2:I don't think any of us are.
Speaker 5:I don't think any of the Rise and Run gang will be there. I know Jack and I will be there in January, so let's say, between now and Wine and Dine what you got on the schedule, kids.
Speaker 4:So last week we talked to Michelle and she mentioned that website running in the USAcom.
Speaker 5:Yeah right.
Speaker 4:Actually, yesterday I was thinking to myself I don't have anything on the books for races and so I sat down and I wrote down a bunch of local races. I'm not signed up for anything yet but, like Greg was saying, this is a great time to look and see what's local to you was saying, like it's, this is a great time to look and see what's local to you. Um, maybe find that five or ten k?
Speaker 2:um and have something to keep you motivated in this kind of lull of the training before whatever you're training for starts so what I'm training for right now is, uh even though we have not officially signed up as of yet, but it is inked onto my calendar uh, right now I'm in the midst of training for the loopy looper oh, there you go, 12 hour, uh ultra at the beginning of august.
Speaker 2:Okay, we have a bunch of people that are interested. We're still trying to get everybody locked down. Hopefully we can have a bunch of teams to go out and uh pay homage and respect and memory of our wonderful friend Aaron from the We'll Run For podcast. So I'm very excited for that, not just for the running miles themselves, but just what's great about that event is just the camaraderie that you all get to experience while you're sweating your butt off underneath a tailgating tent for 12 hours and whatever elements decides to, that decides to hit
Speaker 5:south jersey that particular day it was pretty nasty last year. You got smoked, didn't?
Speaker 2:you, well, yeah, between he and then a thunderstorm, yeah, we had everything. But so that's the thing I'm immediately training for, and then, you know, like a good chunk of us, um, you know, similar to the training schedule that you just mentioned, bob uh, my next, uh half marathon then will be Burden Hand in September, and then I don't have anything until marathon weekend. But who knows, maybe I can sneak something in there. We'll just have to wait and see. But at least I got Loopy Looper and Burden Hand.
Speaker 5:Cool, anybody else? John, you're going to Burden Hand right, I'll be at.
Speaker 6:Burden Hand. Yes, I Anybody else, john, you're going to Bird in.
Speaker 6:Hand. Right, I'll be at Bird in Hand. Yes, that's my big race for the, I guess October. No, september, september. Sorry, september, september, september. But I have a couple races that I'm looking to sign up for, but, as Greg says, life gets in the way Every time I plan on something oh, let's do this race this weekend. Oh, we have a family event that day. Oh, we have this. So right now, one that I think I will be doing is the Tom Fleming classic, which is on a Thursday night, and not much is happening on Thursday nights unless it's a zoom call and you can go live, John.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I was going to say why can't you be on the?
Speaker 2:Zoom call and run a race at the same time. I don't know why not.
Speaker 6:You want a lot of dirty words, oh sorry, and there's another 5K coming up. So once a 5K, once a 5 mile, that's something coming up in June to kind of get the training going, get yourself moving again. So hopefully that works.
Speaker 9:So, for me, the only thing that I have on the horizon right now is the challenge at springtime Um, that's way far off in the future. But as I'm thinking about, as we're talking about this, and as I'm thinking about it, I'm looking at the calendar that's right beside me, like it's already May, and I have been inspired by you guys because I have not run at all zero percent since Marathon Weekend, for a whole variety of different reasons that I won't go into, for a whole variety of different reasons that I won't go into. But you know, I really think it's time to come back. All righty, don't call the comeback, we'll call it. Well, I don't know what we'll call it, but I think I will find some kind of. I can't travel anywhere right now. I have too many trips, but I'm going to see if I can find a 5k or 10k or something. Is it too late to?
Speaker 2:get into Peachtree for you.
Speaker 9:Um, maybe too late physically, oh, okay.
Speaker 5:Is that a lottery entry now, Peachtree.
Speaker 9:I'm part of the track club oh okay. We have guaranteed entries into it, but yeah, I won't be ready for six miles by then.
Speaker 5:Well, that's a tough one anyway, with the heat it's so hot too.
Speaker 9:Like the race was great it is. It was just July 4 too. Like the race was great.
Speaker 5:It is.
Speaker 9:It was just July 4th. No, I don't know.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's one of the country's great 10Ks, no doubt about that.
Speaker 9:It's beautiful, but it's mighty warm. Through Atlanta. I mean it's beautiful, but it's hilly.
Speaker 5:Again, it's through Atlanta.
Speaker 9:Exactly. Again, it's through atlanta exactly yeah. So, um, I know there's a whole, but I mean, just from me being in the running community here, I know there's a ton of 5ks that I could get into a ton of 10ks and, um, yeah, maybe I'll find something for like september, because that'll give me time to start from zero, or that would be a good time or start from like what? What was the weekend that you said, bob, a little while ago? Two miles.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely yeah. First first week of training, two miles Sure.
Speaker 2:All right, lexi, that's your homework, for next week's episode is to find a race.
Speaker 9:Okay, I can do that.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 5:I can do that okay, I can do that. Cool, I can do that. Let me see I just more on this in a little bit. I just finished flying pig. I have a race this weekend. I have a race saturday the run with meb. I think they have a 5k and 10k. I'm doing the 10k in the tampa area. Meb kovleski hosts that every year. Um, I'm actually my. I actually have a time goal this and I want to try to beat my age. So that gives me 71 minutes and some odd seconds. It'll be close. Let's see how that goes. Then the race is here, then they go away for a while because it just gets too hot.
Speaker 5:I am doing an event on the 4th of July at the pier in St Petersburg, but that's for funsies, so I'll be doing that. I will be at Bird and Hand. I'm excited about that. Then Disney Wine and Dine. Then I've got a couple others Space Coast Friends if you haven't done Space Coast and you're anywhere nearby, that's an awesome event. It occurs the Sunday after Thanksgiving over in Cocoa Beach, florida.
Speaker 5:And then one I've talked about a couple times the Honolulu Marathon. Going out and running with Jeff in December. I hope that we will have more information to share with you on packages for that race in our next episode. I think that may be the case, but that's what I've got coming up, so I'll go back to what Greg said. This is a way to help you get through those blahs in the summer if you're a big time run Disney fan, as obviously we all are, and it'll get you over the hump. Michelle Last week talked about others, talked about Cross training etc. But since we're talking training In general and we've Talked with some coaches and we'll talk with Some more we got a coach sitting here With us who I would like to open the mic up and Give her a little time I'm talking, of course, about Alicia to tell us about her coaching program and how that's going.
Speaker 4:Thanks, bob. Yeah, actually yesterday, which was Cinco de Mayo, was my second year anniversary of my run coaching business.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's impossible, that's no. You mean second week, right's impossible, that's no you get everybody margaritas.
Speaker 9:You mean second week, right no?
Speaker 5:It just seems. Has the time flown for you?
Speaker 4:It has. It's kind of like the podcast. It's kind of amazing to see how long we've been doing it and the same with my business. Like, yeah, it doesn't feel that long, but it has been two years and it's been really great. I have absolutely loved helping all of my clients get to their goals and seeing them. A lot of them were first timers for Marathon Weekend and did Dopey in their first marathons, which was really cool to see and overall it's just been really great. But I did want to mention a couple of things about my business in case you are interested. My business is called Running With Alicia. That's my website, runningwithaliciacom. I'm also on YouTube and Instagram same handle and I do. I do a hundred percent personalized um run coaching and I specialize in first time races and marathon training, especially Um, but I do help runners with all sorts of distances Um. I have people doing five Ks all the way up to a 50 K um and everything in between. So um.
Speaker 4:I'm willing to help with that and I do free consultation calls, so there's no obligation. If you want to just sit down and chat, we can do that. There's a consultation questionnaire on my website you can fill out if you're interested.
Speaker 6:So you get a consultation. I sign up with you, Alicia. Now what happens Like? Every week you give me a plan, we talk every week. How does that work?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I do weekly plans. I know that every coach is different, so I do weekly plans because I'm a hundred percent personalized. I do it that way so that we can adapt and adjust accordingly. If you're changing your miles or if things get in the way, if work schedules change or kid schedules change, we can adjust accordingly. And then I leave it up to my runners for calls. So I have runners that will meet bi-weekly. Sometimes we meet every week. Sometimes I don't meet with them for a couple of months because we text every day. So I leave it up to my runners Um, but I do offer um calls with them as well.
Speaker 2:Now, alicia, you glanced over something when we started this conversation, though. So when they, when someone signs up with you, how many margaritas does that include?
Speaker 4:Zero margaritas.
Speaker 5:I encourage my runners not to drink.
Speaker 4:Well, they're in training, greg, okay All right, they're big events, but I do understand that they might want to have a margarita or an adult beverage after they've completed the distance.
Speaker 2:I still want you to have a sale one day and have your code. Just be Margarita. I just think that would be fantastic. I'm very proud of you and the way that your business has grown, and I'm glad that more and more clients from the Rise and Run community are joining up with you, and I think it's wonderful news. So congratulations.
Speaker 4:Thank you. You did mention a code and there's not really a code, but if you do mention the Rise and Run podcast, you get $10 off a month for just being a listener of the podcast.
Speaker 5:Cool, yeah, cool. That's good. Obviously, we travel in the same circles and I know a lot of your clients and your clients like you, and I find that easy to believe. Yes, so, I'm sure it's a good group and I'm glad to see you're doing so well.
Speaker 4:I appreciate that.
Speaker 5:So there you go, friends. There's another avenue We've talked about several. I'm not picking sides here. Clearly, alicia is my friend, but we have other friends who are coaches in other ways, and coaching, I think any coach would tell you, is not a cookie cutter one size fits all. So you know if you're looking for something, alicia's told you what she specializes in first timers and I got a feeling she's good at it because I know her. I've known Alicia for years and I know she's very serious about what she does. And so there you go. All right, alicia, thanks, let's see friends. Let's talk with our guest for the week, and I didn't do this while she was here, and only those of you who are a certain age will get this. But hey, vern, what you doing.
Speaker 2:In the wide world of sports. The role of the sideline reporter has greatly increased and has become more and more visible over the years, and there are journalists out there who make quite a career in this role, including Aaron Andrews, holly Rowe, tracy Wolfson and the late Craig Sager. But did you know that Run Disney also has their own famous sideline reporter outside of Raleigh Claremont and our buddy, tracy Wu? You may have seen her reels all over Instagram during Run Disney Race Weekends and you may know her by her Instagram handle, runs on Pizza. But we would love to welcome Vern to the Rise and Run podcast. Vern welcome.
Speaker 8:You're going to make me cry with that intro.
Speaker 5:That's some good company, isn't it, vern? Yeah, there you go go with those people.
Speaker 8:It's like I it's yeah, I'm floored.
Speaker 2:Greg wanted you to feel welcome so we're gonna get started by a very simple but yet I think could be a a long-winded answer though, and that is, tell us just your not the sideline reporting thing, but just your general run Disney origin or backstory.
Speaker 8:Okay, well, I didn't get started running until, I want to say, like 2017. I had a family friend and she was running. So I'm from San Antonio, texas, and she was running the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon and me and my other friend were like let's go and spectate the race and cheer her on at the finish line. And so this was for the 2016,. December of 2016 rock and roll in San Antonio. So we're at the finish line. It's like right, yeah, right before the end, and you're seeing all of these different people from different walks of life, different ages, different sizes, different athletic abilities, about to finish a half marathon and people are like crying and cheering and just so excited to accomplish this goal that they set for themselves. And just seeing that was inspiration enough for me. I was like what is stopping me from trying to do that? I was never athletic, never a part of any organized sports. I was the artistic kid in middle school and high school. I did art club and piano lessons and all of those different things, so never did any organized sports. And I saw these people just accomplishing something hard and I was like I want that feeling. I want to feel like I put forth effort and hard work into something physical and then have it culminate at this finish line. And so I told my friend, after we cheered for her, she crossed the finish line. I was like, mindy, I want to do this next year, so that'd be 2017, december 2017. And she's like, okay, I can help you get there. And I was like, but I don't want to tell anybody, like I don't want to tell my friends or my family, because, in case I don't fulfill this, in case I don't follow through with this, I don't want them to be like, oh, you didn't run a half marathon, that sucks. So I was like I kept it a secret for about, I want to say, like half a year and I would just do some little training runs here and there, constantly doubting myself that I was going to be able to even run 13 miles if I could barely make it two miles. But just through consistency and the encouragement from my friend, like, yeah, six months in, I told my family. I was like, hey, I signed up for the rock and roll in San Antonio and they're like that's awesome, we can't wait to go and cheer you on. And then I think it was probably March, like March of 2017. That same family friend was like, hey, if you're running rock and roll in December, why not just sign up for the Run Disney half marathon in January, because we're going to go with all of our family members and it will be so much fun? And I was like, ok, I mean, that's two half marathons back to back, but I think I could do it. It's like just a month apart, I'm already in the training might as well. And this was before registration day is what it is. And I was able to register, like several weeks after it opened up, and was able to get in, sign up for the half marathon easy peasy, like no sweat.
Speaker 8:And I had gone to Disney World before, but that was with my family. We stayed off property. It was not to the extent of what I experienced a Disney vacation with them in January, and so trained for the rock and roll ran, that had a good time. I was hurting just because it was my first half. And then I was like, ok, I have to do this again in a month. And so got ready for Disney.
Speaker 8:Uh, went out there with them. We went to the expo. It was a very chill expo. We didn't go to the merchandise area. We just went and got our bibs, got out of there, went to a park. Uh, we stayed on property and we, what did we do? We didn't spectate any of the other races, except for because my friend that had signed up she was doing goofy so we got ready for the half marathon, woke up at I think like 3 30 because the last bus was at 4 and we're like we can make it for the last bus got on the last bus, got to the start start area Again, no stress, like no problems. It was super easy, but it was very early. Wore the race shirt it was like the black long sleeve marathon weekend shirt because it was freezing. It was like 36 degrees. That race, what year was that? 2018.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, it was cold yeah it was. Well, we've all been there frigid. I had a rain jacket oh yeah, it was windy too, wasn't?
Speaker 8:it layers? Yeah, it was, but I didn't know, I didn't know any different. I was like this is how it is at four o'clock in the morning in orlando, like this is normal no you know, you know that now. Yeah, I oh this is not a common thing, but yeah had everything layered up. I didn't get any photos from that race because I covered my bib.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh jeez.
Speaker 8:I had all the layers on. I tied my rain jacket around my waist after like mile four and didn't realize that that's how you got your pictures was through your bib, and so I think I have like two of them that like when my bib was able to be shifted a little bit towards the end, so I had like two good photos of the whole race. But, again, didn't know the difference, because this was my first run Disney race. I don't remember anything else about it. I just remember getting there early in the morning it was cold and then running the race and finishing it and I loved it. Thought it was so much fun.
Speaker 8:I don't remember costumes like I don't remember clocking that at all from anybody else. Like I said, running in my race shirt was normal. In my mind, I was like, yeah, this is what everybody does. Well, you weren't the only one. Yeah, exactly, so it didn't feel odd, as I guess, and it shouldn't be. It shouldn't feel odd for people to wear the race shirt now, but, being in the costumed world, I was like I would never wear the race shirt anymore to the race when you can do so many other things, and so that was yeah, 2018. We cheered for the marathon and it was after, I think, the next day. That Monday we were walking around Epcot and Magic Kingdom and I saw people with their dopey medals and all of the medals like just all of them stacked and clinking, and that was before the medals got a chip, and so you're just seeing them walking around.
Speaker 8:And this is why I was laughing myself. I clocked one lady in the bathroom and she had, because she had the dopey shirt and the dopey metal on and she was washing her hands. And I was like hey, can I ask you a question? She's like yeah, I was like how long did it take you to train for dopey? And she goes actually, it's not that much more work to train for dopey than it is to train for a marathon. It's like, yes, you have more runs that you have to do back to back, but the timeframe of it is pretty much the same. And I was like okay, so was it hard to like do all those miles? And she goes. You just start slow, you start with the lower mileage and then you just work your way up and the goal is to get it done. It's not to finish in a certain timeframe, like, yes, you want to finish before the balloon, ladies, but at the end of the day, the goal is is to finish. And I think if you do the runs and you know that, like this is your minimum pace you have to hold, then you're good. And I was like, okay.
Speaker 8:So after 2018, I said it in my head where I was like I will run dopey in 2020 and so I skipped 2019 because, again, I wasn't like addicted yet, I just knew that I liked it and I wanted to do dopey next. So I was like let me give myself like a year, two years, to get this done, to get my racing better. And I remember following along like different Facebook groups in 2019 just to see what people were doing, what they were wearing, and I think that's when I started picking up on people dressing in costume, was seeing stuff on social media and people posting pictures and sharing all that stuff. So I knew in 2020, when I ran Dopey, I was like I want to dress in costume for all four races. And my mom did the 5K and the 10K with me and she wore costumes as well, and the 10k with me and she wore costumes as well. And so just since then, I've been slowly reeling more people in like bringing more family members involved.
Speaker 8:Uh, because after dopey, 2020 is when I like seal it for myself. I was like this I want to do this every year. And then COVID hit. But I was like I'm glad I got my dopey when I did and didn't have to wait until 2022 to do it. So, yeah, ever, ever since that first dopey, I was like I don't ever want to miss a marathon weekend because this is where it's at. Like, this environment and this just contagious energy that you get with Marathon Weekend, I just it can't be replicated. I feel like, and yeah, just since then I'm like this is it, this is my favorite.
Speaker 5:Do you remember your first costume?
Speaker 8:Yes, so my first costume was with my mom for that 5K. No, actually, oh, my first, I forgot I did. I did princess in 2019. So I skipped marathon weekend 2019. But I did princess with that same family friend that got me into running and I wore for the. We did the challenge. So for the 10k I dressed as Mulan, with like a tutu, and then for the half I think, we just wore like matching shirts and red tutu or something. So I was able to talk her into doing that at least, and I was like okay, this is, I'm going to slowly dip my feet into the costume world and then, right now, it's just like anything is possible at this point.
Speaker 2:Well, vern, you gave me the perfect segue into my next question and you said a couple of minutes ago you started reeling family and friends into the costume world, and that's your bread and butter now is creating instagram reels of interviewing people who are dressed to the nines in terms of their run Disney race costumes. So now let's get a different origin story. Where did this idea come from of you just grabbing a microphone and walking around the family reunion area and chatting with people about their costumes?
Speaker 8:Okay. So I'm trying to figure out where to start with this origin story. So I got into the costume racing and costumes after that or during that dopey race in 2020. And then I think the next year, after COVID went and came and went and it was 2022, I think is when the next marathon weekend was. Um, I went a little bit bigger with my costume for the 5k and me, my friend Lynette and my mom, we dressed as different dole whips and that for me was like this I can, if I can run in like a sandwich foam thing, then I can run in anything.
Speaker 8:And we got featured, I think, on the Facebook, the Run Disney Facebook group. Um, so in my mind I was like I made it, this is it, this is the culmination of my costuming. And then we did other costumes, that race weekend, but they slowly just got less and less, um, intricate because the mileage gets longer. And then I think it was I don't even know what year, I think 23 was the next one after that Me, my mom and my friend Sarah. It was the 90s theme and we dressed as the VHS tapes, like the costumes.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was popular that year.
Speaker 8:Yes, oh, it was so much fun and that costume would not be allowed today, I feel like, unfortunately yeah with the rules.
Speaker 8:So I'm glad we were able to do it when we did it, um, but just everybody wanted to take pictures and, like, talk to us about the costume and seeing how, like from the beginning of when we came up with the idea, and then the thought process on how to craft it, how to travel with it, like we had to cut the boards in half and then fold them and then put them in our suitcase. And then we got to the hotel, unfold them, duct tape them, put them in the little sleeve. It was this whole process, was this whole process. So it was after that when I realized that so many people do intense costumes and have to figure out a way to travel with it or figure out a way to, uh, transport it in their car, and so I was like I feel like there's more stories to be told and I wanted to be able to tell my story. But we just I don't think we got interviewed by Riley or anybody for that costume, and so I was like, dang, we missed out on that opportunity. But it's fine, I was able to make a little post about it or something. So since then I was like, okay, I want to find a way to talk to other people and get their stories on how they make their costumes so that they have a platform to showcase their creative craftsmanship.
Speaker 8:And way back when, when I was in college, I majored in broadcast journalism. And I decided to go with that major when I was 18 years old because in high school I was a part of our broadcast team and we just broadcast the morning announcements like on TVs in everybody's classroom and stuff. So it was super chill, super relaxed. I went to a tiny all-girls school, so it was just basically like hanging out with your friends and talking to them about what's going on in the school that week friends, and talking to them about what's going on in the school that week and then we would put together segments where we'd go around and interview other classmates about their Christmas plans or something and I ate it up. I loved doing that because it was just talking to people and you would go around with your microphone and just chat with friends and so flash forward to run Disney now, where I was.
Speaker 8:Like I can do the same thing. I can buy a microphone online. Get the little stick that you attach it to make it with the little box so that you can look official and go and interview people at the start line, or at the start line, but at the staging area, because that's where, if you have a nice costume, you want to get noticed and that's where you hang out. And it just blew up from there where I was like well, it was last summer.
Speaker 8:I talked to my friend Lynette and I was like what do you think about this, what do you think about me putting my journalism degree to good use and interviewing friends that have really neat costumes at the beginning of each race and like we can do it for Wine and Dine because we can just show up we're not running the races but we can still go and cheer and just knock out a couple of interviews and see how it goes. She goes yeah, that sounds like a neat idea, great way to meet people and just like network within the run Disney sphere. And after Wine and Dine I was like we need to do this for every race.
Speaker 5:We're having too much fun.
Speaker 8:Oh, it was so much fun and it was well received, because I also didn't know how people were going to take it or if anyone cared as much as I did about costumes.
Speaker 5:You know that now. Yeah, I know that now.
Speaker 8:Because also I know that people want to get interviewed by Riley at the start line, so people like hug that railing. Oh yeah, they do.
Speaker 8:As they're going into the shoot, because you want your chance to just talk about something that you spent hours and weeks on, and I just wanted another spot for people to have the opportunity to talk about that and then be able to show, like, have it afterwards and like show friends or family members, Because if you're being interviewed by either Tracy or Riley at the beginning of the races, if you don't have somebody next to you recording the big screen, like there's no way to find it afterwards. So I wanted to have something that people could pull up later and I don't know even like as a memory. It's like oh, look, whenever we did this costume together, look, we got an interview. And have that be a just yeah, a platform for people to talk about all the time they spent and the creative process that was involved in their costume making.
Speaker 5:Absolutely Great idea.
Speaker 4:So Vern, to get as many interviews as you can with people before the races. What time do you get to the reunion area?
Speaker 8:So we me and my friend Lynette we learned with Wine and Dine that we have to be on the first bus.
Speaker 8:Learned with wine and dine that we have to be on the first bus because we thought we were making it on the first bus because ren disney advertises that the buses start running at three and so we're like, okay, we'll roll out of bed at like 2 30.
Speaker 8:We're not dressing up in costumes, so it's not going to take us that long to get ready and then get down to the bus, stop at like 2.55 and then be on that first bus. But we learned that buses start running a little bit earlier than that, and so by the time we would get on the bus, it was like 3.10. And then by the time it takes you to get to Epcot parking lot, it's now like 3.25. And then you have to walk through security, walk all that way to the staging area. So we would end up getting there like at 3.40, 3.30. And I was like, wow, we missed all of these like these many minutes of being able to interview people. So we try to get on that first bus, which would hopefully get us to the staging area by like 3.15, 3.10. But yeah, so we try to be there as early as possible yeah, and very few people are there before that.
Speaker 8:Anyway, right unless you're driving. It's like right I think we caught a ride with uh, our friend, for this last springtime surprise 10k. Uh, we caught a ride with her and she was able to take us and park us and we got into we like rope drop security so we were able to get in right when everybody else was being let in, so got a ton of interviews that day so you mentioned that you run all the time.
Speaker 3:you do the live run disney races, but how do you find the time to conduct all these interviews and have time to get to your corral in time for the race?
Speaker 8:So this last, this season, the 2024-2025 season I only ran marathon weekend, so I only did dopey. And we tried me and my friend Lynette tried to get interviews during that race weekend and it was insanely difficult because, again, you're dressed in costume, you have to spend time getting ready. I had all of my family in tow so I had to make sure they got to the start area and it was. I think I was able to get like three interviews that whole weekend and I felt I felt bad because I was just like, oh, there's so many good costumes, but then it also was hard because on that half marathon day was pouring so I was like there was no way I was going to get anything anyways, even if I wasn't running. And then I got some for the 5K and some for the 10K, but I didn't do anything for the marathon because it was freezing and yeah. So it's just it's hard to do interviews if I'm running the races.
Speaker 8:But me and my friend Lynette we talked and she's like if we do Dopey this year or if you do Dopey this year, we like have to get interviews. So, like your family has been to run Disney enough times that they can figure out how to get on the buzz and how to get to the staging area without you. I was like this is true, I can do it. And she's like yes, because you know that if the weather's great, you're gonna get a lot of cool costumes for marathon weekend because of this theme with the books and all of that, and you're gonna want people are gonna want to see those costumes. So we have to. We have to dig deep and knuckle down and get it done. And I was like okay, yes, so she really keeps me on track.
Speaker 2:Lynette is the best so obviously, obviously, these videos have become very, very successful on Instagram. Heck, one came up in my algorithm last night and, believe it or not, I don't know who you were interviewing, but in the background of that video I actually saw John and my wife. So it's interesting to figure out where you post up in the family reunion area. But are you at the point now in your run Disney interviewing career that are you searching people out yourself or are people coming up to you to get interviewed?
Speaker 8:Specifically for Springtime Surprise this year. That was a last minute decision on me and Lynette's part to go. We went down for Princess because she was running the races and we both had zero intention of showing up for Springtime Surprise. And then it was until we heard the Princess recap from y'all and my name, my name was dropped in there and it was said that she attends all the races and interviews runners and I was like, shoot, now I have to go to springtime.
Speaker 2:I guess I should have fact-checked myself there. Sorry about that.
Speaker 8:No, you're fine, Because it's like I was in my head trying to like figure out a way to get down there and I'm like, well, now I have to get down there, down there. Um, so I was only able to do the 5k and 10k interviews because I had a prior engagement, uh, that weekend. But so with that weekend specifically, I reached, like I posted on my story and I was like, if you have a really cool costume that you want to talk about with me, message me so I can find you and I can prioritize you in my schedule, because most of the time when we show up, it's just like we scan the crowd and we try to find costumes that are on theme but also that are like detailed and almost kind of like intricate or unique. Where, I think for Princess, we interviewed her name's Morgan and she was dressed up as one of the cast members in the Festival of Fantasy Parade and she was like Maleficent's tail.
Speaker 8:And she had like the decorative, like beak helmet thing, and I was like that was what caught my eye. And I was like I want to talk to her. So I went up to her and I was like, hey, can I interview you? And I was like I want to talk to her. So I went up to her and I was like hey, can I interview you?
Speaker 8:So it's just based off of what I see, but also if there are people that specifically want to, like I had somebody message me and say that I did a last minute costume change for my dad whole like feathered cape for him, for his Iago costume for princess weekend. And so Rebecca messaged me and she's like, if you don't, if you have time, can we talk to you? And I was like yes, so I found her and we did that interview and it was wonderful. So I do try to spot people, but then I want to give people the opportunity to reach out to me so that they can also be featured, because I will find the same people over and over again, because they always have.
Speaker 8:really, great costumes right and I have to tell myself it's okay to interview the same people, because if they show up with really great costumes, then I'm gonna talk to you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you've interviewed some pretty heavy hitters in the costuming game. You know, like recent memory, I can uh recall you interviewing, like cindy copley, who is, you know, just a mega star when it comes to costumes. Uh, we had him on before our buddy fred, prince charming fred. But are there any elusive golden gooses who you have been dying to interview that you just haven't? Had the chance yet to oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 8:that is a good question. I mean, cindy was a big one because I know that she's not at every single race weekend and so when I spotted her at the springtime surprise 5k, I was like gotta get her, like we need to, and she was like headed towards the corrals and I was able to stop her before she got too far and I was like, can we have corrals? And I was able to stop her before she got too far and I was like can we have an interview real quick? I love your costumes, um, but I'm trying to think of somebody. I don't have somebody off the top of my head that I guess a follow-up question is how did you miss the seven foot tree during the springtime?
Speaker 2:surprise 5k.
Speaker 8:Oh, bob's the Groot, I think I saw him from a distance and it was after we had pulled somebody for an interview and I was like, okay, I'm going to like if he's still over there, I want to make my way that way. And by the time we were done with the interview I looked in that general direction and I was like I don't see him anymore.
Speaker 8:So there's like some moments like that, where I'll see a costume that I like and we'll be in the middle of doing an interview and I try to find them afterwards and it doesn't work out. So it's like if I see something, I try to jump on it as quickly as I can, but there are many a times where I miss them or I'll see pictures online later and I was like come on, how did I not?
Speaker 5:see this costume. That happens all the time, oh man, wait, like which ones?
Speaker 3:which ones were you the most disappointed about missing out on so?
Speaker 8:this one was for princess and I saw them running on I think it was the 5k. I want to say it was the 5k 10k. I don't remember what race it was it was. They were part of aladdin's group and one was dressed as abu. The other one was dressed as, I think, jafar or aladdin. But the girl that interviewed mor, she was the tail for Festival of Fantasy.
Speaker 8:The race before she was the old, like decrepit version of Jafar, like she had the bald cap with the beard and like the hunchback and I didn't know it was her.
Speaker 8:When I saw her running like down the finisher chute but I thought that was hilarious and she had like the little golden tooth and I saw all of their stuff afterwards on social media and I was like this would have been amazing because it's. I feel like this is also just me. I love kind of the ugly costumes, like when you're a girl and you're dressed up like with the bald cap or with like the gray hair or you're because I was Maurice for one of the races and I laughed at myself the entire time because it's just like it's not a cute costume but it's hilarious and people who get it appreciate it, and so I really wanted to like give her that moment, to like say like hey, I appreciate your costume and your dedication to making this work. But I like messaged her afterwards and I was like I'm bummed that I missed it but I want you to know that this was super amazing to see.
Speaker 5:That's the deal with these costumes is they're so entertaining and I love the reactions from the crowds that you get and you can tell that they're enjoying it. You said something, Vern, that reminded me I'll get in a costume and sometimes I didn't forget Groot, I couldn't forget that. But sometimes I kind of forget how I'm dressed and then the light will be behind me and I'll see a shadow out in front of me and I go oh yeah, that's right, I'm dressed as Tinkerbell today.
Speaker 8:Yeah, you forget what you look like until you see either, like taking a selfie. Oh my gosh, I forgot that I had this fake mustache on my face today.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely hey. I don't want to put any pressure on you and you've talked about some of them. Do you have any favorites over the years? And this kind of question? I know you're going to leave somebody out, so let's we know you are, but do you have any favorites over the years that you've seen?
Speaker 8:I thoroughly appreciate Jackie and Stevie, just Suda, their sisters and they. If they're running princess together, which they did this last year, they knock it out of the park. Every time with their costumes they're on the. If they're on theme, then they're like insanely creatively on theme, like for the. Y'all talked about them in the recap. Uh, jackie was the cake with like the lopsided cake. Oh yeah, stevie was the like merry weather in like the ugly dress, um, that they like put together and all that. And I I kick myself for not interviewing them because I had already gotten an interview with them for the 5k.
Speaker 8:But in the mind that's when I had told myself I'm like I don't care if I've interviewed these people oh, you're right times, like if they nail it with these costumes and they're super detailed and super unique and, on point, I'm gonna make it a point to talk to them and post the interview Because I don't want people to think I'm like picking favorites or anything but it's, they stand out.
Speaker 5:Sure, I understand that. Hey, I mean Riley does that.
Speaker 8:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 5:Riley and I've talked to Riley on several occasions, on and off the microphone, and one of the things that he thinks about is I want to grab somebody who I know is going to talk with me and not freeze up when I put the microphone in their face.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 5:So you got that going for you too.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I thought of the golden goose costume people, the two, two guys.
Speaker 5:I love Tom and.
Speaker 8:Adam. Yeah. Yes, I would love to get an interview with them but I like I haven't seen them in the staging area.
Speaker 5:You know what I think they go to the corrals early.
Speaker 8:I feel like they do as well, Like there's.
Speaker 5:I know both of those guys and I can. Kim is Tom's wife. Nice people All. They would be happy to do it with you, I promise.
Speaker 8:But yeah, but yeah, if you can find them. You may have to be early, I don't know.
Speaker 5:Or just like send them a dm, be like hey, I would love to get an interview that you can do.
Speaker 8:Meet me at the bleachers at this time if you can have you noticed any new trends in the costuming game lately?
Speaker 8:I am a part of a instagram group message called panic crafters and there's a handful of the big costume headers in that group message and they're always throwing out different and unique ideas. I know that for Springtime Surprise 10 miler a lot of EVA foam was used. I had no idea what EVA foam was until this group message, but it's just foam that you can manipulate with heat and it like people were using it for like the armor of the different battle suits and everything, so I saw a lot of that become a trend. Um, and I think a lot of people may like that are in this group may use that going forward with their costumes because it's lightweight and you can create structure. Um.
Speaker 5:I know it's really warm.
Speaker 8:Yeah, so you might not want to do it for a hot race, but maybe for the colder weekend, um, but I also know that there's been talk in this group message about figuring out how to get motorized items like accessories on you. Uh, I saw this with Lindsay. It's not Lindsay, henry, it's the, the other Lindsay I don't know her last name. Um, she, it was for Disneyland, no, oh, no, no, no, it was for.
Speaker 2:Was that the person that that had the um, oh, no, no, no, it was for?
Speaker 8:Was that the person that that had the um, the small world clock?
Speaker 8:Yes, yes, I think that was for the 10 miler for, uh, springtime, but yeah, it was the clock face on her, like body, that like would rotate and I was like that is amazing, Like that is just so unique and creative.
Speaker 8:And again, if I was at the 10 miler I would have 100% interviewed her. Um, but I feel like that is also a next step that people who are really intense with their costuming may try to jump into and figure out how to make that work for the future. But I know that bigger is becoming more common, like pushing the limits and I've told people in, not in the interviews, but like in the captions for the interviews I'm like if you go big, you have to be okay with potentially having to check your costume because it may not pass the regulations or the rules. And if that happens, if you get checked, be nice, be kind to those cast members. They're just doing their job and trying to keep everybody safe. But I also understand as, like a costumer, it's like we don't know what's going to be OK and what's not going to be OK.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm a perfect example of that. I mean, I think that's how you got brought up in our Princess Recap episode is you did the interview with the gentleman who made the, the stone dragon head, during the 10k, during princess or the 5k, and then obviously I I was under the impression that that got through, but apparently that got 86 at the uh, at the uh start line yeah, that was john carroll.
Speaker 8:Uh, he, I follow him on instagram and I saw that he was working on it in his his hotel room the night before on his stories, and a lot of people that do big costumes like to kind of keep it a secret until they premiere it either the night before or at the race that morning. So I didn't necessarily know what he was going to be until he posted those videos of him like constructing it in his room and I was like, if this makes it, if he can hot glue and get all this put together, I need to talk to him on that 5k morning. And even then it was like, if you are able to carry this through, like I wish you the best of luck. And then we saw him in like after the start line.
Speaker 8:I was cheering and he didn't have it and I was like, no, it got checked. And he's like it's okay, I just had to put it in gear, check, so it's not like he had to throw it away. Because I think that was a big fear that people were having when these new guidelines got not new, but they got reinforced was that if they didn't pass the test, then they would have to just toss their costume, um, but it's like no, the gear check will hold it in their giant trucks for you, and then you can pick it up afterwards, which I think is super cool that they allow you to do that and not make you just trash it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, of course, I don't know what you do with it when you get it home.
Speaker 8:Some people do trash it at the end of the weekend because they just want the photos, but I know that that. What is it? Stone Dragon Head went to a nice home. It went to Bree and she is eventually. She lives in Orlando, so she's eventually going to use it for something else. But it may find a new home or it may end up in a trash can.
Speaker 2:So, as we begin to wrap up here, the one question that I have is how do you want these interviews to continue to evolve? Are you looking for I don't know better equipment filming in AK? Do you have any goals for the future, or is the ultimate goal to do interview inception, like you interview Riley and Tracy about their costumes, while they're vice versa interviewing you?
Speaker 8:I mean that would be amazing to be able to talk to them or be noticed by them, cause, again, this is all started because we all wanted to get noticed by the announcers so that we could talk about our costumes. So if I was, if they noticed me and were like, hey, we would love to talk to you about what you're doing, I'd be like, oh my gosh, I think I'd freeze up a little bit, but I think it would be a lot of fun.
Speaker 5:Well, I think you'd be just fine. Absolutely, I do.
Speaker 8:But I think, my vision for moving forward. Again, I don't know what my schedule looks like for the 2025-26 season yet, just because things are always up in the air, and I know that I'm signed up specifically for marathon weekend, but I'm not signed up for any of the other races, so if I attend them, it's just to do the interviews. Um, but we're only me and Lynette, we only use my phone to record and a road microphone that attaches to her like shirt as she's recording and filming, and my handheld mic. I think to make it better would be to have, like again, like a scheduled system of like these are the people that I'm going to talk to and then maybe leave some room for like me to scout the crowd.
Speaker 8:But I would love to speak to more people or have more people know that I am doing this so that they can come find me in that staging area and they can give, they can have their platform to talk about all that went into their costumes, because it doesn't matter if I think it's super cool. If they think it's super cool and they spent a lot of time on this, then I want them to talk about it like it isn't. I don't want it just to be my, my criteria of what is a good costume, because again, I am looking for just things that pop out to me immediately. But if I have the time to like actually delicately look at everything, then I'll talk to the people that aren't big and in your face. But if they can find me first and it makes it even better, so that would be my future hopes for this Little red carpet out there.
Speaker 6:There you go or talk to people at the expo.
Speaker 8:I would want to take this further than the races, but I don't know what I would talk to people about just yet. So costumes right now are like the starting ground and I hope to continue that as they. Hopefully the costumes continue to grow and continue to push creative limits, because, again, when I started in 2018, I don't remember seeing half of what I see today. I could just be blind with first race jitters, or my first run Disney experience, but I feel like it's gotten exponentially more intense and creative with absolutely. Dude.
Speaker 3:I remember my first time, princess 2018. I thought I was going crazy with a nice little skirt with a bow on it, just like nothing crazy, just a little sparkle in a tiara. I thought I was going crazy. I showed up and I was like well, dang, a missed opportunity.
Speaker 8:yeah so I'm hoping that when people see that there's costumes that are pushing the creative boundaries and stuff, that they feel comfortable in their costumes or like feel comfortable stepping out of that comfort zone. If they're just just like I feel weird in a tutu, it's like don't feel weird because there are people out here that are have giant dragon heads on their head that are trying to just not hit people when they're walking around Like it's, you're fine, people are going going crazy.
Speaker 2:Now there. Now there is the sage advice of the episode Don't feel weird being in a tutu don't feel weird being in a tutu?
Speaker 9:no, definitely not, I know I don't. Tutu is tame at this point, like that's exactly yeah, it's easy going yeah all right.
Speaker 2:well, before we officially say goodbye, john has a really, really good question that I would like to end uh this interview on John, if you may, sir.
Speaker 6:Okay, so with the Instagram handle RunsOnPizza, what is your favorite type of pizza? Thin slice, sicilian, I call it the New Jersey classic slice deep dish or Neapolitan, or anything else.
Speaker 8:I'm a sucker for a New York slice because it's big, it's thin.
Speaker 8:Right you can roll it like a taco and eat it. There's so many ways of consuming a New York slice, but I also I do. New York is going to be the top one, but I think deep dish is also really good because me and my husband I do. This isn't like New York is going to be the top one, but I think deep dish is also really good because me and my husband we lived near Chicago for three years and there was a pizza joint called Pequod's and they made amazing deep dish pizza, like they would stick slices of cheese along the outside and it would like normalize and yes, right oh, it was so good.
Speaker 8:Like that's one of them.
Speaker 2:I miss that a lot, since now we don't live in illinois anymore, but that was top tier see, I'm illuminati's disciple, but hearing that, oh, I might have to try that that sounds good next time. I think there's only two key quads in the Chicago area.
Speaker 8:So it's like it's not a big name, like a chain or anything but, it's, it's amazing.
Speaker 5:It's not Lou Malnati's huh.
Speaker 8:No, or Giordano's.
Speaker 5:Don't talk about Giordano's.
Speaker 2:I don't want any of that cornmeal. Give me the butter crust. That's buttercrust. That's where it's at. But well, we've talked about your instagram handle a bunch, uh, on this interview. But if people want to follow you reach out, you know. Want to learn more about the? You know your interviewing stylings during the races. How can people go out and reach you?
Speaker 8:uh, yeah, on instagram it's runs on pizza, but runs period on period pizza. Um, and, yeah, I friend request me. Whatever you need to do, dm me. That's where I post all of the interviews. I still have a lot that I haven't posted throughout the season, that I want to, that I'm going to be posting through the summer, because there's no races during the summer, so I'm spacing those out, um, but yeah, you can just find me on Instagram. That's where I mostly hang out.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, vern, thank you so much for coming on. We love chatting with you and we cannot wait to see you at an upcoming race weekend, and hopefully one of us will be able to spot you, and maybe if Tinker Bob ever emerges again.
Speaker 8:Maybe you can interview Tinker Bob. We'll see. That would be amazing.
Speaker 2:Marathon weekend we have Bob Lightyear. Oh yeah, Bob Lightyear perfect.
Speaker 8:Well, I know I'll be at marathon weekend, so that one's a guarantee with all the aliens oh yes, I forget that y'all do like the big group costumes for these yeah, I can't take credit for that.
Speaker 5:That was our friend Monica's idea with the Dalmatians. We had like 200 Dalmatians.
Speaker 8:That's the biggest group that I've ever seen, only time I've ever worn lipstick, Vern it may not be the only time, though.
Speaker 5:Could it happen again? It could happen again.
Speaker 2:That's what we like to hear. That's what we like to hear.
Speaker 8:Never cancel anything out.
Speaker 2:Well, vern, thanks again so much, and we can't wait to see you at the next race.
Speaker 8:Yes, thank you all for having me. I appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 6:That was a really great interview. I love the handle Runs on Pizza. We asked her about pizza, but I still don't understand how you guys like Chicago Deep Dish.
Speaker 5:Oh, john, you got to be flexible. You got to be flexible in your pizza, pizza connoisseur. I was going to say connoisseurship or something.
Speaker 2:I'm inclusive to all pizzas except for the Supreme that's got all the vegetables and olives on it. Obviously, I'll bypass that, but any type of style is.
Speaker 6:A-OK in my book.
Speaker 2:Actually, this is a unique one that, bob, I don't know if you remember from your days back in Philly. Did you ever have Pika's Pizza? No, okay, so it's a famous local chain here in the Philadelphia area. The original location is closing, but it's actually the favorite pizza of Tina Fey's Okay, and a deep dish where it's a very. It's like a slight pan, so it's got a little bit of an edge, but they put the cheese first and then the sauce on the top.
Speaker 5:I've seen that it's.
Speaker 6:It's quite good yeah, see, I'm like more of a I guess maybe a purist it's. I mean, we call it a pie. I know people call it a cheese pizza. It it's a pie in Jersey. You know. Toppings are basically sausage, meatballs, onions and peppers, mushrooms None of this crazy buffalo chicken.
Speaker 5:You left pepperoni off, john, the king of all pizza toppings.
Speaker 6:Pepperoni big ziti pizzas, and I mean arugula salad pizzas, I mean come on yeah yeah, so that's that's. That's where I come from all right.
Speaker 2:Well, we now have our first topic discussion for the zoom call this week is what pizza topping do you despise?
Speaker 5:I had a. Uh, I had a larosa's pizza. That's a cincinnati area chain. Larosa's pizza, it's good, sauce is good. Uh, franzone's pizza that's a Cincinnati area chain. La Rosa's pizza, it's good, sauce is good. Fran Zone's pizza in Bridgeport, pennsylvania, greg, if you ever get over there, okay, highly recommended. But I think really the Rise and Run on pizza episode just got.
Speaker 2:I'm hungry now. Thanks, John.
Speaker 5:We took a left turn there. Not that there's anything wrong with that new sponsorship pizza there we go. Yeah, we need to work on something yeah, great pizza.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, john is spitting five pizza fire tonight oh I.
Speaker 6:You can ask my wife.
Speaker 5:I'm a pizza snob I had chain store pizza tonight. Sometimes it's easy, man. Sometimes you know you. You go online and they have it to you in a couple. Yeah, but no, I agree with you. That's one of the things I love about living here, as opposed to in southeast alabama. All we had was chain store pizza. That was it. Around here, there are a bunch of places that actually have ovens and once again, we're probably delving too deeply into this. Greg, help us out.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so the help is derive us from the pizza conversation, but, but. But I guess we could tie this in here, because you know John said you know he loves his New York slice.
Speaker 4:Jersey slice.
Speaker 2:Well, Jersey slice, or you know a york slice, that can you know easily fold and be digestible and such like that.
Speaker 2:But anyway, the point I wanted to make is I wanted to talk about one of our favorite new york listeners and I know it's a little delayed since I couldn't join the podcast last week. But, um, from everyone here at the rise and Run podcast, I just wanted to extend some major kudos and congratulations to our former guest, cesar Samayoa. Just the other week they had their opening night of Just in Time on Broadway and very happy to report that the show received six tony award nominations. Wow so, uh, unfortunately, caesar did not get any nominations, but I was looking through here. Uh, apparently, since you know pretty soon it's going to be theater uh award season, there is, uh, the cheetah rivera awards that I guess. Apparently, I never heard of this before, but it um honors choreographers and dancers both on stage and in film, and um, just in time was nominated for a cheetah rivera award for outstanding ensemble and caesar is the in the ensemble of the show. Uh, so he did get a nice little nomination, so we're very excited.
Speaker 2:But, uh, probably the the biggest nomination that they got for the tonys was, uh, disney legend and broadway darling. Uh, jonathan groff uh, for the second year in a row got nominated for, uh, best leading actor in a musical and from some of the reviews that I was reading, there's a chance he could win this award in back-to-back years, which I don't think it's ever been done in tony award history before. But regardless, you know, in reading all the reviews I I texted them the the day after. You know, we're're just so proud of Caesar and what he's accomplished. And again, if you are in the greater, uh New York city area, head over to the circle and square theater to go see. Just in time, it sounds like it is a very, very good time on Broadway. So, caesar, way to go.
Speaker 5:Better get your tickets now. I think that's going to be a tough one.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 5:All right, all right, friends. That sounds great. Let's take a look. Next week, henry Abbott, former ESPN announcer and author of the book Ballistic Training, will be with us to discuss his new book, and we're also going to be recapping the London Marathon with some of our friends who finished that world major. All right, my friends, it's time for the Race Report.
Speaker 5:The Race Report is sponsored by Thomas Stokes of Stoked Metabolic Training. Stokesfit slash riseandruncoaching is the site to check out More information, pinned to the top of the Facebook group in the featured section. I know Tom had a scholarship. I haven't talked with Tom in just a little bit. I need to get back with him. We need to get him back on the episode here. But I think that is done. There is a challenge coming up in June or July. We'll have more details on that as we get closer Friends. We're going to start the race report with the race report spotlight and this week we're actually going back a week. I'm sorry. I've just been traveling and all that and I've gotten things out of order, but this is a good one and I had promised these two young ladies a spot a couple of weeks ago and that didn't work out. So we are happy to welcome Sarah and Ashley to the spotlight. Ladies, hi, how are you doing?
Speaker 1:Great, how are you Good?
Speaker 5:Good, and we're going to talk about an event that occurred, about an event that occurred. Well, by the time we released this, it's almost two weeks ago the Kentucky Derby marathon and they call it a mini marathon, don't they? The marathon in the middle, full and a half, goes off the same time. Well, I'm not going to, I don't want to steal your thunder, I'll let you tell us about it. But yeah, a neat event held every year the week before it kind of kicks off Derby Week in Louisville. The race does, and it's a neat event and I wanted to share it with our friends. But I always, we always like to get to know you a little bit better. So I ask standard question number one Sarah, how did you get started running?
Speaker 1:Oh goodness, High school actually I ran cross country. Yeah, and then I just kind of kept running. After that I did like local races and um, 5ks, mostly Um, and then more so in my adult life, scaled up to half marathons and marathons.
Speaker 5:Okay, and you're still at it.
Speaker 1:Yep Still going.
Speaker 5:When did you get to it started with Run Disney?
Speaker 1:Back in 2018.
Speaker 5:I did the princess half marathon that year.
Speaker 1:I saw some friends doing it. They posted some awesome pictures on Facebook and I'm like that looks really cool, I need to look into that. So then I started to scale up my mileage signed'm like that looks really cool, I need to look into that. Um, so then I started to scale up my mileage, signed up and and it was great.
Speaker 5:It was a great race. Yeah, it's a lot of fun, ashley. Same question, please.
Speaker 7:Um, so I got started just walking five K's around town. Um yeah, One year I volunteered as a water cup hander outer at the mini marathon.
Speaker 5:Actually, that's a technical term, John. Yeah.
Speaker 7:And I ended up thinking to myself I could totally do that. And I started training and I did it. The next year, 2014, was my first half marathon, so yeah, Great.
Speaker 5:How about Disney? Where did you start at Disney?
Speaker 7:This year was actually my first in-person run Disney. I signed up for 2021, but it ended up being canceled for COVID reasons. So this year I finally made it for the princess. I did the 5k and the challenge.
Speaker 5:Great. This is not the first event you two have run together. I'm curious Do you frequently run events together, or is just just coincidence?
Speaker 1:Just like coincidence? I don't really know Ashley. Well, you do now I do now. She's the one in the box below you there.
Speaker 5:Um yeah, what was the other one that you had done? Was it, uh, lynchburg? I can't remember, it might've been the 10 miler.
Speaker 1:Did you do the 10 miler? Ashley, I did the 10 miler, yeah, yeah, okay yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you, you two had done one together a couple of weeks before and we couldn't work it out how many times for the for the Kentucky Derby race for you, Sarah.
Speaker 1:Uh, this was my first time. I usually do the Indy mini, and so this year I traded um cars for horses.
Speaker 5:There you go. Another good event that that actually went off this weekend, so you had a week in between there. How many for you, Ashley.
Speaker 7:I've done it six times.
Speaker 5:Okay, ever, ever do the marathon.
Speaker 7:I have not. I think next year it might be the marathon for me.
Speaker 5:Okay, this is and you know, this I'm going to just going to share with friends. This is one where the full and the half go off together and then they split, which is always tough because you can say to yourself do I really want to do this? In fact, I think they split right after you come out of Churchill Downs, don't they?
Speaker 1:They do, yeah. And then the tough part occurs out in Iroquois Park with all the hills.
Speaker 5:Okay, All right, look, I'm spoiling this. We want to hear from you. Tell us about the event. Ashley, I'm going to let you start, okay.
Speaker 7:So this race starts in downtown Louisville. It goes zigzags through the streets downtown. Then it heads south to Churchill Downs. You go through O'Louisville, through Churchill Downs, you loop back around, come back, and this year we returned to our original finish line at Louisville Slugger Field.
Speaker 5:Sarah, did this one go through the University of Louisville campus or nearby?
Speaker 1:It went nearby, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:What were some of the highlights? For you, Sarah, for the race.
Speaker 1:I think running out to Churchill Downs was really cool.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's got to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like going through the entrance and then just like the crowd support there. It kind of gave you that extra pep to your step to get through there, and I always enjoy a course where, like at least halfway through, you have something big to look forward to um, yeah, get you out there um that's about five miles into it, or so I'm trying to remember I think it's a little over half
Speaker 6:yeah, further, okay, yeah okay.
Speaker 1:Do you guys run on the track? No, just kind of like. On the outside they actually. Do you guys run on the track? No, just kind of like on the outside.
Speaker 5:You actually run in the infield, don't you?
Speaker 7:Yes, yeah, there's a paved track inside the turf, so it goes around.
Speaker 5:You come through the entrance as Sarah described, which is cool Because a bunch of little statues, a bunch of statues out there. Aren't there a bunch of commemoratives coming in?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, there's some nice statues, kind of a nice picture taking area too, if you want to commemorate it as you enter in.
Speaker 5:And then you go there's actually a tunnel under the course itself. And then you go there's actually a tunnel under the course itself and you run under that and everybody screams and it echoes and I assume they're still doing that. They are.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 5:I could have done without that, but yeah, and then you pop up inside and you go around the infield, but how were your views of the famed racetrack from the infield?
Speaker 1:it was a little hard to see um too. I I honestly wasn't too focused on on looking around. I was kind of in the zone um, but it was a little bit harder to see um. Again, like I had said before, I usually do the indie mini and I'm always used to going on the track there, and so I wasn't sure what to expect. Going into Churchill Downs here and again, like how much I could see exactly.
Speaker 5:Ashley, you were telling me you could see some of the horses training towards the back of the infield.
Speaker 7:Yeah, so the there's a a back side of Churchill Downs where they're training horses throughout the day, and when I was going through there at least there were some horses riding around back there.
Speaker 5:That's cool. So how, how was the course with tough areas? How was the course elevation?
Speaker 1:It was pretty flat. Um, especially after coming off the Louisville 10 miler a few weeks back, that one was pretty tough, it was pretty hilly, so this one was a lot, a lot more flat. I didn't really think that there were any specific areas that were rough. So pretty great course, pretty quick course.
Speaker 5:OK, ashley. How was the crowd support throughout the course?
Speaker 7:It was amazing. I think the city of Louisville just as a whole comes out to celebrate every Derby event and it's just really great. They're everywhere.
Speaker 5:Did you get decent weather?
Speaker 1:It was really nice. We kind of lucked out, I think, because leading up to it they were calling for rain, but we dodged that, which was nice. Cool temperatures too.
Speaker 6:I guess at the festival there's something called a Pegasus pin and you can win $20,000 with this. That's new John.
Speaker 7:How does it work? So you can buy Pegasus pins leading up to the festival which starts two weeks before the Derby, and then there are random gold pins and you register your gold pin and you can win prizes. And I do have a gold pin, I stole it from my mom.
Speaker 5:Did you win?
Speaker 7:No.
Speaker 5:Aw shucks. Well, what do you think Recommended for our friends who are listening?
Speaker 1:I definitely think so. Yeah, I think anybody should give it a shot. I think it's a great race, whether it's the mini or the marathon, Um, and and I mean Louisville is a great city too. It is Um like Ashley said, there's a lot of crowd support. Everybody kind of comes out to celebrate each other and support each other.
Speaker 5:Um Louisville has a great food scene as well, so if you're a foodie and want to check out some good restaurants, um Louisville's definitely the place really nice downtown area, home of home of the Louisville Slugger Bat Company and and it's becoming whereas I think Bardstown used to be kind of the whiskey capital I think Louisville's marketing a little bit better right now and making more of an effort, so yeah, it's a neat one, Okay, so during this race, I know we always ask did any of you guys have a PR during this race, Ashley?
Speaker 7:I did not. This year I took a little extra walking breaks toward the end, but, um, my personal best was two, 59. And this year I did three, oh two.
Speaker 6:That's good, that's close, close.
Speaker 1:Sarah, how about you? So this was a special PR for me. Um, last summer, I was diagnosed with two brain tumors, Um, and so I've been in a lot of vestibular therapy, um working through vertigo, trying to figure out my triggers, um trying to run as much as I can. My doctors keep telling me movement is key. Um, so it definitely motivates me to keep running, to keep signing up for races. So this was a brain tumor PR for me.
Speaker 5:Wow, that's inspiring. Sarah, yeah, yeah, how are you doing?
Speaker 1:I'm doing okay. I'm learning to manage my symptoms. I'm currently taking the wait and watch approach to treatment for my brain tumors and just kind of taking it day by day, race by race, and doing what I can can well, we're praying for you and cheering for you.
Speaker 5:Keep us uh, keep us up to date, please thank you, I'll do uh, ashley, any disney races in your future.
Speaker 7:I signed up for the dopey challenge how'd I girl and uh yes, the first dopey, first marathon, and then I also signed up for the dumbo.
Speaker 5:Okay, that's exciting, it is exciting.
Speaker 6:How about you? Oh, they could go home, right Bob?
Speaker 5:Yeah, right, that's it, john. How about you, sarah, what you got coming up?
Speaker 1:So I will be headed back for marathon weekend. I'll be doing the marathon with the National Brain Tumor Society.
Speaker 5:Oh, very good.
Speaker 1:Really looking forward to that.
Speaker 5:Good for you. Good for you. We look forward to seeing both of you there. Thank you for spending some time with us. We really appreciated it. It was fun.
Speaker 1:Of course. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 7:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 5:That's a fun event that Kentucky Derby Mini I think you got that from listening but very worthwhile Ran it years ago. All right, friends, this isn't exactly apologies and alibis, but maybe a word of explanation. You probably heard me say I was traveling a lot this weekend so I didn't get the chance that I usually do to go through and work through the race report. So Greg and I kind of piecemealed it together and I think we've got some of this out of order. We're going to do our best to recognize you and if we've missed something, please get in touch with us because it's important to us to recognize you and your achievements. This was a big week. We had several weekend long events that we're going to try and do justice to. Then we had some other important events, but let me start In Cincinnati, ohio. It was Flying Pig Marathon Weekend. We've heard a lot about Flying Pig. Our friend Emmy joined us. I should have looked it up, but a few episodes back to tell us about it. We had a rise and run code for Flying Pig. We know that the Flying Pig Marathon was voted USA Today's best marathon in the US this year. Let me tell you, friends, I understand why I am reluctant at times to say, oh, this is the best, but I will phrase it this way I cannot think of a better overall, from start to finish, a better event that I've been to. I've been to, obviously, others that are very, very good, but this was just a great event. The support is tremendous. The city rallies for it. It's fun. We had a lot of folks there, a lot of friends there.
Speaker 5:Let's start. I got into the expo. The events actually start on Friday. I got to the expo on Friday Very well organized, lots of fun. The giveaways are great. Good, nice goodies you get, let's see. Of course there's the race shirt, et cetera, but there's a gift for runners who run one of these Sunday events, the half or the full. And I haven't opened mine yet. I think it's a backpack, the one that stuffs into its own case, but it's really neat. Got the Flying Pig logo on it. Great stuff, that was nice.
Speaker 2:I thought you were going to say it was a can of chili.
Speaker 5:No, nope, no chili. In fact I didn't see. I know that the Skyline does tie into it, because you got the three-way and four-way challenge, but no, no chili, no chili samples tie into it, because you got the three-way and four-way challenge, but no, no chili, no chili. Uh, samples. At the expo, the there was a, a giveaway bag. It had things in it becky, and I each grabbed one and didn't think about it and then when we got back we found they were different and the becky's was better than mine, but that's only fair Blasphemy, that's only fair.
Speaker 5:Let's talk about the races. There is they call it the 50 West Mile. On Friday, alan and Grace, russell and Mary and Julie ran that one and I really don't know much else about it. They didn't talk much about it, but that's cool. Saturday morning they run both the 5k and the 10k. 10k goes first so that you can finish the 10k and come back as part of the challenge and run the 5k. You can finish the 10k and come back as part of the challenge and run the 5k.
Speaker 5:I was staying in the Hotel Covington on the Kentucky side of the river. It was about a one mile walk to the area where the race starts, where the post-race party is and all that. This is actually. I don't know the name of the immediate area down by the river where this is, but it is literally between Paycourt Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, and Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds. I mean, they're both right there. So that was kind of neat.
Speaker 5:On Saturday for the 10K the weather was not. It was okay for running it was okay. It wasn't great. The 10k went off. I would say you had kind of a heavy drizzle. For the 10k it wasn't that bad at all. I didn't have any problem walking over.
Speaker 5:Who did we have doing the 10k? We had Cheryl. Who did we have doing the 10K? We had Cheryl who did the three-way challenge and Rob who did the four-way challenge and I can't believe I didn't see Rob all weekend. That gets me when I go to a Disney run and I see who was there and I go oh, I didn't see them, didn't see this person, but I thought for sure I would see Rob. Vanessa, who I did see, was there. Vanessa did her bib pickup that morning, said it was great, she expected lines but there weren't any for a day of race pickup. Just quoting Vanessa friendly, smiling volunteers. We saw a lot of that.
Speaker 5:Uh, I walked over there anticipating seeing some of my friends who were running. Ally ran the 5k I'll get to the 5k in a second as did cheryl running her second race of the morning. Uh, once I got over to the area I realized I I couldn't have found my mother over there. It was just so many people. It was impressive. So the rain was light for the 10K that started at 7 am.
Speaker 5:The 5K started at 9 am Allie, cheryl and Rob. It rained. It rained significantly and it rained most of the rest of the day on Saturday. So I put a damper no pun intended on the rest of the events. Allie's quote is the puddles on the course might have been shark infested they were so deep and filled with water. But there's nothing you can do about the rain. They ran through it. Temperatures were cool but not too bad. It was okay. Saturday afternoon we had to get together. Thanks so much to Julie who made cookies, to Russ who brought cookies and I don't know about. There's a photo. I'm not going to name names. I'm going to say there were 15 to 18 of us there. It was fun. It was a typical rise and run meetup. It was a good time. It added to the enjoyment of the weekend.
Speaker 2:Did you go to Greeter's Ice Cream for the meetup I?
Speaker 5:didn't, Although I did get some Grater's on. Let's see, we left Monday morning. It must have been Sunday afternoon. You know, Becky grew up in that area.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't realize that.
Speaker 5:Oh, yeah, yeah, in fact, the Hotel Covington where we stayed used to be a department store, and right next to it, which the Hotel Covington has since taken over, used to be a YMCA. So now that's Hotel Covington North. Becky used to work at that YMCA when she was in high school. Before she went into the army, becky worked at the Y right there. So that's fun for her. So, yeah, she. We had to go to a Kroger's and pick up some Grater's ice cream for Sunday afternoon before we went to dinner. Saturday afternoon was, uh, was fun, just add it. It was just a wonderful weekend. The half and the full both start at 6.30 Sunday morning. Weather was okay. I had a poncho on Again. It was mostly heavy drizzle. We never got really drenched. I was. I'm a big baby when it comes to the weather and it was 49 degrees with drizzly rain. I'm going, I'm going to be cold, wasn't that bad? I was surprised, wasn't that bad? Uh, I did the half with Allie and with Jennifer. Uh, allie and I agreed that the about halfway through we couldn't use our fingers anymore because it was cold enough. We didn't have gloves on, and between the cold and the wet it was tough, but it was okay. I will tell you our experience and then I'll go through the list of the other folks who were there. Lots of people, I don't know. Emmy, I think, said mid-20,000s for the half and the full. It sure was neat for the half and the full. It sure was neat Since they all go at the same time. It's corrals A through. I we were in corral G, towards the back, not the last one, obviously, two more behind us, but it was kind of cool for the first, at least for the first couple of miles, just looking at the sea of humanity running in front of you.
Speaker 5:The course has a reputation for being hilly and I understand that. But the fact is most of the course is just rolling hills. It's not bad at all. The half and the full stay together until mile eight. Starting.
Speaker 5:Around mile five you start what Ali described as an incline from the center of the earth to the moon. It's it's as challenging a hill as I can recall and it's about two miles long. It goes from about it's not completely steady, uninterrupted uphill, but from about mile five to a little over mile seven. It's uphill and at times it's steeply uphill. So that's a challenge. But once you do that. You go through a park which on another day, where maybe it wasn't so cloudy and it got to be a little foggy just with all the moisture in the air, I think it would have been beautiful. There's a beautiful art museum at the top of the hill, some nice views. Once you get out of that park, that's the hard part. Then you start coming back down the hills and it's more or less downhill the remainder of the half marathon.
Speaker 5:Now I didn't run the full around the half. I talked with Alan about the full and he said no, that was the hard part. Once you got past that, the full was again rolling hills. All right, let's see who did the half. I already mentioned that Allie and Jennifer did. Abby ran the half. Cheryl caught up with us on the bridge. We stopped for photos. Cheryl commented on the same thing that everybody did, that the wonderful support that we got through this race. Cheryl says she thought this might be a one and done, but she's definitely going to be back. I have Greg here in the half, but I know that's wrong because I know Greg ran with Sandra in the full, so that's just my mistake. Jody, I saw Jody there. She ran the half, melanie, with her daughters and son-in-law. They were at the meetup. Again, comments on the spectator and the support there were. There were uh aid stations there were. There were hydration stations every mile wow, that's impressive yeah, yeah, gatorade and water.
Speaker 5:Every mile there were designated cheering areas that local organizations were supporting. Every mile there were people and you hear about this in other events handing things out on the sideline. Oh golly, orange slices with real oranges, swedish fish pretzels, beer, yay, beer. I'm trying to think what else I saw on the side. I the last, the last time I took something from a spectator slash supporter. They were saying orange slices. I'm going, good, I can use it. They were the jellied orange slices and that's okay. I didn't mind it, but I use it. They were the jellied orange slices and that's okay. I didn't mind it. But I took it from the guy and I said this is going to be the only half marathon I've ever run and gained weight on. There was just that much going on.
Speaker 5:Now the marathon again breaks off at mile eight and it goes its own way. Alan and Grace ran it. Grace runs her own race. Alan and Grace ran it. Grace runs her own race. Alan stayed with Julie and they finished. Alan was impressed. At the end of the half marathon, I got a slice of La Rosa's pizza. At the end of the marathon, alan got a pizza. They just handed him a box here, it was towards the end. It was towards the back of the pack. They just handed him a box. Here it was towards the end. He was towards the back of the pack. They had all these pizzas. They're giving them away.
Speaker 5:Amber was there, julie Riley, rob completed his four-way challenge. Russ was there. Russ got a 20-minute marathon. Pr Russ finished this thing in five hours and 25 minutes. Very proud of that. We're proud of you too, russ. Way to go, pr bell, please the 10K and the full, which wasn't one of the challenge combinations. But Vanessa's comment was she loved exploring the city by running through it. She commented on the parks and the art museum. It really was pretty. It's Cincinnati. Parts of Cincinnati are old town, really nice. Oh, elvis, was there, elvis the king? He was singing. I heard Johnny Cash singing. That was there, elvis the king? He was singing.
Speaker 2:I heard Johnny Cash singing. That was fun. That's impressive that they come back from the dead just for this race?
Speaker 5:They do. It's a big race, Greg, it's important. Vanessa called it perfect running weather. Okay, it did stay cool and overcast. I'll give her that A wonderful experience, One that she hopes to repeat. I'll just sum it A wonderful experience, One that she hopes to repeat. I just sum it up by saying and we know our friend Emmy works for Pig Works and I just want to sum it up by saying, well done, this is really an excellent event. I did not plan to run it next year but as we were leaving, Becky said to our friends and to me well, we'll see you next year. So I guess I'll be back Flying pig friends, if you're in the area, and we'll. We'll promote it more as we get close, Cause I talked to Emmy, she's going to get us a discount code again for the 26 race.
Speaker 5:Here's another one that's a huge event in the U S and that's the Indy mini in Indianapolis, Indiana, run several weeks before the running of the Indy 500. I think at one time it may have been it may still be the largest half marathon in the U S. Not positive of that, though. I should have looked it up before the episode, but I only got home a couple hours ago. Let's see who we had running. We had Aaron running. There's a 5K. Aaron ran the 5K. Emily did this event for the fifth time. Tiffany did let's see the Mini Maniac Miler Series plus the half marathon Great event, the temps. It was cool over in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is only an hour and a half west of Cincinnati. Didn't do the pace she wanted, but it says it's the pace reflected her training and capacity lately. So she's happy with it and we're happy if you're happy.
Speaker 5:Tiffany, Jen and Tracy ran together and they ran as Luigi and Mario from Mario Kart. They were two of the few who did the Indy Minion costumes. Those were great costumes, ladies. It really looked good. They did the half right after finishing the 5K. Jen paced the 330 group through the half and I think Tracy stayed with her.
Speaker 5:How do you recommend this one? 16.2 miles done and dusted. The Indy Mini Marathon in Indianapolis Another biggie from this weekend. All right, so those were our two big weekends events. Let's take a look at Saturday. I think this one was on Saturday.
Speaker 5:We're going to Okinawa, Japan, for the Camp Shields to the Torrey Station Kessel Run 10K. Katie did it First run back since breaking her foot and she PR'd Down 15 minutes from her last 10K PR in 2023. Her son saved his Swedish Fish and Sour Patch kids for Katie, knowing how much she loves them as a mid-run fuel. They were Star Wars characters on the Kessel Run On the course and at the finish line. Far worse, characters on the castle run on the course and at the finish line, and they had a bacon breakfast burrito from the army. Mwr folks, MWR morale, welfare, recreation, the folks who plan all these neat events.
Speaker 5:The main coast half marathon was in Wells, Maine, Avery and Steve was there was in Wells, Maine, Avery and Steve was there. Steve said they had amazing weather until 60 seconds before the race started when it started to rain. Originally he was going to try for a PR, but this is his third half this month. He fell off pace a little bit, understandably, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Lucy ran this one also, Culmination of four months of training, over 600 miles of work, and she crushed her previous marathon PR of 4.16 with a time, an outstanding time of 3 hours and 35 minutes. Way to go, Lucy.
Speaker 5:Another state down on her way to 50 marathons in 50 states, the and I'm going to say Jovia I could be mispronouncing that Jovia Marathon Weekend on Long Island in New York. Regina I hope I'm not mispronouncing that Did the 10K and came away with a PR Shaved five minutes off her previous PR time and a 10K that's almost a mile a minute. I think part of the success, Regina, was the Rise and Run shirt you were wearing. We have some scientific data to back that up. It's good for a couple seconds a mile at least. Mary did a race called May the Course Race in Greensboro. I don't know if it was Greensboro, Georgia or Greensboro, North Carolina.
Speaker 2:I believe it was North Carolina.
Speaker 5:Was it North Carolina? Okay, we're going with that. Anyway, super happy to have this first 10K. She had a goal of 145, finished in 140, but if it's this first 10K, she had a goal of 145, finished in 140. But if it's your first 10K, well. Kayla did the milk run 5K in Orlando. Chris out in Las Vegas the superhero 5K in a new park for him. Chris usually runs with his beaglesagles but didn't do it this time came in sixth overall, second in his age group. The funny thing the age group was the 45 to 120 age group. Yeah, not too many 120 year old runners and as a 70-something, I hate those 45-plus age groups. Not fair. However, congratulations, chris, on your finish there, because you were still competing with some folks your own age. So well done. We had the Cinco de Miler five-mile run in Montrose Harbor, chicago. Jennifer was there First in a series towards her Run this Town Challenge medal. Great atmosphere for the race. Finish line was a giant blow-up pinata. Very well-marked course, Many volunteers helping the runners out.
Speaker 2:Since Bob was traveling and spent many hours and miles in the car with Becky, I'm going to come a little bit of a slack on the race report this week, so I'm going to tap in there and help out here, but again, we did this as a combined effort.
Speaker 2:So again we do apologize if we missed anything and if we did miss your race, please let us, and we will get that corrected for a future episode. But we now move to Sunday, and this is a very special day because not only is it not the proper day to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but it was also John care to share what was special about Sunday. It was May the fourth, Exactly May the fourth be with you as well.
Speaker 2:So lots of, lots of Cinco de Mayo themed races, as well as star Wars races, and you'll see we got a bunch of them in here this week. We start in Benford, new Hampshire, for the Cinco de miles five K. Christina ran that. Moving now to Davie, florida, ravi ran the Cinco de Drinco 5k. I think that goes down as one of my favorite name runs from the weekend. Kathy ran the Vineyard Run in Southern New Jersey Bellevue Winery. Kathy goes on to say that it was a windy day and the fact that she wore a grape costume made it seem like she was a giant windsock the entire time, but she looked great and she got a second place in her age group. Way to go, kathy.
Speaker 2:In Conway, new Hampshire, rachel ran the White Mountains half marathon. This is the second year for this race in the and I am gonna butcher this so I apologize ahead of time Rachel the Cancamamongus Highway, and it is the second year running with her husband. She said it felt a lot harder this year, likely in part due to the rain before and during the race, but they came in at a very respectable two hours 31 minutes and 30 seconds, and I think that's another theme, for this weekend is a lot of the country, especially on the Eastern part of the United States. You know, bob, as you mentioned, you know with Flying Pig, you know lots of folks got washed out this weekend, so we definitely feel for you there.
Speaker 5:Hey, greg, I'm going with Ken Kamungus, ken Kamungus, okay, and Rachel can tell us who was closer and I'm willing to bet we're both wrong. Yeah, probably Most likely.
Speaker 2:Also running the half marathon during this weekend. Lori, rachel and Ken ran this race. This weekend, lori, rachel and Ken ran this race. Next up, we had the OC Half Marathon in Orange County, california. Holly ran that. Not too too far away from John was the Long Island Half Marathon that took place in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, new York. Megan and Courtney ran that race. We now head down south to Baton Rouge, louisiana, for the LSU Tiger 10K. Emily ran this race. She goes on to say that all the athletes cross the 50-yard line in Tiger Stadium as their finish line, which is really, really cool. She was aiming for a new 10K PR, but she was going to aim for about 50 minutes. But she finished in a shocking, according to her, 48 minutes and 27 seconds, which was good enough for first in her age group and it really go to show that by trusting her training, things really do pay off.
Speaker 5:So congratulations, emily I think it was the jumping greg probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I follow, she loves emily.
Speaker 5:I follow emily on instagram. Yes, she's got good hops yeah, that she does.
Speaker 2:That she does also running this race. Our good friend and former guest, uh, taryn uh, now I, I love taryn she. She had this great instagram story about how her husband doesn't understand why she loves to procrastinate while putting together a race costume. But let me tell you, this woman's creativity is amazing. She dressed up as the ultimate lsu tailgater with a grill.
Speaker 2:I mean you have to go and look at her photos are absolutely phenomenal. I know um, taryn did bump into emily before the race and they did get a picture together, so she had a ton of fun on that one. And also her youngest son also ran the Kid Smile and I do have to interject here real quick, just a side tangent. I don't know if anybody else saw this on Instagram. So we know Taryn's a stunt woman, but her husband is also a stuntman as well too.
Speaker 2:Her husband was did a bunch of stunts, apparently for the new thunderbolts movie, uh, that just came out and, uh, she shared. Apparently the whole cast was on. Jimmy kimmel and sebastian stan talked so much about her husband, I guess in this ridiculous costume that he had to wear to make him look like Sebastian Stan. But the kudos that he was giving him on a national stage like that, saying that he's one of the best motorcyclists and the best stuntman that he's ever worked with, I mean, if that doesn't cement him a couple of more jobs in the future, I I don't know what will. So, uh, but I thought that was really cool, so I had to show that yeah all right.
Speaker 2:So enough about taryn's husband and his awesome stunt work. Let's get back to sunday's uh race report. Here we now move north of the border to vancouver, canada, for the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Lauren ran this. She said she had a strong race both mentally and physically, and managed just over a five-minute PR. She was very proud of this finish as it was her ninth marathon, but it was the first time she ever managed negative splits and only the second time she didn't have any major physical or mental struggles. Way to go, lauren.
Speaker 2:Now we already talked about two major events that occurred this weekend obviously, flying pig in the indie mini, the. The third major event to take place this weekend happened in my neck of the woods in phil, pennsylvania, the Independence Blue Cross Broad Street run the largest 10-mile race in the country, and we had a ton of people running this. First up our buddy Brianna. She had a very short race report and, simple to the point, it was hot and humid and that is all. Grace was there as well as Jen. This was her first 10 miler, so we know what that means the crowd support and sites of Philly. She thought was absolutely awesome and she saw a riser run cheering squad just before city hall, headed up by our buddy Lizzie. She came in at just under one hour and 45 minutes and she was very happy to hear the Imperial March plane as she crossed the finish line. Katie also ran and this was also her first 10 miler, so PR For her. This was a redemption race following a DNF at the Cherry Blossom just a couple of weeks ago. Peter went on to say that he definitely had to dig deep with the humidity and the bottlenecks, but he managed both 10K and a 10-mile PR. He beat his overall time from last year by over six and a half minutes and goes on to say that it is a favorite race of his. Sean also got a brand new pr at the broad street run.
Speaker 2:Our buddy k was also there. Now she didn't give a formalized race report but uh, she told me a little story today that I figured I'd go on the podcast and share and that that is around mile three. You got to run through my alma mater of Temple University and one of the cool things there is the Temple University Diamond Marching Band, which I was also part of, is out on the street playing and cheering for everybody and she said to me earlier today she goes Greg, you'll really enjoy this. Uh, the band was playing this, uh, this great song, and I was like, oh, was, it was one of our fight songs, like t for temple, you or something like that. Uh, no, and she was very disgruntled to learn that, uh, they were playing fly, eagles, fly. So she was, uh, really, really none too pleased about that one.
Speaker 6:She didn't dress as an eagle for this whole race.
Speaker 2:No, she did not. I think, based on the few photos that I saw, it looks like she was dressed as Wonder Woman because, again, k has to do every single race in costume, so she showed up for that. But no, she was not dressed as a Philadelphia Eagle, although if she did dress as Jason Kelsey in his Mummers outfit from when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017, that would be a heck of a costume. That would be epic. Yeah, and also, I want the record of this show. Okay, bob hit the button for the fight song, not me. All right, and moving on, our last person, yvette, also ran this. This was her first Broad Street and she goes on to say that the parking situation was quite crazy. I did see some reports that I think it took one of our friends over two hours to get out of the parking lot Because, for some reason, they decided to have a Philadelphia Phillies game right after this race, which led to mass hysteria. Usually they try to always plan this when the Phillies are out of town, but yeah, so even though it was a good race, for her did not like the parking situation, so congratulations to everyone who ran at Broad Street Next up in Bob's neck of the woods we had the two bears. 5k. Joy ran this, bob. This is a run I think you and I have to do together because it's hosted by comedians burke kreischer and tom segura, and also the singer jelly roll was there. Uh, if you don't know who burke kreischer is, he is, uh, the comedian who loves to take his shirt off and has the awesome set of the machine. And if you don't know what that is, just google the machine and you'll be in for quite a good time. Uh, she said the whole uh race took place in the tampa bay buccaneers stadium and had an absolute blast at the after party as well. And she says, uh, they hope they continue to hold the race in florida because, uh, if they did, they would, she would definitely run it again. We have the great western half marathon in saint charles, illinois. Laura ran this. She said it's a mostly gravel trail through the forest preserve with only a little bit of elevation. Uh, she was going for a pot but just missed it but got a new pr of just over two and a half hours. Way to go. Tiffany was also there. Uh, she goes on to say that they fully leaned into the star wars theme. I guess when you sign up you get to pick the light side or the dark side and got a corresponding shirt, which I think that is awesome. It was a target race for updating her POT and the training paid off and she got a time of one hour 52 minutes and 36 seconds and a third place in her age group. Congratulations, tiffany.
Speaker 2:In South Atlanta we had the muddy princess run. Lauren ran this. This was her first mud run, uh, and even though there were no official winners, she's kind of calling this like a quasi pr, but she was in the first corral and she was the third person, uh to cross the finish line, so she's going to call that a third place and a PR. Now I will say, lauren, I saw your photos on Facebook, your after photo. You didn't look that muddy, so I'm very interested to see how you got through that entire race and looked that clean at the end.
Speaker 5:So that's a skill. If you read it, she mentions that she was cleaner afterwards, that the real muddy pictures haven't come through.
Speaker 2:Oh, they haven't come through yet, okay, all right, but then then we totally believe you, lauren. So, but great job. Next up in leesburg, virginia, we had the run the greenway may the fourth themed race and we had a bunch of folksway May the 4th themed race and we had a bunch of folks there, including the Thompson family, taylor, brian and Emmy. Taylor goes on to say that her stepdad and Brian completed their first 5K together. It was also her stepdad's first run race since he had knee surgery back in 2021. As for taylor herself, this was a pr, and her four-year-old daughter, emmy, ran the 800 meter kids race. She cried at the turnaround because she wanted to go further, and this was her longest race to date, as she's in the midst of training for her first 5K at Disney this January, and she ran an average pace of 12 minutes. Way to go.
Speaker 6:Andy, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Sharon was also there and she, like a lot of the country country, had to deal with the soggy rain but got a PR. And Chris also ran the 5k of this event and this was his first 5k since having Achilles surgery. Now we're really going to head South for this one. This is the Maritana, which takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Our buddy, JJ Juan Jose, ran this. He said, believe it or not, even though this race takes place in Argentina, it's actually a race that is attributed to Italy as it is organized by the Italian consulate. And he finished with a great time of one hour and one minute. Way to go, JJ. Next up in Johnson City, Tennessee, we had the May the 4th Be With you 4K. Jennifer ran this. She said there were lots of costume runners and you would expect that for a Star Wars race, but actually had a couple of members of the 501st there which is really cool and this was her first ever 5K, so PR for Jennifer.
Speaker 2:All right. Another major event, and actually this one, also taking place in Pennsylvania. It was the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend. We had a couple of runners there. Brianna did the half marathon. She decided to get out of her comfort zone and decided to run a race outside of Run Disney even though she avoids running hills and bridges like the plague and had a nice time. Alicia goes on to say that was great weather for a fun run. And Andrew participated in what is called the Steel Challenge, which is the 5K and half marathon. Both races were PRs for him in fun and was very proud of his times, and he is very excited to start his Disneyland Halloween training.
Speaker 2:This week we move out to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Des Moines Women's Half Marathon weekend. Sarah ran both the 5K and the 10K at this weekend and got a PR in the 10K. Angela and Alex also ran the 5K. That was part of this weekend. They enjoyed the run. That was part of this week and they enjoyed the run, which included pre-race wine and a post-race charcuterie table Not a board, a table.
Speaker 5:That I want to see pictures of Pre-race wine. That's the first.
Speaker 2:I've heard of that. You might get lost in the course, depending on how much pre-race wine that you have. Maybe All right. We now move down to the lone stars state, the heb austin sunshine run 10k. Adrian ran this race. She said the race supports free multi-day overnight camps for kids aged 8 to 15. I had a great time by getting a PR in just over 50 minutes. Good time, I promise. This race was not my fault. Brandy ran the Cinco Cinco race in Houston, texas, and she got a 10K PR dressed as a pinata.
Speaker 5:You see her shirt. It says something like why is everybody hitting on me?
Speaker 4:or something, yeah it was cute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, using one of my catchphrases here on the podcast, I think we're going to call this a run Disney adjacent race that took place in Williamsburg, virginia. It was the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Food and Wine 5K. Hannah ran this. She said she had a blast during this inaugural event and she apologizes to run Disney, but she is claiming this is her new favorite 5K. Now there were no rides open during the race, but she did get to ride her favorite roller coaster afterwards. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:In Las Vegas, nevada, sarah ran the May the 4th Be With you. She represented this race by mixing a Cinco de Mayo outfit with a lightsaber, got a voucher for some free breakfast tacos at a Mexican food truck after the race and she claims some of the best tacos she has ever had before. Our buddy, Andrew, across the pond in Newcastle upon time ran the Newcastle Gatesland half marathon. He finished the race with an awesome time of two hours and six minutes. Uh, but we'll use this as a base as he is aiming for getting a sub two hour half. But to him the true reward is at the end of this race and I want to know, grant, I don't know if I need to go to newcastle upon time to get this, uh, but at their mcdonald's they do biscoff McFlurries and McDonald's. If you're listening, you need to bring that stateside. But, andy, great job there.
Speaker 6:And Greg, the McFlurry machine was actually working.
Speaker 2:It was actually working yeah, I mean, isn't that always the case where oh sorry the machine's down?
Speaker 6:Can I get a vanilla shake? Oh, the machine's down. It's a a vanilla shake. Oh the machine's down.
Speaker 2:It's a bunch of baloney, if you ask me. Next up in the capital of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, we had the halfity half. Trish ran this race and achieved both her goals. She got a POT of two hours and 12 minutes, and her other goal was to just finish the race. So great job, trish. And actually we have two late additions here to the race report, john. Why don't you grab those for me?
Speaker 6:Okay, so we have a couple races. Our friend Joe ran the Everyday Superheroes 5K in Arkansas. He got second in his age group and a garden flag door prize in Arkansas he got second in his age group and a garden flag door prize. Joe's training for his 80th anniversary 80th birthday spectacular at Wine and Dine. He's getting his paces down and he's ready to go.
Speaker 2:Can we have a birthday party for Joe at the Pop Century Art of Animation Loop I? Think that would be an absolutely fantastic time, since since Joe loves that path so much.
Speaker 6:I said we got to get a sign for him on that thing.
Speaker 2:There we go.
Speaker 6:Trivia yes, joe Graham trivia, there we go. And then this is not really a running event for, say, but our friend Doug, who hosts the will run for the Rise and Run podcast with the Will Runford group and also host of the War on Car podcast, he went out and did the Five Borough Bike Tour, which is a 40-mile ride through the five boroughs of New York. Starts at the Freedom Tower, ends at fort waynesworth, so you come over the varizano at the end to hit this race. So, doug, great job.
Speaker 2:And uh, doug is putting a book out soon I was gonna say, yeah, I was gonna mention that. Congratulations, doug. I'm I'm very excited for you and your podcast for uh publishing that book. That's going to be great to get.
Speaker 6:It's coming out in October, I think he said. So take a look for it. It's Life After Cars.
Speaker 5:All right, guys. Boy, I appreciate the help. I really do. The old voice was not going to hold up through all of that. So thanks for your work on that this week, friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. That's bringing episode 189 of the Rise and Run podcast to a conclusion. Hey, lots of great races to talk about on our Zoom call Thursday night. It is a Zoom week. We really enjoy seeing you there. If you haven't done one before, drop in. We hope you have a good time. Folks who drop in tend to come back. We think you'll like it All right. That wraps it up. It's training time again. Disneyland Halloween started, so get out there and do it, and until we meet again, happy running.
Speaker 2:The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice and should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizer.
