Rise and Run
Rise and Run
203: The Rise and Run Resort Rumble
Pack your running shoes and Mickey ears—it's time to prepare for the upcoming Run Disney race season! This episode dives into all the exciting events on the horizon, with just three weeks until the Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend and ten weeks until Wine and Dine.
Magic Bound Travel's Brad and Maggie join us to share valuable insights about upcoming Disney parks events, including the opening of the new Beacon Barrel lounge, available Eat to the Beat concerts, and Halloween festivities. But the highlight of our conversation revolves around the first-ever Rise and Run Podcast Cruise, setting sail April 20-24, 2025, on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas. With 99 "happy haunts" already booked, we discuss cabin availability, onboard activities, and transportation options to and from the port. This celebration cruise offers the perfect way to cap off your Run Disney season with fellow podcast listeners and running enthusiasts.
What makes a perfect runDisney race weekend resort? Our hosts and travel experts engage in a lively debate, ultimately crowning Beach Club as their top pick, followed by Pop Century, Port Orleans French Quarter, Polynesian, and Coronado Springs. Each resort offers unique advantages for runners, from hot tubs for recovery to easy transportation to the starting line.
The spotlight shines on Melissa, who conquered her first 50K ultra marathon through mud, rain, and challenging trails. Her inspiring story of perseverance reminds us why we push ourselves beyond comfortable limits. Plus, our weekly race reports showcase accomplishments from across the globe, celebrating runners of all levels.
Whether you're planning your next Disney race weekend, considering joining us on the podcast cruise, or simply seeking motivation for your training, this episode delivers practical advice and heartfelt inspiration. Lace up your shoes and join our community as we rise and run together!
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Expo lights and cheering lines, costumes, bright and hopeful signs. We're not alone. This path is wide, with every listener by our side, From training tips to tales that shine inspiration in every line. We may fall, but we rise again, fueled by community and friends. The road is long, but we belong in this rhythm, in this song.
Speaker 2:Rise and run from start to the run. Together we shine like the morning sun. Rise and run. We rise and run. We rise and run.
Speaker 3:Hello friends, welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. This is Brandi from Houston, texas, calling you from the finish line of the Watermelon Dash, where it is a balmy 90-something degrees. Have a great time, stay hydrated. Hydrate, don't hydrate. Happy running.
Speaker 4:Okay, brandi, thank you for that. Thanks for giving us a new intro from the finish line of the Watermelon Dash Hydrate, don't hydrate. Happy running. Okay, brandy, thank you for that. Thanks for giving us a new intro from the finish line of the Watermelon Dash. We'll mention that again in the race report. That's it, friends. We need more intros. Brandy's was the last one.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, hi everybody. Welcome to episode 203 of the rise and run podcast. We're so glad you're here. I'm bob, and I'm here this week with lexi hello. With jack hi. With john hey, how you doing. With greg hey, hey, hey. And with alicia hello. Good to see you, my friends, here in a nice, warm August evening as we get closer and closer to run Disney season, as we get closer. Our guests this week are Brad and Maggie from Magic Bound Travel. They got a lot to talk about, not only about the cruise, of course, which dominates a lot of what we're thinking about, but about things that are coming up here as we get closer to run Disney time, or just any time at Disney World. In the Race Report Spotlight, our friend Melissa runs an Ultra. Find out how she did.
Speaker 5:If you enjoyed 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 to the journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage at riserunpodcastcom. If you have a question, comment, race report or want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
Speaker 6:We would also like to thank our Patreons, whose support helps keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running. If you would like to join our Patreon team, please be sure to check out patreoncom slash rise and run podcast. And for those of you that are part of the team and are at the levels of plastic cheese and mandalorian, you got a little treat. This week. We released the um, the, the steal, a phrase from our friends over at we'll run for a on the ground episode of a couple of clips that Jack and I recorded, and some of our friends as well. Uh, during the course of loopy looper, as I'm calling it, our, our captain's log. Uh, throughout the course of the day. So it's, it's nice in short, but uh again gives you another, uh, another perspective of what we all experienced in Pensauk in New Jersey just a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4:Sounds like fun. I'll have to listen to that myself. Sounds good. Hey, Jack, what's up?
Speaker 8:on YouTube. Yes, so, talking about Loopy Looper, we actually have our race up on YouTube as well. So if you want to go ahead and check it out, go ahead and check out Rise Around Podcasts and see Loopy Looper.
Speaker 4:Now that I did see. Thanks, jack. Let's take a look at the training schedule. Friends, disneyland Halloween weekend is now 21 days away, just three weeks till we kick off the season for 2025-2026. Training week 15, your training schedule on the weekend calls for four miles, one of which is a magic mile or a magic half mile. If it's still hot where you are, that's just fine. Wine and dine is now 10 weeks away. We're in training week eight. It's a double up for the challenge, first one, where you will walk a mile the first day and then do run, walk eight miles on day two of the weekend, and Walt Disney World Marathon weekend is 21 weeks away. We're in training week seven. On the training schedule for Goofy and Dopey, you got three miles and for the experienced training plan on the marathon, you've got four miles. I say it every week I'm going to figure out eventually. Eventually those numbers are going to crisscross. Goofy and dopey will be longer, but right now, marathon is just a little bit longer. Friends, how's training going?
Speaker 9:It's going pretty good, bob. Last week I said I need to do hill training, so I decided to go out there and do hill training.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 9:Did you die? I didn't die in the hill. That's good man. You know it was, you know it was interesting, so got out there just did a little warmup. Like it was nine minutes, 10 minute warm up. Got to the hill I wanted to get to. Then I just 30 seconds up, minute walk down 30 seconds minute walk down.
Speaker 9:What I did the next time. I did it today actually I did another hill training. I brought some markers so I kind of knew where the bottom of the hill was and the top where I kind of stopped. Bottom of the hill was and the top where I kind of stopped. So my idea was to get down to the bottom in a minute and try to get past where I was the second time I went up the hill or the third time. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but it's my go-to right now, trying to get some hill training and help some endurance and get those legs pumping.
Speaker 6:I do have an important question when it comes to hill training. What was your motivation to get to the top of the hill? Was it the chicken or was it the ribs?
Speaker 9:It was the mirror, Greg.
Speaker 6:Oh, it was the mirror that we saw on the side of the road last week.
Speaker 9:Next week I'm going to practice carrying a mirror up so we can get that mirror for you.
Speaker 6:Perfect. Looking forward to it, it's'm going to practice carrying a mirror up so we can get that mirror for you. Perfect, looking forward to it.
Speaker 9:It's really going to complete the interior decorating of my house. Actually, it's the soft serve after the end of the race.
Speaker 6:Okay, I always forget about the soft serve. Good call there.
Speaker 4:All right, I don't have much of an update. Continue to use the pool. I should have an update next week. We'll see what's going on. Daggummit guys, I forgot to do the Magic Bound Travel ad to start out. Brad and Maggie are going to be upset with us. I think there goes our sponsorship. Let me ask them Brad, Maggie, are you upset with us?
Speaker 11:We are not. We are present and here and accounted for and delighted to be really here with you guys for the show. So thanks for having us and, just at the top of the podcast, for us, thank you for allowing us to sponsor Rise and Run.
Speaker 4:Allowing us to sponsor Rise and Run, it's a privilege and a joy to be a part of this community this way. So, thank you, it is a great team and we are happy that you are part of it. Thank you so much. And obviously, friends, that was all a setup because we plan to have Brad and Maggie with us all along tonight and we're going to talk about a bunch of things. What's new? Oh my, that was an open door to a lot of sharing. As podcast guy. This is great.
Speaker 10:I just get to sit back now and go all right. I mean, I had to work really hard to trim down the agenda because there's so much stuff that we could talk about.
Speaker 4:Where do you want to start? You want start with uh upcoming at disney?
Speaker 10:yeah, okay, let's do that yeah, I figured I just started making notes today and it was kind of in line with just the race season and what's coming up next, um, so you know I've been surprised that. Well, first of all, happy halloween. I'm gonna go ahead and claim it because, oh my gosh, mickey's not so scary. Yes, kicks off. I'm very married, but not so scary pumpkin spice tea sitting here, but um, yeah we're.
Speaker 10:We're very, very close right to the halloween half marathon weekend out of three weeks, three weeks away yeah, weeks um, and we're very very close right to the Halloween half marathon weekend, three weeks, three weeks away, yeah, three weeks, and we've got a bunch of folks that are going to be out there and I mean even like yesterday, we had somebody inquire. So there's still availability, still people looking for places to go. So sorry, I am backing up. I am going in chronological order. So we'll say Disneyland Halloween half marathon weekend and I just want to put a little plug in there because I know we've talked about Halloween horror nights at Universal before in the past. But that's a great thing for anyone that's not ever had that experience to give it a try if they're out in California.
Speaker 11:Now why would they want to give it a try?
Speaker 10:Because it's a whole different experience than at universal orlando. Oh, yeah, yeah it is a lot of different houses, not not the same uh theming that's at walt or at um universal orlando, and it's just. Everything moves a lot faster. It's smaller, it's you can get through all of it.
Speaker 11:That's a that's a lot of coverup, for the Oogie Boogie Bash tickets are sold out y'all, oh really Wow. Therefore, the reason why you want to really get out to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood is because Oogie Boogie Bash isn't available and that, and if you're looking for really an alternative event, this is a great one. I mean, we've attended it before and for those who have attended out at Universal, it's such a different experience, particularly on the level of crowds, the way they're arranging it, and you are actually on one of the world-class studios, walking into some of the studios, the actual studios that film some of the original Universal Monster movies, which is just so nostalgic. So, anyway, that's a great alternative for those who maybe had hoped for getting the Oogie Boogie Bash. Check out the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood.
Speaker 10:And then moving over to Walt Disney World. So then shortly after that a lot of us will be together down there for Wine and Dine half marathon weekend, and I did. I think a lot of people forget about the Eat to the Beat concert series, but that is-.
Speaker 4:How can you forget about that?
Speaker 10:Jim, like that's not an extra ticket cost, it's part of your admission if you're going into Epcot for the day. So, um, I couldn't remember who was going to be there when. When we are, because we'll us personally, we'll check in on the 23rd, but yeah, I had to look them up. M80s I don't know, I wasn't into the punk ska scene, um, but then, uh, huba stink, okay, I won't sing it for you. The reason, um, and then definitely, when everybody's there together, smash mouth will be on. Uh, yes, so there's lots, lots of uh. I mean, everybody will be singing along to especially those things.
Speaker 11:All-stars, they're all-stars, that's right. Hey, y'all you're I'm a believer all-star rock star star hey.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no boys to men this year. They seem to be there every year.
Speaker 11:No, but Hanson's back, and that's always been my favorite.
Speaker 9:If people are going before the event weekend they get some Hanson Boys to men's there, bob, but they're there later.
Speaker 4:Yeah, are they.
Speaker 9:We're earlier this year, so oh, that's right, that's why yeah, because.
Speaker 4:I think I've seen Boyz II Men four times.
Speaker 10:Yeah, they're good, or. Sugar Ray. Sugar Ray's always good. He'd always be there during that time. But yeah, you're right, john, I forgot. Like this is totally kind of throwing us off. This is not our typical one-and-done weekend. But then there are. I double checked today. There's still availability for the Mickey's not so scary Halloween party. Um, I think it's going to be Wednesday night, thursday night and Sunday night. I might have that wrong the 23rd, so that's Thursday, thursday, friday and Sunday.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you know, sunday's the uh wine and dine after party. Yeah.
Speaker 10:So you know, Thursday is the wine and dine after party, yeah, so you know, Thursday is a really good day, Maggie.
Speaker 3:That's my birthday. Oh, we need to go to a party.
Speaker 10:And then, of course, if you are more of the Halloween horror haunted house type, that Wednesday through Sunday, every evening they shut it down at universal studios and it transforms into Halloween horror nights. So we'll be there on the 22nd.
Speaker 11:We will, and truly it's one of my favorite events, they changed it.
Speaker 9:If you're staying on property this year, is that true that you don't have to stay in the corrals.
Speaker 10:So they are making a change about the whole, like stay in screen.
Speaker 10:So, rather than us having to be in there and like stay, you know, in this holding pattern for three to three to 5 PM, they are actually going to have things kind of more dispersed around.
Speaker 10:So there will be some type of line queue that we get into. But but yeah, we won't have to stand down in the hot sun for two hours. And then it hit me today, as I was marking some calendars for some things, is that we recently had the announcement that the Beacon Barrel, the new you know Parts of the Caribbean themed lounge, is going to be opening at the end of this month. So Thursday morning is when, 60 days out, that's going to be available for advanced dining reservations. So for those of us going to be opening at the end of this month, so Thursday morning is when 60 days out, that's going to be available for advanced dining reservations. So for those of us going to be at Wine and Dine probably somewhere around the 23rd, 24th, 25th, whenever your check-in day is that's going to be your magic day at 6am to see if you can score a time to get in there.
Speaker 4:That's good to know.
Speaker 10:I keep forgetting about the lounge to get in there. That's good to know. I keep forgetting about the lounge and, uh, we were just there two weeks ago. Oh, for our anniversary and thank you. Let's listen to the podcast and heard the shout out.
Speaker 11:That was super nice, thank you.
Speaker 10:So we were celebrating our 25th anniversary at walt disney world and we got to try the new geo 82 and it was really great. So you liked it yeah, first adult only lounge, all disney world's stepping up into the adult.
Speaker 4:Only it was very overpriced yeah, it seemed pretty high plus on the brad rating scale of places to go.
Speaker 11:I'm a bourbon fan yeah I'm a bourbon fan. You know the the whole atmosphere is way throwback, but it's almost a little too throwback, even though. Was that velour, is it velour? So you're sitting on velour and I find I found myself sitting there just rubbing it and then I'm like I am distracting myself from like this is why velour doesn't work. You just want to touch the whole time and then I'm like I am distracting myself from like this is why velour doesn't work and then I thought who else has been touching it like this?
Speaker 11:I didn't enjoy the the rest of the time, so b plus for golly, have another drink, you'll forget I.
Speaker 6:I want to go back to the brad rating scale here for a second. So the last time I think we had you on brad, did I give a rating scale into. No, there wasn't the rating scale. But the thing that you got most passionate about or or or maybe this goes back to when we did the budget episodes all those years ago is how much you waxed poetic about your chicken meal at fort wilderness, oh there, yeah, so so I guess.
Speaker 5:So that's the echelon, how?
Speaker 6:how does geo 82 rank from between that?
Speaker 11:or wilderness chicken bucket. All day and again, my phrase for the chicken bucket is the family chicken meal deal. When you go to, when you go to the tavern there at Fort Wilderness, choose that all day long, all day long. So, especially now that I really need to get over and see some of the construction that's that's going on with the Lakeshore Lodge so you can eat your chicken, you can look at some construction, which is always really fun.
Speaker 10:No, they are sort of growing that thing up.
Speaker 11:Yeah, so we're really interested, mean we're, we are wilderness area, wilderness lodge, fort wilderness that whole area is a really sweet spot for our family, so there's some sentimentality that factors into that, as well as some value of like whoa, let's stretch this dollar forever so anyway yeah. So the the chicken bucket family chicken meal deal over at 4 Wilderness is an A-plus on the Brad rating scale by far.
Speaker 4:I'll probably check out Geo82. I haven't done it yet. I had the same reaction you did Brad. We're bourbon aficionados in this family, but the prices on that menu looked pretty steep. But probably do it once and see what it's like it was a really great bourbon flight.
Speaker 10:There were some that we had never tried that are definitely now on our list, but the other mixed drinks, you know they they looked really good but they the price tag was really heavy.
Speaker 11:They had a great charcuterie we're charcuterie connoisseurs interesting enough that they don't have the Knob Creek single barrel. That's the special, yeah, the select for Disney which I thought was interesting. So they don't have that and their rationale was you can really get there at that anywhere on property. We get other places, which I appreciated that. And then we went back to Territory Lounge at Wilderness Lodge to get the select Disney. Yeah, it was Disney, so yeah.
Speaker 10:It was amazing. So we were there for a week and you know we're there all the time and there were so many new things that we did throughout that week. I mean, every day there was something new that we had never done before. So, like geo 82, the starlight nighttime parade, which is beautiful, Now if you're trying to compare it to the old Electric Main Street Parade, like no, it's going to be a letdown.
Speaker 11:But it had some throwback allusions to it, which was nice.
Speaker 10:And it's short, it's not a full like festival of fantasy parade. There's not a whole lot of the dancers in front of each float, but the floats themselves are absolutely stunning. Into 2026, I mean definitely for Run Disney, like we're getting a lot of folks that are booking their stuff for Marathon Weekend, princess, springtime, all of that. I definitely want to touch base on Disneyland because we get a lot of interest and questions about Disneyland and so it historically just Disneyland in general does not release its next calendar year until really almost the fall, like end of summer, early fall. So, and I don't know why, that is why it's so off from what Walt Disney World does, but they really are kind of like two completely different products and so while we can't book people yet for the Disneyland hotel or Grand Californian or Pixar place, we still can look at those area hotels around it, which some of them are actually closer to the race start than oh absolutely.
Speaker 11:You can literally walk out, walk out of your room right onto the road, and you're there. Practically some of them.
Speaker 10:I mean, you know and we've done that before too where we've stayed for Halloween half we were, we were over at Disneyland Hotel, and that's a long, long walk to get through downtown Disney all the way to the race start.
Speaker 10:So we've got some preferred hotels that were in that area and I know we've shared this on the podcast Facebook group for folks listening that are in that group.
Speaker 10:But we have locked in a really great discounted room rate for the Element Anaheim. So it is literally like two blocks up from where the race start, that big parking lot where everything kind of starts and finishes, and so they've given us a great rate that now, when I look at what it would cost if if I went in and tried to book it today, versus what we have it like, it's already a huge savings. So that is what we've got is those deluxe studios, so everything in their hotel also has studios. So it's all got a kitchen, kitchenette, which is really nice for a lot of folks that want to save some money and have some food in their their room and then it can sleep six and also has free breakfast. So, yeah, so we've got some some good things. But as soon as 2026 is announced, you know everybody that's in the queue is going to be next in line for that.
Speaker 4:How are rooms at Disney world right now for the for the race weekends?
Speaker 10:They're really great. You know, wine and dine is getting pretty full. There's not. There's not a whole lot of selection, but there is still some. It kind of just depends on what days people are wanting to. You know, actually cover I took a peek at like Marathon Princess in springtime and really great availability still.
Speaker 11:Great availability. The room type, like whether it's a water view room or resort view room some of those might have some limitations. We're still seeing availability at the resort hotels themselves. You just might be a little limited on room type preference and that's where I've worked with a couple of folks and booking their stuff and they're still trying to change their room type if it becomes available. So that's the only thing that I see is being limited.
Speaker 4:Okay, if you haven't done it yet, friends, hop on the Magic Bound Travel website and check out the availability there.
Speaker 10:Yep, so then, wrapping up springtime surprise. That was one that surprised me is today. I was taking a peek at that and there's still availability at Pop Century. So the party place, you know? Oh my gosh, why am I blanking on her name? We've had our. You've had her on the podcast. She's famous myra myra.
Speaker 10:Yeah, so you know everyone wants to see myra, especially at the last event of the run disney season. So, yeah, I was surprised. I kind of thought that it would have already been sold out. So that is there. And then and then should we lead into podcast cruise? Yes, please, yes. So, if listeners have not already heard, we will be celebrating the end of the race season with our first ever Rise and Run podcast cruise. And so a dream in the making for several years.
Speaker 10:Absolutely podcast cruise and so a dream in the making. For several years we've been absolutely and um. What I love about it is that, because of the timing of when we will actually be getting over to port canaveral, so this the sailing is going to be monday, april 20th, and then getting off the ship, friday, april 24th, will be on the royal caribbean utopia Seas, which is out of Port Canaveral, so really close by to our Walt Disney World fun. But you'll have plenty of time to do Lilo and Stitch Yoga and then still make it just fine. You might even have time to come back and take a shower.
Speaker 4:Please do.
Speaker 10:And be ready, especially if you're going to join in and ride the bus over with us.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 10:So yes, we will. I think we've had enough interest and we'll get more firm information closer to time. But we will have enough. We can charter bus. We know that a lot of people are going to be driving over there themselves and parking. You know a lot of people might be taking their own private transportation. That's fine. People might want to Uber and Lyft, but if you want to be on the party bus, we will have a shuttle. You know 52 passenger bus and I'm thinking it's probably going to be about $16 one way per person.
Speaker 8:That's not bad at all.
Speaker 4:Open bar on the bus. Oh yeah, per person that's not bad at all. Open bar on the bus.
Speaker 9:Oh yeah, she said Bob. She said $16 a person. She said $16 a person.
Speaker 10:You can bring whatever you want.
Speaker 4:I thought, it was $60. Okay, $16,. Okay, that's better.
Speaker 6:Hey, Brad and Maggie, I do have a question about said party bus and obviously we still have a lot of time and details are still getting ironed out here. Obviously, the plan is to have that bus leaving from a centralized location we're thinking Pop Century to take us to the cruise ship. But once the cruise is over, are we also thinking party bus round two, or what other transportation options do folks have in the event?
Speaker 6:you know, we don't have our own personal vehicles in terms of either getting back to Walt Disney World or going straight to MCO.
Speaker 10:That's a great question and yes, so, on the on the getting from Walt Disney World to port, yes, we'll be working with the resort to see.
Speaker 10:Will Pop Century allow us to kind of have that be the hub where we'll meet up? And so, don't worry, if people are not staying at Pop Century, it's not a problem, there's, it's easy to get get over there. I mean, uber is going to cost you what? Eight dollars probably to get from resort to resort, and so if that, if we run into any issues and Pop Century is not agreeable to us being able to do that, because we also want to find a place where, if people need to and want to, they've driven, they can actually leave a car, maybe in a secure back place of a parking lot where we know it's going to be, you know, there's cameras, that's going to be safe and they could feel comfortable leaving that for several nights and then just take the bus back to get their, to get their vehicle. If resorts are not agreeable to the plan, disney Springs is probably going to be our next line to look and see Because, again, it's easier for people to transfer over, get over, and that's often a staging area for different.
Speaker 11:But if you're staying on property, the resort will be agreeable. That is something they do all the time.
Speaker 10:So I don't think having, like you know, people that are maybe staying over at Port Orleans Riverside and then now want to come over and leave their car at Pop. It's a big enough parking lot. We're hoping that we won't have any issues with that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and even though we have a good turnout, we're not talking huge numbers.
Speaker 10:Right, because we know that we're going to have a lot of folks that are opting to drive over and, just you know, pay to park at the port.
Speaker 12:And going to have a lot of folks that are opting to drive over and, just you know, pay to park at the port.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and just in case anyone listening does not realize or know um port canaveral is about an hour from walt disney world depending on good old i-4 get right. But yeah, that's about right yeah right.
Speaker 10:So then on on the end of the the cruise, we will have an option for a shared shuttle back to the resort, if that's what people are needing to do, or just through Royal Caribbean themselves, or GoPort is one that we use a lot for folks that are on a wide variety of cruise lines. They have continuous shuttles that are running from Port Canaveral to MCO. I've used them before and they're great, very reasonable, reliable and it's one of those where you don't need to stress out about what time. You know, I know we're talking Royal Caribbean, but if you've ever done a Disney cruise and taken the shuttle back and forth, you know the the Disney cruise line bus it's really. Goport does a similar routine where you literally just get your stuff. You go, stand in line, you get on the next bus. That bus fills up, the next bus comes, you know, and they do that from the moment people get off the boat until the last person has claimed it.
Speaker 12:So it can definitely get you back, maggie, for someone who wants to book that type of shuttle from Royal Caribbean to MCO on the back end, is that through Magic Bound? Is that through Cruise Planner on their Royal app? How does that work?
Speaker 10:We can, so we can call in or add that. So if you want to do it through the one, the third party that Royal Caribbean actually uses, we can add that. So if you want to do it through the one that the third party that Royal Caribbean actually uses, we can add that, and so we'll be getting that information to everybody of what that cost would look like. Or, you know, to compare it to what GoPort, because GoPort is like its own, its own entity. Yeah, just so people have different options.
Speaker 9:Is there still availability on the cruise?
Speaker 10:There is, and we mentioned how many people I know so I did, I did a count today and I kind of went down a nostalgic disney, disneyland and disney world rabbit hole you guys will have to help me out with um.
Speaker 8:So we are currently at 99 happy haunts oh my goodness, I love guys, I was I was writing that and I was like is that how the lyrics go?
Speaker 10:okay, let me google the lyrics y'all. That's not what the lyrics say. Do you know what the lyrics say? There's always room for more and more. No, the lyrics real time today, at both disney and disney world is there's 999 happy haunts and room and there's room for a thousand Any volunteers and I went down this rabbit hole, and apparently there's a ton of people on Reddit that go down this rabbit hole too. Everyone's like. Am I losing my mind? Does it not say that? I thought it said that. When did it say that?
Speaker 9:It's the Mandela effect.
Speaker 10:Yes. So if anybody listening can help me figure out the history of, did it ever say that there's always room for one more? And if it did, when did it change? You got me.
Speaker 5:That's what it said. As far as I remember, since I've been going, since I was what? Nine, 10 years old, it's always been there's room for a thousand.
Speaker 10:So mind blowing the things that we make up in our minds.
Speaker 8:You know what? There's a good thing I never quote anything. We know that.
Speaker 10:Jack, I Google chat or chat GPT or Google, google check everything that I quote.
Speaker 10:So, yes, so we are currently at exactly ninety nine people, so we need more and there is a lot of ability, like we still actually have a handful of some of those discounted, just the double occupancy, of some of those discounted just the double occupancy rooms, and I think I also was able to grab a handful, maybe like four, of the it's like ocean view rooms, so it doesn't have a veranda but it does at least have a porthole to see daylight. So those we do have it like that discounted rate that would be, you know, drastically discounted versus what we would have, just regular. But um, as far as, like every other I mean the, what is it? The, the, the mega suite, like there's a wait list for that, greg, we were too slow, we didn't bummer. Obviously other people are waiting to see if they can get a spot at that too, but, um, but yeah, there's, there's. Every category still has availability. So we've had a lot of people ask us too, like, like, what if I'm not doing springtime surprise, like you can still come on the cruise.
Speaker 10:You're still part of our Run Disney community.
Speaker 11:You're still part of the Rise and Run podcast, especially if you're celebrating an accomplishment during any point of the race season, what a great way to celebrate with a wonderful community that can relate.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we'd just be happy to see you.
Speaker 10:What's involved is invite them to come along. When is the?
Speaker 8:last, last day that you guys can actually sign up.
Speaker 10:We ideally would love to have people sign up by November 1st, and that mainly is because there's so much other stuff that we want to plan, you know, with this group, with the hosts, and so to have kind of more of a firm number would be great. Does that mean we're going to shut somebody down if they come after that?
Speaker 11:No, but final payments for everyone is going to be around the beginning of February, so even after February, like if there's availability, people still come on and they just pay in full, but you might not be accounted for for all the fun activities and other things we want to make sure we order.
Speaker 10:Enough of everything. So, um, you know, we we'd love to do a blitz and get people motivated and signed up, but there's not a, there's not like a drop dead date no, the cruise line will take your money till they push away from the port until about 24 hours in advance when they send the manifest.
Speaker 8:Once the manifest leaves shoreside to the ship there's nobody else locked in that would be so wild if somebody just signed up 24 hours before be like haha, I lied, I'm coming I'll bet it happens it sounds like something jack would do. It does sound like something I would do well brad maggie.
Speaker 6:This all sounds extremely, extremely exciting. I know we are continually in the planning stages in terms of the activities that we're going to do. Obviously, the main highlight of the entire cruise and thank you so much for reserving this for us we are going to have our own private event space for a live recording of the rise and run podcast on the cruise ship. That's going to be exciting, yet nerve-wracking, I imagine, all at the exact same time. So, as you know, we get those details finalized in terms of the on board activities that we're going to do. We'll be sure to blast it out to the group.
Speaker 6:The one thing I wanted to get your um opinions on and just brief information about, I know probably one of the biggest things that got announced since the last time we had the two of you on to talk about the cruise is and I cannot remember the name of it off the top of my head but the private island experience that Royal Caribbean is building at NASA. What can you tell us about that and how can people incorporate that into their cruising adventures?
Speaker 11:next, April how you?
Speaker 6:were going.
Speaker 10:Oh yeah.
Speaker 11:Did you know that I purchased that.
Speaker 10:Did I send you that receipt.
Speaker 11:Being on the accounting side of Magic Bound Travel, sometimes I get to see purchases that I'm like. Wait a minute. This is going live with our budget. Where did this come from?
Speaker 12:My boyfriend says the same thing. I just didn't want it to sell out with our budget. Where did this come from? My boyfriend says the same thing.
Speaker 10:I just didn't want it to sell out, I just was so excited it was finally there. So, yes, so once people have their registration or their reservation confirmation, then everyone can go into the mobile app. Royal Caribbean's got a wonderful mobile app that slowly starts to populate more details, so over the last couple months things started appearing. We've been able to see a little bit more of drink packages and dining packages if you want to add on stuff, some different activities. But one of the things is the beach club at Nassau, and so if you've been on any ship lately in the last probably two years that has been at port in Nassau, you've seen this nice long strip of land that back in the day used to be just kind of an overgrown Well before it was not nice, it was really abandoned.
Speaker 10:I mean, there were a lot of homes and huts and things like that that had just been completely left behind, and so Royal Caribbean actually has leased that property. So it is still kind of a joint property between Nassau government and Royal Caribbean and it is their dedicated private islands. They've been working really hard to clear all that build out. Really it's like we will have our perfect day at coco k, which is their private island and water park and beach and those kinds of things. The the beach club and nasa will also be kind of its own little private area but it is a it's an all-inclusive experience.
Speaker 10:So with your pass, which is the only way you're going to get onto that strip of land, that's also going to include food, drinks, all the activities. So there are some things that people can add on. There's some really crazy wild cabanas that you can pay, you know, $1,000.
Speaker 8:Oh goodness no.
Speaker 12:You didn't book two of those for for the host the margaritas are on Alicia's soul, that's right so, speaking of things that we can book as far as excursions go, I know everybody wants a good deal. Do you guys know for our listeners what? So I know everybody wants a good deal. Do you guys know for our listeners when the best time to purchase excursions would be, how to purchase them and what that process looks like with Royal, because I know it's a little different than, say, a Disney cruise line? It?
Speaker 10:is different. So great question. So some of those excursions are starting to populate. Not all of them are, so don't worry if they're putting stuff out there and it says you know, almost sold off.
Speaker 10:No FOMO, yet there's going to be more, um, but all through the year. So Royal is different in that literally all year round they're offering month to month, week by week, some other promo 30% off, 25% off, 50% off, like the prices are are fluctuating. I highly recommend if you, if there's something that you really, really want to do and you do not want to miss that spot, go ahead and grab it. Royal is different than that. You do actually prepay. So if you cancel an excursion, if it's canceled for you because of weather or safety or whatever, like that's all going to be refunded, but you can always book it and then cancel it and rebook it. So, unfortunately, as a whole, like refund and then rebooking. But I would say, go ahead and grab that. But they always offer an amazing black Friday sale, um, and that usually starts even earlier, like it's. It was like maybe into september, early october, like they'll start promoting.
Speaker 6:I was gonna say, if you're, celebrating pumpkin spice season already and it's the middle of august, then sure thanksgiving starts after labor day yeah, so I I think historically people can get the best savings if they wait until the Black Friday sale.
Speaker 10:But again, if there's something that you're really like, I like I talked to someone the other day. She's never been on a cruise before, so she had a lot of questions just about being a first time cruiser, and so we're talking about Nassau and you know it can be kind of overwhelming if you've never done that process of getting off a ship and going, you know, getting through the port and getting through the people that want to sell you everything yeah, right right. Just to get through the marketplace is stressful enough the gauntlet.
Speaker 10:Like, if you can make it past that, you have won.
Speaker 11:And then you know, but she said she definitely wanted to get off the ship because the only thing that she wants to do, this entire cruise.
Speaker 10:The rest is gravy. Is she wants?
Speaker 4:to swim with the pigs. I thought you said she wanted to get her hair braided. I was like well, I want to get my hair.
Speaker 10:Let's go ahead and get your book, for that we don't want the pigs I don't know.
Speaker 8:They did something like that.
Speaker 10:So I mean you can, you can do as simple as a little walking tour to like a private catamaran with dining and, you know, alcohol and all the things like you can. You can. Oftentimes we'll get off and just walk like walk up the hill kind of sea. No, once you've done it, you've done it.
Speaker 11:Poor choices. Have a plan.
Speaker 10:Nassau is a really great day to stay on the boat.
Speaker 4:Or you can stay on the boat, right the ship, the ship. Stay on the ship.
Speaker 12:That's also something you can do if you don't want to do any excursions. They still have activities going on on the ship that you can do. The pools are open, the spa is open and I'll say that just to caveat on that.
Speaker 11:That's what I do all the time at ports where I'm just like I'm not interested, because there you get to experience the ship in a completely different way, when everyone is off and and you really have free reign of so many things, especially on the utopia, where they have a lot of activities on the ice skating rink, where they turn over and they'll have the, the laser tag that's there. So sometimes there can be a little bit of weight. It's never. It's never terrible but laser tag oh yes I've only ever done it once.
Speaker 10:It was exhausting but so much fun. It's glow-in-the-dark blacklight laser tag. It's like an inflatable maze.
Speaker 11:Those nine-year-old kids had no idea what was coming at them when I was there, so I feel like I'm on a Seinfeld episode with Kramer with a karate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had no idea, because they were taken out by Farrington laser tag skills.
Speaker 12:They also have an escape room at sea, and I know a couple of us were talking on the app about getting a group together to do that.
Speaker 10:Yes, and that does have an additional cost, but it's minimal. It's like I want to say $30 maybe to add on that. Yeah, that's how much an usually is. Yeah, so, yes, so in the app, um, in the cruise planner there, there are those options that you can start adding again, just like lock it in if it's something that you know I do, I definitely want to do and I don't want to risk it, and then just you know, we will kind of keep each and announce when some of those prices are really low. There's so much to do on the ship, but you can really you can do as little or as much as you want to. If you're the type that wants to like cram in every single activity, once we get on the ship there's there's like a whole I mean, there's a menu of. There's so many things to do. There's no way you can see and do it all.
Speaker 4:But if you want to just literally, just wander the, ship and hang out at the pool and go to the Central Park and relax, relax. We've all earned it. I will remind our friends, especially those who are already signed up, that there's a Facebook group specifically for the cruise.
Speaker 10:And that's available and so when you register we'll, we'll get you that link to get you the access to that group. And that's where we're just trying to build community, maybe spotlight some different things about the different areas, the activities, and then, closer to time, certainly start having more coordination of you know if people do want to go in together to do certain things.
Speaker 4:Well, if we get closer to time, I'll start coordinating some Zoom calls for us.
Speaker 10:Yes, that'd be great. A lot of people will often ask about dining reservations if they are going to want to do some of those signature dining. So you don't have to. I mean you can. You can eat plenty and it's amazing food just included in your cost. But there are some signature restaurants that they have that are a separate price and those do all require some type of reservation. So those will either start now or you know about a couple of months before that will, and then March 1st is going to be a really important date for all of us. So the shows, the shows are absolutely amazing and we've talked about that before, especially the water, the water show, and it. They almost have like a, like a lightning lane where you would want to get a time for a preferred seating.
Speaker 11:So it's like sure Seating.
Speaker 10:It's not going to guarantee a spot, like it's not giving you an assigned seat. It's just saying if you've gotten that in the app, then 30 minutes before the show time, those of us that have that can go through a special line and go ahead and pick our seat and then everybody else is waiting in the normal line and then just fills in the available space. But some of them do get popular enough that there's standing room only, or if it's in like the ice skating rink, then they it's limited seating, it's max capacity.
Speaker 4:Okay, sounds good. Sounds like an exciting time. I know a lot of our friends are already signed up and hopefully more will be able to. I do understand that not everyone can. It's you know you can't always get off from work. You can't always get off from work. You can't always get your kids out of school, but we hope to see you there. Caution runners. Change of topic ahead.
Speaker 6:Well, gang, all very, very exciting. I loved hearing all the updates. I'm sure the listeners have enjoyed hearing them as well, and I know in our internal planning meetings you know, we're starting to work on logos and what things we want to include in the swag bag. It's so exciting. I know it seems so far away, but before we know it, it's going to be right around the corner, and we can't wait to celebrate with everybody Speaking of travel and speaking of resorts, since we don't have a a full, full feature interview this week.
Speaker 6:We came up with this idea that I think, incorporating our sponsors and our lovely friends brad and meg, I think is very apropos for a little game that we're gonna do here, and before you know, we talked about, you know, booking your rooms at a walt disney world resort for a race weekend. The crazy thing, though, is, if you think about it, there's like over 20 resorts that you can pick from for a particular race weekend, and I know sometimes we get questions of well, what's the best resort to stay at during a race weekend? So we thought we're each going to go around the room here and we're going to give our suggestion for a great run disney race weekend resort and now there's eight of us here, so hopefully we get eight different resorts.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that won't happen, but then but then as a team we're going to come up with our top five and we're going to rank those. So I think this will create some absolute fun banter and then hopefully be a little educational too for the listening community out there, especially if you have not booked any of your rooms yet for this upcoming race weekend. So, john, I'm looking at you, I'm going to start with you first. So, john, I'm looking at you, I'm going to start with you first. Pick what you think in your mind is one of the best Walt Disney World resorts to stay at during a run Disney race weekend.
Speaker 9:For me personally, I stay at Saratoga. I like Saratoga. It's a close bus stop. Saratoga it's a close bus stop. It's one. It's the bus route is really quick and almost the bus route is a direct more of a direct route where there's less chances of them getting lost going okay, that is a perk going to Epcot, and yeah, and if really really really stuck, you could probably run to epcot just as quick okay, so john is selecting saratoga springs alicia, how about you?
Speaker 5:I would choose beach club for a couple of the reasons. John said um, because it is close. It's kind of a hop skip and a jump away from Epcot. I can hear the race announcers and the DJ when I wake up and go to the bus stop. But I like going there, especially for Wine and Dine weekend because then I can just walk to the after party in the back entrance. But yeah, that would be my favorite.
Speaker 6:Okay, all right, so we have our first Epcot resort.
Speaker 9:Every time I booked Beach Club for a Run Disney event, it got canceled.
Speaker 6:So I don't book there anymore All right. Well, with that positive note, we're going to move over to Bob. Bob, which resort are you going to pick?
Speaker 4:My favorite resort is Port Orleans, french Quarter. I like it for race weekends because it's so small, so it's a quick walk to the bus stop and then back, and then they usually do some kind of celebration there. Although I've got to talk pop, well, somebody else may talk pop also, pop's becoming kind of the rise and run resort of choice for race weekends. But asking me, I'm going French Quarter.
Speaker 6:Jack, how about you?
Speaker 8:so I do definitely agree with bob. I think um french quarter is a fantastic place. It's nice and quaint. But um, for me, if I'm going on a budget, I definitely want to do pop century, but it's got numerous reasons why one. It has one bus stop, so there's no way that if it's like a, like a big hotel, like um riverside, that like the bus is not gonna miss. You, I've I've literally stood at a bus stop one time for about 20-25 minutes because the bus just never came. And when I ran to go to the front of the hotel at riverside they said, oh yeah, they're supposed to go around the front of the hotel at Riverside. They said, oh yeah, they're supposed to go around and pick everybody up, but I guess they just didn't.
Speaker 4:I had that happen at Coronado. I was going to be a spectator. Yeah, I got picked up.
Speaker 8:So I would. Yeah, I like one bus stop and they're all lined up, so there's no way that you're going to get like missed by any means. It's affordable. No, you may not be able to use the um gondolas to get there or whatnot, but I mean it's really easy access to go to the parks right after the races and everything. After a quick shower, um, it's got a nice food court, I mean, yeah, and there are a lot of runners there too. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 6:All right, lexi, quick recap for you. Right now we have Saratoga Beach Club, french Quarter and Pop Century. What was your selection going to be?
Speaker 12:So I asked this question before we started the recording. But I'll also say again um, my choice of resort depends on the race weekend. Because of tradition for marathon weekend, I'm gonna be at coronado well, yes, you always have to be a coordinator it's your requirement, um, because it's so easy to go out and cheer at mile 20, and that's my spot. You guys know that. But if I'm not at Marathon Weekend, I'm probably going to go with Pop Century, mainly because of the affordability, and a lot of runners stay there.
Speaker 6:Well, how about? For the sake of the game, is it okay if your selection be Coronado Springs? Fine, okay, we now come to our illustrious guest, brad. What resort are you selecting? Are you just going to select the chicken bucket over at Fort Wilderness?
Speaker 11:No, actually, fort Wilderness is probably one of the least favorite for run. Disney for me for weekends, yeah, absolutely. Well, there's a couple reasons. One I like a hot tub, especially on marathon weekend. That's a big deal for me. Relax, like being in proximity of other things that are entertaining, that I don't have to do a whole lot of walking. And a big downside for Fort wilderness is there's going to be walking a lot of steps for us.
Speaker 10:Unless you rent a golf cart.
Speaker 11:Oh yeah, uh yes, but I would choose a boardwalk area resort. I would more than likely choose beach and yacht, and if I was going to be thrown into one, I'm going to choose beach. I'm going to go with Alicia, and my reasons are a little different, though. One proximity to hot tub. Proximity to the best pool on property that just got refurbed that that that is a really big perk there. Proximity to multiple restaurants that are very close by, within a short distance, also for entertainment and world showcase. Proximity to world showcase, especially using friendship boots, and of all those resorts, especially if you're traveling with someone who is not running all the races or not running at all, that is a prime spot for spectating. You're just walking out your door to one of those. Almost every single course goes by there, almost every single one. So you're, you're, you're walking out, and so I would. I would choose. I would choose beach, uh, uh, so not to. I wanted to go different, but I'm going All right, Maggie, what say you?
Speaker 10:All right, Maggie, what say you? You guys keep taking all of mine. It's going to be similar to Lexi, but a little bit different. I'm going to say it's the Grand Destino Tower at Coronado Springs.
Speaker 6:Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 10:It is beautiful. You literally get right off the bus, you walk right in the lobby, you press the smart elevator and you're back to your room in five minutes or less and very few steps. Then you can go down and walk on over to the little island and get in the hot tub and it's a huge hot tub. We were there for Marathon Weekend this past year and I think we probably had about 30 people in that hot tub and it was a party.
Speaker 11:After the party, everybody came off a race everybody's sharing stories about the race.
Speaker 10:It was a great community in a hot tub.
Speaker 6:Yeah, we have multiple votes for multiple resorts, even though, going last, you pretty much took my entire list. Everyone that's okay, but there was one resort though that was not mentioned that I will add into the fray here, and my selection is going to be the polynesian I knew you're gonna pick that.
Speaker 6:Oh, I knew that too because, for the reasons very similar, brad, to what you were saying about being able to walk out your door and cheer, the same can be applicable for the poly, because whether you want to cheer on Main Street, you can just ride a resort loop or just walk over to the TTC and hop on the monorail there.
Speaker 6:Or if you want to cheer at the TTC which is something that I have done and it's a great spot it actually really affords you the opportunity to get closer to the rope or the grate or whatever, to be able to see your runner, as opposed to being maybe seven or eight deep on Main Street USA. So that affords you those great opportunities. Then, on top of that very similar to transportation, the fact that at least for the full and the the half in january, and then, I think, mostly the halves when it comes to the other race weekends is you can take the monorail to get to the race. And the nice thing about the monorail is, unlike a bus driver that got contracted out, monorail can't get lost, so that's a major perk as well too. Not to mention, it's an OG Disney resort. It's got a great hot tub, so that checks off one of the boxes for Brad, there you have awesome food options and, heck, you can float in the pool and see Cinderella's uh castle straight ahead.
Speaker 4:So that's a nice thing.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so okay. So, based on, so, based on everyone's selection so far, would we be safe to assume that, since two people mentioned both Beach Club and Coronado Springs, that those two make our top five? Do we have any arguments there?
Speaker 4:I don't have any arguments, Greg. I don't know Beach Club very well. We can help with that Bob. That's why we're here. We'll have to do that.
Speaker 5:I don't have an argument to keep those ones in, but I do have an argument to keep yours in. Okay, that would have been my second choice um so, um, I agree with you that I think that it's a great one to be um close, and it has the monorail transportation. I don't know if anybody has opinions on that.
Speaker 4:No, it's all good.
Speaker 12:See, I'm playing the devil's advocate against my own vote.
Speaker 6:I wouldn't let you select pop.
Speaker 12:If you're doing Marathon Weekend and you're running it and not cheering it, if you do the regular coronado, it is a lot of walking it is, it is spread out.
Speaker 4:You're right, yeah yeah the. The problem I have with some that have been mentioned so far is that I have to pay for these, Some of these. You know, Polly's great, but I can't afford it. The tower's on the expensive side.
Speaker 12:I mean, we're already paying a lot for the Disney week, like just running there, and so I feel like that's kind of an argument for Pop Century there we go, you know it.
Speaker 6:All right, let's take it from this perspective. So, after we went all the way through, we ended up with six resorts. So if we're going to do a top five, let's focus on which one is getting the axe Saratoga Springs. That was going to be my vote as well, too. Sorry, John.
Speaker 9:Hey, more room for me.
Speaker 6:Okay. So based on that reaction, I think that is now done-zo. Okay, so now the tough part is we got to put these five to one. How do we want to tackle this? Do we want to go one to five or five to one? What makes more sense here?
Speaker 8:One to five yeah, let's go, yeah.
Speaker 4:I think so too.
Speaker 6:All right. So what do we think it could be a top contender for number one? I have two thoughts in my mind, but I want to hear my friends first.
Speaker 9:I would say Beach Club.
Speaker 12:Even though I had bad luck for race weekends there, I like to resort on other weekends because I can't afford Beach Club for race weekend, but the perks of what you are paying for, I feel like, are worth it.
Speaker 8:I'm just saying more of the affordable route Pop Century or French Quarter.
Speaker 4:I'm with you in Pop, I really am.
Speaker 8:Yeah, and there's only one bus stop for both right, you can't miss it like and there's no way a bus is gonna miss it.
Speaker 4:No, you won't miss the bus thing, yeah it can be a little bit of a walk at pop yeah, that's okay, that's. It depends where you are um.
Speaker 6:I'm gonna bring one more fighter or contender into the number one spot here and I'm gonna try to bridge the gap between what everyone has said so far. My selection for the number one spot would be french quarter, for the idea that it's a moderate. So you're middle of the road, so it's a little bit more expensive than the value, but not as much as a deluxe. It's small, it's one bus stop. It has a hot tub again for brad. You also have boat transportation to get down to disney springs for the rise and run, meetups and, the most important factor in all of this, mickey beignets after every race and they always have the best like welcome back that's good of little swag to give away their cast members are amazing.
Speaker 11:For run disney they've got photo stops like they cheer for you when you get off the bus if I, if I'm at port orleans riverside no, not, right, not, or sorry, french french quarter I'm in my room, I'm eating beignets or I'm in the hot tub that's my rhythm or I'm running on, I'm not doing much else. So if that's your experience of of Walt Disney world, go for it. My experience is fireworks, food, entertainment, people, celebration. That's where I really like the boardwalk area resorts particularly, and and for, if I could plug, a beach club is number one. You're getting two resorts in one. You're getting Yacht Club and Beach Club. They are one resort and you don't have to get on any other transportation, you're just walking across.
Speaker 9:And something else about Beach Club I want to bring up is you're the racer. Your spouse, your family's not racing, but they want to see you race. They don't want to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning to get on the bus five o'clock they can get up five 30, maybe stroll out to the boardwalk, watch you run by. Go back in their room, go back to bed.
Speaker 8:They're ready to go.
Speaker 6:That's a very good point, john, okay.
Speaker 8:Okay. So, john, I do agree with you on that. I think if this was my first time ever when I go big or go home, I would agree with you on the beach club, because you do have access to a resort. You could technically walk to Hollywood Studios if you wanted. There's bus transportation, there's the gondolas, technically, and all that jazz, and I think it's fantastic. But if this is not your first time and you've done this before at least three or four times, usually on a race weekend I don't go into the parks very much, so I'm going to look at the resort, because that's going to be what I'm going to be spending the most time at, probably Enjoying the beignets, like French Quarter.
Speaker 8:Or if I want to go try a different food court or whatever, I'll just walk down to Riverside and they have a giant one, or I could just take a boat ride to Disney Springs and it's a very relaxing boat ride and it's very chill and that's where if I'm hanging out with friends I'll probably end up going there than the parks, because the parks it's you could be there for you, I guess. I just don't want to be on my feet as long. So if I know I'm going to a park, I know I'm going to be on my feet for a while and I know I'm going to want to go to bed early, so for me, race weekends, I don't go to the parks that much, which is why I would choose French Quarter over Beachside.
Speaker 12:My only problem with French Quarter and I will admit I did just take to Google to see about this not all the rooms have bathtubs and some of them have shower onlys, and on a race weekend that's like a non-negotiable for me. Because of soaking feet and having that relaxing time, I have to have a bathtub. Now, some of the rooms do and you can request it, but I don't know if I would want to risk it for race weekend.
Speaker 5:So I have arguments for a couple of different things, you're so argumentative.
Speaker 12:For the top, again for Beach Club.
Speaker 5:obviously that was my choice for a couple of different things. You're so argumentative For the top, again for Beach Club. Obviously that was my choice, but, to back it up, you have all the different modes of transportation. You can walk places, you can ride the bus places, you can take the boat places. There is the Skyliner different places, so you can experience all the things. No-transcript, a lot of the transportation is the Skyliner, is it not? Yeah, and if somebody isn't fond of heights, I feel like that is a negative against it. So, yes, it is a cheaper route. However, it isn't necessarily accessible to all individuals, so I feel like that's a tick against it. And also for French Quarter all individuals. So I feel like that's a tick against it. And also with for french quarter, except for being close to disney springs, it's kind of far to get anywhere in my opinion. So those are my thoughts, I think regardless.
Speaker 12:I'm sorry, greg, but I think number five has to be poly.
Speaker 6:Well, I actually was going to suggest that because, based on the fact that we've we've waxed poetic about three resorts so far out of our top five, and not one person has mentioned poly, since I'm okay with putting poly at five- honorable mention for poly, though if you haven't stayed there at at least in the DVC, I don't I guess I haven't stayed in the regular part of the resort.
Speaker 5:Maybe it's the same, but there's two bathrooms, which is really nice, especially if you're staying with other people and you want to shower and somebody needs to go to the bathroom, or there's two showers. So I agree that it should be at the bottom, but I do like that.
Speaker 9:Polly's great. They're all great resorts.
Speaker 8:I'm going to put if I, if, if I can say this is um, I would put Coronado and Grandestino actually in fifth and put Paul Polly in fourth, because at least with um Coronado there is so much walking, it is, it's, you're in a big circle.
Speaker 6:That's a fair point. Jack, that's a fair point.
Speaker 8:If I wanted to go to the hot tub, I'm still going to walk half a mile or whatnot just to get to it and then back, and then just to get to the food court, which, honestly, is not that big of a food court anymore than what it used to be. You know what I mean.
Speaker 6:That's very sound logic, Jack, and I subscribe to it.
Speaker 12:Thank you. You just want Polly to be higher than number five, Greg.
Speaker 8:Here's what you have to say about Polly, though, is, if I'm not feeling the food court at Polly, then I could just go over to the Grand Floridian or go over to the Contemporary with a quick little monorail ride, or if I wanted to go cheer for someone that's doing, let's say, half or the full or whatever, it's a quick stop away, whereas Coronado, I mean, there's usually police like patrol in the area where you have to cross the road to really get to see everybody to cheer now and not. It's not as accessible as it used to be um good points yeah.
Speaker 8:So I would feel like if I really wanted to have a full-on, uh like weekend, I guess polynesian would be a good one, because then you also have the monorail to epcot and if you're doing the um wine and dine party, well, let me just take the monorail, then having to wait for the bus boom baby.
Speaker 6:All right, so do we have any objections to Jack's idea of Coronado 5, polly 4? Does anybody object to that?
Speaker 12:It's just so expensive. Yeah, no.
Speaker 11:What is it Welcome? To a dog On a race weekend yeah. Compared to other race experiences.
Speaker 6:Okay, all right, so it seems like we got those two locked in. I think probably. Now let's go back up to the top, because I think our one-two contenders here are Beach Club and Pop. Would I be correct in saying that?
Speaker 9:I would say so. That gives you French Quarter's number three. Yeah, Does anyone have an objection saying that? I would say so. That gives you French Quarter is number three.
Speaker 6:Yeah, does anyone have an objection with that?
Speaker 8:I do, but I'm just going to get turned down, it's okay, I mean it's all subjective, yeah, yeah correct.
Speaker 6:It's all good. It's all good, okay, all right. So even though we said we were going to go top down, we're actually going reverse down. Yeah down. We're actually going in reverse now. Yeah, we're going bottom up here. Okay, so now the end, all be all. So let's we everyone has made their arguments. Let's go around the room. Very, very quickly. Give me your number one selection between beach club and pop century. Maggie beach club. Maggie Beach Club. Beach Club. Brad Beach Club. Beach Club Lexi Beach Club. That's three, jack.
Speaker 8:If I could afford it. Beach.
Speaker 6:Club Very yeah.
Speaker 9:Bob it's Beach Club. So it's all there now, right yeah?
Speaker 4:That's four. That's four. Yeah, if Alicia's buying it's beach club. But where do I end up?
Speaker 11:I end up at pop okay, of all the race weekends, we've stayed at pop more than in the other oh yeah but I will not stay at pop during marathon weekend right never because why, always, always, a deluxe for a marathon weekend, or a power because of the hot tub.
Speaker 9:Okay, this is almost like the goat debate. It's MJ1, kobe1a, all right.
Speaker 6:And then Alicia, since this was your selection, I'm assuming you're going to go Beach Club right?
Speaker 5:I'm going to stay with Beach Club, all right, so that puts it over the top.
Speaker 6:Okay, so we did it, folks. Lots of great discussion are, are so the top five rise and run resort rankings number one, beach club. Number two, pop century. Number three, port orleans, french quarter. Number four, the polynesian. And then number five, coronado Springs, slash, grand Steno Tower. Yeah, those are all still good. So, lots of great selections. Hope that this was fun for you to listen to but also, again, maybe gives you an idea if you're waffling between a couple of resorts, when it comes to talking to your magic bound travel agent to select the best resort for your upcoming race weekend, uh, you'll have plenty of options to choose from. So, brad and maggie, thank you so much for playing along. We love uh, you know, always love chatting with you and we can't wait to see you in a upcoming race weekend and especially next april when we get on the Utopia. Glad to be here. Thanks y'all.
Speaker 10:Thanks guys.
Speaker 6:Caution Runners. The topic is about to change right now.
Speaker 4:Well, as you can see friends, lots going on, boy. We're excited to see everybody here. Good luck. Unfortunately, none of us will be out in Disneyland, but I think it's wonderful. In three weeks a lot of our friends will be together.
Speaker 4:Let me remind you, if you're going out there, that there is a meetup planned on Saturday at 2 pm. It's in the picnic area there, right in front of the entrance to Disneyland what we who are used to being in Florida would call the Magic Kingdom Disneyland. The entrance. Look at the main gate, turn left about to the 10 o'clock position. There's lockers, there's restrooms and there's an area inside the hedges called the picnic area Great place for a meetup. Hope we have great turnout. They have had great turnouts there the last couple of years and they're a lot of fun. Hey, don't forget, please, to add your names to the race report if you're running anywhere. As we've pointed out, as John pointed out last time and we pointed out before, it's a great opportunity to see if any of your other Run Disney friends or your Rise and Run friends are going to be at an event along with you. Plus, we have the legendary Rise and Run roll call that we'll be doing now in a couple of weeks for Disneyland, so you want to get your names on there.
Speaker 6:I just have a few notes that I wanted to pass along. The first is wanted to send out a big congratulations to our favorite Broadway star, cesar Samoa. This up so day after release, so this upcoming Friday, the cast recording of the latest show that he's in, just In Time, featuring Disney legend Jonathan Groff, as Bobby Darin officially releases, so you can stream it on your preferred music streaming platform, so Apple Music or Spotify. And again, what's just so cool is I think they've released two of the songs early, but it's just so cool when you go to that track listing and you just you see his name there on a couple of the songs and the fact that he is part of our community. Yeah, I think it's just an amazing, amazing thing. So, caesar, congratulations. I know the show is performing very, very well, sellouts week after week after week, so we're just, we're so immensely proud of you. So if you want to hear Caesar's Golden Pipes and you want to just listen to some really legendary music, be sure to go check out the Just In Time cast recording Next thing up.
Speaker 6:I also wanted to extend my thanks to our friends Natalie and Hannah over at the Stride Sisters podcast. They had me on their podcast that dropped this past Tuesday, so it's their latest episode, and we chatted about everything under the sun, from the Muppets to past night, past nighttime spectaculars to the green bay packers and grant I'll. I'll issue the apology now because I'm I'm getting blasted by tony on social media right now. Uh, apparently I have a terrible midwestern accent. Uh, so to the entire state of Wisconsin, I'm sorry. If you want to know why, be sure to go listen to the Stride Sisters. I promise you it is a good listen.
Speaker 6:And then the last thing I mentioned we were talking about this with John's training updates.
Speaker 6:But not only are we 21 days away from Disneyland Halloween, but we are 21 days away as well from Bird in Hand, and I know we're going to have a bunch of Rise and Runners out there. I did post this on the Rise and Run Facebook page but just in case if you missed it, we are moving forward. We are going to do our celebration dinner post-race at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. So what we're looking for right now is we're trying to get a head count to see if we qualify to get a semi-private room slash location based on the number of people that we have going, and we have to hit a certain number for that. So please fill out that Google form as quickly as possible and I'm going to call them to see if we can get that set up, and then we will pass along pricing information and how you can go about paying for that hopefully within the next week to week and a half, but we're really looking forward to seeing so many friends in just a few weeks in Lancaster County.
Speaker 4:Yeah, won't be long. It's 23 days away, greg 23 days from the, from the day that podcast releases until we're together. It's the same weekend as Disneyland Halloween race.
Speaker 9:And I think, if you still want to get involved, registrations up till the 28th or 29th of August. So you got to get in. I think if you wanted a guaranteed shirt, it was today. I think that they were recording. But for the 29th you got to register.
Speaker 4:Good, yeah, looking forward to seeing a lot of friends there. That'll be great. Hey, one more note Our friend Chris Turner and there are two Chris Turners that listen to the podcast, cc Turner, the fellow who does a lot of pacing at Disneyland, disney World he's running a raffle to raise money for a runner's mental health organization. They're raffling off a three-month customized training plan membership. So that's on the Facebook group page. You want to take a look at that? That's a worthy cause.
Speaker 4:We've had a good response to our fantasy football league, so we're going to have, for sure, three leagues, possibly more. We will have at least one league that is no fee involved in it and I'm going to cut off the form. The registration form is on the Facebook group at the top in the featured section. I'm going to cut that off Friday night and then contact the league commissioners. And we've had enough people volunteer. I think we've had four volunteers, so we're in good shape there. That'll give them a week to get things organized and then a week to do the draft, and then September 4th rolls around and we are off and running. So that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. I haven't played fantasy football in years, so I am looking forward to that. I haven't played fantasy football in years, so I am looking forward to it. And now Please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report.
Speaker 4:Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas. Race report. Sponsored by our friend Thomas Stokes at Stoked Metabolic Training, the summer challenge is well underway. In fact it's nearing its completion. A lot of good activity on the Zoom calls for that. With Tom. He prepares nightly for a presentation. He does a really nice job, very worthwhile. Of course, that's kind of gone Now. His individual coaching is still available. His group coaching and his one-on-one coaching are both available. Stokesfit slash Rise and Run Coaching is the website, so check that out. Really worthwhile. Let's start the race report on Tuesday. Oh, my goodness, that's a couple days ago. Hop on our Mandalorian and talk about week seven for the Angry Chicken Series.
Speaker 4:Another Angry Chicken race in Lowell, massachusetts. Sophie and Audrey were there. The weather was great and they got freeze pops at the end. This time they went with the pink flavor. I didn't know pink was a flavor. I thought pink was like a color you know. Anyway, picture you know the pink flavor in your mind 60-30 intervals a little bit faster. Know the pink flavor in your mind, 60-30 intervals a little bit faster than the last time they did it. So for Audrey, this is a new 2.62-mile PR. I love the distance they chose for that race One-tenth of a marathon.
Speaker 6:Pretty cool. Well, you got to remember, bob. You and I ran a quarter of a marathon, quarter marathon yeah, I've seen other quarter marathons.
Speaker 4:There are not a lot of them, but I've seen a couple.
Speaker 9:I looked this series up. When I saw that name and it's a 2.62 race, I go oh, it's got to be a 10 race series. No, it's 8. Why would you not just put two more races? On this thing. I don't know. You know, make it. You know, a full marathon in 10 weeks.
Speaker 4:Well, the chicken can't do it. I guess John the angry chicken gets tired. I don't know.
Speaker 6:Well, that chicken's going to be at bird in hand, I think.
Speaker 4:Yeah it's go to Wednesday. Our buddy, andy, over in the UK at Newcastle Did the Newcastle K-Side 10K. The roller coaster of running YouTube video on this is worth watching. Check it out. For Andy, roller coaster of running, beautiful run along the River Tyne. He finished this one in under 60 minutes. Not a PR, but that's a good run. 60 minutes is a good benchmark for 10Ks Fastest one in a while for Andy. Andy's on his way over stateside here. In a couple weeks he's going to be at Disney World with the family. I hope we get a chance to see him there.
Speaker 4:On Thursday we had the inaugural BAA, boston Athletic Association, carson Beach Shoreline 5K. Jake was there Quick out and back along the shoreline on a beautiful Thursday evening. He gave it all he had Finished at 26 minutes 28 seconds, an excellent 5k time. Jake Felt great afterward Great race. He's going to be back at this one next year, for sure. Also on Thursday Rob did his first trail race, the Thursday night hustle number 10 at Mount Von Hovenberg. I failed to note where Mount Von Hovenberg is. Does that sound familiar to anyone? I'm thinking New York, but I could be wrong, sorry, rob. Anyway, first trail race, a lot of fun, a little more challenging than he expected, learned a lesson Always pay close attention to the trail markings. A fellow runner and he missed a turn somewhere along the way and ended up cutting the race short by about half a mile. Okay, maybe Rob says he needs to just run fast enough to keep up with the folks in front of him. Gang, you ever gotten lost on a measured course? I did one time.
Speaker 8:Not for long, but it wasn't cutting off time, it was adding more.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got. I briefly got lost when I ran the Rehoboth Beach Marathon a couple of years ago. We were running through the state park system, that's, along one of the beaches and just lots of intersecting trails, and either I just wasn't paying attention or it was marked wrong and I think, in theory, I only added on a quarter of a mile, so it wasn't terrible, but at the same time it was extremely frustrating and it was pouring down rain.
Speaker 4:So that didn't really help my mood either, but yeah, that was the only time for me I did a seven mile 5K, one time in Nashville. Tennessee, oh I remember you telling us about that. Yeah, very frustrating. I wasn't the only one, there were eight or 10 of us. The course wasn't marked.
Speaker 9:All right, and Mount Van Hovenberg is in upstate New York by Lake Placid. Okay.
Speaker 4:Okay, thanks, john.
Speaker 9:It sounded familiar to me it did sound familiar.
Speaker 4:I thought it was New York. That's great, thank you. Moving to Saturday and Maple Grove, minnesota, the baby backyard 50K. Melissa did this. Melissa's an ultra-marathoner now and she's here in the Race Report Spotlight to tell us all about it. Hiya, melissa, how you doing.
Speaker 7:Hello, doing good, still recovering since Saturday.
Speaker 4:Are you?
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's only been 48 hours, or yeah, that's about right 48, 72.
Speaker 7:Yeah, anyway, I got in a walk this morning, so I'll start to get away on the turn.
Speaker 4:Active recovery. Very good. Well, Melissa, thanks for joining us. We're so happy that you're here. I'm going to start with race report spotlight question number one Melissa, how did you get started running?
Speaker 7:Well, it's a long time ago, I actually was a competitive swimmer, melissa you're too young for a long time ago.
Speaker 4:All right, a while back. We'll call it a while back, okay, yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah, well, that's part of the story, because I did hit 50 this year, so it is a long time ago. I was a competitive swimmer. I actually did my first half marathon back in 2005. So about 20 years ago and then just kind of hung around some 5Ks and 10Ks every once in a while. And then 2023 rolled around and I thought I'm getting close to 50 and marathons on that bucket list. I'd love to do a marathon sometime. So I managed to convince two friends to do the Disney marathon in 2024. And, of course, couldn't stop there and we just went right to Dopey. So Dopey in 2024.
Speaker 7:So first marathon that I had done, so went through all that training and then of course I couldn't stop there. I needed to do coast to coast. Once I did Dopey, so I ran the Halloween in Disneyland and the hundred and some heat and I remember yeah, I said hi to you, bob, on the half, While we were yes ma'am. Yeah, while we were there, it was a hot one as you ran past me, of course.
Speaker 7:Yeah, no, I was actually listening to you, listening to the podcast. I often listen to it and I told you. I said I'm listening to you while I'm running right by you.
Speaker 4:It is funny that happens a lot and it's to.
Speaker 7:So there you go, and then you know Alicia's with us for the spotlight tonight and you're working with her now, right, yeah, so I ended up. I knew I was going to be going into this 50K for the first time and I'm also going to be doing the Twin Cities Marathon in October and I've got a big trip celebrating my 50th in between. So really needed some help on figuring out like what my distances needed to be, how I should kind of increase that, do strengthening. So Alicia has been super helpful, kind of keeping me. I haven't had any injuries.
Speaker 7:I'll keep my fingers crossed through this entire training time which I had injuries for Dopey. I had injuries for Halloween, so I'm really excited that I've been feeling good so far.
Speaker 5:You've been working really hard.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's great, Alicia. You need to tell me your secret on that. That's super, yeah, fantastic. Secret number one is don't get real old. Well, that's terrific. So you knocked out your first ultra. Tell us about it, please.
Speaker 7:Yep. So we did the baby backyard 50K. It was at a park reserve up in Maple Grove, so that should have been my first sign that it was going to be heavy trail running. But I think I was just kind of ignoring that. I mostly train on roads, not on trails. But I assumed it would be packed down and everything would be good to go.
Speaker 7:But little did I know that it was going to be a thunderstorm on our drive over, so about 45 minutes of storming, and by the time we got there it was still dark and it was wet and we were starting at 6 am, so a little bit difficult. It was for a really nice organization. They are a nonprofit that raised funds for patients and families who are experiencing life-changing medical conditions, so really great cause that we did it, for it's my first time doing it and I was doing it because I turned 50 in July and I was doing it with one of my friends who I did Dopey with, and we were doing a 50K in our 50th year. So that's.
Speaker 4:that's a neat celebration. Yeah, I think it's also great and you've mentioned it twice now that you have friends to train and to run with. What a big difference that makes, right.
Speaker 7:Oh it was. It meant everything. She, my good friend. She's a college roommate of mine, kathy, and she is a trail runner. She's actually going to be doing a rim to rim or rim to river, depending on how the conditions are in the Grand Canyon, and so she got me through pretty much the first eight laps. I was ready to be done on lap one, which is kind of scary. We ended up. It was a 5k lap that you had to do 10 times, 10 times.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yep, that you always kind of came back to the main area and you would do your little tick on the side of a trailer and then you'd get some nourishment and then head back out. And when we were in the dark at 6 am and my foot sank into that first big mud puddle, I looked at her and once we got through a couple of the hills I said I don't know that I can do this. And she got me through.
Speaker 4:Good, good, but you could, yeah, that's, yeah, that muck just, and it feels like it's going to suck your shoe off.
Speaker 7:It did, oh it did suck our shoes off a couple of times. Only with some of the heels. I think it was just a really big physical and mental challenge because you really had to pay attention not to get injured through it as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it is too a mental challenge 50K and you're doing those laps over and over again. Yeah, that's a mental challenge. 50k and you're doing those laps over and over again. Yeah, that's a mental challenge, so good on you.
Speaker 5:I was really proud of you, mel, because you came to me a couple weeks ago and said hey, instead of doing this on our own, we decided that we're going to do this race, and so to go from road running to this trail was a big difference, and to do that with the horrible weather that we had and all that muck was not very fun, but I am very proud of you for finishing it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, thank you. It was really well organized. Thankfully, it was really nice to be able to come back and see all these smiling faces and other roadrunners people both experienced and not experienced road runners people both experienced and not experienced. We ended up, I believe out of 140 runners that ran, we ended up with about 47 that completed the 50K and 17 of those were first time 50K. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 7:Yeah, especially given the conditions, that was really, really exciting because we ended up, we did, the conditions did improve as we went and then, unfortunately, about lap five or six, it rained again, so then things got bad again. So again it was another kind of pull up the bootstraps and reset and try to finish to the end.
Speaker 4:Embrace the suck. Yeah, now, in a race like this, I think one of the good things is you don't have to carry a lot of stuff with you. You're never more than a 5k away from, well, from your home base, and yeah, that's a nice that did the uh? Did you provide all your own support, or did the race directors provide some support also?
Speaker 7:No, they provided a large chunk of the support. There was a lot of things donated. We have, uh, an organization or a company called Johnny Pops, uh, here in Minnesota and they provided, donated, a whole bunch of popsicles and they had the race director made his own banana pancakes which were fantastic. I did a nice banana pancake nutter butter sandwich, oh nice. So, yeah, we really we just had to bring I still brought my vest to have some things to carry, but I really and I had some of my electrolytes and cards in there. But yeah, just as you said, we could come back and we usually have time to take about a five, 10 minute, eat some food, do what we need to do, kind of cover some blisters and get back out there.
Speaker 4:You could even change those shoes if you needed to.
Speaker 7:Yeah, we just said we actually left. We left our shoes and socks intact. It was kind of a maybe you don't touch and maybe you won't disturb.
Speaker 4:Okay, what's going on? Yeah, that's it. There was a major clean off.
Speaker 7:I like had to hose them down the day we got back and I actually just threw in the laundry today to kind of take that second step at getting them cleaned up.
Speaker 4:Good deal, melissa, I'm going to step away from this race for a minute because you turned me on to the charity that we spoke to just last week, the National Marrow Donor Program, and you are active with that group also, are you not?
Speaker 7:Yes, I am. Yeah, I've been working for the organization for about six years. They actually started doing the charity bibs in 2024 when I ran the marathon, so I was lucky enough to get a registration in before I saw the charity bibs. So I did not join doing the charity team for that race, but I did for Halloween. So I actually raised funds and did a charity bib for that. They also do bibs for things like our Twin City Marathon and Grandma's Marathon as well, so I love working for the organization. I'm so excited that you guys are able to feature them as well.
Speaker 4:What do you do for them, Melissa?
Speaker 7:Yeah, I actually train the people that talk with the volunteer donors. So they talk with someone who's joined the registry and when they come up as a match they reach out to them to see if they're still interested in donating and if they would be willing to go on for some additional testing to determine if they're the best match for that patient looking for a donation for a donation, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I made a very emphatic point of last week how important this is and how, if our friends want, to get involved.
Speaker 9:It's a great thing. So, Melissa, what do you have up next? Anything running Disney-wise? I know you're doing the Twin City Marathons Anything Disney-wise.
Speaker 7:Not signed up, but we have wine and dine always in the conversation and we're kind of throwing that around. So maybe 2026, maybe 2027. So hopefully that coming up where, like you said, I'm going to be doing the Twin Cities Marathon and I've actually I've gotten a room. We haven't signed up yet, but hoping to do something at Grandma's Marathon, which is another big marathon here in Minnesota. When is that? Next year, yeah, next year.
Speaker 7:Might be the half or the full, but doing that with my dopey and my 50k pal once again. So we're going to team up for another one and hopefully the two ladies that did the dopey with me. That's what we're hoping to do A little wine and dine, do a little epcot. Uh celebration, get some more fun uh, in there.
Speaker 4:Well, we would look forward to seeing you there, and that grandma's is a great one. I've never been there, I'm not likely to make it, but I read so many great things about it, so I wish you luck. Well, melissa, thanks for joining us. The back hey, how did that race get named? The backyard, the baby backyard?
Speaker 7:I think the baby was for the raising money for children. The backyard was. This is actually the first year they've done it not in a neighborhood, so it used to be a road and they had like a 5K mapped out in their neighborhood.
Speaker 4:And now it's backyards.
Speaker 7:Like I think it's the old size, I think they were like 70 or 80. And now this year they opened up 150 registrations.
Speaker 4:Very good. Well, thank you, my friend, yeah thank you very much. Congratulations on your ultra PR. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in the future. All right, thank you, guys have a good night, all right.
Speaker 4:Continuing on Saturday in Houston, the Houston running company watermelon dash 5k. We already know Brandy was there cause she introduced the episode. Jennifer was there too today, for Jennifer, this one was about running with friends, brandy submitting her 23rd race report of the year. That's pretty good 23 races, that's impressive. Brandy, smart enough to stick with the 5K this time. Apparently he had a 10K also, so this one was kind of easy. Still kind of warm in Houston this time of year. Race organizers had a shipping issue, so no medals. That's the second week in a row we've heard about a race that had no medals. Yeah, they did have watermelon, though Brandi was wearing a piece on top of her head. Did you see that?
Speaker 9:Okay, I got a question about watermelon. Do you like this new seedless watermelon or do you like the old seeds, bob?
Speaker 4:John, all I can get anymore is seedless. I don't see the old one anymore. When we live in Alabama we lived there for a long time I get watermelon. I might eat it out back, you know, and you'd spit the seeds. That was always fun.
Speaker 9:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I had watermelon growing back there one time. Oh yeah, I really did. One of those seeds took root and we had a watermelon that grew there. All right, let's continue on. Our friend Megan was in New York for the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K. Megan and Allison were also there, had a great time. Big up and wonderful down hills, megan says. Probably her favorite New York Roadrunners race In Akron Ohio, the Akron Goodyear Half Marathon. Laurie was there. You start on the Goodyear test track, run past the Goodyear World Headquarters, past the Goodyear blimp hangar. There's a theme here, gang you getting it had something to do with Goodyear.
Speaker 8:I've looked into that race before.
Speaker 4:That's probably a good one. It was a good year. I know that For Lori half number 160.
Speaker 5:That's a lot of half marathon.
Speaker 4:That's amazing yeah, 11 months post. Knee replacement for Lori. She's doing really well. Uh, great race. Akron puts on a great race, well organized, a lot of water stops, misting stations they help on hot days.
Speaker 9:Swenson's hamburgers I'm not familiar with Swenson's Hamburgers Is that something big in Ohio, I guess it is Check.
Speaker 8:I've never heard of them.
Speaker 4:Then it must be not that big Well it's probably good, and you had ice cream and beer or pop at the finish. Now that's an interesting question Is it pop or is it soda? Kids, it's soda.
Speaker 6:But I say soda because most people when I said most of the country does yeah but what's crazy, though, is that even within the state of pennsylvania though, I feel like that's where the dividing line starts yeah because I would say middle to the eastern part of pennsylvania says soda, but then once you start creeping out into the Pittsburgh area they start saying pop. So maybe that's the soda Mason Dixon line.
Speaker 4:I lived in Massachusetts in the eighties and it wasn't. Either it was tonic or, more specifically, tonic Tonic. You'd order a tonic. I mean.
Speaker 6:I've also heard instead of no one saying pop, they just like use Coke.
Speaker 4:Coke In general for any soda. Yeah, what kind of Coke do you want? Yeah, I'll have a 7-Up Coke.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I got to admit I am a Diet Coke slash Coke Zero stan, and nothing is more disheartening in the world when you go to a restaurant and you order a Diet Coke and then they look at you dead in the eye and they're like is Pepsi okay?
Speaker 10:No.
Speaker 6:Pepsi is not okay, all right.
Speaker 4:All right. The other thing I remember about living in Massachusetts is you didn't want to order a milkshake, you would order a frap.
Speaker 6:Okay, yeah, want to order a milkshake. You would order?
Speaker 4:a frap. Okay yeah, if you order a frap, you got what the rest of the world called a milkshake. If you ordered a milkshake in Massachusetts, you got like Nestle's quick or something. Leslie was also at that race in Akron. Let's look, we got a summer sizzler Series in Nashville. Amy was there for the 10K. Hopefully she didn't get lost like I did in Nashville many years ago In Schnecksville, pennsylvania.
Speaker 4:Good job, bob, I was about ready to help you out with that one. Oh no, terry and Michael did the Lehigh Valley Zoo Run Wild 5K or 10K. Michael did the Lehigh Valley Zoo Run Zoo Run Wild 5K or 10K. Michael did the 10K, which had about 350 feet of climb over the one and one-third miles, followed by a precipitous downhill.
Speaker 6:I was going to say when I used to go there as a kid it was called a game that that not great. When I used to go there as a kid it was the. Uh, it was called a game preserve, not a zoo but, I, have many memories of going there as a kid, and that being very, very hilly, so to have a terrain A few shorter, still challenging climbs.
Speaker 4:Terry managed to beat her previous 5K time by five minutes and Michael held his own, finishing second in his age group. That's terrific. Way to go, great Good job.
Speaker 6:Hope he's celebrating with a Yakko's hot dog afterwards. Ah.
Speaker 4:All right, not familiar, but it must be important.
Speaker 6:I'll make sure to bring some to Bernhand for you, Bob.
Speaker 4:All right. Glada was in Beulah, michigan, for the Crystal Lake Team Marathon Relay. I didn't hear anything about that. Maybe we will in the future. Jimmy was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for the Pigeon Forge Midnight 8K. He wore his Rise and Run shirt. One person asked him if he was a math teacher.
Speaker 9:I kind of understand.
Speaker 4:I had that same thing happen at Disney. Yep, you must teach math. And the funny thing was, I used to right, I used to teach statistics. So I funny thing was, I used to right, I used to teach statistics. So I'm looking, I'm going, yeah, how'd you know? She looks at the shirt and says, well, rise and run, okay, it's rise over, run mathematically, yeah, not rise and run Tactically, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 9:Anyway, it's like, yeah, that's what I was saying.
Speaker 4:It's like rise over, run for roofing and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, the slope of the uh, yeah, so the pitch of the roof, yeah, that's the formula for the soap of the line. Anyway, jimmy said, uh, he didn't, didn't PR anything, but he had fun running with his friends. Kate did the Swifty fun run 10 K in St Louis. She's training for the fairy tale challenge next year, working on her 10k time and improved by 36 seconds to just a touch over one hour six minutes during the race. Good time on that, kate. Hour six for a 10k, that's solid. That's good enough to win your age group. Way to go, kate, congratulations I?
Speaker 6:I do want to apologize. We actually had taylor swift lined up uh join us here this week on the podcast but, then, at the last minute. For some reason she decided to go on her boyfriend's podcast and drop an album.
Speaker 2:She was supposed to do that on ours fair weather friend. Yeah, so weather friend.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so we're going to have to put out a letter to her lawyer or something.
Speaker 9:But the reason was we didn't want to wait until 12-12.
Speaker 4:That's true. That's very true. Let's finish up Saturday in Cincinnati for the FC Cincinnati Three-Miler. That's for the football club soccer team Julie ran it, emmy worked it Football club Cincinnati celebrating their 10th anniversary. This is part of the Flying Pig series of races. Race started at the original pitch at the University of Cincinnati Stadium I was going to say UC University of Cincinnati Stadium and then mostly downhill to the FC Current Stadium. Event finished with a cute medal and snacks, including pizza. Cincinnati races don't just have pizza. They also, in this one, had Skyline Chili.
Speaker 8:Yeah, they did.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we get that here in Florida too. Really, yeah, a place in Clearwater yeah, not did. Yeah, we get that here in Florida too. Really yeah, a place in Clearwater. Yeah, not far from here. So next time you're by Jack, we can go get some Coney's or some spaghetti four-ways, however you like.
Speaker 4:There was a weekend event in Norfolk, england, the Sandringham 24. Amy did it 24-hour event. Haven't heard anything from Amy on that. Hope that went well.
Speaker 4:Kayla and Mary Jo were both at the Cool Summer Mornings Summer Series Race 3 out of 4 in Claremont Florida. I always have to explain summer is spelled S-O-M-M-E-R here. Let's see. Kayla got a surprise guest, said they, they. They got a surprise guest visit from John Pelkey who was announcing the swim portion of the triathlon and the awards. Kayla took it slowly and steady so as not to cause injury. She did see a medical incident on the course which reminded her of the importance of safety. We see that every now and then, unfortunately. I hope that all worked out well.
Speaker 4:Mary Jo was there. She missed race number two in the series so she picked up on number three, ran an eight mile training run the day before, followed by some Magic Kingdom Park time with her friends. So she's kind of tired for this one, but even on tired legs she decided she'd push it a little bit, looking for a PR, which is kind of interesting because she's not really sure what her PR time is, but regardless she's pretty sure she didn't make it really sure what her PR time is, but regardless she's pretty sure she didn't make it. Still, though, hey, fastest 5k since 2019. So, mary Jo, that's great. Congratulations for that. Let's see.
Speaker 4:In Seward Park in Seattle Washington, the Sunday run day Sunday spelled like the ice cream treat. This is a 5k. Lace did this one with her mom, lisa and her son, leon. So much fun to complete this as a family. That's really great, especially getting to enjoy a bowl of ice cream at the end. Lace says strawberry is the best ice cream flavor. Case closed. Hey, leon, buddy, congratulations. Leon PR'd his 5K by two minutes. So, leon, this PR bell is for you.
Speaker 6:Awesome work.
Speaker 4:Our friend Tara did the 10K in Brockville, ontario. The Somersault, thousand Island Triathlons and runs, all sorts of things going on, different combos of swimming, biking and running. The best part of the 10K, says Tara, was a 500 meter long train tunnel that they went through. It was cool for temperature, cool to look at, they had lights, they had music inside. Unfortunately there was a hill at the end you had to run up and then down. Now this is a loop course for the 10K. She did this thing four times, which meant going in and out of the tunnel eight times. No PR for Tara, but she was pleased. Just a little over an hour hour and two minutes for this 10K Running through tunnels. Here's what I hate about running through tunnels. Everybody wants to scream in the tunnel. Please stop. Get so daggum loud. All right, let's go to quebec for the demi marathon de vignobles in san paul, debatford. That's the best I can do, karen. I hope I didn't butcher it too badly.
Speaker 4:This is a half through winery, half marathon through wineries, potato fields and cornfields Warm in Quebec. So she slowed down, walked, drank as much as she could, Couldn't wait to get to the next water station. Tough one mentally Found some people to cheer and push along the last few kilometers and ended up helping a fellow runner finish strong. That was her favorite part. That is fun. I enjoy that too. Hey, in Cape May, courthouse, new Jersey, the Jersey Shore Summer 10K, kathy did it. Poor signage on the course so she ran a mile over the 10K distance and now she can't use this time for POT proof of time. That's too bad. But the good news is, despite running a mile over, still finished first place in her age group. Didn't have her Disney theme outfits so she went with a great looking Philadelphia Phillies outfit and made a friend while she was running doing the run walk run method. And we wrap up the race report.
Speaker 4:In Jewett, pennsylvania, at the, it's either Kinsua or Kinsua Bridge Challenge 10K, mike did it, not as good as he wanted to do, but he did finish. Had to run 13 and a half miles a day before for his Wine and Dine Challenge training. So hey, mike, you do a 13 and a half on one day and then a 10K on the next and you finish. Good for you. You're a winner that way. Congratulations. Congratulations everybody, great job. All right, friends. That's it for episode 203. We hope you enjoyed it. We had a good time on this one. This is a Zoom weekend I'm sorry, weekend. Where'd that come from?
Speaker 9:We used to have them on the weekends once in a while.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's been a while. When the weather cools off, I may try it again. I may try it again because our friends over in Europe really can't join us at the time that we have them. So once it cools off just a little bit here, I can sit outside at three in the afternoon. We may have some weekend Zoom calls again. Meanwhile it's a Zoom Thursday, so the day this releases will be on Zoom. Instructions on how to log in will be in the Facebook group. Oh gosh, it's still hot in a lot of the country, but I think the worst may be behind us. You never know. Hang in there, keep going, remember what you're building for, keep the goal in mind, the finish line. Do well, have fun.
Speaker 6:Happy running. 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.
Speaker 1:From start to the run Together. We shine like the morning sun.
Speaker 2:Rise and run, we rise and run, we rise and run.
