Rise and Run
Rise and Run
210: Inside the World of Disney Adults: A Conversation With AJ Wolfe
This week we bring all of it together—training breakthroughs, fandom debates, and the power of community—with NYT bestselling author AJ Wolfe, the voice behind Disney Food Blog and AllEars. We dig into her book Disney Adults asking why the label sparks so much heat online, and how subcultures like DisneyBounding, Dapper Days, and RunDisney become places people actually live. AJ doesn’t sugarcoat it: the same fans who keep the parks humming can be a pain for the company—and each other—yet they’re also the first to show up with support, charity dollars, and creative traditions that make the magic feel personal.
We keep it real on training, too. Greg crushes his magic half mile and stares down faster paces; Alysha returns stronger after injury thanks to strength and consistency; and Bob talks honestly about listening to your body, walking long runs, and knowing the difference between “owie” and injury.
Our Wine & Dine merch take is practical—smart layers beat closet clutter—and AJ drops festival strategy: weekday mornings, skip the worst lines, and aim for raclette, poutine, and solid plant-based picks. We also spotlight the Parkinson’s Foundation: how to grab charity bibs, the perks you get, and fundraising tactics that actually work (start early, share your why, leverage matching gifts, and thank like you mean it).
The race report brings the color: a hot Berlin Marathon with slick water stops, booming spectators, and even an inline marathon flying past; humid Florida miles with thin hydration but top-tier vibes; stadium hills, muddy dog runs, and a squawking chicken medal you need to see to believe. Episode 210 is a full plate of running, Disney culture, and community wins—proof that better training, better races, and better trips all start with better questions.
If this episode made you think, laugh, or plan your next finish line, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. What did we get right about Disney adults—and what did we miss?
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Hey, friends. Welcome to the Rise and Run podcast. I am on the way home from my first 50K in Pensacola, Florida, and I just wanted to encourage everybody to say that you can always do it. And I thank my Rise and Run family for getting me here today.
SPEAKER_09:Thank y'all and happy running. That, my friends, was Ashley. Ashley joined us after her first 50K in Pensacola, Florida, a couple of weeks ago. Thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to do that and send us that intro. We appreciate you and we appreciate you, my friends. We're glad you're here and welcome to episode 210 of the Rise and Run Podcast. I'm Bob. I'm here this week with Greg. Hey, hey, hey. I had to look twice because it said Bob, but it's Craig. Inside Story Friends. Alicia. Hello. Jack. Hiya. And John. Hey, how are you doing? I'm doing good, John. Thank you for asking. I appreciate that. Hey, friends, this week, interesting, fun, and entertaining guest, AJ Wolf. AJ recently wrote a book. Maybe you've heard of it. She's the author of Disney Adults. We take a deep dive into that. And we also talk to AJ about her Disney food blog. In the race report spotlight, it finally came about. We're talking with our friends who did the Berlin Marathon a couple of weeks ago. And because we're at the first of the month or close to it, this is the first podcast of October. We highlight another charity, in this case, the Parkinson's Foundation. Our friend Andrea joined us to tell us about that worthy cause.
SPEAKER_11:If you enjoy the Rise and Run Podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. So please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and RunPodcast.com. If you guys have any questions, comments, race reports, or just want to introduce an upcoming episode, go ahead and call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.
SPEAKER_07:We also want to thank our patrons whose support helps keep the Rise and Run Podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check out patreon.com slash rise and run podcast.
SPEAKER_09:Thank you, Jack. You talked about the YouTube channel. Anything new there?
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, we'll be having an episode coming out on Saturday. And guess what? It's all about vacation races. Oh, if you guys are interested in that or want to learn more about them, it's going to be a fun video. I'm very excited, and I can't wait to share it.
SPEAKER_09:We've had a couple people do them recently, and of course, we featured them on an episode a little while back. Sounds like fun.
SPEAKER_01:The Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our friends over at Magic Bound Travel. And I think it was a pretty busy day for the agents over there because Disney announced a whole bunch of discounts this past week. And uh, John, you were telling us a story just before we recorded about you were able to save some money on your room for springtime surprise. Uh, it looks like uh there's some room discounts uh that span from the end of February through the end of April. So if you're looking to maybe save even more money on your race recations during Princess Weekend or Springtime Surprise, be sure to contact your agent over at Magic Bound Travel. They can get you that no obligation quote. Or if you already have a reservation booked with them, they could always rebook you potentially into one of these packages to save you uh some dough that you know maybe could get put towards uh a future Run Disney race cation. So again, visit magicbound travel.com for all of your Disney and Rundisney travel planning needs.
SPEAKER_09:Thank you, Greg. All right, my friends, let's take a look at the training schedule. Wine weekend three weeks away, three weeks from today is Expo Day. Are you getting excited? I'm excited. I'm excited. I always think back, and I try to put myself in the shoes of our friends who are doing this as their first Run Disney race. And this is an exciting time. Now, right now, you're in week 15, so you've got four miles with a magic mile on your training schedule. Next week, you'll have your last long training run for wine and dine, and then once you put that one to bed, you'll know you can do it, and it's time for the victory lap. So I hope I hope you're excited. I know we are we're excited to see everybody again, but let me let me move on with the training schedule before I get you know too excited. All right, marathon weekend 14 weeks away. We're in training week 14. Numbers are piling up. We knew that they would. Here we go. If you're doing the dopey or goofy challenge, you're doubling up with five and a half miles followed by 15 miles. Five and a half walk, 15 run walk, if you're doing the marathon, 15 miles. And ta-da! We add this week the Disneyland half marathon weekend. This is the first week of training for that event. In fact, training started on the day we recorded Tuesday. Most folks do Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. But it is this week. This is the first week of training, so you have as a long run this weekend, it's three miles. Let's see, when does the next one start? Princess doesn't start till the end of October, so we got about four weeks before that training starts. And the other thing, I'm looking at advanced dining reservations, and nothing coming up now until November. Uh let's see. Oh, you know, we're only um we're only 200 days away from sailing on our first ever Rise and Run cruise. No way.
SPEAKER_11:Wow, very crazy.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I I just saw everyone celebrating that we're under 100 days to Dopey. Now the fact that we're 200 from the cruise, that that's wild.
SPEAKER_09:It's actually, and again, I always base this on Thursdays, actually 201. But come on, you know, I'm I'm going with the round number while we're here recording. 200 days. Yeah, we're getting here, kids. All right. So we talk about training, we talk about the numbers. Let's talk about how your training's going. Greg, how's your training going?
SPEAKER_01:My training is going fantastically, and it's an exciting time. So this uh this past weekend, I had uh five miles with a magic mile. So I got to my local track, and it was for some reason, again, you know, even though we're in October now, it you know, there are days here where it still feels like summer and it kind of feels soupy. So I was gonna I was waffling between if I wanted to do a magic mile or a magic half mile. And after my warm-up and like the first lap of the magic mile, I decided, you know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna cut this at two and get the half mile, help keep my data consistent because the last couple times I've done this, I've done this as a half mile. And I always hold my breath when I hit the lap button because I'm always curious as to how it's going to compare to the last time. And I remember when I did two magic miles ago, I the whole time I'm running it, I'm like, oh, I'm smashing this and I'm gonna get all these new paces. I know the fish. And then I looked down and it was literally the exact same time. So I was like, well, yeah, yeah. So I mean, great, not that there's anything wrong with that. No, there's not. So I I was trying to temper expectations for this one, and again, it was a magic half mile. And when I compared my stats uh when I was done with the five miles, and I I went back through my my watch app to try and find the last time I did this, I improved by 15 seconds on the magic half mile. In the half, yeah. In the half, correct. And so I was jubilant. I was like Elton John, I was a rocket man, I was an astronaut, I was up in cloud nine, I I was like, this is amazing. This weight loss journey has been amazing, this running journey has been amazing, and then realization said in holy crap, I'm gonna get even faster paces now. And and that is borderline terrifying. Yes, it's good.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, no, it's good, it's good. You're doing a wonderful job.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Bob. But I will say conversely, though, even though it does terrify me, I have been on this podcast now for weeks saying that you know I'm like dealing with this quasi imposter syndrome because you know, how am I gonna be able to maintain this? And I think this is the week where I gotta tell my monkey brain to to shut the heck up because I have proof in the pudding now that yes, I can, at least at shorter distances, be able to do this and be and be successful in it. Yeah. So I took that excitement, I took that jubilation, um, and I went out and I registered for a race today. Initially, I was looking for 10k, like I talked about last week, to try and get that POT, and I couldn't find anything super appealing. I found one, but when I looked at last year's results, it had like a total of like 150 people at it. And I wanted something, you know, a little bit more of a beefier race and have those you know, built-in like phantom pacers with you, you know, on the course and such that you know to help motivate you. And then as I was doing my search, I found a race that I had done years and years ago. I'd done in the past, but it's been a long while, and today I signed up for the Rocky run that happens here in Philadelphia. Yes. So uh what's cool about the Rocky Run, when I first did I did the inaugural year and it was just a 10K, and for the longest time, that race was actually my 10k PR, but now they've adjusted the the event to the extent where now it's two events. There's a 5k that happens first, and then they do a 10 miler, or you can do both events and they call it the Italian Stallion Challenge, which I think is really cool. But I decided for this case, I'm gonna do just the 10 miler so that way I can, thanks to our friend Amanda over at Once Upon a Marathon, I looked at her graphic, I saw the time that is the quote unquote unofficial 10 mile time to get the POT that is the the two and a half hour or five-hour marathon equivalent. And so between the new paces that I got from Coach Twiggs and the estimated finish time, and that time, I get like a 16-minute buffer. So that that just has me jazzed that you know maybe I can get something locked in and have a great POT for two years. So knock on wood that uh that I get that. But yeah, I'm just over the moon. Uh, just so thrilled. And and before I finish up on this little soliloquy here, uh, I just want to go and thank uh not only the Rise of Run community because everyone has been very supportive of me in my journeys uh here in 2025, but uh a special shout out to the Galloway customized uh community. When I shared this news on the coaching call today, the the shock and awe and happiness in Coach Twiggs' eyes was awesome. It it just made me feel so good. And then everyone else that was still in that call and you know leaving encouraging messages in the Zoom chat, or people who were sending me Facebook messages or text messages, you know, just congratulating me and telling how proud I was. And you know, we even had someone saying that I was now their inspiration. I was on the verge of tears this morning. You know, they they never came out, but I I was I was close, and um, it just goes to show how special all of these communities are and how much they mean to me. And I just wanted to take some more time to just extend that. Thanks.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, this well, first of all, great job. Secondly, uh I'm a little upset with you because I used to be able to run with you now. I uh and um but back in the day, I'll go back a couple years, I was at about those times myself, and I will tell you that the Galloway pacer, the Galloway calculator uh for me was really accurate. Up up to up to about a half marathon. I think uh you know, I'm a bigger guy, you're a bigger guy, although you're getting smaller. Uh I think that those longer distances it doesn't equate right as quite as well. Uh and I'm talking full marathon. The other thing amused me today is that when everybody was trying to do the math and figure out what your time was, everybody they're doubling a number and coming up with an odd number. And I'm going, you if you multiply something times two, it's going to be an even number. It has to be. Oh, I think it's 803. No, it's 807. No, we figured it out. Uh, but congratulations, Greg. That's great. Keep it up. You know, if you I get it in that this is uh new territory for you, but I'm confident that these numbers are right. They work, they've been proven over years. And I think you're gonna I think you're gonna do great and have a great proof of time, and then you'll have to wait for me at the end of the race. You owe me that, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:I do, I do owe you that. Absolutely, I do.
SPEAKER_07:So I've been kind of in a similar place of this imposter syndrome with my paces recently. Um, having taken those two months off with having hurt my back, um I really focused on doing a lot of strength training for my legs and doing um that um yoga and and really rehabilitating my body. And when I came back into running, I happened to be faster. I I didn't really do anything different. Um and at first I was like, okay, it's just coming back in. And I've consistently seen the paces and like you, Greg, I I almost didn't feel like I deserved that. Um because how could I go from running one pace a few months before that to what I had run years prior? Um but with the consistency and and really taking the time to enjoy my training, um, and like I talked about last week, um, just enjoying what is around me and my surroundings, I'm I'm realizing that um I can do these paces and um really, really grateful for what my body has to offer and um just continuing to be really excited for what this season has to offer and um excited to see what I can do at Marathon at well, at Marathon weekend too, but at Wine and Dine.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The consistency in training, the words you said there is something I want to emphasize to our friends who are we're starting to see, we see it every year as we get closer to the races. I'm nervous, I'm scared. Uh you're allowed to be nervous, you're not allowed to be scared. There's nothing to be scared of. But we all know that the consistency in training, if you do the training, I promise, I promise, you'll enjoy this weekend. You have a good time.
SPEAKER_13:I got out again this weekend to train uh Thursday. I went to my ortho, got my gel shot. So basically they recommend you don't run on those for at least 24, 48 hours so that they I guess they don't leak. I don't know.
SPEAKER_09:I don't know, but yeah.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah, so I follow that recommendation. Went out, went out Saturday, Saturday afternoon, because you know, I I should just get out in the morning because it's still summer up here for some strange reason. 81 degrees uh you know, 12 o'clock. Uh got out there and ran and like but I felt really good and I realized when I got home I did negative splits in all my uh good job and all my paces. So everything's looking good. I think uh everything's working, and this week I've been working uh strengthening uh my my quads in my hams to keep the uh the knees uh supported.
SPEAKER_09:Outstanding. By the way, it's 81 degrees right now here at uh at quarter to 10 in the evening. Um Jack, how are you doing? You're having problems with your hip.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, I still am. I so I talked to Tom about it. We have some exercises to try and help and like habitate it, and so we're gonna do more like abductor, adductor exercises. We have some 90-90 stretches, and so I'm just gonna continue doing that every other day and see if it gets better. We I started doing that about a week ago, I think, a week or so ago. So yeah, we're gonna see if that helps. Um, but I also am like looking into getting this product called Aletha that Adam had suggested. It's supposed to help um dig into your psoas muscle and help release part of that tension that's around your hip that's really hard to get. Um, so and I've heard that helps with a lot of hip issues and back issues. So I'm gonna wait and see about doing these exercises currently and then see if I want to invest in this little Aletha hip opener kind of deal. Um, if I get it, I'll leave a review.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Okay. Do you have to pay Alicia a a uh a dividend, a royalty?
SPEAKER_11:I mean, I could.
SPEAKER_09:All right. All right, I was just curious. No, I hope you and look, uh injuries are I'm not laughing. It's tough. So I'm I'm glad you're doing all right. Uh got out this week and had 10 miles on my schedule. And uh let's see, first of all, I don't I don't get on holler hype all the time, but I did this time. And I I thank you very much, all those you who sent hypes. I appreciate them. One of the things that I want to do when I get a hype is I want to hype back and go, oh thanks, I appreciate it. But you really can't do that. Uh so I I'm not gonna mention everything, but I wanted to single out that Jessica, your daughter, I think it was Ellie. Ellie, thanks for the joke, sweetheart. It made my day, and everybody looked at me on the trail and asked, why is that grown man sitting over here laughing while he's supposed to be walking around on the trail? So thanks a lot, Ellie. I appreciate it. I wanted to pass on, I've been trying to pass on lessons I learned in this round of recovery. And this one, I I said to Coach Twiggs this morning, I'm in uncharted territory here. I'm not sure how to handle this particular procedure, but everything's going all right. But I tend I really don't try to, but sometimes I overdo it. And I do think I got into the overdo it phase last week when during the week I tried to run my weekday uh training sessions instead of just walking. I tried to run a little bit, you know, run walk. And uh I'm not I don't think I'm ready to do that yet. So I just walked the 10 miles, and my message for this week is we hear it all the time, and I'm the worst at doing it. Alicia's always telling me, Bob, listen to your body, and I'm going, I don't know what you're talking about. And my surgeon said, You gotta listen to your body. I'm going, Yeah, sure. But you do, you gotta and what he said to me, I I'm not I'm not aggravating anything that's wrong, but I I could be delaying the healing. So sometimes you just have to accept reality and dial back a little bit. And that's what I after seven decades, I think maybe I'm starting to learn. I'll get there.
SPEAKER_11:See, I feel you, and I feel like I'm over I've honestly it's probably why my hips are the way they are, because I've been overdoing it so much with really pushing hard.
SPEAKER_09:So it's easy to do, Jack. We all we all tend to do it. But you've got to face you know, I always talk about owes and injuries. You can run with an owie, but you gotta stop with an injury. But the point is you have to know the difference. So so that's my message for now. I got 12 miles on the schedule this weekend. I'm going to walk it. I'm going to walk it at a reasonably relaxed pace, but I'm I don't think I'm going to run any. I ran a little bit this morning, but not much. And if I can walk all of Wine and Dine, and I can walk fast enough to keep up with the balloon ladies, uh I'm going to that's going to be a success, and then we'll take it from there. Caution runners, change of topic ahead. Hey friends, uh Wine and Dine merchandise was released today. Do we have any comments on the wine and dine merch?
SPEAKER_01:Bob, we'll let you go first.
SPEAKER_09:That's all right. You know what? Here's the truth. I looked at it, and there's a lot of this stuff I looked at and went, oh, that looks pretty nice. But I don't buy sweatshirts because I don't wear sweatshirts here in Florida. I'm I'm not joking. I might wear them a total of 20 days in the winter. Okay, so I'm not gonna buy a sweatshirt. I already have some, I've got enough. And it's the same with the t-shirts. I liked the t-shirts, and I actually think that the t-shirts that you buy, uh the I Did It type t-shirts, are really pretty nice. But I've got so daggum many that I probably won't buy anymore. But I I thought the merch looked good.
SPEAKER_11:I'm kind of same like you, Bob. I honestly, when I go to Ren Disney events, I really don't buy anything anymore. Um, except for like a magnet and uh ornament. But other than that, I have it has to be really like a very, very like unique weekend. Like if someone's with me, so it's worth celebrating. But like the merch, I will admit, if it's your first time, yeah.
SPEAKER_09:But oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_11:I just it it's not, I will admit it's not my favorite merch I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_09:But it wasn't bad.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, am I the only one thinking that or is not or am I just crazy?
SPEAKER_09:Well, both of those could be true, Jack.
SPEAKER_11:Well, thanks, Bob.
SPEAKER_07:So I don't know that there's a lot of variability if you're somebody like us who has done a bunch of different race weekends, but if you're somebody who hasn't, one of the pluses that I saw is they have a lot of different types of items. So like they have different types of shirts, different styles of shirts, different styles of tank tops, which I really appreciate because sometimes certain builds of bodies don't look good in certain types. And so you have different options, which I really appreciated, and just different textures of things too, um, which was kind of neat to see. Um I also saw um on their post that the coffee mugs are gonna be stackable for the race weekend, so you can store them in your cupboards now, um, which I thought was Starbucks. Pretty cool.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Um, but they did say that for the original Run Disney shoes, the mini Mickey um and the like the bluish.
SPEAKER_01:The generic Run Disney one.
SPEAKER_07:Yes. Um, this would be the last race weekend. Yeah, you'll be able to do that. Yeah, I did see that.
SPEAKER_09:Thanks. Yeah, that's that's good.
SPEAKER_07:Um, so I think those are notable things. Yeah, they are. I very, very briefly saw in a video um some of the generic Run Disney merch. Um, and I'm excited to see more of that. It looked kind of cool and different.
SPEAKER_03:Um that I like, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I always like to see what they have, and that's I think really the first time we get to see it. And they usually do kind of a preview event um a lot of times for the content creator, so maybe they'll do that again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Alicia, when it comes to the shoes, that the part that I'm intrigued by is I wonder if it's a situation where it's just going to be Mickey and Minnie, and then the the design itself is going to get updated, or the fact that we're almost entering that new version of the shoe season. If maybe since those styles would be retiring, and if there's updates, say to the you know, maybe it's instead of it being the Ghost Max 2, maybe it's you know to be the Ghost Max 3, or is Brooks going to bring this line then to other shoes across their platform and not make it exclusively just a Ghost Max and the adrenalines. Um I'd be intrigued by that to see if that pops up uh during Marathon weekend. But uh, in terms of just the the merch in general, though, I'm not running wine and dime, but again, I'm on a podcast that talks about Run Disney, so I'll give my opinions. Um Jack, I'm like you. I I think the merch looks nice, but at the same time, if I was running this race, I wasn't gonna be super overly excited about it because from the get-go, I outside of them doing 13.1 in terms of spaghetti and a meatball, I was never the the biggest fan of the artwork uh to begin with.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But at the same time, though, uh, there are they are being creative with what they're putting out there. Like I I appreciated, I think it's on the the 10k I did it shirt, I think. In I think instead of saying I did it, it said like I'm toasted or something like that because it's Olaf and sandwiches. So I thought that that was a Q play. Um, and then going back to also what you were saying in terms of the different types of items, the one thing that they really highlighted in that Instagram reel that they put out is that a jacket, uh you know, I don't know if they were classifying it as like a windbreaker or something like that, but that it's designed that it can fold into itself into like a nice little pouch, and even like the hood can be hidden and popped in and out and such. I thought that was really innovative and cool. You know, I like on the shirts that I think I think they started it with Springtime Surprise or maybe even Wine and Dine last year, where even though the main design was on the front of the shirt, the back was getting like very like subtle icons of like the parks or the characters that the the race is associated with. So um, again, while not a huge fan of the artwork, I I really appreciate Run Disney's creativity in terms of the product that they are putting out there.
SPEAKER_07:They actually had one of those windbreaker rain jacket things. I don't remember. I I own it, it's upstairs. Princess, the really pretty purple one. It wasn't Princess because I wasn't at Princess. This one is gray, but it's actually a really great jacket, and I can wear it for different weather in different um seasons. So um around now when it will start to get cool, and even into the winter, having it as layers really does help. So um I do appreciate that they're thinking more about the people that might be coming down and again having those different options so that it's not just for a certain subset of weather, but also thinking about people that come from the north that are gonna have colder weather.
SPEAKER_09:So I think we agree the merch was generally fun for the wine and dine. If you're new to this, there's we'll talk more about the virtual queue in a couple of weeks about what you need to do to get into the area where this process. Merchandises sold, but it's a fun thing.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:Now, I don't know about you, friends, but I've waited long enough to ask the question: what would Alicia do?
SPEAKER_11:I love this section so much.
SPEAKER_07:Thanks, Jet. Um, so if you've been around for the podcast, um, you may have heard my story before that um my running story really happened because of a dream. Um, I hadn't done more than a 5K before, and I literally had a dream that I was going to run a half marathon. Um and I want to know if you guys ever dream, because I dream quite often. I want to know if you guys ever dream about running, because I dream quite often about running. Um and the other day I ran so hard in my dream I ran out of my bed. And they say that it could burn calories, so maybe that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_09:Well, that's why you're getting faster.
SPEAKER_01:Alicia, I'm really concerned for you because the other week you fell down the stairs. Now you're running out of your bed while sleeping.
SPEAKER_11:I think you might need to get guardrails on your so I'm gonna openly admit, and I don't think this comes as much of a shocker, but um, I don't dream. So if I do, it's extremely like rare.
SPEAKER_09:Everybody does, but you don't always remember.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, I guess I just don't remember it or anything, but like genuinely I don't there might be a five percent chance I might remember what I dream. But yeah, it's it's never about running.
SPEAKER_09:I have. I have now I'm Jack, I'm with you. I just remember studying that a long time ago that everybody dreams. And if you ever got a sleep study, they'd track your rapid eye movement and all that. But it doesn't mean you'll remember it and you think that you didn't. And I I it's been a long time since I've remembered a dream. But I have dreamt about running. I have. Uh, and it's dreamy running. Usually when I dream about running, man, I'm like lighter than air, just flying along. So you gotta know that's a dream. That's not real. But yeah, I have.
SPEAKER_01:I definitely dream, but not about running. Usually I I I know I dream almost every night, but the ones that I can always remember are either like the terrifying ones that like are so bad that like wakes me up out of my sleep, or like, or creates like anxiety. Like my wife harasses me about this all the time. The one time I had a terrible night's sleep because I had a really bad dream that I I left my passport at home while I was doing international travel. Yeah, but then at the same time, that I I there's a dream that I remember as a kid, and and this is really gonna make people chuckle. I'm not gonna get into like every single detail of the dream, but it was so vivid that uh it involved uh the Muppets, me getting hit in the head with a baton, and all underscored by the music of the old television show Unsolved Mysteries.
SPEAKER_11:That's oddly specific.
SPEAKER_01:I know, but and again, it was so vivid as a child, I still remember it to this day. So there's a part of me that wishes I would dream about running and running out of my bed as opposed to that.
SPEAKER_11:I feel like I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna have a running dream or go home. I'm already home.
SPEAKER_13:I feel like maybe you're gonna dream that you're home.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, I think tell us about it, Jack. I remember like very like I remember three very specific dreams when I was little. But other than that, I don't remember anything beyond. I would I I know one of them, like I was a purple, no, not purple, I was a blue blob monster that was really nice and shopping animal. Have no clue why, but I couldn't wake up from that dream. It was really weird.
SPEAKER_01:Jack, what if this whole podcast is just a dream?
SPEAKER_11:No, because it's not inception. I bet you if I twirl something right now, I'm gonna know it's faltering and you know, it's not a dream within a dream, Greg.
SPEAKER_07:But I would be curious for my listeners to know if if you're somebody who is like Jack and doesn't dream um very often, or if you're somebody like me who dreams quite often, especially about running, and if you have any fun stories.
SPEAKER_13:I get some weird dreams where like you fall asleep, the TV's on, and then you kind of wake up and you're involved in what's the TV show is doing in the background, and you're like, uh you wake up like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, what just a reality are you in?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Is it really the TV or is it me?
SPEAKER_07:Right.
SPEAKER_09:You since the the topic of dreams, and we've probably gone on, but I'll go back many, many years, and I used to have a recurring dream, had something to do with running. And in the dream, various different scenarios, but I was running, and I'd be running as hard as I could, and I couldn't, I'd either be moving backwards or staying in the same spot. And it it happened often enough. I remember telling somebody about it, and it just a chance conversation. It wasn't a therapist or anybody, just a friend, and they said, Well, you know what uh that's supposed to mean. That's supposed to mean you're leaving something you don't want to leave. And uh it happened at the time I was had just finished college, and I enjoyed my college days. After the person said that to me, I never had that dream again.
SPEAKER_07:Interesting. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely meanings behind dreams, and there's a whole whole science behind it, but yeah, very interesting.
SPEAKER_09:So there you go. That is what Alicia would do.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, change of topic ahead.
SPEAKER_01:I have something that I have to admit this week on the podcast, and uh this might come as a shock to some, but um, I am a Disney adult. And to that same token, Alicia, Bob, Jack, John, and Lexi too are all Disney adults. And if you, listener, download and stream the Rise Run podcast on the regular, guess what? You too are a Disney adult. The Run Disney community itself, while large in our eyes, is just a small subsect of an ever-growing culture of people who love and adore some aspect of the Walt Disney Company. But one may have to wonder, how did we find ourselves placed within this community? And I guess maybe more importantly, why do we care so deeply? Our guest this week will be able to answer those questions for us. This week, our guest is the owner of Cambrick Yard Media, which operates two Disney platforms this community knows very, very well, allEars.net, and the Disney food blog. But she can now add the title of New York Times best-selling author to her resume, thanks to the success of her new book we are going to chat about this week Disney Adults Exploring and Falling in Love with a Magical Subculture. We would love to welcome AJ Wolf to the Rise and Run podcast. AJ, welcome.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you. I'm so, so happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, the pleasure is all ours. We're gonna start off here with a real easy one. Okay. What was your inspiration to write this book?
SPEAKER_05:So I answer this question differently every time, but with you guys, I'm gonna be fully honest. Um, I got a call from Simon and Schuster, and they're like, we want you to do a book.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. That's another wrong bad. It's right answered.
SPEAKER_05:Because I don't think I would have had the guts to pitch a book, you know, with without. I just don't, I it's a it's been a dream for so long of mine, and I have such imposter syndrome that I'm just like, no, nobody would want a book. So they uh they called me and they were like, hey, we want you to do a book. And I said, Great, I would love to write um this book. And I pitched them an idea, and they're like, okay, that's fine, but we want you to do this book instead. And it's so the the idea honestly came from my editor, who is a Disney adult, who actually moved to Orlando during COVID from New York, um, and because she loved Disney so much, and she and I met at Nomad Lounge to talk about book ideas. And she was like, I think this needs to be done. And I think I was probably just too scared to even think of it, um, because it's such a controversial topic, in at least in our tribe, anyway. Um, but you know, she had a lot of confidence in me and she said, no, I think we can do it, and I think it should be done. And if someone, you know, if anyone's gonna do it, you should do it. And so um that's kind of how it came about. And I was very honored and and and happy, and I knew I had a huge uh job ahead of me to do it justice. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, and did a fine job of it. And I think they picked the right person. Um now I'm curious, if anything, what surprised you the most while you were researching for Disney adults?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, a lot surprised me when I was researching. Um, but the one thing that I was very that I had to change the whole book around was when I started to ask people my standard question when I was interviewing all these Disney adults was, you know, how how annoying is it that um all the people in your life make fun of you because you're you're a Disney adult and and they, you know, the people that you work with are like, you're going to Disney again, and you're and your family is like, you're you're so crazy. You're so you're my weird Disney friend. And I said, how I said, that's really hard, right? And they're like, not really. I don't really care. They're like, what really stinks about being a Disney adult is other Disney adults. And that shocked me. And when I heard that the first time, I was like, well, I'm just gonna prepare, I'm just gonna pretend you didn't say that and keep going with my regular, you know, chapter plan. And then I kept hearing it over and over again that people were just like, yeah, it's a problem, you know, all of these resellers or all of these people who look down on me because I haven't ridden these particular rides, or all of these people who think that I'm I'm, you know, less of a fan than them because I didn't, I haven't stayed in this hotel or whatever. Um, and and that it suddenly became very clear to me, like, uh, well, yeah, of course that makes sense. Why would we care what people who aren't in our tribe say about us? The people that matter are the people who are in our community, right? And so those are the people that are going to have the most impact on us. And so that that I really had to run with that, and that became a big chunk of my chapter four was Disney adults hate Disney adults.
SPEAKER_09:That's yeah, it it's odd. Now, I don't run into that personally, but that that's odd. And it's interesting that that would be what came up.
SPEAKER_05:Well, and I think that we all run into it in other uh communities that we're a part of, you know, like you see it a lot in church communities, in neighborhoods, you know, where there's you know, these little um, I guess, you know, battles for superiority. Uh, you know, you see it in your in your work community. Um, and so of course, the community that you're part of on a regular basis, you're gonna see those um, you know, those little hierarchies develop.
SPEAKER_07:So, AJ, what was the most surprising or unusual thing that um you found when you were writing this book?
SPEAKER_05:I mean, that was the most surprising thing for sure, because I was like, that's not cool. I'm I I'm not ready for that. Um, but something else that I really, really loved, and it wasn't a surprise, but it was still just completely wonderful was being able to talk to so many different Disney adults. And I think that's what I really wanted to do with this book. It wasn't, it wasn't the goal wasn't to say, you know, Disney adults are great and you guys are mean. You know, that what I wasn't defending Disney adults. That wasn't the plan in the book. The plan was to deep dive and help people understand what a significantly huge community this is. First of all, that you can't necessarily, you know, not everybody is who you see on TikTok or on Reddit, you know, in terms of the extremes of that bell curve. There's a whole lot of people that are on that little bump in the bell curve that are very, very normal on the outside.
SPEAKER_03:There you go, exactly right.
SPEAKER_05:And we, but we are we are huge Disney fans, and that that's you know, that that's something that isn't our entire personality, but it is a part of us. And I think that what I loved was interviewing so many different Disney adults and so many different Disney fans and people for whom this is a a big part of who they are, but it isn't their whole personality. Um, and so kind of getting that represented that um we're a huge group, we're very powerful in terms of what we can make happen online. Um, but uh that that you know, you're the guy doing your colonoscopy could have a Mickey tattoo. You don't know.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_05:It's just kind of fun.
SPEAKER_13:So do you think the growth of Disney bounding Dapper days and the fan-driven traditions shows how Disney adults make Disney their own?
SPEAKER_05:Oh, for sure. Absolutely. That was something that I loved exploring in the book is how um we may all kind of come to this because we enjoy Disney, but what's really important about the community is how I guess we fracture off into these, into these, you know, subcultures or subcommunities that are things that um I guess hit kind of two of our loves, where you guys have Disney and running, right? Like that's something that you you you are passionate about, both of those things and Dapper Days people love, you know, fashion and Disney. And so you you're starting to see a lot of these little um splinter, you know, you've got the Galactic Star Cruiser community, you know, these these things that are becoming their own subcultures that are still part of the Disney adult community. That's something I find fast endlessly fascinating. And I would love to actually dig into more to see how these online communities are actually splintering into even smaller and smaller communities. Because I think going forward, you know, in the next 10 or 20 years, your best friends are gonna be online. They're not gonna be your neighbors next week. Well, absolutely. And it's just such an interesting thing to to dig into, is like, you know, are we are we all gonna be WALL-E where we're just staring at the screen screen and not actually knowing the people next to us? And so it's it's gonna be interesting.
SPEAKER_09:And then we can do a combination of both because I I'm on this computer all the time. This is where my friends live.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_09:But I get to see them too.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. IRL. Exactly.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I learned what that meant a couple weeks ago. That's good.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it for me, it can either mean Ireland or in real life, and I'm okay with either of those.
SPEAKER_01:All right, AJ. So Disney adults tend to get a negative rap because we can sometimes take our fandom to the extreme. But no one questions someone who dresses in full body paint uh to attend an NFL game. Or, you know, we learned throughout the book that you are a huge Buffalo Bills fan. I'm sure they're, you know, the Bills Mafia probably has some insane fans. They're there are the fans in Cleveland that, you know, the the dog pound, and then you have the the guys dressed all crazy out in Vegas for the Raiders and such. No pun intended here, but they don't get a negative rap. So why are these fan bases not on an even playing field?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, this is something I really wanted to figure out. I'm like, why are they okay, but we're not okay? You know, because they're just as weird as we are. They spend just as much money as we do. Um, because that's something I was like, all right, is that we spend more money than they do? No, when you actually look at the data, they don't, you know, we we spend the same amount. Um so anyway, I I was digging into this and trying to figure out why do you hate us so much? Um, and the there's lots of reasons, don't get me wrong, but one of the primary reasons is that Disney is for kids, quote unquote. That we love something that's for children, and it might as well be, you know, Bob's over there collecting a bunch of my little ponies, right? Like that's kind of the the reasoning. People are like, why shouldn't you have grown out of this by now? So I think that has a lot to do with it. Um, but what's shocking to me is that you're seeing more and more and more Disney adults, and you're going to see more and more that there are more adults without children at Disney World than there are adults with children at Disney World, which I think is fascinating. Um, Disney just opened a loun specifically for adults in a prime real estate location in Epcot. Um, so I think they see the writing on the wall for sure. You use statistically, people are having fewer kids. You're going to see more of that kid alt culture, people who are happy to engage in the things that they love that maybe historically have only been for children or have been seen as just for children. So that's going to be interesting to watch as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love some of the data that you put in the book, especially talking about, I think it was you had a graph in there about the number of adults with no children that were in lines to see characters. Like that, like that was just fascinating to see.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, no, we um we actually did that as just like a little kind of mini um study with my with my reporters who go in the parks every single day. I was like, okay, guys, for the next like three months, I want you to go to these character meet and greets, and I want you to count how many adults are in line without children. Um, and it was, it was, you know, they did a great job. Like they, they, every day we were seeing the numbers and the data and and for different characters too, you know, like what's the situation for Mickey Mouse versus what's the situation for Buzz Lightyear? Um, you know, it was it was awesome to see and to have that data, which I'm I didn't realize it would be so compelling to readers, but it really, really is. And they're like, okay, I'm not, I'm not weird. Like, so what if I want to meet Buzz Lightyear?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:I mean, technically speaking, I just have my bachelorette at Disney World and we did Mickey's Not So Scary, and I definitely stood in line for Mickey. Right, we're my bachelorette party.
SPEAKER_09:As you should.
SPEAKER_05:So yeah, I think it's I think it's great. And I think it's very now some of us are very uncomfortable with characters because we don't know what to say to them. Um, but uh, you know, other people are just like, yeah, man, I can fully believe this and and go with this. So I think that's great if you can do it.
SPEAKER_01:AJ, for my next question, I'm gonna go back and reference something you just talked about. You know, you brought up the idea of Geo82, you know, the idea that, you know, Disney is starting to cater to the Disney adult than an adults only lounge with high-priced, you know, bourbon cocktails. But in your opinion, do you think the Walt Disney company loves Disney adults? Or do you think we are a total pain in their side?
SPEAKER_05:Great question. Um, I think it is a little bit of both, honestly, um, which is probably similar for other big companies and their super fans, right? Because we always have uh we always have something to say. And we're uh, you know, we're always we always know a way to do it better. Um, so I think we are kind of a double-edged sword a little bit. Um, is that the right metaphor? Probably not. We're good, we're good and bad. Um, I think that Disney definitely relies on Disney adults um because you know, what you from a data perspective, what you saw when they were trying to curb when they couldn't during COVID when they had to curb capacity, they had to make sure that not that many people came in the parks, right? So who they got rid of first were the annual pass holders, right? Were the super fans because the super fans didn't spend as much money and the super fans didn't up, you know, increase their their yield, basically. And so they shut down the annual pass program. So you couldn't get an annual pass. And then now they're actually incentivizing annual pass holders. They're giving you a hundred dollar gift card if you buy an annual pass, not for renewals for brand new annual passes. So they're obviously courting annual pass holders at this point. So I think they they know that we are a requirement when they are trying, when they are in a down turn, a downturn. Like they know we'll keep coming and they will court us then. But when things are when things are fine, they're like, get out because we can get people in here who can pay, who can, who will buy more stuff. Um, so it's very interesting to see it from that perspective. And it's purely a business perspective. It makes perfect sense to me. I get it, I understand. We're not as valuable unless we are in, you know, uh crunch time. So on the other hand, I think as terms of social media, I think Disney adults are a very, I think we're a difficult element for Disney because we are so outspoken. And there are many ways in which we can uh sway other Disney adults in terms of things that they want to purchase, experience, et cetera. I talk about it in the book with The Galactic Star Cruiser. Everybody was super excited about it until they saw the price, and then all of a sudden they were like, nope, we hate it. Everything about this sucks. Forget it. We're not going. And if you're excited about it, you're a shill. And I think that's a huge reason why it failed is because you know, fans wouldn't let other fans like it. Um, so I'm I think that that's another thing that if someone is writing a PhD right now, please do a PhD on how online subcultures affect the thing that they love, you know, the thing that they are passionate about. One of the quotes in the book, this um one of my people that I interviewed said, no one hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans. And it's the same thing for Disney, right? No one hates Disney as much as Disney fans. Like we always have something negative to say about it and want to make sure that our voice is heard. So I think it's it's good and bad, um, but they're definitely navigating, Disney's navigating it as well as they can for it being kind of a brand new thing that they have to figure out.
SPEAKER_07:So on the flip side of that and moving kind of away from the Disney company, what positive impacts do you think that Disney adults bring to the Disney community and society as in general?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, a lot of positive impacts. I think that once you have a community this big and this robust, um we really start to show up for each other. You saw that during COVID, you saw that with all of the cast members who got laid off. Um, you know, the Disney community created so many uh incredible programs to help and support people who were not uh working at the time. You see the Give Kids the World support. Um, and you know, every time someone in the Disney community is having a difficult time, there's a GoFundMe. There's lots of support there. So I really do think that the Disney community supports each other in an incredible way. Um, and I love to see that. I love to see, you know, dapper days. I love to see, you know, the um the situation with gay days and how that has just grown significantly, you know, out of nothing to be such a huge event. Um, so it's it's very cool to see Disney, Disney adults supporting one another. And I think it happens all the time.
SPEAKER_11:So then on the other spectrum of that, there is also a dark side to this fandom. I know.
SPEAKER_09:Up to the dark side.
SPEAKER_11:What do you think Disney adults need to change their ways about?
SPEAKER_05:Oh, I mean, I don't know they need to change their ways about anything. I wish I wish Disney adults could be a little bit more positive about things every once in a while and and give things a chance to actually, you know, work on their own before they just destroy them, um, you know, on purpose. Um But I I think if if Disney adults have to change anything, it would be um it would be very subjective to themselves, right? So I talk a lot about um in the book about uh addiction and being obsessed with Disney and potentially using Disney as a replacement for, you know, other other uh other happiness in your life, right? Um and this happened to me personally when I lived in New York City, you know, I was having a quarter life crisis, I was feeling awful, hated my job, hated where I lived. And so I just ran out my credit cards going to Disney all the time. And so that was something that I had to stop and say, is this healthy for you? Is this something you should be doing? Is there something in your life you need to change? Um, and and had to kind of figure that out on my own. And so that's something that if you, if you are a huge fan of something, if you're obsessed with something, um, you know, sort of keep an eye on yourself and figure out if if you've crossed a line. Um, if for some reason you are, this is affecting your ability to go to work or to spend time with your family or to interact. You know, are you losing friendships because of this? Uh, you know, is your marriage suffering because of this? If that's the case, then it's probably something you should look at and be like, hmm, this, I should, I should dig into this a little bit deeper. Um, but it's completely subjective. It's a different line for everybody. Some people are perfectly okay going to Disney World six times a year, and and everything else in their life is is even keel, healthy, and balanced, but sometimes it's not.
SPEAKER_01:AJ, I want to talk about the non-Disney adult, those from the outside looking in.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:The the first line here of chapter one.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Disney adults are the most terrifying people on the planet, and they need to be stopped. Why is it if Disney is not negatively impacting them personally, why do they get the credence or why is it the popular thing to dump all over us?
SPEAKER_05:Um, well, first of all, I think that the guy who said that, that's a quote from an article, and I'm like, you must be really fun at parties, but I you know Yes, I should I should frame this.
SPEAKER_01:AJ did not say that this was the title of the video.
SPEAKER_05:It was not me, I promise. It's an art, it's a quote from an article. Um, but I again, this is sort of this particular part of the book is why do you guys hate us so much? Like, what did we do to you? You know what I mean? Like, I get when you see, you know, someone who's doing something a little weird on TikTok and you're like, why are they like that? But you don't have to like hate with such vitriol. Um, and so I really wanted to dig into that. I'm like, what does that stem from? Which honestly was pretty interesting because it also helped me to dig into hate in general, why people hate, why we don't like what we don't understand, um, and why we're scared of the other, you know, people who aren't like us. And and I think that's probably the root of everything bad in the world um is people not understanding other people and what what makes them work. Um, but I I I think when it when I boiled down kind of the main kind of four points as to why people hate us so much, the first is that, like I said before, it is this is something for kids, and that's super weird. And I it makes people feel uncomfortable that we like something that's for children, that's you know, quote unquote for children, and that they can't figure that out. Um, there's also quite a bit of there's there's a lot of prejudice involved as as well. There are some stereotypes associated with Disney adults that people maybe don't aren't, you know, aren't big fans of those particular types of people. Um, and so there's that element too. So I think it it all does boil down to they they hate Disney adults because Disney adults are the representation for a bigger group that they maybe dislike or they don't understand. Um, so anyway, it's an it's it's very well presented in the book. I will say that it was a hard chapter, a hard chapter to write because there's a bunch of stuff in there that is, you know, controversial, divisive, um, you know, and there's a lot of stuff there that talks about human nature in general, which I think is um is something that that a lot of folks just don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about.
SPEAKER_09:I think that kind of leads into I you had some conception, of course, we all do, when you started writing this book about Disney adults, but did writing it change your perspective in any way?
SPEAKER_05:I think that writing it made me understand how absolutely massive this. Community is. And also that it's a spectrum. The I think a lot of people who think about Disney adults think that we're all the same and that we all love the same things the same way, which is not true. I'm a parks Disney adult. I love the parks and I know everything about the parks. I know nothing about the movies. Couldn't, could not tell you anything about the movies. But I think people assume that Disney adults just know everything there is to know about Disney and are just, you know, passionate about all of it. Nope. I love the parks. You may love the music. You may love the movies. You know, someone else loves Star Wars. Someone else loves Marvel. You know, so it really is fragmented in that way. There's no way you can know everything about everything. Um, and so that was interesting to me that we all sort of niche down, actually, in in our in our the way we love the fandom. But also um that it's a spectrum that some Disney adults are just like, yeah, I, you know, I like Mickey Mouse. And some Disney adults are just all in, man. Like their whole house is decorated. Uh, they have Mickey tattoos, they are DVC and they go to Disney World whenever they can. They see every single movie, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So um, it is a spectrum and not everybody is the same. So it's just a huge community that that you you can't you can't stereotype it.
SPEAKER_07:I think that niche ness is what brings us together though. Like we all have different things. John loves Star Wars, um, and all the different pieces that we bring together, and then we have the commonality of the Run Disney and going to the parks. And so I think that's kind of what makes it um this great thing. And I I really did enjoy that in the book that you got to see how much bigger it is. And I like you said, I don't think a lot of people realize that it's not so cut and dry. There's a lot more to um what it is to be a Disney adult. So I appreciated that.
SPEAKER_13:Oh, absolutely. Okay, so let's get into the future. So uh what role do you think the Disney adults will play in shaping the parks and the companies in the next 10 to 20 years?
SPEAKER_05:I think a significant role. I think what we ran into, what we've run into the past couple of years, especially since COVID, um, is such a very vocal uh Disney community online um that we've obviously seen, even just recently, Disney can't ignore, right? Um they sort of have to respond to this community, which they've never had to do before. Like that isn't something they ever had, you know, they didn't ever have to care what we said. And now because we have such a significant megaphone online, it's very clear what we think. And and and it can, I think it absolutely can affect the decisions that are being made in the boardroom for Disney. Um so I think it's it's kind of like with you know, with great power comes great responsibility. We need to be careful with that power. Um because we can so so many like this is you know, I'm I say in the book as well, it's like if you guys hate everything new that comes, then you are going to literally end up with just this, you know, Disney's gonna die. Disney has to evolve or die. That's their only option, and they always have evolved. Um, and so the more you kind of complain, the the less Disney can actually move forward. Um, so I think what we're gonna see is is Disney adults absolutely shaping in the same way that, you know, remember at D23 when they're like, here's a bunch of blue sky ideas. Well, that's it.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah, we all love that.
SPEAKER_05:Well, we were all super annoyed, but it was brilliant because what they got to do was immediately see what fans were saying online about those ideas, and they could actually use that to filter their ideas down to the things that fans were actually excited about. Now, one of the top things that any business owner knows is don't listen to, you know, don't listen to your comments because your audience doesn't necessarily know what they want. But I think it's also very it's it's it was definitely a genius move to kind of immediately get feedback from everybody of Villainsland, yes, you know, weird Moana ride over here, no, you know, like they could see immediately what people were excited about and what juiced um all of the conversation. So I think they're gonna continue to do that and kind of use the audience as a um as a guideline, like a sounding, which is very smart.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah.
SPEAKER_13:One thing I did notice about Disney adults is they do not like change. You you take away dinosaur and the whole communities in an uproar.
SPEAKER_05:But nobody likes change, and that's the thing that I think Disney understands is that they're perfectly aware that you're going to whine and cry and lose your mind when they take away a certain ride. But they also know that when they take away the ride that they replaced your favorite ride with in 10 years, you're gonna whine and cry because that's going to it. Like they're just, you know, they're never gonna win. And so it's kind of you know, it's kind of like when you have a baby and you take away the pacifier and like they'll get over it. Um, so I I think that that's kind of what Disney has seen is like, okay, everybody, you know, everybody's mad about it, but then 10 years later, everybody's mad when I take this away too.
SPEAKER_07:So AJ, moving into a different perspective of somebody who maybe isn't sure about being um on embracing their Disney adult side, um, what advice would you give to them when they're hesitant about that?
SPEAKER_05:I guess I don't I I mean if you like it, you can like it. You don't have to go full, like you don't have to wear Mickey ears all day. I mean, there's no like I mean, there's no there's no quota you have to hit. Um, you know, you can just like what you like. I mean, I I'm not necessarily like a I mean, I love Broadway, but I'm not worried about loving Broadway. Um, you know, so I would say just don't don't worry about it. If you like it, great, like it. Um, but you don't have to go full throttle. Like, you know, enjoy and like what you like. Don't hurt anybody and don't hurt yourself.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I like that. Can we can we shift gears just a little bit now and talk about something that's very dear to us, obviously, the Rise and Run podcast? Run Disney.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Let's talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_11:Our love for Run Disney runs deep. And it was very immediate when we were like, ah, she talked about Expedition Everest to 5K in the first few pages. She knows what's up. So my question argued. Oh gosh, I know. I devastated and never got to run that. But since you did get to have that experience, how was it for you? And have you participated in any other Run Disney races since?
SPEAKER_05:I I have. I have done some Run Disney races. I don't do a whole lot of them. Um, Expedition Everest 5K was super fun. I actually ran it with my husband. I can't remember. What year was it? Do you remember? Well, they did two of them. I feel like they did two, yeah. I don't know if it was 2007 or I don't know if we were married yet. It was it was like either I think you're right.
SPEAKER_11:Around 2007.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. It was definitely 7, 8, 9, somewhere in there, maybe 10. Um, but um, so that was fun because we ran it together and it was the first thing. It was like one of the only things we'd ever like done together, you know. Um, but I will say this it one of my favorite, and I this you probably you won't count this as Run Disney. Um, but I ran the Castaway Key 5K. That's Run Disney-esque.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, sure it is.
SPEAKER_05:When I was two weeks pregnant and nobody knew I was pregnant except for me and my husband. And um it was just like this special little thing that I was like, you know, this is my first race with my kid. And so I saved the um, you know, all of the the metal and everything for him so that he that he knew that was his first race. That's awesome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:If we had known you then, AJ, we have a special gift for moms who run a Disney event carrying baby.
SPEAKER_05:Really? Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_09:We have we have a rise and run onesie that if they let's so cute. If they let us know about it, we ship it out to them.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, that's awesome. I love that. I was very I was it it just it was so cool to do that, to do that knowing, you know, I'm I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, it's a wonderful it's it's kind of I mean you talked about it, about the cultures and the communities, but the whole Run Disney is I think a separate subculture within Run Disney adult family.
SPEAKER_05:Actually, I'm I I hate to say it, but I had a whole Run Disney section of the book and I had to cut it. So it's too bad.
SPEAKER_09:That's too bad. So for you.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe I need to I need to send that to you guys.
SPEAKER_09:For your sequel bonus. We can help you out, that'd be good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:In the one chapter, you devote the whole section to the stories of various Disney adults across all the different subcultures. And I think the story that you highlighted of Julia would really resonate with our listeners. Could you just share that story and what about it stuck out to you so much?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, Julia's awesome, isn't she?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:What's great about Julia too is like Julia just she doesn't, it's she's like a honey badger. She doesn't care. Um she is so great. So Julia messaged me and she said, Hey, um, so I wanted to tell you my story about um, you know, doing a Run Disney race as an above-the-knee amputee. And I'm like, I don't even know what that is. And so I got on, I got on to talk to her. I think she's what, she's 20 something. I can't, she's very young. But when she was 18, um, 17 or 18, uh, she was she was in a car accident and lost her leg um above her knee. And so she tells a very visceral story about how she felt, you know, in that in that situation and how she sort of was like, oh, well, guess this isn't, guess I'm not getting the leg back. What am I gonna do? And her whole family was gonna do this Run Disney race. And she's like, okay, I'll do the Run Disney race. So she got fitted, she got fitted for a blade and um tells a story about I she she tells me very clearly, she's like, I didn't train at all. She's like, I should have trained and I didn't train. But she's like, so we uh she's she talks about running with a they have cast members that will run with you if you are disabled. And so they can help you where they need where you need help. And her particular um, her particular kind of cast member helper actually had to, you know, give her a couple of um piggyback rides, you know, to kind of stay in front of the balloon ladies and stuff. And it was and it was just so cool to just hear her talking about this. But the bottom line with Julia is that it's not about her leg, right? It's not like her story isn't about her leg. Her story is about Julia and how cool Julia is and how she can just freaking overcome anything and and and how absolutely normal and regular she is. Um, so that's what I that's what I took away from her is she was just inspirational, but not because she doesn't have a leg. She was inspirational.
SPEAKER_01:Well, AJ, when you do that sequel and it does include the chapter about Run Disney, be sure to uh hit us up because we can give you an onslaught of inspirational stories to uh to help fill out that chapter or that book uh for that.
SPEAKER_13:Absolutely. AJ, not only are you an author, but you're also the mastermind behind the media empire that is Disney food blog.
SPEAKER_09:Meaty Media Empire, I thought he said me.
SPEAKER_13:I thought he said meaty, which I mean Media Empire.
SPEAKER_05:It's the Jersey X thing, maybe I know I like I like meaty better.
SPEAKER_13:Media Empire, media empire, whatever it is. That is the that is the Disney food blog. How did that concept of this website come about?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I started Disney food blog in 2009 because I really wanted it to exist and nobody was doing it. Lou uh Lou Mondolo was doing a great job with food, but it wasn't he wasn't doing just like all the food, every food, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, he's not a sweet sky, so so that that you know, that's why, you know, there there was a little void there.
SPEAKER_05:Right, right. Yes, he would, he definitely would have done it if he could have. Oh, heck yeah. But I um so I was like, you know what? I I'm gonna be spending a lot of money when I go because I'm I'm not local to Orlando. So I was, you know, I had to spend a bunch of money and take trips and fly over there. And then when I got there, I was like, I want to eat food that I'm gonna like, and I don't want to have it be, you know, a surprise. And at that point, Disney didn't have menus on their site, they didn't have pictures of food, they didn't have any of that stuff, didn't exist. You know, all ears had all the menus. That's where you went for the menus, was because all ears, Deb Wills, would go in the parks every single day and get the menus. Um, and so I was like, well, I I would love for this to exist. So I started to make it. So I would take a trip every couple of months, stay for three days. I would eat six meals a day and just try to get to all the restaurants. Um, and then I'd go to jelly rolls until 145 till the lights came up at night, editing photos and writing blog posts, right? Um, and so that's kind of what happened. Then the first year I was like, well, this is food and wine. Guess I gotta go to all the booths because no one else goes to all the booths. And so I went to all the booths and I got all the food. My I'm all by myself to the point that I was hallucinating booths eventually. Um, and so that's kind of how it started, is I just needed it to exist and nobody was doing it. And so we we launched in.
SPEAKER_01:Obviously, that occurred many, many years ago. What is the size of your team today in terms of food blog?
SPEAKER_05:Today I've got about 50 folks who work with us around the world. Um, it's it's awesome. And I've got teams in Anaheim and Orlando who are in those parks every single day. I've got writers all over the place who are writing and and um you know, video editors and accountants and you know, all kinds of stuff going on. So yeah, it's a great team.
SPEAKER_09:If you're not following it, friends, it's highly worthwhile. One of my favorite sites to follow, uh, the blog and the YouTube channel associated with it. Outstanding.
SPEAKER_05:We work really hard to make it useful. I mean, that's that's that's what I was always every time someone says to me, How do I do what you do? How do I start a blog? How do I start a YouTube channel? How do I start, you know, social? And my response to them is always, nobody cares what you think until you add value to their life. So make it something that they can benefit from, because otherwise, why would they listen to you or even, you know, watch you if if you're if you're not helping them somehow? So it's always about adding value.
SPEAKER_07:So we have Wine and Dine Half Marathon weekend coming up around the corner. Um, and Food and Wine Festival will be happening at the same time. So I would like to know um what are your best of the fest dishes? Um, I want to hear all of the things, but also extra points if you have any plant-based options for friends like me who can't have the animal prize.
SPEAKER_09:Bonus points.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. I, you know, here's the thing though, Alicia, it started like a month ago. And so my best of the fest list is now gone from my brain. So I'm gonna have to go find it for you. Okay. Um the things that I know are in my best of the fest are the um, I always love the poutine. I think the poutine, the brisket poutine that they bring to Refreshment Port is one of my favorites. The corned beef um chips over at Flavors from Fire, those are always, always good. Of course, everything you're gonna get out of the Canada Pavilion is gonna be great. I love the um the uh raclette, the uh the the melty cheese. I used to live in Switzerland.
SPEAKER_03:Right, right.
SPEAKER_05:Right at the Alps pavilion. I used to live in Switzerland and I ate raclette constantly. Over there, you you buy a little raclette grill and you grill your potatoes and your onions and everything, and then you have little little uh pans that you put underneath the grill and it melts your cheese, and then that's you just eat potatoes and cheese, and it's fabulous. Um, so I love that. Um, but there are lots of good plant-based options as well, as you know that every booth has at least one. Um, and the what shocks me though, I was just at the festival last weekend. And I always tell people don't go on a weekend if you can avoid it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_05:But also, ooh, not a thumbs up, but also don't go to um, don't go to the festival at night because all the locals come at night. So if you're gonna go go on a weekday at 11 a.m. Um, but I was just shocked how many people were in line for booths that don't have anything good at them, you know. I'm just like, you guys, come on, like I don't know. This booth over here has lots of really, really great stuff, and the line's not that long, and you need to go over here. Like, stop being in line for Italy. There's nothing good in Italy this year. Um, but anyway, that's this is the this is the burden I bear. I am disappointed pushing the rock up the hill. Exactly.
SPEAKER_09:I was disappointed. I went and uh I think there are two booths that just opened uh Monday.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah. Coastal Eats and Gyoza.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I was all set. I said, Oh boy, a Gyosa booth. Oh boy, it's right over it's closed.
SPEAKER_05:You need to go back, man. It's really good. It's really good. So go back and get the Buffalo uh chicken.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. You convinced me.
SPEAKER_05:So easy.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, yeah, it's not hard. It's not hard.
SPEAKER_01:AJ, I have to wonder, you know, now that we're within the throngs of the food and wine festival, obviously you were you know the first in terms of you know wanting to get out there and and snap photos of the menus and you know, and all the various food items. When you go to the first day of a festival now and you see everybody under the sun doing either the exact same thing that you do or similar, how does that make you feel?
SPEAKER_05:Um, apologetic.
SPEAKER_09:No.
SPEAKER_05:Well, okay. Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_09:I see where you're coming from. Thank you. Apology accepted.
SPEAKER_05:I kind of ruined the festival. No, I mean, I it it the first day is awful. Though that I mean, that's why the first night of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party costs more now, right? Is because all the bloggers are there and all the buckets were there. So um I do feel apologetic because I do think I was one of the first to probably start that um uh whole situation. Um and I don't know, I guess it's kind of like it it's great that people are, you know, having a great time creating content and and doing all of that. And but there's, you know, I know that there's also it it makes it very crowded. It makes it kind of annoying when you've got, you know, these people just talking into their phones constantly. And and um, you know, and I'm I'm not forward-facing, and so my my content doesn't tend to be, you know, I'm not talking in the park at my phone most of the time. Um, but you know, it is what it is. It's where it's where content creation and media has gone. Um, you know, it's slowly moved from print, you know, print to online content to photo content. Now we're in to long form video, now we're in short form video. So we'll see where it goes next. Um, but it's just that is part of working in media. Things are gonna change and evolve, and you just have to figure out how people want to consume your content next. But yeah, it is the first day of the festival is just bloggers and well, not even bloggers anymore, just social media, just TikTokers now.
SPEAKER_01:But I I imagine though it has to be prideful, though, for you thinking that if you then start it, maybe you never know.
SPEAKER_09:I find it amusing, to be honest. Becky, Becky and I literally it was raining, so we're sitting in the American Pavilion under the roof watching a young woman spend we left before she finished, but she had spent one hour videoing hot dogs.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_09:It was it was amusing. What can I do?
SPEAKER_05:It's you know, it's so funny too, because I used to I started this before there were smartphones. And so I would go in to the restaurants with my DSLR. And um, you know, when I would go, when I would go shoot at uh sci-fi din-in, I would have to literally take my food outside to get a picture of it. Yeah, um, which would be just obnoxious now if you had all these content creators just like taking their food outside so they could get a picture. So anyway, I like I yeah, I mean it's I I think that it's just evolved to be something, but it is also great not to have people look at me like I'm a weirdo when I take pictures of my food because they were like, What are you doing? Like that is very that is very strange, you know, you know, hobby.
SPEAKER_01:So well, AJ, this has been an absolutely fabulous conversation, and we so appreciate your time. But before we let you go, we're just gonna do a quick hit of rapid fire questions, and the first question is gonna come from Jack.
SPEAKER_11:Favorite Disney Park ride, people mover.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, yeah, yeah. I I am the uh president of the unofficial people mover fan. All right, in case you weren't aware, yes. If you need a treasurer, let me know. Everybody is welcome to join. Um, absolutely.
SPEAKER_09:Your go-to Disney snack.
SPEAKER_05:My go-to Disney snack right now is probably ooh, this one just hit me out of nowhere. The churro toffee in Disneyland, uh is probably one of my go-to's. Um, but also the carrot cake cookie at Hollywood Studios, one of my favorites. What?
SPEAKER_09:What I have that. I know you're right. You're right. I just lost all respect for you. I you it's okay. You can you can shame me. It's all right. All right, and I need you to do that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and then you need you to send me a text message. Just here's my advice about the Karay K cookie. They keep it chilled, right? They keep it in a refrigerator. So when it comes out, don't eat it immediately because it'll be real gummy and you'll hate it. So let it sit for a while, warm up a little bit.
SPEAKER_09:Okay, it's a good thing you did that because you'd have heard about it otherwise. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_05:No, when they started to keep them chilled like that, I got so mad. I'm like, this isn't as good. And but I just but then I ended up leaving it on the front seat of my car for a little while, and then it was like a little oven.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Very nice. All right, AJ. Most overrated and underrated Disney dining destination.
SPEAKER_05:Overrated, and everyone's gonna hate me for saying this right now. But overrated is probably Ohana at the moment. Um, it is, I'm sorry, it is really no, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01:It's a favorite of mine, but I uh but I understand it though.
SPEAKER_05:I truly mine too, and I keep going back and wanting it to be better than it is right now, but it's it's not. They're they're cutting some corners over there. Um underrated would probably be there. I I am just a huge fan of like like Boma, and I know people like it. People like it enough for what it is. Um, like you gotta get out there. And Sanaa is a great restaurant, you know. That's great. That you know, don't go for dinner because you won't be able to see the animals go for lunch. But um, I think not not enough people are going to Animal Kingdom uh lodge to eat.
SPEAKER_01:You will be happy to know that this past March we did table service restaurants in terms of a March Madness bracket and BOMA and BOMA was our overall winner.
SPEAKER_05:Perfect. Okay, then I then I shouldn't say that for for underrated because it's clearly not with this one.
SPEAKER_13:That's okay. It's your opinion. GD Plus, old school fast past, or none at all.
SPEAKER_05:Old school fast passed, probably. Just because I grew up with, you know, I well, I didn't grow up with it. We didn't mean anything when I was growing up.
SPEAKER_09:No, but we understood it.
SPEAKER_05:That's yeah, right.
SPEAKER_07:It made more sense.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:All right, and the final one best Disney festival food and wine, following garden, or festival of the arts.
SPEAKER_05:Um, I don't like to say this publicly because uh people will shame me, but I like farts the best because I think farts, love it. I love uh yeah, I mean, um farts is my favorite. People don't like that I call it farts, but I all call it farts. I know. I don't know what else you would call it. Um, but I love that it's it's at a quieter time, so it's usually a little bit less, right? It's cooler because I I will tell you right now, it is a nightmare to cover a festival when it's hot outside. It is just the literal worst. And um the food is so beautiful, it's just gorgeous. And so that for me, that's the go-to. Plus, all the fun Broadway people come and that's fun too.
SPEAKER_01:Well, once again, AJ, thank you so much for your time on this episode, folks. Again, if you are interested in picking up a copy of Disney Adults Exploring and Falling in Love with a Magical Subculture, you can buy wherever you buy your books, whether that's online or in store. Be sure to check out AJ's lovely set of pipes over on the Disney Flu Blog YouTube channel, and be sure to check that out. But again, AJ, we cannot thank you enough for your time. And uh hopefully we'll see you at a festival booth uh photographing some piece of uh food in the future.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I'm that I'm that I'm that girl taking the pictures of the hot dogs for an hour most likely. Yeah. Thank you so much for letting me come on. I was it's just been it's just been a joy to hang out with you guys tonight.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:Fun chat with AJ. I I said it during the interview, and I'll say it again to you friends. Uh that Disney food blog is uh is a neat thing. So check it out. Really, really well done. I love the YouTube channel. It's it's just fun. So it was nice, it was nice meeting her. I do hope I get the chance, or that we get the chance, to meet her at Disney World at some point in the future.
SPEAKER_01:Well, speaking of meeting friends down at Walt Disney World in the future, uh, the one thing that we have coming up, obviously we've mentioned it several times, is Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend is going to be here before we know it. And we just did this a couple of weeks ago with Halloween. It is now time to prepare ourselves for the Wine and Dine roll call. Here's the thing, though. We need everyone's names in ASAP. We have some scheduling that we're trying to work out, and we just want to be able to have the most accurate list possible. So we are encouraging all of our community that if you are running wine and dine this particular year, please get your name into the race report as quickly as possible because we do not want to miss you when we go to record that. And again, that will play uh just the week before wine and dine, so that will be here before we know it. So uh again, uh you can access that. Uh, it is pinned, I think it's all the way to the right in the featured section of our Facebook page. So just up at the top there, just keep hitting that scroll button and you'll see the Google Doc and insert it in there, and we will be sure to read off your name.
SPEAKER_07:Also, speaking of wine and dine, um, we will have a meetup on that Saturday of Wine and Dine weekend at 3 p.m. at the food truck area at Disney Springs, which, if you go down to Disney Springs and you find the big balloon that um the air hot air balloon, go towards that, and then there's a Starbucks. Go to the left of the Starbucks is the food truck area, um, and that is where we will meet.
SPEAKER_09:And look for Alicia.
SPEAKER_07:Yep. I think they should look for you, Bob, because I'm pretty short and they're not gonna see me very well.
SPEAKER_09:Uh hey, are we all there for one and no? Greg's not. I'm not. Jack, are you there, Jack? No, we're not all there, guys.
SPEAKER_01:No, but you know who is going to be there? John. John. Yes. And Alicia and yourself. Yep. Allie's gonna be there.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That would be great.
SPEAKER_01:Allie with a knee. Allie with a knee, yes. Or or as I like to uh as I reference her in this house, OG Allie.
SPEAKER_09:Well, yeah, that's true. And she's also also the reason we have Allie without an E.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes, it is because we had Allie.
SPEAKER_09:With an E to begin with. And then anyway, it's all fun. It's all fun, it really is. Um, hey, but this this is kind of not fun. You use Facebook, you know this. Group chats are coming to an end. I'm disappointed. I love our group chats, but we're going to have to find a way around them. And John is working on setting up chats on the Discord server. And that is the entire extent of my knowledge. I could spell Discord, but that's about it. John, do you have any comments you can tell anybody or help help anybody with that?
SPEAKER_13:Yeah, so we're we're trying to set up a Discord server on the Discord app. We're going to try to create as many channels as we had in the group chats. It's going to be by approval. So it's not going to be open to anyone outside of the Ryzen Run family, I guess, if you want to call it. So nobody out there just going to hop in and start seeing what's going on. Kind of like how our Facebook groups were. You had to be in our Facebook group to see everything. So uh we're going to do some preliminary uh testing, hopefully, in the next couple days, and hopefully by next week we might have some kind of uh answer for you.
SPEAKER_09:We'll do what we can to help you because, like I said to John a couple minutes ago, I'm reasonably technically savvy, but I'm not sure how Discord works. I'm sure I can learn it. But I'm going to miss the chats. I really am. Now the ability to create groups of named individuals will still have that. That's not the same as a group chat. That's a like a group message. Those will still exist, but that's not that's not the same thing. So we'll see what we can do to work that out. And we will try to keep you up to date as we go along.
SPEAKER_10:Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.
SPEAKER_09:Friends, it's uh being it's October. Did you know that? Jack, did you know it was October?
SPEAKER_11:Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:You did?
SPEAKER_11:I did.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, somebody should have told me. But uh here we are. It's October. Uh pumpkin spice lattes are out there. The palm trees are staying green here in Florida. So the first podcast of the month. It's time to talk charities. And tonight, an old friend returns. Andrea's been with us before. Andrea Herman is the fundraising events coordinator for the Northeast U.S. for the Parkinson's Foundation. So we're going to learn about that. But first, I'm going to welcome Andrea back to the Rise and Run podcast. Thank you for having me back. It's great to be on. It's good to see you again, my friend. How are things with Myra?
SPEAKER_04:Fantastic. She's been going to the parks all the time. She's enjoying uh the Tron temporary overlay. Um, and she is uh continuously so grateful and sends me photos every time she goes. So thank you again for everybody that made this happen.
SPEAKER_09:If if, friends, if you're not sure what we're talking about, Andrea was instrumental in helping that wonderful race uh bus coordinator at Pop Century, Myra, for helping her get her first ever Disney World annual pass. So that's been fun. That was a good thing, Myra. But we're not talking about that tonight. We're talking about the Parkinson's Foundation, a serious something we want to, you know, pay attention to. Can you tell us, Myra, a little bit about the Parkinson's Foundation, please?
SPEAKER_04:So the Parkinson's Foundation is one of the official Run Disney charities, and our mission is to make life better for people with Parkinson's disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. Some of the free resources we provide for the Parkinson's community include our helpline. This is a toll-free number that anyone, patients, caregivers, medical professionals can call to get answers about Parkinson's questions, whether it's about a diagnosis, treatment, caregiver questions, refers to healthcare professionals or community resources in their area. This helpline is free and staffed by specialists, and it's available both in English and Spanish. Other resources that we provide include our hospital safety guide. We have a medical alert card that patients can, people with Parkinson's can record their medical information and medication if they're traveling or need a record of it. We have resources for veterans, we have our free uh PD Health at home online events, which are exercise programs. And for those that prefer print brochures and guides, we also have guides and resources that can be shipped out for free by request, also in the English and Spanish. And I'm mentioning all these because these resources are all free and available to the Parkinson's community because of our amazing donors and supporters and fundraisers that we call our Parkinson's champions, which includes our Ren Run Disney athletes, make all of these programs possible.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, it's uh it's a rotten disease. I mean, not that there are any good diseases, but I I lost a good friend, a good army friend to Parkinson's a couple years ago. So it's kind of close to my heart. Uh how long has the Parkinson's Foundation been involved with Run Disney, do you know?
SPEAKER_04:Since 2019.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. So relatively new, but that's that's good.
SPEAKER_13:Andrea, how can uh we our friends secure a charity bib for any of like Run Disney or any of the races you guys sponsor?
SPEAKER_04:Sure. So uh we have Run Disney, uh both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and world several uh other major national events, including World Majors. If you go to our website runforpd.org, and that's the number four, run run4pd.org, you will see the full list of all of our major national and regional run events, including Run Disney. Or if you're on our website Parkinson.org and you go to the search box, just type in Disney, they're gonna come up there as well. Um, the events are broken down by the individual race weekends. And one thing I will say is if you're looking at our bibs, our bib availability is live. So what you see on there is what's available.
SPEAKER_09:That's that's very helpful. You were telling us before we started that a lot of activity for bibs for the half at Disneyland.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, we have very, very limited availability left. Um, it's possible that this could sell out before folks get a chance to listen to this call. Um, what we do have some half bibs still available there and challenge if people are looking for their coast to coast. Uh for 2026 for marathon weekend, we still have dopey bibs available. Half marathon and 5K. Um dopey is 3,000, half marathon is 1,000 and 5k is 750. For Princess Weekend, we still have fairy tale challenge left, which is 1500. And for springtime surprise, we have all distances available.
SPEAKER_09:Very good. Good to know that. When a friend signs up for a bib with several charities, they pay the entry fee, and then that entry fee counts toward their fundraising. Is that the same with the Parkinson's Foundation?
SPEAKER_04:So for Parkinson's, uh your fundraising minimum includes your race registration. Yeah, okay. So that's part of the total.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, that's another way of putting it. Good. Good. Well, while we're talking just in general about fundraising, have you got any tips or tricks for friends who are trying to raise funds?
SPEAKER_04:Sure. It it's it's um I've been doing Run Disney charity myself personally for um 2026 will be the my 15th year of fundraising.
SPEAKER_09:Wow.
SPEAKER_04:Um I passed$51,000.
SPEAKER_15:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I I'll tell people that I um I learn a lot every time I do this. Um the biggest things I can tell people uh is first of all, always pick a charity. And and that and this just goes beyond Run Disney as well. This is any world major, any event that you're fundraising for, is to pick a charity that really personally you connect with. Uh, it's something that resonates with you. It's gonna be a lot easier to fundraise if you pick something you have a personal connection to. And I also remind people that when you're fundraising, you're not just supporting the charity, you are raising awareness of an issue or a disease or a cause that people don't know about. Someone's gonna learn about a program that can help them because if you you're not just a fundraiser, treatment. Think of yourself as an advocate. Um I always tell people my and this is what I've always done is the first donation should always be to yourself. And let's say, you know, let's say you're registering for Run Disney with a charity. Like for us, if your fundraising minimum includes your race registration, donate the cost of the race registration. You are going to pay it anyway. So add that right on board. And really, we know you'll hear charities advise about personalizing your fundraising page and your photo and sharing your story. It really does matter. If you tell people why you picked this cause, why you picked this race, what it means to you, it really does connect with your donors that much more. I'll also tell people set a goal that's meaningful to you. Like, you know, there's the suggested fundraising minimum, like for a half marathon, if mine is a thousand, I'll bump it up to 1,310 just to tie to the difference. Just something, something that makes it unique. The earlier you start your fundraising, the faster your momentum gets going, it's that much easier to hit that goal. And then when it gets to the time that you're going in for your long miles and your longer training days, it's just that much easier when you've already changed your fundraising. So the most you can do up front, the better off you're gonna be. And I always remind people that if you are at a workplace that matches employee donations or if your donors have matching gifts, get that processed as soon as you can. Some matching gift programs can take several months. That's pretty normal. So the earlier you can do it, the better. And also, as we're getting into October, we're getting to the end of the year. Match and gift programs will typically reset at the start of a new calendar year. And if you have these funds, it's use it or lose it. So make sure that you get your paperwork submitted. And really, honestly, I would tell people if you're fundraising, if you don't ask, the answer is automatically no.
SPEAKER_09:That's right.
SPEAKER_04:You know, people are gonna surprise you. The people that you thought were not gonna donate are often the ones that donate the most. You really, when you're asking for donations, you don't know someone's story. The person that you reached out to can have a connection to this cause that you didn't know about. Take that time to really go through your age or C list of all the contacts that you have. Everyone you have a relationship with as a potential donor. Who is in your life? Think outside the box. Could be your doctor, your dentist, your insurance agent, your lawn care company, your alumni association, your babysitter. You don't know. So think about everyone that you interact with. And the final thing I was uh try to emphasize is um you can't thank people enough. Keep thanking them, keep your donors informed, share your good days, share your bad days. Do that send off before your race, put up, send them your flat runner photo, thank people, host event. Just, you know, it's it's the appreciation that they're they're with you in this journey, not just with the donation, but they want to see you cross that finish line as well. And think about your other professional networks that you might not think about, such as LinkedIn. Perfect opportunity to fundraise, and it helps you avoid any issues if your workplace doesn't allow donation requests. LinkedIn is public, you're sharing this information with other people outside of the work environment. So if some companies are very strict about, you know, don't solicit at work, don't use your work at all. This is your profile, so that's considered fine. Then the the only other thing I would mention is, you know, so there's a lot of people that, you know, you've if you've secured your own entry and you still want to do something, or you're looking for that community community service project, or you're looking for a way to get involved and you're interested in the charity's team, you can absolutely sign up as a fundraiser for these charities if you've secured your own bib. For example, our program is called Honorary Athletes, so Parkinson's Champions. If you've got your own entry and you want the perks and benefits of being on a team, the singlet, any team meetups, you know, every charity has a better event, check out these groups. They will give you the same fundraising tools, tricks, and support as if you were fundraising for your charity bib. And because you already have your own bib, all the funds go to the organization. So every every little bit helps.
SPEAKER_13:So if uh somebody fundraises with your charity, uh what are some of the other perks that you get uh fundraising for uh Parkinson's Foundation?
SPEAKER_04:Sure. So we have our our Parkinson's champions, our athletes, get their official team singlet. We have a runner box full of some goodies that we send out to you. We have virtual coaching, so our our fundraisers have access to a certified coach if they're looking for training tips or advice. And I will say that our fundraising platform, uh, and I say this as someone who's fundraising myself, is so easy to use. We've got great online guides and tips and tricks for fundraisers. We have pre-prepared social media graphics, our fundraising pages connect to Facebook, uh, really robust platform in terms of tracking donors, being able to thank people, uh, send follow-ups. So, and also uh one of the other things is is multiple ways that people can make a donation. People can donate via credit card, Venmo, uh PayPal. So there's other alternatives, and we have a really easy if someone has a check, you have immediate access to an online form if people want to mail in a check.
SPEAKER_09:Very good. Andrea, a lot of great information about a wonderful and important charity. So there you have it, friends, the Parkinson's Foundation. We will put the links that Andrea gave us into our show notes and onto our Facebook page. Andrea, thanks for joining us again. This time to tell us uh about a really important charity. Hey, any when when are we gonna see you at Walt Disney World?
SPEAKER_04:So I'll be I'll be at 9 and 9, I'll be at the Marathon weekend, and I will be at uh Disneyland to get my what I'm assuming will be my final lifetime coast to coast.
SPEAKER_09:I think I uh Andrea, I'll be at all of those myself. And the reason I'm going back in January is I think that's gonna God knows how long it'll be before they come back. So, and I'm not getting any younger.
SPEAKER_04:No, but you know what? Those themes in January and Disneyland are just amazing.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I don't have any idea what they are, but that's okay. That's okay.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, they got me at It's a Small World. That's all right, yes.
SPEAKER_09:Okay, we were talking about that. We were talking about that. All right, Andrea, thanks for your time and thanks for the good work that you do, and we look forward to talking with you later.
SPEAKER_04:All right, thank you again. Thanks, have a good night.
SPEAKER_09:Caution runners, change of topic ahead. There you go, friends. Parkinson's foundation. Uh great cause, great charity, and another opportunity to earn a Disney race pip. Uh, looking at announcements, not a Zoom Thursday this week, but we will be back next week, and that will be the last time that we get together before heading off to Wine and Dine. So that'll be October 9th. And that'll be our last Zoom before Wine and Dine. Bring your questions. It's a great time. If you're the first time down there, it's a great time to ask your questions about what to do for a Run Disney weekend. And now, please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. Race Report sponsored by our friend Thomas Stokes, Stoked Metabolic Training, Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching. Tom had his first free online webinar last week. You know, I get tied up, and I think a lot of us get tied up in the weightlifting and strengthening part of Tom's training and teaching. But Tom's big time into nutrition and very, very helpful in his nutritional tips and helping people in losing weight. So that's another outstanding reason to look into Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching. A quick note, I've made this comment before, I think, but I just want our friends to know this. You put your race reports in, that's great. Every day, almost every day, I'll go into the Facebook group, and there's a little section called flagged post or pending approval or something like that. And I'll find two or three race reports in there, and I have no idea why they're in there as possible spam. No idea. Once in a rare while, maybe one in 20, somebody will mention a sponsor or something, and I'll go, oh well, maybe the Facebook algorithm thinks this is an ad. But no, most of the time it's just an ordinary, hey, I did this race. But so the only reason I bring it up, friends, is I can't do anything to stop it. As soon as I see it, I go ahead and make sure that they're published. But I just wanted you to know that if you don't see your post right away, it's possible that that's what happened. Okay, friends, let's kick off this race report with our spotlight feature. We talked about it the last couple weeks. We said we were waiting for folks to get home from Germany. We're going to talk about the Berlin Marathon. And we've got some friends joining us this evening to share their stories from Berlin. We got Brian.
SPEAKER_08:Hey there, guys. Brian from uh Raleigh, North Carolina. I've completed five marathons, but this was my first world major.
SPEAKER_12:Hi everyone. My name's Kristen, and I'm from Fairfax, Virginia. This was my second world marathon major. I ran Chicago back in 2023, and it was my sixth overall marathon.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, this is Michael. Uh, this was my 13th marathon, and my sixth star completing my six-star journey. Outstanding.
SPEAKER_09:That's great. We we absolutely want to hear more about that. But one of the things I like to talk with our friends who travel overseas to marathons is how'd you get there? What'd you do when you get there? Did you spend time before? Did you spend time after? How was it? Krista, why don't you kick us off?
SPEAKER_12:So I flew from Dulles to um Munich on um Wednesday night, arriving in Munich on um Thursday afternoon, and then I had another connecting flight to Berlin. And interestingly enough, checked into my hotel around um eight o'clock at night, and then we're just very jet-lagged. I didn't really get to sleep that much on the plane. So go to sleep, and then two hours later, I hear this banging on my door from the hotel staff saying you need to evacuate the hotel. And I'm thinking maybe this is a fire drill. So my husband and I we go out into the hallway, and the hotel staff was like, You need to bring all of your stuff with you. You need to evacuate. So we're like, what is going on? Um, so there's some other people, um, hotel guests staying um near the elevator, and they also were very confused as to what was going on. So we get down into the lobby and they tell us that they um the police officers downstairs told us that they found a bomb in the nearby river from World War II. Um, I guess that this is common for them to find when they're doing construction. Um, and then we needed to go to a local shelter. I think it was at like a city hall, and we would be staying there overnight until morning when they could deactivate the bomb. So we go to the shelter. There's probably like hundreds of people there. Um, we need to check in, and um, we got there later, so there weren't very many places for us to sit at a table. So we were just kind of sitting on the floor, and they told us um the red um German Red Cross came and said, like, you should make yourself comfortable, you're gonna be here for a while. So I was able to get some blankets and we just tried to lad on the floor to sleep because we're jet lagged and we have a marathon. I have a marathon in two days. Wasn't really able to sleep, but then at 7:30 a.m. they told us that it was clear. Um, the bomb didn't pose a threat, so we could go back to our hotel. Um, but it was just made a very exciting first night in Germany.
SPEAKER_09:Wow. Yeah. Hey Brian, can you top that?
SPEAKER_08:Well, uh I I had uh uh several sleepless nights, but not for any reasons other than jet lag and the air conditioners in Europe don't work like they do here in the states.
SPEAKER_09:Oh. And I understand it was warm.
SPEAKER_08:It it was quite warm. So uh it decided to warm up about I I tell my friends about 18 hours before the race, uh, it got quite warm. Um, I think it was in the 80s. I I don't really recall uh completely with everything being in Celsius around me. I was just like, okay, it's hot. Um and then it literally cooled down two hours after the race. So this was supposedly one of the hottest races or the hottest race I've ever done. And I've completed all my other marathons in Florida. Wow.
SPEAKER_09:Wow. Hey, Michael, getting over, once you got over there, when did you go? When did you come back? And how did you get around while you were there?
SPEAKER_00:Uh so we left uh Orlando Wednesday afternoon and headed up to JFK and then grabbed a flight from JFK directly into Berlin. Uh got there like eight in the morning, I think, on Thursday. Uh hopped in an Uber, went to our hotel. We weren't ready to check in yet, so that was a little bit of an inconvenience, but it could be worse. You know, there could be bombs and whatnot near the hotels.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and then um the tour company I was with uh had a bus for us, and we hopped on a bus and went over to the expo like as soon as it opened.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Well, World Major, how was the expo?
SPEAKER_00:Busy. Busy. Um compared to other ones, I would say it's on the same level as Chicago, as far as just crowds of people, busy energy, but they're so efficient, and you could pre-order your finisher shirts or your your uh jackets, like it was so easy compared to other majors.
SPEAKER_08:I would say that the efficiency here makes um makes Disney look like the Bush League almost. Um you turning thousands and thousands of people in an hour. You you walk in, you get a wristband, that wristband lets them know that you're actually racing. You go up, they print your bib off right there on the spot. I went from the doors opening with uh probably thousands of people in front of me in line to having my bib in hand in under 25 minutes.
SPEAKER_09:Wow. Wow. That's that's better than the uh corral guy at Bird and Hand, Jen. Inside joke. Uh anything exciting at the at the expo, Kristen?
SPEAKER_12:Well, they still I went to the expo on Friday afternoon and they still had a lot of merchandise. I had pre-ordered a shirt and a jacket um just because I wasn't sure what the situation would be like if it would be like at Run Disney, where a lot of the stuff is already picked over. But yeah, I was just surprised that they still had so much merchandise left at that time. Um, and it was just really, really efficient. Um, they had the Therabody boots that I've heard a lot about from Run Disney Expos. I had never tried them before, so I was able to try them there. And they also they had um a lot of um marathons that were in Europe. They had representatives there.
SPEAKER_09:Okay, makes sense.
SPEAKER_12:Um yeah.
SPEAKER_09:The squeezy boots, huh?
SPEAKER_12:Yes, they're very nice.
SPEAKER_09:They're pretty good. I agree. Big event, world major. I didn't look to see how many people entered, but it's normally in the 40 to 50,000 range. I assume Germany is probably close to that. How did they handle the start?
SPEAKER_08:Uh so 55,200 people uh were registered to run. Um so I was I was in the last uh last start group, last corral. Um, but it is uh based on my understanding, there were four start waves and it was just four groups of people, and they opened up the gates. And once they opened the gates, everyone who was behind them just went until the next start group, and then they would do a quick pause after that start group, and then they would open it up again and uh and let everyone get them. Um I showed up on time relatively for my start group, um, but when I turned around, uh there was no one behind me, so I accidentally definitely started uh the world major.
SPEAKER_09:In in that group, anyway.
SPEAKER_08:Well, I was in the last one, so I was I was one of the first across the start one.
SPEAKER_09:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:I was actually the same corral as him, and it was it was pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_09:You didn't see anybody with balloons, did you, Michael?
SPEAKER_00:No, no balloons, thankfully. Um, however, one of the weirdest pre-race, I'm not gonna call it a ritual because it was weird, but they had everyone have their hands in the air, and then they had us going to the left, to the left, to the left. Not like dancing, but just moving our arms back and forth. And if you step back and look, all you see is this sea of humanity going from the left to the right.
SPEAKER_09:That's cool.
SPEAKER_07:So, speaking of things that um you saw on the course, did you see any crazy costumes? I know that we love seeing the costumes at Disney Races, and I I know there was some um at Berlin.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, there was Pineapple Guy. I don't know if you saw the picture of Pineapple Guy.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, it was also, I don't know if they were from the States or not. Bob, you'll appreciate this. There were these two women in a tandem costume with a space shuttle, and they were trying to set a Guinness record wearing an actual space shuttle costume.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00:That's interesting.
SPEAKER_08:I saw a couple people running around in banana costumes. I think they were Chiquita bananas because I believe that they were one of the sponsors.
SPEAKER_07:That's great.
SPEAKER_09:Oh, that's neat. Yeah. Kristen, how'd the start go for you?
SPEAKER_12:It was good. It seemed like they had, I was in the last start group as well. Um, and it seemed like they had mini waves within the wave. So that was good that there wasn't, it wasn't super crowded. I felt like there was plenty of room to move at the beginning of the course. It wasn't that much of a bottleneck. Um, and since it was so hot, they were also like handing out a lot of water as we were making our way to the start line. Um, and they also had water like in the start corrals, and they had um they also had porter potties in the corrals, which I did not realize. And I was waiting in a really long line in the start area. And then once I got to the corral, I was like, I could have saved like 45 minutes by just making it starting corral.
SPEAKER_09:Uh, you live and you learn, right? That's okay. Well, tell us about the course, please. What were some of the exciting things that you passed? How was the course? Be well, you can tell us about it being hot too, if you want to, but we know that. But how did it go? Brian, how'd it go for you?
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, so the course was great. Um, getting to run through Germany, uh, seeing all the sites. I've never been to Germany before, so it was kind of fun to to see all the see all the things and and soak in just the um the the experience of running in a different country. Um first uh first international second international race. Um I did one on cast like the official one on Castaway K a few years back before they shut that down. Um but so second international race. Um I thought that it was well supported. Um I heard a couple comments that they ran out of some drinks or waters uh towards the end, but uh I started at the end and my experience was quite the opposite. Um they had many water cups. Uh most people were grabbing two or three water cups at a time because it was so hot. And like, I don't know if you guys experienced this, but like the ground around the water station, the aid station, was so wet that it was like a slip and slide, and like there were puddles like three to six inches deep. And then the stack of cups on the side of the road was like a few feet worth of uh of cups on the side of the road. It was uh it was definitely an experience.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the weird thing with the uh With the water stations, they're plastic cups, they're not the typical, so you can't fold them. You try to run with a plastic cup, and it just the water's hitting you in the face, and the prettiest thing. Um, but one thing that was really I thought it was cool that they did was because it was so hot, they had people out there with hoses creating these. I'm gonna call it a shower, where you would run through and they would just completely cool you down. They had them at every kind of every other water station, I think. That was just volunteers, or was that something that the course had? That I don't know. Um, I mean, it was run by the people that were volunteering at the water stations, like a mist station, basically, right?
SPEAKER_08:Or is that regular shower? So some of them were set up on structures to get even higher. So it does seem like at least some of them were like engineered to be there by the race coordinators, where some were definitely held up by the uh the volunteers.
SPEAKER_09:What were some of the German or Berlin landmarks that you passed?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, the main one's Brandenburg Gate. I mean, that's the finish. That's at the end, yeah. Yeah. Um, checkpoint Charlie. If you look, you you might miss it.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. Other than that, as pretty much is just running running through the city. Well, that's still pretty cool. Now, Brian, this is your first world major, right?
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_09:Yes. Okay, but Kristen, you've done at least two. You said I think you said Chicago.
SPEAKER_12:Yes.
SPEAKER_09:Any comparisons?
SPEAKER_12:I think that both of them just they had a lot of spectators, which was great. What I really liked about Berlin was that my name was printed on my bed. So there were so many people cheering for me, um, especially because I was using the runwalk method. And so I was on the right side of the road, and like there's I lost count with how many people were cheering for me. Um, so that was really encouraging, especially with it being so hot. But yeah, overall, I would recommend both of these world majors. Chicago was great as well.
SPEAKER_09:Now, last week in the race report, it wasn't a spotlight. We had a one of our friends who ran a race in Paris and said it was very motivating to have people shouting at you in French. Was it motivating to have people shouting at you in German?
SPEAKER_12:Yes. Yes, I feel like people were pronouncing my name um with a German accent. So yeah, it was great. Yeah.
unknown:All right.
SPEAKER_09:Now, Michael, I that was really this question that I've asked uh Brian and Kristen, it was really a setup for you, buddy. Okay, because you've knocked them all out now, you've done all six. That's really quite an accomplishment. Overall thoughts, you don't have to compare all six, just overall thoughts now that you've completed the journey.
SPEAKER_00:It's funny you say that because coming down the last stretch, heading to Brandenburg, is where I started to remember the other finish lines, and it's just this wave of emotion that came over me. Um it just gratitude to be able to do it. Um starting off in Boston and finishing in Berlin is that was you know, I now what's next? You know what I mean? Like I've done it then, what?
SPEAKER_09:Well, I mean, I you know, enjoy it. I mean really, you know, I I think that's a fantastic thing. You've done it, you enjoy it. You've had them all. Um any favorite? Do you have a favorite of the six?
SPEAKER_00:It's okay. So anyone in Boston's gonna hate me for saying this. Um, New York City. If you could bottle the energy from a New York City marathon and sell it, you would be a billionaire. That's what I've heard. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_09:They're they're really gonna hate you since the Yankees and the Red Sox are playing each other, right? Uh, don't remind me. Right as we're recording this. But uh yeah, but that's okay. I think I think in this case you can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_13:Michael, are you gonna plan on doing Australia?
SPEAKER_00:Um if you were to ask me today, I'm gonna say no. Um I I've thought about it. Uh it's just the logistics of getting there. And the course, let's I'm gonna be real honest, does not look fun. It it's more hills and more um more game than New York City running all those.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did hear that from our friends who ran it, that it was the hilliest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm probably gonna pass on Sydney. Cape Town, if it comes up, maybe we'll talk. I don't know, but for now, we're good.
SPEAKER_08:I just entered the uh the lottery for the Sydney marathon yesterday.
SPEAKER_09:I think it's exciting. I wish you all the best of luck in that. I I think just going there would be exciting. That's a marathon in itself. Uh you're right, John.
SPEAKER_07:So, Brian, you just kind of answered my question. If you plan to do any more um world majors, um, so it obviously you have to get into them, but um, it sounds like maybe you you would like to.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, so my goal is to uh to do them all over, I guess, the course of my life. I don't I don't have any like need to get them done immediately. And I'm not uh an extremely lucky person. I've entered uh for like four or five world majors, and Berlin was the first one that I've gotten into. Um, so uh so I'll take them as they come. And then my plan is to do Boston as my last one. I don't think I'll ever qualify for time for Boston, but um, but I'll do it as like a cherry on top and uh and fundraise a bunch of money for them.
SPEAKER_09:Right, right.
SPEAKER_07:What about you, Kristen? Do you plan to do any more of them?
SPEAKER_12:Yes, I would really like to run New York City. Um, and yeah, I would like to finish in Boston if I ever um complete all the other ones. And for Berlin, I actually it was interesting. I didn't get in through the lottery initially, but I think that maybe this is the only World Marathon major that has this, but they actually have a second chance lottery. So I randomly entered it thinking there's no way that I'm gonna be selected. But then at the end of January, I got an email saying that I um had been selected and had two weeks to decide if I was going to run it. And I was like, if I get in, I definitely need to run this race. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to Germany in September.
SPEAKER_09:Good for you. That's outstanding. Aside from World Majors, which is just awesome. I congratulate the three of you, and uh obviously Michael doing all six, that's remarkable. But run Disney. When do we see you again at Disney, Brian?
SPEAKER_08:My next Disney race is gonna be Princess. I will be there for all three races. Um, kind of taking a break, kind of well, I said that. Um, I I was planning on taking a break a little bit from the the Disney races just to kind of go out there and experience some more like world majors style races, and funds are not unlimited as you sure, yes, sure. Um, but somehow I found my way into uh joining y'all for Princess.
SPEAKER_09:Good deal. We'll be glad to see you there, Kristen. How about you?
SPEAKER_12:I'm running my second Doby um in January, and then I'll also be there for the Princess Half in in March.
SPEAKER_09:All right, all right, Michael, Wine and Dine.
SPEAKER_00:No, um I I'm taking an extended break. Um I'm trying to venture out. I've started to create a bucket list of some half marathons I want to run. Um, like Iceland. Oh, yeah, cool. Other other places where, again, like you said, like Brian said, you gotta move the funds from one place to another to get to these races. So uh probably 2027, I'll be back.
SPEAKER_09:Okay. Space Coast?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I'm in for Space Coast. I'm in for Dora. Dora's my fifth year. So okay.
SPEAKER_09:I haven't I haven't uh climbed, I haven't challenged Mount Dora yet. You gotta get there for the climb. Maybe one of these years, yeah. But uh yeah, see a space coast. That sounds like fun.
SPEAKER_13:So I know besides the marathon, there's other events there, like like a tune-up race, uh like a 5k. I know there's the inline races. Did you guys experience any of that?
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, so I ran the 5K with my wife, um, and that was really exciting. It was basically the last 5k of the full marathon. So she and I got to experience that together. And someone very uh politely pointed out on the race that this may be the last time you remember running this portion of the marathon, uh, which was very true because at that point everything was kind of a fog. So that was really cool. And then when when we completed that, uh, we got to watch the inline folks come through as well, which I think is pretty unique to Berlin. I don't think anyone else has any inline skate um races that go on the same course.
SPEAKER_00:My hotel was right in front of the Brandenburg gate, so we got to stand in front of the hotel and watch the uh inline race. And seeing the videos online does not do them justice to how fast they're actually going. It is amazing. Those athletes are insane.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah, I think the finisher, the winner finished in about an hour.
SPEAKER_09:Wow. I don't think I could ride a bicycle that fast. Uh may I don't think so. All right, that's neither here nor there. Friends, sounds like a wonderful trip, wonderful time. Thank you for taking your time to tell us about it. And we look forward to seeing you again soon. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Thanks. Okay, let's continue now this weekend. Continue on Saturday in Columbus, Indiana, where Ileana and her father, Nelson, did the mill race marathon, first marathon ever for Iliana. That's PR. Nelson, her dad, did his second. And he's a youngster. He's only 70 years old. God bless you, Nelson. That's great, buddy. Us old guys got to stick together. I honest to goodness, I'm proud of you for that. That's awesome. Uh, they this particular race, the Mill race, they finished their four-year medal series. Iliana made a lovely post. She spent a lot of time thanking everyone who helped her on this journey to her first marathon. And isn't that the truth? You know, we all go out, we put in the work, and that part we do by ourselves, mostly, but there's a whole lot of folks that have to help us if we're going to achieve these goals. And don't forget those people along the way either. In Orlando, there was a big event. Lots of rise and runners at the Margaritaville Run 5K, 10K, and half. Friends, it is still summer in Florida, and Saturday was pretty toasty. Nancy did the 10K, her third year doing a Margaritaville race, their second year doing the 10K. Uh, they ran a little bit, ran through a bit of the island H2O water park and the main drag of the Sunset Walk District in Orlando. Despite the fact that the course may have been a little bit more than 10K, and the weather being hot, she still beat her time from last year. That's pretty good. Mary did the 10K. Mary, I hope you saw the photos. She wore a blow-up GoBro Shake costume because she's fundraising for the American Cancer Society for her run in Chicago. She called that thing her own personal sauna. I can only imagine. It really looked hot. Uh, but the vibes were nothing but great. She had a good time. Now she's inspired to do other crazy things. Mary, you're making me nervous. Amber did the 5K. Thanks for all the fun and on-theme holler hypes that she got. And for those who asked, yes, there were margaritas at the finish line. Well, by golly, I sure hope so. Jared did the half. Jared said not enough water stations on the half, and no electrolyte drinks at all. Uh running back in the finish line area. You're running in between cars. That's pretty much not cool. I think this is the first time they did a half marathon at this race. Nevertheless, Jared says he still had fun and he did enjoy the margaritas and beers after the race. Carried it at 10K. Great setting. Not a PR. Too hot to push it. I agree. Pretty hot on Saturday. Uh, she didn't love the the way that all three races, the five, the ten, and the half, they all merge towards the end, makes it for a really crowded final mile. But she says she'll be back for this one. Erica ran her first race back two months after a series of injury challenges. Uh, no on-course entertainment, barely any traffic control, which led to some upset drivers. Yeah, they probably need to, yeah, race directors probably need to iron that out. But once again, Erica cites the fact that, hey, I don't care because we got free margaritas at the end. I may have to do this one next year. Alicia, you don't have to buy. Ah, Nicole did the half. She says she's pretty sure she saw Little Baby Jesus on the course. Or maybe it was just the heat. Lots of folks had trouble on this one. Uh could have used more water stops, that's a theme. David did the 10K, got a PR, but it was only his second 10K. Well, that David, what that means, is means it's your second consecutive 10K PR. You got a PR on your first one because it was your first one, and now you got a PR on your second one. That's great. Now the other one, the other 10K, looks like it was springtime surprise because it was the day before the 10 miler at Disney. Disney. Way to go, David. And then our friend Heather rolled this one, said the start was really a mess for AWD athletes. Accessibility was limited, uh, getting bib pickup. Uh the accessible porta potty was filled with trash cans. Not cool. Uh, but once the race started, things got a little better. She was on a PR pace, but then she had wheel trouble at mile 12. Wheels started getting wobbly. Fortunately, she got some help from the lifeguards at the water park. They found some tools, fixed her wheel, she was able to finish. So, big event in Orlando. Let's go to Southampton, New York for the Hamptons half marathon. Megan ran that one. Dorothy was in Kennesaw, Georgia for the Kennesaw Grand Prix Harvest Hustle 5K. In Milton, Delaware, Tracy ran the Dogfish 4.81 mile race. That's right, 4.81 miles. There's a reason for that. I don't know what it is. This is the 20th year that this race has been run. Takes place on a looped course around the countryside near the Dogfish Head Brewery.
SPEAKER_01:Such an awesome brewery. There's so much great metal artwork that is and there's and they have like this big uh like treehouse structure there, too. I I was there a couple of years ago uh because it's very close to uh Rehowith Beach, Delaware, which is where I do a lot of my beach vacations. And yeah, it is it's an awesome, awesome brewery. And when I saw Tracy Pillow this report, I was like, I was so jealous. I never knew about it. So it's definitely on my radar for the future.
SPEAKER_09:Good. Well, it appears they have a costume contest to see you can make the most creative costume out of recycled materials. So there you go. You get working, Greg. You got a year. Uh uh, some autumn leaves are starting to fall along the path in Delaware. They took it easy, but she'll definitely be back next year to do this race with Greg. Lori in Akron, Ohio, did the Akron half marathon. Well-organized race. She's done the half, at least 19 out of the last 23 years. Didn't look at her watch and at all until she crossed the finish line. This race just felt different. She felt strong, ran 30-30 intervals, and ran, and we need a bell for this, a post-knee replacement PR of 2 hours 42 minutes. In Dunedin, Florida, the Dunedin Oktoberfest 5K Kimberly was there. Uh, thunderstorms before. I mean, this this is my neck of the woods. Yeah, the thunderstorms early in the morning. Heavy rain after the race, but it was like a two-hour block in between, and the weather for that was okay. A little warm, a little steamy, but it's Florida. We get it. It was okay. They raced this one on the Pinellas Trail, which is a rail trail, great place for running. Uh, so that's where she does a lot of her training runs. She was familiar with that. This race had a nice community vibe, which is typical of Dunedin. Dunedin's a really nice community. Plus, Kimberly got her PR, which was massively helped by all the hypes she received. So congrats on that PR, Kimberly. In Sacramento, a race like no udder, the urban cow weekend. That's right. That's a race like no udder.
SPEAKER_13:That's an utter disgrace.
SPEAKER_09:It is, but I didn't make it up, John. It's actually it's on the material, it's on the archway over the finish. It's a race like no udder. Bethany was there. She did a 5K. She does this race every year because it's so much fun. Thankfully, it was cooler than last year, but still pretty warm. A lot of shade on this flat course. No PR, but she's been recovering from being sick the week prior, so just happy to be out there. Get out there and run and to finish.
SPEAKER_01:I heard the scene was really moving.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. All right, I'm moving right along. Lauren was in Atlanta for the West Side Park 10K. Able to complete this rainy, rolling hilly course with a 9-minute and 36-second PR. Feeling great, but she knows she could have done a little better. Well, that's the way to do it. Is if if you knock that out and you feel like you can boy, that's great. Hey, Alicia Lauren says she danced in the rain.
SPEAKER_07:That's great. That makes me happy.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm glad she did that because I hyped Lauren for this race, and I believe she had put on Holler hype that she was aiming for a PR, but then because of the weather and her being clumsy, she wasn't gonna get it. So I was like, don't think like that. Just enjoy yourself, and you might surprise yourself. And look at that, you surprise yourself with a nine-minute PR.
SPEAKER_09:That's what happened. All right. Hey, I mentioned this one. Now, Melissa was injured and didn't get to start this race, but it was up in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and Melissa was scheduled for Melissa's road race. That was the name of it. I mean, it's perfect, but it didn't happen. Next year, Melissa. Next year. In West Jordan, Utah. Jason did the 10K. His wife Laura and sister Christy did the 5K at the witch run in West Jordan. It's Christy's first race as a PR. The family lives in Florida, so Jason was a little concerned about the 4,000-foot elevation at the start in Utah, but there were cool temps, no humidity, relatively no humidity, an awesome trade-off for the altitude, and Jason got a new 10k PR. And Jason got a the PR that he was hoping for. It's four minutes faster than his previous eight-year-old record. So that's significant, Jason. Way to go. And congratulations to Laura and Christy as well. Denise was, I think, in Hickory, North Carolina, I believe. She did the roof roof 5K. That's right. It's a race for puppies. Fourth in a series of five races. Part paved road, part trail through the woods. Poured rain. So muddy. First run with her dog Oakley, and they both did great. First place in their age group. I'm not sure if it's Denise's age group or the dog's age group. Doesn't matter. Great job.
SPEAKER_13:Do you gotta multiply that by seven?
SPEAKER_09:Maybe John. I don't know. Uh let's see. Ashley. Ashley was in Miami for the Chicken Chase 5,000. I like them when they name them five, not 5K, but 5,000. That's cool. She didn't PR, but she did get third in her age group. Really proud of that. We're proud of you too, Ashley. Great job. The medal is one with plastic? Yeah, squawking rubber. Rubber, I should say. Yeah, yeah. A squawking rubber chicken. Because it actually makes the noise.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely brilliant.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, actually got two medals. She got the squawking chicken, and then they gave her a medal for her AG3 finish. So that's cool.
SPEAKER_01:I loved all the Facebook comments on this one and the fact that like the sheer number of people that was like, this is now a bucket list race for me. So I can't wait to see this registration blow up next year.
SPEAKER_09:Down in Miami, huh? Up in Connecticut, Sue ran her first Connecticut race in a while. I don't know where or how long, but she ran it. Good for you, Sue. Out in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunset Run 5K, Jackie and Fred. Fun run around Dodgers Stadium. Lots of hills? Maybe. I guess so. They said so. I believe them. They got to walk around the warning track of the stadium afterwards. And let's finish up Saturday in London at the Westminster Mile, which is put on by the London Marathon events. Heather was there. Over 8,000 participants in this event. 25 different waves, waves for the mile. There were 10 family waves where adults had to be chaperoned by a little person who was with them. They were able to take in order to be able to take part. And then they had a superheroes wave where 434 people dressed as superheroes in an attempt to break a Guinness world record. Don't know if they did or not. It takes a while for Guinness to verify. Anyway, Heather did an event supervised by her nephew Harrison, who was a little anxious at the start of the race, but he found his stride and ended up finishing with a new personal best of 12 minutes and 40 seconds. Great job, Harrison. Congratulations. Now Heather's claiming a PB on this too because she's never done a timed one mile event before. So there you go. Another personal best. On to Sunday in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the Delco 10 Miler. Allie without an E ran it. Allie says, lies. I can hear her. I can hear her in my headset. Lies. 1200 runners, only four porta potties. They had real toilets in the park, but only two of the four flushed, and uh let's move on. That's disgusting. And while it was uh net downhill, it was not all downhill. So she ran with Kay, saw Yvette, had a great day, she'll do it again. Kay says they lied, but I'll be back next year. When I when I read Kay's, I mean I can hear Allie saying it, and when I read Kay's, I think back to the first, I don't know, sometime early that Kay came to a meetup, and I convinced her that the mango habanero cookies weren't all that hot. I didn't think they were, because I usually make them, but Becky had made them this time. So Kay bit into one and she looked at me and she goes, Bob, you lied! I took a bite myself and I went, Oh, yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_01:I I want to give Kay a lot of credit. As a Washington Commanders fan, she was very brave to sign up for this race because needless to say, she was not thrilled by the sheer number of go birds that uh she heard on the uh the race course and from me at the finish line when I was cheering them in.
SPEAKER_09:Hey, you know what was remarkable was the number of Eagles fans in Tampa this week.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_09:Unbelievable. Anyway, not a football podcast. Yvette was at this event. Yvette loved the crowd support all along the course, really nice. Mostly downhill, she says, few rolling hills. Pretty warm, but Yvette finished better than she thought she would. She said the food at the after party was yummy, and you got a beer and a choice of a cheesesteak or a burger. That's not really a choice, is it?
SPEAKER_01:No, it's not.
SPEAKER_09:No, no.
SPEAKER_01:Bob, I do have to ask, did you see all of Allie's photos that she posted? No. Okay. You'll get a kick out of this, and anybody who's from the Philadelphia area will also get a kick out of this. At the uh the hydration tables, they had these big signs up that said wooder.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, okay. I saw that. Yep. Yep, yep. Wooder. Wooder. Wooder, not water. W oater. W O O D E R. Greg, if you come down here for spring training, first of all, we got a room for you. Secondly, you can buy the clear wooder Phillies t-shirt.
SPEAKER_10:Very nice.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. All right, let's see. In Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl, the Bimbo Global Race had an actual live event. Now that's a big virtual event that occurs worldwide. I didn't realize they had a live event. They had 8,000 runners out there. Kayla was one of them. It's free. The virtual event's free. The live event was free, is well organized. They had great weather, mid-60s, and overcast. Uh the finish hit her hard when they played go the distance on her final downhill leg. The swag, the community, and running for a global cause, good deal. 10 out of 10. She's doing it again.
SPEAKER_13:I I tried to do the virtual this year, but I forgot to put my results in. Yeah, so no bimbo virtual for me this year.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah, I looked in my medal rack. I've got a bimbo virtual medal from probably from during COVID. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah. Let's see. Up in Detroit, Christy did the Growler Gallop 5K with a group of friends. And the group of friends was large enough to score a tenth in the race start area. Got to see a lot of friends from across southeastern Michigan. 80 degrees in Michigan, a little warm for this time of year. Felt more like midsummer than early fall. I love that. Great attitude. Uh perfect weather in Boulder, Colorado for the Boulderthon 2025 10K that Alexis ran. Now, the race wrote her race report for her. That's pretty cool. I've noticed this with Strava now. Strava will give you a little blurb at the end and said, Hey, you're doing better here. And you just well, this race report was pretty cool. It break broke down different segments and how Alexis did. I love the final line. Here's the final line quoting from the report that the race wrote race wrote for Alexis. Alexis exhibits promising results and remarkable steady steady pacing, indicating a strong proof of progress. Well, there you go, Alexis. In Boca Ratan, Florida, Holly ran the Devil Dog 5K, a 5K that benefits the wounded veterans relief fund. Always gets a lot of community support. This was the first race she did. Last year, after her dad, a Vietnam vet passed away, she had her four-mile challenge walk Friday, and then 17 on the schedule for Saturday. So she planned to just walk this one, but she felt good. Then she felt really good. And then she PR'd. Way to go, Holly. Bush Gardens, Williamsburg, Virginia. I used to like that place. Used to go quite often. Hannah was there, ran the Fiends Frenzy 5K. First 5K since getting a hip injection in June. Set a goal, managed to hit it with seconds to spare. So Hannah decided to dress as Isma after her friend Samantha Lee decided she was going to be Chicha for this race. The park had their scare actors out. But instead of scaring them, they on each hill cheered the runners on. That's not very scary. In Winter Garden, Florida, Laura and Sam did the Hickory Hammock 5K. A small but mighty neighborhood race and a tradition that supports the Edgewood Children's Ranch. This is Sam's third year taken on this course. And since it's the start of the season, they took things a little bit easy on the 5K. Sam didn't finish with this one. He headed right back after the finish and did the kids' race, creating his own challenge, finishing strong. And because Laura and Sam keep score, it's a new race season. Right now, Sam won, Laura zero. Kayla! Another Quad Cities half in the books. They were planning on this race only being their long run, but they felt good. And Mr. Treadmill, of course, Kayla being the treadmill queen. Mr. Treadmill is Kayla's husband. Ran his fourth half, set a new half PR! And was the perfect AWD guide. What a team. Good job. In London! The Vitality 10K. Emily, a scenic city course. It's basically the final part of the London Marathon. Which Emily completed earlier this year, but she enjoyed this route far more this time because the temperatures were a lot cooler. And set a personal best of 5430. A great 10k time, Emily. Way to go. Let's wrap it up in Columbus, Ohio, where Kayla did the big bad wolf 10 miler. Weather was very nice, but uh a few pretty challenging hills on the course. However, Kayla did PR at an hour and 44 minutes. And there you have it, friends. The race report for episode 210 of the Rise and Run podcast. As I believe I mentioned earlier, no Zoom this week. There will be one next week as we're getting ready for wine and dine three weeks away. The excitement builds. It's going to continue to build. We're looking forward to seeing you soon. But until then, happy running.
SPEAKER_01:The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney Company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice. It should always consult with your healthcare provider or event organizers.
