228: 2026 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Recap

Fireworks before sunrise, yoga in the cold, and a finish line that felt like a farewell—this Disneyland race weekend had a different kind of electricity. We open with Miss Piggy’s cameo on the castle screen and roll straight into the expo’s virtual queue scramble, a quick detour through misplaced bib drama, and a check-in with Jeff and Barbara Galloway that left us optimistic and grateful. Between merch scarcity, the Dumbo hoodie frenzy, and smarter PhotoPass ops, the weekend balanced magic with mechanics in classic runDisney fashion.

The 5K reminded us why the west coast course is beloved: quiet fireworks, a park-start and park-finish, and sunrise over Pixar Pier. A surprise “balloon lady” sighting and a late-course cut around Avengers Campus created some confusion, but the joy still landed. The 10K leaned into imagination—Sorcerer Mickey everywhere, Figment looping in our heads, and backstage Easter eggs like the Tower of Terror sign and A Bug’s Life props. Photo lines moved faster, and runners helped each other grab those castle shots when photographers cleared out near the back.

The half marathon tied it all together. Early laps through DCA, then a thoughtful route across Anaheim with out-and-backs that turned the race into a reunion. The 501st brought free hugs and big energy; third-shift custodial cast cheered like pros. We talk pacing with run-walk-run, efficient PhotoPass at small world and Millennium Falcon, and the thrill of a fast finish that also marked a 100th RunDisney medal. The DCA picnic-area meetup overflowed—cookies, bracelets, and the best conversations of the weekend—proof that this community keeps the magic alive long after the medals are hung.

We close with the question on everyone’s mind: will runDisney return to Disneyland? Some of us think yes, but not soon; others felt a real goodbye in Carissa’s voice. Either way, the stories, tips, and friendships from this weekend are here to keep you moving. If you had a favorite moment from the races—or a prediction about what’s next—drop us a note, subscribe, and share this with a friend who needs a little start line magic.

Manny Runs Disney

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Transcript

Openers From Disneyland Weekend

SPEAKER_01 0:45

It's my birthday. It's my birthday. Going to party with Rise and Run because it's my birthday. Hey, it's Brandy from Houston. Welcome to the Rise and Run Podcast. I'm calling you from Encore SSH at Disneyland. Happy running. This is Allison calling from Orange County, California. More importantly, from the finish line at the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend. Calling to wish everyone's happy racing, happy running. And I hope that everyone who just finished the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend had a great time. Happy running, everyone.

Hosts Welcome And Episode Setup

SPEAKER_05 1:19

There you go, friends. A couple of intros for you from Disneyland Race Weekend. We kick it off with the Queen of Intros herself, Brandy. If you didn't know it, it was her birthday on the day of the 10K. So she sent us a message from the 10K. And then Allison sent us a message from the half marathon on Saturday. So that's great. Thank you, Brandy. Thank you, Allison. And welcome, my friends. Welcome to episode 228 of the Rise and Run Podcast. We're so happy that you have joined us for this Disneyland Race weekend recap episode. I'm Bob and I'm here this week with John. Hey, how are you doing? With Jack.

SPEAKER_07 2:06

Hiya.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

With Alicia.

SPEAKER_07 2:08

Hello.

SPEAKER_05 2:09

And with Greg. Hey, hey, hey. Hello, my friends. It's wonderful to see you. Uh a little warmer, I hope, than you were. Last is warming up a little bit up north. It's still chilly in Florida. Well, it's a heat wave, Bob.

SPEAKER_10 2:25

I got 37 degrees today.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

Oh, there you go. 37? Well, we're at 47, so. But it was nicer today.

SPEAKER_10 2:32

It was better than it was better than six the other morning.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

Yeah, I reckon it was. And I missed the real cold stuff here in uh in Florida, but it's it's all good. Like I heard someone saying, I was at breakfast this morning, and I heard a woman behind me saying, Oh, a couple of weeks will be 105. We'll be complaining about it. So it's all good. Uh, let's see, my friends, as I as I mentioned already, this is our Disneyland recap episode. So we focused on that for episode 228. We hope you enjoy that.

Housekeeping, Socials, And Patreon

SPEAKER_07 3:09

If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, go ahead and please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise and Run family. We want to share in the Run Disney journey. So please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise Run Podcast and Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and Run Podcast.com. If you have a question, comment, race report, or just want to introduce an upcoming episode, call us at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

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_05 3:55

Thank you. Uh Jack, we got something coming up on YouTube, don't we?

SPEAKER_07 3:59

Oh, yes. Well, uh, we're gonna be talking about this in a little bit when we talk about the Disneyland races. But if you guys want to go ahead and check out the 5K and 10K race videos, they're officially up on the Rise and Run Podcast YouTube channel. And the expo will soon follow next week.

YouTube Videos And Sponsor Shoutouts

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Outstanding. The Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our wonderful friends over at Magic Bound Travel. Yeah, this week is this is a sad week because um in Animal Kingdom, the conservation station closed for the refurbishment for the bluey changes that are coming this summer. Okay, all right. Yes, that did happen, but that's not the reason why people are sad. My deepest condolences to John, Jack, and Alicia, and everyone else out there who has uh love and passion for the dinosaurs. So if you want to book a trip to Walt Disney World to, I don't know, maybe like to lay a dinosaur bone in front of the green walls that are now up uh in Animal Kingdom. Our friends at Magic Bound Travel can take care of that for you. Be sure to visit MagicboundTravel.com to receive your no obligation quote.

Training Check-In And Upcoming Race Dates

Wine & Dine Registration And Discord Plan

SPEAKER_05 5:14

Sounds good. Thank you. Take a look at the training schedule. Golly, I just got back yesterday from a race, and here we go, Princess Race Weekend, three weeks away, 21 days till the expo. We are in training week 15, and if you're doing the challenge, you've got four miles with a magic mile. That's four, including the magic mile on your training schedule this weekend. Not far behind, the last race weekend of the season, springtime surprise. We can count them on two hands now, ten weeks away. You know, there's a little bit of sadness in that because we're coming to the end of the season. But let's let's not worry about it. We're not there yet. We're in training week eight for this event. For the challenge, you have a one-mile walk. You got a double up here, a one-mile walk and a seven-mile run walk-run. Now, a note if you're going to Springtime Surprise and you are getting there on Expo Day, your advanced dining reservation day is coming up on February 15th. So that's coming up in two weeks. We'll remind you about it again next week. Uh, looking at another thing that's coming up, wine and dime. We're not on the training schedule yet, but we're only five days away from registration day. Now, registration day for Club Run Disney has already occurred. It occurred the day that we recorded this episode. But for those of you who are not in the club, reservation day is Tuesday, February 10th at 10 a.m. Now, up to now, we've gotten together in the Facebook group chats to help one another through registration time. Sadly, they no longer exist. John, you've worked up a Discord server.

SPEAKER_10 7:19

So we put a new channel on our Discord, uh, in our Discord channel uh called Race Registration. So this would be for all race registrations going on from now on. No special one for each group. So if you want to get in there like our registration chats, just go into that chat. Don't go into the wine and dine half weekend or coming up uh marathon weekend, just use the race registration chat.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

Okay, sounds good, John. Look for the race registration registration. Yeah, easy for me to say. Uh, the race registration chat. Uh also, we will have a zoom on that Tuesday. I will put that into the Facebook group, the instructions for the Zoom on Tuesday morning for wine and dine race registration.

SPEAKER_07 8:11

Just out of curiosity, who here is doing wine and dine?

SPEAKER_10 8:16

I plan on being there. The 5K, which I'm up in the air about right now, is on my birthday, but that's fun. Yeah, but I I'm st I'm still kind of you know, with the old two different 5K's, I'm kind of a little interested how that's gonna work out. Oh, yeah, John. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm kind of a little interested on that. That should be an interesting day for registration. Let's see if the 5K sold out with the extended uh I I hope not.

SPEAKER_05 8:43

I mean, that's the reason for doing it, is opening it up.

SPEAKER_10 8:46

So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

Yeah, I think I think it's neat. I mean, it's there are gonna be some bugs. Let's just get ready for it. There will be. But I think it's neat. I mean, how many people have gotten into running in general just from Run Disney and from Run Disney 5K's? So opening that up, I think, is I think it's worth some growing pains. I think it'll be all right.

SPEAKER_10 9:07

And then I'm gonna try to get into the challenge. I'm gonna try I'm getting into the challenge first, and then I'll then I'll try to get into the 5K because my I rather do the challenge over the 5K.

SPEAKER_05 9:19

Well, I will be there, and uh I plan right now to register for the challenge, but John, you've made an interesting point, and I I may do the same thing. I may register. Golly. Ah man. I know it's tough, Bob. Yeah, but it's fun when we love it. Uh so there you go for training, advanced dining reservations, registrations coming up. You know what else I wonder? I wonder what would Alicia do?

Pre-Order Merch And Challenge Strategy

SPEAKER_04 9:57

Well, I know exactly what Alicia would do, and that is she would register for the two-course challenge because she's Miss Perfect. So uh, so Alicia, tell us about your registration experience this week.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

So I did because you know, Bob says I'm practically perfect in every way. And every way you have to do that Mary Poppins race.

SPEAKER_05 10:18

Yes, yes, that's perfectly correct.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Right. So I did. I I got to register today. Um, not much to tell. I get the link and then I put in my information and it says, here you go, great. You're registered.

SPEAKER_10 10:33

Any merch, like I didn't see any merch, like uh pre-order merch stuff up there. Did you see anything?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Yeah, there was um a couple different jackets, which I really like the theming. Um, I forget exactly what it said, but I think it's called Taste Around World Showcase or Taste Around the World is the theme that they're going with. And it says that on the stuff um on the jackets, which I really liked. You never can tell by those pre-order pictures, like how how things are gonna be laid up um exactly. But there was some pictures um of the merchandise which looked really nice. Um, and I'm really excited for that erase weekend. So yeah, I hope that registration goes well for you guys.

SPEAKER_05 11:14

I hope so too. Thanks, Alicia.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

Yeah, Alicia, I wanted to ask you something because there uh there's a screenshot that's floating around um Instagram uh this evening, and it was a screenshot uh shared by our good friend uh Bibi Brooke. She's also a perfect challenger, and um so a few people picked up on this, and I'm curious what your thoughts are. So, as part of registering for the two-course challenge, there's a new acknowledgement box, and it says here as a challenge participant, you will also be running the 10K race. Your 10K race pace will be determined by your half marathon proof of time or your chosen anticipated half marathon finish time.

Fluffy Fizzies And Zoom Thursday

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I did notice that because in the past I've had to put what my pace would be for each of them, um, because I don't have a proof of time at at this time. Um, so I would say whatever the pace would be, and I had to do it for both. And this time, yes, I did see that check-a-box um acknowledging that, which I thought was really interesting. Um so we'll see how that goes. I think that the whole race weekend is gonna be a little bit different. I hope for the better. Um I did see some information about the 5K2 saying that they're going to have something about red flag warnings. But yeah, I I did notice that for the 10K that I didn't have to select uh pace, but it did say that it would be determined by what I put in for the half marathon.

Disneyland Yoga: Miss Piggy And Cold Mats

SPEAKER_04 13:00

So I mean and I think that's gonna be good too, because I mean, you know, the one thing that you know I I kind of have been trying to like champion for like a little bit is I wish they would take Pot back to 245 as opposed to 230 because I think I mean yes, it would mean there would be the potential for more people to get proof of times, but at the same time, it would I think would also better seed the race so that way you know you had more like-minded paces spread into the corrals in the proper you know positioning. So maybe this is their first step in trying to organize that corral situation a little bit better. So again, but again, as we always like to say, wine and dine is always the race where they try to try new stuff, right? So we'll see how this goes.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yes, it'll be good no matter what.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

Yeah, well, I I appreciate what you said there, Craig. That would that would help, I believe. But again, uh I I'm I'm never sure what Run Disney's up against with these things. So uh I know I'm gonna have a good time. So there we go. Hey, speaking of, we were talking about Princess, our friend Michelle at Fluffy Fizzy's will be with us next week, but she wanted in the meantime to remind our friends that uh the Fluffy Fizzy's website is up and running, and they just got approval for their Princess Race theme merchandise, their Princess Race theme items. They will actually launch, they'll be they will have launched by the day this releases. They launch on Wednesday. So don't forget to use the code Happy Running when you order from Fluffy Fizzies, and Michelle will be with us next week to tell us more about that. Before we get to the race recap, one more note this is a Zoom Thursday. So we get to do our own race recap on Zoom Thursday. Join us and talk about uh race weekend at Disneyland. Maybe a lot of our friends did the Donna in Jacksonville. But whatever it is, drop by, say hi, and get to meet some of your Rise and Run family. Caution Runners, change of topic ahead. The big news, big event this weekend for we Run Disney friends was the last Disneyland Run Disney race. 5K, 10K half. A lot of us were out there. It was fun, it was a wonderful weekend, glorious weather. But we want to go through it as we love to do after each race, and we've asked some of our Ryzen Front Run friends to help us out because you know only Jack and I were at the races. So this week we have with us Manny.

SPEAKER_09 16:12

Hello, Manny runs Disney.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

Ah, yes. See Royalty. More more Disney royalty we have here with us. And Christina has joined us.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Hello.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

Christina also from the West Coast. Christina from Oregon.

SPEAKER_08 16:29

Oregon.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

Yay! I got it right. Great. Well, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. I we'll get to the meetup and all that, but I'm gonna start there by tell a little story that has I realized we needed a little help. Because just Jack talking about the five and ten and just me talking about the half, you've heard from us before, okay? We want to have more fun. So I saw a small group of rise and run friends together talking, and I invited them to join us. And I said, Yeah, we'll talk about the 5k and the expo, and well, we probably won't talk about yoga because nobody does the yoga anymore.

Expo Strategy, Virtual Queues, And Bib Issues

SPEAKER_08 17:16

And all of a sudden I heard, Hey, we did yoga.

SPEAKER_05 17:20

We do, yeah, we do, Manny did it too. Yeah, so that's really what kicked off race weekend. Christina, tell us about the yoga, please. How did it go?

SPEAKER_08 17:32

It was uh I I've never done yoga at Disneyland, and um I got the chance to do it um at Disney World once in front of the castle there for springtime surprise. So I was really looking forward to to doing it in front of the Disneyland castle. And I had a nice group of friends, and we all wore pig ears in honor of Miss Piggy. And um, it was it was great. It was really it's it was really awesome to be able to be there um uh right in front of the castle for yoga. Um the only criticism I have is not Run Disney, it's actually Mother Nature because uh it was cold. It was cold yoga, not hot yoga, it was the opposite. And uh yoga doesn't work as well in the cold, but um we still we still had a good time. It was just a little cold.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Manny, my question for you is my uh my Muppet loving heart, it was so excited when you know these themes got announced that Miss Piggy was the theme for the yoga. Similar to uh so what was that? It was Wine and Dine 24 when it was a Swedish chef, and they actually had the Swedish chef on stage up there with John and Carissa. Did the Diva herself make an in-person appearance um for this event or no?

SPEAKER_09 18:58

No, she was on the screen, she was on the TV screen. Uh, it was actually quite comical, and I'm pretty sure Christina, uh, if you remember this, she came out and she was like jazzer sizing and moving and everything, and then they had to remind her that this was yoga, and so she said she wasn't prepared, and that's when they brought the yoga instructor on uh on. But then she kind of uh halfway through interceded again, and I cannot remember what she said. It was more like she was ready or whatever and stuff. So she kind of it was kind of like an intermission that we got for about a minute that she came out, but she did pop in and out, and then of course she said goodbye to us at the very end, but it was just a TV screen.

SPEAKER_07 19:37

How long does a yoga session usually last? I've never done one. I do like yoga, I just haven't done a Disney one. How long do they last?

SPEAKER_08 19:48

This one lasted about uh 50 minutes, 45 to 50 minutes. Um, the last five to ten minutes, I it kind of she was stretching it a little bit, I think, to make time. They had an instructor who I guess teaches at the Grand Californian Spa. And she did a really great job. I, you know, if if under different conditions, if I lived closer, I would be interested in going to take a class from her. Um she definitely reminded me that I'm a runner and everything is tight. Um but um uh no, she did a really great job, but then like the last five minutes, she had us lay down and clear our minds and relax. Oh, that's my favorite part. I just try not to fall asleep. All I could think about were my feet were cold.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

So that's fair.

SPEAKER_09 20:39

I kept my shoes on the whole time. It was so darn cold. Yes. How cool was it that morning? I was flying out. Uh if I remember correctly, 40 in the high 40s.

SPEAKER_08 20:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:50

You're just out, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

If you're not super active, that's that's chilly. In fact, that's why I'm not outside right now. That's what it is here right now.

SPEAKER_07 20:59

Oh, Bob, poor Bob. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_05 21:01

Hey, I've got a I've got a cold, you want to hear poor Bob? I've got a cold weather story, and it's for this time. While you were, let's see. While you were doing your yoga, now three-hour time is different, so it's not exactly right, but I was leaving Tampa at supposed to be at 7 a.m. local time. We couldn't go because there was frost on the wings of the airplane.

SPEAKER_06 21:26

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 21:27

And Tampa has zero de-icing equipment. So what they had to do was take a tug and push the aircraft out into the sunshine. Sun doesn't come up till about 7.15. Push the aircraft out into the sunshine. It was a thin layer of frost, but it had to go. So we were we were 45 minutes late getting off while you were doing yoga, at least roughly while you were doing yoga.

SPEAKER_09 21:53

Attempting to do yoga, yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So you were attempting to relax before the the beginning of The weekend. Um, but being pretty cold, did you have a chance to get those um virtual cues and get ready for that expo that you were headed to next?

SPEAKER_08 22:10

I actually was staying over on Harbor and uh made the decision just to stay in downtown Disney after yeah, yeah. Sorry, I had to think downtown Disney, not Disney Springs.

SPEAKER_05 22:20

Yeah, right, not Disney Springs, right, right.

SPEAKER_08 22:22

Downtown Disney after yoga rather than try to go back and forth through security. Um, so I went over to the Disneyland Hotel and they had a little cafe there, also with a massive line, which I thought was a good warm-up for the weekend.

SPEAKER_05 22:36

It was, that's that's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 22:38

And uh just got some coffee and and and breakfast while waiting for the expo to open.

SPEAKER_09 22:42

I I have a different perspective because I'm uh uh Club Run Disney Gold member. Uh so I I did run back to my hotel, which was about a little over a half a mile away, and then I actually went down Cotella, uh, went to Pixar Place Hotel, so so I could avoid the the going through security again. And I got there and I did see the long line for uh at the Disneyland Hotel for the uh coffee. Uh at first I thought is that the line to get in now? Because it's in the back. So uh so we got to skip that. But yeah, so I didn't have to do that. I I was able to just get in line.

Merch Frenzy And Meeting Jeff Galloway

SPEAKER_04 23:18

And the virtual queue out there, it's 7 a.m., right? Not 8 30 like it is on the east coast. That that's crazy. And there's two, correct? There's you have to get two.

SPEAKER_08 23:27

Yeah, there was there was one for Brooks.

SPEAKER_10 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 23:30

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_10 23:32

And they're both at seven o'clock, or were they they staggered?

SPEAKER_08 23:35

No, they were both at seven. I I thought I had the same number for both, and um I didn't.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

That's right, and they were not synced.

SPEAKER_07 23:46

So, yeah. So, question for you guys, because I don't know if it was a similar situation. Um, but did you guys have any bib issues? I had bib issues, and I was really surprised about it.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

What were your issues, Jack?

SPEAKER_07 24:01

They couldn't find my bib.

SPEAKER_10 24:04

Did you use what name did you use, Jack? Sorry.

SPEAKER_07 24:10

My first last name, you know what I mean. Um but no, uh yeah, they couldn't find it. And she said that these boxes that they've had, I guess all morning or early afternoon, they said they just they've been having trouble all morning, but they haven't been in the boxes in the spots that they've are supposed to be in. And I'm like, okay. And I was like, okay, and they're like, you're gonna have to go to run a relationship and I was like, okay, and so I get to run a relations. They're like, well, that's odd. Well, we have to go back and go and get and look again uh more thoroughly and um see if that's true, that they just couldn't find me. And granted, this lady only like looked in the box for like not even a minute and then said, You're gonna have to go to Runner Relations. To turn out that the cast member that was at Runner Relations went over to um the stand and um those ladies that were there were not there anymore. And it was that cast member's mom that was at that booth for the 10K. And um, it was not where it was supposed to be, but she did find it. So I was very excited. She's like, My mom was awesome. She was able to find your bib. I was like, Thank goodness. She's like, Yeah, it was definitely not where it was supposed to be. And I was like, Oh my god, I would have been so scared. Like, what do you do if they lose your bib?

SPEAKER_04 25:29

You get a new one. I was just saying, yeah, as long as you have a check-in pass, then you know they should be able to do something for you.

SPEAKER_07 25:36

Would they know what corral you're in though?

unknown 25:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

Oh, that's a good question. Well, you automatically go to the back, Jack.

SPEAKER_10 25:42

They should, because your number would have your number would have associated with your corral, so they would have known what corral you're in.

SPEAKER_07 25:48

Yeah, I was just I was just so worried about that because I was like, oh no. But yeah, I was just surprised that they lost it.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

Well, you know what happened, Jack? The person behind the counter had her uh phone on airplane mode.

SPEAKER_07 26:04

You know, my mom did that this past weekend. So she was trying to figure out why the time wasn't changing. I was like, I don't know, mom, what what I'm like, you got the same phone as me. Her phone was on airplane mode. It took us 30 minutes to figure that out.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

It runs in the Jack. I was gonna say the family is.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Is this a genetic trait that gets passed down from generation to generation?

SPEAKER_05 26:27

It must be. Uh Manny and Christina, any comments on the expo in general?

SPEAKER_08 26:33

I thought it went really smooth. Um, I was also I'm also a club run Disney Gold. Um that helps and uh I I you know the the big to the thing that everybody seemed to want that they went ran out of quickest was the um uh zip-up sweatshirt for the Dumbo.

SPEAKER_07 26:51

Oh yeah. I didn't even see that out there at one o'clock.

SPEAKER_08 26:55

It it it was uh I was just kind of strolling through grabbing the couple of things I normally get, and a friend of mine asked if if I would pick that up for her uh in a small or extra small, and I get over there and I I see it, this feeding frenzy going on, all these people, and I'm like, oh well there's there's the thing, because there's always one thing. And I get over there and they just had like three mediums left, and then large, extra large, and extra, extra large, and these things were massive, like the medium fit like an extra large. Um, so I did I did grab one first. Ended up keeping it. It was it was cute, but it was it was sized weird. Um, it was a nice weight though.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Christina similar to how dopey was, where you had to show either your bib or your check-in pass. Was it a similar situation for Dumbo? I know it wasn't advertised, but were they doing anything like spur the moment to help curtail any of that or no?

SPEAKER_08 27:53

No.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_08 27:54

There wasn't that much Dumbo specific, well, I guess kind of similar to Dopey. There wasn't that much Dumbo specific merch. There was the I did it shirt and the sweatshirt, and then like the pins and the the the magnet as typical, but um not not a lot of special items.

SPEAKER_05 28:11

Manny, how'd you make out at the expo?

5K Course Magic And Balloon Lady Confusion

SPEAKER_09 28:13

Fine. I I uh it's funny because uh whenever I go, and I don't know if it's just the luck of the draw and stuff, but I'm able to find almost everything that I that I want and I'm looking for. So it was the same thing for me, but I did hear the people that got in right after, uh, just like Christina was saying, that most of the sizes were gone and uh yeah, people were complaining about that. Uh I did hear that they just ordered a lot less uh since it was our last one and didn't want to get stuck with a lot of stuff. This was the one that I thought maybe they should have ordered a little bit more because people were wanting a whole bunch more. Um, but uh yeah, it you could tell that stuff was running low by the time I left. Um, but that was it. And um Jack, I'm gonna say this. I I they didn't lose my my bibs, but it's this funny story. I always start in the back, so I haven't looked at my you know my corral placement in such a long time. Uh so people always go like what what corral are you starting in? I go, I don't know. I'm starting in the back, and so that's it. So yeah, but I always find it funny because I think they figured out that I start in the back, so I get to the set I always get like the second or third to last corral zone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:29

I got an un I got a surprisingly good corral. I got a uh D corral, which yeah, and it worked out really well for me. Um my experience at the expo, we landed in it in uh at John Wayne Airport about 11 30 in the morning. Alan and Grace, God bless them, they they were such wonderful hosts all weekend. Uh they they picked us up, we grabbed some lunch, so we got to the expo uh I don't know, two o'clock or so. I did I did get a virtual queue number, 250. But uh they were they were working on 200 at the time, but the line, the in real life line, once we got had to be 45 minutes to an hour. So we I I blew that off. I did want to get a Coast to Coast. I ended up with a Coast to Coast singlet. Then I remembered I'll be able to get Coast to Coast merch here at Disney World. Uh so I'm okay with that. The best thing about the expo for me, and this is a highlight of the expo for me almost every year, is talking with Jeff. Uh, did you have a chance to chat with Jeff, Manny?

SPEAKER_09 30:40

Yes, I always do. I always go by to say hi. This is uh again a true story. Uh one time, one time in the last probably five, six since we came back from the pandemic, I didn't go talk to Jeff. That was last year's, yeah, last year's dopey. So I ran the the 5K and the 10K, then I got sick. I've been doing these runs for 18 years, and that's the first time I had to miss a run because I was really badly sick in my hotel. So the next race, and so I missed the half and the full. The next race I went to go say hi to Jeff, and I said, Yeah, I didn't say hi to you, and and I got sick. And then he said, No, it it's it's a thing. You have to come and say hi to me. If not, you know, you're gonna get sick. So now I have I do it, I go say hi to Jeff. Well, I love Jeff, that's one thing. And second of all, I do it for my health.

SPEAKER_05 31:30

Yeah, well, for what it's worth, I've never gotten sick at a race, so he may be right.

SPEAKER_10 31:34

Um I think that was kind of great to see. Jeff was actually doing a lot of standing. I and all the photos I saw of him with people, he wasn't in the chair like he was at uh marathon weekend.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

I had a I had a chance to talk with him. I try not to monopolize his time because I get I get opportunities to talk with Jeff. Uh so if there's somebody waiting, I try and get out of the way. But when I was there, I had a I had a good chance to talk with him, and he's doing very well. And what really convinced me, you know, Jeff's like the uh the black knight from the holy grail, you know. It's just a flesh wound, come back here. But um he said he was and I talked with Barbara. And Barbara will give you the straight story, and Barbara said he was doing so much better. So he's doing very well. He's optimistic that he will be at the finish line for Princess. So good. That's a goal of his, and he's looking forward to that. And Christina, I kind of cut you off. Did you get a chance to chat with Jeff?

SPEAKER_08 32:32

I didn't. Um, I kind of had to buzz out of there um quickly. I spent with you in that case. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 32:43

Um well, next time you you better. I it sounds you have in the past. You have in the past, though, haven't you?

SPEAKER_08 32:49

Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm a little starstruck by him though.

SPEAKER_05 32:53

Well, I uh you know, he's he's a great Chris was there too. Uh I was happy to talk with Chris. I usually talk with Chris first. Chris had a busy weekend. He slowed out of there. He was he had to change his flights. He was going to go into Atlanta and then off to Jacksonville for the Donna. And Atlanta said, Look, the weather's so bad, we're not sure this is gonna happen. So he ends up changing his flight. He left Golly, when did he leave? Friday night. Yeah, I think it was Friday night. Flies to Miami and then drives with his son from Miami up to Jacksonville getting there. I may have I may be off a day. Yeah, no, I think he got there Saturday morning. But uh pretty busy weekend for for Chris, too.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Well, Jack, you you you made mention that that you got in there around one o'clock. Now that you know a few hours had elapsed into the the expo, what what was your experience like from outside of having a panic about your bib and your mom's phone on airplane mode?

10K Highlights, Photo Ops, And Figment Loop

SPEAKER_07 33:59

Well, the mom's phone on airplane mode was technically a different day. So you're experienced specific day, but it did take both of us uh both brain powers to figure that out after some time. But um, no, I love my mom. Uh so the reason why I kind of like, you know how you when you do the virtual cue, you have to be on that like seven, zero, zero, zero, zero to get like the earliest time. I I told my mom, I was like, you know, I'm gonna hesitate for a second so I can get a later time. That way I don't feel like we're rushed in the parks because that was our first day for Disney's California adventure, and I really just wanted her to enjoy it. And we we had a lot of fun, and I was like, okay, I think it's about time it's gonna call soon. Do you wanna go? She's like, Yeah. And besides the whole bib mix up, I mean, that did make me nervous because I'm like, I paid, I have proof. Um, and um I think the expo was it was nice, it was good. Uh it was it was really crowded. And um, I remember going into the Disney merch and it felt like Survivor in a second because it just felt like everybody was after whatever they can get their hands on. I'm like, I just want a magnet. I just want a magnet. And I couldn't find the magnet except for these half marathon ones, which I was not running. And luckily, I was able to get like a 10k magnet and I got my ornament, but it was just kind of like I would have loved to have gotten a t-shirt, but like like you guys said, I mean, I I I'm not run Disney, uh club run Disney, so I I don't have the perks of getting there early in terms of merchandise. I I do wish that Disney would have known that hey, it's the last one, so that's people might go crazy for the merch. Because if there was like a t-shirt, I probably would have gotten one, but everything was like extra, extra larges or one extra small, and I'm like, I'm neither of those. Um, so I was just like, you know what? I'm chill because right now it's giving me a lot of anxiety just trying to look at stuff. And like I I do have an expo video that I will be putting out, and I'll let you guys know when that goes out on YouTube for Ryzen Run. But like it was it was slim pickings. I I would have loved some of some items that I saw, and they were very pretty. Um, but it's just I was like, you know, it's okay because I I did Disneyland when it first came back. Was it 2024, January 2021? Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

It was, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:33

And and I had gotten a lot of stuff from that one, so I felt pretty satisfied. I just felt bad because I think my mom was, you know, kind of looking at stuff, and I was like, and then she couldn't get anything because you know everything was taking over. But regardless, it was fun, it was good. We didn't stay at the expo long. We went back to the parks and we enjoyed ourselves, and I am devastated to see this go. So a run Disney um vice president and president, we want it back. Don't don't go forever.

SPEAKER_11 37:03

Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.

SPEAKER_05 37:09

One of, if if not maybe the best race uh course in Run Disney is that 5K at Disneyland. Now, I didn't do it, so I'm gonna sit back and listen. Yeah, right. To you guys tell us what a wonderful event that was. Uh, who wants to kick us off?

SPEAKER_09 37:29

Well, I was gonna say, because I have a again, uh I'm gonna go back to the bib thing and stuff. I have a different perspective because uh I start at I do start at the very back. I was the last one to start. Now, you might have heard these stories. I can actually tell you they're true. So we're in the back. Uh, I think I got C, but I stayed in D. That was the last one. Again, there's only about five or six of us in the back. All of a sudden, here come balloon ladies. So there was there were three of them. There was balloon ladies. So I went over there and I was chit-chatting with them, and they kept telling me they were unofficial, although their bids did say official. Um, so I was chit-chatting with them because I do at the Disney World runs start in the back with the balloon ladies, and sometimes I stay with them depending on the race. Um, again, different perspective of seeing everything. And yeah, I can run when I want to. I can finish faster and stuff, but I just do that from a different perspective. So, anyway, so I was chit-chatting with them, and I noticed the guys on the bikes were really intently listening to our conversation. Um, again, I was one of the last. Uh there was uh two of us who started at the very end. We always come and say hi to Carissa and everything. So we come, we turn the corner, and then the first uh photo stop was it's a small world. And so the small world is right there. There are like 10 people in line, so we get in line. And again, by the time we we uh the balloon leads are passing, there's like five people in front of us. And all of a sudden the guys on the bike go, Um, you guys are not behind pace. You're gonna have to pick it up. So when he did that, I turned to my friend and I said, They're gonna cut the course. And he goes, Are you sure? And I said, Yeah, they're gonna cut the course because they can't sweep anybody. Uh, it would be it would be kind of be weird to just start moving people around. Uh, so I said, We got to sprint. So we sprinted. I we got to Avengers Campus. If I don't know if you guys were running when this happened, but when I exited Avengers Campus, then I saw the merge. Like they they they cut uh Avengers campus completely. So uh, but yeah, I had to since I started way in the back, I had to sprint up there to make sure I could I can get through Avengers Campus. So that was that was my experience. I don't know if anybody I hope everybody got through Avengers Campus.

SPEAKER_08 39:45

No, we it got cut before we got there. We started in D and we were taking our time. We were taking pictures that we had a balloon lady pass us and we couldn't figure out if she was official or somebody dressed as a balloon lady. Um, but it certainly motivated everybody behind her uh to move faster. Um and then we we were finishing up that we walked by and some and uh one of the people I was walking with, um, because we we walked it, um, said we were supposed to turn there. We were supposed to go through Avengers campus. And uh so we missed that part. I think we ended up being, I don't know, 0.3 miles shy. It didn't take much off the course. Um but hey, it started with a bang though. Oh, I know we got fireworks at the beginning of the 5K. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_07 40:42

That was one of probably I I think I don't know what you guys think, but that was like probably my favorite before race start uh thing ever. It was such a blast, it was a huge party, man.

SPEAKER_08 40:55

It completely unexpected, too, because you know they they have such limitations with the fireworks they can do in Disneyland.

SPEAKER_05 41:02

Right.

SPEAKER_08 41:03

Um, and so they were quiet fireworks, they weren't the big boomers, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:07

Right.

SPEAKER_08 41:08

But they had what was it a live singer? Do you guys think it was a live singer, right?

SPEAKER_07 41:13

It was a live singer, yeah. And it was Joy up front with him, and she was dancing behind the emotions pad thing. Um yeah, it was cool.

SPEAKER_08 41:23

That was that was great.

Backstage Easter Eggs And Start Delay

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Going back to what you were saying about and and Manny as well, you know, them shorting the course. I'm actually not surprised by that because I think the the one thing that is the beautiful about Disneyland and Disney World people or Disney World executives, if you're listening to this, take note. Is what I love about land is that those parks are open early and they stay open really late every single day of the calendar year. So obviously, I think you know, because usually you know what, those parks are opening like eight, eight o'clock, eight, eight thirty in the morning. So they do have to get and shuttle everyone through. So I I can understand that, but I can also understand the trepidation of the runners because 5k is not a timed race, and you know, usually, you know, if you want to walk it, you can, but then to see a balloon lady that says official, but then many, as you're saying, unofficial, I'm sure that probably can cause some anxiety and confusion. And the only thing I saw on social media, which I now grant, we we do realize that there are separate teams, and I guess there was confirmation that what is it, that Run Disney and Disneyland is run by Disneyland events, not Run Disney, but there are Run Disney representatives there to offer support. So it's good to see that there are similarities in terms of oh, a balloon lady, but when you see a balloon lady in the on a course that's not supposed to have a balloon lady, yeah, I'm sure that can create a lot of confusion and anxiety. So I'm I'm glad that every, you know, even though they had to shorn the course, I'm glad to see that you know everyone was still able to have a good time and get a majority of the race in.

SPEAKER_09 43:16

I think threw a lot of people off was Carissa actually did say, and don't worry about it, there's no balloon ladies, and then they show up. Oh that that caused um yeah, that caused a lot of anxiety on the course. Uh-huh. You don't know how bad I wanted to run. I was running to because I knew they were gonna cut the course. I I already figured it out, and I really wanted to scream, they're gonna cut the course, get going. They're gonna cut the course, keep going. But I I didn't I told a couple people whenever you know, I it caught somebody I knew, but you know, but yeah, I wanted to just run and say they're gonna cut the course.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

I do see how people could be confused though, too, because that balloon lady normally they have one balloon each, she had quite a Few right?

SPEAKER_09 44:00

Five, like five. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Um so I could see why people would be confused. Maybe they thought, Oh, is she in costume like with the up balloons or whatever, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:10

So it starts on Main Street. Where does it end?

SPEAKER_09 44:14

Pixar Pier.

SPEAKER_05 44:15

A lot of good pictures at Pixar Pier, Christina.

SPEAKER_08 44:19

Uh I so we we were kind of late finishing it. We were we were PRing in fun that race. As you should. And so when we got to just close to the finish line, it just turned into a mob. There people were not clearing the finish area. Um, and so uh the I saw photo pass there, but I don't think they had a chance of getting anybody at that point because it was just wall-to-wall people um at the finish. So it was like, okay. So we we walked through and um met up with friends and just uh uh they did have picture opportunities, you know, as you strolled out of the park, did have, you know, with the um Pixar Pier area in the background and the because it's it's still dark. The wheel of death in the background.

SPEAKER_05 45:07

Yeah, the wheel of death. It's still dark though when you finish, right?

SPEAKER_08 45:11

It's still dark, but everything's lit up and real pretty.

SPEAKER_05 45:13

Oh, it's gorgeous, yeah. Yeah, absolutely beautiful. What do you think, Jack? Best best race course in Run Disney, the 5K there?

Massive Community Meetup And Cookies

SPEAKER_07 45:23

You know, the Disneyland 5K will be my ultimate favorite 5K I've ever ran. And I think it will always stay true to that. It's the only race where you get to start in a park, basically on Main Street, and finish in a park and have most of the race in inside.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_07 45:41

And um it was just truly like the theme was joy, and I felt joyful throughout the entire thing. I don't think my smile left my face once.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

But like that's why we love you so much. You're always like that.

SPEAKER_07 45:59

Thank you. But like literally, I was I just my smile, I was smiling so much it almost hurt because I just I just wanted to take it all in because I knew it was gonna be the last time. And it's like, you don't want to cry, and because it's gonna be sad to see it go. And it was it's funny because I was telling my mom, I was like, you know, if they bring this back, there's a chance that in the next five or six years, David and I could have a kid by then. So I'll be bringing a little one with me. So this will be my last time at Disneyland, kidless. So it was it was just interesting to kind of think about it in that perspective. And um I was so I was in Corral A for this one. And once I got through the crowd of Corral A and the like more space kind of opened up, I felt like I was flying, and I just it just it feels like the coolest feeling. And um I was dressed up as um the Princess Diary's character, Mia Thermopoulos before the transformation. I think what makes that costume great is that I just put a comb through my curls and then just you know, poofs out.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

It looks great.

SPEAKER_07 47:03

But like all the cast members were freaking out. They're like, is that Mia Thermopolis Renaldi from Geneva? Good shit. They would just start laughing as I'm running by. And yeah, that just felt so good. And um, it was interesting because I knew the 5k was gonna be my only race where I got to run through the castle because of 10k you didn't right.

SPEAKER_05 47:27

And oh, okay, okay, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_07 47:29

Yeah, and I and so I was like, I want to take in this moment as much as I can. And it was interesting because the way that they had us go on the other side, there's still the corrals going off. I was like, because on the the on the information that they let out, it said that all the crowds would be let out after 15 minutes, and I must have like passed it maybe when the last corral was about to go off or something like that. I'm not sure, but I could hear Carissa still announcing. I was like, oh, this is weird. Well, hey, have fun, everybody. And I like sped off, and then um, and I stopped at the pier and I think I shed a tear because I didn't want the race to be over over in California Venture. I was like, this is the most gorgeous view I will ever get from a race. Yeah, and I'm sorry, Disney World. I love Disney World very much about that pier that just brings a tear to your eyes.

SPEAKER_05 48:22

It's very, very pretty. Did did mom run the 5k with you, Jack?

SPEAKER_07 48:26

Oh no, she was sleeping.

SPEAKER_05 48:28

Did she do any? She didn't do any of the events then.

SPEAKER_07 48:30

No, not okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 48:32

My mistake.

SPEAKER_07 48:33

She does want to get a medal one day. She just gotta tell me what race she wants to do, and then I'm gonna take over the registration for her so that we're going to have our dream goal of getting a race medal someday.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

Um here's a question for the three of you. Did you notice that when the race began that that uh Carissa did something unusual during the countdown? The countdown at Disneyland, at least for the half, and I I suspect it was this way for a long time. Started at five, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 49:08

I saw a video for that. It was weird.

SPEAKER_05 49:11

Right.

SPEAKER_07 49:12

That's so true, because I actually caught it on video. Right.

SPEAKER_05 49:15

Um Carissa didn't start at five. Carissa started at three. So the other guy would do five, four, and then Carissa did three, two, one. Yeah. So there you go. Good trivia question, Greg.

SPEAKER_07 49:32

Um, if you guys wanted to relive the Disneyland 5K, knowing it's gonna be the last time out there, uh, I did go ahead and post a video on the Rise and Run YouTube channel. Um, you'll see me in my Meothermopolis outfit because it's so adorably cute. And oh but yes, so that's out. It came out Tuesday of the day of recording, so um, it'll be Thursday for you guys, but also I will talk a little bit more about the 10K video coming up, but it was so much fun. I had so much fun editing it.

SPEAKER_10 50:03

Okay, so speaking of the 10K, uh I've been following it on you guys on Facebook because we were home. I've never seen well, the theme was sorcerer Mickey. I've never seen so many sorcerer Mickeys out there that I can ever ever seen on a course. Everyone had blue and red on. Uh so who did the 10K?

SPEAKER_08 50:27

I did. The the the 10K was great. Um we like I said, we were staying on Harbor, so it's such an easy uh commute. We actually got there very early because we're used to, I think, Run Disney in Florida, and and there's not nearly as much to do uh in the start area, but we got pictures taken and um we did get donuts. We had the little mini donuts that was a good pre-race feeling.

SPEAKER_05 50:54

Oh yeah, carbs, carbs, baby.

SPEAKER_08 50:57

But uh no, it was uh it was great. Um uh I had the chance to run with a new friend, Lace, and uh we were trying to catch up um to Hira, another friend of ours, who was in the we were for that one. I dropped back to D, and she was in the front of D, and so we were trying to catch her the first mile. And uh we did a really good fast first mile and discovered we were not gonna catch her. And so we just stopped for like as many character stops as we could and just had a really good time because we knew we were running the half the next day, so take it easy and have a lot of fun. Um, and uh yeah, I was I was Donald Um from um who had stolen Sorcerer Mickey's hat. I love that fulfill her magic. Fulfill her magic.

SPEAKER_05 51:45

Nice!

SPEAKER_08 51:45

So um that was I guess I I figured we were gonna see a lot of sorcerer Mickeys. So I wanted to to do to catch to Donald. Yeah, that's awesome.

Half Marathon Course, PhotoPass Fixes, And Crowds

SPEAKER_04 51:57

Christine, I want to go back to something you said about um taking photos. I know in those like not that it's been long, but in the return of Run Disney to Disneyland, probably one of the biggest struggles that they have had, or or I should say complaints that people have have said is that the disorganization of photo stops and character stops and and you know working with photopaths, how was that over the course of this weekend? Were things pretty smooth? Did they have photopaths photographers out, or was it a lot of just like passing your cell phone off to a cast member?

SPEAKER_08 52:33

I thought it was better than it than it had been, like at the the 24, because I did the half in 2024, the comeback, and then I did Halloween last year. And I thought it was pretty good. They had a lot of at least half the stops for the 10K had photo pass, I think, and the rest were selfies, or you know, somebody else would take your picture. Um and then um, I know we'll talk about the the half coming up, but um certainly there, there was a couple things I saw that really was a great improvement with PhotoPass.

SPEAKER_09 53:06

Well, I I thought it was uh to me, it was a combination. Like it was um, there was some good and bad. Uh and and I again I stayed in the back, so I as I'm coming around in front of the castle, I got there when the photo pass people started picking up the stuff and walked off. And and it was funny because I I can run, so I passed a lot of people and stuff. So by the time I got there, it wasn't as if I was really, really far behind. We weren't close to the balloon ladies or anything. But once you got in front of the castle, they literally just picked up their stuff and walked straight off. They just ignored everybody. So after that, it was just us getting selfies. There wasn't even really cast members to do that. We were helping each other out, like we would pass on and doing that. So I thought that was uh pretty funky because yeah, yeah, disappointing. It it was um overall, I think I it it was funny. It was almost like they were trying to get us off the course at that time because it was you know, again, towards the end of it, so it's like okay, all right, just uh just go, just go. And so uh it is what it is, but um I was able, I got my selfie in front of the castle. So I did get a a unique photo from uh it was during the 10K, a unique photo from uh the photo pass people as we were running, and I cannot remember where it was, but what happens is I become this big fan of because people started complaining about people being Wizowski'd, so they go like this and Wazowski. So I made it a thing. So um what happened was I picked up my arms like this, so I Wazowski'd the lady behind me. The lady did the same thing, so she wasowski the guy behind her, who ironically enough was wearing a Mike Wazowski shirt. Oh so the Wazowski wave. Uh oh, yeah, there was a Wazowski wave, yes. So we did that. So I have that. I put that up on social media because I thought it was too cool to pass up.

SPEAKER_05 54:59

Oh, it is. You're right. That's perfect.

SPEAKER_07 55:02

Also, did you guys like, I don't know about you, but I I thought about I think they only played like two or three songs on repeat throughout that entire 10K, and I had no clue that they liked Figment that much because there's no sign of Figment over there. Yeah, yeah, and then I realized I think that's like the only song that has the word imagination, which was the entire theme for the 10K, and that's all you can hear. Imagination. I was like, oh my god, no. It was cute for like a mile or two, but forgot about that.

SPEAKER_08 55:38

I was not I was not hating that. I love Figment.

SPEAKER_07 55:41

I I like Figment. I think I didn't I didn't ride the ride until I was an adult because I actually as a kid I never knew it was there because for whatever reason we just never went on it. But as an adult, I think it's very cute, but it was it was on repeat, like uh like a record player that couldn't couldn't couldn't go to the next song.

SPEAKER_05 56:01

Could have been worse, could have been baby sharp.

SPEAKER_07 56:05

That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_05 56:08

So there you go. Thanks a lot, John. Thanks a lot. Give me that earworm. Everyone listening is now going, oh Daggon, you John.

SPEAKER_10 56:21

We got grandkids, you know.

SPEAKER_07 56:23

For the 10K, I dressed up as Ray, and it was so nice because we were staying at Candlewood Suite, which is like 0.4 of a mile away from the city. Oh, yeah, it was real close.

SPEAKER_05 56:31

I saw it, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 56:32

Yeah, it felt great. And I I felt bad because it's like my costume really didn't have any like good pockets in it. So I I you shouldn't do this, so don't do what I did. But I left my phone back in the hotel room. I had my camera and everything, but because we were starting and finishing so close, I was like, I'm not gonna take out my phone anyways during the race. It's it's fine. But um it was very cool because I didn't realize that I got there early because I thought I was gonna arrive late because I'm sure everybody's gonna try and be the first in the corrals or whatever. And I got there at like 325, 3:30 in the morning, and there was nobody really in the corrals at all.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Right.

SPEAKER_07 57:12

And so I was able to get right very front of Corral A, right next to where like the where Carissa and the other guy was presenting.

SPEAKER_05 57:22

Um we just call him not Pelky.

SPEAKER_07 57:25

Not Pelky. I feel so bad. I probably should know his name. Um, but I was I was kind of cold in the beginning. Um, but yeah, it was really, really cool. Once it went off, I was like, I'm never in like the very, very, very front. And so that made me so happy because it meant that I didn't really have to fight to get through some of the crowds right away. And um, and I saw the car. I was like, oh, there is a car for this. I was like, I want to see how fast if I can catch that car. And I think I was like the first female for like five seconds. I'm gonna count it later when the video That's right, Jack.

SPEAKER_05 58:04

Get it, that's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_07 58:05

But I felt cool for about five seconds, and um, it was it was awesome. And um, I was surprised because once I got to the first mile marker, I thought I was going slower towards the end of that first mile, but I ended up hitting it exactly at eight minutes for that first mile. And I was like, okay, I'm I want to slow this down just a little bit because I know we're about to hit the parks, but I was trying to go fast so that I could see the characters, and I feel like with Disneyland, and it's not so much like Disney World, Disney World, all the characters are all standing on the grounds, so I feel like it's very easy to see. Whereas the 10K, they're like I felt like a lot of them were higher up, and so I'd hear the voices talking, but I don't know where they're coming from. Like, for example, in Avengers Campus, had no clue that people were talking up top.

SPEAKER_05 58:53

Oh, yes, yeah.

On-Course Support, Out-And-Backs, And Pacing

SPEAKER_07 58:54

And until I was like, oh wait, oh, oh, I think it was Loki for the 10K and Scarlet Witch, and there is one other, and then I almost missed Kylo Wren going through Star Wars. Um, but a cast member's like, Ray, Kylo Wren's right there. So I actually turned around, did a Yui, ran back to him, talked to him for a second, and then said, I have to run because I have to go find Chewie. And then kept going. But um, it was such a good race. And I feel like the 10K, you get even more time to spend in the parks. And um, I don't know. I just I felt very again joyful, happy. It was magical, like I was using my imagination um and uh feeling my character of Star Wars and Ray. What would Ray do? She would keep running. And and yeah, I mean, you'll see in the video if you guys want to go ahead and check it out on YouTube for the Rise and Run um YouTube channel. It will be out on the day of this coming out as well. So Thursday. And um gosh, that was so much fun. I was just so happy. Uh, it was good to run through Star Wars in because I feel like you run through Star Wars more these races than you would at Disney World. Disney World, I don't know if I'm wrong in this.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:14

No, I think you're right, Jack.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:15

Yeah, I feel like Disney World, you don't really run through a whole lot and then boom, you're out. So that's why I wore it Ray again. And um, yeah, it was excellent. And I feel like there's something I wanted to say, but I totally forgot. Oh, oh, wait, really quick. Did you guys notice all the it's a bug's life little figurines backstage? No, that was from yeah, that was from it's a bug's life land, and I was like, if we don't ever run these races again in the next five years, I don't know what they're gonna do with those once they start building um and extending out. So I don't know what they're gonna do with those figurines. So I made sure to get like video and like little like I'm gonna try and like screenshot selfies of myself with those little characters, but I was so excited because they had Heimlich, and I'm like, Heimlich choo-choo train.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:06

Oh butterfly. Oh butterfly go go pig. I think we saw one of them. I didn't I didn't catch the others though, like one little beetle or something we saw.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:20

Yeah, I saw the the butterfly character who was with um, and then the ladybug character, I saw Heimwak, which I was super excited about, and it's just like, oh man, I hope these are still here whenever the races come back, because those that those are classic.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:38

Many of you saw them, huh?

SPEAKER_09 1:01:40

Yeah, and I was gonna say, since you're uh uh a Star Wars fans back there, uh I didn't see Kylo Ren, but did you see 3PO? C3PO?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:49

Are you kidding me? He was out, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:50

C3PO was out during the 10K, but he was on the floor, so a lot of people were running around him. So you know where uh where Tabak was usually on top? He was on the ground, and so I was able to see him, so I ran by him. Then, of course, there was a bunch of congestion because everyone, since he was on the ground, wanted to get a selfie with him. Uh, so I was recording, so I had to turn my camera over a certain way to get him, but he was there. C through PO was there during the 10K.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:17

That's so upsetting. If I would have never known.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:20

Oh and one of the other cool things about the backstage, that's one of the things, and now you've opened up because there's a whole bunch of cool stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:27

Gandora's box, just give it to me. It's okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:30

What's it called? Uh the Tower of Terror sign is back there, and everybody misses it. And I I've I've seen it because I've I've done all the runs since we came back, and I see it, and every time I pass by, it's funny because I tell people there's a tower of terror sign, and they're going like uh-huh. And they just keep going. I go, it's right there. You can see it. It's in a warehouse in the back.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:48

What mile was that at?

SPEAKER_09 1:02:50

Um gosh, we're it's in the backstage area. It's it was close to where, okay, another classic uh during the 5K, 10k, and and I thought it would uh come up uh the third shift. Um it's around where the third shift people are that hearing cooking close by. Um but uh sometimes they have the warehouse closed, sometimes they have it up. Uh they had it up, but the lights were not on. But since I knew where it was, I could see it. And so, but yeah, and they've in the past they've had the lights on so you could actually see the tower terror sign um bright.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:23

I missed all these nuggets. What's so wrong?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:27

You gotta go back, Jack.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:29

I know. Dang. I knew there was something about the start that I that I was forgetting, so we had a delay on the start. Oh, I heard about that. Not A corral, but B corral back. Yeah, yeah. Somebody fell at the front of B right after the start.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:48

Oddly enough, when I saw this on social media, no way of confirming if it was the person or not. But apparently, the spouse of the person who fell commented on a Facebook post. It might have been a Run Disney run. I'm not 100% sure. But essentially, like I'm paraphrasing here, was like, that was my idiotic husband that went down. You know, I was like, wow, wait a way to throw them under the bus for I guess forgetting to take some like daily medication or something like that. But I was I was waiting for like I'm I'm very, very glad that that this person is okay, but I just thought it was hysterical that it was just like angry spouse, like, I'm so mad that that this happened because you know my husband was an idiot and forgot to take some medic, you know, medication or whatever. So uh I I'm glad there was a happy ending to that story. There you go, great.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:41

Yeah, I I saw that post. She was like, he's on blood thinners, so they had to take him into the hospital, but then he came back because they announced that he came back and he ran the half. Oh, wonderful. So he was all except potentially a missed race.

unknown 1:04:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:58

That's good, that's good. Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

Coast To Coast Milestone And Fast Finish

SPEAKER_04 1:05:04

Well, speaking of low blood sugar, one thing that can help elevate your blood sugar is cookies. Now, obviously, Becky was off the hook for this one, so we uh we enlisted the the friends of our um our wonderful West Coasters to uh primarily Grace. Okay, Grace. So shout out goes to Grace. Yeah. Obviously, cookies can be found at a Rise and Run meetup during a Run Disney race weekend. Bob, I I remember seeing videos of you just commenting in the background about utter shock. Give us the lowdown on the meetup.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:43

Golly, Becky and I were uh in DCA and at about it might even have been as early as one thirty, Grace texts Becky and says There's a big pin trader thing going on here. Uh I'm not sure. What's gonna happen? And it was there was that picnic area is relatively large, but eighty to eighty-five percent of the tables in there were taken up by pin traders, and there were a couple hundred people in there, so we weren't sure how it was gonna go, but and I got there early, and Grayson Allen had reserved or staked out a place in a corner. I noticed some open tables, but they were in the sunshine, and while it was a gorgeous weekend, it was pretty warm, it was mid-80s, so you wouldn't want to hang out in the sunshine if you didn't have to. So the shade was much more comfortable. So we went back there and joined them, and uh then folks just started coming in. So I'll turn to my friends now and and ask, uh, how did you enjoy the meetup? Was it your first time? Had you been before? And how do you think it went?

SPEAKER_09 1:06:56

Um, I I've been to a couple of them now. Uh uh Alan and Grace have been graceful enough to invite me over to to go and meet you guys. Uh and I was the one, if you remember correctly, because they they you know, she had the cookies, which were great and everything. But I wanted to go in there and get you guys nuttles. And so that's another hidden gem in Disneyland. And so I kept going, like, I'll go in there and because I I had gone in there a little earlier in the day, and they had uh announced that they were gonna be doing nuttles that day. So I was gonna go get those. If you don't know, they're kind of like the the turtles. Uh they're uh milk chocolate, uh caramel, and pecans. And uh they make them there, and it's down Main Street USA, it's in where the the candy store is, and they make them there fresh, and apparently they sell out very quickly. But I've been lucky enough to get quite a few of them. So uh yeah, but Grace said no, it's okay. Grace and Alan, they run the to me, they were running the show, so they said no, it's okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:53

They really were, they were doing very, very well.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:56

Yes, but uh no, it's always great to run into people and the stories, and I I think one of the greatest things about run Disney, I think what makes it even better than than than most groups is the stories, you know, the the stories and just overcoming how you know we talk about you know uh barely getting there because of the weather and all that stuff. Uh, but then I I you know, and I'll I'll I'll get back on real quick, but uh, I mean I've gotten to meet so many people who uh runners, and I call them with special abilities who aren't supposed to be running, like Amanda Farron, who has terminal cancer, but she's there and she's doing it and she's still surviving. And you get to meet her and you get to see what a miracle and all that stuff like that. So uh, but it's just so fun to hear the stories of you know how they're not supposed to be there, that you know, it's just because of an injury and stuff like that, and now they're there, and so just it's always amazing to to to hear this.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:49

She'll be with us in two weeks, by the way. Amanda will. Christina, how did it go for you?

SPEAKER_08 1:08:55

Well, this is my second meetup. Um, I did the one in in Florida for Marathon Weekend, and um it was great, it was just great. Um, we were a little late, I think that was the day we were on Big Thunder. So we were running late after riding the wildest ride. And uh um, but it just it's so nice meeting more of your tribe, kind of, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:23

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:24

Um my family can get a little sick of me talking about.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:28

Yeah. That's why we exist to give our family members a break. We can talk to one another.

Will RunDisney Return To Disneyland

SPEAKER_08 1:09:33

And so it's just nice to meet, you know, and people that you, you know, you hear you know, uh on the I I got to meet Jack in person for the first time. And um people that you hear or you see commenting on the Facebook groups, um, or or or you know, see that they're on the rise and run calls. And um, it's it's just so great to to put uh real-world faces and voices to names. Um, so it was just it was just a really great experience.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:04

Agree completely. Jack, you finally found it. That's good. That was a little bit of a struggle, but you made it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:11

Again, her phone was on airplane mode or her mom's phone, sorry.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:16

Well, like I was so nervous because I I was like, mom, I guess I you guys I there was two pictures. I was like, okay, I see a Monterey picture, and then I see a picnic picture. And we were we were in Disneyland and actually had a cast member try and describe it for me. Like, okay, so it's because you Bob said it was not in downtown Disney, it was right outside. So I was like, okay, this should be easy to figure out. So we're standing out front of where it has the picnic sign. I'm like, gosh, it's almost three. There's like no one here. I mean, I thought maybe 20 people, maybe, you know, I would you you would think I would see Bob. He's very easy to find. I mean, and I'm just like, he's quite tall, you know. And I was like, so we stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out like, oh wait, go around the hedges into the picnic area because I wasn't seeing any of the tables either. I was like, Well, this is yeah, this is some picnic area with no tables. It didn't make any sense. And so then once I saw everybody, I was very confused because I saw my mom was like, Look, pins, do you want to pin trade? I was like, Oh, that sounds nice, but I uh let's try and find Bob first. And then I didn't realize you guys were all on the other side of all the pin traders. I couldn't figure out right away who was the pin traders and then who was like the rise and runners, but then I was like, ah my friends, my family, yeah. Yeah, it felt good. I was I'm I'm pretty happy about uh the turnout for that. That was so much fun talking with everybody.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:49

It was great.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:50

Um what do you think, Bob? There was like maybe 50 of us.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:55

No, no, it it was a hundred.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:58

It was a hundred.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:59

There were just under a hundred in the photo. John counted him for us. Oh, what did you come up with too?

SPEAKER_10 1:12:05

I had 83 in my count.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:07

Oh but I still really not everybody who came was in the photo. People came after, and people, so I would say round numbers. We had a hundred people there.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:15

Um but it was it was so much fun though.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:19

Like I was good to see it was good to see your mom there. That was nice.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:22

Oh, she was so excited. She's like, Oh, I always wanted to go to one of these meetups, and she was like taking pictures of everything going on and videotaping. And I was just like, Oh, she she looked like she was having fun.

Parting Thoughts And Creator Plugs

SPEAKER_05 1:12:33

Um, so it astounded me, my friends. It did. Uh, I got there early. I probably got there. Becky and I probably got there at 2:30 or so, and like you were talking, Jack, there were maybe well five or six people there. And and I'm trying to put myself in a place where people can see me because you're right, Jack, there are two entrances into that picnic area, and it would have been hard to find, but folks did start to find us, and I could tell that we had a reasonable size group assembled. Um once again, I've I've done it a couple times. I've I've got to call out Alan and Grace and thank them for all that they did. Of course, Alan, Alan's a riot to be with. I I mean, I just enjoy his company. He's a wonderful human being. Grace is also uh they've become very great friends. Uh Alan is probably he's over. I told him we have to get him on when he gets to five kilometers worth of uh uh material rope for his Alan bracelets. Okay. I realize I'm holding one up and it's an audio podcast, nobody can see it. But hold it to the mic, Bob. That's right, hold it up to the mic. Thank you, John. There you go, you got it. Um but Alan put Becky on bracelet patrol, I guess, or she volunteered. I don't know. Alan said to me, Becky's BQ'd, Bob. I said, what are you talking about? She's the bracelet queen now. She's BQ'd. So they were doing that. The cookies were were great. I really expected that we get a maximum of maybe 50 people. And we got when we tried to get everybody together for the photo, I realized pretty quickly there wasn't enough room where we were. Now, had the pen traders not been there, we would have been okay, but it wasn't enough room. So I asked everybody to climb over the fence and go out. We took the picture directly behind where the fence was. And I got out there, and you can see it or hear it in that little video clip. My jaw was hitting my chest. I could not believe how many people were there. People kept coming and coming and coming. It was awesome, it was fantastic. Um and I think my highlight, certainly of the meetup, was after the photo was taken. And I love this about this rise and run community more than I can say. But after the photo was taken, nobody left right away. And I looked around, and there were multiple groups of three, four, and five people standing together and talking, and people who probably didn't know one another, maybe before the meetup they did, but not before Run Disney, and not before Rise and Run. And it I just love the fact that the group I always use the expression, if you come to a meeting, if you come to a meetup, you'll come back. And that seems to be the way it is, and people just enjoy it so much, and I can't say enough good things about the family and and how how deeply it moves me to see that happen. So that was an exciting thing.

SPEAKER_11 1:16:00

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:05

It's so amazing that we have this amazing family, and we have so many people that will come in to the meetups. And um, I agree, Bob, I love watching um the little groups of people talking and hearing the stories around me of what everybody's doing. Um, speaking of stories, you were all at the half marathon. So let's move over to that day. Um, Christine, I'll have you start. Tell us how your half marathon day went.

Loopy Looper Team Relay Invite

SPEAKER_08 1:16:33

I always go into the longer races, half the half marathons and the marathons with a little bit more uh trepidation. Um it's it's a longer amount of time, obviously, running. And uh I've I actually had just a really great run. It was um I really enjoyed the course. Um, I think the course was different than any other of the half marathons that we've done out there. Um and uh, I mean, obviously the time in the parks was great. Um they figured out photo pass for small world and millennium Falcon, those two photo stops, they had multiple photopass photographers, and it was good up to the green dot, we'll take your picture and then move on. And so they were able to have a very high throughput. Um, and so I I was glad to see that because I missed, I didn't do it stop for small world on the 5K because it was such a long line. So it was um, I I thought it was great, and then um I was trying to soak it in because I'm like, man, once we hit the streets, it's not gonna be as much fun. And uh we get out, we go over that overpass into the rising sun, and then uh actually had I thought the course was quite nice. We got to see some really nice parts of Anaheim. We got to run around a park. Oh what? There was a park. We ran around a park, uh not like in the park, but like we ran the park area, and um uh there was this one kind of trippy intersection, I think, where you turned left to go out and back, and you came back, and then you turned left through the same intersection to go out and back, and then you turn left again through that same intersection to go back towards the park. And so in that moment, you saw people at three different parts of their FAF Marathon journey. And for some reason, I was getting all philosophical and uh on the long run, and I was like, that's beautiful! Look at these people at the different parts of their journey. Um so it was I I I just thought it was a it was a beautiful run, it was a beautiful morning. Um, and I I I really appreciated um because I I'm really bad about prepping by looking at the course profiles and maps and stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:50

Oh, hey, you're like me, it's gotten so bad.

Race Report: Cold-Weather Wins Nationwide

SPEAKER_08 1:18:55

Um but so uh I I didn't I was kind of expecting tile stores, you know, like the warehouses. Um more more like what uh I I remembered seeing at other races, but this was really great. I and and the support, you know, um free hugs from the Empire. I don't know 501st. 501st, yep. 500 First giving out free hugs again, and uh free bracelets. There was like people giving out free bracelets, the the little friendship break. It was just great.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:27

I thought it was great. Did you guys get to run through Agel Stadium on this one? I don't remember. You didn't. Oh no, okay.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:35

We ran by something um hockey.

SPEAKER_10 1:19:39

Yeah, the NHL booth oh the duck, the duck pond, uh wherever they call it this week.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:45

Yeah, I don't know who the corporate sponsor is. That's where the Anaheim Muddy Ducks play, the NHL team. And they were out in force, they they did a good job, yeah. Manny, how'd it go?

SPEAKER_09 1:19:55

Well, first I was gonna say the course I had actually run it before. It was during one of the Star Wars, so an older or older course. Oh so I I I loved this course, and I was actually when I when I was running through it, it kept it was a nostalgia, it was a good nostalgia because back then they had um they had like cos uh play groups and that they were all these actor groups that would come out and talk about the park, they would all hang out there, and so they would have like fat hand so uh uh fat Han Solo and like Skinny Java, uh the Hut. And so they were it would to me it was super cool because it was like different takes on these characters when they would do Star Wars. But going back to the beginning of the run, so I was basically the last one to start before the balloon ladies, and I was actually gonna run with them for a while, but they flat out told me they hold us for five minutes, uh, maybe sometime shorter. So I waited for a couple minutes, and that's why I was the last one to start because I used to even took a picture of myself with nobody behind me, and and so that was it. Uh once we turned on to Harbor, and I was just waiting there for them, and I just said, the heck with it, I took off. And uh, so yeah, they held them for about five minutes. Um, you know, I thought, yes, for for it being the last one, it was a good course. I thought it was a very good course. I kept thinking that um, you know, the the character pictures were gonna be so long that I wasn't gonna be able to take them, but I was able to take quite a few for this one, which was really, really cool. Um, that I was able to do that. And I'm trying to think the other thing again, uh, and I don't know what uh you guys think, but I I'd love the energy, and it seemed to be even more the third shift uh people custodial. Yeah, the custodial people were cheering us on, and they were there for the 5k and the 10k, but all of a sudden it almost seemed like for the half K they were like the double the size, and they were cheering us on, and they were on both sides, and they, you know, and their their energy is so so cool. It's uh to me, you know, there's cast members and they always bring energy, but this is like an another degree of it. And so I I always, always love seeing them. And of course, you you are for instance to bring back bring back Star Wars guys, there were free hugs and so uh they were always so cool, and then you get just random people doing you always tell people when when they come out on their own, they're doing it with like passion and oh yeah, they're great. And uh yeah, so there was a lot of people out there that were just out there to just to cheer us on. I like the out and backs also because since I I call myself the course encourager, I like to encourage people and I can see stories, uh, you know, so I can see people on on one side and they're struggling. Like, you got this, you got this, and then you know, you turn around, then you see the other side of people going, all right, you know, you're struggling, come on, you know, and it's some uh some people you know, some people you don't know, but you know, you give them a word of encouragement and stuff. Um, so I love the out and backs. I thought they were were really, really cool. Um, yeah, I it was a I I loved the I actually enjoyed overall, um, I I enjoyed the half marathon the most.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:00

It was a good race. We had great, maybe perfect weather for it. It was chilly at the start, a little warm at the end, but not that bad. Um I started, I hadn't, it's been a little while since I've done run, walk, run. I've been walk-only for a while, but the last couple weeks after marathon weekend, I was able to train some 1530s. So I took off doing that. I took about a D, as I think I mentioned earlier, and Alan took off out of C. And I really wanted to catch him. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to run and finish with Alan. Um, and I did some math in my head, real, real complex math. I thought, okay, so the corrals are about three minutes apart. So if I can make up a minute a mile, I can catch them in three miles. How's that? Somebody check me on that, will you? I think I got that right. Sounds about right. But yeah, about a 5K, yeah. Uh that's about where I caught him, Jack, uh, John, is about a 5K. Somewhere between mile three and mile four. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:24:03

I'm surprised. Uh I was, I saw I was tracking you guys on the trackers. I'm like, well, I mean, I go, Bob started not that far behind Alan. And I'm like, I thought Alan usually, I guess because of a marathon, he goes out of A usually.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:18

That's right. That's right. Yeah. He's he's legacy at this half marathon, also.

SPEAKER_10 1:24:23

But I guess they don't give him that perk out of uh Disneyland.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:26

No, they scream out of C. And and Grace was ahead of both of us. Now, Grace earns her, she is uh she is still running in the uh sub-eight-minute mile times for a half. So he does very well. In fact, in those out and backs in the park, she was the first. I don't know if she's the first person I recognize. I see a lot of people on the course, and it's really, really fun. But if you want to have a real good time, run with me and Alan. Good grief. It's a it's it's fun. It's just fun. Out and backs, oh my goodness. And I I don't want to be, and I think our I think our friends understand this. First of all, somebody comes by you and calls out your name. I may know. I mean, Greg could come could come by me and call out my name. And if I wasn't ready, it might take a second for me to go, hi, Greg. Uh, our buddy Matt, who carries the flag, right? Matt went by. I know Matt. Hey, Bob, hey, how you Matt. Uh, I I actually did it with Grace a little bit. She came by. I figured who it was. Um, but what would happen is on the course, somebody yell out, hey Bob, hey Alan. And we just look at each other and shrug our shoulders. But you can't remember all the names, especially not that quickly. But it was a blast. Uh we stayed fifth, well, we stayed 1530. I said, somebody asked me what paces are you doing. I said, we're doing Alan 30 because he had his set at 1530, but if somebody distracted him by saying hi or something, he just kept running. So we we had a couple 6030s in there. We had a couple well, it didn't matter. The pace was fine. I enjoyed it. Uh uh we got I the course as as everyone has mentioned so far, the course was terrific. I enjoyed the parks, I enjoyed being in DCA before it got light. Uh it's a little different, friends. If you haven't run in Disneyland, the crowd, the the main street crowd, if you will, is between the two parks. There is really nobody on Main Street, no cheer squads on Main Street. So I gotta ask you, how many bracelets did Alan give out during the half marathon? Well, we figure Becky gave out about a half mile worth. Um during the half, he didn't give out. I don't think he gave out any during the half. If he did, it wasn't many. But but at other times, at other times, uh 500? I don't know.

SPEAKER_10 1:27:09

I know you know it's fantastic. I remember after the after the marathon, we're all sitting there uh at that bench, and Alan still pulling him out of his little magic bag and dulling him out.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:24

Yeah, he did. Uh had a great time at the race. Uh kept my paces up. We didn't exactly set the course on fire with our speed, but we probably finished in the middle of the pack. The last thing that got me was of course, he knows the course a lot better than I and we had other friends running with us at the time. And if I start mentioning names, I'm gonna leave somebody out. So I just have to say we had other friends because as friends would come along, we'd invite him to stay with us. They're running our pace, that's what we wanted. So we had a we had a small group, maybe five or six. Something like that when we finished. Um, so Alan knows the course and he goes, Okay, we'll do our 1530, and then when we get to here, we'll just run it in. Okay. That little son of a gun took off like a I'm I'm full sprint now, trying to keep up with them. I'm just about to call out and go, Alan, I can't do this anymore. When I saw the finish line, and uh I figured, okay, maybe I can. So we finished. It was a it was a great event. I am particularly proud of this. It just speaks to longevity, not to any ability or talent. But the coast to coast medal I received, I got the half marathon medal and the coast to coast medal. That is my 100th Run Disney medal now.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:49

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:50

Yeah, I've this is my tenth year of running. I started in 2016. And of course, I I think I have 68 races or something like that to get 100 medals. Uh some of those are virtuals, but not many. And a lot of them are as you as everybody knows, the challenge medals. You run four races, you get six medals, that kind of thing. But it all adds up and uh a hundred medals. 100 more? Maybe tough. We'll work on it, Bob. We'll see. Well, I'm gonna work on it, but 101 come princess.

SPEAKER_10 1:29:24

Well, you know, you're running to 100, so you got a lot of time.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:27

That's what Jeff says. Yep. We're running to 100.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:30

All right, gang. Well, to tie bow on this wonderful conversation about the last race weekend for the foreseeable future in Disneyland. I want to ask each one of our participants this question. I saw a couple of reels over the weekend of a very powerful speech by our good friend Carissa Galloway cheering in the final finisher during the half marathon. I don't know about you, but there was a lot of emotion in her speech. Obviously, because number one, she's a fantastic race announcer, and number two, bringing that final person is a very big moment. But the vibe I got is that there was extra emotion in there because at least for right now, this could be the you know, this is the end on you know, for the start of the hiatus, but there are some out there, including myself, that don't think these races are coming back to California. So I'm gonna go around the room to our participants and non-participants, and uh, and Christina, I'll start with you. Is Run Disney coming back to Disneyland ever?

SPEAKER_08 1:30:50

Oh um, because she got emotional at the beginning, too.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:55

Yeah, she did.

Closing Reflections And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_08 1:30:56

Of the half, and I I had kind of the same vibe. I'm like, this is more than just uh uh see you later, you know. So um, but I gotta believe they are. I I have to I have to believe they are, they're too much fun, it's too cool. Um I think it gives the opportunity to people, um, especially you know, in the in in that area that wouldn't otherwise be able to make it to run Disney races. So I um I have to believe they are, but there's the there's a little you know, demon on my shoulder saying maybe not, just because, like you said, the level of emotion.

SPEAKER_11 1:31:36

But Manny, how about you?

SPEAKER_09 1:31:39

I think they eventually will come back, but I just don't think it's gonna be anytime soon. Uh I think we're gonna wait a while. The last time it was seven years. I'm looking at that as a minimum.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:49

Ooh. John, what do you think?

SPEAKER_10 1:31:53

Uh I'm probably with Manny there. I mean, it's if it's gonna come back, it's gonna be a long while. Okay, Alicia?

SPEAKER_00 1:32:01

I'm hopeful that they'll come back, but yeah, I saw videos of before the races started and especially after, and that emotion was very real. Um, and it what Carissa was saying wasn't just like uh see you later. It it sounded like goodbye, but I really hope that they do come back because we all love those races.

SPEAKER_11 1:32:25

Jack?

SPEAKER_07 1:32:26

You know, Disney never says goodbye. They always say see you real soon. So I'm gonna take that to heart and say I will see you real soon at another Disneyland race weekend. And also with the fact that I feel like this weekend, I felt like they were just pulling out all the stops. Like that 5K um before the race started, the way that they had done it, and having Miss Piggy come out for the yoga, and like the character stops, they were just everywhere, even though if if you didn't see them right away, they were there, they're all over. You just have to see where all the characters are because they may not have the photo passes there. And I just felt like I do worry, but Disney never says goodbye. So I'm gonna stick with that and say the next time I come, I'll have probably a little kid with me, and I'll probably tell him, hey, mommy and kid time are gonna go do a 5K, and it'll be our first time dressing up, and we're gonna have a blast at Disneyland at a race weekend.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:28

Alright, Bob, what say you? Never's a long time, Greg. I I think I agree with our friends here that eventually something will return to Disneyland. I think it's my last one, though. I I do. I and that's why I had to get there. I I certainly hope to be running into my late 70s and 80s, but there's no promises, and uh, I'm pretty sure that was my last run Disney race out on the West Coast. Friends, it's been fun. It was a wonderful weekend. It was, I describe it, glorious. Before we let you go, any parting thoughts or comments that you'd like to make?

SPEAKER_08 1:34:11

Uh I would just like to say uh thank you to the ladies that I was running with this weekend. We had kind of a girls' weekend going. Sarah and Sarah and Vanessa, uh Hira, and Lace. Thank you guys so much for a wonderful weekend.

SPEAKER_10 1:34:26

Manny, uh, just one quick question for I know you also, you're Manny runs Disney, right? So you have a lot of videos out there for this weekend also, don't you? You guys want to plug your uh your channel real quick?

SPEAKER_09 1:34:38

Oh, sure. Yeah. On on YouTube, uh Manny Runs Disney and on social media. Um, I I just uh I I love helping people, so I do it's just a passion of mine and and uh trying to help people. Uh registration, registration comes up for uh wine and dine very, very soon.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:56

We yeah, we talked about that.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:58

Yeah, so that's it. But yes, Manny runs Disney and I'm always here to help anybody.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:03

Jack, parting thoughts?

SPEAKER_07 1:35:05

Man, I know I said this a lot. Well, I know I said this a lot during, especially I think the 10K video that comes out today on the release of this um recording. Is that like man, I'm I'm gonna miss these races. These are my absolute favorite 5k and 10k. And the one half that I did do, and I have a scar from, I will remember that race because of that scar. Yeah, and it was so magical. Yeah, I got to mile 13, had point one left. I will never forget that. And um man, they just they I think maybe I'm just so used to Disney World's races. I'm so used to the routes that coming to Disneyland and trying their races again and doing something maybe newer in my sense. It just it felt different, felt magical knowing that Walt Disney had walked through these parks or Walt Disneyland, and it just feels special. And you know what, Run Disney VP did do like the whatever you gotta know.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:17

We want it back. I'm putting uh Hail Mary out there. Bring it back, please. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:24

Yeah, you reminded me of something I like walking into the Disneyland area in general, is that I usually hear classic Disney songs being played. Gosh, that gets me. Uh Someday My Prince Will Come, or of course, Wish Upon a Star. You don't hear Wish Upon a Star enough at Disney World. Man, that is Disney to me. But I'll I'll I'll pass on that and go. I I took a quick look. I've been to 25 Run Disney race weekends. And I've actually, I said 68 races, it's actually 75 if you count the virtuals. Um I will not soon forget this one. It was it was glorious. Everything about it was wonderful. The time I got to spend with friends. I keep talking about Alan and Grace because they were just fantastic. It was it was fun. They they they did a lot of things for Becky and I, and I appreciate it. But of course, the rest of the family was there too. And you know how much I love the Rise and Run family, but this was a very, very special race weekend. It'll be a long time before I forget this one.

SPEAKER_11 1:37:33

Caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:38

I don't want to say I had as much fun recapping the race weekend as I did participating in the race weekend. But I thought it was pretty fun, didn't you, Jack?

SPEAKER_07 1:37:49

I had an absolute blast.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:52

We got another uh activity coming up that I know last year a lot of friends had fun with. Greg, tell us about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:59

Yes, I mean it it unfortunately it's not happening anytime soon, but yes, I I know I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but we are running it back and we are looking to generate some more teams for this year's loopy looper event. Uh, we're going to get as many people to participate in the 12-hour four-person relay. Uh and I'm really excited. I this has only been up for two to three weeks now, and we already have uh enough for we're almost at four teams already, which is awesome. And when I was looking at the information that everyone has entered into the Google form, the number of states that are going to be represented in this is phenomenal. We got Texas and we have West Virginia. I mean, it's it's all over um the United States, which is great. Uh, so that uh just as a reminder, that Google form is going to remain active up until I believe March 13th, and then that will give us two weeks to formulate the teams, pick team captains, and then we can organize who's gonna be on what team. That way we can try to keep paces as even across all the teams as possible, so that way we can meet uh the price increase that happens on March 31st. So, again, if you're interested, uh it is in our Facebook group. Maybe I I'll Bob, if you maybe you can pin that post for us um so it can be up at the top. Sure. Um, but also at the same time, if you have any questions about running uh this race, uh whether you know the experience that I've had in the past or um just questions about this year's event, you can always email me at Greg at RiseronPodcast.com or feel free to send me a uh private message on Facebook as well.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:50

And I will just say this as somebody did it last year. It's an absolute blast. I wish I could do it this year. You guys are gonna have so much fun. And Greg knows how to pick the races.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:02

And he gets some Wawa, right, Greg? Oh yeah. Well, there's a Wawa right on the course, so nice.

SPEAKER_05 1:40:08

Let us see here, friends. I already mentioned that it is a Zoom Thursday. Info is on the Facebook page. Next week, well, I'll tease a little bit because this is going to end up being part of the race report. But next week we got a guest from the Rise and Run family joining us. And now, please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. A race report is sponsored by our friend Tom Stokes of Stoked Metabolic Training. Tom was with us with us a couple of weeks ago. Talked about his challenge that starts on Monday. So there's still time to get into that. Now, that post is pinned to the featured section of our Facebook group. I'm joining. I think most of the gang will be involved in this. His price points are$57 and$97.$97 includes additional one-on-one time with Tom. Both are a great deal. Uh I can't say enough good things about it. So if you're thinking about doing something like helping to uh upgrade your fitness, your overall fitness, your level of nutrition. I said this when Tom was with us on the episode. A lot of people look at Tom and think he's teaching a bodybuilding course. That's not the case. He certainly does talk about weight training and how it can help you in your running, but he's also a very expert on nutrition. I don't think a very expert is right. He has great expertise on nutrition and will help you out there. I'm counting on him. I plan on making an accountability comment every week because I need to drop some pounds, and that's how I'm going to get started. All right, friends, let's take a look at the race report. Let's start on Saturday. Cold weather through a whole lot of the eastern part of the USA, extending much further south than it usually does, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Emily ran the Mardi Gras Mambo 15K. She finished her second marathon just six days before. It was cold in southern Louisiana, cold for southern Louisiana. It was a great race when the wind wasn't trying to knock her over. This is her third time running as 15K. She ran away with a 52nd PR, a third place age group finish, and came in at one hour and 19 minutes. The best part of this is that despite setting PRs the last few years that she'd been racing, this was the first time she actually got to ring a PR bell. Well, here's another one for you, Emily. In Tewkesbury, Massachusetts, Sophie's still up there running the Fudge Sickle 5K. This is week five. Didn't hear a report on this one, but I'm sure we'll hear it soon. I imagine it was chilly. Not too cold for this one. Our man in South Florida, Robbie, was at the CMEX Quarry Quest 5K. This 5K and 10K race is held in a limestone quarry in Hyalea, Florida, down around Miami. It was a very chilly 60 degrees for this race to start. But Robbie braved it. He layered up and he braved it anyway. Let's take a look. The big event, Disneyland, we talked about it, was from our perspective, the big event, but there's a huge event this time every year in Jacksonville, Florida, and that's the Donna Marathon weekend. And boy, did they have some nasty weather, especially on Saturday. Now, let me look here. We didn't get a lot of reports, but we had a lot of friends running. Uh, Kim was running the Booby Trap Challenge, which is the 5K and the half. Nancy ran the half, says there was actually ice on the course. Thankfully, the runners and the volunteers were yelling warnings about the hazards, and she didn't see anybody fall. But uh, she's really happy she got an almost nine-minute PR. Wow, in these nasty conditions. Loves running in the cold, but hopes she never has to run in this kind of cold again. Let's see, Jenny and Cameron were there. Michael, Roxanne were there. Valerie switched to the virtual for this one. Of course, there is a marathon. Adam was there pacing the marathon. He started, as we mentioned be just a minute ago, he started by having to help the pace group avoid the ice. After a few miles where they could take off their gloves in the sun, Kathy, who I think was pacing with Adam, Kathy and he cruised in, hitting at a near perfect time. They were they're the 430 pacing group. They came in at 429-29 with their actual target, even though they're the 430 group, their actual target was 429-30. Not too shabby there, Adam. Way to go. Adam commented it's the only race he can recall where he ran on ice and on sand at the same race. And I'm going to touch on this one, but Heather, as I teased a little bit, Heather will be with us next week to tell us about her adventures as she rolled through the 110-mile two-day ultra-marathon. She set a distance PR. She was the first place woman for wheels, first place wheelchair in the marathon and in the ultra. She even PR'd her 50 mile distance by almost two and a half hours. Only 13 started, only 10 finished. But again, we'll hear more about that next week. Let's see, Rob and Jen were scheduled to do the New York Roadrunners Manhattan 10K. That got canceled by cold weather. Jen still went out on a training run. Windshow was minus nine. Pretty bold, Jen. Way to go. A couple of hot chocolate runs. There was one scheduled for Atlanta, but it got changed to a virtual event. There was one in Houston that did go. Jennifer did it. Oh, Marissa and Tiffany were scheduled for that hot chocolate run. You get credit for you get credit for trying. Jennifer did do a 5K hot chocolate run in Houston, 36 degrees at the start. She had a Run Disney Mylar blanket to keep her warm. That temp, you need a little more than that. Heck, I was using one at Disneyland and it was like 55. But it was fine. She found herself at the very front of her corral as they started, and she stayed focused on not going out too fast. Just let the others sprint by as she started her 30-30 intervals, maintained them the entire time. Finish with a decade PR. 36 minutes. She was just shooting for a sub-30. Got that PR way to go. Good for you, Jennifer. In Columbus, Ohio, they had the fifth line 5K. That's an event put on by the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team. Rebecca was there, but she switched to a virtual. Tracy was there. Temperature at the start of the race was 11 with a feels-like temperature of one. Just one degree, one little lonely degree. Multiple layers required for the race. Fun for Tracy's family. They just had to keep an eye out for ice on the roads. But they got to finish on center ice of Nationwide Arena. Now the irony there is you finish on the center ice of the arena and you actually warm up a little bit. Nice metal. Pizza for a treat. In Dublin, Ohio, the Columbus half marathon. So we were just in Columbus, Ohio. Now we're doing the Columbus half marathon in Dublin, Ohio. Lori did it. It was hard. It was freezing. A negative six feels like at the start. You guys were very brave this weekend who got out in all that nasty weather. Coldest race Lori's ever done. So cold that ice was forming on people's clothes and hats and hair. Now she's going to take the time to thaw out.

SPEAKER_10 1:49:32

Talk about this cold weather, Bob. Have you ever run, I know, probably a long time ago, because I know you don't get this in Florida, and you start getting whether your beard, or you get all that condensation on your mustache or your beard, and you look like uh didn't have a beard or a mustache when I was in Alaska, but I did a cross country skiing again, skiing event at minus eight, and that was the real temperature.

SPEAKER_05 1:50:00

Not the uh windshield. So I've been out there. And the thing that surprised me is at minus eight, it wasn't long before I was taking off layers because you don't want to sweat. You don't want to sweat much at those temps. Because then you get wet and then you stop, you're done.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:50:18

Yeah. Minute you stop, you gotta cover up or get inside or something. Yeah. But yeah, to answer your question, no, I've I've never had that. Um I'm trying to remember I lived in Massachusetts, didn't have a beard or a mustache then either.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:34

So have you had to have like a little like if I don't some days like I won't shave for a week and you know, and you go out there and run, all of a sudden you come back in like your mustache is like uh icicles from all the moisture coming out of your breathing. Yeah. It's a weird feeling. Then you just like I'm rubbing it off like you can see me.

SPEAKER_05 1:50:55

Alicia Alicia will know about this and maybe some of you when the mucus in your nose starts to freeze when it gets cold enough, and your nose feels like.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:03

I have a friend who lives about an hour um south of me, and it gets colder down in southern Minnesota. Um, and she goes out for really early morning runs and her eyelashes will freeze, and yeah, the the um the snot in her nose, and yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:51:21

So there we have it, friends. Episode 228 comes to a close. We hope you enjoyed living or reliving the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. Golly, we hate to admit it, but the uh Run Disney season is not gonna be around much longer. Still, time to get back out there, get training. If you run, you know you are our friends. Get out there, have fun till we meet again. Happy running.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:59

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

SPEAKER_12 1:52:19

Rise and run, let the anthem be spawned for every heart that runs for fun.