229: Adaptive Strength: Heather’s Record‑Setting Donna 110 Story

A good mantra can change a season, and ours hits different: earn it in the winter, win it in the spring. We start with a candid weather check and slide straight into the nuts and bolts of racing life—updated Wine & Dine registration flows, random queue placement, why sellout times barely budged, and how our community rallied with Zoom rooms, phone trees, and charity backups  We map out Princess Weekend long runs, Springtime Surprise magic miles, and the kind of speed work that shakes off a post-Dopey lull and brings your spring fitness back online.

Then everything sharpens into one story. Heather, a push-rim athlete many of you know, takes us inside the Donna 110—eight laps Saturday and a marathon Sunday—finished in historic Florida cold with frozen hydration lines and sheets of ice. She shares how triple-stack long runs, bike guides, a coach pacing a late lap, and a brand-new custom chair made the difference. The result: the first wheelchair finisher in race history, the only woman finisher this year, and a heady mix of grit, humor, and joy that included communion at mile one and counting dogs to stay present. Her perspective on adaptive sport is powerful and refreshingly inclusive: we’re all out here doing hard things, visible or not, and the win is showing up with purpose.

We round things out with Loopy Looper team interest surging, Tom’s strength challenge for accountability and smarter training, and Fluffy Fizzies returning to the Expo with upgraded foot care, themed bath bombs, and easy preorder pickup. The race report delivers a streak of firsts and PRs—from stadium sprints to donut runs and frigid New England grit—that remind us how many ways there are to measure progress. Subscribe, share with a running friend, and drop your spring goal in a review—what are you earning this winter so you can win in the spring?

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Transcript

Cold Weather Banter & Listener Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hi, friends. This is Ileana from West Virginia. If you're like me and have experienced snow mageddon, I hope you are hope warm and safe. Soon we will thaw, be able to run and not slide, and be together at races again. They say summer training leads to fall PRs. I say earn it in the winter, win it in the spring.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Happy running. Ileana from the snow belt, which was a good portion of the USA the last couple of days. I like what she said there. Earn it in the winter, win it in the spring. There you go. I may steal that, Ileana. We'll see. Hey friends, welcome to episode 229 of the Rise and Run Podcast. Delighted as always to have you with us. I am Bob, and this week I am joined by my friends Jack. Hiya, Alicia.

SPEAKER_13 1:42

Hello.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Greg. Hey, hey, hey. And John. Hey, how you doing? Really good, John, because I'm not knee deep in snow. How's the weather up north, guys? It gets a little better this week.

SPEAKER_08 1:54

I mean, I I broke out the shorts. I mean, uh, I think for the first day since uh I think it was uh what did I hear on the news today? The first day since January 23rd, we have gone above freezing. Oh, golly. Golly. That's big big day here in suburban Philadelphia. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

The temperatures have been warmer, but today I swear it felt even colder than it has. I I couldn't break the chill that I I had gotten in the morning, but it it said it was 40 degrees.

SPEAKER_08 2:26

So the the this was the best one, Alicia. I I was flying home on Saturday from my business trip down to New Orleans, and I text my wife to tell her that I've landed, and her response back to me was welcome to Alaska. To which then I prompted to go in my AkiWeather app. It was warmer in Juneau, Alaska, than it was in Philadelphia on Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Yeah, yeah. Juneau now, Juneau and Anchorage sometimes have moderated temperatures because they're right near the water. Check out Fairbanks.

SPEAKER_08 3:00

Well, the the other one I noticed on Facebook was at one point it was warmer in the North Pole than it was in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

I didn't see that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:08

Like yesterday, it was 11 degrees in the morning, and I'm outside. I'm like, damn, it's cold. It's cold. Then in the afternoon it got to 36, and I'm like, wow, it's a heat wave.

Host Welcome & Roundtable Check-In

SPEAKER_03 3:22

It feels good. It does. It surprisingly does feel good when the temperatures change that much. Well, let's see. Also, this week, our friend Heather Cohen is with us. Now, a lot of you know Heather. Uh, for some of you, you'll be meeting her for the first time. What a remarkable athlete Heather is. She completed the 110-mile two-day ultra marathon in Jacksonville at the Donna a couple weeks ago, and she will be here to tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_08 3:51

If you enjoy the Rise and Run Podcast, please share us with your friends and introduce them to the Rise Run family. We want to share in their Run Disney journey. Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast, on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod. Be sure to check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage, Rise and RunPodcast.com. If you have a question, a comment, a race report, want to complain about race registration or introduce an upcoming episode, give us a call at 727-266-2344 and leave us a recorded message.

SPEAKER_06 4:33

We also want to thank our Patreons whose support helps us keep the Rise and Run podcast rising and running.

SPEAKER_08 4:40

That's clever that you said there, Jack. I like that.

SPEAKER_06 4:43

Thanks. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please go ahead and check out patreon.com slash rise and run podcast. And this week, we got two new Patreons. Donna, who's in the how you doing, and Ashley, who's the Mandalorian.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Mandalorian, big deal. Thank you to both. Thank you to both of our new Patreons.

SPEAKER_08 5:08

Speak speaking of the Mandalorian Jack, did you get really excited uh during the Super Bowl ad?

SPEAKER_06 5:14

Yeah, well, I didn't see that ad, but I saw that the movies, it's the movie, right? It's not the show. It's the movie coming out, and I saw like a picture of it. I was like freaking out mentally. I'm very excited.

SPEAKER_08 5:24

I I really enjoyed how they spoofed the uh Clydesdale horses, uh, but it was it was Star Wars characters. That was pretty good.

SPEAKER_06 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Jack, uh, what's up with YouTube? Anything going on?

SPEAKER_06 5:36

So with YouTube, we do, if you guys are missing out on the Disneyland races, you're kind of like, man, I'm having the Disneyland downers. I'm gonna miss it. And you want to relive it? Well, we do have the 5K and the 10K video out on YouTube. We have one more Disneyland uh video to go for you guys, and then yeah, I have other plans in the future, and I cannot wait to share them.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

Sounds good, Jack. Friends, the Rise and Run podcast sponsored by Magic Bound Travel. Let's see. Magic Bound's the place to go. What did we just we've got? I know it's a ways off yet, but we just registered for Wine and Dine. Now is the perfect time to talk to your agent at Magic Bound Travel or go to the website magicboundtravel.com, fill out an interest form. It's completely free to you. They'll assign you an agent, someone who is familiar and has attended Run Disney events, and they'll help you get that room for that wine and dine weekend, which is in late October this year. Uh, now's the time to do it. The prices are not going to get any lower, they tend to rise as we get closer to the event. So MagicBoundtravel.com is the website. Check them out. And before we leave talking about Magic Bound Travel, I know I'm only talking to a small group of our friends who are listening here. But if you are going on the inaugural Rise and Run Cruise, we will have a Zoom meeting to talk about it this Sunday evening at 8 p.m. Eastern. The instructions for how to log on to that are contained at the Rise and Run Cruise Facebook group page. Okay, let's take a look at the training schedule. Guys, Princess Weekend is two weeks away. Uh, just 14 more days until we're together at the expo. We're in training week 16. You've got the long double up, you've got the five-mile walk on Friday or Saturday, whenever you do them. And then you've got the 14-mile run walk. Question always comes why am I doing 14 if I'm only doing a half marathon? A lot of great answers. Jeff uh Galloway will tell you that it's been proven that you can better your time by going past the distance and it increases your confidence. And look, let's be honest, we're not going past it that much. So five walk, fourteen run walk, then you get to relax for a week, and then we are together at Walt Disney World. Springtime surprise is now a mere nine weeks away. We are in training week nine, and the training schedule calls for three miles, including a magic mile. Important note, friends, those going to Springtime Surprise, if you are arriving on Expo Day, which is the Thursday, that's the day that's nine weeks from now. Your advanced dining reservations will open up this Sunday, February 15th. So you can back it up if you're getting there earlier or later. You can figure that out. But ADRs are coming up. And if you're new to all this, that's the first day that you can make your reservations for dining at the Disney Resort. What else do we have? Uh that's it. Let's talk about training for a little bit. We haven't talked about training for a while. Let's give a little training update here. You know, we always talk about coming off of especially the marathon weekend, a little bit of downer, weather's rough, tough to get back in the training. Gang, how's the training going?

SPEAKER_08 9:35

Training's going pretty well. I I know a lot of people have given me flack on holler hype because I know in a lot of the country it's really cold right now. And but I've been fortunate with business trips that I've been able to get some runs outside. Um especially the the couple of runs I got in Maui. But um just just blew right through that round.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got a couple runs from Maui.

SPEAKER_08 10:00

But um training continues to go well, and but the new thing that I have now incorporated into my training is uh I am gonna I'm aiming for speed at shorter distances. So I I'm learning from my mistakes of Rocky uh last year, and I am not going to publicly announce what races I'm doing and what races I'm trying to go for goal times and stuff like that. All I know is it, you know, it was a conversation between myself and Coach Twiggs, and I said, these are the distances, this is the goal, and because I said that, I have now been introduced to the speed work of 400s as opposed to 800s. Uh-huh. And so I I did my first batch um this past weekend, and they went pretty well. Yeah. But I wasn't sure like where my starting point was supposed to be because I know with 800s you always start, or the the Galloway plans always have you start with four. So I was like, okay, well, I probably need to get similar mileage. So I did six four hundreds, and coach was like, Oh, I was just gonna start you on four. I was like, oh, okay, so I'm I'm ahead of the game. And two in the bank, yeah. Yeah, and he's like, take a look at your training schedule, and and you'll see how we'll progress through there. And boy, was I tickled pink when I saw that at one point. I get to do 20 400s on my training schedule. That's it. So that's good. That's gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

So what distance are you training for that you're doing 20 times 400?

SPEAKER_08 11:41

Uh, I am training. Actually, I'm not gonna say the distance I'm training for because that could give away the races that I'm gonna run to try to get time and such. Well, just whisper it, Greg. Okay, okay. So um, but no, I'm really excited. This is a new, again, this is a new facet of training for me, and uh, I'm really excited about it. You should be.

Show Updates, Social & Patreon Shoutouts

SPEAKER_03 12:02

I I used to enjoy them. I haven't done 400s or 800s for years, but I used to enjoy them. I mean, and that's an exaggeration. I used to kind of look forward to them on my training schedule. There was something new and different. Greg, we've known each other 10 years now, a little over 10 years. And when we first met, did you ever think you'd be talking with me about training for speed? Absolutely not. I I'm proud of you. I think it's wonderful. I think it's great. Uh I remember I remember when I used to be able to keep up with you, Greg. I don't think I can anymore. But that's cool too, you know? I think that's really great. I will kick in here real quickly. You know, we do talk about it every year that we come off that big, that big goal, that big marathon weekend goal. There's a little letdown, and it happens to all of us. I think even amongst our friends here, uh, we're going through it. Now, I don't have the problem that much of the country has. The weather for running in Florida right now is just about perfect. And even the humidity is down for Florida. It's one of those days that the days are chilly when you wake up, but when the humidity is low, the the day warms up pretty quickly. So it's been nice. I have fortunately I set my sights on walking marathon weekend, which I did, and then returning to run walk after that. That's going well. Now, I'm talking, I was telling Coach Twiggs today, yeah, I bumped it up from 1530s to 1730s. I'm making great progress, but I'm happy with that. That's great. I am. I'm moving along. Uh, I'm not having uh trouble. The kind of trouble I had before the surgery is gone. Knock on wood. So uh that that's progress. So I'm excited about that. I did get started with Tom's plan, but we'll talk about that when we talk about Tom later in the race report. So there you go, friends. I do hope that you're able to get back. I understand it's very common to get those. We call and we give Britney credit for the term dopey downers. They're real, but we hope that uh they're starting to subside and that you're getting back out there and getting a chance to train again. I want to remind our friends, I'll say this again at the end of the episode. We do have a meetup for Princess Weekend. It is as usual, the Saturday of race weekend at 3 p.m. at the food truck area. I'm looking into the kitchen. Becky's not baking cookies yet, but that'll start pretty soon. That'll probably start next week, as a matter of fact. We hope to see you there. Our meetups are a great deal of fun. Another quick note I'll mention at the end of the episode. No Zoom this Thursday. Next Zoom is February 19th.

SPEAKER_09 15:03

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Well, the big activity today, the day that we recorded, was registration for the 26-27 season, Wine and Dine, the first race of that season. We registered today. Friends, who's going? What did you get in for? And how was your registration experience?

SPEAKER_07 15:31

I'm gonna be in for all three races. And uh I was almost gonna curse Bob out this morning when he he posted, oh, John's gonna have a five-minute cue. I'm like, thanks, Bob. Yep, thanks, thanks, Bob. So what happened? Uh I got a four-minute cue.

SPEAKER_08 15:51

You know, uh there's something about the the greater New York metropolitan area, because not only did you get a super fast cue, but all of last night and all of this morning, I was texting with our Broadway buddy Caesar Semayah, and he was incredibly nervous about registration. Oh, okay. And in his first window that he opened up or whatever, he got 10 minutes, and he was in like lickety split. So it I guess it's just something. If you if you live in in the the five boroughs in North Jersey, boy, you it must have been smooth sailing for you today.

SPEAKER_07 16:28

Well, I did get the original, you have one hour. I'm like, oh great. Then like a minute later, it's like four. I'm like, What? Like, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

90 people on the zoom call, 93 actually, at the peak. And I told them all, you're gonna get an hour. Don't sweat it. When you first open it up, it's going to say your wait is, I think the quote is more than an hour. I said, everybody's gonna get that except John, and John's gonna get five minutes, and we were close. Yeah, I was like, thanks. So, John, you're in for all of them. Uh, who else is going? Alicia's already in because she is practically perfect in every way.

SPEAKER_13 17:12

Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

So she was in from last week. Greg, are you going?

SPEAKER_08 17:16

I am not going, but that's right. But I I did participate in registration because my cousin, who uh just got married uh a couple of months ago, um, him and his wife uh do some due to some extenuating circumstances, have to push off their honeymoon on for almost a year. So they're almost kind of doing like a combination honeymoon slash first anniversary trip. So my wife got them all booked the other week, and they said that like they're like, Greg, help us. We want to run a Disney, uh run Disney 5K. Then come to find out that my my cousin's wife, her favorite Disney movie is The Aristocats, and I was like, Well, boy, do I have the race for you. So I was kind of like on, even though I wasn't registering myself, I was kind of on pins and needles for them because they're brand new to this. So I'm like trying to, you know, we've been through this so many times that it's just secondhand that like I'm I'm trying to detail the intricacies of the craziness that is a run Disney registration and you know, passing that along to them, but then at the same time, like being you know, I'm trying to be like a duck like on the water, like calm up top and my feet are going a mile a minute. Because I it was like, if they don't get in quick enough, I want to be able to get them in. And that was what ended up happening for me is by the time I finish registering both of them. Um again, my cousin's wife was like, Yeah, I still have like it's still telling me 45 minutes on this. So I'm really glad that that things worked out for them and they're gonna be able to experience their um their their first Run Disney race weekend. Good, good. I hope to meet them there. That'll be I I I gotta say though, I I do appreciate and I know we can talk about the new screens and and the changes of everything. Uh, I do appreciate that Run Disney is now trolling us uh in terms of the uh the new graphics on the page, uh ready set wait. Like they almost are are you know anticipating that we're gonna be sitting there for an hour plus. I I did enjoy that.

Sponsor: Travel Planning & Cruise Briefing

SPEAKER_03 19:23

I did. The first thing that popped up, well, let's see, I asked who registered for what. I decided I I'm registering for too many races, so I registered for everything. That sounds about right. That sounds normal, doesn't it? It's only I mean, really, I wasn't I wasn't going to. I wasn't going to, but then it popped up. My registration time came and I said, ah, for crying out loud. And I did them all three. Uh do them till you can't. Uh so I guess that's gonna be my new a new motto. Um yeah, first thing I noticed was that that waiting room, and it opened early, and it it stated something that we long knew or believed to be true, but I had never seen in writing before, which was if you get into the queue before 10 a.m. when registration opens, then your order is assigned at random, unless you're John. If you uh get into the queue after 10 a.m., then you're sequential. You were put in based on when you entered the queue. So that did in fact happen. And I had three browsers open, which is minor compared to many others. John, what did you say? You had 16?

SPEAKER_07 20:45

Yeah, 16 browsers. I had my computer, my laptop, and my two laptops ready. I liked I liked actually the new uh the the new way they worked it uh for the beginning, the intro where you logged on and said, if you're here for if you're not here for registration, please come back in another time. And it and you just click in, wait here. So no one's there refreshing the browser every five seconds till you see ready to register.

SPEAKER_08 21:14

So or you're getting confused because you only want to do, say, the challenge, but the 5k says register now. So yeah, I I do agree with you on that front, John. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 21:25

That was a good that was a good move.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

That was better. What hurt us, and first of all, I missed the Facebook community chats. We have a Discord chat for it, but I couldn't monitor everything. So I basically went into the Discord chat and said, hey, if you want to talk to me, I'll be on Zoom. And as I mentioned, we got up to we got up to 93 people on Zoom. We can only hold 99. At one point, I was literally looking to see how to add more people, but we never got past 93. Well, the tough part was we used to share keys. QIDs and help one another register. And we weren't able to do that. And sadly, I think a bunch of people who came in, we we were not able to help. Now I know on the Zoom call, people were actually calling one another on the phone and registering. For instance, I'll just use the example I'll say, Greg, if it was you and me, uh you would I would call you and say, Hey, Greg, I got a live link right now, give me your information. And that's what was going on amongst our friends. So several of them did it that way. But the old way of just popping that QID and giving somebody a short uh short wait to register, at least for right now, we're not able to do that.

SPEAKER_08 22:44

But I mean, I will say, even though the sharing of QIDs wasn't now really isn't a thing anymore, uh again, being part of that Zoom call today, it does go to show what an amazing community that we do have that people are willing to help one another out, you know, you know, frankly, pass off personal information, yeah, credit and credit cards and stuff like that. That our community is is so tight-knit that there is a comfortability level and and a trust level too, and and that's equally important here. But overall, like I said, we have an amazing community that even when Run Disney registration throws us a curveball, we're all here to support one another, and again, that's what I just love and respect so much about this community. But speaking of curveballs, John, you got some data for us on the sellout times because this was the first big race that was advertised. Increased 5k slots. So, John, how much longer uh did the 5k registration last uh this year compared to last year because of all those increased spots?

SPEAKER_07 24:01

Okay, so really this year the 5k sold out in 83 minutes. Last year, 83 minutes. Well, there you go, folks.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

That's remarkable.

SPEAKER_07 24:13

That's interesting if they were all released at one time or not. Yeah. Uh the 10K, 56 minutes last year, 60 minutes. The half, 75 minutes. This year, 79 minutes. The biggest change would have been the challenge. This year 62, last year 95. So they're they're pretty much the same times as last year. I know everybody said it sold out quick. It sold out the same amount as last time. I mean, one of the things that could be the reason why it kind of sold out was it's your last chance to get a uh coast to coast if you did Disneyland this year.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Yeah, I didn't think about that. Unless you're already registered for Princess or Springtime. Correct. Because you can get it there. But I didn't think about that. We we speculate because we we have no inside information. What that says to me is we're gonna see the 5K open back up. I I think Disney's just taking some breathing room here. Let's see what we've got. We want to add more people, let's see what the times look like. I I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I think that's gonna open back up.

Training Schedules For Princess & Springtime

SPEAKER_08 25:27

I mean, my my working theory is you know, kind of like what I alluded to a couple of minutes ago, is you know, this is the first registration since that huge media push by Good Morning America that you know they they reported live, you know, from the start-finish area every single day of Marathon weekend, and maybe I can't remember how Good Morning America ranks versus CBS This Morning and the Today Show, but you know, that could have potentially brought in a really, really big audience of someone that you know we're just casually watching the TV and be like, oh yeah, that'd be fun to run, you know, a 5K down in Disney. But like John, I agree with you. It it's kind of really, really odd that even with an increased field, it's sold out in the exact same amount of time as last year. So I don't know what other potential theories there could be out there, but I mean I have a feeling Good Morning America could have played a small part. I mean, now the only way that I guess we could see maybe consistent data on it and to see that maybe if it truly did have an impact is when it comes for the next three registrations. Do those five K's sell out as quickly versus previous years? But again, we're still a couple of months away from knowing all that data.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Yeah, where are we? I'm just looking here. Uh, registration for Marathon weekend, March 17th. So we're five weeks away from that. St. Patty's Day. All right. Yeah. Five weeks. It'll be on us before we know it, but we're five weeks away. Well, I I really I feel bad for our friends who didn't get in. Uh, those who didn't get in let's see, we've got telegram. Is that right? That's one way.

SPEAKER_07 27:21

Yes, our friend Matt, our friend Matt at Team Run Diz, he has a telegram, he has the Telegram and he also has the Twitter alerts that open up when race registrations do open up. Stuff does open up, remember like on and off. So you'll see that throughout the year. You've got to be most of the time quick on the trigger, yeah. Ready, ready to go. Don't uh and also the other option, if you did not get in, he also has a charity link that he set up where he has a lot of Run Disney charities that have bibs for these weekends, and you can always register through a charity to get your bibs.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

That's it, teamrundiz.com. And look for his charity links. Now we have charity links also. Our friend Mark keeps that updated. That's at the top of our Facebook group pages in the pinned section, the featured section there. But Team Run Diz also does a terrific job of updating charity links.

SPEAKER_08 28:20

Yeah, I will say, I mean, the trend that I noticed on social media, both Instagram and and Facebook today, is this was probably the most difficult and the most frustrating registration for the community as a whole since that marathon weekend debacle of 2023, which I guess in theory happened in April or or March of 22. 22, yeah. But I I know it can be disappointing, and and we and if you did not get in, we absolutely feel for you, but please use you know these tools and especially John, as you were mentioning on the charity route. Maybe this is the silver lining in terms of okay, you didn't get in the the typical way. Now it's a time that if you truly, truly want to do this to make a difference in the world by finding the charity that truly speaks to you and and go out and and raise some cash for you know some amazing organizations out there.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Yeah, yep, agreed. I've done it a couple times. It's it's doable, especially with the large number of friends we have in this family. Uh I just wanted to leave one last thing talking about the Zoom call. Greg, we had so many people, I didn't realize you were on there. I didn't. I mean, it was it was five pages of people to scroll through, so I didn't realize you had dropped in. And although we really weren't able to help one another so much, we still kind of had a good time.

SPEAKER_08 29:57

So there's always that. It it's it's so interesting to see the dichotomy of those Zoom calls because I will admit that there are times where I truly feel overwhelmed because there are so many people talking, but at the same time, I understand why so many people are talking because so many people either want to give updates to what they're seeing or or help or you know, having those conversations to help one another out. But then it's also really weird, too, that someone can go from talking a mile a minute to absolute silence because you know that's when they're in the zone and they're typing and they're trying to fill out the registration as quickly as possible.

SPEAKER_07 30:37

Just one other thing about registration. The post-race parties is included in your race registration if you're doing the half or the challenge. Uh, so if you're gonna bring somebody else, like a significant other uh or a couple of friends, they they need a ticket to partake in the the rides and the events after the the party. And that that is still available.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Oh, they are okay. I didn't notice it, John.

SPEAKER_07 31:08

Yeah. Well, everybody, I don't think they put that right up there on the initial screen. I I just know I picked the 5k and the challenge, got registered, and said, okay, now I'm trying to see if I can try to help somebody out, but that was it.

SPEAKER_08 31:25

John, I'm glad you brought up the after party. Does anybody think that like at least in my mind? Again, I could be wrong here, but to me, I think that obviously Marathon Weekend is the most popular weekend, but I think Wine and Dine has to be the second most popular weekend because of that after party and because of just the festival itself. And I I wonder if that did lead into a bit of this you know, really popular registration day and a lot of frustration for people. And I would not be shocked if we see a repeat performance of this five weeks from now for Marathon Weekend, but then to compare these two registrations to a princess and a springtime the summer, if things are going to be a little bit calmer. Yeah. But we gotta wait and see.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

Yeah, that's the history of the last couple registrations.

SPEAKER_09 32:20

So caution runners, the topic is about to change right now.

Post-Marathon Slump And Speed Work

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Hey friends, our guest for this evening is familiar to many of you. Our friend Heather's been around the Rise and Run family almost from the very beginning. But tonight she is here to talk with us about an amazing accomplishment that happened just a couple weeks ago at the Donna Marathon. Heather, welcome back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 32:49

Thanks, Bob and Gang. Thanks for having me on. Yay! We love you.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Yeah, we're glad you're here, my friend. Hey, look, Heather, I do I do know and you do too, that a lot of our friends know who you are, but we've got a bunch of listeners that may not know. So I would like for you to start out by telling us the Heather Cohen story, how you got started into racing and what you're doing now. And we'll get to the we'll get to the Donna in a little bit, but let's just get a little background, please.

SPEAKER_05 33:18

Sure. So some of you may not know that I actually started running, running um back in 2007 when I joined the Air Force. Um, they gave us a choice of we could run the marathon or we could be medics for it. And I uh marathon? Yeah, the Air Force Marathon.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Oh, the up in Dayton.

SPEAKER_05 33:37

And I said, um, I don't think I could run a marathon, but I think I could run a half. Um, so I did. I registered a few weeks before the race, did I think a six-mile training run and ran it? And um don't recommend that route. I was young and naive and was very sore for about a week afterwards, um, but I was hooked. So that kind of started my running journey. Um, had some deployments to train for my first marathon, which was also the Air Force Marathon on. And then it just sort of escalated quickly from there. Um, I met a friend in Alaska who had these really cool medals from something called the Dopey Challenge. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. I could never do that. Um, and then after overcoming some big health struggles, I did my first one in 2019 and um have kept going. Um, in 2022, I believe, I transitioned to wheelchair racing. So many of you may know me um from the Facebook groups or other ways as a push-rim racer. That's how I participate now, and um, I love it. I'm gonna keep going as long as I can.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Heather, I didn't realize you did the 2019 dopey. That was the first year I did dopey.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

Why didn't you say hi? Um what another were. That's why.

SPEAKER_05 34:57

Well, true, but also I was one of those people who just kind of hid in the corral, and I actually had strep throat from my first dopey, so I kind of avoided people so that I wouldn't uh contaminate them, at least until the first 24 hours of antibiotics.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

Well, thank you for that. I appreciate it. But yeah, I knew. So now you're you've been pushrim for a while and you do very well there. So you decide to take on the Donna Ultra. First of all, tell us what that is.

SPEAKER_05 35:27

So the Donna Ultra Marathon in conjunction, if you've ever heard of the Donna Marathon to end breast cancer, that's an event they do in Jacksonville, Florida every January. And there's a 5K, a fun run, a pub crawl, a half marathon, a marathon, and an ultra marathon. And it's kind of a unique ultra. So you start with the 5K on Saturday, you complete just about 84 miles on Saturday, and then whenever you're done, you have time, you can rest, and then you come back and you complete the marathon on Sunday. So it totals up to 110 miles over just about 31 hours.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

Yeah, I didn't realize it formally started with the 5K. So you start there and then you and then you go. How's it laid out?

SPEAKER_05 36:14

Before the 5K, but essentially with the 5K.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Okay. So how's it laid out on Saturday?

SPEAKER_05 36:20

So this year was a little bit different. They had a new course. So we did eight laps. The first one was a little over 11 and a quarter miles, and then the rest were about 10 and a quarter. Um, a really nice, peaceful route down Jacksonville Beach through some lovely neighborhoods. Um, yeah, it's a really actually a really pleasant course.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

And of course, you have beautiful weather.

SPEAKER_05 36:41

Yeah, it was perfect for a Vermonter.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

So, knowing you, Heather, I know you love challenges, but what made you want to do this particular challenge?

SPEAKER_05 36:50

So I had the particip or the opportunity last year to participate with our will run for friends when they participated in the Donna um half marathon, and that's when Michael actually pushed Aaron in the half marathon. And I did the 5K with them and some of our other friends, Stephanie and some others from the podcast. Like Bob, I don't want to drop a bunch of names because I will absolutely miss people.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Yeah, that's that's the hazard there, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:14

So I did the 5K with them, and then I was registered for the marathon, and Michael was pushing Aaron in the half, and my goal was to lap them and finish with them during the marathon, which I was able to do. And that was just a really sort of special and meaningful experience. And I um actually the second lap of the marathon, I ended up kind of keeping pace with one of the ultra runners who was finishing his 110. And I remembered him from seeing him start before the 5K. And as a wheelchair racer, I sort of stand out from the crowd. People cheering kind of tend to notice. And so when people would cheer for me, I would say, no, no, no, cheer for the guy in the bucket hat. He's doing the 110. He's the one who you should be cheering for. And so we got talking a little bit, and you know, he was just really nice and really encouraging, and it kind of put planted that seed of maybe that was something that I might like to pursue.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

What kind of reaction did you get when you told people you were going to do it?

SPEAKER_05 38:07

Um, so I didn't initially tell people I was gonna do it. One of the requirements to do the Donna Ultra is you have to have a 50 mile qualifier. And I um participated also in Loopy Looper that summer with the intention of trying to get my 50 miles and did not. It was very hot and I tapped out at 37 and a half. Um, but then that winter, actually, um fairly soon after Aaron's passing, I had another attempt at Lupapalooza to get my 50 mile qualifier. And I really had Aaron on my heart during that race. I knew she would just be really encouraging along the way. And I sort of went into it with the mindset well, if I get 50 miles during this 12 mile or 12-hour race, it's meant to be. And I will um talk to Chris about coaching me for the 110. And if I don't get it, that's okay. You know, there's always other opportunities. Um, I was able to get 51 miles that day. So the next day I messaged Coach Twiggs and signed up for Customize and said, Hey, could you coach me for Donna 2027? And he said, No, but I could coach you for 2026.

SPEAKER_07 39:11

Where to motivate you?

SPEAKER_05 39:12

That was about right.

SPEAKER_07 39:14

What was the reaction from people when you told me you're gonna attempt this in a wheelchair?

SPEAKER_05 39:20

Chris Twiggs, who is involved in the board for the Donna and their whole race team were absolutely wonderful and amazing. They were like texting me pictures of pinch points and taking measurements and just trying to make sure that racer that I said I had finished with last year was amazingly encouraging. Um, the people I asked about crewing me because I hang out with people like Wendy Larson were absolutely encouraging. Um, I don't think my friends outside of the running community really understood what 110 miles really is, or they thought I was stuttering and was saying 10 miles, or um I just don't think they were really sure. And I mean, honestly, up through the training, I wasn't really confident that I would be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

So what the training look like for this one?

SPEAKER_05 40:09

Um, so coming out of 50 mile qualifier, we kind of jumped right into training. Um, I had a lot of what I call triple eights, triple nines, those sorts of things. So that's where you'll do eight or nine miles, take a two to four hour break, do the same distance, take a two to our four hour break, and repeat that three times in the same day. Um, my longest training weekend, um, dopey was considered a catered training run for me this year. And then the, I think it was the week after Dopey, I had 20 Friday, 20 Saturday, and 20 Sunday, or right around Dopey. Maybe it was right before. No, I think right after Dopey, I had triple tens or something that I ended up cutting a little bit short. Um, but I was um, I won't say I was always consistent with those midweek runs. It was supposed to be, you know, of course, the hour twice during the week. That's tough with the work week, but I've never been so committed to my weekend long runs as I was to this training cycle.

SPEAKER_06 41:03

That's amazing though. Because those those weekends, like training for an ultra is, I mean, training for dopey in general feels like training for an ultra, but the training for a 110 and knowing you got the back-to-back to back 20 is coming in not long after doing dopey, that takes dedication. And that's just amazing.

SPEAKER_05 41:21

Yeah, I mean, you certainly sacrifice other things. Um, you know, there's times where I backed out of social events. I had started playing wheelchair tennis and sort of backed off on that. I skipped some hockey practices just to make sure that I was getting the most out of my training and not injuring myself leading up to it.

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SPEAKER_06 41:38

So when you were training for the 110, what were some of the biggest logistical challenges uh with this race? Did what was your plans going in? And how did you um were there aid stations for for this since there was also a marathon going on? I know aid stations are a bit differently than how marathons are usually set up.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

So on day one, there was um our kind of crew point staging facility was actually a hotel. So that was really nice, particularly with the weather we ended up with. Um so that was nice for my crew to stage out of. And the race team was also amazing. They had anything you could possibly need there at the hotel. And then there was one unofficial aid station kind of on the other side, someone who's sort of affiliated with the race. Um, and they were out there in the bitter cold all night um supporting. And then you do have the full support. And if anyone has ever run the Donna, that marathon is a party, and I'm sure we'll come back to that. Um, but they were amazing. Again, in the cold, there was plenty of water stops. I don't normally use water stops, um, but my camelback was the hose was frozen the entire marathon. So I had to use water stops because I couldn't drink my water. Um, and they were so unfortunate. They were great.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

So we've referred to it a couple times. What was the weather like on Saturday?

SPEAKER_05 43:01

So it hit a low of about 20 degrees on Saturday night with a feels like in the single digits. We had flurries, there was frost. There was actually a lot of problems with ice on the course. I saw several people fall on Sunday. Um, they were asking people to turn their sprinklers off to help prevent ice on the road. It was um the coldest this race has ever seen.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

This is this is Florida, by the way. Yes, Jacksonville is a little bit of a Jacksonville, Florida.

SPEAKER_04 43:31

And because of that cold, a lot of people ended up dropping. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_05 43:36

Correct. So there was um 19 people registered for the Ultra. Um, 13 towed the line, and seven finished. Oh wow. Um, and I was the only female who finished this year. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 43:51

We're including both runner runners and uh wheel athletes, or is is that just I'm the first wheelchair to ever attempt it.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

I thought so.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

I thought so. We're very in the lead there, Heather. First to finish.

SPEAKER_05 44:07

So surprise, I did finish.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

And first to finish, yeah. So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 44:12

Coming in about fourth place for the first day and overall. Um, I think I was last place in the marathon, but I uh took full advantage of the party that that race is.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Yeah. What a unique setup. 84 miles one day. I'm round in numbers. 84 one day, 26 the next.

SPEAKER_05 44:32

Well, and if you're lucky like me, you might get lost on the first lap and do an extra mile.

SPEAKER_03 44:38

You did.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

But it's totally fine. I was with another runner. We were just chatting and it was fine.

SPEAKER_06 44:44

I will tell you this, Heather. That's like kind of like getting inducted into an ultra. You get lost at some point, usually on your first one. I feel like at least that's what it was with me and other races as well. But I don't even have an excuse. It's not like we were in the woods.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Yeah, I was gonna ask if anything didn't go according to plan, but you've already answered that.

SPEAKER_07 45:08

So you said laps, right? So how long was the laps do you have to do? Like not laps, the distance of the laps.

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SPEAKER_05 45:17

Uh so the first one was a little over 11 and a quarter, and the rest were a little over 10 and a quarter, which I actually really enjoyed that distance. I thought it was a really good way to break it up mentally. And then the marathon is also a two-lap course, so two half marathons.

SPEAKER_03 45:31

Oh, okay. How many laps is the pub crawl? Never mind. Uh we'll talk about that later. There's one for next year, right? The pub crawl.

SPEAKER_05 45:39

I mean, the marathon kind of is, if you do it right.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Oh, the marathon's a pub crawl?

SPEAKER_05 45:45

A little bit.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

Good deal.

SPEAKER_06 45:47

Were you by like because it's a looped course, the like the last let's say two or three loops, were you just praying for it to be done at that point? Like, what was in your uh like kind of mental capacity at that point? Because I feel like I I'm dead in the mind.

SPEAKER_05 46:02

Yeah, so I kept telling people I was delusional by the end. I mean, delirious, but I was, you know, mixing up my words. Um so it's funny because even going into the race, people are like, so you're gonna do great. And I was like, I mean, I'm gonna try, I'm gonna do my best. I never felt like super confident, but from the minute we started, it was never a thought that I wasn't gonna finish. I just kind of knew they were phenomenal. They had bite guides for me every lap after the first one. So I always had somebody to talk to. You would kind of pass um some of the other runners while you were out there. People from this community were already out setting up for the marathon the next day. So putting up, you know, signs and flags and streamers and those sorts of things. Um, I listened to a couple episodes of Rise and Run, a couple episodes of We'll Run for, I think some on the runs. Um, then I kind of switched over to music. Um, and then the course looked very different once it got dark. Um that kind of um changed things up a little bit. And I I felt awesome for the first five or six laps. I actually went out much faster than I anticipated for the first probably four or five. Um, my biggest issues were because of the way I kneel in my racing chair, I was getting a lot of shin pain and uh cold at the end.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

How long were you out there on Saturday?

SPEAKER_05 47:24

Um, so I was I did the first, I'd say seven in a pretty good time. I was keeping track to be done by about 1:32 in the morning, but then I took a pretty long break. Um, I was actually really lucky. Chris Twiggs flew back from California and he did my second to last lap with me, which was awesome. Um, so we were just kind of chatting and running. But when I got back from that one, I was pretty cold and it took quite a while to warm up to go back out. And I knew I had plenty of time, so I did take the time to war. Everyone was telling me to take a nap, and I'm like, if I fall asleep, I'm not going back out. But if I can just get warm and go back out, then I know I can finish this. I did I kept apologizing to my bike pacer that last lap because it was definitely my whiniest lap. I just wanted to be done. I was cold, my shins hurt. Yeah, nine yards.

SPEAKER_03 48:13

Understandable. Um get any sleep uh between Saturday and the marathon on Sunday?

SPEAKER_05 48:21

Exactly one hour, but it was like the best hour ever.

SPEAKER_06 48:26

How's your body feeling right before the start of the marathon?

SPEAKER_05 48:30

You know, I had a little bit of pain in like my upper arms just from all the pushing. Um, but for the most part, it was my shins that really hurt. And then I think I s the adrenaline hadn't really worn off. So I think um a lot of things didn't settle in until Sunday or even Monday. And I found like a sore I'd gotten from a spot where I rubbed on the chair and a spot where I'd burned myself with a hand warmer and potentially an injury to my bicep. But I I've like I was like, I'm sore, but I feel like I should be sore. I never felt like I was more sore than I anticipated. And in fact, I kept saying, I feel better than I should for having gone this distance. That's because you trained awesome.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

Training works.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_04 49:17

So I know that like when we're doing a marathon, obviously I have not done an ultra, so I can't compare anything to it besides the marathon distance. But I know when we kind of hit that half marathon distance when we're doing a marathon, it's like, oh, I only have half left. Going into that second day and knowing you only, I'm using air clothes because they can't see it, only have 26 miles. Did that feel good or was it really daunting?

SPEAKER_05 49:42

Um, it was a little bit worrisome just because, and this is when I started to think maybe I'd actually sort of injured my arm versus just being sore. That last lap, I just really had a hard time getting my pace back up. So I was a little bit nervous about the time limit of the marathon. I wasn't worried about finishing it. I was just kind of worried about time. Um, but then once I was a few miles in, I had met up with another runner I knew from doing Donna last year and from doing Disney races. Um, and we just decided to party. And again, I knew I was kind of on track for time. And so um to live up to kind of Aaron's motto, my goal was to pet all the dogs, race all the miles, pet all the dogs, and drink all the drinks. And we we did that.

SPEAKER_07 50:24

Cool. What was the time limit for the marathon?

SPEAKER_05 50:27

Um, I think it's like Disney. I think it was seven hours from like when the last person starts. I finished at about 7.03, and I honestly have no idea what was going on after me at that point. Um, but Donna's another race where they really celebrate, particularly the Galloway group comes out to support the back of the pack runners, um, and they make sure that they are out there for the people who finish after six hours. Um, so there was a ton of crowd support. Um, kind of my two most uh shining moments of that day were taking communion with Chris Twiggs at mile one because they offer run through communion on this course, and then um getting my medal from him when I finished. That is unique. An awesome picture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

Run through communion. That's a unique event. Yeah, and Chris's coat was impressive also.

SPEAKER_05 51:18

Yes, he had this kind of like pastel pink with red trim jacket, which was very appropriate for the event and the weather.

SPEAKER_03 51:25

Weather got a little bit better on Sunday, yes or no?

SPEAKER_05 51:29

Um, I would say Sunday during the day was colder than Saturday during the day, but it was warmer than it had been in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

The winds didn't calm down at all?

SPEAKER_05 51:38

I honestly didn't notice the winds being that bad. A couple of times I kind of felt big gusts, but they weren't too problematic. I did lose my safety flag at one point. And there were some spots, I guess, looking actually, there were some headwinds, um, but the course kind of wound around enough that it was not a headwind the whole way or anything.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Headwinds are the only ones you notice. If they're behind you, you don't notice them.

SPEAKER_05 52:02

Well, I sometimes notice from the side because they'll kind of blow me off the side.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Yeah, definitely in a chair, I can understand.

SPEAKER_06 52:07

At what point during the race did you be like, I'm about to do this? Like, this is about to be 100%, thousand percent real once I cross that finish line. Like, how does that feel?

SPEAKER_05 52:20

So I couldn't tell you the exact point, but I have to shout out my crew, um, Erin and Joanne, who were amazing. Um, Erin actually ended up running the last half with me. So she could probably tell you better than I am. But there's a point where I just started bawling, like, oh my God, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And let me just preface there had been some alcohol consumption during this marathon. And um I was wearing a shirt that said, race all the miles, pet all the dogs, we'll run for Erin. So I had many people who knew Aaron who stopped and talked to me in that, particularly once there was a little alcohol on board and the sleep deprivation and just the um adrenaline. Um, so I was getting a little bit emotional, but I'm pretty sure I cried at least the last three or four miles, knowing that I was gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06 53:07

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 53:08

Totally understandable.

SPEAKER_05 53:10

And I think the first thing I said when I finished is Aaron needs a half metal.

SPEAKER_07 53:16

You talked about your crew helping you out. Uh, who else during this race helped make this possible for you?

SPEAKER_05 53:22

So I have to shout out the race crew and the bike guides, um, Dennis, Richard, Brett, Kevin, and Ryan, and of course, Coach Twiggs, who coached me or who um paced me for one lap. Um, but one kind of very unexpected behind the scene. Um, I've been fighting for about a year to get my new racing chair. And I don't think I could have done this event in my old chair, just the way it fit in the way it was configured. And so Maria and her son Ben, who actually works for the company who built the racing chair, really worked together. And after the 10K during Dopey, I was able to get my new chair. I used it for Goofy. Um, and so I I really owe a lot of this finish to Ben for going above and beyond to make that happen.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

Awesome. I remember when you got that chair that weekend.

SPEAKER_05 54:11

Yeah, that's Chris Tways, helped me name it that day. Its name is Sully, it's beautiful, it fits so well. I love it.

SPEAKER_07 54:19

So when you said built the chair, is that was it custom built for you for your your dimension?

SPEAKER_05 54:25

So, um, unless you're using like a loner chair from like a team or an organization, um, if you have it your own chair, they custom build it to your measurements. And I guess I should shout out my coworker Abby for helping measure me in the hospital parking lot on the phone with the engineer from the company because uh she did a great job and it fits.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Wow, very cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:48

Takes a village, right, to make everything.

SPEAKER_05 54:50

And actually, the first time I got measured, this was such a long process. Our friend Heather from England um measured me at a race weekend, but then it was so long to actually get the chair ordered that I had lost 50 pounds and was able to be re-measured. Wow. Wow. So that was the other um benefit of training, is it really helped me in my weight loss.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

Uh when you're training like that, it does, yeah. Putting those kind of miles on. Put those kind of miles on, it's hard to keep the weight on, as a matter of fact. So good for you. Listen, you talked about motivations about Aaron, etc. How about the Donna mission itself, the Donna mission and the cause? Did that factor into your motivation at all?

SPEAKER_05 55:32

Um, I mean, I'm not sure without I think Aaron and Stephanie, I would have even known what the Donna was, but I've participated in other events. Um, other I can't can't think of the breast cancer uh relay, relay for life or yeah, there is a relay for life. It's that's a cancer uh Yeah, and there's other um Susan B.

SPEAKER_07 55:52

Coleman?

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SPEAKER_05 55:53

Yeah, Susan B. Coleman race for a cure, I think. And I've participated in those before, but once I knew firsthand some people who were impacted, it made it that much more meaningful. And it it really is a great event. And even though its purpose is to raise money for cancer research and to support people um going through breast cancer, um, Donna, who was there and was absolutely a part of this um event, she really wants to keep it a celebration, you know, a celebration for survivors. Um survivors get, I think, special bibs and things that identify them. And particularly again, once I was a little more emotional, on course, I, you know, stopped every survivor, tried to shake their hand, tell them that I'm glad they're still here, um, or share a little bit of um Erin and you know, just the encouragement. And um, I initially wasn't actually petting the dogs, but I was counting the dogs. I think my final count was like 358 or something dogs. And then um again during the last half I actually started petting them, so I was able to pet seven dogs. I did also see three cats with 300 dogs around.

SPEAKER_03 57:02

I'm surprised there were three cats.

SPEAKER_05 57:04

One of the cats was chasing a squirrel, so that was kind of a funny moment. And I did count a couple of egrets, I saw more than three, but there was three that I had close encounters with where I had to like steer around them. Um, so they made the count too. And that was one of the tasks that one of my crew members, Erin, had is every lap she had to keep track of how many dogs. And then that was actually a really helpful task to kind of keep my mind occupied and kind of distract myself was trying to count the dogs. And then my bike guys, I'm sure got a good laugh because I could not keep count at all. And I'd be like, uh 17. They'd be like, You're at 21. I'm like, Oh, yeah, I can understand that. I think that kept everybody amused.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

We like to say running math is hard, but golly, uh rolling math at 100 miles, 110 miles, uh that sounds impossible. So I think you did good. You think Heather, this is a philosophical question, if you will. Do you think this your accomplishment here, you think it would change the way people see adaptive athletes in general?

SPEAKER_05 58:12

I really hope that it does. Um, and and I'm by no means trying to deter people when they say things like, oh, you're so inspiring, or this or that. But really, we're just out here trying to do the same thing that all of you are doing. And yes, participating in endurance events in a wheelchair is hard, but so is running. And everyone out there has a story, and everyone is inspiring. And yes, mine may be a little bit more visible, but I'm just as inspired by people like Bob who are running, you know, a little later in life than some of us, or somebody who overcame some unseen challenge to be there. You know, maybe somebody who suffered a loss in their family or a miscarriage or a health struggle or anything. So um, I you know, I always just try to say thank you when people say you're inspiring, but what I really want to say is no, you know, know you're inspiring. Like just because I have a more visible disability doesn't mean that everybody on this course isn't overcoming something to be here.

SPEAKER_03 59:16

That is a super answer. That's that's terrific. Thank you. Again, here's a here's a philosophical. What would you say to somebody? Now we're getting ready, we just registered for Wine and Dye and we're not far away from registering for that big weekend. I know the weekend's a long way off. Marathon weekend, golly, we just finished it. We register for it pretty soon. So what would you say to somebody who uh is listening and they feel like a goal, like uh it could be anything, but they feel that their goal is too big.

SPEAKER_05 59:48

I would say nothing is too big. Um, so for example, a friend of mine um who I was a nurse with just did his first 5K with me on Saturday. We did the school spirit run at SeaWorld, and I I think I put in a race report for him. He not only finished that 5k, but he far surpassed what he thought he could do time-wise. So I'm super proud of him for getting out there and doing something that was hard, um, you know, for doing that race. We also had a woman who was participating in the Donna, and it was, I believe, her fourth attempt. And um, for various reasons throughout the years, she has not been able to cross that finish line. And to me, something like that with that mental fortitude to keep training and keep coming back year after year after year. I hope that she keeps trying and I hope that she gets it because I absolutely think she can. And I think anybody can do anything they set their mind to as long as you're willing and to put in the work. You might have to sacrifice some social events, you might have to, you know, change up your diet a little bit, you might have to put in a little bit more training if you're maybe starting from a little bit less active. I wouldn't necessarily recommend couch to do, but maybe find an interim goal, couch to 5K to 10k to half, something like that. Not saying it's never been done, people do it. That just seems really hard. Um, but absolutely, like I said, my first experience with Dopey was my friend who I thought was just so amazing, and I said I could never do that. And here I am hoping to register for number six.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:25

Now that you've done this, what's next?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:28

Oh gosh. Um, so I have kind of an elusive goal of doing a hundred miles or a hundred K in 12 hours. So I'm hoping maybe if this injury is not anything too big to attempt that at Loopy Looper. And I think that would be a great race to do it because I'd have so many friends that I could do laps with. Potentially Michael could race me for some laps, um, because he's about the pace I would need to accomplish that. Um, I'd I'd really like to try Donna again in better weather just to see if I can do that first day basically without a big long break. Of course, you're gonna have some sort of break um to do that kind of mileage, but I'd really like to see how much faster I could do it. And then um, this is one of those things where we won't say how big the field was, but not only was I the only woman to finish the ultra this year, the first wheelchair ever to finish the ultra, I was also the first person to win the ultra and the marathon at the same time.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:30

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:32

Um, so I'd not that I'm like embarrassed. I'm very, you know, I think those are really proud. But I'd like to not have to like caveat how many people participated or anything like that. I want to like do it a little faster so I can be really proud to say that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:46

Proud to say it regardless, Heather. You did you did great, kiddo. You did a lot more than people on the couch.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:52

It still kind of doesn't feel real, I'm not gonna lie. Like I trained so hard and so long for this, and it's you talk about the dopey Donna's downers. I think I'm gonna have some Donna Downers. But luckily I have Princess coming up in springtime, and you know, all sorts of other things to look forward to.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:10

So you got the ultra bug now.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:15

I yeah, I think I already did a little bit. I actually did run one ultra when I was still ambulatory. Um, the Alaska Big Wildlife run did a 49k. And I was like, oh, it's only an extra, what, four miles? That's not so bad. So I had run that actually with that friend who I learned about dopey from. Um, I don't know that I'll ever go back and do that race again because those hills are pretty awful at the finish line. Um, but I'd like to find some more paved races and maybe try to do some more ultras. I think it's nice to get more visibility of the adaptive community in the ultra community. You should do the Daytona 100. Not an option. Oh what? I can't do the keys 100. I can't do the Daytona 100. Um, but I heard there's some races in Miami I might be able to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:04

Oh, you you you liter you literally cannot do them in a chair. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:09

Yeah, they're they said the courses are too narrow, so it's not really safe.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:13

Okay.

Alternatives: Alerts & Charity Bibs

SPEAKER_05 1:04:14

I'm sorry. That's okay. That's so that fun, I don't know, thing people don't see anytime I sign up for a race for the first time, and it's not one of like the big races, like obviously not like New York or Chicago or things like that. Um, but if I can't see specifically an adaptive category listed, I always email the race director before I ever sign up just to make sure that they can support it. I'd say probably 80% of the time, plus they're very excited, even if I'm the first wheelchair racer they've ever had. Every once in a while I get a hard no. Um, and then occasionally I get a, well, maybe this race wouldn't be the best because of XYZ, but we have this other race you could look at, or things like that. Most of the time they're willing to work with adaptive athletes.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:59

So have there from doing this experience, what would you want the listeners to remember most about it?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:06

I guess really just anyone can do anything they put your mind to. And having something for me, just I want to accomplish this isn't necessarily a good motivator for me. So kind of keeping Erin in mind throughout this process and wanting to do it sort of in her memory and to just keep encouraging others that they can do an event like this. Um, so having something like that that's like outside of you, obviously you have to want to do this, you have to want to be committed to putting the work in. But if you can find something outside of yourself to help you get past those hard days, it's really helpful.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:42

And if our listeners want to follow along with your story and support um the causes that you care about, um, how can they do that?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:50

So I'm not super great on social media. So I would just say um if you want to support, find a runner who's running for a charity that is meaningful to. To you, and if you're able to support them in their journey and support you know their charity and their goals.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:06

Outstanding. Heather, congratulations on a remarkable achievement. I I know you're proud, you should be proud. You've earned it. We're all proud of you. We look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks, my friend. Princess is two weeks away. And we hope. No, we don't hope. We know we look forward to seeing you there.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:30

I will be there. I just have to finish my costumes.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:34

Oh, I can't wait to see what you do. You always have such good costumes.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:37

It was actually kind of weird not to have like costumes for Donna, but I didn't need more things to kind of be in the way. I did have jerseys made for myself and for my crew. Um, I said before they said race all the miles, pet all the dogs, we'll run for Aaron. I'm not as excited about my princess costumes, but springtime, it's on.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:55

Okay. Okay, although it won't be far after. All right. Heather, thanks for taking the time.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:01

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:02

Always good to talk with you, and we appreciate it. And we'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:06

All right, thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:07

Caution Runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:12

Well, Heather, congratulations on an incredible accomplishment. We're extremely, extremely proud of you, not only in the Rise and Run community, but just the Run Disney community in general, and you should be commended and praised upon for this awesome, awesome feat. But I will say, not only did Heather do the Donna 110, but she's also been a participant at Loopy Looper. And boy oh boy, do we have a lot of interest this year in this event. So much so, Jack, you're gonna love this. We're pretty close to five teams.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:53

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:54

For next year.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:56

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:57

Which is great. And I think because of that, I know I originally set a deadline for, I believe, March 13th to fill out the Google form. I might adjust that. I haven't decided on a date as of yet, but based on the sheer number of people that are interested in this, I feel like we're gonna need a little bit more time to get our official teams organized and having those teams communicate with one another. So stay tuned in terms of when I'm gonna shut off that Google form. But as of right now, the Google form is still active. So if you are interested, this and and just so folks know, the Google form is not the official sign up for Loopy. It's just your interest form and wanting to participate. And then once we shut that down and make our teams, then we'll start doing all the logistics for the actual registration uh for the race. And uh, Bob, I know that you uh did me a solid the other day. I saw that the post of that is pinned to the top of our Facebook page. It features a beautiful, beautiful photo of Tom and I, Lady and Tramping, a Wawa Hoagie. So if you're looking for a visual representation of what you're looking for, that's what you need.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

Don't let that scare you away, friend.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:18

No, it's listen, the amount of beauty and grace and love and respect that is shared when you look at that photo is just something that I will never forget and will be burned into my irises. But anyway, so again, if you're really interested in this, please fill out that Google form as quickly as possible. And we can't wait to see so many friends, new and old, returning for this race on August 1st of this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:45

Sounds sounds good, sounds like fun. Hope you have good weather for that. I know it's a long way off yet.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:51

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

SPEAKER_03 1:09:56

Hey friends, you've been around the podcast for a while. You know that one of our longtime affiliates is Fluffy Fizsies. Pam, our friend Pam had that for a while, but now, as you know from a previous episode, her sister Michelle is running Fluffy Fizsies, and she is back with us on the Rise and Run podcast. We're glad to see you're here. Hiya, Michelle. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

Hello, it's nice to be back. It's uh it's great to be back. Um, all I heard at Marathon Weekend was, I heard you on Rise and Run. I heard you on Rise and Run. You need to come back on Rise and Run. I mean, it was nonstop, so it's great to be back.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:39

So uh so Becky and Diane kept walking by the booth. Is that what you're telling us?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:44

Yes, yes, I did meet Becky for sure. She's so sweet. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:51

Well, you well, back at Marathon Weekend, and I think it went pretty well for you, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

It was incredible. It's the best experience I've ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:01

Ooh, golly. It was great saying a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

It was great. There were so many times that I just teared up, uh, just feeling the love from everybody, the excitement. I mean, it stings you and it stings you hard. And you, you know, when you come back, you're all you have this down. And and and so while we were there, we're like, we'll be back very soon. So yes, we can't wait.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

You weren't planning on coming back right away, were you?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:32

I wasn't, I was not coming back. And actually during the expo, everybody's like, Well, we'll see you for princess. I'm like, no, I'm so sorry. I I just can't right now. And on the last day, my son, who was working at the booth, he looked at me and he said, Mom, you have to come back for princess. You have to be back. And I said, You're right. And so I immediately that last day called them and I said, Book me, I'm coming. So I'm coming.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:59

That's great. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

Yep, I'm bringing Pam again. She was like a superstar. I'm bringing her. So uh I'm bringing uh my partner, I call him Mr. Fluffy. He's learned how to make every type of bath bomb possible, and so he's coming, and I'm putting a whole bunch of glitter on him, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

I love that your whole family gets involved in this. I know that your kids have helped with social media videos, and then you just said your son was there and your husband. That that's amazing, and your sister, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:28

Yes. So uh my youngest daughter, who I call my marketing manager, um, that you've seen on like TikTok and stuff like that, she's not old enough to work yet, and she wants to work so bad. Um but uh yeah, we look forward to when she can come to an expo with us. But everybody has definitely pitched in.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:50

Well, you're in it now, girl. You're part of the family.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:54

I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:55

We expect to see you there, young people.

Guest Intro: Heather’s 110-Mile Donna Ultra

SPEAKER_01 1:12:58

Well, you you know, you say part of the family, and I take it so much to heart that if any little thing went wrong at the expo, I was almost crushed. And at one point I felt like, oh my gosh, I can't let anybody down. Um, and you know, it the it was so stressful uh getting to marathon and and really through marathon, it was very stressful for me because I had that feeling of not letting others down and just making sure I was making Pam proud and the products were the the same that they used to be. Um, but now I feel like I've got it. I'm running. You know, um we we listened to the feedback everybody had. Um, we heard we are bringing it. So we had a lot of um, a lot, you know, ask for certain products to come back, a lot to say, well, what about you know, we we heard a lot about foot care, so we're bringing a lot more care for the feet. Um yeah, so we've made uh we've designed a couple new products. Um, we're gonna launch them at Expo. Um, so and a lot of it is geared around the feet, so it's exciting.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:10

Well, you started down that road. What other new products can our friends look for?

Heather’s Origin Story & Transition To Chair

SPEAKER_01 1:14:16

Yeah, so um we are we had a lot of saying, man, I don't have a bathtub, so I can't soak. My hotel does not have a bathtub, and so we're bringing the bathtub, we're bringing a little foot bath, um, and that's gonna have special foot bath bombs in it. Um, so that will be helpful. We also we had launched the peppermint foot spray, the cooling spray, and everybody loved it. So that's coming back with us. Um, and then also I created this, uh, it's a bounce back defense bar, I'm called and it's it's the same bounce back formula uh on the on the soap, but we've added the tea tree oil in there for to help with any kind of like uh athlete's foot and stuff like that. So it's you know, it's kind of pumped up a little bit more. So we're bringing that. Um, we've had a we had a lot say, where are the pixie salts and just the smelly salts and not the bounce back um blend? And so we're bringing those. Um and then we also have so so much fun. So I love being creative. I feel like my creative juices are just they're really going nuts. Um, we have princess donut bath bombs coming. They can smell like cupcakes. If you could smell where I am right now, it smells like cupcakes in here. Um yeah, we have princess dress bath bombs coming. Uh and we have for sure upped the glitter. So if you come by the booth, you're leaving with glitter. Um, we have the glitter freckles coming with us. We also have added in some glitter hair. I don't know about y'all, but I am loving the hair at the expo. It clips in, so all you need is one little strand of hair and it will clip in and it's gonna give you um, it's just a fun 20 inches of glistening glitter.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:25

Joe, why are you why are you looking at me when you said that?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:28

I I'm I'm not looking at you. I'm looking up at you. No, you just need one little strand.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:38

Okay, so um on the website right now, and uh uh I'm seeing all these great products are on the website. So, what's the website that everybody can go to to find this stuff and pre-order for Princess Weekend?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:51

Yeah, it's all the same. It's the www.fluffyfizzies.com that you can go to and pre-order. When you go to check out at the shipping, select the expo shipping, and that way that it is free and you pick it up. All you need to do is come to the booth, give me your name. I have it packaged in um in the back of the booth, and we'll just grab it out so you can skip the line. Um it and then also, you know, if you use your happy running, you're you get your 10% off um on online um and for the expo pickup. You know, I did have quite a few say, can we do our happy running at the expo? And I really can't. So I need you to do your happy running online um for expo pickup. Now I'm gonna shut that off on Sunday so that I have enough time to pack because then I just have a week to get it all together.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:47

So uh Sunday, February 15th, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:50

That's it. Sunday, February 15th.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:52

So get out there and order. I gotta tell Rebecca, or maybe if I want to have my money to eat while I'm there, maybe I don't want to tell her, but so just a quick question.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:01

I said you you have, I guess, feet soaking tubs. Uh that's probably something you should probably order ahead of time, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:09

Well, actually, there are some things that are not available on Expo pickup. That's one of them.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:18

We also have our bounce back bath bombs that everybody loves. They're packaged in some cute little dresses, and they're gonna be some specialty items at the expo. So we will have a couple items at Expo um that are not offered and uh the pre-sale. So we look forward to, you know, we'll get you your order for the expo and quickly ring you up for any other little items that you want.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:46

Michelle sounds great. We're you know, we're glad you're back. Fluffy Fizsies has been uh I think I don't know if Fluffy Fizes was our initial affiliate or not, but they if not, they if they weren't the first, they were one of the first. We've been delighted to be with you for close to five years now. And uh by golly, we're we are so excited that you're back. Glad you're having a good time, glad you're making enough of a go of it that you can come back to the expo. That's great. We all look forward to seeing you there. Everybody stop by, say hi to Michelle. Tell her you heard about it on the Rise and Run podcast. She hasn't heard that before.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:23

Absolutely. No, listen, we're here because of y'all. So I I I again I want to say thank you to everybody and um look forward to giving some more hugs out.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:35

Yeah, that's how I get the glitter. You know, Becky, you could always tell that I had been to the booth because Pam would come out and give me a hug, and Becky would look and be like, You've you've seen Pam.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:46

Please come by, and I'm gonna stick some tinsel, I'm gonna stick some tinsel hair on you. So when you go back here, you're gonna have 20, like 20 inches of tinsel hanging from you. So please come see me and I will deck you out as a glittery princess. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:03

I will come by, I promise. I wish I was there to see this.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:07

Oh, John. We'll send you pictures.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:10

Okay.

unknown 1:20:12

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:12

Michelle, thanks for thanks for joining us. We'll see you in two weeks, my friend. See you then.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:18

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

Inside The Donna 110 Format & Course

SPEAKER_03 1:20:22

And now, please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. The race report sponsored by Tom Stokes, the Stoked Metabolic Training, Stokes. Is it a six-week challenge, boys and girls? I know I'm in it. I don't know how many weeks it is. Six or five weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:53

I believe that's six weeks.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:54

Six weeks. Kicked it off uh on Monday of this week. I know, I know I got back to the gym for the first time since uh well before the back surgery. I was fired up, I was ready to go. I had talked to Tom about some specific exercises, some that I could do, some that I probably shouldn't. And he laid it all out especially for me. I'm very grateful. And I'm I'm walking over, I'm fired up, I'm looking. All right, the first exercise is a seated leg press. Okay, I know right where that machine is. I'm walking over. There's a big out-of-order sign on the machine. So that was.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:31

I thought you were gonna say that you were lifting so much that you broke the machine yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:36

I don't know. I couldn't tell what was wrong with it, except it had an out-of-order sign on the seat, so I don't know. Hopefully, it'll get fixed fairly quickly. I did, you know, if you're in there, you can substitute exercises. There's one that maybe you're in a gym doesn't have the equipment that Tom expected to use. But I'm excited about uh getting in. Boy, I really I really need I promised to do an accountability uh not post but list on the podcast here. So I started in at a weight which is about I'll see, round numbers 25 pounds higher than I was before my latest series of problems. That's right, 25 pounds more. So I weighed in on Monday and then I weighed again on Tuesday, and I gained a pound. So that's not good. It's all that muscle, Bob. No, yeah, right. That's it, John.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:27

Yeah, that's what it is that's what it's.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:28

I love I love people when anyway.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:31

I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:32

Yeah, when you weigh as much as I do, you can gain or lose a pound just by thinking about it too much. But hey, I I promise so so I'm starting at a number. I'm I won't I don't mind sharing it, but I'll I'm not gonna say it out loud for now. But I'll let you know how I'm doing. And the reason I'm gonna do that is because it helps me. It helps me uh can it motivates me if I gotta come on every week and say, hey, I've lost two pounds or I've gained three, uh, it'll help me stick with the nutrition plan. But I'm not the only guy in the group here who's entered into the challenge. Uh who else is doing this with us?

SPEAKER_07 1:23:11

I I started the challenge again. I went there, went to the gym yesterday, did my did my workout, told Tom what was going on, and hopefully I can everything's gonna stay better with me and I can fin finish this out. I had a little tendinitis in my uh in my elbow, wrist area, tennis elbow, which I don't play tennis, and uh so hopefully I can keep that away.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:37

I'm also doing it. Um I was waiting, I had fallen on the ice um last Thursday, and so I had an x-ray of my elbow on Monday. Um so I was waiting to see if everything's okay, nothing's broken. But um, so I was just focusing on that macro side of it for now, and then hopefully I'll get a workout in tomorrow. Probably will be more body weight than doing actual lifting because my elbow still hurts.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:00

But oh no, yeah, that can be quite painful to understand. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:06

I'm doing it as well. Um, I'm gonna officially start next week though. Or sorry, this weekend, just because I have a lot of uh doubles uh at work that I'm doing, because I'm going from one job to the other and it's gonna be like 12, 14 hour days for the next few days. So I'm gonna start this weekend when I'm not working both jobs.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:28

Okay. Well, it's a good program. I know a bunch of it, I know a bunch of us on the Zoom call today, and he mentioned that he had to pay for the more than 90 people in Zoom because that's how many people he had on the call on Monday, which I unfortunately missed. I'm gonna try and make those calls going forward, though. Like to support Tom because it's a good program. I think it's worthwhile, and I think it's worth uh our support. So there you go, gang. We'll keep you updated on how we're doing. Hope if you got into it. Hope you're doing well, hope you enjoy it. All right, so let's get into the race report. I'm gonna go back a couple weeks. Look, we were just talking with Heather about the Donna Marathon. Here's one that was a late report. Don't use, but sometimes something big happens, and I have to let Kimberly and Allison know that I saw that they both got half marathon PRs at the Donna. So there we go. Let's go to Saturday now, and this is the one Heather was talking about, the other one, the school spirit run at SeaWorld in Orlando, supporting the schools in Orange County, Florida. Heather was there with friends Ryan and Rebecca, who did their first 5K, who kicked her tail as the first wheelchair. Now, Heather's, of course, still recovering from Donna, so it was a tough race for her. But great to see that it has doubled in size since last year, with a whole lot of young run out supporting their school. Adam was there with his son Connor. They had lots of fun, uh, especially running through the park. Connor got a PR with a 35-minute 5K. Way to go, Connor. Still in Orlando, the Purple Pride 5K. That is one, I think, or two soccer teams in Orlando, the Pride being one of them. Christian was there running. A lot of fun on the streets of downtown Orlando, finished in the Orlando City Soccer Stadium, and Christian set a four-minute 5K PR. Great job on that one, Christian. In Harvest, Alabama, Judy ran the Sparkman Indoor Percussion 5K walk and run. This was rescheduled from two weeks ago due to the weather. This is a, let's see, a gorgeous morning, great run, fundraiser going towards their local high school's percussion program and their upcoming WGI season. Greg, what's WGI?

SPEAKER_08 1:27:15

WGI, actually, this should actually be directed at Jack. Because Jack knows a lot, a lot more about WI or GI than I do.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:26

I mean, I performed in WGI for a few years. I loved it.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:30

Yeah, here's the thing. But but what is it, Jack? Go ahead, Jack.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:33

Oh, WGI stands for WinterGuard International.

Qualifying, Coaching & Ultra Training Blocks

SPEAKER_03 1:27:36

Okay, good for you. Yeah. Good for you. I I was not aware of it. This this comes long after I was out of high school bands. But uh all I it was WGI. It's kind of like sonar or radar. It's so it seems to be that it's so well known as a term that nobody spells it out.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:00

No, yet.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:02

I had to dig deep to find out that it was Winter Guard International. So anyway, Judy, good job on that run up in Alabama. And thank you, Greg and Jack, for your help on WGI. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:15

If you ever need any bando information, Jack and I are your go-to sources.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:19

Yes. Been ColorGuard for years.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:23

All right, let's see. Our friend Chrissy's out in Arizona. Some kind of vacation, I think Chrissy's on out there. She incorporated the Sedona half marathon out in Sedona, Arizona. Uh, managed to finish this gorgeous but hilly half marathon in a little under two hours 28 minutes, which is a Disney proof of time.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:44

Good job, Chrissy. I watched a YouTube video about this race. I I commented on her post because when I was looking for races that I was thinking about doing to celebrate my 40th birthday, I've always wanted to go to Sedona. Yeah, and when I when I saw this, I YouTube it. It makes Burden Hand look like a child's play thing. Oh, yeah. The fact that she got a POT on this course, bravo, Chrissy. Really, really proud of you.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:13

I think she even I think she made a reference, like she wants to compare notes when she does burden hand this fall. So, oh there you go, Chrissy. Greg says burden hand's easy. Forward to now, this this is more my speed than a hilly uh half marathon in Arizona. The Krispy Kreme Challenge in Riley, Raleigh, North Carolina. Five miles, 12 donuts, 60 minutes. We had a couple friends there. Brian was there. Uh Debbie and Blake were there. Debbie and Blake ran as Buzz Lightyear and Woody, a blustery 34 degrees with 15 mile an hour winds in Carolina, gusting up to 25. They had a blast, I can imagine. Uh it's a five-mile race. You go two and a half miles to crispy cream. You pick up the donuts, you do not have to eat that there. Which I thought that was part of the race. Apparently not, because Debbie and Blake took the dozen, ran them back, then carried the home, carried them home to heat them up and eat them later. Those crispy creams are great. If you get them right, you know, when not hot and fresh sign is on. It's like diabetes in a box, I think. Nah, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. Here I am talking about, you know, accountability, weight, and gaining of the right. I can imagine. I can imagine. Fortunately for me in this regard, we have crispy creams in the area, but not in the immediate area. So I don't drive past the hot to go light very often. Uh here's an here, talking about the immediate area. Here's a race very close to me and a very nice race, Safety Harbor, Florida. A very pretty little town not far from here. They had a best damn race there this weekend. They had a half marathon. Kaylee was there, as were Jeff and Trina. As I mentioned earlier, the weather right in Florida is ideal for running. DJ CJ was the race announcer. He played the music at the beginning and at the after party. Uh, Trina had a good race, finished right at three hours, and Jeff got his biggest PR today by 15 minutes, uh, finishing just a little over three and just behind Trina. And Jeff, great job, man. I I that's a uh significant increase for you. I'm proud of both of Jeff and Trina for that. And Jeff had the PR. Trina's doing very well also. The Fud Sickle 5K. Seems this we've had this every week. Uh Sophie's doing it up in Tewkesbury, Match, Mass. Tewkesbury, Massachusetts. Easy for me to say. This is week six of that series in Pensacola, Florida. They had the Double Bridge 15K. Ashley ran that one. Sunrise, Florida hosted the Flippiny Fun Run 5K. Robbie was there. It's a small local race supporting a charity that addresses fitness and nutrition for children in South Florida. Staying in the South Florida area, Melbourne, Florida, the Brev, the Brevard Zoo 3K. Lisa was there with her grandchildren Lincoln and Bertie. Fifth time in this race for Lincoln, who ran with Granddad, got a two-minute PR. Second time for Bertie, who stayed in the back of the pack with grandma. It's always a fun time. Lisa loves encouraging her grandchildren to enjoy running. I think that is just wonderful. And again, Lincoln, congratulations on your PR. Valerie was there. Hey, Valerie, first time ever being assigned to a Corral A. She earned it. The Corral A finish times were 24, 20, I'm sorry, 20 to 25 minutes to get into Corral A. Next year, her goal is to get into the elite corral with finish times under 20 minutes. Valerie, that's outstanding. Valerie's had some health issues. I think it's wonderful that she's doing so well. That's fantastic. Uh, we'll hear from her again in the race report on Sunday. Kathy was in Plainfield, Indiana for the Frosty Feet 5K. Frosty feet. Kathy thinks this was more like frosty everything. Uh her knee been bothers since Disneyland weekend, so she walked this 5K and finished. Despite the temps, which were 11 degrees at start time. That's right, 11. Uh, the path was surprisingly clear, only one slick spot. So they did a good job getting that race ready out in Indiana. The Ledyard Red Zone 5K in Hartford, Vermont. Lori did it. Wind chill of minus four. Oh gosh, I hate even reading that out loud. Uh, actively snowing at a time, but listen to this. Lori, in spite of those conditions, managed a 25-second PR and a third place age group finish. Way to go, Lori. That reflects her determination to run and improve over the winter. And it reflects how hardy she is to survive in those cold, cold conditions. Good for you, Lori. Let's turn to Sunday now. Out in Anaheim, the Anaheim Ducks 5K. Mark was there. Great weather, easy course. He wore a gritty 5K shirt to the delight of many who were there.

Race Logistics, Crew, And Brutal Cold

SPEAKER_08 1:35:04

I was just about ready to start a very faint quack, quack, quack chant until you said gritty. Yeah, I saw that. And that's a move. That is a move to show up to a ducks race with I think the second best mascot in all of sports. I mean, obviously, nothing could ever tap our top the Philly fanatic. Fanatic, yeah. But gritty gritty is ascending the ranks, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:29

San Diego chicken. Yeah, I don't know if he's around anymore, John.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:33

That's true. You're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:34

He was the original. He was the original. You got to give credit for there. And certainly he was legendary. But I don't I haven't seen him in years. But the fanatic is uh he's pretty darn good. Uh I'm a little I'm a little biased, but I think that's pretty. I think I think I get of a lot of agreement on that with baseball fans. All right, let's look. Let's keep going. Uh hey, in Vancouver they had the first half marathon. That's what they call it. The first half marathon. It wasn't Lauren's first half marathon, it's just the first half marathon in Vancouver. Now, Lauren says the weather was absolutely perfect. Uh, just a few seconds over two hours, which disappointed her a little bit, but she still got work to do in physical therapy with her leg. So that's a great run, Lauren. You right around two hours and a half. I think that's fantastic. Holler hypes that were sent are why she loves the community. The holler hypes are great. I don't participate in that as often as I should, but our friends love them and I think it's wonderful. Each hype was so motivating, came just when she needed it. So there you go. Let's go to Texas, Katie, Texas. The run Houston 5K, Katrina, Luke, and Olivia were there. It was really foggy with temperatures in the 50s. So what they did is they brought out their OG Stitch family outfits. PR and fun, lots of shout-outs, had a character stop of the Cinco Vacas. I think that's right. Is that five cows in Spanish? Cinco Vacas. Who are our Spanish speakers here? I can get by then. Nobody. So I can get by.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:25

I don't know how to say cows, but Cinco is definitely five. Oh, I got that. I think from what I've seen, that may be right.

SPEAKER_08 1:37:34

This segment of the race report brought to you by Duo Link.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:39

I was listening to a news show one time, and it was the uh the 4th of May. So it wasn't Cinco de Mayo. So the announcer decided that since it wasn't Cinco de Mayo, it must have been Cinco de Cuatro. And I'm going, no, no. May the 4th, Bob. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Hey, look, all right, back to the race here. Katrina Luke and Olivia. Lucas's and Olivia's third 5K of the year, six more to do for this series. Fourth year doing the series. Good job, guys. Lucy had a race in Burlington, Vermont, the Freezy Cheeks 5K, the second squaw. Let's see, we had the frosty feet in Indiana and the Freezy Cheeks in Burlington, Vermont. Jersey City, New Jersey, the JC Valentine half. Kelly. 3.2 mile loop course around Lincoln Park. Beautiful setting with all the snow still on the ground. New York City in the background. 10 degrees at race start with a minus nine wind chill. Water at the race stops at the water stops was frozen. Now Kelly ran 12.4 miles because on her last lap she came across a runner whose legs cramped so badly that he couldn't move. She had to double back to the water stop to get help. Still finished under three hours, which was Kelly's goal. Good job there, Kelly. In Tallahassee, Florida, Kim was part of a relay for the Tallahassee Marathon. Relay for Marathon Weekend. In Fairfax, Virginia, they ran the Run Your Heart Out 5K. Jennifer was there. Rob was down in Naples, Florida for the Naples Distance Classic Half Marathon. Jake did the pregame 5K road race on Super Bowl Sunday in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The St. Pete Distance Classic was this week. That's a good running event. Multiple distances there. Christina did the 10K. Nice weather. A little chilly until the sun came up. Christina walked away with a five-minute PR on the 10K. And Krista and Richard also did the 10K, commenting, commenting that it was chilly. They ran through an area with some lovely homes on this very flat course, had a good time. And let's finish up in Melbourne, Florida for the Florida Marathon weekend. Now, Adam was scheduled to pace the marathon. Apparently, due to construction, there was no marathon race this year. Valerie, who had run on Saturday, I said she'd be back. She's back here on Sunday. This, she did the five-miler in this weekend event. Since this is her first five-miler, that's a PR. Now, Valerie's been sick for a couple of weeks, so her legs are feeling really heavy. These two races over the weekend weren't that easy, but she's glad she did them. Both were a little cool by Florida standards, but no wind, no rain. Ended up being nice weather. That's a win. Good job. Good job to all of our runners in the race report. And that's it for the race report for episode 229. Friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. We'll be with you soon. Two weeks till princess weekend. We're excited. We're looking forward to that. Hope your training's going well. Till we meet again.

SPEAKER_08 1:41:23

Happy running the Rising Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and it's in no way affiliated with Run Disney. Any information in the world.