233: To Dopey or not to Dopey? That is the Question!

Tokyo Marathon looks like a postcard until you remember one detail that can change everything: the cutoffs are based on gun time. We sit down with several of our friends fresh off a plane from Japan to get the kind of Tokyo Marathon recap runners crave, the stuff you can’t learn from a highlight reel. They share how they got in (lottery vs charity), how they handled jet lag, what the expo is really like, and the cultural surprises that made Tokyo feel so different from any other World Marathon Majors weekend.

Then we get into race morning reality: navigating to the start, corrals, bathrooms that are somehow both legendary and organized, hydration rules, and what it feels like to run with strict checkpoints hanging over your head. You’ll hear the strategies that helped them stay calm, the moments that made the course memorable, and why that final stretch can feel like the longest kilometer of your life. There are PRs, happy tears, and a lot of respect for the planning it takes to finish strong.

We also zoom back to runDisney life with Marathon Weekend registration coming up, a candid talk about whether your first Dopey Challenge should also be your first marathon, and a timely charity spotlight with the Special Forces Foundation on how their runDisney charity bibs work plus practical fundraising ideas. If you’re mapping out your next big race goal, this one is packed with travel tips, training truth, and community support.

Subscribe, share this with a running friend who’s eyeing a major, and leave a review if the Rise and Run family has helped your journey. What’s the one race you’d fly across the world to run?

Transcript

Sunrise Voicemail Kickoff

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Good morning, rise and run, family. This is Troy from Spring Hill, Florida. Out for a seven-mile walk. Train hard for Springtown Surprise. Hope everyone's having an awesome weekend this weekend. I'm watching a brilliant sunrise here over the Sun Coast Trail. Thinking of all my friends and family out there training for Princess and Springtime. Happy running off.

Hosts Welcome And Weekly Preview

SPEAKER_08 1:13

Hope to see you soon. Wait a minute. Did we just get holler hyped in the middle of the podcast? Troy, whose last name really is from Spring Hill, Florida. Thank you. Thank you for popping in with that intro to episode 233. Troy out getting ready for springtime surprise, as I know a lot of our friends are. Welcome. Welcome to episode 233, my friends. I'm Bob. I'm here this week with Jack.

SPEAKER_16 1:45

Hiya.

SPEAKER_08 1:46

With John. Hey, how you doing? With Greg. Hey, hey, hey. And with Alicia.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Hello.

SPEAKER_08 1:53

Good to see you, my friends. We talk this week with several of our friends who are back from the Tokyo Marathon. Tokyo Marathon recap this week. Hope you enjoy that. World major, of course. Interesting race. Our friends had a lot of great stories to tell us about it. In the spotlight, not a race spotlight, but we've got a charity spotlight this week. Katie joined us from the Special Forces group to tell us about their charity and how you can get a bib through that group.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

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

SPEAKER_15 2:57

We also want to thank our patrons whose support helps keep the Rise Around Podcast rising and running. If you'd like to join the Patreon team, please check out patreon.com slash the Rise Around Podcast. I do believe Greg is going to be sending stuff out. So if you are a Patreon member, please check those out. And we do have two new Patreons this week. We have Jennifer in the how you doing level and Kimmy in the plastic cheese level. So thank you for joining.

Travel Updates Lancaster And Cruise

SPEAKER_09 3:22

The Rise and Run Podcast is sponsored by our glorious friends over at Magic Bound Travel. Just a couple of quick points that I wanted to bring up this week. Number one, apparently, for the second year in a row, we got a boatload of folks coming to eat some chicken and some whoopee pies in Castor County. Because believe it or not, that room block that we talked about a couple of weeks ago is almost full. So much so to the point where they have added more rooms to it. Wow. So if you are interested in getting into that room block, again, the hotel is the True by Hilton located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Be sure to visit magicboundtravel.com to uh get a free no obligation quote. And then the other thing I just wanted to mention this week that is Magic Bound related is for all of you that are going on the inaugural rise and run cruise, our second group Zoom call is occurring this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern. Uh, I believe you've already been able to do your online check-in. So if you have questions about that or booking any of the entertainment or anything like that, Maggie and hopefully Brad will be there to answer all your questions and uh the hosts, most of us will be uh there as well to answer any questions that you may have. Uh and again, I can't believe we are getting super close to setting sail, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. So, but again, for all of your travel needs, Disney, Universal, Lancaster related, visit magicboundtravel.com.

SPEAKER_08 5:00

We sail in 39 days, Greg. 39 days. And I know the answer, but I've seen several of our friends who are heading up to Lancaster, well, up to Burton Hand, ask if we're going to get together for dinner again.

SPEAKER_09 5:15

I think we can make that happen. I mean, I I think everybody enjoyed the Schmorgesborg and Shady Maple. So I I I mean, and that process was relatively painless to set up, uh, unless John feels differently. But uh, I I definitely think I definitely think we can make that happen again.

SPEAKER_08 5:30

I I feel it was totally painless because you two took care of all of it. So I'm really grateful for that. But I I thought it was wonderful. And I I mean, if this isn't a downside, there's no way you can get around this. It's just we had so many people there, I I couldn't get to see everybody.

SPEAKER_09 5:48

But yeah, I mean when you fill up four long banquet tables, yeah, it is it is kind of tough. Although I think the one thing that we need to learn for this year that we did last year, I think it was too short of a gap between the end of the picnic and it going to a schmorgensborg. So maybe we can gap a little bit more so our food can digest.

SPEAKER_08 6:08

That's like uh that's like going to Disney World with one of our friends who uh Rachel will remain nameless in this case, whose favorite way to do it is to schedule a buffet that's going from breakfast to lunch, so you can get both at the buffet and then schedule another buffet at dinner time. I can't, I I can't handle it. It's fun though. All right, so there you go. That'll be fun. Hey, I've got the apologies and alibi section I'm going into now. Now look, I don't usually I I don't usually have the time to go back. And if I miss a race, sometimes I just have to go. Please forgive me. I've missed a race. But uh Janie's gonna be in trouble if I don't mention that her boyfriend, Gopal, ran his first half at Princess and PR'd, of course, first PR'd in an hour 51. Pretty good for your first half. Pretty good. And here's another one I'm gonna be in big trouble if I don't mention. I missed a race, and this was on there, and I don't know how I missed it in the race report. But the race through Redlands, a half marathon out in Los Angeles, Grace and Allen did it. Grace finished second in her age group. Alan finished third in his first time since the 80s, Alan says, finishing top three in an age group. So there you go. I missed a couple, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_09 7:42

You know, Bob, every time you say their names really fast together, all I can picture is Grace and Allen, the player from Duke all those years ago, the one that inadvertently trip other you know, other players on the court. He was like one of the most like villainous Duke players of all time. So whenever you say their names really fast, that's all I could ever picture.

Race Shoutouts And A Hard Loss

SPEAKER_08 8:03

Yeah. Well, I I guess I'll have to go with Alan and Grace then. There you go. All right, all right. So there you go, friends. We we caught up on those. Oh gosh, need to change gears a little bit. You know, the Rise and Run family, we are a family, and occasionally we have sad news to share. And I'm gonna turn it over to John now. He's he's got some sad news in his personal family.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Yep. Uh my mom passed away on March 9th. Uh it's a sad, it's a sad day, but if you go back, and I want to thank the Ryzen Run family for reaching out to me and giving me a condolence. There's my family here and everything like that. But my mom was a fighter. Uh never gave up. Uh little backstory. September 2009. My mom comes and tells me uh I have leukemia and the doctor's giving me two months to live. I'm probably not making it to Christmas. Well, sixteen years later, I still have my mom. So I mean, I count it as a blessing. But those those 16 years, there was a lot of other obstacles she had to go through, and she kept on fighting each one of them. So I mean that it was a great thing. That keeps me fighting, and you know, like you gotta quit. No, my mom never quit, so I'm not quitting. And there was something I read and I really liked it. It says your life is made of two dates and a dash. Make the most of that dash. And I know my mom did. And you guys should make the most of your dash, please.

SPEAKER_15 9:47

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Thank thank you, guys. Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 9:50

Of course, we're here for you, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Lovely, John. Thanks.

SPEAKER_08 9:54

Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. We're we're of course, our condolences to you and and to the rest of the family. I know mom will be missed, but I also it had to be rough, it had to be tough, and she's no longer suffering.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Yep, and that's the main point.

Springtime Training And Marathon Signups

SPEAKER_08 10:11

Yeah. All right. All right. Thanks for sharing that, John. I'm going to move on. As we do now, let's take a look at the training schedule. Only run Disney race coming up the rest of this season, springtime surprise. It's five weeks away. So we'll be getting together again in five weeks. Training week 13. You've got four miles, one of which is a magic mile. I let's see. Flying pig, we have Greg just talked about the large number of friends we have that join us at Bird in Hand. It's not as big as Flying Pig, but we do get a good number of rise and run family in Cincinnati for Flying Pig. That race is now 50 days away, a little over seven weeks. But if you're thinking about it and you haven't made the decision yet, we do have a rise and run code. Our friend Emmy gets us a rise and run code. I will read it to you. It is FPM. That's uh flying pig marathon, FPM 26 rise run. Not rise and run, but rise run. So that's all together FPM 26 rise run. That'll get you 10% off. Now, if you served in the military and you can use ID me, and if you're a veteran or a retiree, you know what that is. Uh you're entitled to 20% off. And that code is here, I here you go, since it's a military code, Papa Whiskey26, Mike India Lima. There you go, friends.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Hey, they know. They know. This weekend, also, if you're running the New York City uh half, uh our friends are our friend Rob, they did set up a meetup in uh Bryant Park. So if you're gonna be around, there's a there's a meetup in Bryant Park. Uh uh, I forget what time he has. He's it's in the it's in his event, it's in the it's it's in our event tab right now.

SPEAKER_08 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

So if you guys want to go and hang out and other Ryzen Runners that are doing the New York sorry, the New York Roadrunners United Airlines half. They'll be at Bryant Bryant Park.

SPEAKER_09 12:40

Good job getting the corporate sponsor in there, John. Nice to be.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

No, it's fine.

SPEAKER_09 12:47

John John wants some extra air miles to fly. Yeah, to springtime surprise.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

I gotta get some extra air miles. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_09 12:55

No, thank you so much, Rob, for doing this. And I from what my understanding, this actually might be the first time we have a Rise and Run meetup in New York City that uh does not feature any of the hosts of the Will Run For podcast. So yes, but it neither will it feature any of the hosts.

SPEAKER_08 13:11

No, it won't feature us either.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

It might, it might, it might.

SPEAKER_08 13:15

Okay, Sean, that'd be cool if you can get there. All right, moving on. The big thing that's coming up, friends, uh, right in the near future is Tuesday. We register for Marathon Weekend. Now, Club Run Disney has already registered. The perfect's are already registered, but the rest of us folks register on Tuesday. Uh, I did set up, it's already on our Facebook page. I set up a Zoom event so we can at least get together and uh commiserate with one another about Misery Loves Company. I I don't know. We'll do what we can to help one another out. But that'll start about 9.30 on Tuesday. We at the last Zoom meeting, we talked about what kind of group costume we're gonna do for the 5K. And if you weren't there, I'll I'll recount what happened. A lot of it seemed to be the most popular choice was the penguins from Mary Poppins. Yeah. And a lot of our friends asked me to dress up as Mary Poppins or Mary Bobbins, as they were saying. I have no problem with that, but I kept telling them I I wouldn't make a good Mary Poppins, you know. I don't think I would. I think I'd make a better Bert. And then somebody suggested, well, would Becky dress up as Mary Poppins? Would she come out of retirement to do it? Yes, she will.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

She's back, baby. Yes, she's trying to pull, she's trying to pull Diane out of retirement, also.

SPEAKER_15 15:00

Yeah, she said she would be back if Becky did it.

First Dopey Commitment And Planning

SPEAKER_08 15:03

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, I hope so. So, so that's what we're thinking. Now, I've already contacted our friend Alec at Kawaii and Pizza Apparel. Uh, she's got a suggested penguin shirt for us. She's got it, she's I think she was charging$35 previously, which was a great price. She told me she would have to increase that price a little bit. She didn't say how much, but she's gonna make it a rise and run shirt as she has in the past. So as I get more details on that, I will pass them along. Uh, but that's that's the plan. Now we wanted to talk a little bit. This is every year we have friends who register for Marathon Weekend, doing their first marathon, and a lot of friends register for their first ever dopey. Uh I I open it up to my friends here, but thoughts on registering for your first ever Dopey?

SPEAKER_02 16:08

There's a lot of training involved in it. It's I mean, I've heard people say, Oh, I saw this guy do it, I can do it. There's a lot of training involved in it. And, you know, if you're not gonna put the training in, it's gonna be miserable.

SPEAKER_15 16:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Miserable.

SPEAKER_15 16:24

To go along with that point, um I always encourage people to have a conversation with your family because it does take a lot of hours away, especially if you have kids in different things. Um, having a good support system is definitely going to be helpful. Obviously, we're here to help support people as well. Um, but like John said, it it is a lot of training. Um, and really think about what could happen if you don't already know what your schedule is going to be like. Come Thanksgiving, Christmas time when those really, really long runs are coming. Um, and if it will be feasible, because they will be very important to be able to complete those races.

SPEAKER_16 17:12

And just echoing what you guys have said, but like literally think of Dopey like an ultra. It's it's not a thought that you take lightly. It's like you gotta really think about it and know that you're gonna do the training. Because, like John said, if you don't do the training, it's gonna be miserable. Um, in the sense, like, dopey is fun. Don't get me wrong. I have a blast, but I also make sure I try my best to get in at least 90 to 95% of the workouts for dopey because that's four days. Four days on your legs, you're doing theme parks as well. I mean, there's so much going on. And you really want to enjoy the weekend. You don't want to spend it in your room tired and exhausted and trying not to, you know, like icing yourself the entire time. You really want to enjoy the weekend for what it is, and also come like think about it this way, kind of like what Alicia is saying is that those big runs are gonna happen during the holidays. It is gonna take up a lot of time. And unfortunately, those are the big ones that are you really don't want to skip because they are the simulations of what you're gonna experience, and you want to try and get as many of those miles in as possible. So if you know you're gonna do the training for it and that you're gonna be committed to it, then heck yeah, sign up for that dopey and have a freaking blast.

SPEAKER_09 18:37

I think there's a lot of different caveats and scenarios when it comes to dopey, and in terms of you know whether registering for not is a is a good idea or not. Obviously, if you have a marathon already under your belt or you have a goofy under your belt, then absolutely go for it.

SPEAKER_16 18:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 18:59

But if you have not done a marathon or you have not done goofy, I I would caution you. I I don't want to discourage any anyone from doing it by any means whatsoever, but you know, sometimes you do hear the phrase respect the distance. Yes, and especially if you haven't done a marathon before, you're gonna be in for a doozy if the dopey challenge is going to be your first ever marathon. Uh, you know, even you know, the whole idea of contemplating, you know, do I do goofy do versus doing dopey? And then a lot of people will say, Oh, well, it's only 9.3 more miles. How bad can it really be? I I feel like I'm in the minority on this one that and I will always die on the hill that goofy is the better event than Dopey is, because it's not the 9.3 miles that will kick your butt marathon weekend, it's those two additional wake-ups at 2, 2.30 in the morning that could wreak havoc on your system. Sure, we do our darndest from the months of end of June to January in terms of getting all those training miles in. But the one thing that we do not train ourselves for is waking up at that ungodly hour for you know four you know mornings in a row. So that's definitely something that you definitely want to take into consideration when you think about this. Alicia, I appreciate what you just said about having a conversation with your family. I think that is a must because I think one of the reasons why I didn't fully enjoy my dopey experience was not only was I running dopey, but then I was also having a family vacation. And my vacation pretty much was a max of four to five hours with my family in the parks, and that was they were already in the park, and then I met them because I had to finish the race and I had to get back on the bus and then shower and foam roll and and all and that stuff adds up, and then you attack on having the the transfer using Disney transportation and stuff like that. All of that stuff is time consuming. So if this is something that you're considering, have that conversation with your family of okay, if we're gonna make this a family vacation, here let's level set expectations, or maybe this is a better idea of hey, I'm just gonna go and experience this by myself, and then we can leave the family vacation too later. So again, this isn't meant to discourage anybody whatsoever. It's just you gotta remember what you're getting yourself in for. And then the and I think the other caveat into all of this, too, is you know, John, you brought up uh and and Jack as well, you know, you brought up those long simulations. During the holidays. You also, I think you got to think about this from a regionality standpoint as well, too. You know, Alicia, for you, for example, what if Minnesota, right before Christmas, gets hit with a snowstorm?

SPEAKER_15 22:14

And we have you, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 22:15

Are you gonna want to do a four-day simulation of almost 48.6 miles on an indoor track or on a treadmill? Now, if you're in the south, like Florida, like Bob, much different scenario uh, you know, in terms of that. So again, it's a lot of X factors, but if it's a goal of yours and you feel like you're ready for that challenge, then I, you know, we're all gonna be here to champion you and be your biggest cheerleader. And the last piece of advice I give, and I promise I will end the soliloquy, is that if this is something that you're truly interested in, it's okay to get help. It's okay to lean on the Riserun community, lean on the Run Disney community. But I'm also talking about this from the perspective of having a coach, whether that's Alicia or Brittany Charbonneau or customized training with Coach Twiggs or the Run Fit Fab programs that Kristen and Devin head up. There are so many outlets out there for you. Do your research, find the one that is most conducive to your schedule, your training habits, and let's also be honest, our wallets as well, too. And then if get all those ducks in a row, you'll be extremely, extremely successful.

Special Forces Foundation Charity Bibs

SPEAKER_08 23:31

So here's what we're trying to tell you, friends, and everybody's said things very well. Every year we'll go through the roll call and we'll read off names and we'll say first dopey, first marathon. First dopey, first marathon, first goofy, first marathon. Can you do it? Yeah, sure. You sure can. What we want you to do is to take it seriously and understand the commitment that you're making. Uh Greg talked about the weather. Yeah, when we get to the really long training runs, Florida's a pretty good place to be. But golly, through some of the longer training runs, it's really hot. It's really challenging here. So we deal with the heat. Then if you're in the northern part, you deal with the cold when the training gets long. Greg said it. Nobody's trying to discourage you. We just want you to know that you're taking on a it's a big challenge. They call it the dopey challenge. It's a big challenge. Get yourself mentally prepared for the commitment. Now don't look at the train, don't look at the end of the training schedule. Training schedule is going to start in June. It's going to work you up to the distances that you need. I'm I'm not doing dopey this year. I've done it five times. I'm not going to do it. But if I were to look at the training schedule, it would bug me to look at some of the distances I have to do towards the end of it. You'll get to them if you put in the work. So we're not trying to talk you out of it. We just want you to understand it's a big deal. All right. So I think we've driven that point well enough. Dopey, love it. It's a wonderful, wonderful achievement. Very exciting, fun, but challenging. And just all we ask is that you take it seriously. Now, we're going to go through the registration process on Tuesday. We already talked about it. But we know that maybe if you can't get through on the registration process, many of you will want to turn to charity bibs. In the past, we've talked with representatives from different charities. Well, we've got a charity representative with us this week.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_08 26:01

Kind of went away for a couple months, but we're talking with charities that have race bibs to run Disney events. Great timing with Marathon Weekend coming up. But joining us on the Rise and Run podcast right now from the Special Forces Foundation is our friend Katie. Katie, welcome to Rise and Run Podcast.

SPEAKER_10 26:24

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_08 26:26

Well, we appreciate you taking the time. And well, let's start out. And how about tell us a little bit about the Special Forces Foundation and maybe tell us a little about what role you play in that organization?

SPEAKER_10 26:42

Of course. So the Special Forces Foundation, we are a nonprofit. We give back to Army Green Berets and their families, as well as Gold Star families, who that means that they lost a loved one overseas due to combat. So we are a great organization. We have lots of pillars that we fulfill. Um, and I actually oversee all those pillars. So I am the chief programs officer for the foundation. So I'm the person that when a Green Beret or their family member or a surviving family member is in need, they can come to us. We will look at it. And as long as it falls within our pillars, we will ensure that we can take care of that family.

SPEAKER_08 27:21

Well, a noble effort indeed. That's great, Katie. Thanks.

SPEAKER_10 27:26

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

How long have you and your charities been involved with Run Disney?

SPEAKER_10 27:31

Yes. So I myself have been involved with Run Disney for five years. This will be my fifth year doing a Run Disney race. And I've been with the Special Forces Foundation for three years. And when I joined the team, I thought, wow, why would I not combine the two, right? Run Disney is a great time. It's a great weekend, any weekend that you go to. And obviously the nonprofit is near and dear to my heart because I am a Green Beret spouse. So it was a no-brainer combine the two and raise the funds.

SPEAKER_08 28:00

What runs have you done?

SPEAKER_10 28:01

So I myself, I used to do the princess runs, but then I realized being a Green Beret spouse, it might look a little silly doing a princess weekend run.

SPEAKER_08 28:09

So I say wait a minute. I do, I do princess weekend runs.

SPEAKER_10 28:14

You know what? Princess weekend is probably one of the best weekends besides Marathon Weekend. I had never dipped my toes into Marathon Weekend until about two years ago. And I really dipped my toes into it because, like I said, we wanted to get the foundation involved and we wanted to do one of the bigger run weekends. So that's how we figured out marathon weekend, why not? And my gosh, marathon weekend, I was like, this is amazing. All the vendors, all the people. Um, and you see more of the traditional characters. I am a Disney princess lover, but it's sometimes fun to see Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie as you're running along.

SPEAKER_08 28:50

Sure. And it's it's it's a big weekend. It is the biggest weekend. It's kind of the marquee event of the season for Run Disney. No denying that. So, Katie, how could our friends secure a race bib through the Special Forces group platform?

SPEAKER_10 29:07

Yes. So, easiest way to secure a bib through the Special Forces Foundation is to go onto our spy site, our website, specialforcesfoundation.org. And if you hit events, you'll see our little Run Disney tab, and that'll take you to all events and erase weekends that we have available.

SPEAKER_08 29:25

Great. What are the requirements, particularly the fundraising requirements? You don't need to go through all of them. Maybe give us a 5K and give us dopey. Kind of the two spectrum ends of the spectrum.

SPEAKER_10 29:37

So for the 5K, it's$100 just to secure your spot right off the rip. So that's basically committing to us saying, hey, I want to raise funds for this nonprofit. And then your requirement for the$5K is$600. So that$100 that you pay up front goes towards that$600.

SPEAKER_08 29:55

Oh, okay. Very good.

SPEAKER_10 29:56

Yeah. And then the dopey, same thing,$100 to say, hey, I'm all in, let's do this thing. And then that um fundraising goal is$2,000. And that$100 again goes into that.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

But what about the registration fee? Is that included in that?

SPEAKER_10 30:10

Or yes, we're one of those nonprofits that we're more about people being able to know about us so that more Green Berets and their families are getting the help they need. So that registration fee, that$100 that you pay, all of that is included. And then with us, you get um, we do a little after party at the marathon weekend. And then you also get a t-shirt and some SFF swag to be able to rep us if you want to out on the race course. And on top of all of that, you also, if you raise$1,500, so you go over your goal by$500, you actually can get a custom special forces foundation sweatshirt that is camo. And who knows, we might even jazz it up this year and make it something special. Obviously, for Dopey, it's a little bit different because your fundraising goals$2,000. So if you raise$2,500, you can qualify for that gift as well.

SPEAKER_08 30:57

Nice. I was gonna ask if there are any perks. Those are pretty good ones. And that's a good setup, Katie. That's very competitive with some of the other charities. Good deal. Just in general, our friends out there who are trying to raise money for charities. Any suggestions for how to do it?

SPEAKER_10 31:14

Yes. Some of the fun things that I've seen be very successful for my runners, particularly, is uh sponsoring a mile. So, you know, you make a little grid, and then the amount of miles that you have, you ask people to sponsor that amount. Um, obviously that doesn't raise you a ton of money, but that does help, you know, get your goal down. Other things I've done is a bingo card. And on that bingo card, you know, you have your free space, but then you can put a$500 level, a$200 level,$10,$5 across the board so that anybody that you know is able to participate and sponsor you. And that has been very successful too in getting to some of those bigger goals that you have, especially for like Dopey or Marathon.

SPEAKER_08 31:53

Good suggestions. All right, so there you go, friends. Now it's specialforcesfoundation.org. We'll have that on our website and on our list of charities. It we've in discussions off mic here, there are a lot of special forces organizations, all worthy of your support. But if we're looking for run Disney bibs here, so specialforcesfoundation.org. Katie, it's been fun. Well, are are you guys going to be back at the uh expo? That's where I saw you at one and yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 32:27

So um wine and dine weekend, I will be there by myself. We would not we will not have a booth, but I will be there if anyone wants to meet up, learn more about the foundation, or learn more about what we do. And then marathon weekend, we will have a booth again. We will be there, and we'll yeah, we'll be ready to rep.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Are you running any of the races?

SPEAKER_10 32:46

Yeah, so uh last year I ran the half marathon for marathon weekend. This year I plan on running the 10K for Wine and Dine, as well as potentially again the half marathon for marathon. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Good for you, yeah. That's great stuff. A great deal.

SPEAKER_10 33:00

Yeah, thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_08 33:02

Yeah, thank you, Katie. Thanks for taking the time and telling our friends about the uh organization and how they can get their uh Run Disney bibs.

SPEAKER_10 33:12

Yes, thank you. I'm glad to be on here, and what you guys do is great. So I plan on continuing to listen to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

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

Birthdays And The Age You Feel

SPEAKER_08 33:24

All right, so there you go. There's another option, and of course, that's just one of the many, many fine charities that are available. Places you can look for charities. We've got uh our buddy Mark Mark keeps a charity spreadsheet for us, and of course, Team Run Diz, their website does an excellent job of tracking what charity bibs are available. Hey, you know what we haven't done for a while, gang? We haven't I haven't turned to the microphone and asked, what would Alicia do?

SPEAKER_15 33:59

So, Bob, when when I was gone a couple weeks ago, um I had a birthday. Um, and I was having a conversation with my mom. She doesn't her birthday is a week after mine, and she doesn't really like her birthday, but I absolutely love my birthday and I always have.

SPEAKER_08 34:17

So my question to you guys difference really well, there's a two part to this question.

SPEAKER_15 34:22

So my first part of the question is, do you like your birthday? And then the second part is I feel like most people I talk to kind of have a mental age or age or age range that they feel in their head that they are, not their actual age that they are. So I'm curious, do you like your birthday and do you have a mental age range or age that you feel in your head? Jack, you have a birthday coming up.

SPEAKER_08 34:50

That's great.

SPEAKER_16 34:52

Yeah, I mean, I like where birthday sometimes is kind of like as I'm getting older, I'm like, oh. But then you do something fun and you're like, yes. Because, like, for example, like, see, my my husband's just so great. He's like, what was it, 2024? He's like, What do you want to do for your birthday? And I jokingly said Disneyland Paris, and because he works for adults, so we're like, okay, right. And I was like, okay, so we we left for Paris like two days later, or something like that. It was really, really cool. And um, I so in that way I like celebrating a birthday because it means spending time with people I love and doing awesome things.

SPEAKER_15 35:33

Um what was the other question? Is there an age that you feel in your head that you are? Not necessarily like your actual age or an age range. So, like for me, I in my head, I feel like I'm between 18 and 21, which is not my age. But that's kind of where mentally um not emotionally intelligent or that way, but that's just kind of like the the time frame my brain goes to when I think when somebody asks, oh, how old are you? That for some reason, Alicia.

SPEAKER_09 36:07

If you mentally feel that you're between 18 and 21, then all those margaritas that you're buying uh could potentially be illegal. Right, they could.

SPEAKER_16 36:16

Hmm. I would say 25 because I don't know. I feel like that's when I started. I I didn't get started into running until around 2018. Wait, when was 20? How long ago was 2018? Was that seven years ago?

SPEAKER_08 36:34

Do the math.

SPEAKER_16 36:35

I know I'm in accounting. This is so bad right now. You guys, it's been a long day. I had like a 10-hour day at work.

SPEAKER_07 36:42

Eight years.

SPEAKER_16 36:43

Eight years. Oh well. Wow, it's exactly eight years. Yep, I feel like a 25-year-old. Yep, that's yep, that's where I'm feeling right now. Perfect. Um, great time in life. It's when I ran my first Disney Princess, and I feel like I wish I could run like I did then. I slowed down a good bit, but in my head, I think I can run that fast.

SPEAKER_15 37:07

How about the guys? Do you guys like your birthday?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

It's it's my birthday. I mean, it's it's I mean, I don't have a preference. I mean, I still celebrate it. I know people that once they hit a certain age, they say, my I I don't celebrate my birthday. Uh, yeah, I I I want to be frozen at you know, 65. I'm like, okay, whatever. You know, that's that's fine with you. I still celebrate my birthday. I still get for probably the last 56 years of my life, or the same cake from my birthday, black and white cake. Oh, yeah. Yep, it's the same thing, it's gotta happen. My wife does the good job of uh getting it.

SPEAKER_15 37:50

You mentioned that your last birthday, I believe, on the podcast. You told me that's a black and white cake.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

It's my cake. And you know, how old do I feel? Sometimes I feel like I'm still in my 20s and sometimes mullet hair days? Yes, that's the mullet hair days.

SPEAKER_16 38:08

That's still my favorite picture of you. Like you and your mullet playing with your like the drums and everything.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

That wasn't a mullet more. That was that was that much, that wasn't much of a mullet.

SPEAKER_16 38:17

That was more That was just long hair.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

That was just long hair.

SPEAKER_16 38:21

Why do I think you had a mullet? Did you ever have a mullet?

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Of course I did.

SPEAKER_16 38:25

Okay. When you married me again, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Yeah, I that that was that was in. That was in. That was '94.

SPEAKER_16 38:31

Business in the front, party in the back. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

I had the little mullet thing going. That was good. Like it's like hockey hair, like Yager had.

SPEAKER_16 38:42

I was gonna say, I've never heard that one. I'm assuming hockey.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_16 38:46

Oh my god, I got it right. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

I said hockey hair, so maybe that would have helped. That was a clue, yeah.

SPEAKER_16 38:51

I didn't even hear that part. So yes, that was a very obvious clue. Sorry.

SPEAKER_09 38:56

Not only has this been what would Alicia do, this has also turned into stuff jack sex.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Yes. And you know, some days I said I feel like I'm, you know, in my 20s, and sometimes I feel like I'm 90 years old trying to get out of bed in the morning. Well, I do that too, John.

SPEAKER_15 39:12

Like if I go physically, then yeah, I feel like I'm 80 years old most days, but mentally, I feel like I'm younger.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

I guess I'm younger, I feel mentally. I still think I'm I'm still living in the 80s, so that's yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_09 39:26

Yeah. I have to be very political in my answer here because my anniversary is the day before my birthday.

SPEAKER_07 39:37

Right. Ooh, ooh, that's a good move. That's a move.

SPEAKER_09 39:40

Yeah. So do I like my birthday? Sure, but I love my anniversary. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_16 39:51

Meredith, I can't wait for you to hear this.

SPEAKER_09 39:54

Don't worry, she just heard it. She's standing right next to me.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

That's why that's why the glances come, the glance over.

SPEAKER_09 40:03

But in terms of um how I feel, no, uh Alicia, I'm right there with you. I always, again, I don't feel like I'm younger, but like I always mentally think to myself, like, there's no way I'm 40. Like, like I I feel like I'm always like at least like seven to like 10 years younger than like what I should be. Like, I'm in my 40s, you know. I should, you know, you know, living in the suburbs, cutting the grass out back, you know, you know, you know, chasing the kids around with the white picket fence, all that stuff. And like I'm like, no, those are older people. That's not me. That you know, that's people much older than me. But I'm like, no, I'm I'm I'm 40. I need to start worrying about my 401k some more, you know, all that kind of jazz, you know. So, you know, so I I I definitely always feel younger than I than I actually am.

SPEAKER_08 40:56

That's a good thing. Now, I I look, I got a terrible birthday. Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is a terrible birthday. It is. It's it's no it's there's it's terrible for two reasons. When you're a kid and your birthday is a big deal, and Christmas is a big deal because you get presents. Yeah, I have 363 days to wait after Christmas is over. Yeah, no, that's fair. So that was that that kind of stunk. Uh although credit mom and dad, they always did their best to make the day special. Um and now that I'm older, it's uh your birthday, if it's uh May 5th or June 22nd, it's your day. Christmas Eve is everybody's day. It's not my day. It's everybody's day, and everybody's busy, and I understand that, and that's okay, and I'm not, it's okay. It really is okay. At this point in my life, I don't care much at all. It's nice if people just say to me, Happy birthday, I feel good, I feel happy. That's really all I need. I Becky tries, she tries too hard. I tell her all the time, she tries too hard. Okay? I don't I don't need it, so I appreciate that. How old do I feel? I don't know. I don't feel my age. I I think that's a secret. I don't feel old. I don't. I can look in the mirror, I can read a calendar. I know how old I am. I'm not young, but I don't feel old. Do I feel uh 20 or 30 or 40? No. No. Do I feel uh 57? No, I I don't know. I just I I don't feel old. And I owe a lot of that to a lot of my friends. Becky brought it up really, I think, earlier today. She says, you know, we don't have many friends our age. And I thought, that's true. We have some. Uh two of them live in California. That makes it tough. But uh but we don't. And I'm I I feel kind of blessed by that. I I feel really honored that you youngsters put up with me. And I appreciate it. And it and it makes me feel makes me feel good, makes me feel young. So I don't know. I can't answer your question, but it's a great question.

unknown 43:19

Thanks.

SPEAKER_08 43:21

And that is what Alicia would do.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Caution runners, change of topic ahead.

SPEAKER_08 43:29

All right, friends, let's take a look here. Uh, this is not a Zoom Thursday. The next Zoom will be Thursday, March 19th. Now, don't get confused. We are going to have the Zoom for registration on Tuesday, but our normal Zoom get together will be Thursday, March 19th. Uh, upcoming episodes next week, we hit the opening round of the Rise and Run March Madness, where we talk. About Disney animated films. This should be interesting. I haven't seen one in probably 25 years.

SPEAKER_16 44:08

Wait, really?

SPEAKER_09 44:10

We need to come up with a version of uh for Bob for movies, you know, like how he says with the metals. Like, that's nice. You know, we need to come up with some phrase for him to practice uh for that for that. Although the way that I did the bracket, Bob is that uh everything is broken down by chunks of time. So there will be a bracket of films that you did watch even as a youngster. Yeah. So so you're you're gonna be included. It's just maybe when we get to more present-day type stuff.

SPEAKER_08 44:42

And I haven't seen one in a theater in a long time. I have seen like Hercules, I've seen on Disney Plus.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

We know what Greg's winner is anyway, so we don't have to go through this whole thing.

Training Challenge And Race Report Setup

SPEAKER_08 44:54

All right, yeah, it'll be fun, Greg. I'm looking forward to it. We'll see how it goes. All right. And now please stand clear of the door. It's time for a race report. Abord Montingancy, Alejado de la Swedan. The race report is brought to you by our friend Tom Stokes of Stoked Metabolic Training. Stokes.fit slash rise and run coaching is the website. You can check out uh Tom's post pinned to the featured section of the Facebook group page.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

John, how's the challenge going? It's going okay. I mean, I'm I'm still still working out with what Tom's given us, so uh it's a positive.

SPEAKER_08 45:43

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

And I'm not that sore afterwards, which is good. Yeah, you know, I mean if we're not working hard enough, John. We're not sore after. No, no, the the the first week I was sore. Now I because I'm using the muscles again. They get you get the you know like no, I was sore like three days later, and then I'm only sore one day later.

Why Tokyo And How They Got In

SPEAKER_08 46:01

So yeah. All right, okay. That is a good sign. That is good. Uh I'm pleased. Now I have I missed a bunch while we were at Disney, but I've been to the gym a couple times this week. I'm happy with that. I have instead of the what did I gain? Three pounds at Disney. Yeah, 3.3 pounds I gained. I did lose that back, and I am now back under where I was a couple weeks ago. So I'm back in the 260s at 266.6. That's still a lot of weight, but that's less when I started this whole thing at 272. So that's progress, right? We'll see how it goes. So let's start out the race report by going back a week to that world major in Tokyo, Japan. All right, friends, uh, let's get to the highlight of this week's episode, where we find out how much ramen you need to consume in order to be able to run 26.2 miles as we visit with our friends who finished the Tokyo Marathon oh, about just a little less than two weeks ago. Thanks for joining us, friends. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves, please?

SPEAKER_13 47:15

Hi, um, I'm Jen and I'm from Gainesville, Florida. And Tokyo was my fifth world major. So chasing those stars.

SPEAKER_08 47:25

Cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_12 47:26

Hi, I'm Hannah from Atlanta, and Tokyo was my second world major.

SPEAKER_11 47:31

I'm Tara from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. So I'm the other Tara, the Canadian Tara. And uh this is my fifth world major. And um Boston is up next next month.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

All right.

SPEAKER_14 47:45

Hi, I'm Karen from Sparks, Nevada, and Tokyo was my fifth world major.

SPEAKER_08 47:50

Welcome everybody. We're we're glad you hear you are here, and uh, we got plenty of time this evening, so we want to hear about this. I don't know if I could call it a unique, well, I guess so. It is the only uh world major at present, it is the only world major in Asia. That makes it unique. And we're excited to hear what you have to say about it. Let me kick it off by asking you, and Jen, I'll start with you. What made you decide to travel all the way to Japan to run the Tokyo Marathon?

SPEAKER_13 48:24

My friend Carolyn and I have um been running uh both most of these like Disney races together, and we decided to start doing uh the world majors. So uh we've got you know had four done before that. So the ones we have left were Tokyo and Boston. So that was next on the list. Try to get another one on there.

SPEAKER_08 48:45

I think it's going to be the answer for a couple people here because I heard a couple of five-star runners. So I understand that. So Hannah, what what got you all the way over into Japan?

SPEAKER_12 48:56

I signed up on a whim for the lottery like a crazy person, expecting to absolutely not be chosen. And knowing that Japan has been my husband's dream vacation for ever since I've known him. The day I got the selection in the lottery, I sat dumbfounded on my couch for a solid 10 minutes before I could form words.

SPEAKER_08 49:18

I'll bet.

SPEAKER_12 49:19

And then I went and told my husband and was like, all right, I guess we're going. I also called Jack and needed her advice as well. I was like, I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_08 49:28

Tara, why'd you go all the way over to Japan?

SPEAKER_11 49:31

For a long time, I've always wanted to go to Japan. Such a fascinating country, culture. I just, you know, I mean the photos, everything about it, I absolutely loved it. The 38 million people in Tokyo freaked me out. So for years, I was like, I am never gonna go to this country as much as I would love to go. And then of course, when I started this, you know, wonderful uh, you know, six-star journey, I was like, well, you know, I kind of have to go. And so when, you know, we really started digging into it and thinking about how am I gonna, am I gonna take the chance and go through the lottery? And I decided to go the charity route, so completely different. Um, and it worked out well. And um, yeah, and then when I got in, it was just all about the research. I researched everything to death. And um just absolutely I'm fell in love with the country before I even went there. And when I got there, absolutely incredible. So I was just excited to go way before that. So really happy that I get had a chance to do this. And my husband, my daughter came with me. They were even more excited because they really wanted to go. The anime, you know, uh uh again, I like the gaming, the Nintendo. So it was like just full-on a whole experience of both vacation experience and Tokyo Marathon wrapped in a nice big bow. It was fantastic.

SPEAKER_08 50:54

That's awesome. Karen, you're up. Now I know you're chasing the stars, but was there another reason you decided to go to Japan this time?

SPEAKER_14 51:03

I had another friend that got into charity as well. So we just decided to make it into a trip. Um, but uh I had a Japanese exchange student when I was in junior high. So it was kind of cool to actually see the other end of the culture and experience the food and the shopping and all the different things, all the cultural differences over there.

SPEAKER_15 51:26

So all right. So getting to Japan, we know is a long flight from um either Canada or America, um, the US. And how was it dealing with the jet lag um and the time change leading up to the race day? How was it for you, Tara?

SPEAKER_11 51:43

Oddly enough, I didn't find it that bad. Um the travel part was probably the hardest. Uh, we ended up doing auto at Toronto, and then we had uh an extra six hour delay sitting in Toronto at the airport, which made the 14-hour flight that much longer. So then by the time we actually got to Tokyo, and it was uh like 11 o'clock at night, and then customs, and then we ended up finally getting to the hotel, had a super short night, and then we were actually catching the bullet train the next morning to go to Kyoto. So it was just, it was a lot. But by the time we got to Kyoto, and you know, we did get a little, you know, some rest. It took a couple of days, was waking up at 4 a.m. But I'm really happy that we had a chance to have the full week before marathon day. So technically we would have arrived on the Monday or the Sunday night. So on the Monday, I started to be able to have that time to to acclimatize. And I, you know, I hear about some people who ended up showing up like, you know, on the Friday, just before. I don't think I could have handled that. Like I liked having the few days to just get used to the time and get used to just everything. So um I was okay. So I'm I'm happy it worked out well for me. I hope it worked out well for you other ladies.

SPEAKER_12 53:01

I'm one of those crazy people that came in the Friday before. I flew out. Yeah, I flew out like, well, it's it was Thursday in Atlanta. It was Friday by the time you make it there with the time changes and all that jazz. And I also had the crazy thought of you know what I should do to make sure I stay awake? Go straight to the expo from the airport with all of my luggage.

SPEAKER_15 53:24

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_12 53:26

Um, don't recommend. No, don't recommend. Uh, I was very grouchy after getting off that flight. And so I did not have the most amazing expo experience. Um, but it did work and I did not wake up at 4 a.m. the next day because we didn't go to bed till like 10. And I was really tired. So I slept through the night and I experienced almost no jet lag. Um, the only problems I had was with my AC in my hotel. So I slept like a baby.

SPEAKER_11 53:57

Now, Hannah, was that a choice? Or because there was a huge storm that went through. So I kept seeing all these posts about people having to either delay their flights or, you know, even if they were leaving in the early part of the week, they had to delay till the end of the week. There was a lot going on. So I take it that was a choice versus a storm issue.

SPEAKER_12 54:16

It was a choice in the sense that I was conserving uh vacation days.

SPEAKER_13 54:23

Fair. How did it go for you, Jen? We flew out a week before. So similar to Tara. Um left, did MCO to LAX to Tokyo, left early on a Saturday morning, got there Sunday afternoon. So my jet lag was I was exhausted, but still like was waking up in the middle of the night. Like fell right to sleep, but then it's like two AM I'm like wide awake.

SPEAKER_07 54:48

No.

SPEAKER_13 54:49

But luckily we had enough time, um, being there a week before to kind of shift my schedule. But we also, you know, did the opposite of what you're supposed to do by doing, you know, those fifteen to twenty thousand steps a day before the week before leaving up to the race. We like to say that Dopey was good training for the Tokyo Marathon. Um went straight to Disney when we got there. So first three days straight to Disney. Tokyo, Disneyland and Disney City. Um went the weather didn't treat us too great on one of the days. It was like raining and cold all day the last Disney day. But luckily, you know, it was still a great time. Um before, you know, doing expo. I saw some other people who, like Hannah, I guess, went straight to the expo with their bags. Like, oh luckily we got to go t check ours into the Airbnb first. Um but yeah, uh if you're gonna do vacation a week before and after a marathon, uh Dopey is great training for that.

Jet Lag Expo And Japan Culture

SPEAKER_09 55:50

Yeah, I can remember from my time as an exchange student in high school going over to Tokyo, it was a gauntlet, and it's it's a marathon in itself, plus. So, you know, bravo to all of you ladies having to deal with that. But I think what makes the world majors special is that it allows you to do something that you love, but then conversely, experience another culture. And I know there are a lot of people that myself included that are obsessed with Japanese culture. Karen, once you got over there, what was let's just say for right now, before we get into all the race details, what was the first cultural difference you noticed once you landed in the land of the rising sun?

SPEAKER_14 56:39

How much better the 7-Elevens are?

SPEAKER_09 56:42

Amen, sister.

SPEAKER_14 56:43

Yes, love those pancakes.

SPEAKER_11 56:46

No egg sandwiches. I ate way too many egg sandwiches. And the rice balls, the yeah.

SPEAKER_09 56:54

That that's that's a very, very good answer. I I remember in the four days that I went to school over there, my lunch every day came from 7-Eleven. So you made you made an excellent, excellent choice there. Tara, how about you?

SPEAKER_11 57:05

Uh, you know what? Really, everything about the Japan, about the culture, about everything, I it's just so organ, like for the amount of people, it's so organized. Everybody is, if they line up, I mean, I was surprised that they would line up to go on to the subway. They would line up, you know, you think here daywalking, it happens all the time. No, no, you do not cross at a light. If it's if it's red, you do not cross. You wait. And they wait in a line before they cross the street. Like it's just, it's amazing of how respectful, how organized, how diligent everything is. And I think just because there's so many people in that city, I think it's the only way it functions. And I really noticed it actually at Disney, because we went to Disney afterwards. The lines, people have no issues standing in lines for hours and hours. And and just they're happy to do it because that's their whole life. And it was just, I was just so amazed of how clean, organized, and man, those toilets, come on, like you gotta keep me talking about those toilets. Heated seat, a public heated seat. I mean, my goodness, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_16 58:18

And like the sounds of the birds chirping or the waterfalls. I'm like, dude, we need this in the US.

SPEAKER_09 58:27

But no, Terry, you're absolutely right. Only in Japan will the people there patiently wait three hours to ride Sorn. It's it's quite it's quite impressive.

SPEAKER_08 58:35

Well, one thing that struck me, and I I spent a couple of uh I spent a little bit of time on deployment in Japan. There would be rows and rows of bicycles at the railroad stop and not a lock in sight. Because that's just was the culture.

SPEAKER_02 58:54

Being everything, cultural differences and lining up, and you talked about bathrooms. I saw pictures, the corral P there was like a Q line at a Disney ride. Can we talk about that? And I did see some weird, you know, no doors on the men's, but that was uh hopefully not the same for the women.

SPEAKER_13 59:17

No, they were doors for us. Um yeah, but they definitely had the line zigzagging and queued up and very organized. Um we ended up in two different lines because we did a second round before start. Um, but the first line was organized a little more uh a little better than the second line. Like it had people directing you. Um the second line for some reason there weren't extra people around at that point. So they were like, Don't forget to go to your corral. Like, okay, where'd all the other people go? Are we late? But we weren't. Um so sometimes there was people in the line waiting that would be like this one's open down here. But the first line for some reason actually had two people directing. So um only a couple people that forgot to lock their doors because there was a handle that closed the door, but there was a second lock. So there was a couple a couple screams we heard, but for the most part it was okay. And clean, they were always clean, all the portals. That was one thing I was surprised about.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

Totally stocked, hopefully.

SPEAKER_13 1:00:19

Always stocked. Yeah, one thing I didn't have to worry about, like I've worried about for other races. Um seemed like it was nice and stocked.

SPEAKER_16 1:00:27

Was it easy to find the start line and where to go?

SPEAKER_13 1:00:31

Once you found your game. Yeah. There were lots of signs and people like helping direct you. Um but then occasionally it'd be like sign, sign, sign, and then nothing for a little bit. You're like, am I still going in the correct direction? And then then there'd be more signs and people again. Um at least that's what happened for me.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:50

Before we jump to race morning, I I'd like to ask a little bit, not much. I'm always curious about the expos at large events like this. Uh Hannah, what was your impression of the expo compared to other majors or to the Run Disney events?

SPEAKER_12 1:01:07

In the sense, well, mine is my grouchy, hangry state. Uh it was like really well organized by the like getting there was pretty easy. Um, there was signs, and we felt I felt like it was easy to find it, even though this train station I got off at, I still had a little bit of a walk to get there. And even with all my luggage, I had no problem like navigating it. They put all the runners in one line and all the non-runners, or maybe runners who have already picked up their bibs into a whole separate line and like direct them a different way. So I got separated from my husband. Um, but like picking up my bib was super easy. They had people who spoke English to help you at every step and everything super well labeled in both Japanese and English, and I think German and French, and uh so I think it was pretty, yeah, straightforward. And then once you got out of bib pickup and like any commemorative items you might have uh purchased ahead of time, like bib magnets, um, then they had uh a bib scanner to make sure your bib worked correctly, which we've had it run Disney once upon a time. And so you couldn't leave without checking that your bib worked correctly, and they verified that your name was your name and correct and everything. So that was really nice. And then the expo was on two different floors, so it's kind of like how we have two different buildings, and all the like official partners were on one floor, and then everything else was on the second floor, and that was more like the vendor building. Um, I had some merchandise that I pre-ordered, so I picked that up and it was smooth sailing, even though there's lots of people. I never felt like I couldn't like move or get to wherever I was trying to go. So that was good.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:51

Any other noteworthy expo experiences?

SPEAKER_13 1:02:54

Yeah, um, ran smoothly. Um we we got there um opening today first thing in the morning. Um, I'd heard some people lined up a couple hours before it opened. We got there about maybe thirty minutes before. Um, but we uh pre-ordered the official ASICs merch. Um so we didn't get there to have to wait in the merchandise line uh for that, which is why most people get there early. Luckily this year you could pre-order shirts and jackets and things. So that was a big relief for for my friend and I. Um because we really you know, we like to get the jackets when we can. Um and it was gonna be a long day 'cause we already had fighting things booked for later in the day. Um so it went really quick. We just went straight in and got the bibs. Um picked up the some of the pre-ordered merch, then went to the other line to get it. The other pre-ordered merch. Uh and by the time we got on that line though, it started getting really crowded. Um 'cause it's opening morning, so it's by then like eleven. Kind of squished in there to go find the other like expo stuff on the other floor. Um, buy some of the other just Tokyo marathon merch that wasn't ASIC.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:08

Was there any other unusual souvenirs or any unusual gear that you've seen at the expo that you guys want to talk about?

SPEAKER_13 1:04:15

I like the uh they had a commemorative sake and it and one of those little boxes. So had to pick and then there was like a little shirt that kind of looked like a little kimono jacket thing. Actually, I have it right here. I really like those things. They were neat chopsticks.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:33

The one thing I do want to bring up is that this year they had um like pre-purchase merch, which was brand new compared to other years. So there have always there's always been issues of um, I should say like stock. Like, of course, Run Disney, when you get there on the first day, everybody just mad dash, grab all the coat or grab all the you know items. And normally it's like just chaos. And normally that's been the case year after year for the way to do it, kind of relieve some of the pressure. We ended up going later. Um, so we didn't end up uh going to the expo until two, three o'clock in the afternoon on the Thursday. So I was kind of expecting to kind of walk into ASICs and not have those the jackets and all the shirts. But oddly enough, there was actually still a lot of supply of everything. So I was really surprised after, you know, so many years of hearing, you know, chaos and mess and nothing left and no sizes. When now this year there was pre-merch and still stock into the afternoon. So I was quite impressed that the change happened and that, you know, they offered more. So I I just it seemed it went really well this year compared to other years. I don't know if anybody else noticed that as well.

SPEAKER_16 1:05:48

Okay, so now it is after the expo, it's race morning. What was it like? Did you guys was it hard to navigate to try and get there? Um, did you try and use a subway? How was it getting to the corrals?

SPEAKER_12 1:06:02

I found it to be not too bad. Basically, the start is in a park, essentially, or like nearby the park that's by this big government building. And I stayed relatively close by, so I was able to walk. I didn't I could have taken a subway to get like a little bit closer, but I walked. Um, the only problem I ran into is because the park is where the start is, like the whole park is basically blocked off, and I happened to walk to the wrong side of the park, so then I had to walk the entire perimeter to get to my security gate because I got a little turned around. Um, but there were people there who spoke English or enough English to understand like me holding up my bib, pointing to where I needed to go and like could direct me. Um and that was like pretty smooth. There's lots of people doing that. Uh, I was what I was surprised about is when I was reading the rules, I've always read that they were like really strict about what you can and cannot bring into the race. And they made a change this year that um you used to not be able to bring basically any of your own liquids unless it was an aluminum or paper pouch of 250 milliliters or less, and you could only have two of them. Um, but then this year they changed it so you can bring like an empty uh reusable flask or bladder of like no size restriction. And so I was kind of expecting still a very intense security or whatever, but I think I could, and I wouldn't sneak in anything inappropriate or unsafe, but I did feel like security was like a little lax compared to what I had like built up in my mind. They made us put all of our stuff out of gear check bag, and I put my vests and all my things in there, and they literally sort of just like loosely padded down my bag, and they were like, Okay, you're good, and then handed it back after I walked through the metal detector, and I was like, My bladder could be full of anything, there's nothing in it, but it could have been, so that was wild. But then they were pretty strict about making sure you were going to like if you got in the bathroom queue there or going to your corral to make sure you actually went to your own corral. I know I've been to other races where like basically you could jump into any corral and no one would know the difference, which is not how we're on Disney is, but a lot of other races are like that, and they were pretty good about keeping people where they were supposed to be.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:27

Karen, what were your emotions like standing in the corral before the race began?

SPEAKER_14 1:08:32

I had a really rough few months leading up to Tokyo. Um, I lost my dad in December after a long battle with cancer. So I had a lot of emotions going through the starting line. Um, I just was at that point just, I'm gonna just run it how I can and do it for my dad because I used to run with him when I was little and he'd been there for every other marathon. Um But I was also just kind of proud of myself that I actually got on the plane and went because at a couple points in my training I'd considered not going.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:06

So um I'm sure your dad's proud of him. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't pick on you for that reason. I I knew that, but I just was I was wondering what it was like actually for all of you, what it was like the emotions before starting out this race in Tokyo.

SPEAKER_13 1:09:28

Yeah, for for me, um it was it was a mixed bag 'cause I was very excited but also you know, tired from the too many steps we took before leading up. Um so the goal for this race was you know beat the time cutoff to finish. So I was like, I think we can do that. But I was also in near the back, we were in corral K. Um, I believe it went to L. Um so a little bit of 30 corral. Um we were uh you know waiting once you hear the the gun go off and then it's like alright, wait until we start moving. It's a multi-level start area, and so we were on the bottom level. Yeah, so they wind you around and kinda go up a ramp and then head over to the start. So it's just like, Well, how long is it gonna take us to get from here to the start? How long did it take you? I think ours was about thirty-five minutes. Not too bad. Um but you know, you're just waiting and then finally can move and standing still in a crowd because you know, there's always the great movement. Sometimes at a certain time hits everybody kind of compacted. So just kind of standing around in the um pseudo cold. Like we were in the shade where I was. And I live in Florida, so it was cold for me in the morning. Uh you know, just like things achieve and you're just ready to go. Um and then I guess some of the emotions too, 'cause uh I was thinking about like Jeff Galloway. You know, we just got the news while we were um in Tokyo about that. So I always take a time figure out how many times I'm gonna cry during a a race and what's gonna trigger it, like what's the sad thing and yeah, that was one of my sad points was thinking, Oh, I won't get to I won't get to tell Jeff about this race. So but uh it was still a lot of emotions in the morning there. But we did it.

SPEAKER_11 1:11:28

So I think for me I was more not so much emotions, but more of um I had a a goal in mind and it was just about hoping that everything was gonna line up. And of course, you hear the horror stories of the bathrooms during the Tokyo Marathon, and you know, when I was running, I would notice that it would there would be a sign and say, well, the bathroom is down that way, but you couldn't see it. So, of course, you know, knowing about all this leading up to it, um, I think it was more nervous about that part and not wanting to use the bathroom when I had this goal in mind of a time for myself. And so it was just more of the nerves leading up to it. So we're of course, I you know, the the great line uh for the bathroom went to the bathroom beforehand, worked out great, but then it's the wait and the wait until you finally get started. And then just as Jen was saying, like you kind of start moving forward, but it's not fast enough. And so as we were kind of coming around, so I was in Corral F, and as we were coming around, I started seeing people dart off and use that the last kind of row of porta-potties. Like, all right, I'm doing it. So I went and used the last bit of porta-potties, and I feel like that kind of just you know, took a last bit of a nerve, you know, out of me. Went to the bathroom, started, and it was just like this excitement. Like it's just the thrill. It's admitted as a guy playing a guitar, kind of like a rock music is just going by. It's kind of very strange in starting the Tokyo marathon with, you know, this guitar. But anyway, so you know, got started and just oh, like the thrill and that excitement and everybody starting. And oh, it's just it's it's amazing when you just all this bottle of energy, you just start going and it was great. And um, you know, all of that boriness and like the my my goal. I planned on, you know, drinking so much water and then kind of slowly cut down the water. I didn't end up using the bathroom at all during my whole marathon. So it was fabulous. So I got my goal. My my time was looking for hours 454. So I'm ecstatic beyond belief, so many months of hard work. So all those nerves and and worry and everything, and just got it done. And yeah, it was it was fantastic by some awesome stuff. I do want to bring up one more thing. Sorry, about the about the water. So the whole um I would say the you're not allowed to have the soft flasks full on the way. So I ended up using boxed water. So two 250 mil boxed water when I went in, but I actually had my husband at the 10k mark and he had my soft flask filled with my own hydration. So that again, with the nice with the change in the rules, that relieved a lot of pressure. So I found that a lot of people would end up having their own water. They also gave uh cups, um, I guess reusable cups to ensure that everybody had proper hydration during the course. Um, they I constantly heard you know comments saying, you know, the heat the temperature is rising. Please ensure that you're hydrating. And so it was repeating. So I think they really wanted to make sure that you know they moved past the experience that happened last year with no water. At one point, there was a couple of tables, you know, the first, everybody stops at the first table, and then when that you know ran out of water, people go to the next table. Well, at one point, the first two tables were were empty. So people were worried that, oh my gosh, there's no more water. Well, no, just the third table, the fourth table, the fifth table. They all had water. So never had an issue with any, you know, um lack of water. So I found again, you know, Tokyo stepped up. They really learned from their mistakes last year. So really kudos to them for learning and moving forward with everything. And the volunteers, I mean, I can't say enough about them. They were fantastic volunteers all along the way and the cheering and it was like going on and on. Okay.

SPEAKER_13 1:15:44

Well, with the volunteers, especially the yeah, um, all down the course there were people, they all had little trash bags too, so you wouldn't throw people runners throw their trash around. So you could go and just put it in the little bag that they're holding for you. I we did have a little confusion at like the first two water stops. They are all labeled, so like the first thing you come up on, it said like Kari. One of five and then two of five. And then after you got to the last one, we're like, but where's the water? And there was like a big space. You couldn't see the water because there was a sign before you got up to the aid station, it was like aid station two hundred meters or however far. And we're like, Is there no water? Like uh there was water and Picari sweat. Um but then there was, it was just farther down than the first like Picari station. So we knew that for the second one, like great, it'll be after it. Well the second one we hit the Picari and then there was nothing for a bit and a turn. We're like, is there no water and it was way past on the second turn. So we're like, Oh, there was water, but we hadn't taken anything, so we got a little nervous. Um we saw our friends uh cheering. We had a cheer squad. And I was like, We didn't think you need it yet. Like And then we looked and we're like, Oh wait, no, the water is down there, just so everything was labeled so well that when it was slightly off of what I was expecting, then we got nervous. But it was fine. But just because we couldn't see it yet, we're like, were we wrong? Is there not water? I don't know if anyone else had a similar experience, but we're just tired and freaking out.

Cutoffs Pace Strategy And PRs

SPEAKER_09 1:17:20

Well, speaking about freaking out in the course, ladies, that the the next topic that I want to bring up is the one thing that is very unique about the Tokyo marathon is the cutoffs. You know, usually when we hear about cutoffs, a lot of it is associated with like the Marine Corps marathon and the gauntlets that you have to hit. Similar type thing here in Tokyo, but the difference compared to everything else is that it's all based off of gun time, not your time. Yeah. So obviously you have to strategize in terms of how you start off this race because I saw plenty of videos from last weekend of just these adorable Japanese people essentially making a human barricade, you know, uh across the road and signifying the cutoff and just seeing cheer disappointment on people's faces. Hannah, how did that mentally prepare into your race day and how did you tackle it?

SPEAKER_12 1:18:18

That was my biggest fear. It's been living in my brain for months. I was so scared of the second checkpoint in particular. So the checkpoints aren't right, like you said, they're based on gun time, but they're not evenly spaced either, based on what the actual like minimum pace you would have to maintain at that spot to finish. And so that second checkpoint when I put it in my spreadsheet and calculated what I thought, like based on all the Reddit threads I read of like when I thought I would actually start, based on my corral placement, I figured out that I would have to run like basically like a 12-minute mile or something to like make it was really fast. It was like my half marathon pace. I was gonna have to intentionally run way faster than I was comfortable with running at the beginning. So I was incredibly scared. I spent the in like months leading up being freaked out about that. And I spent the entire like couple days leading up to the marathon telling my family, like, if I can make it to this checkpoint, then I can finish the race. But I'm genuinely not sure if this is gonna be the first marathon I don't finish because I don't know if I can make it there. And I saw my family right before the cutoff. They met me at the so it's like a lot of out and backs, and they met me just around the corner right before where the cutoff sign was, and they were screaming and cheering. And I remember seeing my watch and realizing that I was gonna make it with like quite a bit of buffer, and I just screamed to my parents, like the tears in my eyes, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:54

Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_12 1:19:56

And then my mom screamed back at me, you can do it, you're gonna make it, you're gonna make it. Uh, so I was incredibly happy after that, after I passed the second cutoff, and I just told myself after that that like you can run however fast you want, however slow you want, you're just gonna vibe. And if you finish, you finish. If you don't, you don't. But at least you had a good time and you enjoyed it, and I let myself stop freaking out after that of like it doesn't matter what the outcome is because you you've done what you set out to do, which was make it past that checkpoint.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:27

Good stuff.

SPEAKER_16 1:20:28

So it's every world major. Obviously, there's so much on the course to see, whether it be landmarks or performers or any of that. What was the things that stood out the most to you guys?

SPEAKER_13 1:20:42

For me, it was closer towards the end of the race. There was a lot of people like dressed up, I guess. We had a few costumes we saw. There was a guy in like a giant chicken outfit. Like we're like, what is this? Um and that's where some more of the rowdy people were, I would say. Um, at least by the time we got there. So um yeah, it was fun. I saw somebody dressed in a full Snow White outfit too. I saw two. So yeah, that was fun. There was uh some drummers, like and different musicians out there, uh lots of cheerleaders and some of them were so super cute. There was like little baby cheerleaders and yeah, it was great. Like crowd support was a lot. Like it wasn't super loud, but it was very consistent and everybody was very excited for you. And they're like, Do your best. And I'm like, I'm trying. So everyone talks about how loud some of the other like London, uh, New York. But like this I enjoyed the crowd support. I thought it was very consistent and like great.

SPEAKER_12 1:21:51

Did anyone else see the guy dressed as Tokyo Tower? What? I think I saw a picture of it. I have a video I'll share with the group later. But there was there was a guy running in one of those, I don't know, what are the suits called, ghillie suits that are like the full body suit, and then he taped white stripes along his abdomen and torso, and he wore a red traffic cone on his head that also had white tape. And so he was dressed as the tower, and he was running along on the sidewalk because I don't think he was an official registered runner. But I saw, like I saw him, I was running with him for a while, and then I saw him all the way up until like 30 something kilometers. I could still see him running along the sidewalk. Obviously, like would have been cut off if he had been an actual runner at that point, but he was just chugging along and he was like videotaping the whole time with one of those 360 cameras, and anytime someone would like take a picture, he would like wave and he was hilarious.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 1:22:54

So coming off of that, I I was surprised as to how many people wore um almost like sandals, like not running shoes, but like a sandal.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:05

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_11 1:23:06

Yeah, in in sandals.

SPEAKER_16 1:23:08

I've seen that in ultra running where they would just go barefoot, yeah, or barefoot, yeah. But yeah, there was more than I thought.

SPEAKER_11 1:23:15

I also samurai with the full gear and suit and everything, and feathers, and it was all that guy.

SPEAKER_12 1:23:23

There was a guy near me at one point that had the traditional Japanese like stilt sandal thing with just like one bar, and that was impressive. He was running faster than me in that, and I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_11 1:23:36

So I'm gonna throw a curvebook. We mentioned about um Tokyo Tower and the out and backs. I'm not sure if anybody else had the same experience with the out and backs, but the last out and back, I I I almost died with that one because it you what happens is you pass the finished and you still have another, I don't know, was it eight kilometers or something?

SPEAKER_12 1:24:00

Yeah, like eight or ten. Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 1:24:03

And so you you could see the finished, and it's like one kilometer. Oh yeah, you know. No, no, but I haven't more than an hour still of running to do.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:10

Oh golly.

SPEAKER_11 1:24:11

You go way past the Tokyo Tower. I'm like, oh well, there's the Tokyo Tower. It shouldn't be that much further. Oh no, you just keep going and going and going. And you don't even see the turnoff because you actually have you turn around a corner. Like around the corner, and then you go round the the actual end of the the uh the street, and then you start coming back, and you're like, oh my gosh, I have to come all the way back, and it's kind of slight, like you know, inclined, and you see the Tokyo Tower, but you're like, ah, it's still so far. And then you think, oh, it's only one kilometer when you finally turn. Well, that is the longest one kilometer ever. And then you know you think, okay, then you're just about to turn like 200 meters, you're like, okay, I can do this, and you turn and like thank goodness 200 meters is really not that far to the finish. Because man, that last kilometer, I'm telling you, that just took everything out of me.

SPEAKER_13 1:25:03

So I don't know if anybody else had that same thing happen. Oh yeah. I don't know if it's the longest out and back on the course, but it felt like it. Um, but yeah, that last turn is great. You're like, I'm so tired. And you turn, you're like, oh, there it is.

SPEAKER_12 1:25:16

There it is, yay. I saw my parents at like the one kilometer left mark, and I was in a walk break, and my dad finds me and is like, You're almost there, it's only one kilometer, just like sprint to the finish. And I was like, You don't understand how tired I am and what one kilometer is to me right now. The long kilometer, it was the longest kilometer of my life.

SPEAKER_16 1:25:40

So, question for you guys you know how like in the Disney races, um, you see mile markers for mile one, mile two, and whatever. What would you prefer? Would you rather see mile markers on a course or kilometers on the course? Because technically a marathon is 42 kilometers, so you saw it 42 times. I don't know, because I remember seeing the signs in kilometers, it messed with my mind because I was like, I got done with one. I was like, there's 41 left. What what do you guys prefer? I'm just curious. Did you like seeing a uh like one kilometer signs?

SPEAKER_13 1:26:14

Yeah, I'm not sure which way I if I like it or not. I think this is my third race now. Um international that I saw kilometers. They also had a few mile markers, so that was that was kind of more confusing too. It was like every five miles, was it? So you'd be like five, but I thought I passed that already. Um it's nicer when you start counting down when they cut come a little faster, so maybe it seems like you're getting there quicker. Um either way, but by the end, you're just like, I don't I can't do math.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:47

So running no, running math, no, no, very hard.

SPEAKER_11 1:26:51

So even though I'm Canadian, I actually I train with a with an American coach, so I'm I know miles now. I don't know kilometers. So I found it even a struggle to really understand my pace because I run in miles. So I actually had to get like a uh I just made my own kind of um pace, you know, bracelet. And I found that was actually really helpful. So if I would pass a kilometer marker, which is great because it was so frequent, that I would just be able to look down at my pace, you know, bracelet and realize, okay, well, I've I I've gained uh 30 seconds or I've gained a minute. So I found that was really helpful along the way.

SPEAKER_13 1:27:32

So Yeah, that's a good point. Like if I was when we're running for like time pace, it my brain works better for miles because that's what I'm used to. Um for this race, we were just the goal was beating those cutoffs and you know, pointing at them. Not today. Uh so we weren't trying to figure out what pace we were actually going. Watch was uh, you know, I think mine was half a mile off for a good chunk of it. I don't remember what I f finished at, but Um yeah, so it there wasn't figuring out what the actual pace was at that point. Um so it didn't, yeah, make a huge difference for that this race for me. I will say it's not as flat as I thought it was going to be as a Floridian. Um there was a lot more hills than I was expecting. Everyone's like, it's so flat. And I was like, Berlin was flat.

SPEAKER_12 1:28:18

Um every time I went over a bridge and said, This is not flat. This is like Run Disney on ramps, it's rude.

SPEAKER_13 1:28:25

I was like, I was told it's flat and quiet, and I'm like, there's cheering and there's hills. So no. But it's relatively flat, yes. Um, if you're not from here.

SPEAKER_15 1:28:34

Um, so Hannah, I think it was you that had mentioned you saw the gentleman wearing the traditional Japanese shoes. Was there any other cultural touches that you saw that really stuck with you from the race?

SPEAKER_12 1:28:45

I mean, we've talked about the the cleanliness in general. They don't do litter and there's no trash cans anywhere. And it's very strictly written in the rules that if you litter, you can be disqualified. So uh that was that was something special. It it felt like a trail run to me. I just stuffed all my stuff in the one pocket that I designated for that, but there was a lot more people. I was expecting to have to carry literally all of my trash. And then there was, like we said, volunteers everywhere. And then I felt like there were a lot of the like entertainment displays, I guess, kind of like at Disney, where we have like DJs on the side of the road and uh photo stops and stuff. There was the traditional drummers, there was both a like all women's group, I saw a mixed group, um, I think maybe an all-men's, but a lot of the like entertainment was like culturally significant, I guess. I don't know. I really enjoyed that, and the drummers reminded me of the drummers we have at Disney. And when I was like struggling, I ran with another Ryzen Runner. Uh, and we would just like remind ourselves based on like where we were, like, okay, we're we're on Western way now and that kind of thing. So we were like there, but also like in Disney in our minds when we were having a hard time. So that was good.

SPEAKER_16 1:30:04

Was there any kind of unique snacks or fuel that they um had out on the course? And did you try any of it?

SPEAKER_13 1:30:12

I had a few things. There was um there was one snack that I saw listed that I did not actually see, so I don't know if they ran out of them. It was supposed to be like a banana cream, something like things. I'd never got one, and that was the one I was looking forward to trying. Um but I uh they had a little cake that was in the shape of like a tower or something. Um cream puff.

SPEAKER_16 1:30:37

I love those cream puffs.

SPEAKER_13 1:30:39

And uh there's other like little hard candies and chocolates. Uh I'm always scared of eating new things while running because my stomach gets really full really quick. So like my nutrition is very like let me take one shoe every 15 minutes and when they're like, take three at once. Oh, I can't do that. So I wanted to try a lot of things, but then didn't want to like wreck my tummy. So I I did those take wanna try it. So I'd take like a bite and then throw the rest out just because I wanted to taste it. Anything that was pre-wrapped I shoved in my pocket, so I'm like, I'm gonna try this later. So my poor friends who we saw on the course, my friend and I were just like pulling here, hold these snacks for us so we can try them later. I was I'm sad about the the banana cream thing. So I don't know if did anyone else get to try it? Was it good? No, no one saw it.

SPEAKER_12 1:31:30

All the all the bee like first corrals must have been super eager too, because they definitely didn't have them by the time I rolled up.

SPEAKER_15 1:31:37

No sushi rolls on the course that anybody had. No, no.

SPEAKER_12 1:31:42

I did take sanctioned snack deliverer. It was definitely someone from the hotel that I ran past had a tray of chocolate, and I said, Yes, I love that.

SPEAKER_13 1:31:51

Yeah, near the back end I saw more just spectators that had cups of water or coke or you know, tissue snacks, whatever. I did take a little glass of coke from someone. I was like, cheers. Yeah, more of that than I expected, and most of it was near the back end.

SPEAKER_11 1:32:08

One thing I found that was interesting. So I so once you finish, I was hungry and like, you know, I love the banana, so great, we got the banana. And then I was waiting, like kind of curious to see what else they were gonna offer. And so I they they handed me something, and I'm like, what is this? And I said, do not eat. I'm like, oh, okay, and it's it's basalt. And I'm like, if you are hungry and you just finish a race and they give you something that you can't read anything on it, you think, well, let's eat it, but actually says, do not eat right on the package in English. So we learned later it was basalt.

SPEAKER_12 1:32:47

Um, they did hand out something else that said something, it was like squishy, it was like it's a body fuel that I was like, Oh, the fermented drink, the fermented jelly drink. That one was not I didn't know if I should be eating it.

SPEAKER_11 1:33:01

So it was like one of those things where it's like, I'm just gonna put that in there for later. I I didn't eat it, but it they they hinted a kind of weird stuff at the end. It was like, here's some body wipes.

SPEAKER_12 1:33:14

Um, those are good.

SPEAKER_13 1:33:15

They had laundry detergent too. Fruit and laundry detergent shampoo and conditioner. They wanted you to get clean real quick when you were done. Um plastic bag. The cheese was my favorite. I've ever had after a race.

SPEAKER_11 1:33:30

Yeah, but they did give us bags. Like first soon as you started, that's right. They gave they gave a bag right away and it was like, Oh, I wish Disney could do this. Like, here's a bag and you can collect all the stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:40

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_11 1:33:40

Um, yeah, that was great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_14 1:33:43

It was like adult trick-or-treating.

SPEAKER_08 1:33:45

Ah, very cool. You've done a wonderful job talking about the race, friends. I want to move on a little bit, but before I do, anything else significant about the race that we need to know?

SPEAKER_12 1:33:59

I think we're gonna need to ring the PR bell.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:01

Well, I was waiting. I think we should have Godzilla Roar actually for this.

SPEAKER_12 1:34:11

Oh, yes, Godzilla Roar for sure. Yes, uh, as much as I was nervous that this might be the first marathon I didn't finish at all, it's actually the fastest one I've ever run. I've ran 15 minutes faster than my fastest one. Wow, wow. So I was very proud of myself.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:27

That's a significant great job. Yeah, 30 seconds a mile. That's that's significant. Anybody else being quiet about some significant accomplishment?

SPEAKER_11 1:34:37

Hannah, I really don't mean to one-up you, but I was 17 minutes faster than my congratulations. Like you, yeah, I I didn't know if it was gonna come through or not. I worked so hard, and it was, you know, it was one of those things where I at one point, I think I was starting to get a little bit dehydrated. And I, you know, the hit a little bit of the heat, which really wasn't that hot, but I think just after some sun and whatnot, um, I was like, you know, I just I'm gonna have to walk a little longer. And um I, anyways, kept going and crossed the finish line and yeah, 17 minutes faster than my last one. So under the five-hour mark that I just I have been wanting for so long and worked for like so many hours, 4 a.m. wake ups, you know, it's so much work.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:31

And I'm 20 mile runs at Saratoga Springs.

SPEAKER_11 1:35:36

It was like the best experience ever. Greg was there. I was like, what? Who's calling my name? It was Greg. It was like meant to be. He gave me the push to keep me going with my 20 miles. That was hilarious. But yeah, it's um anyways, super pleased. And uh all I can say is when you put the hard work, focus, and if you're determined, really, I mean, our bodies can do anything we we uh them out to do. So it's it's amazing what our bodies can do.

SPEAKER_08 1:36:04

Yeah, yep, that's what I was thinking as you were talking that, saying that, Tara.

Tokyo Travel Food And Disney Parks

SPEAKER_02 1:36:09

Okay, so the race is over. I know you just didn't go over there hopefully just to run a race. Did you guys explore explore Japan? And what was your best non-running experience you had in Tokyo?

SPEAKER_13 1:36:21

I did a little pre-partying and a little post-partying. So I did most of Tokyo um before the race. I mentioned we did Disney, um, and then after the race, uh we went over to Kyoto and then Osaka and then had a day trip to Nara. Um so that was one of my highlights was getting to see the deer, the bowing deer, and feed them. Um But I don't know if anyone got to do that. But they're so cute and they're everywhere. Um but just be careful if you try feeding them right close to where you buy the crackers because they will start biting your butt taking crackers. So you gotta hide those crackers and be like, oh see, hands are hands are free.

SPEAKER_08 1:37:01

Um, that's funny.

SPEAKER_13 1:37:03

But go a little farther away, they're a little a little less aggressive, but they're so they're cute, they're everywhere. So that was one of my highlights.

SPEAKER_08 1:37:10

There you go. Jen's there you go, John. Jen's best running experience non-running experience was getting bit in the butt by a deer.

SPEAKER_11 1:37:16

Getting bit by a deer. I I did the I did Kyoto as well. I I did um so when I first got there, I did a couple of days in Kyoto. Absolutely loved it. I loved the historical side, more the you know, the older homes, more the like townhome feel. We actually stayed in an apartment, which was amazing to you know how small these little houses are and steep stairs and and you know, with uh tatami mats. Like it was it was a really great experience. And then we took the bullet train back to Tokyo, you know, toured Tokyo. Speaking of Godzilla earlier, it's like, oh, we're gonna go see the show, it's gonna be great. That's like steam and flashing lights for like a minute. I was like, I used to do this. This is a Godzilla show. Anyways, it was it was quite funny. That was in uh Shinjuku and uh saw Chibuya crossing and uh the most insane crosswalk you will ever see in your life. Yeah, I was showing it was fantastic. Um, so it really was great. And then um post-race, I did you know flushed at the legs by walking Disney. So we did Disneyland and DisneyC. Like honestly, DisneyC is amazing. Like it really is an epic uh, you know, uh a Disney park. Like I just can't say enough. The one drawback is the crowds, like it's just you know, and you would think like, oh, it's everybody and anybody. No, it's it's the locals. It's all and it's all teenagers, like they just come in packs. And it's like it's it's quite intense. So after three days of Disney, I was like, all right, you know, I I need to just, you know, retreat back to my hotel where it's quiet versus the crowds, but no, absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous park. And uh again, I I can't say enough about Japan. It was amazing. I just can't wait to go back and see so many other areas of Japan. I'd love to go see more of like the um countryside and more historical local side versus just the cities. But no, I it's amazing, amazing place to visit.

SPEAKER_15 1:39:28

While you were exploring, was there any favorite food that you tried while you were there?

SPEAKER_14 1:39:32

Um, I really liked the rice balls, and we kept going to like a different 7-Eleven or a different family mart, so we can try all the different kinds of rice balls. Nice. That was my favorite.

SPEAKER_08 1:39:43

7-Eleven. What? No wawas in Japan?

SPEAKER_12 1:39:46

7-Eleven is Wawa in Japan. I had a lot of food that I really liked. We went to a place called Age 3, and all they make is like sandwiches that they deep fry. So it's like the special Japanese bread, which is really, really thick and fluffy, and they like cut you just the one half of the sandwich, so a triangle, and then cut it down the middle, and they do all kinds of like fillings and stuff. Their most popular is egg salad, and then the number two is like a creme brulee that they fill with whipped cream and custard, and then they brulee it after they fry the whole sandwich.

SPEAKER_13 1:40:28

I wanted to try that one.

SPEAKER_12 1:40:30

Um insane. I think we waited like 45 minutes in a line, just like you know, on the sidewalk, because there's no like the queue like went across the street. There was a guy directing traffic to make sure you weren't blocking the road, and then you sit in a like kids' park to eat it. So that was really good. And then I had um dipping noodles while I was there, which I really liked. I think a lot of people know about the ramen, but maybe not as much about the dipping noodles, where you get the like bowl of really like concentrated broth, and then you get a bowl of cold noodles and like give you instructions, at least at the place we did, where you eat like some of them just plain with it, and then you add like seasonings to another part, and then the last part you can eat however you want, and then when you're done, whatever broth you have left, they add, I think dashi or some other broth to it to like dilute it down, and then you drink it like regular soup. And it was just so good.

SPEAKER_15 1:41:36

I know most of you said that you were traveling with other people, but one of the things that's fascinating to me about Japan is a lot of the restaurants, at least that I've seen, have those little cubby spaces. Um, how is experiences with that? And like you have to get tickets at a lot of places to that kind of a learning experience, or was it pretty easy to deal with?

SPEAKER_11 1:41:58

We actually liked the the like ordering from the machine because you could just click English. Okay. You could actually read it. So fabulous. Okay. Um and that it was very common, especially with uh Itihan, which is like the the chain. And I I really liked that part. Um oddly enough, so I was traveling with my husband and my daughter, my daughter who's 15. And so we were, you know, we would wait a little longer perhaps to be the three side by side in the cubicles. And I, you know, mentioned to my daughter, I'm like, well, what do you think? Are you okay with with the way the restaurant is? It's not like a regular table. She's like, I love it. She's like, I don't have to talk to anybody. I guess the idea, you know, like you just you get in, you eat, you get out. And great food for a really great price, you know. And and again, you know, you don't really see the server because they're kind of behind a little window. And if you know, if you need anything extra, more noodles, more, you know, another boiled egg, you just click a button and they come back. And I I thought it was fabulous. Good food for a great price. So I we ate there quite a bit, actually.

SPEAKER_12 1:43:05

Yeah, I think a lot of people talk about how expensive, like they think how expensive it is to go to Japan, which I'm not gonna lie, the plane tickets are the most expensive part, um, depending on also maybe your hotel. But the food itself, for the most part, unless you're like trying to dine at Michelin restaurants or something all the time, most of our meals were very inexpensive. The first night my husband and I ate dinner for$12. The two of us. So yeah, it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_11 1:43:35

And actually, sorry, and speaking of price, though, we were talking about um hotels uh might not be as expensive. It depends on how much space you want for a hotel. So um, so even though the the food is a great experience, the hotel is also a unique experience. Um, so we had a um a room that had two beds, so it's always single beds. You'll never get like a double or a king or anything like that. It's always single beds. So there's the three of us, but the room in Tokyo had a bunk. So my daughter was up in the bunk and we had the two beds at the bottom. But the room is very tiny, so you kind of have to navigate how three suitcases could fit. And bathrooms are just tiny. So just the whole experience. Now, the more money, the bigger the room. But it's very challenging to find rooms that um actually could fit three people. So I don't, you know, a family of four or five would have to get two rooms, which really increases the the price. So that was my experience, anyways.

SPEAKER_08 1:44:37

Sounds like being on a cruise ship.

SPEAKER_12 1:44:39

Yeah, kinda. Actually, I think my room in Tokyo was smaller than a cruise ship room. It was basically just the bed. There was like a vanity that was attached to the wall and the bathroom, but like there was no walking space. You had to keep your luggage under the bed, which was fine because I was not spending any time in the room except sleep. But uh, versus my room in Kyoto was like humongous, and I would I out of shock said so in front of the hotel manager when he brought my luggage up, and I was like, that might not have been very appropriate, but I was just in shock of how much bigger our room was once we got outside of Tokyo.

SPEAKER_09 1:45:18

All right, ladies, as we bring this to a close, obviously, a lot of great comparisons we've been making over you know the past hour now about this race compared to our experiences at Run Disney. So I'll go around the horn. Karen, I'm gonna start with you. Would you recommend the Tokyo Marathon to other Run Disney runners?

SPEAKER_14 1:45:43

If they um can run a consistent, um, I would say like 615 or faster marathon and are comfortable with a lot more rules than Disney, yes. But if there's someone that is struggling with a 16-minute per mile pace and is are not really amenable to rules, it's probably not the best race for them.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:09

Jen, how do you feel about on the subject?

SPEAKER_13 1:46:11

Yeah, I I would agree with that. If yeah, maintaining those the pace for those cutoffs, it it can be extra stressful. Um But yeah, it's kind of it's fun to do once. I don't know if this is will be a repeat for me, just not like logistics. I'm not a fan of out and backs, and that's this whole course. Um but um for Disney fans, it's a good excuse to do a race in a new place and also go to a new Disney park.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:37

There you go. And that's the line of thinking I like right there. There you go. Tara, do you agree with that or disagree?

SPEAKER_11 1:46:43

Oh, 100%. I mean, Metal Monday at Disney, come on, you can't go wrong with that. You don't do Disney. There you go. Gotta do it.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:51

And Hannah, what say you?

SPEAKER_12 1:46:53

Yeah, I agree. If you're if you feel comfortable with the time cutoffs, then and you don't hate out and backs, then I think it's uh an amazing experience, and you should definitely do it once in your life if you have the chance and go see Tokyo Disney C. Tokyo's in the books.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:12

What's your next race destination for you guys?

SPEAKER_13 1:47:15

Currently, next thing on the books is Springtime Surprise 10K. Uh love me some Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. So got that. Wine and Dine, all three, and hopefully figuring out how to how to get into a charity or a bib for Boston sometime in the future.

SPEAKER_07 1:47:32

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_13 1:47:33

Get that last star. So that's gonna be the hardest one because I will not be a time qualifier uh unless I can shave like two hours off my time.

SPEAKER_08 1:47:41

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_12 1:47:44

I have no idea what my next race is. I felt so much leading up to this one that I was struggling so much that I decided I need like a little bit of a break. Um maybe I'll become a Pilates girly. I don't know. Um, but I'm taking a little bit of a break from running. I'll probably run like Peachtree Road Race next locally.

SPEAKER_11 1:48:06

My uh six-star journey is going to come to an end on April 20th uh for Boston uh Marathon. So I am a charity runner and um yeah, so I will be running the Boston Marathon and getting that six-star medal at the end. And I can't be more excited than I just everything is I I did not think that it would end with Boston. Um so to be able to get that six-star medal there um for a person who never ran a day in their life before 2020 and started with Run Disney and I, you know, got inspired by other members of Run Disney doing these world majors. Kim Griffin was one of the ones who recommended uh, you know, I should do Chicago, and I did it, and I just I never turned away from that and met uh Mosa Ponte, my running partner, and she's been incredible. And her and I have been doing all the uh majors together. So her and I will cross the finish line um for Boston on April 20th, and we both get our six-star medal. So um yeah, we're very, very excited. Other friends, uh Sarah is joining us as well, getting her six-star medal, and um uh Margaret is gonna be doing her second star, I believe. So yeah, so Margaret's gonna be joining us as well. So I just it's just been uh amazing journey, and it's amazing how so many people can come together to uh to share this experience, and it's such an incredible community. So uh I'm very, very grateful.

SPEAKER_14 1:49:40

I'm gonna be doing spring surprise 10K, and then I'm gonna be shifting gears and going back to doing duathlon, so run by run.

SPEAKER_08 1:49:48

Yeah, that's cool. Ladies, thanks. Thanks for uh for taking the time to share with us the story of the world major over in Tokyo. We appreciate it, and we Look forward to seeing you down the road.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:03

Thanks. Bye. Thanks, bye.

Listener Race Reports From Everywhere

SPEAKER_08 1:50:06

Great report, friends. Thanks for joining us and thanks for helping us out. It was, I'm sure it was a very exciting trip for everyone. All right, let's take a look at the race report for this week. Start on Saturday. They had a best damn race in Orlando. A bunch of folks were there running. Only one person gave us a report, and that is Aris. And Aris, I hope I pronounced I'm pronouncing your name correctly. No PR for her. Weather's back at she says the weather's back at the insufferable Florida level. I I beg to differ. We're just warming up. I had a friend, I I wish I could remember. Someone posted this on Facebook, and I love the quote. In March, Mother Nature turns to Florida and sets the oven on preheat. So we're just getting started. April and May are our really hot months. Let's see. Ours had fun. She was a fun jaunt around Lake Eola and the milk district. Also there, Debbie ran the half. Margaret did a challenge, the 5 and the 10K. Tracy did a 10K. Donna and Trevor, the half, and Michael also ran the half. In Tyler, Texas, it was a family affair at the fresh 15. Jessica and Kevin in the fifth time running this event, the entire family ran. Their girls, Ellie and Maggie, ran the 5K. Each beat their previous time by two minutes. Five-year-old Oliver ran the kids 1K, was super speedy. And Kevin and Jessica did the 15K. Let's see, Jessica says she felt weak even before starting, but she wanted to stick with the one hour 25-minute pace group for this 15K. They started the race running almost 40 seconds faster per mile than the intended race pace. Clearly not Galloway pacers. So after that, just became a race to finish. So she got to do that. Then they all got to see Kevin finish. Even though the after party had to shut down early due to impending bad weather, it was still a great morning. Kevin did the 15K. He says everything was much worse than when he did it last year. The pace, the finish, everything, including the running conditions. Last year the temps were in the high 40s. This year, uh 70 with high humidity. July weather in March. You know that's not true, Kevin. You know it's much worse in July, but still, it it hits on you suddenly and it feels very warm. Uh Sarah was also there. Sarah running this one for her third time on the course. Her worst pace in time. I think the heat got to her. Weather wasn't cooperating. And the hills, the hills apparently pretty tough in this race. In Jacksonville, Florida, they did the Gate River 15K. I believe that's the country's largest 15K in terms of number of runners. It's been around a long time. I did it. Holy smokes, I did it way back in the 1980s. But Lisa did it this week year, one of her favorite races. Scott was her guide. Now, Lisa, Lisa is an AWD. She has seizures on the course, but she's able to control them and keep running. She had seven in the 15-kilometer race, but still cut 20 minutes off of last year's time. She wants to thank everybody for all the hypes. Right here in Largo, Florida, we had the Fur Baby 5K. Now I'm not sure why I signed up for this, but I'm glad I did. It was at a lovely place, Eagle Lake Park, a lot of nice community parks around here. Beautiful trail for running this 5K. Lots of puppies there, as you might imagine, a fur baby 5K would have. They had uh, I'm gonna guess there were about two dozen doggies running the 5K, and then a bunch more. They had a one mile event for the dogs, too. Uh, I did this one, uh actually finished first in my age group, which I count this time because it was more than one person in my age group, so I'm proud of that. And I met a rise and run friend, Abby. Abby was there and had a good time. She was running with a friend of hers who was new to running. Uh, then that evening, Becky and I, along with Richard and Krista, did the Bel Air Sunset One Mile event. If you are in this area and you want to go to a nice after-race party that has a little bit of a race before it, this is a great post-race party. Uh Richard's son Barrett, the uh of the cookie decorating fame, was there with us. He didn't participate in the event, but he was there to be the forward party and get us a table at that after party. So there you go. A couple of neat events locally here this weekend. So go out to San Antonio for the prickly pear San Antonio trail race. Joseph did it. Uh now last week, Joseph PR to 10K. This week he's been nursing the back injury. Pretty painful. Uh he downgraded from the 10K to the 5K. Planned on just walking. In fact, he made a post prior to the race saying he would be lucky just to walk it. Uh round up, wound up running sub-30 and finishing first place in his age group. In Jupiter, Florida, Rosemary ran the Green Run 5K. She was visiting from New Jersey. Beautiful trail, but very hot and humid. If you're down here straight out of New Jersey and you pop into Jupiter, Florida, it's gonna feel hot and humid. She wore a Run Disney hat in honor of Jeff Galloway. She could see his thumbs up as she headed to the finish line. Looks like she got a age group two, second place finish, AG2 for Rosemary on that one. I saw the picture. They had those boxes, you know, the the podium. They had it at the race I was in too. But by the time they're calling the 70 plus category, nobody cares anymore. The photographers have left, the crowd is gone. So I didn't have to climb up on that thing. I was afraid I would fall. Uh but good job, Rosemary. Good job on that second place finish. In Lakeland, Florida, the regional health promise 5K. Erica was there less than a week after her first half marathon. She had to run, this is her favorite local race. They run through the historic downtown Lakeland area. I also meant running the hills in Lakeland. It's still Florida, but we do have some rolling hills. Great crowd support, hydration stop, mile one and a half, uh, great freebies at the finish. Big bonus for Erica. She got a chance to say hi to John Pelkey and Jody Chase, who were the race announcers. Carolyn was there. Also mentioned John and Jodie being there, bringing the Disney Magic. In Gaithersburg, Marilyn Kent did an ultra, the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail 50K. Kent put a tribute to Jeff on his racing pack because of what Jeff and his run walk meant to him. A lot of us feel the same way. 242 people finished this event. Almost all of it was on a single track, which really isn't easy to maintain uh run-walk ratios on. So settle out after about 10 miles. Race a little harder in his stomach. This uphill energy got zapped with 10 miles to go. No thanks to the limited trail work that he could put in with all the snow in Maryland, where he lives. Uh he hung in there despite seeing very few people after mile 19, aid station, and finished in seven hours flat for 32 and a half miles, exactly in the middle. 89 out of 178 runners. Good job, Kent. In the Atlanta area, the Chattahoochee Road Race 10K. Andrew with his son Micah, flattish course, nice downhill for the last three-quarters of a mile. Uh, weather in the morning temps made it a great day to run. Micah placed third in his age group, finishing in just over 54 minutes. That's a PR for him. On the other hand, Andrew managed to finish third from last in his age group. That's cool too, Andrew. Post race party featured adult beverages, grilled cheese sandwiches, and tomato bisque. That's unique. In addition to the usual post-race snacks, Dorothy was also at this race. Started within herself, took the rolling hills like a champ, cursed the last two significant uphills in the last mile. That's a bad place for uphills. Flew down the last downhill to the finish line and knocked it out in one hour and 13 minutes, breaking her all-time PR, which she set over six years ago, by two and a half minutes. She listened to the podcast with uh Barbara and Barbara Galloway, Chris Twiggs. Uh Amby Burfitt did the pol did that podcast on the way. If you haven't heard that one, it's uh she made a nice tribute post. That's I forget the name of Ambie's pop podcast, but you can find it. Several of our friends alluded to it in the Facebook group. I listened to it too. Very touching. I was proud of Barbara for uh being able to do that so soon after Jeff's passing. In West Orange, New Jersey, the squatch apple run. Alicia did a 20-mile there. Northern Jersey got so much snow in the last few weeks, now followed by warmer temps and rains, made the course a mess, living up to its nickname of Slop Apple. The distance had four loops of different the uh the race involved four loops of different distances, four miles, five miles, seven miles, then back to four miles, all starting and ending at the made aid station. 2400 feet of elevation gain. That's significant. At least she ran the first loop with a friend, the other three solo. The mud, the puddles, the slush, the ice really made the course challenging. She did about 19 of the 20 miles with soaking wet shoes. Not fun. Uh, but luckily didn't get any hot spots or blisters. So if you're local to that area, pay attention, John. If you're local to that area and you enjoy trail races, I think it leaves John out. Definitely recommend checking it out.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:59

I've I've I've uh I've walked through that uh that reservation, yeah. Okay. It's actually it's there's it's right next to a big zoo in South Mountain Arena, uh Turtleback Zoo, big zoo in the area. It's a nice little area.

SPEAKER_08 2:01:12

Well neat. Sounds good. Let's go to Biglerville, Pennsylvania, where Chrissy and her daughter Alisa were at the U.S. Road Running Metal Madness 10K. This is Elisa's first official 10K, so her PR was an hour 15 minutes. Chrissy finished at 108, Temptson, low 80s, high humidity, uh muddy, wet trail, two slippery bridges. They had fun dressing up as Hamburglar and Officer Big Mac. They feel they're ready now for the springtime surprise 10K. Up in Louisville, Kentucky, Ashley ran the Whiskey Row 5K. Out in Syracuse, New York, Linda, the Tipperary Hills Shamrock Run Foil 4 Miler, ran it with her Jeff Galloway charm on. Sue in Connecticut, of course, running Kelly's Pace Hair Hop 5K in Mystic, Connecticut. Felt great to be back outside with minimal snow on the ground in Connecticut now, running a race with one of her oldest friends. She thinks spring might be just around the corner. The Bury College Half Marathon took place in Georgia. Nancy did it. Such a beautiful course to run on. Half Marathon PR for Nancy. Christina said she was there as well. Friends, if if you tack on to somebody else's post that you were there as well, I I might not see it. I just happened to see this one for Christina. So when I do see it, I want to acknowledge your success. In Queens, New York, the St. Patrick's Day 5K, a little early, but not too bad. Regina thought it started at 10, so she got there in plenty of time, 9.40. Uh spent some time putting on her jazzy green glitter lips and headed to get her bib. Green glitter lips, yeah, way to go. Uh and then she saw people were already running. Uh started at 9.30, that's why. This is the third or fourth time we've had a dead last start by default. Uh let's see. Worst 5K time yet, but she's got a half later this month. She can make it up. In South Carolina at Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach Half Marathon, Kylie and her husband Drew. This race was challenging. Dew point of 65. That's getting up there, especially for this time of year. Uh never got to see the beach while running because of the marine cloud layer. Drew and Kylie were going for a dopey proof of time. Uh, didn't get it, didn't get a PR. Drew could have, but he stayed with Kylie. Very nice. Good job, Drew. Good decision, too. Uh disappointing, Kylie says, because your training was there, but today wasn't the day. That happens, friends. That happens. She's not giving up. Got another race in Kentucky. The medal for this one's pretty awesome. It was kind of like a clamshell. So there we go. Let's go. There was a Shamrock Scurry 5K in Tallahassee. Lola ran that one. The Naked Creek 25K trail race in Earliesville, Virginia. David wasn't planning on doing this race, but a friend who was very persuasive talked him into it, signed up the day before, ran on a beautiful course on private property, beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A little slower than he expected, still a little bit sore from the run, but the grilled cheese sandwiches at the finish line kept him moving forward. He's getting to hang out with the guys afterwards, great way to spend the day. Second race this weekend with grilled cheese, isn't it? I think I mentioned that earlier. Grilled cheese and tomatoes biscs.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:12

So do you eat grilled cheese, Jack?

SPEAKER_16 2:05:14

Oh, I made some the other night.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:16

With peanut butter and jelly on it, right?

SPEAKER_16 2:05:18

That'd be disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:20

Yeah, I gotta agree with you.

LA Marathon Heat And Wild Finish

SPEAKER_08 2:05:21

Probably would, Jack. Let's wrap up Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Robbie did the March for Cancer 5K. Nothing better than running in paradise. A windy day along the Fort Lauderdale beach in support of a good cause. Let's move to Sunday, which John says is a terrible day to do a race.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:44

Well, not every Sunday, but usually like usually at wine and die, we get to gain the extra hour of sleep if you if you want it. Here, they're pushing you your start time an hour earlier, so we're springing forward.

SPEAKER_09 2:05:58

So if you live in Arizona, Hawaii, then it's just another Sunday.

SPEAKER_08 2:06:04

Just another Sunday.

SPEAKER_09 2:06:05

Just another Monday.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:07

Oh yep.

SPEAKER_08 2:06:09

Let's see. Let's go with the big one, the Los Angeles Marathon. Guys, did you see the finish of the Los Angeles marathon? Oh my god, that was incredible.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:16

Now, do you know what happened? Uh with the with the I thought I did. The first place finisher, all the second place finisher got distracted on the course. Somebody was running down the course. He and and he jogged to the side, went the wrong way for like 25-30 seconds, had to cut backtrack and then go back again. I didn't know that. Yeah. I just knew the finish. Yeah. So he had, I mean, it would have been he might have won it if he didn't get that little wrong turn wrong, that temporary wrong turn.

SPEAKER_16 2:06:53

That's wild.

SPEAKER_08 2:06:54

Might have.

SPEAKER_16 2:06:55

Oh man, that sucks.

SPEAKER_08 2:06:56

No, it's a great finish.

SPEAKER_16 2:06:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 2:06:58

If if by some chance, friends, you haven't seen it, Google Finish 2026 LA Marathon. It is incredible. But there's something else interesting at the LA Marathon. Because they the race race directors or the race coordinators knew it was going to be a hot day. They gave an option to shut it down at the 18-mile mark. And I'm sure some folks took that. But let's take a look. We had Kayla run this one, and Russ did too. And Russ commented it sure was hot. Uh he did finish, but he walked about the last six miles. Started off at the expo seeing Marathon Madonna, who has run 52 marathons in 52 weeks, raising over a million dollars for pancreatic cancer research. Now Russ was running for a students run LA program and found he was placed in a seated corral, which turned out to really be beneficial in this case. Game ahead start. Ran into a friend from their group runs in the corral. They decided to run together. Other members of the group uh were pacing from the open corral, which she said was chaotic, so she moved to a seated corral. Good company then for Russ for the first 18 miles. Says this is a great run through many LA landmarks. One of those was the chili dog lady at mile six.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:27

I hope he didn't have one. I hope he didn't have one.

SPEAKER_08 2:08:29

Russ did not have one. Okay. Which would you have a chili dog at mile six of a marathon?

SPEAKER_02 2:08:36

No.

SPEAKER_08 2:08:37

No, probably not. Alicia's making the funny face.

SPEAKER_15 2:08:40

Well, definitely not for me, but here's an idea, though.

SPEAKER_09 2:08:44

Marathon Weekend and Princess, I know it's not open, but if you go to Cheer on Main Street, you just go into Casey's Casey's and politely ask them if they can make start making the the chili cheese dogs early, and then you can pass them out on the courts. I like it. Go to night before and order a whole bunch of things. There you go. Night before, even better.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:06

I'll bring I'll bring the uh shopping cart in like they do at the uh the parking lots. We put the coals on it and we start heating them up in the on the main street.

SPEAKER_07 2:09:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:17

We won't get thrown out.

SPEAKER_08 2:09:19

As much as I love chili cheese dogs, I don't think I could do it at mile six. All right, so the consensus is no chili cheese dogs for us. Uh let's see. Russ was Russ was calling out his runs and walks for his little group, and at mile eight, a couple of runners from the students run LA group asked if they could join up. They did. Got a group of about five. They hung together till mile 20. One of the students started to cramp severely. So Russ stayed with him. Got his 26.2 in. Good job, Russ. Now, I believe this was at the same time I'm not positive. The LA Charity Half Marathon. Allison did a 5K in half since the Oscars are just a week away. They had the red carpet set up. Allison got her own red carpet photo op with the statues, the uh little Oscar. No, I guess they're big Oscar statues there. They went down Rodeo Drive and she met a legacy runner and finished the race 41 years in a row. Fun race, lots of locals who supported. At one point, women weren't even allowed to run in these races. And today she was able to go and represent Finnish MS and support a great cause. Pretty, pretty good day for Allison. So pretty good day in Los Angeles for some of our friends. In Portugal, Anna ran the Lisbon Half Marathon, her second super half. She'd been dealing with knee issues, so training was limited. Eight miles was her longest training effort. She dressed as the Rooster of Barcelos, a Portuguese legendary character. She loved seeing the sunshine, something that had been missing in the UK for a while. I think she said they had like 832,000 consecutive days of rain. I think that's I think she's exaggerating. Anyway, it was sunny in Portugal, that's good. Lack of training hit her around mile eight. And she was thinking was what would Jeff say? She knew it would be you can do it, put one front foot in front of the other. So that's what she did. Stuck to her intervals for the later miles, knew that Jeff would be smiling down, finally finished, two hours, 28 minutes, which she's really happy about. That's a solid, uh, solid half marathon, Anna. Now Anna mentions, and I don't know if you saw this also, the men's half marathon world record fell at this event. The uh the winner finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds. I used to think that was a good 10K time. And he finished a half marathon. I don't I don't have the man's name, but I saw that elsewhere. So we have a new world half marathon record. There was a 10-mile run in Reston, Virginia. Jen was there. She was a little worried because it was a 1330 pace requirement, but she finished it with time to spare. About a two minute per mile improvement over her last 10 mile or several years ago. Plus, she made a new running friend along the way. Jen points out, thanks for the hotter hypes. We get a lot of our friends saying that. Divya was there, did it as part of a 14-mile training run. Tried to take it easier because she's got the United Airlines half in New York City next weekend.

SPEAKER_09 2:12:46

Good job getting the sponsor in there, Bob.

SPEAKER_08 2:12:48

Oh yeah. Well, Divya did it, so I I had to do it for her too. Uh luckily the uh many hills and humidity made that easier to achieve. And I what she's saying is easier means take it easy was easier to achieve. Racewag was a nice jacket and a medal. She hyped a fellow runner, mid-race. Gina was at the race too. Not the easiest course. Again, she talks about the hills. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, we had a Shamrocks and Shenanigans 5K. Riley was there. Ran the 5K with her 10 and 12-year-old boys, Lewis and Paul, and her husband Tom. Tom ran the 1K with their seven-year-old Daniel. Bright and sunny and cold, a hilly course running past the Michigan Wolverine Football Stadium. The big house, right?

SPEAKER_09 2:13:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_08 2:13:44

Yep. Lots of fun green costumes, all for a good cause, benefiting the University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital. All three ran that ran the feet. 5K PR. Lewis took three minutes off of his previous PR, finishing in 2429. Paul took more than a minute. His PR of 2450. And Riley took 30 seconds off and finished at 2250, winning her age group. Guys, those are some fast 5K times. The youngest finished seventh overall in the 1K. Everybody had a great morning. Sounds like you sure did. Out in San Diego, a hot chocolate run, hot chocolate 15K. Jennifer did it for the third year in a row. The sun was shining bright at 8 a.m. It warmed up quickly. This race is always a challenge just due to the sheer number of hills. Jimmy running in Knoxville, Tennessee. The I Just Wanna Be a Unicorn 5K. That's a great name for a race. Great race for Jimmy. Nothing special. Just had fun. Mandy was in New Orleans, Louisiana, doing the Shamrock and Run 10K at the lakefront in New Orleans. A good run. Listened to the Rise and Run Princess Weekend recap. Drank a Guinness at mile five and a half. Felt really good throughout the run. Improved her time by four minutes from last week. Again, it's five and a half miles into a 10K. I guess that makes you feel good. Can't hurt, right? Better than a chili dog, you think?

SPEAKER_15 2:15:37

Probably. Yeah.

Final Cheers And Registration Reminder

SPEAKER_08 2:15:39

There we go, friends. That's the race report for episode 233. Thanks for hanging in there with us. Hope you enjoyed the podcast. Look forward to seeing you a bunch of you, seeing a bunch of you Tuesday morning as we try to get registered for something at Marathon Weekend. Best of luck with that. Friends, and if you run, you know you are our friend. We appreciate you. We love you. We thank you for joining us. We look forward to seeing you soon. But until then, happy running.

SPEAKER_09 2:16:22

The Rise and Run podcast discusses general information about Run Disney and is in no way affiliated with Run Disney or the Walt Disney company. Any information or advice discussed on this podcast should not be considered medical advice. It is always considered with your health care or medical.