The Rise and Run podcast has always celebrated our runDisney family, and Episode 175 is no different. The latest episode showcases how running is not just a sport but a way to forge deep and meaningful connections among friends. Through a collection of heartfelt stories, we delve into the experiences of runners who have faced challenges, celebrated milestones, and found joy in their running journeys.
We start with an amazing story from Andrea. During Marathon Weekend, Andrea started a collection and quickly raised the funds needed to surprise Mayra, our Pop Century superstar bus coordinator (episode 171) with an annual pass to Walt Disney World. You can hear the excitement in Mayra's as she describes her first trip to Hollywood Studios. It is not to be missed.
Similarly, Jack joins us in the race report spotlight to give his account of the Icebreaker Marathon in East Meadow, NY providing insight into the mental strength required to conquer the multiple loops of the race. We also celebrate Jack's completion of running every street in Camden County, NJ, a story we first talked about in episode 94. This spectacular effort was done in memory of Jack's father and as a fundraiser for the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
Another of our Galloway pacer friends, Greg, joined us to talk about a very special fund-raising race he his helping to organize in the Tampa Bay, FL area.
As we wrap up Episode 175, it's evident that the spirit of togetherness, shared aspirations, and the magic of community resonates in this running family. Whether you’re training for your first race or celebrating your latest achievement, the heartwarming stories from this episode remind us to cherish every mile, every memory, and every friendship made along the way. So lace up your running shoes, join the community, and start creating your own unforgettable running story today!
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Breakthrough T1D
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(00:27):
surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners.
Well, the alarm's gone off, solet's go.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Hi, this is Chris
coming at you live from the
first annual pop-up of theRunFit Fab crew from Disney
World in Orlando on MarathonWeekend.
Today's been the most joyousday spending time with so many
great people and getting to seethe first live Rise and Run
podcast Happy running.
Hi, I'm Laura, I'm Tara, myname's Jack, I'm Rachel, I'm
(01:00):
Allie with Allie.
We're coming to you from theRun Fit Fab meetup at the
Dolphin and you're listening tothe Rise and Run podcast.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Happy running.
Well, hello my friends andwelcome to episode 175 of the
Rise and Run podcast.
A couple of intros from ourfriends this week.
That's because John recorded abunch at the pop-up and I think
maybe even elsewhere, so wedon't want to leave anybody out.
(01:32):
We heard from Grace and then weheard from the ensemble of Run
Disney, Rise and Run Friends,and thank you for those.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
There was a surprise
one in that one too, I think.
Was it there a Jack in that one?
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Oh yeah, jack's in
there with the ensemble.
Who else was there?
I know Allie without a knee.
Tara was there.
If Tara was there, rachel wasprobably there.
Yep, jack was there.
Well, thanks, guys.
Thanks for doing it, andmeanwhile, if you want to send
us one, we'll give you theinformation on calling one in
here in just a moment.
I'm Bob and I'm in less thanperfect voice this week, but
(02:13):
please forgive me.
I just been doing too muchyelling.
I'm here this week with Greg Gobirds.
Yeah.
I'm surprised you have a voice,greg.
The difference is Greg watchesat home.
I watch at a bar in Clearwaterwith a couple hundred other
Eagle fans, so it's kind of likebeing at the game.
We get to yell.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Oh, trust me, I did
plenty of yelling in my living
room.
So, don't you worry.
I guess I'm more vocallytrained for this Bob.
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
We'll get you a vocal
coach for the Super Bowl.
Alright, I'm here with AliciaHello.
With Jack.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Hello.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
And with John.
Hey, how you doing Very well,john.
Thanks, despite the voice.
Speaker 7 (02:56):
G-men, g-men, I gotta
put it in there somewhere.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
We still love and
respect you, John.
We get it.
It's our year.
Your year is coming.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Bitter party of one.
Bitter party of one.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
Oh, I don't hear that
I don't hear that.
Anyway, okay, friends, thisweek's episode we've got a
couple special revisits.
I was going to say I'm going toleave one secret, but since
we're posting to Facebook andInstagram what we're doing A
couple special revisits I wasgoing to say I'm going to leave
(03:31):
one secret, but since we'reposting to Facebook and
Instagram what we're doing, werevisit with Myra from Pop
Century.
But the reason for the revisitis very special.
Our friend Jack Witzig, theCamden County runner, is back
with us and we have a quickconversation with our friend
(03:51):
Greg Creel.
Greg's a Galloway Pacer who hasa special event going on in my
area that he wants to let ourfriends in the greater Tampa
area know about.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
If you enjoy the Rise
and Run podcast, please share
us with your friends andintroduce them to the Rise and
Run family.
We want to share in their RunDisney journey.
Please remember to follow us onFacebook at Rise and Run
Podcast, instagram at Rise andRun Pod.
Check out our YouTube channeland visit our webpage at
riseandrunpodcastcom.
If you have a question, comment, race report or want to
(04:24):
introduce an upcoming episode,call us at 7, 2, 7, 2, 6, 6, 2,
3, 4, 4, and leave us a recordedmessage.
Speaker 7 (04:35):
We also want to thank
our Patrion to support helps us
keep the rise and run podcastrising and running.
If you'd like to join Patreonteam, please check out
patrioncom slash rise and runpodcast.
And we want to recognize someof our new Patreons.
We have Joe R who joined theplastic cheese level, and
Miranda who joined the how youdoing level.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
How you doing.
How'd we come up with that name?
Speaker 7 (04:54):
I don't know,
nevermind Must be from Jersey.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
I off the beaten path
here.
I think I told you this onetime, John.
I was at the Italian restaurantin uh, in Epcot Right, and I'm
just reading off the menu.
I'm just reading what's writtenthere that the dish is written
in Italian.
I just read it and the waiter,who's from Italy, says to me
(05:21):
your accent's perfect.
What part of Jersey are youfrom?
Says to me, your accent'sperfect.
Speaker 7 (05:24):
What part of Jersey
are you from?
I get corrected all the time inItaly.
In Epcot I go.
Can I get the calamari?
Oh, you want the calamari.
No, I want the calamari.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
If you were at, it
wasn't Via Napoli, it's, I don't
know.
Maybe it was Via.
Speaker 7 (05:43):
Tutto Italia, tutto.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
Italiaudor.
Italia is the sit down.
Well, listen back on, hey Jack.
What's new on YouTube?
Speaker 5 (05:51):
I got the pop-up
video on YouTube.
I had a lot of fun making itand I really hope you guys enjoy
it.
It was a very nice event, verynice day and had a blast
recording the live recording Ourfirst ever live one, but yeah.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
Well, actually it was
our second ever live podcast
you were on the other yeah, you,you were on the other one, jack
at jack's event in atlanta
Speaker 5 (06:14):
oh yeah, I was on,
that, wasn't I my bad.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Second ever live
event but jack, I will say I
love your new camera, so uheverything looked great, so keep
up the great work.
The rising run podcast isbrought to you by our friends
over at magic bound travel.
Uh, magic pounds got some, uh,really interesting updates for
(06:42):
us.
As you know, brad and maggieand the rest of the mbt team are
hard at work.
Um, you know, planning thefirst ever rise and run cruise.
Uh, that's going to beoccurring immediately after
springtime surprise in 2026 andthis weekend, uh, the team got
(07:04):
to go on a little bit of aresearch trip on the ship that
we will be sailing on the utopiaof the sea, a part of the royal
, uh, caribbean cruise line feat.
So we're very excited and Iknow we're going to try and get
brad and maggie on, uh in thenext couple of weeks.
Uh, you know, to tell, to tellus about what they learned about
(07:25):
the ship and the ideas thatthey have for this cruise that
we're going to have in about ayear and a half, or maybe not
less than a year and a half'stime 446 days from now, Greg.
There we go.
Perfect, not that you'rekeeping count or anything like
that, but so the part that Iwanted to pass along here is our
(07:45):
friends at MBT have secureddiscounted interior staterooms
for that particular cruise.
Again, the cruise is happeningon April 20th 2026.
Interested in one of thosediscounted interior staterooms
(08:08):
or any other stateroom on thatparticular ship, be sure to
visit magicboundtravelcom.
You can also visit our Facebookpage and our website.
We have links that will takeyou over to the quote form for
that particular cruise and we'reso excited and we just got this
update today and and I can'twait to hear my co-host thoughts
here as of time of recording,we have 29 staterooms booked
(08:32):
yeah, that's just that bogglesmy mind.
That's so fascinating.
Especially you know how far outwe are, so we hope that that
number continues to grow.
We have started ourbrainstorming sessions now of
the fun activities that we'regoing to have.
So if you are interested inthat cruise, any other cruise, a
Disney cruise or any othervacation destination, especially
(08:53):
those run Disney racecations besure to visit
magicboundtravelcom to fill outyour no obligation quote and a
team member will get back to youswiftly.
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Thanks, greg.
Yeah, I am really excited aboutthis and the more people that
sign up, the more excited I get.
I think this is going to be awonderful time.
All right, let's take a look atour training calendar.
It is Disneyland Half MarathonWeekend.
Hi, friends, I'd say, lookaround and we'd be there to say
(09:24):
hi to you, but we unfortunatelywill not.
But we hope you are having awonderful time.
It's Expo Day out in Anaheim andI hope things are going really
really well for you.
Have fun.
Princess Weekend now.
Golly, friends, princessweekend is a mere three weeks
(09:47):
away.
We're in training week 15.
Training schedule calls forfour miles, including a magic
mile.
Springtime surprise is now nineweeks away.
We're in training week nine.
Training calls for three miles,including a magic mile.
(10:11):
I want to remind our friendswho are going to springtime
surprise that if you arearriving, I count down from expo
day.
If you're arriving on Expo Day,your Advanced Dining
Reservation Day is coming up onFebruary 2nd.
That'll be here before you knowit.
(10:32):
That's next week, so that'scoming up shortly.
And, of course, if you'rearriving before Expo Day, you
can count backwards to the firstor the end of this month,
whatever.
A real quick note.
Many of our friends are familiarwith Galloway training and the
Magic Mile but we haven't talkedabout it.
I just want to talk about itreal quickly if it's a new thing
(10:54):
to you.
The Magic Mile is a measuringtool and not necessarily a
training tool necessarily atraining tool.
The best way to do it is tospend your first mile at a slow,
easy warm-up pace, then runyour magic mile.
(11:18):
The Galloway training methoddescribes running the magic mile
as at a pace a one pace that bythe time you finish you should
feel you can't keep that pacegoing much more than another
hundred yards or so, so nearlyyour maximum pace, and then use
(11:39):
the time for your magic mile.
You can just Google JeffGalloway magic mile calculator,
plug your time in there and itwill give you recommended
training times for your variousdistances.
So if you haven't done one in awhile, that's how it works.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
I just pulled up the
calculator and just for your
guys reference, if you did a 12minute magic mile, let's say
right, he's saying your long runpace should be 1736.
Don't worry about that, that'sjust your long run pace.
So your five, your, your 5kpace is about a 12 minute mile,
(12:18):
your 10 K pace is a 1348, your10 miles a 14 minute mile and
your marathons of 15 36.
So you're still underneath thatyeah that threshold?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
you know, and john,
going off of that and that and
that's a really importantdistinction to make here is if
you are using that onlinecalculator, that long run pace
that it is spitting out for you,that's the long run pace based
off of the marathon distance.
So, for example, you know, sayyou know you put in your magic
(12:52):
mile, and it's going to say yourlong run pace.
The rule of thumb that I alwayslike to go with is okay, you
know, it's going to give youthat breakdown in terms of your
paces for 5k, 10k, 10k, half andfull.
If you're not training for amarathon, say you're training
for the 10K, take that pace,that what it says of what your
race day pace should be for a10K, then add two minutes to
(13:15):
that and that should be yourtraining pace.
So that is the one thing thatis a little I don't want to say
difficult, but something thatyou do have to parse out using
that calculator is that that'ssuper granted, as we also have
discussed, though, is that youcan never go too slow on a
training run.
So if you want to go that pace,you most certainly can, but if
you want to, you know be in themost optimal position to be able
(13:38):
to hit those race day pacesbased on the distance.
Just take the race pace, addtwo minutes and you should be
good to go Right.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
Good, your long run
is an endurance run.
We'll get more into that atsome other point.
But yeah, it's a speed limit.
You should not go faster thanthat pace because you're using
that run to build your endurance, build speed during the week
Again, a topic for another time.
(14:06):
Let's take a look here.
The other thing that's comingup on February 11th for the
general public it's actuallyFebruary 4th for those who are
in Club Run Disney or those whoare perfect Wine and Dine
Challenge runners Alicia I'm notblaming Alicia, I don't think
(14:30):
she feels it.
She's pretty far away.
However, if you are new to this, again if you haven't been with
us for a while, find the Wineand Dine Weekend Community Chat
Group on our Facebook page andbe ready to join us on the
(14:53):
morning of February 11th.
We do a lot of work to help oneanother get registered for
those races and we're prettysuccessful.
We can't guarantee anything,but we're pretty successful.
My friends, any trainingupdates amongst the gang here?
Any news?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I did my first run
post-marathon today and post
being sick.
I kept it short, I did twomiles, but it went pretty good.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
How's the weather
right now, Alicia?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Right now we're in a
heat wave, is what they're
calling it, and so today notwhen I went, cause I went early
in the morning, but today we gotin the forties, and then
Thursday we're also supposed tohit in the forties.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
So Okay, so you're
not dealing with ice on the road
, right now.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
No, there was a
little bit in like the shaded
areas, but 99% of the areas itwas fine.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
All right.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, that's good,
yeah, anybody else, alicia, I'm
right there with you Right aftermarathon weekend.
I guess I would say I had a lotof active recovery, because the
way that I've been handlingthings the last couple of years
is I do the races and then Istay almost the full week after
marathon weekend as part of myfamily vacation, so I got lots
(16:07):
of park miles on my feet, so Ithink that that always really
helps in terms of making surethat you're not stiff and
getting back into tip top shape.
But last week I also got myfirst run in post marathon
weekend.
The know the conditions were alittle tough, but I did it along
(16:28):
the beaches of Maui.
And at least this time there wasno waves that hit me as I was
running, but it was good to getout there.
Now, usually I always like togo in the morning because I like
to watch the sunrise and thetimes are cooler, but because of
my work schedule I didn't getto go out till the afternoon.
So it kind of felt likemarathon weekend in the sense
(16:50):
where I was running in 80degrees and you know, and then,
you know, sat by the pool andyou know, and Alicia, you know,
I heard you on last week'srecording I only had two Mai
Tais, the entire trip.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
So I think I well
behaved myself yeah, the entire
trip.
So I I think I I well behavedmyself.
Yeah, only only two, but theyserved him in buckets I wish
they did so.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You had a horrible
time yeah I did have a horrible
time, but yeah, so I.
I was uh very, very fortunatethat I got to uh to get that
first uh post-marathon weekendrun.
In also went on a nice littlehike as well in uh one of the
hawai state parks.
So not a total run, but Idefinitely got some elevation
under my feet too.
So that was.
I'm glad to be back out there,and as soon as all this snow
(17:33):
melts here in Pennsylvania, I'llbe back out on the road more,
because I can only take thetreadmill for so long.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
Yeah, you know it's
been a long time, Greg, but one
of the things I remember aboutrunning in Hawaii even though
the temperatures were high andthe humidity is reasonably high,
it always felt okay, and Ithink the trade winds had
something to do with that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
Yep, but it always
felt all right.
I don't remember.
Really I suffer a lot more herein Florida than I did in Hawaii
when the weather got warm.
Let let's see.
I got back out on the roadtoday.
I did the week after Dopey.
I took that off from training.
(18:15):
The next week I got back intoCoach Stokes Stokes Metabolic
Training his eight-weekchallenge.
I got back into that.
I did runs on the treadmillthat week.
Weather was okay here.
It wasn't great, it was rainy,nasty, it was atypical of
(18:38):
Florida and sometimes atreadmill is just a little
easier to hop on there and getit done.
But I got back out on the roadtoday, still doing Tom's program
.
I got back out on the roadtoday so I feel pretty good
about that.
I was commenting earlier thismorning One thing about and I'm
not superstitious so I don'tmind saying this and I'm not
looking for wood to knock on oranything Since starting with Tom
(19:03):
and I really started with himin July last year the strength
training I haven't had a runninginjury and it's been that's for
me.
It's been a long time sinceI've gone that amount of time
without some kind of runninginjury.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So I think strength
training makes a difference.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
I think it does,
Alicia.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Hey Bob, maybe not
this week because I know your
voice is on thin ice right here,but maybe in the next couple of
weeks.
I would love to hear yourthoughts about the Echelon
treadmill and what yourexperience has been like that,
especially with the fact thatGalloway has now partnered with
Echelon as well.
I'd be really interested tohear about that.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Now that I've had it
for a while, I'd be happy to
talk about that.
Yeah, we'll set something upthere, Greg.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
Yeah, I've been doing
the same thing, bob.
I've been just doing Tom'sworkouts.
That's been my training rightnow.
Like I said, I do walk a lotfor work.
So that's my I guess myendurance, if you want to call
it that.
(20:09):
That's my uh, I guess myendurance, if you want to call
it, but I still have not did aofficial run yet.
I think maybe this week or nextweek I'll get back on the uh,
depending on the weather.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Okay, sounds good.
I got a half marathon coming upnext week, so I can't let too
much time slip by.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Hey guys, did anybody
have a problem with their
garment today?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
too, much time
slipped by, hey guys did anybody
have a problem with theirgarment today?
No, I on the garment app thatthey knew that it was a problem.
I did not have issues, but Iassume a lot of people did yeah,
my, my garment went into a ablue triangle reboot all day.
Speaker 7 (20:40):
Uh, I guess whatever
happened with the gps or
whatever it was, it put myGarmin into a reboot mode and
they had to actually do a hardreset to get it back at work.
And there's a whole thing onthe Garmin site about how to fix
your watch if it's having aproblem, but they still have not
said what's caused the problem.
(21:02):
A lot of users got it today.
Yeah, I think the biggestreason I didn't get it is
because I'm wearing a Samsungwatch and not a Garmin.
That said what's caused theproblem.
Speaker 6 (21:05):
A lot of users got it
today.
Yeah, I think the biggestreason I didn't get it is
because I'm wearing a Samsungwatch and not a Garmin.
That limits your Garminproblems if you're wearing a
different watch.
Speaker 7 (21:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
That is unusual,
though that's the first I've
heard of a widespread problem.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, I've had it
happen to me personally before
and had to do that thing that'son the website to reset it, but
I haven't heard of them havinglike a huge problem like that
for a while now.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
Hey, just changing
subjects.
Just a quick comment.
Friends, I saw a lot of ourfriends on our social media
posting they got their Love onthe Run 14 miler medals this
week, and while it's too latenow to register for it, since
the medals are already out, lotsof positive comments on the
(21:55):
stuff that was received.
Yeah, yeah they look reallynice.
Yeah, and apparently the throwin there was also nice Again I
read a couple in.
There was also nice.
Again I read a couple of nicecomments on that.
Speaker 7 (22:07):
I guess just
concentrating on those two or
three virtuals a year now.
Yeah, they've really stepped upthe game.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
So, for those of you
who are doing that, good luck,
have fun with it.
You've already got the medals,so enjoy them.
I hope you do have fun and doenjoy that.
Friends, let's uh, let's goahead and visit.
(22:35):
I think this is an exceptionalstory that we're about to unfold
before you, and I hope youenjoy listening to it.
Oh, friends, and forgive thisvoice here, this is a special
story.
This is one that our guest,andrea Hi Andrea.
Speaker 9 (22:49):
Hi, good evening.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Good to see you.
Thanks for jumping in there.
Andrea approached me about andI'm going to, because I'm about
to completely fail here.
I'm going to ask my friendsGreg and John to take over.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, so, as Bob was
saying, you know, we got this
email.
I believe it was duringmarathon weekend.
Um, andrew, you know you, youreached out to us via our web
page and you shared with us themost heartwarming story that you
know like.
(23:22):
As soon as we heard this, we weneeded to share it.
Now the thing is, I want you tostart to tell the story,
because the one thing we haven'talluded to yet is there's
another person logged on forthis interview who we are going
to remain secret until you bringup their name.
So, andrea, tell us about theemail that you sent us just a
(23:43):
couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
Well sure, I did not
know about the podcast.
I did not know about the storythat was covered.
I was at Marathon Weekend withfriends that staying at Pop
Century, where I stay all thetime and, as is tradition,
getting on the expo buses andthe race buses, seeing our good
friend Myra, who was there tosay hi, remembers us every time
(24:05):
we visit, gives us our hugs,helps us on the bus, makes sure
we're all set for the races,stays beyond her shift to make
sure everybody's all set, alwayslooks out for the athletes.
And we got to talking on thistrip and talking about park time
and she had mentioned that shehasn't gotten to go to the parks
in years and she hadn't evenseen Galaxy's Edge yet.
(24:25):
And a couple of us got off thebus and started to walk back to
the room and say we need to dosomething about this and started
to make some phone calls sayingcan we get a pass?
What can we do?
Actually talked to one of themanagers of Pop Century, Mike,
who's an absolute sweetheart,said we have an idea, how can we
pull this off, and he gave ussome tips and other athletes
(24:49):
overheard us talking about itand said we want to contribute.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Andrea, this was just
folks around you.
This wasn't an organization.
Speaker 9 (24:55):
Yeah, Nope, just, I
don't even know who they are,
just people that were on the busnext to me, people on the bus
to the race, people on the busto the parks on the Skyliner
line, in the Pop Centurycafeteria, overheard us and
pulled out their wallets.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Wow.
Speaker 9 (25:12):
And said can I Venmo
you?
Can I help you?
And long story short, on Sundayof marathon weekend, when we
were waiting for Myra to finishher shift which, of course,
she's just a sweetheart stayedbeyond her shift to help people
off the buses.
We were able to say that, myra,we have a little surprise for
you.
Talk to people on the line, dida little video of it just for
(25:36):
proof of purchase for peoplethat contributed, and explained
that the athletes of Pop Centurywanted to thank her for
everything she's done for usover the years and for her
support, and that enoughathletes had contributed
together to collect to purchaseher an annual pass.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 9 (25:53):
So we brought her
over to Disney Springs, had her
ID, got her set up, good to go,and she's already been to the
parks.
But that's the spirit of RunDisney and I assure you that it
was as much a privilege to beable to do this and to be a part
of this and to have so manypeople want to help out.
The minute we said who it was,the first disbelief was people
(26:15):
automatically assumed she's acast member but she's not
privileges.
And for us to run through theseparks and go to these parks all
the time, um, we needed to makesure we share that magic.
So it really truly was myprivilege and I appreciate her
being a good sport of thesurprise and for me waiting
around the bus for her to finishher shift so we could.
(26:37):
But, um, really it was an honorfor all of us and the least we
could do to thank you well, well, she, she's dabbing her eyes
right now.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
You alluded to it in
that beautiful story.
Let's welcome back the popcentury princess herself, the
newest annual pass holder ofwalt disney world, myra, welcome
back to rise and run oh my god,hello everybody oh my goodness,
I'm sitting here listening tothis.
Speaker 11 (27:05):
I can't help but cry
.
This was something sounexpected.
I do what I do because I loveto do what I do.
That's the bottom line.
When this happened, I was notexpecting this.
I was trying.
When we were talking about it,it was just a thing.
I said oh well, you know it'llhappen, it will happen.
(27:28):
Life is what life is.
So sometimes there's always aflat tire.
There's always a bill thatneeds to be paid, there's always
a friend that needs to behelped, there's a dog that needs
to be saved, there's somebodythat needs to be helped in one
way or another, so entertainmentalways falls behind.
When this was presented to me, Idid not expect this at all.
(27:48):
I had no idea Andrea was evendoing any of this.
I didn't even think that thiswas even a thing, and she
surprised me At first.
I was taken back by everyone'sgenerosity and everything that
they did for me, which wasincredible.
(28:09):
It still is.
Family and friends were amazed.
I was so taken back.
I didn't know how to react.
In that moment.
I kind of lost my head andAndrea was like okay, take a
breather, relax.
This is something she didn'tknow.
I left everything behind myclapper, my wand.
I left everything in top centuryand I left.
And here I am, maybe fiveminutes from home, when Andrea
(28:32):
sends me a text by the way, youleft all your stuff over there.
I'm like, oh OK, turn around,turn around.
But I was so wound up, that itdidn't matter, and I was just
the whole ride.
I'm usually singing, screamingin the car.
I was just crying, quiet,thanking everyone in the
community within my means andsending everyone the most
amazing vibes for what they didand went and got my things.
(28:54):
I did not expect this at all atall.
The conversation we had.
We had it was very oh well, ifyou know a cast member that can
get me in, you know, so I couldcome with a couple of friends
and check it out.
I'll run real quick through thepark so I could see this and
that was it.
I wasn't thinking anything morethan that and then to have this
incredible gift given to me, itwas way, way more than I ever
(29:19):
expected.
I know everyone appreciates meand they're always hugging me
and they're always doing thingsand I don doing things and I
don't want to.
I never want to put anyone out.
If you know me, you know thatI'm not a material person.
I am very down to earth and I'drather help someone.
Whether someone's watching ornot, I'm going to help you and
that'll just be in the universe.
That know what happened andthat's the basic line of it.
And but to have this happen forme on the other side was
(29:44):
extremely unexpected.
It's something that I have beenthinking about since it
happened, and just to think thatthey did this for me, it's way
more than just that pass, youknow what it came with and all
the thoughts and everything that.
All the goodwill that came fromall these individuals that
(30:06):
pulled together to do this isamazing.
And Miss Andrea pulled thistogether and I had no idea she
kept like I saw her off and onbecause the running joke is,
like you know that I always tellher what time is it.
Look, it's 6.15.
You need to get to bed.
You got to be here in themorning.
Speaker 10 (30:20):
Let's go Go to bed
Now Go, go talk.
Speaker 11 (30:21):
Let's go, go to bed
Now Go, don't talk, just keep
walking.
Go to bed, I'll see you in themorning.
You know this kind of thing andwhenever I see her, it's really
nice to see her.
And hey, how are you?
How's it here?
We go Another year, this kindof thing.
But to have this thing happenand to know that so many people
(30:42):
stepped up, it was justunexpected.
I didn't.
I don't even know how toexplain it.
You know how it feels to be onthe other, the receiving end.
It's way more than what youthink.
Speaker 9 (30:49):
If you saw, you know
that this was the weekend of the
downpour on the half marathon.
It was, you know, theunfortunate timing chip issues
for people.
There were a lot of people thatwere upset and it was like you
know, let's do somethingpositive here.
And if you ever doubt yourpersonal impact on people, um,
in the first Disney group thatwe shared it in, to have
(31:10):
thousands of people respond andall these comments of, oh my God
, I know exactly what you'retalking about, how can I help?
She's so amazing.
I hope you keep reading all ofthose and realize that people
that haven't been back in yearsremembered what you did for them
and wanted to help.
And I didn't know about thepodcast, I didn't know about the
story.
Someone mentioned it to me andsaid did you know about this?
(31:32):
And that's when we contactedyou and said, hey, I just want
to make sure you knew, just toshare the good, the happy ending
.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, andrea, what
you're saying is so true because
and granted, every singleepisode that we put out, we do
some social media promotionbehind it.
Alicia posted on the Instagramand then Bob posted on Facebook,
and every once in a whilethere's a few comments or a few
shares or something like that.
When your episode dropped, allthe hosts commented on this that
(32:04):
I had never seen such aresponse of either personal
stories of interactions with youor just I love Myra.
And then here was my selfie withyou and every time you know we,
we have never seen that thattype of influx of just like
(32:25):
positive jubilation over I'm soexcited to listen to this week's
episode because of you, andthat goes to show what a
powerful and positive impact youare into this community.
We've never brought a guestback this quickly.
I mean sure we've done two partepisodes.
We've never brought a guestback this quickly, you know.
You know I mean sure We've donetwo part episodes, but we've
(32:47):
never had a repeat guest asquickly.
So that goes to show thatyou're in the Pantheon of this
community.
Now one question that I didhave, andrew.
You know, obviously you know.
You said you, you talked aboutthis and how it organically
happened in, you know, from thebus to to the everything pop
food court and everything likethat.
If you had to take aguesstimation, how many
individuals do you think put youknow funds towards this very
(33:11):
noble and valiant effort?
Speaker 9 (33:14):
I can tell you 38
okay, wow wow, that's, that's
just in person.
A couple people online, um, nomatter what it was going to
happen, but everybody that I'llhave messages that I'll forward
from what people wrote, but itit was just a.
It was the spirit of run disney.
This is what it should be andand I'm I thank everybody that
(33:37):
helped out to make this possibleum, but this is what it's all
about.
You know, I always tell peoplewhen you go to run Disney, you
don't go alone, you just have10,000 friends you haven't met
yet.
Speaker 6 (33:47):
Oh yes.
Speaker 9 (33:49):
And being there for
each other and helping people
off the bus and, you know,helping people that are doing
their first race calm down andletting them know it's going to
be okay.
And even on the cold mornings,when we saw people that were
freezing at the start, we weretelling them if you see a
throwaway layer on the ground,pick it up, put it on, it's
yours now, stay warm.
That whole shared experiencethat people that haven't done
(34:11):
these events don't understand.
But this is literally popcentury.
Being at that bus stop is partof the weekend and I'm one of
the people that looks forward togetting there and getting my
hug and getting mycongratulations when I get off
the bus.
So really, thank you toeverybody that helped make this
happen and thank you forallowing us to tell this story
(34:32):
so that people can know that wemade some magic.
Speaker 6 (34:35):
You sure?
Speaker 7 (34:36):
did Okay.
So there's five days thatweekend right, the expo day till
Sunday.
Like how quickly did this cometogether?
Speaker 9 (34:45):
Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
No way.
Speaker 11 (34:48):
Sunday morning 6.30
in the morning.
Yeah, way, wow.
I was not expecting anything.
I was expecting Andrea to sayhey, there's this cast member,
they're going to walk you inwith your friends on the I don't
know January or February 23rd.
Be at the gate and you'll havethe day to enjoy the park.
(35:10):
That's where I was thinking.
Never in a million years Iexpected that.
I do want to say that.
You know you hear so muchnegativity about Disney.
People you know, oh, they'reonly out for this, they're only
out for that.
Disney is just a mouse tryingto grab and blah, blah, blah.
(35:31):
And they have this idea of whatthey hear because of others to
have something like this happenand have it happen within my own
circles, okay, of people that Iknow.
The industry that I'm in itkind of shuts them all up and
says do you see?
Do you see what a little bit oflove and kindness takes you?
(35:53):
I'm not doing this for that,but I want to express to you
guys be nice, be kind, be lovingto one another.
Even if someone is hating onyou or getting mad at you
because of whatever reason, be agood person, do something
positive, because this universehas so much negativity around
(36:16):
and everyone's.
Oh, those people are crazy.
Look, they're getting up atthat time in the morning to do
nothing.
If you want to run, run aroundyour neighborhood, why does it
have to be there?
And blah, blah, blah.
And then this happens and theyall like, oh wow, oh, that's
crazy.
And I said, now you guys get it.
Now it's a business.
(36:36):
We know, we know it's abusiness.
That's how this world is.
We're a first world nation.
It's a business.
But the love that's behind thatbusiness, that's what you got
to look at, not what you'reseeing all the advertisement.
Take a minute to see thesefolks, the ones that finished
the race and the ones thatdidn't, because sometimes that
bus comes back with heartbrokenpeople, people that are just
(37:00):
that have tried so much and theyget to that last race and they
just can't make it.
There were two young ladies thatwere in this particular
marathon.
They came from California.
Two different stories.
One the boyfriend left her anddecided not to go to the race.
(37:21):
So she decides to be by herselfand I introduced her to a
couple other people and I said,here, take her under your wing,
bring her in.
So you guys, look, this is herfirst time she's here, she's by
herself and and we're going towarm in that, come on, let's go
walk around.
And they became friends andthey went together and they came
back together.
Another little girl that I had agreat conversation with which
she was so scared.
(37:41):
She's like well, my friend wasgoing to come, but she twisted
her ankle and I had already paidfor everything.
So I said, okay, I'll go toDisney, whatever.
And she came back in tears andwe had a moment and it was
phenomenal because she said, youknow, I would have never
thought about doing this untilyou kind of said do it go,
you'll have a good time, it'llbe fine, trust me, it'll be fine
.
And she said I had the besttime.
(38:03):
And I said, good, that's whatit's about.
And I said, and she goes?
And I made a whole bunch ofpeople and I knew the people
that she met.
I'm like, oh, I'm so happy,you're going to be great,
connect with each other, gettogether on Facebook and talk
about everything.
(38:23):
And this guy pushed me.
Oh, that one did love.
Okay, so he pushed you, butthink about it for a minute.
What if you really had to go tothe bathroom?
And that's why you know, alwaysthink of something.
Whatever might have happened,think of that one little
positive thing that you can findand emphasize on that and make
that grow and, trust me, thatbad thing is not even going to
(38:44):
seem that bad at all, becausewhen days pass and things go on,
what do you remember?
The person that gave you a hand, the person that passed you
toilet paper, the person thatgave you a blanket.
The person that helped you, youknow, get over a huddle.
The person that moved out ofthe way so you can keep going
with your friends.
The one that held a camera totake a picture that you really
(39:05):
wanted.
Think of those things and thoseare the things you're going to
remember.
You're going to forget all thebad stuff, especially that 2 am
wake-up call.
Speaker 6 (39:12):
That was a hard one
myra, I want to know have you
been to the parks?
Speaker 7 (39:18):
yes, she's holding up
the brand new pass holder
magnet that none of us have yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
So, disney, if you're
listening, let's go back to the
old way of when you used tomail these things to all the
annual pass holders.
Not, oh, if you're lucky to behere for three days and pick it
up by yourself.
You know so, but it's.
It's such a cool magnet withray on it, I'm so jealous.
Speaker 11 (39:43):
It's beautiful.
So I decided that I was goingto go.
I was going to go the first day, but I said no, I got to go
home and take care of this andtake care of that.
So I had to take care of thethings I had to take care of and
I picked a very, very coldFlorida day and it was raining
and it was cold.
Speaker 6 (40:01):
Yes, it was nasty and
it was cold.
Speaker 11 (40:06):
Yes, it was nasty.
Yes, I'm very comfortable withbeing outdoors.
My job takes me outdoors a lot.
So, as far as having gear, Iwas in Chicago last year and it
was negative 14 when we landed,so I have the gear to be worn.
So I had my outfit prepared, mybuns were on, I had everything
ready to go and I looked in lineand I saw the day that it was
going to be the worst weatherand I said that's my day.
(40:27):
That's my day Cause I want togo and I want to enjoy.
I did get there.
It was so perfect it couldn'thave been more beautiful.
It was an overcast day.
When it rained it must've beenevery time I was in a ride,
because being outside it wasjust a little drizzle I had my
umbrella, I got to enjoyGalaxy's Edge.
(40:49):
I cried, I went back in andcame back out, and came back in
and came back out.
Just the entrance of it Took aminute to just kind of sit there
and look and take everything in.
And I was happy to be alone,because then I could be as goofy
and cry as much as I wanted,and and I didn't.
It was just for me.
This moment was my moment and Itook it in every nook and
(41:13):
cranny and I looked ateverything.
And then to stand there andlook around and think for one
second, wow, look where I am,you know, look, look, look, what
I'm in front of.
And I did videos to showeveryone because I wanted to
show that off, but I also wantedtime to just kind of.
At one point I was sitting onthe bench looking at everything,
(41:34):
crying, and a cast member cameup to me and says to me oh, my
goodness, are you okay?
And I said oh, these are justtears of really, really, really
happy person.
And she's like oh, my God,that's so sweet.
And I said you want to hearsomething?
And I told them my story andshe hugged me and Trisha was her
name and I gave her a castcompliment.
(41:55):
So Trisha comes up to me andshe gives me this hug and she's
like that is a beautiful story.
I said isn't that nice?
Because this, because this iswhy I'm sitting here crying, so,
just like it's raining, I'mgoing to sit here and cry
because to me the weather wasperfect.
It was just.
It was this cloudy, overcast dayand when you walk into Galaxy's
Edge it's like I'm in Naboo.
I am there and this is how itwould be if I was in outer space
(42:17):
in the middle of all this andto see everything I saw.
There were hardly any peoplethere.
Lines were maybe 20, 30 minutesat most and I got to ride all
the rides I got to drive and oneof the ones, andrea, had told
me oh, try to do the one rider,but they'll just put you in any
step.
Maybe you won't be in the frontof the line.
(42:37):
You know, the universe worksthe way and the magic works the
way it does.
Every single place I went, youwould have somebody say, oh, I
don't want to be in front,anybody want to be in front.
I'm like, I'll do it, I'll doit here, you know, and I was
always put in front of things.
And then the one time there wasa little girl with me and I was
wearing the bracelets, you know, and she was saying something
(43:00):
like oh, you'll get a bracelet,it's like because I think that
Taylor Swift is a big thing withthose bracelets, it's like.
So I turned around and I saidcome here, and I put it on her
wrist and I gave her two otherbracelets Happy is just a little
trinket made her day and hermom's like, oh my God, no, no,
no.
I said please let me do this.
This is great, I want her toenjoy it.
(43:21):
And then she goes I like yourbuns, because she saw my buns
and I said it's hard Look, youcan't keep them.
If you look at this way, they'recrooked.
And she started laughing.
So we had a beautiful momentwith this child that I don't
even know, but it was greatbecause I don't have children,
so but it was great to see herenjoying it.
As I'm talking, we were at theone with the resistance.
(43:41):
So we're standing in line andwe're talking and I'm talking to
her like I'm talking to youguys, just taking in pictures,
and then we make a turn and Isee all the line of
stormtroopers.
That was that moment and I stoodthere like just froze, and I'm
looking at this beautiful.
I mean I can literally say Iwas in outer space and there
(44:03):
were ships behind and everythingis moving around.
And then the cast members werephenomenal.
They're like you, dirty scum.
Keep moving, keep moving.
I'm like this is so perfect.
They're like yes sir, yes sir,you know, and you kind of go
along.
It was impressive Everything atthe restaurant, the little
(44:30):
robot that's churning this hugepit of fire as he's cooking
things, and it's just, I meanthe details.
Every door has little thingsgoing on.
Um, you have banners.
I mean I just I'm a star warsgeek to the core and being there
just made my day.
That's why I said I want to dothis by myself, because I don't
want somebody going.
Oh my god, no, she's gonnatouch a stupid flag again.
Didn't she already touch it?
Like why is she touching it?
You know, why does she want togo stand next to R2-D2 and just
(44:52):
kind of stare at him?
You'll never understand.
You have to kind of.
This is why I wanted it to bealone.
And the fact that there werehardly any people there that you
could have looked at everythingyou wanted to look up, that the
weather was like perfect ofwhat it would be if you were in
this planet with all thesethings around you.
It is just as immersed as youcan be and you take everything
(45:16):
in.
And even when I, before Iwalked in, I kind of stood
outside, I said, ok, here I go,what am I going to see?
And I kept going back in it.
And then the people are lookingat me like why does she keep
walking back and forth?
I said because it's just takinga moment to see everything
which was incredible.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Myra, I want to go
back to something you said a
couple of minutes ago aboutbeing in the moment and
experiencing those moments,because you wanted to really
revel in and how special theywere.
What, to you, was the mostimpactful moment?
I mean, obviously, you justtold a you know.
You told a beautiful storyabout you know, when andrea and
(45:58):
you know and all those othersupporters you know presented
you with you know you know thisamazing gesture you know,
presented you with you know.
You know this amazing gestureyou know, at pop century walk,
walk us through the moment ofnumber one being handed that
little yellow card with a Mickeymouse on it at Disney Springs,
(46:20):
and then two.
I mean sure, you know you justtalked about, you know your
experience of entering Galaxy'sEdge for the first time.
But also describe for us thefeeling of when you scanned that
yellow card for the first timeat the turnstile.
What emotions were goingthrough you at that given point
in time?
Speaker 11 (46:38):
I got to Hollywood
Studios, I parked my car, I see
the Skyliner.
So I said, oh, look, theskyliner that goes to my hotel.
That's nice.
And I walk over.
Now, when I get there, they'rekind of ushering people and I
said hold on, hold on, hold on.
So I got out of the side and Isaid, okay, breathe.
I went through security andthey said, okay, go ahead.
(47:00):
And I grabbed my little cardand I'm looking at it and the
young lady goes are you setting?
I said no, I said hold on.
I have to take in this oneparticular moment right now,
because this is someone, I saidsomeone very special, made this
happen for me and I just want tovibe with her right there.
Miss Andrea, this is for you.
And I said and I just want tosend her all these emotions that
(47:24):
I have and this amazing senseof gratitude to her for putting
this together Never expectedanyone to ever do anything like
this, to have it done so quicklyand not expecting it.
So in that moment I kind of satback and I sent you the biggest
hug from the other end and saidto myself this is for you.
(47:46):
And I took pictures and I putthe little thing and it does the
thing and it going green.
And then I was standing there.
I'm like, oh, my God.
And she's like, wow, this isreally nice.
And again I told my story toour cast member there I believe
it was Crystal or Krista.
I have it written now and shesays okay, your fingerprint and
you'll be sitting.
I was like this and I was like,and I took pictures of that and
(48:08):
then go ahead and I'm like whatthis whole thing?
And I, of course, I startedcrying again.
I was on the side with myumbrella, crying, thinking of
you, miss andrea, and justsending you lots of love from
this end.
Speaker 9 (48:25):
I was at home with
the receipt, like okay, let me
know you got in.
Do I need to send you a pictureof the receipt?
We good, you're in.
Great, all right, have fun.
Speaker 11 (48:36):
I was standing there
going what is this is?
This is just way more than Iexpected.
And then took a couple minutesto just kind of let it sink in
and in a second, do you know howmany faces?
I closed my eyes and how manyfaces flashed through my brain
of tons of people and the hugsand the cheers and the and the.
(48:59):
You know, I can almost see themall like way to go, go, have
fun, whatever.
And it was a a moment of justso much gratitude that was
around me and I wanted to reachout to each and every one of
them and kind of like in my headhave everybody behind me, let's
all go, that kind of thing, youknow, and it was.
(49:20):
It was a very emotional momentand I it did take me a while to
get myself together again, notto look like somebody who just
lost, because people see youcrying and they don't know why
you're crying.
Speaker 9 (49:31):
Sure.
Speaker 11 (49:32):
Everybody's
automatically are you okay?
Are you okay?
And it was just happy cry.
So when they see the smile,then they knew it was a good
thing To just kind of take thatin and take those first few
steps.
And then people that don't knowI'm going, I'm a cast member.
Look at this.
I got an annual pass and thenpass and you'll pass and you'll
pass.
And I'm hopping along, goingand you'll pass and you'll pass,
(49:53):
which is so stupid.
That was just for me.
And I'm like where you at?
How do you look at them?
Where are you going?
Galaxy's head, and you'll pass.
And I'm just in my head, I'mjust having the best time.
You can imagine being as sillyas I wanted to be and no judging
, just enjoying so much.
And I think some people aroundme going okay, whatever she's on
, we want some because we wantto go back that kind of thing
(50:15):
and I was just like to do andthen I have my umbrella and then
I'm.
I said I'm singing in the rain,I'm going to galaxy in the rain,
this kind of thing.
But it was.
It was a day for me that Idon't know if there will be
other days in my life, but thisday was very, very special for
(50:36):
me, everything that I got to seeand how I got there andrea, are
you hearing some of this forthe first time?
Speaker 6 (50:44):
I know you heard some
of it before.
Speaker 9 (50:46):
I did.
And just a reminder to Myra thesurprise is not over.
We'll see you in a couple ofweeks.
Oh my, God.
Speaker 11 (50:56):
I don't even want to
.
She's already done so much forme.
I'm already overwhelmed witheverything.
Speaker 7 (51:02):
You're running the
race.
Myra, You're running the race.
Speaker 11 (51:06):
You know, someone
said that.
But can you imagine for onemoment I would love to, don't
get me wrong but if there was noMyra, a pop century.
Speaker 6 (51:15):
Yeah, that would be
bad.
Speaker 11 (51:16):
People would be like
oh no, I am going to be working
because of the fires inCalifornia and whatever.
Some of my programs haveswapped over to Orlando One of
the beautiful things that youguys don't know about that most
of the time when I work atcertain events here in Orlando,
we take folks to Epcot, magicKingdom, animal Kingdom,
(51:38):
hollywood Studios and we bringthem like eight, we get summons
to work at like seven in themorning, get the buses set, we
take a group of maybe three, 400.
Drop them off, we're on the buswith them and then that's it.
We are, we are continue, we areon the clock with our business.
They stay there and we have toroam around for the next six to
(51:59):
ten hours, depending on whatthey chose.
So now the options are you godrop your people off and you get
back on the bus with your busdriver, and then the bus driver
can drop you back off at aparking lot.
You take your car, you go homeand then later on you meet up
with a driver in the same spotand then he brings you back to
pick up our folks.
The other option, which 90% ofus do we stay in the bus.
(52:21):
They go amongst their way.
Way, we stay right where thebus is going to come back and
pick those folks up and we taketours around the public
transportation.
We'll take them to disneysprings, we'll take it to the
grand floridian, we'll be on themonorails, we'll be on the
skyliner I mean not the skyline,that was the first time I was
in it but we'll be at themonorails.
The boat rides to all over the,all the, the areas that you can
(52:44):
go.
Go sightseeing at the GrandFloridian, go to the beach club,
wherever public transportationor Disney transportation takes
you, you spend the day just kindof roaming around, just make
sure you're back at that post atthat certain time.
So now I get to take thesepeople.
Tomorrow they're all going toMagic Kingdom.
(53:06):
So I'm going to drop them offat 8 o'clock and I have to pick
them up at 8 o'clock.
That means I'm going to dropthem off and go bye.
I'm going too.
So most of the time they'relike well, myra usually stays
there and walks and talks topeople, because you know how she
is.
She'll go talk to people,disney people.
She'll go roaming around andtalk to people.
But now I get to literally goin, have them do their thing,
(53:30):
I'm gonna go do my thing andthen at the end of the night
come back to the, get right homeand I can.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
I can picture it now
myra is sitting on the hub grass
eating some corn dog nuggetsand french fries from casey's,
just staring at cinderella'scastle, bawling her eyes out I
can already picture exactly whatI would be doing, and I'm like
this is when you sit back andyou're like is this really
happening?
Speaker 11 (53:54):
like how did how did
this come to be?
Like you know, thank you,universe, thank you people,
thank you for you know.
Just the things and things inmy life happen in the weirdest,
oddest ways, things that I neverexpect.
I'm that one person thateverybody's like it's christmas
and you're like well, there's noparking spot, there's no
parking spot.
(54:15):
Oh my gosh, he found a parkingspot right in front of the store
you know, um, all of a sudden,you're the last person that got
on the ride and they say, okay,the ride's gonna be shut down
from this point on.
Things like that happen to meall the time.
So I'm not, it's just weirdbecause people are like no, you
know, everybody else got rainedon and the sun is still on top
of her.
You know she's the only onethat's not walking with a cloud
(54:37):
like you are on top and it'sbecause, if I was, I'd be
singing in the rain, I'd behaving.
You guys gotta learn to acceptwhatever happens.
It happens, but things work outin such a weird way for me.
I just, sometimes I just sitback and go.
You know what in my but that,you know, the strongest force is
, the force is strong with me.
Speaker 6 (54:57):
So you know the force
is strong in this one I love it
.
Speaker 2 (55:02):
Andrea, I, I want to.
I want to shift back to you now, because myra is not the first
person that you have helped inin association with run disney.
Um, you know, as we learnedyour story, you are an
incredible fundraiser for a lotof these events.
Can you share with us?
Uh, you know all thefundraising efforts that you've
(55:25):
embarked in over the last coupleof years and, uh, you know and
talk about the fundraising thatyou're doing right now for, uh,
for princess coming up.
Speaker 9 (55:33):
Sure.
So, uh, I started run Disney in2011 on a charity bib and every
single year since have at leastone charity spot.
Uh, and I rotate through thedifferent charities and it
charities, and it's partially.
It's in gratitude for beingable to do this, because to me
it is a privilege that I get togo visit these parks more times
in one year than some peoplewill see in their lifetimes, if
(55:55):
at all, and to always rememberhow lucky we are that we could
do this.
So this year I passed $37,000in Run Disney fundraising over
the years.
Speaker 2 (56:04):
Incredible Way to go.
Speaker 9 (56:06):
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's all due to the generosityof people and organizations and
companies.
And there's an organizationthat I run.
It's all volunteer.
It's called Sports MetalRecycling and we are a group of
athletes up here.
We work with race directors thathave extra unused metals after
their events.
We're able to get them recyclethe metal recycle the textile,
(56:28):
ribbons, and the metal and thetextiles are all recyclable.
We take the proceeds and donateto other people or donate to
our own minimum.
So we do that volunteer, unpaid, outside of our regular day
jobs, and that's raised $12,000since we started so far.
So we'll either donate to ourfundraisers, to other people
(56:48):
that need some help.
But really it's a privilege tobe able to do these events and I
think I get to do so manybecause we do good.
So I believe that when you dogood first, the good follows
afterwards, multiplied fargreater than I can imagine.
My flights made it there, I hada great weekend, saw friends.
(57:09):
I'll be back in a couple weeksfor my first and last princess
ever, so um and my last there'salways six here the villain
themes got me.
That's what got me.
Oh good, I was okay, I'll doone of these, but it's all in
good fun and it's meeting peopleand seeing friends and enjoying
(57:30):
the experience and helpingother people across the finish.
If they're struggling, andalways remembering that there's
somebody that's doing this forthe first time, and to help them
you know little things likepointing out where the bathrooms
are or helping somebody out youcan see they're starting to
struggle.
You can just pick up aconversation and help them perk
(57:52):
up and help them make it acrossthe finish.
That's the whole point of whywe do this is to help each other
.
So it's just been an honor tobe invited to this and to remind
everybody this is really whatRun Disney is about.
Speaker 6 (58:06):
Absolutely, Andrea.
Tell us about your currentfundraiser for Princess, please.
I think it only has about aweek to go.
Speaker 9 (58:14):
I'm past my goal, but
I'm trying to help my team, my
New England chapter, come infirst place.
We have a costume challenge, afundraising for an organization
called Breakthrough T1D theyused to be called JDRF and this
is for fun that people will votewhat I'm going to wear, that if
(58:37):
you donate in $10 or evenincrements, you're on one team,
and if you donate in $15 or $5increments, you're on one team,
and if you donate in $15 or $5increments, you're on other
teams.
So people will decide if I willhave to wear a princess or a
villain costume for the 5k.
So it's, it's up to people, towhat they donate and and we'll,
we'll.
(58:57):
We have a cutoff date just sothat I have enough time to get
the costume ready, but this isall part of the fun.
So, and people that donate,you'll get the post race photos
as proof of purchase.
Speaker 6 (59:07):
That links going into
our show notes.
We'll talk about it a littlebit.
On the episode.
We have a pretty big audience,Andrea.
You might, you might besurprised.
This may be our chance toreturn the favor.
Speaker 9 (59:23):
For Marathon Weekend.
I don't think anything will top.
I've never worn so manythrowaway layers at a race.
I had four layers on and abathrobe that I wore for a mile
and a half.
So I'm hoping for betterweather, but this is all part of
the fun.
It's all part of the fun, myra.
Thanks for sharing your storyand for reminding a lot of us
what it's like to look at theseparks again.
Of the fun, myra.
Thanks for sharing your storyand for reminding a lot of us
(59:45):
what it's like to look at theseparks again for the first time.
Speaker 6 (59:47):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 11 (59:49):
My goal is to go so
many times that when I pull up
they'll be like, hey, myra, howyou doing today?
Go ahead, we got you.
They get to know me.
Okay, and I want to get to knowso many of the little secrets.
So when those folks come to meand say, oh, I said, do this,
don't do that, stand here, don'tstand there, Try this, don't
(01:00:09):
try that, All these little typeof little things that are kept
secret, easter eggs that arehere and there, and kind of
revitalize what the mouse standsfor.
We've had too many years ofjust not good, so we want to
(01:00:29):
bring it back to what it used tobe.
Let's make Mr Walt up therevery, very proud of the things
that are happening down here.
Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Well, the one thing
that came across my mind now is
Myra.
If you do achieve that goal andI'm pretty certain that you're
going to folks, if you doachieve that goal and I, I'm I'm
pretty certain that you'regoing to, uh folks if you're
staying at pop century for anupcoming race weekend, you might
want to get to the bus at leastan hour ahead of time, so that
not only can you get your rundisney tips from myra, but now
she'll be your personal tourguide as well too.
(01:00:58):
So she's gonna have a lot ofinformation to dispel, so you'll
want to get there early, I'msure she's going to have quite a
line now.
You know selfies, you know nowthat she's been on the podcast
twice and and you know in abouta month's time.
So I mean you're already asuperstar to begin with.
We might as well just give youa star now on the Hollywood.
Speaker 11 (01:01:18):
You know it
surprised me with so so many
folks.
I hadn't heard the podcast tillthe marathon and someone pulled
it up and we're looking on, youknow, cause I'm not computer
savvy.
So I'm standing there and wepulled it up and I got back to
my hotel and I was supposed togo to sleep early and I didn't,
(01:01:38):
cause I wanted to hear it and Iheard it and I was crying and it
was so beautiful and nicebecause there were so many
people.
I heard your podcast, I heardit.
I'm like I even haven't heardit.
I I heard it and I was cryingand it was so beautiful and nice
because there were so manypeople.
I heard your podcast.
I heard them, like I evenhaven't heard it.
I haven't heard it yet, I wantto hear it.
And after I was like, oh my God, this came out really good and
I was very surprised on how manypeople came by and said hello
(01:01:58):
and the hugs and I did post alittle note to everyone.
I was sitting there one morning, after everybody has gone,
they're all down there.
And I did post a little note toeveryone.
I was sitting there one morning, after everybody has gone,
they're all down there.
And I was sitting in my car.
You know it was kind of rainingand I wanted to reach out to
everyone.
And the amount of hugs and lovethat I received after that and
I kept telling them I'm going tomake you all cry, and when
(01:02:20):
you're sitting in your carousalI'm going to make you cry like
I'm crying in my car.
And I posted a little note foreveryone from the heart, and it
was great to see that return.
I really, really, really neededit.
On this last one I was dealingwith a lot of things in my mind.
I wasn't going to attend, I wasgonna stay home because I said
(01:02:41):
I have to be 100% for for myfolks and I'm not a hundred
percent, but I wanted.
I said as much as I give tothem, I needed them on this last
run and boy did they show upthe love, the hugs, the
sympathies that it's a goodthing.
And I introduced mom to a wholebunch of people that are up
(01:03:03):
there with her and I kept sayingto folks well, what's your
dad's name, tom?
I said, well, tom, that's Anna,anna, that's mom, that's Tom.
I'm here with his daughter andwe're doing the race and both of
you can watch us over from upabove.
So I care to think that mom isup there with a whole bunch of
the family members that are nothere and they're all out there
going woo and cheering for ourfolks down here.
(01:03:23):
But it was very nice.
It got me over a hump that ithad taken me a little bit of
time to get out and get tomyself again and that was
incredible that they helped methrough that.
I mean, like I said, the love,the heart, just the hey, we're
here with you.
You need us right now.
We're here for you.
(01:03:44):
And they were and they helpedme.
I mean the gift was beautifuland of course you know I'm
overwhelmed with the present,but that connection there, it
helped me put that smile back onmy head and say you know what
Things happen in life sometimesBecause you've got to accept
what it is that doesn't mean youcan't be sad about it and to
(01:04:05):
accept what it is.
Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
That doesn't mean you
can't be sad about it, and it
did help me way more than theyknow.
Well, meyer, we're always herefor you because you're always
here for us absolutely, and andI and I know that will continue
from the bottom of our hearts.
Ladies, thank you so much forcoming on.
Andrew, thank you so much forsending us that email, because
if we would have never got thatemail, this episode would have
never happened.
And again, it's stories likethese is why, three and a half
(01:04:32):
years ago, we set out to do thispodcast, and that was to
extract the joy and jubilationthat this running product
provides us.
So, andrea, thank you so muchagain.
Like Bob said, we will make sureto post your fundraising link
in this week's show notes.
So, folks, I know there's a lotof people out there that are
(01:04:53):
always fundraising for charity,but if there is one person that
you know, if you want to pay itforward because you know Andrea
and so much of many other peoplepaid it forward to our friend
Myra you know Andrea and so manyother people paid it forward to
our friend Myra you know, let'sdo it for Andrea and get her
over her next goal here.
And, myra, it's always apleasure.
I said to so many friends, eventhough I loved staying at the
(01:05:17):
Polynesian during marathonweekend, there was a part of me
that was sad that I wasn't atPOP because I couldn't see your
face.
So I hope we you know we get tosee you very soon and upcoming
race weekend and thanks so muchfor joining us again here on
rise and run.
Speaker 11 (01:05:32):
Thank you for having
me, you guys love you all.
Speaker 9 (01:05:34):
Thank you, and
hopefully we'll all get some
part-time in together soon too.
Speaker 7 (01:05:38):
I mean, guys, that
was a really great interview.
I a really great interview.
I mean, if you guys can seeMyra's face while she was
describing everything that wenton, how she went into Hollywood
Studios and saw Galaxy's Edgefor the first time, it's like
when you brought your kids toDisneyland or Disney World and
(01:05:59):
you see it through their eyesfor the first time.
That's how I think it was forher and I'm glad that these
people did everything for herthat they did to get her to go
to the parks.
Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Absolutely, and the
thing I can't wait to see is
Andrea mentioned it two timesduring that interview that the
surprise is not done yet.
Apparently, there's going to bemore, whether that's princess
or springtime surprise.
I I can't wait to see what elseshe has up her sleeve and, you
(01:06:31):
know, I can't wait to hear thereport about it.
And, all that being said, thereis not one person more
deserving in this community thanher, and I was.
Just you know, I'm so glad thatshe's part of the Rise and Run
family now and the fact that youknow she will always remain a
staple in this community just itwarms my heart and I'm so glad
(01:06:53):
that we can share stories likethat and we need to start
sharing stories like that moreoften, because it's really,
really special.
Speaker 6 (01:07:00):
I'd love to.
I don't know if we're going toget a lot of stories like that.
I know I know it's a special,special story and I want to I
really want to highlight thatRise and Run is kind of just a
tangential part of this story,that we didn't have anything to
do with the fundraising.
I think it's just a matter ofAndrea caught a rumor about this
(01:07:24):
and then I'm not even sure.
Listen, I know Andrea is arising runner.
Now she's on the Facebook groupand she's part of the family,
but I'm so proud and so excitedabout what she did it's I would
love to encourage friends.
We did not contribute to thefund for Myra.
(01:07:47):
Andrea had done all this beforeshe even contacted us about it.
But Andrea is raising money fora fundraiser for a type one
diabetes and we have the linkfor that and if you were so
inclined, I think that would bea wonderful way to I'll use the
phrase pay it forward, pay itback, whatever you want to think
(01:08:09):
, but contributing to Andrea'sfundraiser.
And another thing that Andreadoes that we didn't mention in
that interview is the 100 HalfMilers Club.
She's part of establishing thatto recognize and celebrate
athletes that have done ahundred lifetime half marathons
(01:08:29):
or more, encourage each other toreach that goal.
We'll have information on howyou can find out about the
hundred half milers club also inour show notes, on our Facebook
page and on our webpage.
Really heartwarming story.
I'm glad we got to bring it toyou.
(01:08:50):
That was exciting.
Listen, friends, as long aswe're talking about charity
events and opportunities torecognize our friends who are
doing good things, let's visitwith our buddy, greg.
Friends, we've got anotherguest with us tonight.
It's a big week for guests.
(01:09:11):
We're excited to welcome GregCreel to the Rise and Run
podcast.
Hiya, greg, how you doing?
How's it going?
Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
Bob, how's it going?
Crew Gang, sorry, it's gang,it's gang.
That's that one up.
Speaker 6 (01:09:24):
Greg will fix it in
post.
We're okay.
Well, welcome my friend.
As always, I'm always delightedthat our friends are willing to
take the time to chat with us.
We got a couple of things wewant to talk about, but let's
kick it off.
Greg, you are a jeff gallowaypacer, correct?
(01:09:45):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
yes, sir, I uh, I
have paced two races, both with
chris twiggs.
I uh did the disneylandhalloween half.
I was unofficial, his partner.
I stole the stick out of hishand and that's how I actually
became a pacer.
And then I, yeah, and then Iwas a his partner again for the
(01:10:07):
210, for the wine and dine halfokay uh, just that past half and
then this weekend.
Well, the disneyland halfmarathon coming up.
I'm going to be the 215 pacerand I'm hoping to find out about
princess and springtime, butwe'll see it's.
Uh, it's up to run Disney howmany slots we get.
Speaker 6 (01:10:25):
Yeah, I get it and I
I may be wrong about this.
I thought Chris had princesspacers ready, but he didn't want
to release them to confusethings before Disneyland.
I could be wrong about thatthough, yeah.
But I understand now why Inever see you pacing, greg,
since you're doing the twofifteens and running with twigs
(01:10:46):
and like that.
So if it's an out and back, youcan wave at me.
Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
I did.
I waved at you at Space Coast,Did you?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:10:56):
Okay, look, I know
you did, but a lot of people do
and it's fun.
Space Coast is great, greatyeah that's a that's a great
course yeah, now you.
You just said you're headingout to disneyland this weekend.
You must be getting ready to gohere uh, fly out friday morning
oh really, yeah, okay, I don'tdo the 5ks out in disneyland,
(01:11:20):
that's just.
Speaker 3 (01:11:20):
you know it's much,
it's a lot of cost.
Got to save the money forDisney world.
Speaker 6 (01:11:26):
Yeah, it is, I got
out there.
I got out there at theHalloween race and enjoyed it
very much.
Not sure when I'll be back.
Hey, you got.
You already talked about theraces at Disney world.
Anything else coming up?
Greg of interest?
Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
So I actually am a
race director for a local hockey
program that we have here fordisabled veterans.
Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
And that's our big
here in Tampa.
Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
So it's the Lightning
Warriors.
We're a 501c program where weteach veterans how to play
hockey, put together teams fortournaments, we travel out to
different places, we play in athing called a disabled fest,
where every single person on theice has a VA disability rating.
So you had to serve in themilitary and also had a VA
(01:12:17):
rating to actually be in ourprogram, and one of the ideas
that we came up with in thelocker room was hey, we should
do a 5K.
And next thing, you know,wheels started turning.
Um, one of the ideas that wecame up with in the locker room
was hey, we should do a 5k.
And next thing, you know,wheels started turning and we
started doing a 5k.
Now it's our third time doing it.
Um, it's a lot of fun.
This year we're doing our firsttime giving out medals.
It's also going to be chiptimed, which is a first for us,
(01:12:39):
because last year we did it, wekind of had an iPhone recording.
It was a lot of fun, and we'redoing it at Gadsden Park, over
right outside of McDill.
Speaker 6 (01:12:51):
Oh, okay, okay, yes.
Speaker 3 (01:12:59):
It's a two-loop
circuit because we can't really
find a good 3.1-mile loop orarea around Tampa without cops
and trying to save cost, it's alittle tough.
But yeah, we have a code forthe rise and run.
So if anyone any of the riseand runners want to come out and
do it, obviously you can findus, find us on Twitter or X at
warriors 5k, and then you canalso look for us on race
(01:13:20):
entrycom and it's the lightningwarriors, st Patrick's day day.
5k is the race and, uh, thecode is rise and run and we'll
save you five bucks, which isreally awesome, and, uh, you get
a hat, a medal and a ship time.
So those are like our big threethings for this year and you
support a really worthwhilecause oh yeah, great calls we.
(01:13:42):
You know something about gettingveterans together in a locker
room.
It opens it up, yeah, you openup and you start talking about
some things and it's it's.
It's crazy what happens whenyou put on some pads and give
someone a stick.
How like emotionally,emotionally open someone gets.
It's really cool.
I can imagine it gives you likea, like a.
(01:14:03):
It's kind of like run RunDisney, where we have our Run
Disney family.
It's the same, but you knowwe're veterans.
Speaker 6 (01:14:11):
You wouldn't think
there'd be a lot of ice skating
in the Tampa Florida area.
We have three Stanley Cups.
I know it's surprising.
We were talking offline earlier.
In fact, even before you joinedus, greg John and I were
talking about how Tampa supportscertain teams here better than
(01:14:32):
others.
They support the Lightning.
The Lightning are sold outevery night.
Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
Yep, bolts Nation is
strong.
If you want tickets to the game, you better be ready to pay.
Well, not really.
We got good prices.
That's actually why it's sogood.
We're not paying like uh dcprices, so it's really good.
And also our arena.
We have a patio.
Speaker 7 (01:14:55):
Come on, that's right
outside, that's right that's,
that's right we have.
We have a smoking section atour arena.
No, no, you can't.
Speaker 3 (01:15:03):
Thankfully you can't
section at our arena, no no.
Thankfully you can't smoke inour arena or outside on the
patio, so that's good.
Speaker 6 (01:15:09):
Greg, I don't think
you gave us the date.
You mentioned St Patrick's Day.
Do you have a date for the run?
Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
It's March 16th 2025.
So that's when we'll be takingoff.
It's at 9 am, so it's a waylater start than Run Disney.
Yeah, yeah, right, you cansleep in.
Speaker 6 (01:15:29):
I appreciate it
because that's about a 45 minute
drive for me.
I'm going to try and make it.
I don't know if I have anotherevent already scheduled that day
or not, but I will be sure tolet you know.
Speaker 3 (01:15:39):
Please, definitely do
.
Speaker 6 (01:15:41):
Yeah, I would
definitely try, and there are a
lot of friends in the Tampa area, a lot of rise and run friends.
I hope they will consider thatalso.
I believe that hockey leaguehas been featured on the local
news at times, hasn't it?
Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
Yes, so we do.
This is actually our secondlargest fundraiser.
The biggest fundraiser we do isHockey Hills 22, and it's a
22-hour nonstop hockey gameswhere local teams play against
us for 22 hours and it's reallycool.
(01:16:18):
That's our big fundraiser andthankfully this now has turned
into our second largest, so it'sreally cool that a 5K in a
locker room has moved up andit's pretty cool.
Speaker 6 (01:16:27):
I'm excited about it.
That's the one I've seen thatgets the press.
That's cool, all right.
So 5k in the uh in the MacDillair force base area in Tampa.
Friends, we'll have theinformation for you, we'll put
it on our website, we'll put itinto show notes, we'll put it in
the show notes and I hope tosee some of you there.
(01:16:48):
I hope to be able to make it.
I will make this commitment.
If I do not have one alreadylined up, I'll be there your
spot's ready for you, bob thanks, thanks, chris no best costume
contest, the best leprechaun.
Speaker 3 (01:17:05):
I wish we did.
We do have a raffle where we'regoing to be giving away some
lightning gear and some stufflike that.
We have a, I think, like aSouthwest round trip.
Speaker 7 (01:17:15):
We give away.
That's good to know.
Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
So hey, if you want
to get into Disneyland Halloween
.
You can run the 5k, do theraffle and then maybe you'll get
your free trip to Californiaout of it.
Speaker 6 (01:17:25):
Oh, okay, because I
was going to say the round trips
to Orlando or something, but no, that's good.
Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
No, no, no, it's
wherever Southwest goes.
Speaker 6 (01:17:31):
No, I was joking, I
like it.
Speaker 3 (01:17:33):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:17:34):
All right, well, hey,
greg, thanks for dropping by to
tell us about it.
I wish luck and hopefully I'llsee you there, and if I won't, I
know I'll see you at Disneyhere in the spring.
Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
Yes, there we go,
Obviously.
Thank you for having me andeverything.
Speaker 6 (01:17:54):
So if you're in the
area or if you're planning to
spend some time over here in theTampa Bay area, check it out
Again.
We'll have the informationavailable to you on our social
media sites.
All right, I'm talking to ourfriends at Disneyland.
Pay attention, pay attention.
You've got a meetup coming upon Saturday.
We use this site back at theHalloween race.
(01:18:16):
It's an excellent site Threeo'clock Saturday afternoon.
If you line yourself up andlook at the front entrance to
Disneyland DCA, at your back toyour front left, there's a large
hedged area.
It's a circular area and thereare signs there that say picnic
(01:18:41):
area.
It's near the Lost and Found,the lockers and the restrooms
there, to the left of theDisneyland entrance.
It's an excellent place for ameetup.
It may.
I think it's actually a betterplace than the food truck area.
The only difference is there'sno food or drink in the
immediate area.
But Downtown Disney what dothey call it?
(01:19:03):
Yeah, they call it DowntownDisney in Disneyland.
It's not far away, so you couldgo over there, but I hope you
have a wonderful, wonderful time.
Please send us photos.
We hope you're having fun andwe look forward to seeing that.
As we get to do every now andthen we share news about the
(01:19:26):
Rise and Run family.
There's a fellow who will be atthe Disneyland meetup.
This is a man I look up toliterally, and I don't look up
to many people, but our buddy,kelly, reported this week that
he got some lab work back andthat he is cancer-free.
(01:19:49):
I know he had a surgicalprocedure earlier this year and
that's wonderful news and we'reglad to hear it.
So if you see a six-foot11-inch tall gentleman walking
around with a smile on his face,that's Kelly.
I'm going to go out on a limband say he's going to be the
only one there at that height.
(01:20:11):
Tell him you're happy for him,because I know we sure are.
Speaker 5 (01:20:15):
You know, you guys,
with still plenty of races to go
, one product that I really noteven product, but a company that
I really put so much love forand grace for, is Fluffy Fizzies
.
They're back in action, youguys, and we're so thankful for
it, and I just would say, go outand check out their website for
(01:20:38):
Fluffy Fizzies, because I'veused their products quite a bit
and they have so many.
The ones I usually go for arethe ones that are more towards
the recovery tools andeverything.
I don't know what you guyspersonally choose, but I love
the recovery I believe it'scalled like a recovery bath bomb
that she has.
It's really really great,especially for the long runs.
(01:21:00):
I mean, if you plan on going tothe races, go ahead and order
early so that you can bring itwith you, so that way, when you
do go do half marathons, 10games, whatever distance you're
doing, go take a bath afterwards, and it's just so great for
your body to relax and recoverfrom after each and every race.
I highly recommend them.
I know we've talked about themso much in the past and when we
(01:21:21):
heard they were going awayoriginally we were really sad,
but we are so forever gratefulthat they're back up.
So go and give them some love,especially if you're prepping up
for any big races coming up andif you're wanting to try the
products.
Well, guess what?
We have a discount code because, of course, we love her.
The discount, if you guys wouldlike to go check out the
website, is going to be happyrunning.
Speaker 6 (01:21:43):
And that website is
Jack out the website is going to
be happy running and thatwebsite is jack.
Oh yeah, fluffy fizziescom.
Right, melissa's running now.
Pam was pam for a while, buther sister melissa's running it.
Hopefully she'll get back tothe expo, but won't be there,
princess, we know that.
Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Friends, it's time
for a rise and run tradition bob
Bob, I almost played the racereport sound effect.
You scared me there for asecond.
You're not allowed to say thephrase it's time for.
Oh, was that the trigger?
That was the trigger.
I just all of a sudden,automatically almost hit it.
Speaker 6 (01:22:18):
Friends, we got
something.
We want to do Something.
We do a lot.
Here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
No, this isn't bad news, though.
Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
No, it's not.
Speaker 6 (01:22:29):
Here's the thing
typically precedes bad news.
This is good news.
This is the Rise and Run rollcall for race weekend.
Our buddy, rob, compilesstatistics for us.
The number of people who haveput their name in for the roll
call is down significantly thisyear.
(01:22:50):
I have a feeling a bunch of youare out there who didn't get
into the roll call.
That's fine, you still get torun anyway and we look forward
to your race reports in facebookor instagram.
But uh, overall it's about half, or maybe even a little bit
(01:23:13):
less from what it was in 2024.
Now, part of that may be that2024 was a return.
It was the big return todisneyland.
No, actually it wasn't.
That was halloween, wasn't it?
Speaker 5 (01:23:24):
no, no, this was the
return, this was, yeah, you also
got to think, though, that thespan between how like Marathon
Weekend was to when Disneylandwas last year, there is such a
small time frame that it wasback-to-back.
Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
Oh, it was
back-to-back.
Weekends, yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:23:37):
It was a lot easier
to go from there to there,
whereas this one's like a fewweeks apart, so that's probably
honestly why so Disneyland?
If you ever want to, you know,think about doing it right next
to Marathon Week again, I woulddo it.
I would do it, just saying.
Speaker 6 (01:23:52):
Well, for whatever
reason and again I do expect
there are more people out therethan we are about to call names
here but the numbers are downfor 2025 and that's okay.
I want to thank our friend robfor compiling these numbers.
It puts a lot of work into that, rob, we appreciate it.
But let's get going and let'skick it off with the dumbo
(01:24:17):
double dare all right, runningthe dumbo double dare challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
Now, of course, every
time I say that name, I also
picture Sleeping Beauty's Castlewith Mark Summers and getting
ready for a physical challenge.
But anyway, I digress Runningthis challenge.
We have our buddy, abel, who'sgoing for his Coast to Coast
number two and also and I'm veryexcited for him his first time
(01:24:44):
running as a Galloway Pacer.
So I know you're going to crushit, abel.
There are a couple of those,greg.
Speaker 6 (01:24:49):
There are a couple of
them.
Speaker 2 (01:24:50):
Yes, that's true, and
I believe from what Abel was
telling me.
The reason why is not only isthis upcoming weekend Disneyland
weekend, but it's also Donna.
So a lot of the typicalGalloway Pacers are going to be
in Jacksonville for Donna.
So that's why they had toreally dip into the reserves for
this one.
But I'm so glad that there aremany, many people who have never
(01:25:11):
done this before are gettingthe opportunity.
So that's great to reallyexpand the network there.
But continuing on, we have ourbuddy Allie Without a Knee.
She is running also coast tocoast.
Bethany is running her firstchallenge.
We have Celia and Edgar.
Christina Courtney is runningher first Dopey to Dumbo and
(01:25:34):
first Coast to Coast.
Denise, gary and Susan Jennifer.
Also getting their Coast toCoast is Jessica.
We have Joseph Justin is goingfor coast-to-coast number three
and his first Dopey to Dumbo.
Our friend Karen also is pacingthis race.
(01:25:56):
The newest Philadelphia Eaglesfan, kay.
Speaker 3 (01:25:59):
I mean I'm sorry,
that's right, she's a Commanders
fan.
Speaker 2 (01:26:03):
unfortunately, our
buddy Kay is running the Coast
to Coast Challenge, a part ofthe Dumbo Double Dare Kelly you
know the Kelly that Bob justmentioned a few minutes ago and
again, congratulations on thatnews.
Kelly Kelly is running thischallenge, as well as Kenda
Kazay.
This is Coast to Coast 2.0 forthem.
(01:26:25):
Laxmi, our Council of Costumesmember, margaret, is running her
third Coast to Coast as part ofthis challenge.
Mark is getting Coast to Coast,his first Disneyland race and
his pacing.
That's a whole lot wrapped upin the one.
Paige is running her firstDisneyland race and this will
also be her first Coast to Coast.
(01:26:46):
Sarah M's doing Dopey, theDumbo, first Coast to Coast and
also first Disneyland race.
Also, sarah C is doing theDumbo Double Dare Challenge.
We have Tanya and Dan.
This is Tanya's first run posther leg fracture, so way to go,
way to bounce back and rehabfrom that.
Trisha.
And in rounding out Dumbo wehave Vanessa, who is a pacing,
(01:27:10):
their first half marathon withMark.
Speaker 5 (01:27:13):
All right, you guys,
for the half marathon.
We have Heather and Tuckerrunning their first Disneyland
race and trip.
Oh my God, that's gonna be somuch fun.
For the first time ever we alsohave Jake that will be running.
We have Jennifer with her girls, Grace and Sarah Caitlin,
Kristen and Megan.
Speaker 7 (01:27:34):
Okay, going for the
10K.
We have Anna, who's running herfirst 10K, kathy, jude, second
10K at 10 years old that's great.
Ripley, first run Disney, first10K.
With parents Tanya and Dan.
You have Ruth, sylvia and Ivan,and it's Ivan's first run
(01:27:57):
Disney race, yay.
Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
And finishing off our
list doing the 5K, we have
Allison, guy, tyler and Grace.
It's Tyler and Grace's first 5K.
We have Kathy, gary and Susan,jessica G, jessica M, joseph,
kay, kazay, margaret, mark,monica, paige, sarah, sylvia,
(01:28:24):
Ivan and their daughter, alina.
It's Alina's first Run Disneyrace and a birthday celebration.
Happy birthday.
And to finish it off, we haveTricia and Vanessa.
Speaker 6 (01:28:37):
All right, friends.
Those are our friends whosename were in the race report.
I know at least two people whoare going to be out there whose
names aren't in here.
That's alan and grace.
I am sure that they'll be therealso alan's perfect for this,
isn't he?
Speaker 7 (01:28:55):
or are they quote
legacy out there, I guess?
Speaker 6 (01:28:58):
yeah yeah, alan's
done all the halves, I think.
I think alan one Tinkerbellhalf, I think.
But yeah, he's perfect in thishalf, so I'm sure he's doing
that.
And Grace, I'm not sure ifshe's perfect or not, but I'm
sure If she's not perfect she'sdarn close by golly.
So I'm sure they'll be there.
(01:29:21):
That'll be fun.
Have a great time, guys.
Miss you.
Glad you're be there.
That'll be fun.
Have a great time, guys.
Miss you.
Glad you're out there.
Glad you're having fun.
All right, greg, you ready, I'mready this time.
All right, my friends, it's timefor the Race Report, the Race
Report brought to you by TomStokes and Stoked Metabolic
(01:29:42):
Training.
Stokesfit slashriseandruncoaching is the
website We've talked aboutalready, tom's eight-week
challenge that we're a coupleweeks into.
But he has other programs theAccelerate, the Foundations and
the One-on-One program and theone-on-one program.
(01:30:03):
All that information isavailable in the featured
section on the Rise and RunFacebook group page.
Let's take a look.
Let's start on Saturday and I'mgoing to mention we had some
friends Debbie, meredith, susanand Amy who were signed up for
the Charleston, south CarolinaHalf Marathon.
(01:30:24):
That event got canceled Mostlywell, not mostly it got canceled
due to weather.
Even in South Carolina it wascold, there was snow and ice.
Amy went ahead and did it,virtually, I think, the
following day.
Hey, let's visit with ourfriend Jack for the race report
spotlight.
All right, my friends, let'scontinue the Race Report
(01:30:46):
Spotlight this week with a goodfriend of the podcast.
He's been on before.
He talked about his adventuresin Camden County, which we are
going to get back to.
But, jack Witzig, jack, welcomeback to the Rise and Run
podcast.
Speaker 8 (01:31:01):
Thank you, glad to be
here again.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 (01:31:03):
We're excited to have
you.
We always appreciate ourfriends sharing their time with
us, and this is a special one.
I would like to start talking,and I'm not going to do the
traditional.
How do you get started running?
We did all that before, jack,but I'd like to hear about the
Icebreaker Marathon this weekend, just to kick things off.
Speaker 8 (01:31:25):
Sure that sounds good
.
Yeah, I did, like you said, theIcebreaker Marathon, which is
in East Meadow, new York, onLong Island, a few minutes
outside of the city.
They actually had 5K at thehalf and a full the same day.
The 5K took off slightly before9 am and then the half and the
(01:31:48):
full at the same day.
The 5 5k took off, uh, slightlybefore 9 am and then the half
and the full at the same time.
And, um, the the marathon andthe half were interesting in
that uh, this is not a marathonfor you to do.
If you're interested in inexploring an area, because it
actually was eight, uh, 3.275mile loop, oh, eisenhower Park
in East Meadow, which is areally pretty pretty place.
Speaker 6 (01:32:10):
Yeah, probably for
the first two or three times,
probably, yeah.
Speaker 8 (01:32:16):
You'd run past
pavilions and ball fields and
the 9-11 Memorial, other statuesand a small lake that's down
there.
So it's really good for peoplelike me, who I do a lot of my
marathon training down at CooperRiver in Pensacola, new Jersey,
(01:32:37):
which anyone who has run theloopy or frosty looper is very
familiar with that.
Speaker 6 (01:32:43):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8 (01:32:43):
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Um, I live actually even closerthan uh, than Aaron and Michael
of the uh we'll run forpodcasts I live even closer to
there than than they do, so I uh.
Speaker 2 (01:32:55):
I do a lot of my
training down there yeah.
Speaker 8 (01:32:59):
But we're pretty much
as close.
Yeah, um, so it, but it.
For somebody who's used todoing loop sort of training like
that, it's great and it alsoyou know, I know a very powerful
way to run a marathon is tokind of chunk it.
So all of a sudden, instead ofthinking of the marathon as 26
miles, I'm thinking of it aseight loops around and you can
(01:33:22):
kind of yeah, it definitelyhelps with the mental aspect of
it.
It was cold at the end of therace.
Yeah, 29 degrees Fahrenheit, 11mile per hour, winds, 19 gusts
yeah, but like my coach says, intheory, on a looped course
(01:33:44):
you're going to be facing thewind and then you turn around
and it's going to be at yourback, yeah.
Speaker 7 (01:33:50):
In theory, you hope,
you hope, right.
Well, here's the thing aboutthe winds.
Speaker 6 (01:33:56):
If they're not 45
degrees off of either side of
your spine, they're not helpingyou Even if they're dead cross,
they're not helping you.
That really shows up on abicycle, but yeah, so cold,
windy.
Speaker 8 (01:34:13):
It was cold, but you
know, we knew it was going to be
like that so we dressedappropriately.
They did a really good job ofclearing the path, but most of
it like 95% of it was asphalt,so the ice was gone, the snow
was gone from the path, so itwas in good shape.
There were about 75 people thatran the full, so it wasn't a
(01:34:35):
huge race, but it was goodenergy.
They had people giving out foodand electrolyte beverages at
the beginning and the waterstation halfway through.
So you know it's pretty wellsupported and it's kind of a
good deal.
I'm definitely thinking aboutdoing it again next year.
Speaker 6 (01:34:54):
Well, that's nice.
You know, I and our fellowrunners admire the volunteers
who man the water stations.
But when it's 29 degrees andwindy and you're manning a water
station, yeah, that's a specialvolunteer.
Speaker 8 (01:35:09):
Yeah, indeed, you
know we had.
They had warm water that theywere giving out and it was warm,
maybe for the first lap or two,and then after that it became.
I sort of think of it ascrunchy water, because it had a
nice sheen of ice on the top ofit.
Speaker 6 (01:35:29):
I hear stories about
events like that, where at the
water stop because of justspillage, you get ice on the
course.
Any of that problem?
Speaker 8 (01:35:38):
I mean I did spill
one myself, but no, it was okay.
The table was kind of off tothe side, so we managed to avoid
that, luckily.
How'd you do?
I did okay.
I mean I think we talked aboutbefore that I'm always going for
that BQ, especially since theytightened the Right, the age and
(01:36:04):
the time standards?
Yeah, Um, yeah, so I, I came inat three, 21, which didn't quite
make it for for me.
But, um, you know, regardlessof your time, you know when you,
when you're searching, you'retrying to get to a certain, uh,
certain time and you fall alittle short.
It's a little disappointing,but I did, I did think that I, I
, I gave what I had on that day.
Speaker 6 (01:36:27):
So I'm satisfied as
far as that goes.
Gotcha For what it's worth.
Jack, we think that's anamazing time, so congratulations
on that, and I know you're anexcellent runner and I
appreciate it, but yeah, howclose were you?
Speaker 8 (01:36:41):
I needed to do 315
this year.
Last year at the same course, Idid 318, which was great.
That was a BQ at that time.
Now not so much.
But this for anybody who'sinterested and is in the area,
this is a good course for it.
It's mostly flat.
It's just one little hill about10 feet, something like that.
I mean literally 10 feet, soit's a nice fast course.
Speaker 6 (01:37:06):
And after a couple of
laps you know exactly when it's
coming.
Oh yeah, Good point.
Well, congratulations on that,jack.
I think that's excellent, and Iappreciate the report Also,
though.
Big-time congratulations.
Just in summary now.
I forget what episode you wereon.
(01:37:26):
It was about a year ago.
I would say Something like thatit was 93 or 94.
Speaker 8 (01:37:33):
It was in that
neighborhood In that
neighborhood for episodes Okay.
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:37:37):
Yeah, a little over a
year.
Then Tell our friends what youdid.
Speaker 8 (01:37:45):
Well, I ran all of
the streets in Camden County,
new Jersey, for charity tobenefit a charitable interest
that I have, the Lewy BodyDementia Association.
Lewy Body Dementia is the andI'm going to go into the spiel
here, but it's the no, please doI want you to.
Speaker 6 (01:38:06):
Please do it.
Speaker 8 (01:38:08):
Great yeah, the
second most common form of
dementia after Alzheimer'sdisease, and it's also the
disease that gradually took mydad's life.
So I ran all of the streets inCamden County to build awareness
for this and to raise funds toagain raise awareness and to
(01:38:29):
fight the disease.
Speaker 6 (01:38:30):
Is that fundraising
site still up?
Speaker 8 (01:38:33):
I have been telling
people anyone who's interested
in donating to just go straightto the Lewy Body Dementia
Association website.
I think it's lewycom or lewyorg.
Speaker 2 (01:38:45):
I should probably add
that up, but Louie Body.
Speaker 8 (01:38:47):
Dementia, because all
of the fundraisers that I put
together through Instagram theyalways have overhead.
So I say, just go straight tothe source and donate that way.
Speaker 6 (01:38:57):
Great Great.
Speaker 7 (01:38:59):
We'll put that in
show notes.
It was episode 94.
I just looked it up so it wasepisode 94.
I just looked it up, so it wasepisode 94, if anybody wants to
go and, uh, check that out yeah,perfect, thanks, thanks, thank
you.
Speaker 6 (01:39:10):
Um, so you finished
uh about two weeks ago yeah,
yeah, it was on.
Speaker 8 (01:39:16):
I mean, initially I
kind of hoped to finish in
october and then that becamenovember and I did the phil.
So you know, running gets inthe way of life.
Running gets in the way ofrunning.
But yeah, we I finished it onNew Year's Eve.
I ran that last little street.
Speaker 6 (01:39:35):
Yep, that's, that's
perfect, that's really excellent
.
Speaker 7 (01:39:38):
Yeah, I follow you on
Strava, we follow each other on
Strava and I was watching that.
That those last couple ofstreets where like little street
here, little street there, alittle street over there, that's
to get those little little onesout of the way, I guess.
Huh.
Speaker 8 (01:39:53):
Yeah, I mean one of
the, even though it was.
It's about 2,100 street milesin Camden County, but it took me
about 3,700 miles to do it,because every time you go down a
cul-de-sac or a dead-end road,you have to go in and you have
to go out, so you're doublingyour distance and you're nodding
(01:40:14):
.
I mean, we're all runners here,we know what we're talking
about and at the beginning, whenI was going to a town that was
maybe five miles distant, Iwould start at my house and I'd
run five miles to the start ofmy course, and that I couldn't
do that after a while.
Right.
But yeah, John, like you weresaying there, I tried to merge
(01:40:34):
different areas that I hadn'tfinished into one long run, but
sometimes it just wasn't goingto work out.
So, yeah, I'd hop from place toplace, do an apartment complex
and then get back in the car anddo a cul-de-sac and get back in
the car and yeah, it wasinteresting.
I certainly got to see areas ofthe county that I never would
have otherwise.
Speaker 6 (01:40:53):
Yeah, I'm going to
guess there's some you're not
going to be revisiting anytimesoon, that's true.
Speaker 8 (01:41:03):
Yeah, there are some,
like any place there are some
areas that are maybe a littlesketchier than others.
And then there are some placesthat are deep in the Pine
Barrens of New Jersey which, foranyone not familiar, look that
up, Some roads that are roads onpaper but really in practice,
(01:41:24):
and I'm going to be running oneof these tomorrow morning
because City Strides has nowsaid I'm not quite done Camden
County again as the map updatesnew roads get added, things get
tweaked.
I have to go back out and do it,but there are some sections
that are deep in the woods, thatare technically streets but
(01:41:47):
really they're dirt roads in themiddle of the pines.
Probably never going to seethem again.
Speaker 7 (01:41:53):
That was going to be
one of my questions.
If they put a new developmentin Camden County somewhere, is
that going to be something youhave to do or is it considered
done?
Speaker 8 (01:42:08):
To the world it
considered done.
I mean, I can well, I to theworld it's done, but just for my
own edification.
Yeah, I, I keep track of thesetowns and city strides, which is
the, the website that I use tokeep track of all of this.
Um, I have they.
They're nice enough to set upalerts that whenever a town that
I that I've run is updated, itkicks me an email and I know to
go see if I have any work leftto do.
(01:42:30):
So yeah this week I'm going tobe picking up miles that didn't.
That quote, unquote, didn'texist before.
Speaker 7 (01:42:37):
Oh, that's
interesting, Jack, yeah, yeah,
that's really cool.
Speaker 6 (01:42:41):
Yeah Well, it's quite
an accomplishment.
We're all proud of you, bud.
Speaker 7 (01:42:48):
Well done.
Speaker 6 (01:42:49):
How many?
Speaker 7 (01:42:49):
counties again, how
many counties?
Well, one county, One county.
How many towns I mean in thatcounty?
Speaker 8 (01:42:56):
Yeah, 36 towns 36
towns.
Yeah, the largest one, cherryHill, has about 315 miles of
road miles in it.
And the smallest one, for anygolfers out there might have
heard of well you've certainlyheard of Pine Valley, which is
considered one of the best golfcourses in the country.
(01:43:17):
I couldn't run there, but I ranright by it.
But the smallest town is calledTavistock.
It was created solely to have acountry club and that only has
0.4 miles of road.
But yeah, 36 towns.
Speaker 6 (01:43:33):
Cherry Hill first
mall I ever stopped in Cherry
Hill, new Jersey.
Speaker 8 (01:43:38):
Yep, one of the very
first ones.
Speaker 6 (01:43:40):
Just across the
bridge.
Is the city of Camden not inCamden County, or is it not the
biggest?
Speaker 8 (01:43:46):
city.
It's the biggest city, Isuppose, in Camden County.
It is in there.
Cherry Hill is the biggestmunicipality, I guess, in terms
of area.
But yeah, Camden's our biggestcity.
Speaker 6 (01:44:00):
I would think so yeah
, All right.
Speaker 7 (01:44:01):
I would think so,
yeah, all right.
So, jack, any final thoughtsabout your Camden County run
that you would would have likedto changed or done differently?
Speaker 8 (01:44:15):
Well, I mean I, I
really enjoyed doing it.
I mean I, I, I, I love gettingout there and loved how it.
I mean I'm, I'm, I'm prettydeep into into the running hobby
at this point, the runninghabit, but it gave me a reason
to get out there every morning,I mean.
But that was kind of that's.
One thing that I wish I coulddo differently is, I mean, some
nights I was, or some mornings,nights I was out there, of
(01:44:35):
course before sunrise, and Ikind of wish I had had time to
walk some of this a little bitmore, to really take in some of
it, to see things in thedaylight, when I wasn't just lit
by streetlights and a headlamp,but really that's just part of
the game, but other than that Iwouldn't take back a thing.
(01:44:56):
It was very enjoyable and I gotto explore and see things that I
never would have seen otherwise, so it was great.
Speaker 7 (01:45:06):
And this was a how
many year journey.
Speaker 8 (01:45:08):
I finished my first
town on September 24th 2021, and
then finished the final onelast year, so a little bit more
than three years.
Speaker 6 (01:45:18):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8 (01:45:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:45:20):
And September 2021,
that's one month before this
podcast started.
We're almost synced up.
Yeah, we're October 21.
Speaker 8 (01:45:30):
Oh great, yeah, it
took.
It took about 13, 40 hour workweeks I figured to, to finish
all of this up.
But you know, hey, I was justlike everybody listening to this
, understands.
You know, I was going to be outthere running anyway.
Speaker 7 (01:45:46):
So if I can raise a
little bit of money and
awareness, and have a good timedoing it great, and you saw a
lot of different places youprobably wouldn't have saw on
your runs.
Speaker 8 (01:45:56):
Oh, absolutely.
There's a log cabin in themiddle of a town, I mean there's
a shipyard and maritime museumin Camden that.
I've gone to since then I hadno idea about all of this stuff
Folk art and yard decorationsand all sorts of good stuff.
Speaker 6 (01:46:11):
Wonderful hey.
Any future plans, Any projectsahead?
Speaker 8 (01:46:16):
Well, I'm going to
and this might involve the
beagle that I'm looking at rightnow that you can't see, but I
think my wife and I are going togo out and maybe do some of the
trails in Camden County that Ididn't have a chance to see, so
do a little bit more exploringin the woods and kind of see
(01:46:36):
where it goes from there.
Speaker 6 (01:46:38):
Jack, you're an
inspiration.
I think this is tremendous.
You know, raise money for awonderful cause.
I know your dad's proud of you.
It's a great thing.
Great thing, my friend.
Again thanks for taking thetime to come back and visit with
us again.
I look forward to seeing youdown the road somewhere I'm not
sure where, but that would be awonderful thing.
Speaker 8 (01:46:59):
Oh, thank you.
I really appreciate all you'vedone to help and, yeah, I
certainly hope to see you guysat Disney at some point.
Speaker 7 (01:47:09):
And yeah, sounds good
.
Or bird in hands right down theroad from you guys a little bit
.
Speaker 8 (01:47:13):
Yeah, that is, that's
definitely a reason.
I have never done.
Speaker 2 (01:47:18):
And I really really
want to.
Speaker 6 (01:47:20):
That's a good one.
Speaker 8 (01:47:21):
I've signed up to do
it, but it just hasn't worked
out.
Speaker 6 (01:47:29):
Okay, all right, my
friend, friend, we'll let you go
.
Thanks again for your time.
Hey, kid.
Thanks a lot, jack.
All right, thank you.
Good hearing from jack.
And that camden county thing istremendous.
One thing I don't think jackmentioned he mentioned his
finished time and looking for abq.
Uh, he finished first in themaster's division at this
marathon.
That's a big deal, master'sdivision, I think that's 50 and
over, but it's a big deal.
(01:47:51):
I know I finished first in agrand master's division one time
and when I went to get my awardthey asked what I was getting.
I said I'm getting the greatgrandfather award.
So good stuff, jack.
Thanks for visiting with us.
So good stuff, jack.
Thanks for visiting with us.
In Fort Lauderdale Chelsea didthe Walk for Wishes event in
Westlake, florida, westlake 5K.
(01:48:15):
Jen and Steven were supposed tobe there.
Jen was there Real near home.
She got to walk to the startline A little chilly at the
start.
Yeah, even in Florida you guysknow you were here for marathon
weekend.
It stayed chilly up until thelast few days.
Jen was able to toss her glovesat mile one, ended up with a
(01:48:38):
podium finish, third place inher age group and an age group
PR.
Stephen.
Stephen bailed when he saw theweather forecast.
Over in Athens, georgia, mattdid the classic city marathon
(01:48:59):
relay on a four-person team.
I think that's pretty neat,matt.
He ran with his girlfriend,sister and another friend, chili
, over in Georgia.
But by the time they startedthe last leg Matt was feeling
really good.
He did 6.4 miles, got a new 10kPR during the race.
We count that, matt.
(01:49:21):
It's like Olympic swimmingevents where if you do the first
leg of the relay you can set aworld record.
Well, for Rise and Run, if youdo any leg of the event and you
set a PR, you get your PR bill.
One of the neat things is onthis race and I don't know if it
was just this group that did itor if this was a plan in the
event everyone got to meet atthe end of the race and all
(01:49:44):
crossed the finish line together.
There's a really nice photo ofthem doing just that In
Robesonia, pennsylvania.
I am not familiar.
This is like midway betweenLancaster and Allentown, I think
, northwest of Philly.
I think it's Robesonia.
(01:50:04):
Anyway, denise was there doingthe Chocolate Frosted Buns 5K,
ten.
Count them ten degrees at thestart of the event.
Thankfully there was no wind.
Denise did this one with herfather.
I love seeing that, denise.
Congratulations to you and toDad.
In Lakeland, florida, mary Jodid the freaking freezing 5k.
(01:50:29):
Now, lakeland's kind of boldwhen they label this thing the
freaking freezing event becausetypical high daily temperatures
in Lakeland this time of yearlike 72, but this one was 33
degrees when Mary Jo left thehouse Got up to about 40 at
start time, so it ended up beingpretty nice weather, not
(01:50:52):
exactly freaking freezing.
Of course there's one laparound the lake, lake
Hollingsworth.
Lots of nice views of themansions along the side that
Mary Jo said she loved lookingat when she was a kid.
Only about 200 on this one Kindof a small event.
Even an alligator on the lakeshore.
Not sure I would stop for thatcharacter stop.
(01:51:15):
I don't think Mary Jo did.
She said she didn't see it.
A few other folks did.
Ah, she says she wished she'dbeen able to get that character.
Stop, mary Jo, I wouldn't havebeen that bold.
Wrapping up Saturday in Houston,texas, the Hot Chocolate 5K
Jennifer's first race at 2025.
(01:51:37):
Great weather.
Her time wasn't the best, butwho cares?
Just needed to get in a runbefore next weekend's big race.
I'll have to check that.
I don't know if Jennifer'sgoing west to Disneyland or east
to Donna or somewhere else, butwe'll find out about it next
week.
Brandy was also there.
(01:51:57):
Brandy said the snacks weredelicious, the medal was
adorable and Brandy's headingout to California to do Dumbo.
There was a big event in thetown of Celebration, right near
the Walt Disney World gate inFlorida the town of Celebration
Marathon and Half Marathon.
Our friend Kay did the marathonand sent us this report.
Speaker 10 (01:52:24):
Hey guys, it's
Florida Kay here.
I wanted to give a race reporton this past weekend's 2025 Town
of Celebration Marathon andHalf Marathon.
It was a great race.
I will definitely be back.
I ran the marathon and I enjoyedthe course, except the
boardwalks.
They were extremely tough on,like the pain point areas that
(01:52:50):
I've had over about a month anda half, and I signed up for this
race based on my run dustyDebbie's recommendation during
our like fun space coach traveladventure, and I actually had
the pleasure of starting out therace with her for the first
four miles, where she thoroughlyentertained me with scares of
(01:53:15):
alligator sightings at each bodyof water to which I took off
running.
I did not wait to find out ifshe saw anything, but after the
split I did see some like reallycool stretches of roads through
the town of Celebration.
So there was one where itlooked like they were like
(01:53:37):
straight from a Hollywood studiolot.
Then I noticed a lot of thehouses, so we ran past some
really beautiful neighborhoods,a lot of the houses.
I kept myself entertained byhouses decorated with like
Valentine's hearts, and then itgot me thinking okay, well, the
town is called Celebration, so Idon't know if the residents in
(01:53:59):
the namesake always decoratetheir houses based on that.
But anyway, part of the coursewas a lap around a high school
track and that was really homefor me because track and field
was actually how I got startedwith running.
So I was also happy that thecourse I found out the course
(01:54:19):
would be a double loop so Iwould get to run another lap of
it.
I'm very much a jacket so Idon't look at anything, I just
show up the day of a race.
But many know about like thepain points, like the pains that
I've been having for the lastmonth and a half.
So this race was no different.
It got tougher for me likeafter the half and then it just
(01:54:41):
continued to get tough, um,pretty much with like each mile.
Um, yeah, on the second lap itit took a while before I saw
other runners, so a lot of therunners came out for the half
marathon.
When we split I didn't seeanybody for like a really long
time and that started to messwith the mental got a little
(01:55:02):
discouraging.
For a second.
I questioned, like you know,was everybody just faster than
me?
But yeah, it turns out that themarathon runners were in fact
faster than me.
I noticed that at the end as Iwas one of the last ones to
finish the race.
But I did see a more seniorathlete ahead of me on the
(01:55:24):
course and I incorrectly assumedhe must be doing half because
he was just walking.
And so when I ended up gettingup to him on the road leading to
like that same Hollywoodstretch Hollywood looking
stretch I saw he had on amarathon bib and it was a
genuine moment with him where Ihad to let him know that he was
inspiring me.
Moment with him where I had tolet him know that he was
(01:55:46):
inspiring me, because I'mthinking, if he's out here and
he's pushing it like this andhe's not giving up, then I can
like run past these pains thatI'm feeling and just get it done
.
And I really meant that when Isaid it to him and I saw him a
few times and paced with himaround like mile 22 because my
legs really didn't have muchleft in them and then I took off
again and was really happy tosee him finish.
(01:56:08):
So I wanted to mention that thevolunteers were great.
They had more than enoughhydration feeling on the course
and some of the volunteers werejust as energized, like with
their cheering in the beginning,as they were for us last
finishers.
One even walked with me forabout 100 feet or so to like the
next volunteer, showing uswhere to turn, and that meant
(01:56:28):
the world to me.
And Credit also wanted to go tothe race committee.
I don't know if she's like headof the race committee or
something not quite the racedirector but her name was Tracy
and she gave so much attentionto us last finishers and like
sat us down and even went andgot like the food for us at the
end of the race and I justthought that meant the world
(01:56:54):
because I watched her do it withthe others that came after me
and they do hold some of thereally good food for even the
last finishers.
So then I just want to say likeshout out to some of my core
virtual race support, and thisone it was my North Carolina
Robeson family.
They checked in on me and thenGreg and Allie, and so I'm going
to finish this race supporttalking maybe about talking
about Greg and Allie.
(01:57:15):
I guess like real quick beforeI do that towards the end of
what turned out to be thejogging piece where it was more
of like a high-powered Olympicrace walk.
I thought of how I watched Jackpush through those 100 miles
and so I wanted to let her knowthat.
And I told myself just one footin front of the other and keep
moving and you'll finish.
(01:57:35):
So thanks, jack.
So now Greg and Allie on therace support that they gave.
I got a group text from Gregand Allie and I didn't get to
check it for a while but I wastexting with Allie separately as
she was checking on me on thecourse.
So once Greg started the group,allie let him know I was going
(01:57:57):
after these miles and the trashtalking that apparently was in
there turned to full support andI love them dearly.
And so let me clarify the trashtalking is not what they do
every race I do, but the supportthey give shows up in text
message every race.
So I appreciated them so muchfor making sure and checking on
(01:58:18):
me, because I put my phone away,so they didn't even know if I
had finished at first and waitedto check on that.
So they didn't even know if Ihad finished at first and waited
to check on that.
And so once I finished, ourtrash talking turned back on in
anticipation of the game thatwas to begin at 3 pm and it did
not turn back off.
(01:58:39):
Like our enemy switch turned onand it didn't turn back off for
the rest of the evening.
But I just want to say, like mylegs are killing me right now,
but the pain is nothing incomparison to how Philly handed
it to us.
So I have more hurt feelingsfrom yesterday after this
(01:59:00):
marathon that I do from themarathon itself.
I just want to close out thisrace report with all my Rise and
Run Philly fans.
Go Chiefs, the hate is real.
Happy losing in New Orleans.
Speaker 6 (01:59:20):
Kay, you know you're
dealing with a bunch of Eagles
fans here, with Greg and me.
So sorry, sorry, the hateraid's coming out.
My friend, hey, look, maybenext year.
Listen, I will say this.
Speaker 2 (01:59:37):
For the first six
minutes of the game.
I was extremely concerned whenthey had the 17-play opening
drive.
Speaker 6 (01:59:46):
But then everything
else went down really, really
fast.
Then the Eagles had the 17thsecond.
Speaker 7 (01:59:53):
Then my boy came in
and did everything for you.
Speaker 2 (01:59:56):
Correct, because I
said to my wife I was like my
God, we better not go three andout here because the defense is
going to need some rest and thentake one run 60 yards for a
touchdown, and that was a oneand out here because the defense
is going to need some rest andit's one run 60 yards for a
touchdown, and there was a oneand out so you had a 17 play
drive followed by a 17 seconddrive, correct?
Speaker 6 (02:00:11):
exactly?
Yeah, and this is the reason,my friends, that my voice is
gone.
Uh, we had a bunch of folksdoing the half marathon there, k
, you know we tease and we loveyou, adam.
Adam, at the half marathon hewas pacing.
Laura Didn't hear anything fromAdam or Laura.
Debbie and Esther were there.
(02:00:33):
Our friend Heather commented onhow nice the weather was.
Heather does push rim, doesn'tlove boardwalks.
I can kind of understand that.
She is on to the booby TrapChallenge next weekend in
Jacksonville for the Donnaweekend and she'll be there with
our friends from Will Run Forfollowing along on all of Will
(02:01:06):
Runford's social challenges.
Speaker 2 (02:01:06):
I can't remember what
race Michael is doing I can't
remember if he's I think he'sdoing the marathon but I believe
Aaron, tom and Diana are doingthe half marathon and are going
to be party pacing.
That, to celebrate not onlyAaron but also everyone else in
this community, is either asurvivor or a thriver in terms
of breast cancer, so I know thatthey're going.
(02:01:28):
This is going to be a very,very special weekend for the
We'll Run Fork crew and a lot,and also you know the Galloway
community as well too, so besure to go follow along on their
social media channels, becauseI'm sure they're going to
provide lots of great andinspiring content.
Speaker 6 (02:01:43):
Yeah, I cannot speak
for the rest of the country here
because I know there are breastcancer awareness, breast cancer
fundraising events throughoutthe country throughout the year,
but I don't think any arebigger than the Donna in
Jacksonville.
So big deal Good luck.
Have fun there, guys.
(02:02:04):
Back to the celebration town ofcelebration weekend.
Jared was there.
Jared got a proof of time forRun Disney on the half.
That's outstanding, Jared.
Food and drinks are always topnotch.
Afterward he got to do it witha bunch of his Run Club friends.
Jessica got blisters around milethree but kept going.
(02:02:26):
Really liked the race coursewith the beautiful parks and
trails and neighborhoods, A lotof cheering and volunteers, Nice
weather this weekend, so I'msure a bunch of folks were out
there.
Some of them had goodies likecandy oranges.
One had beer and brats andsodas.
(02:02:46):
I don't know if I'd be able tokeep running.
She was really happy.
She got a Coca-Cola around mileeight.
That helps Caffeine kicks inthe sugar.
That was the early energy drink.
It was Coca-Cola.
Racers would open it up thenight before and leave it flat.
(02:03:06):
Drink, flat Coke.
Jessica definitely would dothis one again.
Kathleen Kat was there.
Impulse sign up for her Feltlike she could do it.
Needed a run following the WaltDisney World Marathon.
Local for her, she's able towalk to the start-finish area.
Saw Kay twice on the course.
(02:03:27):
Great to have some other Ryzenrunners to cheer on.
Biggest thing for her, for Kat,is that she finished this race
with a 13-minute PRCongratulations.
Mentioned earlier, Laura wasthere running with Adam.
Mary said Mary was there.
(02:03:48):
Mary says this wasn't fast buther first eight miles were very
solid.
She's coming off a cold.
She'll take it.
Love you.
Love the uh rise and run shirt.
Mary, you look great.
And Monica did this race forthe first time.
Also, beer and brats on course,Dogs, Amazing signs on a long
(02:04:11):
stretch of road, Great race,Great half marathon and for
Monica, a PR In ClearwaterFlorida, the Clearwater Florida
Running Festival.
Let's see.
Our friend Fitz Kohler was therace announcer.
Rob was there.
We talked to Rob last week onthe spotlight, Said the 5k on
(02:04:33):
Saturday was chilly and I didn'tcatch anything about the half
from Rob, but I'm pretty sure hedid that.
Jennifer did the half,Beautiful morning.
It did warm up considerably onSaturday.
Even though this is ClearwaterFlorida, even though this is
beach territory, even thoughit's flat over here, there are a
(02:04:54):
couple of really tough bridgeson this course, and I mean
significant.
I think they're tougher thanthe Skyway Bridge between St
Pete and Sarasota.
But despite the bridgesJennifer managed a 20-second PR
(02:05:17):
and she wants to thank herfriend Carolyn for helping her
pace to that.
And of course Carolyn was alsothere and finished the half.
Winding up Saturday the ArkansasGrand Prix Series in
Russellville, Arkansas.
I think this is new.
Our friend Shelby Allison, ourSA, did this one.
(02:05:38):
This is the first race in aseries.
It's a track race where you runfor an hour.
Sa did 4.8 miles in the hour.
During that time she hit a PRin the mile, the two miles and
(02:06:00):
the 5K and since it was herfirst officially timed track run
, she's counting that as a PRtoo.
I think one big bell's going todo at SA.
This was also the debut of thefun Arkansas run team.
That's right.
Sa's running for the fart.
A serious note our friend ShelbyAllison.
(02:06:21):
I'm proud of all of our friends.
I genuinely am, but Essay'sreally, really made a lot of
great strides here in the lastyear.
She's only been running alittle over a year.
I think she ran her first 5Kabout 14 months ago and then did
Dopey a couple weeks ago, soshe's really doing well.
(02:06:42):
Nicely done, Congratulations.
That's it, friends.
That's the race report forepisode 175.
Thank you for keeping it shortfor me.
I don't know if you realizedI'd be losing my voice or not,
but I appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (02:06:54):
I can't wait till the
when we record, after the Super
Bowl, how bad Bob's going to be.
You know, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:06:59):
I was just about
ready to make a comment and then
realize I wasn't going to sayanything because I didn't want
to jinx it, or anything.
Speaker 6 (02:07:04):
Oh, there are no such
things as jinxes, says the guy
who will probably wear the sameshirt.
Speaker 2 (02:07:11):
Same thing in the
same seat Yep.
Speaker 6 (02:07:15):
All right, my friends
, and if you run, you know you
are our friend.
Thank you for joining us forepisode 175 of the Rise and Run
podcast, with a few asterisksbecause we're into that part of
the football season.
It is a Zoom Thursday.
Thank you, john.
It is a Zoom Thursday.
This will be the last Zoombefore we register for Wine and
(02:07:39):
Dine, so if you're new to thisand you want to talk about the
registration process, this is agreat time to do it.
I do realize that it is ExpoDay out in California, but I'm
hoping the fact that we startthe Zoom at 5 pm California time
, some of our friends will beable to make it.
(02:08:01):
I sure hope so.
Speaker 7 (02:08:03):
You know Kay's going
to find a spot in the park and
uh.
Speaker 6 (02:08:06):
I think she may.
I think, uh, I did that onetime at Disney world on a zoom
uh event.
I was there and had a lot offun actually.
So I hope, hope, to hope to seeyou on zoom.
If you haven't done it before,please drop by.
We have a great time.
So there you go, my friends.
(02:08:26):
Hope you enjoyed episode 175.
Until we meet again, happyrunning.
Speaker 2 (02:08:41):
The Rise and Run
podcast discusses general
information about Run Disney andis in no way affiliated with
Run Disney or the Walt DisneyCompany.
Any information or advicediscussed on this podcast should
not be considered medicaladvice and should always consult
with your health care provideror event organizer.
You.
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