189: Deep Dish or Thin Crust: Vern Runs on Pizza

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
3 am again.
Why did I ever think this was agood idea?
Welcome to the Rise and Runpodcast.
Join our group of Run Disneyfriends.
As we talk about running atWalt Disney World and beyond.
We'll discuss recent runs,training, upcoming races and

(00:27):
surprise topics suggested by you, our listeners.
Well, the alarm's gone off, solet's go.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hi, my name is Jennifer and I just ran a
marathon in Antarctica, and youare listening to the Rise and
Run podcast.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Hi, this is Dan from Lyle Illinois.
We're here at the Rise and Runmeetup for Springtime Surprise
Weekend.

Speaker 5 (00:49):
You're listening to the Rise and Run podcast.
So Jennifer Jennifer sends usan intro.
She did a marathon inAntarctica.
How cool is that gang?
That's really cool.
In fact, it's probably, yeahcold, but that was neat.
That was from a couple weeksago.
Thank you, Jennifer.
And then I said we'd probablydouble up.

(01:09):
Dan left us one from SpringtimeSurprise.
So two intros this week toepisode 189 of the Rise and Run
podcast.
Hello, my friends.
As always, we are so happy tohave you with us this week.
I'm Bob and I'm here with Johnhey, how you doing.

(01:32):
With Alicia, Hello.
With Lexi, Hello.
And with Greg hey, hey, hey.
Good to see you, my friends.
This week Runs on Pizza.
Good to see you, my friends.
This week Runs on Pizza.
Our friend Vern you may knowher from her Instagram Runs on
Pizza account where sheinterviews costumed guests at

(01:54):
the Run Disney events.
Pretty neat, nice conversationwith Vern.
In the Race Report Spotlight westep back a week to the
Kentucky Derby Mini Marathonthat our friends Ashley and
Sarah ran.

Speaker 6 (02:11):
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 Rise and Run Podcast.
On Instagram Rise and RunPodcast.
On Instagram Rise and Run Pod.
Check out our YouTube channeland visit our webpage
riseandrunpodcastcom.
If you have questions, comments, race report or want to

(02:34):
introduce an upcoming episode,call us at 727-266-2344 and
leave us a recorded message andleave us a recorded message.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
We also want to thank our patrons, whose support
helps keep the Rise and Runpodcast rising and running.
If you'd like to join thePatreon team, please check out
patreoncom slash.
Rise and run podcast.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
The Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by our
friends over at Magic BoundTravel.
I know that I think they'refinally breathing a sigh of
relief that that initial rush ofthe Walt Disney World 2026
packages is now in the rear viewmirror.
And they can.
They'll just be, you know,coming in more, you know
steadily, and more, more spacedout.

(03:14):
So so great job to all thetravel advisors out there for
handling that mad rush.
But here's the thing that welearned, though you now can get
an MBTs queue for Disneyland.
So if you're one of those luckyfew that, a couple of weeks ago
, got registered for what couldbe the last race in a really
long time at Disneyland, getyourself in the queue to get a

(03:37):
vacation package quoted for theDisneyland race weekend in 2026.
So again, magicboundtravelcomis where you can get that no
obligation quote set up.
And then the other importantthing we wanted to pass along we
got an update about theinaugural Rise and Run Cruise
Gang.
You ready for this one?

(03:57):
I'm so excited with this.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
41 state rooms have been booked for this.
Over 80 people right now areslated to attend this what is
hopefully going to be an awesome, awesome time in April of 2026,
following springtime surprise.
So there's still plenty of timeto join us for this cruise.

(04:23):
So, if you're interested, againmagicboundtravelcom they have a
special button right there thatwill take you to the podcast
cruise information.
We have it linked on ourFacebook page.
It's everywhere.
If you want to be part of it,head on over there, get your no
obligation quote and hopefullyyou'll set sail with us.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
It will doubtless be the event of the season.
Hey, here's an unscripted one.
Alicia, How's your plant-basedRise and Run chat group going?

Speaker 4 (04:53):
We haven't really had much conversation in the last
couple of weeks but a bunch ofus have been sharing recipes as
we find them and it's beenreally cool to see what people
are using as their differentprotein sources and just kind of
have a little bit of acommunity for people who
understand each other and thestruggles and the benefits that

(05:16):
can come with being aplant-based runner.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
That's what it's called right, the plant-based
chat, or if folks are lookingfor it in our community chat
groups.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
It is called Plant-Based Rise and Runners.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
Plant-Based Rise and Runners, pbrrs Sure, all right,
cool.
Hey, friends, I'm going to putthis up front, not an apology or
an alibi.
I just want to put this upfront because it's important.
Jennifer Hudson's a good friendof the podcast.
She's been a friend of thepodcast for years.

(05:47):
She went over and ran theLondon Marathon, which, by the
way, we'll be recapping in thenext episode.
I know it's a couple weeks ago,but we want to get everybody
together.
While there, jennifer's husband,dan.
I don't know if Dan had a heartattack, but he had something
that required heart surgery, atriple bypass, in fact.

(06:10):
He's doing quite well and, asof last, as of just looking a
few minutes before the podcaststarted here on Tuesday, uh,
he's out of the hospital.
However, it's going to be acouple of weeks before Dan's
able to fly back home.
So Dan and Jennifer are stillover in England, which, while

(06:31):
that sounds like fun to have anextended vacation, this is not
the way to do it and it's alsoobviously not the way they
planned.
There is, if you are interestedin helping out, there is a
GoFundMe site.
That link is in our Facebookgroup and we will also put it

(06:52):
into the show notes, so take alook at that.
If you are able to help out.
Let's look at training.
Holy smokes, we were justlamenting the end of the run
Disney season and what do wehave?
We're back on the trainingschedule.

(07:13):
Kids Disneyland Halloweenkicked off today, not today.
Well, yeah, technically today.
Technically today, the day thatwe're recording.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
we should have did 30 minutes right bob 30.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
Yeah, I does it say 30 or 30 to 45 anyway, yeah,
it's the weekly run startedtoday.
This is week one of training.
I think is what I'm trying tosay.
The long saturday run, longSaturday run for this week.
Hang on, two miles, you can doit.
Hey, it's got to startsomewhere, kids, I mean, if

(07:50):
you're coming off of last season, two miles is going to look
silly, but if you're coming offthinking that the trip to the
mailbox at the end of thedriveway is long, you got to
start somewhere.
So, two miles it is for thisweek.
It'll build quickly enough.
Let's see what else we got.
We've always noted also notedthat while Disneyland Halloween

(08:14):
is 17 weeks away, so is Bird inHand, an event that many of us
will be participating in andtalking about that just in
general.
We haven't done a littletraining update on our own for a
while.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
So, uh, greg, you had some thoughts you wanted to
share, I think, about trainingat this time of year, absolutely
yeah I'm going to preface withwhat I'm about to say is to say
that I have not lost anymotivation for running like I,
I'm not we the the dopey downersor the dopey doldrums or or
anything like that.

(08:48):
Um, so I'm happy about that.
But at the same time, though, Ihave been able to recognize
that my training hasn't been toa consistent level, that it has
been for the last couple ofweeks, and that has to do with

(09:08):
I've been traveling a lot forwork and other special events.
I've just been very busy withwork being an assistant coach
for my daughter's softball team.
So right now life is throwing alot at me, and sometimes
running does have to take alittle bit of a back seat.
But again, I'm, you know,keeping that positive mindset,

(09:29):
in the sense that it's not likeI don't have the, the motivation
to, to get out there and, andyou know, put some miles on my
feet and whatnot.
But the advice that I wanted tooffer and I think this is going
to segue nicely into a topicthat Bob wanted to introduce for
us tonight is, if you ever feellike you're getting into that
area, especially in, you know,what we're calling the, the lull

(09:52):
of the run Disney season rightnow is go out and find a race to
start training for, you know.
So, whether that's, you know, alocal 10K or a half marathon.
I mean, obviously you know whenwe get to the race report later
in this episode.
I mean, obviously a ton ofgreat runs happened this past

(10:13):
weekend, but there's still a lotof great runs that are still
going to be coming up here inthe late spring and early summer
.
Before we get into, you know,your typical busy fall races and
then you know the return of RunDisney and such.
So again, if you ever feel likethat, just find that next thing
that will allow you to create atraining plan and just get out

(10:33):
there and get right back to it.
As long as you're getting acouple of miles every single
weekend and trying to get thosemaintenance runs in there,
you're definitely not going tolose any of your training, which
is a fantastic thing.
But if you feel like you'reslipping, this could be a good
motivational tool for you.

Speaker 5 (10:51):
Yeah, it is.
I agree 100%.
In fact, I want to ask myfriends here what you got coming
up between now and the time weget back to Disney.
Is anyone going out forHalloween?
I don't think Jack is.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
I don't think any of us are.

Speaker 5 (11:07):
I don't think any of the Rise and Run gang will be
there.
I know Jack and I will be therein January, so let's say,
between now and Wine and Dinewhat you got on the schedule,
kids.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
So last week we talked to Michelle and she
mentioned that website runningin the USAcom.

Speaker 5 (11:26):
Yeah right.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Actually, yesterday I was thinking to myself I don't
have anything on the books forraces and so I sat down and I
wrote down a bunch of localraces.
I'm not signed up for anythingyet but, like Greg was saying,
this is a great time to look andsee what's local to you was
saying, like it's, this is agreat time to look and see
what's local to you.
Um, maybe find that five or tenk?

Speaker 2 (11:48):
um and have something to keep you motivated in this
kind of lull of the trainingbefore whatever you're training
for starts so what I'm trainingfor right now is, uh even though
we have not officially signedup as of yet, but it is inked
onto my calendar uh, right nowI'm in the midst of training for
the loopy looper oh, there yougo, 12 hour, uh ultra at the

(12:11):
beginning of august.
Okay, we have a bunch of peoplethat are interested.
We're still trying to geteverybody locked down.
Hopefully we can have a bunchof teams to go out and uh pay
homage and respect and memory ofour wonderful friend Aaron from
the We'll Run For podcast.
So I'm very excited for that,not just for the running miles

(12:32):
themselves, but just what'sgreat about that event is just
the camaraderie that you all getto experience while you're
sweating your butt offunderneath a tailgating tent for
12 hours and whatever elementsdecides to, that decides to hit

Speaker 5 (12:45):
south jersey that particular day it was pretty
nasty last year.
You got smoked, didn't?

Speaker 2 (12:50):
you, well, yeah, between he and then a
thunderstorm, yeah, we hadeverything.
But so that's the thing I'mimmediately training for, and
then, you know, like a goodchunk of us, um, you know,
similar to the training schedulethat you just mentioned, bob uh
, my next, uh half marathon thenwill be Burden Hand in
September, and then I don't haveanything until marathon weekend

(13:11):
.
But who knows, maybe I cansneak something in there.
We'll just have to wait and see.
But at least I got Loopy Looperand Burden Hand.

Speaker 5 (13:17):
Cool, anybody else?
John, you're going to BurdenHand right, I'll be at.

Speaker 6 (13:22):
Burden Hand.
Yes, I Anybody else, john,you're going to Bird in.
Hand.
Right, I'll be at Bird in Hand.
Yes, that's my big race for the, I guess October.
No, september, september.
Sorry, september, september,september.
But I have a couple races thatI'm looking to sign up for, but,
as Greg says, life gets in theway Every time I plan on
something oh, let's do this racethis weekend.

(13:45):
Oh, we have a family event thatday.
Oh, we have this.
So right now, one that I thinkI will be doing is the Tom
Fleming classic, which is on aThursday night, and not much is
happening on Thursday nightsunless it's a zoom call and you
can go live, John.

Speaker 5 (14:01):
Yeah, I was going to say why can't you be on the?

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Zoom call and run a race at the same time.
I don't know why not.

Speaker 6 (14:06):
You want a lot of dirty words, oh sorry, and
there's another 5K coming up.
So once a 5K, once a 5 mile,that's something coming up in
June to kind of get the traininggoing, get yourself moving
again.
So hopefully that works.

Speaker 9 (14:26):
So, for me, the only thing that I have on the horizon
right now is the challenge atspringtime Um, that's way far
off in the future.
But as I'm thinking about, aswe're talking about this, and as
I'm thinking about it, I'mlooking at the calendar that's
right beside me, like it'salready May, and I have been

(14:57):
inspired by you guys because Ihave not run at all zero percent
since Marathon Weekend, for awhole variety of different
reasons that I won't go into,for a whole variety of different
reasons that I won't go into.
But you know, I really thinkit's time to come back.
All righty, don't call thecomeback, we'll call it.
Well, I don't know what we'llcall it, but I think I will find

(15:25):
some kind of.
I can't travel anywhere rightnow.
I have too many trips, but I'mgoing to see if I can find a 5k
or 10k or something.
Is it too late to?

Speaker 2 (15:37):
get into Peachtree for you.

Speaker 9 (15:39):
Um, maybe too late physically, oh, okay.

Speaker 5 (15:44):
Is that a lottery entry now, Peachtree.

Speaker 9 (15:47):
I'm part of the track club oh okay.
We have guaranteed entries intoit, but yeah, I won't be ready
for six miles by then.

Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, that's a tough one anyway, with the heat it's
so hot too.

Speaker 9 (16:03):
Like the race was great it is.
It was just July 4 too.
Like the race was great.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
It is.

Speaker 9 (16:06):
It was just July 4th.
No, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (16:10):
Yeah, it's one of the country's great 10Ks, no doubt
about that.

Speaker 9 (16:13):
It's beautiful, but it's mighty warm.
Through Atlanta.
I mean it's beautiful, but it'shilly.

Speaker 5 (16:21):
Again, it's through Atlanta.

Speaker 9 (16:23):
Exactly.
Again, it's through atlantaexactly yeah.
So, um, I know there's a whole,but I mean, just from me being
in the running community here, Iknow there's a ton of 5ks that
I could get into a ton of 10ksand, um, yeah, maybe I'll find
something for like september,because that'll give me time to

(16:43):
start from zero, or that wouldbe a good time or start from
like what?
What was the weekend that yousaid, bob, a little while ago?
Two miles.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
First first week of training,two miles Sure.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
All right, lexi, that's your homework, for next
week's episode is to find a race.

Speaker 9 (17:00):
Okay, I can do that.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Cool.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
I can do that okay, I can do that.
Cool, I can do that.
Let me see I just more on thisin a little bit.
I just finished flying pig.
I have a race this weekend.
I have a race saturday the runwith meb.
I think they have a 5k and 10k.
I'm doing the 10k in the tampaarea.
Meb kovleski hosts that everyyear.
Um, I'm actually my.

(17:24):
I actually have a time goalthis and I want to try to beat
my age.
So that gives me 71 minutes andsome odd seconds.
It'll be close.
Let's see how that goes.
Then the race is here, thenthey go away for a while because
it just gets too hot.
I am doing an event on the 4thof July at the pier in St
Petersburg, but that's forfunsies, so I'll be doing that.

(17:49):
I will be at Bird and Hand.
I'm excited about that.
Then Disney Wine and Dine.
Then I've got a couple othersSpace Coast Friends if you
haven't done Space Coast andyou're anywhere nearby, that's
an awesome event.
It occurs the Sunday afterThanksgiving over in Cocoa Beach

(18:10):
, florida.
And then one I've talked about acouple times the Honolulu
Marathon.
Going out and running with Jeffin December.
I hope that we will have moreinformation to share with you on
packages for that race in ournext episode.
I think that may be the case,but that's what I've got coming

(18:32):
up, so I'll go back to what Gregsaid.
This is a way to help you getthrough those blahs in the
summer if you're a big time runDisney fan, as obviously we all
are, and it'll get you over thehump.
Michelle Last week talked aboutothers, talked about Cross
training etc.
But since we're talkingtraining In general and we've

(18:56):
Talked with some coaches andwe'll talk with Some more we got
a coach sitting here With uswho I would like to open the mic
up and Give her a little timeI'm talking, of course, about
Alicia to tell us about hercoaching program and how that's
going.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Thanks, bob.
Yeah, actually yesterday, whichwas Cinco de Mayo, was my
second year anniversary of myrun coaching business.

Speaker 5 (19:20):
Yeah, that's impossible, that's no.
You mean second week, right'simpossible, that's no you get
everybody margaritas.

Speaker 9 (19:26):
You mean second week, right no?

Speaker 5 (19:29):
It just seems.
Has the time flown for you?

Speaker 4 (19:31):
It has.
It's kind of like the podcast.
It's kind of amazing to see howlong we've been doing it and
the same with my business.
Like, yeah, it doesn't feelthat long, but it has been two
years and it's been really great.
I have absolutely loved helpingall of my clients get to their

(19:51):
goals and seeing them.
A lot of them were first timersfor Marathon Weekend and did
Dopey in their first marathons,which was really cool to see and
overall it's just been reallygreat.
But I did want to mention acouple of things about my

(20:13):
business in case you areinterested.
My business is called RunningWith Alicia.
That's my website,runningwithaliciacom.
I'm also on YouTube andInstagram same handle and I do.
I do a hundred percentpersonalized um run coaching and
I specialize in first timeraces and marathon training,
especially Um, but I do helprunners with all sorts of

(20:34):
distances Um.
I have people doing five Ks allthe way up to a 50 K um and
everything in between.
So um.
I'm willing to help with thatand I do free consultation calls
, so there's no obligation.
If you want to just sit downand chat, we can do that.
There's a consultationquestionnaire on my website you

(20:55):
can fill out if you'reinterested.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
So you get a consultation.
I sign up with you, Alicia.
Now what happens Like?
Every week you give me a plan,we talk every week.
How does that work?

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, so I do weekly plans.
I know that every coach isdifferent, so I do weekly plans
because I'm a hundred percentpersonalized.
I do it that way so that we canadapt and adjust accordingly.
If you're changing your milesor if things get in the way, if

(21:27):
work schedules change or kidschedules change, we can adjust
accordingly.
And then I leave it up to myrunners for calls.
So I have runners that willmeet bi-weekly.
Sometimes we meet every week.
Sometimes I don't meet withthem for a couple of months
because we text every day.
So I leave it up to my runnersUm, but I do offer um calls with

(21:53):
them as well.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Now, alicia, you glanced over something when we
started this conversation,though.
So when they, when someonesigns up with you, how many
margaritas does that include?

Speaker 4 (22:10):
Zero margaritas.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
I encourage my runners not to drink.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Well, they're in training, greg, okay All right,
they're big events, but I dounderstand that they might want
to have a margarita or an adultbeverage after they've completed
the distance.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
I still want you to have a sale one day and have
your code.
Just be Margarita.
I just think that would befantastic.
I'm very proud of you and theway that your business has grown
, and I'm glad that more andmore clients from the Rise and
Run community are joining upwith you, and I think it's
wonderful news.
So congratulations.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Thank you.
You did mention a code andthere's not really a code, but
if you do mention the Rise andRun podcast, you get $10 off a
month for just being a listenerof the podcast.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
Cool, yeah, cool.
That's good.
Obviously, we travel in thesame circles and I know a lot of
your clients and your clientslike you, and I find that easy
to believe.
Yes, so, I'm sure it's a goodgroup and I'm glad to see you're

(23:12):
doing so well.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
So there you go, friends.
There's another avenue We'vetalked about several.
I'm not picking sides here.
Clearly, alicia is my friend,but we have other friends who
are coaches in other ways, andcoaching, I think any coach
would tell you, is not a cookiecutter one size fits all.
So you know if you're lookingfor something, alicia's told you

(23:37):
what she specializes in firsttimers and I got a feeling she's
good at it because I know her.
I've known Alicia for years andI know she's very serious about
what she does.
And so there you go.
All right, alicia, thanks,let's see friends.
Let's talk with our guest forthe week, and I didn't do this

(23:59):
while she was here, and onlythose of you who are a certain
age will get this.
But hey, vern, what you doing.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
In the wide world of sports.
The role of the sidelinereporter has greatly increased
and has become more and morevisible over the years, and
there are journalists out therewho make quite a career in this
role, including Aaron Andrews,holly Rowe, tracy Wolfson and

(24:29):
the late Craig Sager.
But did you know that RunDisney also has their own famous
sideline reporter outside ofRaleigh Claremont and our buddy,
tracy Wu?
You may have seen her reels allover Instagram during Run
Disney Race Weekends and you mayknow her by her Instagram

(24:49):
handle, runs on Pizza.
But we would love to welcomeVern to the Rise and Run podcast
.
Vern welcome.

Speaker 8 (24:56):
You're going to make me cry with that intro.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
That's some good company, isn't it, vern?
Yeah, there you go go withthose people.

Speaker 8 (25:04):
It's like I it's yeah , I'm floored.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Greg wanted you to feel welcome so we're gonna get
started by a very simple but yetI think could be a a
long-winded answer though, andthat is, tell us just your not
the sideline reporting thing,but just your general run Disney
origin or backstory.

Speaker 8 (25:27):
Okay, well, I didn't get started running until, I
want to say, like 2017.
I had a family friend and shewas running.
So I'm from San Antonio, texas,and she was running the Rock
and Roll San Antonio HalfMarathon and me and my other
friend were like let's go andspectate the race and cheer her

(25:49):
on at the finish line.
And so this was for the 2016,.
December of 2016 rock and rollin San Antonio.
So we're at the finish line.
It's like right, yeah, rightbefore the end, and you're
seeing all of these differentpeople from different walks of
life, different ages, differentsizes, different athletic
abilities, about to finish ahalf marathon and people are

(26:12):
like crying and cheering andjust so excited to accomplish
this goal that they set forthemselves.
And just seeing that wasinspiration enough for me.
I was like what is stopping mefrom trying to do that?
I was never athletic, never apart of any organized sports.
I was the artistic kid inmiddle school and high school.

(26:34):
I did art club and pianolessons and all of those
different things, so never didany organized sports.
And I saw these people justaccomplishing something hard and
I was like I want that feeling.
I want to feel like I put fortheffort and hard work into
something physical and then haveit culminate at this finish

(26:56):
line.
And so I told my friend, afterwe cheered for her, she crossed
the finish line.
I was like, mindy, I want to dothis next year, so that'd be
2017, december 2017.
And she's like, okay, I canhelp you get there.
And I was like, but I don'twant to tell anybody, like I
don't want to tell my friends ormy family, because, in case I

(27:17):
don't fulfill this, in case Idon't follow through with this,
I don't want them to be like, oh, you didn't run a half marathon
, that sucks.
So I was like I kept it asecret for about, I want to say,
like half a year and I wouldjust do some little training
runs here and there, constantlydoubting myself that I was going
to be able to even run 13 milesif I could barely make it two
miles.

(27:38):
But just through consistencyand the encouragement from my
friend, like, yeah, six monthsin, I told my family.
I was like, hey, I signed upfor the rock and roll in San
Antonio and they're like that'sawesome, we can't wait to go and
cheer you on.
And then I think it wasprobably March, like March of

(27:58):
2017.
That same family friend waslike, hey, if you're running
rock and roll in December, whynot just sign up for the Run
Disney half marathon in January,because we're going to go with
all of our family members and itwill be so much fun?
And I was like, ok, I mean,that's two half marathons back
to back, but I think I could doit.

(28:19):
It's like just a month apart,I'm already in the training
might as well.
And this was beforeregistration day is what it is.
And I was able to register,like several weeks after it
opened up, and was able to getin, sign up for the half
marathon easy peasy, like nosweat.

(28:39):
And I had gone to Disney Worldbefore, but that was with my
family.
We stayed off property.
It was not to the extent ofwhat I experienced a Disney
vacation with them in January,and so trained for the rock and
roll ran, that had a good time.
I was hurting just because itwas my first half.

(29:01):
And then I was like, ok, I haveto do this again in a month.
And so got ready for Disney.
Uh, went out there with them.
We went to the expo.
It was a very chill expo.
We didn't go to the merchandisearea.
We just went and got our bibs,got out of there, went to a park
.
Uh, we stayed on property andwe, what did we do?

(29:23):
We didn't spectate any of theother races, except for because
my friend that had signed up shewas doing goofy so we got ready
for the half marathon, woke upat I think like 3 30 because the
last bus was at 4 and we'relike we can make it for the last
bus got on the last bus, got tothe start start area Again, no
stress, like no problems.

(29:44):
It was super easy, but it wasvery early.
Wore the race shirt it was likethe black long sleeve marathon
weekend shirt because it wasfreezing.
It was like 36 degrees.
That race, what year was that?
2018.

Speaker 5 (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, it was cold yeah it was.
Well, we've all been therefrigid.
I had a rain jacket oh yeah, itwas windy too, wasn't?

Speaker 8 (30:09):
it layers?
Yeah, it was, but I didn't know, I didn't know any different.
I was like this is how it is atfour o'clock in the morning in
orlando, like this is normal noyou know, you know that now.
Yeah, I oh this is not a commonthing, but yeah had everything
layered up.
I didn't get any photos fromthat race because I covered my

(30:31):
bib.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh yeah, oh jeez.

Speaker 8 (30:34):
I had all the layers on.
I tied my rain jacket around mywaist after like mile four and
didn't realize that that's howyou got your pictures was
through your bib, and so I thinkI have like two of them that
like when my bib was able to beshifted a little bit towards the
end, so I had like two goodphotos of the whole race.
But, again, didn't know thedifference, because this was my

(30:54):
first run Disney race.
I don't remember anything elseabout it.
I just remember getting thereearly in the morning it was cold
and then running the race andfinishing it and I loved it.
Thought it was so much fun.
I don't remember costumes like Idon't remember clocking that at
all from anybody else.
Like I said, running in my raceshirt was normal.
In my mind, I was like, yeah,this is what everybody does.

(31:16):
Well, you weren't the only one.
Yeah, exactly, so it didn'tfeel odd, as I guess, and it
shouldn't be.
It shouldn't feel odd forpeople to wear the race shirt
now, but, being in the costumedworld, I was like I would never
wear the race shirt anymore tothe race when you can do so many
other things, and so that wasyeah, 2018.

(31:36):
We cheered for the marathon andit was after, I think, the next
day.
That Monday we were walkingaround Epcot and Magic Kingdom
and I saw people with theirdopey medals and all of the
medals like just all of themstacked and clinking, and that
was before the medals got a chip, and so you're just seeing them
walking around.

(31:57):
And this is why I was laughingmyself.
I clocked one lady in thebathroom and she had, because
she had the dopey shirt and thedopey metal on and she was
washing her hands.
And I was like hey, can I askyou a question?
She's like yeah, I was like howlong did it take you to train
for dopey?
And she goes actually, it's notthat much more work to train
for dopey than it is to trainfor a marathon.

(32:18):
It's like, yes, you have moreruns that you have to do back to
back, but the timeframe of itis pretty much the same.
And I was like okay, so was ithard to like do all those miles?
And she goes.
You just start slow, you startwith the lower mileage and then
you just work your way up andthe goal is to get it done.
It's not to finish in a certaintimeframe, like, yes, you want

(32:39):
to finish before the balloon,ladies, but at the end of the
day, the goal is is to finish.
And I think if you do the runsand you know that, like this is
your minimum pace you have tohold, then you're good.
And I was like, okay.
So after 2018, I said it in myhead where I was like I will run
dopey in 2020 and so I skipped2019 because, again, I wasn't

(33:02):
like addicted yet, I just knewthat I liked it and I wanted to
do dopey next.
So I was like let me givemyself like a year, two years,
to get this done, to get myracing better.
And I remember following alonglike different Facebook groups
in 2019 just to see what peoplewere doing, what they were
wearing, and I think that's whenI started picking up on people

(33:25):
dressing in costume, was seeingstuff on social media and people
posting pictures and sharingall that stuff.
So I knew in 2020, when I ranDopey, I was like I want to
dress in costume for all fourraces.
And my mom did the 5K and the10K with me and she wore
costumes as well, and the 10kwith me and she wore costumes as

(33:49):
well.
And so just since then, I'vebeen slowly reeling more people
in like bringing more familymembers involved.
Uh, because after dopey, 2020 iswhen I like seal it for myself.
I was like this I want to dothis every year.
And then COVID hit.
But I was like I'm glad I gotmy dopey when I did and didn't
have to wait until 2022 to do it.

(34:12):
So, yeah, ever, ever since thatfirst dopey, I was like I don't
ever want to miss a marathonweekend because this is where
it's at.
Like, this environment and thisjust contagious energy that you
get with Marathon Weekend, Ijust it can't be replicated.
I feel like, and yeah, justsince then I'm like this is it,

(34:34):
this is my favorite.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
Do you remember your first costume?

Speaker 8 (34:38):
Yes, so my first costume was with my mom for that
5K.
No, actually, oh, my first, Iforgot I did.
I did princess in 2019.
So I skipped marathon weekend2019.
But I did princess with thatsame family friend that got me
into running and I wore for the.

(34:58):
We did the challenge.
So for the 10k I dressed asMulan, with like a tutu, and
then for the half I think, wejust wore like matching shirts
and red tutu or something.
So I was able to talk her intodoing that at least, and I was
like okay, this is, I'm going toslowly dip my feet into the
costume world and then, rightnow, it's just like anything is

(35:19):
possible at this point.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Well, vern, you gave me the perfect segue into my
next question and you said acouple of minutes ago you
started reeling family andfriends into the costume world,
and that's your bread and butternow is creating instagram reels
of interviewing people who aredressed to the nines in terms of

(35:43):
their run Disney race costumes.
So now let's get a differentorigin story.
Where did this idea come fromof you just grabbing a
microphone and walking aroundthe family reunion area and
chatting with people about theircostumes?

Speaker 8 (36:01):
Okay.
So I'm trying to figure outwhere to start with this origin
story.
So I got into the costumeracing and costumes after that
or during that dopey race in2020.
And then I think the next year,after COVID went and came and
went and it was 2022, I think iswhen the next marathon weekend

(36:24):
was.
Um, I went a little bit biggerwith my costume for the 5k and
me, my friend Lynette and my mom, we dressed as different dole
whips and that for me was likethis I can, if I can run in like
a sandwich foam thing, then Ican run in anything.

(36:45):
And we got featured, I think, onthe Facebook, the Run Disney
Facebook group.
Um, so in my mind I was like Imade it, this is it, this is the
culmination of my costuming.
And then we did other costumes,that race weekend, but they
slowly just got less and less,um, intricate because the
mileage gets longer.
And then I think it was I don'teven know what year, I think 23

(37:11):
was the next one after that Me,my mom and my friend Sarah.
It was the 90s theme and wedressed as the VHS tapes, like
the costumes.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
Yeah, that was popular that year.

Speaker 8 (37:23):
Yes, oh, it was so much fun and that costume would
not be allowed today, I feellike, unfortunately yeah with
the rules.
So I'm glad we were able to doit when we did it, um, but just
everybody wanted to takepictures and, like, talk to us
about the costume and seeing how, like from the beginning of
when we came up with the idea,and then the thought process on

(37:47):
how to craft it, how to travelwith it, like we had to cut the
boards in half and then foldthem and then put them in our
suitcase.
And then we got to the hotel,unfold them, duct tape them, put
them in the little sleeve.
It was this whole process, wasthis whole process.

(38:08):
So it was after that when Irealized that so many people do
intense costumes and have tofigure out a way to travel with
it or figure out a way to, uh,transport it in their car, and
so I was like I feel likethere's more stories to be told
and I wanted to be able to tellmy story.
But we just I don't think wegot interviewed by Riley or
anybody for that costume, and soI was like, dang, we missed out

(38:28):
on that opportunity.
But it's fine, I was able tomake a little post about it or
something.
So since then I was like, okay,I want to find a way to talk to
other people and get theirstories on how they make their
costumes so that they have aplatform to showcase their
creative craftsmanship.

(38:50):
And way back when, when I was incollege, I majored in broadcast
journalism.
And I decided to go with thatmajor when I was 18 years old
because in high school I was apart of our broadcast team and
we just broadcast the morningannouncements like on TVs in

(39:11):
everybody's classroom and stuff.
So it was super chill, superrelaxed.
I went to a tiny all-girlsschool, so it was just basically
like hanging out with yourfriends and talking to them
about what's going on in theschool that week friends, and
talking to them about what'sgoing on in the school that week
and then we would put togethersegments where we'd go around
and interview other classmatesabout their Christmas plans or

(39:31):
something and I ate it up.
I loved doing that because itwas just talking to people and
you would go around with yourmicrophone and just chat with
friends and so flash forward torun Disney now, where I was.
Like I can do the same thing.
I can buy a microphone online.
Get the little stick that youattach it to make it with the

(39:52):
little box so that you can lookofficial and go and interview
people at the start line, or atthe start line, but at the
staging area, because that'swhere, if you have a nice
costume, you want to get noticedand that's where you hang out.
And it just blew up from therewhere I was like well, it was

(40:13):
last summer.
I talked to my friend Lynetteand I was like what do you think
about this, what do you thinkabout me putting my journalism
degree to good use andinterviewing friends that have
really neat costumes at thebeginning of each race and like
we can do it for Wine and Dinebecause we can just show up
we're not running the races butwe can still go and cheer and

(40:34):
just knock out a couple ofinterviews and see how it goes.
She goes yeah, that sounds likea neat idea, great way to meet
people and just like networkwithin the run Disney sphere.
And after Wine and Dine I waslike we need to do this for
every race.

Speaker 5 (40:51):
We're having too much fun.

Speaker 8 (40:52):
Oh, it was so much fun and it was well received,
because I also didn't know howpeople were going to take it or
if anyone cared as much as I didabout costumes.

Speaker 5 (41:03):
You know that now.
Yeah, I know that now.

Speaker 8 (41:07):
Because also I know that people want to get
interviewed by Riley at thestart line, so people like hug
that railing.
Oh yeah, they do.
As they're going into the shoot,because you want your chance to
just talk about something thatyou spent hours and weeks on,
and I just wanted another spotfor people to have the

(41:28):
opportunity to talk about thatand then be able to show, like,
have it afterwards and like showfriends or family members,
Because if you're beinginterviewed by either Tracy or
Riley at the beginning of theraces, if you don't have
somebody next to you recordingthe big screen, like there's no
way to find it afterwards.
So I wanted to have somethingthat people could pull up later

(41:50):
and I don't know even like as amemory.
It's like oh, look, whenever wedid this costume together, look
, we got an interview.
And have that be a just yeah, aplatform for people to talk
about all the time they spentand the creative process that
was involved in their costumemaking.

Speaker 5 (42:09):
Absolutely Great idea .

Speaker 4 (42:11):
So Vern, to get as many interviews as you can with
people before the races.
What time do you get to thereunion area?

Speaker 8 (42:18):
So we me and my friend Lynette we learned with
Wine and Dine that we have to beon the first bus.
Learned with wine and dine thatwe have to be on the first bus
because we thought we weremaking it on the first bus
because ren disney advertisesthat the buses start running at
three and so we're like, okay,we'll roll out of bed at like 2
30.
We're not dressing up incostumes, so it's not going to
take us that long to get readyand then get down to the bus,

(42:41):
stop at like 2.55 and then be onthat first bus.
But we learned that buses startrunning a little bit earlier
than that, and so by the time wewould get on the bus, it was
like 3.10.
And then by the time it takesyou to get to Epcot parking lot,
it's now like 3.25.
And then you have to walkthrough security, walk all that

(43:02):
way to the staging area.
So we would end up gettingthere like at 3.40, 3.30.
And I was like, wow, we missedall of these like these many
minutes of being able tointerview people.
So we try to get on that firstbus, which would hopefully get
us to the staging area by like3.15, 3.10.
But yeah, so we try to be thereas early as possible yeah, and

(43:27):
very few people are there beforethat.
Anyway, right unless you'redriving.
It's like right I think wecaught a ride with uh, our
friend, for this last springtimesurprise 10k.
Uh, we caught a ride with herand she was able to take us and
park us and we got into we likerope drop security so we were
able to get in right wheneverybody else was being let in,

(43:48):
so got a ton of interviews thatday so you mentioned that you
run all the time.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
you do the live run disney races, but how do you
find the time to conduct allthese interviews and have time
to get to your corral in timefor the race?

Speaker 8 (44:03):
So this last, this season, the 2024-2025 season I
only ran marathon weekend, so Ionly did dopey.
And we tried me and my friendLynette tried to get interviews
during that race weekend and itwas insanely difficult because,
again, you're dressed in costume, you have to spend time getting

(44:25):
ready.
I had all of my family in towso I had to make sure they got
to the start area and it was.
I think I was able to get likethree interviews that whole
weekend and I felt I felt badbecause I was just like, oh,
there's so many good costumes,but then it also was hard
because on that half marathonday was pouring so I was like
there was no way I was going toget anything anyways, even if I

(44:47):
wasn't running.
And then I got some for the 5Kand some for the 10K, but I
didn't do anything for themarathon because it was freezing
and yeah.
So it's just it's hard to dointerviews if I'm running the
races.
But me and my friend Lynette wetalked and she's like if we do
Dopey this year or if you doDopey this year, we like have to

(45:11):
get interviews.
So, like your family has beento run Disney enough times that
they can figure out how to geton the buzz and how to get to
the staging area without you.
I was like this is true, I cando it.
And she's like yes, because youknow that if the weather's
great, you're gonna get a lot ofcool costumes for marathon
weekend because of this themewith the books and all of that,
and you're gonna want people aregonna want to see those

(45:33):
costumes.
So we have to.
We have to dig deep and knuckledown and get it done.
And I was like okay, yes, soshe really keeps me on track.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Lynette is the best so obviously, obviously, these
videos have become very, verysuccessful on Instagram.
Heck, one came up in myalgorithm last night and,
believe it or not, I don't knowwho you were interviewing, but
in the background of that videoI actually saw John and my wife.
So it's interesting to figureout where you post up in the

(46:05):
family reunion area.
But are you at the point now inyour run Disney interviewing
career that are you searchingpeople out yourself or are
people coming up to you to getinterviewed?

Speaker 8 (46:21):
Specifically for Springtime Surprise this year.
That was a last minute decisionon me and Lynette's part to go.
We went down for Princessbecause she was running the
races and we both had zerointention of showing up for
Springtime Surprise.
And then it was until we heardthe Princess recap from y'all

(46:43):
and my name, my name was droppedin there and it was said that
she attends all the races andinterviews runners and I was
like, shoot, now I have to go tospringtime.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
I guess I should have fact-checked myself there.
Sorry about that.

Speaker 8 (46:55):
No, you're fine, Because it's like I was in my
head trying to like figure out away to get down there and I'm
like, well, now I have to getdown there, down there.
Um, so I was only able to dothe 5k and 10k interviews
because I had a prior engagement, uh, that weekend.
But so with that weekendspecifically, I reached, like I
posted on my story and I waslike, if you have a really cool
costume that you want to talkabout with me, message me so I

(47:20):
can find you and I canprioritize you in my schedule,
because most of the time when weshow up, it's just like we scan
the crowd and we try to findcostumes that are on theme but
also that are like detailed andalmost kind of like intricate or
unique.
Where, I think for Princess, weinterviewed her name's Morgan

(47:45):
and she was dressed up as one ofthe cast members in the
Festival of Fantasy Parade andshe was like Maleficent's tail.
And she had like the decorative,like beak helmet thing, and I
was like that was what caught myeye.
And I was like I want to talkto her.
So I went up to her and I waslike, hey, can I interview you?
And I was like I want to talkto her.

(48:18):
So I went up to her and I waslike hey, can I interview you?
So it's just based off of what Isee, but also if there are
people that specifically want to, like I had somebody message me
and say that I did a lastminute costume change for my dad
whole like feathered cape forhim, for his Iago costume for
princess weekend.
And so Rebecca messaged me andshe's like, if you don't, if you
have time, can we talk to you?
And I was like yes, so I foundher and we did that interview
and it was wonderful.
So I do try to spot people, butthen I want to give people the

(48:39):
opportunity to reach out to meso that they can also be
featured, because I will findthe same people over and over
again, because they always have.
really, great costumes right andI have to tell myself it's okay
to interview the same people,because if they show up with
really great costumes, then I'mgonna talk to you.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
So yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you've interviewed
some pretty heavy hitters in thecostuming game.
You know, like recent memory, Ican uh recall you interviewing,
like cindy copley, who is, youknow, just a mega star when it
comes to costumes.
Uh, we had him on before ourbuddy fred, prince charming fred
.
But are there any elusivegolden gooses who you have been

(49:19):
dying to interview that you justhaven't?
Had the chance yet to oh,that's a good question.

Speaker 8 (49:24):
that is a good question.
I mean, cindy was a big onebecause I know that she's not at
every single race weekend andso when I spotted her at the
springtime surprise 5k, I waslike gotta get her, like we need
to, and she was like headedtowards the corrals and I was
able to stop her before she gottoo far and I was like, can we
have corrals?

(49:44):
And I was able to stop herbefore she got too far and I was
like can we have an interviewreal quick?
I love your costumes, um, butI'm trying to think of somebody.
I don't have somebody off thetop of my head that I guess a
follow-up question is how didyou miss the seven foot tree
during the springtime?

Speaker 2 (50:03):
surprise 5k.

Speaker 8 (50:04):
Oh, bob's the Groot, I think I saw him from a
distance and it was after we hadpulled somebody for an
interview and I was like, okay,I'm going to like if he's still
over there, I want to make myway that way.
And by the time we were donewith the interview I looked in
that general direction and I waslike I don't see him anymore.
So there's like some momentslike that, where I'll see a

(50:25):
costume that I like and we'll bein the middle of doing an
interview and I try to find themafterwards and it doesn't work
out.
So it's like if I see something, I try to jump on it as quickly
as I can, but there are many atimes where I miss them or I'll
see pictures online later and Iwas like come on, how did I not?

Speaker 5 (50:43):
see this costume.
That happens all the time, ohman, wait, like which ones?

Speaker 3 (50:49):
which ones were you the most disappointed about
missing out on so?

Speaker 8 (50:53):
this one was for princess and I saw them running
on I think it was the 5k.
I want to say it was the 5k 10k.
I don't remember what race itwas it was.
They were part of aladdin'sgroup and one was dressed as abu
.
The other one was dressed as, Ithink, jafar or aladdin.

(51:15):
But the girl that interviewedmor, she was the tail for
Festival of Fantasy.
The race before she was the old,like decrepit version of Jafar,
like she had the bald cap withthe beard and like the hunchback
and I didn't know it was her.
When I saw her running like downthe finisher chute but I

(51:35):
thought that was hilarious andshe had like the little golden
tooth and I saw all of theirstuff afterwards on social media
and I was like this would havebeen amazing because it's.
I feel like this is also justme.
I love kind of the uglycostumes, like when you're a
girl and you're dressed up likewith the bald cap or with like

(51:56):
the gray hair or you're becauseI was Maurice for one of the
races and I laughed at myselfthe entire time because it's
just like it's not a cutecostume but it's hilarious and
people who get it appreciate it,and so I really wanted to like
give her that moment, to likesay like hey, I appreciate your
costume and your dedication tomaking this work.

(52:16):
But I like messaged herafterwards and I was like I'm
bummed that I missed it but Iwant you to know that this was
super amazing to see.

Speaker 5 (52:28):
That's the deal with these costumes is they're so
entertaining and I love thereactions from the crowds that
you get and you can tell thatthey're enjoying it.
You said something, Vern, thatreminded me I'll get in a
costume and sometimes I didn'tforget Groot, I couldn't forget
that.
But sometimes I kind of forgethow I'm dressed and then the
light will be behind me and I'llsee a shadow out in front of me

(52:49):
and I go oh yeah, that's right,I'm dressed as Tinkerbell today
.

Speaker 8 (52:54):
Yeah, you forget what you look like until you see
either, like taking a selfie.
Oh my gosh, I forgot that I hadthis fake mustache on my face
today.

Speaker 5 (53:04):
Yeah, absolutely hey.
I don't want to put anypressure on you and you've
talked about some of them.
Do you have any favorites overthe years?
And this kind of question?
I know you're going to leavesomebody out, so let's we know
you are, but do you have anyfavorites over the years that
you've seen?

Speaker 8 (53:20):
I thoroughly appreciate Jackie and Stevie,
just Suda, their sisters andthey.
If they're running princesstogether, which they did this
last year, they knock it out ofthe park.
Every time with their costumesthey're on the.
If they're on theme, thenthey're like insanely creatively

(53:41):
on theme, like for the.
Y'all talked about them in therecap.
Uh, jackie was the cake withlike the lopsided cake.
Oh yeah, stevie was the likemerry weather in like the ugly
dress, um, that they like puttogether and all that.
And I I kick myself for notinterviewing them because I had

(54:05):
already gotten an interview withthem for the 5k.
But in the mind that's when Ihad told myself I'm like I don't
care if I've interviewed thesepeople oh, you're right times,
like if they nail it with thesecostumes and they're super
detailed and super unique and,on point, I'm gonna make it a
point to talk to them and postthe interview Because I don't
want people to think I'm likepicking favorites or anything

(54:29):
but it's, they stand out.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
Sure, I understand that.
Hey, I mean Riley does that.

Speaker 8 (54:34):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 5 (54:34):
Riley and I've talked to Riley on several occasions,
on and off the microphone, andone of the things that he thinks
about is I want to grabsomebody who I know is going to
talk with me and not freeze upwhen I put the microphone in
their face.

Speaker 8 (54:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:48):
So you got that going for you too.

Speaker 8 (54:50):
Yeah, I thought of the golden goose costume people,
the two, two guys.

Speaker 5 (54:57):
I love Tom and.

Speaker 8 (54:58):
Adam.
Yeah.
Yes, I would love to get aninterview with them but I like I
haven't seen them in thestaging area.

Speaker 5 (55:04):
You know what I think they go to the corrals early.

Speaker 8 (55:07):
I feel like they do as well, Like there's.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
I know both of those guys and I can.
Kim is Tom's wife.
Nice people All.
They would be happy to do itwith you, I promise.

Speaker 8 (55:23):
But yeah, but yeah, if you can find them.
You may have to be early, Idon't know.

Speaker 5 (55:24):
Or just like send them a dm, be like hey, I would
love to get an interview thatyou can do.

Speaker 8 (55:26):
Meet me at the bleachers at this time if you
can have you noticed any newtrends in the costuming game
lately?
I am a part of a instagram groupmessage called panic crafters
and there's a handful of the bigcostume headers in that group
message and they're alwaysthrowing out different and

(55:49):
unique ideas.
I know that for SpringtimeSurprise 10 miler a lot of EVA
foam was used.
I had no idea what EVA foam wasuntil this group message, but
it's just foam that you canmanipulate with heat and it like
people were using it for likethe armor of the different

(56:09):
battle suits and everything, soI saw a lot of that become a
trend.
Um, and I think a lot of peoplemay like that are in this group
may use that going forward withtheir costumes because it's
lightweight and you can createstructure.
Um.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
I know it's really warm.

Speaker 8 (56:28):
Yeah, so you might not want to do it for a hot race
, but maybe for the colderweekend, um, but I also know
that there's been talk in thisgroup message about figuring out
how to get motorized items likeaccessories on you.
Uh, I saw this with Lindsay.
It's not Lindsay, henry, it'sthe, the other Lindsay I don't

(56:51):
know her last name.
Um, she, it was for Disneyland,no, oh, no, no, no, it was for.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Was that the person that that had the um, oh, no, no
, no, it was for?

Speaker 8 (57:02):
Was that the person that that had the um, the small
world clock?
Yes, yes, I think that was forthe 10 miler for, uh, springtime
, but yeah, it was the clockface on her, like body, that
like would rotate and I was likethat is amazing, Like that is
just so unique and creative.
And again, if I was at the 10miler I would have 100%
interviewed her.
Um, but I feel like that isalso a next step that people who

(57:25):
are really intense with theircostuming may try to jump into
and figure out how to make thatwork for the future.
But I know that bigger isbecoming more common, like
pushing the limits and I've toldpeople in, not in the
interviews, but like in thecaptions for the interviews I'm

(57:46):
like if you go big, you have tobe okay with potentially having
to check your costume because itmay not pass the regulations or
the rules.
And if that happens, if you getchecked, be nice, be kind to
those cast members.
They're just doing their joband trying to keep everybody
safe.
But I also understand as, likea costumer, it's like we don't

(58:07):
know what's going to be OK andwhat's not going to be OK.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Oh, I'm a perfect example of that.
I mean, I think that's how yougot brought up in our Princess
Recap episode is you did theinterview with the gentleman who
made the, the stone dragon head, during the 10k, during
princess or the 5k, and thenobviously I I was under the
impression that that got through, but apparently that got 86 at

(58:30):
the uh, at the uh start lineyeah, that was john carroll.

Speaker 8 (58:35):
Uh, he, I follow him on instagram and I saw that he
was working on it in his hishotel room the night before on
his stories, and a lot of peoplethat do big costumes like to
kind of keep it a secret untilthey premiere it either the
night before or at the race thatmorning.
So I didn't necessarily knowwhat he was going to be until he

(58:56):
posted those videos of him likeconstructing it in his room and
I was like, if this makes it,if he can hot glue and get all
this put together, I need totalk to him on that 5k morning.
And even then it was like, ifyou are able to carry this
through, like I wish you thebest of luck.
And then we saw him in likeafter the start line.

(59:16):
I was cheering and he didn'thave it and I was like, no, it
got checked.
And he's like it's okay, I justhad to put it in gear, check,
so it's not like he had to throwit away.
Because I think that was a bigfear that people were having
when these new guidelines gotnot new, but they got reinforced
was that if they didn't passthe test, then they would have
to just toss their costume, um,but it's like no, the gear check

(59:40):
will hold it in their gianttrucks for you, and then you can
pick it up afterwards, which Ithink is super cool that they
allow you to do that and notmake you just trash it.

Speaker 5 (59:49):
Yeah, of course, I don't know what you do with it
when you get it home.

Speaker 8 (59:53):
Some people do trash it at the end of the weekend
because they just want thephotos, but I know that that.
What is it?
Stone Dragon Head went to anice home.
It went to Bree and she iseventually.
She lives in Orlando, so she'seventually going to use it for
something else.
But it may find a new home orit may end up in a trash can.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
So, as we begin to wrap up here, the one question
that I have is how do you wantthese interviews to continue to
evolve?
Are you looking for I don'tknow better equipment filming in
AK?
Do you have any goals for thefuture, or is the ultimate goal

(01:00:33):
to do interview inception, likeyou interview Riley and Tracy
about their costumes, whilethey're vice versa interviewing
you?

Speaker 8 (01:00:45):
I mean that would be amazing to be able to talk to
them or be noticed by them,cause, again, this is all
started because we all wanted toget noticed by the announcers
so that we could talk about ourcostumes.
So if I was, if they noticed meand were like, hey, we would
love to talk to you about whatyou're doing, I'd be like, oh my
gosh, I think I'd freeze up alittle bit, but I think it would
be a lot of fun.

Speaker 5 (01:01:05):
Well, I think you'd be just fine.
Absolutely, I do.

Speaker 8 (01:01:08):
But I think, my vision for moving forward.
Again, I don't know what myschedule looks like for the
2025-26 season yet, just becausethings are always up in the air
, and I know that I'm signed upspecifically for marathon
weekend, but I'm not signed upfor any of the other races, so
if I attend them, it's just todo the interviews.

(01:01:29):
Um, but we're only me andLynette, we only use my phone to
record and a road microphonethat attaches to her like shirt
as she's recording and filming,and my handheld mic.
I think to make it better wouldbe to have, like again, like a
scheduled system of like theseare the people that I'm going to

(01:01:53):
talk to and then maybe leavesome room for like me to scout
the crowd.
But I would love to speak tomore people or have more people
know that I am doing this sothat they can come find me in
that staging area and they cangive, they can have their
platform to talk about all thatwent into their costumes,
because it doesn't matter if Ithink it's super cool.

(01:02:14):
If they think it's super cooland they spent a lot of time on
this, then I want them to talkabout it like it isn't.
I don't want it just to be my,my criteria of what is a good
costume, because again, I amlooking for just things that pop
out to me immediately.
But if I have the time to likeactually delicately look at

(01:02:34):
everything, then I'll talk tothe people that aren't big and
in your face.
But if they can find me firstand it makes it even better, so
that would be my future hopesfor this Little red carpet out
there.

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
There you go or talk to people at the expo.

Speaker 8 (01:02:50):
I would want to take this further than the races, but
I don't know what I would talkto people about just yet.
So costumes right now are likethe starting ground and I hope
to continue that as they.
Hopefully the costumes continueto grow and continue to push
creative limits, because, again,when I started in 2018, I don't

(01:03:10):
remember seeing half of what Isee today.
I could just be blind withfirst race jitters, or my first
run Disney experience, but Ifeel like it's gotten
exponentially more intense andcreative with absolutely.
Dude.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
I remember my first time, princess 2018.
I thought I was going crazywith a nice little skirt with a
bow on it, just like nothingcrazy, just a little sparkle in
a tiara.
I thought I was going crazy.
I showed up and I was like well, dang, a missed opportunity.

Speaker 8 (01:03:43):
yeah so I'm hoping that when people see that
there's costumes that arepushing the creative boundaries
and stuff, that they feelcomfortable in their costumes or
like feel comfortable steppingout of that comfort zone.
If they're just just like Ifeel weird in a tutu, it's like
don't feel weird because thereare people out here that are

(01:04:05):
have giant dragon heads on theirhead that are trying to just
not hit people when they'rewalking around Like it's, you're
fine, people are going goingcrazy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Now there.
Now there is the sage advice ofthe episode Don't feel weird
being in a tutu don't feel weirdbeing in a tutu?

Speaker 9 (01:04:26):
no, definitely not, I know I don't.
Tutu is tame at this point,like that's exactly yeah, it's
easy going yeah all right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
well, before we officially say goodbye, john has
a really, really good questionthat I would like to end uh this
interview on John, if you may,sir.

Speaker 6 (01:04:39):
Okay, so with the Instagram handle RunsOnPizza,
what is your favorite type ofpizza?
Thin slice, sicilian, I call itthe New Jersey classic slice
deep dish or Neapolitan, oranything else.

Speaker 8 (01:04:59):
I'm a sucker for a New York slice because it's big,
it's thin.
Right you can roll it like ataco and eat it.
There's so many ways ofconsuming a New York slice, but
I also I do.
New York is going to be the topone, but I think deep dish is
also really good because me andmy husband I do.

(01:05:20):
This isn't like New York isgoing to be the top one, but I
think deep dish is also reallygood because me and my husband
we lived near Chicago for threeyears and there was a pizza
joint called Pequod's and theymade amazing deep dish pizza,
like they would stick slices ofcheese along the outside and it

(01:05:40):
would like normalize and yes,right oh, it was so good.
Like that's one of them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
I miss that a lot, since now we don't live in
illinois anymore, but that wastop tier see, I'm illuminati's
disciple, but hearing that, oh,I might have to try that that
sounds good next time.
I think there's only two keyquads in the Chicago area.

Speaker 8 (01:06:01):
So it's like it's not a big name, like a chain or
anything but, it's, it's amazing.

Speaker 5 (01:06:08):
It's not Lou Malnati's huh.

Speaker 8 (01:06:10):
No, or Giordano's.

Speaker 5 (01:06:13):
Don't talk about Giordano's.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
I don't want any of that cornmeal.
Give me the butter crust.
That's buttercrust.
That's where it's at.
But well, we've talked aboutyour instagram handle a bunch,
uh, on this interview.
But if people want to followyou reach out, you know.
Want to learn more about the?
You know your interviewingstylings during the races.
How can people go out and reachyou?

Speaker 8 (01:06:33):
uh, yeah, on instagram it's runs on pizza,
but runs period on period pizza.
Um, and, yeah, I friend requestme.
Whatever you need to do, dm me.
That's where I post all of theinterviews.
I still have a lot that Ihaven't posted throughout the
season, that I want to, that I'mgoing to be posting through the
summer, because there's noraces during the summer, so I'm

(01:06:55):
spacing those out, um, but yeah,you can just find me on
Instagram.
That's where I mostly hang out.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Excellent.
Well, vern, thank you so muchfor coming on.
We love chatting with you andwe cannot wait to see you at an
upcoming race weekend, andhopefully one of us will be able
to spot you, and maybe ifTinker Bob ever emerges again.

Speaker 8 (01:07:17):
Maybe you can interview Tinker Bob.
We'll see.
That would be amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Marathon weekend we have Bob Lightyear.
Oh yeah, Bob Lightyear perfect.

Speaker 8 (01:07:27):
Well, I know I'll be at marathon weekend, so that
one's a guarantee with all thealiens oh yes, I forget that
y'all do like the big groupcostumes for these yeah, I can't
take credit for that.

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
That was our friend Monica's idea with the
Dalmatians.
We had like 200 Dalmatians.

Speaker 8 (01:07:46):
That's the biggest group that I've ever seen, only
time I've ever worn lipstick,Vern it may not be the only time
, though.

Speaker 5 (01:07:54):
Could it happen again ?
It could happen again.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
That's what we like to hear.
That's what we like to hear.

Speaker 8 (01:08:00):
Never cancel anything out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Well, vern, thanks again so much, and we can't wait
to see you at the next race.

Speaker 8 (01:08:07):
Yes, thank you all for having me.
I appreciate it a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:08:10):
That was a really great interview.
I love the handle Runs on Pizza.
We asked her about pizza, but Istill don't understand how you
guys like Chicago Deep Dish.

Speaker 5 (01:08:22):
Oh, john, you got to be flexible.
You got to be flexible in yourpizza, pizza connoisseur.
I was going to sayconnoisseurship or something.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
I'm inclusive to all pizzas except for the Supreme
that's got all the vegetablesand olives on it.
Obviously, I'll bypass that,but any type of style is.

Speaker 6 (01:08:46):
A-OK in my book.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
Actually, this is a unique one that, bob, I don't
know if you remember from yourdays back in Philly.
Did you ever have Pika's Pizza?
No, okay, so it's a famouslocal chain here in the
Philadelphia area.
The original location isclosing, but it's actually the
favorite pizza of Tina Fey'sOkay, and a deep dish where it's

(01:09:20):
a very.
It's like a slight pan, so it'sgot a little bit of an edge,
but they put the cheese firstand then the sauce on the top.

Speaker 5 (01:09:29):
I've seen that it's.

Speaker 6 (01:09:30):
It's quite good yeah, see, I'm like more of a I guess
maybe a purist it's.
I mean, we call it a pie.
I know people call it a cheesepizza.
It it's a pie in Jersey.
You know.
Toppings are basically sausage,meatballs, onions and peppers,
mushrooms None of this crazybuffalo chicken.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
You left pepperoni off, john, the king of all pizza
toppings.

Speaker 6 (01:09:57):
Pepperoni big ziti pizzas, and I mean arugula salad
pizzas, I mean come on yeahyeah, so that's that's.
That's where I come from allright.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
Well, we now have our first topic discussion for the
zoom call this week is whatpizza topping do you despise?

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
I had a.
Uh, I had a larosa's pizza.
That's a cincinnati area chain.
Larosa's pizza, it's good,sauce is good.
Uh, franzone's pizza that's aCincinnati area chain.
La Rosa's pizza, it's good,sauce is good.
Fran Zone's pizza in Bridgeport, pennsylvania, greg, if you
ever get over there, okay,highly recommended.
But I think really the Rise andRun on pizza episode just got.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
I'm hungry now.
Thanks, John.

Speaker 5 (01:10:40):
We took a left turn there.
Not that there's anything wrongwith that new sponsorship pizza
there we go.
Yeah, we need to work onsomething yeah, great pizza.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
I'm sorry, john is spitting five pizza fire tonight
oh I.

Speaker 6 (01:10:56):
You can ask my wife.

Speaker 5 (01:10:57):
I'm a pizza snob I had chain store pizza tonight.
Sometimes it's easy, man.
Sometimes you know you.
You go online and they have itto you in a couple.
Yeah, but no, I agree with you.
That's one of the things I loveabout living here, as opposed
to in southeast alabama.
All we had was chain storepizza.
That was it.
Around here, there are a bunchof places that actually have

(01:11:17):
ovens and once again, we'reprobably delving too deeply into
this.
Greg, help us out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
Well, yeah, so the help is derive us from the pizza
conversation, but, but.
But I guess we could tie thisin here, because you know John
said you know he loves his NewYork slice.

Speaker 4 (01:11:37):
Jersey slice.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Well, Jersey slice, or you know a york slice, that
can you know easily fold and bedigestible and such like that.
But anyway, the point I wantedto make is I wanted to talk
about one of our favorite newyork listeners and I know it's a
little delayed since I couldn'tjoin the podcast last week.
But, um, from everyone here atthe rise and Run podcast, I just

(01:12:01):
wanted to extend some majorkudos and congratulations to our
former guest, cesar Samayoa.
Just the other week they hadtheir opening night of Just in
Time on Broadway and very happyto report that the show received
six tony award nominations.

(01:12:22):
Wow so, uh, unfortunately,caesar did not get any
nominations, but I was lookingthrough here.
Uh, apparently, since you knowpretty soon it's going to be
theater uh award season, thereis, uh, the cheetah rivera
awards that I guess.
Apparently, I never heard ofthis before, but it um honors

(01:12:44):
choreographers and dancers bothon stage and in film, and um,
just in time was nominated for acheetah rivera award for
outstanding ensemble and caesaris the in the ensemble of the
show.
Uh, so he did get a nice littlenomination, so we're very

(01:13:05):
excited.
But, uh, probably the thebiggest nomination that they got
for the tonys was, uh, disneylegend and broadway darling.
Uh, jonathan groff uh, for thesecond year in a row got
nominated for, uh, best leadingactor in a musical and from some
of the reviews that I wasreading, there's a chance he
could win this award inback-to-back years, which I

(01:13:28):
don't think it's ever been donein tony award history before.
But regardless, you know, inreading all the reviews I I
texted them the the day after.
You know, we're're just soproud of Caesar and what he's
accomplished.
And again, if you are in thegreater, uh New York city area,
head over to the circle andsquare theater to go see.

(01:13:49):
Just in time, it sounds like itis a very, very good time on
Broadway.
So, caesar, way to go.

Speaker 5 (01:13:55):
Better get your tickets now.
I think that's going to be atough one.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (01:13:59):
All right, all right, friends.
That sounds great.
Let's take a look.
Next week, henry Abbott, formerESPN announcer and author of
the book Ballistic Training,will be with us to discuss his
new book, and we're also goingto be recapping the London
Marathon with some of ourfriends who finished that world

(01:14:21):
major.
All right, my friends, it'stime for the Race Report.
The Race Report is sponsored byThomas Stokes of Stoked
Metabolic Training.
Stokesfit slashriseandruncoaching is the site
to check out More information,pinned to the top of the

(01:14:42):
Facebook group in the featuredsection.
I know Tom had a scholarship.
I haven't talked with Tom injust a little bit.
I need to get back with him.
We need to get him back on theepisode here.
But I think that is done.
There is a challenge coming upin June or July.
We'll have more details on thatas we get closer Friends.

(01:15:03):
We're going to start the racereport with the race report
spotlight and this week we'reactually going back a week.
I'm sorry.
I've just been traveling andall that and I've gotten things
out of order, but this is a goodone and I had promised these
two young ladies a spot a coupleof weeks ago and that didn't

(01:15:23):
work out.
So we are happy to welcomeSarah and Ashley to the
spotlight.
Ladies, hi, how are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:15:33):
Great, how are you Good?

Speaker 5 (01:15:35):
Good, and we're going to talk about an event that
occurred, about an event thatoccurred.
Well, by the time we releasedthis, it's almost two weeks ago
the Kentucky Derby marathon andthey call it a mini marathon,
don't they?
The marathon in the middle,full and a half, goes off the
same time.
Well, I'm not going to, I don'twant to steal your thunder,

(01:15:56):
I'll let you tell us about it.
But yeah, a neat event heldevery year the week before it
kind of kicks off Derby Week inLouisville.
The race does, and it's a neatevent and I wanted to share it
with our friends.
But I always, we always like toget to know you a little bit

(01:16:19):
better.
So I ask standard questionnumber one Sarah, how did you
get started running?

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
Oh goodness, High school actually I ran cross
country.
Yeah, and then I just kind ofkept running.
After that I did like localraces and um, 5ks, mostly Um,
and then more so in my adultlife, scaled up to half
marathons and marathons.

Speaker 5 (01:16:42):
Okay, and you're still at it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
Yep Still going.

Speaker 5 (01:16:46):
When did you get to it started with Run Disney?

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
Back in 2018.

Speaker 5 (01:16:50):
I did the princess half marathon that year.

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
I saw some friends doing it.
They posted some awesomepictures on Facebook and I'm
like that looks really cool, Ineed to look into that.
So then I started to scale upmy mileage signed'm like that
looks really cool, I need tolook into that.
Um, so then I started to scaleup my mileage, signed up and and
it was great.

Speaker 5 (01:17:06):
It was a great race.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun, ashley.
Same question, please.

Speaker 7 (01:17:11):
Um, so I got started just walking five K's around
town.
Um yeah, One year I volunteeredas a water cup hander outer at
the mini marathon.

Speaker 5 (01:17:28):
Actually, that's a technical term, John.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:17:33):
And I ended up thinking to myself I could
totally do that.
And I started training and Idid it.
The next year, 2014, was myfirst half marathon, so yeah,
Great.

Speaker 5 (01:17:47):
How about Disney?
Where did you start at Disney?

Speaker 7 (01:17:50):
This year was actually my first in-person run
Disney.
I signed up for 2021, but itended up being canceled for
COVID reasons.
So this year I finally made itfor the princess.
I did the 5k and the challenge.

Speaker 5 (01:18:06):
Great.
This is not the first event youtwo have run together.
I'm curious Do you frequentlyrun events together, or is just
just coincidence?

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
Just like coincidence ?
I don't really know Ashley.
Well, you do now I do now.
She's the one in the box belowyou there.

Speaker 5 (01:18:23):
Um yeah, what was the other one that you had done?
Was it, uh, lynchburg?
I can't remember, it might'vebeen the 10 miler.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
Did you do the 10 miler?
Ashley, I did the 10 miler,yeah, yeah, okay yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:18:39):
Yeah, you, you two had done one together a couple
of weeks before and we couldn'twork it out how many times for
the for the Kentucky Derby racefor you, Sarah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
Uh, this was my first time.
I usually do the Indy mini, andso this year I traded um cars
for horses.

Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
There you go.
Another good event that thatactually went off this weekend,
so you had a week in betweenthere.
How many for you, Ashley.

Speaker 7 (01:19:05):
I've done it six times.

Speaker 5 (01:19:07):
Okay, ever, ever do the marathon.

Speaker 7 (01:19:10):
I have not.
I think next year it might bethe marathon for me.

Speaker 5 (01:19:14):
Okay, this is and you know, this I'm going to just
going to share with friends.
This is one where the full andthe half go off together and
then they split, which is alwaystough because you can say to
yourself do I really want to dothis?
In fact, I think they splitright after you come out of
Churchill Downs, don't they?

Speaker 1 (01:19:33):
They do, yeah.
And then the tough part occursout in Iroquois Park with all
the hills.

Speaker 5 (01:19:40):
Okay, All right, look , I'm spoiling this.
We want to hear from you.
Tell us about the event.
Ashley, I'm going to let youstart, okay.

Speaker 7 (01:19:53):
So this race starts in downtown Louisville.
It goes zigzags through thestreets downtown.
Then it heads south toChurchill Downs.
You go through O'Louisville,through Churchill Downs, you
loop back around, come back, andthis year we returned to our
original finish line atLouisville Slugger Field.

Speaker 5 (01:20:17):
Sarah, did this one go through the University of
Louisville campus or nearby?

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
It went nearby, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:20:26):
What were some of the highlights?
For you, Sarah, for the race.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
I think running out to Churchill Downs was really
cool.

Speaker 5 (01:20:32):
Yeah, that's got to be.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Yeah, like going through the entrance and then
just like the crowd supportthere.
It kind of gave you that extrapep to your step to get through
there, and I always enjoy acourse where, like at least
halfway through, you havesomething big to look forward to
um, yeah, get you out there umthat's about five miles into it,
or so I'm trying to remember Ithink it's a little over half

Speaker 6 (01:20:56):
yeah, further, okay, yeah okay.

Speaker 1 (01:20:58):
Do you guys run on the track?
No, just kind of like.
On the outside they actually.
Do you guys run on the track?
No, just kind of like on theoutside.

Speaker 5 (01:21:04):
You actually run in the infield, don't you?

Speaker 7 (01:21:06):
Yes, yeah, there's a paved track inside the turf, so
it goes around.

Speaker 5 (01:21:17):
You come through the entrance as Sarah described,
which is cool Because a bunch oflittle statues, a bunch of
statues out there.
Aren't there a bunch ofcommemoratives coming in?

Speaker 1 (01:21:28):
Yeah.
Yeah, there's some nice statues, kind of a nice picture taking
area too, if you want tocommemorate it as you enter in.

Speaker 5 (01:21:37):
And then you go there's actually a tunnel under
the course itself.
And then you go there'sactually a tunnel under the
course itself and you run underthat and everybody screams and
it echoes and I assume they'restill doing that.
They are.

Speaker 7 (01:21:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:21:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:21:53):
I could have done without that, but yeah, and then
you pop up inside and you goaround the infield, but how were
your views of the famedracetrack from the infield?

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
it was a little hard to see um too.
I I honestly wasn't too focusedon on looking around.
I was kind of in the zone um,but it was a little bit harder
to see um.
Again, like I had said before,I usually do the indie mini and
I'm always used to going on thetrack there, and so I wasn't
sure what to expect.
Going into Churchill Downs hereand again, like how much I

(01:22:27):
could see exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:22:29):
Ashley, you were telling me you could see some of
the horses training towards theback of the infield.

Speaker 7 (01:22:34):
Yeah, so the there's a a back side of Churchill Downs
where they're training horsesthroughout the day, and when I
was going through there at leastthere were some horses riding
around back there.

Speaker 5 (01:22:49):
That's cool.
So how, how was the course withtough areas?
How was the course elevation?

Speaker 1 (01:22:57):
It was pretty flat.
Um, especially after coming offthe Louisville 10 miler a few
weeks back, that one was prettytough, it was pretty hilly, so
this one was a lot, a lot moreflat.
I didn't really think thatthere were any specific areas
that were rough.
So pretty great course, prettyquick course.

Speaker 5 (01:23:17):
OK, ashley.
How was the crowd supportthroughout the course?

Speaker 7 (01:23:21):
It was amazing.
I think the city of Louisvillejust as a whole comes out to
celebrate every Derby event andit's just really great.
They're everywhere.

Speaker 5 (01:23:32):
Did you get decent weather?

Speaker 1 (01:23:33):
It was really nice.
We kind of lucked out, I think,because leading up to it they
were calling for rain, but wedodged that, which was nice.
Cool temperatures too.

Speaker 6 (01:23:44):
I guess at the festival there's something
called a Pegasus pin and you canwin $20,000 with this.
That's new John.

Speaker 7 (01:23:54):
How does it work?
So you can buy Pegasus pinsleading up to the festival which
starts two weeks before theDerby, and then there are random
gold pins and you register yourgold pin and you can win prizes
.
And I do have a gold pin, Istole it from my mom.

Speaker 5 (01:24:13):
Did you win?

Speaker 7 (01:24:15):
No.

Speaker 5 (01:24:16):
Aw shucks.
Well, what do you thinkRecommended for our friends who
are listening?

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
I definitely think so .
Yeah, I think anybody shouldgive it a shot.
I think it's a great race,whether it's the mini or the
marathon, Um, and and I meanLouisville is a great city too.
It is Um like Ashley said,there's a lot of crowd support.
Everybody kind of comes out tocelebrate each other and support
each other.

Speaker 5 (01:24:42):
Um Louisville has a great food scene as well, so if
you're a foodie and want tocheck out some good restaurants,
um Louisville's definitely theplace really nice downtown area,
home of home of the LouisvilleSlugger Bat Company and and it's
becoming whereas I thinkBardstown used to be kind of the
whiskey capital I thinkLouisville's marketing a little

(01:25:06):
bit better right now and makingmore of an effort, so yeah, it's
a neat one, Okay, so duringthis race, I know we always ask
did any of you guys have a PRduring this race, Ashley?

Speaker 7 (01:25:18):
I did not.
This year I took a little extrawalking breaks toward the end,
but, um, my personal best wastwo, 59.
And this year I did three, ohtwo.

Speaker 6 (01:25:28):
That's good, that's close, close.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
Sarah, how about you?
So this was a special PR for me.
Um, last summer, I wasdiagnosed with two brain tumors,
Um, and so I've been in a lotof vestibular therapy, um
working through vertigo, tryingto figure out my triggers, um
trying to run as much as I can.
My doctors keep telling memovement is key.
Um, so it definitely motivatesme to keep running, to keep

(01:25:54):
signing up for races.
So this was a brain tumor PRfor me.

Speaker 5 (01:26:00):
Wow, that's inspiring .
Sarah, yeah, yeah, how are youdoing?

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
I'm doing okay.
I'm learning to manage mysymptoms.
I'm currently taking the waitand watch approach to treatment
for my brain tumors and justkind of taking it day by day,
race by race, and doing what Ican can well, we're praying for
you and cheering for you.

Speaker 5 (01:26:22):
Keep us uh, keep us up to date, please thank you,
I'll do uh, ashley, any disneyraces in your future.

Speaker 7 (01:26:29):
I signed up for the dopey challenge how'd I girl and
uh yes, the first dopey, firstmarathon, and then I also signed
up for the dumbo.

Speaker 5 (01:26:40):
Okay, that's exciting , it is exciting.

Speaker 6 (01:26:43):
How about you?
Oh, they could go home, rightBob?

Speaker 5 (01:26:45):
Yeah, right, that's it, john.
How about you, sarah, what yougot coming up?

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
So I will be headed back for marathon weekend.
I'll be doing the marathon withthe National Brain Tumor
Society.

Speaker 5 (01:26:56):
Oh, very good.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Really looking forward to that.

Speaker 5 (01:26:58):
Good for you.
Good for you.
We look forward to seeing bothof you there.
Thank you for spending sometime with us.
We really appreciated it.
It was fun.

Speaker 1 (01:27:07):
Of course.
Thanks for having us.

Speaker 7 (01:27:08):
Thanks for having us.

Speaker 5 (01:27:10):
That's a fun event that Kentucky Derby Mini I think
you got that from listening butvery worthwhile Ran it years
ago.
All right, friends, this isn'texactly apologies and alibis,
but maybe a word of explanation.
You probably heard me say I wastraveling a lot this weekend so

(01:27:32):
I didn't get the chance that Iusually do to go through and
work through the race report.
So Greg and I kind ofpiecemealed it together and I
think we've got some of this outof order.
We're going to do our best torecognize you and if we've
missed something, please get intouch with us because it's
important to us to recognize youand your achievements.

(01:27:56):
This was a big week.
We had several weekend longevents that we're going to try
and do justice to.
Then we had some otherimportant events, but let me
start In Cincinnati, ohio.
It was Flying Pig MarathonWeekend.
We've heard a lot about FlyingPig.
Our friend Emmy joined us.
I should have looked it up, buta few episodes back to tell us

(01:28:21):
about it.
We had a rise and run code forFlying Pig.
We know that the Flying PigMarathon was voted USA Today's
best marathon in the US thisyear.
Let me tell you, friends, Iunderstand why I am reluctant at

(01:28:46):
times to say, oh, this is thebest, but I will phrase it this
way I cannot think of a betteroverall, from start to finish, a
better event that I've been to.
I've been to, obviously, othersthat are very, very good, but
this was just a great event.
The support is tremendous.
The city rallies for it.
It's fun.
We had a lot of folks there, alot of friends there.

(01:29:11):
Let's start.
I got into the expo.
The events actually start onFriday.
I got to the expo on FridayVery well organized, lots of fun
.
The giveaways are great.
Good, nice goodies you get,let's see.
Of course there's the raceshirt, et cetera, but there's a
gift for runners who run one ofthese Sunday events, the half or

(01:29:34):
the full.
And I haven't opened mine yet.
I think it's a backpack, theone that stuffs into its own
case, but it's really neat.
Got the Flying Pig logo on it.
Great stuff, that was nice.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
I thought you were going to say it was a can of
chili.

Speaker 5 (01:29:49):
No, nope, no chili.
In fact I didn't see.
I know that the Skyline doestie into it, because you got the
three-way and four-waychallenge, but no, no chili, no
chili samples tie into it,because you got the three-way
and four-way challenge, but no,no chili, no chili.
Uh, samples.
At the expo, the there was a, agiveaway bag.

(01:30:09):
It had things in it becky, andI each grabbed one and didn't
think about it and then when wegot back we found they were
different and the becky's wasbetter than mine, but that's
only fair Blasphemy, that's onlyfair.
Let's talk about the races.
There is they call it the 50West Mile.

(01:30:29):
On Friday, alan and Grace,russell and Mary and Julie ran
that one and I really don't knowmuch else about it.
They didn't talk much about it,but that's cool.
Saturday morning they run boththe 5k and the 10k.

(01:30:53):
10k goes first so that you canfinish the 10k and come back as
part of the challenge and runthe 5k.
You can finish the 10k and comeback as part of the challenge
and run the 5k.
I was staying in the HotelCovington on the Kentucky side
of the river.
It was about a one mile walk tothe area where the race starts,

(01:31:15):
where the post-race party isand all that.
This is actually.
I don't know the name of theimmediate area down by the river
where this is, but it isliterally between Paycourt
Stadium, home of the CincinnatiBengals, and Great American
Ballpark, home of the CincinnatiReds.
I mean, they're both rightthere.
So that was kind of neat.

(01:31:38):
On Saturday for the 10K theweather was not.
It was okay for running it wasokay.
It wasn't great.
The 10k went off.
I would say you had kind of aheavy drizzle.
For the 10k it wasn't that badat all.
I didn't have any problemwalking over.
Who did we have doing the 10k?

(01:31:58):
We had Cheryl.
Who did we have doing the 10K?
We had Cheryl who did thethree-way challenge and Rob who
did the four-way challenge and Ican't believe I didn't see Rob
all weekend.
That gets me when I go to aDisney run and I see who was
there and I go oh, I didn't seethem, didn't see this person,
but I thought for sure I wouldsee Rob.
Vanessa, who I did see, wasthere.

(01:32:21):
Vanessa did her bib pickup thatmorning, said it was great, she
expected lines but thereweren't any for a day of race
pickup.
Just quoting Vanessa friendly,smiling volunteers.
We saw a lot of that.

(01:32:44):
Uh, I walked over thereanticipating seeing some of my
friends who were running.
Ally ran the 5k I'll get to the5k in a second as did cheryl
running her second race of themorning.
Uh, once I got over to the areaI realized I I couldn't have
found my mother over there.
It was just so many people.
It was impressive.

(01:33:07):
So the rain was light for the10K that started at 7 am.
The 5K started at 9 am Allie,cheryl and Rob.
It rained.
It rained significantly and itrained most of the rest of the
day on Saturday.
So I put a damper no punintended on the rest of the

(01:33:30):
events.
Allie's quote is the puddles onthe course might have been
shark infested they were so deepand filled with water.
But there's nothing you can doabout the rain.
They ran through it.
Temperatures were cool but nottoo bad.
It was okay.
Saturday afternoon we had toget together.

(01:33:50):
Thanks so much to Julie whomade cookies, to Russ who
brought cookies and I don't knowabout.
There's a photo.
I'm not going to name names.
I'm going to say there were 15to 18 of us there.
It was fun.
It was a typical rise and runmeetup.

(01:34:12):
It was a good time.
It added to the enjoyment ofthe weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:34:17):
Did you go to Greeter's Ice Cream for the
meetup I?

Speaker 5 (01:34:20):
didn't, Although I did get some Grater's on.
Let's see, we left Mondaymorning.
It must have been Sundayafternoon.
You know, Becky grew up in thatarea.

Speaker 2 (01:34:30):
Oh, I didn't realize that.

Speaker 5 (01:34:31):
Oh, yeah, yeah, in fact, the Hotel Covington where
we stayed used to be adepartment store, and right next
to it, which the HotelCovington has since taken over,
used to be a YMCA.
So now that's Hotel CovingtonNorth.
Becky used to work at that YMCAwhen she was in high school.
Before she went into the army,becky worked at the Y right

(01:34:56):
there.
So that's fun for her.
So, yeah, she.
We had to go to a Kroger's andpick up some Grater's ice cream
for Sunday afternoon before wewent to dinner.
Saturday afternoon was, uh, wasfun, just add it.
It was just a wonderful weekend.
The half and the full bothstart at 6.30 Sunday morning.

(01:35:20):
Weather was okay.
I had a poncho on Again.
It was mostly heavy drizzle.
We never got really drenched.
I was.
I'm a big baby when it comes tothe weather and it was 49
degrees with drizzly rain.
I'm going, I'm going to be cold, wasn't that bad?

(01:35:41):
I was surprised, wasn't thatbad?
Uh, I did the half with Allieand with Jennifer.
Uh, allie and I agreed that theabout halfway through we
couldn't use our fingers anymorebecause it was cold enough.
We didn't have gloves on, andbetween the cold and the wet it

(01:36:02):
was tough, but it was okay.
I will tell you our experienceand then I'll go through the
list of the other folks who werethere.
Lots of people, I don't know.
Emmy, I think, said mid-20,000sfor the half and the full.
It sure was neat for the halfand the full.
It sure was neat Since they allgo at the same time.

(01:36:23):
It's corrals A through.
I we were in corral G, towardsthe back, not the last one,
obviously, two more behind us,but it was kind of cool for the
first, at least for the firstcouple of miles, just looking at
the sea of humanity running infront of you.
The course has a reputation forbeing hilly and I understand

(01:36:46):
that.
But the fact is most of thecourse is just rolling hills.
It's not bad at all.
The half and the full staytogether until mile eight.
Starting.
Around mile five you start whatAli described as an incline from
the center of the earth to themoon.

(01:37:07):
It's it's as challenging a hillas I can recall and it's about
two miles long.
It goes from about it's notcompletely steady, uninterrupted
uphill, but from about milefive to a little over mile seven
.
It's uphill and at times it'ssteeply uphill.

(01:37:29):
So that's a challenge.
But once you do that.
You go through a park which onanother day, where maybe it
wasn't so cloudy and it got tobe a little foggy just with all
the moisture in the air, I thinkit would have been beautiful.
There's a beautiful art museumat the top of the hill, some

(01:37:54):
nice views.
Once you get out of that park,that's the hard part.
Then you start coming back downthe hills and it's more or less
downhill the remainder of thehalf marathon.
Now I didn't run the full aroundthe half.
I talked with Alan about thefull and he said no, that was
the hard part.
Once you got past that, thefull was again rolling hills.
All right, let's see who didthe half.

(01:38:14):
I already mentioned that Allieand Jennifer did.
Abby ran the half.
Cheryl caught up with us on thebridge.
We stopped for photos.
Cheryl commented on the samething that everybody did, that
the wonderful support that wegot through this race.
Cheryl says she thought thismight be a one and done, but

(01:38:36):
she's definitely going to beback.
I have Greg here in the half,but I know that's wrong because
I know Greg ran with Sandra inthe full, so that's just my
mistake.
Jody, I saw Jody there.
She ran the half, melanie, withher daughters and son-in-law.

(01:38:57):
They were at the meetup.
Again, comments on thespectator and the support there
were.
There were uh aid stationsthere were.
There were hydration stationsevery mile wow, that's
impressive yeah, yeah, gatoradeand water.
Every mile there were designatedcheering areas that local

(01:39:22):
organizations were supporting.
Every mile there were peopleand you hear about this in other
events handing things out onthe sideline.
Oh golly, orange slices withreal oranges, swedish fish
pretzels, beer, yay, beer.
I'm trying to think what else Isaw on the side.

(01:39:46):
I the last, the last time Itook something from a spectator
slash supporter.
They were saying orange slices.
I'm going, good, I can use it.
They were the jellied orangeslices and that's okay.
I didn't mind it, but I use it.
They were the jellied orangeslices and that's okay.
I didn't mind it.
But I took it from the guy andI said this is going to be the
only half marathon I've ever runand gained weight on.

(01:40:08):
There was just that much goingon.
Now the marathon again breaksoff at mile eight and it goes
its own way.
Alan and Grace ran it.
Grace runs her own race.
Alan and Grace ran it.
Grace runs her own race.
Alan stayed with Julie and theyfinished.
Alan was impressed.

(01:40:28):
At the end of the half marathon, I got a slice of La Rosa's
pizza.
At the end of the marathon,alan got a pizza.
They just handed him a box here, it was towards the end.
It was towards the back of thepack.
They just handed him a box.
Here it was towards the end.
He was towards the back of thepack.
They had all these pizzas.
They're giving them away.

(01:40:49):
Amber was there, julie Riley,rob completed his four-way
challenge.
Russ was there.
Russ got a 20-minute marathon.
Pr Russ finished this thing infive hours and 25 minutes.
Very proud of that.
We're proud of you too, russ.
Way to go, pr bell, please the10K and the full, which wasn't

(01:41:21):
one of the challengecombinations.
But Vanessa's comment was sheloved exploring the city by
running through it.
She commented on the parks andthe art museum.
It really was pretty.
It's Cincinnati.
Parts of Cincinnati are oldtown, really nice.
Oh, elvis, was there, elvis theking?
He was singing.
I heard Johnny Cash singing.

(01:41:43):
That was there, elvis the king?
He was singing.

Speaker 2 (01:41:45):
I heard Johnny Cash singing.
That was fun.
That's impressive that theycome back from the dead just for
this race?

Speaker 5 (01:41:48):
They do.
It's a big race, Greg, it'simportant.
Vanessa called it perfectrunning weather.
Okay, it did stay cool andovercast.
I'll give her that A wonderfulexperience, One that she hopes
to repeat.
I'll just sum it A wonderfulexperience, One that she hopes
to repeat.
I just sum it up by saying andwe know our friend Emmy works

(01:42:09):
for Pig Works and I just want tosum it up by saying, well done,
this is really an excellentevent.
I did not plan to run it nextyear but as we were leaving,
Becky said to our friends and tome well, we'll see you next
year.
So I guess I'll be back Flyingpig friends, if you're in the
area, and we'll.

(01:42:30):
We'll promote it more as we getclose, Cause I talked to Emmy,
she's going to get us a discountcode again for the 26 race.
Here's another one that's a hugeevent in the U S and that's the
Indy mini in Indianapolis,Indiana, run several weeks
before the running of the Indy500.
I think at one time it may havebeen it may still be the

(01:42:53):
largest half marathon in the U S.
Not positive of that, though.
I should have looked it upbefore the episode, but I only
got home a couple hours ago.
Let's see who we had running.
We had Aaron running.
There's a 5K.
Aaron ran the 5K.
Emily did this event for thefifth time.
Tiffany did let's see the MiniManiac Miler Series plus the

(01:43:17):
half marathon Great event, thetemps.
It was cool over inIndianapolis.
Indianapolis is only an hourand a half west of Cincinnati.
Didn't do the pace she wanted,but it says it's the pace
reflected her training andcapacity lately.
So she's happy with it andwe're happy if you're happy.
Tiffany, Jen and Tracy rantogether and they ran as Luigi

(01:43:39):
and Mario from Mario Kart.
They were two of the few whodid the Indy Minion costumes.
Those were great costumes,ladies.
It really looked good.
They did the half right afterfinishing the 5K.
Jen paced the 330 group throughthe half and I think Tracy
stayed with her.

(01:44:01):
How do you recommend this one?
16.2 miles done and dusted.
The Indy Mini Marathon inIndianapolis Another biggie from
this weekend.
All right, so those were ourtwo big weekends events.
Let's take a look at Saturday.
I think this one was onSaturday.
We're going to Okinawa, Japan,for the Camp Shields to the

(01:44:25):
Torrey Station Kessel Run 10K.
Katie did it First run backsince breaking her foot and she
PR'd Down 15 minutes from herlast 10K PR in 2023.
Her son saved his Swedish Fishand Sour Patch kids for Katie,

(01:44:52):
knowing how much she loves themas a mid-run fuel.
They were Star Wars characterson the Kessel Run On the course
and at the finish line.
Far worse, characters on thecastle run on the course and at
the finish line, and they had abacon breakfast burrito from the
army.
Mwr folks, MWR morale, welfare,recreation, the folks who plan
all these neat events.

(01:45:14):
The main coast half marathon wasin Wells, Maine, Avery and
Steve was there was in Wells,Maine, Avery and Steve was there
.
Steve said they had amazingweather until 60 seconds before
the race started when it startedto rain.
Originally he was going to tryfor a PR, but this is his third
half this month.
He fell off pace a little bit,understandably, and enjoyed the

(01:45:37):
beautiful scenery.
Lucy ran this one also,Culmination of four months of
training, over 600 miles of work, and she crushed her previous
marathon PR of 4.16 with a time,an outstanding time of 3 hours
and 35 minutes.
Way to go, Lucy.

(01:45:59):
Another state down on her way to50 marathons in 50 states, the
and I'm going to say Jovia Icould be mispronouncing that
Jovia Marathon Weekend on LongIsland in New York.
Regina I hope I'm notmispronouncing that Did the 10K
and came away with a PR Shavedfive minutes off her previous PR

(01:46:25):
time and a 10K that's almost amile a minute.
I think part of the success,Regina, was the Rise and Run
shirt you were wearing.
We have some scientific data toback that up.
It's good for a couple secondsa mile at least.
Mary did a race called May theCourse Race in Greensboro.
I don't know if it wasGreensboro, Georgia or

(01:46:46):
Greensboro, North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:46:49):
I believe it was North Carolina.

Speaker 5 (01:46:51):
Was it North Carolina ?
Okay, we're going with that.
Anyway, super happy to havethis first 10K.
She had a goal of 145, finishedin 140, but if it's this first
10K, she had a goal of 145,finished in 140.
But if it's your first 10K,well.
Kayla did the milk run 5K inOrlando.
Chris out in Las Vegas thesuperhero 5K in a new park for

(01:47:17):
him.
Chris usually runs with hisbeaglesagles but didn't do it
this time came in sixth overall,second in his age group.
The funny thing the age groupwas the 45 to 120 age group.
Yeah, not too many 120 year oldrunners and as a 70-something,

(01:47:38):
I hate those 45-plus age groups.
Not fair.
However, congratulations, chris, on your finish there, because
you were still competing withsome folks your own age.
So well done.
We had the Cinco de Milerfive-mile run in Montrose Harbor
, chicago.
Jennifer was there First in aseries towards her Run this Town

(01:48:03):
Challenge medal.
Great atmosphere for the race.
Finish line was a giant blow-uppinata.
Very well-marked course, Manyvolunteers helping the runners
out.

Speaker 2 (01:48:16):
Since Bob was traveling and spent many hours
and miles in the car with Becky,I'm going to come a little bit
of a slack on the race reportthis week, so I'm going to tap
in there and help out here, butagain, we did this as a combined
effort.
So again we do apologize if wemissed anything and if we did
miss your race, please let us,and we will get that corrected

(01:48:39):
for a future episode.
But we now move to Sunday, andthis is a very special day
because not only is it not theproper day to celebrate Cinco de
Mayo, but it was also John careto share what was special about
Sunday.
It was May the fourth, ExactlyMay the fourth be with you as

(01:49:03):
well.
So lots of, lots of Cinco deMayo themed races, as well as
star Wars races, and you'll seewe got a bunch of them in here
this week.
We start in Benford, newHampshire, for the Cinco de
miles five K.
Christina ran that.
Moving now to Davie, florida,ravi ran the Cinco de Drinco 5k.

(01:49:29):
I think that goes down as oneof my favorite name runs from
the weekend.
Kathy ran the Vineyard Run inSouthern New Jersey Bellevue
Winery.
Kathy goes on to say that itwas a windy day and the fact
that she wore a grape costumemade it seem like she was a

(01:49:49):
giant windsock the entire time,but she looked great and she got
a second place in her age group.
Way to go, kathy.
In Conway, new Hampshire, rachelran the White Mountains half
marathon.
This is the second year forthis race in the and I am gonna
butcher this so I apologizeahead of time Rachel the

(01:50:11):
Cancamamongus Highway, and it isthe second year running with
her husband.
She said it felt a lot harderthis year, likely in part due to
the rain before and during therace, but they came in at a very
respectable two hours 31minutes and 30 seconds, and I
think that's another theme, forthis weekend is a lot of the
country, especially on theEastern part of the United

(01:50:33):
States.
You know, bob, as you mentioned, you know with Flying Pig, you
know lots of folks got washedout this weekend, so we
definitely feel for you there.

Speaker 5 (01:50:43):
Hey, greg, I'm going with Ken Kamungus, ken Kamungus,
okay, and Rachel can tell uswho was closer and I'm willing
to bet we're both wrong.
Yeah, probably Most likely.

Speaker 2 (01:50:54):
Also running the half marathon during this weekend.
Lori, rachel and Ken ran thisrace.
This weekend, lori, rachel andKen ran this race.
Next up, we had the OC HalfMarathon in Orange County,
california.
Holly ran that.
Not too too far away from Johnwas the Long Island Half
Marathon that took place inEisenhower Park in East Meadow,
new York.

(01:51:14):
Megan and Courtney ran thatrace.
We now head down south to BatonRouge, louisiana, for the LSU
Tiger 10K.
Emily ran this race.
She goes on to say that all theathletes cross the 50-yard line

(01:51:35):
in Tiger Stadium as theirfinish line, which is really,
really cool.
She was aiming for a new 10K PR, but she was going to aim for
about 50 minutes.
But she finished in a shocking,according to her, 48 minutes
and 27 seconds, which was goodenough for first in her age

(01:51:56):
group and it really go to showthat by trusting her training,
things really do pay off.

Speaker 5 (01:52:03):
So congratulations, emily I think it was the jumping
greg probably.

Speaker 2 (01:52:09):
Yeah, I follow, she loves emily.

Speaker 5 (01:52:12):
I follow emily on instagram.
Yes, she's got good hops yeah,that she does.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
That she does also running this race.
Our good friend and formerguest, uh, taryn uh, now I, I
love taryn she.
She had this great instagramstory about how her husband
doesn't understand why she lovesto procrastinate while putting

(01:52:40):
together a race costume.
But let me tell you, thiswoman's creativity is amazing.
She dressed up as the ultimatelsu tailgater with a grill.
I mean you have to go and lookat her photos are absolutely
phenomenal.
I know um, taryn did bump intoemily before the race and they
did get a picture together, soshe had a ton of fun on that one

(01:53:03):
.
And also her youngest son alsoran the Kid Smile and I do have
to interject here real quick,just a side tangent.
I don't know if anybody elsesaw this on Instagram.
So we know Taryn's a stuntwoman, but her husband is also a
stuntman as well too.
Her husband was did a bunch ofstunts, apparently for the new

(01:53:25):
thunderbolts movie, uh, thatjust came out and, uh, she
shared.
Apparently the whole cast wason.
Jimmy kimmel and sebastian stantalked so much about her
husband, I guess in thisridiculous costume that he had
to wear to make him look likeSebastian Stan.

(01:53:46):
But the kudos that he wasgiving him on a national stage
like that, saying that he's oneof the best motorcyclists and
the best stuntman that he's everworked with, I mean, if that
doesn't cement him a couple ofmore jobs in the future, I I
don't know what will.
So, uh, but I thought that wasreally cool, so I had to show

(01:54:06):
that yeah all right.
So enough about taryn's husbandand his awesome stunt work.
Let's get back to sunday's uhrace report.
Here we now move north of theborder to vancouver, canada, for
the BMO Vancouver Marathon.
Lauren ran this.
She said she had a strong raceboth mentally and physically,

(01:54:26):
and managed just over afive-minute PR.
She was very proud of thisfinish as it was her ninth
marathon, but it was the firsttime she ever managed negative
splits and only the second timeshe didn't have any major
physical or mental struggles.
Way to go, lauren.
Now we already talked about twomajor events that occurred this

(01:54:48):
weekend obviously, flying pig inthe indie mini, the.
The third major event to takeplace this weekend happened in
my neck of the woods in phil,pennsylvania, the Independence
Blue Cross Broad Street run thelargest 10-mile race in the
country, and we had a ton ofpeople running this.

(01:55:10):
First up our buddy Brianna.
She had a very short racereport and, simple to the point,
it was hot and humid and thatis all.
Grace was there as well as Jen.
This was her first 10 miler, sowe know what that means the
crowd support and sites ofPhilly.
She thought was absolutelyawesome and she saw a riser run

(01:55:32):
cheering squad just before cityhall, headed up by our buddy
Lizzie.
She came in at just under onehour and 45 minutes and she was
very happy to hear the ImperialMarch plane as she crossed the
finish line.
Katie also ran and this wasalso her first 10 miler, so PR

(01:55:53):
For her.
This was a redemption racefollowing a DNF at the Cherry
Blossom just a couple of weeksago.
Peter went on to say that hedefinitely had to dig deep with
the humidity and the bottlenecks, but he managed both 10K and a
10-mile PR.
He beat his overall time fromlast year by over six and a half

(01:56:16):
minutes and goes on to say thatit is a favorite race of his.
Sean also got a brand new pr atthe broad street run.
Our buddy k was also there.
Now she didn't give aformalized race report but uh,
she told me a little story todaythat I figured I'd go on the

(01:56:36):
podcast and share and that thatis around mile three.
You got to run through my almamater of Temple University and
one of the cool things there isthe Temple University Diamond
Marching Band, which I was alsopart of, is out on the street
playing and cheering foreverybody and she said to me

(01:56:59):
earlier today she goes Greg,you'll really enjoy this.
Uh, the band was playing this,uh, this great song, and I was
like, oh, was, it was one of ourfight songs, like t for temple,
you or something like that.
Uh, no, and she was verydisgruntled to learn that, uh,
they were playing fly, eagles,fly.
So she was, uh, really, reallynone too pleased about that one.

Speaker 6 (01:57:22):
She didn't dress as an eagle for this whole race.

Speaker 2 (01:57:25):
No, she did not.
I think, based on the fewphotos that I saw, it looks like
she was dressed as Wonder Womanbecause, again, k has to do
every single race in costume, soshe showed up for that.
But no, she was not dressed asa Philadelphia Eagle, although
if she did dress as Jason Kelseyin his Mummers outfit from when
the Eagles won the Super Bowlin 2017, that would be a heck of

(01:57:47):
a costume.
That would be epic.
Yeah, and also, I want therecord of this show.
Okay, bob hit the button forthe fight song, not me.
All right, and moving on, ourlast person, yvette, also ran
this.
This was her first Broad Streetand she goes on to say that the
parking situation was quitecrazy.
I did see some reports that Ithink it took one of our friends

(01:58:10):
over two hours to get out ofthe parking lot Because, for
some reason, they decided tohave a Philadelphia Phillies
game right after this race,which led to mass hysteria.
Usually they try to always planthis when the Phillies are out
of town, but yeah, so eventhough it was a good race, for

(01:58:31):
her did not like the parkingsituation, so congratulations to
everyone who ran at BroadStreet Next up in Bob's neck of
the woods we had the two bears.
5k.
Joy ran this, bob.
This is a run I think you and Ihave to do together because
it's hosted by comedians burkekreischer and tom segura, and

(01:58:54):
also the singer jelly roll wasthere.
Uh, if you don't know who burkekreischer is, he is, uh, the
comedian who loves to take hisshirt off and has the awesome
set of the machine.
And if you don't know what thatis, just google the machine and
you'll be in for quite a goodtime.
Uh, she said the whole uh racetook place in the tampa bay

(01:59:14):
buccaneers stadium and had anabsolute blast at the after
party as well.
And she says, uh, they hopethey continue to hold the race
in florida because, uh, if theydid, they would, she would
definitely run it again.
We have the great western halfmarathon in saint charles,
illinois.
Laura ran this.

(01:59:34):
She said it's a mostly graveltrail through the forest
preserve with only a little bitof elevation.
Uh, she was going for a pot butjust missed it but got a new pr
of just over two and a halfhours.
Way to go.
Tiffany was also there.
Uh, she goes on to say thatthey fully leaned into the star

(01:59:55):
wars theme.
I guess when you sign up youget to pick the light side or
the dark side and got acorresponding shirt, which I
think that is awesome.
It was a target race forupdating her POT and the
training paid off and she got atime of one hour 52 minutes and
36 seconds and a third place inher age group.

(02:00:15):
Congratulations, tiffany.
In South Atlanta we had themuddy princess run.
Lauren ran this.
This was her first mud run, uh,and even though there were no
official winners, she's kind ofcalling this like a quasi pr,
but she was in the first corraland she was the third person, uh
to cross the finish line, soshe's going to call that a third

(02:00:38):
place and a PR.
Now I will say, lauren, I sawyour photos on Facebook, your
after photo.
You didn't look that muddy, soI'm very interested to see how
you got through that entire raceand looked that clean at the
end.

Speaker 5 (02:00:56):
So that's a skill.
If you read it, she mentionsthat she was cleaner afterwards,
that the real muddy pictureshaven't come through.

Speaker 2 (02:01:06):
Oh, they haven't come through yet, okay, all right,
but then then we totally believeyou, lauren.
So, but great job.
Next up in leesburg, virginia,we had the run the greenway may
the fourth themed race and wehad a bunch of folksway May the
4th themed race and we had abunch of folks there, including
the Thompson family, taylor,brian and Emmy.

(02:01:28):
Taylor goes on to say that herstepdad and Brian completed
their first 5K together.
It was also her stepdad's firstrun race since he had knee
surgery back in 2021.
As for taylor herself, this wasa pr, and her four-year-old

(02:01:52):
daughter, emmy, ran the 800meter kids race.
She cried at the turnaroundbecause she wanted to go further
, and this was her longest raceto date, as she's in the midst
of training for her first 5K atDisney this January, and she ran
an average pace of 12 minutes.
Way to go.

Speaker 6 (02:02:12):
Andy, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:02:15):
Sharon was also there and she, like a lot of the
country country, had to dealwith the soggy rain but got a PR
.
And Chris also ran the 5k ofthis event and this was his
first 5k since having Achillessurgery.
Now we're really going to headSouth for this one.
This is the Maritana, whichtakes place in Buenos Aires,

(02:02:42):
Argentina.
Our buddy, JJ Juan Jose, ranthis.
He said, believe it or not,even though this race takes
place in Argentina, it'sactually a race that is
attributed to Italy as it isorganized by the Italian
consulate.
And he finished with a greattime of one hour and one minute.

(02:03:02):
Way to go, JJ.
Next up in Johnson City,Tennessee, we had the May the
4th Be With you 4K.
Jennifer ran this.
She said there were lots ofcostume runners and you would
expect that for a Star Wars race, but actually had a couple of
members of the 501st there whichis really cool and this was her

(02:03:23):
first ever 5K, so PR forJennifer.
All right.
Another major event, andactually this one, also taking
place in Pennsylvania.
It was the Pittsburgh Marathonweekend.
We had a couple of runnersthere.
Brianna did the half marathon.
She decided to get out of hercomfort zone and decided to run

(02:03:45):
a race outside of Run Disneyeven though she avoids running
hills and bridges like theplague and had a nice time.
Alicia goes on to say that wasgreat weather for a fun run.
And Andrew participated in whatis called the Steel Challenge,
which is the 5K and halfmarathon.

(02:04:07):
Both races were PRs for him infun and was very proud of his
times, and he is very excited tostart his Disneyland Halloween
training.
This week we move out to DesMoines, Iowa, for the Des Moines
Women's Half Marathon weekend.
Sarah ran both the 5K and the10K at this weekend and got a PR

(02:04:29):
in the 10K.
Angela and Alex also ran the 5K.
That was part of this weekend.
They enjoyed the run.
That was part of this week andthey enjoyed the run, which
included pre-race wine and apost-race charcuterie table Not
a board, a table.

Speaker 5 (02:04:50):
That I want to see pictures of Pre-race wine.
That's the first.

Speaker 2 (02:04:55):
I've heard of that.
You might get lost in thecourse, depending on how much
pre-race wine that you have.
Maybe All right.
We now move down to the lonestars state, the heb austin
sunshine run 10k.
Adrian ran this race.
She said the race supports freemulti-day overnight camps for

(02:05:17):
kids aged 8 to 15.
I had a great time by getting aPR in just over 50 minutes.
Good time, I promise.
This race was not my fault.
Brandy ran the Cinco Cinco racein Houston, texas, and she got
a 10K PR dressed as a pinata.

Speaker 5 (02:05:42):
You see her shirt.
It says something like why iseverybody hitting on me?

Speaker 4 (02:05:45):
or something, yeah it was cute.

Speaker 2 (02:05:47):
Yeah, using one of my catchphrases here on the
podcast, I think we're going tocall this a run Disney adjacent
race that took place inWilliamsburg, virginia.
It was the Busch GardensWilliamsburg Food and Wine 5K.
Hannah ran this.
She said she had a blast duringthis inaugural event and she

(02:06:07):
apologizes to run Disney, butshe is claiming this is her new
favorite 5K.
Now there were no rides openduring the race, but she did get
to ride her favorite rollercoaster afterwards.
That's pretty cool.
In Las Vegas, nevada, sarah ranthe May the 4th Be With you.

(02:06:28):
She represented this race bymixing a Cinco de Mayo outfit
with a lightsaber, got a voucherfor some free breakfast tacos
at a Mexican food truck afterthe race and she claims some of
the best tacos she has ever hadbefore.
Our buddy, Andrew, across thepond in Newcastle upon time ran

(02:06:50):
the Newcastle Gatesland halfmarathon.
He finished the race with anawesome time of two hours and
six minutes.
Uh, but we'll use this as abase as he is aiming for getting
a sub two hour half.
But to him the true reward isat the end of this race and I

(02:07:11):
want to know, grant, I don'tknow if I need to go to
newcastle upon time to get this,uh, but at their mcdonald's
they do biscoff McFlurries andMcDonald's.
If you're listening, you needto bring that stateside.
But, andy, great job there.

Speaker 6 (02:07:29):
And Greg, the McFlurry machine was actually
working.

Speaker 2 (02:07:32):
It was actually working yeah, I mean, isn't that
always the case where oh sorrythe machine's down?

Speaker 6 (02:07:39):
Can I get a vanilla shake?
Oh, the machine's down.
It's a a vanilla shake.
Oh the machine's down.

Speaker 2 (02:07:43):
It's a bunch of baloney, if you ask me.
Next up in the capital ofPennsylvania, in Harrisburg, we
had the halfity half.
Trish ran this race andachieved both her goals.
She got a POT of two hours and12 minutes, and her other goal
was to just finish the race.
So great job, trish.

(02:08:04):
And actually we have two lateadditions here to the race
report, john.
Why don't you grab those for me?

Speaker 6 (02:08:09):
Okay, so we have a couple races.
Our friend Joe ran the EverydaySuperheroes 5K in Arkansas.
He got second in his age groupand a garden flag door prize in
Arkansas he got second in hisage group and a garden flag door
prize.
Joe's training for his 80thanniversary 80th birthday
spectacular at Wine and Dine.
He's getting his paces down andhe's ready to go.

Speaker 2 (02:08:31):
Can we have a birthday party for Joe at the
Pop Century Art of AnimationLoop I?
Think that would be anabsolutely fantastic time, since
since Joe loves that path somuch.

Speaker 6 (02:08:45):
I said we got to get a sign for him on that thing.

Speaker 2 (02:08:47):
There we go.

Speaker 6 (02:08:49):
Trivia yes, joe Graham trivia, there we go.
And then this is not really arunning event for, say, but our
friend Doug, who hosts the willrun for the Rise and Run podcast
with the Will Runford group andalso host of the War on Car

(02:09:10):
podcast, he went out and did theFive Borough Bike Tour, which
is a 40-mile ride through thefive boroughs of New York.
Starts at the Freedom Tower,ends at fort waynesworth, so you
come over the varizano at theend to hit this race.
So, doug, great job.

Speaker 2 (02:09:28):
And uh, doug is putting a book out soon I was
gonna say, yeah, I was gonnamention that.
Congratulations, doug.
I'm I'm very excited for youand your podcast for uh
publishing that book.
That's going to be great to get.

Speaker 6 (02:09:39):
It's coming out in October, I think he said.
So take a look for it.
It's Life After Cars.

Speaker 5 (02:09:44):
All right, guys.
Boy, I appreciate the help.
I really do.
The old voice was not going tohold up through all of that.
So thanks for your work on thatthis week, friends, and if you
run, you know you are our friend.
That's bringing episode 189 ofthe Rise and Run podcast to a
conclusion.

(02:10:04):
Hey, lots of great races totalk about on our Zoom call
Thursday night.
It is a Zoom week.
We really enjoy seeing youthere.
If you haven't done one before,drop in.
We hope you have a good time.
Folks who drop in tend to comeback.
We think you'll like it Allright.

(02:10:25):
That wraps it up.
It's training time again.
Disneyland Halloween started,so get out there and do it, and
until we meet again, happyrunning.

Speaker 2 (02:10:47):
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 healthcare provideror event organizer.

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