192: Vella Shpringa With Bird In Hand Race Director Lowell Ladd

Episode Transcript
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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):
Hello and welcome to the Rise and Run podcast.
This is Brandi from Houston,Texas, calling you from the
finish line of the Cinco Cinco10K.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Happy running.
Hi, this is Kate from Glendora.
I'm here at the meetup atDisney Springs and you're
listening to the Rise and Runpodcast.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
All right, more great intros, brandi.
Good hearing from you.
Brandi's over in Houston, whereI'm sure it's nice and steamy
this time of year, but shecontacted us from the finish
line of the Cinco Cinco 10K,which she did a couple weeks ago
.
Good hearing from you, brandy,and Kate.
Kate, that goes back tospringtime surprise.

(01:15):
Thanks for recording that forus, kate.
Hello, my friends, and welcometo episode 192 of the Rise and
Run podcast.
We are so delighted that you'rejoining us this week.
I'm Bob and I am here withAlicia.
Hello With Lexi, hello WithGreg, hey, hey, hey.

(01:39):
And with John, hey, how youdoing?
I'm kind of warm, john.
It's kind of warm out, but I'mokay.
Good, good, I'm going to makeit.
I got the fan blowing behind me.
I don't know if that'll hydrate.
Becky brought me a glass oficed tea, so I'm good to go.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know, Bob, that's one thing I've never really
understood.
Obviously, I know you acclimatea little bit, but if it gets so
hot, why don't you take thepodcast studio indoors?

Speaker 4 (02:05):
I like it here.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
This is my place, I mean.
I know people would get upsetif the crickets went away,
crickets would be gone.
And you'd pick up on the echoesif I went into one of the rooms
.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Now what'll happen?
We're about to get intohurricane season.
Happy hurricane season to thoseof you who celebrate it starts
June 1st.
What'll happen?
I'm sure one of the recordingnights we'll have some
thunderstorms in the area, sothen you'll hear how much
different it sounds when I goindoor.
Let us see friends.

(02:38):
This week we are happy to haveLowell Ladd, the founder of 2L
Race Services and the racedirector for Bird, in Hand.
Lowell is here to talk with usabout what it takes to be a race
director and specifically whatgoes on up there.
At that outstanding weekend inSeptember in the Amish country

(03:02):
of Pennsylvania in September inthe Amish country of
Pennsylvania, our friend ThomasStokes visits.
Right before the race report,tom stops by to tell us what's
going on, what's coming up andto announce the winners of his
scholarships.
So stay tuned for that.
You might be in for a surprise.
In the race report spotlight,marina joins us to tell us about

(03:26):
the Ottawa Canada InternationalRace Weekend.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
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(03:51):
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Speaker 5 (03:59):
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(04:21):
podcast is sponsored by ourfriends over at Magic Bound
Travel.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
With Memorial Day being this past week, we have
hit the unofficial begin ofsummer and there are a lot of
fun and exciting thingsoccurring down in Walt Disney
World and Disneyland.
This summer In Disneyland, yougot the 70th anniversary
celebration going on over thereand then, as we were recording

(04:52):
this evening, on a Tuesday, thenews broke that the new Disney
Starlight Parade will debut inOrlando on July 20th will debut
in Orlando on July 20th.
I mean, I cannot remember thelast time Walt Disney World had
a non-holiday evening parade, sothat is super, super exciting.

(05:15):
If those are events that youwould like to see with your own
two eyes, be sure to visitmagicboundtravelcom, chat with
one of their amazing traveladvisors to get a no obligation
quote so you can enjoy thosemagical experiences this summer.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Hey friends, alicia told you gave you the number to
call to leave us a recordedmessage.
Kind of reminded me ofsomething.
Now we are approaching our200th episode.
We don't have anythingparticularly special planned,
but we would like to invite youto participate.

(05:54):
If you'd like to call thatnumber, 727-266-2344, leave us a
little 30 second message uh,celebrating, honoring, telling
us a funny story about somethingthat happened that you've heard
in the first 200 episodes.
We think that would be cool, wethink it'd be fun and and we're

(06:18):
going to play them that if weget swamped and we have so many
that we can't get them in oneepisode, we'll stretch them out,
but if you send us one, Ipromise we'll play it.
So we have so many that wecan't get them in one episode,
we'll stretch them out, but ifyou send us one, I promise we'll
play it.
So we look forward to that.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Help us out and, speaking of our listeners
helping us out, we will dosocial media blasts, both on
facebook and on instagram, butin two weeks time we are going
to be doing another listenerquestions episode.
So if there are any burningtopics that you want us to chat

(06:54):
about you have just general runDisney questions, running
questions, traveling to theDisney parks questions or
specific questions for the hosts, be sure to post those or you
can email them to thegang atriserunpodcastcom and we will
compile that list and we willtry to do our absolute best to

(07:16):
answer as many of them aspossible.
Again, that's for our episodecoming up in two weeks.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Sounds good, sounds good, great Thanks.
Let's look at the trainingcalendar.
Friends, as of the day ofrecording, as of, well, two days
ago, because we anyway we're 14weeks away from the Disneyland
Halloween Expo out in California.

(07:44):
That means that as of today,we're 100 days away.
So if you are preparing for thechallenge, that race weekend,
you are in training week fourand your long run this weekend
is five miles.
That's what's up on thetraining calendar.
Let's see we're still aboutfour weeks away from registering

(08:08):
for Princess and still a waysaway.
Later on in June, training forWine and Dine will start.
But that's what's going on inthe training calendar.
Training updates what do we gotmy friends?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
yeah, bob.
So this past weekend I had myfirst magic mile in a really
long time.
Thanks to all the travel thatI've had these past two months,
I've had to keep pushing it offand off and off, but finally got
it done and gosh, I still don'tthink that I am the best at

(08:49):
those.
I know.
I mentioned it on the podcastpreviously.
I almost kind of equated tostandardized testing In school.
I did fairly well, I was inhonors and AP classes, but God
put the sat or the act in frontof me and I I shriek and I feel
like it's the same thing inrunning.

(09:09):
When you know I do my, you knowrace rehearsals, you know I do
a pretty decent job at hittingmy paces.
But boy, when it comes time forthat magic mile and trying to
run all out, boy, I just I getin my head.
But at least I I had close to a30-second improvement which, in
terms of, a magic mile is prettysignificant, so looking forward

(09:30):
to those new paces from CoachTwiggs.
I guess that's the blessing andthe curse is you get a faster
magic mile, but then thattranslates to faster race paces.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
You did great, greg, thank you.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Thank you.
I mean, Greg, you know thatrule about we don't want to puke
during a race.
I was almost there.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
That's okay.
Almost is okay.
Yes, almost is okay.
Almost is okay, yeah.
Rule one no dying.
Correct, that's the mostimportant rule.
Rule two no puking.
But almost almost is okay thething about those I get it, I do
them.
I'm not excited by them, theyare just a tool.

(10:13):
Okay, correct, they're not arace, they're not a training
tool, they're a measuring stick.
So if you're doing your magicmiles, that's what they're there
for.
They're a diagnostic tool tohelp you, and there really is no
such thing as a bad one,because, again, it's just to

(10:37):
help you.
So great job, greg.
Thank you.
I'm going to talk again aboutsummer training.
I know I talked about it lastweek and I'm after this.
I promise friends to to give itup for a little while.
I'm not sure how long, but acouple of things.

(10:59):
It has turned really hot incentral Florida and the humidity
is way up.
Later in the race report I'lltalk about our friend Adam, who
did an amazing event this lastFriday.
But I was out Saturday for 10miles Not at this point in my

(11:21):
training, not particularly long,but by golly it was just really
hot and what you have to do isjust accept the fact that the
heat is going to slow you downand not force things.
Go ahead and use Jeff Galloway'srule of thumb.

(11:44):
Things go ahead and use JeffGalloway's rule of thumb 30
seconds added to your pace forevery 5 degrees over 60 degrees.
60 degrees around here iswinter temperature, but I do use
it.
Okay, I do use that rule ofthumb, do I?
When I looked it up, between mymagic mile pace and my long
distance running pace and theheat, I think I was supposed to

(12:08):
be running 17 minute miles.
Did I do 17 minute miles?
No, I didn't.
But I went out with theattitude of I can't, I just
going to go at a pace that I canmaintain.
And I actually walk quite a bitmore than I normally do.
In fact, I developed a newmethod here Instead of run, walk
, run, it's sun, walk, run, sun,walk, sun and what I actually

(12:32):
have it backwards.
I was able.
I got out early enough.
I was able to run most of thefirst four miles.
Then I got into a trail areathat is pretty well shaded, so
that when I was in a shady area,I did my run intervals.
When I got out in the sun, Iwalked kids, I just walked.
That was it.
And in the last two miles onthe way back, I'm out in the

(12:53):
sunshine and I'm not going tomake myself ill.
I'm not going to risk heatproblems, I'm going to walk.
I am fond of saying I.
This is at least I know.
I said it twice last weeksummer training equals fall PRs.
But there's another lessonthere, and that is you don't

(13:15):
have to force the summertraining.
You're going to get theadvantage once the weather cools
down.
Hot and cool are differentdepending on where you are
throughout the country.
We acclimate differently and Iwas out this morning.
This amused me.
I was out this morning.

(13:35):
I got out at 7 am, thetemperature was 81 degrees, the
dew point was 75.
The feels like was 90.
And the weather actuallyreported a wind chill of 86.
I got a kick out of that.
But again, just you've got tothrottle back, you've got to

(13:56):
stay within your limits and justtrust that you're going to
build the endurance and it'sgoing to help you out when the
weather cools off.

Speaker 5 (14:04):
And what is it that you always say, Bob?
If it's hot where you are, thenit's hot.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
If it's hot where you are, it's hot.
That's absolutely right Downhere.
I may go out 70 degrees and a65 degree dew point and feel, oh
man, this is great.
You live up in the Northeast orup in Alicia's area.
That's pretty warm and itaffects you as it affects us

(14:30):
both the same way.
We just acclimate differently.
So I'm not telling you what'shot.
You define what's hot.
I think 45 is cold, okay.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
And the one thing I'll add on to all of this is,
you know, as we enter the summermonths and the higher
temperatures, is that you knowsimilar to what you were saying,
bob it's okay to makeadjustments.
I mean, frankly, it's ungodlyhot, you know, or maybe you know

(15:03):
like, set a rule for yourself,like if the temperature is above
you know so many degrees, ifyou have access to it, find
yourself a treadmill.
you know, and because you know,similar to what you were saying,
bob is you know, depending onyour training pace, if you're
using that fought, using that 30seconds for every five degree

(15:26):
rule, you could eventually begetting to the point where your
training run would turn into awalk, and again, there is
nothing wrong with thatwhatsoever You're right.
So if you prefer to be outdoorsor don't have access to a
treadmill, then definitely gothat route.
But again, if you want to beable to practice those paces,
obviously that's one way to go.

(15:47):
And then the other thing youknow, speaking of my past
training run from this pastweekend, is, you know, for those
of us that do follow theGalloway Method, the one thing
that we have learned throughCoach Twiggs is you can still
figure out your magic mile byrunning a half mile.
Yes, Good point, Greg soessentially what you do there

(16:08):
again.
You would still, you know, dosome semblance of a warmup, but
then you would run two laps onthe track, or you know, 800
meters or a half mile.
Yeah, yeah, as quickly aspossible.
Then you would take that time,multiply it by two and then add
18 seconds Right, and then thatwill give you your magic mile

(16:31):
time and then help you with yourtraining paces.
So again, make thoseadjustments, be smart and, most
importantly, stay safe.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, that works out remarkably well.
I had a magic mile.
Two weeks ago I did it, butit's the last one I'll do,
probably till October orNovember, because it's just too
hot to push that hard over thatdistance.
So I'll do that half mile thing.
That's a great point, greg.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Thanks for reminding me of that like if you're going
through a park where waterfountains are, maybe by a well
in my area they're quick checksand seven 11s so you can stop in
grab a bottle of water or cold.
It's air conditioned sometimesso you can cool yourself down so

(17:15):
that if you do want to get yourtraining out in the outdoors
cause I know some of us despisethe treadmill, you know just
play it safe, plan your routesaccordingly.
So there's good places likeshade and uh, places you could
stop and, you know, rest and getsomething to drink.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Here's another good tip, John If you do stop into
one of those places, when youget to the checkout counter,
step back a little bit so yoursweat drips on the floor and not
on the counter.

Speaker 6 (17:53):
Yeah, and I know another cool thing Most of the
time, you know, they take Applepay or Google pay, and I know my
Garmin has the credit card onit too, so you don't have to
give them a sweaty $2 bills, $3bills.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
I've done that before and they weren't very happy
with me.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Good for you, good for you.

Speaker 6 (18:13):
It's like when you go to the beach.
We do not accept wet money.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
All right, All right, friends.
Look, if the hot weather hasn'treached you yet and I know some
parts of the country, I readthe race reports I know some
parts of the country are stillrelatively cool and God bless
you.
That's wonderful, it's comingOK.
I promise it's coming OK,friends.
Hey, let's visit with ourguests for the week.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
One commonality of the Rise and Run podcast Run
Disney and just running ingeneral is a sense of community,
and there is one race in thiscountry that embodies that
concept to the highest degree.
According to the race website,this race has quote some things

(19:03):
that can't be described like thesense of community that follows
you well after you cross thefinish line.
But this week we are joined bysomeone who might be able to
shed some light on thoseindescribable things.
We would love to welcome LowellLadd, the race director of one
of our favorite races, the Birdin Hand Half Marathon.

(19:25):
Lowell, welcome to the racedirector of one of our favorite
races, the Bird in Hand HalfMarathon.
Lowell, welcome to the Rise andRun podcast.

Speaker 7 (19:29):
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
The first question that we're going to start off
with here is can you give usjust a very brief history of the
origin of the Bird in Hand raceweekend?

Speaker 7 (19:42):
The Bird in Hand race predates my involvement with it
.
The race, I believe, started in2010.
And the group in Bird in Hand,pennsylvania decided that they
wanted to have a race.
There was a member of thecommunity that felt like that
community would benefit fromhaving an event like this, so
they decided to start a halfmarathon and 5k, and I believe

(20:05):
the year was 2010.
I actually ran the race and wonthe half marathon in 2011, the
second year that they had it.
So my foray into the world ofbird in hand was not as a race
director, but rather as aparticipant.
I went out there and chase thebuggy and managed to be the
first one across the finish linetrophy down in my basement, so
awesome.
So that was my welcome to birdin hand.

(20:28):
And then I ran it a couple ofyears later with my wife, kind
of as a middle of the packexperiential thing, and all
along the way I actually gotinto race directing myself with
other events, and so they had arace director.
That did it for, I believe, oneyear.
Things didn't work out.
They brought in anothergentleman who did a really good
job with it for a number ofyears and in 2019 slash 2020, he

(20:54):
reached out to me and said youknow I'm not going to be able to
time this event anymore, but Iwant to keep directing it.
Can you take over some of thetiming duties?
And I said, yeah, I'd love to.
It's a great event.
I'd love to be involved in thatcapacity.
Covid came in and like wow,flipped everything upside down.
He could no longer continuerace direct.
He got out of the whole eventbusiness and the good folks at

(21:16):
Bird Enhance said, hey, you weregoing to take over the timing.
Can you take over as racedirector for this event and help
us keep it going?
And I said, yeah, I'd love todo that.
So in 2020, in COVID, I jumpedin and took over as race
director for the Bird in Handrace as the Bird in Hand race.

Speaker 6 (21:34):
What goes into planning this race from start to
finish?

Speaker 7 (21:38):
You know, when I talk about the Bird in Hand race, it
really I'm the race director,which means I wear the title of
being in charge of the race.
But it really is so much morethan a race.
It really is a much broaderevent.
So there's a lot of peopleinvolved and there's a small
group of us that really pull allthe pieces together.
The pre-race festival with thegigantic tent, which is bigger

(22:00):
than anything I've seen, theexpo, the pasta dinner all that
stuff is really kind of attachedto the race but it's also a
separate part of it.
The picnic that we have onSaturday is welcome to the
community, Like anybody can goto this free picnic and take
part.
You do not have to do the race.
So it just gets thousands ofpeople that come out and do this

(22:20):
and it sits kind of on top ofand combined with the race.
But the event as a whole isreally so much broader than the
race.
So because I wear the racedirector role, like normally you
take the race directors incharge of everything, but I
really am not.
I'm in charge of the race, partof this and I work with
everybody else, but there reallyis a small group of six or

(22:41):
seven people that make sure thateverything comes together for
the event, as a small group ofsix or seven people that make
sure that everything comestogether for the event as a
whole.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
We need to talk about that picnic.
That is fabulous.
That is one of the stars of theshow.
How long does it take to getall that organized?

Speaker 7 (22:58):
I mean, we're already working on it.
And when I say we, like, Idon't really myself have
anything to do with the picnicother than being in the small
group meetings.
And you know there's there'speople that know how to do their
part of this big event and theyreally run with that and
there's some collaboration,sharing a bouncing of ideas.
But you know, the picnic itself, um, is amazing as far as how

(23:20):
many people they can get throughthere and serve and the food,
like I've seen them walkingaround with like just handing
out ribs to people that theystart cooking at like three 30
in the morning.
I'm there early on half marathonmorning and for people that
don't know, you know the race istwo days.
So it's Friday night with thefive K all day expo and then
Saturday morning with a halfmarathon, and so I'm out there

(23:42):
pretty early on Saturday.
Other people out there prettyearly, those people that are
that are smoking stuff up withtheir smoker, are there
incredibly early, um, and it istaunting and tantalizing to
smell that at that hour beforeI've even had coffee or
breakfast.
But they get it going early andit that's just part of the
picnic and what goes into thatpart of it.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Oh, I was getting influenced just last year when I
was sitting at the pasta partyand I could see them seasoning
the ribs.

Speaker 6 (24:08):
And.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
I wanted them at that point and I knew I wasn't going
to be able.
You know it'd be.
You know, almost 12 hours later, until you know I'd be able to
enjoy them.
So that's wild that you knowpeople are there that early to
start an amazing event.

Speaker 7 (24:25):
And I think the chicken may be some of the best
I've ever had.
Agreed, yeah, it is.
It is delicious.
I don't have time to enjoy muchof it.
Usually I'm there at the endeating whatever scraps are left
over, and they're still amazingand so good, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
So bringing in the picnic that talks about the
community aspect, which isreally special with the Bird in
Hand race Outside of the Bird inHand fire department, what
other community organizationsare involved in the planning of
this event?

Speaker 7 (24:51):
It really is people that are associated with the
fire company.
I'm really the only outsider soI live an hour east of Bird in
Hand and to the best of myknowledge, there are no timing
companies that are in the Amishcommunity.
So the plain folk have to gooutside of their circle to get
someone with real raceexperience.
And not to say that therearen't other races in Amish

(25:14):
areas of the United States.
I know there's one in Ohio andthen the Garden Spot Race in the
spring is a sister event tothis one.
It's the Road Apple Award.
If you do both, you get theplaque with the road apples on
it.
So you know that is the samegeneral area.
But you know the Amish communitythat puts this race on really
like they've got this event theycould really handle and they

(25:37):
don't really need much outsidehelp.
Because I'm the race director,all the race related questions
funnel through me.
So people go to the website toregister and they have questions
about things.
It usually comes through me andwe always get people that say
like I love this event, I wantto volunteer, I want to help out
and like I'm involved withother events.

(25:57):
I've never seen anything likethis where I have to continually
say like you don't really needany help because the community
is so strong and so committed tothis event that they really
have a surplus of help, which iskind of insane.
But they got this event, everypiece of it.
They are fully staffed and theyhave so many people in the
community that want to beinvolved with this.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's amazing.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Oh yeah, and it's obvious too it really shows up
during the weekend.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
So, as someone who has not been to Bird in Hand,
what would you say is thebiggest draw that people have
for the race, like what is yourfavorite thing or the favorite
thing of most of theparticipants?

Speaker 7 (26:39):
People love the food.
The pasta dinner, the picnic isa huge piece for a lot of
people.
How welcoming the people arethat are involved with this
event, like anybody that youtalk to when you go to this
event, like they all want tohelp and it's you know, it's not
a small event.
It's got a lot of moving partsand everybody really wants, like

(27:00):
every person that comes to therace, to have a good time and
feel welcome and feel invitedand they really don't want to
treat you differently if there'sone person there, or 100 or
1,000 or 3,000 or more, as thecase may be with this race.
So it's really very welcomingand people just smiling and
having a good time coming andgoing.

(27:20):
It's not like a lot of raceswhere people kind of fly in in
and fly out of there as quicklyas they can.
People hang around.
There's a lot of sideactivities to keep people there,
like just enjoying theatmosphere and the place and the
people that are there well andreading your bio it sounds like
you know with your racingcompany.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
You know you cover a lot of races here in the
Northeast, especiallyPennsylvania and New Jersey.
But what is a unique challengeor aspect from the timing
perspective and the racedirecting perspective specific
to Bird in Hand?
Are there any?

Speaker 7 (27:57):
Really.
I mean, there's road apples onthe road more than most other
places when we put the mats down.
Our mats are going to get dirty,but that's really small Because
of the volume and thebackcountry roads, like setting
up the starting line on a mainroadway is a little bit of a
challenge.
Sometimes they're trying to keepthe road open as long as they

(28:17):
can because they put a ton ofpeople in a farmer's field and
access to that is a lot of crazymoving parts.
Farmer's field and access tothat is a lot of crazy moving
parts.
It's not like most other racesof this size have like a school
or industrial complex somewhereto park all these cars and with
this race it takes over afarmer's field and we have to

(28:42):
worry about, like, how much raincan we handle in X amount of
time the days before before wehave a problem.
We have to go to plan B, whichis putting them somewhere else
and busing them in or shiftingthe course somehow, things like
that.
So probably the parking isdefinitely a big challenge.
That's not a timing specificproblem, but I have to be
prepared to pivot with that ifwe have to make any changes to
the course, if we can't finishon a field because it starts on
a road but it actually finisheson a farmer's field.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Sure does.
Does planning go on year roundor about when do you need to
start for each year?

Speaker 7 (29:11):
I mean we have a meeting a couple of weeks after
the race where we talk about,like you know, what went well,
what needs to be improved, andlike it's really amazing that
like there's not anything thathas to be fixed Best, we can
tell nothing is really broken.
It's more like fine-tuning.
What can we do to make things alittle bit better, to make this
go a little more seamlessly?

(29:32):
There's always some curveballswith some of the side things.
Some years people want theballoons and some years the
balloons go up and sometimesthey don't.
What can we do to collaboratewith the people that put the
balloons up?
It's not our thing but happensto happen there.
Little things like that, thatlike it's just little niceties,
that like everybody wantseverything to be 100 out of 100

(29:52):
and if it's 98 we're like whatcan we do to make it a little
bit better?
But we really start going overthat like a couple weeks after
the race.
I mean it goes slow but itreally does go year round and
I'd say you know it's full borefrom like six months out really
just pushing on to get thingsready.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
I believe it and for friends who haven't been there,
when Lowell says balloons, he'snot talking about the balloon
ladies or balloons like that.
He's talking about hot airballoons that transport people,
that launch from this same areathat the race begins.
Very beautiful.
If they have the weather for it, it's gorgeous.

Speaker 7 (30:28):
Yes, when it cooperates.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
It's awesome.
Yeah, it's really nice.
Is there something, do youthink, that makes running
through Amish country differentthan your regular road race,
your average road race?

Speaker 7 (30:41):
I mean you know it's not, it's not a city event.
So like you don't get on thesedesolate roads where, mean you
know it's not, it's not a cityevent.
So like you don't get on thesedesolate roads where there's no
cars and it's easy and it's flatand run as fast as you can.
I mean, people don't generallygo to bird in hand to see if
they can shave a few seconds offof their best half marathon
time.
It really is.
Go out there and enjoy theexperience.
You know the time before therace starts, getting together as

(31:03):
a group going out there on thecourse.
You know the time before therace starts, getting together as
a group going out there on thecourse enjoying the aid stations
which are, you know, at Amishschoolhouses like one of the
schoolhouses and just real quiet, calm countryside.
It's not an easy course, it'snot an exceptionally difficult
course.
It's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
I think you know people go for the experience
before the race, during the raceand afterwards.
Yeah, it's a.
It's a lovely course.
Rolling hillside, centralpennsylvania, uh, amish country.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Gotta love the kids at the age station that's always
a lot of fun it's so funny tohear you say this isn't a race
that you know you go to aim fora pr and like I'd still laugh to
myself this day that actuallymy first ever burden hand is my
half marathon pr and I have Ihave never been able to to get
any closer to that.
So but again, you know, bob,you're absolutely right.

(31:55):
Definitely a ton of rollinghills.
I will say that, one hill atlike miles six and a half, seven
, where I think you turned threetimes and you're still
continually going uphill thatone, not as rolling as some of
the others, but it is absolutelybeautiful.

Speaker 6 (32:11):
What was the most unexpected situation you had to
deal with?

Speaker 7 (32:15):
Well, we had talked about you know we talk about
contingency plans.
It's a big race, like what dowe do if the field floods, for
parking and other things, and wehad talked about what do we do
if we get a thunderstorm.
You know what do we do, and Ithink it was two years ago that
on Friday night, you know, we'relooking at the radar and we're
like there's thunderstormspopping up and you know the

(32:36):
thunder got pretty close and thechallenge with this race was,
you know we were like, okay, arewe going to call it or not?
Now the local community peopleare what about?
What's the big deal with athunderstorm?
Like we go out?
and look at the fields, like youknow, maybe we go inside for a
little, but it's.
They don't look at it as like abig deal.
They don't have to panic button.

(32:56):
Um, you know, a lot of theout-of-towners are like we can't
, we can't run Like we got to gohide in our cars or we got to
go in the tent.
So it was an awkward situationwhere we hadn't been, we hadn't
had to deal with it.
Up until that point, we kind oftalked about it in the
background and passing.
We're like we'll deal with it.
It comes up and it was just astrange thunderstorm that

(33:17):
basically popped up on top of usand we didn't have a lot of
options with what to do with it.
Um, that was definitely achallenge that we really had to
wrestle with, like, how are wegoing to deal with this going
forward, knowing that we don'thave like a big building to put
people in?
We have a tent and that'scertainly safer than you know
standing in the field, but wedon't have the protection and we
can tell people to go to theircars and how we're going to

(33:39):
communicate that to them, andyou know, how long can we push
the start of the race back, andsome little things like that.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
I think I remember that I was driving out that
morning and I was coming inthrough all the storms and I
guess luckily it broke, held offfor the race and you guys got
it on, no problem.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
So you've never been stuck in a situation where you
had to call it or shift it oranything like that.

Speaker 7 (34:01):
Then no, I've.
I've never been at any raceever where we had to cancel
because of the weather.
You know I timed a lot ofevents.
I've been to track meets wherethey pull the kids off the track
in the middle of a race andthey pause it and then they go
back and finish it later.
Um, and I've I've got differentrace that I put on in
gettysburg where we hadthunderstorms for an hour and a

(34:22):
half leading up till 25 minutesbefore the race started and we
didn't know if we'd get it in,but we got a window and we got
it done.
So we've had a couple calls butwe've never had any where we
had to just say we can't do ittoday.
Yeah Good, the Friday night istough, you know, with this,
because we've got darkness andthere's no lights out there.
It's it's not like a city.
We don't have street lights.
So you know, if we push it backsignificantly, it gets dark and

(34:45):
dangerous.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Right Understood.
You know, from just a racedirector perspective, in general
we runners I got a feelingthere's a lot of things that you
do that we don't know about.
Is there something you canthink of, Maybe?

Speaker 7 (35:07):
there's something that most runners don't realize
goes into prepping for a race.
As a race director, the biggestchallenge is the race director
in the race has to think abouteverybody.
You know what is the group needand, as a participant, you
think what do I?
need and sometimes your needsaren't really in the majority.
Sometimes you might be in avery small minority.
You know it's like I needsomething specific.
Well, that only applies to twoother people out of 3000.

(35:28):
So you know, do I really needto get what I think I deserve?
As a race director, yousometimes feel bad when somebody
comes up with a problem andsays you know, I want this to be
fixed.
And sometimes you can fix itand sometimes you can't.
And when you can, it's like Ihave to help a lot of people and
if I spend five minutes fixingeveryone's problem, the race
doesn't start today, it's goingto happen tomorrow or the day

(35:50):
after.
So sometimes, unfortunately,you cannot fix all the small
problems that come up, andthat's tough and people don't
understand that because theyonly see like their little piece
of it and they're like I needto get this changed or whatever
special circumstances come up.
There's countless versions ofthat.

Speaker 5 (36:08):
Speaking about what goes in as a race director, what
is the night before the raceLike for you?
Like, do you have nerves, doyou have a specific checklist,
or is it just kind of coffee anda prayer and we hope this goes
well.

Speaker 7 (36:22):
Well, because it's a two day event, you know this is
a longer, more drawn out eventthan like a five.
You know, just if it was just afive K by itself and there
wasn't an eight hour expobeforehand, um, it would be a
little bit different.
You know the setup for it.
So the you know 5k is on Fridaynight, the half marathon
Saturday morning.
I get out there at about nineo'clock AM on Friday.

(36:46):
Some people are doing setupWednesday and Thursday.
People that are out therethey'll chip away at a few tasks
and you know the tent goes updays and days in advance and
there's some things happening inthe days before.
But as the race director, youknow it's Friday is a long day.
Things don't happen too fastuntil about five in the
afternoon.
It's a nice casual pace wherepeople are trickling in and

(37:10):
enjoying it, nobody's rushed,and then we get to late, late
afternoon.
It gets a little bit frantic.
We start worrying about are wegoing to be able to get all the
cars in?
You know we're going to haveany problems that.
Are we going to have a line atpacket pickup where people can't
get their bib in time to gowhen the race starts?
That's when we start to worryand then you know, as race
director, director, it'stechnology.

(37:31):
Like something always goes wrong.
You know we're on a podcast nowand like how many things may or
may not have worked justperfectly, like there's always
something that doesn't work theway you want it to.
And how quickly can youtroubleshoot it?
Can you get things fixed, butideally before anybody even
notices that they weren'tworking right?
So little things like that,right, so little things like

(37:57):
that.
But I've I've done enoughversions of this race and enough
races in general that I don'tsweat the small.
I don't sweat it too much,partially because I work with
good people with this race andthings don't.
As a race director, if I'm incharge of 100 things, there
might be 95 or 98 that go welland there's a couple of things
that don't go right.
If they came down on me andreally like, made me sweat, I
might worry more, but they'regood to work with, they're good

(38:18):
people, they're kind when thingshaven't gone perfectly.
We had a timing issue the firstor second year that I directed
it, where things didn't goperfectly and we had to clean
some things up and the awardceremony was delayed a little
bit and they were like don'tworry about it.
Like we know, you did your best, you made some mistakes, you'll
address them next time andit'll be better, and it has been

(38:38):
since.
So that makes it a lot easierfor me as race director to work
for this race and work withthese people, because they're
kind and easy to work withoutstanding speaking of unique
challenges, the one thing that Ijust thought of and again we
had mentioned this previous inthis interview is it's wonderful
.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Obviously the Amish are one to not embrace the
technological advances that wehave available to us today.

(39:20):
If a change needs to be madelast minute, how are you
communicating with that specificcommunity?
Who is helping also support therace?

Speaker 7 (39:31):
Right.
So one thing I had to learnbefore I was involved with this
race is you know, the Amishcommunity is not one size fits
all.
They're not all the same.
There is a broad spectrum ofhow traditional they are versus
more modern and everything inbetween.
So you know, with all thepeople involved with the race,

(39:51):
when I go to the race meetings,you'll see people at those
meetings.
You know with all the peopleinvolved with the race, when I
go to the race meetings, you'llsee people at those meetings and
you say that looks like anAmish person.
And they talk like what youwould think an Amish person
talks like.
And there's other people thatyou say I wouldn't know that
they're Amish because they don'tdress the same as the person
next to them who's dressed moretraditionally, and they don't
all talk exactly the same andthey've got different levels of

(40:12):
comfort with technology.
So there's really layers of youknow.
This person will talk to thesepeople that are spread out on
the course and if somethingneeds to be communicated, a lot
of it funnels through ems wherethey'll get to people out on the
course and then they'll talk tothe people that they need to at
the aid station.
But you're right, the peopleyou know at the one room mama
school houses they don't knowhow cell phones that they're
sitting on the aid station.
But you're right, the people youknow at the one room Amish

(40:32):
schoolhouses they don't own cellphones, that they're sitting on
like waiting for someone tocall them and tell them what's
going on, and they do call itthe valley of no wires out in
part of the course, becausethere are no wires out there?

Speaker 4 (40:44):
Which just adds to the scenery.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
Right, talking about this weekend, something that we
all talk about is the camel.
Okay, can you give us abackstory on the if you know
about the camel, like why itgoes through this guy's backyard
and there's a camel in themiddle of Pennsylvania?

Speaker 7 (41:05):
Yeah.
So as I understand it, the twobrothers who really made this
race happen were the Smuckerbrothers, and they own a lot of
business.
The one brother is still inBurdenham.
The other one has gone out toOhio, I believe Jim and John
Smucker.
So if lore serves me correctly,jim Smucker was the brother who

(41:28):
was a runner and had the ideaof starting this race and he
pitched to the community andthey embraced it and they
launched the race and he washeavily involved for a period of
time and then he moved out toOhio.
I believe he's since come backonce or twice.
I've seen him.
We got him set up doing someannouncing one year at the
finish line, his brother, john,and I hope I don't get this
wrong but his brother.
John still lives in Burden Handand has a number of businesses

(41:50):
and a lot of property and Ibelieve that he owns the farm
where we do the parking and heowns the property farm where the
camel is, or camels, and webasically cut through his yard.
So most of it is paved andthere's a stretch at about mile
12 when you get on this dirtpath road through a farm.
You go by the camels and you seethe other animals that are out

(42:12):
there.
That's his property.
You run down his driveway,basically, and out his backyard,
which really is just a monster.
Why he has the camels, I don'tknow.
I think he just has an eclectictaste for animals and takes it
beyond what most people have forwildlife in their yard.
Beyond that, I'm not exactlysure, I mean the only working

(42:32):
theory that I yard.
Beyond that I'm not exactlysure.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
I mean the only working theory that I have and I
have not been to one in many,many years.
But my grandfather used to runbus trips out to Sight and Sound
, which is this massive, massivetheater in Lancaster County,
and it puts on these beautifulproductions.
They're mostly of biblicaltales and but they love

(42:55):
incorporating live animals intothem.
And then the one show I saw wasa telling of noah's ark and I
remember at one point like theeven, like the size of the
theater, become part of thestage and you're almost like
feeling like you're insidenoah's ark and they had live
animals and like make a disneyconnection here audio

(43:19):
animatronics of other animals.
So maybe this gentleman was theprovider of the camels, for no,
you know that production ofnoah's ark, you know all those
years ago.

Speaker 7 (43:28):
So it is entirely possible.
It would not surprise me.
I know exactly where thattheater is.
I drive by it all the time,going out with 30.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Huh, greg?
Yeah, absolutely All right.
Well, since we're talking aboutthings that make this race
unique, that metal what a neatthing.
That is an actual horseshoe.
Do you know how this started?
Has it always been the medalfor the race?
And I'm kind of curious howlong does it take to weld all

(43:57):
the finisher plates to thosehorseshoes?

Speaker 7 (44:02):
Some of those I don't know the answer to.
When I did it, I did not get ahorseshoe medal, so 2011, it did
not have a medal.
When I started in 2020, it did.
So somewhere in between theresomebody had the brilliant idea
to make such a unique metal.
I do not know.
There's a lot of hand craftingthat goes on with things

(44:23):
associated with the race, andthe horseshoe metal is one of
them.
They also do some really neatlocally made charcuterie, trays
and cutting boards and thingslike that for the people that do
.
the Fire Company Challenge,which is the 5K and the half
marathon and all those things,takes more time than I can even

(44:44):
wrap my mind around and I don'tthink that they quantify the
hours that go into it, becausethey just do it for the race,
like they feel like this is whatis good for the race, this is a
nice community connection to it, like we're just going to do
this.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
I'm sure somebody could put a number of hours on
it for how long they take tocrank out, but it's okay, it's a
ton and it really does reflectthe vibe of this race, that it's
so, you know, handcrafted andindividualized it absolutely
does so continuing with thistheme of unique rewards and and
you mentioned it previous um inthis interview we got to talk

(45:23):
about the road apple, explainwhat the this special challenge
is and the process of wellbronzing poop yeah, not bronzed
exactly, and I have not had thehonor or privilege of being
involved in the process otherthan it being talked about and,

(45:44):
you know, demonstrated howamazing the outcome is.

Speaker 7 (45:48):
So the, the, the pumpership I don't know what
year it formed, but Garden SpotVillage is located, uh, I'd say,
seven or eight miles Northeastof Burden Hand and they have a
spring half marathon.
They actually used to have amarathon which I ran back in the
days when I ran the Burden Handrace, um, and at some point

(46:10):
they got together and they said,hey, let's race um.
And at some point they gottogether and they said, hey,
let's, let's be sister raceshere.
Um, people that do both racesneed to get something that that
ties this all together.
And what ties amish countrytogether?
but the horse apples, the poopthat the horses leave on the
roads, and somebody had the ideathat if they gather those and
they get the good intact onesthat are picturesque, they put

(46:33):
them in, I believe a kiln to drythem out and to make them
sanitary, and then they actuallyMount them on really nice
plaques with, um, you know, someartwork to display that you've
done this road Apple, thatyou've sorry that you've earned
this road Apple award, which isnot just one, I believe it's

(46:54):
usually three that go on it.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
They are amazing.
I won't earn one but because Ilive too far away to do both
races, but they're wonderful andagain what a special thing.

Speaker 6 (47:09):
I know these people are so proud carrying around a
plaque with road apples on it atthe end of the race weekend,
which is just hilarious.

Speaker 7 (47:18):
Well, they absolutely are, and that's one of the
biggest questions concerns thatpeople email about ahead of time
is I did garden spot?
What do I need to do to makesure that I get this coveted
road apple thing?
I want to make sure that Idon't miss out somehow.

Speaker 4 (47:32):
Yeah, I understand that.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
So, speaking of the road apples, that's kind of a
funny topic.
Have you ever had a funny orunexpected challenge while
setting up this race?

Speaker 2 (47:42):
Like did the camel get loose?
Or anything like that.

Speaker 7 (47:46):
I honestly can't think of any humorous stories
about things that have gonesideways in a funny way Loose
animals or anything like that.
Um, unfortunately I can't thinkof anything.
It's just a lot of detailsusually that go into it, and I
think it's also because thisrace is fairly mature that
everybody knows how to makethings go well.

(48:07):
So like there's not a lot ofdrama with it on the
organizational, and there's alot of work.
There's a the organizationaland there's a lot of work.
There's a lot of thought,there's areas that want to be
improved, but people really doknow how to make sure that this
thing goes well.
So you know, much as I love agood story about things going
unexpectedly sideways, I can'tthink of anything right now
that's a humorous story aboutthat.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
No slipping in the road apples.

Speaker 7 (48:33):
Nothing that I can think of, but again I don't put
them together.
I'm sure there's got to be somefunny stories from the
gathering and or assembly ofthose, but I have not been in
the trenches on that project.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
That's a good thing.
I mean all said and done.
You can't think of anythinglike that.
That's actually a good thing,that's great.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
So we've talked a lot about the preparation for the
race, but, um, the race iscoming up not too long from now.
What is one thing that you areexcited about this year's race?

Speaker 7 (49:03):
It's really going to be pretty similar.
I mean, every year it getsbigger.
Of late.
The last couple of years, likeevery we seem to get bigger and
bigger and we've had at leastone year where they say this is
what you know, we're comfortableexpecting this order, this many
bibs, and we get to like Friday, you know, late afternoon, and
we're like we're going to runout of bibs.

(49:23):
Now I'm a timing company so I'vealways got, you know, my bibs
just in case, cause we don'twant to turn anybody away.
But managing the growth of thisrace is exciting and also a
little bit nerve-wracking,because people overwhelmingly
have a great experience here andwhen they do they go to other
people and then it kind of grows, but you don't want it to grow

(49:46):
so fast that you get growingpains and you overstretch and
things don't go well.
Growing pains and you'veoverstretched and things don't
go well.
So there's a real likechallenging balancing act
between, like getting excitedabout the growth of this race
and having more people out here,but also being cognizant that
we don't want to grow too fastand not have the same experience
that we've had year after year.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
By the way, lexi said it's not too far off.
I just looked it up as of theday that this recording releases
, you're exactly 100 days awayfrom Expo and 5K day, so there's
something to celebrate.

Speaker 6 (50:34):
There's the 5k, the half marathon and the fireman's
challenge.
Right, if I'm thinking aboutsigning up, how do I do it and
when?

Speaker 7 (50:38):
is the last day we can sign up for this race.
Signupcom is where we take allthe registrations.
Now, in this day and age oftechnology, um, some races have.
A lot of races have gone alldigital.

Speaker 5 (50:48):
You have to do everything digital.

Speaker 7 (50:49):
Well, it should come as no surprise that, in bird in
hand, that day is not coming anyday soon.
There are a lot of people inthe community that do the run
and you can see them from theway they're dressed in the race
pictures.
There's a sizable paperregistration process that will
take place on Friday of raceweekend, so you can sign up

(51:09):
online.
We do have to cut it off abouta week and a half out because of
the half marathon 5k.
We do take mail-inregistrations, which a lot of
races have gone away from, butthis race still does that, just
because of the people that areinvolved so all that data has to
come together and we got to getthe people bibs, so you got a
separate bib.
If you do the 5k and a half, wedon't do a single bib because if

(51:32):
we did people would probablylose it after Friday and then
we'd have to deal with thereplacement.
So we do separate bibs.
Those have to be broughttogether, that whole process.
So the online registration endsabout a week and a half before
the race.
I don't remember the exact date, but we do take in-person
registrations on Friday at theexpo.
So people that decide I'm goingto come and do it, you know

(51:59):
last minute, they can just walkup and do it.
We strongly encourage people toget there early because you
know that 5k starts at 630.
If you roll in at 545 and getstuck in the line, the race
starts at 630.
So it does require that youbuild in the time to deal with
parking and all that goes intoit.
But yes, you can sign up theday before.

Speaker 4 (52:18):
Get there early, hit up the pasta party, maybe
beforehand, and then you'll haveno problem making the start of
the 5k.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Nothing like a last minute carbo load for a 5k.
Well, we want to thank you somuch for your time and providing
so many Insights to Just anabsolutely fabulous Weekend, a
weekend that, as you mentionedOne of your previous answers, is
Growing even within Our riseand run community as well.

(52:52):
So, again, john and I will beout there, along with a bunch of
our friends, so hopefully wegot a chance to give you a good
old handshake and share awhoopie pie with you.
And thank you for your effortsand again, just thank you so
much for joining us here on thepodcast.

Speaker 7 (53:10):
Yeah, make sure you do track me down, but do it
early, get there early andthings get a little crazy late
afternoon on Friday, as you know.
But definitely want to say hiand hope we get a lot of you out
.

Speaker 6 (53:21):
One thing that we forgot to mention, which I
thought also that is reallygreat at that event.
It's to me it's like, becausewe're at an Amish country,
technology is a little differentout there.
There's like cell phone serviceis not as good Like the after
party on Friday night with thes'mores and the big fire going.

(53:45):
It's like going out camping inthe woods and just spending,
spending a time and just turningoff all technology and
reconnecting with nature, whichI thought was really cool about
that race to that weekend.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
No, you're absolutely right, john.
It invokes a lot of specialfeelings and you know, I know
we've talked, you know, offline,about this.
You know it's kind of fun tothink that Bird in Hand is kind
of turning into like Run DisneyNorth, you know, in terms of,
you know, the community and thefamily getting together.

(54:20):
You know, like we mentioned inthe interview, right now we have
26 Rise and Runners signed upwho are participating in some
form and fashion for this year'srace weekend, in some form and
fashion for this year's raceweekend.
Not to mention there's going tobe a ton of people there from
the Extra Mile podcast and then,on top of that, the Customized
Training Group as well too.

(54:42):
So it's just, it's going to bea wonderful family reunion.
So if you are one of thosepeople that is not signed up for
the Disneyland Halloweenweekend and you know Lancaster,
pennsylvania, is a manageabletravel distance for you Highly
highly consider this race.

(55:02):
I promise you and again, basedoff of this week's interview,
you will not be disappointed inyour decision, and if you have
any questions at all about therace, feel free to reach out to
myself, john Bob or anybody elseyou know in the Rise and Run
community who has participated.
We'll be able to give you anyand all advice possible.

Speaker 4 (55:20):
There is a group chat for that race.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
I believe.
Yes, there is Yep.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
Yeah, so you can use that also Very good.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
And then, before we move on to the race report for
this week, I just want to give aquick shout out to our friends
Kristen and Devin over at theRun Fit Fab podcast.
They had me on as their, Iguess, first secret surprise
guest.
I mean, obviously it's not asurprise or a secret anymore,

(55:51):
since I'm telling you and theepisode's been out for a couple
of days.
But, um, you know, if you needsomething outside of rise and
run to listen to on your longrun this weekend, be sure to go
over uh and download andsubscribe at the run fit fab
podcast.
It's always a blast, uh,chatting with the two of them.
We talk about favorite memoriesand favorite foods and hotels

(56:15):
and hot takes and everythingunder the sun.
Again, it's a pleasure chattingwith the two of them.
Podcast turned out great.
So again, be sure to subscribeto the Run Fit Fab podcast.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
I think we had them on about their podcast back when
we were doing podcasts welistened to, Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
I mean in theory, I think the two of them you know
in terms of.
You know we always make thatjoke about the SN as well too,
since they're you know both.
You know nutritional and runcoaches, and you know strength
training coaches as well too.

Speaker 4 (56:59):
Right, nice people too, who dropped a really cool

(57:19):
Facebook post about being a CEOslash executive director of a
magazine and equating that thefirst 30 days in that position,
equating that to a marathon run.
She's also a Rise and Runner.
She'll be with us next week.
We look forward to that.
All right, my friends, it'stime for the Race Report.
Race Report sponsored by ourfriend, tom Stokes, stoked
Metabolic Training, and hehappens to be here with us.

(57:43):
Hiya, tom, oh, hey, bob, it'sgood to see you, my friend, it's
been a little while.
I'm glad you had time to getand join us, so that's great.
Glad you have me on, tom.
What's new?
How are you doing?
What's new with you?

Speaker 8 (58:04):
Oh, just just living my best life in the middle of
race seasons, feeling the low,and I think that tends to be the
case with a lot of people thatI'm talking to in the in the run
Disney community.
They're feeling the low beforethe, the training kicks in a
high gear and a month and change.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
Yep, I think you have nailed it.
But what better time than todedicate a little more time to
maybe some strength training,some overall fitness and stuff
like that?
We talk about it every week,Tom.
We talk about the link StokedMetabolic.

(58:38):
I don't have it in front of mehere.
It's stokedfit slash, rise andrun, I think, isn't it?
There we go and how theinformation is pinned to the
featured section on our Facebookpage.
The information is pinned tothe featured section on our
Facebook page, but it's been awhile since we've gone through
it in some detail.
What's available for our Riseand Run friends right now?

Speaker 8 (59:03):
Well, we've got two options.
So first option I'll talk aboutis the Accelerate, which is our
group coaching format.
It is a whole lot of Rise andrising runners adding strength
to their routine.
We meet weekly, we talk fitness, nutrition and a whole lot of
run Disney in between.
I'd be lying if I said it wasall business on the call.
It's about 50% fun, maybe 75,sometimes depending on who's on

(59:26):
the call, and then, uh, 25% ofthe other stuff, but basically
24 hour access to me on yourfitness and nutrition journey.
We dial in your macro macros,help you out with the nutrition
side of things and make sureyour strength training
compliments your run training.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (59:45):
I don't want you.
I don't want you squatting 315pounds a day before a race.
Bob Okay, I won't.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
I promise.
I promise no worries, all right.

Speaker 8 (59:58):
Uh, the other option, if once a week group calls
aren't enough with me is theone-on-one option.
We really dial this in aroundyour training schedule.
You know, whatever your, yourrunning coach has built out for
you, I'm going to take a look atthat and build around it.
If you've, if you've got alittle more on the scale to to
dial in, we look at yournutrition on a week to week

(01:00:20):
basis.
Look for opportunities.
It's a, it's a learning processfor people.
So we're never going to say,hey, come down to 1200 calories
tomorrow If you're, you know,380 pounds and you've got some
to lose.
I can't starve you because Iwant you fueled for your runs, I
want you fueled for yourworkouts and want to make it a

(01:00:41):
sustainable journey for youthere you go that's, that's the
key.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
And you know, you kind of I'm not going to say
joke, but kind of offhandedabout how it's 50% fun, but
that's uh, that's communitybuilding too, and I think that's
a part.
That's what keeps people comingback.

Speaker 8 (01:00:58):
I love that community , I get them every Thursday
night and it's just so much fun.
I have to remember that we haveto talk a little health and
fitness sometimes on the calls,because sometimes just good
catching up with everybody,especially not seeing them, not
seeing them in between raceseasons, right right.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
And then you get guys like me who disappear for a
while and come back, and that'salways nice.

Speaker 8 (01:01:22):
You chopped off a finger, so we'll give you a
break.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Yeah, I think I've said this before.
I said I had an excuse and thenI started looking for excuses.
But great program, greatprogram, very worthwhile.
I said I had an excuse and thenI started looking for excuses.
But great program, greatprogram, very worthwhile.
I'm back and I'm glad to beback.

Speaker 8 (01:01:41):
Sometimes you bless us on the calls with an
appearance.

Speaker 4 (01:01:46):
I know, I know Well, thursday nights are our Zoom
call night, but it's every otherweek.
So, let's see.

Speaker 8 (01:01:56):
Try not to make them interrupt.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
No, it's all right, because you are done 30 minutes
before we begin.

Speaker 8 (01:02:03):
Give you just enough break to eat your dinner.
It works out.

Speaker 6 (01:02:06):
So, tom, last time you were on, you were talking
about a scholarship for some ofour listeners and other people
and you said the exclusive isgoing to be here.
When you announce them, do youhave the winners?

Speaker 8 (01:02:21):
You get the exclusive , all right, only because you're
my favorite All right, you havethe winners and I told myself
one six-month one-on-one two,two entries for six months into
the group coaching program.
If I said three months on thatone, you just got a free three
months Cause you know it was aholiday weekend and my brain's a

(01:02:41):
little fried.
But our big winner, a bigwinner is Samantha Middlemiss,
and I don't think Samantha knowsthat she was entered in this,
but I know she is a listener andthe first line says applying on
behalf of my friend Samantha.
Oh, she can't do it on her own.

(01:03:07):
Okay, even though you weren'tthe one telling it, I really
want to look, I really want toget to know you more and help
you get through what you'regoing through right now and
focus on your training for dopeyto Dumbo.
I will nice knowing that I willbe there alongside for those
races kind of spoke to me.
So I would love to just see atthe finish line on both of those

(01:03:30):
feeling confident and crushingit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:32):
Dopey to Dumbo for time this year too, huh.

Speaker 8 (01:03:35):
Oh yeah, all right, that was a decision made on a
cruise ship, that Dumbo one.

Speaker 4 (01:03:41):
These things happen After a few beverages, perhaps.

Speaker 8 (01:03:46):
It was the night the morning after it said oh,
there's a cruise ship now, whatis that?
Let's do it All right.
And then back to our.
So I said two, let's go withthree.
Jan Stoke and I'm probablypronouncing her.
This was another one where herdaughter told her you need to

(01:04:07):
apply with this.
And just what she wrote, youknow spoke to me she said you
know, after my daughter's beenworking with you since the past
transformation challenge, seeingher change her life and get
healthier and drop I want to sayit was 40 pounds.
Oh nice, let's get mom involved, because that is a struggle I

(01:04:28):
had for years convincing my momto live a healthier lifestyle,
and it took two grandchildren toget her there.
So if, angela, if your mom isdown she is in Jan, you are in
nice.
There you go.
Another awesome one TiffanyEmbry yes, his name, and this
was like an, like god, I want topick you to win, because she's

(01:04:53):
in every race and just isconstantly telling me how she's
working on herself and gettingbetter and the finish line keeps
moving for Tiffany.
So I was like I just want tokeep her on that journey and
keep her going.
So, tiff, I can't wait to seeyou at Wine and Dine.
I hope I see you beforehand.

Speaker 4 (01:05:12):
So there's our scholarship winners.
Huh, All right.

Speaker 8 (01:05:16):
I said I was making a third one.
Oh, oh, Throwing in an extra inhere tonight, Wow a bonus.
So, Kelly Hammond, you are injust another awesome story.
I don't want to share too muchpeople's personal information,
but just, Kelly, your story gotme and the hard thing about

(01:05:39):
doing these giveaways.
I did it because it was myfive-year anniversary of Stoked
Metabolic One year just beingwith you guys and knowing
everybody, and I was like let'sgive something a little back.
And I might have cried readingthrough some of these yeah it's
all right man, that's all right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
I think that's why I love run disney.
That's I do.
I.
Yes, sir, I do love run disney,love this family.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
It's awesome well, congratulations to all of those
winners.
So, tom, what is up for next,and when can we expect to see
you next?

Speaker 8 (01:06:14):
When can you expect to see?
I mean, well, I'm registeredfor like every race and, yeah,
except Halloween, which everytime telegram goes off, I almost
make a poor financial decision.
But I feel like you're askingmore, more towards um, the
health and fitness thing, and Iget this question on every one
of our group calls, every singleone of the group calls.

(01:06:35):
When the heck is the nexttransformation challenge?
And we are recording this onTuesday.
That means I have to have mywebsite live by Thursday, but I
know you all love holidayweekend, so July 7th will be the
next one Great Eight weekchallenge, which puts us ending

(01:06:55):
right before Labor Day.
Oh, perfect, keep youaccountable during the summer.
And the first 20 people thatsign up through the Rise and Run
link will get a one-on-one callprior to dial in their goals
and a check-in call midwaythrough.
So, while it is primarily agroup program, first 20 to sign

(01:07:19):
up are going to get a free.
Let's set you off on the rightfoot.
All right, and I just came outwith that right now because I've
had a lot of caffeine today andyou guys just put me in a good
mood, good.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
All right, what's the fee for the challenge Tom?

Speaker 8 (01:07:40):
It is through Rise and Run $47 for the eight weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Guys, it's a great deal.
Honest to goodness, it's agreat deal.
Normally $97.
Yeah, it really is Verynormally 97.
Yeah, it really is very, very,very worthwhile.
Uh, help you on your crosstraining.
It's a help you on your overallfitness.
I I don't I'm candidly, I don'ttake enough advantage of Tom
and the metabolic part of thetraining, the strength training.

(01:08:05):
I I'm pretty good at stickingwith the metabolic.
Yeah, we need to, tom, we needto.
I packed on a couple poundsthat I don't need, so we'll work
on that.
But we'll do that.
We'll do that in another forum,my friend, make it happen.
Well, tom, thanks for joiningus.
My friend, it is always apleasure.

(01:08:25):
We always love seeing you here.
Come back anytime.
But, more specifically, let'splan on coming back in early
July when the challenge kicksoff, and we'll get that started
officially.
Sound good, let's do it Allright.
All right, tom, thanks.
Thank you guys.
All right, looking at thisweek's races, I'm going to go

(01:08:47):
back to an old report thatDaniel left us, and I'm going to
do it because Daniel ran withhis daughter, catherine, who's
10 years old, and she ran herfirst 5k.
This was a week ago at theMental Health Matters 5k in
Charlotte.
She worked really hard, stuckto all the training that her

(01:09:09):
coach that would be dad laid outfor her, and she's already
asking to run another race inthe fall.
So, catherine, your first 5K.
You know what that is, kids.
That's a PR.
The next one I'm never surewhat day this race occurs, and I

(01:09:29):
usually give our friends whoput this in a little bit of
grief, because if you're postingabout the Castaway Cay 5K.
I'm not so sure you're so muchgiving us a race report as
you're going.
Neener, neener, I was on theDisney trip and you weren't.
We had a couple friends thisweek, rebecca and Alicia.

(01:09:51):
Alicia, how are things at theCastaway 5K these days?

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Well, it's been a number of years since I did it,
so it was a little bit different.
Um, the last time that I did arace on the island was actually
an organized one with MarathonWeekend, but even signing up on
the ship was how you did itbefore.
So I made my way off the shipearly in the morning and went

(01:10:18):
all the way to the bike rental,which is where you sign up now.
So if you have a Disney cruisecoming up, that's where you have
to go.
And I asked the lady for arefresher on the course, which
I'll get to a point on that in asecond but I should have
listened to her a little bitmore closely because I messed up
.

Speaker 4 (01:10:38):
A lot of people do.

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
But they had a water jug sitting right there to start
and it was ice cold water.
So I drank a little bit ofwater, took a selfie and started
on my way.
And so I was going along and Iwas point like not even point
one into the run and I got to aintersection and there was a

(01:11:02):
sign and the sign pointed to theleft and so I followed the path
down the left and I went thisis not the airstrip we used to
run on like well, she didn't sayit was different, but maybe it
is got all the way down.
There was a guy, um a worker guythat was on a where those like
a tractor?
Yeah, and he was like you tookthe wrong turn.

(01:11:25):
I'm like what?
So I added like 0.15 to mymileage, not that big of a deal.
Went back down, fixed the signso nobody else had the problem.

Speaker 4 (01:11:36):
And went on my way.
How philanthropic, that's niceRight.

Speaker 6 (01:11:40):
You know, horror movies start that way.

Speaker 1 (01:11:44):
It's a lot faster to get to Serenity Bay that way,
but anyway it was really fun,but really really hot.

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
Oh yeah, it's hot.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
Yeah, I was very grateful for those water
stations.
I definitely utilized themgoing both directions.
But it was a special day for mebecause before we went on the
cruise, I looked at the date Ihave it written on the bib from
my first ever 5K, which I alsodid at Castaway Cay, and it was
the same date in 2013.

(01:12:19):
So it was 12 years to the daythat I did my first ever 5K and
so I was kind of emotionalduring the race quote-unquote
race like right because all ofthe things that have happened
since I made that decision to dothat 5k have really impacted
where I am in my life, and so itwas really special.

(01:12:41):
I did try to beat my time.
That I did all those years ago.
I missed it by a couple ofminutes.
It's not the big of deal.
It was very hot.
Coming from Minnesota I was notused to that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:51):
Right, very true.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
But yeah, it was really, really fun and I got a
medal that I haven't gotten thattype of medal at the Castaway
Key 5Ks before oh okay so yeah,I was really happy with how the
experience went and there was abunch of other runners that were
out there and we gave eachother encouraging words and,
yeah it was, it was just a nicetime.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
And I made my way back to the ship, ate some
breakfast and then went andexplored the island years to the
day.

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
Do you have another cruise booked for May of 2037?
I don't think they're bookingout that far yet, but I will put
it on my calendar and make sureto do that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
Who knows?

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
By that point, disney Cruise Line could have like 20
ships and four private islands.

Speaker 6 (01:13:56):
Right, yeah, I would like to do one at lookout k once
they have theirs actually setup and

Speaker 4 (01:13:58):
not do it the tony way, tony way, right tony way,
yes, the illegal way yes, ourfriend rebecca did the did it
also, but she wasn't on the samecruise as you was she?

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
I don't believe so.

Speaker 4 (01:14:08):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
But yeah, I did see a number of people out there
running, but I didn't recognizeanybody and nobody said anything
to me.

Speaker 4 (01:14:16):
Okay, All right, well , very good Thanks, it's a nice
update.
Yeah, it certainly has changeda whole lot since we did it
years ago.

Speaker 5 (01:14:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:14:31):
But they're still doing them.
So that's neat and if you get achance to do it and you want to
let us all know that you wereon a disney cruise and we
weren't, go ahead and put it inradio report and I promise we'll
bring it up.
I'm going to move on to fridayand we this was a rare, unique
event Our friend Adam wascelebrating his 46th birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
In the most sane way possible.

Speaker 4 (01:14:53):
Yes, the Pinellas Trail runs not far from my house
.
Adam lives over in Tampa so Ioffered him the opportunity to
come stay over here.
He made his own plans.
There is a Pinellas Trail racebut it's in the fall.

(01:15:14):
But Adam's birthday isn't inthe fall.
The Pinellas Trail race is a46-mile event.
Adam decided he wanted to dothe 46 event on Friday and he
did.
Let me tell you, friends, itwas well.
It was hot period.
It was hot, the uh.

(01:15:36):
The good news was the humiditywas a little lower than normal.
But the bad news was associatedwith that, the ultraviolet
effect, whatever you see it inthe weather forecast or weather
report.
The sun just was brutal.
There were no clouds in the sky.

(01:15:57):
There is some shade in thefirst half Now.
Adam started at about 515 inthe morning.
Sunrise here is about 6.45.
So he had a little bit of timebefore the sun came up and then
the trail is somewhat shaded fora while.
But once he got to aboutmarathon distance in the

(01:16:22):
northern part of the trail, hedid 26 miles.
Then he went up and then turnedaround and came back to finish
at 46 miles.
Those last 20 miles were justrough, but by golly he did it.
He did it and he picked up afamily friend at the 26-mile

(01:16:44):
mark approximately and he andChris ran the last 20 together.
I was hop skipping, jumpingahead, providing ice and
whatever they needed, but it wasimpressive.
So, adam, congratulations.
And and this is significant, hedid this 46 mile event before

(01:17:07):
this year.
He PR'd.
All right, let's continue.
On Saturday in Chicago, illinois, the Soldier Field 10-mile and
10K event.
Jennifer was there, did the10-mile run, said the views and
finishing in Soldier Field, homefield for the Chicago Bears was

(01:17:30):
amazing, in honor of those thathave served this race, partners
with the Road Home Program tobring awareness and support to
that program's mission.
Big weekend in Buffalo, newYork, the Buffalo Marathon
weekend.
A couple friends running Amy.
Amy did the 5k.

(01:17:51):
Not a big 5k fan Amy isn't butshe noticed that her paces on
five mile and 10k runs werefaster than 5k.
So she decided it was time togo back and do a 5k.
What better than one in herhometown?
So she did the 5k for the firsttime in a long time.

(01:18:13):
Weather was cool, just aboutperfect, and in fact she did
establish a new PR in the 5k bytwo and a half minutes in the 5k
by two and a half minutes.
Michelle was there.
Michelle ran a PR a sub 230.

(01:18:34):
That's a 26 minute PR.
Couldn't have asked for abetter crowd, better race
support and better runners withher.
Buffalo is a true all-Americancity.
Fun fact, if the crowd startscheering extra hard at the end
and you can hear them they mightbe cheering for the marathon
leader who's finishing at thesame time and not you.
I don't know, michelle.

(01:18:55):
I think they might have beencheering for you too.
Let's see Stacey ran themarathon, completed those 26.2
miles with a PR of seven minutesfaster than her last marathon.
So she definitely wanted toring that bell.
And you got another bell heretoo, stacey.

(01:19:16):
Great job, timothy.
Another marathoner.
Long-time Rise and Run listener.
First-time race reporter.
Every marathon he's run up tonow has been a pr.
This was no exception.
Perfect weather says there's amural in buffalo that says keep
buffalo a secret and he thinksthe marathon course reveals why

(01:19:40):
that's so just a gorgeous course.
Official time was 4.23.
That's a 31-minute PR from hislast marathon at Disney in
January, justin.
Justin did his first marathon.
Well, that's another PR.
Knocked it out in five hoursand 20 minutes.

(01:20:03):
That's a great time for a firstmarathon, justinin, great
support on the course from thelocal community, the volunteers
and his wife and daughter, andthen in the comments section
from other race reports, kellyand chris both commented that
they were also at the event inBuffalo, in Louisville, ohio.

(01:20:26):
It's probably Louisville Ohio.
It's Louisville, kentucky.
It's probably Louisville.
Anyway, the Ray R-A-E.
Ray of Sunshine 5K, lori did it, still cold in Northeast Ohio.
Well, golly, enjoy it, lori.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
No, she's not wrong.
I mean this weekend at onepoint I was in a sweatshirt and
sweatpants in Memorial.

Speaker 4 (01:20:50):
Day weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
So yeah, it hasn't officially hit you just yet.
It's coming, I know it's coming, it's coming.

Speaker 6 (01:20:58):
We had a little sneak peek today.

Speaker 4 (01:21:00):
Yeah a little bit.
Yeah, so Laurie says the racerequested that everyone wear
their race shirt, which is alittle unusual.
Lori's gym boss was sitting onthe table at home, so she had to
use a timer on her phone forher intervals.
This is a post-knee replacement.
5k PR for Lori.
Good for you, Lori,Congratulations.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
Wait, I want to go back to this wear the race shirt
thing first.
Yeah, I mean, like we all knowin, like you know, the running
circles, that that's bad luck.
Like, did this race alsofeature a ton of black cats and
running underneath?

Speaker 6 (01:21:37):
ladders.
I would guess it's somethinglike when they do like a
whiteout at a sporting event.
Yeah, I think that's whatthey're going for, oh, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:21:45):
Yeah, I think they were going for that.
In fact, I think Lori commentedon how colorful it was to see
everybody in their bright-nakedcolored race shirts.
Pretty neat.
Yeah, you're right, and I thinkit's different here in the US
than it is in Europe.
I think it's more common inEurope.
I think I remember our friendLaura telling us that it was

(01:22:06):
fairly common to see peoplewearing the race shirts.
We're over here not so much.
Oh, you do see it sometimes.
Let's go up to Alberta, canada,where Melissa Leanne with her
boys Landon and Austin did thePopcorn Run 5K on a beautiful
morning they ran with Melissa'sfriend Monica and her family.

(01:22:26):
Really great morning.
It was a fun morning and theboys liked the metal, the
popcorn at the end and thelemonade.
In Chestertown, maryland, theChestertown Tea Party distance
race.
Brianna a 10-miler fun littleout-and-back country road,
small-town race.
Just a couple of hundred peoplerunning the 10-miler.
Fun little out-and-back countryroad, small town race.
Just a couple of hundred peoplerunning the 10-miler.

(01:22:48):
She signed up for this one, shesays, after a disappointing
broad street run.
But this was a much better day.
Brianna got a four-minute PR Upin Cedarburg, wisconsin, the
Cedarburg Half Marathon.
Noelle with her seven year oldson Maxon, second time doing a

(01:23:12):
5k, but Maxon's first timereceiving a medal, not a PR, but
Maxon loved hearing his name ashe crossed the finish line.
You like hearing it on thepodcast too, buddy, I hope you
do.
Uh, they stuck around ate somepancakes, waited for her husband
, ben, as he completed the half.
Ben had a and I like I like theway she phrased this.

(01:23:34):
Ben had a PB because he's fromWales, so he didn't have a PR,
he had a PB.
Do we have a PB bell, greg?

Speaker 2 (01:23:43):
You know days I'll get a British-sounding monorail.

Speaker 4 (01:23:48):
Sounds an awful lot like the PR bell Actually here
we go.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
I have an idea.
If you are subscribing to theidea of the PB, maybe we'll do
the Skyliner tone as opposed tothe monorail tone, so maybe that
can be our delineation there,you're the man, but three
minutes personal best for Ben.

Speaker 4 (01:24:10):
Great job.
Traverse City, michigan.
The Bayshore 10K half and full.
A couple of folks there.
Adrian ran the full, ran strongand smart, used intervals,
finished in under four hours and50 minutes.
Very good, gorgeous course,amazing volunteers and what

(01:24:30):
really helped and we hear thisalmost every week the amazing
holler hypes from the Rise andRun family.
Best part of this for Adrienne,looking over just as she's
about to cross the finish lineseeing her baby girl's face
light up as she was cheering andclapping for her mama.
Nicole was there around thehalf, set out for a proof of

(01:24:55):
time in PR, got them both A PRand a proof of time.
That's the first time a POT forNicole since having kids, but
she's even faster now.
Official time 2 hours 21minutes.
A little bit of a mix-up withrace pacers, but a great course.

(01:25:15):
Beautiful weather, mostsparkling, clean porta-potties
worth noting, pretty metal, lotsof crowd support, great
volunteers.
Gina ran the half.
Gina not as prepared as shewanted to be due to a string of
injuries, but she did finish.
Good for you, gina.

(01:25:36):
Don't force yourself back afterthose injuries, just stay
within yourself.
Beautiful, flat course.
She took some great photos ofthis course.
Greenville, south Carolina, hadto take flight 5K.
Lauren was there.
Great way for a teacher to kickoff the first day of summer
break.
Outstanding Weather, wassplendid, great turnout.

(01:25:59):
They started with some specialforces paratroopers presenting
the US colors, airborne styleand, according to the chip
timing, which is all thatmatters, a PR in the 5K for
Lauren.
The Texas hometown 5K was in SanAntonio.

(01:26:20):
Joseph was there.
It was hot, humid and hilly,the deadly three H's, but he
kept steady with his pace andknocked out a sub 60 10K.
Finished second in his agegroup.
Great job.
The award included a specialpin that attached to the medal.
First time Joseph's placed in arace in 12 years.

(01:26:46):
Congratulations, joseph Tracyran the Ole Ole 5K in Winter
Springs, florida.
Yeah, hot and humid, the rainheld off for the race.
When it gets like that, tracy,I almost wish it was rain,
wasn't a PR, but a good, solidrun that earned her second place
in her age group.
They had one of those podiums,you know the three-level podium.

(01:27:06):
I'm glad they don't have thosenear me, I'd fall I got to say I
loved her photos.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
It had such a unique finish line yeah, the sugar
skull that you essentially ranthrough its mouth.
I thought that was awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:27:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:27:23):
Definitely a lot more theming than the Monopoly race
that we had talked about theother week with our buddy Allie
without an A?

Speaker 4 (01:27:30):
Yeah, it sure was.
Knoxville, tennessee, theKnoxville Expo 10K.
Jimmy, weather was amazing.
Jimmy missed his PR by a minute.
Melanie was there too and saidit was a great race.
We had one weekend long event.
It was up with our neighbors tothe north, up in Ottawa, canada

(01:27:53):
, and we are delighted thatMarina is here with us to talk
about the Ottawa InternationalMarathon weekend.
Marina, hi, thanks for joiningus and welcome to the Rise and
Run podcast.
Hi, it's great to see you.
I'm so happy to be here.
Have you calmed down at all?

Speaker 3 (01:28:14):
Taking it easy today, trying to get the recovery in,
but yeah, it was a challengingweekend.

Speaker 4 (01:28:22):
Yeah, I was afraid maybe you had scared your
husband when you were yellinglast night when I sent you that
message.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
He thought that something was happening with the
kids.
He came up like what's going onand couldn't understand why I
was so excited.
And then he's like oh, it'sthat podcast you love listening
to in the car.
And the kids know the podcasttoo, because they know on the
day it comes out that mom needsto listen to her podcast while
she's driving, when I'm drivingthe kids to school, so they,

(01:28:50):
they are fans as well.

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
I absolutely love that.
I get that from a lot of youngfamilies and it tickles me to no
end.
I really do.
Well, hey look, we're gladyou're excited and we're glad
you're here.
This sounds like it was apretty neat event.
It went Saturday and Sundayright.

Speaker 5 (01:29:10):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (01:29:12):
And you had two races on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
Exactly yeah, the 5K and the 10K, both which were in
the late afternoon, earlyevening.

Speaker 4 (01:29:22):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:29:24):
Yeah, which is a challenge, you know, with the
limited recovery time, becausemy half marathon was Sunday
morning at 9am.

Speaker 4 (01:29:31):
Oh, that is pretty.
It is pretty quick turnaroundNow 5k first or 10k first 5k
first 5k first and then did youhave much time in between the
five and the 10?

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
A good amount of time .
Enough time to change intoanother running costume in true
run Disney form.

Speaker 4 (01:29:51):
Atta girl, what kind of costumes did you wear?

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
My husband said the tiara probably wouldn't be
appropriate for a non-Disneyrace, but I did have three
different running tutus, one foreach of the events, lots of
glitter, glitter lips and somesparkly headbands.

Speaker 4 (01:30:10):
Very nice.

Speaker 6 (01:30:13):
Heart-shaped sunglasses.

Speaker 3 (01:30:15):
Yes, yes, one in red and one in pink.
The red ones were for theSaturday events.

Speaker 4 (01:30:22):
Glitter lips, John.
Yeah, I've done glitter lips.
I have not, so one time, onetime I think it's going to be
one and done for those, but yeah, they're special.
Um, so how did those?
How did the Saturday races go?
What was the weather like?
How was the course?
How did the races go for you?

Speaker 3 (01:30:43):
So the nice thing about this race weekend is the
different distances.
All are different courses, sothere's no repeating different
segments.
Well, that's great yeah, so itwas cool.
A little bit of mist in the air, um, beautiful courses.
Uh, 5k took us running alongparliament, which is like our

(01:31:03):
capital building.

Speaker 4 (01:31:05):
Oh sure.

Speaker 3 (01:31:06):
The 10K took us sort of down the Rideau Canal which
is fun fact, the world's largestoutdoor skating rink, how about
that?
And sort of looped back aroundsort of one side of the Rideau
Canal, over the bridge, theother side and back to the
finish line.
So everything you know.
The city's in bloom we have.

(01:31:27):
We just finished our tulipfestival, so tons of flowers,
beautiful course, cooltemperatures which was great and
wonderful courses.

Speaker 4 (01:31:40):
Lovely.
Yeah, I knew about Ottawa beingthe capital and the parliament
building, and all that Didn'tknow about the world's largest
skating rink.

Speaker 6 (01:31:47):
So there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:31:48):
I learned something that's cool.
So what time did you finish upSaturday evening?

Speaker 3 (01:31:55):
My corral left the tent at 6.46 pm.
I ran with my husband, so I rana bit slower than I would have
normally and I was trying tosave some energy for the next
day.
Uh, it took us probably an hour, just over an hour for the 10k
that's solid yeah, and then eachrace bib for the 10k and for

(01:32:21):
all the longer distances comeswith a free beer on the bib,
like a little coupon.
So understand, yeah you don'tget a character photo, distances
comes with a free beer on thebib like a little coupon.
I understand, yeah, you don'tget a character photo but you
get a free beer at the end.
So that was nice.
We hung out a bit it was a nicesort of party atmosphere
afterwards and then headed homeso I could sort of rest and get
ready for the big event the nextday.

Speaker 4 (01:32:42):
You live in the general area, then, of Ottawa.

Speaker 3 (01:32:44):
Yeah, I live in Ottawa.
I'm not a native Ottawa person.
I'm from Montreal originally.

Speaker 4 (01:32:50):
That's not far away, is it?

Speaker 3 (01:32:52):
Not too far away at all, but we moved here a couple
years ago.
It's actually been five years.

Speaker 4 (01:32:58):
So you ran with your husband for the 5k and he slowed
you down.

Speaker 3 (01:33:02):
But he was telling me that he was trying to help me
pace so that I go too quicklyand then, you know, lose steam
for the next day.
So that.

Speaker 6 (01:33:11):
That is a, that is a man.
Move right bob I think so.

Speaker 4 (01:33:15):
Let's give him a shout out.
Marina, what's your husband'sname, please?

Speaker 3 (01:33:18):
raj raj yeah raj.

Speaker 4 (01:33:22):
congratulations, raj.
We're proud of you for pacingthe wife for that 10K and we
understand that you had to backoff a little bit.
So we get it, john, and I getit, buddy.
Yeah, all right.
So you get done Saturday andthen you're back on Sunday for
the half.
Now I'm going to ask you thesame thing and tell me about the

(01:33:42):
half, but this was called aninternational marathon, ottawa
International, I think.
At least that's what I copied.

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
Exactly yeah, we actually had a US runner finish
third, I believe, in the fullmarathon.
He actually just ran Boston afew weeks ago.

Speaker 4 (01:34:02):
So lots of elite runners running both the full
distance and the 10k yeah, wewere kind of curious why it was
an international, because ottowas not close enough to the us
to run through both countries.
So that would be quite theultra if we did that, I think
it's a straight run.

Speaker 6 (01:34:19):
I don't know if it's even straight.
It's 26 miles.
I don't even think, oh yeah no,no, no, I don't think.

Speaker 4 (01:34:23):
So, yeah, I mean it's no uh-uh, um, all right, so
I've kind of interrupted you,marina, tell us about this half
marathon so the weather waslovely, not not too warm, but,
uh, lots of sun.

Speaker 3 (01:34:38):
um again.
Amazing course ran through bothont, which is the province
where Ottawa is located, sure,and then on the Quebec side, in
Gatineau, across two bridges inthe back, okay.
Very Canadian, you're cheeredin both English and in French.
Well, there's the internationalpart.

Speaker 4 (01:34:58):
There you go, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:35:00):
You hear people yelling things like which means
go go go in French and holdingsigns up that say you know, run
like there's a poutine at thefinish line.

Speaker 4 (01:35:10):
That's perfect.

Speaker 3 (01:35:11):
Very Canadian.

Speaker 4 (01:35:15):
Get you a Molson's at the finish line.

Speaker 3 (01:35:17):
No, we actually had a local beer company Beyond the
Pale, which is a local companybrewery that was sponsoring the
event.
Okay, so yeah, tons, tons ofcrowd support.
I was really surprised this wassort of my first non Disney big
marathon and just so manycrowds cheering us on, and I

(01:35:41):
think someone had mentionedalmost like 200,000 spectators
along for the whole weekend,sort of cheering people on
different neighborhoods, peoplewould be handing out freebies
and snacks, setting up mistingstations, so just really
wonderful crowd support whichkept me going.

Speaker 4 (01:35:59):
And despite running 15 kilometers a day before you
knocked out a proof of time inthe half, didn't you?

Speaker 3 (01:36:06):
I did.
I hope it gets me into a goodcorral in the marathon in
january, but managed to make it.

Speaker 6 (01:36:13):
It was 207, yeah 59, so just under 208 minutes yeah
yeah, that'll get you a goodcorral, that's definitely b I
think I would.

Speaker 3 (01:36:22):
I hope so because I have another backup race planned
in a few weeks, on Father's Day, just in case, a smaller race,
not in Ottawa, you're in Quebec,you're my parents' cottage,
just as a backup.
But very proud that I was ableto finish after running those
15K on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:36:41):
Yeah, you did great, you really did.

Speaker 6 (01:36:44):
It was the warm-up, that's all it was.

Speaker 5 (01:36:46):
It was the warm-up.

Speaker 6 (01:36:47):
That's all it was.
It was the warm-up.

Speaker 3 (01:36:49):
For some reason, though, challenges don't seem to
be very popular at this race.
I mean, out of all those 36,000runners, only 250 did this
particular challenge, wow, wow,which is unusual because I hear,
you know, everyone hears aboutDopey and the Goofy Challenge
and it's like so such a big partof run Disney culture and not a

(01:37:10):
big thing here.

Speaker 4 (01:37:13):
That's interesting Because I go to other.
I go to other weekendsstateside and if they have
challenges they're popular.
Yeah, so that's interesting.
So you had a great race weekend, but your big weekend wasn't
over.
You got to see a visitoryesterday, didn't you?

Speaker 3 (01:37:35):
Yes, once in a lifetime opportunity.
So I had planned Monday off.
I canceled clinic.
I had no patients booked.
I was going to rest, recover,maybe go to the spa, and my
hubby said, well, the king's intown, maybe we should go.

Speaker 4 (01:37:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:37:52):
Once in a lifetime thing.
Yeah, we went downtown and hewas visiting a local farmer's.
That was.
The plan for Monday was tovisit a local farmer's market,
sort of meet with communitymembers.
Drop a.
There was a street hockey gamegoing on.

(01:38:14):
He dropped the ceremonial puckso we went, got this amazing
spot right along these metaldividers they had set up and it
wasn't quite clear where he wasgoing to go along.
That blocked off space.
But he, like, came sort ofright in front of those metal
dividers standing, didn't get toshake his hands.
The people next to us did, butI didn't know, that.

Speaker 6 (01:38:30):
That's close.

Speaker 3 (01:38:32):
So close he did.
I think he did hear me.
I yelled quite loud, because hekind of looked back and waved
it's just so special because Imean it's a big deal, it's a big
deal.

Speaker 4 (01:38:44):
Yeah, and you got a great photo.

Speaker 3 (01:38:48):
Yes, yeah, I sent it to all my family members and
saying look who we saw today.
And very special.
My kids didn't believe it, butthen when we were watching the
news later that night kind ofzoomed in, screenshotted it and
showed them like hey, there'smom and dad, like right there.
The King and our prime ministerwas there as well.

Speaker 4 (01:39:08):
Of course, yeah, yeah it was actually a runner.

Speaker 3 (01:39:11):
Fun fact, ran the London marathon back in 2015.

Speaker 4 (01:39:16):
Your PM did huh.

Speaker 3 (01:39:18):
Our PM did.
He actually was on the coursecheering the elite group of
runners on the full marathon andI guess the first few corrals
of the full like cheering themon yeah, that is cool much.
Running culture is such a bigpart of our city well, marina,
sounds like a great weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:39:37):
I appreciate you joining us to tell us about it.
What's ahead for you now andwhen will we see you at Disney
again?

Speaker 3 (01:39:46):
So I'm registered for the Disney full marathon.
My husband's registered alongwith me, so he's going to start
training using Jeff's plan.
We actually got to meet Jeff atthe expo and he inspired my
husband to sign up for this fullmarathon.
So that's the next Disney raceand then I have a local race in

(01:40:10):
Lake Brome, quebec, scheduled ahalf marathon on Father's Day.

Speaker 4 (01:40:14):
Cool, that sounds great.
That sounds great.
Well, marina, once again,thanks for joining us.
Thanks for sharing your storyof a really great weekend, king
sighting and all that wasterrific and we look forward to
seeing you in January.

Speaker 3 (01:40:31):
Thanks so much.
This is wonderful Bucket listtalking to you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:40:37):
We love it.
We love it, Marina Thanks.

Speaker 6 (01:40:39):
Bucket list.
She meets the king and we're abucket list.

Speaker 4 (01:40:43):
I know I'm dropping the mic on that one, john.
Continuing now.
On Sunday in Edinburgh,scotland, the Edinburgh Marathon
Festival Half Marathon.
Jennifer Jennifer said duringthe race the winds were
sustained in the double digitsand reached gusts in the 30 to

(01:41:07):
40 mile per hour range.
Yikes, a headwind.
For the last two miles addednearly a minute per mile.
Yeah, I absolutely understandthat.
But still, despite the weatherand all the travel, she finished
this half marathon in an hour40.
That's an 18-minute course PRand an indication of how far her

(01:41:31):
running has come in the lastsix years.
A beautiful race, and she hadone of her all-time top cheer
squads at the finish line.
I saw the photos.
I think it was Jennifer'ssister, niece and nephew, but
I'm not positive.
Madison, wisconsin Tracy did theRun.
Madtown Half Beautiful course.

(01:41:54):
She went to college at theUniversity of Wisconsin in
Madison, so it was really fun tosee some of the sites.
That brought back bunches ofmemories Great weather, not a
lot in terms of crowd support, acouple of absolutely awful
hills.
Otherwise a great race, thoughWent out way too fast, as she

(01:42:16):
usually does, but about mile 10,knew she had a good shot at her
goal for this race.
Came in on this half at just alittle over two hours and 14
minutes under her two hour and15 minute goal.
A new pot and a new pr by fiveand a half minutes.

(01:42:40):
Down in buenos aires, argentina,the fiestas mayas 10K.
Our buddy, jj, was there.
Now Memorial Day in the US isthe unofficial start of summer.
That means it's the unofficialrevolution.
It's Revolution Day inArgentina.
I don't know if they call thatthe unofficial start of winter

(01:43:01):
down there or not, but of coursethe seasons are flip-flopped.
It's a classic race and thisyear it brought in over 10,000
runners.
Course is known to be one ofthe fastest in Buenos Aires.
It tracks a strong fieldincluding elite athletes.
Give you an idea of the levelof the elite athletes.
The winner clocked in in under29 minutes for a 10K.

(01:43:26):
Jj was at the start early.
He was able to get lined uptowards the front of the field.
He settled in early, kind ofplayed a mental game of trying
to catch the next runner.
He finished with a PR of 39minutes and 30 seconds for this
10K Outstanding JJ.
Congratulations of 39 minutesand 30 seconds for this 10k

(01:43:48):
outstanding jj, congratulations.
The run to remember halfmarathon was in boston.
Rachel and ken rachel says thisrun was fantastic with perfect
running weather, possibly herfavorite course that she's run,
but you saw so many great partsof boston.
Also great to see so many firstresponders running the race and

(01:44:09):
cheering.
Mike was there.
Mike says one of his slowesttasks just didn't get in the
training.
That's fine.
Mike Still managed to secure anew proof of time for Disney, as
his past one had aged out.
All in all, a good day withgreat weather, as his past one
had aged out.
All in all, a good day withgreat weather, interesting
course and a giant medal.

(01:44:30):
And of course, monday wasMemorial Day in the US so he had
some runs.
Rob was in Ridgewood, new Jersey, for the Ridgewood Run Perfect
weather, the best he's feltrunning in quite some time.
Started out a little fast I'llnever learn, says Rob, but as
the miles clicked off I wasfeeling pretty good, had

(01:44:51):
negative splits.
The last two miles Finishedwith what he calls a respectable
52.30.
I call it an outstanding 52.30,rob.
Way to go.
Sharon was in Ashburn, virginia, for the Ringing in Hope a
salute to our troops.
10k on Memorial Day.
Signed up for it just beforethe last one, so because it was

(01:45:13):
last minute, she missed the factthat they were using 10-year
age groups and no medals.
Boo, she planned an easy run,played with her intervals a
bunch, trying to find the bestrace option.
Best part on this one was herboys coming out to cheer.
She ran a strong andoutstanding 51-minute pace for

(01:45:35):
this 10K.
Mel did the Memorial Day 5K inGreen Cove Springs, florida.
About 50 people showed up, twowater stops, even a doggy water
stop.
The heat kind of got to her,reminded her that she'll be on
the treadmill for theforeseeable future.

(01:45:55):
Mel, I understand.
The Boulder Boulder 10Koccurred in Boulder, of course.
Boulder, colorado, kenda did it, 50,000 other runners.
This fun race finishes with alap around Folsom Field on the
University of Colorado campus.

(01:46:16):
Lots of community support, lotsof entertainment on the course.

Speaker 2 (01:46:21):
Speaking of Boulder, boulder, did anybody see the
video of the finish of ConnorMance winning, winning that 10k?

Speaker 4 (01:46:28):
I did not greg it.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
It's impressive.
I mean he's probably a goodcoming into the home stretch,
maybe like I.
I think that the race announcersaid like four to five seconds
behind the leader and there waseven like a slight uphill
heading into the stadium and hejust puts on some jets.

Speaker 6 (01:46:49):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:46:50):
And I mean it wasn't photo finish.
I mean he won by like a half asecond, but to gain that much
ground in such a short amount oftime was really impressive.

Speaker 4 (01:46:59):
That is.
That sounds really impressive.
It sure does.
So let's finish the race reportin Weston, florida, where
Robbie did the Memorial DayClassic 5K, 37th running of this
race.
He's in South Florida.
It was hot and humid.
Of course it was.
The final mile of this racefeatures the Soldier's Mile,

(01:47:23):
where pictures of fallenservicemen and women are posted
along the course.
And there we have it, friends.
The race report for episode 192.
All right, my friend, and ifyou run you know you are our
friend.
That's it for episode 192 ofthe Rise and Run podcast.

(01:47:45):
For episode 192 of the Rise andRun podcast, as I said at the
top of the episode, as weapproach 200, if you'd like to
give us a call, leave us about a30-second message that we can
play for episode 200.
727-266-2344 is the number.
We hope you'll do that.
No Zoom this week.

(01:48:06):
We'll be back on the Zoom callnext week.
It's hot in a lot of places.
It's going to get hotter.
Go easy, have fun, happyrunning.

Speaker 2 (01:48:31):
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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192: Vella Shpringa With Bird In Hand Race Director Lowell Ladd

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