195: Brittany Charboneau: One Bad A** Mother Runner

Professional trail runner Brittany Charbonneau joins us for a heartfelt, inspiring, and fun conversation about her journey through pregnancy, motherhood, and returning to competitive racing. Four months after giving birth to her son Hugo following a 27-hour labor and C-section, Brittany shares the emotional and physical realities of balancing elite athleticism with new motherhood.

What makes this episode particularly special is Brittany's candid discussion about how her sponsor, North Face, defied outdated industry standards by renewing her contract during pregnancy and providing exceptional support for her comeback. "They signed me for multiple years," Brittany reveals, noting that they've even helped ensure her family could travel with her to competitions. This represents a powerful shift in how female athletes are supported through motherhood.

Brittany offers practical wisdom for expecting or new mom runners, emphasizing the importance of listening to your body rather than adhering rigidly to training plans. Her decision to stop running at five months pregnant initially felt like failure, but she now recognizes it as one of her wisest choices. "Having that time off gave me perspective," she explains, describing how pregnancy hiking actually built strength that's benefiting her current mountain racing.

Perhaps most compelling is Brittany's discussion of how motherhood has transformed her mindset as a competitive athlete. After years of "imposter syndrome," she's approaching races with newfound confidence and joy, even planning banana tattoos for an upcoming race as a nod to her "little monkey" at home. Her story reminds us that sometimes our greatest performances come when we release our grip on perfectionism and embrace the journey.

Could you use some inspiration for balancing running with life's challenges? This conversation with Brittany will leave you motivated to lace up your shoes, whatever season of life you're navigating.

Brittany’s Links
Funnyrunner26.2 Instagram
The Funny Runner Website
Brittany’s Coaching
QPC Queens Centers for ProgressCharity Bibs
Mix Tape 2025

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

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Hi, this is Laura Ann at the Rise and Run podcast
meetup for Springtime SurpriseWeekend.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Happy running and stay hydrated laura ann with a
good intro and some timelyadvice.
Stay hydrated, people.
Now that's back from springtime, surprise, but boy does it play
well today.
Good job, laura.
And, by the way, friends, thatis our last recorded intro, so

(01:05):
in a little bit Greg's going togive you the phone number, give
us a call, give us a new intro.
Hello, my friends, it's sowonderful to have you with us on
episode number 195 of the Riseand Run podcast.
I'm Bob, and this week I'm herewith Alicia, hello, with Greg,

(01:29):
hey, hey, hey.
And with John.

Speaker 5 (01:32):
Hey how you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
John, we're all doing great, John Good good.
Now that you're here, we'reexcited.
Man Already can start.
That's right.
Welcome back on the mic, Bob.
Oh thanks, I missed y'all I.
That's right.
Welcome back on the mic, Bob.
Oh thanks, I missed y'all.
I really did, I really did.
But I knew that I bet no oneeven noticed I was gone.
You guys hung in there so well.

(01:53):
I called Greg Bob last week,it's okay, john.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Not babe, but Bob Not babe but Bob.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
So if anyone's curious of the the inside story
here, a couple of weeks ago jackhad an epic brain fart and
instead of saying hey, bob justsaid hey, babe, and it it
stopped us dead in our tracksfor five minutes long.
I'll have to resurface theaudio, maybe put that up on
patreon or something like thatfor people to listen to not that
I didn't appreciate it, I meanI like jack.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
I thought that was very, very nice I appreciated it
, but yeah, it's jackson.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, not well speaking of last week, bob, and
that real quick, though we needtwo answers from you.
Number one have you ever uhpeed during a training run or a
race in a weird place?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
yeah, yeah, good question weird place?
I don't, I don't think thisqualifies as a weird place, but
I had a strange thing happen tome.
Disney marathon, I forget.
It's like my second or thirdone.
Uh, boy, I need to go and I'mlooking ahead for porta potties.
Yeah, I, I, I don't, I'mlooking, I'm looking at all

(03:10):
right, there's a tree line overthere.
I can make it to the men'smen's restroom, which we call
the Disney tree line.
Friends, you may notice off thesides of the roads that the
terrain slopes downward like agully.
That's for drainage.

(03:31):
That area is always wet, sothat I got to the bottom and I
ran across that.
I thought I was going to losemy shoe.
I stuck in the muck and Ithought I was going to lose my
shoe.
Shoe, I stuck in the muck and Ithought I was going to lose my
shoe.
Now the rest of the story isnot that exciting.
Uh, I did what I had to do inthe tree line there.
No big deal, uh, but holy cow,yeah, so that's my.

(03:55):
That would have been my strange, my strange corral pea story.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
All right, and your favorite ice cream flavor, and
do you put sprinkles or jimmies?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
on them.
I mean, the honest answer isusually neither, but I get what
you're after.
And golly, I.
Almost it's going to soundsilly to say I don't know.
I guess jimmies I guess, but Ithink I kind of associate that
with my grandparents callingthem jimmies.
I haven't used that kind oftopping for so long, I'm not

(04:26):
sure.
And a favorite kind oh golly,I'm going to go.
I like rum raisin we used tohave I talk about.
I live near vacation land rightacross the inland waterway.
Less than a half mile as thecrow flies, is a strip of beach

(04:47):
on the Gulf with the kind ofrestaurants and stores and
miniature golf courses you'dexpect from a beach-type town.
And this ice cream parlor moved.
They're no longer directlyacross anymore, they're four or
five miles south.
But they had a couple of icecreams that they literally made

(05:11):
you show your ID before theywould serve it to you.
Now they didn't ask me, butyeah, because the alcoholic
content in them was enough.
I think it was mostly a gimmick, but they wouldn't serve it to
you unless you were 21.
But the rum raisin there wasgood.
All the ice cream there wasgood great.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I know we haven't officially gone to apologies and
alibis yet, but there's onething I forgot to mention.
As I was listening back becauseI always listen back to every
episode to make sure I didn'tmake any mistakes or glaring
errors I realized, alicia, whenwe were having the uh topic of
conversation about the hot fudgeshake and I was talking about
what I was used to with theblack and tan, I realized I

(05:50):
never mentioned no, no, blackand white.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Sorry, yeah, black and white.
Black and tan is a drink atRosencrantz.
That's beer, yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
I forgot to mention the name of the establishment is
the charcoal pit is where youcan get a really good black and
white milkshakes.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, I'm listening.
Listening to that too, greg.
That's what my dad used toorder all the time A chocolate
syrup with vanilla ice cream,and it made for kind of like a
mildly chocolate milkshake.
It's good.
Yeah, oh golly, any otherquestions that you left out?

Speaker 3 (06:30):
No, I think those were the most important ones
that we wanted to get yourperspective on from last week.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Okay, well, that was last week.
This week, friends.
This week Brittany's back forthe sixth time Our great friend
Brittany Charbonneau visits.
You will not want to miss that.
Always a delightfulconversation.
Uh, we got a chance to see hugo.
He didn't have much to say,four and a half five months old.

(06:57):
He's not saying much yet.
In the race report, spotlight,jennifer and george are out in
yellowstone for a vacation raceand they drop by from their tent
in Yellowstone to tell us allabout it.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share
us with your friends andintroduce them to the Rise and
Run family.
We want to share in your runDisney journey.
Please remember to follow us onFacebook at Rise and Run
Podcast, on Instagram at Riseand Run Pod, and be sure to
check out our YouTube channel aswell as our webpage,

(07:35):
riseandrunpodcastcom.
If you have a question, acomment, a race report or would
like to introduce an upcomingepisode, as Bob mentioned before
, a race report or would like tointroduce an upcoming episode,
as Bob mentioned before, be sureto give us a call at
727-266-2344 and leave us arecorded message.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
We also want to thank our Patreons, whose support
helps us keep the Rise and Runpodcast rising and running.
If you'd like to join thePatreon team, please check out
patreoncom slash rise and runpodcast.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
And greg mentioned.
We really do want to hear fromyou for our 200th episode, so
please do call us at727-266-2344 and leave a message
.
Tell us a memory that you havefrom a past episode, um, maybe a
fun moment that you've had withone of us.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
We want to hear bobby's perfect and he doesn't
make any mistakes well, bob,you're professional, you never
mess up that too, all the things.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
So again, seven, two, seven, two, six, six, two,
three, four, four thanks, alicia.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, uh, let's see friends.
The rise and run podcast issponsored by the good folks at
Magic Bound Travel.
I was at Disney World last weekand I know we've been talking
about getting ready for theraces with Magic Bound, getting
ready for the cruise with MagicBound.
Not a bad time to visit DisneyWorld right now.

(09:00):
Now it's hot, it's hot, but ifyou can find something to do in
the middle of the day and weended up back at the hotel most
of the time, either at the poolor just in the room cooling off
it's a good time to go.
The crowds are down, things areopen, it's fun, so not a bad

(09:20):
time.
Check them out.
Magicboundtravelcom is thewebsite.
All right, friends, before weget too far into the episode,
you know that from time to timewe see things on our Facebook
page.
In our Facebook group, ourfriends post things about their
daily life and because we feellike this is so much of a family

(09:44):
, I do want to mention this.
Our friend Ellie, who has beenwith us in the Rise and Run
podcast group for the last twoyears In fact, ellie was one of
the folks who did the vacationrace at the Grand Tetons last
week.
She lost her father on Father'sDay.
That's tough, ellie, we're sosorry.

(10:08):
We're praying for you and yourfamily and we hope that you can
keep the good memories of Dadalive.
Let's move to the trainingschedule.
The one race and this is thelast week I get to say this, the
only race we have on thetraining schedule right now is

(10:32):
Disneyland Halloween.
You are in week seven of thetraining.
There are 11 weeks to go untilthis race is run and if you're
doing the challenge or the half,you have three miles, including
a magic mile this weekend.
If you're not familiar, we'vetalked about the magic mile

(10:53):
before.
With the weather turning hot inmost of the country, you can
opt to do a magic half mile andit works surprisingly well.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, I didn't.
I was talking with Coach Tweaksabout this this morning when I
first heard about this.
Here's how it works.
First, you run it just asthough you were doing a magic
mile, except you're only goingto do half a mile.
Take your time, double it at 18seconds.
When I first heard about this Ithought, thought, oh geez,

(11:26):
that's not going to work out,because for half a mile I can
push that one really fast andI'll get uh, I'll get a wrong
magic mile time.
Nope, it works out just aboutperfectly.
So that's, that's a real optionin the hot weather.

(11:46):
In fact, I've got one, not thisSaturday, I've got one next
Saturday.
I told Chris this morning thatprobably between now and October
all my magic miles will bemagic half miles, but it does
work.
Let's see what else is coming up.
Wine and Dine Training is goingto start next week, next
Tuesday, that kicks off.
That same day we register forthe Princess Race Weekend at

(12:11):
Disney World.
Highly encourage you if you'reregistering for Princess, pop
onto the Facebook group, jointhe community chat for Princess
Weekend and we'll do what we canto help one another get
registered.
We've had a lot of success and,believe it or not, we kind of
have some fun.
I usually open up a Zoomdiscussion.

(12:35):
It gives us a chance to chatwith one another and it ends up
making the time go by and I kindof look forward to registration
what's?

Speaker 3 (12:47):
more fun than having sweaty palms and being anxious
for an hour and a half, whileyou're waiting for that, that
little ticker bar to say it'syour turn.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
She's not here but if you're lucky, jack might give
her credit card number out again.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's why we've never gone live on instagram
since that moment yeah, but butgive it a try, friends, if you
haven't done it before.
It does work.
We are able to help one anotherout.
We have had a very high rate ofsuccess with getting everyone
who wants to get into the raceinto the race.
No guarantees, of course, butand I I honestly do.

(13:23):
Anytime I get a chance to talkwith my Rise and Run friends,
it's a good day.
So I look forward to that.
Hey, our buddy Grant of thePelkey Running Club, he was with
us here just a couple of weeksago, as was John.
He did something really cool.
You know, john's trying toraise money for the St Jude.

(13:45):
He's running a half, I think,up in Memphis.
Yeah, he's not running a full,he's running a half up in
Memphis.
Well, gang, you remember itwasn't that long ago.
It wasn't quite a meme, butpeople were posting AI pictures
of themselves as action figurerunners.
You saw all those.

(14:08):
They were kind of cool.
And somebody did one of John.
I don't know who it was, butGrant had a friend and golly, I
should have looked this up.
I think in Scotland I could bewrong.
I know it's overseas who tookthe image of the John Pelkey
running figure and did a 3Dprinted John Pelkey running

(14:30):
figure.
It's on Instagram If you wantto look Pelkey Running Club you
can take a look at it.
It's really cool and whatthey're doing is they're going
to raffle that off for thecharity.
So if you're interested, take alook.
Go to pelkyrunningclubcom andGrant better have a link up

(14:51):
there.
There isn't one at the time ofthis recording, but there better
be one because it's a neatthing and I thought number one
it's a good cause, st Jude's.
Number two those are friends ofours.
And number three it's a coolthing, I think you might enjoy
it.
Training Number two those arefriends of ours.
And number three it's a coolthing, I think you might enjoy
it.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Training updates Any training updates guys, weather
is very moist this weekend uphere.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, I would say, John, I don't think we've seen
the sun in over like 96 hours.
It's getting a littledepressing here in the Northeast
.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think it's and I think it's rained like every
weekend for like 13 out of thelast 14 weekends You're fixing
to bust out of that and uh, yeah, 100 degree temps yeah busting
out hard.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, yeah, you gotta watch out for those.
Um, the only thing I have is myuh, summer series virtual
medals arrived, boy.
I here's, here's the, here'sthe headline.
I'm not big on medals.
These, these are really cool.
These are really really neatand really well presented, and

(15:50):
so that's kind of exciting.
I've done two 5Ks.
I did a 5K today on thetreadmill.
It went okay, so I've got twoof the three done.
It's no challenge doing them,especially if you're training
for another race.
But yeah, I'm going to go aheadand earn those and then put

(16:11):
them on my wall and then forgetabout it.
One of them lights up.
I don't know if I'll light itup on the wall or not, but if I
do, it'll be one time andthat'll be the end of that.
Still, still, they are neat andyou know, when future virtuals
come around, I probably won't dothem.
But that's okay, it wasworthwhile, it was neat.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
So the medals upgraded from they're okay to
they're nice, they were.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
They really are.
Becky's got a set two.
Not sure what she plans to dowith hers.
We'll have to.
I'll keep you up to date.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Well, if you ever run a race for charity, maybe you
could raffle those off orsomething like that.
You know, she actuallysuggested that.
Oh good Awesome.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, so maybe we will.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
And did it come with?
Did I see correctly?
It came with, uh, its own setof mickey ears too.
Yeah, that's really cool yeah,they look nice.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Uh, I don't have them in front of me, I think the uh,
if I'm not mistaken, the cap iswhite and the ears are blue, I
think.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
But yeah, I don't think they've done that for any
other virtual series.
I mean obviously I know we getthe ears after we run the actual
marathon itself but I thinkthey give you like an extra item
.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
I know I did the uh superhero ones one uh the marvel
characters a couple years backand it came like with a coin, so
there's something extra.
I don't know if they do itevery race weekend for the
virtuals, but yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Speaking of the virtuals, I saw an ad today and
I just looked it up.
They do actually still have theValentine's challenge, if
anybody felt like they missedout and they wanted to get that
one.
It's still available, wow, yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Wow Cause, the summer series is sold out.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah.
But yeah, I saw an ad earlierand I was like, is that supposed
to be there?
But yes, it's still on the RunDisney website.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
All right, the Christmas one should be coming
up soon then too, then forregistration.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Okay, the 12Ks of Christmas, yeah if they keep
doing it, yeah.
John, how's the mixtape?

Speaker 2 (18:26):
coming.
So the mixtape is coming alongvery well.
Right now.
We're up to about 64 songs,which will give you about four
hours of running.
I mean it's a very eclectic mixof tunes.
I mean I do this because we'rein our training session.

(18:47):
I like to listen to music on mytraining runs.
I don't know if you guys do I.
It puts me back into a placeLike sometimes I hear a song,
and it puts you back into aplace, a place in time, like
absolutely anything.
Eighties.
I'm like, I'm back to, likehigh school, you know.
So it's like great times.
And so let's do this.

(19:07):
Maybe somebody else can findsomething new, maybe a new genre
, new song that might meansomething to them.
So I hope that you guys areenjoying it.
It's the link up at the link inthe show notes and it's on the
Facebook page.
So let's add two songs.
If you're having a problembecause I think some people with

(19:27):
Apple are having a little bitof an issue uh, just post the
two songs you want in the uh inthe chat and I will just add
them for you.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, cool, john.
You know you talked about howmusic puts you in a place in
time and it does.
How much was a couple of yearsago, maybe 10 years ago now,
eric Church did that song,springsteen Ringing any bells,
kids?
We get to Brittany.
I wanted to comment.

(20:06):
We have an AI character, if youwill, on the Facebook page, in
the Facebook group.
It's called the Running Buddyand it's AI generated and I
didn't know what to expect of it, but I think it's kind of neat
what it's been doing.
To expect of it, but I thinkit's kind of neat what it's been

(20:29):
doing.
It's been generating somequestions and most of the
questions it generates arepretty good, and those questions
in turn generate responses fromour friends in the Facebook
page.
And the other thing it does is,once in a while, it'll
summarize some of the groupactivities.
So if you're wondering what theheck that is, that's it the AI

(20:51):
Running Buddy on the Facebookpage.
Okay, let us and I really hadfun with this one let's visit
with our guests for the week.
Friends, we're so excited tohave our next guest back for the
sixth time on the Rise and Runpodcast.
Now, most of you know whoBrittany is the funny runner,

(21:15):
the improv comic, theprofessional trail and mountain
racer and the only person man orwoman to win all four races on
a dopey weekend.
But she holds a special placein my heart.
She's the first guest that wehad back in episode 15.

(21:36):
That made me nervous to talk toBrittany.
We're glad you're back.
It's so great to see you.

Speaker 8 (21:44):
Oh, it's so good to be back.
As always, I'm like when arethey going to be like we've had
enough, because?
I'm like never I'm always downto be back.
So I'm so glad to be back and Ihope that you're not nervous
anymore, Because I like,seriously, every time I'm on I'm
like, oh, we're in DisneyFam,we're back together.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Brittany.
It took about five minutes.
I remember that.
I remember that.
I mean we're what?
We're 15 episodes into it.
The only interviews we had werepeople that I knew they were
friends.
Jonathan was with us, Joe waswith us, Mandy was with us.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
We didn't know you.
I remember my palms sweating asI was crafting the Instagram
message on the on the magickingdom fairy.

Speaker 8 (22:31):
Oh, that's funny, I love it.
I mean, it's like oh, you guysare my people, so it's, it's
great.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
That's the thing that I remember.
Second most is I'm serious.
It took about five or 10minutes and I went wait a minute
, she's one of us, this is goingto be fun and it is going to be
fun and we're excited to haveyou tonight and this is going to
be fun.
Look, the biggest thing it'sbeen about a year since you've
been with us.
In fact, greg looked it up justa minute ago.

(23:00):
I think it's been a year andfour days or something.
Something really importanthappened between now and then
and we want to hear all aboutHugo and what it's like being a
mom.

Speaker 8 (23:13):
You guys, I'm a mom now.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Heaven, help us all right.

Speaker 8 (23:20):
Honestly, the best thing in the entire world.
I didn't think it was going tobe this amazing and I'm just,
I'm loving it, like.
I just like, I feel like I'mthe happiest I've ever been.
I feel like, um, I'm back intraining, I'm back running, of
course, but, um, dude, havingthis little tiny human, that's
just the cutest thing in thewhole entire world.

(23:41):
Um, um is so awesome.
It's so much better than Iexpected.
I don't know, I knew I would.
I was nervous, like I was, likeI think I'll enjoy it.
You know, like, you hear aboutthe horror phases of having a
newborn and all of that, but, um, he's just a good little dude
and we're just so, um, it's,it's like everything's just like

(24:03):
sparkly now even more sparkly,if that's possible.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Let me share.
I'm just going to share onething with you.
From having gone through thisand seeing other friends, I hear
new parents saying I'm just sonervous, I don't know what's
going to happen with my child asthey grow up and I do.
Your child has good parents.
Your child's going to be justfine, I promise.

(24:29):
Thank you.
Yeah, it is, I get it.
I'm excited for you and you gotall these little different
things that happen About a yearthey start to walk and about two
they start to talk.
And there's another interestingperiod about two to two and a
half, where you go, we'll talkand you'll understand them, but

(24:51):
your friends and neighbors go.
What'd he say?

Speaker 8 (24:54):
Yeah, you need to interpret.
I hope that he just my.
My hope is that he skipstalking and he just goes
straight to singing.
That's my hope, yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
And the other one all of a sudden about two and a
half boom.
Everybody understands yeah.

Speaker 8 (25:11):
And he'll be running trails by then, for sure.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
That's wonderful.
I'm looking forward to hisfirst 5K.
I'll have to stay running foranother five years, so I can see
him at his first 5K, all right.
Well, look, running mom proathlete.
We got a lot of young women wholistened to this podcast, many
of whom have run while pregnant.

(25:35):
Many more will.
What kind of advice can we givethese expected moms and the
moms returning to running?

Speaker 8 (25:44):
Oh man, I learned so much from this past year.
I, of course, okay, so my jobis obviously I'm a professional
runner, my job is to run.
North Face was unbelievablysupportive and they were like
you don't have to run at all.
So I ran through five months ofmy pregnancy but at the

(26:06):
beginning I was like I'mdefinitely going to run the
entire pregnancy.
It doesn't matter if it's slow,I don't care if, like, I'm just
, I'm definitely going to runand I'm so glad that I stopped
running.
So I hope anyone that'slistening to this that is like
hemming and hawing, like shouldI keep running?
And you don't want to, youdon't have to, um, and it was

(26:27):
the best decision I made, um,because it just didn't feel fun,
like when my job is to getfaster.
Every day, I was getting slowerand slower every day, but it
didn't feel good, like, and Iactually like started loving
walking, um, so I walked a ton,I hiked Um, and let me tell you

(26:47):
I feel bad when I'm climbingtrails, of course, but when you
are climbing trails, pregnant,you've got like this superhero
quality that you're like.
It doesn't matter if it took meall day.
I did this and my body'samazing and I just did this like
wow, like I just have such a,such a new appreciation for
women and moms and what ourbodies do.
It's unbelievable, um.

(27:09):
So I I think I'm so happy now,looking back, that I didn't keep
running throughout my pregnancy.
I stayed very active, um, but Ididn't overdo it.
I think I was a little nervousthat I was going to overdo it,
um, especially, it's hard.
You know, I'm gaining weightevery day and that was really
hard.
Um.
But I was like I got to takecare of my body.

(27:30):
I don't want to.
I don't want to be wrecked,coming out of labor and delivery
and getting back into runningbecause I overdid it in
pregnancy, like now is my timeto just kind of let my body do
what it's going to do.
So, um, I gained 45 pounds.
I um stopped running at fivemonths.
Um, I had a C-section, longlabor, all of that.

(27:51):
And now you know it's fourmonths later and I'm running and
training and feeling great andI feel like, but I'm again like
just easing back into it, um, soI think my, my biggest lesson
for myself was just like it'sokay to not, like it's a good
season to not have to followtraining, be an athlete in that

(28:12):
sense, because your body's onoverdrive, and I'm so glad that
I gave myself that break.
Just like what I needed.
It was perfect.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
I think that's wonderful advice, just like what
I needed.
It was perfect.
So I think that's.
I think it was wonderful advice, I mean for the moms out there,
I think I think it's reassuringto hear something like that
from you.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
I really do.
Brittany, going through yourpregnancy journey, obviously you
made a lot of right calls thatyou and you learn to not only
respect yourself and the processand then you know getting back
into it.
But one of the one of thehighest levels of respect that I
think I saw, at least from asocial media standpoint in your
pregnancy journey, was yoursponsor in North Face and I

(28:55):
remember being thrilled and overthe moon when I saw you
announce that you got renewedwith them while pregnant.
Talk about obviously there's alot of emotions in pregnancy,
but talk about the emotion ofyour career as a runner,
especially at that given time.

Speaker 8 (29:13):
Oh, yeah, I'm so glad that you brought that up.
Um, so if we even just rewindto right before the Olympic
trials in 2020, and even thecouple of years leading into it,
I remember thinking, okay, if Imake the team in 2020, awesome.
If not, I'm going to go back,I'm going to train and try to
make the Olympic team in 2024.

(29:34):
And then I retire because Iwant to have a family, like that
was.
Even just a few years ago.
That was the kind of norm.
Like you, either you didn't getto keep training and competing
at a high level, you got droppedfrom your sponsor, um, or it
was just like you're a mom.
You can't be an athlete and amom, um, and all of these women

(29:55):
over the years have just beenpaving the way for me and just
showing like, oh no, we can beathletes and moms and we can be
really good athletes.
Um, and I think the ParisOlympics, this past round for
the summer Olympics, was a likethink about how many moms we saw
out there in all differentsports doing it, and that was so
inspiring.
So, um, yeah, we I just I meanI have.

(30:18):
I was very transparent withNorth face and told them that I
have every intention of comingback and I still.
I'm 37 now, um, and I I stillhave really good years ahead of
me, I feel like listen, I've gotevery intention to come back.
If you guys will stay patientwith me, I don't know what the
journey back is going to looklike.
Um, and they were full throttle, no questions asked.

(30:40):
They signed me for multipleyears, Um, and then they also
said said I don't have anyobligation to have to race this
year coming back.
So I do have races coming up,but that's on my own accord and
they're just wildly supportive.
They're supportive with helpingJustin and Hugo come to races
and travel with me, so we canmake sure that that is because

(31:01):
that's a priority for me thisyear.
So so grateful for them and Ithink that that's how brands
should be doing for me this year.
So so grateful for them and Ithink that that's how brands
should be doing oh, yeah, agreedwell, not only not only did
they do that, but they put youon the back of a hoodie, didn't
they?
yeah, I got my own shirt andhoodie.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Come on tell the folks about that they um it's it
does.

Speaker 8 (31:25):
It's not available anymore.
It's sold out, I guess.
But oh is it yeah, andunfortunately it was only in the
kids kids sizes yeah, but it uhwas a uh, my own custom.
There was three, two athletes,two of us on the entire north
face team, myself and myteammate vasu, who's a um, able
bodied skier, um, we both gotshirts made that were sold on

(31:49):
the website Like, come on,career moment.
It was amazing.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Oh, my goodness, oh career moment, that's Mount
Rushmore moment.

Speaker 8 (31:56):
I know my ego exploded Legendary moment.
I walk around and I wear my ownshirt.
I'm like dude.
How much more egotistical can Iget?

Speaker 1 (32:08):
Brittany.
If they had one in my size, Iwould have bought it.

Speaker 8 (32:11):
That's what everybody says, I know.
I'm hoping that we could do arelaunch in like adult sizes?

Speaker 4 (32:16):
That would be so cool .
So you talked about how NorthFace has been really accepting
and being patient with you asyou're coming back into your
running journey.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about how that is going and
what it looks like now being amom and trying to do both things
?

Speaker 8 (32:35):
Yeah, I honestly can say it's going better than I
could have hoped.
It's going better than I wouldhave thought.
So, like I mentioned, I couldhave hoped it's going better
than I would have thought Um.
So, like I mentioned, I had along labor Um, it was like 27
hours um ended in a C-sectionlike at the like end of it.
It wasn't an emergency, but itwas just.
It was a long, long deal.

(32:55):
So I had six weeks mandatoryrecovery Um, I started like
jogging at like five, five and ahalf weeks Um, and I had a
couple of races on the calendarfor June.
Cause I was like, well, it'sfour months out, I I picked a
couple of races um within thelike 18 to 30 K range Um, and

(33:19):
then the there's a worldchampionship this year.
So of course I was like, well,I want to, I want to stick my
nose in that, I want to, I wantto go for that.
So I decided to switch gears.
I kind of coming off pregnancyand birth and everything I
thought I don't know what I'vebeen afraid of all these years.

(33:39):
Like I've.
I look back at my career.
Having that time off betweenfive months pregnant and having
Hugo gave me a lot of time tojust reflect and have
perspective.
So I highly encourage anybodyto take even a couple weeks off.
So that was the longest chunkI'd ever had.
I had just thought like I haveaccomplished a lot, but I still

(34:04):
feel like I run scared and Ifeel like I still have imposter
syndrome.
So much with my racing, um,that I, you know, had this time
to look back and I was like,what am I afraid of?
Like I want to go stick my nosein things that, like I've never
done.
I want to go do things thatI've never done.
So, um, I signed up for thebroken arrow ascent race, which

(34:25):
is this weekend.
Um, I've never done an ascentrace, so it's 5k straight up a
mountain with 3000 feet of vert,um, and it's a world
championship qualifier.
So, let's sure, let's like,let's, but it's been awesome.
I picked it because I hiked alot during pregnancy and, um,

(34:45):
the uphill was awesome.
I love the challenge of it.
It's super hard, but I didn'thave to do long distances Cause
I just don't feel like again.
I didn't want to rush back intoanything.
Um, I wanted to still take mytime, so I've been just like
gradually building back.
Um, my mileage is like low forwhat I run.
Um, I'm cross training, I'mback with my strength trainer,

(35:08):
so I'm just kind of doing thatjust to ease back in and it's
been awesome so far.
So I'm balancing mom life andthat, and luckily Justin's job
is really flexible.
We've got to go and snack camp,which is what I call daycare,
two days a week, so that helps.
I kind of just structure mytraining right now around our

(35:30):
family, what I have time for andwhat I can do, and it's been
really great so far.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Listen, brittany, I think you're going to be in
great shape, because my wife hasturned me on to the, the
cultural phenomenon right now,that is the weighted vest.
Dude, me too.
We've been doing a lot of walkswith those on.
But think about it you did theultimate weighted vest with
carrying a child while hiking uphills.
This mountain got nothing onyou this week.

Speaker 8 (35:58):
I know I feel so light now that I ordered a
weighted vest.
It's hot pink, obviously.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Of course it's funny, so is Greg's.

Speaker 8 (36:06):
I knew it.
Twinsies, hi Barbie, hi,weighted Barbie.
Yeah, I'm excited to use thatbecause it is.
I didn't think about how muchstrength I built up during
pregnancy, but, holy smokes, youthink you're gaining so much
weight.
But it's also like, hang on, mybody's still carrying all of
this, like I'm getting strong.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
You mentioned your coach, but you are also a coach,
and how's that going?
I think you've got a programcoming up pretty soon here that
I expect some of our friendswould be interested in.

Speaker 8 (36:41):
I hope so.
Yeah, I have a new, socoaching's going really well.
I feel like I have really letmyself my full throttle
Brittany-ness in like unleashinto my coaching.
I've built out a whole new setof programs for my training.
I have now what's called acoaching menu, so I offer three

(37:02):
to four different options,including the whole enchilada
which is my full throttlecoaching.
Um, and then I love it.
I love it so much Like a littlebit smaller version.
You can have the light meal andthen, if you want just a
training plan but that's customand it has themes that's called
the happy meal.
So I built that out and thenI'm really pumped.

(37:25):
So coach middle school and Icoach the cross country and
track teams in the spring andfall.
I love it, but I love seasonaltraining and I never thought
about one of my runners, whichis a shout out.
She's a listener of the podcast.
Her name is Shannon, she's aDisney runner.
She's in Orlando, she.
I loved training with you forDopey last year, but I wish that

(37:47):
.
I just kind of felt solosometimes.
So I was like, well, what if wehad like a team that you could
be from all over the country,wherever you're at, but we are
all training together,essentially as a group?
Um, but you still have your owncustom training.
So that's what I'm launching umthis season, actually next
month.
I've got five spots left out of10 for this season and it's for

(38:09):
Dopey or any other run Disneydistance.
So it could be.
I've got somebody doing themarathon and the 10K, I've got
somebody doing goofy, somebodydoing the half, and the idea is
you get your own custom coachingfrom me like normal, and then
you have this extra piece of.
You've got this community ofthe Disney runners that we're

(38:30):
running together.
We've got a WhatsApp grouptogether.
We have monthly Zoom calls thatwe can kind of bounce ideas off
.
The idea is like, let's keep itfun, let's keep it fun like
supportive and um, let's justlike see what we can do with all
of that.
So I'm really, really pumped tolaunch that this year and
hopefully I'd love it to becomea yearly thing, but I'm um

(38:53):
launching it this year.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
And how do friends find out about it?

Speaker 8 (38:57):
Jump on my website, the funny runnercom slash
coaching, and if you scroll downtowards the bottom, you'll see
the dopey coaching on there.
Um, and that's like has all thedetails.
It's a 25 week program, um, soit'll start end of July and I
have one person who wants tostart in September cause she's
doing the half marathon and I'mlike that's great.
So, um, accommodating to anydistances that people want to do

(39:19):
, but I just want it to be funand super super duper Disney.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Well, speaking of coaching, I want to talk to
coach charbonneau here, becausewe're at a very important time
in the run disney calendar andthat is and it's a very
appropriate time that we haveyou on right now, because next
week starts wine and dinetraining and then the week after
that, marathon weekend trainingstarts, which is unfathomable

(39:49):
to think about you know firstplace.
But from a general standpoint toour listeners out there,
regardless if they are running a5k or they're tackling dopey or
the perfect season, what is thesingle best piece of advice you
could give a Rise and Runlistener right now as they get

(40:10):
ready to embark on this journey?

Speaker 8 (40:12):
Ooh, that's a great question.
The first thing that poppedinto my head, I think,
especially coming off of mywhole last year and journey 100%
.
Listen to your body.
You'll get a training plan, nomatter what you're training for,
wherever you get it, and you'llhave it all mapped out and I
always tell my runners here'syour training plan.

(40:34):
It will not look like this bythe end of your training and
never force it to fit that Likeit's supposed to.
It's supposed to not goaccording to plan.
Race day doesn't go accordingto plan, so have that in mind.
And I always say it's supposedto not go according to plan.
Race day doesn't go accordingto plan, so have that in mind.
And I always say it's about thecumulative effort and the
cumulative consistency versusevery single day's run.

(40:55):
If, by the time you get tomarathon weekend and you've done
the bulk of the training,you've um, you know, been
consistent enough, you don'thave to be so rigid and specific
on every single day.
And that's mistakes I've made inthe past for myself in training
is being so rigid and sostructured and so serious, and

(41:16):
it's number one.
It's not fun, but you're askingfor burnout, You're asking for
injury.
So I think having that ahead oftime in mind and knowing and I
had to do that with thistraining cycle too knowing that
I have to be flexible.
I got a newborn, I got life, Igot all the things the weather
downpour today, it's supposed tobe a hundred tomorrow.
So I think just stayingflexible and patient with

(41:37):
yourself is the best advice Ican give going into a training
block.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
So, brittany, about a year ago, when we last talked
to you, you were about to doyour first race announcing gig
at the Colfax Marathon, and Ithink you did it a couple of
weeks ago Also.
How did that go?

Speaker 8 (41:54):
I did.
It went great.
You give me a microphone and astage.
It's so much fun.
I won the Colfax Marathon in2017.
That's Denver's local marathonyear.
It's actually big.
It's over 25,000 runners andit's over the course of.
We've got a 5K on the first dayand then we've got a half 10

(42:17):
miler and then the marathon anda relay on the Sunday.
And they asked me last year tobe a co-race announcer with Cree
Kelly, with Cree right.
Race announcer and of courseI've jumped at that and it is so
fun, it flies by.
We're there at four I mean it'snot as bad as Disney races, but
we're there at four in themorning until about two in the

(42:39):
afternoon when the last runnerscome through and it is the most
fun, it's the most inspiringthing, it's the best way to kick
off summer and summer runningand all of that.
It's just the best thing ever.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
So I now have added that to my resume of all the
things, so did we wear costumesor anything, though, cause I
know you'd like to, you know.

Speaker 8 (43:03):
I asked and they said no, but I think how could they?
think I need to just like make.
I just need a couple yearsunder my belt of doing a really
good job and then I start likecostumes.
Um, because I was like I couldshow up as the big blue bear
from denver.
I could be the weird that's atthe airport.
That's really creepy, thatwould be hilarious.
And they were like no, notright now.

(43:25):
So that's my goal is toeventually get to be on, be in
costume as they announce it'scoming, it's coming.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
But staying in that general vein, what's new with
your art and and what's happenedto, uh, own your own weird?

Speaker 8 (43:42):
I know it's okay, not that you haven't had anything
else to do you know, is it onhiatus?
I mean, I haven't seen it for awhile I'm like a hummingbird and
a squirrel mixed together, so Ijust flutter around and then
it's like and then I'm just likechewing on these like acorns
over here, and then I'll go flipto flutter to this.
So, um, I've actually so Ihaven't been making as much

(44:08):
traditional weird art as normal,but I have done a ton of art
for my coaching.
So when you sign up for the thewhole enchilada or dopey you
get a welcome kit and it ispacked full of my art slash

(44:28):
training, like tools and tips.
So it's a 20 page bookletessentially, and there's
everything from um hill runningfrom Hillary tough.
So that's the shout out.
Um, I wrote a poem.
Um called welcome to taper town.
Um so and it's like it's weird,you guys, but it's that's kind

(44:49):
of where my I wrote a poemcalled Welcome to Taper Town,
love it so, and it's like it'sweird, you guys, but it's that's
kind of where my creative artside has been channeling and
I've kind of been just puttingall my energy towards coaching
and Kobe and all of that.
So it's kind it kind of existsin a, in a new form, I would say
, in a way that it feels likepeople are getting use out of my
weird crap that I'm putting outthere.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
It's fun Brittany.
It's fun Friends.
If you want to see some, it'son the Funny Runner website.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
All right, brittany.
So the last time we talked toyou I know we had asked you
about when you were coming backto Disney and you were very
blase about it.
Obviously now we know why.
But now that you know Hugo isin that range where he's free.

(45:37):
You know he goes to the parksfor free and he eats for free.
Oh yeah, what is.
When do you think you'll go onyour first family vacation down
to Orlando or to Disneyland, andis Run Disney going to be part
of it?

Speaker 8 (45:52):
That's a great question.
He is free.
I didn't realize he could getinto the parks for free.
That's a huge perk he we'rereally planning.
So last year I was very blasé.
I was pregnant.
In my pregnant crazy brain Iwas also like how about?
I did have a dream that I wouldget to.
So I won dopey.

(46:14):
I was at the front of all theraces.
I would love one day to dodopey with the balloon ladies.
And so I thought, oh, perfect, Icould do it while pregnant.
I'll be a balloon no-transcript.

(46:53):
I love the vibe.
I love the people.
It's again.
It's so inspiring.
Watching everything, of course,my Disney brain goes crazy.
Um, I don't know if I couldlike somehow sneak Hugo.
Maybe I could be Kanga and hecould be, he could do the 5k.
But I'm planning to be downthere for marathon weekend to

(47:15):
cheer.
I probably won't be racing, Ican't imagine.
I don't know, maybe, but yeah,so I'm planning to be down there
.
So we should do like a liveepisode or something.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
We'll do something.
You know I credit you with mestarting to wear costumes and
that goes back to the first timewe talked because you were so
upbeat about it.
You had worn the four costumesduring Dopey and you were so
upbeat, and there are thingspeople say that stick with you,
and one of the things you saidwas you can see the joy it gives

(47:49):
to others.
And so the first costume ourfriend, Jack, who's
unfortunately not with ustonight, said Bob, you need to
be Sam Eagle.
I said I can be Sam Eagle,That'll be fun and I did and it
was fun.
It went out great.
And then I decided to beTinkerbell.

Speaker 8 (48:08):
Dude.
So good, Bob.
You don't understand how muchthat warms my heart.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
I was a little unsure leaving the hotel room and I
saw those first couple of peoplelook and I went yeah, that's
what Brittany's talking about.
I've been costume guy eversince.
I'll say you've created amonster.
Yeah, that's what Brittany'stalking about.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
I've been costume guy ever since.
I'll say you've created amonster, brittany, because now
he's dressing, as you know, 10foot trees and making you know
the run Disney social mediapages.

Speaker 8 (48:33):
It's so good.
It's so good.
I'm glad that you brought thatup and thank you, cause I'm
racing on Friday and, of course,I have to be in North face my
North face kid, obviously I'mproud to be, but I get to zhuzh
it myself however I want, and Ihave been thinking about what am
I going to do, and that I waslike, oh, now that you're saying

(48:55):
that, I want to go fullthrottle with all the pieces
because it is about having funwith it and, you know, enjoying
it and putting it out there forothers to see that we're
enjoying it, especially aselites.
So, um, thank you for sayingthat, because that's now I'm
like, oh yeah, like I want to dothat too for this weekend.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
So, um, that's my mission all, right now let's go
back to you know, hopefully thisjanuary, you know, for marathon
weekend.
Being there cheering, have youand the juzband figured out yet
what will be hugo's first ride?

Speaker 8 (49:30):
oh a first ride okay well, I guess my brain goes to
teacups because it's a smallworld.
I would love recommendations.
He'll be about.
He'll be 10 months, okay Ican't help.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
I say my daughter's first ride was small world.
So I mean you know from themusical side of you that that
could be helpful and maybe itinstills new languages.
You know in a matter at anearly age.
But I mean teacups isn't bad,it just I don't know what is his
motion sickness level will beat.

Speaker 8 (50:06):
You know, almost a year that's a good point, or, I
think, space mountain I wasgoing there what's isn't tiana's
ride like super mellow?

Speaker 3 (50:16):
it is, but there's a height it is, except for that
five-story drop at the end.

Speaker 8 (50:20):
But yeah, maybe, maybe, not mellow.
My my favorite ride is Tower ofTerror, but I don't think that
that was one, no, no.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Are we training to be a runner or a stuntman?
What's going on here there?

Speaker 1 (50:40):
So we're undecided.
Huh, that's a good question.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
That is a good question.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
I was wondering about Hugo's first race, but he's got
to be five to do that.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
Well, no, she already mentioned she's going to sneak
him on the five oh yeah, yeah,kanga and Roo, Kanga and Roo.

Speaker 8 (50:54):
Yeah, I might chat to Run Disney and just see if I
can.
I don't know, we'll see.
That would be so awesome if Icould just like carry him and
sneak him through.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
It would be.
Hey, John had a good first ridethere.
I thought the carousel, thecarousel.

Speaker 8 (51:12):
That's a great first ride, heck yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Okay perfect.

Speaker 8 (51:14):
I've actually never been on it there, so that's
perfect, that would be excellent.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
There we go, in the shadow of the castle would be
perfect.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
So, brittany, as we're celebrating your sixth
time here on the podcast and youhave shared so many
inspirational stories andwonderful advice to not only us,
the host, but the listeningcommunity as well, too is going

(51:42):
to be the four-year anniversaryof you conquering this
incredible feat, almost fouryears into it now.
Is there a specific memory or athought process from that
particular weekend that hasremained and is instilled in you

(52:03):
as you continue to race?
And now getting back intoracing post pregnancy?

Speaker 8 (52:08):
I love that question and goodness, holy smokes four
years.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (52:15):
It is not four years, it happened yesterday.
I think about Dopey all thetime because I obviously had the
tattoo on my arm.
Of all my costumes, and thatrace weekend was, I think, the
most most.
I let myself just hit it in somany different ways of course,

(52:39):
speed, but my costumes, but thatwas also.
I got the tattoo and I thinkabout dopey because it also
reminds me to stay presentbecause I had to.
I couldn't.
My goal was to make sure Iwasn't stressing about the
marathon on the 5k day and Ifind myself especially I mean,

(52:59):
during pregnancy, it was like,well, I'm in month five, I can't
be stressing about labor rightnow Like I got to just focus on
month five.
Um, and I feel like that issomething I thought about during
training.
Right now too, as I've beendoing a lot of climbing and you
know, going uphill, going upmountains, is I can't.
When I'm, you know, a mile inon the climb and I've got three

(53:22):
or four more to go, I can'tworry about the top.
I got to just focus on likenext step, next step, next step,
and that's something that I'mreally proud of myself.
That I did during Dopey weekendwas I really feel like I
enjoyed each race for what itwas in that moment and I
remember I waved at every singlecharacter during every single
race to help me stay present.

(53:43):
And obviously there aren'tcharacters out on my mountain
runs, but there are people I canwave to them or I can step to
that rock.
On Sunday I had a big lasttraining run and I remember
seeing all the differentwildflowers that were out as I
was climbing the mountain.
So I think that's somethingthat has really resonated with

(54:05):
me because I practiced it duringDopey.
So, just, and maybe, as I'msaying this and going into this
weekend, I'm thinking, okay,like I'm still gonna.
I don't know what kind of shapeI'm in compared to everybody
else right now, but man, I'mgoing to go do me.
I'm going to probably channelmonkeys, because I call Hugo a

(54:25):
little monkey.
So I'm like, oh, it'd be fun toput banana tattoos all over me,
cause I can.
That's the only thing I candecorate, and I'm just going to
focus on the next rock, nextstep, next step, next step, as I
keep climbing to the finishline.
So, um, and that's honestlylike a big, big tribute to dopey
.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Yeah, run the mile you're in.

Speaker 8 (54:45):
Totally Something else.
I heard um I don't know ify'all are golf fans, but Rory
McIlroy um, when he just won acouple months ago.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Yeah, he won the masters.

Speaker 8 (54:55):
Yeah, he said something about he's something
about next shot mindset, and sohe was talking about in golf how
mean?
Obviously, in golf, for me,every single shot is a terrible
shot, but he talked about how,after he has a bad shot, it's
next shot it's gone.
Yeah right, it's gone leave it,and so I loved that because I

(55:16):
was like man, there's so manytimes that I'm in a race or a
training and I'm on mile two ofa marathon and I am feeling
terrible that it was a slow mileand I'm like there goes the
whole thing when it's like no,no, just next mile.

Speaker 7 (55:30):
Mile three could be great.

Speaker 8 (55:32):
So I think I loved that and I'm kind of trying to
capture that.
Why did I start talking aboutthat, Do you guys?
Mom brain is real.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
I'm not sure why, but around here we blame Greg.

Speaker 8 (55:45):
Yeah, I mean you asked a very loaded question.
You're good, all right.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Speaking of loaded questions.
What are your thoughts on thepenny going away?

Speaker 8 (55:56):
You don't understand that's like.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Maybe I do.

Speaker 8 (56:02):
So part of me is like great, I'm going to just go
nuts street sweeping and justtry and find as many as I can.
And then I'm also really sadand then I'm worried because
what I do every year is I cashin on my change and then I
invest it in Robinhood in theaccounts that I like.
So I've got like 0.004 sharesof Disney the same amount in.

(56:24):
Yeah, same amount in Starbucksand target Um, and so I'm like,
well, if I cash them in, then Idon't have them.
But I also have a very robustcoin collection, that I collect
all of the valuable coins.
So maybe I'll start collectingeach year that I can, instead of
just the wheat pennies or theunique ones.
I might just try and collectone from each year and save

(56:46):
those or something like that.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
But I'm bummed because I was going to say right
, abe's off.
Yeah, abe's the guy.
Just totally out of curiosity.
You see many steel pennies.

Speaker 8 (56:59):
No, I do have steel pennies in my collection.
You know what I find more oftenthan not steel pennies in my
collection, you know what I findmore often than not Wheat
pennies.
Okay, I find wheat penniesevery single year.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
It's kind of wild that they're still out there and
they're just like on thestreets and it's crazy and I
could be wrong, but they'reactually older than the steel
pennies, aren't they the wheatpennies?
The wheat pennies are like late, late 1940s and most Okay no
Steel pennies were World War II.
Yeah, brittany.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
I have to tell you that every time I find any coin
on my runs, I think of you everysingle time You're on the right
path.
You're on the right path.
Right, that's what I say tomyself every single time.
Brittany says I'm on the rightpath, oh I love that.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Yeah, I found a wedding ring on the course one
time.

Speaker 8 (57:43):
Me too.
Do you know what I find?
A wedding ring, at least once ayear also.
I also have a coin collection.
It's called Weird Crap that Ifound on Runs.
There's a couple wedding ringsand they're men's wedding rings
and weird things.
I find plastic coins every year.
So you just never know whatyou'll find.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
Well, if you ever find a diamond wedding ring, you
can cash that in and maybe youcould have like three shares of
Disney.

Speaker 8 (58:11):
Yeah, that'd have to be a big ring to get a full
share of Disney.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Oh gosh, I don't want this to end.
I'm having too much fun, but Ithink it's probably about time
to wrap it up.

Speaker 8 (58:24):
Yeah, I got to go feed my child.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Yeah, that's pretty important.
We don't want, we don't wantyou go getting mad at us already
.

Speaker 8 (58:32):
I don't think that's possible.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Always, always, always a delight, my friend.
Thank you so much for spendingthe time with us.
Good luck this weekend.

Speaker 8 (58:42):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
And till we meet again.

Speaker 8 (58:46):
Y''all keep, keep doing what you're doing.
You're amazing.
I love being on and I'm sorrythat I'm not 200th, but I'm
wishing you all the best for 200.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
What an accomplishment well, even though
it was our sixth time chattingwith britney, I always leave
those interviews with extremelysore cheeks because that woman
just makes me smile, ear to ear.
And I'm just always just soimpressed with her not only

(59:17):
outlook on life, but her outlookon her running journey as well,
and how she translates has toothers, regardless of whatever
your paces, and I think she'sjust.
I mean, obviously she's a greatambassador for North Face, but I
think she's just a greatambassador for run Disney
fanatics like us and justrunners in general, and it's

(59:39):
just always such a pleasurechatting with her and I really
hope we see her this January,really really looking forward to
that.
But speaking of this january,obviously we have mentioned it
several times and that is, weonce again want to do a large
group costume for the 5k duringmarathon weekend and, and you

(01:00:03):
know, and after muchdeliberation, it came down that
we all are going to be thealiens looking at the claw.
So, bob, I believe you havebeen working with our friend
Alec over at Kauai and PizzaApparel and she is busy working
on a shirt for us and I thinkwe're going to have a link very
soon.
Is that correct?

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Oh, yeah, we've got one.
We've got a link.
I'll get it on our Facebookpage.
Yeah, alec did a nice job forus.
As always, kept the price whereit was last year, put the Rise
and Run logo on the Alien shirtas always, quality stuff and it
looks really nice.
So we'll get that up for youright away.

(01:00:44):
Oh, friends, we're going to dosomething new here for the next
couple of months.
A lot of you run for charityand a lot of you have questions
about running for charity, sowhat we want to do is each month
feature a different charity.
Talk to them, have the grouptell us about themselves how you

(01:01:08):
can get a bib and maybe give ussome advice.
We're going to start with oneand you'll see these folks QCP
Development, queens Center forProgress.
They actually Sean is the nameof the fellow we're going to
talk to here in a minute andthey actually have.

(01:01:29):
They're actually friends onFacebook.
So you'll see QCP developmentand, in fact, well, I'll wait
till we're done talking withSean to tell you this next part.
We're pleased to be joined nowwith Sean Caruana from QCP,
queens Centers for ProgressDevelopment.
Hey, sean, welcome to the Riseand Run podcast.

(01:01:51):
Hey, bob, thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you, glad to haveyou with us.
Hey, for our friends who arelistening, this is kind of a new
one in the run.
Disney lexicon QCP is here.
Can you tell us a bit about itplease?
Sure.

Speaker 7 (01:02:09):
Well, queen's Census for Progress QCP is a nonprofit
located here in Jamaica, queens,new York, that provides support
and services for children andadults with intellectual and
developmental disabilities.
Now our programs createopportunities that help our
individuals create meaningfulchoices to maximize their skill

(01:02:31):
development, independence andintegration into community life.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Very good, very good, and now you're involved with
Run Disney.
How long have you been involvedwith Run Disney?

Speaker 7 (01:02:42):
Actually, this is pretty funny.
This is our first year runningwith Run Disney.
It's our inaugural run with RunDisney, so we're super excited
for that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
So you're kicking off with Wine and Dine this season?

Speaker 7 (01:02:57):
No, we're actually kicking off with the full
marathon weekend in January.
You're kicking off in January.
Yes, we decided to go feetfirst.
You know, just go right into it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Go big or go home.

Speaker 7 (01:03:10):
Exactly that's the New York way.
That's how we do it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Like a lot of our friends, a lot of our runners I
don't know how many.
I've talked with several peoplehere in the last month and I've
heard this phrase.
I've never run a marathonbefore, but I'm doing dopey and
and people will ask can they dothat?
And I'll go, I wouldn't.
But heck yeah, you can do it,because every year a lot of

(01:03:35):
people do it.
It sounds pretty exciting.
So plans to continue with RunDisney through this season and
then into the next ones, orYes're hoping so.

Speaker 7 (01:03:48):
I was just saying that for the past 15 years our
charity team, team QCP, has beenrunning the New York City
Marathon.
So this year Queen's Centersfor Progress is celebrating our
75th anniversary.
So for so you know, for ourdiamond anniversary, we decided
to extend our runningopportunities past New York City

(01:04:11):
and past the Marine CorpsMarathon.
That we did a couple of times.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
Oh very good.

Speaker 7 (01:04:16):
So we wanted to extend it to the South and do
run Disney.
I'm a big Disney fan and thisis something that I wanted to do
for the past couple of yearswith QCP.
So we decided might as well gofor our 75th anniversary and
continue that celebration into2026.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Good, for you.
That is kind of exciting.
All right, let's go down thisroute please.
How can our friends who areinterested here and want to run
for QCP, how can they secure acharity bib?

Speaker 7 (01:04:50):
Absolutely so, anybody that's interested in
running.
We're accepting runners of alllevels, beginner intermediate.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Run.

Speaker 7 (01:04:57):
Disney way.
My friend, anybody that wantsto run Disney with Team QCP,
you're more than welcome to joinus with Team QCP.
You're more than welcome tojoin us.
What you can do you could takea click on our website, which is
wwwtinyurlcom.
Forward slash.
Qcp runs Disney World.

(01:05:18):
That will take you to ourlanding page where you could
register.
Or, if you like, you could callme directly or email me
directly at SCARUANA, that'sS-C-A-R-U-A-N-A, at Queens,
q-u-e-e-n-s, cporg.

(01:05:40):
So that would be a great wayand we're here to help.
But if you go to the website,you could get to see who our
team members are that signed upalready.
Um see what QCP actually doesand, you know, just get a feel
of what's happening with ourteam QCP running in Walt Disney

(01:06:01):
World.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Disney World.
You've done something thatbrought you to our attention.
You are actually Facebookfriends in the Rise and Run
podcast Facebook group page andI see occasional activity there.
Plus, you've got your ownFacebook page so you could
scroll through the Rise and Runpage.
If you see the QCP post, clickthere.
That'll take you to theirFacebook page.

(01:06:29):
More info there.
What kind of requirements, whatkind of fundraising
requirements, will our friendshave?
Let's use this marathon weekendfor an example.

Speaker 7 (01:06:40):
Sure, absolutely so, with our charity, with the
different races that we have.
We have bibs in all of the, inall the races for Marathon
Weekend and, depending on whichone you go for whether it's the
5K, 10K, half full, or we stillhave Goofy available our dopies
are sold out.
We do have two Goofy, so we'rehoping that we could finalize

(01:07:02):
that.
We do have two Goofy's, sowe're hoping that we could
finalize that.
But depending on which race yougo for, we have different
giving levels that are requiredfor us.
So, for instance, a 5K, thefundraising total is $750, which
is pretty on par with whatother charities are doing.
So you know, even though we'rein New York, we want to keep it

(01:07:24):
leveled.
Being that it's our first timeout, we wanted to keep it on par
with what other charities aredoing.
So $750.
And then the good thing is,your registration fee will go
towards your fundraising goal.
So with that, you're already aquarter of the way there.
Yeah, With some of them.
So that's what we're excitedabout and we're hoping that that

(01:07:47):
helps.
You know, help somebody.
Come on board and see whatQueen Centers for Progress does
for members in our community.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
You're right, that is very fair and you did your
market research there.
That's right, in line with whatothers are asking.
But just for frame of reference, and I know you said you have
no Dopey bibs what was thefundraising goal for dopey?

Speaker 7 (01:08:07):
The dopey challenge.
We had it set at $2,500.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
All right, it's a big event and again, the money that
you pay the like 900 orsomething that you pay that
counts towards that $2,500.

Speaker 7 (01:08:20):
Towards the fundraising goal.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
yes, yeah, so there you go.
You're almost halfway there.
Of course, sean already told ushe doesn't have any dopey bibs
right now, but anyway, that'sthe way that works.
Besides the bib, are there anyother perks that people who sign
up get?

Speaker 7 (01:08:35):
Yes, of course, when, just like we do with our New
York City Marathon runners, wedo offer a one-to-one offer, a
one-to-one fundraisinginitiative with our runners.
So if anybody needs help withtheir fundraising, they could
either call us, text us, emailus, and we're always going to be

(01:08:55):
there to help you.
Whether it's asking how youcould go about fundraising, we
do offer a fundraising kit toour runners, to our participants
.
We also this year have startedto incorporate a running coach
that we have, we do have a coachfor our team members.
We do offer a WhatsApp groupwhere we set up a chat where

(01:09:19):
everybody could talk andexchange ideas and exchange
ideas, their running ideas,their fundraising ideas, or just
to give them little quotes ofinspiration, just to help us get
through our training Very good,so we do offer that, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
Okay, speaking of fundraising ideas, do you have
any suggestions for fundraisingideas?

Speaker 7 (01:09:40):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Being that I work in thefundraising department here at
Queen's Centers for Progress,you know fundraising is my life,
it's our lifeline here.
So you know what you want to dowhen you're trying to fundraise
for a non-charity of your.
Uh.
Charity of your choice is youwant to make a make your story

(01:10:00):
your own.
You want to have a story of whyyou're running for the charity.
Make it personal as much as youcan and relatable, because
authentic connections are whatdrives your donations to you.
So what you want to do first isstart a donor list.
You know that includes everyone.
You know it could either beyour friends, your family, a dog

(01:10:22):
walker or maybe the baristathat you see on a daily basis at
your favorite coffee shop.
You just have to ask everybody.
You know Don't be afraid to ask, not ask anyone, because you
don't want to assume thatsomeone won't contribute, and
that's what a lot of people feelthat might happen.
You won't know the answer untilyou actually ask somebody and

(01:10:46):
you'll be actually surprised whosays yes when you ask them if
they can donate to a charitythat you support.
You also want to get the wordout.
Everybody has social medianowadays.
You have TikTok X, facebook,instagram.
Those are the most commonfundraising tools.
Fundraising tools, but you haveto also think outside of the

(01:11:10):
box.
One of our team members hosteda fundraiser at a neighborhood
bar and she was able to raise$1,200.
Oh, outstanding For our annualwalkathon.
I personally reached out to mycontacts and said for every $50
you donate, I will walk a 5K inyour honor.
And what that did, which wassurprising to me I raised close

(01:11:32):
to $1,500.

Speaker 5 (01:11:35):
And it was a lot of walking.

Speaker 7 (01:11:37):
It came out to about three full marathons, oh wow.
So you know, and that was$1,500 that I didn't, that QCP
didn't have before.
So you have to just think offun ideas that stand out from
the crowd.
And one last thing that I wouldsay is you might want to
maximize your impact, maximizethat donation by looking to see

(01:11:59):
if your employer or yourfriend's employees have a
matching gifts program at theirplace of business.
It's one of the most overlookedopportunities in fundraising.
So that's a great way for youto either double your impact or
sometimes during the holidays,you might be able to triple it

(01:12:20):
sometimes because of thatemployee match.
So those are some opportunitiesthat you could look into for
fundraising for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Those are good ones, sean, thank you.
Thank you, those are good ones.
All right, friends.
There you have it.
Queens Center for Progress, qcp.
They're on our Facebook pageand we will put their
information in the show notes.
We will put their informationin the show notes.
Be part of the first, theinaugural effort for QCP here,

(01:12:54):
marathon Weekend.
Sean, thanks for joining us andlots of luck.
Thank you, bob.
Thank you, john.
I appreciate it All right.
Here's what I teased at thebeginning.
Thank you, john.
I appreciate it All right.
Here's what I tease at thebeginning.
Sean is running his virtualseries and he posted to our

(01:13:18):
Facebook group that he just PR'dhis first 5K by 11 minutes.
Now I know it's virtual and wedon't do PR bills for virtuals.
I'm sorry, sean.
We're still proud of you though.
That's a good thing.
So thanks for visiting with usand congrats on that PR.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
With these charities.
There's a lot of new charitiesout there that are giving bibs
out for Run Disney and if theydon't get rid of all their bibs,
they probably won't be acharity next year.
So if you're going to thosecharities, if you really want to
do a race, look at some ofthese charities, give them a

(01:13:51):
look, because if they don't dothis, the charity is going to go
away for those people that getshut out of Run Disney.
Registration weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
Yeah, and Sean gave us some good ideas on how to
raise the funds.
So so there you go.
Good point, john.
Upcoming episodes next week,coach Chris twigs joins us.
We're going to put a Facebookpost.
Let you provide us with somequestions to ask coach twigs.

(01:14:28):
All right, my friends, it's timefor the race report the race
report is brought to you by ourfriend, thomas stokes of stoked
metabolic training.
Stokesfit slash rise and runcoaching is the link.
Tom's got his eight weekchallenge starting July 7th.

(01:14:49):
The first 20 people to enrolland I don't think he's hit this
number yet the first 21,.
The first 20 people inenrolling will get a free
one-on-one call with Tom.
That's right.
First 20 people get one freeone-on-one call.
The second 20 get two free.

(01:15:10):
No, it's only no.
I'm joking.
I'm joking.
That's an old joke, you know.
First prize a weekend inPhiladelphia.
Second prize two weekends inPhiladelphia.
You don't know, this one Greg'snot laughing.
No one, greg's not laughing.
No, I'm sorry, I know that oneyeah.
Anyway, anyway, but to beserious, it's a good it's.

(01:15:36):
It's a good thing, guys.
Uh, tom charges $97 for this,but he gives rise and runners.
A $50 discount is $47 for theeight weeks of training.
Not only does he lay out astrength training plan for you,
but we also have weekly Zoomcalls to discuss the metabolic
part of it, the weight loss partof it, the nutritional part of
it.
So it's really worthwhile.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
So to get to Tom's site to join this thing, it's
stokesfit slashtransformationchallenge and you
would have to put the code inRISE to get the $50 off.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
Stokesfit slash transformationchallenge Okay,
it's a good one Starts July 7th.
Let us begin on Friday the 13thin Lyle Illinois.
The 13th in Lyle Illinois forthe Morton Arboretum Firefly 3K.
Vicki was there.
Vicki's first 3K and firstnight race, first 3K that's got

(01:16:37):
to be a PR.
She ran with her coworkers, hada little bit of a running
rivalry with one of the guys,Wound up beating them by two and
a half minutes and in so doingfinished as first female.
With the time of now, get this13 minutes and one second first
female, but 13th overall.
And she ran on friday the 13thI was gonna say the time.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
I think would have been creepier if it was 1313.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
1313, it would have, then we would have had an issue.
It would have.
Hey, let's go out to a vacationrace out in Yellowstone, or I
think actually West Yellowstonein Montana.
They had a weekend event thereFriday and Saturday at 5K and a

(01:17:25):
half, and we've got a couplefriends who are still out there,
still camping.

Speaker 3 (01:17:32):
Shocked that they have internet service in the
National Park.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
Well, I think they carry their own satellite with
them.
I think, jen George, you guyshave your own satellite with you
.

Speaker 9 (01:17:42):
No, we're just lucky to catch a cell here.
So there's a little bit of acell signal where we are.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
Yes, Well, we've got our friends Jen and George, who
did the bison double out therein Yellowstone the 5K and a half
, and they're here to tell usall about it.
Guys, thanks for giving up someof your vacation to come and
chat with us.
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 9 (01:18:05):
Yeah, thank you, Bob.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
Well, this is fun.
It is fun.
I see you're in a tent underthe canvas there.
This is perfect.
Tell us, I'm going to start theway.
I start all the spotlights.
How did you guys get startedrunning?

Speaker 9 (01:18:23):
So I'll go first.
In high school I was a hockeyplayer field hockey player and
we had to run a mile in underseven minutes.
So I think my fastest mile everwas 647, and I'm nowhere near
that now, but kind of gave it upafter high school and then when

(01:18:43):
George and I got married, welived in a really nice
neighborhood where we could runreally nice sidewalks, and
picked it up probably after myoldest daughter was born and in
2017, ran my first 10K and in2019, ran first half okay, cool

(01:19:09):
how about you, george?

Speaker 6 (01:19:10):
I've been running um a bit longer than my wife.
Uh, just as a means to stay inshape.
I did not run in high school,uh, it was was not, you know, a
high school athlete or a collegelittle athlete, um, but uh,
just picked it up because Iwanted to stay in shape.
I knew unfortunately, I think,all of us have lost friends far
too soon, so I wanted to makesure that I was not amongst

(01:19:35):
those and just wanted to be inshape and not get any younger.
So I started running.
It was a pretty, or so Ithought, an inexpensive sport to
start doing.
You know, all you need is apair of sneakers and going
outside.
So I picked it up, like Bensaid, running around our
neighborhood for a bit, and then, you know, things just kind of

(01:19:58):
snowballed from there.

Speaker 9 (01:19:58):
I guess you'd say he's being a bit modest, All
right Well tell us why.
He's run 13 marathons.
Oh, outstanding Out right.

Speaker 1 (01:20:05):
Well, tell us why he's run 13 marathons.
Oh, outstanding, outstanding.

Speaker 6 (01:20:07):
You know, enjoyed it, enjoyed waking up first thing
in the morning, you know,running as the sun is rising,
great way to start the day, youknow, kicking off the endorphins
and all that kind of stuff.
And by the time I was finishedmy you know, 5k each morning,
jen was just waking up and thekids were just waking up and I

(01:20:27):
could help get them off toschool and get the kids dressed
and fed, and so on and so forth.
And then I think one of theorganizations that I was working
with was having a 5K and peopleknew that I ran, so asked me to
do that, so I did and did.
Well, I thought, if I can do a5K, I can probably do a 10 K.
And did that, and, and, um, runa bunch of those and realized,

(01:20:50):
hey, a half marathon is just two10 Ks, essentially.
So, um, so trained for a halfmarathon, and right, and then,
uh, you know, uh, you know, afriend of mine who's a bit, uh,
bigger than me, said hey, I'verun Boston, you know, and
probably one day you could dothat.
You're in much better shapethan I can, than I am.
So that kind of planted theseed and, and I've been running

(01:21:12):
really, ever since and Jen'sright I've done 13 marathons.
My 14th will be the MarineCorps this October, and so so we
enjoy it.
Jen and I do it together two orthree mornings a week, Um, you
know, and and it keeps us bothin great shape and gives us some
nice time outside together.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
Get up early, get out on the road.
Sounds like you like to riseand run, george.
We do like to rise and runearly runners yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:21:40):
I had to go.
I had to go.

Speaker 9 (01:21:42):
Yeah, you did.

Speaker 6 (01:21:42):
If I don't run at six in the morning, it's not going
to happen the rest of the day,so it's got to happen first
thing.

Speaker 3 (01:21:47):
So this is really cool.
So this is the second week in arow that here on the race
report we have a vacation racesrace.
Last week we were out inWyoming in the Grand Tintans.
So tell us what drew you tothis specific vacation race.

Speaker 9 (01:22:05):
I became interested in vacation races a while ago.
I have a friend who's runseveral of them.
But also I became veryinterested when I heard about it
on your podcast.
But we also had planned to cometo Yellowstone this summer and
we actually were planning oncoming in July but when we
realized the half was in June,we actually moved our vacation

(01:22:29):
to June so that George and Icould run the bison double.
We could do the 5K and the half.
So we really got.
I got personally veryinterested in the vacation races
from hearing the owner on Riseand Run and so that's what
really prompted us to move ourvacation so that we could run it

(01:22:49):
.

Speaker 3 (01:22:50):
Very cool.
Now, george, tell us about theterrain of these races, because
I remember back to last week'sreport, our friend Mary said
that she thought the 5K wasgoing to kill her because it was
half or the first half of itwas completely uphill on the
mountain.
Tell us about your experiencein terms of the course, terrain
and the sights that you sawduring your two races this past

(01:23:12):
weekend.

Speaker 6 (01:23:13):
Having never done a vacation race, I really, jen and
I did not know what kind ofterrain we were in for.
She did tell me Jen did tell memaybe a week or two ago, as she
was kind of doing some research, that someone had said it was
kind of a trail race.
So I was fortunate to have apair of trail running shoes, so
I did bring them.
In terms of the terrain for the5k, the first mile or so was on

(01:23:37):
asphalt in the town of WestYellowstone, but then it quickly
went onto a trail.
Um, I, I guess what are firetrails?
Um, in near the park.
So so you're running in in thiswilderness on these trails, um,
that that have you know tworuts, I guess, where tires go
and then and then just dirt andloose rock.

(01:24:00):
Um, so I was thrilled that Ihad my uh with me with a thicker
tread on them, thicker sole.
What I did not anticipate wasthe fact that the terrain is
6,700 feet above sea level andwe live in Baltimore year round,
which is, which is almost sealevel.

(01:24:20):
So, uh, I think both both Jenand I realized within 200 feet
of the 5k, holy crap, the air isreally thin up here.
Um, and and not that we werestruggling to breathe, but it
was.
It was definitely different andI realized, wow, we're running
a half marathon tomorrow in this.
So so the terrain, um, the thetrain for the 5k, like I said.

(01:24:42):
So the terrain for the 5K, likeI said, the first mile was
asphalt.
The last two miles were on thistrail with kind of some of it
was loose gravel but some of itwas just rocks.
On the flip side, the halfmarathon was almost all trail
and a lot of it was uphill but agood bit of it was downhill.
But the downhills were just aschallenging because they're

(01:25:02):
pretty steep downhills with,again, loose rock, uneven
terrain and just really, reallytricky.
I was not going for PR.
I didn't want to get a PR.
I wanted to enjoy the amazingscenery of Yellowstone National
Park and we were rewarded withthat, for sure, stunningly

(01:25:23):
beautiful part of this country.
Um, we did not see any wildlife.
Uh, fortunately, while we wereout running, if you know what
I'm saying uh didn't have to runfrom any bears or running into
any bears right, but uh, butrunning along these rivers and
these trails was amazing, um,but I would definitely say I
would recommend it for anybodythat that wants to do a vacation

(01:25:44):
race.
Very well organized, very, verywell done.
Um, but bring some trail shoes,especially for for Yellowstone.

Speaker 9 (01:25:51):
The half had, um, a lot of Hills and long Hills.
So from mile four and a half toabout six and a half was pretty
much all uphill, Um, and thatwas on kind of like a crushed
trail, um road, I would say Um,and then they said, oh, that's

(01:26:15):
it, that's everything's downhillfrom now.
Except they forgot to tell usbetween mile like nine and 10,
there was another massive hillto get up.

Speaker 1 (01:26:24):
So between the Snuck that one in huh.

Speaker 9 (01:26:27):
Yeah, they did, they did.
But yeah, it was definitely nota PR, but it was beautiful and
just the pine trees and itwasn't.
They're not technically inYellowstone National Park.
It's park adjacent and they'revery clear about that in their
advertising, but it's all.
It's very similar and there's ariver that we ran by that was

(01:26:53):
just so tranquil, it wasabsolutely gorgeous.

Speaker 1 (01:26:56):
Nice.
Yeah, I remember they told usthat when we talked to them,
because the permitting problemsin the park were too great, so
they they run close by, you getthere and you get the same
experience.

Speaker 9 (01:27:08):
I think that's wonderful you definitely get the
feel you don't know that you'renot in the park yeah okay.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
So, uh, you're out in yellowstone.
Uh, when you guys coming back,I guess back, and when are we
going to see you at Disney next?

Speaker 9 (01:27:23):
So we drive back to Bozeman, montana tomorrow and
then we have a flight onThursday morning from Bozeman
back to BWI through Chicago andI'm not sure when we'll be back
for a Disney race.
My husband hasn't done a Disneyrace since 2019.
That was my first half and thethe.

(01:27:45):
I think it was the last StarWars, right, john, it happened
to be our first.

Speaker 1 (01:27:49):
That sounds right.

Speaker 9 (01:27:50):
It was the last I was hoping to do Wine and Dine this
year, but because they changedthe, the timing of it, it
conflicts with his Marine Corpsmarathon.
So I'm thinking about Princess,because that Merida medal is

(01:28:11):
pulling me in the Merida themefor the 5K.
So we'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:28:16):
Registration is coming up Tuesday.

Speaker 9 (01:28:18):
I know I just did the springtime surprise.

Speaker 1 (01:28:22):
Awesome.
Well, look, have a safe tripback.
You're coming back Thursday.
You can listen to the podcast.
It'll be up Thursday morning.

Speaker 9 (01:28:30):
I will.
That'll be my between ride.

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
Give you something to do and, yeah, safe travels.
Glad you had a wonderful timeand thank you for joining us.

Speaker 9 (01:28:40):
Thank you for having us, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:28:42):
Jen and George weren't our only friends out at
that race.
Jessica was there too.
Jessica did the 5K.
She did the 5K on Friday andI'm not sure how this happened,
but she said she made it just intime for the race.
Now she also pointed out thatthe elevation was rough.

(01:29:02):
Pointed out that the elevationwas rough, and I think now,
listening to Jen and George, shewasn't so much talking about
the change in change inelevation during the run.
I think she's talking about thealtitude and the difference in
the air quality, but not quality.
Air pressure is what it reallyis.
Anyway, jessica says it wasworth it.
All right, let's move toSaturday and we'll be in

(01:29:27):
Flushing, new York, for the NewYork Roadrunners.
Queens 10K.
Danielle was there.
Grace, another of Grace'sfavorite races, running through
the sights of the 1939 and 1964World's Fairs by the site of the

(01:29:48):
US Open.
That's always a blast.
Personal aside, I was at the 64World's Fair.
My father was at the 1939World's Fair.

Speaker 3 (01:29:58):
For what it's worth, which Disney attraction was at
the 64 bob was there was, therewere a couple what was that
small world?
Or was the carousel of progress?

Speaker 1 (01:30:08):
it was both, it was both uh and the animatronic abe
lincoln displayed there oh okayand golly.
I think there was one morething and I can't remember it.
The fourth thing never became apark attraction, but I just
could be, I'm not sure.

(01:30:29):
I think Disney did fourdifferent things for that
World's Fair, but yeah,definitely Small World and
Carousel of Progress, andthey're pretty much unchanged in
their current forms.
Anyway, let's see what Gracehas here.
Grace finished at exactly onehour 11 minutes and 11 seconds.

(01:30:50):
Pretty cool, huh.

Speaker 3 (01:30:52):
Absolutely Again.
Good thing it's not that 1313.

Speaker 2 (01:30:57):
Okay, also, it was Ford's Magic Skyway.

Speaker 1 (01:31:01):
Okay, okay, and that didn't.
Thank you, john, john, and thatdidn't translate to the parks
and you could guess it wassponsored by ford oh yeah,
everything was sponsored backthen.
I can't remember what it was.
Let's see.
Jen was there.
Jen called this her potholesand puddles report.
They got rain up there, and Ithink it rained mostly before

(01:31:23):
the event.
It was a little less humid thannormal.
That's not bad.
She managed to stay pretty dry.
She hid before the race, goodfor her.
The rain pretty much startedand stopped by race time, but
then the potholes on the coursewere now tiny lakes.

(01:31:43):
No problem, though.
Jen shaved four minutes off oflast week's time, managed
negative splits.
That's good Now.
Our buddy, rob, was there, andRob left us this report.

Speaker 5 (01:31:57):
Good morning everybody.
This is Rob from Sunrock, newJersey, with a race report from
the New York Roadrunners 10K inFlushing Meadows Park in Queens,
new York.
And it was a rainy day, alittle windy, which was a fit
from the heat we've had the lastcouple of days.
So that was good, was lookingforward to trying to get a good

(01:32:19):
time and you know what, todayjust wasn't my day.
The A goal went away prettyquickly.
The B goal, being my age,wouldn't have worked if this
race were two years from now.
But you know I finished and it'sfine.
I got my four out of six soI'll be in the New York City
half next year.
Laguardia Airport is right nextdoor if you can hear the

(01:32:41):
airplane, but I did get to andthis is a good part.
I did get to run by theUnisphere in Flushing Meadows
Park, which I have to admit ismaybe next to the Disney Castle
my favorite thing to run by inany of these races I've done.
So, listen, you find it goodwhere you can.
Sometimes it's just not yourday.
I hope everybody else hadbetter running and have a great

(01:33:04):
one, take care.

Speaker 2 (01:33:06):
And you know something, bob I never knew it
was called the Unisphere untilnow you didn't?
No, yeah, I call it the globe.

Speaker 1 (01:33:13):
Okay yeah, the men in black thing I was going to say
I think that's what more youngpeople associated with in the 64
World's Fair.
It was the symbol for thatWorld's Fair, the symbol for the
1939 World's Fair, and you haveto look this up the Trilon and
Perisphere.
And I don't think they stillexist.
So you'll have to look that oneup.

(01:33:36):
Let's go north to Nova Scotia,bridgewater, nova Scotia, to be
exact.
Laurie was there running theMichelin Bridgewater Tire Trot.
It was her first race of theweekend.
She had another one on Sunday.
For this race, lori paced afriend who wanted to do a
35-minute 5K Mission.
Accomplished.
Great job, lori.

Speaker 3 (01:33:57):
Does Lori take any weekends off?

Speaker 1 (01:34:00):
No, I don't think so, not on purpose In the winter
when it's two degrees, touche,touche Okay.
Yeah, so yeah, but she's going.
Yeah, we'll hear from her againin just a little bit.
Ella J, georgia hosted the WineRun 5K.
Actually, I think it is a WineRun run 5k.

(01:34:22):
I think there were severalthroughout the country.
Amber amber had been taking abreak from racing but she
couldn't pass up a wine run.
Two loops through thisbeautiful vineyard and at the
winery.
Good place, amanda.

(01:34:49):
Good call girl.
If you're ever visiting nearLAJ, this is a good one.
Stop into that.
It's the Engelheim Vineyard fora visit.
And if you're there on thisweekend for a visit, and if
you're there on this weekend,knock out a 5k.
Newport Ritchie, florida, didthe Rap River Run 5k and 10k.

(01:35:09):
Let's see.
Laura Ann was there.
Stuck to her new intervals.
Now, gang, it's hot.
Newport Ritchie is a little bitnorth of here, but not much
it's hot.
She got a better 5k time thanshe has had in almost the last
two years.
Good job there.
Cynthia, who goes by Sin, had aPR goal.

(01:35:32):
Didn't quite get there.
Again, it's not PR time rightnow.
Mentioned that the course didprovide some shade.
Good water stops on this 5k.
Some shade Good water stops onthis 5k.
Race etiquette wasn't the best.
Folks are running five across.
She said she was getting upset,ran the last two tenths of a
mile madder than a hornet andfinished with a pretty fast two

(01:35:57):
tenths of a mile.
So Laura, ann and Sin did the5k.
Andrea did the 10K.
It's been a while since she'srun this event.
She's happy to do it again.
This run benefits the youth andfamily advocates and Andrea is
a strong advocate for thatorganization so she's glad to

(01:36:18):
run it.
And Stephanie did the 10K.
Shady course a lot of waterstops that helped After the race
.
A lot of water stops thathelped After the race.
Plenty of beverages, hot dogsand catering by Carrabba's
Italian restaurant.
You guys got Carrabba's upthere right.

Speaker 3 (01:36:32):
Yeah, it's a national chain.

Speaker 1 (01:36:32):
Yeah, it's a national chain I thought it was
Stephanie recommends this one toanybody in the Tampa area.
I don't know, stephanie.
It's kind of hot to be runningIf I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:36:41):
Stephanie, it's kind of hot to be running.
If I had my druthers, though,and I had to pick national chain
Italian food, I think I'd haveto go the OG, because I don't
think Carabas does unlimitedsoup, salad and breadsticks.

Speaker 1 (01:36:54):
Well, you're probably right about that.

Speaker 3 (01:36:56):
And that's a game changer.
Now the last time I was at anestablishment like that, God,
it's probably been over a decade.

Speaker 2 (01:37:02):
My mom would disown me.

Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:37:05):
I figured as much.

Speaker 1 (01:37:07):
Yeah, that's the deal here too.
We have other, more authenticplaces, so we haven't been to
either for a while.
But listen, another race inFlorida, and I'm surprised at
this the Burn your Half OffFlorida.

Speaker 3 (01:37:22):
I don't think you enunciated correctly there, Bob.

Speaker 1 (01:37:24):
Oh, I think I did.
Hannah ran a 10K, hot and humid.
Yes, it was Felt great when shefinished.
Course support was amazing.
Race director pushed safety,which is what he should have
done.
Kept the runners as cool aspossible and hydrated.

(01:37:45):
Again, no PR, but really happywith their finish time.
You know what I say summertraining, fall PRs.
You don't knock out a lot ofsummer PRs.
It's tough.
Let's get back to Canada.
From Florida to Canada, we're Iguess we're snowboarding.
Anyway, midland, ontario, theButter Tart Trot Half Marathon.

(01:38:08):
Nicole ran that half.
And here you go, a littlecooler in Canada.
New Half Marathon PR, just alittle over two hours.
That's a new POT for her.
Now her husband, zach, ran a10K, won his age group.
Way to go, guys.

(01:38:30):
Nicely done.

Speaker 3 (01:38:31):
You know, I just looked this up because I never
heard of a butter tart before.
Okay, and have you guys ever?

Speaker 1 (01:38:38):
heard of it or?

Speaker 3 (01:38:39):
had one before.

Speaker 1 (01:38:41):
No, I didn't even think about it.
No.

Speaker 3 (01:38:43):
And looking at a photo here, it almost kind of
looks like a little mini pecanpie.

Speaker 1 (01:38:48):
Okay, Sounds good, man.
One more on Saturday Conway,south Carolina, ed's Hurricane
Hustle 5K on the campus ofCoastal Carolina University.
Allie, without an E, was there.
Anne talked her whole familyinto joining her for a 5K race

(01:39:12):
while they're on vacation inMyrtle Beach.
All right, allie, way to go.
Allie's younger daughter, emilyEmily and she ran together.
Her older daughter, hannah, andher husband Joe, walked the
event.
They're pretty hot and humid inSouth Carolina but Allie

(01:39:33):
managed to finish eighth out of31 in her age group.
That's a good job, nicely done.
Let's go to Sunday, back toFlorida, for the ironically
named Cool Summer Mornings 5KSummer Series.
Now summer is spelledS-O-M-M-E-R, s-o-m-m-e-r.

(01:39:55):
Somebody's name, somebody'sname with a crazy sense of humor
, I think.
But this is race number one.
There's four in the series.
Kayla was there.
The temperature was 80 as sheleft the house at 5 am.
Yep, sounds about right.
Summer is definitely here.
Definitely not a time to PR inFlorida.

(01:40:16):
Tracy ran it, pushed throughthe heavy heat and humidity and
finished age group third.
Good job, tracy.
Let's go over to the UK.
I hope Morpeth is the properpronunciation for this place
because I don't want my buddyAndy to be upset because he did

(01:40:38):
the Morpeth 10K.
Morpeth Morpeth I don't know Inthe future.
Morpeth Morpeth I don't know Inthe future.
Apparently he got a note fromJack Because in the future he
really needs to check the coursechanges of elevation, as this
one was really hilly out in theback.

Speaker 3 (01:40:53):
This is happening way too often.
We have warned you for years tonever pull a Jack and you
people are pulling Jacks.

Speaker 1 (01:41:00):
Come on, that's cool when you become a verb.

Speaker 2 (01:41:04):
I know, but the flyer looked green.

Speaker 1 (01:41:06):
That's not a verb.
That's not a verb, that's anoun.
Okay, pulling a jack.
Pull is the verb, jack's thenoun, okay.
Anyway, a lot of spectators atthe start and finish line.
Andy squeaked in before thehour mark at 58.18.
That's not squeaking in, that'ssolidly getting in on the hour.
Yeah, good job, enjoyable event.
Keeps his training going.

(01:41:28):
He thinks he needs a littlehill work and maybe some speed
work if he wants to get quicker.
Yeah, but nevertheless, andy,that's pretty good.
Let's go to Fairport Harbor,ohio.
The Lighthouse Half Marathon.
Lori did her second post-kneereplacement half marathon 17

(01:41:51):
minutes faster than the firstone, better than a mile.
She's picking it up.
I think that's great, lori.
I think you're doingterrifically well, wonderfully
well.
Early on she said she got going.
She felt like Forrest Gumpwhere he ran out of his leg
braces.
Then she had to tell herselfslow down, you got a lot of
miles left.

(01:42:11):
She did well, though.
Her husband Peter was there.
A lot of help at mile eight andshe knocked that one out.
Good job, lori.
Caitlin was there also.
Pretty flat course, basic routearound town into the
countryside.
Nice crowd support at thefinish line.
Watermelon as a post-race treat.

(01:42:35):
I think there should be a lawmandating watermelon either
after or during.
It's great, it's great whenyou're out there running
Watermelon's just terrific.

Speaker 3 (01:42:46):
Do you know how to pick a good watermelon though,
Bob?

Speaker 1 (01:42:49):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:42:50):
Okay, now are you more of a?
Do you want a watery watermelon, or do you want a sweet one,
sweet, okay.
So if you want sweet, you wantone that's more round.
You don't want those really big, long ones?
Okay, then you've got to makesure on the underbelly of it
that you've got a nice yellowcircle.

Speaker 1 (01:43:12):
Oh, where it's sitting on the ground.

Speaker 3 (01:43:13):
Yep.
And then if you see somewebbing in there, like Grant, it
may look deformed, but ifyou've got some webbing in there
, that's also really good aswell too, and then that
guarantees you a nice sweetwatermelon.
All right, good, there you go.
What about cantaloupe?

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
cantaloupe um.

Speaker 3 (01:43:29):
Okay, so what you do with cantaloupe is you press on
the on the top, and if it hassome give, then it's a good one.
Trust me, I agree.
I know this goes back to lastweek's episode, but when I was
in high school and in college Iused to work in the produce
department uh okay for for thegrocery store.
So that, hence why I know someof these things.
So, and if you're interested,the plu code for bananas is 40

(01:43:53):
produce pete over here.

Speaker 1 (01:43:55):
When I when I was stationed in hawaii I played a
lot of golf with the army golfcourses and met a lot of friends
.
I played with a fellow whoworked for dole and he says
people are always asking me howcan I tell if a pineapple is
going to be sweet?
He says it's very simple youcut it open and you take a piece
.
This bit about pulling theleaves, he goes, that doesn't

(01:44:15):
work.
So anyway, let's see.
Caitlin was happy State number11 off of her list for half
marathons and half marathonnumber 20.
Here we go, Lori's back Secondrace of the weekend, the Johnny
Miles Race Weekend Half Marathonin Nova Scotia.

(01:44:36):
Ran it with a great friend, hadan age group second place finish
.
Nice job, Lori.
Lori had a 2.10 goal, ran 2.11on a hot day and remember my
definition, and I mean thissincerely if you live in Canada,
I don't care what thetemperature is.
If you think it's hot, by gollyit's hot.

(01:44:59):
I probably wouldn't if it camedown here.
But it was 2.11 on a hot day.
That's a good run, Lori.
Way to go.
Let's wrap up the race reporthere in Boston, Massachusetts,
with the Waterfront 5K.
Lauren ran it.
The course went through theseaport area of Boston.

(01:45:19):
Gorgeous harbor views and thesmell of dead fish.
That's rugged, especially ifyou're running, you know,
breathing through your oh, it'stough, that's a tough one.
Good job, Good job.
Uh, finishing that one, Lauren,Lauren, there we go, there we

(01:45:40):
go, friends.
That's the race report forepisode 195.
That does it, my friends.
Episode 195 is in the books.
We sure had fun with this one.
We hope you enjoyed it as muchas we did, Friends, and if you
run, you know you are our friend.

(01:46:01):
This is a Zoom Thursday.
We hope to see you there.
Information on how to log in ispinned to the featured section
of our Facebook page.
Well, it happens every year.
We finish springtime and we go.
Oh, my goodness, it's going tobe a long time until we start

(01:46:22):
training again and the nextthing, we know it, we start
training again.
So happy training and happyrunning.

Speaker 3 (01:46:39):
The Rise and Run podcast discusses general
information about Run Disney andis in no way affiliated with
Run Disney or the Walt DisneyCompany.
Any information or advicediscussed on this podcast should
not be considered medicaladvice and should always consult
with your health care provideror event organizer.
You.