198: Full of Helium and Insight: A Chat with runDisney's Balloon Ladies

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
3 am again.
Why did I ever think this was agood idea?
Welcome to the Rise and Runpodcast.
Join our group of Run Disneyfriends.
As we talk about running atWalt Disney World and beyond.
We'll discuss recent runs,training, upcoming races and

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

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hi, this is Riley and you're listening to the Rise
and Run podcast.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
Who in the world was Greg?
Who the heck was that?

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh, some random kid, john, found on the side of the
road.
Did you wake her up to do thatlive?
No, in theory she had beenawake for several hours because,
if you remember, we got wokenup by the fire alarm at Animal
Kingdom.
Lodge the morning before the 5K.
So we were all bright-eyed andbushy-tailed that morning.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Nice.
Well, friends, that's Greg'sdaughter, riley, with our
introduction to episode 198 ofthe Rise and Run podcast.
Thanks for joining us.
We're so glad that you're here.
By the way, we're out of introsagain, so when John gives you
that phone number here in just alittle bit you can call us.

(01:24):
You've been calling it to leaveus episode 200 messages.
You can call it to leave us anintro.
Friends, welcome, I'm Bob, andthis week for episode 198, I'm
here with Jack.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Hiya.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
With Craig hey, hey, hey.
With Alicia, hello.
And with John hey Bob.
How you doing?
So far, so good, john, Iappreciate it.
Friends, this week we continuedown the path of revisiting with
old friends of the podcast, theBalloon Ladies, molly and

(01:58):
Kathleen.
Return you don't want to missthat.
That's a lot of fun.
Return, you don't want to missthat.
That's a lot of fun.
Race Report Spotlight's goingto take a vacation this week
because we had a holiday and, bygolly, I didn't remember this
many races on July 4th.
But, friends, you neverdisappoint.
You lit up the race reports onFacebook so we got a bunch of

(02:23):
them.
Too many July 4 races to do aspotlight this week.
We'll return to the race reportspotlight next week.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
If you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast, please share
it with your friends andintroduce them to the Rise and
Run family.
We want to share you're in yourrun Disney journey.
Please remember to follow us onFacebook at Rise and Run
Podcast, on Instagram at Riseand Run Pod.
Check out our YouTube channeland visit our webpage,
riseandrunpodcastcom.
If you have any questions,comments, race report or want to

(02:53):
introduce an upcoming episode,call us at 727-266-2344 and
leave us a recorded message.

Speaker 6 (03:01):
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, go ahead and check
out patreoncom slash rise andrun podcast the rise and run
podcast is sponsored by ourfriends over at magic bound
travel.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
I.
I know we're getting ready togear up for the run Disney
season but, believe it or not,dave recording Disney themselves
announced all of the wonderfulthings that are want to be able
to celebrate that down at WaltDisney World with whether that's

(03:47):
the Candlelight Processional ora Mickey's Very Merry Christmas
Party or the new JollywoodNights.
If you want to be able to doany of those things maybe just
after Wine and Dine this year,but before Marathon Weekend be
sure to visit our friends overat magic bound travel.

(04:08):
Magic bound travelcom is thewebsite they can get you that
free, no obligation quote.
Be sure to go check them out.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah, good point, greg, you know.
You know what I just did.
Next July 4th is the nation's250th birthday.
I thought Disney World would bea great place to see the
fireworks for 250.
So I reserved a room for nextJuly.

(04:38):
Another thing I wanted to remindour friends about.
You know we haven't talked muchabout the cruise lately.
You know we haven't talked muchabout the cruise lately, but
those of you who are going onthe cruise and Alicia and I were
talking about this earlier youdon't absolutely have to have a
passport, and if you want to seethe requirements for traveling

(05:03):
without a passport, they're onthe Royal Caribbean site.
But it's a lot easier if youhave one Now.
Ours expired this spring and Iwent online to renew them and
golly, I heard all the horrorstories about how long it takes.
They took about 10 days andthey're in the mail already.
I expect to get them this week.
Nevertheless, if you'retraveling and you want to look

(05:24):
at your passport, now's the timeto take care of that.
Don't let that go, because nextthing you know you'll be at the
last minute and having to payfor the expedited service.
Let us take a look at thetrading calendar.

(05:45):
We are looking at theDisneyland Halloween and we look
at the challenge race numbers.
Hey, disneyland Halloween fansand friends, you're eight weeks
away from starting next runDisney season.
You're in training week number10.
And if you're doing thechallenge, you've got to double

(06:05):
up this weekend two milesfollowed by nine and a half
miles.
Two mile walk, nine and a halfrun, walk at long run pace, wine
and Dine.
15 weeks away, training weeknumber three your long run this

(06:26):
weekend is three miles Stillearly in that training schedule.
And for the Walt Disney WorldMarathon weekend yeah, we're 26
weeks away that's right half ayear away from the Walt Disney
World Marathon weekend.
This is training week numbertwo.
World Marathon weekend this istraining week number two.

(06:47):
Again, we're giving you thenumbers from the experienced
runner training plans that RunDisney has.
If you are doing the marathon,the experienced runner schedule
has a seven mile long run thisweekend and if you're doing
dopey, it's got a four mile longrun.
Now, like I said last week, Ihaven't figured that out yet,
but as we go forward I thinkit'll make more sense.

(07:09):
So, since we're talkingtraining, we're well into it now
.
We're training for those threeevents and we're into the second
week of marathon training.
How's it going, friends?

Speaker 7 (07:23):
So I actually haven't been running Um after I got
back from the cruise and did theCastaway Key 5k um, I've been
having some back problems.
So I have been just trying towork with my body and seeing
where I'm at um and slowlygetting back into it.
So for about the last monthI've consistently been doing

(07:43):
yoga every day.
I've only missed like a coupledays here and there and I've
been trying to get back intowalking.
And so what's today, tuesday?
So yesterday I did a 45 minutewalk and it went okay.
I didn't have any back pain.
I'm going to go again tomorrowtomorrow and hope that it goes

(08:05):
okay, and if I can get all threewalks, I'm hoping that maybe
next week I can run it a littlebit and things will be okay.
But my message to everybody isif you're having something
that's going on, just be patientwith your body.
I know it's hard, but it'sbetter to be patient and do what
it can do than try and do toomuch and get hurt worse.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
So yeah, patience is key.
I like to tell friends who arerecovering from injuries do not
measure your progress in days.
Measure it in weeks.
Weeks rather than days, monthrather than weeks.
Progress is not linear.
You're going to improve andthen you're going to fall back a
little bit.

(08:51):
When I was coming back from someinjuries, one of the things I
did and it depends on where youlive, but this worked for me I
would walk the equivalent of ablock and then, when I came to
the street, I would jog acrossthe street.
So I mean, that's almost like afive second run, 45 second walk
, or something like that.
But that was a way of startingfor me, that I broke it down

(09:13):
that way.
So you can give that a try.
Uh, let's see, I'm notrecovering from anything.
I ended up with my own littlemini challenge this week in
terms of training.
I ended up with my own littlemini challenge this week in
terms of training.
Didn't plan to do it this way.
It just worked out.
Tuesday, thursday, saturday isnormal for me, but I had a race
this Friday, july 4th, which Iwill go into some detail about

(09:37):
later.
It's a good story.
So I ended up what I did OnThursday I walked two miles.
On Friday I splashed slash,hawk, slash, ranch slash,
treaded water for four miles.
And then, uh, saturday I had 10miles, did it at long run pace.

(10:00):
As I've told you before, I takethat speed limit thing
seriously.
So did the 10 miles.
That starts getting hot here.
I walk it in, but I'm still.
I'm still getting within myspeed limits, doing fine, making

(10:22):
progress.
That's the key to this keepyour training on schedule and
keep making progress.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
I started.
Well, I haven't.
I didn't run this weekend.
I had a lot of things going onwith the weekend, but I did
start Tom's program this week.

Speaker 8 (10:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
His training program.
I took it easy.
I did not try to, you know, setthe records of what I had, what
I had before.
When I finished up the last oneI dialed it back so that I'm
not going out there and hurtingmyself and setting myself back
for anything else.
But it, it was fun, it wasinteresting.

(10:58):
He had a good little workoutfor me and I'm going to try that
.
And then also I add a little,uh, balance exercises and, you
know, hip training for my hipsto help keep everything loose,
because that's one of thebiggest problems I find when
those get tight, everythingbelow just starts to hurt.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Yeah, you guys who are getting older, you know your
hips and your balance.
It starts to go.
So it's good that you'reworking on that, john.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
I'm glad you're doing .
Once you hit 45, it's alldownhill I found you guys got a
couple.
You guys got a couple years togo.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Oh, golly, that's not true.
You too, you too, bob, you got.
Yeah, that may be true, but uh,no, 45.
Come on, man, you're in theprime.
That's good stuff I.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
I just wanted to provide a quick update from what
I had chatted about last weekis?
You know, bobby, you and I hada conversation about the magic
half mile and whether youthought it was in lockstep and
not.
You know, I thought it was alittle, a little too fast for me
so I I channeled our um ourfriend caroline, who loves to
negotiate with Coach.

Speaker 7 (12:05):
Twiggs.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
And I was like.
You know, this is such a bigimprovement I don't know if this
is realistic.
And he shot back at me.
Greg, you're going to have tocome to the realization that
you're getting faster.
You are.
So I was like yes, sir.
So I've been trying out the newpaces for the past week and I

(12:29):
must say and it kind of took meback a little bit to our
listener question episode thatwe had a few weeks ago when we
talked about imposter syndrome,because I am.
I'm not there yet, but when itcomes to the half marathon
distance and the 10 milerdistance, my magic mile is now

(12:51):
telling me that my race paceshould be in the low tens.

Speaker 8 (12:56):
And I don't think.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
I've ever seen that before in the time that I've
been with customized training,time that I've been with
customized training.
So you know, so there's part ofme that is trying to get over
this mental hurdle of you know.
Am I going to be able toachieve that?
And then, if so, am I going tobe able to achieve that?

(13:19):
For an extended period of time,and I've been trying to
mentally work with myself to belike, okay, in the these last
two runs.
Yes, I have hit those paces.
Do I feel terrible afterwards?
Absolutely.
But conversely, I can't judgeeverything based off of one week

(13:41):
of new paces.
It's going to take time to getused to these new paces and
there will be days where I willnot hit those paces, and that's
okay.
So I think I just need to keepreminding myself and my friends
and my co-hosts here, justreminding me that new paces like
this do take time.
It's not going to instantly cometo you.

(14:02):
So that's where I'm at in mytraining cycle.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
No, but it makes sense to me that you're getting
faster for a variety of reasons.
You got two curves that areintersecting with one another.
One is your training is gettingbetter and two, your weight's
coming down and those things.
That's a good tandem, brother.
That's a good thing to do.
Sean talked about working withTom.

(14:25):
I'm also doing that.
I got to work on my weight.
I get lazy and it's easy to putweight on, so I'm I'm working
on losing some of that, butthat's all good.
Greg, I think that soundsterrific and congratulations on
that.
Thank you, hey, uh, run Disneydid us favor, as if we needed
something to talk about thisweek.

(14:46):
But Run Disney, instead ofdropping the themes for an
upcoming race weekend on like aWednesday which they've done
sometime they dropped them intime for us to talk about
springtime surprise themes.
What do we think, my friends?

Speaker 7 (15:02):
I'm so confused of what to do Really.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
All right, give us the conundrum alicia okay.

Speaker 7 (15:10):
So I literally told john this year you are smart you
only did the 10 miler.
That's what I'm gonna do nextyear.
I was all set only the 10 milergreat distance.
And then the themes came outand I love winning the pool.
I know right, okay, but if I dothe 10k and the 10 miler, I

(15:30):
might as well do the 5k.
But I really, really, reallylike the yoga and I said I
wasn't gonna get up for the yogabefore the cruise.
But now I'm like, well, maybe Ido the 10k, the 10 miler and
the yoga and that's about thesame price as the challenge,
because I don't really need thechallenge medal or the 5K.
And so I'm like I don't knowwhat to do?

Speaker 1 (15:50):
I have never seen you this conflicted before.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
I know, I know that's how you know Disney did it
right, right, good point.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
It's the big change they made after last springtime,
where they changed the date onus for yoga, yoga right yeah,
that's.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
Yeah, that's pretty sneaky, I gotta admit.
I thought the artwork for theyoga was pretty cute oh yeah,
not.
Yeah, I'm not doing it I'm notdoing, not that cute, but I
thought it was pretty cute uh,that's, that's a weekend.
I like to do that challenge.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
I like that weekend challenge yeah, it's a good
challenge like you, alicia, I amconflicted not in terms of what
I'm going to run.
I I know I am.
I am locked in for pulling ajohn and just doing the the 10
miler.
What I'm conflicted on is how Ifeel about the themes.
Now, granted, I know we went onthis whole diatribe during
princess about, you know, atheme should not dictate how you

(16:45):
should, you know, make yourdecisions because obviously,
regardless of what the theme waswhen it got released, I knew I
was going to run the 10 milerbecause I love run disney, I
love my friends and I loverunning with my friends, so that
really didn't matter.
But obviously we're on apodcast, so I'm going to talk
about my thoughts and feelingswhen it comes to this.
And I'm conflicted in the ideaof.

(17:07):
I'm really excited and I'mreally over the moon that they
have now started dipping intointellectual property.
That has never been done withone disney before right
especially with zootopia, andthey're gonna just be printing
money when it comes to the 10kstuff and with winnie the pooh

(17:31):
now my only caveat there, though, is if I'm because, you know,
the whole thing is dynamic duosto me.
I find the dynamic duo ofwinnie the pooh being poo and
piglet, not poo and Tigger, butI understand.
I think Tigger sells moremerchandise than Piglet does.
So I get that, but then on theflip side of it, I'm like the

(17:53):
10-miler theme and the challengetheme, for as innovative as I
thought the 5K and the 10K were,I thought those two were lazy.

Speaker 6 (18:02):
Yeah, okay, because.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
I can't remember what race it is during Disneyland.
Maybe it's the half marathon.
I know it's one of them.
They're using Joy forDisneyland in 2026.

Speaker 6 (18:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
And then with Genie and Aladdin.
I can't remember the race, butI remember Genie was the
challenge I think it was for awine and dine a couple of years
ago and obviously Jasmine.
I know Jasmine's not part ofthe challenge, but Jasmine gets
usually featured in PrincessWeekend, so I felt like there
were other duos that they couldhave gone with.

(18:40):
When I saw this thing of duos,I was like Kermit and fozzy
would have been like a reallyreally good dynamic duo.
So I I'm, you know, like I said, really, really conflicted on
that.
I will say, though, now, while Ithink inside out is kind of
lazy because I'm only going todo one race this weekend, I'm

(19:01):
actually glad that I'm doing theinside out because, going back
to the person who gave us ourintro today, not I don't know
how many people know this, butmy daughter, riley, is named
after riley because of thatmovie.
Oh, I love that.
Um, you know, my wife waspregnant when we went to go see
that movie and it emotionallyjust filled us with all of the

(19:26):
emotions and I was like rileywas a really cool kid in that
movie and I was like I thinkthat should be our daughter's
name and my wife agreed and sothat that movie in that
franchise really holds a specialplace in my heart.
So I'm looking forward togetting that medal and that
shirt and everything like that.
But, like I said, I was justreally, really conflicted on

(19:47):
that.
Um, although my my mini, mini,mini, tiny rant though is, I was
looking at the pricing.
Now I understand, in thiseconomy, pricing is going up and
up and up.
The thing I don't understand,though, was, in comparing
weekend to weekend, the price ofjust the 10 miler is 10 cheaper

(20:09):
than the half marathon duringmarathon weekend.
To me, I don't understand howthey can charge that price when
you're gonna get a 5k less ofentertainment and race.
I I'm still trying to figure outthat pricing structure and how
they how they figure that out,you know, especially because

(20:31):
there's always such a like a, asmall price gap between, like,
the half marathon and themarathon during marathon weekend
.
Obviously it's, you know, getdouble the distance.
But that was.
That was the only thing thatkind of rubbed me the wrong way
was when I saw that price.
But again, I understand.
Number one it's Disney, it'sthis economy.
Obviously, the race iscontinuing to sell out, so why
not charge more?

Speaker 4 (20:50):
money.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
But that was just like.
Oh, it's like I know I'm goingto pay it, but maybe
begrudgingly pay it.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
You know a duo they could have done.
That would have been reallycool is like Ken and Barbie from
the toy store movies.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Oh, that would have been a cute one.

Speaker 6 (21:05):
Yeah, and then you can have it where it opens up
and it's a new outfit they'rewearing, like their tropical
vacation wear or something likethat.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Well, let's go over the John, because I think John's
going to be a little depressed.

Speaker 6 (21:17):
Sorry.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Well, I am kind of not depressed because I don't
really.
I don't have to do the whole.
I depressed because I don'treally.
I don't have to do the whole, Idon't have to do the whole
weekend now oh good point ohyeah but if you really wanted a
dynamic duo, anakin and Ahsoka,come on, you could get your Star
Wars in there.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
That's fair.
But you know, but no, that'snot gonna happen next year.
I'm telling you that next yearis the anniversary year.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, no 77, so two more years for is when they're
oh, oh that's right, we'vetalked about it it's the Star
Wars anniversary.
Yes, it would this year is theanniversary for Springtime
Surprise, which, for the secondrace week in a row, they made
zero mention of an anniversary,which I think is it was bizarre.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's not an anniversary anymore, right.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I guess so.
But you know, john, I wasthinking of you in terms because
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, I'm always thinking about everybody.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
But for a long time I was saying that take it to the
bank.
The fifth anniversary ofSpringtime Surprise is going to
be Star Wars.
And obviously it wasn't.
And I think I now know why alittle bit, because I was
listening to our friends Kristenand Devin their podcast, the
Run Fit Fab podcast.

(22:31):
They had Carissa Galloway on acouple of weeks ago and they
were asking her what herfavorite themes are and costumes
that she's worn and everything,and she was saying that it's
actually difficult to do starwars themes because lucasfilm
has such a strong say over whatcharacters and phrases and and

(22:59):
visuals can be used during, um,those races.
So now I think it makes moresense as to why, like for
Disneyland last year, it wasjust the Ahsoka 10K as opposed
to a full on Star Wars weekend.
So they probably just don'twant to go through that hassle
or anything like that.
But, john, I will continue tokeep my fingers crossed for you

(23:22):
for 2027, that you get your atleast some semblance of Star
Wars, hopefully.

Speaker 6 (23:28):
Hey, john, there's nothing but hope.
I love Star Wars.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Changing just a little bit.
I think the themes look greatAgain.
It's very rare that a themewill make me run a race or not
want to run a race, but Ithought they looked great.
The artwork looked great.
My favorite thing that came outtoday, however, was the caveat
for those who intend to dresslike poo.

Speaker 6 (23:54):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
I got a hot take on that one too, let's hear it,
John.
Well, first explain what it is,John, what the warning was.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
So if you're running as Pooh, you must wear pants.
Okay, but they don't say thatabout other characters, donald.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Duck doesn't wear pants.
That's a very good point.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Shippendale the rescue rangers don't wear pants.
Launch Pit McQuack wears pantsfor some reason.
I don't understand that one,but you know everyone else.
If you're a duck character, youdon't need pants.
If you're a chipmunk, you don'tneed pants, but if you're
running as Pooh, you gotta wearpants.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Why are they discriminating against bears?

Speaker 4 (24:39):
I don't understand this.
What about Jimmy the Cricket?
Does he wear pants?

Speaker 6 (24:44):
Actually I think he does, yeah, he does, yeah, yeah,
yeah, he wears a tracksuit.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
Okay, oh good.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Wait, did you see the other caveat?

Speaker 6 (24:56):
What's the other caveat?

Speaker 2 (24:58):
The POT.

Speaker 6 (24:59):
What is it?

Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, that was a mistake, I think, oh, okay
because the proof of time.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
What did you see, John?

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Proof of time required for starting group
placement, if you claim you willfinish a half marathon in one
hour and 55 minutes or less.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, that was a mistake.
That should say 10 miles.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah, correct, that's what it was last year, because
I remember I was able to submita proof of time for the
challenge last year and it wasstill the 155.
Yeah, so that was definitely atypo.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Okay, that was key.
I mean that's big for.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
Yeah, that's a quick half marathon, yeah.

Speaker 6 (25:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, but no, I'm sure that's incorrect.
I'm sure that's your cutofftime for 10 miles, not for a
half, because that's about what11 minutes a mile for a 10-miler
or something like that in theballpark.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, I think it's like around 11 and a half.

Speaker 8 (25:49):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Alright, so now Grant , I know she's not here tonight,
but Lexi said that she is goingto be gunning for the challenge
.
I'm locked in for the 10-miler.
What's everyone else's plan?

Speaker 4 (26:06):
I like for the 10 miler.
What's everyone else's plan?
I, I will.
I like that challenge and Iwill probably do it, unless
something happens to change mymind between now registration
time.

Speaker 7 (26:10):
I still don't know.
Ask me when it's the day thatyou'll be there.
You'll be there yes, I will bethere.
I will be doing something, Ijust don't know what I think
we'll all be there.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
I, I keep, I don't forget, but I just doesn't pop
into my mind.
That's the race weekend that weget on the ship on Monday, yep,
so that's a big deal.
That's exciting.

Speaker 6 (26:35):
And John, you're in for just the 10?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
I don't know what I want to do.
I mean, I might just do a 10miler, you know, depending on
what I feel like.
I mean, I didn't sign up forspringtime till like last minute
last year, so we'll see whathappens.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
You know what.
Thank you for bringing that up,john, because that was the
other thing I wanted to talkabout with.
The theme is, I know I forgetwhat we were chatting about, but
I remember saying somethingalong the lines of, like they
really need to come up with agreat theme.
I don't know if they're worriedabout it or not, but you know,
usually the past couple ofspringtimes, day of registration

(27:15):
, the 10 miler and the challengeusually don't sell out and I,
you know, like I've alwaysthought, okay, well, you know
they, they have the proof in thepudding now of you know,
several years in a row of thatnot happening.
I wonder if they would come upwith a really incredible theme

(27:38):
to be able to make this like anyother registration day.
And I'm like is Dynamic Duo isreally going to do it?
And I don't think it will, butI'll be pleasantly surprised if
it does, though.

Speaker 6 (27:46):
It's still creative, though, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I mean I'm pretty sure that the 5K and the 10K
will sell out.
I mean especially the 10K.

Speaker 6 (27:54):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
But I'll be interested to see how that all
goes down.
But you know, bob, something Ijust thought of if you're going
to do a Zoom for registrationday, we probably should get
MagicBound in that Zoom forregistration day.
We probably should getMagicBound in that Zoom, so not
only can everyone ask theirquestions about registration,
but they can also ask questionsabout the cruise as well.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, that's fine, they're always welcome.
I'll send them a specialinvitation, but yeah, they're
always welcome.
That's three weeks away, guys.
It's three weeks from the daythat we're recording his
registration, day 19 days fromthe day that this podcast
releases.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
I was talking to a Run Disney volunteer after
springtime this year and we weretalking about like the weather.
It's one of the reasons why shesaid you're never going to see
another half marathon atspringtime is because of the
weather and the heat.
It's warm yeah.
Yeah, half marathon atspringtime is because of the
weather and the heat.
It's warm, yeah, yeah, andthat's probably another reason
why people you know running afive and a 10 K is you know

(28:54):
you're out there for what?
An hour an hour, 20 minutestops on those races, maybe a 10
milers a long distance in thatheat.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
But you know what, though the, the, though the, the
, every weekend that disneyhosts, there's always something
very truly special about it.
In this specific weekend, Iknow it may seem like it's not
like the one that everybody goesto, in the sense that it
doesn't sell out as quickly assome of the other ones, because
probably the heat, but it islike the party, oh yeah, the

(29:28):
stress is gone of any sort, itfeels like, and, granted, I
would love to be there.
I haven't said it yet, but I amunfortunately not going to be
doing it.
I was only going to sign up forthe Star Wars weekend.
They almost got me with PoohBear and I love Zootopia, but I
am saving up for a Disney racethat is not in the States.

(29:51):
I'm going to be trying for HongKong Disneyland.
Okay, Cool.
Yeah.
Very nice and it looks likeit's the same weekend as Wine
and Dine, the last two Hong KongDisney races that they've had.

Speaker 7 (30:04):
Oh interesting.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
It's not technically run Disney.

Speaker 6 (30:07):
So I can't say I'm doing run Disney.
But it's super cheap.
It's only like $60, $70 for theraces.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
So all you have to do is buy the airplane flight to
Hong Kong and you save $30 on arace.

Speaker 6 (30:23):
But here's my thing, though, is I have a travel
credit card.
Yeah, and I don't use any of mymiles.
So if I just put all my milestowards the race weekend, then
all I do is have to do the hotel, the park tickets and that.
And the park tickets are onlylike $65, $70 per day and if you
stay two or more nights at thehotels, they actually give you a
discount to stay at the hotelswith the tickets included.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
Jackass sounds smart.

Speaker 6 (30:48):
Sounds smart.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Stay at the hotels with the tickets included
jackass sounds smart, soundssmart sounds like.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, sounds good.
You know, has anyone startedthinking about costumes yet?

Speaker 2 (30:55):
well, I, know it's happening already I wasn't.

Speaker 6 (30:59):
I wasn't gonna, you know, wear proper race shorts.
If I was gonna run for poo, Iwas just gonna, you know, run in
my underwear, but you knowyou're gonna run.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
You gotta run there yeah, there you go.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
I like that, john, I like that?

Speaker 1 (31:12):
that was cute I showed I showed riley the uh,
the artwork for the 10 miler andshe just looked me dead in the
eye and she's like you have todress up as joy.
And I was like, okay, I'll,I'll channel my inner britney
charbonbonneau here.
And then the thought washedover me of, hey, remember that

(31:32):
time that I wore a blue wigduring Springtime Surprise last
year, and I said I would neverrun in a blue wig again.
Somebody tells me I'm going tobe running in a blue wig during.
Springtime Surprise.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
You'll be okay.
Yeah, I've done wigs, you'll befine.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
I said, I picture already the girls got the
costumes ready for the 10K andBob's going to be Christopher
Robinson.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
Christopher Robin.
I hadn't thought about that.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
That's so adorable.
I saw it already.
That's it.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Oh my god, there's so many ideas.
If you had a big group youcould do the Heffalumps and
Woozles.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
Oh my gosh, that'd be cute we need the uh council of
costumes back yes, we do, andactually this would be the
perfect opportunity.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Speaking of britney, remember how we she was talking
about she could be kanga, andyeah, hugo could be right, right
, she has her in now there yougo

Speaker 4 (32:24):
right, if you're listening, there you go, britney
.
Good suggestion from greg.
All right, friends, look,that's it.
And you know what?
Springtime's prize, last raceof the season.
Man, where did the season go?
Seems like it hasn't started.
Oh, it hasn't started yet.
Okay, all right, listen, let's.
Let's go down the road.

(32:44):
We've been on the last coupleweeks and visit with some old
Rise and Run friends.
Friends, if you have run a RunDisney race, you've probably
seen our next guests off in thedistance or maybe right behind
you, moving along steady 16minute per mile pace and serving

(33:09):
as a gentle reminder to keepgoing.
That's right, my friends.
The Balloon Ladies are back.
They were with us in episode 51back in September of 2022.
And we actually replayed thatepisode once.
But as we celebrate closing inon the 200th episode, we wanted

(33:30):
to invite them back, just as wehave with other friends from the
first couple hundred episodes.
Beloved by many, feared by someand absolutely essential to the
Run Disney experience, theBalloon Ladies are more than
just pace markers.
They're cheerleaders, they'remotivators and they're part of
what makes Run Disney events sounique.

(33:52):
So this week we are happy towelcome back Molly and Kathleen
to the Rise and Run podcast.

Speaker 9 (34:00):
Yay, happy to be back .

Speaker 4 (34:04):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for givingyour time.
We appreciate it, boy.
The first episode was a big hitand we have we've picked up.
A lot of folks have gone backto listen to it, but we've
picked up new listeners and Iknow we've done this before, but
for listeners who might notknow, please tell them who are

(34:26):
the balloon ladies and whatexactly you do at the Run Disney
races.

Speaker 8 (34:31):
All right, we are the 16 minute pace keepers for the
Run Disney race.
You really use us as yourvisuals so you can see where you
are.
If you're on pace, if you're infront of us, you definitely get
to finish the race.
If you're behind us, you justknow you need to keep up.
So that's who we are.

Speaker 4 (34:51):
Yeah, but you're, I mean you're more than that.

Speaker 8 (34:55):
Well, we're fun, we're exciting.
Yeah, we tell dad jokes, youknow we're going to keep you
entertained.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
Oh yeah, it's a good group.
Typically, how many of you arethere for a race?

Speaker 9 (35:11):
So at any one race there's generally three to four
of us that are out there.
There's about five or six of usseven that rotate between the
different races.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
No balloon dudes yet, huh.

Speaker 9 (35:29):
No, we have a few friends that follow along with
us in the back and stick aroundand also serve and offer some
encouragement to folks, but noballoon guys yet at Walt Disney
World.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
Okay, all right, keep an open mind.
Okay, let right, keep an openmind.
Okay, let's see.
Kathleen, how'd you get startedin the role?
I mean, were you a runnerbefore you started this, or did
you just go into this?

Speaker 9 (36:00):
I had graduated from grad school here in Orlando and
heard about this thing called ahalf marathon and then I heard
you could do it at Disney Worldand I thought that was the
awesomest thing ever, especiallyfrom growing up up north and so
I reached out to our localrunning store and Track Shack,

(36:22):
which is right around the cornerfrom my house, and I joined a
group called Marathon Fest.
So I started training for myfirst half, which was the Walt
Disney World half marathon in2008.
So I registered, trained,signed up for that one, so I got
in with a real good group offolks training for that.
Then I did my first fullmarathon later that year, the

(36:45):
Marine Corpsathon.
And then, in the background,disney had reached out through
Track Shack.
There was a partnership therethrough the running groups
through Track Shack.
So the Galloway Group, marathonFest and looking for some folks
to help kind of just make sureto keep that 16 minute pace kind

(37:08):
of at the end of the.
Yeah, so I am not one of thesuper originals, I'm like the
next tier in.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
The second generation .

Speaker 9 (37:20):
Yeah, I think it was Sue.
She had an injury at the time.
Sue is still a balloon lady hadan injury at the time.
Sue is still a balloon lady.
She does typically the 10 Ks,but she had an issue and I and I
had just come off.
I think the Chicago marathonmight've been at that time and
so I stepped in and did theDisney full marathon back in

(37:42):
2010.
I went upstairs and verified mymedals to double check that
race.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
I get it, I understand.

Speaker 9 (37:49):
And then I did a princess after that, but uh, we
didn't have balloons in thebeginning.
Uh, I think we sort of cameupon it ourselves like, hey, it
would be good if they could seewho we are, Cause we all wear
the, the pace badges.
Um, so I think a couple of us,I know I went to the dollar
store and picked up a Disneyballoon, you know for a dollar,

(38:10):
and we strapped it, and I guessthe rest is history.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
The rest is history.
Molly, how did you get started?

Speaker 8 (38:19):
I actually started in 2004.
My company at the time wassponsoring us to do a half
marathon at Disney and I waslike, oh sure, why not?
I play soccer, I do softball,I'm sure I could do 13 miles, no
problem, you know, becausethat's what we all think right.
And so I was able to finish myfirst half marathon Back then.

(38:41):
That's when we had two separate, or we had both races on the
same day.
At one point, the fullseparated from the half, and the
half people got to finish andthe full got to keep going.
So that's what I did.
As I started that year.
That was my first half, andthen I decided, oh, I should
train for a full.
So I trained for the full fornext year, for 2005.

(39:01):
And then I did New York in 2005.
Well, new York and Disney,disney.
And then I did the first Goofyin 2006.
So I kind of just kept goingafter that.
So, yeah, and then got pulledin by Sue as well, and that's
how it all kind of began.
It was fun before yourinvolvement.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
You know, let's say that with the og, uh, balloon
ladies and and sue there, whatwas the process for run disney
in terms of, you know, having a,you know, a visual
representation of the back ofthe pack in that pace?
Was there a pacing requirementat the time or was it once the
balloon ladies got instituted?

(39:45):
That's when we started havingthe 16 per minute mile.

Speaker 8 (39:49):
No, they always had a 16 minute mile pace, but it was
the Disney bikers who were backthere, and so you were a runner
and you had these people on abike saying come on, you're too
slow, you're too slow.
You need to get going and thatjust didn't work, and everybody
was like come on, you're on abike break, You're not out here
doing the miles with us.
So that.
And everybody was like come on,you're on a bike, give me a
break, you're not out here doingthe miles with us.

(40:10):
So that's when Disney was likemaybe we need some visuals.
And that's where we kind ofwent out there and kind of like
Kathleen said, we said oh, let'sput on some bright clothes,
maybe we'll stick out.
Well, everybody wears brightclothes.
You can't stick out like that.
Yeah, I, everybody wears brightclothes.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
You can't stick out like that.
I was wondering if you everconsidered anything other than
balloons.

Speaker 8 (40:32):
I don't think we did because we needed something that
would be higher than us,because we're all I mean we're
not really tall people, none ofus Heather's tall, I mean, but
none of us are real tall, sowe're kind of shrimpy, I mean.
So the balloons float and theywere great and they helped us
and everybody could see us.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
They're excellent.

Speaker 8 (40:50):
They were cheap.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
Yeah, that's good too .
I'm trying to think of whatelse you could have flags.
I'm just thinking that thehistory of Run Disney would have
changed if you had decided onbig headdresses.
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (41:02):
Right.

Speaker 6 (41:03):
Exactly, did Disney provide the balloons after that
first experience, or I?

Speaker 9 (41:10):
have a couple races where I there's, there's a
couple pictures where it's a,it's a dollar mylar balloon,
dollar store mylar balloon.
But I think eventually theycame in and said, when people
started talking about the wholeballoon, lady, balloon, lady.
I think that's where they camein and said, okay, well, we'll
supply you with the balloons.
You know, you don't, you don'thave to pay for your own

(41:32):
balloons.

Speaker 8 (41:34):
I think it was after we did another podcast and
everyone was like, well, we needto call you balloon ladies If
you're buying your own balloon.
And Disney got ahold of thatpodcast and everybody was just
up in arms that we had to spenda dollar each on our balloons.
And everybody was up in armsabout it.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
So Disney raised the prices on all the races by $30.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
So what do you guys do with the balloons after the
race?
Do you give them away, do youkeep them, do you let them fly
in the air and go away?

Speaker 8 (42:10):
That's not environmentally nice.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
No, I can't do that.

Speaker 8 (42:12):
Absolutely not.
I used to give them to my kidsbecause you know they actually
have.
I mean, my daughter's going toturn 18 in a month and I've been
doing this pretty much herwhole life.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
So when they were little they really liked the
balloons and stuff like that,and sometimes we'll give them to
cousins or you know, it justdepends, but usually we bring
them home or I bring mine homeyeah, I bring mine home unless I
see somebody in the parking lotthat you know when I'm getting
into my car or whatever, andI'll just kind of hand, that's
cool yeah, I have to ask becauseearlier in this episode we

(42:49):
chatted about, you know, thespringtime surprise themes got
released and a couple of yearsago, maybe it was two, when
there was like the adventure isout there and there was the 10K
that was themed to Up From aBalloon Lady perspective, what
were the thoughts that wentthrough your heads thinking, oh

(43:09):
my God, there's a theme racethat has a house with hundreds
of balloons attached to it.
Are we going to have imposters?
What was the thought processgoing through there for the two
of you?

Speaker 8 (43:20):
I think for me it was oh, they're going to have a lot
of balloons, not just a singleballoon, and if you can afford
to have that many Disneyballoons more power to you.
Run.
Disney does not let anybodycross the start line, though
that has our balloons oranything like us, because they
don't want imposters out therefurther up in the corrals

(43:41):
scaring people.
That's not nice, it's not fun,and people do freak out, um, and
so they make sure that we areknown, we have the balloons, and
they do confiscate a lot ofballoons.
So god.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Well, what does one of those disney balloons go for
now?
Because I've never purchasedone.
So I I'm I would be reallyinterested to know the level of
commitment that some peoplewould pay to do that I think
they're like 20, 22 dollarsmaybe.

Speaker 9 (44:07):
I don't know why the number sticks in your hand, the
ones that light up I know are atleast 30, if not more

Speaker 8 (44:15):
that's wild yeah, all that for helium and remember
first, when we had the star warsraces, we had the giant death
star balloons so those have beenmore than that wow I don't know
, but I'm sorry I missed that.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
That would have been cool.

Speaker 8 (44:33):
Yeah, those were great balloons.

Speaker 9 (44:35):
They were fun.

Speaker 6 (44:36):
Now that we kind of got to know how you guys started
.
How do you guys now start yourmornings for race mornings?
Do you get nervous, excited, orare you?
Are you just caffeinated orlike what do you do for your
morning rituals before races?

Speaker 9 (44:49):
I have, you know, in my iPhone I have set to a 2.30
wake up because, just like Molly, neither one of us typically
stay on property before a race.
So we drive up I-4, you knowthat morning and you know over
the years have come into somesnags with different traffic or

(45:11):
construction on I-4.
So we try to get there early,usually sit in my car for a
little bit, eat my peanut butterand jelly sandwich, drink my
coffee, and then there's usuallya text going amongst us like
hey, are you in the parking lot,where are you?
Like hey, are you in theparking lot, where are you?
So we'll walk up together andthen go to the um, the, the sag

(45:32):
tent, which is actually theending spot where they typically
bring you.
We have a meeting there.
Meeting there, um, where we getour balloons, get our um bibs
for the um, the pace bibs, andkind of just chill out there for
a little bit until you knowit's about time, and then we
head out to the corrals.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
By pace bibs.
Kathleen, you're talking.
You wear one that says 16minute per mile pace or
something like that, right?

Speaker 9 (45:57):
Yeah, that's correct.
Usually we'll wear them.
You know, some of us will wearthem on the front, some will
wear them on the back and we'll,you know, use the bathroom and
we use the port-a-potties, justlike everybody else does.

Speaker 8 (46:10):
You have to go to the bathroom.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
We refer to that as starting in Corral P.

Speaker 6 (46:17):
I've actually seen you guys.
One morning I wasn't running anevent, I think it was like a
10K one race weekend and it wasin 2023, when I lived there,
because I remember I was goingto cheer and you know, what's
the crazy thing is is I didn'trealize that you guys didn't
start right at the very secondthe last person crosses the line

(46:39):
, don't you guys like?
Wait a minute and then you gobecause they they held there for
a second.
Yeah, they held there for asecond, yeah.

Speaker 8 (46:47):
They held there for a minute.
It depends on the race.
Yeah, Sometimes if it's areally crowded race or if it's
really hot, as we tend to havein Florida, sometimes they'll
hold us for 30 seconds A couple.
I mean.
Back in the day we probably gotheld for a minute or two with
the princess races due to theamount of people that need to

(47:08):
get going and and we don't wantto catch up to them right away.
We need to give people a littlebit of a break.
Plus, we have to sync up withdisney.
We we cross the start line andthen we all wait and one person
from run disney counts down andthen we all sync our watches.
So we are all on the same point.
Everybody, they're on theradios with everybody, so

(47:29):
everybody across the entireplace is on the same time.

Speaker 6 (47:33):
That's so cool.
I would feel so special beinglike yeah, that's right, Disney
knows exactly where I'm at thisvery second.
Bring it on.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
So technically, you're the second 16 minute pace
group that's out there on thecourse.
Technically, you're the second16-minute pace group that's out
there on the course we have theGalloway Pacers and then,
there's 16-minute group and thenthere's you guys, correct?

Speaker 8 (47:56):
Correct.
Yes, but they're usually alittle ahead of us.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
Yeah, they're a little further up in the corral,
yeah.

Speaker 7 (48:03):
So, being those 16-minute pacers, it must be
kind of tough to stay on thatexact pace, and especially for
those longer races and having todo it for so many miles.
How have you had to adjustaccordingly during the races to
make that hit that mark?

Speaker 9 (48:22):
So, as Molly said, our watches are completely
synced up with Disney.
As Molly said, our watches arecompletely synced up with Disney
.
And then we get a little chartbefore each race of time-wise,
where 16, 32.

Speaker 8 (48:39):
We don't do public math after that.

Speaker 9 (48:41):
So we know exactly where we should be on each mile
marker.
So we do our best.
We are human, but we do ourbest to keep the pace as much as
possible.
Sometimes we get there a fewminutes or, excuse me, a few
seconds soon, maybe 10 seconds.
So then what we'll do is wewill wait there at the mile
marker and we will not proceeduntil the watch clicks.

(49:04):
You know the 16 minute pace andthen we move on.
Now, sometimes it gets a littlebit of a challenge.
You know we've all been onboard while where it gets super
congested, or you know towardsthe end in.
Epcot, where it's just amadhouse everybody's trying to
finish, that becomes a littlebit more difficult.
Or if you're, you know, goingup that hill or one of those you

(49:24):
know pin turns in Epcot, itdoes get to be a little bit of a
challenge, but we do our bestto stay on the 16 minute pace
and hit those mile markers every16 minutes.

Speaker 8 (49:34):
And sometimes we are slow.
So we do have to jog a littlebit, especially when it's on
that up ramp.
You know, and everybody hastheir day, it doesn't matter.
Sometimes your legs hurt,sometimes you're tired,
sometimes it's hot, sometimesyou're feeling great and you're
like, yeah, let's go.
So, just like everybody else,we have to adjust how we are in

(49:56):
that time, because we can't goout too fast.
We don't want to burn ourselvesout, we don't want to burn
anybody else out and we need tomake sure that we keep that pace
.
But then too, if we're tryingto get up that hill, we might
need to take a jog, and we justlet people around us know hey,
we're a little bit behind pace,don't freak out, but we've got a
jog.

Speaker 9 (50:18):
And some people you know that are getting frustrated
.
Everybody's hot, you know,after a while and just kind of
patience is running a little bitthin.
Some folks, you know, will'llwe'll point to their watch and
say you're going faster than a16 minute pace.
You're going, you know this,you're not going the right pace
and and we try to be as as kindand with folks as we can, we're

(50:40):
like, well, we, we stop every 16minutes.
You know we were on, we keepthe pace every 16 minutes.
Um, so we, hopefully we expressthat to folks so they
understand that you know we'renot trying to beat them.
You know our goal is not to seehow many people we can pass so
folks get taken off the path.
We want people to finish.

(51:00):
We want people to give it theirbest and do their best and work
their hardest so that they canget to the finish line.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Let me jump in for a moment with something that folks
who are new to this may notunderstand.
You're there as a guide.
You're there to help.
You don't sweep anybody.
That's not your role.
So the fact that you're aheador behind it's a pretty good
indicator that you need to dosomething, but that doesn't mean
you're swept.
It's the cyclist who do thesweeping, right yeah?

Speaker 9 (51:31):
And at the end of the day, we don't take anybody off
the course.
That's the run Disney officialsthat make the decision of where
to cut or not cut the well, ifthey have to cut the course or
if they tell folks, hey, youknow you might want to get ahead
this way, or you know wherefolks are saying, nope, your

(51:51):
race is done.
You know you're not keeping thepace.
That's all on the Run Disneyfolks and they do the best job
they can, and those are goodfolks too that are trying to.
You know they want everybody tofinish too and they want people
to have a good race.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
That's a great question.
Cutting the course, I know,besides the course being cut
short for the half marathon in2024, they also cut the course
in Epcot.
Do they hold you to the othergroup comes around, or do you?
How does that work?

Speaker 8 (52:23):
For the half marathon that got cut drastically.
We actually just stood anddecided we became our own
character stop and we just had agreat time seeing everybody and
having fun.
Like they actually had to puttwo run disney people with us to
keep the crowd to get every.
We are not.

(52:43):
We would never finish, we wouldnever continue on like that.
That that's not what we'rethere for.
We're there to help, encourageand get everybody going and that
was like such a one-off.
That was so weird that yearthat they cut the course like
that.

Speaker 9 (52:58):
One year I did the full and they did completely cut
Blizzard Beach out.

Speaker 8 (53:02):
Some folks had done it in the beginning.

Speaker 9 (53:04):
Other folks had not, so we just followed where they
told us to go.

Speaker 4 (53:09):
Okay, okay, interesting, question yeah.

Speaker 7 (53:13):
So, with our friends who may be deciding to walk the
race and need that 16-minutepace, or have been instructed by
their doctor due to an injury,what advice would you give them
to do their best to try and hitthose paces?

Speaker 8 (53:29):
Really you need to start as far up in your corral
as you can.
You know we always joke theshorter your stride, the faster
you're going to go.
So you know, I always tellgirls, women especially, if you
look down and you can see thetips of your toes in front of
your boobs, you're good.
You shouldn't see the tips ofyour toes in front of your boobs

(53:51):
and then your feet are turningover quick enough, guys.
I can only tell you so much, butas long as you have a quick
turnover and you can get thepace up.
But you also need to practice.
You can't just get out and say,oh, I've been injured and I
haven't been doing anything, Ican walk a 16 minute mile, get
out and say, oh, I've beeninjured and I haven't been doing
anything.
I can walk a 16 minute mileLike Kathleen and I and several
of the other balloon ladies.

(54:12):
We were runners before westarted walking.
We practiced, we trained, had alot of our training miles.
We do the 16 minute walk pace.
We don't just go out therebecause some of us want to run,
some of us are faster runnersand we actually have to slow
down.
It's a different thing topractice and it's different on

(54:32):
your legs, your hips, your body,your movement and your mental
psyche.
You know across the board.
So you do have to practice it.
You can't and you can't justpractice for a mile or two.
You need a good 10K practice tomake sure that you can maintain
that pace.
And if you can't, you know, getfarther up in your corral so

(54:55):
that you can have a little bitof a head start, because now
that they do so many waveswithin each corral.
You've got a good two minutes,three minutes at the beginning
of each corral before you wouldeven be close to us.
So you have to plan ahead andthink about and ask the Run
Disney people ask them what theysuggest or what timing they

(55:16):
have.
Or you know, I'm in corral, youknow whatever it is and see
what they suggest too.

Speaker 9 (55:24):
But I would also say you know I'm not trying to be
discouraging here, but be honestwith yourself and there will be
other races.
I mean if you are severelyinjured and we've seen it all at
the start line.
We've seen people in wheelchairnot like the push wheelchairs,
like I came out of the hospitaland they put me in a wheelchair.

(55:44):
We've seen people in walkersboots, tons of boots, crutches
one time Crutches, yes.
So be honest with yourself.
Some of those folks have nointention of finishing.
They just wanted to kind ofcome out there and cross the
start line.
But you know there will beother races.
If you are severely injured orif you have a major health thing

(56:06):
or a major stress stressor inyour life, you know, think about
yourself before you pushyourself too far.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Okay, do you take different approaches to the
different weekends, likemarathon weekend, and the
challenges different than fromspringtime?
Surprise.

Speaker 8 (56:22):
Marathon weekend is a beast in itself for anybody and
everybody.
It doesn't matter which raceyou're doing.
There's so many people foreverything.
I have paced Dopey.
I did the original Dopey, orinaugural Dopey, as a pacer, as
a balloon lady, and that wasrough.
It's hard.
It's something you just have tomentally get to.

(56:43):
A lot of the other races we dotend to do the 10K and the half
marathon challenge.
A lot of the other races we dotend to do the 10K and the half
marathon challenge.
I know Heather really enjoysGoofy.
She seems to like the halfmarathon and the full marathon.
For me personally, likespringtime and Goofy and Dopey.

(57:04):
If I start getting up earlybeyond two days in a row, that
third day man, I just can't evencomprehend what's going on.
And that's your longest racealways and you're so out of it.

Speaker 9 (57:14):
I would say um, I I do enjoy the, the back-to-back
with the 10 K and the halfmarathon, obviously going into a
full, and I have typically donethe fulls the last several
years, Um, but I only do the,only do the full.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
I do not do two.
No, no, I get that.
Yeah, no, that makes sense, itmakes perfect sense.
I can completely understandthat, because I mean it's
significant and important thatyou can keep that pace.
Uh, you've kind of alluded tosome of the things like
interacting with folks and allthat.
I'm going to ask what are someof the most memorable or maybe
emotional moments you've had onthe course?

Speaker 9 (57:52):
I had this one lady, um, her name was Renee and I
think her daughter was Chrissyand um, renee the mom, she was
struggling at the end ofPrincess.
I mean she was struggling, Ithink it was hot, I mean as it
typically is.
But I remember coming throughthe back of Epcot and I kept

(58:13):
saying, you know, I always lookfor people's names on their bibs
because I always call them outmy name.
I'm like all right, renee,we're doing this, we're doing
this.
And I could tell, you know, youcan tell, when there's one
person kind of carrying theother person along, and that was
a struggle, I could tell forthe both of them to get through
it.
They crossed the finish line,they didn't get picked up and

(58:36):
then at the end she came up tome in just tears of just joy and
saying, oh my gosh, thank youso much, thank you so much, as a
lot of people do with us at theend of the race, do with us at
the end of the race.
But then she ran it up.
She kind of figured out my nameon Facebook and whatnot and
found me and sent me just thenicest message, and so you know

(58:58):
she kind of went on and how muchit meant to her doing this race
with her daughter, and it'sthose kind of moments that
really feel like we're doing agood thing and we really are
helping people has to make youfeel just wonderful.

Speaker 8 (59:12):
Yeah, I've got.
I mean always.
There's many stories.
One that always comes to mymind, it was a marathon.
It was when we were still goingthrough Wide World of Sports
and I had this older gentlemanand I want to say he was almost
80, doing his first marathon,and we were going, you know, we

(59:33):
were, you know, back and forth,back and forth for most of the
race and by the time we got outthere we were at miles 16, 17,
18, something like that, and itwas hot and everything.
And I went to get aroundsomebody and he was right in
front of me and he tripped.
Oh my God, my heart went outand I was like no, so I ended up

(59:57):
.
We got him up and because youknow we're back there, we also
know all the medics, we know allthese people.
So I was calling for our onemedic.
Her daughter was with her thereat that time too and I said I
need you guys to go ahead, Ineed you to get a half a mile
ahead, I need you to prep.
This is what he's got.
We need to cover his knees, weget it cleaned up, we need to do
all this stuff.

(01:00:18):
So they went and she had herdaughter get everything set up.
She quickly got him bandaged upeverything and he kept going
and he finished the race andbecause, oh my gosh, my heart
was just sinking as soon as thathappened.
But it's things like that.
You can get going, you know, itdoesn't matter what it is, if
you've got the will, you've gotthe way and if you're capable.

(01:00:40):
But if you're really injuredsometimes you do just have to
stop, like Kathleen says, andyou just have to know what is
your, what is your point,because sometimes it's mental,
you know, and sometimes it's not.

Speaker 6 (01:00:53):
On the other spectrum .
What is the funniest thing thatsomeone has said or done to you
?

Speaker 8 (01:01:00):
I feel like I have so many friends now and some of
them don't always want to, don'twant to finish the race, but
they want to start the race.
So by the time we get to themespecially if they can hear us,
because we might be kind of loudand obnoxious- they're like oh,
thank God, you're finally here.
How did I make it so many mileswithout you catching up to me?

(01:01:22):
Those guys always make me laugh, so then we just joke with them
and have fun.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
I can picture that.
I really can.
I had a personal story.
I had one time and I had atotal knee replacement in the
month of February.
I did the 10K at springtime,surprise, knew you were going to
catch me, didn't know you atthe time but knew you and I was
surprised.
It took as long as it took, butyou did and I took myself.
It took as long as it took, butshe did and I took myself out

(01:01:50):
after that anyway.

Speaker 8 (01:01:52):
But it's always fun because you get to keep going.
And sometimes it's also thatchallenge Can I get to the
castle?
Can I get to mile six?
Can I get to mile 10?
You know, it's that personalchallenge too.

Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
I'd have gone further , but Alicia wouldn't let me.

Speaker 6 (01:02:14):
Probably a good decision on a new knee.
So since we're talking aboutfunny things, at the very
beginning you guys said that youguys like to tell dad jokes.
Can you please give us a few?
I love a good joke, um, why was?

Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
six scared of seven I know this one, so, so I'm going
to stay out of it.

Speaker 9 (01:02:30):
Same, I don't know I don't know this one, because
seven, eight, nine, oh Now whatI'll end up doing when we get
out on the highways.
Like I don't have a ton of themstored in my brain, but I
especially you're getting alittle delirious at certain
parts of the race.
But I'll Google them up, I'llhave them ready to go, and I'll

(01:02:51):
start asking Dolly and the othergirls, and the funny thing is
you don't know if anybody'spaying attention to us or not,
but you ask a real stupid oneand then you'll get a random
answer from several feet infront of us.
So I think it does helpdistract people, and that's why
we do it.

Speaker 7 (01:03:10):
You know, Do you ever sing songs or like do chants or
anything All the time?

Speaker 8 (01:03:15):
Oh yeah, and it is a threat and a benefit.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
Right, if you don't want to hear us.

Speaker 8 (01:03:22):
You can speed up and if you want to sing with us,
hang back.

Speaker 9 (01:03:26):
Yeah, and every time I will remind the girls, when we
hear the Hercules song, thatthe Michael Bolton version is so
much far superior than anyother version Go the distance.
So I, you know I sing a lot.
We all sing along generallywith the Disney songs.

Speaker 6 (01:03:50):
I tried doing jokes when I paced my first ever race
at Disney.

Speaker 4 (01:03:54):
It was silent when I after I said it.

Speaker 6 (01:03:55):
I don't know if it was, maybe it was just like the
way I said it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:04:00):
Granted, there wasn't .

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
There wasn't many people around me, but I was
trying, but my partner was, buteverybody else silent exactly
all right, molly and kathleen,we have talked about the
motivational stories of being aballoon lady, the funny stories

(01:04:24):
of being a balloon lady, but ina bigger, grander picture, all
of you are rock stars of rundisney.
You are, you know, in the sameechelon as jeff galloway, the
race announcers, dj cj.
You know, like you, like you,are a named establishment within

(01:04:47):
this sport, within the Disneyrunning sphere.
Kathleen, how does that makeyou feel?

Speaker 9 (01:04:56):
It is fun to be a balloon lady.
I'm not going to deny that.
But our purpose out there is tohelp people finish the race and
to be the visual reminder ofwhere we are out in the course.
So while we do enjoy takingpictures and we're happy to take
pictures with folks at this,you know, at the end of the race
or before the race, you knowwe're out there to help folks

(01:05:20):
finish.
So we just try to do our bestand and remind folks.
You know we're human, some ofus have, you know we're human.
Some of us have, uh, you know,have some of the same struggles
that the folks training outthere do.
Um, but it is fun to be aballoon lady.
I'm not going to sit here andsay that it's not.
Um, like a lot of times, wehave annual passes, so I'll wear

(01:05:43):
one of my run Disney shirts toa race or something and somebody
will say something about itLike oh, I don't did that race.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And then my son he's, he'll be13 this month, he goes, my mom's
one of the balloon ladies andyou know so.
So every once in a while you'llget a oh, okay or a wow, really

(01:06:04):
, you know, and we'll just kindof chat about it.
But you know we're.
We're out there to help folksfinish the races, that's.
That's what we're there to do.

Speaker 8 (01:06:12):
Yeah, I, I agree, it's exactly.
It's fun.
We we know how big the balloonladies have gotten over the last
several years.
We're here to help people.
We like it too, because then weknow, people know who we are,
they acknowledge us, they knowthat we're real life people too,

(01:06:32):
because they see us in theairport, in the grocery store,
wherever the case may be.
And you know, I enjoy thepeople that we've met, the
friendships that we've made.
You know just all of the thingsthat come with it.
Because I'm a social person, Iwant to help as many people as I
can.
I just want to be out there andbe with my friends, and it

(01:06:54):
doesn't matter if I know you ornot.
You're my friend at thebeginning, at the middle, at the
end.
You're my friend.

Speaker 4 (01:07:01):
So and if you run, you know, nevermind, we'll do
that, we'll do that at the endof the episode.
Hey, you're out there.
I mean we've talked about itand sometimes we gloss over or
forget about this.
How do you prep?
Do you have any race day gearbag items?
Do you have any must-haves forthe course?

Speaker 9 (01:07:21):
I don't go out there without a bag of pretzels.
That is usually my go-to andI'll share with the girls.
I always have pretzels.
Uh, the little stinger chews.
That's kind of my uh, nutritionof choice.
Um, I do the salt tabs,especially when it's oh yeah, so

(01:07:42):
usually they're my go-tos.
Um, I'll be honest, I broughtout one of those Uncrustables
this time to the race course.
That was not a good idea.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
Didn't like it, huh Okay.

Speaker 9 (01:07:53):
Because that jacked up my stomach in not a good way.
So I learned the hard way onthat one the whole don't do
anything you didn't practicewith.

Speaker 4 (01:08:03):
Yeah, I did exactly that Nothing new on race day
right.

Speaker 9 (01:08:05):
Yeah, but typically the other stuff is what I pack
and usually that that'll sustainme.
I'll have a peanut butter andjelly in the car beforehand and
then I'm usually good.

Speaker 8 (01:08:15):
And one thing I have learned over the years is I
always have my own Tylenol, myown Aleve, because you never
know if they're going to haveany.
I also bring an Imodium,because if you need one, you
need one, and they don't sellthem on property.
Bring an Imodium, because ifyou need one, you need one, and
they don't sell them on property, and so I always bring that
with me.
I also try and carry a littlething of Vaseline and my own
water, because you never knowwhen you're going to need

(01:08:36):
something.
I need a little snack, whetherit's a gummy, whether it's
pretzels, because Kathleen's gotme hooked on pretzels.
Now it doesn't matter.
I've always got a little bit offood and my own water bottle
and then some mints.

Speaker 6 (01:08:49):
If someone wanted to track you during the races so
they could see where you're at.
Is that even possible forsomeone to track you guys so
they know where you guys are atduring?

Speaker 8 (01:09:01):
the race.
As soon as bib numbers are outthere, somebody in the world
finds our numbers and puts itout everywhere.
Everybody finds our names.
They know who we are.
You may not know exactly whatrace we're doing, but for the
most part there's enough peoplethat know all of us and we'll
just search for all of our namesdepending on what they think

(01:09:23):
we're going to do.
So usually the Run Disney, run,run Disney Blah Facebook pages.
I know my bib number gets outthere pretty quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
I give somebody a really good tip, I mean don't
track them, track the 16-minutepace group, because if you're
ahead of them you're definitelygoing to be ahead of the Bloom
ladies.
Yeah, that's good advice, john.

Speaker 6 (01:09:47):
They're normally, I think, two minutes ahead of you
guys, from what I rememberdepends.

Speaker 4 (01:09:51):
Depends on where they're on the corral, I think
jack where that 16 minute groupstarts, but yeah, but they're
going to be ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
So that, john, that's great advice, I think so when I
think of the balloon, ladies, II think of all of you women as,
as you know, superwoman, youknow bat superwoman, you know
bat girl, cat woman you know or?
Whatever Marvel property youwant to go with it.
I guess I shouldn't have saidDC you know superheroes there,
but obviously you ladies arehuman as well too.

(01:10:22):
From a balloon lady perspective, have you ever had any
struggles on a course before?

Speaker 9 (01:10:28):
So I would say, you know, the hot days are hot for
everybody, whether you're arunner, a walker, a balloon lady
.
I think it was January, it wasthe 2024 full marathon.
I was having some issues withmy lower back leading up to the
race.
I was in physical therapy but Iwas walking.

(01:10:49):
I was like, you know, I'm likeI'm doing this, I'm doing this,
I'm doing this.
Around Christmas time I didsomething and I messed up.
I had real bad sciatica pain.
But again, you know, firstcouple of weeks, first week of
January, I was like I'm pushingthrough this, I can do anything.
I can do anything.
It's just, you know, I'm justgoing to walk it.
I've done this before.

(01:11:10):
Um, if anybody remembers, youknow, towards the back of the
pack, you know it startedraining, walking into magic, or
you know, walking up the road upinto magic kingdom, and I was
just, I was starting to struggleand I told Heather and Jane at
the time.
I said I'm not sure if I'mgoing to make it, ladies, and
they're like oh, you're fine,you're fine, you're fine.

(01:11:30):
Um, but something just clickedin my head and a lot of it is
mental right, as soon as yourbrain tells you you're not going
to finish.
Well, that was the end of it.
So I knew a sag bus was comingup and I said I'm done, I'm like
I'm not going to be able tokeep this pace.
I can either cut it off here atmile five or six or whatever it

(01:11:51):
was, or I can suffer through it, probably do worse damage to
myself and and then not finishanyway.
So, um, I pulled myself and soas soon as I got off, uh, the
the the path, I let um, one ofthe the lead, uh, bike people,
bike people.
Let them know I was coming offthe race.

(01:12:11):
And as soon as I got to the busI said cut my balloon, because
I didn't want to make a big dealthat one of the balloon ladies
had gotten picked up.
And I got on that bus and itwas a long, cold, wet ride back
to that sag tent.
And I remember getting off thesag tent and them handed me my
medal and my little food box andI was just so defeated.

(01:12:34):
So I know what it's like to bepicked up by the bus.
Now I put myself on the bus.
Not everybody has that choice,but it is hard and you know it
took me a little bit to get overthat.
You know I had a rough coupledays but I still think I made
the right decision at the time.

(01:12:54):
I was not going to have asuccessful race, and there's
other races, you know there yougo, yep.
So that was a struggle for me.
That was really hard, but Icame back.
I did Princess that year.
I think I did Springtime afterthat.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
So there's other races in the future maybe have
either found themselves in thatposition once before or if if
God forbid that ever happened tothem.

(01:13:33):
You know.
To help them navigate themental side of all of this, what
advice would you give?

Speaker 9 (01:13:38):
Um, I would, you know , reflect back on your training.
You know you gave it your besteffort and there will be other
races that you can train for,maybe train differently, kind of
look back and see will be otherraces that you can train for,
maybe train differently.
Kind of look back and see whatwas good about what you did,
what was not so great about whatyou did, and see what you can
take from that experience andput that into your next race.

Speaker 4 (01:13:59):
All right, I'm going to switch gears.
Disney costumes run Disneycostumes.
Have you ever done it?
And if not, would you?
And then the obvious questionis what would you run as?

Speaker 8 (01:14:13):
I have not done it because I don't train in a
costume and I try not to wearanything new for a race and when
you're looking at 13 miles,that's a lot of issues that can
happen, that you're not readyfor If it's a simple costume
that is just like a runningoutfit, that's a different story
.
I've worn things that are justa simple running outfit tank top

(01:14:37):
, skirt, something like that butfull-on costume I don't have
the energy for that usually theyare so pretty and so cute and
so awesome, but hot and chasey.

Speaker 4 (01:14:50):
They can be.

Speaker 9 (01:14:52):
Yeah, I've never.
I've never worn a costumeduring the races.
Every once in a while I'll findan Etsy shop or something that
has kind of a fun shirt keepingwith the theme, but now I've,
for the same reasons.
Molly gave the balloons enoughof a costume for us those are
good.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
I like it.

Speaker 6 (01:15:13):
So what do you wish?
More runners?
Kind of understood about yourguys' role.

Speaker 8 (01:15:16):
Just that we are not the mean people and not that run
Disney is mean per se, butthey're just trying to get the
parks open, the roads open,stuff like that.
We're just visuals.
You know, we are not here to bemean to you.
We may encourage you, we maygive you advice or suggestions,
but really we just want to helpyou in any way we can.

(01:15:39):
And if we need to give adviceor something and you don't like
it, that's okay, we get it,because people give us that same
advice.

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
What's the best advice you've never mind?
Let's leave that one.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
Besides what I said before about tracking the 16
minute Galloway pace group, ifthey're on the course I know
they're not on the course forthe 10 case Uh, what advice
would you give to runnersworried about staying ahead of
you guys or ladies?

Speaker 9 (01:16:11):
I would add on, or just kind of footstomp, what
Molly said about folks need toget to the front of their
corrals.
Um, try to get there early.
I know it's an early wake upcall, but try to get to your
corral as early as you can andpractice the pace or practice a
slightly faster pace.
That way you know you do have alittle bit of buffer.

(01:16:33):
You know, when you get outthere on race day.

Speaker 8 (01:16:35):
I think, another good suggestion too, especially for
the people that do not live inFlorida and train in the cold
weather.
It's great that you have totrain in your pants and your
long sleeves and your heavyclothes, wherever you're at.
Just know that you cannot wearthat in Florida.
You can wear it at thebeginning, but you need to have

(01:16:56):
throwaway clothes.
You know, disney takes all ofthe throwaway clothes.
They wash them, they launderthem and they donate them.
So don't think that if you goto Goodwill and buy a five
dollar sweatshirt that it'sgoing to go to you know
someplace bad, it goes to a goodplace, it's washed, it's clean.
But just know it is too hot andhumid in Florida for most

(01:17:18):
people to wear pants and longsleeves and big heavy hats.
Just dress appropriately.
Wear layers, you know.
Don't be afraid to get.
Take layers off.

Speaker 9 (01:17:30):
We don't want everybody naked, though that's
right, that's right there wassome girl and she was in this
beautiful like cinderella thingbut it was zipped up to her, you
know, up to her chin, and hadthese sleeves on it.
It was like tights and at onepoint I said to her you need to

(01:17:50):
unzip that, you are going tooverheat.
And I see all the people,especially with the braces,
where you get the long sleeveshirts.
People wear them to race dayand I just want to say save it
for after the race, don't wearlong sleeves.
And if you don't want to saylike save it for after the race
like, don't wear long sleeves,you know, and and if you don't
want to even go out and buy likethe freebie clothing, chances

(01:18:13):
are they'll be.
I do.
I do my best shopping for mythrowaway clothes.
In the corral there's alwaysstuff that people throw like I,
I think I wore a bathrobe forlike four miles that I got off
of the stuff people throw away.
You know there's plenty ofclothes or you know you can
bring your own.
But to Molly's point, peopleoverdress for some of these

(01:18:35):
races and I think not good.
You know, consider, considerthe temperature.

Speaker 4 (01:18:42):
You do, you're right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
And another thing I always hear this story.
I don't know if it's true ornot.
If you make it to Epcot, you'renot getting swept.

Speaker 9 (01:18:51):
That's not true.
Not the case.
No, no, you are.
And we say this to everybodybecause people ask us that all
the time.
There's the big rush to getinto Epcot and people say am I
safe?
Am I safe?
Am I safe?
You are not safe until youcross the finish line.
That is your guarantee that youare safe.
So, um, again, disney wants tobe able to open the parks up.

(01:19:15):
You know, um, but you know, ifyou're, if you're in epcot there
and you're getting in line forthe margarita or the beer or
whatever you know, and they'repassing you by, there's no
guarantees that you're not goingto get picked up.

Speaker 4 (01:19:33):
Well, it's come time we have to wrap this up.
The last couple of weeks we'veso much enjoyed revisiting with
old friends and, of course,tonight's been delightful, as I
knew it would be.
Kathleen and Molly, if ourfriends want to connect with you
, follow your story, is there away that they can do it?

(01:19:53):
Instagram, Facebook, anythinglike that?

Speaker 8 (01:19:56):
We do have a Facebook page.
It's Balloon Ladies Fan Club,so look us up there, friend us.
We like to talk to people andpost your pictures with us.
We'd love to see the pictures.
We never get to see thepictures.

Speaker 4 (01:20:10):
Oh, thank you so much .
It was delightful.
We really appreciate you givingus your time once again and we
look forward to seeing you.
It won't be too terribly longnow.
We'll see you in October.

Speaker 8 (01:20:26):
Thank you been great guys, thanks folks so there you
go, friends.

Speaker 4 (01:20:30):
Once again, the balloon ladies are our friends
and they're delightful people.
They genuinely are.
We just had Molly and Kathleen,but the rest of the crew,
they're there for you, they'rethere to help you and that's
what they want to do.
So that's what the balloonladies are all about.
Quick note we we were talkingon the other side of the

(01:20:54):
interview about costumes for thespringtime surprise race
weekend.
Let me drop a reminder herethat the alien shirts for
marathon weekend Aliens shirtsfor Marathon Weekend 5K are
available from our friend Alecat Kauai and Pizza Apparel.
The link is pinned to thefeatured section on the Facebook

(01:21:19):
group page.
I noticed several of youcommenting that you've already
seen this and already orderedyours.
They're good looking shirts andAlec does a great job with them
.
So they're available and please, it's a lot of fun Run with us.
We'll have.

(01:21:41):
Let's see if we can get acouple hundred aliens scurrying
around Disney World on the 5Knext January.
We started last.
We started a couple weeks agotalking with representatives
from some of the charities thatthat sponsor bibs for Run Disney
Race weekends.

(01:22:02):
We've got another group with usthis week, the Dragon Master
Initiative.
So for the month of July, wewelcome another charity.
This time it is the DragonMaster Initiative.
Now, if you're like me, that's anew one to you, but here to
tell us about it we have thepresident of the Dragon Master

(01:22:24):
Initiative, amanda Haddock.
Hi, amanda, hello.
And a friend of mine fromInstagram, a person I've known
for years, jocelyn Henderson.
But Jocelyn, I've known you fora while.
In fact, when I see you atDisney, it's always hi, mom,
because Jocelyn is momrunsdiz onInstagram and I think a lot of

(01:22:48):
you probably know her throughthat.
Jocelyn, good to see you, goodto see you.
And it sounds funny sayingJocelyn and not mom.
But you know respect.
All right, ladies, thank youfor joining us.
This is fun.
Amanda, you got in touch withus through email and I was
getting emails from the.

(01:23:09):
I'm going to throw out the DMI.
You know, act like I knowDragon Master Initiative real
well now.
And finally, I said I need tolook into this group and see
what they're doing.
So tell us if you would pleasetell us about Dragon Master
Initiative.

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
Sure, well, we started because my son, david,
was diagnosed with an aggressiveform of brain cancer when he
was 16.
And David was.
I would fill the whole podcastif I tried to tell you about
David, but let's just say thathe was a super sweet kid, very

(01:23:46):
kind, really cared about otherpeople, and so when he was
facing this diagnosis he reallywanted to help push research
forward.
We didn't discuss it with himin great detail because he
didn't want to, but he knew thathe had an aggressive form of
cancer and he really wantedother kids not to have to suffer

(01:24:12):
like that.
And so with his journey andsince he's passed away, we were
really focused on not just hiscare, of course, we were very
focused on his care.

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
Of course.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
But how can we use what he was going through to
help other people?
And so he participated in someresearch projects that he
volunteered for, and he wasalways, if they asked, he said
yes, he didn't ask them, youknow, if it was going to hurt or

(01:24:47):
if it was going to take a lotof time, or he didn't care.
He was like I'll do anything Ican do to help.
And so we've tried to kind ofcarry that spirit forward and
and the the core of that to uswas what's the most impact that
we can have, and my husband andI are both computer geeks and
what we kind of came around towas the sharing of information

(01:25:13):
was the area where we could havethe greatest impact.
So what we've done is helpbuild out an infrastructure
that's web-based, whereresearchers can put their raw
data on patients, so genomicdata, their clinical records,
their scans.
We've got bio samples, likeeverything we can get on a

(01:25:35):
patient longitudinally, fromwhen they're diagnosed through
when they're cured or when theypass.
We've got the whole journey,and then we make that available
to researchers worldwide so theydon't have to be at a top
hospital to do top quality work.

Speaker 4 (01:25:52):
Wow, that is quite an initiative.
That's impressive.
Jocelyn, how did you get hookedup with this group?

Speaker 5 (01:26:01):
I was introduced to Amanda about, I'd say about
seven years ago.
It's been a while.
It was pre-COVID because I, youknow, running Disney races, had
saw different charities and Iwanted to charity run
Immediately when I met Amanda.
You can't help but to love herand love what she's doing, and

(01:26:21):
so it's just been something thatI've been doing.
Every year I try to run atleast one race with Dragon
Masters, and actually I got myson, you know, running for
Dragon Masters this pastPrincess Half Marathon I mean
Half Marathon weekend, so hehimself wanted to fundraise.
How about?

Speaker 4 (01:26:39):
that.

Speaker 5 (01:26:39):
Something amazing for this.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
How about that Very, very cool.
Uh, how long has dragon masterbeen involved with run disney?

Speaker 3 (01:26:51):
so we volunteered at uh princess weekend.
What is?

Speaker 4 (01:26:58):
2015.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
Oh, a little while now okay we we were actually
volunteering with anothercharity back then and then we
actually ran a race just to seeif we thought we could make an
impact here, and I think ourfirst official race weekend was
probably 2016.

Speaker 4 (01:27:18):
Okay, yeah, so was mine, but that's that's entirely
different.
So you're coming up.
This would be your 10th yearnow to be involved with Run
Disney.

Speaker 3 (01:27:28):
Yeah, you know I need to double check that, Cause it
this might be our 10th year.
Yeah, it's a we've as anorganization, but I don't think
we've passed 10 years with RunDisney yet.

Speaker 4 (01:27:37):
Okay, yeah, we we lose track with that COVID year
where we lost everything, butbut anyway, it's been a little
while, that's cool.

Speaker 6 (01:27:46):
So how can friends just go ahead and secure a
charity bib?
Are there requirements?
What do you do?

Speaker 3 (01:27:52):
That's a really good question, actually, Because I
think it changes over the years.
At least it has for us, and Idon't want to speak for other
charities.
But when charities are new,they're like, yeah, yeah,
everyone come in and then youstart selling out your team and
so you're like, oh, maybe weonly want people that are
actually serious about doingthis.
So, um, so we, we try.

(01:28:13):
Uh, you know we we certainlyalways want to welcome new
runners with us, but we alsowant to make sure that they
understand that this is afundraising commitment.
It's not just to run.
So that balance is important.
But they just fill out the formonline and, generally speaking,
if we have space, then they'rein.
We don't have a big formalapplication process, but then we

(01:28:37):
do try to have someconversations after they sign up
and go OK, you signed thelittle thing saying that you're
fundraising, just making sureyou understand that and let's
move on and, you know, have somesuccess with this.

Speaker 4 (01:28:49):
So I understand.
Yeah, what are some of thefundraising requirements for the
races?

Speaker 3 (01:28:56):
Well, it varies by distance and also a little by
race weekend.
So the race weekends that sellout really fast tend to have a
slightly higher fundraisingcommitment than the other ones.
I think our 5k starts at 635.
Okay, which I, since I'm onwith you guys, I'll address a

(01:29:17):
little, because, because peopleare always like oh, that's, you
know, it sounds like a lot right.

Speaker 4 (01:29:21):
Oh no, it really doesn't.

Speaker 3 (01:29:24):
Good, good, good.
But you know charities have tolike report any fundraising
expense and we're buying thebibs.

Speaker 4 (01:29:33):
So that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
Yeah, we're down for the cost of that bib out of the
gate and then also other things,you know shirts, medals,
parties, all that kind of stufffactors into the cost of having
a runner out there.
And even for us, you know we'realmost entirely volunteer
driven organization, but there'sstill just a lot of hard costs
associated with those weekends.

(01:29:55):
So if people think that thefundraising costs, you know why
is not double I hear that a lotwhy don't you just double it?
And then you know, but we can't, we can't really do it for that
and still actually make moneyto put toward the cause.

Speaker 4 (01:30:11):
So when a person registers through Dragon Master,
does the registration fee thatthey pay to run the race, does
that count towards theirfundraising?

Speaker 3 (01:30:20):
Yeah absolutely yeah, and again it's different, I
think, with every charity, butfor us we have them pay a fee
just to make sure they'reserious, right, they're
committed to doing this, andthen they fundraise for the rest
of the commitment.

Speaker 4 (01:30:34):
Yeah, no, I think that's common, I do, and from
our experience, 600 for a 5K or635, I think that's probably a
little below the mean from whatI've seen, so that sounds fair.

Speaker 2 (01:30:48):
I signed up with you guys to run a race.
What are some of the teambenefits that you guys have if I
do sign up with you?

Speaker 5 (01:30:55):
Again.
I have run with Dragon Mastersfor several years.
I always look forward to anamazing package from Amanda.
You normally get a DragonMaster shirt.
Once she gets to know you, shemight do in a little something
extra.
There's also a team luncheon,normally on Saturday.
You know, so you get to meetother charity runners.

(01:31:17):
Again, it's really fun.
Great time Also.
Um, also what I like, we get anextra medal.
Um, that's a perk of runningdragon masters as well at the
end of the race um amanda's.
There you get a nice medal umsomething that I've um liked.
That had that that dragonmaster started post-covid was

(01:31:38):
you're.
We're running for a dedicatedchild.
Um it's uh, it's um a pictureum Amanda or or her daughter
sends you, um.
You get a detailed story umabout a child's life and about
that child, and it makes it alittle more meaningful for me.
That's a gift because, um, Iactually have mine in post-race,

(01:32:01):
that they're still on my deskat work.
You know just something, justfor me to remember why I'm
running and why I ran that race.
So that alone is a perk you getfor running, for this charity.

Speaker 4 (01:32:14):
That's a great thing.
I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
Can I just say, too, that that idea came from one of
our runners.
Yeah, so uh, and.
But it's been such a coolcommunity because they come in
and get interested and thenthey're like, oh, what if we do
this, and what if you know, and,and so we try to take our lead
from what they say is meaningfuland valuable to them.

(01:32:38):
Um, and I would love to takecredit for that.
But that runner card idea camebecause one of our runners
wanted she wanted to have a kidfor every mile of the marathon.
So she's like, can you tell usyour kids' stories?
And we're like, yes, we can,but if we do that, can we share
those stories out with the team?
And it just became a wholething yeah fantastic.

Speaker 6 (01:32:58):
So what kind of ideas do you have for someone who's
trying to fundraise?
Is there any fun things youguys do to kind of help inspire
the person to fundraise?
More Like what kind of thingsdo you do?

Speaker 5 (01:33:10):
Well, as a fundraiser .
And then I'll let Amanda, Iautomatically I start with
family and friends and coworkers, I hype them up.
They know, you know, I alwayslike Princess Weekend, so hey,
around January.
I always like princess weekend,so hey, around January I'm like
, hey, it's almost that timeit'll open up.
Also things like getting onFacebook and dedicating a song.

(01:33:31):
I let, I let friends, I said,give me five dollars and you can
dedicate a song.
I had a very interestingplaylist but just being diligent
, because you'll be surprised.

Speaker 8 (01:33:43):
I bet you did.

Speaker 5 (01:33:46):
And again, I always tell people to be genuine, you
know, and signing up, moreimportantly, for a charity that
you really believe in, not justa oh, I want to run a race.
Like I said after meetingAmanda and meeting again, I love
Amanda's husband, I love her,but I love Richard.
Knowing them it makes me wantto run for this charity.

(01:34:08):
So that makes it easier whenpeople see it's a charity that
you genuinely care about and youwant to fundraise for.

Speaker 4 (01:34:16):
That might be all the time we ask folks.
That might be the number onething that people say is is get
a charity that you can getbehind and it means something to
you.
And Amanda, you have anysuggestions for our friends?

Speaker 3 (01:34:29):
Sure, let's see Some things that I've seen be really
successful.
It's always great if you canshare your passion, right?
I mean, obviously running is apassion for everyone.
So doing things, like Jocelynsaid, that involve them in your
run.
I've seen people have theirrace costumes sponsored, or even
just their race shirt.

(01:34:50):
They'll write like if you'recrafty, you can do all kinds of
stuff with that.
But even if you're not just aSharpie and you're writing their
names on your shirt ordedicating a mile to someone
that they may have lost fromcancer or something like that,
that's always really successful.
But other passions can also bea really good way of fundraising

(01:35:10):
.
So if you like to cook, youcould either make things or
teach people how to make things.
Like virtual classes are reallypopular.
That's neat.
You know we've had people dochili cook-offs at work.
If you work in a traditionalwork location, there's a lot of
fun things that you can do andjust tell people hey, next
Friday, plan on eating lunchhere, we're going to have a

(01:35:32):
chili cook-off and you can getalmost the whole building to
participate in things like that.
Rib cook-offs and all kinds ofcrazy things happen.
We had a police department once.
They had a team of people, likeseven people running, and I was
really a little worried aboutthe fundraising because, like a
lot of times when you're in apublic position like that, they

(01:35:54):
can't necessarily, you know,like federate, like a normal
person would, because it couldbe seen, as you know, putting
pressure on others and they'rein a position of power and stuff
.
So they had one very talentedperson and they made her paint
Christmas ornaments that they, Ithink they took some custom
orders, but they definitely justhad like a booth set up in the

(01:36:15):
lobby at the police station andpeople were just buying these
Christmas ornaments to helpraise money for pediatric cancer
.
They were beautiful, oh my gosh, they were so cool.
And of course, you know allkinds of customizations and
things.
So, yeah, I think you knowpeople have a lot of different
talents, so use those and sharethem.
Awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:36:36):
Wonderful suggestions .
I love asking the questionbecause we get some of the same
answers, but we get differentones, and that's.
Those are great.
Thank you so much for that.
If our friends want to run forDragon Master Initiative, where
do they go?

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
Well, they should just be able to go to
dragonmasterorg and that'sdragonmaster, no S at the end of
masterorg and look under ourevents, and all of the different
races are there.

Speaker 4 (01:37:06):
And this should also be on the spreadsheet that we
maintain for all the charities,so we'll have a link there as
well.

Speaker 2 (01:37:12):
We're on the website.
Do we have availability stillavailable for some of these
races?

Speaker 5 (01:37:17):
To reach out to her specifically for the distances,
but they are available for allthe races.

Speaker 4 (01:37:24):
Okay, very good, very good.

Speaker 3 (01:37:25):
Every weekend has something available.

Speaker 4 (01:37:28):
Yeah, One more note I made while you were talking,
and I may be wrong, amanda, Itry to listen carefully.
You talked about your son, butI don't remember telling us his
name.
What was your son's name?
His name is David, david Thankyou is David, david, thank you,
thank you.
David would be proud, I'm sure.
I'm sure.
Absolutely Well, amanda andJocelyn.

(01:37:50):
Thanks so much.
I look forward to seeing you.
I know, amanda, you said dopeyJocelyn.
I know, princess, anythingbefore that?

Speaker 5 (01:38:00):
Wine and dine for me.
Yeah, jocelyn, I know Princess,anything before that Wine and
Don for me.

Speaker 4 (01:38:03):
Yay, all right, that's great.
Well, we look forward to seeingyou then.
Thanks so much for joining us,and we'll see you later.

Speaker 3 (01:38:12):
Thank you Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:38:15):
That was a great interview.
If you do want to run forDragon Master I know they're
having a little bit of an issueon their webpage right now Reach
out to them through email atinfo at dragonmasterorg.
That's master, no S.
Please Right and reach out tothem and tell them what's going
on.
I know they have bibs available.
Just give them a quick email.

Speaker 4 (01:38:36):
Yeah, it seems like a good group.
Of course, the charities thatRun Disney works with they're
all good groups I mean you can'tgo wrong with it.

Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
They're legit.
They're legit and you knowthey're a nonprofit and you know
a lot of this stuff gets donewith volunteers and that might
be part of their webpage too.

Speaker 4 (01:38:55):
Hey, john, a couple people on Facebook have talked
about the mixtape.
How's the mixtape going, okay?

Speaker 2 (01:39:00):
so our mixtape is going really well.
It's going to be perfect forsome of those long runs coming
up.
We're about 80 songs right now.
It's about almost five hours ofmix.
So if you need a good five-hourrun mixtape's there for you.

Speaker 4 (01:39:17):
Remember it's a speed limit.
It's okay if it takes you fivehours to do 10 miles.
Just don't exceed the speedlimit.
So the link that's in theFacebook group is good for the
mixtape, john.

Speaker 2 (01:39:31):
It should be.
I will check it again.
I know a lot of people did it.
I know some people that are onthe Apple product were having a
little problem adding songs.
You know, I don't think Applewants to play well with Spotify.

Speaker 4 (01:39:46):
No kidding.

Speaker 2 (01:39:47):
But people have done it All right.

Speaker 4 (01:39:50):
So we're good to go.
So enjoy the five-hour tape.
Happy running.
Oops, it's not the end of theepisode.
Nope, relax, we got time to go.
In fact, let's take a look herereal quick.
Hey, did you guys see thatthere's an October run in
Kissimmee, florida, a 5K, theRise and Run 5K.

Speaker 6 (01:40:15):
No.

Speaker 7 (01:40:16):
Are we?

Speaker 4 (01:40:16):
sponsoring that.

Speaker 1 (01:40:17):
Are we getting royalties from this?

Speaker 4 (01:40:19):
Alicia, get our attorneys on the phone, will you
please All right, I will.

Speaker 6 (01:40:22):
We are LLC'd, my friend.

Speaker 4 (01:40:28):
That's right.
Can you imagine?
We said that cease and desist.
There's a Rise and Run 5K inKissimmee in October.
I'm probably not going to goover and do it, but you all know
Kissimmee is right in the WaltDisney World area.
I would love a lot of ourfriends to show up in their Rise
and Run shirts.
Yes, please do 5K, wouldn'tthat be cool.

Speaker 1 (01:40:50):
And they all have to run together.

Speaker 2 (01:40:52):
If the race announcers are Bob Greg Alicia,
it's a problem.

Speaker 6 (01:40:59):
I would love to see their medal.

Speaker 4 (01:41:01):
Yeah, somebody brought that to my attention, if
they're selling our merch, wereally have a problem.

Speaker 5 (01:41:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:41:09):
I should have remembered who brought it to my
attention and give them credit.
I'll try and do it on the nextepisode.
Speaking of the next episodenext episode 199, staying with
our theme of visiting withfriends, grace and Alan Young
are with us.
They'll be back.
They were with us earlier.
They've become wonderfulfriends of the podcast.
Many of you know Alan and Grace.

(01:41:33):
You know that Alan is the onlyperson who's not only done this
will be Walt Disney WorldMarathon number 33, only done.
This will be disney walt disneyworld marathon number 33.
But alan holds the distinctionof also doing the only marathon
that was run in disneyland.
In addition to that, wonderfulpeople should make for a great

(01:41:54):
episode.
And now it's time for the racereport.
Race Report sponsored by ourfriend Tom Stokes.
Stokes Metabolic Training,stokesfit, slash, rise and Run
Coaching is the site.
John and I and Alicia also isin on this We've all talked
about it.
We're we are actively involvedin Tom's 8-Week Challenge.

(01:42:16):
It's coming at a great time forme.
I need it.
It's an excellent challenge.
I hope you're in it also,friends.
If not, I don't know if it'stoo late, but I know it's not
too late to get involved withsome of Tom's personal coaching.
It's very beneficial, highlyworthwhile.
All right, we've got a long onethis week, lots of races.

(01:42:38):
I hope I didn't miss any.
I went through them as late asthis afternoon.
Had to shorten the summariessomewhat, so here we go.
Let us start on Thursday, julythe 3rd, in Knoxville, tennessee
, where Megan and Jimmy ran theFireball Classic 5K.
Megan and Jimmy ran theFireball Classic 5K.

(01:43:02):
Megan said the course took themby Nayland Stadium, home of the
Tennessee Volunteers.
No medal for this race, stillfun.
Jimmy walked this one sincehe's going to show up at another
race on Friday.
All right, let's go to theholiday, friday, the 4th of July

(01:43:23):
, and I'm going to start it inSt Petersburg, florida, for the
St Pete Pier Run.
This is a four-mile event.
Two start times 6.30 am and7.30 am.
John Pelkey and his wife, jody,were the race announcing crew
and we had several risingrunners there, myself included.
I didn't get to see everyone.

(01:43:45):
I got to see quite a few folks.
But let me tell you, friends,I'll take a minute to tell a
story on this one.
I got there early.
I did the 6 30 wave.
I got there early because Iknew john was going to be there.
He and I were talking at about6 am.
We're talking about the weather, which at that time looked
really kind of nice.
It was a pretty sun starting tocome up and we had been

(01:44:09):
watching the weather forecast.
We said they're going to be OK,john, I don't think the rain is
going to start till about 1030.
That's what I heard too.
We're in great shape.
I said goodbye, got in the lineto start and at about 620, it

(01:44:30):
started to rain.
Now that wasn't pleasant,because you're just standing
there and it's raining.
And it's a warm day, it's notparticularly cold, but the rain
wasn't.
A lot of fun, lot of fun.
Then we got going and it keptdraining harder and harder and

(01:44:51):
harder, and some of the streetsin this part of Florida do not
drain well at all.
My friends.
By the time we got a mile intothat race we were running in
water.
That was for me about middle ofmy shins deep.
Now you're not running anymoreat that point You're just wading

(01:45:12):
through 18 inches to two feetof water.
It was a riot.
I will tell you I kind of hadfun with it.
I will tell you I kind of hadfun with it.
But on the other hand, I'mrunning along and around mile
three, I'm in some of thedeepest water and I see

(01:45:32):
lightning in the area, hear thethunder and I'm thinking, well,
this is not good, but what canyou do?
I got out of the water where Icould.
I got up onto the side side, upinto the grass.
I don't know that that was muchof an improvement and we kept
going hey, here's some lessonslearned from when you have to
run in really rainy days.

(01:45:53):
I knew some of this stuffalready.
I had a hat, a hat with a brim,really important in rain.
The rain got so hard at onepoint, with the wind blowing,
that even though it wasrelatively dark, I put my
sunglasses on because the rainwas blowing into my face enough

(01:46:14):
it was tough to keep my eyesopen.
So I had my sunglasses with me,put those on.
We just powered through.
We got some great stories.
Let's see who else was there.
Kaylee was there.
I saw Kaylee on the course acouple of times.
I think she was a little bitahead of me.
Kayla was there.
Kayla did the two by fourchallenge, which would mean that
she ran both events.

(01:46:35):
Now we need a PR bell becausethis was Kayla's first four
miler and her first eight milechallenge.
I failed to mention that, whilethey couldn't do much for us who
were on the course from the 630start, what they did do for the

(01:46:56):
730 folks is they shot an emailout and said hey, hold what you
got, we're going to put yourstart off until 830.
And in doing that, by then therain had pretty much stopped and
the streets had a chance to dry.
The drain had a chance to drain, so the 830 start wasn't quite
as bad.

(01:47:16):
Let's see.
Stephanie ran this one.
Stephanie posted a video on theFacebook page of the folks
running through some of thedeeper stuff.
It was incredible.
Lisa was there.
She trudged through on theearly run.
I think she ran the second race, but she also.

(01:47:42):
Cynthia also posted a video ofthe first one.
And then Trina ran with her sonFrank in the second wave.
That wasn't too bad, exceptthat there's this is a nice
event.
It's been going on for a coupleof years.
I've run all of them.
Each one is its own story, butthe after party in the expo area

(01:48:07):
is in a part of the pier thatthey call the beach.

Speaker 2 (01:48:08):
It was the mud pit for the after party, did Pelkey
give you one of those infamousannouncements?
Well, here's the deal, orwhatever.
So here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:48:18):
Yeah, no, we didn't get it.
In fact, when I finished he wasthere on the side.
I ran up to him and I said so,john, here's the thing Running
in water that is almost kneedeep.
But he had already heard aboutthat, but it was fun to see him.
You know Jody's birthday wasthe 4th of July.

(01:48:39):
Happy birthday, jody.
Jody's going to be with us inan upcoming episode and John's
was actually July 2nd, so it'sgood to see both of them there.
The big race this weekend, as itis every July 4th, is the
Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPeachtree Road Race in Atlanta,
america's largest 10K run.
We had a slew of runners whowere there.

(01:48:59):
Some of them left us report.
Allie says this was much nicertemps than last year, a little
bit cooler.
She's returning from someinjuries.
Got to run this with somefriends, had some run Disney
folks strike up a conversationwith her when they recognized
her costume, which I thought wasterrific.

(01:49:20):
Allie ran as Winifred Banks.
Allison was there.
Amy was there.
Amy managed to recover fromwhat she calls the hill where
all hope is lost around milethree.
She finished strong.
I've heard others.
Atlanta can be really hilly.
We had another.
We had two other Amy's run.

(01:49:40):
This one.
Anita was there.
Ashley said she PR'd in fun.
She'll be back next year Nicemeeting with friends from
Atlanta's Marathon back in Marchto run this race.
Today Brooke was there.
Brooke ran with her husbandFisher.
This year they went with a goalto PR in fun while also getting
out of the heat as fast as theycould.

(01:50:02):
They did it, already signed upfor next year.
Dale did this first time doingthe Peachtree.
Most everyone who commentedtalked about how great course
support was Said.
One of the churches had theirpastor out splashing people with
holy water.
I've heard of that before.
Dale got a five-minute PR onthis course.

(01:50:22):
That's impressive.
This is a tough course to PR.
It's hilly, it's crowded andit's usually warmer.
That was a little cooler thannormal.
But nice PR Dale.
Elizabeth was there, as wasJessica, and Katie Kim was
running it for her first time.
A lot of fun.

(01:50:43):
Can't wait to do it again.
Pr and Fun loved every minute.
Some of her best runningfriends.
Matt did his third Peachtree,his second with his girlfriend.
The vibes were high.
The spectators were amazing, asalways.

Speaker 1 (01:50:58):
Now, matt.
I do need to know, though dothey have pizza cones at the end
of the Petrie road race,because I know that's your
favorite post-race snack.

Speaker 4 (01:51:08):
That's a good question, greg.
I don't know.
I know they got a nice.
I think it ends in a Fremontpark and they had a nice.
I did this thing a hundredyears ago.
Well, all right, quite not, notquite that long, but I did it a
long time ago.
Uh, nick was there.
Patrick, two Patrick's werethere.
Sharon didn't have a PR, butshe beat last year's time by

(01:51:32):
four minutes.
Sherry was there.
Todd said he left home at two45 to get there PR the race by
eight minutes.
He said he was motivated to gethome and take a nap.
But that's again, this is notan easy race to PR.

(01:51:55):
So there you go, Bunch of ourfriends running the Peachtree
Road Race in Atlanta, glenrock,new Jersey, the Glenrock 9-11
Tribute Run 5K.
Rob does this one, I think,every year.
This is the 18th one Mostrunners they've had since 2015.
Rob got an age group PR Alittle bit under 25 minutes.

(01:52:16):
That's a great 5K.

Speaker 1 (01:52:17):
That's awesome Way to go, Rob.

Speaker 4 (01:52:19):
Eight minute per mile pace His best pace in over a
year.
Good run, rob.
In L go Rob.
Eight minute per mile pace Hisbest pace in over a year.
Good run, rob.
In Lutz, florida, that's right,l-u-t-z is pronounced Lutz the
Lutz Independence Day 5K.
Laura Ann met with Andrea.
Andrea was there too at thestart line.
They ended up pacing anotherDisney runner to the last mile

(01:52:40):
to help her finish and they toldher about the podcast.
Thank you, laura Ann and Andrea.
Robert was there also In York,maine.
Four on the fourth.
Rob did this scenic out andback course that runs right
along the coastline.
Good weather for this race Madefor a great way to kick off the
holiday weekend.

(01:53:02):
In Lakeland, florida, jessicadid the red, white and blue 5k
Sounds like a beer run, let'ssee.
Went through downtown Lakelandas an out and back to the
brewery where it started.
No PR, but she was able to holdrace pace despite not really
doing much maintenance training.
The finish line had a pancakebreakfast and a free beer,

(01:53:27):
pancakes and beer.
Breakfast of champions.
Good job, jessica.
Tyler, texas.
Jessica Ellie and Maggie Oops,not Maggie.
Maggie got hurt, couldn't run.
Jessica Ellie and Kevin ran theFreedom Fighter 5K.
Weather was unusually cool andcloudy about 75 degrees in Tyler

(01:53:49):
, texas.
Jessica says doesn't remember aJuly 4th with temperatures this
cool, which for a run, made itnice.

Speaker 1 (01:53:58):
Kevin, I'm sorry this episode isn't 200 hours long.
If you were on the Zoom lastThursday, if you know you know
that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:54:08):
That's right.
Let's go to Endwell, new York,because all's well that ends
well.
The four on the fourth Steve,it was his fourth four on the
fourth, of course.
It's known for hills,particularly in the first couple
of miles.
The fourth the course is knownfor hills, particularly in the
first couple of miles.
The finishers had a localTex-Mex restaurant serving

(01:54:30):
breakfast burritos.
They even had a cold brewcoffee station and an ice cream
truck handling out treats,including Mickey bars, up in
Endwell, new York.
In Reston, virginia, taylor andBrian did the Firecracker 5K
Over in Claremont, florida.
The Advent Health ClaremontFreedom 5K.
Sherilyn was there.
Mary Jo said it was a greattraining run to cap off week.

(01:54:54):
One of Dopey training.
Delicious watermelon at thefinish line.
Watermelon's a great treat on arace course, whether at the
finish or if you're lucky enoughto get it along the way.
That's helpful.
Adanya was there.
New course a little hilly, alittle humid, but plenty of
water stops.
All things considered, she didpretty darn good.

(01:55:15):
Chelmsford, massachusetts,sophie and Audrey ran the John
Carson July 4th two-mile roadrace.
A bunch of family members ranwith them, including mom Haben
who got first place in her agegroup and did it on her birthday
.
How cool is that Great crowdsupport?
Because the holiday paradefollowed the race right away, so

(01:55:38):
the folks were already there.
We were in Claremont, florida.
Now we're in Claremont,california.
Different spelling ClaremontFreedom 5K.
Kate was there.
Fun local race, lots offamilies, lots of doggies on the
course, fun vibes, a little bitof a tough uphill ending but
all in all felt good to beactive.

(01:56:01):
Nice job, kate.
Marysville, ohio.
The old Glory 5k.
Allie ran this one.
She was traveling to visitfamily.
Signed up for it at the lastminute.
It's a local 5k in Marysville.
Went out too fast.
Most of the course was in thedirect sunlight.
She struggled a little bittowards the end.
Came up about 30 seconds shy ofa PR.
Still had a great time.

(01:56:22):
Nice metal and shirt at the endof this one.
Continuing the firecracker 4k atlake line park in cedar park,
texas.
Derrick ran this one in therain wasn't too bad.
Set a pr gun time of 40 minutes36 seconds.
The metal was made out of wood.

(01:56:44):
Looked very nice.
Good job, derek In Wall, newJersey.
Firecracker 5 miler.
Heather signed up for this raceless than 12 hours before the
start.
Nothing like planning right.
Heather Ended with a decenttime of an hour five minutes,

(01:57:04):
not her best ever, but her bestafter turning 40.
No medals.
They got roses or flags at thefinish Somewhere in Illinois, I
think our friend the treadmillqueen, our friend the Treadmill
Queen, kayla, ran theFirecracker 10K.
Hilly hot and a ton of fun forthe Treadmill Queen and her

(01:57:28):
guide for the day.
Good job, kayla.
Let's see another Firecrackeron the Firecracker.
5k in Melbourne, florida,monica and the Chaos Crew.
Let's see what they did here.
Second place age group finishesfor kiddo number two and for
Monica.
Third place age group for kiddonumber three.

(01:57:51):
First time she's ever won anage group award and a first ever
5k on her own two feet forkiddo number four.
Well, her own two feet forkiddo number four.
Well, kiddo number four, that'sa PR Hashtag.
Dopey baby, according to thepictures, did not really enjoy

(01:58:12):
the kids race, but everyoneloved the rocket pops that they
got at the finish Up inNashville, tennessee.
Jimmy would be back, jimmy,there for the music city.
Fourth of july 5k in centennialpark around the parthenon.
You guys ever seen theparthenon in nashville?

Speaker 1 (01:58:34):
I have not, but I've seen plenty of pictures, but not
in person.

Speaker 4 (01:58:37):
It is a full-scale replica of the parthenon in
greece's really pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (01:58:43):
It's by Vanderbilt University right.

Speaker 4 (01:58:46):
Oh golly, greg.
You would ask that I don't know.
It probably is, but I don'tknow to be sure.
I do remember going to the parkand to the Parthenon.
It was neat.
Park was beautiful, jimmy says,but there wasn't any shade for
about half of this run, so itwas pretty hot.
They actually registered dogsfor this race For $15, the dogs

(01:59:08):
register and they get a bib, amedal and a bandana.

Speaker 1 (01:59:13):
I can't believe a dog would carry cash on them.

Speaker 4 (01:59:15):
I don't know, maybe they used debit cards, I don't
know.
Hey, another Firecracker 5K,this one in New Smyrna Beach,
florida.
Rebecca was there.
This is a beach out and back.
Weren't any cones keepingpeople out of the way on the
beach?
I mean, they're literallyrunning along the beach.
It was kind of chaotic, butoverall it was a fun way to
start a holiday weekend.

(01:59:37):
Rebecca finished as the firstplace female in this race.

Speaker 1 (01:59:42):
You know, Bob, we really missed an opportunity
here.
We should have created a riseand run drinking game where
anytime you say Firecracker 5K,everyone's got to take a drink.

Speaker 4 (01:59:50):
Oh yeah, there's a bunch of them.
I tried to put them alltogether but I couldn't.
I just lost track.
Let's go to Chester,connecticut, where Miss 169
herself, sue, did the 47thannual four on the fourth race.
It's a hilly course but this isjust about the cutest town in

(02:00:12):
Connecticut If you want to knowwhat it's like, think Hallmark
movie.
Independence Day 5K in Needham,massachusetts.
Jake was there.
Hot weather's coming, jake says, to Massachusetts, but it held
off enough for the 8.30 start ofthis race, which led to a
26-minute finish in this 5K anda 52-second PR.

(02:00:36):
In Pittsburgh, andrew ran theBrentwood Firecracker 5K.
There we go again.

Speaker 1 (02:00:45):
Drink.

Speaker 4 (02:00:46):
Firecrackers.
Denise, on a beautiful day, rana hilly but great race at the
Red, white and Blue 7.4K inHuntersville, North Carolina.
Now I got to expect Denise hasrun this one before, or she'd

(02:01:06):
have told us this was her firstever 7.4 kilometer race, which
would have been a PR.
There's got to be a storyaround that distance.
I don't know what it is.
Up in Huntsville, alabama, theyhad a Freedom 5K.
Judy was there, said it was abeautiful morning.
Maria was there Also.
They both ran that race.

Speaker 1 (02:01:25):
Hold on, let's go back to Denise for a second Bob.

Speaker 4 (02:01:28):
Yeah 7.4.
Yeah, the date July 4th.
July 4th, there we go there, wego.
Broke the code.
Thanks, Greg.

Speaker 2 (02:01:37):
You're welcome.
The Da Vinci code over here.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:01:43):
Let's see.
We're in Glen Ellen.
I believe it is Glen Ellen,illinois.
Vicki did the Freedom for MylerOut in Las Vegas the 4th of
July 5K Sarah.
Sarah wins the award for themost creative report of the year
, maybe ever.
It appears that Sarah wasunable to make this race and at

(02:02:08):
the last minute GeorgeWashington showed up from out of
time and took her place.
You got to see it, friends.
You got to see the costume orthe mask that Sarah ran in and
read the report.
It's pretty clever.
Good job on that, sarah.
Chris was there.
Chris ran into Sarah.

(02:02:28):
I mean George pre-race Goodsize group for this race, kind
of like a turkey trot, and therewere some speedy runners there.
Really great medal for this one.
Chris says he thinks his riseand run visor helped him with
his pace.
For this one, I think earlydata indicates that the rise and

(02:02:49):
run visor is worth about 10seconds per mile.
I think this one's in Erie,pennsylvania, because that's
around where Michelle lives.
It's the 6th annual 10th Streetbeer mile which she has watched
from her porch for the firstfive years, but she jumped into
the sixth one.
Uh, let's see.

(02:03:10):
One mile, four beers, that's alot.
And and Michelle says this isfor a person who has maybe one
beer a week.
They use dynamite To start therace and then they go.
Hey, with all that, michellefinished.
First female Way to go Michelle, very cool.

(02:03:34):
Dina was in Sayville, new York,west Sayville, specifically For
the Iron Horse 4 miler it's ahometown favorite race.
Raises money for ALS.
4-miler it's a hometownfavorite race.
Raises money for ALS.
Took off with her A-goal of thePR insight, crushed it by a
whole six minutes, even better,ran smart, negative splits,

(02:03:55):
crossed the finish line feelingstrong and fired up.
Well, you earned that.
Do you know where?
Way to go?
In Santa Clarita, the SantaClarita Independence Day classic
Jackie Fun 5K along the 4th ofJuly parade route.
So lots of people were cheeringas they're waiting for the
parade to start.
A decade's PR in this 5K ForJackie those count.

(02:04:22):
In Brigton, maine, the four onthe fourth Holly did there.
Lots of hills, good weather,though no metal, but a great
slice of watermelon at thefinish.
Angie's in Jacksonville, florida, for the Seacoast Bank
Celebration 5k.
Hot and humid.
It's Jacksonville, it's July.

(02:04:43):
Her inflatable eagle costumemade it even hotter.
I can only imagine she wore theeagle costume.
It was a fundraising promise toher donors Glad it was only
three miles.
I understand.
I absolutely understand.
Having worn a Groot costume fora 5K, her amazing friend also

(02:05:05):
dressed in a cone costume andthey did a dead last start to
help Angie raise money on thisone.
Albany, ohio, new Albany, ohio.
The Independence Day 5k.
Kayla and Austin had a greattime despite the heat and
humidity.
They also ran a race on Sunday,the Run Wild 5K at the Columbus

(02:05:26):
Zoo.
That was a lot of fun.
That race, the Sunday race, wastheir son Colby's and Colby's
19 months old first 5K ride in astroller.
I'm not sure we have strollerPRs, so still that's cool and
fun.
Kayla and Austin, good job.

(02:05:47):
Cape Coral, florida.
The Freedom 5K carried it.
A little rain stopped rightbefore they started.
Carrie ran her Rise and Run bibboards.
She's coming back from footsurgery.
She's happy with her 28-minutetime, carrie.
That's a good time period in a5K, so congratulations on that.

(02:06:08):
Humidity was high, it wastolerable, the views were
amazing and friends.
We're finishing up the 4th ofJuly with the Greenwood Freedom
Fest.
It's a 5K in Greenwood,arkansas, which is close to Fort
Smith, arkansas.
Our buddy Joe was there.

(02:06:29):
Only two amigos on this one.
Gary took first in the agegroup and Joe took second Dos
amigos.
Dos amigos On the 4th of July.
That's it for the 4th.
We did have a couple of otherruns In Winterplock, florida, on
the 5th.

(02:06:49):
On Saturday there was the TrackShacks Watermelon Run and our
friends who left race reports.
They all had great watermeloncostumes.
They looked really good.
Heather and k were there.
Heather said her friendconvinced her the night before
to sign up for this.
One wasn't her best 5k, that'sall right.

(02:07:11):
She ran into k and other disneyfriends on the course and of
course, and again, they all lookgreat their watermelon costumes
.
Tracy was there.
Always run worth the run for acold slice of watermelon and a
keepsake cooling towel.
Now, after the race, tracy gotto judge the watermelon eating
contest and saw our run disneyfriend tracy woo was there.

(02:07:36):
So I saw john in st pete.
Tracy saw tracy woo over inWinter Park.
Erica ran this race.
Erica also had a great-lookingcostume.
Erica ran this one virtually.

Speaker 1 (02:07:48):
Hey Bo, can we go back to Heather for a second?
I'm not sure if you were stillon the customized training call,
but this is really exciting forHeather.
She just signed up to do the110-mile challenge at the Donna
next year.
And she is attempting to be thefirst chair athlete to complete

(02:08:11):
that challenge.
So, heather, we are behind you.
No joke here.
110%.

Speaker 4 (02:08:18):
Yeah, there you go.
I like that.
I think she'll do it.
Hey, let's go to the SerialCity Half Marathon.
Our buddy, mark a run Disneypatroness did this one.
Now you may be looking at thenotes.
Anybody want to guess where theSerial City Half Marathon is?

Speaker 1 (02:08:37):
In Kellogg.

Speaker 4 (02:08:38):
No, it's not a bad guess.
Close, I think right, right Gotthe right idea.
See, you's not a bad guess.
Close, I think right Got theright idea.
See, you guys are a little tooyoung.
Even I think John's a littletoo young.
I know Battle Creek Michigan.
Well, you know Battle CreekMichigan, but back in the day
you would collect box tops forsome goofy gift.

Speaker 2 (02:08:58):
I know he's box tops for that and he box tops for
school gifts.

Speaker 4 (02:09:02):
And you would mail them to Battle Creek, michigan,
and then you'd wait which sixweeks or so, which, for a 10
year old, was an eternity.
Yeah, you got that littlesubmarine.

Speaker 2 (02:09:14):
You put the.
You got that little submarine.
Bob, you put the little bakingsoda in.

Speaker 4 (02:09:18):
So that's right, that's right, john.
Yeah, yep, yep, yep.
Making soda in, soda out,that's right, that's right, john
.
Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep.
So anyway, mark did the halfmarathon there.
So this one starts with 50 plushot air balloons launching
Pretty cool, and the balloonsfollow the runners into the
Kalamazoo Valley.

(02:09:39):
That's fortunate the winds areblowing in the correct direction
.
But Mark, who does a lot ofraces, says this might be the
best non-run Disney event thathe's done.
Pretty cool In Newcastle,england, the Great North 10K.
This is another huge10-kilometer event.

(02:10:01):
I don't know in terms ofentries, which one's bigger this
or the peach tree, but we hadtwo friends doing it.
Ian did this one.
About 10,000 runners took tothe streets, which included
crossing the iconic Tyne Bridge,the Tyne River, newcastle upon
Tyne.
The bridge is actually themodel for the Sydney Harbor

(02:10:23):
Bridge.
They cross it twice.
Ian finished in a veryrespectable hour and two minutes
.
Andy did this one also.
This one starts 10 minutes fromAndy's home.
Said the course has beenchanged.
He's done it before.
The course has been changed toadd an extra uphill.
That's always nice.
This one made it a little bittough, started a little too fast

(02:10:44):
, missed his time goal.
He's been a grump ever since,but he does want to shout out to
his daughter, lena, who ran.
She, lena and andy ran acharity event the day before
that.
They did a mile around.
Oh golly and I'm going tobutcher this one Is it Lee's
Park or Lisa's Park?

(02:11:05):
Ended up in the St James Parkhome of the Newcastle United
Football Club and they had ablast.
Notice, andy, I said footballclub and not soccer team.
I did that for you, buddy.
Let's wrap up the race report.
Let's wrap up the race report.
On Sunday, july 6th, still inEngland, the in Cornwall,

(02:11:29):
saltash, cornwall, themagnificent seven.
Anna did this one.
Anna did this one.
Whoever knee, whoever named itmagnificent, really needs a trip
to the loony bin, as some ofthose seven hills and seven
miles were horrible.
800 feet of elevation gainthat's significant.

(02:11:51):
Ana did get an 18-minute coursepersonal best and an official
two-minute seven-mile personalbest overall, but she made a big
mistake at the end.
At the end of this race, youhave an option you get a medal
or you get a beer.
Ana took the medal.

(02:12:12):
Thank you very much.
She regrets it.
She wishes she'd taken the beer.

Speaker 2 (02:12:18):
That reminds me of my favorite John Crook story.
You're a big Phillies fan,right?
Remember John Kruk.

Speaker 4 (02:12:25):
Kruk is the Phillies color commentator on television.
He's a riot.

Speaker 2 (02:12:30):
They traded for.
I forget the guy's name.
He was 20, kruk was 28.
They traded for somebody and he, because the other guy, had all
jewelry in 28.
So he traded with John Kruk.
He goes yeah, I traded for like10 bucks in two cases of beer.
It's a sad story.
He goes uh, the guy gotdivorced from his wife and the

(02:12:51):
beer is gone.

Speaker 4 (02:12:54):
I bet the beer didn't last long.
Not in that locker room, that'sfor sure.
Kruk's great, kruk's hilariousnot in that locker room, that's
for sure.
No, crux Great Crux Hilarious.
He does.
Like I said, he does the colorcommentary on Philly's TV games,
not for all of them.
For most of them he doesn't.
For most of the home games hedoesn't travel very far, he
won't go West of the Mississippi, but he's a riot.

(02:13:17):
It's a lot of fun.
Well, listen, friends, there wehave it.
I made it, we made it.
We made it to the end of therace report for episode 198.
All right, friends, we creepcloser to episode 200.
We plan to continue after, butit's a big one coming up.

(02:13:38):
We thank you for listening.
We hope you enjoyed it.
We hope you had fun, friends,and if you run, you know you are
our friend.
That's the second time you'veheard that this episode.
I hope your training is goingwell.
Stick with it.
It does pay dividends.
We know it's tough.
We know the summer months aredifficult to run, but we know

(02:13:59):
they pay off when thetemperature goes down and the
humidity drops.
So hang in there and until wemeet again, happy running.

Speaker 1 (02:14:17):
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.
Thank, you.

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