RED Episode 294 Disneyland Inaugurual Half Marathon Weekend Races with Emily O'Keefe

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RED Episode 294 Disneyland Inaugural Half Marathon Weekend Races with Emily O’Keefe

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Thanks to all our patrons and everyone in the Runcation Nation for your support and encouragement.  Because of you, we have kept the show going over the last two years, so thank you!  

Thank you to Dean Gerber, Associate Producer of our show, and Josh Ozbirn, Executive Producer of the podcast, too!  

RED Episode 294 Disneyland Inaugural Half Marathon Weekend Races with Emily O’Keefe

This week, we welcome back a member of the Runcation Nation, Emily O’Keefe, to recap the Inaugural Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend.  From the best airports and places to stay to can’t-miss options for great food and beverages to celebrate in Disneyland, Emily has us covered!  Thanks, Emily!

Patrons, we will have a bonus episode over on Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee as Emily stayed to chat with us after we wrapped up our recap!

https://www.patreon.com/Runeatdrinkpodcast 

https://buymeacoffee.com/runeatdrinkpod 

Connect with Emily 

Emily’s Instagram as a Travel Agent @emilyo_kttwtravel

https://www.instagram.com/emilyo_kttwtravel?igsh=czd1d3h0YXY4cTFu 

Emily’s Personal Instagram @ecofit13

https://www.instagram.com/ecofit13?igsh=cG9tZHM5Z2tqZ2Vu 

Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend

https://www.rundisney.com/events/disneyland/disneyland-halloween-half-marathon-weekend/ 

Travel Options

John Wayne Airport

https://www.ocair.com/ 

LAX Airport

https://www.flylax.com/ Disney’ss Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/hotels/grand-californian-hotel/ Emily’ss Food and Beverage Recommendations Goofy’ss Kitchen

(Mickey Waffles and Mimosa Flights, Oh my!)

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland-hotel/goofys-kitchen/menus 

Support the show

THAT’S A WRAP!

Thank you for listening! Because of your support, we are in our eighth year of the podcast! Don’t forget to follow us and tell us where to find you next on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Also, check out our store on the website and get some swag, thanks to Pure Creative Apparel. Thanks to www.PodcastMusic.com for providing the music for this episode, too!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Emily, part of the Runcation Nation and
you're listening to the Run EatDrink Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Run Eat Drink Podcast.
We feature destination racesfrom across the country and
after the race, we take you on atour of the best local food and
beverage to celebrate.
So, whether you are an eliterunner or a back of the packer
like us, you'll know the bestplaces to accomplish, explore
and indulge.
On your next Runcation, dana.

(00:36):
It's time for another Runcationrecap.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yes, it is almost as if our guest heard my request
and is granting my wish.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Oh, it's like an Aladdin reference that you made,
right there.
See what I did there I see Isee what it is and today we
welcome back after her fabulousMystic Half recap.
We could not pass up anotheropportunity to have Emily
O'Keefe on the show from theRuncation Nation.
Welcome to our show, Emily,Welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Emily.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Can you hear?
Did you hear the applause?
No, yeah, good, but it's okay,we'll insert it later.
Just imagine that there is astadium full of Runcation Nation
members applauding you.
Thank you for not being scaredoff and coming back to recap the
Halloween races.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Out at Walt Disneyland, disneyland the.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
OG Disneyland, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I talked about this on a previous episode.
We'd had an experience the lasttime we went there.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I feel like Emily heard us calling her when we
did that.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, and I said I'd love for somebody who ran that
to come on the show.
Yeah, and here you are here weare Yay.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, I heard you guys on the last episode.
I listen pretty regularly.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Thank you, yeah, it's fun, yay, if you would.
Yeah, yay.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
If you would.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Kind of give those who might be new to the show a
little bit of a primer.
Tell them a little bit aboutyourself, your background, who
you are, where you're from, whatyou're drinking.
In our chat today, if you'rehaving anything, I'm we're
having Disney, star Wars themedcoffee dark side.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Nice Dark side from thanks to expedition roasters
and eric canter fabulous peopleover there been on the show
before.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
That sounds delightful.
I am not drinking coffee.
I don't.
I actually don't drink coffee,in fact, that's okay and
interviews over oh my gosh no, Ido drink tea, though, and I'm
currently drinking the Harneyand Sons Irish Breakfast Blend.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Very nice.
It's really delightful and.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I'm actually using my brand new Disneyland race
weekend mug.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Oh yes, Look at that fanciness.
A little bit Halloween themedthere with it looks like coffin
shapes and characters.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh gosh, and a batwing handle.
Yes, there's characters.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's all these characters, oh gosh and a
batwing handle.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yes, there's characters, it's all these
characters.
And then, yeah, nightmareBefore Christmas characters and
all that Hocus Pocus.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
And for those that are watching the video, you may
notice that she's also wearingsome of the swag as well, so
she's fully decked out.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
And I wore because you talked about it last week on
the episode I wore the swagthat Pure Creative Apparel
designed for us for the welcomeback or the return not the
inaugural, but the return of theDisneyland races that we went
to in January.
Yeah, so I couldn't help it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Oh, that's a cute shirt too, yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
I was inspired and look on the back.
It says what does it say?
Best runcation, best runcationever.
Yep, yeah.
So did you have the bestruncation ever at the inaugural
Halloween races at Disneyland inCalifornia.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, hold on.
She's got to tell people whoshe is her background.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Okay, well, I mean, she's excited.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes, I am excited.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
So I'm Emily.
I've been a runner for aboutseven, eight years now.
My first race ever was theinaugural Star Wars Dark Side 5K
back in 2016.
That was actually when I was acast member as well, so I ran
and then went right back to work.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right afterwards.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
That's fun.
I love that job, so I had agood time there.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
What did you do as a cast member?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
I had an engineering internship.
It was really cool.
No, I was under the projectmanager that handled all the
road and parking lot maintenanceacross Disney property, so yeah
.
So my background.
I'm a civil engineer too, so Iget to do the best of both
worlds now, where I'm anengineer at my local ZOT and

(04:57):
then I'm also a travel advisorwho does.
Disney vacations and all sortsof vacations.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
And what is your?
We can find you on Instagram asa travel agent.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
That's probably the easiest way to find me.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Which we'll link to in the show notes.
Yes, I know I jumped the gunand I got so excited and I just
it's.
We're not a Disney podcast, aRun Disney podcast, but we.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
We're Disney adjacent .

Speaker 2 (05:21):
We're Disney adjacent and that is Run.
Disney gave us the bug, Justlike it gave you the bug in the
five K.
We started when wine and dinewas a relay race at night at
night.
Yeah, yeah, back in the day,kids, yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
No, no, get off my lawn.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
No, would you?
This was the inaugural, so itwas the first time it was held.
Would you say it is a must-dofor the Rencation Nation?

Speaker 1 (05:52):
I'd say it's very different and it's very fun.
They did a really good job withall the theming and the expo
was good.
All the in-park entertainmentwas great.
It was a fun time, I'd go backOkay.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
And so this race is officially called what?
What's the name of this race?

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Just the Halloween half marathon weekend.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Okay, the weekend itself has a I see a 10K shirt
on.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
And it has a half marathon as well.
Did it have a 5K?

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yes, it did.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's called the Disneyland.
It also had yoga.
Oh, it also had yoga.
Sorry, I got distracted therefor a moment.
I mean, I know that they'vebeen adding that here and there
they have.
Not to all of the race weekends, but to most of them, I think.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Select ones.
I think that started out, but Ithink it's gaining popularity.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
For Princess.
They've got it, and I saw it, Ithink, for springtime surprise
too out there.
But okay, so did you do theyoga, did you do all of it?

Speaker 1 (06:52):
I only got into the challenge, unfortunately,
because we all know how crazyfrom disney race registration
day is so you got in the 10k andthe half yeah, okay, everything
else was already sold out.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
And that's the Disneyland Halloween half
marathon weekend and it was theinaugural one.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
I guess that's a great segue into one of our
questions If we could talk alittle bit about your review and
thoughts on the registrationprocess.
For those that have never beenthrough it, our experience is
that it's a registration processlike no other.
I feel like that's true.
That's about the only way I canbe positive about it, so I

(07:30):
would love to hear your thoughtson it.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
That is absolutely true.
If you're not online by acertain time, then you're not
getting in, and for most isracing, yeah, for most run
disney race weekends, umalthough lately I've seen a
couple that have not sold out,which is interesting.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Usually they sell within an hour to registration
opening it's been I I've noticedit across the board for the
shorter distances, yes, but forthe challenge and like hanging
out there right now inspringtime surprise, because
we've just had registration, Ithink the challenge is still
open and I want to say the 10miler is still open as of this

(08:08):
recording.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Wow, that is actually surprising.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
But the shorter distances Very surprising, no,
so do you?
What are your registration tipsfor Matt for getting in there
with that challenge the way thatyou did?

Speaker 1 (08:23):
So I typically recommend getting onto Linda
Disney site around like nine 30,nine 45, make sure you're
aren't like.
You have your login informationready to go, because it's your
normal Disney login.
So the same login, which isnice, and then the second it
hits 10 o'clock it'llautomatically redirect you into
the virtual queue and then it'sjust waiting game.

(08:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
So it's not like not a whole lot you can do about
that there's.
It's not like back in the daywhen we started registration,
where now there's a virtualqueue and it tells you like you
have two hours before you get in, or you have 10 minutes or you
have I don't know if this is anybetter.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
The old way was have as many screens open as possible
with as many different webbrowsers as possible logged in
and refreshing and doing all ofthat stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
And I think people still do that.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
I don't know that.
I don't know what's better, Idon't know.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
It depends because, like, it randomly places you in
the queue to like in line ofwhen you got into the website.
It's random so and I still dohave all the browsers up and
everything too.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
So it's like a lottery.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
So you're still doing that, ok.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
So it's like a virtual lottery in a way,
because it's random in the waythat they put you in the queue.
So it doesn't, and I agree withhaving multiple browsers and
being in there like half an hourbefore and it's 10 am.
Typically it's 10 am Easterntime.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Usually on a Tuesday morning.
It's pretty typical yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Unless you're like one of the lucky ones.
It's like Alan Young is in.
Alan and Grace, who have beenon the show before, have been
Club Run Disney, which isusually the week before.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Are you just wanting to get my blood pressure up,
talking about Club Run Disney,which is usually the week before
?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Are you just wanting to get my blood pressure up.
Talking about Club Run Disney.
I'm so sorry.
No don't.
No, that's a sore spot for me,I know.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Okay, it's not just me then.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Okay, we can't, it's not in our budget.
I would say, well Same, it'sNot a priority.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
For those that are not familiar, club Run Disney is
a way for you to essentiallybuy your way into a race and
bypass the queue and you getspecial corral placement.
Basically, if you want to throwmoney at it, you can guarantee
that you're going to get inthere.
But it's expensive and that'son top of the fee, and Disney is

(10:43):
a premium race.
Let's be fair.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
It is.
It's not cheap.
It's fun, don't get me wrong.
It's a lot of fun, but it's notcheap.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
No, and I don't want to sound like I'm being negative
.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
No, because it's a great time.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
But anytime we talk about a Disney race, this comes
up.
Some of the difficulty inregistration always comes up.
Club Run always comes up.
Yeah, club run, disney and somediscussion comes up and
generally the overall costbecause it is a premium race
event.
But they do and we've been verycomplimentary of disney as far
as the event goes and the magicthat they create it is.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
It is absolutely hard to beat and typically like that
challenge that you have it.
Typically it's $400 and somedollars Like $440.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Do you remember what it was?
I think it was $440 beforetaxes.
Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
The challenge.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, and then the half is something like $260
itself.
And there are kids races too,if you want to make it a family
affair.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, I had a friend who did their almost soon-to-be
two-year-old kids races.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
The kids races are cute there.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
And they are.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
They do a good job with those.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
And they're the least expensive they're $40.
Not that I can qualify by ageor anything.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
I actually checked online because I was curious.
Online because I was curious.
Run Disney's website.
The springtime surprise 10miler yoga challenge and the
after party at Typhoon Lagoon isstill available as of now wow
that is so surprising it'sunexpected

Speaker 2 (12:15):
very surprising, because every other what's?
The longer distances, and thenthe yoga.
I think the yoga is stillfairly new to people.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, it is.
It started pretty recently too.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
It wasn't available before COVID, and you would see
it at just a couple of theon-property resorts would do
something like that.
Now it's becoming part of theevent, which I think that's kind
of cool.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
I like it at the castle, at Sleeping Beauty's
castle out there.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
And you get like a yoga mat, I think.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
I think this year at Springtime's Prize they did it
in Hollywood Studios.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Really, oh, that's cool.
I think that's cool.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
So they did it in front of the Chinese Theater.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, where Mickey and Minnie'sRunaway Railway is.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, out there.
I saw a few people post outphotos there.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
I have not seen any of the social media for this yet
.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
I've seen some of it, like Carissa will post the race
announcement yeah, Carissa wasthere this weekend.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
And she also put out there that she's re-signed with
Run Disney, so she'll beannouncing the new season, which
is excellent, because I thinkshe and Fitz are our favorite
race announcers.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
They're very good.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Carissa Galloway.
I agree, they're wonderful.
Yeah, and her and John Pelkeypeed off each other really well
yeah.
Riley.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Caramon yeah, they're a great crew.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
I like that.
I really like them a lot.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
They have good chemistry and that's important
when you're getting up at 1 inthe morning and you're getting
there at 3, 3, 4 in the morningand getting lined up so early.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yes, and then having all that energy to keep the
crowd going and runners awake,yeah, no, they're a great group,
yeah no-transcript.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Distances or challenges.
Yeah, I would say they couldtry it, but dana, you're bling
driven I am 100 bling driven youimmediately when we started,
bling, driven you immediatelywhen we started, talked about
her mug.
Her tea mug, which could alsohold coffee, could be a coffee
mug, and your shirt?
Just liquid, it's hot liquid.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
And it looks like a great shirt.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
And it looks like a great 10K shirt.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
I like this, but I'm curious what about the medals?

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I actually brought them.
The 10K is probably my favoriteone.
They did a really good job withit.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
And what was the theme for the 10K Haunted?

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Mansion Haunted Mansion.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Oh, very cool.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
How could you not go for that?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, so they have the Hitchhiking Ghosts on the
ribbon on the other side.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Oh, that's so cool.
Yeah, like a black a turquoise,a blue theme, kind of going
through it.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
And then they had it.
Glows in the dark too, Does it?
I was going to ask you thatquestion I was going to ask.
Yeah, it does.
It glows in the dark and thenit has the door knocker from the
hood it actually has a littlespiked ball on the end and it's
magnetic so it doesn't clang allday.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, so this is probably my favorite medal.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
What a great nod to the race Instead of a spinner.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Instead of a spinner.
It's got like the door knockerand everything.
We missed that.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Super fun.
And then the half is.
Here's the half you, here's thehalf.
You can see the top here has alittle like stained glass kind
of effect.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
Which you love.
I love the stained glasselement.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah.
And then yeah, the characterswere the Sanderson sisters, but
it was the mini, clarabelle andDaisy.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
So that's like Hocus Pcus kind of situation for
anybody who is not familiar withthe characters there yeah, and
then the challenge metal oh achills and thrills challenge.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Chills and thrills, this one's a spinner that has
jack on one side and sally onthe other.
Hey, I just have to say janinein the runcation nation, just
celebrated a birthday.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
So it has Jack on one side and Sally on the other.
Oh, that's really cool.
Hey, I just have to say Janinein the Runcation Nation just
celebrated a birthday, a bigbirthday that I won't name, like
over the hill kind of birthdaything, and Jack and Sally and
the whole Nightmare BeforeChristmas theme of that
challenge.
She, I think, would do whateverit takes to get the look at
them, Jack and Sally on theribbon.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
On the ribbon Super cute yes.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
And that color scheme on that ribbon is more black
and purple.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Halloween Keeping with the movie color palette.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
So cute.
And then I finally earned myCoast to Coast medal.
Oh the new one.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Finally, this is the first time we've seen a version
of the new Coast to Coast medals.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay, it has two little spinners on it.
One has a Disneyland castle andone has a Disney World castle
on it and they spin to see arunning.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
Oh, that is so cool and it's a nod to some of the
classic Disney, like going backto the 60s 50s, 60s yeah, that
is, oh look California.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
To the 60s, 50s, 60s yeah, that is, oh, look
California.
And Florida.
Yep, disneyland, walt DisneyWorld, oh, that's great.
Oh, and it's got that blue andthe yellow that is usually
reminiscent of the coast or hasbeen in the past Reminiscent of
the coast colors.
Yeah, did you.
Okay.

(17:50):
So you fell into the the coffeemug merch.
You purchased that, but did you?
Did you like the other shirt?
Since we're talking about thebling, did you like the other?
The 10k you said was yourfavorite one.
What about the challenge shirtand the half shirt?

Speaker 1 (18:07):
they were really cute too.
I liked all the shirts thisyear, which is really nice.
Comfortable and they're allpretty comfy too.
They're all short sleevedrive-it.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's very nice.
Now did you get an opportunityto go through and look at the
finisher merch and did any ofthat pique your interest?

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, I was a little bit more on a budget this time.
We're actually going to Greecein a few weeks, whoops.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
You could have a nice meal in Greece or you could get
a Disney shirt.
Come on.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Or I could bring back a bottle of wine from Greece.
I'm actually planning ongetting a tattoo in Greece, and
so is my husband.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Very nice.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, we've started a whole travel tattoos thing, so
that's been fun, that's cool.
So I got the mug, I got therace weekend mug and then I also
got a race weekend, like thecar magnet and a pin.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
I like the magnets and the pins and those are like
smaller, more affordable optionswhen you're budgeting for
Greece.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
Well that, and they take up a lot less suitcase
space.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
They do that's true, and one thing I have recently
seen I like I tend to prefer therace shirts to the finisher
shirts.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
The finisher shirts are almost always cotton which
I'm not really a big fan ofcotton shirts and typically the
design.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
recently I've liked the design of the shirts better
for the races.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
The races that are included in the race entry.
That are included in the raceentry.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, yeah yeah, you're already getting a shirt
for every race, plus a challengeshirt and all that.
Do you really need anothershirt?

Speaker 2 (19:36):
I don't know.
I guess if you just fell inlove with it, right?

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Or maybe it's your first one, or you want to wear
it to the parks afterwards.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah, or you want to tempt fate.
You want to wear the finishershirt.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
No way While you're running no absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
There are people that do that.
I did see a lot of peoplewearing the shirts that you get
with your registration duringthe races.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, I've done that.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
I saw a lot of people wear them Really.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
We've done that.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yes, generally, we have done that in the past
before we got into Podcasting,before we that in the past,
before we got into before,before we got into the podcast
and before jojo said you want towear a race skirt or a tutu or
you want to do costumes, which,uh, leads me to ask you did you
run in any special costume gear?

(20:23):
What did you do for in terms ofrace outfits?

Speaker 1 (20:28):
so I brought out my old Star Wars race costumes.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Nice yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
So obviously you guys know I'm a big Star Wars fan.
I love doing the Star Warsraces.
I did the dark side ones everyyear.
I never made it out toCalifornia for the light side
ones, which I'm kicking myselfnow, but it is what it is.
It was cool.
It was cool.
Yeah, don't rub it anymore.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Bring them back.
Bring it was cool.
It was cool.
Yeah, don't rub it anymore.
Bring them back, bring themback.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Anyway, oh gosh, yeah , please bring them back.
So for the 10K I wore myMandalorian costume, where I
made a headband and I had one ofthe t-shirts that had the
printed armor on it.
Okay, and then I did the samething, but with Boba Fett for
the half marathon day.
And then I did the same thing,but with Boba Fett for the half

(21:10):
marathon day, and then the 501stwas actually out on the course.
In Anaheim they're bringing theStar Wars race weekends bag.
Of course I get pictures of allof them.
No, they're great, I love them.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
They're great.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
They're awesome.
Their stuff is incredible theirchapter out.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
there is huge too, it is.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
They've got a really big chapter.
The 501st is huge.
It's so cool.
I love that.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
And it doesn't matter what the race theme is.
They're out there, which isawesome.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
And for those that don't know, the 501st is a
charitable organization thatdoes Star Wars-themed costuming
and they do a lot of work for,like, children's hospitals.
They bring some joy to kidswhen they need it the most.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
There's chapters all over the country cast and a
couple disney.
Yes, I think they were in themandalorian they were in the
mandalorian.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
They actually had a a scene where they needed a lot
of stormtroopers and they werelike we don't have enough and
they put out a call to the 501stand they all showed it was like
the season finale of the firstseason, right the big scene
where they're all where moff,where moideon says you have
something I want.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, that was such a good episode.
I love that show.
That was a great show.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
I love it.
I love it and I love the themesof your costumes.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Fabulous.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Fantastic, fabulous.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
So I want to tap into your professional opinion on
what people should do whenthey're traveling out there to
Disneyland, because if you'reused to Disney World, it's
different, it's a completelydifferent experience, in my
opinion.
They're both great, justdifferent they're very different
and I think that the way youtackle transportation and

(22:47):
lodging is different for eachone.
So could you maybe give sometips and pointers to people who
might be traveling to Californiafor one of the Disneyland races
, because it's a completelydifferent show than if you're
going to Orlando.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
True, and then this year because their start lines
were actually in two differentplaces.
For so, for example, the 5kstart line was actually in
Disneyland park and then the 10K and hatch start lines were
outside the park on the easternside, over by the um the good
neighbor hotels.
Yeah, it was really differentthis year.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
So that's what.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's what they did at the um race we went to, yeah,
yeah, we didn't do the 5kthough, so that's interesting to
know that it was inside thepark, but the others were
outside the park?

Speaker 3 (23:33):
no, so would you recommend somebody like if
you're going out there, shouldyou rent a car, or would they be
okay with doing uber or lyft?
What did you do and what wouldyou recommend for people for
transportation like that?

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I think it depends on what you want to do and see if
you're.
I just want to stay in Zealand.
Only you don't need to rent acar, I just Ubered.
I actually didn't, I stayed atthe Grand Californian.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
And.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
I did not rent a car.
I just took an Uber from theairport to the hotel and then
hotel back to the airport.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
And which airport did you fly into?
Did you do LAX or did you go toJohn Wayne?

Speaker 1 (24:08):
I flew into LAX or did you go to John Wayne?
I flew into LAX.
I flew out of John Wayne.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Okay, interesting, john Wayne, if you can get a
flight in there, it's superconvenient and a lot of people
really talk up the.
It's very close, how close itis.
It's closer, yeah, it's likemaybe 20, 30 minutes away.
Yeah, lax is how we typicallygo and it's a commitment.
Lax is how we typically go andit's a commitment.
It's a distance and if youdon't get it at the right time

(24:31):
of day, you got to fight that LAtraffic you do yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
So I flew in late Thursday night, did you Okay?
Thankfully, I had a directflight from my home airport to
LAX.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
That's why I flew into LAX, and what was your home
airport?

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Just for everybody, it's Hartford connecticut,
hartford, hartford.
Yeah, okay, so that's my homeairport.
I flew direct with direct tolax with jet blue, which is
really nice because I have anextra leg room for us oh yeah
yeah, yay, which is really nice.
And then on my way home I flewout of john lane, uh, had a
layover and msp and then back tohome, which wasn't bad, it was

(25:08):
fine, but I was also trying tonot have a red-eye flight which
is I can't sleep on planes,which is really bad.
No, it was fine, I flew.
I think my first flight tookoff at 1 o'clock pm and I was
fine, I made that no problem.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
So yeah, so those are some tips about airports that
are excellent to keep in mind,because when you are on a budget
and you're shopping for,there's budgeting time and then
there's budgeting money in termsof like layovers, or when you
have to be back at work, and allof the in terms of time.
And then the money, and I Iguess, if you get into miles and

(25:48):
with a certain carrier andpoints and what have you.
So those are some good tips,though, about time and if you're
going to stay in the Disneylandbubble, not needing the car but
if you want to go, and even ifyou stay at a nearby
neighborhood hotel.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
that'd be fine too.
You might actually be a littlecloser to the start line for the
10 and a half.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
I'd say yeah, because yeah, because we've not stayed
on property and we're veryjealous of your Grand Floridian,
grand Californian.
Sorry, I'm a little partial toGrand Floridian, but there are
numerous hotels right in thatneighborhood.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yes, we've stayed at the.
Hilton, right literally acrossthe street, the Hilton Anaheim,
and that has been within walkingdistance to all of the
different races that weregistered for.
But I want to know about theGrand Californian because it's.
Is it the one that's out there?
That's like the WildernessLodge.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Wilderness Lodge, yep .
It's very similar, but it'sinstead of so.
Wilderness lodge is themed tothe yellowstone lodge.
This one is more themed foryou're out in like joshua tree
or yosemite, like that sort ofthing.
So a little bit more californiathemed yeah midwest, um, but
it's gorgeous.
It's so gorgeous.
I'm spoiled now, which is noour problem.

(27:09):
Sorry, husband.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Those are great hotels I mean either one and
they are beautiful.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
It's gorgeous.
And we went and we had drinksat the bar there.
Yes, we covered it on the show.
It was fantastic, fancy, theywere fancy and I just, and I
can't remember Now it's escapingme I haven't had enough
caffeine to remember the name ofthe bar there.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
We'll link to it in the show notes Several.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, and I like that you can just be in that hotel
and then, like, a legit entranceto the park is right there.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
That was really a big game changer for me.
So I did Disneyland Park bymyself on friday and then I did
california adventure on saturday, and saturday is the day before
the half.
If I wanted to go back to myroom, hotel or the pool or
whatever in the middle of theday because it was hot as heck,
I couldn't.
And it was really easy andconvenient and I didn't have to

(28:08):
walk three miles to get back tomy hotel.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
So that was a big game changer for me.
Or deal with bus transportationor Uber, lyft, taxi, whatever.
Yeah, it was so easy and yousaved your legs.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Exactly.
That was a big thing for me,but the expo was also at the
Disneyland Hotel, so it's alittle bit of a further walk.
Grand California is going to bethe closest one to, or the
closest Disney hotel to, thebars.
Then it's Disneyland hotel Thenit's Pixar.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Paradise Pier.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Is it now Pixar or?

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Pixar, pixar.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Pixar.
They were in the middle of.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
They'd done the conversion when we were there
last time.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
But they had Something changed lately.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, but there were some kind of construction they
were doing some of the theming,yeah yeah yeah, but and I had
some friends stay at the designhotel so I got to see what their
new rooms over there lookedlike, because they just added a
whole new like towers and stuff.
It's really, they're reallypretty okay and you liked it.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
How did it compare to the great california?

Speaker 1 (29:09):
I'd say it's like an upper.
It's riding the line between adeluxe and a moderate, if you
will.
It has a nicer, upscale, deluxefeel to it, but it's more of a
moderate price point in terms ofespecially for disneyland,
because you know how expensivedisneyland can be, yeah, so, but
it was really pretty, I reallylike what they did with it and I
got to see their room too,which was really nice too.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
So it sounds like what they did with it and I got
to see their room too, which wasreally nice too.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Sounds like what they did at the Grandestino.
Yeah, I was going to say peoplelike when you say riding the
line between Moderate and Deluxe, the tower makes Coronado
Springs feel like Premium,moderate, lux, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
No, I agree, I've stayed at the Grandestino before
.
I love stayed at the Grand Fist, you know before.
Actually, I've stayed at almostevery Disney World before.
I'm just missing the Poly, theGrand and the Riviera for
obvious reasons.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yes, they are celebratory, or you're spoiling
your self-reservations, yeah?

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, like actually pretty recently I booked a
couple or a family becausethey're going to Disney World.
Like I actually pretty recentlyI booked a couple our family
because they're going to Disneyworld.
They're staying at the grand.
Floridian for a celebration ofone of their family members and
of cancer treatments.
Yeah, I was like, oh my gosh,my heart.
So, yeah, that's.
That was a cool in the book andI'm really excited for their
trip next year.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's super cool.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
It's so cool when you're passionate about Disney
and then you can be like atravel agent that's going to
recommend, like the here's, aonce in a lifetime celebration.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
Oh no, they picked it .
I didn't.
Oh really, but they're like.
I want to stand to grant.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
And I said, ok, let's say for when you go to
Disneyland versus Disney World,and what are the pros and cons
for the runner and for thepeople who are cheering on the
runner?
And we've talked about the parkentry from those hotels, but

(31:05):
are there any other perks, likerace day perks for the on
property, like the grandcalifornian or anything that
they did?
That?

Speaker 1 (31:14):
no, okay they had similar to disney world where
they had a whole like boardwhere they had welcome runners.
We have runner specificactivities for you guys, if
you'd like.
You don't have to, don't wantto because we're all early or
getting up early and are tiredyeah, but they did have that.
They didn't have any perks interms because we're all early or
getting up early and are tiredyeah, but they did have that.
They didn't have any perks interms because it's all walkable.

(31:34):
They didn't have to worry abouttransportation, which is nice
right um, I've heard buses wereavailable.
I didn't use them, I just walkedbecause it was fine.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Close it's fine, yeah , yeah yeah, I don't know.
I didn't know if they had likecarb loading meals that they
highlighted and all of that, orif it was.
Since we've never stayed there,I mean ask, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
You'd mentioned that the expo was over at the
Disneyland.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Hotel.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
So that seems to be just where they've decided
that's going to be, becausethat's where it's always been
when we've gone.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
And it was smaller when we were there.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
And the last time we went it had definitely,
definitely downsized.
Can you talk a little?

Speaker 1 (32:16):
bit about your expo experience.
Yeah, yeah, I went to the expoon friday.
I did not go on thursdaybecause I flew in on thursday
night.
I think they landed around 11o'clock or so pm west coast time
.
So obviously the expo is closed, which is good and bad, because
I didn't really want to dealwith first day of the expo chaos
that it's been known to have.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
People swarm it for the merch yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I was like no, I don't need to, I don't really
need a whole lot of merch thistime.
That's fine.
So I went on Friday.
I went in the afternoon becauseit was just so hot and I wanted
to get inside, so I did thatand it was nice.
It was in their ballroomconference area, which was
really cool.
They had plenty of staff arounddirecting people where to go,

(32:58):
plenty of signs.
I didn't really get lost, whichwas great.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
They've had big pickup in the past, like in the
parking lower level.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
In the garage.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
But I don't know if they had it.
And then this last time we werethere they had it on like the
second level in a ballroom in aballroom.
Where was it for you, okay?

Speaker 1 (33:18):
so yeah, that's nice yeah, I think because again they
saw the weather and said no,let's do it inside, let's plus,
you don't want your volunteerssitting out in the sun like that
.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
That's that's a good way to not get as many
volunteers the next year.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that was good and it waspretty much.
Did they have a whole lot ofvendors?
I know you're always saying, ifyou get out there, I like to
picture if I'm flying somewhere.
Utter disaster.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Complete chaos ensues and my bags get lost, luggage
lost, Complete chaos ensues andmy bags get lost, Luggage lost.
Could I go there and getnutrition, hydration and
replacement shoes and?

Speaker 1 (33:55):
something to wear to run in?

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, would I have been able to do that?

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, they had a few different vendors who had that
sort of thing.
They had some running storesthere.
They had apparel, everythingyou really needed.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Would you say this was Say that again, I'm sorry,
say that again.
I'm sorry, say that again.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
It was like again, just in case you forgot
something.
They had it, which is nice.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Good, would you say that?
How did this compare to theDisney World Race?

Speaker 1 (34:22):
Expo.
Oh, it was infinitely smaller,okay, but to be fair, disney
World has the whole espn wideworld of sports complex where
they can spread out and they cando things in multiple buildings
and they can do have a lot more.
For sure, disneyland does not.
They don't have that kind ofspace, but they make it work and

(34:43):
they make it work really wellso, like when the expo, I wasn't
even in there for very longbecause it was so quick and easy
.
Yeah, and that yeah, but I findthat's a lot easier too,
because then you're not walkingaround as much, you're saving
your legs a little bit more,which is nice yeah, and you're
still in the ac the whole timetoo, because it was hot.
So it was.
That was really nice.
I did enjoy the expo.
It was smaller but again Isaved my legs more.

(35:05):
They still had all the merch,they still had a lot of vendors,
it still had very much, stillhad the same Disney Expo feel
Just smaller scale.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Smaller scale.
I think it's important forpeople to realize how much
smaller Disneyland is.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
It is so small.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
All of Disneyland and California Adventure, I think,
will fit in the footprint ofdisney world.
It's.
It's not probably nearly as bigand people don't realize that.
If you've come, if you grew updoing disney world, you're like
you get out there.
You're like this is it likeyeah, it's all the same stuff
nestled in with neighborhoodsall around, and, but they are

(35:48):
doing some big expansionsaccording to the D23.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yes, Can't wait to see how that goes over there.
Let's talk about race morning.
I know I've been, I've delvedinto the expo and all of the
lodging and I'm still back onthe.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Grand Floridian or California.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Grand California, anyway.
Floridian or California, grandCalifornia, anyway.
So yeah, okay, so race morning.
What was that?

Speaker 1 (36:18):
like for you, I think , because I didn't have to worry
about getting on a bus, whichwas really nice, that kind of is
a game changer for me.
Like you're not, oh my gosh, Ihave to be on the first bus or I
can't be on the last bus.
There's no anxiety there, whichwas really nice.
You just get up, get ready, getdressed, get your fuel, your
fuel.
If you need any, head out thedoor and walk to the start line

(36:40):
yeah it's pretty convenient, alot easier, a lot less anxiety
driven.
Yeah, that was really nice.
It is a bit of a walk, I think,like if you've ever done
Princess, where it's the walkfrom the buses where they drop
you off, to the start line.
It's far.
I didn't clock it or anything,but I think it was probably

(37:01):
around three-quarters of a mileor so.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
Yeah, I believe it.
Yeah, yeah, and that's for the.
You're talking about the walkto the start line for the 10K
and the half.
You said that the-.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
They started in the same spot Right.
Those two started in the samespot.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
yeah, but the 5K started in the park.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
It started in the Disneyland park, which was
really cool.
I was kind of jealous, I didn'tget into that, but that's okay.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I know how was the corral placement in the 10K and
the half Were you in the 10K andthe half Were you in the.
What corrals were you in?

Speaker 1 (37:35):
I was in F for both races.
For the 10K specifically, theydid corrals A through F and then
for the half they did corrals Athrough I and they did not
break up the corrals like theydo for Disney World World, where
they said B1, B2, B3.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Mini waves no.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Just B, just C, that's how they shot them off.
They shot them off every fiveminutes or so give or take.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
And how was the communication?
Did you have audio back therein the yeah yeah?

Speaker 1 (38:01):
we did.
They had plenty of lighting andspeakers and whatnot, so we
could still hear Sounds likethey corrected that.
That's an improvement.
That sounds like an improvement.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
How was the security situation when we were there for
the half that they really thatthey?
To be honest, they dropped theball the first day they had the
metal detector set up and thenit just.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Was a lot.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
They were walking a bomb sniffing dog in the crowd
and it was very haphazard.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
There were some things that just from a
professional they didn't haveenough, they didn't have as many
as they needed in terms ofdetectors, created a huge
bottleneck and created a bigdelay getting people in and
getting the corral ready to go.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
So how did that go?

Speaker 1 (38:47):
That was fine for me.
So any Disney hotel if youstayed at any Disney hotel you
had to go through security.
You had to go through downtownDisney first and then you had to
go through security again toget into the Corral starting
area, and both were fine.
I didn't wait very long for thefirst one.
There was a little bit of aline just because of the number
of people staying there and theyonly have two security points.

(39:09):
That's five minutes maybe.
That's good.
That's good.
Yeah, yeah, that was quick togo into downtown disney and then
walking through the mainentrance areas.
That's fine.
And then they had more securityover by the start lines.
You had to go through to thestarting area and corrals.
There was plenty of securitythere.
I no issues.
I don't even think there was aline for me when I went through

(39:31):
them.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
Good.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
That's good to hear.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
I think they probably took a lot of that feedback
because we weren't the only onestalking about that.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
That was all over social media last time they were
just trying to feel out and geta cadence and it sounds like
that they did.
They got a lot of data thatthey could take back and improve
between January and September.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Because this is what?
Was it the Labor Day weekendthat the races took place
Weekend after, weekend after.
So, yeah, yeah, so you don'thave to combat the Labor Day
vacationers.
That's a good tip too, yeah,yeah, and it sounds like the
security was, and you heard theannouncers so that you knew in

(40:12):
your corral.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
So so that's good.
Yeah, there was no issue there.
It was weird for me, though,because I'm typically not in the
last corral normally.
So that was odd for me goinginto that 10K just because when
I got running I could.
I didn't really have a chanceto stretch my legs because the
course was so crowded at thatpoint.
True, we've experienced that,and I was just for the 10K, not

(40:37):
the half, just the 10.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Okay, so this was going to lead me to some
questions, since we're talkingabout improvements.
From January to now, we hadwhat?

Speaker 2 (40:47):
was Security, oh security security sounds like
they fixed that.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
We had issues on that one with water stops uh, huge
bottlenecks literally coming toa dead stand.
Still, I had video juststanding.
Did that improve?
What was your experience there?

Speaker 2 (41:06):
no it didn't, it didn't improve.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Oh, no, especially the first water.
Stop during the 10k it to yourpoint, it came to a dead stand
oh no, but at least with the 10kI wasn't worried about my time
right, if that makes sense yesperfect.
So that was fine.
But, to your point, it wasn'tthe only water stop that had
issues.
So the first one was the worst.
Um, in the 10k, yeah, in the10k.

(41:31):
Um, it just I don't know whathappened.
I don't know why.
All I know is I oh gosh,there's a herd of people in
front of me.
I need to stop, yeah, and Iwent.
I was actually carrying myrunning water bottle with me for
both races, so I tried not tostop as much smart, and that way
you have your nutrition withyou if you need any.

(41:52):
Yeah, you don't need to wait toa water.
Stop to get something if youneed it.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
That's what I like to do.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Obviously, you don't need to do that if you don't
want to.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
And in this case, if you are experiencing those
stoppages, then you don't haveto worry about it, because you
can take the nutrition in themwhen they, when I don't know the
crowds or the seas- when itstarts to part, you can go catch
up yeah, they had issues, Ithink, not only with not having
the water ready and being ableto keep up with the pace, but

(42:21):
they also chose some odd chokepoints at which to do it last
time, which I don't know whatthey were thinking so I don't
know if it was small or if thewater wasn't prepared or you
experienced both in thatbottleneck, I think it was a
little bit of both, especiallyin the first one.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
The course got really narrow right beforehand.
And then the first water stop.
I think again, because it'sbeen so long since they've had
their last race weekend.
It's been what?
What?
Almost seven years now?
Yeah, so it's november 2017, soit's been a while since they've
had a race weekend.
These volunteers, they don'tknow what's going on.

(42:57):
This is their second raceweekend they've had, and it's
been at least what?
Eight months since the last one.
Yes, you know what are yougonna do.
Yeah there's only so much theycan do yeah, we talked about
that.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
They lost a lot of the institutional knowledge of
the run Disney folks who movedon or moved out to other
opportunities in that seven-yeartime frame and then when they
brought them back.
They were essentially startingfresh and they've made some
changes that I think they'restill having.
It sounds like you're stillhaving some logistical
challenges.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, did you find that on his?

Speaker 1 (43:32):
They were what the volunteers were doing in the
water stops.
I noticed was interesting, theyhad the single serve water
bottles that you can buy in thepark, like the bottled water.
They were filling the cups withthose instead of a bigger jug
or something, which was likethat's interesting, that's
strange.
Yeah, I was like you guys needsomething bigger, you know I'm

(43:54):
like where are your coolers?

Speaker 2 (43:55):
where are your?
Yeah, like they do in disneyworld, where they have the big
giant coolers and then they havepitchers for people, and then
they had people down, my guess,with water, water with the
bottles for refill.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
To refill your water bottle, which is what I needed.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
I didn't want to grab a cup from somebody else who
needed it.
I had my bottle, exactly.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, and you noticed that on the half as well, like
a standstill at the first one.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
It was because I was seated in a better corral.
For the half it wasn't as bad.
It wasn't a standstill.
For the first one I was seatedin a better corral.
For the half it wasn't as bad.
It wasn't as stunted at all.
For the first one I was able tokeep moving, which is nice.
I did skip it just because Ihad my bottle and I was like all
right, I got it.
Because of the weather too.
I wanted to push a little bitharder and get more miles in
before the heat really kicked inDone yeah.

(44:47):
Yeah, I tried to push it alittle bit more before the sun
came up.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Yeah, I try to push it a little bit more before the
sun came up and you've mentionedthe weather a few times, so for
the listeners, let them knowwhat were the conditions like on
the course.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
So very hot.
So Friday morning the morningof the Friday morning, excuse me
during the day the high for theday got up to 109 degrees
Fahrenheit and every day thatweekend reached over 100 degrees
.
The humidity wasn't bad.
I did check my aptus forthawing and it was in the 30
percentile range-ish, so itwasn't terribly humid.

(45:20):
And then I checked Florida's,just for comparison.
The Florida at the time inDisney World area was in the 60
to 70 percentile range.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
So it wasn't as humid , which is nice, but it was in
the 60 to 70 percentile range.
Oh yeah, so it wasn't as humid,which is nice but it was hot,
so very hot.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Yeah, it was toasty, so you have to make sure I try
to.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
Yeah, I had to adjust a little bit there so I took
the 10k a little bit slower, butthe half in the morning,
especially where before the suncame up, I tried to push it and
get some more miles in beforethe sun came up not as many, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Do you do character stops at this one, did you?

Speaker 1 (45:52):
I did not again, just because it was so hot weather.
I was like I didn't want tochance it but, the lines for the
character stops were prettyshort.
I was very surprised, which isreally nice.
On disney world, you see thesegiant characters.
Oh, those aren't long, but no,these are really short, honestly
, which is I think it's a goodthing yeah yeah, and people were

(46:13):
moving pretty quickly too, andthey didn't really spend too
much time in there okay I'd seesomebody in line and then maybe
a couple minutes later I'd seethem going.
I'm like, oh, that's awesomegreat really great, very
efficient.
Yeah, and did you think?

Speaker 3 (46:27):
did they have enough or good quality?
Character stops Were you somestuff that you thought was
pretty cool?

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Oh yeah, they had some really good ones.
I forgot which race they had,but they had Luca and who was
friends names, so I had Lucacharacters they had.
Mr Fredrickson was out.
They had a bunch of really goodones.
I had Mei Ling from turning red, a lot of different like Pixar
ones which were really fun.
They had some good characterstops Pixar.

(46:55):
I love Pixar.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I want Big Hero 6.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
So they did have water stops, any nutrition stops
?
Or was there any on-coursenutrition?
Or was this not something youwere worried about because you
had your own?

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I did stop for some.
They had sport beans, thejelly-bellied sport beans, so I
grabbed a couple of those.
I like to have extra nutritionon hand, just in case, or if I
see a runner on the side of theroad.
Hey, you need anything here yougo.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
I got something you never know.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
Yeah, it's always best to be safe and sorry.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Yeah, I like sport beans and pay it forward.
Yeah, easy on the tummy and inthat heat you have to have
electrolytes, you have to havethe salt.
You have to have.
Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
I think I refilled my .
So I typically, during ahalf-hour time, I'll fill my.
I'll start off with a bottlewith a noon tablet.
So I'll start a half with mybottle filled with a noon tablet
and then I'll typically refillit once during half.
During this half I refilled it,I think, three times.
Wow, I was not messing aroundwith this heat.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Yeah, and your pre-race, like your carb loading
, I imagine, was like let's getsome salt in there, let's get
some carbs in there so that youhave the fuel.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
So the night before the half I went to the Pym Test
Kitchen in California Adventurethat was really cool.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
That's a neat place.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Yeah, yeah.
And I had the chicken sandwichwhere the chicken patty is like
this big and the buns like thisbig.
Yep, yeah, it was really cute.
And then it came with tatertots too, so I got my salt in
and everything that was reallygood.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
I was actually looking at noon to see about
their salt content.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Oh, you were.
Is that what you were lookingat?
I was like, what on, Becausehe's so he just doesn't like it.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
We've experienced training in the heat here.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Real bad cramping from time to time.
So looking like I would bewilling to give them a try again
, but I've started using not asponsor of the show Element
L-M-N-T you like that.
I like that.
It's got a higher sodium andmagnesium content.
Really.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Gotcha, I didn't know that I do, but it helps your
stomach.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
It doesn't hurt it.
Yeah, it doesn't hurt it.
Yeah, it doesn't hurt.
Exactly I don't know that ithelps, but it doesn't yeah yeah,
as long as it doesn't hurt itand I was going to ask did you
our experience with octoberdisney races here back when we
go back to the tower of terror10 miler when they used to host
that?
So humid it was awful here theheat caused so many people to

(49:30):
drop out and have to get medical.
Were you seeing that out there,with the heat that you were
experiencing?

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Thankfully no.
I really didn't, I only sawmaybe one person trip because
they have these littlereflective markers for the lane
markers.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Oh, those things are dangerous.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
But they only tripped over that and then they got up
almost immediately and keptgoing.
I think that was it really thatI?
Saw, I didn't see anybodyreally need medical, which is
good.
Yeah, that was good to not seeif that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Yeah, and how were the pacers Were they?
Did you run into pace groups,were they?
Pretty well, like they.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
you didn't encounter any bottlenecks because of that
or like that so the thing aboutpace groups I they're a love
hate for me.
The pacers are always so nice,they're so kind they are playing
jokes and like keeping spiritsup and stuff.
They're wonderful humans and Ilove them.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
Yeah, the people following them are not the
people following them don't knowlike the etiquette the race
etiquette for that.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
And the Pacers.
They definitely try and they'relike if you're going to walk,
please keep to the right, ifyou're going to run, keep to the
left, but stick to two by twoif possible, which is great, and
we certainly appreciate that.
But people don't always eitherlisten or know, so it tends to
be a herd of people followingthe Pace group and it can really
cause bottlenecks.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
Especially in the narrow areas.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is a pain, but other than
that, those pacers are wonderful.
I love them.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Yeah, yeah, they are, I think Chris Twiggs and his
crew and how they post the pacegroups and what they're going to
do, the ratios before the raceand in Runcation Nation on
Facebook.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
On our Facebook group .

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I love that.
I love that.
Yeah, they're wonderful.
You can see what the ratios are.
More often than not, because Ido some odd ratios of running
and walking, I can't stay withpace groups.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Because you'll do shorter intervals at maybe the
same ratio, but your interval isdifferent Okay.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
If it works for you.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Yeah, you do what works for you, but it's good to
know that there are pace groupsout there for first timers that
are like nervous or flying soloand they may need a group and
they just got to follow theetiquette.
If you're running, then on theleft, if you're walking, on the
right, and two by two is always,and you have to navigate some

(51:56):
tight corners and tight spaces,and can I just say that maybe a
run Disney race is not the placefor you to go to try to PR.
We always say Absolutely not, ithappens.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
But there's always that one super serious runner
who's?
Just they're ready to throwelbows and hip check a kid to
get that PR.
And you're right in the middleof Main Street and you're like
maybe this isn't the race to dothat at.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
No, there's people in costume.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
There's things to see , there are PR and fun.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Yes, yeah, as the legendary Bill Stewart, there
are pr and fun.
Yes, yeah, as the legendarybill stewart says, you are in
fun, that's it that's it.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
So you did the 10k, you did the half.
What was the finish lineexperience like for you?

Speaker 1 (52:43):
eventually was pretty typical disney finish line.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Did you get a selfie with Carissa or John?
I got a high five with Carissa.
Got a high five.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Nice, Nice.
And then Jeff was at.
Jeff Galloway was at the finishof the half as well, giving out
high fives and pictures andwhatnot too.
I love that.
That was really cool.
He's wonderful.
I love him.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
I love it.
He's so positive and motivating, and anybody he's so supportive
of anybody trying to get itdone.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Yeah, he's wonderful.
I love jeff.
Yeah, but after the both the 10and a half they had cooling
towels at the end, so they hadyeah, so that was really nice
for the heat.
And then you got your metal andyou got your water, your
powerade and all that stuff.
So that was and the box.
The box was there yep cheeseplastic cheese yep, plastic, but
they had pretzels this time andnot chips.
Pretzels, yeah, instead of thetortilla chips that they had.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Nobody needs that negativity.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
You need the salt from the no I agree, you need
the salt, but you need the chipsand not pretzels to dip them.
Yeah, that's the whole point.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Right, If they're the pretzels.
Were they like the sticks orwere they like?
The garlic-y ones, that'sdifficult.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
You can't get in there.
It's harder to deliver thecheese to your mouth.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
You need the better delivery vehicle and I feel like
you have the higher saltcontent in the chips.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
Those are some salty chips In the chips.
The ones they normally have aresalty.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Yeah, they are salty, but you need them.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
And then you, you know they taste great in that
parking lot after that race.
They do, they hit so they hitthe spot.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
So I was gonna ask on this race course, did this one
take you?
Uh, on the half course did youend up going out through angel
stadium or just by angel stadium?

Speaker 1 (54:26):
no, so this time we went through it.
It was really cool.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
That's my preferred version of the course.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
I'm so sad, so sad and so happy for you, happy for
you.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
So the first five miles or so were through the
parks and backstage and thenafter that you went to the
streets of Anaheim and then Ithink it was around mile 10 and
a half-ish to 11, you ranthrough Angel Stadium.
You ran the stadium Right, soyou hit the parking lot which
really felt like it was theirbeach parking lot, and then you
went to the stadium and you hadeverybody on the Jumbotron, you

(55:00):
were on the warning track andeverything.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
It was really cool.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
I actually really liked that.
I wish I had that sooner in thecourse because some of those
miles are really hot.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
And the miles leading up to Angel Stadium.
Some of those are prettystraight and flat.
They're paved.
So you can spread out, assumingthat they kept it on some of
those same surface streets.
So sounds like they did.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
There was one spot which I think is a concern,
especially for our AWD friendsand our role Disney athletes,
friends where it's, I think itwas.
They were doing someconstruction on a rail, like a
rail trail type of thing, biketrail uh, so it wasn't paved at
the time and there was a reallysharp switchback oh yes yeah.
So you started going down ontothis dirt pathway and then

(55:49):
there's a really sharpswitchback, but still going
downhill, which is reallyconcerning.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
For anybody in a wheelchair hand cycle that's
dangerous because if you miss aturn, right, because it's a bit
of a it's a bit of a drop andyeah, they that they had that
portion of the course, I thinkon the same one from January.
Yeah, and then it takes youalong that it ends up turning

(56:14):
into a mixed-use path.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yes, yeah, so it's the same one.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Other than that, though, it was pretty flat,
uneventful.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Good, good, that's good, that's good.
Yeah, so we talked about thefinished light experience.
I'm sure there were charactersthat in the after party where
you could get pictures.
No, no characters?

Speaker 1 (56:36):
I didn't see any, but I again I had to go around and
catch a flight, so I didn'treally stay too, long for the
half and a half.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
Yeah, oh, yeah, okay.
Okay, the cheese and thepretzels.
You've got to have that.
Okay, but was there?

Speaker 3 (56:54):
But that was it.
That's not the food and drinkexperience we're looking for.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
No, I feel like we should talk about that.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Let's talk about that .
What is?
Where do you go to have acelebratory meal after these
races?
Where are you going to go?

Speaker 1 (57:07):
So after the 10K, me and a bunch of my bunnies
actually went to goofy's kitchen.
Yeah, big breakfast buffet,mickey.
Who was it?
It was mickey, minnie chip,dale and goofy oh characters for
character folks.
Yeah, things like chef mickey'sbut goofy's kitchen, and chip
and dale instead of donald davey.
Okay, interesting, yeah, and sonice big breakfast buffet.

(57:30):
Everybody had mimosas.
That was great good one afterthe race.
And then there's another one atgrand california called
storytellers cafe.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Similar characters but in different setting oh yeah
, so you had the mickey waffles,the eggs, the bacon sausage.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
And I heard mimosas in there.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
And I heard, yeah, standard orange juice, mimosas,
or did they vary it up?

Speaker 1 (57:56):
They had the standard ones and they had a couple
other flavors, but then they hada mimosa flight that one of my
friends got, so there was onewith pomegranate juice and a
couple other different juiceswhich were quite yummy,
delightful, very nice.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Very good.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Disney does know how to do a variety of mimosas.
We've had them at a couple ofDisney locations, of varying
juice varieties.
Yes, they know what they'redoing there.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
Ooh, so are we going to call that the drink of choice
to celebrate?

Speaker 2 (58:24):
your finish there, mimosa Is the drink of choice.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
That's your celebratory beverage.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
I love it Caffeine and mimosa, of course, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
Oh yes, it's necessary, it's vitamin C.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
We're going to go with it.
It's a healthy thing.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
It's fine, it's healthy.
Sure, yeah, okay, okay.
So you did not escape to anyoff-property options.
When it comes to food andbeverage, you remained in the
bubble.
Yeah, this trip I stayed in thebubble.
Good stuff, yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
There's so many good options and such a small
footprint.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
I know, I know, and we have now two options that we
haven't been to.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Yeah, that we need to .
Yeah, so after the race I woulddo either of those two.
Need after.
Yeah, so after the race would.
I would do either either ofthose two.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Character breakfast breakfast for after the races
yeah, you so this.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
You haven't been to any other disneyland races I've
been to one one, and it was theavengers 10k back in 2017 and
how does that compare?

Speaker 2 (59:29):
how does it?

Speaker 1 (59:29):
happen to be fair.
I stayed off property that timeand I was with a.
I had a friend staying with me,so it was.
It's just been so long.
Yeah, to be fair, yeah, and Ido miss the avengers theme that
was.
That was a lot of fun.
I hope they bring that back,especially with their whole
avengers canvas that they have.
I know really cool.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
It seems like a missed opportunity if they don't
do that.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Yeah, same with the Star Wars.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Galaxy, star Wars, pixar they did all these cool
things.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
Don't even get me started on the Star Wars.
Don't get me started on theStar Wars races, not running you
through Star Wars land.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
I'm right there with you, Dana.
You've got to do it Right therewith you Come on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
So then, where are you?
First of all, where are youaccomplishing, exploring and
indulging?
Next, we know you're going toGreece, but in terms of races,
what do you have upcoming?

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Oh, I have.
My next big race is MarineCorps.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Oh, October, the end of October.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Mm-hmm the 27th.
I hope you have better weatherat Marine Corps than you had out
there in California.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
And it's a marathon or half marathon, marathon,
marathon, yeah, oh those.
That has some cutoff points andthings like that.
But I really do want to besomeday.
We've had that runcation recapon here where they where tanya
talked about the penguin thelast person in the race being

(01:00:56):
the one that the last finisherthat can stay on pace gets the
penguin, yeah I would love to bethat person that's so cool I
want to be that.
What if?

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
I have multiple.
There's a line.
There's a line of them.
It's a good question.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
It's a good question.
If you see that at your raceexperience, please report back
to us.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
I will, because I'm also a back of the packer.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
And where can members of the Runcation Nation connect
with you?

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
You can find me on Instagram.
That's probably the easiest.
My running Instagram slashnormal lifestyle Instagram is
ecofit13, E-C-O-F-I-T-1-3.
And then my travel Instagram isemilyo__kttwtravel.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
And we will link to both of those in the show notes.
So if you're looking forbooking that Runcation, emily
can help you out.
Emily, thank you so much forjoining us on this week's
episode.
Congratulations on completingthis race week, and I am jealous
because it's a new.
It's a new race and that blinglooks awesome, so yeah, they did
a great job with it.

(01:02:07):
Thank you for coming on andthank you for being part of the
Runcation Nation.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Thanks for having me.
Emily can engineer a greatruncation for runners in the
Runcation Nation, so we hope tohook up with you to accomplish,
explore and indulge really soon.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Thanks guys.