106: Running Disney on a Budget - Part 1

Help me out , gang the trail that's down there by Port Orleans Riverside Sascagula , sasagula , yeah , sasagula . I want to stick another consonant in there somewhere . Anyway , matt did that one for us and we appreciate it . Hello friends , welcome to Episode 106 of the Rise and Run Podcast . I'm Bob . I'm here on this lovely evening with John . Hey , how you doing .

I'm Thalisha .

This is when I usually do the MBT spot , but I think we'll be doing a fair amount of that , so I'll skip that for right now . I will let our friends know that tonight our guests , brad and Maggie , are here to join us as we discuss the other topic we asked our Patreons about which they would like to hear . We talked about running at Disneyland last week .

Tonight we're going to do our best to talk about how you can navigate Disney on a budget Not the easiest thing to do , but we've got some tips and tricks . You may know some , you may learn some and , heck down the road , you may share some with us In our race report spotlight .

Tonight we go out west to Denver , colorado , where the hot chocolate run was done this weekend , and we've got three friends who joined us for that spotlight . Hey , if you enjoy the podcast , please share us with your friends . Introduce them to the Rise and Run family . You know we love expanding this group . We want to hear about your training .

We want to hear about your races . We just want to know how you're doing . Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run Podcast , and on Instagram at Rise and Run Pod , and visit our webpage riseandrunpodcastcom . If you've got a question , a race report or if you want to introduce an upcoming episode , as Matt just did , please call us 727-266-2344 .

You can leave us a recorded message . All right , friends . Golly , I was looking up at the moon . I was looking at the moon last week and I was looking at it again . Yeah , next full moon will only be a week away , because wine and dine right now , as of the time this episode is released , is a mere four weeks away .

You're going to go to 14 in two weeks . We'll explain , we'll talk about why when we get there , why you go to 14 . If you're only running a half and if you're doing the challenge , you start with a four mile walk the day before . So you've got four plus 12.5 .

If you're doing the wine and dine , challenge , marathon weekend now , just 90 days away , just a touch under 13 weeks , it's a short . You just recovered from a long weekend and we may chat about that in a moment . So you're short . And once again and I've yet to figure this one out if you're doing the marathon , you've got four miles .

If you're doing one of the challenges , you've got three . This weekend , disneyland , just a week after that , 14 weeks away , the long run for Disneyland weekend is five miles Gang . I know that a lot of us are on different training schedules , either through customized or through individual training plans that we have .

But , for instance , I didn't have a long weekend but I know some folks did Anybody out there do a long weekend this weekend .

Then had to pick up a student from high school and as soon as we got home we literally got back out and walked another two miles , so a little short in my training plan .

Usually it's a running video of some kind , so I feel like I'm like out there in the wild , especially if it's like the trails .

We said that the average runner spends too much time in the middle , that we don't go hard enough on hard days or easy enough on easy days . And we're really . We really don't have programs that go hard . But on my Tuesday , thursday runs I do put some extra efforts in try to get the heart rate up , try to be able to increase my speed a little bit .

But I've really bought into this notion of making the long runs comfortable , making them , making the long runs easy , keeping the heart rate down and growing that way , and it's starting to make sense to me . So I got 15, . No , I got 17 this weekend and I'll be doing it at a probably at a 1530 interval , which for me I've never even done that before .

But we'll see how it goes .

The point is to get the miles on your feet and even if you have a bad day like Jack said she had a bad day you still get out of there . You still did what you can . That's a win , so yeah .

80-20 is a ratio you will read about , if you read about running training at all . Now , I didn't realize Matt Fitzgerald was the guy behind it , but I picked up his book and he had an interesting point that he makes early on . He says very few of us are limited by speed . And he gave an example .

But let me put it into Disney terms 16-minute mile Okay , some of our folks have trouble making 16 . Most don't , but some do . So I would ask people could you do one lap around the track in four minutes ? And almost everybody would say yes , that's not hard . I mean , you can walk that .

So if you can do one lap around the track in four minutes , why can't you do four of them in 16 minutes ? And the answer is endurance and stamina . And the purpose of the long training runs is to build endurance and stamina , which is why speed doesn't matter .

There you build speed , elsewhere you build endurance and stamina and the ability to maintain some kind of speed , some level of speed with that kind of training . So , my friends , I hope , I hope that's helpful . I hope that you did okay on your five and a half 15 .

The other thing I would add is we also one of my favorite quotes is when does it get easier ? It doesn't . So if you finished 15 this weekend , how much trouble would you have doing eight or 10 ? And if you looked at it from the other end of the training program , when you're looking at eight and 10 , you go oh my goodness , that's going to be hard .

Now you look back and you go you know what ? It wasn't so hard . I finished it , I knocked it out . Now I've knocked out 15 . I had a hard time . But next week I'm going to do a little more , or not next week . Next long run is going to be a little longer and that 15 number may not be quite as daunting . It's a process We've talked about it before .

Step by step , you can do it . Stick with it , stick with the training . You're going to have a good time . I got we got some information , some update on the Disneyland runs .

And Lexi or you guys correct me if I'm wrong the start , the starts for the 10 K and the half marathon are in different locations , and it was once previously when they had the Disneyland races years ago .

Our friend , Alan Young , who is , you don't know , Alan Allen has run all of the Disney World Marathons , the Disneyland Marathon and the two qualifying , so he's the only person to do all of that and he pointed out that both the new starting lines there's a question about parking because the and I'm not familiar with this , but the Mickey and friends picks our

lots on the other side of the park .

I know , when you're walking from the Disneyland hotels isn't like the parking structure by Disney , downtown Disney or something like that on the other side of it , and you have to take a tram and then you have to walk from the tram , which is still at downtown Disney or whatever , and you have to go to the parks .

He said that we were asking last week if anybody ever rode rides , and he says , as far as he knows , that's never happened , principally because the parks aren't open . But even during the marathon which ended on Main Street , he doesn't think anybody rode a ride . So that then is unique to Disney World .

I know in Disney World usually the times stay the same , but the Disneyland times are different , which if you're doing Dumbo , you would need to go to the expo no later than Friday , right , if you're doing the 5k , you would have to go to the expo on Thursday question Does it say that you could pick up your packet or your bibs and everything on the day of

the race ? It does not have information about that yet .

Typically the event guide we record on Tuesdays . Typically the event guide comes out on Wednesdays . But that's okay , that's alright . Hey , let's get to the topic at hand tonight . We know that Disney in general can be a daunting , expensive proposition , so we want to chat a little bit about some ideas maybe For saving a couple of bucks .

Greg , you want to kick this off ?

Not only we're gonna talk about our tips , but let's get some information straight from the horse's mouth , and that's why we have our good friends Brad and Maggie on from Magic Bound Travel .

So I mean , again , we're just we're talking in generalities here , but you know the fact that they are travel Experts , are in the industry and they're you know , they're in the interwebs of the Disney websites each and every single day .

That way , if we say something wrong , they can correct us or , you know , they can blow our minds and and give us new details .

But we figured the best way to tackle this in terms of , like , different tips is we're gonna break this down Into different categories and we're gonna try and take it almost in like a chronological order sense of your run Disney vacation experience and One of the first things that you have to do is get into the race itself , which we know is a very daunting and

and stressful Venture all by itself . I have one tip that I'm gonna give , but I'm gonna open the floor to Brad and Maggie and the rest of my co-host here to see see if I have any tips on . I grant I know it's very limited , but what are some ways of how you can save for the actual race registration itself ?

So if you take two hundred and six dollars and let's divide it by half , a year , each week , you would need to save eight dollars . And that's what a lot . A now Well , Hashtag PSL right . So when you're talking about budgeting and saving money , can you spare eight dollars a week ?

Yes , but the key here that I think a lot of people don't anticipate is like the in advance thing , and One of the things that my mama taught me Many , many years ago was whenever I wanted to say for something , I would have a little envelope and I would put what on on the front .

Well , you know what event or thing I was saving for and that's what was on the envelope , and with my allowance , each week I'd put like a dollar or two . So you can do that now on your banking apps to where you can kind of divide it by category to help with saving process , which I think is a really cool feature and I use it all the time .

So that's , that's one way to go about budgeting for the actual race registration . I do know that there are some stores like Target and Costco and Sam's Club where you can get three or five percent off , depending on which membership you have , from the Disney gift cards .

The only thing about the Disney gift cards is that if you're using it for registration , the whole amount of the registration needs to be on one specific gift card . You can't combine like oh , I have four gift cards of 30 bucks and you can't online .

Oh yeah yeah yeah , and then it gives you one consolidated number , but , yes , always hang on to your original ones , just yes but right yeah , when you're typing it into the registration , you can only have to have the one number , but you can combine all of them into one through the run Disney gift card , I mean like those throughout the year .

every time you go to Target you could get another card , you know , even if it's not in a discount , it's just an easy way to kind of Purchase that throughout the year .

So at the end of the year , especially if you're buying a lot of stuff on credit card , that little Disney rewards adds up and I think that little hack kind of goes into when you're saving for any kind of traveling is using the Rewards .

The one hack that in the grant this took me way , way too long to discover is you know we go to Target , we buy the gift card , then you spend six minutes trying to peel that Plastic thing off the back or you're using the coin to scratch it off .

Then your hands are covered in that black junk and then you're sitting there manually having to type in you know the card number and then the pin number , and it's a whole process . I learned not too long ago that you can buy e gift cards at Target for Disney and then they will email you the .

You know those exact same numbers and you can just copy and paste and it makes your life so much simpler . So if you're gonna go on the gift card route , definitely try that . You know getting the e gift cards is a lot easier again .

Only , you know if you are going to combine them and the last thing I will say about combining is , for some reason and I wish Disney would change this is that you can only have a maximum of $1,000 on a Disney gift card . So it's you know again .

You know , say you want dopey for two people , you might have to think of a different way then to go about pain . You know pain that since , again like Lexi said , you can only do everything in one Transaction , you with one form of payment when you go to check out . So if you're doing multiple people , you just got to strategize there a little bit .

That might be sufficient coverage for you and you don't need to add that to your package If you feel like that . Travel protection will do the job and I'm comfortable with that . So that's an immediate savings of knowing what benefits you already have .

You are Are already within your possession and you're knowledgeable of them , so that you're not doubling up on anything and doubling the cost for something that's already there throwing a little .

So just for those three months , every single time I went to a gas station I put it on my discover card awesome , awesome tips .

And I got a travel card and so basically every time I use it I get a bunch of miles . Dude , I've gotten so many free flights from just that kind of stuff that I don't really have to worry about flights and I just purchase it or I use my miles on my card and then I'm good .

So even if you're spending money on , like you're the person that's booked in the hotel room or whatnot , all those miles that you or all that money you just spent , turn into miles times two or whatever , and then I'm getting all that money . Now I can work my way to a free flight .

So that's how I'm being able to go to Disneyland this year , because I'm not even paying for it , because I'm just using my miles to get me there .

more miles for us .

So , like I'm really happy that we're doing this discussion today , because that is one of the biggest hacks is , if you know you're going to be going to Disney all the time , just book it on your card and then get your miles back so you can actually get something free , as in a free flight .

I don't know if I believe that and Brad and Maggie , you can attest to that , I'm sure , as you , I'm sure , research all of this all the time I , I know with run Disney events specifically , there is a specific time that we have to be there .

Usually I'll kind of price check a couple days before or couple days after and see which is the cheapest day to fly based on that , and for domestic flights I usually book anywhere from like seven weeks to 10 weeks out .

Sometimes I know with the Disneyland flights I booked it eight months out because I found a really good deal and I used a combination of a deal and miles and I got my round trip flight for like 300 bucks . You know , you kind of have to play with it . Be okay with waiting . Brad and Maggie , what are your thoughts on that ?

I mean , obviously , one of my favorites is Hopper and I'll put in as soon as I know when we're going to be traveling , I'll put that my most desired flights , I'll put a couple of different variations of flights in there and then it will start monitoring them and letting you know it's a good time to buy . Hey , you should wait .

This is the lowest time we've ever seen by now , because it is kind of a guessing game with with airlines . It is true that you know you do want to book that Tuesday , wednesday , thursday window because people are looking at less flights . Then they look at more flights over the weekend . That actually is true .

However , if you're going week to week to week , you have that arc of monitoring that you can really take advantage of . That's a lot of these tracking services like Hopper , kayak , google , goingcom , which used to be Scott's cheap flights All of those are readily accessible .

The one thing that I would just caveat there we actually , as a policy for Magic Bound Travel , we do not book flights for our clients , one of the main reasons being is that we've then become the go-between between the airline and the client and if anything happens on the ground all of a sudden , you're calling an agent to connect there .

It is highly advantage for you to be the direct link now , especially with all the airline regulations , to be the direct link with your flight , which I really recommend doing that . So those are a couple of things that we recommend .

And again , I'm a big Hopper fan , so I'll put in two or three , four different combinations of flights that really accommodate when I want to arrive at my destination , particularly in MCO in Orlando , and then I monitor or I'll set up an alert for those as well , so it's not always as early . The bigger part is getting early on the monitoring .

So that weekend before you got to really look at the flights because that's where you might have to get a little earlier , because everyone is booking their family vacation that week , the same week that we're all going to be down there for wine and dine weekend . So there's other things . You got to know .

If your school's on vacation when you're going , there's a lot of people in your airport that probably flying out that same weekend .

You want to celebrate the Sunday race more than likely that you'll be doing with the half marathon or the full marathon and then enjoy it and stay overnight , instead of rushing right out and then fly out on Monday , which typically flights are a little bit better depending on when you leave .

Say you decide , okay , that's a really good price , I'm going to pull the trigger , I'm going to buy my flight and then all of a sudden I know just the other week there was this really really big Southwest sale and everyone was like go back and check your flights and see if you can get money off . Sometimes you are able to rebook that now .

Unless you pay the Uber expensive fare for a fully refundable ticket , most airlines will allow you to get a quote unquote refund in the currency of a credit to the airline for a future flight . So it could be one of those situations where , okay , my wine and dine flight is , you know , $100 cheaper now and my marathon weekend flight is now $150 cheaper .

Sometimes you can combine those vouchers again you know , every airline is different , but you could combine those and heck , if you're going to come down for springtime surprise , you can now take those two vouchers and you know you've already put the money out .

But at least you know now you can use it as a credit towards a future flight or , you know , a future race cation . So that's something else to monitor as well . Lexie , I think you had another idea here .

Because , like I have the going used to be scotch cheap flights membership thing and I have the Atlanta airport as one of my frequently traveled , I have Birmingham , I have MCO , and so I get emails . Oh you , across the USA flights are $130 . And then I'll just scroll through .

I get I don't know three or four emails a day , sometimes with different deals , and I mean that's how I've been able to go to Europe so many times in the past few years is because all of a sudden I get a email from scotch cheap flights where a flight to Paris is $400 .

I'm like , okay , I will rearrange my entire life so I can go to Paris during this one week that the flights are $400 .

Also is in the chats that we've set up for these race weekends .

After that , don't go ahead and purchase it through that third party , both directly , if you can , if it's even closely similar to pricing , because then you can take advantage of some of that negotiating power that Greg was talking about earlier .

So I don't know how that happens , but sometimes if you go directly to it and I mean on when you go on Google flights , if anyone's familiar with it , it has a couple of different pricing options from some of the third parties , like cheap away or Kiwi or stuff like that .

But I went directly to American Airlines and by booking with American Airlines then we can get miles so that we can use them for a Disney flight next year or something like that .

Now , thankfully , the one thing that has , I think , reemerged in the last couple of months is the number of people who are renting cars , because Disney finally made the smart decision about a year ago or so to finally get rid of the parking fees at the resorts . That nobody liked .

But a really , really popular thing that people used to use before Disney pulled the plug was magical express . In theory , we still have a magical express , but now you just have to pay for it . So this is where I'm going to go to our travel experts here , Brad and Maggie .

I have been getting so many emails because before I've done Meers Connect , I've got done Sunshine Flyer . Then I get an email saying that Meers and Sunshine Flyer , they're combining . But then I just see on Twitter last week that Meers Connect is now partnering with Brightline , the new train service .

Can you explain to us what exactly is going on there , Because obviously this is probably one of the most popular and cheapest ways to get from the airport to Walt Disney World property .

It is right there , so as you go down towards baggage claim , it is right there , easy to get on .

You kind of have some reservation times , but really it is just a matter of you don't have to stress out if your flight is running late , if your baggage claim you know you are out there for 45 minutes waiting for your baggage to come around .

You just go and check in and they are going to get you on the next bus , the same way that Magical Express used to be . So right now , with taxes , it is running about $17.60 one way for an adult , which is the same as a Disney adult , so it is anyone 10 or over , and then it is $14.30 for a child three through nine .

And then of course , the kids that are under the age of three are free . And what is nice is that if you are traveling with small kids , you are on a charter bus , you don't have to have car seats , you don't have to worry about any of that kind of stuff , and then they do have some round trip options . It saves you maybe like a couple dollars each .

And then they also have started adding what they call the express route . It is much more expensive and it is more . It is not the big bus , it is more like a 15 passenger van kind of thing and it is a set price Only round trip and that is for like four people .

There is a little extra cost if you add more people on and that is going to take you directly from the airport Mears spot to your resort . The other thing which if you did Magical Express in the past you had this experience is they might bundle some of those resorts together .

So even though it should technically take you about 45 minutes to get from MCO to , let's say that is on a no traffic day on I4 .

Is you know , based on your travel party size and obviously Uber and Lyft is all you know varying pricing based on you know , the number of people requesting them and drivers in the area , what's like the good break even point Like , does it make sense for , like , a family of three to just do an Uber as opposed to , you know , a charter bus service ?

What's that break even point there ?

You're probably going to save money doing the Uber or Lyft because of just that total round trip cost . But it's hard to guess because it's , you know , those are all surge pricing , so , depending on the time of day , you know that's .

Another factor too is if you've got somebody coming in , a family coming in , and their flight's arriving at 1 am in the morning , they might not feel very safe doing an Uber or Lyft . We've never heard of it . I mean , it's been really great experiences and they're readily abundant , but you might see some surge pricing during some weird times .

So that might be a decisive factor right there of opting for Uber or Lyft because of the more direct route , because that value in making sure that you're getting there or even going straight to the expo first might be a real possibility for folks , depending on your flight .

So I would say , if you're going to go to your resort first , I wouldn't get my flight in any later than like two yeah just because you have to think about getting your bags and then getting down to the buses and then the buses to possibly four resorts and then get from the bus that you get off of onto the bus to go to the expo , just to make sure that

you get there . If you are on a budget , you're probably flying in the day that you have to go get the expo , so you can run the next day I would say two o'clock , just to make sure that you don't miss the expo being open .

I would definitely 100% recommend the Uber or Lyft option , because I've flown into Orlando so much and I sometimes just look at a curiosity . I think it's as low as like $60 for Uber or something like that and goes as high as about 100 .

Now when you divide that between the people that you're with and the ability to be like , okay , let's say , like Lexi said , it's getting around one o'clock , it's a 45 minute drive . I mean , if you take mirrors , like you guys said earlier , you could be on that bus , you could be the last stop and you might be on a 45 minute drive .

It could end up being about like an hour 15 , really just depends . So if you really want to prioritize time and what you can do , I personally would recommend Uber or Lyft .

That makes sense and we have our car there on property and that is a huge value for saving time going everywhere and we have a van and text us we'll come pick you up if you want to hang out with the Farrington's at the Run Disney Raceway , but I would . I would really .

I know we're focusing on flights for the vast majority of people , but those that are that are within that drivable distance that you're comfortable with . That's the way you save some money .

But even if you know that you don't want to have the expense of having a car and the daily cost of that every day that you're there , even if it's , you know , for a long weekend is . There is also the Disney Car Care Center . That's on property , and so there's only three and I don't have oh , let's see , it's Enterprise , Alamo and National .

Those are the ones that have pickup and return spots at that Disney Car Care Center and so if you're coming in or leaving their office hours are 7am to 7pm every single day you can . You can actually drive there , drop off the car , so you're just doing it for the short little stent , and then they have a free shuttle to take you to your resort .

So there's some flexibility there . If renting is a little easier , but I still would recommend Uber or Lyft .

Because I didn't realize what it was like having a car because I would hear all these horror stories of people getting the buses at the hotels and then they get the bus , doesn't know where they're going and then they end up getting there almost late . It's a nice little piece of mind .

Being able to have your car get there who I'm done and then leave and not have to wait for a line or not have to wait for the bus to get full is most convenient thing ever .

And now that the hotels , like you guys had said earlier , are not charging for your car to be there , I have about usually about an eight hour drive between Atlanta to Orlando , and roundtrip is about $75 with gas . That's not bad .

Friends helped us get our charity bibs and we have a reward for one of them .

So again , from the bottom of my heart , the bottom of Bob's heart , we cannot thank our listeners enough for helping us both get over our fundraising finish lines through this contest that we're doing , because , again it just , it really goes to show the love and the compassion and the support that this community has not only for run Disney but for each other and

for some wonderful causes as well . So , for everyone who entered , thank you so much . And now it is the moment of truth . John , can I please get a drum roll please ? The wheel is spinning . It's spinning , it's Wheel of Fortune style . It's slowing down and our winner is our good friend from the arm wrestling championship world , abel Congratulations .

You will be joining us sometime this fall as a special co-host of the Rise Run podcast . So again , everyone , thank you so much for joining us . But , abel , congratulations . I will be in touch with you to schedule a time for you to be a co-host with us .

Thanks to you , and I'll see you all in January . As I'm heading out for doping number four , friends , a reminder please . Fluffy Physies the Fluffy Physies Wine and Dine pre-orders for the expo going on . Right now . It's not too late . What you want to do is go to Pam's site , fluffyphysiescom , check out all the wonderful merchandise she has there .

Don't forget to use your code happyrunning to save 10% , and you might want to use the option to pick up your order at the expo . I think that's a great way to do it Now . Originally we had talked with Pam about coming on this week .

I got together with her today and mutually we decided that next week would probably be better with the schedules that both of us had going on . So , for sure , next week Pam will be here with us . That's always fun when she joins us . Don't forget our friend Alec at Hawaiian Pizza Apparel . She's coming up close too , in fact .

Yeah , we're probably real close to her deadline for ordering anything you'd want to do for wine and dine . In fact , you may have to go to the rush order now .

We got our happy running level , we got the hey how you doing level , the plastic cheese level lots of different fun benefits for you if you're interested in supporting the podcast , and we greatly appreciate all those who have become Patreons and have supported this venture that we're on .

So we're extremely , extremely appreciative and we want to take the time now to recognize some of our Patreon members . We'd like to recognize Amy from Medford , mass , jason from Winter Garden , florida , carrie from Owens , maryland , and Kate from Chamsford , new Hampshire . I know Allie's not here tonight so I hope I really did a good job nailing those pronunciations .

But everybody , thank you so much and I know we're still working through that list of names . But again , if you're interested in joining our Patreon community , patreoncom Rise and run podcast .

Hope to see a whole bunch of you there . Those are always fun . We have a good time . We spend golly . The last couple of times we spend a couple hours , we just look up and we don't know where the time's gone . It's been great . So , food truck area , disney Springs , november 4th , saturday , 3 pm . We have a great time there .

We don't set a finish time but by golly , we usually end up spending a couple hours and we don't even realize where the time has gone . Hope we get a chance to see you there . John , we've got a new review this week , is that right ? Yes , we do . It's been a while . That's nice good .

He has such a nice way about him that I started listening to Rise and Run and now I'm hooked . The whole cast is a great to listen to in the way they encourage and support each other and their listeners . There's a lot of Disney talk , but even if you never were going to run a Disney race , this podcast would still be worthwhile .

The guest are informative and each Thursday morning brings a burst of positivity you don't always know you need until you hear it .

We genuinely appreciate it Taking the time . If you get a chance , you know you can do reviews now in Spotify .

Jamie's going to be joining us to talk about some of the safety equipment that Knox Gear has available . And now it's time for the race report . All right , let's go a little earlier in the week than normal . Now , this is not one I missed , but this is a virtual run .

I don't typically talk about virtual runs , but Chris did a virtual 5K , the Maui Strong 5K . Chris grew up in Hawaii so he wanted to support the folks who were devastated by that fire in Lahaina , and this race is donating a good chunk of what they've earned here from their entry fees to the Maui Food Bank .

So I wanted to mention that Chris finished that one . Now to the weekend Saturday in London , the Hyde Park 5K , rob . You may remember Rob from a couple of weeks ago , when Rob decided to and I mean at the last moment , decided to run two .

I think it was two halves a couple of weeks ago , where he stopped at the West Ham game , ended up having to buy a new jersey .

Amy got an age group second place and her finished time of less than one hour for this 10K is a PR . Colorado Springs , colorado . Jonathan , our buddy from Israel ran the 5K there , showed us some pictures of his medal . Looked pretty cool . I was hoping to get a chance to talk with Jonathan .

I wonder how he made out at the altitude there , but unfortunately I didn't get that chance last night . I'll talk to him later on . Much closer to home , orlando , florida , the Margaritaville run . They did a 5K and a 10K . Charlotte was there . Michael and Kelly ran the 10K . Marissa was there . Jody ran the 5K . Remember . Here's another .

Remember when I love doing the spotlight , I get to know all these folks . We get to hear about all these great races and I actually remember some of them . So it was a couple of weeks ago . Jody just missed breaking 30 minutes for the 5K and I remember saying Jody , you're gonna do it . 29.33 , not bad .

A new 5K PR BEEP , beep , beep , beep , beep , beep , beep , beep , beep way to go . And second place age group . Beer and margaritas at the end of this race . Of course , kayla ran the 10K . Kayla says great weather . The weather was pretty decent in Florida last weekend . The dew point actually got below 70 for the first time since , I think , april .

So that was nice , kayla 10K , two minute PR . The beverages at the finish the aforementioned beer and margaritas , were an added bonus to the PR .

Lots of supporters along the way . Amy had a little trouble here With the way the race took care of back of the Packers and in fact she ended up having to push a little more than she would have liked early in the race . I don't know if that's what led to her 21 minute PR or not , but that's what she did .

So , Amy , sorry you had trouble , but congratulations on that PR . In Villa Park , Illinois , the Easter Seals run for the kids superhero hustle 5K . Vicki was there . In Chocolate Town , USA , Hershey , Pennsylvania . Greg did a race . Greg tell us about it , yeah , so I did the Trogues Hop Dash 5K .

And I was like you know , I'm gonna throw my hand to the ring for this one , because I had to go back in my running stats by years to find the last time I raced a 5K , because most of them are done at Disney and you're saving your legs for the next day's races and stuff like that .

So I really wanted to be able to put my training to the test , and one of those things I don't want to say . I fully pulled the jack here because , having run the Hershey Marathon a couple of years ago , that was one of the hilliest courses I have ever run before .

The thing , though , is that , where this course was , I wasn't necessarily sure of the terrain , and let me tell you , it was the hilliest 5K I have ever run before in my life .

I think you know my Coro said that over the span of 5K , I think the elevation gain was only like 241 feet or something like that , but it was just turn after turn , and we just kept going uphill and I kept thinking to myself we have to go downhill at some point and I really did not come until like halfway through the race , but what was really cool was

coming in down the last hill . you could see all the big roller coasters from Hershey Park picking up over the trees and stuff like that , so that was a really , really cool vantage point . Really kicked in the high gear .

Thankfully , my hill training from burden hand really helped out on this and I am happy to report that I clocked in at 32 minutes and seven seconds , which is a PR for me .

It was canceled but since Megan was already fired up , she did 15 miles on the Peloton instead for dopey training . Good job , megan . Still in New York , the Adirondack Mountain Distance Festival in Shroon Lake , which is way upstate in upstate New York , probably a very , very pretty area . Christina and her boyfriend Scott ran the 5K .

Scott's been Christina's bestest cheerleader for when she trained for races , so it was really a lot of fun to have him cross the finish line to celebrate and Scott's first 5K . So that bell was for you , scott , congratulations . Irving , texas . The Irving Oktoberfest Half Marathon . Tyler was there . Of course it was pretty flat , a lot of shade that always helps .

So it felt good on pace for a PR for a while but kind of fell off Again . That's okay . Still finished his third half marathon of the year and not too far off track for training for his first full marathon . Good job , tyler . That first full , that'll be a big accomplishment . Of course , the half's a big accomplishment too . So way to go .

The Hiawatha Trail Run Number Two , a race , so nice . They hold it twice , once in the spring and once in the fall . It starts in a small town I'm not even sure it's a town anymore in Montana and runs into Idaho . It starts and finishes with a mile and a half tunnel , several other tunnels along the way and some really tall rail trestles .

I've never experienced one of those tall rail trestles , I've just seen them like in movies and in pictures , but apparently some pretty spectacular view . This was Jennifer's fourth half marathon in 37 days . Now Jennifer's given us some race reports before because , you'll recall , jennifer is moving through the solar system with the half fanatics .

So this one moved her to Saturn and then , because she did two in two days , she moved from Saturn to Jupiter . That's impressive . Yeah , pretty cool , pretty cool . A lot of gravity on Jupiter . I don't know how you can run on Jupiter .

Pr for the check Ah , what the heck , we've paid the electric bill . Run the run the bell again . Bit of a cow theme to some of the races this weekend the Urban Cow 5k in Sacramento , california , a race like no other . See what they did there with that . Yeah .

But that's not in Sacramento so I don't quite get that . Anyway , urban Cow 5k Sacramento , california , way to go . Bethany , fort Worth , texas , rock of the ages 5k , 10k , half Alley was there , accidentally overslept and then couldn't find the starting line .

Almost gave up , threw her bib away but figured since she was there she might as well do a little running through the area . Then she heard the start line , went back to the trash can checked it out bib was still pretty clean got the bib back , missed the 10k start started with the 5k .

People ended up catching up to some of the 10ks and after all that she gets a 10k PR .

Running out Saturday in Long Grove , illinois , the Prairie State 10k and a half Tiffany was there , signed up for the 10k , needed extra miles for her long training this week so she got early and attacked on enough for 12 and a half for the day .

Despite the extra long warm up that she did to get the required miles , she cranked out sub nine minute miles for the entire 10k . That's rock solid , tiffany , way to go . Friends . Let's move on to Sunday and start with a famous series of runs . Here in the US .

We've got the Rock and Roll series , but we also have throughout the country and they start to pick up this time of year the hot chocolate runs . Now , last week we went east , went across the Atlantic to Berlin , to talk with Marathon runners .

This week we're going out west , we're going to Denver and we've got some friends here with us who finished one of the hot chocolate runs in Denver on Sunday . Let's say hello to Leslie , to Alexis and to Alex . Hey guys , thank you for joining us . I appreciate we always appreciate you sharing your time with us . Now let's see , let's track through this one .

The hot chocolate runs are a lot of fun , I think , and they're usually really well organized . So one of the things I've done the one in Tampa , so that's the only one I've done but one of the things I thought was really neat is nice expo for these runs . Alexis , how was the expo in Denver ?

I don't think Leslie is related to anybody Anybody here in the group , you know ? Okay , good , all right , you're not John's . No , okay , fair enough . However , alex and Alexis ran the 10K first time for each of you , so we're going to cue the PR Bill two times . So congrats to two of you . Now let's start with the 10K . How did it go ?

What was the course like ? Was there much probably not much crowd support ? But how was the crowd at the race ? How did it go , alexis ? Why don't you start it for us ?

So I really enjoyed that part of it , because where you're running , they ran the 15K and the 10K at the exact same time , so they showed they had arrows and people that get you where you needed to go for that 10K , which was nice .

We didn't start until closer to 8am and it was , I think , generally most places it was warmer than particularly like I would have liked for a nine mile run . That back part was tough and on between miles six and seven I could start to feel the warmth and I hit a mental hurdle that I just had to work through .

Once the 15K course linked back up to where that 10K turnaround was , we got back to shade and I got one of my favorite running songs shuffled on , so that really helped .

What else do we have on the horizon , leslie ? What do you do in X ? What's your next run ?

Glad you had a good time and we look forward to seeing you at a future Disney run .

We've had a couple bagpipes starts here in the last week or two and the adorable cheer squad that shows up for every race that Erin and Emily do Great photos on Facebook . Erin got a PR for her half sub two hours Ice yeah , outstanding , unexpected , she says , but fun .

She and Emily are both teachers and they have a tradition of main marathon medal Monday in their school hallway apparently a new school , but the tradition continues and it's super fun to show off the bling to the students . Very nice In Corning , new York , the wine glass marathon . Heather rolled this one Beautiful course , beautiful but hot day .

She's been dealing with some illness and , what she recalls , some mental health stuff , so she kind of struggled a little bit but at about mile 22 came upon the nicest marathoner which she will tell you , kept her from dropping and battling through the entire race and Heather winds up pulling off a 17 second PR .

So yeah , the Moe Cowbell half marathon and the metals were kind of neat in this one too , the Cowbell metals . All right , Chris says he PR'd in suffering . Oh no , Chris , but he got it done . His wife also ran the 10k . Let us not overlook that . 10th year running this race for Chris , nine years to half , one year the full .

This marks Chris's 132nd straight month of running at least a 5k . That , my friends , is 11 years .

Abel had a goal two hours 55 minutes . Finished . A little over that , Not bad , though he was a little disappointed . But , come on , Not bad . He wanted the PR but it's still the fastest he's run at an organized half marathon , which I'm pretty sure by definition is a PR . All right , Abel , Good job . Good job to the whole group there Abel , Jesse and Laura .

Up in Minnesota , the Twin Cities 10-Miler . Katie was going to run that one . It got canceled due to the heat , as did the Twin Cities marathon . Esther was signed up for that . Now , Katie , even though this 10-Miler got canceled , she mapped it out and she ran it . She got a little lost at the end , so it wound up being the Apple Valley Accidental 12-Miler .

She is very proud to say that she finished not only first in her age group , she was first female and first overall . It was her longest ever run automatic PR . She was the only one running it , but congratulations . Good for you . We'll count that as a PR , since you put all that effort into it and we're proud of you , Katie . Good job .

It got pretty hot up there in Minnesota , unseasonably If it had been somewhere else , but I understand if you're in an area not used , especially in this time of year , not used to that kind of weather , then that was a good decision , yeah .

But again , I know there's other races out there and I know she's destined for great things , but way to keep moving forward .

Ashbury , north Carolina , the Run Wild 5k at the North Carolina Zoo Jeremy and Ellen ran there . Hampton , new Hampshire , the smutty nose rock fest half marathon . Some of these names are just great . Our buddy , riley , was the two hour and 40 minute pacer . That is not an easy thing to do . Riley got her group across the finish line at 2.39 . 36 .

You don't do a whole lot better than that , riley , congratulations . Flat course along the New Hampshire coast , ended up with and I will read this as she spelled it a lobster roll and a cup of clam . Chowda , race 94 on her quest to hit number 100 at Marathon weekend . I know she's going to nail that . Nashville , tennessee .

The Greenway Half Marathon Amy says beautiful weather , great course company . The last few miles , gorgeous Greenway through Nashville , even a character stop . She's got some picture with some real live turkeys on this race course . The County Marathon and Half Marathon at Prince Edward County , ontario , canada .

Nicole was there on this beautiful course , but they had a warm weather in Ontario too , again very unseasonable 27 degrees centigrade , that is right around 80 degrees Fahrenheit , and and I think this is unforgivable the race ran out of water and Gatorade before the eight kilometer mark , that's insane , yeah , that's insane .

That's dangerous is what it is Challenging , dehydrating . Nevertheless . For Nicole , a proof of time race for Princess weekend and a PR In Portland . We were in Portland before . We were in Portland , maine , earlier . Now we go to Portland , oregon , where Josh ran the half and Kimberly ran the full marathon .

Great weather , great race support Should have been a PR , but it wasn't . That's okay . Push through the frustration and cross the finish with smiles on their faces , onto the next race . Look , that's what it's all about . Winter Garden , florida , the Hickory Hammock 5K .

Laura , this was this particular race only for friends and family of those that live in the neighborhood . Overcast skies in the area on Sunday kept the temps down a little bit . She probably started a little too fast but still finished sub 30 in this timed 5K , which for her is a PR .

Laura's oldest son did his first kids race , warming him up for his first 5K this December , and they finished with the character stop . The Chick-fil-A cow was there and they had some Kona ice . I've done races where the Chick-fil-A cow Hold on .

Nice , cool weather . This time Andrew was filming part of this . He's got a YouTube channel so he was using the gimbal on his I assume , probably a GoPro . So finished 57-16 , not his personal best , but he enjoyed the event . Andrew , that's a good , solid time man .

One more event in the UK for Andrew next weekend before he turns all his attention to wine and dyeing . We look forward to seeing you in Florida , andrew . Sue ran the Jack O'Keeffe Memorial Strides Road Race in Waterford , connecticut . Great event with great food , great swag , excited to have run her fastest 5K in more than three years . No bell for that .

I mean , that's really good . We're really proud of you , sue . But there's no bell for a three-year 5K fastest . However , sue is really knocking down the 169 towns she's up to . This is number 140 . Hey .

This one sounds like God bless you , camille . Well , she and her Girl Scout co-leaders and a couple of dads with wagons , wrangled 20 Girl Scouts aged four to 11 and their brothers along a 5K route , had lots of fun and only briefly lost a kid twice . Now I don't know if that's one kid , two times or two different kids , but they found them .

They found them First . 5k for Camille's kids and probably most of the other girls as well . You have my respect , camille , for doing that . Let's wrap up in Tunbridge , united Kingdom , the Tunbridge Half Marathon , and this is Rob's second event of the weekend . I noticed he's got a West Ham shirt on for this race , looking very sharp .

Turned up 30 minutes late for the Half Marathon . What is with you guys Turning up late , starting late ? He got to start anyway . He got to start with the 10K folks . Now they get to the turnaround point at 5K . He keeps going , he keeps going . So for a while he's running alone , but Rob keeps up a pretty good pace .

It wasn't too long before he caught up with the back of the rest of the pack . Mentally it was one of his best races ever Some muscle sort of . He was having some back problems , but they're okay . Glad to hear that he is beginning to believe now that he's going to be able to knock out the Dopey to Dumbo challenge .

So we'll see Rob in January and look forward to that . And as one final note , good luck to everybody running Chicago this weekend . Hope you have great weather . Hope you have a great and enjoyable race . Friends , we had a nice Zoom Thursday last week , had a bunch of folks here , a lot of fun . We're doing our 2PM Saturday Zoom this Saturday .

Instructions are already up on the Facebook page , so I hope to see some of you there . All right , my friends , not long now , not long at all . As we said at the top , four weeks until wine and dine Cannot wait to see you all there . It is the highlight , it's the reason that we do all this training to go there and to be with our friends .

We really enjoy it . And so , my friends , and if you run , you know you are our friend . We look forward to seeing you soon , but until then , happy running .