110: The Grand Circle Trail Fest with Doreen Manning

Welcome to episode 110 of the Rise and Run Podcast . This is great . I'm here tonight with a giant pumpkin staring . Oh no , no , that's Allie .

I think they headquartered this thing or the , I think , the base camps in Utah , but they go to two or three different states , it sounds , and I looked it up online . It looks spectacular . In the race report , spotlight Marine Corps Marathon was this weekend . We visited with several of our friends who ran Marine Corps .

They'll be with us during the race report . My friends , if you enjoy the Rise and Run podcast , please , please , tell your friends all about it . Share the episode with them . Introduce them to the Rise and Run family . We want to share in their training journey .

We want to meet as many of them as we can this weekend , so we hope to bring more people into the fold . Please remember to follow us on Facebook at Rise and Run podcast , or on Instagram at Rise and Run pod . Check out our YouTube channel and visit our webpage , riseandrunpodcastcom .

If you got a question , a comment or race report or you'd like to introduce an upcoming episode , please call us . The number is 727-266-2344 . You can leave us a message , just like Rachel did earlier . The Rise and Run podcast is sponsored by our friends at Magic Bound Travel . I got a friend , I got a call .

No , I got a message from my agent , missy , this week . She says Bob , I saved you $400 . What happened is the Salute to Service package came through . Some rooms became available under that for a discount for qualified military service members or veterans or retirees . So she was able to do that . Then we looked at Princess Weekend .

She said Pop Century doesn't offer any rooms under that discount , but for $20 more than Pop Century I can get you into French Quarter . Now what's the point ? The point is number one I'm happy , but number two I didn't have to do anything . I didn't have to get on the phone and stay on hold and try to get that through Disney myself .

Missy did all that for me and it didn't cost me a thing . You may want to look into it Now you're staying at one of the best resorts on property . I like it . I'll be there twice .

She saved me the money for Marathon Weekend , then I'm going back for Princess Weekend , then , finally , I'm going to use my benefit and stay at the Shades of Green Military Hotel for Springtime Surprise .

She's got some upcoming videos in mind . Certainly , we'll be doing some wrap-up videos from Wine and Dine Weekend and she's got some other plans for future stuff . So I'm kind of excited about that . Jack's doing a good job with it and I appreciate it , greg . What's new on the Patreon front ?

To give that interpersonal attention to our patrons was really great . Getting to learn more about them as well too , it's really really fantastic stuff . So we want to grow that community . So in order to do so , we came up with a little contest .

Now I remember a few weeks ago we had mentioned our friend Tara , who you'll be hearing a little bit later on the race report spotlight . She was over in Tokyo Disneyland and got us all this awesome merch and we decided that what we thought was the coolest piece of merch we're saving for last .

And she got us a Tokyo Disneyland 40th anniversary edition popcorn bucket . Cool , this thing is fantastic . The design on it is beautiful . It glows . And it changes colors and everything . That is absolutely fabulous .

Again , we get some halfway decent popcorn buckets here in the States , but they go the extra mile in Tokyo and we're so excited that we have one to give away to a member of our community here .

It doesn't matter which level you choose . As long as you become a member between now and November 20th , your name will be entered into a raffle for this popcorn bucket and for those of you that are already Patreon members , your names will also be included in this raffle as well .

So again , we're just looking to grow that family even more , offer you exclusive benefits outside of the podcast in the community and everything like that . So we'll post information on our Facebook page and on Instagram and on the website and everything like that . But again , just visit patreoncom rise and run podcast and you have between now and November 20th .

Thanks so much , everybody .

You have zero weeks to go .

Sunday still has a slight chance , but we should be okay . Humidity is going to be up . Humidity is going to increase throughout the weekend . If you're not used to dew points in the lower 70s , well , you'll get a chance to find out what they're like . But let's look . We have other events . Not everybody's going to be at wine and dime .

The marathon weekend is now nine weeks away . Oh yeah , I know , I know I'm looking at my training schedule and I know what I'm doing .

I know this weekend , friends , if you're not at Disney World and you're keeping on the marathon weekend training schedule and you've got a challenge on your schedule , you have an eight and a half mile walk and a 20 mile run this weekend . So the numbers are getting big . With that in mind , this episode is going to be reasonably long . We do that on purpose .

This is week 19 of the training schedule For Disneyland , it's week eight . Disneyland is the week after marathon weekend . Ten weeks from now , your long run if you're doing the half at Disneyland or one of the challenges , your long run is eight miles .

And we're into the second week of the princess training schedule where your long run this weekend is four miles .

I hope , if you have them , I hope you'll wear your shirts to the Expo . I'd love to see you there . I'd love to be able to see you rise and run . Friends , I'll have mine on . If you got one , wear it . I'll be wearing it also to the Meetup . The Meetup is Saturday 3 pm , food Truck Area in Disney Springs .

We're looking at a pretty sizable group of people . If those who responded do in fact show up and look , it's not on you . If you said yes and you can't make it , that's fine , we understand . If you said no , when you show up , we're happy to see you , but we'll see , we'll see . I hope we get a bunch of people there .

If you are doing the challenge or running the half Anything that involves the half you should have received your post-race ticket in the mail . You should have received your email with your $15 credit to use at Disney World . Here's my recommendation Use it right away . It's $15 . It's not going to earn interest . There's no sense saving it .

I know if I don't use it right away , I forget about it .

It's great to talk with him . He's going to treat you like you're a member of his family . Say hi to Jeff . After you finish saying hi to Jeff , remind Coach Twiggs , who should be there , that he promised he would show you how to do an acceleration glider drill . Oh , that's right .

You can start tracking me and you can claim other people , so I can look for Bob , I can look for Lexie , ali , jack and you can track all of them at the same time . I don't know yet what's going to happen with it . Used to have a text message to tracking . That's not available yet , but they could track to Twitter , facebook or a link .

It used to be email . That's gone so I don't know if they're going to open that feature up closer to the race weekend . But if you have a Twitter account , you can post your results to Twitter , your Facebook page , so people can follow you , or you can send your friends and family a link and they can follow you that way .

You can track them and then you can kind of look into running tracking and see how far behind you and you might see them like , oh man , they're only like five minutes behind me , they're only 15 minutes behind me . But when you think about that , that adds that much per mile to every mile that you're doing .

So you have that buffer and so now , instead of doing a 16 minute mile if they're five minutes behind you , you can do a 21 minute mile and still be okay .

You can always look them up and run tracking and track those people too , yep .

The idea behind our pacing spreadsheet is for you to go in and take a look and put down information on what kind of pace you'd like to maintain , and maybe you can find some folks who are in your . Maybe you can find some folks to link up with and run together . We can also do that when we get together before the race .

We always get together in an area directly to the left of the bleachers that face the stage in the staging area . We'll be there for all four races , so drop by and say hello , but look for the pacing spreadsheet If you're interested , if you're looking for someone to run foot and it's much more fun to go with others than it is to go all by yourself .

Yeah , it is right .

In that same vein , let's talk a little bit about race etiquette and at Disney sometimes it's just a big event . There are a lot of people there , a lot of people new to running , and many of them don't understand . Try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem . I don't want to go over everything , but a couple of big things .

Try not to walk more than two people side by side . If you're a group of three or four , then walk in groups of two . If you're a Galloway run , walk , run person , raise your hand when you're transitioning from a walk to a run a few steps before , so people behind you know you're about to start walking .

Get as far to the right as you can when you walk . Now again , there are times I know personally I'm definitely a run , walk , run guy . There are times when I'm stuck out on the left , the big thing I try to do is just get out of the way .

I raise my hand , I look behind me before I transition to a walk and I get to the edge of the road , preferably the right side , but I get to the edge . Here's my biggest advice for you if you're new to run Disney Stay patient , stay calm . These are not the Olympic trials . You're probably not going to win the event .

They don't give age group awards anymore , so it doesn't matter if you win your age group . You're there for fun . You get stuck behind a group of four or five people walking side by side and you're having tough time getting around them . Deep breath , relax , you'll get by them .

I will be again a big advocate of Jeff Galloway's method , a big supporter of the Galloway Run , walk , run Pace groups . They're not good about running too abreast . They'll take up a lot of room . Patients , they'll either they will accelerate past you or you'll get past them .

And if you don't , just join them , if you find yourself staying with them , just join them . They're typically a good group of people . So one word patience . Patience will help you enjoy your event that much more .

The podcast is two years old , a year ago , when we went down to wine and dye and we were just starting to build our audience . We've met a lot of friends , a whole lot of friends , even if we've met before . I'm not sure I'm going to remember everybody I've met in the last couple years .

So please forgive me if you and please , please , come say hello , please , please , please , please , please . But if you say hello and I don't remember and I'm going to speak for the gang if we don't remember , please forgive us and remind us . Hey , I'm Joe and we met last year at the Princess 10K or whatever .

I know that's weird , but that's just who I am .

So , hey , it took him six years to give me half the time . Give me three years . But , gosh , we are genuinely excited , excited about seeing our friends today , tomorrow , this weekend , moving along a little bit , I got a message this week . I got a text message from Raj Hope and I've got to admit to you , I thought Raj Hope was a person , didn't know .

Raj asked . He said , hey , I've got these things we want to talk about inclusiveness for runners at Walt Disney World this weekend . So , yeah , it sounds good . I did a little more investigating . I find out Raj Hope isn't a person so much . It's a foundation , the Raj Hope Foundation .

It is named for a young man named Raj and I'm going to butcher this last name , I'm afraid Vansadia , I think something like that but Raj graduated from high school in Texas , in Magnolia , texas , and Raj has Down's Syndrome .

This foundation was founded in 2007 and is dedicating dedicated to providing educational , social and physical fitness services and opportunities for adults and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities , specifically in Magnolia , texas , but now branching out to other surrounding areas after they graduate from high school , because there just wasn't much opportunity

back in 2007 . So the foundation asked us . He said , hey , look . They said look . We're trying to raise awareness in two ways this weekend . The first way is they have these neat look and I've seen a picture of them . I think we'll post one on the webpage , a picture of the stickers that they're gifting to everyone who wants one and wants to wear them .

Kind of neat , they're an inclusive run , disney stickers . Now , other thing , they're asking and it's a little late because I know a lot of you well again , you're already at Disney .

I know a lot of you already have your costumes , but , if you can , they're asking people to consider wearing something orange and or green , preferably something really bright , easy to pick up with the idea of promoting inclusiveness and acceptance and harmony and peace during this weekend's races .

The colors can go in your shirt , your socks , your cap , you should whatever . You can think of a bracelet , the stickers , but as you participate in the race you can wear them at the expo , at the parks .

But they're just a request , obviously totally optional , but if you get a chance to do it , I think it would be nice to support this organization and I'm glad they asked us to bring it up . So whoever specifically did that , thanks . We're happy to support you . All right , friends , let's visit with our guest for the week .

It's over three days and we'll go over a little bit more of what the distances are , but I'd like to welcome you to the podcast , doreen . Thanks for coming , thanks for having me so awesome .

We can't wait to get into this , because this is a race that is one of those races that is just so spectacular that I don't even think people really understand what encompasses it . So it's incredible views , an incredible setting .

It takes place in national parks , which is something that people vacation to go see , and you're doing sort of like a vacation race when you're doing this , because you're getting kind of the best of both worlds . Tell us a little bit about how you got started in running before we get into starting talking about these races .

Before I started playing roller derby I didn't do anything , I didn't exercise at all ever , and so I fell in love with roller derby , realized I needed to get in shape and started to run very slowly .

It's not an easy thing for me , it's actually really hard and I just persevered and pushed through and so I've probably been running Goodness , I don't even know how long now A while . I was 39 when I started playing roller derby . I was ancient , and now I am going to tell the world I am 53 . So it was kind of weird to start late in life .

But I'm still doing it today , running .

And then we signed up for it and I didn't know that a half marathon was 13 miles . But here , there we found ourselves and you got , you got me there and you got me through it and that was actually at the . That was the Princess Race 2019 . Yeah , so , not only are you a run Disney veteran , but you also are . You've run a lot of races since then .

So , even since you said , you know , you didn't see yourself as a runner necessarily or like an athlete at all , right , I actually consider you a runner because you , you are . I mean , I just see you run all these amazing races and then this is one of those . So let's get into , kind of what this race is .

So you're running three different days , yeah , and how do you ? How do you choose this race as as one of the races that you want to do ? And what is it about this race that kind of drew you to it ?

Like you know , when you go to Disney , you're just like , oh my goodness , look at all this stuff , all this activity , and it gets you so jazzed . And so I really wanted something different and I just was like this is crazy , let's try this . So my friend Steph and I sort of got into trail running around the same time .

I live in Shirley , massachusetts , and there are a lot of trails around my house and I just discovered this love of running in the woods , so much more than running in the street . And so I don't even know how I found this . It was like probably social media or something silly , and I'm just like this looks impossible and crazy and beautiful .

And I'd never been to Utah , I'd never been to Arizona , and I just was like let's just do this .

So we put it on a credit card and did it and it was unlike anything I've ever done , from like beginning to end , like having a base camp where you would meet and hang out and had activities , and then every single race is at least an hour away from base camp , in different directions .

So you get to get up at like three in the morning , much like a Disney race , and then either get on a shuttle or get a rental car , which Steph and I did , and drive out .

So you're driving in the dark and the sun's coming up , all this crazy landscape which is so different than where I live and it's just everything about it , like the drive there is amazing , the race is amazing , but it was also like the hardest thing I had ever done , hands down .

And the first year was so incredibly hard that I was kind of determined to go back the second time and like I thought I had done all these things wrong . This is such a long story . Get ready . I really thought I did all these things wrong . I thought I didn't hydrate right .

I thought I didn't train properly , because the day one , which was Steve won , bryce Canyon is the hardest and it was so hard , it was like beyond hard and I really thought my body was falling apart because I didn't do things properly . But I learned the second year .

What I actually had was called elevation sickness and I had no idea what it even was until this year .

So it was just so funny how , like for a whole year , I've been training extra hard , learning about my hydration , learning about fueling , thinking that I was going to like kick ass on Bryce Canyon Day one this year and my elevation sickness was twice as bad and I ended up passing out face planning in mile 10 .

And it was brutal , it was really cow and the EMT was like girl , you have elevation sickness . So it was just kind of an interesting journey of everything I thought I learned , I still didn't learn , and then I learned some more , just even , just like even that that happened . It was still the most amazing race .

It was still mind blowing Because even though you're miserable and sick , I lost feeling on the right side of my body , like it was just I got so sick , but it was so beautiful , it's so crazy to even talk about . Like running through the desert , running through the mountains .

The first day is 15 miles and it's through like all the it's like you start the woods , break it down , so so this .

I have a lot of issues with my vestibular system and I think my head injury that I got skating on my vestibular system messed me up even more with elevation . So I just had all these challenges but despite that it is like the most incredible thing you'll ever do running .

I'm going to give everyone this like learn from my mistakes . I thought that would help me with my elevation . It made it so much worse . So much worse . So we walked down to the basin of Grand Canyon . It was beautiful , I felt great . We brought peanut butter sandwiches . Life is great . I start to hike up and . I'm about to pass out again .

Like it's crazy how fast it hit me and it took us two hours to walk down and took us almost three and a half hours to get up because I stopped like every couple feet . So that was my first mistake . And then I like did all . I had my water pack . Like I ran the first year without a water pack . I had like one bottle of water .

So I thought I was going to be like super smart this year and I trained extra . I ran about . I ran about 80 miles a month preparing for this . Every Wednesday I ran up Matwachi Sit which is in our area .

But that race is so hard and you have an option of stopping at mile 10 because the last five miles are the worst . It's just like climbing switchbacks . You're not even running at that point , everyone's walking , so it's it's just super challenging , like running over stones , running on the top of a hill .

That's just a tiny little path and there's like death to my left . It's just and like sometimes you can't even realize that you're like day three horses . You bend . At one point I was like I'm afraid of heights and I think I was like , oh my God , look around me , I can die any second .

Yeah for someone who is normally at sea level .

I remember coming to this like neat little cactus in front of me , and I remember just being like , oh , that's a cute plant , like out of the ground . These two women were next to me and they both were nurses and they're like the aid station is right around the corner .

So they like , pick me up and help me to get to the aid station , and the EMT starts to explain to me what was wrong with me . Because I'm like I can't feel . Am I on a stroke or my leg ?

We start talking and he said if you have elevation sickness , like I do , like if you're that susceptible , you need two weeks to get there , to sort of get used to it .

So my friend Steph , who PR by 45 minutes race because she's amazing , and as soon as stuff came we took the shuttle down and then it goes away like almost like that , like you get out of the elevation , the oxygen comes back and everything's . I still felt like I had the flu , but I wasn't like feeling like I had a stroke , so that's an improvement .

But the base camp is awesome because they have food comes with it . You get breakfast and you get dinner , so they have like like a rice and beans burrito type of thing one night and spaghetti another night . But the best part about base camp are their services . They have . They had this guy here .

His company was called Elevated Legs and it's the big air compression legs that you put on . Oh yeah .

So she gave me IV treatment and had like amino acids in it and like all kinds of stuff , hydration , vitamins , all kinds of stuff and I felt so much better and so got up and did it again the next day .

It's beautiful and I flew through that like I just felt so strong and so powerful and so excited that I wasn't fainting or throwing up and I had feeling in my arms . I was just like so happy and it was so beautiful . So you just like have more time to look out and see how beautiful it is .

You know you've got a canyon to one side and you've got all these trees and the plants are totally different . Like all the cactus is were blooming because they had a really good spring , so it's beautiful flowers . Teal is my favorite color and I was like teal flowers or everywhere . So I'm like running . I'm just like pretty flowers .

Oh , my God , look at the sky . Like I'm just like a total goofball because it's so beautiful . Zion was my favorite to run , but day three is my favorite to see because horseshoe bend is like mind-blowingly beautiful .

So you're jumping over things , especially day three . Day three was like jumping over crevices when you look down and you're like I could be dead , like I don't know how . It's just so scary .

It's not like a path you can follow and it's just a sea of people . See people it's not that many who are just running on these rocks and you're like I hope I'm going the right way .

And then you look over and you can see Horseshoe Bend , which is so beautiful and the sun's just coming up and you can see it on the water and you're just running and like in amazement . It's just so beautiful and so foreign . There's no trees . It's like you start in the desert and then it's just rock and the rock is like layered .

So you're like jumping over the rocks like little steps and then you get into a sandy area and the sand was kind of brutal . I said after Joshua Tree I would never run in the sand and I remember this share .

It was just like step by step and looking , and it's just like it goes from the cliffs to the rocks to the sand , and then the last three miles is pure sand and then it's just like open desert and you can see the mountains way around you and you're just running on this huge open landscape . It's just mind blowing how beautiful it is .

And when I saw the finish line , I sprinted like I was the winner of the entire race . I was just like I'm amazing .

You mentioned Joshua Tree , which is also an incredibly difficult race , these back to back races that are just challenging terrain in themselves , but then doing 30 miles over three days , 35 miles over three days it's incredible . But I do want to touch upon a couple races that we've done together and talk about those for a moment .

So one of the most challenging races I feel like a person can do is a marathon , and you did complete a marathon and I joined you in that , but I did a half marathon distance and I just wish Lexi was here because I want to tell the story about what happened in the last half of the marathon as you ran on the Poncha train .

Actually , new Orleans and Allie is just the best combination in the whole world so that was awesome , I can imagine , and I think it was the last three miles . I remember talking to Allie on my watch and she's like you're almost there .

You're almost there and all of a sudden my foot hurts so bad Like I just I felt like someone had like set my feet on fire and the pain was so bad . And I'm not thinking straight either and I just remember sitting down and Allie's like I'm looking at my watch . You're like you're almost there , you're so close and I'm like I can't , I can't go on .

Some woman stopped her . I don't even know who she was . And she was like are you okay ? And I'm like my feet hurt so bad I can't do this . And she was like uh-uh , honey , you're getting up right now . And she like grabbed my hands and pulled me up and she was like you're going to do this . And she ran beside me .

And you know next thing , I know there's . There's Allie screaming my name .

And then I was like , okay , day two , there is no way I can do day three . And then I did , and I just remember day three , running across that finish line crying Just like I can't believe I have done this and even though this year was a bit of a disappointment for me , which is kind of funny I was like really thought I had figured it all out .

And then the day one didn't happen the way I wanted to happen . Well , it's still kind of hard on myself that I could do three hard things back to back . And it's not like crazy distances , they're just like going straight up a mountain , straight through a desert .

They were just so challenging , but I still kind of can't believe I did it , but they are crazy distances too .

I felt so much stronger . And trail running isn't always running running right . A lot of it is like climbing , like you're climbing through rocks so you're going out switchbacks . I love that trail , these type of trail races . You know these type of trail races .

You get an opportunity to walk because you have no other choice and everyone else is also walking , so it's just definitely like a game leveler , like we're all now crawling up these rocks . So practice on elevation , no matter where you can , what I can Try to go a little bit earlier . Bring as much water as you can . Practice running on sand . I hate sand .

Practice running on sand and make sure you look up as much as possible .

It's kind of funny because I'm like there you are , cool , cool , cool .

But speaking of exciting things and speaking of a new Run Disney race season , this week Run Disney gifted us with and I can't believe we're already talking about this- I know the 2024 2025 Run Disney race season .

Yeah obviously news has been plastered all over social media we all got emails about it If you subscribe to the Run Disney newsletter but we're just going to quickly go through these dates and really just highlight the real big noticeable changes .

The first one is and I think this was the part that took everybody by surprise and everyone wondered if we would get more of this and that is , ladies and gentlemen , we have a brand new race to start off the race season and that is the Disneyland Halloween half marathon weekend .

But wine and dine is occurring same weekend . But it's one the way that the calendar falls this year it's a double dip between October and November , so wine and dine will run October 31st , if you actually want to celebrate . Halloween .

Oh yeah , which is absolutely wild the thing , that you could probably do both things in the span of a week and a half .

Now one of the big differences is , you know , we look at this calendar and the Disneyland half marathon weekend is literally the weekend after marathon weekend , but here it's going to be a couple of weeks later . So Disneyland half marathon is January 30 through February 2 2025 and registration opens June 18 2024 .

Then Princess usually occurs within that same weekend , whatever that weekend post President's Day weekend is . So you're looking at February 20 through the 24 of 2025 , registration on July 30 . And then next year , springtime surprise actually occurs a few weeks earlier than it has in the last couple of years .

So for that event you're looking April 3 through the 6 2025 , with registration opening on August 27 of 2024 .

And then this one is like surprise , it's not on Allie and Jack's birthday .

I was thinking , oh , maybe Easter in 2025 is super early , but it's actually very late in April , so maybe they want to get the race weekend done before the spring break crowds . I'm really not sure . But again , so that is your mapped out race season .

Now they also did announce the virtual events are coming back , so your typical summer series will be happening starting in June , and then we're going to be getting the second annual virtual 12 K's of Christmas , so that will be happening next holiday season as well .

But the one thing that a lot of people were curious about and I was very surprised run Disney did provide information on this , you know , with all these new races in Disneyland is how can I get my coast to coast medal ?

And if you go on the run Disney website , it actually gives you a nice graphical breakdown of how you can earn your coast to coast medal , starting in the calendar year of 2024 .

And oddly enough and I know we talked about this when they announced the coast to coast challenge is there's going to be what they're calling two different tracks and it's going to be two different medals , even though , as of right now , we have no idea what those medals look like .

Now , the only way to earn track ones medal is you have to do a race during marathon weekend and then in Disneyland the following week . So that's , track one and its own separate thing . But then track two is all sorts of different combinations of races .

So you could do marathon weekend and then the Halloween race , or you could do Disneyland and or Princess , springtime or wine and dine , or you could do princess and Halloween , or springtime and Halloween , or Halloween and wine and dine . So again , go on the run Disney website . It's laid out graphically very , very well . It will give you all the finite details .

But it does get a little confusing in the weeds there with track one versus track two . But it gives you plenty of opportunities if you are going for that elusive coast to coast medal .

Let's do the wine and dine weekend roll call . Friends , the roll call has become a tradition for the rise and run podcast . We do it before every run Disney weekend event . The first one was two years ago before wine and dine . I'm just going from memory , but I believe there were 18 names and it took us about 30 seconds . This one is a little bigger .

If you are on board an aircraft and you're on short final and the seat belt sign is on , you don't have to stand , but you do have to raise your hand , okay .

If I did not , I apologize . So without further ado , let's start with the two course challenge . Ali , kick us off please .

Mary Joe , megan , melinda with daughter , lucy , her first run Disney event and first 10 K , michelle , missy Salma , the first run Disney race . And then the season and mark they were just married .

That's cool , oh , really , oh , okay .

Live then challenge somewhere on site .

That's a bit more than the 18 that we did two years ago .

I want to start it out with our friend Mark Lane Holbert and wishing Mark a happy birthday . Should be today , I believe , on release day . Let's talk with Mark about his podcast , the running anthropologist . Mark . Welcome to the rise and run podcast .

I've got to meet so many great people and got to go to so many great events , including Disney events , and made a lot of good friends my wife actually , who I think- you had on the podcast , not too long ago has been a Disney runner for life , so she's known Jeff for a long time and I've been a coach for a long time .

I started running way back when I was young and when I was in college I started coaching a local high school team and this was in Michigan and I've kept with it Since then . I've coached high school for a long time , coached some in college with .

I am in club teams and now , as you know , hoping to help you know long distance adult runners as well Awesome .

I also had a newborn daughter who was at home with us quite a bit , so I was spending a lot of time with her and during those short periods in between when she was napping , I thought about , you know , how can I do something fun ?

That in I kind of fell back to this running anthropologist idea I'd had and basically , you know , basically just wanted to explore a few corners of running culture that I was interested in , kind of a niche thing that I didn't think others were covering . You know , kind of a nerd project , so to speak .

And kind of having a chance to travel and see that in different places , I thought I'd love to , you know , interview some people and get their perspective on , you know , whatever corner of running culture they occupy . So that's kind of how it started and I realized during the pandemic I could do a lot of that , of course virtually , so that was also a plus .

But I always kind of have a few people thinking about and reaching out to in between and kind of depends on them a little bit too .

And those include , of course , jeff Galloway and Chris Twigs , who I think are doing a lot for the culture of running and have changed it for the better , and , of course , some I guess some of the more further afield guests who have done some extraordinary things include Mike Wardian , who's an ultra runner who has done , just , you know , unique things , record

breaking things and also unique challenges . That he's done . And a good friend of mine has been on a few times is my friend Jorge , who he's actually not a , you know , not a pro runner or anything like that . He's one of us but he found his way to running for a unique cause and I've talked to him a few times about his work as a pacer .

He is a good runner and he's paced several hundred races , including a lot of ones that others couldn't fill . He's especially a Marine Corps MCM devoted person .

He's one of the people that convinced me to go to MCM and do a little special on that where I interviewed people , you know , at MCM and the race director and kind of tried to get a little bit more about the culture of that particular event .

And I've done that a few times , including meeting Jorge Garcia a few times and meeting him there so that he could tell me about it while he was there and kind of give a tour .

We went out to the , you know , to Arlington , interviewed a few folks that were running for soldiers who had fallen and you know that kind of thing yeah it's something that it's hard to capture unless you're there , but I did my very best to kind of do a little documentary about that .

You had a friend who was a physiotherapist and also an accomplished runner on a young woman . I thought that was a very interesting episode .

I think sometimes we get kind of caught up in the glisten glam you know the famous people and we fail to notice that like , oh , these guys wouldn't be able to do any of this , nor plenty of us , without the side of physical therapy and strength , the things that we need to continue running when we're older especially , but really at any stage , and PT is just

so cool , you know , to learn about the process and why people do it and how , how they get into it , and also to get some tips . Like , you know , what are the few things you would tell a runner who's , you know , not injured , or who might be injured , that they should be thinking about ?

It's kind of set up in that blog site format and it's just a chance for me to kind of share some thoughts and some some links , you know some resources with regard to the topic of that episode and , in particular , the interviews that the the interviewee wanted to share out or things that they had mentioned .

So you could , you know , in theory you could kind of scroll through the blog site and just see what episodes interest you and then go back and find that episode afterwards .

I listened , like you probably , I listened to a lot of podcasts and every once in a while I think , oh , there's a , there's a gap in knowledge here , or there's something that I'm really interested in that I would love to talk to someone about , and then I , then I kind of try to create an episode around that .

But but if you , if you enjoy it and you think you're filling a niche and it's something you like talking about and sharing , the audience will find you and I hope I hope we can send some more folks your way . Oh , thank you , appreciate that , mark . I've been on that website and I do enjoy it .

And one thing I think I see running through as a thread is something maybe you'll want to talk about a little bit Logo therapy . What is that and how does it apply ?

So you'll find a thread through certainly through the episodes in my sharing , but also in some of the write ups and resources I share that is , helping runners to really think about their purpose , their why , making sense of difficult experiences , of suffering , of setbacks , because we all know those are a big part of our running and also , of course , of life , our

life . Yeah , absolutely so . I'm a logo therapist . I , my training is an educational psychology , and I've used logo therapy with , with individuals of all sorts , but especially over the last few years , with my runners and with folks that I've taken on , you know , running pilgrimages , running retreats .

I find it's a good framework to really it helps us both mentally and , in the long run , helps us physically If we can kind of get behind a higher purpose and align our running with our core values .

This weekend , in addition to being wine and dine we've alluded to it once already is the New York City Marathon . Now we will talk about the New York City Marathon . We've asked our friends from the Run Dopey group , several of whom are going to be in New York this weekend , to join us in an upcoming episode and talk about that .

I want to give a shout out Our buddy , david David's going to be running . I believe this is his first marathon .

Let's start on Saturday in Ocean City , maryland , the Ocean City running festival inaugural event for this running festival . It was hot . I think it was warm throughout the Northeast .

I congratulate you for that job brother . Yeah , lauren was there around the half also , tom's wife Diana and and their friends Nicole and Ryan Ran the 8k and Tom was happy that they had Thrashers French fries waiting for him at the finish line yes , a boardwalk staple . Oh yeah , yeah , I Did not get that far south .

I was an Atlantic City Wildwood type guy , so thrashers was new to me .

Jennifer said it was a warm one , her Her times are improving , though , despite some calf cramping problems and Having to stop and stretch a little bit during the race . She's at Disney World right now getting ready to run wine and dine . Leslie was there , ran the 10k Faster , first 5k and then , once the Sun came up , she had to pull the pace back .

It gets hot . You got to do that , struggled in a heat a little bit . Miles 4 and 5 on a backstretch , no breeze , no shade , makes it tough . Good training for Florida , though , says Leslie . Next up is the Disneyland 10k and our buddy , andy , better known as Lucky , was there . Leslie found him and got a chance to say hi . So good job , folks .

Indianapolis , indiana , the Monumental marathon . Gabby ran the marathon . Gabby ran a sub four marathon . Go , gabby go awesome work a 13 minute and 17 second PR . Great run , gabby . Same weekend in Indianapolis , angela around the half great course , great course . Lots of positive energy , lots of race support .

Angela lives in the area but said this would be a good destination run . Another friend who lives in the area , jeff , was there and did the half half marathon number 97 for Jeff , sub 210 pace , is bibb , where you have your name on this , bibb . Jeff had Scrooge McDuck . I thought that was pretty cool .

He had finished time for some salty McDonald's French fries and diet coke , what Jeff refers to as an Olympic level recovery nutrition plan that is a perfect Post race meal right there , I mean nothing better than a good French fry and a diet coke salty French fries . I think that's great .

I would actually drink the real fully-ledded , totally sugared up coke right after a half marathon . I think that's that's a time where you can really do . I would do . Yeah , it wouldn't hurt , you would not bother you at all . Kate Main , new Jersey , had a hollowed half marathon . Angela ran her first half marathon there , first half . That's gotta be a PR .

Gotta be a PR over . Not far from Disney World in Claremont Florida , the nightmare on the Claremont trails . 5k Couple folks ran that one . Mary Jo talked about the out-and-back loop with the second mile on trails . The trails are mostly dirt path so she walked that part because all the roots and they had that's spook zones in there that kept it interesting .

That sounds like cool . Yeah , it does . Sounds like fun . Not a PR , that's okay you can't PR every race , but Probably one of her best 5k times in a while . That's good Love to hear that . I love the metal in the shirt , tons of good post race snacks and free beer . Adania was there . Adana walk most of this one with her husband .

Her husband was dressed as captain Kirk , oh , and she was spock , I believe . I hope I don't have those backwards . Great weather , adanya , pr'd and fun . And if she's listening to this and I got him backwards , she's probably laughing even harder now . At least I hope she is and not upset with me .

Laura , and was there actual actually now , laura and doubled up and just the order , I have him here . This was her second race of the day . She had one earlier . This was an evening race . Fantastic , beautiful scenery . She talked about the scare zones and the food . Afterwards Ran both of the races that day with her friend Cynthia .

Finally , kayla was there , also in Hoboken , new Jersey . The whole Boo-ken . Yeah , yeah , pretty clever . The Melissa was there and ran that 5k . Fort Smith , arkansas . Whitney's race 5k . Guess who did this one ? Fort Smith , arkansas .

The the Doc's wife Passed from that disease , so it's important to everybody and that's a great cause . In Miami Beach , florida , florida , the Halloween half marathon and freaky four mile or a couple friends there . Also Amelia , amelia around the half it was an out and back on the beach board walking . The last half mile was actually on the beach .

Me came in 11th in her age group , which is she's in a tough age group . She's in the 18 to 24 age group . That's where the overall winners of the race were so good job there to get up almost into the top 10 . Nicely done . Next for Amelia the Miami half marathon in January . She's shooting for a big PR in that race .

Robbie was there , robbie did the four-miler , got up early , drove on down to Miami Beach from Fort Lauderdale . Robbie commented that was windy on the beach and his comment and the weather I mean Miami's a little bit different than the weather up here near Tampa , but Robbie's comment it does not suck to run in Miami at this time of year .

Yeah , I go along with that . Weather is pretty nice . Hopefully it's nice for our friends this weekend . Dallas , texas . The Dallas women's half , allison , missed her alarm , was late to the event . Found out then that the event event was canceled , so I guess you really weren't late if the event was canceled .

Allison made lemons out of lemonade , made lemonade out of lemons or did something ? I don't even know if there were lemons down there in Dallas , but anyway , allison did seven training miles on the treadmill . Good job . Long Island , new York , the green lawn fire department , halloween 5k Megan , megan .

After nine Saturdays in a row with rain , I finally got some sunshine and temps in the high 70s on Long Island . Megan came in fourth in her age group and set a new 5k PR . It's around this one with her running buddy who is her uncle . I like seeing families run together . That's really cool . Great job , megan .

Up next , jennifer and Stephen are at Disney World . Maybe listen into this , but they're there for wine and dine . Melbourne , florida , the ghostly gecko 5k . The bowls chaos crew was there . Let's see what the chaos crew did in Melbourne , florida . Let's see now .

Earlier in the day before the race , monica got to see her oldest daughter compete in her first state meet . She came in 38th over all in her division team took home the championship . That's really cool . At the race , the costumes , the music , the awards , the high school volunteers they always have a group theme . The volunteers do this year the group theme .

They all dressed as different versions of Barbie and Ken . That seems appropriate for this year . They can't all dress as tab or swift , so Different versions of Barbie and Ken is appropriate . All of it was awesome . Number three child won her very first age group award , coming in third . Her friend took second . That's neat .

Monica took second in her age group using five minute run , 30 second walk Intervals per customized training . That's outstanding , monica . I didn't didn't make note of her runtime , but that's finishing second in your age group and a race like that is really great . Rest of the crew ran really well .

Number two child got a 5k PR and and this has got to be important to number two she beat her older sister .

That's a PR . She had sore hamstrings all week , which can be tough , so goal was just to finish what she did . Lots of hard lessons learned from the hot hilly course , but she finished next up the Disney marathon . One of my favorite pictures in the post that Jo Ellen made on Facebook was the go mom sign that was there for her .

Again , I'm a sucker for those family things . Our friend Mary was there too . She did it . She did this race as part of her virtual Well , not part of . She did this marathon as her virtual for the New York City marathon .

Beautiful course ended the race around a baseball field kind of reminded her back in the days when we ran through why World of Sports at Disney . She came in at the course time limit , but that's okay . She's talking about the time limit to qualify for the New York City Marathon . Hello , new York 2024 , and Mary's also at Disney World .

Even as we speak , in Charlotte , michigan , the do not stop 5k Sean was there . This course was covered in Mud from the current rain , so it was his slowest 5k time in almost 10 years , but he still came in first in his age group , 20th overall must have been one heck of a muddy course . The prize for all of this ? A Nice donut and some apple cider .

Well , it is fall . That's not a bad thing to get . Congrats on that . Finish , sean . The triple lakes trail half marathon . This is the fourth race of four in a trail race series and they combine .

Each of the races had a quadrant that looked like stained glass for a medal , so when they were all done , the four pieces came together and they look really great .

And one of the bridges they used for the course was deemed unsafe a week ago , so they had to completely reroute everything , which made for a very interesting run . But the weather was gorgeous nice , high 50s to start , low 70s by the end . The leaves are changing .

I'm holding up the pictures I took on my phone so you can have a look , but if that doesn't work , I'll put them on Facebook too .

Got spend about half the run with somebody from my alma mater who was having a rough race and we got to go through the whole thing and finish together was a good feeling and I Just can't wait to see all of you next week at wine and dine . I have a great one and we really will see you soon mark .

Local restaurants brought food out for the runners love that . In Mackinac Island , michigan , the great Turtle Trail Run , beautiful course , lots of great-looking photos here . A couple runners Emily was there . As Emily's first half marathon , let's hit the PR bell right now .

She is glad that the Sun came out and thrilled that her husband and kids were there watch her start and finish . She had a goal to finish in three hours , less of a be gold just to finish her official chip time Three hours and 15 seconds . We're calling that a win , emily . We're calling that an a goal for you . Pamela was there .

Pamela ran with an OG Rise and run t-shirt . You know the one that had all the races listed on it . Mm-hmm . Yeah , collector's item . Pamela , look great . Glad it worked for you . Let's see . Tiffany was there . Tiffany tells us . Mackinac translates to great turtle , which is what the Native Americans Thought the island looked like .

So the race medal is an outline of the island as a turtle Pretty cool looking metal . You can find photos on Facebook . No cars allowed on the island so Horse carriages had to bring in the water , for the water stops . Cool yeah , still in Saturday , this time in Virginia Beach , the wicked 10k .

Samantha Lee and her husband always a fun Halloween race loves all the costume . She's missing out on wine and dine this weekend so she and her husband decided that their costumes for this race would be wonderland themes . For her husband this was his first ever 10k . That's a PR .

Despite it getting kind of sunny at the end , samantha's happy with her time for this race . Good job up there in Virginia Beach . Oh , it was probably a pretty warm day . The village Zombie run 5k in the village of East Dabinport , iowa . Our buddy , kala , got to run outside a week before wine and dine . Kala , the Treadmill Queen , got to run outside .

Her husband acted as a guide for this . One got him . He threw it . It was his first 5k in over eight years . Kayla is so excited to be running in Disney World this weekend . I Don't know if you saw the photo Kayla posted . It looked like she was putting up with no nonsense after this race . She had a look . Hey , kayla , whatever you say , goes my friend .

Good job there . Good job to you and your husband will see you this weekend . Apex , north Carolina , the American Tobacco Trail 10-Miler . Brian ran this one after signing up for Goofy , modified as a goal to a B goal of less than 10 minutes a mile which he beat by eight seconds a mile .

That's pretty good Race with beautiful , great temps , flat trail on compacted gravel . Sport was just okay . But this is the first race where he got a Finisher's towel but sadly no finishers metal . That's unusual anymore for a race not to have a finishers metal . I know when I first started running back in the 1980s , no races had finishers metal .

Now it's pretty common . Just every now and then we hear about one that doesn't have one and Brian ran one in North Carolina this week . Houston , texas . Brandy's doing the West . You Halloween Dash 5k Out of the mud from last week . You remember Brandy was our mud runner that we talked to last week out of the mud into a Full sugar skull makeup .

There's another race that gave out no medals but a cool pumpkin bag with treats . That's fair . I'll take that . Rounding outside of the . The Brooklyn PTA fun run for schools , doug and his son , zeb . This one takes place in the lovely prospect Park , new York . Lots of cute kids , families , teachers , other school staff members come out to support the schools .

This was their fourth year running this one and Zeb Finished with a five minute PR over last year . Zeb , this PR bell is for you . Friends , let's move to Sunday , and one of the big running events of the year is one of the big marathons in the United States the Marine Corps marathon in Washington DC .

We had a bunch of rise and run friends there and We've got five of them . That's right . Count them five of them with us tonight for the race report spotlight . I'm going to ask you please to introduce yourselves .

Look , this , this marathon has such a wonderful reputation , and let's start out . I typically start asking and I think I will . I typically start the day before and ask about the Expo . No , I haven't heard much about the race Expo at Marine Corps . Anything special about the Marine Corps marathon Expo ?

Most of it was actually pretty much sold out though by the time I got to it and that was on Friday afternoon probably around four o'clock , and most of the women's sizes were already completely sold out and I'm sure that was the same for Saturday going into it and they had a lot of different Groups there .

Noon was one of the sponsors so they had the big old noon truck and just a lot of other people there as well . But it wasn't too busy when I went but I heard it got crazier .

The biggest thing that it was really far it was at the Gaylord , which is a national harbor , which forever to get there on a Friday afternoon , coming from Loudoun County area of Virginia .

So that does not surprise me in the least bit whatsoever .

I was going to take the metro on Friday to go to the Expo and I got to the metro station and I parked my car and then I got into the metro and I realized then I looked at how long it was gonna Take me to get to the Gaylord on the metro and it was gonna be an hour and 23 minutes .

I'm not used to it here , so I was like really hoping it was gonna be like 50 degrees when I went up to DC when I booked this marathon like six months ago , and then , of course , like the one weekend were there , it's like 80 and I'm like I was hoping for some fall weather because I'm tired of this this .

Because of the humidity there were a Lot of people that were having trouble on the course .

It was obvious that people were having trouble with the heat , but what didn't happen was they didn't tell us that the first cutoff for 17 , mile 17 , they were gonna cut it off more than a half an hour earlier than they had advertised and they apparently did that for mile 20 and 23 as well .

So mile 23 , the cutoff was supposed to be 149 pm and they moved it back to 115 pm . So a lot of people actually got taken off the course between mile 20 and 23 because of the humidity and I actually we had a friend who had some really serious his problems at the end . He was having a really hard time and he had to see a medic and he had a .

I mean , his internal temperature was 103 degrees and he runs in Alabama , so it's not like he's not accustomed to it . So , admittedly , there seemed to be a lot of people on the course that were really struggling with the humidity and the heat yesterday , but it wasn't clear that they were cutting off the gauntlets early for those of us that were running .

So , talking about , you know , the gauntlet times getting shortened and everything like that , how does that relate to you running , get you know , finishing the race , receiving the medal , having official results ? How did that all play out and did it affect any of you ladies on the course that day ?

But I got it five minutes before they closed the gauntlet , so I don't know if everybody got it at the same time , but there were definitely people around me that were all remarking at the same moment . So the way my race strategy was , I was planning to get that gauntlet between 1210 and 1215 .

And at five minutes of 12 , I got the notification that the gauntlet the first gauntlet was closing at 12 . So I was like well , I'm not . And I was a mile away . So I was like I'm not , I'm not running a mile in five minutes . There's no way . No , how .

So at that point in time I knew that my race was changing for sure , and so other people around me were like that as well . I kept running and I actually saw my husband at mile 17 . He's like you know , they cut that course . And I'm like , yeah , I know they cut the course , it's fine .

And a person right next to me says what , what are you talking about ? So some people got the notification and some people didn't . For me that changed my race , because at that point I was like well , I'm not running a marathon today , and so I was like I guess I'm out for a training run . I think I'll walk for a little bit .

So I walked from mile 20 to about mile 23 . And then I was like what am I doing ? I need to finish this race . And then I ran the last five k . So you know , then I walk , run strategy . So I definitely did . It did definitely change my race in the sense , like I , it changed my whole mental game , you know , for the rest of the race .

After I knew that I was .

So I'm not really sure exactly how much they cut off from that first gauntlet . But they did cut other ones throughout the race . Maybe somebody else got cut somewhere different so I missed the first gauntlet . So I basically went from about mile 17 to close to mile 20 . The way that they cut mine .

But you're not on the official finishers website , because I was looking for one of my friends who I know got caught at one of the gauntlets and they were no longer on the official report . So they deleted anyone that didn't make it through all of the mats .

And this one I was like you know , I'm just going to wake up , I'm just going to go out and I'm going to enjoy the course and just do my best . So I went out and I just ran pretty slow miles for me for the first , like 15 miles . I felt great until the first 15 . My training runs were not much longer than 15 .

So at mile 18 , I had to stop and collect myself for a minute because I was hurting all over the place and wanted to keep going but just needed a minute . So I kept going . I fortunately made the gauntlet time all three , so I was feeling pretty good .

I know there was a lot of people on the course that weren't feeling so good , so hopefully everybody's doing okay now . But at mile like I don't know what mile it was , but it was like right , anybody else that was there , I don't know Whatever mile that the firefighters had , like the fire hydrant , like squirting water everywhere .

I was like running through that and there was a guy with a table full of ibuprofen and that's all he had at his table . And I was running and I like turned around and I saw it and I turned around . I don't even know how many ibuprofen he gave me .

He probably gave me like 10 and I put them in my hand and I put them in my mouth and I finished the course . Feel it amazing .

You go through Rock Creek Parkway and it's really nice surrounded by trees , and I , intentionally , for all the Taylor Swift fans , did not listen to her latest column on Friday , just a couple of days before the marathon and during that part of the race , I was at the song of out of the woods , taylor's version and I just thought it was so fitting to run to

that song and then be in Rock Creek Park . So that was a great highlight . I learned as I had cycled through the album maybe like three or four times . That was a really energizing song .

So when it got to like the tougher end of the race maybe around mile 23 , all the way through 26 , that one song was on repeat the entire time and I just had like a concert going on in my head . I was using my arms as airplane wings for those of you who know like necklaces paper airplanes flying that was me .

I'm waiting for my finisher pics of like me as an airplane , and I finished it again with my boyfriend , so we've now run two marathons together and I think that's just a really good memory that I always have .

I happened to run across someone that I met when I was doing a long training run in the NCR trail here in Baltimore County A few weeks ago , and it was a gentleman who we just kind of happened to have a conversation along the trail .

And then , low and behold , as we're running the marathon together , I saw this gentleman and we actually crossed the finish line within like a minute of each other , so that was really special to see him . And then I think the most special for me was finishing right at the Iwo Jima Memorial . My grandfather fought at Iwo Jima .

And that's really why my uncle and my grandfather were both Marines and that's why I chose this as my first marathon , because I really wanted to do something that spoke to me and this is really sure .

So that and finishing there and along with the blue mile , just really having all of those fallen soldiers commemorated and then having the families holding flags , it's just an amazing experience . So those were my highlights .

It's like on my watch it said like 12 and a half , I think is around where it starts and it's about a mile and probably some change of pictures of service men and women who were either killed in action or had passed some other way while they were in the service and it has the date that they were born and when they had passed on the sign as well as a

picture , and it was very quiet . You didn't really hear anyone's music , you didn't hear anyone talking . It was just a very like silent and mile , followed by the families who were all holding flags , which had to have been at least for a half a mile .

I lost track of where we were and they were holding the flags and right after the blue mile they were just shouting and cheering and so it went from being like a very like strong thing happening to all of a sudden being back in the service and all of a sudden being back into the reality of oh my gosh , we're still running a marathon .

Like it completely took you out . It's right along East Potomac Park those of us who've done cherry blossom , it's right on that little big long stretch before you take the turn to come back up towards the monument .

So this was also my first marathon running without him and I kind of realized that about halfway it was like , oh my gosh , he's not next to me running this whole thing . He says he's retired from long distance running , but we'll see about that . But he was on the course cheering me on . He brought my two year old .

We live about an hour and a half outside DC so I drove in and then took the metro and I think one of my favorite parts of the race isn't even at the race , it was on the metro ride in because I was on the silver line coming in and everyone else was staying on the silver to go up to the 10 K Because that started at the Smithsonian at the same time .

But the rest of us marathoners and 50 Kers had to come off the train to go to transfer to the blue line . And as we were getting off the train , all the 10 Kers were like cheering us on and it was just filled with people who were just so like in the zone , like ready to cheer on and those same 10 Kers .

I'm sure we're the ones still cheering for us at the finish line because we saw tons of 10 Kers and that was really special to me .

And , of course , having my husband and my daughter there , because my daughter's never seen me finish a marathon she was at my first dopey but they were in Epcot so they need to get to see the finish but it was really special for me to see her cheering . Now she understands that . Oh , mama's running , it's not just , you know , me pushing her in the shoulder .

That would have been a really tough 26.2 . And then some change because you know weaving and all that .

They really , they really did us , though the end has a very tall hill at the end , and it was , but it's lined with Marines the whole way up the hill and they're cheering you on , they're yelling , they're screaming and it's just Marines all the way to the finish line , which makes the hill a lot more bearable when you got a lot of Marines to look at .

My friend , what were your highlights of the Marine Corps marathon ?

So it was , you know , it was , it was just a good race to soak everything in and do that . And then I guess another highlight of my race was really that last hill , because , you know , I wasn't feeling my body , of course , was tired , you know , being toward , you know , at the end of the marathon .

But I got to that hill and I had , I had some energy and I was able to run up that last hill . So that was , that was a fun , fun thing . I was like , oh , I'm so so ready for this , awesome , but that was a highlight too .

So I was lucky enough to get a charity bib a couple of weeks ago , so I'm going to be joining you guys there and then for springtime , surprise Nice .

Jeff did the 10 K , toughest 10 K , jeff . Jeff stun . This is his first race since dopey Just had some health issues . I'm glad to see that he's back out there . Jeff says I always thought the gospel choir at the end of the Disney runs was the best cheer group at the finish line until today .

The line of Marines going up the hill to the finish to the 10 K was absolutely awesome . Marines do a great job with this event . This was another one I've got to get to eventually . I think it's a big deal . Amanda ran , amber and Brian ran this one . Emily did it . It was her 10th marathon . She posted a photo of her with all 10 metals .

We talked a bit about the blue mile . Emily says that's definitely her favorite part of this marathon . Jane , as did several others , missed one of the gauntlet cutoffs but she did finish the event . Jody , also from the Disney with the ducks podcast . Was there ? What a hot day , jody says . Julian , was there ?

Margaret , our buddy Margaret from the council of costumes , ran as the Washington monument Life size . I'm just kidding what a clever . She worked , she did . She worked with our friends at KPA , hawaiian pizza apparel on her press and the photos of it are really needed .

Brianna ran the 50 K , as did Ryan . Ryan ran with our friend from the Jeff Galloway training group , sherry . Sherry helped Brian finish his 50 K and even arranged to have Coke and Reese's cups at one of the race rest stops Pretty cool . So congratulations to everyone involved in that great event , the Marine Corps marathon .

On Instagram she ran this as her virtual New York City marathon , so she is now guaranteed an entry into New York City next year . I can't remember what Shailene's time was . I know Kristen did it in under 442 . And I know she's been working really hard . So congratulations , ladies .

And actually , speaking of Kristen not related to the race report , though , but something I did want to call out we want to congratulate Kristen and our good friend Devin , who they started their own podcast that dropped last week , run fitfab , the podcast Cool . I listened to it on my long run this past week and they did a really , really fabulous job .

So , ladies , great job and keep up the good work . And Kristen , shailene , congratulations as well .

Getting the OK to start exercising again Felt great this morning . That's good news . Going to try jogging a little bit this week . Molly , I'm with you . I get it Walking as I get it . Good for you . Keep going , but be patient . Baby steps You'll get there . In St Petersburg , Florida , the Florida Halloween Distance Classic 5K . Bob oh , that's me .

I ran this one . Fort DeSoto , Florida , Great place to run right down there by the bay . Nice and flat . Whether it was great this weekend . Nice little course , Good turnout , Some folks in costume . I kind of previewed my 10K costume , just part of it . I've got a Gaston shirt . I did not wear the wig , I've got a Gaston wig .

I'm going to and I already have . I've dyed the wig gray to match the rest of my hair and I'm going to run the 10K as Gaston's grandfather .

Allie is right before Christmas and I'm going to do what you did last year . It's a half marathon , point to point . I'm going to turn around and go back . It's because I need to have a marathon on my training schedule . Yep . I did finish second in my age group . I will just say there were more than two people there , so I feel pretty good about that .

It gets a little easier to finish in your age groups when you've made more and more trips around the sun . Your competition kind of narrows a little bit . But it was a good event , Glad I did it . Lots of fun . Long one . Florida , Julie did the monster dash 5K . Didn't hear Julie . I assume user a linker in that . In Natick Massachusetts the flutie 5K .

Lauren Like Doug Flutie . Yeah , doug Flutie . Yeah , he's got a foundation and he does a lot of charitable work and I'm sure this flutie 5K was part of his charity . Lauren convinced one of her friends to do it with her . It was her friend's first race ever . They all had a great time .

There were a bunch of sponsors , so lots of options for fuel before and after the race . They got to see the Heisman trophy . She makes no mention of seeing the Heisman trophy winner . I guess Doug wasn't there . But best of all , even though she didn't plan on it , this was a 5K PR for Lauren In Endicott , new York , the Halloween 13K . Steve ran this one .

Endicott , endicott , new York , is the birthplace of Endicott Johnson EJ shoes and it's also the birthplace of IBM . You know how I knew that . Steve told me . Thanks , steve .

He was going to wear a costume as a lobster , but he thought that the rain might make it a little heavy , and I imagine that's true . So , as another first , he ran the race representing his favorite podcast instead . You know who that is ? It's us , that's right , it's Ryzen Run . Part of the family . Looking good , steve .

Way to go First race in his new Ryzen Run podcast t-shirt . Way to go , buddy . And thanks for making me look smart by giving me that inside info , steve , I appreciate that In Casey Key , florida , 35th annual Bill's Beer Run , mary was there to run that one . In New Orleans , louisiana , that is one word , by the way .

I don't know where else that might occur except for Nola . It was hot , still hot in the southeast on Sunday Mid 70s to the start , 80s at the finish . New Orleans , like around here , right close to the Gulf , so it stays pretty humid . But despite the heat and maybe because the bars open early , mira managed a PR .

I know our friends Dawn and Jen were there . The only comment I got was beautiful morning , rough race . I think they're referring to the weather . Okay , this happens every now and then . I already talked about the Wicked 5K in Peoria and I just got them split up in the report here .

Jennifer and her best friend ran the half , decided to just go have a good time , ran their Galloway intervals . Jen's friend placed third in her age group . Jen played eighth in hers . A successful half marathon for both . Congratulations . In Canal Fulton , ohio , the Haunted Forest Marathon , lori . Lori ran half , number 145 on a chilly one day .

Yeah , yeah , lori's Lori been kicking tail the trail . Oh my goodness , yes , I saw the photos . The trail was . It had rained for two days so the trail was a mess , says her feet must like mud . Because she was happy , so happy as she ran through it , happy to see . Many friends showed us photos of character stops along the way .

A lot of horror movie characters . Also showed us a photo of her shoes at the end of the race . They were a mess . I think she said she had planned to use them this weekend at Disney , but that's not going to happen now . All right , our buddy Laura over in the Netherlands Round of racer . Now , danny had been doing this up to now .

Danny been running the Netherlands races and putting the Dutch names down . First of all , and I'm going to give it a shot , I think it's in Naverdal . Naverdal , the Netherlands , was the city . It's a 10 K , the Dieppe Hel , holterberg lop .

Laura says and this is a good point , another example that long , slow runs help make you faster . This is a 10 K and she did PR the race . She said intermediate PRs at the 5 K and five mile distance to so telling your friends Increase that endurance , take those long runs slowly . It does help in the long run .

Finishing up the race report on Sunday in Weston , connecticut , the reservoir run 5 K Sue with her friend Nancy . The race runs through a beautiful neighborhood Full of grand Connecticut country estates . Got a little bit of rain , but what the heck , they PR and fun . So she keeps clicking off the Connecticut towns .

This is 143 out of 169 for Nancy , town number 53 . Friends long episode again . We knew it would be . Hope you enjoyed it . Hope your training is going well If you're out there , if you're not at wine and dine . We've got that long training run in and we are happy to be with you for it .

If you are at wine and dine and you're still with me , gosh , we're looking forward to seeing you . I know I say it all the time , to the point of being silly , but we really , really are . We hope to see you at the expo .

We hope to see you before the events , on the race course , at the meet up , gosh , and , by golly , at the post race party on Sunday . I didn't really set up any formal place or time to meet during the post race party . I will add something to the chat here in the next day or two . I have to do it in the next day or two or be after the event .

The season has started , my friends , it's a wonderful thing . Of course , no zoom this Thursday . We will have one next Thursday . We're going to get a chance to get together and talk about how things went at wine and dine , and I'm sure we'll have lots of things to talk about . My friend , and if you run , you know you are our friends .

Thank you for staying with us . We love visiting with you on the podcast and in person . And until we meet again , happy running .