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Ep 2 - Which runDisney race is right for you?
91 Plays4 months ago
In this episode, we’re breaking down every RunDisney race weekend—what race types are included on each weekend, what to expect, and how to choose the right one for you! We're covering it all... Florida, California, and even the virtual races. If you want to know all the options, what the distances really mean, and the pros and cons of each weekend, join us as share all some of the key things we've learned about each unique race weekend to help you pick the race that’s right for you!
Plus, we're going to chat about our first time running the iconic Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on the Fourth of July.
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Transcript
Introduction to Run Disney Races
00:00:00
Speaker
We are now recording episode two.
00:00:04
Speaker
So excited, Erica.
00:00:05
Speaker
This is funny for me.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome back to the podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
It's Erica and AJ here.
00:00:09
Speaker
Today, we're going to break down all of the run Disney race options from the 5K all the way up to the full marathon and all the race weekends throughout the entire calendar year.
00:00:17
Speaker
It's a lot and you have to plan ahead, but we've got you.
00:00:29
Speaker
You're good.
00:00:30
Speaker
I'm out of a job.
00:00:31
Speaker
Out of a job.
00:00:33
Speaker
All right.
00:00:34
Speaker
So welcome back.
00:00:34
Speaker
This is episode two of the podcast.
00:00:37
Speaker
As Erica said, we're AJ and Erica, and we're just excited to kind of share Run Disney stuff with you.
00:00:42
Speaker
The goal here of this podcast is to share what we know so that you can go in to your race feeling prepared, confident, maybe even a little inspired.
Importance of Reviews and Sharing
00:00:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:54
Speaker
I don't know.
00:00:54
Speaker
That'd be a good thing.
00:00:56
Speaker
So that's the goal here.
00:00:58
Speaker
If you are loving the show so far, I know it's only episode two, but if you're loving the show, leaving a review would be awesome.
00:01:04
Speaker
We'd love to know what you are loving.
00:01:06
Speaker
It's probably what I say for the most part, right?
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm guessing.
00:01:10
Speaker
But if you're loving it or if you have any suggestions, we'll take the feedback.
00:01:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:14
Speaker
Like, we're new to this, so we'll take the feedback.
00:01:17
Speaker
And if you've got friends or someone who loves Run Disney like you do or as much as, you know, we do, share it.
00:01:24
Speaker
Like, we'd love just for people to, you know, be able to dive into this stuff.
00:01:30
Speaker
Dive in with us.
00:01:31
Speaker
Let's talk about today's topic.
00:01:32
Speaker
Erica, today we're going to cover all of the things you need to know about the race calendar.
Overview of Run Disney Race Options
00:01:38
Speaker
So, Run Disney has several races throughout the year, and we're going to dive into...
00:01:43
Speaker
really what they all are.
00:01:44
Speaker
Cause you can, you can do them all.
00:01:46
Speaker
You can do one, you can do, you know, some this year, none next year.
00:01:51
Speaker
I mean, you, you choose, right?
00:01:52
Speaker
So can you give us the high level view?
00:01:55
Speaker
Let's go East coast first.
00:01:57
Speaker
So you tell us if you don't mind, what are the race options or race weekend options?
00:02:03
Speaker
That's a better way to start race weekend options in Disney world in Florida.
00:02:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:07
Speaker
So the year is going to start out, um, late October, early November with wine and dine weekend.
00:02:13
Speaker
Um, next race is going to be marathon weekend in January.
00:02:17
Speaker
Uh, after that is going to be princess in February and then springtime surprise is in April.
00:02:22
Speaker
That's right.
00:02:23
Speaker
So you want to dive into what each one of those include?
Wine and Dine Weekend Details
00:02:28
Speaker
And we might need to help each other on this one because I know some of them.
00:02:32
Speaker
I think every one of those weekends, and they call it a race weekend, every one of those race weekends includes a 5K.
00:02:38
Speaker
Yes.
00:02:39
Speaker
And a 10K, I believe.
00:02:40
Speaker
Is that right?
00:02:40
Speaker
Yes.
00:02:41
Speaker
And then the third or fourth race, depending on the weekend, it might be different.
00:02:46
Speaker
So Wine and Dine weekend, if you remember, do you remember?
00:02:51
Speaker
5K, 10K, half.
00:02:53
Speaker
Half marathon, right.
00:02:54
Speaker
And they have a two-course challenge in there.
00:02:56
Speaker
So if you do the 10K and the half, but you sign up for it as the two-course challenge, then you get a third medal.
00:03:04
Speaker
So you get a medal for those two races and that third one.
00:03:07
Speaker
What you can't do on any of the challenges is sign up for the 10K.
00:03:12
Speaker
and the half and think that counts as a challenge you actually have to sign up for the challenge and there's limited spots for that so um that's mostly just a heads up so 5k 10k half challenge um what comes with wine and dine that's specific to that weekend the night of the half marathon
00:03:32
Speaker
Right.
00:03:32
Speaker
So there's an after party in Epcot.
00:03:35
Speaker
There's a special drink.
00:03:36
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker
Some of the rides are open and so there's less of a line.
00:03:41
Speaker
It's like a, imagine a Mickey's not so scary Halloween party thing or whatever.
00:03:45
Speaker
It's an after hours event.
00:03:46
Speaker
You have to have a wristband or something like that.
00:03:49
Speaker
Um, and it's really for the runners and the runner's
Marathon Weekend and Challenges
00:03:51
Speaker
family.
00:03:51
Speaker
If you know, you can, you can buy a ticket to it, you know, for your family.
00:03:55
Speaker
Um, so it's the only race weekend that has an after party.
00:03:58
Speaker
Lots of people get confused about Wednesday after party after princess and it doesn't have one.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yes.
00:04:03
Speaker
Wine and dine.
00:04:04
Speaker
If you want to party, if you're here to party.
00:04:06
Speaker
That's your weekend.
00:04:08
Speaker
And it happens during food and wine festival.
00:04:11
Speaker
So they have all the food booths are open and all that stuff.
00:04:13
Speaker
So it's got a cool, it's got a cool vibe.
00:04:16
Speaker
What's available at marathon weekend?
00:04:18
Speaker
Do you remember all of them?
00:04:19
Speaker
Yes.
00:04:20
Speaker
So everything that we've listed, right?
00:04:22
Speaker
So 5K, 10K, half, the full marathon, the goofy challenge, which was what we did this year in January.
00:04:30
Speaker
That is when you run the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday.
00:04:35
Speaker
Also what we have never done is the dopey challenge and that's where you run all four races.
00:04:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:04:42
Speaker
So 5k, 10k half and full all in one weekend.
00:04:47
Speaker
And for people that are just new to running, cause we should have probably talked about this.
00:04:51
Speaker
Can you clarify like, what is the distance for a 5k, a 10k?
00:04:56
Speaker
Erica, you're so smart.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's really good.
00:04:58
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:59
Speaker
So let's see if we can just kind of simple, you know, level of playing field here.
Race Distances and Experiences
00:05:03
Speaker
A 5k is 3.1 miles.
00:05:06
Speaker
And so it is the, of all the run Disney race options, it is the shortest distance.
00:05:11
Speaker
It is the easiest to conquer.
00:05:14
Speaker
So if you've never run
00:05:16
Speaker
Yes.
00:05:16
Speaker
Start with a 5K.
00:05:16
Speaker
I mean, that would be my suggestion.
00:05:19
Speaker
Start with a 5K.
00:05:20
Speaker
A good thing about the 5K is it's not timed at Disney.
00:05:24
Speaker
There's no time requirement.
00:05:26
Speaker
You eventually have to get off the course, but they don't have a way of sweeping you off that course.
00:05:35
Speaker
You can walk it.
00:05:36
Speaker
And we have walked it.
00:05:37
Speaker
We have fully walked it.
00:05:39
Speaker
It almost killed me to not run because I love to run.
00:05:42
Speaker
But Erica held my hand.
00:05:44
Speaker
Well, it was for one of our, I think it was for springtime surprise.
00:05:46
Speaker
We knew we had a lot of running to do that weekend.
00:05:48
Speaker
So we were just going to walk it.
00:05:50
Speaker
If you're going to do a challenge where you do multiple, just walk the 5k and enjoy it.
00:05:54
Speaker
A lot of people walk the 5k and it's more of a party than a run.
00:05:58
Speaker
That's when you do your character photos.
00:06:00
Speaker
However.
00:06:01
Speaker
If you're there to run your first 5K, please do.
00:06:04
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:05
Speaker
Just because other people are treating it as just, if you hear the phrase, it's just a 5K, but it's your first 5K, do not let that into your head that somebody said, oh, we're walking it because it's just a 5K.
00:06:19
Speaker
Don't.
00:06:20
Speaker
If you want to walk it because you're saving your legs or this is your first run Disney experience and you want to do all the characters, please do.
00:06:28
Speaker
So 3.1 miles is the 5K.
00:06:30
Speaker
Double that is a 10K, and that is 6.2 miles.
00:06:34
Speaker
This is my least favorite distance.
00:06:37
Speaker
And this is my opinion.
00:06:38
Speaker
I probably shouldn't be sharing opinions yet.
00:06:40
Speaker
But it's a really good distance for experiencing multiple parks.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:46
Speaker
So you start in Epcot.
00:06:48
Speaker
You go through the boardwalk.
00:06:49
Speaker
Some of them, I believe, are used to... What am I thinking here?
00:06:53
Speaker
Did we ever go to Hollywood Studios on a 10K?
00:06:55
Speaker
Maybe.
00:06:56
Speaker
Maybe.
00:06:57
Speaker
We've run so many, I'm getting confused.
00:06:58
Speaker
I will say with the 5K, you run kind of, at least currently you run exclusively in the parks or in Epcot.
00:07:05
Speaker
In the 10K, you at least get to do the boardwalk over by Epcot and all that.
00:07:09
Speaker
So there's not many highway miles.
00:07:11
Speaker
That's 6.2 miles.
00:07:14
Speaker
Half marathon is 13.1 miles.
00:07:16
Speaker
This is where the challenge really kicks in.
00:07:18
Speaker
Just know at Disney, you're spending a lot of time on the highway, you know, around the parks.
Special Race Weekends and Themes
00:07:24
Speaker
And then many people know that a full marathon is 26.2 miles.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yes.
00:07:30
Speaker
When you talked about the marathon weekend challenges, they measure those distances, right?
00:07:36
Speaker
So like when you do the goofy challenge, which is the half and the full, that's 39.2.
00:07:43
Speaker
36 is that right 36.9 yeah i don't know there's a long walk to get to the start so you end up going over 40 i don't know uh and the dopey challenge is 48 point something yes so we've not done that one um okay did i did i i'm glad you said to talk about the how far those yes because a lot of people ask me they don't realize how far those are and if you're not into running them and you really wouldn't need to
00:08:07
Speaker
Oh, I remember when we did our first 5k, I Googled it.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:11
Speaker
How far is the 5k?
00:08:12
Speaker
I didn't know.
00:08:13
Speaker
Right.
00:08:13
Speaker
And so I'm really glad you said that.
00:08:15
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:16
Speaker
So where were we on the Disney races?
00:08:17
Speaker
We talked about wine and dine and the three races it has.
00:08:19
Speaker
We talked about marathon weekend and the four races it has.
00:08:22
Speaker
It's the only one with a marathon.
00:08:24
Speaker
Yes.
00:08:25
Speaker
What's next?
00:08:26
Speaker
Princess is next.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:28
Speaker
5k, 10k half.
00:08:29
Speaker
And of course that race also has a challenge.
00:08:31
Speaker
So 10k and half marathon.
00:08:33
Speaker
Okay, that challenge is called the Fairytale Challenge.
00:08:36
Speaker
Is that right?
00:08:37
Speaker
It used to be called the Glass Slipper Challenge, but yes, Fairytale.
00:08:40
Speaker
Fairytale Challenge, 10K and a half.
00:08:42
Speaker
That's 19.3 miles in two days.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:08:46
Speaker
If you're interested in the mileage.
00:08:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, sorry.
00:08:51
Speaker
I was about to express my opinions about Princess and all that, and I need to save that.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yes, save that.
00:08:56
Speaker
Because right now is the what.
00:08:58
Speaker
We're just giving you the practicals.
00:08:59
Speaker
Right.
00:08:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:00
Speaker
And then the fourth weekend for Florida is what?
00:09:04
Speaker
Springtime Surprise.
00:09:05
Speaker
And that's a 5K, a 10K, and a 10 miler.
00:09:09
Speaker
That's right.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:11
Speaker
I think when they announced surprise, you know, springtime surprise as a new thing a few years ago, I think the surprise was supposed to be that the distances might change.
00:09:20
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that.
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:22
Speaker
I believe that was the case.
00:09:23
Speaker
So if you're holding, if they change it on us, you listening to the show and they change it from a 10 mile alert or something else.
00:09:30
Speaker
And you're like, well, AJ and Erica said, just know that it's, I believe it could
Virtual Series and Registration Tips
00:09:37
Speaker
change.
00:09:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:38
Speaker
What we've seen in the few years that it's existed, that race weekend has existed, is that the themes have changed.
00:09:44
Speaker
Right, right.
00:09:45
Speaker
Not the... The distance.
00:09:47
Speaker
The distance.
00:09:48
Speaker
We'll talk themes in just a minute.
00:09:50
Speaker
Okay, let's flip-flop over to the West Coast.
00:09:53
Speaker
That's all you.
00:09:54
Speaker
That's me.
00:09:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:56
Speaker
The West Coast Disneyland has two races.
00:10:00
Speaker
And not for very long, unfortunately.
00:10:03
Speaker
So Disneyland just brought back their races after several years of not having any run Disney races.
00:10:08
Speaker
They brought them back.
00:10:09
Speaker
We were fortunate enough to get to do the first one that they brought back.
00:10:13
Speaker
And then they added another race weekend.
00:10:16
Speaker
And we're all excited about that.
00:10:18
Speaker
And then...
00:10:19
Speaker
because of construction in California at Disneyland, they're going away again.
00:10:23
Speaker
So, um, I'm going to explain it anyway, in case they bring it back or who knows, but Disneyland this year right now has, um, Halloween is in September.
00:10:34
Speaker
That was the weirdest thing I've ever said.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:36
Speaker
The race is in September.
00:10:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:40
Speaker
It's like
00:10:41
Speaker
Labor Day weekend.
00:10:41
Speaker
That's so bizarre.
00:10:42
Speaker
Yes, but it's Halloween themed.
00:10:44
Speaker
That has a 5K, 10K, half marathon.
00:10:47
Speaker
And we've not done the Halloween race, but all the themes look awesome.
00:10:52
Speaker
And I don't have anything really to say other than that.
00:10:54
Speaker
The 5K happens exclusively in Disneyland, like the parks there, California Adventure in Disneyland.
00:11:01
Speaker
The 10 K I believe is exclusively within the parks, although it starts outside and goes like a mile outside and then goes in and then you're in the whole time and it ends inside, which is great.
00:11:12
Speaker
And then the half marathon is basically a tour of the city of Anaheim.
00:11:16
Speaker
Uh, and you might see a little bit of Disneyland.
00:11:18
Speaker
So, uh, so they have Halloween race that is in September and then in January, uh,
00:11:26
Speaker
Yes.
00:11:27
Speaker
January.
00:11:27
Speaker
I'm thinking February, but it's January.
00:11:30
Speaker
I'm very confused.
00:11:31
Speaker
In the beginning of the year, they have the Halloween.
00:11:35
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:11:36
Speaker
I said we weren't going to edit the podcast and now I feel like I have to.
00:11:39
Speaker
Oh no, you didn't edit my mistake.
00:11:41
Speaker
You get to keep yours too.
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:43
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah, last episode, Erica learned the hard way that we weren't cutting out mistakes.
00:11:47
Speaker
Okay, keeping the mistakes.
00:11:49
Speaker
In January slash February, I'm not sure the exact date, is the Disneyland half marathon weekend.
00:11:54
Speaker
That includes a 5K, a 10K, and a half marathon.
00:11:58
Speaker
And I believe the challenge is called the Dumbo.
00:12:01
Speaker
Some people will do the dopey.
00:12:04
Speaker
in Florida, fly to California a few weeks later and do the Dumbo.
00:12:09
Speaker
They call that the, well, run Disney doesn't call it anything.
00:12:13
Speaker
People call it the Dopey to Dumbo.
00:12:15
Speaker
You have an interest in doing that?
00:12:17
Speaker
No.
00:12:18
Speaker
No, what we have done and we're doing again this year is the Coast to Coast Challenge.
00:12:22
Speaker
Oh,
Training and Registration Considerations
00:12:23
Speaker
good point.
00:12:23
Speaker
Yes.
00:12:23
Speaker
And so this year, 2026, we'll be running the full marathon.
00:12:28
Speaker
Three weeks later, we'll be flying to California and doing the Disneyland half.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yes.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yes.
00:12:34
Speaker
Coast to coast.
00:12:35
Speaker
I'm glad you said it.
00:12:36
Speaker
If you're interested in getting a medal and it's a third medal or I guess not third, it depends on your challenge.
00:12:42
Speaker
So if you want a medal that says coast to coast on it, the deal there is you have to run a long distance in Florida and a long distance in California.
00:12:49
Speaker
You cannot run a 5K here and a 10K on the other side of the country.
00:12:54
Speaker
You can't do that.
00:12:55
Speaker
It has to be 10 miles or longer.
00:12:58
Speaker
So you can do a 10 miler in Florida and a half marathon in California.
00:13:03
Speaker
You could do a
00:13:04
Speaker
full marathon in florida and a half marathon in california um it's just got to be one of the longer 10 miles or longer you get a coast to coast medal okay so we got florida okay got california there's a third category the virtual series i'm not sure do you know the virtual series very well like i know we've done them yeah do you know the options or do you want me to cover that
00:13:25
Speaker
You should cover it.
00:13:26
Speaker
I could say things like there is a Valentine's one and a Christmas one, but I don't know the names.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:32
Speaker
So the Valentine's one is interesting.
00:13:33
Speaker
You brought that up.
00:13:34
Speaker
It was new this year, so it'd be interesting to see if they keep that.
00:13:37
Speaker
So the way the virtual series works is registration is exactly like registration for all the other races.
00:13:43
Speaker
It opens at 10 a.m.
00:13:44
Speaker
on a certain day.
00:13:45
Speaker
They announced that.
00:13:47
Speaker
You go in, you register.
00:13:48
Speaker
It usually doesn't sell out the day of, although there was a very popular series this year that sold out pretty quick.
00:13:55
Speaker
So the registration isn't as hard, but you're signing up to do these races on your own and they mail you the medal.
00:14:02
Speaker
So they, you know, they actually mail you the medal
00:14:04
Speaker
um i mean you technically don't even have to do the race that sounds really bad but you there's no accountability on that that is that is the thing you're paying for the metal yeah so we've done it because we like the metals and it gives us a little bit of motivation you know during um the kind of a training cycle or whatever so the options right now and they've changed like they just keep kind of changing the summer series has been consistent and
00:14:29
Speaker
Um, and the theme for that changes.
00:14:31
Speaker
So last year was all snack themed.
00:14:33
Speaker
It was all Disney snacks.
00:14:34
Speaker
So one of the medals was a Mickey pretzel and a Dole Whip and all that.
00:14:37
Speaker
So I immediately bought that one for the medals.
00:14:40
Speaker
Um, they have, uh, this year it's all attractions themed for the summer series.
00:14:45
Speaker
So it's Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise.
00:14:48
Speaker
And we haven't received those in the mail yet, but I'm very excited about it.
00:14:51
Speaker
So the bottom line is summer series, you're supposed to, quote unquote, supposed to run it in the summer.
00:14:56
Speaker
Imagine that.
00:14:57
Speaker
Run it during the summer.
00:14:58
Speaker
So anytime between June and August or something like that is when you're supposed to do it.
00:15:02
Speaker
The Christmas series, which you mentioned, we've never done.
00:15:05
Speaker
And those are, it's all Christmas themed.
00:15:08
Speaker
I think they've called it the 12 Ks of Christmas.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:11
Speaker
And so it's either three 4Ks or four 3Ks.
00:15:15
Speaker
It's something, they're not 5K races like the Summer Series is.
00:15:20
Speaker
And the cool part about it is the ornaments are, the metals turn into ornaments.
00:15:24
Speaker
And we've never done it, so we don't have any of those.
00:15:27
Speaker
But they're cool.
00:15:29
Speaker
I mean, if you're looking to do a run Disney-ish thing, then, you know, the Virtual Series might be it.
00:15:34
Speaker
The one they added this year, and I'm just curious if it'll last because it didn't sell out, it actually, you can still register for it.
00:15:42
Speaker
which is kind of weird.
00:15:43
Speaker
Like we're in June and you can still do it.
00:15:46
Speaker
And I'm not sure why.
00:15:48
Speaker
Maybe it just wasn't very popular.
00:15:49
Speaker
We did buy the medals for it.
00:15:51
Speaker
Is the love on the run series.
00:15:54
Speaker
It was all Valentine's themed.
00:15:55
Speaker
It was very cute medals and they're hanging on the wall.
00:15:59
Speaker
And so that was another option.
00:16:00
Speaker
I think that one was, it was a 14 mile, 14 miler situation.
00:16:06
Speaker
It was three races.
00:16:07
Speaker
Like you do a two K, uh,
00:16:10
Speaker
5k 7k something like that and you're supposed to do that so here's the thing with the virtual series you're buying the metal right any thoughts on the virtual series erica in terms of just the the what like understanding the series not really i mean if the metal's fun then that's cool but i'm more of like a in the parks type of person
00:16:33
Speaker
you're not going to get the same experience running a virtual series as you are in person race.
00:16:36
Speaker
However, the virtual series might cost you $60.
00:16:39
Speaker
Right.
00:16:40
Speaker
It's cheaper.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:42
Speaker
Whereas getting to the races and I mean, the marathon is now in the hundreds of $270 or something.
00:16:49
Speaker
So it's a, it's a cheaper option for sure.
00:16:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:51
Speaker
You want to talk through some how practical tips, that kind of thing.
00:16:55
Speaker
Um, I can start if you want, or you can start with just share with just some, you know, this is for all the races, right?
00:17:00
Speaker
Just some practical things to know about the schedule.
00:17:02
Speaker
Um,
00:17:03
Speaker
not about how to run the race, you know, or how to dress for the race.
00:17:06
Speaker
We're not doing that.
00:17:07
Speaker
Just what you need to know, practical things about the schedule in the year.
00:17:13
Speaker
Anything you want to cover or you want me to go first?
00:17:15
Speaker
So I would just say factor the weather into the training.
00:17:20
Speaker
So like if you sign up to do Wine and Dine,
00:17:23
Speaker
you're going to be training during the summer.
00:17:25
Speaker
And so that means you're going to be running like at least 30 minutes every Tuesday, Thursday, and then Saturday, you know, or one day of the weekend is going to be your long run.
00:17:33
Speaker
And so you're going to be running, you know, in the heat.
00:17:38
Speaker
Um, if you're signing up for princess, you're going to be training in the dead of winter.
00:17:42
Speaker
Um, I remember like some of our long runs were like on Christmas or surrounding Christmas and it was very cold.
Pros and Cons of Different Race Weekends
00:17:48
Speaker
Um,
00:17:49
Speaker
So just keep that in mind when you register for one of the races is, you know, the training leading up to that race.
00:17:54
Speaker
Typical training is like 19 to 20 weeks for a half marathon distance.
00:17:59
Speaker
Right.
00:18:00
Speaker
I don't, not sure what it is on the shorter, shorter distance, but let's say you're registering for a half marathon and you've decided to do the princess one that starts in October.
00:18:08
Speaker
Right.
00:18:08
Speaker
So just factor that in.
00:18:10
Speaker
I think it's a really good suggestion.
00:18:11
Speaker
We have marathon training.
00:18:14
Speaker
starts the first week of July.
00:18:16
Speaker
We live in Atlanta, Georgia.
00:18:18
Speaker
It is hot as can be.
00:18:20
Speaker
What's interesting about marathon training is because it's a 29 week training suggested cycle.
00:18:26
Speaker
Um, we're going to go through all the hot, then the cold, then the wonderful fall for about three weeks.
00:18:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker
Three weeks.
00:18:32
Speaker
Three days.
00:18:33
Speaker
Than the freezing cold.
00:18:34
Speaker
Right.
00:18:34
Speaker
So depending on where you live, I think that's a very good suggestion.
00:18:37
Speaker
A practical tip on my side is that registration happens a lot earlier than you probably expect it to.
00:18:43
Speaker
So seven to nine months before the race.
00:18:47
Speaker
So we registered in April for a race in January, or we just signed up for another one.
00:18:51
Speaker
We signed up in June for next February.
00:18:55
Speaker
So just know that this is not a, hey, you know, I'm looking for a race next month.
00:19:01
Speaker
Right.
00:19:01
Speaker
Right.
00:19:01
Speaker
You're not ready.
00:19:02
Speaker
They sell out.
00:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, they sell out very quickly.
00:19:05
Speaker
So you need to know the day, the time, watch AJ's video on how to register.
00:19:11
Speaker
It's not something where you're like, oh, I think that registration is sometime in January.
00:19:16
Speaker
It's for like three hours on a day in January.
00:19:19
Speaker
You're being generous with the three hours, by the way.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:19:23
Speaker
Imagine registering for an in-person run Disney race is like buying Taylor Swift Aeros tour tickets.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yes.
00:19:30
Speaker
It is...
00:19:31
Speaker
The registration is way more stressful than the race.
00:19:34
Speaker
That's right.
00:19:34
Speaker
So you've got about an hour and a half window to register for a half marathon on registration day and you'll be in a long queue.
00:19:41
Speaker
And that happens seven to nine months in advance.
00:19:44
Speaker
Right.
00:19:44
Speaker
So just as you plan your thinking on what race you'd like to do, just know that that happens early.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:52
Speaker
Um, another tip I would say is that, um, or just practical thing is you're going to know the theme for a race before registration, but kind of barely before registration.
00:20:02
Speaker
So, uh, you can say you and I could right now say, Hey, we want to do a marathon weekend, 2027, but we're not going to see the artwork and all the themes and all that stuff until probably tomorrow.
00:20:15
Speaker
March, the year before that.
00:20:18
Speaker
So if you're going to decide based off the theme, which I've done, by the way, if you're going to decide the race based off the theme, know that you're not going to know it till right before registration.
00:20:28
Speaker
Right.
00:20:29
Speaker
And you're not going to get to see what the medals look like and all that stuff until after you register.
00:20:33
Speaker
So if like you're only doing it for how the medal looks, just know you're not going to get a chance to see that before you register.
00:20:39
Speaker
Right.
00:20:39
Speaker
But honestly, if you're doing a run Disney race, it should probably be, I mean, the themes, in my opinion, can inspire your decision or confirm your decision.
00:20:48
Speaker
But really, if you're going to try and train for 13.1 miles, it's probably more than just the theme.
00:20:55
Speaker
You're going to need a little bit more than the theme.
00:20:57
Speaker
You're going to need some other motivation.
00:20:58
Speaker
You're going to really have a deep why on why you're doing this thing.
00:21:02
Speaker
Is there any other suggestions, Erica, that you have about, you know, stuff in general?
00:21:08
Speaker
I think we've covered it.
00:21:09
Speaker
I think so too.
00:21:09
Speaker
Let's talk about the good and the bad.
00:21:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:12
Speaker
So let's not like beat this to death, but let's look at each race weekend, not each specific race within a weekend.
00:21:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:19
Speaker
And let's just talk about the good and the bad of those things.
00:21:22
Speaker
You want to go in order?
00:21:23
Speaker
Sure.
00:21:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:24
Speaker
Wine and dine weekend.
00:21:26
Speaker
I can go first.
00:21:27
Speaker
You can go first.
00:21:27
Speaker
Doesn't matter.
00:21:28
Speaker
I'll go first because I have an opinion about Wine and Dine Weekend.
00:21:32
Speaker
The good thing about Wine and Dine Weekend is that it's the first race of the season for Florida.
00:21:37
Speaker
And so it has a very high energy vibe to it because a lot of us haven't seen each other or we haven't, you know, you just, it's just first day of school.
00:21:48
Speaker
You know, like there's no syllabus, fortunately, but like there's just you just have that yay kind of vibe.
00:21:54
Speaker
New costumes, new shoes, new everything.
00:21:56
Speaker
You know, at least it feels like it.
00:21:59
Speaker
You've been dying in the heat, training at home, and now you get to see everybody.
00:22:03
Speaker
The bad for me about Wine and Dine Weekend is that it has a little bit more anxiety, I think, associated with it because of that exact thing.
Reflections on First Run Disney Experiences
00:22:12
Speaker
first time running in this season.
00:22:14
Speaker
You, Erica, might be coming off of injury from last season.
00:22:19
Speaker
You recover wherever, but you don't know how it's going to go this season.
00:22:22
Speaker
So it's just got a little bit more of an anxious vibe than I feel like some of the other race weekends.
00:22:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:26
Speaker
What about you?
00:22:27
Speaker
Good and bad on Wine and Dine?
00:22:29
Speaker
I think most of the people that come, it's more like of all the race weekends, I feel like it's like the party weekend.
00:22:35
Speaker
It is.
00:22:35
Speaker
Like,
00:22:36
Speaker
you know, when you're, um, on the road, you're going to encounter a lot of other people that are there like for the fun of it all.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:22:42
Speaker
Um, so I think that that's, you know, that's like the fun.
00:22:44
Speaker
And it has an after party.
00:22:46
Speaker
Yes.
00:22:46
Speaker
So some people fully plan to enjoy some adult beverages.
00:22:50
Speaker
Correct.
00:22:51
Speaker
That evening.
00:22:51
Speaker
Uh, any bads and you don't have to have one, but any bads?
00:22:54
Speaker
No, I think I agree with what you said.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yep.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
Uh, marathon weekend.
00:22:58
Speaker
You want to go first?
00:22:58
Speaker
Good and bad.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:00
Speaker
So, um,
00:23:01
Speaker
I think a negative, especially if you're new to running is that it's probably the most intense of the run Disney race weekends.
00:23:10
Speaker
Um, you will hear a lot of, Oh, you're just running the marathon, which is ridiculous because that is you, you, you just nailed it.
00:23:20
Speaker
In my opinion, that is the bad part of marathon weekend, right?
00:23:23
Speaker
Is that because it has the longer distance and
00:23:26
Speaker
And the intense challenges.
00:23:29
Speaker
There's a lot more opportunity for people who are doing those to look down on.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yes.
00:23:33
Speaker
Someone who might be running their first 10K.
00:23:35
Speaker
Right.
00:23:36
Speaker
So I would probably not do marathon as my first weekend if I was new to running.
00:23:41
Speaker
Um,
00:23:43
Speaker
Now, having said that, I mean, we walk away from that weekend.
00:23:45
Speaker
I'm feeling like the most accomplished I've ever felt in my entire life.
00:23:48
Speaker
So that is, that's a positive, but, but it does have the most room for like feeling down.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
The dopey people who run dopey, which again was the six medals that you get for races, like they're wearing them.
00:24:04
Speaker
Right.
00:24:04
Speaker
Because they're proud of their accomplishment.
00:24:06
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:24:06
Speaker
And so you could, even if they don't tell you, oh, you only ran the whatever.
00:24:10
Speaker
Right.
00:24:10
Speaker
But you can feel a little bit like, oh.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:14
Speaker
Here I am with my one medal.
00:24:17
Speaker
Right.
00:24:17
Speaker
You know?
00:24:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:18
Speaker
And you shouldn't.
00:24:19
Speaker
No.
00:24:19
Speaker
But there's just room for that.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:21
Speaker
Unfortunately.
00:24:22
Speaker
I agree with that.
00:24:23
Speaker
That is a bad.
00:24:24
Speaker
You have any goods about Marathon Weekend?
00:24:26
Speaker
Well, like I said, I think just like the feeling of accomplishment.
00:24:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:29
Speaker
When I
Running with Family and Future Plans
00:24:30
Speaker
come away from that.
00:24:31
Speaker
Also, another negative is that it has the potential to be freezing.
00:24:35
Speaker
We have waited in corrals where it's like, it feels like temp of like 16 degrees before.
00:24:41
Speaker
I won't get too deep into that, but that's another negative.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:45
Speaker
The weather does seem to be a variable.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:49
Speaker
At that weekend, we've gotten rained on.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:51
Speaker
We ran in wet shoes for like 13 miles or longer actually, but yeah.
00:24:57
Speaker
Uh, I would say a good of marathon weekend is it has a marathon.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:01
Speaker
I personally like that.
00:25:02
Speaker
If you don't want to run a marathon, then that's fine.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
It's not going to be a good for you, but it's the only one that has it.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
And I actually liked it.
00:25:09
Speaker
The theme, like the, uh, the theme of Mickey and Minnie are the characters for the marathon never changes.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:18
Speaker
And Donald and Daisy are the half that never changes.
00:25:20
Speaker
The artwork might change.
00:25:21
Speaker
Right.
00:25:22
Speaker
Um, but I, I do like that.
00:25:24
Speaker
Bad on marathon weekend, I might agree with the weather.
00:25:28
Speaker
It's just a variable.
00:25:31
Speaker
Even within one weekend, we went from hot to cold.
00:25:34
Speaker
It's January in Florida, so you just don't know what you're really going to get there.
00:25:39
Speaker
Two years ago, and we weren't running the trace, but the half marathon got rained out
00:25:45
Speaker
And they shortened the course.
00:25:47
Speaker
And so people felt a little cheated in that they didn't do the full thing.
00:25:51
Speaker
And some people just got swept off the course because the weather was dangerous.
00:25:55
Speaker
So you just don't know what the weather is.
00:25:57
Speaker
That's bad.
00:25:57
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:58
Speaker
Princess weekend.
00:25:59
Speaker
This was your first ever run Disney experience.
00:26:02
Speaker
So I'm sure you have goods and bads related to princess weekend.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:05
Speaker
I think princess weekend is the best weekend.
00:26:07
Speaker
If it's your first run Disney experience, why do you say that?
00:26:10
Speaker
Because I just feel like it's like the most inclusive of all of the weekends.
00:26:14
Speaker
Like everybody is like encouraging each other on and, you know, like so excited for each other.
00:26:20
Speaker
And, um, I don't know.
00:26:22
Speaker
And it's definitely the most like costume friendly.
00:26:25
Speaker
I mean, they all are, but like everyone is in costume for princess weekend.
00:26:29
Speaker
Um, so, so yeah, it's, it's the most fun.
00:26:32
Speaker
I feel like, yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
Do you have any, any bads before I share my good and bad?
00:26:35
Speaker
I don't think I have any bats.
00:26:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
You just love Princess Wigan.
00:26:39
Speaker
I just love Princess Wigan.
00:26:40
Speaker
I would say a good is as a male runner, it's, I don't know the actual percentage, 90% women running the race, which works in my favor at the restroom because the line for the men's room is zero.
00:26:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:59
Speaker
Right.
00:27:00
Speaker
Me and the other guy that's running the race, you know, are in there, you know what I mean?
00:27:03
Speaker
And, and that's it.
00:27:05
Speaker
And so the line for the women's restroom is six miles deep, I swear.
00:27:10
Speaker
So that might actually be a bad, you know, for, for, uh, it's always a bad, but yeah.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:15
Speaker
So, uh, but now the port-a-potties, that doesn't help me in any way.
00:27:18
Speaker
Right.
00:27:19
Speaker
So I would say that that's a good, uh, I think it's a good in that, um, it does feel really inclusive.
00:27:24
Speaker
You got guys wearing pink, you know, like because of princess weekend, I were my first pink, anything ever in my
Peachtree Road Race Experience
00:27:32
Speaker
entire life.
00:27:33
Speaker
I love it.
00:27:34
Speaker
I wore purple this last year.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
Thanks to princess weekend.
00:27:37
Speaker
I'm man enough.
00:27:39
Speaker
Right.
00:27:40
Speaker
To wear pink now.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yes.
00:27:41
Speaker
You know, so that's a good... A bad... I don't think there's anything super bad about Princess Wigan.
00:27:48
Speaker
I think...
00:27:50
Speaker
I will say one thing.
00:27:51
Speaker
I think some ladies, maybe guys do, but ladies get caught up in the how they look on Princess Weekend and what, you know, they're showing off their outfit and the Instagram moments are more important than the running moments, you know, where they're trying to be like, I don't know, on the front page of the Run Disney Instagram or something.
00:28:13
Speaker
Right.
00:28:13
Speaker
Right.
00:28:13
Speaker
I feel like that weekend has more of that than any other weekend, which doesn't ruin my experience because I can look past it.
00:28:20
Speaker
But I do feel like there are more, I don't know, attention seekers on Princess Weekend.
00:28:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:28
Speaker
Last thing.
00:28:28
Speaker
And then we'll move on because we're kind of talking on this a long time is springtime surprise.
00:28:34
Speaker
Good and bad.
00:28:35
Speaker
I'm going first.
00:28:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:37
Speaker
The bad on springtime.
00:28:38
Speaker
You know, you want to say it together?
00:28:39
Speaker
No, you already know.
00:28:40
Speaker
The weather.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:41
Speaker
yeah uh the weather on springtime surprise is brutal it's april in florida oh my gosh we just sweat to death yeah
Conclusion and Encouragement
00:28:49
Speaker
it was i don't i don't have any other bad on springtime surprise except that it was hot yeah um good is that it's the most relaxed of all the weekends it does not sell out the same speed as some of the the other races so like you can a 10 mile you're the last
00:29:06
Speaker
few years, you can register for it a few days after registration day.
00:29:09
Speaker
It's one of the only ones where if you missed registration day, you can actually most likely get in if you want to do that long distance.
00:29:15
Speaker
So it's, it's chill.
00:29:17
Speaker
And I think it's because people aren't going in April because it's too hot.
00:29:21
Speaker
So if you're willing to deal with the weather, if you're from New York or something and, well, is that a good example?
00:29:29
Speaker
Maybe if you're from Florida and you're used to the heat, I don't know.
00:29:31
Speaker
Right, yeah.
00:29:32
Speaker
You've already been training in it.
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:29:34
Speaker
Because if you're from New York or Colorado and you come to Florida for springtime, you're going to get hit with a wall of humidity.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:43
Speaker
Good and bad about, let's just say Disneyland in general, like good and bad of Disneyland races.
00:29:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:49
Speaker
So I've had a lot of opinions about this and other videos and things that we've done.
00:29:54
Speaker
The road running at Disneyland is different than road running at Disney World.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yes.
00:29:59
Speaker
At Disney World, even though you're spinning a lot of miles on the highway, there are still like DJs and bands and characters and jumbotrons with movies playing.
00:30:08
Speaker
OK, like they keep you entertained the entire time.
00:30:11
Speaker
Anaheim was just like, whatever's on the road.
00:30:15
Speaker
Like, I didn't feel like there was a lot of, you know, entertainment, at least not for the half that we did.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:21
Speaker
Um, so that's a little, that's more of a downer of it.
00:30:24
Speaker
And that's not, I don't think, particularly Disney's fault.
00:30:26
Speaker
They don't own the streets of Anaheim.
00:30:27
Speaker
No, yeah.
00:30:28
Speaker
So they can't just say, well, we're putting a DJ guy right here.
00:30:31
Speaker
Right, yeah.
00:30:31
Speaker
You know, like that's the city property.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:34
Speaker
You know, so it's not their fault.
00:30:36
Speaker
It's just not quite as... Magical.
00:30:39
Speaker
It is magical.
00:30:41
Speaker
I would say a good thing about it is that the race expo and all that stuff there, it's a lot easier.
00:30:46
Speaker
It is.
00:30:47
Speaker
It's smaller.
00:30:48
Speaker
Logistically, everything is smaller.
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:50
Speaker
Right?
00:30:51
Speaker
And you can stay at a... There's a...
00:30:53
Speaker
ton of hotels within walking distance.
00:30:55
Speaker
We stayed at a Marriott and we just walked to the start line.
00:30:58
Speaker
We didn't have to take a bus.
00:30:59
Speaker
You know, when we were done with the race, we just walked back to the hotel and it was just down the street.
00:31:03
Speaker
So that, that is positive.
00:31:04
Speaker
It's, it's way more chill in that way.
00:31:07
Speaker
The, uh, expo is in the convention center.
00:31:09
Speaker
Like it's just one ballroom, you know, or two ballrooms, something like that.
00:31:14
Speaker
Whereas at Disney world is in several buildings and we'll talk expo in future episodes.
00:31:19
Speaker
Um,
00:31:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:20
Speaker
So anything else on good and bad?
00:31:22
Speaker
I feel good about that.
00:31:23
Speaker
That's good.
00:31:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:24
Speaker
How about we talk about our first experience with Run Disney?
00:31:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:29
Speaker
And our most recent, what was your first impression?
00:31:33
Speaker
Right.
00:31:34
Speaker
You want to go first?
00:31:35
Speaker
Sure.
00:31:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:36
Speaker
So my first Run Disney experience was the 2016 Princess Half Marathon and I did not know anything.
00:31:43
Speaker
I was going to run this half marathon to say like I had run a half marathon, you know, in my thirties or whatever.
00:31:50
Speaker
And, um, and yeah, I, it was, I was a hot mess.
00:31:55
Speaker
I trained on the treadmill the entire time, which is what kind of outfit did you wear?
00:31:58
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:31:59
Speaker
So I wore like regular, like cotton, which I can't even imagine doing at this point, but I wore like a cotton t-shirt that I got from like Kohl's or something.
00:32:09
Speaker
And like, I dressed as snow white.
00:32:11
Speaker
So I had a red shirt.
00:32:12
Speaker
I'm like a yellow skirt.
00:32:15
Speaker
I didn't know anything about shoes.
00:32:16
Speaker
I knew nothing about nutrition.
00:32:18
Speaker
Like I remember the first time you walked into Fleet Feet when you first started running.
00:32:22
Speaker
The running store.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:23
Speaker
The guy's like, what kind of nutrition are you doing?
00:32:25
Speaker
And you're like, well, I eat pretty healthy.
00:32:27
Speaker
Like we didn't know what nutrition meant.
00:32:29
Speaker
He meant nutrition.
00:32:31
Speaker
And we now know that that is like on course race fuel.
00:32:34
Speaker
Right.
00:32:34
Speaker
You know, like what you.
00:32:35
Speaker
Gels.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah, which we'll talk about in a future episode.
00:32:40
Speaker
But we didn't know what that meant.
00:32:41
Speaker
He said, how are you doing with your nutrition?
00:32:44
Speaker
And I'm like, well, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables with my dinner.
00:32:47
Speaker
He's like, that is not what I mean.
00:32:49
Speaker
Yeah, and he was so like, you could see he was biting his tongue.
00:32:52
Speaker
He wanted to be like, okay.
00:32:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
So I think like looking back on that race now, like what I wore, I think I only trained up to like eight miles maybe on the treadmill and then I like just stopped running.
00:33:03
Speaker
I don't know.
00:33:04
Speaker
So like I totally saw myself.
00:33:05
Speaker
That was the most miles you did before the race?
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
Before the half marathon?
00:33:08
Speaker
Yes.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:33:09
Speaker
I don't think I knew that.
00:33:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:10
Speaker
So I like set myself up for failure for sure in that way.
00:33:13
Speaker
So, um, yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, and, and I think I ran the entire half, like without any kind of fuel or anything, which I can't even imagine.
00:33:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:22
Speaker
I can't imagine doing that now.
00:33:24
Speaker
Um, so, so yeah, it would have been good if I had found a podcast like this or something to listen to before, um,
00:33:31
Speaker
You have headphones or anything like you did have headphones.
00:33:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:33:35
Speaker
Um, I think I ran with like one of those little arm packs with my phone in it, which I also wouldn't do that now.
00:33:39
Speaker
Um, yeah, I didn't, I didn't know about like the photographers.
00:33:43
Speaker
I didn't know that there was people taking our, our photos on the course.
00:33:47
Speaker
And so just all, I didn't know any of the things.
00:33:49
Speaker
And so it was not, it was not a super enjoyable experience past mile, like five or six, I would say.
00:33:57
Speaker
I remember being in a world showcase at the end, just feeling like I could barely walk.
00:34:01
Speaker
And then because I didn't train, I was so sore afterwards.
00:34:05
Speaker
Oh my gosh, it was terrible.
00:34:07
Speaker
So yeah, I didn't know any of the things.
00:34:09
Speaker
That was my first race experience, but not at that extreme.
00:34:12
Speaker
Right.
00:34:13
Speaker
You did train.
00:34:14
Speaker
I was ready from a training perspective on my first race, but I was not ready for all the run Disney specific things.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:22
Speaker
So I remember asking you because you'd done one before me, even though it was years before.
00:34:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:28
Speaker
Explain to me how I'm going to get my photos.
00:34:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:31
Speaker
And you're like, well, they, you know, they, it sees your bib number.
00:34:34
Speaker
I'm like, what's a bib?
00:34:36
Speaker
Right.
00:34:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:37
Speaker
Cause I hadn't gone.
00:34:37
Speaker
And you're like, you know, um, you said I'm going to the race expo to pick up my stuff.
00:34:41
Speaker
Cause it was, Oh, that was a mistake too.
00:34:43
Speaker
It was a work trip.
00:34:44
Speaker
You remember that?
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:45
Speaker
So I just thought, Oh yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
Hey, I'll be in Florida.
00:34:47
Speaker
We'll just do a half marathon while I'm there.
00:34:50
Speaker
That was a mistake.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:52
Speaker
You know, which now that I'm more of an experienced runner, it's not as hard.
00:34:56
Speaker
But at the time, that was a terrible decision.
00:34:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:34:59
Speaker
I would go work for four days at a conference, be on my feet, you know, working 12-hour days and then go run a half marathon.
00:35:06
Speaker
Terrible decision.
00:35:07
Speaker
But I didn't know any of the things.
00:35:09
Speaker
You kept talking about a corral placement.
00:35:12
Speaker
And I'm like, why would I care about that?
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:15
Speaker
You know, and again, things we're going to talk about on this.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yes.
00:35:18
Speaker
We'll get into all these details.
00:35:20
Speaker
Because corral placement, even though it doesn't, you're going to have a great race no matter what corral you're in, just understanding how the corrals work.
00:35:28
Speaker
Right.
00:35:28
Speaker
Why you might want to get there early, why you might not want to get there early, all that.
00:35:33
Speaker
I did not know in my first race experience.
00:35:36
Speaker
And I feel like that, you know, it handicapped me a little bit.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:39
Speaker
Just not knowing.
00:35:40
Speaker
What about a recent race, like your most recent race, which I guess for us right now would have been Princess 2025.
00:35:47
Speaker
I can share mine.
00:35:49
Speaker
And I would say my most recent experience that sticks with me is that I've now matured.
00:35:57
Speaker
to be not so worried about my pace and all of that, even though I like to run fast and there are races to run fast.
00:36:03
Speaker
This was one where I said, AJ, PR is something different than speed.
00:36:08
Speaker
And I tried to get as many character stops as I could.
00:36:11
Speaker
And I was not as good as I should have been, you know, as patient as I should have been.
00:36:16
Speaker
But I had a really good time stopping as many character stops as
00:36:21
Speaker
even if it was a character I wasn't in love with, waited in line, chatted with people in line, got my picture with all these characters, you know, and had fun.
00:36:30
Speaker
And, um, and it was great.
00:36:31
Speaker
Cause we got to run together twice because I, because you caught up.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
I started in a way back corral.
00:36:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:37
Speaker
So you, I was waiting in line and, um, I don't know how it ended up coming up the first time.
00:36:42
Speaker
Like, Oh, I think I saw you on my phone, my, my, whatever.
00:36:45
Speaker
I was just standing in line for a character wondering, Oh,
00:36:48
Speaker
I wonder if Erica's left her corral yet.
00:36:50
Speaker
That's what I thought.
00:36:51
Speaker
Where was I at, like mile three?
00:36:53
Speaker
And I thought, I wonder if she's left her corral yet.
00:36:55
Speaker
And I look at my phone, I'm like, whoa, my gosh, her little blue dot was coming right up against you where I was.
00:37:02
Speaker
So I actually got out of that line, jumped on the course when I saw you, and that was fun to run together.
00:37:07
Speaker
Then you caught up with me again.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:37:09
Speaker
In the Magic Kingdom.
00:37:11
Speaker
We got to do the castle together.
00:37:13
Speaker
Yes, that was fun.
00:37:13
Speaker
I don't think you love this picture as much as I do, but there's a picture of us in front of Cinderella's castle.
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh, yes, you love it.
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:20
Speaker
I do.
00:37:20
Speaker
It's the screensaver on my phone.
00:37:21
Speaker
It is, yes.
00:37:22
Speaker
Or not screensaver.
00:37:23
Speaker
What do you call it when it's on?
00:37:24
Speaker
The lock.
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, lock screen on my phone.
00:37:26
Speaker
Picture of you and I in our Maleficent themed outfits.
00:37:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:30
Speaker
Standing in front of you.
00:37:31
Speaker
What's your most recent race experience that you've had that you would say is memorable?
00:37:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:36
Speaker
Well, different this year, Taylor, one of our daughters has run with us several times, but this year, Addie came for Princess Weekend and ran the 10K.
00:37:44
Speaker
Addie's our youngest, that's right.
00:37:46
Speaker
She ran the 10K with me, Taylor ran with you, and so that was fun to run with her.
00:37:50
Speaker
She didn't love it as much as we do, but it was still a fun experience to do with her.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah, well, we need to like do a whole episode on running with your kids.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:59
Speaker
I think that would be fun.
00:38:00
Speaker
Like maybe sometime in the future.
00:38:02
Speaker
It was nice to have her.
00:38:03
Speaker
I don't know that she's going to continue her run Disney career.
00:38:05
Speaker
I don't think so.
00:38:06
Speaker
But it was fun.
00:38:08
Speaker
Let's do our quick segment on running it back.
00:38:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:11
Speaker
This is the, what you would do the same or different, right?
00:38:15
Speaker
On any specific thing.
00:38:17
Speaker
Let's talk about our first race.
00:38:20
Speaker
So I know we just kind of shared about our first race.
00:38:22
Speaker
Yours is Princess 2016.
00:38:23
Speaker
Mine is Princess 2023.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:26
Speaker
I think so.
00:38:27
Speaker
Wow, that's a big gap.
00:38:31
Speaker
So what would you do the same or different?
00:38:33
Speaker
Either one or both from your first, if you were redoing it, would you do it again?
00:38:38
Speaker
Your first race experience, go back in time.
00:38:40
Speaker
Would you do it again?
00:38:41
Speaker
I think the biggest piece of advice I would give to somebody, even if I messed up in all the other areas, is make sure you finish the training so that you don't come home injured, so that you can enjoy your race.
00:38:56
Speaker
Because really the race is just the last run of that training season, right?
00:39:00
Speaker
I've heard it called the victory lap.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:39:02
Speaker
The hard work is actually done at home.
00:39:04
Speaker
Everything you do leading up to it, yeah.
00:39:05
Speaker
And it's like a celebration.
00:39:07
Speaker
Right.
00:39:08
Speaker
uh is is the actual race itself yeah yeah so just just running further even if you don't do the full 13 like you stop at 12 or something um what's your opinion on going beyond the distance you're gonna ask me that yeah so the jeff galloway run walk run training plan suggested on the run disney website takes you beyond the distance you're gonna do on race day right there's varying opinions on that yes what's yours
00:39:35
Speaker
There is something comforting about knowing that like you can, and you have run that distance before.
00:39:42
Speaker
I think, I don't know, they need to go to 14.
00:39:44
Speaker
I think 13 is good.
00:39:45
Speaker
Um, I think it's, it's helpful for your first race.
00:39:49
Speaker
Once you've done as many as we have, it's not as important to me because I know that I've done it in the past.
00:39:54
Speaker
Um, but it is, it is comforting, you know, to have, to have, you know, know that you have that under your belt, that you can do that.
00:40:01
Speaker
When you're a marathon is a really great example.
00:40:03
Speaker
When you have, when you don't, when your mind tells you, I can't do this, I can't do this.
00:40:08
Speaker
I want to go home.
00:40:09
Speaker
You know, I want to sit down.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:11
Speaker
There is something comforting to know that, but I've done this before.
00:40:14
Speaker
Right.
00:40:15
Speaker
I can do this.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yes.
00:40:16
Speaker
You've proven it to yourself.
00:40:18
Speaker
I did not run the full 26 in my first marathon training plan because I wanted to cross the finish line and say, oh my gosh, I just...
00:40:29
Speaker
did something I've never been able to do before.
00:40:31
Speaker
So I see both sides.
00:40:33
Speaker
I think what's not a good idea is trying to do a half marathon and deciding at eight miles that you've done enough.
00:40:39
Speaker
Oh yeah, for sure.
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah, no.
00:40:42
Speaker
And also I would say another big takeaway that I've learned, especially in the last couple of years is the cross training that you do on the off days is just as important, if not more than the running.
00:40:54
Speaker
Cross training being strength stuff, right?
00:40:57
Speaker
Pushups, balance exercises where you stand on one leg.
00:41:01
Speaker
That's
00:41:01
Speaker
Split squats.
00:41:03
Speaker
Right.
00:41:03
Speaker
And even if you don't want to get deep into weight training and all that stuff, even just working on things like your balance is incredibly important.
00:41:12
Speaker
It's amazing how much longer I can run a race because of my balance being what it is now.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:20
Speaker
Ankle strength.
00:41:21
Speaker
I mean, some of my biggest injuries were from like a toe weakness.
00:41:25
Speaker
Correct.
00:41:26
Speaker
Like I'm doing these little baby toe exercises.
00:41:28
Speaker
And in your first race, you didn't do any of that, right?
00:41:30
Speaker
No, none of that.
00:41:31
Speaker
Me neither.
00:41:31
Speaker
I didn't either.
00:41:31
Speaker
None of that.
00:41:32
Speaker
And now, I now know that strength is...
00:41:35
Speaker
is what would you say 50 of the equation right for maybe more for me right but yes you need to get the miles in yeah you know what you do get out of the miles you don't get out of the strength is the willpower though right that's i think why you have to do those miles yeah for sure you have to tell your mind and body or whatever that you can do it so yeah
00:41:55
Speaker
Um, okay.
00:41:56
Speaker
Really quick to kind of wrap this whole thing up.
00:41:57
Speaker
We were talking, you know, running it back.
00:41:59
Speaker
What would you do different or the same from your first race experience?
00:42:02
Speaker
Uh, from my first race experience, I think, um, I didn't look around.
00:42:07
Speaker
I didn't enjoy it.
00:42:09
Speaker
Right.
00:42:09
Speaker
I got to the end and you told me about things that were on the course that I didn't even know existed because I was too focused on trying to survive or trying to run as fast as possible.
00:42:20
Speaker
That one.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:21
Speaker
Both maybe.
00:42:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:23
Speaker
So I think that is, is something that I would change from my first experience is that I'll never get that first, you know, uh, run Disney experience back.
00:42:32
Speaker
I remember running through the castle and all of that, but like overall, I think I missed a lot because I was too focused on the running and not the overall experience.
00:42:42
Speaker
However, we are there to run.
00:42:44
Speaker
I don't know that I would change anything from my first experience except for incorporating maybe some more strength training.
00:42:50
Speaker
Yes.
00:42:50
Speaker
That would be helpful.
00:42:52
Speaker
Okay, so let's talk about personal or training, you know, like where things are at.
00:42:58
Speaker
And I know that we did something new for us this week.
00:43:03
Speaker
Yes, we did.
00:43:03
Speaker
And you get to eat your words because last week you kind of, you know, you said run Disney's the only place that's magical to run.
00:43:12
Speaker
And you basically called out our own city and said, I don't like running the streets of Atlanta.
00:43:17
Speaker
Apparently I was running the wrong streets.
00:43:18
Speaker
The wrong streets of Atlanta because we ran the Peachtree Road Race this past 4th of July.
00:43:25
Speaker
That's an annual tradition.
00:43:27
Speaker
And we've never done it.
00:43:27
Speaker
We've lived in Atlanta for a long time.
00:43:30
Speaker
And we've never done it, never had an interest in doing it.
00:43:33
Speaker
It's the world's largest 10K.
00:43:36
Speaker
And we did it.
00:43:37
Speaker
We did.
00:43:38
Speaker
So are you here to apologize?
00:43:41
Speaker
Yeah, I actually really enjoyed it.
00:43:45
Speaker
World's largest 10K.
00:43:46
Speaker
So I think they said 58,000 runners or something like that.
00:43:50
Speaker
So, I mean, that's triple Disney princess marathon, you know, half marathon, which I had no idea until we got there.
00:43:57
Speaker
It was huge.
00:43:58
Speaker
I didn't realize.
00:43:59
Speaker
Well, speaking of didn't realize, it's always been called the peach tree.
00:44:03
Speaker
That's what you call it when you live here in the Atlanta area.
00:44:06
Speaker
Everyone just says, are you running the peach tree?
00:44:08
Speaker
I thought it's called the peach tree road race.
00:44:10
Speaker
I thought it was called the peach tree and it is a road race.
00:44:15
Speaker
I did not realize it's called the peach tree road race because it's the peach tree road race.
00:44:20
Speaker
race you run down peach tree right road you know what i mean for 6.2 miles basically so um anyway so you enjoyed it it was very fun i kind of talked you into it you did i think i said that morning i wasn't excited when we got there you didn't look excited either i know and um at what point did that shift for you that you actually said wow this is actually kind of cool
00:44:44
Speaker
Almost immediately.
00:44:46
Speaker
Different than a run Disney race.
00:44:48
Speaker
It was mostly, at least in our corral, like mostly just running.
00:44:52
Speaker
And so I felt motivated to run longer.
00:44:56
Speaker
I loved that there were what we would call cheer squad at Disney, but like basically like people cheering you on on the side of the road, you know, basically every little...
00:45:04
Speaker
section of town we went through, there was people that would come out from their apartment or their condo or whatever and cheer us on.
00:45:09
Speaker
So I loved that.
00:45:11
Speaker
Um, I loved how big it was.
00:45:14
Speaker
I don't know, just running with all those people.
00:45:16
Speaker
And because we were on the road and we took up the entire road, there was no like bottlenecking or jamming of any kind, at least in our corral.
00:45:24
Speaker
Yes, we started in H. Yes, which I thought was going to be the very back, but it goes like... Because at Disney, it only goes to like H. Yeah, it goes to Z in this race, so there were plenty of people behind us.
00:45:35
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:36
Speaker
So we weren't worried about anything, really.
00:45:38
Speaker
No.
00:45:39
Speaker
It was crowded, but not so crowded that I couldn't enjoy the race.
00:45:42
Speaker
Right.
00:45:42
Speaker
I liked it.
00:45:43
Speaker
It was a straight shot.
00:45:44
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:45
Speaker
There were no turns.
00:45:46
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:46
Speaker
I mean, the road kind of curved, right, with the whatever, the natural curve of the land or whatever.
00:45:52
Speaker
Right.
00:45:52
Speaker
But you never made like a hard right turn.
00:45:56
Speaker
Right.
00:45:56
Speaker
Or a hard left turn until the very, very, very end when you had to, you know, get off of onto 10th Street or something like that.
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:02
Speaker
Like our watches were basically going off with the mile markers, which doesn't normally happen at Disney.
00:46:07
Speaker
Nope.
00:46:07
Speaker
Because you're bobbing and weaving and making wide turns.
00:46:09
Speaker
Right.
00:46:09
Speaker
So you run like longer than the actual race.
00:46:12
Speaker
I'm so surprised that you liked it.
00:46:14
Speaker
Interestingly, I wanted to do this race really bad.
00:46:16
Speaker
Yes.
00:46:17
Speaker
And was like...
00:46:18
Speaker
You're doing it, Erica.
00:46:19
Speaker
Come on.
00:46:19
Speaker
You know, you're coming, you know.
00:46:21
Speaker
And then interestingly, I don't, I don't regret doing it.
00:46:23
Speaker
Right.
00:46:23
Speaker
But you loved it way more than I did.
00:46:26
Speaker
I did.
00:46:26
Speaker
I'm totally surprised by that.
00:46:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:29
Speaker
Anything inspiring you want to leave us with or you want to just call this one?
00:46:32
Speaker
I bet you were leaving us with something inspiring.
00:46:34
Speaker
I have something inspiring to say.
00:46:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:36
Speaker
Oh, I do have something inspiring to say.
00:46:37
Speaker
No matter what race you decide to do, it's all good.
00:46:42
Speaker
So like there's so many races that you could choose from.
00:46:45
Speaker
Four in Florida.
00:46:47
Speaker
The Disneyland ones are going away for a little while, but they might come back.
00:46:49
Speaker
You got the virtual series.
00:46:51
Speaker
Whatever you've committed to is perfect.
00:46:53
Speaker
So if it's a 5K, awesome.
00:46:56
Speaker
own that do that don't let anybody make you feel bad that you're not doing dopey right uh or if you're doing dopey and you've decided to commit your entire life to all the training that goes to train then uh don't complain about it you know what i mean like own what you've decided to register for and none of these are bad races like we said the good and the bad of each weekend but if you chose to do springtime in the heat that is totally fine enjoy it like this is supposed to be fun
00:47:22
Speaker
Our goal is to encourage you to just know all the things so that at least worrying about transportation or your costume or your fuel is not something to worry about.
00:47:32
Speaker
You can focus on running.
00:47:33
Speaker
So that'd be my suggestion.
00:47:35
Speaker
Own what you signed up for or what you've decided to do.
00:47:39
Speaker
That's good.
00:47:39
Speaker
Thanks for another great episode.
00:47:40
Speaker
We'll be back with episode three next week.
00:47:48
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for this episode of One More Run, the podcast.
00:47:52
Speaker
If you like what we're up to, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram.
00:47:57
Speaker
You can find links to all of that at agenerica.com.