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Ep 37 - Things to consider before signing up for a marathon (with special guest, Chris Twiggs)
934 Plays22 days ago
This week we're talking with Chris Twiggs, the Chief Training Officer at Galloway Training Programs. We're going to talk about some things to consider before you sign up for a marathon, half marathon, or any race distance that might be new to you. Or even if you're not new to running, let's pause and take a look at everything on our plate right now before committing to another long distance training cycle.
We talk with Chris about Jeff Galloway, his legacy, the impact he had not only on runDisney but on the entire sport of running. Jeff's Run Walk Run method has been the thing that has made running possible for so many. Chris also talked about Customized Training through Galloway Training and so much more. It was a really fun conversation.
Learn more about Customized Training and the all the Galloway resources at jeffgalloway.com
Recommended
Transcript
Factors in Marathon Commitment
00:00:00
Speaker
Registration day for Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is already upon us, and before we get caught up in the FOMO, we're going to talk about some of the things you should consider before you commit to a long-distance race like the marathon. And to help us do that, we've brought in the expert.
Podcast Introduction
00:00:22
Speaker
Hey there, friends. Welcome to One More Run the Podcast. This is episode number 37. And today we are talking about the things you want to consider before running a marathon or a half marathon or even a 10K. Just the things like you want to think about. And the reason we're talking about it right now is because marathon weekend registration is next week.
Logistical Considerations for Marathon Weekend
00:00:41
Speaker
yeah So a lot of us are like gearing up for like...
00:00:45
Speaker
the battle that is registration. yes yeah We're figuring out, do I have enough money for this? We're like looking at hotel, like whatever it is. yeah We're all gearing up for it. But just let's take a second, not talking anyone out of it. right In fact, we might be talking to some people into it, right yeah but just consider some stuff, right? Take a minute, listen to this episode. And if you still want to sign up or you weren't going to, but now you're going to, then At least you took a minute to think about it. That's right. Erica, do you want to read a review?
Listener Review: Praise for Hosts
00:01:15
Speaker
And i want to get straight into the interview because it is long and good and it's very valuable. So who's our review from today? Today's review comes from Countess of Grantham 22.
00:01:25
Speaker
She says, AJ and Erica truly make you believe that run Disney is for everyone. If you want clear, heartfelt, and expert guidance, this is the only podcast you need. Thank you for making me feel ready to run.
00:01:37
Speaker
i was so overwhelmed by run Disney, but finding the one more run podcast with AJ and Erica was the best thing I could have done. They've been instrumental in helping me get ready to register for my first race. I genuinely feel so encouraged listening to their advice and expertise.
00:01:52
Speaker
They break down everything, logistics, training, fun, with such energy and excellent banter. Every episode makes me feel more confident and incredibly excited to learn from them. That was such a sweet review. Extremely nice. Yes. And we're so glad that it's helpful and that you feel ready to
What if You Don't Get Into the Marathon?
00:02:10
Speaker
run. Yes. That's our goal. And email us because I have a whole list of podcasts in addition to ours. You need to listen. We are not the only one. In fact, we are the new kids on the block. That's right. And happy to be over here in our corner just sharing tips and tricks. We've got some other. And I'm sure you listen to all the other ones too. But thank you for the kind words. We appreciate the sentiment behind it. But yeah, we recognize that there are some resources out there that are top notch. Much better than us. Really quick, upcoming episode next week, Erica, is, so this week we're talking like, okay, so you're going to sign it up for marathon. Think about this. Next week's episode is, okay, so I didn't get into marathon. Yeah. Right. Or marathon weekend, right? Right, right, right, right. I didn't get what I was hoping for. Yes. Now what do I do? Yeah. That's next week.
00:02:56
Speaker
two special guests yeah that are going to help with that. yeah And you do not want to miss that. If you know Team Run Diz, the online community, the website, all that stuff, Matt from Team Run Diz is going to talk to us all about the options. Yeah. If you missed out and hopefully you don't miss out. Yes. If you do, that's that's next week's episode. It's going to be good. Yeah, totally. So let's get into today's
Introduction of Chris Twiggs
00:03:19
Speaker
topic. We're talking about the things you should consider before you sign up for a long distance race, like a marathon. And to help, we have the incredible honor of having Chris Twiggs from the Jeff Galloway company on the podcast with us today.
00:03:35
Speaker
right, friends, this is super exciting because we have a big time name on the podcast. Probably one of the most helpful people you will have ever met. If you've met him in an expo or whatever, or even just listen to him on the podcast, this is going to be one of the most helpful things you've you've heard. We have Chris Twiggs on the podcast. So excited. He's the national training director for Galloway training, right? So if you know, obviously, Jeff Galloway, that whole thing with customized training and the Galloway pace groups and all that, he is the lead training guy for yeah all of that, right? And so he actually, he he doesn't know this yet, but he means a big deal to me because I got my PR at a Disney race yes because of his recommendation. Yep. I talked to him. to tell him the story on the podcast, but he talked me into doing run walk at the expoy expo. Yeah. Never, you know, that wasn't my MO. Right. And he talked me into it, said I'd be just fine. And lo and behold, you PR'd. Chris, you mean a lot to me. I know
Galloway Method Success Stories
00:04:33
Speaker
that, you know you meet a lot of people. I met you a few times at the expo. We are so excited to have you on the podcast. Thanks for being here.
00:04:38
Speaker
Thank you for having me. And thank you for trusting me when I was telling you ah what I thought would be a good idea in the run. it's It's hard sometimes to convince someone to try something new. Everyone's into this nothing new on race day thing. But walk breaks are the one thing that is the exception to that rule. And it paid off big time for you. And that's awesome.
00:04:57
Speaker
Congrats. I thank you. I didn't believe you fully and I just engaged with it. You know what i mean? Cause I was a little bit nervous going into my race anyway. It a, it was a goal I missed a few times, you know, and I really wanted to do it. And I, I ran with Mark. I don't remember Mark's last name, but Mark was the pacer up in, know, in the one 45 group. And he got me to jet. He's,
00:05:19
Speaker
Gosh, he is a fantastic pacer and he wanted to see what it's like on the other end of the course. And so at Princess this year, he paced the three and a half hour group. Oh my gosh. So instead pacing the usual eight minute miles, he paced 16 minute miles. I did that.
00:05:37
Speaker
I did that marathon weekend and he thought that sounded pretty cool. And so he and I are the only ones so far that have paced three. both the front group and the back group. And it's, it's, they're both a lot of fun, but there's a whole lot more energy toward the end in that back group because there are more people around you.
00:05:54
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Well, not to get totally sidetracked because we're here to help people and interview you, but, but my story is that towards the end, I mean, I'm talking a mile left. Mark was just pulling away from me, you know, and doing that little, and I was running out of gas and I'm like, literally it's like that, that Titanic thing, you know, like, come back come back and I couldn't, i could I had nothing left, right? It still got me my PR, but I didn't finish with them because I was about a minute behind. And I just, oh, it was just pulling away and I couldn't do anything about it. It was marathon weekend last year.
00:06:23
Speaker
So I got that. Thanks to you. great Thanks to your recommendation. So thank you. oh Well, no, it was thanks to you. You did the work. I mean, we certainly have the, uh, we have the data that shows that run, walk, run works, and we have the ratios that we can recommend and we have amazing pacers, but you got that time because of yourself and your faith in yourself to get from the starting line to the finish line faster than you had done it before. so you, You deserve the credit. Well, thank you. We'll take the assist. We'll take the assist and you get the credit.
00:06:53
Speaker
So that right there is exactly why I'm telling y'all. This is like the most how valuable and helpful conversation we're about have. That's right. Yes. Thanks for being here, Chris. So friends, if you want to hear more about Chris and his entire story, you should listen to the Rise and Run episode 211. But Chris, we want to ask you about your why behind what you do.
00:07:11
Speaker
What motivates you to help runners of all abilities and experience
Influence of Jeff Galloway
00:07:14
Speaker
levels? Oh, gosh. So I before I started working for Jeff Galloway full time, I was a college professor.
00:07:21
Speaker
And so I have a background in education. My my whole adult life has been about helping people in one way or another and teaching people. so that they don't just do what i ask them to do but they understand why they're doing it and translating that from the classroom to to the expos and to being out of the course and to working with clients as their coach just seemed like a natural thing to do there's nothing more positive in my life than running uh my most of my friends are runners my family are all runners And so helping people enjoy their running is an um an amazing experience for me. And when Jeff gave me the opportunity to do it, I couldn't say no.
00:08:05
Speaker
That's awesome. If it's okay to ask about Jeff, obviously he was a big part of your life, right? And we just experienced the loss of Jeff, you know, just a couple weeks ago. And I'm sure but things are pretty challenging right now. Would you be willing to share the impact that Jeff had on you personally?
00:08:19
Speaker
Oh, I, I, I can't, I can't overstate the impact that Jeff had on me. Um, when I got the phone call from, from Jeff's son, that, uh, Jeff had run his last race is the way he, he put it to me.
00:08:33
Speaker
Um, I told him that Jeff Galloway outside of the people in my family, Jeff Galloway had a bigger impact on me than any other person in the world.
00:08:45
Speaker
And I'm not unique in that. There are probably 100,000 people in the world that can say the same thing. And some of those people never had the joy of meeting Jeff, but Jeff still had an amazing impact on them by empowering them to run and to take on races that they didn't think ah could be possible.
00:09:07
Speaker
ah Jeff gave me the opportunity not just to achieve some great goals in running, but he gave me the opportunity to help others do the same thing. And I will forever be grateful to him for that, forever be grateful to the Galloway family. i'm I'm honored still to work for Galloway Productions and Galloway Training. And as long as I'm able, I will keep doing what I'm doing, which is helping people in the way that Jeff taught me to do it.
00:09:35
Speaker
For those who are new to run Disney or the Galloway method and might not fully grasp how important Jeff was to the sport of running, how would you describe the impact that he had on the community and just on the sport in general?
00:09:47
Speaker
Well, I think Jeff's impact on the community was growing it, what was really growing the running community. The early running boom was really about fast runners.
00:09:58
Speaker
And if you come across people that were running in the 70s and the in the 80s, even a lot of them were all about being competitive. They were all about winning races or ah breaking records and all that sort of thing. And that's great. And that's inspiring. And we love doing that. Right. I love doing that no matter what the sport is. I love watching.
00:10:17
Speaker
All the the the Olympic sports that we just saw that were in the Winter Olympics that I don't understand and could never do. But it's always awesome to see people that are at the peak of their sport. And Jeff was at the peak of the sport, right? 1972 Olympian. ah good Good friends with Steve Prefontaine and Jack Batchelor and Frank Shorter and and all of that. But then what he did was he grew the community because he didn't keep it. He didn't gatekeep it. He didn't say, you have to run this fast to be part of the community. He didn't say you have to run this far to be part of the community. He opened it up and he told people that were that were running 15 minutes, 16 minutes, 18 minutes, 20 minute miles, you are a runner. And not only that, but he gave them a way to do it safely. He gave them a way to do it without injury through the run, walk, run method.
00:11:05
Speaker
i I honestly believe that the running community that we experience now, especially when we're looking at the run Disney community, would not be nearly as big or nearly as fun yeah if it weren't for Jeff Galloway. 100%. Totally agree. We would not be sitting here having this conversation in any way if it weren't for for Jeff Galloway. 100%.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think so. ah So Princess Weekend, we were there. it was hard. And at the same time, it was kind of special, right? Like what what was that weekend like for you? And what do you think it means for Jeff's legacy?
Princess Weekend Tributes
00:11:37
Speaker
Well, it was very hard for me. It was very hard for me. When i was driving down, I live in North Florida, and I was driving down on Wednesday to set up the the expo. And at that point, Jeff was still in the hospital. And Jeff's wife, Barbara, had called me a couple of days beforehand, knowing that they were not gonna be at the expo.
00:11:57
Speaker
And said, you know, it's going to be hard for you to be there without Jeff. And i was like, oh, yeah, it'll be hard. But again, he was just in the hospital at that point. And she said, make sure your wife's there. Make sure Diana's there. You're going to need her there. And course, Barbara was by Jeff's side all the time. yeah And she said, you're going to need her there. And was like, oh, yeah, sure. I'm going to need. Yeah, she'll be there. My wife's a perfect princess. Of course she was going to be there, but she's normally not in the booth. She's normally out having fun at the parks, which is what you're supposed to do.
00:12:26
Speaker
But Barbara knew that that I would need Diana there, and she knew it more than I did. And then when we got the phone call, what got the phone call Wednesday, After we'd already set up the booth and and heard that Jeff was gone, we had to pivot. We had to change our plan for what was going to happen in the booth. We decided what we would do is convert the booth into a space where people could come and they could write messages to Jeff or about Jeff for the family on poster boards. They could write in journals that we had. And this was just something that my wife had in her head. And then I got a text from one of the Pacers who suggested it as well. And I said, yeah, that'd be great. Bring bring a poster board.
00:13:05
Speaker
As we were walking in Thursday morning, I texted I texted her. And I said, maybe bring two. We we might need two poster boards. We might, right? I know you're laughing because you saw what happened. yeah By the end of the weekend, we filled 27 poster boards completely full yeah with messages. the two The two books full with messages.
00:13:24
Speaker
when we got there thursday morning before the expo opened there were a number of run disney um staff members there just asking what can we do to help how do you want the booth set up what can we do and we brainstormed how to set it up we came up with the two high tops we had the gloves that were there that jeff had worn and then honestly thursday was a blur to me i i was in shock i was sad but i'm also answering training questions and and talking about the pacers and At the same time, welcoming people into the booth. My wife was amazing.
00:13:58
Speaker
And she would listen to people's stories. If they started to choke up, she would ask them, how did you know Jeff? ah Just let them tell their stories. And then run Disney started coming up with ideas. What can we do?
00:14:10
Speaker
Where's where's the chair? That's where's the chair that Jeff used to sit in. So we got the chair and they wanted to put it out there where Jeff had stood to give high fives yeah and he would stay there until the very last runner came through. Yeah. and I was always amazed that people would stop They're 100 yards from the finish line, and they're stopping and talking to Jeff, and they're getting selfies, and they're they're telling him how important he is to them and telling him they wouldn't be here without him. And and and I'm standing back there watching this, and and I love that people get that opportunity with Jeff, but there's a part of my brain thinking,
00:14:46
Speaker
you've still got to finish the race. Yeah, yeah, go, go, go, go. You've another 100 yards to finish the race. Yeah. And so at all three of those races, the 5K, the 10K, and the half marathon, people were coming and they were stopping before they finished. And they were honoring Jeff at the chair and they started leaving little things at the chair.
00:15:04
Speaker
And by the end of the weekend, the chair was completely covered. And then i got a call from one of the Run Disney folks on... saturday the day of the ten k and she said what what would you think about the pacers leaving their flags there at the at the chair as well i said that's that'd be wonderful that'd be amazing and so i let the pacers know this is what we're going to do and they put the flags there and then they we were honored to be able to come back behind the barricade and stand there at first we were standing back because we didn't want to get in the way we didn't want to intrude on people's moments at Jeff's chair. But then the runners were pulling us over. They were looking for hubs. They were looking for high fives. They were looking for a moment with the Pacers to thank them. And they understood it was difficult on all of us.
00:15:53
Speaker
and not And when I say all of us, I don't mean not all of us, just the Pacers. It was difficult on everybody there who knew or who knew of Jeff, right those that that hadn't met him. And then Carissa Galloway came up to us and she said, um here's what we're going to do. And she cleared it with the race director. We'll let the last runner have the moment.
00:16:14
Speaker
Last runner deserves that moment in the confetti. But after that, the Pacers were going to come in as a team and and honor Jeff in that way. And that was unbelievable. It's not something we asked for. It's not something we expected, but it was something we were blessed to have gifted to us. Yeah.
00:16:31
Speaker
It was a fantastic tribute to Jeff and um, and I'll never forget that that feeling lots of emotions. Absolutely. And wow, Carissa Galloway being up there and announcing all of those races. Um, it was really yeah, she's a she's an amazing, amazing woman.
00:16:50
Speaker
We talked about that on our podcast episode last week. We recapped our princess experience. And we don't know Carissa, but we just like we were talking about it on our drive down. Is she going to be up there or not? And I said, oh, she's showing up. like you know Having seen her at 20 run Disney races, like there's no way she's not showing up for all of us, but for Jeff and all that stuff. And then then she did it with such grace and confidence. And she held it together. But she also let all of us be vulnerable. like It was so good. it was It was so well done. I totally agree with you.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, my, uh, I never got to meet Jeff like conversationally and it's one of my, um, now, you know, a, it's a regret of mine. I have two now run Disney regrets. One, I have a character stop that I skipped and I've never seen that character again. And I'm really mad about it. And I, and I complain about it on our podcast, but then two, I never did stop. and take the the time to wait in one of those long lines to meet Jeff. I got a high five went yeah on the on the, whatever, the thumbs up thing one time at the end of the marathon. But I never, like, I always just thought, you know what? That's a long line. I'm going to do it another time, you know? And gosh, I wish I had, yeah you know? Yeah, wish had. Yeah. Well, he, he was incredible, but obviously he had an impact on your running, even though you didn't get to to talk with him and you can, he's, he's out there on a lot of podcasts you can listen to on a lot of, uh, in a lot of books that he's written in a lot of articles, his, his wisdom and wisdom and his words are there for forever for those that never got the chance to talk to him. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:17
Speaker
Um, you've probably been asked a lot of questions about Jeff and Galloway training and all that in the last few weeks. Is there anything you'd want to share that no one's asked you about yet? Like, is there anything that's just on your mind or your heart that no one's really even approached it?
00:18:29
Speaker
it Gosh, wow. I don't know. um i mean, one of the things I want everyone to know about Jeff Galloway is that he was ah just as nice and just as fun and just as interesting as you think.
00:18:47
Speaker
And I've worked for Jeff full time since 2010. So 16 years full time employment with Jeff. And I worked as a Galloway program director for several years before that as a local program. and Then I helped him with some other projects before that. So I first met Jeff in in 1995. But every time i heard him talk, I learned something. Every talk he gave, I learned something.
00:19:16
Speaker
But the thing that I think I learned the most from him is that I can do this.
Jeff Galloway's Legacy of Empowerment
00:19:22
Speaker
Right? And and he he told us all, you can do this in terms of your running.
00:19:28
Speaker
um and And he gave me the opportunity to do this in terms of the coaching as well. And, you know, that's kind of the the the the big thing that I've learned. and that's something that I have to keep reminding myself right now, because it's hard not having Jeff to turn to. sure um not that i Not that I turn to him all that often in the last few years for coaching questions, but just as a mentor. Yeah. um You know, i I just want people to know he's as as great as you think. He was the nicest, sweetest, most genuine guy there is. He never, i never heard him after somebody left. I never heard him say, wow, what a jerk that guy was or any, you know, any of those sorts of things. He just, he was always interested in what you were talking about and what you wanted to do and and how he could help you. So, no, I wouldn't say there's anything in particular, but I love answering those questions anytime I get a chance. Awesome.
00:20:19
Speaker
I just, I can't get over like the impact that he's had on so many people. It's amazing to leave such a legacy. yeah um Chris, I know you mentioned, you just said like we can read Jeff's materials and things like that. Just he's everywhere, which is amazing. Is there any other encouragement that you would give all of us Galloway runners as we step into kind of a new training cycle that might look and feel a little different now?
00:20:39
Speaker
You've always had the power. jeff Jeff liked to say you're the captain of your own ship. And you've always had the ability to do the things that you're attempting to accomplish. we We have the tools, and we still have the tools to try to help you, but you have to pick up those tools and and put them in your own hands and use them. So, um, it's, it's tough not having Jeff there for encouragement, but we can encourage each other yeah and draw strength from that. And I think that's the biggest thing that we need to be doing right now is, is look at those words, look at the the encouragement that Jeff has given us. And if you see someone who's struggling, if you see someone who is doubting whether they can do this thing, then say, yeah, yeah. I didn't think I could do it either. And then Jeff said I could, and I did.
00:21:22
Speaker
So absolutely you can do it. And then, you know, the next step is try to go alongside that person. And if you can take them on training runs, if they're local, close to you, go out on some training runs with them. And if not, look for ways, you know, tell them, here's my number. Call me when you're in the middle of that long run so that I can celebrate that that moment when you run farther than you've ever run or or whatever that is. ah that's That's the best way to honor Jeff and that's the best way to move forward, I think. Yeah.
00:21:48
Speaker
Perfect. it's good Thanks so much for talking about Jeff. I know we've actually got a topic of this episode to talk about, but it's really nice to just hear your your perspective on that. And thanks for just being vulnerable and admitting, you know, this is hard and this is how I feel. So thank you for doing that.
00:22:02
Speaker
My pleasure, really. Awesome. Okay. So we're talking a hard left, right turn, left turn. I don't know. It's a hard turn in some direction is we' we're talking about things you might want to consider before you sign up for a marathon or, you know, it could be a half marathon or, you know, whatever, before you, before you sign up for that thing, that's hard that you're not quite sure you can do. Think about some of these things. Right.
Community Spirit of Disney Races
00:22:22
Speaker
So, um, obviously we're big fans. Our, our listeners are too. Our friends are too, uh, of Disney races. So I'd love to start off with the why question. Uh, why might somebody want to do a Disney race, right? No matter the distance, in your opinion, why run Disney?
00:22:36
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. The run Disney races are so much fun. I mean, they just they just really are. I signed up for my first run Disney race because, well, there was this girl. Oh, Yeah. So, yeah. So my wife, we'd just gotten married. And I mean, we probably hadn't been married for more than a month. And she came home and she said, hey, I just heard that Disney is going to have a marathon. And I said, so?
00:23:01
Speaker
and And then she got me, I wasn't really a runner. I'd done a couple of 5Ks before that, but I wasn't really a runner. And she got me into it. And and we did our first marathon at the very first Walt Disney World Marathon in 1994. Cool.
00:23:15
Speaker
cool And, but we were Disney people. We already loved going to Disney. yeah We both grew up in Florida. We both went, you know, had annual passes for as long as we could remember. And the idea of running through the Disney parks was was just too good.
00:23:27
Speaker
too good Yeah. to to pass on, even though I'd never imagined running that far. If it's at Disney, I'm gonna do it. yeah And so I think that's one reason is it's such a fun, fun place to run. And the Run Disney runners are fun people too. i I've run marathons all over the world and I've run i run some really, really fast races in some really, really big cities and it's different. It's fun to challenge yourself physically to go fast and all that sort of thing. But I remember showing up at one of these big races and excited for the time that I that i ran to get there and excited for the time that I was planning to run there. But looking around and telling my wife, I don't, where are our people? Right. Our people aren't here. right You know? That's yeah where where are the Where are all the people wearing tutus? And where are all the people dressed as Piglet? And where are all the people, where are they? yeah And so my people are at Disney and i love running with them and walking with them and hanging out with them. So to me, that's the reason to do a Disney race is it's so much fun. Even the fast people at the Disney races are fun fast. You know, they're they're in the spirit of the Disney races or they wouldn't be there. So that's, to me, it's that Disney that disney spirit that makes me want to do those races. And I think that's what would draw people to it. That's the why. Yeah.
00:24:54
Speaker
So I think I know the answer to this question, but do you think it's a good idea for someone's first half or full marathon to be a Disney
Disney Races for First-Timers
00:25:01
Speaker
race? And why? Absolutely. Yes. Mine was. yeah Right. And I had such a great time. i had such a wonderful experience with that first marathon in 1994 that I have done the Disney marathon every year since then. and ah There are about 40, I think there are 41 of us that are perfect marathoners. And I think we would all say the same thing. We are hooked. We are hooked on the Disney races. So yes, it's a great place to do it. And personally, a reason that I have for encouraging people to to run Disney races as their first race is that we have the Galloway Pacers yeah for the 10 mile and the springtime surprise 10 miler and all the half marathons and the marathon. Mm-hmm. And I believe that those Pacers are the best in the business and the best at helping people get that first race under their belt, the best at helping people get through without stressing out too much, worrying too much and getting injured and and all of that. time They keep it fun. So those Pacers are a big, big deal. We've got Galloway Pacers at some other races too, but they're at all of those Disney races I mentioned.
00:26:07
Speaker
yeah Um, they keep it fun is a, is a big thing. Cause like anytime we get passed by a pace group or passing, you know, we're passing or anything anything like that, like the person that's like calling out the time and whatever, like they're just having a good time. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I kind of want to hang around these guys for just a minute, you know? And so, yeah, they're always a ton of fun. Yeah.
00:26:26
Speaker
They are. They're wonderful. we We absolutely have the best folks. And that's, I think the reason we have the best folks as Pacers at the Disney races, the Galloway Pacers, is because we're using this method that we know is accessible. We're using this method that we know is great for beginners. It's great for people that are coming back for an injury from an injury. It's great for people that are worried about getting an injury. And it's great for people that are trying to get a PR yeah and they're worried about breaking through. Those Pacers that are doing run only at other events,
00:26:55
Speaker
God love them. They're still doing a good job of trying to get people to the finish line, but they they just don't know the joy they're missing out on that we have as Galloway Pacers using the run-walk method because I like to say it's the most humane way to run a marathon or a half marathon using walk breaks.
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah, totally. A side tangent. I forgot that, um, that time I ran with Mark, the eight minute group, I four, four and a half minute run 32nd walk break. Right. And I was in my zone and I had not done the run walk on a Disney race before, you know, with the pace group and four and a half minutes in, I'd forgotten.
00:27:30
Speaker
And I kept crashing into the back of everybody because I'd just forgotten. you know what mean? Like he said, stop, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I thought I was just running. And so it took me took me only one of those. but I've never had that problem. We get it. We do get it a lot, especially with the faster groups. um We do get people that that will try it. because they they have an ambitious goal for themselves, right? They have an ambitious goal. A lot of times, ah maybe especially at the marathon, they might be going for a Boston qualifying time or something like that. And so when they're taking on an ambitious goal, even if they haven't trained using walk breaks, they'll still try it because if that's those are the pacers that are there yeah and the pacers are going to finish on time, right they'll give it a shot. And so once in a while, I've been leading a group and I take a walk break and I have people kind of look around like, wait a minute, we're we're doing that? yeah And I'll say, well, yeah. Yeah, we're doing that. Now, now if you don't want to do that, yeah my flag is still going to finish on time. So you can run consistently. But if you're not going to take the walk breaks, you probably want to hang back a little bit so that you don't run into the back. And usually what happens is those people just say, well, ah I'll try it. You know, and worst thing that happens if they decide they don't like it, they stop taking the walk breaks and they run on in. Yep, yep.
00:28:45
Speaker
And they never do that. they they end up They end up being converted. And I've converted runners to run walk at marathons all over the world because they they follow me to ah to a time that they were hoping to get and they realize the walk breaks are what got them there.
00:29:01
Speaker
Awesome. Okay, so we sold the Run Disney thing, right? Not that it needed to be sold because it sells out in 30 seconds, you know? But so so we we gave the case for why you would want to do it.
00:29:11
Speaker
Any reason... Or two or three or whatever. that you Don't roll your eyes, Erica. Any reason you would that that someone shouldn't or wouldn't want to do a run Disney race like they should just do something else?
Challenges in Obtaining Proof of Time
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah. um We all know, run run Disney runners, we all know what proof of time means, yeah right? And so if you are trying to get a proof of time, you're trying to run a race fast enough to get moved up to into a higher corral at a future run Disney race, the run Disney races are probably not the best place to get it. right ah Because those groups, and it's not just the pace groups, just that field Right around that proof of time area is really crowded. It's really thick with runners. And there are some spots on the courses where it gets narrow. It has to because we're running in the parks and going in and out of the parks and sometimes running through the parks, it can be narrow. So I find... that it's very difficult for people who don't already have a proof of time to get one at the Disney races. So I will recommend for a lot of the folks that I coach, they're frustrated. They want to move up in the corral. They want to be, you know, up further up and they don't necessarily want to run faster at the Disney race either, by the way, they just want more time. They want to be in corral A or B. So they've got more time for photo stops. They don't have to worry about where the balloon ladies are. Right. yeah And that's great. That's great. But if you want to get moved up into a higher corral, I will recommend that they do a non-Run Disney race to get that proof of time. Yep. So we did that. We found a fast and flat at home, right? And out and back. And I got to tell you, it was about the most boring race we'd ever done, but it was fast and flat, right? There was nobody there. It was certified and all that. And Erica got her proof of time and, you know. Do you remember the girls that had the shirts that said, just here for my run Disney proof of time? Yes, they did. That was hilarious. That's fabulous. yeah I love that. yeah yeah I don't want to glaze past really fast, Chris. We got a lot of people who are new to run Disney that listen to our show, which we really love. Can you give the 30 second description of proof of time? We've talked about it before, but it might be good to hear it from you because you're you're a professional.
00:31:17
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. The reality is that the first few corrals at Run Disney, well, all the corrals at Run Disney races are so are seated. You're placed in a corral based on your expected finish time.
00:31:29
Speaker
Now, they don't, Run Disney doesn't have the staff ah to be able to verify everyone's time. So, Run Disney races, you have three, and let's take the half marathon, for example. Half marathon, you have three and a half hours to finish the half marathon, starting with the last person to cross the starting line, yeah right? Those are the balloon ladies. So if you started with the balloon ladies, you would have to finish in three and a half hours. If you start further up, you get more time. So if you told run Disney, when you sign up for a race, I'm going to finish in three hours. They're going to say, all right, fine. They're not going to bother verifying that time because they know where you go as a three hour person and it's far enough back. It's out of the fray or or whatever they think.
00:32:08
Speaker
Uh, right now, the proof of time mark for, for half marathon is two and a half hours. If you say that you can run a two and a half hour half marathon, they'll say, prove it. And you have to submit your time from another race.
00:32:21
Speaker
And it doesn't have to be a half marathon. There are other distances that they accept and it has to be within a certain timeframe. Can't be too long ago. Can't be my lifetime PR. It also can't be too recent. It can't have been run last week. So they give you your timeframe.
00:32:35
Speaker
And so if it's two and a half hours, they say, prove it. If they say two hours, 31 minutes, they don't say prove it. And so from there on, yeah it's just, it's whatever. It's your, it's an honor system. yes And amazingly, a ridiculously high number of people are ready to run a 231. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. yeah so um So what that means is you have you have ah a lot of people that are mixed in behind that proof of time zone. yeah You have a lot of people that are mixed in that are really, some of them really are 231 marathoners and some of them are 330 marathoners, of them 45. four-hour half marathoners, but they want to be as far up as possible. So they play the game and they put that down. So that's what that means.
00:33:22
Speaker
Proof of time has changed over the years. There's been different times that they set, and it could change in the future. They could they could decide that to devote more hours to having people verify times, and they could move it to 245, or they could move it to three hours. Or they might decide it's it's taking too much time to do this, and they could make it shorter. It could be two hours. Who knows? Sure. um So for now, you know people, a lot of run Disney people pay attention to where that is because, again, they would like to be up in those higher corrals if they can. If they're fast enough to be up there, they'd like to be up there. Not necessarily because they want to run fast at the Disney race, but because they want more photo stops and more time at the marathon. They want more time to ride more rides. Isn't that amazing? I didn't mention that. How did I bury the lead? You want to run a marathon at the marathon? and ride a roller coaster at the same time, I'm pretty sure that Disney's the only place you can do that. Right, yes. And you've done it? You've done Everest? I did it. This year was my first time. So as I mentioned, I've done the Disney marathon every year, 33 years in a row.
00:34:19
Speaker
And ah this year, i I had two firsts. ah The first one, it was my first dopey, right? Dopey, 5K on Thursday, 10K on Friday, half marathon on Saturday, marathon on Sunday. It was the first time I ever did it. Yeah. The reason I did it was that my wife did it last year. I signed her up for it against her will.
00:34:37
Speaker
And um well, she had kind of mentioned once upon a time that maybe it would be interesting to do. And so when I happened to be the one that got, she was working and I happened to be the one that got in to register. And so I sent her a text. You want to do Dopey, right? And then I clicked register for Dopey. And then she sent me a message back a little bit later saying, oh no, I already got in for the marathon. And later I said, well, I'm sure we can get them to give you a refund for the marathon portion, but there's no way they give you a refund on the Dopey. So you're stuck on the Dopey. So she did Dopey last year. And like and I felt like I owed it to her. to myself. She actually had a lot of fun. I owed it to myself to Dopey. So this year I did Dopey. And then I also decided I wanted to do some rides. And so for the first time, uh ever i did everest awesome it was awesome and i've we've got a little facebook group for the for the uh the perfect marathoners the 41 of us and i i told them i don't think i could truly call myself a perfect marathoner if i hadn't done everest during the marathon it's just you have to do it it's so yeah oh my gosh it's so fun it's so awesome
00:35:46
Speaker
Oh, that's awesome. Well, you might've just inspired me to do it. We've done three Disney marathons and I have not had the guts to do it yet. So maybe now. Oh, you've got to. Okay. You're one of those fast people. He is, yeah. you can you All you have to do is you time it. And I just happened to time it right so that the Animal Kingdom opened about five minutes before I got to Everest.
00:36:07
Speaker
So that meant that the crowd of people coming into the park hadn't gotten there yet. Oh, yeah yeah a line yeah. But the line of runners who had stopped to wait to get on it had already gotten on. Yeah. So I come along and I got to run through the queue oh my gosh and hop on. The train wasn't even full.
00:36:26
Speaker
that's so cool. Hop right on with with a friend of mine and, oh, fuck. It was amazing. It was so cool. i I did lose my spot. I'd been running with my wife, who is not ah not a big fan of roller coasters, and there was no way she was going to do Everest during the marathon. And so um i did I did lose her at that point. I tried to chase her down, and she still finished about two minutes ahead of me. Oh, wow.
00:36:49
Speaker
Wow. You're wow. Yeah. i'm I'm not sure what's like more impressive there. Like she's stay, you know, who's cooking or you caught up like that's really impressive. Oh, I mean, my very first Disney, very first marathon, ah one of my clearest memories was being at about the halfway point when I felt this hand in the small of my back.
00:37:08
Speaker
And I look over and there's my lovely wife who said, you're doing great. She, I'd gone out ahead of her. yeah And she said, you're doing great. And then I watched that little blonde ponytail make its way off into the distance. And she beat me by a minute. Yeah. one minute Oh, gosh. That's hilarious. And she, the second, the next year, she beat me by a whole lot more than that. Yeah. And then finally, I was able to get caught up with her. Yeah. Yeah. Well, your wife's more appropriate than my wife because I was running the princess half two years ago and I was taking it real easy. My goal was we, Erica and I were not running together because she was dealing with an injury. So I just said, you know, taking real easy. going stop for every character stop. So I was stopping for every character stop. So Erica passed me a couple times, right? Like she caught up and whatever. Anyway, one of the times, like I'm just going through the magic kingdom and I say, she grabbed my butt. She said she slapped I hit it hard. This guy was like, what that wasn't her husband? Yeah. It was either way. It gave me like that just pure shock of like, how dare you? You know? And I turned around and it was her. Oh, wow. Yep. Wow. Oh my gosh. You know, that's one of those, that's, what's the point in being married if you can't do something like that once in while, I suppose. That's true. I have to say, Chris, we've been hosting this podcast for six, seven months now, and you've gotten us more off topic. Yeah. than any other guest we've had yet. That was great, love it, I love it. What can I don't know how long your podcasts usually are, but I should shut up. We don't, sometimes they're like 30 minutes, sometimes like an hour and 20 minutes. So as long as you're good, we actually do have more questions. This be closer to the latter. Oh my gosh. Awesome. I think it's your turn though, Erica. You can get us back.
00:38:47
Speaker
Okay. All right. So Chris, a lot of times we get excited about the race and we don't really factor in what's going on in our life right now or in the month leading up to the race because we sign up so, so far in advance. Um, how important is it to consider the impact training is going to have on our life, especially for something like a marathon?
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it really, it's very, very important. yeah um I mean, I think running in general, running enhances our lives in so many ways. It gives us more energy. It makes us nicer people. Going back to training for my first marathon, my wife and I signed up for the marathon together. when Neither of us had done a marathon. She had done a half marathon. I had not.
00:39:29
Speaker
And we were newly married. We were, i was in grad school and working three jobs. She was in medical school. We were newlyweds and it was stressful, right? That first year marriage is stressful anyway. Add all those other considerations. And then training for a marathon could have been an added stress. But I'll tell you what, it saved our marriage because When we would come home from whatever we were doing and we would lace up our shoes to go for a run together, instead of arguing about who had had the worst day and make excuses for why you should cook dinner, no, you should cook dinner, we would just run and the stress would just melt away. And suddenly we're laughing about all of those things that would have been stressing us out. Yeah. I think running in general is an amazing enhancement to our lives, but training for a race is a little bit different. Training for a race takes discipline. Training for a race requires ah being out there for long hours, doing those long runs. If it's your first marathon or half marathon or 5K or whatever it is, please don't consider time goals. Please just make accomplishing the, you know, reaching the finish line, please make that your main goal. um But even at that,
00:40:41
Speaker
You have to put in the long miles. You have to put in the long hours. And so you have to factor that stuff in. So I'm really glad that we offer training schedules for all of the Run Disney races for free on RunDisney.com.
Customized Training Plans
00:40:54
Speaker
Go there, look at our training schedules, map those out so that you know what days those runs are going to happen and pay attention.
00:41:04
Speaker
is one of those runs happening at the same day that your kid has a recital? Maybe you need to shift that run a little bit. Is run of is one of those runs happening when you're on vacation?
00:41:15
Speaker
Okay. Make sure you're packing your running shoes, running in a new spot, a new country or somewhere else. is That's a really fun thing to do, but you have to make sure that you are planning those things out so that the race doesn't sneak up on you and suddenly you're unprepared yeah and it becomes just a a miserable experience. um So, Yeah. And this is not to not to make it into a sales pitch, but this is one of the reasons why i really love what we do with customized training, because some people's lives are are really complicated. If you can look at those training schedules that we have and say, oh, yeah, well that fits into my life just fine. No problem. Then great.
00:41:52
Speaker
Good for you. ah And also, I want to know what your secret is. Right. Because most people, life happens to us, right? And so it may not just be one race, but it's three races that we're trying to to do in different parts of the country at different weekends. And we want to know how do we match those things up?
00:42:08
Speaker
Or it's the kid does have a recital or I do have a business trip or I do have or I get sick I miss something. And so with Customize, what we do is we take people, we build a schedule that takes them from where they are currently and and map out how they're going to get to their goal races and and what that's all going to look like. And then when life happens and we need to pivot, we help them pivot. So, um and, you know, we're not the only only game in town. There are other coaches that can that can do that. So I think getting help ah from someone that knows what they're doing to write the schedule, it's may not be your friend that also ran a race once upon a time. Oh, right. Maybe somebody actually has a coaching certification. Maybe somebody actually like does this for a living, might be a little bit better prepared to help you. I don't know. Yeah, totally. Well, to further your sales pitch for Customize, having the accountability as well. Like we all think we can do something on our own, right? But we get accountability in a bunch of areas of our lives, right? And this is one of those in my experience, having someone who's looking at how a run went and asking a question and, hey, how did it go? I noticed you're this or whatever. Like to me, I think that's that's really valuable beyond the, I mean, yes, everything you said about customizing it, ah adapting and all that, but also the accountability thing, I think it's really important to have somebody
00:43:24
Speaker
It is. The accountability is really important and the community, too. um Because, mean, I do have people that I coach one-on-one and that's great. i And I really enjoy that experience. It's all through all through Galloway, by the way. It's nothing off book. but um but ah and i So I really enjoy that time. And Jeff coached people one-on-one as well. And I really enjoy that time to work with an individual and undistracted, you know, just focusing on that person. but But with Customize, we have group Zooms that bring in the whole community and It's so wonderful, especially especially last week, you know our first Zooms that we had after Jeff died. and
00:44:03
Speaker
And so for us to take the time to share what Jeff meant to us as individuals, to share those stories about the times that we had with him. um it was We did talk about how the races went last week and we talked about how people's training was going, but we got to share together and grieve together and support each other through all of that. And I i love that too.
00:44:23
Speaker
Yeah. That's amazing. um Chris, what advice do you have for the person who's considering one of the challenges for Marathon Weekend?
Preparing for Multi-Day Challenges
00:44:31
Speaker
Do it. Oh my gosh, do it. It's just a joy. i mean, talk about community. To be out there four days in a row surrounded by people. i was i i just happened, I wasn't planning to run with anyone in particular the first three days, but I just happened to find myself a mile or two in with some of the same people each of the days. And that was really cool. And they had dressed differently and I had dressed differently and different costumes and things like that. So it just it just adds to the fun.
00:45:02
Speaker
I mean, be prepared to be ridiculously sleep deprived. Be prepared for that, right? That's that's for for sure. ah But beyond that, it is just, it's such a joy. I think the challenges are fantastic. i mean, you have to run them the right way.
00:45:15
Speaker
I walked every step of the 5K. I walked every step of the 10K. I did not run a single step of either of those. And then the half marathon, I stuck with the three and a half hour, the 16 minute mile pace group. I stayed in the very back the entire time of the half marathon because I wanted to save all my energy for the marathon. So that's the way to do those challenges. If it's, let's say somebody's listening to this and they're gonna do springtime surprise coming up in April, ah that challenge is the 5K, the 10K and the 10 mile, walk the 5K, walk the Unless unless you're put in a corral further back and you know that your pace won't allow, in which case, walk until you have to run. you know Save your energy as much as you can. I'm serious. walk Start off walking and walk as much as you can. And then when you realize that you're about to get, you know, the balloon ladies are coming, you're starting to get warnings, that's when you start doing run-walk. not in a panicky way. yeah you You know, get into your 10 second run, 30 second walk or 15 second, whatever you're going to just to maintain that 16 minute pace.
00:46:22
Speaker
Once you know that you've got only a little bit of buffer over them and you'll get through the 10K and then you've got the energy for the 10 mile and and same deal if you're doing for the half marathon or Dopey, save all your energy you can until that last day.
00:46:38
Speaker
I have a question. So now that you've done Dopey, do you think you're going to continue doing Dopey? What do you think? i Erica, i i hope so. Yeah? um I hope so. I will tell you, i'm i mean, so I am perfect in the marathon, which means I don't have to worry about registering for that.
00:46:56
Speaker
that's I'm locked in for as long as I keep the streak going. they' They've given us guaranteed registration for the marathon. Oh. I'm not guaranteed to get dopey. and And we talked before about how fast those those things build up. yeah So, folks, I am i am the most supportive. I am your biggest fan. I'm your biggest cheerleader. Run, Disney Runners. Listen to me. I'm your biggest fan, your biggest cheerleader every other time except during registration. During registration, I am in there fighting. Get out of my way. Every other person. I'm trying to get in there. Absolutely. I want in there. I want registered. Please, please. Absolutely. I am going to be...
00:47:31
Speaker
yeah Yeah. So I hope so. I hope I can do dopey again. i really enjoy Jeff did five dopies before his family had an intervention with him. My family has not had an intervention with me yet. yeah So I think i think I'm okay to do dopey ok at least another year. It's going to be different, right? um that The expo experience will be different for us in the Galloway booth without Jeff there. um and But I have tremendous help. And I remember saying couple weeks ago at Princess, I remember saying, well, I'm i'm going to need to be in the booth.
00:48:06
Speaker
open to close, you know, from now on. And, um, because I was, if Jeff wasn't in the booth, I was in the booth, right? And now that Jeff's not there, i said, I'm i'm going to need to be there. And I had more than one person who heard me say that, who came to me later and said, oh, you've got, you've got a good group of Pacers yeah that are absolutely, they've got your back.
00:48:26
Speaker
They can do, you know, they, I can't, they can't be me any more than I could be Jeff Galloway, but they can be themselves. yeah And they are already in a position that they are helping runners. And, you know, they're like, no, if you, you have to go to bed early one day or you have to show up a little late one day or you need to go take a break in the middle of the day, yeah those pacers have got your back. And I i absolutely believe that.
00:48:48
Speaker
And so I, I hope so. I hope so. And I hope that I can get AJ to ride that roller coaster with me. Look, my thing is not about getting swept or anything like that. I don't want to lock up.
00:48:59
Speaker
You know, I don't want to get stiff. And if I got as lucky as you, I think it'd be okay. There's this run walk method that you can use that really helps you avoid walking. We'll talk about it later. like Hey, my, where's my Donald metal? It's up here somewhere. I think it's, I'm pointing at it right there.
00:49:15
Speaker
That's my PR metal right there. Oh, yeah sweet, sweet. So we've got we've got a million medals, right? But the ones on this wall all mean something important. You what mean? And so yes that's my PR one right there. That's fantastic. Well, my my half marathon PR is not there, but my marathon PR is at Disney. Yeah. so Awesome. Um, okay. So we want to talk training stuff, right? Like, let's do it um, yeah here's the bottom line is we joke about run, walk, you know, move, whatever. Here's my question is there. You said it earlier. It's good for beginners. It's good for your coming back from recovery, even potential PR,
Effectiveness of Run-Walk-Run Method
00:49:52
Speaker
whatever. Like, do you outgrow run, walk, run? Like, do does that make sense? Like, is it just a part of the process or, or do you maintain it? Like, like tell us, tell us what, what should we expect if we do it?
00:50:06
Speaker
expect, well, it's still a marathon or a half marathon. It's still a long race, whatever distance, 5K. Golly, my first 5K, I could not believe how long that middle mile was. First mile was fine. Where is mile marker two? It must not be in the right place. Oh my gosh, this is forever, right? yeah So whatever distance you're doing, if it's new to you or whatever, it's it's a challenge. So you still have to go the distance, whether you're running the whole time or you're walking the whole time or you're using run walk, you still have to go the distance. It's still a challenge. You've got to put in the work.
00:50:35
Speaker
So the people that are running the whole time at a marathon or a half marathon, if they're happy with their results, if they're happy with with what they're getting, good for them. You're never going to find me. You're never going to catch me telling someone that they have to take walk breaks if they're happy with the way they're running. yeah If you're happy with your results, why would you change it, right? So by the same token, if you're having a hard time hitting your goal and, well, using run only, that's when one of those people would convert over to using run walk. And they're not going to go back at that point. um
00:51:08
Speaker
If you've grown up using run walk, if you've started as a runner and you've if you've grown into it and and you're enjoying the results you're getting as a run walk runner, you're probably not going to stop taking the walk breaks, but you might experiment a little bit. Right. And that's OK. I I've had friends that I've coached who decided, all right, that was good. And you got me through that marathon and everything. And but I see that guy across town and he's running that race without walk breaks. So I think I'm going to do that. And the stories that they tell me over coffee later are hilarious. Right. I was doing great.
00:51:44
Speaker
Until. There's always an until. right yeah Those untils. And run-walk runners have untils sometimes as well. But the run-only people get them a lot more often, those untils. um But this is the other thing that I will say. Jeff Galloway ran a two-hour 16 marathon using run-walk.
00:52:01
Speaker
So when someone asks me, is there ever a point where I'm going to be fast enough that I don't need walk breaks? ah Well, don't. you're breaking 216, maybe. I don't know. It's not been tested faster than 216.
00:52:13
Speaker
um So that you can try it. um Mark Bridget, who we've mentioned a couple of times, he ran a 241 marathon a couple of years ago using Run, Walk, Run. um You know, both of my sons have qualified for Boston using Run, Walk, Run. My wife and I qualified for, but you know, I am happy. I'm never going to do one of those races without walk breaks because I'm very happy with the results that I'm getting. And I know that if I were to take out, cut out the walk breaks, it wouldn't work for me. um Some people will stop taking walk breaks, but there's not a reason related to wanting to go faster that would, that would, if they stop taking walk breaks, it's more likely to be peer pressure from a group of folks that they're running with that make them, and, and,
00:52:57
Speaker
I'm going to say make them feel less than for taking walk breaks, but I don't think that's really true. Most runners are a lot nicer than we give them credit for. And so even those people, even those people that don't take walk breaks, they don't. If you as a run, walk runner, if you as a Galloway runner, you think that they're looking down on you, they probably are not looking down on you. um But we do sometimes have this imposter syndrome as Galloway runners. And um and and by golly, the best way to ever come that is to go to something like a Disney race where you're surrounded by the community that's taking those walk breaks. Totally.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah, totally. You remember back in high school and college, you'd walk into the cafeteria and you thought every single person was watching you walk into the room and you thought they were all staring at you and thought, you know, whatever. And it turns out not a single person cared. You walked in the room. Right. I'm I think that now about the walk breaks whatever. I used to think every runner was like staring at me like, what a slacker. Get yourself together. You know, and now I realize they they don't care. Right. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Well, and, and the reality is a lot of those people like occasionally, especially leading a pace group, we'll have someone who's grumpy on the course ok and thinks that we're in their way or whatever. remember one race, uh, I remember one race that I was pacing and there was a guy who got a little bit grumpy and he felt like we weren't keeping the pace group over to the side like we should have. And yeah he was doing his, you know, he's running straight through and all that. And
00:54:20
Speaker
get to about 18 miles, and who is walking right down the middle the road? Right. yeah right down the middle of the road, he's walking, right? He would never have told you he was gonna take walk breaks, but by golly, he found himself having to walk. yeah And um so, yeah. A lot of people, in fact, when you get to the marathon distance, most people at some point are going to find themselves walking. We just do it on purpose. We do it with a plan. Right. yeah and it And it feels good when you're doing it with a plan. yeah
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like inevitably, like, you end up going faster. You're stronger. I mean... The recovery time is my thing. We have friends, you know, they're like brand new runners and they're like, I can't get any faster. And I'm like, are you walking? Like, you know, and then come to find No, they're just trying to run straight through. And i'm like, no no, no, no, no. You need to incorporate walk breaks and you end up going so much faster. So it's I'm a huge fan. It's the only way I'll run. It does seem, I mean, it takes that first time you do it. It's like when I was saying somebody who who's with my pace group and suddenly realizes, oh, we're doing this. We're taking walk breaks. They have to take that moment to say, okay,
00:55:27
Speaker
This guy looks like he knows what he's doing or that woman looks like she knows what she's doing. i' I'll trust. i will I will put my trust in this person. And and so it takes that. yeah It does take that yeah that moment of trust, that leap of faith. But once you've done it, yeah, yeah it is so much better. that When we first heard Jeff Galloway talking about walk breaks, it was actually our second marathon. My first marathon, my wife and I, that first Disney, we did straight through. we ran we're in straight through. And then we got to our second marathon, 1995, Walt Disney World Marathon, and Jeff was talking about taking walk breaks. We've never heard of such a thing. yeah
00:56:04
Speaker
And so we decided, well, I don't know how it could possibly work, but this guy's got a book that we had read and really liked and- You he seems not to be completely insane. So yeah we'll yeah we'll try it, right? And we figure, well, the worst thing that happens is it doesn't work. And then if it doesn't work, we have the right to go around and tell people, hey, we did exactly what he said to do and it didn't work. yeah So we did exactly what he said to do. We did the run-walk ratio that he told us to use.
00:56:32
Speaker
And my wife qualified for Boston that first time. That's awesome. That first time she took walk break. Never trained that way. yeah The first time she took walk break, she qualified. So, Yeah, mean that we did that leap of faith was ah well, well placed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:56:47
Speaker
Awesome. We talked to customized training earlier. You made a pretty good pitch for it earlier. Can you give us a clear definition of what it is, who it's for? I mean, just kind of like, I think people really need to look at it, right? Can you kind of give us the the direct pitch for for what customized
Tailored Training Services
00:57:03
Speaker
is? Absolutely.
00:57:04
Speaker
Customized training is, ah first and foremost, it's a community. We have people that are all over the world who are training for distances from, we've had people in Customized that are training for a fitness test in the military that's a mile and a half long. And we've had people that have trained to try to run multi-day events where they're hitting 300 miles. So everything from short distance to ultra marathons.
00:57:28
Speaker
And what we do is we start with a questionnaire. You fill out the questionnaire. It tells me where you are currently in your fitness journey. It tells me what your goals are and it tells me what restrictions you have on your time, what days you can and can't run, what trips you have planned, other things going on. And we build a schedule. I i build a schedule that is specifically for each individual. It's not cookie cutter. There are certainly a lot of the same workouts that that you do and other people do. And most of them are workouts that I learned from Jeff Galloway, but it's put together specifically for you to help you to your goal. And then as you go through, as you need changes, as you need updates,
00:58:10
Speaker
all you do is ask and we update the schedule and make those changes to help steer you. It's not just point you in the right direction. We actually help steer you down the path to get to your goal. It's fantastic. It's what I wish I had had when I was ah first getting into running and when I was trying to achieve those PRs that I'll never see again. um i wish I had had the community and then the the coach who was guiding me. I had Jeff. I did have Jeff. ah So I was able to call Jeff anytime and it'd get his guidance. And I'm forever, forever grateful for that. ah But the community aspect of it was something that I didn't have. And that's what customized what I think makes customized special. I think you guys meet right, right. Like over Zoom. Like, did you mention that earlier? to That is that that was a piece of it.
00:59:01
Speaker
We do group Zooms. yeah Absolutely, we do group Zooms. And as I mentioned before, I do have some spots for folks that I coach one-on-one. They are invited to those group Zooms as well. And they absolutely love those. And I have people that they do that. And then later the same day, I see them in their one-on-one call. But, um, but yeah, we do group Zooms and then, and they usually, usually they last, um, maybe two hours in the morning session, maybe hour 45 minutes or so in the evening session. um so yeah, we, we do not everybody.
00:59:35
Speaker
Not everybody that's in Customize comes to those Zooms. um The ones that do ah really get, they're the ones that are maximizing the experience. That's great. Yeah. how do How do we find and learn more about Customize if someone feels like that's a possibly a match for them?
00:59:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's all at jeffgalloway.com. Or if you are on the Galloway 360 app, which you can download and join for free, there's there's a section of it that is that you pay for, but you can get onto Galloway 360 for free. yeah ah You can find out and you can sign up either through our website or through the app. Excellent. Awesome. um Is there anything that you're really excited about right now that you just don't get to talk about enough because people don't ask or don't know to ask you about it Wow. um You know, one of the things that i I do talk about the Galloway pacing a lot.
01:00:26
Speaker
One of the things that I probably don't share all that much about is the worldwide reach of run-walk pacing. It's not just, well, we certainly are are the experts in it.
01:00:40
Speaker
But for good reason. um We have a I have good relationship with pace coordinators for other events around the world. And so the run, walk, run method is not just something you're going to see at Disney races when you're looking at the pacers. You're going to find run, walk, run pacers that are using Jeff Galloway's ratios at the London Marathon. You're going to find them at the Sydney Marathon. You're going to find them at the Rome Marathon. There are races all over the world where you're going to find people doing this. And it's directly because of Jeff. It's it's you know Jeff's ratios. A lot of these pace coordinators are reaching out to me and saying, I want to make sure we're doing this right. Is this the right, you know how do we do it? Or Can we have a training a training day where you can hop on a Zoom with our with our pacers and to see which ones are interested in doing this and make sure they're doing it right? So i think we feel it's easy for us, especially in the Disney bubble, it's easy for us to feel like this is just something that we've kind of got to ourselves. And then if we go to another big race, we're not likely to find that method. But that's not as true now as it used to be. It's growing. It's gaining momentum. And i think that's something that i I, it's not that people don't ask me that. It's something that I am excited to talk about. I am excited to talk about how Run, Walk, Run is happening all over the world. they
01:02:03
Speaker
In England and in in Australia, they call it Jeffing. That's so cool. How unbelievable. That is so cool. you your name yeah being a verb? Right. that's just and And being a verb for something good. I promise you, if if my name ever becomes a verb, it's going to be because of some silly thing that I did. Yeah, day ha yeah. So, ah no, it's it's such a positive thing. It's such an uplifting thing, such an empowering thing. That's so cool.
01:02:32
Speaker
And it's happening all over the world. So if you're out there and you're doing Run, Walk, Run, and you think you're the only one in your community doing it, or you think you're the only one at this race you're going to that's doing it, first of all, you're probably wrong about that. Secondly, get into Customized or getting get into a community that is, you know, that's all about Run, Walk, Run. There are lots of them online on Facebook and places like that that you can you can feel the support yeah of the other folks. um But then, you know, don't don't be afraid to take those walk breaks and you'll be surprised. You'll you'll hear those timers beeping and you'll know that you're not alone. Yeah.
01:03:05
Speaker
Totally. good Awesome. This was really great. Anything else that um our friends, I mean, even if it's just a random thing, you know, that that our friends should consider before they sign up for marathon or any race, but marathon registrations next week, right? Like anything we need to think about?
01:03:21
Speaker
Absolutely. If you don't get in through the regular registration process, not all hope is lost. There are are a number of spots that are available through charities.
01:03:31
Speaker
the The Run Disney charities that have these spots are amazing. They all do incredible work. So i i would say so some of my friends, some of my the folks in Customized have taken the pressure off of registration day by signing up with ah with a charity right away. yeah And so they already know they've got their spots because they've secured it through a charity. But even if you haven't done that yet you want to try your hand at getting in through registration, do it, obviously. And but if you don't get in, look for a charity that ah that aligns with your values, that's something you're interested in, that's something that you can really support and reach out to them and say, I really want to do this race. And I also believe in your cause. And so please let me be a fundraiser. Let me commit to raising money to help you. And and I'll get to celebrate there the race.
01:04:24
Speaker
That's a good advice. Awesome. That's perfect. Cool.
Signature Question: Main Street vs. Medal
01:04:27
Speaker
Chris, thank you so much. Our friends, though, our podcast listeners going be really mad if I don't ask you a question we ask every single one of our guests. Sure. And usually ask at the beginning. And so I bet you, I can probably think of a couple names of people that have been stewing for an hour and 11 minutes. When are going to Wondering when we're going to ask.
01:04:44
Speaker
you know How could you not ask the would you rather questions? Right. And so if you're game for it, we ask every guest who has experience running down Main Street, which I'm pretty sure you've got that one covered. um Would you rather on a Disney half marathon run down Main Street or have a finisher medal for that half? But you can only have one of those. Right. We obviously want both, but you can only have one. Which one do you choose?
01:05:08
Speaker
Well, AJ, you mentioned earlier, you've got a lot of medals, right? You got a lot of medals sitting around. yeah I've got a lot. I have a whole lot of medals sitting around. Well, I i love my medals and I always, i love Metal Monday and I love to wear my medal when I'm walking around the parks afterwards. If I can only have one,
01:05:25
Speaker
I'm running down Main Street. That's a magical experience. You're on the right team, Chris. How does anybody answer that question differently? i Gosh, I mean, not to cast shade on people that that feel differently about that, but that's come on. that's that that's ah That shot's fired. Erica and are divided on this. I'm Main Street. He's metal. yeah When we first started the podcast, everybody was like, definitely Main Street. Now AJ's got like six or seven people that are like, oh, the medal. And I'm like, what's wrong with you guys? And you just defended all six of them. I yeah i love the medals. The medals are always cool. They're fun to get. But if I'm thinking back on my marathon or half marathon, you're talking about half marathon. If I'm thinking back on my half marathon experiences, I'm not thinking about, wow, that's a really cool medal. right and And I'm not wearing... wearing that medal. I mean, maybe you are, but I'm not wearing that medal beyond maybe the day after. I'm not wearing it a week later. Right. So but I still have the memory of that run down down Main Street. And those are the memories you're going to have are where you went and who you were with, not what you got hanging on neck.
01:06:39
Speaker
That's right. I take back every positive thing I said about you, Chris. Oh, my gosh. I'm kidding. Everyone's entitled to a wrong opinion. It's all good. Oh, gosh. He has the right opinion. He has the right opinion. This is why we run Disney, AJ, for Main Street. That's right. Well, unfortunately, don't get Main Street every single race. Yes, yes, yes. And so we won't have it for our next couple of race weekends. But the courses are amazing. They highlight parts of the parks that we don't really see much for the other races. So, yeah. Even if you're not going to get that Main Street experience, I mean, obviously get signed up for one of those races that does go down Main Street. But if you're not going to get that, you're still going have a magical experience. Yes.
01:07:24
Speaker
When I first started running and hated it, I would tell people running at Disney is the only place where running feels magical. That was like my thing. so yes yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Contact and Engagement with Chris
01:07:34
Speaker
Well, Chris, thank you so, so much for coming on our podcast. It was such an honor to have you on. And we just are so appreciative of everything that you do for RunWalk and Galloway and just everything. Thank you so much. It's my absolute pleasure. And if anyone listens to this and and they have a follow-up question or whatever, again, they can they can go to jeffgalloway.com and find it, or they can email me, Chris, C-H-R-I-S at jeffgalloway.com.
01:07:58
Speaker
Awesome.
Segment Wrap-Up and Gratitude
01:08:00
Speaker
Oh my gosh, AJ, that was so good and so helpful. And I just, I just love the run, walk, run method. It's so wonderful. Everyone should use it. Yes. And I love Chris. Yes. Except for the fact that he would choose the marathon or the, what do you call it? The, the, Look, I know you don't like to lose, but you just have to face it that that Main Street is the correct answer. I was genuinely surprised by his answer. Seriously? Yeah. 31 whatever marathons and he's going to choose Street? Yeah. It's the right answer. genuinely surprised i really like chris like he's down to earth fun funny yeah takes things and just puts them in simple terms it's like really practical and easy to understand and i feel just like right now i'm like ready to go for a run yeah you know what i mean like just inspired just like genuinely like so encouraging yep for everyone so yeah we're we're so grateful for him being on the podcast Uh, really quick news things. Cause this episode has now gotten pretty long. I didn't want to, i didn't want to cut any of that short. no i It was, it was so good. Um, a reminder, run Disney news stuff, whatever, a reminder that marathon weekend registration is Tuesday, March 17th at 10 AM Eastern. And if you have never done the registration or you've maybe not gotten in or whatever, I, yeah we do have a YouTube video
Marathon Registration Guide
01:09:22
Speaker
that helps. and a lot of people have said that you should watch it. this last round, they were like, oh my gosh, thank you. yeah you know And so if you just need to kind of know what to do and what information to have available and all that stuff, it's literally step-by-step. Yep. You've got screenshots and all kinds of things. Correct. It's the way to go. You know, we like to say we want to be helpful, yeah right? And so that hopefully is helpful. It's on the YouTube channel, youtube.com slash AJ and
Podcast Conclusion
01:09:47
Speaker
Erica. Um, Erica, that's all I got for today. I think, I think we just call it right there and and that's the end. Subscribe on Instagram. Leave us a review. If you don't mind, that really helps the show. Uh, if you don't have anything else, then no, you don't.
01:10:01
Speaker
Perfect. if you don't have anything else, let's call it a night. We'll see you next week for an another episode of one more
01:10:12
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for this episode of One More Run, the podcast. If you like what we're up to, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Instagram. You can find links to all of that AJandErica.com.