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Ep 42 - Community, encouragement and fun with the Pelkey Running Club
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John Pelkey is back… and this time he brought some of his friends from the Pelkey Running Club.
We’re playing “What Would John Pelkey Do?”— a chaotic, funny, and surprisingly insightful game built around real runDisney scenarios.
From race morning mishaps and costume chaos to behind-the-scenes announcer moments, this episode is packed with quick thinking and plenty of laughs. You’ll also get to meet members of the Pelkey Running Club and experience the energy, encouragement, and community they bring to every race weekend.
If you love runDisney, and the people who make it all so special—this one’s for you!
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Transcript
Introduction to John Pelkey and the Game
00:00:00
Speaker
On last week's episode, we had the privilege of having Run Disney race announcer John Pelkey on the podcast. Today, John is back, but this time he's joined by some of his friends from the Pelkey Running Club, and we're going to have some fun playing a game we're calling What Would John Pelkey Do?
00:00:14
Speaker
What Would John Pelkey Do?
About the Podcast: AJ and Erica's Mission
00:00:22
Speaker
Hey there, friends. Welcome to One More Run, the podcast. My name's AJ. Erica is my wonderful co-host, my wife, my best friend, my running buddy. Anything else? I think that's it. Yeah. The mother of your children. Yep. Exactly. So we host this podcast in an effort to help you feel confident and ready for whatever Run Disney thing you're doing, or even if it's not Run Disney. right We do other races. And so right we just happen to talk a lot about run Disney. We love it. And so if you're new here or you've been here for a while, just know that we're just sharing tips and tricks, right? We're just sharing what we know from our experiences and we bring in other people every once in a while to help us do that as well. And today's the Pelkey Running Club and they're awesome. We just finally, I mean,
00:01:07
Speaker
We finally like ah met some of them yeah you know ah face-to-face through like a Zoom call. So we've interacted online, but this was super fun. It's really, really good. So before we dive into that, let's do some housekeeping things.
Upcoming Guest Announcement
00:01:20
Speaker
The two things that I want to mention are next week, we're going to have a guest on the podcast to help us talk through our origin story, yes our run Disney origin story. So literally you and I already know everything about ourselves, but we brought a guest on someone we trust entirely, like yeah fully to kind of just guide the conversation, ask some questions. And then when we, you know, when we give an answer, he might be able to like,
00:01:41
Speaker
dig a little deeper. Yeah. You know? totally And so that is super good. Like that, that's going to be fun. And if you know us and you've listened to all 40 something episodes, great. If you're new here and you don't know who we are, and you don't know our kind of history or why we do this or wherever whatever. It's kind of like in one episode. Yeah.
00:01:57
Speaker
You can listen that episode and kind of just get a gist of, okay, so now I know who these people that host this podcast are. yeah That is next week. yeah The other housekeeping thing is we like to read reviews on the podcast because it helps with the algorithm, helps people find the show. When people search for stuff and there's positive reviews, it helps people find the show, which we want to be helpful, yeah right? So we want to say thank you by reading those on the podcast.
Listener Feedback and Community Appreciation
00:02:20
Speaker
Absolutely. So this one is titled run Disney newbie. I'm not totally sure how to say their name. Okay. Uh, it's K T M Y N R D. So maybe Katie Menard. I'm not sure. Okay. But anyway, they say, thank you so much for all the info. I'm running the princess as my first half marathon this weekend. I'm so grateful to have found you both for the encouragement and the knowledge you all have hyped me up. Awesome. I love love that. Yeah. Hopefully Princess. Yeah. Hopefully Princess went great. Yes. So yeah. Yeah. Princess was a few weeks ago. We're catching up on the reviews, but hopefully you had a great experience. We love that you got hyped up yeah and that that podcast is helpful.
00:02:57
Speaker
Thank you for leaving that
Reintroducing John Pelkey and the Running Club
00:02:58
Speaker
review. Um, so today we have the Pelkey running club on the show and we had John and Grant, John Pelkey, who's like the namesake of the club, right? Grant, who started the whole thing on last week. And we've actually like, we just invited him right back. yes hey Can y'all come back and bring some friends? Yes. to know So they brought some friends with them. And if you've heard last week's episode, you already know this. If you haven't heard it, go back after this one and listen to it. The thing that they're doing is they're building community. They're encouraging others and they're having fun. yeah Those are there like the pillars of what they do.
00:03:31
Speaker
And it's very evident when you see any of them, especially when they're together. totally And so they're on the show today. they' i guess a small group is representing the club. There's 2,000 of them or so, what i however many people follow on Instagram. yeah There's that there's a lot of them. There's six of them, seven, including John, ok on the podcast today. Yeah. We're going to play a game called what would John Pelkey do? And the goal here is to have some fun on the show, but also introduce you to the community that comes with being a part of the Pelkey Running Club.
Game Introduction: 'What Would John Pelkey Do?'
00:04:04
Speaker
Hey there, friends. John and Grant were on the pod last week, which Erica was so much fun. I had an incredible time talking with them. And they're already back. This is like unprecedented because we back-to-back episodes with the same guests. We haven't done that yet. We haven't, but this is awesome. And can you say unprecedented if you're only like 40 episodes in? Sure, why not? But it's so exciting to have them back. like And this time they brought friends. So guys, I would love to welcome the Pokey Running Club to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast, guys. guys day yeah Thanks for having us.
00:04:32
Speaker
Good to be back. That's awesome. Well, we'd love to get a quick introduction of who's on with us today. Can y'all introduce yourselves by name, where you're from, and maybe how many Ryan Disney races you've done? John, we met you on last week's show, but can we start with you?
00:04:45
Speaker
Yes, my name is John Pelkey. I'm originally from Northern Virginia. I now live in Central Florida, and I have attended dozens upon dozens of run Disney races, and I've actually done two.
00:04:57
Speaker
Hey, I'm Shana Folliwell, and I'm from Central Kentucky. um I have done 42 run Disney races since 2022, and whenever we finish out the season, it'll be number 49. Whoa.
00:05:10
Speaker
whoa That is awesome. That's incredible. ah Grant Herman, Memphis, Tennessee, and I've done 37 run Disney races. Wow, I'm feeling like um like a rookie here. Yeah, 20s. Barely any. fair It's only going to get worse from here, AJ. Oh, man.
00:05:26
Speaker
Dan Kelly, ah originally from Michigan. I live in the Chicago area. And I'm not going to make you feel too bad, AJ, because I'm only at 16 currently with another three coming up here at springtime.
00:05:38
Speaker
And then I have Goofy on the calendar for January also. Hi, I'm Kate McGuire. um I'm from North Carolina, and I think I'm at 24, 25 run Disney races. And I'm Kelsey Kinoshita. I'm from Southern California. very close to Disneyland.
00:05:55
Speaker
I have done a 110 Disney race. Oh my gosh. Oh, man. Kelsey, we're from Southern California. We don't live there now, but we went, we worked at Disneyland and all that in college and we grew up. Oh, that's awesome. We, we, yeah. So I if I'm going leave this on the podcast, but we went to school in La Mirada. Yeah. So we, we know, we know Fullerton for sure. My family lives in La Mirada. So that's crazy. That's awesome. And Adrian.
00:06:19
Speaker
My name is Adrian Von Zully. I live in the Austin, Texas area in a city called Leander. And I've done 42 run Disney races since 2024. That is awesome. Nice. That is awesome. Very cool. So this is Erica, like a small collective, you know, like it's only it's only six or seven, or seven including John, members of the the club. I can't even imagine collectively how many run Disney races they've all done. Yeah, but you guys represent the club today. We are going to play a game. Uh, and you guys have already been put into two teams. I guess Grant told me and Grant, maybe you can explain where it came from really fast that that you guys are, are like divided within the group, I guess, or the club of like team treadmill versus team outside runners. So we've put you into those two teams today, but can you give me the background really fast?
00:07:06
Speaker
It's not an equal division, but it is a division. It's one of those things I think, you know, as the club has grown, camaraderie continues to kick up and we find new ways to engage and have fun with one another and a conversation around team outside versus team treadmill.
00:07:21
Speaker
Uh, started probably about a year ago, Adrian and Dan, keep me honest there. Um, and it's, it's nonstop when people are running either on their tread or outside for training runs, they're typically tagging us and, uh, hashtagging team outside or team treadmill. So it's just an ongoing conversation similar to y'all's, uh, main street or metals discussion, uh, that we have within our club. So, yeah, so it's all, it's all, it's all in fun for sure. Right. Yeah.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. For some of us, it is. Yeah, i trying to say i I was going to say, the visiting team today is Team Treadmill. Says the guy outside of that. ah So Team Treadmill is Adrian, Shana, and Kelsey.
00:07:59
Speaker
ah welcome Welcome to the competition. And Team Outside is Grant, Dan, and Kate. The game is called, what would John Pelkey do? The concept and the rules are simple. We're going to throw out some scenarios. Your team will have the opportunity to present directly to John what you think he would do in that scenario. You get a max of two minutes to answer and present.
Scenarios and Pelkey's Reactions
00:08:21
Speaker
He has the tough task of selecting one of those answers as the best answer. If you're both totally way off and he's like, I wouldn't do either of those things, then no one gets a point.
00:08:32
Speaker
um The team awarded the most points at the end wins the game. Okay? Your answer is a team answer. And in the unlikely event that your team you know says the same or has the same answer as the team that just went before you, then you're going to have to pivot and come up with something new pretty much on the fly.
00:08:50
Speaker
And if team treadmill wins, I think Dan has to go run on a treadmill. Same, same, Adrian, same. I'm going to have Siri flip a coin for us. Dan, no, let's do, we'll have Grant. You're the leader of this whole situation. We'll have you choose heads or tails and then that then you can decide. So i choose heads or tails and I'll have Siri flip a flip a coin.
00:09:11
Speaker
We'll go heads. All right, Siri, can you please flip a coin? its tales Tails. So does that mean team treadmill gets to go first? Is that how we're going to play it? Let's do that.
00:09:21
Speaker
Sure. All right. Perfect. All right. So we're going to start with a warmup round one. Here's your scenario. John is doing a three mile run as part of his training for the 2026 St. Jude half marathon. He sees a lost puppy. The dog has no collar on and he doesn't recognize the pup. What would John Pelkey do?
00:09:39
Speaker
All right, I'm representing Team Treadmill here. So John's running along. He sees this dog. He's like, oh my gosh, I was ready for a walk break anyway. My calves are on fire. So him and new friend, they're skedaddling on home to Queen Jodi. And of course, she's like, oh my gosh, we have to keep this critter and find it a new home. So she's over there frantically typing on Facebook, telling us exactly, you know, all the details about this poor lost puppy. He's got the softest hair, the sweetest spirit. Somebody please come and get him.
00:10:07
Speaker
And John's just like, okay, well, um I guess it's gonna hang out with me in the recliner. And then the next morning we start getting hundreds upon hundreds of photos of him in the recliner with both dogs now in the group chat.
00:10:19
Speaker
Wow. Basically it's a foster failure. Bad dog ain't going anywhere. Amazing. All right. All right. Team outside. Good luck with your counter offer.
00:10:32
Speaker
Oh, boy. um All right. So ah Kate for team outside. So, you know, John is out here on this casual three mile run.
00:10:43
Speaker
And all of a sudden, boom, there's this puppy. Two things are going to happen straight away. One, he's going to be like, are we are we finishing this run? Just kidding. No, we're done. We're not going to pause the watch. We're just stopping. We're turning it off. We're going back.
00:10:57
Speaker
I'm driving home. On the way home, we're calling Jodi. There's no questions, nothing. It's going to be, all right, listen, we got a new puppy. We got to look and see if we can find his home. But if not, this is our new puppy. We're going to check the vet. We're going to check, you know, the Humane Society. We're doing all the things. But at the same time, secretly, John's like, what am I going to name my new friend? Because I'm pretty sure this is my new running buddy for all these training runs going to St. Jude.
00:11:21
Speaker
And then... I'm pretty sure he's going end up with his own Instagram, maybe a TikTok. I don't know. And ah once once we get home, Jodi's going to be like, all right, we've established what's happening. This is who our new friend is.
00:11:34
Speaker
And now the group chat is just going to be, well, new friend and I are doing this. New friend and I are doing that because John has his new bestie for all like all the time. 24 seven. This is what we do.
00:11:47
Speaker
Okay. It sounds like the Pelkey Club really knows John because judging by his face, can tell that both of their answers were accurate. Some poor little kid who lost his puppy in the neighborhood in both scenarios no longer this dog. out dog. No, no. We did check. We made sure. Yes. Gotcha. John, what do you say? Very similar answers, John, but what do you say?
00:12:10
Speaker
Okay, so much of that was correct on both sides. First of all, of course I stopped running and get the dog. And AJ and Erica, just I don't know if we talked about this before, I don't remember, because I'm old and I don't remember things. ah and ah But my wife ran a pet rescue for 20 years, animal is a huge part of our huge part of our life. Yeah. So, yes, we would stop and get the dog. We would certainly take it and have it checked for a microchip and all of that, put up signs, all of those lovely things. And we would foster the dog. The only place this is going south, guys, is we would not end up keeping the dog. We would find the dog a ah forever home. And that's just simply because we want to travel more as as we're going.
00:12:53
Speaker
getting into our retirement years and our dog Stanley, who's just ah a small dachshundie sized dog, easy to track travel with, easy if you have to go, if we want to go somewhere for six months and rent a house. So we would definitely find it a forever home. It would simply not be our home, but we would foster it until it found a a forever home.
00:13:12
Speaker
And that might take 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We might end up with a dog. So that's kind of a tie. Frankly, I'd give a half point to both teams because it's just, uh, they, they were so, uh, first of all, you know, Dickens wouldn't have written a longer answer and they were for both of them and they covered so many things that we would do. I will say though, uh, my social media game is horrific. So that probably wouldn't happen either, but the dog would find a forever home So that's, that's most likely not with us. So I give a half point. de You'd give a half point. I'd give it to team treadmill since they, the team outside missed it with the socials.
00:13:48
Speaker
It it's your podcast. We'll go have these. All right. I will say they got us on the vet checkup. Yes. So I think it kind of cancels each other. It's fine. It's fine. It's have these. We'll accept it. I want you to know this was the easiest question on the list, John.
00:14:03
Speaker
Oh gosh. yeah that everybody Yeah, everybody knew I was gonna stop, right? If there's a picture of a dog on the ground, I'm gonna stop running, so. All right, let's go number two. um So team treadmill went first on that one. So team outside gets to go first on this one.
00:14:19
Speaker
It's race morning and John is on time to catch his VIP transportation from the resort to the start line for costumes, makeup, mic check and all the pre-race stuff. Carissa isn't around. So they wait a few minutes, of course, they try to call her, but still no Carissa. She's in her room for sure.
00:14:37
Speaker
Totally not reachable. Her phone must be off. Even her room phone must be unplugged. Weston isn't even at this race weekend. What does John Pelkey do? Team outside, go for it.
00:14:49
Speaker
So we all know on race morning, John is known for being on time. Carissa, not so much. Uh, you know, so maybe there's a delay with the coffee situation or something, but you know, John's a good teammate when it comes down to it. And so like, he's going to look around little bit ago. It's somebody messing with me. Is this a part of the whole bit this time around? Are they just screwing with me here?
00:15:10
Speaker
But when he realizes that that's what it is, the consummate professional inside of him is going to kick in and he's going to take it and just run with it. Right. You know, he's prepared for the situation where maybe she shows up, but if not, he's got that thing handled. And we all saw that during the 5k and marathon weekend when the power went out and who jumped right into action. John did.
00:15:34
Speaker
Perfect. So you're you're proposing that John just handles it on his own. Is that what I understood? With the possibility that Carissa could arrive at any time. He may even make some jokes along the way. you know Hey, has anybody seen Carissa?
00:15:46
Speaker
Perfect. Team Treadmill, do you have a counter argument or counter proposal? We do. I'll take this one. So this happened recently, and I think we know what John would do. And he would sit in that van and he would stew and he would get the bits ready because he's going to have all morning from the stage to remind everyone that Carissa was late. He's going to be lighting up our text thread.
00:16:10
Speaker
We're going to hear all about it. We're going to get pictures of him in that dark van with a coffee. And he's going to ask someone else to go do it. All right. Perfect, John. It's up to you to decide which one is most like you.
00:16:20
Speaker
Oh yeah, i'm going to sit in the van and then I'm gonna mock her for the rest of the day from the stage. course I am. And that has happened. That's happened more than once. More than more than likely what would what would happen is I would make Tracy go and walk to her room and knock on the door.
00:16:35
Speaker
because Because I've already walked all the way to the van and that that's a long way generally. To Dan's point, if I had to go on by myself, I would, but oh, no, no, no, no. no no I would do everything I could to make sure that that I made fun of her the entire time. Perfect. That sounds like Adrian's team won that one. Is that team treadmill?
00:16:51
Speaker
That is. Perfect. We've got, this is already confusing. One and a half to half. Okay, good. Perfect. Nicely done, everybody. All right, here's round three. All right, round three, it's the Wine and Dine 2027 5K and the theme is the Aristocats. John arrives to Wardrobe to get his costume and discovers that Riley has been given a Thomas O'Malley outfit and John will be Uncle Waldo. We all know that John wants to be Thomas O'Malley. Wardrobe says no. What would John Pelkey do?
00:17:19
Speaker
All right, I believe Team Treadmill gets to start. I'll take this one again. So John would mention it about 14,000 times from the stage because this is unjust.
00:17:30
Speaker
He would shame Riley the entire time and he at every chance, every wave that gets released, he's going to throw another quip in there. He's going to say, oh, is this because I'm perpetually marinated or is this because I'm too large for the Thomas O'Malley suit? Because Uncle Waldo is a fat, loud drunk. Actually, not bad, him.
00:17:48
Speaker
I think this is the correct answer. i ye but Yep. Yep. I I'm, I'm feeling it. Hey, team team outside. You have to have a different answer. Okay. If your answer is the same, you're going to have to pivot real fast. Uh, yeah, we're pivoting on the fly here for sure. Okay. We, we, we acknowledge that John probably accepts it professionally, but emotionally he's not accepting it. And, uh, he's creating quips back and forth every time Riley gets thrown an interview and he throws it back.
00:18:13
Speaker
John's got something to say there. So, um, you know, I think maybe he, he stages a, uh, mini walk off or storm off stage at some point, just, uh, you know, make some excitement and, ah have some runners, you know, record, some of that to throw on the socials just for extra fun. Um, but at the end of the day, I think we completely concur that, uh, every corral, every finish line moment, John's not letting it go. And it's, it's coming back that, uh, he's been, you know, um screwed over here, basically. all right, John, you can decide if one of those is more more like you than not, or if we're awarding half points again, you're welcome to do that. How do you feel?
00:18:54
Speaker
Well, yeah but and both of them, again, know how ah angry I would be if that did happen. And i yes, I would. i would do thousand quips from the stage, doing everything I could to humiliate Riley.
00:19:08
Speaker
But I'm gonna give team, i ah end excuse me, outside the win, because the storm off the stage thing, there would be a point where I would go down on the, as I call where Riley is during the waves, on the dance floor and make him go up on the stage since he's Thomas O'Malley and oh, the production crew loves him so much, he gets to be the guy. So yeah, you go up there and do that. you know I'll do the 15 seconds, oh, how many races have you done? You're running for anybody? Okay, back to you guys on the stage. Yeah.
00:19:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly what would happen. So by buy an act, pretty close. And and and hopefully this will will never happen. But if it did, yeah, I would i would definitely storm off the stage and force Riley into doing the waves, which he would hate. Okay. A comeback from Team Outside. I believe we're tie game, if I'm doing my math right. That's 1.5 to 1.5.
00:19:57
Speaker
Nicely done. Good pivot. And you got it. You got it done. So ah Team Outside, you get to start, I believe, on this next one. Round number four. ah By the way, there's eight rounds. Round number four, six months in advance of Marathon Weekend, Run Disney lets John know that they have a new role for him at this year's marathon. They would like for him to join the Balloon Ladies as the first balloon man. It's it's a one-time offer and it could impact his relationship with the race director if he decides not to take the role that he's been invited to. He might not be invited you know back to Run Disney anymore if he turns this one down. But this is a full marathon.
00:20:36
Speaker
What would John Pelkey do? So, um you know, as historic as this would be, obviously, for probably about five seconds, John's competitive side is going to kick in and be intrigued. And he's like, oh, this is legacy. This is new.
00:20:52
Speaker
Nobody's done this before. Like first balloon man. But then he's going to be like, oh, this my my knees, my back. I really don't think Jody's really going to be ah here for this one. So, because this isn't a jog, right? This is the full marathon. This is the the whole thing. 26 full miles. So he's going to handle it in the way he always does.
00:21:15
Speaker
Let the the conversation get off the ground. And he's going to be professional, respectful, maybe crack a joke or two, ah say something like, I'm honored. Really, or I am. But I also enjoy walking.
00:21:28
Speaker
And I'd like to be able to do that after this weekend. So I'm going to, you know... Thank you, but decline. And, um, and if, if something were to happen with his announcement, announcing role and, and it, you know, he had to retire, he'd probably be like, yeah, great run, no regrets. And, uh, uh, I didn't do them with the marathon. So I'm good. Okie dokie. I'm interested to see how he feels about that one. All right. Team treadmill, your response.
00:21:54
Speaker
Okay, team, I'm going to pivot just a little bit because we were similar here. Okay, so we've talked about John doing a full marathon, right? Yeah, we've we've all known how this is going to go. So I'm thinking that that resignation letter is probably already in his wallet. Okay. We just got it queued up, ready to go for this kind of scenario.
00:22:14
Speaker
um But he is a team player in some regards. So, you know, he so I think he's going to say, OK, why the heck not? We're going to do it. We're going to do it. Is he going to complain the whole time? Absolutely. But he's going to be able to add this to his resume. But once we get to that finish line and he's crossing that line and Riley and Chris and Tracy are all waving at him.
00:22:34
Speaker
never again is going to be the first words out of his mouth. And then he's going to find some way to blame us, the PRC, for getting him into this scenario, because we will have had inevitably had something to do with it, whether we did or not. But in his mind, it's going to be our fault.
00:22:47
Speaker
I love both of these responses. John, good luck. ah Yeah, if it were a half marathon, I would love to be the balloon man. But 26.2 miles,
00:22:58
Speaker
Not a chance, but a great gig. I've enjoyed it. I'll be here at my retirement home in Asheville, North Carolina, and I'll and i'll enjoy watching my friends online finish finish the race. i don't I said at
John's Professional Dilemmas
00:23:13
Speaker
the end of my half marathon, when i I'm like, so people do this and there's like another one of these now that I've just done? Yeah. I'm not seeing that. the And all hail the balloon ladies. All hail the balloon ladies because that that is not a lot of fun and I still haven't been able to get them that development deal on Disney Plus because I think they should be a TV show, frankly. The balloon ladies are reality show. Seriously.
00:23:36
Speaker
After John's half, Chris Twiggs made me promise that we would not convince him to try to run a full marathon. So really that is the right answer. All right. so Chris Twiggs, if I just jump in real quickly and just say Chris Twiggs at the end of the um princess half, I was down talking to him at the little thing they had for Jeff Galloway. And he, yeah you know, he's very crispy, very serious. And I love Chris. And he's like, you know, I'm.
00:24:01
Speaker
I talked to Jeff not long ago, and one thing he said he he really wanted was that you would, at some point, finish reading Ulysses. And I swear that I thought he was going to say, yes you're goingnna run a half me you're gonna run a full And I thought, well, he made me made me laugh at it because I thought that was coming. I thought that was going to be the thing that they were going to do. was going to twigs like, Jeff really wanted you to run a marathon. He knew better. yeah He knew better. Half marathon's a fun distance. That's awesome. All right. So team outside with another comeback on that one. did today Is that what I just heard?
00:24:35
Speaker
So we are 2.5. I believe so. To 1.5. Okay. All right. I believe team treadmill gets to start this one. Erica, you want to present? Yes. Round five. The Disney Cruise Line DVC member cruise is going to Hawaii for a 10-day sailing, and they've invited John and Jody to come host events on the cruise. But unfortunately, this year it's on the same weekend as marathon weekend. John has to choose between run Disney and DCL. What would John Pelkey do?
00:25:02
Speaker
I also do the DVC member cruises. And if I have to make that choice, I'm going to Hawaii. So I'm thinking John and Jody are probably also going to Hawaii because it's a no brainer. Like you're in paradise, you're on an all inclusive Disney cruise line. There's amazing recurring guests. It's a great time. And it's 10 days in the warm, in the warm sun with normal ah operating hours.
00:25:25
Speaker
And we'll have a, we'll have a ah running count of of cocktail counts in our, in our group chat. Perfect. All right. Team outside. so I can't deny that doing 10 day Hawaii cruise would not appeal to John for all the reasons Kelsey mentioned.
00:25:44
Speaker
However, I'm going to assume in this scenario, right, the announcer team, John and the rest of them, get their contract well before the races, right? And we're talking marathon weekend here.
00:25:56
Speaker
So in the end, that's the decision he makes. Not that he isn't excited about no wake up calls at midnight to be ready for announcing.
00:26:08
Speaker
Not that he wouldn't enjoy being in Hawaii more and not that he might not make a few cracks during announcing for marathon weekend about how he could be on a cruise ship right now or on a beach with a drink.
00:26:23
Speaker
But in the end, he honors the contract and he stays to announce marathon weekend. I love that we have opposing ones finally. yeah all All right, John, what would John Pelkey do?
00:26:35
Speaker
um There's actually a little history behind this because I hosted the i announced the Denver Colfax Marathon a few years ago. um if Three years ago, three three, four years ago. Anyway, um they wanted me to come back for the next season. and My good friend, Cree Kelly, that started that race, one of our former race announcers at Disney, for those of you remember Cree, and ah he the race the next year was the same time as a DVC cruise to Spain and Italy.
00:27:06
Speaker
And i I did the DVC cruise because I wanted my marriage to stay intact. However, nobody gets a point, and here's why.
00:27:17
Speaker
you get them in a bidding war at this point. Because on the one hand, you got run Disney over here. yeah And I've got DVC over here. And it's like, little something for the effort. what What's in this for me? Now, run Disney has, you know, because normally we are contracted for an entire season.
00:27:36
Speaker
um So, you know, they would have they would have thrown that out. But if I'm finding out around the same time, Dan's right. If I've if i've signed a contract, I'm a professional and and I'm going to do it. But if that's coming down around the same time,
00:27:48
Speaker
ah we're We're gonna see, because i'm not not be my 25th anniversary was supposed to be in Hawaii, ah but then we found this other thing to do. So yeah, i'm i nobody gets any points, because they're going into bidding war for me. Absolutely. I love it.
00:28:04
Speaker
i love it. oh man Okay, perfect. I love it. We're still two
Personal and Professional Scenarios
00:28:08
Speaker
and a half to one and a half. those are That's our score. And I believe Team Outside gets to lead on this one. all right. i think these are going to get, these last few going to be tough. It's 11.01 PM.
00:28:19
Speaker
And John is staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a run Disney race weekend. He is starving. he has. to get something to eat before he gets a couple of hours of sleep. He has no snacks in his room and all of the gift shops, restaurants, everything at resort, everything is closed.
00:28:38
Speaker
What would John Pelkey do? So part of us thinks this is super close to call time where he would just fall asleep and then wake up and eat in the trailer. But we're assuming that we have to make a decision here and he has to get some fuel in his body before that call time occurs. um So we're calling in...
00:28:56
Speaker
uh you know the dark horse here uh john is picking up the phone and calling stephanie humphrey um a local who he knows very well who has supplied him with fuel on race courses and snacks at start and finish lines uh but she is going to know what's available or have stuff available at her house she lives just north of magic kingdom so it's not going to be that far of a drive to get him well fed And ready to go for the next morning. And I guarantee at some point, most likely when Stephanie approaches the start line, John is going to give her a shout out saying that that is the person who fueled him and got him ready to go for this morning's races.
00:29:36
Speaker
Wonderful presentation, Grant. All right. Team treadmill. i don't know if you have to adjust or anything, but it's your turn. we We were also going to say Stephanie. Oh! But our other option is that John being local will likely also have a car and won't want to wake up Stephanie in the middle of the night before a race that she's running. So there's a, I mean, an emergency, there's a McDonald's on property that should still be open at 11 o'clock. So John's headed to McDonald's. That's your answer?
00:30:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right. John, you calling in in the dark horse or you headed to the Arches? Uh, wow. they they That's both of those answers are outstanding and they are both tremendous choices.
00:30:18
Speaker
Um, I guess my only question is is Stephanie running the next morning? Of course. She's like a perfect, all the things. Yeah. Of course she's running. so Yeah. She stays all the time too, though, John. She doesn't get a lot of sleep. says she doesn't sleep? through Oh, that's me. And she does. And she knows the snacks. She knows the snacks that I love, too. So she knows what to bring me. But i I think in the scenario that has been presented, 1101. Oh, God. There's no sleep. Oh, man. Am I going want to? I think I'm probably going to go and get a couple of cheeseburgers.
00:30:51
Speaker
at McDonald's, just a regular small cheeseburger. So probably, probably going to do, probably going to do that. And now Stephanie is going mad at me because she's like, come on, man, I would have come over. So if it's a little, if it's, if it's later and it's towards, uh, you know, the time she would have to get up that I might lane, uh, team Stephanie, but, but, and by the way, there are always snacks in my room.
00:31:12
Speaker
This would never happen. I am prepared for that eventuality. This is a game now, ladies and gentlemen, we are tied up again. Nicely done team treadmill. Um, all right, round seven, who went first on the last one? I think team outside did. So team treadmill gets to go first on this one round seven. Okay, here we go. It is the day of the 2026 St. Jude half and John shows up to the start line. The race director comes up to him in a panic.
00:31:40
Speaker
All of the race announcers are sick. Every single last one of them. They need help. The director asks if he can fill in as the race announcer. We will pay you, the director says, but you won't be able to participate in the event at all. Sorry. So after all the training and his friends at the start line, the question is, what would John Pilkey do?
00:31:59
Speaker
going to take this one for Team Treadmill. So John, being the gentleman he is, He's still going to tell him no. He's going to wish him well, maybe give him a pointer or two. um But he's going to run with us. You know, he has suffered for months to put this training in. And by God, he's going to run this race, you know, because togetherness.
00:32:19
Speaker
But we're going to hear about it all 13.1 miles. Five miles in, he's going like, you know, guys, I could have been having a coffee in the trailer if I would have just announced this race. And then, you know, we'll get it out of his head and we'll do something fun. We might have a dance party at a port-a-potty at mile seven.
00:32:35
Speaker
You know, but then by 10 miles, he's going to like, you guys, we just got out of the campus. You know, it's not fun anymore. i could be having a scotch, but instead I'm running with you foals.
00:32:47
Speaker
He's not going to run. He's not going to announce the race, but he's going to announce to us during the race that he could have been doing that. And then whenever we cross the finish line, everyone's going to feel so accomplished. We're like, Johnny, we had the best day ever. He's like, we did. But did you hear that announcement? When when we came across the finish line, they could have done better.
00:33:08
Speaker
Wonderful. All right. Team outside. What do you got? So we also had a very similar answer for that as well. But we also, though, ah because obviously the big commitment, right? Like he fundraised for this. He did all the work. So, yes, i we we also agree, though, he is going to run. But...
00:33:27
Speaker
With a little difference. He would also make some suggestions about like, you know, Jody's there. So Jody could totally be the star line announcer. You get the DJs as announcers at the finish line because they're already there. They're already doing stuff. So you've got people in place who could do things.
00:33:43
Speaker
And then obviously we're going hear about the whole time. He could also then when he's done, sit down at the finish line and do the finish line announcing afterwards. All right. Similar answers with a little nuances there, John. What would John Pelkey do?
00:33:58
Speaker
Well, ah I would more than likely in that scenario. And yes, my wife actually does announce, Jody does announce St. Pete Runfest with me. So she she would be ah great. But I guess she's bailed on it, too. That's part of the story. I'll have to bring that up to her later when she gets home. um So ah what I would most most likely do was I would announce the start of the race.
00:34:22
Speaker
And then I'd be ah one of the back of the pack starters. um the I really appreciate um your belief that I could finish in time to announce any of the other finishers. I almost something. And might attempt that. You did last time, to be clear. That's right. I could. I ah so, ah yes, I there would be sixes of people finishing after me that would get would get it and the announcement. But I would definitely if they needed me, i would certainly send off ah the waves, even though I'm used to starting way up front, even though I'm so slow.
00:34:59
Speaker
But yeah, I would announce the start and probably try to do the finish if they needed me. All right. So does anybody get the point on that one? I'm announcer first. Sorry. Does anybody get the point, John? That's the question. Yeah. Just the fact that you have enough faith in me that I would actually be able to announce at the end of the race.
00:35:18
Speaker
ah Was that, Shana, I think, Shana, you were the one who said that I would announce at the end of the race as well. No, I said that you would complain about the announcement at the end of the race. Oh, no, no, no. That goes without saying. That's common knowledge. There would be a great deal of complaining throughout. I would try to do that.
00:35:34
Speaker
um Again, I might even be announcing only my name as I'm running. They could get me the microphone. And now the final finisher. It ends 20.57. So you'll be running past...
00:35:47
Speaker
yeah You'd be able to announce the entire Pelkey Running Club running behind you, at least. you know You'd be able to announce all them. That's right. i've They might get bored. I think that i think the idea that you know running with me the first time, it's like, ah, slowest time ever. That's a lot of fun. I'm i'm i'm really wondering what when the boredom's going to kick in at weekend 2026, when they're all like, look, you know these 14 and a half minute miles are great for you, but some of us will like to finish before the sun goes down. Yeah. Togetherness. I might might have a few of them with me, but send send them on ahead. ah and And any of you, by the way, who'd like to pick up the microphone and announce people at the end and knock yourselves out.
00:36:27
Speaker
Perfect. All right. So team outside gets the point, which makes it 3.5 to 2.5. This is a pivotal round because it's our last one. John, do not let the score, did you know, don't don't be nice and just give points away. So we go tiebreaker round. We actually need winner. I don't understand numbers, so I don't even know what's happening. Perfect.
00:36:47
Speaker
This is round number eight. Team outside could could finish it right here. Or we could go into ah tiebreaker if needed. Here we go. Round number eight. It is mile 12 of the St. Jude half. And yesterday's pre-race meal just caught up with John. Maybe it's some gas or maybe not.
00:37:06
Speaker
Shoot. ah He's not sure. His pace today hasn't been as good as he had hoped. So a stop at the at the restroom means pretty good chance of getting swept.
00:37:17
Speaker
Keep going, you know, go through and who knows what might happen. This is probably the last restroom. This is mile 12. So what would John Pelkey Here's the thing.
00:37:28
Speaker
He's one mile away, one mile from finishing when he started, right? We already talked about it earlier. He's suffered. He's put in the work. He's fundraised for this.
00:37:38
Speaker
It's all about the kids. He's going to leave it all out there. He's going to lock in. It's not about pace. It's not about time. It's just getting to the finish line. Worst case, we take care of it later. We're a solution-based organization here at the Pelkey Running Club.
00:37:53
Speaker
Adrian carries wipes with him. Let me get to that finish line. It's downtown. There's new clothes. But either way, he's going to get there, get that medal, finish that race.
00:38:06
Speaker
And then maybe there's a little bit of an assist afterwards from his friends in the Pelkey Running Club. Okay, perfect. Thank you, Dan. All right, Team Treadmill, your chance to tie this game you're right here. I just got called out, so I have to take that answer. And I think the challenge here is John doesn't want to leave it all out there, Dan.
00:38:23
Speaker
But yes, all of these folks have run with me. They all know that I carry wipes with me during a race because I am a prepared pacer. And I won't name any names, but there is at least one individual on this who has accepted those whites from me during the St. Jude half marathon.
00:38:40
Speaker
So what would happen? John would grab the entire baggie from me and he would go to that, brother that restroom and we would all wait, wait behind. And if we all got swept, we got swept. But if not, we were all going to plow through those sweepers and we were going to get to that finish line.
00:38:54
Speaker
All right. That's a good presentation from both of you, John. What would you do? We would head for the bathroom for God's sake. I'm a 61 year old man. When I was 25 or 30 or 35, yeah, yeah, okay. But at this point, ah you learn when you get to be our age that restroom breaks are when your body tells you it's time for a restroom break.
00:39:18
Speaker
So that's, hopefully I would have prepared for that earlier and I would have definitely accepted wipes from Adrian, of course, yes. And this is why I said the whole baggie, because John and I are the elder statesmen here, and I know what he's talking about. I wish, I wish, I wish I could say, now you know what, I think I'll push through. It's not even an option at that point.
00:39:41
Speaker
So I'm sorry that my carbo loading went bad the night before, but going to have to stop. Going to have to stop. All
Vacation Choice: London vs. Italy
00:39:48
Speaker
right. Perfect. You just tied the game team treadmill. So with a tie, right? You want a tie on the line? We got to have a tiebreaker question. Erica, would you like to read or you want me to read it? It's up to you.
00:39:59
Speaker
Alright tiebreaker, on a recent trip, the airline made a huge mistake with John's travel and now they're making it up to him in a big way. They are giving him $2,000 in flight credits as well as an additional $2,000 for him to stay at a hotel of his choice. To make sure he stays a loyal customer, they've also thrown in a $1,000 Visa gift card just to be sure. Where does John Pelkey go and what does he do while he's there?
00:40:25
Speaker
In order to make this fair, i'm going to have Siri flip a coin again. and I'm choosing, I'm going to say that team outside is heads, team treadmill is tails. Siri, can you please flip a coin? It's heads this time.
00:40:37
Speaker
Team outside, you get to go first if that's what you would like. We will accept and start here. So we all know there's one place that John's going. Favorite city in the world, London.
00:40:48
Speaker
um You know, a lot to do there. He's a man of history. He loves studying up and learning. And so by day, John's walking around the city. He's going to historical sites. He's taking in new things that maybe he hasn't seen before or visiting some that he has that he just loves and holds dear to himself.
00:41:05
Speaker
at nighttime he's hitting West end. He's a man of the theater. He is theatrically trained as he would tell you. And he's seeing some of the hottest new shows like, uh, Paddington or Beetlejuice, maybe stranger things, but all of the latest we know, and we have a special place in our heart for Les Mis and Hamilton and all the the greats that are still, uh, running on West end, but we're here to see the new stuff. Um, We can't forget John's a foodie, too. So he has done his research and he's hitting up some of the top spots that are rated and reviewed right now. All the buzz. And so we actually looked up a couple of these for you, John. So ah Wildflowers um has a wood-fired seafood, which is changed daily on the menu.
00:41:45
Speaker
You could have duck porcini, fettuccine ragu at Burro and sushi at ah Luna Omasaki. So I think there's a lot of opportunity there. And like let's just not forget your nightcap in somewhere. One of the top pubs, maybe a chic place near the hotel. But overall, you're really taking in everything from food to art and culture, history and beverages all in one in your favorite spot.
00:42:09
Speaker
I love that John just took notes. Yeah. I'll send them to you afterwards. Oh my goodness. That is an incredible presentation. Team Treadmill, this is your this is your chance right here. How do you respond to that? All right. Well, we think that John would take Jody with him and go back to Italy in the Tuscany region, have a nice little ah and a nice little Castello moment um and have some San Pellegrino and the constant flow of Barolo.
00:42:40
Speaker
And he would bring Ulysses and read by the pool and enjoy the the the Tuscan sun and have the best vacation ever. Wow. That's a hard choice. But John, only you know you. So what would you do?
00:42:55
Speaker
There's no doubt in my mind that if I could go one place on Earth, it would always be London. the if you As a history guy, there's yeah i i will not live long enough to see all the things that I want to see and to re-see many of the things that I want to see.
00:43:09
Speaker
ah i would I would say the ah ah thank you, ah Grant, for giving me all those restaurants in London since i'm I'm actually going to be there in August.
Game Conclusion and Club Inclusivity
00:43:18
Speaker
But, yeah, there's still a lot of Victorian Alberts Museum that I have to go to. I could Duke Churchill's War Rooms again, the Imperial War Museum. It's just fantastic over there. I love i love Italy, and that that was great. um But, yeah, it would it it would be London. And, the by the way, the nightcap would be at Duke's.
00:43:38
Speaker
And it would be a Vesper martini. Look it up on YouTube. There's got like a 30-minute presentation of how they serve your martini. It's just fantastic. Yeah. So London it is. Cheers.
00:43:49
Speaker
Awesome. Congratulations, team outside. you pulled out you know the upset right there at the last minute. Congratulations. Thank you. We'll take it. Team outside, you'll have to come up with some sort of way to rub that in, in you know, whatever you guys want to do within the club. That's up to you.
00:44:04
Speaker
Oh, I think I have to run outside now. yeah Yeah. I love it. she wipes me i never I never did, and I'm doing it now. So you can do it as well. That's awesome. Thank all for playing our fun game. That was tons of fun. And John, just kind of fun to get to know how you would handle some of those situations. um You guys are like a super fun group and we just have some questions about the running club. If y'all are willing to hang around like just a few minutes, we'd love to ask you just, you know, some some questions, right? but But the most important question we ask on our podcast and John and Grant got to do this last week. We asked the most important question is, and all of you have run Disney experience and within a number of races you've done, I'm assuming every one of you run down Main Street. We like to ask anyone who's run down Main Street, would you rather on a Disney half marathon have a finisher medal for that half or the opportunity to run down Main Street? For that race, you can only have one.
00:44:56
Speaker
Which one would you choose? We'd love to know, John and and Grant, I already know you guys, you guys chose Main Street. So everybody else, what do you choose for for that question? Yeah, I'm sorry, AJ, but it's running down Main Street. I even prep my pace groups about that too and make sure that we time our intervals so that they can really run through it and experience it the best way.
00:45:17
Speaker
Nice. I thought we were going to be friends, Adrian. I'm so sorry. That's it that's a bummer. Okay. Wait, I'm adding John and Grant. This is one area where Adrian and I 100% agree. Yeah.
00:45:28
Speaker
Oh, no. ah Well, I know the girls are all going Main Street. i Kelsey, you too? Yeah, um there's only so much wall space for metals. that's true It's true. And I don't wear them at home. I'm not walking around, you know, Walmart with my metal on.
00:45:44
Speaker
But I am flipping through those pictures again. That's right. Wait, so that's an entire unanimous? Was that clean sweep? Oh, no. Erica just slept the entire...
00:45:55
Speaker
I knew I love the Pelkey
Impact of the Pelkey Running Club
00:45:57
Speaker
Running Club. i thought I was going to love the Pelkey Running Club. Man. Okay. That's the right answer. I don't know what to tell you. Next time AJ run in either Dan or Maya's pace group and you can experience it as well.
00:46:10
Speaker
Hey, look, i I've never said I don't love Main Street, but if you told me I had to choose one, I'm i'm taking that medal. I have to decorate my wall back here with something. yeah um So Pelkey Running Club questions for you know people who are just maybe either seeing the shirt on on on a the course or someone wearing a hat where they've heard someone reference it or they see social media stuff and they just don't know. Can you tell me or tell all of us what it's like being a part of the club? Kelsey, if you don't mind, can we start with you?
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah. um So I've been doing run Disney races for 10 years at this point. And i've I've had friends and family come out and do the races with me. And it's always fun when they're there. But ah Pelkey Running Club was the first time I actually like made friends through running.
00:46:54
Speaker
um And so i don't I do every race weekend. And I don't always have somebody with me. just They don't want to do all of them. And I get that. um But in the corrals, I'll see somebody with a hat or or a shirt. and I'll also be wearing something. I always do.
00:47:11
Speaker
And even even if I don't know this person in person, I may have met them online or in one of the chat groups. And um suddenly we're ah we're automatically friends because we have something to talk about. and um That's how I met one of my really good friends. And we're we're doing the London Marathon. And we're both going to hang out in London the week of the race because we're both going out there by ourselves. And we met through Pelkey Running Club. So it's always really nice to find somebody with like a shared interest in that way because it's like we're kind of like the same kind of people. And we're all everyone's really nice. And it's become a family. That's cool. Yeah, it's very cool.
00:47:49
Speaker
Were any of y'all able to be a part of the St. Jude half last year? How was that experience? Kate, we know you were there. Tell us about it. um Yeah, so um aside from just being excited to be with everybody for a weekend that's not go-go-go for all the Disney stuff that happens during like a run Disney weekend, um this was honestly the first time that I got to meet a lot of people aside from like a five-second, hey, it's so good to see you, okay, bye, um that usually happens. And so just on that level, it was really exciting to get to spend time with everybody,
00:48:20
Speaker
um But then to um learn so much about what St. Jude does and what the whole weekend is about, it really put um just like ah just that great feeling for the for all of it. You know what I mean? like it just It gave you the warm fuzzies, if you will, because you knew that not only did you get to like hang out with all your friends, but you were doing it for such an amazing cause. Yeah. being out there on the course. And i mean, we had, um I think at one point we called ourselves, uh, an amoeba because we were like 27, 28 people, like just spread out through this like little, you know, thing. And we were doing our intervals and it was just so great because you could just go from like little cluster of people to little cluster of people and chit chat and, you know, get to know each other better.
00:49:05
Speaker
And then all a sudden, boom, you're seeing the campus and and getting to experience the the actual St. Jude side of it. And ah I mean, it was just it was wonderful. And then, um you know, getting to actually get up at like a regular time and and and all that is like that was like an added bonus. um But just to just to get to like spend the whole weekend with everybody and then knowing that we were running with John for his first half, like everything, it just made.
00:49:32
Speaker
the whole weekend more. And, um, and, ah again, like knowing what we were fundraising for and then seeing the signs and the parents and all the stuff, like it just, it just made it magical to be honest.
00:49:45
Speaker
That's awesome. Thank you, Dan. Uh, how was experience for you? A lot of it I would echo what Kate said, right? you know But to me, the thing is Pelkey Running Club started, you know A, as a joke with Grant, right?
00:49:57
Speaker
And then B, it became sort of this online you know social media phenomenon thing where it was this online community where where we all interacted and we still all interact on social media.
00:50:09
Speaker
But this was the first time where we really got together and the purpose of the weekend was to be together. You know, John, we got done with the race and and the one word John used to describe the race was togetherness.
00:50:23
Speaker
And so that's sort of a joke that we'll use every now and again. But it really was... If you had to put one word around the whole weekend, togetherness was the way to put it. We spent time getting to know each other and really solidifying the community in real life outside of just this online platform or a quick, hi, hey, nice hat. You're wearing a Puckie Running Club hat too, that sort of a thing.
00:50:43
Speaker
It made it something real intangible where you know now we're all really, really good friends and we genuinely love and support each other. This was not my first um St. Jude half weekend.
00:50:57
Speaker
It was actually my third. um And the year prior is whenever Grant and I got to connect um and he was like, we got to figure out how to get John Pilkey here. I was like, I can help with that. um So I really love and support um everything that St. Jude does. um I run as a St. Jude hero. So I fundraise um for a kiddo that's part of our church. um we We joke, you know, that I'm his Aunt Shana, but we St. Jude absolutely changed his life and the the trajectory of what his diagnosis was. um But it was really cool to kind of bring my PRC family. um
00:51:29
Speaker
Like, I felt a little bit like, look at all my my family. Like, they get to experience this, too, because it'll absolutely change your life. um I bring the full there and then two half marathons together.
00:51:42
Speaker
But I've got the really unique opportunity to be a 2026 St. Jude Hero Ambassador for the Kentucky and Tennessee region. So I've kind of helped to spearhead all of um us getting registered and that sort of thing. It's been a really cool opportunity because the PRC, we know that we have other um heroes that are going to register, but we are already pledged to raise over $13,000 for the hospital this year.
00:52:07
Speaker
And at the very end of the day, you know, that's that's exactly what it's all about. um And there's something special to say whenever we kind of all get together for the first time kind of in more of a social setting versus like what Kate and Dan said, just like running by, because we don't often get to like actually engage with folks because we're all in different corrals we're all staying at different resorts and stuff. So being able to come together in Memphis was a lot of fun. and then i think because of the bond that we were all able to kind of, um, build during PRC weekend that spilled over into marathon weekend and that spilled over into the group chat.
00:52:46
Speaker
That's the beautiful thing about what has happened and what the PRC is staying for. And it all really kind of, you know, snowballed after, um, our St. Jude weekend together. Adrian, I know you were the ah Sherpa with the, with the wipes on that race. Is there any other, uh, any other things you want to add about your experience at that race? Yeah, you know, we were all friendly before, right? Through just the the interactions that we would have either online or at Run Disney events. But really, the purpose of that was we all wanted to run with John and see him through. And we are all really good friends now. Like we have each other's phone numbers. I can rely on every single person here um for whatever it is that we need. We spend time together forever.
00:53:26
Speaker
Grant's family and my family spent spring break together. right like We spend quality time together just as people now outside of this. And it's all because of this. right and And of getting together at St. Jude and just loving on each other and supporting each other and having a great time and you know getting outside and doing something fun.
00:53:46
Speaker
i love that. Adrian, did you say getting outside? We do get outside. And usually I need a medal to do that. AJ, can we get the transcript of Adrian agreeing to be outside? Yes. We'll need that in writing. Andy just said he needed a medal. I heard a medal. Yeah, that's what I heard. i was waiting for you to say something.
00:54:05
Speaker
Awesome. Shana, you're kind of leading up the 2026 St. Jude like registration, whatever, effort or whatever. How's that going? is like Is there anything worth sharing for those who might be you know considering it or just yeah anything we need to know about this upcoming race?
00:54:20
Speaker
Yes, we are already pledged to raise just a tick over $13,000 for the hospital. And I want to reiterate that that is only with nine members who are signed up as heroes through the Pilky Running Club right now.
00:54:31
Speaker
um Registration is open for like an extended period of time for heroes. So we've all got time to kind of get registered and decide what our fundraising commitments are going to be and that sort of thing. The cool thing about this is that we're already that much further ahead with our fundraising efforts. Grant, do you remember what we raised last year?
00:54:47
Speaker
want to say it was somewhere around $7,000. Yes. So we're already almost doubling that with a much smaller field, essentially, as of right now. But we have other folks that are going to join us. But the cool thing about it, um and I want to backtrack just a tiny little bit.
00:55:02
Speaker
When we were on St. Jude campus running this past December, a guy that knew of the Pilkey Running Club, who's a run Disney racer, he was behind us. We had no idea. And we were stopped taking a picture with the Grinch and he was like crying. He was like, oh my God, i only wanted to be able to catch up with you guys.
00:55:19
Speaker
And we were like, crap, that's awesome. Like, and he was the most like full of life, joyous man. yeah And then we saw him again whenever we finished. um He finished right behind us. And now Dane's in the group chat and we're going keep him forever. If I could just jump in there real quick, I would just say, you know, we talked about deadlines on the episode last week, but Heroes registration is through May 31st. So if you want to fundraise for the kids and families of St. Jude, you need to sign up before then. ah Shana called me honest here. I think June 3rd is general registration where you don't have to be a fundraiser. 10 a.m. Central time.
00:55:54
Speaker
at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Eastern. Okay. Something about that. You can still join the Pilkey running club team, even if you are not fundraising. Um, it'll be really easy. If you register, you just search the Pilkey running club team. I get an email and life is all good.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah. So it, and we talked about this too, but it's the 25th anniversary of the St. Jude Memphis marathon weekend here. So anniversary race, uh, we all know what that does for run Disney races. I would expect it to sell out, uh, sooner rather than later. And so if you are interested in running, uh,
00:56:24
Speaker
Please register, join our team. If you have any questions, feel free to DM us on Instagram. We're happy to talk through that with you. um But we'd love to have you guys come out and join us in Memphis. Awesome.
00:56:34
Speaker
That sounds so cool. um Do you guys, John, I'd actually love to start with you on this one. ah Do you have any like positive or like core memories, like like one that just sticks out as just like, ah you know, you're never going to forget this moment or this thing that happened as it relates to the Pelkey Running Club? John, you want to kick us off?
00:56:52
Speaker
that's That's a tough question because you're for I would think wherever your first half marathon is, you know, there are just so many memories. But I think really the core memory for me is when we did finish and after we talked to – the race announcer and everything, we all went and got a a picture together. And i guess for me that, and then just celebrating what we'd done and they do a really nice job at, at St. Jude's in in their minor league baseball stadium. They have a, a reunion area for runners and and such.
00:57:23
Speaker
Um, I think that really was the core memory. Cause as I said on the the show before, I i really did, ah forget ah over this several months at any physical discomfort that the that the race caused me. I just really remembered how much fun we had. And ah that was nice because it was the ah I felt accomplished that I was done.
00:57:44
Speaker
I was happy that the race was over. i i had I had gone that distance and done it. And now I could just celebrate with these great people who supported me. And this great and to what Shane has said, i mean, so what St. Jude does to to raise money for that with these really fun people to hang out with. So I think that was the core. man As much, AJ, as I'm not team metal to have that and to be able to celebrate with that afterwards was really pretty special.
00:58:08
Speaker
That's awesome. I love it. Adrian, what about you? Any core? I mean, it can be the rate, you know that race or it can be just Pelkey Running Club in general. Any core memories or positive experiences for you? Yeah, I know what everyone wants me to say, so I'll go
Who is the Pelkey Running Club For?
00:58:21
Speaker
with it. um Dopey this year, I fundraised for Kelsey's crew, and I'm not a great fundraiser. I don't really know what I'm doing there, but I came up with the ridiculous idea that ah for a certain amount of fundraising dollars, I would ride the teacups.
00:58:38
Speaker
over and over and over again. And we're all adults of a certain age. We know that when you get older, you cannot do spinning rides. no right And that is me.
00:58:51
Speaker
I get sick. My kids try to spin me and get sick. So most of the individuals that you see today fundraise to get me on those teacups many, many, many times. One of them, Shana, fundraised in the middle of it to add more one more ride.
00:59:06
Speaker
ah I love it. 30 of us gather at the teacups after that marathon. And I rode 17 times. Oh my gosh. No, no, no, no. I carried my puke bag with me, which I still have. And I keep on my metal rack. Grant was live streaming it. People were commenting. We made friends with the cast member there yeah who's now part of the Pelkey Running Club and we're to see him at Springtime Surprise. Shout out to Scott.
00:59:34
Speaker
we yeah We actually cast complimented him so hard that he got an award as the most complimented cast member in Fantasyland for the month of January. ah awesome So we're out there doing good. Yes, you are.
00:59:45
Speaker
And I did not puke. And the only reason I didn't puke was because there were kind souls like Kelsey who didn't want to spin me too fast. And then for all of the other people, I told them that I would aim right on them. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I did get that specific instruction.
00:59:59
Speaker
my gosh. Adrian, i have a question. I can't do Guardians of the Galaxy because of motion sickness. How do you feel about Guardians of the Galaxy? I can do Guardians. Whoa! Weird. I can do Guardians. you Just stare just stare stare. Don't move your head. Just keep your head your head right there, and you're fine. Teacup still? Oh, my gosh.
01:00:17
Speaker
No way. But, okay. I'm not fundraising for Dopey this year, but I am fundraising for Chicago and New York, and everyone pretty much knows I'm going to do something similar again. Yeah, yeah. So I'm probably going to be back there marathon weekend.
01:00:31
Speaker
I'm going to raise the price, though, because it wasn't enough. Yeah. Right. Yeah, it was an easy enough buy-in mid-excursion. Yeah. so man um You guys, who would you say the peelking running so i cannot talk i'm sorry i just gonna keep that Club is for? Dan, do you have any thoughts? We know you're a big fan of the club.
01:00:54
Speaker
I am and I do. And it's for everyone. I mean, that's, that's the long and short of it. It's really for everyone. As long as you have positive vibes, you like to encourage each other. Doesn't really matter whether you're fast or slow. Although John might threaten to kick you out if you're too fast, but there was a line regardless, like it's not about pace or speed or anything like that.
01:01:15
Speaker
It's, it's really about your attitude. how you feel about encouraging other people and that you like having fun. Honestly, like if you're new to the run Disney community and you go to these races and you don't really have friends there, reach out to the pelkey running club folks, DM on Instagram, get in touch with them. You know, we'll, but we will have some sort of a get together at some point here, you know, things like that.
01:01:40
Speaker
We're always happy to have more people join. That's awesome. do you guys have like a standard operating procedure on race weekend where you're like, you know, we meet in the, you know, whatever before, you know, by the coffee truck or whatever. like Do you have any standard things like that? If someone's it's, it's race weekend and they all of a sudden they're like, I don't have anybody. I need somebody like, like anything like that, that we can find y'all.
01:01:58
Speaker
Well, we've met in front of the teacups twice. So this was that. Yeah. fatigueque ah Yeah, I think on a on a race morning or race weekend, probably the group chat is the easiest way to to to find us at this point. And we've broken it out by race weekend so that if you're only there for springtime surprise and you want to try to get involved, join the group chat and go look at the springtime surprise specific things. And if it's too much and overwhelming and we call it yap fest because it's just a wide variety of everything.
01:02:25
Speaker
Mute it, bail. It's completely up to you, right? um But I think the the the group chat is probably the easiest way at this point just because everyone is in different corrals. They have different you know levels of anxiety, excitement, emotion about being in the corral early, late, rolling in last minute, getting character photos. yeah We don't want to try to put anyone you know in a spot where they have to meet at a certain spot. and if they don't see us, then they're lost in a situation. So group chat is going to be the easiest way at this point.
01:02:51
Speaker
Is the group chat something i can link to in like the show notes or whatever? Is it something that's public? Like people can join. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Link. Link is in our bio. um Perfect. Link's in our bio to join. So you will have to show yourself to the council though.
01:03:04
Speaker
You'll have to prove your, yeah we will have to approve yeah to approve you coming in. So you, they may want to probably give PRC, Instagram a heads up that they're getting in. Yeah. Just.
01:03:16
Speaker
Yep. So we don't just. Adrian's over there with the block button. He's like, not on
The Story of 'The Hat'
01:03:21
Speaker
my watch. Yeah. I'm going to notice my request is going to be pending for a long time. It's going to be, that's what's going happening. Like why what's taking so long? You know why? It's because. yeah i don't I know. know why.
01:03:34
Speaker
Awesome. Last question I have, and then we'll let y'all go. And we really appreciate all of that. Like, has been fun. You guys are so funny. Like I'm legit joining that group chat as long as Adrian lets me in. Like y'all are awesome. Like we love it. So here's my last question. I'd love to know more about the hat and you guys call it, I think, you know, when in quotes the hat and of course, Grant, you were the mastermind behind this. Can you tell us a story but behind it? Like ah you, so you shared some of it last week, but like for someone who's just like tuning in for the first time, like this is what the hat is. Like, here's the idea behind it and how it evolved. Can you tell us a story?
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think in short, the hat is the icon of the club, at least from a gear or merch perspective. um And it's evolved. Dan's wearing our namesake hat, which has a cartoon John face on it now. But Shayna and Kelsey have our our OG hat. um So the the backstory was i created this logo online right before Princess 2024.
01:04:25
Speaker
Um, and at the 10 K went up to John and Carissa and handed them, uh, this hat that I had bought from an Etsy seller and given them this logo I created and had them embroider it. Um, completely dumb luck because it's actually a solid hat from Imperial. And we actually buy directly from Imperial now because we made and sold so many of them. But, um, at the time it was just kind of a funny thing. I wore a shirt. They had the hat Weston Galloway and I ran in the hat for the, uh, half marathon the next day. And so we were the first two to cross the finish line with, uh, the hat. Weston being a lot faster than I was the official first one. um But, you know, it's one of those things that that was that was the first item that people started asking about once the Pelkey Running Club had been formed. um You know, we talked about on the episode last week, John and I interacting for the first time over Instagram DM being and like, hey, people are asking about this hat and where they can get it. Are you cool if I put your name on something and sell it like we'll We'll donate the proceeds to a charity of your choice or we can figure out one together. Like, let me know.
01:05:25
Speaker
And he's completely fine with it. um No NIL contracts or anything. We're all all set there. So it's been good. We've been able to do some good, too, which I think is fun, right? Giving back to a variety of different charities that are ah working on topics or subjects that are close to John and Jody's heart and mine as well. So.
01:05:42
Speaker
um It's been good, but the hat is just kind of exploded. And it's been one of those things that I think is the staple um across the board. We've got a lot of different colors now. I can't tell you how many I've gone through myself, but it's just one of those things that is an evergreen staple of the club.
01:05:57
Speaker
Where'd the like flat Stanley take it all around the world thing come from? Like where, how'd that come about? at Dumb luck. um Quite honestly, like it's one of those things where ah people just wanted to start posting ah them in their gear on our Instagram. And i I encourage that too, right? Like I write a handwritten note with every order that's purchased from the Belky Running Club, just thanking them for their support and asking them to tag us if they so choose when they're wearing their gear. um The hat made it to all seven continents in a matter of, what was it Six months, John? Um, yeah, I think, I think Australia surprisingly was the last one. Um, Antarctica made it before then we've got members in South Africa that live there and have the hat with them. So, I mean, like, you know, it's just, it was, uh, absolutely mind blowing to see it travel so quickly. John took
Global Connection and Community Spirit
01:06:44
Speaker
his to Italy. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, it was one of those fun little tasks that we got to check off. That was never a goal in the first place or never did we think it would be something would be tracking, um, pretty quick into the formation of the club. yeah.
01:06:57
Speaker
And like I mentioned on the last ah ah on the last podcast, one of the cool things about it is somebody will see someone who's wearing it and they're running in a um in a half marathon in San Diego or Portland, Milwaukee, you know, pick ah pick a city. And then other people are chiming in, hey, what was that experience like? You know, I saw that you ran there. And that's, to me, as for for people who are interested in finding out about running, the the upside of the club is that, is that we are a club not just your neighborhood running club. It's all over the world. And you have a lot of resources for ah for different races and different training methods and everything. So in addition to it being a lot of fun and everybody being funny and we and we have a good time with it, there's also some good information. As we talked on the last, AJ, the last podcast, you just humble yourself that you don't know things. And generally, if you fire into a PRC chat, somebody there is going to have some good information for you or know where you can find it.
01:07:53
Speaker
You guys are awesome. Like we've, we've had the best time. Any last parting words or whatever, any, uh, you know, anything, uh, you guys want to share before we call this a night, you guys have been awesome. Yeah, just if you're seeing one of us, don't be afraid to say hi We're going to help. We're going to try to make sure that your race is as fun and successful as it possibly can be. We won't bite. The chat is a little scary. But really, if you see the hat, you see the merch, just come and say hi. Yeah.
01:08:18
Speaker
And if you see me, by the way, if you if you see me at a race anywhere, please feel free to say hi as well. I know a lot of people are like, oh, you know, I didn't know if I wanted to. Yeah, come up and come up and talk to me. These are long weekends for us. so get get get to Having an opportunity to interact with the athletes is you know the really the best part of the job.
01:08:36
Speaker
yeah Awesome.
Closing and Gratitude to Guests
01:08:37
Speaker
Cool. Well, this has been awesome, guys. Thank you so much for giving us your time, for having fun. Thank you for everything you do for the running community, like the encouragement. We know that you guys are you know building community, encouraging others, and having fun. And clearly, like all three of those were on display tonight. yeah And so we really appreciate everything you guys do. And we're so grateful to have you on the podcast.
01:08:55
Speaker
Thanks so much for having us. Really appreciate it. Thank you. yeah yeah
01:09:03
Speaker
we have just fun on the podcast like we want to be helpful yeah right but sometimes it's nice just to have a good time and so hopefully this was like entertaining for your run or your drive to work or whatever and if you want to learn more about the pelke running club like Just go take a look at the Instagram and you'll immediately kind of get the vibe of what they're about. Order
Event Discussions and Future Plans
01:09:23
Speaker
yourself a hat, you know, right yeah and do all that. They're they're awesome. Like ah just from the minute I met Grant and now multiple club members, like they're just awesome. And so anyway, that was a ton of fun.
01:09:33
Speaker
Did you have a good time? I did. They seem like a very fun, caring group of people, you know, that are just supporting each other. Absolutely. Let's wrap this episode up with, we usually talk around Disney news if there is any. The only real news is that Springtime Surprise is this weekend. We are not running Springtime Surprise and we're super jealous for yeah those of y'all that that get to do it. um But ah we hope that your training is good. We hope your taper is good. You're not going crazy. right We hope the weather calms down a little because I know it's It's reportedly hot in Florida. So springtime surprises this weekend. We hope you guys have a fantastic time yeah at springtime. And then um the virtual series registration happened. Neither of us, you know, we didn't register for it, but man, what I read online. It was crazy how fast it sold out. And I don't know what to attribute that to. Like I said, you and I were talking, I said, I thought it was good morning America coming and promoting more races or, or even like people can't get into races at all. yeah So now they're just fighting for anything. You know, like that's my thought. Why do you think it? I thought it was because of the themes because so many of them are ones that we would want for like actual, you know, in-person races. Correct. I think a lot of people are going crazy over like the in-person groove and the goofy movie and all that stuff. so That's right. Yeah.
01:10:47
Speaker
Yeah. So it might be a combination of all those things. But it's sold out. Like the challenge sold out, I think I read online, in 52 minutes. That's crazy. Which last year it sold out, I think, in like 21 days. Yeah. You know, like the challenge. It's virtual race. The challenge, you know. So ah either that or just people love the virtuals. Yeah. You know, and so whatever the reason yeah that ah that happened. Yeah. Any other run Disney things you can think of? like Not that I can. i mean, we're we're training wise too. Like we're kind of dead season now where yes, we still run and we're strength training and cross training and all this stuff. But like now we're kind of in this, like we won't have an official training plan for a little while. Yeah. Right. So is there, there's, I don't have any news about my training. Do you, other than I just went for a four mile run today and it was just maintaining. Yeah. Is that where you are too? Just maintenance mode.
01:11:33
Speaker
Yeah. Maintenance mode. um I will say, I think it's important to maintenance mode because it's a heck of a lot harder to start than to continue. Right. So even when you're just like, I'm not training for anything. Yeah. It's a lot easier when training does start. Right. You're already, your engine's still going. Yeah. Even if you haven't been running 20 milers or whatever, just the fact that you can get out and do whatever is, you know, what you've built up to six miles, whatever, yeah without it taking a so you big toll on you.
01:12:00
Speaker
I think that's important. Mm-hmm. Okay. Last thing um that I can think of is the Jeff Galloway Memorial, I guess, five k I don't know if that's the official name for it. That is on the 24th of this month. We're registered for that. Yeah. Looking forward to that. And I don't know how many people are traveling in for that or not. It's in Atlanta. I believe registration is still open. We're really looking forward to it. Yeah. Like, I don't know that it's going to be as much of like a social weekend for us or whatever, but just being able to be in Atlanta, uh, you know, where Jeff is from really, you know what I mean? Like, and, and
Upcoming Memorial Run and Community Events
01:12:34
Speaker
run roads and whatever that we know, but then do it because we're honoring yeah Jeff Galloway. yeah We're really excited about that. Any thoughts but headed into that? I guess that's in a week and a half or whatever.
01:12:46
Speaker
No, I think I'm just looking forward to seeing the number of people that he has made an impact on and everyone coming together and just honoring his legacy. so It's going to be good. Yeah. We're definitely looking forward to it. Um, yeah, I don't, I don't have any other comments other than we're just excited to be able to honor Jeff, you know, and, and the family. So that's it for us today. go check out the Pelkey running club for sure. Check out the Jeff Galloway weekend. If you're anywhere near it, like even if you're a state away, you know, it's a 5k so you can drive in that morning, you know, like, like, you know, it's not an early start time. I think it's an eight 30 start time or something, you know, So I i would say, i would say, look at those things for sure. We really appreciate you guys supporting the podcast for leaving reviews, for listening, for sending us messages, for tagging us and stuff. We don't want to be known. We want to be helpful. And you guys literally affirm that for us every single week. And we really appreciate y'all. We will
Final Thanks to Listeners
01:13:37
Speaker
catch you next week for another episode of One More Round.
01:13:45
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.