runDisney vs. Regular Marathons — What’s the Difference? | Ep 7

In this episode, we lace up and compare the magic of runDisney races with the grit of traditional marathons like Ottawa and New York. From unforgettable crowd energy to surprising race-day quirks, we share a few of our own experiences while teasing what really sets these races apart. Whether you’re in it for the medals, the miles, or the magic, this conversation will have you thinking differently about why we run—and maybe even inspire your next race.

Transcript

Jenny 0:00

Hey Disney friends. Welcome back to our podcast. Hey Emily, in your opinion, what's the best thing about running a marathon? Oh, there's lots of things I like about running a marathon, but likely the best thing is the feeling of accomplishment of completing something really challenging. How about you, Jenny? For me, the best thing is the training, which sounds weird, but I really like the camaraderie of training with a group. And the feeling you have when you're done. I think those are the best things. Yeah, I agree. Maybe the medals. I don't know. There's something like that. I know there are there really are a lot of things about running a marathon that anyway. We're gonna get into it today.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Two sisters of the gold. From the home country to main street.

Jenny 1:14

We are two Canadian sisters who love every Disney adventure from travel, family, to running marathons. On today's show, we're talking about Run Disney versus other marathons and what are the differences. Let's describe some of those differences, both big and small, between Run Disney Marathons and other marathons. We've both run the Ottawa Marathon, our local marathon, a few times. I know you've done New York City, you've done Toronto, or the half marathon at Toronto, and we've both also done a whole bunch of half marathons locally, big and small. So let's just talk about the differences or even maybe the similarities between some of these different events. What do you think? Yeah, let's compare them. I actually made a little comparison between the three marathons that I've done, which are Disney, the Ottawa Race Weekend Marathon, and the New York City Marathon. Uh New York City I've done once, the other two I've done multiple times. And so I guess the first thing I have on my chart here is to compare the number of people that run those three marathons. The smallest one, would you guess? Yeah, actually, I would guess that it's probably Disney. It's not. What? Ottawa's the smallest one. They cap out their marathon at 5,000. Really? New York City is obvious maybe not obviously, but it's the biggest capacity marathon. They take 59,000 runners. Yeah, that does I I would have guessed that New York was the largest. And you know what? Like I thought Disney would be a lot higher than what it is, and I couldn't find like an official number of what they cap their number of marathon entries at. So it's somewhere between 13 and 14,000. Yes, I did know that. Did you? I only I only recently learned that because of a previous podcast that we did, and that I was looking up information about the Disney Marathon. Oh. Yeah. So I only just learned it. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I thought there'd be more like 20 or 30,000 people in. It feels like a lot more. I think there's 30,000. We hear usually hear that number, but it's out of all of the events. Like for the four on the Disney race weekend. The out of all four events. So I found the number of people that crossed the finish line in the 2026 Disney marathon. And there were a couple of different, like slightly like by maybe a hundred or so people. So I don't know the exact accurate number, but it's just over 13,000 people for Disney. Actually, now that I think of it, yes, it does make sense when I think of like the crowds. Well, and I think they recognize that they have to cap the race at 5,000 because they just don't have the capacity for more people than that. Where would you put everybody? Where would you put everybody at the start line? You'd have people halfway down the course if you had too many people. And even still, like because like most of the big races, they still start them in waves, just like so the Disney marathon starts everybody in different waves, like the A Corral, the B corral, etc. And they do that at the other races too. But even still, I think you know, you it could be half an hour before some of the later corrals start, even on those smaller marathons, like the Ottawa marathon. And New York City is a whole other level of staggered starts because there's so many people that they actually have three different waves. At least so I ran the New York City marathon in 2011. So we're now talking 15 years ago, and I don't know what changes have happened since then, but what my experience was that they had three different waves of start times, and I was in the third start wave, and then within that wave, you had like corral starts. Yeah, like I feel like did you have corral starts or were we all just jumbled together? We must have been in corrals. I actually can't remember that part. I I actually can't remember, but you've got like 20,000 people at one of those wave starts, basically, 15 15 to 20,000 people in one wave start. But everybody has to be over on Staten Island to start the race because they have to close off roadways and stuff. And so even if you're not in the first wave of starting, like you still have to be there at the crack of on. It's like going to a Disney race. Like I had to get up, hurry up, and wait super early to get on the bus that would take me over to Staten Island and then wait for hours, like literally just sitting around and waiting. And it's cold at the time. Didn't you get a sleeping bag or didn't did you have something with you? Yeah, I brought blankets. Like people who had run it before told me like tips to what to do to be prepared. And it's really hard because how do you gonna how do you eat? Like, how do you get your breakfast in properly before you run the marathon? Like you like I got up and I had something to eat, but then I wasn't running until hours later. And so I had bought food in New York, like in the city's at I don't know, in a bodega or something, and I had an oatmeal. I don't remember what I brought, but I remember sitting on the asphalt eating whatever I had, like trying to fuel myself in a way that was similar to what I would have eaten at home, because we keep this mantra of don't do anything new on race day, but this is a totally unfamiliar situation. So and race day, like that that sounds like an extreme example of it, but all race days are kind of like that because usually if you're going out for a training run, you're leaving from the the your front door, you know, you just go out the street or or maybe not, but you don't have to worry quite as much like you m about what your routine is because you're you're just doing, you know, you have your breakfast and then you do whatever your morning routine is before you go for a run. But on race day, that all kind of changes because there's transportation to get there and and the waiting in the corral. The waiting, yeah. There's still there's there is always that kind of office. I think the New York one was just a little bit extreme. That does sound that does sound extreme. Because I don't think I started until 11 30 in the morning, but I was on the island at 5 30 in the morning. Like I feel like maybe it was 10 30. I can't remember what my start time was, but it was hours later. Not just eating, that's just hard on your body too. Yeah, and like that's similar to the Disney race, but not you are getting up really early, and it is a little bit different than your normal routine, but it's not quite as extreme. Like it's probably you get up at 2 30, you start running at 5, 5 30. Yeah, and like by the time you're done the Disney marathon, if you're a back of the pack kind of person, you're done by lunchtime. Yeah, you know, like Jack. Right here. And you get back to your hotel. Like you've still got the afternoon and the evening doing the Ottawa marathon. Meanwhile, your friend who's in the Corral B at the Disney race, he's already back, showered, had a nap, ready to go to the park. So John, you get that. He's had a whole meal, he's like, yeah, a whole new day for him. Watched a Disney movie. Like Ottawa's a little bit like that too. Like you it's not as long of a wait in the morning, but yeah, those are similar. Still basically done by lunchtime. New York, I was probably starting around 10:30 in the morning, finishing in the afternoon by the time I got back to my hotel. It was dinner time. Like it was a full, full day. Like I started in the dark and I ended in the dark. Wow. Before the time I got back to the hotel. Yeah. What time of year is that? What? It's in November. Oh, yeah. So it's already the days are shorter. The days are shorter. Yeah. So it's different. So along the lines of numbers, I also have I looked up numbers of spectators. Oh, that that was interesting. I did want to comment on spectators, but I didn't have numbers to go back. So just to compare numbers and we can talk about spectators. I found that in Ottawa, there's about 200,000 spectators along the route. In Disney, there is no official report of the number of spectators because I think it's so variable because of running through the parks. It's not you can't count the number of spectators. Do you know what I mean? Like you could probably count the people at the cheer stations, which we can talk about what a cheer station is, but the other people that are just like happenstance, like they don't have so it just says tens of thousands. But I feel like it's more than that if Ottawa has 200,000. So I would I would have I couldn't even hazard a guess. I couldn't either really. But it I was gonna say, like similar. Well, I know that the New York marathon is different because it was just constant, like choco block, or at least this is what you're doing. Entire way, it's a million people, over a million people lining up. Every inch of that route has there's barely any spots where there are no spectators. Like when you're running over the bridges, there are no spectator spectators, but like if you're not on a bridge, but that's probably not usual. That's not a typical. Like our experience was in like in the Ottawa and in Disney, you definitely have pockets at like sections where there's spectators, but then there'll be sections like along the roads, like uh that there's nobody, like no additional spectators, because how do you get there? And you know, it's just not a convenient spot. So running the city races, you might even have like the odd people just out on their front porch who are cheering you on, but there are definitely areas where it's more spectator, and and then of course, like people who are cheering for you heavy, and I think that's similar in the case. Especially in Ottawa when you're in the commercial or like downtown, you know, near the canal and like in the downtown core, like where that's the and where the start and finish lines are, like there's bulk of spectators there, and then anywhere along the way where there's kind of residential or yeah, and then there's some of the smaller ones. I think like no matter where you are, people will come out and cheer for you. I think like it just might not be as densely packed, like in some of those smaller, more rural ones where you're out on the on the roads, you'll have people, like I said, like on their front porch, or if it's a hot day out, the people will get their garden hoses out or just spray you. Or I did a half marathon once and it was an unusually warm day for the time of year that it was. Like it was like 30 degrees Celsius or something when it's typically maybe 20 or 18. I don't, I can't do the conversion. 90 degrees Fahrenheit. What would that be? I'm not sure. Just stick to something. But it was a hot day. It was a hot day. And because it was a smaller event, there were water stations for sure, but it was also just kind of post-COVID times. So instead of having like cups where they had water bottles, like plastic water bottles. And so the people that went through first were taking all the water bottles and unfortunately not even drinking all of it because you can't, so just throwing them away. But what happened was we ran out of water for some of the people that are further back in the pack. Yours truly, right here, like you know, mid to the back of the pack. So these a lot of the residents, like we're going through farmlands, like people like farmhouses came out and put out their own water stations to help us. I thought that was pretty neat. Like just that the local people get really involved in your local race, but obviously at Disney you don't have fun when people like local people just to help you out. But you really appreciate that. I don't know. That was bit of a tangent. The race itself was giving out water bottles, yeah. Because instead of using, I guess it I guess to try to make it more because again, it was just after the whole COVID times, and and so I guess they thought it was more sanitary or and so it was like waste though. It was a waste, but they were like little stubby ones, but even still that's too much. But instead of like somebody else hand like handling all the cuts, right? And like that combined with the fact that it was an unusually warm, yeah, extra warm day. So they did their best. They absolutely did. Like that was no, that's no knock on the it was just it was a really uh yeah, unusual. Yeah, unfortunate. Yeah, unfortunate. Yeah, but luckily people helped. There was a marathon that ran out. I remember our friend Rick talking about it. I think it might have been Chicago, but don't quote me on that. And this is now probably 20 years ago, that they ran out of water and they had to shut the marathon down. Yeah, I guess you would really, because of safety. So I think that spectators leads us a bit into entertainment because they're part of the entertainment, they're part of the distraction along the way. And I I just wanted to chat a little bit about the entertainment that that the spectators provide versus what the race provides first. Because I just wanted to mention the New York marathon and the spectators, like we've talked about being just kind of consistent and constant the whole way, where you can have like you I remember like near the end running up First Avenue and the spectators on either side of the avenue being like six people deep, and this wall of sound that you ran into. Because when you run on in this part, when you're running over the Queensboro Bridge and you're coming up to Manhattan, you turn, I think we turned left up of up First Avenue, you're running over this bridge, and there's thousands of people running over it with you, but there's no noise, it is so quiet, and you just hear the like the of people's feet. And then as you approach the end of the bridge, you can hear this roar. It's like you're at a rock concert or something, and you run up and you're getting closer and closer to it, and you hear this roar, and it's like I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it because you run into this. You're a friggin' rock star, and people are screaming. And yeah, and like something else I wanted to talk about, a difference with this marathon, which I guess we'll come up in a minute as well. Interject a little bit there, the screaming. We we've experienced that, although totally different, it's just the acoustics of it, but we've experienced that feeling going through Epcot, remember? And yeah, I'm sure it wasn't the same, but it's still the like it's the same feeling, it's a very similar feeling. It's not a million or half a million people or however many people, but because of the acoustics, it was on like hundreds of people. It made it sound still like that that stadium. So, all that to say like a similarity is spectators make a difference in your run. Whether there's thousands or hundreds or whatever, it doesn't matter. Like it still makes a huge difference. I really always want spectators to know how much of a difference they make. Uh I'm speaking from my own experience. Yeah, but when whether you're struggling or not struggling, having people see your name on your bib and call it out and say, Go, Jenny, like whatever, you know, it just is so helpful. So it's half the battle is in your mind running period and running a marathon, especially. And if you can keep your mind out of the doldrums, then you're doing okay. The crowd support at Disney is a little more official, right? Because you can sign up for a cheer station. You as a spectator, cheering squad. Cheer squad. Yeah. So what do you know about the cheer squad stations? Nothing. We've never done it. We've only had only run past them. I just know that they you have them. I think you have to sign up and pay for them. Yes. Yeah. And there's different levels of cheer squad stations. So like different access points, or I don't even know. I think. We probably should have researched this, but yeah, you get merch, I think, too, if you depending on what ac like what level of cheer squad you'll you are going to be. But no, our cheer squad, they were always we'll see you at the end. No, that's not true. We've had our family, our little group, come out to meet us like along the boardwalk because you can just access it. You don't have to like arrange transportation there. You can do it yourself. And plus the timing of when we were gonna go by was wasn't ridiculous. It wasn't like six o'clock in the morning, it was later in the morning. So yeah, we just did our cheer squad did it on the fly without anything official. Run Disney used to have, I don't know if they still do, but at the expo, they used to have these posters that you could make. I remember George making a poster when he was six when we were doing the goofy for the first time. Yeah, and I still I kept it, but I haven't seen it since then. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I haven't seen it. I think it does. I I think it does. We just didn't we weren't literally looking for it because when we went to the r race expo, it was just us there, not our not our crew. Yeah, you know, so we didn't. Yeah, but they make it so that you don't have to pay to be on the cheer station, which are designated areas that they provide you transportation to, that they give you a seat at, like the bleachers at the end of the race, or all of those spectators that are on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom during the marathon. Yes. And probably the half marathon. I think it runs through Magic Kingdom too. I don't know if 10K does, I can't remember, but yes, it does. Anyway, on Main Street USA, there's a cheer squad station. Yeah, but you can get yourself, well, like I said, like the boardwalk is an easy one to get to, or if we go past the transportation ticket center. Ticket center, you can get yourself to there. Or once the parks are open, you can go, but it would just be difficult because you wouldn't know when you're gonna go by. You just have to text your people, but yeah, thank goodness for cell phones. Mm-hmm. In Ottawa, I don't think there's anything really formal. Like if you want to go to the bleachers at the finish line, you can just go to the bleachers at the finish line. There are no bleachers. Yeah, there are. At the finish line at Ottawa? Yeah. No. There's people there. There's people lining the the well, there's a race in Ottawa that has bleachers at the end. Is it the army run? I don't remember bleachers, but you know what? My eye is on the finish line. Okay. So anyways, whatever it is, you can just go and be and yeah, you don't have to sign up for anything. I think so. I didn't think so. Let's cheer up the um I wanted to talk about the course a little bit and and the differences of what the courses might be like. And the the courses, depending on what race are can be vastly different. But one of the things about the Disney race, or at least we've only done the ones in Florida. So doing a race in Florida is nice because Florida is a pretty flat state. And so that means that the course is relatively flat. It's not totally flat. There are some ups and downs because of on-ramps and off-ramps, like you're running along the highways. So you do have a few kind of hills to do, but nothing, like no killer hills that you have to contend with, like some other races. I you know, there's the race in Hamilton, the 30K in Hamilton. They talk about the killer hill. That's just this really steep, long incline, or like in the Picton race, the Prince Edward County race, there's a hill there. There's a few hills, but it comes like in the last kind of two-thirds of the course, and there's just this really steep killer hill that you're just like trying to get up. And so it's just a hilly overall course. Some of them are, but but the Disney ones are fairly flat. Yeah, it's relatively flat. Yeah, mostly running, actually, mostly running on the highways. And then you go into the parks for a bit, but most of the run happens on the highways. And then when you're on an on-ramp or off-ramp or whatever, you're on a bit of an incline, but you're right, it's mostly flat. I think the challenging parts about the Disney run course are partly weather related because of the humidity that you can experience. And also those points where the course narrows, they're those pinch points, and you have like thousands of people trying to squeeze into them, and so it's kind of awkward and you know, gotta slow down. I just don't like those pinch points. And then it also has some really sharp turns. Yeah. Which is unusual for a marathon course. That's true. There was that is true. And that kind of leads into the fact that most people I would say, I know certainly for us, when we're doing a Disney marathon, we're not doing it to try to get personal best, a PB, or like a necessarily a particular goal. Like we do have some ideas of what pace we want to go at, but we're not trying to really race it to beat our best time or or that kind of thing. So those pinch points, it's like, you know what, let's all just relax. It's okay. We'll get through them because it it's not really impeding my overall time. No, I I agree. And yeah, you're right. Like I'm never doing a Disney race to get a PB. I know some people are, but then they're in Corral A and B, probably. Probably I don't care about the time, but it is still it's a comfortable part of the race, is when it the course narrows. Sure. And you could trip and yeah. And mentally it is hard because it's still a marathon, it's still a challenge, even if you're not trying to get the best time in the world. You're still challenging yourself to run far distant. And you're you're still in your head, like I'm running right now, and I don't want to take a walk break right now. Like it's still a lot of a head game when the course narrows. It and this is another challenge I have with the Disney run, and it's not terrible, but I feel like I just want to mention it because it happens more at Disney than it happens anywhere else. And it's just because the nature of the runners that tend to go to Disney is the people who are newer, more inexperienced runners that haven't learned race race etiquette yet. Yes. And that's a very good point. You you just I find the dodging of the people at a Disney race is a lot more challenging than other marathons. You don't have the same, even at the back of the pack, it's just not the same dodging. I find that we're talking about courses and difficulty of the course. Ottawa is a fast and flat course. It's nice and scenic. It's a really good one to get a PB on. You're running through city streets. Is it? Yep. It has a couple of hills, like at around 30 minutes. Gatineau is pretty going running through Gatineau is pretty up and down. Lots of little a couple of years ago when I did it, it was I think every year they changed the course a little bit because of construction or things like that that happened various points in the in the city. But a couple of years ago, it was a lot of up and downs and tight corners and running through. So I don't know what the year you ran it. Maybe it was something. I do know what you mean about Gatnow, like it is a little bit side small streets and a little bit twisty turny, but the overall the course is flat and fast. Yeah, I guess. And it's like you're in the city a lot, but you also get out of this like on the airport parkway, and and that's pretty still. Yes, it definitely is. It's still scenic. In New York, you run through all five boroughs, crossing bridges all over the place. So you get to run through Queens, Harlem, the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn. The New York Marathon course is challenging, though. It's hilly, it's technically demanding, and there's a lot of people. And that's what I noticed, anyways, about the course in New York. Let's go back to some numbers because I did look up some of the costs as well to compare the costs of the different marathons to that, okay? So I looked up to do the marathon at Disney at this time to sign up for the marathon for 2027. And just the marathon, not just the markon, yeah, was 255 US dollars. The New York marathon, this past one, because the next one isn't until November, was 331 US dollars. Really? Yes, but you spend more like 1,500 because you've got to get a hotel and you've got to get there and let that's all added to the cost. But just the cost of the marathon was 331 US. And the Ottawa marathon this coming May was is 160 Canadian dollars. I don't know what that is in American dollars. I don't know either. It depends on when you ask, because maybe it's 120. I don't know. But but regardless, it's still less. It's a lot less. Yeah. And so then I also just looked up for funsies what the cost of the goofy and the dopey challenges at Disney were for the coming race weekend next January. So Goofy is 495 US dollars, and Dopey is 769 US dollars. Oh, it's just bugged out. I know. That's like that's like a thousand bucks Canadian. Yeah, that's a lot. But you know, like so. One of the things I was asking Charles, I'm like, what would you say? Because he's done a lot of marathons, a lot of different places. Like he he's done one at the base of Kilimanjaro, and he's like, he's gone lots, he's done Boston, he's done, and the first thing that he said was that Disney marathons are expensive. And so, and they are, but you know, you you could argue that you get good entertainment value for your dollar regarding that. So you get more there's more of an experience that's associated with it than just the race. Like that's a really good way of putting it, you know. Because you you're getting kind of when I go to do a race somewhere, I'm I'm there to to run it because I want to challenge myself in the race, sort of thing, but race field. But when I'm there at Disney, I'm there for the whole package. I'm there to experience diff Disney in a different way than I normally do. Yes, I'm there to do the race, but I'm also there to just be a part of that Disney experience. You you you have articulated that very well because I had another little section here about the goals of doing these races. And Disney I have is this is a fun time. I'm finishing upright and smiling, I'm here for a good time, not a long time. And yeah, it's a lot of money, but it's also the experience that you're having because it's way more than just the run. Yeah, and I don't want to race through, I don't want to miss some of the those experiences because of the goal of just meeting up, you know, beating the clock, like hitting that pace goal or whatever. I want to be able to take it all in. I want to be able to stop and take pictures and just experience it and maybe shed a tear as I run through the castle or you know, the different things. I put my goal for all of the marathons is upright and smiling. Oh, for sure. Yeah. That's the drop dead goal is just finish it upright and smiling. And maybe for Ottawa and New York, I had a PB or personal record kind of in mind as well. But also for New York, I'm also thinking about just taking it all in. It's not as much of the it's not the same type of experience as the Disney experience is. The entertainment is a different whole other thing. But it's the experience of running through these different boroughs and neighborhoods and just taking it all in as you go is also part of it. So along those lines, of our goals are a little bit different. And then also my training was at least a little bit different. So training, I mean, if training for a marathon, in my opinion, you need to train for a marathon. You need to follow a proper training plan. However, when I train for the the Disney marathon, I'm really just training for the mileage and making sure I can complete that distance. But when I train for, usually when I'm training for a different race, and I do have more of a pace goal in mind, I also include things like speed training once a week or something like that. But I don't, I don't bother when I'm training for the Disney because I'm just upright and smiling. As long as I can safely finish without injury, I if I can safely finish the distance, then that's good. So I'd say that my training is a little bit different too for them. We've talked about entertainment at the Disney marathon before, but maybe we should compare that with the different marathons. Yeah, so entertainment, Disney definitely has more official entertainment. There's DJs, obviously. We've talked about the characters that are along the route. They even have big screen TVs running little short snippets of cartoons along the way. They have trivia signs, they have lots of things too. Live music, like high school bands, choirs, they have themed areas. There's pirates and villains and Star Wars and but you know, like some of the larger races also have that as well, just not maybe to the they they don't have characters. But they do have DJs and they do have they do have bands, local bands. They just don't and like some of the, you know, for the Ottawa Marathon, they have different volunteers or there's different, like you did it once with the different cheer squads, and some of the army run. I shouldn't call them cheer squads, but what were they called? Cheering groups and cheering stations. Yeah, cheering stations. And and some of those cheering stations do a really fabulous job of entertaining you along the way. And so it could just be that they have posters, but other people might have, you know, other things to kind of get your mind off of it. But but mostly it's just DJs and and bands. New York has that too, like bands and DJs and dance crews. And in Lafayette on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, it's known for its really intense block parties and music, and the the entertainment changes according to the borough you're in and the type of music you're hearing and the people that have come out. But Disney is just next level. Well, and especially, especially. I mean, here we are, we're Disney fans. Yeah. And so obviously we like the entertainment along the way the whole time because it's all very Disney. I mean, not some of the DJ stuff is playing Taylor Swift or Neil Diamond or some fun songs. It's not necessarily Disney related, but because we love Disney so much, we love seeing, we love seeing the the characters, we love seeing all those other other things to make us laugh. And and then there's the landmarks, you know, if you want the landmarks that you're running through, like the we're talking about the course and entertainment, just being able to see that, you know, running down Main Street USA with a castle is an experience in itself. Getting to see like running past some of the rides, perhaps, and going on a ride. You don't get to do that anywhere else, you know, as an option. You know, running into a certain spot and maybe getting a dole whip or or whatever. Yeah, people like general do things aren't stopping to take a million pictures, no, or stopping to grab a beer or a dole whip, or you know, on a in a normal other marathon than Disney. There's a lot more entertainment than just what you see along the way. It's also how you participate and what you encounter. So it's kind of the vibe of of the group. We've talked about this before too. Like the Disney races are very a really good entry level if you're just getting started on, or if or you're interested in starting on long distance running, they're very attainable because there's not, and again, it it probably depends on who you are, but there's not that same level of seriousness as far as racing the clock. Still people are very friendly at other races, but there's a little bit more of a serious tone to it. So just the vibe is a little different. So it's a great jumping off point to do a Disney race if you're just getting started. Part of what makes that there's so many factors that make the vibe. I forget what you just said. Me too. Like a little more serious, serious versus it doesn't feel as serious at Disney. People are dressed in costumes to run a race in, even the marathon, and it's it's more and more. Every time we go, I feel like even at Disney, when we first started running Disney races, the marathon was still kind of you wore your running clothes. And we wore a hat, but we didn't wear, you know, we didn't maybe wear a costume. No, we just grabbed and we didn't plan for that either people didn't. Most people were just wearing running clothes. It's unusual. Maybe somebody was wearing a tutu, you know, but it was very unusual for people running the marathon to wear a costume. Now, no, no, full blown. So many people, like it's it, it's more and more and more. It's great. At the other marathons in Ottawa, people are just wearing their running gear. In New York, people are wearing their running gear. But here is what I was gonna say before about running up First Avenue with that rock star crowd. One bit of advice of all the bits of advice that I got like bring clothes that I could just throw away because it's cold on Staten Island when you're waiting in the morning for your race start. So I brought blankets, I had extra pants and whatever. You throw it all, and then they go and pick it up and they give it to the secondhand stores or whatever, they donate it to raise money for whatever. So I did that, and that was very helpful because it kept me warm in the morning and I didn't have to lug around extra layers. And the other really useful bit of advice that I got was to take some hockey tape and tape it across the front of my shirt. Like your name is on your race bib, but it's kind of small. So this one runner that I was training with told me, because he had run New York Marathon. He said, take some hockey tape, put it across the front of your shirt, get a black Sharpie, like a big thick Sharpie, and write your name in big black bold letters. So I have a Jenny like written across my chest, it was easy to see from a distance. And running up First Avenue, people were screaming my name, I felt like a rock star. They were like, Go, Jenny, you go, girl. Like it was, oh my God, it was so amazing. And if at any point during the race where I felt myself lagging, at any point, not just running up that crazy wall of sound, but if I felt myself lagging, I would run closer to the edge of the road where people were and they could see me because there's also thousands of people. And if you're running in the middle of the road, they don't see you as well. So I'd run closer to the edge of the road and then they would see my name coming, and people would yell my name, and I'd be like, that's the pump that I need. That's not talking about spectators are so important. That's a really good tip. And I think that could work no matter what. Like, you just get even just a sign or something that says, please cheer for me or something like that. I wonder like spectators are there to help you out. I've never tried that for any other marathon. I'm not sure. Like, I'm sure it would still have the same effect, but it was so useful in New York when you're there with thousands of other people. Well, we've always said that too with wearing wearing an outfit at Disney because the I mean, not everybody wears a costume, but I don't know, 25% in the marathon. I I can't. I wouldn't who knows? Yeah. Maybe at least wearing something. But we've always said that that really helps because if you're wearing like the last time we did it, we were Mike Wazowski and Sully and as identifiable characters. Then people, even if they couldn't, even though our name were was on our bib, they could yell out, go Mike Wazowski, go Sully, you know, and it was easy to identify or or a few. You wore the goofy hat. Yeah, and we were running goofy. And we were running with a group of people who weren't wearing anything. And we just had, but everybody kept challenging cheering for us because it was easy. They want to cheer for you, so you gotta make it easy for them to do that, right? Like it helps. And it does, it does help. Okay. Do you have any more points to discuss about differences in the marathons? I think I've been through my whole list. I don't know if we've talked about the fact that that Disney is a destination. And so, well, we talked about this a little bit, but because for most people going doing the Disney marathon, they're making a vacation out of it. Whereas if you're doing another, if you're just gonna do a marathon, a lot of us will pick a marathon that's closer to home. And so maybe you're just doing like a one-day trip or a weekend trip. But when you're going to Disney, you're probably there's there's a lot more excitement, more adventure, because there's a whole other maybe a week that you're going for instead. And so you also, because you're planning for this so far out in advance, you have to plan for different types of weather too. Because even like especially in January, you can get lots of different types of weather.

unknown 39:06

Yeah.

Jenny 39:07

It could be hot, it could be snowing, it could be who knows what. So you kind of have to plan and pack for a variety of different running outfits or whatever. So a little bit more planning that might be involved because you are gonna be there as a as a bit of a tourist as well. And then after the fact, you're also probably it's Disney. I mean, your recovery, you talked about the, you know, being gone for the day or you're done by noon or whatever. But let's be real honest. At a local marathon, I come home, or we might go out for brunch somewhere to celebrate. And then the rest of the day, I'm probably spending the day on the couch. Yes, that's right. But Disney, you come home, you might have a bit of a rest, you shower, you eat a meal, and then back to the parks. To the parks, baby. Let's go. Let's go. Put your medal on, let's go. So your recovery is gonna be a little different. And maybe your lead up to the race also is a little different because instead of you know hydrating and staying off your feet in the days before your race. You know, you you are not. You're walking, you know, 10,000, 20, or sorry, 20,000 steps a day leading up to it. So definitely that's that's a little bit different. I think it's safe to say, just speaking of destination things though, that people do make marathons uh into a destination sometimes. It's yeah, obviously, Disney is for most of the people there, I would say you're going because you're don't you don't live there necessarily, you're going there as a on a trip combining it with something else. But no, and I think it's also safe to say that New York is a destination one too. My experience was that there were people there from all over the world. You know, there uh years back now, I think it's 10 or 12 years ago, I was traveling in Australia and it just so happened, I didn't even know that this was a thing, but it just so happened that I was gonna be in Australia at a particular point where there was a solar eclipse, and it was like the best spot to view this solar eclipse. And there was a marathon to honor this solar eclipse. I forget what they called the marathon. I didn't even know about the solar eclipse, let alone the marathon, but it was just really cool to be there for obviously for the solar eclipse, it was really cool, but also really neat to see all the people that had arrived there to run this race. And so, yeah, people do. There's lots of good reasons to travel to different marathons. There's one in France where I think they give you wine at the water stations. Yeah, I want to do that one, and there's some in uh there's a marathon in Las Vegas that sounds like it would be really fun too. Yeah, I think it's um what's that? What's that restaurant called? Hard Rock Cafe? Is it a Hard Rock? I don't remember. Anyway, there's lots of different ones to to do. That would be good destination ones. Well, I think we've talked enough about running with all the miles, running enough miles to eat as many churros as you want. Let's trade in our sneakers for a magic minute. Okay, a full marathon is 42.2 kilometers or 26.2 miles. If an average runner takes about 2,000 steps per mile, you're looking at like 52,400 steps from start to finish of the marathon. If you sprinkle in a few extra steps because you've gone to take a photo with somebody or gone off the track to use one of the flushy toilets or something, let's say that bumps us up to about 55,000 steps in a marathon at Run Disney. That is basically like walking the height of Mount Everest twice. No, it is not. So if you run the Dopey and you get how many medals do you get for the Dopey Challenge? Six? No. Four races, four races, plus the goofy plus the dopey, and you put all those medals around your neck, like you're over ten pounds of metals around your neck. So you're basically carrying a small toddler around your neck. Well, maybe a toy poodle or a baby, basically a baby, ten pounds. That's not a toddler. Wow. Fun facts. Yeah. Okay, well, my magic minute this week is inspired by the picture that you sent me earlier this week of those Mickey ears that you loved. You know, the it's a small world theme. Yeah. So that's my inspiration for today's magic minute. So it's a small world attraction, was originally built for the 1964 New York World's Fair. I think that's probably, I don't know if it's common knowledge, but this is something I just learned. Walt Disney was approached by UNICEF to create something that would be meaningful that would promote peace and unity among children around the world. Just for some context, at the time the world was in the middle of the Cold War, and so there, I guess there was a real desire to emphasize global connection instead of division. The ride's bright, colorful, geometric, storybook style that appeals to children of all backgrounds and adults too, of course, was designed by Imagineer artist Mary Blair. And she also designed the large tile tile mural in the contemporary resort, looks very similar, kind of theming. But she's also a concept artist and color stylist for the movie Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. And of course, you can't mention it's a small world without that song instantly popping into your head, or at least for me, you can't. So here's a little fun fact about this song. When the ride was first being developed, the plan was to have each country's national anthem playing, but when they tried it out, it just sounded really too chaotic to have it playing all at once. So Disney asked the Sherman brothers to create one simple song that could be sung in multiple languages. And of course, that's how we got that iconic tune. So honestly, it gets stuck in my head every time I go on that attraction, but it's still one of my favorite songs, and it is still one of my favorite attractions to this day. Think you know the best rides at Magic Kingdom? Join us next time for our top 10 countdown. If you liked what you heard, share this episode with a friend and follow us on Instagram at Ropedrop and Run. Please follow, subscribe, leave us a review, and send us all your Disney questions. Can't wait to chat with you next time. We'll see you at the castle or the start line.