Episode 15: Idalis Ramos - I Can Go the Distance

Episodes

Jul 14

I met Idalis Ramos in the Orlando airport after Disney Princess weekend. She trains almost entirely on a treadmill in Puerto Rico and ran 115.8 miles in one runDisney season.

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About this episode

Idalis Lopez Ramos lives in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, where races are few and the heat is brutal, so she does nearly all her training on a treadmill, including about 1,500 miles in 2021. She is a speech language pathologist, a self-described Disney runner, and an admin of a Disney running Facebook group that has become a second family. In the 2022-23 runDisney season she ran every race, including the Castaway Cay Challenge, for 115.8 miles.

We talk about how Zumba and a love of Disney led to her first race in 2016, completing Dopey every year since 2020, and turning a virtual Dopey into a 53-mile treadmill ultra. She explains the runDisney race calendar, the costumes she and her friends create, the shirt business she started during the pandemic, and her creative fundraising for her first major, the New York City Marathon.

In this episode, we discuss

Meeting in the Orlando airport after Disney Princess weekend
Running every race of the 2022-23 runDisney season for 115.8 miles
Why there are so few races in Puerto Rico and why she trains on a treadmill
Logging about 1,500 treadmill miles in 2021
Video messaging with running friends in the States during treadmill runs
Starting with Zumba, then a first Disney 5K and 10K in 2016
Her first half marathon on Star Wars weekend in 2017 and first Dopey Challenge in 2020
Turning a virtual Dopey into a 31.1-mile treadmill ultra on the final day
Disney running costumes, from Soarin' cast member suits to beer wenches with a giant pretzel
What makes the runDisney culture so different from road racing, including the Galloway run-walk method
A rundown of every runDisney race weekend and challenge
Plans to run Dopey and then the Dumbo Double at Disneyland in back-to-back weekends
Starting a shirt and virtual race business for her Facebook group during the pandemic
Her first ultra, a 50K at Ghost Train in New Hampshire
Fundraising for the New York City Marathon by letting donors sponsor miles and pick her long-run costumes

Chapters

Intro
Meeting at the Orlando airport
Running in Puerto Rico
Life on the treadmill
How she got into running
Dopey and the virtual treadmill ultra
Finding her running family online
Disney race costumes
The runDisney culture
Fueling and the runDisney race calendar
Her shirt business and Facebook group
First ultra at Ghost Train
First major: New York City Marathon
Creative fundraising
Mantra and what's next

Where to find Idalis

Facebook group: #RunDopey

Mentioned in this episode

Races: runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend, Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, Dopey Challenge, Goofy Challenge, Castaway Cay Challenge, Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, Dumbo Double Dare, Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, Springtime Surprise Weekend, Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend, New York City Marathon, Virtual Boston Marathon, Ghost Train Trail Race, Carmel Marathon, Ragnar Relay
Organizations and charities: Water For People, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
Other: Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method, iFit, Peloton, Hercules "Go the Distance"

Related episodes

Frequently asked

How does Idalis Ramos train for Disney races in Puerto Rico?

Idalis Ramos does almost all of her training on a treadmill at home in Puerto Rico because of the heat and limited local races, and she logged about 1,500 treadmill miles in 2021.

How many miles is a full runDisney season?

Idalis Ramos ran every race of the 2022-23 runDisney season, including the Castaway Cay Challenge after marathon weekend, for a total of 115.8 miles.

What is the Dopey Challenge?

As Idalis Ramos explains, the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is a 5K on Thursday, 10K on Friday, half marathon on Saturday and full marathon on Sunday, earning six medals.

How did Idalis Ramos fundraise for the New York City Marathon?

Idalis Ramos let donors sponsor individual marathon miles and sponsor her weekend long runs by picking the costume she would wear, and she met her goal for Water For People.

Support this show

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically, so it may contain errors.

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones with Ally Brettnacher. Incredible stories and tales of triumph with everyday people achieving their goals and fitness. This podcast brought to you by Athlete Bouquets. Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting athletebouquets.com. Hey everyone, it's Ally Brettnacher, your host of Finish Lines and Milestones. And here we are, Episode 15. I have another stranger I met in the airport joining us today. Idalis Lopez Ramos and I met in February of this year in the Orlando airport, and I was heading down for a weekend to help my mom move into a Florida house and my sister was meeting us there.

But I was traveling completely by myself, which was a treat. And I didn't realize it at the time until I got into the Orlando airport, which I was connecting through. And I look around and there's all these people with medals, race medals, all these women with like, decked out head to toe Disney medal stuff. I'm like, Oh my gosh, there must have been a race this weekend. Sure enough, it was Princess weekend. And I sat down to get a bite to eat and a couple of women sat behind me, completely decked out. And so, of course. Even though I am an introvert at heart, I had to know more about Disney.

I've always been intrigued. And so I struck up a conversation with Ed Alice. It turned out she was from Puerto Rico. She was an admin in this Facebook group, so she was the right person to talk to about Disney. So once I started this podcast, she was on my list of people to reach out to, to have her on, to talk about all of these things and. I'm just so impressed with her. One of the biggest things that I learned during this conversation was that she does most of her training on the treadmill. And if you know me, you know I do actually like the treadmill and Italy's takes it to a whole new level.

We also talk, we talk about all things Disney. We talk about costumes, the community that her and some friends have created on Facebook that has really become like a family to her. And we talk about what's next coming up this fall. She is going to run the New York City Marathon and kind of divert from her normal Disney weekend that weekend. But I'm really excited for her and I'm really excited for you to listen to this conversation with Edalis. Enjoy. Perfect. So hi Edalis. It's so good to see you again. Yes, February, right, so it. Was the right after you did. Disney Princess. That's right.

I'm like, which weekend was that? I remember I was just so happened to have a layover in Orlando and didn't realize until I got into the airport. I was like, Oh yeah, that was this weekend because there were so many medals in the airport. You know, like I was like completely run Disney Princess attire like from. Kept to tell. Yes, and you were not the only one. It was amazing to see. Yes, it's it's you know from Disney Got me and it's it's so hard to actually walk away like this year. The last season I did a perfect season like all these races from, they start the season on one and nine, which is November 2022 and then they finished the season on.

April with the springtime surprise on 2023. So I did every single one of the races, including the Gassaway Challenge which is the cruise after marathon weekend. So 115.8 miles in the run business season. Say that again, 150. 115.8 miles. Miles that's great. That's so cool. So for for people listening, they can obviously tell you have an accent and you said before we hit record the English is your second language but it's your your English is 10 million times better than my Spanish. So but you're from Puerto Rico. So tell us a little bit about kind of who you are and what it's like to be from Puerto Rico and have.

All of your running family and friends here in the US. Yes. So born and raised in Puerto Rico from Towalta, right now it's the city what I live on that's on the urban area, you know, because Puerto Rico has like a lot of countryside. So I live like in the city, it's. It's quite challenging for runners living in Puerto Rico because obviously the the weather, it's like very, very hot and obviously I'm I'm used to it, but I hate it. Like seriously, I cannot stand it. I actually, I'm like Miss Truckmill because I first I I don't like the heat and I'm not a morning person.

Like I'm only a morning person when races medals are involved. So it's like, obviously I'm not willing to wake up early to train before the sun is like trying to kill me. So I almost do all my running in treadmills. So yeah, it's kind of yes and then. It's quite challenging because living on the States, people that lives on the states has like a lot of races. Like every weekend, especially like the people that live in Florida, they have like multiple races every weekend. They can pick and choose or or nearby they can drive there. But in Puerto Rico there's not like a ton of races and it's mostly like 5 days.

That people just, you know but not half marathon. I can say like maybe like one or two on the year it it's not a lot of of runners. So I mean there's quite people that run but not like actually like races and stuff. A run event is actually is like the the only run event here that it's like a challenge type of Disney challenge that is the 5K on on Friday, the 10K on Saturday and then they have on Sunday. So that's the only one that I do here on the island. So anything that I want to actually run a race I have to fly to the States and do my thing there so.

When you're training for big races, you know, like, I know that we are going to talk about that later. When you're training for big races that you have like longer miles, it's very, very hard to just run the miles for running, not like in the race, because all my friends that live from the States, because I don't have running friends here, all my running friends are living on the States. And they are like, oh, I have this weekend, we have like 15 miles and I have 1/2 marathon somewhere. And then I'm going to run the other two and it's like, yeah, yeah, I'm going to run them in my treadmill.

It's fine. Enjoy yourself. Yeah. What type of treadmill do you have? It's actually it's one of our entry level. It's not like super huge treadmill but. It has hold up for almost three years now. I got it right when Pandemic started, when I actually started like training for serious races, because before that my first marathon was on 2020 January 2020. So I started training itself on 20/19 and I did it like outside, but it was like very, very hard for me to wake up or like. I had to be at the park like around 5:00 AM and it was very, very challenging. So anyways, when Pandemic started, even the the park, since it was closed, gyms were closed.

So I was like, Oh my God, I need a treadmill. So I got it and by that time it was like the only thing that I could find at the moment. So it's not like the the ultimate thing that I want. So I'm like. I'm not gonna change it for now, but when it actually stopped working, I want one with all the bells and whistles. Yeah, I. Know that I used it a lot. Yeah, well, that's what I was thinking. It must be at least a good piece of machinery. If you could run. Yeah, that type of distance, I mean. Really, all you need is I.

Mean, Yeah. Yeah. It's not metric, It's not. It's kind of a commercial kind of model. It's not like the very small ones. It holds a lot. I'm not the small girl, so that's also very important. But I cannot tell you on 20/21, I think it was my biggest running year. Because like I wasn't working. I was like all the time at the house and I was like OK, so let's run. I I ended up like 1500 miles running miles that year. So and they were all on the treadmill, so yes. Amazing. Yeah, I so actually, I love the treadmill as well. I find that most runners hate it.

Yes, but. I like to be able to kind of set it, forget it, watch my Netflix or whatever, you know, show I'm catching up on and just kind of get it done in the, you know, privacy and air conditioning of my home right in my basement. So but like, but you've taken it really do a whole another level because of the distances that you do. So what do you do while you're on the treadmill to kind of occupy your mind? Well, I have my treadmill has I fit the I think, Sure. Much I can sometimes listen to the trainer and it's like they do like this runs or walks I like around the world, so sometimes I just pay attention to that.

Sometimes I put something on my phone and watch something. But the most of the time all those running friends across this, you know in the States, we actually video messaging while we are running. So that's the best thing ever. So yeah, we use this app on the that it's video messaging, it's instant message, you record a message and you send it and the other person can watch it and then reply right after it. So it's like we are running together. So it's like it's amazing. That's really cool. And so are you doing that with like a group of people at any given time? Yes, yes, sometimes we have like I have like a lot of cats, you know like it depends on who is running at that time.

We select like what chat we are going to talk or sometimes like we just started talking and it's okay, it's fine if you cannot actually catch up on the all the messages you just. Skip through it because it's just blabbing what we are running and we are retaining each other but it's it's super cool like while we are running and talking we have come up with costume, costume ideas like shirt ideas or like we enable each other to do any race or something. And so it's it's very nice, it's definitely. Yes. Yeah, I didn't expect that. I didn't expect you to say that actually because I've never heard of people doing that.

We, I mean, during the pandemic, I, so my treadmill is a peloton. So I know I'm familiar with, I fit and the concept of, you know, instructorled treadmill stuff. But during the pandemic, I actually had a group of friends like that. I only knew virtually we would get on a zoom like this. We would set the zoom up like in our, you know, home in the gym and we'd get on a peloton ride together. And so we'd like kind of chat before and we'd chat after we we didn't chat really in the inner in between because we couldn't breathe, but it was really nice. At first I thought it was really weird, and then I thought, this is so nice, like having the ability to use this technology to stay motivated and connected, especially during a time that was just so weird was was really nice.

So how how did you get into running in the first place? Well, in the 1st place I think I just because I wanted to lose some weight, so I started running. But how you know, I told you that there's no races like around here and it started like going here and there actually like very much Zumba. So I actually started like doing Zumba, and then I meet some people and it's like, okay. So we can do like, this phrase, the 5K, and it's fine. But then one of those people told me like, oh, there's phrases at Disney. I was like, really? What? Really. So I was like, because I always been.

Disney fanatics, I love Disney. We always have. And for some reason I didn't know that they were doing races in there. So I was like, oh, so. And then I started like looking at it. And then I did my first Disney race in 2016, but it was like just the 5K and the 10K. And I remember, like, after that 10K I was like, Oh my God, I want to die. Yeah. And and I remember that we finished and because, you know, that's the crack of dawn, the the races are like very, very early. It starts at 5:00. But at the same time, like, it's not like you wake up like one hour before and be there now you have to be there, like, and on the way there, like at 3:00 AM.

So after the 10K, I was like, Oh my God, I want to die. And I remember I did it with my husband. And we were straight. Like we took a shower and we went to bed. It's like right after that. But that same year I was like, oh, you know what? We did the 5K to 10K. Even though I'm destroyed right now, I would like to, you know, like that would be interesting if I can do a half marathon. So it's like, Oh my God, like from 6.2 jump into 13.1. But I mean. Sure, let's try it. And then for the next year, I did my first half at Disney on the Star Wars weekend.

It was 2017. And then it was downhill, escalated quickly. Like after that I started like going to different race weekends and then I learned about Dopey. And I like running a full marathon. It wasn't in my plans at all. I was like, no, I'm good with the half. It's challenging for meals still. So it's like but one. I remember 2019, I did the 5K to 10 1/2 on marathon weekend. But I keep seeing like all these people on the Expo with the whole package with old church. And then it was like Ding. I want that. So I started making plans for Adobe 2020. And yeah, and after that I've been doing the challenge every single day, every single year after 2020.

So I'm currently training for 2024. I mean, I'm so glad that you got in that race in early 2020 before everything shut down too, because I've talked to runners that, you know, you they trained for maybe their first marathon and then it gets cancelled. It's like, Oh my gosh, but you did a virtual. You've done a virtual. That was the one you did that was virtual because it was 20. 21 because I think 2020 in in live in person and then I signed up for 2021. And it went virtual. So that's the one that actually I did it with two of my friends. They did it at the same, the same.

One of them did it on the treadmill with me and the other one run it like around her neighborhood. But actually we wanted to okay. So this is a challenge, let's do a little bit of more challenging. So obviously we did it on the treadmill, we did the same. We didn't wake up at 5:00 AM though that's that's the thing which is like a later, but we did the four days with the specific mileage and then the last day it was like why finish with 26.2? Let's do an ultra. So we extended for 31.1 miles which is EU from Marathon. So we did the ultra that we that year.

On a treadmill. On a treadmill, I mean, yes. I can't wrap my head. Around it 53.3 miles or something like that. Yes, in four days. So obviously then when we could go to Disney, we traveled together and we had like church with ultratopia on it and the medals and we had like all the pictures. Yeah. Did friends that you did it with, did you meet them like through the your first Disney experience or how did you? Okay. So yeah it's it's kind of from Disney has like a huge community and you start like meeting people on the events. But actually all these ladies that I know not now and I mean I did I say ladies because we are the more that are more close together but.

All the the people we met through a Facebook group. So when we were training for Jopie 2020, I saw like an announcement on one of the Disney groups that this lady was creating a new Facebook group to train together for Jopie 2020. So I joined and it was like very. You know, like it wasn't toxic group at all. Like people. Will were like very encouraging, very loving people. And we actually like meet together, meet in person for on marathon weekend. I was like, Oh my God, it's so great to finally meet you. But then that started like, you know, like a group of people you started like getting more.

You know, close with different people And then Pandemic started. So we started like making more connections and right now we are like family actually some of the people like, we travel together, we stay together, we plan, costume together. So yeah, we are like the the group of people that are like dressed alike and we are like very loud and happy. People around the course and we like close the whole thing down dancing with the DJ, we we made the the whole experience. Like we have to get the more bank for our money so we stay on the course the more that we can take all the pictures, dance all that we can.

So yeah, it's. Oh, I have questions. I have so many questions. OK, I have questions. Let's get into costumes because I find that piece of it. So incredibly fascinating too, because clearly at Disney, costumes are highly encouraged. So yeah, talk a little bit about costumes. OK, so actually I started running, basically because I wanted to dress up at Disney. There we go, Yeah. Because on regular days at parks, only kids can wear a costume to the parks. So it was like, I love dressing up. I love it. I'm like, you know, my real personality is Snow White. You didn't know that. So. I wanted to dress up Disney.

So when I learn like, oh, there's phrases as Disney and you can dress up like whatever you want to wear. So I started doing that. But you know, it's it's I started running with my husband, actually. But running is not his thing. I was gonna say, yeah, where does he fall in this mix? He's. Now he's he actually like went with me to the first races and he did enjoy it, but at the same time he was like, that's not my thing, it's your thing. And he was like going with me to, you know, to be with for me. On that. But now that I have my crew, he's like, he's fine.

It's good. You go, I'm good. What I do the Dopey challenge, you do the sleepy challenge. So he's like well that's great. Perfect. But yeah, it's perfect. It's perfect. So anyways, costume, I started running with him, so we started doing like, very. You know, like the colors and pick a character and it was like very simple, you know, like a shirt that goes with the colors of the character and that kind of thing. But then when I started running with all these other crazy ladies that we are extra, we started like, oh, we can do this. I actually started with one of them that I met obviously on the group.

And we met on in person. We met on person in one on time 2019. And then right off the bat was like we should do a costume together. So we I did the first costume that we did together. I don't know if you're familiar with Disney and attractions. This attraction Epcot that is called called Soaring Soaring over the world that the cast members has like this. Blue, like a dress. It's not a dress, you know, like a suit, like a blue suit with the, like pilots. So we we should do that. So we did the, the running version of the soaring. So and it was like, oh, this is great.

And actually she's like the same tall as I am. So it was like the two of us coming. It was like, OK. And then dress up like, right blue, like okay. Yeah, making a statement. And we actually got a feature from Disney social media for that phrase with that outfit. Dang, that's impressive. Yeah, we actually, we have been featured four Times Now. I think so. So anyways we started just us two and then we have been like adding more more people that want to get into the costume trend. So it's it's it's so. Fun. So do you Do you make them? Do you have someone who makes these for you?

How does that work? Well, I'm I have many talents, but sewing it's not one of them so. I do like put some embellishments on pieces. You know, like Amazon is my best friend. So I get pieces like base pieces on Amazon and then I get bullish them. Some of the other costumes are straight from Amazon and we kind of put it together. It depends on how complex we want it and how many people are being part of them. You know, like we are willing to do some arts and crafts. I remember for the last springtime back in now in in April we did some Jellyfishes costume with the umbrella and all the things hanging around and and actually we were crafting the day before for the next morning race.

So. It was super fun, yeah. So some of them we craft some things, other we. Buy them. But we don't actually like, hire people to do the costume. We kind of do it ourselves. Put it together and then I can if there's a shirt to be made, but then I, I I make them. So it's it's kind of we we have like a brainstorming of ideas and then we decide we want to do. Man, so how it would have been, because you've had a lot. I've seen a lot of the pictures. Yes, you have a favorite or a couple of favorites that stand out that you've done.

Well, the soaring one, it's very, I really, really like that one. And it was like the very first one that I did like very more elaborate that it was like a two or just a skirt. What else? There's, there's so many, but on last one and dime we did the beer wenches and we have like this huge inflatable pretzel and the beer they take beer mug and it was like so much fun. It it was so amazing and actually we actually run together. And we do the Galloway method which is like run, walk, run and had like our queue works different to instead of walk and run we did like Prost for running.

And then drinking, it was for for walking. So it was. And and I know that people that we passed by on the course, they were like, Oh my God, I saw it. We were like, oh, you do like the large pretzel. I bet people were like, are those real? I could really use a pretzel right now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The beer, it was a very convincing, like it was one of those mugs similar to the one the the baby bottles for the dolls. I know exactly what you mean. Yep. Yeah, so kind of that. So I remember after the race we actually went into Epcot because we wanted to find the being gone then.

Yeah. And it was amazing. All the cast members were like freaking out. Oh my God, this is amazing. And then we went to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, the Road Coaster and the the cast member. It was so funny because it was like, I'm sorry, you cannot take your drinks to the IT. We were like. Oh, OK. Yeah, you're like it's not real. And then it was like, I never thought I was going to say this, but hold on to your pretzel. Hold on to your pretzels, people. Did did you fill up your beer at all during the race? Because I know that you can.

Like I had a friend who did a race. She finished with a beer in her hand. Like, did you do that at all? I haven't done it. Just because I don't know, I sometimes I get in my head, Oh my God, I don't have enough time. Whatever. Yeah, I'm not a bus runner. I'm not. So I'm like thoroughly getting through the race. And obviously I I have to. I want to to have fun on the course. So anyways, I I was like, Oh my God, I'm so hot. I just wanted to get done. But yeah, I have it. I have it in my bucket list.

I did finish. One of the races with a done it on, you know. Oh yes. I want this done right by the Joffrey card getting off Epcot. So we had a different colored done. It's all of us. We crossed the finish line together. Yeah. The beer, it's, it's happening. Beer or Margarita. There you go. Yeah, I feel like for me. Towards the end perhaps would be possible, but like, yeah, I'm just trying to get just yeah. Yeah, sometimes you go, you just want to get you being over with. But I I definitely want to do it. That's a goal for 2024 there. You go well.

Also one of the things about Disney that's different because I I have never done one. I think I told you this when we met. I but I would love to at some point. The culture of Disney intrigues me. Because it is so different than kind of the traditional Rd. racing, which is what I have done. And like, you know, trail running is a whole another culture, right? But I think I'd love to learn a little bit more about how you would describe the Disney culture. Like you said, it's all about having fun and like riding rides and seeing taking pictures. So could you just kind of talk a little bit more about what that's like?

Yeah, it's completely different by like. I I haven't. I haven't done like a lot of races outside Disney because I'm mostly a Disney racer, a Disney runner. But you know what I'm doing that is going to change this year. But we will talk about that though, you know? But yeah, Disney Disney race, the community itself, it's so different. Like it's so much encouraging. It's like there's people that only walk the races like. All the races they can't walk them. The only thing that you have to keep a pace, you know the the pace established pace. But it's so nice and there's like a lot of people that do the run walk run method because actually Jeff Galloway it's like the officials like trainer for run Disney.

So in he encouraged that they actually have like Pacers along the the. Oh, interesting that use that method. Yes. And then you can stick with those Pacers and finish your race with them. So it's like there's a lot of people so different that inspire people. Disney races are a place for people that started just started running and like if you are looking for to do your first marathon or your first half marathon, Disney is the place. Obviously not if you want to go for time because obviously it's a it's a big race like for example, marathon weekend. It's like thousands, thousands of people like on the course and because obviously you go to the parks, it's not like an open Rd.

hey, so there's some part of the course that goes narrow, so. It's like if you want to actually like, Oh my God, run for. There's people that PR on on Disney races, but not that's not the general mentality of going to Disney races. It's like having fun. There's a lot of people that dress up wearing costumes, a lot of groups of of friends running together. And it's it's the vibe, it's so nice because you have, you talk with people along the course, you complement the costumes or you're like asking or if you see someone that is like struggling, you start like getting them some more encouragement and it's it's.

It's a different kind of vibe, completely, completely. So I I love it. I'm, I'm totally hooked. Clearly, I hear that there's a, or at least one of my friends who's in the Disney World, she told me. That they call people who, like, go for time fast holes. Is that a thing? Yeah, we have actually I have a friend that is a fast hole, but the The thing is that those people are in Corona. So they they are the very first ones that go so they go and and and it's it's funny because his pictures, he's like always by himself, like the park, by himself and it's like no.

And he has like a lot of pictures with the characters and there's no line and obviously I I'm a slow runner so I start more on the back. Last not quite the last corral, but kind of the the 2nd to last and there's a lot of people and all my pictures are like a lot of people around me or want to stuff for a character picture there's a huge line. So it's it's different if you want to go for time and you are actually like a fast runner and you go on corral a. Go for it. But yeah, if you wanna start on the last scorah and you have to weed a lot between runners and so.

Yeah, I imagine that's hard. Probably, especially with people in costume, like trying to navigate through. I mean, yeah, yeah. Imagine the jellyfish costume. We have like huge umbrella and we were four. So if someone wanted to wait, we actually tried to be like very conscious of not blocking the whole. We tried to keep like two and two and two and two, even if the. The group is big, we try to do 2, do 2 and then or single file. For some pictures we do do some spread, but it's just for the picture. OK break formation. Did you have to? So with the umbrella, did you have to hold?

Did you hold it the whole time? Yes. For the 10 miles, how? Was that? It was it was bad. But yeah, some of my friends were like, Oh my God, I have prop elbows. Yeah, right. I and having been in many Rd. races, there's few costumes that you see. You don't see that many costumes. And when you do, like some of them are insane. Like, I can just think of people running a full marathon, like dressed as the Eiffel Tower. I remember that so vividly. And I'm like, what? How do you do that? And you're like running, you know, running the entire time and, you know, fast.

I mean, it's all relative, but still, you're like, holy cow, I've never raced. I don't know, like the closest I could come is like wearing a tshirt that somebody like made me to wear and like wearing a cotton tshirt for the race versus what I would normally wear. But I'm always like so impressed by people who can run in full costume. It's a whole, it's a whole another level, even if you're not running fast, it's that's amazing. Yeah, and I mean the Florida Orlando can be, the weather can be like all over the place. So I remember for my first Adobe in 2020, it was insanely hot, like that full marathon day.

It was like, actually they cut part of the course because they wanted people to, you know, get off the course because it was so hot. And it was and for that. Because it was my first, I wore like a regular T-shirt and and a running skirt and it was like that's not me, but I was like so so scared for my first so but after that, you know for the second one I wore like a full ringmaster costume from Dumbo and I actually hold a Dumbo plutch for the whole 26.2 miles. Wow. For the other one, we were addressed. Like addressed like you buy to go to an event, not wiki material at all.

Yeah, right. A belt. Like a belt, so. Yeah. But we survive. It's fine. We'll see the. Chafing. You have to have a whole another level of chafing then. Yeah, it's it's a brand. Yeah. We have to, you know, like. Cover yourself. Yeah, yeah. It's like okay, we have to prevent you, like everything that has happened to you in the past and where you think it could. Happen, right? Do that. I know, because then you'll just have there'll be like one spot you didn't think about and then you're like, how is this causing this problem? Yeah, but surprisingly it it wasn't as bad. It wasn't as bad.

Like I don't remember any shaving for any of the right those races actually and sometimes on on training runs I can get like old shaved, like seriously, I don't know. It's so you you never know. And then how are you? And I'm curious about this too on the treadmill because I'm trying to picture like going through a run on the treadmill or even a like. Fueling wise, so like during the race and then also like while you're training specifically on the treadmill, how do you fuel during races? Actually, when I run on the treadmill, I don't feel healthy, but like 1/2 or or less, I'm not actually like fuel.

I don't know, I I think like I need more fuel when I'm running like it's when. It's very hot, but yeah, I do very little. I'd be very bad with feeling, I have to admit. Well, I mean, you still do it, the races, so it's impressive, yes. On the races, yeah, sometimes again it has to be like 1/2 or the full like for the 5K or 10K at all. But yeah, I do like maybe a waffle. Just a waffle or some syrups. It's it's it's not a law and when I'm on the treadmill but some sometimes I have to change videos on the iPhone and then I take so I won't going to eat this or right but it's not very long distances and the short ones I never do.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. And so before I, before we move on, cuz we there's so much we could talk about with Disney. Could you give a rundown, pun intended of the rate the different races? Like, will you just give a quick summary for people who aren't familiar with the series, like the season that you mentioned at the beginning? What are all the races? Yes. So they have changed some theming and from the weekends over the years, but right now like the the next season that it starts in November this year. It's starts with one and nine half marathon weekend. It has the 5K, the 10K and a half and you can do like the challenge, which is the 10K and the half and the 5K.

It by itself for me, if I'm going to travel, I'm going to do the whole thing. So I always do like the three, the three races. And then you get like the medal for the 5K, the medal for the 10K for the half. And if you sign up for the challenge, you get the challenge medal as well. So that's the first one. Then this, the second one of the season is the marathon weekend. It's the only event that has the full marathon on it, because all the other weekend, race weekends go up to 1/2 marathon or 10 mile or. So this one it's the only one that has the full, so it's a four day event 5 if you count the Expo, which is craziness, I can.

Only imagine. Craziness. So Barathon weekend has the 5K, the 10K, the half, and the full. And then there's two challenges in that weekend, which is the goofy challenge. Means when you run the half and the full or the dopey challenge, which is running the whole thing. So you run the 5K on Thursday, the 10K on Friday, the half on Saturday, and then the full marathon on Sunday. And then you walk away with six medals, one with for each event the woofy medal, because it's like part of the challenge as well, and then the dopey medal. So yeah, and aftermath on weekend this year they brought back the Disneyland California races.

I was, I was wondering yeah, if there was anything out of the California because most of what. I see last year Disneyland California did races. It was on 20/20/17 and I actually did that race weekend but I didn't know it was the last one. Wow, yeah. So they brought it back this year and actually is the weekend after marathon weekend in Orlando. So that one has the 5K, the 10K and the half marathon and then has the challenge, which is the Dumbo. Dumbo double there is the 10K and the half. So and it's right like I think marathon weekend it's like. Start of the 4th, I don't, I don't remember.

Anyways, it's the one weekend and then the very next weekend it's Disneyland. So yeah, and I'm doing dopey to Dumbo. So I'm going to run dopey in Orlando and then actually I'm I'm leaving my house on the 1st of January and not coming back on the 17th until the 17th. Wow. Yeah, so. Because I. Going to go straight to California and then run there and then coming back. Wow. Yeah, I'm a little, I'm a little scared about that because, you know, after running dopey, like right after and usually when I run dopey, I take like a month. Oh yeah. I bet. I'm running so this year is like no, you still need to run 2.4 miles they can.

That's fine. I got this. Let's do it. Yeah. Oh my God, my goodness. Okay. Then after the Disneyland, then comes Princess. That was the when we met the February. Yep, in February. Yes, that's again 5K10K and a half. And the child is being the 10K and a half and then after that the last. Race weekend of the season, it's the springtime surprise, which is is this is going to be the third year that they are doing that before. Before it was the the springtime the the springtime surprise, it was the Star Wars Weekends okay on that date but they decided to change it up and then now that weekend, it's a completely different thing every year.

It has it. It doesn't have in half. On the last day it has a 10 miler, so it's a 5K10A5K10K and 10 miler, a total of 19.3. It's the challenge and you can sign up for the challenge and run 03. So that's the and I absolutely appreciate the 10 miler instead of the half because in April it's very hot. So yeah, miles that are usually like in the sun and it's like they are cruel. So I really appreciate that they shut them up and turn it into on a 10K because it's way better. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. OK, yeah, gosh, one of these I gotta do.

I gotta do something. Disney, I am intrigued by Marathon weekend because it just seems like cuz that is that the biggest one? Yeah, that's the work event. It was the first event that they they actually, they are been doing the marathon 30 years okay. So for in 2023 it was the 30th anniversary for the full marathon and then they started like adding different events like the. The full marathon, it was the very first one and it started. But it's it's the biggest event on the run that run Disney community and it's it's huge. It's a huge event. Like you can see that Expo day. You see like a ocean of people going through the ESPN to pick up the bits and it's and it's good because there's like a different combinations like every.

Everyone do what they want to do. Like there's people that only run the full, there's people that only run the half. There's people that run the five game and a half. And you know, like it's different. And usually the the weather is all over the place in Orlando, but usually it's a little bit better than the spring races. Yeah, you know, it's not as hot. Yeah, that 2020. Which was like running in Satan's kitchen. But I mean it's it's very, it's very nice. It's the biggest event. Yeah, I think, but it depends on how you like the the things because the marathon weekend is the original like Mini Donald, the Chippendale, they change it to Chippendale.

Pluto And then you have Princess that obviously is all princesses. Yeah, yeah. And then the spring, it change every time this year. Next year is going to be stitch the challenge. That's. Cool. My daughter would love that. Yes, registration haven't happened to that one. So we can think about it. Well, that's a whole. Another thing is like the registration process. People sitting at the computer like waiting. So do you do all that on your own? Do you do it as a group? Do you have? You do. We obviously have like a connection that they the chats are like blowing up and we have like different devices, even though from Disney says.

At least use one device we only you know we always do one because we want to increase our chances so crazy like sometimes I have like 2 devices or three devices and it's so you don't know when they open the registration it's give you like a countdown that how much time do you have left to be your turn and you can see like it's so random. Like you have one device that says like more than an hour and then other one that just pop in and it says like 15 minutes and it's like what I connect them at the same time. So it's so random, it's so random and so we have like this kind of chat going on and if someone got access first it's like, I mean, I mean give me your information.

And. Get to each other because obviously we want. Everyone to. Be able to do it, Yeah. Yes, because we want together. So yeah. And then what do you do with your medals? Because you have to have a million of them by this. Yes. So I have different places. My Dolby medals are by themselves. They are right in the front of my treadmill. So it's like, yeah, you can do hard things, you can this runs socks, but you can do it. Yeah, my gold medals are by themselves. The other ones actually, right this moment, they are in boxes because I bought a new metal hanger and I haven't had time to, actually.

Put it up. But the plan, yes, the plan is to have them all like for events and I I have the feeling that I will need to buy another one because I don't think it's going to fit. I bet those boxes are so heavy I can. They are. Yeah, they are. And then, OK, gosh, there's so many other questions I have. I wanted to talk briefly too about your business that you've started kind of in the midst of. All of that. So a little. Bit about that. Pandemic. It was like a completely turned of the life for many people. I'm actually a speech language pathologist and so I had my private practice back in the day.

But then when Pandemic started, it was like very, very hard moments. I was like, you know what, I'm going to. Turn the page and do other stuff. I'm still working at the spill, a speech language pathologist, but more in the University College programs. I'm doing clinical supervision work, but not actually on the clinic, so I keep doing that, but then when I was like with no job at all during pandemic, I. Started making shirts for my friends and for people on the Facebook group and started. I didn't know how that started. And yeah, right now I do the official group. Shirts with the logo or do like the in training actually do like different virtual events for the group to fundraise for charity and then I do I make the shirts.

We actually have medals made for them as well events we actually, the last one that we had it was actually. Two weeks ago we had the the run happy because we went like for obviously we are the dopey group and we had for in Pandemic we have the run grumpy because we were grumpy because all the races were cancelled. So it's like okay, so we have our races back so let's run happy. So yeah, I think we yes, we did it for because. Couple of us are fundraising for running New York, it's all. So we did that event to fundraise for that. We actually took a pause on the virtual events because we were like other people.

We are not going to be interested because there's races everywhere, but it's something that made us. Come together so good during pandemic and people are like, yeah, I already have like the collection, the run the week collection of the virtual races and it's like, yeah, sure, let's continue doing it. So we did that and and they're very cute and it was a huge event for our anniversary actually because we turn four years at Facebook groups so. #RONDELL be for everyone, everyone that wants to join. We are a very good group, encouraging people and very friendly and we love everybody no matter the pace and we are very inclusive, so.

Yeah, that has to be. That's a whole another thing too, managing being an admin on a Facebook group of that size, like, especially if people are to your point, Facebook is a crazy place. People are mean sometimes and so like being able to be. Like, keep that positive culture within a group. So big has to be, yeah. Yeah, it's we we have a lot of admins and moderators on the group. So that's definitely helped to keep everything like running, running smoothly. But I think the way that the group started people are like continue the that same group you know like being positive, inclusive and. If one of you know there's always people getting in the group constantly so there's people that maybe doesn't know that culture of us and it's like buddy we don't do that here sorry so but but normally I think has been has been a blessing like we we have had some.

The episode, but very briefly and we it's like okay. So if you cannot keep it civil and be encouraging so this is not the problem for you. Sorry but very very few times. It's not like something not every day event, right? Yeah, like the peloton. So I mentioned peloton earlier, the peloton, the main peloton group is a mean place. Yeah, people are just mean you can't post in there because people. Yeah, are just there's there's one of the groups that are very, very mean too. It's like, yeah, thank you and. People like, you know, like runner. A runner can be like any pace, like a 5 minute mile.

It's the same distance. Yeah, I love that quote. That true? 20 minute mile, you know, for example the marathon, if you can keep on the pace that this is required at this 16 minute mile, you can actually walk the the whole thing at that pace if you can keep it and if you finish, you finish, you got the same metal that the first one that broke the the ribbon, you know. And you get to be proud and wear your medal around the park because you did it. So yeah. It's like if you run, you're a runner, just end of story. Or if you do the race to your point, if you want, I mean, if you're moving your body through that park on that, you know, on that course you are, you know you belong.

I think it's, it seems like just such a wonderful, inclusive community of people. I have a group of women that. You know, we've all had kids at different times, and we're it's kind of been tough to figure out how to get back together, but I really want to get a crew of women to do something one of the Disney weekends. I'm also really interested in Ragnar. People who've listened to this podcast have heard me talk about that a few times, just like the camaraderie aspect of it. Is so fun. Yeah, we want to do that. And that that's in our bucket list of races. The thing is that Disney sucked us up so much.

Well, and I can only imagine, I'm glad you mentioned what you do for your profession because, you know, it's like, how do you afford to do all these races? They're not cheap and flying from Puerto Rico to the United States, like staying in hotels like all the, you know, because of course you've got to get some swag and you've got, you know, it's like. It's a whole thing. Yeah, it's crazy, crazy. It's like okay. I can eat saltines for the rest of the month, but then I'm going to eat. Yeah, but I'm doing this so. I'm doing this right? Yeah, yeah. And so. You have you on your Facebook cover photo.

It has a picture of you at the Boston finish line. So have you done Boston before I take it? Not officially, I just did the virtual when they opened the virtual option on 20/20. One So that's you're still a Boston marathoner. That's really cool. So we did, yes. It was amazing. It was amazing. We chair with different ladies. So it was, it was amazing. It was awesome and. When we got that virtual medal, it's like, okay, I've got my Unicorn. Maybe people don't recognize it, but I have my Unicorn. Right, it's. But yeah, that's it's still you're still a Boston marathoner. That's so cool, I think.

Someday maybe. I don't know. We'll we'll see I I'm as I say I'm mostly a Disney runner but I have brunched out a little bit with. Other people on the group that are very enablers, you know after enablers actually hit my first ultra last year in New Hampshire. So and it was a real race. It was a 50K actually. It's a race that you can pick the distance that you want to run. They had like 15 miles. They had like the 50K they have like the. 100 miles and you have like a a certain amount of time to complete it and you take the distance that you want to do so I did the 50K, only the 50K because I went through some injuries but last year and I was like you know I would like to do the 50 miler but.

I had like, Dolby, yeah, I was like, you know what? I need to be a little bit smart. And I quit it on the 50K, but it was still a 50K. It was my first time on the trails. It was my first time running on trails because I never did that. So it was like, yeah, first trail race, let's do an ultra, why not? Yeah, I this gets me on the Ultra again. I've been talking about Ultras a little bit too, because, you know, the more people I meet and talk to then you're like, ooh, that sounds kind of fun completely. Different vibe and road races and Disney races.

It's completely it's the one that I did, it's Ghost Train. Okay, it's normally in October, so all the leaves, it's like amazing, amazing like all the whole trail with all the leaves and and they actually do like some because it's in October, they do like Halloween decorations with the pumpkins and there's like a trail at night that. All the pumpkin salad up, it's it's awesome. Like it's completely different. All the people are very encouraging also and they're everyone are doing the race like everyone their own and they are very it's completely different. I I want to do it again. I want to do it again.

I just this year was not going to work out because New York so. Yeah, well, we got to, yeah, we got to talk about New York. Yes, sorry. Yes, it's it's going to be my first mayor, so I'm very excited about that. I'm a little sad because it's this very same weekend as one and nine. So I'm going to, it's the first time that I'm going to miss 1:00 and 9:00 in years from 2019 is the first time I'm going to miss it. So I'm a little. Sad about that, but I know it's going to be an amazing experience, completely different, the vibe. I know it's going to be different because it's a word mayor, you know, But every everyone has told me that it's a wonderful experience with all the people on the street cheering and I love New York, so I love the city have never run in there, but I have visit.

Sometimes I'm looking forward to it, definitely. And I'm traveling and running with some of my dearest friends, so that's. I I did New York in 2018 and it was my first full marathon after having my first daughter and and a couple of my friends were doing it and I'm like, well, shoot, I've if they're doing it, I gotta, I gotta do it then this year because who knows, you know when we'll have a chance. So I. I raised money for Alex's Lemonade stand for childhood cancer and and when I say raise money, I ended up just. I wrote a check because I didn't want to fundraise and it was the most amazing experience.

My, like being there with my friends was special. I ran the race myself, like by myself. But it was just the energy of the city, like the fact that it's such a huge, I think it's the world's largest marathon. Like if I'm not mistaken, it's absolutely huge. I got a Bluebird day, so it was blue sky like just. Perfect. And the thing I'll say a couple of things about New York like you've done like 3:00 AM wake up call kind of stuff to get to Disney. So you've been through that like that. But that's kind of like what I think of when I think of the New York experience was like I stayed in Long Island City and so we had to go from our hotel to a bus to a train to another bus to the island, right.

And then you kind of sit on the island for a while. So it was like I had, you know, packed some magazines and some a sandwich to like, you know, hang out past the time. And then Central Park is Hillier than I knew at the end. So if people haven't already told you that the bridges weren't bad, it was for me anyway. The bridges felt like I knew that they were going to be there. But Central Park was when I was like, what the hell, I did not know. It was hilly here. This is not fair. Yeah, I've been trying to actually incorporate like some elevation in my treadmill and stuff because obviously people have told me like, oh, there's they see it's hilly.

So I've been trying to actually incorporate that to not be surprised. That will help so much because. That's a lot of what I did. I didn't do a ton of like outdoor hill training because I'm you've been to Carmel IN actually we found that out and it's flat. So there's really not a lot of places to run hills. And so I would do peloton classes that had incline and that helped tremendously. So I think if you're already doing that, that'll help a lot. It helped me. Certainly that process did so. We're running out of time. However, I do want to talk about your fundraising because I found it so unique.

Is that how did you come up with the idea to. So for those of you don't know what I'm talking about, Dolly's is actually, she has already met her fundraising goal which is amazing. Congratulations. But you had people the opportunity to sponsor each week of your training. So could you tell me about that? Yes. So I have different ideas for my fundraising. I did the sponsor a mile for the whole marathon, so people can pick like from mile one to mile 26 and they can sponsor the mile for obviously for some donation. And then I had and I'm going to wear. My chair to pick up my bid.

I'm going to have the names of all the sponsors in my bag. So because all that people had my bag, that's so cute. The other way that I did my fundraising, it was okay. So all my long runs on the weekend, you get to a sponsor, that training run and you get to pick a costume that I will wear that day. And I made like a list of all the customs that I own that there's like 3 or 4 because you know I have a couple and then people pick the the date that they wanted to sponsor that and then they donate the amount that they wanted or the amount of mile that I was going to run that day.

I I wasn't expecting for people to go for it and I actually I. Have sponsored for all my training runs and it's actually and it's helping me out as well because sometimes you are tired. It's like Oh my God, like I cannot let people down. Yeah, no, Mary paid me 50 bucks for this run. So yeah, and. It's like and also. I love to dress up as well, so it's like I need to run, but I'm going to wear, I don't know, it's a small world dress with all my feathers, so it's completely different. But it was, it was really, really nice. But yeah, I'm very blessed with all the people online that donated and I met my goal.

Yeah, that's so congratulations and which remind me which charity? Water for people. Okay, that's right. So that's the. Yes, that's the. The charity that all my friends are running for, we decided to go the fundraising route because we wanted to do it together and there was no way that we could like made it all of the same year on lottery. Exactly. So that's the way we went, but I took like a, you know? I started like fundraising. I was like, oh, I'm doing so well. So actually this year I'm going to run New York for charity and I'm running Dolby for charity. I have met my goal as well for that one.

I'm running for Kelsey's Hope, and then I met my goal for Princess as well. I'm running for Kelsey's Hope. And then now I'm just waiting for my link for springtime. So. So. That's crazy. You already for Princess weekend which again we had mentioned a couple times is in February and it is July. That's so cool. Well, I love the creativity there. In fact like because I, you know know so many people who are fundraising for fall marathons. It seems like such a creative and fun way to get people involved versus just saying like hey donate to my charity yeah, give me my. It's it's because that's it's hard to ask people for money and but I love the.

You know, it's always for, you know, a good cause usually when marathoners are are fundraising. But but I loved what you did. That's so cool. OK, so now I'm going to wrap this up as hard as it is because this has been so much fun. So thank you. A couple of questions that I ask everybody at the end of the podcast and one is your favorite running mantra or song. Yeah, it's the same. I can go the distance. The song from Hercules. Yup. Cry. Yes, I can cry every time, like, and when we are actually on the marathon day and it's like getting hard, it's like we started singing and we crying and it's like, we can do this.

I can go the distance. So yeah, that's my. Oh, that's a really good one. That's a really good one. I love that and I love that song. Yeah, it really is so good. Do you listen to music while you do the race, or is it with your with a group of people you don't really need to? Not at Disney, not at Disney, because there's so much going on and we like talking to each other. And I don't typically listen to music, but when when I'm running by myself, I love you don't have music. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. OK. And then we know that your next finish line is New York.

Next mile? I mean, shoot, you've already, like, raised all your money for your upcoming races, but what else is out there? What other goals have you set for yourself? Yeah, well, my next finish line before New York, it's the local race, the Challenge local race that actually, yeah, it's in August, so it's called the Lola Challenge weekend and it's very nice. The course is like. All the views of the Olsen one and it's it's a very nice race if you want to say it's hard, but it's very it's a very, very nice race. So and then yeah, after New York I have dopey to Dumbo and yeah, so we'll see.

I think my next goal would be the 50 mile, 50 miler. Because I want to go back to Ghost Train and get my 50 miles in in the trail, so I think that's what is next. Very cool. Well, if people want to find you and connect with you, you are obviously in the hashtag run dopey Facebook group so people can find you there. Yeah, if anyone's interested at all in Disney. Check it out. It really, I have loved following people's stories and seeing pictures and all of that there. So yeah, awesome. Well, thank you. And hopefully, yeah, hopefully I can see you again at a Disney race someday.

Or if you ever come back to visit your friend here in Carmel, what was your friend's name that lives here? Mackenzie. Okay. Yeah, Mackenzie. So yeah, I don't know if she does any of the local races here. Not the runner. Well, well, if you come back and visit her, do it in do it in April when we have our Carmel Marathons here. Although it'd be hard, it's hard to get you out of the Disney race circuit. I know. But I have done it and you know it's it's there's other races in my Raider, including the Rackner. We actually won. To do Ragnar a group of friends.

But yeah, it's it's going to happen. Eventually I will walk away. But the the other thing I want the Disneyland Paris races to come back so I can get my castle to Chateau challenge medal. Oh. Boy. Actually I was signed up for for it on 20/20 when everything got cancelled, so. OK, that's another one. Well, I hope they come back. All right. Well, edalice, thank you so much for your time. And it's just such a pleasure getting to know you virtually. And I always say at the end of this happy running. So I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend and happy running. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ally Brettnacher