So I’m really excited to have a very special guest with me tonight to talk about a subject that I have not talked or thought enough about in the last umpteen years as a Disney aficionado.

A lot of you would be surprised that I have actually never even done a Run Disney Race event in the past, me being a runner for ever.

So I’m really excited to have Lisa DiNotto-Glassner on tonight’s podcast episode.

Lisa is from the Castle Runner and Thousand Circles Images.

I consider her to be a wealth of information on anything Run Disney, especially with her Run Disney event guides, which she posts right before each Run Disney Race weekend.

Knowing her, she’s completed enough Run Disney Races and received enough medals that would make me fall to the floor if I had to wear them all.

And on top of that, she wears, or she takes the best Run Disney photos and she’s proud to share them with everybody.

So I’m really happy to have with me tonight, Lisa DiNotto-Glassner.

So excited to talk to you.

Thanks so much for bringing me on.

Of course.

Before we get started, and we’re going to be covering Springtime Surprise, which just happened last weekend.

I want to ask just one question to get to know you a little bit better and to get the listeners to know you a little better.

So since the topic of tonight is going to be about Run Disney, I want to ask, what is one of your most memorable or maybe even a couple of your most memorable moments in any Run Disney event?

Because if I’m correct, you’ve done, what was it, like 98 races at this point?

I hit, I finally sat down and did the math, and thank goodness I did, because it would have been such a bummer to have done the math post 100 and realized it after the fact.

But yeah, in the context of just putting an article together recently, I was like, how many exactly have I done?

And I did figure out that, so there were three races this past weekend for Springtime Surprise, and they were 96, 97, and 98 for me.

So wine and dine this coming fall will be, I’ll hit 100.

Yeah.

That’s awesome.

That is awesome.

Out of all the 98 races you’ve done, what’s the most memorable moment that you could think of?

I mean, obviously, every race is special in its own way.

But I mean, I think number one, right?

The very first one I ever did was meaningful to me, like in a lot of different ways.

It was back in 2016, I registered for the Princess Half Marathon.

That was the first one Disney race I ever did when I got the bug.

And yeah, I mean, it’s sort of a sad slash serious background.

But I think for a lot of runners, right, like you run because you start distance running because you’re dealing with something or unless you came from like a track background or something as a child, which I most certainly did not.

I was always into fitness, but I wasn’t a runner.

Specifically growing up, it was just sort of like a warm up at the gym before I did other things.

And back then, you know, I lost my dad in 2014, and when he was to cancer and when he was fighting that, I was kind of sat down to do my usual meditations and all the other good stuff that you’re supposed to do to keep yourself healthy.

And my body was like, nope, we are not sitting still right now.

So I just started distance running.

I think, like I said, like so many people just to kind of process and have that peaceful mental time while your body is otherwise occupied is the only best way I can describe it.

And I kept running after we lost my father.

And when I found out that the 2016 Princess Half Marathon was on the two-year anniversary of when we lost him, it just felt like this varies.

And also like Disney was so close to my heart.

So like run Disney felt like this perfect marriage of two things that had really got me through some tough times in my life and brought me a lot of joy.

And so I registered for 2016 Princess Half Marathon, which was on February 21st, 2016 just to kind of show the universe.

I was still kicking at the time.

It felt like it would be sort of a triumphant thing to do at the time.

And yeah, I caught the bug.

That was my first one, obviously.

It was very special for all the reasons that I was just talking about.

And I think other than that, maybe like first Dopey, right?

Your first Dopey challenge.

What was your first Dopey?

My first Dopey was after we moved here, so 2018.

So I’ve done every Dopey since.

I’ve done every in-person.

We were off for COVID during that.

We had a there was a virtual, but I’ve done every in-person Dopey besides that since then.

And my first marathon, my first full marathon, was actually in the context of a Dopey challenge.

How funny that you mentioned.

Okay, maybe we do have to talk about that later, because my first Dopey, this upcoming Dopey in 2026, is going to be my first ever marathon, too.

Go big or go home, right?

Exactly.

Yeah, we can talk about it for sure.

But yeah, it was my first marathon.

That’s amazing.

And I mean, really, just to emphasize how inspiring and how really cool it is to channel such energy into something like this.

And here you are, almost 10 years later.

It’s still kicking.

So that’s amazing.

That’s amazing.

Yeah.

So why don’t we go ahead and just dive into springtime surprise weekend?

I know generally what Run Disney is about.

Of course, I’ve seen everyone post on social media what it’s all about, especially for the listeners that haven’t done a Run Disney event before, or who don’t know much about Run Disney.

Can you give us a little rundown specifically on springtime surprise, kind of how the weekend goes?

Yeah.

I mean, we can back up real quick and then zoom into springtime.

So in Walt Disney World, there are four race weekends over the course of the race season.

There’s the Wine and Dine series that’s in the fall in early November.

There’s the Marathon Weekend, which includes the Dopey Challenge.

That’s the only one that has a full marathon in the very beginning of January.

Then there’s the Princess-themed races that are in February.

And then you close out the season with Springtime Surprise, which is the one that we just did.

And so for most of the races, you start each…

There’s three different races on…

For Wine and Dine, Princess, and Springtime, there’s three races.

There’s a 5K, a 10K, and then a half marathon.

Or for this one, it’s a 10-miler, which is really wonderful not to have a half marathon.

Those three miles are gonna make a ticket to the next one.

10 is such a sweet distance.

And then Marathon Weekend, which I just mentioned, of course, adds a marathon to all of that.

So you have a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon, and a full marathon.

And the dopey challenge, for those who don’t know what I’m talking about when I refer to that, is when you do all four of those races back to back.

And Springtime Surprise is fun because it’s now the other one where all of the races of the weekend are the challenge.

Normally, the challenge is the 10K and the half.

But for Springtime, it’s the full set is the challenge.

So there’s a 5K race on Friday that starts at 5 o’clock in the morning.

And then there’s a 10K race on Saturday.

And then on Sunday morning, there’s a 10-miler.

And then if you do the challenge for Springtime Surprise, it’s all three of those.

So it’s 19.3 total miles for the weekend.

And Springtime Surprise is fun because like I said, Wine and Dine is sort of like food and wine themed-esque.

Marathon Weekend is sort of its own animal.

Princess Weekend is obviously has its built-in theming.

And Springtime Surprise, back in the day, it was the Star Wars races.

They would do Star Wars races in April.

And then post-COVID, they brought back this thing called the Springtime Surprise.

And I think it’s just like their race weekend that they have fun with.

Like they can choose the theming each year.

That’s why it’s called Springtime Surprise because the theming changes each year.

And this year, the theme was heroes and to write your own hero story.

So each theme was based on a different hero’s adventure.

So the 5K was based on Groot was the theme.

The 10K was Hercules.

And then the 10 Mylar was the Incredibles.

And then Baymax and Big Hero 6 was the full challenge theming.

So I did all three of those.

One reason why I’m really bummed I was not doing a springtime surprise, because Baymax is one of my absolute favorite characters, but nonetheless.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

It was great theming and he was out.

He was actually the first character on the race course for the 10 Mylar.

So they lure you in with a good first character.

So along the way, you get to meet a bunch of fun characters, a lot of rare characters, you write like characters you don’t normally see in the parks.

Yeah, they have fun pulling out different people just to get us excited.

So when you first get to the race, the race itself technically starts at 5 a.m.

That’s when the first wave of runners will go out.

But you can get to the staging area before the race is early, is like 3 a.m.

or a little bit before that, which people tend to do.

And there’s a DJ and there’ll be like 4 different characters that you can meet up with in the staging area before the races even start.

And then on the race course, there’ll be characters and DJs and the Taiko drummers from Japan and all sorts of different entertainment on the race course that keeps you going.

So the Disney races are definitely unique as that goes.

Yeah, for sure.

And then the other really, really special thing other than all the entertainment, all the characters, you also get to run through the parks and into like backstage areas, right?

Yes.

So that’s, yeah, that’s, I always say, like, if you’re a Disney person, at least do a 5K once.

The 5Ks are technically untimed, there’s no pacing requirement.

You can basically, I mean, you can more or less walk it and just sort of enjoy the course.

So it’s a really cool way to experience it, even if you’ve never done, even if you’re not a runner, you’ve never done a race before.

But yeah, so you go through, they all include like an element of EBCOT.

So usually you’re running through World Showcase with music blaring and like the torches going, and the whole pre-sunrise vibe, and you’re definitely backstage at studios in EBCOT.

The 10-mile for springtime goes through EBCOT and goes through Hollywood Studios.

So those were the two parks that we were in this weekend.

And then the full marathon, you actually go through all four parks and Blizzard Beach.

And Blizzard Beach.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What was training like specifically for a springtime surprise, like leading up to that?

So admittedly, so I train for Dopey every year.

I mean, that’s obviously like the main event, like getting through.

So Dopey is, like I said, it’s a 5K, a 10K, a half and a full sort of back to back.

So you’re running 48.6 miles over the course of those four days on very little sleep.

So you’re basically doing, and you finish the half marathon the next morning, you wake up and do a full marathon.

So that requires an enormous amount of training, not just to be able to complete the mileage, but also to be doing it like exhausted and on sore legs each day, increasingly sore legs.

So all that to say, a roundabout way of answering your question, my training season is for Dopey.

And from there on out, I just try to enjoy the races and keep myself going.

So coming into Princess, I rested for a little while, let myself recover from Dopey because your body just needs to rebuild its stores and everything after that and muscle repair.

Then I come into Princess doing the tail end of a half marathon training season.

And honestly, I can run a 10-mile or blindfolded.

It’s not, and I’m there to have fun.

I’m not there to PR, especially in the heat that we usually have for springtime.

And this year, we had heat for springtime.

So my training leading up to springtime is really just sort of trying to take care of myself.

The season sort of changes, right?

Like Dopey is very hardcore and you’re running like 50 plus miles a week.

And by the time I’m into springtime, it becomes a little bit more interesting because for me, at that point, it’s a little bit more of just maintaining.

So I might go out for a few 5Ks over the course of the week and maybe do a long run.

On the weekend, just to keep myself in that long run mindset.

And other than that, I’m really focusing more at this point on cross trading.

I’m doing a lot of Pilates.

I’m doing a lot of stretching and yoga just to make sure that I’m repairing and recovering and resting because you’re also very sleep deprived coming into Dopey.

Not just for the race weekend itself, but because if you’re juggling life and also running 50 plus miles a week, you’re not getting probably quite as much rest as you should be getting.

So my priorities shift as the season progresses.

And by the time we get to springtime, it’s less about training for a 10-miler than it is about making sure that I’m doing the yoga and getting rest and eating right and doing all of the things to get myself through the final push of the season without hurting myself and keeping myself healthy.

And now that we’re out of springtime, I’ll focus very much on cross-training to go into the next season.

For sure.

No, that makes a ton of sense to schedule your training according to Dope, because that’s the big race for really a lot of people.

And one thing that you mentioned, and I think a lot of runners or run Disney athletes fall into this category is this idea of running the run Disney races for the experience, as opposed to running the run Disney races for a specific time.

And there are people that are in both camps, right?

Absolutely, and I have been too, admittedly.

My current PR is from a princess race, the princess half a few years ago, a couple, well, a year and a half or so ago.

So yeah, I mean, if you can absolutely run them for time.

That being said, you can also run a local race for time.

And the Disney races are such a big experience.

There’s such an incredible community involved.

There’s so much entertainment on the course.

There’s so many things to enjoy with the course.

The Disney races are not cheap.

They’re full experiences.

And if you’re doing all the things, you’re more than getting your money’s worth with the Disney races.

But I think you’re somewhat better off focusing on PRing at a local race and enjoying the Disney races.

But like I said, like that being said, sometimes you get started and you’re just kind of feeling it.

And you hit a good stride and you just want to keep going.

So to each their own at every race.

But I tend to not go into the races like planning for a PR.

Like I always say, if you PR, like for example, if you PR your marathon at Dopey, you’re going to leave it saying like, all right, now I need to go run another marathon to see what I can actually do.

Like fully rested on fresh legs.

Because like if you could PR your full marathon at Dopey, like clearly you could get a much better PR in better circumstances.

So, you know, it’s everybody, you know, and a lot of times I go into it sort of not knowing, like I tend to start in the first wave of Corral A.

So I have a nice, you know, I have a lot of space and for sure.

And even if I do want to do characters at that, you know, when I’m going through the lines tend to not be terribly long.

But obviously, if you’re trying to PR the race, you’re probably not doing a lot of character stops.

So you just kind of have to figure out that balance of what you’re going for at each one.

And I tend to make sure that I enjoy the 5K to its fullest.

So I don’t stress my time very much.

I don’t stress my pace very much.

I’ll run it out.

I always want to honor the course.

That’s why I have to say, even if you’re stopping for characters, I want to honor the course and do my best on it.

But I tend to make sure that I’m getting the most out of enjoying the 5K so that when the longer races come along, I want to pound them out and just do them for time.

I at least know I did all the characters and had my fun at the 5K.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

And like you said, there’s so many different ways to tackle any race weekend, right?

Whatever your goal is going to be, whether or not it’s you want to meet all the characters or you want to get a time, or you want to get a specific time on just one specific race.

It’s really about how you plan things out and how you can make that special specifically for you.

So I really like that.

Really like that.

Yeah, run your own course, run your own pace, and you just never know going in.

I was so, so ready for Dopey this year, and I ended up having some physical stuff bothering me during the marathon.

I was flying in the beginning, and then my stomach started to bother me, and stuff didn’t cooperate.

So as a runner, you just learn it’s not your only race.

If this one doesn’t work out quite how you planned, then the next one will, and you just have to listen to your body, and if your body wants to run fast, then you can run fast that day, but otherwise, there’ll be another one next time.

Yeah, and I guess that’s also the beauty of having multiple Run Disney events, is the pressure isn’t on just one weekend, because you’ll have multiple weekends, or multiple races, depending on whether or not you’re doing a non-Run Disney event, right?

Right, of course, and that’s what I was saying.

I mean, go PR your local 10k or half marathon or whatever you want to, like on nice fresh legs, having slept a good night’s sleep beforehand.

Because for the Run Disney races, you tend to be waking up in the middle of the night, and it’s not ideal conditions for a PR.

They do happen, and I’ve done it before, but I don’t sweat it if it doesn’t happen.

Why don’t we jump into those waking up at midnight?

Is that what you said?

No, so I wake up at between 1.30 and 2, typically, because I like to be…

If you want to do anything in the pre-race area beforehand, you really do want to get there at 3 o’clock or so, because the lines tend to get super long, and it gets super crowded.

So I get up at 1.30, 2 o’clock.

It doesn’t matter if I’m waking up at 1.30 or 9 o’clock in the morning.

I still have to go through my regular morning routine.

It’s just me.

I can’t not shower and get ready and go out the door because I just feel groggy.

So I do my thing, and then I try to get out the door by 2.45 or so, get to Epcot at about 3, and take it from there.

So yeah, you’re pretty tired by the end.

And you have to be so, so good about getting yourself in bed absurdly, absurdly early.

Oh, for sure.

Did you, you know, the week leading up to, well, any race weekend, but like, would you do something different with your sleep?

Would you sleep at an earlier time to get your body used to it?

Like, what was, what was that like?

I mean, I have two kids, so I can’t completely like control my schedule around my races.

I usually get up at like, even if I’m not getting up super early to run, I’m always up by 5.45 to be up with my son because his high school schedule is super early, and I like to get my, like, I get up with, he gets up at six, so I get myself up at 5.45.

So, I’m doing that every day anyway.

You know, it shifts a few hours over.

I do try to do all the things you’re supposed to do to get good sleep, like, you know, dim the lights, like, make sure I’m not on electronics, and all the things.

I might take, I might use melatonin, you know, or something just to help myself get to sleep.

Since it’s, I’m like, I always say I want to be in bed by like 6.30 or 7 o’clock, but it usually is like, it’s like 8.39, and I’m like, oh, I should really be asleep by now.

Yeah, I can imagine that’s just so tough, especially if you’re trying to plan to go to sleep before the sun even starts setting, you know what I mean?

But…

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you just need to like wind it down, make sure you’re like done eating and well hydrated and all the things and off electronics.

And I try to, I figure like even if I’m not asleep, at least if I’m like letting my body rest, I will, you know, that’s a good thing.

So lights off, reading a book, you know, no blue light and all that good stuff leading up to it.

Like I said, like I will sometimes take a melatonin if I feel like I need that or like a sleepy time, like a bedtime tea.

I drink like the yogi has a bedtime tea that I always drink at night that I like a lot.

And another thing that I’ll do, like going to sleep or even like first thing in the morning is a non-sleep deep-breast yoga nidra.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done that before.

Oh, enlighten me, please.

So they’re wonderful.

So you can find recordings of them on YouTube that are really good, but it’s NSDR.

It’s called yoga nidra, but it’s not physical yoga.

It’s basically a nervous system reset that you can do via meditation.

And it’s sort of a sleep substitute, like it’s not a full sleep substitute, but it definitely helps.

So I figure like if I’m doing that and getting as much sleep as I can, I’ll tend to put like a longer one on when I’m going to sleep to kind of get my body to wind down.

And if I feel like I need it first thing, I’ll do like a 10 minute one when I first wake up.

I like that.

I’ll have to look into that now.

And I’m sure I’ll put that in the show notes too.

So that’ll be a good resource.

Absolutely.

Talk me through.

So waking up and then getting to the start line around 3 ish.

And you mentioned the races usually start at 5 in the morning, right?

Talk me through when you arrive and then all the way up until start time.

Like, is there…

Because I’m imagining like thousands of racers lining up, different corrals.

So it’s going to be packed.

Talk me through all that because that just sounds like a lot.

Well, we all know Disney is like a master of crowd control, right?

And the flow is right in to run Disney.

So it’s not overwhelming at all.

It doesn’t feel like you’re like an amass of people.

It is pretty well organized.

So yeah, so like I said, you…

They recommend or they ask that you get there by four at the absolute latest.

I mean, you can push it a little bit beyond that, but like four, you really, really should be there.

For me, like I said, I’ll get up early and get myself together.

I head out the door and try to be parking at Epcot by like 2 45, 3 o’clock.

And then there’s a decent walk like from the parking lot.

You’ll go through regular security for a bag check.

And then you’ll sort of take the long hike from the front of Epcot to like the area of the parking lot where the races, like race staging area is.

And they don’t open up the corrals until like 3 45 or so.

So in that, so there’s just this massive, not party, but there’s like a massive sort of festive area where there’s gear check and there’s a DJ and just masses of people.

There’s like bleachers set up if you need to sit down for a little bit.

And then there’s, like I said, there’s like four characters in that area that people can line up for.

Like, you know, they had Groot, they have, it tends to go along with the race theming.

So Groot was out there and like The Incredibles and I think Dr.

Strange was out there.

They’re all like really good characters that you can line up with beforehand to take some fun pictures and see all your friends and all that good stuff.

And then once corrals open up, you can head in if you want to get at the front of your corral, you want to head in like soon after corrals open.

And based on, we haven’t talked really about proof of time or anything like that with how corrals work.

So when you register for a run Disney race, you’re invited to share your proof of time, which is basically like your PR, your current best pacing for a certain length of race.

And based on that, and if you don’t submit one at all, you’ll end up usually in one of the later corrals, which is fine.

But based on that, they will organize you into corrals.

So when you get your race bib, on the corner of your race bib, there’s a letter and the letter is your corral.

So I’m in the first corral, so my corral is A.

So when I get into the, so when you’re finished in the staging area, and you use the porta potty, and you check your gear, and you see your friends, and you do a few pictures, and then once you’re ready, you can head into corral, use the porta potty one more time, and there’s like water and stuff set up, and then you can head into your corral.

So whatever your corral letter is, is the group, the corral section that you’re going to head into.

So for me, that’s A, but it might be B, C, D, E, F.

You head into your corral, and that’s kind of where you wait.

And again, they have entertainment, there’s announcers that are always there that we adore, that do a great job.

They’ll bring in somebody really wonderful to sing the national anthem and do your moment of silence and all the things.

And then they’ll start to set people off.

So roll Disney, as they call them.

It’s the wheelchair that they’re on.

I don’t know if you call it the three-wheelers that they go in.

So that group will start first.

They’re amazing.

They’ll start like a minute or so before five o’clock.

And then the first corral will start right at five.

So they’ll be releasing, and then they release the corrals in waves.

So the first wave of corral A will start at five a.m.

And then every couple of minutes, they’ll release another wave onto the course to try to prevent bottleneck.

So and the proof of time concept is that the fastest people are put in the fastest corral.

So for crowd control, like they put those people out first to kind of get out on the course.

And then they then will release in waves, like each progressive group of people, so that you never have, like you don’t have, like 20,000 people starting the race together at one time.

Right, right, right.

Kind of distribute people over the course of so that, you know, they might be releasing people for 30 or 45 minutes just to kind of get everybody onto the course.

But yeah, that’s that’s about it.

Yeah, you get there about three o’clock.

You can meet up with some characters, see some friends, like check your gear.

If you’ve brought gear, I always do gear check for the longer races, so I’ve got what I need after the race for if I want to change clothes or change into my ufos or the recovery sandals or anything like that.

Yeah, then head into Corral.

There’s National Anthem and the announcers.

And then, like I said, they’ll start releasing you on waves at about five o’clock in the morning.

That’s when we’ll start out.

And yeah, from there, it’s game time.

With all that time standing in the Corral, does that also mean getting like cold legs?

I mean, how does that work?

I assume you want to do some sort of warm up and then you’re standing in the Corral and then you’re there for a while.

So are you going to have cold legs when starting the race?

I mean, you’re not like packed in like sardines in the Corral.

There’s like ample space around you.

So yeah, people, if you want to sort of jog back and forth beforehand in Corral or just do your squats or do your stretches or whatever you do to limber up before a race, you can kind of make your space and people will respect that to keep yourself warmed up.

And besides that, just knowing that like straight out the gate, maybe you want to kind of let your legs warm up for a couple of minutes before you really take off if your legs have gotten cold.

But yeah, I mean, it just is what it is.

Like with any race, you’re waiting around for a little while beforehand.

But yeah, like anything, I think just like know yourself going.

I think the most important thing for all of this is like knowing yourself and your needs and how you run.

So like if going into like if you have a normal routine before you do a training run, then like you know yourself and like, you know, block out a little space for yourself in the corral and like go through whatever you need to do to warm up.

Same thing with fuel and what you’re wearing and all the things, right?

Like the better you know yourself as a runner and what your needs are, you know, going into the race, the better off you are.

So yeah, if you have a pre-run race routine of like stretching or, you know, otherwise warming up before you kick off, then just block out that space and do that for yourself before you’re about to start.

Yeah, I love that.

I mean, that whole idea carries over into whether or not you’re going into the parks, you know, just enjoying the day from rope drop to park clothes, or if you’re going out on a race, just having a set of habits, a routine, you know, beforehand that you will always do no matter what.

And I love how you mentioned earlier, having that morning routine no matter what time you wake up, having some sort of routine before a race, having some sort of routine before you go into the parks, super crucial, especially if you want to take care of your body, even in a Run Disney race.

So love that.

I love that.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that’s half the beauty of training, right?

I mean, you’re training to get your legs ready and your lungs ready and all the things, but you’re also training to figure out what works for you.

It’s really, really important to go out.

For me, I think like training, like long training runs for me are, they’re about training your legs and getting stronger, obviously, but it’s also about just wrapping your head around mentally, like what 26 miles feels like, like what 13 miles feels like.

You shouldn’t be going into a full marathon or a half marathon or any distance wondering what mile 20 is going to feel like for you.

It’s like kind of wrapping yourself mentally around what that means.

What does that mean?

If you’re…

You can’t sprint out the gate at a marathon.

You have to kind of…

And you need to learn your body enough to know how your pacing works, what your needs are on the course, what fuels work for you, what clothing works for you.

I mean, we haven’t touched on the costumes, but I will Disney bound a little bit maybe of my costumes or do something a little bit simpler.

My days of running in crazy costumes are sort of lying me, but people were running crazy gear, but you really need to do a little bit of a training run beforehand just to see what chafes, what doesn’t feel good, like figuring out shoes, obviously.

So yeah, training is just about figuring out yourself and your own needs as much as getting your lungs and your legs ready.

I’m just imagining all the people that are in costume running as Groot just down the street.

That’s so funny.

People are amazing, so creative.

But yeah, and especially this weekend was very hot, so I really felt for some of the people in some of the more elaborate costumes.

Yeah, that’s wild.

That is wild.

Talk me through hydration and nutrition.

Is there stuff?

They usually have something on the side of the road to hand off, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So they always have, obviously, water stations, like ample water stations on the course.

So as you’re going through every mile and change, there’ll be a water stop where there’s water.

For the 5K, I think it’s typically just water that they give out because it’s not that much of a distance from much else.

You can bring along anything else that you need.

And then for the longer distance, there’s water and power aid at all the stations.

So it’s slightly diluted power aids.

It doesn’t hit your system too hard.

But there’s water and power aid on the course.

They do sport beans on the longer distances.

They’ll do bananas sometimes on the course.

And then the full marathon, there’s a chocolate stop, and there’s other silly stuff.

But that too, if you’ve never had sport beans before, the race probably isn’t the time to try them.

So do try them out.

I think they’re fine.

They work fine for me.

But I know what works for me, and I tend to just stuff it in my pockets and have it for the race.

So, like I was saying, if you have a fuel that you’ve been training with this whole time, just stick with it on the course.

Bring it with you.

Stick it in your pockets.

You’re not going to…

There’s absolutely enough water on the course.

You do not need…

I mean, again, unless you love to run with your water bottle in your hands, some people…

And it is great to hydrate the whole time regularly.

But there’s definitely ample water and power rate on the course, and other fuel that they give out.

So you don’t need to bring anything necessarily.

I probably wouldn’t go into the marathon with empty pockets, but you don’t need fuel in the course.

They do give out stuff.

But again, if you know what works for you, then I would bring it.

Anything about Springtime Surprise we haven’t talked about yet?

It’s the close of the season, right?

So it’s a really lovely close to the season.

The fact that…

So for…

Like I was touching on before, but now we’ve talked a little bit more.

So the other race weekends, other than marathon weekend, there’s a separate 5K, and then the challenge is the 10K and a half marathon.

And then for Springtime, they shortened the longest race.

I think in part they did it because of the heat.

So they really want people…

They want people finishing before the heat gets terrible.

And because, you know, you’re in Central Florida in April, it’s a roll of the dice.

Like it could be cooler, it could be warmer.

It just happened to be, you know, a pretty warm weekend this weekend.

But I have a more than sneaking suspicion that some of the motivation behind doing a 10-miler instead of a half marathon for the long one, for a springtime surprise, is just wanting people to be off the course sooner in case it does, you know, tend to heat up quickly.

But it’s nice.

It’s nice.

Like I enjoy the 10-milers, the distance.

It’s a little bit more of a chill, of a chill finish to the season.

You know, and you see everybody.

It’s a wonderful community.

It’s a really, really tight-knit, good, good group of people.

So I think springtime, like I said, like, it depends what races you run.

Like, if that’s the one race that you want to run, like, just make it your, you know, make that your trophy and enjoy it.

But I think for a lot of us who do all of the races, springtime just kind of feels like a finish lap, like a, you know, a final, like, fun lap, just to sort of all be together and enjoy each other’s company and, you know, and run the distances together.

And you’re probably not, between the fact, between it being a Disney race and like having all the entertainment on the course and wanting to get your money’s worth and it being, you know, warmer than ideal temperatures, it’s probably not going to be a PR race.

So I think a lot of us should just sort of go in with a little bit more of a fun mentality, having come out of some of the more grueling race weekends, like marathon weekend, and just enjoying springtime for what it was worth.

Yeah, I mean, I’ll share like a moment that I had during this race that was cool, that I’m actually gonna write about.

But yeah, like as I was doing, so as I was coming out the gate on the 10-miler, I was going pretty fast and I was like, oh, this is great.

And I was like, oh, maybe I will knock out a speedy one.

But the heat did start to catch up with me, and I was like, yeah, this probably isn’t the day for that.

And at one point, and I was still out in front enough that the lines weren’t terrible.

And I just started doing all the characters.

I don’t typically do all the characters, but lines were almost non-existent, and I was looking for little reasons to take little breaks here and there.

So I ended up doing most of the characters, including in front of Hollywood Studios, in front of the theater, they always have Mickey and Minnie in pretty cool gear in some of their formal gear.

So I hopped in that line, and it was just Mickey in the line, which was fine.

I didn’t even think about that Minnie wasn’t there.

And I’m standing in the line, and the guy before me went, and I was taking a little video and picture of him doing his thing.

And I’m walking up, and as I’m walking up, they’re bringing Minnie out.

And I got so excited that it never happens to me.

So as I’m walking out, they’re bringing Minnie out.

So I’m gonna be the first person to get the Minnie and Mickey picture.

And I got so excited.

I had this moment where I was like, because I had slowed down significantly.

I mean, I wasn’t running super slow, but I had slowed down.

I was just listening to my body and just trying to enjoy the race.

And I had slowed down, you know, probably a minute or so per mile from what I had started out with.

And then when they brought Minnie out and I like, and I ran out and I started thinking to myself, like that moment wouldn’t have happened if I was running that much faster.

You know, like I wouldn’t have had that moment if I was like, you know, if I was like flying in it, stop for that character, because there wouldn’t have been that minute.

So I was just like, you know what, like this is just, I’m just going to let this race happen.

Like this, like wherever I am on the course, it’s just where I’m supposed to be on the course today.

And I’m just going to enjoy every minute of it.

But yeah, that mini moment, I was like, you know what, if I had been pounding this out, like that moment wouldn’t have happened.

So I was just going to let the course be what it was and be where I was supposed to be on it and not sweat it too much.

So that was my closing reminder that you should always listen to your body and wherever you are on the course is where you’re supposed to be.

That’s so special.

I love that.

I love that.

And that just embodies all of Disney, right?

Yeah, yeah, totally.

I mean, it’s such a, I know, I think people hear about the times and the registration stress and all the craziness that goes along with Run Disney.

And it can feel, I’m sure it can feel a little bit intimidating from the outside, like not knowing what the process is.

But it really is just the most wonderful, inviting community.

It’s such a low stress way of testing out running, testing out the experience of running.

There are people of all shapes and sizes and ages and abilities that are out on the course.

And it’s just a really wonderful, inviting atmosphere.

And it’s a really nice experience.

If you’re a Disney person in the slightest, I would encourage you to try out a 5K and see what you think.

Even just to see the parks, the backstage of the parks, to be like an Epcot with the torches going and people running and the taiko drummers going at 5.30 in the morning.

You’re never going to see that any other way.

Right, and the 5K is just the perfect entry point.

The 5K is the perfect entry point for anyone, really.

Yeah, yeah.

So the pacing requirement for other races is a 16-minute mile, which it’s not terrible, but it’s either a very, very quick speed walk or a nice run consistently throughout.

And that factors in, of course, any stops that you make.

So if you want to be stopping for characters and that kind of thing, you need to know that you can run quickly enough to make up for that time.

So that pacing requirement is in the back of your head for anything longer than a 5K.

But the 5Ks are untimed.

There’s not even a chip on your bib.

Like it’s literally untimed.

So there is no pacing requirement.

I mean, within reason, they need to open the parks at some point, but it’s untimed and you can walk it, you can enjoy it, you can see the characters and see the course.

So it’s a nice entry point for anybody.

That’s awesome.

That is awesome.

Before we wrap up, I know we mentioned a little bit about Dopey.

I kind of want to talk a little bit about that, if that’s okay.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

I love Dopey.

Dopey is my favorite.

That’s, I didn’t think, well, firstly, I didn’t think I would be signing up for a Run Disney event, but then the more I got to be part of this wonderful community that is Disney, the more I was like, I think it’s just, it just seems so natural to do it.

So when the registration window opened for Dopey, I was like, let’s just do it.

Let’s see what happens.

And I’ve seen in the past how, like you said, registration can be so stressful because a lot of people are on like their laptop, their iPad, their iPhone.

Yeah.

Just trying to get a registration.

And I was, don’t be mad at me, Stacey.

I was doing this at work and my supervisor is Stacey, but I was signing up at work and I got in the queue and I got the race in my car and I was like, okay, we’re going to do this.

So here I am.

But you know, it’s, remind me again, it’s a 5K, a 10K, a half, and a full, all within four days, correct?

Yeah.

So a typical race weekend for Disney is Friday through Sunday, three races.

And then for Dopey, it starts Thursday because it’s four races.

So there’s a 5K, which is 3.1 miles, just for the people listening, on Thursday morning that starts at five.

And then there’s a 10K, which is 6.2 miles on Friday morning that starts at five.

And then there is a half marathon on Saturday morning, which is 13.1 miles that also starts at five.

And then this year, they bumped the marathon to 430, to a 430 AM start.

So those of, and then, so you do the 5K Thursday morning, the 10K Friday morning, the half marathon Saturday morning, and then Sunday starting at 430 in the morning, you do a full marathon, which is 26.2 miles.

So it’s a total of 48.6 miles.

It’s a lot more than that because you’re moving around on the course and like just walking around from.

So you’re doing more of that, but technically it’s 48.6 miles over the course of the four days.

And the mileage is, the mileage is a lot, but like we’ve been talking about, the exhaustion factor is such a big part of it, and making sure that you’re getting sleep and otherwise taking care of yourself during it to get through it.

Everybody’s just loopy by the end.

It’s good fun.

So yeah, so that’s the line up for Dopey.

Yeah.

So of course you don’t have to do all, you can sign up for any one individual race.

And that goes for any of the race weekends.

You can sign up for one single race, you can sign up for multiple races, you can sign up for a challenge.

But so for Marathon Weekend, those four races are offered.

And then if you want to do all of them together, it’s called the Dopey Challenge.

That’s the 48.6 miles.

And then there’s also the Goofy Challenge, which is just doing the half marathon and the full marathon.

And the history actually goes backwards.

So the Goofy actually existed before Dopey.

And then they decided to make it so that it was the four consecutive days.

The history, we’re going to go into all the history, but they used to just be a marathon.

Like back in the 90s, like Run Disney started with a marathon.

And so it was just a marathon.

And then they added a half marathon to that.

But I think initially, they were both on the same day.

The marathon and the half marathon, I think were in the same day.

You could have just done one or the other.

Yeah, you just like Space Coast or something, like where you can choose whether you want to do a half or full.

So I think initially, they added the half.

It was the same day, and you could just choose which one you wanted to do.

And then they broke it into two separate days and established the goofy challenge for the nut cases that wanted to run the half and the full.

So that was the crazy thing that they did initially.

And then they were like, oh, let’s do that.

And then a 5K and a 10K sort of worked their way in somehow.

And then I think as of 2014, they were like, let’s just offer them all as this crazy thing.

And so they called the Dopey Challenge because you have to be a nut.

But yeah, so I think 2014 was the first Dopey.

And my first Dopey was 2018.

That was the first because we moved down here.

That was when I started doing them.

Got you.

So that was how it came to be.

So yeah, so you can do any individual race.

You can do goofy, which is the half and the full, or now you can do Dopey, which is all four, which is what you and I are doing.

Yeah, that’s gonna be fun.

It’s gonna be fun.

I mean, I figure a good bigger go home, right?

Like if you’re gonna run a marathon, why not run a 5K and a 10K and a half?

You talked about the whole fatigue factor into this.

Talk me it through, because there’s so many run Disney athletes that do the entire weekend of racing, and then they still go into the parks after running the race.

And I feel like that only adds to the fatigue factor, right?

So I mean, I think it’s not the worst idea in the world to head to the parks for a little bit during the day, because the worst thing you can do is just go home and lay flat on your back, as far as recovery goes.

Because you want to move around a little bit, get the lactic acid out, not stiffen up.

So I think going to the parks afterwards or doing something afterwards isn’t a bad idea at all, even from a recovery standpoint.

You just need to keep in mind that come early evening at the latest, you really do want to be winding down, and make sure you’re hydrating, make sure you’re getting a ton of protein for recovery, and whatever else you’ve figured out that your body needs.

You can do Epsom salt baths, you can do cold plunges, whatever you have lined up.

There are places around here where you can go and do things like that.

Or just if you’re coming on vacation and staying in a hotel room, I would bring your Epsom salt along.

Stretching, do yoga, whatever your recovery routine is, really hone that in because you’re going to need it over the course of the days.

And otherwise, besides tons of water, lots of protein, whatever, replacing your electrolytes and moving around a little bit.

I do try to do a yoga, like a runner focused yoga to make sure that I’m stretching as much as I need to be stretching in between.

Like I said, even if I can’t get to sleep, when I want to get to sleep, I try to at least be in bed by an early point.

And then you start doing the math in your head.

You’re like, all right, if I go to sleep now, I get this far, I get this fast.

Right, right, right.

Again, it just sounds like it comes down to listening to your body, knowing your body, knowing what it needs, and then developing those habits beforehand so that when you get to race weekend, it’s like, okay, it’s more like you’re going through the motions, but you’re really just going through the motions at the most magical place on earth.

Yeah, and if you’re here, and if you’re vacationing and you’re here with your family and you’re also doing the races, I think just managing their expectations going in is super important.

So, if you’re coming down with your family and you’re also taking on any of the races or, whether it’s Dopey or your first 5K or whatever it is, just make sure that your family knows like, we’re here, we’re going to be having fun together, but if you guys want to stay out and watch the fireworks, go have fun, but just know that I’m probably going to be heading back to the room and doing my thing.

So, it’s going to be not…

Your family just needs to know that this vacation is not going to be a traditional vacation for you because you probably should be resting and doing…

There’s one Disney people listening to me right now laughing because they’re at the parks all night.

But from a self-care standpoint, I think it’s important to manage expectations with your family coming down for a race weekend if they’ve never been through one with you before.

100%.

100%.

That was awesome.

A lot of information that we went over, a lot of really good pearls from someone that’s a really well-seasoned run Disney athlete.

Any last minute or last comments, last pieces of advice before we wind down?

No, I think the main thing that I would just reiterate is, I do feel like there’s a degree of intimidation from the outside looking at it, run Disney, because people talk about the stress of the registration process, and a hundred other things, and the crowds, and the wakeups.

But it really is just like the most welcoming, lovely, wonderful community of people.

There’s always somebody to help you out.

There’s medical tents all along the way, if you need anything like that.

There’s staff all over the place.

If you picture how Disney would run a race, that’s what run Disney is.

All of the good things about Disney being transferred into a race weekend.

So if you are curious about it, or you feel like it’s something that you might want to try out, but you feel a little bit intimidated, I would encourage you to just sort of push that aside and take the plunge and see if you like it, because they’re like potato chips.

You can’t.

I love that.

But yeah, I mean, yeah, I think that’s just the main thing.

Just don’t let all of the lore and talk about the difficult things that run Disney intimidate you from trying it, because from the inside, it’s really not anything but a wonderfully supportive group.

Yeah, yeah, I’m quickly finding that out.

So I’m really excited.

I almost wish Dopey was sooner for me, because this is my first race.

But I also feel like I just need more time to train, because I have a lot of aerobic base to build up, regardless of how fast I want to do it.

But yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Take your time.

There’s plenty of time to train.

Yeah.

Dopey training starts in July.

So down here, that is a rough time to be doing the miles.

But yeah, you’re that much stronger because you’re used to training in the heat.

So.

There you go.

Yeah.

Well, thanks so much for joining me, Lisa.

Where can everybody find you?

So the Castle Run is my primary website, and that’s where you can go for the race guides and recaps that you were talking about, and just talk about life.

We moved down here in 2017, and I sort of talk about rewriting a life that calls to you and that process and being a mom and a Disney local and all those other good things, but lots of lots of run Disney in there.

I’m also a photographer and I do Disney-focused fine art, so things that you can put on your wall that are some of them, mind me, but the Disney-focused fine art that you can sort of hang on your wall, and it’s your little secret that it was taken in Disney World, and you can find that over at thousandcircles.com.

And then otherwise, it’s probably easiest to find me on Instagram where I’m at the Castle Runner.

And then I also have at Thousand Circles Images, which is the photography-focused site that I was just talking about.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah.

It’s great to talk to you.

Thank you so much.

That concludes my conversation with Lisa DiNodo-Glassner on all things Run Disney.

That was a lot of information to cover.

So here are five key takeaways that we can learn from my conversation with Lisa.

Key takeaway number one, go for the experience, but be flexible.

Run Disney race weekends are full of so much magic with rare character meet and greets, the ability to run through backstage areas at the parks, heck, the ability to run through the parks early in the morning, and of course, Run Disney is full of people that are so supportive and really just want everyone to succeed.

And of course, it’s put on by one incredible company that is Disney.

Now with that being said, yes, you want to enjoy things, you want to soak it all up, but if you feel good and you try to go for a time, hit that stride and go for it.

Of course, in the end, you really just want to listen to your body and know how it feels on race weekend because sometimes you really don’t know how you’re going to feel when it comes to racing, no matter how much you train.

You will have lots of opportunities to hit the races, whether or not you are a seasoned runner or if you are new to run Disney all together.

It’s no different from a trip to Disney World.

You want to be able to listen to your body.

You need to prioritize the rides and attractions that you’re going to be doing, knowing that in the end, you will go back sooner or later.

Key takeaway number two.

Make sure to manage your expectations, especially if you’re doing multiple races throughout the weekend and multiple run Disney events throughout the year.

As Lisa mentioned in my conversation, her efforts are mostly put into Dopey Weekend.

The weekend with the 5K, the 10K, the half marathon, and the full marathon.

Now, since her training revolves mostly around that, while she does the other run Disney race weekends, her priorities shift throughout the year, depending on what’s going on with life.

Because, well, everyone’s got life to balance when it comes to running and everything else, right?

So with that being said, her training might be a little bit different throughout the year, because her focus is more on Dopey.

Manage your expectations.

Don’t necessarily think you’re going to PR at all of these race weekends.

Don’t necessarily think you’re going to feel good on all these race weekends, because things happen.

And again, priorities shift.

Key takeaway number three.

Know yourself, know your needs, and how you run.

Lisa brought up a very, very good point.

She practices a routine in terms of getting a good warm up, knowing what foods and what hydration tactics work for her, knowing what clothes work for her on race day, because she uses those training, those clothes in training.

So really understanding how your body is going to feel in running is going to be important when it comes to race weekend, especially when you need to know how your body is going to feel when you run a 5K or a 10K, or even more importantly, the half marathon or the full marathon.

You need to know how you’re going to feel physically and mentally.

This goes back to the whole topic of listening to your body and knowing what it can do and well, how it’s going to feel on race weekend.

I go over this topic on episode two of the Happily Ever Active podcast.

I highly encourage you to go back to that because not only does it help you figure out how to listen to your body during a trip to Disney World or on any other vacation, but it also helps you listen to your body on a run Disney race weekend.

Key takeaway number four, have a morning routine.

Lisa brought up that she tends to wake up between 1.30 and 2 o’clock so that she can get to Epcot, the starting line at around 3 o’clock before they start running at around 5.

So with that being said, not everybody is used to waking up at that time.

Of course, if you develop a morning routine, you will have the building blocks and the roots that will help you succeed to be able to wake up at 1.30 or 2 o’clock, even though you’re not used to it.

It will help you wake up, get energized, and get ready to run that race.

Now, of course, this also means that having a morning routine won’t be as successful for you if you also don’t have an evening winding down routine.

Lisa talked about all of this really well in-depth, but doing some sort of winding down routine could be something like making sure you’re done eating long before you go to sleep, making sure you’re off your electronics, you know, within a reasonable time before sleeping, dimming the lights, practicing some sort of yoga routine, or she mentioned an NSDR routine, which I’ll be putting in the show notes.

She takes her yogi bedtime tea, and then sometimes if needed, you know, she’ll take some melatonin to help her start to sleep.

Having these routines down beforehand is so important so that you don’t have to really think about it when it comes to race weekend.

It’s automatic, your body’s used to it, and it signals your body, okay, it’s time to wind down.

And then in the morning, it also signals your body, it’s time to get up and hit the road.

Key takeaway number five.

Lisa brought this topic up several times, but I need to reiterate it again, and this is a great way to finish the episode.

If you are a Disney person, you need to do a Run Disney event.

If anything, do at least the 5K.

It’s a great way to test out the experience of running, especially in the bubble that is Disney.

It’s an incredible community.

If you’re already a Disney fan, you know the Disney difference.

Now, take that Disney difference and put it into a running race, and you’ve got Run Disney.

It’s incredible, and I’m so excited to be able to participate in my first Run Disney race, the Dovey Challenge, in January of 2026.

I’m looking forward to that so much.

Now, Run Disney, like I said earlier, has an incredible, welcoming community.

It’s just, you gotta do it.