A special congratulations to Duerr on completing the Adirondack Ragnar (relay) race from Glens Falls to Lake Placid over the weekend. I am quite sure this is the first time a core TRYer has done such an event? Duerr, think you could come up with a TRY length explanation of what it was like to go through such an extensive relay event? (Let me know on the side and then hopefully could get it posted within 2-3 weeks while it's still somewhat fresh in your mind. Definitely not needed immediately though. You probably need some rest.)
We had a firsthand account of completing the Lake Placid IronMan several weeks ago and further below we have an insiders account of completing a Disney race weekend. I hope other people in the group find these unique experience tales at least somewhat interesting? In some cases it may spur you on to do something similar yourself? Or perhaps reading about it enough to let you know it is something you would never want to do? (Hopefully Duerr will agree to the Ragnar story and we add yet another special event story to our catalog.)
Our general knowledge link for the week is near and dear to my heart. Plus, I've seen firsthand that it is near and dear to a couple others of your hearts as well. You know who you are! This just happened to show up in my twitter timeline a few days ago and I thought it was a perfect thing to pass along - Why Your Nipples Get Hard During a Workout. (Don't you dare follow the advice about covering them up. Don't. You. Dare! Let our post workout erect nipples do us proud!)
We'll finish up with a long look into the Disney race weekend that a few TRYers participated in on Labor Day Weekend out at Disney Land. If you choose to read on you'll learn a lot about the race set-up, a bit about the Disney related fun, and a whole lot about the mind of our Miss Berman, a self proclaimed Disnut. (I made that up, but it works, right?)
A note of explanation - once I learned that media and communications students often take internships that do not provide pay, I've lobbied the local colleges to get me an intern to help with TRY. They finally fell for it! I'll introduce the intern in a future week, but for now her first assignment was to interview Berms, via email, with some loaded questions and see what would come of it. Enjoy! (I'll chime in a couple of times as the editor. It turns out that free help only goes so far and does not get you perfection.)
Thanks for your time for being available to sit down with us! Can you explain to me what this "Dumbo Double" thing is all about? How do the logistics of signing up and even race day work and would you recommend this to a friend? (Even if they aren't into Disney?)
Thank you for being willing to have this interview! Pleasure to be here today! The dumbo double dare challenge is a 2 day challenge of 19.3 miles. Day 1 is a 10k and day 2 is a 1/2 marathon. Any racer interested can sign up individually for a single event or you can sign up for the challenge which gets you into both events. The challenge was around $325 if I recall. Sign ups for these races are early and sell out fast. Our sign up was in February and there was a little sigh of relief when all 5 of us who had been interested successfully got in! Think the boilermaker on steroids!!! We were all ready to go on our computers at the race opening time! Race day you say? It should be called early early morning race, lol. Start times for all Disney races are pre park opening so they are early! Our start time was 5:30am which means our happy house was up and moving at 3:30am for both race days allowing us time to get ready, eat, walk over to the start line from the house we rented, last minute bathroom stops (usually a little challenging in costume), see any hoopla going on and get into our corrals. If you have run a 10k or more within a certain time frame prior to the races you can submit that race time and info to get yourself in the appropriate corrals. Between all of us, and our race times we started in corral b for the 10k and C for the 1/2. I believe the half had all the way up to g if that gives you and indication of the size of things! I would definitely recommend this to anyone...just be warned, there will be sleep deprivation...but when you are having a ton of fun you just don't care :)Sounds interesting, does it give you any perks for the Disney park itself?
One perk is that you get to run though the parks while their [sic] "closed". But for after non race times, they did actually put out an offer of slightly discounted park tickets to runners so that was nice!With that in mind, would it make sense to do this WITHOUT planning on doing the parks thing? It seems like even though they are disconnected, it's only naturally to curtail them into each other, right?
I would not do this without doing the parks. It's totally doable but if you're going all that way, then you have to do it! However, Just remember, with those early mornings, depending how you plan your days, you will not be able to do it all!! This was particularly challenging for me and my housemates had to remove me from the park the night before the 10k, prior to fireworks and shows kicking and screaming?!?! Ok, so that's not totally true, but they were all told that although they couldn't see it my heart was breaking :) due to having our trusty guides Kelly and Aaron who had gone through this drill at Disney world, I knew that this was the right thing to do...this trip was a marathon, not a sprint!!Interesting. Obviously there is plenty of cooperation with the resort. Do you know if the race is put on by the Disney company itself? Or is it done through some outsourced management group? I guess it isn't really relevant but is a curiosity.
That's a great question [name redacted] and I'm not 100% sure. Everything is called run Disney so I have a feeling it's somehow a subset or division? The photographers in the park were an outsourced company.Just how big were the races? And is it obvious or can you at least tell after the fact how many of the people were doing the 'double'?
I looked for some numbers but all I could find were 2013 which had 17,500 doing the 1/2, 8,000 doing the 10k and 5000 doing both with the dumbo. The morning of the half of you looked back from the start it was just a huge mass of people!!!!We heard from your real estate agent that you were already a Disney "believer" before this. Did this experience do anything to change your beliefs for better or worse?
hahahaha, nope! Still a believer! And now I have 3 new Disney shirts, 3 medals and more pins for my collection!
[Nice set!]
It's obvious from the photos that you had a lot of fun with this. Do you think you will ever grow up?! And how did your level of commitment to the race compare to the thousands of other people around you? Did any other groups match or exceed your level of costume?
Absolutely not! I am looking to relocate to Neverland someday! The fab 5 (Us of course) all agreed that we were some of the best group costumes out there! There were a lot of great individual costumes and duos but only a few other serious groups! I was surprised by the lack of costumes at times...but we totally stole the show! Got tons of compliments! Btw, Kelly's Sven costumes was one of the biggest hits! Everyone loved it! Kudos to jelly [sic] on that one!
[And she ranks Elsa near the bottom of her list. For shame! Plus a view of the early morning darkness.]
Speaking of costumes, quickly explain how the race day (and the race itself) handles the costume Disney characters.
You mean the actual characters vs us fake ones? There are character stops throughout the two parks...not nearly enough for my taste but that's just me? It looked like overall the majority of people do not stop but if you did, you would line up, have your picture snapped and get back on the road!
[Oh bother!]
That reminds us...why do some characters wear pants (like Mickey) while others do not (like Donald and Porky). Do Disney Believers understand this, or are you as confused as the rest of us are?
I am totally just as confused! But Donald gets very embarrassed if you ask him about it!
[Donald quite obviously not wearing any pants! And getting away with it.]
Speaking of confusion. Your group covered the big "controversy" about Disney acquiring Star Wars with humorous aplomb. Legally the answer is obvious, but in practice, do Believers have a term to differentiate between "core" Disney or "old school" Disney or whatever versus modern movies and purchases? Help us out here, how is this handled on the inside?
This is still a very sensitive subject and is still being worked out! I am trying to blend in with those modernist. It has been very challenging...they are quite determined to bring me to the dark side, lol and have been making me watch the Star Wars movie! Can you believe the nerve! I'm sorry that's all I can offer at this point in time.
[The above mentioned humorous aplomb.]
Well, that is helpful. But when you mix everything together it does admittedly take some getting used to. Which makes us curious, how do you personally rank the following Disney "princesses"? We'll stop there. Please rank them 1-13 (or more if you have any write in candidates that you just have to add.)
4. Aurora8. Snow White
2. Cinderella
12. Merida
9. Rapunzel
7. Pocahontas
11. Elsa
1. Belle
3. Ariel
10. Tiana
5. Jasmine
6. Mulan
Leia- doesn't count! Hahahaha
That was an interesting challenge...belle is my #1, we're both book nerds. The rest I sort of went on gut feeling! You did an excellent job with the list. Who was your source, Wikipedia? And I'm curious to know you're [sic] number 1!
[Editor's note - Aurora is from Sleeping Beauty, Merida is from Brave and Tiana is from the Princess and the Frog. I think everyone else is known by everyone? Obviously she is still fighting it since she disqualified Leia.]
That list really drives home just how "watered down" Disney is becoming lately. In the park itself, how do they handle all of this? Which reminds us, what about the "junior" shows that are pushed towards the kids. Does little 'Sophia the first' get mention in the park too?
Yes! She actually comes out to do meet and greets. Kelly almost got her pic with her but it was time for her to leave and do mini princess things! There are also some interactive children's shows, but we didn't do those. Only show we did was the frozen sing along :)(And don't even get us started on Pirates of the Caribbean! What an entertaining set of movies that is. So Pirate-y!!)
Yes! And there is another one coming out soon! Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my fave rides!!But does that mean Elizabeth Swann/Turner should get princess mention too? -
Absolutely not! Now you are just letting your imagination run away with you! You are way too princess happy! Hahaha[Editor's note - you do not have to be 'too princess happy' to appreciate what Elizabeth Swann brings to the table. She was voted the pirate king in the third movie for goodness sake! What a swashbuckler that poppet turned herself into!]
These are such confusing times! Is there a Believer newsletter or go to website that keeps things straight for you?
Yes, Facebook... Thank goodness for all my friends/acquaintances from my time down at Disney. I learn a lot of useful info from the blogs they post and the things they say! I learned a lot about when they were closing the maelstrom in Norway to replace it with a frozen ride. Way to capitalize even more on frozen Disney ;)[Editors note - "Facebook"? What is that? Is that a book of faces? I really do need to get on the line one of these years to find out what all these kids keep talking about.]
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