Dopey runDisney Magic: Brittany Charboneau and finding the joy in running

What do Disney, running, and creativity all have in common? They're all part of the unique world of Brittany Charboneau, professional runner and Dopey Champion. In our lively discussion, Brittany shares her journey from a recreational runner to a pro, navigating through the challenges that led her to her standout performance at the 2022 runDisney Dopey Challenge. Listen to Brittany's captivating story, filled with passion, resilience, and a hint of Disney magic!

Brittany's love for running isn't just about the miles - it's also about the costumes! Hear the behind-the-scenes stories of how Brittany's creative costume game added a dash of fun to her races and helped her clinch the Dopey Challenge crown. From choosing her costumes for the 5K race to nervously preparing for the 10K, Brittany's journey is a testament to the joy of combining passions. Plus, you'll get to hear about our own John Pelkey's goal to win his age group at 87!

But it's not all about the races. Our conversation also dives into the balancing act of training, fun, and the role of social media in Brittany's life. Find out how Brittany turned her disappointment at the World Mountain and Trail Championships in Austria into a learning experience, and how she utilizes social media as a tool for motivation and creativity. We wrap up with Carissa's summer weight loss tips, encouraging listeners to set realistic goals and maintain consistency in diet and exercise. Join us for an episode full of inspiration, anecdotes, and practical tips, all set to the rhythm of Brittany's running shoes!

Transcript

John Pelkey: 0:03

Welcome to 321. Go the podcast.

Carissa Galloway: 0:06

I'm John Pelkey and I'm Carissa Galloway, and we're bringing you stories from start to finish to keep the everyday athlete motivated to keep moving towards the next finish.

John Pelkey: 0:15

We've got a great show here. The funny runner herself, Brittany Charboneau, is here Professional runner, dopey champion and all around entertaining human being. You're gonna love it.

Carissa Galloway: 0:27

Yes, can't wait to chat with Brittany. We've had a lot of fun with her over the past couple years. Guys, we've also had fun doing this podcast. So if you like 321 Go, make sure to subscribe, follow, tell your friends and keep listening. Welcome back to another episode of 321 Go the podcast. Thank you, guys for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, follow us or be listening to podcasts and tell your friends and John. What I've heard from people so far about the podcast is well, they love it, obviously, but they like kind of learning a little bit more about us.

John Pelkey: 1:04

Okay, wow, that surprises me.

Carissa Galloway: 1:07

Yeah, no, we're interesting. So here's what happened today. That I think will kind of shed light to people a little bit longer more on us. So on race day we have to get there at 130am.

John Pelkey: 1:18

Yes.

Carissa Galloway: 1:18

Tell me when you know where this is going. I walk out the door every race morning, 129am.

John Pelkey: 1:26

You do.

Carissa Galloway: 1:27

And what do I see?

John Pelkey: 1:29

The rest of us all in the vehicle that's taking us to the starting line.

Carissa Galloway: 1:33

And you're why are you early?

John Pelkey: 1:35

I'm always early for things.

Carissa Galloway: 1:37

Yeah, so that's my point today. So today you and I are going to start the podcast 1130 at 1101. Western and I get back from our workouts at 1110. I'm sitting on the floor sweating profusely at 1115. We're making breakfast and you're texting us to see why the zoom isn't working. So you know, the curtain I'm pulling back is that Johnny's. Johnny's always prepared at an early bird and I don't know if that might surprise people.

John Pelkey: 2:00

I know I kind of annoy my wife, the lovely and talented Jodi, because she is kind of show up the fashionally late person and I'm more the get there early guy and I'm always there early for work. Our director, mark Ferrara, always calls it my my Puritan work work ethic. So yeah, I'm always going to be the early guy, which really, really sucks when your call time is 130am, by the way, but I'm, yeah, I'm always, I'm generally the first one in the van.

Carissa Galloway: 2:27

Yeah, what time do you get in the van?

John Pelkey: 2:29

What's that?

Carissa Galloway: 2:29

What time do you get in the van? Because I don't know.

John Pelkey: 2:32

Oh gosh, I'm usually. I'm usually about 10 to 15 minutes early, I know, but I have that thing and I wonder how many people are out there. If I set my alarm for 1am, I will wake up at 1250. I mean, I always wake up before my alarm and then I'm always ready early. So that's it. Yeah, I'm going to be. I'm going to be the early guy. I often beat the van there.

Carissa Galloway: 2:55

Yes, and I'm the complete opposite of that, like we're even, if I get up early, I'll lay there, then I'll, then I'll get up and then if I'm five minutes early, I'll say, well, I could also do this, I could stretch, I could do other things. So just kind of pulling back the curtain, just a little bit, letting everybody know that, yeah, that's, that's and I will say normally I'm a much more disagreeable person than you.

John Pelkey: 3:13

I think everyone would agree to that you're. You're a much happier person, but at 130 in the morning you are often more disagreeable than me.

Carissa Galloway: 3:21

I'm very disagreeable. 130 in the morning. I guess disagreeable is a harsh term. I think it would be more like let's not communicate yet.

John Pelkey: 3:28

Yes, yes, and sometimes we have talky people, sometimes people are talking in the van.

Carissa Galloway: 3:33

We do, because you know we're going to move on. But we get picked up at 130. We go or driven to our RV at the start line and we sit there for about 1520 minutes and then we go over to the family reunion lot and rehearse.

John Pelkey: 3:45

Right.

Carissa Galloway: 3:46

So it's kind of like a stage thing, and by the time we finish that first rehearsal I'm ready to communicate with you, oh yeah no, you're great, and I have to be properly caffeinated too.

John Pelkey: 3:54

We know that if I'm not properly caffeinated, then all bets are off for me. By the way, I just want to throw this thing because people want to know more about us. I flew back from a family vacation in Maine with my wife's family yesterday and I'm on the plane my plane from JFK where I had my layover to Orlando and the flight attendant is, you know, bringing the beverage service, and she looks at me, looks away, looks back, and she's like do you announce for Run Disney? And I was like, well, and you know me, normally I would go, no, I just look like him and I don't care for him. But I did say, yes, that it was me, and it really paid off for me because I got three bags of cheese, it's not just one.

Carissa Galloway: 4:36

Wow. Yeah that's good.

John Pelkey: 4:38

I know. So a shout out to Helene on JetBlue. We'll see her at the wine and dine.

Carissa Galloway: 4:44

All right, sounds good. Speaking of races, I did a race last week, not a Disney race.

John Pelkey: 4:50

No, the Ironman 70.3, which just I thought it was a typo. Frankly, in Des Moines, how was it? It actually looked like you had a great time.

Carissa Galloway: 5:00

Well, first to clarify, I was not participating, I was announcing that Ironman 70.3. It's a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and then a half marathon. You know, all together doing that math there. It was fantastic. This was the third time I've been to Des Moines. I've done the past two Des Moines marathons. It is a lovely city a really charming downtown area. Have you been there?

John Pelkey: 5:24

I have not. I think at some point in my travels I've been in the airport for a layover and I remember it's one of one of those smaller, really lovely airports that I like, unlike our airport here in Orlando, which we could do an entire podcast on, the Orlando International Airport, but I remembered being lovely.

Carissa Galloway: 5:44

It was lovely. It's a lovely city, but the really cool thing about that race was I got to announce with Andrea Coyman, who was one of my co announcers, when we were at Disneyland and we were the first ever all female, only female US, north American actually Ironman announcing team, so it was just two women.

John Pelkey: 6:03

You're breaking that ceiling all the time Boston Marathon and you and Andrea now. So I have said absolutely no records, other than I did have a nap yesterday that may have verged on two and a half hours.

Carissa Galloway: 6:17

Was it on the plane after the cheese?

John Pelkey: 6:19

No, it was actually when I came back, because Jodi and I flew separately because we used credit card points to fly, so we were on separate flights. Hers turned into a disaster. I was recognized as the USA famous race announcer that I am and hers was. Hers was not as good she she had a flight cancelled, came in really really late and I drove. I had to drive in circles at OIA waiting because when her plane landed there was not an open gate. So she had to wait to go over 45 minutes just to sit on the tarmac to get to the gate. So I actually did circles at OIA and if you've ever flown into there, you know what. You know what I'm talking about and I drove 18 miles in a circle waiting for her to come out.

John Pelkey: 7:05

Oh, that's not it took two hours from the time she hit the ground for her to actually come out and get in the car. So that's challenges yesterday.

Carissa Galloway: 7:15

I would have been contentious. Shout out to.

John Pelkey: 7:16

Helene on JetBlue.

Carissa Galloway: 7:18

Yeah, the whole time I just would have been like this is your fault because you made me take this flight. I would have blamed it entirely on Weston. You just have fun there sitting in the car. He's like I'm driving in circles and I bet you are. I just wouldn't All right. Well, we're going to move on to one more topic before we jump into Brittany. It's a tough topic.

John Pelkey: 7:35

It really is.

Carissa Galloway: 7:36

Tori Bowie tragically died earlier this year. She was a fantastic athlete. At one point she was the fastest woman in the world. She won the 100 meter gold at the 2017 World Championships Olympic gold medalist. When her death first came out, I was actually. I remember I was at Disney and we were just gotten off Guardians of the Galaxy and I saw it, and it's a death by suicide, which is tragic, you know, not enough, but it's just one of those things where you say, wow, we can't realize that people are going through absolutely right.

Carissa Galloway: 8:04

And then you know it comes out that it wasn't, that it was revealed that she died due to pregnancy complications. She was about eight months pregnant. She was undergoing labor when she died. They believe that it was respiratory distress or Eclampsia as possible likely causes, and nothing can make that a better story. That's a terrible story and we don't know how to make it a better story. We can't, but what we can do is talk about what I think is the real issue there and that black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than white women. Why?

Carissa Galloway: 8:37

is that I don't know, but it makes me angry.

John Pelkey: 8:39

Yeah, and infant mortality, also among African American babies, is much higher as well, and it is something that is an ongoing problem and people will often, when you see infant mortality or something that happened, like happened to Tori, they'll talk about. Well, you know, it's lifestyle choices and everything. She was a world-class athlete, folks in the upper, the one percent of athletes in her discipline and she still fell victim. This it really is tragic and to your point, there's really no good way to spin it. I think the only thing we can do is just say these are sort of things that we have to acknowledge and try to find solutions for.

Carissa Galloway: 9:19

Yeah and I think what really drove the point home to me was that Alison Felix you know, one of the greatest female track and field athletes possibly of all time said that four members of that four by 100 Olympic winning team, three of them nearly died in childbirth. So to your point, it's not. It's not an economic issue, it's not a health issue. There's issues with institutional racism. The way you know, doctors interact with different races of patients.

John Pelkey: 9:43

Whatever it is, it's a problem and I hope that people who have the power to change that can can step in and try to change that, because it yeah there are plenty of challenges in the medical system, and this is nothing against doctors and nurses, who are out there really, really doing their best, but there are a lot of challenges and this is one that we weren't aware of, and I think when something like this happens, there has to be something positive that comes out of that. So perhaps now, because someone of her stature and it's sad that it has to be someone well known to shed light on this, but hopefully this will open up a dialogue and, somewhere down the line, something to address it and and bring it to an end, because it, reading about it, it just tragic, doesn't really go far enough.

Carissa Galloway: 10:30

It does. So we always want to be positive here, but we also think it's important to talk about things that matter in this world, and this is definitely one of them. So, yeah, let's let's keep that in our thoughts as we move forward, and let's move forward to today's guest.

John Pelkey: 10:43

Okay, civilians, it's time for the goods let's get on to the interview.

Carissa Galloway: 10:48

We are so excited to welcome our next guest to 321 go the podcast. She is a professional runner for the North Face with a marathon best of 233. She had a breakout performance, finishing 13th at the 2022 US Olympic marathon trials. She's been a US national team member. She is the first woman to win all four races the dopey challenging meaning she broke the tape on Thursday at the 5k. Friday at the 10k. Saturday at the half marathon, sunday at the marathon. She's a running coach, comedian, broadway enthusiast. Please welcome the funny runner, Brittany Charboneau.

John Pelkey: 11:24

I just get exhausted listening to your bio Brittany, good Lord.

Brittany Charboneau : 11:30

I'm exhausted of that too. I'm like, why am I so tired? And I'm like, oh, that's why I took my toe and everything.

Carissa Galloway: 11:37

We love it. That's why we love you and we, you know we fell in love with you Not only through dopey, but you had dipped your toe into the run Disney World breaking the tape before dopey. So when was your first Disney victory?

Brittany Charboneau : 11:51

2018. I did three that year. I did the marathon weekend half marathon, then I showed up for the princess 10k and then I did the Star Wars half and won each of those in 2018.

Carissa Galloway: 12:07

Well, you have to forgive John and I because we're not there.

Brittany Charboneau : 12:11

Oh right, Right, in credibly boring here.

Carissa Galloway: 12:15

And then we are like who won? And they're like she was really fast. And we're like, oh OK, so forgive us for not remembering all this.

Brittany Charboneau : 12:22

No, that's OK. It was a I wasn't in as like fun of costumes and things like that also.

Carissa Galloway: 12:29

I mean, I was in costume.

Brittany Charboneau : 12:30

Actually, I've got funny stories about that, but I was in costume. But yeah, they weren't as like elaborate, I would say as they were for Dopey in 2022.

John Pelkey: 12:39

Well, we'll get around to that, and that's great because you're actually starting to answer questions we already have for you. But were you always a Disney fan, or you want to? I mean, we're all of the Disney generation, if you were born in the 20th century or 21st century, but have you always been a Disney fan?

Brittany Charboneau : 12:53

Always. I remember growing up and I was Jasmine one Halloween. I was Pocahontas one Halloween. I got really mad one year. So I'm from Colorado, born and raised, and I remember one of my years that I was Jasmine. It's snows it traditionally snows every Halloween here and I remember I had my Jasmine costume. I was ready to go trick or treating and my mom is like we'll put on your coat and I was like, are you out of your mind? Jasmine doesn't wear a coat, mom. And I just threw a fit because I was trying to be so authentically Jasmine and Disney. So I grew up on the. I was a beauty and the beast, aladdin, lion King era gal. And then you know, I just have never let it go, literally never let it go.

Carissa Galloway: 13:42

Yeah, do what you did there Well before we jump into your Disney. You are a professional runner, so I want our listeners here a little bit about your journey to becoming a professional runner, because that's kind of your job now?

Brittany Charboneau : 13:54

Yeah, it's. I know it's kind of weird that that's what I get to do for a living. Some days I wake up and I'm like my job today is to go run on the trails. This is insane, yeah.

Brittany Charboneau : 14:03

So I got into running when I was in middle school and ran and all throughout high school, just kind of recreationally. I was never, you know, I was on varsity but I was never top of the pack by any means. And then I didn't know that you could run for a college without being on scholarship. I didn't know you could be a walk on athlete and so I didn't run my first two years of college because I was like, well, I'm not fast enough to do that, so I will just run five K's or something. And then I found out that you could walk on. So I walked on to Colorado State's team as a junior, ran my last two years in college and then kind of started to dabble in marathoning after that because I realized that I enjoyed much longer distance. I was running 800 and mile in college.

Brittany Charboneau : 14:49

But I was just kind of again like recreational runner. I was doing online training plans Like I had no idea really what I was doing. I was just kind of piecing things together and then just slowly started to chip away at some goals. And then in 2017, I won a race in Denver and I was like, well, I'm a good 20 minutes off of the pros times. I should probably be a pro, like, just like. But I knew I wanted to pursue it full time and I was like, if I have time, if I have a coach, if I can just dedicate some time to this, I really want to give it a shot. So I'm so grateful I did. But looking back on when I decided to start racing elite, I shouldn't have done that. Like everything on paper would have said don't do that. But I was just like going to bet on myself and I'm really, really happy I did. Now, looking at this gosh coming up on like seven years later, six years later, I'm really really happy that I took that lead, for sure.

John Pelkey: 15:47

Well, I think, if I've got this wrong and you know it's me, bernie, so I've probably gotten this wrong, but it took you what? Eight years to win a race. I think it was before you ran, you're you did get it wrong.

Brittany Charboneau : 16:00

It was 18.

John Pelkey: 16:02

Okay, well, they're just off by a decade. That that's really, really interesting, because people Chris, we've talked about this on the podcast before as people said, unrealistic goals. What were the goals you were setting for yourselves over that almost two decade period?

Brittany Charboneau : 17:36

I don't know. I don't think I even had big goals then. I think it was just like I just remember, you know, my goals in college were not to die in these races. And then when I started to get into marathoning, it was just I remember my first marathon.

Brittany Charboneau : 17:52

During training Someone said, if you run a 335, you'll qualify for the Boston marathon. And I was like I have no idea what the Boston marathon is Like, what, what is that? And so just that kind of in my brain I was like, okay, well, I'll shoot for that because it is just that goal. I have no idea what that means. So I ran a 333. And then from there like turned into another little goal, and then another little goal and things like that.

Brittany Charboneau : 18:17

And then finally, in 2015, I think I had gone, there was a local race in Chicago I was living in Chicago studying comedy at the time and there was a local half marathon and I was like maybe I could win that and that was my very first win, and that was 18 years after I started running. So it was kind of just like random little tiny goals and I feel like that's what I still do now. I feel like a lot of my goals that's kind of where Dopey came from was like this, like random goal of like maybe I could try that, maybe I could do this. So it's kind of just been almost organically where these goals have come from and kind of kind of dictated and moved my path with running.

Carissa Galloway: 18:59

Well, you really teed up this next question very easily, kind of talking about that Dopey goal. So we know you as that Disney loving bubbly superstar and costume that won all four races at Dopey. But the reason why you came to Dopey is a story that I kind of like, and it also leads us through Boston, I think, as well. So tell us about how the Dopey goal came to be.

Brittany Charboneau : 19:18

Yeah, so Dopey in 2022 was not on my radar at all. I remember in 2018, when I was racing those first Disney races, I remember hearing about the Dopey challenge and I was like that's absurd, Like that was 100% going to break your body, Like that's insane. So I remember that. And then 2021, the Boston marathon was in the fall because it had gotten moved because of COVID. So I was racing training for the Boston marathon.

Brittany Charboneau : 19:46

That fall was having a killer training season, was doing a workout 10 days before I left for the marathon in my local park in Denver that I do. I've done hundreds and hundreds of workouts there and all of a sudden I was just coming around a curve and a off least husky T boned me while I was going full speed. The dog was going full speed and we collided and I flew up in the air, landed on my back on the cement, smashed my head, got a concussion, like this whole thing. It was like 10 days before Still had kind of an injury on my back during the race. So I ended up making it to mile 18 in the Boston marathon and then pulled out and I was just like so bummed because I was like it's just this niggle. It's just this thing that I just couldn't run through that day. But I still have a lot of fitness. I don't feel like I wanna end my season with that experience.

Brittany Charboneau : 20:41

So I just kind of started to think about and chatted with my coach of like when was it that really brought me joy in running? Because I feel like also there's a lot of pressure, especially in the major marathons and you get into the bigger races as an elite. That it was just. I kind of felt like some of this fun was sucked out of my experience and so I just was like when was I most happy?

Brittany Charboneau : 21:04

And I thought about my races in 2018 at Disney and that was when I just kind of was like I wanna really random challenge. I want something that's definitely hard, but just a challenge. So the goal for Dopey was just to finish it. There really wasn't going into it. I had no intention of I'm gonna try to win this whole thing, because I think that that was gonna be sucking the fun out of it for me as well. So it came from getting nailed by a dog and then reevaluating, thinking about like where and when am I most happy running? And my coach's only stipulation she said I fully support you, but you have to up your costume game if you're gonna do it, Cause she really wanted to make sure I was protecting the fun.

John Pelkey: 21:47

Sorry, you led. Once again. We're getting back to questions on costumes. I'm always just amazed by the people who put together costumes in any case and the people who finish in six hours with the marathon or whatever. But for an elite runner like you, you're one of the few elite runners that gives into more than maybe just we have seen people finish with Mickey ears and stuff. What is it about the costumes? Because your costume game is almost as good, slightly just a little less good than your running game, but very little.

Carissa Galloway: 22:21

Less good, John, she has a costume. Like, don't you have a costume?

Brittany Charboneau : 22:24

room or something. Oh, I'm in my costume room it's explode. I'm looking at my costume closet it's exploding. I'm looking at fur coats and sombreros and astronaut costumes.

Carissa Galloway: 22:35

Brittany, it's okay if you're offended by John saying that you need to up your costume game.

John Pelkey: 22:40

I didn't say she had to up it, I'm just saying I mean she won the dopey, so her costume at that point would literally have to be a flying Mandalorian costume. For to do any better than that?

Brittany Charboneau : 22:49

I take that as a lovely challenge, John. You just wait and see what I can pull out next time.

John Pelkey: 22:55

I'm sorry, your times will not be official if you actually have a jetpack and fly. I know that that is among the rules of the dope challenge.

Brittany Charboneau : 23:02

Okay, yeah, I have, I think because of my background in performance. So I, I guess, looking back, I've always been I mean, I'm not gonna be one that doesn't wanna be the center of attention. So I remember that growing up and then once I started to get actually it was a few years around the same time I started to win my first races and just kind of started to improve my running. I got more into studying comedy, performing improv, things like that, and so I feel like costumes are part of the performance and so for me, it being in costume at dopey took the pressure off because it became more of a character, it became more of a performance, it became more of the story of it.

Brittany Charboneau : 23:48

And I think there's argument too that, like you know, you show up to some races and you're wearing your kit, that you are sponsored by, and that also evokes this Like I feel like strong and I can do this and all of those things. So I think that that's also a costume. But I think for me I was really trying to channel the playfulness and trying to take some of the seriousness away from the running Cause I think that we just get so at least for me too, I just get so wrapped up sometimes in the seriousness of racing and running, that the costumes were this outward display of no. I can do both, and this is just part of my performance, I guess.

Carissa Galloway: 24:31

I love how you connected that because even though all the times I've heard you talk about your costumes, I think that I'd never put that sort of internalized, that that you're kind of putting on a performance in a way and it's making you a little bit super human. So a lot of people do have heard about what you wore for each race. But I'd love to go back through kind of each race and why you decided on which costume, Because a lot of people at Disney will theme their costume to the medal or theme their costume to the race, which is great. But I love the way you did it because you did it to yourself. So let's start with Thursday morning, 5K day.

Brittany Charboneau : 25:03

Yeah, I love that you said that too, because that was where my brain went. I was like, okay, what are people gonna wanna see me in? And that was where I initially thought and so, but then I was just like I don't wanna be that character and that's not bringing me joy. And so I finally was like nope, I'm gonna just pick the characters that I want and they're a little bit out there and that's gonna be me. So for the first, for the 5K, I was Elsa from Frozen 2.

Brittany Charboneau : 25:27

There's the scene where she is with that water horse and she's singing show yourself and she pulls her hair down and she's barefoot and she just like has her moment of like this is my self, this is my full self. That I remember seeing it for the first time and that just resonated so much Cause I was like I just wanna pull my hair down and I just wanna not really run barefoot, but you know what I mean. Just have that moment of just like. This is me. So I picked Elsa from Frozen 2 specifically, and also I did have some strategic pieces with that, because in 2018, at the Disney Princess 10K, I was Ariel and I ran in fish leggings like mermaid leggings and they were the hottest thing I've ever run in, and that was only a 10K. So I remember that and I remember being like, okay, if I'm gonna do pants, I need it for the shortest distance possible because it's likely gonna be really hot even in January and at Disney, all right.

Carissa Galloway: 26:25

So we're 5K. We've let it go essentially, even though that's Frozen 1, I know that, but we're showing ourselves All right now.

Brittany Charboneau : 26:30

we got pants on we're authoritative.

Carissa Galloway: 26:34

We've got our pants suit. We won the 5K. Were you nervous about the 5K? The most? I think I've heard that Terrified terrified Because I don't like 5Ks.

Brittany Charboneau : 26:46

They're uncomfortable, you don't really get to settle in. And then I was like I would like to win it, of course, but if I don't it's fine. So I just went out hot because I was like I don't know what's gonna happen. So, yeah, I was most nervous for the 5K. I think I slept the least in anticipation for the 5K. Well, I don't know if you know this, but John Pelkey has won a 5K now, when Pelkey I'm so proud of you I did.

Carissa Galloway: 27:11

Which one did you throw I ran the.

Brittany Charboneau : 27:13

Springtime.

John Pelkey: 27:14

Surprise. I ran the 5K and the Springtime Surprise and my goal was to finish and I did. I would like to say that throughout my run, I was mocked by Chris's daughter, claire, who ran with me until she was like this is way too slow, I'm gonna move on from this. But yes, I did. Finally, after all of these years of selling myself as the before picture for a GM ad and letting people know that I had been athletic through high school, and that seemed like enough, I actually went out and finished the 5K and fully admit that I did feel and you know me, I can be just as cynical as anybody but it really did feel like an accomplishment, because I'd never run more than 2.5 miles in my life. That's amazing, I know.

John Pelkey: 27:59

Pretty impressive, isn't it? It is impressive, but it is.

Brittany Charboneau : 28:03

You have to start somewhere.

John Pelkey: 28:05

Yeah, no, it was great and other people dressed me, though, so I didn't get the fun of actually coming up with my own costume.

Brittany Charboneau : 28:14

I was gonna ask that.

John Pelkey: 28:16

I was Tomater, wasn't I? I was Tomater, yeah, from Cars which, honestly, I think they've got me pegged.

Carissa Galloway: 28:24

Well, John, you only have 17 and a half years to win a race, to then be better than Brittany.

John Pelkey: 28:31

Yeah, I tell you what, when I'm 87, maybe I could win my age group at 77. That's the goal I should set.

Brittany Charboneau : 28:43

Believe in yourself, john, and then show yourself Moving on.

Carissa Galloway: 28:49

5K check you won. Now we're moving on to the 10K. Talk us through that costume and that pressure now that you've already won one race. Yeah, I feel like.

Brittany Charboneau : 28:58

I actually didn't feel pressure in that. I feel like even as we got to the marathon which I know that's jumping ahead a little bit I kind of feel like it was even. And then there was like more and more hype that was getting built over the weekend I felt like less and less pressure because I knew the longer the distance, the better I am. So I kind of felt a little bit less pressure because that first day is out of the way. You get your first race day jitters out of the way. But the 10K.

Brittany Charboneau : 29:25

I decided to be Bing Bong from Inside Out. Bing or Inside Out is one of my favorite movies because I felt like it explained my brain. I feel like that movie captured. I was like this is what is going on in my brain. I feel like there's so many different emotions, there's so many different islands. And then Bing Bong.

Brittany Charboneau : 29:44

I just was like I want that character that is just weird and that it's weird. He's weird but I'm not sure what he's talking about. He's weird but he makes sense and he's joyful and he cries candy and I loved it. And so that was a character that I was like I don't. And looking back I was thinking I don't know if anybody's going to get this and, looking back, everybody at Disney gets every single character. I don't think there's a character that you could come up with that somebody at Disney doesn't know who that is. So people were cheering for Bing Bong as I was running the 10K and that was really special because I was like, oh people get me, they understand that I'm Bing Bong and I was wearing a little girl's ballet costume.

Brittany Charboneau : 30:30

It was a one piece costume that had the tutu attached. I had gone to Goodwill and I got a little boys suit vest and then I wore like cut off gloves and I pinned a tail to me and I had this little hat. So that costume was really fun because I feel like it was like really piecemeal together, which is Bing Bong.

John Pelkey: 30:50

And Bing Bong covers the gamut of emotions in that movie and I don't want to give it away to anybody who's seen it, but it goes from just silly beyond all to absolutely heartbreaking. And I actually worked with Richard Kynes, who is the actor who voices Bing Bong, on a Disney vacation club cruise, who is a really, really sweet and funny guy, and he talked about the emotional arc that that character took and said it may be the greatest emotional arc of any character he's ever played, which I think is terrific. It's a wonderful film and a great one. All right, so now 5K, 10k. You've won them both, and I know you said the most pressure was the 5K, but at this point you have to start feeling like okay, I'm through the shorter distances, which are the tougher ones for me. Now we move to half marathon day. This is getting real. Who were we?

Brittany Charboneau : 31:39

We were Joy from Inside Out as well, and I went through a little internal battle of like, but I just did too. Can I do two characters from the same movie? And then I was like I don't care, this is my, this is why I'm doing it, I'm doing what I want and Joy, I mean it's Joy, she's lovely. And going back to my Chicago comedy roots, amy Poehler was so inspirational during that time being in Chicago and I remember reading her book at that time, so, and she's obviously the voice of Joy and so that was really fun for me. Plus, I wanted to race in a wig during one of these races, so I had tested that was the only costume piece that I had tested pre-dopey. So I remember running around. It was winter and I was running around in that blue wig just to make sure that it would stay on. So I was running around in my neighborhood with Joy's blue wig before I left and did you feel joy throughout that half marathon? Did it work? Loved it.

Brittany Charboneau : 32:44

Honestly, the half was the very best, that was the best race. That was where you like, you're running one direction and the rest of the it's on, like, either side of the highway, and I was cheering for everybody, everybody was cheering back for me. It was like this wonderful engage, like swap of it was this volley of joy back and forth between me and all the other runners and I was like this is why we're doing it and also is like yes, I'm in the lead, but also you guys are doing it too, and you're inspiring me, I'm inspiring you. So it was just like this. I'll never forget that moment and I think the half was just so, so special.

Carissa Galloway: 33:23

I ran it as well. It was very special. I have a fun picture with you at the start and you inspired me to win. Later in the year I was running a 10K and they had me in a wig and they were like you can take that off to run. I was like, well, brittany won in a wig, so I think that I can persevere. I put in a little ponytail I was blue too and I got it done, and then you got it done in the half. So now we're to marathon day. We're doubling down. We like to joke that you're two or three quarters of the way done when you finish the half, but you're really not mileage wise.

John Pelkey: 33:55

I like to be positive to people and tell them that three quarters of your adventure is over.

Carissa Galloway: 33:59

Says the guy who's never run a marathon You're a guy at mile 10.

John Pelkey: 34:03

You're almost there we're at the finish line. Welcome to the halfway point.

Brittany Charboneau : 34:08

I love that, oh boy, I bet you get a lot of fans doing that.

Carissa Galloway: 34:13

He does OK. So marathon day who are you and how do you feel?

Brittany Charboneau : 34:19

I felt great. I did feel a little bit of pressure at that point because obviously it had gotten to the pipe of the weekend and the fact that I'd won three races so far did start to get built up a little bit. But I was trying to be really mindful of staying off of social media, staying off of the internet and reading anything just because I was like again, this is not why I'm here. I never set out to win all of them. I knew it could be a possibility, for sure, but I was really trying to just stay true, to like this is not why I'm here. I don't want that pressure to steal this whole experience and this joyful opportunity. I mean, I was feeling some pressure, especially because people were starting to know what I was doing. But I chose Cruella for the last one. I chose her for a few reasons and it was specifically Cruella from the Emma Stone version. I again I resonated so much. I felt like that was such an artistic movie, such amazing costume choices and the artistiveness of the storyline was incredible. I just loved her fierceness but also her realness, and I was trying to channel that a little bit. Also during that race was like just trying to channel some fierceness of Cruella, but also just being real. And then the other reason. So there was that whole intellectual piece behind it. But then the other piece was like all right, what am I actually going to be comfortable racing a marathon in? Because, let's be honest, that's a long way to go in a costume. And I have this white North Face running dress that I love. North Face doesn't love that I run and race in that, because it's not really what we're supposed to race in, but I love it. And so I was like I also just really want to feel cute in this white dress. So I had ironed on these different phrases and sayings from both the movie and from my running and I had ironed those on.

Brittany Charboneau : 36:16

And then I also thought it'd be really fun to spray paint my hair. So I did two bubble ponies and Justin, my husband, had spray painted my hair the morning of. And then I thought about well, I haven't tested this spray paint before and it's humid in Orlando. What happens if this runs? And especially after I get sweaty? But then I was like you know what if that happens, that's so cruel, like she's just a nut, so especially when she gets like in her groove. So that part was really fun. And then I had worn Dalmatian shorts underneath the dress as like kind of a cute little nod to the Dalmatians, obviously. And then you what?

John Pelkey: 36:55

Yeah, it's just remarkable, and I do have to say this is and normally when we're hosting a race weekend we don't focus as much on the elite runners as we do everyone else. I mean, it's just sort of part and parcel, because nothing against, obviously, the elite runners, but celebrating the people in their costumes and we have, I think, the largest percentage of people running their first marathon, first half marathon. But I felt pressure for you after the half because somebody came to me and said it was probably Chris and Brittany's won the five, the 10 and a half, and I'm like, oh my God, so the fact, thank you for admitting that you felt the pressure. Also, I would like to say the dopey challenge winning understatement of the world is, you know, it's humid in central Florida. That, yeah, conditions are not always optimal.

Carissa Galloway: 37:51

Now, brittany, there was one race where John and I are on stage I think it was the marathon maybe where the athletes come back by us and we're on stage and it takes us a little over an hour to send everybody off and we have our director that's talking to us in our ear and he says like, oh, brittany's coming, the leaders are coming. So of course we are just monkeys. So he says this in my ear. I say, oh, the leaders are coming, here comes Brittany. And then this leading female comes by and I'm like that's not Brittany, but you heard all that.

Brittany Charboneau : 38:23

It was amazing. I think it was like, honestly, I think it was like the 5k by the time we had looped back around and I remember hearing you say that and you were like and here comes Brittany, and you said something, like you did a Britney Spears quote. I can't remember what you said, it was something in that realm and I was like running and I was laughing and I was like nope, I was like I'm in third, I'm in third right now, or I thought I was in second. So I was like nope, I was like I'm in second and I was like that's OK. And I think I even yelled at you as I ran past Like nope, I'm back here. But then I was like don't worry, this is how I race.

John Pelkey: 38:57

And, by the way, well done throwing Mark Ferrera under the bus. It was just an absolutely remarkable thing, and we had the opportunity to hang out with you the next day and have just a great time going through the parks and seeing everybody respond to the fact that, oh my goodness, here's this person who did that. And then, the day after, you put in a lot of miles walking around the parks as well. It was inspiring for everybody. I do have to ask you this question, though with all the costumes that you've done and your costume closet, is there anything you haven't been yet that you want to be?

Brittany Charboneau : 39:30

Oh, that's a good question. I don't know I'd have to think about that. I'm sure the answer is yes, I don't know, I'm going to think about that. I don't have a good answer. But there's always. There's always characters and like craziness they'd like to be, but I haven't thought about that. Well, you can think about it. Something to think about. Yes.

John Pelkey: 39:53

All right.

Carissa Galloway: 39:55

So we alluded to this in the beginning. You kind of come into dopey as a way to get the fun in the running, and our goal is to motivate that everyday runner. And you're not only an amazing pro athlete, you're a coach too. So how do we keep a focus on getting in those miles, getting in the harder workouts, but also keep fun in our running and our training?

Brittany Charboneau : 40:15

I think it's often as simple as just the intention behind it. I think it's not only setting the intention before you start running and training, but also like in your everyday week. We're big proponents of reflecting and just kind of taking almost like a week at a time and just then reflecting on the week and then setting like these little tiny goals for the next week. And that helps me of just thinking about, like okay, I felt like this week was pretty good, but I felt like this run or this workout was just I just didn't really enjoy it. As much Can I shift that and make it more enjoyable next week? And so I like to set themes, especially when I'm road training, for each week's training, and that helps me. I'll pick a theme and then I like to like incorporate that all throughout the week and that'll dictate where I run and what costumes I'm running in for training and then what I'm listening to.

Brittany Charboneau : 41:14

It couldn't just be as simple as like this week is Bob Seeger week, and so I'm just tearing up Bob Seeger podcast and music and you know all the things. And then for me I like to make art at the end of my week to recap that week, because again it keeps coming back to like, what's the journey? Like, don't get so focused. And I'm so guilty of this and especially coming off of my last race of just focusing on the outcome that when I feel like, when I theme things and when I'm really focusing on just each week at a time, it really helps capture the journey and helps you stay present and keep it fun versus stressing about what's to come and I felt like I did that really well during Dopey as well was just like focusing on each day instead of what's going to happen at the end of the weekend.

John Pelkey: 42:01

Well, I think you you've kind of alluded to it the World Mountain and Trail Championships in Austria did not have the result that you, you hope to have. But I mean, that's part and parcel of being an athlete. You are not going to. You know, no one wins the championship every year, no one wins all of the races. And being able to bounce back from having a disappointing, a disappointing outing, what kind of advice could you give to people about how you can? You can change that disappointment into something that fuels you moving forward?

Brittany Charboneau : 42:31

I think I let myself sit in it, which was helpful. I felt like I sometimes I like, if something doesn't go well, I try to just move on too quickly and especially because I'm like well, I'm the funny runner, I'm always happy, I'm cheerful, but instead it's almost like having a bing bong moment of just like, let it just sit in it. And I feel like this time I let myself sit in it and I felt like I let myself be so sad, so disappointed. I was also really, really embarrassed and I just let myself feel it and be okay with it. And now I think I'm just getting a little bit more perspective.

Brittany Charboneau : 43:07

And this is what I've been telling other people and other runners is that no one actually cares Like, even at an elite level, no one actually cares it. You feel like it's this huge thing and that everyone's watching and that it's so important and it's not like people just are. People are still like how are you? What else did you get from the experience versus what the results were? So I think that that's something I'm taking away from this is that it's not a devastating career blow. I'm like well, I'll still keep running. I got more races ahead. So I think that's something that's shifted, whereas it feels devastating in the moment, but no one actually cares. So I think, even for the people that are running their first marathon or have certain times that they're shooting for, no one actually really cares, except you People celebrate your wins and all of that. But at the end of the day, it's really not that big of a deal, even at an elite level. I think is what I'm learning as I keep going.

Carissa Galloway: 44:13

I think that's a hard thing to learn too, because to you it is a big deal. You spend months and months doing something and then trying to have to rationalize that. And I would love to know your thoughts on social media and the elite running world, because I'm not an elite runner, but sometimes I'll be running and I'm writing my social media post in my head. That's not necessary. You finished this race. It wasn't the race you wanted, and how much time did you spend thinking about how am I going to explain this on social media? So what's your take on that?

Brittany Charboneau : 44:43

Oh, my God, such a good question. Oh, I do that all the time too, but I also do it in fun ways. I think about when I'm out running and I have something really creative that I'm working on or something, or something really that I think is really funny. I'll create that in my head, so it works in positive ways. But then you're right, I think that's honestly. If I'm being honest, I think that was a piece of something that got in my head during leading up to worlds, and then racing was if I don't do amazing, how am I going to explain this or what are people going to think? And I think that's a piece of reflecting that I have to keep working on.

Brittany Charboneau : 45:28

But I had a lot of time to just think about that and I finally realized I feel like I'm getting a lot more connection with people and I get better responses when I'm just like it sucked. And then I think I just also gave myself permission of like I posted just a thumbs up that I was like, hey, I'm okay physically, but like this is just what happened. And then for me I needed to process it through art, and so I just made really, really weird art and that was really helpful and I almost was just like I actually don't care what anybody thinks, I want to put this out there, I think, because it then puts it out into the world and it's all done and I can kind of put a pin on that experience. But I also was like I put weird stuff out and I don't care, like if nobody gets this weird art of me being pregnant with kittens and then having weird emojis on the Vontraps like whatever, but for me it's just therapeutic to get out. So I think it can.

Brittany Charboneau : 46:28

Social media can be used therapeutically as long as you're not attaching yourself and yourself worth to what you feel like other people are perceiving about you or thinking about you and, honestly, all I got was just amazing responses and support. So I think, remembering that people really are good, people really are wonderful, the Disney crew especially. I think that's something that I'm so grateful that I got all these Disney people on my side after Dopey, because if you have a bad day, these Disney people will build you up. They're just amazing. So, yeah, so I think that there's lots of different aspects of it, but I don't know. I'm working through all of that, still trying to figure out, like, how you balance it because it is hard.

John Pelkey: 47:11

Well, I think people appreciate that you're open, emotionally open, and also live in the moment, and I do think that is important as well. All right, what is your next fun goal, brittany, other than another kitten pregnancy painting, which you're going to have to explain to me at some point?

Brittany Charboneau : 47:31

Yeah, just check out my page. So I am going to take I'm planning to take the summer off of racing. So last year going into the World Championships in Thailand in November, so last year was absurd in 2022. My year started with Dopey in January and it didn't end until November at the World Championships in Thailand and I don't feel like I stopped and I felt like I have got really burnt out mentally and physically by the time I got to Worlds.

Brittany Charboneau : 47:58

So I have also qualified this year for the World 50K Road Championships in India in November and I was like I need to make sure I'm protecting my sanity and I can't just go full throttle all year long. So I'm going to take the rest of this summer to just kind of play and actually I think the Disney virtual 5Ks are happening, and so I was like I think it'd be fun to be in costume and set FKTs so Fastest Known Times, but a 5K distance in costume on trails, because it's kind of blending all of my weird worlds together. So that's my plan is to do that. I haven't, I haven't really thought through much more than that, but that's what I want to do this summer and then in the fall I'll kind of be back on the roads racing and gearing up for the World Championships in India, but until then, so I'm going to be making just weird art and then running in costumes on trails and like earning my virtual Disney 5K medals. This summer.

Carissa Galloway: 49:01

John, maybe you could get in on those virtual Disney 5K races. I'll run one with you.

John Pelkey: 49:05

I'm sorry, my something's going on with my earphones. I can't. Didn't I already do a 5K? Am I forgetting? I couldn't be forgetting that.

Carissa Galloway: 49:13

but I did one about I don't know. Two hours ago, brittany brought it. It's something you repeat generally.

John Pelkey: 49:21

I walked around Portland a lot, going from restaurant to bar to restaurant to bar, so I feel like I put my time in so back off.

Carissa Galloway: 49:29

No, come on. All right, we're not going to back off, john, we're going to keep going.

John Pelkey: 49:31

I know.

Carissa Galloway: 49:33

Before we wrap this up, what everybody really wants to know is when will we see you at Disney again?

Brittany Charboneau : 49:40

You don't know, I don't know, I want to come, I really want to come to the Disneyland races.

Brittany Charboneau : 49:48

That would be awesome. I keep asking would you ever do Dopey again? I don't think I ever would, just because how do you talk that experience. But I was at the Disney World Marathon weekend this year in 2023, and I was cheering and it was the best time I've ever had. So I'm also like I just love to come, cheer and be part of all of it. So I think that that's if I can finagle my way back into the races just and get to cheer and whatever that could look like that's a dream, because it's just like, oh, I love it so much and watching everybody from the front runners to everybody with the balloon ladies coming through, I mean you guys know, it's like. I'm sure it's probably more exhausting for you guys because you're out there all day long, but it's so rad watching all these different types of runners come through and all the costumes and just the whole experience. So I think that's what I would love to try to do, but maybe I'll race the Disneyland races, I don't know.

John Pelkey: 50:51

Most exhausting thing for me is trying to figure out the mashup costumes. That's what's getting. That's what's doing me in these days.

Carissa Galloway: 50:57

Yeah, I'm a little concerned though, because what I heard from Brittany was words, words, words. I would like to be a run to Disney announcer. That's kind of what I heard there.

Brittany Charboneau : 51:05

Oh my God, that honestly, that would be an absolute dream.

John Pelkey: 51:09

Do you work within budget? Do you work within budget? That's the question number one.

Brittany Charboneau : 51:14

So I don't want to price yourself out of it and Nikki Waffles done 100 percent.

Carissa Galloway: 51:22

I get circles peanuts and the sliced apples in a package that we're not sure the expiration date.

Brittany Charboneau : 51:28

Yep, count me in.

John Pelkey: 51:30

I get circus peanuts and Dr Pepper. That's. That's what they give me endless circus peanuts and either of those things that does he get?

Carissa Galloway: 51:38

I know I never get a Dr Pepper even, which I'll see you guys.

John Pelkey: 51:40

Hey, britt. Also, if people want to follow you and go to your website, see your, your, your weird and cool art and find out about what you're doing, where do they need to go?

Brittany Charboneau : 51:52

I'm most active on my Instagram page at funny runner 26.2. If you want to go down a weird rabbit hole, I have a funny runner 26 point art page that everyone someone gets updated. My website is wildly outdated but you can still go there the funny runner dot com and that's. And then our coaching website is Mercuria running and that's also our Instagram there, for we have lots of Disney people that we get to coach and stuff like that too, so there's fun on there as well.

Carissa Galloway: 52:21

All the fun. Brittany, thank you so much for joining us. We hopefully I know we'll be seeing you soon and chatting with you soon, so thank you for joining us and bringing the fun to the 321GO podcast and the run.

Brittany Charboneau : 52:32

Guys, I miss you so much. This was amazing and thank you for helping me on.

Carissa Galloway: 52:38

All right athletes, here's the drill Time to shape up your diet.

Carissa Galloway: 52:42

Carissa, give them the goods. All right. Thank you, sarge. Now it's time for our healthier you nutrition moment, and today we're talking about how to lose weight or maintain weight loss during the summer. So we had our healthier you monthly chat last week and what we're hearing is you know, I'm going on vacation, I'm feeling like I'm losing control of my weight or my weight loss goals, and I will say I think that it's harder to sort of attempt to lose weight over the summer than even at the holidays, because when you're on vacation, it's that YOLO mindset, right.

John Pelkey: 53:12

Absolutely yeah.

Carissa Galloway: 53:14

So we just want to give you a few tips on. You know what you should do if you are trying to maintain or lose weight over the summer, and the first thing you really got to do is set realistic goals, so determining how much weight you want to lose. 50 pounds by the end of the year, that's too big of a goal to sort of really grasp on to and feel like you're making progress towards. So over the summer I would almost say the goal could be one I don't even want to gain weight versus lose weight, or maybe two to four pounds a month. And if you have a weight loss goal this summer, the best end with any goal write it down, make it measurable, write the date you're going to check back in with yourself and that way you can see progress. It's kind of like doing long runs. If you're saying I'm going to run a marathon but I haven't even gotten to six miles yet. You got to see that progress to help you keep going. So set realistic goals.

Carissa Galloway: 53:58

The other thing with any weight loss is it's a calorie game. You've got to create that calorie deficit and that can be done by limiting your calories or by upping exercise. So, as it's getting warm. Maybe we're not necessarily getting as much running as we were, especially if we only run outside, so make sure you're getting in time for that exercise. Knowing that matters as well. Staying consistent, consistency is the key. So that's the problem with vacation, right? And how did you do up in Maine? Did you have a healthy diet, john?

John Pelkey: 54:24

I did not have anything even approaching a healthy diet, but I did get some hiking in. There was a lot more walking Portland, maine is a great walking city, so I probably to your point. I probably kidded myself that I was getting more exercise than I really was and but my caloric intake, because it's a great foodie city, overshadowed that. So there was no weight loss in me for Maine. But well, I haven't weighed myself since I was 17 because really, what's the point? I don't think I put any on, but I certainly didn't lose any.

Carissa Galloway: 55:00

Well, the point is that it's hard to do right? So?

Carissa Galloway: 55:02

my number one tip when you're going on vacation is to watch your portion size, especially when you're eating out. Be aware of portion size and leave a little bit on your plate. Most of the time you're satisfied within three bites of something. You've gotten enough of the flavor to be satisfied. So watch that portion control and then when you get back home, that's when it's really good to get back to those goals. So this is something we talked about in Healthier U. Healthier U is open right now. It's a 12 week course that's designed to boost your nutrition. Whether you want to lose weight, whether you want to be better fueled for runs, we do it all. You can use the code summer at gallowaycoursecom to save and we'll get you feeling better about your nutrition in an education-based way.

John Pelkey: 55:41

Well, I will say you would have been very, very happy with me. I did eat a lot of watermelon and we learned that that's good for you.

Carissa Galloway: 55:47

That is good, you're very hydrated.

John Pelkey: 55:49

I'm very hydrated.

Carissa Galloway: 55:50

And it's to help keep your blood sugar levels up as well.

John Pelkey: 55:53

Extra cheese. It's people, the perks of being a race announcer. Athletes listen up. It's mail call time. Announce a free present. Thank you, sarge. We are indeed opening up the mailbox, and our question today, carissa, comes from Katie M Mulcahy, whose question is and we get a lot of questions about these sort of things what would your Run Disney costumes be if you ran together? Well, we would, first of all. We would start together, we would not finish together.

Carissa Galloway: 56:27

I could say with you, but I think it might be like when Weston and I run together, me knowing he's so much faster than me, I'm like just go, just leave me, you're bored. So I think you would eventually like shoo me away.

John Pelkey: 56:40

Yes, to shun, to push away. Yes, go, go.

Carissa Galloway: 56:44

This, I think, is a hard question. I don't think I've in this amount of time I can think about the depth of where we could go with this being literal, being sarcastic. So my first thought was something from the Aristocats, because I know how special that is to you, yes. But my second thought was maybe you could be guest on and I could be one of the girls that's. Oh, there he goes. Is it a dreamy?

Carissa Galloway: 57:15

And then I could just say things to like you as you're running and then maybe that, like positive reinforcement, would help you to go is it a dreamy, so I'd be pre-steroid guest on, clearly pre-steroid guest on. I mean, I don't know if guest, I think he came out that way.

John Pelkey: 57:28

Yeah, wow.

Carissa Galloway: 57:30

Baby, he was born that way.

John Pelkey: 57:31

Wow, hashtag, difficult delivery, all right, very nice, okay. Well, and you hit me on that because I had to think about it and I was trying to come up with a couple of characters male and a female character that hang out together and aren't like an item character, because that would be so weird since you're like my younger sister and I'm like your older, out of shape uncle, who's annoying. But I did come up with and because I want to just put this out there in the universe and hopefully somebody will dress me up this way for a Disney race. I did come up with Thomas O'Malley, the Alley Cat and Duchess from the Aristocats, the great Phil Harris and the lovely Eva Gabor, but my other one was Bernard and Miss Bianca from the Rescuers, which is the great Bob Newhart, and once again, because apparently they were limited on female voiceover artists, the lovely Eva Gabor, like Miss Bianca as well, and I know those are relationship ones, but those are a couple of reasons.

John Pelkey: 58:30

I love both of those, because the Aristocats is my favorite animated Disney feature and the last Disney feature that I ever saw in a theater, animated prior to the new generation, starting with Little Mermaid, was the Rescuers, and from that movie I would love to run, as even rude, the outboard dragonfly as well, but if it were both of us running together, bernard and Miss Bianca would be good.

John Pelkey: 58:57

So those would be it mainly because I'm a horribly selfish guy and those are characters I would like to dress as and that's who you end up being, but I think those would be great costumes, marc Ferrera. So if you're listening, please, and that brings up we actually wanted to bring up that point as well. People do. There were a lot of other questions that we had in the mail bag about costumes. We do not pick out our own costumes, and the people who do pick out our costumes are the wonderful costuming people at Disney, who are par excellence and do a fabulous job, and then also our director, marc Ferrera, a very good friend of both of ours. Those are the people who pick out our costumes.

Carissa Galloway: 59:37

We don't get to do it on our own. We don't get to have a say. And I sometimes say what do you want to be for the next race? And we'll have a say. And then we definitely are not. If we said it, we definitely know that we're not gonna.

John Pelkey: 59:46

Except Tracy. If she complains that she doesn't think she's a cute enough character, she will be a cuter character the next time. For years I was whatever character disappeared early in the film, generally in some sort of tragic manner. I think one year I was Bambi's mom. I was always a porg, just any number of things that were disturbing. But I've moved up a little bit in the pecking order so my costumes are a little better and I'm still the only one who ever did it in a fur onesie and that's still my favorite costume so far.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:14

And just to be clear, John was never Bambi's mom, just to be clear.

John Pelkey: 1:00:19

But was I not? You were not Bambi's mom. I seem to remember that.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:22

In the 1972 edition of the Disney 5K, you were Bambi's mom. Well, this was fun Always a great time with Brittany guys. If you have any other questions or you have suggestions on maybe John and I who we should be if we ever ran together, maybe for a virtual run down the West Orange Trail, maybe we could do that. You can send them to 321gopodcast at gmailcom. And again, we would love it if you would rate the podcast, share it with your friends, subscribe, let people know what we're doing here and let us know a little bit about what you wanna hear about, because our goal is to keep people motivated. So anyway, we could do that. We'd love to know.

John Pelkey: 1:00:57

Yes, and feel free to ask more questions. We would love to tell you more about what our lives are like and what a Disney race weekend if you're a veteran or if you're somebody considering.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:09

We can't wait to see you at the next race. We'll be watching you, guys as you go through those virtual series. Have a great day and we'll talk to you real soon.

John Pelkey: 1:01:17

Bye-bye Three, two, one go.