Chris Twiggs: Jeff Galloway's Right Hand Man and Perfect Disney Marathoner

Join us as we get to know Chris Twiggs, a passionate runner, and a chess champion. From his stellar performance at the inaugural Disney Marathon to his role as Chief Training Officer for Jeff Galloway's organization, Chris will share his running journey and the life-changing experiences it came with. So, better lace up those running shoes and dig in, because this episode is a feast of inspiration, nostalgia, and zeal!

Join Chris in Jeff Galloway's Customized Training with a 20% discount.  

• Custom training plan for your event or events!
• Daily and weekly workout reminders
• Program-specific community message board
• Two weekly live Q&A sessions
• A monthly motivation session from Jeff
• Discounts on courses and retreats

Transcript

John Pelkey: 0:03

Welcome to 321 Go the Podcast. I'm John Pelkey.

Carissa Galloway: 0:07

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: 0:16

Today we have a fascinating interview with a man that makes a huge difference at Run Disney races and has the honor of being the youngest perfect Disney marathoner, our good friend Chris Twiggs. We're going to talk about how to eat a Carissa approved, healthy breakfast and share a listener's story. Let's do this.

Carissa Galloway: 0:48

Hey, john, how you doing.

John Pelkey: 0:50

I'm doing very, very well. Had some exciting stuff happen yesterday, so very cool for me.

Carissa Galloway: 0:57

Which we're going to talk about now. That's like a big teaser we're going to.

John Pelkey: 1:00

I know I want to tease that I got to do something really, really cool that I didn't think I would be able to do.

Carissa Galloway: 1:05

That people aren't going to be able to do much longer. There you go so there you go, guys Put that together. Little bonus bonus.

John Pelkey: 1:13

That's a serious professional tease. Well done out of you.

Carissa Galloway: 1:16

That was good, but I also I guess this is maybe a little spoiler it is Disney related. I went to Disney yesterday to check out the fall decor. I love, as you know, the holidays. So, went into Magic Kingdom, check out the fall decor and I ate at a place that I had not been to for 20 some years, because the last time I was there I was working in this restaurant. Have you ever been to the Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom?

John Pelkey: 1:48

I have been to the Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom, but for me it's been 30 years maybe. No, honestly early 90s. It would be early 90s for me.

Carissa Galloway: 2:02

Well, we, I had seen on social media a lot of people go in there and mashed potatoes are like my favorite food.

John Pelkey: 2:08

Oh, and why wouldn't they?

Carissa Galloway: 2:09

be. I know my kids don't like mashed potatoes and I'm like that's mom's favorite food.

John Pelkey: 2:12

Just eat it.

Carissa Galloway: 2:13

I know I'm sorry.

John Pelkey: 2:14

You need to trade them up for a different model.

Carissa Galloway: 2:16

They like french fries, not, they can't make the connection. So we were looking for a place to eat for dinner. It's $39 a person, which, for a sit down Disney meal that is framed after Thanksgiving, seemed very reasonable, and it was delicious, john.

John Pelkey: 2:33

Okay, good to know.

Carissa Galloway: 2:34

I think you need to put it on your list Mac and cheese stuffing, turkey pork pot roast, which was actually really good. Oh wow, very nice. And they do.

John Pelkey: 2:45

As you know, for me, thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I love the Thanksgiving meal, but I work an event at ESPN Wide World of Sports College basketball tournament, the. I believe it's going to be called the ESPN classic or the Orlando classic it does change names from time to time and I never, ever, ever get to celebrate Thanksgiving. So I mean I really should add this into my travel plans Maybe as part of Wine and Dine.

Carissa Galloway: 3:09

You can do like a little Thanksgiving with Johnny. People can join you.

John Pelkey: 3:15

Okay, fair enough, just stand outside the Liberty Street.

Carissa Galloway: 3:20

See if anybody wants to join you. Or else just sit by yourself and shovel mashed potatoes and stuffing into your face.

John Pelkey: 3:26

Don't say it like it's a pejorative. It sounds like a fabulous way to spend the day.

Carissa Galloway: 3:30

And did you know you can get drinks there?

John Pelkey: 3:33

I did not.

Carissa Galloway: 3:34

Yeah, they don't have a full. I don't think they have a full bar, but they had wine, beer and then one drink that I think had a bourbon or something in it.

John Pelkey: 3:41

Ooh, all right.

Carissa Galloway: 3:43

Also now you're speaking my language. Now you're in. Now Johnny's in.

John Pelkey: 3:46

I thought, I thought all Magic Kingdom was dry.

Carissa Galloway: 3:49

So it was, and then some people are going to totally correct us on this, I believe, once they opened, be Our Guest.

John Pelkey: 3:54

Right.

Carissa Galloway: 3:54

I thought that restaurant had alcohol. I did not know the other sit down ones did so I. That was part of my motivation. You know what Mom would like? A glass of wine tonight. So the Federalist. You know good theming there with the Federalist. Cabernet and something on, which also they serve at Hamilton when you go see Hamilton. So I'm on board for, like Liberty Tree on the regular, my son ate four pieces of turkey. That's it.

John Pelkey: 4:20

Good for it.

Carissa Galloway: 4:21

No like, but it's not like.

John Pelkey: 4:24

Oh, so he didn't eat like four. I'm thinking four like healthy slices of turkey, but they would bring that to me.

Carissa Galloway: 4:28

I mean, it is all you can eat. They will bring you whatever you want.

John Pelkey: 4:33

There's nothing wrong with it.

Carissa Galloway: 4:34

It was delicious. So everybody don't, don't walk. Run to Liberty Tree.

John Pelkey: 4:39

Okay, I see and I don't have kids, so I never get to the Magic Kingdom. So when things happen over there I generally don't find out about it.

Carissa Galloway: 4:45

Because it's hard to get to, it's not enjoyable to get to Magic Kingdom. I'm sorry, it's just not easy to get to.

John Pelkey: 4:50

It is a little more difficult, I would agree with that, but we have the kids.

Carissa Galloway: 4:53

I wanted to see the fall decorations, so so we did that. But, john, do you have a favorite Disney place that you you like to eat? You don't go to Disney as much as we do.

John Pelkey: 5:01

No, I don't go very often at all. I mean generally it's once or twice a year at most for me. Now I've been around here a long time and I've been doing it consistently since I was in college and dated a girl starting in 1986. And I went a lot. I kind of overdid it probably at that period of time.

John Pelkey: 5:18

But yeah we don't, because we don't have kids, we don't get over there that often. But I do have a favorite recently because, as you know, I used to work at the boardwalk at the ESPN club at the boardwalk. Rest in peace.

Carissa Galloway: 5:31

Yes, that's what's the exact same thing. May they rest in peace Pour one out for the ESPN club.

John Pelkey: 5:36

But the Flying Fish restaurant over there, flying Fish Cafe over there, is outstanding. A very, very good friend of mine Shout out to my friend Lenny, who's friends myself and Mark Ferrerra, who we've mentioned on this podcast, and he lives in Pittsburgh but he and his wife vacation club members have come down a lot and he always wants to meet up for dinner and so we went to Flying Fish and this is the first time I've gone since it had kind of a redo, had a little makeover, and it is so very, very good. I don't want to. There are a lot of really, really upscale restaurants at Walt Disney World and I've eaten at most of them and I don't want to disparage any of the others, but it has. It's lapped some of the competition in my mind.

Carissa Galloway: 6:20

You have eaten at Victorian Albers, correct?

John Pelkey: 6:22

I have eaten at Victorian Albers I have not.

Carissa Galloway: 6:25

What did you? What did you? Rank it, rank it.

John Pelkey: 6:28

I'll give it a solid B.

Carissa Galloway: 6:31

It's OK, you can be honest, nobody's listening much.

John Pelkey: 6:34

OK, I thought you know you're paying for the experience. I felt like you're paying for the experience a little more than you were the food. Now I should say full disclosure. It's been a number of years and I believe there's been an upgrade over there as well, so I found it very good and a fun experience. But, as you know, I kind of consider myself a foodie. I did not necessarily feel that all of the food was the star. That was my feeling.

Carissa Galloway: 7:01

No, I think that sometimes and gosh, I don't want to anger anybody that happens a lot at Disney restaurants, which is why I was so excited about yesterday's dining experience.

Carissa Galloway: 7:08

Because you are paying to eat in the castle or to eat in this place and obviously now you know I travel a lot Food prices are so much higher than they used to be, restaurant prices are so much higher than they used to be, so you're paying a lot of money and sometimes I do think it doesn't always give you that bang for your buck or that wow factor you're expecting. So let us know if you have a favorite Disney place that always lives up to your expectations that John and I can actually get into, because some of those places the space restaurant I've never been able to get into there, but I've heard mixed things about that. So little Disney dining talk. I've got another place that I'm going to put on the back burner, that we're going to talk about another day, a new to us restaurant. But I want to ask you a question, and I'm pretty sure I know your answer, because you're a curmudgeon and you don't like what I celebrate Christmas early. How do you feel?

John Pelkey: 7:56

about. There's no early to you celebrating Christmas. It is a circle. There is no stop. You would celebrate it early if there was like a 48 hour period where you didn't celebrate Christmas, but it's just like it's this overwhelming, it's like a geodesic dome that covers you and stays there at all times and never can you break out of the dome and experience another sort of holiday. For gosh sakes, come on.

Carissa Galloway: 8:19

I want to see fall things. I took our little Christmas tree. We have a little one behind me that sits by the fireplace. I took that down a solid six weeks ago and it's the end of August and the fall tree doesn't go up till September 1st. So there's been a solid five month gap without a lighted tree in my home. So the geodome has been removed, my snow globe is gone. But, john, how do you feel about all things? Pumpkin, flavor, decor. What's your hot take?

John Pelkey: 8:49

The pumpkin flavor thing I'm a little bit picky about. I mean, I enjoy a nice slice of pumpkin pie. You know, I don't really have a sweet tooth anyway, so a little small piece of pumpkin pie is fine. I don't do any flavored coffees whatsoever. I like my coffee to taste like coffee and a little bit of milk and that's it. So when the pumpkin spice, fru, fru, butterfly wing, dosimum stuff comes out at Starbucks, your visualization.

Carissa Galloway: 9:15

Today you are really painting people pictures for this podcast. I know I'm painting with words. That's beautiful.

John Pelkey: 9:20

It's gorgeous Unlike our good friend, riley Claremont, who is now painting with paints and actually does a really nice job about it.

Carissa Galloway: 9:26

We'll talk to him soon We'll tease that. We'll talk to Riley about his art later on in the season.

John Pelkey: 9:31

But so I don't really. I'm not really big on any of those, but I don't mind. You know, like if there's a wintery sort of drink that has pumpkin flavor to it, I'm fine with that. It's just I'm not really drawn to it. But I do love all of the fall imagery because fall is my favorite time of year, even though since 1985, the fall seasons that I've lived in have been somewhere around three and a half days. But it's a damn good three and a half days.

Carissa Galloway: 10:01

It sure is yeah.

John Pelkey: 10:03

So I do love all of that fall imagery.

Carissa Galloway: 10:05

I do too. It's gorgeous and I think you and I were from answer out loud if you're listening. Virginia, Virginia, Beautiful fall. I think we grew up with this concept of like embracing the fall and, especially as a kid, it kind of turns the tide into the celebratory moments and that's kind of why I like it. My birthday's in the fall and I love the fall imagery. But I will say I like the idea of pumpkin spice things. I like a couple of them. I'm not going to run and get them every day. I actually like apple spice things.

John Pelkey: 10:36

As do I. As do I. I do love the smell of pumpkin, spice things. Oh yeah, the candle is wonderful, the cinnamon.

Carissa Galloway: 10:41

It makes sense. So well, if you're celebrating all things pumpkin, there is no judgment here. Johnny said he doesn't judge you, he likes the fall imagery and we will celebrate our three days of central Florida fall roughly near the. What is it the end of November? We get them.

John Pelkey: 10:55

Yeah, end of November we get a solid, long weekend of it.

Carissa Galloway: 10:59

Don't miss it. Everybody Go outside.

John Pelkey: 11:01

On your, on your on your stove with, with a little cinnamon thing I like to do, lemon and rosemary. You can let that play. Make sure, make sure how it smells like like some sort of upscale store or something what's oh, pottery barn. It smells like a pottery barn or no. It's probably not upscale, but you know what I'm saying.

Carissa Galloway: 11:25

I feel like pottery barn, like I feel like you're right, like we like, oh yeah, pottery barn's really nice. And then it's like compared to like what people in New York City buy, but whatever.

John Pelkey: 11:32

But do you do that? Do you do the try to get the fall smell? We get the, we get the cinnamon broom thing that you can pick up at your little below A public you get a public.

Carissa Galloway: 11:41

Yeah, I was thinking where am I going to hang it this year? I also like to do essential oils, so I have a fall essential oils that I will diffuse, we'll do those kinds of things. So we hope that we've got you all excited for fall in August almost September.

John Pelkey: 11:56

The fall that we don't have.

Carissa Galloway: 11:59

A few more things before we dive in. John world athletics world championships just wrapped. If you look at that metal hall, the US I think 23 medals to. Second place was around 12 to eight, I mean, but we just had, in terms of the shorter distances in the field events, a lot of dominance.

John Pelkey: 13:37

Yeah, absolutely, and I want to shout out you and I talked off air about this to Chikari Richardson, who, if memory doesn't serve you, in 2020 Olympics, which took place in 2021. If you don't remember that, then I really can't help you, but thank you for listening.

John Pelkey: 13:54

But yeah, exactly. Sadly, she tested positive for marijuana. There were a lot of issues around that. It opened up a huge discussion and whatever your position on that is that's your position. I don't care to get into the politics of any of that, but it was so devastating for her because she was one of the favorites and she was actually able apparently English language knew to me able to capture the gold in the 100 meters in a field, I believe, if I'm correct about this that had four of the eight fastest women's times in that field for that final, I believe so it was. The competition was amazing and she bounced back and I think it is just a good lesson no matter where you trip up, what happens, whether it's something that you did, whether it's something that you know, maybe even you considered unfair or injury or whatever it just keep pushing through. Don't allow it to define you. And she didn't. So congratulations to your point, to the whole team which just dominated. But it's nice to see Shikari Richardson back on the world stage for a positive reason.

Carissa Galloway: 15:06

You and I you know Weston and I love track and field, so we nerd out, we watched all the coverage and watching her arc from, as you mentioned, in 2020, 2021, if you will she made the Olympic team, wasn't able to compete, she was very defiant. She kind of was very aggressive about it and over time and she trains here in Central Florida right near us she calmed down, she became focused on getting back and she keeps saying I'm not back, I'm better, and I think that we can learn from that, that we make mistakes and again, like you said, we're not saying whether or not what happened, we're not weighing in on that at all. But obviously you have a reaction when you're told you're not going to the Olympics and you've been training your whole life to go to the Olympics. I think in that time she's reframed herself because last year she wasn't back.

Carissa Galloway: 15:48

You know she did not make the World Championships team last year, so coming back did not have. She had a good semifinal in the 100. She did not make an automatic time qualifying spot, so she was brought through on time, meaning she ran out of lane nine no one has ever won the World Championships 100, running out of lane nine and she did what we all need to do and we show up for a big event, no matter the circumstances, no matter what's happened before. Believe that you can achieve and focus solely on yourself, solely on your race. It was amazing to see her win that race because she had to come from behind again or start.

John Pelkey: 16:24

It's better in the finals that's a great yeah, it was an amazing race.

Carissa Galloway: 16:26

But and then the four by one shout out to her and Gabby Thomas, because out of all, the US won both four by 100 meter relays. That was the only good exchange in the bunch was Gabby to Shikari and she just went for it and I was. So you know, you don't know these people, but that's why we love sports, because you're so excited for another human that you don't know, because you know what they've been through. We can all empathize with that.

John Pelkey: 16:50

Yeah, and I you know, for me because, again, as I've mentioned on this show, probably far too many times, I did run track in high school. I was not a great athlete but I did run some the distance medley and the four by 100 and those things and my level of nervousness at every baton pass because I in my head echoes the sound of our baton hitting the floor at indoor track meets, because I was not great at the baton pass, I was great passing it to someone else but taking it just just, I had a little bit of a bugaboo with that. I got past it, but it is. It's a little nerve wracking and yeah, you're right. Congratulations Again, chicago Richardson, just proving that it's, you know, failure's not the destination, it's, it's just along the way and she's at the top of the pyramid again.

Carissa Galloway: 17:40

Yeah, and I want to send out an invitation. Chakari, noah, Lyles, they all train right here in Central Florida, in Claremont. If you guys want to meet up at the Olive Garden or maybe Liberty Tree Chavard, we would like to invite any world championship winning athletes in Central Florida. I will buy your $39 all you. Canipa Faye, let's go to Disney.

John Pelkey: 18:02

Are you getting a piece of the Liberty Tree? I'm not getting a piece of it, but don't you want to go to, don't you want to go?

Carissa Galloway: 18:07

to dinner with Noah Lyles. I mean, he's right down there, maybe. Maybe he wants to come over. I don't know, noah, are you listening? Nope, crickets Josephus. Hello your brother, I met you last year. Okay, moving on, before we get into today's great interview with Chris Twigs, we want to shout out a new sponsor we have.

John Pelkey: 18:26

That's right. We want to take a minute to thank our new sponsor, our first sponsor. Woo-hoo, let's be honest about it, woo-hoo, happy dance. For those of you who are not watching and we don't turn the camera on, so you don't get to Believe me, you're happy, you didn't. Hey, if you're dreaming of discovering new horizons or have a Disney trip coming up, don't let all the travel planning overwhelm you. Let Katie McBride with Travelmation take care of everything for you. That sounds fabulous.

Carissa Galloway: 18:52

Yeah, I have a huge advocate about using a travel agent, because they save you time, it's stress-free planning and you're getting access to exclusive discounts, which is what we want. And Katie really has the knack for swiftly sorting through options, presenting you with the best choices that align with your budget and your desire. So if you're ready to turn your travel dreams into reality, contact Katie today and embark on a journey filled with seamless experiences and those unforgettable moments.

John Pelkey: 19:19

That's right. You can reach out to Katie. Her web address is wwwtravelkateymcbridecom and have a wonderful trip. We should all be traveling. Let's get out there people, see and do new things Okay civilians, it's time for the goods. Let's get on to the interview. We are so excited to have a wonderful part of the Galloway team with us, Someone who's an impacted. Countless run Disney athletes and help them in one way or another during the race. He's a perfect Disney marathoner, an ultra marathoner and the chief training officer for Jeff Galloway. Please welcome, Chris Twigs.

Carissa Galloway: 19:58

Hey Chris.

Chris Twiggs: 20:00

Hey, thank you for having me.

Carissa Galloway: 20:01

Well, thank you for being here. We have so much to talk about, but I like to much like a book that I know you and John enjoy reading. Start at the beginning of a story. You guys like reading books, yeah.

Chris Twiggs: 20:13

Yeah, never so cool. We're now gonna start naming books that don't ask us.

Carissa Galloway: 20:16

No, no, we don't. We'll save. Our off podcast discussion has been a lot about books and animals, so just so you know that's gonna be like a behind the scenes episode, but I want to know, before all these, the running accolades started before the pacing, before you were, you know, King of the Jeff Galloway Training Empire how did your own personal running journey start?

Chris Twiggs: 20:38

King, I like that. I'm gonna get new business cards. My own personal running journey. How did that get?

Carissa Galloway: 20:44

going. Yeah, when did you start running?

Chris Twiggs: 20:46

You know, like all good stories, it started with a girl. So I met a girl in college at Florida State University.

Chris Twiggs: 20:57

Go nose Go, nose Right. And she was a runner, is still a runner, and she got me running and I ran my first 5K with her and then she signed up for a half marathon and that was too far for me but I did a relay as part of the half marathon and got to participate in that. And then we got married in 1993. And she came, she started medical school and she came home from the first week or so of medical school and she said, hey, I just found out that Walt Disney World is going to have a marathon. And I said, boy, that's really interesting.

Carissa Galloway: 21:43

Good for you. Yeah, that's really interesting.

Chris Twiggs: 21:46

So she signed us up for the inaugural Disney Marathon January 1994, so we'd been married less than a year and that was our first marathon. And I was not a runner prior to that at all. I'd done a couple of short races, as I said, and I started training, started running in order to do that first marathon and I ran that first marathon. And 30 years later I'm still running marathons and still chasing that same girl.

John Pelkey: 22:16

And the youngest perfect marathoner we should say I don't think I said that in the open, it's still a youthful man is Chris Twiggs. Now let me ask you I just want to jump back a minute because I think that's very, very interesting. You said you started running in college at Florida State, which I'll let that go as a gator but were you athletic in high school? Did you participate in other athletics?

Chris Twiggs: 22:40

I'll have you know, I was the Jacksonville Junior chess champion two years in a row when I was in high school. So I was quite the no, I was not an athlete really. I played tennis. I was like a country club athlete. I played tennis and golf that sort of stuff and I was in decent shape. But by no means was I a runner. I really wasn't. I mean, when I ran that relay for the half marathon, I think I had to run three and a half miles and that was the farthest I'd ever run. I'd never run longer than a 5K prior to that.

Carissa Galloway: 23:18

What I'm hearing is there's hope for Johnny.

Chris Twiggs: 23:21

Very much, very much. Absolutely there's hope. For I know one of the questions is coming up and I'll have a story attached to that about somebody who started running much older and that's an inspirational figure. But no, it's never too late to start running and it's a wonderful activity at all ages. I'm very lucky that my first marathon was the inaugural Disney marathon. It's just just happenstance and I kept running it year after year, just because, like a lot of people, I really love Walt Disney World. It's an amazing place and it was fun to go there year after year and I didn't think about streaking. Back then, 1994, 1995, nobody really paid attention to you've got a streak going in a race or being perfect in a race. Nobody talked about it. In fact, the fifth year I had moved around a lot. So I was in college, we lived in Tallahassee when we ran the first one. We lived in Gainesville for three years and it's taken me many, many years to get the stink of that off of me, but we did live in Gainesville for three Fighting words.

Chris Twiggs: 24:27

My wife got her MD from University of Florida and Great City. By the way, gainesville is a great city for runners. It really is. Jeff Galloway knows that well. He used to go down there when he was in Tallahassee and train with the guys at the Florida Track Club. So, but I was lost my train of thought. What was I saying?

Carissa Galloway: 24:49

That's okay, that's our job. Our job is to play you. You got me on track.

Chris Twiggs: 24:52

So, yeah, so we weren't thinking about streaking or anything like that. And then, after the fifth year, I'd lived in a lot of different cities in those five years and I read on an online bulletin board which is Boys and Girls this is what we had before there was the internet and I read in this online bulletin board about awards that were sent out to people that had run the Disney marathon five years straight. And so I contacted John Hughes and I said, hey, my name is Chris Twiggs and I've lived in these four different addresses over the last five years, but they're all me and I heard I get something because I did the Disney marathon the first five years, and so I got this little plaque that they sent and then, starting at the 10th year, they started really paying attention and really tracking who the perfect runners were.

Chris Twiggs: 25:43

And I'm sure I was not the youngest person in that first race but by the 10th year I had been identified as the youngest of the perfect marathoners and they had a parade for us in that 10th year and they put me on a float with the woman that was the oldest perfect at that time. She's no longer the oldest, there's somebody else who's the oldest. But that was kind of neat, and my wife likes to point out that she would have been perfect if not for the fact that our oldest son was born two days before the fifth Disney marathon.

Carissa Galloway: 26:19

You owe her a plaque.

Chris Twiggs: 26:21

Oh, I owe her a lot. I owe her a lot.

Carissa Galloway: 26:25

Just for clarity, how old were you for the first one?

Chris Twiggs: 26:29

January of 1994, I would have been 23 years old, Okay so now we all know how old Chris is.

Carissa Galloway: 26:36

Very nice.

John Pelkey: 26:37

Before we jump into what that first race was like and I know things have changed so much over the years just in our time and Chris and I weren't there the first year for your wife and you. What's your Disney background? What's your favorite Disney thing? What brought you to Disney as an entity is something that you loved.

Chris Twiggs: 26:59

I'm a Florida kid. Right, it's in the state constitution that if you have children and live in Florida, those children are allowed to visit Walt Disney World at least once a year, and so that was where we went for on Christmas break. It's where we went on long weekends when we could, and I just always loved Disney. I've loved the movies, I've loved the characters, and my wife and I have had. In fact, I have to renew my annual pass this afternoon, so my expiration is coming up. We've had Disney annual passes since way before we had kids, and now that the kids are grown and out of the house, we still have Disney annual passes. We just always, always, loved it. There's something about walking into a fantasy land and not having to worry about all the junk that goes on in the real world.

Carissa Galloway: 27:52

For that day at least, it truly is magical, and that's what we hear when we talk to a lot of athletes is that I love Disney, or I was at Disney, I saw this race going on, or I saw people with medals and I was like, how do I kind of get involved in all of that? When we head back to the 90s, if you can think back, talk to us about those early races, because we know what we have today in terms of music, entertainment, fireworks, amazing race announcers, but really what was it kind of like in terms of entertainment and character interaction in those early years?

Chris Twiggs: 28:25

I will tell you the first year. I wish we could figure out. I've talked to I've talked to some run Disney people about this. I would love to be able to track this person down. There was one volunteer with a boombox out at a long out and back on that first marathon. There was a long out and back, that was. It went past the water treatment plant.

Carissa Galloway: 28:49

Oh yeah.

Chris Twiggs: 28:50

Because there was no animal kingdom back then.

Carissa Galloway: 28:54

And so it was a long I'm thinking about that.

Chris Twiggs: 28:56

Yeah, so it was a long out and back past the water treatment plant. The stench was there and there was one volunteer with a boombox halfway out there and she was dancing up a storm, playing that music as loud as she could. She was cheering every single runner on. It was incredible and of course we got to see her twice. She was the only entertainment that I remember from that first year. There may have been other stuff, I'm sure there was other stuff, but she was all that mattered. She was what kept our spirits going. It was really, really incredible. Obviously, things have changed a little bit. They've got bigger sound systems now and a lot more entertainment out there, but I don't remember character stops. I don't remember any of those other things. I just remember that one solo volunteer doing everything she could to keep our spirits up as we ran past the loneliest spot on the course.

John Pelkey: 29:52

Well, let's also talk about how people competed back then, because Run, walk, run, was that a thing then. Did you just run, or were there some people who were using that technique?

Chris Twiggs: 30:05

Yeah, there probably were. I don't remember seeing that I had not. I had bought Jeff's first book by the time we ran that marathon but I was not using his method yet. I had bought a different book to train that first time and we decided to stick it out and use it. But I will say by the time we ran that first marathon I already knew if I ever ran another marathon it wasn't gonna be the way I had trained that first one. I needed a different way to train and it already decided.

Chris Twiggs: 30:36

Jeff's book was the way I was gonna train and it wasn't the Run Walk that was to me. It wasn't the Run Walk that made the difference in training. To me, it was the only having to run two short runs during the week and running the full distance of the long run. Building up to that, that first year I was working three jobs and finishing a master's degree and newly married. There was a lot of stress and to add double digit midweek runs into that mix was really hard and some of those other plans called for that stuff. So I don't remember seeing Run Walk. I thought it was really important to try to run Like a lot of people do. I thought it was really important to run that whole marathon without walking at all. I did, and then I followed it up by barely being able to walk the next day.

Carissa Galloway: 31:30

On that Metal Monday where you used to get to go to the park right the day after the marathon, was it free?

Chris Twiggs: 31:36

I only remember one. There's only one year that I can recall that it was free.

Carissa Galloway: 31:40

But you wore your medal and you got into the park.

Chris Twiggs: 31:42

Yeah, it did happen. At least one year they did that. That might have been the 10th year. It wasn't an every year thing, but we certainly did that first year. I wanna say that first year was also on President's Day weekend, so we had Monday off anyway, and so it was a good time for us to go in, although President's Day weekend would put it in February, wouldn't it Not January? Maybe it's. Maybe it's Martin Luther King weekend. Maybe it's Martin Luther King weekend.

Carissa Galloway: 32:07

We'll have to consult the calendar Consult the calendar.

Chris Twiggs: 32:10

Might have been MLT weekend.

Carissa Galloway: 32:11

Before we go on, I have a sub question that I just thought of First year. Jeff Galloway's there. Did you like fan girl Jeff Galloway? Did you speak to him and like, how did you know? Were you like, oh, that's the guy in the book with the hair?

Chris Twiggs: 32:25

So that was second. That was the second year I saw him the second year. We did not see him the first year.

Carissa Galloway: 32:30

But he was there the first year. Weston says yes, no, he was oh yeah, he was there.

Chris Twiggs: 32:35

He was there, he was perfect, with little baby Weston running around behind him, but I didn't see him. I did not see him there then. But then the second year, after we had used his book, because we decided to do it the second year, we used Jeff's the original Galloway's book on running to train for that second marathon, january 95. And we did. We sought him out because we had followed his book. We were had done every mile according to his schedule, all the way up to the 26 mile long run. And so we went. We heard him talk, we asked him questions and that was the first time we'd heard about walk breaks. It's in that first book, but in that first book it's only I think it's only recommended for people running four hours or slower for the marathon. And by then we thought we'd be faster than that.

Chris Twiggs: 33:31

Turns out I wasn't, but I got there. I got there, but we had not paid attention to that part of the book. And so we heard Jeff talk about walk breaks, january 95. And so in that second marathon that was the first run the first time we ever took walk breaks in a run was during the Disney marathon that second year, and I improved my time by 15 minutes from the first year, but my wife. She had run a 4, 14 or a 4, 15 the first year and she ran a 338 the second year.

Chris Twiggs: 34:05

Wow qualified her for Boston and solidified our lifetime of being Galloway runners. How in the world can you have your first ever run with walk breaks, be a Boston qualifying run and then not be a true believer? And so that sold us on it. I've never run another marathon since then without walk breaks, and it's been well heck. It's my job now.

Carissa Galloway: 34:33

I mean, I think that's the fascinating thing about walk breaks that I talk about with Jeff, that I talk about when I run I'm sure you do all the time too. It's like just convince someone to buy it. You have to buy it, just buy in once. You actually try it and the proof is in the pudding, especially for someone like me. That's, I'm a four hour marathoner and I'm fine with that and I don't want to run for four hours, I want to run for two and a half minutes, but it's getting that initial buy in. And you kind of do that a little bit now at your run Disney weekends you have a couple of different hats that you wear, but what do you look forward to now about going into a run Disney weekend?

Chris Twiggs: 35:07

Seeing all of my friends, seeing all the people that I mean. I get to see tons of the people that I coach. They use the Disney races as destination events, as reunion events, and so I love I get to see them. I've seen people from literally all over the world that I see on the screen every week when I'm coaching and I get emails and text messages from them. But the only time I've seen them in person has been at a race, and usually it's a Disney race. So I love that.

Chris Twiggs: 35:36

I also I love seeing a lot of the run Disney. You know employees, the cast members it's fun to see them, the ones that have been around for a long time. It's neat to see them weekend after weekend. There's that special time right before the expo opens when you're walking through and you see the other vendors that are there as well, that have been there year after year, and it's just it's kind of that calm before the storm that you get to enjoy with those folks. So I love all of that stuff. Just the people. The people is what really matters.

John Pelkey: 36:06

That's what we always talk about. It's one of the great things, and it's also one of the few places where everyone's getting together and they have a common goal. There's really, if everyone there is, a common goal either get to the finish line or get everyone to the finish line in the best, safest, most enjoyable way that they can. So that's obviously what we enjoy the most as well. All right, you do so much more for Run Walk Run than Jeff Galloway, than just what we've been talking about. You are the chief training officer. What I'd like to know is explain to people what that is and how and when you got involved with Jeff's organization.

Chris Twiggs: 36:39

Yeah, so chief training officer is a name, jeff is a title Jeff gave me once upon a time that just stuck, so it wasn't a position that I applied for or anything else, but I started working for Jeff full-time in 2010. As I mentioned before, the first time I met Jeff was at the Disney Marathon in 1995. And then I met him I think it was later. That same year he was at the Marine Corps Marathon and he had a new book that had come out and I bought that book and I read through parts of it the night before the race and he had in the back of the book he had a note that said this is a work in progress. If you have suggestions for changes or edits, please let me know. He just happened to be on the same bus that I was on on the way between the hotel and the airport that day, and so I approached him and I said I was an English professor. I was actually teaching at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville at the time.

John Pelkey: 37:45

One of my alma mater's.

Chris Twiggs: 37:47

There you go. I was teaching there. It was my first teaching job was at Santa Fe and I said hey, I teach at Santa Fe and I'd love to. If you're serious about wanting help on your book, I'd love to help you with that. So I would. I typed up, you know, pages and pages of notes on that book and then on the next book and gave them to him and I worked with him on a couple of projects that never actually came to fruition edits for different markets, for different books.

Chris Twiggs: 38:17

But over the years of doing that if we're probably three or four years of doing that he I got to know how everything worked with Galloway. I got to see the insight, how he came up with the method. I understood the method and so he suggested that I start a local Galloway training program and so I started Galloway. We were moving. We moved to Greenville, south Carolina, so I started a Galloway program in Greenville. Then we moved to Ormond Beach, florida, so I started a Galloway program in Daytona Beach. Then I moved back home to Fernandina Beach, which is where I am now, and I started a Galloway program in Jacksonville and I told Jeff, I am done starting Galloway programs. I started three Galloway programs in just a few years and I'm done starting programs.

Chris Twiggs: 39:03

And then in 2010, the national program director, who was in charge of coordinating activities for all the local programs, decided to retire and when she retired he offered me that job. And where the chief training officer part of it really comes in was after a few years of managing the local programs he was getting really overwhelmed with requests for personal coaching for eco he does eco-ching and there were way, way too much demand. He couldn't possibly take in as many people as wanted to be coached by him, and so we created this thing called customized training plans, which is kind of I describe it as like a mid-level coaching, so like sometimes you go to the doctor and you see the doctor, and sometimes you go to the doctor and you see the physician's assistant.

Carissa Galloway: 39:53

I always love seeing the physician's assistant. By the way, I'm just going to shout out to all the physician's assistants out there Me too.

Chris Twiggs: 39:59

I love them. I love them. No, absolutely. So I'm that Right, I'm that yeah, you take more.

Carissa Galloway: 40:05

Well, it doesn't apply to this analogy because Jeff always takes a lot of time with everybody, but I feel like in the doctor's office, it's like I'm going to make you feel bad about coming, or I'm actually going to listen to you, so you're the.

Chris Twiggs: 40:15

My wife's a doctor. She's got a couple of nurse practitioners and she's had some physician assistants over the time and I think everybody spends as much time as they can with you. But they know when people sign up for customized, they know that they're getting me and not Jeff. If anybody wants Jeff, they can pay for Jeff. They can sign up for e-coaching, but with customized training you're paying less than you would pay for Jeff and you're getting me, which is fake Jeff.

Carissa Galloway: 40:51

We could change your name to fake Jeff, like Chief Training Officer, or fake Jeff.

Chris Twiggs: 40:56

I would say over the years of doing this. Now I feel like I'm damn good and I'll put myself up as the second best coach that somebody could possibly have, especially when it comes to run Disney races, and I've gotten a pretty good niche with ultra running and things like that as well. So I'd never be grudge. If somebody wants to be coached by Jeff, by all means. He's my coach. When I have questions about my own running, that's who I go to, so I never would discourage somebody from going to Jeff. But I love that. I get to work with runners every single day and help them with everything from hey, I just want to keep running as I get older to I want to do my first 5K. To I want to do dopey or an ultra marathon or whatever.

Carissa Galloway: 41:43

Well, I mean, and I will say I, as people know, I have a front row view, if you will, to all the Galloway universe and seeing how things go on. And, Chris, you're a fantastic coach and the customized training programs that you guys have built is a lot of attention from you, a lot of specialized attention from you, and you have you know what weekly chats where people come and ask their questions. So we do have a code in the show notes for a special discount on customized training, which I think is amazing, but kind of explain to someone everything that you get. So I'm Carissa and I come to you and this I would like to run a sub four hour marathon. Chris, what? How will you help me? Like, what do I get?

Chris Twiggs: 42:20

So when somebody signs up for customized, they fill out a questionnaire and I use that questionnaire to understand where they are in their current fitness, what their goals are and what other time restrictions they have. Maybe they're not just doing one race, maybe they've got three or four races in a season. Maybe they've got a vacation they're going on a cruise in the middle of all this. Maybe they've got a wedding to plan for in the middle of all this. Maybe they've got kids soccer games They've got to plan around. So, whatever it is, I get all that information in the questionnaire.

Chris Twiggs: 42:49

I set up a training schedule for them to follow and they can sign up for customized. You can sign up month by month. There's a discount if they sign up for a full year. But even if they just sign up month by month, sign up now and your training for springtime surprise in April I'm going to write a schedule that takes you from now until April. So, even though you've only paid for a month, I'm going to give you that full schedule all the way out and then hopefully, as they continue to pay, renew each month and allow that to happen. What they're getting in addition to that initial schedule that I wrote, they're getting changes to that schedule. When a new race comes along or a race gets canceled or a new conflict develops, they just let me know and I go in and I change those things. That's the customized.

Carissa Galloway: 43:38

That's what I think is the beautiful part, because life happens Right, I think, with the best intentions. I know a lot of people follow Jeff's training plans that are online and run Disney. That's where a lot of people start from and that's great. But I mean, I've trained for marathons and I think no training plan has ever gone. I couldn't do my 20-miler because I was sick. So if that happens, you're kind of adjusting it for me, you're keeping me on track.

Chris Twiggs: 43:58

I'm there making those changes all the time and we do. As you said. We have weekly zooms that people can. Well, that's not required, but any of the people that are current and customized that want to show up to the zooms they can. Sometimes they show up and they just show off the bling about the new race they just did and everybody's happy for them. Sometimes they're there to ask questions about their training or to let me know about changes they needed. Some people show up just because they want to hear what everybody else has to say and they'll tell me in the chat hey, I'm just listening today, which is great and sometimes they don't think they're going to have a question, but then one pops up based on the conversation.

Chris Twiggs: 44:35

So it's a fantastic community. It's way more than just the customized coaching part of it, but it's also this community that they have because they're interacting on the zooms. They're interacting online on the Galloway Hub and in our private Facebook group and in our Strava group and all of that stuff. So that community stuff is what really keeps people as part of it, and that's why having those in-person opportunities, like at a Disney race where we can get together, those are so special and we talk about being a Galloway Pacer.

Chris Twiggs: 45:07

One Galloway Pacer for the last couple of Disney races is a customized client, somebody that I've been coaching for a couple of years, and he said, hey, I'd kind of like to become a Pacer. And so he ran a race with the PACE group just to kind of test it out. And I knew from looking at his times as his coach. I knew that he was really reliable and trustworthy on his paces. And he's the one, adam, that I know you've seen, because he had a freaking Galloway Pacer cape made that he was wearing in the booth at the last Disney race.

John Pelkey: 45:39

All right, a reminder there will be a code in the show notes for special discount on customized training, so take advantage of that. All right, a couple more questions before we let you go. Chris, thanks for spending so much time with us. This has been great, for, as you know, with Disney we have the largest number first time Marathoners, half Marathoners, 5k, 10k, more novices, for lack of a better term than any other race. When you hit a roadblock in either a race or in your training, what helps motivate you work through that?

Chris Twiggs: 46:09

I have a couple. I have a mantra that I really like and this is a very simple one that I think was in Jeff's first book which is Relax, power Glide. And so I just, I let my brain just repeat that Relax, power glide, relax, power glide. With that, when that starts to run out, I start realizing how much I seriously hate that person who's running right in front of me. That is my mortal enemy, and I by no means can I let that person finish ahead of me. And so I, you know, I do everything I can to catch up with that horrible, horrible person. And then, you know, pass that person and put them as far behind me as I possibly can, and then I go back into Relax, power Glide, go back into the Zen. But those, those two things really help.

Chris Twiggs: 47:07

I have, I have, a lot of its luck. It's not all, it's not all talent, it's not all hard work, but I've never not finished a race. I've finished every race I've ever started, and so, especially when I'm doing ultra marathons, that carries me a lot, knowing that I've been there before, I've gotten to those low spots before and I've gotten through it, and so if I got through it before, I'm going to get through it this time, and that helps a lot. So any of us that have done a marathon before you had a bad spot somewhere in that marathon. You had a bad spot, and so remembering that you got through it you may not remember how you got through it, but just remembering that you got through it should give you the courage and the confidence to continue.

John Pelkey: 47:52

Kind of brings up the great Mike Shyshevsky coat, that failure is never the destination.

Chris Twiggs: 47:57

This is true.

Carissa Galloway: 47:58

It's not what you set out to get yeah, and when you're saying bad spot, I'm just thinking lizard beach parking lot, lizard beach parking lot, like that's all.

John Pelkey: 48:05

Bear Island Road.

Carissa Galloway: 48:07

Water sewage treatment plan. No, but that's actually.

John Pelkey: 48:09

I love that.

Carissa Galloway: 48:11

I love that idea and that concept and I think sometimes we hear different the way different people approach things. I mean, I'm not going to go out and run down someone because they're my mortal enemy, that's just not me. I'd be like hello, I like your shoes, I like the. You know the relax, breathe, glide.

John Pelkey: 48:23

I just need to run behind somebody in a Florida state. Sure, it's all I need Me, that's it, you know, it's okay, all right.

Carissa Galloway: 48:31

Last question. We asked everybody because, as you know, we've had the privilege to see and meet so many inspiring athletes through our time, particularly at run Disney just people who didn't come from that running background taking a chance on themselves, seeing what they're capable of. So what is the most inspiring thing that you have seen at a race? Chris Twigs.

Chris Twiggs: 48:49

So this past November my father, at 78 years old, decided to run the Athens Marathon in Greece. His first marathon had been the Athens Marathon in Greece when he was 70. So he did not start running until he was older and he ran his first marathon when he was 70 years old and he decided at 78 he was ready to hang up his marathon shoes. He's still doing half marathons, but he was ready to run his last marathon. He went to Athens and he had some friends that went with him and one of the things that you see happening and I honestly don't think physiologically, I don't think people completely agree on what the cause of this is, but we've seen it as race announcers. I know you guys have seen it. You've seen the lean Right. Oh yeah, it hurts me, it hurts me.

Carissa Galloway: 49:44

The first time I remember it was at Disney Bill Braceland he was in his 80s came in very late and I because I didn't you know we've talked about it I've talked about it the first time we got the call for a marathon. It was like, well, I mean, we'll make overtime, sure, yeah. But then when you see these people at the internet, it just I don't know how they do it.

Chris Twiggs: 50:01

Yeah, I know so. So he he got the lean about halfway through that marathon. And, chris, I know you've run Athens, there's a massive hill in that race.

Carissa Galloway: 50:14

Miles long, miles long.

Chris Twiggs: 50:16

Miles long, right, it finishes. You hit the top of that at 20 miles, and so he had started leaning early on it. He had some friends that went with him and so I ran the race and I ran my own time and but I walked back out after I finished. I walked back out to find dad and to find his friends coming in, and what I saw was I'm getting choked up just thinking about it what I saw was my dad struggling, leaning, and his two friends, arms locked together on each side of him, holding him up, as the three of them were walking together and they would go a mile and then at the mile they would switch sides so that they were getting relief on the other side.

Chris Twiggs: 51:03

And those three guys did half the marathon together. They didn't carry dad. Dad was still walking under his own strength and running when he could, but he was mostly walking at that point and the three of them finished that race together, holding each other up, and I will never forget that sight of those three buddies together crossing the finish line of that marathon. It made me as a son, it made me feel so wonderful to see my father so loved by his friends, and that is the most inspired I have ever been by any runner.

John Pelkey: 51:36

Yeah, that's remarkable and the great thing for people listening who may not know it's not necessarily a unique story. The running community is so supportive for an individual athletic event. There is a team feel about everybody who's out there and it really is a beautiful thing. Chief Training Officer for the Jeff Galloway organization. Chris Twiggs, if people want to follow you and keep up with what you're doing, be it your devastatingly great chess game, your running pacing, whatever where can they follow you?

Chris Twiggs: 52:08

Well, I mean, they can find me very easily. I'm Chris chris at JeffGallowaycom. I'm Chris Twiggs on Instagram, Though, fair warning, my Instagram is probably a little more heavily weighted toward Tiki cocktails than it is toward running content.

Carissa Galloway: 52:27

There's nothing wrong with that.

John Pelkey: 52:28

Yeah, right, good, I'm signing on right now. Here we go.

Chris Twiggs: 52:33

Good stuff. But I'm Chris Twiggs there. I'm C Twiggs on Twitter. I'm probably something on threads I haven't figured out how to use that, yet you threw a file. But yeah, and you can find me, as if you look for Chris Twiggs on Facebook I'm the one wearing a Jeff Galloway shirt, because that's what most of my wardrobe is made up of.

John Pelkey: 52:55

All right, chris. Thank you so very much. This has been such a great discussion and I'm sure down the line we're probably going to talk to you again either pre or post run Disney race. But thanks for taking a few minutes with us.

Chris Twiggs: 53:06

My pleasure. Congratulations on the success of the podcast. We all love to hear you folks go on and on at the finish line, sometimes having to tap, dance and figure out what to say during those dull moments. It's always fun, and so I've enjoyed hanging out with both of you today.

Carissa Galloway: 53:22

Thank you, we'll see you soon.

John Pelkey: 53:24

We'll talk to you down the line, chris. Thanks, man. Thanks so much, see you in. November.

Chris Twiggs: 53:27

Yes, indeed, All right athletes, here's the drill Time to shape up your diet Carissa give them the goods.

Carissa Galloway: 53:33

All right, it's time for our healthier you nutrition moment, and today we're going to start at the beginning of the day with what has been called the most important meal today breakfast. John, what did you eat for breakfast today?

John Pelkey: 53:44

Actually, I'm a pretty healthy breakfast eater. I had my normal today, which is Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey, plain Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey, chia seeds. I do put a little bit of granola on as well, like a little texture, and the fruits of the day were blackberries and blueberries. So that's my go-to breakfast and 47 cups of coffee.

Carissa Galloway: 54:06

I don't even know how to respond from that. I know that's in my. Did you scroll down and see my list?

John Pelkey: 54:10

of like you thought I was going to say breakfast burrito, didn't you? That's what you thought.

Carissa Galloway: 54:14

That's amazing, you're taking all the boxes. I actually did not do great on breakfast today. Claire had an 8.30 at gymnastics practice and then I had a 10, 20 TV segment, so it was one of those weird rush out the door, come back. So I had my coffee, which I always put the collagen protein powder in.

Carissa Galloway: 54:30

So it was give me the blood sugar spike. And then I had a perfect bar, which is a peanut butter bar. That's one of those refrigerated bars that's very dense. It's got a lot of good for us fats in it, but also superfood. So that was what I did. So it wasn't really as robust as a usual breakfast and it wasn't as robust as it should be, but breakfast is a crucial meal and there's some common misconceptions about breakfast, but there's also a lot of keys to having a nutrition breakfast. So you want to make sure you're getting carbohydrates, protein and fat, which you did, because you had granola would be your carbohydrate, your protein and your fat's going to come from the Greek yogurt, and you also added in more healthy fats with the chia seeds. I wasn't really high on the carbohydrate ladder, so you did better than I did this morning.

John Pelkey: 55:12

I'm sorry, could you say that again? I did better than you, because it's the only time I think it's ever been said.

Carissa Galloway: 55:16

Johnny was healthier than me this particular morning.

John Pelkey: 55:19

That's one.

Carissa Galloway: 55:20

Now, the other thing to think about is nutrient density, and this is with all foods. So are we eating a food that's not just calories, but does it also have essential vitamins and minerals and other nutrients that our body needs? That may not necessarily add or decrease the calorie content, but are beneficial? So if we're thinking about your yogurt, we're thinking about calcium, we're thinking about those important things. If we're having a donut, maybe it's equal calories, but those are what we call, quote unquote, empty calories. So at breakfast it's really important to think about getting in those nutrients. And the last thing is satiety. So when you eat the Greek yogurt, how long before you're hungry again?

John Pelkey: 55:56

I'm usually I can go pretty good period of time before I'm hungry again. Frankly, it fills me up well, because there's satiety in it right.

Carissa Galloway: 56:01

A donut or a muffin per se. We kind of go through that really quickly. So with breakfast, satiety is really important. High sugar cereals aren't going to be your best bet. Skipping breakfast is not great either, because what that does is it tells your body I might be in starvation mode, so I'm going to store food later on. It also leads to us not feeling as focused, so I wrote a couple of practical breakfast ideas, which I don't need to read. Number two because it literally says Greek yogurt, chia seeds, berries, like that's actually what. I'm so embarrassed that John is nailing this right now.

John Pelkey: 56:34

I wish this were on video. I never want this to be on video, except right now, because I look happy.

Carissa Galloway: 56:39

It is still on video. Maybe we'll have our editor find this in that. But what we're doing is protein, carbohydrate, healthy fat. So eggs, avocado, toast. I like berries because when we talked about that nutrient density, they have so many antioxidants and it comes from all the colors. We've talked about eating the rainbow before, so I like berries. They also have good fiber. But a nut butter toast, fruit, a kiwi maybe? Throw that in there A lot of times and even growing up I had a waffle with peanut butter. That was my way of doing it.

John Pelkey: 57:08

That's not an uncommon.

Carissa Galloway: 57:09

No, and they have protein waffles now.

Carissa Galloway: 57:10

So you're getting protein in there as well. But if you need something quick, you could also do a cereal. But I want you to look at the label, look for a kashi or something that has at least eight grams of protein in the cereal and then put it with a milk. And we know Johnny loves milk. Johnny loves milk. It says right there in the notes Johnny loves milk that has protein. So whether it's a soy milk, a P milk, a milk that Johnny might love, an A2 milk, I know you're a fan of the A2 milk.

John Pelkey: 57:34

Please, please sponsor us.

Carissa Galloway: 57:35

Yes, today, we haven't talked about Delta today, so we've got to talk about somebody that we'd like to sponsor. So it'll be A2 milk today, but keep the focus on getting in the protein at breakfast. Research shows that people who have 25 grams of protein at breakfast tend to weigh less and they also tend to eat less throughout the course of the day. So that's your Healthier you moment. If you would like to join Healthier you, it is a 12-week course, so I've created 12 weeks of modules for you to go through to kind of understand nutrition education. But you get access to the course for a year. You get access to the monthly chats, kind of like Chris was talking about customized monthly chats. You get that for a year. You also get an exclusive group in the Galloway Hub where you can chat amongst yourselves about your breakfast, and I'm sure everyone will be talking about how healthy Johnny was. So you can go to GallowayCoursecom. Use the code podcast to save $150. Athletes, listen up. It's mail call time. Announce a free present.

John Pelkey: 58:27

Thank you very much, sarge. Now, carissa, we have received email from folks and we are very excited to share these emails, and today's is from Addie Clark at Runner Dr Girl, At Runner Dr Girl, at Runner Dr Girl, and I think her story of love of Disney and a desire to prove others wrong will resonate with some, if not many, of you. So here's a story we're sharing, with Addie's permission.

Carissa Galloway: 58:51

Yep. So Addie said, much like a lot of us, she didn't grow up an athlete. She played the prerequisite soccer, but in high school the most athletic thing she did was play sideline percussion in the marching band, and she said so. She didn't actually march and she avoided gym class as much as she could. In college we talked about the pizza.

Carissa Galloway: 59:11

In college, her pants started to get tight, her life got incredibly stressful and her best friends started posting about running at Princess Weekend and all the other Run Disney races they were doing. So she, like Chris Twigs, like myself, like my husband, was a Disney kid and she wanted a reason to go to Disney. She says in parentheses not that you need a good reason to go to Disney, but Run Disney Weekends are a great reason. So she was going to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend. She was going to go all in, as a lot of people do, and she was going to run all three. She said she ran her first half marathon in November 2014. It took so long that they were breaking down the finish line when they come in. As an announcer, I hate when that happens because I know those people out there are working so hard. She says she was not fast and she was so worried, like many others, that she wouldn't finish at Princess, but she did. She completed that. And John tell me, if you remember it, the literally frozen 5K.

John Pelkey: 1:00:02

It was chilly.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:03

It was literally like 20 degrees. It was really chilly, really frozen. 5k, the 10K, the half, with her mom cheering her along every single morning. She said she'll never forget the feeling of running down Main Street for the first time. But here's what she said happened when she got home. She was at a friend's apartment and they admitted to me when you said you were going to do this, I really didn't think you'd be able to. And that fired the doctor girl up a little bit.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:24

Addy was a little bit prickled by that. So she said challenge accepted, she's done more run Disney Weekend. She's battled through injuries. And she said, I quote but the thing that still shocks me is that I don't look like a runner. I don't come from a running background, but I've had several friends tell me they decided to start running because of me. And that's where I think a lot of the magic is. And I always tell people post your run on social media, don't share with it, because you never know who's going to say I see something of myself in that person, I can do this, and then the benefits that come with running are shared.

John Pelkey: 1:00:58

Yeah, I think that's great. We have a lot of different shapes and sizes. We always say people will think to finish a marathon, you have to look like an Olympic marathoner with 0% body fat. All kinds of shapes and sizes, people who've gotten out there. They've addressed their health issues and they're finishing well before we're tearing down the finish line.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:17

Yeah, and she said she's a college chemistry professor and one of the reasons she became a scientist was to show other girls and young women they could too. So I guess you could say the same about why I became and remain a runner. So thank you, Addy.

John Pelkey: 1:01:28

So inspiring.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:29

I think she said she's going to aim for Dopey 2025.

John Pelkey: 1:01:32

OK.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:32

So we hope to see you there. We hope to see you guys soon and we hope that you keep listening. And if you want to share your story or your question, email us at 321gopodcastatgmailcom.

John Pelkey: 1:01:44

Bye, bye everybody, bye Bye. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh. 3, 2, 1, go oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh.