Miles, Magic, and Memories

In this episode, Stephanie is joined by special guests from her runDisney circle to share their experiences, insights, and favorite moments from race weekends. Together, they walk through what makes runDisney events so unique — from the excitement of registration and race planning to the energy of race morning and the emotion of crossing the finish line with friends.

The guests share practical advice and personal lessons on registration strategy, training, pacing, and race-day preparation. The conversation covers key logistics like corrals, transportation, gear choices, fueling, and how to set realistic goals while still having fun on the course. They also talk through Expo Day highlights, bib pickup, merchandise tips, and how to make the most of the full weekend experience.

Costumes, character stops, and course entertainment are all part of the magic, and the guests share what’s worked, what they’d do differently, and how to balance creativity with comfort. They also reflect on the traditions and small moments that turn race weekends into lasting memories.

At the heart of the episode is the runDisney community — the encouragement on the course, the friendships built through shared miles, and the supportive atmosphere that welcomes runners at every level. Whether you’re considering your first runDisney race or looking to improve your next one, this episode delivers helpful guidance, honest perspective, and plenty of motivation to join the fun.

Champagne Smiles & Magical Miles is a podcast about living with grace, choosing joy, and celebrating the moments — big and small — that make life meaningful.

Hosted by Stephanie Parks, each episode blends mindset, self-care, family traditions, and everyday intention with a touch of Disney magic and real-life reflection. From the words we use and the habits we build to the kindness we extend to ourselves and others, this podcast is an invitation to slow down, show up, and live on purpose.

You’ll hear favorite segments like Words Matter, Magical Miles, Sparkle & Glow Up, and Sip of the Week — each designed to inspire, encourage, and help you leave every episode with simple, practical takeaways you can easily implement in daily life.

Whether you’re in a season of growth, rest, or celebration, this space is for you.

Because every mile matters, every word counts, and life is meant to be lived with grace, joy, and a whole lot of celebrating. ✨🥂

🎙️ New episodes weekly. Follow along and join the celebration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Let's make your date better than it was five minutes ago. This is Champagne Smiles and Magical Miles, and I'm Stephanie Parks, your host. I am here with my ride and die Run Disney friends, Nikki, Laura, and Amy. Hey girls. Hi. So we just have we just finished the last Run Disney, Disneyland half marathon until we don't know. And it was so much fun. Amy ran her first half marathon. And I was it. It was amazing. Scary. Done. Scary. But I did it. She did it. She was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

It was so fun.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

And so we're here to talk about like our experiences. How many did run Disney Races if you rent? A lot. Not as many as Laura. I started in 2020. I lost count. You started in 20. 2017. How many deadlines did you rent? Two. And I'm done. I mean I'm only in six. They were delightful. So you're not yet. You actually told us that you would do it. Well, that might have been after the last champion. So I can't help us. Two weeks ago. And then ran Dumbo, which is a well, you did 5K, 10K, and a half. Yeah. And that's a lot on your body. It's a lot. Half and full. And then 510 half, which is later. And then in two weeks we do 5, 10, and half and 10. Yeah, so far you're at 70 something miles. It's a lot of miles. It's a lot of miles. So let's talk about it. Why do you run Disney? Is it the bling? The bling and the brain.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Oh, congratulations. The brain is cute. The shirts are cute. The shirts are cute. Why can we really run this? For friends, for friends. Experience for sure. Experience. Real time or family time, depending on what you can do. Yeah. Accomplish. But it's not like it's not like it works. Alright, so let's talk about I want to educate the audience because it's not that easy to get in. It's not. You have to know your registration day. Registration day, and we were after six to eight months in advance. Yes. And the day and time like a Taylor Swift. Yes. Actually, in the queue, I said 30 minutes before. Although it doesn't matter. It is random, not I mean, some of us have gotten on right before, and some of us have gotten on 30 minutes before. What are the tricks? You have a run Disney login. Yes. You have your credit card preloaded. You know exactly which races you want. Do get by the merch. Because you could lose a race. We've done it before. Don't buy the merch. Just scroll through. Don't think about shirt sizes. Just go. Yeah. And your registration is not completely challenged. And you get the email. Just because you can click on one of the same button. No, it's not. Yeah. We've had some phantom, like, oh, we thought we were paid, but there was never an email because the system went down or whatever. So yeah. Okay. You've got 20,000 people joined. It's 100 games. It's 100 games. I mean there's you know, odds would be in your favor because you've got 20,000 people logged onto the website. So the website's crashed. Yes. It's an unfortunate series of events. But if you aren't successful on registration day, there are options. There's some amazing charities that run Disney supports that have bids and you can raise money and it's tax deductible. And so I love Kelsey's crew, and I my daughter runs with them usually once a year, but we love them. And I've done Dragon Master Initiative, which are also great, but they're all great. There's so many for a charity is it's a win. It's a win-win for everybody. Yes. Yeah. And you can raise money or you can just buy the bib, but it is fantastic on the whole donation to a great charity. I love that. All right, so let's move on. We've registered. We decided we won't run. We've gotten in somehow. We've gotten in. Charity bib, or we made the hunger games of registration. Now, preparation. Yes. What do you do? Well, I actually practice the science like first half. So Laura and I would go out and do kind of long runs, but the most I had ever run is 70 miles before I didn't run half. But I would highly suggest if we're gonna do a long run to tree for it. The 5k, it's you know what, three miles? Three miles if you want to. So I'll do that. But uh 10 and the the half full. I would definitely so you've it's funny because the 10K, and if on my if you are an audience, Denver, then when I previous one cast that's on a run my 10K journey. And it was a journey. So I think whether it's 5K, 10k yeah, some people some people define as the most actually, and that's a function to get to go there and decide up for a race is so fun. And to accomplish it no matter what amount of miles you're doing, is a huge accomplishment. It's never done. And the Run Disney community is so supportive, yes, that it doesn't matter where you are in your journey. We want to lift you up and get you. And it's it's more about your willingness to do it and to show up than it is about like physically.

unknown 5:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

It may also say it's not just about training, but it's about costumes. We do have costume. I mean, I'm gonna say I might be more of a costume person and not so much to do. And it's a life costuming if we want. Yeah, if you're not gonna have it.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

But we love the buttons, yeah, and we love the two.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

There are some things about costuming, there are rules, you should probably look it up, but you can't connect yourself to someone else. You can't be too obtuse where you're hurting or drive. People can't direct it can't be dangerous. Oh, no, it can't be dangerous. We did, I think it was we did car stage on the five king, right? Yeah, and we thought it'd be funny to put like these little flavor flavors. It was cute, but yes, in theory, it wasn't because of them all we were pile in and then we were like taking a little even though it's cute, it might be better for after the race for pictures and the post. Or train with it first, like go in the neighborhood out, put your costume on. You're gonna give weird looks to neighbors, but I've had so much headgear and props and costumes in my neighborhood. We Laura and I just love a good prop. I love a gear, but a prop. But run with it first. My neighbors would be like sure you can do it. Of course she's crying. Of course she is. She's running laughs around my house. It's okay. So that's preparation. Practicing your costume and repair. Right. Train. And I don't know if the audience is heard, but Galloway method is something that most run Disney runners understand. And Jeff Galloway was a marathon alumni, and he does a run-walk run there. So if you're running and walking, one, you should practice it. Two, he does rules. There are rules. But what are the rules on? Oh, that's the cart. Yes, walkers on the right. Oh, wedders on the left. Wait, cheers. Walker's on, uh, it's on the left. Raise your hand before you start looking for others. You don't want someone to run into you, trust me. So no, it's not delightful. It is not delightful for either. No, no one wants to but I think in most races that's not normal and you're on Disney. It is. Yeah, it's definitely on Disney. Yeah. Okay, so preparation now. Orchestra. Now it's Expo Day. Expo day. It's my favorite day. Why is it expo? What is Expo Day? I mean, Expo Day is when you figure out what corral you're in, which is which is either a blessing or a curse. Yes, I'll take your fish. It has a number on it. Yeah. And then we let it we get to shop for all the fun merchandise, which And we get our t-shirt. We get our cute shirt. Yes. All the merchandise. We connect we connect with friends if we haven't seen them since the last week. Because Expo Day is definitely the day you see all your first day and we're like, hey, yeah. And it's a last week day. Yeah, it's fun. Because it's your day to check in and it's always on Thursdays. Every sad marathon weekend, then it's up Land's Days. That's right. And obviously you can always go to the expo whenever you get there. So what do you have to do? How do you get into the expo?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Down there.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I don't drive there, but virtual cue. So you have to log in. Virtual Q let's be wait for a ride. And then there's also a second thing that's happening, and it's race seats. Everyone, everyone doesn't love shoes. And you also have to get virtual cues. Yeah, they're separate queues. And they will run out, especially of the except for the shoes. I think the shoes make it. Don't they make it all the way? Right now, race weekend. Oh, they have to do it. Oh, so the race seats, and I think they do, but race weekend. And then what's going on they're going. Yeah. But there's also like if you really want a certain size of a certain jacket or whatever. Try to get their own. You can only get one or two pairs, I think. So you can buy pair of because you can't go like your friends. Yeah. So expooting is super fun. Then there's two, there's two things. You have the Disney merch, you get your shirts, you get your bits. Then there's this expo and it's small business. There's some large businesses, but small businesses. These are sponsors, these are people there selling. I I like to think of it as athletic, like an athletic emporium of all, but with run Disney, with Disney Music. It's a one-stop shop for all you running.

unknown 10:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

And if you if you don't have something you need, like if you forgot your eyes. It's probably there. It is there. And there's also things that they do. Oh, and that's the trouble. So know your budget when you have us. It's very over a lot of it. It is. It's already in the same. And they have champagne and bubble. And yeah. And but you don't need to be in the virtual cube and make up your race bed. That's right. No. It gets long. It's a long line. It goes long back. And there's photo offstairs. Yes, photo offs. Yeah. All right. So preparation. Wait, registration, preparation, exclaim. Now what? Every race day. Do we send our alarms for the colour? Server early. Oh, dark o'clock. One o'clock. So we can get ready at hair, makeup, customs, suit placement, glitter. Bad decisions. I'm sorry. Good decisions. Glitter. So we all have our own race day ritual. Yes. And they are all very different. Very unique and different stuff. So Amy, what's your? Well, I don't eat before a race, but I meant to water. I carry a water when I run, and I think it's because Laura carried water, so I just followed her. She's my mentor. And so I think it's because she carried water, I carry water, but I like a lot of water. So yeah. Same. You do not carry water. Oh no, I'm not sure. She has a lot of water. Oh well, I definitely have a lot of. I am, I am, I am the one that takes the bath and breaks. That's true. But I do carry a baby water if it's a long run. So if it's a half or the full, I carry a long, I carry a water. To five out of ten, I'm usually good. I always have um I don't eat the morning. No. And I drink water in the morning. And I always make sure I have my gum and my nerves. My hands. Yeah. But the longer the rice, the more things we have to do. Well, like you eat a lot. Like all the time. But so you guys eat a lot. Yeah, so yesterday I had pockets full snacks. So there's nothing you don't do anything new on race day. So you know how to prep. You know what your body does. I drink a protein shaking in the morning. You know a banana in the morning. I always carry water, but I've always carried a water. That's a little safety when you get um so you just follow the same things that you try. Don't try anything new. Nothing new on the bottom. So don't try to carry a water bottle if you've ever cared a water. Right. Don't eat some kind of exotic meal the night before. Oh, that's the thing. Maybe not. No. Although we did have they did that here. We did have to do that. I was hungry, but I just did not. So if they're not the best, you should nothing. You should eat that before exponey. So I like to have, I guess literally a ritual on my long run, my longest run, so 5K and 10K, I don't fuel before. But on the longest run of that weekend, whether it's the marathon or the half, I bring a protein bar, banana, and a small water. I hate carrying water and I will drink and I think should drink water at every station that they give a bag. And then I alternate powering because someone's powering is especially a marathon, they use so much power, but so little. It is a lot. But you do what you need to do. Uh but they do offer it. But they do offer it. And you should take the water for sure. For sure. But I the ritual is get into the corral and then eat half the protein bar, most of the banana, follow it most of the yeast, and drink the water. So we all have a lot of things. So you have a nothing, nothing, to uh I do all the things. So whatever works for you. Whatever works. But it's 2 a.m. in the morning, so just as lay everything out the night before. Oh, so you don't have to think about when you wake up. Because we do that all the time. You see all I you see, all your subs, everything we need is pretty right. So what's the most important thing not to forget on the bill? Oh my gosh. So one time I did have so I sometimes I take my children with me. One time we got there in the morning at five and one of us sit down. What'd you do? We sent her back and she got her bill. But however, if you do forget it, I do have a runner relation desk there. So if you do forget, you can go there. So don't freak out. You don't need to go back and coach you out. Yeah. Hopefully you're seeing that. Now she knows. But you could go there to get your back. So, okay. Registration, preparation, expo. Game day. We're up, we're glittered, we're ready to in the corral. We're ready to go. Here, makeup costume, drained, hydrated, nutrition, all the things. What usually happens when you're saying that corral? Well, I always say two in the hour. It's true, but I typically cry, and I cry because they put on the screen a charity that they're supporting, and there's an emotional story, and that's something like everyone's emotional story in white right there. This is such a journey. Exactly. It's such a journey. And so so grateful that I'm there and I'm able to be there. And then we do the equations. We have National We have Silence. Oh National Anthem. That's what we are.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

You can do that. It's been kind of weird. I mean, we can do it together. And then we have something called it's a role testing. Well just are chair athletes. Chair athletes are amazing. Oh my god. And we've ran beside them one time. Kyle and I were actually running beside someone that kept passing us, and Kyle's like, if they're running up a hill pushing someone in a chair, and I can't keep up with them, like what's wrong with me? And so these it's an incredible feat that they are overcoming their disabilities and being amazing.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

And one time I saw a woman we were running beside, and she was up a hill, up a hill, up a hill. She didn't finish. In our supportive community, I saw 10 people run out. Because some of those hills are we got you. We got you. We got you. And I think that's a great story. Yeah. That's what it's like the community of Run Disney is so supportive. Yeah. And that's why I think anyone, it's not it's a great first race for people. Oh, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Well, it's my first race. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

I feel like if you want to run a race, this is a great one to start with because you but I would say the running community as a whole, even not just Run Disney, but all of us are really supportive because we're all doing hard things. Hard things. Yeah, marketing's bad. Okay. So three, two, one, and we're off. Three, two, one, you go. There's fireworks. There's some tears. We're all at touching, we're all we're all looking at our watch, setting our our garments or Apple watches. Oh, take your myler off because it won't look like it's a little bit more. Oh, yeah. Take your myler off. If it's cold and you have a mylar blanket, which is something that keeps you for recording your time. You'll and you'll mess it up anyway. So take it off. Yeah. And then you're all off the shoot. Yeah. Be careful because typically it's dark and it's very tight at the beginning. And some people are running, some people are walking, some people are trying to be really fast. Some people are not, they're just planning to walk in. So just be careful because we did have someone fall and get injured out the game. Yeah, out the shoot. So just be careful. Appreciate your fellow runner. And just don't worry if you aren't first of the line and not like just beep beep beach. Because it doesn't matter when you go. So you don't have to feel somewhere else. Okay, so on the race course. We run it. We have it. There's me after anyone. C naps. There's characters. There's characters. DJs. DJs. DJs are great. The DJs are. And then what's what do we find? We like those photographs. So this is education. So if you don't know we're on Disney, everyone loves I mean, everyone loves a good photo. What do you look for? We look for the bright lights. It's like Friday night lights, but on that. It's lights. Yeah. There's always one on the left and one on the right. And a green green turn. It's like a little protective cocoon for our photo desk. And you wouldn't know. Like unless we're down in your kind of down. We're not standing. But but the light. The lights are what you so you see the light and then people get crazy. They're like, oh good. Really? No, no. Oh, that was it. They get super tight. But what we like to think is give everyone their moment, let them get their pick, and then let someone else get their pick.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So I think as a learning experience, it is you see the light. Don't go crazy. Don't go crazy. You learn on the turn. We learn not to go crazy. You gotta everyone have something like drop in front of a friend so they don't get their sense. Oh also, don't check your cell phone right now. Don't check your cell phone right in front of the line. Oh yeah. And don't stop. Because people are don't let stop. It's really important. If you see the light and you see the green tin, get your moment, but don't cut someone else's. Yeah. The number one rule is to be self-aware. It'd be a good one. Oh, it's fine. I love it. Oh, I love that. Oh. Okay, so there's photopaths. They're characters. Landladies are good. Oh, landladies are volunteer women at wearable around their waist and they pace at the end of the radio at a 15-minute mile. They're amazing women. And they're also very scary. You don't want to scare. If if they catch you and they pass you, you laugh for a brief amount of time. And that they scoop them off. So we love all things Disney, but they can't let you stay on. Unfortunately, the perks over here is we have to get you. So there is sweeping, and sweeping means you're below the pace and you need to get either a bus or a golf car. Sometimes it's for safety and sometimes it's for talk. But now they do have some very supportive Wind Disney stuff on bikes. Oh, that's encouraging you. Or even they'll be even a little bit ahead of the balloon ladies saying they're coming. You need to make sure that you keep it. I mean, like I they I tell people they're coming all the time. The balloon lady is a right man. It might be way ahead and stuff. I'm thinking so then I catch us, and I'm like, I'm gonna buy what you sell. How about using it? We sung yesterday to freak me out. They were like they were four miles, but still so balloon lady, sweeping, running, photographs. What about the finish? Oh, what about the finish line? You want to talk about the finish line? Oh! Oh, oh, I don't know. Oh, finish line. Finish line. So you've made it. You've made it through registration day, you've done the expo, you're at the cute costume, you've got the photographs, and then you're walking across the finish line, or you're running across the finish line, and it is so happy and so sucks. There's a million photographers, and there are photographers that are. I want to say there's a million photographers, but yet you still manage to cut Amy off from all of the Oh my gosh, literally. So we're gonna do it. This tiny excitement She was so big, Alliance. We had a plan. We were all gonna all do. We said we're all this long. It's your race, but be self-aware.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yes. Back to the self-aware.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Back to the self-apparent. She plays like a few. I might wear a shirt about this whole situation at one point during this journey about a race. I love these links. We love it. But this one is all the finish line that try to not lock someone else's finish photo. Because the line's not a good thing. Especially your friends. Because you'll never let it down. I'll tell you yesterday it was my only ever finish line for the half. Never say never say all right. Don't say never. So you're called the finish line. We have a birthday. You get your finish line picture, you may hear your name. It sounds there may be sympathetic. And you have your moment. And you have your moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

And then you get this falling. It's a partner. It's very heavy.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

You get this right after that. Very heavy. So cute. And if you're injured or something doesn't feel right, there's a medical set. We can get Ice, you can get medicine. Biofree almost. They are amazing. And sticks. Nikki apparently loves the snack. I love it. He ordered powder. And then they are not there. But the cheese dipping the snaps. And then the snack box has famous cheese. Oh, it's good. It's fake cheese, I think. Delicious. You know what? It's like America. The cheese was surviving the zombie apocalypse. It's the best thing you've ever had of her, right? Well, this is it's a loving relationship. Some people love it, and some people do not love it. We love it. After a whole different one. When I started running, I did not love it. And I was like, why do they think that was class? That's called. But it's just now I eat it. So now we get Fritos with it. I love this. Yeah. All right. So then there's music and there's Hala. Tell us about Holla. So Hala is the sweetest woman. She is the one that directs you to your line for the champagne and the beer and cider. So shout out to Hala because she's a lot of things. So it's good energy, it's good people. And we love to celebrate at the finish. And there's a DJ that's awesome. Characters, yeah. I it's the best one. Yeah. Like you yeah. I've ran on whatever brings this in other places, it's on the same. It's not like that. It's a cardi. Yeah. At the world. Yes. Disneyland is still great. People are still fine, but just a little bit different than Disneyland. It's only because they have regulation. Face it. All right. So go to Disney World, run, run Disney, and stay for the action. And look for the champagne show. So what tell me about a champagne towels. Well, I would say in like what three years ago, we all there was about eight of us for that one. So we had collected quite a few champagne glasses. Sometimes people give you more champagne. So I said, I think we could build a tower. This would be amazing. Because after a few champagnes, everything sounds good. After running a halfway right now. Because it was so I ran with so we built a champagne tower. We had a sweet friend of ours who decided we should pour cider down. Like we're at a wedding.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

And it was six.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

But it was like it was a three. Oh, it was. So now we are known as the champagne girls. Because we milled champagne towel. But sometimes I was meaning for it. It's always windy. It's been so windy. Yeah. So for no wind for silks. So look for us into champagne towel. We start bringing like glue, secretly glue in memory. I was gonna say we will try to do we know we did use glue one time to make champagne book I used to run with. So if we dress it. I'm just like I get out. Okay, so if you need to know about Run Disney, obviously we have all the details. Why do you love um I love it for my friends, my friendships with my friends, the community, the memories, and to say I did hard stuff? And I I mean so many people in this world, and not a whole lot of people ever even attempt to run a race. So if you're thinking about it, do it. Do it. Even if you don't finish, you have another chance. And even if you don't finish, you're gonna meet so many lazy people.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

I mean, and then when you go each other, we will go each other right now. It's so good. Why do you well? Um, same thing. I the my very first one I was all by myself. So, same, same, different. Never be scared to sign up for one of these races or any race by yourself because you will meet people in the course and are super supportive of shit. We met her because she was so cute after the race, and I was like, oh, you complimented me. And now three years later, we're out of color. Well, we can do each other's houses and we know each other's families, and so it's it goes well beyond just the right thing. Yeah, like um because she turned my friend. Um she said, because we make her donate me. We uh we kind of awesome though. But happy I did it, and it's a one and done with the half, but the rest of the thing. Oh listen, as soon as the pain, the soreness goes away, she'll be like, It's like oh I love that theme. Maybe I'm gonna learn and then you have another one. What if what if oh you're wondering? What if Donald is on the half next year? Yeah. Oh, no, he's on the half for that weekend. Oh, yes. Oh who's who's your who's your favorite Disney character? Donald. Oh, Mickey for sure. Tinker Bell down. I think I'm gonna take it. She has no idea. She has taken out.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

She's not a 10.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

She has both cheese, and I love both, and she has feathers. Alright, so as I always say, book the trim, book the race, sign up for the race, do all the things, pop the champagne drink, love, hot kisses. Cheers. Cheers. Good luck. Good luck. Cheers. Cheers. It's Maddie Joe. It's Maddie. It's Matty Joe time.

unknown 28:23

Okay.