The Joys (and challenges) of Spectating Ironman + runDisney Races

Jill Bartholomew (00:00)
Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Be Fierce and Try podcast, formerly the Be Fierce Multisport podcast. I have with me today a very special guest, Mr. John Lesser, who is also my fiance. We're going to talk about spectating, not just Ironman races, but races in general. John has spent the last, what, two years

becoming essentially a professional spectator. he has followed me and accompanied me to many races in many States, mostly on the East coast, but not entirely. And has followed me traveled with me, to both coasts and two other countries outside the United States. so is it only two? I think it's just two, right?

John Lesser (00:46)
So far too.

Jill Bartholomew (00:47)
Yeah. So I think, you know, cause you were at Nice last year with me where John proposed at the finish line. we talked about that on a couple episodes, but that was a very special finish line. And, you know, you also were with me at the Montreal marathon, which I think was the first time you'd been out of the country, right?

John Lesser (01:08)
I've been to Canada before, but I mean...

Jill Bartholomew (01:11)
All right, so I was wrong. But it's the first time you're outside the country with me. So that's all that matters. All right. So, you know, we're going to talk about spectating two different ways, right? So our listeners kind of cover mostly Ironman type events, you know, triathlons, which present an interesting spectating challenge because

They can be very long events, like in the case of a full Iron Man. They can also be very short events, you know, in like a sprint. But also, you know, we both do a lot of the Disney events. And you you've spectated me numerous times on mostly the marathons, since you haven't yet leveled up to marathons.

but mostly the marathon. Right. think you...

John Lesser (01:58)
Well, that's a big number

to double. mean, going from 13.1 to 26.5.

Jill Bartholomew (02:02)
Hey, you know how it

goes, right? You know, if you can do a 5K, you can do 10K. You can do 10K, you can do half, you can do half, can do full. So like, essentially, whatever distance you can do, double it and you can do that one too.

John Lesser (02:14)
Yeah, but then that means if you can do a 5k, you can do a marathon.

Jill Bartholomew (02:17)
I mean, that is the logical conclusion, right? If A and B, then B and C, then C and D, then A equal D, right? Yeah.

John Lesser (02:20)
you

Yeah, but

you got to have that shirt where it says like, found on ground, please stop Strava.

Jill Bartholomew (02:31)
I think it's, found on ground, please stop Garmin, not Strava. And the one that goes with it is if it's not on Strava, did it really happen? Every time I meet an athlete who doesn't put their stuff on Strava, I kind of look at them like, Yeah, yeah, I'm like, you're not on Strava. What's wrong with you?

John Lesser (02:35)
No.

Yeah, yeah, it's like Facebook official.

you

Jill Bartholomew (02:55)
But seriously, okay, so Ironman events, you've come to, or triathlons, right? I've done sprints, Olympics, halfs, fulls. What is your favorite distance to spectate?

John Lesser (03:07)
That's a tough one. think it depends on actually the layout of the course. Because depending on how it's laid out can dictate where you wind up. So I could see multiple times on a course. I could see maybe once on a course, depending on where it's laid out.

Jill Bartholomew (03:15)
All right.

All right. So that's

interesting, right? Because I think the same is probably true for run events, but they do tend to be a bit shorter. I think what you're saying is, depending on how the course is set up, it dictates how much time you need to find a way to occupy yourself between seeing your athlete, right?

John Lesser (03:43)
Well,

it's not even a matter of occupying myself. It's a matter of finding the next spot to go to, having enough time to get there. So it's really about, I mean, like with you, it's knowing how fast you are in your different disciplines. So then I can figure out how much time I have to get from point A to point B.

or sea to day or wherever I'm going. like with your swims, at Texas, you know, I know how much time I have to get from the starting line down to where I can actually see you and spectate and then even catch you coming out of the water. So.

Jill Bartholomew (04:08)
Now, Texas was right? Because the...

John Lesser (04:30)
Everybody complained about that one.

Everybody said that there's time for slow and yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (04:32)
Well, mean, yeah,

I have my own thoughts that are not favorable for the course itself, but because it did feel like swimming through cement, And I think like the field on that day was generally slow, which was kind of weird, considering that there were like multiple records broken.

John Lesser (04:52)
Yeah. ⁓

Jill Bartholomew (04:53)
But I mean,

the course itself, you know, it's just, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. It's kind of a lollipop shape. Right. And like along the canal, mean, ignoring the fact that that canal is like five feet deep and kind of gross. ⁓ you could potentially like walk the path spectating your athlete while they're in the water, right?

John Lesser (05:01)
No, that course is actually quite a spectator-friendly course. ⁓

yeah, that's...

Yeah, mean...

yeah, that's what I did. was

able to walk the canal and you can, I mean, when you're spectating, just because you're spectating your athlete doesn't mean you shouldn't watch anybody else, but you can catch all the pros and see everything. I find it to be quite fortunate that I happen to know your swim stroke so I can pull you out of a field.

Jill Bartholomew (05:41)
You mean when you have a

bunch of people in the water with the same colored cap and generally this since most of us have like a swim skin or a wetsuit on which generally are black, Yeah, yeah

John Lesser (05:51)
have to you have to learn it by stroke either that or you have to have somebody

that is Very excited and ready to bounce around and dance just before she gets in the water

Jill Bartholomew (06:01)
I have no idea what you're talking about. What race was it that had the announcer tell me to stop bouncing so much?

Yeah, I forget. It wasn't Montreal, was it? Yeah. Okay. Which race was your favorite to spectate?

John Lesser (06:10)
I feel like you bounce around and dance at the start of every race though.

Are we talking Iron Man or just?

Jill Bartholomew (06:19)
Just in general, of all the races

you've come to, which was your favorite? As a spectator.

John Lesser (06:24)
As a spectator, I don't know. I've got a few favorites. I don't know if I have a single favorite. It's like telling me to pick my favorite car. can't pick just one.

Jill Bartholomew (06:25)
I I know the answer, but I want to see.

All right, so

if I was an athlete and I'm saying, hey, I'm gonna go to, I can do one event and I want it to be an event that my family is gonna get to see me and enjoy the race, right? And enjoy seeing me ⁓ compete against myself, what race would I choose?

John Lesser (06:38)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ooh. Well, to see you and to have the most interactive time, I still say Montreal is one of my favorites.

Jill Bartholomew (06:58)
Well, thank you.

Montreal. And

for our listeners, tell us about Montreal.

John Lesser (07:08)
Montreal

was very cool. you've the big thing is you got to scout the map and the course ahead of time. And it just so happened that with Montreal, the course followed the path of the metro line. And it was a single train. So the course just was straight out and back. And you could just see everybody start up on the metro.

go down a few stops, get out, and then it's right there on main road. So you see everybody go by, watch your athlete, and then hop back on the metro, go another couple stops, and keep your way through. That works for the majority of the time, right up until the point where you have somebody that's so fast that they actually beat the train.

Jill Bartholomew (07:52)
I don't know what you're talking about, but I mean, that was pretty cool, right?

John Lesser (07:56)
That was a very

cool race because I mean, there was only one spot where I actually had to go out and I think maybe it was six or eight blocks from the train station over to where the runners were going by.

Jill Bartholomew (07:58)
like

Yeah, mean, I... The Montreal Marathon follows the same kind of pattern that a lot of other marathons follow. Philadelphia, was it Brooklyn, a few others I've run kind of follow the same pattern where the first half marathon, the first half of it...

is like really awesome and like really, you know, fun and lots of things to look at. And, you get to see like all the, the like touristy stuff. And then the second half is like a long out and back. That's just super boring. And I think

John Lesser (08:32)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I kind

of feel that with the the Philly half when I run it. Like once you get out of the city, then you just like out and there's just like, there's a certain point where you're trying to click off miles and you're like, yep, they just put it here to add mileage and you look up for a second.

Jill Bartholomew (08:55)
⁓

Oh, come on. On the

Philly half, you just have that one loop around the park. The rest of it's fine. Yeah, the rest of it's fine. The marathon though, like, you you get a little extra up there near, you know, Please Touch Museum, which is kind of neat. It's a little treacherous because usually it's frozen the night before.

John Lesser (09:06)
Yeah, that's exactly where I sat there and I looked up and I'm like, why am I here?

Jill Bartholomew (09:24)
And sometimes the ground up there is a little wet and a little frozen and slippery. But yeah, like the second half of that race is like, Ooh, we have a park. We're going to do a mile and a half loop around it.

John Lesser (09:25)
Yeah, that's good.

Very nice to hear you.

I remember you were

running that and I was with Addison. We were watching you and you were freezing cold at the beginning and then you found us on the course and you were handing off stuff like gloves and all kinds of stuff.

Jill Bartholomew (09:49)
I gave you my

gloves, my arm warmers and my hat because it was like 32 degrees or 34 degrees at the start and it was a little windy. And then once I got moving by the 10 K mark, I was like, Oh my God, I'm so hot. And I had stuffed them in my back pocket and like, Hey, for all the athletes out there, know, position your, uh, you know, position your athlete strategically so you can hand clothing off to them.

John Lesser (09:51)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (10:14)
Which of course in an Ironman event would get you disqualified. So we shouldn't do that because that would be considered potentially outsider, you know assistance But

John Lesser (10:14)
Another song word, another song word. ⁓

Mm.

another

fun one I wanted to tell everybody is I've had a few people, especially at Disney races, ⁓ I'd spectate and people are like, how do know where she's at? How can you possibly know? And I'm looking at the app and I have no idea. It says they're supposed to be here. It's a guesstimation at best is what the app says. But when I tell them that...

Jill Bartholomew (10:34)
Mm-hmm.

John Lesser (10:50)
like, well, at the time you ran with an Apple watch and just have an athlete share their location. You can just use the Find My and you'll know exactly, you know, where they are roughly. And it helps with timing and location. And it's another.

Jill Bartholomew (11:03)
I still sometimes

run with my Ultra kind of go back and forth between the Ultra and the Garman I have very mixed feelings on the Garmin Yeah.

John Lesser (11:12)
Other than the fact that

it's always negative.

Jill Bartholomew (11:15)
Well, mean, yeah, like the Ultra tells me how awesome I am. yeah, and the Garmin tells me how much I suck and how everything I do is unproductive. And, you know, I do love it when you get on the bike and it tells you your stamina.

John Lesser (11:22)
Yeah, and the Garmin is never positive in one...

Jill Bartholomew (11:36)
And it tells me that I've got like a stamina of like 20 miles and then I knock off a century and a half. You know, it's like, ha ha. And then at the end it's like unproductive recovery time, 72 hours.

John Lesser (11:48)
Yeah,

they should have like the Debbie Downer kind of...

Jill Bartholomew (11:53)
I think it comes with that installed by default. Yeah, it does seem to be, but now I go back and forth between watches because I have the Garmin because a of my athletes have a Garmin and I want to make sure that I know how it works so that I can better advise them on how to do different things in their equipment like download their training plan.

John Lesser (11:55)
It seems to be.

Jill Bartholomew (12:16)
from Tridot and use it and make sure that it uploads back up where the Apple Watch is a bit easier on some of that stuff. But I mean.

John Lesser (12:25)
Yeah, so I'm from a spectator bias.

I'm more for the Apple Watch at that. Yeah, either that or being able to put an air tag on your athletes somehow.

Jill Bartholomew (12:30)
You're more for the Apple watch. I know there's a huge.

Yeah, the problem with

an air tag though is you need someone with an iDevice. That's true. So on the run it would work, but on the bike probably not. Right. And on the bike we're generally not allowed to have phones or...

John Lesser (12:41)
I thought about that though, but if I played the odds and you have all of the spectators that are watching the race, the odds are...

Probably not, you're moving too fast.

Jill Bartholomew (13:00)
If you have it with you, can't be in use. So I suppose you could have one in like your back pocket, but honestly, why would you, unless you have a legitimate need.

John Lesser (13:02)
Hmm.

Yeah, you'd have to hope that the police officers that are out on the course kind of directing traffic have an iPhone.

Jill Bartholomew (13:14)
Right.

So, so from a tracking athlete perspective, what you're saying is, you know, if you, if your athlete has like an Apple watch, and I think, you know, Garmin can do something similar with their track functionality is you can get somewhat, you know, real time updates, but it applies probably more to,

John Lesser (13:32)
Mm.

Jill Bartholomew (13:35)
you know, probably more to, you know, road races, you know, foot races versus like a triathlon. Um, unless their watch has cellular, like the Apple Ultra, right? Cause I like Garmin, most of them don't have cellular and they need that connection to the, to the phone and where most of us are not bringing a phone along with us. So the track functionality is not, not as useful there.

John Lesser (13:46)
Yeah.

Thanks

Jill Bartholomew (14:01)
and same thing if you're using just a regular Apple watch and on ultra, you know, doesn't have some capability. So that wouldn't work. but yeah, like Ironman, I, I feel is different because there's so many timing mats that you, get pretty regular updates versus like your average run that might have one, like every 5k.

John Lesser (14:15)
Yeah, you do get there.

Yeah, you do have more timing mats on there, which is very helpful from spectating just because you can... I mean, if you pay attention to the sport and you watch and you watch how people are, you really get a feel for, you know, how somebody's doing during their race when you see going... seeing the times click off between different mats. Like, I can see you come out of the water and I like, OK, I see the time, like...

Jill Bartholomew (14:41)
and see the time schedule and things like that. So I had to see how I acting. Okay, I just need to time it.

John Lesser (14:49)
That's about what she expected. She's feeling good. Okay. And then, you know, when you hit the bike and you hit the first time you met, I'm like, okay, well, you know, I'm not necessarily familiar with the course and you know, the elevation changes in those first couple, couple mats and

Jill Bartholomew (14:49)
That's about it. She's exactly, she's doing good. And when you hit the mic, you hit the first time now. Okay, well, I'm gonna have to go. I'm gonna have to force her down. I'll make changes in this first couple of minutes.

John Lesser (15:04)
everything, but seeing your speed, what you're carrying and your pace and everything, you get an idea and it's like, okay, well, she's feeling good off of the, off of the swim. She's, she's shaking out her legs a little bit and then, you know,

Jill Bartholomew (15:05)
So

John Lesser (15:16)
the next couple of mats, you'll see what happens when finally your athlete settles in and starts clicking things off and how they're really feeling.

Jill Bartholomew (15:29)
Yeah, I'm a triathlon coach and you know, when I go to these events, you know, I often will, you know, sign up for, you know, time as a coach in the tri dot tent. And, you know, I particularly like doing, you know, the ask a coach session for the first timers, which you get kind of two people.

It's like you get the first timers, right? First time to that course or first time altogether. But you also get a lot of family members. I've had so many questions as a coach on like, how do I spectate?

John Lesser (15:54)
Right.

That's a good question. I feel like spectating you need to do a little bit more.

Jill Bartholomew (16:05)
Okay.

Alright, so.

From a spectator perspective, I get, sorry, as a coach, I get a lot of family members of athletes asking, how do I spectate a race? There's a couple of questions buried in there because in people's heads, on a half or a full Ironman,

they're looking at the total distance and like, oh, it's such a long distance. have all this time. And you know, like at Chattanooga, right? It's a 70.3 we did. And I had a few people ask me, they're like, well, can I like drive and like see my athlete in a few places on the course? I'm like, maybe, but you know, do you...

If everybody did that, then the course is going to be full of cars, which in any case...

John Lesser (17:00)
Yeah, mean, it depends

on it really depends on the course and kind of how tight the loop is. Like Chattanooga is a good example. Chattanooga you can spectate and you don't need a car for Chattanooga. You just have to, I mean, you have to be on your game to know where you're going and which way you need to be.

Jill Bartholomew (17:05)
Thank you.

You have to be able to find the right way.

Right. And like in a 56, you know, in a 56 mile bike, you know, unless it's point to point, right? If it, if there's only one transition area, it's, going to be either an out and back or a loop, right? Yeah.

John Lesser (17:36)
Yeah, you have

to, you have to really look at your straight shots as a spectator. So, I mean, when you're looking at, know, try to like, what I do is I set up like, okay, I get, I get used to the maps and I do my homework, like usually on the train sometime going to or from work and I'll sit there looking at things and I'll say, okay, the transition area is kind of like base because

Jill Bartholomew (17:40)
So I mean, can't try to just, what do do?

I did some math, I just mathed it up, but you can watch it on phone, sometimes on the phone or from work, and I'll sit there with you and I'll say okay.

transition period, you're kind of going have make a base, because

John Lesser (18:03)
you're going back to transition. You're coming out of transition, you're going to transition. So you have to figure out, okay, well, if they're going this way and the course is marked off, okay, they've got six miles before they hit this turn over here. And if I take a straight shot to go that way, well, I can make it in X amount of time and they've got to cover six miles. So you can kind of

Jill Bartholomew (18:04)
you're going to have to transition. know, the one-year transition period, you're to take that. So yeah, so if they figure out, okay, well, if there's no more kids out here, the courses won't go through because they've got to, listen, miles before they have this term over here. And if I take a great chance to go that way, well, I can make an extra mile of time to take that across the economy, so you can kind of, you know.

John Lesser (18:29)
play that game to get on the, to cross the tangents.

Jill Bartholomew (18:32)
Yeah, that's kind of what I've been telling some of these families is like on the run course. if you know your general speed of your athlete, then you can kind of figure out what you can and can't do. Right? Like if your athlete is running it. Yeah. If they're running at like 14 minutes a mile. ⁓ Right.

John Lesser (18:41)
yeah.

That's something you absolutely need to know your athlete speed.

yeah, it's one thing if they're running 14 minutes a mile,

but I mean, if you're sitting there trying to track the pros, I mean, we were watching them on, we were watching one of the races. Who was it? I think it was, Kat Matthews. was clicking off like six 54s religiously through the whole race. And it's like, well, you know, you'll never be able to catch her.

Jill Bartholomew (18:59)
Right.

What I would give

to have more than two miles under seven. But yeah, no, that was the point. Because like there, I said, well, you can spectate in this one spot. You can see them kind of before they go over that bridge. And then,

John Lesser (19:25)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (19:26)
Like you can spectate this other spot when they come over the other bridge and then move back because you've got enough time. But on their second loop, you can't see them at the end of the bridge because their next stop is the finish line. Right. ⁓

John Lesser (19:41)
Right. There's that part

you have to keep in mind too is, you know, where they are and what mile marker they're at and how long it's going to take you to get back to that finish line. Because, I mean, obviously as a spectator, you want to see your athlete cross that finish line. That's the whole point, right? That's the culmination of everything. And you don't want to miss that. I mean, if you have to forego, you know, a stop, like, you know, the last stop or something like, you know,

Jill Bartholomew (19:59)
And you don't have to do that. So if you talk to a foreman, a staff, like even a laptop or something, it's

John Lesser (20:09)
It's not something to be upset about. That's one thing that I definitely have to say is don't get discouraged if you can't see somebody at

Jill Bartholomew (20:09)
not something that happens on a, that's not going to happen. Definitely not going to happen. That we get to the service that we can't do that on a desk.

John Lesser (20:18)
a particular stop. Just suck it up and like, okay, well, we're going hit the next stop. We're going to go to this spot here.

Jill Bartholomew (20:25)
Okay. So, say, you know, I'm signing up for a new race. One we've never done before. Cause like at this point, you were kind of repeating some races and you have some learnings from the last time, but you know, so like we're going to do Marbella in November, right? It's a 70.3, you know, for the, the world championship.

John Lesser (20:32)
Mm.

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (20:49)
We've never been there. I've never even been to Spain, much less raced there. So what are you looking for to decide like where to set yourself up to spectate?

John Lesser (20:53)
Thanks.

Well, my first stop is always the athlete guide. I mean, I'll read through that a couple of times. So at least I'll get an idea of the events and what's going on.

Jill Bartholomew (21:04)
Thank

And hopefully

the swim start is shown in the right spot.

John Lesser (21:14)
That was a good one. That was Texas. That was Texas. Transition was like in the middle of the river or something. was a couple streets weren't marked. Yeah, that was once I figured that out, which was in the middle of your race, actually, in the middle of your bike. I was looking through and I was trying to figure out, was like, why isn't this here? was like, wait a minute. And then I brought up maps and I was like, ⁓ you didn't mark these streets and this.

Jill Bartholomew (21:28)
was trying to think, why do they have do Why do they that? And I was brought up in that. And I just thought, they just to do this.

John Lesser (21:40)
isn't even where it's supposed to be. So once you figure that kind of thing out. that was the first time that actually happened where the transition wasn't where it was marked

Jill Bartholomew (21:40)
This is a deal. This is a big deal. Once you get back in the band, that was the first time that we had a big transition. It wasn't like we had a big was a big

John Lesser (21:52)
on the map, which was very interesting.

Jill Bartholomew (21:54)
Yeah.

So OK, so you start in the athlete guide. What are you looking for? ⁓

John Lesser (21:58)
Yeah. So athlete guide, what I'm

doing is I'm looking at, you know, transition to see is there multiple transition stops? Is it a single transition area that you're going to be going back to repeatedly through the day or what? That's the first stop. So that's, that's my normal beginning. And then from there, I figure out, okay, where are you coming in? Where are you going out? And then

Jill Bartholomew (22:04)
is that multiple transitions obviously, but a single transition where you're thinking, I just do it repeatedly, is that, or what? That's the first time. that's my idea. The next, I figure out, okay, where to come in, and three, and then

the drums have to follow it. So, follow where I'm...

John Lesser (22:25)
From that spot there, I'm just like, okay, follow where the

bike course is and see where your quick tangents are and then try and get an idea of like, okay, well, this is, you know, supposedly two blocks over from here or three streets over from there. Try to get a gauge on, you know, what that actual distance is. mean, because for you, it might take, you know, six miles for you to get to that point. To me, it might only be a half a mile.

Jill Bartholomew (22:29)
I'm

John Lesser (22:54)
or a mile. Well, depending on what

section of the race it is, I could cover that mile before you cover the other six.

Jill Bartholomew (22:59)
Right.

John Lesser (23:03)
Hopefully. I had a train and I didn't beat you in Spain in Montreal. So yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (23:07)
Yeah, but you know, I mean, you have to get to the train, wait for a train and then...

John Lesser (23:13)
I mean, the trains were actually good.

And you know what the fun part about it though is like even with a mess up like that, we're still talking about it. We have a great story about that.

Jill Bartholomew (23:24)
yeah, totally.

John Lesser (23:26)
I mean, how many athletes

says, yeah, I beat the train.

Jill Bartholomew (23:29)
Hey, well, you I was faster back then than I am today. So, okay. So you got the athlete guide and you're picking out your points. What are like the must see moments in the race that like if you didn't see it, you already talked about, know, got to see the finish line. What else is in there?

John Lesser (23:48)
My favorites to see are

actually swim exit because then I

Jill Bartholomew (23:55)
Because we all look

like we just died.

John Lesser (24:01)
No, it's a gauge for how you're feeling. It's like, is it relief? it like, you know, ready to go kind of thing? Like, you know, how focused are you? You know, some people, you know, you have, it's very entertaining, even if you don't watch just your athlete. So you have like the pros, they're like very serious, very,

you know, like, focus laser focus, like, you know, there could be something going on, they'll never notice. And then some of them are like, you know, they're

They're happy, they're like all, and then, you you stay alone enough and you have people getting out of the water and they're gonna kiss the ground. They never thought they'd get out of that water, which, I mean, you tell me to swim 2.4 miles, I would be the same way. I'd need a boat to pace me to get me out of that water.

Jill Bartholomew (24:44)
I mean, you know, it's funny. I find the same on the run less on the bike, but you know, the swim definitely. It's like, it doesn't matter what the distance is. There comes a point where you're like, are we there yet? It's like, you know, on a 5k run, you know, obviously I can do a 5k and you know, in a 5k or a 10k, I'm reasonably quick.

John Lesser (25:03)
Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (25:06)
But like mile two, I'm like, are we done? Are we there yet? I'm over this.

John Lesser (25:10)
Yeah, I've been there too. I've

been there too. And to me, it really depends on like the weather sometimes, like the heat sometimes, the way that the temperature and the humidity spike. Yeah, I'm ready for this to be over.

Jill Bartholomew (25:22)
I

see. I'm really consistent because like in the, the 5k at like the two mile mark, I'm like, that's when I'm like, all right, can we just get this over with? And in a half marathon, you know, at mile nine, mile nine, find in a half to be the hardest mile because like that's where I'm like, okay, all right. Are we done? Like most of the way there. Can we just like get this over with? Right.

John Lesser (25:39)
Yeah, I f-

Yeah.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (25:48)
But then on

a full, I don't feel that way until like, I don't know, my own 19 or 20. Because like in a full, a halfway mark is like, all right, we've got less in front of us than behind us.

John Lesser (25:55)
Yeah, I've had that feeling. ⁓

Yeah, I've had that feeling in Disney running the half and it's probably like you said, like eight or nine. It's like you're running down the highway. You're, you know, the sun. mean, to me, when I'm there, the sun's already up. So like, I know I'm slow. I tell you all the time. I tell you all the time. I'm not going to be as fast as you, not going to be as pretty as you, but I'll get there. It's just going to take me a little extra time.

Jill Bartholomew (26:16)
Well, that's good to know.

I mean, that is one of the things I appreciate about the early start times at Disney and most of the like Iron Man events is missing the intense hearing heat. Well, in a full, you know, that's less possible because most of us are just kind of.

John Lesser (26:34)
Missing the intense searing heat.

Yeah

Jill Bartholomew (26:44)
hoping to finish while there's still daylight. But when you got like 4.30 and 5 a.m. start times, you get to enjoy at least part of your race before the sun is overhead. I know everyone at the Disney races complains about the start times, but I'm like, two advantages of those start times. Yay, you don't get as much sleep or you have to go to bed early, but.

Yeah, your race is done before breakfast.

John Lesser (27:09)
Yeah, it is

cool to do the Disney races that early because I mean, we've done races and then went back and rope dropped parks.

Jill Bartholomew (27:13)
It's like, yeah,

the only, the only race there that I can't rope drop the park on is the full marathon. Although technically I guess we are rope dropping the park because we're in the park before it opens. So like, like just saying, just saying, but back to spectating. So, okay. So you're, you're must.

John Lesser (27:24)
Yeah.

Yeah, technically. Yeah. Yes.

Jill Bartholomew (27:37)
Yeah, your must see is swim start, swim exit, finish.

John Lesser (27:37)
So, yeah, my must is, yeah, my must is swim starts and swim exits. Sometimes I can't do the swim starts because I'll never make it back in time for swim

exit. Like, Chet knew the last year, the one that didn't have the swim canceled. That's...

Jill Bartholomew (27:52)
I don't

think Chattanooga, I don't think spectators are allowed as Wim Stark.

John Lesser (27:57)
they're not allowed on the, on that, transportation bus that, ⁓ I mean, you can, if you can get up there, you can, you can get there. The problem is getting back in time, you know, cause at that point I've got to do surface roads where you've got the straight shot going right down the river.

Jill Bartholomew (28:00)
But you can go there.

Hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, with a theoretical Kern assist. like Happy Valley, Happy Valley has, it's a 70.3, but it has two, excuse me, it has two transition points. T1 and T2 are in different spots. ⁓

John Lesser (28:18)
I don't know, that was more theoretical.

And then, yep.

Jill Bartholomew (28:31)
Right? So you swim in the lake, then your bike is at T1 that you dropped off the night before. Right. And then your run gear is at the campus 50 some odd miles away. And you know that you dropped off the morning before. And you know, as a spectator, there's been, you know, two years ago, there was challenges getting for spectators getting from swim start to.

John Lesser (28:38)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (29:00)
T2.

John Lesser (29:01)
Yeah, yeah,

it's... mean, hearing that type of thing, that's one of those points where it's like, you might have to forego the swim start and then, then catch the rest.

Jill Bartholomew (29:10)
And when I

did when I did Happy Valley, that's what you did, but it turned out that they had improved the congestion problem. I don't think it was completely gone, but it had been significantly improved. Right, right. Yeah, growing pains. So we'll see what the feedback from this year is.

John Lesser (29:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, when you did it, that was their second year.

Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (29:30)
But okay, so what about like transitions? Is that like a must see? Because it seems to me like that would be a boring thing.

John Lesser (29:32)
to.

I

I happen to enjoy transitions. There's a lot of energy always at the transition areas. I mean, I know like when you're bike in, bike out, like, you know, it's very slow because you have to walk the bikes out and you have to walk the bike back in or run them back in. You have that mountain, dismount line. But, but you do have a lot of energy there. So there's a lot of people there. There's, know, they're really ramping up the energy and you find.

Jill Bartholomew (29:54)
I was going to say, I hope you're not walking the bike in and out.

John Lesser (30:05)
a lot of people that are just very, very enthusiastically. see some like people have funny signs, people are dressed up and you you really, you get to see a lot of people go through there. Like you can catch like, you know, all the pro leaders coming in and you know, there's, and it's a great spot to spectate and catch, you know, everybody like, you know, all the big name.

All the big names are there. if you sit there and hang out long enough, you'll see them, sure, yeah. So it's a great spot.

Jill Bartholomew (30:37)
All right, John. So.

You you talked about all the must-see places. How do you navigate the course?

John Lesser (30:44)
Navigating, again, that's where I always go back to that athlete guide and get myself familiarized with the maps because they publish the maps in there. I'll take screenshots of those on the phone so that way I have quick reference points instead of having to page through all the different pages through the day. And I'll have my spots picked out where I want to go, keeping in mind how many laps there are on a race, like summer two, summer three.

Jill Bartholomew (31:07)
So, to some business and

create a company that will support those products. So, I'm also talking about the aspect of the business side of the business the project. know, these are tasks that I'm to be doing. And I'm going to be on the project and I'm going to be on the other side of So, I'm excited for it.

John Lesser (31:09)
And then looking for those little, the little bump out sections where it's like, you know, it's like off to the side and then there's like an out and back over here or off to this side and there's an out and back over there. So, you know, being able to bounce from one side to the other over there, you know, I could pick you up two times over there and then I can pick you up two times over at another spot. Like, um, uh, Hayton city, Florida,

I can see.

Jill Bartholomew (31:35)
I think,

you have, there's a half-back, it's on the far side, but I think that's a good point. It's it's it's a very boring...

John Lesser (31:36)
You had a, there's, there's an out and back. ⁓ it's on the far side. forget exactly what the mileage is, but it's like, it's, it's a two lap. I see you go and do a out and back one way. And then you come, you go out and back on another way. And I

catch you on both of those. And then I can make it back over the transition and catch you on the far side because you have a whole other loop that you have to make. And I can just make.

Jill Bartholomew (32:03)
Yeah,

John Lesser (32:04)
straight shot right over to the other end of the

Jill Bartholomew (32:07)
that out and back is very boring. It's like in a development. like goes out.

John Lesser (32:10)
Yeah, yeah, that's through that whole residential area. Oh yeah, it's a small

residential area, but there are people that go out there and they try to cheer and everything, but it's...

Jill Bartholomew (32:19)
yeah,

that's one of the courses that has people pretty much the whole length. Like the first like mile and a half or two miles of the loop is along a pretty busy road and the run is actually on the sidewalk. ⁓ And that's the one we're like, you just did this bike.

John Lesser (32:26)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (32:35)
and they managed to find every hill in freaking Florida and put it on the race. Because like Florida is flat, right? We all know this, right? It's like the first landmass in the country that's gonna be underwater, you know, when all the glacier is melting and everything, right?

John Lesser (32:50)
You

know, that's why I find that place very entertaining. Cause when you pick that one to do, that first time we were looking at the elevation profile and it lied. It's straight up line is like, yeah, it's flat. And then, and then we went there and you were out on the bike and I was, I was talking to one of the volunteers and she was, she was directing traffic and everything. you know, you get to talking and.

Jill Bartholomew (33:03)
It's not though, it's like 2,000 feet.

John Lesser (33:14)
She was like, yeah, I've done this course and I've ⁓ volunteered at this course a few times and everything. And they changed it over the couple of years backwards, the start for biking. People were popping chains before they would even leave. And they find every hill. That's where I heard her. She's like, yeah, they found every hill in Florida and they put it on this course. Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (33:15)
to the other side of the board, by the volunteer and of course the national health program. And we did a great job of that. And the fact that it started from people who have the chance of winning, they did it. And they found that's what I heard. Yes, it's not everyone's part of overcome, of course.

Right. Yeah,

John Lesser (33:43)
And I remember that was the year where, you know, that was your first year and we thought it was flat. I was like, boy, Jill's going to have an interesting day. ⁓

Jill Bartholomew (33:54)
yeah. I discovered very quickly that it wasn't flat and that the athlete guide that year may have misrepresented the flatness of the course. But.

John Lesser (34:05)
very diplomatic to put it that way, may have misrepresented.

Jill Bartholomew (34:10)
Right. But so like in a bike like that, the bike is a loop. So you at minimum have two hours between T1 and T2. Right? Very few people are going to be faster than that, if anyone. Right? And...

John Lesser (34:21)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. ⁓

Jill Bartholomew (34:27)
You know, then that run course, the first like 5k of it is, is, uphill. It's not fun. Like the second half of the loop is fine, but the first half of the loop is like uphill and it's, it's pretty, pretty steep. Uh, a lot of people walk that because it's so steep. So like the run, you know, I get what you're saying. You you position yourself in a bunch of places. Um,

John Lesser (34:33)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (34:53)
But the bike, like you really can't spectate.

John Lesser (34:57)
Yeah, I mean, as a spectator for Iron Man stuff, you pretty much have

to accept that it's rare that you're going to be able to catch somebody on the bike. That's just one of those...

Jill Bartholomew (35:07)
Right. So what do do?

you know, like Lake Placid, right? So it's a two loop bike course. So unlike Texas where, you you get to see a start and then four and a half to nine hours later, you see us finish.

John Lesser (35:24)
Well, I can look at that one spot at the out and back.

Jill Bartholomew (35:28)
Yeah, yeah, there's the short out and back, but it's only a couple of miles.

John Lesser (35:30)
Yeah, it was, it was, yeah, it was, it was, I remember it

was quick because, if you don't have your bearings right, you don't get to catch, your athlete going out, but you'd at least catch them back.

Jill Bartholomew (35:38)
Yeah, want to say that one's like, it's like,

yeah, it's like a five mile out five mile back. And then you got like, seven or 10 more miles until you hit the highway. And then, you know, the highway is, you know, it's just kind of 21 miles each way and then do it again. There were people on the highway though, at Texas.

John Lesser (35:49)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Yeah.

Yeah, and from what I've seen, you you talk to other spectators and stuff that are local and everything, and there are people that go out in cars and they'll find a spot and they'll pick out their places and everything to spectate and watch everybody out there. But I mean...

Jill Bartholomew (36:07)
There was a road that people were taking. ⁓

John Lesser (36:18)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you're, if you're from out of town,

I think for just the bike in general, you kind of have to forego being able to see your athletes beyond bike out and bike in. mean, that's, that's a rarity to be able to catch them somewhere else.

Jill Bartholomew (36:31)
So, right. So

the question is, because I've had this question asked of me a few times, it's like, okay, so you got, say,

six hours, eight hours, assuming that we're not talking like the front of the age group or the pros. You know, have several hours on a full and you know, still a few hours on a half where, you know, between sightings of your athlete, what do you do with yourself?

John Lesser (36:52)
Right.

Right. ⁓ yeah.

What do you do? That's always a great question. Me personally, I watch the race. I see everybody that's going by. I mean, you have this incredible exhibition of people pushing themselves to the limit. And you can catch all of... You can catch the pros, you can catch your everyday person and...

Jill Bartholomew (37:21)
and you can be proud of all the stuff you've done. So, pro-everyday pro-man.

John Lesser (37:30)
You know, what

I like to do is, I mean, you've seen it. I'll go through and I'll see like who's on the pro list, who's racing. So, you know, cool. Taylor Knibb, Kat Matthews. Cool. Let's put those in, in the athlete tracker and stuff. And, you know, it's, you know, you have eight hours. Okay. But, you know, you've watched the men's race, you watch the women's race, you meet some people and you, you talk to them about, you know,

And what possessed you to get here? Like, you know, how did you pick up this stuff? So, you know, ⁓ it's a good time. It's a really, really great energy. it's one of the big adrenaline rushes, I think. The environment is like ⁓ a party. it's, I mean, it's up there with, you know, any other kind of racing. you know, we've done other racing, like drag racing.

Jill Bartholomew (37:57)
and how you can pick up on the It's really a great time to get to know each It's one of the biggest challenges of the army of America, a party of

John Lesser (38:20)
You

Jill Bartholomew (38:20)
So what is your favorite thing that you have seen or witnessed on an Ironman course while spectating, you know, waiting for your age group athlete to finally finish that long ass bike?

John Lesser (38:41)
My favorite thing.

That's an interesting question. there's all different kinds of stuff that I could pick there. mean, there's entertaining signs. There's, I mean...

Jill Bartholomew (38:52)
I mean,

saw at Texas this year, you were there at the very spot in the moment when Kat Matthews passed Taylor, right? That's got to be memorable.

John Lesser (38:58)
Oh yeah. was, I was right there when that passed Taylor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was, oh,

that was a great spot. Cause I, mean, it was right there. It was near that, uh, that one, that one loop before you went back out, uh, on the canal. And, and I saw Taylor coming around the corner and then I, and I saw cat right there behind her. was like, she's going to catch her. is.

this is the lap that she's gonna catch her. I didn't have my camera right there ready at the time, but I know I missed opportunity. she was right there and then just 20 feet to my right, Kat made her way around and like, there she goes. There she goes.

Jill Bartholomew (39:41)
And

were you there when Taylor fell at the dismount line?

John Lesser (39:46)
I think I might've, I think I was there, but I didn't catch her fall.

Jill Bartholomew (39:48)
Because you're the one who told me about it. So I think you did

see that. And again, didn't have your camera out. you sense a theme here?

John Lesser (39:57)
Well, that's

because I'm trying to take pictures of you, not necessarily, you know, Kat Matthews and Taylor Nibb.

Jill Bartholomew (40:04)
Oh, well, you know, they finished the bike like an hour before I do. So there you have it.

John Lesser (40:11)
I mean,

Taylor, she put up a record setting bike and, you know, it's unfortunate that she lost, but I mean, if you're going to lose, that's the way to lose, you know. I set a record on the bike, but I mean, Kat set the record for the overall race. Yeah. Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (40:25)
Yeah, I mean, we saw that what twice in the last year.

So, okay. So let's, let's pivot, talk about run Disney. All right. So run Disney races are harder to spectate than Ironman races.

John Lesser (40:33)
Okay.

Vrun Disney Vs are a different animal, they're very expectant.

Jill Bartholomew (40:42)
they are so spectator

unfriendly that you almost have to try harder.

John Lesser (40:45)
Yeah, yeah.

You know, you really to spectate a Disney race, you really have to be familiar with where that course is. And you have to know beyond that course, like what's there and what's around just on a different level. So, you know, being able to say, OK, if I catch the monorail, I've got X amount of time. And, you know, that that's entertaining because the first the first time

I was spectating you, you were running the full.

If you are not familiar with the areas of Disney and you are trying to follow somebody that is on the faster side, you might miss a few opportunities.

Jill Bartholomew (41:28)
So what are those opportunities like? so you've spectated the marathon two or three times now. And, you know, we, we go to Disney quite a lot over the last, however many years. mean, we, I've been a pass holder for over a decade now. ⁓ I don't know how long you have been, but at least as long as we've been together and, you know, so we, we know it pretty well. And I've been running the Disney races for.

John Lesser (41:36)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (41:51)
It's closing in on, well, it's over half a decade now. Closing in on a decade, I guess. And so we know the routes, we know kind of thinking back to the first time you ran a race, I'm like, yeah, there's going to be a band there and there's going be music there. There's going to be a marching band there. There's going to be a character there. There's going be a character there.

John Lesser (42:09)
I still think that was one of the funniest

things because I remember running that race and going through and coming around and...

Jill said there's going to be a band there and it's like you put an X right where they were supposed to be and they were playing like you, went by like way before I did. So I feel like you've like put the X there, you set the band up and I, and I was watching them as they were playing as they went by and you're like, yeah, there's going to be a character here. There's going to be a band over there. And then there's going to be a DJ on this side.

Jill Bartholomew (42:42)
Yeah, as I've gotten faster, actually been, it's a different experience, right? Running Disney when you're on the faster side.

John Lesser (42:47)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (42:49)
You know, those running from like the A corral, the faster half of B. We don't get to see some of the stuff because it's not out yet. The characters, they don't really expect people on the faster end to be stopping at characters.

John Lesser (42:59)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (43:07)
And, you know, so they're less prepared for it. Sometimes the character's out, but the photographers aren't out yet, or the photographers are standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the character to show up.

John Lesser (43:19)
I've

heard that the A corral race is a different race compared to even just like a B corral race. I mean, I'm fortunate enough to start at the front of B.

Jill Bartholomew (43:24)
It is. Well, it is. And even

like the front of A versus back of A is different. But like, you know, I've gotten used to the marching band not playing when I go by and it's so disappointing because like that first marching band is at like mile two ish coming out of the start.

John Lesser (43:34)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (43:47)
They're always there and you know, it's always so fun to run by them and they're playing and then, you know, then when they're like still setting up, it's like, Oh man.

John Lesser (43:55)
And.

Yeah, there's I mean it's it's fun. It's one of those things where It's nice to have that little like marker like I remember like there's the the off-ramp and then you have the DJ It's like okay. Yeah, I remember where we are That's right. It's a long highway run from here And then you just have to you know sit there and just you know, off miles click off miles and that's that's

Jill Bartholomew (44:15)
Yeah.

John Lesser (44:21)
when you have that little internal monologue, like, why are we here again?

Jill Bartholomew (44:26)
Right.

So, you know, one of the questions I see a lot on the run Disney forums, mostly which are on Facebook, right? Especially as we get towards the race is like, okay, well, how do I spectate? And the answer unfortunately is

You don't for the most part like the 5k as a spectator you get to see people start and finish and that's about it because it's it's like entirely in the park Right

John Lesser (44:50)
Yeah, for the five days, that loop around Epcot and that's it. So

you're not going to beat somebody that's running and you're walking. You're that's not happening.

Jill Bartholomew (45:01)
Yeah. And the 10 K is kind of similar too, because even though it, it does pop out of Epcot, right? So it has the highway start. Yeah. Right. It starts, I mean, it starts in the parking lot and then, you know, kind of does the 180 out onto the highway. And then it loops around and you know, around the five K mark. It comes back into the park. So.

John Lesser (45:09)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (45:23)
Like you can kind of spectate like the star, can see them, the runners come down the bus, the bus circle. Right. ⁓

John Lesser (45:30)
Yeah, down the bus chutes. And that's one of those things where that's what I'm saying.

Like if you know the area and you know where the course is, you can kind of pick up those opportunities where it's like, they're going to come down the bus circle. Okay. And then they're going to go this way, that way. And then I just have to go this way. Fine. You know, you can, you can play that race and, and come out ahead on that and actually see him, see your athletes on both ends of that.

Jill Bartholomew (45:45)
Right.

Yeah, now there, the only thing you have to be aware of, right, is the distance between the start and the bus chute as you called it, is not very far, right? It's like a five, 10 minute walk, maybe 10, 15 minute walk. But you have to go through security again, going back in.

John Lesser (46:07)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's,

I mean, there's, could also do the bus chute at the, at the far, the front of Epcot and then make it back over to the, what is it, the Gamora parking lot where the finish is. You can, you can do those and you don't have to worry about, about it too much.

Jill Bartholomew (46:18)
mean, you can also get a bus shoot at this bar, kind of like a cockpit, and they come back over to the...

Yeah, my point was, yeah, my point was, you know, I've seen people kind of get surprised that they have to go through the security checkpoint multiple times because you're kind of entering and exiting the secure zone. And, and like, you know, they get stuck in,

John Lesser (46:39)
Yeah, security can be tricky for a Disney race. ⁓

Yeah, but I mean...

Jill Bartholomew (46:56)
some lengthy lines, especially if your runner is on the slower side, you might get stuck in the same line that like early entry for the park is going through.

John Lesser (47:00)
Yeah.

Mm hmm. Yeah. It was, I think it was Disneyland when you did the Dopey to Dumbo. There was, there was a race that I was like, I bounced back and forth in a couple of spots twice. And one of the security guards, he was like, he's like, I have checked you out. He's like, I checked your backpack. Like, yep, I am so secure today. I should get a gold sticker. So that way I can be like, you know,

Jill Bartholomew (47:09)
Yeah. ⁓

And

did he give you a gold sticker? Did you get a Disney sticker at least? Like the circle one they give kids? It was a Mickey Mouse sticker. All right, well, I mean, at least it wasn't like a DVC sticker.

John Lesser (47:34)
I did not get a gold sticker, no.

It was a Mickey Mouse sticker I got. Yeah, it was a Mickey Mouse sticker.

No, no, it was, it was an official Mickey Mouse sticker.

Like I was, I was officially secure for the day.

Jill Bartholomew (47:52)
So anyways, yeah, I think, I think for like the Disney races, the most spectator friendly race seems to be the half marathon versus the marathon. It's like the marathon from a runner's perspective, it's cool, right? I mean, yeah, there's a lot of highway, but there's a limited amount of like park space to run through. But it's like, you know, you run through all the parks, but

John Lesser (48:11)
Yeah, yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (48:17)
as a spectator, you'd have to figure out how to get to the parks. And getting from Epcot to Magic Kingdom isn't that big of a deal because you have the monorail.

John Lesser (48:23)
Yeah. ⁓

Yeah, Epcot

to Magic Kingdom is... That's the quick one. Because, I mean, you can go from Epcot to Magic Kingdom like, you know, I see you off at the start and I immediately hop them on a rail.

Jill Bartholomew (48:32)
Right.

Right. But anywhere else, you need a car because right between road closures, the fact that you really can't walk anywhere, you know, at Disney that's not in the park and all the transportation because it's so early is shut down or, a lot of the walking paths that do exist are shut down because the race runs over it. Like the walking path between Epcot.

John Lesser (48:43)
yeah, there's no chance to get to like Animal Kingdom easily.

yeah, that's... yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (49:09)
and Hollywood studios, right? You can't walk on that as a non-athlete because it's part of the course. it's at least for like the middle of the pack and the back of the pack is very congested, right? I've heard horror stories on how congested it is. So, like expecting there, I've heard of people being able to see their athlete in every park.

John Lesser (49:10)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (49:35)
And I'm like, how? I could see like magic kingdom. Yeah, like I could see, you know, going from the start, magic kingdom, and then from magic kingdom to animal kingdom. Like I could see that working because, you know, from the time that you as the athlete leave, I mean, now it's TTC on the exit because they reversed the course.

John Lesser (49:37)
I'm curious to know how they do that.

Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (49:59)
But from like the time you exit there to the time you're in animal kingdom, that's like eight or 10 miles, right?

John Lesser (50:06)
Yeah. And that's, that's one of those little hidden spots is

remember that you actually can see everybody running just at the TTC. Not many, I feel like the last race, I didn't see many people spectating at the TTC and I was wondering like, how many people know that spot right there?

Jill Bartholomew (50:18)
You know, think

it's because the course was reversed this year. you know, we're used to going from Epcot down the highway and then

going to TTC and then counterclockwise around, know, seven seas Lagoon through, you know, past, you know, contemporary into the bus, you know, the bus parking lot and then through Magic Kingdom. And then it comes, pops out the other side to Hollywood or to, to grand Floridian. And then, you know, continues its way past Polly and, and on, you know, back out onto the highway.

And this year it was like the opposite, right? You know, obviously it came down the highway, but you know, we didn't run through the toll booths which is always disappointing when you don't get to run through the toll booths Cause I love that picture, but yeah, it hangs the left there when where the road wise and goes, you know, up to, uh, you know, up past the, uh, TTC parking lot and, you know, straight to ground Floridian.

John Lesser (51:14)
Yeah, that's good spot, yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (51:32)
And then we pop at Grand Floridian over to the new walking path that goes around Seven Seas Lagoon. And then run that into Magic Kingdom. And then we run out and kind of reverse through past the contemporary and into TTC. And then from TTC, we got the grand tour of the parking lot.

And then there's like five, four or five miles in the parking lot. It's kind of boring. I'll take a residential development any day over another tour of the TTC parking lot. But I think maybe that's like what you're seeing is like, everyone is still in Magic Kingdom waiting for their runner where before...

You know, before they could be at TTC, see their runner, get on the monorail, make it over to Magic Kingdom before their runner does.

John Lesser (52:24)
Mm-hmm. That's what I mean. Like,

I don't know how many people are aware that there's that one spot right there. It's kind of tucked off to the side, but it's a good viewing spot, and there weren't many people last time I was there, so you get a great view. I remember you were surprised that I was there.

Jill Bartholomew (52:31)
Yeah.

yeah, I was surprised that, that you, from a timing perspective, were able to make it, you know, from one, from one to the other. Yeah. Cause you saw me in Magic Kingdom and it's only like two miles. Although the route through Magic Kingdom has gotten longer, right? It was like a half mile or a quarter mile longer this year than it was in the past. but even so from when you exit Magic Kingdom to when you get into TTC, it's only like a mile and a half. It's not super far.

John Lesser (52:45)
Yeah, so was I.

Jill Bartholomew (53:05)
Like that whole loop is only like five or six, five or six K. ⁓ And then I could see like how you, like I could see how you could get from there, which like absolutely do not drive into the TGC. like the road is shut down. It will take you a police escort to get out of there.

John Lesser (53:11)
Yeah, I feel it from here.

I

I feel like

with Disney you really have to plan your next spot. So while you're spectating and you're waiting for your athlete, you're looking at the map and you're figuring out how to get to your next spectating spot.

Jill Bartholomew (53:25)
Yeah. ⁓

But I could see

like taking them on rail back to Epcot and then

John Lesser (53:37)
Well, you're that speed where it's like, yeah, that's what

I have to do if I'm going to make it there.

Jill Bartholomew (53:43)
Well,

I don't think you have an option. I don't think there's another way that time of day to get back to EPCOT but you take the monorail back. I could see someone, especially if you're in CDEF, being able to get in the car, drive over to Animal Kingdom and see your runner. Yeah, because we enter Animal Kingdom around the 30K mark, but we're exiting TTC.

John Lesser (53:58)
yeah, you could totally do that and you'd come out of heaven.

Jill Bartholomew (54:05)
around what, like the 15K mark? So, like, you've got some time. And depending on the speed of your runner, you might have, like, two hours.

John Lesser (54:15)
yeah, that's why I'm saying,

knowing your runners' pace and being familiar with how they are and how they're doing, that's a big thing that really helps you figure out how much time you have.

Jill Bartholomew (54:27)
Right. But getting from, uh, animal kingdom, like if you're spectating, you know, so you got to get in the park, which means you have to have a park ticket. And if you're a pass holder, also park reservation, right? Uh, cause at that point the park is open and you know,

John Lesser (54:40)
Mm-hmm.

yeah, yeah. And you have

security and you know.

Jill Bartholomew (54:48)
Exactly. Yeah. The park is open. faster runners, don't get to ride any of the rides cause the rides don't open until the park opens. but you know, slower runners, they may choose to ride a ride, know, up more time. ⁓

John Lesser (55:03)
You know, I think

for a spectating Disney, would be handy if spectators had electric scooters to get around.

Jill Bartholomew (55:11)
Just what Disney needs more scooters.

John Lesser (55:13)
You know, just a little like two wheel scooters, just see like a whole army of them going from place to place. Like, where are going? Magic Kingdom, where are we going? Epcot, where are we going?

Jill Bartholomew (55:21)
Spectating by Segway Yeah, but you know, going from there, I see the question like, well, could we see them in all four parks? I'm like, at that point, you kind of have to choose. Like, do you see your athlete at Hollywood Studios or do you see them at the finish line? Because you're not going to see them in both places.

John Lesser (55:22)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, there's a certain point where you're to have to, I mean, can you can you do it? It's, know, there's a certain point where you're to have to find your bail point and say, OK, we absolutely want to see them cross the finish line. OK, so how far is it from here? How much time do we have? And then, you know, there's a certain point where it's like, OK, as soon as they go by, you're like, OK, cool, we got to move. We got to go. There's no there's absolutely.

Jill Bartholomew (55:55)
Yeah. Yeah, I sometimes think that spectating

John Lesser (56:07)
no time, there's no dawdling or anything. But you do have to have that kind of, that set ripcord moment where you're like, all right, we gotta like abandon plans and go back this way, you know.

Jill Bartholomew (56:24)
is more work than the actual run itself. Or maybe not more work, but more stress for sure.

John Lesser (56:27)
It's tricky, you what I'm depends on the course.

And that's why I say it depends on the course. It really does.

Jill Bartholomew (56:39)
Yeah. So I think what we had determined is, is Disney can be spectated for the longer races, but it's still pain in the rear. where like the typical Ironman or foot race, you know, is maybe you don't see your athlete all that much, but it's, it's easier to find your athlete. So one of the questions I had is, so now that you've, you know, kind of been there, done that with these longer races.

I know a lot of people volunteer at like T1 and volunteer while their athlete is out on course at eight stations. Is that something you're going to start doing?

John Lesser (57:13)
⁓

I could see myself doing that at different races.

Jill Bartholomew (57:18)
Get yourself a

pink shirt and some latex gloves and start handing out waters. Or you could be a wetsuit stripper.

John Lesser (57:25)
Yeah, yeah, I could.

I don't know if I have the talent to pull that off. have seen wetsuit peelers that are like their lake placid last year. There was this one woman she was she was snapping people out of wetsuits. I swear she was going to snap somebody back in the water with how hard she was sending her. Like some of these people just like they laid down. They didn't even realize they were out of their wetsuit. They were checking that they actually had clothes on when she was done.

Jill Bartholomew (57:33)
And these are two and a half million dollars in last quarter. There's a late-opening last year, they announced the launch of the C-8. She was the manager of the R-8. I swear she had a chance on the back and forth, and she was trying to play with some of those people. they laid back, they said, hey, we're going to the C-8. And I said, we're not going it. I'm closing on

you

John Lesser (57:57)
to wetsuit peeler.

Jill Bartholomew (57:58)
So, you know, it's funny you mentioned that, you know, there's people who you wonder, you know, they're such effective wetsuit strippers that the person that they're taking the wetsuit like, like it looks like they might fly back into the water. I actually know a few people at the last few races I've done who lost their timing chip to the wetsuit stripper. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like,

John Lesser (58:20)
I can totally see that happening.

Jill Bartholomew (58:25)
Like, yeah, yeah, that's why your timing chip has to be under the wetsuit.

John Lesser (58:30)
Yeah, and that's why you

go with that extra safety pin.

Jill Bartholomew (58:33)
That's why I always put a safety pin on it. And I tell everyone that'll listen, you know, put a safety pin on it. It's just like a little bit extra insurance. And, know, I was talking to someone the other day that, you know, they didn't even have a wetsuit on and they still lost their timing chip in the water. Yeah. I guess someone had like, you know, whether on purpose or not had grabbed their ankle in the, in the swim.

John Lesser (58:50)
geez.

I was going to say you said that

I mean from the sprint that I did the swim is a mosh pit so I wouldn't yeah I'm not surprised that I could see that happening like somebody just tearing at your ankle and just having it come off.

Jill Bartholomew (59:01)
Yeah.

Yes, well, especially in a sprint.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think in the falls, it's not as bad for the most part. If it's in a lake or a river, like the canal at Texas was pretty congested because, it's not that wide and you have, you know, 2000, 3000 people trying to make their way through. But, but yeah.

John Lesser (59:33)
Yeah. Yeah. I remember Atlantic

city. got punched. I got kicked in the side and I was like, and you can't stop because you know, you're swimming.

Jill Bartholomew (59:38)
and you can stop and push the

Well, I mean, you can, but it's not going to help you. Yeah, it's the most part. I don't know. The one in Atlantic City, you can probably stand up in most of the swim. It's pretty shallow there. Yeah, you don't know what's on the bottom and what disease you're going to get from it.

John Lesser (59:46)
Yeah, but you don't get to pause and stand up a second and be like, ow.

Yeah, but you probably don't want to. ⁓

Yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (1:00:07)
But yeah, and it's Atlantic City. mean, getting punched and kicked is just kind of very on brand there. It's Atlantic City. All right. So we talked a lot about spectating and kind of what I'm getting from this is like, it really comes down to one, the athlete's guide and what's the course design. And then...

John Lesser (1:00:16)
Well, it's Jersey.

Yeah.

Figure out what the course

looks like. Try and pick your spots ahead of time. Get familiar with the area if you show up a couple days early. Try and get the lay of the land kind of thing.

Jill Bartholomew (1:00:42)
Right. But also

like the speed of your athlete is a factor too. Like if they're slow, you might actually be able to see them more than if they're on the faster side, depending on the design of the course.

John Lesser (1:00:48)
⁓ yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yep, absolutely.

Jill Bartholomew (1:00:56)
Right. And then, you know, on these long courses, you know, figuring out like, how do you stay entertained

John Lesser (1:01:03)
don't be upset if you miss the athlete that you're looking for and, you know, take in what's going on around you. Like, you know, you see the races that all these pros are doing and, you know, these people are in it for, you know, a pot of money at the end. So, you know, take a look at what they're doing and, you know, they're setting records left and right. You know, I like watching the...

their races and, you know, also checking out what's going on. you know, I I like cars and stuff. So was like, you look at the bikes and stuff. like, what are they running? That's interesting. How did they get that? What is, what is that piece that they're using?

Jill Bartholomew (1:01:36)
Yeah,

always find transition interesting and you know, the bikes. It really is, especially, you know, I was going to say especially the pro area, but it's not limited to the pro. Like in the faster age groupers, like there's some pretty innovative and expensive setups.

John Lesser (1:01:44)
yeah, it's like the pits at a car race kind of feel.

No, no, it's-

yeah, yeah. yeah.

It's a big endurance event that's going on. like, know, cars, sit there thinking of like, think of it like the 24 hours of Daytona and everybody's gearing up and, know, they're setting everything up and, and, know, you find some entertaining stuff, like, you know, people sit there and they're like meticulous about, you know, carbon fiber, this carbon fiber, that, and then you sit there and you watch like when there's

Jill Bartholomew (1:02:18)
you are in part of it, are in part of that. And you sit there and you're just like, I'm

embarrassed. The station is the ice, and you're like, oh, what? When they're sitting there, you're like, they're in part of it. You would expect, you would expect a problem because you're sitting there, you're like, I don't see any necessities, I'm just writing.

John Lesser (1:02:25)
staging and racking their bikes and everything you're looking around all of a sudden when they're sitting there worried about the weight savings and all of the carbon fiber and everything you wouldn't be you would be surprised because i mean you're sitting there setting up your bike you don't see it necessarily as much as i do

as but you know i see so much duct tape and zip ties

Jill Bartholomew (1:02:42)
Yeah.

John Lesser (1:02:49)
Like it is truly like, you know, it's like everything's out the window. got a race and then all of sudden it's like this big roll of duct tape

comes out and you got zip ties and like, yep, we need it to work. That's how it's going to work.

Jill Bartholomew (1:03:02)
Yeah, do find so like as an athlete, I do find it entertaining because you'd be on course and like on the swim. I'm, I'm okay. Right? Like I'm definitely not in one of the like survive the swim camp, but you know, it's not my best sport. I think cycling is my sport and everything else is second.

John Lesser (1:03:18)
No, no,

Jill Bartholomew (1:03:25)
But I've gotten faster over the last two years on the swim. But I'm still in the front third, but the back of the front third. so on the bike, you run into transition and I'll swim start or swim finish. And most of the bikes are still there. So you get on a course.

And, you know, get on course and you know, when you pass someone, it's like, you know, I mean, when in a triathlon, you don't really know if that person is in front of you or behind you because you don't know when they started the swim. But, you know, I've seen people like a Chattanooga, right? Well, that's a bad example because that was a, that didn't have a swim this year.

John Lesser (1:04:01)
Mm-hmm.

Jill Bartholomew (1:04:10)
But, I've been out there, you know, you see, you see guys out there on their bike and you're like, they're, they're like, it's a Sunday stroll. And I'm like, how did you get this far in front of me? And, you know, they, looks like they're, getting ready for like a, a, you know, seven part meal on their bike. And, you know, there's, there's so much, food attached to it.

John Lesser (1:04:32)
⁓ I've seen that. I've seen that on that

on that top tube. I have seen I didn't count them. I should have. I might have. I might have took a picture of it, but there was just like taped gels, the length of the tube from the headset all the way back to the seat. There was just a whole I don't have no idea how many there were, but I was like.

Jill Bartholomew (1:04:55)
Yeah, mean, it's

pretty common to tape the gels, but you know, you. Yeah. Yeah, especially in like a

John Lesser (1:04:58)
Yeah, but I mean, there had to be like 25 or something in number.

Jill Bartholomew (1:05:04)
In like a half, you expect to see maybe like six tops. Stacks of them. Sounds like someone was a little nervous they weren't going to have enough fuel. I mean, the downside of that is you get on the run and your belly is going to pay for all that fuel that you took in on the bike.

John Lesser (1:05:07)
Yeah, this was like, this was like they were stacked just all the way back. ⁓ there was, yeah, it was like they were, they were just nested over each other. ⁓

Maybe, maybe.

Yeah, yeah, that's that's one of those one of those worries cuz like is you know You're in that position on the bike and then like as soon as you step off it could be bad

Jill Bartholomew (1:05:33)
Yeah.

Yup, yup, yup. Most definitely, yeah, especially on like the longer races, you know, gut issues are hard to diagnose sometimes. It's like...

John Lesser (1:05:45)
yeah. yeah. I've,

I've seen plenty of people like just totally lose it on the run. they're just like, it was, I remember still, ⁓ Lake Placid last year, some of the runners, they just like, they were right. And all of a sudden, like there was that one out and there was this one out and back, ⁓ that we were spectating at and some people just around the court and they just laid down right there. Like that's it.

Jill Bartholomew (1:05:54)
It was a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,

John Lesser (1:06:12)
That's it, I'm done, I'm not going any further. You can't pay me to go any further. And I literally saw an ambulance back up and just cart people away. I was just like,

Jill Bartholomew (1:06:13)
very, very, very,

John Lesser (1:06:21)
that's, yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (1:06:21)
Yeah,

I've seen a few of those. I've seen a few medical emergencies on course, usually because of like overheating. know, you know, the most triathlons are in the summer, you know, the hotter months. And if you're not hydrating properly, then you're going to overheat. And I have seen a few people get carted off with...

John Lesser (1:06:32)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Jill Bartholomew (1:06:47)
you know, heat exhaustion where they've just kind of reached that point where their body is like, I can't do this anymore. And they're in rough spot.

John Lesser (1:06:51)
Yeah, that's...

Yeah, that's one of the big things that

you taught me early on was that to just make sure that you, you know, try to give yourself like a regimen of, you know, what to do and how often to do it at, because if you notice it, it's probably too late at that point.

Jill Bartholomew (1:07:11)
Yeah,

by the time you notice it is definitely too late. you know, Greg, I'm hoping you're listening since I know you don't like to hydrate.

So anyways, John, thank you for coming on to discuss spectating. We talked about quite a different, quite a range of topics from, know, marathons to Ironman and triathlons to run Disney, all very different things. And I hope that for our listeners, this was...

John Lesser (1:07:30)
Thank

Jill Bartholomew (1:07:40)
useful or you know someone who it is useful for. So, you know, if it's useful for someone, you know, pass it along and tell them to listen to the episode. All right. Until next time. See ya.