Ep. 1: How I Came to Be the Person Writing This Book

Before we talk race weekends, corrals and costumes, I owe you the story of how I got here. I wasn't a runner. I wasn't a Disney person. I was a Big Law attorney working 100-hour weeks when my dad got sick — and one day my body refused to sit still with what I was feeling, so I put on my sneakers and ran.

A heads-up before you press play: this episode talks about a parent's illness and an end-of-life decision. If today isn't the day for that, Episode 2 is out now too, and you can always come back.

This is Chapter One of The runDisney Companion, told the way I'd tell it across the table: the first run, the first Disney trip after we lost my dad, the 2016 Princess Half Marathon, the post-race crash nobody warned me about, the phone call that got me out of law, and the move to a home a stone's throw from Cinderella Castle. One hundred runDisney races later, here we are.

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CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:15 Welcome to The Castle Run
2:25 Chapter One: how I came to be the person writing this book
3:28 Big Law and the house of cards
4:18 My dad's diagnosis
5:54 The first run
6:59 My 36th birthday
8:09 Why I kept running, and our first Disney trip
11:38 Finding runDisney: the 2016 Princess Half Marathon
12:35 The post-race blues
13:15 "Put a date on the calendar"
14:07 Leaving the law and moving to Windermere
15:14 100 races and The runDisney Companion
16:05 A quick note, and my book partners
17:49 What's next

THE BOOK: The runDisney Companion — thecastlerun.com/book
UPDATES: the Companion Hub — thecastlerun.com/companion
New episodes Tuesdays at 5 a.m.

Book partners are sponsors of the book. There's no affiliate relationship; I don't earn anything when you book with them.

The Castle Run podcast and The runDisney Companion are not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by Disney or runDisney.

00:00 Cold open
00:15 Welcome to The Castle Run
02:25 Chapter One: how I came to be the person writing this book
03:28 Big Law and the house of cards
04:18 My dad's diagnosis
05:54 The first run
06:59 My 36th birthday
08:09 Why I kept running, and our first Disney trip
11:38 Finding runDisney: the 2016 Princess Half Marathon
12:35 The post-race blues
13:15 "Put a date on the calendar"
14:07 Leaving the law and moving to Windermere
15:14 100 races and The runDisney Companion
16:05 A quick note, and my book partners
17:49 What's next