EXPERIENCE 267 | Mandy Mullen - Ultra-Runner, Entrepreneur, Podcast Co-Host, Wife & Mom

Mandy Mullin returns for her third time in the local experience studio. Check out our conversations on Episode 91 and Episode 155 for more of the origin story and setting the stage for what has become. But today, we're catching up on all new stuff. The no-co urban ultra, the upcoming Welder Metal Running Festival, the launch of a new brand in Miles Beyond, the expansion of corporate teams, signing up to fundraise via the Wild West relay, becoming a Lulu lemon ambassador, and what that means, and becoming the co-host of an ultra-running theme podcast, Buckle Up. I'm worn out just talking about all the ideas that Mandy has been growing, and really proud to count her among our membership at local think tank. So we talked about Mandy's next upcoming event, because she's also an ultra-runner, the Coca-Dona 250 in Arizona. Yep, that's right. It's a 250-mile cross-country event, which Mandy anticipates completing in 90 to 110 hours of grinding it out, with a couple of two to four-hour sleeps and intermingled dirt naps. We also talked about racism, sorry, not laughing about the racism, laughing about the dirt naps. We also talked about racism in running, and how she's seen that, and it surprised me a little bit, the story she shared, and her experience with racism, even in her growing up years as a teen, and throughout, and the pressure of succeeding as a first-generation college graduate, and a mom, and a wife, and an ultra-runner, and a business owner, and she's a gem. And I'm a big fan, and I know you'll enjoy my latest conversation with Mandy Mullin. Let's have some fun. Welcome to the LOCO Experience Podcast. On this show, you'll get to know business and community leaders from all around Northern Colorado and beyond. Our guests share their stories, business stories, life stories, stories of triumph and of tragedy, and through it all, you'll be inspired and entertained. These conversations are real and raw, and no topics are off limits, so pop in a breath mint, and get ready to meet our latest guest. Welcome back to the LOCO Experience Podcast, Mandy Mullin. It's been a minute since I've been on this couch, she's in this room. Yes, been. Do you feel a little bit like it's a counseling session when you come into the studio? I do now, that first episode, I didn't know what to expect, and I left, and I was like, well, we should have been way more prepared for counseling, and so now I know what I'm getting into. Well, the response from your friends when they met me about one of your events or whatever was just like, yeah, I'm the guy that helped make Mandy's story be more known. Tiny little bit. A little bit, asking the hard-hitting questions. Yes. Well, first, we're going to sample whizz-cal from our spirit sponsor, seed and spirit distilling, so I was describing, Mandy doesn't like smoky, usually, so this is a test of the spirit distilling system. Okay, cheers. Okay, I'm a fan. It is not too smoky. I was expecting a lot of smoke, and it's really sweet, so it's straight up on ice cubes. It makes a nice margarita because it gives just that little dash of a little salt and salt and salt. Yeah, I like it. I've been to, have you been to Twin Staves in Windsor? I have. Okay. It's been a little bit, but yeah, I'm friends with the owners there, and so Hunter. I don't know. Yeah, so owner. One of the owners of Twin Staves. Yeah, yep. Okay. So yeah, it's a fun place to visit. What are they famous for? They're whiskies. Just straight up whisky. Yeah, yeah. So Lerato whisky, I hope I'm saying that right, is the whisky that they distill and have there, and then variety of brands, and you can get wine and Prosecco of course, but perhaps we should have our next meeting there. We should have our next meeting there. Maybe I haven't. Wasn't there another Twins? Crooked Stave. Oh, Crooked Stave. That's really nice. So Twin Staves, downtown Windsor. I was confused. Yeah, thank you. I have not known about it. Oh, it's beautiful. Okay. So it's brand new, ish. Brand new, yeah, they just opened. I mean, with the ribbon cutting, we, the collective, we, you know, Windsor rights. So it's like a strawberry with also beer and food too? Yeah, they actually get food from upstairs from hearth. Oh, okay. It's not the same owners. Not the same owners, but they just kind of parted together to offer food and drinks. Yeah, very cool. That's a little bit. A little bit cooler every month. It is. Should I introduce you? Sure. Mandy Mullin, the CEO and founder of Miles Beyond Running Community, organizer of the Run.Winsor series, which is expanded behind the geographic boundaries of Windsor, owner of and manager of the Run.Colorado Relays, which includes Wild West Relay and the Flaming foliage. foliage, do you say foliage? foliage. Yes. Yeah, not foil. It's not foil. foliage. foliage. foliage. foliage. foliage. Relay. And what else? Oh, recently, be crowned Lulu Levin Ambassador. You could talk about that. Yeah. And local think tank member of, do you know, like three years? Three years. I'm going to guess three to four years. Okay. Might be going on four years here. Yeah, take it. Let me tell you how about that as well. What do you want to talk about first? I guess maybe just what's been going on since the last time we visited. Sure. Well, in Miles Beyond, it wasn't just an idea, I mean, not the last time you were here. I believe it was, was it sprouting yet? You know, it was, I think we were, I think we were having really genuine conversations. I'm just part of local think tank. And then of course, your mentorship and friendship over the years. Yeah. We kept circling around, which I'm sure a lot of your listeners go through this. You've gone through this too. Like as you expand your brand. And what you're doing, you know, how often does the brand name you started or the confines, you've set up, still work for you. And so it's like so hard as an entrepreneur to decide, where do you go with this? Is it a new company? Is it a new name? Is it total rebrand? Is it just an expansion? And so Miles Beyond Running Company really has been a work in progress. I would guess for probably three to four years that I've been, you know, renovating on something has to change, but like how do you do it while protecting your baby and what you built? Right, right, right. So I don't know if you know this, but local think tank was minutes away from becoming no co-think tank. I think you shared that with me. Yes. And so thankfully, I didn't have had to rebrand. I've had to figure out how the podcast fits in with local think tank, but not in that same way that you're like, well, I'm run dot Windsor. And I've got these relays. And I'm doing stuff in Greeley and Severance. Yeah. And yeah, that's exactly where it came from. You know, run Windsor started in 2017, as you know, the story like as a women's running group. And it was the logo, the name, putting run, lower case letters, the period, and then Windsor with the capital W like that was all sketched out on a napkin. Really? I know that's just such a cliche story that we talk before even talking to a graphic designer. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Daisy, the girl that I started it with, we actually did like sketching out on a napkin. And I think, I think the run dot part came from live strong, right? I think it was there branding live dot strong. So we had to stole that idea. That's what R&D stands for is rip off and duplicate. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. We did that. Because we didn't think it was going to become anything. It was a hobby, you know, group coaching program. And but when you sketch something on a napkin like that and you that brand and that logo and that design live with you through so much, you know, COVID gym ownership, expanding our races, becoming more than the run coaches back to COVID, you know, just all the things and then growth as you as a person going from, you know, personally running five case to now ultra-distance like that brand has just been such a big part of me. And so I didn't want to let it go and actually have a fun story about our friend Doug from sage marketing. He's in a love that I'm going to tell the story. But as we talked about, I kind of, you know, talked to you, you know, what's next? We bought Wild West relay and flaming foliage relay decided to put on the no co-urban ultra, which we'll talk about later. That's a 50 miles from, you know, connecting Bellevue Fort Collins through Timnith Windsor and Greeley. We're going to live well in Lamar counties, even more scary. Absolutely. Two counties, you know, putting on races and severance, Timnith and Greeley, I can't show up with the big run Windsor arch. And for racing downtown Greeley, like that's not a good, that's not, that's not cool. It's kind of a dick move, you know, not a good look. Like, you don't want to come in like where Windsor putting on this racing Greeley, like, we're better than you. You guys should look better than you. Don't have your own race directors. Yeah, I guess we'll come in and take care of you. Where people are smart enough for over at Windsor. Exactly. Yeah, like it felt really crappy. It felt really good. And I grew up in brush, right? So I also, I'm like, I am also like a small town girl. I'm country like I see you. So not the Greeley's even country anymore. But yeah, anyway, so that's kind of where that came from. But I had such an attachment to it that I couldn't let it go. So it was trying to figure out instead of fully rebranding and really didn't even need a rebrand because really we want to be geographically. Yeah, and we run Windsor still has a race series. But now Run Greeley also has races. Run Severance has a few races. Run call it a relays holds these two of many ways. So you do a little sub thing even for those miles beyond is like the organizer of run dot Severance run dot Greeley. It's the parent company. But I'm still just still the owner. It's still in charge of all of them. And it's more just the branding and how do we show up? Right. So your racer when you run a race in Severance, it doesn't say run Windsor. But it says run Severance. Yeah. And also miles beyond. So we're just trying to rebrand this. And I could be getting it all wrong. But also that's beauty of entrepreneurship. Because we're following our own guys. So well, and you're also doing like more potential coaching of others through that same miles beyond brand and stuff like that, right? Like I don't know how it's going or people calling about that. Yeah, you know, I've I've mentored a couple of people. I'm not I'm not doing anything too formal because I'm still trying to figure out. I'm making a big income source. I'm not making a big income source. We're I hope to someday right now. I'm still just figuring out how that ties in with everything else I have going on. Still trying to keep up my own ultra running and race to kids and be present for my family and my husband and friends, you know, but yeah, it's really kind of explained a more that there are other things underneath the miles beyond brand that are important to me. So as you mentioned, I'm a Lula Manebasseter. I've I've co-hosted my own podcast now in the ultra-industry space. Yeah, which is what you want to give that a plug? Yeah. So it's the buckle-up podcast. Okay. It's an ultra running conversation with myself and Brian who's also my run coach. Okay. So Brian is a very accomplished runner. He's run the Leadville 100. He just run his 10th belt buckle. Oh, wow. Which if you run Leadville, you get finished or you get really good or you've finished 10 times. You run that race 10 of us. I've finished two. I've DNFed once. And Brian's run at 10 times. So once you graduate to 10, you don't get like the normal size belt buckle. Now you got like the giant one that like weighs more than me for sure. Yeah. So anyways, Brian's an incredible runner. Okay. Are you guys together or are you zooming with each other and do you talk to other people too? Yeah. So we're zooming together. We always have guests on. So we're all three in different locations. Brian's out on the western slope in Glenwood. So it's the two of you and then a third. And then we're interviewing someone else. Also awesome runner or race organizer or yeah, someone in the space. Most of the time it's ultra runners and we're interviewing front of the pack leaders like Killian Corp has been on our show and he's like new and up and coming sponsored. Well, Conrad Corp is my friend now from where wins are there. Yeah. Your friend as well. Yeah. So kind of a small world, but Killian is like a newly sponsored athlete. One to watch. She's run a couple of 200 mile races. All right. He's looking to perform really well and who knows what happens at this coconut 250. Then I'm also going out to run. So yeah, we interview like top leaders, but then we also we want to get the story of just the everyday athlete. Middle packers back of the packers, you know, like myself that you're you're not paid. You're not sponsored, but somehow you fit in running 40 to 100 miles a week to train for these big races. Like that is a pretty cool story because it's, you know, it's pretty like it's so much. We're not superhuman, but it takes some like superhuman mentality and like how do you puzzle pieces all together? What's your time investment? Like can I jump to that squirrel chase guy? Yeah. Like what you're training you got your two weeks out from coconut. Two weeks out from coconut. Run 250 miles in how many hours? Hopefully. So hopefully like 90 to 110 hours. Okay. So four to four to five days. And you camp? Well, you dirt nap is one method of sleep out there. When you get so tired that you think you're going to pass out, you just go down on the trail. So like maybe you want to have an ultra light backpack with a windbreaker or something. Yeah. And water is that for a pillow as much water as you can reasonably carry. Yep. Yep. Dirt naps are one source. They're real. Look it up. Look up dirt napping for ultra runners. It can be kind of scary. So how many 90 hours? Yeah. 90 to 110 I think is my prediction. The winners will win it in just a couple of days. And I think the overall course cut off is six days. So somewhere in between there. Okay. But you have a crew follow you along. Okay. And they're sitting you up with fresh water bottles and stuff like that. Yeah. There's eight stations all along the course. I think coconut has like 20 or 25 eight stations. So even if you out alone, you just run, you have how many miles of between eight stations. I don't even know the difference. I would say hold me for a minute. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much what's going to happen. So the eight stations are like, I don't know, maybe seven to 12 miles apart. Sometimes longer where you get there and there's food and water and a volunteer. You might sit in a volunteer's lap and cry and they'll take care of you and pick you up and send you on your way or your crew can meet you there. And so Nick will be there and Ellie ensues and my kids and my family will come out. This is a special kind of experience. Yeah. They'll come out with the camper van and our car. And so if I need, if I'm going to take my two to four hour nap there, I'll sleep in the car and then they'll set an alarm. Oh, so you're running circles? No, they can just go to where you're going to be. Exactly. And you can sleep in the car and actually get like a few wings. Yep. Yeah. So I think I'm planning like start some Monday morning. I'll plan to run all through the night Monday night, sleep Tuesday night, sleep Wednesday night, like two to four hours is kind of the plan. So little nap. So somewhere in the range of six to eight hours of sleep or maybe 10 of the most of this 90 or 110. That's kind of my plan. And in between that, you're just running straight and stopping at eight stations to take many breaks, change locks, change shoes. I don't know. Eat. Fill up your pack. I hope. Thank you. Way less miserable than it's home. I know. Right? It's good. Is it? What's your trading regimen now? Are you kind of backed off a little bit? So kind of rebuild the spring so you can test them again? Yeah. I'll back down just a little bit this week. I think last week I ended up with 60 or close to 60 miles this past week. So nothing crazy. Like three 20 miles or something? No, like I don't know, like an hour to two hours a day. I did, so it's your 28 miles, yes, I did like close to 22. I was having some hit pain and thought best to stop, which I told you I walked in, I was like I'm walking a little funny. I think the day before I did 11, the day before that I did seven, six, five, you know, so manageable. When I was training for the Wild West relay and horse tooth half marathon back in the day and stuff, I would run five miles every time. That was kind of my minimum route. Yeah, so that's like a really good base, like five to eight miles every day and then a couple of long runs on the weekend. And that actually prepares you to run like a stupid maniac through the day and stuff. That a whole lot of yeah, it's more consistency. I think it's been how long I've been training. So I did a 65 mile race in was it in January, February? So I mean, I've been training for like, I don't just kind of stayed in shape nine months to a year. So it's been it's not so much that like in this last month, I've racked up high miles. It's more just been like consistent 40 plus mile weeks and strength training and I'm going to all the things. I'll make sure this podcast gets out before that so that whoever's listening could please pray for Mandy and her team, her support team. You have Pacers and stuff too? Yeah, they'll get out and pace with me. So the course starts in Black Canyon, Black Canyon Ranch. So North of Phoenix kind of winds to your Sedona, the mountains up there and then circles up and around and finishes in Black stuff. Yeah, we go through Jerome. So point to point and then the crew, there's live trackers. So I'll share that link with you and be sure that you can share on your socials. So if anyone's like a wake up at one a.m. and need something to entertain you, it's a fun thing to open and see where all the runners on the course are at at one a.m. And so crew will kind of do the same thing. They'll follow along and then they'll hop out and run with me. I think after mile 75 is when I get my first Pacer. A.J. is going to get out and pace. A.J. Felt? Yep. Really? Yeah. So. Does he run fast enough to pace you? I think after you hit 100 miles, he'll probably be fine. It'll be fine. Yeah, we're not like sprinting, you know, we're no offense. A.J. I know you're an awesome runner. He's going to be he's been training his whole team. Abigail, A.J., they have someone else on their crew. That's a lot of runner. Oh, that's great. So they're coming now. Who's somebody is running it? It's self or they're just finding people to pace you and. No, so they're pacing me because we're actually doing a documentary. Oh, sweet. About my experience at Cocodona. We would have liked to run that wild thing and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering if there was going to be captured. So we are capturing all the magic and the mess and the tears. I'm sure there'll be a lot of a lot of a lot of the pain. Yeah. And that's kind of part of the kind of foundational literature, if you will, of the miles beyond brand. Do you feel pressure? I do like to have the like, I mean, you're you're over 40 now, right? I'm 40. I'm almost 41. Yeah, there's some pressure there. There's huge imposter syndrome. Like who the hell do I think I am to have my friend come out and film and have them spend all this time out there with us? All right. And document this experience. And I actually had a coach I was working with Chalice. Springfield. Yep. Chalice. I said, she's a gem. She's a gem. She's a gem. I had her coaching me on another thing I was I'm seeing and speaking at. And I was telling her about my imposter syndrome. I'm like, I just I'm having these like nightmares of like, why? Who might I think that like I deserve to have a documentary about this running experience? Cocodona 250. I'm not going to win it. I'm not a front runner. Right. I want you to sponsorship out of it. Yeah. Like in what that would that look like anyway, I'm working on miles beyond. Right. Exactly. We live as a cool sponsorship. Yeah. We live as I'm a fastener ship. And that's awesome. But like, I don't know who cares about this other than like it's messy. And it's imperfect. And I am inspiring. And I'm putting this all. Yeah. Right. Like I kind of like I hope you don't feel any like there's a little bit of mocking because I know that myself I'm too scared to myself that hard. But it's admiration. Well, thanks. And that's what she kind of said. And I was like, she's like, well, why are you doing it? And I said, well, I just want to share that with others. Like I want to share that you can do it too kind of. You do not have to be super human to do these super human things. And you can be a first generation five foot to hundred pound female from brush Colorado that came from literally nothing. No athletic aspirations. No one in your family ran. No one in your family owned a business. No one in your family ever went to college, even though you've got like 80 first cousins, 16 aunts and uncles, you're the first one to do all these things. Like you can still you can pick yourself out of nothing and do what you want to do with your life. And so I'm telling her that I'm digging because that story can go pretty deep for me. I can just keep worth vomiting and I told her that and she looked at me and she said, I don't really care if you don't think you're worthy of the story, Mandy, because guess what? It's not about you. It's about everyone else that's watching you and it's everyone else that you're inspiring. That's who it's about. It's you telling this story to the other minority first generations or the other people who've come from something horrible and they want they dream of something bigger from themselves or whatever it might be. Like that's the story that you've been tasked to tell. And so that's your reason why. And I was like, oh, okay, I guess we're going to do this and stop feeling weird about it. Yeah. So I'm excited. It's a little bit similar. Like, we've not talked about faith too much in our conversations, have we? Not a whole lot. And I think you've got like kind of a partial like Catholic background relationship. Yeah, yeah. Like Catholic. Praise Catholic. Praise Catholic. And and if you want to, I'm going to swing us like right into that because when I can't, so let's see. How do I? So I was I was curious about faith stuff. I got to college and I was all curious about how to be the best Kurt. I could be kind of in researching, you know, I was in Greek philosophy and studying all these things. And I didn't like the way the Christians didn't like each other. Right? The Catholic didn't like the Lutherans and stuff. And I was like, well, they're both a bunch of domestic because we should all like everybody. We're all hypocrites then. Right. Exactly. Kind of it was right in the Ireland stuff, car bombs, whatnot days when I was growing up. And I felt guilty like for being kind of, you know, like for just turning out on the random to be kind of smart, kind of charismatic. You know, I grew up super small and dorky and I eventually got tall. And then girls eventually liked me when I finally turned like to a grown-up when I was 25 or something, you know. And I had it pretty good, you know, just on the random, you know. And so I had this guilt kind of thing. And then when I finally came to faith, it was like, well, then you have to try to help other people like you've been blessed with this great opportunity. And I don't, you know, local thing tank hasn't changed the world yet. We're changing a little bit at the time, Northern Colorado. And we're excited about what we can build. And like for me, that's almost, it's a mission project for me. And whatever is driving your faith, I don't know. But anyway, I just noticed some coral areas in my own reflections. And so I guess talked to me about that. Have you, where does faith in your world? Yeah, it's huge. I mean, it's interesting because we did grow up Catholic and we, we all shifted away from that a little bit. Okay. We, we were the five of us who get ready for church every Sunday and we're the itchy dress and my mom would braid our hair and curl and we look perfect and we go and recite the things. But it didn't really have meaning. Never resonated. Never resonated to me until your world, world falls apart. And everything we kind of went through. My parents went through really, really tough divorce. You're trying to hold the pieces together. You're trying to hold them together and are my siblings and you're also trying to go on a church kind of fell by the way. So go to school full-time and you know, I was at CSU at the time and work a full-time job. Oh, so you're already kind of mostly grown up when your parents split? It was really terrible. And it's like that's when faith mattered. But it's not like for us, personally, going to a church wasn't where we founded. It was more truly discovering love for family and faith and humanity in each other. Reaching. Yeah. That's what it feels like a little bit is, that's maybe a little bit of your faith is reaching. 100%. Yeah, reaching and finding your community and support and learning what love and what all of that actually means. How do we actually show up in this world? For us, it turns out it actually wasn't showing up to a church every week. Putting on the pretty dress. Maybe a little bit like that. It got us to that point, right? We're pretty dressed in my church, by the way. Let me know if you ever want to investigate that because it does feel like you're the kind of person that would be proud to bring them to the club because a lot of us have been, had these bad feelings about churches and church people. I don't think I do. I definitely don't anymore. I think I just took a hiatus because it was like everything else needed of herity. But in that, I rediscovered faith in such a more natural organic way. Like having a relationship with God for me just is different than what I was told it was going to be when I was growing up. So I think I just found it in a place that was more genuine and authentic. And I think when I have these hard times, whether as an ultra runner, race director building something from scratch that barely can pay anything to myself, that is my church. And I think that to your point, that's the way that I have been called to give back. That is how I'm answering God's calling for my life is impacting lives and showing we deserve second chances and we can build ourselves out of what seems like nothing. And dream. Yeah, dream. Dream. Yeah, that's good stuff. So yeah, I mean faith is really important to me. And I think that's just kind of where it's come from and why it means so much. Like I get, we'll get our thank you emails after a race and notes. And I had one participant bake me cookies and bring me the sweetest snow after this race we held last weekend. And you know, it just said thank you so much for always caring and loving so much for your runners. I love your races. You've changed my life. And it's like, okay, if we can do that for others and then we can remind them of the impact they could have on someone else's life. It's just to your point, like you don't think you've changed the world yet. Come on, friend, you've changed the world. You know that. Little pieces here in there. But that's only what you can see. Right. And are you always thinking about that ripple effect that you've had others? Yeah. And I don't think you're giving yourself that credit. And that's hard for us to do because a lot of pressure. It is a lot of pressure. Because then on the days you wake up and I'm going to cry and you're like, I can't do this. And then you think about like everyone that's in that ripple effect downstream from you or upstream from you. That is a lot of pressure. But I think when we've built the proper communities and support systems and we know we can crumble and fall apart a little bit and celebrate the good that we're not going to do it alone. And we're allowed to have those days and those moments and projects that get left behind or we pivot. Do you know how many different individuals race in your races every year? 8,000. 8,000? 8,000 runners last year. So I don't know about unique. Some of them are repeat. Right. I see a lot of repeats too. So there's at least 4,000 different people probably. Oh, for sure. That's probably a really good estimate. I've been around in the MCs for a whole little bit. Stephen Castle makes some appearance every once in a while. And for some people they're only interested in the Wild West Relay. And not at all in the Greeley Freedom 5K or whatever. Yeah, we're the turkey trot. Yeah, yeah. Gosh, I got us deep and then I took us back to the surface. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah. How was your, I could talk for a little bit so you could have another nice sip of Stephen's spirit. I spurt him pretty small for us so that you could feel not threatened by it. It's really good. I do enjoy it though. I'm glad. I'm glad. This is, do you know Abbey Stout? I don't think I know. She's one of our longtime members owns the Edwards House downtown Fort Collins. So her fiance, Joel Gustafson, has the seed in spirit is stilling. Okay. And he was just on. They took over the rest of the funcworks building and there'll be a new oyster lounge and tasting room and they'll have food trucks with pizzas and barbecue I think in the back. That'll be fun. Rotation. Yeah, it's a good location for it. Yeah, but I mean, I like funcworks. It was probably like ounce for ounce. It was probably one of my favorite breweries in Fort Collins. It just, it was a little funky, a little cool. That tiny, it's that tiny little building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we used to bike there and we lived here. Anyway, it should be two months or less from the publishing of this podcast. You'll be able to go get some whizz call. So our second whisky meeting will be there. We'll go to Twin States first and we'll go there. I like it. We'll start a whisky tour. But you're an IPA girl. I am mostly an IPA girl or wine, red wine. I actually have the the Snoop Dogg red blend. That's a good one. Up there. On the shelf, if you want a shift to red wine for the rest of the show. That seems like a pretty good introduction to a lot of highlights. Should I look at my list? Yeah. So miles beyond. We talked about that. Yeah, we've expanded. One wild. We talked about the relays. Well, not yet. Really. I mean, Wild West, nor Fleming Falls. Yeah, we have an addition to the relays. So if we can like get into that. Should we put a pin in it for just half a second then I'll bounce back? Yeah, for sure. Urban ultra. Is that the one that most recently happened? Yep. So let's talk about that first. Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking about. That I've done. Or that is what that is. And is that through that division of because it's a relays. So the Run Colorado relays kind of thing has part of it. I guess it should. That's my account. It's like, okay. Well, it's all, it all flows to the same. It all flows. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of just like how we brand it. Got you. Oh, so you just keep the books in one old big thing. Well, you know, right. Right now they're separate. Technically each race should really be separate. Yeah, kind of, but, but it's hard. How would you have sponsorships as a big part of your revenue, right? Oh, huge. Yeah. I mean, sponsorships last year. If we're just business to business, we were a third to a quarter of our revenue came from sponsorships. So it's, yeah, you kind of have to, it's overreaching sponsorship. You can't really allocate evenly because some of them are really famous and people want to be associated and how little people don't care yet. And what's funny is the races that we need sponsorship for that don't do well financially are like the coolest races. And then you've got like the Turkey Trot. Right. And that like pays the bills for the rest of the year, you know, or like really five days. Turkey try. Yeah. So it's, uh, Bormi, uh, Turkey try. Right. Exactly. I have to, they have to do it, but also like I don't need the sponsorship money for Turkey Trot because economies of scale kick in and we're good. It's more when I'm putting on, you know, no carbon ultra. That's a good segue from Bellevue through Fort Collins through Timnith, Windsor and Greeley, the amount of expense and work that goes into a point to point 50 mile urban. Gigantic royal pain in your ass. Oh, and, and you lose so much money and you lose so much sleep. And everyone that knows me is like, why do you do this girl? Please don't ask me to volunteer. Please don't ask me to volunteer. And then my husband's like, okay, which one of these are really working, but I love them because we only had 65 people. Okay. But 40 of them, 40 to 45 of them ran that whole course by themselves. And so, so maybe it should just be an ultra and not a relay. Well, no, the relay makes up the other half of that. So really helps pay the bills because those runners are pretty self-sufficient. They're going from exchange to exchange. That's how we get in our 5K 10K half marathon runners to run ultra. The ones that cost us more money are the ultra runners who are by themselves from out of state with no crew because I have to feed them at every exchange. I have to make sure they have enough water and electrolytes because they probably don't have a crew meeting them. So, but but Kurt, those are the thank you notes that like give me all the warm and fuzzies. Yeah. Well, it gives you some cred in that community right at the probably the ultra. Not being the imposter syndrome girl. You're like, I host an ultra. Yeah, we have two of them. Yeah, three of them really by now. Well, the Windsor marathon, but it's no, so that's not an ultra-register marathon. Well, your medal has ultra distances, no co-urban, and then I've had someone solo Wild West inflaming foliage, but on paper, we hold two ultra's a year. Let's talk about the next one because I think this will be out before then too. And this looks like something that if it wasn't my like anniversary weekend, I would bring the tank and be in jail with hangout, even if we just wanted to walk the 7K. But tell me about like the this running festival. And will this one? It feels like this. Do you have music, by the way, in live music? We did last year. We had country kick-up come last year. The runners that don't care about music. And there was music in line dancing. So the festival part is that it's like kind of all headquartered in one location. Yeah. So the start the start and finish of and the turn around point of each lap. It's like a horseshoe. So like in between the horseshoe, it'll open space, but that's where the start and finish is. And so when people run out and they get to the two mile mark, they're at the same place that they started essentially. They turn around and go back. So they have access to their crew, the aid station, the music, cold crunch on it. You're only you're only ever like a mile far from home, right? That's kind of cool. So that's kind of the festival feel of it. Last year, we had country kick-up come. We had live music the year before. We have sauna, cold plunges, a food barn with like gourmet catered food at so many runners last year that were like, I gained way more weight at this ultra that I lost because you just fed me the whole time. And you had like pancake breakfast by a chef in Luna's tacos in Texas Roadhouse. And Domino's pizza dropped a bunch of pizza. So it's just a big it's a big fun environment. Seven different weight classes. Yeah, right or something like that's what I felt like it was like designed for me if I just want to be there with my runner husband or wife or something or and do a little bit something something. Yeah, so we I think my mission continues to go back to like I'm never I never I'm dreaming to put on a Olympic trials marathon. Like if everyone from Fort Collins Run Club showed up highly competing, looking for their BQ while we do get a lot of them a lot of fast runners on our races. That's like a little intimidating to me where really my focus is that every day athlete and the fast runners for sure I don't want to put off our fast runners. But I see that we're in the we're in a location in the marketplace where we can eliminate the fear factor from people that might be intimidated to go to the Colorado marathon or go to Boulder Boulder. Like that's it if you look at Boulder Boulder's ads man that I would when I started running her I would have never gone to Boulder Boulder. I'm like I'm like good enough my fast enough. Oh my gosh, what are they wearing? Do I have that? I cannot afford that. So like our goal with miles beyond if I look back to like how we've built this it really has been to eliminate the fear factor to remove barriers to create an inclusive and safe space for all athletes to show up whether you're an athlete or you're like man I just got out of rehab and I'm going to start running because I think maybe it could help me out or I'm going to start walking or I'm a 13 year old kid and I liked running I liked running track but but I've having stress at school and I'm not getting I'm not good enough to play football or soccer and I'm never getting play time on the field. I can show up to a 5k and walker and walker jog with my family and then I think the geographical piece too is because we're in Weld County we really do see a lot of people from Eastern Colorado come that honestly hurt I don't know that they would venture all the way to the big races but if we can put something in their backyard. You do have a decidedly more Hispanic names when I'm when I'm seeing your races I'm like it's I'm tested you know because I don't know how to say some of that. Sorry I'm the tall like guys. Which means you're succeeding. I hope so. Which means you're bringing people into running and I started running when I was 40 years old or something like that you know restarted it from like 10th grade. You know and it changed me you know and I'm kind of slowly gotten fat since I quit running as much and whatever but but it changed me from a 200 pound critter to 165 pound guy that could run a half marathon. Yeah and that was pretty cool like that was honestly one of the more impactful seasons of my life when I was training for that was my first like real organized thing and anyone can run. Oh yeah they can walk. Yeah and if and you know and if we're a small race like ours I get emails all the time like what's your cutoff time I'm like when you when you're done. Yeah I don't know we'll be there with an IPA or a seltzer or any beer and some pizza with you the finish line and if you show up after all the food is gone we've been known to order Jimmy Johnson the last minute we're like hey we have three runners out there we just need some sandwiches so yeah I just think like weld your metal like so going back to where your point with this race is it's really to be inclusive of all. Yeah for sure we want to celebrate we have people that I just told you we had Noca Urban Ultra. Yeah. We have people come in from nine different states I think we had 13 states registered and I actually showed up to run 50 miles across all of northern Colorado like that's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah you know weld your metal we've had people run the 100 mile distance at this race in under 48 hours for the last couple of years. That's the 100 mile is the the extreme crazy person. Yep that's the extreme crazy person in wilder metal it's 100 miles and it's a that's that 4 mile loop but on top of that yeah but on top of that they're out there with people doing the seven K or a half marathon or a full marathon or a 50 K and then on top of that you can do that with relay teams so you could go run a lap and come back and then AJ runs a lap and then Abigail runs a lap and in between each one you just get to have fun you get to eat food and sauna and cold plunge and just unplug how's Abigail is she a good runner too? I think she's going to be a good runner she's been training so I'm I mean they're excited to go out and run Coca-Dona and film while they run. God bless them. So that's yeah that's kind of that event and I wonder oh and then isn't there a thing too where you have to run like every hour or something or is that a different thing? We did that last year and it didn't you know we signed up for that I've got a couple of people signed on but then I kind of realized like they could just make that decision on their own if we just open it up you can just go run as much as you want anytime you want just just go to your thing we're not going to count you down every two hours and that's a beautiful part about these events you know you can pivot in turn and see what works and see what doesn't work and don't beat yourself up too much when you decide to sunset an idea I like that so um I feel like it's IPA time sure let's do that okay this episode is sponsored by logo think tank logo think tank provides peer collaboration for business owners we build smart safe places to help business leaders navigate every stage with a business journey and we love what we do and who we do it with our model features gift back minded business veterans and the role of logo facilitators and we're always looking for abundance minded individuals to add to our membership facilitator team local community or to feature on this podcast listeners of this podcast who go on to become members of logo think tank get their sixth month of membership for free just mention the local experience podcast on your application to learn more visit our website at think tank dot com that's l o c o think tank dot com so I guess we can be back so we'll be back right now we're back we split an IPA and we're drinking some seed and spirit distilling I forget the the bottled in service producer Ben can you remind us what the actually can you bring that in here the bottle of whiskey from the shelf it's gonna be some live action we're gonna capture this is no co co founder and producer of the local experience Benjamin Harris presenting bottle service that's one yes this is forged in fire sorry to our sponsor seed and spirit distilling but this is the Ford forged in fire bourbon whiskey okay so not this cal so we're not gonna have any no just smoke bourbon no smoke no no whatever men's cal flavors no gava just porn and whatever else they make bourbon out of that's a little more my speed I did enjoy the last even though you like that you liked that a lot more than you thought you would I did like a lot more than but you're really more of a bourbon girl yes you're your girl laughing my own heart bourbon bourbon and IPA bourbon IPA yeah I have friends who like trullies and salters I don't drink for like just like the like put alcohol on you I drink for like the flavor and taste and the texture there's little limit approved like do they know of this I don't you it feels like their ambassadors usually are you know trulley people that kind of thing yeah they might be oh I don't know maybe that's why they picked me they were like she's like the ultra dirty IPA drinker right like the IPA drinker does not so I would imagine like a fast speed runner shorter distance they they'd go for the trullies less calories yeah yeah but when you talk about people that run ultra people are kind of we're just a little bit crazy a little bit dirty it's kind of like the what what is that like the tough mudder oh way more than that but they're more extreme still because tough mudders aren't real athletes they're just people willing to subject themselves to punishment and pay a lot of money for it and pay a lot of money yeah maybe like I think when I think of them it's a little bit more they're like the guys that would hire a stripper to like vlog them a little bit that's the tough mudder yeah sorry because they are weird they do have the really long beards and I don't know I've only done one of them and we got made fun of because we were fast at the tough mudder and the guys like what do you do like we thought this was a race so we just couldn't like do the rope climb or the tire flips and then we moved on yeah so I don't know if we will um in don't care I don't think they care pretty free ran yeah they weren't they weren't like what's your drink so what it well like you're it's a fairly exclusive thing right like it is tell me like did you pursue it did they like reach out to you though like hey we're looking for people yeah no I don't think I pursued it all so Kim and her team had reached out to us for the last couple of years wanting to get involved with the race series like hey we won't talk about sponsoring or hosting you guys um how we can help you know gift cards product like getting people in for product experiences into the store and so they would show up and volunteer at our races and okay looking back at kind of felt like I was being pursued like we would go and have coffee and we would catch up and I was like oh these people are really fun like they're really great and they're just trying to get in and know you that's exactly yeah I think they wanted to attend our events they wanted to see if our values match theirs are we being inclusive are we being supportive um again you know I think it's being back to our mission I think that that exact piece like are we really just being inclusive of fitness and movement and being our best selves and you know being comfortable in our own skin yeah so yeah they've been involved for a couple of couple of years and then I got invited to be one of the ambassadors um just in like us February okay so it's a two-year um contract okay um this year with there are three females okay and so there's three ambassadors three are you over together are you yeah we've gone breathe with reps and restore she is our strength ambassador okay and so we went into a strength class with her um so yeah we get invited and collaborate on events together running ambassador I guess I'm the run ambassador okay and then what's the third ambassador third is yoga okay yep and so it's the same in every market place kind of or I think it is I think there's there's train yoga and running and actually that's a great question I don't know if they have ambassadors for like their lifestyle clothing or their golf program I would imagine they do yeah so I'm just not sure but are you wearing Lulu 11 oh I'm not today new I mean some are casual today I should have yeah I do have my Lulu lemon water bottle oh yes good job so yeah it's been it's what's interesting I think people here ambassador now and it's either a confusing term or you think you just get free stuff and you have to wear their free stuff right like I have no real idea what it means so initially I thought that's what it would be which I was like give me for you lemon that's cool because like I'm not affording that you know all the time like right I've got that one piece that is super cool yeah and I think the cool thing I know about the brand is it is on the higher end but it is higher end quality right right and my Lulu lemon that I do have a lot more but it's worth it it's worth it you know so and so that you don't buy a lot of it because right you don't need in a last long time a ton of time they last a long time and so yeah but when I got invited to it I um same kind of thing like oh I love their brand I've had clothes that I bought from them when I started run Windsor in 2017 that I still wear like like yeah I'm like leggings like they really do hold on and so I was like let's go get free product and then just got to learn more about the experience and what it really means and if I can the best analogy I kind of came up with is that they really do want to come alongside you and make sure you're good match and they want to walk alongside you in your journey and however you're impacting our community through movement okay and really help to give you legs for what you're doing so Cam and the team at the Fort Collins store have just been a true pillar of support for us where you know for example noco urban ultra they were like we will sign up a team to run an aid station and we'll have cheer signs and extra drinks and costumes and music and candy and all the things and we just want to be part of doing what you're doing yeah like we want to be a part of it how can we help bring our community the best we can yeah exactly like we hosted packet pick up there my friend Stephen Castle came and played like well they tell like their customers about your events and stuff too likewise yep so we've gotten we get shout-outs in their email blasts that talk about what events we have going on I hosted a yet session at the store where yeah yet like this is our year of yet for Lou lemon where it's really reframing our can't or have not statements not yet as fast as I will be yeah so when I meet someone and they say oh I'm I'm not an ultra runner or I could never run it's reframing that too I haven't run yet I haven't run a 5k yet I haven't started a business yet instead of I have this idea but I never got it started it's oh I have this idea but I haven't started it yet and by saying yet we just open up the possibilities my first 5k was with the rotary club for the early in the peach festival there was a 5k when Tannis first organized the very first peach festival and I ran the 5k like a total couch to 5k because I just was kind of supporting the rotary club would be curious what a 5k was and it's an interesting reflection because it was all being part of being part of the community yeah you know I was kind of you know new in the rotary club at that time wanted to just support it what they were doing mm-hmm and uh anyway sorry to diverge into that little reflection zone but that's super cool but like when you're in that moment you you had a place of belonging and wanted to be that because it was part of a rotary but in a couple of friends that I do that ran you know came and joined me and kicked my butt because I hadn't even run a little bit you know some high school basically yeah 38 yeah but that gave you your your piece in your comfort yeah but there are so many people that are like I would never because no one around me does it and so I think that's kind of just been a part of the yet statement and the lumen of like limiting those barriers and making sure everyone has a space at the table so yeah we collaborate events together there are a couple different other initiatives but really it's just about championship I think what we talked about earlier like I feel so supported and taken care of by this team and I can come with them with event ideas and you know even on race day Kim was like what else can I help you and Ellie with and we were like we need someone to go pick up the pizza for the finish line she's like done I'm on it I'll see you there you know so that's been cool but I think it just goes back to that conversation we had is creating that community around you yeah and just giving and that'll come back to you and those that you serve that intentionality of inviting everybody to the table uh in your case to the start finish line yeah um like do you see that as being kind of unusual in your industry like you you talked about how the Boulder Boulder is like so exclusive and you're signing up for these exclusive runs but your brand is very inviting talk to me about that contrast that with the industry yeah that's that's interesting so I I'm actually a part of um and we'll be speaking at the US trail running conference for my second year I attended the first year I got invited to speak last year on a couple of different panels including community engagement and sponsorships sure okay but also like volunteers and then you know some marketing and inclusivity so um yeah I'm going back and there is so much conversation in the ultra and trail running sport about that as I'm sure there is in the road running however even like being invited to the table like most of my events are road running events yeah and a few trail you know we go through do some trails in wild west and then quite a few at flaming foliage and then of course I tried to look the back of ultra but like super invited by the trail community of like come and give us your expertise come and give us your opinion come and learn um as I only say that because I've I've only experienced their conferences I haven't gone yet to like a road running conference and there are plenty of them but I can speak from like being at the trail running conference so much of our platform right now and all the race directors I've been able to connect with like our mission is to create inclusivity we are we are recognizing the gaps convert non runners and runners yep yep eliminate the barriers yeah absolutely I mean like black men run is a huge part of our our trail conference um we've got latino run we have people representing GLBT like we have we have people from every spectrum and I think it's kind of just like really everyone is welcome at the table but how is how can we as race directors eliminate that barrier that does does exist for some people and we can pretend like they don't exist but they're there for sure um and I actually have a story from Wild West that hopefully me foliage I'd love to tell true on that but because they're they're real you know um I'd gone to the trail conference and we're talking about just this how do we make women feel safe in sport how do we make sure that they're protected with their out the trails by themselves if they're out there even if you're out in the middle of a race with a guy or two like how do you know you're not going to get cat called or whatever it might be so we're talking about all those things and um was really like empowered to feel like okay I'm surrounded by other people that are thinking about this like we have to make kids feel welcome we have to help our aging population be here and cut off times I love I see the 70s somethings in your races and they complained to me and you know their number one complaint why is that there are not enough people over 65 running in these races they could everybody's but well no there's just yeah so there's no one there and and they want more people there like they want their neighbors inspiring and yeah so I mean my biggest call to action I think always is get me more 65 plus runners to my races other races because they they deserve to be there and it's good for them so that should be a a Wild West relay team I like the golden oldies or something only 70 plus runners or something like that yeah and honestly there was an award category for that but when I took over no one was really showing up in that category yeah so I scrapped it I just kind of was like well no one I don't know it just doesn't feel like yeah yeah in a word we just like the oldest average age or something uh because I do like that was almost a winner a couple years ago was that like high school team right like they were just behind the first place finish shirt yeah and they were definitely the youngest average age I like that oldest average age for your team oldest average age and maybe not you don't want to get the youngest average age because that's cheating I don't know I mean they could be doing something else with their weekends we're championing them for being their at a young age yeah maybe it's cheating a little bit I don't know like if you're going to reward the oldies it feels like just yeah I kind of agree that's part of the inclusive that's kind of the point yeah and and how do we think about making it affordable for high school kids like ugliest team super inclusive like okay who who shopped the most at thrift store right that's actually kind of a cool word that would be more inclusive that's inclusive but also could make it like normalize shopping at thrift store for running gear yeah and you know do some good for the earth we could do that that would be I don't think it's I don't think it's that but okay do you have a story I think you might like this one yes this is the flaming foliage yes the flaming foliage so I give back from this conference and if you want to sit back more and bring the microphone with you yeah if you want you you were thinking about it I can move it for you nope I think we're good that good yeah so look away from me when you're talking don't point out the microphone oh there you go okay we're good great good yeah so I got back from this conference and okay yes okay we got back from this conference and thinking like all these issues and making people feel uncomfortable or comfortable races like they don't really pertain to us and we were I think it was after the race one of our teams actually came from Greeley okay um it's mostly Hispanic I think makeup maybe a couple cohesions on our team came up to me and they were super upset that someone from another member of a different team had made some remarks about their shirts they were wearing team shirts and that after the finish line had made some remarks that hey I didn't know those guys were running in the race I thought they were just the concrete workers and this team did not take it well and I mean they reached out to me to say like hey it's super intimidating to show up to races when you feel like you don't belong like the Hispanic population diversity and the BIPOC representative is like it's just not there and this literally happened to us and it's this reminder of just and you know like we might get it on both sides but when they're targeted it's a very different environment like it's mostly Caucasian it's mostly men and it was just a kind of a crazy experience I hadn't been there before where I had to step in and so you know I acknowledge it hey me and like I I'm Mexican I'm Hispanic you know like I get this it's not okay I'm so sorry well and like you're an attractive female and an attractive girls are always welcome at the party kind of in the white guy land right yeah sorry to save that bluntly but um yeah so interesting and probably insecurity on their part more than anything right oh yeah I mean they're they're prepared for it like I think they're coming in with a lens that this industry hasn't fully opened its arms to them we haven't made it apparent yeah um and you know I think we I think we have like honestly her I've been we've we're done our best it's really hard but I think we're doing our best I've been on the homepage registration for the ledville 50 mile race for the ledville marathon for um other events here in Northern Florida by the own name and then Moab Trail Racing series oh apart to share that it's okay exactly exactly and so these hard things I've had friends I think even Nick has found me before and I'm like I'm not up there because I'm like the cutest in the picture and thank you for the compliment that I'm a beautiful young girl but I'm like I don't think that's why I'm there yeah I'm the face of it because they're trying to show that they really do love and care for yeah yeah for the minority population and and come even though we're not the most there which is even part of the pressure right yeah and running a 250 mile right you gotta represent yeah you gotta you gotta represent well well thanks yeah that's a good point I mean I bet well don't hurt yourself because I know you got a little hitch and you're giddy up right now just a little bit it's gonna be fine it's crazy for for me I know that if I've been training for a big race like that and it was coming right up and I was about right I'll be like it's all over through done going cats in the hotel rooms for thousands of dollars we made in plans for their hotel room and driving I'm just saying I'm just saying no it's there I when I told my coach about it he I was afraid he was gonna be like okay I never mind you're done you know you didn't you didn't get your last long training run it right scrap it or calling it quits and yeah yeah he was like okay cool just take it easy the next couple days and get back back on track it's in two weeks so yeah Wolverine Wolverine yeah just Wolverine the power of the Wolverine there you go mind of her matter bourbon plus focus on a Monday oh by the way we didn't ask for a taste to know it's this is local very local they actually grew some of their own grains for this nasty not a bourbon scale no I like it yeah like a better than whizz call you said I do like a better than whizz call no it's good because other bourbons probably still just an IP supper for the most part okay I'd like to get into thanks for that story by the way and you're right I'll tell you a quick story yeah when I was first in banking I worked at the local bar because a part-time job because I was just starting my career and get to know people and stuff and there was a cat there I got to know that was bilingual and he was a first generation college graduate cat too and a really good pool player and like he was my bridge to really he was my bridge to understanding at all the Hispanic community because that town worthy to Minnesota where I moved to was probably 30% and they had a park plant or something right and and a lot of people that didn't speak English very good but they were banger pool players okay and so I shot pool sometimes at the Mexican table and most other white guys are like dude he's crazy if you're going to play with those Mexican because they're dangerous you know you can't understand him why we do that right right right they're just the best pool players right but I don't think that means I'm getting beat up behind the board but it was like though he was I'm pretty sure it was I was I know Hosa or something I was gonna say you're trying not to go stereo to here is there is that a short name sometimes like Hosa or something like that it could be I'm maybe it's not Jose it was something similar to that anyway he was a cool cat just a young whipper snapper that like knew he was going places and and this you know part-time job where he grew up was part of the journey okay but anyway you've got some of the same spirit and I'm thankful for his bridge because I didn't you know I grew up in yeah I never went to school with any black people or any Hispanic people yeah like until college and then it was one and two hundred right at North Dakota State University so I still hadn't you know I was in my mid-twenties almost but it's time I really interacted with other cultures but yet I was intensely curious at every juncture every opportunity yeah I think it's fun having a friend come into your life of different culture in some ways I mean even then like we grew up in brush and so yes a stronger Hispanic population button literally nothing else so getting to four columns was truly like the melting pot for me mm-hmm so yeah I appreciate of that experience and but brush was probably it's just one town yeah right like it doesn't probably matter as much if you're Hispanic or not I don't know did it uh it did for me yeah yeah I mean there were there were girls that spoke Spanish as their first language mm-hmm and I did not want to be associated with them um and did you speak Spanish mm-hmm at all no not at all yeah and yeah people just if you spoke Spanish and you showed the heritage too much you would definitely be discriminated against yeah so my first job at drivers actually so which kind of brings you back to that story that they were telling me of he's like thinking you've probably never faced this discrimination and I was like um I definitely have and so now it's my role to like yeah yeah yeah I think we talked about this yeah so I was like I it's definitely my responsibility to make sure that I step up and say something because when this happened to me when I was 16 working at drivers the feedlot restaurant yeah the manager in charge at the time was like they just don't want a Mexican waitress and I was like oh okay and I don't even think I told my parents about it like it just is what it is I went on with my day and so I think when this team from playing with foliage shared that experience I was like no we got to do better you know and I and I called to circle back we went around that story but to circle back I called the other members of that relay team and said here's what's gone on here's what I heard I'm you know hopefully you weren't intending to be cruel or mean and I imagine it's just a joke but we have to know our surroundings like you're not telling this joke inside a bar you're not telling this joke inside a pool hall you're telling this joke at the end of a 155 mile running event where the demographic is predominantly Caucasian and male since the onset of this race in the United States idea you've had more and more corporate teams uh and so if you could get like embarrassed a little bit but I hope you think it's great like a like a concrete or a landscape company to sponsor a team yeah and do a corporate team that like competes well and raises money for a good cause within one either one west of the flaming foliage I think there's a company out there that can field at least they got cousins and stuff right that's a great concept I like it we should do that calling all Hispanic runners but we fundraise for a non-profit yes yep and it's going to be a corporate sponsored thing and you know some matching funds for your player or some like that right they're great athletes yeah we were born run around Mexico you know that's dry hot yeah I mean the Taramahara runners are the best I don't know you know about that their Mexicans were well it's close I think Kenyans are fast Mexicans are ultra runners oh more durable yeah that's rumple in this it's like they're a bread versus uh that's just like rumor in the demographic seeing how much we're running anyway so if you're listening to this and you're thinking oh man my friend with ABC concrete would love to put a team together runners to go pick some white boy ass yeah and raise awareness for any non-profit that's helping that population I'm here for that let's do that okay that's where the spiciness will come out yeah thank you sorry don't invoice me for that we're gonna talk about purpose a little bit because it's time for the purpose driven segment sponsored by thriving financial thank you to purpose driven wealth of thriving for sponsoring our purpose driven questions segment at purpose driven wealth they believe financial clarity leads to a life of contentment and purpose their mission is to help guide clients using a values driven stewardship based approach focused on provision contentment and enjoyment with more than a century of experience thriving helps individuals and families navigate life and business transitions and prepare for the future while creating space to live generously and give back meaningful ways to learn more about purpose driven wealth please call 970 330 7411 for a complimentary initial consultation and now onto the questions want to try that last sentence better to learn more about purpose driven wealth please call 970 330 7411 for a complimentary initial consultation and now onto the purpose driven questions so we're gonna circle back because we have been chasing squirrels a little bit into kind of the purpose stuff and we have a sponsor purpose driven wealth thank you Clint Jasperson and team and these are our purpose driven questions and I've already selected one and it's a little bit morbid but you're going into a big race here and when someone gives your eulogy one day for example if this 250 mile race kills you do you have an idea of who you'd want it to be and what you would expect or hope they would say that is a really tough question this is terribly rude you can't choose two people you can choose to yeah you can you can have a line up of four if you want to oh my gosh um so I think my number one is probably Nick and you don't know Nick as a man of a lot of words hmm although I do like him a lot but that's kind of the power that's kind of his power it reminds me of my brother that's just younger than me oh really which yeah is a positive thing that's good yeah quiet doesn't share motion very often reserved supergiving and he I think just respect spaces where he's not going to take up vocal space or energy space or any space if unless he thinks he really wants to or it's needed like we can all come into a room with a million things going on and I think Nick is super respectful of like what else is happening and he's like I'm cool I'm just gonna sit here and only take a space if I need to you know he's just very doesn't need to be about me yeah never about him and um so I think I'd like to hear what he'd have to say because I know whatever he does say it's always meaningful yeah and he wouldn't fill it with a bunch of fluff words yeah he'd be super sad this is your husband yeah this is my husband like I hope that I'm gone way before Jill passes on and let's her plan is because she's a twin and is that both me and her sister's husband both die five or ten years before Jill and Aaron so that they can live together you know somewhere yeah they get you know they were they're besties and stuff yeah I don't hate that I would I would want to live with my sisters yeah yeah so I grew up but it would be your first most important thing assuming it's early here in this particular race yeah in this race I think I have two second would be earth three my second would be my sister yeah successfully she always knows what to say and she carries the heart for our whole family I think she's got some magical connections to heaven and our spear is a family and I think my third would be Seuss you've met Seuss sure it's so nice to see you guys uh like super reconciled and super pals again after you know she left uh your right hand girl position and stuff and yeah and like nothing went bad it was just and she's thrived oh she's so thrived I mean and honestly Seuss left because I needed her part time she needed a full-time job to take care of her family and her values and she left the brewery world because it was not serving her wellness overall so that's why she kind of took a risk on working for me however I'm a race series and could be a full-time employee then it didn't matter because she came back to the brewery world but she still has been a liberal community exactly and stuff so we're talking about her health wellness if we're talking about here yeah we're both and uh we're both in North and she's been kicking ass and running marathon half marathon she ran something she's done an ultra yeah yeah yeah she's done great she so I think when she left her first position at a brewery came to me she just needed a mental reset physical reset yeah I was hiring someone part time she worked for me and she was able to like a reset everything in her life then and then she came back and got her job at verboten and she's just done amazing yeah running the running the show over there is I guess general managers probably her you ever take like yeah seems like that um so yeah she's she's been awesome like done her own wellness coaching herself where she's coaching others and running she's actually coming out to pace me at Coca-Cola don't I think I know you did but I didn't process yeah her and Ellie you're driving out she'll pace me yeah Ellie seems like a great fit for the team too is that yeah Ellie's a hoot she's amazing she's really good yeah I think I realize what it comes to hiring someone in my industry is you need to be able to hitch a trailer back up a trailer right work on zero sleep but still be able to have a smile on your face and have fun right until at least three occasionally yeah yeah exactly um operate on like little food and just kind of like connect with our reason why we do it we do and she needs all this off of how do we drift in the soos that I drift in there for something else oh yeah it was how we or who um is speaking at my funeral oh yes so soos is my third person oh that's really sweet it's really drifted the way thank you for listening to this episode of the logo experience podcast proudly produced and sponsored by Loco Think Tank Colorado's premier peer advisory organization this is your producer Ava Menus to find all of our episodes or nominee a future guest check out our website at thelogoexperience.com you can also find us on instagram facebook youtube x.com and LinkedIn at the logo experience to support the show be sure to follow subscribe and share until next time stay Loco