Early Call Time

The ECT Pod is back and better than ever after a longer than expected Eli-had-room-for-nothing-in-his-life-outside-of-planning-the-Twin-Cities-Marathon-and-then-a-new-Turkey-Trot enforced hiatus! And the first episode after our break is a doozy--an exit interview with outgoing Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman (who also happens to be Eli's boss).

In her almost quarter-century in the industry, Virginia has witnessed a lot of "beginnings"--the beginning of Running USA, the founding of NCS4's marathon forum, the beginning of Twin Cities In Motion and other similar events becoming fully-fledged professionally staffed organizations--and the guys ask her about those and learn a lot about the origins of some industry institutions. They also ask Virginia about her time at TCM--the biggest changes she's seen, her biggest accomplishments, and what she hopes for for the future--and of course Tony can't help but ask her what it was like having Eli working for her.

On behalf of so many in the running industry to whom Virginia has provided mentorship, leadership, and guidance over the past twenty-three years, the guys would like to say a heartfelt "thank you" to Virginia for coming on the pod. We think you'll all really like this one.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

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After a bit of a hiatus Tony and Eli are back with a bang, with an in-depth interview with one of the most entrepreneurial people in the industry, Ragnar Co-Founder and CEO Tanner Bell! From a project that started while Tanner and his co-founder were undergrads and thought it was just something that would look good on a grad school application, Ragnar has grown into one of the most successful brands in the endurance events industry.

Tanner gives Early Risers a behind the scenes look at all aspects of how he and his team built Ragnar--from how they came up with the name and what it means, to bribing friends and family with iPod Shuffles to staff early events, to how they've scaled and structured their team, and how Tanner stays in touch with the event experience. He also shares a story that makes clear the being on an events team runs in his family's DNA, and teases what the future may hold for Ragnar since their recent acquisition by FitLab.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In a special Earth Day episode, Eli and Tony couldn't be more excited to have Council for Responsible Sport Executive Director Shelley Villalobos on the pod for an interview. The guys first find out a little about Shelley's athletic background--which includes Division I experience in a non-running sport--and how "she resisted running as long as she possibly could" until finishing her first marathon at the 2021 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (yet another ECT Pod guest who's a member of the "one marathon club!"). And Shelley tells us about how she became involved with event sustainability working in college athletics, and she then transitioned to the Council.

Shelley shares some history about the formation and the early days Council, what it does, and what it's like for an event to certify as sustainable with the Council. She talks us through what a day is like in the life of someone advocating for and supporting events who pursue sustainable sport and what kind of tools are available for an event or event organization considering certification or just attempting to become more sustainable (including CRS's new, free ReScore event sustainability assessment tool, courtesy of TCS). And she and Eli talk about what kind of resources and efforts an event hoping to certify should expect to have to marshal, and what the case for certifying is (and although it is the right thing to do, the case is more than "It's the right thing to do!").

Things go a little bit off the rails for a bit toward the end of the interview, when Eli and Shelley riff about our potential Mad Max: Fury Road-like future, other post-apocalyptic movies, and drinking our own bodily fluids. But Shelley then brings it back, sharing a reading from environmentalist Wendell Berry, because that's just how things go sometimes on the ECT Pod . . .

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In this special mini-episode, Tony caught up with almost twenty industry leaders at the Running USA conference last weekend in Florida and asked them what it meant to be back together with their industry peers at the Running USA conference. Enjoy--and see you next year in Denver!

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In this episode, the guys discuss how events and event production companies can retain their talented people after as the industry emerges from a tough couple of years--they talk work-life balance, opportunities for growth and avoiding getting stale, and how sometimes event production people need to just be allowed the time to do what they need to do.

Tony and Eli also discuss which types of events are seemingly emerging from the pandemic unscathed and whether there are some types of events that the market can no longer support. And lastly, the guys talk about a new, small foray by the Rock 'n' Roll Running Series back into the elite space, and whether that signals a shift in the sport.

We hope you enjoy this posted-slightly-later-than-planned episode of Early Call Time--the end of February can really sneak up on you fast! If you did, in fact, enjoy this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In the Season 3 season premier of Early Call Time, Tony and Eli interview Michael Luchsinger, President and Co-founder of Event Southwest, a Dallas-based event production company that works on some of the biggest races in the country (including the Houston, Chicago, and Dallas marathons) and also happens to be where Tony used to work.

Michael tells the guys his intergenerational event production story, including old school stories about tear-tag spindle timing and when his father sold his business for 100 pairs of running shoes. Michael tells us about how he and his business partner have built the company, the types of things that keep a business owner busy that people solely on the event production side might never see, and how ESW has weathered the pandemic. We also hear about the virtues of producing events for hire versus owning events, how the Texas Distance Challenge is still going strong as it heads into its third year. Most importantly, we learn the one piece of constructive criticism that Tony got during an early annual review. Want to find out what it was? Then you've gotta listen.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

After a long hiatus, the guys return for their final episode of 2022! Want to know why the pod went dark for so long? Then you've gotta listen, because they discuss that--and also how it was related to Eli's facial hair getting crazy for a little while. They discuss Eli's lessons learned from the return of the Twin Cities Marathon and any pandemic-related changes he may want to keep, and Tony getting on the mic at the November Project Summit and how events can--and need to--learn from how that organization fosters community. In this action-packed episode they talk about inflation's effects on event pricing, supply-chain challenges' effects on some events, Tony's brief return to his ops days and how he's different from Mark Zuckerberg, and Tony drops a knowledge bomb that sounds like a clickbait headline ("the absolute LAST place that you should cut budget is . . ."). The guys then round things out by checking in on their year-long over-under wagers, which will require a little more research to declare a winner. So stay tuned for that next time . . .

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In this month's interview episode Tony and Eli consider themselves incredibly privileged to have on the Race Director of the first major American Marathon to take place since the pandemic, Greg Haapala of Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN.

After sharing that he is a fellow member of the "One Marathon Club," stumping Tony on what NIRCA (which he helped to found) is, and letting us all know how Grandma's Marathon got its name, Greg shares the real nitty-gritty details of what it took to make Grandma's happen this year, starting with the smaller COVID-safe events Grandma's put on throughout the pandemic (under 300 runners in 14 hours anyone?) and building up to Grandma's weekend. From how they set their marathon weekend field-size and decided to open registration, to what it was like to wait for the state to loosen protocols enough for the race to be able to take place, to how protocols changed further in the final weeks before the race (and how responding to loosened state protocols isn't as easy as it may seem), Greg spills the behind-the-scenes tea on what it took for the Grandma's team to pull off the successful return of large-scale marathoning to the US.

And at the end of this episode, it gets a little dusty in Eli's studio as he asks Greg the ECT Pod's evergreen closer. Wanna know whether Eli keeps it together enough to keep his curmudgeon card? You've gotta listen to find out!

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In this month's interview episode Tony and Eli have on a man who is such a big fan of the podcast that he once sponsored it, Race Roster CEO and General Manager of Asics Running Apps Alex Vander Hoeven.

Alex tells the guys about the early days of Race Roster, and how he and his fellow founders originally intended to start a race, not a technology company. They talk about how Race Roster's purchase by Asics happened at a fortuitous time, as it has allowed Race Roster to invest in its products and people during the pandemic, when not all companies are able to do so.

They then do a deep dive on race tech--Alex tells the guys what Race Roster features are underutilized by races, and also how we're just scratching the surface of what technology can do to make RDs' lives easier and runners' race experiences better. Alex is the closest thing the running industry has to a futurist, so there are some great takeaways in this episode for anyone who wants to know where the industry is headed.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod

In the only episode the guys will be dropping this month, Eli puts his cards on the table and admits that even after talking about it for the better part of a half-hour last episode he still doesn't understand what Tony's new job is. It's only when Tony puts it in terms of Mad Men that the wheels (or, rather should we say, the carousel) start turning for Eli.

Beyond that, the guys hot wash the recent tragedy at a recent ultramarathon in mountainous terrain in Gansou Province, China, in which 21 participants lost their lives. While details are still emerging, the guys come to the conclusion that, with the rapid  explosion of endurance sports in China, and the ever-more extreme ultramarathon scene, that a disaster like this in China wasn't a matter of if, but when. But they also agree that even with the best risk mitigation, all races come with inherent risks, and acknowledging them is important to putting on safe events.

In happier news, Tony and Eli discuss the return of the New York City Marathon this November, and how it and other large-scale events looks will look different than before this fall. This discussion inevitably leads to a discussion of their running over/under bets on events this year, which is currently looking like it could be very close.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don't ever want to miss an episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, guests you would like us to invite, or topics you would be interested in hearing us explore, please send us an email at [email protected].

Thanks as always for listening, and we'll catch you bright and early on the next episode of Early Call Time!

Facebook: @EarlyCallTimePod
Instagram: @EarlyCallTimePod
Twitter: @EarlyPod