Our May interview episode is a wide-ranging conversation with Boston Athletic Association Director of Operations Lauren Proshan. We talk about Lauren's previous job at events firm Conventures and briefly become a global nautical geopolitics podcast (which Eli names "Rig the Foresail") while learning about her work on an international sailing event and how she applies lessons from that event to her current job; have an in-depth conversation about Lauren's holiday party (Tony totally wrangles the co-hosts invitations); discuss parking etiquette in Southie; and then Lauren tells us what it was like to not put on the Boston Marathon on Patriot's Day this year and also what it's like to create a new state holiday, which the BAA is doing for this year's postponed edition of the Boston Marathon (currently scheduled to be help on September 14). In the process, Tony inadvertently proves how hard it is for races to communicate clearly with their runners during this era of postponements, pivots to virtual, cancellations, deferrals, and every combination thereof. This episode is full of great insight, and we all owe Lauren a huge "thank you" for making the time and having a frank discussion during this period of uncertainty.

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May's first banter episode kicks off with a "State of the Pod" update to let our multitudinous listeners know what to expect for the ECT Pod release schedule from here on in (three episodes a month, usually two banter episodes sandwiched around one interview, released in the early morning on Thursday). That seemingly benign discussion then takes an unexpected turn where we learn that Tony's family is much more supportive of the pod (and nicer) than Eli's.

The coronavirus topic for this episode is Start Area Operations, which is right in Tony's wheelhouse. He walks us through the "runner journey" to, at, and out of the Start Area and how coronavirus could affect every aspect of that. This segment was supposed to be capped at 10 minutes, but Tony was dropping so much knowledge we had to add a 5-minute "bonus round" so he could tell us more about coronavirus's potential affects on athlete staging and start sequences (extended multi-heat start windows, anyone?) and also about runner psyche and races' communication with runners about new processes once we do return.

Your co-hosts then fearlessly tread on what is likely to be thin ice, discussing whether PRs set on Strava count (conclusion: No! But also kind of maybe yes, under certain circumstances?). Tony calls out Strava Wankers including one who plays in the English Premier League and Eli sites disputed times near the top of the famous Mt. Tam Hill Climb segment*** to show how GPS inaccuracy can have major impacts on Strava results in a way that it can't in certified and sanctioned road races. Eli then issues his hot take that not even all times set in a race are equally valid and is unnecessarily mean to pro runner Woody Kincaid (who is 1000 times the runner that Eli will ever be) in the process. There's a pretty large chance that Eli will be revisiting this topic with his head hung in shame in future episodes, so stay tuned!

***Note from Eli: If you click one link in these show notes, click this one. And then consider supporting its publisher Lope Magazine, which provides great and unique longform storytelling about running.


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In this month's banter episode, Eli and Tony talk about a podcast trick called "chocolate raining" and agree that neither of them ever want that term in their Google search history. They also agree to only talk about one coronavirus topic per episode, and then set a timer on themselves to keep their conversation about how Aid Stations might look different after coronavirus from taking over the whole episode. An interesting experiment at the London Marathon and Tony's experience with Tetra Pak at the Dallas Marathon both pose interesting potential solutions, as do enhanced self-serve and BYO hydration options.

Inspired by images from a Twitter thread about irregularly-shaped running tracks, Christina does a pop-in segment where she and Eli reminisce about their glory days competing in indoor track when they were juuuust a little younger, and talk about fun non-traditional events that could be held on irregular tracks. And then Eli asks Tony to share his recent non-traditional coronavirus running routine--inspired by some combination of Forrest Gump, Mike Wardian, and Stacy saying in the previous episode that she thinks of Eli as more of a runner than Tony. Tony also shares how he and some industry folks have been supporting other runners during the pandemic and how you can, too.

We had so much to talk about this episode that we went over our monthly time allowance with our hosting service, so buckle up!

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, or guests you would like us to invite, please send us an email at [email protected].

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We couldn't have been more excited for our interview with Stacy Embretson, Senior Director, Operations for the McCourt Foundation (which recently absorbed the Conqur Endurance Group, owners of the Los Angeles Marathon), baker extraordinaire, and "industry superstar" (seriously, her corporate bio says that). And did she ever deliver, telling us about how a girl from a small town in Minnesota (who told her track coach dad that track was "the stupidest sport ever" and that she was never running again!) became the woman in charge of the Los Angeles Marathon with over 60 marathons under her belt. Along the way we learn what inspired Stacy to make the leap to the running events industry from her "former life" of teaching, how it was serendipitous that she didn't like the LA Marathon's course when she was first hired, and what she doesn't do with the baked goods she's famous in the industry for always having. Also, she says she thinks of Eli as more of a runner than Tony, which Eli doesn't plan to let Tony live down any time soon. If you want to learn about how one of our industry's stalwarts makes event magic happen, tune in for this episode! And if you want to follow Stacy on Twitter you can find her at @StacyCakesLA.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, or guests you would like us to invite, please send us an email at [email protected].

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Tony gives an update on the state of the pod (short version: huge thanks to Whit Raymond for recording our drop, and we're getting better at Audition's audio editing software but if you have any tips to improve our audio quality send them our way!) and then your co-hosts discuss the state of the endurance sports industry in the era of coronavirus cancellations: what causes cancellations, different ways to handle them, and what the industry and its events will look like  once we come out the other side.

Here's a link to the piece on event cancelations by Kirsten Fleming of Run Calgary mentioned by Tony in this episode.

And whether we know you personally, professionally, or not at all, we hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy and safe right now.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, or guests you would like us to invite, please send us an email at [email protected].

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In this episode we interview Chris Hollis, Special Projects Manager for the Atlanta Track Club and self-proclaimed "Air Traffic Controller" for the recently-completed US Olympic Marathon Trials. We learn about Chris's varied experiences on all sides of the running industry before getting into the biggest challenges and successes he experienced in planning one of the US endurance sports industry's crown jewel events. And we also find out about why he has been known to occasionally show up to meetings in costume. This episode is definitely worth a listen if you're interested in peaking behind the curtain and learning more about what it took to make the largest US Olympic Marathon Trials in history such a huge success! You can find Chris on Twitter at @Yogitout.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, or guests you would like us to invite, please send us an email at [email protected].

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Thanks for listening to the inaugural episode of Early Call Time, the podcast where we discuss issues and news in the road race industry and get to know some of the people who keep it running! On Episode 0, your co-hosts (Eli Asch, Race Director of the California International Marathon, and Tony Yamanaka, Vice President of Operations of Event Southwest) interview each other about our histories with running and the endurance sports event industry. Episode 0 also features the first "Drop-in" segment, where we conduct a mini interview with an unscheduled guest (Christina Yamanaka of CLIF Bar); Christina doesn't know it yet, but she's also top of "substitute hosts" depth chart in case Tony or Eli are ever unavailable.

We hope you enjoy the inaugural episode of the ECT Pod! And if you did enjoy this episode, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe. If you have any questions, comments, or guests you would like us to invite, please send us an email at [email protected].

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