For the first time in 18 months, some of the top race directors in America gathered this week to share best practices and to explain what fall races will look like for runners. Will there be expos? Will you have to wear a mask on the course? Will you be asked to show a vaccine card? What about wave starts and post race parties -- will they happen? We got the answers to these questions and many more from the 6 race directors we cornered at a conference produced by the organizers of the Chicago Marathon. Before we dive into that conversation, we wanted to share a few words from Mike Nishi, Chief Operating Officer of the Chicago Marathon, as he explains the goal of this conference and why so many race directors chose to fly to Chicago to trade ideas about producing the safest possible events this fall and beyond.

Christine Bowen: Vice President of Programming, Partnerships and Operations for Running USA https://www.runningusa.org/ 

Andrea Dowdy - CEO of the Denver Colfax Marathon https://www.runcolfax.org/

Jon Hughes - Track Shack Co-owner and Race Director of the Walt Disney World Marathon https://www.trackshack.com/

Michelle Juehring - Race Director for the Quad Cities Times Bix 7 https://bix7.com/

Michelle La Sala - Founder and President of Blistering Pace Race Management https://blisteringpace.com/

Steve Lastoe - Founder and CEO NYCRUNS https://nycruns.com/

Michael Nishi - Chief Operating Officer of Chicago Event Management, General Manager of Bank of America Chicago Marathon https://www.chicagomarathon.com/