205 | Listener Survey Results and Reaction

In this episode of the On the Runs podcast, hosts Eric and Erika dive into listener feedback gathered from a recent survey. They discuss various aspects of the podcast, including its format, episode length, and the engagement of their audience. The hosts share insights on what listeners enjoy, such as personal stories, guest segments, and the overall quality of the podcast. They also explore the importance of social media and creative content, while emphasizing their commitment to evolving the podcast based on listener preferences. In this episode, the hosts delve into listener feedback, discussing how it shapes the podcast's direction and content. They explore the importance of engaging with the audience, sharing personal stories, and the dynamics of their banter. The conversation also touches on improving interview skills, the significance of race recaps in fostering community, and future directions for the podcast, including guest suggestions and content ideas.

Chapters

00:00 Survey Overview and Listener Feedback
06:11 Exploring Podcast Format and Length Preferences
13:26 Listener Engagement and Content Preferences
21:16 Banter and Personal Life Discussions
23:30 Plans for Future Races and Live Shows
24:36 Creating an Inclusive Podcast Experience
26:36 Exploring Audience Preferences for Content
37:06 The Importance of Race Recaps and Personal Stories
42:54 Quality Feedback and Future Improvements
43:44 Introduction to Listener Feedback
44:00 Eric's Insights on Podcasting
47:31 Listener Suggestions for Eric
54:54 Erika's Feedback and Engagement
58:36 Exploring Personal Stories and Race Recaps
01:04:16 The Podcast Experience and Closing Thoughts
01:05:16 Humorous Grooming Anecdotes
01:06:33 Listener Feedback on Race Reports
01:07:45 Exploring Ultra Training Experiences
01:09:56 Engaging with Listener Suggestions
01:14:12 Merch Ideas and Future Plans
01:15:58 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

Takeaways

The podcast has a growing listener base and engagement.
Listeners appreciate the current format of the podcast.
Feedback indicates a desire for more personal stories and race recaps.
Listeners enjoy the banter and crosstalk between hosts.
There is a strong interest in guest segments and brand collaborations.
Listeners are open to non-running topics occasionally.
Quality of the podcast is rated highly by the audience.
Social media engagement is important for the hosts.
Listeners want to see more creative content on social media.
The hosts are committed to improving and evolving the podcast. Listener feedback is crucial for podcast improvement.
Engaging with the audience enhances the podcast experience.
Personal stories add depth to the content.
Banter between hosts creates a relatable atmosphere.
Improving interview skills is a continuous process.
Race recaps foster community connection.
Future content should include more local guests.
Audience engagement can be increased through challenges and polls.
Product reviews can enhance listener interest.
Maintaining authenticity is key to listener loyalty.

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Transcript

Eric (00:55)
What's up everybody. Welcome to episode 205 of the On the Runs podcast. And I hope many of you are heading down south to Clearwater for that warm weather. And if you're not bundle up because it's cold up here, we got a special episode for you guys today is we're going to recap what all you really think about us after taking that survey. But first, before we do any of that, I must say hello to my kick ass Rockstar of our co-hosts.

Six star Erika, what's up?

Erika (01:25)
What's going on buddy? I am both excited and kind of nervous to hear what everybody thinks of us. ⁓

Eric (01:32)
So

are you more nervous to hear what people think about us? Or are you more nervous about the snowstorm that's about to hit Myrtle Beach?

Erika (01:41)
⁓ Probably the opinions. I am way more nervous. I can handle some inclement weather. That's not a problem, but opinions, no.

Eric (01:48)
Well, we got some for you and we'll get to it in a second, but let's

get a quick running update from Erika How you feeling before Myrtle Beach? Tell everyone what you're going to be doing this weekend. You're with Terra Pterodactyl. Was it a festival? Like, are you doing more than one race? And what's this aid station I heard about?

Erika (02:07)
all right, you guys, I have dragged Tara pterodactyl down to Myrtle beach with me to do another ultra. We are going to be running the Myrtle beach 24 hour ultra. And I mean, technically we're only going to stay for about half of it because we're going down. We're going to stay with my parents, get a little visiting in at the same time, but we're going to do a little running on the side. So.

Eric (02:29)
Are you gonna see

Holly?

Erika (02:31)
Yeah, Holly's going to be there. Holly got in off the wait list. So, ⁓ we got a lot of people who are going to be there. ⁓ So in addition to Holly, ⁓ I know Christelle and Julia Jordan, JJ from My Yeti Friends and Charlotte is 50-50 if she's going to be there or not, but it's going to be an awesome time down at Myrtle Beach. So really looking forward to this. I mean, ultras are just really fun and this one happens to be a one-mile loop.

and it's on a a paved like kind of rail trail looking thing around a little lake. So it's going to be really pretty, lots of laps. You know, I like those. So looking forward to it. I had heard from the race director earlier on this week that it might start later in the day. So I might not even be there for it.

Eric (03:01)
wow.

gonna be pretty with that snow.

⁓ man, you're cop out of that. Come on, toughen up. Have some tough skin, because you're gonna need it. You're gonna need it.

Erika (03:26)
yeah, absolutely. We're only planning.

⁓

trust me, I'm working on the tough skin part, but we were only planning on doing about 12 hours anyways from like eight. It starts at eight in the morning and going from eight.

Eric (03:40)
All right. I mean, come on, get out of your comfort

zone. was your goal for 2026? Get out of that comfort zone. Stick around for the snow. You're not going to do triathlon, you know, do a winter sport.

Erika (03:45)
What do you think I'm doing, man? This is out of my comfort zone. It was supposed to be nice out. Well, the thing is,

I've heard that they don't have proper, like, don't have plows and stuff down there. So if it snows, we're stuck. So we're going to get out. I know.

Eric (03:59)
Yeah. Dude, life shuts down. I lived in Charlotte.

the grocery stores go empty partly because the trucks can't even make it there. And the other part, because everyone's freaks out, like they're going to be stranded for weeks. There's nothing, no bread, no milk, no eggs. dude, it's like an abandoned building. I've been to them before. And I remember my boss saying like, nobody drive today. The roads are terrible. And I'm like,

Erika (04:07)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

They can't handle it. Yup. So I want to get.

Yeah.

Eric (04:29)
that just barely cover, looks like a frost. So I would always go in on those days.

Erika (04:32)
Yep, but it's still enough people just,

they don't have the all-wheel drive cars like we do up here, or at least not a high amount of them, and people aren't used to it. if it's really gonna be that bad, I'm having my dad come pick us up, because I don't wanna get stuck there. I will, no, Manchester. Southwest. Yeah, we're doing.

Eric (04:39)
Right.

Now, you're flying out of Boston. Okay, what airline? Okay, do they fly direct

to Myrtle Beach?

Erika (04:56)
They do not. ⁓ Usually there's only the what? A velo, but that's a seasonal flight. So we're going obviously preseason. And so we've got to do, we're doing Baltimore and then Baltimore to Myrtle beach. ⁓ yes. Sorry. They don't have a direct flight.

Eric (05:04)
What are you flying into?

That's what I meant, like you're flying into Myrtle Beach. I was gonna go, what are you doing?

Your

choices, like with these flights lately. I gotta play, by the way, by the way, someone very special sent you a message during your Peloton run the other day. Yes, we're gonna look for, we're gonna play it on a real this week, okay? Your very own Bex Gentry told you what kind of seat to get.

Erika (05:17)
What do you mean?

The other day, what Peloton run did I do?

Is it the one that I already-

Yes, yes she did. That one we already knew about. Okay, I didn't know she sent me another message. was like, ooh. But we did, Christmas.

Eric (05:42)
I don't know if we ever mentioned it, that's all. But...

Okay, fine. You're right, thank you for reminding me. Alright. you're right, whatever. Okay, so, the whole point of this episode is I wanted to do a survey. And this was a lot of fun for me because I got to think of these cool questions and I was like, I did way too many questions and I'm like, do I really want to know how they feel? This, I thought, was vital and important. We've done 200 episodes, we have a-

Erika (05:48)
you

Eric (06:11)
Our following is growing

Erika (06:12)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (06:13)
And so I think I made it clear, like, we're not gonna change anything, but we wanna know how you guys feel about the structure of our show, the production we put on. Is it too long, too short? the guest segments too long, too short? Do you really love our trolls? Because some people told us, you know, personally, one-on-one, I love your trolls, I wish you did more of those, like longer trolls. And we're like, really? Like, it's already about two hours? So I created a questionnaire, and the funny thing was, there's a ton of typos.

Erika (06:33)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (06:42)
I first did it on Survey Monkey and then when I went to post it, apparently I thought it was free. It wasn't free because I posted too many questions and then the free version only allowed 25 responses. I wanted more. And honestly, I thought if I got 25, that's incredible. I really wanted more than 50. And dude, we got more than 70.

Erika (06:42)
you

Mm-hmm.

No shit.

Eric (07:04)
So I'm so pumped. I'm so pumped about that. Some people might be like, 70 is not a lot. Dude, if you've seen our AMAs and our engagement on social media sometimes, like, no, 70 is awesome. So thank you so much to everyone who gave us input here. This was incredible. We're going to go through all the questions right now. The first like 25 or more just like percentage questions. And then the last couple are, what do you really think about Eric? What do you really think about Erika? And what do you think about the podcast? What, would you like to see in the future of those things? So are you ready?

Erika (07:09)
It is.

Aw man.

Eric (07:34)
to hear what people think about us.

Erika (07:36)
I'm as ready as I'm gonna be, so let's go.

Eric (07:38)
All right. So question number one, pretty basic. How often do you listen to the podcast? You had three responses here that you could choose from. One is every Tuesday when a new episode drops. Second was within a few days after a new episode. And third was every now and then when I can. To my surprise, I thought more people would have been on Tuesday when the episode drops, just from the numbers that we see. But only 12.5 % said...

Erika (07:56)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (08:07)
every Tuesday when the episode drops. Makes me wonder if the time relevance is that important, but I still feel like it is. We want to do the TROs within 24 hours when it drops, so that's what we're doing. 50 % of you though, said every now and then when I can. And I understand that only because maybe an episode will get 100 downloads in a day, but then...

Erika (08:17)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (08:32)
Our feed tells us we had 200 plus episodes downloads that day because people are, can tell they're playing catch up. So that makes sense. That makes sense to me.

Erika (08:39)
⁓

Hey, I just

have to say, if you're listening at all, ever, thank you.

Eric (08:44)
Thank you. Thank

you. The other 37.5, so a little over a third says they listen to it within, so actually 50 % listen to it within a few days. Either the Tuesday it drops or within a couple days after. And the other 50 % listens every now and then. So that's a great stat. We appreciate that. Any thoughts on your end? Just thank you.

Erika (09:02)
Cool. Hell yeah.

mean, yeah, if you're giving us your time, we appreciate you.

Eric (09:12)
All right. The second question was, what are your thoughts on our current format? The format is we do an intro, then we do the guest segment, and then we do an outro. I will tell you that that's the format I follow and other podcasts I listen to. And I thought that that format is like the chef's kiss. You talk a little bit about yourselves. You talk to a guest, you get their story. That's the meat, the core, the episode. And then on the outro, you talk about whatever you want. Doesn't even have to be about the topic that your podcast is about.

Erika (09:27)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (09:39)
just catching

up or social things. Did you see this on the internet? Right? Did you see that the ball ran off on Indiana Jones and almost ran into the stadium, but then that one coworker at Disney like threw a body check on it and got absolutely crushed. He's going to be getting a nice paycheck. So our current format is the intro guest outro. We call them the TROs. Your options here will love it or get to the guest segment quicker with a longer outro.

Or they would like us to talk more in the outro and get to the guest segment later. Overwhelmingly, two thirds of you said you love it. That means we're doing something right. 26 % of you said get to the guest quicker. I appreciate that. And 7.8 % of you said they want longer intros. And I love you if you're one of those 7.8 because you just love us. But I love you all. So that's a great stat.

Erika (10:16)
Very nice.

We love talking, so I'm glad you guys like listening. But what

I like about the way that you set it up, you started putting in the show notes when the guest appearance starts. Yes, the chapters too. So if you don't want to listen to us, you can skip right to it, easy peasy, and just listen to whatever part of it you want to. But I like having the whole appetizer, meat and potatoes, dessert thing.

Eric (10:46)
chapters. Yeah.

I like that. I like

that. Maybe mix in a few drinks in there too. The next question was, full episodes average about two hours thoughts. And I was prepared for this one, okay? I don't know how I can shorten the episode. We'll have to play around. We could do more episodes, but they'll still be long, but maybe shorter. Your options were, is it good, is it too long, or leave a comment. So 46.9 % of you, almost half of you said it's good. So.

Erika (11:01)
Best of both worlds.

Yeah?

you

Mm-hmm.

Eric (11:29)
I appreciate that. We're doing something good. you know, that's we'll call it majority 31 % of you said it's too long. I also really appreciate that. However, I have one, two, three, I have so many responses and comments here that I have to click to the next page. So I'm going to read a couple. One person says it's mixed. I like podcasts for long run days, but an hour and a half is their preference. Usually an hour or less is a sweet spot.

Erika (11:30)
Okay.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (11:56)
But if the content is flowing, don't stop. Another response, don't mind if my time allows it. I understand that one too. What I love about, let me tell you this one thing. I used to listen to a ton of sports talk radio and I would be so like, I would get to the parking lot and I would have to keep listening because I don't want to turn it off and miss it. What's nice about a podcast is you turn it off, you get back in the car a couple hours later, you start where you left off. I love that.

Erika (12:15)
Mm-hmm.

Exactly. I tend to do that myself. I won't have enough time doing certain things. I like to listen at work a lot and in the car, but yeah, like you said, you can just pick it up wherever you left off, however long it takes to. ⁓

Eric (12:35)
There is a lot of comments saying there's a sweet spot somewhere between an hour and 90 minutes. I agree. There's a lot of comments about saying this is great for a long run, but I only listen during long runs. I don't listen when they don't have the time. Depends on the guest was a common answer. Depends on the guest. find myself, like others, seem to be a 45 minute-ish range. ⁓ One person goes, depends on the guest. The John Mortimer episode I loved. Didn't matter how long it was. You could have talked forever.

Erika (12:45)
Gotcha. That's fair.

Eric (13:03)
All about the content and what the guest brings is for their interest level. So if it's a long episode and they're not interested in that guest, they tune out. But if the guest is great, the content is great, it could go on for hours. One person goes, I love the length, I just don't have two hours as I'm chasing my five-year-old. I appreciate that. ⁓

Erika (13:08)
Perfect.

Yeah.

I totally understand.

Eric (13:26)
So the responses were amazing. appreciate them all. not reading them all, but they're amazing. Thank you so much. Next question, Erika. And I wish you had these in front of you. My fault. We could have gone every other, but do you think we should separate the tro and the guest segment into two separate episodes a week? Your options were no, it's great the way it is, or yes, two episodes a week, one for the guests, one for the ⁓ life updates. I'll tell you before...

Erika (13:36)
you

Mm-hmm.

Eric (13:54)
this came out, I was hoping, like I was preparing myself for Separate It, but I don't want our episodes to be, welcome to episode 205 of the podcast, and our guest today is six star Erika. I don't want it to be like that, and it will never be like that, but I wanted to understand your feelings on this and how it goes. So it's pretty much broken down to two thirds and one third. Two thirds of you chose It's Great the Way It Is. Yes, thank you.

Erika (14:09)
Yeah.

I appreciate that too.

Eric (14:24)
A third of you though said

two episodes a week is great, which is also another yes, thank you, you'll listen to two episodes a week. So I think that's a win-win.

Erika (14:34)
I appreciate that too, because we enjoy catching up with each other and it does bring a little more depth to the episodes, think. like a little bit of a, yeah, having an intro and just being able to talk and catch up a little bit before jumping right in. So I do appreciate the feedback, but I do, I am one of those people who likes our episodes with the trolls, but we could always do an extra.

something episode on Thursday, just catching up between the two of us. And yeah.

Eric (15:04)
Yeah.

And we're going to talk about that later because we are going to do, we are going to do make some adjustments and really you're just adding more work for us. But we'll get to that later. Yeah. Next question. Eric, I want to know, how do you think the listeners responded? Do you enjoy Eric's energy at the start of the podcast?

Erika (15:13)
Good thing we like to do this.

I really hope it's like overwhelming. Yes, they love your energy because I think like the podcast just if I were doing it, it just wouldn't be the high energy as if you were doing it. Yeah. See, I can't even get words out. Ninety. ⁓ huh. Yeah. Okay. What is it?

Eric (15:40)
90 your options here are love it on caps or tone it down. All

but two responses said they love it.

Erika (15:51)
Good.

See? Yep. Ain't broke, don't fix it.

Eric (15:58)
Yes! And we'll get... That might be a little long. We'll get to the soundboard later. People might not love the soundboard as much. Who are the two people who told me to turn down? I actually thought it was going to be a lot more than two. A lot more.

Erika (15:59)
What's up everybody!

no.

Well, those are good numbers.

Those are good numbers. They love your energy. You bring it every week. Keep it up, dude.

Eric (16:21)
I love

that feedback because I was questioning do I go too hard and there's a few people like inspiration from one was Robin Williams when he's like good morning Vietnam I was like I need something That was one of them. There's a few others and they're more from people who do their intros Jason Kelsey I love his his energy is in his intro. So there's a few others are ready from spitting chiclets. So because he did the good morning everybody or it was

Erika (16:33)
Uh-huh.

Gotcha.

Eric (16:52)
Hello everybody. All right, next question. Yeah, I'm glad that people like it though. Love it, actually love it. Next question was, do you like when we talk to brands like MyRacedHats, RightSocks, RelayGoods? You know, do you like that? And 85 % of you said, yes, I enjoy learning about more brands in our community. And only 15 % of you said, no, keep it runners. I appreciate you both.

Erika (16:54)
So you pick something, you made it your own, and you're sticking to it. Good. Me too.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (17:19)
I

appreciate the trend I see there because the next question is kind of related. Do you enjoy when we talk to a specialist in the running field like coaches or physical therapists, nutritionists, any specialist in running? 95 % of you said yes, where then only less than 5 % of you said no, just runners. So of those two questions, almost everybody overwhelmingly loves the specialist in running.

Erika (17:23)
Yeah.

Eric (17:46)
And a little less love the brand talk because yeah, I get you're just talking to a brand and learning about socks. We love socks. We love feet talk on this podcast, but that's awesome for the vibe. Like we'll get more of those specialists.

Erika (17:51)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we do.

I know it can

kind of sound like we're selling stuff, but it's stuff that we back and we believe in. So we're not going to just try to peddle some crap at you guys. ⁓ Yeah, he's a runner. ⁓

Eric (18:07)
And they all have a story like my race tats, Don had the story of his whole like everything before my race

tats. So relay goods, know, Patton had his story, right? They all like we stick to what we know. And then we talk a little bit about the product and learn a little more. So we'd love to talk to more brands and more specialists.

Erika (18:16)
Absolutely.

Yeah.

Especially like Sam. Yeah,

absolutely.

Eric (18:27)
Alright next question. Do you like the air horn?

Erika (18:33)
You know my answer. I fucking love it.

Eric (18:36)
your options were yes, no, or you overuse it. I was fully expecting this I was fully expecting this to go like not in the right direction, but 72.6 % of you overwhelmingly love the Air Horn. So that you know what that deserves?

Erika (18:42)
Yes, but in yellow. Yes, but in blue.

An air horn!

Eric (19:01)
But you know who that pisses off? 6.5 % of you who don't like it. So I'm sorry. 21 % of you though said...

Erika (19:06)
Sorry. But it makes me happy.

Eric (19:12)
I know, I know, but you're different, you're not like everybody. I love the air horn though. 21 % of you said maybe just the intros and I happen to actually agree, agree here, so. I won't overuse it too much and we'll get to more soundboard questions later. Because I didn't properly like order these in the right order sometimes, so. Next question, and I thought this one could have gone either way. Do you like when we talk about non-running topics like

Erika (19:14)
Can't help it. Can't help it. Me too.

Okay.

⁓ that's okay.

Eric (19:42)
A couple days ago we opened up talking about the Patriots and the Bruins and sports and Zdeno Chara Do you like that? Overwhelmingly 86 % of you said yes. So that's a win. That's That's a Boston Bruins Foghorn win.

Erika (19:52)
I'm very happy. Are you giving it in your home?

there we go. I'm very happy to hear this because even though we run a lot, well, let me say I run a lot right now, ⁓ but I feel like I'm very boring and I don't have a lot to say about just running in general. I am complex. I have things going on. I watch TV. I don't know. I'm not selling it, but.

Eric (20:14)
Yeah, the inspiration again to a lot of what we do

here is from we get inspired from others who do this and it's kind of we follow their pattern. Again, we pretty much follow Spit and Chicklets and the Dale Jr. Download is the pattern I follow. And so if you listen to their older episodes, ⁓ Dale Jr. Downloads changed a bit, evolved, but Spit and Chicklets is still the same. We're the Spit and Chicklets of a running podcast is what we are. Yeah, so ⁓

Erika (20:21)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Love it. I love our format

right now. It's great.

Eric (20:42)
If you

I love it too, that's where I get my inspo. So, inspo is a thing, right? So, six, seven. Hey, if it makes you happy, like I said, if it makes you happy. So, just like drinking shots, if it goes down easy, it makes you feel good, cool.

Erika (20:45)
Excellent. I'm surprised you used that because you hated it.

What can I say? ⁓

Eric (20:59)
I don't do shots because it doesn't go down easy. What are we doing right now by the way? We're bantering, right?

Erika (21:02)
I like water.

Yeah,

we're shooting this shit. Another one of my favorite things to do. please tell me yes. We're screwed otherwise.

Eric (21:08)
So do you think people enjoy our crosstalk banter?

Only one person doesn't like it.

Erika (21:18)
⁓ well, okay. Wait, that's good though. So, yay. Okay, okay, good.

Eric (21:20)
Only one person, over 98 % of people love this. So thank you.

Where maybe we're not boring. And it kind of goes with the cross talk.

Erika (21:27)
I feel like it would

be so boring if we didn't banter and bicker and... you know.

Eric (21:31)
I know. Kind of goes with the crosstalk. 86

% people said, like the crosstalk, where 14 says, I'm just here for running, please stick to it. you know, over 98 % of you said that you love the banter. So, banter stays.

Erika (21:45)
Good.

My only thing is sometimes you need to let me have a word here and there. You get on your rants, man. I try. I try. I'll try harder next time.

Eric (21:52)
You need to sometimes just speak up. Speak up!

Pretty much the same question, but do you like hearing us talk about our personal lives? The exact same response, everybody but one. And by the way, for that one who doesn't like us bantering or talking about our personal lives, I still love you.

Erika (22:10)
Mm-hmm.

yeah. Everybody has an opinion. Yep. And it's OK.

Eric (22:15)
And I kind of think I know who you

are and I think you're just kidding. I, to be honest, I'm kind of like, if that really was you, I'm kind of upset you didn't answer honestly. But you know, it's your buddy. But maybe it wasn't, maybe it wasn't. ⁓ No, seriously, I love the input and I love the honesty and it's anonymous, so I could be completely off. So this was completely, I actually had the choice to see the email addresses that answered.

Erika (22:24)
I have no idea. I'm not even going to make a guess. Doesn't matter.

you

Eric (22:44)
And I could have like, right, I chose, I didn't even choose that. So I don't know if it would have aligned. Like I was able to see how everybody answered if I wanted to, like this person answered this way and that way, but I'm just looking at all the responses together. ⁓

Erika (22:44)
⁓ but that would defeat the purpose. don't want, yeah, you don't want to know. Good.

⁓

Nah, we need

to respect their anonymity.

Eric (23:04)
Right. Here's another one that's, I'm really happy the result of these last few, but do you enjoy our live shows from last year from Millennium Races or live stores or running stores? Overwhelmingly, over 97 % of you said yes. Right? So of the one who kept saying no on the other questions, and now it's two, so a little more, a little more. I think that's great because we want to do more.

Erika (23:14)
Yeah?

⁓ awesome. Those are so fun for us to do. Mm-hmm. Okay.

Yeah, and I understand.

Eric (23:31)
We want to do more races.

We're talking to another running store right now who saw our content on YouTube and they reached out and they want us to drive out to their store and do a show next spring. And I'm like, yes.

Erika (23:40)
Isn't that cool?

Mm-hmm.

I can understand where some people might not care for the live shows because there's a lot of background noise in them. Like not our marathon sports one, but with like the actual being at a Millennium race, there's just so much going on and sometimes it can be hard to focus. And if you're just not in the mood to have all this stuff going on, it's not going to be calm and relaxing. so yeah, I can see both sides of things.

Eric (24:12)
Same and I agree, I love that background noise. I think it's kind of great. I was a little worried at the start that it was going to be overwhelming, but I think it just adds that this cool feel. And I'm happy you guys love it because I want to do more and we're going to do more. Next question. Something we always tell people when we email them about coming on the show is one of our goals is to make our listeners feel like they're in the room part of the conversation.

Erika (24:24)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (24:36)
Not how it's not feel like an interview. We want them to feel like they're there and they could contribute if they were physically there, but that's the feeling we want fireside chat type of thing. Feel like you're there part of the conversation. So the question was, do you feel like you're there with us in the room during these conversations? And 92 % of you said yes. So I'm thrilled about that. Like I think we're succeeding in that area then. And I totally understand if you said no, because like, no, I'm not in the room. I get it.

Erika (24:45)
Yeah.

Love that, yep.

Eric (25:04)
I feel like we are succeeding there and this proves it so that makes me feel good. 92 % like we're succeeding on that goal. I think we're doing a good job, everything. So far it seems like everyone really loves the feeling and the vibe of this, so.

Erika (25:16)
Yeah, I think

we have a good flow when it comes to guest appearances. At least we try to make it more conversational than just like a question and answer session.

Eric (25:27)
So the next question is, we got really mixed reviews on this one. On YouTube, do you enjoy the vlogs? We did a few vlogs this year and your answers were yes, I would like to see you do more from the events and the races you go to. Guys Weekly was never gonna happen. I thought I could manage that. It's a lot harder than it looks. Another option was sure, I like the vlogs but I don't need it. And then no, I'm only here for the podcast part and that's okay.

Erika (25:33)
⁓ Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hey, I commend you for even trying to do those. I mean, you guys should know you're not getting that shit from me. That's way too much work. It's hard enough for me to do a fricking normal social media post. just, yeah, good for you, Eric. Yeah.

Eric (25:54)
about.

Yeah, I was trying to add things and learn. will

50 or not 50, 48 % of you said no, I'm only here. I'm here for the podcast. I'm not here for the YouTube thing. And that that tells me, okay, I don't need to like if you guys loved it, I would have been like, all right, I really got to like figure this out, like get content and get an editor to edit it the way I want or try harder. 26 % of you said sure, but I don't need it. And the other 26 % said yes.

Erika (26:17)
fair.

Mmm.

Eric (26:36)
I would like to see it though from events and races to do. So I feel like we could do four a year. We could probably do four, like the Gallup. We go to the Gallup or maybe we try to do it from the one that failed that never got out was the one we tried to do from a live show, the Millennium Race. And that didn't work because I wasn't really doing the camera. was stressed and worried or podcast. was just thinking about podcasting and getting this done right. Right.

Erika (26:39)
⁓

Okay. That's not bad.

⁓

Mm-hmm. Well, that's your number one job. The vlog

is not, so...

Eric (27:06)
So I would need

someone around recording and doing it like to be honest, you, but not putting that I'm not even going to give you that job. Like if you really want to do it, you can do it, but I need someone else to be doing it. But if we go to a race that we're not recording, like the Gallup or we're doing anything this year, we could vlog from it if we're not taking it seriously. So we will do another Gallup vlog though, because it is somebody's birthday. Yeah. Be there guys. Be there.

Erika (27:16)
Thank you.

That'll be a big day, a big freaking day.

Eric (27:35)
Next question, do you want to see us create more creative content on social media? Like the sweater weather. Sweater weather. my god, sweater weather.

Erika (27:42)
Sweater, sweater weather.

You

Eric (27:46)
I feel like Erika, by the way, did you answer these?

Erika (27:50)
Did I? No, I didn't take the survey myself. I was not going to mess with the results, man, because I would have been like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Eric (27:52)
Good, you listened, I told you not to, I didn't want your video.

Well, so.

So your options were you had three. One was no. I don't need to see that. Another one was a few personal fun ones a year is cool. And then yes, follow the trends and do the silly content. So only 15 % of you said no. Where 50 % of you said we like the personal fun ones a year. Those are fun. And then 35 % of you said yes, follow the trends. So 50, 60, 70, 85 % of you

Erika (28:05)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (28:29)
Math guy. Want to see this content. And that is something Erika is going to work harder on this year. I had the perfect reel for you.

Erika (28:32)
Okay.

Don't make me dance. Just don't make me dance.

I know

you did, but I can't do it. I can't dance. I literally cannot, my brain cannot learn dance moves.

Eric (28:45)
Yes you can!

If you guys remember, I did the reel with her at the Thanksgiving race where she's like, oh my god, hey, so good to see you. And I just hand her a camera, make content, and you're like, fine.

Erika (28:53)
you ⁓

That was easy and also not choreography.

Eric (29:03)
But I sent

you a perfect reel where you can have the same attitude. Like Eric's making me do this. And it was the Taylor Swift song, land, sea, whatever. And you just like do it with like a grumpy face. Like you're like fine, whatever. And then you can give me like, don't actually give me the bird because then I can't post it. But you just give me like a, face. It would be so funny. I was like, do this, do this. Exactly. Exactly. But people want more.

Erika (29:08)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, but I don't like don't know. I don't even know the words

All right.

Good at the, ugh, face. Yeah, but just not dance moves.

Eric (29:33)
over pretty much 85 % people like and wants to do more so not necessarily the big ones like sweater weather where only 35 % that 35 a third of the people want to see that Erika and then 50 % on top of that want to see fun stuff a few times a year so

Erika (29:41)
Mm-hmm.

can do fun stuff. I can do fun stuff. But not dancing.

Eric (29:55)
But you need to do it.

Guys, can I tell you something too? Off topic here, here goes the banter. This was amazing. We had a meeting the other day. It was great. And we're talking about this. And we had a friend there in this friend. You were talking about the topic on hand. I forget what it was. Help me if you can remind me. But then she played devil's advocate and says, okay.

Erika (30:00)
What? boy.

Eric (30:22)
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. was podcasting at live events, but not getting to run them. You wanted to run more races. Like you're like, I want to run the races and Eric wants to do live shows, right? And we need to find the right mix. This person says, can I play devil's advocate? And she looks at Eric and goes, if you want to run more races, you got to make more content. And I think that people are agreeing on this here.

Erika (30:28)
Mm-hmm. I am the runner.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

It all depends on what it is and if I have a goal for it. If I'm just running it for fun, yeah. But then it would have to be like, hey, I'm going to run it. Yeah. I have focus in a different place, but I could probably do, I'll say probably, that way I won't have to be locked into anything, but I can work on doing more because I do love running. I love doing the races.

Eric (30:51)
Stories sometimes, just a story post. I understand your goal race, you're not going to post in the middle of it.

Erika (31:15)
I'm sorry if I double booked myself over when we were supposed to do live things. Not my intention, but running is fun. I love doing these races.

Eric (31:22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All

right. That kind of goes in line with this next question. Do you like when we jump on Instagram stories and chat to you for a minute? Overwhelmingly, the answer was yes. People like those, where only 16 % of people said no, I skipped those. So that's pretty much where you just skip to next story. So that's like me talking from the top of McIntyre, like, hey, what's up, guys? Big week. You know this and all that.

Erika (31:32)
Ooh, what did they say?

Gotcha.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (31:48)
It's like you when you would do it occasionally from the rail trail. And I just think you need to find your spot and do them weekly. You know, when you go out for a run. Yeah. Or in your drunken Strava run. So people love those and they want more. And I'm going to talk to you about doing more. So yes, they want, people want more Erika. People like you. Do you understand people like you?

Erika (31:55)
Let me get my rail trail back and I'm happy to. That is my happy place. Okay.

I am shocked.

⁓ I hate I hate disappointing you all. hate it.

Eric (32:16)
And you want to know what the proof of that is?

The proof of that is the next question. Two questions in a row. One, do you like to see Eric on story posts and doing updates? The follow up question after that is, do you want to Erika do more? So pretty much the same question. The only word different is Eric and Erika. Do you want to see Eric do more story posts and updates? 93 % of you said yes. Thank you guys. You love me.

Erika (32:22)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (32:45)
Same question for Erika. 100 % yes.

Erika (32:51)
no. You guys, I'm so lazy when it comes to social media, but all right. This year I'm going to work on it. I will do better. I will do you right. I will do you right.

Eric (32:59)
Actually, I

Next question. Do you, not do you, but what are your thoughts?

on the newly added fart buttons. ⁓

Erika (33:13)
Well, you don't need my answer.

Eric (33:17)
Guys, I hesitated so hard to add these. Now, yes, I added eight. I added eight for our buttons when, when Erika wanted, like, I'm gonna go all out here. She's not getting one. She's getting eight.

Erika (33:20)
I'm still laughing.

That was the only one I wanted for the record. Okay. huh.

⁓ see, even that, I'm like, nah, that's too much.

Eric (33:36)
But

I don't love, I never loved the idea of a fart button. Never loved it. And Erika had to do some work to earn it. She really did. So.

Erika (33:47)
You

Eric (33:54)
The people are with me, Erika. The people are with me.

Erika (33:55)
Uh-huh.

I just wanted the one little toot button. Uh-huh. ⁓

Eric (34:01)
So you had three options here. One, love it all caps. 31 % of you love

it.

Erika (34:10)
See, this is the only reason I wanted it, because they make me uncontrollably laugh. Whew. Sorry.

Eric (34:17)
47

% of you think it's funny, please don't encourage it. And the other 21 % of you hate it and said, please, they said, please stop.

Erika (34:30)
So stop pressing them! ⁓

Eric (34:37)
Sorry, I farted.

Erika (34:40)
Okay, just know that I am not in control of these buttons at all, so you cannot really blame me. You can only like partially blame me for this.

Eric (34:48)
Well, somebody wrote in the comment like the soundboard

is cool when the buttons are properly placed, but sometimes don't overdo it. So that's the take on the fart buttons. similar question, much different response. What are your thoughts on the new soundboard buttons when we play them? Your options are love it or it's fun from time to time or hate it, please stop. All right, so 21 % people hated the far buttons, hated it, please stop.

Erika (34:56)
Yeah.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Aww.

Eric (35:17)
Only 3 % of people hate the soundboard buttons.

Erika (35:21)
Okay, so it's just they hate the fart buttons more than the rest of them.

Eric (35:24)
Right?

Right. Now, it's fun from time to time is 61%. And that's similar to, it's funny but don't encourage it, the 47 % from the fart button. So a lot of people think the soundboard is fun, where another 35 % of people love it. So

Erika (35:31)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (35:48)
So pretty much everybody enjoys the soundboard from either time to time or all the time. 60 % of the time it works every time. Pretty much. Pretty much.

Erika (35:58)
Excellent, excellent.

Eric (36:02)
Would you listen? Next question here is, would you listen if we had a guest who had nothing to do with running? This is something I've wanted to do from like time to time, once or twice a year that we find interesting. 80 % said yes.

Erika (36:02)
Ugh.

Mm-hmm. What do they say?

See, I am with the majority on this one. As long as we get somebody super cool, yeah, it doesn't have to.

Eric (36:21)
Yeah, like that girl who sailed around the

world solo by herself in a race. Yes.

Erika (36:25)
That's cool shit.

I would love to get somebody who is on like the Red Bull team, who just does crazy other extreme sports. I follow Red Bull on like Instagram and Facebook and stuff. Yes, like are you kidding me? That's some cool, cool shit.

Eric (36:34)
Ooh, that's cool.

What about the guys who like skydived out of an airplane into another airplane? Could we get Travis Pastrana? He jumped

out of an airplane without a parachute.

Erika (36:47)
He would be cool to talk to because he did the rally car racing on Mount Washington. I know. So yes, it would be really, really cool. Yeah. Yeah, into it.

Eric (36:51)
Does a lot of cool shit. Does anybody know Travis Pastrana? Yeah, so 80 % of you love it or are, you said, yes, you'll listen. And 20 % said, no,

I really only care about runners. Fair. Totally. sound like Michael from Wheel Run 4. That's fair.

Erika (37:06)
Yep. And again, this would be like a sometimes thing. We would mostly stick to running, but then maybe sprinkles like Salt Bay, a little non-runner in there every once in a while.

Eric (37:09)
Right.

Yeah.

This is one I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I was hesitant to do too many, but do you enjoy our personal race recaps where you had responses of three options here? One was yes, but only the big races like New York city, Chicago. One was yes. I love hearing about all the races, big or small. And your second option was no, I don't really care about good for you. Let me tell you something. Nobody said no.

Erika (37:22)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (37:42)
Not one person. And overwhelmingly, 87.5 % of you said, yes, I love hearing about all the races, big or small. So.

Erika (37:43)
That's fun. Yay.

See you guys,

this is why I do the races so I can talk about them. And you can hear.

Eric (37:57)
Race recaps are here to stay,

but people want to see stories when you're there.

Erika (38:01)
I understand they work hand in hand.

Eric (38:04)
Yes, they do. So that's great. That's great news. that will help us add, you know, we'll do a bonus episode of the week on like a Thursday or Friday. So Tuesday is going to be, we're all over the map here, but that's what we do. It's always going to be a guest with the exception of like a Chicago or New York. So maybe the Tuesday would be, you know, you're always going to get your guests on Tuesday. And then the second episode of the week will be the bonus, the race recap, the life update, whatever.

Erika (38:21)
Mm-mm-mm.

Eric (38:30)
That's great. That's great to know you guys. Like this is why we did it. We want to know if you like it. Do we do more or less? So that's awesome. Next question. This was going to happen one day. But when we start to add partners to the podcast that we love and we record our own ad reads, will you still listen? Like, do you think we're sellouts or something? Like, are you going to support us when we continue to add brands and partners and

Erika (38:36)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (38:55)
and do ad reads, which I would like to do live ad reads. We might have to have them scripted like we read off something, but you know.

Overwhelmingly, 87 % of you said yes, I will still listen. So thank you. Thank you so much. You'll still listen.

Erika (39:09)
We appreciate it.

Having partners is going to help us bring a better product to you guys. So yeah, it's hopefully useful. Turn it off. Oh no. There's like a 15 second skip button. Just boop, boop.

Eric (39:15)
Right? Only two of you said you'll turn it off and you called us sellouts. So, well they pretty much said no sellouts and then, right, well and

then just under 10 % of you said yes, I'll still listen but I'll skip the ads. And I, you know, I appreciate that. You know, I appreciate the honesty. Another one is when we start to add partners, what type of ad reads would you prefer? You had three options here. One was live ad reads on the fly.

Erika (39:30)
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric (39:44)
Two was pre-recorded ad reads that we pre-recorded and then just fit in. And then you had the comment section. So pretty much the comment section was a bunch of either way, either is fine, I'm happy with both options, a little bit of both, pre-recorded only if the owner is involved. That would be like with my race tats, we had a pre-recorded with Dawn, right? And then 45.9 % of you said live ad reads.

Erika (40:03)
Hmm. yeah, done. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric (40:13)
So almost half of you want live ad reads and the other 39 % said pre-recorded. I think you'll get both. It will be pre-recorded with the owner of a brand. Like if say John Mortimer, right? Pre-recorded. Don from iRaceTats, pre-recorded. If we're gonna do an ad read about, we'll just use John as an example again, about a Millennium Race coming up, it'll be a live ad read. It'll be fun, it'll be organic with some bullet points.

to make sure we cover everything we need to cover. No, you got to actually nail the bullet points. You can't miss because that's...

Erika (40:44)
I'll try my best at those two, you guys.

Yes. No, I get that. get that. But I

have not tried those yet. So who knows how they work.

Eric (40:54)
Would you enjoy episodes with just the two of us, no guest? This is kind of important. Like, some people said we love the TROs so much, we would just love to hear the two of you talk. Kind of like this, we don't have a 68.9%, ⁓ we are so close to that 69 number, so close. Just a little off from that six, seven.

Erika (40:59)
Yeah.

boy.

Eric (41:18)
68.9 % of you said yes every once in a while. I agree, I'm with that. Where 25 % of you said yes every week, two episodes a week. So.

Erika (41:29)
Wait,

how many people said that?

Eric (41:31)
25 % of people said yes every week, two episodes a week, one with a guest and the show is separate. I think what they want would be like really get right to the guest on the guest episode. But pretty much, yeah.

Erika (41:37)
Okay, okay, okay.

Gotcha. I was going to say, like, I don't think I could nail trolls

like twice a week. And I run out of stuff to talk about.

Eric (41:48)
Pretty much everybody enjoys it where only, it's so small I have to put the mouse over it, however 3.3 % said no, one episode a week with the guests in the Tros

But this is pretty much saying like just every once in a while. we're going to do more of that. In fact, one you had a you had a fill in spot. One person wrote yes, but only for race recaps and major life announcements. Absolutely. And ⁓ one person wrote. Yes, but I might skip the guest part.

Erika (42:03)
We can swing that.

Gotcha.

So somebody just like the truth.

Eric (42:21)
I wonder if that's like

my mistake or they didn't understand or... Anyways, I digress. This one's important to me. How is the quality of our podcast? Erika, you don't listen to many other podcasts, but if you, you what do you think the quality of this is? You had two options. Very good, sounds professional. Average, I don't know numbers, you had three. Third one was not good, it needs to be better.

Erika (42:45)
Well, honestly, my opinion, I have tried to listen to many different podcasts and the production value that you provide is top notch. You have done your homework.

Eric (42:54)
Is that it? thought the reason

he didn't like the other podcast was more the content. Like you can't like.

Erika (43:00)
It's a combo, but honestly, you have honed in on your craft. You know what you're doing, and it is very noticeable and exquisite.

Eric (43:07)
Thank you.

Well thank you.

89 % of the listeners agree with you. 89 % said yes it's very good, sounds professional. 11 say average. Nobody, not one person said it needs to be better. So I appreciate you guys.

Erika (43:15)
Well, good.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

OK, so those are

good feedback notes. But I think you're doing a fantastic job.

Eric (43:29)
Yeah.

So that was the end of those questions, the multiple choice options. What's next is the, you know, leave a comment. Now, again, we had over 70 people respond. I'd say about half of those people left

Two questions. One was, what would you like to see Eric do more or less of on the podcast and social media? And then what would you like to see six star Erika do more or less of on the podcast or social media? Do you want to start with me or you?

Erika (44:00)
man, dude, you can go first. Yes.

Eric (44:03)
Me, okay. Well, I'm going

to read them all because you don't have this in front of you. did send them to you, but there was a problem with like, it wanted to print like 800 pages for you. Yeah, you weren't going to do that. All right. I'm going to read a bunch of these and I might comment back or forth or ask you, listen, if you wrote something, I fully appreciate your comment.

Erika (44:11)
formatting was weird.

Yeah, I'm not doing that,

Eric (44:28)
And also if I ask a question like you, no judgment, you can reach out to me and say, that was me. And this is to elaborate more. So some people say, you know, they just want more out of me. Okay, fine. I'll try to do more. I already do a lot. I really liked the voice and the energy. I've had some people tell me I have a great voice for radio. think the actual, ⁓ phrases you have a great face for radio. ⁓ Eric.

Erika (44:41)
You do.

You've got a great head

of air for radio as well.

Eric (44:56)
Yeah, they go, I really

like your voice and energy. You and Erika compliment each other well. Eric, you're awesome. Thank you. So proud of everything you do and your accomplishments. Thank you so much. You really should get to more majors. I agree. I agree. I agree. All right, here we go. Someone who is not afraid of writing anything because they know I don't know who you are. Stop making Erika feel bad about not doing content at races.

Erika (45:11)
I agree. Yep.

Eric (45:25)
Preparing for big ultras is a lot of work and adding, having added stress and work to do on race day isn't necessary. I'd rather hear about it on the show. Okay. know, point taken. They continue. Keep up the intros. They're always amazing. Plus you always seem super prepared with research on the guests. they, you know, they, they told me something to work on and then they pumped my tires.

Erika (45:33)
Validation! I have been validated. Whoever did this, get me. get me. Yup, they know.

You do your job.

Yep, compliment sandwich.

Eric (45:56)
And then they left

one last comment with a smiley face. They said, run hamster wheel.

Erika (46:01)
Do it. You won't do it.

Eric (46:02)
Yeah. Next

one. love Eric's banter and his jokes. Thank you. He really brings a level of joking that I feel like balances well with Erika. I would love to hear more about his own running and Iron Man journey. We'll have to figure out how to do that. ⁓

Erika (46:18)
Have we done, we haven't done a like an Eric episode in a while apart from your New York city, but that doesn't get into your whole like history and stuff.

Eric (46:21)
No.

I just feel

like I'm bragging about myself. I need someone else to invite me on their podcast, just me, where I can give the whole story.

Erika (46:32)
Ali G.

Eric (46:34)
That doesn't count. No, that's just like, that's easily me saying, let me talk about me. I don't like talking about me.

Erika (46:35)
Why? Why not?

Ali show, why can't you? That's what being on a podcast is about.

This is your podcast. mean, let's admit it, it is your podcast. ⁓ You should be able to toot your own horn every once in a while. Talk about yourself.

Eric (46:55)
Next one,

I love the energy. I'm not caught up so much with my feed, so my feedback isn't great for recent soundboard and whatnot. So this person's saying they're not caught up in all the episodes, so they haven't made it to the Christmas and the soundboard. But you put so much into who the guests are and their role in running and fitness, it's excellent. We're all runners, but we are also all more than that. You guys, I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with me reading, because I can't read. ⁓ So they're saying.

Erika (47:04)
That's okay. Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (47:22)
You know, it's great. Keep doing what you're doing is how they finished that. And then a lot of short comments. All good here. ⁓ Here's an interesting one. Reach back to me if you want. No judgment. Less of the nicknames. You overdo it.

Erika (47:31)
Hmm?

Like what, the six star part? ⁓ I'm used to it at this point.

Eric (47:39)
Exactly am I saying do you want me to call Erika Erika

or am I giving like I pretty much just call you Erika and Tara Tara Tara dactyl Are there other ones like I made it known I don't like Lindsay's nickname, and we're dropping that they recorded the read crap the other day I don't know if she used it ⁓ Like no read tell me don't tell me Context feel free to reach out no no judgment at all. I appreciate that input, but Erika is six star Erika

Erika (47:52)
Gotcha.

We'll find out.

Eric (48:10)
⁓ Nothing comes to mind. Somebody wants more AMA style stuff on Instagram. I would love to. And maybe this is some encouragement, but yeah, give us questions, like respond to it. We don't get a lot of questions when we put those out. And Ali G gets 50 plus every time she does it. Like we get five. So I would say it's...

Erika (48:10)
I'm used to it.

We just need more people to say stuff, give us questions. We need the engagement.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (48:38)
just feels like it wasn't working, but we'll try. We'll do it on the next solo end of February. ⁓ Here's another one. I really appreciate this comment. And I would love if you reach out to me and explain yourself, ⁓ but less of the kiddos. And they go on to say they're a parent and they love their kiddos too, but unless related to the content of the show, somehow maybe dial it back a notch. You have super cuties. Well, thank you. know, they get the good looks from...

Erika (48:41)
Perfect.

Eric (49:07)
their mom. I would like to, know, is it more less sharing the stories about my weekends with the kids skiing and doing what we do life-wise or is it like having Adeline on as a co-host sometimes? Because they usually don't like if they ever jump in when we're recording, I usually edit that out. So just elaborate a little bit if you want to reach out to me. ⁓ I'm sure your kids are super cute too.

Erika (49:07)
it.

No.

Eric (49:36)
Another person a little less ripping on Erika lol laughing out loud a bunch of times I love the banter, but I don't want yeah, they say I love the banter But I don't want people thinking you're too mean because you're very nice. Well. Thank you, you know

Erika (49:44)
wouldn't be the same pun.

Eric (49:54)
You must not know me that well. I'm an asshole. No, I'm not. ⁓ I messed up. was.

Erika (49:57)
laugh at that.

We

just know each other so well where this, like, that's just how we are. On the air, off the air, this is us all the time.

Eric (50:09)
Yeah.

I couldn't do this if Erika didn't. Like, I couldn't be that way. Like, I couldn't have another co-host sub in for Erika that I couldn't. Let's use Ashley Paulson as an example. Aaron Azar. If I brought them on to co-host, which could happen one day, I couldn't be like that with them. But I can with you because you're you.

Erika (50:25)
Mm-hmm.

20 years of friendship will do that to you. Over 20 years. More cowbell? Why don't you have a cowbell on the soundboard? Yeah, take out one of your rock quote things. You have too many rocks out there.

Eric (50:38)
Yeah. Wow, 20 years. More cowbell.

Mort Cowbell. I should add a sound there. I should. Yeah, I should. Yeah.

Here's a good one. This is actually, love this one. More product reviews. And what I wanna say is, brands, send us your products, we'll do reviews.

Erika (50:57)
⁓

actually have one that I kind of need to review. Do you remember when you were at New York City and you met, ⁓ I'm blanking on his name, but the guy from Salt Stick, you saw him again? Noah, thank you. He sent me a box of those rocket, like the rocket pop sour bonk breakers. Yeah. ⁓ I'm game. Those things are delicious. Product review.

Eric (51:15)
Noah.

Let's bring them on the pod and talk about it. I'll reach out. We're going to get very soon. Hey, what's up? Shout out to Brittany.

Brittany's going to come on later this year too. Brittany was the salt stick mascot. Yeah. Yeah. She was wearing like the suit. She's going to come on later this year too. These are all great. Listen, I know there's a lot. I'm going to read them all.

Erika (51:34)
No shit! How cool is that? That's awesome! Very fun.

Eric (51:48)
I love the run and talks with all the updates. keeps us in the loop with the extra connections for the listeners. Live shows, stretching, too many tangents, you talk too much.

Erika (52:02)
I mean.

Eric (52:02)
Yeah,

I do. I definitely go on tangents.

Erika (52:06)
That's not a bad thing. It's

not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that sometimes those tangents

Eric (52:13)
That's so true. It's so true.

My favorite. Maybe we like call this this here, but someone goes, I enjoyed the whole Eric experience. The Eric experience. It is an experience. I love that you say that. Thank you for that. I wasn't prepared for the ba-ba-ba-bow. I'm not gonna do the ba-ba-ba-bow. Because maybe I do it a little too much.

Erika (52:25)
The Eric experience. OK. I feel like that needs a br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-br-

That's okay. worry. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Eric (52:40)
More big race recaps. Well, I need to do more big races to do big race recaps. More ski content. Really? I would love to. Could we start like a chairlift podcast?

Erika (52:44)
Mm-hmm.

Well, there you go.

Do it on your Wednesday, Wednesday or Friday, whatever day you get to go to the mountain and do work. I know. That's great. ⁓ the chair lift.

Eric (52:58)
Well, there's no one ever there. I'm only one there on Wednesdays. mean, a few people, always the same people. Keep doing what you're doing. And

then one, this is another, a good one here where someone's giving me actual thought and opinion. You all did, but like, I love the criticism sometimes or the this, sporadic use of noises. It's fun and humorous when it's out of nowhere, but it quickly becomes old if overdone.

Erika (53:12)
Yup.

huh.

Eric (53:28)
All right. Excellent. Excellent. All right. Thank you for that. Thank you. That's it. A couple people just wrote more. Do more. In fact, only two people. no, no, there's more. ⁓ Continue to share personal content. Engage audience with challenges.

Erika (53:31)
I love that one.

Eric (53:46)
or polls. I'll try to do more. I'll try to do more. Yeah.

Erika (53:48)
⁓ well, I mean,

we tried to like last year and it just, we never stuck to it. So maybe that's just something we got to stick to the questions of the week and just getting more engagement.

Eric (53:55)
That was a, yeah, if it really took off,

would, like, that's, like, the question of the week is, like, I think I said, I keep trying to give Erika a job or responsibility. was like, that's one where just, I kept, you know what, not to throw it on you, but I kept trying to do too much. And I just needed you to do something that you wanted to do and take ownership of. like, if if,

Erika (54:10)
no. ⁓

Yes, no, no, I get that.

Eric (54:22)
If Erika wanted to do that, she could take that over and we could make it work every time. And then the last one is someone says stories from the slopes or camping. They love those stories. I'll bring more. I'll do more. All right, it's Erika's turn.

Erika (54:35)
I love that you and I have

kind of different style. Like, yes, we're runners, but we're very different in what we like to do in our downtime. So you get totally different sides of the spectrum. Could be good.

Eric (54:46)
Right. Yeah. All right, so

what would people like to see six-star Erika do more or less of on the podcast and social media? The first response, more.

Erika (54:54)
Ugh. Go easy on me, guys.

Just more. More. Okay. More. I'm literally writing these down, you guys, so feedback notes. More.

Eric (55:03)
more. Do more! I agree.

Next one, she could do an intro or two. Maybe Eric hogs the intros.

Erika (55:12)
More?

⁓ you guys, don't

know if I could take that away from you. It's so iconic.

Eric (55:20)
Well, let me tell you something.

I tried to get her to do the intro for this one and she wouldn't do it.

Erika (55:23)
and I said no,

because I wasn't prepared. You at least type out your intros. I would limp through it, but it wouldn't be anything special.

Eric (55:27)
But she can

She can totally do one.

Next person writes, like her alternative approach to content. Different personalities come out and compliment. I hope you're really not writing these down because some people wrote a lot. You can just save it for later. This person writes, Erika, the correct way, however not your way. Erika is the perfect balance of attention to detail, an active listener,

Erika (55:41)
Hmm. Okay.

I'm reading some of them.

Eric (55:59)
and keeping the conversation engaging. agree. You are an incredible listener and you're so much a better listener than I am. And that really, yeah, that really shows when we're talking to a guest because you listen and you're not thinking what's next. And then you're able to respond to what they say. And I need you to continue to do that because you do so well with that.

Erika (56:06)
That is a very nice comment.

I do try

that, but there are a lot of times where I have too many thoughts going on. Like this person said one thing, but then they said another thing and I want to comment on both things, but then I forget and I just kind of lose my words. So if you guys can bear with me through that stuff, I will continue to be the active listener and keep engaging everybody with commentary. I'll try.

Eric (56:46)
Yeah, I think you're a fantastic listener and you do a great job. And this next comment is kind of there. And I also kind of laughed because of last week's guest, but you seem to be getting more comfortable being an interviewer. You're not as scared anymore with big guest.

Erika (56:49)
Thank you.

you

Eric (57:05)
You guys should have seen her with Kiara the other week.

Erika (57:06)
I biffed it! I biffed

it with Kira! Oh my god! I was a total mess.

Eric (57:14)
And they finished saying you're both really good and going to be pros. Thank you.

Erika (57:19)
Well, I still think I am a work in progress. feel like I always will be, but I will keep practicing because this is fun and I'm just glad you guys are enjoying it.

Eric (57:30)
I think you're doing a great job. Like, you really are a good interviewer. We try to really avoid that word interviewer, interviewer, but I think you really are doing a great job. And I don't mind your fangirl moments. And question, if I'm fanning over somebody, am I a fangirl or a fanboy? Like, so, okay, say I'm fanning over Kiera. Am I fangirling or am I fanboying?

Erika (57:34)
man.

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know, because usually when I say I'm fangirling, it's over a girl, and I'm also a girl, so I don't know.

Eric (57:57)
Like is it me? The guy?

Well is it me the guy? Or is it who I'm fanning over? So if it was Zdeno Chara am I fanboying?

Erika (58:10)
feel like yes, because you're both male.

Eric (58:12)
So if you were a girl fanning over Zdeno Chara are you fangirling or boying? That's weird, fanboying. Yeah.

Erika (58:19)
I don't like that. ⁓

I still, I think it's based on you. So I would be fangirling over somebody, whoever it is, it doesn't matter.

Eric (58:27)
It doesn't matter what you think! Moving on.

Erika (58:31)
Okay.

Okay. Should have seen that coming.

Eric (58:37)
next person writes, want to hear more about your ultras and you're working towards Sydney. I agree. I think you could do a little Sydney series. The road to Sydney, the road to Australia.

Erika (58:45)
The Road to Sydney. Okay. That would be really

fun for me. just, I can't wait to get out of this cold winter blues and I can just be happy and run outside.

Eric (58:53)
But that could, yeah, that could be

like, do a story post every week, but then you do one other post that's the road to Sydney, but we post that as a real. A series every week building to Sydney.

Erika (59:04)
Nice. ⁓

this will be cool because I am looking forward to telling you not only the running side of it, but other things that I'm looking forward to at like going somewhere cool. So you'll get to hear about my plans for the trip and yeah, that'll be fun for me.

Eric (59:24)
Yeah. All right. This next person says you're slacking, Erika. Really? You need to run more miles. Just kidding. The two of you are such a good yin and yang. I really literally feel like we're all best friends and we have so many conversations in the car and in the laundry room. So sorry for over-excitingly yells of OTR in the middle of the races. I just can't stop and won't stop. Love this pod.

Erika (59:31)
I was not expecting.

Eric (59:53)
You're awesome, whoever you are. Thank you so much.

Erika (59:55)
⁓ that's fantastic.

I love when people will yell and say hello and just stop by. It is so cool to get to meet people who listen. mean, we appreciate it. We wouldn't be here without you.

Eric (1:00:07)
That's right.

Next person says that you should post more. I agree.

Erika (1:00:14)
Yes, I feel like

that's going to be a theme. Uh-huh.

Eric (1:00:17)
Next person writes, from your races. So that's basically posting more from your races. ⁓ Next person writes, nothing comes to mind. Well, ⁓ they wrote the same online. I appreciate that. It's saying we're perfect, but ⁓ we're far from it. Yeah. When doing stories from races, okay, this is actually great. So remember this one. When you're doing a story from a race, incorporate more people than just your crew who are running, who you're running with.

Erika (1:00:22)
Yep.

Far from perfect.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:00:45)
And when possible. So I think they're saying, if you're on the trail and you meet someone, now this is going outside your comfort zone. Like, mention them. I met so and so here. So are they saying you kind of just talk about your normal crew? I think they are. And they would like to see some of the outside connections. I agree. That's probably outside your comfort zone, but that is your goal for 2026. Get outside your comfort zone.

Erika (1:01:07)
You know what though?

That is true. And honestly, even though I can kind of turtle sometimes, be just like ⁓ a hermit and stick to the people I know and am comfortable with, but you would be surprised how many people you can just strike up a conversation with on the trails. It's so much fun.

Eric (1:01:18)
Mm-hmm.

You should get those

like meta glasses. So the person you're talking to is not gonna think like you're not gonna have a camera. You don't need to ask. You just have a microphone and be like, by the way, I record everything so you could do that. They end it with show the connections we all make being a part of the running community. So to read the whole thing over so you understand. When doing stories from races, incorporate more people than just the crew you are there running with.

Erika (1:01:39)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (1:01:56)
If and when possible, show the connection we all make being part of the running community.

Erika (1:02:01)
⁓ I love this feedback. This is a great one.

Eric (1:02:03)
Yep. Next

one says, Erika, you run so many races. Would be awesome to get more recaps, whether it's the TROs or via social media. ⁓ I think we understood from earlier, everyone said all the races, big or small.

Erika (1:02:13)
Mm-hmm.

I

like this and I do love talking about the races that I do. Everything is special for its own reason. So I will happily share those moments with you guys.

Eric (1:02:28)
You're going to like this next one. I think, and this is a story for later. Let's not off track and talk about what happened last week at the meeting. We already did that once. ⁓ People said trivia. I think you could add like a weekly trivia question. You could ask me a trivia question. Like, did you know, know, such and such or what do you guys think? And then we could post it like as a thing. Here's Erika's trivia. Did you know the first person to ever run a marathon barefoot?

Erika (1:02:33)
Sure. Sure. Sure.

Eric (1:02:57)
was so-and-so in 1973, whatever.

Erika (1:03:02)
like that. That is pretty cool. Okay.

Eric (1:03:03)
Yeah, at some trivia. ⁓

Product reviews is one. And then someone says, would love to hear more of her training and running overall, how she manages the longer distances and increased miles when working and doing the podcast. Well, guys, she just shows up when I tell her to. And I work around her running schedule.

Erika (1:03:08)
Mm-hmm.

But hey, I

still have a life to juggle. So that is cool if you guys want to see how I balance things. That would be kind of a cool ⁓ thing to go over. my train, my, Erika's weak. How it's broken down.

Eric (1:03:37)
Erika is weak. Yeah. And that goes in long with this next one. I wonder if this was your coach. Someone says you need to do more speed work.

Erika (1:03:39)
Rude. Freaking rude.

God, you guys, love speed work. Off topic again, I've transitioned from speed work to hills and speed work, which I don't love. So give me back just flat road, flat road speeds.

Eric (1:03:59)
Good job. Yep. Preparing for

those Newton Hills, if it happens.

Erika (1:04:05)
⁓ fingers crossed, okay.

Eric (1:04:08)
Back to the experience. Someone says I enjoy the whole Erika experience. This whole podcast is.

Erika (1:04:13)
How about that?

You guys are

being so nice. Like I, I'm a little less nervous now, but there's still more, right? Okay. All right.

Eric (1:04:21)
Yeah. This whole podcast

is an experience.

Erika (1:04:29)
you

Eric (1:04:33)
Next person says, get mad at Eric.

Erika (1:04:33)
Yay.

I'm mad at you all the time. Like all the time.

Eric (1:04:39)
I think I know who that was. I think it was the same

person who voted like opposite on all the other questions. ⁓ Somebody goes more, but with, to whatever you're comfortable with.

Erika (1:04:47)
that's funny.

⁓ somebody's being respectful of my limits, unlike somebody else I know.

Eric (1:04:59)
Mm-hmm.

Somebody says more

feet pics. Apparently that person just hasn't found your only feet page.

Erika (1:05:06)
Are you serious?

Guys, I'm like seriously considering doing-

Like I'm not even joking.

Eric (1:05:16)
You know,

I could do it and no one would know they're man feet. It could be like old lady Harry feet.

Erika (1:05:18)
Nobody wants to see your f- Yeah they would.

Just get a razor. Just shave your feet and you're good to go. Wait, you got to shave like the ankles too. Okay, anyways, Yup.

Eric (1:05:29)
You got a couple of... Yeah.

You got a couple here. More race reports.

Keep doing what you're doing. One person goes, same as Eric, share updates on what you're up to. More race updates. ⁓ And then the last two are, they would love to hear more about your ultra training and the potential rare event where you and Ali do a show or trows together and talk music. ⁓ maybe you could do a yearly

Erika (1:05:44)
Yeah.

⁓ okay.

that's so fun.

Eric (1:06:04)
Ali G show or something. They might be also saying like fill in for Eric when Eric can't be there. You could absolutely do that. You just need to learn the controls. And that I'm not talking about the soundboard. I'm talking about just Riverside and because you yeah, you're like a guest right now talking to me. And then the last one is yeah, the last one is would like to hear more of how she trains for ultras. It's it's pretty much the same tips on how to manage the difficulties of an ultra. So

Erika (1:06:05)
Sure.

Fair enough.

Logging into Riverside, yeah.

Yes. Well, hey.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:06:33)
We could go more into the Erika Ultra experience this year. Are you doing more ultras this year? Are you really focusing on speed, marathon PRs? Austin.

Erika (1:06:43)
Honestly, it's a lot

like last year. ⁓ I focused part of the year on speed because I am trying to go for another PR this April, just seeing what happens. ⁓ But I think I'm doing way less ultras. I had like five last summer or something, something ridiculous like that. And I think I'm down to two or three. Well, that's still a lot. But I don't know. I'm happy to do.

to fill people in, maybe we could do a Thursday episode on it or something.

Eric (1:07:16)
So now we got about the same responses for the next question is, Sherry, I'm not gonna read these all. A lot of you guys talked a lot in these and I appreciate everything. Like you gave paragraphs and the feedback was incredible. And a lot of you kind of go in, like it's almost like we're talking. So like one person says, I actually prefer the video that goes with the podcast. So you're watching on YouTube, thank you. So.

Erika (1:07:19)
Mm-hmm. OK.

That's awesome. The feedback is fantastic, everybody. You delivered. You delivered.

Awesome.

Eric (1:07:45)
And then they talk a lot about things about it or gray areas. I appreciate it all that actually this one's a new one. I haven't read this one yet. It's the first one. So it must be the most recent. and they end with, don't listen to many podcasts, but when I do off to the side with yours, I want to pay attention and don't know. Okay. So what they're saying is, is it's like me. I, there's a lot of podcasts I listen to when I'm doing laundry, the dishes, but then there's other ones I would not listen to and doing laundry, the dishes, cause I want to pay.

Erika (1:07:56)
Mm-hmm.

Gotcha.

So you have like a

background noise kind of one, but then one that you want to focus on. OK. ⁓ well, that's great.

Eric (1:08:16)
Exactly. Yeah. And they're saying we're the focus one. ⁓ One

person here says, me, the segments are too long. I just never have that much time. Understood. The nice part is, is with one a week and maybe two is, you know, when you stop it and then get back in the car or whatever, you start where you left off, like the talk radio example I gave earlier. I don't think we're going to really, we're going to try to not.

Erika (1:08:24)
Mm-hmm. That's fair.

Eric (1:08:44)
to have like a conscious of how long we're going. We're not gonna really go under an hour. Like we're already over an hour on this one. It's impossible. I know. Someone says, appreciate how you both always keep the atmosphere positive, your time and effort into learning about your guests and how the conversations are engaging and the content's relatable. Make you guys so fun to listen to. Love you lots.

Erika (1:08:46)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, I gotta go to bed soon, so we gotta wrap it up.

⁓ we love you. That's a great feedback comment.

Eric (1:09:14)
Yeah, a lot of these are

long. And the nice part is in Erika you have these so can read them. ⁓ But a lot of these paragraphs end with the last line, but you guys are doing so great you've really come so far.

Erika (1:09:20)
Yes.

We have.

Eric (1:09:31)
A lot of other comments similar to that, like, guys are doing great. I love the chemistry. I love the guests. I love all the positive feedback. I love this one. Someone says they're from the UK and although not everything you chat about is relevant to them, they're still very interested and they think we do a good job keeping the listener engaged. So thank you. And like, I love all of these responses. Keep being authentic. You guys have really upped your game.

Erika (1:09:48)
That's great.

Eric (1:09:56)
Honestly, I love to show some of the answers above are only because I've never watched on YouTube or lot of the live shows. Okay, totally get it. ⁓ Just keep being authentic. I'm a new, okay, this one, I'm a new listener. I love being able to listen to a podcast that is local. Awesome. Thank you. Represent New Hampshire, New England. We love you guys. ⁓ They love the mix of guests from big names to people that they know are racing here.

Erika (1:10:03)
Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Nice. That's what we love too.

Eric (1:10:23)
One, one where I, and I think more than one actually wrote this, but pretty much we got a couple that say more local guests they love hearing from the local guests. So what if we did a fun, local series? We're talking to someone about that. That would be fun. And yeah, we got a couple other ones. Man, we got like some great responses here. Erika, please read these. This one here is two paragraphs. They really go into detail. Right? Well, this one actually to sum up.

Erika (1:10:48)
I will go back and read these, absolutely.

Eric (1:10:53)
They didn't love the Boston fundraiser series. And to be honest, I didn't love it either.

Erika (1:10:58)
okay.

Well, I am

kind of on the same page, but only because we didn't get to know the runners very well themselves. Okay. Yes, I am on the same page.

Eric (1:11:06)
That's the reason they didn't love it. And ⁓ they

basically say they appreciate the effort that we put in to try to pump the tires for the fundraising efforts. And they kind of go, just pick three and give each person a full episode. We agree. ⁓ The thing was, you know, we're trying things and some things work, some things don't. That did work. It actually was so much work though.

Erika (1:11:17)
Mm-hmm.

scheduling and

Eric (1:11:32)
But we did

it because we actually got a ton of people who wanted to be on the podcast for Boston. And we didn't want to turn them all down. So we kind of had to say, well, let's do the little series. I don't think we'll do that again. I do think if we do it, it will also be like in January, February, which obviously we're already there.

Erika (1:11:51)
Mm-hmm.

when they have

plenty more time to keep fundraising and people can make their events and stuff. Yeah.

Eric (1:12:01)
Right, we felt bad that they didn't come out until April. We dropped them on YouTube early.

We just felt bad. Right, and we're working on partners for the next Boston Week. So fingers crossed and those partners might get a little bit of say of the guest. We'll see. Some other people said they love the questions the guests get.

Erika (1:12:09)
Like you said, it was a learning experience.

Eric (1:12:26)
Someone wrote, I loved the question earlier about having a guest with no running experience. We all have funny friends who don't run that would be unique guests on the pod. Thanks, I can't wait to do that one day. Have someone totally cool. We have one comment. Six, seven. Yeah.

Erika (1:12:34)
Yes.

Seriously?

All right, we need to eventually drop a certain somebody's episode and I have to introduce the 6-7 jar to you.

Eric (1:12:55)
I already don't like it.

Erika (1:12:58)
Uh-huh. Next.

Eric (1:13:00)
Other people said, love you guys. I feel like I'm listening to my friends every Tuesday. I think you're doing fantastic things. listen, I'm just reading these off the top. I listen, I consider you both friends. Eric might interrupt you too much though, even with the guest. I appreciate that. They say I interrupt too much. I guess like I'm just excited.

Erika (1:13:12)
Bye.

He does. He does.

I know you are. You do get very excited. I don't blame you.

Eric (1:13:23)
This next,

someone else writes, I expect great things now that Erika has a new camera. You're doing good. I love that you're just making it your own, make it your own. Like you notice I've given you no feedback on like the actual.

Erika (1:13:29)
Am I doing okay so far? A couple, a couple videos, yeah.

You're just,

you're honestly just happy when I do something. The bar is so low, you guys. ⁓

Eric (1:13:39)
I'm thrilled.

Somebody

says here the live shows from the races are really fun to listen to Especially the events that I can't attend. I felt like I was there and I really enjoyed hearing from the winners awesome All right this last last one and I skipped a couple of long ones again because there's more long ones Thank you so much. ⁓ I've read most of them I'm gonna read them all and I want Eric to read them all this last one is This one's like okay, it goes back to work somebody writes

Erika (1:13:54)
Cool. We like those. Those are fun. Yeah.

Yes.

Eric (1:14:12)
Need more merch.

Erika (1:14:15)
hell yeah.

Eric (1:14:16)
Are you gonna help? ⁓ shit.

Erika (1:14:18)
Yes.

I thought I've already. Yes, but we got to figure out a way where we just don't have to have inventory.

Eric (1:14:21)
It's so much work!

Somebody has to figure- I'm not gonna figure it out. I've- I- Guys. I've told- I've told Erika and Tara, if they want to do it, it's on you. I support- All I want is to be a reviewer of what the merch looks like. But, it's so- Guys. It was so much work when we tried to do t-shirts and then the t-shirts came to rung. I was like $600 on the whole.

Erika (1:14:30)
Yeah, Terra and I were working on it. Alright, we will do this. Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yeah, well, we need you to give us stencils and patterns or whatever.

Yeah, that's why we gotta do it where there's not gonna be inventory. Just one of those like shops. I'll figure it out. I'll do research.

Eric (1:14:58)
It's a lot of work guys. And also like,

like I know that was over two years ago, but like, I didn't think the amount of work was worth it. Like again, I actually tried not to make any money. I sold them for cost. I legit sold the t-shirts for cost and I could, I can't do that again. Absolutely cannot. So to finish it, need more merch. Stooley, race, singlets or hats.

Erika (1:15:10)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:15:21)
Maybe do an episode or two on how to fundraise for races. We've done those, but maybe we should do more because those are old. And ⁓ the support you give when highlighting some people is great, but a full episode of how to guide would be awesome. Guide. Like be a running guide like Alexi Pappas, I'm thinking is what they're saying. So.

Erika (1:15:27)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:15:47)
This was incredible guys. Erika, thoughts on before I get to the final two, is what March Madness category should we do and who else do you want to see on the pod?

Erika (1:15:50)
Lots of excellent feedback.

Well, you guys have put in so much thought into these answers, and they are very helpful and constructive. And we really appreciate it. I I literally wrote down some of these suggestions that you guys had for me and working on social media. And I will really take these to heart and try. I'll try to do more.

Eric (1:16:19)
Is it okay

to share these on Instagram? Like, can I take screenshots of the questions and the pie graphs? Like, I could do it, like, because, ⁓ you know what? I will do one post for transparency, because you can post 20 photos. I'll post 20 of them. There's more than 20. I'll post 20. I'll do 20 of them later. Like, it's gonna be hard to do the ones where the comments are there, because the graph looks really cool, because, for instance, when we add partners,

Erika (1:16:26)
I don't know, can you?

Go for it.

Yeah.

Eric (1:16:47)
talking about the ad reads. The pie graph has two big sections and then a ton of little ones and you don't get to read what actually the people wrote. I'll share those, I'll share those. ⁓ March Madness categories.

Erika (1:16:57)
Gotcha.

See, this is going to be fun. All right, what do people have for ideas? I had none.

Eric (1:17:06)
First person

agrees with you. I have no idea. Face palm to the head.

Erika (1:17:12)
See, it's not easy.

Eric (1:17:15)
Yep.

Some people wrote running fuel or fangirl athletes. Another person wrote maybe different runners like Des Linden versus Courtney DeWalter, David Goggins versus Noah Lyles. It would be so fun. I agree that would be fun. That would be fun. And we could tag the runner and the person to get them.

Erika (1:17:25)
Whoa. shit.

So you're getting

totally different fields of the same sport, which, ⁓ that would be interesting.

Eric (1:17:44)
One person wrote, assuming they're 16, you could do shoe brands. We've talked about that and I think we want to do that one of these years. You could do pro runners, do a male to female bracket, either together or separate. Maybe the winner is a future guest on the podcast. How about everyone on the bracket is a future guest on the podcast? ⁓ I feel like the woman would win regardless. ⁓

Erika (1:17:48)
Mm-hmm.

Please.

Well, no, that's why they said have two different brackets, a

male and a female.

Eric (1:18:14)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you're right. You're right. Well, yeah.

Erika (1:18:17)
Cause you can't, you can't have one like,

Eric (1:18:22)
Oh, this one's cool. They said we could do the songs but have like one side be all the 2024 songs versus the 2025 songs.

Erika (1:18:24)
Aha, I'm listening.

Okay, break it down by years.

Eric (1:18:35)
Yep. Someone says shoes, but instead of brands, like break it down from Nova Blast versus New Balance, both five.

Erika (1:18:42)
Okay, so we're still talking like a super shoe category or something versus your everyday trainers versus trail.

Eric (1:18:45)
Right, right, right.

That could be like shoes could be the one because we could tag the brands. Best races brackets could be five, 10 K's, half marathons, marathons and ultras.

Erika (1:18:52)
Okay.

⁓ they actually do that with race raves. You guys should check it out. They do like a marathon series. It's fun. Anyways, I like it.

Eric (1:19:04)
This one was funny. This

one was funny. Brands of toilet paper.

Erika (1:19:09)
How many are there? We could have bare butt wipes in there somewhere, because that's a toilet paper-ish.

Eric (1:19:13)
I don't know. Yeah.

So this one says, how about a virtual tournament, Eric versus Erika, pick your teammates and have it based on mileage or fastest times. Okay, so I think that's going beyond March Madness. Let's have a virtual tournament and there's runners I can pick and runners you could pick. And we all try to, every week, get more miles than the other team.

Erika (1:19:32)
Mm-hmm.

I'm gonna kick your ass. I don't know if I totally understand this, but I am in.

Eric (1:19:46)
Could we, we'll have to expand.

That one totally, you know who you could ask the person who did that because they wrote their name after it was Rachel Runs for medals. Password to elaborate.

Erika (1:20:01)
Rachel's on my

team. Let's go, Rachel.

Eric (1:20:05)
Gear clothing

or training race and races. Runners struggle or pitfalls. Favorite dream race locations to run. Pick between all the majors, the 777 and the other less known interesting places. Or not less interesting, but the other more interesting places like Kona, Alaska, Iceland. So they're saying like big races have a category of them. Right, exactly, bucket list, yeah.

Erika (1:20:30)
So more like bucket list races, right? Like, cool,

cool, cool.

Eric (1:20:36)
And then the final one, who are some of the guests you want? ⁓ To my surprise, from a few people saying they want more local, we got some names here. got one person who just says more celebs, more ⁓ big name runners. We have RIVs, Matt Wilpers, Des Linden, Kare Tommato, Ultrarunners. They said more Ultrarunners. ⁓

Erika (1:20:46)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:21:06)
So yeah, we got so many names here. Love the local guest, but have you had a runner from all 50 states? I don't think so. Bill Rogers, I would love to have Bill Rogers. Anyone know him? Molly Seidel, I would love to have Molly.

Erika (1:21:13)
I

I do

know somebody who knows Bill Rogers.

Eric (1:21:22)
Zdeno Chara. Guys, somebody help me get a big Z, please. I would love to have big Z. ⁓ There is another name on here that we already scheduled with, so I'm not going to tell you, but it is a big Boston connection.

Allie Feller would love to have the Queen. Love to have the Queen running podcast. Marissa from WMUR Would love to have her. We've talked to her. ⁓ We'd love to make it happen. Right now, it can't happen. Out of all our control.

Erika (1:21:43)
yes.

Out of our hands.

Out of our hands. Logistics. Yeah.

Eric (1:21:59)
There's, know, yeah, out of our hands. We've tried. Pro

runners and influencers. Again, more of that. And then one other one, I would love to do more multi-sport people. like triathletes. So, we used to have more triathletes and we don't anymore. Guys, this was incredible. ⁓ Yeah, it's hard to get some, you know, some people you need to go through a bunch of chains and like... ⁓

Erika (1:22:25)
the

proper channels.

Eric (1:22:27)
Yeah, they got to get approval and all that. And so we've had some people who say yes and then they couldn't get the right approval. And I sometimes wonder if the company would like look at our name and our logo, which I'll never change. But they're like, no, we don't want you on a poop podcast. But if you really listen to us, you would understand the benefit. ⁓ so maybe one day and yeah.

Erika (1:22:29)
Some have agents and stuff.

you ⁓

Never change, man. ⁓

Eric (1:22:57)
Queen. The Queen is

crushing it right now. The Queen of running podcasts is absolutely crushing it. we're watching your story and you're doing incredible. she's had some good news lately, shout out.

Erika (1:23:04)
You know.

really want

to have Allie on because not only is she, like you said, the queen of running podcasts, she's also a local. This is perfect for us. It's the best of both worlds.

Eric (1:23:18)
It is. We did not know

her when we started this and then we realized that the queen of running podcasts lives up the road. I have an Allie Feller story that I will share if she's ever on the podcast. I think it's funny.

Erika (1:23:27)
Do you?

I just have an Allie

sighting, a couple of sightings because she does a lot of the Millennium races, either running them or announcing for them. So those are my encounters.

Eric (1:23:41)
Yeah. This is amazing. Erika, last thoughts on the survey. Like, are you happy I did this? Were you nervous that I did it? Anxious? Were you like, why are you doing this? I don't want to hear. Like, what are your thoughts?

Erika (1:23:47)
I am. No,

honestly, this was so beneficial. And you guys understood the assignment. You gave us such excellent feedback that we can take and listen to. But also, we're going to stay true to ourselves. So we're just happy that you guys are enjoying what we're putting out there. But it's stuff to think about.

Eric (1:24:09)
Right.

Yeah.

This is incredible. Yeah, we went long on this one, too. So for all of you who said shorten up the podcast, sorry, we it's impossible.

Erika (1:24:18)
Sorry.

What do you expect? It's us.

Eric (1:24:23)
This was a lot of fun.

This was super beneficial. I think we'll do it again in two years. You know, kind of like, exactly. Guys, thank you so much for over 70 of you who responded and just help us continue to grow this thing. Share the pod, love the pod. Give us some, Erika remind me next time, because I got the new iPhone, to read you some of the reviews, because now that I have Apple Podcasts.

Erika (1:24:30)
that's fair. Yeah, see where we're at at that point. my god, two years down the road. Holy shit.

Mm-hmm. ⁓ You can see

them!

Eric (1:24:51)
on my phone,

I can see them and I want more. So now add your review. I'll check every week. I'll do what Wheel Run 4 does and look for some five star reviews and read them. So you guys are incredible. Please do all the good things. Erika, I'm tired. Take us home.

Erika (1:24:59)
Perfect. I love it.

Me too,

me too. You guys are honestly the absolute best. Thank you for listening. You know we love you.

Eric (1:25:15)
Don't fear the code brown.

Erika (1:25:17)
and don't forget to stretch.

Eric (1:25:19)
you

podcast. hope many of you runners getting down to clear water already because of that warm... fucking suck at fucking job.

Erika (1:26:20)
It's not a job, it's a hobby.