216 | March Madness | Race Medals face off for the Stoolie Cup!

It's time for our 3rd annual March Madness Battle and this time we had you the listeners submit some of your favorite and most unique running race medals. We has amazing submitting from a cowboy hat, train spike, a ribbon and even a butt!

Listen to hear who Erika, Tara, Carolina and Eric picked to move on and all weekend long you can make your pick. Follow our Instagram story as we post every round over the next few days to see who officially wins the Stoolie Cup!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to March Madness and Race Medals
03:05 Debating the First Round: Boston vs. Philadelphia
04:05 Unique Medals: Catch Up to Cancer vs. Myrtle Beach
06:48 Ultra Medals: Buckles vs. Rings
09:47 Bigfoot vs. Train Spike: A Unique Showdown
12:30 East Bracket: Tokyo Marathon vs. Beach Bum
15:17 Horseshoe vs. Run New Hampshire Challenge
18:10 Cowboy Hat vs. Rock and Roll Guitar
21:05 Ribbon vs. New York City Marathon Medal
23:54 Round of Eight: Philly vs. Myrtle Beach
24:30 Introduction to the Medal Showdown
26:08 The Battle of Unique Medals
30:51 Final Four Showdown
36:48 The Championship Decision
42:57 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

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Don't Fear The Code Brown and Don't Forget To Stretch!

Transcript

Eric (00:54)
What's up everybody? And happy Friday! And welcome to episode two, 16 of the On the Runs podcast and it's March Madness Baby a bonus episode this week to talk about some race medals and I have some amazing people joining me today. But first, as always, I must say hello to my kick-ass Rockstarver co-host, six-star Erica. What's up?

Erika (01:19)
What's going on everybody? I am awake and ready to discuss. This is going to be a bunch of fun. We got some awesome, awesome co-hosts with me today. you're welcome.

Eric (01:26)
It's-

It's nice of you to wake up for this one, by the way. You were sleeping the other day.

Why don't you introduce two other people who are on and we might have a couple or jump on. We might not actually, we might speed through this, but tell your one who's joined us.

Erika (01:42)
Well, first of all, we have from our very own, The Reek Rap, we have Tara Teradactyl. Welcome Tara. We're always happy to have you. Well, I was not prepared for that. And then we have the beautiful Carolina who jumped on so wonderfully from her open mic night. So thank you for giving us some of your time before you go have fun and sing your heart out.

Ptara (01:51)
Ooh, that actually was not me, but sounded like me. Definitely my brand.

Carolina (02:09)
Thank you.

Erika (02:12)
That was uncalled for.

Carolina (02:14)
That

was not nice.

Eric (02:15)
And

I should have done one for you, Erica. Here's yours.

Erika (02:17)
What's mine?

Jesus Christ. We are off the rails already. So you know this is going to be a good episode.

Eric (02:24)
Now that we got the

farts out of the way, here's how we're going to do this guys. It's March Madness. This is our third year of March Madness. We're going to get right to it. We built a bracket and this is different than last year's bracket. We only have 16 medals. We were given over 50 total because I found out after I said 44 that there was a whole bunch other that were sent to me in another chat. So we had enough to do like a 64 field, bracket field, but that was a lot of work.

Erika (02:51)
Mm.

Eric (02:52)
We went with 16. We didn't even go with regions. Like that's how lazy we were this time. I blame Erica. Actually, she was going to do all this. So I blame her, but.

Erika (02:59)
you

Sure

Eric (03:05)
I digress. Listen, this is going to be fun. Here are the rules for this bracket. The three of you are going to choose what moves on. You're not going to pick your favorite, like I move on Boston, I move on New York. You're going to choose who wins the battle and then we're going to move it along. So are you ready for some March Madness?

Erika (03:27)
Let's go.

Ptara (03:28)
Bring it home.

Carolina (03:29)
Awesome.

Erika (03:30)
Eric, you did such a good job with this. You know, you gave it to me, it would not come out good. I am not a Canva expert. So you did a great job. Yeah. So you stopped giving me shit to do.

Eric (03:31)
Roll with it.

Aw, thank you. I just put you down and you just put me up. Like, that's amazing. Alright!

round we I believe it. First round we got Boston versus Philadelphia. The Philadelphia medal is this really nice freedom medal.

Carolina (03:45)
You

Erika (03:46)
It's all

Eric (04:00)
Check out the Freedom Challenge.

Erika (04:00)
the freedom challenge.

You didn't even crop my hand out, dude. I sent him all these pictures and that, all right, so this is behind the scenes. Just some extra stuff, but.

Carolina (04:05)
You

Eric (04:07)
Well, that's, looks, your hands

on the field.

Ptara (04:12)
⁓ and the Boston medal is the crappy.

that's the last. That's the last year or was it what year did I? Yeah, I ran it in 23. That's the last year that John Hancock 24 was the first year of Bank of America. It's OK.

Eric (04:15)
Well, that's what was said to me.

Erika (04:17)
Ahem.

⁓ Eric, you put the wrong one in it.

Carolina (04:27)
too late now,

you're stuck with this one.

Erika (04:29)
It's still a pasta bottle.

Ptara (04:30)
Hmm

based on metal alone. I'm going with the freedom challenge

Eric (04:32)
I did not put-

Erika (04:35)
You guys that one rings you can ring it. It's got like the bell works

Eric (04:36)
Really?

Ptara (04:38)
Yeah, I'm not going by race.

Carolina (04:39)
Cool.

Ptara (04:39)
There's nothing to do with the race. It's all metal for me. So I'm going with the freedom. That one's fun.

Erika (04:45)
And it's enormous!

Carolina (04:45)
If I can start a band with

it, then I'm

Eric (04:47)
Well, the three of have to debate over this.

Carolina (04:47)
going with the Freedom Metal. ⁓ No, I'm not debating.

Ptara (04:49)
I think we all

Erika (04:51)
Ding ding ding ding ding

Ptara (04:53)
said the freedom challenge.

Erika (04:55)
I'm going freedom challenge. It is kind of unique. So I'm going by the theme of being unique and it actually rings and it is enormous. So it is basically the size of the Liberty Bell. And yes, that one gets my vote.

Eric (04:55)
Erica, you agree?

Carolina (05:02)
Mm-hmm.

Ptara (05:10)
And I think that we need to emphasize that it's the medal alone. Like it has nothing to do with the race, right? Like we're voting on the medal. So I think our viewers and listeners need to keep that mind because clearly if it was race, the Boston Marathon would Trump Philly, but.

Erika (05:15)
Yes, yes, yes.

Carolina (05:15)
Thank

Eric (05:19)
That's up to you. That's up to you and the viewers.

Well, I will move that.

I agree. All right, we'll move on. We have, and I'll just try zooming in. That's what I'll do. I'll zoom in. We have catch up to cancer. was a 5k, a 3.11 mile race versus the Myrtle Beach clamshell.

Erika (05:42)
Mm-hmm.

This one may be a hard sell for me just because I really appreciate that. So the catch up to cancer metal was sent in by Alex. He created this race to help himself like fundraise for, all of his endeavors. And I think that's awesome. So he, he made that metal himself at a self-designed, but Myrtle beach, that one is just so, so fancy and fun. it, it opens up you guys, it's the clamshell. So how, hmm.

Ptara (05:46)
Thank

Erika (06:12)
I don't know, wanna hear more thoughts and maybe I'll make my decision.

Eric (06:18)
Carolina, what do you think?

Carolina (06:20)
I love the beach so I would have to go with the Myrtle Beach clamshell because I would definitely do that race for a clamshell.

Ptara (06:27)
Yeah, and I'm partial to the Myrtle Beach one too, because I think it's so cool. Like when you first get it, it's just it looks like a shell. then there are the people handing out the medals are like, it opens. We're like, what? And you open it up and it's like at the Ferris wheel. It's got the beach. It's got the whole Myrtle Beach theme. So I'm going to go with Myrtle Beach.

Eric (06:28)
and

Carolina (06:46)
That's pretty cool.

Eric (06:47)
All right,

it's settled. We're moving along. Yeah. And we...

Erika (06:48)
I do love the Myrtle Beach, I do.

Ptara (06:52)
Yours was bigger than mine

because you did twice as many miles as me.

Carolina (06:54)
That's what she said.

Erika (06:54)
And I didn't know it opened. You had to tell me. I was like, no way. Sorry,

Alex. I still think yours is awesome.

Eric (07:02)
We love you, Alex. But anyways, all right, we're going to move on. We're in, I'm going to call this like some ultra category. These are definitely unique. got a buckle, a ring, Bigfoot and a train spike. So we're going to start with this round here. It's a hundred mile buckle versus a ring. Erica, do you know anything about these neat prizes you get for finishing a race?

Erika (07:25)
I sure do. If you have run an ultra, actually, I don't know if it's a set distance of 100. I think you can get them for whatever the race director wants. But if you're running an ultra, chances are you could get a buckle in these things. This particular one is from Hamster Wheel, and it is a honker. is very big. It is like a dinner plate to wear right on your belt. And this one has glowing red hamster eyes for the hamster. So this one is kind of

fun and unique as well. I think it's awesome. But I've never ever seen anyone get a ring for a race. And I know that one, I think it came from a 5K, if I'm correct, which is just so, so unique and random. Like it's, it is a hard pick.

Eric (08:13)
Tara, what do you think looking at these?

Ptara (08:15)
I'm going with the buckle. ⁓ I'm not a jewelry person. I don't even know what I would do with the ring. I know you'd probably put it up on a shelf or something, but the buckle is cool. And having done hamster wheel before, a little partial, and I do love the red eyes on the hamster. So going with the buckle.

Erika (08:30)
you

Eric (08:31)
So Carolina, you already got two votes, but do want to give us your opinion on these two buckles? Or these two, ⁓ items?

Carolina (08:38)
⁓

I would probably go with the buckle because I'm on the hunt for my own buckle and so I don't know what I would do with a ring just like Tara said. I don't I wouldn't wear it so I don't know that I'd wear a buckle either but

Erika (09:02)
That's fair. don't wear any of my buckles. They actually hang nicely on my, I have a metal holder in my basement and they just kind of fit over some of the letters. But I mean, they're both really cool, but I have to give it to the buckle. I got to give it a buckle. How about you, Eric? Why don't you give some opinions?

Eric (09:19)
Buckle moves on. No,

my opinions don't count. I'm just producing this awful produced show and you should be watching it on YouTube, by the way. know listening on Apple or Spotify right now is probably pretty hard. So this will all be on YouTube. You'll get to see the bracket. I'm moving everything. It's very interactive. ⁓ I think of course it's the buckle. I am, if you want my opinion, I'm highly disappointed that Philly moved on. I kind of don't like the Philly metal at all.

Erika (09:24)
Why?

You

Eric (09:49)
And I agree the clamshell moves along. However, the ribbon on the catch up to cancer metal is pretty epic. And I think sometimes looking at these, have to consider the ribbon. So let's move along to the next round. We have Bigfoot versus a train spike, not just any train spike. This is Ghost Train.

Carolina, why don't you jump in first on this one?

Carolina (10:15)
I mean, I have to pick the Ghost Train, Train Spike. That's the race that's near and dear to my heart. And to see our race director Rob give those train spikes out, it brings tears to my eyes, whether it's the first place finisher or the, you know, last person in. So it's Train Spike.

Eric (10:36)
Terroteridactyl.

Ptara (10:37)
All right, I'm going with Bigfoot. I mean, I get the appeal of the train spike, but I just think the metal school. I love Bigfoot and I gotta go with Bigfoot.

Eric (10:41)
oooo

Erika (10:41)
Ooh.

Eric (10:51)
So this is perfect, Erica. This is why I wanted three people, because when one chooses a medal and the second person chooses the opposite medal, we get a tiebreaker. So who you gonna piss off right now?

Erika (10:55)
tiebreaker.

little bit of background about this. So the Bigfoot medal is from a 5k, which is kind of unique in itself because it starts in Georgia, runs into Tennessee, and then runs back into Georgia all over a 5k. So I think that is like super cool for the course itself. And I do have a personal attachment to like Bigfoot and Yetis because of all those Yeti races I do, the Yeti trail runners. ⁓ But the train spike, I think that is such a cool thing.

Because that is what you get. like Carolina was saying, that is the staple of Ghost Train. Because you don't actually get a buckle from it. If you want a buckle, you can buy one. But that is your award. That is if you run 100 miles. That is just, it goes with the theme, and it totally embraces it. And there aren't very many places that you're going to get a railroad spike when you finish a race.

I think Notchview is the only other one that I've ever gotten anything like that from.

Eric (12:12)
think the whole point of this was sending unique medals. It's not comparing like what's the best. It's just sending unique things. So I like that pick of the railroad spike. And I thought it was gonna be a tough first round for Bigfoot in the train spike. And I think I was spot on where it was two to one.

Erika (12:20)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (12:32)
So we're going to move on now to the East bracket. guess that's what I'll call it. And we'll scroll to the top and we are going to compare the Tokyo marathon versus the beach bum.

Erika (12:38)
Sure.

Eric (12:45)
why don't you tell me what you think?

Erika (12:45)
Think it might be a challenge medal.

Ptara (12:47)
I know, I'm like, can't really see the beach. Is it just palm trees?

Erika (12:51)
It has a legit bum on it, which is cute.

Ptara (12:53)
⁓ see

Eric (12:54)
Yeah. Yeah,

Ptara (12:55)
I can't.

Eric (12:55)
I know it has palm trees. Looks like it's at a beach and you got a butt with some sunglasses. They're probably gooders and yeah, you're right. It is a challenge.

Ptara (13:02)
Alright, well anything that has a butt on

it, getting my vote. I've never seen a medal with a butt on it. So where is this? Because I'm signing up. Yes.

Eric (13:08)
The ribbon also has palm trees.

Carolina (13:08)
Same.

Eric (13:12)
Tara picks the beach bum. ⁓

Carolina, what do you pick?

Carolina (13:18)
⁓ I'm with Tara. I want to do this race just to get the butt medal.

Erika (13:23)
I know my opinion doesn't-

Ptara (13:24)
I like beach butts

Eric (13:24)
Erica, do you

have?

Ptara (13:25)
and I cannot lie.

Erika (13:27)
I know my opinion doesn't matter a whole lot at this point. I probably would be outvoted, but so again, if we're just talking metal alone, beach bum wins. But of course I have like an attachment to Tokyo because that was where I got my six star medal. That was such a fun race, like cool culture. But if we're just going straight up metal like a butt wearing sunglasses, hell yes. I'm just going to sit over here and giggle now.

Eric (13:54)
Erica,

do you know what I heard about the Tokyo Marathon medal? I heard it's just as small as the Chicago medal.

Ptara (13:55)
Right?

Erika (13:59)
What?

I can go compare. I'll go compare later. I'll see which one is smaller.

Ptara (14:03)
I hope the Chicago

medal is the size of a frisbee this year.

Erika (14:09)
I don't think it will be.

Eric (14:10)
They'd better freaking figure it out

because we've talked about it enough. The whole world should know next round.

Erika (14:15)
Well, what's funny,

I have four Chicago medals and three of them are exactly the same size, the circle one from last year. It's all the same size, but one of them I have is a square and it's still the same size but a square. So I don't think they're going to get any bigger.

Eric (14:34)
Alright, next round we got a horseshoe versus the Run New Hampshire Challenge medal for Millennium Running. I'm gonna start with Erika.

Erika (14:42)
Hmm.

I'm giving it to Horseshoe. That is awesome.

Eric (14:48)
Which is, by the

way, bird in hand.

Erika (14:51)
Yep. We've talked about that several times on the podcast between, think, the Will Run For folks would have run that in the past. And I want to say Chad Zimmerman did. And this is just such a cool race. think it's through Amish country. Am I correct? way, awesome. I'm going to horseshoe.

Eric (15:06)
Now,

I want to just let everyone know if you see this on YouTube, like the Run New Hampshire, or if you're not watching YouTube, the Run New Hampshire challenge medal, it has a leaf, it has a lobster, it has the ocean, it has a lighthouse, a pilgrim hat, a sailboat, maple syrup. Like this is unique. This is very unique. You got two unique medals here. This isn't just like it says Run New Hampshire. This is a unique medal.

Erika (15:18)
like this big too.

Mm-hmm.

That's also a very

large metal too. have that from, that was when in 2020, when we didn't have any races. So Millennium just created all these challenges. So basically you had X amount of time to run the amount of miles that it took to go from like the top of the state to the bottom of the state. So that's like what, 200 miles?

Eric (15:33)
very large.

Ptara (15:36)
COVID.

Eric (15:50)
Would you say it's as big

as about five Chicago Marathon medals?

Erika (15:57)
It's as big as my head, okay? It's like this big.

Eric (15:59)
So Tara, Tara Dactyl with

that information and knowing that Erica already picked the horseshoe medal, what are you going to pick?

Ptara (16:07)
I am going with Run New Hampshire because I have ties. I love lobster. I love New Hampshire, born and raised. I don't have that medal. I did not do that race, but I'm picking it because those are my roots.

Erika (16:13)
you

Eric (16:22)
Now, Carolina, it's your turn to piss somebody off. Which medal is moving on, the horseshoe or the Run New Hampshire Challenge medal?

Carolina (16:31)
⁓ I'm going to go with the run New Hampshire medal because I like the fact that it represents different aspects of New Hampshire and has maple syrup and beach stuff and yeah.

Eric (16:47)
Run New Hampshire moves on. I'm honestly a little surprised, but I'm very happy because that's what I would have picked too. And I was really thinking for a second, like Erica picked the horseshoe. like, are you serious? The horseshoe is going to move on? But Run New Hampshire moves on to the next round. We are now in the final region of the first round. This one's cool. We got a cowboy hat, a guitar, ribbon, and maybe one of the greatest medals of all time.

Erika (16:48)
I'll allow it. I'll allow it. ⁓

Ha

Eric (17:16)
Let's start here. We have a cowboy hat versus a rock and roll guitar. Erica. No, you started the last one. I'm going to ask Carolina to start this one. What do you like the cowboy hat or the guitar?

Erika (17:25)
I did start the last one.

Carolina (17:30)
I'm gonna go with the rock and roll guitar because that's what I'm about to play on open mic night and that just calls to me more than a cowboy hat.

Eric (17:38)
Nice. And I know you have to get going to open mic night, so make it through the first round here and we'll let you go and maybe Erica and Tara can battle it out. All right, Tara, what do you think?

Carolina (17:43)
course.

Erika (17:47)
No, we're going to need you for the tiebreaker.

Ptara (17:50)
I'm going to make Erica do another tiebreaker because I love that cowboy hat. I am a country girl and the cowboy hat is just calling me. I love that. like, need to know what race that is too. It looks like I'm running a 5k down in Georgia. And where else am I going? The beach bum.

Carolina (17:52)
you

Erika (18:10)
figure all these out later.

Ptara (18:10)
I'm going be traveling the States.

Eric (18:13)
Alright Erica, who's moving along?

Erika (18:14)
man, I don't have any personal

ties to guitars or cowboy hats, but the cowboy hat's calling to me. I don't know. It seems fun. It's a different shape. Well, so is a guitar, but I mean, I don't know. That one just, it's shiny. It's really shiny, you guys.

Eric (18:33)
I agree. think the cowboy hat's pretty cool. It's pretty unique. Does it win the whole thing? I don't know, but I would have been pretty surprised if it didn't make it out of the first round. So cowboy hat moves on and now we get the last, the last matchup in round one. We have a ribbon that says, I ran 26.

Erika (18:48)
Such an unfair pairing.

Eric (18:53)
It says I ran 26.2 miles and all I got was this lousy ribbon versus the 2025 New York city marathon. And I'm really happy someone submitted it because I didn't submit any of mine. Erica didn't submit any of hers. These are all from our listeners who submitted these medals. All right, Erica, you said it's such a bad matchup. Who moves on in your mind?

Erika (19:18)
gonna let this ribbon beat the New York City medal.

Eric (19:22)
I did not have any rhyme or reason why I picked these. I just kind of like copy and paste.

Erika (19:23)
Just because.

Yeah.

Well, I'm going to be an asshole and just to spite you, I'm picking the ribbon.

Eric (19:32)
All right. So that means Tara might move one along right here, right now. She might make it a tie and make Carolina pick one right before the end, but Tara pterodactyl, who are you going to choose?

Erika (19:36)
Yeah

⁓

Ptara (19:49)
Now I understand why you put the ribbon against New York City because you need your precious metal to make it to the next round because nobody's going to pick a fucking ribbon. So so I'm going to go with the New York City Marathon medal because that thing is pretty epic and a piece of flimsy ribbon does not belong next to that. But I don't think the ribbon could have beat out any other metal on this chart.

Eric (19:57)
Again, I had no rhyme or reason for this.

Erika (20:01)
Hmm.

not going to.

Eric (20:14)
The ribbon could

have beat one medal, the Chicago Marathon medal.

Ptara (20:19)
my god.

Erika (20:21)
And now I'm like solidified in my choice of choosing the ribbon right now.

Ptara (20:25)
This whole Chicago ⁓ New York comparison is almost as close as the 6-7.

Erika (20:32)
You're

money in the six seven jar.

Ptara (20:35)
It's getting its own jar.

Eric (20:38)
All right, Carolina, who do you think moves on, the ribbon or the New York City Marathon medal?

Carolina (20:45)
I really want to pick the ribbon because just to spite Eric, but I have seen the 2025 New York City Marathon in person because my friend Mary brought it in and it has the topography of the course and so I have to pick New York City. I think that's pretty cool. That's epic. Sorry, Erica.

Erika (20:51)
you

Eric (21:05)
Yeah,

Erika (21:07)
you

It's alright.

Eric (21:10)
New York does move on. I again, I had no rhyme or reason for putting that against the ribbon. I think the ribbon is cool. I think it's a great thing to get when you do the cheap marathon. think the whole marketing behind it is awesome. But New York City moves on and we are now on to the round of eight. Carolina, I know you have to go. have open mic night. Do you want to share?

What song you're gonna sing or play?

Carolina (21:37)
⁓ I am gonna sing three songs, but I'm gonna play my guitar and sing Sailor song for one of them.

Eric (21:44)
Well, have an amazing night at, ⁓ open mic. Thank you so much for doing this with us jumping on last minute. That was awesome. Guys, Carolina, not Carolina on the on the runs podcast. That was wicked. Awesome.

Carolina (21:47)
Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Eric (22:00)
Thank you.

Erika (22:01)
Have so much fun

Ptara (22:02)
Bye.

Carolina (22:03)
I'll talk to you guys later.

Erika (22:04)
Sounds good.

Eric (22:06)
Alright, now we're on to the round of eight and we're gonna go back up to the top left. We got Philly that beat the Boss Marathon versus Myrtle Beach. Why don't we start with Terra Pterodactyl? What do you think here, Terra?

Ptara (22:19)
Okay, I think both of these metals are cool, creative, different, but I'm gonna go with the Myrtle Beach one just because of the uniqueness of it because you can look at it and be like, that's a shell, but then you open it up and it's like a whole scene and the Philly one's just kind of like, it is big, loud, so Myrtle Beach.

Eric (22:36)
Now before you pick Erica, I just want you to understand. If you pick Philly, I am the tiebreaker. So going on forward, I will be the tiebreaker.

Erika (22:38)
Yes.

Ptara (22:43)
Mmm.

Erika (22:43)
Mm.

I of like this because I just want you to be involved.

I don't know. As much as I do love Myrtle Beach though, the Philly one is cool because you really got to earn that. You had to run a half marathon, an 8K, and then a marathon the next day to get that bad boy.

Eric (23:10)
this wasn't

about the race, this was about the race, Boston Marathon would have won. You said it's about the medal and uniqueness of the medal. What are we doing here, Erica? You did. I'm going to, I'm going to rewind the tape.

Ptara (23:11)
Hmm.

Erika (23:16)
I didn't say that. Tara said that.

Eric (23:26)
What's up guys? I am just getting ready to go for my afternoon run and I figured I'd put out one last call. It's almost March Madness and I need some extra submissions for the coolest medal, hi Scooter, for your coolest most unique medals and I hope you guys can help me out. We need some more submissions so give me what you got. Send them here to On The Runs. You can send them to me, Six Star Erica. I want to see them and hopefully your medal will make it to the top.

Erika (23:54)
All right, maybe I did. I don't know. No, I want you to be the tiebreaker. I'm picking Philly.

Ptara (23:54)
Ugh.

Eric (23:59)
If you're picking Philly, and I understand it's a challenge metal, and it is very large, has the American flag, the ding-a-ling versus the shell, and when you open it up, you see a ferris. Sorry, I farted. Tyler's in here pushing buttons.

Erika (24:04)
and it ding-a-lings.

not ready for that. I was like, what is happening?

Ptara (24:22)
god.

I thought I saw a shadow and then I was like, no, and then all of it's like brrr.

Eric (24:30)
Alright, now that I got him out of the room, ⁓ let's go back to present time.

this baby is 88 miles an hour. You're going to see some serious shit.

And I will decide what moves on here. So, again, I think they're really cool. All right. If we're going off uniqueness.

Erika (24:47)
Yep.

Yeah.

Eric (24:55)
I was about to pick Philly, but the fact that the Myrtle Beach medal opens up and closes, that moves along, that moves to the next round for me. Myrtle Beach will move on. And, and before Tyler came in here and hit the button, I was coming up with my reason to say Philly moves on. But because Tyler did that, I had some extra time to think about it. Myrtle Beach moves along to the final four. But now.

Erika (25:15)
Distraction

Ptara (25:16)
Yeah, Tyler.

Erika (25:20)
Ugh. I do have to give Myrtle

Beach credit because it does not annoy the shit out of you. I ran up the rocky steps with that thing and I had to like hold it so it didn't like wreck my eardrums. It's loud. ⁓

Ptara (25:33)
That is very bulky.

Eric (25:36)
Now let's move on to the next bracket here. We have the 100 mile buckle versus the train spike. Both of these, by the way, you get after running 100 miles. What moves on, pteroterodactyl?

Erika (25:46)
Yaha!

Ptara (25:50)
I have to go with the buckle still. I just love the red eyes of the hamster. I'm just like, that's my final, final, final.

Eric (25:59)
Okay, I am going to make this really hard on Erica.

Erika (26:04)
⁓ come on, I thought you were the tiebreaker.

Eric (26:08)
Because if you were

to pick the train spike, I would also pick the train spike as a tiebreaker. So I'm just going to give you that right now in your head. You know that. What moves on in your mind? The train spike or the buckle?

Erika (26:23)
See, I shouldn't be the tiebreaker because I do have like a personal attachment to these because...

Eric (26:29)
Who are you gonna piss off the most? Hamster Wheel or Ghost Train?

Ptara (26:35)
You all, we all know that Erica does not have a mean bone in her body. She's going to lose connection and she's not going to jump back on.

Eric (26:35)
I did this for a reason, this is great.

Erika (26:45)
Bye.

Eric (26:47)
you

Erika (26:50)
As tough a decision as this is, and this has nothing to do with the races themselves, I have to go with the buckle. Those red eyes, I needed that buckle. I needed it. Both races are awesome and I love everybody.

Eric (26:59)
you ⁓

I

don't know if that music goes well with that, but the buckle moves on. I would have gone with that train spike. I think that's cool. But okay, let's move it along.

Erika (27:16)
Well, you did go with the train spike.

Hamster wheel was the one that I had been working towards for three years and I finally did it and it made me cry and you were there and you knew how bad it was. So there you go.

Eric (27:20)
saying if I were you.

So hold on, it's a

personal connection again, not the uniqueness of the metal.

Erika (27:36)
That's what I said.

No, it is the uniqueness of the metal.

Eric (27:41)
But you just made a personal connection. Your hamster wheel story took you three years. All right. All right. Erica doesn't play by. Erica doesn't play by her own rules, but it doesn't matter what I think, It doesn't matter what you think. Exactly. It doesn't matter what I think. All right. Next round. We got the beach bum versus run New Hampshire.

Erika (27:48)
And it's got glowing red eyes.

Eric (28:05)
Erika, not to put any pressure on you, who moves on in your mind?

Erika (28:14)
Go and beach bum.

Full stop.

Eric (28:17)
All right. Pteroterodactyl.

Ptara (28:20)
So I originally was going beach bum, but I think that run New Hampshire medal is so cool. So I am going to make you pick, Eric. I'm picking run New Hampshire.

Eric (28:28)
You're a clown.

You're a clown because you want me to pick. You're an- That's your theme song right there. An absolute clown. But, but you know what? As much as you're clown for making me choose, I agree. Run New Hampshire, Run New Hampshire moves along.

Erika (28:39)
This is chaos. Tara's loving it though.

Ptara (28:53)
Shout out Millennium!

Eric (28:54)
It's a,

it's a cool metal. has an awesome ribbon. has all those, like I said, you got the maple syrup, a sailboat, the Pilgrim hat, a lobster. Everyone loves lobster. So, know, six star here is just a hater, I guess, against her own state.

Ptara (29:09)
Ooh, this

Erika (29:10)
you

Ptara (29:11)
next one's gonna be dicey.

Eric (29:13)
This is gonna be dicey. So.

Erika (29:17)
Go ahead, ask me what I'm going to Eric. Go ahead.

Eric (29:22)
Who are you gonna pick, Erica? The cowboy hat or the New York City marathon?

Erika (29:24)
cowboy hat give

me the cowboy hat

Eric (29:32)
can't believe you picked the cowboy hat. Wow. Unreal. Pteroterodactyl. What do you like?

Erika (29:34)
You can't. You really can't.

Ptara (29:42)
I'm growing

cowboy hat.

Eric (29:44)
I have control of the monitor and I can choose who actually moves on. But I am going to fall. I'm going to follow. I'm going to follow the rules. I'm going to follow the rules and be a team player here. Cowboy hat moves on to the final four.

Erika (29:54)
Who's making these rules, man?

Ptara (29:54)
⁓ cheater.

I was gonna say, our board doesn't even count. It's just for fun. The people will speak. The people will speak. I love.

Erika (30:03)
I know, right? I am.

I am really curious to see what the

people are gonna say. Like, because there are some tricky choices here.

Ptara (30:11)
I know.

Don't forget I have three Instagram accounts.

Erika (30:19)
You're going to tie break against yourself.

Eric (30:19)
Do you really? You do! That's right! Say days!

Ptara (30:22)
I do.

Yep, I got Jack and Arnold, St. E's and myself.

Erika (30:28)
Dooley's on my side, you guys. Speaking of that, I want to give, can I interrupt for a quick second? ⁓ I meant to say in the trozee other day, ⁓ Jason Gereau is going to be doing his Arizona Monster coming up real soon, and I just wanted to wish him luck. So go Jason.

Eric (30:28)
All right.

Ptara (30:30)
You

Eric (30:32)
We got the final four.

Go!

Ptara (30:46)
Yeah, he left today, I think.

left on Tuesday and I believe his race starts today.

Erika (30:51)
I'm going to be following along and I wish him the best of luck. And I meant to say that on the Tros the other day, but I was tired. absolutely. But he's going to be there. Isn't, wasn't Ashley going to be there or, ⁓ yeah, Andy. Yeah. But I felt like Ashley was doing it too. Maybe not. I don't know, but he's going to be with awesome pod fam and he's going to crush it. So we'll talk to you soon, Jason. Good luck.

Eric (30:52)
Awesome.

Ptara (30:57)
He's gonna crush it. He really is, I think he is.

⁓ Andy, Andy Glaze.

Eric (31:05)
And he's gonna be there.

Awesome. Awesome. Good luck, Jason. I'm pulling for you. I can't wait to watch Stooley run the Arizona Monster 300 with you, but we're on to the final four. We have the Myrtle Beach clamshell versus the 100 mile buckle. And we got the run New Hampshire challenge versus the cowboy hat. We're going to go back to the left side of the bracket. Erica Myrtle Beach or the buckle.

Erika (31:24)
Nice.

Hmm.

Wow.

If we're still talking unique, think that Myrtle... You're breaking them too, dude. You're breaking them too. But I might give it to Myrtle Beach over the buckle just because it is more intricate. It's more creative, even though I do love those hamster eyes. But yeah, Myrtle B.

Eric (31:51)
mean, you made up the rules. You're changing them the whole time.

You didn't even pick Myrtle

Beach in the last round, you picked Philly.

Erika (32:12)
Yeah, I know. I can do what I want.

Eric (32:15)
you

Erika (32:16)
I'm Mercurial.

Eric (32:18)
Alright, Myrtle Beach for Erika, but Terra for you.

Ptara (32:22)
This one's tough. don't know why. I've been Myrtle Beach like the whole time, but now I'm like 50-50. I'm going with a buzzer reader and Myrtle Beach for the win in overtime to make it to the championship.

Eric (32:34)
I don't even have to make a decision on this

Erika (32:34)
You

Eric (32:37)
one. Wow. Myrtle Beach moves along. This is your medal too, I think, Tara. Pretty impressive.

Ptara (32:41)
Yeah, I

have one and Erica has one, but that one is mine because it's smaller because I'm lazy and I only did 13.1.

Eric (32:50)
and because it fit better on the screen.

Erika (32:50)
13.1 is not lazy. It's not lazy.

Ptara (32:52)
Yes.

Eric (32:55)
On the right side of the bracket, we have the Run New Hampshire Challenge versus the Cowboy Hat. Terra pterodactyl, I'm going to have you go first.

Ptara (33:04)
this is another tough one. ooh. Would you have the Jeopardy music?

Erika (33:06)
you

Eric (33:12)
No, but I have, I have this one.

Erika (33:15)
You can get it.

It's too loud.

Ptara (33:21)
I... ⁓

I'm gonna go with run New Hampshire.

Erika (33:33)
and you have to let it play through.

Ptara (33:36)
I'm going with the New Hampshire one.

Eric (33:38)
⁓ New Hampshire moves on for Tara, but does Erica make this a tie?

Erika (33:46)
No, I'm going around New Hampshire.

Eric (33:48)
Wow! I was gonna pick the cowboy hat. Yes.

Ptara (33:53)
Really? The one that took

out your precious New York City medal? ⁓

Eric (33:58)
Going off uniqueness.

I did not pick the New York city metal to move along any rounds. I thought the ribbon was pretty cool, but so you have run New Hampshire, which by the way was the very last entry to the bracket. It even replaced another metal, but we made the change about an hour before recording.

Ptara (34:05)
Yeah.

Eric (34:19)
Okay. So we're down to the final. Let's recap what happened and how we got here guys. The Boston marathon was upset by the Philadelphia freedom challenge. Catch up to cancer lost to Myrtle beach. Had the buckle that beat the ring and big foot lost to a train spike. and then Myrtle beach beat Philadelphia to move on to the final four and the buckle beat the train spike. That was a surprise to me.

And then Myrtle Beach beat the buckle to move on to the final. On the right side of the bracket, the Tokyo Marathon also was kind of upset since it was in the first seed by the beach bum. The horseshoe was beat by Run New Hampshire. That was a close one, by the way. I think who picked the horseshoe?

Erika (35:01)
I ⁓

Ptara (35:02)
And Carolina and I picked New Hampshire.

Eric (35:04)
Yeah.

The cowboy hat beat the guitar and then the ribbon lost to the New York City marathon. The sweet eight or whatever they call it, the elite eight, Beach Bum lost to Run New Hampshire. The cowboy hat beat the New York City marathon. And then in the final four, Run New Hampshire beat the cowboy hat, which I was surprised. So now we have.

Myrtle beach versus run New Hampshire. We are going to go with my pick first, and then we are going to let Erica and Tara battle it out for the final. My pick of the final two goes to the Myrtle beach medal.

Alright, alright, alright.

Alright, so I picked Myrtle Beach and I'm going to ask Erika to go next and tell me who you pick for your final medal.

Erika (36:00)
I'm gonna give it to Run New Hampshire. That one is really cool. It is ginormous. It is like major marathon worthy, as Eric likes to say. And it's cool. So Tara, ⁓ it's all on you.

Eric (36:16)
All right, Tara, you are the final

decider. Myrtle Beach versus Run New Hampshire. South Carolina versus the Granite State. A clamshell versus a lobster, a leaf, a maple syrup sailboat, pilgrim hat. Such a cool metal. They're both large. They got neat features, nice texture.

Ptara (36:21)
leaving it to me.

So.

Eric (36:44)
Pretty sweet ribbons. What's your choice?

Ptara (36:48)
So I've picked these since the first round. This is really hard for me. ⁓

Eric (36:55)
You have all

your people from Millennium. And then you have the medal you just got on your last half marathon. It's fresh in your memory. It was a great trip. The weather turned out.

Ptara (36:58)
No.

⁓ I know. don't

even have the Run New Hampshire medal.

Eric (37:10)
but it's your people.

Ptara (37:12)
They are my people. Shout out to Millennium. I love you guys. Don't take this personal, but I'm going with Myrtle Beach.

Eric (37:18)
you

Marathon medal is our 2026 March Madness champion of the Stooley Cup! Alright!

Erika (37:33)
The stooling. The stooling.

Julie cup dude. that's adorable. I

Eric (37:41)
⁓ It

was the Stooley Cup last time, it's the Stooley Cup this time.

Erika (37:45)
I don't remember you

saying it last time, maybe my early onset dementia is making it cool again. Probably, definitely.

Eric (37:52)
You definitely are losing it. You're definitely losing it. So the medal

Ptara (37:56)
We get it?

Eric (37:57)
moves on for our live episode. And thank you guys so much for bearing with us through this disaster. But Myrtle Beach is the winner. I'll even type it in there. I'll type in the whole beach because the Myrtle B, it was Myrtle B. Beach didn't fit. But there it is, guys. There's our bracket. If I can spell. Myrtle Beach is the winner.

Erika (38:00)
Ba ba ba ba.

Myrtle B.

Ptara (38:21)
say

Eric (38:22)
of the 2026

Ptara (38:22)
it's

Eric (38:22)
Dually Cup. Eric, any thoughts about the way this turned out?

Erika (38:28)
Just wanted to say thank you to everybody who submitted stuff. I saw some really cool medals. You had a lot to choose from. I love the way that this came out and I just the engagement was there. So thank you guys for all of your submissions. There were some really tough choices out there and it's hard to just focus on the medal itself. There's so much more to it because you always think of the behind the scenes, like the race itself. And if you're just strictly looking at it.

Eric (38:56)
I thought it was just the uniqueness, Erica.

Erika (38:58)
That's what I'm going for. Like if you're just thinking about it, like there's still some really unique stuff out there. So yeah, nice work everybody.

Eric (39:07)
Tara, how do

you think this compared to the last couple years? Last year we did the songs, and the year before we did the foods.

Ptara (39:15)
So I like that this is smaller. I think that sometimes like, yeah, a lot less work to do, but it's still fun. Like there was plenty on here. There was a lot to discuss and talk about, but I thought it was a really cool idea. And I love the Stooley Cup. I think that Stooley deserves to be a medal someday. We're going to do the Stooley 5K. Yeah.

Eric (39:20)
Well, it makes for a quicker episode, but it makes for a lot less engagement on Instagram.

Erika (39:22)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Yes. I like it needs to be

Eric (39:42)
do something cool like that but that

was a lot of fun

Erika (39:44)
a mud run.

Ptara (39:46)
I'm not running.

Eric (39:49)
That was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for doing that. Erica, thank you for getting all the photos, even though we really just did the work on the podcast. Guys, please don't give her too much credit for doing this because we just told you to send her the photos and then I sent her a bit. Exactly. So, but it was cool because you collected them at least and then put them somewhat organized for me.

Erika (40:00)
⁓ don't give me any credit. literally sent them to him. You send them to me, I send them to him.

Eric (40:14)
This was awesome. love this guys. It's a great way to get excited for Boston weeks. Boston week starts in just a couple of days. We have such an exciting month, the whole entire month of April. Nothing we're going to post is going to be April Fool's joke. Okay guys, Elliott's not coming on the podcast, at least not yet.

Ptara (40:32)
we can post, we can post Erica getting a bib on April 1st.

Eric (40:34)
Well that was wicked awesome!

Ha

Erika (40:39)
Haha,

yeah, you guys will be like what that's definitely false definitely false

Ptara (40:42)
Sorry, too soon? Too soon?

Eric (40:44)
That

was awesome! But you know what Erica's response was?

Ptara (40:51)
I think I made her cry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

Eric (40:52)
She was not happy about that. Erika, why don't you...

Erika (40:53)
What?

Eric (40:56)
Real quick, Erika.

For everyone who's still listening to this disaster of an episode, we are talking about like, we just need you to get a bib on the last episode on Tuesday. And because you reposted something, but you actually found out a little bit of info about that post. Tell everyone what you heard.

Erika (41:01)
you

Mm-hmm.

Well, first off, somebody tagged me in it. And I was like, well, what could it hurt? But I've heard from a reliable source that this person doesn't actually give away anything. So I took it down and I learned my lesson. And maybe I won't share sketchy things anymore.

Eric (41:31)
So I actually got a message from the person who did it and this is what they had to say. All I wanted was to boost my engagement. I was really hoping to get more followers and I thought if I post this on Instagram everyone would like, share, follow, boost my Instagram numbers and I want to apologize because I was wrong.

And Erica, I'm sorry for getting your hopes up. I'm sorry for everybody else. But guess what motherfuckers? I got an extra 3000 Instagram followers!

Erika (42:13)
you

Yeah, that tracks.

Ptara (42:20)
person is anonymous I'm ⁓

Eric (42:22)
Yeah, anonymous.

Yep. But, some very nice people did reach out to Erika and say, that's fake, delete it. Like, don't follow that person anymore.

Erika (42:32)
Yup. I'm done with it.

Eric (42:34)
You still followed

them though, I checked the other day. ⁓ okay, okay, maybe not.

Erika (42:40)
I shouldn't. I swear I unfollowed, I don't think Stooley did in the first place. Stooley follows like two people.

Ptara (42:42)
Stooley does.

Eric (42:43)
Well anyways, Erica...

Anyways, Erika, save this podcast and take us home.

Erika (42:55)
This is all the way off the

Thank you guys for listening to this chaotic episode. We hope you had fun listening and you know we love you.

Ptara (43:04)
Never trust a fart.

Eric (43:05)
Don't fear the code BRAT!

Erika (43:09)
And don't forget to stretch.

Yes!

Eric (44:02)
It's

disaster.

Erika (44:05)
Dude.

Ptara (44:08)
Are you still recording? Yes.

Erika (44:10)
Yeah.

Ptara (44:13)
No, the laugh like a little girl that needs to be on the end.

Erika (44:14)
All right.

That's literally like helium, him on helium.

Ptara (44:19)
Yep.

Eric (44:20)
Well that was fun. Thank you so much everyone for listening to this episode of the On The Runs podcast. We'll see you next week for the beginning of Boston Weeks. Go Bruins!