221 | Alaina and Chris Lotsbom | Boston Weeks 2026

Chris and Alaina Lotsbom, welcome to the PodFam.

Alaina and Chris who both play big rolls working for the BAA join us to give us a inside look to the detials of the Boston Marathon coming up in just a few short days.  We discover how volunteers, logistics, and community spirit come together to make this iconic event possible, and get behind-the-scenes insights into race week preparations, the intricacies of race day operations, the importance of storytelling, and the passion that makes Boston Marathon unique.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
03:27 Erika's California Trip and Running Plans
06:29 Boston Marathon Preparations and Live Show Details
12:12 Guest Introduction: Chris and Elena Lotsbom
20:59 The Journey to the BAA
23:56 The Role of Volunteers at the BAA
26:52 The Volunteer Process Explained
29:42 Behind the Scenes of Race Day
43:35 Roles and Responsibilities on Race Day
48:35 Communications and Media Relations
53:37 The Unique Atmosphere of the Boston Marathon
55:06 Stewardship of the Boston Marathon
01:04:08 Media and Race Operations at the Finish Line
01:10:52 The Importance of Teamwork in Event Planning
01:11:37 Hot Takes on the Boston Marathon
01:15:27 Connecting Sports Icons with the Marathon
01:20:19 Music that Motivates: Pump-Up Songs
01:23:20 Predictions for the Boston Marathon
01:28:39 Marathon Weekend Excitement
01:29:31 March Madness Reflections
01:32:13 Unique Medals and Awards
01:32:40 TV Show Discussions: The Pitt
01:35:32 Registration Challenges for the Cheap Marathon
01:37:52 Pricing and Value in Races
01:41:21 Final Thoughts on Race Costs and Experiences

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

Transcript

Eric (00:55)
What's up everybody? And welcome to episode 221 of the On the Runs podcast. And cue the duck boats, baby, because it's race week for the 130th running of the Boston Marathon. Today we're gonna hear from some friends at the BAA. Plus we get to talk about some wicked exciting news this weekend. But first, before we get to any of that, I must say hello to my kick-ass Rockstarver co-host,

who just landed and got back from her vacation. Six star Erica, what's up?

Erika (01:25)
What is up buddy? I missed you. I wish I could have brought some more of the beautiful, beautiful sunshine and warmth home with me from Palm Springs, but sadly it stayed there and not back here with me.

Eric (01:38)
Dude, it's totally cool because we had phenomenal weather here. Windows were down, t-shirt weather. wore my UFOs all weekend. Shout out to UFOs. They sent me a new pair. Thank you, Jen. But it was a beautiful week. You missed out on like that first amazing week of spring here in New England because you went out to California where like gas prices are like $9 a gallon.

Erika (01:43)
Good.

Mm-hmm.

you

Eric (02:02)
I don't know what you were thinking.

Erika (02:02)
my God. ⁓

my God. was ridiculous the gas prices out there, but I didn't have to pay them. I wasn't driving. So that worked out in my favor.

Eric (02:10)
If Erika can get away

with doing anything for free, she will.

Erika (02:13)
Well, duh, that's why we go visit family out there. California's expensive.

Eric (02:17)
So that's what you're doing. You're visiting

family. This isn't your first trip. Remember last time you even found like a half marathon to do just randomly, right?

Erika (02:24)
That

was pretty, pretty on point for me, because it was right outside of where Brandon's dad lived. Like literally the road he lives on. And I saw signs that say like, watch out for runners on Sunday. And I was like, ⁓ what's going on on Sunday? But sadly that was in February last, ⁓ like two years ago. This year there was no half marathon for me to run. So I just relaxed. I swam in a pool. I did walks. I got my mile in via walks and looked at the beautiful mountains and palm trees and

I mean, sweat my ass off. It was like in the high 90s there, but no complaints. Really, no complaints. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Good.

Eric (02:59)
No complaints, no complaints anywhere. Beautiful week

here. Beautiful week in California. I went running. It was amazing. ⁓ yeah, sad skings over, but I had a phenomenal year skiing. It's like last year I was just begging for one more dump of snow to get one more epic weekend. This year I remember like finishing being like, I, I think I had my full. So the ski gear is gone.

Erika (03:08)
Good.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (03:27)
I could still make one more trip up to Jay Peak, but it looks like rain all week up there and that just ruins it. Hey, but I'm running again. I ran up the hill twice. Mountain runs are back and so are the mountain talks on the top of McIntyre. So I'm excited about just doing that again and running hills for fun.

Erika (03:32)
bummer. Yeah.

So it's just for fun? Or you're not planning on doing any races or anything like that? Or do you have something in mind?

Eric (03:53)
I do have something in mind, but it has nothing to do with Hills. ⁓ I think we're going to run the new castle 10 K it's it's open on my calendar. This will be a sign up on Saturday before it, like I'll go to Millennium and I'll sign up, pay the pay the like max price, which is like $60, but like I can't commit a year in advance to these races and know I'll be around. a 10 K and then the single day mile five K.

Erika (03:57)
Mm-hmm.

Excellent.

Mm-hmm. Gamaphobia. Yeah.

That's true. Dad life.

Eric (04:23)
But that's all after a crazy week coming up. My favorite week of the year. It's race week for the Boston marathon. And this is like going to be the biggest ever for us. Not of all time, because every year, hopefully a little more, but the biggest ever. I'm so pumped for this week. Saturday, especially, it's going to be amazing.

Erika (04:28)
my god. Yee, me too.

You

I am pumped, but I'm a little nervous it's something different. mean, we could actually, like, I know we draw in a pretty good crowd when we do these live shows at Millennium, but at the fan fest, I, ooh, I don't know, you guys.

Eric (05:01)
I'm not nervous. I am so confident because I am so prepared and you are going to have like the best nicest notes. They're going to be printed on nice paper too. Like a whole plane. Like we have, I have a vision. We're going to talk about this more on Thursday, but let's just tell everyone now, like a lot more details come on Thursday, two episodes this week, but Saturday we're going to be in Boston all day. We're going to walk Boylston.

Erika (05:04)
If you're not nervous, I'm not nervous. Gonna channel that. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (05:28)
And we're going to go in the Expo. We're going to see Ashley in the Expo because she's doing a hundred miles on the treadmill. We're going to see Ali G. We're going to see a ton of people. I think we'll be there for the 5K, but that's up in the air right now because it's going to be a long day. At some point, we're going to make our way to the FanFest. You and I are going to announce a band who's going on stage. You're wicked excited because of their name.

Erika (05:33)
That's right! ⁓ Ashley.

Okay. Yeah.

I am wicked excited.

To be honest, I don't remember the full name, but it has the word booty in it. So it's meant to be. It's meant to be. That is the best name ever. OK. I'm going to do my research on this band. I will.

Eric (06:00)
Booty. I think it's booty vortex.

I'm going to like, if they give us two mics, I'm going to like build you up and I'm going to be like, what's up everybody. It's Eric and Erica from the On The Runs podcast. And I'm going to like hype, hype up the crowd for the band. All I'm going to do is I'm going to feed you the mic or the line when it's your turn to say booty vortex.

Erika (06:20)
Excellent.

You

know what? I like that because it's easy and I can't screw it up. I got this.

Eric (06:34)
So booty vortex

goes on stage an hour before us, maybe 30 minutes. We're on stage at six 30. So there's the fan fest is going to have those as a map. I'll even like post this on Instagram later in the week. There's a map of fan fest and near the steps that bring you down to like Quincy market and all that Feniel hall. There will be a podcast stage and that's where we'll be. And there's a lot going on there all weekend. There's podcasts Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We're doing the Saturday night and the Monday night.

Erika (06:39)
Okay.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ cool.

Eric (07:04)
Non-members only will be there on Sunday. There's a few others. Meb is going to be there on Sunday at three o'clock. And they asked me if I would be available to interview Meb at three o'clock on Sunday. I said, yes, I am available if you need it. They're like, we want to pencil you in because we're waiting to hear back. And I was like, I really would love if it was me and Erica, but if you just want me to do it, I understand you don't like Erica. That's cool.

Erika (07:06)
I did see that.

That's excellent.

Is this happening?

Mm-hmm.

Yup. Yup.

Eric (07:35)
I was there

back up because the best

Ability is availability something like that build Bell check said that right? They texted me the other day and said My services are not needed. It's fine. I'm a nobody they're getting like some hot shot from a TV station or something

Erika (07:41)
Sure, sure.

⁓

But you

are like a super hype guy. Like you can bring the energy. So it would have been awesome if you got the chance to do it. But now you can save some of that energy. So you'll use some on Saturday, but build it back up again. So you're ready again for Monday.

Eric (08:05)
Yeah. I might still go on

Sunday to watch the meb thing. A couple of reasons. One, I own a beer. As you know from last week's episode. I so wanted to do this just to be like, let's go get a beer after. Like I owe you a beer and it would have been a nice tie in, especially like the two of us. But I might also go just to see how, this looks like. So I know next year or the next time they asked me to do something like this or us. have like so much of this is.

Erika (08:10)
Oh, you do owe him a beer. I owe him a beer. Let's go.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. That's cool.

Eric (08:34)
Everything we do is research. I'm like, I go to the run expo or, the New York city marathon expo, the boss marathon expo, the run show. I'm doing research. Do I want to move? I, how do I want to have something set up? How do I want to do it? How are they presenting a podcast or show? How can we do it or do it better? That's always what I'm thinking. You're just like, give me the free salt stick. And I'm like, yeah, grab me a salt stick too. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But so.

Erika (08:40)
Yeah.

priorities.

Eric (09:00)
Friday, that's exactly what I'm doing actually. I'm going down Friday. think DJ Darren Roy is going to join me for the ride. We're going to get our media credentials. Hopefully I'm going to meet our guest on today's episode, the Lodge Bombs. So Chris and Alaina. Hopefully I meet them on Friday. Get our media credits. I hope I can get yours because you won't be there. You do have to work. You're still working currently at the moment. Yeah.

Erika (09:05)
Awesome.

I hope you can get mine. Yes, yes, I

still do have a job for a couple more weeks.

Eric (09:27)
So Friday, I'm going to do all that. And then we're going to go to the podcast stage and see it. I'm going to meet the team. I'm going to meet the people I've been talking to on the phone and email and via text. And then we're going to be out of there by like one 30 to get the kids. Right. Cause I don't want to pay for a babysitter two nights in a row. Right. I'm one, one is thank you, mom, for watching the kids Saturday night. Cause Saturday is going to be epic after we record. So back to Saturday, hanging out all day.

Erika (09:35)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (09:55)
Finally make it to the podcast stage. We're going to do a show and we're going to pull people from the crowd, but we also have friends of the pod coming who are going to come and talk and it's going to be incredible. It looks like we're, have the stage for 90 minutes. And the thing is we have to fill that 90 minutes. It's not like when we do a millennium recording, let's talk to someone for 10, 15 minutes, and then we stop and we walk around. find the next person. We bring them over. Like I have Tara, Tara, Dacto and Lindsey.

Erika (10:09)
my god.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (10:24)
on the floor, pulling people. When somebody shows up, for instance, like Dan from Team Skinny Pig, he's going to try to come, but he's going to be there later. When he comes, I'm like, this is what you do. You find Tara. Tara is then going to be like, I wish she had a wireless mic. She'll be like, Hey guys, I have Dan here. Dan walks up on stage. After all this, we're going to go out and celebrate Saturday night. So more, more details. Remember last year we went to the Sam Adams.

Erika (10:40)
Yeah.

Okay.

Eric (10:51)
Brew house or tap house or something that will probably do the same.

Erika (10:53)
Yep. That was right next

to right next to city hall. Yep.

Eric (10:56)
Right. So, you know, I'll text Meb, he'll be like, yo, if you want that beer, we're going after the show. I'll text Ashley too.

Erika (11:02)
Can you imagine

if Meb actually showed up? don't know what I would do.

Eric (11:07)
Listen, I mean, maybe they're just being nice, but I really feel like when we have guests on the podcast, like we get the emails back after, if not from them, from their people. And, and sometimes they're like, well, you have someone else. We're like, yes, absolutely. So I feel like we put on a show or just an experience with the guests. That doesn't feel like an interview, even though Meb was really recounting his Boston stories. I hope.

Erika (11:10)
⁓

Yeah.

Which is what we aim for.

Eric (11:35)
We give that vibe, that's what we strive for. like hanging out at the bar with a beer, meeting a new friend, hearing his story. That changes life.

Erika (11:37)
Yeah.

That's how you're going

to get me to open up more and be more vocal is when you give me a beer first. So maybe I'll have to stop at Sam Adams before we do. Damn it. Damn it.

Eric (11:49)
I did say no drinking till after, if I have to give you

a, if I have to give you.

Erika (11:56)
Just to loosen me up a little bit. Yup. Get those nerves out of here. Shake them out.

Eric (11:59)
loosen you up right before we record. ⁓

And then Monday, mile 19.2 is going to be epic weather, you know, knock on wood. It's looking good. Right. You've been checking.

Erika (12:12)
I have been checking. So it looks to be on the cooler side, which is going to be fantastic for the runners. And as far as I can see, again, knock on wood, I don't see any rain. It just looks like it may be a little bit cool. But it's way better than having it be 75 degrees in the baking sun for those later runners. So this could be an epic day.

Eric (12:35)
Yeah, epic weekend. So right now, looking at Google weather, just a quick look. Saturday looks to be a highest 61 and cloudy. And it doesn't give me the 10 day. So I got to do something else here. Let's just do here. ⁓ Boston's 10 day forecast from Wonder Ground. W-U-N-D-E-R.

Erika (12:37)
Yes.

I had to scroll a little bit over. Do a 15 day.

Eric (13:00)
Never heard of this website. Don't know, but my God, Monday looks great. A high of 52, partly cloudy and sunny. Sunday is the rainy day and actually it's PM rain. And if you looked at humidity, cause I remember looking at this before, humidity is going to be kind of high on Sunday. That rain's going to knock it all down because humidity just like drops on Monday. I remember seeing that. So yeah, the weather looks amazing for Saturday and Monday. It looks incredible. So.

Erika (13:22)
All right. I'm manifesting this for them.

Yep, I'm manifesting the good weather for the runners on Monday.

Eric (13:32)
Yeah, you just remember this guys, if Erica's not running, it's gonna be a great weather day.

Erika (13:38)
I hate to say it, but that's probably the case. ⁓ he's never gonna let me run you guys. ⁓

Eric (13:44)
No, I actually will let you run because once you get it out of your system You're done You're done son

Erika (13:53)
man, you better hope I never get fast because if I qualify for this shit, I am I am going.

Eric (13:59)
Well, we got to talk about like the cheap marathon for a second after we'll do it in the outro because you already signed up for next year and I got mad at you because I was like, no, you weren't supposed to sign up and you're like, dude, I'm like, had it. Yeah, but I thought we had an understanding. You were only doing it this year because you already signed up before we committed to the show. ⁓ And then you, you slept in, you hit the snooze button too many times. You missed the early bird price. So we'll talk about that later.

Erika (14:00)
Yes. Yes. Yes.

It's my one goal race for the spring you guys.

Yeah, and now I'm doing it again. So what are you gonna do?

No.

Eric (14:29)
But we have an amazing two guests today on the podcast. Erika, tell everyone about today's guest.

Erika (14:30)
Lies.

Well, these are not lies, but we have Chris and Alaina Lotzbaum, who are probably, I had so much fun with this conversation. They are just so entertaining and have so many stories. And it's just so cool to learn about that side of the Boston Marathon. We've got Chris with the media side and Alaina with the volunteer side. And it is just so cool to hear about the inner workings and they're just so personable and awesome to talk to. So we had an absolute blast with this guest segment.

Eric (15:05)
Yeah, it was incredible. We know a lot of people who volunteer at the Boston Marathon and I've even talked about doing it the year you eventually run it. I'll be like, no, when you run, I'm going to volunteer and like get to see all the things. And now I got it in, but then Chris, his job is so cool. And we've been talking to Chris while, this is super fun. We got them both together, which was even more incredible. ⁓ they're together. If you haven't figured that out, Chris and Alaina Lotsbom on the Runs podcast guys enjoy and we'll see you on the other side.

Erika (15:09)
Mm-hmm.

You gotta see the different side, yeah.

you

Eric (15:38)
Our next guest on the pod are two who make the magic happen around the Boss Marathon and everything going on with the BAA. They also happen to be from the greatest New England state and we're wicked excited to welcome to our pod fam, Elena and Chris Lotsbaum. Welcome to the On The Runs podcast. What's up, guys?

The Lotsboms (15:56)
Hello, thank you for having us. excited. It's Boston Marathon season.

Eric (15:59)
Yes, it is.

Erika (16:00)
Yes, it is. That's our favorite

time of year. And we are so excited to have you both on the podcast. Welcome to the show. I know, Chris, we've had a little bit of back and forth here and there, but this is our first time getting to meet Elena. So we're just so happy to have you. Thank you for being here.

The Lotsboms (16:15)
We're excited. Yeah. A little bit of everything. It's game time.

Eric (16:17)
I I think it is.

It's race week too. I'm wicked excited. A couple days from now we're gonna be in Boston. We're gonna be getting ready. We're gonna be at the Fan Fest and we're gonna be on Oil Sim Street and doing all the fun things and hopefully the Bruins are in a playoff run. But, yeah.

Erika (16:29)
Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (16:32)
Yeah, between the Brogues and the Celtics, you know, it's going to be,

and the Red Sox, of course, it's going to be an awesome sports time in Boston.

Erika (16:38)
Fingers crossed.

Eric (16:39)
Fingers crossed for the City of

Champions. But since we kind of know Chris, when I say we, mean Erica, but we don't know you, Elena. Let's get to know you first. Are you originally from New Hampshire as well?

The Lotsboms (16:51)
So I'm actually from Western Mass originally, and then I moved to Boston for college, stayed there, started working at the BAA. We lived in Brookline for a couple of years, and then we decided to move up to New Hampshire.

Erika (17:03)
Is that how the two of you met? Through the BAA?

The Lotsboms (17:06)
Yes, indeed. We met at the VAA. Yeah, very romantic.

Erika (17:08)
⁓ I love a good love story.

Eric (17:14)
Was it like a secret relationship for a while? It's like we work together, we can't tell anyone? Or was it pretty obvious that Chris was like, I really like her and what do you know about her? Help me out.

The Lotsboms (17:27)
We tried to keep it cool for a little bit, but then when we both started bringing the same lunches to work every day, that's what kind of showed everyone that we were dating. Yeah. Yeah. I'd linger outside for a little, you know, a few minutes and then would come inside. Made it very awkward. Yeah.

Erika (17:34)
That's so cute.

Eric (17:39)
driving in together or driving in right after each other and all that,

Erika (17:42)
Dead giveaway.

It's five minutes enough, we? Is that enough time?

Eric (17:50)
Right.

My, so, so my wife, we've been married for a while. have a few kids now. We were dating and we weren't even living together at the time, but I sent her, I forwarded her an email. She was complaining about work. say, Hey, get a job where I work. Three months later, she's working with me. I'm like, Oh, what did I do? And this guy walks by the hallway and he says, I see you coming in and out with her and you're leaving with her. And I'm like, yeah, yep. Yep.

The Lotsboms (18:09)
Yeah.

Erika (18:16)
you

The Lotsboms (18:16)
Yep.

It's fun. think it was around race weekend 2018 when I think it became more obvious to everybody that we were dating. Yeah, a very rainy year.

Eric (18:29)
I love that.

Erika (18:29)
2018,

a good year.

Eric (18:35)
So Chris, are you originally from New Hampshire then, or is this like you just knew you had to come up to the best state in New England?

The Lotsboms (18:41)
Yeah, well, all credit to Elena for getting up to here in Amherst. I'm originally from Walpole, Mass., ⁓ but Elena's sister lives in Bedford, New Hampshire, and we were coming up here pretty often and, you know, what, two, three years ago decided, hey, let's move up here. You know, the commute to Boston isn't too bad. We're used to it by now. ⁓ But yeah, we love the area and are close to Elena's sister and our brother-in-law and our nephew and niece. So ⁓ yeah, really love the area.

Erika (18:58)
It's a beautiful place.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (19:11)
Yeah, that's awesome.

Erika (19:12)
That's perfect.

You're like sandwiched right in between me and Eric. So I'm down in Nashua, but I work in Amherst. And then Eric's in Manchester. So we're right like smack in the middle. Exactly.

The Lotsboms (19:17)
Okay.

There you go. A little triangle.

Eric (19:22)
Yeah,

yeah, we'll call it a little running triangle. We'll have to get together one time. We realized Troy Hoyt, a couple weeks ago, he was on the podcast. We realized that he lives just down the road from America. Yeah. Let's go.

The Lotsboms (19:25)
Yes.

Erika (19:33)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

The Lotsboms (19:33)
There you go. New Hampshire, Let's go. We've been

talking up the Granite State so much in our office that Scott Stover, our CMO, now lives in Manchester. So ⁓ there's a big BAA contingent here in the Granite State.

Erika (19:44)
Beautiful.

I love

Eric (19:49)
Yeah,

Erika (19:50)
it.

Eric (19:50)
we're gonna just move the headquarters up here. Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. the two of you are also new parents to, I think she's one now, beautiful Natalie Rose.

The Lotsboms (19:52)
Right? That would be convenient.

Erika (19:55)
you

The Lotsboms (20:01)
⁓

Yes, indeed. She arrived six weeks before the marathon last year. So I was on maternity leave for the marathon last year, which was kind of fun. ⁓ I got to go on race day. I brought her right down to the finish line. And, you know, we just get to have like a fun day and enjoy marathon day. So that was cool. But Chris had to go back. It was definitely unique having a newborn right before the marathon.

Erika (20:23)
Beautiful.

you

The Lotsboms (20:29)
The month before the marathon is a little bit of madness already, but add in a newborn, but we wouldn't have it any other way. I think she might be the youngest baby to experience that marathon thrill at six weeks. was right down the middle. She had a credential too, like an official credential for the year. Yes, she had a credential and a bib. Yeah, our team, the VA team is really like a family and they surprised us with the bib.

Eric (20:32)
Yeah.

Erika (20:42)
I love it. It's starting early.

Eric (20:42)
Yeah.

Erika (20:48)
That has got to be the cutest thing.

Eric (20:48)
and a bib.

The Lotsboms (20:59)
credential and you know, yeah, it's pretty special. She has a lot of uncles that are on the BAA staff. She's already done like a million BAA races and events as well. She's just like, she's a staple now. She's a little mascot maybe. Oh yeah, we hope. Yeah. Yeah. If she doesn't like running, we'll see. Yeah.

Erika (21:03)
That is the cutest thing.

Eric (21:07)
That's awesome.

Erika (21:14)
Keep it coming. She's going to grow up to be a runner. She'll be running those races in no time.

Eric (21:20)
It

Well, she's just crawling right now. It'll

be fun. It'll be fun in a, you know, 18, 20 years to see a before and after photo at the finish line, you know, when she was six weeks old to when she's a Boston Marathon finisher.

The Lotsboms (21:32)
Okay.

⁓ Someday, that's the dream for us. It's funny, we both have photos of ourselves around the marathon, especially the finish line growing up and to pass that tradition on to Natalie is kind of cool.

Eric (21:49)
That is cool.

Erika (21:50)
So

cool. Is it too early to dig into how you guys got started with the BAA? Because I feel like that's a really good transition. Like if you guys were growing up in the area, checking out the finish line, all that good stuff, like where did where did you first get introduced to the BAA? ⁓

The Lotsboms (22:06)
You want to start? You go first, because you started first. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'll just say, I don't come from a family of runners, but every Marathon Monday, it was a tradition. We'd go out to the course, usually in Framingham or Ashland, sometimes to the finish, and watch the marathon. And it was really a family tradition. We'd watch the entire race, maybe catch the end on TV. And then there was always the carnival in town in Walpole, because it's spring vacation.

in Massachusetts during Race Week. I just love the marathon and I ran in high school, ran in college, started as a journalist and was lucky enough to intern at the BAA way back in 2011 and 2012 and joined the staff shortly thereafter and have been at the BAA ever since. So yeah, I just love the sport, love the BAA, especially its mission and being part of a unique event.

Erika (22:36)
Mm.

The Lotsboms (23:05)
the Boston Marathon plus all the other events that we do throughout the year. ⁓ It's pretty cool being able to do it next to my wife is even more special. ⁓

Eric (23:13)
Yeah. What,

Erika (23:14)
Absolutely.

Eric (23:15)
what were you doing before? Like what was, did you go to college in Boston or were you like trying, was this the goal to try to work in like sports in a way? This is sports, it's running, it's not major league sports, but it's, well, it is major league to us.

Erika (23:27)
It's pretty

major.

The Lotsboms (23:29)
Yeah, my first passion was writing and I worked for Race Results Weekly, which was ⁓ a ⁓ news publication that covers professional distance running. And I went to school in Ithaca, New York, Ithaca College, ⁓ but would come back for the marathon even when I was in college because I just love the event and love to cover it. I started working for Race Results Weekly when I was a freshman in college and worked for

10 years ⁓ with Race Results Weekly. And they helped connect me with the BAA very early on and forever grateful for that opportunity. ⁓ now I'm on the other side managing the media relations and communications for the BAA. ⁓ But yeah, it was always my goal to work in sports. And very early on, I realized running was my passion. It's a really niche industry, or niche. Not everybody goes to college wanting to. ⁓

Erika (24:22)
You

The Lotsboms (24:25)
people who wanted to work in MLB or NFL in my class, but I always have my eye on running.

Erika (24:33)
I love it.

The Lotsboms (24:34)
Yeah, we always joke that like Chris has like really grown up at the BAA because you you started here when you were like kind of like a dweeby college kid and now you're like grown up, married, have a kid. Like it's just like so crazy the amount of phases you've been through while you've been at the BAA. Yeah, when I started I had long hair, know, and you know. Interesting look. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I always joke that my first like job as an intern was dusting the

Erika (24:47)
Absolutely. The evolution of Chris. ⁓ no way.

The Lotsboms (25:03)
archive cases. have our historical archives and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, like Dustin Off-Bill Rodgers shoes. Yeah, exactly. I love that stuff.

Eric (25:04)
You got started.

Erika (25:11)
my god, history.

Eric (25:15)
You know, nobody's gonna understand this except for me and Chris, but Chris,

what was Steve Lutarte's first job at Hendrick Motorsports? swept the floors. Yes. And then he worked his way to the top. Yeah.

The Lotsboms (25:24)
I don't know. oh, swept the floor, swept the spot floors? I love that. Basically,

Erika (25:29)
It's just getting in the door, right? You gotta start

somewhere.

The Lotsboms (25:32)
yeah, yeah, you know? And the funny thing now is like, it's kind of come full circle. I love the history of the sport and the history of the Boston Marathon especially. And now I'm like dubbed the office historian in a way. whatever anybody needs, like a random fact, they come to me. So I'm pretty, I wear that with a badge of honor.

Erika (25:47)
you

You should.

Eric (25:52)
That's cool.

I hope you give us some cool facts coming up soon, but that's really cool to see that you've been with them for so long. And I kind of, I've always said, I grew up with like four TV channels. And so I only saw a few things and one every year was like the Boston marathon on like WBZ channel four or five or something. Right. And then I got you pin 38 and I could watch like half the Bruins games. I wasn't cool and didn't have a cable or satellite or anything until. Right. Yeah. So.

Erika (26:07)
Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (26:16)
Red Talks on Fridays. Red Talks on Fridays. We're on UPN38. Yeah.

Eric (26:22)
You know, that was a big thing even in New Hampshire. always heard, I would not have known there were marathons in other cities. I just thought it was the Boston Marathon. And that's what happened growing up as a kid in New England, I think.

The Lotsboms (26:30)
you

Definitely. It's such a unique event that brings the community together and brings the community from throughout New England, really around the world. ⁓ But it does have, while it is a major race that attracts runners from around the world, I think at its heart, it is a local race. ⁓ Everybody comes out, they pass on traditions from generation and generation going to the marathon. I know a lot of volunteers have their...

Eric (26:52)
Yes.

The Lotsboms (27:04)
generational stories or that really bring the race home. We joke that a lot of people have a sense of ownership of the marathon. It's a really cool thing that people take so much pride in, whether it's volunteering or running or spectating, they all feel a sense of ownership, which is really, really cool to be a part of.

Erika (27:26)
I agree. Alina, why don't we talk about how you got started with the BAA?

The Lotsboms (27:27)
Thank

Yeah. So I started in youth track at the age of five. So running has definitely been a part of my life for a very long time, though I will say I'm not fast and never really planned to be fast. I just, exactly. I do it for fun. My whole family has been very into track and field and road races for a very long time. So we would always come to the marathon growing up every year on April vacation as well. you know, hang out and watch the marathon on Boylston street.

Erika (27:38)
Mmm.

You don't have to be, that's the beauty of running.

The Lotsboms (27:59)
A lot of really fun memories growing up. And I did cross country and track through high school. But once I got to college, I didn't keep competing, but I really missed running. So I decided to try some marathons as you do as a college kid. I was like, why not? Let's go. Yeah. And it was kind of a crazy choice. But I ran Boston when I was...

Erika (28:15)
you

Eric (28:16)
I don't remember doing that.

Erika (28:18)
you

The Lotsboms (28:23)
a senior. So like senior spring, I was at Emerson College and I ran the marathon that year. I don't know, I don't really recommend running marathons as a senior in college because like I wasn't super dedicated to my training. I ran like the slowest marathon of my life still. But it was such a cool experience to finally be able to run it after seeing it for so many years. And then, you know, I got started working in the

Erika (28:34)
you

The Lotsboms (28:48)
the events world and nonprofits. And I really kind of loved that. And I just applied for the job online when it opened up for volunteer coordinator for the BAA, um, applied online, you know, back in 2017 and started in October of 2017. And now I've been here for eight and a half years now and haven't looked back.

Erika (29:07)
That's amazing.

Eric (29:08)
If you

started in October, 2017, your first marathon was that 2018, the cold wind, the rain, like that must've been just wild for you as your first. Let's dive in. Let's dive into your job a little bit. So what I think is cool about having the two of you on is a lot of our listeners are going to get to hear a lot that goes on behind the scenes at the BAA and the Boston Marathon. So you work, you manage all the volunteers, like every

The Lotsboms (29:13)
Yeah.

Erika (29:15)
Been there. We can commiserate. ⁓

The Lotsboms (29:16)
Yeah.

Yeah.

It was insane.

Erika (29:32)
yeah.

Eric (29:38)
I don't even know. You got to tell me. All they know is Erica's volunteered before. And so she has a little bit of experience here and might know, might know a little bit what you're talking about, but I have no clue. So fill me in, spare no details about what you do with the BAA.

The Lotsboms (29:39)
Thank you.

which I love.

Erika (29:42)
Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (29:49)
Yeah.

Definitely. So my title is Director of Volunteers and Community Programs. And our volunteer program is about 11,000 people annually. ⁓ Most of those are for the Boston Marathon. We have about 10,000 throughout Boston Marathon race weekend. ⁓ We've already had assignments actually already started. Like last week, we had bib stuffing for the 5K and we had 30 volunteers come out to support that. so volunteers really touch every single aspect of the event. So I need to know.

the nitty gritty details of like literally every single thing happening out there. So I know what time the volunteers need to arrive, where they're going to check in, like get all their, I have to pack all the jackets with our team out there in the warehouse. So the jacket is a very coveted part of being a Boston Marathon volunteer. We have to pack all of those, pack all the credentials. So that's like a very labor intensive couple of weeks for us. We're like kind of in the home stretch there these next, this next week. So that's great.

⁓ but yeah, it's, just a team of two full time managing the volunteer program. So it's myself and the volunteer program manager, Meg Donnelly. ⁓ so we are handling customer service for 10,000 people on a daily basis. And there's all sorts of fun questions that they all ask. the volunteers are amazing though. We are so lucky that we actually get more volunteers than we can place who apply. We turn away this year, we had to turn away 2,500 people from volunteering.

Erika (31:06)
you

Eric (31:19)
Wow.

The Lotsboms (31:20)
Which is crazy and like a very, it's a problem, but at the same time, like we're lucky to have that problem. Um, you know, because we don't have to be super worried about recruitment every year. Um, and we just have a great base of volunteers who keep coming back year after year after year. And it's, it's amazing. The longest tenured volunteer is what 50 hitting 50 years of volunteering this year. Yeah.

Erika (31:26)
Mm-hmm.

That is incredible. I think I

want to say I saw that in one of the emails that go out, because I get them monthly. And it's kind cool to just scroll through, and there's usually a volunteer spotlight. So 50 years, that is just absolutely incredible. And like you were saying, I feel like you can be super proud of that. That's some ownership right there of the Boston Marathon.

The Lotsboms (32:02)
Yeah,

no, definitely. It's truly amazing how many people have made this just like an annual family tradition. And we have one of my favorite events every year that we do outside of the marathon is the 30-year volunteer luncheon. And we honor everyone who's hit 30 years at the marathon. And the stories that those people share are so incredible. And now we've even had parents and children who have hit 30 years together.

Erika (32:08)
Mm.

wow.

The Lotsboms (32:26)
So it's really

like a generational story and people really make this a huge part of their lives. So we're really grateful for all the volunteers and everything they do for us.

Eric (32:35)
Let's talk a little bit about the whole volunteer process. if someone's listening who's never volunteered and they want to, how do they go about that? When do they go about that? Like there has to be months and months of thought process here and planning for you. It's not just like sign up and then next week's the race and I'm going to put you to this place. Like how do you even decide where all these volunteers go?

The Lotsboms (32:43)
Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's funny because this time of year, we definitely do get people emailing in being like, hey, can I still volunteer? We're like, no, that process ended months ago. Thank you so much for your interest. we start, yeah. You could volunteer on my team in the media center. He doesn't listen to deadlines, yeah. No, start preparing for volunteer registration starting in October.

Erika (33:03)
Yep.

Eric (33:07)
Damn, I was gonna ask you, I thought I had an in.

Erika (33:13)
you

Eric (33:14)
I love it.

The Lotsboms (33:23)
And then we open volunteer registration in December. And that's when people have until early February to apply and that's the deadline. And then it takes us about a full month to place everybody. We do have a pretty strong like group recruitment model where, you know, there's certain groups that fill certain areas and it's kind of up to the leaders of those groups who they want to, you know, bring into their group each year. then we have individual applications as well. So it's just this like big puzzle piece that it takes us a full month to put together.

And, you know, we try to honor people who have years of service first, but that doesn't mean that there's no space if you've never volunteered before. It's just like, you know, we can't put you in any random position, but there are spaces usually in Hopkinson and then the finish line and on race weekend as well where we can get new people in. My recommendation too for people who really want a Boston Marathon volunteer position is to also try volunteering at some of our other events because those aren't quite as...

Eric (34:20)
and then you get

in, you get your foot in the door.

The Lotsboms (34:22)
Yeah, get your in the door and work your way up the system.

Erika (34:22)
Hehehehehe

Eric (34:26)
Who would have thought working for free would have been so hard to do?

The Lotsboms (34:29)
Exactly. It's truly mind blowing. It's really cool to see some of those longtime volunteers wear their favorite jacket or they'll have their credential with all their volunteer pins on and you know, like... ⁓ yeah, they do. It's really cool. Yeah. And they have like closets full of Boston Marathon jackets that they are really proud of.

Eric (34:41)
They take so much pride in it.

Erika (34:51)
It's the next best thing to getting the actual finisher jacket. you wear it as a badge of honor because you know you're helping out so many people on race day, even just to help out with race, like the race day, because you know it's not going to happen without all these volunteers.

The Lotsboms (34:55)
yeah.

Absolutely. That's what I always say is that like if we were all to just like not show up for work on marathon day, the race would still happen because the volunteers are so good and they know exactly what they're doing and you know, they'll just they'll just take it and run with it and it'll still be a fantastic day. But we'll be there. We'll be there. Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty nice. Yeah.

Eric (35:16)
Yeah.

Erika (35:17)
you

Absolutely.

Eric (35:25)
Well, unless there's a baby and you're on maternity leave and then you'd be like I'm gonna enjoy this time off like you planned it, right?

Yeah, you planned it right. My wife was like,

we should have waited three more months. I would have had all summer off. Let's talk about two different kinds of volunteers. I want to talk about the volunteers that work at like the mile 2.2 water station. That's where Erica worked. And then the ones who work at the finish line. So let's start with the water station. Like who manages and tells them what to do. There's only two of you on your team.

The Lotsboms (35:40)
Yeah.

Erika (35:42)
well.

The Lotsboms (35:49)
⁓

Yeah.

Eric (35:57)
You both

can't be everywhere at once. So I'm imagining there's like a volunteer lead and then there's like someone who trains the newbies how like this is how you pour water or laid out. Like Erica sent me pictures. You have it down to a science.

The Lotsboms (36:09)
Yeah.

Erika (36:11)
They

do.

The Lotsboms (36:11)
yeah, it is definitely very organized and we require that of our volunteers who are like, gotta be organized otherwise, you gotta work harder. But ⁓ yeah, for each position we have a team captain who is usually a volunteer and that's like their leadership role. So for something like a hydration station, we actually have two team captains and two station leads per station.

And those are the people who are really like running the show for each water station. And that goes all the way down the course for each hydration station. There's that leadership model. And then, you know, we're making sure that they're hitting their numbers volunteer wise, you know, getting all the volunteer communications out so you know where to go on race day, what time you're supposed to check in all of that. But then it's really in the team captain's hands on race day. And then, you know, there's also the course team who are

you know, some of our staff, but also some consultants who are helping like with the logistical details of those areas. So we call those kind of different like area leads who are kind of educating the volunteers on the nitty gritty details. but we do a big call with like the team captains of each area. ⁓ for some groups, it's once a month leading up to the marathon starting in January for the, for others, it's just once. ⁓ but yeah, those team captains are really like our eyes and ears on race day. And they're the ones who are.

running the show. And so that's a really special group of volunteers. It's about 230 team captains on race weekend and they are truly incredible. And, you know, they are, they're, they're tough too. Like they're not, they're not just going to be like, like have a nice time volunteering and yay. It's all like unicorns and rainbows. Like, no, they're going to follow the rules, which we appreciate, but it can still be fun too. And that's why each water station or each, you know, each section of the course looks so uniform when you're going down the course that

Erika (37:34)
Mm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (37:58)
They know how far to space out the tables. know how long it takes to refill all the cups or whatever it is. ⁓

Eric (38:08)
We always

station our, ourself, our little camp at mile 19.2. And just less than a quarter mile up from us is that mile 19 water station, aid station, whatever call it. And I remember walking up to find someone, I think it was the year Tara, Tara Dactyl was running Erica when she actually had like a broken back or something. So she was way in the back. And I would just remember watching everyone at that aid station, the water station, just how efficient they were, how it looked like a fine tune machine.

The Lotsboms (38:13)
Nice.

Erika (38:26)
Mm.

Eric (38:36)
choreography was on point and then the cleanup like they're all just like work and I was just like wow look at these guys go and we can't even keep our we did leave with a clean area but it's like how do we keep our little table clean like they had it down to a science I was so impressed

The Lotsboms (38:52)
Yeah, no, it takes a whole lot of them and it's just kind of a smooth, smooth operation once they get rolling each year. And, you know, we're lucky that there is a lot of institutional knowledge of the people who keep coming back year after year, pass that on to others. So we're never like starting from scratch anywhere. Like there's always someone who has seen how things go in each area along the course.

Erika (38:58)
Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I can attest to the organization that you guys put together because in addition to the water stop that I've done, I've only done that once, but I was an event marshal for a couple of years. So not only did the emails, you guys spell everything out. You be here at this time. We want you in this auditorium. And then we're like sitting and they're doing like a presentation kind of, and they're like, all right, if you have this on your credential, you got to go to this place. And they tell you exactly what to say.

The Lotsboms (39:19)
Mm-hmm. ⁓ nice.

Erika (39:40)
so one of my jobs was to, to literally just stand on the street corner, which was very helpful though, because after the race, people were like, where do I find like the family meeting area? So I was just like directing traffic basically, but it was so helpful because people are just so tired from running this race. They're trying to find their family and I'm just like, all right, you guys do this and, you have a question. If I don't know it, I'm going to go ask this guy. Cause this guy knows. And it literally was just so absolutely organized and.

The Lotsboms (39:44)
Yup.

Erika (40:08)
whatever you guys do behind the scenes makes it easy for them to just pass on the knowledge and it just translates so well. So whatever you're doing, keep it up.

The Lotsboms (40:16)
And I'm glad that

people actually read the emails.

Erika (40:20)
I mean, I'm one of those sticklers

who's like, okay, what do I do? If I don't know the parking situation, I'm not going. So like, I made sure to know every detail. You guys did it. And I love it. You got one at least. Yes.

The Lotsboms (40:29)
We love spelling out every detail. And I'm always like, is people reading this? I don't know, but our volunteers do read it.

Eric (40:37)
Erica reads

even the entire newsletter because I opened up the newsletter one time reading it and then I went about halfway and Erica says something to me later that day. Did you see Chris was in the newsletter? I go no. She goes yeah you got to go all the way to the bottom like keep reading keep reading. I was like no way it was super cool.

The Lotsboms (40:49)
Yeah, yeah.

Erika (40:49)
you

What can I say? I

love running. I love reading about running. that's like, especially just being so close to home. It's all relevant. I think, ⁓ God. Yep.

The Lotsboms (41:01)
Let me just set the record straight there. did

not choose to feature myself. I did not. My own newsletter. No, that was a colleague who chose to feature. nominated. Yeah, I got nominated.

Eric (41:15)
Yeah, that wasn't that wasn't the colleague who also is your roommate.

Erika (41:15)
Well deserved though.

The Lotsboms (41:19)
No, no. But it's funny you say that you read every bit of the email because the communications is something that we collaborate on. Like Elena and Meg will put together the shell of the email and I'll look at it from a communication standpoint or how can we make this clearer or how can we make sure that everybody knows exactly what to expect come race day? I'm laughing because...

Erika (41:31)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (41:46)
Like I remember when I first started, I would like draft up volunteer communications and have him proofread them. And he would ask me to print them out and he'd like use a red pen and go through it and like make edits. And I was like, what, really? Like, and he made sure to cross things out. No, but now you'll print it out and it'll look great.

Erika (41:56)
you

Sometimes it works out better that way. You can just see things and then it feels better to just actually cross stuff out.

Eric (42:09)
Wow. What a way to get your foot in the door, Chris.

The Lotsboms (42:12)
Yeah,

that was him flirting.

Eric (42:16)
Let's go to

the coffee shop and talk about this. Elena, when you got the job, was that like this director role or were you like another scale of volunteer role and moved your way up?

Erika (42:18)
You

The Lotsboms (42:18)
Yeah, Yeah.

Yeah, no, I came in at the coordinator level under Mary Miller, who was our ⁓ manager of volunteers at the time that I reported to you. And then, you know, kind of just like worked my way up. And I think last year is when I was promoted to the director role. So, yeah, it's just been like a fun journey to kind of like see it from every level throughout the years. You know, now I.

I'm not spending quite as much time in the weeds of the volunteer inbox answering every little question, but I still know the answer to every little question. And I think it's really cool that actually a lot of people who have worked in the volunteer program have gone on to work in roles that are still at the BAA. Like a lot of us are still here that have been here throughout the last eight years. And it's just like the best way to get to learn every single aspect of the event is working in the volunteer program. And you just have to know everything.

Erika (42:59)
Yup.

Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (43:19)
So yeah, it's been a fun journey.

Eric (43:23)
And you got promoted when you had a baby, not demoted. Actually, I'm...

The Lotsboms (43:30)
So hang in on it.

The VIP tent really pays off. Yeah, like one year, take one year off.

Erika (43:33)
you

Eric (43:35)
Yeah. I love it.

All right. So if there's only two of you on your team and there's tens of thousands of volunteers and there's a marathon that is a point to point, you can't be everywhere at once. Right? So where are you on race day? What are your duties and roles on that day?

The Lotsboms (43:48)
Yeah. Nope.

Yeah, yeah. So I always joke that Chris gets to do the fun stuff and be at the finish line. And he's on the news screen, and everyone's texting me, like, I saw your husband on TV. I'm in a basement, and I'm checking in volunteers for hours. Though this year, I got upgraded. We have windows. We're upstairs. We're not in a basement anymore, so I'm super excited about that. ⁓ Yeah, but I'm in the finish area doing volunteer check-in, and we do that in a hotel. So ⁓ yeah, we got a nice,

Erika (44:05)
No.

Eric (44:10)
Nice.

Erika (44:14)
Moving on up!

The Lotsboms (44:24)
fun room this year, so I'm pretty excited about that. But then you get outside of there after, you know, once the check-ins. I Once all the volunteers have checked in, I get out there and I do laps and kind of just like take pictures of everything happening out there. Like once everyone's checked in, I should have a pretty smooth race day usually and just kind of like, you know, keeping my eyes and ears open for what's happening, but relatively chill after that point of, you know, checking in a couple thousand people in the span of a couple hours. So yeah.

Erika (44:25)
Excellent.

What time does your day start on race day? I'm sure it's very early.

The Lotsboms (44:54)
That's

a good question. No. Yeah, we're in Boston for the weekend, which is great because we have a lot of early call times. I'm usually like in the hotel space by 5 a.m. But like, there's not a lot of sleep tonight before the marathon because like we're just like so amped up. But like it's hard to sleep. And he's always up earlier because he has to do. I don't know what you're even doing. But we're up early.

Eric (44:56)
Do you commute from New Hampshire on race day?

Erika (45:04)
Mm.

I can imagine.

you

The Lotsboms (45:22)
I'm like in the check-in space by 5 a.m. But that's honestly like one of my later days of the weekend too. Like the 5k is way earlier. So yeah.

Erika (45:27)
God. Are

you more of a morning person or a night owl? my God. my God. So it's making me like, I'm cringy just because I'm like, how do you function? I'm a night owl too.

The Lotsboms (45:32)
I'm a night owl, but.

Yeah, it's hard.

But the adrenaline kicks in on race weekend and race days in general. you just kind of you're like, okay, here we go. Let's do it. A lot of caffeine. A lot of No, like the alarm will go off at like 330 on Marathon Monday and we'll jump up or at least I'll jump out of bed. ⁓ like, like, ⁓

Erika (45:43)
And caffeine, there's always caffeine.

I'm awake.

The Lotsboms (45:57)
rate or roll. You know, like we work all year for this. So yeah, it's his like Christmas day. Like, it's fun for me too, but he has a little more pep to his step first thing in the morning than I do.

Erika (46:00)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (46:01)
That's pretty cool.

Erika (46:03)
That's true.

Eric (46:09)
You work on this for longer than a year because Dave McIlvery told us 14 months of planning goes into every marathon.

The Lotsboms (46:15)
Yeah, we already had to place the jacket order for next year. So yeah, we'll see. I found out when I opened the I saw our preview and if it's the color that I saw, it's going to be a cool one. I think people would like that.

Erika (46:19)
That's so crazy.

Eric (46:21)
I hope it's a good color. We'll see.

Erika (46:26)
They're like, hm?

Nice, nice, nice.

Eric (46:30)
Nice.

has this local race she loves so much called the Gophs Town Gallup. And every year she's pleading for her color. What is it Erica? Like what a shade of a purple.

Erika (46:37)
Purple! I want purple.

The Lotsboms (46:39)
I love purple. That's my favorite color too.

Erika (46:40)
Yes. Yup, yup. And I always want a purple. And it's usually like a ⁓ fun, bright neon color. But then sometimes it's like, wasn't it tan one year? I'm like, tan? what are you doing with this? But beige. But I'm like, come on, give me a purple.

Eric (46:51)
Yeah. I think it was called nude.

The Lotsboms (46:52)
Sad page. Yeah. Was this

the volunteer jacket last year or is it the media jacket last year? It was volunteer. was purple, which I was excited about. But that's the, that's the question we get asked the most I think is what color is the volunteer jacket is going to be? I get asked what color is the media jacket is going to be? And it's like, you know, I don't know.

Erika (47:12)
Hmm. Who picks the color schemes?

Like who gets to pick the finisher jacket? Like, is that a Dave McGilvery thing or like, I wanted, that's a fun question.

The Lotsboms (47:20)
That's it.

Eric (47:21)
We could do a vote on Instagram.

We could just do a poll and have everyone pick if you want.

The Lotsboms (47:25)
Yeah, choose it here. It's usually a combination of Adidas and the BAA, and they'll show us well in advance color palette is trending, I guess. Yeah, our corporate partnerships need... But I will say that traditionally on anniversary years, every five years, you'll see the blue and yellow come back strong. So this year is the 130th Boston Marathon, so you'll see a lot of that.

Erika (47:37)
⁓

Eric (47:37)
⁓

gotta go with the trends.

Yeah.

Erika (47:48)
Makes

sense.

The Lotsboms (47:53)
blue and yellow. volunteer jackets, literally look like minions, which I love that movie, so I'm like really excited about it. The jackets are pretty cool. Yeah, they're snazzy.

Erika (47:57)
Ha

That's awesome.

Eric (48:04)
That's

awesome. Well, Lane, I'm going to prep you for something I'm going to ask you later, but we love a good Code Brown story and a Code Brown story, you know, that has to do with volunteering maybe is any crap moment. I'll give you a little clue. Dave McGilvery gave us one when he got locked in a porta potty and he dropped his radio. That's, that's a classic Code Brown that you can laugh about it later. So I'll give you some time to think about that, but I want to hear from Chris.

The Lotsboms (48:08)
Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Eric (48:28)
I want to hear about your job and about the things you do and the things that happen behind the scenes that not everybody sees.

The Lotsboms (48:36)
Where do we begin? ⁓ So in the communications world, it's really a team effort. We handle media relations, handle in the lead up to the marathon, all of the emailing, the website, social media, any external messaging that goes out to participants or to fans or spectators ⁓ comes through the communications team in one way, or form. So ⁓ you talked about the newsletters, Erica.

Erika (48:37)
you

The Lotsboms (49:04)
Right now we're making sure that all of our participant newsletters and everybody is coming to Boston knowing exactly what to expect, whether you're a runner, a volunteer, a spectator, how to make the most of your Boston Marathon experience. That's our really main job and focus in Race Week.

Erika (49:20)
Perfect. You're making

all the planners very happy.

The Lotsboms (49:24)
Yes.

I mean, I, Elena knows I, especially as it comes to race week, everything we want to plan as much as we can so that there's fewer curve balls that we have to deal with on race day. know, fewer curve balls, they're better. Yeah. There are always will be, you know, curve balls, but it's our job to do, you know, to deal with those as best as we can.

Erika (49:36)
Mm-hmm less stress

Mm-hmm.

Eric (49:46)
Now, one of the things we talked about before was there's like 35,000 runners. So there's 35,000 stories out there, people with their own story. And something we all love to do is to get those stories out. And I remember when I did Iron Man and some stuff, they would have this little text space and it say like, write your story. And I would be like, I don't even know what my story is. But do those come across your feed and do you like figure out, okay, how do I get this out or this story is special? And I want it like everyone's story is special, but

The Lotsboms (50:06)
Yes.

Eric (50:15)
Some of them just really pop. For instance, we have a really good friend, we call him Mo, but he's Maurice the running panda. And we feel like his story gets out quite a bit where now this year, those flags on the light poles in Boston have him on it. It's like these stories get out there and do they come across like your email and your, you know, your eyes?

The Lotsboms (50:27)
That's awesome.

Yeah, they come our way in many different ways. We do ask runners if they have a story to email it to us or share it with us on social. So that's one way. ⁓ Through our official charity program, there's so many heartwarming stories for runners who are raising funds and running for a cause bigger than a PB or a medal. ⁓ Social media, ⁓ we'll see some that are...

that come across our social channels and we make note like, that's a really cool, really great one. ⁓ and then this word of mouth, you know, I can probably count on, you know, two hands, the amount of stories that come through staff are like, Hey, I saw this on social and I thought you'd be interested in. And some of those turn out to be like the best, most compelling stories that are told over race weekend. So yeah, exactly. You know, we have, we have 42 people on staff.

Eric (51:24)
Like someone on your team sees it and they just pass it along.

The Lotsboms (51:30)
And I feel like I say it to everybody, like, if you see anything that's really unique or cool or special, like, send it our way, you know, and we'll dive deeper or try to showcase it in one way, or form. ⁓ yeah, that's, it's a little bit of, you know, many different ways these stories come to us, but it is hard to pick which ones to feature. You know, there's only so much space in our program or on our social channels on, ⁓ you know, with our media partners. So, ⁓ you know, there's...

Eric (51:50)
I know.

The Lotsboms (51:59)
Unfortunately, not all 35,000 stories are going to be told each year, you know, and that's just the runners. There's 10,000 volunteers who many of them have really, really cool stories as well. So, ⁓ but it's our job to really showcase and shine a spotlight as best we can on some of the stories. And some of them we won't know until after race day, which is kind of, kind of cool. You know, there's stories that are folks that fly under the radar and then come race day, they have this really compelling story that, gets out and that's, you know, that we get to celebrate at post-race. So.

Eric (52:01)
Right.

Erika (52:13)
Mm-hmm.

⁓ I love that too. I remember one of the newsletters actually had somebody we had on the podcast before. His name is Ben Crosby. So he goes by A Better Ben. And I sent it to Eric. I'm like, my God, check it out. Like Ben's story. like, it's getting out there again.

The Lotsboms (52:28)
Yeah.

Yeah,

Ben's run the distance mainly. think that when I think one of our colleagues, Rich Brothers, followed him on social or, you know, kind of got hooked to his story and that's how we how we learned about it or that's how we connected. So, yeah. Well, we're like nerds for the marathon, though, that like when we're scrolling social media at nighttime, it's just like serving us marathon content. and then we're all like, oh, this is a cool story. And it's like, we can't like ever escape from it in a great way. But we're all like, oh, this is a good one. Send it.

Erika (52:52)
Isn't it great? I love that.

Eric (52:55)
You know you-

Yeah.

Erika (53:02)
I

Mm-hmm.

Eric (53:11)
That's what the algorithm is good for. You know, it feeds you the good stuff. We have a lot of friends who, you I love that a lot of the local stories are highlighted. In New England, know, WMUR goes out and they find people too in all the Boston channels, even like Portland, Maine or Connecticut, Rhode Island. Listen, someone from California, they're awesome, they got a good story too, but I love the local connection and it gives Boston that. I know we're from New Hampshire, but Boston's our hometown, it's our sports team.

The Lotsboms (53:13)
Yeah, yeah, it is.

Erika (53:13)
absolutely.

The Lotsboms (53:38)
Yeah.

Eric (53:38)
And it gives us that hometown feel in that hometown race. I always choke, yeah, we have this little marathon called the Boston Marathon. Not a big deal.

The Lotsboms (53:46)
Yeah.

Erika (53:46)
The Boston Marathon.

Eric (53:48)
you

The Lotsboms (53:51)
It's really unique in that sense that, like I said before, the community takes so much pride in so much, like nowhere else does a marathon bring everybody together. And it really takes on a holiday atmosphere. know, like New York is great, Chicago is great, but Boston, think, is something unique that it's like, it really is a holiday. It's like a holiday. very unbiased opinion.

Eric (54:04)
Yeah.

I'm with you. And you know,

I've said this many times on the pod. It's on record. I've only run the New York city marathon this past year. And my thought was, I don't know how any race could ever beat it. But I think Boston is the only one that could possibly do it. I need to experience it from that side. One day I have no plans on doing it soon. I like to ski during the winter, not train during the winter, but this race, it's the oldest marathon of all time.

The Lotsboms (54:19)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, oldest annual 130 years in a row, which is really cool that to be part of something that was here well, well, before any of us and knock on wood will be here well, well, after us, you know, and we, you know, we, always say in the office that we're stewards of the event, you know, how can we be the best ambassadors and, and, you know, bring the event, you know, a step forward or improve it by that much so that the next generation, you know,

Eric (54:43)
Yeah.

It will.

Erika (54:52)
I certainly

hope so.

The Lotsboms (55:07)
has an even better Boston Marathon experience.

Erika (55:09)
Yeah, continue the legacy. You got to continue the legacy. And you guys are doing a wonderful job perpetuating it ever forward. I love it.

Eric (55:10)
I'm with you there.

The Lotsboms (55:17)
We're

really excited for this year. Making every year special in its own unique way. It's really neat.

Eric (55:24)
Well, speaking about this year, let's get

to know a little bit more, not just what you do on race day, but all week, because you're media year communications, right? So all week coming up in a couple of days, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, what is a day in Chris's life?

The Lotsboms (55:40)
Gosh, so it depends on the day. Sometimes it's a 3.30 wake up call, sometimes it's a four or five a.m., but we'll have press conferences. On Friday, we have our Pro Athlete press conference and our Public Safety press conference, as well as the Expo opens and FanFest. So Friday is, I'd say, when it really, really gets busy. ⁓ Saturday is the 5K, the Invitational Mile, our Youth Mile, which is new this year. ⁓ Sunday usually is a little bit.

Erika (55:45)
you

The Lotsboms (56:07)
or more production meetings, fine-tuning things, just making sure that all systems are go and there's no, you know, fire drills or anything that needs to be handled last minute. And then Monday is the big show. I know that was a really quick synopsis, but I could probably take an hour to go through each day, each step of the day. But Monday, Monday's really fun. you know, like I said, it starts at 3.30. We'll get our media center all prepped. It should be all ready to go and smooth, just...

Erika (56:22)
you

you

The Lotsboms (56:36)
opens at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. We're at the main hotel and we're making sure that all the athletes are ready. When the pros board the bus, they get a special clap out from the BAA staff and many at the hotel. We form kind of a tunnel and cheer all the athletes as they walk their way to the buses, which is a really cool moment to stop and pause and remember somebody who's walking by is going to...

couple hours time, be a Boston Marathon champion. then from there, my day goes to making sure that our broadcast partners are all set to go. I'm very involved in our ESPN and WCVB ⁓ and our World Feed broadcast team. And then it's out to the finish to make sure that our photographers and media who are out there are all stationed and ready to go. And when the champions come through, when the grand marshal comes through, I'll be there making sure that the photo tight pool,

handful of photographers who are right there on the ground are playing by the rules and not getting in the way or anything and making sure that when our champions cross, the choreography is to a point, making sure that they can celebrate and that the media gets what they need, that we get the winning shots with the trophy, everything like that. So from there it goes to press conferences and a ⁓ whole host of other things. But it's a busy day. It's a lot kind of.

where Elena is checking folks in, I'm kind of going from place to place to base, making sure that our team is rocking and rolling. Yeah, the finish line protocol is pretty intense too. It's a very choreographed sequence and you got to be buttoned up over there and it's all on camera. Yeah. think there's a reason why I'm not over there. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of the things that maybe folks don't... As much as you can script a live sporting event,

Erika (58:07)
Mm.

can handle it, I believe in you.

The Lotsboms (58:34)
You know, we have it down to the minute as far as, okay, if the champion is expected at this time, 30 seconds later, this is happening, a minute later, this is happening, you know, so that there's no surprises as far as TV knows when they're going to get their interview with the champion. ⁓ The champion gets time with their family and they get time to like, you know, clean up what they need. Or yeah, breathe. know, take a sip of water. Yeah, but to Alana's point, it's all very...

Erika (58:54)
Breathe.

The Lotsboms (59:04)
when the champions come through, it's very pre-programmed so that it's very important that everybody around there is on the same page so that it looks very clean and crisp and doesn't look like we're running around with our heads cut off kind of thing. very organized. Yeah.

Eric (59:21)
Choreographed is a great word you used. I know that from my NASCAR days when I was changing tires. It was a choreography. It was this beautiful dance. And something I also remember when we'd go to Victory Lane was all the photographers in the media and the hat dance and everything. How many photographers, like, do you have to manage there? Because they all want that perfect shot. Like, are they all fighting over getting the middle? do you, like, have to pick and choose? Does Sonority come into play here?

The Lotsboms (59:24)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, we have around 500 media credentials that are distributed around the Boston Marathon. we can only accommodate, because the size of the road, the logistics, only a handful that are down there on the finish line. So we have about a dozen who are down on the finish line. We have maybe 50 or so that are up above on the photo bridge. And to your point, to make sure that everybody gets that perfect shot, we have choreographed

Erika (59:57)
you

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:00:10)
Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (1:00:16)
for the champions when they pose with the trophy. They're looking straight ahead, they're looking up to the right, they're looking up to the left. They're making sure that every photographer or videographer who's in that finish area is getting that shot that they can use. So we do our best to accommodate and kind of have that rundown for each of the champions. ⁓ They only get one shot to run through the finish line. So ⁓ trying to make sure that each photographer or each outlet

has their own space with a clear view of the finish is really important because that's a moment you can't you can't run back and and get a second day so ⁓ but yeah it's it's a that those are the kind of things that in the weeks and months leading up you know everything is kind of all those nitty-gritty details whether it's ⁓ seating charts if you will for the photo bridge so that the outlets know exactly where they're going to be on on race

Erika (1:00:46)
Mmm.

you

Eric (1:01:13)
Right.

The Lotsboms (1:01:14)
so that they can prepare to get that money shot. ⁓ Yeah, all of that stuff is taken care of well in advance so that come race day folks know what to expect.

Eric (1:01:24)
You got this all figured out for the winner, but what about the person who finishes second, third, fourth? Do they have like protocol or do the photographers have protocol for those ones too? Is it the same, different? How's that flow?

The Lotsboms (1:01:34)
Yep.

No, it's different. So when you're watching the marathon broadcast, the winner will finish on, we call it runner left. So if you're a runner coming down the street, they'll finish on the left-hand side. Everybody else will finish on the right-hand side until all of the ceremonies are complete. So that champion gets pushed to the left side. If it's a closed race, they'll send the champion and, you know, or whoever the folks are battling for that top spot.

Erika (1:01:53)
⁓

Eric (1:02:03)
the photo finish we're going to see in a few days. Three-way photo finish.

The Lotsboms (1:02:05)
Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Erika (1:02:06)
Yeah.

The Lotsboms (1:02:08)
I would love that. I would absolutely love that. Mary-Kate Shea does an awesome job putting together our pro fields that it seems like more often than not, it's a tight finish. ⁓ But yeah, and all the pro athletes know in advance where to go or what to expect coming down that finish stretch. We have a technical meeting, so it shouldn't be new for the folks working down near the...

finish line. shouldn't be new for the athletes who are finishing and given their all. We try to stone unturned that we're trying to plan for every little scenario.

Erika (1:02:43)
And then what happens when the masses come through? there a regime change where you're like, all right, next round of photographers, let's go.

The Lotsboms (1:02:48)
Yeah. Yeah,

exactly. Well, there's some photographers who are really shooting the pros of the professional athletes only, and then there's others who want those emotional shots throughout the day. And yeah, that's where it's our job from a media relations standpoint to kind of tap in or tap out. OK, you've got, know, if you're all done down there, now we can bring the next set of folks down. So it never gets too crowded. ⁓ But

Erika (1:02:58)
Mm-hmm.

Gotcha.

The Lotsboms (1:03:16)
But everybody wants to be on the finish line. We can't accommodate everybody. Even we tell our staff like everybody, you know. Yeah, we don't all get finish line credentials. You need to be, you have to have a job that requires you to be on the finish line to be there. You need to be working. If you're standing around, or maybe if you're standing around doing nothing and you're caught on TV, then you'll hear it that you're not supposed to be in there. That's why there's a couple of rules down to the finish. You should always be smiling.

Erika (1:03:18)
I

⁓ huh.

Eric (1:03:29)
or a baby.

Erika (1:03:37)
know. Busted.

The Lotsboms (1:03:46)
You should always have a role or be doing your role. Always hot mics, so don't say anything that you don't want to out there.

Erika (1:03:49)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:03:52)
Yes.

Erika (1:03:55)
Well, I hear

that the photo bridge is like a coveted spot because ⁓ New Hampshire's very own Allie Feller gets to do some announcing up there and that is like the place to be. So how does one get to be on the photo bridge? Like that's so exciting.

The Lotsboms (1:04:02)
See you.

Yeah, it depends on your role, you know?

Eric (1:04:09)
They,

Erica, they apply for a media credential. And Chris sent us the email. We have to do it.

The Lotsboms (1:04:13)
Just

Yeah,

Erika (1:04:17)
do it. Let's go.

The Lotsboms (1:04:17)
it's not too late. It's not too late. ⁓ Yeah, it depends on your role. So if your media and your photographer, videographer, and your specific role involves the finish, you'll get up there. Then there's a lot of operational folks. So Ali is one of our finish line announcers. So she'll be bringing the energy. ⁓ The announcer's booth is up there on the photo bridge. We've got our timers. We've got video and PA system, audio. ⁓

So it's a blend of working media and also race operations up there. But it is a really cool ⁓ vantage point from.

Erika (1:04:50)
Mm-hmm.

I have to say

that the pictures that the runners get, I guess regular runners, get from that photo bridge. That is the iconic one where everybody's just raising their arms. That is the best picture with the finish line right below you.

The Lotsboms (1:05:09)
If you're running Boston or if you're running any race out there, do not touch your watch when you're going to the finish line. The number one thing we tell everybody, there's hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of timing equipment that's invested. We'll get your time. Enjoy the moment. Look up, smile for the cameras. We'll get your result. You'll get it down to a second. Don't worry. Yeah.

Erika (1:05:14)
you

you

That is the perfect piece of advice. Yes.

Eric (1:05:35)
Have you

run a race with your daughter yet?

The Lotsboms (1:05:39)
I did. Yes, you did. Yeah, I ran our local Amherst Turkey Trot, the Trot Off Your Turkey 5K the day after Thanksgiving. So I ran that with her. That was a 5K. I'd never run with the jogging stroller before. And I was like, I'll just do it in a race. That's fine.

Erika (1:05:53)
How was it?

Eric (1:05:53)
Well, well, my first ever

race with my daughter, she was only three months old, was the single day mile race in Bedford, New Hampshire, actually. And I ruined the finisher photo because I thought a selfie of me and her would be better. So the finisher photo is me like almost tripping over the stroller trying to get a picture of me and her and she's sleeping.

The Lotsboms (1:06:00)
Yup.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's it. was looking at the finish line for mine too. Yeah. I was like, yeah, that's fine. It's a great shot though. You're like, give it a thumbs up where you're waving to us. I was about to, actually had to pull over because I almost hurled at the finish line. I like, I gotta like breeze right through here because it's not going to be pretty. I haven't run one with Natalie yet, but.

Erika (1:06:14)
⁓ even better.

Eric (1:06:16)
Yeah. I should have just like...

Erika (1:06:26)
no!

you

The Lotsboms (1:06:35)
I walked. You'll get into it. Yeah. We have our neighborhood fitness series or BAA neighborhood fitness series, is like- She's now Boston Moves. Boston Moves. you. Yeah. We rebranded the name, but it's between one and two mile walks and runs throughout different neighborhoods in Boston and Elena organizes many of them. And while I was on parental leave and you were back working, I got to push Natalie for two miles of a walk and I got a medal. So that's the extent that I've done.

Erika (1:07:02)
you

The Lotsboms (1:07:04)
Post-marathon, we'll get back running more. Yeah. Yes. Exactly.

Erika (1:07:07)
There you go. More time will be in the schedule.

Eric (1:07:11)
You know, it was great advice you said about the watch and good advice I feel like I give now, like don't take the selfie. But then there's a time when you don't touch the watch and you don't take a selfie and you smile for the camera and your daughter does one of these.

The Lotsboms (1:07:29)
⁓ That's awesome. Yeah, that's a good one. I love it. She's like, I hate this.

Erika (1:07:32)
I'm so glad you showed this.

Eric (1:07:35)
Yep. So, you know,

even when we do everything right.

Erika (1:07:41)
That's the best picture.

Eric (1:07:42)
They're like, Dad,

The Lotsboms (1:07:43)
Yeah.

Eric (1:07:44)
why do we have to do this? That's one of my

favorite photos. One of my favorite photos of all time. By the way.

Erika (1:07:49)
For those listening, that's a picture of Eric running the, I think it was the Cigna 5K in Manchester when Adeline was probably watched like three, three, four. But the iconic picture that we always talk about on the She's not impressed.

Eric (1:07:57)
That was 2019.

The Lotsboms (1:07:58)
Yeah.

Eric (1:08:04)
Yeah. Yeah. It was a classic.

The Lotsboms (1:08:04)
You know, it is

kind of fun to go through like all of marathon photos, photos after the race to like, you know, hundreds of thousands of photos and we'll be going through and you'll catch some great ones like where athletes are just like, I don't know, not having it and they make great faces. One of our friends ran the marathon two years ago and was caught mid snot rocket, right? ⁓

Erika (1:08:22)
you

Yo!

The Lotsboms (1:08:31)
That's

a great photo. Right in front of the SitGo sign. Yeah, that's right. ⁓ now our group chat has that as the image. So, yeah.

Eric (1:08:36)
They should frame it! ⁓

Erika (1:08:37)
would frame that, exactly.

Beautiful, that's a beautiful thing.

Eric (1:08:45)
That's great. By the

way, Erica dropped the name, but you did a pretty good job with the photo for the, ⁓ the race program. And the little surprise you did, she thought she was getting fired.

Erika (1:08:53)
with Allie, that's the sweetest.

The Lotsboms (1:08:54)
Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So Chris is really bad with surprises. I'm very bad at surprises. Atlantic's the test. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't, we didn't, it's a long story, but we didn't know exactly when the program was going to go to print and it prints pretty quickly. Once it's on the presses, it's done within a day. So ⁓ it happened to be printed in New Hampshire.

Erika (1:09:04)
Learn from this, Chris, learn from this.

Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (1:09:24)
and in Hooks it and yeah we work with Yankee magazine and Cummins Press was amazing. They were like yeah we'd be happy to have you guys in to look at the presses. So I got I texted Ali like hey what are you doing tomorrow at you know one or whatever and she's like why? I'm like I can't tell you much but meet us at this warehouse you know. Yeah like only like

Eric (1:09:26)
Greatest state.

Erika (1:09:43)
I'm

No cause for alarm there.

The Lotsboms (1:09:53)
Only with Chris would people trust that too and just be like, yeah, that's fine. I'll meet you at a weird warehouse at a random time. He's a trustworthy guy. So you're like, okay, fine. But I was like, that's kind of crazy. You didn't give her any context. And so she showed up, she was like, I have no idea why I'm here. And we're all like, hey. And she's like, what's going on? So it worked out amazing. She was very surprised. It was a really special moment.

Erika (1:09:57)
You

Eric (1:09:58)
Ha

You did well. That was one of those hundred thousand photos you scanned through and you found a good one.

The Lotsboms (1:10:24)
⁓

well, it's all credit to our communications manager, Celia Oswich. ⁓ She's within what, three months? Three months on the job, four months on the job. And one of her first tests was, all right, help us look through our photos and try to find something that embodies meet the moment, which is this year's theme where all the volunteers, all the spectators, everybody out there is supporting these athletes in having their really special moment.

Erika (1:10:24)
Beautiful.

The Lotsboms (1:10:53)
in that photo, she was like, is it. So Celia was the one who was like, this is the photo that speaks to it. And Ali's backstory and the energy that she brings to the sport and especially Boston Marathon, that was a really special moment. It was up there in the 12 years I've been at the BAA or 13 years that that was up there. It was a really, really special one. And I think a lot of people are gonna have...

Erika (1:11:00)
She nailed it.

The Lotsboms (1:11:21)
have their programs ready for Ali to sign them or to play with them on race week.

Eric (1:11:24)
Yeah. Nailed

it guys.

Erika (1:11:26)
you

Eric (1:11:26)
We might have to change the name though to the NHBAA since everyone's from New Hampshire. The program's printed in New Hampshire. like the NH headquarters is moving to New Hampshire.

The Lotsboms (1:11:30)
Right? Yeah.

I mean, yeah, and you have to run the show. Let's go Yeah

Eric (1:11:41)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, guys,

Erika (1:11:41)
Yeah.

Eric (1:11:44)
it's time for our final two questions, and I'm sure we'll talk a little more after that, but our final two questions. Thank you to my race, Tats for doing this. Erica has one and I have one and I'm going to start. I want your hot take and I'm going to make it even harder. What's your Boston Marathon hot take?

The Lotsboms (1:12:02)
⁓ you go first. I had to approve mine with the director of communications. OK, so mine kind of stems from like ⁓ a phrase that a former colleague of ours had always said before she retired. But mine is that the Boston Marathon is just a road race. And I'm probably going to get some hate for that. But I think that, you know,

Erika (1:12:08)
This ought to be good, let's go.

The Lotsboms (1:12:29)
That's a phrase that we have to say in our household often when the work stress is getting to be too much for us. It's just a road race, just a road race. And there are so many amazing things that people are accomplishing on race day and leading up to race day. And, you know, people who have trained for years of their lives to become a qualifier, people who are fundraising thousands and thousands of dollars. And I feel like a lot of times, like all that pressure can be a lot going into race weekend.

Erika (1:12:55)
Mm-hmm.

The Lotsboms (1:12:56)
So it's

important, like as you're stepping into race week to kind of remind yourself at the end of the day, it is just a road race and you're doing this for fun and to challenge yourself and to see what the human spirit can accomplish. you know, just, just take it easy and enjoy it as much as you can, even through, you know, the pain of running a marathon.

Erika (1:13:15)
That is totally understandable. is reasonable, honestly, yes.

The Lotsboms (1:13:17)
Yeah.

I know it feels all important all the time, especially in our household. Boston Marathon is very important, but it is a red race. Yeah.

Erika (1:13:27)
Yes, yes.

Eric (1:13:28)
Facts. I mean,

and the hot take is for some back and forth. Yeah. Gets people talking.

The Lotsboms (1:13:32)
Yeah, yeah. What do you think?

Feel free to revise. From a communications side, I'm always saying it's so much more than just a road race. it really is. But you're right that, you know, at the end of the day, it's folks going from the start in Hopkinson 26.2 miles, just like, you know, it's the same distance that any other marathon out there. There might be more fans on the sidelines or more, you know, pomp and circumstance, but

Erika (1:13:41)
You

The Lotsboms (1:14:02)
I think you said it well, that it really embodies the human spirit and just pushing yourself and seeing what you can do. Thank you. Thank you. ⁓ Exactly. Yeah.

Eric (1:14:11)
good hot take. I it's factual. Just happens to be a little bigger than the Golfstown Gallup.

Erika (1:14:15)
Absolutely.

a little bit

by like 30, I don't know. There's like 200 people who run my road race. It's not even my road race, but occasionally 200, but it is, is community.

The Lotsboms (1:14:23)
No.

Eric (1:14:27)
F.

The Lotsboms (1:14:28)
Hey, that's important too.

right. I've got, can I say two? All right. Okay. ⁓ One is that I think every Boston marathon sports icon should try to run the marathon at least once. Like, and I say this because Zdeno Chara has run the marathon a couple of now. And I don't think anybody

Eric (1:14:35)
Yeah, I make the rules you can say too.

The Lotsboms (1:14:54)
10 years ago would have said, Susana O'Chara is going to run a marathon. I would love to see, know, Tom Brady or- And you say Tom Brady first. Or, name your tease or, yeah, you name it. Like, right?

Eric (1:15:02)
Yeah. David Ortiz. Yeah.

Erika (1:15:08)
That would be so fun.

Eric (1:15:10)
I'm not a

basketball guy, but Paul Pierce would be a great story.

Erika (1:15:10)
I'm all for that.

The Lotsboms (1:15:12)
Yeah,

like Teddy Bruceki has run it. Brock Holt has run it. know, ⁓ going beyond Boston sports stars, Jimmy Johnson has run it from a NASCAR standpoint, Danica Patrick. I think

Erika (1:15:25)
Hmm.

The Lotsboms (1:15:27)
I don't know what the hot take is there, but I think maybe you can't be a true Boston sports icon until you at least try. Or it's like used to put on.

Eric (1:15:33)
run the Boston Marathon. That's the hot take.

Erika (1:15:35)
I like it. I like it.

Eric (1:15:38)
you might be

a Stanley cup champion, but you're not a true Boston icon until you are a Stanley cup champion and a Boston marathon finisher. Be like, be like Z.

The Lotsboms (1:15:40)
Great.

Erika (1:15:45)
Be like Chara, be like Chara.

The Lotsboms (1:15:45)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Or it's like the phrase in like when, you know, high school cross country where you're like, my sport is your sports punishment. that's, you just make every famous sport person have to run the marathon. Yeah. I just think it'd be kind of cool. know, who's the fastest Boston sports icon out there, you know?

Erika (1:16:04)
That's it.

There we go. Should be like a Hall of Fame requisite or something. You want to be in the Hall of Fame

or faster? Go ahead and run the marathon. We'll get you in sooner.

Eric (1:16:18)
Listeners to this podcast by the way know that I've been saying for well over a hundred episodes Need to get big Z on the podcast. So if you know anybody, you know For next year, yeah

The Lotsboms (1:16:26)
⁓ I can walk with him for a couple seconds on. Yeah.

Erika (1:16:27)
you

The Lotsboms (1:16:32)
When he got his medal a couple of years ago, I was next to him and someone snapped a photo and literally like I'm. ⁓

Eric (1:16:41)
You

gotta get a big volunteer like a tall one to put the medal over him, Elena. That's an important job.

The Lotsboms (1:16:44)
Right? Right, I know.

We start sourcing people's height information so we can place them in the right place. Yeah, there you go.

Eric (1:16:49)
Yeah.

Erika (1:16:50)
How tall is AM59? I mean, I can

wear some big shoes. I don't know. We'll talk. second one.

Eric (1:16:58)
can

hand him the medal from the thing up top. Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (1:17:01)
Air drop it.

The Lotsboms (1:17:01)
Yeah, the photo bridge. We'll just drop it down.

I have a height fun fact about the bridge. It is just the height high enough so that fire trucks can go under it just in case. Yeah. Right? So when we're up there and the street isn't closed down yet, and there'll be buses or duct tours that go under, if you see a fire truck come under,

Erika (1:17:08)
Mm-hmm.

Smart. ⁓ so smart.

Eric (1:17:15)
that is a cool, fun

fact. The things you wouldn't think about. Yeah.

The Lotsboms (1:17:28)
That's like as close as we'll get to hitting the top.

Erika (1:17:30)
What's the clearance

between a firetruck and the photo bridge?

The Lotsboms (1:17:33)
Oh, I don't know what it's probably too close

for comfort, but no, but. Not gonna have a sterile drive situation on the marathon. Yeah. other hot take is that I think NASCAR fans would be big fans of marathoning because I think there's a lot of similarities between the sport and like the drama. I've been trying to convince a lot of our running friends to like tune into NASCAR because of like the strategy or like the

Eric (1:17:37)
you

Erika (1:17:40)
my god, unmoving day.

The Lotsboms (1:18:03)
For folks who are listening that don't know me, I'm a big NASCAR fan. ⁓ And I think there's a lot of similarities that I think, you

Eric (1:18:13)
Our first ever meeting we ever had, we wasted 30 minutes talking about NASCAR.

Erika (1:18:14)
So.

The Lotsboms (1:18:19)
Makes sense, yeah.

Erika (1:18:20)
And Eric's been

trying to get me to jump on the NASCAR train for a long time, but he didn't sell it like you just did. It makes a lot of sense now.

The Lotsboms (1:18:27)
Well, I've been trying to convince

he's trying to convince me and I'm hard to convince.

Eric (1:18:33)
Well, listen, you guys know you have an open invitation to the camper for race weekend. cook, we cook breakfast. Yeah. We cook a huge breakfast. you come Saturday night, we do lobster. do a whole like, like clam, whatever they call it. And yeah, it's. Yeah. It's Saturday night lobster night at, at in Loudon.

The Lotsboms (1:18:37)
⁓ that sounds good. I've already got my tickets.

Erika (1:18:40)
I might go to that.

The Lotsboms (1:18:45)
I'm in. If there's wolves, they're coming.

Erika (1:18:47)
Elena's like, count me in.

The Lotsboms (1:18:53)
Hey.

Erika (1:18:54)
What weekend is

it this year? When is it? I'll be away.

Eric (1:18:56)
Late August.

The Lotsboms (1:18:56)
It's August. Yeah. Okay. I already got my tickets.

No, there is a connection between Elena and Ryan Blaney, one of the best NASCAR drivers out there. Yeah. No, you ran, so your first marathon, ran in honor of... I ran for Massachusetts Fallen Heroes in honor of my cousin who was killed in Iraq in 2004. And they do, what race is it in NASCAR? Was it Charlotte?

The ⁓ Memorial Day race, each driver puts a name of a fallen hero on their car. Yeah. And it was his name, Sergeant Gregory Blander. So my cousin actually still has the piece of the NASCAR too in his house. One of your cousin's ⁓ friends, I believe, was on a pit crew or was connected to Ryan Blaney. Yeah. It's a really special honor. Yeah.

Eric (1:19:24)
Memorial Day race.

⁓ it was his?

So they, yeah.

That's cool. So every

driver, Erica, puts their name on the above the door and also on the windshield. But for that race, they put a name of a fallen soldier. That's cool.

Erika (1:19:52)
okay.

The Lotsboms (1:19:57)
Yeah. So yeah, now Chris is

a really big fan I'm a huge Ryan Laney fan. Yeah. I was before I knew that story, but yeah.

Erika (1:20:04)
That helps.

Eric (1:20:04)
I

met Ryan while back on the Talladega Boulevard. Yeah, that was fun. I'll go with you. I'll go with you. When the kids a little older, my hands are tied right now. But guys, this was incredible. Erica does have a question for you though.

The Lotsboms (1:20:09)
Wow. That's on my bucket list, on my sports bucket list. Yeah. Yeah.

Erika (1:20:17)
you

Yeah.

Do not cut me. No, we are getting these songs out of them. Do not end this early. All right, Alaina, I'm going to ask you first. We have a Spotify playlist that we have started compiling. Actually, it's been going for a while. There's a lot of songs on there, but we want to invite you and Chris to each add a song to it. So is there anything that you like to listen to that just pumps you up or gets you motivated to get out the door or to organize all of the stuff that you do with the Boston Marathon?

The Lotsboms (1:20:21)
Yeah.

Yeah. So I feel like I, this time of year, I like go back to a lot of like my nineties, like comfort kids shows and things like that and movies. So my go-to pump up song is I to I from a goofy movie.

Erika (1:20:55)
Yes.

Hands down, not even joking, my favorite Disney movie since like 1990, what is it, 92 or something? Oh my God, I love you.

The Lotsboms (1:21:11)
It's so good and that is like

such a good song so people are gonna be like, oh yeah, yeah, no and sometimes I mention that song and people are like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, see, you're a real one, you get it, yeah. Like I, who, I, yeah, you know, it's like whatever.

Erika (1:21:16)
We just had like, did we just become best friends? Yup.

Yup, yup. And it's not I to I. It's literally the letter I, the number two, and then I. So by power line, yes.

Eric (1:21:34)
Elena,

Erika (1:21:35)
All right, nailed it.

Eric (1:21:35)
I had a crush on Roxanne.

The Lotsboms (1:21:38)
See? mean, who didn't? Right, I can't top that. can't top that. ⁓ My favorite song is Feel the Love by Rudimental. It doesn't draw the same reaction, can tell. No, but ⁓ to me, it gets me pumped up. often listen to it before a race or

Eric (1:21:40)
She was so cute!

Erika (1:21:42)
⁓ Chris, can you top that? I don't know if you can.

Okay, that's good too though, but I think Elena might win this one, but sorry, sorry, can't help it.

The Lotsboms (1:22:06)
When I'm getting ready on Marathon Race Day, it's all about the energy and the love that's a really good... Yeah. Up tempo, really fun. Happy things, yeah.

Erika (1:22:15)
Those are the vibes, man. That's what you want for race day. Just something that's going to...

Eric (1:22:21)
Yeah. Guys, this was absolutely two of you absolutely delivered. We're going to have to do it again because I need to get some of those stories in. So over the next year or so, save some of those stories, those code Brown stories, those, ⁓ crap moments. Like I'm sure you had some from your first ever race in 2018, Elena and Chris, you've been doing this since you were like 12. So I'm sure you got a lot.

Erika (1:22:22)
Excellent choice.

The Lotsboms (1:22:28)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (1:22:45)
This

was so much fun guys. I really hope everyone enjoyed. Last question. Who's going to win the Boston Marathon?

The Lotsboms (1:22:54)
I feel like you would have the best guess at that. See, yeah. Okay, I'm going to be lame. I don't like to make my prediction till like after the press conference on Friday morning when you really get to like talk to the athletes and get a sense of, know. Yeah. So come back to me on Friday afternoon. It's cop out. It's a I'll come to to a fan

Erika (1:23:09)
who's really gunning for it.

Eric (1:23:17)
You can come to

Erika (1:23:21)
Yes, yes.

The Lotsboms (1:23:21)
Yeah.

Eric (1:23:21)
Coming to the FanFest,

we're recording at 6 p.m. Saturday. Come by, grab a microphone, and give me your response then. All right.

The Lotsboms (1:23:26)
There you go. Yeah. All right. I love it.

I'll just predict it's going to be a close race and a really fun race to watch. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Yes.

Erika (1:23:33)
Awesome. That's what we want. That's all we want.

Eric (1:23:34)
Yes, photo finish three way. Three for Dale, as I say.

Guys, this was awesome. Natalie Rose slept through the whole thing. That was incredible.

The Lotsboms (1:23:44)
Yeah, she made like one

sheep, but she's still sleeping. we were worried. We both probably looked over at the lottery to make sure she wasn't making any noise. So.

Eric (1:23:53)
That

was incredible. Listen, the two of you are awesome. The way Elena looked at you the whole time when you were talking, just like, that's what you gotta go for in life. Get someone who looks at you like that. Guys, I really hope you enjoyed this. You got some insights to people who work for the BAA and what goes on behind the scenes for their job. Erica, that was wicked awesome.

Erika (1:24:01)
That's love.

Absolutely. Thank you guys for joining us today. This was just so cool to get to know you guys a little bit better, to get the behind the scenes look into the BAA and the Boston Marathon and even some of the other races. So keep doing what you're doing. Good luck this week. I know you guys are going to be busy, but you guys got this. And have a blast.

The Lotsboms (1:24:31)
Yeah. Thank you. Can't wait to celebrate.

Eric (1:24:33)
Guys, I hope you enjoyed that. Chris and Elena, the On The Runs podcast. That was Wicked Awesome.

Erika (1:24:43)
Alaina and Chris, thank you so much for coming on the pod and talking to us and giving us all those inner workings for the Boston Marathon. And you know what? I have to apologize to Chris for a second, because I did not give his song enough credit, because I went back and re-listened, and it is awesome. But I was just a little too excited over Alaina's song. So I'm giving everybody credit, because those are some good additions to the playlist, and awesome.

Eric (1:25:06)
What did they pick again?

Erika (1:25:08)
So Chris did Feel the Love from Rudimental, and that's an excellent song. then, but Alaina, she picked one of my childhood favorites from a goofy movie, Eye to Eye, from Powerline. I got so excited when she said that. Yup. I just, sorry, that one just like so nostalgic for me that I had to just get really excited over it. But Chris had an awesome song as well. They're both awesome additions to our playlist. I love them both.

Eric (1:25:18)
That's right. That's right. And I told her I had a huge cross on Roxanne.

So, that's incredible. was just speaking about music. Ali Chew will love this. I was just at the Trampoline Park. We just got back. And they were playing a song and, you know, Ain't It Fun by Paramore. But it was this fun, like, mix, different. it's, so I Googled it, you know, because you don't need Shazam now anymore. You just go to Google and you hit, like, listen. And it tells you what the song is. So it's Ain't It Fun, but it's by Wookie W-K-I.

Erika (1:25:37)
Giving credit where credit's due.

yeah, I love that one.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ cool.

interesting

Eric (1:26:07)
And so I play this, I'm going to send it to you. I play this, but then Spotify continues to play songs like it on the car ride. And I was

Erika (1:26:15)
Nice.

Eric (1:26:16)
It was like, we were just jamming out, coming home from the trampoline park, which sad, but needed to be. It's over in a couple of days. Friday's our last day of our trampoline park pass. We got it. It's in Concord. So we like drive. Well, cheerleading practice all winter was two minutes from there. So we got like a four. Yeah. We got like a four month pass. And whenever we dropped Battlen off at cheerleading, we'd go jump for two hours. It was incredible. And.

Erika (1:26:29)
you have to go all the way up there. ⁓

⁓ makes sense.

Eric (1:26:44)
⁓ So it expires on Friday and we're like, we're not going to renew it until next winter because it's summer time. It's at the old, it's at the pheasant, is it the pheasant lane mall? I don't remember. What's the name of that mall? Steeplegate.

Erika (1:26:51)
Yeah.

⁓ Steeplegate, because pheasant leans in Nashoy, isn't it?

Eric (1:26:59)
It's an

old abandoned mall now. Everything's boxed up, but there's a couple of the big stores that are turned into like trampoline parks or whatever. You can go on YouTube and find like these kids rummaged through the mall, which is abandoned. And it's like super cool to see inside. The movie theater too. It's all like been shut down since COVID around that time.

Erika (1:27:03)
Now it's just, just a trampoline park.

Mm-hmm.

that creeps me out for

some reason. Like, I'm so used to seeing those kind of shots, like the abandoned mall and like horror things.

Eric (1:27:28)
I love watching the YouTube videos because

like the power is still on, the light's still on, like there's still security. feel like...

Erika (1:27:33)
Why do they bother

powering it? Like, I don't know. That seems like a waste.

Eric (1:27:38)
⁓

I don't know. I mean, the lights turn on. Not all the lights, but enough, you ⁓ Also, I kind of think they had permission to do the video, but they make it look like they're sneaking into a bandit mall. So the lights are on, I think.

Erika (1:27:41)
Good questions. Okay, that's fair.

⁓

It's

all about the, yeah, how it looks.

Eric (1:27:59)
But Chris and Alaina were incredible. We could have talked to them for another two hours longer.

Erika (1:28:02)
Mm-hmm.

I really, yes,

I really, really, really enjoyed that conversation. It was so much fun. They do have a depth of knowledge with the BAA.

Eric (1:28:10)
We had to cut it short. Yeah. If you remember,

we had to end it when we did, cause we had another guest coming on and then all of us just chatted for like 20 minutes before we started with the other guests. we're like, you know, Chris, it's Elayna. I would love to have you stay, but that guest you're going to hear from on Thursday had, couldn't start until like eight 30 because of her job. And so we were like, well, let's do, let's do our normal time and let's just do another one late.

Erika (1:28:17)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

you

Eric (1:28:39)
⁓ That was really cool. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to meet you both this weekend. I know you're gonna be really busy so I'm not gonna take up all your time but ⁓ it was incredible and then let's run because we're all in New Hampshire where the new Boston Marathon BAA headquarters is gonna relocate.

Erika (1:28:39)
Yeah.

Yeah.

How awesome would that be? But one more

thing before we move on to other topics. I just want to wish the best marathon weekend to Chris and Alaina, all the staff and volunteers and to the runners this weekend, because the big show is coming. So I hope just everything goes smoothly and it's so much fun.

Eric (1:29:05)
Yes.

Yeah. And then Chris, you know you're welcome on the podcast stage to tell me who you think is going to win because he wanted to wait until the press conferences, I think on Friday. And then he'll make his selection. Speaking of selections, March Madness is over. It's done.

Erika (1:29:21)
Mm.

That's fair. That's fair.

It's done. I came

in second in my friend bracket. I almost won. Stupid Yukon.

Eric (1:29:40)
I think

a congratulations is in order. We have to give it's due to Alex from catch up to cancer because Alex has an incredible support crew. So incredible. I was a little disappointed because I knew this medal was going to win after round one that I even tried to be like, yo Alex, tell your friends to vote for the others, please.

Erika (1:29:52)
Mm-hmm.

The power of sharing people.

But that just shows you the power of sharing. We just need everybody to be followers now. Let's go.

Eric (1:30:09)
Yeah, it's true. It's

true. was, you know, it was different than what we did before because last year was songs and the year before was foods. This was people submitted their medals. So I guess, yeah, it kind of turned into, as someone said, a popularity contest. I would also say that Alex was the only one sharing his medal. So I mean, others were not sharing their medals they sent. But yeah, it-

Erika (1:30:19)
Mm-hmm.

little bit.

you

Eric (1:30:38)
It got like it won every round by close to 40 votes and and I knew it right away because maybe Every match got like 80 votes, but that one was always getting like 120, you know, so Yeah, I knew right away. I was almost like what do we do or something? I did I did reach out to Alex I said, you know, you have an amazing support crew. It would be nice if they Could follow back or vote for the others and he tried he did try he did try so

Erika (1:30:42)
lot.

Gotcha.

you

You

That's

fair.

Eric (1:31:08)
I think it just,

it tells us what to do next year is maybe we stick to something again that we pick, but the medals are cool. Shout out to Patrick Lieber. peer pressure before Priceline. Come to Boston, but that was Patrick's. ⁓

Erika (1:31:19)
Patrick,

have fun in New Orleans. That's where he's headed this weekend.

Eric (1:31:23)
Yeah,

that was his suggestion from the survey. And then he texted it to us and said, think he had the ring. His was the ring, right? So.

Erika (1:31:31)
Mm-hmm.

I really did like that idea though, getting the unique different medals and awards that you might get from a race. I like when it's off the beaten path.

Eric (1:31:43)
Yeah. Well, was really cool seeing the cowboy hat and the train spike and the beach bomb, the she shell. I know, I know, I know. I can't say things. Sally sells, she sells by the seashore. Try to say that. Thank you. I hope everyone, ⁓ not only appreciates that, but knows that when they invite me to go interview like a Boston champion and then they probably realize I talk the way I do. And they're like, wait, no, let's not do that. Let's not do that.

Erika (1:31:51)
Sheesh out. The railroad spike. man. Never change, buddy. Never change.

So wait, if we ever have to do that again, give me a mic. You say everything except when you have a word you're stuck on, you give me the mic and I'll say the hard words.

Eric (1:32:22)
Hey, once you say it enough like I can say Keflezky now. I got it. I got it. Yeah

Erika (1:32:26)
See, you did great. So good. Practice. Just, that's all it takes.

Eric (1:32:30)
let's just work on Elliot Cachobe. ⁓ Anyways

Erika (1:32:33)
Elliot. Someday

you'll get it. Someday.

Eric (1:32:40)
Have you been watching The Pit?

Erika (1:32:43)
Yes, I've caught up more. what time was it? It was like, I got to the 2 p.m. episode, so.

Eric (1:32:49)
Okay.

you're right with me. I'm like, I think I'm at three. I'm at two or three right now. Like the doctor just came back. He's in the army camo outfit and he's the one, he's the one where you realize that the very end of season one, he's a amputee. Yeah. And everybody's in love with him. That song, like, where's my husband at? They're all doing it to him. Yeah. They love him. The pit's so good. I saw someone did...

Erika (1:32:53)
Okay, I'm right around there. can't remember which one I finished.

Yep. I saw that episode.

Yes, I forgot about that, see? yes.

Yes.

Eric (1:33:18)
intro for the pit, like if, if it was in the nineties, what would it be? And it was to the music of ER. And they kept one, they kept one clip from ER and it's like a half second, but it's Peter Benton, who was actually John Carter's, who's Dr. Robbie in the pit. It was Carter's like a teacher, trainer, mentor. It was like his karate chop after like doing a successful surgery, like, yeah. So you see this cool pit intro with the ER music and then just the one clip half a second. Yeah.

Erika (1:33:24)
⁓ because it's ER.

Nice.

Eric (1:33:47)
But the pit's good, let's not talk about it, no spoilers.

Erika (1:33:50)
Nope,

especially because I have like five, six or seven, six, seven episodes left. I don't know how many.

Eric (1:33:57)
Right, so

I know the final episode just went out last Thursday though. So exactly, but we're going to binge it and then talk about it after like things slow down because things are really busy right now. We'll do a full episode dedicated to it. Maybe we try to get someone from the pit on the podcast.

Erika (1:34:02)
good, I can just binge watch it.

Yes.

That's great.

Well, we need to have Tara and Lindsay because they joined us for the first round of pit talk. at least Tara did. So,

Eric (1:34:23)
If you've been watching the

if you've been watching the pit and want to be a part of this, I'll bring you in. Like if you've been, if you're really into it and you, you were into the first season and you're into it again and you're falling, like we'll bring you in and we'll talk to you about it too, because this has been really good. I feel like where we're at the, well, I can't talk about it maybe you haven't listened, but like it just happened.

And now it's gonna get crazy. So, I'm pumped.

Erika (1:34:51)
I think I know where you're going and I think I'm there, but I also don't want to. Yup, yup, so everything is different.

Eric (1:34:55)
You are. The CEO just walked in where I'm at. Yeah, we're at the same spot. Exactly. Yeah.

Erika (1:35:04)
So you mentioned earlier how I quote unquote snoozed through the cheap marathon registration. I have to actually correct you there. I woke up at, it was 6 AM Pacific time because it opened at 9 AM Eastern time. And it just took me that long to get through the whole list because you can pick something. Tell us something about yourself that we could say during, like when you're getting ready to go.

Eric (1:35:10)
Yeah, you did.

Mm-hmm.

Did you do that where

you like I'm a podcast host, I'm going for a PR, I to book you someday, I need a job.

Erika (1:35:36)
I just put Erica from on the runs.

Oh, see that would have taken me longer, but it took me, think six minutes to get through the registration process. And I was, it said when I started that there were 49 available spots at the $26 and 20 cent price. And I was like, I got this. Apparently so. So I'm going through it. I have the pricing. I added on the, additional parking pass again, cause that was super convenient.

Eric (1:35:45)
huh.

So one person registered when you logged on.

Erika (1:36:05)
And I go to check out and then it's like, Oh, just kidding. You lost out on this. So everybody registered like just before me. I was like, what the hell? So I did not get the cheap price this year. It cost me. 39.99 plus the additional parking pass. Yeah. I'm kind of sad about that.

Eric (1:36:19)
You snooze, lose.

You hit the snooze button. ⁓ somebody brought this up and they said, can you please address this? False advertising or something along those lines. And I was like, sure, we'll talk about it and we'll do so and educate ourselves. And we went online. We found the block pricing. Everything was listed in details. It looks like, you know,

Erika (1:36:31)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:36:46)
Everyone knew what was going on. There's plenty of talk on Instagram emails saying like the first 50 people get it for $26. You ended up getting it for like $40. I think the next price was 70. Then it goes up and up and up and up, but like that's natural. Sometimes the races do sign up before this date for this price. In this case, I don't know the history, but I know like it's only been 26.2 for

Erika (1:36:53)
Mm-hmm.

It was 40.

Yeah, yeah.

Eric (1:37:15)
Not everybody, but the early birds. Not people like me who have gamophobia. Yeah.

Erika (1:37:19)
definitely not. You're paying up there.

yeah, but I mean, they broke it down by like this many people get this price, the next blank amount of people get this price, and then so on as it goes.

Eric (1:37:29)
Now,

you do think though, you said like, as the tiers get higher, the price is way too high, you said.

Erika (1:37:37)
I do think so. I hate

talk negatively about this race. I do love it, but it definitely is. When you get into the $80, $90 ranges, don't know if it's...

Eric (1:37:43)
Cause you love it. It's one of your favorites.

That's nothing.

That's nothing. you got what? You want to do a marathon, raise 10 grand? You want to do an Ironman? That costs $1,000. Starting fee for a half Ironman is like $350. And the price gets pretty high. I know. I'm not paying that. But like, what I think is this. That race is like a premier premium race to BQ. It's ranked sixth nationally. So imagine you're the Rullet. Remember he missed

Erika (1:38:01)
I

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:38:22)
BQ by three seconds. Is there another race I can sign up for a last chance to get another BQ? I'm like, just icing on the cake. You're in prime shape. You just need three more seconds. What's a race? Go check out the cheap marathon. It's flat. It's fast. It's ranked sixth nationally as one of the best races in the country to get a BQ. I would, if I was in that kind of shape and that close, there's no price limit like above

Erika (1:38:24)
Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

I'm not saying

I wouldn't pay it. It's just that...

Eric (1:38:54)
You're paying like for the chance to be cute and I know the buffer, but like the Rullets example, he got it by a minute. Everyone got in that year. You don't know what the buffer is going to be. Like you just, there's your chance. Like what's another chance to add to my time? Again, six nationally. If this was like a super hilly hard course, I could understand it being like, no, I'm not going to pay over $200 or whatever, you know? But when you're looking at it and you're like, this is a chance for me to do something that's worth it.

Erika (1:39:22)
But what about all the

people who aren't trying to be cute?

Eric (1:39:25)
Well, that's like, I think the selling point on this race though, is that it's a BQ race. Did you see how many people ran that race under three hours?

Erika (1:39:33)
Yes.

Eric (1:39:37)
Over 104 people in the cheap marathon the other day ran three hours or faster. 32 and a half percent of the field ran a BQ. Like that's the selling point of that. Like I'm now arguing you because you're like, ⁓ it's too expensive after like the fifth tier. And I'm like, no, like you're se- this is a premium race in my mind for the BQ experience.

Erika (1:39:49)
That is incredible. I'll give him that.

Well-

Well, let me get this

out then. If you're going to start charging the really high numbers for like after X amount of people, you can do a medal. You can give out gels on course. Come on. I just hope if that extra money, hold on, hold on. I'm going to spend that much money, it's either that or I hope a whole lot of money goes to the charities.

Eric (1:40:07)
opportunity.

No, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but the ribbon is such a part of this.

No,

Erica, you're not spending that money though. You're not going there to be BQ. You're hoping one day you could as you keep aging up, but you are not going there to be BQ. But people are and they are doing it last minute. You get what I'm saying? They run a race and they just missed their BQ. Within a month later, like it's marathon season in the spring. If you're trying to be BQ for the next year's Boston Marathon, like if you just ran a race in say Ohio,

Erika (1:40:34)
That's what I hope for.

Mm.

No, no, no, I get that.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:41:03)
and just missed it. I'm going to make my way up to New Hampshire. They're going to pay the money. You are not trying to BQ. You're not in that 32.5 % of the field. You're not trying to BQ. So you're not going to spend that kind of money. I get that. But that's a selling point on this race.

Erika (1:41:21)
So they can get away with it for the last minute signups.

Eric (1:41:23)
They're not getting away with anything. That's

how sales work. That's everywhere. Like if you have like, Jesus Christ, did you see the prices of the Boston Fleet game the other day at the Garden? It sold out. Tickets were over $200 like starting. Because they can do it because it's a premium event.

Erika (1:41:28)
I know, I just...

Mm-hmm.

I don't think I can argue with you.

Eric (1:41:45)
This isn't like, it's not minor league

hockey. It's not minor league. Like this is, they're trying to be cute. They're trying to achieve a goal and not have to raise $10,000 to them. It's a lot more worth paying $200 and getting that BQ.

Erika (1:41:57)
I know, it just

kind of boxes out other people. Like that's expensive for me. Not for the, but not 80 bucks.

Eric (1:42:01)
No, because you signed up! You signed up for $40!

But you, you got in for 40 because you, you're not like me. You don't have gamophobia. you're, don't understand. Cause this is, this goes beyond the podcast guys. This goes like into our text thread the other day when this was brought up and we're talking about it. Like, do we talk about it? How? And I'm like, we, of course we do because.

Erika (1:42:10)
Yes, I'm just saying.

Mm-hmm.

Well, another

thing that bothered me was, ⁓ I had my pricing and then as I checked out, like I would think that it would like do at least a lock-in thing. Like I was one of the first 50 or whatever to start and you're like, no, that doesn't work like that for everything. I feel like it should.

Eric (1:42:32)
Yeah.

Well no, because you're

like buying a seat on a plane or a seat at the game. You're just getting a bib. I'm like, you're complaining about $40 for a marathon.

Erika (1:42:42)
spot in a marathon. What would you do if

you tried to do like the Dopey Challenge or something and you got in through the huge queue that they put you in and you didn't check out fast enough and you lost your spot? You wouldn't be happy.

Eric (1:42:57)
Well, you got to check out quicker then. It's on you. You snooze, you lose. You took too much time typing in, I'm Erica from the On The Runs Podcast. And you just missed it.

Erika (1:43:00)
I Stop giving me so many options then.

Fine. Next time, I'm

not even putting team on the runs. You get nothing from me. Is that what you want? Is that what you want?

Eric (1:43:14)
Well, you got to start contributing more as we

talked about, but I, I, ⁓ I think the website is clear as day and, ⁓ they came back and they said, you're right. It is. And I think they're talking, on behalf of somebody else who is frustrated about the costs. And that individual said that when they emailed Millennium saying I'm disappointed about

Erika (1:43:20)
But like I said, that's,

Eric (1:43:41)
not getting the 26.2 and they ended up paying like $80 Millennium refunded them. Full refund.

Erika (1:43:46)
Mm.

⁓ well that was nice. Yeah, no, I get it.

Eric (1:43:51)
⁓ Yeah.

people, some people it's annoying like to you and some people to me it's just like, you know, I'm going to pay like $60 in a couple of weeks to run a 10 K like a 10 K and you're upset about paying 40 to run a marathon.

Erika (1:43:54)
We're on both sides.

Well.

Hey,

that's the cheapest. Well, still even at 40 bucks, that's the cheapest marathon I can get away with every year. So I'm going to stick to it. I still love the race. I'm still going to go. I'm still going to do it. Who's going to be my replacement next year? We'll find out.

Eric (1:44:26)
that is the day Ragged Mountain does the pond skim, and I've yet to do that, but... Well, no, like this past year, Cheap Marathon was the pond skim day at Ragged. I didn't do it, but...

Erika (1:44:31)
Next year? Well.

Well, we can do

all the other races around it, We got live races coming.

Eric (1:44:41)
Well, I don't want to always do the same race,

that is like an epic one to do a show at. Location wise, it's five minutes down the road. It's a really nice setup around where everyone finishes and just the way it starts and everything is super cool. Like they make you feel like a pro. So I feel like every penny you spend is worth it. But you know,

Erika (1:44:47)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I mean, now that they put us

Eric (1:45:06)
I love that.

Erika (1:45:07)
You get so heated, man.

Eric (1:45:09)
I love it. love it. ⁓ Guys, a couple things. One, if you have a terrible, terrible running photo, please send it to me. I have a vision of something I want to create. Two, if you want to come and hang out with us on Saturday during the day, Saturday night at the FanFest and after, or Monday at mile 19.2, please shoot us a DM.

And I'm going to send an email probably on Thursday with logistics of everything where we're going to meet and all that. And also on Thursday's episode, we're going to talk about the details, the finer details of where we'll be and when, what our game plan is, where we're parking and all that. Cause we will meet some people in Nashua and then we'll drive in. We'll also meet people in Newton at that baseball field near the high school. And we'll have our, you and I are going to have a meeting and we're going to figure it all out before the next episode. Also.

Erika (1:45:49)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

We got

a lot of work to do. I'm excited.

Eric (1:46:03)
Save the date.

We. We? Ooh, I like that word. We. Also, save the date. If you live out in the Keene area, we're gonna go do a live show in Keene on Friday night, May 1st. We're doing a show out there at Ted's. Ted's is a running retail store. We're gonna go there early and we're gonna record with Ted and then we're gonna have a live show and talk to three different people. It's gonna be a lot of fun. More details on that later, but Boston Weeks!

Erika (1:46:08)
What are we doing?

I'm excited about that.

We gotta focus on Bossaman. This is the big show. It is here.

Eric (1:46:35)
it's go time, baby. Let's do it. Erika, take us home!

Erika (1:46:36)
It's go time. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

I hope everybody's gearing up for the big, the big day. It's coming, whether you want it to or not. But as always, everybody, thank you for listening. You know, we love you.

Eric (1:46:49)
Don't fear the code brown!

Erika (1:46:51)
and don't forget to stretch.

Eric (1:46:53)
you

Alright,

Erika (1:47:50)
Okay.

Eric (1:47:51)
I gotta switch the pages. ⁓

Hopefully the Bruins are winning. Alright.

Erika (1:48:11)
Is it good?