231 | Brittney Snell | Running with POTS and Salty Sal

Todays Guest Brittany Snell is brought to you by My Race Tatts

Join us as Brittany Snell shares her inspiring journey from overcoming POTS to conquering marathons. Discover her tips on fueling, managing health, and pushing limits in endurance sports. Brittany shares her insights on marathon experiences, city comparisons, race logistics, and her inspiring journey with her canine companions. 

During the Tros Eric and Erika catch up on their weekend of running that included Hills, half marathons and making content before they prep for Memorial Day weekend with a camping trip and LIVE show coming up at the Millennum Running Boston Run To Remeber.

Chapters

00:00 Intro Weekend Recap
15:28 Guest: Brittany Snell
22:43 Navigating Health Challenges: POTS and Crohn's Disease
32:14 First Marathon Experience: The New York City Marathon
38:43 Post-Marathon Recovery and Health Issues
42:52 Comparing New York and Chicago Marathons
47:08 Insights on Race Experience and Organization
52:52 Aiming for World Marathon Majors
54:47 Exploring Salt Stick Products
01:02:22 The Canine Culture Podcast Journey
01:12:09 The Importance of Community in Sports
01:19:47 Final Thoughts and Future Aspirations
01:24:30 The Outro

My Race Tatt's - Check out My Race Tatts and support the pod when you buy your next set by using our My Race Tatt's Link.

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

Transcript

Eric (00:54)
What's up everybody and welcome to episode 231 of the on the runs podcast. What an amazing weekend we had six star ran up a mountain.

I made Erika make a lot of content that you've yet to see and we have an incredible guest on today's episode that you're all gonna love. But first, before we get to any of that, I must say hello to my amazing kick-ass Rockstarver co-host, six-star Erika. What's up?

Erika (01:21)
What's going on, buddy? I feel like I've got a chance to see you so much this weekend, even like today. This is our second time recording today. This has been a good few days.

Eric (01:33)
already recorded for two and a half hours today. And we have the TROs. It's the best! Hey, on lunch break, what are you doing? I got a lunch break. You want to record? Let's do it. It's amazing. And then we got another recording tonight that you'll hear in a couple of weeks, but I'm pumped. Yeah, we did see each other a lot this weekend. Not only that, since you like lost your job, you now are willing to drive more places and you drove up here.

Erika (01:34)
He's taking advantage of me not having a job you guys. Yeah, sure.

Why not? Let's go.

Eric (02:01)
to run up McIntyre with me, not once, not twice, but three times, three for Dale.

Erika (02:06)
Mm hmm.

Yep. I made sure to take my time, though, because the next day I wound up running a half marathon, which was very hilly. So those hills set me up really well for this race. Mm hmm.

Eric (02:17)
It was hilly, but

Territereadactyl said that your half marathon had less elevation than the elevation you had running up McIntyre three times. Which, did we even run three miles on Saturday? We just ran up and down the hill.

Erika (02:24)
you

Which is crazy.

Yeah, yeah,

we just did three. Like that's all I was going to do. Just a nice, easy run. And I didn't even take it up, like do the hill very hard. I knew I had to save my legs for Sunday, but you guys were crushing it.

Eric (02:36)
Yeah, three for Dale.

It was,

do you remember we saw a girl running up? We saw some people, like at the top this one guy was running down, we saw someone else, but this one girl just came around the corner and somebody brought this up on social media a while ago, like do you say hi when you're running to someone running by themselves or how do you act and all this? And to be honest, if it's a guy all the time, I give them a like, what's up, how you doing?

Erika (02:50)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (03:08)
If it's a female running by themselves and I'm in this area of like McIntyre, which is a wooded area and you want to be respectful of space and everything. She ran by us, do you remember? Right as we were starting. And I just started without hesitation. If I was not with the two of you, I would have easily waited a minute to give her that space. But I always felt fine and safe that I was with you two. Yeah. It's like, she's not going to be worried about me. And then I just ran by her.

Erika (03:29)
because you are with a couple more women, yeah.

Eric (03:35)
I just kept running like I don't even think we saw her again. That was a thought I had when we started because I would have gotten an extra minute of a recovery there, but that's that's beyond the whole point. I just that's the thing I do like is out of respect a respectful thing, but

Erika (03:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, you're being

thoughtful. And as a woman, I appreciate that. But I, on the other hand, will say hi to everyone. And I get peeved when they don't say hi back. Like even like a head nod or a smile or something. Like I try to be friendly. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric (03:59)
Yeah, yeah. I always say hi back and I try to give a head nod. Head nod and see what happens. But like I just

remember that happening, being like, wow, I didn't feel like I needed to wait. I just went and it's because you were there. That was my instant click. was like, right. Because I almost hesitated. Like, let's give her a minute. I'm like, why? I got you in terror with me. So you'll both absolutely kick my ass if I did anything.

Erika (04:11)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

you

Well, still would have been nice either way.

We would, we would just beat you up right there.

Eric (04:28)
So tell everybody what you thought about running up the backside of McIntyre.

Erika (04:34)
It was actually a really nice run, but that incline does get to you because so you go up, you have to pass through a gate and you can see like the top of the hill, but that is not the top of the hill. You have to take like a slight right and keep going up to the top where there's that little tower. And I don't even know how much it is for one lap, but the way you put it to us, you're like, all right, do you guys want to do three?

like full laps up and down, or we could do 10 like hill sprints. And you said sprint, and I immediately went, uh-uh, I don't want to do any sprints. You're like, no, it's not going to be that bad, especially when you showed me where you do the sprint is just at that very top part. But I have no regrets doing what we did, just the three up and down laps. And then the up part was on pavement, but the down part was on trail. And that was kind of fun to get to just like right in the woods. Yes, yes.

Eric (05:24)
Yeah, you had a nice tour guide, right?

Erika (05:27)
Mr. Plymouth State University

tour guide here was giving us a tour of the McIntyre area.

Eric (05:32)
Did

you not know that, by the way? Did you not know I was a tour guide at Plymouth State?

Erika (05:35)
You know

what? think I have known that in the past, but I just forgot about it. But it makes total sense. You are a tour guide. You have such a weird random knowledge base that you could give a tour to anything, or you could make it up and nobody would know. You could just BS your way through it it would be fine.

Eric (05:40)
I loved it.

This was from the movie Back to the Future. Yeah,

I did that once or twice at Plymouth. I said the clock tower was the original clock tower from Back to the Future. And I remember some dad being like, no way, honey, get out the camera.

Erika (06:04)
⁓

Yeah, no way. But hey, whatever makes it entertaining for people, fine.

Eric (06:08)
Yeah. ⁓

well, I enjoy it cause that is, you never ran cross country and I did. So I'm showing you, this is the cross country course. And even though we're going this direction and they go the opposite way, but this is part of what they run on. And I thought it was so cool. And you're just probably like, cool, dude, whatever. ⁓

Erika (06:15)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I was also trying not to fall down. So like while you were giving it through the the wooded area, I was like, uh-huh, yep, uh-huh. And I'm just trying to watch over rocks and sticks and stuff. But it was fun. No, I did not.

Eric (06:37)
Yeah. Good job. You didn't fall. You didn't fall.

I was happy you didn't fall and I was slightly nervous about taking you down the trail section because I'll make that little loop. It almost like a figure eight, but I was almost like if she falls, she'll never come back.

Erika (06:47)
⁓ I...

I can handle it.

That probably would have been true. But I do, I like a trail. It's just the trail doesn't usually like me. So I'm willing to give it a shot.

Eric (06:57)
Yeah, I see.

Well,

what did you ever do to the trail?

Erika (07:04)
I'm very nice to trails trails As I was telling Chad earlier today, which you guys will hear from later ⁓ I can trip over the air and I did in my first hundred milers So like I still can't figure out what I did wrong. But but yeah, I'm gifted that way

Eric (07:06)
I did.

Tara was with us. It was really fun. Like we met at nine. Perfect time for me and you. Tara was like her second lunchtime or something. But second breakfast. We got to the top of the mountain and it's just like you in ultras. You're like, hey, you get to walk and eat snacks. I'm like, hey, you get to the top of the mountain. You get to stop and chill for a second. You don't have to just keep going. And we chilled at the top of the mountain for probably 20, 25 minutes. And we made content that everyone has yet to see.

Erika (07:22)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

yeah.

Yep.

It made your day.

Eric (07:50)
The first one's gonna drop pretty soon

when you're listening, but it was so much fun. So here's the fun thing is I will send myself messages from on the runs to my own profile. And it will be like, hey, this is a cool content idea. This is easy to do on the fly, or we should try this around Halloween or something. And so we're at the top, you and Tara are having a good time, and then I'm just directing. I'm like, you do this, you do that.

Erika (08:10)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (08:16)
Watch it. Here it is. Erica, run down the hill and run back up real quick. Let me get a video. And the best part was the two of you were all in.

Erika (08:26)
See, that's how I like to do it as long as I'm not the one coming up with the ideas and actually having to film it. Because I can come up with a good idea. It's just that I'll never do it. But if you just say, go do something, I'll be like, yeah, why not? It's easy that way.

Eric (08:40)
Yeah, it was so good.

There's gonna be some really good, good like content this week dropping. Funny shit, funny stuff.

Erika (08:45)
I can't

wait for the one that you have been planning. It is pure gold, very nostalgic, and I love that one. So you guys will be in for a treat later.

Eric (08:55)
It was so we'll have to talk about that later later. I

don't know when because okay We have you mentioned him Chad just ran a 50k. We caught up with him today That's dropping on Thursday next week's episode is dropping the day after Memorial Day So we already recorded it with Jen Jen was incredible, but we are the trolls because we're not gonna want to record on Sunday or Monday It's a holiday and then you and Tara randomly jumped on Riverside to talk about women

Erika (09:05)
Mm-hmm.

you

Eric (09:24)
And that's ready for Thursday. So really the next time we catch up, to be honest, will be the Tuesday after Memorial Day, the following week. So I just want to say, yeah, I've been planning this reel that will drop maybe Wednesday night, Thursday. It's a throwback from Plymouth. And here was my take. You always hear people today saying, I'm so happy I grew up in the nineties. There was no internet. So there's no proof. We were really kind of like the very beginning.

Erika (09:38)
Mm.

Eric (09:54)
of the internet with Facebook and photos in the albums. And I had so much fun going back and looking at so many photos of us in college. Like no shame, not embarrassed at all. I really hope to print those one day and put them in a photo album because some of those photos were 20 years ago.

Erika (10:12)
Yep.

Yep. Yeah, we really did do college at the beginning of Facebook. I remember it came out the spring of our freshman year. So 2005, that was. And man, there are pictures like you had to take the digital cameras and then upload it so you would get the pictures weeks after. That's why I'm so bad at uploading stuff.

Eric (10:29)
Yeah. And you remember it was like, yeah. Yeah.

I know. You remember like

it was like you were, was in Smith Hall, think you were Mary Lion or Spear. And so you were in a Blair, that's right. So you were in like the Blair category. So you could be friends with people in Blair in your dorm. And it was so much fun. And then eventually it just became so much bigger. But then you were friends with.

Erika (10:44)
I was in Blair right behind Mary Lion, yep.

Yep.

You couldn't even sign out

or sign up for it without having like a college account. Like there were no boomers.

Eric (11:01)
⁓ A dorm room and all that? Yeah.

Man, it'd be fun to talk to someone from Facebook one day and hear how that started. That'd be cool. Anyways, I had so much fun. And my point to the whole kids in the 90s are like, there's no evidence. That evidence for us is so far in the past, it's beyond, what do you call it? Statues of limitation? We're the clear.

Erika (11:06)
Those were the days, Right? ⁓

Sure. ⁓

Eric (11:29)
We know better today. Yeah.

Erika (11:29)
man. Mm-hmm. man. Those were the days.

Eric (11:33)
You ran a half marathon too, and you saw some friends of ours who we've met in the past. You saw Kat, you saw Janet, you saw Michael from Enjoy Your Life. How was your half marathon?

Erika (11:35)
I did.

I had a really good time. ⁓ I had high hopes for this one because I've been in pretty good shape and I was trying to see how I could do speed wise, but it was just way too warm yesterday. It was like 70 degrees when we started full sun and I did my best though. And with all the hills that we had, it was pretty rolling. I didn't walk. So thank you McIntyre Hill three times. I'll do it. I'll do it.

Eric (12:07)
Yeah, gotta come back up. Make this a thing.

Make this a thing every other weekend. And then it becomes every weekend. And then you were looking at it, you're like, this is a really small ski hill. I'm like, yeah, this is where you can learn. What would you try first, a triathlon or skiing?

Erika (12:16)
could do that.

you

Yeah, we'll see about the actual skiing part of things, but.

I don't want to do a try. Yeah. And I saw some comments already. I don't know if that's going to happen, Brittany. ⁓ I hope you get a thousand listens though. I hope it works.

Eric (12:37)
Alright, I'll take that. I'll take that. Even though on this episode we go pretty hard with our guest today. We go pretty hard.

So you said it.

Yeah, me

too. So you said it, our guest today brought to you by My Race Tats is Brittany. And I met Brittany in New York City, but I didn't know it at the time. you'll learn why. but Erica, what was your first like take of Brittany here?

Erika (13:01)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany is awesome, but the thing that stood out was during your intro, which you guys will hear, but she's also a Salt Stick Ambassador, and we connected over that. So I think that was a pretty cool thing, and she uses it for some pretty interesting reasons. You'll get to learn, yeah.

Eric (13:28)
One other shout out before, this Saturday, for those of you who are listening, because sometimes you don't listen all the way in the end, and if we say it way too late, you're like, ⁓ we will be in Boston at the Expo for the Boston Run to Remember, recording live from 12 to 3. For three hours, maybe little longer, we'll see. But I do have a goal, and instead of trying to livestream to YouTube,

Erika (13:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eric (13:55)
or Facebook the entire time. We are going to try to live stream for one hour from one to two. That's my goal. because we'll have Wi-Fi, I really want to test it. This is something I really want to pitch to the New York Roadrunners, the Boston Athletic Association, maybe Philadelphia because we realize we're both around for Philadelphia. Billy, what's up? You want us to go there and podcast? We'd love to.

Erika (14:10)
Other people? Wink?

you

Hmm?

Eric (14:22)
⁓ So Millennium Running's doing the Boston Run to remember. Typically we do these live shows from like post-race, the finish line. This time it will be at the Expo. I'm so excited for this. We'll try to live stream for an hour, get plenty of great other content and interviews with people. Just like a live show, it'll drop, it'll actually probably drop a week from Thursday. So you and Tara's women's only episode has to wait. Find yourself a woman editor and she'll edit it. ⁓

Erika (14:43)
That's fine.

Eric (14:49)
But we'll be there 12 to 3 on Saturday. It's in the Boston Seaport area. If you're doing the race, it's going to be over apparently, they think, 12,000 people walking in and out of the Expo. So.

Erika (14:59)
Whoa, that's

a lot. No pressure, am I right?

Eric (15:03)
No pressure.

8,000 runners, but they're estimating again, 12 to 13,000 people in and out of the Expo around that timeframe will be there. So I'm so excited. And again, I'm really excited for today's guest, Brittany, brought to you by MyRaceTats. Thank you, Dawn. Thank you, MyRaceTats. Guys, enjoy Brittany on the On the Runs podcast and we'll see you on the other side.

Erika (15:09)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (15:28)
Our next guest on the pod is from Florida, and you might sometimes run into her, but you won't know it, because she'll be dressed up in a mascot costume. She has her own podcast about dogs, and she ran the New York City Marathon. Plus, this year, she's going to try something in...

do a triathlon. I'm so excited to finally have her on the podcast after meeting her last fall. Brittany Snell, welcome to the On The Runs podcast. What's up?

Brittany Snell (15:52)
Thank you, Eric. It's great to be here. Nice to meet you, Erica. I'm excited.

Erika (15:55)
Nice to meet you too.

I know Eric dropped that you are a Salt Stick Ambassador. Me too. Salty Sweater Crew represent.

Brittany Snell (16:02)
Mm-hmm.

I love SaltStick. I have so much, but I truly take it almost every day. I have pots and you you have to have salt with pots and so constantly doing SaltStick, not even a plug, not even technically sponsored. You know what I mean? I'm just an ambassador, but one of my favorite, favorite products. So yes, SaltStick Ambassador. Mm-hmm.

Erika (16:13)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, sharing the love.

Eric (16:28)
What is POTS?

Erika (16:28)
Do you use the fast choose?

Brittany Snell (16:30)
I use the Fast Chews and the Bonk Breaker gummies because Salt Stick now produces those and they have the ⁓ Pop Rocket, the Sour Pop Rocket and then the Sour Blue Razz. So good. And they're easy on your stomach. So like I'll do like a gel, a gummy, a gel, a gummy. ⁓ POTS, it is Posterior Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. So.

Erika (16:36)
Yup.

So good. Love, love, love.

Eric (16:53)
I

was gonna ask, but you already made fun of me. Erica made fun of me for the words. I Googled it already. Yeah, what is that?

Erika (16:55)
Don't make him say that. I don't even think I could say that, so I gotta give him some slack.

Brittany Snell (16:57)
Yeah

It's a lot. It's a lot of things in one little word. The way it affects me the most is my blood pressure bottoms out very quickly. It gets really, really low. And so I have been known to pass out on runs. ⁓ And then also a really high heart rate. I have been. ⁓ I had a little old lady find me in her driveway last year when I was getting ready for New York and Chicago.

Erika (17:12)
⁓

Eric (17:18)
Hope you're not alone.

Erika (17:27)
that's so scary.

Brittany Snell (17:29)
She brought me out popsicles and cupcakes. So honestly, it was like the perfect place to pass out. 10 out of 10 would recommend. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, how can I pass out there again? Like, how do I know? You know what I mean? ⁓

Erika (17:35)
This lady's driveway. Hell yes. ⁓

Hehehehe.

Brittany Snell (17:43)
But the other thing is a high heart rate. So like when I run normally, if it's a half a full, I'm usually in zone five the entire time. ⁓ Not ideal. I don't even know what zone two training is. Zone two is me living. So that's like the other piece of pots that complicates my life.

Erika (17:52)
⁓ wow.

Eric (18:01)
stick helps?

Brittany Snell (18:03)
It helps the blood pressure component. So if I can keep my blood pressure, you know, normal range, then I have less likelihood of passing out, right? I mean, without it bottoming out. And so I keep my sodium super high.

Erika (18:18)
I know this is kind of jumping the gun a little bit, but is that a hard thing to manage when you're trying to get these high miles in training for marathons and even your Ironman that's coming up?

Brittany Snell (18:29)
Yeah, so fueling is like the biggest thing for me. Like I always have so much fuel on me because I have to fuel every, gosh, I'd say 30 to 40 minutes. It looks like I'm an ultra runner and it's like, oh, I'm just going out for an eight mile run and my pockets are completely full of snacks. So, and then with Ironman, you know, I'm finding it's tricky because it's like, how do you fuel during a swim? How do you fuel?

Erika (18:46)
you

Brittany Snell (18:56)
during a bike, especially if you're like not comfortable on your bike, you can't sit there and snack. So I'll just pull over and like have a snack. I have a little bento box on my bike and I fill it with fun stuff. And then I fill my Jersey with fun stuff. But yeah, that's been like a, you know, like a learning process, right? Because it's already hard to learn how to feel when you're running. And so I feel like you're testing like what gels work for me, what gummies work for me, and you're training your stomachs. You don't throw them back up.

Erika (18:56)
Gosh, you're right.

There we go.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (19:25)
And then for me, it's like, let me take double what everyone else does and really train my stomach and then add onto that having Crohn's. I have Crohn's disease. So then I really have to get picky with my fueling.

Erika (19:25)
Mm.

my gosh.

you're a strong woman, Brittany.

Eric (19:40)
Yeah, you

absolutely are. And she's not scared to do a triathlon, Erica, that's for sure. When you joined the Salty Crew, what did you call it, Erica? You're the Salty Sweater? Yeah. When you joined application process, did you add in all these things? Was it Noah who picks and chooses you? I've met Noah three times now. So in Boston, New York, and then Boston again. How did you become a Salty Crew member and

Erika (19:46)
I have learned.

The Salty Sweater Crew.

Brittany Snell (19:53)
huh.

Eric (20:09)
Was this part of your story to get on the team?

Brittany Snell (20:13)
I've been with Salt Stick for three years maybe. ⁓ I can't remember if I said this in my initial application. I might have, or I might have just leaned heavily into like it's Florida, it's humid, it's hot. I need these products. And I don't know if it's just NOAA that picks us. I feel like maybe they have like a committee. I'd like to think there's like a little committee maybe, I don't know. ⁓ I hope to be part of the...

like sweater crew forever. And I'm trying to come back again as the mascot. So I'll be at the New York City Marathon this year. It's my first year in the past couple of years and I'm not running it, ⁓ but I'm trying to work the expo. So hopefully I'll be at the expo working as a big salt shaker again, because that was fun.

Eric (20:49)
Yeah.

Erika (21:01)
So

that's what Eric had mentioned in his intro that the, so that's the, does this, ⁓ does this salt shaker have a name?

Brittany Snell (21:06)
Yeah.

think it's salty, right? Gosh, he might have a name. I feel like they've put him on social media a lot. They might have named him by now. I think I was one of the first people to be in that mascot costume. And you cannot see anything. So kids would be hugging you. And you'd be like, there's something on me. And you're trying to look, but you're a big salt shaker. So you can't see. So you're like, something's touching me. But I don't know what it is.

Erika (21:11)
I feel like I should know this, but I don't.

You

What is touching me?

you

Eric (21:35)
His name

is Salty Sal. Salty Sal. And yeah, this is cool. So when I was in New York City, I saw the mascot and I don't know if it was you inside at the time, but my sister and I went early for my team and then I had to go the next day to meet my team for team photo. And that might've been the time we met you and you're not in the costume anymore, the mascot. You're not Sal anymore. And you were like giving me the salt stick. I went over just to really say hi to

Brittany Snell (21:38)
Okay, yes, yes. Yeah.

Erika (21:38)
Salty Sal, okay.

Eric (22:05)
to ⁓ Noah and then you and I just started chatting and I dropped that I had a podcast and you're like, I have a podcast too and then we just started chatting about so much and my sister's like, here we go again, Eric's talking to somebody. But you got to do that and that's so cool. That's actually a dream job of mine. I want to be a mascot sometime and interact with fans or crowd. I always thought I would be.

Brittany Snell (22:07)
Right.

Okay.

Erika (22:29)
You gotta be deranged like Gritty. Gritty is my favorite and I want you to just be like total chaos.

Eric (22:35)
Yeah,

I could. I could if someone gives me the opportunity, Salt Stick.

Erika (22:38)
Yeah.

Stooley, we need a Stooley mascot. This is happening. We're making it happen.

Brittany Snell (22:41)
Hahaha.

Eric (22:43)
Well, that

Brittany Snell (22:44)
⁓ yeah.

Eric (22:47)
would be epic. But we'll get to New York later. I think we need to hear a little bit about your story. We know you have pots. We know you do marathons now. We know you're trying for the triathlon that Eric will never do. But you're from Florida. Are you born and raised in Florida? Give us a little bit of your story here.

Brittany Snell (22:51)
Okay.

Erika (22:55)
Yeah, we got to rewind.

Brittany Snell (22:59)
Mm-hmm.

So born and raised in southern Ohio, right by Huntington, West Virginia. ⁓ Always played sports, so cheerleading, softball, anything you can think of. I started even lifting when I was in high school. Went to Ohio State for undergrad and immediately needed kind of like a niche to fall into for athletics. ⁓ And I was working at the gym and I met this girl that was bodybuilding and she was like, well, just come do it. And I'm like, yeah, I'll just come do it.

So I signed up for my first bikini show and I just wore like a Victoria's Secret swimsuit and I just went to the tanning bed and I got there and I was like, this is not, this is not it. I didn't get the memo.

So you do like prejudging and finals and I wasn't dark enough to be on stage. So between prejudging and finals, I put Pam cooking spray on and then went and laid in the tanning bed to see how dark I could get before finals. I don't recommend, this is not advice. So all good there. However, after that.

Erika (24:06)
⁓ no. I can't imagine that went well.

Eric (24:07)
You're a completely new person.

Brittany Snell (24:15)
I was like, well, let me actually figure out what bodybuilding is about. And so after undergrad, moved to Florida for law school and then really got into bodybuilding. So I competed in bikini for a couple of years and then moved over to figure, competed in figure for gosh, I forget how many years and then moved to New York city, kept competing, also started a little bit more active in CrossFit and then moved back to Florida, went back to bikini from figure.

And then I kind of hung it up right post COVID. I was like, let me hang this up. I think I'm done with body voting. What's next? And this was around the time of the 2020, I want to say it was the 2022 New York City Marathon. And I watch every single year. So I'm watching it and I said, I really want to do this one day. And my husband's like, okay, like when are we going to do it? And I was like, soon. We're going to do it very soon.

Erika (24:48)
You

Brittany Snell (25:12)
So I get online, I find out about nine plus one. And I don't know if y'all have ever talked about nine plus one, but you do nine races in New York City and then you volunteer at one. So that was the catalyst to say we're gonna do nine plus one next year so we get in the following year. So we literally flew up 10 times to run nine races and work one. Yes, yes. that's way more reasonable. We did it two years in a row. So.

Erika (25:22)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (25:28)
Mm-hmm.

No way. I joked about doing this driving from New Hampshire. I'm like, I could do this. Yeah.

Brittany Snell (25:41)
Yeah, in order to run in 2024 and in 2025, we did nine plus one both years. So.

Eric (25:48)
Unfortunately,

they might have to make it 18 plus two or something because apparently it's becoming a big deal very popular

Brittany Snell (25:54)
yeah.

Erika (25:55)
I've heard.

Brittany Snell (25:56)
I have so many friends who are not going to finish their nine plus one this year and they paid for like premium in wire our memberships and they're still not getting into races. So it's a whole thing.

Eric (26:05)
They can't get into

races because they sell out in five seconds. Yeah.

Erika (26:09)
Wow.

Brittany Snell (26:09)
Yeah. And you sit

in the queue for an hour, two hours to get into these for, you know, a five K in Central Park, but they, yeah, they sell out. So I'm fortunate I did it when I did it. Right. So, you know, I trained for the first New York city marathon, ran it. And then I was like, I'm going to do all the majors. I'm going to do all the majors. And what butted up to that very first New York city marathon, um, I was telling Erica off air.

Erika (26:15)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (26:35)
I went to work the next week and all of the guys at work were like, okay, well now you have to do an Ironman. And I was like, is that how these things work? And they're like, yeah, if you do a marathon, you got to do an Ironman. And I'm like, I just, I never read that in the rule book. don't. Right, I still haven't found where it's written. I'm like, I can't seem to find the textbook on this. So.

Erika (26:43)
you

Eric (26:47)
That's how it works, Erica!

Erika (26:49)
In what world? No.

It's not.

Eric (26:57)
I actually think

the correct direction is marathon than ultramarathon. I'll give that one to you, Erica.

Brittany Snell (27:01)
And I'm interested. Yeah,

Erika (27:04)
Thank you. That's

Brittany Snell (27:04)
yeah, there you go.

Erika (27:05)
at least the progression. You go 5K, 10K, half full, ultra. Like 50K. And then you do little steps from there. But Ironman, I don't know where Ironman fits. At least sprint. You fit a sprint.

Brittany Snell (27:09)
Right.

Right, I'm with you. Apparently, someone has a rule

book that says it comes after a marathon. So two weeks after that, right, someone show me the rule. ⁓ I bought my first bike, I bought like a gravel bike. I went into our local bike store and I said, never owned a bike. What do I buy? He was like, what are you gonna do? I said triathlon.

Erika (27:20)
Mm-hmm. I need it in writing. I need proof.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (27:34)
And he was like, okay, so you swim run. said, I don't know how to swim. He was like, you sound like every triathlete. He was like, buy that bike right there. And I was like, perfect. Put it in my truck. And he's like, do you want to ride it? I said, no, I probably don't know how. Just put it in my truck. So fast forward like two, three months later, it took me a minute to commit. I finally called a swim coach and I was like, Hey, like I need to learn to swim.

Erika (27:38)
.

Eric (27:56)
This is recent, right?

Brittany Snell (27:58)
Yeah, I learned to swim last year. So last February, I called a swim coach and so she meets me at the pool. She's like, all right, show me. And I'm like, I don't know anything. And she's like, what do you mean? I was like, yeah, I don't know anything. And she's like, well, put your face in the water. And I was like, I don't. I can hold my nose and shut my eyes really tight. And she's like, no, that's not it. So my first lesson was learning to put my face in the water.

Erika (28:12)
you

you

Brittany Snell (28:27)
And it took 20 minutes to just do it the first time, because it's one of my biggest fears.

Eric (28:31)
Okay, but we're

Erika (28:32)
⁓

Eric (28:32)
not talking like

Erika (28:33)
my gosh

Eric (28:33)
just just put your head underwater. We're talking like put your face as swimming forward or are we talking just put your head underwater?

Brittany Snell (28:41)
Just put your head underwater. That's how terrified of water I was. yeah.

Eric (28:44)
Okay. Okay, okay.

Erika (28:47)
So you went into

this signing up for an Ironman, or at least like a triathlon in general, with the fear of swimming altogether. So how long did it take you to get past this fear in order to start getting used to the water?

Brittany Snell (28:54)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So fear is still there. I did my first sprint trap on in July and it was in the ocean. I got caught in the current six, seven times. Multiple lifeguards were like, hey, do you need rescue? And I'm like, yes, but I'd rather die than DNF. And they're like.

Erika (29:07)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (29:19)
And at one point I'm just stuck in a current and my arms are flailing and they're like swim harder. They're screaming at me. I flipped my back so I can look at my watch. My heart rate's 210. I was like, I actually cannot go any harder. Right now I'm going to pass away very soon.

Erika (29:23)
Mm-hmm.

Uh-huh.

Brittany Snell (29:35)
⁓ Somehow I made it out. So I made it out. It was just little sprint try. I know anyone listening is like, what a baby. I know, I know. ⁓ But I did it and I finished it and then committed to my first 70.3, which is in September in Augusta. So ⁓ I'm currently taking more swim lessons. Augusta, Georgia.

Erika (29:50)
Mm.

Eric (29:52)
Main?

⁓ why was I thinking what's... it's in... Yeah, it's in a town that starts with an Is it... I'm gonna look this up. But continue.

Brittany Snell (29:59)
There's one in Maine.

Erika (30:04)
I have no idea.

Brittany, I just have to say I'm proud of you for conquering your fear. Even if it's still scary, you're still getting out there. So huge props to you.

Brittany Snell (30:06)
Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, it's interesting to be new at something. It's interesting to be scared of something, but I really feel like it kind of shapes your day to day because then you come up on things that work or in other aspects of your life and you're like, well, I've done harder things or I've done scarier things. And so it's kind of that push. And I feel like as an adult, we sometimes need those pushes, right? Because we get stuck in our bubble, our comfort zone and. ⁓

Erika (30:30)
Mm.

Mm-hmm. I am a total creature of habit. sometimes

I need those pushes. But usually I look to Eric and I'm like, I'll just go do a public speaking gig. And that's my scary thing for the week or whatever. yeah.

Brittany Snell (30:49)
you

Eric (30:51)
It is and you crush

it real quick. Yes, Iron Man main is in Augusta main Which is also the capital of Maine, but it's called Iron Man main not Iron Man Augusta So yes, I was I knew I knew I was I knew I knew what I was talking about but continue

Brittany Snell (30:58)
Mm.

Mm. There we go.

No, but so just doing hard things, right? So people are people are always like, why, would you do all this? And it's like, well, why wouldn't I like, I never want to look back and be like, man, I really wish I would have done a marathon or I wish I would have done an Iron Man. So that's a lot of the driver behind this. it's

Erika (31:12)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (31:27)
It's kind of fun to see where you can push yourself to. Like, what can I truly accomplish, you know, that only a small percentage of people accomplish? And Erica, I'm sure you feel the same way. Like, you're gonna do, how long is your ultra that you're gonna do?

Erika (31:42)
So I have a 72 hour ultra coming up in July and I'm going to push for 150 miles. So that will be a new, a new distance PR for me if I can make it that far. But so that's how I would prefer. Like that's, that's a little on the scary side, but still within my comfort zone because it's running. It's what I'm used to. So yeah, just the swimming biking. It's whole new realm for me.

Brittany Snell (31:46)
Okay.

wow.

Right.

and it's different fitness. So people just assume they're like you can run so you can do these other things totally different Yeah

Erika (32:07)
Mm.

Absolutely.

Eric (32:14)
Well, let's go back a little bit. Let's go back to that first New York City marathon. Was that your first marathon? All right.

Brittany Snell (32:20)
Yeah, that was my first one and that

should never ever be your first one because it is too good

Eric (32:26)
True,

Erika (32:27)
That's your sister's first one.

Eric (32:27)
true. I don't know how anyone will beat it. We'll talk about, let's talk about New York then, because I always love to hear that first marathon story. Everyone, always tends to be, it's never perfect. It's a learning lesson along the way. Tell us about your New York City marathon journey from your first until this most recent one that we both ran together, but not together.

Brittany Snell (32:32)
Yeah.

Yeah.

So my first one, okay, I think it was perfect. Like that sounds crazy, but I think it was perfect. And that's why it set the stage that can, it can't be matched. That marathon will never be matched. So I got great sleep the night before. I had a great time at the expo the day before. Morning of a little rocky. took me

Eric (32:55)
Ugh.

Brittany Snell (33:15)
three or four hours to get to the start line because I was staying around 42nd around Grand Central. So I took the six down and then took the Staten Island ferry and then waited I think two hours for a bus which I didn't expect to wait that long. So if anyone's listening and doing the New York City Marathon you truly might wait that long to get on a bus to then get shuttled over. Yeah, just to get there. So I remember we pull up

Erika (33:30)
Whoa.

Eric (33:38)
It's a marathon to get there.

Brittany Snell (33:44)
And it's so close to start time. So I was the final wave. I was 1130 start. And I'm trying to think we pulled up so late that we security barely checked us. And I probably shouldn't say that, but security barely checked us. He's just like, go, go. We're all running and we're running through runners village. We're stripping off our layers. None of us got to eat our final snacks. I threw away a phone charger, a book. I'm just tossing things and I get in my corral and we immediately start going up to get on the bridge. So you didn't even have time to

Erika (34:07)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (34:14)
like process it, you were just in it, which was kind of crazy. Because I don't think it set in until I was deep into Brooklyn. And I was like, I'm like running a marathon, you know? And Brooklyn, mean, Eric, you know, the energy of Brooklyn is just like it carries you and you're going way too fast. Yes. You look down.

Eric (34:32)
was insane! It was so insane. Never experienced anything like that.

Brittany Snell (34:38)
You look down, like, I cannot sustain this pace. So you have to keep slowing down and slowing down and slowing down. So Brooklyn was great. I had friends kind of set up at different mile markers with different things. Ibuprofen, water, bananas, whatever you could think of. So I had a ton of friends, thank goodness. I had a few friends that flew up from Florida even, and they just had backpacks of just stuff.

Erika (35:02)
Yeah.

Brittany Snell (35:02)
And

so it was fantastic. I remember, and then we, you know, go over into Queen, like go through Long Island City. I have some friends that live there, went over to Queensborough, which is so quiet. And then you just come off and you hear the roar as you come off that bridge. And then you go uptown. I had a few friends waiting for me around Harlem, a few friends in the Bronx.

say it gets a little, you get a little tired there. Like you're kind of like, all right, I think I'm done running, you know, but then once you kind of get back over to Central Park, you're like, okay, I can do this. ⁓ So my first New York City Marathon was amazing. Last year was a little rocky. I think it was mile 10. I had this sharp, sharp pain in my hip I've never had before. I stopped

Erika (35:37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (35:55)
And a police officer sees me and she, I like jump up on like a, like a light post to kind of hold on and like let my back kind of like decompress. And she's like, you're good. Like you're, you're fine up there. I took 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, thousand milligrams of Tylenol. Don't do that. Anyone ever. And I was like, I'm good. Let's go back. So we start running again. And my husband was running with me. He never, ever, ever runs with me ever. So it's kind of.

Erika (36:03)
Yeah.

Brittany Snell (36:19)
I don't know, he's got some spidey senses, I think. So, mile 20, I'm seeing a friend and I'm coming kind of off of a bridge. I think I was coming through the Bronx, coming down a bridge. And I just feel this sharp pain. And I just double over, I fall to the ground. And it's like shooting from like the back of my hip all the way down. And I try to get up, I can't really walk.

Erika (36:22)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (36:45)
My husband's trying to help me and I finally start walking again, but I'm like limping, like limping, hobbling, the pain's getting worse and worse and worse. At mile 24, I was like, I don't know if I'm going to finish and write. But luckily everyone.

Erika (36:54)
no.

So close, but yeah, with that pain.

Brittany Snell (37:05)
You gotta take a spouse with a partner, take someone with you. At mile 25, the last thing I said was, I'm going to be sick, and then I passed out. The pain was just so much that I just passed out. So it took my husband one hour to drag me from mile 25 to the finish line, and there were paramedics waiting. They had the wheelchair for me. I was, I remember nothing, nothing at all. The photos, I bought them. They're bad, they're so bad. I am...

Erika (37:15)
my God.

⁓

Eric (37:25)
Do you remember any of this?

Erika (37:33)
no!

Eric (37:33)
Are they on Instagram?

Brittany Snell (37:35)
I did not put those on Instagram. They're terrible. I am fully unconscious. ⁓ Yeah. Had Nick not been there, I would not have finished that. So thank God he drugged me for an hour. And he said people were throwing like water bottles and gels and chips and like, give her this, give her, like people were just yelling and throwing things. And I'm just unconscious. Like, and I remember.

Erika (37:37)
you

Eric (37:38)
Can I have them to put on the YouTube? Please.

Erika (38:03)
my god.

Brittany Snell (38:04)
nothing at all whatsoever. And I had so many text messages because you know, people track you on the app and they're like, so did you finish? Like the texts were like, I saw you like right at 25. Like where are you? And so hours later when I got out of the medic tent, I'm like, hey, I was still running so to speak, but I was unconscious. And they're like, what? So yeah, that.

Erika (38:10)
Yeah.

Eric (38:11)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (38:24)
Yeah, explain please.

Brittany Snell (38:31)
It was still a great race. Somehow I'm still going to tell you that I loved it more than anything. Came home, got an MRI. Yeah, I only shared the good ones, of course, because, you know, it's Instagram. But,

Eric (38:36)
I'm gonna share some photos I found, but continue.

Erika (38:43)
So what

was it that was going on with your hip, like with that sharp shooting pain? Did the medics diagnose anything, or did you have to go to the hospital after this?

Brittany Snell (38:48)
So.

So the medics just basically said like, ⁓ you know, your blood pressure is really low, which I was like, I think I had like a vasovagal response, but I ended up spraining my SI joint and doing damage to it. I had a lot of fluid buildup in that hip, bursitis, tendonitis. I had another damaged tendon. And then the two herniations in my low back were just kind of like extra blown out if that's even, you know.

Erika (39:01)
huh.

Ugh.

my gosh. Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (39:23)
But you could see in these

Erika (39:23)
That's awful.

Brittany Snell (39:24)
photos, I was having a great time. I was eating my chips. I love to eat Lay's potato chips when I run. So if Lay's ever wants to sponsor me, mm-hmm.

Eric (39:26)
Yeah.

Erika (39:27)
Yeah. So salty and delicious.

Eric (39:34)
Shout

out to Lays. that's post race. Do you remember this photo?

Brittany Snell (39:38)
Yeah, that was hours later on the train because Nick was like, we do have to go back to our hotel. It is officially like 10 p.m. and I'm like.

Eric (39:45)
Was

he worried about you? Like did this have anything to do with POTS? Or just the day?

Brittany Snell (39:53)
Honestly, POTS might have played a role in it because just the way that my body responded to that pain and the way that my body was just like, what if we drop her blood pressure so low she passes out? So I think that had a part of it for sure. Yeah.

Eric (40:07)
Yeah,

Erika (40:07)
That is

so tough.

Eric (40:08)
I did not I think you told me something like it wasn't the best day But I don't think it was that serious when he told me because we met a day or two before and you looked great and you're telling me about all these cool things you have planned to and I Don't think I realized you had that kind of day. That's intense And he basically carried you and then what right into a wheelchair. Thank God you didn't have to walk that last three quarters of a mile

Brittany Snell (40:12)
you

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eric (40:34)
after the finish line. Insane.

Brittany Snell (40:34)
no, I did. I did. They will you into

the medic tent, you hang out there and then they're like, okay, so do you want to go to the hospital or do you want to leave? And I'm like, I'll leave. They're like, okay, you could walk. And then you still have to do that walk out of Central Park. And so I just like hobbled out. I looked like a, like a weeble wobble or like a Teletubby coming out of that park.

Eric (40:41)
⁓

Erika (40:50)
my god.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (40:58)
Insane. What a day. And then Erica, she's still not scared to do something even more crazy like an Iron Man.

Erika (40:59)
my gosh.

You are so badass, my friend.

Brittany Snell (41:07)
Thank you, thank you.

Eric (41:08)
Yes, you are. are. So,

wow. What was like the next couple days like? Did you recover pretty quickly? Like when you have these, I don't know what to call it. I know of Crohn's they call it flare up, but do you have like a pot sp-

Brittany Snell (41:20)
Yeah, it's

like, it's a flare up. Yeah. I was just in a lot of pain, really tired, ⁓ still like disoriented for like 24 hours. ⁓ And then, you know, I couldn't walk that whole week.

Eric (41:23)
So with pots like.

Erika (41:33)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (41:38)
And it was different than like a marathon pain, right? It's different from the pain you get from a race. That's when I text my orthopedic surgeon. I have him on a text basis. That's the injury frequency. And I was like, hey, I can't walk. And he's like, all right, come in. He did an exam. He was like, let's get an MRI. So we did the MRI. And he was like, pretty much like everything's messed up and nothing's like that badly messed up, right? So it's kind of like just rest.

Erika (41:49)
no. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

But it's everything.

A little of everything.

Brittany Snell (42:05)
It's everything, but it's nothing.

Yeah. Yeah. So, ⁓ yeah, just an extended rest protocol and, ⁓ I'm back.

Erika (42:14)
Gotcha. So

how long were you in New York City for before you had to fly home? Was it just the next day, or did you have a day to relax at least? my gosh.

Brittany Snell (42:22)
Until next time.

Yeah, the very next day. So I couldn't carry my own suitcase or anything. just, you know, it of looked like, okay, she ran the marathon. She's sore from that. And I'm like, let's just go with that. Let's just, people understand that, you know? Right, right. Yeah.

Eric (42:35)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (42:35)
Mm-hmm.

It's easier that way. I don't want to get into it.

Eric (42:42)
That's such a wild story. And have you only run those two New York cities then? Only two?

Erika (42:44)
It is wild.

Brittany Snell (42:48)
two New York cities and one Chicago. So I ran Chicago last year as well.

Eric (42:52)
I would love to hear how you compare New York and Chicago.

Brittany Snell (42:56)
⁓ I don't want to make anyone mad.

Erika (42:59)
Well, we'll

see who's going to be mad. I won't be mad. promise I won't be mad.

Brittany Snell (43:04)
Okay, okay.

New York is a million times better than Chicago.

Erika (43:10)
Maybe I'm a little mad. No,

I'm just kidding.

Brittany Snell (43:14)
I just, the crowd support in New York, the course in New York, the energy in New York, the medal.

Eric (43:19)
the metal.

Erika (43:22)
Eric and the damn metal.

Brittany Snell (43:24)
The Chicago medal last

year was not great. Let's just be very honest. And the shirts were terrible.

Erika (43:29)
It was not great.

⁓ my God, the shirt that's living in a closet. I'm putting that in a bin. Like that'll never see the light. No. Well, I keep all my race shirts, but I won't wear it again. I mean, it's boring. It's red and boring.

Brittany Snell (43:36)
Yes. Yes.

Eric (43:37)
Donate it. You're saying it so bad you won't even donate it.

Brittany Snell (43:43)
I do too.

Eric (43:44)
What went wrong? What went wrong Chicago? Where'd

they go wrong?

Brittany Snell (43:47)
And

it's like a short box. It's like a boxy shirt, and a two-year-old did the logo on it, and it's ugly.

Erika (43:55)
She's right.

It literally looks like a kid just drew a picture, like tried to spell a pink of America.

Eric (44:01)
I mean, could they

be removed from the world major list if they keep this up?

Erika (44:05)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (44:05)
Mm-hmm. I don't think so.

Erika (44:06)
Mm. Mm-mm.

Brittany Snell (44:07)
I don't think so. I Just think we got to get it together because all of the gear at Chicago was even Terrible like the only decent pop-up or gear was bandit and by the time I got in that door everything was gone So yeah

Erika (44:22)
Oh, I didn't

even make it to the bandit. Bandit, please. Yeah.

Brittany Snell (44:27)
It wasn't

worth it. You waited in line for an hour only to go in and they're like, Hey, we're sold out at everything. And you're like, that's cool. Right. Right. Yeah.

Erika (44:32)
Maybe tell me that while I'm still standing outside.

Eric (44:35)
Yeah, yeah, I

I need to go there one day and run it and give an honest opinion but

Erika (44:40)
That's all

I want, Eric, is just for you to try it.

Eric (44:44)
I'm sure the race is actually gonna

be great. It's everything else that we're talking about. The shirt, it's the things that you care about, Erica. We've had these conversations. If you're gonna spend X amount of dollars on something, you're expecting a nice shirt, a nice medal. You're expecting that. That's your argument, but then you won't with Chicago. Why is it the exception?

Erika (44:55)
Yeah, give me a shirt I'm gonna wear again.

Brittany Snell (44:58)
right.

Erika (45:02)
For $300, yeah, I want some nice shit.

Brittany Snell (45:07)
But Chicago

too, like the crowd support is not the same as New York. Like you have so many gaps with no people or I don't know. It just like wasn't there.

Erika (45:14)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (45:15)
I'll say how can anyone compete

with New York there though? Like that's where I think New York is going to. We're from New England, we're just north of Boston. And I think Boston's the greatest marathon in the world. But when I ran New York, my thought was, there's no way crowd support wise, anything is going to beat this. And I think Boston's more of a buildup. You start in the small towns and the crowds get bigger as you go along. And then when you hit the city of Boston,

Brittany Snell (45:24)
Okay.

Right.

Yeah.

Eric (45:45)
It's insane

I know in New York City, you're running through New York City. It's the boroughs, but it's insane. just one, the masses of people that live there. It's just how many millions live there and they all take the day off. It's, it's, it's a thing for them. So I don't know how that.

Brittany Snell (45:55)
Yeah.

Erika (45:58)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (46:00)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (46:01)
how that can actually be topped.

Erika (46:03)
Well,

one thing that I factor in, I genuinely love Chicago as a city. Like, it's just a cool place to visit. New York City is just a little too big, a little too loud. It's, I don't know, it's not my favorite to visit. So that's why I think I do focus on Chicago. What?

Brittany Snell (46:09)
Hmm.

No.

Eric (46:17)
Erica.

Erica, it's

the Windy City. How lame of a nickname is that?

Erika (46:24)
Yeah.

Brittany Snell (46:26)
Hahaha.

Erika (46:27)
You

got Lake Michigan. You got all the awesome architecture there. Like, I don't know. I just, really enjoy Chicago as a city as a whole.

Eric (46:35)
I don't know.

Brittany Snell (46:35)
And I'll

say pre-race, Chicago is not as like commuter friendly. So in New York, I feel like you could take a subway anywhere. I know, I gotta, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Eric (46:43)
I love it, Brittany. Just keep hitting on it.

Erika (46:46)
Hey, I walked. I walked everywhere.

I didn't even need to take any transportation. I just walked. I walked everywhere.

Brittany Snell (46:54)
But it's

more time on feet. So you're like, I'm on my feet, I'm on my feet, I'm on my feet. Whereas in New York, it's like, I am, I am. My plantar fasciitis is terrified.

Erika (46:57)
Yeah, I'm not afraid of the time I feed.

⁓ no.

I get it. I get it.

Brittany Snell (47:07)
Yeah,

so I guess that's like another complaint about Chicago. It's just that I felt like I was walking so much or spending an exorbitant amount in Ubers. I was just uber uber uber uber and I was like, so and having run New York the year before and then knowing I was looking forward to it three weeks later. And maybe maybe I wasn't in the right mindset for Chicago, you know, like I needed a different attitude around it.

Erika (47:20)
Mm. Yes.

You don't have to make up any excuses. You are entitled to your opinion. Eric is entitled to his, and I have mine. we can all still get along. Well, yeah, I do agree.

Eric (47:43)
I need to develop a real opinion though. I know this. I wanna go there and do

Brittany Snell (47:46)
Yeah, Eric, you have to go run it.

Eric (47:48)
a live show. Chicago send me out and we can debate this from there. I can get like that perspective and do a live show.

Brittany Snell (47:50)
Ooh.

Yeah.

Erika (47:54)
But you

can't shit on Chicago while you're at Chicago. You just can't. They'll be like, you can't ever come back.

Eric (48:00)
Why? Why not?

If it's not in the contract.

Erika (48:04)
I just... Forget it.

Eric (48:07)
I'm not gonna

shit on Chicago when I'm there, but I mean, I'm not gonna go and say your medal is awesome when it's not. I'm gonna ask those questions. What went wrong with the shirts? What did you do to fix it? What is your plan of action to fix this? Let's bring Chicago back up top to make it the number three marathon in the USA.

Erika (48:10)
Hmm.

Brittany Snell (48:15)
Right, right. Got to be honest.

Mm-hmm.

Erika (48:29)
trying to remember

now if I had to fill out like a post-race survey and it was, cause if I get one of those, will, I will give it to them straight. I will tell them this sucked. This needs work. You need more porta-potties around. Yeah. So.

Brittany Snell (48:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, I will say.

So I ran with a charity in Chicago. ran with the Van Andel Institute and I'm hoping to run with them Tokyo 2028. So fingers crossed that will be a heavy fundraising lift. But I got access to the hospitality tent prior to the race and it was pretty chilly. It was I think it was in the 40s when we started. It got up to mid.

Erika (48:45)
Mm-hmm.

⁓ awesome.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (49:05)
late high 70s. But they had the heat on in there, you had private porter potties that were clean. They had bagels and okay, they had more food by only eight bagels, had bagels. ⁓ They had like coffee and Gatorade and water and all kinds of stuff in that like VIP tent. And it was so easy to check your bag because it was just a table you didn't wait you literally just like here's my bag. I'll see you in a little bit. So

Erika (49:06)
Mm-hmm.

Hehehehe.

Nice.

Brittany Snell (49:33)
And

I don't know, I haven't done the hospitality tent in New York, but for Chicago, I think it's worth it if you can pay to get in. And I forget what they charge to get in. It's worth it. It's worth whatever you pay. And then when you get back in from the race, they've got a whole lunch spread. They've got drinks. ⁓ They had like a masseuse set up. His line was too long. I didn't commit. But yeah, I would do the hospitality tent at Chicago for sure.

Erika (49:48)
⁓ nice.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (50:00)
Erica, you did like a VIP porta potty thing, right?

Erika (50:01)
I have not.

Yeah, so

it wasn't the total hospitality tent, but it was just called Fastpass. So it had a dedicated entry line, which wouldn't have mattered. I usually get there super early, so there's not many people in line anyways. And this just gave you dedicated porta potties. I think there were maybe, the most people I saw in there was like 15. And there were like 25, 30 porta potties just for us. So I never had to wait.

Brittany Snell (50:15)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (50:30)
I brought my own breakfast. have a bagel. sitting on the ground. I'm just sitting there, like, do, do, do. People are trying to get in. They're like, no, you need a wristband. So I felt pretty important. But the rest of the port-a-potty situation is just ridiculous. I spent, it was $100, and I will spend that all day, all the time, just to make sure I can use a bathroom when I need it.

Brittany Snell (50:37)
I'm doing.

Yeah.

Right, and I will say New York prior to running like the way they have you separated out, I feel like the Porter potty situation is decent. Like you're gonna wait in a little line, you might be out of toilet paper.

Erika (51:03)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (51:03)
and s-

Erika (51:06)
⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric (51:07)
Yeah, in the area where you wait to start the race. when you get that area, yes, along the course could have been better. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Brittany Snell (51:10)
Yeah, in runners village.

for sure. They need way more. Yeah. Yeah, I always

use the bathrooms at the bottom of the bridge before you go over into Long Island City at mile 13. There's like six or seven Porter bodies the most and there's almost always one open so I probably shouldn't have said that those will now be busy but those are great bathrooms. People are writing it down. They're like, okay.

Erika (51:34)
Forever. ⁓

Eric (51:34)
I wish we were that popular Brittany, but one day one day Yeah, yeah, they're

Erika (51:39)
Yeah.

I remember.

Eric (51:43)
like okay

after this bridge there'll be six or seven six seven ⁓ You mentioned Tokyo so is like the world majors a goal for you

Erika (51:47)
Ha ha.

Brittany Snell (51:47)
Six,

Yes, I have to do them. I have to finish them. I don't know how. ⁓ In the most perfect world, I would love to do London next year and maybe do it with like one of those travel groups where you like pay the fee and they're like, here's your bib, here's your hotel, here's your itinerary. Boom, you're done. Have you done it?

Erika (52:09)
I totally recommend them.

Eric (52:11)
We know,

we know somebody.

Erika (52:13)
Yes. So we've had somebody on the podcast, her name is Kelly McLea and she works for Fit International Travel. And I have not worked with them specifically for when I went, but I went with Marathon Tours and I did Berlin with them and I did Tokyo with them and they were fantastic. I mean, they took you on tours, they cover some of your meals. Like the money that you spend is comparable to what you would spend anyways, except they just make the logistics so much easier. So if that is a way you get in.

Eric (52:16)
Kelly.

Brittany Snell (52:20)
Okay.

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Yeah.

Erika (52:43)
the power to you. Like I think it's just so much easier that they take care of that kind of stuff. You're with like-minded people.

Eric (52:47)
And it's fun because with Kelly at fit, you're with people.

Brittany Snell (52:48)
Right.

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see. It feels like London is soon. It's a year away, but it seems soon in marathon terms. So if not next year, eventually, but, ⁓ I've already sort of, you know, kind of dropped a seed to Van Andel that I want to run with them again. So they do cancer and Parkinson's research and they were great to work with. ⁓ and so I've talked to them about Tokyo 2028, which would mean my commitment would be

Erika (53:12)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (53:20)
you know, spring of 2027. So we'll see. The fundraising amount scares me because I do think it's like 10 grand a person and it's me and my husband. I think so. That's what I heard. That's what, and that's just like a rumor right now that the raise went up to 10 grand a person. So, and that's a lot to raise. So my...

Erika (53:23)
right.

Whoa, for Tokyo. ⁓ wait. ⁓ per person.

Yes, it is.

Brittany Snell (53:46)
And the most perfect world I do London and then Tokyo and then Berlin and then Boston. And I really don't know how I'm going to do Boston. I guess a charity, right? mean, yeah.

Eric (53:58)
I mean...

Erika (53:58)
Probably. But

once you fundraise for Tokyo, you'll know how to do it. And then you'll be a pro. You'll be a total pro. I mean, you've already done fundraising, so you know the drill. But yeah, let's go. Sponsor me. Sponsor Brittany. Sponsor Brittany.

Brittany Snell (54:04)
way.

Eric (54:08)
Solstic!

Brittany Snell (54:10)
Yeah.

Please sponsor me. Yes.

Eric (54:16)
Let's talk a little bit

about Salt Stick. Like no free ads, but Noah, I like you, so let's do it. You two are both sweater girls, sweater whatever. Talk about Salt Stick a little bit. Like you take it because of POTS, maybe not because of POTS. What also do you get to do with Salt Stick? Because that wasn't the only time you have traveled for Salt Stick. You've gone to many other events, right? You do a few things. Maybe did you go to the running event in Texas or something?

Brittany Snell (54:26)
Mm-hmm.

I anytime Salt Stick is at a race that I'm at, I make sure to communicate with them, let them know I'm coming. So I think they were at Austin last year. I ran the Austin half, which is a great race. A lot of Hills, great race though. So anytime they're there, they kind of communicate to their people like, Hey, we're here. Are you here? Do you want to stop by? And they're now kind of giving us opportunities to work different booths if they're at different marathons. So,

Like I said, I like not only their chews, but those bonk breaker gummies. And I don't even know if they're called bonk breaker anymore, because they bought out that company or bonk breaker ended.

Erika (55:27)
I think it's just, ⁓

I had one up here. Hang on. Let me see if I have it.

Brittany Snell (55:31)
Yeah. But the gummies are so easy on your stomach. Like I, instead of doing all gels, I literally do gel bag of gummies, gel bag of gummies because

Eric (55:42)
Are they like the size of a gummy bear?

Or like a Swedish fish or?

Brittany Snell (55:47)
like a gum, a little bit bigger than a gummy bear. They're like a little like a gumdrop kind of shape and.

Erika (55:51)
Mm. They have that consistency

too, which is good because it doesn't get stuck in your teeth.

Brittany Snell (55:57)
And they're vegan. So they're not made with gelatin, which is so great because I don't do any gelatin. So the fact that I can eat these when I usually can't eat gummy things, I love them. And the flavors are good. Like you, I do know people who eat them like as candy. I don't, I mean, I guess you can if you want, but that's how good they are. Like you don't, it's not like a gel where you're like, I'm only going to do this if I'm racing or training or whatever. It's something that like you kind of want. And it's like a reward. So I won't do it as like my first

Erika (56:07)
Mm.

you

Yeah.

Brittany Snell (56:27)
like I force myself to do a gel and then I make myself kind of wait for my first set of gummies. It's like a reward. It's like, okay, I've made it to mile six or mile seven. Let me go ahead and get these, you know? ⁓ Yeah, so they also have like a sister company, ⁓ Vytasium, I think that's right. They're more catered to like people with POTS and like different medical conditions and they have an even higher like sodium content.

Erika (56:37)
we go.

⁓

Brittany Snell (56:53)
And then back to salt stick they also have these capsules and I've been doing those for all of my races this year I had ⁓ I had my double jaw surgery in December, so I still can't chew the actual salt sticks So I've been taking the capsules that have the caffeine

Erika (57:10)
Huh?

Brittany Snell (57:10)
And those

are so great. So I took them for the Gate River Run, which is the 15K here in Jacksonville, and then the New York City half, and then the Nashville Rock and Roll half. So I took those capsules for each race and love them. So I'll probably do that at least like pre-race for every race moving forward because I love them so much.

Erika (57:30)
Mm,

that's awesome. Yeah. It's funny.

Eric (57:31)
That's kinda cool. I'm on their website right now looking at that. So they got a lot more than just

the sticks of salt.

Brittany Snell (57:38)
Yeah.

Erika (57:39)
they got a lot of stuff. But yeah, those fast chews are the little tablets that you just can eat. You don't need a lot of water. I actually will hit a point. I love them for my ultras. I actually will just suck on them because it gives, like, if I'm eating too many sweet things, they have a green apple flavor that's really good. They're just a little bit tart, and it switches up the palate and makes things like I can eat real food again. I can drink water. It just switches things up.

Brittany Snell (57:49)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

I love the green apple.

Right.

Yeah.

Erika (58:08)
Like I know they do help, but just mentally I'm like, all right, this is, my mouth feels different. It's not sticky and sweet. so total game changer.

Brittany Snell (58:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And if you haven't tried the capsules, try those because they, they work really well. I'm trying to think if they're like an extended release, it seems like they are. And I might be wrong on that.

Erika (58:26)
Ooh.

I think I have a bottle

downstairs. Like they did send some last year and I've used them in a few races, but I don't recall what it says on the package. I'm just like, these are going to help. Caffeine, let's go.

Brittany Snell (58:32)
Yeah.

You're like, I got these for free, let me just take these. Yeah, yeah.

Eric (58:43)
all it says on the website is the SaltStick caps are high sodium, zero sugar electrolyte capsules engineered to replace what you lose and sweat fast. So it doesn't say, it says each capsule delivers 660 milligrams of electrolytes for efficient dosing of maximum convenience. So ⁓ nothing about the slow release, but

Brittany Snell (59:04)
Yeah.

Eric (59:08)
Pretty freaking cool. I did not know they had the capsules. I knew about the gummies. Noah gave me some gummies. I knew about the sticks, but they have a lot more. What is Noah's role? We should get Noah on the podcast, by the way. I've run into him enough. what is Noah do? Is he even a runner or does he just work for SaltStick?

Brittany Snell (59:14)
Hehehe.

Erika (59:22)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (59:27)
feel like he has to run. He looks like he runs. don't know. They're social media head of marketing. She runs. ⁓ Wow, I just forgot her name. Is it Gabby? my goodness. I forget. She's super nice. Y'all have seen her.

Erika (59:39)
don't know off the top of my head. We're

Eric (59:41)
You two are ambassadors!

Erika (59:44)
terrible ambassadors.

Brittany Snell (59:45)
We're really

bad. We just really like the product, okay?

Erika (59:49)
Mm-hmm. That's

Eric (59:50)
If you

Erika (59:50)
a start. We have work to do.

Eric (59:50)
go, if you go to their website, actually, I mean, I feel silly now. Maybe I've heard of POTS once or twice, but I did not know what it was until you told me. If you go to the website And if you go to the dropdown menu under shop, the second to last one is for POTS. Right? So you go, you click on it. takes you to another, takes you to another website. Did you say it was like Vitasium, a company they bought?

Brittany Snell (1:00:02)
Mm-hmm.

Oh, see, there we go. Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (1:00:17)
And it talks about those. So now you got electric lights for people with pots. That's so cool. And I just said yes to accept all the cookies. Now I'm going to get a ton of ads for Salt Stick. So super cool. It also had this little thing. It had me scratch off like a scratch ticket and it says I get 15 % off my next order. But I think I'm just going to rely on people I know like you and maybe Noah.

Brittany Snell (1:00:23)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:00:28)
Sorry, not sorry. ⁓

I'm like, don't we get a discount code that's worth like 20 %? You can use Brittany.

Brittany Snell (1:00:41)
Yes. Yeah, we have a discount code.

Eric (1:00:45)
Yeah, yeah my co-host you

think she would give me some salt stick, but no give me some gummies Yeah

Brittany Snell (1:00:49)
Ha ha ha.

Erika (1:00:50)
Hey, when do I get my welcome packet? I'll share.

Brittany Snell (1:00:54)
Yeah, we're getting

those soon, so I'm excited.

Erika (1:00:56)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:00:56)
That's cool. And it's probably super good for you in Florida because what's it like running there? Can you ever run after 5 a.m.?

Brittany Snell (1:01:05)
You want to be done by nine ish because it's already humid. Like you wake up, it's 85 and it's extremely humid. And you're just like, okay, it's 4 a.m. and this is what we're doing. So you got to run early. And it's not even just the heat and the humidity, but the sun. So like that sun just cooks you. So everyone runs pretty early. It's actually pretty active here in Jacksonville, like down at the beach.

Erika (1:01:14)
Ooh.

no.

Right.

Brittany Snell (1:01:34)
There's a street by the beach that like everyone runs on and there's so many people and you'll see them and it's funny. There's a run club here. It's called Neptune Run Club and it's gotten huge. There's a couple hundred members now and we ran the Nashville rock and roll half a couple weeks ago and we ran into a bunch of those guys at the Barstool bar in Nashville after the half we all walked over the bridge went to the bar ran into like 12 people from Jacksonville from that run club.

⁓ So small world, but that run club all kind of runs like down the beach. So you always have like-minded people doing the same kind of pursuit as you. It just, feels good to kind of be seeing other people out and about doing the same crazy thing as you, you know.

Eric (1:02:17)
Yeah, because we crazy.

Erika (1:02:18)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:02:20)
Yeah.

Eric (1:02:22)
We do something else that's crazy together. Well, not together, but the same. You have a podcast, nothing to do with running, but a lot to do with dogs. me a little bit about tell me a little bit about Canine Culture podcast.

Brittany Snell (1:02:26)
Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-hmm.

So I started Canine Culture podcast about three or four years ago. And the catalyst for that was I had a Pomeranian in 2016 diagnosed with cancer. And I pushed and pushed and pushed for that diagnosis. And finally, when I got it, they said, she's too sick. Don't bring her back. And I'm like, well, what am I supposed to do? And they're like, figure it out. It's cancer. And I'm like, OK, OK. So.

Erika (1:02:58)
You're a doctor, you're supposed

to tell me what I'm supposed to do.

Brittany Snell (1:03:03)
Right,

right, like any kind of guidance. I had none. So that really left me Googling and calling and meeting people from all over the country to help me with diet and different modalities like acupuncture and just things that I wouldn't have thought of. And ended up spending about 23 to $24,000 over six months trying to treat her cancer.

Erika (1:03:07)
Hmm.

Eric (1:03:26)
crazy.

Erika (1:03:28)
⁓ Poor thing.

Brittany Snell (1:03:28)
Yeah, yeah. So I ended up

selling my house to pay off all of that debt. And after she passed, a little bit later, was like, you know, how many other dog owners deal with this or deal with something similar? And they don't have the resources. They don't have access to resources. They don't know who to call. They don't know what to Google. So initially, I was like, well, I'm going to do a blog because I love to write. And then I started to think about it. I'm like, ah.

Erika (1:03:46)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (1:03:54)
Not a lot of people are reading blogs. They're not as easy to find. They're not as attainable for all ages. So I started the podcast as a way to provide free information to dog owners. So whether it's like learning about bloat, you know, because a lot of people don't know about that, learning about cancer in dogs. Only 30 % of people know that dogs can even get cancer. So I have, you know, vets, trainers, people who run rescues, all kinds of people on to share anything that might help a dog owner.

Erika (1:04:14)
Hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:04:24)
And my goal with the podcast is to grow it so much and to monetize it that I want to start a small dog hospice care. So I want to provide that end of life care sanctuary ⁓ out of my home.

Erika (1:04:37)
That's amazing. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that though. That's so rough when when your little one that you love so much is just in pain and you don't know what to do to help. Like it's, it's hitting me.

Eric (1:04:38)
That'd be amazing.

Brittany Snell (1:04:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

yeah. it's there's so I mean, you see people post in groups and they post their GoFundMe and and then you see them getting the wrong information. You're like, ⁓ I wish I could share. so, you know, I talk about a lot of things on the podcast. We've talked about cancer quite a few times. Talked about diabetes. We've talked about so many different conditions and.

Erika (1:04:58)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:05:11)
any way to just deliver that information to pet owners, you know, so that's my goal. I'm always like, if I save one life this year, you know, one doggy life, then I did, I did my job, right? Like that's all I want to do. That's the purpose of the podcast is just to help other pet parents. You know, I have four dogs. have three Pomeranians right now. And then I have a 15 week old Dutch Shepherd who will be my service dog. ⁓ it's my first Dutchie.

Erika (1:05:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:05:24)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:05:40)
It's a lot of work. If you saw my body right now, I am covered in cuts and bruises. am not safe at home. She's my little malligator. She's a wild one. She is not anything like the Pomeranians, but I love her and even her. So I met my breeder kind of through the podcast. I met my trainer. ⁓ One of the dogs that I have that I rescued, met

Eric (1:05:44)
No. No.

Erika (1:05:45)
no.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:06:06)
and had her on the podcast and it's all kind of, you know, links together.

Eric (1:06:11)
You know what I love

about it, and I've checked it out, don't have a dog right now, love dogs. I've always had a dog in my life until the last three or four years. But I can relate in a way of like when my kids, before they were born, had TTTS, there was already a podcast about that, like an episode. There was like a health or a baby or a ⁓ pregnancy podcast where people talked and shared their story. And you can...

Brittany Snell (1:06:17)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Eric (1:06:37)
go to Spotify or Apple podcasts and maybe you want to learn about heart warms. Right? And they can find your episode and you have episodes about heart warms. You have episodes about rescue dogs. You have episodes about like, can my dog eat this? it toxic versus safe foods? So where our podcast is a little more time sensitive. We want to be within a couple of weeks when we talk to the guests because

Brittany Snell (1:06:43)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:07:04)
Everything you're telling us is kind of new, especially if you just did a race. Our tropes, the intro and outro, are like within 24 hours of when the episode drops. If someone listens to an old episode of ours, they're like listening to stories from years ago or months ago. Like a lot has changed. Yours has this information there forever. It's inked in there forever, just like a blog would be. But then you could have someone else on later to talk about heart warms again if it ever happened.

Brittany Snell (1:07:28)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:07:29)
It's so cool because you're building, you got seasons, but you're building something that will impact for a long time. And you will see those episodes continue to grow in downloads when someone has questions about something going on in their dog's life.

Brittany Snell (1:07:45)
Yeah.

Yeah, one of the episodes that I keep getting hits on ⁓ is one of my euthanasia episodes. So I have a euthanasia vet that I've worked with twice now. She comes to my house and she does it here. she, prior to euthanasia, she offers like a hospice care, kind of like a quality of life assessment. So she'll come in, kind of assess like, are we? we close? Are we good? Do we need any supplements, medication? Can we change anything in your home? And so I've had her on the podcast.

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

Brittany Snell (1:08:16)
twice and she is amazing and you know we don't talk about euthanasia very much because it's it's the worst subject ever yeah yeah and that's all she does and so she's come on twice to talk about it and I think the podcast allows people to listen to that in the privacy of their own home or their car and

Eric (1:08:22)
Right?

Erika (1:08:24)
It's tough. So sad.

Eric (1:08:36)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:08:36)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (1:08:37)
to sit with it and to really take it in and to feel whatever they want to feel versus trying to talk to this stranger in this sterile room about it that you don't really know and you don't really want to cry. And so I'm hoping to get people that kind of outlet as well so they can sit with these hard topics and like truly digest them.

Erika (1:08:46)
Hmm.

Eric (1:08:56)
Yeah, it's so good. When my last dog, Tuca, passed away, was like the end of COVID, but because of COVID, not everyone could go to the vet we always go to. So we actually had exactly that. Someone came to the house and it was 10 out of 10. When it happens again, that's the way to do it. My boss at the time, that's what she did with hers because she's like...

Erika (1:08:56)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:09:14)
Yeah.

Erika (1:09:19)
I mean, I

would prefer that just because I feel like it's less stress on your pet, especially if they're, yeah. God, that's making me so sad, you guys. ⁓ yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:09:24)
Yeah.

Eric (1:09:24)
That too, they're just laying down on their bed, relaxed with everybody. Yeah, it was so sad. But then

Brittany Snell (1:09:27)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:09:32)
the lady, and maybe I'll try to find her, because I still see her van sometimes driving around. She took paw prints and made a card for everyone there. She took some hair if you wanted the hair. ⁓ she did so much for you that wouldn't happen at the vet.

Erika (1:09:37)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:09:40)
Yeah.

Erika (1:09:41)
That is so sweet.

Aww.

Eric (1:09:49)
I think it was like $800. The vet probably would have been about $600. So was like an extra $200 for her to come to the house. Yeah. It was so amazing and it was so sad. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I was like, I don't watch football at all. I was like, no, come, come today. Today's fine. Like it was in for my dog. It all happened within two weeks. Like she got sick and it happened so fast and she was older.

Brittany Snell (1:09:54)
Yeah.

Erika (1:09:56)
What it's worth, the extra memories you get to keep and totally worth it.

Brittany Snell (1:09:58)
Right.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:10:15)
You know, for a Mastiff, she lived a long life. She lived 11 and a half, 12 years for a Mastiff. ⁓ it was, I'm on that page now and I love it. You do the seasons, you keep at it and as I've told other podcasters, we're in it for the long game. And as long as you keep doing it and those episodes will keep getting hits. So, amazing what you do. It's so cool.

Brittany Snell (1:10:17)
wow, yeah.

Yeah.

Erika (1:10:36)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:10:36)
Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

Erika (1:10:40)
Yeah, I give a lot of credit because that can't be an easy thing to just, like, must, you must keep reliving it and you just want to help people. just knowing that, that, like you said, if you're at least helping one person, one animal, it's all worth it.

Brittany Snell (1:10:55)
Right. Yeah. And it's kind of nice too, to have that outlet as well to work through grief. It's an interesting way to work through it. And I've certainly never had that kind of way to work through grief, but ⁓ it's been interesting. know, we lost our oldest dog in October ⁓ and it was the week of the Chicago marathon. Probably also kind of mess with my head a little bit, but having the podcast after that to kind of

Erika (1:11:02)
yeah.

Mm-hmm.

you

Eric (1:11:20)
Mm.

Brittany Snell (1:11:25)
figure it out because I suppressed it to get through the marathon and then to be able to kind of talk it over with different vets that I had on, know, like prior to recording, they'd kind of bring it up. We chat about it. She's still the picture in my signature on my podcast email. And I'm like, ⁓ I have to leave that. ⁓ so then I get questions about it. So then I have to explain it.

Erika (1:11:29)
Mm-hmm.

No.

Yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:11:47)
But it's kind of nice to be able to talk through it because again, it's like something that we just don't talk about. we just, you know, any kind of death, we just put it to the side. We try to keep on living and I think we could do a better job of like working through those things. And this isn't a therapy podcast, so we won't get into that, but these are just thoughts.

Erika (1:11:47)
Right.

Therapy. Yeah.

Absolutely.

Eric (1:12:09)
Yeah, it's

great. Canine Culture podcast. actually already, now I'm thinking of a second person to feed you for it. A friend of mine who's a vet way up in Vermont, like on the Canadian border. She's incredible too. So check it out, especially if you're a dog person, that would be awesome. Back to running. You're not off the hook. We have two final big questions and I can't wait to ask you.

Brittany Snell (1:12:15)
yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Eric (1:12:32)
Cause I didn't really prep you, but I think you know what's coming. I ask a question, the same question all year long. Erica does the same thing, but she asks it for the entirety of this podcast until she one day will.

Erika (1:12:41)
It's never going to change.

Stop trying to make a change.

Eric (1:12:46)
until she's no longer a cohost of the podcast, but I'm going to go first, Brittany. This can be fun. It can be silly. It can be serious. can be about dogs or running, whatever you want. I am asking everyone for a hot take for 2026. Do you have a hot take you can give me right now?

Erika (1:12:49)
Then you can change it.

Brittany Snell (1:13:02)
I gotta be careful, hold on. I do, I really have to be careful you guys.

Erika (1:13:05)
no you don't.

Eric (1:13:08)
You don't.

Erika (1:13:09)
Okay.

Eric (1:13:09)
Don't be careful. Don't do it.

Brittany Snell (1:13:11)
Okay,

I don't... I'm gonna play it safe.

I don't think any sport should be bashing the other. And let me back this up. I see a lot. So I did a high rocks last year. I still take high rocks classes because they're fun. I see a lot of Ironman athletes or triathletes bashing high rocks. I see a lot of marathoners bashing high rocks. But then I see Crossfitters bashing marathoners. And it's like,

At the end of the day, we're all putting in work, we're working hard, we're doing something, we're moving our bodies. Can we all just coexist and do our own sports, our own athletics, you know?

Erika (1:13:50)
This, this,

Eric (1:13:52)
That's a good take. That's a good take. Basketball.

Erika (1:13:52)
I love it, I love it. This is like the new girl, like, can't we all just get along? ⁓ Like rainbows and puppies and like, seriously, why the need for competition where there doesn't need to be competition? There's enough as it is.

Brittany Snell (1:13:55)
Yeah.

Eric (1:13:59)
Hehehehe

Brittany Snell (1:13:59)
Ha

That's me, yeah.

Eric (1:14:08)
All right. I'll accept

Brittany Snell (1:14:08)
Right. Yeah.

Eric (1:14:10)
that

Brittany Snell (1:14:10)
Okay.

Eric (1:14:11)
except for basketball because basketball players are soft. And if you're watching the NBA playoffs versus the NHL playoffs right now, it is a sad, sad thing to see what those basketball players are not playing through and what those hockey players are.

Erika (1:14:16)
Yes. Yeah.

I hate basketball.

I'm sorry. I cannot watch a game. I will blame it on though the squeaky shoes. I can watch it on mute, but I just cannot handle the noise at a basketball game. But he's kind of right. I'm on your side, Eric.

Brittany Snell (1:14:32)
Hmm.

Eric (1:14:39)
So I love your take for

Brittany Snell (1:14:40)
I don't want

Eric (1:14:41)
everything but basketball.

Brittany Snell (1:14:41)
it. Okay, okay. I can get behind it.

Eric (1:14:45)
I actually agree with your take a lot when you talk about runners versus crossfitters versus high rock versus triathletes because we're all just trying to stay fit and stay healthy and enjoy our sport. Why do we got to hate against the other one? Especially because they're like in the same genre of fitness. Yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:14:56)
Right. Right. Exactly.

Erika (1:15:02)
space.

Brittany Snell (1:15:04)
Yeah, right.

Yeah, it's like no one needs to be in this hierarchy like better than anyone. It's like, let's just all like applaud each other for doing their sports. It's tough, especially as adults. It's so hard. We're working full time jobs. We have families. We have responsibilities, unfortunately. And it's like, we should just support each other. But yeah, I guess that's me being like, okay, everyone come get under my arms. Come get under here. Let's all be friends.

Erika (1:15:22)
Hmm.

Eric (1:15:31)
and

Erika (1:15:31)
am 100 % on the same page as Ebrity. Like, that's how I would prefer things to be.

Eric (1:15:34)
Yeah.

And if a crossfitter ran a little more, if a runner did a little more crossfit or training, strength training, Erica Deer strength training, you would be better at the sport you love. I just, I've been crossfitting more lately this past year and now we're doing 5K cool down runs after.

Erika (1:15:44)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:15:47)
True. So true.

Erika (1:15:47)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:15:51)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:15:54)
Shane, you're feeling great. It's all like multi-purpose.

Brittany Snell (1:15:54)
yeah. yeah.

Eric (1:15:58)
Right,

and my cross-fitting's getting better because my running, and my running's getting better because my cross-fitting, strength training, whatever you want to call it. Like, it all works, it all helps out in all areas of fitness.

Brittany Snell (1:16:02)
Right.

Erika (1:16:10)
Mm-hmm. Amen to that. Well, yeah, you nailed that one, Brittany. Now let's see if you can nail my question. So we have a Spotify playlist, and we like to invite our guests to add a song to it. So is there anything out there that will get you super pumped up, just ready to take on the day?

Eric (1:16:12)
Good hot take! Well done, Brittany!

Brittany Snell (1:16:27)
Okay, before I give you an answer, I have to just say that I currently am obsessed with Olivia Dean. Anything Olivia Dean, but not for a pump up, just because she's phenomenal. She's a great artist. I love her music. a pump up, uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah. For a pump up song.

Erika (1:16:41)
She does that, the man I need, right? Like that song gets stuck in my head on the regular. Mm-hmm.

I mean, it could be Olivia Dean, just something that will make you happy. That'll do.

Eric (1:16:49)
which is something that you like to listen to while running, like...

Brittany Snell (1:16:56)
man, there's so many. ⁓ One of my playlists right now has 800 songs on it. ⁓

Erika (1:17:02)
Yes.

Eric (1:17:02)
It's like

sometimes just the song of the moment. Like when this episode actually drops, it might be a new song. But like for me right now, I'm not even a Justin Bieber guy, but it's that Justin Bieber song everyone's playing. They're like, Justin. What is it called? I thought you said Beauty and the Beast for a second. Yeah, yeah, I think.

Brittany Snell (1:17:07)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Erika (1:17:14)
The beauty and the beat. Beauty and the beat. No, no, no, I think it's beauty and the beat. Like it's his

Brittany Snell (1:17:21)
Hahaha

Yeah

Erika (1:17:24)
one of his first ones, but it came up at Coachella. And that's why that's why you've been hitting lately.

Brittany Snell (1:17:27)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric (1:17:27)
Right. And for me, a lot

of it is I see a song on Instagram Reels or something, and then I got to Spotify it later. I'm like, yeah, and I start playing it a ton. And then eventually I forget about it because a new song came in. All right, let's hear it.

Erika (1:17:37)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:17:39)
Mm hmm. Ooh. I know what mine is.

Mine's T.I. Let him know. You know T.I.'s most recent song and it sounds like his old stuff and it's so good. Yeah, let him know. Yeah, you have. Yeah, you have. You've heard it in a reel or a TikTok for sure.

Erika (1:17:47)
Ooh, I haven't heard.

I love the old stuff. You said let them know? You got it.

Eric (1:17:54)
I haven't heard it. I'm gonna check it out.

Okay, okay.

I'll check it out after this. Yeah. I'll check it out. The playlist is long. Maybe soon or already longer than your 800 song playlist. So.

Erika (1:18:01)
It's going right on the playlist.

Brittany Snell (1:18:10)
You

Erika (1:18:10)
No,

because it's only like one or maybe the occasional two songs per person per episode. so there's only like 300 max, 300 max.

Eric (1:18:21)
Sure. Do you listen

to music when you run? Like, do you need music or can you listen to podcasts? Like, I can't do either. Some people listen to podcasts, some people do music. I listen to nothing because I'm a psycho. But Sweet But Psycho, that was a song I was into for a while, by the way. Yep.

Brittany Snell (1:18:25)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:18:27)
me too.

you

Brittany Snell (1:18:34)
Yeah, I do music.

Erika (1:18:37)
Ava Max. Mm-hmm.

Don't I know?

Brittany Snell (1:18:40)
I do music because I listen to a podcast. I'm usually not a hundred percent focused. And then I'm like, wait, what did they say? Like, yeah, like Andrew Huberman, he's giving you so much information. And if you try to listen to him, you're like, wait, what was that? And you're like trying to Google the term and you're like, I don't, I don't know what we're talking about. What are we talking about? Like the equilibrium and the hippocampus. And so pretty much just music when I run. Yeah.

Eric (1:18:45)
Exactly. You got to go back. Yeah.

Erika (1:18:47)
Yeah.

I got that.

Eric (1:19:04)
Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

Erika (1:19:05)
I started

doing audiobooks just to kind of make an easy run easier because I don't have the music to play off of. And then I am focusing more on the book, but not so much like a speed. So I find that that works sometimes. But you're right. If I lose focus for even like a half a second, I'm like, what did they say? Like, what did I miss? Yeah, it's hard to get off track.

Brittany Snell (1:19:11)
Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah. I am going to plug though. Hold on. I'm going to plug for

Eric (1:19:24)
Yeah. And I wanna make sure.

Brittany Snell (1:19:28)
you, Erica. If you haven't listened, Andy Glaze has his book on audible. Have you, have you read or heard it? ⁓ yeah.

Erika (1:19:33)
have read it. I've listened, yes. He's got such an amazing story. He's come

back from so much. And I really appreciate that he read it himself. I really do.

Brittany Snell (1:19:44)
Yeah.

Eric, have you listened to it yet?

Eric (1:19:47)
No, because I have not yet gotten Erica's audible, ⁓ login, but, but I have listened to Andy Glaze's stories on the On the Runs podcast, if you've never heard of it. So it's a good podcast. And they had Andy Glaze on. He's awesome. He's awesome. I also need to, shout out my race tats for bringing us those two questions. So thank you, Don, for my race tats. Check them out. He's not far from you, Brittany. He's in, yeah, South Carolina.

Erika (1:19:50)
I'll hook him up. Yeah. He just needs to log in. got to log him in so I can download for him.

Brittany Snell (1:20:01)
Hahaha

Erika (1:20:01)
Nice plug. He is a cool dude.

Mm-hmm.

Charleston, right?

Eric (1:20:18)
Yeah. There's a big 10K, one of the biggest 10Ks in the country, and it goes over like that big bridge in Charleston, and he always has a big set up there. It's like a week-long festival, so.

Brittany Snell (1:20:18)
Okay, four hours. Yeah, that's not bad.

Erika (1:20:18)
Close enough.

Closer than us.

Brittany Snell (1:20:26)
yeah.

Okay.

Erika (1:20:30)
Hold on, Dawn, Dawn, I am coming down to South Carolina the beginning of June. We gotta meet up. We gotta meet up for a drink or a run or something. I'm sure I'll have to run. I'll hit him up.

Eric (1:20:36)
⁓ yeah. You should do it. By

the

this was a

lot of fun, Brittany. I'm so happy we finally did this. We've talked about it for a while, ever since New York. And then I had to reschedule, actually. It's usually not me. But this case it was. I had a work trip. And thank you for being so flexible. Thank you for being so awesome. I can't wait to see you. If you see me when you're in the mascot costume, you need to like go crazy or something. Yeah!

Brittany Snell (1:20:48)
Yeah.

Okay, I'll tackle you.

Erika (1:21:07)
Go ape on Eric. I would laugh so hard.

Brittany Snell (1:21:08)
Yeah.

Eric (1:21:08)
Give you permission. I absolutely give you permission.

It'll be a lot of fun. ⁓ And then shout out to Salt Stick. No, I feel like this half this podcast was sponsored by Salt Stick and I'm here for it. It's totally cool.

Brittany Snell (1:21:19)
Ha ha ha.

Eric (1:21:21)
I ⁓ love that you are involved in the community and you take the chances you get to go and work at the booth and go and volunteer at things because you did the nine plus one, which honestly, I thought of the fix in the middle of this podcast. They need to make it the five plus five.

Erika (1:21:36)
Yeah.

ha ha ha. Get more, get more volunteers. Yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:21:41)
I've worked five.

Eric (1:21:42)
Yes.

Volunteer more often. Only got to do five races, but they're hard to get in. But maybe they'll be a little harder if everyone's not trying to get into nine. Make it the five plus five.

Brittany Snell (1:21:53)
Mmm.

Erika (1:21:53)
Honestly,

that's a pretty good idea.

Brittany Snell (1:21:55)
It's hard to get those

volunteer slots. me tell you, they go faster than the race spots.

Erika (1:22:00)
Really?

Eric (1:22:00)
really?

Erika (1:22:00)
So they always have enough volunteers because of this program. That's a good problem to have, though, having too many volunteers. Yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:22:04)
yeah.

Eric (1:22:07)
It's all a good problem.

Brittany Snell (1:22:07)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Eric (1:22:10)
Here's a hot take. The New York Roadrunners is doing phenomenal things. Everyone on threads and everything just bashing them. And if you're all about positivity or about like good things or running in this community, and then you go out there and you're bashing the New York Roadrunners and saying, I'll never run a race again. Listen, they'll be fine, but that's not going to solve the problem. It's not. So that's my hot take is like

Brittany Snell (1:22:16)
Mm-hmm.

Erika (1:22:26)
Frustrated people.

Brittany Snell (1:22:30)
you

Erika (1:22:31)
Right.

Brittany Snell (1:22:34)
Right.

Eric (1:22:36)
figure out something else. If you don't have a solution, like the five plus five, shut the fuck up.

Brittany Snell (1:22:43)
Yeah. Yeah. I like it.

Erika (1:22:44)
Tell them how you really feel,

Eric (1:22:44)
That's my hot take. Yeah.

I'm in threads all the time reading them. I'm not often commenting. ⁓ I'll post a thread one day like the other day I wrote, put the snowblower away. Hope it doesn't snow anymore.

Brittany Snell (1:22:59)
Ha

Erika (1:23:00)
You're asking

for it. I'm glad it hasn't yet though.

Eric (1:23:03)
Yeah.

Well, this is a lot of fun, Brittany. Thank you. Erica, do you have anything for Brittany before we let her go?

Erika (1:23:10)
just want to say it was so great to finally meet you. I think you are awesome and I can't wait to hear about how that Iron Man goes. ⁓ my gosh, I'm so excited for you. I know it's something scary, but you are strong. You will do wonderfully and we believe in you. So thank you. Thank you for coming on and just sharing all your stories, especially like dealing with pots and stuff too. That's not an easy thing to do.

Eric (1:23:24)
Yeah.

Brittany Snell (1:23:24)
Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for having me on. Yeah.

Yeah, thank you guys for having me. And maybe Erica, you'll do one triathlon with me, maybe.

Erika (1:23:39)
Maybe I'll start

with a sprint. Maybe I'll start with a sprint. Let's start small. Let's start small. I love snacks. Snacks are my favorite. I'm going to pull out a, ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy. Just candy everywhere. Snacks. ⁓ that's why I love them. Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:23:39)
Do you have someone to do it with?

Brittany Snell (1:23:42)
Yeah, we could do a sprint. We'll do a sprint. Yeah. hmm. 2027 per year.

Eric (1:23:47)
You can do it together. Yeah. You can have snacks on your bike. She told you all about the snacks you can put on your bike and in your jersey and the kit and everything. ⁓ I'm getting excited. Maybe I'll take my bike off Facebook Marketplace. Yeah. Yeah, you get to eat. It's just like an ultra. Scary and you get to eat. All right. Well, this is

Brittany Snell (1:23:54)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓

Yeah.

Eric (1:24:09)
a lot of

Well, this is awesome, guys. I hope you enjoyed that. I'm so excited to finally have her on the podcast and chat with you outside of a mascot costume. So Brittany Snell on the On the Runs podcast. That was wicked awesome.

Brittany Snell (1:24:22)
Thank you guys.

Erika (1:24:27)
Brittany, ⁓ thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I'm so glad that we were all able to connect. I know you had Eric's connection separately. We have our own Salt Stick connection. I think that's awesome. But man, I love everything you're doing and I wish you so much luck at your try. And I say your try because I'm, I don't know if I'm ready. I don't think I'm ready. let me try skiing first. There we go.

Eric (1:24:50)
Just do it. Rip off the bandaid. I ⁓

I'll tell you what I did. Remember we had Alex Larson? By the way, thank you to my race tats. Thank you to my race tats for bringing us the guest segment. But anyways, Alex Larson. Remember we had Alex on about a year ago and I was like, I really need to sell my triathlon bike. And she goes-

Erika (1:24:58)
Of

Eric (1:25:09)
I wish I did that because now she has an old triathlon bike that never got used and she just basically let someone use it for free because it became not worthless, but just lost the value. Like why get rid of it now? So I posted it on Marketplace, my triathlon bike, because I've done four or five Ironmans slash half Ironmans with it. It's in great shape. The last time it's ever been touched was when it got tuned again.

Erika (1:25:14)
Mmm.

I see.

Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:25:38)
So I put it on Facebook Marketplace and then I submitted it to this website that will buy the bike from you. And to be honest, the company, it's called like the Pro's Closet, offered me more money than I thought I'd get. Obviously I put it up for double on Marketplace and then hopefully to make a deal. But I have till Friday to accept the offer. Yeah, it's over a thousand dollars, the offer. And I'm like, well, I'm going to do that. It's not like 500 bucks.

Erika (1:25:58)
make a decision on it? Okay.

Sure.

Eric (1:26:07)
But I was kind of like, I'm hoping someone just like calls me first or hits me up on Marketplace more so, and I can be like, yeah, here's a deal. Make a couple more hundred dollars than what Pro's Closet will give me. But then I don't have to deal with packaging it because the Pro's Closet sends you something. You have to pack it, ship it and all that.

Erika (1:26:18)
Yup.

You'd rather

just hand it off to somebody and be like, throw it in your truck.

Eric (1:26:27)
I'd rather just hand it off and be

like, this is what the pros closet offered me. You give me an extra a hundred dollars, it's yours. Right? I'm not trying to make a ton more extra, but it's kind of sad because I'm selling a triathlon bike and I love doing triathlon. However, my justification is I will eventually sometime this summer or maybe, maybe in the fall when the season's over, buy a new road bike.

Erika (1:26:55)
Mm-hmm.

Eric (1:26:56)
Because I don't have a road bike and I want to bike more, but I'm not going out there in a triathlon bike just to ride. And then if I'm, I'm not going to be doing an Ironman anytime soon, but if I do a triathlon, it will be a sprint or an Olympic and the road bike is perfect.

Erika (1:27:09)
Yeah. What is the real difference between a tri bike and just a road bike? Is it just because it's so much lighter so you can go faster? Like, what's the deal?

Eric (1:27:18)
It's more about comfort over 112 miles and you're in this aero position. You're not sitting upright like you are in a real bike. You're in more of an aero position and it over 112 miles, a little more comfort. You use your energy more efficiently. But you don't need that in a sprint triathlon for a 10 mile bike ride. It's not, yeah, in a 10 mile bike ride, it will save you minutes.

Erika (1:27:20)
⁓ I mean that makes sense.

that's fair.

Nah, you'll be fine.

Eric (1:27:46)
in a 112 mile bike ride, it will probably save you an hour. I felt like I had that kind of advantage. I could bluffing on the number.

Erika (1:27:52)
⁓ wow. That's, yeah.

Okay. See here, here I would be on

a fricking little Huffy with a basket on the front. Bring, bring, bring. Like here I come on my little bike.

Eric (1:28:03)
That's all you need for a sprint.

You don't need to do anything fancy, but it's not it's not the end of like an era It's just a pause because when I have the time to do triathlons again I can't wait to do a triathlon again, and then I get to buy brand new stuff all over again

Erika (1:28:08)
huh.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, there you go. If us

runners can buy a new pair of shoes every X amount of day, like months, whatever, you should at least get a new bike every couple of years.

Eric (1:28:30)
Yeah, so I just put it up for sale and it will be gone. Yeah, it will very likely be gone by the next time we actually talk. And I'm totally okay with that because it's just sitting in the shed. Last season it never got written once. And this year before I wrote it twice because I haven't done a triathlon since like 2024. 23 maybe, maybe 23. It was 23, yeah.

Erika (1:28:33)
Go buy Eric's bike. Go buy it.

Well, keep us posted.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Yep.

Eric (1:29:00)
So it's up for sale. Sad.

Erika (1:29:02)
Yeah, just wait

till your kids get a little bit older so they can occupy themselves or Adeline can babysit and then boom, built in babysitter. And then you can do whatever you need to.

Eric (1:29:10)
Yeah. She's gonna, she's gonna love that.

Erika (1:29:16)
That's just like a rite of passage. Yeah, that's a rite of passage as an older sibling. You just, you have to. I had to do it. It's just, you live with it.

Eric (1:29:16)
Could be like dad's out riding his bike again. Yeah.

She's, yeah, she's.

Yeah, she's joining a new cheer team. She left her current cheer team for the last couple years. Had to try out this past weekend. It's a little more elite, a little more money. ⁓ I will be traveling a little more, but I can build on my Strava heat maps, hopefully.

Erika (1:29:30)
Yeah.

Okay.

That was my first thought for you and I'm like, that's exciting.

Eric (1:29:46)
Yeah.

Well, I told you where I was going. You finally figured that out, but that slipped because I'm like, I'm not doing that international marathon. But you know, one of the first things I did when I found out where we were not just going, but where we were staying? Strava heat maps. Where do people run in this area? Postal area of Europe. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait. I'm not going to tell everybody where it is right now. I'm going to let it wait because who knows?

Erika (1:30:04)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

You

might actually do said marathon that I was trying to guess for the longest time and never actually wound up guessing. Well, you kind of did give it away. I caught on.

Eric (1:30:16)
You gave up on guessing.

You gave up.

Who knows? Who knows? Anyways. What are you looking forward to this Memorial Day weekend?

Erika (1:30:24)
if the logistics work out.

Honestly, that expo, the Run to Remember expo, I'm really looking forward to hopefully seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new people and just polishing my podcasting skills out in public. I don't have any other real plans. How about you?

Eric (1:30:46)
Well, we are, so we're going camping. Yeah, we're going, and I'm leaving camping to do the expo, which I want to do.

Erika (1:30:48)
camping. You're going camping.

Well, good. Yeah. Good thing you have the camper

because it's going to be raining, I think. I don't think it's going to be the best weekend. Yeah.

Eric (1:31:00)
Well, I actually think it's going to be alright. It's not going

to be that bad. Like, people look at the weather and they see rains like, ⁓ my god, the weekend's a wash. It's going to like rain for 30 minutes at 5 PM. ⁓ it's going to rain, can't go do anything. But I am excited. Like, I wanted to do this. This is not my camping trip. Let's just say that. I am...

Erika (1:31:07)
True.

Hey, if that's how it turns out, let it go.

Mm.

Eric (1:31:24)
I mean, yes, we're all going camping, but we're going camping for another reason, for another person, and I am really just the driver towing the camper. I'm like, hey, I'm going to leave on Saturday. Drive. It's not that far of a drive. It's only two hours in Boston. So it's an extra hour than what it would typically be. But then I'll go back up and enjoy camping and we'll come home Monday night. And I'm looking forward to that because it's a long weekend. We have at work Friday and

Monday off, and guess what I'm gonna do on Thursday the cards play right in my favor.

Erika (1:31:50)
⁓

There's gotta be some kind of running thing going on. No? No? I don't know, swimming.

Eric (1:31:59)
No, no, not running. No.

I haven't done this in over five years.

Erika (1:32:06)
I don't know, man, what?

Hockey game. ⁓ When you look for the button.

Eric (1:32:09)
I might

be playing hockey. Yeah. Justin's been trying to get me to go out and play with him. He's been playing lately and I said, when are you playing like stick in pockets? Like you just show up and the ice is open, 10 bucks. You can go shoot around and scrimmage. And so maybe on Thursday, maybe on Thursday I'll be, look at this hockey puck, Timberlaine Owls right there. Just happens to be on the desk. Yeah.

Erika (1:32:16)
Even better.

Nice.

Nice.

From a fart, kind of looked like a cat and I got excited. Okay.

Eric (1:32:41)
An owl. Owl.

Anyways, Thursday, Chad. Not Ultra Chad. The Clydesdale Runner. The original Chad. The original.

Erika (1:32:50)
No, no, no, no. He's now our Ultra

Chad. We have a Chad Ultra. We have both now.

Eric (1:32:57)
No, no, no,

no, no. His name is Jeremy. Chad on Thursday, he did a 50K. It was incredible. He's become a trail runner, ultra runner. He's insane. He also, found out he's a Girls on the Run coach. We found that off the air because we talked to some Girls on the Run people and they mingled during crosstalk. That was cool. And then next week, Tuesday is already ready. It's a great episode. You guys are going to love her.

Erika (1:33:00)
you

Uh-huh. That was a fun, fun thing to, yeah, to talk about.

Eric (1:33:25)
And you're going to love it. If you want to go to a gala this fall, you're definitely going to want to listen. This is like a fancy dress up, but wear running sneakers, kind of gala. It's going to be really cool. And then, yeah. And then Thursday, it will either be Erika and Tara's women's episode or our live show for Millennium, if I can get that all pieced together in time. Be on the lookout and the show notes and everything for the links to the streaming hour. We're going to try from the expo, if everything goes well with the internet.

Erika (1:33:33)
Mm-hmm. That's my kind of dress up.

Eric (1:33:55)
And also in the show notes, like everything about Brittany and my race tats, all that guys have an amazing Memorial Day weekend. Be safe. Thank you to everyone for everything you've done in the for serving. Remember it is a fun weekend. get work off, we get to party, drink, have a good time, go camping. We get to run, but we get to do it because of the ones who serve for us. So thank you everyone who served. Erica, take us home.

Erika (1:34:18)
Mm-hmm.

Once again, big thank you to My Race Tats for sponsoring our guest segment. And thank you all for listening. You know we love you.

Eric (1:34:30)
Don't fear the code brown.

Erika (1:34:31)
And don't forget to stretch.

Eric (1:34:33)
you

Eric (1:35:20)
in New York you're running through New York City the whole time. The bureaus. I know Erica make fun of me for saying that wrong,

Erika (1:35:20)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany Snell (1:35:24)
you