1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,800 You're listening to episode 229 of the Marathon Running podcast. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,480 In this episode we're going to talk about financial 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:17,000 intelligence for marathoners. This is the. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,760 Marathon Running podcast by Letty and Ryan from We've Got 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,200 the Runs. Join us in our running community 6 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,880 for weekly content that is motivational, educational, and 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,880 inspirational, and let the Marathon Running Podcast take 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,960 you from the starting line to the finish line and beyond. 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,320 Hey runners, and welcome to episode 229, the episode where 10 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,320 we talk about financial intelligence for marathoners. 11 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:46,880 How are you, Ryan? I'm good. 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,640 How about you? Very good myself. 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,640 Thank you. So we're going to figure out how 14 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,640 Federal Reserve interest rate cuts affect your marathon 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,640 running time. Jesus Christ, guys, please. 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,080 Or not. Don't turn this off. 17 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,720 Ryan is completely joking. And I guess as a lawyer, I'm 18 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,160 going to give you a little disclaimer. 19 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,120 We're not financial advisors in any way, shape or form. 20 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:13,920 So lady, I was actually intrigued when you brought this 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:15,240 topic up. So what? 22 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,440 What inspired this? So this episode was inspired by 23 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,240 the fact that the Tokyo Marathon drawing just happened this week 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,200 actually, and a lot of people didn't make it in. 25 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,520 It's also been inspired by Boston tightening their 26 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,360 standards for the 2026 marathon, the London Marathon having 27 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,880 800,000 and some more applicants for their races. 28 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,120 Basically, I want to say forcing, but it's not forcing, 29 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,720 but making people that want to run those races having to sign 30 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:53,480 up with more expensive tour groups and kind of, you know, 31 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:58,280 realizing that this whole marathoning is not the cheap 32 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,120 sport that it once used to be or all you needed was a pair of 33 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:02,120 shoes. Yeah. 34 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,120 So I mean those of you who have probably listened to other 35 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,560 podcasts know that there are and those of you who don't know 36 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,639 there are multiple ways to get into marathon. 37 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,200 If you can't qualify them for the marathon, a lot of times you 38 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,960 can get in the back door way by paying more money essentially, 39 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,760 right? Yes, yes, that's possible 40 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:21,920 through the tour groups and a lot of times, you know, 41 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,040 fundraising for charity, which obviously is a great 'cause 42 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,240 we've had previous podcast episodes where we talked about 43 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,680 different ways of fundraising. Just to inspire you guys. 44 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,400 If you are signed up for charity raise how you can help make that 45 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,480 money so it doesn't end up on your credit card bill. 46 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,120 And along those lines, this podcast episode is to kind of 47 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:46,640 help you figure out how to travel smart, how to use cards 48 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:50,320 and and all that complicated stuff to not just make traveling 49 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,160 more affordable, but also perhaps make it more 50 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:55,560 comfortable. Yeah. 51 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,600 So I think after everything involved with going to a 52 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,160 marathon, I can get kind of pricey. 53 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,760 So it would be good to budget and use your resources well. 54 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,280 Yes, exactly. And there are tons of resources 55 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,480 out there. There's tons of Facebook groups 56 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:12,720 that are particular to marathons. 57 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,840 There's Reddit online where people ask questions. 58 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,720 There's always little I don't want to say. 59 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:20,600 Loopholes, but there's always ways. 60 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:25,040 Of maybe saving a little bit. For example, the Boston Marathon 61 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,040 is super expensive if you want to stay close to the finish line 62 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,600 for that weekend particularly, but there are tour groups where 63 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,200 you can just book the room and, and, and things like that, you 64 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,720 know? Yeah, or one of your tips where 65 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,040 you just book the hotel super early on a refundable 66 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,640 reservation and then you can do your planning afterwards. 67 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:46,960 Which unfortunately doesn't work for Boston. 68 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,080 Yeah, not for Boston, but other ones. 69 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,080 For other races, that definitely works. 70 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:56,600 If you book a hotel prior to the lottery being drawn and then 71 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,560 you're in, you're in, right? So who'd you find to talk to us 72 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,880 about marathon finances? Yes. 73 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,120 So I invited Ben Common Cool onto our podcast who is a travel 74 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,840 advisor and has its own website which is Ben's bigdeal.com. 75 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,240 I heard him speak on another podcast and it was very 76 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,800 informative to me because he was talking about different credit 77 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,400 cards, using points, using points for lounges. 78 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,160 And as any marathoner can imagine, how nice would it be to 79 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,520 travel the day after your marathon and actually sitting in 80 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,920 an airport lounge where you have food available and everything 81 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,280 else, rather than just having to sit in an airport? 82 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:42,280 I personally experienced the lounges after traveling home 83 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:46,000 from Boston because my friend Min Shout out to Min has lounge 84 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,640 access and it was just so pleasant to sit on soft 85 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,800 cushioned chairs and eating whatever I wanted, having some 86 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,560 champagne and just relaxing prior to traveling. 87 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,000 So that kind of intrigued me and was interesting. 88 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 And I figured if it's interesting to me, it's probably 89 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,640 also interesting to other tired marathoners. 90 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,840 Yeah, especially if if you can balance like any costs for the 91 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:12,280 credit cards versus the perks you get and you'd go running 92 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:14,480 enough, I think it'd make it worthwhile. 93 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,440 Exactly. So Letty, you said two guests, 94 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,680 so who's guest #2? So guest #2 is Chris Hooser, who 95 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,600 is the running concierge at the Westin Hotels. 96 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,200 The Westin Hotel is a large group of hotels and they happen 97 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,840 to have a presence in the cities of the United States that host 98 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:35,240 major marathons and and the Westin has made an effort to 99 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,960 support marathon runners with the amenities that they provide, 100 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,320 food options and really tailored to them. 101 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,880 They also have been known to have running groups that are not 102 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,040 on marathon day and provide you with roots, etcetera. 103 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,120 So when I learned about that, I was kind of intrigued by it and 104 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,760 also wanted to get Chris on here for an interview to talk a 105 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,040 little bit about that. Sounds interesting, you want to 106 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,080 get into it. Sure. 107 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,000 So we're going to start with Ben without any further ado, we're 108 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 not going to play our conversation with Ben. 109 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,480 All right, so I'm on with Ben Kumenko. 110 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,840 Ben, thank you so much for joining us today. 111 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,680 Thank you for having me, Letty. Yes, of course, and you're a 112 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,680 little bit of an expert when it comes to travelling points and 113 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,400 credit cards. Tell us briefly a little bit 114 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,000 about your background. So I've been a business traveler 115 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,120 for about 15 years, and I probably did it wrong in the 116 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,120 first five years, meaning that I was looking for the cheapest 117 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,520 flight, the most efficient way to do it. 118 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,320 And So what happens is when you do that, you end up flying a lot 119 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,840 of different airlines and you never accumulate enough points 120 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,280 and you never earned enough recognition or what they call 121 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:51,520 elite status with an airline. So I didn't realize that people 122 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,360 are getting free upgrades of first class. 123 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,760 I didn't realize that you didn't have to pay for bags. 124 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,240 I didn't realize that you could choose your own seat for free. 125 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:01,760 Those are the things I was missing out on for the first 126 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,600 five years. And those are things that most 127 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,720 people miss out when they fly because they're always looking 128 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,160 for the cheapest flight and don't really think of the big 129 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,160 picture. And if you have listeners who 130 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,720 are flying regularly or need to get on a plane regularly, you 131 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:16,120 have to start to think about that. 132 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,680 The average American flies maybe once a year. 133 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,240 And so that's not that valid to them. 134 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,520 But if you're getting on a plane, if you're going to races, 135 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,320 then you need to start thinking about these things because now 136 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,320 you could be able to save money by having maybe apply for the 137 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,200 right credit card. You're going to have the right 138 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,320 information by choosing an airline that fits your lifestyle 139 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:35,920 as well. Perfect. 140 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,400 All right, so with that, we'll hop right in into question #1 141 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,040 why should marathon runners consider traveling using points 142 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,520 instead of cash back and when they're using a credit card? 143 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,840 Yeah. So I think there's huge value in 144 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:55,120 getting a cash back card if you're looking to use it for 145 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,040 other things. But if you're looking 146 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,320 specifically for travel, travel reward points give you a benefit 147 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,400 of two things. One is they do allow you to cash 148 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:05,800 it out. And a lot of people don't think 149 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,200 that that they can, but they can, number one. 150 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,840 And #2 they can also use it for travel and then get more than 151 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:14,560 what they get normally with cash back. 152 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,960 Because let's say, for example, if you're earning 3% or 2% cash 153 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,160 back right now, those 2% is $0.02 per point. 154 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,800 You can be able to redeem travel rewards for a lot more than one 155 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,400 cent. You can actually get it two 156 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,680 cents, three cents, sometimes even 7 or $0.08 per point. 157 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,440 So you can get more value when you apply it for travel if 158 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,799 you're travelling. That makes a lot of sense, but 159 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,559 so how can travel points be specifically advantageous for 160 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,800 marathon related travel? Well, I think if you're getting 161 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,960 on a plane, what you're thinking about is this, you know, you 162 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:49,960 want to have a more comfortable experience. 163 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,920 You're looking for more time to relax. 164 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,960 Traveling itself is a very stressful situation. 165 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,560 You're, you're not in your home, you're in a faraway place. 166 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,120 Things happen that don't go as designed. 167 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,760 And so you need to maybe have some of the perks that some of 168 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,760 these travel cards give. Like for example, most people 169 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,080 who have a cash back card have no annual fee cards. 170 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,000 Most travel cards usually incur some type of travel, some kind 171 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,200 of annual fee. And if sometimes you're thinking 172 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,120 about it, you go, I don't want to get a card with an annual 173 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:23,880 fee. It's because you don't think 174 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,000 that these cards offer something that they do. 175 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,480 Like, for example, if you end up at an airport and the flight 176 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:34,080 gets delayed enough six hours or more, or you have to overnight 177 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,440 at A at an airport. Do you know that some of these 178 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,720 credit cards, these travel cards will pay for your hotel and 179 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,080 they'll pay for food at a, you know, at a nice restaurant, not 180 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,040 just in the airport. And they'll even pay for a hotel 181 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:49,440 of your choosing. And you don't have to go stand 182 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,240 in line for an hour waiting for the airport and begging the 183 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,040 airline to give you a hotel voucher. 184 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,040 And so these are a lot of things that will give you a chance. 185 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,600 So as soon as I know the flight goes six hours or 12 hours 186 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,800 delayed, depending on which credit card you have, I 187 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,160 literally start booking my hotels and then I call Uber and 188 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,240 I go have a dinner and then and I come back and then they have a 189 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,240 flight for me the next day. You know, if that's going to be 190 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,480 the case and I don't have to spend my whole day at the 191 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,960 airport. That's very nice, but let's talk 192 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,920 about some other perks. Are there any other particular 193 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,080 perks that justify the annual fee for marathon runners? 194 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,600 Well, I think if you're looking at hotels and flights itself, I 195 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,000 think those are major expenses when you're traveling, right? 196 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,000 For Marathon, I wouldn't say they would, they would probably 197 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:37,360 be best used for those things, rental cars, hotels, airline, I 198 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,440 would say those are the majority of things that you know are the 199 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,760 make up the bulk of your expenses. 200 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,520 And so if you're looking at from that perspective, you can apply 201 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,360 it for those type of things. Think about this, for example, 202 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,280 one of the things is people always stress about getting to 203 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,960 get to their flight on time. One of the biggest challenges 204 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,280 you have is you may not know how long does it take. 205 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,160 I live in Los Angeles. It could take maybe 40 minutes 206 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,640 to get there or can take 2 hours to get there and I may miss for 207 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:05,840 a flight. One of the things that you could 208 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,160 do to help expedite your your your process through those gate 209 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,400 is to have something called TSA pre-check. 210 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,760 Some credit cards offer that for free. 211 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,440 And then if you already have it, you can actually use it for your 212 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:21,400 family, your friend. It doesn't even have to be used 213 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:22,480 for you. Some of these credit cards will 214 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,440 allow you to use these these perks and these credits for 215 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,600 someone else. So if you have a best friend and 216 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,160 they're traveling with you, you don't have to go in one line. 217 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:32,840 They go the other line. You guys can both go in the same 218 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:33,480 line together. Oh. 219 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,600 That's very nice, very nice. All right, So what are the? 220 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,200 Key benefits for marathon runners when they look into 221 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:42,760 credit cards to maximize travel savings for races. 222 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,280 Well, I think there's a lot of things that you can look at, but 223 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,600 there's three major things I think people are looking for. 224 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,040 One when you're looking for a credit card is travel card 225 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,200 specifically, you want to make sure that they have a big 226 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,800 welcome bonus because you may be starting with zero points. 227 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,280 You have none. And like how long is it going to 228 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,560 take to get there? Well, in the first three months 229 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,880 they'll give you an opportunity to earn 50,060 thousand 70,000 230 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,520 points, which can be good for either a round trip ticket 231 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,120 somewhere for your race, or it could even be used. 232 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,560 If you want to go a little bit fancy, you can go up to the 233 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:18,600 front of the plane and fly international in business class 234 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:20,960 on a life flatbed. Then it can be enough for that. 235 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,520 The other thing you should be looking for is multipliers. 236 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,040 If you eat a lot, if you go to the grocery store a lot, if you 237 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,920 pay a lot for gas, if you depending on what your life, 238 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,680 what you spend a lot in, you should look for a card that 239 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:35,960 maybe gives you more than one cent per point. 240 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:38,600 Some of these cards will give you a lot of points, like if 241 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,360 you're using, for example, if you go to the office supply 242 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,040 store, did you know that there's one card that has a office 243 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,000 supply store bonus of 5X? So you can get five points for 244 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,320 every dollar if you buy something from this office 245 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,400 supply store. Now a lot of people may think, 246 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:54,600 well, I don't usually go to the office supply store much. 247 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:59,520 But if you use Amazon, if you use Home Depot often, you can go 248 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,720 buy a Home Depot gift card or an Amazon gift card at the office 249 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,400 supply store and now earn 5X. And so now you can use that 250 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:08,760 Amazon gift card and just load up your account. 251 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,600 So now you're earning 5X on all your Amazon purchases. 252 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,880 That's pretty amazing. What about the activation fees 253 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,360 for those gift cards? So they're usually with those 254 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,160 particular store brands, there's no activation fee, but they also 255 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,400 have these other more flexible ones they call like Visa gift 256 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,640 cards or MasterCard gift cards. You can use them at any retailer 257 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,920 that earns and you can earn 5X on those things as well. 258 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,800 And the great thing is some people depending on who you, you 259 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,880 could even use those Visa gift cards to pay your utilities. 260 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,800 So if you have insurance, car insurance or your utilities, 261 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,800 your water and gas and power, they'll have like a full debit 262 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,920 card with expiration. You enter that in and a lot of 263 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,040 people paid it that way. That's very, very nice. 264 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:51,640 Awesome. All right, so let's. 265 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,920 Talk about lounge XSA little bit. 266 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,440 I recently flew back from Boston and my friend Min, shout out to 267 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:00,000 Min let me go into the lounge with him. 268 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,200 It was pretty amazing. We had champagne, we had all 269 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,920 sorts of food. So I figured at that point it's 270 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,720 very important to talk about this because we as runners, 271 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,320 we're tired from running and it's so nice to sit in a lounge. 272 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:14,400 Tell us a little bit about that. Well, there are lots of lounges 273 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,680 out there. Sometimes if you buy a business 274 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:19,880 class ticket or first class ticket internationally, you'll 275 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:21,880 be able to get access into those lounges. 276 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,760 However, even if you don't have business class or first class 277 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,160 and you're just sitting in the economy or maybe the extra leg 278 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,640 room of the economy section, you can still get into lounge. 279 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,840 And one of the ways to do that is by having the right credit 280 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,160 card. Some of them have a program 281 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:41,480 called Priority Pass and this company Priority Pass will pay 282 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,480 for your lounge admission into these certain contract lounges. 283 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,480 And there's like over 1200 of them around the world. 284 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,280 And then so if you get in one of these, you get free food. 285 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,040 So think about this. Every time I walk into the 286 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:58,800 airport with my family, I'm easily spending 100 bucks, $7.00 287 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,360 for water, you know, $20.00 for a burger. 288 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,880 When you think about it, I save a ton of money for my family. 289 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:06,560 And you can do the same thing for yourself. 290 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,160 And maybe you're travelling with some friends or your family's 291 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,920 travelling with you. I save at least 100 bucks every 292 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,480 time because I'm able to go into lounge because they have free 293 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,560 drinks, they have water, they have beer and wine. 294 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,680 I mean, if you want to have something, a snack, you can have 295 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,320 that as well. Some lounges even offer, like if 296 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,120 I go to Mexico City, one of the Priority Pass lounges even 297 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:31,520 offers a cart ride a cart. You get on the cart and it 298 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:32,800 drives you all the way to the gate. 299 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,240 It's like the coolest thing. I love this. 300 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,240 It sounds awesome. All right, so how about using 301 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:43,360 points to cover race entries, accommodations and other travel 302 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,600 expenses? How can marathoners do that? 303 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:48,840 Well, I would say this when it comes to raise fees or those 304 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,800 type of things, you could redo redeem your point from one 305 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,280 center point to do that. So that's something you can, you 306 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,960 can just kind of use that to to wipe out one of those feeds by 307 00:15:57,960 --> 00:15:59,280 using your points in cash amount. 308 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,600 But I would say once again, if you really use them the right 309 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,640 way or use them for maximum effect, I would apply it for a 310 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:11,880 hotel or apply it for an airline. 1 particular one is 311 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,840 actually transfers to Hyatt hotels. 312 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,680 Hyatt hotels probably has the most powerful points for hotels 313 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,360 out there. They're worth at least two cents 314 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,200 a point. So let me give you an example. 315 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,160 Let's say and, and, and if you like to stay at Marriott or 316 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,280 Hilton or IG, those are fine. But most of those program points 317 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,680 usually worth half a cent or less. 318 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,960 And so my, my concern is when they do it that way, I would 319 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:36,520 rather actually have them cash it out. 320 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,800 But if they want to, because at least they'll get one cent per 321 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,880 point, but if they want to get good value, I really recommend 322 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,840 Hyatt hotels since there's many great ones and they and they 323 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,720 really give you a better value than than any of the other hotel 324 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,360 points. OK, great. 325 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,640 And obviously most marathons are in larger cities, and Hyatt is 326 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,760 pretty much everywhere. Yeah, they are at all the places 327 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:00,920 you want to be or typically all of where your races are going to 328 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:01,200 be. Yep. 329 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,520 All right, so now on to something practical. 330 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,240 Are there specific credit cards or loyalty programs that you 331 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,480 would recommend for America owners who travel frequently? 332 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,720 Yeah, you know, there's a lot when you start looking at all 333 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,359 the the landscape of all the credit cards. 334 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,800 There's many out there. And I would say this, the first 335 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,760 thing is this, before you go into a particular hotel or 336 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,960 particular airline, stop first because not all airlines and not 337 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:27,800 all hotel cards are created the same. 338 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,440 Before you figure that part out, I would recommend that you get 339 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,280 the, the bank programs that are behind those airlines because 340 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,160 like Amex, for example, they run the program for Delta. 341 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:45,440 You know, you know, there, there are banks that run a program for 342 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,920 the airline. And those banks have figured out 343 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:53,000 this, this, this program and these, these loyalty schemes and 344 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,320 they've created their own program. 345 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,000 They create their own points. And then they allow you to use 346 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,240 their points to move them to 18 to 20 different airlines and 347 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,400 hotel programs. So that gives you much more 348 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,880 options because that's, you know, going back to cash back. 349 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,480 The reason why people choose cash back is because you have 350 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,880 the choices because let's say you just collected Delta points. 351 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,680 What happens if Delta doesn't offer you a flight where you 352 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:16,960 need to go to what if Delta sold out? 353 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:19,440 What if Delta doesn't have the time, time that you need to fly 354 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,680 or the days you want to fly, or they just charge you too many 355 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:23,840 points. By collecting the bank points, 356 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:28,040 you're able to move them to any airline or hotel that that they 357 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:29,840 partner with. So that gives you much more. 358 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,760 So I would say one of the most unsung programs out there and 359 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,480 underrated, and a lot of people don't know about it, is actually 360 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:45,040 a program called Built BILT. They're a fintech startup that 361 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:46,960 is run by some really powerful people. 362 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:52,640 They actually started going out and working with first people 363 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,920 who pay rent and the folks that pay rent, they were saying, you 364 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,360 know, these people pay rent. They don't ever earn any points. 365 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,480 Wouldn't it be nice if they could pay for rent and earn 366 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,480 points at the same time because it's something you understand on 367 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,560 anyway. So this card allows you to earn 368 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,360 points for rent. And they said also, if you get 369 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:13,720 their card, their credit card, if you dine out, you're going to 370 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,040 get 3 points. And if you use it for booking 371 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,560 travel, like air for a hotel, you get 2 points. 372 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,560 And then also if you want to improve your credit, they will 373 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:26,080 report those rent payments to their credit reporting agency. 374 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:27,680 So it helps build up your credit. 375 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,000 The goal of the founder was to help people turn renters into 376 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,720 homeowners and so you can also use it to pay your homeowners 377 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,560 association fee as well. So there's a lot of great 378 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,040 things. I think they're talking about 379 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,440 moving it to eventually mortgages. 380 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,960 It's not there yet right now, but it's definitely a great 381 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,160 program and they have all the programs like Hyatt like like 382 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,520 all they cherry picked all the other bank programs and they 383 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,040 brought him into the built program. 384 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:55,720 It's fantastic. And here's a better thing I 385 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:56,640 think you're folks going to like. 386 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:58,640 It offers a lot of the insurances. 387 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,680 It offers cell phone insurance. So if you, you know, got your 388 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,000 phone damaged, lost, it offers you rental car protection when 389 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,280 you rent a car as well. So it offers a lot of the 390 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,680 premium coverages you get. But here's the best part. 391 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,160 You're going to love this lady. It's a no annual fee card. 392 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:16,840 Wow, that is definitely a winner. 393 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,400 I'll, I'll, I'll give you my link so you guys can sign up for 394 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:23,280 its support. But it's a fantastic, I have the 395 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,720 card and I'm a homeowner and I get the card because there's so 396 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:27,720 many things. They just signed a deal this 397 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,320 week. This week they just signed a 398 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,680 deal with Walgreens because they said the healthcare people, 399 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:37,120 people have what they call HSA account, health savings account 400 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:39,240 or FSA, which you have to use every year. 401 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:40,520 And if you don't use it, you lose it. 402 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,520 This is a great thing about it. Build signed a deal with 403 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,440 Walgreens to say if you go in and you use our rewards program, 404 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,480 you all you need to do is link up any of your credit card. 405 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:52,720 It doesn't even have to be a build card. 406 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,480 You could link up with their built rewards program, their 407 00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:00,000 app, the built to app BILT. And if you walk in to buy 408 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,440 something with Walgreens, as long as it's connected, you're 409 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,320 gonna earn built points whenever you you shop at Walgreens. 410 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:08,760 That's crazy. Think about that for a second. 411 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,560 And they said they will check your account later on to see if 412 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,360 any of them qualify for HSA or FSA and then they'll reimburse 413 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:18,120 you back. So I'm like, this is absolutely 414 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,720 mind blowing. The bill program, absolutely the 415 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,520 best program in the world of Point Smiles right now that most 416 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,480 people don't know about. That sounds amazing. 417 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,480 Now if only they had lounge access too. 418 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:32,480 They don't have a premium one, but I mean, for no annual fee, I 419 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:34,720 don't think they're gonna give you a lounge for no for free. 420 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:39,760 But if if it ever came out with a a premium credit card, it 421 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,320 would it would be a hit. And that doesn't mean they won't 422 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,160 have one in the future. Yeah. 423 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,280 But let's talk about one that you definitely recommend for 424 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:48,720 lounge access. You were talking about the 425 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:50,320 Capital One venture. X. 426 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,360 For family or groups of people. So maybe hop into that one just 427 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:56,600 briefly. Yeah, I I think here's the 428 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:58,320 thing. If you are going to get a lounge 429 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,800 card, I don't think you need a $695 card. 430 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:06,920 There is a card out there for 395 that is great for a group. 431 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,880 So if you're traveling and you have other friends are running 432 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:11,760 with you or you're traveling with friends because that 433 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,400 happens all the time, this card gives you access to the priority 434 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,600 pass and it gives you 2 yes, that you can bring in. 435 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,760 Here's the other thing they allow you out on 4 authorized 436 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,520 users for free. No other credit card really out 437 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,840 there is going to give you authorized users for free that 438 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:29,800 also. And each authorized user on this 439 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,960 card will give you priority pass as well. 440 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,760 So you can basically get priority pass for free if you 441 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,280 have a friend or family member who has a Venture X and you 442 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,720 could be able to get in and they have their own access. 443 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,960 So think about this. If all of you happen to be 444 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,600 travelling together and you all happen to be authorized users on 445 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,200 that one card, that's five people with the card that's 446 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,880 bringing 2 guests each. I mean, that's literally that's 447 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,040 like 15 people you could bring in technically under one credit 448 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,960 card and paying 395 a year and it's unlimited. 449 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:07,320 And Capital One lounges in Dallas in, in IE in Dulles and 450 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:09,040 they're opening one in San Francisco soon. 451 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,480 I'm sorry, San Diego very soon. They're these lounges are some 452 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,840 of the ones that are going to be the ones that you really want to 453 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,720 go stay at because they even have grab and go like some of 454 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:21,920 the things I love about it because sometimes I can't, I 455 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,320 can't stay at the lounge money because I have a short 456 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,480 connection time. I literally go in the Dallas 457 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:32,360 airport and get in there. They have a grab and go section. 458 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:34,960 And it's not just that they, they're packaged and everything. 459 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,560 They give you a little round bag and you stuff it in there. 460 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,560 They got boxed water for you. So I get on the plane because 461 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:43,200 they're not going to serve you any food on the plane. 462 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:45,960 I get on the plane heading home and I got everything pulled out. 463 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,600 I got my chicken salad sandwich. I got, you know, my boxed water. 464 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,880 It's it's, I got my yogurt parfait. 465 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,200 I mean, it's, it's unbelievable. And, and you can do that with 466 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,160 the Venture X card. It's a fantastic card. 467 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:01,680 All right, so now to touch on baggage fees. 468 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,800 Obviously as runners, we always carry our most essentials and 469 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,960 running shoes in our carry ONS. But for all the other luggage, 470 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,840 and I'm assuming you're gonna tell me there are credit cards 471 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,560 that allow you to fly without paying baggage. 472 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,040 Fees. Yeah, there's a lot of cards out 473 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,960 there will will pay for your bag fee. 474 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,440 In fact, here's the thing, I fly American quite a bit and I got a 475 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,280 Delta credit card initially because they had offered a a 476 00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,880 nice welcome bonus. But I kept the card year after 477 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,560 year after year because when I did fly Delta, when I do fly 478 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,440 United, I don't have any status with them. 479 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:36,720 They're going to charge me a bag fee. 480 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,280 Here's the thing, if I keep their credit card, their airline 481 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,280 credit card, they will waive not only my bag fee but also all my 482 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:48,040 companions bags fees. So if I bring my wife, my 483 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,800 daughter, my let's say we're a family of four, that's 45, 484 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:55,400 that's $40 per person bag fee. So that would be $160.00 one 485 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,960 way. That'll be 320 round trip just 486 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,440 in bag fees alone with one bag. Well, if I this one card I had 487 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,840 for $95 a year, I can waive all those bag fees. 488 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,160 And that's just assuming you did one trip. 489 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,960 So if you do one or more trip a year, just having that card, it 490 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,680 totally pays for it and and it doesn't hurt to have that nice 491 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,000 welcome bonus when I get the card. 492 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,520 OK, awesome. All right, so how can marathon 493 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,440 runners earn extra points on everyday spending that can be 494 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,320 used for travelling? So here's the thing, many people 495 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,280 think that a lot of that the only way you can earn points is 496 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:31,680 if you travel a lot. It's not the case anymore. 497 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:33,760 You know, we came back from the three years of pandemic. 498 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,920 A lot of the banks and and the credit card companies realize 499 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:41,440 that people love to support a brand, but you don't always have 500 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,800 to support a brand only by flying. 501 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,520 So a lot of the hotels and a lot of the airlines now have 502 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,520 partnerships with other companies. 503 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,840 Like for example, American has one with like Nikko Gas. 504 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,040 If you want to, if you sign up under Nikko, they can give you 505 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:57,680 points. There are loyalty points there 506 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,120 and you can earn status that way. 507 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,600 If you book your hotels through their partners, they have a port 508 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,080 partner channel. You could earn points by booking 509 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,640 hotels if you want to go eat out at your favorite restaurant. 510 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,360 Here's the thing, there's a company out there called Rewards 511 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:14,760 Network. They contracted under one 512 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:18,080 program, all these restaurants and all these airline programs. 513 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,320 So if you go and eat at their restaurant, you can choose, do 514 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,600 you want to earn Alaska points? You want to earn American? 515 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,760 You want to earn Delta? You want to earn Southwest? 516 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,400 You want to earn T-Mobile Tuesday? 517 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,120 You want to earn Shell gas rewards? 518 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,920 All those things can be earned by eating out at the right 519 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,640 restaurant. So they have like their own 520 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,920 website and everything. So like if you look at a a 521 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,800 dining, they have all the restaurants you look at Delta 522 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,120 and they're all in the same. You got to choose which one you 523 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:46,160 want to have and you can switch it if you want to. 524 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,600 But basically these are extra points you can earn in addition 525 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,280 to the credit card. So let me give you an example. 526 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,840 If I walk into a restaurant, like let's say I go to Topgolf. 527 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,120 We all know Topgolf, right? If you go to Topgolf and you pay 528 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,520 your bill with that credit card that you can earn on some cards, 529 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,560 it earns you 3X. Some cards it earns you 4X. 530 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,680 Well, this program gives you another 3X. 531 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,520 So you can get 4X from your credit card, another three. 532 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,880 So we're at 7 now. And if you go at least 11 533 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,680 different places or 11 times in a year, they now increase it to 534 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,240 5X. So now instead of just getting 535 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,640 three, you can get 5. So you can get five from the 536 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,360 from the restaurant, you can get 3 or 4 from the from the credit 537 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:28,080 card. Now you're earning 9X on every 538 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,840 single dollar you spend. Wow, that's a that's a lot. 539 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,440 I mean this is like a. Whole thing in itself, right? 540 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,160 Figuring out what works. So if if the listeners are 541 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,400 interested in further exploring this or if someone listened to 542 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:43,880 this on a run and didn't have time to. 543 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,360 Write stuff down. What's a good way of either 544 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:50,560 connecting with you or finding this information online so that 545 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,960 way they can kind of start diving into that to save money 546 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,040 for future races? Yeah, so thank you very much. 547 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,240 So I just want to make the point is that you could, you don't 548 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,520 have to spend $100,000 to earn 100,000 points. 549 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,960 You can earn a lot. You can spend a lot, lot less 550 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:06,880 than that. And that's how we usually do it. 551 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:10,320 And if you're interested, you can find me on Instagram under 552 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,200 Ben's Big Deal. You can also find me on Facebook 553 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,000 as well as Tiktok and LinkedIn and under Ben's Big Deal. 554 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,640 But I have a website at bensbigdeal.com and I teach 555 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:21,800 classes. Some of the classes I have are 556 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,800 paid class and some of them I have free classes as well. 557 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,200 So sign up for my newsletter and you'll get notified whenever we 558 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:28,960 have one of those. Perfect. 559 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,640 Thank you so much, Ben. You're welcome. 560 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,440 Thank you, Ben for speaking with us today and giving us all this 561 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:41,840 information. As Ben mentioned, you can go to 562 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:46,720 his website and sign up for free classes or classes where you pay 563 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,800 to get the most information about which credit cards get you 564 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,000 what deals, etcetera. And you can check out his 565 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:58,640 website at bensbigdeal.com. So get all your deals and your 566 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,840 lounges. You can enjoy your flights to 567 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,440 and from your marathons. Exactly, and travel in style. 568 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:06,520 So you want to get into the next? 569 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,120 One, Yep. So we're now going to move on 570 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,960 and play the second interview, our conversation with Chris 571 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,840 Heiser. All right, so I'm on here with 572 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:18,680 Chris Heisler. Chris, thank you so much for 573 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,080 joining me today. Yeah, my pleasure. 574 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:23,600 And let's talk a little bit about you. 575 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,720 You and I were just chatting for a second before hitting record 576 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,920 about the Westin and everything it does for runners. 577 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,320 But before we hop into that, maybe you can tell us a little 578 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,160 bit about you and how you ended up doing what you do for the 579 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,160 Westin. Yeah, sure. 580 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:43,040 I started running in college, started doing a marathon every 581 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,760 state with my oldest brother. He's down in Baltimore, so we 582 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,880 got 28 down. So, you know, we're on our way 583 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:51,280 there. But we started pretty 584 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,160 aggressively and now we've slowed down a little bit because 585 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:58,000 we're getting older and was an actor for quite some time in LA 586 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,880 and New York and then moved to Boston with my wife before our 587 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,400 second kid was born. Worked at Equinox as like their 588 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,560 running coach. And then my wife saw this 589 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,720 posting on Facebook for Weston was calling it like the runner's 590 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,160 dream job to become this run concierge for the for the brand. 591 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,880 And I thought it was APR stunt and she sort of like just apply. 592 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:21,600 I was like, they have some celebrity picks. 593 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,120 This is just going to be a waste of time and we here we are, you 594 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,440 know, 10 years later, still with the job, still with the same 595 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,720 brand. And really it's been a lot of 596 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:34,600 fun to look at the sport of running more almost like a 597 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,480 business as opposed to just a passion and a hobby, which it 598 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,760 still is, don't get me wrong. But to to start to work my way 599 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,600 in through Weston and get to know race directors and the 600 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,560 operations behind races has really changed my perspective on 601 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,040 the sport. That's awesome and on a side. 602 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,520 Note when you were in LA, maybe you, you know, did have your 603 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,080 little breakthrough, so maybe that helped get the job right. 604 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,720 I think learning, I mean, I was an actor most of my life, I 605 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,960 think being able to speak on camera was definitely a benefit 606 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,960 for the brand early on because they were really trying to 607 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:09,360 launch run Weston, so there was a lot of PR behind it and media 608 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,880 and talking on camera wasn't an issue for me. 609 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,000 So that definitely helped, yes. All right, so let's talk about 610 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,520 the Westin a little bit. That's awesome that that hotel 611 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,600 does that. So maybe talk to us a little bit 612 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,960 about the. Key amenities and services that 613 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,240 they offer, especially for marathon runners. 614 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,800 Sure. Well, I mean, you stayed there, 615 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,160 so I can tell you what we offer, but I'd rather hear what you 616 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,760 remember. I remember being there 617 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,560 specifically during the time of a marathon. 618 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:42,520 So they had exactly, and they had the marathon recovery zone, 619 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,440 which was like I was telling you, a little bit of a Oasis. 620 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,680 When you're looking for something, no matter if it's 621 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,360 recovery place to sit down, stretched out, get those boots 622 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,880 on, or even, you know, eat food because that's what we do. 623 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,600 They had the right snacks for the right time. 624 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:03,000 You know, obviously that's one thing, the Boston Marathon, but 625 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,880 also marathoners travel year round for jobs and everything. 626 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,680 So I kind of want to hear about that as well. 627 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:11,360 Yep. So Weston did partner with the 628 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,520 World Marathon Majors and you happen to be staying at the 629 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,840 Weston copy when this went down. So each of the six majors, as 630 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,960 you well know, we have a Weston in each one of those cities. 631 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:27,200 So it was a pretty seamless partnership and it Copley, just 632 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,200 like Chicago, just like New York, Berlin, London and Tokyo. 633 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,240 We're going to create, you're calling it an Oasis and I'm 634 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,240 going to steal your word. The Oasis is is a partnership 635 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,520 with Hyperice. So we're also partnering with 636 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,800 Hyperice. You can go to any Westin in the 637 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,040 world and rent a recovery kit and that comes with your 638 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,160 Hyperice, the Hypervault, the cast leaves the hypersphere 639 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,720 because we understand how taxing it is on your body when you 640 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,280 travel. So every Weston has that. 641 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,920 And then these marathon weekends at the majors is just sort of 642 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,440 like a Super Bowl. So we bring out the Norma tech 643 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,720 legs, hyper rice and there's the anti gravity chairs. 644 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,680 We do try to create an environment that's conducive not 645 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,200 just to the runner, but also to their family and friends. 646 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,520 Because one of the insights was it's really hard to be a 647 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:15,040 spectator of these races. And, you know, if you're a happy 648 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,000 runner with the legs on, that means your loved ones can go 649 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,960 shop and not worry like you're good, you go, you go hang out. 650 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:23,280 And that's really, we're trying to think of not just the runner, 651 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,320 but the entire race experience, the entire weekend experience, 652 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,760 because that's, it's, it's a big deal, you know? 653 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:31,800 Yeah, that's super awesome. I didn't even you know, it's 654 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,400 it's like you said, you know, you're a runner and now turned 655 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,640 into business and looking at exactly what it is that we need 656 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,720 and what our supporters, family, husbands, whatever need to do 657 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,400 for us to keep us happy, right? Yeah, it's hard. 658 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:51,000 I mean, I've been to some races that really the race knocks it 659 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,480 out of the park. And I've also been to some races 660 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,800 where the race is OK, but the environment of the city is just 661 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,680 so contagious. And it's the majors are its own 662 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,800 entity. So you asked about like, what 663 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,360 does Weston do for other races? And some of our hotels like the 664 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,120 Colfax Marathon is partnered with the Weston Denver. 665 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,440 So they go do their own thing and we look at the partnership 666 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,560 as potentially a way to encourage or inspire some other 667 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,159 hotels to say, well, what can we do with our local race, whether 668 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:23,920 it's Pittsburgh or Philadelphia or Singapore. 669 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,360 We have a lot of really passionate general managers who 670 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,040 might think above and beyond and say, well, let's we get our own 671 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:31,320 Oasis. Even though it's not a major 672 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,840 weekend, we can still go above and beyond for the runners. 673 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,320 And that's that's the ultimate goal is to make sure that on a 674 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,159 race weekend, if you're staying at a West End, you get to the 675 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:44,600 front desk and the front desk agent says, are you here for the 676 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:46,560 race? Which in of itself, if you're 677 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,719 the runner, you're like, Oh my God, you see me, you know, 678 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,520 there's a race happening and you know, you're in good hands. 679 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:54,920 It's that one question that you get asked. 680 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:56,159 You're like, I made a good choice. 681 00:34:56,679 --> 00:34:59,120 You know it's a big deal. That's awesome that that is 682 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,520 super true. It's such a big deal and it does 683 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,760 make you feel seen. And I guess you talked. 684 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,640 About it a little bit. But maybe you can elaborate 685 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,960 about what inspired the Westin Hotel to focus on the perks 686 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,440 forerunners, particularly in the first place. 687 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:19,440 So I was hired in 2013 and the insight I believe was coming 688 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,320 from we had a lot of the demographic of a Western. 689 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,480 A Western guest is somebody who prioritizes the well-being. 690 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,680 So we saw a lot of people coming in, whether you're a triathlete 691 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,360 or a runner. And we started to ask ourselves, 692 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,760 what can we do? And that launched the Run 693 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,960 Concierge program, which I ever saw for a few years, actually 694 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,920 for most of my tenure there. And that's, you know, letting 695 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,440 you go to Chicago and you're not there for a race weekend. 696 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,800 You're just there for work and you're a woman and you don't 697 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,080 feel comfortable running by yourself. 698 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:55,080 We give about 20 ish percent of our hotels have a run concierge. 699 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:59,680 So two days a week they will lead a group run and the group 700 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,000 run might be 3 miles to jog. It's not out there for like some 701 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,120 hard workout. But this is just another example 702 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,080 of how Weston's trying to anticipate the needs of a 703 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,600 runner. Also understand that the needs 704 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,480 of you are different than the needs of me or the needs of my 705 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,520 neighbor. It's just Wellness is so 706 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,680 different for everybody. So we're not going to knock it 707 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,520 out of the park for every single guest. 708 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:24,280 But what are those sort of foundational tools that we can 709 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:25,920 do? And that's where we look at the 710 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,360 partnerships like Hyper Ice or Peloton or TRX. 711 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,720 What's really going on in the life of these Wellness 712 00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:35,560 enthusiasts that we can try to bring into our hotels so that 713 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,200 when you leave your house, you're not stressed about, well, 714 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,560 I'm not going to get this, I'm not going to get this, you know 715 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,040 how it is, You get it. You know, the only place other 716 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,880 than what you're telling me right now I've ever heard of 717 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,080 this is when we went to Stockholm, we stayed at a local 718 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,960 hotel and in the elevator there was a big laminated sheet that 719 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:55,920 says we have group runs on these days, do a city tour with us. 720 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,360 So it was basically a run conscript, I guess what you 721 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,400 would call it, that would take you through the city to the 722 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:05,120 spots and you know, just do a 35 Miller and it was pretty 723 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:06,480 amazing. That. 724 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,400 That's really cool. I had no idea. 725 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,720 Yeah, I 50% of runners prefer to run by themselves. 726 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:16,480 So we don't look at the run concierge program as being 727 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,520 successful on how many runners show up. 728 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,960 It could be that you walk in the lobby and you're I'm running by 729 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,120 myself, but there's a run concierge there who says where 730 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,000 you going, can we show you where to go? 731 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,480 Can we tell you where to go? Which also led to the eventual 732 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,640 partnership with Strada. So now we have a Strada route in 733 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,200 every one of our hotels. So now I kind of regret not 734 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:34,640 having booked the West in Chicago. 735 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:37,840 All right, you can. Still, come and use the Oasis if 736 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,120 you want. OK, I will do that. 737 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,080 So that so that's open for runners regardless of whether 738 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,240 they are not staying at the West End or they are. 739 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,840 I mean, it's, look, it's prefer that you're a guest there, but 740 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:51,960 if you want to go put your name on the list because you heard 741 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,600 about it, you want to experience it, I don't think they're going 742 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,720 to stop you. OK, great. 743 00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,480 So the listeners from this podcast. 744 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:01,480 Put the name. You heard it on that podcast. 745 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,520 Yeah, sure. You know, we like to create 746 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,560 community, you know? Throw me under the bus. 747 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,560 All right, so let's talk about the selection for food options 748 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,840 that you guys have for runners, as the Weston also cater to 749 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:17,080 healthier options. We try our best, but I'm sure 750 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,000 you know quite well that people's dietary needs are 751 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:25,920 significantly different. So we'll have in most of our 752 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,440 hotels a pretty specific athlete menu. 753 00:38:28,720 --> 00:38:32,000 The weekend of a race. The idea of carbon loading is 754 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,400 sort of out the window, so there could be a carbon loading 755 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,760 option, but we're looking for more balanced and fresh 756 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,880 ingredients. I can't tell you that it's 757 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:41,440 universal. I can't say we have the same 758 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,160 menu item at every single Weston for a race weekend. 759 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,320 I can just tell you that it's a pretty serious dedication to 760 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:48,920 making sure that we at least offer you something if you don't 761 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,880 want to leave the hotel. And then what about dinner 762 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,000 options? Do they have carbon loading 763 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,640 options? And then also pre race stuff? 764 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,640 You know some hotels if the race you have to leave by bus at 765 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,080 5:00, they don't have anything beforehand. 766 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,200 It's a big one. So we do for the World Marathon 767 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,760 partnership. We do encourage our hotels to 768 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:13,640 start the coffee around 4:00 AM on the race day so that runners 769 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:15,520 don't have to leave to go find the cup of coffee. 770 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,120 Outside of that, you might see some pastries out there and you 771 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:19,600 might see a grab and go breakfast. 772 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,440 But again, it's not entirely universal. 773 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,920 So I can't go on the record and say, yeah, if you go to West and 774 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:26,240 you can expect this in the morning. 775 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:28,800 OK, perfect. So that's great. 776 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,960 So what about expanding this? Are you guys planning on just 777 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,760 staying with the world majors? And also, if Sydney is going to 778 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:39,600 join, are you guys planning on joining that? 779 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:47,480 We don't have a West and in Sydney we TBD on, on the on the 780 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:49,520 partnership. I think it's been really, really 781 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,280 powerful so far. Runners really like it. 782 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,960 I think it's open people's eyes, like you said, like, oh, what is 783 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:57,040 this? What's Westnall about? 784 00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:00,600 And that's sort of the entire intent behind it is to have a 785 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,480 runner like you say, this is, this might make me want to stay 786 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,080 to West the next time. So from my vantage point, I 787 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:08,720 don't see why we'd pull out of the partnership. 788 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,560 OK. And then looking forward, I mean 789 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:18,000 looking into the future Olympics 2028, tell me what you guys 790 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,840 plans are, not specifically for the Olympics, but just, you know 791 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,520 in the next few years how you were trying to expand and what 792 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,240 else you're seeking to do? We don't have an answer for that 793 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:28,560 one yet. It's a great question. 794 00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,440 We have a gigantic hotel in the West and Bonaventure. 795 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:36,400 We have like 5 hotels in the LA area, so we've got a nice runway 796 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,160 to get ready for it and I have no doubt that we'll do quite 797 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:40,360 well for it. I can't wait. 798 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,960 Like I'm so excited based on how exciting Paris was and just how 799 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,040 positive it was. I hope that carries over in LA. 800 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,080 Perfect. Thank you Chris so much for for 801 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,640 answering all my questions. My pleasure, it's great to meet 802 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:59,960 you. Thank you, Chris, for speaking 803 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:01,640 with us. And to all of you guys 804 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:05,080 interested in the Weston chain, go check them out. 805 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:09,720 If you are going to Chicago or New York, go check out the 806 00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:12,200 Westin Hotel and check out the lounge. 807 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:17,120 Use some of these Therma boots and relax, which is what I'm 808 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,640 gonna do. And if you combine them all 809 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:21,920 together, you'll go from the lounge at the airport to the 810 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,520 lounge at the hotel and you'll forget you ever ran a marathon. 811 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:29,040 That's so true, Ryan, and hopefully you'll see us 812 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,120 traveling in style like that as well. 813 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,320 So stay tuned for next week where our surprise topic will 814 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,880 be. How to run pain free. 815 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,240 We're going to give you some great tips with running coach 816 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,880 Erica Weitz and it's going to be all about how to keep running 817 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,520 healthily, things to do. So that's definitely one for you 818 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,760 guys to tune into. Is healthily really a word? 819 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,760 It is now OK all right. So with that. 820 00:41:53,880 --> 00:42:00,280 Have a great week of running. Thanks for tuning in. 821 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:03,400 For more information and marathon running news, please 822 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:07,280 head to www.marathonrunningpodcast.com 823 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:22,840 and we'll be back next week. Are you looking for the perfect 824 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:24,880 apparel that mirrors your love for running? 825 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:29,240 Look no further than Run Swag, the go to store buy runners for 826 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:31,680 runners. From witty Tees to hoodies that 827 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,080 commemorate your marathon majors to crops that get you motivated, 828 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:38,560 Run Swags got you covered. Discover the perfect blend of 829 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:44,080 comfort and style. Visit www.runswag.com Runswag. 830 00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:46,200 There's something for every runner.