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You're listening to episode 178 
of the Marathon Running Podcast.

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In this episode, we're going to 
talk all about the Olympic 

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Trials 2024. 
This is the Marathon Running 

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podcast by Letty and Ryan from 
We Got The Runs. 

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Join us in our running community
for weekly content that is 

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motivational, educational and 
inspirational. 

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And let the Marathon Running 
podcast take you from the 

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starting line to the finish line
and beyond. 

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Hey runners, and welcome to 
episode 178 of the Marathon 

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Running Podcasts. 
My name is Letty. 

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My name is Ryan, Thank you guys 
for tuning in. 

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We have a weekly podcast for 
those of you guys who are 

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frequent listeners. 
Thank you so much for tuning 

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back in and if you are new we do
this podcast every week where we

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bring you information on 
training, nutrition, etc. 

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And we're super excited to be 
here. 

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Let us know how you like our 
podcast. 

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We appreciate any input, reviews
and even topics. 

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If you have any topics that you 
want to hear about, let us know.

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And we are very obviously pre 
recording this episode because 

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at this very time when this 
episode comes out, which is 

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gonna be October 9th, I will be 
still traveling back from 

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Chicago after the marathon. 
And how'd your marathon go? 

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Future lady thinks it's gonna go
great. 

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Not good enough for the Olympic 
trials. 

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Nice segue here. 
So who are you talking to today?

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Today we're gonna talk to the 
owners of Track Shack, who was 

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the bitter and winner for the 
location of the Olympic Trial 

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Marathon which will take place 
February 3rd in Orlando, FL. 

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So I had a connection. 
A friend of mine, slash running 

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coach Erica Whites, who we've 
had as a guest on the podcast 

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before, connected me with the 
owners because she is friends 

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with them as well. 
And so they generously spent 

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some time with me talking about 
everything Olympic trials from 

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the course, how the bidding 
went, and everything else we 

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need to know. 
For those of the audience that 

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don't know how it works, is this
is like the one Olympic 

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qualifier, then yes, it's the 
only qualifying race. 

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So it's not like volleyball that
you just explained to me earlier

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where you have tournaments and 
you collect points. 

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Unfortunately, once you qualify,
you literally just have that one

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race and all your eggs are in 
one basket. 

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So can you tell us the Olympic 
trial times? 

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Yeah. 
So the qualifying standards for 

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men are a marathon of two hours 
and 18 minutes or faster, or a 

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half marathon of one hour and 3 
minutes or faster. 

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For women, they've lowered them 
by 8 minutes. 

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So as a woman, you now must run 
a two hour 37 marathon or 

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faster, or a one hour 12 minute 
marathon, half marathon or 

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faster. 
So as you can tell, it's blazing

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fast. 
And I think the reason for 

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having change the standards was 
that last time we saw them in 

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2020, it's every four years. 
Obviously there was a huge 

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number of women in comparison to
the guys. 

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I think it was triple the amount
of guys for women. 

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So they cut down for the women 
by those said 8 minutes versus 

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men. 
I think they went down by one 

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minute. 
So it'll be interesting to see 

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this time how many people make 
it, huh? 

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Yeah, they are expecting around 
300 versus I think last time it 

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was either 6 or 800. 
It was a lot because if you 

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think about it, they're trying 
to figure out who's the person 

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that's going to go to the 
Olympics. 

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I know it's prestigious, and 
obviously if I were that fast, I

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would want it to be a 245 as 
well for qualifying standards. 

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But if you really think about 
what this is for, it makes more 

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sense to have it be a little bit
lower. 

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So how many qualifying events 
are there so you literally can 

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run a marathon? 
That's a certified marathon and 

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you can do that up until 
December 5th. 

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I think of this year is the 
deadline of this year is the 

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deadline, So people are still 
planning on running. 

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There's certain marathons that 
are good courses such as CIM, 

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etc. 
And Chicago obviously too. 

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Maybe somebody's qualifying 
right now. 

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And yeah, so you still have a 
little bit of time. 

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And then, like I said, February 
3rd is when the Olympic trials 

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will happen. 
And guess what? 

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What? 
You and I are going to be there,

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watching. 
We already have a room booked 

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and if anyone else wants to go, 
I have a discount rate on a 

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hotel that somebody sent me. 
I will share that with you. 

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So contact me. 
For us this is a no brainer. 

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We live so close by from 
Orlando. 

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It's like a four hour drive when
I drive, 3 hours when Ryan 

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drives. 
So it's it's going to be fun. 

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It's going to be a fun trip. 
True story. 

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Yeah, it'll be cool to watch or 
see. 

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What? 
Are we going to watch it? 

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Are we going to see them? 
Where are we going to sit? 

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Stand. 
Whatever. 

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I guess they have some bleachers
I'm going to assume, but you 

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probably have to get tickets. 
But if not you. 

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The course has been posted on 
the website and we're going to 

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link that in our show notes and 
I think all over the place will 

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be where people show up to 
watch. 

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That's cool. 
You want to hop into it? 

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Sure. 
So without any further ado, 

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we're now going to play our 
conversation with Track Shack. 

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All right. 
So I'm here with Betsy and John 

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from Track Shack. 
Betsy and John, thank you so 

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much for coming on to speak with
me today. 

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We're excited to. 
We, you know, we've listened to 

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a couple of your podcast, so we 
feel like we already know you. 

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Oh, that's awesome. 
That's awesome. 

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That's good to hear. 
So, so let's talk about Track 

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Shack. 
Tell me a little bit about who, 

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who you guys are and what you 
do. 

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Well, who are we? 
We are John and Betsy. 

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We own one of the oldest running
and walking specialty stores in 

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the United States, Track Shack. 
We're right near downtown 

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Orlando. 
Our son Chris now manages the 

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store, but we also have an event
company going by Track Shack 

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events in Central Florida and we
produce many, many of our own 

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events every year. 
We have a couple third party 

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events and we also produce the 
Run Disney events. 

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John, I've been married 40 
years. 

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We met running and. 
We don't run together a whole 

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lot anymore. 
But still run and we're very, 

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very excited being putting on 
the group of trials. 

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February coming February, yes. 
And so are we. 

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I'm local, so obviously I've 
heard about your events and your

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store, but perhaps tell us what 
goes into applying for such an 

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event and then tell us about the
time when you found out that you

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guys were selected. 
Oh, so yes, the process of 

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getting the trials well was 
challenging. 

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It was a long road. 
We actually had put a bid in for

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2020 when Atlanta and 
Chattanooga and some other other

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great cities put in their bids. 
We we went through the process 

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and that was good. 
It gave us some great 

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experience. 
Of course. 

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Atlanta hosted the 2020 Olympic 
Teams Trials marathon for men 

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and women. 
They did a fantastic job. 

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And so this year it, it ended up
coming down to Orlando and 

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Chattanooga again both great 
cities and we we ended up 

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getting the nod. 
And again that's that's in a 

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nutshell, there was a lot, a lot
of work by two great teams, our 

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team, the Track Shack events 
team and also the great Orlando 

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Sports Commission and our and 
our city. 

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We all work hard and we're very 
happy and and very excited. 

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That's awesome. 
So how long did you, how long 

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did it take for them to inform 
you that you had been selected? 

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And what was your reaction to 
that? 

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It was a long time. 
Oh my gosh, I mean months and 

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months. 
And we actually found out the 

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weekend of the New York City 
Marathon, but we're not allowed 

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to say anything until, you know,
again, everything had to be 

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ready on USA Track and field and
the. 

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USOPC, the Olympic Committee 
site and for their media to to 

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announce it. 
So it didn't happen until the 

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later that week. 
You know what was really cool? 

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It was in September that we 
actually gave the bid to the 

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committees in Orlando and our 
son actually had to do the 

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actual process. 
And for the site visit. 

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For the site visit, yeah. 
You put in the bid, but this is 

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for the site visit. 
Right, right. 

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That's right. 
And we were very excited because

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we had Keith Brantley and Jenny 
Simpson there and Meb, that's 

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right. 
And but Jenny and Keith are 

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runners that we've known. 
For years and years, so it was 

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super exciting to have them 
there. 

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Unfortunately, that day John and
I were both in bed with COVID, 

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so we couldn't even be there. 
It was, it was terrible. 

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But so that was September. 
And then like John was saying, 

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we found out in November. 
Oh wow. 

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Oh wow. 
I mean, I'm sure that's pretty 

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nerve wracking to apply for 
something of this scale. 

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But let me take one step back 
for our listeners that are not 

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familiar with the Olympic 
Trials. 

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Obviously, Olympic trials means 
you're going to try out for the 

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Olympic team, but what are the 
qualifying standards for these 

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marathon trials? 
Who was able to apply and then 

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run this event? 
Yes, they actually they they 

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lowered the OR I should say so 
yeah, they lowered the time and.

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Which so made it more difficult.
It's actually, it would be more 

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difficult. 
It is more difficult right now, 

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and it was for Atlanta in 2020. 
Men have to run at least a 218 

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marathon to qualify, and the 
women need to run at 237. 

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The men can also run a 103 half,
and the women can run a 112 half

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to qualify. 
And that window closes December 

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5th of this year. 
Okay. 

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So that seems like CIM is the 
last time that runners really 

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have. 
You know, I'm a bigger marathon 

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in the United States to to 
submit for this. 

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Yeah, yeah. 
That's always a good one. 

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That's always a fast one. 
I know in 2020 when they had the

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trials, there was a pretty large
amount of women in comparison to

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the guys. 
Do you think that's why they 

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lowered the standard by? 
Was it 8 minutes slower before? 

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Yeah, I think you're correct. 
It's because it was, I believe a

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240. 
It was 23070, I think it was 

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245. 
That's correct. 

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Yeah. 
So there is a big drop. 

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You're right, they had a large 
number of women qualify. 

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I think we'll still end up with 
more women than men overall. 

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Our, our women distance runners 
are just really performed very 

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well, particularly in the 
marathon in the last few years. 

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So I think we're going to see a 
very strong field there, 

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somewhere around three 5400 Max.
Yeah, yeah. 

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So basically you're getting the 
best of the best of this 

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country. 
So maybe tell us a little bit 

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about how you guys take care of 
the athletes. 

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I know that in 2020, and I'm 
assuming that is going to be the

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same thing this time that you 
put up the athletes in a hotel 

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in Orlando. 
And is that how that works? 

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Yes, there's definitely we have 
a we have a process where we'll 

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be, you know, assisting them 
with both the accommodations and

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transportation. 
And we are working really hard. 

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You know, Atlanta's in the 
South, obviously we are in the 

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center, all very big on 
hospitality and we are looking 

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to set up a very nice concierge 
program and really, really 

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looking forward to taking care 
of the athletes when they get 

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here. 
Perfect. 

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00:11:54,580 --> 00:11:57,220
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runner and the course has been 
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00:12:24,530 --> 00:12:26,730
Can you tell us a little bit 
about the course and then maybe 

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00:12:26,730 --> 00:12:31,250
also hop into what the weather 
is usually like in Florida at 

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that time of year, which is 
going to be, I think it's 

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February 3rd? 
That's correct. 

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Yeah. 
I think I can do the course in 

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my sleep now. 
We looked at it and gone over 

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every inch for so long. 
But we brought in a great our 

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technical director is David 
Katz. 

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He's well known worldwide. 
He measures Olympic. 

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The Olympic marathon courses and
and other world championship 

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courses. 
And so we're really happy that 

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he was able to come down and 
help us design and and measure 

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the course along with Kim Bruno 
from our team who has just done 

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a phenomenal job. 
And it's going to be, it's going

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to start with the 2.2 mile loop 
and it's all downtown. 

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I mean it was right in the heart
of Orlando. 

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It's a 2.2 mile loop and after 
that that brings them into our 

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eight mile loop which will do 
three times. 

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And again, it all goes through 
straight through downtown city 

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streets, which we have a 
beautiful downtown city. 

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It's City of Orlando for people 
that are not familiar with 

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Central Florida is called the 
City Beautiful and there's a 

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reason for it. 
And we will start and finish 

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right over by our landmark which
is Lake Eola with we have a 

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beautiful fountain and little 
lake and great park and that'll 

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be the staging area for for the 
event. 

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That's actually where we have 
one of our. 

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Boldest half marathons. 
The OUC Orlando Half Marathon 

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and we have that this December. 
So yeah, it's it's a great place

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to host an event and we'll run 
by several major landmarks of 

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Orlando including City Hall and 
and our and our really beautiful

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Performing Arts Center will be 
some great areas for spectators.

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So we're very, very excited 
about the course. 

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I know I keep using the word 
excited, it's because we are, 

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but it's going to be. 
I think it's really going to be.

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You know, fantastic. 
People are going to enjoy it, 

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Spectators and the runners. 
I know the runners are going to 

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be very focused, but at least we
have a nice setting for them and

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fast and flat. 
I forgot. 

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What I wanted to say because the
three, the three eight mile 

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loops are basically out and back
and they're on two different 

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streets and I mean so great 
spectator viewing, but fast and 

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flat. 
Yeah. 

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So we're we're super excited 
about that. 

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As far as the weather, the 
weather in February and January,

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February are two coldest months 
and it's come through 

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nationwide. 
But we have the lows are in the 

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in the 50s and the highs may get
into like the low 70s. 

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Yeah, so that sounds pretty 
good. 

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I mean, I know that Florida has 
a problem with the humidity, but

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from living here myself, I can 
attest to that the humidity is 

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not as bad as it is right now in
the summertime. 

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And I'm sure the athletes will 
appreciate that fast and flat 

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course that has been selected 
from them for them. 

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So let's talk a little bit about
the organization of this event. 

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I know that large events like 
this usually require 

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collaborations with 
organizations and government 

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agencies. 
Have you been working with these

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partners to ensure the success 
of this upcoming marathon? 

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Oh, yes, again locally, our 
partners with the, the Sports 

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Commission, the Orlando Sports 
Commission, the city itself, 

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again, I I cannot, you know, 
stress enough how much the city 

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is behind this and really 
helping. 

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There's a lot of work bringing 
in, you know, just just to close

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down that, you know, basically 
over 8 miles of roadway. 

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For pretty much the whole day 
it's, you know, for because we 

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have to set and strike. 
It's, it's, it is a huge, you 

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know, endeavor. 
But but no, they've been great. 

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And then of course we have to 
work very closely, very closely 

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with USA Traffic and with the US
Olympic Committee. 

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There's a lot of rules and 
regulations to follow, as you 

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might expect. 
And that is that is challenging 

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because you know again we put 
that said Rd. races on for 

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around 4045 years and you know 
we're dealing dealing with, yes,

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sometimes you bring in leads 
into our race and we have of 

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course you know thousands of 
other folks that are fast to 

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walking but you know we follow 
the guideline rules but nothing 

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like this because obviously in a
competition like this. 

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It has nothing can go wrong and 
there's strict rules and 

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everything from their fluid 
replacement stations to, you 

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know, making you know, making 
sure that everything is buttoned

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up, particularly on the course 
timing, it's all, it's just very

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challenging but but very 
detailed. 

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And it's what we're good at. 
Letty we we have a fulltime 

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staff of 15 employees. 
And that's just our staff. 

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We have numerous folks that work
with us on each of our events 

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and so far we have over 2000 
people that have already signed 

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up to volunteer for the event. 
And so we have just we, we have 

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surrounded ourselves with an 
incredible team to help produce 

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this event. 
That's pretty amazing that you 

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have that high number of 
volunteers already being this 

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far out. 
When we announced it, that 

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registration was opening for 
volunteers within the day we had

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700. 
So ever since the course reveal 

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and the website is now up, we 
have people continuing to to 

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register and you know we we also
are going to do a community 

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event the day after. 
So some of those folks 

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registering are helping with 
that as well. 

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That's very awesome and I'm 
going to, towards the end of 

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00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:18,480
this interview, ask you about 
how what your website is and how

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people can volunteer and what 
type of volunteer work there is 

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00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,440
to do. 
But let me ask you a couple more

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questions in regards to this 
showcasing Orlando. 

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Obviously hosting this race is 
going to have a huge impact on 

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the city of Orlando. 
What are you guys doing to 

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showcase Orlando at its best? 
Are you working with anyone to 

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bring light to Highlights of 
Orlando or what are you guys 

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00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:46,420
doing? 
Yeah, we actually have well both

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internally. 
We have our own, our own 

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marketing team and 
communications set up by Natalie

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00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:56,660
Casey. 
And then the city is they have, 

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you know a team two on the 
communication social media side.

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USA Field has theirs, the 
community bringing in as 

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00:19:07,060 --> 00:19:10,690
experts. 
That can are going to help us 

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00:19:11,210 --> 00:19:16,850
some, you know to really push it
through social media and some 

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00:19:16,850 --> 00:19:21,370
additional marketing and that's 
So yes, we really plan to 

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elevate that really as you say 
showcase the city of Orlando not

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00:19:25,250 --> 00:19:27,850
to mention the the best part of 
that will be that there'll be. 

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Three hours on NBC broadcasting 
it live which is going to be 

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phenomenal. 
So yeah the city and not only 

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00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,760
the city but running I mean 
Central Florida and we're we're 

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00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,120
proud to say we we feel we've 
you know we've been a part of of

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00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:47,840
it and you know really helped to
to bring running into Central 

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00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,760
Florida. 
But it's going to take that to 

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00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,800
really the next level. 
I think we saw it in Atlanta. 

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00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:57,120
Atlanta's now called. 
Running city, Yeah, that's where

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00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:01,200
we could come up with but, but 
yeah, running it's OR and let 

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00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,920
people know This is a fantastic 
place to come and run. 

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00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:08,800
Perfect. 
And so with that, whoever wants 

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00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:13,040
to come to Florida for this 
event, obviously we were talking

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00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,590
earlier offline about having to 
book a hotel pretty much right 

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00:20:17,590 --> 00:20:19,670
now because everything is 
selling out. 

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00:20:19,910 --> 00:20:23,110
Is there any place on your 
website where you have 

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00:20:23,110 --> 00:20:26,870
information on tourism and 
hotels and what people can still

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00:20:26,870 --> 00:20:31,950
get at this time? 
Yeah, the website is in a 

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00:20:31,950 --> 00:20:37,550
constant state of updating, 
updating just like with anything

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00:20:37,590 --> 00:20:40,190
with any big event and the 
website is. 

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00:20:40,810 --> 00:20:47,010
Orlando2024trials.com so there's
also a link there for 

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00:20:47,010 --> 00:20:50,930
volunteering to plan your visit.
Weekend events. 

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00:20:51,610 --> 00:20:56,330
A little bit of everything, 
places to spectate and then 

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00:20:56,330 --> 00:21:00,170
eventually we'll also have all 
the athletes listed on the site.

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00:21:01,490 --> 00:21:04,330
Perfect. 
So that is amazing because it'll

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00:21:04,330 --> 00:21:08,180
have everything that we need and
we'll list this website on our 

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00:21:08,180 --> 00:21:10,420
show notes. 
And thank you, Betsy and John so

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00:21:10,420 --> 00:21:12,300
much for coming on and speaking 
with me. 

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Absolutely. 
Thank you, Letty. 

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00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:20,660
Thank you guys so much for 
coming on. 

369
00:21:20,660 --> 00:21:25,380
I appreciate all the insight and
hope to see you guys at the 

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00:21:25,460 --> 00:21:28,220
Olympic Trials next year in some
capacity. 

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00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:32,960
So that's it you guys. 
Next week we will for sure have 

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00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,600
a recap of the Chicago Marathon 
that I am currently running 

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00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:42,360
right now as this podcast airs 
And until then? 

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00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:51,000
Have a good week running. 
Thanks for tuning in. 

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00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,480
For more information head to 
www.runningpodcast.us and as 

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always have a great week of 
running.