Broken Arrow Sky Races & Western States 100 Coverage Announcements

All right, i'm here with frequent colleague friend Brett Hornig. This is not a long run archives episode, although we are definitely overdue for one, and maybe once we get through this storm of mission critical events to cover in our sport, we can do that And I don't know mid-July or sometime, because I definitely miss those. But before I turn it over to Brett, i'll just give you sort of a you, the listener and the viewer an update on what we're doing. We have a bit of an announcement to make starting June 15th We'll be doing Wall to Wall race companion-esque slash, sort of live coverage of both the Broken Arrow Sky Race series and the Western States 100, as well as pre-Western States coverage. I think in this episode, in addition to talking about why we're excited about it and our inspiration for doing it and how to tune in and who's involved, we will get into the weeds about what that looks like and hopefully, the benefits to the listeners and the fans of the sport. But I think before all that, brett, it's weird to ask you this because we just recorded a shoe review a couple minutes ago But for the sake of theatrics and dramatic effect, how are you doing today?

Oh, i'm doing great. Yeah, like you said, it's crunch time. We're in crunch time right now, just trying to get all our ducks in a row for our massive undertaking of a project that we have. We're all in on it now. I'm really curious to see how this all ends up, for the sake of this. I don't know who's going to be watching. Where are we trying to set the bar for our listeners right now on what to expect? Should we hype it to here, or should we set the bar really low so that way we can clear it no problem?

I think, somewhere low to in between, like the fatalist in me thinks we need to set it low to somewhere in between. But I will say too, so much of this is dynamic. We just finished doing somewhat impromptu coverage of the Trail World Championships in Ingerbrook, austria, and Mike McMonagall and I, who often collaborate with Singletrack, we put together a very informal Google Doc of like okay, here are some of the deliverables and let's do that. But when Race Day came for the 80K as an example, we threw that out the window and just started doing what felt natural and right in the moment. I DM'd Dan Kurtz, who's a member of Team USA over there, and said Dan, are you at the finish line of the 80K? And he says yes. I'm like do you have an iPhone? Yes, do you see Eric Lapuma? Yes, okay, can you go over to the finish or the drug testing tent and ask him to do a 60 second interview and then send me back that recording I can post. That is real, yes, awesome. So I have a feeling that a lot of the stuff we do at Broken Arrow pre Western States, western States it will be premeditated to some extent, but a lot of it we're just going to kind of go on gut instinct And if we feel like there's some opportunity there in the moment, we're going to seize it, and then we can kind of do a post mortem on it after the fact, maybe in our next long run.

This actually this parallels running an Ultra. You have a plan. It's smart to make a plan before the race, but you also have to very well know that there's a high probability you have to throw the plan out the window, pivot and wing it. Yeah, but like you should start with a plan, And we're starting with a plan And it's a good plan. But yeah, we might. We might have to pivot or deviate a little bit, and that's fine, We'll figure it out. We'll like, we'll figure it out as we go, Cause I guess one of the a lot of what we're doing we've never done before.

No, and I think I'll say a couple things. There's a famous economics quote no business plan survives. First contact with customers. That will definitely be the case for us, and then be. I'm a firm believer that every single year you're doing something, whether it's a media company, like we're doing, or coaching or some other thing. Even in running, you should try to do one new thing a year. I know that you know. For me it the first year was like starting a podcast, then it was like collaborating with you and doing cool stuff. We kind of added Broadcasting to the mix. I think in this third year, like adding this race companion media studio type stuff is like our next thing we're going to experiment with. So I'm excited.

Yeah, oh, 100% Yeah. I mean, i think, one of the most exciting parts of like what we're doing, which we're definitely we'll dive into that, you know, in just a few minutes. But we've we've gotten pretty comfortable with the audio aspect of pre race, post race shows, athlete interviews, but we're now going to add the video component in it in much more of like a focused point. So you know, i know like we've recorded all of these podcasts and put them on YouTube. Most people still listen to them on Spotify. A lot of what we do in the next 10 days is going to be worth watching on YouTube because we will actually be in the same spot with most of our guests as well, which is terrifying and exciting.

And I don't want to put too much expectation or pressure on you, but I think that, to put you on blast for a second, you're obviously a very calm, a very talented commentator and you have encyclopedic knowledge of so many areas of the sport. But I do think another thing that we've been fortunate to work with on you is just your excitement about technology, like one story that I tell a lot of people is you and I. We did the bandera live stream back in January And, in addition to like getting ready for the event from a commentary standpoint, i noticed that you spent like every open minute studying the studio and like studying the software and the tech and being like after the fact And I think I could put this together, like if we ever did this at some point down line, i could put this together for our own version of it, and I always thought that was fascinating, and I think a lot of the stuff that's being made possible over our next 10 days is, in part, thanks to you. So that is a that's a public note of appreciation for me. Thanks for helping make this evolution.

Well, also a big thanks to Matt at Aravipa for letting us into the studio so I can copy the playbook and write down all the plays. But write them down and then, like, erase like half the details and simplify it And then basically you're replicating that like I have. I've got the Aravipa studio live stream playbook, except I tore out all the complicated pages. So thank you, matt, for helping out with that, because Matt did he actually teach me a lot of stuff just because I would ask. You know, i'm just like that obnoxious kid that asks all the questions of like, what's that button for, what's that button for? But it's been really helpful And while I think I know what I'm kind of ish doing now we'll find out But I think we're to a point where, like I can troubleshoot things and we can, we'll make, we can make some sort of a product which is it's going to be really fun And yeah. So, yeah, what's what's next on the docket for this episode?

I think I'll quickly summarize what we're going to be doing for each of these 10 days. So, like over broken arrow, pre Western States and then Western States, and I think, based on what I summarize, you can fill in missing gaps or comment on it. For broken arrow, for broken arrow. So just for further context, brett and I are arriving in Olympic Valley two days from now, the afternoon of Thursday, january, june 15. We rented an Airbnb that's about a half mile from the broken arrow and Western State start lines. We're converting it into a studio. And for broken arrow, for the VK, 23 K and 46 K. Each day we're going to do a morning hype show that just talks about interesting athletes, storylines, the course, potential outcomes, getting people ready. If we have enough internet connection, we're going to make that a live show on YouTube, opening up a chat and encouraging people to to participate, to be involved, to comment, ask questions. If not, we'll do a slight tape delay and publish it after the fact. Then we'll head out into the field with our photographers and videographers will be at various points of the course, capturing photo and video summarizing each of those three races and disseminating them to platforms like Twitter, instagram, tiktok. So think what I run far did on Twitter and is still doing on Twitter, but just to more social media platforms. For pre-western states. We're gonna do a lot of athlete interviews inside the studio, operator interviews, people like Craig Thornley, for example. We'll probably do some sort of evening daily YouTube live episode Picking some interesting storyline from the race or just interesting Interactions and thoughts that we've had throughout each of the pre-western states days. And then, for western states, this might be our biggest Operation to pull off and I think it's good that we'll have had nine days of lead-up and practice to get it done. We have a team of roughly 12 photographers and videographers. They're gonna be stationed at every allowable location, from the start line to the finish, aid stations in between, and We're gonna be doing, aid station to aid station, photo and video based updates on the men's and women's top 10, reporting all of that information, not just the Twitter, but Instagram, youtube, tiktok, etc. So telling the story that way. And then I think our dream is And maybe I shouldn't put this on blast, but, like later that night, if we have one of our star links in hand, we'll plop ourselves on the center of the infield there at the placer high track and, in a likely delirium. We'll do some sort of immediate post-race reaction episode. Maybe get some of these Top finishers to come over and chat with us and recap their day and just have some sort of you know, polite but ecstatic celebration of the event and Yeah, so that's it. That's a summary of it. Brett, is there anything you want to fill in there or comment on group runs?

yes, group runs we Monday through Wednesday. So this is Monday, june 19th, through Wednesday, june 21st. We are going to be hosting a group run at Palisades Every morning where you just show up. We're gonna scout out a couple different options. There's a couple. There's a little trailhead off behind the back parking lot of Palisades that I would love to start out. We go for a little trail run every morning. We will have various giveaways demos, stuff. We got stuff. We got some awesome sponsors for this. So if you show up, you're getting some stuff. And You know we want to, you know we want to hang out with everyone. So, like, if you're up in town, you know in town for the week, like, come running with us. There will be more details regarding that. We need to actually scope out some of the trails. There's still a lot of snow up at Palisades, so we got to see if there's actually like some runnable trail that we can get to or we will be stuck to the bike path like everyone else. But yeah, be on the lookout for more details from that. I think all we know is, like, probably, as of right now, we'll we'll run at 9 am Every morning.

I think that's a great thing to add and I'm glad you said it, because at the end of the day, you and I are not necessarily journalists. I know that neither of us are journalists by trade and training We're just super fans of the sport and I think any memorable moment that I know I've had in the last two years of doing this is when we get to engage with fellow super fans, and group runs are a great opportunity. I do hope that the live chats if we do get to go live on YouTube are our rowdy and substantial and in fun and add to the flavor. Yes, seriously, we like that Oprah meme. You get soft wick socks, you get saw, you get a flask, you get some more in gels, like. There's gonna be a lot to give away in addition to to hanging out, so We'll have more details. I think you know we're gonna get there Thursday and we'll that'll probably be. One of our first orders Of business is scouting out where we can run, and we'll start getting that stuff out on social media right away. Anything else relevant that we should add in or things you want to comment on about just our approach to Building hype for these races and covering them Yeah, i mean I'm just excited to I Don't know build a little.

Like you know, we've seen it over and I guess that's partly where the idea came from. You know, i think a large part of inspiration for this project came from City of Smeg. Last year at the world championships for track and field in Eugene, they had an Airbnb just outside of Hayward Field and they went live like multiple times a day and had lots of guest interviews. We loved that format. I thought it was so fun, so fast and we're like man, maybe we could do something similar like that one year. But yeah, i mean, what's What's? where was I even going with that? What was the question?

I guess, oh yeah, you went on a great Avenue like, just like the inspiration for this.

Yeah, and then the inspiration, ultimately, is to grow the sport. Like. We want to create more fans for the sport. Like, how are they? like, running is like the most participated in sport In the world, but it has one of the smallest followings from a fan standpoint. Um, it's not very balanced at all. There's many more people who watch football than play football. Um, why are there so many more people who run than watch running or pay attention to it, even on the trail side? so our main goal is to, you know, give, give something more to the sport in regards to how people can follow it. You know, become aware of it. Like, give a reason to root for someone. Um, yeah, i hear about it every year. You know, like, at western states, someone tunes into the live stream And by the end of the race, they're like oh, i've become such a fan of so-and-so. What if we gave you the opportunity to become a fan of them before the race started? or have a few people on your radar that maybe you weren't Expecting to be paying attention to, and now you have, like, a little bit more investment in the race Before it starts. Like, that's, that's what we want and that's gonna. You know, i think that's good for the sport. I think there needs to be, you know, that sort of viewership.

One, one thing I'll add to that, and it's along that city of smag thread that you mentioned, like if you go to the city of smag youtube channel and you scroll back to their world's coverage. They had a pretty comfy, cozy Setting at their airbnb where they could really get the athletes and the operators to relax and sit back, have a cold beverage and just talk more Naturally and free flowing about the sport. And I think one of the most exciting, or one of the things I'm the most excited for when we get to the airbnb on thursday is setting up that studio And then the moments where we get to invite the athletes and the operators in some collaborators, co-hosts, and just sit back in, like just a more comfortable environment and Ask questions and and just pick topics and get after it. Because I'm not convinced that we have been utilizing the best formats podcasts included, by the way, like remote podcasts included. I don't think we've been using the best formats to get to the heart of some of these athlete stories And their thoughts on the sport. And maybe by creating this More cozy ambiance environment We're gonna be able to achieve some of that at least, or or just get the movement started in that. In that way.

Yeah, yeah, i totally agree, and we've noticed that even just like Commentating some of these races like in the air viper studio, like up in flagstaff for coca-cadona, like just being all in the same room at the same time, like It, it makes a difference. Um, something about just being able to actually look at the guest and ask them a question, i don't know. Yeah, you just, i mean, being able to do all this stuff remotely is incredible, because it opens up tons of opportunities. But if there is the opportunity to do more of these live, i absolutely want to do that. Yep, and I also am very curious to see what kind of studio we end up building out, because, like this Airbnb, like neither of us have been in it. So I'm like so curious on Thursday when we walk in there and be like okay, what do we do now? So this is what we're working with. Yeah, we, i mean it might change five times over the course of the week. We don't know. It's like a dodgeball. They're like we don't know who our best player is. We haven't played a game yet.

All right couple. I do want to make sure we thank the sponsors of this coverage Hoka Rabbit, who's been a longtime sponsor of ours. Thank you so much, Rabbit. Thank you, Kevin Lara in particular there, Morton and Features And you mentioned the group runs. When you think giveaways and when you think goods for showing up at these things, those four sponsors are going to be offering up a lot of cool gear, nutrition, et cetera, to walk away with. We endorse all these products. They're awesome. And then, in terms of how to tune in, where to find us, how to get involved, as you said earlier with the video component, the most important thing that you can do after listening to this episode is go into YouTube typing in the single track podcast and figuratively, not literally smashing that subscribe button, because I don't want you to break the mouse as you do it in utter anticipation and excitement. What we're about to do hit that subscribe button gently and it will subscribe you and you'll start getting updates.

Hit the notification bell as well Hit the notification bell too.

A little bit of it, not all of it will go to the podcast players and then we'll also be ubiquitous across the Instagram, tiktok, twitter, et cetera, especially during race coverage. So run single track on some channels, single track podcast and others, but just search us that way, find us and then, most importantly, get involved. As I said earlier, broken record. Our favorite moments are when the fans get into the live chat. The fans DM us and they offer questions, comments, perspective. That is the best part. So, in addition to subscribing, the other best way you can get involved is by being an active participant in all this in which we're going to promote heavily. So yeah send us all your juicy dirt. Yeah.

Except be civil about it. We don't want to just create a whole like chat room of trolls, like that's no fun.

No.

One thing I did want to mention to just, like you know, listen to sponsors. You know, hoka, rabbit, martin and features like That's a cool list, like that's a fun list, because we did spend a lot of time figuring out who the right sponsors were going to be and And I am so excited that we get to partner with companies that, like We actually like I've run more trail miles in Hoka shoes than any other brand. Like I Have run more trail miles in Rabbit clothing than probably any other brand. Like I have eaten more Martin gels and I can count I have done every ultra for the last like five years and features socks Like ever, like prior to you know, like my first Western States in 2018. I Trusted the race with features. So like it's so cool that, like we're getting to work with companies that I've just bought like lots of their products.

Brett? how? on a scale of zero to 100? how tired of my sales pitch Are you after? we've done like 110 meetings with every single Company either in or adjacent to the outdoor industry.

Yeah, i mean it's. I'm glad that we're done with it now and we get to wait until next year, figured, i'll add again. That's, that's my elevator pitch. Sorry that the building was 400 stories tall, brett, is there anything that I missed? I'm like okay, cool, let me just hit the down button so I can start talking now.

Awesome. Well, yeah, bottom line, i'm super stoked. Couldn't imagine doing it without you, and the rest of our team will make sure, over the course the week, to highlight the photographers, videographers, people that are in the trenches with us making this happen, because We did a lot, but there's a lot of other people that are gonna be behind the scenes, that are making it look especially good, making it pop. So those are my final thoughts. Anything else before we go?

No, i mean, I think that's really it. Yeah, these next 10 days are gonna be, are gonna be pretty wild, but I think I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and I'm excited to, you know, hang out, hang out in Palisades for for a week and a bit and I hope you know we get to hang out and meet some people who you know Listen to the pod and you know come running with us and maybe hear their takes on the race. You know all that good stuff. Yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna be a blast. I mean it's what a fun weekend like to have two giant races on back-to-back weekends in the same spot. Normally you think that's like redundant, but they're so different We actually just get like Like we're going like vk to 100 mile over the course of 10 days, then that's awesome.