I wrote most of this Sunday, en route to Hawaii, a respite the result of a random summer break we forgot about, during Dougie’s last remaining weeks at his current daycare before he starts (cry) real school.1 Over a week has passed since we went hard for the SF marathon, a distant memory replaced by the endless cycle of bills, orders (+ reorders) and a million forms for the aforementioned real school enrollment.
I have this habit of going hard with the hope of relaxing later, a cycle I developed when the deadlines were out of my control, the demand of work one that required the carrot of a ‘treat yourself’ moment to survive. A long weekend at a hot spring in Calistoga, a trip to a day spa, a flight to Hawaii. I’d run my social, emotional + very literal energetic batteries so low with the goal of recharging fully by entirely disconnecting for a day/week or end; depending on the time allotted by schedule and the depths of depletion.
My therapist would call this a winning formula, if I were to talk to her about it as if it were a bad thing. Instead we talk about it as a means to survival because doing less is never a topic of conversation for us; we spend our hour together strategizing how to manage the doing of more. The problem with a winning formula is that while at one time it was a tool for success, at some point it no longer serves. This concept of boom or bust worked when I had the time, capacity and lack of commitments to fully shut down. Now, however, there truly are no days off.
I’m heading into the trip with minimal deadlines, and another x-country 6 hour trip facing me in a mere 14 days so I will, hopefully, be doing as little as possible. First priority given our flight was at 7am and someone was doing donuts on a motorcycle outside our house during the wee hours before we had to awaken, will be sleep. I’ve also been finding myself incredibly annoyed and triggered by Instagram lately so hopefully a bit of a social detox on the docket. Or as much of a detox as one can allow while still ensuring visibility in one’s feed.
TL;DR, marathon weekend was awesome, one filled to the brim with community + events and dare I say project elevate was a success. Our goal was four cheer stations which I (hilariously, over-confidently) declared would be so easy (it wasn’t) and we achieved three. The realities of an unnecessarily early start time and a community primarily ignored brought front and center with every cold DM or email left unanswered.
Scenes from miles 21 :
And some personal favorites from Mile 24, where I cheered with the mister :
Most of the hype leading up to the marathon was so focused on the inconveniences of road closures I spent the better part of my Friday morning trolling local news outlets on social media. The marathon org itself will claim the early start and refusal to close the bridge an attempt to mitigate disruptions to the city however I am here to make the case that more disruption isn’t a bad thing.
New York closes all their bridges. Boston shuts down an entire downtown. Neither city complains (or even posts) about the disruptions of daily life; instead they focus on the history and celebration of iconic city wide events. if you want to get people excited about a marathon, you too must be excited about a marathon. People in SF love to lament any disruption to daily life so give them something to really complain about. If they’re going to hate anyway, might as well go all in.
I came out of the weekend hot, declaring a lot of hills worth dying on and have some of these thoughts below, tucked behind the paywall. I trust if you’re going to randomly pay $5 a month with no real added perks you won’t cancel me for calling out a few large, SF based brands for their lack of involvement.
I also came out of the weekend with a renewed confidence in what we’re building and an absolute love for the run community in SF and that’s the content I want free for all to read. We held three major events over the course of the weekend and I was floored that we not only had solid turn outs for all of them but some people even joined for all three. It also served as a very tangible reminder people are hungry for an event like the marathon to rally behind in a way that isn’t for the hype of a social media moment but purely for love of city and sport.
Prior to opening the store, the SF marathon was one I did not come out to cheer for. We did a family breakfast at a cafe near the course a few years back and I brought Dougie over to help cheer on the runners. It was so quiet it felt awkward. Now I’m the cheerleading chicken you never realized you needed only instead of things like ‘woo hoo you’re doing great’ I’m yelling ‘cute fit’.
Speaking of, my best dressed recap. The fact that these ladies looked so good at mile 24 a true testament to their fits.
literally anyone in red.
the IT color of the marathon. also refreshing was the lack of brand on brand hook ups. loved seeing people put their own spin on the pieces they wanted to wear together. all the girls twinning
if you're going to run with your BFF why not match? all the whimsy including the queen herself.
emily was crushing + her fit looked so good! i might've scared her a little with my screaming lol.
worst dressed :
this guy’s nipples.
sorry had to. usually it’s a guy in a tracksmith singlet.
A huge thank you to Katherine Britt and megha and Kimberlee Howley because without their help project elevate would have remained an idea on paper. 26.415 and the giddy up cheer station in GGP were the brain child of Kimee and two of the best events all weekend.
The weekend reaffirmed that we’re doing the right thing, building a strong community + giving the people what they want; it also got me fired up that as a small business with a small (read : no) budget we’re carrying a lot of the momentum of race day weekend. Doing big things doesn’t need to cost a lot of money when you focus on a good time and not on the ROI. There are a lot of businesses in the city that have a lot more money than us and those businesses need to be contributing
According to Google2, there are 25-35 publicly traded companies and 256 private ‘unicorn’ start ups worth over a billion dollars located in San Francisco proper. It’s embarrassing that the best the marathon can get for a headlining sponsor is China Airlines and Skratch Labs, two companies that have absolutely no affiliation with the bay area.
Strava, currently valued at $2.2 billion was founded here; should be the leading sponsor and yet I saw very little beyond a Strava branded sign. I unfortunately have to pay for a Strava membership in order to have a club for the store otherwise I wouldn’t due to their lack of involvement across the board (apparently they told the SF pride 5k that they were unable to offer any sponsorship money)3
I reached out to Athleta in the hopes of getting them to partner with a local club on a cheer station; they responded back excited as they were working with a marketing agency on their own marathon activations. One was a recovery station they called ‘mile 27’ including a DJ, Normatec boots and a customization station where you could buy merch and have it embroidered. Unsurprising they were selling customizable merch at Mile 27 because there always needs to be an ROI when the street holds you accountable at the end of a quarter. The incentive to build community ultimately a monetary one.
Athleta was interested in partnering because they wanted cheer stations on the course (with Athleta branded signs) and saw us as a means to an end. I declined because it felt too logo’d for my liking. Unconfirmed is their involvement outside of Mile 27 because when I checked socials, this was what their one marathon-related post I could find was focused on.
We might’ve announced the cheer stations via our social channels however there was very little Running Wylder branding at them beyond a random tee, because our goals weren’t to put ourselves first. We chose to support from the shadows so it would be the community that truly took the spotlight.
What I did see on socials however, was an announcement for their latest drop, titled ‘Wilder Running’. Coincidence or not, had I noticed it first I would have simply rolled my eyes because originality is not the Gap’s forte. I’ve had several people text me about it and the fact that it’s so same same but not different that they’ve asked me about it has me irked. I gave so much to that company to get so little back and yet they still continue using my ideas for their gain.4
Athleta had reached out back in January about doing a feature on me and the store via their socials. Ultimately I declined, because the idea they pitched me had already been done and my dislike of Gap Inc, from both my time there and as an A’s fan, runs deep.5
Also noticeably absent from the race course were other running stores in the city. I unsuccessfully attempted to get one in Sausalito and another in the Richmond for cheer stations 4 and 5. It’s hard work getting people to show up and cheer so early in the morning but that’s our job. If we can’t be bothered who can?
The universe is a funny lady because the 50 best running stores in America were announced on Medal Monday. We actually made the short list of 100 and as I filled out the questionnaire on a flight many months ago it became very obvious we had no chance of making the final cut. I don’t consider myself a specialty run store, which maybe I shouldn’t have admitted in response to the ‘anything else we should know’ question but everything they6 asked was geared toward a very, very specific type of store. One that is not mine but rather one that offers gait analysis, scans your feet and tells you what shoes you should be wearing (and then sells you the insoles to wear with them).
How they chose to inform the 50 stores that won : a box full of free samples. Skratch samples, an Amazefit watch (to share amongst the team?) and some headphones. Guarantee at least 49 of these 50 claim sustainability as one of their top goals; the running industry loves to tout things like zero waste races and yet boxes of free shit to stores that already have access (or should have access if they want) to the brands in the box are still sociably acceptable, especially when an instagram post + a sticker should suffice.
Stores should be judged on their value add to their communities and not whether they scan feet and put people in insoles. We don’t ‘fit’ people because I personally think it’s bullshit. Watching someone run with an ipad is subjective - it’s easy to misdiagnose someone and put them in a type of shoe that’s actually not awesome for them but because they were told these are the right ones, they run in them anyway.
I don’t know if it’s 100% true but I had a rep tell me that a nationwide chain of running stores implemented the fit process of scanning arches and fitting insoles because they wanted to add an extra $60 onto the total purchase price. I’ve never used insoles - if my arches hurt after I wear a pair of shoes I don’t continue to wear said pair of shoes. If my feet are tired after a long run I roll them out on a frozen lime7. I wear unsupportive minimal shoes on the shop floor and whatever feels good on a run. If someone wants to feel a specific way in their shoes we’ve got them but I will not be the one who tells them they need to wear them. I don’t know any of my brand reps who wear them so save the $60 or buy yourself something cute.
As the store continues to carve its path in the world, there will be areas I dig deeper in (community, educating people on how to wear their clothes outside of running to maximize their spend + minimize their wardrobe) and areas I’ll be ignoring (insoles). I’ve been settling into the quiet confidence that comes with knowing yourself a lot these days and there’s a sense of power that comes with it. Behind the scenes there’s still a lot to work on : balancing budgets, figuring out buys but front facing it feels good to know we’re doing the things that feel right to us.
TK but still the kids are bigger!
one of said 25-35 companies
i reached out about creating some fun segments that spectators could unlock and was told they don’t do branded segments but i could create my own if i wanted. weird bc somehow i got invited to complete the On LightSpray challenge on strava when my plane landed in Boston for the marathon.
insult to injury the collection features pleats alá nike circa 2018 and styling taken directly out of the literary sport playbook
i spent nearly 7 years at old navy and yet when i was laid off, they rounded down to 5 (severance packages were determined by years served in odd number increments). the difference was an additional two months of salary, a small number for them but not for me. also f*ck john fischer for driving the A’s out of oakland.
the running event
try this and you’re welcome.
It's so much hard work to "be the change you want to see." I feel lucky and grateful to get to learn from you doing it. Thanks for bringing me into project elevate and for leading the charge on the changes the running community in this city + the entire city + the entire running community very much needs. My first half ever was the SF half in 2013 and wowowowow you could feel the difference in the energy in the air this year after what you've started building. Can't wait for next year!
This is so interesting, particularly the lack of support from local sponsors 😓 i think you’re doing all the right things and wish more stores followed your lead