Mary Wittenberg

So, yeah, I went back to welcome him back.

But it's a great idea because, I mean, a lot of the New York road drivers, indeed, coming up in the interview we've got with Mary Wittenberg.

I don't know if she talks about it in the interview.

No.

Tomo, I don't think you could, if you could bottle that and put it into all of the, well, we pretty much do, don't we? All of the runners and race organisers.

But she's just, for me, I think of New York City and any kind of running.

And I just, that's who comes to mind is Mary Wittenberg.

Now, as we said, working with Let's Do This, she's kind of gone off and done, gone in different directions, but always stayed running.

I want to give you your flowers really quickly, Allie.

I was doing some research for a presentation I did at Running USA where I was inducting Mary Wittenberg to the Hall of Champions.

And in that time, I was listening to all these different podcasts and articles and whatnot.

Your podcasts with Mary Wittenberg were incredible.

Wow.

incredible so knowledgeable so engaging now granted you guys have a rapport we have a rapport with each other but you created a platform for that so now think about how many new platforms exist in the space of running that didn't exist 10 15 20 25 years ago let alone 50 years ago and there's more of that that's there so i've asked many people in the space how are people consuming information in the running space? And are we, as event producers, doing a good enough job of informing those that are in the space of information and sharing? Are we doing a good enough job giving you that information? Are we engaging with people enough? Are we listening to what people have to say? So I think that's a lot of the new and different that is in this area now, as our industry has changed, our sport has changed, our culture has changed around running.

And so in the mornings, you're just grabbing runs.

Allie on the Run and Mary Wittenberg and And just all of these friends, my manager, Ray Flynn.

And so it's just like that time, you know, you use the miles to connect.

The other part of it is really seeing the impact of charity.

We're starting, we're meeting in the lobby at 6:30.

Can you bring my bib down?" "Yes, of course." And he was like, "But I don't have safety pins." "No problem." So he brings my bib down and I'm just kinda holding it and we're meeting up with our group, which is Dina, Carrie Tollefson, Mary Wittenberg, Christine Burke, uh, Ray Flynn was there, um, Khalid Khannouchi was with us, the former American record-holder in the marathon.

Uh, so just a very cool group, and I always kinda latch onto it.

And so Christine said to me, I was like, "Oh, I don't have safety pins," and Christine was like, "No problem.

Uh, to not feel like this was an escape, and, "Oh, God, now I'm gonna have to return home and what's waiting for me?" Like, it just felt good.

Felt no drama.

Um, I remember at one point Mary Wittenberg was like, "Do we need to play Opalite?" And I was like, "No." Like, I'm actually good.

I mean, not that I'm ever gonna say no to one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs, but last year we listened to that song a ton.

There's running industry folk, but then there's also, like, content creators like us, and I'm talking about the industry folk.

Like, Mary Wittenberg was one of the people who we passed on the way in, and, um, I don't-

Honey, you know I don't know who none of these people are-

None of these people are