The Art of Negotiation

Negotiating is an important part of any sporting event.  Just putting players on the field starts with the negotiation of a player contract or as we have seen recently in the NBA and the NFL, the art of negotiation gets players and owners to work out each other’s positions to have a season.  Endurance Running is no different; the Race Director negotiates with Elite Runners, with Sponsors, with hotels for expo locations and even runners themselves when issues on either side arise.

     This week I had a great opportunity to interview two people from the PGA Tour who negotiate everyday in their jobs.  Dana Welch is a PGA Tour Producer and Thomas Spence is the Footage Licensing Manager at the PGA Tour.

     Dana Welch works with Sponsors and Tour Talent to create advertisements and news stories to be used in telecasts of PGA Tournaments. Her largest struggle when negotiating with Talent and Sponsors is to remember to separate the people from the problem.  Since sponsors are at times providing more than $10 million dollars to the PGA Tour she has to remember that without the sponsors she wouldn’t be producing a spot.  She reminders herself often that they are busier than she is and they are doing something great for the PGA Organization by donating to the charitable organizations.  If issues arise she is lucky to have the opportunity to pull aside a “handler” for help in the negotiation of the moment.  Sometimes it takes a lot of “being fake” to ensure that she builds a relationship to get what she wants. 

     Thomas Spence’s negotiating skills are a bite different.  As the Footage Licensing Manger he often works with organizations like HBO Sports to negotiating pricing on existing footage that the PGA Tour owns.  Thomas always starts out with providing a rate sheet before beginning the negotiation process.  He often sees organizations try to use status as a negotiation factor but recognizes this as not a positive method for many of these companies when they indicate they don’t have a budget.  Their excuse of little budget is often contradictory to their status or previous negotiations with the PGA Tour.  

     One memorable negotiation that didn’t go particularly in Thomas’ favor was a request to the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.  They mentioned a price and knowing that the PGA Tour didn’t have a BATNA (Best alternative to a negotiated agreement) the Masters held strong in their position and an agreement was not made, putting Thomas into a position where the project couldn’t move forward. 

     Getting the opportunity to talk with others in the Sports Industry was a wonderful experience and helped me to realize that regardless of your industry we all have similar issues and things we have to deal with.  We all use the same methods to negotiate our position and the sports industry provides more challenges for overcoming egos in negotiations in a sponsor, a player, an event location or our own negotiations with ourselves. 

Run for Charity and Clarity

How is it that more people are finding the drive and the inter strength to overcome obstacles to finish a marathon?  May people would tell you that they are driven to the finish line by a sense of greater good.  The word Marathon and Charity now go hand and hand.  Runners are raising more money for charity then ever before. The numbers as reported in the July issue of Runners World Magazine are staggering at 1.65 billion dollars raised so far. 

Just this past weekend it is estimated that over $30 million dollars was raised by runners at the New York Marathon.  This includes the great number of celebrities who ran for a cause. 

People are finding a deeper connection between the sport of running and the cause.  Most would tell you they run because they can and they run for those that have suffered more then they will for the 3 to 6 hours it takes them to finish a marathon.  The training for a marathon is not a grueling as a round of chemotherapy. 

Team in Training is the largest organization that trains participants to run marathons, half marathons, triathlons and century bike rides.  They give you organized training, pay the entrance in the race, and the travel to get there.  You raise money for the Leukemia Society and finish the race.  If you have been to a race lately you have seen all of the people both running and on the sidelines in Purple.  It really is inspirational to hear a mother tell you thank you for running for her daughter suffering from Leukemia. 

If raising upwards of $3,000 isn’t something that you feel you can do while raising a family, training for a family and many of times working full time, there are other options.  Raises dedicated to the cause are out there.  Of course my favorite is the National Breast Cancer Marathon held in Jacksonville, FL every February.  100% of the registration fees go to the cause to Finish Breast Cancer. There is of course the ability to do further fundraising and it is encouraged, but not required to run the raise and see millions of spectators who have been impacted by people who have fought Breast Cancer. 

If getting in shape isn’t enough to get you off the couch, then look for a cause to run for.  The pain is temporary, pride is forever. 

It costs how much to run?

When you get into running the first thing you hear is how there is little equipment to run.  Really all you need is a pair of running shoes and nothing more.  It doesn’t cost to step out the door and head down your street for a 5-mile run.  What people don’t tell you is how much it costs when you start to really get into it and when you want to go the distance by running a Half Marathon or a Marathon. 

Of course you can do the local events and the costs might be cheaper but if you want to experience or have an excuse to go to a great city you have to pay the price.  For the purpose of this blog post I am going to stick with the costs of doing a Half Marathon.  More people are stepping up their training to enter this race more than the Marathon partly because it is easier on your training time and it’s easier on your wallet. But is it really?

The Disney Half Marathon held in January of every year costs $160 dollars.  But let’s be truthful, I find it worth every penny.  Yes, Disney is making a profit, but they are also making this one of the best races if you want to have fun. Characters are everywhere, the medal is one of the best if not the best and the shirts for this run are top notch. I run 2 of these events a year and am hoping to take it across the coast to Disneyland in 2012 which will add more bling for no additional cost for the Coast to Coast medal.  The Disneyland Half is $145 and I’m hoping well worth the trip to the other ocean.

As much as Disney might be in it for the money, I’ve heard that the Rock n’Roll Series of Half Marathons will really hit you in the wallet.  The Chicago Rock n’Roll entrance fee is $120, the Zappos.com Rock n’Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon will cost you $155 and the new Savannah will cost you $105.  What they don’t tell you is that for Savannah they are charging for the transportation to the race and I’ve never heard of this but they are charging for your friends and family to track you throughout the race.  Something I am hoping that iPhone’s new Siri will help me with in the future. 

If you want to put your money to good use, I recommend a great race out of Jacksonville, FL, The 26.2 with Donna, the National Breast Cancer Marathon.  100% of the $95.00 entrance goes to help women with Breast Cancer and the research to finish the disease. Plus how much fun is it to run on the beach in February!

No matter what race you choose, undoubtedly you will have a great time and will be rewarded with an outstanding accomplishment as well as a beautiful medal to add to your collection.  If you sign up for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon it can even be a Tiffany Necklace. 

Happy Running. 

Born to Run

There are some great resources for inspiration and knowledge on the web. Recently I found a video on Ted.com by Christopher McDougall: Are we born to run?   Every runner has read Christopher McDougall's book by the same name Born to Run.  If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it.  

If you have ever wondered why we run and most importantly why we run longer distances like the Marathon or an Ultra Marathon this video could give you the answer you need.    Most people call this crazy, why would anyone run 26.2 miles never less 100 miles. Seriously who are these people? I have a friend, Chris Twiggs, who runs the Hard Rock 100 every year, and yes he is crazy. 

Are women more crazy and more suited for a longer distance run? Christopher McDougall seems to think so.  As he points out in this video, women were not allowed to run the marathon until the 1980’s, because everyone thought that parts of our body would fall apart.  Sometimes after I run 20 miles I start to believe that this could be true.  But women are just 10 minutes off the fastest men. Not bad if you ask me.  Thank you Kathrine Switzer for going rouge in 1967 to run the Boston Marathon.  Every women today who runs Chicago, Boston, New York and every race out there owes it to you for your courage to run.

McDougall speaks about another amazing women who ran the Hard Rock 100.  That’s over 100 miles at a high altitude many of times in snow and blizzard conditions.  Emily Baer finished 8^th of 500 runners, stopping at ever water stop to breast feed her new baby.  Power to the women!

I have seen a number of t-shirts around that say “Running is Cheaper than Therapy” or “Running is my happy hours”.  I think we women run to get away.  To have a moment to ourselves and to feel powerful in our bodies. 

I’ll end with a quote from Christopher McDougall’s video Are we born to run?

“imagine a world where everybody could go out their door and engage in the kind of exercise that's going to make them more relaxed, more serene, more healthy, burn off stress -- where you don't come back into your office a raging maniac anymore, where you don't go back home with a lot of stress on top of you again.” 

Road Runners Club of America

Road Runners Club of America

Have you ever wanted to join a running club or start a club of your own?  There are some very active running clubs across the country, who even put on major events. These clubs help thousands prepare for 5k’s and Marathons.  When I lived in Chicago I had the opportunity to run with CARA, the Chicago Area Runners Association.  CARA starts helping people who just want to learn the basics, how to run 15 straight and takes their program to help people of Chicago run the Chicago Marathon.

With the number of people who are apart of running clubs, the organizers need advocacy and support. There are a number of associations that support running clubs and running event directors.  The largest is the organization Road Runners Club of America.  This organization offers the services needed to promote and support local running clubs and events.  The mission of Road Runners Club of America is to promote a healthy lifestyle through competitive running events and clubs. The organization is the oldest and the largest organization, supporting running.

Road Runners of America offer a number of programs to promote running and to help area running clubs and event directors.  The Road Runners of America does not discriminate about ability and looks to help those just starting out to those winning races.  On September 16, 2011, Road Runners of America sponsored Run@Work Day.  The goal of this day was to promote at least 30 minutes of running during their day.  This event encouraged corporations across the country to help employees schedule time for fitting in physical fitness in the form of running. Road Runners of America provided a kit to anyone wanting to plan an event as well as posters to promote the events. 

Road Runners of America offers running clubs tools to help run their clubs, including membership, insurance, and even funding.  What it really takes is a group of people or one advocate to start a running club in your area.  If you have the will, Road Runners of America is your source.  This isn’t the end all be all location for event directors, but it really is a great source of information and provides the running community with the resources and advocacy they need.  The website www.rrca.org provides a wealth of information, and I highly recommend you visit it more than once. 

Remember membership is free for the average running and $75 per participant in a running club or event.  If there isn’t a running club available in your area join as an individual and think about starting a running club yourself. 

It's Racing Day. Today's The Day We Race.

I'm two weeks away from running my first half-marathon of the season at the Disney Wine and Dine half-marathon. This is my favorite run at Disney as it is all done at night starting at 10:00pm on October 1st.   With just two weeks away and my first training run in double digits, 10 miles, I am starting to think about all of the planning that goes into being prepared to run a race.  

Of course the first step is to get out the door and start putting one foot in front of the other.  To do that you need motivation, this might be losing weight, raising funds for a good cause, or just making sure you stay in shape.  After you find your motivation you need a training schedule. Then, of course, you need to stay on track with each of the scheduled long runs, weekday runs and find time for cross training. (See a previous post on tips for this). I have chosen to run with the Galloway program, which has a great training plan that includes interval running and walking.  There are other programs out there and I highly recommend the training plans on Active.com.  You can download your plan based on distance as well as your ability. (i.e., Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced). 

The next step is getting a great pair of shoes.  This doesn't mean that you should run to your local discount shoe store.  Instead, I recommend finding a running specialty store.  These stores hire people who are runners; they are trained to find you a shoe that fits your running style.  Most running stores will watch you run and will determine the best shoe for you and only you.  We are all unique.  This means that your shoe may not be the color you like and they may or may not cost more than you wanted to spend.  Most importantly, ensuring that you are injury free will cost you less in the long run.  If you are looking for a national store that is dedicated to running, see if Fleet Feet is in your area. 

While you are at the running store pick up some running specific clothes that are made from wicking, dry-fit material.  Just remember the saying, "Cotton is Rotten".  This includes socks and undergarments.  Believe me, you will thank me later.  

Last but not least, make sure to plan what you will eat before and during the race.  Test your food choices before every long run until you find the food that works for you, and then make sure that you stick to the plan on race day.  A race like the Disney Wine and Dine half-marathon creates a challenge.  Especially, if you don't normally run late into the night.  I've found that pasta the night before and pancakes in the morning with a small lunch of chicken and pasta works best.  Don't head out and try all of the great foods, on race day, at the Food and Wine Festival. If running longer than a 10k start testing things like GU and Gatorade. This will help you with energy and hydration.  I do suggest checking out the race details to see what they will be serving on race day.  Again you don't want to try anything new that day.  

So how does one learn all of these tips? Years of running and making some really bad mistakes.  But no worries if you plan ahead you will have success on racing day. 

Now get out there and run.  

I am not Superman. How do you fit it all in?

How do you have your cake and eat it to? Okay the answer to that is run a ton and you'll never think twice about that piece of cake.  But really how do fit in family time, running, cross training, working, school, volunteering, making sure the dog goes out and everyone is feed?

These are questions that I have been asking a lot lately as I find time to be Supermom, CEO of the family, train for a marathon, work and go to school.  I am lucky as my project management skills of scheduling everything has helped.  If it is not on the schedule it will not be done.  I have this down to when the dishes are done and have even scheduled bath night for my little guy.  But "life" still seems to get in the way.

Last week I had a trainer session before getting my son from school.  Not knowing that traffic was going to be a nightmare I had no idea how little time I had to run from the gym to the school.  When I got there the guilt trip started as he proceeded to inform me he was the last one there with another girl.

I had just read an article on in Runners World Magazine about how a structured schedule keeps you happy and healthy.  I knew I had to continue to work out with the trainer and I needed to ensure that pick up at school wasn't a guilt trip for me and a therapy session years from now for my son.  As the wife of a football coach, I knew my husband was out, so I enlisted my dad for his first ever carpool lane experience.  Like project management you have to delegate to others so that you can stay on track.  I know that this won't work for everyone.  My next options were changing the session to lunch time or making my husband leave football practice for a few minutes.  I was determined to get in this training session.

As it is starting to get cooler, multi-tasking to get the workout in always helps.  There is nothing like running next to my son's bicycle or having him do planks with me.  Of course at 4 he thinks planks are fun.  The Mayo Clinic gives advice on how to fit in exercise when you can't make it to the gym.  Anytime you can watch TV while moving will help you in the long run.  I also find that recording my thoughts on my iPhone while running also helps.  Yes, it sounds funny when you play it back but you don't miss things on the to do list and dictating that paper while running makes it a better paper with clear thoughts.

If all else fails wake up at 4:30 on a Saturday for an 8 mile run before everyone is up for the day.  You get the run in, everyone else sleeps and you still have time for family day.  Just remember that sleep is over rated.  That's another blog post for another day.

Now get out there and schedule your run.

Help me fundraise. It's fun and it makes you feel good.

Help me fundraise. It's fun and it makes you feel good.

Are the risks of endurance sports worth it?

During a triathlon in New York last weekend two people died during the swim portion of the event.  News like this from NBC Sports always starts the conversation around the risks associated with endurance sports. With an increase in the number of participants each year in endurance events like Triathlons, Ironman’s and Marathons the news stories of injuries and deaths has had a far higher focus in the media.  Runners and triathletes understand the risks associated with endurance sports.  They sign waivers indicating that they understand the risk.  And we can't forget that the original marathoner, the courier, Pheidippides, died after running over 25 miles to deliver the news of victory at the Battle of Marathon.

Tour de Pain - Are you fit or insane?

Want to test your fitness or you sanity level, put the Tour de Pain on your race list next year.

August 5th and 6th in Jacksonville, Florida a local running store put on a race to prove if you are fit or insane.   Three races in 24 hours, in August in Florida.  After running the last race I can honestly say that I questioned my own sanity.  Over 1000 participants came out to run all 3 races and to claim the Tour de Pain medial at the end.

The running addiction

If you're not a runner you may not understand what the addiction is.  If you are not a runner you do not understand why people run for 26.2 miles, for 6 straight hours.  If you are not a runner you don't know what it is like to push through "the wall". Running is an addiction.