RunDisney's Social Media

As we all are aware, social media isn't going anywhere. You most likely use it every day and I know that I'll be sharing my blog post on my Facebook and Twitter pages.  Some companies us Social Media effectively and others need some help.  In the attached video I have provided an analysis of Run Disney's Social Media Marketing mix.

The one thing Disney does great is keeping us all coming back for more.  Something I love. 

Performance Enhancements in Sports

            With the New Year upon us it always gives us a time to look back at the recent past events either in our lives, our businesses or our interests.  I was directed to a CNBC video called “The Biggest Plays in Sports Business”.  While I don’t necessarily agree with all of the assessment, the one thing that I do agree with is how Performance Enhancing Drugs have played a roll in the last decade of all sports, not just Major League Baseball or Cycling. 

            Performance Enhancing Drugs have been around going back to 1886 and have just become more popular in the recent decade with increased financial incentives to outperform the competition.   In 2008, Sports Illustrated wrote a timeline that really puts things into perspective on when the increase in usage became apparent. Reading this makes me more frustrated that we now question every athlete’s performance especially those that define all odds or records.

Running, Cycling, and Swimming have been hit the hardest and the earliest with some of the biggest names in their respective sports.  Rumors have swarmed around Lance Armstrong and his usage, if even by association, during his 7 years as the Tour de France winner.  Since the Tour de France is one of the most grueling events in professional sports it makes sense that the athletes must use something to excel and power through.  How else can you go 20 days on a bicycle for over 3,479 kilometers or over 2,162 miles? 

As a marathoner who is participating in the Disney Marathon this weekend, I can see how more and more amateurs are walking in the footsteps of the professionals and are looking for the next edge.  Those in the front of the pack will look for ways to make it into the elite marathons like Boston, and those in the back are looking for a edge to keep them going for over 5 hours or to ensure that they are not swept by the sweeper bus.

This need for increased performance enhancements is articulated very well by a quote from the Association Against Steroid Abuse. “The most common reason for steroid abuse in sports is desire to excel. These drugs are a particular enticement when faced with the pressures felt at the high school and amateur levels.

They are often seen as a necessary step towards college scholarships and progression towards the professional ranks. Steroid abuse has been speculated to be even worse at these levels than in professional sports.”

            As I run the Disney Marathon, I will be proud to know that I am not one of the amateur athletes who is running with the help of Performance Enhancing Drugs, but will be powered through by my own training and a “Runner’s High”. 

            Now if we could all get everyone from the amateur athlete to the professional to perform drug free we can show our kids the real meaning of “This is your body off drugs”. 

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.