Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: OG Guest #9 Stephen Madrid-City of Albuquerque

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BONUS: OG Guest #9 Stephen Madrid-City of Albuquerque · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  We're in a fun journey here every Thursday.
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  We've done eight of them now, so this is number 9.
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  So go back eight weeks. We are republishing the 1st 10
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  episodes of the Gill Connections podcast.
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  Maybe you're a recent listener and you don't even realize we've
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  been around since 2020. We're on episode 270.
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  So you might have had a guess here right now when we started
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  the podcast, certainly the goal number one was to uplift and
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  honor track coaches from around the country, around the world
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  and their journey in this great profession.
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  However, we also wanted to bring you other people in the sport of
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  track and field that maybe you're not aware of, but the
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  influence or affect our great sport.
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  And so today OG #9 was our first non coach guest.
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  It's Mr. Stephen Madrid now, Stephen, instrumental to the
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  City of Albuquerque Convention Center and that important track
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  facility for our sport. We sat down in one of the
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  meeting rooms there in the convention during the 2020 NCAA
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  Division One Championships. And as you can remember, that
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  was right before this literally was like the day before it all
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  fell apart. So can't wait for you to hear
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  this. I'm so grateful for Steven and
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  trusted me. This is OG #9 from the City of
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  Albuquerque Convention Center. Mr. Steven Madrid.
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  Hey gang, welcome to the Guild Athletics Connections podcast
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  where we bring you the stories of track coaches.
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  Oh, wait a minute. This episode does not feature a
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  track coach. This episode features Stephen
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  Madrid, who is one of the coordinators, supervisors of the
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  track facility at the city of Albuquerque to Albuquerque
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  Convention Center. Was so fun to sit down with him
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  today and just really kind of just chop it up about what it
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  takes behind the scenes with this track and field facility.
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  I know it's kind of out of the ordinary.
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  Not a track coach here, but I really think you're going to
• 1:53
  enjoy learning about Stephen Madrid and what his team does
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  for the sport of track and field as they host amazing meets like
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  the USA Nationals and the meet that we're at right now, the
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  NCAA Nationals. So hope you enjoy.
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  Please help me welcome the wise and wonderful Stephen Madrid.
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  Yeah, Hey, so thanks for joining me.
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  Steven. This I was really looking
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  forward to this. You know, I started this podcast
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  mainly for coaches because I believe in the connection of
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  coaches and what they do. But you and I have AI call.
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  You probably don't care, but I call it a special relationship.
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  Steven, you and I met years ago now with when we were doing USA
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  championships here in Albuquerque.
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  And you, you were always so conscientious.
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  You and I just kind of struck up a friendship.
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  You know, I always say that you're the only guy I'm friends
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  with on Facebook that's in your world here.
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  So I'm just so just humbled to get some time with you because I
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  think having people understand, I'm going to call it the
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  backside of track and field. So people, coaches come, they
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  show up, they the starting line's ready to go, the track's
• 3:11
  ready to go, and they they compete and then they leave.
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  Here in Albuquerque, we have a special track that's only here
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  for a small section of the year in your well, I'm going to say
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  it was your job to do this. What, what do you do?
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  What? What exactly do you do?
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  So do we go back to what 2012? Is that about the?
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  Time, yeah, I feel like it's earlier than that, but. 2010
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  maybe? I've been right around there.
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  Yeah. First time we hosted USA's movie
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  Man, right? Yeah.
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  Would that be 10 something like that?
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  Yeah, somewhere around there. Yeah, somewhere around there.
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  So I've been managing this indoor track since about 2010,
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  but we first started working this track in 2005.
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  In our. First year set up.
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  Oh, so you were setting it up even before we had USA's You you
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  were part of the was it the crew or were you the supervisor?
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  What? So what bit of history on the
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  track? Scott Stefan at the time, he's a
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  pole walk coach currently for Air Force, but in 2005 he was
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  part of the track and field team with the Lobos.
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  It was a pole walk coach then and he knew about a vendor track
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  that was for for sale or was just sitting in a warehouse
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  somewhere. OK, from California.
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  City of Los Angeles had purchased it, and from what I
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  understand it was supposed to be set up in the Staples Center.
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  Yeah, I. Remember this a little bit,
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  yeah? And you know where the facts
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  sit. I'm not really 100% what I know
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  is what I'm going to tell you. City of Los Angeles didn't want
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  it, right? I understand the city of
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  Albuquerque went ahead and, you know, proposed interest in
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  buying the track off of the company that was on there at the
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  time and Councillor Brad Winner at the time, you know, was
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  involved. Yeah.
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  All American pole vaulter for Oklahoma.
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  Yeah. And he was a 20 plus year
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  council member for city of Albuquerque.
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  He just retired in 2019. Is that right?
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  I met him a couple times. What a great guy.
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  He is, he was, he's an initial instrumental part of this indoor
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  track and he was an asset for Albuquerque.
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  You know, Brad and I have created a relationship because
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  of track and field my role in it and that's been that's been
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  great for me. Yeah.
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  Is he still here in? Town He's he's he's retired now,
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  so yeah, he he just called me today.
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  He's going to come out to the meet probably Saturday.
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  Good for him. He's currently coaching high
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  school girls track and field right now too.
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  So yeah. And I think he bounced back and
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  forth from Florida to Albuquerque, I bet.
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  He did, so he's got that. Retired life.
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  So, yeah. So Matt Henry was a head coach
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  of U&M track and field at the time.
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  Mark Henry, his brother, was an assistant coach and Scott Stefan
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  was an assistant coach as well for U&M, got with Councillor
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  Brad Winner and you know, proposed this opportunity of an
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  indoor track. So there was no indoor track at
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  that point? At that point in Albuquerque,
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  you know the last I understand Albuquerque had a new track
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  ended in the early 70s and we were staple in the indoor Track
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  World to the 60s into the 70s we set up 160 meter track.
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  I believe that that tingly called see it made out of
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  plywood. What I understand from history,
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  yes people could Fact Check me on.
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  That 150 tracks are the worst. Yeah.
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  So there's a 150 wooden. 151 sixty or something right,
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  whatever it was, and they. Had lots of good meats here and
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  then do you know what? Like what made it stop?
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  I don't really answer the question.
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  I don't know what happened, you know, and things just.
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  It was a wood bank track. It probably broke.
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  I mean, I probably. Would work, who knows so we lost
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  track and field here for what, 30 years?
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  My math right? Yeah, 3030 ish years.
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  And you know City Council, the mayor at that time signed off on
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  it. Mayor Travis.
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  Yeah, just buy this track. The deal was made with the the
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  company selling the track. They ship us this track in 2004.
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  And I don't know the facts again about how I got involved.
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  My supervisor. Well, well, let me just say
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  this. My supervisor at the time was
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  Robin Henry, the brother of Matt and Mark Henry.
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  Yes. So they're all family.
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  Unbelievable Henry tradition. Which?
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  If you don't know those Henry's that we're talking about, the
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  maybe more known Henry is of course, Pat Henry at Texas A&M,
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  all from New Mexico, living legends here with what they've
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  done in specifically in Albuquerque, I think for
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  tracking. And you could go on to their
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  father and then their grandfather and then their, I
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  guess, their great uncle. I believe somewhere along that
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  line one of them are the Olympics.
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  Is that right? So the Henry family and track
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  and field in Albuquerque goes deep.
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  Synonymous. Yes, it really is.
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  Okay, so you get this beautiful bank track.
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  Yes, I think at the time, Robin Henry, again my supervisor, we
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  were working in Aquatics, so I was working on swimming pools.
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  I was a blue collar employer at the time, a building maintenance
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  worker. What they called, he called me
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  in, said hey. Are you sorry to interrupt?
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  That's right. Are you from Albuquerque?
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  Like born and raised, born and raised, Yes, born and raised.
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  I will stay here till my last, my last days.
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  Are Albuquerque I mean, and again, you know, I I've known
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  you now more because of you know, thank God for Facebook in
• 8:17
  my opinion, but you know, you get to see the concert you go to
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  you're a huge music fan which. Is awesome, yes.
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  That's so cool. I have long hair.
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  Oh, yeah. Why do I have long hair?
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  People ask me. And I guess I'm a heavy metal
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  fan. I want to go to a concert.
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  I want to live the part. You you see some videos.
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  You saw a corn video. Yeah.
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  Great time. And and that's why I have on
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  here. I love to, I love my music.
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  Small world, A friend of mine who's who is my tattoo artist is
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  friends with the drummer and maybe he's the bassist player,
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  but guitar player for corn. For corn, Brian Welch.
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  Yeah, Brian Welch. Yeah.
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  And then whatever. I don't know the.
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  Drummers Ray Luzier yeah, yeah, yeah and so I'm.
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  All really good friends through faith, actually.
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  Yeah, well, also my late brother-in-law were really was
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  really good friends with Ray Luzier.
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  They actually played in in a group together back in the 90s,
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  maybe right around there. So my brother-in-law was a
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  singer. He was with a band at that in
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  the 90s called 7 Sign lead Singer.
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  And they were about up and coming and then grunge showed
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  up, you know, just kind of ruined the hair metal scene back
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  in that day. But you know, so.
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  Yeah. So sorry.
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  No. So yeah.
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  So I got a chance to meet Ray. It's been great and I've had
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  great times with corns. But anyways, awesome.
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  So you're in Aquatics though? Yes, so I'm working for Aquatics
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  as a building maintenance worker.
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  So laborer, you know, I'm the guy behind the scenes.
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  Like we're about to talk about Jack.
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  So Robin Henry calls me in, you know, and I didn't know what I
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  was getting into and you mentioned me.
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  I'm I'm Albuquerque. What does that mean for me?
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  You know, I you know, I hate, I don't know how to go with this,
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  but I'm here to help. Yeah.
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  And I and you've seen it. I do what it takes to get a job.
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  Absolutely, I think that's what draws me to you, Steven is you
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  are the definition of what I would call a servant leader.
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  I have I've always known you as a supervisor here and you know
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  you got had to couple promotions since I've known you and things
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  like that and you still there is no questions asked if someone
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  needs help you get your hands dirty, you get right into it.
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  That's, well, you say that there are a lot of people who don't.
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  Not my job is not in my vocabulary.
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  Yeah, I believe that, absolutely.
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  And you know, it's frustrating when you hear that when
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  something has to get done and you see somebody just there and
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  you see somebody struggling, how can you, how can you not help
• 10:43
  somebody that's in need of help? And I think that's, I don't brag
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  about that part of my life. I do it because I choose to.
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  I'm always looking out for somebody and I'm always trying
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  to help somebody. The cool thing is because I know
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  you, you say that, but I've seen you live it, that that's the
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  cool thing. I love it.
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  I love it. So you get the track, they call
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  you in and tell you you're. We're going to learn how to
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  build the track. Did it come with a set of?
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  Instructions. It came with a couple Italians
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  that built the track and they, they, they, Victor was his name
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  and I forget his counterpart's name at this time.
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  It was so long. Ago.
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  And, you know, put some gloves on and they told us what to do.
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  We listened and we put panels together and.
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  So it's a 200 meter bank track. Did it also have this the rays,
• 11:33
  runways and straightaways? Or what?
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  So this track we have it's, it is a 200 meter bank track.
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  It had, at the time, one pole vault and one long jump.
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  Right. OK.
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  And then an infill that laid on top of the concrete.
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  Right. And not the whole infield
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  though, right? Just the straightaways if I
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  remember right. Yes, just the competition.
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  So at the time it was just the infield straightaways in the
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  high jump area. Right, a high jump.
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  Everything else was exposed concrete.
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  Right. That's right.
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  It was fun times, let me tell you.
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  I thought people had ice skates on and not spikes.
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  Yeah, think about the relays. Where do Where do they step?
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  Off. Where are they going?
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  As soon as they hand off the baton, immediately to the
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  concrete, Yes. And those were some interesting
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  days. And of course, we've evolved
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  since then. How many pieces?
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  Yeah, I think of this Lego set, essentially.
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  How many pieces was it when you first got in your learning?
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  So over the years I've learned this track and we have over 800
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  panels. That have to go in a specific
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  yeah order even. Right, so think of it as a big
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  jigsaw puzzle with all the same pieces.
• 12:44
  That's all the same pieces. So how do we overcome that?
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  Yeah, we number the other side of the panels or the side of the
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  Oval on the on the framing work. So, you know, and then you take
• 12:55
  those numbers and you put it on your blueprint, all right, So
• 12:58
  you know where it goes. So this track gets put down.
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  It's not a year round track. When do you put it in?
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  We're in the Convention Center here on Albuquerque.
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  When does it when? When does the crew actually
• 13:07
  start and put the track down? I like to start in mid-december,
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  OK, right before the holidays. Because there's other events,
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  concerts and conventions and stuff, you get a certain date
• 13:17
  every year. And how long does it take?
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  Let me ask you a different way. How long did it take?
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  Because I'm sure you've gotten more efficient.
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  How long that first build and how many people?
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  That first build, gosh, you're taking me back now.
• 13:32
  Obviously that was. Short hair back then.
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  Actually, I did. Did you really?
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  Look at my badge. I carry my old badge from back
• 13:38
  then and that's me. I don't recognize you.
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  Yeah, I used to get a fade haircut, you know.
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  Wow. And I can't imagine.
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  I mean, I think you've always had this since I've done.
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  Yeah, I say this. You're here like this, and that
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  was an old five. No, I was short hair.
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  So you were in around 0567 and eight I.
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  Started. 06 OK, so in. Fall so it would have been 07
• 14:01
  have been the earliest and I don't think.
• 14:03
  It was so 0567 and eight was when we worked with the Henry's
• 14:06
  and 2009 a bowling tournament came into Albuquerque for six
• 14:11
  months, OK, and they took up the whole 106,000 square foot
• 14:13
  Convention Center and we had bowling out lanes from wall to
• 14:17
  wall and we were featuring ESPN. It was a PBA championships
• 14:20
  something. Like that?
• 14:22
  Right here, right in right where the track is currently set up.
• 14:24
  Wow. So at that time, the Henry's all
• 14:28
  retired at the same time. Yeah, I remember that.
• 14:30
  And then in 10, I took over the track and before we get there,
• 14:34
  we'll we'll continue with with the set up in those.
• 14:37
  Yeah, yeah. So how long that first time had
• 14:38
  to be Madden? Yeah, it was a long time and we
• 14:41
  set it up for one meet, the Mountain West Championships, and
• 14:44
  we took it down. So it took a couple.
• 14:45
  Months how? You say 1 meet though, but how
• 14:48
  long was it? It took a couple months to set
• 14:51
  it up because some other work needed to take place.
• 14:53
  They still need to resurface some of the the was it the pole
• 14:56
  vault panel? I believe they had to resurface
• 14:58
  the pole vault or laundry, I don't remember.
• 15:00
  So there had some work that had to be completed before then.
• 15:03
  Yeah, for one. Meeting any horror stories on
• 15:04
  that first? Meeting first time?
• 15:05
  No, not good. Nothing that I remember.
• 15:07
  Yeah, sure. Right.
• 15:08
  No one. They didn't separate and someone
• 15:10
  fell. Yeah, good.
• 15:11
  Right. So, you know, we did it the
• 15:12
  first year in 2005 and again, I was just I like to call the
• 15:15
  boodle and that means like the bull, the worker, you know, just
• 15:19
  take instruction. Yes, Sir.
• 15:20
  How high do you want me to jump? You know, I know that one very
• 15:24
  well, trust me. So, you know, the second year it
• 15:28
  was on us and we relocated it at that time.
• 15:32
  It was. So the first year was dead
• 15:34
  center, the Convention Center and.
• 15:35
  When you say, yeah, this is huge, are we talking about this
• 15:38
  where it is today? OK, always been this.
• 15:40
  Place dead center the Convention Center.
• 15:44
  So we're over for our listeners. Yeah, for our listeners, we're
• 15:48
  overlooking the track right now from a suite is where we're
• 15:51
  having this interview and. When you're friends with Steven
• 15:53
  Madrid, you get to be in the suite, so.
• 15:57
  You look outside this window that used to be where our shop
• 16:00
  put ring is right on the concrete, the interest right on
• 16:03
  the. Concrete right in front of the
• 16:04
  right, this check in area or whatever.
• 16:06
  Right at the cooking area. Yeah, that's where our shop put
• 16:09
  throw was at that time. So you know, every year we've
• 16:14
  made an improvement. So let's go back to the second
• 16:17
  year and I have one story I like to talk about.
• 16:20
  And we know we were setting up one day and you start with you
• 16:26
  start with turn #1. So you go from the finish line
• 16:30
  of the Oval to the center, then you go to the opposite and to
• 16:36
  turn #3 where the transition is coming down from the track to
• 16:40
  the straightaway. And you bring.
• 16:45
  So you build. The peak, the two for the whole
• 16:48
  turn. You build it in two halves and
• 16:50
  bring it together, not just one continuous.
• 16:52
  You do not. Continue that.
• 16:53
  Interesting. You build one side up to the
• 16:55
  center point, you bring the opposite end to the center
• 16:58
  point, then you bolt them together.
• 17:00
  So we were. Is that the hardest part that
• 17:05
  the the raised part? Honestly, Mike, what's funny
• 17:09
  about setting at this track up and you see it panel by panel,
• 17:12
  you walk in the Convention Center day 106,000 square foot
• 17:16
  bear facility like Dang, this is a big place.
• 17:21
  And you start building that track and you just get into a
• 17:23
  rhythm. You know, everybody has a job,
• 17:28
  right? Everybody's doing what they're
• 17:30
  supposed to be doing and you just, it's like a, well, old
• 17:33
  machine. Now it is.
• 17:35
  Yeah, now it is. Now it is.
• 17:41
  And you look up, you're like, oh, wow, we have more than half
• 17:44
  of the track of. And that's in one day.
• 17:48
  Yeah, so. How many people is?
• 17:49
  That we have about 2020 employees.
• 17:54
  So the in these, in the early days, you used two forklifts
• 17:58
  built one side, you took everybody over to the other
• 18:00
  side, two forklifts built up again and they bolted together.
• 18:05
  These days we use 4 forklifts. We have a crew on one side, on
• 18:07
  the other side we bring them. We meet at the same time.
• 18:09
  So is that 20 people or is that 40?
• 18:11
  People, that's 20. People, that's twenty, OK, so
• 18:12
  kind of 10. Call it 1010.
• 18:14
  And you have two forklift operators on each side.
• 18:16
  So yeah, so that's what's. Amazing to me is the matter of
• 18:19
  pallets. I mean, it's, it's so many
• 18:21
  stuff. So you see all the stuff on the
• 18:22
  dock, right? There are a lot of pallets out
• 18:24
  there. Yeah, I'm always looking out for
• 18:26
  the palette Thieves. No, I see.
• 18:30
  But so, yeah, we were building in in 2006.
• 18:34
  And so we built the first turn, first part of the turn, and then
• 18:37
  we came with second part of turn.
• 18:38
  And we were just perfectly exactly 1 panel short for
• 18:41
  meeting up. And we're looking at it like,
• 18:45
  why are we short? And through some course of
• 18:48
  conversations, we realized that when you put the leg down, you
• 18:54
  put a panel on. We should have put the panel on.
• 19:02
  I'll just say on the I don't say because I'm trying to.
• 19:06
  Explain it's hard to do this visualization.
• 19:08
  We put on one side of the leg when we should put it on the
• 19:11
  opposite side of the leg. And for each section.
• 19:14
  So you put a leg, you put a leg panel, leg panel, leg panel, leg
• 19:17
  panel. And instead of putting it and
• 19:19
  I'm showing, I'm showing Mike with visuals here, we put the we
• 19:22
  put the leg and the panel on. Gotcha.
• 19:25
  Well, we should have put the panel on this.
• 19:27
  And that added up to a gap of. 1.
• 19:29
  Panel and and so you had to restart essentially because you
• 19:32
  can't just. We couldn't just slide it over.
• 19:34
  No, we had to take it all down and put it back up.
• 19:37
  So what does Steven do? Yeah, I just referred to myself
• 19:40
  in 30%. I wrote it down.
• 19:47
  I carried a little pocket notebook with me and I wrote it
• 19:51
  down. I said.
• 19:52
  Because I'm not who likes to do things twice.
• 19:55
  Right. You know, so I didn't want to do
• 19:56
  that a second time and so I wrote it down.
• 19:59
  We complete the track, set up that year.
• 20:01
  It's over, season happens and. You have a full season, Full.
• 20:04
  Season, yeah, for, for, I think for events that year.
• 20:07
  I don't recall if we hosted Mount once that year, Mount W
• 20:09
  Championship that year, took it down, stored it perfect.
• 20:14
  By the way, we have a storage facility in southern
• 20:16
  Albuquerque. It's called Montessa Park,
• 20:17
  climate controlled. It's about a 10,000 square foot
• 20:20
  facility, so right. Now you, you kind of glossed
• 20:23
  over that a little fast because you said, oh, we took it down.
• 20:25
  We store it. I mean, it's taking it down is
• 20:27
  its own process as well. That I think that was the first
• 20:30
  time I really started to maybe not understand it, but have a
• 20:35
  appreciation because we were doing USA's.
• 20:38
  We were done on a Saturday night or Sunday night, whatever.
• 20:40
  We started taking down. And so we as we're moving our
• 20:42
  equipment off, your team gets to work.
• 20:46
  And it was like, Oh my, look at me.
• 20:47
  There's just again, pallets and pallets and pallets and
• 20:49
  forklifts going around. And I think I remember asking
• 20:51
  like, so how long will you guys be here?
• 20:53
  And you're like, Oh, yeah, yeah, we'll leave here at 10 or 11,
• 20:55
  but we're all day tomorrow. And I was like, Oh my goodness.
• 20:58
  Yeah, and we'll do that actually this weekend after NC to a
• 21:01
  national championship. That happens every year, right?
• 21:04
  Depending on what our last meet is and what it is, it's usually
• 21:07
  a championship indoor meet when we start taking down.
• 21:09
  If it's not the Mountain West Championships.
• 21:12
  Last year in 2019, the Mountain West Championships were our last
• 21:15
  meet. We were out of here by February,
• 21:17
  end of February. That's probably been the
• 21:19
  earliest date I've been out the Convention Center in a long
• 21:21
  time. Because USA or incident Blaze
• 21:23
  was usually your last correct. We didn't host Usas last year.
• 21:28
  We didn't host NCAA last year as well too.
• 21:31
  So this is our second longest season we hosted NC 2 as back in
• 21:36
  14. We were the same time frame
• 21:38
  right now, right? Yeah.
• 21:39
  So yeah, we'll be here Saturday taking this down.
• 21:42
  Same thing, four forklifts going and we'll try to be as quiet as
• 21:45
  we can while the wars are going on, but you know, we want to get
• 21:47
  started. We know that one.
• 21:49
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 21:50
  And and who? So who owns the track?
• 21:52
  The city of Albuquerque the. City.
• 21:53
  And you work for the city? Yes.
• 21:55
  Who owns the Convention Center? City of Albuquerque.
• 21:57
  So it's all free, right? Because the city owns, I'm going
• 22:00
  to say the city owns you. But the labor, the city owns the
• 22:02
  track, the city owns the Convention Center.
• 22:04
  So this is like a cash cow all every time, right?
• 22:07
  And I wish. Oh, really?
• 22:08
  Yeah. So the Convention Center is
• 22:11
  actually run by a private convention company.
• 22:14
  Like an event management. Or convention management.
• 22:17
  Yeah, convention management. They used to be SMG Global and
• 22:21
  they have since changed their name and I'm not aware of it.
• 22:23
  It just happened when we started setting up this.
• 22:24
  Year I was like, oh OK, went down this year.
• 22:26
  Yeah. So, you know, The funny thing is
• 22:28
  I do have to pay a facility, excuse me, a facility fee to use
• 22:33
  my own facility. Really.
• 22:35
  Is it a a season fee or is it? An event fee per event fee.
• 22:40
  OK, yes. And does New Mexico, the
• 22:43
  university use this for practice or is the weather good enough
• 22:46
  that you just stay? Out there so and to explain to
• 22:48
  the listeners out there, I think we have the only partnership
• 22:54
  with a university in city of Albuquerque.
• 22:56
  I don't I don't know of any other city in the United States
• 22:59
  that works with the city of Albuquerque and their local
• 23:02
  university to put on in their meets.
• 23:04
  I know Birmingham manages the city manages their own indoor
• 23:08
  track facility. But it's not attached to and
• 23:10
  they don't want, correct? Same thing any of other indoor
• 23:14
  facilities are owned by universities.
• 23:16
  We are the only ones where we partner with the University of
• 23:19
  Mexico track and field team and City of Albuquerque.
• 23:21
  And yes, we do have our agreements that we sign.
• 23:24
  And what the agreement is, is the City of Albuquerque picks up
• 23:27
  the rental facility costs and the University of New Mexico,
• 23:31
  did I say that correctly? City of Albuquerque picks up the
• 23:33
  cost. City pays the cost.
• 23:34
  And University of Mexico provides transportation from
• 23:37
  storage to the Convention Center.
• 23:39
  They pay for that. They pay for that and the labor
• 23:41
  for set up. Oh.
• 23:43
  So it's all over my supervision, right?
• 23:46
  Yes. So the season will take place,
• 23:48
  My staff comes in, we maintain the track and when it comes to
• 23:51
  Takedown University, the University of New Mexico is
• 23:54
  responsible for Takedown transportation back to storage.
• 23:57
  The payment of because you're still doing your team.
• 24:00
  They, they hire everybody, they rent the equipment, they just,
• 24:03
  they do that part, but everything's under my
• 24:05
  supervision. It's just not a green light
• 24:07
  until I until I give the green. Light, if you will.
• 24:10
  So that's the partnership we have.
• 24:12
  So what are the, from your side of it, what are some of the
• 24:16
  things that maybe the the the normal coach that comes in and
• 24:19
  just runs a meet here, runs a Mountain West championship or an
• 24:22
  NCAA's, They don't see what what things go behind the scenes that
• 24:26
  you're always not fretting about.
• 24:29
  But it's like, oh, I got to make sure this always happens and no
• 24:33
  one never sees it. So outside of the end of track
• 24:38
  with my job, I also work in events out at Blue Fiesta Park.
• 24:43
  That's actually where my office is located.
• 24:45
  OK, some of your listeners has never heard about the
• 24:48
  Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
• 24:50
  Check it out. It happens the 1st Saturday in
• 24:52
  October. We have over 500 hot, hot air
• 24:54
  balloons. Yeah.
• 24:55
  So you know, I'm fortunate enough to be a part of that as
• 24:58
  well for my profession. So I am located out of Bloom
• 25:01
  Fiesta Park. That's from offices.
• 25:02
  So I'm in events. The best way I can answer your
• 25:04
  question is, you know, people attend an event, whether it be a
• 25:07
  concert in their track meet or in a festival of some kind, and
• 25:11
  they just see it right? What's right, What's right.
• 25:14
  Yeah, you have to have a good. Experience is I come to watch a
• 25:17
  track. Stay in here.
• 25:18
  And that's all they should have to experience, right?
• 25:20
  Right. But yeah, they don't see the
• 25:24
  preparation for an event, what takes place.
• 25:28
  So because we have a partnership with University of New Mexico
• 25:31
  and the city of Albuquerque and to include the visit
• 25:35
  Albuquerque, right, There's some personnel over there.
• 25:39
  Angie Jepsen, she's in charge of bringing in.
• 25:42
  Yeah, she brings in a lot of events.
• 25:43
  Yeah, the visitors Bureau brings.
• 25:45
  In a lot yes you know she's she's part of the sports section
• 25:48
  of the visit Albuquerque I know she's involved in the New Mexico
• 25:50
  fall as well she brings numerous sporting events in Albuquerque
• 25:54
  because. The big key for this for the
• 25:57
  city, like why does the city do this, is because it brings in
• 26:01
  hotel revenue. Economic impact right you.
• 26:03
  Can it's great. Yeah, I think I saw I read an
• 26:07
  article today, this morning. This meet, the incident of late
• 26:11
  championships is $1,000,000 impact on the city.
• 26:15
  That's what is projected to be. Yeah, I.
• 26:16
  Actually thought it would be more to be.
• 26:17
  Honest. Yeah, I know at 14 it was
• 26:19
  $1,000,000 and you know, it's been.
• 26:21
  What was my math? It's been six years since we
• 26:23
  hosted that. You would expect to be more this
• 26:26
  year. Yeah.
• 26:27
  But, you know, in light of what's going on today in the
• 26:31
  world, we may feel the effects of that.
• 26:33
  Oh, for sure. Yeah.
• 26:34
  So what I understand the economic impact for the first
• 26:39
  fourteen seasons has been well over $20 million.
• 26:42
  Yeah. Is that right?
• 26:44
  But ask me if my budget increases.
• 26:46
  I don't want. To go down that road, yeah,
• 26:48
  yeah, yeah. So, you know, we've, I've been
• 26:50
  working on the same budget since 2010.
• 26:53
  Yeah, yeah. And who else?
• 26:56
  So you have your branch, the, the people that you're in charge
• 27:00
  of that are responsible for different things.
• 27:02
  Who else like, I mean, for something like this and the
• 27:05
  different events that you've done here in the for the indoor
• 27:08
  track space specifically right now, you mentioned like an Angie
• 27:12
  who you know, brings in events. Is there a lot of influence
• 27:17
  positively from mayors and governors and whatnot?
• 27:22
  This wouldn't be possible if the the administration of
• 27:26
  Albuquerque was not involved on what I mean by administration.
• 27:28
  Yeah, starts from the mayor's office down the City Council and
• 27:32
  Mayor Keller, Tim Keller has been very involved in indoor
• 27:40
  track and he's a big supporter of it.
• 27:43
  Right. My director, Director Dave Simon
• 27:48
  and Parks and Recreation, he was just here.
• 27:51
  They when you go through different mayors and
• 27:54
  administrations, as I have, there's a there's a there's you
• 27:58
  have to introduce them into what you do and, you know, a little
• 28:02
  bit of education, what you do. Show them the numbers.
• 28:04
  Show them the figures of what this is, what this does.
• 28:07
  We open this track during the week for the citizens of
• 28:11
  Albuquerque. So we're bringing a lot of youth
• 28:12
  clubs in here. Oh, is that right?
• 28:14
  Yeah, just a practice free of charge.
• 28:16
  Come on in. You know, is that right?
• 28:18
  That's a we. We were just talking about the
• 28:20
  economic impact. That's an impact that obviously
• 28:23
  is not dollars, but is positivity for the city and the
• 28:25
  surrounding. Areas What?
• 28:26
  What's the term that the health there?
• 28:30
  This is that term. I can't.
• 28:31
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the well-being of
• 28:36
  citizens, you know, Right, Right.
• 28:37
  You know, it's dead of winter who's running out of the.
• 28:40
  We have trails along our river we call the Bosca.
• 28:43
  You know, there's a lot of we have.
• 28:44
  We're known for miles upon miles of bicycle and walking trails
• 28:48
  along the city of Albuquerque. You know, sometimes when it's
• 28:51
  cold out there, you don't want to do that.
• 28:53
  How cold is cold here and say, January?
• 28:56
  For me, 40° Now where are we at now?
• 28:59
  Let me see what the temperature is.
• 29:01
  It's chilly outside. Is it for you?
• 29:03
  It's not cold though. We let me refresh my temperature
• 29:06
  here. I'm from Illinois, it's 40°.
• 29:08
  Back. I have 66° right now.
• 29:09
  Yeah, A. Little bit of a wind that's a
• 29:11
  chilly and. It's a cold, you know, cold for
• 29:14
  me. I think we can.
• 29:15
  We can get down to 25° in that night.
• 29:19
  Yeah, in the evening, about 30°. So it can't get cold in the
• 29:23
  winter. Here does U&M use this for
• 29:25
  practice? Yes, they do.
• 29:27
  Yeah. So I think it's like a lot of
• 29:30
  tracks around the country during the winter time, you know, if
• 29:33
  you have an indoor track, you use the indoor track.
• 29:35
  So yeah, we work very well together with Coach Franklin and
• 29:37
  his his staff and his athletes. And they're here all indoor
• 29:42
  track season long practicing. You know, it's funny, I see a
• 29:46
  lot of these athletes. I guess I've been here for 15
• 29:49
  years now and. I never the realization of age.
• 29:52
  Did you see my face? I've seen a lot of these.
• 29:58
  I can't believe I'm saying this. I never thought I'd say that.
• 30:00
  I never thought I'd say this. But yeah, I see those kids start
• 30:04
  and all of a sudden they're done.
• 30:05
  I'm like, where did so and so go?
• 30:07
  They graduated and then they come visit 2-3 years later and
• 30:10
  they they Remember Me. They remember the long hearing,
• 30:12
  hey Steve, how's it going? And I'm like.
• 30:13
  You're an unforgettable guy, yeah.
• 30:17
  So I your name and guys used to remember the locals, right?
• 30:19
  What have you been up to? There's they're educators now.
• 30:22
  They're they're engineers. They're working on their
• 30:25
  doctorate and medical. Medical doctors.
• 30:28
  Yeah. So what?
• 30:30
  Was your Did you have a track background at all before this?
• 30:32
  Or did you track education by hosting?
• 30:36
  Good question. I actually ran Hershey's track
• 30:38
  and field when I was a child. Is that right?
• 30:40
  I actually did, yeah. And I think that was part of a
• 30:43
  Community Center program at that time in the summer.
• 30:46
  And I found out real fast running wasn't for me.
• 30:51
  Were you running like 100 meter dash?
• 30:53
  Yeah, you know, I think they tried me out to run different
• 30:55
  things, but you know, it was like I was born with galoshes
• 30:59
  and running in the mud type. That's like I could explain it.
• 31:01
  Yeah, I couldn't run fast. Running wasn't my thing.
• 31:05
  So I started swinging a baseball bat and join a baseball and
• 31:08
  baseball was my thing going out. I'm pretty die hard baseball
• 31:12
  fan. What were you?
• 31:12
  Yeah, that's right. I see Dodgers.
• 31:14
  Dodgers big time Dodger fan. Big time Dodger.
• 31:16
  Fan Is that what? Because there's no professional
• 31:18
  team in. The we actually growing up here
• 31:20
  in Albuquerque, we had the AAA team of the Dodgers.
• 31:23
  They were the the Dodgers farm team were the Albuquerque.
• 31:26
  Dukes OK, so you're saying we're but we have one well.
• 31:29
  That's a different one. So this from the 60s to the 90s,
• 31:32
  Albuquerque had a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• 31:35
  So I saw all the Dodgers come through Albuquerque.
• 31:37
  I'd go watch a AAA team play all the Albuquerque Dukes I used to
• 31:41
  see. I.
• 31:42
  That's how you became a Dodgers. Fan yes, so my passion is of
• 31:45
  baseball and the Dodgers were coming.
• 31:47
  I've seen Tom Tommy Dassordo was here numerous times.
• 31:49
  I you see him opening day every day for AAA Dodgers Dukes.
• 31:53
  I'm sorry, Mike Social played here for a while.
• 31:55
  He actually managed here as well for a while.
• 31:57
  The Ramon brothers, Pedro and Ramon Martinez played here, Kurt
• 32:01
  Gibson played here, Dale Strawberry played here, and I've
• 32:03
  seen all these guys. Paula Duca played here, Mike
• 32:06
  Piazza played here. They all came through
• 32:09
  Albuquerque, but. Just they went on every baseball
• 32:10
  player. I know that's about it.
• 32:12
  I knew everyone about the Duke. He was a catcher, if you
• 32:15
  remember. I think this is how it went.
• 32:18
  Mike Piazza got traded to the Florida market and Paula Duca
• 32:23
  got he actually played for the Dodgers for a while.
• 32:26
  I can't, I can't remember his whole career, but yeah.
• 32:28
  So, yeah. So, yeah, you can hear I I have
• 32:30
  a passion for baseball. Yeah.
• 32:32
  So I was a baseball. So what?
• 32:33
  What position did you? Play I was actually, when I
• 32:35
  ended up being strongest, I was a pitcher, yeah, yeah.
• 32:38
  So I was a pitcher. I was, I was kind of a good,
• 32:40
  pretty good pitcher so. What high school did you go to?
• 32:42
  I went to West Mesa High School and graduated 96 out here.
• 32:44
  Yeah, you know, life, it was a little different for me growing
• 32:49
  up and, you know, I I didn't know the procedures of to play
• 32:53
  college ball and Title 90, not Title 9.
• 32:56
  What is it? Gosh, what's it called?
• 33:00
  Someone. 'S baseball or.
• 33:03
  Yeah, it's a college sports where you're not allowed to play
• 33:05
  college sports 'cause you didn't take the right cricket.
• 33:07
  Oh, you had the clearance clearing?
• 33:08
  House clearing house, Yeah. Actually like eligible and.
• 33:11
  All that stuff. So, you know, and I didn't
• 33:12
  realize that Sure. And, and I tried out and you
• 33:15
  know, it is what it is, Sure. And that's my past and it is
• 33:19
  what it is and I'm OK with it. I've played a lot of recreation,
• 33:23
  baseball and then softball and but ever since then, I'm a
• 33:27
  golfer now. So is that right?
• 33:28
  So to come back to indoor, I've seen.
• 33:30
  No golf pictures on Facebook. You haven't.
• 33:33
  I don't think I have. Okay.
• 33:35
  Baseball, because there's just a bit.
• 33:36
  I was like, oh. Yeah, so you don't you don't
• 33:37
  stalk me on Facebook. You would have seen those.
• 33:39
  It's. Good news, I don't.
• 33:41
  Stalk you that's. True.
• 33:42
  The those are the concerts are ones that I see all the time.
• 33:44
  Maybe because I like music. I don't.
• 33:46
  We don't listen to the same kind of music, but I like music, so
• 33:49
  maybe those more resonate with me, but I haven't.
• 33:51
  Seen any golf? Golfing will start up here now
• 33:53
  in the spring, my golf league actually starts.
• 33:55
  You're in a league. Oh yeah, you golf.
• 33:57
  Yeah, we, they started actually this coming none of us today or
• 34:02
  next Thursday is the actually start of the season, but I'll be
• 34:04
  busy taking track down so. So when it comes.
• 34:08
  Yeah. So when it comes to track and
• 34:10
  field, yeah. I, I had one or two summers of
• 34:12
  Hershey's track and field record a day.
• 34:15
  And then I joined the baseball program for those summer teams
• 34:17
  and I, I I didn't continue and and track and field too much.
• 34:22
  So in 2005, I just jump feet first into this project here and
• 34:27
  15 years on indoor track and the relationships you make like
• 34:31
  ours, you learn track. Yeah, what what surprised you
• 34:35
  the most about track? Cuz you really got to learn, you
• 34:37
  know, we saw meats and high level meats.
• 34:39
  What was like, oh man, that's weird.
• 34:40
  Like we would never do that in baseball or something.
• 34:42
  Like that? Well, I think the interesting
• 34:43
  thing is is how effortlessly these runners run.
• 34:46
  They're amazing, aren't? They and I'm like I could do
• 34:48
  that's when the when the when nobody's in the facility and
• 34:50
  it's just me. I'm like God now you're Mark set
• 34:53
  go. You've never tried to pole
• 34:55
  vaulting? I have a story about that.
• 34:57
  Too. No, you know, pole vaulting is
• 35:00
  one of the and you know this because it's again, 15 years of
• 35:02
  indoor, you know, vaulters are their own niche.
• 35:06
  And I learned that after I tried pole ball team when nobody was
• 35:09
  here. Did you really?
• 35:09
  Yeah, probably. Almost crushed my chop against.
• 35:12
  No, almost. The pole.
• 35:13
  Never. The pole never bent.
• 35:14
  Well, I don't think it's supposed to for guys.
• 35:16
  Like when we just tried it, because I tried it once too.
• 35:18
  My feet got an inch off the ground.
• 35:19
  I was like done. Yeah, so.
• 35:21
  Never, never again. I think I was still blue collar
• 35:23
  at the time. I was like, I'm gonna give this
• 35:24
  a try. Nobody was in the facility and I
• 35:26
  took off it. I don't know what the hell pole.
• 35:28
  Like, oh, a pole I got, you know, and the pole didn't bend
• 35:33
  and it grazed my neck. I was like, wow, 3-4 more inches
• 35:37
  over. I might be choking.
• 35:40
  Yeah. It scared me to never get into
• 35:42
  the pit. No, the pole just stayed there.
• 35:44
  You just. I kept running.
• 35:45
  I'm moving forward. And that pole just grazed my
• 35:47
  neck. And I was like, wow, that was
• 35:49
  pretty close. And I had a big scratch on my
• 35:51
  neck. Yeah.
• 35:53
  So I I never tried. Never again.
• 35:54
  No. See.
• 35:55
  That shows how smart you are. Yeah.
• 35:57
  So not so bright of us would have like try that again.
• 35:59
  I can be like I've done, Yeah. So I've observed over the years
• 36:02
  what, you know, all those little drills that these globalters are
• 36:06
  doing for a reason. And I see what they do.
• 36:08
  And we've had the, we had the world record here from Jen,
• 36:11
  sure, back in 2013, I believe she beat it two years later.
• 36:14
  But you see them do these drills, even the pros, the, the
• 36:16
  gold medalists of the United States are doing these drills
• 36:18
  and they're for a purpose, you know, and, and I learned that
• 36:21
  and, and I'm still not interested in China.
• 36:23
  I'm still not interested in China.
• 36:26
  And, you know, I did mention I was a pitcher and I did blow out
• 36:28
  my shoulder a few years ago. I tore Labrum in there and so
• 36:32
  I'm gonna throw a men's shot put.
• 36:34
  Yeah, I was going to ask you to do a shot put.
• 36:35
  I, I think I tore my label mechanic, I said, oh, shoot.
• 36:38
  I think some freaking head 16 lbs.
• 36:40
  I was like, give me the women's one that's a little lighter.
• 36:42
  I can do before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:44
  And you know, and I, I joke, I, I didn't, I, I strained my
• 36:47
  shoulder, but I didn't hurt. It but it's amazing.
• 36:50
  Shot put is an interesting event for me because it is just the
• 36:52
  brute strength. It's 16 lbs and these guys and
• 36:57
  gals are 70 feet and more. It's just a strength.
• 37:01
  Of it and it goes back to what I say about it they make it
• 37:04
  they're it's effortless for these athletes and we have the
• 37:08
  best the best out here right now with NC2A's here so I'm watching
• 37:11
  these these men through the weights and I just lobbing it
• 37:14
  30. £5.70. Plus, it's just going through
• 37:18
  the air like nothing, you know, and you know, yeah, I've been
• 37:21
  here when nobody's here trying it, and I can barely get it to
• 37:23
  the the carpet we have. And our carpet is maybe 10 feet
• 37:27
  from the ring. And so hitting concrete, you
• 37:31
  guys make this look too easy and then go including running, you
• 37:34
  know, I'm going to do a lap around 200 meters, so I'll
• 37:36
  sucking win around tier #2 And so that's what I would say about
• 37:40
  track and field. The athletes we have on this
• 37:42
  track are just phenomenal. They're amazing.
• 37:45
  And, you know, I've learned, especially team scoring of track
• 37:49
  and field and that's what I really like.
• 37:51
  I like the Mount W championship. I agree with the NC 2A
• 37:55
  championships. It's all team based, scoring
• 37:57
  based, you know, what have you done to get the points for your
• 37:59
  team? So that's the part of it I like.
• 38:02
  And of course individual winners as well, too.
• 38:04
  You know, when you hear that was a PR for somebody, you know, and
• 38:08
  when it's done on my track, it, it's, it's satisfying, right?
• 38:12
  You know, Christian Coleman sitting the world record here in
• 38:15
  2018 in the 60 meters. You know, it was a 6.43 on the
• 38:19
  number 5 on my infield. That's.
• 38:21
  Right. It's a big deal.
• 38:22
  You know, that's cool. And I learned real quick that
• 38:25
  you just don't give world. Records out, yeah.
• 38:27
  I gotta get my surveyors report out.
• 38:30
  I've got to get a still tape measure.
• 38:31
  We're measuring that infilt and. So that that's intra I never I
• 38:34
  didn't think about this so. I learned that real quick.
• 38:36
  Too pretty. But they're a little bit more
• 38:40
  stressed, yeah. So do you have to survey the
• 38:43
  track every year? You.
• 38:44
  Every year we survey it and. What does that mean?
• 38:46
  Does an engineer come in? What does survey?
• 38:49
  In the track recently the last three years, the City of
• 38:53
  Albuquerque's engineer department, we've reached out to
• 38:57
  him we get a surveyor to come to do it and so they they come in
• 39:06
  his name is Lauren with the city of Albuquerque he's been doing
• 39:09
  the he's. A.
• 39:10
  Survey for us over the last few years and yeah, he'll measure
• 39:14
  out a couple lanes in the Oval, make sure we're at 200 meters,
• 39:17
  so. He's checking the the length of
• 39:19
  the track, make sure it's still 200 meters.
• 39:21
  And and level then the runways for.
• 39:23
  Everything's level. Right, What I've learned over
• 39:25
  the years is you can't have a a decline at so many degrees on.
• 39:29
  As much as the athletes would like, right?
• 39:32
  So when when we set the world record for Ginger, they want to
• 39:35
  know what we were at and we were perfectly level all the way
• 39:38
  across, right? So it stayed.
• 39:39
  So, so they do that initially when you put the track down
• 39:42
  every year. Yes, every year.
• 39:43
  And then when someone sets a record, whether it was a 60
• 39:46
  meter or vault, they have to recheck it because you have to
• 39:49
  sign some kind of form. Yeah, we have to provide that
• 39:51
  information. So does that happen immediately?
• 39:54
  Like, do you call Lauren up? Like Hey Man, which had a record
• 39:56
  come down. We we already have his report.
• 40:01
  We'll present it. OK.
• 40:04
  For Christian Coleman, you know what things we have to have
• 40:07
  electric blocks in place because he said it earlier in the year.
• 40:10
  And yeah. It comes in.
• 40:12
  Yeah, it didn't have caution, right?
• 40:13
  So you have to have electric blocks, right?
• 40:15
  You have to have the server report real level, right.
• 40:18
  We pulled out the still tape measure and make sure we were at
• 40:20
  60 meters. OK, so you measure the actual
• 40:22
  distance. OK, it's sixty.
• 40:24
  Yeah, yeah. So you know I somebody from USA
• 40:27
  is actually running around asking for all this stuff I'm
• 40:29
  providing. Right.
• 40:30
  They were requesting. There's the meet referee or
• 40:32
  something. He has to sign off.
• 40:34
  Yeah, the final sign off. Yeah, so I think actually
• 40:36
  Christian Coleman's world record took about six months, I think,
• 40:39
  for it to be validated. Right.
• 40:42
  And yeah, it holds up, you know, and I don't want to be the guy
• 40:44
  to say, hey, you made the mistake by not doing it this
• 40:48
  way. So that's going to hold up.
• 40:50
  So that's a that's a nightmare of mine.
• 40:52
  This place and by this place, me and you and your team and and
• 40:55
  many, many others have created a culture of acts like this is a
• 41:00
  great place to run. People like to run here.
• 41:02
  People like to vault here. Could you imagine how quick that
• 41:06
  goes away? Coleman says the 60 and it
• 41:09
  doesn't get ratified because it was 59 meters or whatever.
• 41:12
  It's like, that's devastating, correct?
• 41:14
  Like your reputation? Is on the line and not mine, not
• 41:17
  Stevens. Oh yeah, for me it is.
• 41:18
  I'm going to call you. Call me.
• 41:20
  You know what I'm concerned about The city of Albuquerque.
• 41:24
  I have a bigger role than just Steven.
• 41:26
  You know, it's the city of Albuquerque.
• 41:29
  Can't put a track together. Really.
• 41:30
  That's. Right.
• 41:31
  I work hard every year so and that's the way I look at it.
• 41:36
  The athletes are busting their tails but we don't see them.
• 41:39
  It's just like event setup we're talking.
• 41:41
  About that's a good, yeah, yeah. They're out there.
• 41:44
  I see them like out here every day, giving it their all
• 41:48
  practice to get to what they they're trying to strive and
• 41:55
  what I do. What's the difference?
• 41:57
  Yeah, I could just put the track up.
• 41:59
  There could be waves in it. The lines aren't straight.
• 42:02
  Nah, you know, and I and I installed that into my staff.
• 42:07
  And what's funny is I thought of a memory this year, our one of
• 42:12
  our runways for one of the long jumps was a little bit off.
• 42:17
  It wasn't straight. I can see it.
• 42:19
  So I instruct some of my employees to go straighten it
• 42:21
  out and an employee comes to me, he's like, we have a 99.9%
• 42:27
  straight. No, I like he says we have a 99%
• 42:29
  straight. That's good, perfect.
• 42:31
  I said. Now what do we do for the 1%?
• 42:35
  And his face was like, come on. And I told him, I said, we
• 42:39
  talked about this the beginning of the season, right?
• 42:41
  We do it correctly or we don't do it at all, right?
• 42:44
  I said, now go give me that 1%. We're making it perfect.
• 42:47
  And and he got it done. Yeah, he did.
• 42:49
  Hey, that's a really good lesson for coaches as they talk with
• 42:52
  their athletes. You know, 99% is really good,
• 42:55
  right? Like you get a 99 on a test,
• 42:58
  feel good. It's an A+, right?
• 43:00
  What are you going to do for that 1%?
• 43:01
  I like that, yeah. That's the difference from a
• 43:04
  world record to 99%, right, Right.
• 43:08
  And then again, well, and the way I look at it is these, these
• 43:11
  athletes are arguing it. They're all every practice.
• 43:14
  It might, you know, yeah, there's some athletes out there
• 43:17
  do the minimum, just get by, you know, But it's that 1% that are
• 43:22
  eating right every day that are going home early, getting the
• 43:25
  rest they need, you know, not going out to the party.
• 43:28
  Right. They're they're, they're getting
• 43:30
  up before everybody else. They get up before the Army to
• 43:33
  work out, you know, run a 10 mile run, right?
• 43:36
  They take their crap serious. So I, I would, I, I can't, I
• 43:41
  will not shortchange them. So I do what I can't.
• 43:43
  Fascinating to me is, and again, we get in our own bubbles and,
• 43:47
  and that's OK because, you know, not everybody can think of
• 43:50
  everything. But we, we tend to forget when
• 43:52
  we come to a facility as nice and as such as we have here in
• 43:56
  Albuquerque, that there are, in the scheme of things, hundreds
• 43:59
  of people that are working to put this together.
• 44:02
  Whether it's putting the actual track together, making sure it's
• 44:04
  right, getting the event to come into the city, things like that.
• 44:07
  There's so much that goes in. You know, the mayor of
• 44:11
  Albuquerque, Tim Keller, started a campaign out here called One
• 44:14
  Albuquerque. One Albuquerque.
• 44:16
  What does what does that mean to you see my sculpture out?
• 44:19
  Well, let me rephrase that. You see the city of Albuquerque,
• 44:21
  one Albuquerque sculptures out there, it says one Albuquerque.
• 44:26
  And what does it mean to me? For me it means, you know,
• 44:28
  everybody working together, not only city of Albuquerque, other
• 44:32
  departments, the University of New Mexico track and field team,
• 44:34
  University of New Mexico administration, visit
• 44:39
  Albuquerque, the hotels, the restaurants, you know, who am I
• 44:45
  forgetting? There's we're all one, we all
• 44:48
  live in Albuquerque. We all need to work together to
• 44:51
  strive for one common goal. And what's the common goal that
• 44:55
  we are all looking for? For me, I want to put on the
• 44:57
  most successful inter track event I can with what I'm
• 45:01
  responsible for and what am I responsible for the inter track
• 45:03
  being set up properly? You know looking it's best every
• 45:06
  meet so. You have a ton of pride for this
• 45:10
  city. I've been told that moment once.
• 45:14
  Yeah. Yeah, I do.
• 45:16
  I get upset when somebody tries to give me a, you know, a bad
• 45:21
  comment about my city. You know, I I'll come back at
• 45:24
  them. Absolutely.
• 45:26
  And what, what, what's so different about our city to any
• 45:29
  other municipality our size, right?
• 45:33
  I think we all have our issues in their cities.
• 45:35
  So, you know, I want to talk about the good things that take
• 45:37
  place indoor track. Yeah, lots of good things here
• 45:39
  in. Albuquerque.
• 45:40
  Yeah, there is. There really is.
• 45:41
  Yeah, You know, it's interesting.
• 45:43
  It's kind of coming to me a little bit.
• 45:45
  You know, I travel, obviously the world, but you know, the
• 45:47
  country. So I go, you know, from Boston
• 45:50
  to Seattle to LA to Miami, and people ask me a lot because, you
• 45:55
  know, I'm here almost every year.
• 45:56
  You guys host so many great meets.
• 45:58
  I'm here almost every year. And yeah.
• 46:00
  And people ask me, I was like, oh, you know, do you like
• 46:02
  Albuquerque? Because you know, it's not, it's
• 46:04
  not, it's not sexy. Miami and LA, you know, I do.
• 46:07
  And I can never put my finger on it, but I think it is that the
• 46:11
  people from, I mean, obviously you, because we're talking about
• 46:14
  you here. And in the friendship we've had,
• 46:16
  the other people, the, the nameless people, the people at
• 46:20
  my hotel that I stay at, my Uber drivers that I had, things like
• 46:23
  that. It's the people of this place
• 46:26
  and, you know, many track coaches here and things like
• 46:28
  that. The people here are just,
• 46:30
  they're, they're kind of just real people.
• 46:34
  It's hard to define that you know, but.
• 46:36
  I understand what you mean. And I tell my I don't have kids,
• 46:41
  but you know, I look at my employees as kids and I, I try
• 46:44
  to instill in them that one person makes a difference.
• 46:50
  What are you going to do? Make a difference?
• 46:52
  And sometimes it might be a simple wave to somebody.
• 46:56
  Absolutely. You know, and I make it a habit
• 47:00
  for me and my it's going to sound cheesy and corny, but I
• 47:03
  see somebody out of town plate on license plate.
• 47:07
  Dude, you're conscientious. About them, I am interested.
• 47:10
  Somebody with the blinker trying to get in front of me.
• 47:13
  Yeah, I'm an aggressive driver. No, I see the California plate
• 47:18
  come on in. Maybe not for California.
• 47:20
  No other. I'm a Raider fan too, so I'm
• 47:25
  like Broncos, Rockies, you guys. Can see Vegas now which is where
• 47:30
  they should be right like Raiders they that just.
• 47:31
  Correct. Yeah.
• 47:32
  Well, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, they would.
• 47:34
  But no anybody from out of town, I do recognize that license
• 47:36
  plate for me out of town, yeah. And I want to be I can make the
• 47:39
  difference. And a counselor, he just
• 47:45
  recently passed away, Ken Sanchez.
• 47:46
  He had a great thing, a great saying.
• 47:47
  And I and I'm a believer in it. And and it's I believe, you
• 47:53
  know, politicians that I believe and I do believe too.
• 47:56
  I think each person can make a difference.
• 47:58
  One person makes a difference. Well, you're an example of that.
• 48:00
  Again, that's the for people who don't know you and and you know,
• 48:03
  God bless. I don't know you, you know,
• 48:05
  we're we're friends through Facebook and through this.
• 48:07
  But you know, you have real friends, friends.
• 48:08
  But I know you this route. And what's so awesome is again,
• 48:11
  that you, you know, you say this.
• 48:13
  But you see it I. See it?
• 48:15
  And I don't brag about it. We were talking now I'm being
• 48:17
  interviewed. I would never, I don't ever
• 48:19
  bring this. I'm talking about things.
• 48:21
  I never talk people without a. Doubt.
• 48:24
  Yeah, I, I don't share this with people.
• 48:26
  I don't know why I'm treating it.
• 48:26
  That's why I wanted you here. That's.
• 48:29
  Exactly. Yeah.
• 48:30
  People, when people listen to this thing, I thought to Steven,
• 48:32
  I know. But you know, I, I don't brag
• 48:34
  about it. It's not something I advertise.
• 48:36
  I'm not. I'm not looking for recognition
• 48:38
  for being the person who I am. You do brag about it and bear
• 48:41
  with me, not by talking, but the bragging is because you do it,
• 48:46
  you live it that that is a type of bragging.
• 48:47
  It's a good type, you know, So what you know, we talked with
• 48:52
  indoor track and that's a a three month ish time frame, you
• 48:55
  know, December through March. So that that was the early days
• 48:58
  talking about set up yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 48:59
  So our best time setting this track up was 8-9 days you're.
• 49:04
  See, I don't think people realize that you just said the
• 49:07
  best time, the fastest time to set up this track 9.
• 49:12
  Yes. Holy, how many hours A.
• 49:14
  Day is that that that was that was a struggle.
• 49:17
  That's a couple hours a day. That was we work 10 hours a day,
• 49:21
  six days a week. We had just we had just Sunday
• 49:25
  off that year. We needed at least one day off,
• 49:28
  but there were long days and we got it up.
• 49:30
  Wow. So this is our 15th season with
• 49:33
  this truck, so matter of fact, it's for sale.
• 49:38
  City of Albuquerque Voters OK approved $2.5 million to
• 49:43
  purchase a new end or track. Is is LA selling another one?
• 49:47
  I don't know anybody in LA has what if you have the billing?
• 49:49
  We want to back that fee. Well, that'd be funny so.
• 49:55
  So this is our 15th season you know these portable tracks are
• 49:58
  made for 10/10 seasons, 10 years up and down.
• 50:01
  You know, we taking a lot of care in what we do and we we got
• 50:05
  15 seasons on it. But now's the time we want to
• 50:08
  continue indoor track in Albuquerque.
• 50:12
  It's time to replace this track. And the voters went ahead and
• 50:15
  approved money for a new track. So, yeah, this track is, you
• 50:18
  know, what are we going to do? Are we going to sell it?
• 50:20
  We're not sure, but we like to sell it and move it on somebody
• 50:22
  else. And, and yeah, if anybody's
• 50:24
  interested in it, contact me, City of Albuquerque, you know,
• 50:26
  you can find me online. It's a great track.
• 50:29
  My emails S Madrid at cabq.gov Shoot me an e-mail and it's
• 50:34
  we're going to take down Saturday.
• 50:35
  I encourage everybody to come down and watch the procedure of
• 50:39
  us take it down. Look under the hood, if you
• 50:41
  will. So is this the last this the
• 50:43
  last meet? Next year will be a new track.
• 50:45
  Man, the way you put it like that, I didn't realize that
• 50:49
  this. Didn't either.
• 50:49
  Yeah, this is our last meet with this talk.
• 50:52
  That track, I mean, if you want to see some facility records,
• 50:56
  come look at the records for this track.
• 50:59
  Look at that. It's fast again, lots of I was
• 51:02
  just down at the pole vault area and a couple pole vault coaches.
• 51:04
  One pole coach hasn't been here before and he was asking a
• 51:07
  couple of the other guys that had been here before.
• 51:09
  Hey, So what, how many poles do you go up?
• 51:11
  That that means that you know the when you go up poles, that
• 51:13
  means you're jumping better and higher and you know, non vault
• 51:16
  coach here. But so because they know that,
• 51:19
  oh, you got to do something different, you got to bring
• 51:22
  bigger poles because it's such a fast runway.
• 51:25
  Absolutely. I love hearing these stories.
• 51:27
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
• 51:29
  And this is it. Yeah, so, so this year set up,
• 51:32
  it took 13 days, Lucky 13 and because of the age of it, you
• 51:37
  know, I wanted to get in here early this year and fortunately
• 51:41
  there were no events going on, you know, sorry Convention
• 51:43
  Center, but there were no events taking place in the late
• 51:46
  December. So we actually moved the track
• 51:48
  from storage to the Convention Center starting on this Monday,
• 51:52
  December 16th. More people.
• 51:54
  As you know, we have been evolving every year.
• 51:57
  What can we do to make it better?
• 51:59
  How can we improve? And that's what I'm about
• 52:00
  improve every year and I think we've done that this year.
• 52:03
  We incorporated the parking management staff from the City
• 52:07
  of Albuquerque to help move and set the track up.
• 52:10
  So we move this track in trucks it was and when we just do the
• 52:16
  semi trucks, it's 1515 semi. We use two trucks.
• 52:22
  Full semi. Yeah, full semi.
• 52:23
  They're worth 53 footers. 1515. 1/5.
• 52:28
  Holy. Crap.
• 52:29
  There's a lot of equipment in this track.
• 52:32
  I want to say maybe back in 2013 we got we started talking about
• 52:36
  the ice skate ring out there, you know?
• 52:38
  Yeah, that's right, you say. Better every year, yeah.
• 52:40
  So in 13 I think we got a new infield.
• 52:42
  Okay, and. So I added to the number of
• 52:44
  pieces. Yeah, So what did I do with my
• 52:47
  old infield? Yeah, okay.
• 52:48
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see the transition of the
• 52:51
  colors out there. There's certain areas where they
• 52:52
  look a little more burgundy color, if you will.
• 52:55
  That's my old infield. So my solution at that time was
• 52:58
  to use the old infield. It's incorporated into those
• 53:01
  bare spots and now we have complete surface.
• 53:05
  Complete coverage now. Everywhere, yeah, and you've.
• 53:07
  Added runway for the long jump in pole balls.
• 53:10
  Yes. So when we hosted the NC 2A's
• 53:13
  back in 14, one of the requirements were two long
• 53:15
  jumps. Right.
• 53:16
  Right. So that year.
• 53:17
  Of athletes long and triple. So that year, we, the city of
• 53:22
  Albuquerque, purchased a new long jump, right?
• 53:26
  OK. And we actually built that long
• 53:29
  jump pit in house. A good buddy of mine, Robert
• 53:32
  Sanchez, he worked for park management at the time.
• 53:34
  We, we work together. We planned this out and we built
• 53:37
  that long jump pit and the company built us the runway base
• 53:43
  around the pit we built and then we moved the infield over 16
• 53:48
  feet. Yeah, that's right.
• 53:50
  And we had to refabricate the crash pads, so we shifted
• 53:55
  everything over 16 feet to fit the new long jump.
• 53:59
  Yeah. So there's been a lot of
• 54:04
  reconstruction, I guess we will of the track.
• 54:06
  Yeah, we have, we have great, we have great employees in the city
• 54:08
  of Albuquerque that can do that in house.
• 54:10
  It's. Amazing.
• 54:12
  So and the crew that does this, is there a lot of turnover or is
• 54:16
  this like this, a lot of these guys have done this track now
• 54:19
  for four or five? So for some reason, my staff
• 54:22
  like me and they want to work for me.
• 54:26
  And I'm really trying to teach my staff what I do.
• 54:30
  And I, you know, I'm all about, you know, let everybody know
• 54:33
  what I'm not. I'll be transparent with
• 54:34
  everybody and I'll teach you. Want to learn how to do this
• 54:37
  track, I'll teach you. I'm ready to hand over the reins
• 54:38
  to somebody else, take over. And I've got a great staff, you
• 54:41
  know, and I'm going to go out and name drop him here because
• 54:44
  they deserve it. Johnny Mirabal, he's a great
• 54:46
  employee of mine. I almost fired him one day as a
• 54:49
  part timer, but I just saw something in that guy.
• 54:51
  I said no, I'm going to give you one more.
• 54:53
  Chance you know. I just, it was, it was at the
• 54:59
  time he was younger, but I just saw something in him and yeah, I
• 55:03
  ended up promoting him into a permanent position.
• 55:05
  And Steve Albuquerque, he's a great asset for Steve
• 55:08
  Albuquerque. And I go on to employees like
• 55:10
  Regina Book List. She's really taking an interest
• 55:12
  in what I do out here. She takes care of the Bloom
• 55:16
  Fiesta Park, but I bring her out here to help with certain
• 55:18
  aspects of the track. Anthony Gutierrez, he's new this
• 55:21
  year, he's learning. Luke Martinez, he's also new
• 55:25
  first time tracker this year. And then Richard Newman, they're
• 55:27
  all new employees for us here in Parks and Recreation.
• 55:31
  And I just tell them what I know and the importance of this.
• 55:39
  And as they're building this track early on, I was
• 55:42
  explaining, hey, This is why we do what we do.
• 55:44
  And I said, you're going to understand when you see the meet
• 55:46
  starting. I said, I don't know if you
• 55:49
  think I'm being hard on you right now what I want done.
• 55:52
  I said, but you're going to see, and this will make sense when
• 55:55
  the meet starts, when we have, we're setting up for USA
• 55:57
  national championships, NC 2A championships.
• 56:00
  You'll see why I have you do what I have you do.
• 56:03
  And they've come to me and said, I understand now.
• 56:06
  No cutting corners on this track.
• 56:07
  Yeah. So yeah, I have a great crew,
• 56:10
  you know, And I think any manager is only as good as their
• 56:13
  employees. Well, and that's been evident
• 56:15
  from, you know, again, I say day one, I remember being so
• 56:19
  impressed. And again, you know, I, I work
• 56:20
  with facilities around the country and, and great
• 56:23
  facilities, I mean, awesome facilities, people and things
• 56:26
  like that. I remember when we were coming
• 56:29
  in for the last day, so again, Sunday or Monday, whatever it
• 56:31
  was the morning to finish out and get our trucks loaded and
• 56:34
  get out of your way. I was so impressed with the work
• 56:37
  a, the work that your team was doing, but B, the the courtesy
• 56:41
  that you guys were giving us. You know, some people are like,
• 56:44
  you know, hey Gil, guys, get out of the way so we can do the real
• 56:47
  work, you know, the track and things like that.
• 56:48
  You guys were just so courteous, so conscientious about what we
• 56:51
  also had to do. Like it was important for me.
• 56:53
  I was like, hey, when before we get there, because you know, we
• 56:55
  usually we get here at 7:00 AM or whatever.
• 56:57
  It's like, let's stop by the donut shop.
• 56:59
  Let's buy Donuts for these guys. Like just something, it's just a
• 57:01
  small way of just saying, hey man, thanks.
• 57:03
  Like, and again, I think you're you're on to something when you
• 57:06
  say your crew is your manager is only as good as your crew.
• 57:09
  But I think reverse, you know, leadership is important, I
• 57:12
  believe. And so, you know, they feed off
• 57:15
  of that energy, positive or negative that a manager or lead
• 57:20
  supervisor gives. And you have from day one, given
• 57:25
  that type of positive leadership.
• 57:27
  We're, you know, we're going to wrap this up soon.
• 57:29
  I told you this would go by fast.
• 57:30
  We're closing it on. And goes back to what you're
• 57:32
  saying, to the whole one Albuquerque thing.
• 57:34
  Let's work together. Well, we're so.
• 57:37
  I got to remember mention one more employee's name.
• 57:39
  His name is Rubenala and he just recently had a medical episode.
• 57:42
  He just got a destruction in the hospital today.
• 57:44
  So he's been with me for about 8 years now too.
• 57:46
  So he's also a great employee of of ours too.
• 57:49
  Part. I don't understand employees.
• 57:51
  We're A-Team. Yeah, yeah.
• 57:52
  That's evident right there. Evident for sure.
• 57:57
  So where did that for you? Where does that leadership come
• 58:01
  from? Is was it did you have some kind
• 58:03
  of mentor that tell you this? Was it a parent, a family
• 58:06
  member? That leadership might be born,
• 58:09
  but it's also bread. Where was it bread for you?
• 58:11
  That's. A good question.
• 58:16
  That's part of my job is to ask you really good questions.
• 58:18
  They're not all softballs here. You got you got some fastballs
• 58:21
  here, Dodger man. I could turn on fastball, you
• 58:27
  know, just quickly thinking about it.
• 58:31
  I think it's been my experiment experience from, I think going
• 58:36
  back to I guess my Little League days.
• 58:41
  Like the coaches you had then? Yeah, and you know, now I'm
• 58:44
  going through a lot of coaches through my head and, you know, I
• 58:47
  think I can recognize now what High side's 2020 right of.
• 58:52
  Course. Now we know what they mean.
• 58:55
  We're in our 40s now. Yeah, it all makes sense.
• 58:57
  Just want to listen back then it's.
• 59:00
  Hard to hear when you're 14 but in your 40s.
• 59:02
  You know what's funny? Coach Franklin just did a radio
• 59:05
  show with a local Lobo Sports fan, JC Lopez, and he was a
• 59:10
  coach against me in the league. I was about 14 years old
• 59:13
  somewhere on that. JC Lopez at the time.
• 59:16
  And Coach Franklin did this interview with him to, you know,
• 59:19
  do the advertising. Yeah, I saw you.
• 59:22
  I saw it on Facebook. You saw that, right?
• 59:24
  JC brought me up. Did you see that part?
• 59:25
  No, no. I.
• 59:27
  You know. I did not watch.
• 59:28
  It 2021 minutes into it. That's the part.
• 59:30
  I'll go back and watch it and he brought me up.
• 59:33
  I'm like, JC knows I worked on the track so he would coach
• 59:36
  against me. And I saw him a couple years ago
• 59:38
  and I reminded him of a story he told me back when we were I was
• 59:41
  a kid and, and he told the story to coach Franklin.
• 59:44
  And it's funny how things are coming forward and, and I
• 59:47
  remember this his day and that had an impact on me.
• 59:49
  He's he would walk me. He wouldn't let me hit because I
• 59:53
  was I was going. To hit.
• 59:54
  Right. I was going to hit and he says.
• 59:56
  And I was upset. I was a little punk back then,
• 59:59
  kicking the dirt, looking at him, blah blah blah blah blah.
• 1:00:01
  How dare you walk me, blah blah. What age was?
• 1:00:03
  This. About 14 years old.
• 1:00:04
  Oh, jeez. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:06
  You knew everything. Of course I did.
• 1:00:07
  Yeah, of course. After the game he embraced me,
• 1:00:10
  watches walk with me and he says mijo son in Spanish.
• 1:00:16
  Do that out of respect. You're a good ball player and
• 1:00:19
  I'm not going to let you beat me.
• 1:00:20
  Right. Yeah, it is the ultimate sign of
• 1:00:22
  respect. But to hit her?
• 1:00:24
  At the time I didn't know, but something went Ding.
• 1:00:27
  I said, OK, I can accept that. I can accept that.
• 1:00:30
  I, I think, you know, So what I'm getting at organized sports
• 1:00:33
  I think are huge influence on the youth.
• 1:00:37
  And if they have the right mentor, not a coach yelling at
• 1:00:40
  you all the time, you know, somebody really take you on
• 1:00:42
  their wing. And like it or not, coaches are
• 1:00:44
  basically a parent away from home.
• 1:00:46
  And when you are involved with the right ones, you know,
• 1:00:49
  Lawrence Kisala was a coach of mine, 10:11 and 12:00.
• 1:00:53
  And I remember he was a strict coach, but you know, he was
• 1:00:56
  correct. He was right.
• 1:00:57
  He had your best interest. Yeah, our best interest.
• 1:01:01
  I had an older brother I looked up to, you know, my my father
• 1:01:03
  was military. I rebelled against that, though.
• 1:01:06
  I have long hair today too, because I couldn't have long
• 1:01:09
  hair back then. So it's a couple reasons I have
• 1:01:11
  my long hair. No, you know, and then not to
• 1:01:15
  high school, you know, I think you just for me, I guess I
• 1:01:19
  listened to the right people. I don't know, I don't know.
• 1:01:22
  But could it be with as a natural born leader?
• 1:01:24
  I don't know, maybe. I think with you for sure
• 1:01:26
  there's some of that, but you know, I do believe again,
• 1:01:29
  leadership is kind of an amalgamation of a lot of things,
• 1:01:31
  some positive and some negatives.
• 1:01:32
  You know, maybe there's some people that were had were
• 1:01:35
  negative influences your life, but you learned.
• 1:01:36
  OK, well, I don't want to or do that like that's the wrong.
• 1:01:40
  But it's evident that you've had strong leadership in multiple
• 1:01:44
  facets where there was a teacher, a baseball coach, maybe
• 1:01:49
  even today with, you know, you work with interact with some of
• 1:01:53
  the council members we're talking about Brad and those
• 1:01:54
  guys, you know, things like that that impart on to you.
• 1:01:58
  And now it's evident with your team that you are now part of
• 1:02:02
  that process. To them, you know, 20 years, one
• 1:02:06
  of those guys is is going to be a leader of something like this.
• 1:02:10
  Right, it goes back to what I said earlier again.
• 1:02:12
  You're you're you're you're making me talk about things I
• 1:02:14
  don't really talk about. Why did I become the person I am
• 1:02:17
  today? I don't know why I thought of
• 1:02:19
  something I threw it out just now, but you're right.
• 1:02:24
  I I I live AI guess a certain creed, if you will, and it's
• 1:02:27
  respect people. I respect people and I and I
• 1:02:31
  expect the same respect in return.
• 1:02:34
  And if I don't get it, it's OK. I'm not going to cry about it.
• 1:02:37
  I'm not going to complain about it.
• 1:02:39
  And I also try to teach that to my staff.
• 1:02:44
  You know, we, we're public servants.
• 1:02:46
  We're going to get that customer that comes in that knows it all.
• 1:02:51
  And how are you going to react to that?
• 1:02:53
  You know? Yes, Sir.
• 1:02:54
  Yes, ma'am. So I tried to explain to them,
• 1:02:58
  it's not the end of the world. Let's, let's help our customers.
• 1:03:02
  Let's be the best person we can every day, you know, we have to
• 1:03:06
  come to work every day, you know, and I what I tell him, I
• 1:03:09
  said, why do we work? Make money?
• 1:03:11
  That's why we work. What do you think about
• 1:03:14
  thousands of things that do besides come to work every day?
• 1:03:16
  Especially if you have a family, you want to spend it with them.
• 1:03:18
  I said, so we have to be here 40 hours a week.
• 1:03:21
  Make it the best we possibly can.
• 1:03:23
  Let's have fun over here. Let's do our job.
• 1:03:26
  Let's be responsible. Let's take care of what we have
• 1:03:28
  to do, but let's have fun while we do it.
• 1:03:31
  And that's not everybody's management style.
• 1:03:33
  That's my style and I I it seems to work for me.
• 1:03:37
  I think an amazing thing that you just said there a real key
• 1:03:41
  like through this hour that we spoke lots of great things.
• 1:03:45
  But maybe the real gem of this when you said about respect, and
• 1:03:51
  I think a lot of people, they may not show it, but they
• 1:03:55
  understand about respect towards other people.
• 1:03:58
  But what you said was you said I expect other people to be
• 1:04:01
  respectful back to me, but if they don't, that's OK.
• 1:04:05
  That's the real Jim. That's the that's the real hard
• 1:04:08
  part. People think it's hard to be
• 1:04:09
  respectful to other people. I got bad news, boy, that's hard
• 1:04:12
  for you. You got a lot of problems.
• 1:04:14
  But it is hard when someone disrespects or doesn't show you
• 1:04:19
  what you think is respect to you, to be OK with it, to not
• 1:04:23
  internalize it, to not let that own you, to be like, you know
• 1:04:26
  what? I'm a good person.
• 1:04:27
  I'm OK like that. Maybe that person's having a bad
• 1:04:29
  day. That's exactly what I say.
• 1:04:31
  I say you don't know what took place for that person from the
• 1:04:34
  time they left their house to get to where we are.
• 1:04:36
  That's it. What happened.
• 1:04:38
  You know you're not. You're not here to judge.
• 1:04:41
  I heard it said a different way literally just last week.
• 1:04:44
  Seek to understand, not to be understood.
• 1:04:48
  Meaning if someone disses you shows disrespect, try to
• 1:04:51
  understand where's that person coming from.
• 1:04:53
  And you know what? Be okay with just forgiving
• 1:04:54
  them. Like, I don't know, maybe?
• 1:04:56
  Never presume, I tell myself. Yeah, right.
• 1:04:58
  How hard is that? That's there.
• 1:05:00
  It is. Right there.
• 1:05:01
  That's it. Hey, Steven, you.
• 1:05:03
  It's so funny. I wish I almost wished a little
• 1:05:06
  bit that this was a video interview because your phone has
• 1:05:09
  been blowing up. I know how.
• 1:05:10
  Important you are. Absolutely.
• 1:05:13
  Hope the tracks they'll put together, yeah.
• 1:05:15
  Well, here's the good news. I know you trust me enough that
• 1:05:17
  if it was something like, dude, I got to get this, you would
• 1:05:18
  have. Yeah, we have that respect with
• 1:05:20
  each other. But what to wrap this up, you
• 1:05:23
  know, I, I just want to, I don't want to call this a word of
• 1:05:26
  encouragement, but what really kind of hit me as we were
• 1:05:29
  talking about you and what I've known about you here for the
• 1:05:32
  last 10 years or so. And really super interesting and
• 1:05:37
  humbling to me to talk about your oneness with Albuquerque,
• 1:05:41
  right? I love that that thing down
• 1:05:44
  there said there, the sign is one and Albuquerque, you know,
• 1:05:46
  it's one Albuquerque because that's that's who you are, you
• 1:05:49
  are Albuquerque. The reason I do like this town
• 1:05:52
  is because of people like you, of how you embody this town.
• 1:05:57
  You give it such a good name. And you, when people walk away
• 1:06:01
  from interactions here at the Convention Center with track
• 1:06:04
  meets and with you and your team, because it's not just you,
• 1:06:06
  it's the your influence over the things.
• 1:06:08
  They walk away with positive experiences in that.
• 1:06:13
  It boils down to you. And I'm going to say your
• 1:06:16
  upbringing, the way you were raised, and how you become who
• 1:06:19
  you are today, man. It's I guess I'm doing something
• 1:06:21
  right. You are doing lots of things.
• 1:06:23
  I appreciate hearing that dude, you never know.
• 1:06:25
  I love you to death, man. You are an awesome person.
• 1:06:28
  I'm so happy. This is going to blow people's
• 1:06:32
  mind because they're going to be they're going to listen to these
• 1:06:34
  podcasts and it's going to be coach, coach, coach.
• 1:06:36
  And there's some amazing coaches.
• 1:06:37
  Had an interview this morning with a coach that was just so
• 1:06:39
  awesome. And then they're going to be
• 1:06:41
  like, so wait, Steven, where's he coach?
• 1:06:42
  I don't know who this is and they're going to find out the
• 1:06:45
  person behind the track. Some people call me a track
• 1:06:48
  engineer. I'm like, OK, Oh.
• 1:06:51
  Man, you don't add engineer to your title.
• 1:06:54
  But you know, I, I, I'm grateful for our relationship as well,
• 1:06:58
  too. We, I mean we met each other has
• 1:07:01
  been 10 years. I think it's been 10.
• 1:07:02
  I'm going to just say it's ten, yeah.
• 1:07:04
  Yeah, it has. I think it has been, you know,
• 1:07:06
  and, and I appreciate it too, you know, I'm grateful for it.
• 1:07:11
  You're awesome. Yeah.
• 1:07:12
  Thank you so much. This.
• 1:07:13
  You know, I told you this hour would go by fast.
• 1:07:15
  I sure did. That was over an hour.
• 1:07:17
  And again, I love just again, thank you for humbling me,
• 1:07:20
  allowing me to bring your story and the story of the Albuquerque
• 1:07:23
  Convention Center even more special now that we kind of
• 1:07:25
  realized this is the last one on this track.
• 1:07:27
  And. If you want to purchase that
• 1:07:29
  track and I can tell you and and I'll be on a long list of people
• 1:07:34
  that tell you positives about this track.
• 1:07:36
  This track's got many, many years of life, especially if
• 1:07:39
  it's going to be someone who puts it together and leaves it
• 1:07:41
  there. You know, because again, there
• 1:07:42
  is stress when you take, but you get it.
• 1:07:44
  For someone who's going to have a fixed facility, you got years.
• 1:07:48
  The right person is out there, we just have to find.
• 1:07:50
  Them. That's it, man, right?
• 1:07:52
  Here's the great part. I found the right person right
• 1:07:54
  here for this one baby. Thank you so much.
• 1:07:56
  Thank you guys enjoy this. Hey, if you've made it this far,
• 1:08:01
  thanks for joining us. I hope you enjoyed connecting
• 1:08:05
  with Steven as much as I did. The goal here is to bring you
• 1:08:08
  interesting people from around the country in the sport of
• 1:08:11
  track and field. Most of the time that's going to
• 1:08:13
  be coaches, but definitely have a goal of bringing you other
• 1:08:16
  people that you may not necessarily get to interact with
• 1:08:20
  on a daily seasonally basis, but are vital to this great sport of
• 1:08:24
  track and field. Make sure to subscribe to the
• 1:08:27
  podcast to be notified of future episodes so you know exactly
• 1:08:30
  when they drop. And if you or someone you know
• 1:08:33
  would like to be a guest on the Guild Authentics Connection
• 1:08:35
  Podcast, contact me at Hurd le@guilathetics.com.
• 1:08:42
  That's right, Hurdle at guilathetics.com.
• 1:08:46
  In the meantime, we hope you feel led to share this podcast
• 1:08:48
  on your social media network of choice and join us next time
• 1:08:51
  when we once again connect you with yet another great track and
• 1:08:55
  field coach.