Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / How Humans of Steel Became More Than Just a Triathlon Ep 153
Transcript
- 0:37Coach Carlie: All right, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast.
- 0:40Coach Carlie: I'm your host, Coach Chris, and we are here to talk all about Humans of Steel Racing, a local race that was born from COVID.
- 0:51Coach Carlie: And I'm here with Coach Carly, to uh who is our volunteer coordinator and uh Jill of all trades and who does all the things.
- 1:01Coach Carlie: And we're prepping for another race and figured it would be a great opportunity to tell you guys more about the race, why it's different, why you should register, why you should do a relay, why you should do all, you know, just come join us, why you should volunteer if you don't want to race.
- 1:14Coach Carlie: Yeah, all the things.
- 1:16Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 1:17Coach Carlie: Thanks again for coming on because you're the bestest.
- 1:21Coach Carlie: So it's me.
- 1:24Coach Chris: If you're not bored of hearing me yet, I'm not a co-host, I promise.
- 1:30Coach Carlie: Uh poor Emily, uh, who was my taking dietetic intern for six weeks.
- 1:35Coach Carlie: She's she kind of did turn into my co-host.
- 1:37Coach Carlie: That was like part of her Carly's like, please, Lord, do not give me this podcast.
- 1:44Coach Chris: No, not taking the podcast.
- 1:46Coach Chris: But I happily join anytime I'm requested.
- 1:49Coach Chris: And I do have lots to say about humans, still.
- 1:52Coach Carlie: Yes, it is is a lot of fun.
- 1:54Coach Carlie: And it reminds me of when I have uh interviewed quite a few race directors because at the end of the day, our mission is to empower people just like you who are listening to this and to grow the community of endurance athletes.
- 2:07Coach Carlie: Because when I got into this sport, I remember finishing my first draft on.
- 2:12Coach Carlie: It was White Lake, and I remember literally like sitting in the grass, starting to stretch and be like, holy bleep, I just did that.
- 2:22Coach Carlie: And everyone deserves to feel this way.
- 2:26Coach Carlie: Like I did a hard thing that I don't I don't know if I really knew that I could, you know, like I just I didn't know.
- 2:34Coach Carlie: I didn't know.
- 2:35Coach Carlie: I didn't know the things I didn't know.
- 2:37Coach Carlie: And when I finished, I was like, oh my gosh, everybody needs to experience this.
- 2:41Coach Carlie: This is amazing.
- 2:43Coach Carlie: So we were born because there's a little company you may have heard of called Iron Man.
- 2:51Coach Carlie: And in, and this is not a dig on them.
- 2:54Coach Carlie: I want to make sure that that is super clear because I'm not gonna bite the hand that feeds us.
- 2:58Coach Carlie: So um, when in COVID, when everything shut down, which rightly so, we were in the midst of making 5,000 protein bites with the fueling edge, because we were at the time we had a meal service.
- 3:13Coach Carlie: And anyway, that's a whole that's a whole nother podcast.
- 3:16Coach Carlie: Uh, we were about to do tobacco road marathon, that got shut down.
- 3:19Coach Carlie: Anyway, we had several athletes on our roster who were training for Iron Man, and they're like, I I can't keep doing this.
- 3:30Coach Carlie: Like, I want this done.
- 3:32Coach Carlie: And so we thought, well, I guess we're putting on an Iron Man in the midst of COVID.
- 3:39Coach Carlie: And we did it that September.
- 3:42Coach Carlie: I don't know if I've I am sharing our our website.
- 3:45Coach Carlie: I love that picture, by the way.
- 3:47Coach Carlie: Um so we did a quote unquote unofficial half Iron Man, Iron Man, which honestly, I loved that format of you could do, we had a um, we did it in Jordan Lake.
- 4:01Coach Carlie: They swam and they could choose how long they swam.
- 4:04Coach Carlie: They could do 1.2 miles, they could be do 2.4, and then they got on the bike and they could do 56 or 112, and then we ran on the tobacco trail.
- 4:15Coach Carlie: So we had one athlete who did 2.4 miles of swimming, 56 miles of riding, and then a 10K run.
- 4:23Coach Carlie: Like choose your own adventure.
- 4:25Coach Carlie: Wouldn't that be cool?
- 4:26Coach Carlie: I think that that would be a logistical nightmare as an official race director now, and we'll get into that here in a moment.
- 4:32Coach Carlie: Um and people had a great time, and they were like, huh, this is cool.
- 4:39Coach Carlie: And we were like, huh, we're pretty okay at this.
- 4:45Coach Carlie: So um, do you remember the second time we put this race on?
- 4:49Coach Carlie: That was not, that was not officially human design.
- 4:52Coach Carlie: It was not a race.
- 4:53Coach Chris: I uh I had a bunch of my athletes like my coach from coaching.
- 5:00Coach Chris: Oh gosh, now I'm trying to remember what made me be like, I'm just gonna put on a race for you guys.
- 5:07Coach Carlie: This is how we roll here.
- 5:09Coach Carlie: We're like, you know what?
- 5:10Coach Carlie: Let's become race directors.
- 5:12Coach Chris: Um y'all, we just recorded a podcast about day cams, and I mentioned that Chris and I are just uh our fatal flaw and also our superpowers just being like, I don't know, figure it out.
- 5:22Coach Chris: And I just realized this very much is me figuring it out.
- 5:26Coach Chris: Um, I there was there was a bunch of my athletes, and if if you guys were at the endurance side, you also know that I kind of like I check, I kind of am with all the athletes and I check in on you guys, make sure everything's going okay.
- 5:39Coach Chris: And there were just a bunch of you that needed an Olympic race in August, and there isn't one.
- 5:45Coach Chris: And I was like, I'm gonna bring back humans to steal and we'll do one for our athletes.
- 5:50Coach Chris: Um, and we did, and it was super fun, and we had a a good chunk.
- 5:56Coach Carlie: I feel like I should have um refreshed my memory before joining this podcast, but I want to say they were like and if you click on the link that is attached to this podcast, it will bring you over to our quote unquote blog.
- 6:11Coach Carlie: And those, you guys, those are have so much information.
- 6:15Coach Carlie: If you go to the website version of all of our podcast episodes, they're detailed.
- 6:20Coach Carlie: So if you're somebody who would prefer not to listen or watch, um, you would prefer to read.
- 6:26Coach Carlie: They're so detailed, but we'll put pictures up.
- 6:28Coach Carlie: We'll put pictures from our first humans of steel, and then we'll also put pictures of our quote unquote second humans of steel, which was the Olympic distance that you were just talking about.
- 6:40Coach Carlie: Right.
- 6:41Coach Carlie: So, yeah, we'll we'll cover the picture part of it.
- 6:44Coach Chris: Yep.
- 6:44Coach Chris: We so I think we had like 20 or 30 athletes.
- 6:47Coach Chris: We had a sprint option, an Olympic option.
- 6:50Coach Chris: We did it very similar to the OG uh 2020 Humans of Steel.
- 6:56Coach Chris: We rode over to the tobacco trail we ran.
- 6:59Coach Chris: Anyways, it was so much fun that everyone was like, we this needs to be a thing that we do with the team every year.
- 7:06Coach Chris: We all had so much fun.
- 7:08Coach Chris: And we were like, well, if everyone loved it that much, let's make it a race.
- 7:12Coach Chris: And here we are.
- 7:14Coach Chris: And here we are.
- 7:15Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 7:15Coach Carlie: I I think I remember going to like the North Carolina state and being like, um, so Humans of Steel is officially registered.
- 7:25Coach Carlie: We made a logo.
- 7:26Coach Carlie: We made that cool sign that if you guys are watching, you can see this cool sign that says first triathlon.
- 7:32Coach Carlie: Uh well, I didn't make it.
- 7:33Coach Carlie: We had uh, you do not want me to listen.
- 7:38Coach Carlie: I like to be good at things that I am not good at that.
- 7:41Coach Carlie: So um, but we have the backdrop and we organized it all and created the route and have this awesome sign.
- 7:50Coach Carlie: If that is your first triathlon, freaking kudos to you.
- 7:55Coach Carlie: Like okay, just to be different, we wanted to do this in a reverse style for a couple of reasons.
- 8:04Coach Carlie: Number one, it gets you on and off the road kind of faster, and then you could, in theory, cool off in the water.
- 8:11Coach Chris: In the you know, just yes, in theory.
- 8:15Coach Chris: The heat of August was a big determining factor on making us be like, you know what, why don't we do it backwards?
- 8:22Coach Carlie: Yeah, yeah.
- 8:23Coach Carlie: So, and I also like a different challenge.
- 8:26Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 8:27Coach Carlie: So, not everybody out there appreciates it.
- 8:29Coach Carlie: And I it's not for everyone, but it's not for everyone.
- 8:33Coach Carlie: It is not for everyone.
- 8:34Coach Carlie: If you are not good at your fueling hydration, do not come to our race.
- 8:38Coach Carlie: Like come to our fueling and hydration services, please.
- 8:42Coach Carlie: Yeah, that is another thing that you need to uh work on, but um yeah, it's uh out at Harris Lake.
- 8:53Coach Carlie: And uh, because getting Jordan Lake in the summertime is pretty much impossible, and for good reason, because you're dealing with campers and all kinds of stuff.
- 9:04Coach Carlie: So I think we were originally at the end of August, and now we're more at the beginning of August.
- 9:08Coach Carlie: I wish I could make North Carolina cooler, but September and October are pretty much packed for races.
- 9:15Coach Carlie: It was basically an opportunity to have a fun race in the summertime when there's not a lot of other races unless you go way up north as a segue to your quote unquote perhaps bigger races.
- 9:28Coach Chris: Yeah.
- 9:29Coach Chris: And that's sort of the gap that we fill with this race.
- 9:32Coach Chris: We're, you know, our intent is never to be this massive race that's drawing in thousands of athletes.
- 9:38Coach Chris: When, again, we have brains, we know it's hot and we know the reverse format's not for everyone, right?
- 9:43Coach Chris: Like we're not delusional in that regard.
- 9:46Coach Chris: But we do fill a gap.
- 9:47Coach Chris: There's not a lot of racing in August, but it is a time where particularly anyone doing uh a 70.3 or 140.6 in the fall, you're looking for some sort of uh Olympic um race around this time, and the Olympics can be hard to come by.
- 10:03Coach Chris: It can't be so a little bit of filling the gap, but also coming from our values as a business and and how we want to help the sport grow.
- 10:12Coach Chris: We try to be very beginner-friendly again, hence the the plaque, and we make sure we find you all.
- 10:18Coach Chris: If it's your first triathlon, we are finding you, we're taking a picture, you're holding up the sign, like we are celebrating you big.
- 10:25Coach Chris: It's not, it's not a crazy hard race, but it's not an easy race either.
- 10:30Coach Chris: Again, with the heat and the reverse format.
- 10:32Coach Chris: So if you're taking this on as your first one, you get extra kudos, and we just like to make sure we're celebrating you.
- 10:38Coach Carlie: Yes, totally.
- 10:39Coach Carlie: And the bit and the first year we did this race, we were not USA Trath Unsanctioned.
- 10:44Coach Carlie: And we made everybody, you can see the picture over on the left where the girl is like got her fist in the air coming through the finish line, which I will say part of the reason for the reverse format is that I think that aqua bike is an underrepresented sport that is fabulous, especially for those people who are like, I can't run anymore.
- 11:06Coach Carlie: I hate running.
- 11:07Coach Carlie: Pick your word about running.
- 11:09Coach Carlie: I can't pick your personal term that you and running don't get along.
- 11:14Coach Carlie: It's fine.
- 11:15Coach Carlie: There's aquabike, and I think it is so cool.
- 11:18Coach Carlie: However, unless it's an aqua bike only event, you go out, you swim with everybody else, you ride with everybody else, and then you end up in transition.
- 11:28Coach Carlie: And it's so anticlimactic.
- 11:30Coach Carlie: And the finish line is the bomb.
- 11:33Coach Carlie: Um, welcome back, 1995, or whenever that word was cool.
- 11:38Coach Carlie: Uh leave it to me.
- 11:40Coach Carlie: Um, so I was like, how cool is this that everybody gets the same finish line?
- 11:46Coach Carlie: They get the same celebration, they get the same metal around their neck rather than the aqua bikers just being like, here I am in transition.
- 11:53Coach Carlie: I guess I'll just put my bike away.
- 11:54Coach Carlie: And like nobody's celebrating you.
- 11:56Coach Carlie: You have to like go find the person to be like, Can I have a medal?
- 11:59Coach Carlie: Because I just finished a race.
- 12:01Coach Carlie: Like you're asking permission.
- 12:02Coach Carlie: It's like, no, you paid your money.
- 12:05Coach Carlie: You deserve the celebration, not like tapping somebody on the shoulder, like, excuse me, do you mind if I have a medal?
- 12:12Coach Carlie: Like, no, you you pass through.
- 12:15Coach Carlie: So we had the first time that we did it, we had everybody required to wear a buoy because we were like, I don't know, how is this gonna go?
- 12:22Coach Carlie: And it was a sprint only.
- 12:24Coach Carlie: And uh it went fine.
- 12:26Coach Carlie: People, I was like, wow, this it was less stressful than I thought it was gonna be for swimmers.
- 12:35Coach Chris: Yeah.
- 12:36Coach Chris: Well, and I think that's one of the biggest, I'll say, deterrence for people joining our race is that they don't want to swim less and they're really worried about that park.
- 12:44Coach Chris: The reality, and what we found over the the years of putting this on, is that there's less athletes in the water, which means there is more support staff with eyes on you.
- 12:56Coach Chris: So lifeguard to athlete ratio is y'all, it's so much better at our race than a mass start race or a wave start race where you're swimming first and you have, you know, 30, 50, 100 people getting in the water at the same time.
- 13:14Coach Chris: Um, you you're just not gonna have that.
- 13:16Coach Chris: You guys slowly trickle in throughout the swim portion and it's such a great um ratio.
- 13:22Coach Chris: We always make sure on top of that, because we know you're worried about it, we have extra lifeguards every year, more than what USAT asks us to have.
- 13:30Coach Chris: Um so it it's something that surprised us to your point.
- 13:36Coach Chris: We had everyone use the buoys um the first year because we hadn't done it to this scale before, and we don't require them anymore.
- 13:45Coach Chris: We have caps if you want one to notice that, like, hey, I just want extra eyes on me.
- 13:49Coach Chris: That helps like our lifeguards know to look for those caps, which is super helpful.
- 13:54Coach Chris: But there's just like a nice steady stream of swimmers going into the water and heading around the loops, and it's all gravy.
- 14:03Coach Chris: It is, yeah.
- 14:03Coach Carlie: I mean, you're you're already warm, you're generally less stressed out, you're not in crowds.
- 14:10Coach Carlie: And and then, like Carly said, we have everybody gets a bright yellow cap, but there are um red caps for anybody who's like, can you just make sure that you keep an eye on me?
- 14:21Coach Carlie: That's the little signal to the water sports staff.
- 14:24Coach Carlie: Like, hey, we, you know, we're keeping extra eyes on you.
- 14:28Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 14:29Coach Carlie: And um the only part that I wish were easier is that as the day progresses, you know, boat traffic gets you're listening you're totally safe.
- 14:39Coach Carlie: I I guarantee it.
- 14:40Coach Carlie: But boat traffic along the other side of the lake starts to pick up.
- 14:45Coach Carlie: And so, you know, every once in a while you might get this like little, like I'm going up and down just a little bit.
- 14:52Coach Carlie: But other than that, it's the same, it's the same old thing.
- 14:56Coach Carlie: You're dealing with less feet and arms, and yeah, you know, you're just kind of going around the bend like another day in the open water, and then there happens to be this really cool finish line at the end.
- 15:07Coach Carlie: Yep.
- 15:08Coach Carlie: And a medal and electrolyte popsicles.
- 15:11Coach Chris: Yes.
- 15:11Coach Chris: So we do do the medals because who wants to race a knuck and get a medal?
- 15:16Coach Carlie: I mean, again, yes, that was important to us.
- 15:20Coach Carlie: I'm just seeing if we have any more, like, oh, the kid stash.
- 15:24Coach Carlie: Any more good pictures?
- 15:25Coach Carlie: Of course we have good pictures.
- 15:26Coach Carlie: Um kids dash, that is so fun.
- 15:31Coach Carlie: I wish I had more specific pictures, and again, we'll put more on the um on the blog.
- 15:36Coach Carlie: But the kids are so stinking cute.
- 15:39Coach Carlie: We do a kid stash and we raise money for girls on the run.
- 15:45Coach Carlie: Um, they come out every year because if I were not in sports as a young girl, I would not be in this job right now.
- 15:54Coach Carlie: So I feel very privileged to be here and want to give back to women in sports and building them up because girls on the run is not just a running.
- 16:05Coach Carlie: If you heard our tri our podcast with them on it, it's great.
- 16:07Coach Carlie: Maybe I'll link back to that too about how it's women's uh or girls' empowerment and running.
- 16:15Coach Carlie: So they come out, they lead the warm-up, and then yeah, I mean, do what what are what are your thoughts on the kids' dash?
- 16:24Coach Carlie: Because oh my god.
- 16:25Coach Chris: If y'all have a kid, particularly a kid like under the age of five in particular, the five to twelve year olds have fun with it too.
- 16:34Coach Chris: But um, last year we gave all the kids the medals that the adults get that are racing, and y'all's kiddos felt so cool to have the same medal as mom or dad, that it like the confidence was booming.
- 16:52Coach Chris: It was absolutely adorable.
- 16:54Coach Chris: But also, again, to the empowerment point to see these kids being like, I did a really hard thing like my mom or dad did.
- 17:01Coach Chris: Uh, it was just so great.
- 17:03Coach Chris: It's super fun, it's adorable.
- 17:04Coach Chris: Like you said, girls on the run, leads them through a warm-up, which is really cute.
- 17:08Coach Chris: Um, we all gather out in the middle of the field and they do their run and then they get their medal.
- 17:13Coach Chris: So it's a great addition.
- 17:15Coach Chris: Again, loving getting the kids excited for their own version of racing and having them feel super awesome.
- 17:23Coach Chris: Like remember totally.
- 17:25Coach Carlie: Uh man, when I was handing those medals out, you would have thought that I was giving them like six pounds of candy.
- 17:33Coach Carlie: Yes.
- 17:34Coach Carlie: You know, they were like, what?
- 17:36Coach Carlie: I get this heavy metal that my mom got.
- 17:40Coach Carlie: I'm like, oh yes, you do.
- 17:42Coach Carlie: So even if you don't have kids, you just have to, you just have to watch because it is so stinking adorable.
- 17:51Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 17:51Coach Carlie: And then nice thing also, just with uh Harris Lake in general, is that there is a playground, like literally next to the expo.
- 18:01Coach Carlie: And we do have some special guests this year of folks after the race.
- 18:05Coach Carlie: We've got several amazing physical therapists and other partners of ours.
- 18:11Coach Carlie: So come out and like hang with them, ask them questions.
- 18:15Coach Carlie: And another little FYI about that.
- 18:18Coach Carlie: We do not have sponsors.
- 18:20Coach Carlie: So, and and I'm not saying that to like two dar horn or anything, but it is very common because the behind the scenes of a race director or of a race organization is there's a lot of stuff that you have to do.
- 18:33Coach Carlie: You have to hire cops, you have to get the permitting and the approval from the parks, from the water, um, from you know, like being able to be in the water, emergency services, lifeguards, volunteers, uh, you know, awards, logistics of like the website.
- 18:55Coach Carlie: I mean, all, you know, all this stuff.
- 18:57Coach Carlie: And it is not cheap, which is why a lot of race organizations get sponsors.
- 19:04Coach Carlie: I was talking to one race organizer that I was like, oh, you know, who do you get your porta potties through?
- 19:09Coach Carlie: And they were like, oh, we get, you know, we're sponsored by blah blah blah company and they give them to us.
- 19:13Coach Carlie: I'm like, that must be nice.
- 19:15Coach Carlie: But Porter Johns are not cheap.
- 19:18Coach Carlie: Um, so we don't have any sponsors.
- 19:21Coach Carlie: For anybody to come out, for some of these partners that we have to come out and be part of the expo, our requirement is that they are making a minimum donation to girls on the run.
- 19:32Coach Carlie: That's how we wanted to uh to do our organization.
- 19:36Coach Carlie: That means nothing bad about anybody who gets sponsored stuff like that.
- 19:41Coach Carlie: I just want to make sure that that is super clear, but it was really important to us as an organization that we have extra funds going to girls on the run.
- 19:49Coach Carlie: So come hang out and chill at the expo.
- 19:52Coach Carlie: Meet some people, chit-chat, don't just like, you know, get in your car and speed away.
- 20:00Coach Carlie: Come hang, be part of the community.
- 20:02Coach Carlie: What would you say that you've seen?
- 20:04Coach Carlie: I mean, you know, this is a great picture here of people hanging out, eating popsicles.
- 20:10Coach Chris: Yeah, I think again with our format, it makes for unique post-race conversations for people that have come out for the first time to try this format.
- 20:21Coach Chris: I think everyone likes to commiserate about how hot it is.
- 20:23Coach Chris: Um, some years have been warmer than others.
- 20:26Coach Chris: Last year we had some unexpected wind.
- 20:29Coach Chris: Um, but again, it's all part of race day.
- 20:31Coach Chris: It's gonna happen any time of the year.
- 20:34Coach Chris: But I think, and something that we try to instill as staff members putting on this event, that we have a really like homegrown feel.
- 20:46Coach Chris: And that's not an accident.
- 20:49Coach Chris: We want it to feel that way.
- 20:50Coach Chris: We want you to feel like you're coming into our community and being welcomed with open arms, and not just you, but your support person that's there to cheer you on, or maybe your kiddo that also wants to do the race.
- 21:02Coach Chris: We want you to feel welcome regardless of if you are here to do your first one and you're a little nervous, or you are a seasoned athlete and you want to win.
- 21:11Coach Chris: Uh, we have the full spectrum there, and we just want you to come have a good time, feel safe, but ultimately feel like you just kind of came to the cookout, right?
- 21:20Coach Chris: Like you you came, you did something cool, uh, you you leave feeling strong and supported is really the the goal.
- 21:27Coach Chris: And obviously we're trying to support a full girls on the run team.
- 21:33Coach Chris: That's usually what our fundraising goal is to support a full team for the season for girls on the run.
- 21:39Coach Chris: I think it's that's sort of always in our background trying to raise donations for that.
- 21:44Coach Carlie: Yep.
- 21:45Coach Carlie: I think it's 15 girls and a team is somewhere around$30,000,$3,300.
- 21:52Coach Carlie: Um, that supports them with all the equipment, all the resources.
- 21:56Coach Carlie: They're volunteer, you know, their coaches are volunteer, which is great.
- 21:59Coach Carlie: But um, you know, have their own team is just super cool.
- 22:03Coach Carlie: It was really important to us.
- 22:05Coach Carlie: So goes to a good cause.
- 22:08Coach Carlie: Great community, as you can see.
- 22:10Coach Carlie: I don't think anybody is frowning here.
- 22:13Coach Carlie: Even though it is hot.
- 22:16Coach Carlie: Um, what about volunteers?
- 22:18Coach Carlie: Anything you want to say about our volunteers?
- 22:22Coach Carlie: Oh, they're just so amazing.
- 22:24Coach Chris: Every year.
- 22:25Coach Chris: Every year I get really stressed that we're not gonna have enough volunteers, and then y'all show up.
- 22:30Coach Chris: To the point that I usually have a couple extra volunteers that I'm using as floaters for in the moment, like, oh, we need someone over.
- 22:38Coach Chris: Here, like the unexpected changes and getting the go with the flow figured out on race day.
- 22:42Coach Chris: But y'all show up, they're super smiley, they're ready to do whatever I ask them to do.
- 22:47Coach Chris: It's so great.
- 22:48Coach Chris: I'd say over 80% of them are also endurance athletes, so you're also getting people that kind of know the gig and know what's going on out there supporting you, which can be helpful too.
- 22:58Coach Chris: But generally speaking, everyone, everyone's just so happy and smiley and excited for race day.
- 23:03Coach Chris: Um it really is.
- 23:04Coach Chris: We every year we leave, just like I don't know, warm hearts.
- 23:09Coach Carlie: It's always glowing, both in sweat and probably sunburn and also in joy.
- 23:16Coach Carlie: I always feel like I raced even though I didn't.
- 23:19Coach Carlie: Oh my gosh, yes.
- 23:21Coach Carlie: Every time I look at my watch when we leave this, I'm like, I pretty much raced based on the number of steps I it's miles.
- 23:28Coach Carlie: It's miles.
- 23:29Coach Carlie: Running back and forth.
- 23:31Coach Carlie: It is bananas, but so fun.
- 23:34Coach Carlie: So if you I would encourage you, if you do this sport, or if you don't do this sport, let's say you quote unquote just run, which I don't want that to be offensive.
- 23:44Coach Carlie: I hope that is not offensive.
- 23:45Coach Carlie: You are a fabulous, wonderful runner, and I appreciate you.
- 23:47Coach Carlie: If you choose to cycle only and you don't want to do multi-sport, come out volunteer on the bike.
- 23:54Coach Carlie: Or if you're a runner, come out volunteer on the run course.
- 23:57Coach Carlie: The more people who have experience in this sport and can be at the dismount line, that's a really important one.
- 24:05Coach Carlie: If you have experience in multi-sport, it's so nice to have somebody who gets that to be there.
- 24:12Coach Carlie: And you are valued in this community.
- 24:14Coach Carlie: So if you're if you want to take a lighter training day or a day off and come hang with us, you'll get snacks and super high fives.
- 24:27Coach Carlie: Uh, probably hear me running around with a megaphone a little bit or a microphone.
- 24:32Coach Carlie: We do have good, we do have good music too.
- 24:36Coach Carlie: So I definitely would encourage you to come race.
- 24:39Coach Carlie: And if you don't want to come race, uh relay.
- 24:41Coach Carlie: That's another one.
- 24:43Coach Carlie: Yeah, we do have a relay option.
- 24:45Coach Carlie: Or come volunteer because it is a good time.
- 24:49Coach Carlie: And if this is your first triathon, like I said, freaking kudos.
- 24:54Coach Carlie: Amazing.
- 24:55Coach Carlie: And you get to hold that amazing board that is on your screen right now.
- 24:58Coach Carlie: That thing is legit.
- 25:00Coach Chris: It's heavy.
- 25:01Coach Chris: Every year, I'm afraid I'm gonna drop it and crack it.
- 25:05Coach Chris: It is solid wood, you guys.
- 25:08Coach Chris: And I'm I somewhat apologize for that, but it's also really cool.
- 25:12Coach Carlie: It is really cool.
- 25:14Coach Carlie: So, yeah, come out, come do the things with us.
- 25:17Coach Carlie: I do want to make sure that you know this.
- 25:19Coach Carlie: We trail run first, road bike, and then open water swim.
- 25:27Coach Carlie: I had somebody give us feedback after the first year that the run, and we've we're very clear about that on the website.
- 25:33Coach Carlie: The run had a lot of trip hazards.
- 25:37Coach Carlie: And I was like, that's called nature.
- 25:40Coach Carlie: So don't be fooled.
- 25:42Coach Carlie: But Harris Lake is very uh flat, but it is not a time to wear your racing flats.
- 25:49Coach Chris: No, like leave.
- 25:51Coach Carlie: It is a trail run.
- 25:52Coach Carlie: It is a trail run.
- 25:53Coach Carlie: That doesn't mean you need trail shoes.
- 25:55Coach Carlie: Uh you can wear them if you'd like.
- 25:59Coach Carlie: But uh regular old running shoes should be fine.
- 26:02Coach Carlie: Just make sure to pick up your toes.
- 26:04Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 26:05Coach Carlie: Leave your super shoes at home.
- 26:08Coach Carlie: Yes, yes, for sure.
- 26:10Coach Carlie: Give those, give that film a rest.
- 26:12Coach Carlie: All right, cool.
- 26:13Coach Carlie: Well, hope to see you guys out at Humans of Steel.
- 26:15Coach Carlie: You can go to humansofseel racing.com to sign up or to register to volunteer.
- 26:21Coach Carlie: Um, also, quick note if you are water support, we love you.
- 26:25Coach Carlie: You are fantastic.
- 26:27Coach Carlie: Please come out and know that it is a little bit of a longer day than if you have done water support at other events.
- 26:34Coach Carlie: It is ideal to have a kayak.
- 26:37Coach Carlie: But bring your water, come hang out, watch all these amazing swimmers do cool things, and we hope to see you guys out there.
- 26:46Coach Carlie: Thanks, Carly.
- 26:47Coach Carlie: Thank you.
- 26:48Coach Chris: We hope to see you guys on August 2nd.