Showdown in Dodge City

I’m in this photo. Honest. I’m at the bottom left of the balloon arch, just behind the start line banner. My good friend and colleague Ian Brooks and I were on the microphones, with Adam and Lauren calling the show. This being the 10th running of the event it should have been easy. And, for the most part, it was. Nearly 20,000 runners and walkers turned up on what was – without question – the most beautiful morning we’ve had for the event. All the talk and worry about hurricane Earl was forgotten and the day dawned cool and nearly humidity free.

By race morning I had already had about as good an event weekend as I’ve ever had. Once again I got to have a one-on-one interview with Frank Shorter who was, I have to say, simply brilliant in the interview. Frank’s a bright guy and when he talks about the running community past, present, and future, people listen.

In addition, though, I had a chance to do the same kind of one-on-one interview with the legendary and 3-time Olympian Jim Ryun. For those of you don’t know, or remember, Jim was the first high-school student to run under 4 minutes for a mile. And he did it as a junior! That was, of course, just the beginning of a historic career that included hundreds of victories and world-records before he went on to a distinguished career as a congressman from Kansas. Listening to him talk about then and now was fantastic.

THEN, I got to moderate a panel with Frank, Jim, and Greg Meyer [1982 Chicago Marathon winner and last American male to win the Boston Marathon] Normally I ask questions and give each of them a chance to answer, but on Saturday they were so involved in their own conversation that I handed them the microphone and just sat down and listened. It was magic.

That pretty well covers the running part of the event, but, what REALLY had my head spinning was the launch of the new Dodge Durango. Dodge has come on board as the title sponsor of several RnR events and is the official car of the series. So far, so good. But, they also chose to launch this all-new Durango at a running event instead of the typical auto show or industry meeting.

Being the resident gear-head I got to spend time with the project engineer to talk about the design and execution of the new vehicle. I think he was surprised that a “running” guy would have an interest in the nuts and bolts of car design. As I told him, I’m probably the only person on the CGI staff that understands what putting a half-turn of wedge does to the handling of race car.

As impressive as the car was, the fact the 30 or so Dodge employees trained for, and participated in, the event was WAY more impressive. Talk about skin in the game. The only way you can really know what it’s like to be a part if this running community is to lace up your shoes, pin a number on, and toe the starting line.

But without a doubt, the most impressive act of the weekend was the president and CEO of Dodge, Ralph Giles, taking on the challenge of running the event himself for his first half marathon.

Throwing money at a sponsorship is fine, but it’s not enough. To experience the fear and nervousness of standing at your first starting line and the joy and satisfaction of crossing the finish line [beating his goal by 3 minutes] is something that he’ll never forget. And, he’ll know now that the sponsorship is about more than just selling cars, it’s about changing lives.

So it may have been the perfect event weekend. Great weather, great people, conversations with runners and walkers, conversations with car guys, calling everyone to the start and celebrating everyone at the finish. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Now it’s on to Philadelphia. I hope to see some of you there.

Waddle on,

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.