Episode 2: The Founding of Strike Twice Running Company

Three friends, Hunter, Ray, and Trace, started the Strike Twice Running Company. The company started as a joke but quickly turned into a reality. They wanted to connect with runners and started a podcast. They recently had their first race and are planning for upcoming races. Hunter is training for the Monterey Marathon and possibly longer distances. They all have different running styles and quirks but enjoy running together. They chose the name Strike Twice because it represents a second wind and rediscovering their love for running. They hope to connect with all types of runners and provide relatable content. Welcome back to the Strike Twice Running Podcast. Episode number two will be all about how the Strike Twice Running Company went from a crazy idea to a reality. Find out where the name came from, what it means to us, and where we're going from here. This is the Strike Twice Running Podcast. All right guys, welcome to the Strike Twice Running Company Podcast. I'm Hunter Flynn. I'm Ray Laskowitz. And I'm Trace Wallet. One of the ways that we're looking to connect with our audience is to start a podcast. Everything running that we can think of. So we're here today to share a little bit about us and our company. So Ray, tell us where we're at today. Yeah, we are in Anaconda, Montana in my home. It's kind of a last-minute setup going on, but for now it works. Well, I think one of the most exciting parts is that since the establishment of the company, it's the first time all three of us have been in the same room together. So I'm pretty dang excited about that. Yeah, that's definitely a huge difference. It's been nice to actually be in the same place and not trying to record over Zoom and do all that type of stuff and have the delay and everything. Yeah, like Ray was saying, it's kind of a last-minute setup. He's had a music studio and now a podcast studio set up in his house in about the span of 48 hours. So it's been a pretty good run there for him. He's on that very quiet house anymore. But yeah, more on what Hunter was saying, just kind of talking about where we are as a company, where we started, and what we want to do. I guess the company itself kind of started as a joke. Ray and I originally brought it up once. I think we were having a beer at the brewery and we thought, you know what would be really sweet? If we just started a running company, that'd be so awesome. That would just be our whole life. We could just be runners and just go to races and just make all these sweet logos and do all this stuff. And then we just kind of did that. We just kind of chuckled and laughed about it. And then we just didn't talk about it for like a year. And then Hunter and I, obviously from the last podcast we talked a little bit about, ran together in college and stuff, and we brought the same thing up on a run. It was kind of a joke and we were just like, gosh, wouldn't that be great? It's just one of those runs where you're out and you really remember why you enjoy running and you just kind of fantasize about having a life like that. And we were talking about ultras and doing all this and Hunter just goes, we should start a running company. And I laughed because I was like, well I actually have been talking to a guy about that. And then it was just this crazy, we all were living in different places and kind of had a lot of different things going on. All of us were working a couple of different jobs or doing this or doing that. It was just crazy and it just spiraled. One day we just said, screw it, and it just kind of happened. And so yeah, that's kind of what brought us to here now is three guys just awkwardly laughing about it until it kind of happened. And then we all sat down one day on a Zoom call and said, let's do it. Which has led us to now, the Strike Twice Running Company. We're actually in the room together, we're actually making a podcast, we're moving forward. We have our first, very first products of sorts out now. We got new patches are in. So those patches, stickers, so we got the logos here. So there's kind of the first look at logos and everything and design. So it's kind of, yeah, kind of turning into this whirlwind situation of things are falling into place and we just keep moving forward with it. And certainly have a lot more planned for the future, but obviously got to keep that close to the chest until we get there. Strike Twice as a name stemmed a lot from the three of us said, let's do it. We're making a company and all three of us stepped away and said, let's take the week and we'll come back together. Everybody just bring an idea of like maybe what we want to do for the name. And I was driving that week and it was a Wednesday and I just called the guys and I was like, I think I got it. And I said, what if we call it Strike Twice Running Company? And I was driving down the road from Bismarck, North Dakota to Dickinson and I talked to Hunter about it. I was so pumped about it and we had this big conversation about it and I was like, for me, Strike Twice was like, you know, as a college athlete and anyone who's ever kind of competed, not even at the college level, but just past high school, any sort of competing or any sort of training, just holding yourself to that standard to actually train and go do something, whether you were at a competition or whatever. Everyone from those stages of their life, like moving into where we are now, kind of had to find a second wind. And I know for myself for sure, and we've all talked about it before, I had to fall in love with running again and it doesn't feel anything like it used to for me. It was so, my mentality and where I was centered and focused on running came from somewhere completely different as to, you know, where it is now, my mentality now for it. So it was kind of like, you know, making lightning strike twice and it's like, I was able to fall in love with it again. It's this new thing for me and now all those miles I used to run just feel totally different now. And so for me, that's where the name came from. And that's, you know, I kind of brought that up and I know both of you guys were just like, yeah, I think that's it. And we just rolled with it. So that for me, you know, from a company standpoint, that's where the name came from, the idea of it. But it wasn't just me. You know, that was my story and how I connected with it. And I'll kind of toss it over to these guys right now. I know they kind of had a different relationship with that or, you know, connected with it in a different way. So, yeah, Ray, if you want to expand on that, I guess. Yeah. No, I think the part that I like the best about it too is that we may take it from that runner perspective of we had the cross country in high school level, but then you're advancing maybe to like a trail type concept. But really, anyone can have that comeback of whatever they're doing. It doesn't have to really be athletics, but I think anyone can relate to that. And that's what really drew me in first is that's so relatable on a, you know, customer level or just attract anyone to have that concept of just some comeback. I think that's really, really great. And I remember when you called me, I was at a wedding reception in the hallway and said, well, go ahead and step out. And then I talked to you for like an hour and 10 minutes, like missed a lot of the reception. It was worth it. I didn't know that. This is coming out right now, by the way. I'm just finding this out. He was plotting to take me down on camera. I mean, he's like absolutely terrible. But yeah, I mean, it was easy to go with that because that was one of the first thoughts I had. Because like you were saying, you two had that collegiate career essentially that I didn't have. But, you know, I kind of, a few years ago, I started doing just more of the trail side of things and not just involved. So that's like what I'm most passionate about now. And so in that part, I already had my comeback going in a way. Like this is how I got into it. I think that's just so relatable and I love that. Yeah, the relatable part is so powerful because, you know, anybody going through these life transitions, you have to, you know, they say, I was listening to podcasts with Nick Barry the other day and he talked about they have an average of 52 life transitions, major life transitions throughout their life, one every 18 months or so. So every time you get thrown a transition, you not only have to adjust, but you have to continue to redefine yourself and figure out how to do things in a new light. So that was super powerful for me to see the relatability to anything, you know. And for me, leaving college was, it was something that I feared. You know, most people are like, hey, I'm ready to hit the adult world run, do this, I don't have to run every day anymore. And for me, it was just such a, it was a hole because every single day was, we were thinking about running, we were running, we were training, we were racing, all this stuff that becomes. We were on the bus a lot. Yeah, we were on a bus ride, we were eating a meal, thinking about how this is going to affect my run, you know. It consumed our lives in such a positive way that I feared that ending and I didn't know how I was going to replace that. So, you know, I toyed with doing different things after college and I looked at, I started the Dickinson Running Club, which was, you know, some way that I could try to keep my passion going and share that with the community. And one of the funny things that I realized is not everybody has that, like, undying passion for running. You know, the vast majority of people don't like running that much, you know. And the people that do, they want to do it casually, they want to do it at their own pace. You know, it's a, it was a, it was an intensity difference there, you know, because I had just come off of college, it was like my slow runs have to be under eight minutes, you know, I have to do my workouts at the certain paces and all this and the general public doesn't want that. The casual runner doesn't want that. They don't want to hear anything about paces, they don't want to do that. So, I happened to come off of that to meet the needs of the community so I could, you know, run with more people and widen my circle. I had to kind of open my eyes and redefine myself and the one day that I'll always remember, it was like crappy day in November of 2021, icy, snowy, cold, and we were running, we were booking and trying to keep pace, you know, sliding around, tripping and falling and I got to the point where I'm like, we're not going to hit pace and I looked at my body and said, oh well, we're not hitting pace today, that's all right, you know, and something just clicked to where not everything has to be done at a certain pace, you know, if you're not feeling it that day, take it slow. It was really my mind taking a step back and realizing to, you know, take it slow, enjoy every moment, you know, there's not a coach barking down my neck about mileage for the week or whatever and, you know, at that point I could define myself as a runner so that was, when Trey brought up the Strike Twice name, it was so perfect because I had to redefine myself and I know that, you know, the best years of my running career are ahead of me, you know, and I can do it on my own terms and on my own schedule so that was a really powerful thing is we kind of all found our new way of running and new mindset was, I think, the biggest part of that. Yeah, and to, I mean, just kind of touch on that a little bit, too, some of the stuff that you guys were saying, it kind of, it's funny as you're saying it, too, you start to relate to more of that, too, and I think a big part of running in general and a big part of, like, I know we've talked about it a lot as, like, us as a company is, like, just want, we want to relate to runners and that means, like, every runner. Like, we, you know, have a lot of friends still that are still competing and they love to see, like, the, you know, the competitive side and, like you said, like, that type of stuff but, you know, how you made the comment, like, yeah, most runners just want to get out and just run and just enjoy it and whatever, you know, not even think about pace and, you know, you say that and it was funny because immediately in my head I was, like, yeah, I don't, like, I don't even want to think about pace anymore. Like, it was, it took, you know, it does, it takes a long time to get, and if you're, you know, that works both ways, too, where if you're training for a big race and you had never competed before or you're training for your first big race, which is, like, awesome, like, such a cool thing to build up to and then, you know, when you, when you finish that first race that you've ever really run, that's really when you kind of get addicted, I feel like, but it goes both ways, like, trying to get into that competitive mindset of holding, you know, holding those workouts accountable is hard as well, but I do think, like, that's kind of human nature to want to compete and want to get faster, so I feel like that, you know, that does kind of play to itself and you can really work towards that. It's just funny to see a lot of people in our lives, you know, and I've met a lot of people that Ray runs with as well, and there's kind of any sort of transition you're making from one style of running to another, and I was lucky enough to get a few trail runs in with Ray last year, and it felt like I had never, like, it felt like I hadn't done that in so many years or really hadn't done it at all, like, it was, like, a brand new thing, you know, trail running is just its own world, it's like its own game, you know, and so it's just funny to see, like, where we can all relate to all those different points of that transition, you know, and I think a lot of that came from, you know, just us wanting to connect with other runners and have a platform to do that from, and this kind of became that, you know, I think, for all of us in one way or another, but anyway, the time of the year right now, the sun is finally coming out, there's still snow on the ground, which is no surprise, we've probably got another month of that, but we are just finishing up, we just had a race just two weeks ago, Ray and I were able to get out and do a little St. Paddy Day run, it was, you know, a good time of the year to get some fun runs in and get those early training runs in, so Ray, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that one, just about the course and how the race went and everything. Yeah, so I did the 10K, we kind of left that one out, you know. We have the overall winner of the 10K. It was funny, because the day prior, it stormed, it was unbelievably windy, and it just made everything pure ice, so going into Saturday morning, I was like, oh, this is going to be actually kind of, like, very silky. It was going to suck. And even when I woke up that morning, it was still incredibly icy, but I don't know, the running gods or whatever were in our favor, because, well, the 10K course, I should say, is different than yours, but maybe one section of, like, 50 feet was in ice and snow, and then the rest was completely clear. And I was the only one that wore ice cleats, because I was like, you know what, when I left my house, it's like, it's pure ice everywhere. Well, the starting line was all, it was all ice over there. Yeah, I'm like, oh, yes, and you turn that corner, and I'm like, oh, yeah, there's no more ice. Six miles of this, I didn't want to take them off, because I still have that competitive nature, where it's like, I'm not going to lose time to take these off. It was funny, because I wasn't in the lead immediately. There's this guy that took off, and, like, he really took off, and I thought initially, like, oh, I'll catch him, like, a mile or two in, and, you know, no, I'm not gaining, and it was out and back. It was three miles out, and then you turn around a cone and come back. Still, I saw him, I was like, I'm not gaining 10 at all, and he died, like, mile five. But I talked to him after the race, because he's like, all I could hear was this, like, slow squeaking. He's like, you're driving me nuts. How could you say that? Because I could just hear you go, you know, and I passed him, and it was really cool to hear, but, yeah, I was like, well, I don't know. It was icy when I left the house. I didn't want to take them off. I think you were going for the mental advantage. Yeah, but, yeah, it's not going to bother me. I might as well ruin somebody's day. That's funny, though. Like, it's funny, because, you know, to hear you say that, because you're so, gear-wise, I feel like you're always, like, so, you know, so prepared on that end of things, or just more, like, thoughtful about it, and more, you know, put a little more effort towards that sort of thing, whereas, like, I know I've seen Hunter, and I wake up for a race, and we're like, we were all out of bed, and we're like, what time is it? And we got to, like, you know, we got to get it. So it's been a lot of fun to start getting into more running and racing and stuff, and being able to kind of group up and go do that stuff, and see how different we all are. And I know, obviously, like, any of you guys watching, like, anyone that runs with a partner, if you run with your friends, everybody has these weird little quirks and different things that just work for them, and that's, like, the beauty of running, is, like, it's all, you know, so different. You know, I was lucky enough to get a little time off, and got to go run that morning, and see some old friends, and it was great, but overall, yeah, the course was awesome. I thought it was a ton of fun to see, you know, the night before, like you said, it's snowing, the wind was blowing, and we still had 450 people show up for the race, you know. Granted, like, this is a St. Paddy's Day race, so I would say probably about, of those 450, I would say about 350 probably, where they were doing the old walk and drink method. But hey, you celebrate however you two fit, that's perfectly fine. But yeah, so we're really starting to get into, you know, get into that season. Races are starting to pop up, so that kind of leads us into our next point, where we're talking about some upcoming events, some upcoming races, and I know these two have way more stuff planned, and have looked a lot more at it. But I'm a little behind the curve right now, so Hunter, if you want to jump in and talk about, I know you're kind of on a training cycle right now, working up to the Monterey, the big dog, so. Yeah, yeah, so last year I ran the Monterey Marathon out in the Badlands in North Dakota, and I'm looking to do that again, but you know, and it's got to be that competitive mindset, oh I can do the next challenge, you know, so out there on the Monterey they do 5k all the way up to 100 mile race, 106 mile race, so those longer distances, they're just starting to creep in my head, and I don't know if it's just, I don't know if it's the devil or the angel sitting on my shoulder, you know. And you remember how hot it was last year. Oh my gosh, it was, let's just say the last weekend in July is pretty warm in North Dakota, that's a rough time to be on the trail with no trees, just getting beat by the sun, so yeah, I'm looking to at least do the full marathon, if not longer, I'll probably end up doing just the full marathon this year, so I'm in a training cycle right now, I'm just trying to get ahead of where I was last year, you know. Last year, this time of year was better, but then in April we got three and a half feet of snow, so this time of year it's just hard in North Dakota and Montana, so it's always playing that game with Mother Nature, so to combat that and get ahead of that, I've been running quite a bit indoors and just trying to get my base established earlier this year, so, you know, I'm probably about a month into getting 20 miles a week or more, and now that the sun's out, I'm going to be starting to ramp that up a little bit, so that's the main race that I want to do this summer, and then I'm looking at maybe the Bismarck Marathon, kind of a road race, but I also want to get out to Montana in the fall and do some sort of trail race, maybe run the rut, or some race in August or September, so I'm kind of playing around with the later part of my season, but yeah, I'm modified to end of July, and that's what I'm gunning for right now. Oh, well, I have like one or two a month. I would do more, but I can't. I signed up for some, I thought I got the day off work, but I'm going to get closer to see if I can get to it. Yeah, I guess my first race I have signed up for is next weekend. It's the Bitter Runoffs in Lolo. I'm doing the 10-mile. There's a 5-mile, I think it's a 5k, 5-mile, and 10-mile, and there's like 800 people signed up. Yeah, and even the 10-mile had, for the whole thing, the 10-mile had around like 300, which I was kind of impressed with. Is that all on trails then too, or? Yeah, because it's like, it's Runner's Edge. In Lolo. It's their opening trail run of the year. Gotcha. They always have a great, they have a great year. Yeah, yeah. They do a ton of good ones. Yeah, and it's, so I got some private branch outside of Lolo, and so it's single track, double track, and I'm pretty positive I've done this course on a different race two years ago. Sure sounds like it's the exact spot, but I don't, I'm not, like I would say I'm like 95% positive, but we won't know until next weekend. Yeah. Yeah, there's a, well I mean I could go on. There's like two in May I'm looking at. One's the Bednars in Helena. It's a 30k. What is it? Don't Pinch Me In. I think it's pretty much about this one. Yeah, we talked about that one. Yeah. That's like early May, and then there's the 30, the Blue Mountain 30k at the end of May in Missoula that I want to do. And there's Mountains to Meadow in Missoula on Mountain Lolo in June. Maybe do the Missoula Marathon weekend. I mean there's so many. Then there's one in July. Well I think it would be the Hurd's Relays. Not positive because it's not like listed yet, but it's usually always in July. Yeah, usually, I know last, was it last year or the year before that it was like the second weekend of July? Yeah. And I know we've talked about that one quite a bit because that's one that, it's a really hard, it's a really hard day for all of us to make sure we have that day off and make sure we're all, you know, together and are free and clear, but it is such a cool race. I don't know if, you said it hasn't popped up yet, registration-wise. I didn't see it two weeks ago, three weeks ago, something like that, so I don't know. It's kind of a mysterious one though, right? Like it's kind of hard to get information on, or has been, or was that more around COVID? Well, so the problem that came up, and I did, I emailed back and forth with some of the directors and stuff just because I had questions about us. I saw the concept for it and I was like, that's awesome, that would be so fun, you know. And there's basically, essentially the race is like two different formats you can do. It's a team of three and a team of six is your two options, I believe. Gotcha. I can't remember exactly, don't quote me on that because I think things have changed a little, but essentially it's a relay race run out of Big Sky at the base camp there and your team can just set up its own little base camp and then there's some amazing mountain biking up there and they just use three of the different mountain biking trails. One's pretty chill, one is kind of getting up there, and then the other one is pretty aggressively, you know, you're kind of running just to get done with it sort of thing. And yeah, it's just, you know, you have to get your loops in and each member has to do a certain amount of loops or has to at least complete one of each trail, that sort of thing. And I know, I'm sure things have changed, so this might not be 100% accurate, but we've toyed around with doing that one the last couple of years. And at the beginning, it was the year it was supposed to happen, I think it's like first year was when COVID hit, so I think a lot of things kind of got really messed up with that. I believe that's what had happened, but I know they've come back and done it. I know last year was, they were just doing the smaller team sizes and stuff, so that would be one of those that we're still toying with, we're still trying to see if we can get, because the three of us all set up down at the base camp would be a lot of fun just to hang out. And it's, you know, from what I've heard, it's an awesome environment and the courses are a ton of fun. I biked one of the trails that they put on as a run and I had fun going down and I don't know if I would love going up it, but that's kind of the option that you have. And then, do you have a couple other things? Yeah, well the run that we were at that you were talking about in September, I did sign up for the third decade and that one, which I've been eyeing for that for like three or four years, so I finally just did it, which I'm excited for. I don't think there's anything in August. No, I can't remember. We'll think of something. Yeah. There's one in October of mine, too, with registration and all for that, but the big one I really debated, and I think I was telling you the last time we were talking, was the 50-miler. It's like the La Grise, I think is what it's called, up by Whitefish or Glacier or somewhere up there. Is that the, you were saying that one's by Glacier? Yeah. I'm not, I only just kind of came across it and a friend of mine, he's like, oh, do the La Grise. It's one of Montana's ultra races that, there's really not a lot of ultras around here, I feel like, like the big 50 or 100. Yeah, a lot of them are around that kind of 30k marathon distance. Yeah. Right, which I can't imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to organize a race, even a marathon. It's like, so when they, I see these guys like, and shout out to, there's a handful of legit ultras across the state ranging from anywhere from 50k, 50 mile, and on up to into the 100 and stuff. There's a handful, and we've talked about a few of them, and props to the race directors, and there's so much stuff that has to get done with that. We've seen this much of it just because we've kind of looked at what that looks like. I think any race in general is hard to put on and put together. I'm part of the organization that does the race prep and puts on the St. Paddy's Day race, and there's four or five guys that, the monthly enough, it's just all the time. They're meeting every week and take a list full of stuff home that they've got to do. I'm just happy to be home to help out when we're back. I look at their stuff, and I'm like, holy cow. I couldn't imagine trying to, and if you're one of my good friends, he's the t-shirt guy. Immediately, I was like, well, stressing about, well, what if we got, if that was me, what if I got too many? What if I didn't order enough? Your brain immediately starts to think of every possible thing that could go wrong. That's over three miles in the most populated streets of Anaconda. I couldn't imagine trying to make sure 10 or 12 people are going to be safe running through 100 miles of some serious mountains and stuff. I couldn't really imagine what that would look like. So you're thinking about maybe, you're toying around with that one hit and run thing? I've been wanting to do that the last two years. As you two know, I fractured the ankle at the end of last year, so it kind of put a whole dent on my whole training that I wanted to go into this year, which is better now. But that's kind of like my last big thing, to see how it actually holds up when I start doing the 20, 30 miles. Because if it, I don't know. I probably would fight through it, to be honest, and be stupid about it, because that's kind of how I am. Don't encourage that to everybody. Yeah, if you fracture your ankle, don't go to work as a mailman and walk 12 miles on it a day for a couple of weeks. Also, don't run on it. And also, don't ski on it. But also, it can get better. Ray did it, and it doesn't work. It's not like the most ideal healing process. No. But mentally, you're just going to be stronger. Well, I think you kind of hinted at the last podcast of the things I do as a runner. I'm not the best partner sometimes. I bring no food and water and everything you got at the last time. Oh, we're just opposite. It's just funny. It just cracks me up. I've learned, but I've done some very, very stupid things for races. And not even races, just runs on my own out in the middle of nowhere with very little. I've heard you're described as a chronic underpacker. It's true. And I think I'm better. Is that fair? It is. It's really fair. It's very true. I thought I was pretty great, and I ran with Trey this summer. And I had a few, two little just bags of maybe four slices of beef or something. And a Clif Bar, I think, and maybe 20 ounces of water or something. And I was like, I'm ready to go. It's just great. And you have like a full picnic when we get to the lake halfway through. Yeah. To be fair, I am like a chronic overpacker. So I wouldn't say you're a bad partner. I'd say we meet right in the middle. I'd say it's been perfect. We meet right in the middle. And once we get, you know, Hunter's going to get some time off and come out once in three months. We'll run together. Holy cow. We're going to be set up out there. We're going to be good to go. Yeah. Yeah. No. So I think, you know, that's kind of brought us to where we are now is looking at these races in a whole new light. I know at least I am. It's like with the St. Patty's Day race, you know, with something a little bit smaller, you have a little more time to sit back and look. And it's like for the three of us, we've talked about like our dream is like we want to have this company and have this opportunity as a platform to connect with all these runners. Well, there's like no better way to connect with runners than like having our own race. So one day that's like what we want is like to have our own race. And so I know Ray and I talked about too a little bit of like sitting back and looking at logistically all the things as well. Yeah. So now when we go run, you got a little bit of that brain going too, you know. It's really true. I think like just kind of what you were saying about the trail run side of it for like a race. I think the logistics behind that, at any distance, I would imagine it's a bit more than just running on like some streets of whatever town. Right. Yeah. It's definitely a lot of us to see running from a very wide perspective. You know, in college we're used to showing up, oh, the gun didn't go off, like what the heck, you know. And you complain about it. There's so many people behind the scenes that are stressing out trying to make sure that your race is perfect, you know. And so, you know, we want to connect with the race directors, the people that are crewing for runners, you know. My brother and JC crewed for me on the Monterey. And I wouldn't have been able to finish that race without a crew, you know. Just when you're that far away from anything and you're at those kind of temperatures, like having a crew is pretty crucial once you get to those longer distances. And so, it's been cool and it will continue to be amazing for us to see running from all the different positions. And, you know, I put on a color run in Dickinson last fall and very small, there was probably maybe, I don't know, 30, 40 people maybe that came to that. And even the logistics there, in a very small, it was like a, you know, maybe a half a mile long loop. And logistically, there's things that you don't even think about. And you get there like, oh crap, like people are expecting all this to be ready and you don't even think about it. So, it's cool to see all those different sides of what it takes to put on races and different things like that. So, it would be cool to bring on some, hopefully some big race directors in the future. Yeah, and just kind of pick their brain a little bit. Yeah. Please, please help. Yeah. Yeah, I'd like to pick Nick Ybarra's brain. He's the Save the Monahe Foundation guy out there in Watford City and he's the director for all the trail races out there, the bike races, all of it. So, it would be cool to see when he thinks about a race, if there's more to just the race than we know, you know. So, it would be cool to pick his brain. Yeah, that reminds me. So, there's a community hike here in Anaconda that they go up to Hearst Lake and I've turned it into like my own training day to run Hagan. And I want to like talk to Robbie that he, Robbie Gunderson is the one that puts together that hike. And we're like, let's get some runners to do this. And you know, like it doesn't have to be like official, but you know, if everybody wants to run with me up to the top, like let's do it. Not a lot of people are interested. It's a bit more than just like, what are you getting at? Like, it's like, oh, people don't care about running a mountain all that much. Depends, but it's kind of the beauty of it. Some people. Some people that love to run in the mountains can't stand running on the street. And the people that just like to cruise around town, you know, like that's kind of the beauty of the whole thing. So, you know, the overarching message of this podcast as a whole, you know, this episode really too, is just like to kind of, you know, show you guys a little bit of like who we are, but really like how much we care about running on all aspects. Like we were talking today before we even started the camera, how excited we were to like crew. Like Hunter and I were talking about that a little bit ago. We were like stoked to crew. Like, you know, we wanted to crew for somebody just because we thought it would be fun to see somebody go run. And like we could just, because it's a whole new aspect. Like we can try and be good at that and like what do we have to have at that time, you know. So we, you know, as a company, as a, you know, a group, whatever, we just want to be able to kind of expand our reach a little bit and have that platform to see running and hear running and give running a voice, you know, more than just what people see now. There's so much more to it, I feel like, than people give it credit for and really know. And it's the same for us. We're like, we're figuring stuff out every day and learning new stuff with running, too. So, and a quick note, too, to double back. I went and did that run that Hunter put on and he's totally underselling it. It was the first year. There was, you know, like for a first year of a race, like it was killer turnout. It was a ton of fun. Like it was an absolute blast. And the prizes were great. The, you know, raised some good money and the people had a, you know, an absolute blast. So, that's another one I'm looking forward to in the future, trying to get back down to Dickinson. So, to speak to that, we are going to try and, you know, keep putting out episodes that deal with, you know, what Hunter was saying, more runs, more reviews, stuff like that. So, we're just going to keep rolling and putting that stuff out. So, that kind of leads us to Ray. What's coming up next? Yeah. So, next will be a race review, as I've mentioned earlier, that Bitterroot runoff, the 16th, next Sunday, I believe. Yeah, I'll review that. Like I said, I'm pretty positive I've done the course before, so I can tell you all about that. And then I bought a journal. Oh! Yeah, yeah. No, I'm very excited to take that out on some runs that hopefully will all be given soon, but I'll be taking it on my own. But, kind of capture some of the training that I just like to do for fun. I think that's just going to be amazing. Some of the ridge runs and trail runs up the hills. And, you know, the track remote. Yeah. I guess that's going to make, like I've done trail pro videos and whatnot. I think it's just going to bring that up to like a whole nother level now. The drone. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's going to be awesome. Yeah, so we'll talk about some drone footage, some videos, see how that goes. And then we can actually talk about the drones, if people are curious as to what drone I got. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, that's all we got for episode number two. Yeah. We got the whole crew together. We're pretty excited about it. So, yeah. That's it for today. We'll see you next time. Yeah. We better get out of here and go for a run. Yeah. We got about 15 minutes left. We need to run it. Heck yeah. Sounds good. All right. Awesome. Thank you guys. Have a good one. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.