BACK TO BUSINESS: Lessons to Carry Forward What has the running industry learned from the struggles of 2020-2021?
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By Leah Etling
We all learned something over the last year. It may
That was great, but Lamm quickly discovered her
have been how to Zoom, order grocery delivery or
usual style of personal support and congratulations
work from home. For those of us in the running
had been effectively stifled by COVID precautions.
industry, it was likely all of the above with some serious business-related education mixed in.
“Not hugging people when they come across the finish line – that is very difficult for me not to do,”
Some of these lessons were tough. Like how to
discovered Lamm, a race director of more than two
lay employees off. Or how to tell your runners they
decades who also works and volunteers at events
wouldn’t be running together in person. Perhaps
across the Southeastern U.S. “The only thing I will
how to explain why you couldn’t issue a full
not do again when this is over is be hands off. That
refund. They were lessons that nobody would have
is what I have learned. I have to be hands on, and I
chosen to learn, had there been a choice. The
have to see people’s smiles and their eyes,” she
pandemic forced the running industry to change,
said.
and change is hard. In this article, we talk to race directors about
Read on for more important lessons our industry gained over the last year.
the things they have learned over the last year, and what they’ll do differently in the future. One of our favorite lessons came from Geneva Lamm of the Little Rock Marathon. In late fall 2020, Little Rock was able to host several small inperson events, their first races since March 2020.
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