Kevin Chang: [00:00:00]

So in 2021, we are looking at race mob as a platform, not just a platform for you and I to speak because you know, that's just one voice. But giving people and lending people the platform so that they can have a voice so that they can inspire the next generation of fitness

Bertrand Newson: [00:00:18]

Others have found running it and fitness in general, to be therapeutic as a form of therapy. , that's helped them navigate and cope where they can still find some meaningful community and we'd want to continue to be an Avenue for positive energy, for hope and inspiration

Kevin Chang: [00:00:40]

hello, and welcome to the Racemob Podcast. This is episode number 31. I'm Kevin entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd, and the founder of race mob. I'm joined by master motivator, founder of two legit fitness co-chair of the Taji 100 R R C a certified coach USA track and field certified official the incomparable Bertrand Newson.
This episode is brought to you by race, mob, and inclusive community for endurance athletes. If you like our podcast, you'll love our YouTube channel, where we keep you up to date with news for the running world and give you tips that will help you improve your running. Check us out by searching race mob on YouTube and subscribe today.
All right, coach. We've got a very special episode for our podcast guests today. We're taking a look at 20, 20 and 2021 taking a look at where we've been, where we've come from, going back to our very first episode and talking about our goals at the time, what we wished for what we hope for during that very first episode and taking a look forward to 2021.
What the future holds and the initiatives that we want to take into this new year and bring that to our audience, to listen to you. So, Matt, what are your hot? This is episode number 31. Can't believe that we've been together for 30 episodes now, basically six months. Close to 4,000 downloads at this point in time, maybe getting closer to 5,000 downloads the incredible number of guests, the impactful information that we've taken away throughout the last several months.
And so want to kick it over to you. What have been your takeaways from the last six months of working on this podcast to go

Bertrand Newson: [00:02:25]

It doesn't feel like we're Kevin, because it is so much. Joy one. I have the benefit of having some conversation time with you talking to some wonderful guests and we've had so many inspirational stories, so many great fitness and wellness knowledge shares as well. It's been incredibly rewarding, fulfilling, and I just, I look forward to each week in each conversation and that's taken us.
With guests in our own backyard and from guests around the world, which is just been so cool. And just getting the feedback from our audience on how the podcast conversation has kept them engaged and where they felt they've had some good takeaways. It's just really cool. I can't wait to continue the journey that we've we've started in six months, 30 plus episodes, like you said, closer to 5,000 downloads.
And it just, um, and I have to thank you your vision when you had, uh, you had podcast production on your personal calendar or roadmap for a while. And again, you put in the time to study the process, the impact, and you sold me on the vision of communicating and sharing. Relevant content that's meaningful from the heart being consistent and for us to produce, uh, you know, deliver a podcast every single week with some really compelling guests.
It's been great, man. So I, again, I'm having so much fun and just happy to kind of look back and reflect and to see the progress we've made and where we're, where we're headed.

Kevin Chang: [00:03:57]

Absolutely. And taking a look back at that first episode, it's a little bit cringe-worthy, you know, our audio wasn't exactly on point. I ability to the camera has definitely improved over time. My ability to interview guests and get conversations flowing in a more consistent and collaborative manner, I think has improved over time.
And so. Yeah, personal growing experience for the two of us, which is fantastic. I think we've gotten a lot better over time and just taking a look at each of those nuggets that we had touched on. I think we have almost checked the box on most of them. Hey, our goal is to talk to like-minded individuals and being able to reach out to professionals and experts in the field and check.
Yes. We've been able to do a lot of that, right. Taking a look at techniques, different training techniques, running form. Different, uh, you know, different techniques that will help people both in their training and on race day. And I think we've done a lot of that. I think there's definitely a lot more that we can bring to the table in this new year.
And so I love the ability to dive in, in, on different techniques, on different strategies on race day. And we've been able to talk to you both elite athletes, like the Verity brains of the world who can really dive into the intricacies of warding somebody off. Versus, you know, people brand new to the sport and the lessons learned on their very first races.
And so that was the next item on the list was being able to talk to the non elite athletes. You mentioned endorphin dude. And so yes, 2021 goal. Let's get endorphin dude, on the show, uh, we had talked about Jake McCluskey and his incredible story. So being able to talk to non elites. Um, we've had Joyce Lee on the podcast.
We've had a number of people who have just had inspirational stories. And so that has been fantastic and wonderful.
And then being able to talk to people, not in our local area, around the world, even recently, we've had people from Singapore. We had, uh, Sam from Florida. We've been able to communicate with people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Louisiana within our training programs.
So that has been really, really rewarding. The ability to talk to people, not just in the immediate area, but have a more national reach. And hopefully when races come back, really being able to meet with all of these people in person and have that connection with them. When we go to there on race day.

Bertrand Newson: [00:06:21]

Our reach has been great, and it is very fulfilling to get validation that, you know, just two dudes having conversation about life and health and fitness and people wanting to share their own stories and how our listeners are benefiting from just open meaningful conversation. And, uh, regardless on the person's experience in running mate, whether they're they're relatively new, like Samuel was in, in Florida where he found his fitness bug and just changed his life.
Well, you know, 40 plus pounds of body, weight loss, and avid runner, two people, who've been doing it for a long time to very fluid and efficient and their willingness to share their knowledge. It's great.

Kevin Chang: [00:07:06]

Absolutely. And I think another thing that we had listed down was being able to talk to race directors, being able to talk to races. And I guess at the time we didn't really realize how devastating this pandemic, would continue to be even this far in the year. You know, I think it was may at that time period, it looked like we had gotten over, um, a hump, a hurdle.
Um, we didn't realize there was going to be a second wave now with third wave going and that races live racing would be indefinitely delayed in much of the country. And so. I think at the time we were thinking, Oh, fall, maybe we are going to have some of these libraries and events definitely into next year.
And yet when we talked to Big Sur Marathon, when we talked to a couple of other races here locally, and them saying Q3 20, 21 might not even happen, Q4 20, 21 might not even happen. You know, we're, we're definitely delaying for a while that I think has thrown us for a loop a little bit in some of our plans that we had earlier this year. And we've been adapting as we go.
So yeah, it's been really good having those conversations and also understanding how races have been able to adapt to the virtual world. And we continue to have conversations on how we can help them adapt to the virtual world. I think as you know, like my background is in technology, so helping people out on that side, on that front and figuring out new ways for people to experience virtual races.
That's definitely something that's been interesting to me, intriguing to me. And we keep diving into that as we get into 2021 as well.

Bertrand Newson: [00:08:36]

And as, as much as we talk about live races, the impact, the significant impact it's had on our friends and as race directors, how it's affected the local running communities, the run clubs, how they've had to change their meetups or interaction, the frequency and being, you know, smaller groups. If you don't feel well, don't come out and just being the importance of sustaining community.
You've seen more virtual happy hours popup as well. So people getting more familiar with the uncomfortable with, uh, virtual conversations in keeping that running vibe. Along and being able to share and still have some sense of fellowship, which is it's been taken away from us in many ways, because we can't get together in groups.
LIke we have in the past and we've had race day, we look forward to race day and running together their own races and, you know, finishing, getting that finished metal put around our neck and then turning around like, you know what, there's still other people out there let's go back on and out. Yeah.
And route them on that that has not been replicated that has been lost, um, in this. Current normal that we're in and we will get back to that at some point. And for some it's tough. I mean, I've had some real open and candid conversations with team members who are really having a tough time by missing live racing, but just the ability to get together in, in groups and to run as frequently as we have in the past.
And just still finding ways to still connect. You know, even if you're running solo on a trail, you can still share those photos that you, you like. And we can pick up on that, you know, see through your eyes and what you know, and support and give you shout outs and accolades.
But there's still, you know, for some, it is, it's still an adjustment period and, um, you know, Here we are in 2021 back scenes are happening.
Uh, hopefully going to be put on the fast track a little bit quicker with the new administration and we can get back to some, you know, semblance of what we were were used to. But again, that could be the second half of this year or into the fourth quarter. We really don't know, but the ability for us to share, um, for us to connect and more importantly, our listeners, um, the race mob community, to be able to show them that, you know, it's, it's great, man. It's great.

Kevin Chang: [00:10:47]

That part of it has been completely. Fantastic. I think the podcast, in terms of the types of guests that we've been able to get on the show, the types of conversations that we've had, it's gone way beyond my dreams when we first started this. And, you know, I think that's the piece that we'll definitely be continuing here in 2021 as we look forward or, you know, being able to invite these types of guests, these types of professionals.
And we'd love to know what our audience. We'd love to hear, you know, if you've got particular guests, if you've got particular topics, if you've got particular interests that you're interested in us covering or people that you think we should be talking to reach out to us, you know, my email is [email protected].
You can reach out to coach [email protected]. Let us know if there's topics that you'd like for us to cover in this podcast, and we're happy to oblige. We're happy to bring. Guests and people onto the show. Um, and I think really that's been a really rewarding part of it too, is the ability for us to talk to our audience, communicate with our audience as well.
And it's kind of difficult to do on the podcast side, which is why we've also launched a couple of different other media outlets. We've watched a YouTube channel. We've started to get more active on social media, and we've really started to talk to the audience more.
So if you haven't found this on YouTube, if you haven't found our Instagram account on social media, come out and find us just search for race mob.
We're on those outlets. We do hope that you come join our community and help us become stronger as we move into 2021 as well.
Are there any things from six months ago that you thought we would do or would accomplish that we didn't get into that you think we should, or that we had good reason to, to not really get into.

Bertrand Newson: [00:12:35]

Um, let's see here. That's a good question, KC. I think the, this, the reality, the clarity of the gravity of the pandemic and where for some, it has propelled them to get outdoors more frequently experienced local trails, you know, uh, the family getting more active. And I think, I thought with that, knowing that.
Okay. Local races have been taken away for now. Live racing has been taken away. Yes, there's going to be more virtual races, but I thought that we might have maybe more people in the race, mob community being more active in that platform, but we also have to be mindful of the backdrop. People, you know, are working very hard just to maintain their mortgage payment.
You know, and for us, the drive was never membership, membership, membership. We're offering a wealth of just free open knowledge. And as we have expanded our YouTube channel, um, the variety and diversity of our podcast, guests.
We are seeing now all the work where more people are joining the community and realizing that no, it takes time, especially for those people who don't know who Kevin is, or coach B is, you know, it takes time to, and time is very valuable, you know, on how you spend it.
If you're going to listen to a podcast for an hour or view a YouTube episode, or potentially consider retaining a coach who are these dudes? So for people to understand our passion and a desire to want to help people, um, as we've been inspired as blue collar athletes ourselves. But I thought that maybe initially, you know, you're confident, Oh man, this is great.
You know, this is passion. Everybody wants to, you know, everybody wants to run. And other people were dealing with loss and the ability to put food on the table and navigating, and are they going to still have a job? And those are real life priorities that supersede most, anything else, so...
but others have found running it and fitness in general, to be therapeutic as a form of therapy. Uh, that's helped them navigate and cope where they can still find some meaningful community and we'd want to continue to be an Avenue for positive energy, for hope and inspiration and yes, a level of accountability as well, because all of us are looking to hold ourselves accountable as we chase these goals, we put in our personal calendar.
Um, yeah, so that's just, you know, as an example,

Kevin Chang: [00:15:05]

Yeah, I think you touched on something that is probably interesting, which is, I did think we would get more downloads up to this point. I thought that there would probably be more of a following up to this point. You know, I think we average around 200 downloads an episode, which is great in terms of, in comparison to other podcasts.
And there's a wealth of other podcasts that launched during the season, same time period, you know? And so, you know, compared to other podcasts that launched at the same time, I think we're doing much, much better than most of them, but I had expectations that we could do extraordinary. I think that the production value of this podcast is fairly good and we spend quite a bit of time on it.
But I understand that these things take time, it takes effort, it takes consistency. And I guess I didn't realize how much time it would take on the backend of editing each episode of uploading them, of putting the content up online. And you know, the other pieces that go into it, as well as the marketing of each podcast, episode itself, creating content and making that more shareable in and of itself.
And so. That does lead me into a 2021 goal, you know, which is, I think that we've created a lot of useful information, a lot of great content, a lot of inspirational stories. And my goal for 2021 is to a, have an Avenue so that more people can listen to our podcast and, you know, get access to our downloadable content.
But B also being able to splice the information that we get so that it is. More relevant because not everybody is going to want the same type of information or need access to the same types of experts at the same time. You know, somebody who's just beginning their running journey may be far more inspired by, uh, Jake McCluskey, uh, Joyce Lee, even a J Ridgeway.
People that can help them with their early biomechanics can help them with inspiration, can help them put schedules together for going out the door of Becky Sosa Hernandez, for instance, whereas people that may be looking for an elite event or maybe looking to get much, much faster. Are looking at Verity brain's episode or the Avalose siblings and looking how they qualified for Boston, or might be much more inspired by, you know, Bob Anderson and his long journey of founding runner's world and talking to, you know, the elite Steve Prefontaine and the other elites of our field.
And, and so, yeah, I think we've got, interestingly enough, a lot of this content, a lot of these conversations. But not everybody likes to listen to podcasts. Um, and some people like to read information or content, sometimes it needs to be broken down or put aside. So I do think that that is one of the interesting things for us to take a look at in 2021 is how do we take a lot of this knowledge that we've now gained and make sure that people can get access to the knowledge.
When they subscribed to race mob, when they come in that we're able to give them kind of hand delivered information for them. So that's. I guess, and hopefully in, so doing, you know, we can help grow our user base. And, you know, I guess that is one thing that we could ask our audience today is, you know, helping us by sharing this episode or sharing your favorite episode with a friend or leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Those are the two things that really, really help us out quite a bit is by helping us get the word out. If you do like this content, if you like what we're putting out there and you want to help us continue the conversation and keep this thing going for years to come, just help us out in these early days, it really, really does mean a lot to us.

Bertrand Newson: [00:18:48]

Yeah. And, uh, shout out to some of our most loyal avid listeners and supporters, uh, Jason PV house. You know, certainly comes top of mine. He's, uh, you know, he's on, on top of it and, uh, routinely shares his feedback and yeah. What a great level of support and so many others. So thank you very much. And as Kevin said, we appreciate the support that way.
If you could share your favorite episode and again, what you'd like us to, maybe if there's a topic that really speaks to you, that we can focus on, because if it's relevant to you, it means it's relevant to others as well.

Kevin Chang: [00:19:23]

And I've got to get a shout out to my father-in-law Bob Newman, who listens to us and has walked over 2000 miles last year. I mean, uh, you know, went from not really walking much to, uh, really taking full advantage of the pandemic to get outdoors and get a move on.

Bertrand Newson: [00:19:39]

That's awesome. I love stories like that.

Kevin Chang: [00:19:42]

So another goal that we have, or I have for 2021 is, you know, in 2020, we launched coach B's coaching service and helping athletes really achieve their goals through one-on-one coaching, as well as group coaching and group training. And that was a pretty big effort that we undertook on. Our part is finding the right types of.
Workout solution putting together and, and creating training plans throughout the time. And you launched that service really in September with tremendous success for your athletes. Um, you've had a number of new PRS, a number of triathletes going for half iron mans for iron mans all the way into 2021.
And. Just raving, raving reviews from your athletes. And so I think a couple of things that we're looking at in 2021, one to grow that coaching service by coach B and make sure that people that are looking to hit new goals in next year have access to your words of wisdom, as well as your training plans that you've put together.
We've got both free training plans, services for people to try out and take a look at as well as. Paid training plans and a training groups going forward as well. But I think it's something that we've realized while talking with a number of our guests and a number of these coaches is they may need help getting their services online, getting a voice out.
To their user base becoming an influencer in their own. Right now we've developed a lot of, um, internal knowledge through putting this podcast together through the YouTube channel, through blog posts and putting a website together. And a lot of those other things, as well as. You know, how do you get a membership site up and running and people paying and credit card processing and X, Y, and Z all in the backend, as well as the training plans and everything.
And so that's something that we're looking to develop in 2021 is. Helping other coaches reach success and get their businesses up and going and making sure that it's not always just a one-on-one coaching relationship, but that it can be a one on many, um, types of coaching relationship that they can form teams and groups.
In their own, right? So that is definitely a new initiative that we are launching here in 2021. If you are a coach or are interested in being coming a coach or you know, of a coach that may look for help here in 2021, we also urge you to reach out to them and have them talk to us. We are really looking to have new coaches and see what are the ways that we can provide tools that we can help coaches, um, throughout the year, because.
Again, the goal isn't just for us to get a big group. The goal is for us to help as many individuals live a healthier and happier life here in 2021. And that probably means lots of different voices, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different types of experiences. You know, lots of different types of coaches can help this entire community base.
And so that is something that we're definitely looking for in 2021.
Are you enjoying the show, help us out by sharing the podcast. You can win some cool prizes like headbands, wristbands, training programs, shadows, and more, especially if you're part of an existing running group online community, or have friends that you think will enjoy the show. Get your personal referral link at race mob.com/referral.

Bertrand Newson: [00:23:08]

Well, we've started some of that groundwork already by reaching out to coaches. Who have great local athlete base. And may be doing it as a hobby. Some of them doing it full time, some of them with a desire to want to do it. Full-time but how do you best connect? It's one thing with, if you have a local geographical reach, but with the comfort level of virtual communication, you can expand your, your practice and engage with athletes.
And this is not a matter of competition because there's a lot of people who could benefit by an experienced coach. So helping coaches as Kevin, I'm gonna have to give you credit here, man. I mean, you really have been, uh, you and Jim Cordoba have been a catalyst in giving me the structural platform from a technology perspective to formalizing training plans.
To pricing out your services or the value is, I mean, typically professional running coach, which charge as much as $500 a month for their services and looking how you can break down those services where it is either on a coach to athlete, or coach to group perspective.
And the ability to manage their calendar, having consultations, where you really are one-on-one with the athlete assessing where the athlete or their goals and objectives are being able to quantify that with measurable time-based training practices, varying the type of workouts by week, understanding injury history, and some of the just life barriers and be able to navigate through them.
And then seeing breakthroughs. Seeing the confidence grow, seeing the consistency happen. And those milestones reach has been incredibly gratifying. And I, after working three decades in the hospitality industry, managing hotels, this is where I'm supposed to be. It is so clear.
And for coaches to be able to network with each other and not look at another coach as competition, but as an ally, as a resource, we are all together working to help the public run or be active injury-free, which means more workouts, happier workouts. Get those individuals one step closer to their goals.
Plus coaches are learning from each other. We're sharing our best practices. And there's just not one organized voice out there where coaches are being able to have that form, that platform and where there's this direct engagement between coach and athlete on a larger scale.
And putting in work from that space is, is going to be fantastic. And we've started to lay some of that groundwork out already, but again, thank you. And also Jim, for helping me formalize. Where I'm supposed to be in that is helping people and the health and wellness space. Yes. Too legit fitness has been around for a decade, um, officially a decade in March of this year.
So we're looking forward to celebrating that it's wonderful, but giving coaches more resources is important, especially now, because in turn that helps race organizers, race sponsors, race participants. As we do not want races to have to fold up, fold-up shop and we do not want the running community to lose hope.
You can still stay active. You can still make progress. You can still have fun and grow in the sport. That is very assessable. I mean, it just takes, you know, pair of shoes and, and some motivation to get out there and to really start to enjoy the sport.

Kevin Chang: [00:26:37]

Well, I mean, all the credit goes to you. You've done a lot of research on your own in terms of training platforms, you know, the training tilts versus training peaks versus final surge, as well as bringing forward other technology like on form where you can actually do running form analysis. Remotely, people can record their own running form in their own driveway and their own streets, and you can help analyze what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong.
And if you look at our running fundamentals course, Winnie basically knocked 15 minutes off of her 5k time. And a lot of it was thanks to just taking a look at her running form and realizing she was overstriding realizing that she was landing on her heels and seeing how we could shorten her stride up, how we can make sure that she's landing on the mid-foot or forefoot of her feet.
And helping basically reduce the impact on her knees, some of the knee pain and knee problems that should was having all by just taking a look at the form and hoping to point a couple of things out, which then she could take away and really help her own form over time. So kudos to you for putting that together.
And there's no substitute for the work that you put in for your athletes. You know, we can all give you all the tools in the world, but the fact that you're in there all the time, giving people, props, and death and motivating them along the way, helping them navigate, you know, again, the problems and schedules, whether we had all those fires over the fall where people couldn't really go outside.
Helping them navigate obviously the pandemic, when we had races on the calendar that had to be canceled or moved to virtual, having that coach there that can help you navigate those situations will really help people see those gains. And it's really interesting.
What we've seen in terms of people might not think that they're ready for a coach immediately, which is fine.
Putting some training plans in front of them, a roadmap for here's how you get from here to there still come out to happy hour, come ask us questions, come let us know what we can help you with along the way, even if you want to self navigate and, you know, make sure that you're, you're doing your own training and putting your own work in, we can still help you at that group level.
Um, if you're not ready for one-on-one coaching or if you're not ready for individualized, personalized intention. There's still that Avenue and that opportunity and that I think is something that we're taking to the market that a lot of coaches haven't figured out yet, you know, and I think that's, what's really exciting about 2021 is taking that type of mentality to the market as well.
And, you know, can we bring a lot of coaches together to help each other out to help the whole community out? So that's definitely something that I'm extremely excited for for 2021.

Bertrand Newson: [00:29:21]

Well said, and you know, we've talked about the athlete. We've talked about running coaches, but running teams as well, teams versus group. I mean, Jason PV house sent me a link to a running strength podcast. And the key note guest, his name escapes me, but he's the founder of the. 10 men running group. And I know that you have Matt Fitzgerald had talked, referenced him as well during his podcast, but he mentioned, I think the podcast guests said, so how are your running groups?
And he's like, timeout, no, I don't coach running groups. You know, groups are people that kind of come and go with no real commitment to each other. What a running team is different. They are, they support each other. There's a level of accountability. There's emotional equity into the, and there's a center synergistic approach.
Versus groups that are kind of more non-committal people can kind of float in and float out. And that really, you know, I'd step back and say, you know, what kind of resonates with me bringing together, running groups? No, running teams. Teams that, again, it's not competition. We are all out there, you know, trying to just stay engaged and keep the work floor moving forward and having fun in the process.
And we have some wonderful running teams here in the Bay area, but also we've discovered there are so many running teams across the United States and being a vehicle for them to communicate and to share and to inspire again, each. Individual team and those individuals within that team have their own story.
And being able to hear those stories, we just look forward to connecting those dots and bringing our incredibly friendly and outgoing running community closer together. And you referenced some recent additions to our RRCA and having a voice at that national table. Um, being a representative to share the thoughts of just rank and file blue collar runners, which is very important.
And our mission, um, with Racemob, and Too Legit is being open and inclusive and supportive. I just want to make sure that, you know, as we're playing our role in the running community and connecting, running teams, It just, again, we need more of that, uh, with a focus on that. So I trust when we look back at 2021, we'll see some huge gains in this area, along with the coaches as well.

Kevin Chang: [00:31:48]

Yeah. And congratulations on joining our RCA in a more official capacity. I mean, I think can't be praised enough. I can't tell you how appreciative I am for having you on that board. Representing so many blue collar athletes, as you like to put it, and minority athletes as well. You know, I think we talked to George and we talked to Jean about the need for both racial diversity, gender diversity, all sorts of diverse voices.
To be able to really impact running in the future. And so having that reach not only be within race mob, but nationwide, worldwide, really being able to impact and affect the running community at that level, I think kudos to you or being able to reach out for, you know, just bringing that, that presence and that sense of community, which our RCA really is striving for and looking for.
I can't wait to have deeper conversations with you as those conversations are happening, you know, really bring to light all of the amazing things that they are RRCA does for the entire running community and seeing how we can help. If there are any ways that, you know, we can help that our platform can help, you know, that our technical background in technology, any of that stuff can help with runners across the country across.
Across the world. One of the other goals that I have here for 2021 is to, as we talked about inspire, inspire community that's social. And so I think we talked about this a while ago about you remember that first day at school or that first day in a new group, in a new group setting and being unsure.
Being a little bit shy, not sure where you fit in. And sometimes those groups would be able to grab you and take you. invites you and help you along the way and make you feel warm and make you feel welcome and make you feel comfortable. And. Really when you get invited into a group like that, it feels like a team, like you mentioned, right.
It feels like you're all working together and it's not just like, Hey, there's a group over there. There's a group over there, but you do feel warm and you do feel welcome and you do feel like a team.
So in 2021, we are looking at race mob as a platform, not just a platform for you and I to speak because you know, that's just one voice. But giving people and lending people the platform so that they can have a voice so that they can inspire the next generation of fitness so that they can take a look at our community site and take a look at people's new goals. And Hey, join people together that have similar goals so that they can strive together for a similar mission.
At the same time, you know, we launched the community sites back a couple months ago, and if I were to look at something, I think you touched on this a little bit. It's something that has under. Performs my expectations. It would probably be, you know, I wish that we could get more people, both on the site as well as communicating through the site.
And so that is definitely something for me to take a look at in 2021 for us to take a look at in 2021 to see, okay, is this the right platform? Are we giving people enough prompts? Are we asking the right questions? Are we having stuff that is engaging enough for people to come back to over and over and over again?
Are we over-complicating it by not just putting it up on Facebook and having it separate and what are the real benefits to having it on a separate site as well as, Hey, if we see real benefits to having it on a separate site. Does it make sense for us to let other running groups and rather running clubs know that there is a separate other site.
Here's how we got new side of it. Here's how you could bring your own members over there, conversations or communications over there. If you feel that that would be valuable to you.
So I think a lot of interesting conversations to be had over there, but definitely looking at 2021 at a, how do we get more people to be communicative, how do we get more people to share?
And that at the end of the day, if we want to build a community, we have to have one where people feel included, feel welcome, understand how they can share, how they can contribute and want to contribute to the general community. Yeah.

Bertrand Newson: [00:36:07]

We're talking about, you know, early, when we recorded our race mob, weekly episode is community and the importance of it, the relevancy of it, how the emphasis on it coming out of a very challenging. 2020 and how the first week of 2021 was that there's going to be adversity, but we can still all come together and support each other for one common goal.
And in the running community, in the fitness camp, it's easy to do that. It is, um, cause it's just friendly and outgoing by nature.

Kevin Chang: [00:36:40]

One more thing to, to peel back the curtain on what 2021 looks like a little bit. I've mentioned this to you coach, but the last several months I've been full time on Racemob and trying to grow the website, the community, a lot of the backend infrastructure on, you know, helping athletes get fitted for the right programs, for the right training, for the right training plans, coaches and putting new contents live on the site.
And, um, everything that goes along with that in 2021. I am probably looking to go back to a corporate job. I will still continue to work on race mob. It is a passion of mine. It's something that I love to do, but my skills are in the technology side. And so on race mob, we've both got some infrastructure here.
So this podcast. A lot of our content, we will be able to continue putting out great content week after week for all of our listeners, for all of our audience, there is quite a bit of work for us to do on the technology side, in terms of revamping what we do for our race platform, revamping potentially what we're doing for our information, for our articles, for everything on that side.
And we will continue to work on a lot of that over the next couple of months. That is our goal. But personally and professionally, I think that it makes a lot of sense for me to return to a corporate job in the next couple of months. So you may see a little bit less of me on some of our content platforms, but rest assured I'm going to be working extremely, extremely hard behind the scenes to make sure that we continue the momentum and that we continue going.
And if we do gain traction and things are starting to work out, um, that I can come back and continue to work on this. But I think from the pure perspective that I want to continue offering free advice and not really be scrambling for looking for funding and scrambling to look, to pay the bills and all of that from a personal perspective, and that we can grow this organically and make sure that.
We are giving the right types of information and not trying to oversell and not trying to throw marketing budget at everything. It makes sense for me to go back to a week by week paycheck and allow us to grow organically, but still have this amazing conversation. All of this content live and continue to help people that are looking to get towards their goals at, or again at a reasonable price.
To them, or for free, if they, if they want free content, we'll be able to deliver a bunch of free content. So that is to peel back a little bit of the curtain going into 2020.

Bertrand Newson: [00:39:23]

It will say KC, and I mean, wow. Look at what you have built. I mean, going back to 2012, 2013, this is not a, it's not like a hobby here. He really built something substantial and I've been grateful on many levels. First, when we first met in 2013, July of 2013, to be specific. And then when you approach me and probably your birthday month, April and say, Hey coach, what are you up to.
It's going out to legit fitness. I told you I had walked away from a hospitality career and wanted to take a break, you know, tired of the commute and wanted to focus on, um, you know, to legit fitness and health and wellness. And you were at a point where you were, you know, revisiting the mission statement and pivoting with race mob.
And initially it was podcast was the primary objective and getting out meaningful, relevant content for listeners and it morphed into you helping me shape my chosen profession. You know, I'm, I'm all in 100% coach B corporate America, you know, suit and tie and all that good stuff, you know, maybe consulting in the future.
Um, but going back and, and managing hotels as I have done for the last, you know, two plus decades not looking to do that, this is where I'm supposed to be. And. I, uh, wouldn't realize the success that I have without your direct influence, your support, your trust, your vision just has been, uh, incredibly grateful and the timing couldn't have been better.
So thank you very much, Kevin, from the bottom of my heart, um, then I, I. I have all the respect and love for your brother. So, and Hey, the best is yet to come. You know, we're just getting, we're getting around, you know, that 400 meter trench, uh, first lap, you know, we got, uh, we have a one mile time trial 5k in the future of building up to 10 K half marathon marathon.
You know, the best is yet to come.

Kevin Chang: [00:41:15]

That's right. I mean, goal number one, when we started this podcast, at least for me was just the ability to hang out with you on a weekly basis. And that has been more rewarding than anything. Just having somebody to hang out with, laugh about things, cry about things sometimes. You know, it has meant the world to me, um, to call you a friend and to continue this fantastic conversation.
And so, yeah, I mean, I guess, like we said, in that very first podcast, we could talk for hours and hours, um, and we will continue to talk for hours and hours. Well, we appreciate you, the audience for giving us a couple of minutes to talk about and reflect on the last six months, as well as talk about 2021 and our goals for this year.
We hope that you're enjoying the show. If you are again, we would love a share. We would love a review. We would love an email. Telling us about yourself and, you know, finding new ways that we can help you, um, in your running journey. So again, thank you guys so much for the opportunity and the time coach I'll be chatting with you. Awesome. See you guys.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the race mob podcast. Check out all of the show notes or find a running buddy [email protected]. Please subscribe to us on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts and leave us a review until next time. Keep on moving.