Small Daily Choices Add Up

SPEAKER_03 0:00

You don't have to be a marathon runner to be healthy. You don't have to be a marathon walker to be healthy. You just have to make small decisions every day to try to improve a little bit here, a little bit there, and eventually that will all add up.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

I'm your host, Will Melton, and today I have Will Dixon, the executive director of Sportsbackers, a very fitting interview for our show. But if you are tuning into America's Healthiest City for the very first time, please visit America's HealthiestCity.com to learn about our ideas board where you can leave small and big ideas on ways that Richmond can become the healthiest city in America by 2033. You can learn about our community partnership. And if you represent a business, a nonprofit, an academic institution, or government agency, and you want to see our region become the healthiest in America by 2033, you can learn what it takes to become an ambassador. We all have to move in the same direction at the same time to be able to achieve this goal. So it takes all of us. So without further ado, Will, thanks for joining me. This is going to be a really great conversation. Yeah, thanks for having me. Excited to be here. So uh we didn't rehearse for this beforehand, didn't even have a preparatory conversation, but you and I have spent probably more time outside of this city together than we have here in the city. Um so we've had lots of conversations about the ways that um our city's evolving and and the things that are influencing that. But but I have to say it's been um now, I guess, a year and a half uh since uh you've taken your position. I actually had the opportunity to interview John Logbill um before he retired, and um quite a bit has changed since then. I think there's uh just always always things changing in Richmond. So I'm excited about what we're gonna talk about. But before we dive in uh to all things sports backers, I want to learn uh more about you. I want our audience to learn more about you. And the first question we ask all of our guests is uh where did you come from? If you didn't come from here, and if you're not from here, uh what caused you to uh come this way?

Growing Up Richmond And Coming Back

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah. That's it's uh I might be more and more in the minority these days, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm actually born and raised here in Richmond. Um, grew up in the West End out in Shore Pump area, went to Galvan High School uh off James Madison University for college and then right back here, and was fortunate to to land a job with sports backers as an intern and have been here for the last 18, coming up on 19 years.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Well, I don't want to put you on the spot, but did you make it to the JMU RVA alumni event this past weekend? I did not.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

I have I like I've I've said this to so many different alum. Like, I I want I keep on saying, like, I'm gonna get more plugged in, I'm gonna get more plugged in, and then life happens, and I just I haven't.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Well, we uh Richmond Water was out there supplying water, and uh, we've got a Duke in the house, so that's the only reason I asked. But uh it looked like a good time. Well, um, you're here in in Richmond, you've you've come back uh after trying to get away. Um, what is it about this place that you find to be so special?

SPEAKER_03 2:46

I think that uh Richmonders genuinely want to see other people be successful. I think the gin Richmonders want to help other people be successful. And so I think we are a town of doers, and I've always kind of felt that that we are a town that recognizes that you have to put in the work if you want to have the result that you're striving for. And I know this is not maybe not true in all cases, but I like to think that we have a rising tide lifts all boats kind of mentality. And it's certainly the mentality that I try to bring and that sports backers tries to bring is you know, if if we can be helpful in other people being successful with whatever they're striving for, then at the end of the day, that's only going to lift us all up. So, you know, I I think that is special about here. Um, and again, we've we've gone to other other cities through the chambers visit, uh, inner city visit. And um, you know, I I think that in some cases you see that work well, and maybe in other cases you see it be maybe not not so much.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Well, sports backers has been incredibly successful, and that has no doubt uh had a very positive impact on our city, our tourism, lots of other things. Um, but I'm curious, what is it that um got you into this work in the first place? Tell us a little bit about your history, the sports backers, before sports backers,

Falling In Love With Event Work

SPEAKER_02 4:05

and um, you know, what what is it about the job specifically that that makes you uh in love?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Yeah, I um what got me into the job, I I interned with the Richmond Kickers while I was in college. Uh, had a great experience there. Um, grew up playing soccer, I grew up swimming, grew up playing tennis, a little bit of basketball, a lot of soccer, a lot of swimming. And my mom was a group fitness instructor, she was a personal trainer, like physical activity. I grew up, you know, sitting in the corner of a multi-purpose room at the Tucko YMCA watching my mom teach aerobics classes back in the 90s. Uh, you know, so I've always been around the physical activity as kind of just part of who I was. Um, and I studied sport and recreation management in college and interned with the kickers, came back to Richmond, knew I wanted to be in Richmond, but or I may I should say and the sports scene in Richmond is different than a lot of other cities. You know, we don't have a major league baseball team, we don't have a major league soccer team, we don't have an NFL team, we don't have an NHL team. You know, you the sports scene, yes, we have University of Richmond, we have BCU, you got your college athletics, but the sports scene was different here. Um, and so I started putting feelers out there. I'd interned with the kickers and reached out to John Ludbill and said, Hey, I'm a recent college grad from here, have a passion for active living, I'm willing to work hard, give me a shot. And so he we just the timing happened to be that we were adding a lot of events that fall, fall of 2007. And so he was like, Yeah, come on out on the weekends and help set up and break down for a couple of things. The first event I worked was a cross-country festival that we did at Maymont Park with about 3,000 high school kids. And I just kind of fell in love with it. I mean, it was early mornings, hard work. Um, but the camaraderie and the the the just the feeling of being on a team again that I was producing something and I was contributing to something that was bigger than me was really awesome. Um was fortunate to be hired in January of 08 full time and have worn many, many hats since then. Um and this new job, yeah, I mean, it's it's the executive director role is different. It's much more community-facing, it's much more strategizing. Um, you know, working with a board of directors that, you know, wants to see this organization continue to do big things, um, you know, understanding the political landscape and the elected officials and all the decision makers and you know how to engage with the community. And it's just, it's a different, it's a different hat for sure. Um, but it's been a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Yeah, you have a uh your organization plays a very critical role in the region and and therefore you are uh playing a very critical role within your organization and um having interfaced with all the different players in this region and kind of seeing the behind the scenes a little bit, um, everything overlaps at the end of the day. Um I I do want to go back though. I wanted to ask the question about the sleep thing. Like uh when do you guys sleep um when you have like big races and things like I know that it gets kind of crazy over there?

SPEAKER_03 7:14

It's all just a moment in time. You you get a few hours of sleep the night before an event and you wake up the next morning, you're running on adrenaline and a little muscle memory, and you know, you just get it done. I mean, we all do that. We all we all are having kind of these ebbs and flows of when you have to be on and when you're able to kind of you know sit back and relax and reflect a little bit. And for our events, you just you have to be on. And it's not just us, right? I mean, when you think about taking an event like the Alliance Richmond Marathon, it's it's thousands of volunteers. And that's not an exaggeration, literally thousands of volunteers that help put this thing on. We have over 20, it'll be upwards of 22,000 participants that are coming from all over the country, descending on our city, experiencing our city. Like you have a responsibility to get your ass out of bed and put up, put your best foot forward in order to, you know, kind of give these people the experience that they've paid for, but they're they've been training for, they've dedicated a good chork chunk of their life to, you know, this morning. Like, what better opportunity is there to peel yourself out of bed and just make something special happen for somebody else?

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Yeah.

Race Week Sleep And Responsibility

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Well, I um I want to keep going here, but I do need to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll talk all things sports backers.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

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Leading Sports Backers Through Growth

SPEAKER_02 9:03

You're listening to America's Healthiest City on Channel RBA, used to used to be ESPN. Uh Reflex there. We're interviewing Will Dixon, the executive director of Sportsbackers, very critical organization here in our region. Uh, but if you're tuning in for the first time, uh please visit channelrba.com to learn more about uh the media organization behind this podcast, and check out America's HealthiestCity.com so you can learn more about our program. Uh, we're working to make this city the healthiest in the region, uh, the healthiest in America by 2033. And it's for the whole region. Uh, we're all working together uh so uh you can see how you can get involved there. Uh Will, Sports Backers has been around for a long time. Uh, and you obviously had some big shoes to fill when you stepped into the role. Um, but you're doing great. Uh, I've seen you interface with everybody, and uh everybody's enthusiastic about your leadership, including folks on your team who I've had the opportunity to interact with. So you so tell me a little bit about what's changed over the last year and a half, uh, maybe a little bit about how you've been able to uh I know that you and I talked in um in Phoenix and you said you haven't really had a big opportunity to implant a huge vision shift yet, and you're just trying to get your your feet under you. But tell us a little bit about what that transition has been like and are you starting to feel a bit of a vision of marriage and how things are gonna change into the future.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Yeah, that's a it's a great question. Um and I'm gonna kind of give you a similar answer, but maybe a slightly more evolved answer. Uh the first year of me being in this role was definitely a fact-finding mission. Recognize it was a new role, learning what I didn't know. And that required one-on-ones with my entire team, one-on-ones with my board members, a lot of introductions and introductory conversations out and about in the community. Um and really get an understanding of how people perceive sports backers. And that informed a lot for me of okay, what opportunities exist out there that um that maybe we're not currently touching on, or how do we leverage our strengths better than what we currently are? Um, I was very fortunate to, you know, inherit or step into this role with a really strong organization. Um we've been very fortunate to keep our staff intact, uh, particularly on the leadership side. And I have a very supportive board. So, and we're entering this coming year. So, starting, I guess by the time this airs, we'll be in the final year of our five-year strategic plan that I was a part of developing, right? So I had no real desire to come in and like shake things up because there's no need for it. I'm not looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Um, but this is the final year of a five-year strategic plan. And this coming year is a huge opportunity for us to decide and start to define what what our what the next five years is gonna look like. When you look around the region, I mean, we're we just sold out the Richmond Marathon in June. We're gonna sell out the half marathon, the Richmond half marathon in July, and probably by the time this airs, it might be sold out. V8K is gonna sell out, 10K, eCrops might be having you 10K registrations are growing. The CarMax Tacky Light Run registrations are growing, our events are just growing. So we're kind of riding this running boom wave right now that might provide some new opportunities for us uh to do some new things going forward. And then you look around the region, you have the first five miles of the fall line trail. Just had the ribbon cutting on coming up on a year ago. You we're gonna have over 12 miles, additional miles of the fall line under construction this coming year. The segment in Bryan Park is gonna be open here any moment. If you haven't gone out and checked that out, the the segment in Bryan Park is just phenomenal, connects all these amenities, the park, the the bathrooms to the soccer fields, to the playground, to the tennis courts, to the pavilion. It's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

My wife goes there every Friday with the dogs, and she was telling me, she's like, There's a bunch of construction, they're building a trail over there. I was like, Yeah, that's the fall line trail. She's like, Are you sure?

SPEAKER_03 13:00

I was like, Yeah, that's the falling trail. That's the fall line trail. Yeah, and it's right by our offices. So, I mean, I just think that as you see this, you know, this kind of we describe it a little bit as a canvas, right? The fall line is creating this new canvas throughout throughout the heart of the region that is going to provide an opportunity for vibrancy, for connectivity, for economic development. Um, and so just continuing for sports backers to understand what our role is and helping kind of create this culture of active living and a vibrant culture and a connect and using physical activity as the conduit for generating, creating community. We haven't had an opportunity like this before because the fall line has never existed before. Um, so I'm really excited to dig in with our board and our community partners and our staff to figure out, like really dial in what that's gonna look like.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Have you been charged to think further into the future and and kind of what Richmond's gonna look like maybe 10 or 15 or 20 years down the road and wonder what kind of role sports backers might need to play as that think those things change?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Yeah, it's interesting. I I think that the space that we're in uh despite everything changing, I mean, AI and you know, all the technology advancements and transportation advancements, all of this technology advancements, ultimately there's there's we have a human need for connection. And I have yet to find something that it speaks to me and clearly tens of thousands of others, if not millions of others, like physical activity to provide that moment of connection. So I think that if we continue to look at what exercise and human movement can do to create community and bring us together around shared values, shared beliefs, like yeah, we might have to find new ways to activate that and to create those opportunities, but there's always gonna be a need for that. I mean, that's just the way that we're wired as people that we we have a desire and a drive to build bonds with each other. And to me, the shared experience of moving our bodies together is

The Fall Line Trail As A Canvas

SPEAKER_03 15:10

a platform like nothing else that's never gonna be replaced. I don't I don't know how it could be replaced. You you can tell me how it how it can be replaced at some point in the future, but well, I don't think it will be.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

And and I and that seems like I can't get through one of these without mentioning my daily gym habit and how much fun I have with people that I do that with every day. Same people every day, 6 a.m. Um there's a 5 a.m. crew, they're different. There's a 7 a.m. crew, they're different. Yeah, but my 6 a.m. people they're your people.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

They're my people. And the beautiful thing to me is I I I work out by myself. I I have a gym in my garage. I wake up in the morning and I lift, and it is my me time. I also went out to marathon training team the first week of marathon training team a couple of weeks ago, and there's 1,400 people on marathon training team. They exercise together. That is their, it's a lot of a lot of their social times, it's accountability. And then you show up on an event day and you see, you know, the thousands of people that are participating, all at the same start line, all striving for the same finish line, but being supported by thousands of volunteers, tens of thousands of spectators, cheering them on. And like that's almost like a that's like a spiritual moment, right? That is a like, we are all in this together sort of thing. So to me, the beauty of of your routine, whether it's your small group or the fact that there also is a 5 a.m. group and a 7 a.m. group, uh, that uh you it's scalable and and it's just as impactful at any scale, any any sub you know, slice that you want to look at the scale, it's just as impactful as the next one up and the next one down. And so that's again, I'm gonna come back to the just the the need and the the multitude of benefits that any individual person up to an entire community can get from being physically active.

Do Staff Ever Get To Race

unknown 16:59

All right.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

So I've got a trick question here. It's not really a trick question, but I I wonder to myself, does anybody on the sports backers team ever get to run in any of these races? Because I'm like, when do you ever participate in the group activity? Yeah, it'd work out by yourself. You gotta run the race, you know, gotta run the race.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

You know, I we do walking staff meetings. I had a one-on-one, you know, annual review with one of my team members yesterday that we we walked and talked, like, you know, so there's lots of opportunities for us to be active together. Um the Markel Corporate Run is the one event that we encourage our participants, our employees to come out and and actually run. It's it's not an all hands on deck type of type of event, um, like the marathon of the 10K might be. And so we often have a little more bandwidth to say, come out and just do the 5K and enjoy yourself. The CarMac Stacky Light run in December is another one that takes some staffing, but there's often, you know, not everybody works that event. And so we'll have a lot of our, you know, our employees will bring their families out and do that event. We have a lot of people that do the training teams marathon training team, 10K training team, half marathon training team, and then we'll go and run a different race. Yeah. Which we also encourage too, right? I mean, we can we can learn things makes sense. Yeah. So they get the benefit of the training, but they're not actually, yeah, sorry, on marathon day, you gotta work.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Yeah, good answer. I didn't think about going to the other races. It makes a ton of sense. Well, um, so these things are growing. You're guys you guys are um hitting your your max on on these races. You're marketing these things is hard. And so that part's apparently easy now. Um, but you get the numbers. I okay, so I won't put it words in your mouth. You get the numbers, you see the data, you know, where are people coming from? Are we seeing more people moving to the region that are running in these races, more people who live here running in these races? We have a lot more people just visiting Richmond to run. What's what's happening?

Why Richmond Is A Running Destination

SPEAKER_03 18:49

It's a combination. Um I mentioned our marathon training team, we have 1,400 people that meet every Saturday or Sunday for 24 weeks leading up to the marathon. That is, you'll see them every you see if you're in Richmond and you're in the city on a Saturday or Sunday morning between now and mid-November, you'll see them out there. Um there's also a ton of other run clubs that are popping up, you know, local run clubs that are that are popping up, and we're incredibly supportive of, and we'd love to see that happening because that's showing that people are kind of saying, this matters to me, or I want to build community around this thing and um running, walking, whatever it may be. Um, so there's a there is a groundswell here locally for uh for running, walking, physical activity in general. You see a niche fitness studio on every corner, and you know, I think the YMCAs and your gold gems and all are doing really, really well. But for the events, I would say, and for the events on a national scale, Richmond is more of a destination now than it was, say, 10, 15, 20 years ago. Um, and that's a huge testament to Richmond Region Tourism, Virginia Tourism, and a lot of the great local things that we have going on here. And that's, you know, even things like the Richmond United's Jefferson Cup, the youth, youth sports tournaments. If you come here and your kids playing in a soccer tournament or a lacrosse tournament or a field hockey tournament, and you get to experience downtown Richmond in the river, or you go up to King's Dominion for a day, whatever it may be, then you know, there's a desire to want to come back here that may not have existed a couple of decades ago. So events are moments in time that drive people to come to a place, but their experience here is going to dictate whether or not they come back. And so I think what we're seeing is, you know, a really strong travel mix. Depends on the event. People travel further for longer distance things that they've been having to prepare, prepare for, right? Um, but for the marathon in particular, I think we have about 60% of our participants come from outside of 50 miles. Actually, it might be 60% from outside of the state of Virginia that come for the marathon. A lot of repeat, but also very well known as a great first-time marathon because it's it's not huge, you know, it's not the New York Marathon, it's not Chicago, it's not LA. You know, and Richmond's more accessible than a lot of these other big cities in a lot of ways. And that's, you know, cost of hotel rooms, it's cost to get here, it's just accessibility from being a drive market. Um, and then the race itself is a large race, but and I will pat ourselves in the back a little bit, it's well, it's well managed, right? So, you know, we we try to make things really easy for people. And so it can be a really good first-time marathon experience as well, because it's not, it's not too much, but it's just, you know, it's kind of that Goldilocks. It's it's just right. Um, that it's not too small, that you feel like you're out there running by yourself, but it's not too big that you feel like, oh my God, this is too, this is overwhelming.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Well, kudos to your team for for making all that happen. We're gonna take one more quick break and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more about the future of Richmond.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

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Changing Neighborhoods And Active Streets

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Hello and welcome back to America's Healthiest City on Channel RVA. Today I have Will Dixon, the Executive Director of Sports Backers in this studio, and we are talking about fitness and all the things that our city has to offer for folks here and folks who visit. I am always curious about the future of Richmond, and I want to go back just a little bit because I've been here since 2017 and I've lived in a couple of different areas in the city, and I've had the opportunity to see in just a year's time in 2017 when I moved here, Churchill change and a year's time. And I lived in the Northside for five years and I watched Northside Change. And now I live in Carver, uh, right across from Maggie Walker High School. And that's been a really interesting, I've been there for about three years. And, you know, I first moved in, the corner of Lee and Lombardi was vehicular traffic only for the most part. And you'd see some foot traffic. But now today, I go to the gym at 6 a.m. I see people riding their bikes down that way. I'm in that area during the day, and I see a lot of foot traffic, people walking, you know, to the north side, east and west. I see people, I see, I see running groups at the corner of Hermitage and Lee. Like just I never saw any of that stuff before. And it's just so cool to see our city come into life. And now you've been here for longer. Tell me about what your experience is with that. Have you seen that same thing? Has it been profound in any other ways for you?

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Yeah, I mean, it's a that's a great observation. Um I, as I mentioned, I grew up in out in the West End, you know, short pump. I'm out in the burbs. And I didn't spend a whole lot of time downtown Richmond as a kid. Um when I went off to college and I came back, I moved a little closer to the city, but still kind of out off Monument Avenue, like Monument Libya area. When I started Sportsbackers in 2008, our whole focus were on economic development. It was on how can we bring people from outside of the Richmond region, come to Richmond, spend your dollars, generate tax revenue, you know, benefit the whole region through that kind of tourism cycle. In 2012, we made this shift to more, okay, how can we make this a vibrant, active community through sports, through physical activity? And so that really swung the doors wide open for really trying to change the culture from the inside. And then people will want to come here because of that culture. People will want to travel here because, yes, we have the big point, the big events, but they're also going to want to come here because we have great biking and pedestrian infrastructure. We have great riverfront amenities, we have, you know, great access to the outdoors and things like that that people will travel for. So what has happened is, and this is not just a purely credit to sports backers, but what's happened over that time is that you get these leaders. You leaders are developed internally here that are going to do things like startup run clubs or that are going to be in positions on their HOA boards that are to say, Hey, I want a sidewalk fixed, or I want a bike lane added here, or we need a stop sign for pedestrian safety added here, or crosswalk, whatever it may be. So as people have more opportunities to engage and learn that they really appreciate being physically active, they will identify ways that they can shape the communities in which that they live in. And so your example of Lombardi and Lee, it took somebody saying, Hey, like we need something to change here for, you know, to make this a better bikeable or walkable place to be. And so we do have it. We have an academy that trains people how to engage around advocacy for bike and pedestrian infrastructure and safety. And that matters, right? When you grow the expertise locally and you show people that they can actually help shape the communities in which they live, and you provide them in a platform to learn that they love things like running or cycling or walking or lifting or whatever it may be, then that's how over time cultures can actually change and communities can be shaped. So it's a long-winded way of saying, like, yeah, that's happening. And people are more out and about now because there is in a lot of cases, you know, a better place for them to be out and about. And I think that there's also a an attraction of like-minded people that want to be out and about that are there's more of them here now than there were, say, again, 20, 20 so plus years ago. So I think that there's just a a shift in an evolution in what Richmonders like to do. Um and again, that I think that that creating that canvas of giving them the opportunity to do it and the voice to help them shape that space for themselves is part of the role that that we like to play.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

A lot of things kind of converging at once to make us a better place.

The First Step Mindset For Everyone

SPEAKER_02 27:29

So I've got kind of a rapid fire around. Used to be just a couple of questions, but um we'll make it make it harder. Um what is uh what's an idea that we might add to our ideas board, uh, a way perhaps small, maybe something bigger that folks in the community could do to contribute to us becoming uh the healthiest region in America by 2033?

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Oof, that's a big question. I hope this doesn't come across as a cop out. But I one of my frustrations is that we talk to people, you know, if I tell people I work at sports barkers, is they'd be like, oh, you must be a runner. I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of a runner. Like, I'm not like a runner runner. I actually enjoy walking these days more than I do running. And they always, you know, they always put themselves down. They always say, Oh, yeah, I'd I I can never run or I I can't do that. That's you know, this marathon's art for me. And it's kind of like, well, actually, they they can be. And and one of the goals that we have is to make what we do in fiscal activity incredibly accessible for everybody, whether that's from a cost standpoint or from a a pace standpoint. So this this I'm gonna get to that to your question, I think. But give yourself more credit than what you currently are. If you can all you can do is step outside and walk to the stop sign and get back to your house, like that's okay. That's a first step. And so I think that that first step is incredibly important. And no matter where you are on your journey, there's that just accept that that's okay. And that's not a bad thing or a better thing or a worse thing. It's just a thing, it's just a you know, the situation. So just take that first step and stop putting yourself down and keep on striving for improvement. And ultimately, I think that that again, I'm gonna come back to I think that that will infuse the entire community to understand that, like, okay, you don't have to be a marathon runner to be healthy. You don't have to be a marathon walker to be healthy. You just have to make small decisions every day to try to improve a little bit here, a little bit there, and eventually that will all add up. I don't know if that actually answers your question correctly, but that's how I think about my own, you know, because it's real easy to just be like, oh, I can't do this, I can't do that. And it's like, yeah, but if you if you don't try to do something, then you'll never improve. Like that's how all of us learn and try to, you know, make the best of this short time that we have here.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

I had uh Aubrey Iker from the Well Personal Fitness and uh not long ago, and we shared a clip today, and and I, you know, in the caption, I just said, hey, like you don't have it doesn't matter how much you do, it's that you do it every day and you develop the habit because it's always harder before you start. And then after you've done it a little while, it's easy. Uh I did a hundred burpees today, and uh I most people would say, like, that's no, no, not not doing it, you know. But uh I would say that as well. It sounds miserable. Well, you know, and and if if you can't take me back three years ago before I went to the gym on a regular basis, or you know, the first six months that I was going to the gym and tried to do 100 burpees in 21 minutes plus other activities, I wouldn't have uh wouldn't have been able to do it. So uh, but it's like now when I think about it, and other people say say, like, oh burpees are hard, in my mind they're not. Yeah, they're not hard anymore. And I don't mind thinking about you know doing a bunch of 15 you know reps of of burpees. It's uh it's feels good to know that my body can do it.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

Yeah, but I will also say it's okay that it is hard for somebody else and not hard for you, right? So I think that the encouragement of like, yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna be hard, but it's not it's not always gonna be hard. It just it's just hard now.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

But they but it it gets to the place where it's not hard mentally, where it's like you get to the place where you can say, I can do that.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and that I think that trickles over into other aspects of your life. Again, I I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but being physically active just has so many benefits to every aspect of your life. It gives you confidence to show up to a meeting that you might be nervous for, or it gives you confidence to go up and you know talk to that girl that maybe you've been even a little hesitant to talk to, or whatever it may be, right? To set that goal that once scared you. And you know, that's that's again back to that individual personal level of that goal setting and and confidence building and believing in yourself, but then up to the source, you know, the societal social connection side of it. So it's part of why I love what I do.

Hope For Richmond And Who’s Next

SPEAKER_02 31:50

So I'll give you two questions and one, what's something that you uh would change about Richmond if you could? And what's something that you're hopeful for about the future?

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Yeah, this is gonna be a similar answer because, but it's it's the first thing that comes to mind. I think that we don't give ourselves credit enough credit for things that we do well. Um, and I've it's been one of my takeaways from these the inner city visits where we've spent some time together too. It's like, well, like Richmond, we're we're doing a lot of regional collaboration. You know, you hear about you know, we don't do enough collaboration and uh this and that. It's like we do a lot. We we really do a lot of things really well. This is a region that's full of really passionate, very talented people. And I just think that we sometimes can't get out of our own way.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Um I don't know how else to say that without getting myself in trouble, but I think Well, you give me an opportunity to razz uh uh Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald because he was supposed to be in here a couple of weeks ago for an interview, and I know he would have a similar answer, um, but he he was busy that day and had to call out. So we're gonna get him back in here. Yeah, and now it's on the record. So I'll send him this clip so that he actually gets back. Don't get me in trouble with Odie. No, no, don't worry. Uh what's what's what's something you're hopeful for?

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Something I'm hoping for for Richmond.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Is that what you're asking? Well, I mean, I'll tell you something I'm hopeful for. Uh, and that's not hope, it's just waiting for the moment to come to be able to ride the fall and trail from your northernmost point to the southernmost point. That's gonna be a ton of fun. We gotta get a big group of people to go do that whenever we've talked about it. Have you been on it? Have you been on the northern segment? I haven't. I need to get out. It it's how far does it go right now?

SPEAKER_03 33:28

It's about five miles. Okay, that's great. You can do it, you can do it out and back, 10 miles, you know, run ride, whatever. I'm gonna do that with my wife this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

I'm gonna make that commitment.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

It's it's a ton of fun. I mean, it's it's really nice. Uh, you know, V Dod and Hanover and Henrika, it comes into Henrika County and starts up in Ashland. Um, there's everybody, all the stakeholders did a phenomenal job with it. Uh, and and we're hearing stories of of people that uh have gates now that open up onto the trail. Oh, that live in Hanover County, and they'll take you know, bike rides with their family up into Ashland, grab ice cream, and then ride back down on the trail. It's like that's exactly what it was designed for. What am I hopeful for? I'm hopeful. Um the fall line is is where my mind would immediately go as well. I I'm ready for it to be, not ready for it to be done, but I'm hopeful that that we and the community understands that we're not just talking a 10-foot wide strip of asphalt. We're talking about an opportunity to change the way that that people connect with one another, that people could get connected to their communities, whether that be public transit stops or restaurants or places of employment or schools, neighborhoods that that yes, a 10 it's a 10-foot wide strip of asphalt, but the possibility and the potential of it actually having this positive impact on the region is massive. And we've seen it all over the country. And I'm really, really excited for that and hopeful that we get this right.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Well, last question, we'll get you out of here. Um, I've had a really good track record, but uh, who's somebody that we need to get into the studio to interview? Somebody making a difference whose story will inspire others.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

I can rattle off a few. Um and and I I've I've given I've recommended her on for other podcasts as well, but Jody Alexander with the Greater Richmond YMCA. Um I haven't had her on yet. That's a great perfect. We'll go with Jody. I I I gave I've recommended her um elsewhere as well. Um, but Jody's great. She's she's been in the role for a relatively short period of time at the executive director of the might be CEO of Greater Richmond Y. Um and she's made a lot of positive changes there.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Right. Well, thanks for coming in. This has really been awesome. And um, you got me invigorated uh about all the ways that I can uh be outside the gym, uh, get a little bit more active and originally. Yeah, thanks for having me. Thanks for tuning in to America's Healthiest City. Uh, please come back next time and check out America's Healthiest City.com to plug into all the things we're doing. Subscribe over at channel RVA, and uh, we'll see you next time.