Theo Murdaugh's Run It Up Revolution: Making Running Accessible to Black Communities

DFW Running Talk: Theo Murdaugh
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] All right. Welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel today, I'm super excited to have Theo Murdoch. Theo, how's it going, man? It's going good, Chris. How you doing, man? Doing well. And by the way, he runs the Run It Up group and it's one of the most exciting groups that I've seen in a really long time.

And I'm theo, I'm just pumped to kinda have this conversation. Hopefully you are too, but I'm ready.

Theo Murdaugh: I'm excited man. I appreciate it. I appreciate, you allowing me to come on and it's, share our story. We're everywhere. It blew up so fast. We were still playing catch up to the growth.

Last year was insane, but this year it's been even better from an organizational standpoint. No I'm really excited.

Chris Detzel: That's great. Before we get into kind of running up and some exciting things there, I wanna know you, I wanna get to know who you are a little bit. Obviously you're in the running community.

When did you start running? What are you doing? How'd how'd it begin? Let's start there.

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah. I've been a runner for most of my life. I tell people I've been running for a serious runner for over maybe 12 years. Done multiple marathons. [00:01:00] I've done countless haves in case. I've never been like a big weightlifting guy.

I always. Find weightlifting to be boring. It's just not my, even though runners should strain train, so I'm not a hundred percent. Let me make sure I say that right now. But I've been a runner all my life. 10 plus years. I didn't run in college or anything like that. I picked it up as a hobby, probably back in, in 2010.

And then I just, I, I just got addicted to it. I moved, I've worked in the automotive sector in corporate America for 15 years, so I've moved. Seven times in 14 years. So I've always been a part of run clubs and of every new city that I moved to, I always joined a, a run club. So I've always been in I tell people running clubs aren't new.

They're just like, cool. Now, back when I was running in 'em, they really weren't that cool. It was like a very small. Community, the run clubs I used to go to the minimum mileage was like 10. It was just like insanity. So I've always been a runner, always been in the run clubs. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio.

Okay. And I just wanted to bring running, to, not bring, running to Dallas, not the right way to say it, but bring a new [00:02:00] aspect to running to this city. And, it's been it's been a blessing ever since.

Chris Detzel: We'll talk about what that means to you here in a minute. So you started running 10 or 11 years ago, so how'd you get into it?

What was your, or 12 years ago what got you excited about it? Was it 5K or 10 k? What's

Theo Murdaugh: the It was a 5K it was a 5K when I was living in Orlando, Florida. This probably had to be back around 20 2009, but 2010 ish. Didn't train ran a 5K, ran this little rogue race in downtown Orlando.

Finished it, I think in a little bit under 30 minutes. Now granted, I'm in my twenties, so I'm in more top tier shape. I think I'm like 24. 25 ish. I'm 38 now, and I'm like, you know what? I think I'm gonna run a half marathon. I didn't have a training plan, I didn't know what I was doing. I completely, that sounds normal, by the way.

Yeah, that's like everybody that runs. I went completely row on my training plan and it, I think I ended up, I run, it was the Orlando half marathon. I think I ended up running it in two hours and 30 ish minutes. Started cramping at mile 10, [00:03:00] didn't train. I think my training was. Just run as many miles as you can for the week and figure it out from there.

Yeah. So it was horrible. And then when I ended up moving to Kansas City a few years later for work, I joined this running group called KC Rocking Runners. They met up in this suburb in Liberty, Kansas. No. Liberty, Missouri. Yeah. And there was this one lady, she was like a third grade teacher, and I remember I we would meet in front of this bar and she and the leader would come out and be like, Hey, welcome, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff.

Minimum miles is like 10 miles. I'm just like,

Chris Detzel: yeah.

Theo Murdaugh: Maximum was like 12. I'm like, what in the hell? And I remember Max was, remember running, I think I maxed out like a six or seven. And she pushed me and this lady, I cannot remember her name, but she put me on game about how to train. You need to do intervals, you need to do speed work, you need to do easier pace, distance runs, you need to do track work.

Yeah, she put me on game and that's kinda where my running journey really started taking off. And I started being more intentional about my my runs. So it's a lot better than what it used to be. 10 plus years ago. Now there's a [00:04:00] method to the madness when it comes to running.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Would hope so that you have one of the largest running groups in DFW. So ho Hopefully your running's got a little bit better and a little bit smarter. A hundred percent. I love it though. And then, so you run, so you start running in Kansas a little bit. Somebody helps you figure it out a little.

What then transpired? Like you decided to run another half or what happened? Yeah.

Theo Murdaugh: I decided to run a half. I ended up running the Chicago half. I drove from Kansas City to, to Chicago. Ended up running the Chicago half. I was fully trained. I learned about gels and when to take 'em and hydration and all that stuff that, that makes a difference in running.

Ended up running the Chicago half in 2015. 2015. Okay. Drove to drove bishop to college from kc. Finished at about an hour, 50 minutes, and the goal I set and the night and the young lady that was training me, she's honestly, your goal should just be to finish. 'cause this is like your first real intentional half.

I'm like, that's great, but I want to get under two hours. Get on two hours. I'm gonna be perfectly fired. Yeah. Ended up getting under two hours. That race was awesome, by [00:05:00] the way. The medals probably about this big. It's nice. Big old medal, and then that just took off and I'm like, wow. Like I got addicted.

So I started running more five Ks more, 10 Ks smaller races in Kansas City. And then the run club that I was a part of, I really started like transitioning into a real like distance runner. And it really changed my life that Run Club KC Rock Runners. They wouldn't know it because they would probably know me, who I was today.

But those people really changed my run journey because people really taught me how to run the right way instead of just running rogue how I was doing.

Chris Detzel: I think that, that's. Part of what a run club's supposed to do, right? Correct. And and I'm sure that if you were to go back to 'em and thank 'em, they'll really appreciate that.

And who knows? Never know if they might ever listen. But that's the point. Like you have a run club and the goal is to tell people, in my opinion, the right ways to run, or at least give them solid advice, and. Look, it's fine that you go out your first 5K half marathon to just blow yourself up.

There's a right way to do it. You've got long runs, you've got, and don't run 'em hard. You've [00:06:00] got, speed runs, you've got, whatever, and that kind of stuff. So I love that. And that you talked about that run club, that, that helped you. And so did you ever run a marathon?

Did you ever get up to that or what's the. You

Theo Murdaugh: know what I ran, I didn't run one until actually, I got here to, to Dallas. I was a little bit like, that is not my space. I'm not in it. Yeah. I don't like marathon training so long. I did distance runs. I did 18 miler, 20 milers. So I ended up running, BMW a few years ago and it was just like, it was a nightmare.

I cramped that mouth, the shit show. Cramped that mile 20, an absolute shift show, cramped that mile 20 on the big hill and walked, jogged it the rest of the way. And it's been a lot, it's been a lot better since then.

Chris Detzel: A mess. Marathons are hard, man. Absolutely. I've done with you myself and I just.

I think the time it takes to train and you could do everything right. And that day of a marathon, look, I'm not being negative about marathons but you don't know what's gonna happen that day of a marathon. Maybe it's too hot, maybe it's too cold, or maybe you're not [00:07:00] feeling well, or maybe you're feeling great and something blows up and you spend all those, that time and effort running training for a marathon and now you messed.

Absolutely.

Theo Murdaugh: I like half.

Chris Detzel: I'm just a half. Yeah, same. I'm a half

Theo Murdaugh: marathon guy. Same. It's fun. I just feel like the training is not overly intense, at least to me. Some people that are newer don't like, and marathon training over the last few years for me has just been like absolutely just a nightmare.

I'm taking a break this year. I did the Memphis St. Jude a few years ago, which wasn't too bad. But I'm a half marathon guy, that's my bread and butter. But next year's gonna be my marathon space. This year's not my really space. Wow. Next year we're gonna, we're gonna turn up on the marathons.

I'm rolling my eyes. I hear the people in my group being like, yeah we're gonna make it.

Chris Detzel: You and I are a lot alike. I thinking that, I've run marathons, I've done Ks and things like that, my bread and butter is also half marathons. And to me it's just a, I can go run a half marathon every month if I want.

You know what I mean? And it's just a lot easier on me and a lot better for training and just, I don't have to sit there all day, every day to train, correct. I love that. Do you [00:08:00] do a lot of five Ks or, I don't like five Ks.

Theo Murdaugh: They're hard. They're really hard. I feel like it's just a, it's a three mile sprint.

Yeah. And if I'm not out there in the front sprinting, I don't really care. Yeah. So I'm more gimme a good 10 K and I don't like paying for five Ks. Okay. So gimme a Yeah, they're

Chris Detzel: expensive. 10

Theo Murdaugh: K any day. I think 10 Ks are just challenging enough and quick enough to have a really good run. I've never been a 5K guy.

I, I just don't, I don't like 'em. Some people can be, oh, I don't like, I don't five Ks then.

Chris Detzel: So something that, I've run five Ks a lot in the past, but not over the last several years. So this year was a little different because I was talking to over the summer it gets really hard to run hard distance wise.

So if you're training for half marathon to go out and run a half marathon in the summer is really difficult to run. A lot of miles in the summer's tough. So how do you get speed work? And this one guy, his name's Matt Campbell, he's he runs with the, slots. I don't know if you've heard of those guys, but really fast dudes.

But anyways, he's Chris, I'm gonna run a lot of five Ks this summer. And the reason it is, 'cause I can get a lot of speed work in and that [00:09:00] I don't have to do long speed work. It's just difficult, and so I did that and we'll see if it pays off in September. 'cause I have a half a marathon coming up.

But. I was like, all right, I'm gonna do a bunch of 'em. And I think there's maybe a place for training, like summertime in Texas, oh, absolutely.

Theo Murdaugh: And I then I don't ever knock anybody for doing 5K because the guys and girls in our group that do 'em, it's just when I see them cross that finish line, they look like they just ran a half for a marathon because they literally are doing it under 20 minutes to run.

They're running. Do a fricking wall. And it's a hard race. I tell people, oh, I'm just gonna do a 5K. I'm like, but if you're really gonna do a 5K and try to get your best time and compete in a 5K, that shit is absolutely difficult. It is not. Hundred percent. Five Ks are not light work. When you're really, that's like you just said, you're, it's speed.

You're testing your speed. It's a speed training workout. And then when you're out there in that atmosphere, regardless of the size of the race, you're up like, okay, I only got, it's only 3.1 miles. I wanna turn up a little bit. Everybody turns up. Four or 5K. That's why I don't like 'em 'cause I turn up too much and always dead afterwards.

Chris Detzel: We all do. [00:10:00] I'm running that first mile, 30 or 40 seconds faster than the second mile. And then that's exactly it, and something I'm really excited to talk to you today about is your running club and and so I thank you for telling me a little bit about your background. Just wanted to I've never met you before and but you're now in Dallas.

What made you decide to start a running club? Did you start running up Dallas, or how did it all happen? I don't even know, like when did you get into this?

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah. So I, I started running up March 1st of last year.

Chris Detzel: Oh, wow.

Theo Murdaugh: No. We are, we're I told we're a nonprofit startup company.

That's literally what we lost. Okay. We are a nonprofit, but started March of last year. I used to lead another run club out here for a few years. I started a chapter of that run club. And it was a really good experience. Can I not say the Run Club? 'cause I think I know what it is. It was the FT Run Club.

Okay. Yeah, exactly. So I started the FT run club the Dallas Chapter in 2020, like right before the lockdown. So

Chris Detzel: you've had some,

Theo Murdaugh: yeah. So you've had some experience doing it. Okay. A hundred percent started that right when the lockdown happened, like a week after. [00:11:00] Yeah. And I'm just like, all right we're inside, but they say we couldn't go.

We're allowed to go outside, so we're gonna start that. So I did that for a few years and and we did a really good job. We were averaging maybe around eight to a hundred runners. It was very present. We were on the news. Really good things happened, and then I wanted to transition out and do my own thing.

I saw a bigger vision for running in this space. So I started I started March 1st of this year, run it up and I kid you not Chris, in about, we average that first month anywhere between 30 and 40 ish runners. We had at the end of March going into April, I had, I did one video. At White Rock Lake in front of white Rock Lake, El House, and it was like 20 people there, and I just, it was on my knees recording them, running by me.

That video went viral, half a million. Wow. In under a week. And the next time we went out there, it went from 50 to a hundred to 200. It got so big that the landlord in that area sent us a cease and desist letter because we were taking all a Miami [00:12:00] McKinney, we're taking up all the parking lots, wow. Wow. And it blew up ever since. It blew up ever since. And I started run it up really to really answer your question. I started run it up, number one I wanted to impact the community more just outside of running. We're a nonprofit. We're a 5 0 1 C3, have the Runup Foundation.

We promote, we. Cardiovascular health, mental wellness and mental health and predominantly, black and brown communities. Yeah. Also, running is such a snobby, stuck up sport, and I really think it is, and I'm a snobby up runner. Some of our more experienced runners and runner up are stuck up runners.

I wanted to create a space. Space. Running is not intimidating. You can go to run clubs. And most run clubs, there's no big group stretch. You just kinda show up nobody. And if you're not an experienced winner, nobody's gonna really talk to you. There's no little group stretch. It's like a long route, so you're gonna get lost on the route.

And that intimidates a lot of the newer runners. I can go to any run club and go run with 'em and be perfectly fine. No problem. I don't need the problem. I don't need the warm up. I don't need all the shit that we do. I don't need none of that. I just wanna go wrong. Yeah. But 99% of the community needs community and they [00:13:00] need a structure that is inviting, that is inclusive and you wanna feel wanted and welcomed and that's what I think we were, I was able to do starting run it up, which is why it's grown so much.

Chris Detzel: So something I asked you on the pre-show and asked if it was okay and you said, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that, is I've been part of run clubs for a long time. I've run Dallas Running Club, I've run with White Rock Running Co-Op and Pegasus and other clubs like that. And one thing I've always noticed, and I've noticed this for a while and Al and thought about this, is that although there are African Americans that.

Are there, there's not that many. And maybe a couple. And I always thought, so I look around and it's we're all white. So it could be partially because, maybe they feel intimidated or whatever. And so from what I could see, when I look at your run club just on Instagram and things like that, I think, wow, man, this guy has created something amazing.

You guys are. Fucking dancing and partying and all this. Really buff people. Beautiful. Wonderful. I don't know I'm like, holy shit. Like these guys having fun and dancing. It's just, just and I [00:14:00] love that. I don't you're right. Marathon runners, half marathon runners we're pretty serious about our running.

And we're snobby about it, and I don't deny that. I don't wanna be, the last thing, if you're gonna go out and run a half marathon, right? And then somebody comes and only wants to run two or three miles. To us, we're like we gotta go run a half marathon, for training.

I'm sorry, you just so l kind of thing. And so what you've created to me is very what much needed and really awesome. I don't know what you did on getting people there how some one video just exploded, which I do Instagram all the time. I can't get anything to explode,

Theo Murdaugh: i'm still figuring out Instagram and TikTok, Chris, so you're not alone. I'm telling you, I, I don't like it. I don't like it personally. So that's why it's tough.

Chris Detzel: Oh, okay. It's a lot of stuff you have to keep posting all freaking time, and so kudos to you. So tell me more about, tell me more about that.

How did that Yeah, how do you I tell people, promote it, do things like that. What's the

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah, and honestly, when I, when we were talking earlier, all the run clubs I've ever been in a part of, were all white. It was me and a few other brothers and sisters and that's it. You know what I mean?

It was just, yeah, it wasn't a lot. And I always kinda wonder like why don't we run, like my brother ran [00:15:00] track at Ohio State, it's yeah. But it's oh, I don't wanna go out and run three, four miles. You know what I mean? It's, yeah. It's just it's, I think it for African Americans or people of color.

I think when you, when they saw, run it up. I think it gave them kind of a sense of belonging because when they walk up to run it up, there's a dj, there's music playing. It's like this family reunion, cookout, homecoming, historically black college vibe that, that resonates with a lot of us.

Yeah. When they walk up to run up like, oh, this is a party. So everybody's not being overly serious. People are actually coming up to me and saying hi and saying, good afternoon. Do you run? Yeah. Oh, they're just as naive as me about running. Okay, great. So I'm not in the space like going to Pegas.

I tell people from my group that go to Pegas, those that's, they run like they ain't no joke, ain't no group work. They're really fast. And they're really fast. There's no freaking dj. They start on time. Like it's, yeah, they're not, we do a great, they do a great job. Yeah, of course. But with us, I wanted to create a space where the African Americans will go to to predominantly white run clubs and nobody may not say anything.

Yeah. [00:16:00] Honestly, for me, it's more of people are just locked in now. That's just the culture of that group. I'm, Hey, look, I got a 15 mile day. I don't have freaking time to sit there and greet you and talk to you. Yeah. And tell you thank you so much for coming. I gotta go run 15 miles at five o'clock in the morning.

I'm not in a good mood when I gotta run that distance early in the morning, but. I think what separates Runup from these other run clubs out here is there's a very inclusive environment. It's a welcoming environment for all people of all races, all colors and things like that. But for people of color, it's wow this is the first space I've ever really seen where I feel invited, I feel welcomed.

A lot of these people aren't. Expert runners and things like that, and it just keeps people coming back. Honestly, we just create an atmosphere where, this is fun. We're gonna come out. Yeah, we're gonna go run. If you wanna be a part of our 5:30 AM training group that's run by our run captain, be a part of that group.

That group is focused lock. Then they're trading for the big races. But if you wanna come in and build community, do a little bit of cardio in an environment that you're used to and comfortable in, [00:17:00] I think that's what's separated us. We focus more on the community aspect and then we add the running as well.

Chris Detzel: What's your favorite part of that whole. Club there. For you look, you're really well known within that community and even outside of the community from a running standpoint, is it hard? I guess my question is like you being the one of the leaders or the leader, the the founder and all that stuff, is it hard to just be yourself or is it, 'cause I'm sure you have people coming up to you all the time saying stuff and Oh yeah. Absolute. So I love, what is that? Like

Theo Murdaugh: I'm an extrovert, so if nobody's talking to me, I'm offended. Like, why aren't you talking? Yeah, exactly.

Why aren't you fucking speaking to me? Talk to me, yeah. But my favorite part is just kinda watching the people, honestly. It's watching the people grow into runners, right? We have our pacers, right? Yeah. We have we average around 200, do 50 to 300 people, like Monday and Tuesday run. So we have to have our pace groups.

So we have everything from a seven, eight minute mile. All the way to a walking group. And the best part of this, and it's gonna sound very cliche and oh, I expect you to say that Theo, is, I love seeing our walkers graduate into [00:18:00] runners. I wanna see our walking group dwindle a little bit. We have, we've had walkers start at that walking group.

All of a sudden they're in a 13 minute pace group. Then from the 13 minute pace where they graduate to 11 to 12, nine to 10. And then hopefully they get to that seven plus, group. That, that's really the awesome part. 'cause there, there are people that wanna come out there. Look, I wanna go run my first 5K.

How do I do this? I wanna run my first K There. We have people in the group that don't understand how race day works. What does packet pickup? What do these bibs do? Yeah. Like we, we have that. And I love that because we can train a new group of people to get into something that they never thought they'd get in or show.

And it then at the end of the day, it helps build community. A lot of these people are coming up through the trenches with each other. Yeah, I was a walker with so and here. We band it together. Then I told them, you know what? Give us a month. We're gonna be in that 13 group. Then they're in that 13 group and now they're all friends and hanging out.

Now they're inspired to go run a 5K and then they tell their other friends about it and that's literally how we have grown. It's a very crawl before you walk group. And we have [00:19:00] transitioned people into. Accounts to 5K people program had 40 plus people. A lot of these people now are getting to run their 10 k and there's a good handful that are now getting ready that are preparing to run the BMW half.

So it's the inclusivity of a group that's really helped us grow.

Chris Detzel: Something that you said that is so interesting to me, and I was thinking about this the other day, so I forgot who he was, who I was talking to, but is that some people don't even know anything about. Packet pickup or just your basics of whenever they sign up for a race, they wouldn't know.

Like you sign up for a 5K, 10 k, half marathon, marathon, whatever. There's this whole. Day before the race. You know that, especially at like Dallas, BMW Dallas, you go pick up your packet, you go do all these things. But that, they don't even know how would they know? They never done it before.

Oh, a packet, no, you can't go on race day and do it. You have to go the day before the race and pick it up. What, I didn't know that We dream of, I'm telling,

Theo Murdaugh: you'd be so surprised. W when we ran, like we ran Hot Trot not too long ago and amped as well, and some people literally were coming over to us like our new runners.

[00:20:00] So like thinking it's our race, so what's the route like or how did you guys design this? I said no. We're guests here. We didn't organize any of this. Like we are, know, you think it's common knowledge, but to the not average runner. That's a foreign territory, but we've been very patient and we have developed people into understanding the process of running, the process of what packet pickup looks like and the process of what it's like going to these races and we've really created some really good virus from that.

Chris Detzel: Now do you guys have, so it is running up Dallas, so is there other run it ups across the. Us or Metroplex or it was

Theo Murdaugh: just us. No, people always ask me like, Hey, should you should start a Fort Worth chapter or a san Diego chapter or whatever else. I haven't been into that. 'Cause number one, it's a lot of work and it's hard to, yeah.

Find people that really wanna put in the time. This thing is taken on my freaking life. Yeah. And I love that, but it still takes over your life. Yeah. So we, we don't really, we're, I'm probably not in a space of being able to do that. What we normally do is try to take it on the road and go to [00:21:00] different cities and run at different cities like we're going to Detroit or we're gonna start hosting runs to different cities across the country and things like that.

So we're trying to bring the Runup experience all over the place, collaborating with other run clubs as well, to do that. I think that's true in the near future, but starting chapters across the country. It's a lot of work. People don't do shit. So I do that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. What does running up look like?

From a group standpoint, like when you think about who runs what is, what is the, I'm into business stuff sometimes, so I'm just curious, what does that look like?

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah, so we, I have 15 people on my team. All women, and they do a really good job. So we have run it up Dallas and we have the Run It Up foundation, so I got a program manager on, the Run it Up foundation side, a marketing director that handles both of the foundation and run it up Dallas on the running side. I have a run captain Cornett Mosley. She does all of our training. We have ambassadors, we have somebody that's over the Pacers.

I have a data analyst that tracks wrong because we write a lot of grants. So we like to track a lot of the data [00:22:00] and where people are coming from so we can input that data for our grants. I got a program manager. I got three girls, so smart that run my social media page now, marketing director, social media manager, a.

She's gonna get mad. I forgot her title. And content Creator Manager, so we got that. And then again, I got a director of program management. And then I have two other girls that work under her on the foundation side where we do health clinics and we do like mental health seminars. We have a financial wellness seminar with Chase Bank coming up as well.

And then I got a director of program partnerships as well. So she oversees a lot of the run operations. So it's a well-oiled machine. It's very organized. Yeah. Structured I could use like 20 more people. But sure it's it's really good and it's very organized. Now is this as well?

Chris Detzel: Yeah, it's a machine man. Just in one year. Just in a year or a little over a year, you've created a monster man. And and organized it very well. So that's pretty impressive. And is this basically your full-time job now? Is that what you do is No,

Theo Murdaugh: it

Chris Detzel: is not my full time

Theo Murdaugh: [00:23:00] job. Like I said, I've been in the automotive sector for 15 years in corporate America.

Yeah. Most recently was with Nissan. Worked with General Motors. And you know what, during my time with Nissan, I was back and forth between here and Oklahoma. A lot. A lot. I was traveling for national meetings all over the place and it was just, it was, when running up really started blowing up.

It's man, I really want to. Start, pouring in to run it up. But I got my daytime job as well. I took a, a smaller role with a smaller company. Okay. I can balance the two. So I work for another automotive company. I meet with dealerships, I talk to owners and executive managers and help them drive.

Business back into the dealer in the retail space. Okay. So I'm a sales guy, if you can't tell. Yeah I'm a sales guy, 100%. Wow. But it's a great gig. It's called Cars Direct. Great Company based out of El Segundo, which is, in the suburb of la I was just out in LA for work last week as well.

Running in 70 degree weather with no humidity off the ocean. It's pretty nice. Good. But yeah. But yeah I manage, I do both and it's you don't, there's not enough time in the day, but the [00:24:00] girls on my team really take a lot of stuff off my plate where I'm not like pulling my hair out.

Chris Detzel: I love it, man. You figure out a way to balance it as best you can and that's really cool. Does, so you mentioned Grant, so I'm just curious 'cause I don't know, like when you mentioned grants and stuff, is that how runup makes money to really do some of these things?

What's the.

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah. So our foundation side, like I said we host a lot of health clinics. Like we have some, yeah, some coming up in October. We did a mental health awareness seminar and we do financial stuff as well, cardiovascular screenings, all that stuff. And there's a lot of health and wellness grants available, microgrants for startup non-profits and things of that nature.

So I always have my data analysts carve up some data over the last quarter or even last year to show year over year growth, month over month growth. What county are people coming from, or most of our audience either coming from under service communities or highly serviced communities. And again we're here to fight cardiovascular health in black and brown communities.

In the black community in particular, high blood pressure runs rampant heart disease. A lot of people are pre, [00:25:00] pre-hypertension. We partner with the Black Heart Association. So at our races we have Black Heart come out and they do free health screenings. To see if you're on track to have a heart attack or you have issues or and your family.

Oh yeah. Like it's for real. So there's a lot of of grant dollars available to, to fund initiatives like that. Some we get approved for, some we get denied for. The grant cycle is is a, you just keep pushing, just keep pushing every grant that comes up. Even if we don't apply, even if we don't qualify, guess what Chris fucking apply to me?

Apply. I don't care.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Theo Murdaugh: So that's where, and again I, we just actually finished the children's program. Organ National organization called lulac. We, we did a program with them. They're tied to the Upward Bound program, first generation college students, and we did a health five week health and wellness program for them as well.

We do a lot of stuff just outside of running, which is why I wanted to start running up to really impact. The community outside of running, especially the under service communities here in Dallas as well.

Chris Detzel: How did you I wanna go back to the growth thing. I'm just so amazed that you grew so fast, but you [00:26:00] created this whole entire kind of ecosystem of, hey, I it's me, and then all these other people, these 14 other people, or however many you said to really help run it.

How'd you figure that out so fast? What were you, was it like, okay, I need somebody to do this. I need somebody to do, oh my God. And then just. You just get 'em all and say, Hey, you're a marketing director. You're this, you're that. And then you know, this is how it's gonna work. What's, what is that like?

So quickly. No, I,

Theo Murdaugh: last year was, I told people last year was our, it was just, it was stressful. It was fun. Yeah. It was hell. Last year was hell and. Growth is great, but growth can hit you in the face and it can hurt really bad. It's just as fast

Chris Detzel: as you guys grew and it hit me

Theo Murdaugh: in the fricking face. So I, it was me and another girl, Akia, who's our director of Partnerships and Logistics.

Yeah. And I remember we were managing the Run, it was just us two managing the runs at Katy Trail. And I remember one day, I think we had around a hundred seventy five, two hundred people. On Katy Trail on the back end where American Airlines is at, where local tap table's at, and I'm just like, I'm looking around and it's just me and her and she's this tall, she's little.

I'm just like, you [00:27:00] know what? I need some juice. I need some people. Yeah. So I reached out to some people who I either knew from GFT or people who just deal with me in the run space for a while, but it took me probably a year to build this team. Sure. We ended up having seven total people last year, which wasn't enough.

People. But the good thing about my team is I met a few of them at some events. I saw them work at some events. Like Maya for example, she's our marketing director. I saw her working event that I was at. I'm like, God, you are really talented and you're directing people. My director my program director for the Runup, my audacious side, she was at that same event.

I'm like, you are really good with program management. You got us all in the right places. What are you guys thinking about working for Ronal? And the good thing about having ladies on your team, they'll pick holes to your organization. Yeah. Stuff that you even see. And I was able to build a team, honestly, just by asking and saying, look, I'm a startup company, I can pay you what I could pay you.

Yeah. I can't pay you rent or your mortgage right now, but we're gonna get there. But here's the business plan. Here's why I expect to be in five years. Here's the growth engine. Here's where we make our money, here's where [00:28:00] our opportunities are, here's what. I'm gonna do it in the next five years.

This is what we're gonna be. And I tell people we are a startup nonprofit, and that is not the sexiest thing in the world. That is slow growth, low money. And if you are not here for the grind, I get it. But I think a lot of them understood the vision. They understood what I wanted to do. And you know this, and when you have a team and you build a team, you have to sell them your vision.

You have to sell your team. Yeah. Yeah. And if you're not selling your team every day. And they don't see a clear vision or a means to an end, then you're done. It's over and you'll lose people. And we've lost people along the way, sure. We've lost some people, but the people that we lost, we, I really gained some good ones after them.

But I, I met these people along the way. Some knew me from my old long club, some knew me from events that we both were at. I'm like, I think you're great. I just wanna have a quick phone call with you. And a lot of them are like let's do this thing. So it's been a blessing.

Chris Detzel: So let's get into the Running Start stuff.

So the big core group is folks that come in to run a couple of miles. Is that how that works? What that, tell me about that. What so you guys meet [00:29:00] on Monday and Tuesday or Wednesdays.

Theo Murdaugh: So we meet every other Monday at Trinity Groves. Okay. By the long Kirk Bridge for two mile Tuesday. Then every other Tuesday in deep Bellam at Canvas Fort.

Two mile Tuesday. So we go, if we're not running that Monday, we're gonna run that Tuesday and so forth. Okay. Our training group actually gets out there at five 30 in the morning and everybody's on, I run the captain. She creates some really good training plans. So they'll have their days where somebody's doing 17, somebody's doing 18, somebody's got 10.

Everybody's training for d That's like your race team. Those are the people that are like, Hey I'm here to run an ultra. I'm here to run a half or a full. But then, they start at five 30. Then the main group. Comes at 7:30 AM fair Oaks Park, which is just on the outside of White Rock Lake.

They do anywhere between two and six miles and then Sundays. But say of Houston Trail Park, that's more of our easy pace zone to recovery. Yeah. Run anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes. And that's every Sunday with the main group. So I tell people, if you wanna get intentional with your running, join our training group.

[00:30:00] We have beginner 5K plans, beginner 10 K plans. We have advanced marathon, half marathon plans. But if you wanna come out and like a lot of people will train it for high rocks now, which is all over the place. Some of the big meatheads, meathead girl, guys and girls. Yeah, that's right. They're like, Theo, I gotta come out here 'cause I need to do three miles today.

Boom. And they come out with our social group.

Chris Detzel: By the way, that's, there's a lot of people I see on the Instas, oh yeah. As these big buff dudes and really great looking people.

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah. You know what's so funny though? Beautiful

Chris Detzel: people by the way, I tell people,

Theo Murdaugh: don't let the muscle heads fool you.

A lot of them run and they're good runners, but once they pass those cameras about half a mile they're sucking wind. That's right. I tell 'em, just 'cause you got a bunch of muscles don't make you a good run.

Chris Detzel: As a matter of fact, the more muscles you have, the harder it is to run longer versus slow anyways.

Yeah, exactly. So that's just the reality, like the more weight you have to carry and muscle is gonna be. A little bit heavier than fat. Agreed. These guys are, I'm not saying that there's not some good runners out there that can't do that are muscular, but they're gonna have a lot harder time, and generally I'll pass right by it.

Exactly.

Theo Murdaugh: That's, oh, it's easy to beat them. [00:31:00] They're, they don't wanna run with me, but a lot of them are doing a lot better and they're more intentional and a lot of the muscle people are like, Hey, I wanna run BMW, I've never heard of it. I'm not really familiar. It's you never heard of BMW I'm telling you, the group that we have, some people I think I've heard of that, is that big race downtown during Christmas.

I'm like, you know what? Close enough. So it's but we plan on having a really big number for BMW. We're gonna have, I'll be there. I'll do the half.

Chris Detzel: So

Theo Murdaugh: yeah, come see us. We're gonna be out there for Be loud. It's gonna be a lot of fun, lot, a lot of fun.

Chris Detzel: Don't worry. I will, I'll be a Sunday. Yeah.

I don't think I'll be there 5K or 10 K. Yeah. But I'm thinking about coming out, so I'm gonna at least come out to one of your runs just to say hello and things like that. Be fun. Couple questions as you mentioned, training plans and stuff like that. Is this kind of a, is it free or do, is it, do people have to pay for that?

What's, what does that look like?

Theo Murdaugh: 100% free on TikTok. On TikTok, they'll tell you that we're not free, which I don't know where the hell they got that information from, but we're a hundred percent free. Training plans are free. Everything we do really is free outside of some events and things like that.

Sure. That come with a [00:32:00] budgeted cost and things of that nature. Cornetta does a great job building those training plans. There's track workouts, interval workouts. Yeah. There's endurance runs. There's some days like tomorrow I got a 12 mile easy pace run. Then we have some runs where it's, it's and long distance interval trainings.

So it's a really good training play. And what I love about her plans is we have beginner, intermediate in advance, right? Yeah. So nobody's excluded. Those plans are free. We have a group me that is just for the people that are essentially training for those races. So it's good to get away from that main group and you can talk to our ambassadors.

Yeah. Who are all really good runners. You can talk to our run captain and it helps you with your intentions on running and your stupid questions maybe that you may be scared to ask people about what running shoes should you wear or how do you get fitted for shoes? What's that process like?

Or how do I train for a 5K or all this? That's all normal.

Chris Detzel: Those are all normal questions, they're very normal. Not that many dumb questions about running. You don't. You don't know what you don't know. And some of them

Theo Murdaugh: are very ter scared and the reason why I said stupid questions, 'cause they'll come yeah, I got a dumb question.

What run shoe should I get? [00:33:00] That's not a dumb question. There's some running shoes. Depends. That are good for me. Others, I'm an Asics guy. I love Asics. I can't wear hocus, hocus hurt my feet. I told the Hoka reps that like every running shoe was di for every person, but it's a, do you know Carlos, the Hoka guy?

Is that, I've known Carlos for, I've known Carlos for a very long time. He actually give him to one of my runs last year. That's my guy. Carlos is good. He's good. I know Carl for a long Yeah,

Chris Detzel: He's been around for a long time and it's been around the running community for a long time, so absolutely real.

Really good dude. Really good dude. He's done a great job of his social networking too. Yeah, he a huge, he probably, he's been doing it forever, so I'm say

Theo Murdaugh: he has a big following. Big. It's pretty crazy. The thing is, his posts are very funny. Like it's always some, he's always the comedic value behind Carlos's host.

Now he's, I don't get to talk to him as much as I used to, but he's I've known him for at least think. God, three, four years. It's probably a little more than that.

Chris Detzel: So you guys have Dallas, DMDW Dallas, are they, are most people gonna run the five and 10 K or is there some folks doing the half and full or anything like that you know of?

Or what's the We have a

Theo Murdaugh: nice mix. 50% are doing the half full and some are doing the Ultra. [00:34:00] And then we have a lot of people doing the, obviously the five and K. Yeah. A lot of people were like, Theo, I've ran four 10 Ks with you guys this year. It's time for a half. It's time for my first half.

Beautiful. We have a lot of people training. We have a big training plan that we're gonna post on Instagram for people that are new to running that wanna run. Yeah, I told people I think the marathon's already sold out. So if you're looking do a marathon, it's, I think that's already, I think that's Tap better

Chris Detzel: hurry and do the half right.

I tell people

Theo Murdaugh: like, get on it quick. This is like running in super expensive

Chris Detzel: too. God, it's

Theo Murdaugh: Very pricey. But yeah, we're gonna have a training plan coming out on Instagram in the next few weeks for newer runners. If you wanna run your first marathon or half, even if you missed a deadline, still come out and train.

Chevron and Houston's coming up, I think in January, could always go down and run that, which I've ran the marathon for that before. And, jump in. I want people that got sit there. Our run this morning, step outta your comfort zone. Running is scary. Running is timid. It's still hard for me after all these years, but at the end of the day, you have the people, you have the training plans to get you through these races.

We also have some run clubs coming to visit us as well. So we're gonna be hosting [00:35:00] about three or four different run clubs across like. Six Cross country. Yeah. Across the country. Six Run Outta Nashville is coming down. I think Peace Runners outta Chicago is gonna come down as well. So we're gonna do a big shakeout run Saturday morning with that group.

That's great, dude. We're gonna, we're gonna have a big party and it's BW is like a end of the year celebration run for

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Theo Murdaugh: for us. So we wanna make it special for people. It's a lot of people's first. If K 10, K half. Full ultra. And we wanna make it really special for everybody. So I have a lot planned.

I love it for the weekend, for that, for those events. So

Chris Detzel: that's pretty awesome, man. I really like that a lot because, if I think about it, so my wife has run mini marathons and she's run 12 Boston marathons and this last, so I don't really run marathons. Yeah. And so I get to go out to Boston with her and now run the 5K, but I'll get to and doing this podcast over the last year.

So I've just started back in October. They have a shakeout run the day before, right? Pegasus is there, there's other running groups there that, and so I get to run with them, get to hang out with [00:36:00] them. I've interviewed a bunch of 'em and things like that. And so every year now, I can't wait to I tell my wife like, you gotta keep going to Boston.

I've got my pe I've got my own thing now going on. So that's awesome. 12 times in Boston

Theo Murdaugh: is on that status. That's called, here's your invite, come run in Boston. I love that. Yeah, that's

Chris Detzel: exactly what happened. But the point is like what you're doing is the same experience that, I'm getting or my wife's getting, or others that are just coming down to Boston to do these things.

You're doing this right in Dallas, wow. And so a lot of times I see like in, in some of our running groups, hey, just sign up for this thing. And you just you, you might know two or three, four people that you're doing it with and maybe the group's doing, but it's never. The together piece.

And what you're doing is you're doing normal things. This is what we've used to do in the past. But everybody wants the community piece, man. Absolutely. And you're doing the community piece and you're making it feel very like welcoming and people want that, my friend and we're, we just know each other and we all hang out.

You're creating this amazing experience, right? That that I feel like some of these running [00:37:00] groups have got away with, away from, I'm not saying that these running groups don't, they don't have friends and stuff, but they're not. The bonding piece is the key at the end of the day. And I think that's what you're creating and it's awesome.

I love it. I

Theo Murdaugh: appreciate that. Like when we go to races, like we put together a whole itinerary for the people that are running. So we had, yeah, hot trot. We had 80 plus runners, we won biggest team, 80 plus runners. We had our tent out there, our music, our speakers. We had alcohol for people for after the race.

Awesome. Come by our tent, drop your stuff off. Let's we're mobbing together, like we're banding together. Yeah. We led the warmup. As well. So we, like you said, like I think a lot, and I'm not knocking other run groups at all because I've been run groups How, not either, but I think me too, that the community piece, all run leaders.

Can do a better job of just let's get people together. We can still have a serious 20 mile run day and trade for races and be tough and stuff like that. But running is already snobby enough. It's already it's an individual sport, in my opinion. Yeah, of course. It's an in, it's an individual sport course, but if you wanna tap into [00:38:00] the brand new runner, which is the 99% Tim versus that 1%, you gotta, I'm not trying to say coddle, but you have to put your arms around these people and be like, Hey, look, you don't know what a 5K is, you.

It drives me nuts when somebody says it's a 5K marathon. I hate when somebody says that drives me crazy. But they don't know. So you've gotta put your hands around these people and be like, look, this is what, how long is a 5K? All that stuff. So we just try to make it inclusive and fun and not intimidating and we just want it to be a vibe.

You can be a serious runner. You can run a marathon and do a two step afterwards. Who cares? We're just trying to, we're just trying to kick it, and I think that's why we've been able to get so many people out. 'cause you leave and you feel like you went to a party.

You made a new frame. Yeah. Or you. Or you. Or you.

Chris Detzel: All that stuff. If you can see it on your Instagram. Oh yeah. Sounds a running up Instagram. It's party

Theo Murdaugh: every T like, and I tell people if you're, because Monday's and Tuesdays can be very overwhelming for some people. More your Sure. So I tell people if you want something a little bit more laid back from running it up Saturday runs, get around.

80 to a hundred people. Sundays, anywhere [00:39:00] between 50 and 60. So if you need something more chill, the weekend runs are a little bit more like, all right. I can, I feel this is good. Mondays and Tuesdays are just like. It's gonna, the club man, it's just loud and everybody's doing everything.

It's only two miles. There's a pick of the litter for everybody.

Chris Detzel: So Monday, Tuesdays is, then, I assume it's at night. And that's maybe people wanna come is they get off work and they can chill with people. Not chill, but run with people. And so the Saturday and Sundays are the.

Hardcore stuff, and you're getting a little less because and the, and you probably know this, but in the, let's just say the running groups that are doing the longer distances, Saturday is the big groups, right? Because they've got 13 miles or 10, they get the longer miles Sunday is not, it's kinda the same, and but I do wonder, maybe that's the key is to, if you are starting running groups and things like that, is have a Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever night, Monday. And have it less miles, three miles, two miles, whatever. Exactly. And it's just more there to hang out, get a little bit of running in and sweat in and [00:40:00] go party, have some food and drinks and whatever afterwards.

Theo Murdaugh: Exactly.

I love it. That went on Tuesdays. Now they come on Saturdays. Now they come on Sundays. Now they joined our Cal of 5K program. Use those freaking Monday, Tuesday your weekday runs as your recruiting tool to get people to run those longer distance Saturdays. It's

Chris Detzel: a funnel like I see what you're trying to do.

And I think it's excellent. You get those beginner runners, and doing it for a little while, right? And then following 'em into Saturday and Sundays to do a little bit longer, and just. Let's, if they want the sound, nice little, Hey, come out. Come out and just do some small stuff, [00:41:00] for Tuesday and Wednesday and get to know some people.

But then if you wanna do some longer stuff, we have training plans, we have people there that will get you through the longer stuff and let's, do that. I love it. So when you look at the future, I only got a few more questions, I promise, but No, you're good on. What does the future look like for run it up, as you look from the rest of this year into next year and maybe even to a few years out?

Theo Murdaugh: Yeah. We're gonna take the show on the road. Our goal with Run it Up is to do races across the country, races on historically black college campuses. A lot of HBCUs are underfunded and things of that nature. So we want to come out, raise awareness to whatever causes they got going on and get people moving their bodies.

So we're actually gonna do a run at Paul Quinn College for their homecoming in South Dallas that Saturday, I think it's November 1st or second, whatever that Saturday is. We're gonna do a run, 5K run, but also we're going to do what we call the pitch. We're gonna have a lot of their college students put together.

We're gonna put together a case study for them on. Vascular health in the black community in Dallas and why is it like that versus other communities? And [00:42:00] put together a case study for us. Present that case study to myself and I'm not a health professional, but some other health professionals and the winner gets a thousand dollars from us.

Yes. Some of our sponsors. So we plan on doing that across the country to raise awareness for heart disease and just overall cardiovascular health and things of that nature. That's the big picture with one another. We wanna take the show on the road. We wanna hit college campuses. We wanna really spread our message and really help our people understand the importance of just moving your body and breaking those cycles of poor health.

And I think we're doing a good job of getting closer to that mission.

Chris Detzel: I love that you have a vision for running up. And that's just what it's gonna make it to be successful. Correct. Is a great vision like that. And it, and I think it's solid, man.

I love it, dude. That's pretty awesome

Theo Murdaugh: man. And we also, plan on hosting bi-monthly health clinics. For people with no insurance and yeah, quarterly mental health seminars, quarterly financial wellness seminars and things like that. So that, and we wanna do that across the country. We wanna put together [00:43:00] wellness walks and things like that.

So all of that is in the, I need a staff of about 150 more people, payroll's high with 15, but, but that's the big picture as well. So I wanted to make sure I mentioned that. Is

Chris Detzel: there. So is there anything that I missed that you're like, Chris, we should have covered this, and this.

You just didn't ask, or whatever. As you think about kind of the things we did cover,

Theo Murdaugh: and I think, like I said I appreciate you, having me on and things of that nature. And again, with running up, people, Liz is as a dating club or Liz, is that Oh, they don't really run or they're full of shit.

Not our, it's not the case. Our run captain just had a 18 mile day yesterday. We had. Plus people, we got 30 plus going to Detroit to run the Detroit International half. I'll be up there as well. Four or five miles goes through Canada. It's a really great race. I ran it a few years ago.

We, we got five people in Sydney running the Sydney Marathon. Awesome. As well, we got a guy getting ready to go to Berlin. We got people doing New York. Like we got people doing Chicago. So we have people that are running Yeah. And are running majors, and then we got over 80 people [00:44:00] training for BMW and we're probably gonna double that number once we put it on Instagram.

So I think our, my message to be on this platform is that we run, we have fun. We kick it we do it. We're a little bit louder than most run clubs, obviously. That's true. True. But at the end of the day, we're here to run. I love it. We're gonna keep making noise. We got to. Yeah. I gotta wake the other run clubs up.

Be like, look, if y'all gonna be quiet, I'm gonna be fucking loud.

Chris Detzel: I love it. I think that, look, you mentioned something about the dating thing or whatever. I think that. Look, I met my wife at a running club d Dallas running club, so you know what? Who cares exactly. It is what it is, you got people that are gonna meet and maybe they get married or hook up, I don't know, whatever is it that they do.

Yeah, you don't control that, but you have a platform that's healthy and that's providing something that is gonna help them be healthier over long time. And if they wanna find somebody to date. Good. Do it while running. Who gives a shit? You know what I mean? Like

Theo Murdaugh: I, we had a company get engaged last year at Hot Trot.

Perfect. Yeah. After he placed first in his age group. I think [00:45:00] first overall he popped the question, yeah. And Amp played

Chris Detzel: that

Theo Murdaugh: video all over

Chris Detzel: their

Theo Murdaugh: soul. It's

Chris Detzel: fuck. Yeah, I would too. You're just being, they're just being smart, I would do the same. Look, Theo, this has been amazing and look, I appreciate it.

What you're doing to me is amazing. And I think that it's needed within the black community and it is really cool to see that somebody stepped up and made it happen, and you did it, and now the team's doing it, and you've created something just ridiculously big, but very organized and very focused.

And I, and I. And you have a great vision. I think that I appreciate it. I wish you nothing but success.

Theo Murdaugh: No, thank you so much. I appreciate the QII tell you, I'm from Ohio, I'm not from Texas. I'm the Dallas community has shown up for me. They've shown up for my team, the girls on my team.

Yeah, absolutely amazing. The structure's been really good and it's been a blessing. If I had to say one word, it's been an absolute blessing doing this and we're gonna continue to do this. We're just gonna continue to have fun and run and play loud music in two step and come see us. Chris, come on out man.

Come on. I will for sure, buddy. It's your time. Come [00:46:00] on out, brother.

Chris Detzel: Okay, I'll, you got me excited. Thanks everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. Don't forget to rate and review us and go to our substack, so dfw running.substack.com and look at all the things that have been written and subscribe to the email.

Theo, thank you so much for coming. Thanks, man. I appreciate it, brother. Bye. bye-Bye, dude, that.