Long Run 270 - Micki Colson, Chad Colson and the Shawnee Hills 100

Scotty (0:01)

All right, you guys, it's gonna be a long run episode of me and Micki and Chad Colson, also known as the Colsons. They are photographers extraordinaire and also race directors of the Shawnee Hills 100 Which of you have been listening to the show, I always use as an example of a race that, you know, is stuck in this kind of, can't get all the people to come because it's not a qualifier, can't be a qualifier because it doesn't know how the people come. And it's a perfectly great race that a lot of people would love to do. So, we're putting our money where our mouth is next year, so to speak, and we're going to go do a aid station at the Shawnee Hills 100, which the idea happens during this podcast, I think. So, they're really nice people. We learned a lot about race photography business. We learned a lot about the race directing business. And they're just, we had a really good time. And I think you're going to enjoy getting to know them. So, here we go.

You can still register to Dots until Wednesday, but that's it. Last dot standing. It's like, who doesn't want 1,500 bucks?

Could be fun. Anyway, I'm excited because I get to hang out with you. It's the one race where I actually feel like I get to hang out. We're going to have so much fun.

Perfect. I'm easy going on the audio. Nobody really cares. I mean, the kind of people who listen to this don't care. They're like, they care more about the content than anything else. Sure. So do you guys understand and know why it is that I wanted to interview you?

Micki Colson (1:32)

You said something about wanting to know more about Shiny Hills.

Scotty (1:36)

Do you know why I want to know more about Shiny Hills?

Micki Colson (1:39)

I guess it's Lauren.

Scotty (1:41)

Oh, that's a good guess. It's not the right answer, but it's a good guess. So I am constantly bitching about...

Bitching is probably a bad word, but I complain about the fact that the way that the system is set up, it's such that the big races are the Western States qualifiers, and that to be a Western States qualifier, you have to be a big race. So if you get a person like, let's say that I can only do like 100 a year and I can't travel all over the world or whatever, I'll probably pick Cattle Marine or Tunnel Hill because it's a qualifier and I want to do a qualifier. But what that does is it picks winners and losers and fucks races. And the race I always, always, always use as an example is Shawnee Hills 100 I'm like, so take like, for example, the Shawnee Hills 100, you know, which looks like a really good race and a really fun time, you know, unless someone can go to multiple hundreds, you know, and they have to have a qualifier, they're not going to go to it and they're not going to it just because they need a qualifier, which is kind of dumb. So anyway, I might have said that whole thing and used Shawnee Hills as my example, like 50 times.

Micki Colson (2:51)

I thought I might have heard that. Somebody sent it to me.

Scotty (2:54)

All the time I say it. It's like my go-to example.

And then it dawns on me, I don't really know that much about Shawnee Hills, you know, like I don't know anything. And then seeing you and all that, I'm just like, wow, we got to get these guys on the podcast so we can learn more about them, learn more about the race and all that kind of stuff. But, Lauren Hill is a, or Lauren, not Lauren Hill, Lauren Duncan is a really good thing to mention because before we say anything, Lauren Duncan, not this year, this year, everybody's busy. Next year, Lauren Duncan and me are willing to co-chair an aid station if you need us.

Micki Colson (3:32)

Shut the prime door, that's the best news ever.

Scotty (3:35)

We're gonna take the whole Ten Junk Miles, you know, whatever we do, the dog and pony show down there. We're gonna put on a fucking kick ass aid station for you guys. If you need it, you're not obligated to do it. We could do something else if you'd rather have us do a similar job.

Micki Colson (3:49)

There's literally a spot on the course that we're like, man, we'd really like to add one more aid station if we could find the right people.

Scotty (3:55)