March 24, 2025 • 14 mins
Hey Running Friends!
The Boston Run Show has transformed into an extraordinary event combining running with outdoor adventure at the massive Boston Convention Center. It featured running legends like Des Linden, Meb Keflezighi, and Laz Lake alongside innovative gear and community activities.
Give this episode a listen, and plan NOW to be there for next year. Those of us who are ambassadors just found out it will be held at The Royal Plaza Trade Center on February 28-March 1, 2026. This change of venue will allow for a better vendor experience, free parking and an outdoor space. The event space is 30 miles outside Boston in Marlborough, MA.
Make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter and following me on social media for free tickets to next year's show, which I give away from September right up to the event weekend.
Resources from the Episode:
Run Buddy - app for personal safety
Kickr Treadmill - allows you to run without "help", the deck will respond to your pace for a more realistic experience
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
I am also a Personal Trainer, and offer virtual training as well, in addition to Nutrition Coaching.
Find my additional outlets over at the YouTube channel and at wrinkledrunner.com. Sign up over on the blog for the once-a-month newsletter! If you would like information on utilizing a running coach, check out what I can do for you here.
If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to sherry@wrinkledrunner.com…I answer every one.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A few weeks ago I was an ambassador to the Boston Run
Show, which is an expo andconvention for runners.
This year it was combined withthe Outdoors Show, which turned
out to be a really cool thingbecause we had so many people
there and this show just keepsgrowing and growing, and so this
year we had to move to theactual Boston Convention Center,
(00:21):
where before it was at theHeinz Convention center in
Boston still, but that was asmaller venue, that.
So this is the the big venueand it is enormous, like we
actually, when we went in thefront doors a guy came and took
us by those little go-kart kindof things, golf cart II kind of
things, through the wholeconvention center back to where
(00:43):
our space was, because it isjust an enormous place.
So in doing this episode I amtrying to encourage you to put
this on your radar for next year.
I don't know the dates yet, butthis year was phenomenal.
I've been an ambassador sincethe beginning and this is year
three that they've been puttingthis on and it's so much fun
(01:03):
because you get to connect withrunners, you can meet brands
that are shaping the future ofthe sport, in addition to the
brands that we all know and havebeen associated with for a long
time.
It's also a great place to seesome really incredible new gear,
and this year we had some hugerunning legends in attendance,
which included Des Linden, mebka, flesky, laz Lake and Tina Muir
(01:30):
.
So before we even get to theexpo, I'm based in Buffalo and
so we decided to drive to Boston.
It's about six and a half hourdrive and I love road trips and
I'm getting ready today toactually go on a 12 hour one,
but we're going to stop aftersix hours and spend the night,
but Dave the hubs, he hates them.
(01:50):
So I try to keep him occupiedwith podcasts about things that
interest him, like beer Shoutout to the beerists and I also
hook up stand up comedy.
And if you like stand up comedy, I am really into Zoltan Kazas.
Right now I can't I don't knowif I'm butchering his last name
or not Nate Bargetzi.
So that passes a lot of timetoo.
(02:12):
So if you go on a road tripjust side note you know you can
hook up like Netflix or whateverYouTube and stand-up comedians,
and that can pass the time awayreally well.
Now, if it was just me going,I'd be listening to other
running podcasts and personaltraining ones, since I also do
that, but not with Dave in thecar.
He likes to run with me and hedoes it as exercise, but he does
(02:34):
not want to be reminded of itotherwise.
So we drove there and the momentwe arrived at the venue it was
so great to be to feel thatenergy again.
And both mornings of the runshow they had runs planned,
which is different than in otheryears, so some of us were there
very early getting ready to goon some runs before the actual
(02:58):
run show.
So as an ambassador, I had thechance to help out in the
mornings and I got to hand outmerchandise to the runners who
were waiting in line to get in.
They give out a ton of freestuff at this convention Little
things like keychains and waterbottles, two t-shirts.
There were some really coolbottle openers, gift cards to
(03:18):
some of the vendors.
Also, in some of the workshopsinside they were giving away
like $50 gift cards to some ofthe vendors that were there.
So it was a lot of fun beingable to meet runners as they
were going to be going into theshow and they just loved getting
some of this merchandise andsome of them got like almost
everything, because they werethere early enough, so they were
(03:39):
getting the water bottles andthe bottle openers and just
everything.
But those little things reallyset the tone for the day because
everyone is super excited andwhat they also do is they have
the speakers come out right inthe beginning and kind of have a
little like a selfie picturetaken and introducing like Des
Linden was there on the secondday opening the show before
(04:01):
everybody was let in.
So it's kind of an excitingthing to to be around so many
people who just love running andwho knew who she was before we
even got into the expo itself.
So when Des Linden spoke, Iwould say she definitely stole
the show.
Her session was absolutelypacked and she spoke like 15
(04:22):
minutes after the show openedand because I was doing some
filming for the show, I didn'tget there until I don't know,
maybe 10 minutes, five minutesafter the show opened, but
already every seat was taken.
There were people sitting onthe ground along the sides of
the walls.
Her session was just jam-packedbefore the time that she was
(04:46):
even going to be on.
But she is a very engagingspeaker and she talked about her
journey to winning Boston in2018, and that was one of the
most brutal weather days in thehistory of the race.
It was cold, it was windy, itwas pouring rain, and she
powered through and made history.
(05:06):
What stood out to me, though,was how genuine and relatable
she was.
She shared stories and, youknow, she gave some insight into
what it means to go inside themind of an elite runner, but
she's also very, very relatable.
So one fact about Dess is shelives in Charlevoix, michigan,
(05:28):
which is where some dear friendsof ours lives.
Shout out to Chuck andElizabeth, and they own the View
Wine Bar, which is on LakeMichigan.
They own the View Wine Bar,which is on Lake Michigan, and
so, being there and watching herand wondering like I wanted to
talk to her after she spoke tosee if she had ever been to the
View Wine Bar, because I knowshe likes her beer and she likes
(05:49):
her whiskey, but there was justthere were too many people.
There was no way I was going toget anywhere near her because
so many people wanted to talk toher.
But if you ever go toCharlevoix and you see Dess
running, you can also go to theView Wine Bar and say hello to
Chuck and Elizabeth if they'rethere.
We also had Tina Muir there,who was a former elite runner
(06:09):
and she right now is an advocatefor sustainable running.
Also, laz Lake, and he's themastermind behind the Barkley
Marathons.
This is the one that hardlyanybody finished I want to say
in 2024, it was the first yearthat a woman finished, so he
spoke there as well.
Meb spoke he's an Olympicmedalist, boston Marathon
(06:31):
champion, I believe he also wonNew York City Marathon.
So we had a lot of really,really good speakers there.
One of the unique events that Igot to participate in was a
plogging run, and that was withTina Muir, and if you've never
heard of plogging, it's a mix ofrunning and cleaning up.
(06:51):
Basically, you take a garbagebag with you and as you're
running, you obviously have tostop and bend over, and as
you're running, you obviouslyhave to stop and bend over.
So this isn't going to be on avery fast run, but you run and
you pick up garbage along theway as you're running, and I'm
going to be doing a full episodeon this in the future, but it's
what stood out to me was howeasy it was to make a difference
(07:14):
, even if you're not on anorganized plogging run.
Just picking up one or twopieces of trash on your run
instead of stepping over themcan make an impact, especially
if every runner were to do that.
There are some areas in my city, which is Buffalo, that is just
covered in trash.
And also here's a thing citieshave garbage cans available so
(07:36):
that people can throw outgarbage.
I mean, I don't understand that.
One thing we can do isencourage our cities to have
more garbage cans available, butif you do have a garbage can
available where you are and justpicking up one or two pieces of
trash, it can go a long way tokeeping our cities a lot more
pleasant.
Looking Now, what made thatspecial for me was being able to
(07:58):
meet Tina Muir.
Her podcast was actually thefirst running podcast that I've
ever listened to when I startedtraining for marathons, so
running alongside her felt likekind of a full circle moment,
and she is the sweetest person.
I was able to talk to her aftershe had a panel discussion and
she is really truly passionateabout what she does and it was
(08:18):
really cool to be able to talkto her.
So if you love testing out newrunning gear, this expo is
really a dream come true.
There were so many brandsshowcasing their latest products
, and I'm going to talk about afew that really stood out to me
and if you go, you will probablyhave things that will stood out
to me, and if you go, you willprobably have things that will
(08:39):
stand out to you that you reallyenjoy.
First of all, it's an app.
There's an app that I reallyliked, which is called the Run
Buddy app.
It's a simple but brilliantidea, because you can select up
to five buddies and they willget an alert if something goes
wrong during your run, whetheryou're running early in the
morning, late at night or justwant that extra safety net.
(09:00):
It really is an awesome tool,and I got to meet Scott and
Ruthie, who are the peoplebehind it, and I'm going to be
diving deeper into this app in afuture episode.
I was hit by a car and the watchthat I wear actually flew off
of me, and it does haveemergency capabilities on it
Didn't do a thing.
(09:20):
Did not do a thing.
I didn't realize until myhusband was looking at my stuff
when I was in the hospital.
It was six hours later and itlooked like I had only run like
three miles in six hours becauseit was continuing to record my
quote unquote run, even though Ihad stopped violently to record
(09:43):
my quote-unquote run, eventhough I had stopped violently.
Where before I've I've clappedseeing my grandson on a run?
And it started notifying all myemergency contacts.
So having a different way ofalerting people that something
might be going wrong issomething that I am actually
very interested in.
Another cool station was theHigh Rocks station.
So if you're into combiningstrength training with running,
(10:04):
that was the place to be, andthey had a whole thing all set
up so that people could try itout.
They were doing challenges,they were mixing in their
functional fitness with theirruns, and it looked like some of
them were really pushingthemselves.
Now, I haven't explored theHigh Rocks thing very much, but
it did look like a lot of funand, as someone who also does
strength training, it'ssomething that I might look into
(10:24):
doing in the future.
Now then there was the kickerrun treadmill, and so that's a
treadmill that lets you run,naturally with no assistance
from the belt if you so desire.
So runners were signing up totry it out all day, each day,
and there was a leaderboard tosee who was the fastest, and
some runners, of course, tookthis competition very, very
(10:46):
seriously.
Even those who weren't wearingrunning shoes were signing up
and trying out this really cooltreadmill to be able to run as
if you were outside, without thehelp of the belt.
It just let you do your ownpaces.
Another thing that I loved aboutBoston itself in going there
(11:07):
was this place called I thinkit's Mecca M-E-C-H-A Noodle Bar.
Their ramen was so good.
I lived in Japan for a fewyears so I feel like I know my
ramen and this was so legit.
Even in their description theylisted the tare and the broth
(11:30):
and how they put it together,and it is a very traditional way
of doing it.
It was so, so good.
So if you're in Boston even notfor the run show and even not
for anything related to runningif you like ramen, go to the
Mecca Nudabar.
So if you love running, thisevent is a hundred percent worth
(11:51):
it.
Whether you're there for thespeakers, the gear, the
community or just to soak up theatmosphere.
The Boston Run Show really hassomething for every runner and
if it stays connected to theOutdoor Expo, which I really
hope it does, it's a greatopportunity to get a bunch of
adventurers together, even ifall of you aren't runners With
(12:13):
the Outdoor Expo.
There's camping, there'sfishing, there's these tents
that instead of poles, they blowup.
They have really cool stuff forpeople who like to do outdoor
things.
Now, if you want to go for freenext year this year it was $20
a ticket, but because I'm anambassador, make sure that you
(12:33):
are subscribed to my newsletterand follow me on social media
newsletter and follow me onsocial media because I give away
free tickets, usually startingin September all the way up to
the Friday before the runningshow.
So make sure that you'reconnected.
I can connect you to those freetickets.
A few weeks ago I was an ambassador to the Boston Run
Show, which is an expo andconvention for runners.
This year it was combined withthe Outdoors Show, which turned
out to be a really cool thingbecause we had so many people
there and this show just keepsgrowing and growing, and so this
year we had to move to theactual Boston Convention Center,
(00:21):
where before it was at theHeinz Convention center in
Boston still, but that was asmaller venue, that.
So this is the the big venueand it is enormous, like we
actually, when we went in thefront doors a guy came and took
us by those little go-kart kindof things, golf cart II kind of
things, through the wholeconvention center back to where
(00:43):
our space was, because it isjust an enormous place.
So in doing this episode I amtrying to encourage you to put
this on your radar for next year.
I don't know the dates yet, butthis year was phenomenal.
I've been an ambassador sincethe beginning and this is year
three that they've been puttingthis on and it's so much fun
(01:03):
because you get to connect withrunners, you can meet brands
that are shaping the future ofthe sport, in addition to the
brands that we all know and havebeen associated with for a long
time.
It's also a great place to seesome really incredible new gear,
and this year we had some hugerunning legends in attendance,
which included Des Linden, mebka, flesky, laz Lake and Tina Muir
(01:30):
.
So before we even get to theexpo, I'm based in Buffalo and
so we decided to drive to Boston.
It's about six and a half hourdrive and I love road trips and
I'm getting ready today toactually go on a 12 hour one,
but we're going to stop aftersix hours and spend the night,
but Dave the hubs, he hates them.
(01:50):
So I try to keep him occupiedwith podcasts about things that
interest him, like beer Shoutout to the beerists and I also
hook up stand up comedy.
And if you like stand up comedy, I am really into Zoltan Kazas.
Right now I can't I don't knowif I'm butchering his last name
or not Nate Bargetzi.
So that passes a lot of timetoo.
(02:12):
So if you go on a road tripjust side note you know you can
hook up like Netflix or whateverYouTube and stand-up comedians,
and that can pass the time awayreally well.
Now, if it was just me going,I'd be listening to other
running podcasts and personaltraining ones, since I also do
that, but not with Dave in thecar.
He likes to run with me and hedoes it as exercise, but he does
(02:34):
not want to be reminded of itotherwise.
So we drove there and the momentwe arrived at the venue it was
so great to be to feel thatenergy again.
And both mornings of the runshow they had runs planned,
which is different than in otheryears, so some of us were there
very early getting ready to goon some runs before the actual
(02:58):
run show.
So as an ambassador, I had thechance to help out in the
mornings and I got to hand outmerchandise to the runners who
were waiting in line to get in.
They give out a ton of freestuff at this convention Little
things like keychains and waterbottles, two t-shirts.
There were some really coolbottle openers, gift cards to
(03:18):
some of the vendors.
Also, in some of the workshopsinside they were giving away
like $50 gift cards to some ofthe vendors that were there.
So it was a lot of fun beingable to meet runners as they
were going to be going into theshow and they just loved getting
some of this merchandise andsome of them got like almost
everything, because they werethere early enough, so they were
(03:39):
getting the water bottles andthe bottle openers and just
everything.
But those little things reallyset the tone for the day because
everyone is super excited andwhat they also do is they have
the speakers come out right inthe beginning and kind of have a
little like a selfie picturetaken and introducing like Des
Linden was there on the secondday opening the show before
(04:01):
everybody was let in.
So it's kind of an excitingthing to to be around so many
people who just love running andwho knew who she was before we
even got into the expo itself.
So when Des Linden spoke, Iwould say she definitely stole
the show.
Her session was absolutelypacked and she spoke like 15
(04:22):
minutes after the show openedand because I was doing some
filming for the show, I didn'tget there until I don't know,
maybe 10 minutes, five minutesafter the show opened, but
already every seat was taken.
There were people sitting onthe ground along the sides of
the walls.
Her session was just jam-packedbefore the time that she was
(04:46):
even going to be on.
But she is a very engagingspeaker and she talked about her
journey to winning Boston in2018, and that was one of the
most brutal weather days in thehistory of the race.
It was cold, it was windy, itwas pouring rain, and she
powered through and made history.
(05:06):
What stood out to me, though,was how genuine and relatable
she was.
She shared stories and, youknow, she gave some insight into
what it means to go inside themind of an elite runner, but
she's also very, very relatable.
So one fact about Dess is shelives in Charlevoix, michigan,
(05:28):
which is where some dear friendsof ours lives.
Shout out to Chuck andElizabeth, and they own the View
Wine Bar, which is on LakeMichigan.
They own the View Wine Bar,which is on Lake Michigan, and
so, being there and watching herand wondering like I wanted to
talk to her after she spoke tosee if she had ever been to the
View Wine Bar, because I knowshe likes her beer and she likes
(05:49):
her whiskey, but there was justthere were too many people.
There was no way I was going toget anywhere near her because
so many people wanted to talk toher.
But if you ever go toCharlevoix and you see Dess
running, you can also go to theView Wine Bar and say hello to
Chuck and Elizabeth if they'rethere.
We also had Tina Muir there,who was a former elite runner
(06:09):
and she right now is an advocatefor sustainable running.
Also, laz Lake, and he's themastermind behind the Barkley
Marathons.
This is the one that hardlyanybody finished I want to say
in 2024, it was the first yearthat a woman finished, so he
spoke there as well.
Meb spoke he's an Olympicmedalist, boston Marathon
(06:31):
champion, I believe he also wonNew York City Marathon.
So we had a lot of really,really good speakers there.
One of the unique events that Igot to participate in was a
plogging run, and that was withTina Muir, and if you've never
heard of plogging, it's a mix ofrunning and cleaning up.
(06:51):
Basically, you take a garbagebag with you and as you're
running, you obviously have tostop and bend over, and as
you're running, you obviouslyhave to stop and bend over.
So this isn't going to be on avery fast run, but you run and
you pick up garbage along theway as you're running, and I'm
going to be doing a full episodeon this in the future, but it's
what stood out to me was howeasy it was to make a difference
(07:14):
, even if you're not on anorganized plogging run.
Just picking up one or twopieces of trash on your run
instead of stepping over themcan make an impact, especially
if every runner were to do that.
There are some areas in my city, which is Buffalo, that is just
covered in trash.
And also here's a thing citieshave garbage cans available so
(07:36):
that people can throw outgarbage.
I mean, I don't understand that.
One thing we can do isencourage our cities to have
more garbage cans available, butif you do have a garbage can
available where you are and justpicking up one or two pieces of
trash, it can go a long way tokeeping our cities a lot more
pleasant.
Looking Now, what made thatspecial for me was being able to
(07:58):
meet Tina Muir.
Her podcast was actually thefirst running podcast that I've
ever listened to when I startedtraining for marathons, so
running alongside her felt likekind of a full circle moment,
and she is the sweetest person.
I was able to talk to her aftershe had a panel discussion and
she is really truly passionateabout what she does and it was
(08:18):
really cool to be able to talkto her.
So if you love testing out newrunning gear, this expo is
really a dream come true.
There were so many brandsshowcasing their latest products
, and I'm going to talk about afew that really stood out to me
and if you go, you will probablyhave things that will stood out
to me, and if you go, you willprobably have things that will
(08:39):
stand out to you that you reallyenjoy.
First of all, it's an app.
There's an app that I reallyliked, which is called the Run
Buddy app.
It's a simple but brilliantidea, because you can select up
to five buddies and they willget an alert if something goes
wrong during your run, whetheryou're running early in the
morning, late at night or justwant that extra safety net.
(09:00):
It really is an awesome tool,and I got to meet Scott and
Ruthie, who are the peoplebehind it, and I'm going to be
diving deeper into this app in afuture episode.
I was hit by a car and the watchthat I wear actually flew off
of me, and it does haveemergency capabilities on it
Didn't do a thing.
(09:20):
Did not do a thing.
I didn't realize until myhusband was looking at my stuff
when I was in the hospital.
It was six hours later and itlooked like I had only run like
three miles in six hours becauseit was continuing to record my
quote unquote run, even though Ihad stopped violently to record
(09:43):
my quote-unquote run, eventhough I had stopped violently.
Where before I've I've clappedseeing my grandson on a run?
And it started notifying all myemergency contacts.
So having a different way ofalerting people that something
might be going wrong issomething that I am actually
very interested in.
Another cool station was theHigh Rocks station.
So if you're into combiningstrength training with running,
(10:04):
that was the place to be, andthey had a whole thing all set
up so that people could try itout.
They were doing challenges,they were mixing in their
functional fitness with theirruns, and it looked like some of
them were really pushingthemselves.
Now, I haven't explored theHigh Rocks thing very much, but
it did look like a lot of funand, as someone who also does
strength training, it'ssomething that I might look into
(10:24):
doing in the future.
Now then there was the kickerrun treadmill, and so that's a
treadmill that lets you run,naturally with no assistance
from the belt if you so desire.
So runners were signing up totry it out all day, each day,
and there was a leaderboard tosee who was the fastest, and
some runners, of course, tookthis competition very, very
(10:46):
seriously.
Even those who weren't wearingrunning shoes were signing up
and trying out this really cooltreadmill to be able to run as
if you were outside, without thehelp of the belt.
It just let you do your ownpaces.
Another thing that I loved aboutBoston itself in going there
(11:07):
was this place called I thinkit's Mecca M-E-C-H-A Noodle Bar.
Their ramen was so good.
I lived in Japan for a fewyears so I feel like I know my
ramen and this was so legit.
Even in their description theylisted the tare and the broth
(11:30):
and how they put it together,and it is a very traditional way
of doing it.
It was so, so good.
So if you're in Boston even notfor the run show and even not
for anything related to runningif you like ramen, go to the
Mecca Nudabar.
So if you love running, thisevent is a hundred percent worth
(11:51):
it.
Whether you're there for thespeakers, the gear, the
community or just to soak up theatmosphere.
The Boston Run Show really hassomething for every runner and
if it stays connected to theOutdoor Expo, which I really
hope it does, it's a greatopportunity to get a bunch of
adventurers together, even ifall of you aren't runners With
(12:13):
the Outdoor Expo.
There's camping, there'sfishing, there's these tents
that instead of poles, they blowup.
They have really cool stuff forpeople who like to do outdoor
things.
Now, if you want to go for freenext year this year it was $20
a ticket, but because I'm anambassador, make sure that you
(12:33):
are subscribed to my newsletterand follow me on social media
newsletter and follow me onsocial media because I give away
free tickets, usually startingin September all the way up to
the Friday before the runningshow.
So make sure that you'reconnected.
I can connect you to those freetickets.
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