The Hobby Jogger Podcast
Welcome to The Hobby Jogger Podcast, where elite athletes and ham-and-eggers lace up their stories. We explore the common ground that running creates from the world-class runner to the hobbyist hitting the pavement, trail or treadmill. Expect a blend of inspiration, laughter and the shared joy that makes every step count. Join us on this journey, where every run is a story worth sharing.
The Hobby Jogger Podcast
E46 | Project Outrun: Custom Kicks for Cancer Warriors
When a child battles cancer, they need more than just medicine – they need moments of joy, strength, and normalcy. That's exactly what Project Outrun delivers through their innovative approach to supporting pediatric cancer patients and their families.
In this deeply moving conversation, Courtney Salyer, Director of Operations for Project Outrun, shares how this Ohio-based nonprofit transforms the lives of children fighting cancer across all 50 states. What began eight years ago with founder Andy Shepperd creating custom Nike shoes for one young cancer patient has blossomed into a nationwide movement that has provided thousands of personalized kicks to kids in hundreds of hospital systems.
The organization's brilliance lies in its "sport to heal" metaphor – rather than being defined as patients, children become "Outrun athletes" who receive not just custom shoes, but complete swag bags with medals, t-shirts proclaiming "I'm not sick, but my shoes are," and personalized paper finish lines where they can set and celebrate their own goals. The emotional highlight? Seeing kids break through those finish lines to celebrate achievements both medical and personal – from completing treatment to simply finishing second grade.
Courtney's own journey from Spanish teacher to nonprofit leader, illustrates how taking a leap of faith can lead to profoundly meaningful work. Her passion shines through as she details Project Outrun's signature event – the Faster Everyday Festival and 5K – where participants get a 4:01 head start (symbolizing the less than 4% of cancer funding that goes to pediatric research) before local elite runner Aiman Scullion gives chase.
Far more than just a race, this festival creates a celebratory space where Outrun families, supporters, and community members connect through carnival games, food, music, and shared purpose. It perfectly encapsulates what makes Project Outrun special – the understanding that helping kids with cancer means strengthening entire families and communities.
Visit projectoutrun.org to donate, register for their June 21st festival in Cuyahoga Falls, or learn how to create your own fundraiser campaign. Because when it comes to helping kids outrun cancer, we all have a role to play.
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Hobby Jogger. I am joined by my co-host, Mr Rob Myers. Rob, how are you today?
Rob Myers:I'm doing well, excited to learn more about Project OutRun and to try out our new Hobby Jogger gear. This Sunday we have some pretty sweet gear we're going to try out and upgrade the show.
Casey Koza:Absolutely Looking forward to that, doing a little field test of some, I guess, outdoor equipment that we can do things remotely, for the Laurel Islands coming up Maybe who knows what else we'll do in the future. But yeah, that's awesome. Well, rob, we are. Today. We are joined by a very special guest, ms Courtney. I should have asked you before this Salyer, is it Salyer?
Courtney Salyer:It is Most people like to say Slayer and we accept that.
Casey Koza:Okay, you accept Slayer Awesome.
Courtney Salyer:We accept it.
Casey Koza:Yep. So you are the Director of Operations for Project OutRun, which is based here in Fairlawn Ohio, and it has the mission to strengthen and empower kids and families as they battle pediatric cancer through custom shoes, swag and support. So awesome to have you on, courtney. Thank you.
Courtney Salyer:Thank you for having me.
Casey Koza:Yeah, so you're the director of operations for a project outrun.
Courtney Salyer:Yes, yes, I am.
Casey Koza:Obviously, like a race director is involved in that as you run the 5K that we'll talk about. But I imagine with a nonprofit there's a lot of work that goes into something as big as Project Outrun.
Courtney Salyer:There is, and I do come from like a teacher background and so stepping into the world of nonprofit was very new to me and so it was nice to kind of step into like multiple roles and kind of try to find my niche in that. But yeah, director of operations in our world in the Project OutRun world also encompasses race directing. That might not be the same for every nonprofit but for us it does.
Casey Koza:Yeah, you wear a lot of hats at a nonprofit, I imagine.
Courtney Salyer:Lots of hats and lots of color Perfect. So how did Project OutRun get its start here in Fairlawn? What was, I guess, what was the catalyst that we started Project OutRun? He wanted to join us this evening but he unfortunately could not. Otherwise I will tell the story to the best of my ability, with as many jazz hands as possible. Andy Shepard is jazz hands. He is the embodiment of jazz hands, so I'll try to do my best. So Andy started this organization. We are now eight years young, but the beginning of Project OutRun was he ran a local girl's 5k, and I'll tell you more about that in a second. But he ran this 5k and this little girl had cancer.
Casey Koza:Courtney, he ran it like run run or he was-.
Courtney Salyer:Participated, just like all of us. He signed up for a race, had a great cause, went and like changed his life. So he ran this little girl's 5K. Her name is Kylie Jacobs and they're a local family, and at the 5K he learned about her cancer journey and it really had an impact on him. He ran it again the next year and they found out that her cancer had come back. So she actually battled cancer three times.
Courtney Salyer:And so during that process of like, being so moved by her story and by her family, he is a sneakerhead and a father of three boys and thought to himself you know, if it were my kid in the fight, what would I do to empower them, to strengthen them and to make them feel, you know, strong on the road to recovery? Being that he's a sneakerhead, he decided to take Kylie's logo for her 5K. It's Kylie Rose's run. If you've never heard of it, it's in Copley in August, if you want to do that one. He took her 5K logo which she had designed, and he took her colors and he got on the Nike by you Builder. He took all of that as inspiration and made these shoes for her. But then came the tricky part, which was he didn't actually really know her parents or her at the time. He had just participated in their race. And so he texted them and said we are big fans of Kylie and when she outruns cancer she has to have the right shoes. That's my dog barking. And so that was kind of like the beginning. And he said like I think this is really something.
Courtney Salyer:And he went to his wife and that year they decided to take all of their Christmas cash to Akron Children's Hospital and help as many kids as they possibly could. And that was kind of like the beginning they possibly could. And that was kind of like the beginning. And I think they helped, like they worked with maybe like 15 or 17 kids that first time at Akron Children's and they loved it. And they were like well, we want you to do more. And he said, great, we are out of money. So they helped them throw the first fundraiser and then that was like off to the races from there. So we've worked with kids and families across all 50 states, hundreds of hospital systems, thousands of pairs of shoes, and then here locally we have three partner hospitals, because we are really blessed to have incredible hospitals here locally. So at Akron Children's, cleveland Clinic and UH, uh. Those are our Northeast Ohio partner hospitals. We also provide shoe swag and support for siblings.
Casey Koza:Oh nice. So yeah, if you have a sick brother and you don't want the sibling to be left out of the cool swag.
Courtney Salyer:Well, and I think a lot of the times now in my role I'm very much the back end, programming, director of operations, those types of things. So I'm doing a lot of the times now in my role I'm very much the back end like programming, director of operations, like those types of things. So I'm doing a lot of the communicating via email and ordering shoes and like application processing and things like that. But a lot of the big worry is that like, obviously you have a child very much in the fight, but you might also have other children and they really it's like a mental health thing and so it's. We love that we can provide this creative outlet for siblings to also be seen and heard and loved on, and so it is like a big dream of ours one day to be able to offer that to siblings nationwide. But obviously that's you know, all families look different, are in different sizes, so we are. We are fighting hard to figure out like how to make that happen someday.
Casey Koza:Nice, and I certainly hope you do, because I can understand that where hey, you know you probably don't understand it at such a young age. You think that your brother or sibling is getting all this attention when they're sick and you're not. But you know, a five year old doesn't understand that. That little brothers in the hospital with you know pediatric cancer and fighting that and you probably don't get it. So that's, that's awesome that you include the sibling as well, because it's a whole family in that fight against the cancer.
Courtney Salyer:Well and like. Our sibling fund is named after and in honor of one of our outrun athletes and the tagline is for our sibling fund, like because families fight together. So that is very much the case and so we are very proud and honored to be able to offer that level of support and so we hope to be able to continue to do that and grow that programming and funding and all of those things and you know, all of our kiddos that are part of our programming. Everything we do is on a sport to heal metaphor. So rather than call these kids patients, we call them outrun athletes. We send them a swag bag.
Courtney Salyer:They get everything, like you would if you signed up at a race. So they get this cute drawstring bag and inside the bag they have a T-shirt that says I'm not sick, but my shoes are, and faster every day, and they get a medal, just like you'd get at a race. They get socks I truly believe we have the best socks in the game. But the most important thing that they get in that bag is this paper finish line that says my finish line feelings and they get to set a goal and then we ask whenever they reach that goal, whatever it is. It doesn't even have to be related to treatment, like we've had kids that put, like I finished second grade, which is like a big accomplishment. So we just ask them you know, whenever you accomplish that goal, bust through that paper finish line, put your medal on, do all the things and celebrate. That's what that's like tangibly. What we do is shoes, swag and support.
Rob Myers:So, if our listeners want to help, I mean, what are the, what are the different ways that they can contribute?
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, so that's awesome. We have, um, obviously, like on our website, projectoutrunorg, there's a donate button If anyone would ever like to donate. Currently, we are ramping up for our biggest event of the year, which is our faster everyday festival, 5k and fun run. So if you live locally in Ohio, especially like Northeast Ohio, that event is on June 21st in Cuyahoga Falls. So by registering or sponsoring for that event, that's immensely helpful and we also, like have various people throughout the year will reach out to us and we are so grateful. But they're like you know I'm running this race.
Courtney Salyer:We had someone just climb Everest, literally Everest. We've had people do triathlons, weightlifting competitions, like what have you, and they're like I want to use my sport endeavor to support your organization. How can I do that? So we have a fundraising campaign called Outrunning for the Project and it's super simple and they can set up their own fundraisers and kind of share those digitally with their communities. So we have lots of options. We are very honored and grateful whenever anyone takes us up on any of those. But, yeah, our event is going to be big and huge and fun, and so we would love to like blow that out and have tons of people there, awesome.
Rob Myers:Well, I'm sure Casey and I would do our best to go to at least a couple of them. It sounds pretty fun.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I, I'm also going to try and get through this episode without crying, so.
Courtney Salyer:I mean we. I cry all the time.
Casey Koza:So Ah, the finish, the little finish line for the kids is whew, yeah, that's.
Courtney Salyer:It's really powerful because we make it very apparent to tell them like your finish line doesn't have to do anything with your cancer journey. It can be everything to do with, like, who you are outside of this. So I thought, like the I finished second grade when that one was really powerful for me, cause I remember when the family like emailed us that picture and I was like, wow, like this is incredible.
Casey Koza:Yeah, really, really puts in perspective just how lucky we are that we can go out and run and do the things that we do, and A kid's getting a picture taken for finishing second grade is just not I don't know. Yeah, that's tough?
Courtney Salyer:I don't know.
Casey Koza:Yeah, that's tough, that's really tough.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, I think the other thing that's really cool, like in just in relation to like our event, is so we do something where we tell, like families, like OutRun families, run for free. So any families that we've been able to support that want to come to our event, their entire mom, dad and kiddos all get to come for free. And each year I'm blown away by just how many of them choose to celebrate that day with us and we have such great numbers of our OutRun families in attendance with us and it makes the day like so, so special and so moving and powerful because they just get to come and like hang out with us. It's so special, it's great.
Casey Koza:Yeah, and it was. I was at two years ago, I believe I was there. Will brought his kids down to run.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, will.
Casey Koza:The kids race correct. Yep, that sound right, yep, yep. So watched Finn and Heath running that and that was yeah, you guys had a great turnout and it was awesome to see. I know Thirsty Dog is a big supporter of Project Outrun. They'll be there this year.
Courtney Salyer:Yes, so all of our participants get a bib and with their bib they not only get you know, obviously they're either doing the Outrun Amen 5K, which we can talk about. That because Amen local celebrity.
Casey Koza:Of course.
Courtney Salyer:We have our I'm Not Sick, but my Shoes Are Kids Sprint. And then we also have our festival-only bib. So people that are like I want to support but I'm not running or walking, we're like great, come have our festival only bib. So people that are like I want to support but I'm not running or walking, we're like great, come to our festival. This bib gets you everything. And every single bib comes with a free sandwich from swenson's, a free beverage, so beer or root beer from thirsty dog because, if you didn't know, thirsty Dog root beer is so good and then also a donut from Sandusky House of Donuts. So you get lots of goodies.
Courtney Salyer:And then the other thing that's like a little bit different about our event is like we don't do medals, but every bib has a medal like icon tab on it. We always say like what we do at Project Outrun is new shoe smiles, medal moments and finish line feelings. So on that tab, if we have something near the finish, then that's more money that we can like pump into our programming to provide metal moments for our kids. So it's really cool to see that the runners are so jazzed. They like rip that tab off and they're donating it. It's. It's really cool.
Casey Koza:That's awesome. You don't need to be spending money on metals when there's bigger things that you know you can be using that money towards. So I'm I'm. That's awesome that you do that, and I'm sure everyone understands, because I know people can be quirky about their finisher medals yeah, well, we do, we use them like I think that we would.
Courtney Salyer:We've got. We got medals, like the first year we did the race and I think I could see us doing it for like special, like the 10th year or like whatever. It is really cool and once we like the people that come to our event every year no, but the people that are new, like when they hear that I think that they're very excited to be like it feels like such a tangible thing again for them to like put their hands on supporting the project when they're like ripping that tab off and donating it.
Casey Koza:That's cool. That's a good twist. I like that.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah.
Casey Koza:Back to you real quick, Courtney, because I kind of got off track there with the second grade finishing thing. How did you get involved with Project OutRun?
Courtney Salyer:So let's see, the year was 2020. The year was 2020 that everyone's lives changed. So I was a teacher for 10 years and then obviously, like COVID happened, I was kind of trying to figure out like where I was going was I going to continue teaching? And then obviously COVID put like a big, you know, like question mark in everyone's mind. During that year I had also signed up for my first ever marathon and it was the Akron Marathon. So obviously we know how that panned out. It went virtual. So here I was I'd never run a marathon before and it was virtual, so I had no idea what was going on. And so I start training and I had just started running with a running group. I'd never run with a running group either.
Casey Koza:Who was the running group?
Courtney Salyer:PLX.
Casey Koza:PLX. That was going to be my guess. I see those you know that group everywhere, so PLX Okay.
Courtney Salyer:Well, yeah. So I was like I kept seeing their pictures online and I was like, okay, this seems like a big group, like maybe I won't stick out too bad if I go. And then once, like the world started to reopen, I was like I need humanity, so I don't care if I'm the slowest person in this group, I'll just try to not get lost. I go, and one of like the first few times that I went, we went out to eat afterwards and again, I'm just kind of getting to know everyone. Well, there's this really tall man, very charismatic, and he's talking about this nonprofit that he runs and it's called Project Outrun and he's like really going into it. And so I'm just like trying to listen. He's sitting directly next to me. I'm trying to listen. He's not talking to me and also like not be a creep. So I like gather as much intel as I can.
Courtney Salyer:And then I go home that night and I get on my phone and I'm like looking all over Instagram, I'm looking at the website and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen. What can I do? And so I kind of thought I love running, but I think running can very quickly turn selfish. And so I was like how can I take this marathon training experience and take the focus off of me and put it somewhere good, make it very meaningful? And so I messaged him on Instagram and I was like hey, so I kind of was sitting by you at PLX and I heard you Totally not creepy, totally not creepy.
Courtney Salyer:Not at all.
Rob Myers:Not at all.
Courtney Salyer:Was not hanging on every word you were saying, but just basically said I think this is like really powerful and I'm running my first marathon. May I please use my first marathon to fundraise for Project Outrun? And he was like, absolutely, now that I've worked with Andy long enough, this all tracks, because it's very the same every time yes, absolutely, whatever you need, can I give you stuff to give away? Do you need this? How can I support you? I was like, oh my gosh, okay, yeah, that was kind of it. I started training. He joined me on some of my runs. I got to know like more about project out and more about him and meet his family and like all of this stuff.
Courtney Salyer:And then I ran my marathon. It was virtual, it was my like favorite thing ever, cause I made a course and I put it on Instagram and just told people to jump in wherever. So at one point we were like 20 deep on the towpath. It was incredible. Then, after that, I was like I want to do a bake sale. And he was like what he's like? We've never done a bake sale. I'm like I know cookies. We can do a bake sale. So again he was like make it however you want and we'll just blow it up, however. So then we did that, and that was the first iteration of the pop-up bake shop sock hop.
Casey Koza:Can you say that again?
Courtney Salyer:Pop-up bake shop sock hop.
Rob Myers:Okay, I want to hear you say it Casey, pop-up, bake up sock hop.
Casey Koza:Okay, I want to hear you say it, Casey Pop up, bake up, shop hop.
Courtney Salyer:Almost, almost. It was close.
Casey Koza:Close than I thought I would be.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, so Second Soul, let us host it out back right off the towpath.
Casey Koza:Great people, by the way, down there at Second Soul. Michael down there is awesome.
Courtney Salyer:Yes.
Casey Koza:Who we'll get to in a little bit Incredible. Go there to get your shoes fitted. We actually were just with a couple last night that got fitted. Eamon helped them out, squared her away, got her shin splints healed.
Courtney Salyer:Excellent, we love to hear that. Well, and I ended up working there for like a year. So I worked at Second Soul for like a year.
Casey Koza:Oh sweet.
Courtney Salyer:So then, yeah, so we had the big sale and it was like so great, and I was still trying to figure out, like professionally, what am I doing? And then I kind of came to like an impasse where I had to like am I going to be a teacher or am I not, Because it's a contract? And so I just like took the leap. My husband and I, we chatted about it and he was like I think it's time for you to like take the leap. And I was like okay, so I just like wasn't a teacher but like didn't have a job.
Casey Koza:Scary.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah. So there was like a few weeks of like absolute free falling, which is when I started working at Second Soul for like a few hours a week. Andy was like, hey, I think we're getting to the point where we like need some help. Do you want to come on and do like some little things? And I was like yeah, and that was pretty much it. So from there, the first thing I did was like what's your application? And he hands me a piece of paper. I was like, oh no, I have a master's in educational technology. So this paper application really broke my heart. I was like we got to fix that. So that was kind of like the beginning. So I've been here for like four years and it's the most meaningful, incredible work. So I'm very proud to be here.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I'm proud of the work that that you and Andy have done. It's a great cause and I I'm sure you have a million stories of kids that you've helped out and smiles that you've put on onto sick kids faces.
Courtney Salyer:So yeah, I think I try to explain like the me and Andy two people and I'm like he's like Santa Claus and I'm like the elf. So he is like he's in hospital, he's calling families, he's building these incredible relationships and I'm kind of like supporting the backend so that he can keep just like hyping these families up.
Casey Koza:That's awesome to hear, Incredible thing that the two of you are. You were the only two employees, correct?
Courtney Salyer:So we do have great volunteers and another like part-time employee that helps as well. But yeah, andy, he just came on full-time in January, so he was doing this like on nights, weekends and spare time as like a husband and father of three for like seven and three quarters years.
Rob Myers:Jeez, yeah, hey, talk about commitment, right. It's awesome Shout out.
Casey Koza:Andy.
Courtney Salyer:I was the first employee and then Andy.
Casey Koza:Yeah, rewind just a little bit here the leap that you took. I'm not going to teach anymore, I've got no job. I could work at Second Soul a couple hours, but probably I mean I don't want to say defining because you have kids, but like career-wise, how did you get the, I guess, gumption to do that? What was the? How did you do? Cause I I think that's awesome and I think that's a big, big part of the story.
Courtney Salyer:I will say that I I do know I can hustle, so I was like, at the end of the day, I'll figure something out. But I have an incredible husband who very much encourages me in all of the things. You know, we, we and I I don't ever want to like make any, like ruffle any feathers, but we are Christians and we pray and we thought about it and trusted in God to like make it work. Um, so that like our faith was like a big part of that. And then also I was like I know I've been in school, I've been in college, I've had multiple jobs before. Like if, if I have to go back to waiting tables or being a bartender, like I can do that.
Courtney Salyer:But I think in, I think in order for me to know that like project Outrun was going to become a thing and a big part of my life, like I had to make that leap. And I, I especially when you're a teacher on a contract, when they say, like decision time, it's decision time. So I was like and I loved where I taught, but I just knew, like, for teachers it's very hard, I think, because if you don't want to be an administrator, your upward mobility is kind of limited, and so that was something that was kind of weighing on me was how do I continue to make my job diverse and new if I can only do this one thing? So, like I have a master's I was a Spanish teacher so I have a master's in foreign language education. I have a second master's in educational technology, but there was still nowhere for me to go, so that was like that was not going to be for me. That makes sense, cause, yeah, what are your options?
Casey Koza:Is it? I mean not going to be. For me, that makes sense. Because, yeah, what are your options? I mean, don't be wrong, Teaching is extremely important and we need great teachers. Yes, yes, Like you, don't move up If you're going to teach eighth grade Spanish, say you're going to be teaching eighth grade Spanish for the next 40 years. Like there's no career advancement unless you want to be yeah, Like you said an administrator and no one wants to be the principal.
Courtney Salyer:That's terrible, right, I think there are very special people that want to be administrators and like kudos to them and I worked with incredible educators and I also loved what I did. But, yeah, I wanted a little bit more diversity in what I was doing and now I have changed all of the time, so which then you go from being very structured as a teacher to then doing this, which is like different, crazy all the time, and I was like, okay, I definitely got what I asked for.
Rob Myers:Yeah, it must feel like running a startup. You know you're in a startup company and you're just building things constantly. Casey, and I do have some experience in that department. Yeah.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, we can relate a little bit, it's a lot. Yeah, I had. No, I had no idea, because all I had ever done since I left, you know, college, was be a teacher from 22 on. So I had no idea.
Rob Myers:Tons of structure to like very little structure and you got to make it work right.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, make your own DIY structure in something that I knew know very little about and have no experience in, so it was very wild. It was wild.
Casey Koza:Awesome story, courtney. Thank you for sharing that with us. Not a lot of people can do what you did, and I mean you had an impact before because you were teaching kids, but this is an even greater impact beyond you know, just your classroom of kids and huge impact that you're having on the community nationally as well as locally.
Courtney Salyer:Thank you Very grateful.
Casey Koza:So now, now the probably the hardest part of your job, I want to say, I imagine, being the race director, cause we always hear you know how difficult it is race directing and the million different things that go on, and you know, shutting down a couple of streets in a neighborhood it's, it's difficult, right.
Courtney Salyer:Oh my gosh. Yeah, I know so many things I never knew I would need to know. There's a lot there. Yeah, never in my life did I think. I would be like filling out permit applications and coordinating with the police department to make sure the roads are blocked off, or mailing letters to people to say we're coming, you know, like all that stuff. So it's kind of crazy.
Rob Myers:Did you share the details around that a little bit? I know I'm very interested. Is there a negotiation that happens between you and the city where you ask for certain days and they're like, yeah, we got this other event going on, what about the following week? How does that work?
Courtney Salyer:Very much. So I mean I wouldn't say we're not like negotiating terms or anything, but it's very much like we do this event in Cuyahoga Falls every year and we want the city of Cuyahoga Falls to look forward to this event. So my job is always what I put on myself is, you know, make this very fun and very impactful, but also make it something that the city like wants us there, Like they don't want this event going anywhere else. How can we support local business, like in all these things? So we usually like last year we had to do our event in July, which is not normal, but usually we like this June time when we start the planning process we'll kind of zero in on a date and then make sure with the city they don't have anything going on. So I know that they have Irish Fest.
Courtney Salyer:I know most of the other local races, which we try to be as conscientious of other races in the area as we possibly can.
Courtney Salyer:But, as you know, summertime in Northeast Ohio there's a 5k every weekend.
Courtney Salyer:But we try to be super respectful of other organizations planning races because, like for most organizations, that 5k is their biggest event and they need that to fund their mission.
Courtney Salyer:So we, we try to be as respectful as possible when it comes to that. But yeah, we work with the city and Cuyahoga Falls is really cool because they'll actually gather all of the departments for this like master planning meeting, and it makes me feel like I'm in an episode of Parks and Rec. So I like show up with my binder and all the things and we kind of go through like okay, here's what we'll need from you know, here's when the fire inspection is happening, here's where we'll need police officers, here's where we'll need trash, you know, like all of these things. And they just have that system down so smoothly that I can just take my notes from one year's meeting to the next and kind of just do like plug and play. I mean, because this is the only place we've ever hosted our race Like I just thought that was common practice. But on speaking with, like other race directors are like no, I'm usually hunting down those people and I'm like, okay, we're never leaving.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I, I. I don't think that's common, from what I gather from the race directors that I've talked to, whether it's trail running, fiveks or marathons, it seems like that is maybe the Acro Marathon is, but no, you seem to have a very good thing there in the falls.
Courtney Salyer:Yes, we love them and we want them to love us, so whatever we gotta do to make that happen, and there are a lot of local businesses there that do get.
Casey Koza:I mean, it shuts front. That's Front Street, right.
Courtney Salyer:It was Front Street for the first couple of years, but then they started having a lot of construction.
Casey Koza:So now our festival is, like you know where, the mayor's office and the natatorium is yes.
Courtney Salyer:If not, it's only like a block away from Front Street. So we use those two parking lots and that's where our festival is. It's like a block party. It's so cool. And then our race actually starts on Stowe Avenue and heads like towards Cuyahoga Falls High School and goes around the neighborhoods. So for those that ran the 5K the first couple years, that course was pretty rolling hilly and this one is flatter. So now. So the people that ran it last year, they were like okay, we like this, it's flatter. I was like great.
Casey Koza:Nice. Yeah, everyone always likes a flat race, regardless of distance, Right, rob?
Rob Myers:Yeah it helps, especially with the 5K, because you want to go fast, right, nice flat 5K.
Casey Koza:Well, especially in this race, because there is incentive to go fast.
Courtney Salyer:Yes.
Casey Koza:True, I guess tagline of the race is beat Amon Amon oh man, I hope I don't butcher his last name Skullion, a local marathoner, runner, super fast guy all around. Nice guy, Courtney, how did you guys come up with this idea of beat Amon?
Courtney Salyer:Great. Okay, again I'm going to do Andy Jazz hands, because this is an Andy story, also because this conversation would never take place in my world. I am like I'm a party paced runner and I'm here for the vibes and the snacks, so I am not trying to go fast. That's also why I love trail and long distance, so I'm just here for the vibes and the snack. So Andy and Eamon were running a race and during that race they were. You know, eamon basically told Andy like I've always wondered what it would be like like if the race started. And then I just saw how many people I could catch up to and Andy, during that race, looked at him. I said I think that's outrun Amon. And so then that's how our 5k was like, the 5k portion of our event was born.
Courtney Salyer:So at our race the whole field, so runners and walkers alike they get a four minute and one second headstart. And the reason why it's four minutes and one second is it's um, there's a saying in the pediatric cancer world. It's called more than four. So of all of the money that goes into cancer research funding, less than four percent of that is dedicated to pediatric cancer research. So that's why we give the field more than four minutes.
Courtney Salyer:So four minutes and one second after the four minutes in one second then Eamon takes off and sees how many people he can pass. If you successfully cross the finish line before him, you have outrun Eamon. And then we have magnets. I change the color each year. So if you outrun Eamon you get a car magnet that says I outran Eamon. So you can like kindly publicly shame him and just collect them and yeah, so that's like the gist. So we kind of tell people we don't have Amon run at like PR speed, we have him run about 18 minute speed and then. So if you're running at about a 22 minute 5K you could potentially outrun Amon.
Casey Koza:I got a shot, Rob.
Rob Myers:You do, I got a shot. You do. So if you're running at about a 22 minute 5K you could potentially outrun.
Courtney Salyer:Amon, I got a shot, rob, you do, I got a shot you do. Start training the extra. So the extra incentive in addition to the collector's magnet is first place overall. Male and female also get their own pair of custom outruns, which are the shoes.
Casey Koza:Oh sweet.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, so custom shoes are the prize for first overall, male and female.
Casey Koza:Hey, I like custom shoes so right, who doesn't? Yeah, everyone, everyone likes custom shoes. That's, yeah, part of why we run is also the cool shoes, right.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, that's what we do is custom shoes.
Casey Koza:Yeah, so that's, that's awesome. Yeah, amen, such such a good sport. And I know Nikki, she's there with the thirsty dog truck, right.
Courtney Salyer:She generally outruns Amon.
Casey Koza:Yeah, also serving beers afterwards, which is good.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, we've got the whole crew. Usually Nikki and Connie are there slinging beers.
Casey Koza:Yeah, I think they'll be out of town with us this year though, unfortunately.
Courtney Salyer:Oh, yes, that is true.
Casey Koza:Yeah, unfortunately it's a. It's a bad date for us this year, rob, but I mean I will be purchasing a bib for for sure, same with Annie, and we'll see what, what else we can come up with, I'm sure, for the, for the project there.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, we've got the virtual options so you can participate from wherever you are.
Casey Koza:That's actually a very good idea. Yeah, you can still win. Yeah, I can still win. Yeah, we'll do a drop me off at the top of the hill, rob All downhill 3.1 miles.
Rob Myers:No cheating Casey.
Casey Koza:Yeah, so a little bit back to the race. It's in Cuyahoga Falls. I'm hoping that you've had a lot of support from the local businesses, right?
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, yeah, I think even this year we're getting them a bit more involved as well at the festival. But no, we have great community buy-in and we're always trying to strengthen those relationships however we can Because, like I said, cuyahoga Falls is a really special community, but we want them to want us there as well. So we want to be there and we want them to want us there. So, however, we can support this year something that's going to be unique on the course and hopefully this isn't a spoiler, but whatever, I'm the race director.
Casey Koza:We like spoilers here we like spoilers.
Courtney Salyer:This year on the course we have cheer zones and a lot of those are being run by local businesses. So we reached out and we said, hey, like we, we want to support you and we know you want to support us. Like, would you like to have volunteers just cheer on the course? You don't, it doesn't cost a thing, but would you like to be on our course and help support our event? And they were like yeah, so we've got a lot of incredible community buy-in for those cheer zones. There's a lot of activities at the festival itself. So we haven't even talked about the festival yet, but we try to tell people that our event is actually a festival that happens to have a 5K because it is a full party. So we the festival, the 5K starts at five, but the party goes to like 830, nine o'clock.
Casey Koza:I was pretty surprised by that, courtney, because we've shown up to our fair share of 5Ks in the day, right, rob Right. But yeah, they had a whole. You know it was in that little park. I don't know what the park is called.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, hybrid Twins.
Casey Koza:Yeah, hybrid Twins. Yeah, that's it.
Courtney Salyer:That's where it used to be, yeah.
Casey Koza:Don't go there this year.
Courtney Salyer:Don't go there. We there, we're not there, but yeah, so it's like the mayor's office, natatorium parking lots, but what we have is we have which is new since the one you went to, but we have these inflatable games. Like we have a speed pitch machine, we have a golf challenge, we have a football challenge where you have to try to kick a field goal or like throw the ball through the little circles. We have carnival games that are perfect for little ones. All of the carnival games are run by. We call it our caring carnival.
Courtney Salyer:So all of the volunteers at each carnival game are actually representatives and founders of other local nonprofit organizations that support the pediatric cancer community. So, like Colin Cares has one cancer community. So, like Colin Cares has one, kylie Rose's run has one, camp Quality has one. Like, we have all of these other incredible nonprofits that kind of we all work together to support these families. So they're all there sharing their mission and also like supporting our event, which is really cool, and so, yeah, it's just's a. It's a big community gather that happens to have this really cool themed 5k and then also all the food trucks and the beer and the face painters and the balloon artists and the music there's. It's a lot, it's a party yeah, it is, it's.
Casey Koza:It was really. It was like a really cool event and, you know, super sad I'm gonna miss it this year, but cool. The cheering sections Is Senses in the Falls. Are they one of the cheer zones?
Courtney Salyer:They are not one, but I should put them on my list, considering I went and made candles with you there.
Casey Koza:Yeah, no, miranda's awesome, miranda's cool.
Courtney Salyer:That place is great.
Casey Koza:I have no doubt Miranda would support it. She supports everything around there.
Courtney Salyer:Yeah, I'll have to put them on my list.
Casey Koza:Yeah, get Senses in the Falls Cool little bar. And yeah, you make candles there. I still have my scented candle somewhere. It smells like a 90s mall. I think is the one Annie made, I don't know where it's at.
Rob Myers:Is that a new scent Sounds like something you guys would make, maybe.
Casey Koza:Yeah, it's like Abercrombie and she made a candle that's like Abercrombie and Fitch mixed with like the mall arcade. I think Called it 90s mall 90s mall. Yeah, yeah, it's a cool place. The candle, the candle store, I guess, is what it would be. Yeah, it's a candle store.
Courtney Salyer:It's a candle store. It's a candle store and bar A lot of cool things in the falls Super. I mean that's what's so like unique and I think like there's just endless opportunities for us to like support each other. Yeah, the businesses are really great and we're really grateful that they like support our event.
Casey Koza:Yeah, it takes a lot to pull this off and I'm sure you have your hands full right now. A couple weeks or what no, next weekend, right?
Courtney Salyer:It's two weeks, so it's 15 days. Just shy of 15 days.
Casey Koza:Oh, I'm going to be at a wedding. Never mind, I'm in Michigan, yeah.
Courtney Salyer:It's the wedding. It's the wedding that you're all at.
Casey Koza:Yes, yeah, will me. Will David Grant, kim, yeah, we got everyone going. Maybe we could talk them out of getting married. No, we love, love. No, we would never do that. They're awesome. So one more thing I wanted to ask you about, courtney, the festival that you guys kind of put on. Well, you do put on, not kind of put on, you put on after the race, the race. How did that come about? Because that's something different than any 5k I've been to. It's what. What inspired the festival?
Courtney Salyer:so this event and this was something that like andy had always envisioned, but we always wanted this to be a gather, so we didn't want it to be and like no shade to anyone, but like we didn't want it to be like you run, no shade to anyone, but like we didn't want it to be like you run your 5k and you get your chocolate, milk and banana and your medal and you leave we wanted it to be something where our outrun families could come, they could be together, our community of support could come and be together and really spend quality time together, quality time together, immersing themselves in like the work that they help us do.
Courtney Salyer:So our project is like greatly funded at this time like by Northeast Ohio, because so many local people like buy into what we do. Obviously, we are always working to like grow that funding. Northeast Ohio has really like really helped us, and so we wanted this event to mostly be a celebration of our outrun families and supporting them through new shoe smiles, metal moments and finish line feelings, but also a celebration for the community that so much pours into us. So it was always meant to be like a party that happened to have a 5k, because we are so much on this. Like sport, to heal metaphor, movement is medicine, hope runs in the family, like all of these things. So it it very much makes sense for us to have a 5k, because Andy's a runner, I'm a runner and all of our stuff is running themed. But this event was definitely meant to be more than just the 5K.
Rob Myers:That's awesome because there's some really really good races out there for amazing causes working with different organizations. But it's definitely an event for runners. It's cool that you don't have to be a runner. You can show up, do the golf event, all the different activities you brought up. I mean that's neat. You don't have to be a runner, you can show up, do the golf event. You know all the different activities you brought up. I mean that's neat. You don't have to be a runner, show up, get involved.
Courtney Salyer:I almost think sometimes, because I think people set goals like, oh, I'm going to run this race and I'm going to PR, or I'm going to run my course record, like at that race, and they have these like very metrics based goals. So sometimes I wonder if there's a little bit of a disconnect, because this is not that event. This is definitely like meant to be very emotionally immersed in, like what we're doing throughout the entire event. Yes, if you outrun, you get a super sick magnet and you might win the shoes you know or like whatever magnet and you might win the shoes you know or like whatever. It's not about. Maybe not about a PR, maybe not about setting your own personal course record or beating anyone, you know like it's not that. So I think that is also why it is so friendly to people that are like I'm not a runner, I'm not fast. You know like. We have so many people of all abilities and ages that participate in like every facet of this event, which is really cool.
Casey Koza:Yeah, and that is a big difference, I know. I wanna say when I was there it was the day after Laurel Highlands, I think, so I didn't run but we showed up and we had a great time. It was, I can say I've never been to a 5k like that where usually you just show up, you run, you get your metal, your chocolate, milk, banana thumbs up and hit the road. But yeah, we, we hung around there for maybe two or three hours and you know, watch the kids race and then watch the 5k, watch people try and beaton Eamon stopped for a beer down the stretch.
Courtney Salyer:Yes, he did that year. He did stop for a beer.
Casey Koza:Yeah, stopped for a beer down the stretch and finish, and we just hung out there for, yeah, like I said, two or three hours and it was a really cool community event and obviously for a tremendous cause, and anytime you're helping out sick kids it's great. So, yeah, we had a blast. So even if you're not a runner or significant other isn't a runner, this is a race where you can take them.
Courtney Salyer:They can hang out and, you know, do whatever you know drink beer, eat food or play carnival games and and have a blast it's really, and I even tell people I'm like here's the deal if you want to entertain your kids on a summer night on the cheap, you can get them a festival-only bib for $20, and you've got dinner and games. This is cheaper than Dave and Buster's, okay, so take that as you will, but no, it's definitely meant for everyone and there's something for everyone there and we are so proud, like when we see entire families roll up to this. It is like the coolest thing.
Casey Koza:It is, it's, it's. It's a sweet event and hopefully numbers are good this year I'm sure they will be, because it's only going to grow, it's only going to get bigger, because you go one time. You're going to remember it and you're going to bookmark it for the following year, for sure.
Courtney Salyer:Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we're very happy with registration, but we also know that a lot of people, especially runners, wait till like the last minute to register, so I I'm very pleased in it. I were really, really excited.
Casey Koza:Yeah, it's tough because RDs always want you to register as soon as possible. But things happen, you get injured, and this isn't one. Even if you get injured, still send them all your money so they can help sick kids.
Courtney Salyer:Come to the festival. If you can't run, that's okay, just come to the festival.
Casey Koza:Which is great. You have a backup plan for those not running Well. Courtney, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it and I thank you so much and I thank you for what you're doing with Project OutRun it's. It benefits, like I said, not only our community but nationally sick kids. So, yeah, definitely the first episode that I cried. I'm proud of that.
Courtney Salyer:I'm proud of you.
Casey Koza:Yeah, emotional episode. Yeah, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for for what it is that you do and thank you for taking that leap from teaching to helping kids. Thank you so much for that.
Courtney Salyer:Oh yeah, thank you. I'm just really forever grateful. Like, like I said, I didn't know Andy until I ran very much behind him, because he, andy, is also like a very good runner and he's very fast and he's run much slower with me for our entire friendship. But I'm very grateful that he gave me this opportunity and, like, really let me like grow and flourish here. So I'm very grateful and just really excited for all the things we're working on, because we're working on a lot of stuff.
Casey Koza:Any new stuff you can share. We like to break news here at the Hobby Jogger.
Courtney Salyer:So we're trying like obviously the 5K is our biggest event of the year the festival and the 5K but we've been trying to like get other events on our calendar. So over the last year we also last year we had our first ever golf outing and that was great. So planning for year two of the golf outing is happening, so that will be coming. There will probably be announcements for that after the 5k. And then we also in February had our first ever soulmate sneaker ball, which was like a dueling pianos Valentine's thing and that was incredible. So I know that we're working to create more opportunities for people to support and celebrate with us. So those are very exciting courtney.
Rob Myers:So before we let you go, where can our listeners find you and learn more about project outrun?
Courtney Salyer:okay, that's great. So on instagram, and it's just at Project Outrun, so they can find us there and all the information about everything we do, our programming and events we put on our Facebook and our Instagram and then our website is projectoutrunorg.