Life During Lockdown: JT Service
JT and I were introduced by our mutual friend, pro runner Steph Bruce. They ran track and XC together at UC Santa Barbara. JT’s business Soul Focus Sports, and their sister companies Run Local and Silverback Pacific, produce many running events in the San Francisco Bay Area. JT also handles some great marketing initiatives in running for Hoka One One, Under Armour and the San Francisco Giants. He and I have both been in or around the running event business for awhile, so we have lots to discuss when we get together. He also surfs, like I do, and lives in Santa Cruz, where I lived as a child. I always appreciate JT’s thoughtful point of view; on one hand, he’s a running insider, but on the other hand he’s not afraid to take inspiration from outside the bubble and apply those things to running. If you’re up for a summer of accountability, join JT’s California Coast 500 virtual event. He shared with me where he’s at during the pandemic and the important conversations around race going on right now.
1. Give me some highlights and lowlights from your first two months in lockdown mode
I wish I could answer these questions in a vacuum, but I am in the middle of watching America lash out in overdue frustration over a continuous racial divide. Peaceful protests mixed with looting and burning are filling my mind. It is hard to even think about lock down right now. It’s like, “did the pandemic even exist?” On the other hand, much of this frustration and the reaction to George Floyd goes so much deeper than one incident. It’s slavery, systemic racism, economic casualties caused by Covid and just the weight of life. It is even partially caused by the pandemic. So my first lowlight is right now. I’m sad and I don’t know how to help.
On a positive note American discourse is alive. Black, brown and white people are energized. They are on the streets and asking for a society based on equality. What if there was no reaction to the deaths of Amaud, Brianna or George Floyd? The truth is there have been hundreds of years of generally feigned ignorance over racial inequality. I believe that Covid19 has unveiled the continued economic injustice across our society with people of color bearing the brunt of lost jobs, but also disproportional loss of life to the pandemic. The positive thing is that we see the truth right now. This administration continues to assist in pulling back the cloak “equality” with dog whistles and racially charged tweets. How can you fix the problem without knowing the full extent of the system’s disease? Right now we’re seeing the real frustration and the issues. I believe this is a start.
Another low point for me specifically includes watching the complete meltdown of the live sports event industry due to Covid19. There are so many amazing people who work tirelessly to produce incredible experiences that are immediately out of work. Our team would typically be working every weekend right now. We should be up at 3:00am on a Sunday morning preparing start lines for thousands of energetic runners. Ending the day 14 hours later and having a beer on the tailgate. I miss it. I am also worried about the long term future of large events. That uncertainty and the direct economic damage has been a definitive lowlight.
The positive on that thread is that my entire team is still on payroll. Soul Focus Sports was founded at the tail end of the last recession in 2010. My co-founder, Scott Anderson, has Great Depression’esque scars from that roller coaster and has kept our spending modest for over a decade. With savings, a diverse flow of consulting income, and the best team in the business we have not furloughed or reduced hours for a single individual. I am so freaking proud of that and it is my highest achievement as a team leader. We have kept our people working. It was not and is not easy. It took years of sacrifice to prepare for a down turn like this. It meant leaving “paydays” in the bank and building an agency business model on top of a production company foundation. It differentiates us now and has prepared us to make big things happen in the future.
2. How have you grown personally and professionally during this disruption?
This lockdown has forced my personal and professional development into hyperdrive. On both levels I was always “working hard,” but I was a bit aimless. We were growing just to grow. When the pandemic hit, traditional work stopped and obviously our personal lives changed immediately.
On a personal level my first action was to take care of my team. This includes my partner, my parents, and my employees. Your priorities become very clear in times of crisis. I am still working on the self-care portion. I am staying incredibly active, but my stress and sleep has taken a beating. There is still room for improvement there.
Professionally, I am starting to find my voice. I have always been gregarious, but sometimes I sit back and “stay in my lane.” No one would call me quiet, but more often it was jokes. Now I am feeling my voice grow not only within our industry, but also within my community. Leadership is amplified in times of crisis and making sense of the entirety of a problem is one of my strengths. My first step was to connect with my mentors and those I respected in different areas of my life. I took notes, listened and put as much information together as possible. Then I felt prepared to move with confidence. This involved participating in industry seminars, creating game plans for our clients, writing, vlogging, and sharing at every level.
I needed this. I needed a kick in the ass.
3. Has your relationship with running and your community changed as a result of having no races or events on the schedule?
Yes and no. Our relationship with our community has always been based on transparency, honesty and making sure people know that they are part of our “Run Local” community. We always strived to do the right thing before the pandemic and have continued that theme. This type of community contract allows you to cancel a San Jose Shamrock Run less than a week out and receive zero complaints. There is trust built up.
However, THE WAY we are now connecting with our community has changed night and day. We have added both a running themed podcast and an event industry themed podcast. Both weekly distributions. We re-built our Youtube channel with video versions of those podcasts, but also live weekly running specific workouts hosted by one of our community coaches. We have engaged in some innovative IG Live battles with other race companies and continued to lead our industry in digital. For our clients we have been ready to turn marketing plans into virtual plans. Under Armour has had some incredibly successful virtual challenges on their Map My Run app. We have helped HOKA ONE ONE pivot at the highschool level with an AthleticAPP partnership. Last, but not least, we created a virtual event called the California Coast 500 — “Run the One” to create a summer full of motivation to keep running and hiking. Honestly, we should have been doing every single one of those things prior to the pandemic. We will continue to develop these assets and even more after live events come back. Much like my professional growth this lockdown has become more of an opportunity than a hindrance.
This type of reaction requires a dedicated team that fails to get caught in the headlights. They took a beat, analyzed the landscape and started plugging holes.
4. Can running and endurance sports generally create positive change in the world during a crisis like this?
Running and endurance sports are already creating positive change during this crisis. It is no secret that with gym and fitness studio closures the foundational activities of walking, running and cycling are seeing a huge uptick. That is positive change in itself. Movement provides stress relief.
Our industry’s challenge is how do we welcome these new runners and cyclists into the community? How do we keep them informed, feeling welcome, unintimidated, and keep them in the culture? I believe in the power of movement and especially in the egalitarian potential of running. All you need is shoes and time.
Last, but not least there is something important about the theme of endurance in this time of crisis. My good friend and one of your recent interviewees is Stephanie Bruce. We both went to UCSB and last year our old coach, Pete Dolan, confessed to me that he thought Steph was the toughest runner he had ever coached. In their conversations that meant that Steph had found a new way to deal and negotiate with pain. She had found a new depth of not only pushing through discomfort, but thriving through it. Steph calls this grit. This hit me deep. First off, I thought I was the toughest runner he had ever coached, but he laughed at that. More importantly I have been thinking about the race we’re in right now. It is a very long road ahead and it will require some significant negotiations with discomfort. We have a ton of work to do to rebuild the endurance event industry. However, we have a foundation of that type of dedication in our DNA. Endurance sports prepares you for the challenges of life. You dig in, find some of that grit and push through.
