Blistering Pace Race Mgmt

BPRM turns 10 today! Thank you to all of our clients, industry partners and friends, and most importantly, the staff, for helping us build big dreams. Thank you to participants everywhere for giving us a canvas. We wouldn’t be us without you.

My first year as Race Director of the Big Sur International Marathon and what a ride it was! We have one job with this event - to give people an experience that they will remember for a lifetime. For nearly 10,000 participants from all 50 states and 41 countries, the gravity of this offer hits you on race week and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes wonder how we’d get it all done. There are a million moving pieces. But for each piece, there is a board of directors, an events committee, a foundation staff, a blistering pace staff, and 2500 volunteers who care more than you can imagine. All we want collectively is to give you the best day you could ever dream of, and the outcome is awe-inspiring. It is my hardest, most exhausting day of the year, but the one that fills my heart up the most. Runners, walkers, and adventurers, we are so privileged to be at your service. Come see us again soon. 💙 *Race photos by the talented Luis Escobar

Shuffle On, Chicago! The 2025 @chishuffle was 30,000 people strong, and we sent them across the start line in style on a chilly midwestern morning. Thanks to the @cem.event team for their leadership on this winter classic and for always inviting us to the party. I always love seeing old friends and getting up at 2am, haha. Let’s do it again in June.

Napa Valley Marathon - 2025 Edition One of the most magical days I have had in my 20 year career in this space. The weather, the participants, the staff, the board, the volunteers, our partners, and this freaking community … we brought it home! It is very special to put on a race like this where you live, with added stress but incentive to make your town proud. I know we did yesterday. The energy was infectious. People were smiling, cheering, glowing, proud. Everywhere I went, there was a hug for me to give. A congratulations to pass on. I got to work this one with my brother, got to send my sister in law off on the course, saw tons of friends old and new, and even saw @mariofraioli and @christinehastheruns as I jumped out of my vehicle at mile 18 to talk to a CHP officer. I’d be willing to bet they were not expecting that, lol! First pic from our very talented race photographer, @luis_escobar . Last pic is a text Kevin got this morning from one of our key captains. I’m not crying, you’re crying. But it’s 💯 why we do this. 🥹

Nine years ago today, I officially launched Blistering Pace Race Management. If I told you what my vision was at the time, we’d laugh wholeheartedly. Never in a million years would I believe you if you told me I’d be a full service race management answer to four premiere Northern California races, I’d get to bring my team to the New York City Marathon and the Chicago Marathon (where you at, Boston?!), or that I have 7 employees. I also wouldn’t believe you if you told me I’d won industry awards, got to stand on the stage at Running USA and present the women’s leadership award to my life long role model, @carrie_tollefson , or that I gave an educational session to industry peers. I’m lucky, blessed, proud, and hungry for more. Nine years in, and there’s still so much work to be done. If you are one of my employees or have been over the years, my god, thank you. I know I’ve put you in some deep trenches and ride or die doesn’t even begin to describe what you’ve been for me. If you have helped BPRM as a race weekend staff member, thank you. I always keep it … interesting, don’t I? If you have bestowed trust in BPRM for getting the job done, as a client of any size, thank you. You make us better and we wouldn’t be here without you. If you’ve run a race BPRM has worked behind the scenes to manage, thank you. We get out of bed for you every day. If you are part of the running community at large across the country, thank you. You give an entire industry the opportunity to live our dreams. ❤️

It was wet, windy, and wild, but it was ours ❤️ The @sanfranciscohalfmarathon continues to fall on some of the worst weather days of the year like an inside joke none of us want to be a part of. It was dry literally for three weeks straight, but on our race day? Nope! But we were able to give the running community a race this year and that’s the most important thing. We agreed that we felt a little rusty after a year off from this event and we have copious amounts of notes for the future. We are so privileged to serve our participants and we will continue to strive to do the best we can. Days like these aren’t great for capturing the moment as a team, but I came away with a few anyway. Working for hours in the rain is no pleasure cruise and trying to look like a lady in a dress, well the last photo says it all. 🤣 It took an entire year for my anxiety to right itself after last year but I’ve slept well these last couple nights. My heart is full. Finally.

In 2024, Blistering Pace Race Management touched the running lives of nearly 200,000 people. There were hardships (man, were there hardships!), and there were so many awards (undeservedly, but thank you, it means the world). Spending our time with you though, was the highlight of our year. We are incredibly lucky to call this our job and work days and nights making our dreams come true, but hopefully yours too. Thank you, so very much. To more of all of this in 2025! We will see you on the roads.

California International Marathon - 3:14:05. Lucky to have the guidance of @mariofraioli as a coach and my husband Kevin to pace me through nearly every workout and even some long runs, I knew I had a good race in me. It’s funny how hours, and days, weeks and months of training come down to 15 minutes. Can I keep doing this for 15 more minutes as the wheels are starting to come off? I’m so proud that I did. What a wonderful reward. Everyone lines up at a marathon start line with a story. Mine isn’t special, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous about choosing CIM as my target race knowing my fall work schedule. Putting on races for others involves a lot of travel, manual labor, insane time on your feet, wake up calls at 2:30am, and on top of all that, creative training programs away from home, on unfamiliar terrain, or sometimes on a hotel treadmill at 4am, before a 16 hour day. But I got it all done. When I toed the line this morning, the only thing I was nervous about was the “old lady factor”. Would some part of my body just decide to crap out on me just because it could? It turns out it didn’t, even though my garmin gave me a -3 today ten minutes into the race. How rude! I ran faster today than I have since 2018, and my last CIM was 21 years ago where I ran 3:50. Marathon #35 felt better than some of my earlier endeavors. Age is just a number. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. But I can’t wait to rest. I’ve never felt like I have deserved it more. I grew up in Sacramento and I immensely enjoyed my hometown cruise. As the former Race Director of CIM, I loved experiencing the event from a participant perspective from the weather, the bus ride, that heralded toilet ratio, to the course, trying to capture some of that magic everyone talks about. It has been a long time, but I remembered every inch of that course. I felt so lucky to see Mario, Kevin, my 80 year old Dad and stepmom, my stepbrother and niece and nephew, and several friends all cheering me toward Sacramento. And there is magic there- many of us found it today! Congrats to all the runners, especially my sister in law @alexisfitz1 who ran a PR today at 43 years young! ❤️

The day before my 21 day work trip extravaganza, I was named Race Director for the Monterey Bay Half Marathon and the Big Sur International Marathon. I took off for New York and I think I slept 3 hours a night for the first 5 days I was there just trying to catch up on new duties for the upcoming event. Nothing to do but get through it! Supporting the largest marathon in the world brings with it so much adrenaline and fun, so many coffees, 40,000 steps per day, lots of levain cookies and magnolia bakery, and good amounts of bonding time for team “snip and zip”. We are a tiny cog in a long train, but it very special to be a part of the New York City Marathon. Hats off to the NYRR team leads at the finish line - they know how to dial the participant experience! Fast forward to Monterey, I traded east coast for west and buckled down into getting the largest half we’ve seen at this race since 2017 off the ground. We had an absolutely gorgeous day that was not without a few challenges, but our execution was nearly flawless. It is wonderful to close a season on a high note with board, committee, and staff all celebrating the same big wins. Even the sea lions were cheering! I’m so happy to see the fall season come to an end, but I have one more task to conquer. I’m training for CIM. Trying to schedule 20 mile runs around my travel, manual labor, miles and miles a day of walking, different time zones, and dragging unsuspecting staff members out on long runs and 3x2 mile workouts with me has been quite a time! I’m proud I’ve done what I have and at the same time I honestly can’t believe it - I feel like some unhinged beast. But, onward! I’m almost to another finish line.

BPRM made a promotional video! I’ve never done anything like this before so step one was to write the video ‘script’. Capturing my business in a minute or so was an interesting mind exercise. The BPRM team is responsible for so many different things in the year lead up to an event and on race weekend specifically. There are also so many others, companies/vendors, agency partners, and sponsors to carry out plans to ensure we deliver the perfect day for you. The video project was a fun one and hopefully it gives participants (and friends and family) a little more insight into what makes us tick, other than lots of caffeine. Always at your service. ❤️

Honored to be the recipient of the 2024 Emerging Industry Leader Award by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security. The award is given to a professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in addressing safety and security issues. Also honored to share the award stage with my close industry colleague, Stacy Embretson @stacycakesla from the McCourt Foundation/Los Angeles Marathon, who took home the professional of the year award. Peeps, it has been a year. I did not do everything right in the safety and security department, but I have learned more in the last 6 months than I have in almost 20 years of working in this business. I will take it all forward and do better. As the distinguished leader award recipient today asked everyone in the room who has devoted their career to safety for participants and spectators to stand and the entire room did so, I got a bit choked up. What we do can be heavy. Putting people’s lives in your hands is hard and stressful. It can also be fun, fulfilling, rewarding, and amazing. But we do it for you! Because we love you! I love you! Thank you for supporting me, @blisteringpace , showing up to my races, and coming to my Ted talk. See you at the next one. 😘

As the Race Director, I look at every single promo photograph taken at our events. It’s tedious, but important to me. I came across these two photos in succession. I had to stop and catch my breath. These photos are the epitome of why I do what I do. As a runner, I know what goes into the training. I also know all the many reasons you can show up at a start line and the different feelings of getting to that finish line. Running is often so private. Talking to yourself through your daily runs, week in, week out. Challenging yourself to a goal you set. And then coming face to face with it. The private moment all of a sudden being very public. Every race I put on, I get to see this. People’s highs and lows. People’s belief in themselves. Their elation, disappointment, relief, disbelief, pain, satisfaction, fatigue, joy. I’ve had the pleasure of having a front row seat for friends, family, teammates, neighbors, community members, acquaintances, and total strangers, all crossing the line for their own reasons with their own feelings. Wearing their hearts on their sleeves. @acrain113 you wore it so well and shared the moment with me which I’m so grateful for! I should only be so lucky to continue to give people the opportunity for health, fitness, happiness, and achievement in whatever way that means for them for many, many years to come. I can’t wait to see you at a race sometime soon. ❤️ 📸 Sean Dulany