Joe Moreno: Miles of Planning

Looking for End tables for this for this and so Finally I was like I'll just and I was in Wally world and and I was I went there to actually get picture frames for the The license plates and better to be dental by the way He's a Special meeting here right in town so like The my 71 behind you. Yeah, that's that's my dad's That's the plate that was on it in the early 80s and then a teacher She was my first grade teacher and she would drive around and so my dad used to sell gas So ever since I was seven years old. I'd been pumping gas down at that shop before we pulled the pumps out Yeah, and so like I always know and Marsha pulled up and then Some other people from town there and then Jeanne. She was my babysitter growing up and Her dad owned that place before my dad owned the place So I don't know it's just and so I think it's neat because people from around town know this like the guy who owns and still has the Wilton plate, you know, everybody knows that guy and then Moscow is the next town right over So it's so cool to have a Customized Iowa plate with the two neighboring towns Wilton and Moscow together Somebody has Durant and I really want to find out who's got Durant are we ready? Yeah, go oh we're live Oh, we didn't even get any entrance music. Oh my gosh. We've been drone in on I bet people I bet people dropped off like flies there. They're like what are these guys talking about I played the entrance music Oh, I didn't even get that through here. Okay. All right. Well, thank you Katie in in Katie's defense She played the entrance music Joe I'm gonna I'm gonna put I'm gonna put as big of a Mexican R on this as I can so I pronounce it correctly. We have Joe Quad City marathon race director welcome to the show. Thanks Joe. I'm gonna be here You know you I gotta tell you I was gonna say this off camera you rolled up in a Honda Ridge line and I for some reason I was looking for a Subaru to pull up. I don't know why I just peg you as a Subaru guy Maybe because maybe all you runners you like you like granola and Subaru Well, yeah, and I was like well, that's even though it's kind of a I mean a Honda Ridge line isn't exactly what I'd consider a big daddy mud Bogger, but I mean it is technically a pickup trope. I'm not a truck guy and this was this was Given to me by the board of directors. It's a least truck and it's like how do you say no to that and I love it I'm putting some miles on it. It's got our logo on the sides. It does look nice. It looks really nice, but I love it. Oh So anyway, you are the you are the racing you're the race father of the Quad Cities as I it's like That's how I kind of know you grandfather. Yes, the racing grandfather of the Quad Cities How many races do you coordinate or quarterback per year right now? It's only three the most I've ever done per year was seven and I've got 120 races that I've organized in my history 120 some but Gosh Joe I've been doing this for 33 years so you know even if you averaged Five a year that's that adds up How do you make any money if you're spending all your time running races? Do you come from a lot of money or you retired? You still working like I've always wondered that about you. No, I'm I'm blessed to say that and let's talk about the marathon I have a stipend the board of directors gives me a stipend to put that race on and Man they pay you for your time. Yeah And it's I'm just honored. I mean for the first few years when I started this marathon 28 years ago I never expected to get a dime out of it. That's not why I did it put your mic closer. I did this because oh That's way better. Yeah, I'm just hard of hearing go ahead. So my I did this start of the marathon because We needed a marathon in this area. I mean if you think about it. There's a big circle between Twin cities Chicago Indianapolis St. Louis de moine Kansas City is a big circle and we're smack in the middle and didn't have a marathon So I started this marathon and it's been a good thing you started it. Yes, this was you you birthed the marathon I did but I didn't do it alone. I mean I don't get all the credit I put it out there who was like your who was like your your robin to your Batman when you first Conjured up the thought of the quad city marathon There was probably three or four other people that said yeah, if you do it I'm on board will help you and you know what a first thing I did I was an elected official so I knew how to talk to the local state representatives Our congressmen are in what capacity and like you were the mayor, right? Yeah of East molean Yes, yes, so you're the mayor of East molean at the time. What year is this? 1998 I was an older man at the time. Okay, so I I reached out to them I pitched the idea of hey, what do you think about having a a quad city's marathon the fact that you title it the Quad cities You automatically unites the community sure. It's not an a molean marathon It's not the this marathon or the it's the Quad cities marathon and at the time I think we were in need of Unification with a lot of stuff going on But man the river divides us the Mississippi in the Quad cities and here the Quad cities marathon unites us because we're running On both sides. It was a good thing. Yeah, that's a really cool idea And then in the Bix had been a long sense thing It's hard to believe that the Bix lived so long before the marathon it did because the Bix goes back to the Does it go back to the 50s and 60s? No, no 70s 70s. Yeah, okay mid 70s You know, I'm kind of a nutty collector and some of that old vintage Bix stuff. I've seen hanging in people's homes and I've always tried to buy it and boy they they're they're dug in like they're dug into the bone on that There's no way and some some the original banners I've seen The one that I got really mad at myself at I at a garage sale I got an original Bix t-shirt. It was from the early 80s. I found it a garage sale Yeah, and and I'm I misplaced it classic classic stuff Yeah, yeah, I I mean I I've run that race 30 sometimes and I stopped running it a few years ago, but You know, it's a good thing and I hate to say this and I'm gonna bring it up when I started the marathon. I was on the Bix committee. I was on that committee And I was I was discouraged to start this marathon And I'm just that's first time I saw and rightfully so the Bix was probably sitting there going Bullshit you're gonna steal our thunder. Yeah, and you oh so you were already on the committee So how long did your life last within that ecosystem before it imploded not long Like a year not even that. Yeah, I mean I don't blame them and I don't blame you I mean that that was a conflicted so that but you had to know that kind of going into it like okay I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of throw up, but Joe here's here. I am Pitching this idea and not a courtesy and respect to the race director. I told him my ambitions the desire and The support that will will have and I also explained how it would not be a conflict There's plenty of room in the sandbox for all of us sure and Two different animals seven miles You know three and a half out three and a half back seven miles is totally different than running 26.2 miles Throughout all the cities and crossing the river. Yeah. Yeah, I mean how many races do you get to run on a bridge? I mean, I don't know yeah not many well a lot, but not many do you get to run over a federal highway Bridge and go state to state yes, yeah, so we were kind of rare there Yeah, and then the fact that you got to run on I-74 Was the real catcher for the locals. It's like yeah, we're gonna run on that bridge with traffic and it happened for 25 years Was there ever an accident? Never so I'm gonna poop just pants, but well, yeah, that was pro yeah, I mean I could have been any one person Yeah, I mean at that point. Yeah, you're at the point in no return. Yeah, I mean then you had it Yeah, that was another story, but no So blessed I mean in 25 years, you know, I organized the firecracker on sponsored by Mercy one Genesis and There was a I took that race over on the eighth anniversary and The year before there was a tragedy on that race somebody died out on the course for the marathon We're blessed, you know, this is our 28th year. We've never had a fatality Thank God and you hear about those here and there all the time Yeah, sadly, yeah I've always felt a nice connection with you, you know, we treadmill heroes has been you and I have kind of had a Buddy ship over the last like I like three four years, you know what you're you're outgoing you're sincere you're genuine you're You follow through you say you're gonna do something and you do it Joe and and that's a key to success when you're doing what I do with a marathon so many times over the years, you know, you count on somebody or something and it doesn't happen. They're not there. You've always been there for us. And, you know, a fast, a, a, an interesting and a fun facet for the TbK Quad Cities marathon is that we have this pump and run. We can't do it without you and your equipment and your team. You guys, you bring it and we appreciate that very much. Yeah, that's kind of a cool event that you guys have and it's a, it's a way that I think it makes sense that we fit in. Yeah. Because sometimes you, businesses will get involved with a cause or an event solely because they hope it's going to be good for business. We don't, we're not involved with the marathon because it's good for business. And I'll tell you why. We're involved, well, one, let me finish that thought. We're involved with the marathon because I just really like you and I love the whole organization and I, I love the people that are involved in it. I love the fact that probably like on a lot of social top topics. We might not be aligned. But at the same time, it's just good energy, back and forth. Yeah. But it's not good for treadmill heroes business. Like, we don't make any money when we're involved with the marathon because marathon runners don't own fitness equipment. You guys go outside and you run. Yeah. Every single one of you that I've talked to at these events, I'm like, do you got any home fitness equipment? Nope. You know what I do? I run, run, run, run, run, run, run. And it's like, and then on the one or two days a year, where it's like, leading blowing sideways in the roads or I stover, I have this old dinky, pro-form treadmill that I beat the hell out of twice a year and it runs just fine for those two days. And so therefore, Joe, I'm not in the market for a reliable $4,000 treadmill. You would think and I will tell you, year one, I was like, oh my god, we're gonna sell a treadmill to every single runner in the tri-state area. All these people are runners. Like I, I really thought I was giving you a screw job on that first year. I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna make a small fortune. And boy, we came to that thing rock hard. We were ready to go, baby. And then all of a sudden, it was just like stiff arm after stiff arm after stiff arm. It was almost like I was a snake oil salesman trying to sell a treadmill to a marathon runner. But I fell in love with the people and the cause and what you guys do with everything. And because if, because if I just didn't like you, I'd be like, I don't want that. I just don't like that guy. But I like, I like our once a year where we get to take a month or two in total for the year and razz each other back and forth and have some fun. And you know what? That's worth the price of admission to me. I mean, it's worth all the labor costs. It's worth all the effort to like, and we're gonna livestream the hell out of this thing this year. Are you, are you ready for that? Let's do this. I remember last year on that Saturday before the marathon. Gosh, we were out. No, there was the Rudy's mile in the kids' micro marathon there at Stony Creek Inn. Yep. And we're doing a livestream. Is that what you call it? Yeah, we just, we just went live on Facebook just mobily on my phone. Yeah. And the last thing I needed, I'm, I'm already short on sleep. I'm nervous. There's a lot of stuff going on. A lot of moving parts. The big days tomorrow. The last thing I needed was to be doing shots with you. And there was that little outdoor bar. That little pop up 10. Yes. It was like you had, you had ostrich meat sticks and you know, it's soul in soul, the shoe in souls for sale. And then you have a little tent that was selling shots of warm tequila at 10 30 in the morning. But I can't say no to you. Right. And I made you pay. So I couldn't say no to you. Oh, okay. Yeah. Worked out well. Race must have been a success. The card went through. It is. You weren't buried too deep on the whole deal. So it so now, so this kind of puts my mind at ease a little bit. This is not every time you're involved with a race. At this point, you're putting your neck on the line financially if it's a flop. No, we've never had a flop. I mean, I always, but in the beginning stages, when the Quad City and helped me understand the business part of it, because that's intrigues me when you guys first start this thing in what 98 you said 98. It's you and a couple people. Someone has to fund it. Do you guys self-fund it or do you fund raise or do you get the city involved to fund it? We rely on sponsors. That's we rely on sponsors just to get the ball rolling walk me through that first year. Who is the first people that said sure I'll give you some money for this new thing. Trinity Hospital. I'll have Capri, the casino hotel. Palmer was there. The dispatch, the newspaper. Oh gosh, those are some of the early ones that have been with us forever. And then I think when people saw that after that first year that it was going to be a legit, not a one and done that it's going to be a long term investment for this, for our community. I think people started other businesses started stepping up. You know, the hardest part for me as the race director is to go out knocking on doors, getting money. I just hate that part. Yeah, because you got to be kind of a politician. You got to sell the story. You got to sell them on the dream, baby. And yeah, that's tough. It is tough. But you know, now on our 27th year, I can hang my head on several things. Number one, the successes that we've had. Number two, the beneficiaries, what we contribute, what we do give back to the community. For example, the 500 kids that we outfit with running shoes every year, the thousands of dollars that we raise for prostate cancer initiative, the $35,000 that we gave out in checks last November to many local charities. You had those three things up and businesses will step up and get involved. You know, you were talking about that first year naming all those sponsors beyond the sponsorship dough that helped fund the thing and get it off the ground. Yeah, you need that. But where it really paid dividends is all of a sudden now the Quad City marathon is aligned with all those power brands within the Quad Cities after one event. And all of a sudden, you have this same amount of street cred as the Bix. Yeah, we do. And I imagine that happened after year one, year two, because of these big brands that you were able to align with. We're in the initial first year or two. Was there any donations like were you kicking back to the community or were you guys just living hand to mouth for the first couple of years trying to fund the thing and get it paid for? No, I think we were doing well. And here's why, this is the part I failed to mention too is yeah, you rely on sponsors and they get the ball rolling that income there. We'll call that the seed money. But what you're relying on, that's kind of like a farmer, planting the fields. And I don't know nothing about farming. But you plant the fields and with you see them and you rely on good weather and everything to happen just right. And here comes the crops they're growing. Well, same thing with race direct and you rely on sponsorship money up front to get the ball rolling to put the down payment on the metals on the t-shirts on the high, high ticket items. And then, Joe, now you're going to have a lot more money do for the expenses to put this event on. Now you're relying on the runners to come through. And they're the revenue that you make because you got to have a goal every year, I imagine. Yeah, you do. And now you're relying on the participants. I shouldn't say runners, the participants, runners, walkers, participants to step up and participate. And that's where the real money comes in. It's not so much the sponsorship money. It's the participation. Through all the years of the marathon, give me a figure. Just top line. What was the best year you guys generated in total gross revenue? Oh, I don't know. I'd say, gosh, and I'm terrible at numbers. And I like to say this when I was mayor too. I was terrible at number. Okay. And I get it like, no, I can tell you. Yeah. I like, are we talking a couple million bucks? Oh gosh, no. No, like what is it? Have you ever had a million? Oh, no, not even $50,000. We don't-- In overall all intake revenue. Yeah, no, we don't. You know, there's years where we're looking at red because let's say the COVID year, the money went out for the metals and the t-shirts and all of a sudden, it's a COVID year, and are they going to come? What are you going to do? There's no money in racing. You got to do it for the passion, baby. You do it. There's years where you break even. Yeah. I've never been in the red, but gosh, there's years where, you know, it might be a $10,000 gross income. That's it. I thought this might be like, at the end of the marathon, you guys all kind of sit back and you light a stogie and you go, you know what? We banked a bunch of money this year. Like, because I look at-- Dang, dude, like if I'm talking 50 grand and I look at what you guys have to do to get from beginning of marathon season to end of marathon season, the money that you guys show out and the venues that you have being now granted, I'm sure I would hope those venues work with you a little bit as far as a trade-off, I'm sure, but still, you guys got a lot to set up and a lot to do. Yeah, and it's not just a year round. It's not just that race weekend, it's year round. That's what I meant. Because we have activities. We have functions in the spring and leading up to the race weekend. And I'm way off when I said, there's years we made 50,000. No, that's not even true. And the more I think about it, it's much less than that. And we're not talking making just the overall revenue that came into fund the thing. That's what I'm talking about. Oh, sure. Well, no, no, that's-- You know, we're talking maybe a $300,000 budget. Okay, that's what I wanted to get at. Like what is the goal that you guys have where you sit back and you go, okay, guys, with the cost of everything around town. If we're going to do this shindig, it's going to cost us about $300,000 to do it. So we have to crack that nut between participants, sponsorship, and just straight up donations to probably come off that bottom line. You've probably budgeted $5,000 for a venue. And if the venue just donates it to you, then your goal lessens by $5,000. I would imagine. And then you've got sponsors that provide not just-- some are our financial sponsors, but others are product or service-- Or services. Yeah. And we appreciate that. And I like to tell sponsors, especially the financial ones, we don't want just your money. We want your enthusiasm, too. Yeah. And we've got some great sponsors that bring it, and they do. Well, and I think that makes an interesting point here from the perspective of a small business owner. Because I can tell you, even when you came in as Joe Race Director, Joe Marano, Race Director of the Quad City Marathon, you come into my little treadmill heroes operation, born and raised right here in the great state of Iowa, by the way, locally owned and operated, right out of Wilton, Iowa, all the best brands at all the best prices right here locally. And yeah, someone will actually answer the phone. And the service. And the service. And don't forget, guess what? The people who sell it to you also are going to service it. They're going to deliver it. They're going to answer the phone when you call. And anytime you call treadmill heroes, you deal with a treadmill hero. I'm just telling you, Joe, I work out at the local YMCA. And the service, the equipment there that you have serviced is-- they speak highly of you. You know what you're doing. Everything starts with service. It was a year ago. I got this nice tidbit of information. I said, I know those people. They're good people. Well, we've got a few people snowed, don't we? But no, so back to what I would say-- and thank you for saying that. But back to what I was saying, as a small business owner in the Quad cities, when a big recognizable brand approaches you about sponsorship, you immediately go into financial defense mode. Because not because you don't want to be involved, you're afraid you can't afford to get involved. And I looked at your initial thing, and I'm like, OK, all this makes sense. But boy, I'd love to do that. But I can't do that. Can we work something out over in here? And we're able to work something out over in here. And I think that's important for anybody, you know? I saw across the street from Ace Hardware down on State Street. There's like this new gypsy holistic little place that sells crystals and beads and stuff, which I'm kind of getting into, by the way. So I've only noticed I'm going to stop in there. Start burning some sage. But anyway, those people I would imagine would like to get involved if they knew that, hey, I've got a perfect little thing. I got a perfect idea for you, gypsy crystal lady. And a little thing, it's going to cost you next to nothing. You can be involved. You, you can now associate your brand with our big brand. And the Quad City Marathon's going to pay it forward because our little brand got to be associated with those big brands back in the day. So the Quad City Marathon's going to figure out a way to get gypsy crystal lady involved in the marathon, where she doesn't really have to feel a financial pinch to do it. And so it's all upside for her. And it looks great for you guys because guess what? It's just more vendors. It's more things. Am I speaking out of my ass? Or are you guys already doing stuff like that? Joe, I'm going to tell you a quick little story on another race that I organized, the Firecracker Run. This couple I know, the guy quit his job, started a business of their own. So I'm going to call it a Mawn Pa business. And they're starting from scratch. They're going out on a limb. And they asked me, hey, what would it take to sponsor? It was the Freedom Run, not the Firecracker. OK. The Freedom Run. And I showed them the chart for sponsorship. Here's your return on investment. Here's different levels of sponsorship. And I'm in tune to what it's like because my son was a small business owner. He was a chiropractor. He had a couple offices here in the Quad Cities. And gosh, I saw him suffer at the beginning and what it's like to go on a limb. Especially in that field. Boy, that's a feast or famine. It is, right here. Oh, oh. But I have a great appreciation for small business. So you know what I did, Joe? I offered this couple to be a sponsor, a premier sponsor for-- and I'm just going to tell you, if it was a $4,000 investment with the one they were looking at it, I gave it to him for $1,000 because I just want to see them get off the ground and succeed. And I want to be one of those that, hey, I was there at the beginning. You know, we helped each other out. It just makes me feel good. So I hope they do well. They're a new sponsor with the Freedom Run. It's Shamrock Rail Services. So whatever they do with the railroads or whatever, good for them. But it's not something the general public is going to partake in. It's-- Sure. But you know what, back to your point. Yeah, we got to help each other out. And I like helping people out because in the end, when I started this, a lot of other individuals helped me get off the ground. You don't go to college to become a race director. You don't wake up one day. So yeah, I think I'm going to be a race director. Sure. Organically it happens. Yeah, it was good. How old are you? I'm going to be-- I'm going to be 69. Damn, dude, you're looking good. Must be the shoes. Are you a-- are you a big supplement guy? What do you take? I don't. I just take that-- the big thing like this from Costco. What is that protein? Yeah, just-- Yeah, you take a-- What you sound old when you say, what the thing, the scoop, the protein, the thing, God, you sound like you're 169 there. I don't know what-- I don't know what's in it. It's my wife buys it for me and I just scoop the scoop and I drink the drink. You know what? I need that. I think you know more than you're leading on to. I bet if I went to your house and I'd look through your fridge, I bet you've got quite a bit of healthy stuff. And like a very well-informed fridge, I would say. You're wrong. You're wrong, Joe. You know what? I had a stroke 13 years ago and I found out-- a minor stroke-- and I found out this fit as I was back then and I'm considerably still fit for my age. I thought I can eat anything I want, do what I want because I burn it off. You know what? You are what you eat. I've heard that. And the cardiologist that I was working with, I found out there's electricians and there's plumbers. My plumber was telling me my cholesterol was bad. I mean, everything was out of whack, even though I was running well and I do this in that well. And you may look like you're fit, but being fit and being healthy are two different things. Oh, you got that right, brother. I found that out. Yeah. So-- But now-- Now, are you eating healthy? - I try to, but yeah, I am, I am, and especially I just, I don't know if you heard a gout, I have gout, and that hurts. (laughing) - That's for all people. (laughing) - That hurts. - That is the most ridiculous. And here's the three that knew you of all people that's got, Katie, Katie, would you have ever pegged Joe Marano, race director of the Quad City Marathon that have gout? - No, but you compare anybody's ailments. - Maybe gout. - That's my go to make fun of condition. - Gout? - Like if somebody's like, "Man, my fingers are really been by man, like you probably have gout." And it gets a big laugh, right? It's like, "Oh, my back's bothering me, I bet you have gout." And I swear to God, I'm not just saying this, in one of your previous podcasts, I heard and say that, I heard and talk about gout. Do you really have gout? I really do. (laughing) And I'm gonna bitch slap you. The three things, the three things that are bad are the three things I love. Beer, this right here. Thank you for the beer. Sweets and red meat, a good prime rib. But I'll still have them every so often. I just cut back. I think you should go heavy on the red meat. The red meat is good for you. Red meat. - I love it. - Butter, eggs. - I love eggs. - Yes, that's what I'm saying. To me, that's eating healthy. If you're eating a very high protein diet. - I do. - And you don't put all the palm cooking spray all over your, I bet you have, I bet you have not, the nice pans that I bet you're not scraping a bunch of teflon into your food. I bet you don't have a ton of plastic silverware and dishes in your house. - No. - That's what I'm saying. I bet, I bet if I rated your kitchen and cabinets, I would be thoroughly impressed with the basics of it. I bet you've got like, I bet on your counter, you've probably got some bananas hanging there. You know, right, just a good healthy looking kitchen. - I like a protein shake. - Yes. - My wife, she bitches that maybe because. - No, she lovingly reminds you, Joe. - She says, we're live here. Boy, you're gonna pay for that. - I will pay for that. (laughing) - She says, when you make a protein shake, okay, use your protein powder in this and that. You only need three or four or two or three ingredients. I go through that fridge and I put everything I can. I've had up to 12 ingredients. How do you have gout? - I don't know. - I'm sorry, and now I'm not making fun. Now I'm genuinely concerned because I've always treated that in condition as bad. - The doctor said it was those three things that I'm overindulging in. The sweets, the beer, and the red-- - Yeah, get rid of the beer and the red. Get rid of the beer and the sweets and you can do that. - Yeah. - And you know what, everybody likes to have a beer every once in a while, but you know what? Every time you drink alcohol, we're poisoning ourselves. We know it's poison. And you know what? Somebody like you who takes exceptionally good care of himself and somebody like me who still goes to the gym and tries to not be a fat dad, 'cause I could easily be a fat dad. - Yeah. - It's too easy. - The beer is such a setback all the time. And so like, I gotta be honest, man, I'm now finding myself in a normal, like, hey, we're hanging out in the backyard where I just crush a 12 pack and not even think about it. I can slow roll beer too now and be just fine. And the hangovers ain't worth it, but you racing people, you granola Subaru people, you love your craft beer. - That's the good stuff. - You love to look through that whole stupid aisle at Hivey and look at all the sours and all the IPAs and all the hazel butternut cream ails. - You know what, though? That's what's killing ya. - But Joe, and maybe we don't wanna talk about this, but I've been indulging here and there at these breweries. Now they come, and I'm not drinking any beer. Sometimes when I go to the breweries, I'll drink this other drink that they're making that has cannabis in it. - Oh, now you're talking, baby. - Now you're on the surfboard. - So now you're on the wave of the future. - Now, so I'm not drinking beer. I feel good about that, and I'm just gonna mic out. I have one of those versus three beers. I'm real cool and right back, and you know what, it's legal. - Yeah, and I never thought I'd say this, but on this topic, you, my friend, are living in the land of the free, over on the Illinois side. - Well, that's right. - Over here on the Iowa side, it's still regarded as kinda taboo. And it just is. And do I agree with that? No way, man. I've always been progressive on things like that. It's like let people do what they wanna do. I've always considered myself pretty progressive in that regard. And when Illinois legalized it, I was like, well, that makes total sense. Like, why wouldn't they? You guys don't have a pot to piss in over there anyway. So at least now the state might get an opportunity to get some good money out of it before it all gets siphoned off the top. 'Cause there'll just be a big influx of it. They'll have to show it somewhere in the public. - Yeah. - And so it was good for the state of Illinois. And I think it's kind of silly for Iowa because you know what, if Iowa wanted to get, Iowa's got too much conservative heat on it right now. I think Iowa, and you know what? I fancy myself a conservative. I fancy myself more conservative than I do a liberal. I'll put it to you that way. But I kinda like to play ping pong on both sides. But Iowa is considered a super conservative state. And I get it, right? Go red team. But at the same time, they need to lighten up a little bit. Iowa needs to give up a little bit of conservative ground and move more into the neutral area. And I think legalizing cannabis would be a wonderfully smart way for the leadership of Iowa to extend the olive branch to more of the liberal side of things and go, you know what? You guys wanna smoke a little pot, then smoke a little pot. But you know what, if we catch you in public with it or in a city park or near a school, we're gonna kick your ass. But keep it out of there and you know what? - At home. - Yeah, we feel like there's your olive branch. And if the Republican leadership of Iowa would get that done, I don't really see a lot of people losing on that. You're gonna have your ultra deep, deep red conservatives that are going to-- - That's the devil's lettuce and all that. I don't know, it's nature. I grew from nature, it didn't grow in some trailer on a hot plate. - Right, right. I don't know, there was my weed tire. You kinda unlocked something. - I did, I didn't mean to. But no, I mean, back to the gout thing. - That's an alternative. - Can we, so what I'm gonna give you an exclusive, I have been archiving some of my favorite sound bites from the show so far. And what I'm gonna do is take some of my favorites and put them on a t-shirt for Joe Bremyer Presents. And I'm gonna make a shirt with your likeness, your head. It won't be you, but it'll look just like you. Okay, 'cause I'm not gonna pay any royalties for it, but it's gonna be just a white outline of your face. And the shirt's gonna say believe it or not, I have gout. (laughing) I wanna see that. - And I bet every poor bastard in the Quad Cities who has gout is gonna order one, and they'll wear it around. - I'm gonna wear it, and I don't have gout. - And you know what? Because you're so well known for the marathon. I'm sorry, but I'm gonna get a little greedy on this. I'm gonna put them on our website right away. (laughing) If you wanna, hey, let's make a clip here. Hey, if you own a t-shirt printing company in the Quad Cities and you wanna do a deal with me, I've got our very first t-shirt, we're gonna unveil, I need someone to take Joe's likeness and put it on a t-shirt, and I want it to say believe it or not, I have gout. And we're gonna sell a thousand of those at the Quad City Marathon this year. And you know what? I'll tell you what, if the sales go well, Joe, I'll slip you a little white envelope. Okay, I'll slip you a little white envelope when I see you down at the deli, okay? - That's fine, I love it. - You gave it, gave me such a good idea for that. - Well, you know what? When you wake up with gout one morning and you wonder, what the hell is wrong with my foot? I feel like I can't get that. - Yeah, 'cause it's a foot thing, right? Is it because you have too much stomach acid built up, like your body can't like process the acid? - You're a acid. - Yeah. - That's what it is. And it's 99% of the time it's on your big toe and that's what it was. And it's like, I don't know what this is. I can't walk. And you probably think it's a running injury. That's what I thought. But it felt like you stubbed your toe really hard and it hurt so bad just the weight of the sheets and your bed when you're sleeping was too much weight on that. But you know what, Joe? But how do you remedy it? Isn't there like, didn't they? Didn't, didn't. What was the diabetes guy? What was his name? - Wilford Bremley. - Didn't Wilford Bremley have like a counterpart that back in the 90s was selling a pill for Gout? I thought Gout was eradicated like, you know, back in like, oh, one. - I don't know. I remember the guy. What was his, why was he famous? He was, yeah, there was a Gout commercial, wasn't there? - With him. What was Wilford Bremley known for? - Diabetes, your home testing supplies. But he was in that show, he was in that show with Corke. Life goes on. Corke was the mentally handicapped kid 'cause you can't say the hard R word anymore. But they called him the hard R word in the show, but it was called life goes on. And Corke was the main character. And Wilford Bremley was the grandpa. He was the grandpa back in the 80s. - That's the guy. - And then he was the grandpa in the 90s? - That's the show. - Yeah, I wondered. - Yeah, I don't know. - Joe, I don't know what to do about this. - There's nobody that can fix it for you. This seems like a dumb problem to have. - There's medication for it. And if once you start on that, you have to stay on that forever. So I went to my, my doctor numerous times when it flares up and he's given me medication to take for the inflammation, for the pain. And that's what you want. You don't want to be on anything for the rest of your life. It's only when it flares up is what I'm taking. - Dude, I'll tell you what, I hate it. - We're too close to the weekend right now, but starting Monday, you need to go on a vision quest and not touch a drop of alcohol for like three months. And do your best to go on like a no sugar diet, no refined sugar. I mean, what do you got to lose, right? First of all, you're freaking, your old ass almost 70 year old liver could probably take a break for a month or two, right? Yeah, and so like give your body like, because you already look super human to me, like for 69, you look really good. And I think you're doing all the other good things. You're doing all the right moves with your diet. You're keeping like a, here should be the rule with your diet. If the food was here a thousand years ago, then eat it today. If it wasn't here a thousand years ago, don't eat it. - Right. - A thousand cheese and meat, cheese, butter, all that stuff was here a thousand years ago. Fruits, vegetables, chickens, fish, other than that, if you don't eat it, I believe you will be super human. And I think for the most part, you're doing that. You're probably eating a little too much granola. But get rid of the sweets and get rid of the beer for like a month or two, and I bet your foot feels like a million bucks. - You know, the beer thing, I can go without it. I went like six months without it last year when it first flared up. It's like, I'm done with beer. If this is what's causing it, I don't want to experience this, because running is too important. - Did it help at all? - It did. It did. I went six months without it. And I think it's the combination of those things that'll cause a flare up. You never know when it's gonna flare up. And sometimes it's only 10%, 20% of the pain. Once in a while, I have that. And I know what it is. It's out. But. - So in other words, sometimes, you know what? If I want to have a couple of craft beers and if my toe hurts, then let my toe hurt. - Yeah. - No, I can't fault you for that. I thought this was like an everyday like you're in constant pain. - Oh, it's not okay. - And here's the thing. You know what, with my lifestyle, I feel like, like when back when I was mayor, and I was telling you, I'm terrible with numbers. That's what a city administrator and a finance director are for. Well, we have a finance director for the marathon and the races too. But back when I was mayor, I felt like I had to be the face of the city being the mayor. I had to be out there shaking hands, going to all the churches. I went to all the bars in East Moline. I went to all the churches in East Moline. I went to all the functions. I went to, I went to a visitation one time. I'd go to a lot of funerals. And it was at Van Hope funeral home down town, East Moline. And I went there to pay my respects for this family. And they said to me when I walked in, the Van Hope folks, who were you here to see? And I said the name and they kind of look at each other, and they grinned a little and said, Joe, that was last Wednesday, not today. So then I said to them, I looked around and I said, well, who do you got? Yeah. And they give me that one. They told me the two names. And I knew that family. So I went in there and paid my respects. I didn't know such a mayor move. Oh, yeah. That was a great move. But wait, now I'm losing track of when I'm supposed to be going. The face of the city, well, the face of the marathon, with this lifestyle being a race director and going around and having fun and promoting the passion that I have for these events, there's times you just can't get out of it. Come on, Joe, have a beer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a great environment, great city. Oh, yeah. So I'll have a beer knowing that I really don't want one because it's going to flare up. Yeah. But I'll do it. And after that one or two, it's like, you know what? I'll just have another one. I'll live with it. You know what I'm probably going to do is I'm going to start like instead of saying the word hangover or referencing anything and using the word hangover, I'm just going to say does your big toe hurt? How bad my big toe is throbbing. So the more your big toe hurts metaphorically, then the worse the hangover. Oh, gosh. Yes. Yeah. That's good. Let me ask you something. Yes. As the mayor of East Moline or any mayor in the Quad Cities. How much power do you actually wield? You know what? Depends on the, on the municipality, a strong mayor type of, I mean, I've been out of it for 20 years. Well, even back then, like could you just say get that done? You know what? You could. The mayor had certain powers, but you have, there's due process in everything with municipal government. And, uh, you know, you have your staff. You have the city administrator. You have the elected officials. Everybody has their role as the mayor, especially in East Moline. I mean, you were more of a figurehead and, and, uh, I just felt like, where did, are you so busy doing all the dumb, fluffy stuff? You really just don't have a ton of time to grind it out at your desk and solve like real problems. No, you do. You do. I think a good mayor does that because a good mayor, and I said this all the time when I was, but there's some dumb, fluffy mayors probably anywhere, right? That just kind of love the, love the life of the beaver-skinned hat, right? There's, there's a, a beaver-skinned hat and monical mayor. Yeah. Yeah. You're, you're, you're absolutely right. No, as a mayor, and I said this all the time when I was an alderman for 12 years, you, a good alderman and, and mayor too, will go out and touch, smell, feel the pain of their constituents. We had a huge tornado storm in East Moline, 5,000 homes without power. And you know what, a good alderman will do everything they can to get the resources to get this up and running in their respective area. And, and in my case, I really, that was the best part of being an alderman was holding on here. Sorry. I, and what is an alderman? Is that like a, like a, a servant to the mayor? No, an alderman or a county councilman same thing. Oh, okay. So if you're on, in other words, if you're on the city council. Yeah. So, and, okay, the member of the city council is, did you know that Katie? Did you know what an alderman was? So the city, for example, the city of East Moline has seven wards. The city is divided into seven pieces and those seven individuals represent those districts. And they all speak on behalf. So you were one of the districts in the city. Yes. And then you reported to the mayor. Yep. To the city council and you, you vote on everything and a lot of times, you know, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your thought there, but yeah, no, that's, that's, that's it right there. So you've got the elected officials are the aldermanic individuals, which are councilman or whatever. You've got the mayor, the city clerk, the city treasurer. Those are elected positions and everybody else is staff. Well I had the mayor of musketeen in here, Brad Bark. Nice dude. Cool dude. Yep. But he's the mayor. So I wanted to ask him that question, but he's going to answer it like a mayor. it's good to kind of get it from somebody who was a mayor that has kind of been on both sides now. And like, I don't know, you drive around East Moline and there's some freaking dilapidated garbage buildings everywhere. Like, can the mayor just say, you know what? That damn thing's been sitting empty for five years. Get, get richy and cray over there to bust the building down and move it out of there and just get it done. Like, can the mayor do that? Joe, I am so embarrassed by some some aesthetic deficiencies we have downtown East Moline. It looks kind of like a dump down there. The starting line of the firecracker run, there are empty dilapidated businesses on both sides. So we have people coming from all over to run the firecracker run. And here we are, we're going to start the race and we have this. And the mayor and the city council can't do anything about the why or can't or is there a difference here between canton won't there's a difference it's can't because those are private. We don't own those. So yeah, you have some you have some property investor that owns it. Mayor may not even live in town and they just they don't want to spend the money to improve it so they can get a tenant but they can't sell it because no one else wants to buy it to make the investment themselves. So now we're in building purgatory. But on a positive note, we just we the city of East Moline just got granted 35 no a $23 million grant for streetscaping facade improvements that we're talking about these. Okay. At least it might look crappy inside but at least let's make the front. Yeah, you can put some window tint up pretty cheap. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's good news, but it's take take take the take the North Korea approach, right? Where they just they just build a big facade that's super beautiful. And that's the only where the cameras get to go. It's not real. It'll kind of I imagine East Moline might look like a a certain part of an amusement park. Where are the buildings are just kind of like plaster and they just kind of look neat on the outside, but it's just a Morton building on the other side. Like those old westerns. They're all yeah, you know, it's like a cowboy town, but they're not they're not real. Yeah. No, I'm very proud of my community in East Moline. We've done a lot of good things. There's some great progress happening. It sounds like it, but that's an area that still needs a lot of work. And well, how much power do you yield now? Like zero. You're you're you're Joe Marano citizen. Yeah, I'm just a citizen, but don't you have quite a bit of street cred within East Moline that you don't I think I do. Can't you well, let me ask you this and be honest with me. Yeah. Is the reason why you don't run for any city offices because you could is you don't need to. You don't need to. You're still you still have just as much power in with or without a title of city council member Alderman or anything. I don't have just as much power influence, but my one of my children put it this way one time when I was contemplating running again for mayor and they discouraged me. My family did because it just takes so much time. I was hands on. I was a hands on mayor. I was a seven day mayor where I'm at the office. I'm out in community things. That was my passion. That was my life. At the same time, I'm putting on road races. And it came to the point where it's one or the other because it's too difficult. I'm too old to be doing the races and to be an elected official. It's one or the other. And my son put it well. He says, "Dad, which group appreciates you more? The running community or those in the in the city because you could never please everybody when you were an elected official. As much as you tried, you can't please everybody. And you have a better ratio of pleasing people when you put on a good race." Did you maybe you told me this when we started this? Are you from East Moline? Like born and raised? No, I've lived there my whole life since when since I was in kindergarten. Oh, okay. So yeah, you went to school there. Oh, well then, then East Moline to you is kind of like Wilton to me. Like I grew up in this town. I don't live in the town now, but I have a sweet spot for or a special spot in my heart. So this is your hometown, yes. I mean, I thought about changing the name to East Marino. And not not not not many people could get the the our role in there. So East Marino. Yeah. No, I gave that up. That was just for fun. Real quick, off the top of your head. If if I was going to run for mayor of Bettendorf, like boom, how much money do you think I would need to be able to have my disposal to blow through during the campaign of modern era to run for mayor of Bettendorf? Well, I don't know. I mean, to run against mayor Gallagher, I think you might need like $50,000. I really do. I don't know what it's like now, Joe. 50 grand. What are you talking about? You'd spend 50 grand on like one weekend of ads. I bet I bet you'd have to have a million bucks. No, no, no. To run for mayor of Bettendorf. Yes, you would. You would absolutely. I should I should call one of my buddies right now. There's been politics. I bet you couldn't I bet you couldn't sniff a mayor run in Bettendorf for less and less than 500 grand in funding. There's no way you're talking about a state position municipal position like Bettendorf. You know what? 50,000. Well, wait a minute. Yeah, you're right because the mayor, the mayor is not a political position. I mean, because you don't have to as a mayor, you don't have to say if you're conservative or a Republican or Democrat. No, I think they're nonpartisan. Yes, you don't have. Yes, yes. Yes. So like, which it should be, which it should be, right? I mean, you're there to serve all the people, not just your constituents, but anyway, okay. So then I guess whoever is the, you know, congressmen of this area, like, okay, I wonder what it would take to run against, um, Kim Reynolds. That would take probably 10 million. Oh, that's a lot of money there. Probably more than 10 million. Yep. If you were going to go against Kim and she's dropping out. So it's going to be, this is going to be interesting to see what goes on now. Is she dropping out? Yeah, she's not running again. So sand, have you heard of sand? No. He's cool. Do you have a Subaru? Probably does. Okay. He's probably got a Subaru. And he's, okay. He's grand all the bars. He's one cool dude. Yeah. Anyway. Uh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm just, I wonder, you know, and you know what? Iowa is not a foregone conclusion that it's a red state between Des Moines and Iowa City. They come with the heat. I mean, they come with the heat. Um, but I don't know. I like the fact that, you know, the state is a little purple. I do too. I don't mind a little purple. Yeah. And I bet, I bet there's aspects about you that you don't mind a little purple. Oh, a little purple is good. It's definitely good. You know, anytime you have a one party that's dominating, that's not good. Things are going to go awry event. If they don't, if they're not now, they eventually will. Yeah. But to have differing opinions, you know, we're going through that any Smolleen right now. I was just going to say that, Joe, when you love a community, the way you love you, Smolleen, the way I love Wilton, it really hurts to see it torn apart politically. I mean, it really hurts because like you have, I mean, you have families that their kids grew up together. And they don't speak anymore because they, they, they differ on issues that, you know, like, we're talking issues here like you and I can disagree on a movie just as easily. But I'm still going to like have fun with you and give you hell, right? I mean, like, I hate, I hate to see some of these relationships that have just gotten just decimated, you know, especially over the last election cycle. Regardless of where you're at and it's like, man, I. Oh, bumps you out and it really tears up a community and then it's, it's super hard and then, and Wilton's no different than a lot of communities and not just a community, a family, a family. But now you have like the battle of the yard signs and the battle of the garage flags or the flags out on your pole and it's like, and now it's, it's a, everyone feels pressured to take a side. Well, that's, that's going on in East Moline right now, Joe. The battle of the flags that's on the, on the city hall flagpole and I'm, I mean, I'm very liberal in everything, but I, I like the fact that we should stay away from that because that's a, your opening, your going down a slippery slope when you start allowing can end up with all kinds of flags flying around. Yep. You know, it's almost like a, yeah, just like just a flag. To me, I think the state flag too. Yeah, yeah, it's like a neutral ground topic. Like we all can agree the American flag for the most part makes us, I would argue this, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum when you look at the flag at minimum, I almost feel you could look at it and maybe not even like it, but you could still feel somewhat comfortable and somewhat protected, somewhat. You know what I mean, far more than others. Yep. If that makes sense, you know. And but anyway, it's, it's got to hurt for you where you were kind of on the political end of things. Yes and no, right? You're the mayor, but still you were in a position of influence. And then on the citizen end, twice, you know, it's got to hurt to see so much, so much hat field in McCoy going on. Yeah. And it's going on. Yeah. And I think it's going to be a lot of fun as we see, as we see it on a daily, day to day basis, you just see it so much. I do. And maybe it's because I look for it. I don't know. I don't want to look for it, but it's there. It's obvious. And I'm an optimist, not a pessimist. I really think it's all going to work out. You know, you just have to trust that, that good will prevail regardless of where you stand. And let the, let it run its cycle, you know, and I think A.I.'s plan is going to backfire. And let me just take that real quick, because it ties into this. I think A.I.'s whole plan is to divide us even more and confuse us even more. And I think, and I pray this happens, it's going to drive people back together, whether they want to be or not. Because whether I agree with your political issues or not, or your social issues, or whatever it is important to you, I just want to feel a human connection with anybody. Because all of these screens and faces are blurring the lines. And I think what's going to happen are people are, there's going to be a lot of people kick the drug. They're going to figure out a way to how to kick the drug. And they're just, no matter what it is, I just want a personal connection. I just want, I just want an hour of my day to where I just feel like I've been able to exchange energy waves with the real person. Well, the real person, that's, that's the old fashioned way. That's what we appreciate. That's what we like. And you're right, that tide is changing. It's going away from that. I had a situation the other day where we, the wife and I, we didn't want to cook. Let's, what are we going to eat? Well, let's order a year old. Uncle Pete's year olds in Moline up by the Moline High School. Go Uncle Pete's, give him a plug, huh? Not even a sponsor. Yeah, gee, Uncle Pete, there's your, there's your pain and forward from the Quad City Marathon right there. But you know what? I mean, I love those guys. I've known Chris the owner since we were in fifth in kindergarten. I mean, we grew up together. We had a lot of community neighborhood went to school together, everything. But anyway, you can't call in place and order today that I, I'd like to, year old baskets to pick up. Carry out. You have to do it online. Oh, yeah. You can't even call it in now. So what you're right, AI, it's all switching over away from the human factor. I was talking to some buddies about this the other night and they're like the longer, the longer these small businesses can figure out a way to survive without it, you will be the last ones to get killed off by it, meaning financially. These, what I'm terrified about, Joe, is I am looking at speaking of the Quad cities if we could. What I'm really concerned about is companies like John Deere, when they figure out a way to implement it and how many white collar jobs that that could potentially affect in our fair area of the world. Because if a large portion of those white collar people who process data and make spreadsheets and design parts with a CAD program that takes them all day, that now can just be whipped together by a quick prompt. What are we going to do, my friend? And so that's my concern. And so what I'm saying is, is the longer you can hold on to some sense of analog, I think that the longer you can stay in the game, hence, if you're a small business, answer the damn phone, when some have somebody that can respond like a person and just say, I don't have the answer for you right now, but I hear you. And I'm going to find a way to get you some kind of an answer. And then you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to blow your mind because I'm going to call you back. I mean, think, think in today's era, how ridiculous that sounds in just in general. Like I have to talk to an AI bot when I order a Casey's pizza now. Can I tell you a quick funny story? Sure. Yeah. You'll get a kick out of this. So the first time I ordered a Casey's pizza through AI, it asked me for my name. And I told it penis wrinkle. And so it says, okay, penis wrinkle. Your order will be ready in 30 minutes. And so we all got a kick out of it at home, right? So then I walk into Casey's on a busy Friday night and they've got 32,000 pizzas stacked up on one another and they go, what's it under? What's the name? Well, the, well, there's, and I'm like, penis, it's under penis wrinkle. And so now every time I call, it already acknowledges me as penis wrinkle when I order pizza for your numbers. It knows my number. So now when I call, it'll just say, Hey, penis wrinkle, do you want to, do you want to duplicate your last order? And then you're like, yep, and then you got to go in and I get a chuckle out of it because I know I make the pizza guys night when I say penis wrinkle, when it's time to pick up pizza. So that's crazy. Well, you gave me an idea. You're a thorn weekend when you're bringing all that equipment for the treadmill, heros, pump and run. We're going to put on the loudspeaker. Would penis wrinkle report to the, you know, I'll know my pizza's ready. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's you too. That's funny. Anyway, man. This has been long overdue. You know, I feel like we could keep going forever. Joe, thanks for the invite. This is, you're a cool dude. You know the term, joe cool. Yeah. Yeah. We know that. I think we're, I think we're trying to live up to that. I know I am. I'm trying to. You know, I, I, I, I do fancy myself a cool dad. I might not be cool in general, but I think for the few times I maybe embarrass my kids a little bit in public because I'm kind of out, outspoken sometimes. I think my kids regard me as a cool dad. Somebody that can kind of roll with the punches and, you know, like, I think I've done a very good job of being a strong father, but also someone who has never forgot about any of the dumb stuff he did. And instead of me reprimanding my kids when they do it, I chuckle to myself and I'm like, yeah, you had that coming, dude. You had that one coming. And so that's a, that's a God thing if you ask me. Yeah. You know, it's pretty special. It is. It is. And, you know what, you got to do what's right for your children and never forget where you came from and you know, lead them down the right way. You know what worries me now is, and I see this with my kids and even my grandkids. I wish they would come to me and say, Dad, what, what do you think about this or, or grandpa, what do you think about that? They don't ask, they don't utilize us grandparents as resources. You know why? Because they don't have to ask anymore. They have so much information being shotgunned right at them all day long. Every time they go like this, why in the world when they're not looking at it, would they now start seeking out things? They don't need to seek. That's the problem with today. Nobody is seeking anything. It's all right there. And if you can actually hold it in your hand, well, we'll give you some feel good that's going to stimulate your brain and that'll be good enough. And so people aren't, we don't want anything right now. And when I say that, right, there's always people who want stuff. But like we live in such a world of instant gratification that there's no reason for these kids to say, Hey, grandpa, tell me about the good old days. They've already seen videos on that or what they. perceive as what it was. So we're trying to navigate that as parents of young kids, I asked my mom this question a while back, probably a couple of years ago. I was like, let me ask you, and don't give me the standard parent answer where it's all relative. And if it is all relative, then be honest with me. Yes. But would, am I just overreacting to the pressures of parenthood, or would it have been easier to raise my kids in the same era that you raised me and my sisters, and she goes, oh hands down. I would take him back. She's like, I wouldn't want to raise kids right now. Right. Yeah. And it's scary. It is scary. I wouldn't want to be a kid now. I don't know what to tell them what they're gonna do, right? Like what will be around? And so then you start to go back to, well, if it wasn't here a thousand years ago, then do I need it today? Because, and, and, and, well, that's how homesteading is birthed, right there. I mean, that's when, that's when people start to go, maybe we should get some chickens and a goat, and some eggs, and a cow, and maybe we should figure out how to garden just in case things really start to get a little slippery around here. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and I gotta, I gotta be honest with you, my wife and I are having those kind of conversations where we are weighing out, we love our neighborhood, we love our friends, we love our, we love how close we are to school, we love all that. But would we be willing to sacrifice that for a much, freer sense of self-sustainment, but a whole lot more work, and a whole lot more inconvenience, and a whole lot more travel to get kids into town. Art, so you fight that balancing act of what's worth more, right? The comforts of today going along with what is probably common versus the pains of today, and maybe a more sense of comfort later. Yeah. And one, I think you have to have a competitive spirit to even wanna attempt that. And so sadly, there's gonna be a lot of people that won't do it. I hope, I hope we figure out a way to do it. You know, we, I'm sure you do too. Over the years, we've known people that have done exactly that. It's like they're self-sufficient, they're doing this, they're doing that whether they live in town or out, it makes sense. It even makes more sense nowadays to even consider what you're saying. So yeah. All the damage we're doing to ourselves right now is because it wasn't here a thousand years ago. Well, if there's one thing I'm walking away with today, Joel, among many other things is that the thousand year angle. I mean, the foods we talked about earlier, if that was there a thousand years ago, that's the good stuff. Eat as much as you want, that's the good stuff. Yeah. Thank you. You've been very gracious with your time today, Joe. All joking aside, no, we love to razz each other and have fun, but man, you are a true gem. Like you're one of my old guy pals and I've got a few old guy pals and I consider you an old guy pal and this has been fun. So, Joe, I really appreciate that man. Yeah, thank you, Joe. And hey, listen, two things before you go. If you're gonna run the marathon and if you're gonna buy a piece of exercise equipment, get it from treadmill heroes. Quad Cities, Iowa and beyond, we'll see you guys later. Thanks, Joe. Oh, man. [BLANK_AUDIO]