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- [00:00]
T-Mobile Representative
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- [00:36]
Designer Shoe Warehouse Representative
At Designer Shoe Warehouse we believe that shoes are an important part of.
- [00:40]
Michael Johnson
Well, everything.
- [00:42]
Nissan Representative
From first steps to first dates, from all nighters to all time personal bests.
- [00:47]
Designer Shoe Warehouse Representative
From building pillow forts to building a.
- [00:50]
Nissan Representative
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- [01:31]
Lenovo Representative
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- [02:04]
Rory
The volume.
- [02:14]
Co-host
All right Rory. Welcome back to another episode of Rory Maul. Don't Know Ball. Today we're going to make a little pivot though. I'm sure you're happy about this one.
- [02:22]
Rory
So excited.
- [02:22]
Co-host
You were an aspiring track star in your heyday.
- [02:26]
Rory
First of all Division one track runner. Don't. I didn't pay for my college because.
- [02:30]
Co-host
Of these fucking legs. I'm not knocking you. I'm not knocking. I just think today we are in the presence of track royalty. I mean four time gold medalist, eight time world champion, one of the fastest men ever. Yes, I tried to mimic his style when I was younger when I used to run from the cops. Rory. But they caught me. I couldn't get it down Packed. Today we are joined by the legendary the iconic Mr. Michael Johnson. How you doing, sir? Thank you for joining us today.
- [02:57]
Michael Johnson
Good, man. Good to be with you guys.
- [02:59]
Rory
Now. We. We really appreciate it.
- [03:01]
Co-host
Like, listen, hold on. Stop. Go ahead, Mike. What is the skincare routine? You look amazing, man. What is the routine? What is your diet? What are you doing, man?
- [03:11]
Michael Johnson
It's lighting a filter, man.
- [03:15]
Rory
Respect the honesty.
- [03:18]
Michael Johnson
Nice. Hey, man, you know, just. Just good, clean living, man. You know, Good quality living, man. That's it.
- [03:25]
Co-host
Still. Do you still work out every day? Like, is your. Is your regimen still, like, you still get some type of workout in every day now that you're not really competing anymore?
- [03:33]
Michael Johnson
So I. I work out, but, like, people get really confused when it comes to track because track is such a fundamental sport. Sport, you know, fundamental to everything else because it's running.
- [03:42]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [03:42]
Michael Johnson
The track is just like football. Just like baseball. Just like. So, like, you know, what you did as a baseball player, as a football player, practicing. Now that you're 57 years old, like I am, you're not doing that thing anymore, right? Doing. Just going into the gym, getting some weights, get some cardio. So I do do that most days of the week. My. Three, four days. Four or five days a week. But, yeah, it doesn't look anything.
- [04:08]
Rory
Anywhere close to what I was doing, even at 34. This was actually a few years ago. I tried to do some hurdle drills just to warm up. Played myself immediately. It wasn't. My leg doesn't go up the same way.
- [04:24]
Michael Johnson
Injury waiting to happen. 100, man.
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Rory
I ran 400 just like you.
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Michael Johnson
Okay. Yeah.
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Co-host
Well, not just like you, but, like, he ran the same event that you.
- [04:33]
Rory
No, we ran the same lap. First of all, 48 with my skin was pretty good. 48A was my. My PR.
- [04:45]
Michael Johnson
Okay. Where'd you go to college?
- [04:47]
Rory
St. Peter's College was my prime, and then I got kicked out, but I would. Yo. I think I would have made the Olympics had I not punched the RA in the face.
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Co-host
You're not. You definitely would have. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that. You definitely would have made. That's what. That's what stopped you from making the Olympic team.
- [05:00]
Rory
I mean, Mike, I did. I turned down Baylor to go to a commuter school in Jersey City.
- [05:07]
Co-host
Yeah, Baylor was. Baylor was definitely looking.
- [05:09]
Rory
Baylor wanted me, but I was like, you know, no, I'm gonna go transform the 400 over here.
- [05:13]
Michael Johnson
Yeah.
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Co-host
Y.
- [05:18]
Michael Johnson
If that were true, that would be one of the worst decisions ever. It would also indicate. Yeah. Why you didn't make the Olympics.
- [05:25]
Rory
Yeah, they went with Jeremy Warner, awful decision. But they went with Jeremy Warner. You know, I got into track actually my junior year of high school because I was playing football and my coach dragged me to the track in the off season. And that's when I found out I was even okay at this. When did you find out as a kid that you were fast? Because there's a difference between just like running in the neighborhood and then finding out you could really do this track.
- [05:52]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, I mean, so those are two different things. So I knew I was fast when I was a kid, when growing up. So I'm the youngest of five. My other four siblings, they're quite a bit older than me. And we would offer. We were always a team in the neighborhood. And so I was always playing with them. So I had to play up because I was playing with the kids that they were at their age. But I was faster than them. And so, so I knew then that I was fast and like, my, you know, I could beat kids that were like five, six, seven years older than me. Yeah. So I knew I was fast. But yeah, there's a difference in knowing you're fast and just having fun in the neighborhood, being faster than the other kids and getting to a point where you realize, hey, you know what? I can have a future in this. I could go to the Olympics. I can have a professional career. I didn't really realize that until I was a senior in high school.
- [06:36]
Rory
Yeah, no, it's a lot of. Yeah, a lot of the best track people I know is like, yeah, and I got this track shit way later than everyone else. Like, see, junior, senior year, high school is when people start to figure that type of thing out. What was it like finding that out senior year and then ending up at Baylor, which is, I mean, the most iconic 400 meter school that's ever existed.
- [06:58]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, it was, it was interesting. My path was still a little bit different. Like, you know, like a lot of people in track, you know, young kids will be in the sport just because they love it, they're having fun. They don't really know what, you know, professional track looks like because. And, and that's one of the reasons I started grand slam track is, you know, they don't realize what a professional career could look like in track. So they're not even really focused on that a lot of times. So I wasn't, I didn't know, you know, that I could have a career, professional career in the sport. I wasn't thinking about Olympics or any of those things. So when I started getting scholarship offers To Baylor. That's the first time I realized that, wait a minute, there may be some other future in this and there's a next level. So when I transitioned to Baylor, it was the first time actually that I first started training in a serious training program. Before that, you know, my coach in high school was like, he was the defensive coordinator of the football team and was like, you know, would come out literally a week before the season start and going, hey, who's gonna, who's running track this year? And so we never really got in shape. He didn't really know anything about coaching track athletes. And so I never actually ended up in a serious training program until I got to Baylor. That's when I started to recognize the talent I had, the potential I had and what it was like to really train for excellence as a track athlete. So that transition was exciting, but it was, it was tough because I had never, I'd never done that. So those early workouts at the beginning were really, really hard and really tough for me. And I was a 200. Me, I wasn't a 400 meter sprinter when I, when I left high school. I never run the 400. I run on the 4x4, but I never really run a 400. I was a 200 meter sprinter. And even with that, those workouts were killing me because I had never done that before. So it was quite a transition.
- [08:48]
Rory
You have like one of the most unique running styles, the probably the most iconic running style in track history. Did, did they try to change that when you got to Baylor? Because how fast you are and how you run shouldn't make sense.
- [09:03]
Michael Johnson
Yeah. So, so, so, so not when I got to Baylor, but when I was being recruited, all of the coaches said, hey, you know, in order for you to reach your full potential, you're going to have to change your running style. My coach was the only one, Clyde Hard at Baylor, who's the head coach at Baylor. And my coach throughout my whole career was the only one who didn't say, you're going to need to change your running style. And so because he was smart enough to know that, you know, you know, just because one person is running different than the other people doesn't necessarily mean that they're the one that's wrong, especially if they're the one that's in the front. And that makes turns out. Yeah, at the end of the day, you know, after we started to get into it and then start to work with sports scientists to understand, you know, what was my, you know, was my running style, you know, less efficient. Was it doing anything that was working against me? We started to realize that, no, it's not. For my coach, you can see that with the naked eye, that, no, it's a very efficient running style. Turns out, you know, through a lot of different studies, working with sports scientists, that that's the reason why I was able to run so fast, because I'm able to put more force into the ground because of my upright style than most people are. All of the other competitors. I'm able to put more force into the ground. Force into the ground equals speed. Next question is going to be, well, why doesn't everybody else do that? You can't just change your running style just to be like somebody else and make it work. It doesn't work like that. If it's not natural to how you run, then you're not going to be able to emulate it. And the same thing with, you know, athletes now, when they're running inefficiently, if there's something about them that's inefficient, yes, you do need to change that running style, but it's not that easy to do. And that's why when you see a lot of people running in a way that you're like, oh, man, they can run faster if they ran more efficient, you know, and you could see with the naked eye that, yeah, that's not a very efficient style. It's really hard to do.
- [10:52]
Rory
Yeah.
- [10:53]
Michael Johnson
At the end of the day, the moral to the story is, yeah, my running style was much more efficient, which is one of the reasons why I was able to be as fast as I would. So I was. So had I just listened to everyone else and had not ended up with a coach who had the good sense to go, wait a minute, you know, yeah, it's different, but is there anything wrong with it and maybe something right with it? It, then I would have never, maybe even reached my potential.
- [11:14]
Rory
How did they go about doing those tests?
- [11:17]
Michael Johnson
It's. It's so. It's force plates that measure you. You measure the athlete running across the force plate. You see how much force is going into the ground. You measure angles with 3D motion capture cameras and things like that, which was early days back in the 90s. That was the first time. In the 90s was the first time they even had that sort of thing. But you measure angles, you measure force. You can actually measure the force that an athlete is putting into the ground by. With push plates. So those are the sorts of ways that we were able to find that Out.
- [11:44]
Rory
I. I have to say this just quickly because we're talking about your running style. I told my dad, who was. He was a national champion at Manhattan College as a 400 runner. I told him that we were going to talk today, and he said, tell Michael Johnson he stole my style. Because my dad ran that way too. And he was like, yo, when I watched, you know, he's much older and when he watched you, he was like, he took my whole thing. This was how I ran. Because my dad had a very awkward style too. But for my own pop's sake, I had to say that to you. This is going to make his fucking life that I was able to tell you that you stole his style.
- [12:22]
Co-host
Mike, growing up in Dallas, we obviously know what the music scene is like in Texas. What was some of the artists that you listen to like in high school, college training? What was like, what was Michael Johnson listening to while he was training and preparing to be one of the fastest men in the world?
- [12:40]
Michael Johnson
Yeah. So I started really listening to music a lot in preparation for races. So not in training, because in training you're, you know, it's like being at practice, like I said, you're literally working with your coach on every single thing. Get a lot of feedback, feedback to the coach with a lot of interaction. So I didn't listen to music during training, but as a competitor, you know, when you're trying to get in the zone before the, before the race, music was a real. A big part of. A big part of my routine, just like most athletes now. But so, yeah, so this is the 90s, man. So I was, I was big on west coast hip hop, Tupac, Snoop, Death Row, that whole thing. So it was a lot of. For me, being a 200 meter sprint and a 400 meter sprinter, which both of those events are very, very different. The music was critical to getting me in the type of mode that I needed to be in for the 200 meters and then also for the 400, which was different sort of music was different. So, for example, the 200 meters is a very aggressive race. You got to be quick, fast. It's all aggression from the gun, from the get, Right. So I would be listening like some Tupac, like me against the world, something like that. Right.
- [13:53]
Co-host
Wow.
- [13:54]
Michael Johnson
But 400, if I took that same approach, that's going to get me in trouble. I got to be a much, much, much more tempoed race. It's aggressive at some points, but at some points it's not. So I would be listening to not like some smooth R B because that's a little too, too smooth and really not going to get you where you need to be. But it wouldn't be as aggressive as, as like some Tupac. So I'd be listening to something. Like what, what might be. I'm trying to remember what I would listen to for 400. It might be some up tempo like D'Angelo, not the smooth, like, you know.
- [14:32]
Rory
Like, like some Devil's Pride premiere, you know, but.
- [14:35]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah, exactly.
- [14:37]
Rory
Did you ever run into Pac? I mean, especially 96 Olympics.
- [14:43]
Michael Johnson
Do I or did I?
- [14:44]
Rory
Did you. Did you ever want into poc? Like personally, did you?
- [14:47]
Michael Johnson
Oh, I can't do I like. Right.
- [14:50]
Rory
He's still alive in my opin. I'm on that side of the conspiracy.
- [14:55]
Michael Johnson
You wanted those? Yeah, I did. Back in the day, man. You know, man, it was really cool. Interesting. The first time I met Pac was at a club here in LA when he and Mike Tyson had both just got out of prison. And, and we were, we were hanging out at this club and it was kind of surreal just that we just sitting at this bar, like hanging out at this club. And I'm the, I'm the, I'm the I one out because I had not been to prison.
- [15:30]
Co-host
Yeah, like you couldn't share those stories.
- [15:32]
Rory
But that's a good circle not to be a part of.
- [15:34]
Co-host
Yeah. If you want to be there, that's the perfect time.
- [15:39]
Michael Johnson
Idols, though, both were like idols for me, man. Even though we were at the same, you know, sort of same time, you know? Yeah, it was like they were. I mean, it was. I was, I'm sitting here with this dude, I listen to your music to get, you know, ready for my, for my, for my races.
- [15:53]
Co-host
Right, right.
- [15:54]
Michael Johnson
Yeah.
- [15:55]
Co-host
Did you, did you share that story with him? Did you let him know that he was somebody you listened to when you were.
- [15:59]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [16:00]
Co-host
That's dope.
- [16:01]
Michael Johnson
I'm not. Not the part about being the odd one.
- [16:05]
Rory
So I'm sorry you went through that, Pac. I can't relate. I mean, I know it's interesting with track athletes because when the Olympics rolls around every four years, y'all become the biggest celebrities ever. But it's every four years, so it's a weird cycle. When you ran into musicians, rappers or anything, did people know who you were in the early 90s, like pre 96 Olympics?
- [16:31]
Michael Johnson
No, not pre 96. Not pre 96. It was rare before 96. And then, you know, and that's, that's the thing, you know, for track athletes I mean I was the Olympic champion, world champion, making history in the sport, world record over doing all of these things and nobody really knew like, you know, you know, in that situation, had it been this was after 96 and what that example I just gave a pre 96. Yeah. You know, I wouldn't have been in that, I wouldn't have been in that situation. I wouldn't have been there in that, in that group, probably wouldn't have been in that club, you know, and then. But I had the, I had the good fortune of, you know, making history in 96 at the Olympics, at Olympics here at home as well, you know, which got captured everybody's attention and it was a really special moment in history, right. And I was able to accomplish something significant in the sport at that moment when the world is watching. And it's rare that a track athlete will get that opportunity, right? So that's why track athletes are like you said, you're in that moment but everybody might see you and they might remember your name for a bit, but you don't have the opportunity to really sort of establish yourself and your greatness in the, the general, you know, public's consciousness unless you have the opportunity to sustain that and keep doing it and keep performing against the best. That's the reason why I started Grand Slam track because I was able to be fortunate to have that opportunity. But most track athletes don't because we only have that opportunity once every four years. You know, you think about like we were talking about, you know, as a kid, you know, running track and like I was saying, I didn't even know that there was a professional track, you know, that that even existed because there was no exclusive home for the fastest people. Right where we have that now every other sport has that. So if you think about a 13 year old kid out on a basketball court shooting baskets, you're like, what do you want to do? What's your dream? Play in the NBA, right? I'll play in the wnba. If you think about a tennis player, same situation NFL is in, you know, football is NFL. You know, you think about tennis like I want to play in the grand sl. I want to be a top ranked tennis player. You know, if you're golf or you want to, I want to play on the PGA Tour and how to live to. They have that exclusive home, Everybody knows where the best of the best in that sport play, right? You ask a 13 year old track kid, you know, what do you want to do? What are they going to say? I want to go to The Olympics.
- [18:58]
Co-host
Right.
- [18:58]
Michael Johnson
That only happens every four years. So, you know, so even if you do get the opportunity to do it, it's not a real future because we don't have an actual exclusive league. So what we're doing with grand soundtrack is establishing a specific league at the top of the sport for the best of the best athletes, just like every other sport has. UFC is the home of, you know, mma. It's the best place for it. You know, everybody knows that the best play there. Same thing with track now with grand slam track, that's where you go. So that 13 year old kid now will be like, yeah, what are you gonna do? I want to run. I want to run in grandson track. You know, I want to be part of that league because that's where the best actually compete.
- [19:37]
Rory
Yeah, no, I definitely hear that going into the.
- [19:40]
Co-host
Into the Olympics in 96 in Atlanta.
- [19:42]
Rory
Right before we get to the 96 Olympics, I have a thousand questions. I have 192 games question. What did you eat that night?
- [19:51]
Michael Johnson
Oh, I was. It was. I think it was. It was. I heard we had a lot of different stuff this restaurant was about. It was actually a week before the Olympics and I ended up going to this restaurant getting food poisoning. We had ham, we had all these delicious. It was great. It was an amazing restaurant. Yeah. And unfortunately, man got food poisoning cost me possibly. I was Olympic. I was world champion. I was a heavy favorite to win the Olympic gold medal of the year in the 200. Yeah. And food poisoning just, you know, wrecked my preparation. And. And that's the thing too. It's like, you know, as an Olympic athlete, when you know that, you know, this is only every four years. It's not every year you get a chance to go back and try again. You. You know that I may not ever get this chance again, you know. Right. I got to wait a whole nother four years. So it was a devastating experience. Obviously. Everything.
- [20:41]
Rory
Do you remember the name?
- [20:43]
Michael Johnson
I came back. I do not remember the name of the restaurant.
- [20:45]
Rory
Okay.
- [20:45]
Michael Johnson
Because I was going to leave the name of it.
- [20:47]
Rory
Terrible Yelp review back there. That's all I wanted to do was leave. Awful Yelp reviews. I wanted to know before we got to 96 games. I'm sorry for interrupting, but I had to know so we could find that restaurant.
- [20:59]
Michael Johnson
Yeah.
- [21:00]
Rory
And get crazy on Yelp in 2025 of what they did.
- [21:04]
Co-host
They may be closed by now.
- [21:05]
Rory
Hopefully that they better be closed.
- [21:07]
Co-host
Hopeful that close in watching the Sprint documentary on Netflix, one of my favorite documentaries in the last recent years. That I watched. I learned a lot about the sport. And just the thought of, like you said, you train and you prep for years for this 10, 22nd window going into the 96 Olympics. The whole world watching when you debuted the gold sneakers, like, how hard was it to keep those sneakers under wrap and just debut them on the track? Because I remember watching it, and when you stepped on the track with those sneakers, everybody was like, yo, we need those. We never wore track sneakers a day in our lives. But those gold sneakers, everybody in the hood was like, yo, when are those dropping? And did you have anything to do with the design of those sneakers?
- [22:00]
Rory
He's also a novice. They're called spikes.
- [22:05]
Michael Johnson
So. So, yeah, so I worked with Nike on that project for. For a year and a half to make this the lightest, most innovative track spike ever. I decided on the color, decided to make them go. It was already. It was. It wasn't just that they were gold also. It was. It was the. The design was completely different than anything anybody had ever seen in, in the, in, in the sport before. So we debuted, we teased it a bit at the trials with a purple pair.
- [22:33]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [22:33]
Michael Johnson
Same shoe.
- [22:34]
Co-host
Yeah, purple.
- [22:35]
Michael Johnson
And everybody went crazy. And what was hard, so to your point was like, everybody sort of knew that. Well, then if this is what you're doing at the trials, you're probably doing something different at the Games. Is it going to be different? I did confirm that it was going to be different, and that just sent the media just scrambling, trying to find what is it going to be? What is it? What's somebody in the life? And so it was about a month later, the game. So it was a month later. So for that month, I mean, it was under, like. I mean, not a lot of people had seen the goal. It was like only a handful of people. We kept it really tight.
- [23:08]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [23:09]
Michael Johnson
So nobody had seen the goal. We actually did a. A release the day before my first race in Atlanta for the Olympics, where we revealed the gold shoe. So by the next day, just enough people knew, you know, seen it, you know, in that press release. Yeah. And people went crazy. And so then the crazy thing after that was every time I had eight races, four, you know, rounds of the 400, four rounds of 200 every time I went out. This was back in the days of flash, flash bulbs that was on the camera. Right. With no camera phones.
- [23:45]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [23:45]
Michael Johnson
And if you watch, like, you know, if you watch the video every race, you'll see just like there's flashes going off all the way around the track as I'm running because people are just taking pictures the whole way around, and they're taking pictures. And you look at some of those pictures that people have taken and they took pictures of the shoot.
- [24:03]
Co-host
Yeah, yeah. Just the shoe. Was it. Was it. Was it tough, though? Like, did you feel any added pressure? Because obviously the sneaker is gold, so it's like, you can't get silver or bronze and have on gold sneakers. So you're committed to this gold shoe. Nike has obviously put this whole campaign, this whole thing together with this gold sneaker. Did you feel any added pressure, like, I have to win? Because if not, I have these shoes on, these gold shoes on, and I'm accepting a silver medal. It just doesn't translate.
- [24:37]
Michael Johnson
Yeah. So I made the decision. They were shocked when I made the decision. They said, what color you want it to be? When I said, I want it to be gold, they were shocked. Like, you sure. Right. But that was, you know, so, you know, for me, it was. I was confident.
- [24:56]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [24:56]
Michael Johnson
That I was going to. That I was going to win all. Everything that I was. Everything. For that entire year leading up to that Olympics, that whole season, it was all about winning gold. And both of 200, 400, anything short of that was going to be a failure. And. And for me, it was more. And I saw it as an amazing opportunity to do something special at this Olympics, in Atlanta, at a home Olympics, being in the US So I was just more focused on that and not focused. I mean, there's some situations where you have to be more focused on the opportunity. So you're taking a more offensive mindset versus trying to defend against the possible backlash or the positive negativity or the possible failure. Because. Because then if that's your mindset, then you're not going to be able. In position to take advantage of the opportunity. So the opportunity for me was, okay, if I go out here, I already believe that I'm going to make history. I'm going to win both of these races. I'm going to win two gold medals, and I'm going to do it at home. If I do it with some amazing style that just wows everybody, that's a huge opportunity. I will. I will. That will, you know, sort of burnish my legacy forever. People will forever remember that moment. Right. And this will allow me to transcend the sport, which is what I'm trying to do right now, help these athletes transcend the sport. That was really difficult back then, because again, as you said, you know, track, it's only every four years after 40 years in between, nobody really pays attention. And that's been the case ever since. So this is my opportunity. If I was focused more on, hey, I don't want to draw too much attention to myself because I might not win, then I've missed that opportunity.
- [26:48]
Co-host
Right?
- [26:48]
Michael Johnson
Yeah. If I. You. Right. You know, it would have been, you know, backlash. People would never have been jokes, you know, everywhere it would have been. There was no memes back then. But that would have become a meme.
- [26:58]
Co-host
No, absolutely.
- [26:59]
Rory
Twitter would have went crazy.
- [27:01]
Michael Johnson
Yeah. Winning the silver medal, a bronze medal, you know, everybody would have talked about that. But, yeah, if you focused on that, then you missed the opportunity.
- [27:09]
Rory
I mean, of course you had gold on your mind. When those races, did you have a time in mind? And was the world record also on your brain or was it just winning the gold?
- [27:22]
Michael Johnson
So it was all about winning, because that's the objective. You know, I was already the world record holding the 200, but I thought, you know, as far as times are concerned, I'm gonna have to break the world record again.
- [27:35]
Rory
Again. Yeah.
- [27:36]
Michael Johnson
Win this race just because that was the quality of the competition. So Frankie Fredericks, who got the silver in that, broke the old world record as well, in second place. So it was. I already knew that it's going to take another world record. Just how far into the world records are going to be? I already knew I was going to break the world record again because when I broke it before, I barely broke it, and that was by far not the perfect race.
- [28:00]
Rory
Yeah.
- [28:01]
Co-host
Take us back to the first time you remember seeing Usain Bolt. Like, what did Michael Johnson think about when he first saw Usain Bolt running?
- [28:11]
Michael Johnson
2004 was the first time I saw Usain at the 2004 Olympics, and he didn't make the finals in the 200. He was probably 18 years old maybe at that point. But we had heard about him down in Jamaica, that this really tall kid Jamaican coming out of Jamaica was just the speed knob. So at that point, you know, you're thinking, you know, there's a lot of talent that comes out of Jamaica. I mean, they got. They got. They manufacture so many sprinters.
- [28:39]
Co-host
Absolutely.
- [28:39]
Michael Johnson
So you're like, okay, they got another one. You know, he's just different because he's really tall. He was very gangly, you know, so you thought that he's got potential and he might do something special, you know, one of these days. But a lot of people have that potential. So it wasn't until 2008 that you started to see that, okay, you know, and it happened really, really fast. You know, it wasn't like, you know, between 2004 and 2008 he was really, you know, doing anything. He was having some injuries and things. But again, you always knew that potential was there. In 2008 it just all came out.
- [29:14]
Rory
I mean, Asafa Powell was the guy at that time in 2008 I was at Icon Stadium when they had that race at Randalls island and that shit changed everything. Like it was like, who the is this kid?
- [29:29]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, yeah.
- [29:33]
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- [31:40]
Michael Johnson
Who's paying for the mattress topper?
- [31:42]
Rory
You mean the beanbag chair?
- [31:45]
Michael Johnson
Aren't we getting a mini fridge?
- [31:47]
Rory
Can we create a pool on PayPal? It lets us collect the money before we buy.
- [31:54]
Michael Johnson
Ooh, yes, that's smart.
- [31:56]
Rory
Glad we can agree on something easily.
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- [32:10]
Rory
I mean, I always feel track is 70% mental and 30% physical. What, what is going through your brain in the blocks in the 200 and then what's going through your brain in the 400 just when you're in the blocks getting ready.
- [32:26]
Michael Johnson
So it's the same for both of those braces when you're in the blocks. And the thing is that just like any other sport, the best of the best know that it doesn't matter. It's not a 70 mental, 30 physical, 30% physical, you know, 70% mental, all of that. It's not about that. What matters is that being able to be physically prepared, having trained as well as you possibly can, is one component. Being able to be mentally and emotionally in the right mindset in those moments before you go out there and those nerve wrack racking moments before the gun goes out. Being able to be in the right mindset to go out there and execute your the best race matters. The ability in the race to make the right decisions and execute the strategy and make the right adjustments in real time in a 19 second rate. So even a nine second race matters. Nutrition matters, recovery matters, all of those things matter. So instead of focusing on, well, how much is this one, this one's 10%, this one's 25, this one's 70%, everything you want to be a hundred percent on all of those things. That's what the best of the best in any sport does. So understanding that, you know you want to be in training every day focused on being 100% physically prepared and in your best shape when you get to the race in your warm up and preparation, you want to already have an understanding of how you mentally get yourself in the right mindset to be able to deal with the pressure and deal with the nerves and be able to manage that so that you're able to go in and not have to run tight. You can run your best race in those moments just before the gun goes off. Everybody's figured out what their routine is. The best of the best athletes, right? Those who aren't haven't Figured that out yet. And so they're sort of just kind of subject to the moment and whatever sort of thoughts might come into their mind of the best athletes. I already know. Here's what I need to do in order to be at my best when this gun goes out. For me, that was being at the height of focus and only thinking about what's the first step I've got to make, what's the first action I have to take. When this gun sound, I can't be 10 seconds into the race. I can't be thinking 20 seconds in the race. I damn sure can't be thinking about what's going to happen after the race, right. Or the end of the race. You got to be focused on the moment when you're talking about a sport. The one thing about track is different in causeway is it calls for focus like nothing else. We don't have any halftime. We don't have quarters, we don't have timeouts. You can't call timeout. The gun sounds, especially for sprints, there's no adjustments. So the 100 meters, you can't really make an adjustment in that race. 200 meters, you might be able to get away with one adjustment if you make a mistake. 400 meters, got a little bit more time to make adjustments. But at the same time, because it's a long sprint, the margin for error is much higher because there's way more time to make mistakes that you have to then adjust for. So it takes a lot. So all of this is, you know, takes place at 19, second race. I mean, when you're standing behind the blocks, you know, it's the Olympic final, you know that 19 seconds from now I need to go and be the Olympic champion or I'm not. And it all comes down to how I execute right now. There's no time out. There's no next year. There's no half time. I can't, you know, there's none of that.
- [35:49]
Rory
Yeah, right.
- [35:50]
Co-host
Do you agree with a lot of the flack that no allows gets because of his demeanor, his bravado. He's very, you know, his approach and his style is a lot different. I laugh at people that don't like him. Cause I'm like, listen, he just seems like he's just confident in what he does. A lot of people are more laid back in track. You don't really have a lot of people on track that have these big personalities. But I just think that that's part of the newer generation and the new era, is that you have social Media, and you have all of these outlets that you. You can use. And I just think Noah Lyles is a product of that. Do you agree with some of the backlash, or do you understand how some people kind of like, don't like.
- [36:30]
Michael Johnson
No.
- [36:31]
Co-host
Allows personality and would rather him just run and not be so, I guess.
- [36:35]
Michael Johnson
Loud all of that. That's the world we live in, where everybody has a right to their opinion, to like or dislike any person in the public for how they actually are, how they look, who they are, what they say, how they go about their. Their business, you know? You know, and that's the case with Noah. He's a. He's the Olympic champion, world champion. He has decided how he wants to build his brand, who he wants to be, how he wants to be. And you're going to have people who are going to support that. You're going to have people who are not. You're going to have people who are saying, you shouldn't do that. Just like you have people who said that no, Usain Bolt shouldn't be, you know, as, you know, out there playing to the crowd and whatnot like he does before. You have people who said, I shouldn't be so bold as to wear gold shoes. You have people who said Carl Lewis was trying too hard to be a celebrity. You know, are those people wrong? They're not wrong. That's their opinion. There's no right or wrong to an opinion. Everybody has their. Has their opinion. And if don't nobody have an opinion about you, then, you know, you ain't doing. You want to be enough.
- [37:46]
Co-host
Yeah, well, I mean, you.
- [37:47]
Michael Johnson
If you want to be. If you don't want to be known when some people don't, then great. But if you want to be known, you know, you. You do what you want to do, and Noah's doing what he wants to do. But the thing is, though, at the end of the day, Noah shows up in races and he calls his shots, you know, and you gotta. You gotta respect that, you know, that he goes out there and he. He calls a shot. I think that, you know. You know, he has put himself out there. I just hope that he can handle, you know, the. You know, because you have to understand how much of the backlash you can handle, you know, because he makes some bold claims, he makes some bold statements along with that, you know, and if you're going to make bold statements first, you better be right, you know, you're not right. You know, and sometimes he's not right, and then he has to come back and Apologize because he got his facts wrong, but he made a bold statement, you know, so. So that's the first thing. And then you're going to have backlash when you make bold statements. And especially again, if you're not right about what you say, then there's going to be backlash. So that's. And maybe he's good with that.
- [38:51]
Rory
Yeah. I feel like track runners, like, even like sha'carri, have gotten backlash they don't deserve. Because I think track is similar to boxing. I know that sounds like a very insane take, but it's one of the few sports outside of the relays that is just me versus you. It's the purest. Boxing and track, to me, are the two purest sports on earth. They're also the only sport that has to deal with survival as well. Fighting and running. I don't understand why track runners don't treat the Olympics or even World Games or any meets like boxing. You have to market yourself before every single fight that's part of the sport. I don't think track runners should be quiet. I love what Noah Lyles is doing. You should treat every single meet like it's a boxing match to market it, promote. Like you gonna make your money off the promotion. Boxing only lasts for this amount of time. Like that's what it should be.
- [39:45]
Michael Johnson
I agree with you, but I think the issue has been up until now, and again, this is one of the reasons why I created Grand Slam track. So we can actually be a home for that where we can, you know, athletes can feel more comfortable being themselves. Yeah, but look, what we always tell our racers, and we have 48 of them in our league, and they're all Olympic and world championship medalists and, and champions, you know, is to be authentic. Because at the end of the day, you know, you know, look, that, that's one of the things that probably isn't going to fly too many other places other than maybe in boxing. But if you're not authentic and you're just trying to put on a personality and where you better be damn good at it, like wwe, they're good at it, you know, they're amazing at it. They can convince you, you know, because it's what it's, it's, it's how they're built. They're really good at it. But if you're not really good at that, and that isn't the sport, wwe, that is the actual, that is the craft. Being really good at selling people on a Persona and being good at, you know, presenting that Persona. And in Every other sport, you know, it's the craft is the sport itself, the skill of the sport. So in track, the spirit of skill is. Is winning races being faster than any other people. You're probably not spending your time trying to actually create and exhibit a Persona and make people buy into that Persona. You're probably. Now, there are people out there who think they're good at it, and they're in there and, and they're failing, you know, to come, you know, at it, but they think they're good at it. But, you know, look, this, you know, today's audience, you know, I'm not one of them. I'm not one of these young, you know, young people out there that's consuming that, but they are very good at sifting through. Yeah, they don't buy it. They're not gonna buy it. Right. I'm not one, but I know them very well. A lot of them work for me, and I study them. And we have to, as a league, they're not buying. So we sort of. We try to lean into the actual authentic personality of our races. And then, because there's somebody out there who's just like you, no matter who you are. If you're a nerd, there's somebody out there who's a track man, that's a nerd. If you're into, you know, you know, whatever, gaming, if you're into, you know, animals, you know, if you're religious, whatever it might be, you know, there's someone out there who loves track, who loves sports, and they're just like you, and now you're their person. Right? Right. So look, you know, if you're not, if it's not natural to you, trying to come out, you know, and be like a boxer and, you know, and do all, it doesn't work. You know, so we have rivals in grandson track. We have people who have rivalries, and some of the folks are, you know, quiet and, you know, and they just kind of go, okay, we'll see, we'll get there, you know, and then you got some that are like, you know, I'm gonna kick your ass. I'm gonna do all of this, you know, like that. And then you got some who are like, you know, just want to just kind of sit back and go, I got nothing to say. I let my legs do the talking. Say that then.
- [43:01]
Co-host
Yeah, right.
- [43:01]
Michael Johnson
You know. Right. And we, and, and, and, and it works, and it works brilliantly. And we promote all of that in our race group. And, and our, our, our men's 1500 meter runners, gold, silver, bronze from the Olympics on the podium. We sign them all to the league. They're a good example of that. They're all different and they all take their individual approach. But you ask them who's going to win, they all say, it's going to be me. Right. Like, okay, well, you know, you got to go through that person. They're like, I. I know I'm going to have to go through them, and I will go through them. Right. You know, and some do it from the perspective of being a nerd. Some do it from the perspective of being I'm King Kong. Right. You know, and it's just different. Right. But it's authentic, and that's what I think our fans appreciate. That's why they love it, because it's authentic. They're all themselves.
- [43:44]
Rory
Yeah, no, I hear that and love that. To quickly go Back to the 96 games, where were you when the bomb went off in Centennial Park?
- [43:54]
Michael Johnson
I was right across the street. I was at the. At the Grand. At the Hyatt. I was staying at the Hyatt SCNN center, which is right across the street.
- [44:04]
Rory
It's our go to hotel.
- [44:06]
Michael Johnson
It was two nights before. It's the Omni, I think now. Yeah.
- [44:10]
Rory
Yep.
- [44:12]
Michael Johnson
Yeah, it was two nights before my first race. And. And I was sleep. I just went to sleep. I just gone to sleep. And then my phone kept ringing with my brother. He had just got in town. He's like, you okay? And I was like, yeah. He's like, man, he's like, there's all these police coming by me. I just got in town on the highway. He's like, they set a bomb went off somewhere over near your hotel. And I was like, wow.
- [44:32]
Co-host
Oh, you didn't even hear it?
- [44:33]
Michael Johnson
I didn't hear it.
- [44:34]
Co-host
Mm.
- [44:35]
Michael Johnson
No. No. But, yeah, that was. It was literally right across from. From our hotel, right across the street. And it was. Yeah. Two days before. So the next day, we weren't sure if we were even gonna run the next day. And ultimately they decided not to postpone the Games. And so we were. We went on.
- [44:50]
Rory
Was that added pressure outside of the immense pressure already?
- [44:54]
Co-host
Yeah, that has to, like, change your whole.
- [44:56]
Rory
They blow your mental.
- [44:57]
Co-host
Yeah. Like, how does an athlete.
- [44:59]
Michael Johnson
Nah, you know, I mean, I mean, like, you know, I don't. I think. I think it was kind of understood that it was an isolated event. And then, you know, there was one casualty from it, you know, which. Which is obviously unfortunate, but, you know, you know, at that point, you know, you're Just so locked in, you know, that, you know, you just focused on, on the task at hand and what happens on the track. And you know, I think, I don't think there was any concern at that point given that, you know, at that point they weren't even sure if it was an accident or what it was. Yes, right. Then they, they did find out it was a bomb, but it felt like that they felt like it was an isolated event, so we just got on with it.
- [45:38]
Co-host
Recently there was something to kind of laugh at in track and field runners.
- [45:45]
Michael Johnson
Always something to laugh at. Track and field, man, keep the drama going.
- [45:49]
Co-host
But this one, this one, this one. And you know, talking to somebody like you, who's obviously track royalty, what did you think about the relay runners and the girl with the baton who said it was an accident with her hitting the other runner in the head with the baton? Now I've never ran track just looking at it. It's not a natural, that wasn't a natural motion.
- [46:10]
Rory
That was her running style.
- [46:11]
Co-host
No, that was not a natural fucking motion. So as just asking Michael John, what do you think looking at it, did you laugh when she said it was an accident and she didn't see her like as a runner? What did you think in that moment?
- [46:25]
Michael Johnson
I thought it was crazy, right? It was pretty crazy. The initial reaction was, what the hell is going on? Right. This is crazy. Right. But I think that both of you guys kind of represent, you know, the two different opinions, which is, you know, like, you know, like she does have a crazy running style. It looks a little crazy. Right. And then she was, you know, you know, you know, knocked off balance. But it looks like, you know, from your perspective as well, it's like it looks like, yeah, you kind of wound up, you know.
- [47:02]
Co-host
Exactly.
- [47:02]
Michael Johnson
So look, man, I think you're gonna have, I, I don't know, you know, I wasn't there. I don't know what was happening. Everybody's got their opinions on things. I'm a fact based person. If I don't have the facts, then I don't, you know, I don't, I don't tend to, tend to go in on an opinion. I don't think my opinion really matters on this. Right. You know, I don't think it's consequential to the situation and it doesn't really matter to me.
- [47:28]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [47:28]
Michael Johnson
But you know, looking at it, it's, it's kind of why, it's one of the wildest things I've seen in quite some time. Right. I mean, it's Pretty wild. It's a pretty wild situation. And, you know, the. At the end of the day, the thing that still seems to be, you know, most unfortunate is that, you know, these two young athletes, you know, are, you know, in a situation where, you know, they're from. To my understanding, there hasn't been an apology, you know, even if it was an accident. You know, that was the thing that I think just compounded the situation that, you know, you didn't go over and apologize and literally left the track that day just, you know, having just hit someone in the head with the. With the baton. Right. And. Which sounds crazy, just even saying that. Right? I mean, it looks even crazy. Yeah, go check it out, because it is crazy. But, yeah. Yeah, that was unfortunate, though. That's the main thing that came out of it is unfortunate, regardless whether it was intended or not. And I. Look, I have no problem saying that I don't know what happened, but it's really difficult to convince anybody. You're gonna have a hard time convincing anybody that that wasn't intentional.
- [48:45]
Co-host
Exactly.
- [48:45]
Rory
I gave her grace. When I saw the first angle when they were coming around the corner, I was like, all right, maybe she did stumble. Then I saw the camera angle from the other side, like, on her back, and I was like, oh, she just knocked that chick out.
- [48:59]
Co-host
Like, it was definitely.
- [49:00]
Rory
There was not a running style at all. No, she clearly did that. Which, again, to your point, I've never seen some shit like that. I was running on 168th Street Armory in Washington Heights, where there'd be fights after track meets. I've never seen anyone hit somebody with a baton in my life.
- [49:16]
Co-host
Right.
- [49:17]
Rory
That is insane.
- [49:18]
Michael Johnson
Right.
- [49:19]
Co-host
Mike, quickly, how does it feel watching your world record be broken?
- [49:26]
Michael Johnson
But, you know, that's a. It's a very interesting. It's a good question. I get asked that question a lot of times because the automatic assumption is, is that, you know, you're sad that your record got broken. When Usain broke my 200 meter record, I was eight years into my retirement. I had been retired for eight years when Wave Van Niekirk broke my 400 meter world record. I've been retired for 16 years, and I was in the stadium as a television commentator for BBC for both of those races. And look, in the eight years from the time I retired to when Usain broke my record, in the 16 years, I never introduced myself as the world record holder because it's not part of my identity. It's not. It's not how I see myself as the still the world record holder. When I was competing, I saw myself that way. And if anybody had broken my world records when I was competing, then I would have been. That would become. Mission number one is get it back.
- [50:30]
Co-host
Okay. Makes sense.
- [50:32]
Michael Johnson
You know, when you retire from the sport, you're not going to go get that record back.
- [50:35]
Co-host
Right.
- [50:36]
Michael Johnson
And just holding on to it, you know, doesn't really. That. I've always been about goals and accomplishments and, you know, it's. It's not. I'm not. Those eight years. Like, people always say, oh, man, you held onto that record for 16 years in the foreign. Like, that's a long time. Like, I didn't do that.
- [50:54]
Co-host
Right.
- [50:55]
Michael Johnson
Just nobody had run faster. But that wasn't anything that I did.
- [50:58]
Rory
Right.
- [50:58]
Michael Johnson
You know, you could say, okay, well, you put it so far out there, you know, okay, yeah, yeah, that's cool. But the thing is, again, it's about the accomplishment. You know, I still remember how hard I worked and how long I chased both of those records. And I remember the day I broke it, and the team that were, you know, worked with me that helped me break them. That's what you remember. You'll cherish that moment forever is the. Is the accomplishment. But the idea that you're going to hold on to a record, you know, till you die. I mean, when I. By the time I, you know, had retired, I moved on to doing other things, and I was accomplishing other things as an entrepreneur, you know, and so I wasn't caught up in being the world record open, so things didn't really change for me. Remember going into the studio the next day after. After the record was broken, and one of my co hosts on another show that I did for BBC during the Olympics, she was like, everybody's like, are you okay? And I was like, what, is somebody dying?
- [51:54]
Co-host
What is going on?
- [51:55]
Michael Johnson
Right.
- [51:56]
Rory
You know, did you have. All right, so when Usain bolt broke the 100 meter record, it almost felt like he jogged through the line of how amazing he was as a track icon. You understand body language and facial expressions. He fought for that 200. I've never seen usain bolt put in the effort he did to. To break that record while you were watching it. It was like, all right, cool. But Usain has never looked like he was struggling until it was time to try to break your record. His whole face on that 200 was, we had never even seen usain look like that.
- [52:34]
Michael Johnson
That. But he has always said and has said then like, the 200 meters was always his favorite race because he. That That's. That was his. That was. That was. Nobody even thought he was ever going to be a 100 meter runner. 200 meters is his race, should be for the runner. That's the one that he wanted most. And, like. But you knew it was coming. Like, I mean, like, I remember the day of that race, and I was, like, doing some analysis for BBC, and I was like, I'll be shocked if he doesn't break this world record. Right. And was crazy that I thought he was going to run. So ultimately, he ran 19.18, which is the world record today. But when he broke it the first time, what I ran was 19.32, and he ran 19.31. And you could just tell that day, even his demeanor was different. Like, I'm going to break this record no matter what. I don't care what it takes. Right. Because that's the one that he always wanted. And. And I think that was the one also that he probably felt like, if I'm gonna break it, I'm gonna break that one first. And it didn't come first. 100 came first. So I know it was something he always wanted. But I didn't feel like he was struggling. I felt like he was just, if you look at it, he's just trying really hard, which is actually what you shouldn't do.
- [53:48]
Co-host
Yeah.
- [53:48]
Rory
We've never seen his swagger and his.
- [53:50]
Michael Johnson
Calmness was trying really hard. Yeah. Because, you know, I think in 100, it was always sort of, you know, I'm gonna get this record. You know, when the first time he broke it, he shocked himself. He wasn't even expecting to break it. Nobody thought he was gonna break it. Came out of nowhere. The next time he broke it, I think, you know, at the Olympics in 20, in 2008, you know, I think then it was kind of like, yeah, I think I know I'm gonna break it again. But the 200, he was trying hard, and he really wanted it and got it.
- [54:17]
Rory
Yeah.
- [54:18]
Co-host
Mike, quickly, before we let you go, talk to us a little bit more about Grand Slam track. What is the. What is the goal outside of just giving runners a home when it's not the Olympics? What is the goal in the mission with Grand Slam track?
- [54:31]
Michael Johnson
The ultimate vision for it is, you know, Grand Slam track should be the Formula one, the UFC of track. You know, the fastest people in the world. And so we know that there's a fan base out there for this sport. They watch it every year. There's over 100 million people a year watching two track meets over 300 million people a year watching at least two track meets. And you know, and during the Olympics, everybody's watching the sport, they love it and it's their favorite sport. So the structure of the sport just has not been sufficient because there hasn't been a true home for these athletes as a league. So. So, you know, we feel very confident that we can get there. And so it's delivering to fans the same type of epic competition between the fastest people with storytelling, highlighting these personalities. But primarily the main thing here is having the fastest people competing against one another, which we typically don't see outside of the Olympics because the structure hasn't been there to actually compensate the athletes. In order to make it worth their while, we put these athletes under contract. We have the fastest people on the planet under contract in this exclusive home for them with Grand Central.
- [55:52]
Co-host
Why hasn't, why has. I mean, I'm happy that you're doing this, but why hasn't it been anything like this with track? Like what is the, what do you think is in the way of that?
- [56:02]
Michael Johnson
It's a little bit complex, but as an Olympic sport, it's been primarily been left to global federation, the global governing bodies of the sport. Governing bodies are great at rules and governance. That's what they do really well. They're not great at marketing and commercialization, which is what it takes to be a modern, thriving sports property. And it typically takes a for profit, private, you know, unpolitical organization to be able to do that, which is what we are. We're venture backed, private, for profit, you know, entity, just like most other professional sports are. And so no one has been able to marshal all of the resources as well to understand the sport at the level that I have, having been an athlete, having represented athletes. Jeremy Warren was one of my clients from my sports management company represented, so we represented athletes. I've been a television commentator for 22 years covering the sport as well. So I understand the sport at sort of all angles and have been able to recognize what is needed in order for this sport to be able to thrive. But then you also have to have the ability to then sort of step outside of the sport. I'm a fan of the sport, but typically, you know, as a fan, you're sort of protective of, you know, this sport and what it has always been and how it's traditionally been. And that's. That can be. It's almost like that thing, you know, like if you hug something too tight and squeeze it, you know, you'll squeeze the life out of it, and you don't let it thrive. And that's sort of what happens a lot with track. We have a lot of people that are involved in the sport and have been for many years that love the sport, but they love it too much that they don't let it thrive. And so what has happened is, as you've seen the media landscape and how broadcast media and traditional media has changed in response to social media and digital media and how all of those things are changing. Those things are changing, as well as people's viewing habits and the way fans engage with sport and engage with entertainment, all of those things have changed. Most sports continue to change along with that out of necessity. As an Olympic sport, you don't feel oftentimes like you need to change, and then you want to hold on to this traditional way of doing things, and that is fault caused the sport to fall behind dramatically. And so we are, you know, kind of sit outside of that structure and have the ability to do things that are much more, you know, create a much more modern presentation of the sport and capitalize on all of the sort of digital technology tools that are out there, but also to. To understand what people's viewing habits are and what they really want to see, how they want to engage with sport and be able to build our league around all of those things.
- [58:58]
Rory
That's amazing. And any way we can help out with that, like on a commentating side. Content around it, we're here.
- [59:04]
Co-host
Yeah, I would love to come out and just. Just see the whole.
- [59:07]
Rory
Let's do that. Incredible.
- [59:09]
Michael Johnson
Buy some tickets and come to an event. 100.
- [59:12]
Rory
I know for sure. Yeah.
- [59:13]
Michael Johnson
If you're not watch it on tv. Yeah. We did all the support we can get.
- [59:17]
Rory
Can I. Can I put you on the spot right before we let you go? I see the ring on your finger. So if you want to pass on this question, it's totally fine. There was an article this year talking about how freaky the Olympic Village gets and how many. No, I'm telling you, there's like, it was in the New York Times of how many condoms are used at the Olympic Village. You could pass on the question. It's fine. I just. I'm gonna ask it, though.
- [59:43]
Michael Johnson
Look, man, I mean, if I could answer it, I would. I can't. Never stayed in the village. So whatever was going on, I missed all of that.
- [59:51]
Co-host
They had Mike. They had Mike. They had Mike. His own crib Mike. He wasn't with you. Peasants. The world's fastest man is not staying in the village.
- [59:59]
Michael Johnson
Stayed in the village, man, but I, you know, I, I, I heard the stories but I never, I never stayed in the village.
- [60:06]
Rory
I respect it, Mike.
- [60:08]
Michael Johnson
I missed out on whatever was going on. It sounds like it was epic, but.
- [60:11]
Co-host
I missed, sounds like it was a great time, but I missed it. Mike.
- [60:16]
Michael Johnson
Listen.
- [60:18]
Co-host
We appreciate you. Congrats with everything you're doing with Grand Slam track. We definitely gonna support it. Definitely wanna come to a couple events and races just to see everything that you building with Grand Slam. We appreciate you. It's an honor and a privilege to have some time with you and thank you for entertaining us over the years. Thank you for giving us something to look at and just be in awe of and just thank you for kicking with us today. We appreciate it.
- [60:44]
Rory
As a former track runner, thank you so much for what you're doing. Grand Slam like that means a lot to track runners to finally make this thing really matter and actually get what we're worth in this entire thing. So any way we can help, I am here for sure. So thank you so much.
- [61:00]
Michael Johnson
Appreciate that man. Appreciate you guys. Appreciate the support.
- [61:02]
Co-host
Thank you, man.
- [61:03]
Rory
Appreciate you.
- [61:04]
Michael Johnson
All right, take care.
- [61:05]
Co-host
Peace.
- [61:08]
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