98. Mary Wittenberg, Former CEO of New York Road Runners & Virgin Sport
Ali on the Run Show
Ali Feller
4.9 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2018
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“My greatest fear is letting fear get in my way.” —Mary Wittenberg
Mary Wittenberg is the former president and CEO of New York Road Runners and race director of the New York City Marathon, and was the Global CEO of Virgin Sport. Her titles are impressive, and she has the legacy to match. Mary has had an incredible impact on running. She is largely credited for turning marathon running into a spectator sport, and for getting female professional runners to be compensated appropriately. Mary was the brains behind the creation of the World Marathon Majors series, and she was at the helm of NYRR in 2012, when she and the city had to make the very public and controversial decision to cancel the New York City Marathon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. On this episode, she talks about what it was like making that call, how she went from law school to big law to being a powerful force in the American running boom, and what's next for her since leaving Virgin Sport.
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What you’ll get on this episode:
- Mary explains whether she’s always been someone who loves being busy and super active (2:00)
- What it was like growing up surrounded by men, and how that impacted Mary’s future (4:00)
- How — and why — Mary went from law school to big law to the sports industry (7:20)
- Mary opens up about her decision to wait to have children because of her career (13:45)
- What it was like being race director of the New York City Marathon (15:00)
- Mary shares her favorite memories from her time at New York Road Runners (29:15)
- What it was like being a race director in a post-Boston Marathon bombings world (32:20)
- Mary opens up about the 2012 New York City Marathon, and the decision to cancel the race after Hurricane Sandy — plus how she came back from that difficult time (36:50)
- Who gets to hold the tape at the marathon finish line?! (45:45)
- Why Mary left NYRR for Virgin Sport, and what it was like working with Richard Branson (48:00)
- Whether Mary has ever regretted leaving her dream job at NYRR (53:00)
- What it was like when Mary finally got to run the New York City Marathon for the first time in 2016 (57:00)
- Mary offers her best advice for women in male-dominated industries (59:20)
- What’s next for Mary Wittenberg? (1:01.15)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by Aftershocks. |
| 0:08.6 | Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I'm your host, Allie Feller, and today I'm thrilled and |
| 0:13.5 | honored to be joined by Mary Wittenberg. Mary is the former president and CEO of New York Roadrunners |
| 0:19.6 | and race director of the New York City Marathon. In her time at New York Roadrunners, |
| 0:24.0 | Mary had a huge impact on running, and that's putting it lightly. She's largely credited for |
| 0:29.6 | turning running, marathon running, in particular into a spectator sport, and forgetting female |
| 0:34.5 | professional runners to be paid more for their work. She was the brains behind creating the World |
| 0:39.6 | Marathon Major Series, and she was the one at the helm of New York Roadrunners during the |
| 0:44.2 | unprecedented cancellation of the New York City Marathon in 2012, which she opens up about on this |
| 0:49.7 | episode. Mary left New York Roadrunners in 2015 to help launch Virgin Sport alongside Richard |
| 0:55.4 | Branson. So what's next for Mary? Well, we will get to that, but let's start at the very beginning. |
| 1:07.5 | Mary Wittenberg, welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I am so excited to have you here today. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm so excited to be here, Allie. Yeah, all right. We're going to have lots of fun, but first we |
| 1:17.3 | start the conversation just like we start a run in theory, totally. Start us off with a warm-up |
| 1:22.4 | tell us who you are, where you're from, and what you do. I'm Mary Wittenberg. I am a mom, a wife, a |
| 1:30.5 | friend. I've been lucky to be an executive in sport and fitness. I live in New York City, and I'm |
| 1:37.2 | so happy to be here talking to you because you're out there making a difference in getting people |
| 1:41.5 | moving. Well, that's what you're doing, and that's why we have you here today. So you are one of the |
| 1:46.2 | most powerful forces in the running industry. I know so many people that look up to you. Myself |
| 1:51.2 | included, you've been so impactful for the sport and just for people in general, and you're really |
| 1:56.4 | positive and really motivating and always on the go. Have you always been that way? I grew up as a |
| 2:01.1 | cheerleader. I love that. I just see everybody else inspires me, and I want to just share their stories, |
... |
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