Marathon Makeover: a moneymaking opportunity?

Note to brojos:

I believe this sort of ponzi scheme deserves to be critiqued by the gentle souls at Letsrun, but I'll understand if you decide to scratch this thread under the No Advertising clause. I'm not trying to violate that clause, merely bring an interesting social phenomenon to light.

This turn couch potatoes into marathoners sickens me. You go from one extreme to another. How many of you competed in a marathon in your first year of running?

How about "from couch potato to 5k'er". Oh, heaven forbid that.

I hate the whole "we can take you from overweight diabetic coach potato to being able to finish a marathon" idea. Sure, some people get fit and healthy, but a lot of people just learn how to shuffle through 26.2 miles and are still overweight and eating all the same garbage that got them fat in the first place.

But, as a business, there might be something to it. The USA Fit in my area has thousands of participants. Revenues must be upwards of 4-500k and expenses are minimal (insurance, website, all volunteer staff). The demand is certainly out there in cities with popular marathons. The franchise marathon makeover is BS (why share the $ with someone else?). But, you could probably do it yourself and make some decent money. Granted you would have to spend your weekends telling fat people they look awesome, but there are worse things to do for a living.

As the director and founder of Marathon Makeover I would like to respond to the statements of our organization being a scheme, a ponzi scheme, unsafe, and not a real franchise.

Since launching our program in 2004, we have helped over 1,000 Mississippians finish a half or a full marathon. We are a moderate-intensity, wellness program that focuses on overall wellness while training for a marathon. Our focus is on finishing a race, not winning the race.

Our fundamental approach is that of creating an environment and community of support and encouragement for those that often times have been shunned and ridiculed for not being "real athletes"(as evidenced by some of your posts). How has it worked? We continue to average 60-70% success with our participants, seeing them finish a half or full marathon forty weeks later. Compare those rates to the average health club.

My wife and I are the original franchiser/developer of the Marathon Makeover program and, as a result of people wanting to start this successful program in their area, we created a turn-key system that could be duplicated with our support. There are other fine programs in the market and any industrious entrepreneur could start their own program without our support. After all, that is what we decided to do and have found success in our endeavor. There are those, however, that do not want to reinvent the wheel, share our passion for transforming lives and have decided that joining a successful team makes more sense than going it alone.

As for our race fees of $65 for our half marathons and $100 for our full marathons (plus $10 late fee), we realize that the fees are on the higher side of what is typical in Mississippi. We also produce our race events with a higher degree of professionalism, not perfection, but professionalism for our area. We have hired Race Works, Inc. of Austin, TX, as our race director - they oversee the logistics for the Austin Marathon/Half Marathon. Our June Renaissance Half Marathon has been the state's largest half marathon two years running and have done that without major financial backing. We wish our race fees could be lower, but then again we don't have the backing of a BCBS and yet we out pull their MS Blues Marathon. In order to build a comparable race to Memphis, New Orleans, etc. we must build it like those races.

As for minority participation in Marathon Makeover race events and training, we continue to see a strong presence and continued growth across all demographics.

A Marathon Makeover Franchise is not a scam or a ponzi scheme. It is a business opportunity that requires work, time and effort. It is regulated by the FTC and is licensed in all areas we are required to be. It is designed for the person who has the time and willingness to work part-time (Friday night and Saturday morning - plus email support during the week) and build a healthy community and business in their area. It took us several years to reach our momentum and it will take several years for any of our franchisees to establish a thriving business - like all business endeavors. We can just help them get there faster by not reinventing the system.

We recognize that all new efforts are misunderstood, then ridiculed, then recognized as self evident. We will continue to focus on our mission and transform lives and invite others to help in this rewarding endeavor.

Sincerely,

Mark Simpson

Director

Marathon Makeover, LLC

kudzurunner wrote:

Note to brojos:

I believe this sort of ponzi scheme deserves to be critiqued by the gentle souls at Letsrun, but I'll understand if you decide to scratch this thread under the No Advertising clause. I'm not trying to violate that clause, merely bring an interesting social phenomenon to light.

This does not meet the definition of a ponzi scheme. They are offering a clear product. It might not be a product you like, but it is not (based on what you posted) a ponzi scheme.

Sounds like a solid program to me. Listen, there are many businesses to criticize. One that has a goal of creating a more fit population deserves the benefit of the doubt. Looking more closely at this operation, it seems to check out.

I think the name Marathon Makeover sounds a little better than 5k Makeover. It is apparent they help with all levels of fitness. I doubt they are sending obese, under-trained diabetics to the starting line.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I am pretty snarky so i would love to trash them if they looked to deserve it.

I like the concept of this, but I hate the idea of people running a marathon in some absurd time of 6 hours or something. Why not start small, like a 5k or a 10k, and develop an overall life style of health and fitness? Instead I feel like this program builds people up to a marathon, they shuffle their way through it, then fall back into a routine of not running and being a "couch potato" after the program ends and all of the sudden they have no "carrot on a stick" to motivate them. I feel like it would make more sense to develop a whole-istic approach to running and fitness. Start by running 5k's, and shorter races,maybe try some all comers track meets, trail runs, whatever, and slowly working up to a marathon. The marathon should be treated with more respect, and approached as more of a race, shorter distances are sometimes called "fun runs" for a reason. After all, isn't the point to see how fast you can run the distance of a marathon? Again, I like the concept of getting people off the couch, but do they have to go right to the marathon? Mountain climbers don't go right to everest? So I don't think "couch potatoes" should jump right to a marathon.

Here's a compromise: you can still call it Marathon Makeover, but have the program be longer, with the slow, smart build-up from 5k, to 10 k, to half, to marathon.

But the idea that this kind of plan is going to lead to people leading back to thier same old bad health routine is a given with any work out program, you can't just pick on this one. Some people will turn into life long runners from this I'm sure, but like most work out programs a large percent will go back to their unhealthly life style, maybe trying other "fad" work out plans every few years like many people do.

twit wrote:

Here's a compromise: you can still call it Marathon Makeover, but have the program be longer, with the slow, smart build-up from 5k, to 10 k, to half, to marathon.

But the idea that this kind of plan is going to lead to people leading back to thier same old bad health routine is a given with any work out program, you can't just pick on this one. Some people will turn into life long runners from this I'm sure, but like most work out programs a large percent will go back to their unhealthly life style, maybe trying other "fad" work out plans every few years like many people do.

I think they already do that... I think the name is just "catchy" so they call it that...

Your comments are based on ignorance of our program and the human spirit. You state repeatedly that you "feel". That is the difficulty with feelings - they are not always supported by the facts. Sometimes it takes a big, harry, audacious goal like a marathon to inspire a person to break up the log jam of a sedentary lifestyle. We have seen this repeatedly happen.

We are not a marathon program, rather we are a wellness program that focuses on life-long health around the process of training for a half or full marathon. Most of our participants continue to exercise long after participating and go on to be regular runners and walkers at fun runs, 5Ks, and just around their neighborhood. They also eat better, relate to their spouses better, and have a more positive life outlook.

The 62 year old man who has lost 75 pounds with us and will finish a full marathon in, as you call it, an absurd time of over 6 hours will now have the health to continue with his life adding more years and living to his life.

Another lady has gone on to finish a marathon on every continent. Not fast but faithful. Her accomplishments were what helped her fight through breast cancer - a real marathon!

Instead of taking our participants to races where there are looked down upon as absurd by people like you, we have created our own race events. We open our races to people like you, even asking our slower people to start behind you out of courtesy and respect, knowing that some faster runners will inspire some to do more with their health. We even put over $5,000 in prize money into our races knowing that none of our participants will ever win the races or money. We respect your speed and effort, too!

Respect is a two way street and I challenge you to encourage those around you and don't underestimate the spirit and potential of those not as blessed with your God-given abilities. One day you will be slower, older, and more challenged and I hope you will stay the course and enjoy the process more than the medal and time. It's what will keep you going for the long haul.

Mark Simpson

Director

Marathon Makeover, LLC

silly old fossil wrote:

This turn couch potatoes into marathoners sickens me. You go from one extreme to another. How many of you competed in a marathon in your first year of running?

How about "from couch potato to 5k'er". Oh, heaven forbid that.

QFE

Hey Marky Mark, will there be prizes for overall placers in this marathon in Mississippi? If not, why not? I looked on the website and saw that there are prizes for age group winners but not for overall winners. Is this really a race or what?