Marathon Pop Ups are Not for the Weak
A tale of 25 cinder blocks and the Boston Marathon retail scene
April’s content is brought to you by Paradis Sport, makers of active underwear for women. For Earth Day, they’ve launched The Terrain Collection, featuring seamless underwear crafted in the brand’s signature ModiQ™ modal fabric and mineral-dyed in four earth-inspired tones named by professional trail runner Hillary Allen. I wore the pairs they sent me for some insanely busy days at our Boston pop-up (a workout in its own right) and was completely obsessed with the comfort, breathability, and fit. Super, super good. Shop it here.
Good morning from Boston, where I am writing this newsletter in real time (editing be damned!). I knew this send would recap what went down on Newbury Street in the build-up to Marathon Monday, but I didn’t know that we’d be so slammed at The Rec Room that I’d have no time to write.
Being mega busy is, of course, a good thing. Especially, when you’ve invited a bunch of indie brands to invest in your pop-up vision on essentially 3 weeks’ notice and a moodboard. Curious about how two moms and a hipster in a knee brace made a pop-up happen on a shoestring budget and a chaotic text message thread? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Back in January, Cole Townsend (Running Supply) asked me to take look at a pop-up pitch deck he was putting together for a few brands. I gave him my thoughts and suggested that maybe he, Running Wylder’s Katherine Douglas and I should marshal our resources and team up. Katie and I had worked on a one-day pop-up with Pruzan for Boston 2025, which we hosted from a wine shop, and we were excited to go a bit bigger. The team at R.A.D. jumped on board to support, and we quickly assembled a group of up-and-coming brands willing to invest in our vision for a curated space where runners could explore their products and hang out amidst the marathon madness.
The only (pretty huge) problem was finding a space. For brands looking to activate in Boston, there are two options: a booth in the Expo on Boylston or a pop-up on Newbury, the city’s most expensive retail destination. Since Janji and Tracksmith hosted early pop-ups on the street in the 2010s, running brands have descended en masse, leaving the expo a wasteland. On Marathon Weekend, it’s hard to walk more than 50 yards down Newbury without hitting an activation. Still, there’s no official market for finding a vacant storefront. It’s a tangle of management companies and landlords that few small brands can afford or navigate (hence the idea for the pop-up.)
Cole originally found a spot for $10K on Newbury Street, which collapsed when Runna outbid us by $20K and pushed the market rate for most spaces on the street up to $30K – a non-starter for our bootstrapped team. Nearing the end of March, it looked like we might be S.O.L, until Cole dug up a within-budget basement option on Newbury Street that might have been a Condom World in a past life. I hopped on the Orange line to go visit, texted some dark and gloomy videos to Katie and Cole, and we hopped on a call with R.A.D. to get the green light to sign the lease.
Green light granted, we marshalled the crew: Currently Running, Soar, Pruzan, Bonzer, Unna, Pao Labs, Raide Research, H-O-R-S-E Sport and Alex Zono. Nash Howe, the founder of Currently, volunteered to work the pop-up with us, and our dreams began to take shape. (Cue montage of late-night texts about insurance, tax forms, Wi-Fi, and product deliveries.)
The Condom World space ended up a blessing in disguise. Katie suggested that we lean into the basement vibes, which aligned better with R.A.D’s subcultural spirit than the more traditional brownstones we’d been priced out of. We named it “The Rec Room” and immediately went to work to find a Nintendo ‘64. My aunt offered up an old foosball table. I stole a coffee table from my living room and mirrors from the hall.
Katie’s vision for the space centered around building retail fixtures out of milk crates and plywood, forty of which we sourced from a combination of my family, Facebook Marketplace, and Home Depot.
Some hilarity ensued when I failed to realize that the “20-ft” wood planks Katie ordered were, well, 20-feet-long… cue some stressed-out texts when I accepted the delivery solo last Monday. For better or worse, I moved all 25 cinder blocks inside the shop on my own.
Over two days, we transformed the space into the vibey basement pop-up of our dreams. The fun part was riffing on the finishing touches – from the staff vests that Katie and Nash dreamed up, to the Trader Joe’s florals scattered around the space in vases from my wedding, to the prints photographer Aisha McAdams hung on the walls and the Bonzer table Katie decoupaged as an homage to ‘90s girlhood. It was a real labor of love and community, which created a feel-good energy that permeated throughout the weekend.
My favorite corner of the space was our Race Face activation, which we concocted with Bonzer Athletics. The idea was to create a station for runners to add some finishing touches to their race-day looks – hair ribbons, Fazit face sparkles (hugely popular among runners), Buckle Scrunchies, star hair clips… New active beauty brand FORTA Cosmetics by WNBA star Lexie Hull kindly sent us their new setting spray, which wowed the crowd. (Thank you, FORTA team for answering my wild DM!) A last-minute Goodwill run yielded a caboodle – the girlie pièce de résistance.
I don’t really have the mental capacity to accurately sum up the weekend other than to say: mission accomplished. See you in NYC?
Launching in celebration of Earth Day, Paradis Sport’s new The Terrain Collection centers ModiQ: breathable, naturally thermoregulating modal fabric, designed with seamless construction to reduce friction. “We wanted this collection to reflect not just how women move, but what movement is built upon — resilience, terrain, and time,” says CEO Sarah Weihman. Colored with mineral dies, the shades were named by pro trail runner Hillary Allen. “Strength isn’t one thing,” says Allen. “It’s built on unstable ground. In heat. In fog. In the quiet miles. The terrain shapes you." Check it out!
most creative team!! so happy that Bonzer could be a part of it!
I love this!!! I used the same inspo image for our internal display at the brand that I work at! Congrats on space transformation! Looked perfectly curated with character and personality. Wish I could have saw it in person.