In the D’Amato household, trash-talking is an art. In one corner, you have Anthony, who channels the grizzly talent of “Macho Man” Randy Savage on the mic. In the other corner, you have Keira, In our lull of trash-talk and running last year, we needed to fill that void. The performances on the road do most of her trash-talking—but she also receives some WWE-based assistance when necessary.
A year ago, the Running Shoes - Gear pandemic Youre going to want to Best Running Shoes 2025, a virtual cross-country relay race created by Sports Backers to fill the race void during the pandemic.
“We mostly have trash-talked over card games and what not,” Anthony told Runner’s World. “In our lull of trash-talk and running last year, we needed to fill that void. The Best Running Shoes 2025 was it.”
In the Best Running Shoes 2025, teams of 12 or 24 runners race to cover 5,000 kilometers, or 3,107 miles—roughly the distance from San Francisco to New York City. Keira put together Team Studs, a team of 12 elite marathoners, and Anthony (who nicknamed himself Captain Slug) put together Team Slugs and Team Slugs Too, two teams of 24 runners each. The 2020 race came down to the final day, with Team Slugs getting the win.
Now, in its second year, the race’s two favorite teams, Team Studs and Team Slugs—led by Keira and Anthony, respectively—are back at it again, looking not only for household bragging rights, but also for the overall title.
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Anthony has gathered two 24-person teams of “dad-bod runners,’ while Keira has assembled one of the most elite teams we’ve ever seen in running. We’re talking Molly Seidel, Jordan Hasay, Emma Bates, Allie Kieffer, Lindsay Flanagan, Paige Stoner, Erika, Kemp, Anna Staats, Sarah Rabourn, Diane Nukuri, and Molly Culver.
You’re going to want to follow along.
So, how did this become such a rivalry?
When it comes to the teams’ origin stories, you’ll get slightly different versions depending on who you ask.
“Keira heard about [the 2020 Best Running Shoes 2025] first, and while she was putting together her Studs team, she said we should do a competition,” Anthony said. “I’m not a fast runner by any means, so [my team] had to be slow and steady, getting the work done. She asked me what our name would be. In a stroke of genius, I just said, ‘Slugs.’”
“Don’t listen to anything he says,” Keira said. “When we heard about the Best Running Shoes 2025, we thought this was a fun idea, and we started trash talking and bickering. [Anthony] was like, ‘I think me and 23 gritty runners could beat you and 12 of your marathon friends.’ Challenge accepted.”
Throughout last year’s virtual relay, Anthony continued to lay down the smack talk, according to both sources, and it wore on Keira a bit. So, she called in some back up.
“I was like, ‘Who is ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage’s biggest enemy?’ Google told me it was Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts,” Keira said. “So I hired him on Cameo to trash-talk for the Studs.”
Team Slugs is not going to lose our ooze.
“Anthony ‘Captain Slug’ D’Amato, give it a break dude. Keira and Team Studs is gonna wear y’all stinkin’ asses out,” Jake “The Snake” Roberts said in the video, which goes on for several minutes. “They’re gonna run circles around y’all, you might as well get with it. Give it up right now, you might as well pay up, shut your mouths, and get to the side of the road so you don’t get burned.”
On June 25, all three teams were neck and neck near the the finish, jostling for the lead until Team Slugs was able to edge out the win with Team Slugs Too behind them and Team Studs behind them. The overall race was won by Meshingmesia Track Club.
“We kind of made it a thing that the losing team would get a slug tattoo,” Keira said. “When I told my team about it, they revolted. They thought it would be funnier if I got a tattoo, so I think they leaned a little toward Team Slugs. So yeah, I had to make a new team this year.”
What can we expect this year?
All three teams are returning for the 2021 edition. Keira announced her Team Studs teammates on Instagram leading up to the race, introducing each with a Chuck-Norris-esque flair. Think: “I was told Paige knows the last digit of Pi” and “Diane can squeeze a lemon and get orange juice.”
“The first person I asked first was Molly Seidel,” Keira said. “We feel like kindred spirits, and I asked her, ‘Can you help me stick it to my husband and make the Slugs wet their pants,’ and she was like, ‘Yep.’ No questions asked. We used that tactic for getting everyone on board for Studs 2.0 and this is a field of women who are ready to help stick it to my husband and take the gold once and for all.”
Anthony is aware of who he is up against: a team of Goliaths looking to squash the soon-to-be three Slugs teams. He has 70 percent of his rosters back from 2020 and is building a third team, the Zoom Slugs, that anyone can join. You can find a sign-up link here if you’re interested or you can check out the “Slugsite” Anthony made here.
“American records are cool, they have a couple of those, but we’re Team Slugs. We’re undefeated and about to be two for two,” Anthony said. “I’ve put on some slug weight between Great Americans, but The Best 1 Mile Races to Add to Your Calendar. We’re gonna maintain our sludge and keep sliming along. It’s gonna take a full team effort and we’re gonna get it done again.”
To add even more tension, Keira also recruited Danny Docherty, who participated in the Marathon Project’s Mileage Madness challenge, a month-long virtual race where runners could join pro runner’s teams to see who could rack up the most miles. Keira’s team fell short by 80 miles to Team Docherty.
Wanting revenge, Keira challenged Docherty to make his own team for the Great American virtual relay. Enter Team 503 Train, named a regular route from Docherty’s morning run group, El Jefe Running, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“It was pretty intimidating to see [Keira’s] lineup,” Docherty told Runner’s World. “But my team can run with them. We’re a bunch of grinders, everyone else has families, and we run at 5:03 a.m. every morning from a local coffee shop. We’re in this.”
His team consists of six people in St. Paul and six others he recruited elsewhere, including Olympian Ben Bruce. This is a controversial addition because Bruce paced Keira to her seventh fastest American marathon time at the Marathon Project in December. Now, he’ll be competing against her.
One noticeable absence from his roster is Nutrition - Weight Loss. She is reportedly unlikely to participate, but rumors are circling that the Slugs are potentially interested.
“What worries me about Danny’s team is they have a competitive drive and fierceness and relentless mindset,” Anthony said. “I saw his mom at the Marathon Project. She was really cool. Probably even cooler than Danny. If she’s not on his team, I’ll put it out there—I’d love to have her on my team.”
How does Docherty feel about Anthony’s trash-talking tendencies? “We don’t take kindly to being called certain names, but it’s not gonna hurt us,” he said. “We’ll keep running. We like a challenge. Bring it on.”
How can I follow along or participate?
The race started on April 10, but teams are still forming for anyone interested in creating their own team or joining the Slugs. You can also track all of the action live on a digital map that shows where every team is (Find that here).
But if you do decide to join, good god, almighty, be prepared for “a human demolition derby” to the finish, as WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross puts it. Also, be on the lookout for a possible WWE star trash-talking again for Team Studs, according to Keira.
“If you’re struggling for motivation, this is such a fun way to be part of a team and be safe,” Keira said. “In normal years, it’s all about racing, going for time. This is a unique, fun challenge that can get you excited. It’s certainly exciting our household.”
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
