Terrapin Training Run - March 8, 2009
Working in Advertising can sometimes be a very stressful profession. Why? Because we try to treat every client like they are our biggest client . They must be be shown that their project takes precedence for quick completion while still being highly unique, even ADDY-worthy.
Well, we have learned over the past 8 years how to handle that stress with the occasional impromptu football game on the front lawn, an ambush of a co-worker with stress balls, and even a quick Texas Hold’em tournament at Lunch. But now, I have discovered how to just re-evaluate what stress really is. Todd Hacker, Derek Bennion and myself committed 4 months ago to run one of the trail races this year put on by our sister company, eco-x sports. We spent at least 1.5 seconds debating on which one to run (Terrapin : 1/2 Marathon = 13.1 miles OR 50K =31 miles; Mountain Masochist : 50 Miles, or Grindstone: 100 miles), until we settled on the shortest one – Terrapin Mountain , 1/2 marathon on March 28th. (come on – which one would you have chosen?? Really, three out-of-shape people that sit at their desk all day spending two solid days running 100 miles?! I’m crazy, not stupid.). How hard could 13.1 miles be?
Well, I failed to compute that this race would include a gain of over 3,250 feet to the top of Terrapin Mountain , which obviously makes this race a little harder than running 13.1 miles on a normal marathon course (which historically, are flat ) . I’m happy to say that we didn’t let that fact deter us from accomplishing our goal to try to actually run in it. Now – 3 months later, and after many miles of training runs- the day is almost here for us to realize that goal. It will also make us realize that working in advertising really isn’t that stressful compared to putting our bodies through excruciating pain for 3 hours. Creative ninjas we are; suckers for torture, we are not.
Todd, Derek and I continued our training this past weekend by actually running the course. WOW – what an experience!! During that training run, I actually was thinking that maybe I had been pushing Derek and Todd too hard and that they were going to leave me to die on this mountain. But when we finished in 3 hours and 26 minutes, we were surprisingly in good spirits and really did enjoy the experience. Note: My good friend, Clark Zealand, holds the record for this 13.1 mile course – 1 Hour and 39 minutes!! As for me, I hope to break 3 hours … I’m not a showoff like him:) .
So, next time someone at Prototype complains about a client or how complicated a project is, I’m just going to enroll them in the next eco-x sports race to gain a little perspective…
If you want to learn more about these races visit www.eco-xsports.com.
