“And when the dust settles you’ll find me here…” ~AM
Anyone who knows me will tell you I am the queen of quotes and clichés. I can’t really say why, but a good quote gets me every single time. AND a worn out cliché? I can’t get enough of them because well...they oddly speak the truth more times than not. So in my typical fashion, I titled this blog with a cliché and a quote all in one because together they perfectly describe the last few months here at Run The Edge.
***Note in a future blog I will make Tim write all puns...his obsession with puns is nearly as bad as my obsession with quotes and clichés.***
For those of you who know our business well, you know that from Thanksgiving through the middle of February we are all systems go. When I joined the team, Tim and Adam warned me of the chaos, but like all things you only really know when you experience it first hand.
We are a small team of 5, and during this time we are tasked with managing hundreds of customer emails a day and thousands of registrations for our biggest event Run The Year. There is little time for the normal holiday relaxation. We can’t stop to drink eggnog or bake cookies. To add even more anxiety, our third party registration platform decided to do magic tricks and turn on and off for the better part of three days. As you can imagine this caused additional vomit-inducing stress we are still trying to forget.
When things got stressful we ate cake...naturally
Yet at the height of all the chaos we were all heads down, focused and doing everything we could to give our customers what Tim and Adam call a “$2,000 experience for $25”. It’s sort of like training for a race. While you are in the middle of your highest volume you almost don’t realize what you are doing. BUT as soon as you taper there is this deep breath that has to be taken. That is exactly what happened to all of us come the end of February. The dust settled and we wiped our eyes a few times to see the sun.
Tim managing a batch of international orders...they kept printing and printing and...
Now before you start calling us superheros and throwing flowers at our feet, know that we enlist a lot of help during this time. We bring in family, friends and high school cross country runners to manage the influx of work. Our office turns into a mini-Amazon (ok so that might be an exaggeration), with packages flying left and right. We cannot thank those who step in to help us enough. Without them Tim would not be the only bald one in the office ;)
So why am I telling you this? Simple. Our promise to you was to keep it real. Our promise was to let you into our world as much as you let us into yours. Every single day we hear from YOU, our participants. We read about your struggles and triumphs. We cry when you cry, we laugh when you laugh. We feel deep gratitude for you letting us into your world. Truth be told, that is what our company is all about. Creating a community of inclusivity, sharing and support.
Family and friends pitched in...oh like Olympian Kara Goucher and Adam’s sister Debbie :)
So, with the dust firmly settled you will find we are still here determined and resolute as ever to create something special in the world with this little company of ours. We have some pretty exciting things up our sleeves, and we can’t wait to share them with you in the coming months. In the meantime, keep crushing those miles like we always say...and while you are at it, make sure to wipe off your own dust and keep standing tall.
Make Fit Happen,
Briana