How Far Will We Go?

Last night I spent the night on the streets of Chicago. I did this not because I wanted to, but because I had to. You see, in order to produce an event in the city of Chicago, one must first obtain a permit from the Park District, to ensure you get your space, its first come first served! While I was huddled in my sleeping bag, freezing during one of my turns on the street, I got to thinking. My first thought was how grateful I am to have a home and a family to keep me warm at night. The second thought was the extent to which event producers go to have the opportunity to organize events for participants.

Ryne and I left Indianapolis last night around 9:00 p.m. and arrived at the Chicago Park District offices around 11:00 p.m. local time. Though some may assume we would be at the front of the line, we were actually lucky number 13. The line gradually grew through the course of the night and by the time they opened the doors at 6:30 a.m., there were approximately 50 people lined up. These people represented 50 organizations; some having spent 24 hours in line and some maybe only a few minutes; but all of them giving the extra effort to make the events possible.

This is one example of the many crazy things event producers do in an effort to pull off the events. Some of them are due to the circumstances involving the municipalities, some are due to weather, and still others are due to trouble that arises during setup. We've pulled an all-nighter the night before the Indy Mini, near all-nighters in Madison getting mistaken for drunken college students as we closed the street, and in Chicago where 9 inches of rain forced us to redesign the whole post-race area. We've even swept cooking grease that spilled at the start line in Little Rock. The list goes on and on for us and I'm sure other organizations have similar stories of their own.

The funny thing about these stories is that we and our crew actually enjoy it. We don't just enjoy it, we LOVE it! Everyone loves making it happen and seeing it all come together. We enjoy putting in the time and energy and going to these extremes to help make the event an enjoyable experience for our participants. Seeing smiles on their faces as they cross the finish line and overhearing them sharing their stories makes it all worthwhile. Those moments make even the most dreadful moments a distant memory.



Ryne's first day on the job. He is in there!



On a side note to this story, we would like to welcome Ryne Daniel aboard the VEM team. Ryne had the pleasure of spending his first day and night with VEM on the streets of Chicago. Welcome aboard!