Sunday, March 13, 2011

Its About the People

The 2011 season is officialy underway.  The Little Rock Marathon has been checked off the list and we are now off to Atlanta for the Publix Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon this coming weekend.  We then get a little reprieve for a month until we really get rolling in May.  Returning from Little Rock thought, reminded me of a big reason why I enjoy what we do, the people we work with.

The people we get to work with on a daily basis and at the events make some of the crazy things we do enjoyable. As I've written about before, we do a lot of things most people don't consider normal.  We see the early morning hours at the beginning of the day instead of the end, like most people normally would.  These activities surrounding the events can only be done with people you enjoy being around.  Smiling and sometimes not so smily faces not only make it bearable, but make it fun.  Great stories, inside jokes and great laughs usually come of these times. 

Little Rock made me think about how we don't only enjoy being around our crew, but how much we enjoy our clients.  The crew from Little Rock is not only great to work with, but they make the job feel not so much like work.  They know when to get down to business, but like to have fun doing it.  We are all in it together, so we all might as well enjoy it. 

We don't view our "crew" as hired help or volunteers, but as friends.  How else could we get them to do what they do?  We don't view our clients only as clients, but as friends as well.  The good people we work with on a daily basis and at our events make the job, not seem like a job.  The events are fun, but the people we work with make it memorable.

Friday, March 4, 2011

So it Begins

The 2011 event season officially kicks off this week for the crew at VEM. It’s not that we haven't been working during the winter months, but this week the events actually start to take place and it’s time to put the plans into action. March serves as sort of a 'warm-up' for VEM with the Little Rock Marathon taking place this weekend and then that “little event” that is the Publix Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon and its nearly 20,000 participants taking place on March 20th.


I know Ryne seems especially excited to get the events started. He is off to produce his first running event as we head to Little Rock this week. I'm sure he is especially interested to see it all come together. Experiencing a race first-hand really helps make it all start to make sense. Little Rock is a good one to get his feet wet with before we jump into the monster that is Atlanta.

I personally have mixed emotions about the start of the year. On one hand, it’s great to get back into the swing of things; getting on-site and making it all come together. But then to think that it’s March 2nd and our last event will be mid-November, I start to wonder if I can survive another year. We've invested quite a bit in staff and resources this winter to help make this year a success. This is especially good for me as it takes some of my load off!

It’s quite daunting when you look at the grand scheme of things. We will serve well over 100,000 participants and spectators in 2011, which is an amazing stat in my opinion. While I'm not quite sure if I'm ready for it all to start, I am excited to get back to Little Rock. It’s one of my favorite stops along the way as we get to work with great people and have good times. It’s hard to believe, but the 2011 event season has begun....only 19 more events to go!