A very expensive trip.

I made a very expensive mistake on Sunday night. My laptop was sitting on the coffee table in our living room, plugged in and charging.  I tripped over the cord and sent it sliding off the edge of the table, in what seemed like slow motion.

It landed on soft carpet forcryingoutloud! but still it looked a little bit like this (only worse) when I picked up it's sad little broken body.

Poor guy.

So I spent some time with an old little bitty red laptop I've had for forever trying to revive and make it work for what I need.  No dice.  It was slow and outdated and sad.  

Ugh.

Lately I've been traveling more for 100 Mile Club. Not having a portable something on which to edit newsletters and blogs and projects and presentations and whatnot isn't really an option anymore...so I did the inevitable and drove out to the Apple Store and bought a new stupid laptop.  It sucked and I complained the whole time I was buying it and surrendering the mostly dead PC to have it guts removed and placed into this new and pricey replacement made me sick to my stomach.  

Poor sales guy.

If only I would have not gotten up right then!

If only I wouldn't have taken that dumb old laptop into the living room!

I should have been more careful!

I tend to beat myself up worse than anyone else ever could...sometimes I think I do it to keep others from doing to me what I've already done to myself.  It's some form of self-protection or something.  Once I realize I'm actually doing this to myself, I stop and remember that it really is ok to mess up sometimes.  I remember to keep my eye on my mission and that I am ok. 

Someone very wise once told me that if you work hard, listen to the little voice inside your heart, and keep your eye on your goals, everything always works out the way it is supposed to.  

Step back and look at it differently and even bad days are good ones if you look at the big picture. 

The Analysis of a Tee.

You can tell a lot about a kid by looking at their 100 Mile Club shirt. This glorious garment belongs to the Fabulous Isak.  It's a perfect example of a child taking control of his goals and making them happen...and how he tells the world about them using his 100 Mile Club tee. 

This photo was taken on January 31, 2013. Isak has somewhere between 300 and 325 miles right now.  His goal is 500 miles. 

How do we know this?  Look at his shirt. 

• The 3 diamonds on his collar represent 300 miles.  This is a tradition that has been going on at his school for at least 8 years.  Every 100 miles earns a diamond (a Swarovski crystal to be exact) on the back collar of the 100 Mile Club Tee.  
• There are 3 rows of check boxes on the left, each representing 100 miles in increments of 25.  The first row is what is printed on the shirt when it is earned.  Isak has carefully added 2 more rows of check boxes on the left, which are all checked off.  300 miles. done.
• There are 2 more rows of check boxes added to the right side.  Looks like he has 200 more miles to go.  None are checked on the right, so that's where we figure that he is somewhere between 300 and 325 miles.  

I have no doubt in my mind that Isak will achieve his goal. 

His goal. 

HIS goal. 

This is all him. 

And it is awesome. 

We can't wait to see you with your medal, Isak...but more importantly, we can't wait to see what you will do next.  You are a star.

Run4Kids 2013 (R4K24): The Evolution of a Buckle & Medal

Every year, planning Run4Kids is so much fun!  This year, with the triumphant return of our 24 hour ULTRAmarathon and Team Relay option, we had the daunting task of designing a relay medal for teams who finish a collective 100 miles, and solo belt buckle for our incredible ultra-endurance athletes who finish their 100 miles SOLO.  

(Yes, I said solo.  You should come see them...awesome!) 

March 16-17, 2013. 24 hours. 100 miles. All for our kids and for 100 Mile Club.  

We started with this adorable sketch...We found this drawing posted on our 100 Mile Club Facebook Page and a few other places too.  To save our lives, we can't figure out where it originated, but recall vaguely that it was from a little guy who was about to make his 100 miles.  We love the claw hands and the surprised/excited face.  We love the stick-up hair and the backwards 100 Mile Club Tee.  We just love it.  

If you know anything about the rockstar who drew this, PLEASEplease contact us...  

The fame of this little sketch grew.

It reminded us of a pretty famous painting.

The Scream by Edvard Munch

...and of the random drawings of one of our favorite running friends in the whole wide world, Pat Sweeney. 

(You can meet him at Run4Kids, too!)

The little pirate guy by Patrick Sweeney

 This funny little drawing took on a life of its own, showing up on profile pictures of some of the best ultrarunners out there.  There were lobbies for a 100 Mile Club shirt featuring this little guy, and we decided to do that and one (TWO!) better... 

It would be the center of our Run4Kids 24 hour ultra and relay.  We would use it on the tee and feature him on the buckle and medal for this epic event. Full-on kid-designed and inspired!

The sketching began.  We knew we wanted color on this buckle, so we just tossed it out there. Color. Ummm, how 'bout green?  Like the tees this year? 

aaaand purple.  Yea, purple.  Purple sounds good.

It was a total fail.  

The little drawing looked like he was suffering from oxygen deprivation.  The green was boogery and 100% no. I can't even provide a picture because I think I deleted it out of fear that it would get out in the world.  

It was bad. Back to the lab.

Colors?  How about the 100 Mile Club Logo colors?  

Scribble scribble... We decided to make the 3 colors look like a road or a track with the little runner running RIGHT up to you to tell you he made his 100th mile. 

The kid-drawing?  No color!  Just leave him alone.  He's perfect.  

(Though my rendering below does not do him justice.)

We sent it off and crossed our fingers. What came back was perfect.  

Above is our SOLO finisher buckle.  It's big, colorful, meaningful,  kid-drawn and kid-inspired.  

THIS is our relay team medal.  We liked the idea of separating the actual METAL colors but keeping the design similar.   We hope you love it.  We sure do. :)

Next up: THE R4K24 TEE!  Stay tuned!  Remember, the first 500 kids who register fo.r R4K24 get a FREE tee.  It will feature this little guy, too!  You don't want to miss it.  Click below to visit the Run4Kids website and sign up today!  See you there!

www.r4k24.com