As a lover of small businesses I’ve always found it very authentic and comforting to hear from a company on a regular basis with details about what’s going on. What are they up to? What’s the deal with that website change? How many cats do you have in the office? Whether it comes from the founder, the CEO or a marketing wizard, inquiring minds want to know. AND, the best part is, it makes a company REAL.
So with that, I wanted to share the first update letting you know what’s what at RTE. I may not always be the one writing (because hey, we have an awesome team of people here...more on that later), but I felt I would be the best one to start since I’m new and come in with a fresh pair of eyes to tell you how awesome this company is. Plus, it allows me to brag about people that wouldn’t normally do it :)
Members of the RTE team with RTY participant Jason Tregler. We love our participants - they are why we do what we do!
If you talk to our founders, Adam Goucher and Tim Catalano, you will hear a very humble story of this journey starting with a book. It was something they both wanted to do for fun, not to make money or anything grand. They, like so many great success stories, wanted to do something different. The goal: Write a non-traditional running book, publish it themselves and see what came of the process. What transpired was as they say “history”. The book climbed to #2 on Kindle out of over 1 million books available. It launched speaking tours and the eventual creation of the Run The Year Challenge in 2015, a challenge that has now grown in numbers and strength every year since.
When I first met Adam and Tim the true reason for the success of Run The Edge was obvious. People were gravitating to a common message and inclusive community. In my first week we sat down and answered “business” questions, but not in the normal way. I asked them the who, the what and most importantly the WHY. I wrote down things like:
- A movement of people relentlessly pursuing greater fitness, positivity and inclusion
- Getting people closer to the edges of their maximum potential
- We can be better than we are now in every aspect of life
- No outsiders - to belong all you have to do is try :)
- A world with more fit, positive, happy people
Tim, Emily and Briana standing in front of our "canvas" board displaying a daily reminder of what we believe in and are trying to achieve!
And just like that, they said out loud what RTE is all about. In those few hours what was revealed was a clear purpose, audacious goals and an aspirational destination. Our ever magical “why” became crystal clear: Everyone Included, Everyone Challenged, Everyone Successful. We knew this principle had to guide everything we do. ANYTHING we produce at RTE must meet the requirements of this statement or we no longer are holding true to who we are.
We have noticed, like so many of you have recently, that we are living in a world that is more and more judgmental and exclusive. It seems we are encouraged to focus on our differences rather than our common ground. We feel that we have the opportunity to use our purpose, our why, to reverse that. It might sound lofty, but any big goal worth pursuing is. Either we sit on the sidelines complaining about the way things are, or we jump in the game and fight for the finish line we know is waiting there for us to cross if we dare.
Legacy participant Mary Kitlowski signing our white board on a visit to the office. Mary runs despite having Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), 40% lung capacity and using oxygen.
So I ask you to join us. Join us in our mission to bring more inclusivity and positivity into the world. Tell your friends, share anything positive we share...join the movement...join the RTE Family. Because the truth is we are a company of people who don’t just love what we do, we live for what we do. There’s...
- Adam - cofounder and one of the most loyal hearts you’ll ever meet (and we call him official nit-picker for a reason...it must be perfect!) (See Bio)
- Tim - cofounder with a passion for helping people that blows us away every single day (and yes he stresses out because he cares SO MUCH) (See Bio)
- Emily - our social/marketing maven who amazes us by her desire to better herself and her craft (and her love of cats...let’s be real)
- Cindy - the voice behind every customer interaction, a person so caring you wish you could bottle it up for when you are having a bad day (and you’ll wish she was your mom too!)
- Pawel - our CTO and technology pioneer, he never rests when it comes to making the very best application for our customers (and yes he seriously is magical)
- Dan - the newest member of the RTE team, joining to help us optimize our behind the scenes marketing, has a deep passion for health and fitness (and his "car" is his bicycle!)
- And there’s me, Briana - COO who believes in dreaming big because there really is no other way to dream (and yes I drink enough coffee to make you shake your head) (See Bio)
We are Run The Edge. We are small but we know that doesn’t influence the size of the impact we can have. We will make mistakes, because we are human, but we will own them EVERY TIME. We promise our very best to you knowing full well our best won’t always be perfect. So again, I ask you to join us...join us in our movement to create something bigger. As Malcolm Gladwell said so perfectly: “The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”
Journey mapping and idea hatching...always dreaming up new ways to spread our message. Looks like wildfire don't you think?
Written By: Briana Boehmer