2020, The Gift That Keeps On Giving
I have to admit, I sat down to write this blog completely and utterly defeated. Defeat is not something I succumb to easily or often. It isn’t the attitude that Blistering Pace was built on and it sure as hell isn’t what we stand for. But how many times can you be kicked when you are down and still get back up? How many COVID deaths of people you know? How many business contracts cancelled? How many colleagues have to lose their job? How many of your own employees do you have to send to the unemployment line? How much revenue can disappear and your mortgage still get paid? These have been very bad days. Have we hit rock bottom yet?
I am tired of COVID-19. I am devastated that in the four years it took to build my own small business from scratch, it has been leveled in a matter of months. I am sad to have to walk this path by myself now, as my husband has temporarily left our business to work at a winery through the end of the year (but I’m incredibly grateful for his opportunity and a small financial reprieve). I am overly exhausted from anxiety riddled all-nighters on the couch alone watching dumb RomComs in an effort to turn off my brain. I miss hard work; the effort of building start and finish lines together in person. I’ve traded that in for a single desk chair, planning what little work I have in the next several months from behind a computer screen. The level of despair I feel is sometimes scary.
Two of my esteemed industry colleagues have fallen victim to this pandemic and its indiscriminate assault on the events world. They have been laid off permanently. They are, in my humble opinion, two of the best in our industry. Intelligent, resourceful, and creative women who have provided value and leadership over the last several years, left jobless in the wake of a virus wreaking havoc on mass participation running events. After a landslide of race cancellations in 2020, we are now struggling with how to even launch an event in 2021, which feels as stressful as one can imagine. Without the promise of revenue, how do you justify a staff for that? I understand the dilemma, but it doesn’t make it any easier to digest.
Feeling dismal about pretty much everything lately, I was surprised and delighted when these women called to ask if I wanted to work on a project with them. We’re calling it the Running For Office Virtual Challenge. The event is aimed at mobilizing the democratic electorate to #exercisetovote for the 20 days leading up to the 2020 election. We are a virtual community of like-minded progressive individuals supporting Joe Biden and the historic appointment of Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major party ticket. Running For Office challenges participants to exercise in support of equality, diversity, inclusion, and most simply put, humanity. $12 of every entry will be donated to America Votes to protect every American’s right to vote.
The idea of Running For Office immediately resonated with me. It didn’t take long to realize why. Running For Office is the simple opportunity to do something (anything!), and to do it with two other passionate women pushing for a better tomorrow. I have continuously wondered what I could actually do that would matter, and this is it. I can promote change. I can support the people of this country. I can foster community. I can promote strong women leaders and showcase our country’s best. I can emphasize the importance of voting and the preservation of our democratic society. This is much like what I always thought my “regular” job was, but I realize I can still accomplish these things through my “virtual” job. Physical activity in person together as one can still be effective individually, for a common goal.
No one ever said changing the world was easy, but I am committed to the challenge one day at a time. And I am so glad to have strong women by my side. We can’t sit idly by.
I’m ready to run, and I hope you’ll join me. I rarely ask for favors, but our country needs you. I need you.
Move. Share. Vote.