Meeting The Mayor

"Never Limit Where Running Can Take You"
Bart Yasso

(Bart and I)

You know those times when you’re so frustrated with work or fed up with co-workers and clients that you want to violently hurl your laptop through the nearest office window? This story is absolutely not about that.

I am fortunate enough to experience a number of perks working at Garmin’s in-house ad agency, none of which have surpassed the events of this past weekend. In preparation for the Garmin Marathon (In The Land of Oz) – a small-ish race that starts and finishes at Garmin HQ in Olathe – our fitness PR guru, Justin, threw a Hail Mary. Miraculously, when the end-zone scrum had cleared, running legend Bart Yasso was left cradling the ball, good for an easy six points.

Next thing you know, I found myself sharing stories at a nice restaurant with a group of six co-workers and some guy who has run marathons on all seven continents. Bart agreed to help out with PR for the event, and even run the marathon. If you’re still not sure who he is and wanted to finish this post before googling his name, I’ll help you out. Actually, Bart will help you out. Here’s his welcome statement, directly pulled from his website:

Many runners tell me quite simply I have the greatest job in the world. I get to travel to races around the world and meet runners of all abilities. Let me reiterate I get to meet thousands of runners with some amazing stories. For me running has also been a vehicle of introduction to people, places, cultures, and animals. I have run on all seven continents, but it's not the details of the races I recall it's the people I meet.

And that’s it. The dude runs. Officially he works for the niche publication, Runner’s World. His job title is CRO – Chief Running Officer. No lie. He has no boss. He has no job description. Fans refer to him as “The Mayor of Running”. Every year, marathon newbie’s curse his name as they pump out half-mile reps completing his infamous marathon training program, the "Yasso 800's". He doesn’t need business cards – you either know who he is, or you don’t get it.

Since he’s been at Runner’s World, they’ve been quite literally sending him all over the world to participate in running events; some challenging, some quirky and some downright insane. He arrives. He meets and greets. He runs. He reports back. He flies to the next destination. To say he’s nomadic is an understatement. As you can tell by his intro, he views running as the medium through which he can experience different cultures, visit amazing and remote destinations, and learn and be inspired by the many individuals who lace up next to him. He personifies the beauty of a sport where amateurs and professionals participate side-by-side - opportunities that simply don't exist in other athletic realms. 

The man is full of some amazing stories, and eager to share them. At dinner, upon meeting him for the first time, he had the table hanging on his every word. Same went for his speech the next day in Garmin’s auditorium, where he presented slide after slide of footage from the far reaches of the globe, each image with an equally compelling story accompanying it. Look no further than Bart for proof that running does not have to be boring. Some of the highlights and hilarious anecdotes:

He began by speaking about who motivates him – a female Ironman (Ironwoman?) triathlete with a prosthetic leg who competes and travels the world giving motivational speeches; and a young man who runs marathons now, but was years earlier pronounced dead multiple times when in a coma induced by a traumatic heart injury. He sees them regularly, goes out of his way to gush about how they inspire him, yet they still find it incredible that the Mayor of Running looks up to them.

Penguin crap is the foulest smelling scent on Earth, and impossible to get out of clothes. But you should definitely waddle close-up to the beautiful animals if you can - the pictures you capture make it worth the experience.

Antarctica is the toughest continent on which to run a marathon. You have to take a Soviet-era tanker just to get to the starting line. And oh yeah, it's freezing out there. 

If you run a marathon in the Himalayas, there’s no good parking near the starting line. That's because it takes twelve (yes, 12) freaking days to arrive there. On foot. And yes…the walk is up-hill in the snow. It is Everest, after all.

(Taking it in, at Everest basecamp)

The editors at Runner’s World sent him to the Bare Buns Fun Run in Spokane where, naturally, everyone runs in the buff. That wasn’t the oddest part though; the oddest part came when he was asked to speak at the pre-race pasta dinner, and arrived to a full house of runners carbo-loading at banquet tables…naked. So he addressed the crowd…naked. He assumed there’d be a podium behind which he could hide his behind, but there was not. Luckily he did not come home with the medal for – in his words – “smallest in my age group”.

He was one of six individuals to inaugurate the Badwater Ultra 146, a grueling ultra race in Death Valley that began at 282 feet below sea level and ended at 14,496 feet atop Mount Whitney, with the thermometer topping out at 120 degrees. What???

In Africa, a friend invited him on a “scouting run” for a course he wanted to turn into an official race. Skeptical, due in large part to the close proximity of lions, tigers, rhino’s and other wild African mammalia, he agreed to accompany his long-time pal. A few miles in they reached an opening in the trail and found themselves face-to-face with a smirking rhino. The photographer tailing them took two photos: One of Bart and his friend on the receiving end of a vicious rhino stare, nostrils flaring, and another, similar photo, minus Bart, who had hauled ass out of there. Didn’t even look back to see if his buddy was safe.  

Touring in Iraq where hundreds of soldiers, hungry for distraction, participated in a marathon with him while still in full military training gear (boots and all), just to say they ran with a legend. They had to report to duty immediately after the race, but still chose to run, just to have a small slice of Americana. He also went up in Chinook helicopters and those large military planes, strapped in next to soldiers with large automatic weapons, looking for bad guys. (Bart gets special props for referencing the movie Con Air when describing how the planes flew long distances with the large cargo doors open).

In India, if you’re asked to participate in the opening ceremony of a cricket match, it’s nothing at all like throwing the first pitch of a baseball game. Not considering you have to put on pads and stand with a trembling cricket bat on the receiving end of a seven foot behemoth Indian pitcher, who is whipping a tiny unforgiving ball directly at you (so you have a better chance of making contact). All made scarier when it’s a grudge match between India and Pakistan, with over 110,000 fans trying to figure out what exactly this guy is the mayor of.  

Another crazy assignment - he once ran a 10k with a burro named Taco Bell. It pulled him to four and a half mile splits for the first half of the race, then stopped suddenly, forcing him to haul Taco Bell fighting tooth and nail the rest of the way. For added authenticity, the starter’s pistol was some dude who rode up on a horse and fired a shotgun in the air.

Favorite country to visit and run in is South Africa. He stayed away during Apartheid, but has visited multiple times since. He considers the 55 mile Comrades run his last great race, one he completed in 2010, at 54 years and battling chronic Lyme disease. Those who miss the cut are literally shut out of the stadium in which the race finishes – the gates are closed and locked. Nelson Mandela will go out to console the first few runners who are left outside. It's significance to the culture and heritage of South Africa means more to the country than the Boston Marathon means to the US. Bart completed the race in time, and so did his wife…but she beat him by over an hour.

(At the Comrades run in South Africa)

Not a one-trick pony, he’s completed five Ironman competitions (swim 2.4 miles/bike 112 miles/run26.2 miles, try not to die) and cycled across the US unsupported and by himself. Twice.

Listening to Bart talk is like watching VH1 Storytellers, but instead of drugs, depression and humor, there’s running, inspiration and humor.  Our three mile pre-race shake-out jog was pure joy; never have a larger group of runners gone so slow, yet completed the activity so fulfilled by the experience. He holds court wherever he goes: at dinner, speaking in front of large groups, jogging in groups. He was born for this.

Follow our Jog

The man was a rock star at the marathon, completely in his element. He finished in just over four hours with no one around him, yet the moment he crossed the finish line, he was the center of attention. He was approached no less than three times before he could exit the finisher’s tape and chug some water. He reserved the same grin/smile for everyone, proudly displaying his Garmin Marathon scarecrow medal and “Had a Wicked Good Time” finisher’s shirt for all to see.

(Jake, Justin and Bart, post-race)

He ate chicken sandwiches and drank beers like the rest of us, sitting shoeless in the open area well after his race ended. When finishers crossed the line six hours after the marathon began, Bart was there to clap for them. The man was living it up, genuinely enjoying himself, the unofficial master of ceremonies. Which is precisely why I imagine there’s no one at Runner’s World angling for his job. He’s the guy in your office that says he has “a dream job”, except for the fact that Bart actually has his dream job. That guy doesn't.

If I learned one thing from The Mayor of Running during his visit to Garmin, it’s that I have a total man-crush on him. It’s hard not to. His presence, confidence, the stories he tells, the places he’s visited, the bizarre and extreme races he’s conquered, the people he’s met…the fact that he spends his life flying all over the world, doing what he loves, advocating for his cause. The man’s an inspiration. You can’t meet the guy and not want to do something better and more fulfilling with your life. I’m sure he’s left thousands of people, if not more, feeling this same way. And that’s why he’s so good at what he does.

True to form, he was one of the very last people to leave the marathon, well after the final four finishers walked across the finish line, having completed their first ever 26.2. As Justin drove away with him in the passenger seat, he rolled down the window, summoned the race director and left us with these final words of wisdom:

“I have to apologize to you. I was busted peeing on a side-trail of the course. Somebody tweeted about it”.

True story...

(Bart's book and mantra) 

To read more of Bart Yasso’s great stories, by someone who writes way better than I do, here’s a link to his website and book: http://www.bartyasso.com/ 

For more on Bart’s appearance at the Garmin Marathon: Wicked Good Time

KC Cache Dash

Geocaching in Land Rovers, Talking with Engineers and a Giant GPS device...

It’s impossible to succinctly explain the KC Cache Dash to a non-geocacher/Garmin employee – I know, I’ve tried, and unless eyes glazing over has changed from the universal sign of bewilderment to a generally accepted sign of understanding, they have no clue what I’m describing, and sometimes nod politely.

I’ll include links at the end of this so others can do this work for me – I’ve been told that while friends and family appreciate my writing, they sometimes skim the long ones, which is crazy, because as I’ve been known to tell others, every single word I write is important. Even this one…

For Cliff’s Notes, there were three parts to the event:

1) Geocaching Expo at Garmin HQ – Product Support and Rec/Outdoor Engineers to work tents. Event open to the public and all Garmin employees. Geocaches were placed around the campus for families, kids and scouts to find. Refreshments were served and if need be, there was a portable toilet.

2) “Dash” around KC – Four teams – each one comprised of a hardcore geocacher (are there any other kind?), a social media advocate for a chosen charity, and a social media “influencer” – drive around the city in Land Rovers with multiple GPS devices, searching for geocaches, while of course obeying all traffic laws. Each cache had a certain point value, and at the end of the day whichever team had the most points wins the event.

3) Award Ceremony at Aristocrat Motors – Everyone meets up at Aristocrat Motors to see who has the most points and how much money each charity won. Sadly, no oversized Happy Gilmore checks.

(Land Rover with Charities' logo's)

I was brought into the KC Cache Dash fold at Jerry’s Bait Shop, wooed by cheap beers, attempting to pay attention to the conversation at hand and not the waitress with half her head shaved to a three. It was an idea borne out of social media: Jake (from Garmin) and Kris (from Aristocrat Motors) thought it’d be cool to combine the core competencies of our two companies and turn into a day-long adventure. And then get folks to tweet about it. 

Many ideas were thrown out, some good, a lot terrible; the size and scope of the event fluctuated more than former Brazilian soccer great Ronaldo’s weight. Since none of us had a complete vision for this event and no one to shoot down ideas (yet), we could be as ridiculous as we wanted to be.

Finally, when the plan had moved from bar napkins to a dry eraser board (courtesy of a four hour Mad Men-style lock-in), we made our pitch to the leaders of the rec/outdoor team. We didn’t necessarily need their buy-in, however with it, we’d be able to work a bit more freely. Their response was great. Not only were they “on board” with our plan, they were offering to help. They wanted this to be an event that connected Garmin – the rec/outdoor team, specifically – to the community. Our idea, without us knowing it, fit perfectly into the larger group’s annual goals and objectives, and we’d benefit greatly from it. Garmin’s president even sent an email to the company notifying them of the event, encouraging support and participation from employees.  

So to my part…

Jake and Kris would handle the “Dash” side of things, while I’d focus on the expo at HQ, and all that it entailed. They were busy coordinating with geocachers, charities, social media types and planning routes across and around the city. My days were spent differently.

With help from some geocaching enthusiasts from the web team, we began work on a variety of jobs. First off was for them to come up with logos for the event and begin work on the website: http://sites.garmin.com/cache-dash/ . They made signs, electronic invitations, a giant poster and a cool new sticker book. Kids shirts were also created, and they turned out great, as did the KC Cache Dash trackable pathtag.

(Collectible Pathtag - common geocaching swag)

I began wrangling the volunteers and expo items once the creative materials were under way. One benefit of having come from Product Support is that I worked with a bunch of folks who I knew would appreciate the chance to volunteer at an event like this. I emailed my former team, and a healthy number agreed to participate.

Next up was Engineering; they were also excited to lend a hand. In all, there were over 50 volunteers. To ensure the public would know who to look to for help, I ordered OpenCaching Ambassador shirts (OpenCaching.com is Garmin’s free geocaching platform) for everyone, turning the 50 plus volunteers into an orange amalgam of intensely-bright GPS knowledge. I think ours is the only geocaching event was seen from the moon.

So what would volunteers do there? What should we offer the public? I had the dubious task of turning bar-napkin ideas into reality. Some beer-goggled ideas are fun to talk about, but often-times lead to nothing. I had no such luxury with this event.

With 50+ GPS experts there, it made sense to play that up. We’d have a science fair. Cooler, we’d have a geocaching science fair! OK, let’s go back to a science fair. I sent around a slew of emails before I found a nice guy in the warehouse that would allow me to check out 45 of our newest handheld GPS devices, the eTrex series. I even had the privilege of going down to the warehouse and personally picking them up. It’s a small thing, but it’s still neat to walk the hallowed grounds of the place where we ship out so many devices. Have the creative team make a “Learn to Geocache” sign, stick it on a tent and BOOM! We have our first station.

But wait…we don’t have any tents. Of course not…why would we? That took some more searching and friend-making before I tracked down two pop-up tents, and used one of my own.

Eye candy…we needed eye candy. Typically eye candy and geocaching aren't mentioned in the same sentence - I'd like to change that. Talking with a guy in our ID (Industrial Design) department, he volunteered to create a few nice stands to display our newest devices on. They came out looking like silver polished surfboards…stunning. I sent another round of emails to acquire the necessary devices, dropped them off in ID and returned a few days later with the final product.

There was also another table for a different ID volunteer, who really went all out. ID is where our devices begin. They start by talking about what’s required in a device (size constraints, capabilities, style, etc), then produce a series of sketches, later move them to fancy computer programs, where they’re discussed and final form factor is honed in on. On to rough 3D models, then painted models, plastic models, etc, until they get closer and closer to the real thing, electronic guts included. Or at least that’s my understanding of it. For me, and I imagine any child or scout, it’s a pretty cool process.

Our ID volunteer brought to the event a giant wall-board with initial sketches of a device, as well as a computer monitor that displayed multi-dimensional views. Kids could approach and look at those or the portable sandbox full of the various early phases of a device mentioned above. We created a fitting “Meet the Experts” sign for him and the rest of the engineering ilk, only partly playing up to their ego's. 

How to make the event more interactive? They’d be looking at new devices, learning about their history and walking around searching for geocaches, but what else? What could we give them to take home as a memory of the event? If the idea was to generate interest in geocaching as a fun recreational outdoor activity that families can do together, we should provide them with the means to do so. We put in an order for 250 geocaching kits, which would allow participants to take home literature (also ordered for the event) and a geocaching kit, along with some swag (common ‘caching term, referring to all the free stuff you get at the events) that Jake and I bought. “Build-a-Cache” was the title, similar to the famous way to create custom teddy bears.

With volunteers accounted for and presumably able to keep busy during the event, I still had a few items to check off of the list:

I emailed no less than 7 people before figuring out how to rent a portable toilet. I’d be curious to see how much you think it is to rent one of those overnight…

I wanted music and photography for the event, so I spoke with some friends and co-workers to help out. I hired a DJ, or rather a ZJ, as my buddy Zach agreed to emcee the event. Negotiations were brutal.

I bought plastic Easter eggs to fill with the pathtags, so kids would have another sort-of ‘cache to look for while at the event.

IT helped me secure laptops for the ‘cachers, and air cards for Internet. Also batteries for the 45 devices.

I worked with Facilities to secure tables and power; we did a walk-through to determine where we’d rope off the event, flow parking to, setup the tables, music, banners, booths and beverages.

Did you know that you need a city permit to place a giant banner on Garmin grounds? I didn’t. Then I did. The more I know…

I deftly negotiated with our food services company to have them provide coffee, water bottles and juice boxes for participants.

A stroke of genius hit us (Jake and I), and we found the right people to provide us access to the two-story tall inflatable eTrex, Garmin’s original GPS device. (Funny story on this one…Jake and I naturally struggled to inflate it, and left it in the hands of the engineers. When the number of volunteers working on it surpassed six, I sullied up and made a lame “How many engineers” joke. I’m sure some found it funny, though no one would admit in company of the group.)

I worked with a colleague to create and place the on-site caches. We utilized the walking track and workout stations around it, three giant treasure chests (to play up the whole “pirate searching for treasure” thing…for the kids), a bird house, a cardboard cutout of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, bags of candy, more stickers and a lamp post that had to be physically moved to find a cache. The course was a bit over a mile long, and it was gratifying to see the product support agents and engineers escorting families and scouts around the premises with GPS devices in hand, searching for their first caches.

(Kid's Stickers created for the event)

I’m sure there was more, you’ve probably stopped reading by now, so I’ll stop. Yeah…I too thought I was going to be brief.

Quick summary of the event

The weather was gorgeous – the first non-rainy day in a week. Volunteers were on-time, orange and ready to work. The four charities involved had fun, and their workers all hunted for ‘caches. The Boy Scouts had an okay presence, and we’re already talking about how they can be more involved next year. Same for the Girl Scouts, who actually had an adjacent geocaching event that same day - go figure. There could have been more people in attendance, but those who showed up had a good time. Kids were smiling as they walked the premises searching for their treasure. We over-rewarded all who came with swag. We even had a guy from South Dakota come just for the event, proving how dedicated a geocacher he is.

Jake and I had fun, and it was a huge stress relief that the event went off as we had planned, and without an international incident. We celebrated with pizza and beers at…you guessed it…Jerry’s. Great bookend to a fun event. One that next year – and we’ve been told by the Rec/Outdoor brass that there will be a next year – will be even bigger. Maybe even bigger than a two story tall GPS device. But I doubt it. 

To learn more:

Garmin Blog: Awesome 'Caching Fun

Wanna Learn to Cache? Take a look at these two videos. You may recognize the talent:

KC Comic Con

Superhero's and Villians and Adults Living in their Parent's Basement, oh my...

(Who you gonna call? Better not be my girlfriend)

My affinity for science fiction is not what I would classify as secret, nor a fad I picked up as an adult as a ploy to get girls. Like a recurring thumb injury caused by excessive and intense gaming, it unexpectedly flares up for a period of time, at which point I aggressively fill my brain with a Thanksgiving-sized portion of intergalactic/robotic/zombie/vampire/dinosaur media. When my cup full of these beautiful and totally not uncool creatures and droids runneth over, I pump the brakes and move on to other, normal activities such as exercise, talking to humans and, you know, my job. 

This can't really be my fault - it's in my (dino) DNA. It began in my youth, watching episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sea Quest and The X-Files with my dad, gobbling up Michael Crichton novels when forced to read over summers (later, I continued this habit, without stipulation from my parents) and watching many movies that I didn't necessarily understand, but contained outer-space explosions, the constant "shiny thing" that kept me interested. 

Sci-Fi flared up my senior year in college, when Spike TV ran a STNG marathon and my three roommates and I realized we all watched the show as children, with our dad's. For almost a month straight, the only non-STNG program we watched were KU basketball games. We debated The Prime Directive and slung insults at each other in Klingon. OK, we just yelled KAPLAA!!! at each other - a lot. We were awesome. 

And so it came to be that when a neighbor asked me if I liked sci-fi, I replied, "Go Onnnnnnn". The good news was that there was a KC Comic Con this weekend. The bad news was that we found out about it on Saturday night, and it was half over. As such, we arrived Sunday morning with no idea what to expect at all. I was wearing the "I'm Number One" Riker shirt that Eric bought for me. I had two others options, both gifts, I feel inclined to clarify. My Geordi LaForge Night Vision artistic shirt was amazingly in the wash, having been on my shoulders for a birthday the previous week (why not?). The "Estar Guars"  Star Wars rip-off is hilarious, yet subtly racist, so I decided not to wear it to the convention. Nobody wants to be the nerd who gets beat up at Comic Con.

The show was...how to put this...awesome. Being the sci-fi geek in my group of friends in no way prepared me for what I saw. I felt like George Clooney as I entered the building. Luckily for me, the second geekiest member of my group of friends is Melody, who apart from owning more Harry Potter merchandise than Daniel Radcliffe himself, wanting to dress up as Data from STNG for Halloween, and forcing me to read one of her double-digit fantasy novels, is my girlfriend. You know how when you start dating someone and there are certain parts of your personality that are slower to come to the forefront? You won't hide it, but you also won't advertise it. Well, ours is the same...we enable each other's nerdiness. 

Weaving our way through the minivans of parents dropping off their adult children in costume, we were too overwhelmed to comment. This would be a perfect situation for mind reading, as my brain's task of processing what my eyes were seeing, then relaying filtered thoughts through my mouth proved challenging. There was too much going on, but I will attempt to summarize.  

Darth Maul from the Star Wars movies was outside the front door, smoking a cigarette. I don't remember that part of the movie. A pretty good Luke Skywalker look-alike snuck past us in the fast line to buy tickets. He purchased just one, even though there was a Yoda stuffed animal hanging on his back, similar to the movie. They both had light sabers. There was a bald Storm Trooper. How did I know that? See below...

(Either Darth Vader ripped this Trooper's helmet off. Or he needed some ventilation.)

I tried to get Melody to take a picture with a swaying and (probably not faking it) drunk Captain Jack Sparrow, but she refused, citing "I don't want to tough that guy...he's gross". Though I tried to press the point, I absolutely agreed with her. 

We saw six characters from the Street Fighter video game. Wolverine was there, or maybe it was just a guy with a stinky denim jacket and mutton chops - hard to tell. There were two atypical Supermen: One was a seven foot plus African American who didn't need fake muscles, and the other was a guy dressed as Clark Kent - glasses, suit, fedora, etc. - with the Superman costume underneath his normal clothes. Soak that up...he came to a comic convention and wore a costume under a business suit. Talk about commitment. 

Some pictoral highlights...

This happened...

So did this...

And this too...

This almost happened, if "this" is Melody buying a Big Bang Theory shirt. Sadly, there no women's versions of the design she liked. Go figure : (

We may also have seen the tallest man in the world. His sandals were a size yacht:

And this too, but it's not for kids...

But here's the kicker...

Billy Dee Williams himself was charging, and this is not a typo, $40 for an autograph. Mr. Dee Williams also reserves the right to personalize the autographs, presumably to prevent the perpetuation of the highly profitable black market memorabilia scandal, the focal point at which Mr. Dee Williams obviously is. So of course I forked over the forty dollars my camera to Mr. Dee Williams Melody and had him sign my lucky Colt 45 poster her take a surreptitious picture of me looking not at all interested in meeting him. I think it turned out well.

Had this been Geordi LaForge signing autographs, I would have shown him the respect he deserves and at least turned to face him while sneaking a picture. Oh who am I kidding, I would have totally paid to meet him. And herein lies the one disappointment in the convention. The main focus was not on STNG or the Star Trek series overall (though there were selling some killer Star Trek Uniform Robes), or other well-known Sci-Fi movies and shows. There were far more pale costumed characters that we didn't recognize than ones we did. Plenty of warlocks, witches, samurai's, hero's and villians, all jumping to real life from comic books as opposed from the big and little screen. Artists were there signing prints and drawing as we walked by, poorly hiding our wide-eyed stares. The work looked great, but that's a bit out of our stratosphere. We'll take a hand phaser or a transporter over a mint edition of Spidey Meets the President any day of the week (yes, this exists).  

So if we receive a post-event survey - and we should because we gave out our non-fake email addresses - we'll both recommend more STNG, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter...the Sci-Fi we both love. Until next year though, we have plenty of Fringe, Walking Dead and oh what the heck, STNG to catch up on. 

To see the rest of the pictures: SpaceRobotDinosaurDracula Pictures