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“Unless it’s crazy, ambitious, and delusional it’s not worth our time.” –Anonymous

 

 

What could possibly be crazier than cramming 12 co-workers into TWO vans, for 24 hours, on ZERO sleep? How about cramming 12 sweaty co-workers into TWO vans, for 24 hours, on ZERO sleep– all while running 200 miles in between?!

 

I know what you’re thinking…

“That’s insanity! It’s pure MADNESS! It can’t be real!”

 

First of all, yes, it is real. And second of all you’re 100% right–it actually is just as insane as it sounds. But you know what? (And here’s the craziest part of all)…IT’S FUN! And that’s pretty much EF Education First (“EF” for short) in a nutshell…

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Crazy, ambitious, & FUN.

 

 

It’s easy to be all three of these things when you consider what EF does. The Swedish-born company is the world leader in international education– and it specializes in educational travel, language training, academic degree programs and cultural exchange. And seriously, what’s more fun and exciting than TRAVEL?

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(Judging by my reaction to the Duomo in Florence… not much )

 

Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of EF, don’t worry– you’re going to be seeing a WHOLE lot more of us (and our signature color,“disruptive pink”) around the Boston area soon enough–the new Cambridge office (which will serve as the North American headquarters) is set to open in May of 2014. It’s located right along North Point Park on the Charles River where Boston, Cambridge, and Charlestown come to meet. Just check out the stunning design below…

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You see, EF has a knack for taking things to the next level–whether we’re building a striking new office (do you SEE that glass waterfall!), killing it in sales, or planning an extravagant summer party…maintaining a level of normalcy is one of the only things that EF doesn’t do well.  So, when a slew of fabulous and fit EF staff showed an interest in running, organizing a simple 5K just wouldn’t cut it for this young, hip, n’ happening (not to mention quite competitive) company. Instead, the EF Running Club was created! And it wasn’t long before EF staff started putting together running teams and competing with each other to see who could log the most miles during the work week. (In addition to bragging rights, the team that racked up the most mileage won some pretty sweet new running digs, compliments of EF;)).

 

It should come as no surprise, then, that EF jumped at the opportunity to participate in Reach the Beach– a New Balance sponsored relay race that takes running to a whole new level of extreme.

 

The RTB Relay is a 200-mile relay race that starts in Princeton, MA at the Mount Wachusett Ski Area and finishes at Horseneck Beach State Reservation in Westport, MA. The relay consists of 12 person teams that rotate through 36 transition areas as they cover the full 200 miles. This means that each relay team member runs three legs of varying lengths and difficulty. For the super competitive runners out there, there’s also an Ultra Distance division which has a team limit of six members. The runners in this “elite” group rotate in a set order once the race begins and are obligated to follow this rotation until the final runner Reaches the Beach. For instance, I ran a total of 19.33 miles split into three legs– 6.71 miles, 5.97 miles, and 6.65 miles respectively.

 

Last year a few brave souls from the EF Boston office ran the relay race and absolutely LOVED it– in fact, some staff loved it so much that they even signed up for the New Hampshire relay a few months later. So this year, because our office is full of  crazy, athletic, and all-around awesome individuals (and a pretty cool CEO who also happens to be quite the athlete himself), EF decided to sponsor seven teams of our own and run the race as a company…

 

 

 

A WHOPPING 103 OF US.

 

And so the EF staff banded together, split into seven teams (by office floor), came up with silly team names, and decorated 13 vans (each floor had two vans, but the Elite team only had one since they’d be running all 36 legs of the race themselves–those crazies!). My team, the ninth floor, came up with the team name “Amigos Rapidos.” We decked out our van with sombreros, maracas, blow-up burros and cacti and hit the road (literally).  Thanks to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, all of the EF runners were able to document our journey for the full 200 miles. I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from the race below

 

Running Reach the Beach reminded me how much I love to race. I guess years of competitive running (and the perfectionist-induced stress that accompanied it) made me a little wary to get back into racing once I hit my 20′s…but something about this race resonated differently. Sure, I’ll always have that competitive edge to me, and I’ll sure as heck be shooting for that next PR, but I also realized that running isn’t always just about getting to the finish–it’s about believing in yourself, believing in others, and having some fun making friends while you’re at it. Running is a community and I’m realizing it’s an awesome one to be a part of again . In fact…I’ve already signed up for two more races just this summer! (The City Sports Back in the Day 10k 80′s themed run & The Falmouth Road Race ).

 

What do you think? Maybe I can rack up a few more of these babies (and find a few new running buddies too!) before summer ends…

#RunningSummer

 

 

“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” — John Bingham

 

He certainly says it best.

Keep running people .

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Healthfully Yours,

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Ashley Michelle