Obstacle Running to NYC

It would take me less than 7 weeks to run from Kalamazoo to New York City - 47 days of straight 15 mile runs.  That is totally doable.  If I had all day to go 15 miles, I could do that.  A lot of people could. That would be 15 x 7 = 105 miles per week.

 

No turns

No turns, this run is a dart, I climb over all obstacles.  This is not a road run, it’s an obstacle run.  I’ll have to curve around lake though, not gonna swim lake Erie…

 

Why do this?  Besides that it would make me stronger, be a story to tell for the rest of my life, and fun?

If I run from Kalamazoo to NYC, I’ll get some good press about it.  I can call every mayor and newspaper from here to New York telling them my story about Obstacle Running and the Young Minds Foundation and why I’m running, that I’ll be running through their town on x day and would like to do some service and give a talk to inspire the youth of their community as well as raise money for my dream of founding this school.  I need the best most powerful people to know me and my goals.  Once I’ve built these bridges, couldn’t only the sky be the limit??

 

Sponsorship

I can alert various sports clothing and shoe companies (Gazelle Sports, Jalas, Nike etc.) of my goal and ask for samples of their products in order to blog about them on my journey.  At the end, I’ll designate the best of class in each category of my equipment which the sponsors can brag about.  Foods, vitamins, sleeping bag, cell phone, backpack, ipod, headlight – anything that’s essential!!  Check out my heavy terrain obstacle running shoes!

I only need 2 legs and 2 lists:

1. Mayors

2. Companies

Check!

 

Popularity: 18% [?]

PsychoBeast Marketing

My partner, Josh, proposed this name to me for a joint venture branding company we might start.  This is the email I wisked off as I thought through the name.

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I hate the name. Scratch it up burn it and never mention it again.

Just kiddin. I don’t like it though. I just don’t. I don’t like psycho or beast and we’d have to be constantly explaining why that is our name. Maybe that is the point, but I imagine calling people up and saying hi this is RJ DeLong, PsychoBeast Marketing, and on the one hand it kind of gets me laughing, but on the other it just doesn’t sound… for real. I do like the idea it gives though. Some kind of animal charging around knocking things over and causing a ruckus.

I picture a warthog running through a house and smashing stuff up with his tusks. Bull in a china shop. Negative connotation although I guess they would think we are going to be out making a scene and working at a really frantic pace to get the word out, which is good I like that.

On the other hand “Proliferate” doesn’t do that at all. It is just some lame word with no real image. It’s only good because of the definition I found involves multiplying. If I were to call up a secretary with PsychoBeast Marketing I imagine that would pique her interest and make us seem like a couple of fun guys, as opposed to Proliferate which would just seem like any other business name. The more I talk about it and think about it, the more I really like it.

Could we really name our company that though?  Don’t you think people wouldn’t take us seriously?

What would the beast be like?

Ok I’m kind of liking this now. Seriously.

I imagine a TV commercial with our psychobeast, AFLAC has a duck, we have a warthog. He’s kind of like our mascot.  And he has a little sort of blanketish thing that covers him as clothing like they put over a horse you know when they get it all dressed up and ready for the knight to parade around so his legs are open but it ties around his neck and drapes over him and on it, it says PsychoBeast and he’s all superheroish with his cape. And its some dinner party at like a ritzy place with guys who look like the guys from Mad Men (which are old school marketers / advertisers by the way) and they are all around dressed in suits and ties sipping whiskey out of fancy glasses and their women are all dolled up in evening gowns and one guy is talking to a bunch of other old guys talking about his recent client acquisition from the country club – yes Jim and I have played golf together for years… blah blah blah and in charges PsychoBeast busting through the door with his cape and tears around the room and jumps up on the couch and everyone stops and looks at him. It’s all silent people are frozen holding their glasses suspended in mid motion. They don’t know what to do, and Psychobeast stands there and squares off to the old guy and stares at him. He just stands there and stares him down for a second, and then you see a close up of one of the women who from the viewers perspective is in between but in the background ever so slowly so as not to set off the beast again turn her head from the warthog to the old man looking at him in disbelief with her mouth open to check his reaction.

Cut to black.

Display Text: Is your old-school advertiser giving you new ideas?

End of commercial one.

Popularity: 20% [?]