The Schrader Fit Club

A few months ago, at our Semi-Annual Global Strategy Meeting in New Orleans, we kicked off the NEW Schrader Fit Club. It started out as a passing comment, but turned into a new tradition that I personally hope continues for many years to come. It proved to be a great team builder, a wonderful way to see whichever city the meeting is held in and promoted health, wellness and good banter.

It all started when 2 or 3 meeting attendees would wake up in the mornings before the strategy meetings and go for a nice run. I did it one time in Munich with my coworker W (that is not code, that is actually his name) and I loved how it set me straight for the whole day. One day, many months later, I mentioned we should do a Schrader Run Club and communicate it to others so we could have a whole group. W thought it was a great idea. After speaking to a few others trying to get their support, they said they might like to walk 2 miles, but running 2 miles…. never. So we called it the Schrader Fit Club instead.

We started with a logo. We wanted it to be something that would get people excited, that would legitimize the effort and that would eventually look good on a t-shirt if someday we wanted to go that route. Plus, I literally look for any opportunity to draw on my tablet. We wanted to include the city and the date each time so everyone can collect the cities they are active in. 

Once we had a logo, we took the brave step of sharing the idea via a group email, the scariest way EVER to introduce a new idea and hope for involvement. The last thing I wanted to do was pressure people into feeling like now they had to either get up with us at 6:00am every morning or risk looking like they weren’t a team player. I could already feel the resentment building but clicked “send” anyway.

Much to my surprise, it got a very good response! Many people signed up to walk or run 2 miles each morning of the meeting. Some said they would do one day, some planned on doing all three. The jokes already started, picking on each other over who would be in the slow group. TPMS puns were initiated “preventing over-inflation, one step at a time”.

Tuesday morning, sure enough, we had 11 people show up in the lobby. It doesn’t seem like much out of a group of 40, but it was 9 more than I expected. I was extremely happy with the turn out. Rob, our NA National Sales Manager, was familiar with a nice route so he led the walkers and W led the runners (well sort of). W and I high-fived for our successful turn out and we were off. 

New Orleans is a bit unique, in that no matter what day it is, you are dodging Mardi Gras beads on the street. If you hit a street before the cleaners get to it, you will find yourself running a bit faster through it to avoid the smells, let alone the mysterious puddles that formed over a rainless night. Still, it was a beautiful way to see the city. We ran down Bourbon Street until we hit the Mississippi River, ran along the river before cutting back through the city, back to our hotel. I, of course, won the race. No one else knew we were racing, but a win is a win and I was able to hold that over their heads for the remainder of the day. 

Day 2, they started to drop. We had 7 people show up in the lobby. The runners did their stretches, the walkers got their coffee and we were off again. Right towards the end I started sprinting again, but the Irishmen knew better this time and passed right by me with ease. We stopped sprinting shortly after I was passed. I blamed it on me laughing too hard, but in all honestly that was as fast as I could go and they made their point. Besides, I am pretty competitive and I would rather forfeit than lose… or just cheat. Right as we were about to cross the street and slow down, less than a block from our hotel, I cut the corner, started sprinting to the hotel and won. There was no luck for the Irish. Jacki, 2 – everybody else, 0.

Day 3, probably due to all the winning, I forgot to set my alarm and woke up already 5 minutes past our meeting time. I called W begging them not to leave. They had already left and he said if I left now I could catch up to the walkers. I figured I would rather walk than be teased for not showing up at all so I ran out of the hotel to catch up to them. I walked what remained of the 2 miles and it was lovely. I didn’t win this race, but luckily no one did. I am told that the 2 runners that day didn’t race, so I suppose that makes me undefeated. 

My only regret is that we never got a group picture of our first Schrader Fit Club. I certainly do not regret the early mornings. I had quality time with members of the team I don’t get to see very often and I shared a common hobby with them outside of work. I am looking forward to our next meeting in July where we can run in Ireland and see a new city. It will be incredible to beat them on their homeland. I hope The Schrader Fit Club will turn into a new tradition for the team and even more, I hope everyone else got as much out of it as I did.

Cheers to the new members of the Schrader Fit Club!

May 24, 2018