I have no meaningful message for today’s blog post (wait, I never do) but a hodge podge of items.

So far #sub25fish5k is going well. Yesterday I got home around 5:30, plopped my 35 lb kiddo in the jogging stroller and headed out for 2 miles in the 80* weather. It went surprisingly well. I haven’t ran with the jogging stroller for a REALLY long time. I usually leave that to Mike. But Miles had a blast and I got an extra good quickie workout.

Today I went to my first spin class in months. I ride my bike a lot in the trainer in the winter and now outdoors so I’m not stranger to spinnin’ these legs around but I have been craving a good ole spin class sesh. Luckily my awesome new work place has an onsite gym where they offer FREE spin class multiple times per week. The spots usually fill up pretty quick but I snagged a seat in the 5:15 class today. It was a great workout. Like I said, my butt is definitely in biking shape but my rides don’t usually involve jumps and all that jazz. Let’s just say I was DRIPPING by the end.

Speaking of SPINNING – if you are local to CLE and want to spin for a great cause scoot on over to Shibani’s blog and check out the details for this years Happy Hour ride to support Second Hand Mutts on June 8th. I went last year and it was a lot of fun and great way to meet lots of cool people from the CLE area… oh, and SUPPORT THE PUPS!

A few weeks ago we had some family photos done to celebrate Miles turning 2. We’ve used the same photographer, On a Limb, for his 6 month and 1 year photos as well. Melinda rocks. I mean seriously, how awesome are these…

There are so many good ones. I can’t wait to plaster the house and my desk with his cute face.

Soooo what’s up with you these days?!

So what’s next on the running front you may ask? The CLE half is over. If you check out my ‘RUN’ tab you may not see many upcoming races scheduled.

And actually I’m not ever officially registered for anything except the upcoming Fish Festival 5K. This is my local 5K that I try to never miss. Last year (and every year) it was hot as all get out with it’s 9 am start. I’m sure this year will be no different. I’ll be toeing the start line with everyone else though!

Here’s the deal… I WANT TO GO SUB-25 AT THE FISH FESTIVAL 5K!

I’m not quite sure if I can or not. Ummm that is 8:04 pace. That hurts just to type.

Last year at this race I ran a 27:37 and shortly after that ran a 26:25.

On one hand, the first 3 miles of my St. Malachi 5-miler was 25:46 and that actually had a few inclines and a packed crowd. BUT on the other hand it was about 40 degrees. I definitely run better in the cooler temps. Another advantage is that I am about 10 lbs lighter now than I was last year. Another disadvantage is that my training hasn’t be super lately and I’ve done zero speed work at all.

Regardless, my plan is to get in some runs over the next 3 weeks at a decent clip and also just some casual jogs as well. I don’t think I’m going to make a 3 week training schedule to try to get to this goal but just keep it in mind when I head out to sweat. I also am planning to get in some more biking miles and maybe a few spin classes and just see what happens on June 16th! And if I miss this goal I promise I’m not going to get all angry about it since I just basically said I want this goal but don’t plan to do anything super serious to achieve it.

So that my friends is what’s next. After that we’ll see. I have my eye on the Vermilion Duathlon again as well but nothing is set in stone!

What’s your next big goal/event/etc?

Ahhhhhhh, a 4 day weekend. That’s what’s up.

Things have just seemed crazy the past month with starting the new job, Stef visiting and then being in San Fran. Already this weekend I’ve spent a few hours with Mike at Cedar Point, had a nice long keno-filled lunch, cruised on the boat and did some shopping.

And the weekend is only halfway over!

Next up on the agenda (if Miles will ever fall asleep) is catch up on the DVR. Tomorrow is planting the garden, a family and friends cookout and a plan-free Monday! This fantastic weather is so clutch too! I will be extra freckly come Tuesday.

WELCOME TO SUMMER!!!

Hello readers! I’ve spent the week in lovely San Francisco getting my marketing automation nerd on… here are my 12 takeaways from the week that I want to share with any other marketing peeps out there!

1.      Don’t do social. Be social.

Both in your marketing practices and plans as well as in your own career. The sessions as the summit were fantastic but I learned the most from my fellow attendees. You can’t beat talking to your comrades who spend their days in the trenches of Marketo just like you. Talk, exchange cards, connect on LinkedIn! Let’s help make each other rock stars.

2.      Embrace the power of being a marketing automation nerd.

I love marketing automation. Being at the Marketo Summit is being amongst my people. I can sit around and chat with strangers about CRM integration, lead nurturing tips, how to create snippets and sharing war stories about SLAs. I feel like we are all sharing an inside joke about the power we have. Sales people may just think that smart campaigns and tracking and lead scoring just happen like magic… I love being one of the lucky ones who create that magic.

3.      Make friends with sales and IT.

Let’s face it, to have a successful Marketo implementation you may need help from both sales and IT. Bring a box of donuts to work and get to know your partners for success!

4.      Marketing should be viewed as a revenue center, not a cost center.

I really enjoyed Marketo’s Jon Miller and his presentation on Marketo on Marketing. It was fascinating to see how Marketo uses their own tool to drive a fantastic ROI and what their best practices are. It’s always a good thing to see someone drinking their own champagne.

5.      Always search the community for your answer.

The Marketo community has a wealth of knowledge. Whether you are a power user or brand new to the product you can usually find the answer to your question or a best practice for something you want to try. Also, share your brain power with other users in the community!

6.      Marketo treats their customers like friends.

I’m not just saying this to spread sunshine and rainbows about Marketo. They are good peeps for real. I feel so welcome by everyone on their staff and they care about what I do and what I have to say. They feel like a true partner, not someone who is just making money off of me. They truly seem to care about their customer’s continued success. This is a lesson that all Marketo customers should take into their own orgs.

7.      Make your voice heard.

Over the past year Marketo customers have not been shy about what they want to see in the product. Marketo has a fantastic user community where users can post and vote on ideas. It’s no coincidence that the next release is called Customer Love. Marketo listens to their customers and deliver what they are asking for. Can I hear a big YAY for the ability to rename everything? Thank you Marketo!

8.      iPads for all.

I enjoy the Partner Pavilion setup. If I don’t win an iPad that’s just non-sense. iPads for all!

In all seriousness, there were some quality vendors at the conference. I met some good people who really do offer fantastic services for Marketo users.

9.      Glen plays a mean ukulele.

If you missed Glen’s UX session I feel sorry for you. A sing-a-long with Glen’s ukulele prowess left me with a big ole smile on my face. Marketing should be fun!

10.  Don’t underestimate the power of a woman marketer.

The keynote session featuring Sue Bostrom, former CMO of Cisco was inspiring. What a powerful woman who revved me up to keep pushing the envelope and work for positive change in my marketing efforts. I loved her candidness about how she handed in her resignation three times in a year. Pushing the boundaries can be hard, but the rewards will be worth it.

“Have a vision of what impact you want to have and don’t give up along the way!”- Sue Bostrom

11.  Push yourself.

Seeing all the Revvie winners filled me with excitement and jealousy. I want to be a Revvie winner! They are all awesome and I vow to be one next year!

12.  Marketo rocks…

… and so do I. … and so does everyone else that was at the summit. Marketo is not only good people but a fantastic product. The product is truly changing the way that we work as marketers. We are doing more and doing it better.

Whew, I should probably wait another day to write this recap but since I’m too busy working and traveling tomorrow today with have to do.

We (Stef and I) kicked off race weekend by volunteering at the Hy-5 in Westlake. We worked the registration check in table and then got recruited at the last minute to call out times at the 2 mile mark. It was a fun morning. Mike ran the race and pushed Miles. Heather and Jay were there as well as Chelsea, Raymond and lots of other local friends!

From there we headed over to the IX Center to pick up our race packets. Seriously, $8 to park? C’mon CLE marathon. Subsidize that shit.

We didn’t hang around the expo long and high tailed it back to Vermilion. We did a little afternoon uptown shopping, a boat ride and lots of carb loading.

We started race day by waking up at 4:26 am to ensure we would get downtown before any of the 6 am road closings. We had enough time to use the bathrooms a few times and check our gear and get to the start line with about 15 minutes to spare… perfect.

We started the race shortly after 7 am and I was sweating by approximately 7:10 am. Seriously, it was warm. And HUMID. The sun was already beating down and I knew we were in for a scorcher. Seriously, Stef is a trooper but I knew after a few miles the humidity was doing work on her. You see, in Utah they don’t have this horrible thing called humidity. Stef kept trucking but after trying to pump her up I realized I was probably doing more harm than good and probably stressing her out. I didn’t want to leave my awesome friend who came all the way from Utah, but I also didn’t want to stress her out for another 8 miles. We parted ways around mile 5.5.

I kicked it up for a few miles because my legs felt so great. However around mile 9 the heat really started to work on me. And there is a HORRENDOUS hill at the end of mile 9 that just killed me. I didn’t see a single person around me running up it, everyone was walking it. It was so steep and long. A total defeat.

By the top of the hill we had just a 5K to go but it was the longest 5K of my life. I walked at least .25 of each remaining mile just to keep my heart rate in check. I was so hot and started seeing runners dropping every little bit and receiving medical attention.

Finally the last mile I just tried to give it all I had. Luckily most of the last .5 is downhill but I was still beat. I finally crossed the finish line and was so relieved momentarily. I grabbed some chocolate milk and sat and waited for Stef. I know she is a stud but I was so worried the humidity would have been too much. Luckily just a few minutes after I finished my chocolate milk she was there! I was so happy to see her! What a trooper.

Then we hobbled to gear check and walked a mile (longest mile ever) back to our car.

I felt so great during the race and even after except for the damn heat. Eh, what can you do?

Mile 1 – 10:57

Mile 2 – 10:13

Mile 3 – 10:11

Mile 4 – 10:21

Mile 5 – 12:26 – slight walk break

Mile 6 – 15:56 – bathroom stop

Mile 7 – 9:41

Mile 8 – 10:09

Mile 9 – 10:49

Mile 10 – 11:42 – walk breaks start

Mile 11 – 11:49 – and continue

Mile 12 – 11:59 – and continue

Mile 13 – 10:39

last .37 – 8:46 pace

Official time: 2:29:56

What’s next? More on that later. (And don’t get your hopes up for any exciting news.)