For the past several months, each runner has trained alone, through good weather and bad. And each has suffered the aches and pains—and sometimes injuries—that accompany the rigorous training. But when EMC’s 20 Boston Marathon entrants (18 employees, one partner, and one customer) gather at the starting line on April 20, they’ll no longer be alone—they’ll be part of EMC’s first truly global marathon team, Team EMC.Prior to Marathon Monday, Team EMC will be welcomed by many Massachusetts-based employees at a welcome event hosted by the Office of Global Workforce Inclusion.
And on race day when the runners step off at 10:30 a.m., those EMC employees who can will cheer their colleagues on from Hopkinton’s town green, wearing their brightest and most visible EMC gear.
After all, these EMC runners will have traveled from around the globe, from as far away as Hong Kong, Tokyo, Peru, and London. Some of them go to bed at night before their colleagues wake up for their morning run. And each has developed a training routine that not only helps them stay on top of their work and travel schedules, but also keeps healthy that most important lifeline—the family.
Diverse training regimens
Tokyo-based Nobu Nakajima of RSA has engineered a training regimen that helps him clock the necessary miles by running the 25 kilometers between home and work wearing a backpack. “I call it my commute run,” he says.
Jorge Gilchrist of Santiago, Chile, manages to squeeze in training and family time on weekends, when his two daughters run with him.
Some have been running for as long as they can remember, like Paul Stewart, of Washington, D.C., who as a teen ran through the woods with his father. Others, like Canadian Michael Vogel, who began running at age 43, are late-bloomers. At 55 on his sixth try, Michael finally earned a spot on the EMC team.
The diverse team is made up of people who also have all sorts of interests beyond running, from Hong Kong-based Nicole Ho’s technical climbing and South African Servaas Venter’s kiteboarding to Jeff Hayward’s triathalons and Paul Stewart’s skydiving.
For many, running for a charity is nothing new. Servaas has raised funds for tuberculosis and the vision-impaired while Tara Froelingsdorf of Brocade Communications in San Jose, California, has been a long-time fundraiser and volunteer for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Carlos Narro Vigo races to raise funds to benefit children with cleft lip and Down Syndrome.
And at least one has recognized the possibilities for fundraising while coming up with his $2,500 marathon entry fee. Paul and his colleagues plan to raise funds for a hospital in the Washington, D.C., area that will provide support similar to that offered by the Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center, beneficiary of the Boston Marathon, after learning of the needs of a coworker’s disabled son.
And at least one has recognized the possibilities for fundraising while coming up with his $2,500 marathon entry fee. Paul and his colleagues plan to raise funds for a hospital in the Washington, D.C., area that will provide support similar to that offered by the Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center, beneficiary of the Boston Marathon, after learning of the needs of a coworker’s disabled son.
And they have more than a few stories to tell about their path to the marathon. Trish Wren, whose job keeps her on the move, has found herself running along the boardwalk in Los Angeles, the strand at Manhattan Beach, a golf course in Phoenix, and at Forest Park in Portland, Oregon.
“The worst was a 13-mile training run in central Oregon. It was five degrees, and six miles were uphill,” says Trish.
Ken Lannon might have that one beat—his worst run was a 16-mile prep race in Derry, New Hampshire, in minus-five-degree temperatures.
In Los Angeles for a business trip, Walt Tierney remembers his most enjoyable run—along Venice Beach with a temperature of 80 degrees in January.
“The worst was a 13-mile training run in central Oregon. It was five degrees, and six miles were uphill,” says Trish.
Ken Lannon might have that one beat—his worst run was a 16-mile prep race in Derry, New Hampshire, in minus-five-degree temperatures.
In Los Angeles for a business trip, Walt Tierney remembers his most enjoyable run—along Venice Beach with a temperature of 80 degrees in January.
Best of luck to the runners
Hopefully, April 20th will dawn cool enough to keep the runners comfortable, but whatever the temperature, these EMCers will be running the same miles and the same hills on the same day. And they’ll be doing it with the support of 40,000 colleagues worldwide. There’s no better example of One Global EMC—in the world.
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