What does the 50 person turnout at this year’s BCMC 5k run/walk say about our 50+ year old industry? Are we more fit, or just more conscious of the value of fitness? Or, are we just being social, enjoying the company of friends, and following the BCMC agenda?
Going back to our first industry trade shows yields some perspective. Then we were captives in Chicago’s urban “jungle,” fighting for taxis to reach the mammoth McCormick Place Expo Center. Our most vigorous exercise was fighting for taxis, or struggling out of bed after late night, booze-soaked, cigarette-stained, steak dinners. Not one of us thought of visiting an exercise facility, and we wouldn’t have found one, anyway, at the stately old Conrad Hilton where we stayed.
Fast forward to 2016’s BCMC collegial setting, where we easily Uber-ed to venues, dined in the open air, and (many of us) enjoyed ambling along campus pathways and river bluffs. A few of us stalwarts also arrived early for a 50+ mile bike ride. Others availed themselves of the well-equipped fitness centers at hotels that prohibited smoking.
That one out of four BCMC attendees participated in either the 5k run or the golf outing suggests a new fitness consciousness in our industry. Participants included SBCA leadership, new members, and industry veterans. Though the tenor of BCMC was upbeat, the uncertainty of the future is ever present, when “only the strong survive.” These 5k runs stand as a benchmark on how well we’re prepared, both physically and mentally.