I Died...but then I took a U-Turn

The neon leaves distract you from your impending doom.
The distracted me at least and I blacked out again only to wake up to a body bag of Nike. Crap.





Oh yeah so I went to Portland this weekend...but first maybe I should back up a month or so.
NWM!
Nike Women's Marathon was last month in October but I worked on the back end a few weeks leading up to race day. Nike Sportswear put it's stamp on the amazing event promoting the "cool look of running" with their activation, Run This Town. 8 girls were chosen to be in the Runway Crew (and that was the point I wanted to quit and enter the contest...lucky, lucky girls) based on their submitted photos of their Nike style. These girls got hooked up with some of the hottest product across Sportswear, Training, and Running categories before their ultra-VIP experience even began.

BEFORE this though, I got a true feel for the life of an agency. They actually don't sprinkle a little swoosh dust before big events and watch it all come to life. Go figure.
I had the super fun task of managing all the product going into this activation. Basically a dream come true for me, I almost made snow angels in all the boxes of beautiful Holiday product that was brought in for a runway show and for the Runway Crew's experience.
A couple sleepless weeks later I found myself back in the city I fell in love with at the same event that triggered this unreal Nike ride for me exactly one year ago. This time around though I stepped up my game from gait analysis and boxed myself into a room at The Handlery Hotel. I literally slept with boxes of product in the bed with me...the one night I slept that is. I've never been so absorbed in a project and so "on" at such a crazyfrusturatingexciting level. The night before the girl's arrived at their 3 story palace in The Mission District, I finished up loose ends on their Welcome Packages which translated into a 33 hour day and a constant flow of coffee. Death.
Probably the sweetest death anyone ever died though as I got to work alongside the amazing stylist (part of the Runway Crew's entourage...photog, bloggers, and chef close behind) on the official photoshoot.
The rest of the week unfolded into the big runway show that was a crazy beautiful mess that was "Run The Runway".

Once work was over I took a quick breath, ate a full meal, and woke up to run my very first half marathon. I woke up like WHY did I sign up for this...but all 13 miles turned out to be an incredible experience I'm so glad I didn't miss (and there were many moments through the week I thought I'd never even survive to see race day). I ran with my first four miles with my Nike soul mate Tatiana and took on the monsterous hills with my cute new Lunarglides. So many moments I was tempted to stop and walk and my knees actually told me many times to do just that but the amount of women around me pushing through the same pains didn't allow me to actually entertain those thoughts. Aside from the sheer "girl power" (is it still cool to say that?), the inspiring momentos on race shirts and sideline posters kept me going. I had my own reason for running (aside from the Tiffany's box waiting for me at the finish) that ran along with me. My grandpa died in 2003 from Lukemia so he was integrated onto my race day shirt with one of his favorite verses along with the blue ribbon tied to my wrist which is my grandma's favorite color. With the struggles he endured, my 13.1 was absolutely nothing.

Post race I fell in love with 3 firefighters and proceeded to down 5 plates of VIP tent breakfast...probably had no business being there but what're ya gonna do :)

Since the marathon life has slowed a bit, Montalban events have been few and far in between but I did make my debut to a few hundred Filipino grandmas and grandpas waiting in line for the Pacquiao fight...still waiting for my check on that guest appearance...

I spent this past weekend in Portland visiting my favorite Nike family and hopefully opening some huge doors to a very promising position. Portland is exactly what everyone pumps it up to be...incredibly cold and dreary. Aside from that though, it's gorgeous. Gorgeous, inviting, and without 1 am LA traffic nonsense. I have a feeling of peace there...a calm that goes hand in hand with a deep hunger and motivation to work harder on the palace that is the Nike Campus. So many put the environment down and warn me to really think twice before I sign up for that "type of lifestyle". "That type of life style", I've concluded, is in less words meaningful work. Meaningful work in a city that is actually human and not self-seeking or pretentious or angry or "in the studio" <----all = LA if you weren't following...
I love the neon trees, I love the funky antique shops, and I love that I can compost my banana peel at any given public establishment.

Nike World Headquarters

Take me away P-Town! Maybe not forever, but I'd love to come hang for a bit :)