My body is slowly getting adjusted to the time zone change here and allowed me to grab and extra hour and a half today versus yesterday’s 4am wake up call so I’ll have to keep today’s report short.
I spent yesterday morning getting our booth prepped for the grand opening that takes place today at 9am. No major issues to report yesterday during set up so I feel pretty good going in to the festivities that lie ahead.

I finished up at 1:30pm and quickly ran back to the hotel to help with set up for a pre show sales meeting with our 30 field representatives. Dan McKee, Tom Weth and David Schlissel each spoke about new product offerings and marketing strategies within each of the brands that they manage. My favorite new product has to be our line of heart rate monitors that Tom has been working on that will blow the doors off the competition. They look awesome, are loaded with a ton of features and are priced great!

The meeting was capped off by a visit from Dean Karnazes who will be running 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 different states starting September 17th in Missouri. For more information on the Endurance 50, you can visit the website at www.endurance50.com. Dean was kind enough to stick around and personally sign one of his books for each of the sales reps in attendance. Dean will also be at our booth this morning for a few hours to sign books for anyone at the show.

Once the show wrapped up, I was invited to an intimate dinner with Conrad Anker and a few of my Timex co-workers. Conrad is one of the most respected alpinists ever to grace the snowy caps of many of the world’s highest peaks. In 1999, Anker was part of an expedition on Mt Everest when he discovered the body of George Mallory whose story has been put in to print and also produced into a movie. Aside from being well known across the globe, Conrad is a spokesperson for Timex Expedition line and is a very humble and great person.

That’s all for now, day one of the show is only a few ticks away.

Oh…still no burrito…

I arrived yesterday in Salt Lake City, UT for the 25th year for the Summer Outdoor Retailer show where thousands of outdoor industry companies are here to showcase their new products to eager retailers from around the country. This is the main stage for Timex’s line of outdoor and sports watches including Expedition and the Ironman line.

As the Manager of Events and Sponsorships, I am responsible for overseeing every operation that goes in to making our show happen from the overall look and setup of the booth to staff shirts. Luckily we have an outside vendor that handled all of our shipping and actual booth set up for this show so my main task is to make sure everything is here and in one piece and be ready to handle any issues that may arise.

Yesterday when I arrived, I went down to the show and met Jamie with Access who is handling our booth set up and interrupted him while he was gluing back together one of our video/watch display towers that had been damaged in shipping. I said to Jamie, “If that’s the worst thing that we have to deal with for the entire show, then I’ll take it”.

If you have ever worked a trade show or any type of off site event, you will know that no matter how prepared you are, something is always bound to go wrong so it comes down to a matter of how good you are at making it work.

So far, Salt Lake seems to be a pretty quiet city and shows very little signs that they hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. The town sits at around 4,000 feet and the views of the mountains are breathtaking. Yesterday I strolled by Temple Square in the heart of downtown, which is home to the Tabernacle Choir, the Salt Lake Temple and lush and lavish gardens. If you are ever in Salt Lake you need to take a tour, it’s beautiful!

Down to the front desk I go where 18 boxes are waiting for me to transport to the convention center to put my finishing touches on the booth and get ready for the first day of the show tomorrow.

(PS, no burrito yet but I’m scoping out the scene!)

Since my first day here at Timex on June 12th, I have eaten lunch in our cafeteria everyday. Thankfully our chef can roll a pretty mean burrito.

Yesterday Gary, David, Mike and I decided to fly the coop and try out Senior Pancho’s in Southbury, CT. My first impression was I felt like I had been here a thousand times before. I’ve been to so many Mexican restaurants in my life that they are all starting to look alike. They all have the rounded archways, pastel painted walls, murals of Mexican landscapes and their national flag hanging from the ceiling.

Most Mexican restaurants also share the same pride in their chips and salsa that somehow always make their way to the table just as you are sitting down. Their salsa was great. Just the right amount of cilantro and not too hot! Chips were warm, crispy and salty…just awesome.

Question: Why don’t restaurants serve sweetened iced tea? You can find the sweetened version in any grocery store or food mart but not in restaurants? I’ve found that using a sugar substitute rather than real sugar will give you that store bought sweetened tea flavor. Anyway…

Then it arrived…it took up half the plate (pictured right; and that’s only half of it). The Sante Fe burrito made my lunch partner’s enchiladas look like hot dogs in a hallway. It is a bright red tomato tortilla filled with grilled veggies, chicken, black beans, rice, lettuce and cheese then topped with a red sauce and a dollop of sour cream.

Senior Pancho’s Sante Fe Burrito definitely made my “Top Ten Ultimate Burrito” list. If you’re ever in the area and if you need someone to show you the way, I would be delighted.

Stay tuned for the “List”

Thanks for reading….

Hello and Welcome to Keith’s Korner.

First of all, I want to welcome you all to our team blog. It was created to highlight the most dedicated and hardest working group of triathletes in the world – the Timex Multisport Team. It’s a place for team members to share their knowledge, experiences, lives and goals with you.

If you are interested in reading about what goes on behind the scenes from a team manager’s viewpoint, this is the place to be.

I was the Timex Multisport Team Manager from June 2004 until June of 2006 when I took a job at the Timex headquarters as the Manager of Event Marketing and Sponsorships, where I’m lucky enough to still work closely with the team.

Besides writing about the life of a road manager – gone corporate, I’ll be sharing some of my self-taught knowledge on grilling and the art of creating the Ultimate Burrito.

Thanks for reading,

Keith