Monday Musing 15: Beautiful Chaos
When it’s good, it’s good, when it’s bad it’s bad and when it’s crazy, you better hold on because chaos is a wild beast.
And that is what we are in right now! A period of magnificent chaos. A head down, nose to the grindstone type of busy that feels hardly manageable, but GOOD. Like running down a technical trail, just barely under control. It’s fun and wonderful and exhilarating, but when it’s over, you wonder how you made it out alive.
Next week I am running 100 miles for the first time since 2019, AND Method Seven Ultra Trail is launching our first-ever product: The Huntress and The Closer. Boom! Beautiful chaos.
When I told James, the CEO at Method Seven, that I wanted to be a part of this company in more ways than just an athlete, I really didn’t know what I had in mind. What I did know is that I loved the product. It was the only pair of sunglasses I’d ever actually been able to wear without getting a headache. I also loved that I could be myself with the CEO and KK, who recruited me, and was able to flex my creative side within the company without bounds or judgments.
After going through some financial hardship at the end of a pandemic and a difficult ex situation, I was also asking myself what my career might look like beyond running. I was wondering if my career as an athlete was over, and Method Seven seemed like the perfect place to grow. I was excited and inspired by the company, the product, and the people.
The creation of the Huntress and the Closer was my first stroke of inspired action at Method Seven. We had an amazing team of Beta testers, and we were starting to draw attention with our unconventional marketing and rad ambassador team. But without a product, I felt we were at a stalemate.
While we didn’t have a product, we did have the best lens I had ever worn, a statement that was echoed by our Beta Team. And we had incredible frames. Not the trail running-specific frames we had conceptualized, but incredible, high-performance titanium frames made for pilots, who are the techiest group of people I’ve ever known (in a good way!).
These frames were being tested with our Trail26 lens without the intention of being put to market. But the Trail26 lens and pilot frame combo are legit. The feedback was too good to ignore, and we needed to get something out there, STAT.
So I pitched that we modify the Aviatrix and the Patriots to suit better trail running with runner temple tips, the Trail26 lens, and rebrand with new colors. And the Huntress and the Closer was born: a limited edition experience eyewear, AKA very specialized sunglasses, to be advertised as gear, not an accessory.
We nailed it. Wednesday, two days before I toe the line in Mexico, Method Seven Ultra Trail will finally have something to sell. And something we are very proud to sell at that!
Sometime during the development of the Huntress and the Closer, I realized that I wasn’t done competing. My heart ached for competition, and I missed the daily grind of training. I wanted to go all in and see what I could do in a way I had been too afraid to do in the past. I realized I had unfinished business in the sport of ultra trail running.
So I trained while trying to string together what I could. Both running and my work as a Brand Manager suffered. It wasn’t until I recruited KK back onto our team that this product launch was possible.
So this combination of chaos, while possibly ill-advised, seems appropriate. My return to the 100-mile distance but with a new resolve and a product that I pitched and developed finally going to market. Both seemed far-fetched in December, but with the help of the team at Method Seven and my coaches and friends, we are governing this chaos and molding it into what we want it to be.
The Huntress and the Closer is the real deal. I can’t wait to hear what you think. See you at the finish line.
