A Man Amongst Us
Alex Newbold is the newest member on EMC’s staff
Every Mother Counts Staff
November 6, 2013
Alex Newbold is the newest member on EMC’s staff. He’s been Team-EMC’s co-captain and coach all three years we’ve been running the ING-NYC marathon. We’re delighted he’s come on board as our Director of Business Development & Finance. We grabbed a few minutes with Alex last week as he was making final preparations for the marathon and chatted about his new job which starts this week. Then, we hopped on the phone again after the marathon to get a race recap.
EMC: Alex, a year ago we did a blog about why you run and in it you almost projected you’d be working for EMC full time. You said you wished you could make working with team-EMC your full-time dream job.
Alex: I was talking about my coaching role, but it was a foreshadowing of what’s to come. It all started when we were running Hood to Coast. I was unhappy with my job and beginning to think about doing other things. I told one of the drivers in our van, Bob, that I wanted to work for a startup and take what I had done in my previous career, which was sales, marketing and business development and add it to the finance skills I’d been working with more recently. I told him my ideal job would be one that allowed me to wear two hats. I wasn’t specific about what industry I wanted to work in. What were more important to me were the culture and the people. While I was describing this dream job, Christy was listening in on this conversation.
And here we are. It’s crazy. It’s everything I was looking for, but I never thought I’d go to work for a non-profit. That was always something I did on the side, sort of a passion project. I love the organization, love what EMC does and love the people, but I never thought it would ultimately turn into a job. For me, finding your dream job was a something that happened to other people. Having a job was just something you did to get paid. To be able to do what I love and make a living out of it is kind of perfect.
I mean, if I won the lottery, I’d still have to do something to keep myself busy and essentially what I’m doing now is probably what I’d choose to do. I always thought of myself as an ambassador for the runners and a representative of EMC, but I did that on a personal level. From day one when I start the job, I’ll hit the ground running with conference calls, emails and a full calendar. I feel like I’ve already started, but it doesn’t feel like work.
How do you feel about being the only guy?
I embrace it. By default, I’m the hot guy in the office, which is a title I’ve never had before. I’m a mama’s boy at heart. I’ve always been able to relate better with women than guys. That’s why I’ve always had best friends who were women. I have my guy crew of course, but I prefer being friends with women.
What’s coaching been like for you this year. You’ve got a big team — 50 runners.
The first year we had ten runners and last year we had almost forty. Last year was more overwhelming than this year. It’s like being a first year teacher. I had to get my curriculum all set the first year. I figured out the legwork and scaled it up the second year. This year was just about executing, updating and refreshing the training plan. It’s been great because we’ve developed a lot of good relationships with runners who are running it again this year.
We talked to Alex again on Monday for a post-marathon recap:
It was the hardest run of my life, not so much physically, but it was mentally challenging. It started off well then quickly deteriorated after I reached the midpoint of the race. I’m still trying to figure out what happened. Essentially, I had a plan and I perfectly executed the plan up until mile 13. I was running with two other EMC guys until I had to stop and make a nature call. From that point on, I wasn’t able to finish in the time I initially set out to do. My attitude for a short period totally changed and physically I was tired. It was totally surprising and completely humbling, but I made the most of it. I played mind games for the rest of the race to get through it.
What kind of mind games?
Had I not been running for EMC and been the captain, I probably would have said, “it’s not my year” and I might have walked off the course. Mile 15 was really tough crossing the Queensboro Bridge. So I set little short goals like, I’m going to run to the next watering station and get a cup of water and drink it while I walk. Then I’m going to run to the next watering station and do the same thing. Then I remembered I was running for more than myself, that I was running for the organization and all the mothers we help I got over it. If I hadn’t been running for the team, I probably would have just called it a day and given up.
I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Some training days I can run 12 miles and have a terrible run and the next week come out and run 20 and feel like I could run another 20. This time, I had an off day, but it just happened to fall on race day. I tried to make it as fun as possible for the remainder of the race. I told myself, just enjoy the crowd and feed off that energy. Getting shout-outs for Every Mother Counts along the way always energizes me. It’s so cool that people do that. It just made me hungrier for the next running event because this one was humbling. I’m ready to do better.
