On September 25, an exclusive group of 100 industry leaders, executives and visionaries convened on Riverside Farm, home of Joe De Sena of Spartan Racing, to brainstorm and develop a plan to make healthy the new normal. We're called The 431 Project.
The theme of the event was “What would I tell my 15 year-old self?”
What would you say?
For 2.5 days I listened to people give their version of a Ted Talk, all with the end result of helping kids be healthy. There were topics ranging from emotional issues, virtual world races, raw food diets, sit-stand desks in classrooms and how to raise little superhumans (eating boogers isn't so bad after all?)
I met and/or collaborated with some of my personal heros and people I follow like:
Ian Adamson, World Champion Adventure Racer
Karen Smyers, Hall of Fame Triathlete
Ben Greenfield, 2013 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year and 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness
I brainstormed and met with:
- Joe De Sena, Founder of Spartan Racing
- Tony the Fridge who runs with a fridge on his back to raise money and awareness for cancer
- Winter Vinecki – 15 y/o aerial skier who is the youngest person to run a marathon on all seven continents and raises awareness of prostate cancer in honor of her dad.
- Ken Lubin – founder of Executive Athletes and all around Bad Ass.
Dr. Fred Bischi – 85 y/o Clinical Nutritionist who has been experimenting with a raw foods diet for 50 years.
Haley Reardon – 17 y/o folk singer
Topics of the talks included:
- Kids inspiring kids
- Virtual world races for schools and companies (the technology and what they are doing are SOOOOO cool!)
- Marathons for kids
- Urban gardening to feed kids healthy meals in schools
- Computer hackathons involving activity (CEO of Hackfit does run/walk interviews at 6:30am. People beg to be part of their company after this!)
- Raising little superhumans (my favorite talk and I don't even have kids!)
- Sit-stand desks in schools (my second favorite talk! Kids need to stand and not be forced to sit all day. It's not natural.)
I'll be linking to some of my favorite talks via social media in the next few weeks. I'm psyched to be part of the inaugural event and can't wait to move forward with some of the dynamic people I met to put plans in place. If you're interested in being part of next year's event give me a shout!
So what would I tell my 15 year-old self?
Stop spending so much energy on boys.
If you don't like the sport, go ahead and be grounded for the season. Do what you like instead, even if you can only dance in your bedroom. Someday you will be an Ironman, Ultrarunner, Ultra mountain biker and hoopdancer.
Don't be a brat to your Mom. One day you'll like hanging out with her.
So tell me, what would you tell your 15 year-old self?
