Running Trails

After following Ingrid Wilson of Off The Grid running trails last weekend, I've got the bug!  Enough with the concrete...let me at the dirt!

You know me, I don't wade into anything.  Once I get an idea in my head (Sally says that has become more rare), I grab onto it with gusto.  That attitude may have something with how I learned to swim...told to leap into the deep end of a pool and scramble my way up and to the side.  But I digress...

I've become a bit bored of running the streets around our home recently.  We've got hills and trees so there's variety and there's hardly a straight road...we're not in a grid format.  But after the years of running, I need something to spice it up.  Running trails has grabbed my attention. The challenge now is to find some off-road trails I can run in my neighbourhood.  I'm up for the challenge!

And looking forward...I'm a planner...I see trail running races a big part of 2018.  I have my eye set on a big one in Algonquin Park north of Toronto.  That one will kill two birds:  A trail run and a vacation in Algonquin Park, something Sally has always wanted to do.  Shhh...don't tell her!

If you live in and around the Greater Toronto Area and have a special off-road trail you like to run, please drop me a line:  chris@thatrunninguy.com

Here's just one photo of Ingrid, off the grid.  This looks like just soo much fun!

Thanks Ingrid!  See you on the trails...

Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy

Building Your Marketing Technology Stack

The marketing technology stack of the modern CMO looks something like this:

The key functionality is data interpretation.  With the disparate sources, it challenging to visualize the data across the enterprise especially when there are some many sources.  

Another way to look at the building blocks of the marketing technology stack:

For more on building your marketing technology stack, check out this LinkedIn Course by David Booth:  Building Your Marketing Technology Stack.

Chris M Morales

chris.morales@bell.net

@ChrisMoralesTO

647 393 3855

The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and are not associated with any other group or organization

Running to the Sun

"Runners wake up before the sun".  I like that. It explains why I get up by 4:30 am most mornings...including weekends...to go running.  It's second nature now, I've been doing it so long.  I like the coolness of the early morning, especially in the hot summer months.  In the winter, I love being the first human footprint in freshly fallen snow.  When it's raining...glory!  I get a shower to go with the sweating that I'm going to do anyway.  Yes, real runners wake up before the sun.

The not-so-fun part of running early morning is that I run on an empty stomach.  Actually that's not technically true:  I do have a cup of coffee with Almond Milk first so there is some nutrition, right? OK, really on an empty stomach.  I've tried every form of eating before an early morning run and none have worked for me:  Oatmeal, cereal, gels, toast.  All feel like a solid, undigested lump in my stomach and the gels just made me feel sick.  

The first few minutes of my early morning runs I'm asleep.  I'm awake but it feels like I'm sleeping.  My legs barely turn over, I'm heaving and cursing, "WTF am I doing this hour of the morning?"  The feelings generally pass within a couple of minutes and I pick up my pace by about 1 km.  

One special run recently was a stair drill I did at 5:30 am with the Full Moon almost directly overhead.  Crazy light:  Cool blue hue washed over everything and illuminated the stairs clearly.  Yes the people living in the condo beside this particular park saw a crazy runner running up and down stairs before sunrise...correct that, crazy would be sitting inside their warm condo watching a runner do 'stair repeats' calling him crazy.  Yeah, that's it!

One of the downsides of getting up so early is that bedtime comes early:   9:30 pm, 10 pm latest most nights.  It puts a damper on watching the late night talk shows but I catch up with my favourites on Facebook the next morning.

So...are you an early morning runner?

Until next time...
ThatRunninGuy

Rookie Mistake

Rookie mistake! Yes, even with the years of experience on Social Media, it is possible to crash out. That happened today when I posted iGN!TE as a Current/New Job position on my LinkedIn profile. As it should, my LinkedIn profile lit up! Lots of congratulatory messages on the 'new job'.

I should have known better!

Let me clear up one thing first: No, I do not have a new job since the gig at Budds' ended a few weeks ago. As my LinkedIn Headline states, I am currently available for a full-time or contract position in digital and social media marketing. Yes, I'm actively looking!

What is iGN!TE? As us Marketing types are prone to do when we are 'between assignments, it's the face of my Small Business Freelance/Marketing Consulting. In the past I've referred to it as Morales Marketing Services and Outsourced Marketing. This time my creativity was alive and I came up with iGN!TE and set up a page on my blog, iGN!TE and the page on LinkedIn. My intention was to use LinkedIn to promote digital and social media marketing services. Because of the way I posted it, it triggered the 'New Job' Announcement. Rookie!

So now you know!

Thanks for the somewhat premature best wishes. I really appreciate them and will make sure to post the new gig properly when appropriate.

Chris M Morales

chris.morales@bell.net

@ChrisMoralesTO

647 393 3855

The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and are not associated with any other group or organization