Flora has had the privilege of sponsoring the Lake Padden Trail Half Marathon for the last 4 years…stepping into the role of “title sponsor” for the 2014 and 2015 races. Some of you may know that Flora actively sponsors a team of 16 elite athletes at Oil the Machine, but they also actively support their employee’s athletic pursuits. The Lake Padden Trail Half Marathon is just one of many races that Flora employees have competed in this year.
Besides being a great run, the Lake Padden Trail Half Marathon supports a great local charity—Rebound of Whatcom County. Rebound’s vision is that children and families in Whatcom County would thrive and succeed and be active recipients and contributors in a supportive community. Rebound provides programs, relationships, and resources that create positive, sustained change. This is a mission we can all get behind!
But back to the race…Amanda and Tricia from the US Flora Marketing Department have been running together since they trained for their first Lake Padden Trail Half Marathon 4 years ago. A little history…4 years ago, Amanda thought she was going to have a heart attack after running a quarter of a mile (no joke) and so far this year she and Tricia have ran a 30k, a trail 25k, and now the Lake Padden Trail Half. These busy mamas train early Saturday mornings on trails throughout the Pacific Northwest, rain or shine, through floods (yes, really), and have had some of their best marketing brainstorming sessions (now you know where our creative ads come from) out on the trails. Shout out to Roberto, Flora’s Production Manager, and Noe, one of our warehouse staff, who also raced at the Lake Padden Trail Half…rumor has it they might be training for the Chuckanut 50k this spring.
It’s refreshing to work for a company that truly cares about the health and fitness of its employees. In fact, why not challenge some other local businesses in our community to support and sponsor its own workforce in local races? It’s amazing what our bodies are capable of, especially when surrounded by support and encouragement from our own employer and coworkers!
Happy trails.