Run2Heal at Context Summit
What An Experience!
February 1 & 2, 2018, representing Run2Heal and Help For Children [HFC], I had the privilege of leading two, early morning functional fitness workouts at Context Summit, on the beach, in front of Miami's popular Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.
My goal for being there was to provide awareness for Run2Heal, my 3000-mile run across the USA to prevent and treat child abuse, within the financial community.
Along with Renee Skolaski, Executive Director of HFC, I spent the mornings putting energetic attendees through functional fitness workouts, sharing my story, my recent television experiences, and how all of that has culminated into this huge undertaking. In the afternoons I worked an HFC/RUN2HEAL booth on the summit floor talking to various professionals from the investment community.
Everyone treated me with the utmost of respect and kindness. It was amazing.
Highlights of the Context Summit Experience
The Mission
I always love when people feel comfortable sharing their abuse stories with me. It makes me stronger. It validates for me that I am doing the right thing by attempting to lift the veil of taboo off of this subject and get people talking. I had three individuals share their stories with me at this summit and I made some contacts that I expect will become friends and brothers and sisters in abuse recovery.
The Workouts
I had no idea how fit, nor how interested the audience would be in some of the training methods I was going to put out there. I made them get sandy. I made them do movements that were new to them. I made them work, sometimes performing as many as 50 burpees. Yet, participation was amazing, and each day that I ended with 50 burpees, every, single attendee, on the beach, did them with me. I was beaming with pride and accomplishment.
The People
Make no mistake, this summit was attended by some very financially secure individuals and sometimes that can be intimidating for a dude like me who tries to focus more on people and experiences and less on money. Although I clearly stood out in t-shirts, tattoos, and Converse, everyone at this summit treated me like gold - from the attendees to those running the event - and I never felt uncomfortable nor out of place.
Huge Thanks & Appreciation
Thank you, Mark Salameh, CEO, Context Summits, and Renee Skolaski, Executive Director, Help For Children, for taking a chance on me and allowing this tattooed crazy man into your world and in front of your professional community. I hope I represented you, RUN2HEAL, and HFC in a manner that makes you proud.