Posts Tagged ‘Mid Winter Classic’

I was honored when Erik Bouche, the race director of the Mid Winter 10 Mile Classic contacted Visible Logic to redesign their logo. 2010 was the 29th running of the event, and Erik thought the current logo had been used for most of those twenty eight years. So, I had a lot of tradition to keep in mind.

The old logo (printed on an orange shirt)

Erik gave us a good write up of what type of ideas he wanted to explore. He also shared some history around the event, the graphics, and some of the iconic images and sayings that people associated with the running race.

At their request, I showed an assortment of logo design ideas. Showing moose, winter themes and their slogan of “Giddy Up!” In the end , they chose to keep the moose, but in it’s new iteration. They liked the Dr. Seuss-like qualities of the design which created a fun and iconic image for the race.

The t-shirts are produced in one-color, so a black and white version was designed. But a series of color versions was also developed for web applications and posters.

My race

The Mid Winter Classic was the first race I did after moving to Portland. I ran it in 2006 after arriving in Maine in late 2005. The timing of the event, (a long event in the dead of winter) always makes it a challenge, but in ’06 I was coming off a very productive year of training.

Flash forward to 2010: pregnancy and motherhood has changed things. My priorities are different; I have less free time; and I have some lingering injuries that make training more challenging. So I’m more in the camp of “I’m really happy to be able to do this!” I set out with the goal of maintaining 10 minutes miles. I’m happy to report that I completed the run in 1:35 which put my pace at 9:35/mile.

If you were wondering who the slow lady with bib #1 was, that was me. It was not the defending champ.

What does road racing have to do with design?

More than you think. Many of the same thoughts go through your head when you’re deciding to do a race as it does with something like launching a web site. For example, about 3 months before the race date, I had great intentions of lots of long runs. But as the holidays rushed in, those plans got swept aside. But I refocused, realigned myself and got prepared for the start line. I could have easily decided to just forgo the race. But having completed it, I am full of energy and excitement to set a new goal. This race became a stepping stone to more training and more racing.

I encourage you to try this. Maybe your business card, web site or facebook page is not perfect, but get going with it. Put it out there as is, and you’ll get energized to do even more.