Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

I tell you, one of the many things living 34 years has taught me is this –
TIME FLIES!

 
It’s been a full year since I got home from my second World Race.
 
That’s CRAZY!
 
But believe it or not, I feel like I’m finally just now getting a chance to settle in. Most of you folks know that my post-race life has been equally as intense as life on the race. 
 

I got engaged, packed up ALL Ericka’s stuff into a U-Haul, moved to Michigan in the middle of winter, moved Ericka into her new home, moved myself in with the Hindes, started working full-time for the World Race, walked through pre-marital counseling, flew to Arkansas for wedding showers, then drove over to Alabama for more wedding showers, rented a car, packed it full of wedding shower gifts and drove it back to Michigan, found a place for me and Ericka to live, packed up all Ericka’s stuff again, moved it to the new house, went back down south and got married, HONEYMOON, back to Michigan to set up the house, continued trying to find the right role for me within the World Race, went down to Georgia for World Race training camp, came back home for a couple months, bought a car, continued working to set up the house, bought health insurance, mom came to visit, in-laws came to visit, back down to Georgia for training camp, back home for a few days, went to Buffalo for the Daniels’ wedding, back home for a couple weeks, then down to Arkansas unexpectedly for my grandfather’s passing and funeral, back home for 3 weeks, down to Arkansas again for the Razorback/Auburn game, back home for 2 days, back down to Georgia for World Race training camp, and FINALLY BACK HOME!

WHEW!

 
If you made it through that MONSTROSITY of a list then you can see it’s been INSANE since I stepped off the jet in Little Rock back on November 21st of 2008.

 

It’s also been insane to see how the World Race has continued to grow over the last year as well. The coolest part about this job is being a part of something on the ground level, and then watching the thing take off. 

 

When I finished my first World Race in 2007, the program had just completed it’s second year in existence. That year we had probably about 100 folks that did the trip, or started their trip. The next year, 2008, that number grew slightly to around 115. This year however, we have seen tremendous growth – we sent out 220 racers in 2009. We expect that number to double next year.
 
 
 
I’m proud to say my team, the January 2008 World Race team that finished up exactly a year ago has played a huge part in this growth. We’ve had several of them come on staff, as well as many go back out onto the field in leadership roles.
I’ll bring you their stories tomorrow.