2016 Providence Marathon

I don’t think words can express how grateful and humbled we are after this weekend’s events.  For those that have been following along – this race has been a challenge. Every year it is a challenge as it is a logistical nightmare running 3000 people through a downtown City using 3 courses and 4 municipalities.  But this year was especially difficult for a number of reasons – but the overwhelming support and kind words have brought us to near tears.

We started this company as we wanted to “do good.”  It seems trite but after our previous experiences, we knew things

could be done differently.  I have been a runner for a LONG time and our participants are like family to me, a kinship.  Karen comes from a hospitality background and it is just in her nature to treat people well.  When runners come to a race, we wanted to treat them like guests in our home. Walt Disney had personified this initially with the idea that park go-ers are “guests.”  This is truly how we felt.

But we had some legal battles in this race, some hurdles we had to overcome.  These battles gave us some serious concerns in our ability to even put on the race financially.  We did have to cut some corners in our budget that we normally would not want to cut. It was incredibly razor thin in order to survive.  We analyzed EVERY line item, hunted out every bargain and did away with a lot of waste. We asked our vendors to sharpen their pencils and they were incredibly supportive. We worked smarter, not harder.  

But we made it through the race.  And the feed back has been so positive.  We were not perfect, but we are listening and we can continue to improve.  We LOVE to hear the stories, the happy faces, the cheering supporers, the amazing sense of positivity that is at every finish line.  This race has humbled us and made us so grateful to every runner, volunteer, vendor, Rhode Crew, police officer, security, fire and the THOUSANDS of individuals it takes to put on this race.

We thank you – from the bottom of our hearts.