OPC’s Maria Brief Steps Up to SMPS 100-Mile Challenge
After nearly six months of working out of her house under OPC’s Safer at Home guidance, OPC Marketing Manager Maria Brief started to notice a lack of daily physical activity. With gyms closed, she searched for another way to get exercising again.
As a member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), she got an email from the Orange County chapter in late August about a 100-mile exercise challenge. SMPS is an important network for the architectural, engineering, construction consulting industry like OPC, focused on the unique considerations of marketing technical and professional services to sophisticated government and institutional clients.
Maria was daunted at first by the challenge – walk or run 100 miles all in the month of September! But she broke it down and realized that it is only 3.3 miles per day. Not one to shy away from a challenge or a due date, she dusted off her walking shoes, found a pair of mismatched white socks, purchased a Fitbit, and started her month-long 100-mile journey.
Maria dreaded it at first, but now, she looks forward to putting on her headphones and walking off the day’s stresses at her neighborhood park, at the beach, or Long Beach’s sprawling El Dorado Nature Center.
A total of 29 SMPS Orange County chapter members are participating in the challenge. As of mid-month, Maria is right on track to meet the 100-mile goal. She has logged nearly 50 miles and is currently ranked in 11th place in the chapter.
“I enjoy seeing the rankings among some of the A/E/C marketing professionals that I have met and have collaborated with,” says Maria. She added that she has “started feeling more energetic, and I need to hit the pavement tonight to try and inch my way up in the rankings. It will all be downhill from here.”
