Simply My Best: We did it!

SIMPLY MY BEST

UPDATE: This was the website where we figured out what SMB would be. Then we created a new site for SMB 2014. Then, in March, 2014, we launched a REAL website for the event and our nonprofit called Pilot Butte Summit Seekers. Check it out...

WWW.PILOTBUTTESUMMITSEEKERS.ORG

Kind of cool to watch it change from something we literally made up as we went along to something that was built on the efforts of so many and actually planned to some degree. It will be fun to watch the new website take shape over the coming months.

Btw, if you haven't heard, SMB 2014 is May 10th!

Note: Many functions on this old site have been removed or disabled, but the blog remains as a record of the SMB journey.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

We did it!

I just went through all the Event Forms and, even being a bit conservative, it is clear we raised all off the money that has been donated (close to $3,300). Here are some of the highlights:

Total times to the top (all hikers) = 615
Total Miles Hiked =1457
Total Participants = 372
Total Personal bests = 176

I think I had predicted a higher number of personal bests when I did my calculations two weeks before SMB. The hot weather may have affected that or maybe I was just wrong. What saved the day was:

a lot more participants than I expected.
an unbelievable total times to the top.
250+ miles more than what was needed to capture Starbucks $300 Mega-Sponsor pledge.

We started the day with about 250 RSVP's and ended the day with 372 participants. I know that some of the RSVP's didn't show up. That means we did a great job of getting people into the event. The estimates I've heard from several people are that at least half of the people hiking the Butte were wearing SMB buttons. Some put the figure as high as two-thirds or more. That's really good when you consider the fact that a lot of people ended up registering as they were ending their hikes.

Dogs were a big help as well. There were a lot more dogs in SMB than we expected and, because dogs raised double, their contribution was big.

Now that I know we raised all of the money, I'm going to move on to the ballots. But we will get back to this topic later. I want to review the explanations of why people said they did their personal best on Saturday. I saw a few and there are some good stories to be found there. Also, it looks like we had a really broad range of ages participating along with quite a mixture of different types of hikers (some who this was their first time hiking the Butte all the way up to many who hike it almost every day). Those numbers should be interesting as well.

Happy trails, Bill

THE INSIDE SCOOP

This is not your typical event. It is informal and casual by nature. We hope to never be out there aggressively spreading the word because we think the event will always have a certain magic if we let it grow at a natural pace. Plus, as we have already found, Pilot Butte itself is the perfect place to spread the word. Not only are there a lot of hikers who already know each other, we have really been surprised by how many regular hikers there are that we don't know. It is no accident that the parking area gets over 15,000 cars per month. People love Pilot Butte.

If you haven't yet noticed, this event is really set up to take what you already do and then make that an outstanding experience one day out of the year. It is almost more a celebration than anything else. So you just show up and hike, something you'd probably do anyway. There is no entry fee, no official start time, or anything like that. There have to be a few formalities, but we are doing our best to make them as painless and fun as possible. We are also focusing a lot on the social aspect of the event. We want the normal encouragement that people always experience on the Butte to become infectious and reach new heights. In other words, while this is a day in which it could be easier than most to hike a personal best on the Butte, the overall focus is still on having fun. Then, as a side benefit, we end up solving one of the problems that people are most concerned about on the Butte. So there is actually a kind of reward in place if you decide to go for a personal best that day. But you don't even need to do that. Hiking your normal distance, or even less, still helps us raise the funds we need. Your being there is what is most important.

As much as possible, SMB is what you need it to be. We purposely left the term "personal best" a little vague and we are glad we did. Some people have already indicated that they go by a different standard than what we had in mind. That's great and we are trying very hard to work them into the event.

In designing this event, we are kind of taking our lead from Pilot Butte's Century Club, now a 13 year old tradition on the Butte. It demonstrates the power that a simple idea can have. This event will be a big success if we can keep it simple for both the hikers and the organizers. So we invite you to come out and "hike your butt off on the Butte." You can RSVP by clicking here.