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Music + Technology + Random Nonsense from the Music Industry by Ethan Kaplan, VP Product, Live Nation

4

Running the Half

For the last year I’ve been running a lot, about 20 miles a week on average. I run because it makes me feel good, reduces stress, gets me outside and keeps me in shape. But I also run because I can, and being that I was never into sports as a kid, its the first time I’m actually OK at an outdoor activity which is also a competitive sport.

This weekend I ran my first half-marathon, and actually my first race period. I’ve never done a 5k or 10k before, I just decided to skip those and go straight to the 13.1 miles.

Monday I ran the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon. The race started at 7AM, but we had to arrive by 6AM. The night before I couldn’t sleep at all. Partly out of nerves, and partly because Amy wasn’t with me (as she’s 8 months pregnant right now). I knew I could run the distance, as two weeks ago I did a full “dress rehearsal” through Burbank and Glendale, that included much more hills than this run had. As well, Saturday I did four miles of hills in Griffith Park to prep for the hills on the run (I had heard they were brutal. They weren’t).

I arrived at the event at 6AM and waited around, people watching. There are an interesting set of people who run these things it seems. Marathon veterans, kids from local cross-country teams, etc.

The actual event start was anti-climactic. We lined up in the chute and at 7AM the horn sounded and everyone was off. The adrenaline and the pack mentality made me go way faster than my usual pace, so I finished the first three miles in about 26 minutes. To conserve energy I pulled back a but to an 8.5 minute mile and stayed there for most of the race.

A few things came to mind during the race:

  • The hills weren’t bad at all. Very gentle and very little grade.
  • Goo packets (those flavored glucose things) are horrific for my stomach. They effected my time
  • Take water when its given
  • You get tunnel vision at some points where you completely loose track of where you are, who you’re running near, etc. It was nice. I zoned out completely from mile 8 to 10.

All in all, the race was great. I came in at 2:04, which was longer than I wanted. I would have had under two hours had the Goo not given me a stomach ache. I felt great at the end, was able to pick up my pace for the final mile and nothing felt better than crossing that finish line. I can understand how this becomes addictive. I like running on weekends as a solitary experience, but the race felt even better because of the people cheering us on, the fellow runners as well as being outside and enjoying the scenery.

It was also funny that this is the first time I ever remember my parents cheering me on for something I was actually enjoying doing. This wasn’t soccer, which I hated. It’s funny that at 30, I finally participated in a sport that I was enjoying and doing well in. I guess you have to start sometime. At least I gave my parents the opportunity to be “sports parents” in their 50s/60s.

My next challenge I suppose is a full marathon. My plan (given I have a baby coming soon, this might change) is to run the Rock and Roll Las Vegas marathon in Vegas on December 6, as part of Team Challenge, which benefits the Chrons & Colitis Foundation. Since half my family is touched by Chrons disease, that seems appropriate. Plus Zappos is sponsoring.

See you in Vegas? Who’s with me?

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Slacking

I have a few posts queued up to right. The biggest is about the importance of data within the music industry in this year 2009.

I’m going to right it Monday.

I also have a few trips to recap, namely Vancouver and the conference I spoke at up there.

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Vancouver

I was in Vancouver for the first part of the week speaking at NextMedia’s excellent confab. It was a smaller audience due to the Canucks game (sorry guys), but it was a good time. Between the keynote, Robert Reynold’s keynote and the panel, I think it showed that even when there is doom and gloom regarding the music business, there are reasons to remain and be bullish, provided:

YOU ARE SMART

And innovative. I think being in the business today takes fundamentally new and different thinking. I’m proud that WBR has this thinking and its encouraging to see people outside the halls (ie, Ian Rogers and others) have the thinking as well, and getting more and more bands into it.

The key to the music business now is dealing with complexity WITH complexity. Too often the temptation was to reduce everything to yes/no, good/bad. Dealing with complex situations takes complex thinking, and that was the essence of my talk. I am embedding it here, but it doesn’t make sense without the notes on the slideshare page. Or download the PDF.

Keynote In Vancouver

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