If you’re catching up: Here’s how I got the opportunity to model Brooks Running clothing at the company’s internal planning meeting this week!
I woke up at 4:45 Wednesday morning the same way I usually do the morning of a race: Nervous. Excited. Desperately needing to use the restroom, if ya know what I mean.
My only instructions were to show up at the W Hotel at 7:15 wearing "some, but not too much" makeup and my hair in “an athletic style.” Sooo, you mean a ponytail? Let’s go with that.
I showed up right on time, and joined the three other girls and three guys in waiting for someone to tell us what to do. They were all silent and fiddling with their phones, so it didn’t seem like the friendliest crowd at first, but I struck up a conversation with Aaron (female — and not “Erin”) about running, and specifically about her upcoming 50K trail race. Hardcore!
Finally someone fetched us and led us backstage. Here’s the stage and the runway – pretty cool!
The backstage area was actually a kitchen/catering space with a rack full of clothes and a big stack of crates separating the boys and girls so we couldn’t see each other get nekkid. There were actually employees working in the kitchen when we got there, but they disappeared pretty quickly and never returned (thank goodness – there was lots of nekkid).
We changed into Brooks sports bras and socks, then put on our first outfits. I wound up in a very comfy pair of capris and a berry-colored pullover. Of course, I creeped to the bathroom for a pic.
There were no mirrors backstage, so this is the only outfit I ever saw myself in! Everything else I had to just assume looked OK… which got interesting later on.
I believe this event was for Brooks sales reps who sell the merchandise to stores, like REI and Road Runner. The aim was to show all these clothes and point out the new styles, features, etc. I think this stuff will be hitting stores next fall/winter (and I already want all of it).
We hung around backstage for a while and waited for people to show up.
Here are the people.
When it was time to start, we sent out one girl and guy at a time. They walked together down the runway, stopped to pose, then walked back and off to either side of the stage to pose again and then just stand and chill. Since we only had three guys, we went out in three groups – my guy and I were the last! (I didn’t catch his name, but he had sick calves. Like whoa.)
I started off a little flustered since we were supposed to go onstage when the previous couple hit a certain spot on the stage, but my guy prompted me at the right time and we were off.
Surprisingly, throughout the whole show, I was not nervous about all the people looking at me – I was more nervous about getting the timing right, posing at the right spots and figuring out when I was supposed to get off the stage!
Once I had walked down the runway and back and lined up with the other five models on stage, the Brooks guy running the show talked about all the colors we were wearing (they called this "telling the color story").
At this point, I realized how tough it was to keep a smile on my face! I stood there smiling, but pretty soon my cheeks started to shake with the effort of holding it. I decided to downgrade to a closed-mouth half-smile – aka, I just tried to look pleasant and not super-awkward. I have no idea whether I accomplished this or not.
The other girls – Aaron, Amy Jo and Morgan. (Amy Jo and Morgan are models; Aaron is a massage therapist!) I want Morgan’s hot pink and yellow Nightlife jacket.
After the Brooks guy dismissed us from the stage, the rest of the show was a blur of outfit changes and confusion. The women who were organizing the outfits backstage had a tough time handing us outfits that matched the order of what the guy onstage was talking about, so sometimes I’d put on an outfit and then immediately have to change into something else.
Case in point: Someone ran backstage and said, “We need a girl with arm-warmers NOW!” and someone else threw me arm-warmers, a tank top and tight BOOTY SHORTS. Sweet. There was no time to be self-conscious, though, so I just went out there and pretended that everyone was looking at my awesome arm-warmers, not my thighs.
If anything, doing this show just boosted my self-confidence a million percent. I’ve mentioned that it was intimidating to change clothes next to girls with perfect, fit, muscular bodies, but I did it anyway. And I lived. And I came out the other side realizing that even though I don’t have a six-pack, I am a runner – this body of mine is about to run a freakin’ marathon – and I had just as much business being there as they did.
Plus, they were all really nice!
One really funny moment happened when I was out at the end of the runway by myself, showing off a jacket. A Brooks woman who was helping present the clothes accidentally left her mic on while backstage and it picked her up saying something like, “They’re all shirtless! We can’t send them out shirtless!”
The audience started cracking up, and I just stood there and smiled and said something like, “Hey, I’m wearing a shirt… wheee.” Then the woman came onstage and immediately realized everyone had overheard her, and she was like, “Sorry, I just went back there and saw three guys wearing tights and nothing else, and they’re all so tan and muscular…”
Sooo, maybe she should have sent them out? 🙂
I have lots of pictures of our very last set of outfits because we had quite a bit of downtime before the finale while the Brooks guy gave a thrilling presentation about socks (…), but trust me, I wore a ton of different stuff: capris, shorts, pants, really sweet thermal running tights (you know how much I love tights), tanks, fitted and loose long-sleeved tops, pullover and zip-up jackets, a vest, arm-warmers, a knit cap with a hole in the back for my ponytail (!!!), you name it.
We wore the same shoes for the whole show – I think they were Brooks PureProject shoes, and they were super light and comfortable. Yay for hot pink and purple!
The boys made faces at us as we waited. The guy on the left was dressed entirely in green – shoes, shorts, jacket and hat. He looked like split-pea soup.
Our last trip out onto the runway was to the Pink song “Raise Your Glass,” so we all danced and acted silly. I definitely “raised the roof” and mouthed the words, “Call me up if you a gangster” at one point. Suuuuper cool.
The whole thing was so much fun! I’m sure I looked awkward at times since I’m not exactly a pro at posing or keeping a natural-looking smile plastered on my face, but I really didn’t care. Any embarrassment I felt at any time was minimal, and it was erased the second I got off stage because then it was time to change into something new and do it all over again. Honey badger don’t care.
Here’s the whole crew after we changed back into our own clothes:
Apparently our “swag bags” will be sent via mail, so it’ll feel like Christmas once I get mine! I have no idea what’ll be included, but the Brooks guy was like, “We know all your sizes and stuff,” so I assume that means clothes. Maybe? Woo-hoo!
Shortly after this photo was taken, I changed into jeans and a t-shirt, walked across the street and resumed my normal life (aka started my workday). Pretty surreal.
Dev on Running 