Erik Schlimmer tells the story of how he learned to fastpack the Adirondacks, a grueling 110 miles and 19,000 vertical feet of climbing, in five days with only 11 pounds on his back.
When this issue hits the gyms and stores, the story that inspired this column will be old news, but I’m writing about it anyway because I think it raises some really important issues in the active community.
How the CEO of the Jarden Corporation balances work, family
and ultra events.
Martin Franklin, 42 may shun early mornings, but that doesn’t mean the Ultraendurance athlete and CEO of Jarden—a $6 billion consumer-product conglomerate—gets much sleep. The British expat lives on his Blackberry and runs his Rye-headquartered company from home in Aspen, regular business trips, or at factory tours after running 100.3 miles.
Fine. Racing from a race to a meeting may have only happened once, but that’s not to say Franklin wouldn’t do so again. With only two hours until North Carolina’s 24-hour Ultramarathon’s official ending, Franklin crossed through a factory door instead of a finish line. “I had to go, so I did my 100 and I left. I came in like ninth.”
This is the life a philanthropist, business mogul, Ironman, Ultrathlete, dad, husband and occasional party-goer leads. Just as one exhilarating and physically all-consuming event winds down, the easygoing, but full-gear mode guy immediately incorporates another. “If I dedicated myself to nothing but running, I would be a little boring. If I did nothing but business, I would be equally boring. I mix it up.”
How does one individual collect millions for charities such as the Wounded Warrior Project and One Family Fund, partake in the planet’s hardest endurance events, raise a family and oversee a successful corporation?
“Poorly,” Franklin laughs.
The truth? “Everything has a balance.”
He strikes such equilibrium by training heavily on weekends and lightly during lunch, fundraising with his family and even competing with his eldest of four children. Last summer, Franklin and his 16-year-old completed the Jarden Westchester Triathlon together. “I raced with him the whole way, it was a great bonding experience. Though he actually tried to lose me in the last 100 yards.”
What really enables Franklin to adeptly finagle such disparate challenges is his refusal to capitulate. Ever. After being told by a past participant that Badwater, a non-stop 135 mile Ultramarathon from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, Calif., “is the hardest race and you should never do it,” Franklin thought, “Of course I really want to.” And he did. In 49:29:24. He slept for a total of 50 minutes. The balancing act isn’t so much at play during extreme races though. “Nasty things can happen. I don’t think it’s good for my kids to see me when I’m really in pain.” Franklin has never used a coach or tried to justify skipping training. “I can make very good excuses not to workout any day of the week. I have kids, meetings to go to.” But he won’t. Why? “I just enjoy the idea of running all day and all night. You stretch your body to its limits and you go to another place, some kind of lala land. It’s like taking a drug without the drugs. I’m a happier person because of it.”
