Happy New Year…Life=Change!!!

As 2011 begins, I reluctantly look back at the happenings of 2010. There were floods and famine,  war and peace, and we most  certainly experienced both happiness and sadness; AND the one thing that we can always count on in this world is CHANGE. A local Austin artist said it best. The picture below was taken from the South Lamar pedestrian bridge in Austin, TX. I’m not sure if the artwork was commissioned by the city or if someone climbed onto the railroad bridge and painted the mural in an effort to express themselves. Well, whatever the case may be…I got the message LOUD AND CLEAR!!! This is definitely one of the ways we “Keep Austin Weird”.

Your Austin Ambassador!

Socar Chatmon-Thomas

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What Makes Austin Liveable? Caring Corporations (Part 1)

One of the reasons Austin is such an incredible place to live is because we are surrounded by entrepreneurs and corporations who actually care about human beings. Case and point RunTex Corporation, flagship location 422 W. Riverside Drive, CEO Paul Carrozza, www.RunTex.com . The company’s mission is to make Austin, Tx the “fittest city in America”!

RunTex is a company that specializes in running shoes and apparel, that’s what you see from the outside; but what you don’t see  is that the founder Paul Carozza is an activist and author who likes to run and wants everyone in the city to live a healthier life by exercising.  I first discovered RunTex in the summer 0f 1999 when I decided to run a marathon. Until that point, I hadn’t trained for a race since I was a little girl when I got my first pair of Adidas and challenged my father to a race.

Anyway, the thought of running a marathon had always been in my mind, but I had no idea how I’d achieve this goal. One day while driving to work, I heard a radio ad which asked, “Wanna run a marathon? Join Austinfit this Saturday, call RunTex for more information!” I was amazed my prayers had been answered. That following Saturday morning at 7am, I met Paul Carozza and thousands of other people at the Riverside RunTex which is located right next to Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake’s hike and bike trails. The location’s proximity to the hike and bike trails is perfect because we’d be forced to do our first training run that day or  be embarrassed in front of thousands of Austinites. 

After my training run, I signed up for the marathon’s 6 month training program and completed my first marathon with the help of RunTex, AustinFit and Paul Carozza, but that not what makes RunTex such a caring corporation. What I discovered by training with AustinFit and buying my shoes thru RunTex is that for each pair of old shoes returned to RunTex, they will clean and donate these shoes to the homeless people of Austin, that’s what makes RunTex a “Caring Corporation”! Thanks Paul for all that you do for our community!

Your Austin Ambassador!

Socar Chatmon-Thomas

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