Author Archives: paulmyer

MDI Marathon

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Paul Myer #560 – 5:16:49

“The most physical, emotional and spiritual moment of my life.”

Myer’s “Bucket List”

Among the items on my personal “bucket list” is successfully completing a marathon.  Some months ago I selected the scenic MDI marathon, a 26.4 mile trek from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor, Maine as the venue for the attempt.

Based on my training program I had projected a pace of 4+ mph @ 13.15 minutes/mile and set a goal of finishing in 6 to 6:30 hours.  While I substantially improved my training run times, I remained conservative in my goals due to weather, fatigue and the extremely challenging hills and terrain that characterizes the course.

My actual time was beyond my performance expectation, testimony to the physical conditioning benefits of a long and dedicated training program and the ability of a human being to reach deep inside oneself to find the motivation and courage required to accomplish a task.  The pristine coastal landscape of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park provided a peaceful and inspirational environment for the demanding physical and emotional task.

As I reflect on my race performance, I cannot explain how I was able to maintain an average sub-12 minute/mile (5 mph) pace.  My final mile (11:06:58) was the fifth fastest of the race and I proudly sprinted the final 385 yards in the best Olympian-like tradition.  Overall, my fastest mile split was 10:34:09 (Mile 4), the slowest 13:25:40 (Mile 24), and averaged 11:58.

 

I placed 493 out of the 945 runners starting the race (699 finished) and 7th in my age group.

Keiko and Taro were my biggest fans, cheering me on at every spectator point.  And a number of UMaine colleagues joined us to celebrate the accomplishment.

Molson Case 4

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Molson case 4 was a “live” or real-life business case presented by executives of a Canadian IT firm, CGI, to the 36 competitor teams simultaneously.
CGI provides a wide range of IT out-sourcing services to customers in various of industries. The company asked the teams for their ideas and recommendations on how CGI could continue to grow its global business.
TeamMaine developed and presented an aggressive growth strategy focused on the U.S. market, specifically the government and health care sectors. In a close contest, TeamMaine won the case against the Aalto University School of Economics (Finland).
In an interesting twist of fate, Aalto last year denied Maine a slot in the semi-finals by winning a face-to-face contest by one point. Today, TeamMaine appears to have turned the tables on Aalto!
While the competition draws many students and businesspeople from Montreal as observers, TeamMaine performed today in front of Maine Business School Dean Dr. Ivan Manev and MBA student Joseph Kellner, a member of the 2011 UMaine Molson team. Thanks to both of driving here to support the team.

Molson Cases 2 & 3

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Thursday was a long and exhausting day for Modson competitors with two complex cases to consider. TeamMaine ended the day with two close decisions in favor of competitors St. Mary’s University and the University of Pittsburgh.
The second case was “Technology Plus: Moving Forward” focused on finance. The firm, Technology Plus, had experienced great growth through strategic acquisitions and the teams were asked to make a recommendation as to how far and how fast Technology Plus should expand, and where to obtain the necessary financing to ensure success. The fact that the three owner-executives of the firm did not get along well together added much to the complexity of the case.
Case 3 was “ABC Bank”. Known in the competition as the “short” case, these cases are traditionally either crisis and/or “think-on-your-feet” in nature. The case this year concerned the structure and donation policy of a U.S. bank in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis. With only 1 hour and 45 minutes to prepare, participants were asked to present a comprehensive philanthropy plan to the ABC Bank’s board.

Molson 2012 – Case 1

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Team Maine had a disappointing start in the first case against the team from the Asper School of Business (Manitoba). Asper was awarded a 8-3 win. Those familiar with the competition will recognize that the judging score is not the best way to evaluate either the value of the experience or the level of presentation performance.
The first case, “Sell or Stay”, presented the situation of a 23 year old recent MBA graduate and son of a 50% owner of a private eastern European firm dealing with the unfortunate death of the father. The questions of business strategy and personal decision were the focus of the case.
Teams have three hours to analysis the case and prepare their presentation, 25 minutes to present, and 15 minutes of a Q&A session with either a 5 or 3 panel of judges comprised of Montreal businesspeople.
At 7:30AM this morning, after spending last night at a Montreal Canadians hockey game, Team Maine gathered for another three hour preparation session on Case 2, “Technology Plus, Inc.: Moving Onward”.
Jason and I were pleased with the team’s 11:00AM Case 2 presentation and Q&A performance. More later on the judge’s opinion and the Case 3 experience scheduled for this afternoon.