ZombieRunner Blog

Gillian and I have been eating sushi for dinner two or three times a week recently, at our local sushi bar (about a 2-minute walk from home).

So I was listening to a Billy Collins CD this morning, and came across this most appropriate poem.

Mid-winter evening,
alone at the sushi bar—
just me and this eel

Billy Collins

Today’s run on Black Mountain was so much better than last week’s. After the run last week I was sore for 4 days and Don was declaring the end of his ultra career. This week we ran the uphills and enjoyed the light fading from dusk to darkness. I figured it was all because we ate MOJO Bars before we set off.

The other fun part was trying out our new samples of energy gels. One is on our web site already - Accel Gel, which has carbohydrates and some protein. The other samples are gels that are not yet released! As soon as they are available, we’ll have them available.

The only bad part was that I couldn’t run faster on the downhills, since it was already dark. But there will be other runs. It was good to see the improvement from the week before. Also, Don and I are both getting more used to our Inov-8 shoes. I think they’re great for running in the dark because you can pretty much feel your way along the trail.

We are lucky to have such great weather in February - it was warm enough for short sleeves.

gillian

So, imagine a trade show that’s really big. Now imagine that trade show is full of booths of all your favorite stuff related to running and outdoor sports, and all the people working there are dressed in outdoor cool clothing with the latest trail shoes and sandals instead of stuffy old business suits. Then imagine that you can buy anything you want! That’s kind of what the Outdoor Retailer show is like for us. The exhibitors at the show are all the vendors, ranging from popular ones you’ve heard of like Montrail, Brooks, Inov-8, Wigwam, to makers of raw goods, including high-tech fabrics and materials.

Since we’ve attended the show before (in the summer), we had our plan of attack before we started. Visit current vendors for new product, visit our list of planned vendors to add, and then shop around for cool new stuff. The current vendors had new things for us. Inov-8 has some new models coming soon, so we pre-ordered those, and Julbo has a new style of sunglasses that are great for trail runners. GU is adding a new flavor gel, which we got to try. Then we stopped by Powerbar. They are changing their gels, have a couple new flavors, and the bars are revamped too (not the chewy performance bars, but the other ones). We are definitely adding some bars to our product line. The trend there is toward natural ingredients–dried fruits, nuts, and not a whole lot else. There is a realization that people like ingredients they can pronounce.

For clothing, super light and super breathable are always demonstrated. It seemed like Gore-Tex was everywhere. The Gore-Tex branding is getting a big push and so many vendors display that label. I was interested in the offerings that are considered soft shells–zip tops of mid-weight fabric that have some wind-stopping qualities to them but are not waterproof. A few vendors had versions of the top with waterproof fabric over the shoulders, providing a great combination of comfort and protection from the elements. We have a fondness for Sierra Designs–friendly reps, reasonably priced items, and theirs was the first rain gear we bought for running back in 2000, which we used for the LA Marathon during a torential downpour (we were smiling a lot more than the runners in plastic bags).

As we walk the exhibit hall, some sales reps are more aggressive than others and want to hand out free samples. Some are handy, like lip balms and energy bars, but others, well, would you believe we came home with a “toilet in a bag”? Anyway, often the overly-friendly rep approach pays off, as we learn about products that we hadn’t even considered. Some are sort of wacky (kind of fitting for the name ZombieRunner) and others are so practical that of course we should have thought of them.

We brought back as many brochures as we could carry and placed a great batch of orders. We can’t wait for it all to show up. It’s all in a hard day’s work.

gillian