ZombieRunner Blog

A couple of months ago, a customer suggested that we check out Michael Finney’s Friday Free Stuff, a weekly TV and radio spot on KGO, our local ABC affiliate. So, we called them up and sent them samples of a couple of products, then settled on Java Juice. Yesterday at 5:25pm, Michael Finney showed the Java Juice packets and said people could get 2 free packets if they visited a page on our web site. They even showed a ZombieRunner logo - first time on TV!

The author of beck’s blog sent us a link to a post she wrote about our blister kit. She writes:

“I’ve been the blister queen following just about any long run, so imagine how elated I was when I took part in a ZombieRunner blister clinic and learned their tricks.”

Here’s the rest…

We got a mention on a Norwegian discussion board. I’ll leave the translation to the reader.

Da jeg var sykemeldt forrige uke satt jeg på sofaen og leste gjennom 23 reportasjer om fjorårets Western States 100. Massevis av nyttige info i disse reportasjene, tom. sterke anbefalinger for et bestemt lommelykt. Men æsj! hvilke av de 23 sider hadde dette?

Jeg fant stedet på mine fjerde forsøk, ikke så verst det!!

Sitat:
I soon came to love the bright green flashlight I’d bought from ZombieRunner — it lit up the trial very well, leaving none of the weird shadows I’d been getting from the white light I had before Foresthill.

Og så fante jeg lommelyktet her
http://www.zombierunner.com/store/product14.html

Jeg tror jeg bestiller en. Jeg får det tilsendt foreldrene mine. Jeg liker ideen om et lykt som varer hele natta, og grønt er kulere enn hvit.

Det er ikke hodelykt men vanligvis liker jeg å holde hodelyktet i hånden min uansett.

Here’s the post.

In Peet’s Coffee this morning there was a very Marine-looking Marine, waiting for his drink.

I overhead him talking to the barista, commenting that he couldn’t get decent coffee in Iraq and was really happy to get his first cup of Peet’s

He said:

“Democracy my ass. I was fighting for the coffee.”

- dc

A guy emailed me today to ask if he could use some photos to write an article on my running photography.

Here’s the article.

Small world — seeing as I’m part Norwegian.

- dc

This is a moment in Zombie History. Our house now smells like licorice, ginger and peppermint. That’s not the moment though, that’s ongoing. We are an official Altoids dealer. It was hard to imagine what 320 pounds of Altoids might look like, but it wasn’t all that big. But it did require a special truck and arrived on a palette. The driver got the handtruck and wheeled the delivery in. We feel like a big business on occaisions like this. And I guess we’re getting there.

The Altoids reps like us because we can do promotions together and “think outside the box.” Who would have thought of marketing mints to runners? But we think it goes pretty well with the JavaJuice, and who wouldn’t like a minty fresh feeling after a long run? How about curiously strong mints for curiously strong runners?

Of course, the main thing for us is that we like Altoids. A lot. And now we have 320 pounds of them.

gillian

I just got back from four days in Bishop at a photography workshop with the amazing nature photographer, John Shaw. He’s does stunning work (he showed us a lot of his recent stuff). He’s now converted to all digital and he’s a Photoshop wizard, so it was like two workshops in one — field photography and digital workflow.

We went out before sunrise each morning, and again before sunset. Among the shooting locations were the Alabama Hills (photo above), Mono Lake, and a field of Irises with the Eastern Sierra in the background. What an amazing place for outdoor photography. No wonder Galen Rowell was so taken with the place.

“I almost never set out to photograph a landscape, nor do I think of my camera as a means of recording a mountain or an animal unless I absolutely need a ‘record shot’. My first thought is always of light.” — Galen Rowell

A friend forwarded this article. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.

A massive mining operation near the Sunol-Ohlone wilderness will send the East Bay’s coveted elk and eagles fleeing.

Read the article here.

- dc

I was drinking this tea, and looked under the cap at the writing:

It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe. –anonymous

It seems appropriate since we talk to so many people about feet and blisters. I noticed even Don got blisters from Saturday’s run through the mud. We talked with Chris Kostman, race director for the Badwater Ultramarathon, last night. We will be providing foot kits for the runners! And, we’ll be at the race helping people with their feet. It takes a lot of steps to go 135 miles.

Anyway, the iced tea was really good: Honest Tea, tastes like real tea and is only slightly sweet. Finally a tea that matches my taste.

gillian

One of the reasons to run ultras that are 50 mile or longer is that you get to spend a whole day out there. We knew American River 50M would be like that for us. This race starts in the heart of Sacramento and follows bike paths and trails along the American River to Auburn, finishing at the Auburn Dam Overlook (yes, that means a big hill at the end). With the weather we’ve been having in normally sunny but now rainy CA, the trail portion of this run turned into a great mudfest. It’s always amazing the different types of mud you can discover in a single run: brown, swampy stuff, red, slippery stuff, the occasional section of shoe-sucking mud, and my favorite, chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding on a hill was the best. Some runners attempted to go around mud, but sooner or later, everyone gave in and just went through the middle. One reason: the more you tried to avoid the mud, the more you would go through the poison oak.

The weather started off a little gloomy, but temperatures were great for running and the sun showed up a little bit. Volunteers at aid stations were in good spirits and so helpful as always. For this run you even get spectators along parts of the course, and crew people helping their runners–often runners attempting their first 50 miler. Seeing those runners cross the finish line is great. Norm announced runners as they finished, and would “encourage” them to run across the line (walking is NOT allowed at that point). As emotional the run is for first-timers, it still gets to me too, with this as my fifth AR50 finish. Because the race is point-to-point, you get a definite sense of awe about the distance covered. As you head west by car to return to Sacramento, you can see the downtown buildings marking the city way in the distance. It seems a long way to run.

gillian