ZombieRunner Blog

I got a call today from a local guy, who’d found us as a Bay Area source for Aloksak waterproof bags. He said that he needed a couple of packs of them, and that he’d like to pick them up today. He also mentioned that he worked in Mountain View, at the NASA Ames Research Center. Close by I thought, so offered to deliver the order. I met him outside the gate at Moffett Field and gave him his order.

As he was getting into his car I asked him, “So, what are you going to use the Aloksak bags for?”. He said, and I’m not making this up: “We’re going to see if we can get the astronauts to go to the bathroom in them.”

You suppose I was privy (as it were) to classified information?

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

We’re sitting (Gillian in one over-stuffed chair with her laptop, me in another with mine) in the Alpine Internet Cyber Cafe in Park City, Utah, working on the ZombieRunner Web Site. The photo is from a live web camera at the base of the hill — it’s been snowing today. There’s a chairlift right across the street; lots of skiiers and snowboarders wandering around. But, the skiing population is far outnumbered this week by the crowd here for the Sundance Film Festival. (The director of Letters From the Other Side just stopped by and gave us promo cards for her documentary.) We may try to catch a film tonight or tomorrow night.

We’re here for the Outdoor Retailer Show - it starts tomorrow. If the August OR show was any indication, we’ll return home with a raft of new products.

For now it’s wireless laptops and lots of good food. Yesterday’s dinner was oysters, Alaskan king crab, clam chowder and a whole lobster at the Market Street Oyster Bar in downtown Salt Lake City. Lunch today was small plates at the Easy Street Brasserie and Bar here in Park City. Some of the best French Onion soup I’ve had.

- dc

The other night I had the pleasure of talking with one of our favorite customers. He is a state trooper in Kentucky who calls while on his way to work or sometimes on the job. His accent is Kentucky through and through, and he has trouble finding local people who understand his ultrarunning habit. Last time we spoke he was preparing for the JFK 50 Miler, which was in November.
He’s a lot of fun to talk with because he appreciates all the ultra advice, and sometimes he has to pause and take radio calls (which I can sort of hear). He’s working on a set of 3 long runs for 2006, one of them is the Great Eastern Endurance Run 100K, which will be his first of that distance. We hope that he’ll come out and visit us in CA sometime. Maybe for Western States in 2007? Although he is so modest, he’s not sure he’s ready for that kind of distance. Yet.

Panasonic just introduced the DMC-FZ7 a replacement for the camera I’ve been using to shoot during my runs.

The most important new feature is the addition of manual focus (controlled by a joystick - remains to be seen how easy it it to use, say, compared to a manual focus ring).

I was hoping for RAW support, but alas. Also, with 12x zoom, it’d be nice to have a wider range, maybe 28-336mm instead of the 36-432mm that it has.

The FZ5 is a terrific running camera (it’s not tiny, but for its capabilities, it quite small). The FZ7 looks like an improvement — probably not enough to trade in an FZ5, but if I were shopping for a new camera (or if I still owned an FZ3) I’d probably get the FZ7.

Ideally I’d do all my shooting with an SLR - the photos are much better. But when I’m out there running for many hours, especially in a 50 or 100 miler, carrying that much weight is out of the question — not if I want to make the cutoffs

- dc

Someone on the ultra list asked for a lefse recipe. Here’s the one that my brother and I use - very similar to the version that our Mom made.

(The photos are of ace lefse chef Gillian, from a lefse-making party we did at my brother’s house.)

Lefse Recipe

4 lb potatoes
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups flour

Peel, quarter potatoes and boil until tender. Drain and return to pan over low heat for a few minutes to dry.
Rice potatoes. Add butter, salt & sugar and mash until well mixed. Let cool and then refrigerate until cold.
Heat lefse griddle to 500°.
For each 1/4 of potato mixture, mix in 1/2 cup flour (or less) and divide into 6 balls.
Roll out on baking parchment and transfer, parchment side up, to griddle; the parchment will peel away in a minute or so.
Cook on both sides.

Margarine changed to
butter, six cups changed to four pounds.
Note: try cake flour.

Here’s a great site for lefse-making equipment

- dc

This looks pretty great - out in March.

CNET writes:

Memory goliath SanDisk continues its assault on the flash-based MP3 player market with the launch of the flagship e200 series and the budget-class c100 series. The sharp-looking e200 measures 3.5 by 1.7 by 0.5 inches and has a maximum capacity of 6GB ($300). It boasts a photo- and video-friendly 1.8-inch color screen, as well as a durable titanium back cover and a user-removable rechargeable battery. The e200 also comes in $250 4GB and $200 2GB varieties, while the 6GB version is notable, as it’s the highest-capacity flash-based player in the world. Other cool features include a MicroSD expansion slot, slide-show functionality, an FM tuner with FM recording, and compatibility with WMA subscription services. The players, which are physically much more finished than SanDisk players of the past but, with price tags to match, will be available in March.

Read CNET’s preview

- dc

I made a couple of recipes over the weekend from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The first was the cinnamon roll recipe, which I’ve made once before. I started it Saturday evening, retarded it in the fridge, got up at 5 to allow it to proof in time to bake for breakfast. Used a bit of orange extract in the fondant. A terrific cinnamon roll recipe.

The second was the potato bread with rosemary. I made the biga (a pre-ferment) on Saturday, let it ferment in the fridge overnight, and made the 2 loaves (2 boules) on Sunday afternoon (to go with a southwestern corn chowder). I also added the options 1 ounce of chopped roasted garlic - a nice addition. The potatoes (1 cup, mashed) makes the dough and the bread nice a soft. I proofed one of the loaves in a french banneton and the other on a parchment-covered sheet pan. Before proofing, I misted the sheet pan loave with olive oil. It developed a darker smoother crust and rose somewhat higher in the oven. I’m thinking that the unencumbered sheet pan boule may have risen a bit more during the proofing stage.

It was a definite success. I plan to try it without the garlic and rosemary - I think it’ll make a good potato bread.My goal is to get close to Grace Baking’s potato bread.

- dc