What's New?

The Tuesday Performance group side stepped the ice patches and thanks to Max, rallied for a great workout to close out the year. I'm still amazed to see a dozen people out now that we're in the depths of winter. Good times.

Well, it's the shoes that are new. From Asics the Kayano, DS Trainer, Hyperspeed, Trail Attack and Landreth. From Brooks are the new Adrenaline, Glycerin, Infiniti, and Cascadia. Its still early so no bold predictions just yet but the Cascadia seems to fit even better, the Infiniti looks sweet and still rides like a dream, the Glycerin is plusher underfoot and the DS Trainer harkens back to the DS Trainers of old. Track Spikes are also on the shelves. Hard to imagine that Spring sports are that close but before you know it... Cheers-Teague

Partay!

Back to Front, Left to Right: Rob, Dave, Colleen, Teague, Tonya, Kirsten, Jenny, Melanie, Eric, Nancy and Chris.

Last night was the revelry commonly refered to as the FootZone Holiday Party. This year was actually a cocktail party. I was able to fulfill my long held dream of playing bartender and firing up fun drinks. Tami (my wife) made a roasted veggie platter like you've only dreamed of. You know how most work parties are something you don't really want to attend but feel obliged to? This is probably the same, but no one lets on. There was good cheer all around. Everyone came, even Nancy who postponed her family Christmas trip so she could attend (she blamed it on the weather, but we know she just couldn't stand to miss out). All kidding aside, and I think all at the Zone would agree, we're lucky to have such a nice group to share our days with... and its good to raise a glass and celebrate. Cheers-Teague

Holiday Lights Run

It was a cold and windy night... but a hearty group of you still came out to check the xmas lights and drink some cocoa and malted beverages. Thank you to Tracy Miller and Amy Clark for putting this one on. We'll certainly do it again next year.

Functional Fitness

The pre-holiday edition of Kyle's Functional Fitness workout here at the FZ was great. Good group and good challenging workout. We'll take a couple Thursdays off since they fall on the upcoming holidays but we'll be back at it 0n Thursday, Jan.8th. Mark your calendar.

Tuesday Performance Group 12/16/08

Max just sent out an email last night and there will not be a workout tonight. Just a little too cold and icy to get you out there trying to run fast. No use getting anyone injured. Instead, Max will be at the FootZone from 6-7pm tonight to talk training if anyone is interested. It's also Ask the Experts tonight so Chris Vergona will be here in case you're having nagging problems.

Max had a great race in Spokane last weekend at the club xc championships. The results are HERE Look for former Bend High standout and current Nike employee Brett Holts as well.

Cheers-Teague

Jingle Bell Run

Preliminary reports say the Jingle Bell Run raised over $45,000 for the Arthritis Foundation this year. Hard to remember that it was only 10 days ago that we were standing in Columbia Park with everyone in shorts and tee-shirts. I had the pleasure of helping to organize the course this year. Last year there were some issues so it was great to see folks step up to make it better. Good work-Teague

Waking to white

Oh Baby! Nothing like that first snowy run of the season. Grab your Yaktrax and get on out there. Winter brings challenges for runners but it also brings a lot of beauty and what better excuse than a run to get out and check out the winter landscape while others are snoozing. Looks like Bachelor got a good dump. Don't forget the Hot Chocolate Run tomorrow. Enjoy-Teague

Christmas come early at the Zone

About this time of year we're honestly ready for some new shoes. The days are short and getting colder and we practically do back flips when the styles start to change. Nothing wrong with the current shoes but when you deal with them every day, something new to ponder just brings a smile. Today was a bonanza as we got early hits of the new Brooks Cascadia, Defyance and Infiniti. The Cascadia is a staple for us and the new one initially feels like it won't skip a beat. The overall fit may be a bit more secure but even Rob's wide hoofies had no issues. The Defyance is new for us but Brooks has had tremendous luck with this neutral version of the tried and true Adrenaline. The Inifiniti was hands down the new shoe of the year at FootZone in 2008. Thus, this '09 version is laden with expectations. Time will tell but the fit seems consistent and it still has that wonderful forefoot ride that won so many of you over last year. Come in when you can and give us your feedback on these new styles. Cheers-Teague

California International Marathon

5198 people finished the Cal International Marathon over the weekend and six of them were Central Oregonians. Glenn Miller finished in 3:26:20, Annette Muensterman in 3:25:11, Kirsten Holden in 3:12:22, Ryan Altman in 3:03:54, Sean Meissner in 2:39:06 and Jeff Caba in 2:36:25. Quite a showing! Congratulations to all! Complete Results Cheers-Teague

Local Speedsters

Max King prevails once again. This time it was at the Xterra Worlds Trail Half Marathon in Hawaii. Sounds like it was a tough course but he still managed sub 6 minute miles. Link here for Story/Results/Photos

Kami Semick won yesterday at the North Face Challenge 50 miler in San Francisco. In case you forgot, this is the same Kami Semick who took 2nd at the 100k worlds in Italy ONE month ago. Wow, that is some seriously impressive recovery. Here are those Results.

Great work Max and Kami!

Catching up

I took some time with Tami and the kiddos at Thanksgiving to get up to Seattle and visit family. It was a great trip but I did miss "I LIKE PIE II" and as always, coming back to Central Oregon is a treat. Fortunately, the shop has been busy and I've been a poor blogger. All this sunshine and relative warmth seems to have folks continuing to run and thus buying running shoes at a good clip - Thank You for that. As for the past week, Tuesday was the Performance Group (still drawing a great crowd) and Screw Your Shoes. Thanks to Jeff Browning for bringing in the Makita's. More than 20 pairs of shoes came in the door to get winterized. Enough of you showed up, in fact, that I was able to join in the action. Since I'm not the handiest fellow, any chance to raise a power tool is a treat. The picture shows Jeff Caba getting set up and Max King and Jeff sharing some good natured banter about whether YakTrax or Screwing your shoes works best. Of course, it's all idle chat unless the snow flies. The Thursday Strength Workout is going strong and you really should join us. It's that workout I'd never do on my own, feels really worthwhile and I won't miss it if I can help it. Runners need this and for $5, you can't beat it. I hope your enjoying all those still accessible trails. Cheers-Teague