2009 Footzone Horse Butte 10 miler

Entries are out for the 2009 Horse Butte 10 miler. The first 200 people to get signed up will get to enjoy this sweet 10 mile singletrack loop east of town. The course is the same as last year but the date is different. Since Easter is the second weekend in April we moved it to March 29th so the Petersen Ridge Rumble could be the first Sunday in April. Also different for this year is women's specific shirts. They will be the Brooks Podium shirt and will be available in small through large for the ladies. A printable entry will be available from http://www.footzonebend.com/ as soon as possible so check that out in the next couple of days.

Feel free to contact me or the Footzone with any questions. superdave@footzonebend.com or call 317-3568.

Thanks for reading,

dave

Support Grooming at V. Meissner

There's a fundraiser this Friday at 5:30 in hopes of raising money for grooming at Virginia Meissner snow park. We're talking nordic skiing here. We're lucky to have the nordic trails to cross train on and and keep some fitness and diversity in the winter. If this speaks to you, consider heading to Aspen Hall on Friday. Tickets are $10 and include food from the Taco Stand and music from the Sweet Harlots. See you there. Call Erin at 350-3790 for more info. Cheers-Teague

Times a Changing

I’m in the Salt Lake airport getting ready to head home from the Outdoor Retailer show. I’ve gone to this show twice a year since 1997 and watched it grow and evolve. It used to apply most to the lifestyle side of the FZ but anymore several of our major running brands are there and it’s always a good place to see what’s interesting (vs. only marketing hype) in the world of trail running. As good as the running industry is, I think it occasionally categorizes runners as boring, slow to change, and lacking any sense of style. So I like to see what else is out there that applies to runners. My experience shows runners to be pretty sophisticated and expecting the absolute best in product performance and aesthetics. Plus, Bend is an outdoor lifestyle hub so what folks are looking for in Texas or Florida (oddly, both strong influences in the running industry) might not apply to us.

Anyway, that’s why I was there, but on to the Changes. I found out in the first hours of the show that Chaco was purchased by Wolverine (aka Merrell, Patagonia footwear). I had the opportunity to talk with my friend and the (former) owner of Chaco, Mark Paigan and he was relieved. It turned out that he had to seek out a buyer as the cash flow was in a bad way and no lenders on the horizon. My emotions are as mixed as can be. I’m happy for Mark and Chaco that things will continue and of the possible suitors, Merrell constantly executes product well. I’d hope they will do their best to maintain the uniqueness of Chaco while giving it the new life that it needs. That said, I was profoundly sad at the news Mark was delivering. I feel like I grew up in retail with Chaco. I’ve always loved and admired the company and become friends with many of its employees. There is tremendous consolidation happening in the outdoor industry as small vendors struggle and get swallowed up by bigger brands. But there is hope, even during these tough times some new brands were showing for the first time. All in all, it motivates me to keep the FootZone strong and independent. We’re certainly modest by comparison but being a small business is getting more unique by the hour. Cheers-Teague

Making good shoes

The past couple days have found me meeting with some of the fine folks that make the great running shoes we all love to run in. Wednesday I met with some of the shoe guys from Mizuno and yesterday I spent time with some of the product line managers from Adidas. I've met lots of these folks over the years and I always learn something about shoe design, execution and how complex the whole process is. They are some of the people I respect most in the running industry and it's always fun when they seek out my opinion. These are the folks who battle with high minded designers in hopes that your favorite shoe will remain your favorite shoe. They understand all to well that a slightly different mesh or moving that overlay 2mm could mean the difference between a great fit and a problem. I come away this time reminded that they are really good at what they do. Its easy to dismiss them as indifferent to our needs when our favorite shoe is tweaked. But remember that it can't be easy to work as the intermediary between designers, business folks and factories. So, what did I learn? Its hard to say specifically, but Mizuno is playing with some really cool material applications and Adidas is taking a calculated path in hopes of regaining the faith of runners and running stores. All companies are trying to be the leaders and much of the talk is about obvious goals and ideals. But mostly, I come away with tremendous appreciation that good people are working really hard to make our job at the FZ interesting by making great new shoes. Cheers-Teague

Running on the big boat

To begin, this is a post about cruising. It's baffling to me, and I wanted to warn you in advance so you can skip this one before reading any further if you're so inclined. My parents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this month so last week we left the kids with Tami's parents and went on a cruise with all my siblings, their spouses and my parents. I'm the youngest of six kids so there were 14 of us total. A cruise wasn't my first choice, but your parent's 60th celebration is the place to go along. Turns out this might have been the perfect trip for a big family with varying interests and lifestyles (I guess that's every family). We all got to do our own thing, but still we're together and played a lot of cards and ate many meals together. Running on the ship left something to be desired but I was prepared for that. I felt fortunate for the treadmill (can't believe I'm saying that) and all the drills I've learned in Kyle's strength classes. I even got a couple good runs in at ports which is always my favorite way to explore a new place anyway. All and all, a great trip. Fun to celebrate my parents, and great to get some time with Tami. As always, it's good to come home to Central Oregon. Cheers-Teague

Max train continues to roll

The 2009 US half marathon national championships took place over the weekend and from the results it looks like it was a fast race. Local honch runner Max King came in 10th overall with a time of 1:03:49. For those of you who are math challenged like me that's 4:53 pace...wow! Nice job Max! The picture is from Xterra but it's all I got.

Horse Butte & Horse Ridge - Giddyup!

I'm sure we all can conclude that we were teased by the gorgeous weather last week making us question whether or not this really is January... And, with exception to the inversion we had on Saturday, Sunday and part of today.. which was a staunch reminder that yep, we're still in the trenches of winter, it can't be denied that we've sure been spoiled by an abundance of sunshine lately!! If you haven't received your fix of Vitamin D and you've yet to venture east of town now wouldn't be a bad time. Tonya and Geoff reported that Horse Butte was awesome on Sunday with only a few spots of mud-- plus, March 29th is rapidly approaching for the Horse Butte 10 miler. Even further east, Amy and I escaped to Horse Ridge and although we were mountain biking we were awed by how perfect the trails were- not to mention the view of the snow-capped peaks to the west from the top of Horse Ridge. With all the amazing trail conditions right now it's hard for for me not to mention that our shipment of the Mizuno Wave Ascend 4 arrived a little over a week ago. The concensus around the shop has been positive-- with a more aggressive outsole and re-tooled upper we're pretty excited to get your opinion. Lastly, we received a mountain of Brooks "Cascading" off the shelves and I have to share this photo of all the boxes...I took this shot looking down from the"No Step" top of the ladder in our stock room which is about 14 feet off the ground. Hooray for Brooks!!! If you've yet to read Teague's review of the new Cascadia check out his blog entry. So, enjoy the trails and keep running!
Rob

WRS #1 2009

Today was the first Footzone Winter Race Series (WRS) 5k. Despite some freezing fog and it just being down right chilly we had a good showing. 34 brave souls came out to giver' on a fine Sunday Morning. The usual suspects came in the front of the pack with the rest doing their level best to haul it around the 5k course. As we hoped people came with a good attitude and took away just what they wanted from the day. Some wanted to prep for an upcoming race with a good effort. While others just wanted to do little faster run with other folks. So whether you are trying to get some speed work in or just trying to get out the door during winter the WRS is just the ticket.

Results are listed below and points distributed accordingly. Stay tuned to the blog for more info on the next venue and how the tally is going for the big prize at the end. The overall male and female with the most points after the three races gets a brand new pair of shoes for the effort. And for those of us who a little behind the ridiculously talented don't despair, complete all three races there is a pair of running socks coming your way.

Ladies of the WRS Men of the WRS

Lisa Nye 10 Andy Martin 10

Jill Gozdwoski 9 Micheal Dennis 9

Mary Primrose 8 Joel Vergona 8

Megan Wrightman 7 Josh Davis 7

Ericka Luckel 6 Shane Cochran 6

Kari Strang 5 Ryan Altman 5

Erica Westcott 4 Danny Harris 4

Jenny Sventek 3 Kevin Lair 3

Linsey Greer 2 Jason Taylor 2

Kristi Sterry 1 Mike I might be Amish Olson 1

Thanks for reading and coming out to run,

dave

If I misspelled any names let me know and I can correct the mistakes. It's hard to read my writing when my hands are frozen.

Winter Race Series #1

One week from today on January 18th the first Footzone Winter Race Series will take place. The hot chocolate run ran from Farewell Bend Park today and the trail on the west side of the river was in great shape. So I have chosen that for the venue. We will run a 5k loop which starts and finishes at the covered area near the bathrooms. The race will start at 9am sharp so show up 15 minutes early to get signed up.

See you there,

Superdave

Many Asses

Yesterday was the Bad Ass, Tight Ass, Huge Ass and Numb Ass Fun Run East of the Badlands Wilderness Study Area. The distances are 50k, 22 mile, 13 mile, and 9 mile respectively. I went out with Jill G. and ran the 9 mile before heading in for a day of fitting shoes at the shop. It was a beautiful, cold morning. The footing was good, there was no wind and the mountains were glowing in the distance. Not a bad start to a Saturday. About 50 people spread themselves out over the distances. The 9 miler is also know as the Super Slacker Super Dave 9 miler. You'll see Josh wearing the SD shirt in honor (Dave's in North Dakota with his Dad on a little huntin trip). This is a great winter loop so keep it in mind if you don't mind some hills and a little drive East to run on the dirt. Thanks to Jeff and Sean for putting this together and Kathy for the delicious beer bread I was snacking on at the end. Cheers-Teague

2009 is finally here!

Many descended on Farewell Bend Park this morning for a New Years Run. It was windy and the trail was seriously slick but good to gather, get a run in, and drink some cocoa. The wind really started to pick up soon after and blew the treats around. Interesting weather day to bring in '09.

We took the day off today at the FootZone as we have every New Year's Day since we opened. However, we will open up again tomorrow since that's what we do, and have to face the fact that we might be unemployable outside of the shop. Turns out we'll have two less options for downtown eats in the New Year. Deep and Merenda weren't exactly our typical lunch spot but its sad to know that a few more jobs are gone and spaces will be empty. Lot's of folks are wondering what this means for downtown? I'd guess we'll end up with some other businesses downtown and they likely won't be high end restaurants. Rents are getting more reasonable and downtown's a beautiful, vibrant place, so don't give up on it just yet. Some would say that Merenda's opening was the beginning of a shift in Bend. I'm not sure what its closing says about the current direction in Bend, but it sure feels like another shift. It might not be a bad thing. At least maybe we can stop talking about the downtown parking "problem". Happy New Year-Teague