Week in Review

Time: 697:04
Distance: 100.6 miles

I cracked the century mark for the 5th week in a row. I’m now halfway to the longest streak that I’ve put together of 100 mile weeks. It may have only been 8 weeks instead of 10, but either way it’s not feeling like a chore any more. I could have run more a couple of days, but decided to bag the double run due to The Running Event schedule, travel or winter darkness.

This week I’ve also started playing with the idea of running Charlotte’s Thunder Road Marathon again. Nothing has been decided yet and I still need to chat with coach Jeffrey. I figure that I’m in good shape and would be able to hammer solo for a time of 2:22 to 2:23. There is a big gap in the marathon schedule from December 12^th to late January which would mean I could recover through the coldest part of the year. Also, I might find training through the rest of the year discouraging not having raced. Even though it’s not my plan to get injured, now is about the time that my Achilles start to act up. The cons are that Thunder Road doesn’t offer prize money, isn’t a lightning fast course, there would be few to no guys running under 2:30. I don’t have much time to decide, but I did fine last year running on short notice.

This week wasn't completely filled with positives. I was hoping to work something out in Austin that would allow me to keep repping Craft and Karhu (KNA). But, luck was not on my side this time and the TGA/KNA relationship could not be salvaged. I had many selfish reasons for wanting to keep KNA’s brands. Those reasons mainly revolved around Meagan being directly employed by Karhu North America.

Craft and Karhu are two brands that I truly believe in. I loved the story behind Craft’s layering principle and knowing Olympic athletes wear the brand while competing. Karhu is the first shoe brand where the designer openly took my feedback. It's also the first footwear brand that I was responsible for managing and growing. I have enjoyed the challenge of getting both brands placed in the Carolinas and wish great success to the stores with Craft and Karhu and KNA as a company. I have also loved seeing Charlotte’s runners starting to rock their pair of Karhus bought at the Charlotte Running Company or sporting a Craft jacket purchased at TrySports. I feel a sense of pride every time I spot one of these local runners. It’s even better when people come up to me at McAlpine, McMullen or a race and say they are going to try a pair of Karhus the next time they need to buy shoes. This last piece has happened numerous times in the last few weeks when the TGA/KNA relationship was on shaky ground.

I now have a ton of shoes and clothes that I’m no longer “required” to wear. I’m still going to train and race in Karhu even though I now have the entire shoe wall to choose from. (I did start running in a Chinese shoe brand this week called Li-Ning because I picked up a free pair in Texas). Since I’m not married to Karhu anymore I’ve thought about starting an obnoxiously critical footwear blog similar to Pitchfork. My goal would be to review shoes in a charismatically pretentious way so as to directly affect the launch or sales of a particular brand or model. I thought things over and this probably wouldn’t be the best way to become associated with the Big Seven (Nike, Asics, Adidas, Mizuno, Brooks, Saucony, New Balance) that can be found in nearly every running store.

So where does this leave the OK Runner? I’m still gainfully employed with TGA and will continue repping Balega socks, Fuel Belt hydration belts, Nuun tablets and Orthaheel sandals. Starting in December TGA will become the first sales agency hired to launch GORE Running Wear (the link takes you to the UK site since a USA site doesn't exist yet). It’s the same GORE brand that licenses GORE-Tex and other great fabrics used by major brands like Asics, Brooks, The North Face and more. Craft even uses GORE-Tex in some of their winter items.

While brands come and go, I will always provide my accounts with great products and exceptional customer service. I appreciate the readers out there for following the blog and perhaps picking something up from Craft or Karhu. I’ll always encourage runners to shop at their local running specialty store where prices might be a little higher but the passion, service and knowledge is unmatched. Meagan will now be the local point person on all things Swedish and Finnish. Keep an eye out for me to be decked out with GORE Running Wear in the near future and the latest and greatest shoes until TGA feels comfortable with re-entering the footwear market.