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Following my race at Mooseman I went and stayed with Saucony’s great, Carrie Bartlett for a few days to train and meet with their footwear and apparel team and to design my own shoe!!!
I didn’t know about the shoe designing until the night before. I have always dreamt about what I would design for my own shoe and could rattle it off at a moment’s notice but when Carrie told me that , my mind went blank and I could not decide what I would like….don’t ya hate that!
So I had the footwear designers Sean and Tony help me out a little and we went for a casual style, fairly simple but with a little bling. I will be sent the final pictures before they are made and then it will take 3-4wks before I receive them. Now it has got me thinking about all the possibilities of how I would design other shoes, now I know the process and the countless styles, designs, colours, fabrics etc, it truly is amazing.
Sean, Nik, Emily and Tony sat me down to explain the changes in the shoes from last season to this season and where they are thinking of going in the future, cant wait to try these protocols and then to see them come out. Top secret at the moment so I can’t say anything except….you will love them!!! They also asked for my feedback on the shoes I had worn and if there was anything they were missing or would like to see on any of the shoes. Very cool that they do this and take note of anything I say but in all honesty, I had no criticisms’ of any shoe. I did make a couple of suggestions for their new secret shoe they are in the middle of designing….cant wait to put my feet into that model.
Tony (shoe developer), taught me how a shoe is made from start to finish, from the concept, to budgeting, manufacturing, product testing etc. Not as simple as I thought!
Then onto apparel to see the new line of recovery garments (and learn a little more about the technology and fabrics behind them) that will be hitting the stores shortly and some of which they have had their pro athletes testing along the way. Andrew showed me the lines for this year and next year –both are very cool and hip with the latest fabrics and features you wouldn’t have thought of on a running garment.
Sonja, the uniform measuring queen was also there and I thanked her for all her time with me paid off as my uniforms have fitted great ever since!
The bag line is being upgraded and I love it. I would have taken the protocol bag if I could’ve. You can use it for training, racing, casual, travelling and it has all the compartments you need and want for all of those activities…hard to believe I know but it is true!
Thanks to Mark and Richie for letting Carrie have time out of the office to help me out and to drive all the way to Mooseman and back to watch me race, she is the best.
My other time was spent doing some training, swimming with the legendary Karen Smyers and Carrie took me on a ride and run around the local countryside and had a great massage with
Susan……to get some race soreness out. Needless to say, she did!
Walden Pond (where Karen, Carrie and I swam).
Now I am on the plane to Boise (via Phoenix and Vegas!). We experienced a bit of turbulence early on in the flight and I instinctively grabbed the lady’s leg beside me. And she said I could leave it there and she would rather be sitting next to me than the screaming baby down the back! I hoped it wasn’t going to get any worse or she may have changed her mind!
A huge thanks to Carrie, Mike and Wasabi (their cat who followed me everywhere and head butted me when he wanted a pat) for having me for the few days and to the crew at Saucony, who continue to develop the best running shoes and apparel there is (and run culture gear too).
Thanks to Karen Smyers who took me swimming. Who ever believes that pro’s don’t influence others, needs their heads read. I was thinking that if I hadn’t seen the likes of Karen , Wendy Ingraham, Paula Newby Fraser, Heather Fuhr etc racing when I was a kid, that I wouldn’t have wanted to take up the challenge of triathlon….and here I was swimming with one of my legends of the sport! What other sport would that happen in???
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