Rub it and Run

Outdoor Retailers Summer Market – Salt Lake City, UT

August 6 thru 9, 2008

 

I found myself in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Outdoor Retailers Summer Market.  This was the first time we had attended the Market.  I was amazed at the number of outdoor gear manufacturer’s I had never heard of before.  My main purpose for attending was to start networking with Outdoor Retailers for the company I work for.  It was also a good opportunity to see what new equipment was being introduced to the market for 2009 and talk with a few folks about the KC Trail Nerds and sponsorship opportunities.

We spent the first day at the Outdoor Demo.  It’s exactly like the description.  Manufacturers had examples / samples of their products for retailers to test drive.  There were more kayak manufacturers then anything else.  Vasque and SkirtSports teamed to have a skirt chaser trail run and each had a booth with product that you could try out.  The trail run was unique in that they had the ladies take off first about 3 minutes before the men.  The idea was for the men to catch the ladies.  Hence the name skirt chaser.  It ended up being a fairly short run which was fine for this Flat Lander.  The Demo days were held in the Pineview Reservoir in the Wasatch Cache National Forest near Ogden, UT at about 5,000 ft altitude.

We saw a few things that were “nock your socks off” amazing.  Sometimes it’s the simplest of items that really catch my eye.  For example we stumbled onto a product that could come in pretty handy on and off the trail.  It’s the StreamCloth by Stream Works.  It’s a small tablet the size of a nickel and about ¼” thick that expands into a small hand towel when placed in water. In fact it only requires about a water bottle size cap full of water.  I really like the disclaimer on the box “Caution! Do not place in mouth or consume!” I better get myself a case of these fast.  Because I’m sure someone will think of something real brilliant to do with them that causes a major product liability recall.

Being someone that really appreciates a good hat, another product worthy of mentioning is the “Tether hat.”  They make a whole series of products to make a hat more functional such as a retractable tether for attaching your hat to your shirt.  It helps prevent loosing your hat when it blows off……Hair challenged, Nerd speed demons will appreciate that.  They also have tethers that are attached to ear plugs, sunglass, harmonicas etc.  They have several styles and hat materials including a technical fabric for moisture wicking.

It was also exciting to hear about and see the New Vasque Blur trail running shoe.  The Blurs have been my favorite since I bought my first pair.  It’s one of the only shoes that give me good stone, and toe protection, as well as, good ankle support.  The new blur is TWO ounces lighter per shoe, incorporates the same foot bed and toe protection.  It appears that most of the weight savings can be attributed to the upper material and a little less foam around the ankle. I personally think the foam on the current Blurs soak up your sweat and of course, water when crossing streams, making the shoe feel like ankle weights, until they dry.  They are using more of a mesh material which should also help with drying after crossing a stream or plunging into water filled hoof craters at Psycho Wyco.  I can’t wait to get a pair to try out.

There were also seminars related to the outdoor retailing business that were free to attendees.  We ended up attending the Conservation Alliance breakfast.  We did make some really good contacts for work but that’s not too germane for this blog.  This was one conference I really enjoyed because it enabled me to combine my day job with my trail running passion.  I’m certainly looking forward to next year’s market.

Mill Creek Canyon II – Salt Lake City, UT – August 7, 2008

When out in Utah for the Outdoor Retails Summer Market we found some time to get in a run.  Caleb also attended the market with me.  Of course I wanted to show him the canyon I had explored on my previous visit, so we headed to Mill Creek Canyon. 

 

 

 

I had surveyed the maps and chose a trail that would prove to be challenging.  “Hey Caleb, lets go up Thayne’s Canyon (TR 304), it starts out intermediate with a little advanced and then some expert near the peak of 8,700 ft. Sounds like fun!”  We can come back on Salt Lake Overlook trail (TR 158), an easy switch back where we can let it rip.”

 

 

The first 100 yards was the intermediate section.  From there it was a steep climb, going from 5,700 ft to about 8,600 ft in three miles.  We paused briefly a few times to take photos of Salt Lake (that was my excuse) and some of the interesting features.  We reached Thayne’s Canyon Peak one hour ten minutes later to find that we were definitely not the highest point around.  The highest point appeared to be Mount Raymond to the south listed as 10,241 ft or Gobblers Knob at 10,246 ft to the east.  There were many sections of the trail that were more like climbing.  We found very few sections of the trail that were run-able on the way up but it was definitely a challenging hike (for me anyways).

 

   

 

The way back to the trail head on “Salt Lake Over Look” was all down hill and it was “let her rip with no brakes”.  I always run faster downhill…..as long as I keep the feet moving without tripping.  I must have spent a good amount of the trip back on my toes because I developed a slight blister on the ball of my left foot.  I knew my shoes had loosened but I didn’t want to stop.  It was a great feeling running as fast as gravities pull and banking the turns on the switch backs without loosing the line and eating a pine tree or tackling an aspen.

 

 

We ended up back at the original trail head and went down to Mill Creek to cool off our feet.  Not long for me, about five minutes was all I could take of that very cold water.  We agreed to head back to the hotel to clean up and then go to Park City Brewery for some post run protein and carbohydrates.