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| HTI 50 Mile Trail Run |
This is going to be a multipart or potentially long a$$ blog update. At the HTI 50 miler this past weekend, I got to talking with a fellow runner about the team and realized that beyond the facebook group, I have not been marketing too much with the team.
Let me start with Outrun (Ohio Ultra Trail Runners) which began as a group of about 6 runners (Laurie C, Radames C., Chris B., Crystal B., Kevin T.) one morning while we were knocking out a long run in Holden Arboretum in Kirtland Ohio. We ran along thinking that there was a great local road running club, NERC but not a group of Ultra/Trail Runners. We played with acronyms for a while and came up with North East Ultra Trail Runners.....Neutr. Yes, Neutr....just like it sounds. We liked it, it was funny and quirky, but with the hopes of taking this a little further than shirts and group runs.....we eventually had to grow up just a little. I brought the group to the internet and printed shirts, started organizing group runs.... Long story short, we ended with OUTRUN. I grabbed a website and here we are....about 110 members in the Facebook group and a 23 member Ultra Running team. All this in about 6 months. Just for reference, we are just beginning. My ambitions do not stop with a series of group runs and race kits.
Team OUTRUN: Let me explain about the team. I am neither an elitist socialite nor athelete. I have been more than moderately sucessfull as a soccer player (div champs / college soccer), lacrosse player (State All Star), cyclist (Cat. III / II), triathelete (competitive AG & OA), and now runner (happy)...sorry, let the ego run on that one.....My family and work have and always will come first and although I have had opportunites in the past to take sports further, I have deferred to a professional career & family path. I literally love to train, I love the process of putting in challenging efforts into workouts in less than favorable weather conditions. Perfect weather is great, but in NE Ohio, it's hard to come by. I am not an elite marathoner, nor will I ever be but I love the process of training, the experience of pushing yourself alone or in a group knowing that 99% of the world is not working as hard as you but that there are a bunch of other people out there in that 1% that love the same process.
My goal with creating the team was to create an atmosphere where people who put in the effort, dedication, and passion for trail/ultra running regardless of how fast (or slow) they can do it, can all come together and share that passion and enjoyment on the trails. As far as I could tell in the running community around where I live, there was a gap for a running club and even a team. Outrun was born.
We partnered with Fleet Feet a few months ago and Pearl Izumi to provide our race kits with designs that I literally drew in MS Paint in my spare time. I have been abusing Pearl Izumi products for as long as I was racing bicycles competitively. To this day, I have shorts that I still wear after literally thousands of miles. I was really happy to see that they had entered the running industry a number of years ago. We have not been disappointed, we went with the FLY Pro collection and it literally is the nicest fabric I have ever worn. Printing on the shirts / jackets is to be completed tomorrow and we are all anxiously awaiting.
Let me start with Outrun (Ohio Ultra Trail Runners) which began as a group of about 6 runners (Laurie C, Radames C., Chris B., Crystal B., Kevin T.) one morning while we were knocking out a long run in Holden Arboretum in Kirtland Ohio. We ran along thinking that there was a great local road running club, NERC but not a group of Ultra/Trail Runners. We played with acronyms for a while and came up with North East Ultra Trail Runners.....Neutr. Yes, Neutr....just like it sounds. We liked it, it was funny and quirky, but with the hopes of taking this a little further than shirts and group runs.....we eventually had to grow up just a little. I brought the group to the internet and printed shirts, started organizing group runs.... Long story short, we ended with OUTRUN. I grabbed a website and here we are....about 110 members in the Facebook group and a 23 member Ultra Running team. All this in about 6 months. Just for reference, we are just beginning. My ambitions do not stop with a series of group runs and race kits.
Team OUTRUN: Let me explain about the team. I am neither an elitist socialite nor athelete. I have been more than moderately sucessfull as a soccer player (div champs / college soccer), lacrosse player (State All Star), cyclist (Cat. III / II), triathelete (competitive AG & OA), and now runner (happy)...sorry, let the ego run on that one.....My family and work have and always will come first and although I have had opportunites in the past to take sports further, I have deferred to a professional career & family path. I literally love to train, I love the process of putting in challenging efforts into workouts in less than favorable weather conditions. Perfect weather is great, but in NE Ohio, it's hard to come by. I am not an elite marathoner, nor will I ever be but I love the process of training, the experience of pushing yourself alone or in a group knowing that 99% of the world is not working as hard as you but that there are a bunch of other people out there in that 1% that love the same process.
My goal with creating the team was to create an atmosphere where people who put in the effort, dedication, and passion for trail/ultra running regardless of how fast (or slow) they can do it, can all come together and share that passion and enjoyment on the trails. As far as I could tell in the running community around where I live, there was a gap for a running club and even a team. Outrun was born.
We partnered with Fleet Feet a few months ago and Pearl Izumi to provide our race kits with designs that I literally drew in MS Paint in my spare time. I have been abusing Pearl Izumi products for as long as I was racing bicycles competitively. To this day, I have shorts that I still wear after literally thousands of miles. I was really happy to see that they had entered the running industry a number of years ago. We have not been disappointed, we went with the FLY Pro collection and it literally is the nicest fabric I have ever worn. Printing on the shirts / jackets is to be completed tomorrow and we are all anxiously awaiting.
Nuun: I have been using nuun since I found it at a bicycle shop about 2 years ago. I wish I had contacted them sooner. I have been opening salt tabs and pouring them into my bottles the night before races, putting the little pills in ziplock bags, only to find out that I could simply drop these little nuun tablets into my bottles to get a little flavor (or a lot) as well as my sodium & potassium. I have lost the pills, run out of them, gotten to an aid station 4hrs into a run to find all the ecaps gone. Oh well, lesson learned and now my appreciation is that much higher. Nuun sponsored our ultra team and we are on the verge or receiving our product just in time before the Burning River 100mile Endurance Trail Run next month. This pic of the nuun tattoo is after 50 miles of trails (Hauling Illegal Trails 50 miler) on Saturday. I set a personal record, and technically won the event....but it wasn't a race. If it was, I would not have won, there is always someone faster and I am very okay with that.
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| Nuun in my veins!!!! |
My Created Races / Events in 2011:Lake Erie Snowshoe Championship race at the lake Farmparks in February.
Bi-Park Challenge 25, 50, 75K
10k / 5k Trail Race - Sept. 10/11, tbd.
We've got a lot going on and a lot of great runners doing great things. The next event hosted by a team member is by Laurie Colon for Impossible 2 Possible (I2P) on August 13th that is a fundraiser for I2P. This is just all such positive stuff, I can't get enough! We are running literally to raise funds to provide opportunites for other people!
out for now....z
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