Run Better. Run Healthier. Run Alta.

Through this mantra we are out to help the average middle of the pack runner, of which I am at the heart of. I am able to communicate with this group, understand what they deal with on a first hand basis, and provide a level of communication that is directly at each of us. My time is spent among the elites so I know how you think, but I am in the middle of the pack so I know what we deal with and desire. We just want to get out and run more and enjoy it!

On the way to he puppet show I was told by my 7year old that the Tooth Fairy and Santa are not real. It wasn’t like the upset type experience I expected, but more like a 14 year old just explaining to me how it all works. It was a different twist. Really made me see how mature my little girl really is. She is growing too fast for me. I need my babies to stay my babies!

Nice to be out with them and hang with them. I need more time talking with my sweet kids!

It is great to be able to go out and be active with my beautiful bride. She has certainly challenged me. Last year I did two half marathons, one with her, and three Triathlons. It certainly adds a great element to our marriage to be able to do these things together. It is somewhat challenging still with 3 young children that need care when we do these things. Sometimes we resort to the Chariot, but with 3 that can be a certain challenge.

Tonight we were able to leave them with my little brother and head out on a 16 mile canal run. My longest run to date was 14. Hers, well, she has done a few marathons, so not much new to her. She was certainly there to encourage me however. It is great to be out with my wife and do something together that we both love, something I love now and she has loved for years. Hitting 16 came with a few struggles, but for the most part it felt good, and feels even better to have accomplished it!

Hitting 16 to me is an incredible accomplishment! Going beyond that barrier at 15 has a lot to play in mentally and physically. I am grateful for such a supportive wife and a great company that keep me motivated to excel. Zero Drop Shoes and Altra Footwear have given me a running life back.

The great pursuit has now brought us to this point now today. Over the past 9 months we have been in conversations with Icon Health & Fitness, the owners of NordicTrack, about a purchase agreement of our company. Well after a very up and down 9 months we signed paperwork today and they will finalize it tomorrow! The deal brings about the backing of a very large fitness and wellness corporation that is used to marketing and bringing products to big box retailers. We now give them a niche into the small, specialty retailer as well as a unique shoe concept that can be marketing into the next style of running shoes. We are really excited about this opportunity and look forward to making a lot of shoes for many years to come!!

Pictures Atop the Pages

Facebook has now added the images feature on business pages that they had on personal profiles. Here you can click an X to eliminate a picture from the screen. Your most recent pictures will show up random images, with a preference given to the most recent images.

You can now comment and “like” as yourself

This is personally my favorite new feature. Facebook had always had it that the admins commented as the page, and recently made a change to where when you as the admin “liked” a comment it showed up as the page instead of yourself. Well, they have now made it so you can check a box in the settings to turn that off and now you can comment and “like” as yourself on the page you are admin on. LOVE THIS!! I can now make my Facebook pages much more personal as well as business discussion! Do beware that when you have this turned off and are not in page mode then you will not get to post updates as the page and they will not show up in your fans’ news stream.

Popular Posts

Facebook now has made your wall relative to not just most recent posts/comments, but to most popular as well. Do be aware this may affect placement of your fans’ comments so you will want to monitor this.

Post as Your Page

You can now post updates, comments, “likes” etc throughout facebook as your page. So you have control to comment on friends, like their status, surf through Facebook as your business page. Just click the new button to the right.

There are some great new features here with this Facebook update. I would check em out, take the tour, and consider switching over. Everyone will be converted in March now anyways. Happy Social Networking!

In today’s world there are so many options available to market your business, both large and small. What though tends to be the best? That is the great question.

Let us explore what options are currently available to us and dive into the pluses and minuses of each. We will also define each avenue and look at some costs.

Traditional Media

Television: It is really going the way of the dinosaur (well advertising on it anyway). The infomercial still goes strong, but for the small business the cost often will no longer justify the result. With so many people watching television online, or on a DVR there is just not much of a place for the small guy to invest his entire marketing budget on a few ads on local television.

Radio: You can still reach some audiences. Talk shows tend to be the best, but many radio stations are struggling. They are not getting the audiences they once used to. Many people have flocked to Satellite and HD radio. Those at least that aren’t plugging in their iPod’s, MP3 players or even mobile phones into their car to listen to their self created playlist or podcast. If you use this medium be smart about timing and show that you chose, but there may be better values to your marketing dollar.

Newspaper: Do they still distribute these? You will have better luck advertising on their website than in their daily or weekly paper. I think people only still get the paper for the coupons so if you have good coupons then you may be okay with this. A per page ad? Probably not.

Billboards: If you are trying to get someone to exit the freeway to visit you, probably. If you are trying to get them to remember your 18 character web address, not likely. Too many of these are not bringing the right conversion, because as much as we text and drive we will not write a billboard phone number or especially web address while going 80 on the freeway. Be careful about how you are doing this. You will reach a lot more people in vertical press or online where your customers frequent.

Mailers: Most are tossed, unread, and disposed of. Again, the value of coupon has to be pretty good. These are often sent to a random recipient, not a specific targeted audience, other than just zip code. Look at mediums that allow you to target better. Restaurants can get away with this if the special is attractive enough, but for most of us it is not usually the return we would like, or even can get elsewhere.

Vertical Press: Can still have some validity, but not near as much. However, I think with the iPad and other tablets this “old” media will become new again. There are applications for these devices that can make it feel like you are reading the actual magazine, just in a digital format. There is an added power to this because your ad can be hyperlinked to a landing page on your website geared specifically to that ad. Newspapers could also take on this as well in the future. Until that is more mainstream it will be a struggle to justify a lot of this as a first or second priority.

Modern Media

Website: A web presence is key in today’s day and age. It must be mobile device and tablet compatible as well. This does not mean you may have to have 2 sites, but please people stay away from flash, or at least set it so their is a replacement for flash. Apple and Blackberry do not support it and currently they control the mobile market, plus there is no SEO value to flash anyway. So why bother?

Pay Per Click Search Engine Ads: There is a serious waste of money to this medium. However, it is extremely valuable at the same time. PPC has to do solely with how you are doing it. Google drives a lot of clicks to websites that are not prepared. It is like calling a girl for a date and then her totally forgetting you are coming and she may need an hour to prep, or worse may not even be there. This happens all the time with a PPC campaign. The client clicks on the link and it takes them to a page with no relevant content and worse no way to get in contact with you. Trust me, they are not going to search through your site just to find a way to call you. They WILL go back and find someone else. Please folks, use landing pages to gather contact information. These are valuable leads. You should know, you paid for them.

PPC Web Banner Ads: Same as above applies. These though are not search engine specific. They can be very specific content as you can target these based on keywords or key sites that are relevant to your business. Use them wisely as sometimes they can cost more than their search engine counterparts. Know your budget and your cost per click before you go into this full boar. Facebook is become a strong candidate for this space as well.

Future Media

Mobile Advertising: I mentioned one aspect of this above in Vertical Press. I think there is going to be a lot more of these type of opportunities come our way with the onset of 4g networks, iPads, tablets, mobile smartphones, GPS units, and more we are about to see. This will range from checking in specials opportunities like with Foursquare, Twitter & Facebook mobile ads based on GPS. Web ads, Local Listing services, Mobile browsers and more will have a big play in this space. Google and Bing are looking every day at ways to capitalize on this space and they will open doors for the business like yourself to put this to use in a powerful fashion.

Social Networking: This is already out there, but is ever evolving. The greatest benefit for most businesses is it is all about referrals and networking. For many businesses, the strongest customer base comes from word of mouth. Also, if you are not involved you probably should be, because the greatest detriment to business is word of mouth as well. More people share their feelings on Twitter than anywhere else. Are you aware of what they are saying about your brand? Even if you despise the social network and have no desire to advertise on it (you may be missing out on a huge opportunity if you fall under this group) you should at least follow up to see what people are saying about your brand so that you can either reinforce the good, or combat the negative. We have seen over the past year a couple huge brands completely redo their image based on what has been said on social networks. The top on the list is Domino’s Pizza. They were a dying brand, but never really knew why. They got into social media and started listening to what people said, ran campaigns, asked questions, and now what is going on? They have redone their image and are constantly working to improve it. That is the power of a social network in business.

GeoTargeted GPS Based Ads: This one is not available as far as I know of, but I do not see it as too far off. Right now if you listen to Pandora or some other online radio their ads are often targeted based on your IP address, so what is to say that as we are driving in our car that advertisements will not be tied to our current GPS location? As well we could see this on our phones in both Mobile Twitter/Youtube/Facebook as well as Google Maps & Point, etc. As something along this realm comes to fruition it will bring a great validity to these advertising methods as it will provide information, discounts, or advertising based on where you currently are. For example, if I were driving past a Starbucks at 9am an ad may come on my mobile device for $1 off a mocha, or at lunch time near Panda Express I get a 2 for 1 deal. There could be apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm to sign up for such a service to text a deal when near a subscribed location. Wow, I am thinking up some great ideas, maybe I should get someone to program it for me. Anyone want to partner up?

I first saw Brian coming off of Big Mountain down to the aid station at mile 39. He was looking great! It was fun to witness many runners come through with their various methodologies, attitudes, and excitement towards the race. The aid station was a neat experience to see. Next, we met him at the Lamb’s Canyon turnoff where I would take over pacing him until Millcreek’s Dog Lake Trailhead. This stretch went from mile 53 to mile 61 and Brian states that it was his hardest stretch.

Climbing the road up Lamb’s Canyon to the turnoff was much longer than we thought and it was a gradual constant uphill as well. There were a couple of times we wondered if we had passed the turnoff. Well, we never passed it and were able to find it.