Since this is a year in review blog you have to excuse my lack of brevity in my post. As I type this it is still hard to believe it’s been a year since we opened our doors. Some days it feels much longer and some days it feels much shorter. Time has a way of doing that I suppose. A 4 mile run sometimes feels longer than a frisky 10 miler if you are not in the right head space. This past year has been filled with so many ups and downs on a professional and personal level but at the end of the day one thing has stayed the same – I love coming into the store every day. The sense of pride and joy this place gives me has not waned one iota since day 1. There have of course been days that are harder than others but it still has yet to feel like work to me. I get to come in and talk about running. I get to search out items that I think are beneficial and bring them in to be available to the community. How fun is that!
A few highlights of the last year I’d like to mention before I get into the hoopla that will be occurring at our anniversary party. First was the time I went into daycare with my son and he told his teacher that his daddy owned Run Moore and she should come buy shoes. That made me chuckle and he was excited to tell her about it. Second was my experience with the Carroll Biz Challenge. When I entered I thought we had zero chance of even placing but I thought at the minimum it would be a way to introduce the store to new people while we got trounced by the field. I got so much out of that contest and not just because we won. I am very happy that I get to be a gold sponsor of this year’s event and I can’t wait to get up and share my experience with the audience at the final. Last highlight I want to mention was my little beginning running group from the fall. While it was not the largest group we certainly had fun and the progress that we made was outstanding. The group all ran the Burke Memorial 5k in November and everyone finished. There were even a few tears shed at the end watching everyone cross. That’s what running is all about!
With the anniversary coming up on August 22nd I wanted to do something as a thank you to everyone who has helped us get here. So, we are going to have a daylong celebration! We are going to have a group run at 10:00am, a cookout in the parking lot, demo shoes to try from Newton Shoes, cupcakes from a local bakery, free prizes and more. The coolest thing we are doing is our Run Moore balloons. What’s a Run Moore balloon you ask? Great question! We have partnered with over 20 local businesses to provide gifts for our customers as thanks for the support. So, let’s say you buy a pair of shoes on the anniversary. Not only will the shoes be on sale that day but you will get to pop a balloon and inside will be a gift certificate for at least $50 to a business around town. Maybe it’s to a restaurant in town, or a massage or even for a tattoo at the famous Little Vinnies. PLUS every purchase of shoes comes with a pair of socks from one of our sock vendors. You also don’t have to buy shoes to be able to play. If you spend at least $50 you’ll get to pop a balloon for at least $25 gift certificate somewhere. I think it will be a lot of fun. Imagine buying a pair of shoes that retails for $120 but on our anniversary sale you can buy it for $102 plus a free $13 pair of Swiftwick socks and then you pop a balloon and walk away with $50 gift certificate to Johannons? What a day!
So, what do we have planned for year two? We are going to be doing more events. Not only in store runs and such but we are involved with a ton of races already this fall in both the planning and timing. I hope that we are doing something each week to help increase our footprint in the market. It still frustrates me when people stop in that live in the same area code as us but they did not know we were here and just found us by happenstance. Year two we want to be synonymies with all needs running. One way beyond the races we are hoping to achieve this is the creation of The Run Around. The Run Around is a weekly health and wellness show that will be airing on WTTR beginning in September. It’s a half hour show that will of course feature running related information but also just overall health. We have a bunch of guest’s lined up already ranging from personal trainers, physical therapists, masseuses, nutritionists and coaches. There is so much information out on the internet about what is right and wrong and it seems like what you read today that you should be doing will be backtracked tomorrow. We hope to steer our audience toward what we believe based on our experiences is the correct path. We will also be able to take questions that get sent in to us prior to the taping of the show.
Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter. I enjoy putting these out each month and I am always shocked and thrilled when I talk to someone who mentions something they read here. I know my contributors are as well. We put a lot of time and energy into these and it’s awesome knowing people are consuming it. Thanks for making the last year so amazing and see you out around town.
