I am once again on a team and I think I’ve landed on a really good one. I have joined forces with Seven Hills Running Shop in the Magnolia neighborhood in Seattle and with owner Phil Kochik. While my past running groups have been more focused on the speed of the track and the consistency of the roads, my new team is all about the ultras and the trails. This is a perfect fit as I’ve migrated over the past couple years towards the longer events and my racing calendar for 2014 is quickly filling up, mainly with trail ultras.
Early on, I’ll likely be doing a lot of solo training as the team grows, continuing to work on my aerobic fitness on the track while mixing it up on the trails around Cougar and Squawk Mountains as well as the store’s home turf out at Discovery Park. There are organized runs down at the shop every week and there has quickly developed a sense of camaraderie at the little local shop that has only been open for a little more than a year so I look forward to meeting more of the Seattle running scene soon.
In addition to sponsoring me by helping out with my race entry fees, I will also be testing out new gear and shoes and then writing reviews for the Seven Hills Running Shop customers. I will post my reviews both on Urbyville and on the 7 Hills site.
I’m looking forward to my first race wearing the Seven Hills gear coming up next weekend at the Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival. I’m running the 50k as a final tune up to my season’s key race, the Rocky Raccoon 100.
So cheers to the new team. I’m pumped to be part of a group again and I look forward to representing the shop out on the race course soon!