This was it, careening face first down a 45 deg slope of Blencathra I figured I was probably going to end up in the hospital, or worse. The thought occurred to me at that time that the traction on the new prototype trail racing shoe probably wasn't adequate for the current conditions on the fells. The 6mm lugs just weren't going to cut it in the 3 inches of wet sloppy mud that presented like a greased slip n slide. Down I went. 10 meters, 20, 50, 100 meters face first on my belly down a fell to kick off the week. Starting off right! And wet.

Well I'd love to give you all the top secret details from spending this last week in the fells testing new shoes, seeing prototypes and discussing the future of running, and who knows, I may accidentally slip a few in, but for the most part you'll have to keep an eye on the Salomon teams feet in an upcoming race or social media post to see what's coming. 

As many of you already know Advanced Week is an opportunity that few other athletes get no matter what level of sponsorship they may have with a company in any other sport. The commitment to the sport of running and outdoor adventure and pushing the bounds of what we do is untouched by anyone else. It continues to amaze me how much Salomon can and wants to push the envelope. Are there flops, absolutely, but you're not falling down once in a while you're not getting any better. The mountain running one piece speed suit for example didn't get an overwhelmingly positive response when it debuted at advance week a few years ago. 

After the announcement last year that we would be in the Lake Disrrict for this years Advanced Week, I've barely been able to contain my excitement at visiting the birthplace of mountain running. Don't get me wrong a Mediterranean vacation to Mallorca was a trip of a lifetime but after years of warm weather advanced weeks, they realized that we don't get to fully push the products in the environs they are meant for. And I was all for it. 

First, the fells. A few years back I read "Feet in the Clouds" by Richard Askwith (highly recommended BTW as long as you're ready to book your next vacation running in Northern England) and ever since then have been draw towards the fell running culture. It's certainly not your big city road running culture, nor any other trail running culture I've experienced. It's been around for well over 50 years, staying roughly unchanged in its small corner of Europe among the fells. A small but dedicated community of very hardy folk organize weekly (and sometimes more) races, gather in a farmers field or town square, point for the top of a nearby fell (a hill by some standards, a mountain by others), someone says "GO" and the mass of 20, 50, or 300 even set off on the quickest path to the top. Once there, it's pretty simple, they come right back down. No markings, no fixed route. Just to the top and back. Easy! That's fell running. 

As Advanced Week approached this year I got on the Internet and started my search for a fell race hat would conveniently fall during the time we would be in Keswick. It just so happened that it would be the classic Coledale Horseshoe race. An 8.5mi, 3800ft of climbing, circle of the Coledale valley atop the high peaks surrounding it, thus, a horseshoe shape. Classic! This was my type of racing. Balls to the wall all out effort for about 60min. Soooo much fun. I think it's hard to describe the feeling of running swiftly across a ridge line with land dropping away from you on all sides, rough rocky terrain underfoot, chasing another runner in a vest and shorts across the landscape. The pull of your eyes to the vastness of the landscape, but the necessity for your concentration to be on the task at hand might you end up with a face full of rocks and mud. On this day, it wasn't about the win, it was about the experience that I was living. My first fell race, competing against some of the Lakeland's best. The mud, the climbing, the crazy descending, the community of local everyday fell runners, and the history. Amazing! 

And the obigatory trip to the pub for a pint after the race couldn't be missed! Proper English pint of cask ale in a proper English Pub. Does it get any better? 

That was a truly awesome part of the week along with so many other experiences. Once again Salomon impressed me with the new products coming over the next two years and the projected outlook of the pipeline. Of course I can’t give any spoilers but the Sense 6 line up (yes, line up) is sick. Best ever!

As I was careening face first down Blencathra I was in the middle of grip test of a new shoe. It wasn’t quite the right venue chosen for the test as I was super impressed with the shoe, but not under these conditions. It’s a shoe that will come out and I’ll be doing a lot of racing in.

I get to run with folks all the time but it’s hard to describe the fun of running with some of the best runners in the world that also have that same playful mindset while running. That’s what makes Advanced Week so fun. It’s not about training or competing against each other but about the time you can reconnect with some old friends doing something ya’ll really enjoy doing. Hopefully you saw some of the Facebook videos of the week. I think that mentality comes across in most of them.

We also work together, but don’t always agree, on what the best way to build a shoe may be. S-Lab products are build for us, sometimes specifically, to get at what will work best and help us race and compete up to our maximum potential, but what one person wants out of a Sense shoe may not be what another athlete wants. The clash of opinions has to be difficult for the designers to sort out what is going to be best and which direction to go. For example, the toe scoop on the new Sense 6 is great for me but for others it feels like too much but it’s finally a shoe that I feel like I can really race in. It’s a cross between a road racing shoe and a trail shoe. It’s one that has always felt a bit flat to me and hard to get up and go with even though I’ve always loved it. We debated that feel for quite a while in a development session.

It’s also obvious to me that I come at the development process with a bit different perspective since I’ve been a buyer in retail. I look at what I want and weight that against how specific that is for the general consumer. I’m always getting confused in these sessions because the designers are always asking what I want, then I think about it from what will be the best for a consumer and they’re often totally separate. We have similar needs to some extent but often the athletes aren’t thinking of durability of the lugs or that I’m a toe striker but the shoe is more designed for a heel striker. It’s just not going to work for me like it does for everyone else, but if you ask me what I want, it’s at odds with what the main consumer of the shoe is going to want. It’s a constant battle but one that helps develop the best product by asking the questions that most designers never get to ask the athletes.

Well, I think that’s long enough. I’m going to wrap it up.

All in all, I had the most amazing week in the Lakes. Met some great locals that showed us around their amazing trails and fells and made us feel welcome in their home. It was awesome.

Thanks to Salomon for providing the process to make the very best product and pushing the envelope of what’s possible.

Thanks to Phil, Martin, Mark, Alex, and all the other local guys that helped show us around for the week.

Thanks to Keswick for hosting us and providing a trail (and road) runners paradise to play around in.