They were a pair of white shoes, with blue and yellow accent colors. I honestly can’t remember which model they were, but I remember I felt pretty fancy in them. I had never owned a pair of running shoes and these ones felt good and looked good, and that was enough for me. They were the first pair I ran 5 miles in, then 8, then 10, then 13.1. They helped me reach distances that I had never imagined running, and they were a pair of Brooks.
Since that first pair, I have tried on and ran races in several different brands. If you have followed or read this blog regularly in the past you know that for the marathon distance my go to shoe was the ASICS Kayano. But over that last couple of years, my variety of shoe choices had been narrowed down to two brands: I wore ASICS for longer distances and Brooks for practically everything else. I was a man between two brands with heart for both.
In 2015, I started working occasionally with the Brooks brand. We worked on some projects to celebrate Global Running Day, and we even helped promote a zombie commercial—starring THESE two friends (why is that zombie smiling?!?).
The way that the brand interacted with the running community was different from what I had seen before. They celebrated the community in a way that I connected with and the Run Happy tag was just something that made sense in what we do, or more importantly HOW we do it.
In 2016, the Brooks shoe started becoming a stronger staple in my running. I found a model that I felt really comfortable in (Adrenaline GTS) and I was incorporating it into longer distances. But most importantly, I was becoming more attached to what they were doing with the community, especially though social. Towards the end of last year, I was offered a role in their Run Influencer program for 2017 (think Brand Ambassador) that was previously reserved for elites and coaches.
I’m excited to officially be partnered with a brand that believes in the community, its influencers and does it in a way that is fun and enjoyable. Running can be fun, and I’m happy to share that message.
There will be a lot of exciting things coming this way for 2017 and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Let’s get after 2017 and RUN HAPPY.
What’s your motto for the year?
Congrats!
Welcome to the club! I hope you enjoy working with Brooks as much as I have this past year – such a great brand and team of people! High fives from brooklyn!
Congrats! I love Brooks shoes; have been my only brand for the last 5 years. I too flip flopped between ASICS and Brooks; the Kayano was my favourite shoe. But I tried Brooks Adrenaline, and that’s what I wear now.
I loved their Pure Project shoes when they first launched, and I just ordered two new pairs of Brooks to add to my rotation ’cause they’re an industry OG. (Clearly everything I learned via Experticity is fresh in my head.) Congrats, boss man!
SO exciting. I love Brooks Running shoes, and their whole philosophy. My mantra is Run Happy Dream Big :)
http://www.breathedeeplyandsmile.com
So freaking cool – excited for you!
And PS – I just like smiling. Smiling’s my favorite. Even as a zombie.
So pleased to hear this! Congrats. It has been an honor for me to represent their brand for the past five years and you are absolutely right that they are sincerely and truly an amazing company with amazing people that care about runners. Everything they do is focused on improving the run. Hope I’ll get to meet you next month :)
Congrats, so happy for you, and very deserving. Brooks is the only shoe I run in since I started running about 10 years ago.
You must be beyond excited for this opportunity. Congrats to you. Best of luck.
This is amazing and well deserved!!! Congrats to you!
Congratulations! That’s awesome news.
Great tips for this one, thanks. What running app do you guys use for marathon training? I’ll stick to my SportMe running app which calculates distance, pace, time and calories and adjusts running plans to my progress.
Wow, this is amazing. Congratulations to you!
I personally love Brooks. Since I trained for my first half in 2014, I’ve been wearing Brooks. I even purchased two pairs of the same Brooks Transcend shoe in 2015 when I trained for the Philadelphia Marathon. That’s how much I love their product. It’s almost helped give me the support I need for my feet and I don’t suffer with shin splints any longer.