Friday, April 1, 2011

Sponsorship

Today I signed on the dotted line. Officially being sponsored by Saucony (hence all the new shoes lately!) and it is a great feeling. All the long runs in the cold and snow, the blisters and black toe nails and the snot hanging from my beard has paid off. They approached me after my last ultra, a third place finish, and began the contractual stuff on Tuesday.

The contract was kind of odd. I've never done this before and was a little taken back. They said I can never wear any other product. That I must wear only Saucony shoes, socks, tights, underwear (?), shirts and shorts. I think it even says hats and such as well. My basement is filled with boxes and clothes. It looks like a yard sale!

They also found out I'm a teacher and said (in the contract), that I must "talk up" Saucony products and push them onto all my students. Weird, but ok.

Money for travel is also involved. They are giving me $1,000 every month to travel and race around the country. This quite possibly be the coolest thing. I've always wanted to see the country, now I have the means to do it.

I guess Saucony works with Gu because they sent me a bunch of this stuff too.

Finally, the contract stated that if I finish out of the top 5 I would be discontinued as a sponsored athlete...ouch!!! Maybe I should step up my running volume!!! I guess this will be more motivation to run hard and with more focus.

As for training today, no running. About 5 inches of snow fell and I thought we would at least have a delay. No such luck. So I missed my running window in the morning (had to shovel!) and decided to play badminton for a few hours (don't tell Saucony...I will have breached the contract if they knew I was hitting the shuttle cock around...contract says no others sports to be played except running!!!)

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Shane! Do you know what April 1st is...?

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  2. Aww I've been duped. :(

    Considering your fast performances though, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get some sort of sponsorship.

    Have you ever heard of Sherpa John (sherpajohn.blogspot.com)? He's done a ton of interesting runs, although he's not really all that fast. He is sponsored by a bunch of companies. They're not all generous but some do pay for race fees and gear.

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  3. Don't worry Shane, I was had many times by my students at school on Friday. Something about students and their teachers on April Fool's Day.

    I've read SJ's blog quite often over the past few years. He actually just wrote a post, maybe a month ago, about how to get sponsored. I've been thinking about contacting some companies who's products I use...every little bit helps these days.

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