no it’s not my Running Room, it’s the St. Albert Running Room…

I became a sales person in 2014 after 35 years at CN Rail – what a reality change!.….then on Oct 12th 2015 I became thee manager, and well, on January 1st of this year, semi-retired again and back to the future? a part time sales person without the DMC Delorean….

Yeah, I’ve taught clinics since 2006, yep, my life has become divided by 10 and 18 week intervals….almost constantly, cause, well I have no life?…..but if I didn’t love it, I would have, right?

But……..I pretty much have been a Running Room person since I walked through the doors of the Callingwood store in 1995……..

It hasn’t always been a fantastic relationship…..

I don’t always agree with some of the things we do…and as manager, it’s no secret that I attempted to make our store different…..yeah, still a Running Room, but, I always wanted a store was less a store and more a meeting place, and a place that supported everything, every event, every group…..we tried to make it OURS….the St. Albert Running Room.

I didn’t really accomplish that, but we did manage to build some of that, we had a great crew surrounding us….a lot of our own events…..but, well, the COVID closure changed a lot of that, and the ongoing COVID thing has taken a lot of wind out of the sails …..will it come back?

I stepped back, well, because I’m old, retired, and really I don’t need to be at the store 6/7 days a week…..We’ve built a really really awesome team…the staff, well, runs……U of A track stars, a triathlete who competed on the world stage, and now does that on bikes, a ringette star, and yeah, we all do what our customers do……and we all have connections……

Better yet, after maybe a false start, we now have a fantastic manager, a runner, that a lot of you know, Dawn!!!!!……………….so this store rocks again!….A Sinister 7 vet, a Trail Sister….how cool is that…..a lotof you know her, know where she is…..COME VISIT!…..cause, we’re nothing if not social….we love people coming in to visit, say hi, talm what we’re all up to, talk running training races and what’s new in what’s new!

We’re getting there……

There seems to be an on-hold as far as events or clinics, or ever Run Club is concerned…which is making my head want to explode…our run club was so cool, and huge, a large group of friends…runners, and walkers……they shopped here……..and they all joined in whever we did anything…..

So, okay, if no run club, why not support all those groups that fill our streets and trails?

Hopefully that happens…I mean, we have Park Run, November Project….heck, why not the Run Collective…….there are so many groups, so many people, so many of us…..all those social runners…and those runners, that just run….fill the store and our social posts supporting, everything and everyone…..make that a thing!

It’s no secret that I’ve tried to quit the Running Room numerous times (the last count was 8) I’ve always been talked out of leaving, or something’s changed my mind……..but, almost 8 years, and I’m still here, and as invested as ever…I’ve seen a lot of changes, we’ve (as in our store) we’ve always managed to make a lot of great connections….Orange Theory, SVAC, FX3, F45……I wanna make more….if only at our store, why not…..?…..we’re part of that community, the way it should be!

I wanna bring back Run Club somehow, in some form

…our Callingwood Run Club used to I think have a lot more to do with those in it, than just that Running Room store….we at some point even said, even if the Running Room had closed, we’d just keep meeting ….(there was a real fear that when the WEM store opened that Callingwood would close, and then, well, the WEM store closed)….I’d like to believe that our St. Albert crew would be the same…..

and yes, I am selfish, if we run here, we’ll shop here, and what we carry will reflect that…..if triathletes shop, we’ll get more swim stuff, if we have runners wanting more specific gear, we’ll get that……..so there is a strategy…..more racers, more (or any) rail shoes……GEAR!

Is this a vent?….nah, just more of like my Warren’s continuing story…….

our Running Room..and yep, I have a few things ongoing…

a Candy Cane run.…..I’m thinking of a date and a starting point…I kind of like MacKinnon Ravine at night, maybe start finish at Govt Hill Park?…..and a New Year’s Day in St. Albert……..why not?….it doesn’t have to be anything to specifically to do with the running room (the store will be closed, so pee before you leave home?) ..but a fun 5K (more or less, if I figure out the route?)

But……well, I think I’m also wishing on a star…all I know for sure is, well…Park Run tomorrow morning, if I can drag my butt out of bed in time…..and well, today it’s off to the Running Room at 1, Dawn will be ther, so maybe we’ll see you there?…or at least this weekend?