Kara Goucher to Oiselle?

Liar amongst us wrote:

Wow, a friend of yours. No conflict of interest there, eh?

Oh, YOU thought the athletes looked a little out of place amongst the buns and crop tops. Wow, you made YOU the decider of what works and doesn't work.

What a waste of words. You own them because, you claim, the owner is a friend of yours and you're goal is to push her product in hopes of a kickback, right?

I'm a billionaire, no reallly! You're a competitive masters runner, right? What a joke.

Kara is not increasing their sales, period.

agip wrote:

wtf is wrong with you? you are way out of line.

Agreed, but it's the LetsRun message boards, so is it really that surprising? This environment cultivates anonymous attacks and trolling.

As I said within another thread, I coach/mentor several women ranging from 23-36-years-old. Most of them are more casual than competitive, although some of them have BQ marathons to their credit. I can assure you that all of them have heard of Kara, most of them follow her career with great interest, and this "target audience" represents quite a bit of purchasing power. Anybody who tries to dispute this is simply trolling and/or out-of-the-loop.

Maybe she's too busy coaching her girls versus worrying about what Kara Goucher is wearing. Who cares if every girl there was EXCITED to see Hasay? Does that make a coach better because he or she didn't educate them on this runner or that runner? You're delusional dude!

youbet wrote:

Kara is too big for Nike not to have an offer on the table. She is out looking for maybe a bigger deal, maybe something to help her husband's run with the best thing. My bet is back to Nike for security.

Remember that Nike also had an offer on the table for Nick Symmonds, but Nick chose to spurn that offer due to contract details.

Uh, since when do Runner's look to stars when selecting their footwear? I buy my shoes based on my mileage and my foot strike. I supinate and heel strike and am prone to hip and knee injuries. I might select shoes based upon information in a shoe guide, but I'm sure as hell not going to buy shoes worn and advertised by Kara Goucher. The entire concept is flawed and drawing parallels between distance running and other sports is inane. Running shoes are not generic - they are equipment and any decent runner selects shoes in the hopes of staving off injury, not answering to some fashion fad. Distance running is not a spectator sport. You aren't going to sell equipment to nonparticipating fans. Foot strike foot strike foot strike.

One of the new 'stars' for Oiselle is Caitlin Comfort out of Wisconsin. She has had a very successful transition to pro running (here is her last year):

2014 - US Half Championship - 3rd

2013 - USATF Road Championship - 11th

2013 - USA 20k Championship - 3rd

2013 - NCAA DI Track and Field Championship - 13th

2013 - Big Ten Championship - outdoor 10k - 1st place

2013 - Big Ten Championship - indoor 5000m - 1st place

It seems like she has found her best distance so far in the 20K/Half range. Note that the 20K was warm and very humid, with the another Wisco alum, Tegenkamp, winning the mens race in >60 min if I recall correctly.

Gimpy wrote:

Uh, since when do Runner's look to stars when selecting their footwear? I buy my shoes based on my mileage and my foot strike. I supinate and heel strike and am prone to hip and knee injuries. I might select shoes based upon information in a shoe guide, but I'm sure as hell not going to buy shoes worn and advertised by Kara Goucher. The entire concept is flawed and drawing parallels between distance running and other sports is inane. Running shoes are not generic - they are equipment and any decent runner selects shoes in the hopes of staving off injury, not answering to some fashion fad. Distance running is not a spectator sport. You aren't going to sell equipment to nonparticipating fans. Foot strike foot strike foot strike.

From the sounds of it you buy your footwear based on what the Fit Experts® at Fleet Feet® tell you to buy. My guess is you are wearing some stability shoe and getting upsold on some $100 orthodic inserts as well. It is probably close to $300 every time you buy a pair of shoes.

By the way, the people working at the running store know who Kara is as well. The pros definitely influence the opinions of some of the salespeople.

Jobby Hogger wrote:

By the way, the people working at the running store know who Kara is as well. The pros definitely influence the opinions of some of the salespeople.

Have you taken a poll?

I have 3 kids who run & we buy a lot of shoes, RUNNING shoes. I am with my kids every time and NOT once has a salesperson shown that they were influencing any of my kids, or their friends who have came with us, by saying Kara Goucher wears these. How stupid!!

I run competitively, aka I've been around for quite some time, a lot of running stores.

Wake up, a lot of them have their shoes custom made, yes custom made. Buying Nike or whatever brand doesn't mean you are supporting a pro.

This board has many people who lack a "normal" level of intelligence. She's not Michael Jordan who had his OWN shoe, she's a has been who is going to influence a very small percentage of female runners...think pebble versus asteroid. No comparison.

My head hurts...badly wrote:

This board has many people who lack a "normal" level of intelligence. She's not Michael Jordan who had his OWN shoe, she's a has been who is going to influence a very small percentage of female runners...think pebble versus asteroid. No comparison.

Runners aren't going to buy the Pegasus because Kara wears the Pegasus, that's true. Even runners who buy the NB 890 aren't buying it because it's Badderly and Barringer's "signature" shoe (does NB still put their names on that shoe?).

Sponsoring athletes of Kara's caliber is all about brand exposure. Having a swoosh on the singlet of the top athletes in the nation legitimizes Nike as a brand and, at a conscious or subconscious level, influences runners' purchases.

Different companies forcus on different things. Adidas is all but gone from the US road race circuit, but if you look at the finish line photos of most major marathons, the Africans winning will be decked out in Adidas shoes and gear. Again, it's not about getting runners to buy the Adios because it's what Mutai wears, but it's to show that Adidas is what serious runners wear and that, when runners think about running gear, they should think about Adidas.

Would love to wear the Adidas but the Boost is $150 and never go on sale. I can get last yrs Nike for 50% off and when you go through a pair every 6 weeks it makes sense to buy Nike.

I agree that Kara Goucher by far is the most well-known female runner by people involved in the fitness industry. There is something she has built in media exposure that ranks her more visible to a larger audience. And Ryan Hall is more well known than Galen Rupp in that area.

I guess more Runner's World covers and other fitness articles.

https://twitter.com/oiselle/status/428595913389387776/photo/1/large

Lauren Fleshman is wearing NB here but then there is a picture of her changing into saucony spikes, so maybe they race in saucony and train in NB

Uh, since when do Runner's look to stars when selecting their footwear? I buy my shoes based on my mileage and my foot strike. I supinate and heel strike and am prone to hip and knee injuries. I might select shoes based upon information in a shoe guide, but I'm sure as hell not going to buy shoes worn and advertised by Kara Goucher. The entire concept is flawed and drawing parallels between distance running and other sports is inane. Running shoes are not generic - they are equipment and any decent runner selects shoes in the hopes of staving off injury, not answering to some fashion fad. Distance running is not a spectator sport. You aren't going to sell equipment to nonparticipating fans. Foot strike foot strike foot strike.

From the sounds of it you buy your footwear based on what the Fit Experts® at Fleet Feet® tell you to buy. My guess is you are wearing some stability shoe and getting upsold on some $100 orthodic inserts as well. It is probably close to $300 every time you buy a pair of shoes.

By the way, the people working at the running store know who Kara is as well. The pros definitely influence the opinions of some of the salespeople.

No way. I can see from the wear pattern on my daily shoes that my feet roll outward. I may have had this confirmed by an Orthopedist or more likely a PT, but I've never had a gait analysis performed at a running store. I wear Asics (that might be brand snobbery) Gel Nimbus because I searched the internet for shoes for supinators and the Nimbus was the Asics model I hit upon... the other suggestions sounded sketchy. I buy the asics online after they've released the new itieration - so I'll by the 14's online for 70 bucks after the 15's have hit retail stores. I'm not some great elite runner. I am a woman and I might flip through a magazine with Kara Goucher on the cover, but I wont purchase shoes because of any endorsement. I wouldn't buy her book either. What a heap of crap her book was. It was a real disappointment for any female runner hoping to read secret revelations about how Kara trains, whether or not she takes hormonal birth control, if she struggles with digestion on long runs etc etc etc. I paged through it in a book store and it looked like some recycled crap for soccer moms who want to try jogging in pursuit of their new year's resolution to drop ten pounds. What a joke.

Or she buys her own shoes and wears whatever works best for her in different environments because she doesn't have a sponsor dictating which shoes she wears?

You really think they're going to get two shoe companies to sponsor them for different training environments?

She ain't no Sharapova. She ain't no SFH or LoLo.

Somebody should hire her on commission; let her sell shoes and jogging skirts out of the back of her SUV. But up front money? She is worth exactly zero. Probably time for her to get a real job.

What's the deal with her neck? She runs with her head tilted back. Must be painful.

R2D3 wrote:

Has anyone told Adam about Alan?

Which Alan ? Culpepper or Webb ?

Has adam ever gotten a job yet? It's been years since he was a runner. Does he work, or is he chronically unemployed?

Supination isn't a real thing. You can buy just about anything and you chose to go with what other people told you to buy. In the other poster's defense, you were influenced to buy a high end shoe that you don't absolutely NEED by people you don't know

da fuq wrote:

Has adam ever gotten a job yet? It's been years since he was a runner. Does he work, or is he chronically unemployed?

NOPe. He's wastin all those years of college edjumicataion