First up was an Arc’teryx Demo/Group run on Monday evening. The weather turned iffy, and the run was delayed due to precautions over lightning strikes in the area.
Eventually the run went off, although delayed, and slightly shorter. It was my first time running out in Olympic Valley on the Broken Arrow / Western States courses.
What stunning scenery and terrain! First glimpse of Lake Tahoe on this trip.
I got to try out the Arc’teryx Norvan LD 4 (“regular”, non Gore-Tex version). I was completely shocked by how different, and BETTER it felt compared to the GTX version.
Check out my off-the-cuff Demo/Review straight from Palisades Tahoe! I might have to see about more extensive testing as this shoe felt really great underfoot!
Official Day 1 of TrailCon kicked off with a big On Group Run up the Escarpment. Cloudultra Pro was on offer for everyone to demo, as well as other new On models.
I ran in the test pair which I raced 108K in 10 days ago. Space for toesocks anyone?
Pastries, coffee, and a DJ up on the Escarpment!
Check out another quick video from the run with some more guest runner reviews and shoe talk:
Morning sessions were highlighted by panels on the State of the Trail Market, Media and Golden Trail World Series coverage, and the Creator Economy.
Also a bit of details on the design process that went into the new Cloudultra Pro.
I’m hoping to catch up with Sergi from On and Jeff Colt for some more details tomorrow.
Fan mode activated - had to grab a front row seat for the athlete panel. Looks like someone also has good taste in shoes.. Or maybe someone from Hoka just gave them to him too.
Finally, Happy Hour sponsored by On, with a somewhat condensed “Western States snack course”.
And a coyote just chilling next to 7-11 (thankfully, not part of the “snack course”)
See you tomorrow for Day 2. Morning group/demo runs with On and NNormal, Vendor Village, and a LIVE podcast with some guy Kilian.