Casey Koza 0:34

Thank you for joining us for this episode of The Hobby Jogger. I am your co-host, Casey Coza, once again joined by my co-host, Mr. Rob Myers. Rob, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I'm doing well. Loving this time of year. Before the humidity uh hits the southeast, it's perfect. It's been sunny today, good temperature. On the trails for a couple hours, the longest since Canyons. So legs are feeling good.

Casey Koza 0:57

Canyons only a couple weeks ago, so that's that's pretty good that you got out there and got some miles in for a couple hours. One week. One week. It's been one week since Canyons,

Welcome And A Canyons PR

Casey Koza 1:06

yes. I guess I wasn't paying attention to when Canyons was. So yeah, appreciate that. Uh yeah, did well out there, you know, set a PR. So what what what did you change in the training? Just more volume?

SPEAKER_02 1:18

So I threw out there and uh I was gonna buy another pair of shoes, right? Just the exact same Mafantes that I ran last year, ran Canyons last year, man. Um the shoe store I went to didn't have any. All they had was the Mafante X. So I did the thing you're not supposed to do, which is run a race, brand new shoes, never run in super shoes ever, and uh ched 24 minutes about my PR. So which I'm old and slow, so I haven't done that in many years. I haven't set a PR.

Casey Koza 1:45

That's that's a massive PR. Congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

No one should do that. You will not have the same results. Like that was a fluke. Do not do what I just did.

Casey Koza 1:54

For sure. Yeah, I I recommend that. It and speaking of shoes, we have our good friend back on the show with us today. Now the proprietor of a uh brand new shoe store, the Aid Station, down in Worcester, Ohio. Mr. Jeremy Pope, thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Appreciate you guys having me again. Love love being on here. Always happy to be back.

Casey Koza 2:17

Yeah, yeah. And love coming down and and and checking out the new store. That's that's freaking awesome. Uh you know, I I I I always try and support the local local stores, uh, whether it's food, um, clothing, and and whatnot. So I was happy to go down and check it out. And thank you for the recommendation

Jeremy Pope And The New Shop

Casey Koza 2:34

on the Diadora shoe, Jeremy. I didn't realize they uh you know made more than a soccer shoe. And turns out they make a really good running shoe. So really appreciate that. Uh great hybrid shoe. The uh, you know, I I run a lot of toe path to the trail and and vice versa. So yeah, that was an awesome shoe. That's kind of the recommendation you get when you go to a local shoe store. So yeah, congratulations on the opening of the aid station.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yeah, I appreciate it. I think um I think it's awesome that you you love Diodora, and I think that's truly what we're trying to do here is lift comp uh small brands up like that. And Diodora's not a small brand, but um, you know, it's like just like you said, dude, I thought they were just soccer. Um Diodora's much more than soccer, and um yeah, so trying to surround ourselves with nice brands that operate like Diodora, you know, um maybe slightly newer, maybe not heard of as much. So good humans in there, and um our buddy Max is the rep at Diodora, so he takes care of us and we appreciate it.

Casey Koza 3:45

Nice, nice. Well, why don't you take us back to the beginning a little bit? What was the inspiration for the aid station? How did we start this journey?

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Wait, um probably I would say maybe six months to a year ago, like the concept was kind of there. It's always evolving, and I'm uh hopeful that it will continue to evolve too, right? Um that's what um that's that's what makes good business. Um so yeah, the idea was just

Why The Aid Station Exists

SPEAKER_00 4:20

kind of a play on ultra running, right? The aid station, you know, a place you can ask 10 people like what is an aid station, you know, and they give like you will get 10 different answers, and they all, you know, it just means something different to every single person. Um and I think that's what's cool as hell about it. So the play on the words is kind of come into life just the way it was visioned. So um, yeah, it's like why not be different? Why not do something different? Um offer something different. I think the space of like run specialty is very, very noisy, I guess. And I think the vision that we've had all along here is like it's exactly what you it's kind of off of what you just said, but um, you know, you like to support local and you like to sort support food. I think a lot of run specialty shops are almost maybe like fast food, where it's like you go in a McDonald's, you've been in one, you've been in them all.

Casey Koza 5:26

Um so I think Yeah, I would I would agree with that. That's uh that's actually a pretty good comparison. Uh you know, you go in and they just have like kind of the basic lineup of shoes, and it's all the brands. Yeah, yeah, they have all the brands, they have all the basic shoes. There's no one there to ask. You know, there's a kid that's maybe ran a couple high school track meets, uh, if you're lucky, and you know, it it you're not gonna get any good information out of him. Uh no one to watch your gate or tell, you know, explain, hey, here's what I want to do, here's my goals, uh, you know, help me build to that. So I I I think for sure there's a space, especially with the running boom that we're in, uh for for a shop like yours, for sure. And and you do more than just shoes, it's not just a shoe store.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

For sure. And I think that's where the it's like there's the fast food side. This is like a restaurant, right? It's it's what it's what we make it as individuals, as locals, as whether we're track or we're ultra running, um the experiences that we bring to the table, you know, um, rather than like this corporate big box model. Um that's that's the more yeah, that's the better view. So fast food over we're a restaurant. So like you can't it's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

I mean, it it invokes something like when you're a trail runner, we've all been there. Like the smaller races, you're out in the middle of nowhere, you haven't seen a person in forever. And then I see an aid station, and they're like, human being. So we'll give me water and I can ask questions when the next aid station is. Did I make the cutoff time? It's just such a good feeling, you know, and they're always smiling and they're always happy. So that name just I mean, that's what it invokes for me. I'm sure it's different for everyone, right? When you go to the aid station. But I love that experience of being lost in the woods, and then I finally get to see somebody, you know, and they just they have all the information, they know everything, and they can give me food, and it's just a nice reset, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah, absolutely. Um, it's always fun to hear people explain like their aid station, you know, and that's that's what we're trying to embody. And it's like some people will say, like, it's a place I just sit down, yeah. And that's so we've we've made it a place like there's tons of seating, and like have a seat. Um come in, come in mid-run, um, meet up for a run, like just kind of like a soft landing space, right? Most it seems like those, you know, the bigger box stores are um it's just very transaction-oriented, and it's just like yeah, just not that soft landing you're looking for.

Casey Koza 8:18

Yeah, like I said, you you tell the kid, hey, I wear this in a size 10, you try it on, you step around a couple times, and you're out the door. And and there's really no one to talk to and no one there that actually knows what they're talking about. And I'm not talking about like the small shoe stores, I'm talking about the box stores, like Dick Sporting Goods. I don't mind bringing up the competitors because they're not really competitors to you because

Curated Shoe Brands Over Big Box

Casey Koza 8:37

you know they don't have the same brands that you have. You have Mount to Coast, you have Diadora, you have AN, you have uh Norda, which I I I I also purchased a pair of. Like those are those, you're not gonna find those brands anywhere. And they're quality shoes. Like they're they're great shoes. And I I hopefully peep more people get to experience them and kind of get out of just wearing the big two brands or three brands, I guess, um, which is I would like to see more of um so that they have competition so that they have to go back to making quality shoes again, not just, you know, whatever it is that they're making.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Um, but yeah, like it just kind of gets it gets super watered down, right? And it gets stale.

Casey Koza 9:22

And I think the shoe space there, um, but before Norda, before Diodora, you know, satisfy, which we'll talk about in a little bit, before these brands came in, that it was stale. Like there was some innovation, especially on the roadside for sure, with plates or whatever, super shoes. But I don't know, it just all it kind of seemed stale to me and the the quality kind of of dropping. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm super pumped for like a boutique store like yours to come in and hopefully put pressure on those other brands to to step their game up. And you gave me that that great pair of Nordic shoes, and I I would have never tried that pair of shoes on if I didn't go into your store because I there's nowhere for me to try it on. Like Mount to Coast, very similar. They've run this massive online campaign. It is tough for people to buy shoes, I think, if they can't try them on. You're the only store that I know of that has Mount to Coast to try on, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

There's there's definitely um Mount to Coast is blowing up as they've gone from just being direct to consumer, now they're they're definitely going wholesale, like pretty, pretty hard. And you'll see by the end of the year, like they're gonna be um, but they're also struggling with um distribution at the moment. Like the H1 for Mount to Coast is really, really hard to get, and not knocking them in any way. I'm just stating the facts there. But it's like they're they're very new, you know, they're three years old. So I think that's what's really fun for us is like if we can be on the forefront of these brands where um Norda also is in that boat, they're four years old, so it's like if we can be on the forefront of helping them get their name out there, and we're um you know, we're a shop that can offer like a different experience to a customer that can see that shoe, try that shoe on. And that that goes all the way down to like pieces of apparel too, right? Um, whether it be you know, a shirt or um socks or whatever it is.

Casey Koza 11:24

So yeah, yeah. And it's yeah, you you do need to be able to try it on. And I I know one thing that we've talked about,

Trying New Gear Without Guessing

Casey Koza 11:31

I joke with you a lot about is satisfy. And I know you guys are a uh satisfy shop. Um, one of the first, other than the the scary basement Rob and I went into in the middle of nowhere, France. You're the first satisfy shop that that I have seen. And that's another I I I don't what do you even call that kind of brand? I'm not sure. It's like it is a boutique brand, high-end like designer. Would we call that a designer running brand? Yeah, I mean yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

It's like when um fashion and running meet kind of right, the marrying of the two. So yeah, I mean, and it's really cool. And like you were in France, and it's um yeah, it's really cool. Satisfies another brand, they're European, so it's like sizing is just a little bit different, you know, whether it's a unisex fit shoe or whether it's you know, a um t-shirt that's a small in women's versus a small in men's, and it's like it could be it's a to that's a totally different fit than our American small, right? Um, yes, yes.

Casey Koza 12:42

They're the euro sizing is much different than the American sizing. And uh Rob, I don't did you try anything on over there? Not from satisfied, just in general.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Oh, yeah, in general, yeah. Yeah, it definitely feels a little different.

Casey Koza 12:57

Um little tighter, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Yeah, yeah. I think if you were carrying around an extra 20, you'd you'd notice it.

Casey Koza 13:03

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. But it it it it you know, I I don't want to say I give you a hard time. I joke with you a lot about satisfy because you see the memes, but it it's a brain, I and I really respect those guys because hey, they're they're just doing something different. And it is fashion. It is kind of a fashion statement. They're uh I I sent you a picture of the collaboration they're doing with Adidas. I think that's awesome. And and I I'm I'm kind of excited to to see what they do. I I guess it's a Mothtech Adidas shirt.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Um there's still

Satisfy Gear And Adidas Collaboration

SPEAKER_00 13:56

other stuff in the works. I'm I don't even know like what is known or not known, but yeah, that that saw satisfy it's just like the three stripes logo Moth Tech with the holes cut out in that. So it's gonna be really cool. There's other stuff, and um I think it's like multi-part over into 2027, so it's gonna be really, really cool.

Casey Koza 14:21

Yeah, and that's I I think huge for that the the brand of Satisfy to partner and collaborate with uh with a brand like Adidas, a known brand like Adidas. It lends a lot of legitimacy to them. Also, uh sponsoring Molly Seidel, another big step for the Satisfy brand. Did you see any uptick in Satisfy sales after Molly signed with with Satisfy?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

No, not necessarily. Um that's a huge sign for them, and it's really, really cool, I think, for the sport sport. I think it's really cool for Molly. Um and I think it's it goes to show like she's a person that um maybe be can be misread almost, where it's just like she's she's different and like she's really really rad and she's doing her own thing and like satisfies all that, you know, and it's like I I'm glad that they finally they finally got that thing done. Um he definitely has other sponsors, you know, and Koros and Morton. So it's it's really cool for Molly.

Casey Koza 15:28

Yeah, yeah. She's she's uh you know, uh new. She beat Rob at the the candy at 50k, so that was pretty cool. Yeah, it wasn't by that much, I think. Yeah, look, three three hours, Rob? Oh yeah, definitely in the hours. 330 or something, something ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

She was back home, showered, and had two meals in by the time I finished.

Casey Koza 15:50

But it's it's awesome to see a brand like that. And and then they're in turn selling at your store. And uh, you know, we talked a little bit before, but there's gonna be some boutique offerings um that they that they have, correct? With with Adidas and Satisfy that'll be only available. I I'm gonna say it's I'm gonna draw a parallel here, like the record store day. Rob knows about record store day for sure. Um, where there's just, you know, these the record companies will say give just the record stores these special opportunity to sell these limited edition records or whatever. So I'm I'm I'm guessing that's a similar vein to that that they're gonna have for the smaller shops and not the like box stores.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Absolutely. And it's yeah, you're absolutely correct. And Satisfy operates that way too, where it's like they don't want their product just showing it's satisfy as well as other brands that we have in the store. Um they operate in a way that they don't want to just launch their products in every single store, right? Like they don't they don't want it if it's going to be in a store, they want it to be intentional, they want it to show up, and they want people to be able to see it in a store. That's where the brands have been excited to come to the aid station. They're just like, you're telling me my my brand could be with a shoe, with um shoe brands that's not 15 deep or 20 deep on a wall. You know, it's like if somebody has an e6, they have new balance, they have brooks, they have Hoka, you know, like the list goes on and on. Being very intentional with the brands is um, I think that's where that this maybe this third wave of you know similar stuff to that we're doing. So more a little more boutique and um curated, if you will. Yeah, it's better for the consumer.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Less is more. Because you walk into uh a big shoe store, like I don't know. So I end up buying the same thing over and over again because when I go outside of that lane and try something else, I don't think of it as much. So I'd like to have fewer choices, like new choices, fewer choices, people that know what they're doing. So I can walk in and say, you know, from scratch, I don't want to compare it to anything that I've run in. But let me tell you the type of runner I am and what I'm doing and what I like, and then go with something new. Because if I have to pick it out myself, it's just there's too much. There's too much to choose. And it's not cheap. So you feel like there's a lot on the line, you're gonna spend a couple hundred bucks and then you buy it and you don't like it, you know. So I like less there's more people there that know what they're talking about, but you can kind of try something new and move forward versus 35 different pairs of shoes on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Well, and if you can be steered in the right direction, it's it's the similar situation to like a bike store, right? You just start cycling, or you've been cycling for a couple of years, you go in for a new bike, unless you are completely dialed in on all the things about bikes, like you're completely overwhelmed, right? So you're you're walking in there looking to them. These are what I'm the things I'm doing, these are my goals, this is where I've been, this is where I'd like to be. You're hoping that they'll steer you, you know, and um sometimes it's it gets into your wallet a little more than maybe you want to, but like um, you know, there's the value added piece, I think that's um really, really fun there.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Well that's huge. I mean, the fact that you know I'm making that comment, and obviously the three of us are way deeper into running than even the average runner that shows up and runs, you know, two, three, maybe has their kind of their anchor race for the year that they want to they want to hit. It's it's tough.

Casey Koza 19:44

Yeah, and and also, Rob, that not just only shoes, but when it comes to the nutrition aspect of running as well, it's I I you could Google forever and just get lost completely and have you can spend two hours trying to figure it out and have no idea at the end of that two hours where you're going. Where I can go into the store, talk to Jeremy, um, and a couple, you know, his associate that works there, Leon. Uh guys have guys or girls who have actually done it. And hey, here's things I like, here's things I don't like. Tell me what to do. Right, Jeremy? And I know you uh what are the nutrition products that you you're currently carrying at at the aid station?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

We honestly um, you know, playing off of the aid station name itself, like we have a lot of nutrition, and we're continuing to add too. So like just added never second. People are really excited about that. Never second's making this push that's

Fueling Advice And The Carb Craze

SPEAKER_00 20:45

it feels similar to precision. You know, they're both kind of like cycling companies, that's where they came from. And they're they're looking to the ultra boom, and they're just like, this is where we're gonna be. So they're signing athletes, right? They're we have precision, we have uh never second. We have the staples in Morton, we have Knack as well, like the full lineup of Knack from waffles to their hydrogel um drink mixes. We have hyperlite drink mix.

Casey Koza 21:18

Ah, the hyperlite guys, I like those guys. That's that's cool. Yeah, I that's that's that's another brand we should have on the show because those are just yeah, it's like another small little brand that hey, that's that's you know, we want things to be different. That's who we need to support. Brands like Hyperlight. I'm glad you guys have them. I I didn't even think about it.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

So that's I think it'd be cool if you guys if you guys talked to them. They're really rad dudes. They started in their house, you know, like stuff up in the in the garage, and like they've come really, really far. I chatted with those guys at TRE for a long time and then saw them at Black Canyon again. So we'll we'll definitely look to like stay at the front of that nutrition side as things evolve. I think the you know, the carb world, it's this is like the carb craze.

Casey Koza 22:07

So yeah, yeah, the carb craze is is the carb craze is a craze.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

It's but I think it goes I think it goes further than just ultra running and running in general. I think you know, I think athletes across the board from high school to college and even post-collegiate, like they're under field. So there's the products that we're using as runners, I think um they could it it has value to them and they don't know that.

Casey Koza 22:36

Yeah, no, it it does. Um, you know, I I don't know if I've told you this story, but uh a very good friend of mine from back in Pittsburgh's niece is a swimmer, and they were having some issues like fueling basically. And I was like, Well, here's what you do um get the never second drink. Mix, drink that 45 minutes before time to swim. Pop one of the caffeinated gels 10 minutes before you go go in the water. And sure enough, she she's at like a three-second personal best in one of the strokes. I don't know. But I I agree with you. It's it's not just running, it's cycling, swimming, any kind of endurance sport. I think people are probably way underfueled.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Absolutely. I mean, that goes to soccer, right? Like, you know, soccer, it's you're looking at two hours, maybe more. Um lacrosse, it's the same thing. Like, um there are some girls on my on Holly's team that they're taking gels, you know, at halftime. And it's like they've seen the second half of their you know, their games like improve where they're not are they tired? Yeah, they're sh they're tired, but it's like they're not completely gassed out, you know. Yeah.

Casey Koza 23:50

I mean, I I saw our our good friend Will Walmsley, uh, you know, sucking down gels at halftime at rugby games. I was like, Will, what the f are you doing? What are he's like, oh, this is an energy gel. I was like, energy gel at halftime? Like, he's like, Oh, yeah, it has whatever many carbs. I was like, that's stupid. And then, yeah, sure enough, I was wrong again, Rob. Who would have guessed?

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah, well, you could see yep, the science continues to get better, the technology continues to get better. I mean, think about boxers, right? How many rounds they have every time they sit on the stool, you can see them like sucking on the gel and pop back up. They got the energy until the next round. You know, the applications are are there really for multiple sports. Sports we're not even talking about today.

Casey Koza 24:32

Yeah. And and again, I I I I want to tie it back just to the knowledge that you get at a store. Like if you're struggling with that, like go into an aid station, the store, and talk to someone like Jeremy. Like, how many times have you bonked in a race, Jeremy, over the your course of your career?

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Too many, too many. Way too.

Casey Koza 24:54

Too many, right? Yeah. It's you've learned so many lessons. And you just, you know, if you're starting out, you've run a couple races and you've Googled, like, yeah, go into the aid station and have a conversation with you or or whoever's at the store, because you I I feel like you only employ runners, so that's that's a good start. But yeah, go in and talk to you about like 10-minute conversation. What do you do? Like, oh, I you know, I eat the waffle, I eat the the gel, the the drink mix, whatever. But you have this resource. Uh, I I just I I want to see more people start to go use you as a resource in in the small running stores. Um, I think they would see improvement in what it is that you know, that whatever their goals are in trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, I totally agree. I and I appreciate that. That's definitely the idea. It's like it is a space where anyone can land, whether you are starting out walking, you know, to running a hundred miler, whatever it is, like it's it's a space where you can come and land there.

Casey Koza 26:00

Yep. I don't think that's stressed enough. Is yeah, you have shoes, you have great shoes. You have the Norda, the the Mount De Coast, Diodora, and on. You have the satisfied clothing, you have all the nutrition. But what you also have that these other stores don't have is knowledge, is experience, is repetitions doing these things that someone wants to do. And it's okay to learn from people. I've learned from plenty of people, mostly this show, uh, in the people we've had on, you included. But I just I think that's just such an underutilized thing where people will like they'll post on Reddit or something and just talk to like the dumbest human beings imaginable on the internet rather than go down to their local running store and actually get real information from real-world experience.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Other things that we're doing too is like we have a we have a 3D foot scanner. We can 3D map the whole entire foot, you know. We also have a wahoo kicker treadmill. So it's like we can scan the foot, we can throw you on the treadmill, like we can get super, super deep into it. And we're very, very happy to do it.

Casey Koza 27:10

So I didn't know you guys had the Wahoo kicker.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Yep.

Casey Koza 27:14

That must have got there after me, huh?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yep. We're I mean, the place is changing daily. It's it's really, really cool. So yeah, yeah.

Casey Koza 27:23

And I'll be I'll be down soon soon for another pair of shoes for sure. You know, and you know, we gotta get get our stuff together for the Laurel Highlands Ultra. Hopefully you're still running that. Um six weeks, shit. I should start I should start training for that, Rob.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah, yeah. Training starts tomorrow.

Casey Koza 27:40

Yeah. Tomorrow. Yeah, training starts tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah.

Casey Koza 27:43

But uh no, hope and and hopefully you'll have uh some sort of presence out there because that is, you

Store Tools Foot Scan And Treadmill

Casey Koza 27:49

know, kind of uh the the old school uh trail race, kind of what you guys are are designed for. Um so hopefully there's some sort of something in the works out there. I don't know. I maybe I'm I stepping on something I shouldn't be here with this question, but you know, because I I don't actually have any direct knowledge. I I only send Dan memes and pretty much just bullshit with you with memes, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Dan and those guys are great. I um there's nothing in the works, but would happy to be at times flying by the seat of my pants with this baby only being open like uh I guess we've only been open six weeks, so it's what do you it's like you roll over and then you crawl and then you walk and then you run? Yeah, yeah. We're still probably in the crawling stages, but um that's exciting.

Casey Koza 28:40

Nice. So do what what kind of plans do you have when going forward? Is there anything like close on the horizon? I know you said crawl, walk, run. Uh I live my life by that. Um, what would you say is uh anything coming up? Exciting?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Not too many things to necessarily throw out there right yet. Um, we'll be at some trail races locally. Uh we're gonna set up some shops, just kind of pop-up shop um at some local races. And which ones? A couple are still in the works, but we'll be at the Mohican 100. Sweet. We'll have shops out there. Um nice. So that'll be first up. That's the end of the month.

Casey Koza 29:20

So you gotta pick like a tough section and just set it up in the woods and just really charge people an arm and a leg for water, gels, and just shaking them down. Yeah, shake them down. Hey, we yeah, we take uh vet mode, don't worry.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Yeah, eight fish and toilet for ten dollars a roll.

Casey Koza 29:37

Yeah, yeah, there you go. Uh yes, that's awesome. We'll

Races Pop Ups And Coaching

Casey Koza 29:40

see you at the uh the the Mohican 100. Uh friend of the show, friend of yours, Alex Phillip, running running a hundred miles there.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

So it's gonna be insane though. I'm also training quite a few athletes at the moment, and like I'll have some athletes out there, and it's it's I'm looking forward to it. Alex, yeah, those guys uh they invited Will and I next weekend to run down at the lube. So I'm gonna try to bring a couple parachutes and try to throw on those guys so I can keep up. Nice, nice.

Casey Koza 30:13

Well, that's awesome. You're uh I didn't know you were you were training athletes. Who who do you got?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I have quite a few people. Um, just local. There's just like locals, quite a few, just newer people. Uh a couple people from Ashland. There's a kid that's triathlete. People are kind of stumbling into me and they just want help. And um I'm excited to help people.

Casey Koza 30:37

Yeah, I'm glad I really emphasized that point of you know the aid station being able to do more than just sell you a pair of shoes. So uh yeah. Yeah. Glad I caught that cue, Rob.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Yep, one stop shot.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I know I'm always happy. Yep. I like good humans find good humans and they tend to, yeah.

Casey Koza 30:57

What when is Mohican? I I should feel like I should probably stop down there and May 30th is the same thing. May 30th. I got a wild end. That's right in the middle of the taper, Rob. You know, don't want to stress myself out too much.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

So I'll have my buddy uh Liam, who works at the store. He's running the rabbit raccoon 100k. So he's looking uh he's looking to push himself. Um I'm excited to see it.

Casey Koza 31:22

So yeah, Liam, Liam, good, good dude. Saw him down there at the aid station when I when I popped in and talked some uh running with him. So yeah, yeah, good dude. Good crew down there. Um looking forward to the races that you're races that you're sponsoring and really looking forward to just coming down and trying out new shoes that I wouldn't necessarily ever try. Right, Rob?

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I'll be in Ohio the end of May, June time frame and making my way over to PA. I'll definitely stop by not to load up for the year because I don't make it up there enough.

Casey Koza 31:59

I'm looking forward to it. That'll be awesome. Get get a stop at the Jaffpa, the Justin Other brewery. Good, good spot there as well in Worcester, Ohio. Yeah, yeah. So again, Jeremy, I'm really excited for what you're doing. I think it's awesome. I hope and really am asking that the local running community support you because you are what we need in running. And great, you you save six bucks on a on a pair of shoes from freaking Amazon. That's terrific, or whatever you buy your shoes. But you want the knowledge, you want the people, and you want the businesses to remain, you got to support them. And I do understand that means you have to maybe drive to the shoe store and and purchase it and and get some knowledge. But you know, I'm really hoping that people do that and take advantage of the resource that's there.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Don't be lazy. It's too expensive. It's an investment, you know. Go down and talk to somebody, make sure you're getting the right pair. Because if you see too many closets, I won't mention my wife's closet. That has way too many shoes. So so many of them was I went out for a ride and uh they're okay. I mean, I may try

How To Support And Where To Find

SPEAKER_02 33:12

it again. I know they're gonna stay in the closet. They're never gonna make it onto the payment again.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Go talk to the experts. At this moment, it's like we just people need people to know like we're here and um where we are. So like we're we're on the square in downtown Blister. You're also on Shopify, correct? Yep. So we have uh website aidstationrunning.com.

Casey Koza 33:37

Yeah, because I'm I I got your the uh the Shopify pulled up currently. Um so yeah, also also on the internet. Um so yeah, you guys can be lazy and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah. You can be lazy and still support us, but we definitely want you to come in and sit down and have a snack.

Casey Koza 33:58

And yeah, and and I ask you to, like, yeah, because that's what you should do. Um if you want the the correct things, not just something we're off the internet and personally. So um, yeah, Jeremy, we we certainly appreciate it. You know, uh we look forward to supporting you for a long time to come and gonna do our best here at at the hobby jogger to to help you out any any possible way we can.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

Yeah, appreciate you helping us get the word out. The aid station, official shoe store of the hobby jogger. Go to the website if you live far away, buy your next shoes. You're gonna do that anyways. You know, everyone has those moments where you're lazy. The official shoe store of the hobby jogger.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

So, Jeremy, where can our listeners find you? You can find us on Instagram at at the aid station running, or you can go on our website. All of our products are there as well, aidstationrunning.com. Locals can find us 131 North Market Street, downtown Worcester on the square.