February 2009

Hi Folks!

In January I spent a week in Dallas, Texas at the annual Fleet Feet Winter Conference. It's a great time to come together and share creative ideas with some of my professional peers. It's also an amazing opportunity for me to learn about the new products soon to hit the marketplace. It's fun, exciting, and completely exhausting all at once. But most of all it further validates my decision to be a part of the Fleet Feet family.

Fleet Feet Sports was first opened in 1976 by amazing athlete and ground-breaking business woman, Sally Edwards. She had a vision about her passion and broke through the boundaries of the time to make her dream a reality. Running was still in its "obscure" phase and the idea of a woman opening a store for "joggers" was far-fetched. Nonetheless, she pulled it off. Now, some 32 years later, Fleet Feet exists in 90 locations throughout the country. Relatively speaking, it's a small franchise, but good things come in small packages and this is no exception.

At the end of my first week of business back in January 2008, the store phone rang as I was working late into the night. I was surprised that someone would be calling after 11:00 pm but picked up the phone as if it were midday. I knew the southern twang on the other end. It was the CEO of Fleet Feet Sports, Tom Raynor. Mr. Raynor was calling from the Fleet Feet headquarters in North Carolina to congratulate me on my first week of business. I had barely said thank-you when he quickly asked why I was still in the store. I figured the answer was obvious but he interrupted my verbal stumbling and told me, bluntly, to go home. He said that if I planned to be in Aptos any length of time that I needed to work smart and enjoy the ride. In less than a minute the conversation was over and as his words reverberated in my head I realized that I was a part of something. A community. Mr. Raynor's message that night became a mission statement for my business.

Just last week one of my staffers, Michelle, was freestyle-running in Nisene Marks when she came across a plaque hung beneath a bridge. It's not posted where one can read it when casually walking across. Instead it's most noticeable when navigating beneath it. Its inscription reminded me of what Mr. Raynor said to me last year. And honestly the words came (again) at a perfect moment - a time when I was getting too caught up with work and losing sight of what's truly important. Funny how things happen that way. It said:

"I come to run the race, not to finish, but to enjoy the
renewed friendships and to participate in life."
-John Lewis, Distance Runner

Enjoy yourselves. And don't lose sight of what's most important to you.

Keep on keepin' on.

Tom Griffen