Gettin' Dirty for a Good Cause

As the official outfitter for the Jax MS Mud Run for the second year in a row, we attended the event Saturday with a single mission in mind: to talk to folks we outfitted and ask, "What worked? What didn't? What can we do better for next year?"

Holy Blisters! There were alot of 'em out there...however, once we talked to people with them we quickly learned that they fell into 1 of 2 categories: 1) They didn't break in their boots, or tried to the day before the race; 2) They wore cheap wool or cotton socks. Now, we won't say we are the only place to get this type of quality gear, but we will say "We told you so!" :)

Okay, so that might be a bit childish. Yet, we did stress to ALL of our customers the importance of breaking in the boots weeks before the race and wearing a quality merino wool sock. Why merino wool? It's designed to wick away moisture and lock out sand/dirt in a way that cotton simply can't. It's not that we wanted to sell you a specific sock--we decided 20 years as a company that we wanted to help our customers--not just make a buck.

What we learned: After 3 years, we have again affirmed that our basic, $25-$45. jungle boot works really well for this event. They are inexpensive and easy to break in and come equipped with these great drain holes to let the water out. You can easily hose these off and use them again (Yard work, anyone?) but for just $25 bucks, you won't feel guilty if you don't. If you want to be as comfortable as possible, go for a full tactical boot. They're super lightweight and also don't hold alot of water. By mile 3, these will feel like your favorite Nike's! We've got a huge selection in our store--so we were totally prepared for those last-minute weekend warriors who burst into the store just hours before their wave time saying, "....Um, I'm doing this mud run thing. Can you help?"

What we can do better: We had a huge inventory about 8 weeks before the race. Sales were steady, but by 2 weeks before the event, we still weren't ahead of sales projections---so we thought we were solid. However, the amount of registrations for this event was unpredictable: we brought in 2 full shipments in the last week and STILL ran out of most sizes in socks and jungle boots the day before the race. We just didn't anticipate so many last-minute runners coming in after packet pick-up. We also plan to bring in a camo pant just for the ladies--this was a big request. There will be a few more cool things---but you'll have to wait and see. Be prepared, Jacksonville. Next year, the deals will be bigger, better and dirtier.

We had a blast helping everyone get ready for this event. Thanks Jax! Congratulations, to team Army Navy Outdoors for winning 1st place in the corporate category for the second year in a row! You made us proud yet again!