Have You Checked Out Sierra Trading Post Lately?

If you're an outdoorsy kind of person, then you've probably heard of the Sierra Trading Post. Owner Keith Richardson founded Sierra Trading Post® in 1986 in Reno, Nev. The company purchases name-brand overstocks and closeouts and passes savings on to its customers—selling dress, casual and outdoor clothing, footwear, home furnishings, accessories, and gear at savings of 35 to 70 percent.

I was recently surprised and delighted to discover that Sierra Trading Post carries a nice selection of running trail shoes as well as some road running shoes. The variety is not as vast as you might find elsewhere, but what they have is offered at 25%, 35%, and even 50% off the regular retail price.

I also discovered that you can't beat their great customer service. Customer service is a huge part of their business model. In fact, if you happen to need a customer service rep, you won’t have to punch in any numbers and you’ll get to talk to a real person! I was amazed!

Sierra Trading Post sent me a pair of Saucony’s Progrid Guide TR2 trail running shoe. I’m a big Saucony running shoe fan, so I was really excited. I'm not a huge trail runner, but I received the shoes really quickly and have been running in them for a couple of weeks now. As a trail shoe, they're really good, especially if you wear a stability shoe. They provide a nice wide base for a secure foot plant, a roomy toe box, and the design of the lugs on the bottom of the shoes prevents sticks and other debris from getting stuck in the tread while on your run. I've even worn the Progrid Guide TR2s on some road runs, and they did great. While there is a newer version of the shoe available (the Progrid Guide TR3), it's hard to beat the $69.95 price for the TR2s that Sierra Trading Post is offering (the shoes originally sold for $100)!

So, if you have some more holiday gift-giving to do, be sure to check out Sierra Trading Post. Also, be sure to enter the next RunnerDude's Blog Contest that's being sponsored by Sierra Trading Post!

Contest!
Sierra Trading Post will give away one free pair of the Saucony ProGrid Guide TR2 trail running shoes to one female and one male in a contest drawing. To enter, simply send an email to runnerdudeblog@yahoo.com with "Sierra Trading Post" in the subject line. Then be sure to include your full name in the body of the email. Just to be on the safe side, also include "male" or "female" beside the name, especially if it's a name that can be used for either sex. The email entries will be accepted through Saturday, December 18th. The emails will be sorted into male and female piles and each email will be assigned a number in the order that it was received. The True Random Number Generator will be used to select the winning male and female entry numbers. The winners will be announced on the blog on Sunday, December 19th.

Note: While Sierra Trading Post, did provide the trail shoes for testing, I received no payment for writing this post nor was I encouraged to write a positive post. This post simply represents my experience with Sierra Trading Post and the trail shoes I tested.