This is a busy weekend for us. In addition to attending Expo East in Toronto, PureFit will be participating in the 25th Annual Sports Authority Sports & Fitness Expo, which is part of this weekend’s Portland Marathon.

How is it possible, you may be wondering, for us to be in two places at the same time? It’s easy… we have an amazing group of employees who always go above and beyond to promote the world’s best-selling wheat- and gluten-free sports nutrition bar. While I will be north of border handing PureFit’s participation in the Canadian Health Food Association’s Expo East event, Jason Stockstill from our Sales & Marketing department will be in Portland helping The City of Roses’ runners get ready for the Portland Marathon.

If you’re in Portland for the weekend, be sure to stop by the PureFit booth in the Sports Authority Sports & Fitness Expo, located in the Ballroom / Exhibit Hall of the downtown Hilton Portland and Executive Tower, and be sure to hello to Jason and his lovely assistant, Natalie. (Natalie, by the way, runs Beyond Fitness where she proudly sells the complete line of award-winning PureFit Nutrition Bars.)

For a complete list of PureFit’s Portland, Oregon retailers, please use our Online Store Locator / Where to Buy tool.

In just a few days, Canada’s largest natural and organic food industry tradeshow will take place in Toronto, Ontario, and PureFit Nutrition Bars — which are sold in more than 300 stores throughout Canada — will be there.

The Canadian Health Food Association’s (CHFA) Expo East (October 2-4, 2009) is expected to draw more than 3,000 traditional and natural and organic grocery retailers, pharmacies, online retailers, and more, all of whom are interested in stocking their shelves with the healthiest products available.

To me at least, the Canadians appear to be well ahead of the U.S. market in terms of carrying wheat- and gluten-free products. My experience is that our neighbors to the north do not tolerate the kind of crap we Americans allow in nutrition products. Unlike us, Canadians demand clean products, which is why PureFit is doing such a booming business north of the border.

The Canadian Health Food Association, the largest trade association in the country for the natural and organic products industry, organizes Expo East. A trade-only event, Expo East takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, and features an educational conference (October 2) and trade show (October 3-4). CHFA is celebrating 45 years this year, and PureFit is excited to be part of the equation.

For a complete list of PureFit’s Canadian retailers, please visit our Online Store Locator / Where to Buy tool.

Despite the fact that we’re living through one of the worst economic recessions of our lifetime, the U.S. nutrition market grew 8.7% to $101.8 billion in 2008, according to the latest research from Nutrition Business Journal, while the nutrition bar category alone grew 3% to $2.2 billion during the same period. Why should this matter to you — someone in the market for a healthy nutrition bar to give to your family or to use for yourself if you suffer from Celiac Disease or a wheat or dairy intolerance?

While the natural foods market has grown to gigantic proportions, so too have your choices in the nutrition bar category. Sadly, not all of your choices — heck, hardly any of them — are actually any good for you or your family. That’s why it’s so important that PureFit attends industry conferences and trade shows like Natural Products Expo East, which take place this Thursday through Saturday at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Mass.

Last year, nearly 26,000 retail store owners and buyers, along with members of the media and food manufacturers, attended Expo East. The show’s healthy attendance echoes the continued strength of natural and organic products like PureFit Nutrition Bars. For PureFit, a show like this is yet another opportunity for us to meet face-to-face with people who make decisions about what you are able to buy in your local grocery store.

For a list of local PureFit retailers in your area of the country or Canada, please visit the PureFit Online Store Locator, which is sure to grow after Natural Products Expo East. Also, if you happen to be in Boston attending the show, stop by and see us… PureFit is located in booth number 1263.

IDEA Health & Fitness Association — the leading membership organization of health and fitness professionals worldwide — is holding its 25th Annual World Fitness Convention this week in Anaheim, California, and PureFit will be there exhibiting in the IDEA Fitness and Wellness Expo Hall.

More than 23,000 personal trainers, group exercise instructors, fitness program directors, mind-body teachers, health club owners, and fitness center managers belong to IDEA, and an estimated 5,000 of them will be in attendance at this week’s 25th Annual World Fitness Convention.

Over 150 exhibitors from the industry’s leading fitness and wellness companies — including PureFit — will be represented in the IDEA Fitness and Wellness Expo Hall, located in the Anaheim Convention Center, August 12-15, 2009. Best of all… the Expo is free and open to the public, and anyone who is able to attend will get an early look at all the newest and most innovative fitness equipment, apparel, and nutrition products from top brands like PureFit Nutrition Bars, Reebok, Nautilus, K-SWISS, Rio Wear, Under Armour, Skechers, and more.

For more information, see the 25th Annual World Fitness Convention website, and be sure stop by the PureFit booth if you make it out to the IDEA Fitness and Wellness Expo.

Question: What do you get when you combine 2 Honda Accord EX-L V6 sedans, 10 forklifts, 30 tents, 35 garden hoses, 578 portable toilets, 1,040 trash boxes, 5,000 volunteers, 14,400 bananas, $220,000, and 1,146,000 disposable cups?

Answer: The LA Marathon, of course!

As you can see, it takes a lot of people and resources to support a 26.2-mile race on city streets, including great companies like PureFit Nutrition. If you’re running in Monday’s 24th edition of the LA Marathon, be sure to stop by and see us in booth # 1138 during packet pickup, which takes place alongside the massive Run/Ex/09 Exposition at the Los Angeles Convention Center on both Saturday and Sunday.

Admission to Run/Ex/09 is free and open to the public, so even you are not running in this year’s race, you can still benefit from meeting Team PureFit in person. Stop by our booth (# 1138) for samples of the award-winning line of PureFit Nutrition Bars, great deals on our products, or just to say hello.

Run/Ex/09 Expo times:

• Saturday, May 23: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Sunday, May 24: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

The race itself is run on Monday, Memorial Day (May 25), and if you like watching road races but cannot make it out to watch in person, it’s your lucky day. Coverage of this year’s LA Marathon is considerably expanded, with the NBC4 television broadcast being streamed in its entirety by UniversalSports.com, and a first-ever, play-by-play radio broadcast that will air on TalkRadio KABC 790 AM. In addition, the Marathon itself will be providing live race tracking and provide a live Twitter feed all during the race weekend.

I’m over in Phoenix, Arizona, today and tomorrow for the 6th Annual P.F. Chang Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon & ½ Marathon. Like I do at most road races, I’m here to meet and greet our customers; share samples of our wheat-, gluten-, and dairy-free nutrition bars; support race participants by answering questions about running-related nutrition; and, hand out samples of the award-winning line of PureFit Nutrition Bars.

Unlike other events I attend, this one allows me to spend time with my old friend, Todd Crandell, Founder and Executive Director of Racing for Recovery, a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation that aims to prevent substance abuse in adolescents and individuals and offers running as a positive alternative to those currently battling addiction.

Todd’s connection to Race for Recovery’s mission is best told through the following story from ESPN:

If you’re in Phoenix for the race, you can meet Todd at the PureFit booth (#317), where he’ll be signing autographs from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. today, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday the 17th). If you’re reading this from afar and want to learn more about Todd or Racing for Recovery, visit the Racing for Recovery website and blog.

Many people wouldn’t dream of running a marathon just a couple of days after Thanksgiving, but that’s exactly what 10,000+ stuffed souls are preparing to do here in Seattle the day after tomorrow. As you would expect the ‘hardest working CEO in the nutrition bar industry’ to do, I’m up in the Emerald City today and tomorrow for the 38th running of the Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon, Marathon Walk, Half Marathon and Half Marathon Walk — an event that takes place so close to Thanksgiving that it’s both remarkable and inspiring so many people find the time and energy to not only participate at these distances but to finish after eating all those leftovers!

Traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday is never easy, especially when it’s for work. Lucky for me, I’m blessed by the fact that 40,000 or so runners, walkers and their family members will soon trot past the PureFit booth (#68) while picking up their race packets and T-shirts. For me, more than anything else, interacting with race participants and others means I get to say “Thanks” – thanks for trying our bars; thanks for all the great feedback; and, thanks for modeling such good behavior when it comes to your own health and well being.

You know, 2008 has been a phenomenal year for everyone associated with PureFit. From establishing new relationships with key accounts like Kroger and Puresource, to launching our new website and this blog, I have a lot to be thankful for. In particular:

• To Jenna, Belinda, Darcy, Christian, Stewart and everyone else who helps with our daily and strategic operations… thank you for all you do. PureFit would not be where it is today without your hard work, insights and ability to laugh!

• To our customers… thanks for being so loyal and for helping us spread the word about the benefits of our wheat- and gluten-free nutrition bars and the 40/30/30 approach to health and weight management. Everything we do we do for you!

• To our retailers, vendors and business partners… thanks for working with us and being such awesome collaborators.

• To my family, friends and dogs… gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have than what you don’t. Thanks for keeping me grounded and balanced; I enjoy my work because of the life I get to live when I’m not working.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! If you’re in Seattle this weekend and you find yourself passing through the Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon Health and Fitness EXPO at the The Westin Seattle to pick up you runner’s number and T-shirt, stop by booth 68 and say hi.

As some of you may know, I’m the self-proclaimed Hardest Working Guy in Sports Nutrition. Seriously, I challenge any CEO in the industry to try to do what I do (i.e., travel to nearly every major industry trade show and marathon and be 100% present 100% of the time).

The truth is, I’d rather be shaking hands and cutting samples at an industry trade show — like I am right now at Natural Products Expo East at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center — or visiting with customers at a consumer health expo, then sitting at my desk. It’s so important to our customers and product line that I be aware of what is going on in the real world. As a result, I don’t need to just read trade magazines to learn what the “so-called” experts believe is the next big trend; I ask you — our customers — what you are looking for and why.

Case in Point: In Saint Paul, several people approached me to suggest we market PureFit bars as being a great way to combat Insulin Resistance, a disorder affecting a whopping one out of three Americans and a strongly linked precursor to Type 2 Diabetes. PureFit Nutrition Bars’ perfect balance of carbohydrates to protein helps the body control its natural insulin production — something not conducive to consistent energy and fat metabolism. In short, because of your suggestions, we are going to look into the possibility of informing the public about PureFit’s natural ability to combat insulin resistance.

Another aspect I love about traveling to expos and trade shows is the opportunity to meet industry leaders, spokespersons, and celebrities. Seriously, I’m a bit of a celebrity geek. Sure, I know they’re human just like all of us but I enjoy meeting them nonetheless.

Case in Point: Some people may not consider Alberto Salazar a celebrity, but trust me, in the 1980’s, he was hands-down the greatest distance runner in the world. His workouts were so insanely difficult, they are now the stuff of legends. Alberto was world-class from 5,000-meters all the way up to the marathon. Even today, most professional runners focus on one or two specific distances. Not Salazar. He was a true phenomenon. It didn’t matter if it was a 5K, 10K, 10 miler, ½ marathon or marathon — Alberto Salazar was always a threat to win.

Alberto ran the 10-miler in Saint Paul, and I had a chance to meet with him the day before. He recently turned 50 and still looks great. Due to heart problems unrelated to being a world-class runner, he now calls himself a “jogger,” not a runner. I’d say any 50-year-old “jogging” sub 7-minute miles is a runner!

Despite the grueling hours of expo’s and tradeshows, it sure does beat the daily grind of working exclusively in the office. Thank you Saint Paul (and Virginia Brophy Achman, Executive Director of Twin Cities Marathon, Inc.) and all of the staff and volunteers for producing an excellent health and fitness expo, along with one of the top marathons and road races of our time.

A couple of weeks ago, PureFit accomplished something it had never done before: We exhibited at two marathons at the same time. I flew to Minneapolis for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on Friday, October 3rd, while Jenna Brien in our Sales & Marketing Department flew to Portland for the 37th Annual (and MP3-friendly) Portland Marathon.

Unfortunately, we sold out of all of the bars went sent to Portland hours before the marathon’s Sports Authority Sports & Fitness Expo ended. To those of you who didn’t get to try our bars, I sincerely apologize. The show, despite my colossal mistake in sending the correct number of bars, was well managed by Jenna, who heads up sales for our Health Food Store Division, and specializes in promotions.

As for my trip to Saint Paul, what a beautiful city, and don’t get me started about the marathon: The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is one of the best produced races in the country. The show was a major success for us and we’re already making plans to return in 2009.

Check back tomorrow for Part II of this post when I’ll unveil who I think is the hardest working person in the sports nutrition industry, and share my thoughts on running legend Alberto Salazar.

Well, not really, but we are down in San Diego today and tomorrow for the 11th Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. As we do for a select number of races across the country, my staff and I make ourselves available during packet pickup to talk with the runners and answer questions about race day nutrition, stretching, and more.

Here in San Diego, you can find us today (until 7:00 p.m.) and tomorrow (from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Health & Fitness Expo Hall, which is located inside the San Diego Convention Center (Halls A & B). Stop by, say hello, grab some of our bars for the race (PureFit Nutrition Bars will not melt in their packaging), and remember to get some quality rest before Sunday’s big race.