I kept it a bit quiet, but I was inspired to look for a 24 hour event after a friend (Emma) posted on Facebook about one she'd done in June - it sounded like a challenge I wanted to take up. The only one accessible to me this year was the Cotswold 24 Hour Race organised by 100 Mile Run, so I signed up.
I'll be honest, I didn't do any particular training except for continuing to train for my marathon. The laps were 9km (around 5.6 miles), so my aim was to complete 5 laps over the 24 hours which is 28 miles (just over a marathon). In retrospect, this may have been a little ambitious as I'd never completed more than 13.6 miles in training.
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Well, OK, canal, but it didn't have quite the same ring to it! I'm now on day 52 of my running streak, which I wasn't quite expecting. I've been suffering a bit lately due to the heat and being tired from early mornings/life etc, so a lot of my runs have been quite short, leaving me feeling a bit concerned about being in shape for the marathon. Last weekend I did my long run along the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath (once I'd run to it, which is about 3 miles from home). This week, I thought I'd see how Lexie would handle a run-walk-run down there, but decided to drive down instead so that we could just run and enjoy the scenery. I did have some concerns about how far she'd manage, so I set off with very few expectations (and a backpack full of supplies!). Turns out I needn't have worried. We settled into a rhythm of run 0.5 miles, walk 0.25 miles which seemed to suit us both pretty well. We stopped every couple of miles for water, and Lexie seemed to totally love it, even having the energy to hop into the back of the car at the end after 9 miles! It was blissfully cool and even drizzled for some of the time which was really nice. I stupidly didn't take any photos whilst we were out, but here's one of Lexie zonked out on the bath mat when we got home! I'm a runner. On a low budget. With an unhealthy worry about slipping (don't ask about the ice and my coccyx, it's not a pretty story). So for winter parkruns and trail running, I decided to invest in some trail shoes (having slipped my way around my first parkrun in 39 minutes!). I had had my eye on the More Mile Cheviot trail shoes for quite a while, actually, but since I never ran off-road I couldn't see a valid reason to actually take the plunge. In fact I think I'd been procrastinating for so long that originally I'd been looking at the Cheviot 2! I settled on these shoes for 3 main reasons 1. Price - £30 + P&P from amazon.co.uk 2. Customer reviews (see above link) 3. I have other More Mile running gear that I am very happy with They arrived quickly and I tried them on. I am a size 7 with wide feet, so I'd gone up half a size. I'll admit that they are on the snug side, but not uncomfortably tight. Their first outing was on tarmac, as it was icy down my local muddy paths and I wasn't going to risk it. They were actually surprisingly not too bad to run in on tarmac considering the almost football-blade type tread on them and I had a good (and fast!) run. My next run was a 5.6 miler, again mostly on tarmac but this time I managed a mile across some fields that are being built on near home. I must say they performed excellently - having run across the same fields a few weeks previously and needing to walk around the muddy bits, I ran the whole way across without ever feeling like I was on mud at all. The downside was that by the end of this run, they had rubbed my little toe on my right foot (I said they were snug), so I used my regular running shoes on my next run. Their next outing was 3 days later at my local Parkrun. This was around trail paths with muddy areas and grassy bits on the sides where I overtook people. I managed a SB 5k (29:09) with no rubbing or discomfort at all. So...marks out of 10... Fit: 8 (I have wide feet, but I'm sure they'll stretch with more use) Grip: 10 (not even a hint of slipping!) Comfort: 9 Value: 10 Would I recommend these: Definitely! |
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May 2018
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