Me and my ASICS gonna run away...

So, this running thing.  You have to laugh.  I’d just started up and was going great guns when the snow came.  Now, I don’t mind a bit of weather – for pity’s sake we were doing kettlebells by the river in driving hail the other day – but I’m not good on ice.  Instead of striding along in my usual fashion, I morph into little old lady mode, clutching cars and walls as I inch along.  Truly it’s pathetic.  It hurts my pride.  This guy I know shouted on Facebook about how a little snow wasn’t stopping him running and I felt seriously peeved but then I noted that someone else had fallen, running on ice, and had broken her wrist.  There’s gung-ho and there’s plain daft. 

So, my lovely new running shoes fromSportsShoes.com had to sit in their box.  Oh, okay, I put them on and sort of jogged round the house in them cos seriously, they’re rather fab.  I hadn’t realized just how different running shoes are from normal trainers.  They’re slim and snug, they hug my feet like a second skin.  They make me feel all supported and…’held’…and that’s really rather a lovely feeling. 

But not very technical, huh?

In the end, after consultation with my running coach, Trisha, and a good peruse of the SportsShoes.com website (which offers advice on which shoes to pick) I plumped for the ASICS GEL-KAYANO®18.  These usually retail at a whopping £137.99 but were on sale at £89.99.  Still a heck of a lot of money.  ‘I don’t get it,’ I said to Trisha. ‘How come they’re so expensive when you can pick up a running shoe for twenty quid or whatnot?’  And she explained it’s all in the technology. The more expensive the shoe, the better the fit, support and cushioning apparently.  ‘And you really do need the right shoe if you’re going to avoid injury,’ she warned, pointing out that the main reasons so many people injure themselves running (ice aside) are wearing the wrong footwear and not following the right training regime. 

To be very honest, although my ASICS looked lovely, I couldn’t see what justified the price tag.  So I looked a bit further and seems it’s all to do with their GEL™ Cushioning System which apparently “dissipates vertical impact and disperses it into a horizontal plane.” It also has ‘gender specific densities in the midsole’ which sounds a bit…interesting.  I’d often wondered why you got men’s and women’s trainers – I mean, a shoe’s a shoe, right?  Wrong.  Seems that men and women place weight in different areas of the foot when they’re running.  I was also rather taken by the ‘exoskeletal heel counter’ that ‘provides improved support and an improved heel fitting environment for serious runners’.  Get that! Serious runners.  I’m a serious runner?  Like this guy? Hmm...I'm slower but I've got better legs.  

Actually, the Kayano 18 is probably a way more technical shoe than I, as a rank beginner, really truly honestly need.  It’s a bit like when, back last year, I was asked to test out a swimsuit and was fondling the Olympic quality stuff.  I turned to Trisha again. ‘How much should you pay, as a beginner, for a pair of shoes?’ And she reckoned around the forty quid mark would do it – but to make sure you do get the right shoe for your foot. 

Anyhow. Finally the snow and ice pissed off and the road beckoned.  On Sunday, before kettles, four of us took off round the lanes around Dulverton.  My feet felt – wonderful.  Just wonderful.  I wish I could say the same for my lungs but that will come with time.  And I kept the shoes on for kettlebells and they were superb for that too – providing a ton of grip which was really useful given we work out on a pretty rough surface. 

I have to say I’m impressed. I'm also now totally spoiled for cheap shoes - once you've felt that...snugness...it's hard to go back to a lesser holding pattern.  I was also impressed by the service from Sportsshoes.com and by their website which is easy to navigate and offers some great bargains.  Go take a look.

So now there’s not much else to say really.  I’m all kitted up.  The open road stretches before me and I’m off…gonna run, run, run, run away…  Catch me if you can.  J

Plimsoll nostalgia and the right trainers

When I was young we didn’t have fancy trainers for each and every sport. We didn’t even have trainers, come to think of it.  We had plimsolls.  They came in white or black.  Laced or with elastic gubbings at the side. Skinny soles. And the white ones got all grass stained and then you had to use that weird chalky stuff to re-white them (and now I can smell it!).  And that was it. Oh, except that for hockey (shudder, wince) we had a more elongated version with rubber circles on the ankles. These were always black.  Because of the mud I suppose. 

Then one day my pal Jane Wright pitched up for Sports Day with running spikes.  We all stared in stark amazement. 

Funny, huh?  Now there is a trainer for absolutely everything.  Is it really necessary? Is it overkill?  Is it just a canny marketing device?  I seem to spend all the money I don't have on petrol, food and…trainers.  Seriously.  James is growing so fast I can watch him inching up, beanlike. He’s my height now and shows no sign of slowing down. His feet are three sizes bigger than me and he ‘needs’ different shoes for running, rugby, cricket, football and squash.  Aaaaghh. 

Mind you, it does make sense.  According to my fitness instructor friends a large proportion of injuries occur because people are wearing the wrong shoes.  When I started doing Zumba my knees soon got wrecked.  Turned out I was wearing cross trainers with a heavy grip on the sole, so my foot was dragging on the floor, putting strain on the knees.  I got myself a pair of dance shoes and – ta-da! – problem solved.   And at my step class the other night, Debbie warned against using running shoes for step as there simply isn’t the lateral support – you need a good cross-trainer. 

So.  I am seriously looking forward to getting my new running shoes.  After a lot of umming and aaahing, I asked my running coach Trisha for her advice on which to get and she had a look at the way I stand (knock-kneed, flat-footed) and said I’m an overpronator (who knew?) and need something with a fair amount of support.  She suggested these…so these are exactly what I’m getting.  Well, actually, since writing this it turns out that this particular one is out of stock but mine will be very similar (just, er, not black and pink but white and green).

Nice huh? Big thank-you to Sportsshoes.com.  Now, if you don’t have a friendly Trisha, Sportsshoes have a pretty good advice section on their website. Click here to see their video on how to choose the right running shoes.  It’s worth spending a bit to get a decent pair that do the right job.  I’ve learned my lesson of hanging onto trainers until they fall to bits and now I do replace mine as often as I can.  I'll report back on the running shoes once I've had a go.  

And now I’m going off into a total trainer reverie, remembering the bloody huge great things we used to wear in the tail-end of the 80s, purely as a fashion statement.  Bloody hell.  Micro mini-skirt, black opaque tights and HUGE high-top trainers with massive tongues and big fat laces you kept undone.  What the hell were they called?  The brand, I mean. It's driving me potty. Not Nike, not Reebok, not Adidas... aaaaghhh.  Someone put me out of my misery.  

btw, have I spelled plimsoll correctly?  It's looking weird.  And now spelled is looking weird too.  Spelled or spelt? I think I need a nap.  :D