Friday 24 April 2015

Back again.

So, after much revision, I passed my maths test. Yey. I was so nervous about it. Revision literally felt like it was taking over my mind and life, to some extent. It is all I thought about. Now I can stop working out the percentages of absolutely everything and trying to do mental arithmetic all day long.

Now I will be able to write things down on here more often. In my absence I have run a few marathons; the Gin Pit double marathons and Manchester marathon. I will get blogs/ race reports up about these in a few days time. I am still yet to write a race report for Wrexham Marathon also. Like I said, maths revision really did take over.


However, I'm still focusing on numbers in some ways and counting miles - 1 month today I will be running my 4th Grand Union Canal Race and running 145 miles (May 23rd & 24th). And so, the annual  ritual of 'getting lots of running goodies and stuff sorted' commences.

I had been seriously contemplating investing in some Hoka One Ones  for GUCR. I have never tried them before, but I know I suffer from particularly tender feet during ultra marathons. I know a lot of runners who swear by them. So, I have been doing some internet research and set my sights on the Mafate 3. But, NOWHERE on the entire internet do they seem to have a women's UK Size 8.5 - ANYWHERE! Either this is a popular size, or they simply don't make a lot of them.

Although the Grand Union Canal isn't technically 'technical terrain', I like to run it in trail shoes. They have a sturdier sole and I tend to feel the 'glass-like' shards of stone gravel a lot less, later on in the race. And there can be muddy bits along the more rural parts of the canal, and so they offer your feet a bit of extra protection from the elements. With inov8 being my favorite trail brand, I had a little search to see what they currently have to offer and saw that they do an ultra shoe. Therefore, I think I'll be investing in their 'Race Ultra 290' running shoe.

So, with one month to go before 'the BIG one', I have another marathon coming up the week before it, as usual - Windermere Marathon on May 17th.

In the meantime, I'll be continuing my runs home from work. It seems like really good ultra training, having spent all day on my feet and then running on tired legs. It's all good time on my feet. And on top of this, I have been known to add a bit of 'weight' to my rucsack in the form of food stuff from the local shop. I think I managed a PB with how many goodies I managed to stuff into my bag on the run home the other day. I was literally swaying...


Last few days in pictures...


Spirulina and probiotics 
Food-shop run PB



Runner-sock legs