Tag: nike

Clock Watching

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

It was a day of watching the rain and watching the clock.

9am. I dragged myself out of bed, looked out the window, and it wasn't raining. I should have gone running. I didn't.

10am. Breakfast and coffee. I looked out the window. It was raining. Run was therefore put on hold for a little bit longer. Shower number 1.

11am. Still raining. FaceTime with Gracie my beautiful niece. She gave me a couple of renditions of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' before I gave her a virtual tour of the house.

Noon. Still raining. Did some marking.

1pm. Still raining. More marking.

2pm. Still raining. Cheese and coleslaw sandwiches followed by a couple of doughnuts.

3pm. It had stopped raining and a blue sky could be seen. Perfect opportunity to go for a run. I didn't. I had promised myself a couple of hours on the sofa watching the football. After the game it was the draw for the fifth round of the cup. AND, believe it or not, the mighty Charlton Athletic were in the hat. The fifth round draw normally throws up some classic encounters. We were not to be disappointed: Sheffield Wednesday vs Charlton Athletic. I sense a place in the quarter finals for my boys.

6pm. Headed for the woods for a run in the dark. Tonight's highlights:

  • I encountered a man. It was very dark. He was standing and pointing a high powered torch at me in a Nazi interrogation style. As I ran towards him he said something that I couldn't quite understand, I did have my earphones in with music blaring, for all I know it could have been 'Ve have vays of making you talk'. I just smiled and waved.
  • I banished the demons. Following last weeks falling over debacle, I ran through the very same car park, only this time I managed to stay upright.
  • I was also using a new app to track my run: Nike+. After seeing the beautiful map on Sophiebee's Blog I decided to give it go, just for a change. The voice you hear that gives you feedback on the run is an American lady. She sounds a bit more American than I'm used to with RunKeeper, also slightly more relaxed about everything. I like her.

7pm. Shower number 2. Have I mentioned that as well as Janathon I seem to be taking part in Showerathon. Dinner was jacket spuds.

8pm. I now sit here writing this blog. It is Sunday night, so the rest of the night will go something like this…

9pm. Finish marking*.

10pm. Iron shirt and trousers for the morning**.

11pm. Early night in preparation for the week ahead***.

Total Janathon mileage = 85.74

* this will probably not happen.

** this will probably not happen.

*** this will probably not happen.

 

Running shoes….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

I have been thinking about getting some new running shoes for a while. My last pair of running shoes, Adidas Litestrike EVA, have done me well. Bought them over a year ago and in that time they have covered a fair few miles. I'm not entirely sure how often you should replace your running shoes…300 miles….500 miles? Then I remembered seeing this in Runner's World magazine asking how long your trainers usually last….

So a couple of weeks ago I began checking out new trainers. I looked online, browsed sports shops and generally faffed about. I am very good at faffing. The problem is I don't particularly like to spend a lot of money on trainers. I know trainers are the only real expense when it comes to running, but even so, over £100 for a pair??

Another thing about hunting for new running shoes are the names. It is amazing what the manufacturers are calling their shoes, a quick browse through the first dozen pages of a running magazine: New Balance 880v3; Mizuno U4ic; Brooks Ghost 6; and Nike Lunareclipse+ 3. I'm not fussed what they are called, although I would be very happy with a pair of trainers called Lunareclipse+ 3! How cool would that be?

So what was I looking for?

  • Price – around £40-45
  • Colour – wasn't particularly bothered, apart from black, I think black trainers look ridiculous
  • Weight – well I'd like a pair of the really cool very light trainers that cost £100s – but I knew I'd probably settle for something reasonably light, yet supportive.

So when out shopping yesterday, in Ely of all places, I popped into Paul Day's Sports. It was only a small, independent shop so wasn't expecting too much. In fact, they only had half a dozen running shoes to choose from. I began the long process of looking, picking up, turning over, weighing up, trying on, etc. After a fruitless ten minutes, and as I was about to leave, I looked down on the bottom shelf. There in front of me was the most perfect looking pair of trainers: Nike Flex 2012 Run iD Men's Running Shoes in Red. I looked at the price: £40. I weighed them up: reasonably light. I tried them on: perfect.

I bought them!

This morning was an easy 4 mile run…..no issues with trainers….in fact I ran like the wind!