Fed up with ordinaryExtra ordinary is where it's at

I got my first blisters the other day, while running from Grindleford back home. The route was great but very muddy and I got various amounts of debris in my shoes.

I thought it was okay for a few miles but by the time I emptied my shoes, the damage had been done. The last 2 miles or so were agony. I had trouble walking home from the park where I stopped.

A couple of days of rest and they’re much better now, I’ll try a run today. It’s the first time I’ve had blisters and I wasn’t too sure whether or not I should pop them. I did a little online research and opted to leave them alone. Apparently popping is only good if you’re going to run on them so that they’d pop anyway. Much better to pop them in a sterile environment than letting them pop in your dirty shoes and get infected!

It made me wonder about getting a pair of Five Fingers KSO or the new KSO Trek model that comes out in the UK very soon. However, a quick look at the KSO Trek prices for the UK put me off… £165! In the US they retail for $125 (around £85). So if anyone is going to the US soon and would like to pick me up a pair, I’d be extremely grateful!

I’ve been thinking a lot about fitness lately. More specifically the fitness of society as a whole and people’s perception of what “being fit” is.

When I started this I couldn’t run for toffee. Less than a mile had me exhausted. Looking back, then I thought that people who ran 10km races were fit. Doing a half marathon made you properly fit and running a marathon, well, you were weird.

But now, 10km is a trivial distance. Anyone can run 10km can’t they? At least that’s what I think. It seems strange to me that there was a point in time (only a couple of months ago really) when I couldn’t run that far without killing myself.

At the weekend I’m doing a cross country 10-12 mile run, so approaching the half marathon distance, but I still don’t feel or think of myself as being fit.

Recently, several of my friends and family have started running. Seeing them start and struggle with distances of 1 or 2 miles is weird. Was I really that unfit? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not belittling their efforts in the slightest. I too was one of those struggling with less than a mile. Sometimes even getting out of breath walking up short hills.

But as a nation are we so fat and sedentary that 2 miles is a killer distance?

So, I’d like you to vote in this little poll. When do you think you are fit? Please select the lowest distance that you think makes someone fit.

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Since I started running, way back(!) in September 2009, every body who ran told me: “You’ll get addicted. Running’s great”.

I’d go on runs with Smack and when I would moan he’d always say things like, “Yeah, but it’s great to be out. Isn’t it?”. Every time I would respond along the lines of, “No, it isn’t. It’s hard work and I’m knackered!”

But this last week or so, something has changed. I think it’s because I’ve changed my routes to get in as many hills and as much off-road as possible. Even through the parks I’m looking for the hidden path away from the main route and I’ve taken to following off-road footpaths I’ve never seen before, just to see where they go.

The FiveFingers pay their part too. I’ve mentioned before that running on the road or pavements is fine but running on the grass or through the woods feels amazing. Coming from a trail back onto a hard path is like coming down off some drug induced high (I imagine, of course I have never taken any illegal drugs.)

I see pictures of woods or beautiful scenery and rather than thinking, “That looks nice, I wouldn’t mind going there”, I’m thinking “I’d love to run around there!”

The joy to be had in just running is bizarre. I can’t explain it at all. Why would just putting one foot in front of the other over and over and over and over be such good fun? I mean, I’m not even chasing a ball or anything!

It’s my rest day today but I’m itching to go out and find a new path to explore or just run through the muddiest, wettest bits of the woods I can find!

It’s taken nearly seven months but I think it’s happened.

My name is Kit. And I’m addicted to running.

I can’t remember if I’ve actually posted this before, but apologies if I have (I can’t be bothered to actually read all my previous posts!).

The route we’re running has changed several times since we started this venture. The “final” route and dates were set a couple of weeks ago.

In terms of dates, we’re running from Thursday 6th May to Tuesday 11th May. Due to exams and work commitments, John-Paul is no longer able to run the entire six days with us. He’s joining us on Friday night and running the Hadrian’s Wall section with us. That leads nicely on to the route…

As some people weren’t happy with running long distances on-road we moved the route from the C2C cycle way to Hadrian’s Wall which is very off-road. But Hadrian’s Wall is “only” 90 miles long. to make up to the 150 miles we want to do, we’re starting in Ravenglass which is about 60 miles south of Bowness-on-Solway where the wall starts on the West coast. Yes, we know the wall is usually walked East to West but this fits in with our plans better.

At the moment I’m trying to work out exactly where we’ll be for each day so we can book accommodation but it’s harder than you think. It’s taking way longer than expected. Perhaps we’ll just need to camp wherever we fall at the end of each day!

Well, I’m back running after a prolonged sore calf! I did a hilly 4 miles yesterday and my calf was a little achy at the end but today it’s fine. I’m going to try 6 miles later but if it’s sore I’ll do less. But if it feels good I may do more. We’ll see. I need to get back up to at least 10 miles before the weekend as I’m off out with the lads.

Either way, I’ll be running in some new running gear! IAfter a clear out of crap from my office, I found a couple of bits of software which I probably was given years ago. I thought I could sell them for a couple of quid on email. Well the first item sold today for £140! I’m well chuffed with that and so a load of new running gear is now mine!

I’m also selling an old phone on Mazuma Mobile as apparently an old phone sitting in my draw is worth £42 which will go nicely towards my running fund.

Anyway, today I got an Inov-8 Race Pro 30 litre running pack with a 2 litre bladder, some Merino wool base layers and a Ron Hill Advance Windlite jacket. I’m off to buy some shorts later too. All very exciting. A shame I’m in the office really…

That was my choice this morning at 5:30am. Clean up wee or sick.

Our youngest has caught a bug off his cousin and had vomited all over his bedroom and then proceeded to urinate on the floor (I’m sure he just thought: “Well, I’m covered in sick, I may as well wee myself too”).

The day before my sister in law went into labour early. My wife was called to go and look after their daughter at 3:30am. The phone ringing woke our kids and meant I was awake from then on. They had another little girl and all are doing well, by the way.

Given that I was so tired anyway, being woken up early to clean up bodily discharge of varying sorts was not the best thing in the world! I’m pretty tired now and have no real motivation to run. A shame really as my calves are doing fine now and it’s beautiful, if cold, day.

Perhaps tomorrow…

P.S. I chose to clean up the sick.

You may have noticed (the two or three people that read this anyway!) that I’ve just added some Google AdSense adverts to the site.

I’m experimenting here and don’t want to cheapen the site or to make your experience less than pleasurable. But I’m also very happy to accept money from Google if people find the adverts useful.

So, it’s a balancing act but seeing as I’m unlikely to make [any] money from the ads, I’m happy to remove them if you think they’re in the way.

Let me know what you think!

Having worn my Vibram FiveFingers solidly for two days, this morning I took on my first run in them.

I was a little worried because it was freezing this morning. Literally. A bit of snow on the ground and frozen ponds in the park. I was concerned about how well the FiveFingers would cope with slippery conditions and whether or not my feet would turn into blocks of ice! I was wearing toe socks but wearing FiveFingers you can really feel the temperature of the ground.

Even though I was [mostly] expecting the run to be fine on my legs, knees, ankles and feet, having read so many warnings about being extra careful as atrophied muscles will moan and hurt for a while, I was a little nervous that I would ache really badly.

My plan was to do a couple of miles at most.

After one mile I felt good. Really good. My feet weren’t at all cold, I had no pain from either bones or muscles and I couldn’t even feel the blisters that I’ve had on my second toe since starting running.

I didn’t want to stop and so I kept on going. All in all I did four miles but could easily have gone further. I only stopped because I was worried that I’d regret it afterwards when, later in the day, my calves hurt like hell.

I was running slightly differently too. My observations were that I was:

• running with a higher cadence
• taking noticeably shorter strides
• running faster than usual (four miles in just over 30 minutes)

Running on hard ground didn’t feel odd at all. It didn’t feel like I was pounding the ground either. But running on grass and mud, even frozen solid grass and mud felt brilliant. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I found myself running on the verges where possible, not because the pavement hurt but because the grass felt so good!

Grip wise, it’s hard to tell. The thing I noticed was that, because I could feel the ground much more, I could tell when my feet were slipping even a little bit. So I did notice the ground was slippy. I can’t tell if this is just increased sensation or decreased grip.

Now I’m back I can feel the smallest amount of tightness in my left calf. At this point I don’t know if I would feel that normally after a run or whether it’s from the FiveFingers. We’ll see after a longer run I guess. Tomorrow I’ll up it to 6 miles.

After many months of experimenting I believe I have ended the shoe dilemmas.

After running again in my “normal” running shoes for a couple of longer runs, I started getting the twinges that they were causing previously. So I started researching shoes again.

I came across a pair of shoes called Feelmax Niesa. I know, Feelmax sounds like a brand of condoms but these shoes are recommended by none other than Barefoot Ted. High praise indeed and so I ordered a pair. Unfortunately when they arrived they were simply too narrow across the bridge of my foot. They felt uncomfortably tight even without socks. With a sad heart, I am going to send them back. I’m not going to gamble on them stretching with wear as if they don’t I can’t afford to have spent nearly £70 on a pair of shoes that I can’t wear. I’d hoped that the Feelmax shoes would be good.

In the hunt of an alternative, or perhaps just retail therapy, today I went into town to try on some FiveFingers.

The only place that sells them in Sheffield seems to be Naked Ape in the town centre. So that’s where I went.

I tried on various types, or rather, tried to try various types. I couldn’t even get my feet into the KSO Flow or KSO Trek models as the toes seemed too narrow. I’m sure they would have stretched with use but, as with the Feelmax shoes, I haven’t enough money to gamble with that.

However, the FiveFingers Classic fit easily. The (very helpful) guy in the shop said it was one of the quickest he’s seen someone get into them first time. Perhaps I’m just made for them! Anyway, the shop assistant was wearing a pair of Classics and it was really good to be able to ask all sorts of questions about them. (Did they last well? Did they rub or slip in use? What was the grip like? …)

I decided the take the plunge. I bought a pair.

And it’s a strange feeling. I’m wearing them in the office at the moment and they feel great. But I’m also a bit scared to go outside in them! Will people laugh/stare/chase me with sticks? We’ll have to wait and see.

For now, I can’t wait to get out for my first run in them! I hope I don’t regret the purchase…

After a particularly unhelpful appointment with my GP, I had an appointment with an Osteopath (Phil Heler of the Wainwright Therapy Centre) on Friday. I wasn’t too sure that he would be able to help much but after more than a month of headaches, I was ready to try.

An hour, and several twists and clicks of my head later, I felt great! My head and shoulders felt a bit bruised almost but the tightness was gone.

A few days later and my head still feels tender but the constant ache isn’t there at all. I’ve got another appointment on Friday and hopefully that should finish it off. Hoorah!