Final preparations for Big Alps Run - Shoes and Socks

In this, the second of my final preparation blog posts, I'll quickly talk about what I'm going to wear on my feet...

Shoes and socks aren't the most interesting thing in the world, but feet will be fairly important on the Big Alps Run! I expect looking after my feet to be one of the biggest challenges, and I've certainly learnt the hard way the consequences of not doing so, particularly on the Pennine Way when this happened:
Bad.
There will be some short road sections, but the vast majority of the run is off road, so I'll be wearing off road shoes. After spending a while running on the treadmill and trying a few pairs of shoes at Accelerate, I've chosen to wear New Balance 101s. These are called a minimalist trail shoe, they are really lightweight and don't have much cushioning to them but I'm told that this suits my feet, and they felt nice when I ran in them. 

New Balance have very generously agreed to give me four pairs of these, which is very nice of them. This means that I'll be able to wear a pair and carry a second pair, and when I meet my brother at halfway I'll switch to another two pairs. I hope 250 miles a pair should mean they stay in pretty good condition.

New Balance and Injinji - thank you very much!
Sock-wise, I will be wearing Injinji toe socks. If you're not familiar, these are socks with individual bits for your toes, like foot-gloves if you like. A few people I know have been running in them for a while but I've only just started using them. The idea is that you don't get blisters as your toes are not rubbing together. Having worn them at the Fellsman on Saturday without any blisters, I'd have to agree!

Injinji socks - the warmer ones
Injinji have supplied me with six pairs of socks, in a mixture of styles. Some are the thinner lightweight ones, and some the thicker Coolmax style. I've also got another few pairs which I'll take with me, and again re-stock at the halfway point.

So that's shoes and socks... Not interesting but important! I'll do a write up on the Fellsman over the next day or two, then the final final preparations blog will be on my navigation and maps, sometime next week. Till then, DONATIONS PLEASE!! www.justgiving.com/bigalpsrun

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Kinder Killer

Image
After a successful and beautiful early-morning 3 hour outing last weekend without much more than a little niggle of the adductor pain I've been struggling with for a month or so, I decided to up the ante this weekend. Ox Stones sunrise last weekend One of the many fantastic things about Dark Peak Fell Runners is the wealth of experience in the club, so when you fancy a hilly 30-ish mile route to make your Sunday more interesting, a quick visit to the DPFR facebook page or website will give you a few options. I decided on the "Kinder Killer", a route invented by K Jones and currently marketed by Ian Winterburn. The idea is similar to another classic route, the Kinder Dozen, involving a zig-zaggy loop of Kinder Scout, alternately visiting the plateau and the surrounding valleys. There are seven climbs as opposed to the (obvs) 12 of the Dozen, but the Killer route is different and I think slightly longer overall. Ian also suggested that it's a nicer route, so I too
Read more

100km review - Scott Supertrac Ultra RC

Image
The Supertrac Ultra RC is the newest shoe from Scott. I'm a very lucky boy and was allowed a pair to try for a month before they go on sale (from 18th July you can get a pair from Accelerate ). I promised to write a full review after 100km... I've actually run closer to 200 in them, so it's time I got typing! A few highlights from one month with the Supertrac Ultra RC 16th June: Discovery Oooh lovely new shoes. At this stage they were very secret and had to be camouflaged. I didn't actually run in them, but they score highly on looking pretty. 17th June: First Run Not really long enough to fully test them, but straight out of the box they felt really comfortable, with good grip on dry rock and plenty of cushioning. And they do look nice. 22nd June: First proper long run A very hot evening, beautiful weather. Bob Graham leg 1 supporting Kirk Hardwick as part of the Dark Peak machine. The shoes were great, comfy on the road and trail up out of Keswick, pl
Read more

The irony of trees

Image
Friday: Running on Dartmoor. Risks: Stuff to fall off, fall over, get stuck in, get lost in, get bitten by, lose my shoes in, or be arrested for being too close to. Monday: Trimming a couple of overhanging trees in the garden. Risks: A few spiky bits of branch. So if one of them was going to cause an infection and make me totally useless for 48 hours (and counting), obviously it'd be the bloody trees. The reason I am writing this at all is that I must keep my left foot above my hips, which makes life very boring. So thanks for reading this, writing it has kept me sane for a few hours at least. Right, enough whinging: Dartmoor! I'm starting to love it. I had a totally fantastic day up there during the cold weather in December and would've broken the unsupported record, but I missed one tiny Tor. Still a wonderful day though - and a lot more photogenic than this time. The 500s is a challenge which involves visiting all the Tors over 500m, as per the list in Ken Ringwood'
Read more