The One Where I Quote Something Inspirational and Get Proper Running Shoes

 “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move”. Benjamin Franklin

Thanks for the wise words, BFran. And I now move. At least a little bit. And have done for a whole 9 days!

All the marathon books that I have read so far (and that would be two of them) talk about the importance of proper equipment or 'kit' to a runner. (I'm going to use the word equipment here because 'kit' just makes me think of KnightRider and then I get distracted and start worrying about David Hasselhoff and whether he's managed to stop drinking yet.)

Anyway, by equipment they mean, among other things, shoes and by shoes they mean proper running shoes and by proper running shoes they mean expensive proper running shoes. And everyone who I have spoken to about this running business who runs themselves has told me that proper running shoes are a MUST. Unfortunately, no-one's written 'The Scottish Presbyterian Woman's Guide to Running a Marathon' so that meant I needed to spend me some money.    

Fortunately, I had the lovely Jess from SportsFever on hand to assist me. I remember when she was born and now, when she's not at uni, she's fitting running shoes (and totally bossing people around!).
Jess manhandled me onto the treadmill where she filmed my  sad old feet to see what they do when they run (excessively pronate. Not good.) But then, she put me in some very nice comfortable shoes that didn't make me feel like I was going to collapse in on myself when I run, like some kind of jogging black hole.  Thank you Jess. You have grown up nice.

The lovely Jess fits me for proper running shoes.



The training is progressing well but I'm still conscious of the fact that things aren't exactly hard yet. Weather is lovely, walking pace is still moderate. I'm on to Week 2 now, which will involve four thirty minute walks. I've done the usual (well, twice now) Sunday morning to the Left Bank and back 4km walk, which happily involved a quick stop for breakfast this week. Yes, I know that's not serious marathon training but it was very pleasant. I've been invited to go on a 16km Saturday morning walk this Saturday with a Council colleague and his wife and the distance should test me a bit. (It is prudent at this point to ignore everything I said in the last post about following the Preliminary Training Plan to the letter. The invitation involved a breakfast and Preliminary Training Plans get modified for a good breakfast. Everyone knows that. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's a rule. I read it in a marathon book somewhere.)