Shiny shoes!

Trainers are a bit like jeans. They can be a bit stiff and uncomfortable at first, then when they're broken in there's a phase when they are relatively smart looking and comfy, then they start to decline in looks while getting even comfier, then they pass straight to knackered, at which point wearing them is generally not a good idea. I tend to think of jeans as 'new' until just before they start to get holes in them, or are replaced. It's the same with running shoes - the pair I bought a few months ago are pretty buggered, sending me back to the New Balance factory shop. I've bought the update of my other pair, so I now have two generations of the same shoe. Presumably the latest model is in the proper, full price, New Balance shops.

Anyway, the new pair has gold coloured trim, so I need to get them dirty quite soon. I ran in them for the first time last night, though, and took 1m40s off my best time for my standard 7km loop. These may be the shoes I run my marathon in - they should be nicely broken in and still good and padded. Maybe the gold will attract the TV cameras too.

I've not yet decided whether I am going to run my race tomorrow in them, though. It's 30km, which is 5km further than I have ever run before. It's a bit daunting, and I'm not sure I want to be worrying about possible new shoe problems. 30km is quite enough to keep my mind busy. They say you shouldn't increase your long run by more than 5% each week. I'm going to work on time, not distance (which would be 20%), so since last week's run was 141 minutes, I've got to complete my 30km in 2h35m. That's 5m10s per kilometre. It's my best half marathon time, then 5m30s km for an extra 5km on top of that. I think I may be over analysing this. Still, the mental arithmetic will give me something to do for two and a half hours tomorrow morning...
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