My Forum

I had an atrocious race but all my own fault. I'd assumed that because I had done more long runs this year, the weather was better and I wasn't injured that I could go much faster. The first half was great, but I died a thousand deaths on the Lough Shore path when I had a wave of nausea that stayed for the rest of the race and it was run-walk for the next 8 miles and finishing 2 minutes SLOWER than last year. I found feeling like death while surrounded by hundreds of people yelling at me to 'keep going' a bit overwhelming so I've decided to give big city marathons a miss for a while and concentrate on trail running and not pressurise myself to do a certain time. As it was my second marathon I felt very nervous before hand and a certain pressure for a PB and was running faster than really comfortable. I had to remind myself it wasn't an exam!

Thanks SamanthaNI for the tip about the Falls Road Leisure centre toilets which came in handy!

I agree with Hellen - I love Skechers GoRun Rides and tomorrow I'm running the Belfast marathon in them. I  bought mine from the Skechers website. I find them perfect for me - good midfoot cushioning but light and flexible.

Like many people I had bad knee problems until I read Born To Run, strengthened my knee muscles, shifted to mid-foot striking and changed to minimalist shoes. And not a peep out of them since.

However I've since backed off going very minimalist.  I started with Nike Frees but I'm twenty pounds overweight and I found Nike Frees and Kinvaras just too minimalist for me - I just ended up with really aching legs. Also, a couple of years ago I badly damaged the nerve in one of my toes running over sharp stones in too-thin-soled Inov-8s and still hasn't fully healed. So after a year of running in Brooks Pureflows I've changed to Skechers Go Run Rides as the new model of Pureflow doesn't suit me. 

P.S. If anybody else plans on buying them, they come up a bit big so if you tend to buy half a size up on your street shoe size, you won't have to in GoRun Rides.

Hello, just to let you know that I've put a review of the GoRun Rides up for comparison with the Pureflow

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/reviews/shoes/cushioned-shoes/-skechers-gorun-ride/reader-reviews/61086.html#review7436

Bloody hell, that was my worst long run ever!

I started too fast (practicing 'race pace' which has now been revised upwards) so I was a more knackered  than I should have been by the time I got to Floral Road. Then there was a strong southerly headwind all the way from Gideon's Green back home, so the last 7 miles were really hard. The weather forecast said 15mph with 28mph gusts but it all felt like gust to me! 

Very, very glad it's the taper now, I'm in bits. I need lots of recovery time before another experience like that. I'll start with watching VLM tomorrow from my sofa

Last long run today - aiming for 20miles round the course again - and really looking forward to the taper!