There are some pieces of running kit you simply wouldn’t dream of doing without. Shoes specifically designed for your particular foot type, technical T-shirts that keep you dry on even the hottest days, or a stopwatch that also tells you how hard

patterns in your training can help identify mistakes too: do you set off too fast and tire quickly? Just how steep was that hill? There’s a huge variety of kit available, from add-ons for mobile phones and iPods, to powerful wrist units with footpods

to provide you with lots of grip on rough paths when hauling up hill, but thick enough to stop large stones and tree roots hurting your feet. Excellent all-round performance considering this is a more general off-road shoe. Lots of heel grip for descents

, it was hard to forget that you were pushing it, especially up hills. That, in short, made it less fun to run with. One unique feature was that the front wheel has a swivel option. Some runners found that this made the buggy highly manoeuvrable; others