just started running again in prep for an april tri, and saw the thread the other day with mention of the cheviot shoes for 25quid. slogging the road is ok, but i’ve got stunning very muddy terrain (moors and cliff paths) within mins so i’m tempted (i run xc in the summer when its dry and love it, but never knew about dedicated trail running shoes like these). can anyone point me at any trail running sites/forums/blogs so i can waste time tomorrow having a look and persuading myself i need to buy?

The FRA fourums have some discussions but I don’t post there and any fell running quieries I post on UKClimbing strangely.

double post, sorry

The FRA Forums as suggested above, although sometimes you’ll get STW’esque helpfulness

The FRA forums are good, but they certainly don’t move as quickly as this one. It’s not unheard of for threads to stay on the front page despite not having been added to for days.

Try this little lot for inspiration, if not shoe reviews……

http://runjunkie.blogspot.co.uk/
http://alpine-works.com/
http://thatdakotajones.blogspot.co.uk/
http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.irunfar.com/
http://www.trailrunnermag.com/index.php

cheers, will have a look later. found some interesting looking trail events locally last night, hmmm!

Have you read ‘feet in the clouds’ yet? If not, you probably should. Everyone and their dog gets into fell or trail running after reading that.

nope, good call, just looked at it on amazon. may have to order that up.

ok, a really stupid question i was going to ask earlier but stopped because it may be silly obvious… but do you look at trail event distances in the same way you would look at a raod event or are trail events considered way harder?

reason i ask is that i’ve found an event in august locally that looks fun, and the distance before it gets silly are 11mile then 22. 11 onroad, in aug, i would’nt worry about being able to achieve. 22, on road, i would consider a challenge but do-able. so i want to challenge myself, but i don’t want to kill myself.

Any info on the ascent? That’s usually a good guide to how tough it might be. Events organised under FRA rules use a grading system to give entrants an idea, two letters:

A-C for average height gain per km (A being something like average of 50m per km and thus hardest)
S, M or L for length (S being short, M medium and L long (20 miles plus))

So you would find combinations like AL (f@*king nails!) to CS (piece of p@*s). The FRA website gives more detail…

i think scratch that last question, its cornwall coast path and if its anything like the bit at the end of my road… nightmare! plus i’ve just run one of my regular long routes and then measured it for the first time. what i thought was over 5miles is in reality just over 3.

11mile route for me then, baby steps!

this is the event if anyone is interested…

https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=911

I probably find trail events easier to do and would be more comfortable off road, even though it takes longer for the same distances.

Looks like a great event, although could be a slippery slope if you find yourself stepping up a distance every year!

yes i had considered that, so another reason why 11miles is a good start.

great though is’nt it, how often do you find a new sport to fixate over that you can buy the kit (i.e. shoes) for under 30quid!

Nice thread links there,

Ta

Some great reading here about longer distances
Ultra Tales Issue 4 (January 2013)