The above shoe advice just shows how important it is to try shoes on if you can.
I got my shoes from Advanced Performance in Peterborough who unfortunately are no longer there, but they used to do a gait analysis/treadmill type thing when buying new shoes.
I tried on a variety of shoes – Asics, Brooks, Saucony & Mizuno. Asics too narrow, but otherwise OK. Saucony & Mizuno just felt flat & uncomfortable – like they were already worn out, while the Brooks were like putting on comfy slippers and felt ‘right’ immediately.
My Wife got some shoes from the same place before they closed down & ended up with Saucony.

Good effort, pocpoc!

I did a 10k on Sunday. First time doing any running against the clock in years.
My legs aren’t really running fit at the moment, so I was unsure what to expect.
My expectation was 55mins would be achievable & anything under that would be a bonus. I ended up doing an official time of 52:13, which I was quite pleased with. Legs struggled with DOMS for a couple of days afterwards and felt tired from 6km onwards.
Get some more regular miles in my legs & I think 50mins should be achievable in the next couple of months.

I’ve got half an eye on training for the Great Eastern Run (Peterborough Half) in October. Last time I trained for it in 2019 it was cancelled as we all stood on the start line due to suspicious activity on the course, which turned out to be a false alarm 🤣

I think the shop in Cheltenham may still be there, but rarely go that way nowadays. Might be worth a trip tho to get some expert advice on ‘if you liked these, then…’ – those brooks I had did seem very comfortable, but everything I’d had before was nowhere near as expensive.

My only ‘other’ pair of running shoes are some cheap deeply ‘lugged’ higher state muddy something that are like a Maxxis Shorty for your feet. Amazing in the forest mud, useless anywhere else!

My legs are still tired from running downhill on Monday!

As a counter, I’ve had much better experiences buying shoes based on what strangers on the internet think than any running shop I’ve been to.

3 times I’ve gone for gait analysis and 3 times the shoes have been expensive and not very good. Brook Launch, ASICS Kayano and some kind of horrible Hoka thing.

I personally think there are betters ways.
One is that some manufacturers (Brooks, Hoka, maybe ASICS too) offer free returns on their shoes even if they’ve been used. So try some and send some back.

If not, do some research and pick up a 2nd hand pair or 3 on Vinted or eBay. If you like then you can buy a new pair and resell the old ones.

There are loads of tools online that you can use to work out what kind of gait you have. Combine this with some research on what shape foot you have and then go read some reviews.

Completed my first Ultra yesterday. The Kintyre Way 50k in very un Scottish like heat.

A deeply unspectacular time of 8hr 27, at least in part due to cramping pretty badly from half way onwards, and having to walk a good bit of the last 20km. The first 15km along the beach, with hard sand, soft sand, shingle, grass and rocky bits was a tough way to start.

Half my brain is now going ‘never again’ whilst the other half is trying to decide what to do differently next time.

Really nice friendly event, with lots of the proceeds going back into maintaining the trails.

I did get a prize for being the oldest finisher though, and I wasn’t last 😁

Bravo crewlie!!

had you run marathons before going for the extra distance?

Nope, well I did run a training hilly 42km 3weeks ago. That was probably a mistake 🤣.

Before I started training for this only really 5s and the occasional 10ks.

I had a rough time doing Leeds marathon today. I was on track to beat my time last year, felt much stronger, kept my heart rate in check despite mega start line nerves, and didn’t go out too fast. Coming up to mile 19 and started to get serious stomach cramp which scuppered things for me.

Never had cramps like that before. Still finished and didn’t stop moving (apart from having a piss and stopping to kiss my partner. These were separate stops)

@alex sorry only just seen this. I find them true to size.

3 times I’ve gone for gait analysis and 3 times the shoes have been expensive and not very good. Brook Launch, ASICS Kayano and some kind of horrible Hoka thing.

That pretty much mirrors my experience. The last couple of times I bought shoes at a shop they were great when I was walking / trotting around the shop, then absolute nightmares out on the trail. Cue the next 12 months just using them for short runs near home, ‘cos I paid a fortune for them and I’m not just going to throw them out 🙂  These days I’m sticking to Decathlon (Evadict) or La Sportiva Akyras if I’m feeling wealthy…

31km race today – harder than expected, as it was pretty hot and the uphills were pretty brutal. Great race, though, with some fun downhills and some stunning views. Definitely one I’m planning on doing again next year.

@spawnofyorkshire, that crap but sometimes it just isn’t your day. Did you change your nutrition strategy or anything like that for the day?

Well, I have been officially / unofficially signed off bike riding for the time being by medical professionals…or at least to avoid spending time sitting in a saddle. This is actually for a good reason as my SO and I are getting ready to start our first round of IVF treatment. The link is pretty debated between cycling and fertility in males I think, but as that’s what the doctor ordered I want to make sure I do not bugger ANYTHING up as we only get 3 free goes at it.

Obviously riding has been great for my mental health and a bit of an escape over the past few months of appointments etc, but I must admit I didn’t even think about that side of things!

So I will be running henceforth. I’ve always liked how faff-free it is but never really done it often enough to not feel like my legs aren’t going to shatter into pieces.

I am relatively fit cardio/lungs wise, it is just my legs that I am not fit. The first few runs I am always sore with actual niggly pain rather than DOMS and have to take it slow…haven’t quite figured out my warm up strategy just yet. I often feel best if I just start jogging rather than taking ages to warm up.

Do any of you follow Hironori Nakajima (Fitness trainer) on social media? He’s not specifically a runner, mainly, his thing seems to be using his body like a spring. But anyway, he does lots of stuff with stride length from very short to very long such as in this, I like this sort of stuff, I can’t do distance (time, lack of desire/dedication/commitment), so find experimenting with things like this quite fun (I stop somewhat short of going to the extremes that he does).

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6_LKz0ydPX

@elray69, you could do worse than start with Couch25k. It’ll feel slow to begin with but it allows your joints and muscles to catch up with your cardio fitness.

Having fallen out if the habit, I’m getting weight/strength training back into my weekly routine. Partly on the instructions of my physio.

I can obviously google and refer back to what I was doing up to early last year. I’ve a decent space and a pile of dumbbells up to 20kg (40kg for the pair).

I’m curious as to what other people are doing in the real world and if there something I should be doing I’ve not thought of?

Let me say straight away I am not a runner of distance. I used to be a decent sprinter but 400m was as far as I was interested in.

Today I’m doing my first half marathon (well second but that was by accident). At 54 I’m looking at about 2 hours but have riding the course I’m not so sure.

Manchester half tomorrow looking very rainy anyone else running it? 1st organised half in 12 years (have done 3 or 4 just while out running on a nice day). Thought my pb was from Rivington half 12 years ago but turns out I accidentally beat it during COVID so not sure I’ll beat that but all good fun I think.