Get a Grip!!

Over the last week the deep snow has been trampled underfoot and refrozen overnight. Running in road shoes has been similar to taking your life in your hands, offroad shoes made the scenario little better. However, I had been organised and planned for just such an eventuality! I am now the proud owner of a pair of "Get a Grip" tungsten carbide spike outsoles. They are fantastic!

I have now done 2 runs in them, today's was 14 miles of alternate slush and sheet ice. The blue circles house a 1/4 inch tungsten carbide spike, which is apparently harder than steel. On contact with ice, it sinks in and grips the ice fantastically well. Running with them on tarmac is just plain awkawrd, not to say noisy!

At first I was very nervous about running on the ice, but soon learned I was totally safe. I have had plenty of incredulous looks from passerbys. I want to shout at them, "It's ok, I'm not as mad as I look, I am prepared!!". I did see a couple of runners out today, running in road shoes, no spikes on the sheet ice. Now that really is mad. They were both running slowly and gingerly, you wouldn't have caught me running with them.

Last week, I managed 34 miles. Which given the weather, and the time of year, and the fact that I had no childcare for the boys, was pretty good. This week the plan is 90 miles, but I will just do the best I can.

90 miles seems so huge, that I try not to think about it. I just run whatever I have for the day, usually in multiples of 3 miles. It's a good distance to think of runs in. 3 miles is a short run, an easy distance, one that I can do no matter how bad I feel, so I just keep on doing my next 3 miles until I am done.