Christmas Parkrun, Hoka Bondi B's and freaky Japanese animations.......it's Christmas!

Its Christmas!  I'm sitting watching some freaky animated Japanese film with a plot that could have been mashed together by an alcoholic opium addict with ADD on a new batch of mind bending drugs, drinking fizzy wine and eating the obligatory christmas box of chocolates.  And I've just had my Christmas dinner.  On my lap because I don't have a dining table any more.  It's a funny day - certain life changing decisions have meant that I'm spending Christmas this year on my own - not in a mini screechy violin playing, Bridget Jones in PJs sort of way (although I am wearing PJs as I type this...), but out of choice, and I'm trying to make it a positive thing.  I've never spent Christmas on my own before, and I don't know why it has to be thought of as a negative thing.  I feel like its something I have to do though, just this year.  I get to decide what to eat, and when to eat, I don't have to share my fizzy wine with anyone, and I can watch freaky Japanese animations all day.  I wouldn't do this every year....next year, I'll have broken out of my hermit cocoon and will be back to normal.  (Correction; "normal".)

Freaky Japanese animation.  I feel a bit like the floating dude at the moment....

Anyway, so this Christmas, as I'm at a loose end so to speak, I thought I'd finally try Parkrun.  I'd been feeling like I was starting to run strong again a few weeks ago, post-Tooting, incorporating speed sessions into my weekly training again, however the past couple of weeks, I'm not sure if its just stress with stuff going on in my life at moment, or too many christmas nights out, but I'd not been feeling as strong and had just been feeling tired a lot (possibly too much wine and chocolate...making the most of it before sensible, focussed, athlete-mode Fionna re-emerges in the new year...).  Also, the danger of being at home alone on Christmas, was that I'd stay in bed all morning, feel sorry for myself, and then just mope around all day eating rubbish and feeling generally crap.  So, the plan (always have a plan!) was to pick up Harmeny mate Colin at Barnton and head to Cramond to do my first Edinburgh Parkrun.  Bit of a false start - my alarm went off at 7, I woke up, thought sod it, messaged Col to say I was being a flake and not going, and went back to bed.  Luckily,  2 minutes later, I messaged back and changed my mind - I need to remember that life is what you make it - I could be miserable today and sit on my arse, or actually do something :)  Managed to find a straggly old bit of tinsel and tied it round my waist - who says I'm not being festive this year?

Got to Barnton just as Santa Col was jogging down, so picked him up and headed down to Cramond.  Cramond Parkrun is quite a surreal event - as we drove the short distance to the waterfront, I could see other cars heading in that direction, their passengers all wearing Santa hats, and the odd runner jogging down, also in Santa hats.  We got a spot in the car park and trotted over to find the start - by now, more Santas, elves, even reindeers were congregating near the start (as well as a funny dog in a jumpsuit and tinsel round its neck).  We bumped into Nicky F (Harmeny Pentland Triathlete) who flung a great big furry Santa hat at me - that would certainly keep my ears warm.  Personally I thought I'd been doing ok with my threadbare tinsel and also the fact that I had my Harmeny t-shirt on it its festive red and green (which come on, should never really be seen outside Christmas time - Runners Council meeting required to discuss spring/summer Harmeny collection ASAP...)

I wasn't really feeling the love, the good thing about ultras is that you can sort of ease yourself into a race, but this actually required having to do a warm up.  I even stretched (I think the last time I did that was maybe winter 2011?).  We made our way to the start - I've never done a park run before, I knew I didn't want to start at the back, but at the same time I didn't want to be right on the front line, so started a couple lines back.  Big mistake - as we were sent on our way, I immediately got boxed in between a whole lot of plodders, so the first minute or so was spent zigzagging in and out of runners until I finally was able to break free and get into a stride.  Far too fast of course, but that what I always do.  One day I may learn.  But I figure, with those sort of distances, you just go flat out and hang on, its only 20 mins or so, so might as well dig in and just go for it, its not like you're going to crash and have to start walking (I hope I never come to regret that sentence...).   And if I did crash - I was wearing my new Bondi B Hokas (Happy Christmas to me) so could always blame it on them (hey, these are shoes for ultra marathons, of course thats why I ran so slow, they are programmed to run slow.....).  And there was always the enormous furry santa hat flapping around my head which I could blame....that has to add on at LEAST 3 minutes to my time, right, and that's not even taking into account the wind resistance?

Not really much to say about the race - I picked off a few runners along the way - one was an elf with  jingly bells and a really disturbing outward foot flicking action, I was glad to overtake him, his running style was distracting me - and got to the half way point feeling ok. I could see the first lady ahead of me (HBT) - she'd been sensible enough to start right at the front line and so had missed out on the scrabble at the start.  There was no way I was catching her though, and so I just settled into trying to run as consistently as I could.  The turnaround felt harder though, I think the wind was in our face a bit, and it is ever so slightly uphill....(ok, so it felt like it - let me check my Garmin....!).  I think my splits were ok up until about the last half km when a few guys over took me and I thought I was going to be sick.  Those short distances are seriously not good for you!

I crossed the line in 20.05, 2nd lady home.  Col came less than a minute behind.  Happy enough considering, and "not bad for an ultra runner with clown shoes" (yeah, thanks Bob) but slightly disappointed as I know I should be running well below that.  My lungs felt like they had frozen and I've now been left with that annoying post-run cough you only seem to get when you run in the freezing cold or breathe too heavily (again, ultra running is much more sensible in that respect, don't think I've ever had a post-run cough after an ultra.  Puking yes, but not coughing).  I was really happy with the Hoka B's as well, I've only had them for just over a week, and I was a bit unsure about wearing them for something so short and pacey - but they felt great.  I'll maybe try my next Parkrun in my Brook Pureflows though and see if there's a difference.

And so, after a quick beep of the barcode to register our times and positions, we left as suddenly as we arrived - first park run done.  Its a great event, so well organised, completely manned by volunteers, and a great way to gauge fitness/speed.  I'm glad my first one was a christmas one and I'll definitely start incorporating more of those into my training;  no excuses now I know where it is!

Happy Christmas! :)

HOKA RAPA NUI  - MY NEW BFF

I drove up to Tyndrum last weekend to stay over for the Hoka Highland Fling training weekend.  I love the Highland Fling race - it was my first time on the West Highland Way, and my first proper off-road ultra.  I was lucky enough this year to have a fantastic race and finish second, just behind GB team mate Tracy Dean and good enough to make me Scottish Ultra Ultra Trail Champ.

Obligatory group photo

I rolled up on Saturday morning and met up with Lorna and Keziah who had stayed over in one of the Hobbit huts the night before.  The plan was to run over to Bein Glas and back, about 24 miles.  Hoka, who sponsor the race, had kindly come along and brought numerous boxes of brand new shoes for us to try.  I've always been pretty sceptical about the Hokas.  As a novelty though, I thought I'd give it a go and just run the 24 miles in them.  I've never really had any issues with new shoes before so I'm not very cautious in this respect.  Plus it meant I wouldn't have to clean my shoes after as we'd be running through the notorious cow poo alley.  The weather was fantastic as we set off - I got into a group with Debbie (GB and Hoka athlete), Marc Casey, Bob and Davie, and we stormed off.  

The first thing I noticed about the Hokas (once I figured out the laces - or Debbie kindly secured them for me - thanks mum :) - was just how cushioned they are, especially compared to the usual minimal type shoes I run in (Brooks PureGrit and PureFlows).  I felt like I was bouncing along.  They also looked pretty snazzy - wearing oversized shoes make your legs look skinnier I discovered :D  They are also surprisingly light - pick up a box and you might be forgiven for thinking it's empty - another surprise given the bulky look of these shoes.

Hoka Rapa Nui

I'm going to list the main preconceptions I had prior to running in Hokas along with what I actually discovered:

1. Hokas are too chunky and heavy  Yeah, they are chunky.  But they don't make you trip over your feet like I thought they would.  Sure, I kicked the inside of my ankles a couple of times - but I'm notorious for doing that anyway, even in my PureGrits (....harks back to West Highland Way Race 2012, mile 87, when I thought I would cry if I kicked my ankle one more time....).  And they are so incredibly light.  Not just for the size of them, but period!  They are actual clouds.....
2. Hokas are like platform shoes!  They are unstable to run in and make you go over your ankles / fall  Ok, they are oversized, built up, look a bit like moon boots.  But they are also surprisingly stable. I really thought I'd be going over my ankle in these shoes.  I'm so used to running in minimal type shoes now that even when I run in slightly build up ones like the Brooks Cascadia, I find myself going over my ankle more.  But, apart for a couple of wee turns (which I think was probably down to the user rather than the shoe), I had no issues at all running on the undulating terrain.  And the biggest surprise of all - the heel to toe differential is only 5mm.



Marcus Scottney (left) rocking his Hokas on the Sunday run

3. They promote heel strike and go against a minimalist running style  I like to think of myself as a minimal runner who forefoot strikes.  In reality, I'm a wannabe minimal runner who starts a run forefoot striking but progressively heel strikes as I get tired.  Anyway, Hokas do not promote heel strike.  I had an interesting conversation with GB international and Hoka athlete Marcus Scotney who I ran with on the Sunday (at his "easy pace" aka my 10k race pace.....jeeez) and who has a very obvious forefoot running style. Things I had read about Hoka talked about the shoes promoting a rocking motion, which I automatically interpreted as landing on your heel and rolling onto your forefoot.  But you really can run with a minimal style - the heel to toe differential as mentioned above is only 5 mm (not too different from the 4mm I've got used to with the Brooks  PureGrits) so much less than I thought.  It's basically minimalist running but with cushioning!  And when I do get tired and start to heel strike more.....the rocking action still propels me forward. Genius.

So, in conclusion, I've been proven wrong.  Hokas are actually very cool and practical.  They allow me to still run with a minimal style, with the added bonus that I feel like I am actually saving my joints.  I probably wouldn't wear them on a seriously technical and muddy/hilly run, but for more trail type runs they are perfect.  Where I think they will really come into their own is on longer ultras of 100 miles plus, and on roads. I'm thinking 24 hour events and how much my joints would thank me for enveloping my feet in a pair.  Maybe the next 24H I do will be in a pair of Hokas......time to write to Santa.