A Forerunner with FiveFingers

There are very few things I love more in this world than slipping on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and hitting the road for a bit of a run. Being 34 means that I’m at that stage in my life where I’m not going to be running any 10.5 second hundred metres anymore but I’m at a point where I can perform across distance at a fair old pace (about 4 minutes 15 seconds per kilometre).

Paul in his FiveFingers

More recently I’ve decided to take things a little more seriously, I joined a bit of a social running group and decided that I wanted to race more. I also wanted to generally improve and keep that heart attack from the door. My new running group gave me a few bits of inspiration and importantly some excellent fashion tips, I say fashion but actually one of the chaps is a regular wearer of Vibram FiveFingers, something I have always eyed with suspicion but had noted that the Barefoot movement is gathering some pace – if you’ll excuse the pun.

After a long debate and thorough research I decided that I needed to try a pair. Off to Stratford City Westfield I went and there in all their glory where what I describe as ‘toe shoes’. Trying them on was actually amazing and I paid my money for some lovely Vibram Komodo and left the store (that night I went to sleep in them).

I did as instructed though and started reasonably slowly (4k) but then pretty swiftly kicked into gear and was running 10k in them. I think I’m pretty lucky in that I’ve always run on my toes and so as a consequence the transition didn’t seem as painful as some peoples, but even so it still took about 4 weeks to get properly into the swing of them.

The great news is, I’m faster, less injured and I look cool, what more can you ask from a pair of running shoes – now all I need is a pair of the FiveFingers Seeya and I’ll be a happy man

The problem was this wasn’t enough and my spend on running kit continued, the Camelbak XCT (review to follow) was the next thing after I decided I needed to run a marathon and finally I have recently purchased the Garmin Forerunner 410. I shan’t go into all the technical bits of the watch but instead simply deliver a verdict that this is actually really helping me to keep my pace sensible and track my routes – which is something I’ve always struggled with since moving my distances up. Add to this its a great looking piece of kit and you are really onto a winner. I paid just £150 which for a feature packed watch is nothing and the whole Garmin Connect website concept just means that I can keep in touch with what my fellow runners are up to.

Between them the Vibram FiveFingers and the Garmin Forerunner 410 (and my running group) have changed the way I run and think about running. Before it was about winning now its very much about taking part and doing the best I can on the day. I’ve just completed the Crystal Palace 10k  and the Darent Valley 10k about 46 minutes for each and I see I’m getting quicker. I’m aiming for a time of 39.59 in the end but we’ll see if that ever happens again and if it doesn’t well I’ll survive.