At last the new Hokas – Rapa Nui Comps –
appeared in Run and Become. Adrian has been expecting them for quite
some time and texted Wednesday to say they'd arrived. I took an
extended lunch break and zoomed along with Mary to try them on before
they hit the shelves. Slightly refined from the Evo Stinsons. So a
narrower and fractionally thinner sole (the Hoka trade mark) making
it perhaps more flexible and lighter: 275g at size 8. This I
hardly noticed as I'd run the last ones bald with around a thousand miles. And if it wasn't for the split between upper and outsole I'd
still be running in them. Last Sunday's 34 miler was their swan song
and a fitting last run. The ingress of grit, sand and water through
the split meant the precursor of a blister threatening to spoil the
unblemished record of the Stinsons which got me through six and a
half months of running, saw off the PF foot and were worn for every
distance from Parkrun to, well, last Sunday's 34 miler.
This one was working away on a laptop.
(Should get out more.)
(Should get out more.)
First outing for the Rapa Nuis was
club and a tough Willie Jarvie session borrowed and pimped from
Edinburgh AC to accommodate the ridiculous winds ruffling our
feathers. I got home with a hot spot between the knuckle and nail of
my big toe. After such a long wait for new shoes I had imagined them
to have magical properties and frankly was a bit disappointed they were
merely shoes. Then I remembered my first few runs with the Stinsons
and it taking a while before I really appreciated their rather
lumbering looks yet leg saving qualities. The Rapa Nuis similarly
disregard the minimalist fashion (though do boast a minimal 5mm drop
from heel to forefoot) opting for a bumper car design and cushioned
ride. Their ability to absord impact and therefore reduce fatigue is legendary and they are becoming commonplace on the European ultra circuit.
Getting a decent night's sleep last
night and knocking off this afternoon, tradesman early, gave me the
oomph I have been lacking lately and although nearly sidetracked by a
phone call at 7pm I rallied and was out the door about 7.35. I have
been finding it hard to get out, and up the weekly mileage for no
other reason than I can't be bothered. It seems easier to flop in
from work and diddle about till dinner than get out the front door into the dregs of
the Winter and bust a gut. Especially when I'm 2 blogs behind and
there's a video to edit. And 500 pages to read before book club. I
need a holiday.
So I left the flat, flat out. At some
point I must have decided on the Base-to-Apex run. I only do this challenge once or twice a year (generally while on form) as it hurts and probably
isn't to be recommended (no warm up just race pace over the threshold). It
goes from my front door to the trig point of Arthur's Seat. It's a
mile up Easter Road over Abbeyhill to Holyrood Palace then pretty
much another from there to the trig point. First mile is a gradual up
hill and several road crossings, taking over 7 minutes; the second mile is considerably steeper. I
usually take the Dasses then either straight up the steep
diretissimma or left and up the tourist trail. Tonight the latter and
I only walked the last dozen yards over the rocky summit plug. Every
couple of minutes I would look at my watch thinking there was no way
I'd be anywhere near my pb of 17.45. I cleared the single-track path
of tourists shouting “thank you” as I ran towards them. There was
a bit of headwind at places which I intended to justify any time over
18 minutes. So I was well pleased when I touched the Trig Point at 17.41 – a new record. And another first – I was carrying the
camera and took a few blurry snaps on the way.
Pentlands
The A Path
The thing about this run is, that's it
over. I jogged round to the crags injecting a tempo dash or 2 but
there was not much left in the tank. Even once home there was still a
tremor of oooh – I've overdone it again in
my limbs. However before I got there I took some photos of the sun
going down and silhouettes of folk on the A path,
a speed of light reference for the uppermost path round the edge of the Crags.
Hoping for some
decent weather this weekend and to run a few trail miles in the new
shoes.
Everytime i see the last shot of the trig point i see this as some 50m shrine in the Himalayas blue layer of clouds below at dusk.beautiful thanks PB
ReplyDeleteArthur's Stupa! A nice idea t.o.b.y.
ReplyDeleteThanks for following the blog.