Firestarter / Kicks - old, new and out

"Bikes mean the same thing to me now. When you’re scratching, it’s that buzz of doing something you love, that freedom. In your mind you know when you’re on it and you’re just flowing."

Keith Flint

RIP

Not long into the month of March and it's proper crazy already. Sadly, Keith Flint from Prodigy died on 4 March 2019. He was into bikes too - who'd have known?! I remember him playing a set at Glastonbury Festival one year that I attended which was pretty awesome. It is believed that Keith took his own life. How sad. I'm sure Keith will be sorely missed.

On a brighter note, I had already completed March's BAM (bivvy-a-month) as posted previously. Today, I completed March's PAM (ParkRun-a-month) too. Ha! I'm not sure I'll complete my PAM challenge but that is certainly a current aim.

Retired Kicks (Brooks Ghost 8)

All my runs (and cycles) are recorded on the Strava App which is a pretty neat social fitness network. It's main use is to track my cycles and runs using GPS data. One of the great things about it, is the fact that it will let me know when I need to retire a pair of shoes. Strava informed me that my Brooks Ghost 8's had ran over 800k and suggested I treat myself with a new pair. I was happy to retire these shoes to be honest, as I never really liked them. They were expensive (around £100) and uncomfortable.

New Kicks (Nike Downshifter 8)

Only too happy to follow Strava's advice and a new pair of shoes was swiftly ordered. I purchased cheap shoes this time around (mostly because I was not so financially flush) and went for a pair of Nike's Downshifter 8's. These shoes got good reviews and only cost me £33.70. I have yet to test them but am sure I will and most probably blog about them soon.

Resurrected Kicks (Brooks Ghost 4)

My new shoes did not arrive in time for my ParkRun today (but were delivered just after). So, I ran in a resurrected pair of Brooks Ghost 4's. These shoes were great and I loved them back in the day. The Brooks Ghost 8's that I just retired were essentially an updated model but for whatever reason did not compare to these shoes. Good karma wearing these old shoes today - I ran my fastest ParkRun this year! My run didn't feel great, however, I finished 64th out of 516 and ran a time of 22:39. Each ParkRun this year has been progressively faster - I hope this continues. My PB is exactly 1 minute faster. Will I ever beat it?!