Given that most of my days include either running or cycling, I've come to know and trust a few products that I now exclusively rely on. I'm fairly lazy to try things out for the sake of it and I'm very non-tech so these things provide me with everything I need. If you fancy becoming a slightly hippy-ish low-tech barefoot runner who turns up to marathons with the wrong bra, then grab yourself some of the things mentioned here.
1. Brightly coloured running clothes from Reebok
Now I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that I'm a spokeswoman for big companies like Reebok as I'm certainly not. But the 'lazy' thing I mentioned earlier? Yeh, the Reebok shop is five minutes' walk from my front door. I pass it constantly and have got to the point where if I need anything, I just go there without looking anywhere else. It's so easy. It is more than that though, their brightly coloured leggings are fabulous. Running is almost the only time I wear loud fun clothing and I really like to indulge in some lizardy green or look-at-me orange. They also did this whole range designed by Les Mills which had the initials LM on them. Obviously I got a few of their t-shirts and told everyone Reebok had designed them for me. I think they believed me.
2. Karrimor water bottle
It's one of those water bottles with a hole through the middle for your hand and I love it. I've got a dark coloured one so that when I take crazy chia seed and spirulina concoctions out with me, people can't see that my drinking water is actually a worrying green. Although I'm not massively reliant on water during a run, I do like to have it in case of a suddenly dry throat. It was invaluable for my mental wellbeing on my Wellington Run to know I had water if I needed it.
3. Vibram minimalist shoes
These dinky little sock-shoe things have had a bad press. People love to hate the Vibrams. I'm not sure why as they protect my precious little feet and I'm so grateful for them. If I didn't have them, as a barefoot runner, I'd have no skin left, in some of the places I run. Give me a Royal Park and I'm sailing. Bare feet out, off I go. If, however, if I'm hill-running at Primrose Hill, the floor there is grimy. Very very grimy. If I didn't have some protection, I'd have bleeding cigarette-butt-covered feet. Vibrams have enabled me to be the runner I want to be. I love them.
4. Look Mate socks
Now I'm a girl who loves a subscription with a passion. I currently receive a chocolate subscription, a breakfast cereal subscription, a vintage book subscription, a different-independent-magazine-every-month subscription and now I have discovered a company which sends a sock subscription! The socks themselves are clever designs such as a yellow one which has a squiggly blue line working its way around the sock which, when you look properly, you realise is the line of the Thames. Whenever I point that out to someone, they realise how clever it is and suddenly want a pair! I'm currently wearing my two pairs to death as they're so soft and comfy and great for days on the bike.
5. Audiobooks
I'm not one for listening to music while running. I worry about becoming too reliant on it and feeling utterly stranded if my battery dies one day mid-run. I prefer to listen to the sounds of life itself or an audiobook. I can't explain how much I've learned through audiobooks while running. My latest favourite title was Chanel: An Intimate Life by Lisa Chaney but I've listened to a fair amount by the Australian novelist Lianne Moriarty and she's excellent. I look for something that I can get stuck into, that makes me care about the characters. That way, if I want to know what's going to happen next, I have to go for a run as it's the only time I allow myself to listen. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery were particularly good for forcing me outside on lazy days because I was so invested in the story. Listening to Scott Jurek's Eat and Run changed a lot about how I view running and my life and I loved that I was listening to him talk about running whilst out on my own runs.
1. Brightly coloured running clothes from Reebok
Now I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that I'm a spokeswoman for big companies like Reebok as I'm certainly not. But the 'lazy' thing I mentioned earlier? Yeh, the Reebok shop is five minutes' walk from my front door. I pass it constantly and have got to the point where if I need anything, I just go there without looking anywhere else. It's so easy. It is more than that though, their brightly coloured leggings are fabulous. Running is almost the only time I wear loud fun clothing and I really like to indulge in some lizardy green or look-at-me orange. They also did this whole range designed by Les Mills which had the initials LM on them. Obviously I got a few of their t-shirts and told everyone Reebok had designed them for me. I think they believed me.
2. Karrimor water bottle
It's one of those water bottles with a hole through the middle for your hand and I love it. I've got a dark coloured one so that when I take crazy chia seed and spirulina concoctions out with me, people can't see that my drinking water is actually a worrying green. Although I'm not massively reliant on water during a run, I do like to have it in case of a suddenly dry throat. It was invaluable for my mental wellbeing on my Wellington Run to know I had water if I needed it.
3. Vibram minimalist shoes
These dinky little sock-shoe things have had a bad press. People love to hate the Vibrams. I'm not sure why as they protect my precious little feet and I'm so grateful for them. If I didn't have them, as a barefoot runner, I'd have no skin left, in some of the places I run. Give me a Royal Park and I'm sailing. Bare feet out, off I go. If, however, if I'm hill-running at Primrose Hill, the floor there is grimy. Very very grimy. If I didn't have some protection, I'd have bleeding cigarette-butt-covered feet. Vibrams have enabled me to be the runner I want to be. I love them.
4. Look Mate socks
Now I'm a girl who loves a subscription with a passion. I currently receive a chocolate subscription, a breakfast cereal subscription, a vintage book subscription, a different-independent-magazine-every-month subscription and now I have discovered a company which sends a sock subscription! The socks themselves are clever designs such as a yellow one which has a squiggly blue line working its way around the sock which, when you look properly, you realise is the line of the Thames. Whenever I point that out to someone, they realise how clever it is and suddenly want a pair! I'm currently wearing my two pairs to death as they're so soft and comfy and great for days on the bike.
5. Audiobooks
I'm not one for listening to music while running. I worry about becoming too reliant on it and feeling utterly stranded if my battery dies one day mid-run. I prefer to listen to the sounds of life itself or an audiobook. I can't explain how much I've learned through audiobooks while running. My latest favourite title was Chanel: An Intimate Life by Lisa Chaney but I've listened to a fair amount by the Australian novelist Lianne Moriarty and she's excellent. I look for something that I can get stuck into, that makes me care about the characters. That way, if I want to know what's going to happen next, I have to go for a run as it's the only time I allow myself to listen. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery were particularly good for forcing me outside on lazy days because I was so invested in the story. Listening to Scott Jurek's Eat and Run changed a lot about how I view running and my life and I loved that I was listening to him talk about running whilst out on my own runs.