Running a half marathon - a good excuse to go shopping!

I've needed some new running shoes for quite some time but the very thought of trying to find a pair that fit (I have very small feet) in Amsterdam (they have very small boutiquey shops here) filled me with dispair. Pushing my way past hundreds of tourists only to be told that they don't have my size really wasn't floating my boat.

So finally last weekend I made it my mission to go shoe shopping. I tried looking up some running shoe (loopschoenen) shops and found a couple of tiny stores dotted around Amsterdam on google maps. So with all that new information, I headed straight for the Nike store (because I know where it is).

Nike must be having a big marketing drive at the moment because everywhere I look I see posters advertising their new Lunarglide+ running shoes. So being a true consumer, I bought a pair. I did actually try them on and they felt great - a good fit and a lot lighter than my old pair. And of course, since they are compatible with the Nike+ sensors, I had to buy one of those as well.

My new Nike "Lunarglide+" running shoes + sensor

I was pretty excited about trying out my new shoes and sensor so I gave them a go on Sunday evening. So far so good!

Then, just like magic, my new heart rate monitor arrived at work on Monday so now I'm fully loaded and ready to go!

My new Wahoo Blue HR heart rate monitor

Now onto the more serious stuff. I tried running 10km on Tuesday and all I managed was a measly 5.2km before I got a horrible stitch and had to stop. But today I pushed hard and ran the full 10km in a record 51:57! That's a full 4:38 faster than my last attempt at 10km! I'm very pleased :)

Ok, I think that's enough for now. Plenty more to come... Go ladies go!!! :)