Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Brand new shoes (for a brand new beginning...)

The Covid-19 pandemic, caused by the infamous SARS-CoV-2 virus, will be remembered as one of the most disruptive events in human history. As far as I'am concerned, this disease has had an impact on my running routine, too. Unlike many professionals, my workload has dramatically increased over the last year and a half, and my working hours have become much unregular. Being a methodic runner, it was hard for me to keep my body well-trained. In addition to that, the stress caused by an overdose of online meetings led me to develop reflux (I really need to start a therapy for that...). As a result, I could not train as regularly as I wanted. In the past years, I used to run almost 200 km in July and in August, but in 2021 I barely reached 90 km. In spite of all these hardships, I was able to record some achievement: a few days ago, I ran 5 km in the glorious ring of "Stadio dei Marmi" in Rome, where I conducted my first residential training after 18 months. The place is a great track surrounded by marble statues. I intended to cover the distance in 22'30" (meaning: 4'30"/km), but on the last bend I broke down and had to stop. No problem: back home, I ran the same distance in less than 22 minutes, a performance that gave me renewed confidence in my quest to break the 20 minutes wall. Will I make it? I don't know. What I know for sure is that now I have one more ally in my attempt: the superb Nike Streak Zoom 7, just arrived this morning (with the very useful bag inside the box!) from "Koala Sport", one of my favourite online shop specialised in running shoes (at a price of 76,50 €, delivery costs included). I haven't tried them on the road yet, but the feeling is fantastic: even more comfortable than the 6! Not to mention the color of this model, as you can see in the picture. Now I can count on 4 different Nike models for my running: the Streak Flyknit, the 6, the 7, and the Pegasus 34 for the long excursions. I am looking forward to using them all till their soles wear down!