Apart from wearing mud spikes for the odd cross country race, I've been fiercely loyal to every pair I've purchased, plodding the streets and careering down the local footpaths for miles on end, while, unsurprisingly, flogging each poor unsuspecting pair to their inevitable death. Perhaps I was a tad naive to not realise there were specific types of shoe out there that are more suited to certain terrains, and that it's actually far more cost-effective to own more than one pair and split the training miles between them, therefore increasing the lifespan of each one. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Derry Journal, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Now I've gone full circle, as these days I like to embark on a less frequent running shoe shop by buying items in bulk, and at the moment I'm the proud owner of six different types of runner (cushioned, support, race, easy miles, long distance and trail), all of which I've been happily rotating for the past 12 months with plenty of life remaining in each pair. Actually, make that seven, as the latest to join the Bailey trainer party are the brand-new recently-launched Salomon DRX Defy GRVL's. Initially inspired by gravel biking, Salomon say these are the trainer equivalent of our two-wheeled friends, enabling the runner to keep going strong when the path ends and the gravel begins.
A big claim, but an interesting one as I am now more experienced and mindful about .