The man who inspired Sunday's route

At a tough part of a recent hilly run, I suddenly came across a handful of other runners, when I had been running without seeing a soul for about half an hour already.  This man was running a great pace and I was on a discovery route (where I just go running, without knowing for how long or where I will go). I decided I would see where he was going, and try to keep up with him.  He ran down great little paths. I could keep up with him on the inclines, but then I lost him on the downhill.

I got a few things out of following the man:

1. He motivated me to keep running at a reasonable pace

2. I learnt that I am good at going up hills

3. I learnt that I am slow going down hills

4. I discovered some wonderful new paths in the forest.

I won't be making a habit of following random men through forests, but this man added something to my training for sure!

Shoes

I am a little annoyed that my recently purchased new Asics (verdict on last pair: awesome) give me massive blisters even after 40 minute runs. I am now in a bit of a dilemma. I am doing an Alpine half marathon in the summer, for which I will most certainly need trail trainers for (I've got my eye on a pair of Salamon ladies). But I also think I ought to replace my normal running shoes before they destroy my feet and my will to live.  Which should I prioritise? The Alpine half is my big ambition of the year, but it is in July and I'll probably be able to get some before then. My running shoes hurt me.
I think the replacement pair must take priority, but I am impatient to get the trail shoes. They will help my mind power for the Alpine training...

Why run?

As the first post, it seems appropriate to write about how I started to run. I came third in the cross country at school once, then didn't really do any real running between then and moving to Switzerland, several years later. For some reason, when I was living in Luzern, I decided, with a couple of friends, to sign up for the Luzern half-marathon. So I began to run. I was quite happy with my first race, after only about 5 months of training, and running in general, I made it in 2:06. And then I was hooked...
You can see one of my training routes and my post about the race on the link in the post title.