Out on my new Decathlon Kalenji Run Actives

Having done probably over 1000km and more likely 2000km on my old Kalenji trail runners, and my New Balance road shoes, I finally decided to get a new pair of running shoes.

It wasn't the distance they'd done that bothered me, rather 1) The smell and 2) That I've worn through the toes on both pairs.

The toe thing brings me on to one reason I'm a fan of Decathlon stuff - their £12.99 black trail running shoes enabled me to run my first marathon - off road at that - AND it took me longer to go through the toes on these than any other running shoe I've owned. It was therefore not much of a stretch to go for Decathlon shoes again.

I tend to think that a lot of sports gear is fetishised, that only really expensive kit is any good and "You get what you pay for" blah blah. Well, my commuting bike is a secondhand Decathlon Rockrider 5.1 from 2007 that cost me £45, my running stuff is mostly Decathlon kit, and I dress in Primark.

I am all the style! I am also pretty poor.

Basically I chose these Kalenji Run Active Grip Shoes because I figured as a road / trail hybrid they'd do for my main running routes, which are a mix of road and light trail in the main, until winter.

I've now taken them out on a mixture of terrain - road, dirt, gravel and farmland, and they are very comfortable - despite me only taking a 9 in normal shoes and 10 in trainers usually,  the 10.5 is fine for my running in although I find the fact that due to the company's continental origins, I presume, they only do UK half sizes! But the extra 0.5 gives you a margin for heat and swelling.

I even had a bit of wet and snow to test them out in as well. But not enough to test the waterproofing, which I'm guessing is pretty minimal.

Although the sole is not as hard as the Kalenji full on trail runners, it is still quite stiff, and the one problem I seemed to have that on wet tarmac, this leads to them feeling a little bit slippery. I wonder if that will ease as the "newness" of the sole is worn away.

They look pretty good, but they aren't going to win any prizes for styling.

At £23.99 they aren't as good value as the amazing Kalenji Ekiden Run One trail shoes (Amazing for £12.99) which now seem to be sold at £19.99 in a newer model, but they are still cheap for a shoe I suspect you could do a marathon in. They seem to have better laces than the Run Ones as well, which often struggled to stay done up for more than a mile without quadruple knotting them!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 27.04.17 and these opinions are my own. Decathlon haven't supplied me anything, although I wish they bloody well would. Rucksack? Bike? Come on guys!

Taking my Tights for a Spin

Finally got to go out running and test out some of my new budget Decathlon running gear, specifically the tights and the gloves.

Now I'm not used to running tights, and even though these are a large size, they took a lot of getting on over my big cyclist's calves and thighs. But when I did they were perfectly comfortable on my 34 and a bit inch waist...with slight overhang...

The gloves were a different matter. I have small hands, so went for a medium, but this turned out to be a shade small on my right hand...I must have appendages like the poor fellow out of The Quatermass Experiment. Should have gone size up for these.

However, outside doing 6km tonight on a chilly night - if not frosty yet - with a bit of a breeze, even these thin gloves kept my hands warm. The tights too were fine, offering good support I felt, and nice and warm and not restrictive at all once the slightly unusual feeling of having such snugly covered legs was overcome.

It was a nice try out of what is barely £10 worth of gear, but we will see how we go on a freezing Parkrun morning!

Assuming I get out of bed for that.

Si

Decathlon Goodies Have Arrived

...and not before time. The weather has decided to be cold, and getting colder. And I don't have any thermal baselayers that aren't completely and utterly horrible, and I don't have any wet weather trousers, and I need running leggings for winter no matter how unmasculine they are...and my Tresspass rucksack fell apart after just over a year.

So, not being keen on the quality of Sports Direct stuff, I decided I'd use Decathlon to purchase microbudget kit for microadventures, or indeed start to. I'm not brave enough to get the sleeping bag and large rucksack yet.

So, I've started off with the £2.49 Arpenaz 10 litre one, which seems to be made of rather better material than my Tresspass one and will be handy for my trips of my bike to nature reserves. There's some new running gloves, which will also act as liners for my proper big gloves on super cold days; some manly as anything running tights, and my pride and joy - wet weather trousers to enable me to survive wet rides in without shivering to death all day when I arrive.

This collection of gear set me back £31 plus £4 delivery. Testing out of the baselayer will be in the morning, a the first frosts arrive, and then we will see about doing some cold weather running tomorrow night.

I have not been given this stuff by Decathlon. But I'm hoping that if I mention them a little bit, they might lob me something to review! I'm over the 100,000! I have readers! Come on, let me have a freebie.

I'm shameless I tell you, shameless.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.11.16