This entry's going to seem rather dull to virtually anyone else but me, so don't say I didn't warn you...

...I've bought some new trainers for the upcoming Garburn run. 

Usually I run in some nice comfy Asics Gel 1100's - which for someone with a slightly less than ideal figure for long distance running - make a lot of sense.  Since I've had them I've had no significant blisters (except at the end of the last half marathon) and they'd stood the test of time and a fair amount of punishment.

So why change?  Well the crux of the issue is that whilst the old trainers are nice and comfy and light etc, they are built for smooth surfaces without too much standing water, and actually whenever I've used them for anything a bit more challenging, they have been a bit tricky - the soles aren't grippy at all in the mud, and the uppers are whatever-the-exact-opposite-word-for-waterproof is - i.e. they give you wet feet at the slightest opportunity.

With all these negatives against my existing shoes, and the fact that I'll be running (more likely trudging ) up some hills and over some fields and possibly through some puddles, I thought I'd invest in some new ones.  So I went ahead and bought some new Asics Trabuco IX (why IX I don't know...maybe they are a limited edition?). 

Handily enough they arrived just before a work trip to Dubai last week, so they had a chance to be broken in for a couple of days over some testing marble floor and carpet terrain in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel .

The trainers are officially described as rust/silver grey/chocolate - or as anyone not colour blind will tell you - they are bright orange. In an attempt to remedy their obvious Dale Winton-ness, I took them out for a trip up my usual 6 mile run yesterday.  Having been raining quite heavily the day before, and the track being a woodland path anyway, I was thinking that they would come back looking slightly less bright and have a bit of used-trainer cred too (very important when running at organised events ). 

Not a bit of it. These things are as non-stick as Bill Clinton and as waterproof as a duck, and as a consequence I still have nice bright orange trainers, but now with some mud attached to the soles.  Ah well .  On the other hand, they were great to run in, very grippy through the mud and kept my feet completely dry, so on balance they win.

I did warn you it was going to be dull