Lace Up, Power Up
These are my trainers: Adidas Kanadia TRs. I bought them back in 2009 and they are starting to fall apart a bit, but that comes as no surprise.
Excluding hundreds of training sessions, here are just some of things these bad boys have seen me through:
- Running 21km during Wycombe Half Marathon
- Sprinting 100m in the London Olympic Stadium
- Travelling in at least half a dozen foreign lands
- Deadlifting nearly 3-times my bodyweight
- Struggling 12km with hypothermia during Tough Guy, the Hardest Race in the World
- Climbing the Three Peaks of the United Kingdom: Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis
- Running 5km of obstacles for the Spartan Sprint
- Rowing across Lake Windermere
- Running 10km offroad to complete the Super Spartan
- Cycling 100km in an attempt to reach the source of the River Thames
- Kayaking, cycling and running 48km in the Enduro Adventurethon on Magnet Island, Australia
- Cycling 1000km cycling around Estonia (my brother’s handiwork)
- Canoeing around Ullswater
- Running 17km through mud and nettles during Nettle Warrior
All in all, I’ve become quite attached to these shoes. It’s sad to think the time may have come to replace them. In fact, I might just buy another pair of the same!
Of course, the only issue is that I have spent all my money on adventures and have none left for food – let alone shoes! Maybe if I promise to do more adventures, Adidas will sponsor me. Or at least donate some new trainers to my cause…
Anyway, as a way of bidding farewell to my Kanadias, here are some photos of them in action. In the first one, they are laced with special laces from the Shaolin Temple in Cheshunt, who use some of their profits to support disadvantaged martial-arts projects. They’re only £5 and would make a unique stocking filling for any budding athlete.
