Boycott

If you pay attention to running, you will almost certainly have become aware of the video about Mary Cain that came out recently.

I tend do spend time, probably too much, on sites like letsrun.com, so I had known her name for years, and I had been aware that she had been struggling to turn her incredible potential as a young athlete into a top runner, but I had no idea what was really going on.

Needless to say, I have no doubt whatsoever that she is speaking the truth, and the amount of abuse she had been going through is just unbelievable. Nike has seen plenty of negative headlines in the last few years, this time not for the sweat shop as had been the case 20 or so years ago but the still deeply unethical attitude permeating that company, clearly with full support from the very top level.

I have at least one friend who has boycotted Nike shoes for years due to their shocking attitude and behaviour. While I always understood where he was coming from I was never entirely convinced they were much worse than anyone else. As you might have guessed, I have changed my mind. I won't buy their shoes again. I was never tempted to spend €250 on their magic new shoes anyway so it's not as if I will be missing out on something. It's not much on an inconvenience to me, so it really is a no-brainer.

I'm not claiming to make a big statement. It's my own personal decision, no more, no less.

Anyway. Last week was fairly good, just over 70 miles, but my faster run on Saturday was a bit slower than the same one 2 weeks earlier so there is not much progress on that front, which is a bit worrying. I'll keep an eye on that. If I don't make progress, the training is wrong. There's obviously the possibility that I'm running too much, I've heard that plenty of times before, but since I used to run almost twice as much at my peak time I'm not entirely convinced, especially as I'm feeling pretty good these days, definitely a lot better than a year ago. I honestly don't think I'm overtrained (Something, admittedly, I have been wrong about in the past).

I'll keep an eye on it.