My running friend Ros Clarke suggested that Wednesday the 17th of August would be a good day to visit Chichesters “The Run Company” (TRC) as they had organised an evening with Hoka running shoes and Henning wine. Joining the regular Chichester and Portsmouth runners were our Fareham gang of Paul “22 press-ups” Coates, Michelle “100K Trail Walker” Edmundson & Paul “100 miles Centrien” Pickford.

I arrived far too early but this did give me the chance to have a chat with Tony the shops manager and get a general idea of the format for the evening. With some time to kill I took a stroll down the scenic Chichester high street and bumped into Paul P & Michelle. The warm Summer weather meant even our sociable 5K run would be guaranteed to be a hot one.

On returning to the shop the Hoka Rep had been busy as he was surrounded by a sea of running shoes. The range included different sizes, colours, neutral/pronaters, ultra/general, road and off road shoes. I’ve only recently bought a new pair of trainers but I did like the look and feel of their challenger shoes. Very light and a real sense of extra cushioning. Numerous questions were asked about the best choices and I have to say the Rep had an answer for every question.  The vast majority of us ran the 5K in their chosen Hokas. Tony ushered us out into the warm evening #runshine and we were off !!

 

The 5K combined largely pavements but a nice touch was two circuits of a park so you could try running on the grass as well. The pace was conversational so that the various groups kept together and could comment on how they were finding running in the Hokas. I ran with the Rep for a bit and he said that he covered both running clubs and shops across the whole of the south !! We ran back with Ros and found a welcome drink waiting for us.

Once we returned to the shop there were more questions for the Rep and the Henning wine lady arriving with a selection of bottles. I confess I’m not a wine drinker but she had quite a captive audience. James Ellis, the shops owner had joined us on the run and I had a good chat with him. The event was a great success and James said he had more events planned for not only shoes but other products. Paul Coates carried on his 22 press ups video challenge and a great final touch was that we all received a Hoka running cap.

These events really are worth attending because you get to run in a different area, with different people, swop ideas and conversations as well as try out new products. Many thanks to James and Tony for an informative and enjoyable evening.