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La Genevoise 5K and Under Armour Speedform Apollo Review

May 6, 2014 | Active Travel, Race Recaps, Race-cations, Running | 2 comments

Getting up at 4.37am on Saturday morning, I did question my sanity momentarily. Not only was I getting up stupidly early on a weekend morning, but I was doing it to run two races, a 5K and a half marathon on consecutive days. In another country.

Luckily that country was Switzerland where the lovely Ashley, my hostess for the weekend lives, and joining me for these races were a collection of awesome ladies from our TNR group.

The first stop was to the marathon expo to collect my race bibs and race t-shirts. It was a really small but efficiently run expo tent, and the volunteers kindly let us opt for the bright yellow men’s t-shirts rather than the pink women’s tops that had the slightly odd feminine fit that often means they’re really short!

We met up with the rest of the 5K runners by the Flower Clock, an iconic local landmark, for a quick photo before making our way to the start area. It had felt a little cold on our way to the race, and I couldn’t decide whether to check my jumper or not, I made a last minute decision not to wear it and was rewarded with lovely sunshine through most of our run. We were all racing the following day so were out for an enjoyable 5K stroll along the lake.

Lissy, Ashley, me, Leah, Laura, Kiera, Beki and Emily.

The women only 5K started on one of the bridges, with a hilariously European aerobics/dance warm up, with everyone in good spirits.

Our little yellow foursome stuck together on the course- especially easy to see each other when everyone else is wearing pink! I realised that I hadn’t even packed my Garmin for this trip, which was actually really refreshing to run without having any idea of pace or distance. I also don’t remember seeing KM markers along the route but presume they were there.

Time for plenty of running selfies!

The run was an out and back along Lake Geneva on a lovely but tight course. There were inevitably a few bottlenecks- with no strict corral system all paces were running together.

Having spent most of the winter/spring marathon training, this 5K flew by (and actually turned out to be a little short, finishing at 2.95 miles long). Our official time was 27.40- always got to do a bit of a sprint finish at the end of any race!

Ashley and Emily were surprised that we received medals and fruit upon finishing the 5K- apparently in the US you’re lucky to get a bottle of water after a 5K race! However the highlight for us all were the gold tupperware water bottles, I’m going to be using this with pride for the foreseeable future!

Last week Under Armour sent me their Speedform Apollo running shoes to try out. When I’d met Ian Dickinson, (head of European footwear) a few months previously, he’d told me that the shoes had been designed for ‘running fast’. They were designed and made in a bra factory, to ensuring the shoes are seam free (even in the heel) and form fitting.

The Speedform’s felt a little like a cross between a Vibram barefoot shoe (not that I’ve ever actually tried one) and a zero support shoe, but with 6mm of sole height protection, which is quite a lot for a minimalist shoe. However, that’s probably what appealed to me- I felt like I was running with the protection and support that I wanted whilst still benefiting from a neutral, lightweight running shoe. They were ideal for throwing in my suitcase for the 5K, however I wouldn’t have wanted to run much further in them, particularly outside (I think they’d be perfect for treadmill runs). I did get a small blister on one toe, although this probably has more to do with my bashed up feet than anything else.

Oh and they matched my bright yellow and purple outfit wonderfully! I teamed my men’s Geneva run top with Under Armour black Perfect Tight capri leggings and a Under Armour purple heat tech tank (can’t find it on the website at the moment but will take better pics next time I wear them!)

Will run for macarons!

If you follow me on instagram or twitter, you’ll also know that we ran the Geneva half marathon the following day- more on this to come! 

2 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Hello, I’ve recently came across your blog and I think it’s fantastic! I recently started running & love reading through your posts. I find them very inspiring. Thanks

    -Y

    p.s. I will also run for macarons

    Reply
    • Charlie

      Thanks for your lovely comment. I <3 macarons!

      Reply

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