pickupthepacepaul

In its third year the National Running Show 2020 was bigger and better than ever. I look back at the Inaugural event in 2018 and remember how good a concept it was. I spent the whole show talking to runners at meet the experts (check out my recap HERE). In 2019 the running show was 50% bigger, and a whole lot better. I spoke on stage about “Getting Your Pace Right” and enjoyed the increased size of the running show (check out my review HERE).

For the National Running Show 2020 the expo was so much bigger, with more stalls and noticeably an Ultra and OCR presence. There was a large Ultra zone hosted by Bad Boy Running, and the small stage was constantly packed out. But what would you expected with an amazing set of ultra running speakers such as Camille Herron, Nicky Spinks, Rob Pope, Dean Karnazes and the illusive Laz Lake. Dean has always been a huge inspiration of mine, and he most recently took part in an interview for me on Running Motivation HERE.

On top of all the fantastic ultra runner speakers there were fantastic guests such as Sally Gunnell, Linford Christie, Kriss Akabusi, Jo Pavey, Ewan Thomas, Susie Chan and more. Needless to say the talks were busy and I loved talking on stage. I titled my talk this year “Pace Yourself” where I spoke about the importance of pace and what you can expect from a pacer. If you missed my talk you can look at my blog about pace HERE.

It was only planned for me to talk on the Saturday, and I had a fantastic crowd. On Sunday morning, when I arrived, the organisers come to find me to ask if I could go on stage again, so I did it all again.

I am so grateful for so many people coming to listen to me talk, and I loved answering questions at the end of my talk and afterwards at the side. I am passionate about pacing, and I love being able to help runners achieve their goals. Often at my talks I get asked advice about running marathons for the first time, and I’ve written this blog to help people on their marathon journey HERE.

One thing that makes the show special for me is the social aspect, with so many people to talk with. But with thousands of people at the show I would need far more time to talk with everyone.

There were a few things for the whole family to take part in at the show. Spartan set up a small obstacle course, and in the Intersport zone there was a race track with different terrain to test your trainers on. This was mostly used for kids races.

I didn’t buy a lot whilst I was there, but I got Kirsty a top from Runr and Running Bear, and topped up my Cliff supplies. I was also given a top by Running Bear. I got some laces for my kids and I enjoyed trying out zwift Running. There were also lots of meet ups including some #Brookrunhappyteam photos.

My kids had a great time and Michelle captured some beautiful photos throughout the day, including this one of Amelie outside the Erdinger stand.

I really think there is something for everyone at the Running Show. The only thing I would add is some brands for children, as we wanted to get our kids some tops but there wasn’t anywhere to get any.

It didn’t stop them having a fantastic time though. They were tired by the end of day 1, and in the morning of day 2 they went to the cinema to keep them entertained.

It’s hard to believe how big the Running Show has got, but next year I think it will need to be even bigger. In the mean time I’m interested to see how the new National Running Show London takes off.