We’re Newton Ambassadors for Europe 2017!

We’re hugely excited to announce that both Leah and I have been selected by Newton Running to be Ambassadors for Europe 2017!

I’ve been running in Newtons for many years, from when they were first released and switched to marathon running in them from 2012 onwards. When Leah started distance running I convinced her to try them over her traditional shoe and she’s never looked back since. They have changed our form, efficiency and helped to keep us injury free. We couldn’t be more proud to be Ambassadors for a brand that we truly believe in and a product that has allowed us to run marathons all over the world, including for every marathon of our 50 States in under 4 hours quest.

We’re always happy to talk about the shoes, the running form, what cadence is and steps per minute. Just ask!

We have gradually changed our running style from a heel strike, the most common form of running, to a mid/forefoot form, aiming for a cadence of 180 steps per minute. We’re still not perfect but we keep improving in every run. Our Newtons have a 2.0 or 3.0 mm heel-to-toe drop which feels more natural than a built-up shoe and allows for a more efficient running form.

For more info (and a good animation), see:
http://www.newtonrunning.com/run-better/form and
http://www.newtonrunning.com/pages/technology/

As Ambassadors we look forward to sharing news of the latest products and reviews of the 2017 models of shoes. If you’re at any races and spot us in our Newton gear, come and say hello!

Also follow us on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/pipespj/ and
https://www.instagram.com/couturerunner/

News: 50 Marathons in 50 States in under 4 hours: Complete!

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We did it !!!!!!!

On Sunday, October 18, 2015 we crossed the finish line at the Grand Rapids Marathon in Michigan in 3 hours 35 minutes to complete a double goal: running a full marathon in all 50 US States and also running them all in under 4 hours each. We joined the ranks of the 1,200 finishers in the 50 States Marathon Club and became only the 73rd and 74th people to manage to complete the challenge of running them each in under 4 hours, joining the finishers list in the 50 Sub 4 Marathon Club.

If that wasn’t amazing enough, Leah broke the record as the youngest female to run 50 sub 4!

Then on Sunday, November 15, 2015 we went on to complete the tough Myles Standish Marathon in Massachusetts, which was the only State we had run as part of our 50 sub 4 challenge prior to getting married. By repeating the State of Massachusetts we became the first ever married couple to run all 50 States in under 4 hours.

We’re over the moon and can’t quite believe we’ve achieved a goal that’s been set every day in our minds for the last 3 years, one which at times also seemed unreachable by the point at which we wanted to complete it. We still have a few more marathon race reports to upload to the site, but we are excited about sharing our experience on what it was like to finish the challenge when we upload the Grand Rapids write-up. Stay tuned and we’ll have it up as soon as we can.

We want to say a huge thanks to family, friends, random strangers we’ve met along the way, people who became friends in various marathons in different States and to everyone that reads our blog and posts comments either here or on Facebook. Your support has kept us going and your comments have driven us to keep trying to inspire. We’ve met some fantastic people on our journey and it wouldn’t have been the same without you.

We’ve been asked a lot, “what’s next?”. Well we have some ideas, so stay tuned for those too.. 🙂

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MarathonPipers.com is Live!

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It’s officiall! We’ve finished converting most of the content from our running diary to website form so we’re sending out the web address. The remaining race reports will be posted up very soon, so that everything is brought up to date with where we currently are with our marathon challenges in 2015. Thank you all for your support, comments and encouragement, it means a huge deal to us both. We hope you enjoy our write-ups.

All race reports from 2008 – 2013 are complete!

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It’s taken a while (months!) but now all race reports spanning 2008 – 2013 have now been uploaded to the site. The first few of 2014 have also been uploaded, bringing the site in line with where the Facebook album stopped (London Marathon 2014 in April).

Marathon reports can be viewed by going to “Marathons” in the menu and choosing a year, or at this page

Now to work on the rest of 2014 🙂