Running would be much harder to fit into my average working week without my running backpack, and marathon training would have been almost impossible. When the nights are longer and you don’t want to have to wear a headlamp for your evening run, and your run is too long to realistically fit into a lunch hour – running all the way or part the way home is the easiest solution. Even if it’s dark by the time you’re running home, chances are there will be a lot more people around which should make it safer.

This is how I fitted in my mid-week runs while training for a spring marathon and I couldn’t have done it without my Inov8 running rucksack. The alternative would have been to let my work clothes pile up in my desk drawer for a week and take them all home on a Friday night – and that is not a fun Friday night for anyone. Thankfully my backpack could fit in a pait of boots, jacket and jeans – which meant I didn’t have excuse to buy a different pair of boots for each day of the week.

At first I didn’t think I’d like the feeling of running with a backpack on but, while it’s not the same feeling of running free as a bird, there’s a certain feeling of security that I get when it’s a cold evening and I have my rucksack on. I also think it makes be keep nice and straight when I’m tired towards the end of the run. But that’s not all. Thanks to the detachable bladder I was able to sip on water for my long runs without stopping. Now that’s a double thumbs up.