When I first started running nearly eight years ago, I started out in an old pair of trainers that (I now know) were two sizes too small for me. After a few ‘runs’ (with a lot of walking) on the treadmill, and some achey shins, I went off to a running shop to get a pair of proper running shoes.

A few years down the line and my running shoes outnumber my regular shoes. I have lighter racier pairs for road races, trail shoes, fell shoes, cross country spikes and comfy ‘plodding’ shoes in pink, purple, orange, blue, green and black. And each run poses a question of ‘which shoes?’

As we hiked up the last hill of Snowdonia Marathon some of the runners passing us on their way down could have done with asking themselves this. Snowdonia is largely a road marathon but that last hill is steep and takes you through fields. It was wet and runners wearing road shoes were slipping all over, some landing on their arses.

I’d run down that very hill the year before. I ran the whole race in a pair of shoes I’d only run in a few times previously, and despite this being a risky strategy, it worked well enough for me to run another marathon two days later. I ran in the Salmon city trail shoe which are built for coping with both pavement and trail in the same run. They’re built for people like me.

I’m not lucky enough to live in an outdoor playground like the Lake District or Snowdonia to go running in whenever I like. I live in London, Zone 2. I have great places like Hampstead Heath, Highgate Woods and the Parklands Trail within easy reach, but reaching them involves a bit of pavement pounding. Heavy duty trail shoes aren’t so good on pavement, especially in the wet. It’s just not what they’re made for.

So when Intersport asked if I’d like to try the new Salomon X Celerate 2 GTX (a new city trail shoe), I was more than happy to take them for a spin. They’re a similar shoes I ran Snowdonia in, and as I’ve run many miles in those shoes since, a new, less smelly pair was a welcome prospect.

I’d got up for the parkrun in Finsbury Park on Saturday morning, but in the half mile run from my front door to the start of the parkrun, my plan had changed. I like the parkrun, but its two laps of the road running round the park weren’t what I wanted that morning. I didn’t want to rush around working a hard for a better time that the previous week, I wanted to slow down and enjoy the morning air. So I turned left and headed to the Parklands Trail.

The Parklands Trail is a two-mile long disused railway that’s now a nature trail. With most of the morning runners in the area having headed to the parkrun, I had the trail pretty much to myself for half an hour. There were a couple of dogs splashing through puddles covering themselves in mud and I smiled at them as I did the same.

I was supposed to be testing the shoes, but if I’m completely honest I forgot about them. I ran an out and back section, along compacted dirt, squishy mud and soggy leaves and the shoes let the run happen without getting in the way – which I think is all you can hope a running shoe will do.

I got home 45 minutes later to a hot breakfast. “How did the parkrun go? Did you get a new PB?”

“Nope, I didn’t run. I chose adventure instead.”

The new Salomon running shoe – X Celebrate 2 GTX, is exclusively available in Intersport stores.   This post is sponsored by Intersport.