Tailor made for the job!

I’ve always been the type of person that doesn’t like to compromise unless I have to and my recent Ultra exploits got me thinking about potential opportunities to improve my running kit (you get a lot of time to think during 9 hrs).

In my “other job” in the Army Reserves I’ve had the same thoughts as load carrying is critical and if you can make life slightly more comfortable then that’s always a good thing in my books.

The British Army used to have a reputation for issuing kit that was out of date especially compared to our American friends. Well I’m glad to say the days of the British squaddie having supply his own decent equipment has passed and the kit issued now is of a good standard but as I’ve said, there’s always opportunities to personalise.

Well you might be wondering where I’m going with this and what its got to do with running? Well hang in there! Post C2C I’d heard of people modifying their packs when on long distance events and I thought if I can’t find exactly what I needed maybe I could create it? 

I then read some reviews on the Ultimate Direction Signature vests http://www.ultimatedirection.com/c-signature-series.aspx and liked the way that the worlds best ultra runners combined their experience directly into products so I called my good friend who runs a small custom Army load carrying business 1157 Tactical making kit made to order for people on the front line in places like Afghanistan so it must be good!

What I had in mind eventually was to produce a bespoke running pack / vest that had all the features I liked but for now I decided to test the water by getting some existing kit modified. I decided on getting the front drinks holder and external pockets permanently sewn on the shoulder straps and add some more front storage but getting a small waist pack attached to the waist strap. At the same time I decided to try out a revised lacing system to my Xero sandals.

Review to follow......