Was anyone else at the National Running Show at the NEC over the weekend?

I was there on Saturday. I suppose it was ok considering the cheap tickets (£10, although I had a free ticket), and considering it was only 10 minutes on the train, but I certainly wouldn't have travelled the length of the country for it.

Extremely packed in the morning. There was a proliferation of stands which didn't really interest me.... endless manufacturers of calf sleeves and other unnecessary stuff. A couple of decent stands... LED Lenser with a massive range of torches, a running sunglasses manufacturer where I made my only purchase of the day... Scimitar who make custom vests... a couple of shops such as Up & Running, although there were no changing rooms and it was packed so couldn't really try anything on.

As for the speakers, lectures, etc.... well I didn't see any... to get the 3D gait analysis or book a 1-to-1 with a "celebrity" required getting there early to book, so I missed all that. I did see Kelly Holmes chatting away to people. As for the lectures, well there was a main stage but all the seating was taken by people who had put clothing down to save their seat, a la German holidaymakers at the pool. I really couldn't be bothered to get into an argument with anyone, so gave it all a miss.

What amused me was how many people turned up as if they were about to race... team vests, tights, bumbags, etc....!

Would I recommend...? For the northerners on here, probably not enough to entice you down, and certainly nothing really geared to Fell running. But for me, with the location and free ticket, a half-decent few hours walking around.

Pretty much as expected really,