Inspiring striding - Matt Evans

Inspiring striding - Matt Evans

We have so much love for our happystride community ❤️ You guys are so inspiring and we want to get to know you guys a little better...and we know others would like to as well.

SO we bring you to....the next post in our blog series ..."Inspiring striding"!!! We have Matt join us!🖊

We are so pleased to have Matt as our guest! 😍 Matt took up running in 2016 and has run 200 miles in one go! Matt is a happystride superfan with 10 pairs of happystride shorts.

Thank you so much for joining us Matt... and over to you to answer this weeks questions and inspire us!

How long have you been running for and how did you originally get into it?

In 2016 me and Mrs Smevs decided to do a Tough mudder, I'd put on quite a bit of weight since leaving the Army in 2008, we both loved it and over the next couple of years I dabbled in Obstacle course racing for a bit, I never used to train, I'd just turn up and see what happened. But in the January of 2019 I decided I wanted to test myself so I signed up to Blade runner a 50km Ultra over the Brecon Beacons, it left me pretty broken but that was buzz that I needed and from there my love for running and pushing myself to the limits begun.

Whats your greatest running achievement?

I'm really proud of a lot of the stuff I've done with my running, I've joined the 100 mile club, I've even joined the 200 mile club running Race across Scotland last year, but my greatest achievement for me was setting the Fastest known time for running the length of the North Downs way, the record was 40 hours and I completed it in 27 and a half hours, it was the first time I'd ever run more than 65 miles in one go so to complete the 126 miles and beat the current record made me feel pretty epic to be fair.

Where is your favourite place to run?

Just anywhere on the trails, I train on the North Downs which is epic, I never get bored of it, but I do love it when me and mrs Smevs venture up to Wales, either the Brecons or Snowdonia are fine by me

What are your top 3 running tips?

• You have to enjoy it, theres no point going out hating every run because you've gone like a bat out of hell and you finish feeling half dead. Take it easy and enjoy.

• For me personally I always have to have a race booked so I've always got something to train for, otherwise I can find motivation is a little bit ropey.

• Have some confidence in yourself, believe in yourself, believe you can achieve what you want to set out to do. Negative mindset can really put you off your stride and really effect your motivation.

What does your running schedule look like and how do you fit it into your life?

I run 6 out of 7 days normally, normally a 5 am start or a run while I'm waiting for one of the kids to finish one of their clubs in the evening. We have 4 kids so it can be quite hectic, plus Mrs Smevs runs as well, but we just seem to make it work, we both want to achieve our goals so we know how important our runs are. Our long runs on Saturday and Sunday we will get the kids in the camper and pit crew each other driving round the trails, the kids can get out and explore the North Downs and we still get our runs in so everyone is happy. 

Whats your dream race?

For me it has to be Badwater 135, its the worlds toughest footrace so that says it all for me, it just looks absoluteky brutal, and thats exactly the type of race I want to be involved in.

Who are your running inspirations?

Theres no famous names for me, obviously I'm blown away by the likes of Killian and Courtney, but I love just seeing normal people doing extraordinary things, you see these people training so hard, working full time jobs, parents to kids and still go out there and absolutely crush their goals they have set themselves and I love seeing it. I always say to surround yourself with people who do great things.

What does your diet consist of when in training for a big race?

Nothing special really, I try to eat well and keep my protein on the ball, but at the same time if I've burnt 4000 calories on a Saturday training run, then cake and pizza is pretty much guaranteed, I'm not going to stop myself from having treats, I think thats possibly why I run, so I can eat all the food.

Favourite Running Trainers and why?

For me its the inov8 G270 trailfly ultras, I've ran in these since I started running in 2019, and they have got me through every challenge I've undertaken, the toe box feels massive and the only take I've ever had a blister from them was on Race across Scotland, but I was running for 68 hours so I'm not surprised.

We understand you have a big challenge coming up, please tell us more?

I've got some massive challenges planned to be fair, but the next one in the pipeline is the Wildhorse 200, which is 200 miles across North Wales. Then it's about getting ready for April where I plan to beat the fastest known time of running the 870 miles of the Wales coast path. The current record is just over 20 days.

Favourite happystride pattern and why?

I've got 10 pairs and I love them all to be fair, every race I wear a set and you can guarantee I'm getting comments on them, but my favourite ones I would say are the crazy bananas.

My Design?

I've actually messaged you guys about this before, so this one is easy. I want slices of pizza on my shorts, these would be a massive seller ha ha.

Wow, thank you so much Matt for joining us and answering our questions! Stay tuned for our next 'inspiring striding' blog in our series where we will have another inspiring guest!