Welcome to UTA Staff Diaries, a space to celebrate the personal running journeys of our team and where you can get a peek into the world of Up There Athletics through their eyes—the products they’re loving, the shoes in their rotation, the races in their calendar and so on.
A familiar face to most people in our community, Emma is our Melbourne store Manager and an accomplished athlete with a bold goal for her next race. As someone who has truly tried and tested a lot of gear, we always make sure to tune into Emma’s recommendations.
Hi Emma, tell us a bit about your next race. The distance, why you chose it, the goal you have in mind.
My next race will be a half marathon in Melbourne. I really love the half distance—it’s the perfect amount of hurt for a race and it’s long enough that you get to play some mind games with yourself as it gets toward the pointy end.
Additionally you don’t write yourself off for weeks afterwards like you would for a full marathon. My goal is to run as close to 76 minutes as I can—but we’ll see how that pans out on race day!
What have been your favourite products recently—the shoes you always reach for, the brands that you feel good in, your running staples?
I’m currently obsessed with the adidas Hyperboost Edge. I’m slightly superstitious with shoes and after working through an injury that I’ve been struggling with for a while—I don’t want to change.
Plated shoe wise, I recently got a pair of the ASICS Metaspeed Edge and I LOVE it. I've always been curious about the shoe and having done one of my biggest sessions in it recently, it'll definitely be the shoe I run in on race day. It's slightly firmer than the Sky and I like the aggressiveness of the plate—it feels snappy at toe off which is perfect.
You’ve completed your run, what are you doing immediately after?
If it’s a weekday, I’m probably rushing into the shower with a choccy milk and getting ready for work. If I have infinite time I’m stopping at a servo to grab a drink and probably making myself eggs on toast. If I’ve done a hard session, laying down on the floor for maybe 10 minutes is on the cards to decompress—bonus points if it’s warm, I’ll lay in the sun for a bit.
Are there any products you have your eye on for Race Day?
I LOVE Erniold and their new Melbourne singlet for this year will be part of my race kit. Other than that I’m a creature of habit so I’ll keep pretty much everything else the same.
Anything you’ve been listening to on your runs recently?
I’m all for 90's/early 2000s pop music. I’ve got a whole playlist downloaded onto my watch with artists like Eminem, Rihanna, Timbaland, Usher, Pitbull and the Spice Girls. I know every word to every song and it makes all my runs so much more fun. Unless I’m racing, you’ll never catch me running without music.
Any final special mentions? Brands you are loving, things you can’t live without?
My Oakley radars are my absolute favourite running sunnies. I like racing in them because I feel like I have blinders on, they help me focus. Other than that the On Elite Run Socks High in White and my Garmin 970 are always on me when I head out the door.
