Where would the UK be without Percy Pig? He is practically a national treasure at this point. I’m also pretty certain he is the main reason why Marks & Spencers (M&S) is still in business these days too. Previously, the only Percy Pig that was vegan friendly was the Veggie Percy, but it seems in recent years M&S has massively reworked all of the Percy Pig and Colin the Caterpillar range where the vast majority of their products are now vegan friendly. They are also very clearly labelled as vegan friendly so that is even better!
Another bonus I have recently realised is that it is actually very common to eat sweets whilst running long distances. I have seen a lot of recommendations on line that people will take a couple of the Percy Pig sweets with them on their longer runs (largely anything past 10km/6miles) and swear by them. And as I am getting a little bored of always having to consume the sports gels on my runs, I decided to take a chance. But started smaller, with the smaller bags. Because in all honesty, I have zero control when it comes to Percy Pig sweets and they probably wouldn’t even make it home from the shop, let alone out on a run!
I did a pretty long run over the weekend (16km/roughly 10miles) so took these sweets as my fuel for around the half way mark. I have to admit, just knowing that I had sweets to look forward to did make the run feel a lot easier – which was also a bonus because this run absolutely SUCKED. It was one of those runs that felt awful as soon as I started and then everything that could go wrong on a run happened. In no particular order:
- It was very windy and no matter which direction I was running, I was always running into a headwind
- It was a really icy wind too, as here in England we are in what is known as ‘fake spring’ where the sun is out but the wind is ice cold
- It was so windy, that my hat got blown off my head about 4 times, and then I had to chase my hat along the ground like I was in some sort of comedy
- Part of my running route was blocked by a tree, so I had to clamber over that
- Another part of my route was flooded – I saw loads of people walking through it so assumed it wasn’t that deep, until I stepped into ice cold water up to my ankles and realised that the other people were all wearing wellies. My feet were then wet, cold and squelchy for the next 2km of my run.
- I spilt most of my gel down my hand when I tried to open it, so had sticky hands for the rest of the run. And a sticky vest pocket when I tried to put the empty packet into my pocket since there were no trash cans around.
- Normally when I start a run, I get into a good rhythm and the run then starts to feel quite good and I end the run really accomplished and very happy I went. This run felt like an eternity of suffering, and I spent the entire run wishing I had just stayed in bed.
The only real perk for me, were these candies. Taste wise, they taste exactly like a Percy Pig does, which is somewhat fruity. I think these are meant to be strawberry. Now in a packet they give you a mix of jelly and foam. The jelly is very much like any standard jelly sweet, and the foam I found to be like a slightly firm marshmallow. Aside from the different textures, they taste exactly the same.
Now as a stand alone snack, these are great. The packet means you can have a little sugar boost without going overboard on a massive bag, so I have been taking them as well to put in my bag for days out and about. As a running snack though, they were a bit 50/50. I have to also say that I am rather uncoordinated, so running and eating and breathing proved quite the challenge for me. I had no trouble with the foam piglets, possibly because they are a lot softer to chew. But the jelly ones were a bit more of a pain – they do get quite sticky whilst you are chewing them and almost attempt to glue your mouth closed. Which is fine normally, but when running it is quite the problem, or at least it was for me. I also found that I was then spending the next 1km of my run picking bits of jelly out of my teeth, which whilst it was a nice distraction from the dull ache in my knees, it was more of an inconvenience than anything.
One thing I did like about these as a running snack though is that they last quite a while. I found I spent probably about 1km slowly munching my way through these sweets, and as they are so small they were a really convenient way to pop a little sugar into my body without needing to think too much. They were also a great sugar boost and I could really feel my energy levels lift a little higher whilst I was eating these, which was a really welcome feeling after 8km of hell. They also gave my brain something new to focus on that wasn’t just running.
These piglet packs come in one multipack that costs Ā£4 and are sold exclusively at M&S. You get 10 packets in total, so they work out to be a really cheap snack pack overall. I find that one bag will tend to last me for about a month, largely depending on how many long runs I choose to do during that time. As I said before though, I also like to throw a packet into my bag whenever I know I am going to be out and about a lot, just so I know I have that little bit of sugar available should I (or really anyone around me) need it.
Taylor Talks Vegan 