Marathon - The Gear

 I was asked about my gear for the run, so I will write a quick list of what I used on the marathon course and eventually come back with pictures of the stuff as well.

Lets talk first about clothing. I have learned to run with gear you have worn before. No surprises on the course is my motto, so I wore an Adidas vented running shirt. I find these types of shirts to channel the heat away by making a clear path for warm air and wick away sweat. I like them too because they tend to stay in place. I also wore a pair of compression shorts under my regular shorts. 

I wore a Nike running hat. I have found that it not only helps keep sweat out of your eyes but is necessary for keeping the sun off your face. I also wore a pair of injinj toe socks under a pair of regular socks. This was a mistake as my feet felt cramped. I should have just worn a single pair of socks. But I had some problems with rubbing on a couple of runs and didn't want blisters. 

For shoes, regular readers know that I have had some trouble with my shins. I had trained last year on a pair of Nike Pegasus 26s, but had switched to Brooks Glycerines just before the Wine and Dine. Although I think I will go back to the Brooks eventually, I had decided the Brooks were the problem and bought a pair of Nike Pegasus 27s to train in. I also picked up a clearance pair of Pegasus 26s at half price so I ran in all three from time to time and had tried some inserts as well. But for the marathon, I went with a safe choice and wore my Nike Pegasus 27s and my shin compression socks. 

Of course regular readers and friends know I buy nipguards by the gross, and regularly use and anti-chafing bar. They failed during the run, so next time its duct tape.

I used an ArmPocket 10 to hold my id, money, iPhone, and extra nipguards, but might pick up a ArmPocket 20 for the extra room. I also wore a water resistant Spibelt for my gels. 

For electronics, I wore my Garmin 610, but didn't wear the heart monitor (no need). It is way too much watch for me. A 210 would have been fine, but being a gadget junkie, I decided to keep myself in debt and go deep. I like it, but it is too much watch. I kept up a three zone screen with Current Pace, Total Distance, and Total Time. 

I use an iPhone for my runs both for music and to keep track of my distances and normally I use the Nike+ GPS app, but to send out regular alerts I switched to RunMeter. Although I still have to fiddle with this app a bit, I really like how it fed me Twitter and Facebook replies right into my headphones. If I could get it to send bulletins through text and read incoming texts it would be perfect. I had it set to send regular updates on Twitter and Facebook at 2 mile and 20 minute intervals respectively. I also had switched to bluetooth headphones earlier in the year. Although they are not the best choice and are somewhat more than comparable wired headphones, they are out of the way if you want to remove a layer or shirt. Also, they allow me to answer calls (not that I would on a marathon, but on training runs it has happened). They are a little heavy and you have to remember to charge them. 

Since my iPhone would be using its GPS receiver, 3G radio for bulletins, bluetooth radio, and playing music while keeping the screen lit, I had found long ago thats its battery would not last all 26 miles. So I used a backup battery sleeve made by Mophie to keep the phone alive. By the end of the race, the phone battery pack was depleted and the phone had 46% juice left. 

Well, thats all the stuff I dragged around except for perhaps a extra 20 or 30 pounds of me. I don't know if the music helped that much. I'm going to start doing more runs with just me and the air and less with music. 

On the trip, the Garmin eventually was reporting I'd run a half mile farther than I had. My phone did as well. As I look at the map, most of this is due to a loss of signal around the course and some irregularities in placement. It was a little disheartening though.