With all the marathons banning headphones, I ran a few races without them. I kind of missed my music, but I was able to talk to some of the runners. Even at 8:50 minutes/mile pace I was able to talk to people. But at 8:00 it is just too hard to hold a conversation at all. Nobody is talking much. But I noticed that people were still wearing headphones. The races were saying no headphones, but they weren’t enforcing it all. And from what I heard, the ones that were enforcing it, would basically confiscate your headphones. I could handle that. So I wore them during my last marathon. It was nice to have music again. But then in the February issue of Runner’s World (pg 86), it said that the Twin Cities Marathon officials scanned finisher’s photos and disqualified any runners with headphones, and also banned them from running in the 2008 race as well. Now that would suck! Fortunatly I didn’t race that marathon. That was very under-handed. I will just add them to my list of marathons to never run. But will my next race coming up in a couple months, I have started to grow concerned. They say right in there rules, NO HEADPHONES. Ack! So I started searching for something. I previously bought a small mp3 player with a speaker (Sandisk Shaker). But I would have to carry it in one hand for three and a half hours which seemed like a pain. And the speaker is tiny and would be moving back and forth as I I ran. I thought there might be some sort of speakers I could hang around my neck, or maybe an mp3 player with a speaker that I could hang from my neck with a lanyard.
In my searching I found these small speakers, Safe Sound Personal Speakers (SSPS-1) made by Safe Sound Sports that can either be clipped to your clothing or worn from a lanyard. They plug into an existing mp3 player. Way cool, I can use my ipod shuffle! And they are relatively inexpensive. I ordered a pair for $19.95 and free shipping.
Here is a link to their site:
http://www.safesoundsports.com/product.html
When I get them, I will try them out and see how well they work. I don’t think I will be able to clip them on to my running shirt, but I can probably wear them on a lanyard. That would probably be safer anyway. They would look strange only shoulders like that, and I would be concerned about them falling off. But I can clip my ipod shuffle to my heart rate monitor strap, and have the speakers on a lanyard tucked inside my shirt. No headphones. Heck, they wont even see the mp3 player! YAY!
I am running in the Shamrock Marathon in March, and it is likely to be a little chilly. I looked at pictures of last years, and most people seemed to be wearing long sleeve shirts, and leggings. I already have the leggings, but only one long sleeve cycling jersey with a cycling related print on it. Oh, I do have a logn sleeve Cold Gear shirt too, but that will probably be too warm.
I wanted something fun to wear for the race. I have a bunch of Primal Wear cycling jerseys (tuxedo, leisude suit, one that looks like muscles, Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon, etc), but they are all short sleeve. I have worn the tuxedo jersey (The Ritz) in the Buffalo Marathon and the Rochester Marathon. I also wore it for a 50 mile bike ride. Imagine that, wearing cycling jersey for cycling. I love running in cycling jerseys since they have the pockets in the back. I had been considering buying a long sleeve version of the tuxedo jersey, but put it off. I had seen it on Primal’s site for $75. But I saw at another place for under $70. Yesterday I decided to order it. But found the place that had it for under $70, no longer had it in size Large. Ack! I went to Primal Wear’s site, but they were out of stock too. Uh oh. I started kicking myself for hesitating. But I found another site wear I had bought another Primal Wear jersey. So I ordered it corssing my fingers that Iwouldn’t get an email saying they were out of stock. But I got an email saying they were going to ship the shirt today. YAY!
I am not sure if Primal Wear is discontinuing the shirt. They seem to change their designs often. But it seems like the tuxedo shirt would be popular. Maybe the long sleeve version isn’t as popular as the short sleeve version. Or maybe there was a run on long sleeve shirts due to the colder weather of winter. I don’t know. But hopefully I will be wearing my tuxedo shirt in March for the Shamrock Marathon. WHo knows…maybe it will be warm, and I can wear the short sleeve version. But I will still have the long sleeve version for other races anyway.
I was concerned about dressing for the race as I am not used to running outside int he cold. But I dressed just right for the run. I wore compression shorts, Under Armour Cold Gear pants and Cold Gear shirt. Nylon shell pants and jacket. Hiking socks. Trail running shoes. And my tassled Grumpy hat. Gotta have some fun.
I ran with my friends Juli and Al. I was trying to pace Juli to a faster race. Al was just along for fun and to get a training run in. I think Juli was getting a little annoyed with me. I kept trying to encourage her, cajole her, push her, or whatever it took to get her to speed up. But it didn’t work. She started off well and wanted to go too fast. I slowed her down, then in the middle she slowed down. But towards the end she actually picked up the speed a bit. Al and I had a blast. It was an easy run for us. We finished the 7.5 miles in 1:21:16. LOL! So slow!!! 10:50 minute/miles.
Here are the results:
http://www.grtconline.org/2007Results/2007-08Freezeroo2Overall.html
http://www.grtconline.org/2007Results/2007-08Freezeroo2Age.html
I don’t take them seriously since we (Al and I) weren’t really trying at all. I am a little surprised that we didn’t finish last in our age group. We got close though. We gave it our best shot! LOL!
When I got home from the race, I ate, took a hot bath, ate some more, and then took a nap.
But I was also scheduled to run intervals too. So tonight I ran them too.
1 easy mile for warmup.
2 x .75 miles @ 6:03 pace.
4 x .50 miles @ 5:56 pace.
1 easy mile cooldown.
I was a great workout!