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!
OMGoodness Rob this is so what I have been looking for! Do you wear a hat when running? I am thinking they might clip there nicely Now to decide if I can wait for you to review them and then order so I get them in time for Surf City!
Comment by washgirl — January 5, 2008 @ 6:01 pm