We are dedicating this week’s L & G Morsels to our favorites while running.
(L) I am sure after the race I will either have a long list of things I loved or things I will never use again. What works for 5 miles just isn’t the same when running 50! But for now, these are a few of my favorite things!
Saucony Ignite Capris. Not too tight, lightweight and a little zipper pocket in the back for my chapstick or gel or keys. I love these and feel like I am wearing shorts without the nasty little chaffing issue that can arise with shorts on a long run.
Music. I cannot stand to run without my tunes. I like to change it up all of the time because I get bored. Who are some of my favorites? Here is one of my current running playlists:
- Warrior/Nellie
- Put The Gun Down/ZZ Ward
- Hey, Soul Sister/Train
- Champion/Flipsyde
- The Time/Black Eyed Peas
- Can’t Hold Us/Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
- Ten Thousand Hours/Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
- Born This Way/Lady Gaga
- Baggage Claim/Miranda Lambert
- Counting Stars/One Repbulic
- Raise Your Glass/Pink
- Timber/Pitbull
- When I Grow Up/The Pussy Cat Dolls
- Cheers/Rihanna
- Hips Don’t Lie/Shakira-This is a homage to our own Shakira…JILL!!
- Botton of the River/Delta Rae
- Brighter Than the Sun/Colbie Caillat
- Bruises/Train
- Chicken Fried/Zac Brown Band
- Done/The Band Perry
Blistex 5 Star LIp Protection with SPF 30– I take this on all of my runs and re-apply constantly. Otherwise I have dry, sunburned lips at the end of the day and that never feels good. Plus it fits nicely in the zipper pocket of my capris!
(G) I have a few must-haves on my list as well. I may also need to borrow Lowi’s chapstick because mine doesn’t have SPF in it!
Drymax socks: I stumbled upon these socks many moons ago and I can’t imagine ultras without them. Among their best attributes are they protect my feet and aren’t too thin. Secondly, and possibly most importantly, they dry out quickly after wading through deep water. That is a really awesome after you just stuck your foot in a big water hole.
Garmin 910XT: This technical lovely was a Christmas gift a couple years ago and it’s a great tool to have. This is a GPS system that will track your miles, pace, altitude, fastest mile, total time vs. moving time and many other stats. The best part of this watch is that is has a long battery life. For a long, very SLOW runner/walker such as myself I don’t complete races quickly. That makes the 5-6 hour battery life GPS systems not terribly useful for me. But the 910XT hits the mark for me. Although it’s also the reason from time to time that you’ll find me running around a short loop in my parking lot until I get to “exactly” the mile mark I want. I just can’t quit at 11.98 miles.
Music or silence: I often fluctuate between these two during a long race. Many times music boosts me up, slows me down when I start out too fast or gives me a beat to try to keep the pace up especially as it starts to get later in the day. At other times silence is golden. It’s never at the same point in a race but there are times when just hearing the sounds that are around me are better than being tuned in to my iPod. I like the sound of nature, of my feet hitting the ground, of even hearing my own breathing. These natural rhythms help me to find my groove at times and keep me in the moment.
Race Week Recap!
Thursday: Thankful Thursday: Race buddies and awesome friends!
Wednesday: There is a path …
Tuesday: Torture Report #15: Constant Running Thoughts About Running & Howling!
Monday: A Long Time Coming: The Road to 50 Miles
Lowi & G 