Running Gear

BURBANK, CA -- Good afternoon on another hot day here in southern California! Actually, it has been better the last two or three days. For awhile we were topping 100F on a daily basis last week and the week before. Such is summer in the valley!

I hope everyone enjoyed the daily updates from Australia. My apologies for the delayed posting of them. As often happens while traveling, internet access became difficult, so there was really no way to update them in real-time. Of course, when I got back I was swamped with work, so it took some effort to get everything up. In any case, they are all up now, in order, with the actual posting dates. If anybody has any comments or questions on those or any other posts, feel free to leave them below.

In the past three weeks since I got back, I have mostly been here in CA focused on work and running. Emphasis on RUNNING! I'm now in the midst of week 12 of training for the Chicago Marathon, coming up on October 7th. This will be my first marathon, and I am now at the point where the training is serious enough that I'm breaking all kinds of distance records on a weekly basis. Last Saturday I ran 18 miles, surpassing the then-record 16.25 miles I ran two weeks prior. Next Saturday is 19 miles, and so it goes leading up to the 26.2 in Chicago. A couple weekends ago I was in Houston for my Grandmother's 80th birthday party (my one trip since I got back from Oz), and instead of a relaxing vacation, I woke up at 445am to run a half marathon. In Texas. In August. Yes, really.

February 5, 2012 - Running at the Surf City Half Marathon

Besides all of the actual running, one thing that was very helpful in Houston was finding a great top-end running store, Finish Strong Sports. Here in LA I go to Run With Us in Pasadena. At home in Chicago, we frequent Runners High 'n tri in Arlington Heights. A few people who are just getting into running have asked about what type of gear I use, so here we go!

The first thing I would recommend is going into a good running store. If you're in Houston, LA, or Chicago, I would highly recommend the three places I noted above. Anywhere else, you should do some research. While in Houston, I picked up a new pair of shoes, Brooks Ghost 4's, and thanks to the combined advice of my podiatrist, the ladies who give me pedicures, family, and friends, I got them a full size larger than the Brooks I was running in before. The reason why this is necessary is because the longer you run for, the more your feet swell up. The larger your feet become, the more friction there is, and the more friction, the more blisters and nail damage you create. By getting shoes that are normally too large, you allow room for your feet to swell, and when they do there is less friction, preventing or at least lessening damage.

New shoes!

So far the shoes have been great, and I've recommended them to a few friends who have asked. I use them with custom orthotics and a flat insert over them (in place of the ones that come with the shoes). I think it goes without saying that shoes are the most important "gear" when it comes to running. The next-most important, to me anyway, is actually socks. If your biggest potential problem is blisters and crazy toenails due to friction, having a good pair of socks that wick away moisture will help reduce that friction. This is actually more important than at first glance - for a long time I was simply running in short nike socks, and that was okay for a few miles, but when I found myself doing 10K's (6.2 miles) and half marathons (13.1 miles) in them, I was having major foot and toe problems.

Since then, I have switched over to Asics hydrology socks. They're a bit more expensive than "normal" socks, but make an enormous difference. Not even a year ago I was completely wiped after running about eight miles, and it wasn't because I was any heavier or had been running less. It was because I was wearing shoes that were too small and socks that were not helping. Saturday when I finished my 18 mile run, I could have kept going if I really wanted to.

The rest of running gear I would characterize as important, but non-essential. If you're new to running, just make sure you have a good pair of shoes and socks, and the rest will be okay. For years I was wearing gym/basketball/tennis shorts, which are all fine, but when you get to 10+ mile runs, it does make a nice difference having actual running shorts. About a year ago I got a pair of Nike dry-fit shorts, which are great workout shorts, and for a long time those were my default pair I'd wear during races or other really long runs, since they are great at wicking moisture (notice the theme here).

September 24, 2011 - Wearing the Nike Fit shorts at the Midtown 5K in Palatine, IL.

In Houston, however, I upgraded to an actual pair of running-specific shorts. As great as the difference between the Nike fit shorts and your standard workout/tennis/basketball shorts is, you will find an equally great difference between the Nike fit shorts and a pair of actual running shorts. I went with their men's five-inch "race day" running shorts. There are a number of advantages to these. First, they are shorter and lighter, which simply helps from a weight standpoint. More than that, however, they also embrace dri-fit technology, helping wick extra moisture. But perhaps the biggest change is they come with built-in underwear, which greatly reduces friction and chafing, as well as combined total weight. The first time I ran in them, I felt like I was flying, and they no-doubt contributed greatly to being able to pull off such a good 18 mile run.

Shirts, to me anyway, are not very important, with two exceptions. One, you want a color that is appropriate for the conditions you are running in. Summer in most places means you should basically be wearing white, to reflect heat. Second is that you obviously want to be wearing a light, technical shirt. Sure, you can go run a 5K in a t-shirt if you really want to, and I sometimes do, but otherwise any type of technical shirt should be fine. I mostly wear all of the various technical race shirts I've collected in the past two years during training - right now I'm wearing my 2012 Hollywood Half Marathon race shirt, since I'm getting ready to go out and do 8 miles this evening.

May 29, 2011 - Running the Soldier Field 10 Miler

One thing that I learned the hard way that I needed, and this only applies to men, is nip guards. They're basically nipple protectors, which helps with chafing (and when you're doing that on your nipple for hours at a time, you end up bleeding). They are cheap, easy to use, and help a ton. I use these guys for runs over an hour (anything more than a 10K in distance).

That's about it! I wear a bandanna on race days or extremely long runs, which helps keep sweat out of my eyes (or at least prolongs it from happening). I also wear sunglasses regardless of the weather or time of day, since they're much more aerodynamic and help protect my eyes. I've made a few exceptions to this, but overall I'm almost always wearing sunglasses - they also keep me a little cooler.

May 1, 2011 - Running the Orange County Half Marathon

My favorite little gadget of all is my watch. I wear a Garmin Forerunner 410, which is quite the toy to have. In addition to the basics (time, distance, speed), this does a great job tracking you by GPS and thus determining your elevation, calories burned, split times, and a ton more I won't even get into. The best part is you can customize what you are looking at, so you can change things accordingly to get whatever information you want, even while you are running. This is something I did without for over a year, but now that I have it, I am a much better runner - I am able to be more consistent and adjust my speed in real-time.

Alright everyone - I hope you have enjoyed this running post and hopefully even found it useful. Congratulations to all of you who are at it for the first time, and well done to those who are just getting back into it after a few years absence. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, go get a PR or two, and have fun!!!