Running after God: New running gear!

It's just less than 2 weeks to the Melbourne marathon..

I am happy to say that I have been training quite consistently during the past month. What I need really need to do for the next 12 days is to make sure I don't get injured or fall sick. It will be an absolute bummer if I do.

During the past 6-7 weeks of intensive running (well intensive for me), I have had a couple of mishaps with my running gear. I have mentioned the problem I have with the iPhone armband being annoying. The next thing that bugged me was my running shoes.

I have a pair of Nike Free which is Nike's answer to barefoot running - it's supposed to give me the feeling that I am running barefoot. With less cushioning and more flexibility in the shoe, I should get a better feel of the ground and that should encourage better running posture. That is all good except I bought them at size 8.5 which fitted just right. That would still be good if I only ran for 20 minutes. But when I am running for an hour, my feet expands, the shoes become much tighter, I lose blood circulation and my toes start feeling numb. If I keep that up, my toes will be dead when I finish the marathon.

The other problem I faced which is kinda embarrassing is nipple chafing. Running makes me sweat, the sweat makes my cotton shirt or singlet wet and heavier, and abrasion happens between the shirt and my nipple. There are guys who actually run till their nipples bleed (I am not kidding) and there are photos to prove it: traumatising photos. Thank God I haven't gone to that extreme but it still caused a bit of pain and discomfort.

So last weekend I decided I need to get some running gear to fix these problems.

Thank God my better half had some connections and she got me into the Nike employee store where everything was heavily discounted. If Nike had their design and R&D department in Melbourne, I will definitely want to work for them! Anyway I went away with a pair of shoes, a dri-fit compression shirt and a running waist pouch. My wife insisted I should get the pouch so that I can carry my phone, keys and a snickers bar when I run the marathon.

The next day I took all these for a test run and I am pleased to say that they worked a charm. To some extent there could be some psychological effect as with all athletes who try on new equipment, but whatever the case, it worked for me!