Thinking Gear Thoughts...

Thinking gear thoughts this morning out on my run. It was a hot one. And a blister on my little toe from Sunday's run was bugging me, so I decided to pass my mental time by making a list of current favorites. I like the simplicity of running because it really just requires minimal gear (compared to triathlon, for example), but I also do love me some gear.  (Interestingly, I spend more money on running gear than I spend on clothes for work.) So here's my list from this morning's run (and there are links here for your convenience, I make NO money if you click if that's important to you to know):

Shoes:
I'm currently running in Brooks Ghost 9s. From where I'm sitting as I write this, I can see three different pairs of them in my living room. There are another two pairs upstairs in my bedroom closet. So now that they are going to Ghost 10s, I'm watching for sales with dread as the sales indicate that my shoes are going to be gone forever.

Yesterday, I found my $120 pair of running shoes on www.jackrabbit.com for $72.00. Bought two pairs. I'm thinking that two pairs @ three months a pair will get me to the end of the year and Dopey. But then they sent me a coupon for 10% off my next order, so now I'm thinking about ordering two more pairs. With an extra ten percent off, it's nearly two for the price of one, really. (The things I do to justify my thinking...) There's another website that's pretty good about finding shoe deals: www.runrepeat.com.

Bottoms:
Go to the skirtsports website and read Nicole DeBoom's story about wearing her first skirt in her win at Ironman Wisconsin 2004. I was there! I wasn't remotely close to the finish line the she won, but I was lucky enough to see Nicole on race day. The morning of the race, I found a small, quiet room in the convention center to collect my thoughts before the race, and Nicole found the same room. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a cool after-note to know that I had warmed up in a room with the race winner, and she was so nice!

Last year, I bought a couple of the Happy Girl Skirts for running, and I love them. I used to run in shorts all the time, but I always found chafing to be a problem, and they weren't long enough, and they often rode up, and it was just all kinds of awkwardness.

Skirtsports is running a summer sale, so I am picking up another of their Happy Girl Skirts, and then I'm going to try a tights/skirt combo. I'm thinking ahead to Disney, and I know that the weather could be such that I have to wear tights or it could be a skirt day. I want to be prepared either way.

Nutrition:
And it's time to order some more nutrition for while I'm running. My favorite of favorites: Gu Salted Caramel Gel. There's a long and not-all-that-interesting story about why Strawberry Banana gel is my kryptonite, so I haven't had that in quite some time. But I'll also say that I haven't done much in terms of experimentation with nutrition for long runs. Might be time to do some reading.

There's other stuff I love: Tifosi Sunglasses, Bodyglide (how does anyone live without it?), my Road ID, and Swiftwick socks. But I am not feeling all that inspired to write about them this morning. Just wanted to get this up in the blogosphere and ask if anyone out there has favorites, too. What are they? Any great stories?