Mile Long Legs

Here’s my next installment of my “I’ll Show You Mine” series where I’ll break down what I wore, ate, and drank during the San Francisco Marathon and give a little insight as to why I love these particular items! 

FEET:

Socks:  Injinji Run 2.0 no-show lightweight socks.  I always, always, ALWAYS wear the Injinji Run 2.0 no-show lightweight toe socks.  These have been my go-to socks for long runs and races, because they are toe socks they allow my toes to splay nicely, help prevent blisters and really help me when it comes to proper toe spacing, which helps with my bunion.  I can’t say enough good things about these fantastic little toe masterpieces!

Shoes:  Newton Distance. Again, no surprises here, I went with my Newton Distance shoes.  These lightweight neutral shoes have been a staple in my running shoe arsenal.  They feel weightless on my feet and have a nice wide toe box to accommodate my not-so-lady-like wide feet during long pavement pounding sessions.

BOTTOM HALF:

Compression Sleeves:  CEP Sleeves. Some people like compression sleeves for recovery, I like them for recovery and for racing in.  For this race I chose my neon yellow CEP compression sleeves, I have multiple pairs from CEP and just love them!  They help with blood flow and in my case, they help to alleviate shin splint pain, which as you know, I was suffering with a fair amount prior to this race.

Shorts:  Lululemon Speed Shorts.  I love these shorts, and although I chose my black ones for the SF marathon, they come in a huge variety of super cute colors.  For me they have a few highlights, first off, their breathability, they have vents at the back to keep you cool and are made from moisture-wicking fabric, they  also have awesome storage!  I can’t stress enough how much good storage is important in the gear you wear for long distance, especially if you don’t want to run with a big bulky storage belt or pack.  These little numbers have two pockets in the waistband, where I stored some of my gels and salt pills and a zipper pocket in the back, which is where I stored my phone and my ID.

TOP HALF:

Bra:  Lululemon Flow Y Bra IV.  I own a few of these bras and they are prefect for this not-so-top-heavy girl.  It provides enough support for my itty bitty girls and allows me to have lots of movement and no chafing.  I highly recommend this bra for you ladies that are a size A or B cup, just enough support without being overbearing! 🙂

Tops: Lululemon Run: Swiftly Tech.  Because it was a bit chilly the morning of the race I ended up layering two swiftly tech tops, underneath I had the swiftly racerback in zippy green and on top the swiftly long sleeve in blue.  The Swiftly collection from Lululemon area my favorite running shirts, not only do they look super cute  badass, they are functionally amazing too.  The fabric is moisture-wicking and made of the Silverescent fabric, which is Lulu’s anti-stink material, perfect for long, sweaty runs and any seams the shirts have are flat, which equals no chafing! YAY!

ACCESSORIES:

Watch: Garmin 110.  I love this watch, and I never head out on a run without it!  It’s not the fanciest of GPS watches, but it does exactly what I need it to do and has done so without failing me.  It tracks distance, time, pace and heart rate and fits well on my smaller sized wrist.

Music: iPod Shuffle.  Like most races, I only actually listened to my music for about half of the time.  I enjoy running without it during marathons so I can really soak in all of the sights and sounds around me.  Hearing thousands of footsteps pounding the pavement around you is a pretty cool sound.  But when I do listen to music, this pint-sized iPod does the job.  For this particular race I listened to mostly Bonobo and Daft Punk, perfect for relaxing the mind and getting the booty moving!

Sunglasses: Ryders Eyewear Duchess Polarized Glasses.  I’ve talked about these many times, and I’ve been running in these bad boys for years!  They don’t look like your conventional running glasses, but I love them, they provide me with ample UV protection,  they stay put on my face without fogging up and look pretty darn cute too.

Headwear: Lululemon Bang Buster Headband.  The Bang Buster does a great job of keeping my fly-aways in place and out of my face and also helps with the keeping the sweat out of my eyes.  This little headband stays put, which makes me a happy camper, nothing’s worse than having to incessantly brush your hair out of your face while running!

Water Bottle: Camelbak Quick Grip. This was my 3rd full marathon, but my first one without the safety net of my hydration belt.  I’ve been trying to wean myself off of the belt, so I can run a little lighter.  I’ve been training with this handheld and I’ve never really loved it, nor hated it, it’s just been okay.  It worked fantastic for the marathon, holding my liquid Roctane mixture and then water for the duration, and the handy pocket on the holder was a great stash pocket for a couple more gels.  By the end of this hot, hot race, this water bottle and I were besties!

NUTRITION/HYDRATION:

Here’s the rundown of what I had and consumed during this marathon.

GU Grape Roctane Energy Drink (1 single serving).  I started the race off with a Roctane drink mix mixed into my water bottle to get me going and sustain me for the first portion of the race.  I love the light grape flavor, it’s easily one of the tastiest carb/electrolyte drink mixes out there and I thought that the grape flavor would be a good precursor to all the wine I’d be drinking later that night! 😉

GU Roctane Ultra Endurance Gels.  Five of these little guys came along for the ride with me on race day, I took a variety of flavors, pineapple, island nectars and cherry lime.  I really do love the taste of these, I’m very picky when it comes to gels, there’s a lot of flavors and textures that I just don’t want anything to do with while I’m running long and these make the cut.  Each gel has 100 calories, they are a great source of carbs, electrolytes and caffeine, I usually take one gel per 45 minutes of work, and that’s enough to sustain me.

Honey Stinger Organic Energy Gel.  I only brought one of these gels along on this particular race essentially as a backup in case the GU’s started to taste unpalatable or boring.  The Honey Stinger Fruit Smoothie flavored gels are super tasty and are a great source of carbohydrates.  Yummy honey in my tummy!

Saltstick Capsules.  Pretty self-explanatory, these veggie-friendly electrolyte capsules help prevent cramping and help you replenish your electrolytes.  I’m pretty new to using these, but they’ve helped me out a ton since running in the SoCal heat, let’s just say I sweat buckets! 😛

There you have it my running babes!  I showed you mine, now it’s your turn to show me YOURS!  What’s your favorite brand of running shoes?  Do you use on course nutrition or do you take your own like me?  Do you run commando for that extra light-weight, easy-breezy feeling? 🙂  Let me know in the comments below! I love hearing from you guys!

xoxo, MLL