Technology to the RescueGU… literally a ‘goo’ like substance that you “eat” during a long run to keep you energized during a long run, so you don’t “bonk.” Sold at specialty running stores, and comes in a variety of flavors. Body Glide… better than petroleum jelly to prevent chafing during a run. It’s not messy like petroleum jelly. Use as and where needed. Sold at specialty running stores. Running watch… along with standard watch features such as the current time and date, running watches include features such as a stopwatch to time how long it takes you to run a set distance; a ‘lap’ timer so you can track how long you run each mile in a race where each mile is a ‘lap,’ or you can time each lap around a track; a timer in which you can pre-set the amount of time you want to run and it counts down the minutes and seconds from that setting, etc. Nike and Timex are popular makers of running watches. IPODs and MP3 Players… these are the lightest, smallest ways to take a lot of music with you on the run. The iPod is made by Apple. There are 3 different types of iPods out there – the iPod (original), the iPod shuffle, and the iPod nano. All iPods have some really cool features and accessories. Check it out at www.apple.com. MP3 players are made by many other companies (Dell, Sony, Creative, iRiver, Rio, Samsung, etc.). So, depending on the maker, the features and accessories vary. In general, iPods and MP3 players use one of two types of technology to store the music – either a hard drive or a flash drive. The types that use flash drive (like the iPod shuffle and iPod nano, Creative MuVo, etc.) are skip-free, whereas the hard drive types (the original iPod and other MP3 player brands) are more susceptible to skipping if jostled, but you may find a hard drive is good enough for your purposes. There are lots of other factors to consider, like size, number of tunes it can hold, extra features, and so much more…so do some comparison shopping online or in stores to see which one is best for you. |