Wardrobe Malfunction

Run Date: 08/24/09
Location: Rose Bowl
Pace: 2 min. run/2 min. walk
Run Time: 41:05
Things [Accidentally] Ingested: 2

Oftentimes I think of that episode of The Simpsons where Bart SUPER SHAKES Homer's can of Duff beer by rolling it down the stairs, putting it in a paint shaker and resulted in the house exploding in a mushroom cloud when Homer finally cracked that can open. I usually think of it in times like this when I have very little inhaler medication left and want to make it last. To be careful, I decided to just run for 2 minutes and hope that I'd still manage a decent pace.

I was also curious to test out the sport strap I just bought for my MP3 player. I typically do not like listening to music while running, but with so many people around, I find it safe enough to do so at the Rose Bowl (and I'd rather not overhear the conversations of all the people passing by).

My start began pretty well, but had to stop after 50 yards. My shorts were falling off. The one pair of shorts I managed to find this morning is a bit old (but I love them!) and the elastic has been in different stages of disintegration for some time now. I've been able to wear it for other activities, but they wouldn't hold up with all the running movement, no matter how many times I rolled the waistband. I had to use the keyring for my car key to pinch a spot of my shorts so they wouldn't slouch as much as I ran.

Starting out was pretty tough after that, which was pretty disappointing because I had so much left to run at that point. Thankfully, I found my stride once I turned to the north side of the run, and I got myself into a nice, albeit slow little groove. I never really felt winded during the runs, and at the most, exerted myself to a huff, but no puff. Once I turned to head south, I felt strong, shaving that one minute from my run interval was perfect - it wasn't long enough to exhaust myself, and the rest interval was just enough time for me to recover from it.

I was happy to see I finished two minutes faster than when I ran the Rose Bowl last with serious lung problems and the three minute walk. I was even happier to log my run and see I was running at a 13 minute pace!

This is my third time running listening to music while running. I found running with the armband okay, but the hook side of the velcro dug into the arm, making it very annoying, very fast. After a few tweaks, I managed to get it to stop digging into my skin, but I know that in the long run (literally), I wouldn't want to have something like that on my arm. All the same, it was nice to run to the music when I'm running alone, but was envious when I saw people pass with their little clippy MP3 players.

You can see more technical details of my run by checking my training log.