Music to yur ears

I admit it. I'm a headphones snob. I've tried three new pairs in three months and returned all of them. When I find a pair I love, I wear them until they fall apart (kind of like the poor set Craig is still wearing that are only held together with a piece of tape -- thank God he didn't get electrocuted wearing them in the rain last Sunday!).

As a runner, there is nothing more irritating than having to adjust headphones during a run ... well, maybe getting honked at. And I'm not one of those runners that can just go out and be inspired by the sounds of nature. I'm much more inspired to run my heart out to the sounds of the Black Eyed Peas, The Kills, The Ting Tings (what is her name, anyway?) and just about anything of U2's live.

So there we were last weekend at the Houston Marathon Expo (aka, the place to pick up your race packet and lots of great freebies). I brought a new pair of headphones to wear the next day but I had only worn them once and really wasn't happy with how big the ear piece was ... yes, they were guaranteed to stay in my ears, but they were huge and didn't fit under a hat. With that in the back of my mind, I could not have been more excited to see the booth for Yurbuds -- the "official earbuds of Ironman," these little silicon miracles come in various sizes and simply fit over regular old ear buds (aka, the white headphones that come with practically every Apple product and don't stay in during workouts). These suckers lock into your ear and are sweat (and rain) proof. I was sold.

There's a rule that you don't do anything new on race day -- stick to the same pre-run food, don't wear anything new that might chafe, etc., but this was one rule I was willing to break. Craig and I both got our ears sized (oddly, we're both size 6 -- and Craig has tiny ears!) and snagged a pair. So far, it was the best purchase of the year. I didn't miss a beat of my 13.1 mile playlist and was inspired to run my best half-marathon ever. Yea for Yurbuds!