What not to wear

Ah, the long anticipated JFK outfit post. I even got a request on twitter this morning for it. Sure, it was from fellow JFK runner Kristin, and most people probably don't really give a rats ass, but that's where we're going today.

The known: 
short sleeve shirt, arm sleeves, Brooks Cascadia (trail shoes) on the trail portion, Brooks Adrenaline for the road portion. 

The unknown: 
It's been a toss up between my new tights or shorts, but then things took a fascinating twist when my new capris (my first ever pair of running capris!) were waiting for me at work Wednesday night, increasing my outfit choices by 50%.

Just as you thought things couldn't get any more exciting, the high is now predicted to be 51 for race day, which is too hot for tights, bringing me back to down to two choices: my new capris or my Fire on the Mountain outfit - compression shorts, skirt, and compression sleeves.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 2 has already held up well in a 7.5 hour race, a point in it's favor, plus all that compression can be helpful. However, option 1 is new, possibly warmer for the 33 degree start, and accentuates my ass in a favorable way. The real issue is my socks. I want to wear my extra tall socks, which have proven to hold up well on trails and prevent some rocks from getting in my shoes, and don't slip down and cause blisters. These socks appear to be of the variety favored by the crowd who also enjoys wearing socks with sandals, and fanny packs, but they're smart wool, and therefore count for running street cred. But they still look pretty stupid, and will look significantly stupider over hot pink compression sleeves (shown in option 2). 

The wisest thing for me to do is to leave this until the last minute, as I'm giving a math test tomorrow and would like to utilize all that time to silently agonize over this decision. Until then, I'll throw every possibility onto my bedroom floor to sort through tomorrow night.

So far I have three different sock options.

JFK vets Kara and Jessica recommended handing off my hydration pack after the first 15 miles of the race (the trail portion) and using a handheld from there on out. 

For my final race preparation, I ran 4 easy miles after work tonight. My outfit choice is probably the only reason I ran at all this week, I had to test out my new clothes. The run felt good, and the teeniest bit of excitement is starting to creep through all the nervousness. 

Remember when I was all like, "I'm cutting down on sugar prior to the race, I only ate two thin mints on Monday, you should all be in awe of my amazing willpower"? The very next night I challenged Eric to each eat a whole sleeve of thin mints. I don't even know how this even constitutes a challenge, since I was already almost done with mine and it had two missing from the previous night and maybe even more. It was really more like  "let's be fatties but pretend its all in the name of competition". Still, it was a delicious competition, and we were both winners.

The question is obvious: cast your vote for option 1 or option 2!