Music to my ears

This morning I put in a pretty nice 6.5 miler and it felt really great. I totally forgot I'm running in a 5k next Sunday, so that's pretty exciting and it's a nice little course in the park by house. I'm hoping for sub 24. We'll see. :) 

Why does this stuff always happen to me? So along the boardwalk, there are houses that are directly on the beach. These houses have little fences to surround their yard and most of these fences have spikes on them because there are many rude beachgoers and late night partiers who would find these fences a wonderful place to sit on. I, as you all know, run incredibly close to walls, etc. and while I was running this morning I raised my arm to miss a spike and totally nailed it on the way up. After cursing, I just kept going and realized once I got back to my car that I had a HUGE bump and it was already turning blue and purple. Gosh, seriously. I also got scrapped by a rose bush. I guess I need to teach myself not to run directly next to anything. :) 

So onto the Christmas Gift of the day. Everyone must have that one pump up song. The one that Rocky ran up and down the stairs too. The one that when you hear it, your head bobs and your blood pulses to the beat. So what is a runner without their music. It's like a car without a street. The gift of music for Christmas is a great idea when thinking of what to get someone.

The second thing on the 26.2 Christmas List is the glorious gift of Apple. First off is itunes gift cards. Anyone can purchase these easy to find gift cards, and the recipient will be grateful that you filled your ears with some new tunes that keep them going out on the long run. Also these cards come in a variety of increments, so they can also be a great stocking stuffer! If your special person doesn't already have an ipod to listen to while working out, this holiday season there are a lot of options to choose from, and ipods have gotten increasingly inexpensive.

In this picture there are four different kinds of ipods. Let's go from the left to the right, starting with the ipod touch. The ipod touch is available for $229 for 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB and $399 for 32GB . With all aspects of the iphone in the touch, minus the phone service it's a very multifunctional gift. You can play games, listen to music, watch movies, and this ipod actually can also use the Nike+ application that no other ipod can use since the touch comes with it and you just need to put the sensor in your shoe.

Next we have the ipod classic. Slim and sleek this one retails for $124 and comes in silver or black colors. This one has 120 GB and is showcased for it's capacity. You can play a very limited number of games and store lots and lots of photos and music on this one. Another option for the Nike+ system as well.

The little green one shown next is the newly updated ipod nano. There's nine bright and fun colors to choose from and this one goes for $149 for 8 GB and $199 for 16 GB. It has some features of the iphone like the sideways screen view, and also the "shake" ability and also can use the genius feature from itunes. You can also watch movies and play games on this little screen as well. This ipod is also an option for the Nike+ system.

The little blue ipod to the right of the green ipod is the shuffle. This little guy is great for the gym and comes in 5 colors and retails for $49 for 1 GB and $69 for 2 GB. To all you exercise fiends, an ipod without a display doesn't create a problem during classes, workouts, or anything at all. It upgrades the old CD player because its flash memory it won’t skip when you’re bouncing around and its small, light, clip-on design makes it easy to strap to your workout togs. I have one of these ones and I do really enjoy it when I'm on the run.

Here is a listing of what all the different ipods can hold.

1GB iPod shuffle: 240 songs
2GB iPod shuffle: 500 songs
8GB iPod touch: 1,750 songs or 10 hours video
16GB iPod touch: 3,500 songs or 20 hours video
8GB iPod nano: 2,000 songs or 8 hours video
16GB iPod nano: 4,000 songs or 16 hours video
32GB iPod touch: 7,000 songs or 40 hours video
120GB iPod classic: 30,000 songs or 150 hours video

I personally love the nano. It's a perfect size for working out and it's easy to update and keep track of how many songs you have. So this holiday, give someone the gift of jamming on the road when they are out running, or on the dreadmill at the gym. Just try not to laugh when they sing to themselves. :)

xoxo