New running socks and shorts

For yesterday's 13 mile jaunt I went against conventional wisdom (for me) and ran in a brand new pair of socks and running shorts. I know, right? What was I thinking? Well, I survived and lived to tell about it.

Last week I came to the conclusion I needed some new socks for long runs. I have 2 pair of Balega 'no-show' socks which work great. However, I discovered after the 15-mile run the week before that the tongue on my shoes had worn a sore on the front of both ankles. So, I decided I needed a little longer sock.

I ordered these quarter-cut Balega socks from Running Warehouse ($14). They worked out swell, and were actually cheaper than I'd seen in stores. I really like them and wish I had more.

Since I was ordered something from RW, I also decided to get a pair of shorter shorts to run in. I sweat A LOT when I run, and my shorts tend to get drenched and then stick to my legs. Most of my current stock of shorts are 7" and I have one pair that has a 5" inseam. I didn't think I was quite ready for a 2.5" inseam, so I opted for these Asics 3.5" shorts. They are quite short compared to what I'm used to (imagine a "farmer tan" on your legs) but were much cooler to run in. I actually do kind of wish I'd gone with the 3" split-leg now, but these will suffice.

I stumbled onto the shorts from this really good article on the 10 Best Running Shorts for Men. There was some great advice and I found it quite helpful.

So, that's the story of my latest running oriented purchases.

On a random side-note... I also discovered yesterday that while training for this marathon, in addition to the half-marathon Jane and I ran earlier this year, I will actually run 11 total half-marathons this summer - not to mention several 11 and 12-mile runs. That just kind of blew my mind a little.