That's A Wrap on BibRave Safety Month

Disclaimer: Last year I received a pair of Aftershokz wired sports titanium headphones as part of a BibRave Pro campaign.  You can read my product review here. I am providing an extra review of Aftershokz as part of BibRave's Safety Month!

It's the last day of February!  While I have yet to run today, I know that my February 2018 mileage will be less than my February 2017 mileage.  And yes, this is because my marathon training started later this year but also, 2018 has been challenging for me in terms of getting out to run.  I lost all of the habits that I used to train for my marathon and half-marathon last year (ahem...getting out of bed super early to run) and I shut my early morning alarm off to stay in bed more times than I actually have gotten out of bed to do said morning run. 

Now that I am officially on a marathon training plan, it has helped some, but at the start of February, I also made a decision to run with my Aftershokz and my iPod Nano every run.  (Yes - I said iPod NANO.  And the original generation 1 Nano at that!). 

I am forever behind on the podcasts that I want to listen to so I thought this would be a good way to continue through my podcast list and feel like I am running with friends.  Side note:  Does anyone else feel like the people on podcasts are your BFFs when you listen?? ha ha ha  Maybe that's just me.

One reason I never ran with headphones in the morning is that it is typically dark out and I easily get spooked.  It is a time when I would rather be on alert.  The nice thing about Aftershokz is that they work via bone conduction - they rest on your jawbone rather than go in your ear, allowing you to hear your surroundings.

One morning I listened to the whole Ryan Adams Prisoner album under the moonlight.  It was MAGICAL.

I knew from previous experience that I could very clearly hear cars and traffic, but I was curious what else I would be able to hear so one long run, I kept track of all of the things I heard in addition to my podcast:

1) Cars
2) Squirrels
3) Birds chirping
4) Another runner saying, "Hi!"
5) Dog
6) A blue heron's wings as it took off in flight (GORGEOUS)
7) Water rushing in the river

Not a bad list!  I have appreciated the ability to have "friends" with me on a run, while also being aware of what is going on around me.

This is particularly important because there has been a cougar in our area! WHAT THE WHAT?! Yeah, I definitely want to be able to be aware of a large predatory CAT while I am running.

I had more treadmill runs that I would prefer in the last month and the Aftershokz headphones have been nice because my kids are old enough to occupy themselves so I can get a shorter treadmill run in and I can hear them while I am running.  Sometimes this also means I hear fights...which, let's be honest.  I don't always WANT to hear that, ha ha ha.

Combining podcasts with my runs has definitely helped me in getting back to it, and I haven't felt less safe in doing so because of Aftershokz technology. 

Do you listen to podcasts?  Which are your favorite?  I rotate between My Favorite Murder (only in daylight), Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette, and C Tolle Run.