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I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
I particularly enjoyed the marathon runners with “Where the Foch is the finish?” printed on the back of their vests! Gave me the chuckle I needed to push on through to the end.
I might have missed it, but which movie did you watch?
Nice to see they had water in the Paris marathon – not like the fiansco that was the Sheffield half marathon, see link below:
link to bbc.com
Seems that the river along which you turn around is “La Marne” that make an almost complete turn around the city “Saint-Maur des fossés”. (my Home town :) . Great place to run about , one of my favorite run being “Le Tour de St-Maur”.
You could have reach RER A Station St-Maur – Champigny to go back to Paris , just 300m away from les bords de marne.
@Remco : Movie was “The MonumentMen”.
Thanks to come over and watch me on my first marathon ray :-) It’s an amazing experience, the scenery, the people, volunteers and organization are all super!
Ray–I thought I saw somewhere that you were running it this year?
I remember seeing the cymbal guy with the batman mask and thinking to myself, “what the hell?”
Hey Tom, that was my running group with the t shirts, the Bristol Convocations Running Club. Last year we had Follow Me and I’ll Show You an Eiffel. Watch this space for next year!
Hi Ray,
I have yet to sample the meatballs at our local IKEA that has been here for years and I shop there a couple of times a year!
One thing I find interesting about the marathons and half marathons run in Europe is that they give you a whole bottle of water and not the tiny paper cup that we get here in the states. Are there fewer water stops which is why they do it that way? Also, do you feel it is better/worse/about the same with this method vs. the US method. I’m really curious as to the reasons and the impact!
I prefer the US method, for a few reasons. First, in Europe the water stops are pretty consistently every 5K (3.1 miles). Whereas in the US, they’re generally every 2 miles (or every mile in most triathlon out/back courses in hot weather). Second, it’s way easier to handle a paper cup than a water bottle. With the bottles I have to undo the cap, hold onto it, then drink, and then do the whole thing in reverse.
But the biggest reason I prefer the paper cup is that the whole bottle thing just seems really wasteful. You never end up drinking the whole bottle, so you throw the bottle away, thus wasting the bottle as well as the water. And since you’re realistically trucking in 2-3x more water than you need to (since much of it gets tossed), which means you’re spending more time/fuel on it.
Of course…the real trick to it all is that at least in France the water bottle companies are major race sponsors.
Bottles are definitely easier to drink from. Even if you pinch the end gd of the paper cup to make a ‘spout’ if still goes everywhere!
And bottles are a branding opportunity j guess.
I agree with Tom. Thats what i have never learned – how to drink from a cup, running, without loosing half of the cup or literally drowning myself.
I was yesterday in Paris – my wife was running, I was supporting her :-) Overall we’ll organized race (and Bekele was amazing) One thing very odd was to have only one toilet in the coral. People ended literally pissing on each others’ shoes waiting for the start.
Well in Poland it’s both the cups and the bottles – though running with the pacemakers can be tricky at the stations. I agree with the wastefulness of bottles – still I think it’s easier to drink from the bottle and not lose it all ;)
I can drink from a bottle while running – I always take one for the road ;) – but not from a cup. Maybe there is a learning curve, but I can’t even fast walk with a cup or tray of anything liquid without starting to spill it. To me that is too similar to attempting to drive with an open fish tank ;) So, if that’s the norm, they better be big cups that are only 1/3rd full.
The water bottles seems to be a french method and not a general european method, here in germany I found the paper cups in three different towns.
I started my debut marathon on Sunday in the UK (Bungay!) but ended up on crutches! Calf niggle turned to calf rupture and a visit to hospital. I was going well and ahead of pace, but bombed out at 16m. Gutted – but already planning a new debut attempt!
GIngerneil: sorry to hear about your calf. Bungay was my first half marathon as it’s locul [sic] to us in Norwich. Boy, that is a hilly course – don’t believe anyone who says East Anglia is all flat, they clearly haven’t ever run here!
I was in Paris with the ‘Where the Foch is the Finish’ crew, but I had my NRR vest on for the race.
Good luck with recovery and DC, thanks for the blog post.
Thanks for the well wishes. I tend to fix up quite quickly so should be back on it soon….
I much prefered the first half of the course to the second – the hills made it a little more interesting and weren’t so tough as to make them a problem, but the second felt like a long hard slog despite being flat. I had looked at Halstead – but that does look hilly!
I’ll hopefully be back to Bungay next year – if I dont get a VLM place.
Hi Ray,
for your long run, try “La coulee verte du sud Parisien” which starts close to Montparnasse Station at “Place de Catalogne” and go up to Massy-Verrieres. You pass just behind the “Parc de Sceaux” so you can run one or two loops around the castle and the bath of the this park.
You follow the RER B line in its southern part so it’s easy to go back to Paris especially if you live close to Notre-Dame.
All infos are here:
link to fr.wikipedia.org
@+
Very nice marathon, it was my second time in Paris.
I love this marathon, the weather was a little hot at the begining but sunny :), the crowd was cheerfull and very helpfull.
it is always something special to finish a marathon for me, i am stressed two days before, but when it starts i feel released and i enjoy it. It still very hard for me around 30k/35k but feel happy when i cross the finish line.
As someone who works in International Post Production (for television, not for movies), I can say that figuring out what can and cannot be subtitled from a legal perspective, and deciding in what languages the subtitles should appear for foreign dialogue (as opposed to English) is the most complicated and fascinating part of my job.
Wish I’d had the time/resources to run in Paris when I was there last summer. Looks like that’s a marathon that might be worth the trip in the future.
Sigh, I miss Europe…..reading your “home” blogs.
After reading one of your earlier race reports I decided on a trip back in November to run a half or Semi marathon boulogne -bellancourt. It was fantastic! Love the late start times, dried bananas! Yes please! Only thing I had a little trouble figuring out was the medical form I need to have a Dr. Fill out. Plus the little chocolate croissants every where what’s not to love.
Regarding the “hydration method” (bottles vs. cups): I am from Germany and i never got whole bottles in competitions – just regular plastic or paper cups. Maybe it’s a french thing?
Water in bottles was also during San Sebastián marathon last year. So it’s not only French thing
Hi Ray,
Would you mind sharing your long run route with us? I’m always interested in finding new terrain for my runs! Recently I’ve been running at Bois de Boulogne quite a bit, however the “diverse crowd” can be a bit weird :-)
To Fiona:
Reading the back of your shirts were one of the few guilty pleasures I found running the Paris marathon last sunday!
‘Where the Foch is the finish’? Brilliant…
On another subject, water bottles aren’t found on every race in France. It depends on the sponsoring and the company running the show.
Anyway, I used most of the water I grabbed that day, either drinking it, filling the water pouches from my hydration belt or pouring some on my neck and arms…
I hurt like hell, but it definitely is a great race!
I just imagine there are two people in all of Paris who need pink napkins, and they keep buying out all the stock.
Random thing I did the same weekend… Walked up to a guy who looked exactly like you in a restaurant in the Champs-Élysées and said: “Are you DC Rainmaker?” The guy and his girl just stared at me. I was in Paris for the weekend (all the way from South Africa) and I was so excited to finally meet my gadget nerd hero! Better luck next time!
That’s partly pure awesome, and partly pure hilarious!
Hi Ray,
Just curious – I can’t remember if you’ve mentioned already why you and the girl didn’t run the Paris full this year? Will you ever run it again? I just registered this morning; I’m stoked!
It was too close this year to the Boston Marathon, which The Girl ran. Haven’t quite decided on next year…perhaps!
Gotcha. I was debating on registering for Paris 2015 since it is so close to Boston. Then reality sank in…It will be easier for me to BQ to run in 2016 (I will be in a new age bracket – haha!) so Paris, here I come! Hope to see you on the course. Thanks, Ray!