It was finally a reasonable enough temperature at the start of my long run outdoors for me to give a shot at putting on nearly the full outfit (I left off the tie), carrying the needed nutrition and hydration, and my cell phone with selfie stick. After all, since I need to do my own documentation, I need to figure out how to actually do it as fluidly as possible. (I don't do selfies typically, so this is definitely a learning experience.)
Out the door shortly after 7am, I had my usual 18oz water bottle in hand and 16oz extra bottle in a fanny pack. It took less than 5 seconds to decide that I wouldn't be able to deal with that extra bottle -- too bouncy. So, I went back into the apartment and swapped it out with a smaller, more compact 10oz bottle. That worked just fine to have.
Finally out on the trail, I was hoping to hit my planned for pace; it was slower than I need for Sydney anyway, and wanted to figure out howlong it would take to deal with the selfies every mile -- see if I could get it down to less than 15 seconds each. (Sometimes I did.)
The slacks worked just fine, even when soaked through. Similarly, the dress shirt was fine. The graduation gown has a slit designed at the bottom of it, so it wasn't at all restrictive of my running stride. The gown's sleeves were annoying the more sweat-laden they became, just because of the weight of them, but not too bad. Even the cap was fine, with the hassle hanging around back. The biggest problems I encountered were some of the most important logistics:
Carrying both my water bottle and one sleeve of Shot Bloks (left hand) while holding the phone mounted to the selfie stick (right hand) at the same time. Being able to do all the adjustments of the selfie stick (properly telescoping it or pulling it back together) and unlocking my phone takes having both hands as free as possible. So, this will be the first marathon (I think) where I rely entirely on the on-course water. I won't be carrying my own save for maybe the small spare in the fanny pack.
After my first selfie at Mile 1 and prior to getting to Mile 2, apparently the remote fell out of the stick. (Ugh!) So, while I was still able to take selfies (not quite as good an angle), it was more awkward than it should have been. (Suppose I'll want to either get an extra remote or full-on extra selfie stick. Either way, I need to properly secure it.)
The Shot Bloks fit just fine inside my pants pocket, but given that both hands were full, it was quite trick being able to get the successive sleeves of bloks out of my pocket. Not holding the water bottle next time should make it easier. Putting the spent wrappers inside my breast pocket was nice and easy, though.
Given how hot it became, and how ridiculously overheated I became, my hands were VERY sweaty, which made holding and manipulating the phone and selfie stick pretty tricky, especially not being able to fully use both hands.
It was really very amusing seeing the reactions of the other people on the trail today. The vast majority that bothered interacting specifically because of the outfit all seemed to assume that I was running towards some graduation ceremony, so they called out "Congratulations" or "Happy Graduation." A few people actually asked it as a question "Congratulations?" Three people specifically asked me what the deal was with the outfit, and I gave them a brief explanation: "logistics test for a record attempt." A few people simply complimented the outfit, and one even requested to take a selfie with me. (I obliged.)
So, what would your reaction have been if you had crossed paths with someone wearing this get-up while out for your own run or bicycle ride?
And, boy howdy, was this white shirt destroyed. Looks white there, right? Well, upon taking off the gown, it was clear just how much of the red bled into the shirt, as expected. So, while the shirt is certainly ruined for most future use, I'll still likely use it as part of my outfit in Sydney -- no need to ruin yet another shirt.
