Confession time…
I judged people who spent money on arm warmers. I thought it was ridiculous when I saw runners wearing a t-shirt and then arm sleeves. "Why can’t you just wear a long sleeve shirt?" I thought to myself.
I judged people who spent money on arm warmers. I thought it was ridiculous when I saw runners wearing a t-shirt and then arm sleeves. "Why can’t you just wear a long sleeve shirt?" I thought to myself.
But like most instances where you judge others, there’s an explanation that can make you feel like a real jerk for being so critical. Eventually, people explained that arm sleeves are great for races because you’re usually cold at the start, but then warm up as the run progresses- arm sleeves are an easy way to go from long sleeves to short sleeves without actually having to wear two layers.
Except then my next thought was, so you just throw the arm sleeves away when you warm up? That seems like a waste of money. Carry them? That seems like a pain.
For my marathon, everyone had told me I should wear shorts, short sleeves or a tank and, you guessed it, arm sleeves. But I wasn’t willing to spend $20-$40 on something I was literally going to throw away after using for a few hours. Then, I had a genius idea. Ok, maybe it wasn’t my idea, I think I must have read it on a blog many moons ago and it kind of sat in my back of my brain until Saturday night, but either way…DIY Arm Sleeves.
I took a pair of old knee high socks, cut off the feet and VOILA!
(They even ended up matching my outfit perfectly, which I swear was unplanned!)
I wore them until about mile 23 of my marathon and am SO glad I had them. I took them off at mile 23, tossed them in a garbage can, and didn’t have any cares about wasted money.
Next time, I may try cutting them to include thumb holes, because at the beginning of the race when I was freezing, I would have loved to have a little coverage on my hands!
