Getting inked

I got a tattoo for the Detroit Marathon ... you know, to prove how hardcore I am.

OK, it was a temporary tattoo. But still, check out how helpful this is:

At the race expo the day before the marathon, my pal Lena and I were trying to find a pace bracelet so we could make sure we were on-time for our four-hour goal.

Instead, Saturn was doling out free pace tattoos. I read about these recently in Runner's World and thought it was a cool idea.

It tells you what your overall time should be at each mile marker. With a 9:08 minute per mile pace, this water-soluble tattoo broke it down for us.

And even though I had long sleeves on, which meant I had to keep yanking on my sleeve to check pace, it was awesome!

Took a ton of scrubbing to get rid of it, but no complaints here. Plus, I'm always doing math in my head while running to figure out if I'm on-target, and this was a lot easier than conjuring up my mathematician skills.

Comments

[Patrick]

I really winced at the first sentence; I was afraid to click on the link. And I recoiled when I saw the picture -- wondering what the heck you tattoed on your forearm. Glad to see that it's only temporary.

I can't do math late in a race either, but I just go with the low-tech method of writing times on the back of my race number.

[Amanda]

Sorry for the scare ... it IS almost Halloween, though: so I guess you get the 'trick' rather than the 'treat'! Patrick, I like your low-tech method. Can't miss when you keep it simple! I might give that a whirl next time.