What I want for Christmas.

As I mentioned last week, my birthday is in December. So, as I got older I used to get lots of combined birthday-Christmas gifts. The excuse was they would give you a bigger, better gift because it was a multi-holiday gift. I never really bought into the concept of combining gifts. If your birthday’s in July, no one combines the gifts. It didn’t seem fair then, it doesn’t seem fair now.

Once I became a runner I noticed that my choice of gifts changed. As a kid, gifts had to be toys. Period. When my grandmother knitted the entire family matching v-neck sweaters one Christmas I wasn’t able to grasp that it took her a year to knit them. All I could think was that she could have saved herself a lot of time by just going out and buying me a model car. As a runner, though, I now want equipment. Don’t call them toys. They are essential pieces of running equipment and it doesn’t matter how much I like to play with them, they’re equipment.

For the new runner, especially the new run/walker there’s nothing on the market better than the Timex 100-lap Ironman watch. And ONLY the 100-lap version. I’ve owned virtually every version of the Ironman watch since they were introduced. Somewhere, in a box, there are several old 8-lap Ironman watches that I bought when I first started running. I LOVED that old 8-lap Ironman watch. I wore it everywhere so that everyone would know that I was an athlete.

Next on my list of must-have running equipment – don’t say toys – is the Garmin 310XT. In the spirit of full disclosure I must tell you that the fine folks at Garmin gave me a 310XT, but I think that’s because they knew that I had purchased so many other Garmin GPS devices. In fact, I still use my original Garmin 205 to measure the course for the Antarctica Marathon. The 310XT is, without question, the greatest thing you can put on your wrist. It does all the things you think a GPS will do, like time and distance and pace, but there are also a slew of other features. You can set the workout timer to interval and use it to keep track of your run/walk, you can set it to vibrate so that you don’t risk missing the beep, the battery lasts all week on a single charge, and it’s COOL.

There are other models in the Garmin line, most of which I’ve tried, but for my money – and I would have spent my money on this – nothing compares to the 310xt.

One other piece of of essential running gear is an all around, go-to, jacket. I’ve probably owned 50 running jackets over the years from nearly every manufacturer large and small. There are plenty of good ones out there, but for me the number one pick has to be the new Brooks “Essential Run Jacket” in the dayglo yellow. No, it’s not subtle, and that’s the point. If you’re going to be out there running on the roads you want to be seen. This jacket can be seen.

I actually used one when I was crewing for Coach Jenny on her EliptiGO ride from Chicago to Toronto. When I got out of the car I felt much safer because I was wearing this jacket. I tend to buy my jackets a little on the loose side so that I can wear them all year long. Even here in Chicago I can run in mid-winter wearing a light fleece under this jacket.

If you’re buying a gift for a runner, you can never go wrong giving them socks, shorts, tops, tights, hats, or almost anything else that goes on their bodies. That’s the great thing about being a runner, you almost always need something.

Waddle on, friends.

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.