One of the biggest pieces of advice marathon runners will hear over and over again is to avoid trying anything new on race day. But I am here to confess that I broke this rule at the weekend while running the Adidas Manchester Marathon. That's right, I wore my first pair of bone conduction headphones — the Shokz OpenRun Pro — for the first time on race day.
A quick note for the sake of anyone reading this who doesn't know what bone conduction headphones are. They are a style of headphones that sit outside of your ear and they transmit sound vibrations through the bones of your skull to the ear. They are a popular option for outdoor activities like running and cycling as the wearer can listen to audio and maintain awareness of their surroundings while exercising.
Of course, there are much worse things I could have tried differently on the day that could have had more severe consequences such as wearing a pair of the best running shoes that I'd never worn before or fuelling with some gels I hadn't trained with. So, I don't think I deserve too severe a punishment for my cheeky headphone switch and if it's any consolation, I am so glad I ditched my usual pair of in ear headphones for the OpenRun Pro bone conduction headphones. Read on to find out why.
