Running While Wearing Eyewear

Back when I participated on our high school's cross country team I wore glasses (spectacles, if you will). I began wearing them while still in elementary school, although I didn't need to be wearing them "full-time" until after I attained my diplomas. I wore them most often in the classroom & at various times when at Mom & Dad's house. Sometimes I'd go running while wearing them too.

A teammate also wore glasses, though they wore theirs all the time. When we'd be at cross country practice they'd attach these to the sides of their glasses &, from what we could tell, they never encountered any problems.

I never ended up wearing glasses quite so much, though there were a few days when, because I'd worn my glasses for so many hours while in classes, I could feel that my eyes had adjusted more intensely those days to my prescription & elected to leave my glasses on while I ran during practice.

More often than not, by the time practice had finished up, my glasses were sliding down my face & creating an expression of complete & udder displeasure 😣. A teammate had told me while we changed after classes into our running gear that I'd not last in wearing them; I did find myself frustrated that I ultimately needed to remove them & carry them delicately, as best as I could, while continuing to run [read: jog] the day's set workout.

I didn't really revisit running, not to that extent anyway, until much later on. (Remember this post & this post?) By then I did need to be wearing my glasses all the time. I practiced while wearing them & I'm sure it had much to do with my simply being older, although also just knowing that I'd need to be wearing them as my eye doctor had encouraged [read: professionally insisted] that I wear them all. the. time.

I needed to be able to allow my eyes to focus without strain & that came with wearing my glasses unless I was showering or sleeping (basically).

I got lucky & found some eyeglass frames which sat -just right- on my face. Because of how great they fit & sat on my face, I kept them around long after they were due to move on.

After running marathons in every sort of unexpected climate (southern states where they had record breaking cold weather, hottest days where water stations had to be added to the course, windy weather where leaves & debris were flying at us at high speeds [the town did have an all-day windy advisory in place], & pouring down rain from an hour or so before the event began until six hours after the starting gun went off) I learned that I didn't need to be wearing my glasses while I ran. If I were to walk, then it'd be a different story. Also, if I were to run/walk. It has to do with my retina & astigmatisms & focusing. While running, I'm "bopping" up & down, & therefore there's really no actual focus where my eyes are straining & therefore being damaged if no eyeglass lenses are sitting in front of them.

If only I'd have known of this while running a few of those marathons. While running the marathon during the wind advisory I'd have been able to skip out & leave them off. Instead the pair I wore I was able to leave at the volunteer table with other participants water bottles. Unfortunately, the volunteers weren't able to keep up with the wind for their task & my glasses blew about & basically broke apart needing manufacturer repair.

While running the marathon during the pouring rain, I wouldn't have spent the entire marathon with my glasses purposefully sitting on the brim of my nose in so that I'd be able to see clearly, & not while having prescription lenses drenched in rain drops (yes, I realize it's figure since eyeglass lenses aren't able to be "drenched"). I've lived & learned.

If I were to need to wear something on my face, & had any difficulty keeping them in place, then any of these would most likely be my best option. For now I'm enjoying being able to run & sweat & not focus on wiping sweat from around plastic or wire frames in so that the sweat wouldn't "intrude" into my eyes creating that much more discomfort. Rather now I'll focus on my running form...that is, on improving it. 😂





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