Jumping Holiday Hurdles with AfterShokz

Disclaimer: I received AfterShokz Trekz Titanium wireless headphones to review as part of being a BibRave Pro earlier this year. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! 

Holiday merriment is in full swing here in our house! Our trees are up, the banister is decorated, our menorah is ready for this evening’s first night of Hanukkah, and my kids excitement and noise level are at a constant eleven.

Between running from music recitals to art shows to karate testing to Scout meetings and parties and whatever else I’m forgetting to list right now, there’s the age ol’ task of wrapping presents. This task usually falls on me, because, well I think I said once that I liked it (what a mistake that was).

My older son has been really great about pitching in and wrapping gifts for me and things that he’s bought, but the majority of the gift wrapping falls on me. Last year I even hurt myself wrapping presents. I am a talented one, I know!

This year, I’m just trying to figure out how to get everything accomplished and remain sane. Rather than wrapping everything all at once, like I’ve done in the past, I’m attempting to wrap prezzies as they come through the door.

My main wrapping area station is the floor in my bedroom, where I have enough space to spread out the wrapping paper and my box of scissors, tape, labels, etc. that I can quickly squirrel away if anyone happens upon me mid-wrap.

The one issue that I have is that there’s no television or holiday movies to keep me entertained upstairs. I could bring everything downstairs but I like keeping everything consolidated and I don’t want to carry the bigger gifts up and down the steps. #firstworldproblems

Thankfully, I have my AfterShokz Trekz Titanium wireless headphones and they’ve made all the difference this year. Not just for running training runs and races, my friends! I’ve been putting these to work and they’ve yet to let me down.

My mail lady (who brings many, many packages from Amazon) usually arrives at 1:30pm and my kids begin arriving an hour later.

Donning my AfterShokz headphones I’m able to listen to holiday tunes/laugh along with my favorite podcasts and wrap to my hearts content. If I lose track of time, I’m able to hear my kiddo’s triumphant return from school even when I’m jamming out, thanks to the open ear design.

It’s a wrap (for now)!

Here’s to making life easier and embracing the little things along the way that help make that happen!

How are you getting ready for the holidays? Any tips or tricks that you use to make wrapping less of a chore? Here’s how a few of my fellow BRPs are jumping their holiday hurdles:

Dyenna
Lindsey
Sara
Ryan
Sara
Jenna
Mai

Road Tested: AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Wireless Headphones

Disclaimer: I received AfterShokz Trekz Titanium wireless headphones to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.

BibRave - AfterShokz Trek Titanium wireless headphones review from scootadoot.org

Can we talk about this picture?

This is a picture from my half marathon this spring, the Atlantic City April Fools half. I achieved a hard fought PR during that race and when I look at this picture, do you know the first thing I think? (Besides that was a great race!)

Why is there a wire coming out of my nether regions?!

Not that it diminishes any positive vibes I feel toward the race or about my PR. However, dude, seriously? Not the cutest.

Therefore, when I had the opportunity to opt in for the wireless AfterShokz Trekz Titanium headphones I raised both hands in the air… and waved them around like I just didn’t care. And hey, I’m able to do that because there are no wires on my headphones now!

I was curious to see how they would work. As soon as they arrived, I charged them for a couple hours and then they were ready to go.

The AfterShokz Trekz Titanium headphones easily paired with both my iPod and iPhone. Personally, when I’m running I’d rather have it connected to my iPod so I don’t drain my phone battery, even if it means carrying an extra device. However, I do love that it will hook up to my iPhone because they got rid of the headphone jack on the latest phone.

I’ve been wearing them for all sorts of activities: running (obviously), weeding my flower beds, walking the pooch, vacuuming the pool. Anything and everything. With my old earbuds, I’ve accidentally yanked them from my ear during activities. That doesn’t happen with these!

Conclusion: It is so much easier to maneuver with wireless headphones.

AfterShokz are not only wireless but they are bone conduction headphones. What does this mean? Unlike ear buds or headphones that sit on top of the ear, the earpiece of AfterShokz sit in front of the ear, on the bone. How do they work?

Transducers guide mini vibrations through the cheekbones to the inner ears, delivering sound without plugging or covering them. – AfterShokz Technology 

It’s fantastic to have my ears open so that I can be cognizant of the people, cars, and other things around me. I actually stopped doing a lot of my training runs with music because I wanted to be aware of surrounding noises and now I can be while enjoying music.

Since the earpiece sits outside the ear rather than in/on, I wondered if my music and podcasts would be heard by others when I wore them.

For this test, I asked my husband if he could hear what I was listening to while I stood next to him. When I had the sound low, but still able to hear, he wasn’t able to hear much. As I increased the volume, he was able to slightly hear muffled noise of what I was listening to but he said it wasn’t a distraction.

Occasionally when I move the wrong way (bend over to tie a shoelace, for example) I’ve lost the sound for a moment or two. I’m not sure exactly why, maybe the Bluetooth wasn’t able to connect for a moment? Either way, it’s so minimal that it doesn’t pose much of an issue.

Conclusion: You can be aware of your surrounds while running and stay safe, while enjoying music and podcasts. (And also not be rude to others around you!)

Other AfterShokz Trekz Titanium specifics that I found useful (and you might too):

  • they hold six hours of charge before needing to plug in
  • extremely lightweight (so much so that I’ve forgotten they’re on my head a few times!)
  • flexible, durable, and sweatproof
  • you can receive phone calls on them
  • 2 year warranty

Interested in getting a pair of your own? If you order now and use the code FREECASE you can score a BONUS portable storage case (as seen in the video below). On the rare occasions I’m not using my headphones/iPod, this is the perfect place for them to be! (And no more wires in odd places!)

Join us for the Twitter AfterShokz Trekz Titanium #bibchat on Tuesday, August 29nd at 9pm est. Never taken part of a Twitter chat before? Use the hashtag #BibChat and follow along with the questions posted by BibRave and share your responses! I’ll be there as scootadoot so be sure to say hello!

Don’t just take my word for it! Please feel free to swing by other BibRavePros and see what they’re saying.