I'm regretting something I said in a Chicago bar about six months ago. Under the influence of some strange and strong microbrew, I told my college friend that I would run the Vancouver International Marathon with her in May (or at least half of it). Oops.

Luckily, running 13.1 miles doesn't have to be as painful as it used to be. Sure, you still have to run the miles, but at least there's a gaggle of gadgets that can help--or at least distract you. So with the run looming, I decided to go in search of the perfect devices to help me and other wanna-be athletes through the pain.

Take-Along Tunes

First things first: entertainment. You think that I'm going to spend two and a half hours pondering life? That wouldn't even get me past Mile 1. And since I still haven't found a way to watch American Idol while running, I guess I have to settle for other forms of entertainment. Namely some good, up-tempo music.

I already own an Apple IPod Mini, but one of the problems with the player is its wimpy battery, which usually conks out after about 8 hours. Hopefully, I won't take that long to finish the run. But I'm still interested in the new IPod Minis, which Apple introduced a little more than a month ago.

They feature longer battery life (18 hours), larger hard drives (6GB, up from 4GB), and brighter colors. This is all good news for active types--especially the longer battery life, which means your player won't die should you need to stop running and hobble to the finish line. Not that I'm planning on doing that.

One problem I've been struggling with during my training runs is how to access the controls on my Mini when I want to switch gears from Pearl Jam to punk rock. I run with the player tucked into a case that's clipped to my waistband. So to change playlists, I need to pull the player out of its sleeve, deactivate the Hold button, futz with settings, slide the player back in its case, and reactivate Hold. Performing this exact procedure recently caused a near-disaster with a rollerblader.

Accessorize Your Workout

I've been eyeing a few accessories that might fix the problem.

First, there's the $20 Marware SportSuit Runabout, a case that attaches to your wrist and leaves the IPod's controls open and easy to get to.

While Marware's band doesn't come in five pretty colors like Apple's own armbands, it makes the player much more accessible because it attaches to your easy-to-reach wrist rather than your upper arm. Hey, I'm already running 13 miles--must I be a contortionist too?

Another accessory I've been eyeing enviously (but can't use because it's compatible with full-size IPods only) is Nyko's ITop Button Relocator, a control module that plugs into the remote-control jack on the top of your IPod. Using the Nyko gadget means not having to pull the player out of your case to repeat a song or skip through that what-were-they-thinking track that's on every album.

Of course, true marathoners will probably pooh-pooh the extra heft that an IPod or other hard-drive-based player adds. For me, I can always use it as an excuse for my poor finish time: "But my music player was weighing me down."

High-Tech Gear

Those of you who want to go lighter and faster should consider one of these options.

Tiny Tunes: A small Flash-drive-based audio player such as IRiver's N10 or Apple's IPod Shuffle, both of which are small, light, and can be worn around the neck.

Speaking of IRiver and Apple, check out our news story on how the South Korean company behind the IRiver name is gunning for Apple's music market share.

Cutting-Edge Shades: Oakley's Thump, a pair of sunglasses with a built-in audio player. Sure, they look a little dorky. But hey--you still won't look as bad as the dude in the too-short shorts running 5 feet in front of you.

By the way, for a look at the future of wearable technology, read "Brave New Wardrobe."

Multipurpose Player: A music player that does more than just pipe music to your ears, like the Nike-Philips MP3Run. Not only does it play music, but it also comes with a speed-and-distance monitor that clips to shoelaces and communicates wirelessly with the player to report how fast you're going and how far you've traveled.

Now, you can take the runner out of the geek, but you can't take the geek out of the runner. Or so I've heard. I've got two final recommendations for true athletic geeks--or would that be geeky athletes?

High-Tech Hat: One is Scottevest's Tec Hat--a baseball cap that has pockets for holding keys and coins, as well as side loops for keeping earbuds in place.

Self-Adjusting Shoes: The other is Adidas's new computerized sneaker, the Adidas_1. Each sneaker has a built-in computer that constantly adjusts the shoe's cushioning by measuring the way you run.

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Cathy Lu is contributing news editor for Digital World magazine.