I know that spam pausing to save time is banned, but am I allowed to pause once or twice during a speedrun to select an item or do I have to have to use a to select items? Edit: I just saw a run that pauses to select an item.

Allowed: pausing to select gadgets or watch grapple Not allowed: repeated pausing for timer abuse or aim assist

Generally we try to use the minimum necessary number of pauses per run.