Aren't I Cool?

I am so cool! I am the proud new owner of a Garmin Forerunner 205. You can call me cool, or you can call me Gadget Geek. Eric gave me the Garmin for Christmas. He said he's been watching me with gmaps trying to see how far I ran, then jumping over to a pace calculator to see what my average pace was, and he decided I needed a Garmin. Remember the gortex running coats we got just before Seattle? The ones that were supposed to be our Christmas gifts to each other? Needless to say, the Garmin was quite a surprise.

So, of course, the statistics for today: 4.37 miles, 51:35, average pace: 1148, my personal favorite: 622 calories. From my watch: average HR: 152.

That's why you can call me a Gadget Geek. I'll be wearing the Garmin on one arm and the watch on the other. I still need my watch for the rolling timer and the heart rate monitor. Unfortunately, I don't see those two requirements ever leaving me. Though the 305 has the hr monitor built in, it doesn't have the rolling timer - a feature I really need. When I first started this run/walk business three years ago, I had to pay way too much attention to the watch, which was really a pain in the dark. The rolling timer lets me ignore the whole thing and just listen for the beeps. Eric rightly figured I needed both, thus the 205. Today I spent a lot of time checking out the Garmin, but it's new, and I will eventually ignore it too, only checking for distance and finish totals.

I felt sluggish and tired and my heart rate was too high today. I'm pretty sure it is the result of a three day overload of junk food and sugar. On the plus side, I did not gain any weight, but I gave it my best shot. I think I luck out on the holidays because the big dinners are all meat based, leaving me with veggies and salad. So though I eat a lot of cookies, candy, breads and pie, I eat small meals. Not very healthy, but oh-so-good! I'm going to try to focus on healthy eating again for the rest of the week, since my next marathon is Sunday.

Sunday should be fun. This is an out-and-back, out-and-back course, mostly on trails. I think there are 75 people registered for both the full and the half. There will be eight of us there from our group, and many others we know. My Mom was funny yesterday - she's a little nervous about all these runners coming to her house. I told her that this is intended to be low-impact on her and Dad - we'll eat out (and they can come with us) for dinner, we'll all bring our own breakfast supplies, then we'll eat out after the race. We need beds, showers and a place to hang out Saturday night. I think she felt a little better after that. Mom and Dad have been remodeling their family room, so things are a little chaotic there, but their house is so big that it really doesn't matter. Yesterday we managed just fine and there were 15 of us there.

Speaking of yesterday, we had a great couple of days with family. We spent a lot of time in the car, but it was worth it. We've also been enjoying Web's company for the last two days. I'll be sorry to see him head for home tonight. I think he's been enjoying the abundance of food cooked by Mom, Grandma and Aunts. My Mom sent him home with a whole shopping bag of food (she thinks we're all too skinny).

I hope all of you had a good Christmas with friends and family. Enjoy the rest of the holidays!