Tuesday, December 26, 2006

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!

18 comments:

Ironayla said...

Ah... another Garmin owner :) I really enjoy mine!

Glad to hear you enjoyed time with your family. I look forward to hearing about the end of the Last Chance Marathon.

Just wondering if you were going to go wit Eric to Hagg Lake or Mt. Si? I have a maniac thought rolling around in my head :)

Michele said...

I CAN'T run without my Garmin!
I love that I don't have to predetermine where I am going to run.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time with your family and don't worry I gained enough weight for both of us.

Olga said...

I like guesstimating my distances. But I used to run with gadgets too. Whatever works.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the Garmin.
Merry Christmas.

tryathlete said...

Glad everyone had a good time at Xmas.

I could never bring myself to run a half (not least a marathon) on Sunday after Christmas - happy running, you Maniac! :)

JustRun said...

Sounds like a good Christmas! I love the "I didn't gain wait but I gave it my best shot"- you and me, both!
Have fun with the Garmin and good luck on Sunday!

IronWaddler said...

Another gadget geek! I love it. You are so lucky :)

D said...

You are way too cool BOP! I hope Sundae isn't in too much trouble, by the way.

Thomas said...

Another Garmin Runner. Those things are taking over the world. (yes, I'm just jealous)

Sarah said...

I have a 201 and when I was doing run/walk for my long road runs I used to geek out too with a watch on the other wrist. You can use the interval function as a rolling timer, but then it doesn't count your "rest" time in your total time/mileage. Sounds like you have it figured out. Enjoy! : )

Dori said...

You can call me green with envy. I have a 201, but have wanted the 305 for the past year. Yeah, I'm a gadget geek, too. I wear my Garmin for pace and distance, my Timex Ironman for the rolling timer, and sometimes my Polar heart-rate monitor. One time I was running up a small hill, and at the summit a man was running towards me. As he passed he said, "Well, I'm impressed." I thought he said it because of how hard I was working, but then I realized it was probably all the gear on me. :-)

I'm glad you had a nice Christmas with your family.

Anonymous said...

ooo, a garmin!!!

merry christmas

Wes said...

I got my garmin 205 too!! and I luv it as well! It's really cool. I set the timer on it to beep every 5 or 10 minutes, depending on when I want to take my walk break. Unfortunately, it doesn't have multiple timers. But, don't care :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh yay! Another gadget to play with. :) What fun. Now you're making me think I should get one. I do the mapping online, then the pace calculator, too. Hmmmm. . . now I know what to ask for for my birthday - maybe. ;)

Enjoy your upcoming race and have a happy New Year!

Unknown said...

Oh no, more gadgets. Glad to hear you all had a great Christmas. See you Saturday.

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

You will love, love, love the Garmin! It was way more accurate on the Las Vegas Marathon course than the actual mile markers were.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!!!

seagull junker said...

Have fun with it. Sounds pretty cool.

Happy Holidays!!!

Unknown said...

I just got a new Garmin 205 also. What fun!!