My New Buddy

Last week was horrible. After running 18 miles, including my first 8K, I sat on my ass for almost the whole next week. Laziness overtook me. I couldn't get out of the house to do a serious run if it meant my life. Once! Once, I went out, on a Thursday, solely out of guilt. Scheduled to run 5 miles, halfway through the run I decided 3 was enough. I was so disgusted with myself after that. Marathon, yeah right. I was worthless, I could never run a marathon.

Last Saturday, for my anniversary, me Kimmie gives me this overglorified stopwatch as a present, the Forerunner 101. I had seen it before and thought I would get it for the big run, so my thoughtful girlfriend went out and beat me to it. I didn't care for it too much. I thought it would be more of a distraction, with all its bells and whistles, than anything else. I was curious to see how the GPS worked so I took it out on Tuesday.

I scheduled a 6 mile run, plotted it on the USATF route mapper and took off with my new toy. I had to run 6 miles at least once before the Scotland 10K on Sunday. I had yet to run that distance. I was to start on Williamsbridge and run down Pelham Parkway to the loop right before the City Island bridge and back. The purpose of pre-plotting my routes is to know where the mile markers are so that I can figure out my splits and pace. Well, with my new budd that was unnecessary. With its eyes in the sky it kept constant track of my distance, pace and average pace. It beeped at every mile marker and tracked my route on a little map.

By the time I reached the halfway point at the loop I realized that I no longer had to keep to pre-planned course. I noticed a trail and took it, knowing my buddy would keep track of all my vital stats for me. When I came out of the trail I realized I was at Orchard Beach. It was 70 degrees, a perfect day for a run on the beach. So, I ran down the boardwalk for a bit, then turned onto the beach and ran by the water to the end. By the way, running on sand sucks! Better to watch it on film. I ran a bit more to the beach entrance and began my run back home. Throughout the whole thing I had this image in my head of some mantra I had seen earlier on a t-shirt or bumper sticker: "There is no finish line".

All told I ran 7.6 miles. Way more than my personal best of five. Since, then I ran to Mosholu Golf Course and back and am on pace to run 23.5 miles this week. The freedom my Forerunner has given me is great. I can just take off and run without having to worry about the accounting. There are newer versions that monitor your heart rate and allow you to download data from Google Maps, but I don't need any of that stuff. I love my new buddy.