Global Positioning Excuses

There was a time when "How Far, How Fast?" remained an unanswered question for most runners. And the fact is they were perfectly fine with it. Before Garmin and Nike+ the only real way a runner knew their true distance was if they were lucky enough to have a trail with mile markers close by or they wanted to run countless circles on the local high school track. Of course you could always use the car to measure your route and hope you remembered exactly where you were supposed to turn. Even when you did know the miles you had to keep up with the time on your watch (digital if you were lucky) and then rely on your fading high school algebra skills to figure your pace.



But now you can slap a $350 Garmin Forerunner 310XT on your wrist, lace up your shoes, and return home with more information that you need to file a 1040ez. If you want to add some music while you measure your pace you can pop a little white dongle in the bottom of your ipod and a sensor in your shoe. You even get your choice of a male or female voice to motivate you at each mile. When your done Lance Armstrong will tell you you did a great job reaching your goal. (Thanks for the encouragement Lance but I don't know if I could even win seven games of Yahtzee in a row.) If you need to go one further and want to have a phone/webbrowser with you you can always download one of the many running apps on to your iphone.

So other than a little further down the road, where does all this technology get us? When I got concerned about my distance and pace I bought a used Garmin Foreruner on eBay for $45 dollars. It was outdated at the time and probably worth $5 at a yard sale now. I used it for several months and it made me realize that although I wasn't going to be passing anyone down the stretch at the Badwater Ultramarathon, I would be able to comfortably run in the middle of the pack at any local race. The sensor always seemed to be low on batteries and usually when I was 4 or 5 miles into my run. I eventually found a good deal on an ipod nano and went ahead and got a Nike+ ipod sensor. It was great and actually encouraged me to run more. I became a little obsessed with the stats I compiled on my runs. I uploaded them to the nike+ site and compared them with my previous runs. Eventually my computer stopped recognizing my ipod so I wasn't able to upload my runs anymore. Then I got a new computer, synced up my ipod, and updated the software. When I updated the software my ipod would not recognize the sensor. I spent $20 on a new sensor only to realize that the update caused the same problems for a lot of people. I didn't want to spend $200 on a new ipod with a built in sensor or $250 on a new Forerunner, and I couldn't find the sensor for my archaic Garmin, so I had a great excuse not to run. What was the point of running if I didn't know how far I had run? Was I running at my 5k pace or my Half-Marathon pace? Am I at the midpoint in my run, should I head back home? It was easier just to stay home, that way I wouldn't have to worry about all those questions.

So several months went by and I had not run at all. I went to first the Team A.S.K. meeting for the Half Marathon group and realized just how long I had used technology as an excuse for not running. A few days latter I grabbed the dog and let him decide the pace and distance. He took off like a young filly at Church Hill Downs, but found the scent of another dog about 10 minutes in and had to cover every last molecule of it. We ran for about thirty minutes and then walked back home. I felt great and instead of obsessing over the data on my wrist when I got home, I laid under the ceiling fan with the dog.

If dog shows ever decide to judge a dog's ability
to relax in style then we're headed to Westminster.

Sometimes we need to rid ourselves of the technology we have become dependent on and just run. We need to listen to our bodies not our headphones. When you get the first pain ignore it and run a little further (it will be gone before you know it). When you get in a zone and forget to turn where you wanted to, you know your on the right path. When you start to get that runners high, run a few more miles. Remember, you can always walk home if you need to.