Sunday, January 14, 2007

First Date with Garmin

yesterday i met up with mia and she has generously offered me the use of her Garmin. i'm interested in technology...but wary. but i'm also curious to find out just how far and how fast/slow i really am.

i want to run trails but i need to run on the road.

so,we'll see....................

T and M have agreed to go into the city and help me preview the 1/2 marathon route. i'd like to run the whole course before race day. i'll need to prepare better for that next time, today was a preliminary review of the lay of the land and a lesson in needs and need nots.





getting to the route starting line was an event itself. a cold sunny day in san francisco had drawn everyone and his cousin out and about. by the time i actually started running it was already 1:00 pm.


while i have a slighty better sense of the route now i was only able to run just under 5 miles of it. i needed to meet T at a certain spot within an hour and i kept getting turned around. funny how much longer it takes to run a just few miles when your in a new place.

over accesorized!!!

i felt a bit bogged down between the hydration belt, my ipod, the garmin, multiple layers and a phone.
i immediately had to pee a soon as T dropped me off near the pan handle and the first order of business was finding a public restroom. i took awhile fumbling with all the gear. i must've left my zipper pocket opened and noticed later that i managed to lose 16.00 bucks. made somebody's day i'm sure.

i met up with a couple of other runners who knew the route and they were able to tell me that the section i was on was only three miles from where T and I would meet up later (i told T i'd call him in an hour but that we'd meet at 41st and fulton if something happened...dead cell etc.).

luckily i took a few wrong turns before I got to 41st and stretched things out to just under 5 miles (4.79 to be exact in 45ish minutes...i started messing with buttons and accidently added time while trying to figure stuff out...) anyways i was disappointed at the outcome mainly because it was tricky coordinating with T where and when to meet. next time i'll go solo, maybe take my bike along and scout out the route some more.

sections of golden gate park are closed off to traffic on the weekends which made it hard to find the start. it's a beautiful place to run and i'll definitely return before race day.

first date with the garmin...a bit awkward... but i'm looking forward to our second one real soon.