geekathoner

I'm geeking out on a new toy. It might well be the geekiest thing I've ever toyed with. I got a Garmin Forerunner this weekend. It's amazing.

I took it out for an eight-mile run today. I could glance at it from time to time and see my pace, distance traveled, heart rate, etc.

When I got back, I plugged it into my computer, and within seconds I was sifting through a database, looking at graphs showing how I stood up against hills, what my maximum pace was, etc. It drew up an elavation profile of my run, and even calculated the precise amount of time I was standing behind a bush, pissing.

I always had a sense that I got faster as I ran, but now I can really see it. At the beginning, I ran about 10- or 11-minute-per-mile pace. Soon I was clicking along at a nine-minute pace. Toward the end, I was in the eights. In fact, I often hit somewhat random peeks of about 7:30.

That's cool for a couple of reasons. For one, it didn't feel like I was going any faster. I didn't feel any extra effort when I was going faster.

The other reason is that 7:30 is just below the pace I'd need to maintain to qualify for Boston.

Knowing this makes it seem very possible now.

Averaged out, my running and walking together put me at a 10:21 pace. Not bad, considering how slow I was going on the walk parts.