A Technical Meltdown...

I'm in a co-dependent relationship with technology. Always have been... forever will be. If it's something I think is "cool" and "techno" and "the latest and greatest gadget," then I want it. I need it. I crave it!

As long as I have been running, I have depended on some sort of "technology" to track what I'm doing.

I remember back in 1999... ah... good times... when I would set off from my apartment with nothing more than my trusty Timex and run for a certain number of minutes. I figured I was running at least a 10-minute pace... Everyone does, right? So I'd run for 50 minutes and call that 5-miles.

It turned out to be inaccurate... quite a bit, actually! I discovered this when I decided to actually get behind the wheel and drive the route I was running. I was off by almost a mile! Sheesh!

Treadmills are great to track the miles. It's all right there in front of you: Distance, speed, elevation... However, as most runners know, you can get in such a rhythm that you can actually run longer than is needed for a certain period of time.

Explanation: When a person runs outdoors, their speed fluctuates like a car. When you're going uphill, you go slower... when you go downhill, you travel much faster. So, your average speed increases/decreases. If I'm running at a 10:30 pace and suddenly I find a downhill, well "heck yeah" I'm going to open it up to speed up the long run.

Which brings me to last night. My "technology" that I love when running is my Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS. It tracks my miles, time, pace, etc. When I come home, I simply synch it with my computer and it displays all of the gorgeous data in the geek-speak that I like to see. Plus, it draws a map of where I just ran.

There are newer versions out there that will display it on Google Maps, too. They even start synching to your computer as you enter the house - so you just walk to your laptop and can see what the results were without even doing anything. Very cool! I've thought about getting a new one... one that tracks my heartbeat, too. However, it's just been a "thought."

Until now...

Last night as I was 1-mile into my 4-mile run, I noticed the "low battery" indicator come on. It's done that before, but typically when my run was almost over. I figured, "Ok... maybe it'll hold out until the end." Nope. Wrong. It died shortly thereafter.

So now I'm out in my neighborhood without ANY technology to track my run. I don't have a watch. I don't have the benefit of even "driving" beforehand... all I have is the knowledge of what 3-miles were prior to this run.

Therefore, I ran... and ran and ran. It wasn't a problem, but after I figured I had run 3-miles, I was in no-man's land. I basically had to guess my way to the finish. It's an odd feeling... just running without knowledge. Almost running without a purpose...

But, I finished. I figured it was time to stop because I was really tired and my mouth was really dry (I usually try and drink after 3 miles). I have since made sure the GPS is fully charged for my next run...

But I may be buying new technology in the near future!