I am relying on GPS from my Droid and a vast array of apps (currently Cardio Trainer) to be the keepers of my stats. My portable, electronic statisticians. Thing is if they were people they would not be working with me...they'd be fired. They only work half the time and then their info is sometimes sketchy, often misleading and they are COMPLETELY DISTRACTING! That having been said they are also like a girl you had a crush on in school. You can't wait to hear what they have to say, no matter what it is....they can break your heart over and over and you still come back for more....you can't imagine going out without them but you do have your eye on that really cute $300 Garmin wrist watch GPS that keeps winking at you in the sporting goods store. The thing is that once you hit the road, working or not, at some point this stuff kind of falls away....
Now it is true that I run with music but the music is becoming an integral part of this really neat experience. The music can push or pull my pace, it can lift my determination and it can calm me when I am letting things get out of control. The technology it seems is part and parcel to how I am learning to run and to love running.
I can't really explain what it is that I enjoy.
There is pain, there is discomfort, heat, sweat, thirst, traffic, walkers, bikes, other runners and they are not exactly the highlights of the activity. The first mile feels like a thick iron crust has developed over my muscles while I slept and it needs to be chipped off, agonizingly with each footfall. My knees feel like dried out rubber bands the kind you stretch while turning away for fear that you'll get it right in the eye. My ankles, well let's just say that I relive the day I learned to ice skate over and over again for about 1/4 mile each run. My breathing is like our good friends pug, Burrito all wheeze and cough and you might actually be tempted to call me an ambulance over the first half mile.
And then the GPS triggers the electronic voice to whisper in my ear...... 1 mile in 11 minutes and 16 seconds....
And suddenly........................................
Well like I said I can't quite explain it, but I like it...I like it a lot
