Technology

This summer I bought a Garmin running watch. It was a bit expensive, but I have found it was worth every penny. It not only has a clock and a timer, but for running it tracks mileage, pace, average pace, and the number of calories burned, just to name a few. There's a also a setting for riding bikes and doing interval workouts. I have been running with this watch the past 18 weeks during my marathon training and it has been great. It's helped me stay on target with my goal finish times and has also allowed me to not have to stick right to my course, but still get all of my miles in, since it tracks the distance I've run. It's amazing what can be done with technology these days. It think it's even more amazing how much I miss it when I don't have it . . .

I went for a 6-mile run this morning with some friends and just before we got started I turned my watch on to get it ready to go. It beeped at me and flashed "low battery." I've been pretty good at keeping my watch charged (it charges by plugging into a wall outlet or USB port on a computer), and the charge seems to last a while, but I forgot to check the battery life after my last run. I haven't had the low battery problem before so wasn't sure how long into the run the watch would last. I got maybe .8 miles in and looked at my watch to find that it wasn't on. I tried turning it on, but it wouldn't go. The battery was completely dead. It wasn't that big of a deal because we knew exactly where we were running, but I sure missed having my watch on! I had to resist the urge to look at my wrist to check my time, distance, and pace. And I SO missed not knowing where I was at distance-wise and knowing how much longer I had until I was done.

Cell phones are another example of a technology that is really hard to live without. This morning I drove Ross' car to meet my friends to run and brought my cell phone along. I put it in the car's console while running and forgot to get it out when I got back home and went inside. I realized this halfway through my getting ready process and kept reminding myself to get my phone out of Ross' car before I left for work. I could not imagine spending a whole day without my cell phone! Oh the crisis that would be!

It's funny how attached we get to our technology!