Gadgets, Gizmos and Garmins

            Getting back into racing, I deluded myself into believing that it couldn’t have changed that much since I left.  After all, training is training, right? Wrong. Someone should have offered me ocean front property in Arizona, I would have bought it.

            Meeting with my new running group was not only daunting for the very idea of trying to keep up with these people, but it was if they spoke another language, and I had no translator. All I could do was nod knowingly without having a clue.

            “Did you see the new Garmin? It’s really cool!”  Garmin? Garmin…Garmin… nope, no translation for Garmin.  Obviously it was not a person, and these were runners, so maybe new shoes? Don’t even get me started on how long it took me to figure out what Hokas were.

            “I left my Garmin in the car, it was about to die.”  Um, pardon? What’s a Garmin? I really did want to ask, but I was intimidated. They knew what a Garmin was, it was obvious they thought I should know what a Garmin was, so I simply nodded and hoped I wouldn’t be asked my opinion on it.

            We began running and I continued to listen to them talk about their Garmins.  I listened, not only because I did not want to reveal how technologically challenged I was but also, at that point I couldn’t run and talk at the same time.  I pride myself on multitasking, but that was asking a little too much of me that early in training. Quickly, the topic turned to other things, and I promised myself that a soon as I got home, I would find out what it was.

            A GPS watch! Are you kidding me? That's awesome!

           A few days later, my coach found someone who was upgrading to a newer Garmin and was wanting to sell his old one. I was so excited to get it, and I wanted to just hold my arm out all practice to show everyone I got initiated into the Garmin group. I put it on, pushed the on button, and stared at it, realizing I had absolutely no idea how to use it. Coach quickly helped out, setting it up for training that night, and I went home determine to figure this out.  Two hours of You Tube videos later, I had the basics down.

          A couple weeks later, Coach asked if I had been downloading my workouts into Garmin Connect. Whoa! There's an APP for that? Cool beans! An hour of downloading the program (my computer is archaic) and a whole lot of clicking to see what this or that link did and presto! I was totally geeking out to all the charts, splits and maps I could possible look at.  The mathematical part of my brain went into happiness overload as I analyzed to my heart's content.

        After this week's practice, Speedy, the Spy and I stood in the shoe shop staring at the Garmin case.  It reminded me of little kids standing on the snowy sidewalks looking at the toy displays in department store windows at Christmas.  Seriously, we were fogging up the case.  As I was drooling over the new triathlete Garmin, the Spy was thinking about a running Garmin, his first. Speedy and I told him what we knew, and in my case, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about, but if he asked me anything too technical, I knew my cover would be blown.  Fortunately, Speedy had the woman's version of the Garmin he wanted, so she could show him what it did.  Whew!

          It may take me a while to get up to speed on all of the advances that have been made since I left, but I must still be old school - nothing beats the cheering, love and support of my friends and running/swimming/biking families.  Love you all, and see you at the finish line :)