Running with Garmin (and Elizabeth, Too!)

Today’s run was a warm, slightly hazy 65 degrees in Central Park with Elizabeth Corkum. It was a run of a couple firsts. First Number 1? My first official run using my Garmin Forerunner 405CX. First Number 2? Upon completion of 6.3 miles, just after a final sprint, I convulsed twice and almost vomited. That’s never happened in my years of training!

I attribute the wretchedness to the consumption of 3 Redline Ultra Hardcore about 2 hours before the run, plus general dehydration in light of the pills but also in light of my resistance to drink a lot of water just before a run (for fear of needing to go to the bathroom). Of those two factors, the Redline was probably more the culprit as I barely ever have trained with energy pills in my system, especially not in warm weather. Another factor is that I’m not quite fit yet, running at an 8:00 pace per mile rather than something more than a minute faster like last year. I should note, too, that around mile 2, I felt pain in my kidney area (middle back), which could be related to strain on my kidneys.

Whatever. The more important thing about this run is my Garmin! So far so good. The reviews I heard about this wonderful device were far from absolutely glowing, since apparently this bezel on the watch (or “super-watch,” as I preferred to call it to Elizabeth) goes unresponsive or just darn crazy when it gets wet. The advice I heard was to lock the bezel when running to avoid this spasming, and as much as that didn’t sound like an ideal solution, it seemed to work for me! I turned the Auto Scroll on to Medium and it seemed to be fine. It beeped at every mile (each mile was considered a lap), and it also gave me my instantaneous pace. From the watch, I learned that my pace slowed down considerably in the second half of my run (it’s hillier). Interesting! I foresee great possibilities with this watch, though I’m curious what frustrations might be lurking when I train with it in wet weather. Will I be able to set the darn thing if it’s raining when I start?

As for Elizabeth, she was showing me up in places during the run (she was passing guys quite often!), though we were overall pretty evenly matched. That was a great feeling. She has a Philly 10-mile race coming up in 3 weeks and I foresee good things for her. She strikes me as just competitive enough to impress herself with her finish time in that race.