Telephone

This year, for  Mother's Day, Hubs upgraded my standard issue cell phone to an iPhone 4.   Thank goodness just about every single one of my friends has an iPhone and have been kind enough to guide me, otherwise I'd have to put on my glasses to read the directions.  The Crack Phone, I mean, the iPhone is rather addictive.  There's so much stuff on it and so much stuff to add to it that it's ridiculous.  There are apps for just about everything.  There are apps that you need that you didn't know you needed.  I realize that I'm somewhat late to the tech party with an iPhone, but now I understand the novelty turning into a necessity.



On my prior cell phone I had an app for tracking runs.  It was Bones in Motion, a GPS enabled run tracking app which I used for all of my runs.  It was user friendly, easy to adjust/correct GPS malfunctions, and had the best graphics and charts.   Tech support was awesome.  They even called me to follow up on an issue I had with live tracking.  I thought I was sneaky and did not need to buy a Garmin. Unfortunately, Bones in Motion was bought out by another company, was interfaced with a different brand, was not compatible with my cell phone, and did not offer the same type of stats, graphics and charts.  I was bummed.  With my new iPhone I discovered I could use the GPS capabilities to track my runs again if I ever forgot my Garmin.  There are several run tracking apps for iPhone.  I went with Nike+ GPS.

By today's standards, I am not very tech savvy.  The 7 year old in my life knows more about computers and techy stuff  than I do. I figured Nike+GPS would work right out of the box, um, right after the upload.  I used it for the first time on Saturday for our track club's 2 hour run.  I hit the start button and placed it in my Spibelt  and went about my run.  When I returned from my run I  took the phone out of my Spibelt and noticed that it said something like 14.7 miles in 2 hours. At this current point in time, 14.7 miles in 2 hours would be a miracle.  With all the injuries I went through last year and purposely backing off speed this year, I'd be happy with 10 miles in 2 hours.  I had no idea that the Nike app needed to be calibrated, and I couldn't figure out why it added mileage.  After returning home and mapping out my run manually, I discovered that I actually went a little over 11 miles and was able to calibrate the run to accommodate the time I put in.  Upon further inspection of the route I ran, I discovered a ton of GPS bouncing, which gave me the 14.7 miles.

Once I was at my computer at home, I expected to go to the nikeplus.com site and see my stats.  I thought, through the magic of GPS and my new iPhone, that my stats would automatically appear on the site upon logging in. Nope. In addition, I couldn't sync my stats to Dailymile no matter what I tried.  I spent  most of my Sunday afternoon playing e-mail tag with Stephen at Nike+GPS tech support. Stephen at tech support and I were quickly building a relationship.  I was beginning to think the app was a lost cause and I began looking into other GPS run apps.  Finally, after several different ways of resetting and rebooting, it worked.

Yay.

If I could just get my home computer to work properly, then I'd really be living large.

Song from Thursday, May 12, 2011:
To Make a Long Story Short -  Gladys Knight and the Pips

PEACE

Can't Find My Mind

For everything I know, there's always something new to learn.  Such is life, right?  Just about everything I knew has changed.  I haven't been out of the loop all that long, but time and technology marches on, and a lot of the changes were made over the past three years.  Then there's the thing about having to remember everything I did know that still applies now.  My brain is on overload, and I haven't even begun to study for the certification tests. 

Today was the first day of the track club's Rockin' 'n' Runnin' program.  I'm perfectly fine being in the "C" group, which is the 9:30 m/m people and SLOWER.  Each year our groups (A, B and C) are named after Rock groups.  Last year "C" group was the Kinks. (I think)  The year before that we were Air Supply (which most of us were insulted by).  This year  "A" group is Tears For Fears,  "B" group is Kiss and "C" group is The Cramps.  Perfect.  Love it.  I'm proud to be a "C" grouper.  Turns out one of The Cramps songs is on my running play list, "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns."




The run wasn't anything to write home about.  Really.  I probably should have run with the B group (7:30m/m to 9m/m) only because they ran longer, about 6 to 8  miles.  Our group ran only 2.5 miles around the track, and that included the warm up run.  It took that brief run to start feeling like I had my groove, and it wasn't difficult.  The shins were a little twingey, but not bad. There's always tomorrow. I have a half marathon in a couple of weeks. This one month taper was a bit too long... 

Oh, yeah, the Garmin wasn't working.  Yes, it showed the time, but when I decided to hit the start button it went blank.  It turns out that it was hooked up to the charger, but not plugged in.  Go me.  Coach Paul shouted out times as we ran by, so I probably ran about a 9:45 m/m average, just cruising and chatting with a few of my fellow track club members.

In other news, my Keurig started doing things I didn't want it to do, such as making my cup runneth over, or not filling it at all.  After chatting with a lady in customer service*, they're sending me a new unit. No charge.  Sort of.  I have to send them the k-cup holder from inside the unit and an authorization number to receive full credit.  No biggie.  Postage is cheap.

I guess this is one of those instances where it was good to REGISTER my appliance.  Most people don't take the time to register their small appliances.  Oh, and Keurig's customer service person was easy to work with.  This was just an FYI, in case you run into this same issue, provided you own one of these or know someone who does.


Song from Saturday, January 1, 2011:
Good Riddance -Green Day - Katiefeldmom

PEACE

*...AND taking it apart per her instructions ala McGuyver, poking around a few "ports" with a paper clip, then turning it back on, only to find that it didn't heat the water and still overfilled my cup.

Lost and Found

I took Lucy for a test run today, a two miler. It took me a while to remember where all the applications were, such as turning on the GPS, hitting start and locking the bezel. She's pretty sweet and I don't need reading glasses to read her face. I didn't think about using the heart rate monitor, which is supposed to give me a more accurate caloric burn number, but I'll try it next time.

I was walking back to my car and found a Garmin just laying there in the middle of the parking lot. No one was around or even looking for it, so I brought it home. I sent an e-mail to Garmin with the serial number, so that the rightful owner MIGHT be found. I only hope the owner of this Garmin registered their serial number. I know I would want to be contacted if someone found my Garmin. Unless you're swimming in money, they aren't cheap. I thought about posting A "FOUND GARMIN" sign out at the park with a temporary e-mail address for contact info, but I'm going to wait to hear back from Garmin first before I post any signs. I don't want to risk being contacted by a bunch of weirdos wanting a freebie. I'm not posting pictures of it or saying which kind of Garmin it is, since it can be identified by the serial number. I will say that I found it out at Mission Bay Park.

Monday's song:
I Should Have Known Better - The Beatles - She Do Run Run

PEACE

Get Over It

Wednesday night, at the RU group workout, we were running an 800 and I tweaked out my big toe on my left foot. I was wearing the wear test shoes. At first it felt like a cramp, but then it got worse. I couldn't do the 800 to my full potential. As I ran by one of the interns, I yelled out that my foot was cramping, but he just said to run through it. I listened to him, but I'm sort of kicking myself for not listening to myself. You would think that, by now, I would know better. After my crummy 800, I continued on with the strengthening exercises without shoes on, but skipped any running, even if it were a slow lap. At the end of the session I put my shoes back on without tightening the laces and hobbled to my car.

Once at home I spent some time RICE-ing my foot/big toe and took a couple of analgesics. I figured I'd give myself a couple of days to see how it felt before seeking any medical advice.

Yesterday I was having my hair cut in the same neighborhood as my chiropractor's office and decided to see if he would see me with such short notice. He fit me in. Not only was the right foot off, but the left foot was more off, and my back was also rather tight. After some massage, he did the necessary adjustments and I felt relief. My foot/toe is still sore, probably from over compensation, but at least I can put a shoe back on my foot without wincing. The foot isn't swollen or bruised, it's just sore. I'm still doing the RICE thing.

This foot issue puts a kink in my plans to attempt a PR at the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll half marathon, but I'm pretty sure I'll be OK to start and finish it with no intentions of a PR. At this point, I think I'm allowed to slow down and just enjoy the scenery. It's not like I'm giving up. I'm being realistic.

This also means I don't get to try out Lucinda this weekend. Oh, that's my Garmin's new name: Lucinda or Lucy for short. When I signed up on the Garmin site, it actually asks for a name, and Lucinda was one of the suggestions someone gave me on Facebook. It was the only name I could remember when I was stuck at the Garmin site. I hope I love Lucy...

Tuesday's song:
Cool As Blue - Tina Bridgeman & Hearth

PEACE

Cool As Blue

Finally...

They've posted the results today:

22/62 1571 2173 IRENE M 50 SAN DIEGO 2:13:30 10:12

Yesterday I had a workout at RU. It was all about getting back to business, even THE DAY AFTER RUNNING A HALF MARATHON. Sometimes I think Bryan can be a little masochistic, but there really is a method to the madness, as I've said before. He even had me doing heavier weights than I'm used to for certain exercises. I was toast after all that, but, wait, there's more...

My Garmin Forerunner 405 CX arrived!



I think Bryan was more excited about my Garmin than I was. I'm still in a post run event haze* and he couldn't wait for me to start using my Garmin. He charged it and set it up for me, then had me run to try it out.

Yeah, he had me RUN.

Masochist...

One thing I've learned is to not complain or make snarky comments about anything I'm doing at RU, because Bryan will just give me more of what ever it is I've just said I've groaned over.**

I ran 3 laps around the complex without the heart rate monitor strap, then another 3 laps with it. Amazingly, I was a wee bit faster the second time around. I went about 1.25 miles total.

I still need to read the instructions manual and download the disk to my computer, etc. I also need to come up with a name for the Garmin, other than the Garmin. She's a shade of dusty blue. (Yeah, I said "she.") Any suggestions?

Today I'm taking off from any working out or running, but getting caught up on my blog reading and laundry, oh, and babysitting.


Sunday's song:
Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles - Nine-Oh-Nine


PEACE

*Post run haze = sore and tired.
**Which is why every exercise I do is my favorite exercise.