Addiction.

I always believed that I was a Garmin user, not an abuser. After all, I love just hitting the trails with a naked wrist. It's so easy to get caught up in all the numbers that I forget sometimes why I run - it's not to be fast, or hit XX miles a week...it's because it makes me feel good, and it makes me feel like me.

But then this morning I woke up for my 430am Monday speedwork and MY GARMIN WOULD NOT TURN ON.

Dont worry - I have backup for these kinds of situations. I busted out my old Garmin. It looks a bit beat up but it works.

I warm up and stretch.
This is going to be fun!

I run to Papago park to do some 800s on the hills. The first 800 feels so good I make it a 1200. The next 800 is slower, but uphill. My legs feel lose. I am flying!

I start the third 800 and look at my watch. It has turned off!

I turn it back on.
It turns itself back off.

I remain calm...Just enjoy the run I tell myself.

I do some unmeasured fast runs up and down the hills as planned, all the while wondering what I am going to do about my 5K this Sunday. Will I be able to run it without a Garmin? How will I pace myself? I wont know my splits!

By the end of my run, I was in panic mode. This is when I realized that I dont train with a Garmin, I depend on a Garmin. I am a Garmin addict.

Luckily, there are hundreds and hundreds of other Garmin addicts out there, so I was able to learn how to fix my Garmin in the total of 1 minute. In case this ever happens to you, simply hold down the Mode button and Reset button at the same time for 5 seconds. Then turn on your watch. Crisis diverted!!!

So sure, maybe I dont run only to be fast or hit XX miles a week - but lets be real - the numbers are fun. Well, at least on good days. Perhaps this entire post would have been different had my Garmin died on a bad day.

It's such an extreme difference from when I started running in high school. Back then, we wore cotton sports bras, carried Walkmans and thought that GPS was a punk band.

Ah, to be young and clueless!
(This one is so clueless she can't even match her running shoes)