Don't Tase me, bro!

I had this brainstorm during my long run today: what if Garmin and Taser teamed up to make a GPS watch that zings you when you fall off your pace?

I spent some quality time this morning actually reading the instruction booklet that came with the Garmin my mom gave me for Christmas (thanks, mom!). There's a "Virtual Partner" setting that let's you set your intended pace, and then the watch tells you when you're too fast or (more likely for me) too slow. The Virtual Partner is actually a little stick figure, and you are little stick figure, and the watch displays where you are running in relation to each other. A little humbling.

About three miles in, I couldn't help but think about how easy my Virtual Partner has it. I mean, she's powered by a lithium battery and just hangs in the digital code in my watch, keeping a perfect, effortless pace. And while I'm hoofing it on the muddy shoulders of back roads, my Virtual Partners tells me, 'You're 5 seconds behind. You're 15 seconds behind. You're 1 hr 20 minutes behind.' Screw you, Virtual Partner! Who invited you on this run?

That's when I started thinking, what if instead of a silent watch display, the Garmin sent a low-level shock to my wrist to let me know to pick up the pace. It would snap you back into focus. Kind of like being on the wrong end of cattle prod. When I ran by the now-closed Bushway packing plant, I reconsidered whether this idea has promise.

Workout, interrupted.

So I made arrangements to go into work late to allow myself time to sleep in AND do a morning workout. This morning around 9 a.m. I’m at Sports and Fitness Edge 10 minutes into my workout and the fire alarm goes off. WTF. Here is what I observed about crowd behavior in a potential emergency:

1. Lots of questioning if we really have to evacuate.

2. Lots of rolling eyes about going the motions of emergency procedures.

3. Lots of murmured regrets about not going to locker room first to retrieve one’s belongings.

Once outside, everyone huddled near the front door, which is frankly not the place to be if the building really is in danger. When I overheard the staff saying the fire department has to clear the building before we could be let in, I decided to go for a run. I was supposed to be doing cross-training, but if we’re going to standing outside, I may as well keep moving and get in some exercise. Thankfully, it’s sunny and 40 degrees out and I had on long-sleeved shirt.

Afterward my workout, I struck up a conversation with an elderly man who had been a firefighter for 25 years, and he was interested to know how the evacuation went. He told me that he’s traveled all over Europe and everywhere he goes he visits a local fire department. When he asked me how my running is going I told him I felt more tired than I should. “Wait till you’re 80!” he told me. Point taken.

Sleep. Eat. Run. Repeat.

I'm trying to get back on the rails after last week. The action plan is focused and simple, and so far so good.

Monday: rest day
Monday night: 8 hours of sleep
Tuesday: ran 4 miles
Tuesday night: baked chicken, green salad

Fingers crossed, the rest of the week might continue to go this well.