myPod to the rescue

Garminia flaked out on me again. We were outside when I attempted to arouse her. It was no use. Mark took her inside and left her in my office.

Instead of running with Garminia, myPod came to my rescue. It was a nice change. myPod is different from Garminia in many ways. *She* is entertaining. She doesn’t care for the pace and distance stuff, but she will keep the time if I poke and prod her enough. And so I did just that.

In the middle of a busy workday, it is a blessing to get outside for a while. It is a joy to feel the warm sun shine on my skin and a cool breeze blow on sweaty body. I just love it.

Today run wasn’t the best one for Garminia to wimp out on me. I was supposed to run five miles. My first and last mile were to be run at “easy” pace. The middle three were to be run at 8:00-8:15/mile pace. I started off running down the road towards the edge of the golf course. I couldn’t go wrong with the given undefined “easy.” It felt like I was running about 9:00/mile.

I had a good idea of where my one mile point was. I could nearly hear Garminia’s familiar chirp as the spot approached. I picked up the pace to what felt like 8:00/mile.

I listened to the songs that myPod was singing and though about how badly I needed to add some fresh tunes to my collection. I passed a few girls as I neared my turn around point. YaYa’s sleepy voice said, “Go Mom…you’re almost there.” I certainly wasn’t tired of hearing that “song” – it still makes me smile.

The wind was at my back during the return trip. Although I was pretty sure that I was going just as fast, the effort that I had to put out was less. I didn’t want to over do it again so I settled in at a comfortably hard pace. I ran behind another runner. He kept his pace steady. Every once in a while, when the gap between us was closing in, he would sneak a peek behind him.

Now, I was hearing Tom’s voice, “Come on Julie, you can do it. Dig deep.” There was BoBo and DD’s voices too, but I focused on Tom’s words. I was tiring a bit, but I dug deep to keep my competition within my sights. I sure was looking forward to arriving at the spot marking the return to “easy” pace. Within minutes, I was there. I happily slowed down to resume my “easy” pace.

I stretched, showered, and returned to my desk. A few calculations later and I came up with the conclusion that I hit my pace right on. 42 minutes – 2 miles at 9:00/mile = 3 miles in 24 minutes = 8:00/mile