I can do it!
At some point during today's run I realized that I can finish a marathon. I felt good for 15 miles, and I'm pretty sure I could have run another 11.2 if I needed to. Now I'm only nervous about getting injured. If I can stay healthy, I'm confident I can finish the marathon. Comfortably.
(That's not to say that I didn't feel it. My legs are sore, and I'm sure they'll be worse tomorrow. But I finished with more left in the tank, and I felt pretty good about that.)
Now that I have some newfound freedom with the Forerunner, I decided to run a route I've always wanted to run: the path along the West Side Highway. Because I had to work today, I got up early to do this run. (Of course, this was after getting back late from Boston.) I was in the city about 6:30. I found parking, and walked to the west side. I could see the highway, but I couldn't figure out how to get across it. I even contemplated running across both sides of this major highway. It's funny that even if you're about to run 15 miles, the thought of having to walk 10 blocks to cross a highway is still pretty annoying. Anyway, I finally figured it out without having to go too far.
I wasn't sure how long the track goes downtown, so I figured I'd kill a few miles going up towards the George Washington Bridge. So from 96th, I ran up to 125th where it seemed to end (or take a break), and then started heading south. I kept going and going and was amazed how far I was going. I basically went all the way to Battery Park City, running a good portion of the west side of Manhattan. I turned around, and run back into the 70's somewhere, and walked the rest of the way back to the car. It was really a great run. (Sorry to the non-New Yorkers for all the detail, but it really was great! See the map.)
Unfortunately I had to go straight to work after this. (Well, I did shower first at a friend's apartment in the city.) I am very curious to inspect the Forerunner data. I remembered there were some miles that seemed too quick, and now looking at the numbers on the watch, I can see my fastest mile was 4:43. That's obviously ridiculous. I think I started in the low 10's and then ended up in the mid 9's. Because I was suspicious of the distance, I ran an extra 0.5 miles to end up at 15.5. Now that I mapped it out on Gmaps I get 14.2 miles for the route I ran. However, that's using a very straight path, without taking into account all the curves and detours in the path. So I'm hoping that at the end of the day, I ran 15 miles.
(I'm scheduled for 18 next week. I'll probably go back to Central Park where I know the loop is 6 miles, and plan to run it three times.)
So the Forerunner isn't perfect. But it was helpful to have it along today. When I get home (tomorrow) I'll look at the maps and see how it tracked my route. I'll also do some reading on whether there's anything I can tweak to make it better. (It could just be that some parts of Manhattan are a problem. My car's GPS also doesn't work in the middle of the city.)
So Garmin maps tomorrow. Gmaps for today.
(That's not to say that I didn't feel it. My legs are sore, and I'm sure they'll be worse tomorrow. But I finished with more left in the tank, and I felt pretty good about that.)
Now that I have some newfound freedom with the Forerunner, I decided to run a route I've always wanted to run: the path along the West Side Highway. Because I had to work today, I got up early to do this run. (Of course, this was after getting back late from Boston.) I was in the city about 6:30. I found parking, and walked to the west side. I could see the highway, but I couldn't figure out how to get across it. I even contemplated running across both sides of this major highway. It's funny that even if you're about to run 15 miles, the thought of having to walk 10 blocks to cross a highway is still pretty annoying. Anyway, I finally figured it out without having to go too far.
I wasn't sure how long the track goes downtown, so I figured I'd kill a few miles going up towards the George Washington Bridge. So from 96th, I ran up to 125th where it seemed to end (or take a break), and then started heading south. I kept going and going and was amazed how far I was going. I basically went all the way to Battery Park City, running a good portion of the west side of Manhattan. I turned around, and run back into the 70's somewhere, and walked the rest of the way back to the car. It was really a great run. (Sorry to the non-New Yorkers for all the detail, but it really was great! See the map.)
Unfortunately I had to go straight to work after this. (Well, I did shower first at a friend's apartment in the city.) I am very curious to inspect the Forerunner data. I remembered there were some miles that seemed too quick, and now looking at the numbers on the watch, I can see my fastest mile was 4:43. That's obviously ridiculous. I think I started in the low 10's and then ended up in the mid 9's. Because I was suspicious of the distance, I ran an extra 0.5 miles to end up at 15.5. Now that I mapped it out on Gmaps I get 14.2 miles for the route I ran. However, that's using a very straight path, without taking into account all the curves and detours in the path. So I'm hoping that at the end of the day, I ran 15 miles.
(I'm scheduled for 18 next week. I'll probably go back to Central Park where I know the loop is 6 miles, and plan to run it three times.)
So the Forerunner isn't perfect. But it was helpful to have it along today. When I get home (tomorrow) I'll look at the maps and see how it tracked my route. I'll also do some reading on whether there's anything I can tweak to make it better. (It could just be that some parts of Manhattan are a problem. My car's GPS also doesn't work in the middle of the city.)
So Garmin maps tomorrow. Gmaps for today.
posted by Danny on Sunday, September 25, 2005
3 Comments:
i cracked up when i read your comment - "oh, ya, i ran 15 but i coulda ran 11 more, ya, so like i was saying, i ran here and here..." i LOVE THAT cause who would write that but a marathon bounder???
nice run. everyone loves forerunners. must get one. but first, a watch.
Congrats on the great run! I've found really cloudy days (like today) and paths with a lot of trees can cause my Forerunner to say some CRAZY things! I don't know how it adjusts itself but it will make one mile really long and then shorten the next one. I think the overall avg usually ends up being OK. I'm having a lot of trouble getting my computer to recognize it, have you?
Thanks guys. I love getting the positive feedback here. My "real" friends think I'm crazy.
Rae, I had trouble at first. Since I have a USB enabled Garmin in my car, it kept checking for a GPS unit connected via USB. I can't remember how I got it to recognize the serial port connection. (I remember trying to use "device manager" to install the port, but I think it started to work when I rebooted.)
If you're having similar problems, email me, and I'll see if I can figure it out. (Or you can check the comments on one of my recent posts. Flatman posted a link to the Garmin group on yahoo.)
Post a Comment
<< Home