Category: Gear

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Gearing up for a muddy run

Do you know how many times I’ve Googled “what to wear to a mud run?” this week? It’s not even funny how many. I did it at school. At work during my Weight Watchers lunch break. At home in the evening. Even this morning.

You know what I found? Little to nothing. Lots of reviews. Nothing tell me what I should wear outside of “not something you love because it will likely be stained.” Well, yes. I figured as much.

The shoes, above, were easy.

That specific pair of Nike Equalon’s have been sitting in my garage for more than a year. I wore them during the Brazen Mount Diablo 10K in March 2011 because it was a wet, rainy day, which kind of turned it into a mud run in itself. I actually lost one of the shoes in a ravine and had to chase after it for a good while.

I had phased this pair out four weeks before. The week after I was running my first half marathon. So they were essentially “retired” when I last wore them. And they are still covered in mud. Perfect, I figure. No problem on the shoes. (Though I do need to track down some innersoles for them since I don’t want to wear my nice ones.)

But what else?

I asked my running club this week. I was told a sports bra and “booty shorts.” Ha. I couldn’t pull that look off it I tried on one of my skinniest days. I did enjoy the conversation that ensued on Facebook with the club, though.

I started going through my clothes last week and suddenly realized I faced a challenge: I had nothing to wear.

Why? Because here’s the point in which I sound pretentious. I have nice running clothes. After the first 10 months I ran in cotton, I decided to invest in some seriously nice clothes. Now my cheapest pair of capris is a $55 pair of Nike Relay pants. My most expensive? Lululemon Run: In the Sun capris.

So I stopped by Target (I love Target. I hate how you can walk in there for one thing and leave with 10, but I love the low prices and good quality) and picked up some new, inexpensive clothes, which can be used again if I can get the mud out.

A new Champion shirt for $15. I’m 100 percent sure I can wear this again too because it’s black and the material is slicker than most shirts. I don’t think it was absorb any of the mud/dirt.

And some colorful shorts. These were a steal for $10. I wanted something, anything with color. The best part is these are reversible. So the blue will likely get destroyed, but the black side will be good for gardening and other housework I usually do now in my Nike running shorts. So, really, I can wear both of these things again for the money.

I’m wearing a pair of my Nike socks too, but only because they have holes in the big toes and I’m about ready to throw them away. Too bad too, because they are still good, but I can’t exactly fix the hole. I tried on another pair and the seam just rubbed my toes the wrong way.

I actually decided to wear a pair of compression shorts underneath the blue shorts too. I’m hoping it prevents mud from getting up in places I don’t want it.

Even better, this week I got a new special edition of Runner’s World Magazine.

And, if you look closely, you can see why I was more than a little excited.

The magazine had a really good article about how mud runs are growing in popularity. Want proof? The one I’m running in today launches 300 runners every 15 minutes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. My way isn’t until 2:15 p.m., which is why I’m sitting at home writing a blog post instead of out running. I did do four easy on the treadmill this morning just to warm my legs up.

And I figured it would be OK to run because this afternoon is more endurance, slow run and fun than it is a real run. (Is that bad to say? Mud runs aren’t runs? I don’t know yet. I haven’t done one. This is my first today.)

I finally had a chance to read it and loved the little primer on mud runs and how to prepare.

This has basically answered many of the questions I’ve had about what to expect and what the experience will be like. This is why I love Runner’s World. I swear, the magazine is great for both experienced and new runners. And it seems to answer my questions before I even know I have them.

So what else am I taking to the mud run? Nothing. Maybe some cash, but otherwise absolutely nothing. Not even my phone. (I literally just got a new phone two days ago because my Android X decided to finally cut out on me. What did I get? An iPhone 4S. I’m a big girl now, really.)

Because the mud run is midday for me, I decided just to throw on my clothes after my four mile run and shower this morning.

Look! I have bathroom vanity doors again! To be fair, I’ve always had them. I finally decided to finish them. Half hearted, because they didn’t turn out as well as I want, but still. And that’s my dog Beau. He likes to photobomb. It’s how he rolls. Even better, this photo doesn’t show the tire in my abdomen I’ve been carrying around for the past couple months.

I’m also planning on wearing contacts and slathering on the sun screen.

My husband asked me why I was wearing black, particularly because for the first time this season it’s supposed to hit 90 degrees in the valley. I wouldn’t be so upset about the heat if we had actually had a winter. We didn’t, for real. I had about 10 days where I had to wear my Nike thermal compression shirts underneath my clothes, but that’s it.

We didn’t even have a lot of rain until a couple weeks ago. So summer temperatures this early? Not cool.

I’m hoping the mud isn’t too warm today.

But I’m outfitted for this run. Am I ready? Maybe not.

I mentioned that last night and was told that I’m making other people nervous. But really, I don’t know what to expect. Besides mud. I expect mud. But what else? Can I really climb a wall? Can I handle the monkey bars? Will my thumb continue to be a problem?

I only have a couple hours before I find out. The clock is ticking…

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Rockin’ through Pasadena: Part I

My car breaking down on Thursday should have been the first indication that things for our quick overnight trip to Pasadena weren’t going to go as planned.

At 70 miles per hour, my throttle body went out. I drove it to the dealership. The damage? $1,650. Even worse, I don’t get it back until sometime Wednesday or Thursday of this week because of the long holiday.

I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a repeat of last year when it was gone for two weeks. Still crossing my fingers on that one.

In any case, our plans for me to drive changed fairly quickly. Sam, last year, mentioned wanting to do more of the Rock ‘n’ Roll runs because they reward runners with some awesome swag if you do more than one. (Heavy medals anyone?)

So we signed up for Pasadena, the first California Rock ‘n’ Roll Half during 2012. It was also an inaugural event for the series.

We knew it was going to be a quick trip, basically there and back all within a less than 48-hour period. But it turned out to be a bit more strange than we were anticipating.

We left at 9:30 a.m. from Tracy and headed down Interstate 5 toward Pasadena. The trip was, basically, uneventful. Except there were a lot of idiots who didn’t feel the need to move over when they weren’t going the speed limit in the fast lane. Of note: I was tired. I ended up working an 11.5 hour day because my car broke down and I needed to take it to the dealership Friday morning. More on that later.

We stopped and ate in Buttonwillow, about 20 minutes from the beginning of the Grapevine, the stretch of Interstate 5 that weaves into the Los Angeles basin.

There was never a point where we weren’t going to make it before 5 p.m. but I think we kind of rushed down hoping for an expo to the degree of the San Jose one last October. That wasn’t what we came to.

The front of the pickup line was empty.

Sam and I had little trouble walking up to get our numbers. Next came the shirt booth.

The shirts for this half were actually fitted. Much better than last time in San Jose when Sam and I both got medium sized shirts only to have them basically be dresses on both of us. I opted for a Brooks large, which gives me a little extra room. This shirt has a nice back/front design. The front is above.

This is the back:

We also got our swag bags which serve as gear-check bags too. The Rock ‘n’ Roll series and the San Francisco Marathon, where I did the second half last year, are the only other races that I’ve been given a gear-check bag that’s actually a decent reusable bag. Nike gave me a heavy plastic bag, but not the same quality.

It’s good because I didn’t bring something for bag check and we ended up actually using it since we were there alone, without anyone picking us up.

We made our way through the Brooks area where they sale merchandise. I ended up buying a shirt.

Then we checked out the booths. There weren’t many. We did get some awesome samples of organic cake. That was a plus. We got some Snicker Marathon bar samples too.

It was a beautiful day outside the expo.

And inside we got to see the beautiful medal we’d be getting after finishing.

But there wasn’t much there. We did get $15 off for signing up for the Oct. 7 Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose half marathon. We also got a free shirt for the inaugural Pasadena event since they didn’t have any San Jose shirts. Had I of know we’d be scoring those awesome shirts, I probably wouldn’t have bought another one. A day later and I’m wearing the teal-colored T-shirt at home.

After only 45 minutes, we were done. I don’t even think I spent that little time at my first half marathon expo.

We did score a pair each of CEP compression sleeves. Sam opted for black for her first pair ever. I went a little wild with pink.

They look at little something like this:

I actually wore them during the race and they were incredibly comfortable. And I love the color.

So we headed to our hotel, which was a Travelodge on a main street through Pasadena. It was quaint, and OK for the price we paid. But we had a problem: We had about five hours to kill and nothing to do.

Sam started looking at places we could potentially go. We ended up heading to the Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles. Sam needed a water bottle. Despite our best efforts, we didn’t find out. We did find shoes. Lots of shoes. Well, only one pair for me, but lots of shoes for her.

She ended up with four pairs on an amazing sale. And then we decided we needed food. I had a bit of a headache. We opted for a restaurant literally right down the street from the place we were staying. We should have tried something else.

To say it was the worst experience I’ve had eating out might be an understatement. We waited nearly an hour between the time we sat down and the time we ate.

I didn’t tip. The waiter refused to even acknowledge us most the night. (Did I mention we had some crazy experienced on the 110 freeway in Pasadena? Wow, it was nuts. We saw two nearly overturned cars in two places this weekend. Seriously, it was amazing.)

We then headed back to the hotel to settle down. Sam seemed to fall asleep immediately. Not me.

About an hour after I went to bed and I still wasn’t asleep someone checked into the room above us. It must have been a group with girls. They laughed for hours until they went to bed. I couldn’t sleep. I turned on the fan on the window cooler for white noise. Still no sleep.

I finally got t sleep only to awake twice in the night.

I knew when I finally woke up for good at 4:53 a.m. that I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. We had to be at the Rose Bowl before 6:30 to be assured a parking space (which we paid $10 for). It was dark. We looked for a Walgreens too. Nothing.

When we finally made our way to the Rose Bowl it actually wasn’t a bad parking arrangement. We got in and out of the car pretty quickly.

And we had an hour or so to go before race time. Good thing, too, because my stomach was feeling a little bad.

I should have known that was a sign of something bad. But I didn’t realize my run would be one of my worst yet.

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Staying warm and being cautious

It’s been a little crazy here with the weather in the past couple days.

I’ve been relegated to the treadmill as of last night and this morning. I don’t mind running in the rain, usually. However, the wind is a little annoying and I woke up this morning with a killer headache.

I went out for a five-mile run around Mountain House on Wednesday with Jennie. And I was cold. Really cold. I’m used to running at night. I tend to warm up a little later than I want, usually at about the end of my shorter runs. But on Wednesday, my body didn’t seem to want to warm up. I got to mile four of the run and was still a little cold.

I was wearing a pair of long Nike tech running tights and my newish Lululemon Run: Your Heart Out long sleeve pullover. I had a short-sleeve Nike Dri-Fit shirt on underneath the long sleeve.

None of the gear had a thermal layer.

I thought a lot about this, especially since I knew there would be bad weather this weekend.

On Wednesday, I also noticed that, despite the headlamp I wear, sometimes people driving ridiculously fast through Mountain House don’t see us. I saw lights before I saw the car on one intersection, but I knew to slow down. We had the right of way in the cross walk, but that never means I should trust that a car will stop.

In many cases they don’t.

So I ventured to my local Fleet Feet store in Stockton with some goals in mind: I needed better layering for the cold and I needed to find something to make me more visible to cars, other people, etc.

The worker at the store directed me to some standard Nike pants, but the first thing he grabbed was a pair of Mizuno Breath Thermo tights. I was looking around a little more. The store had all jackets on sale for the rain, but I have a couple nice running jackets for rainy conditions.

I came across a beautiful purple Nike pullover with a weave design on it. The worker came over and told me that was an excellent choice, especially considering the Nike pullover was made of wool. Wool is a natural insulator. It’s incredibly thin, but really warm. I’m wearing it right now as I type this, if only because it is really, really comfortable.

I bought a size medium, which will be great for runs because I like my clothes skin tight as to not get in my way.

Plus, did I mention it’s gorgeous? The purple is beautiful.

Here are product screen shots from online retailers. I wore the pants on my treadmill run this morning because my legs were feeling a little fatigued. The Mizuno Breath Thermo material responds to sweat (does that sound gross? Maybe a little?) and warm in return. By the end of my five-mile run my legs were feeling rather toasty.

I think these will be a nice combination when I run a trail 10K next week in Fremont. I’m hoping, though, that I get an outdoor run or two next week in Mountain House as well.

So warmth was taken care of. I nearly forgot about the safety aspect of my visit until I saw a gift basket behind the worker who was cashing me out. In it was a pair of Brooks Nightlife Arm and Leg Bands.

I hate that when people take pictures of florescent items, they always seem to leave a little something to be desired. These bands are bright. The reflective tape is awesome. I’m really looking forward to trying them out.

As I was trying to finish the one purchase, the worker asked me if I’d seen the flashing strobe lights they had for runners to. I hadn’t. He brought one over. For $7 it was a steal, so I picked one of those up too.

The regular lighted mode is really bright. But the strobes will make people notice us more as we run. I shot a quick video of the strobe types, which didn’t exactly show up very well, but you get the idea. (And I apologize for the background sound, I was watching an episode of Cheers on Netflix. Don’t ask me why, I just decided to turn it on.)

So now I’m cold weather and safety ready. I’m excited for more bad weather runs, just not the wind-prone type.

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Meet me Monday: Gear freak

I’m one to trade one vice for another. This happens more than I’d like. And I’m not talking about bad vices.

I don’t smoke. I rarely drink. I’m not into drugs or anything like that.

Instead, I have a huge 13 by 9-foot walk in closet and more clothes than I need to fill it.

At the beginning of 2011, I was still relatively new to running. (To be fair, I still am. I’ve only been running regularly for two years.) But the biggest difference between now and then, outside of the fact I need to shed a couple of pounds, is  that I’m a lot more knowledgeable about the clothes I should be running in.

My greatest lesson? Cotton is bad. Very, very bad.

Except, in my case, if it’s Nike Dri-Fit Cotton t-shirts. I love those. I have a ton of those. They are really comfortable. I rarely worry about arm chafing. (I have fat little arms.)

Tangents aside, I’ve become a bit of a gear freak. I’m obsessed with trying new things out. I started out buying all Nike gear. My first running pants were Nike tech tights. I’ve realized I’m most comfortable running in tech capris.

I’m not a fan of tank tops.

My favorite socks are of the Nike Dri-Fit variety. Finding what I like to run in and what I’m most comfortable going the distance took some trial and error.

Over the summer I experimented with shorts (gasp!!!). If you knew me, you’d know I’m not big on shorts. But we had a rather warm summer. So I grabbed a pair of Nike running shorts at my local Fleet Feet store in Stockton.

Lately, though, I’ve been trying to be smarter about my gear. I notice a couple things in my pursuit.

I like items that can be multi-use. And I’d rather spent some money to find something great than buy cheap item after cheap item hoping that the shorts/shirt/socks will last until I can buy the next.

That brings me to some of my most recent purchases. Before the California International Marathon, I picked up a Nike thermal black long-sleeve to wear during the VERY cold morning run. It was cold enough for me to wear it for the first half of the marathon.

I love it. I’ve worn it as a base layer for long runs.

But I only had the option of buying it in black. This weekend, I found a pink one. It’s bright. Great for night running. The good news is that during the three months I’ve had the other one, the fleece inner (yes, warmth, yay!) hasn’t pilled at all.

I’ve also discovered Lululemon.

See the cute little pin stripes? They are the run: Speed short.

They aren’t adorable detail, even though they are. They are incredibly reflective in the dark when any sort of light hits them. I found a recommendation for these on a blog. Again on my quest to find items that are more reflective at night. I actually wore these while running the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay in November.

I love them, but the length seems a little short on me. I still wear them, usually with another layer underneath.

Then I discovered the run: Turbo short.

These are a little longer. The pair pictured above are a special edition pair. The reflective detail is a ruffle. They aren’t all that special compared to a regular pair (to account for the more than $10 pay bump), but they are cute nonetheless.

I’ve ordered some more things from Lululemon lately. I even now own of the company’s gym essential bags. I’m planning to review that at some point here too.

In any case, I’m a gear freak. I feel kind of like a test dummy. I have some items that have worked. Others haven’t.

So I am still feeling my way a little bit. And it’s kind of burning  a hole in my wallet. Just a little.

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A runner’s Christmas

I’m posting this five days later than I wanted to. That’s mainly because I’m tired. I’ve been swamped at work most of the week. And I have a 10K tomorrow morning I’ve been thinking about a little too much. (As in, am I ready for a 10K less than 30 days after a marathon? I’m crazy.)

Christmas was awesome, though.

Consider my presents started collecting earlier in the month with these beauties:

No, not running shoes. I do need a new pair of those, but that will have to wait. These are bicycle shoes. Score one that they match the bike. Score two that now I can clip in and get going.

I also got a wonderful trainer for the bicycle from my husband.

I didn’t think I needed this. I do. My butt hurts nearly immediately when I start riding. I can’t go for more than a couple minutes. This baby will be my cross-training device starting next week. Running every other day with an alternating swimming + biking day here and there. To accomplish this, I’m going to need a cadence sensor for the bicycle too.

My husband got it together for me and got it mounted. I think he may have enjoyed it too. Just a little.

And now I’m ready to go. This is good for several reasons.

I’m having a hard time getting going on the bicycle. I’m blaming fatigue and the fact that I’ve been overindulging on EVERYTHING food related lately. Why? I’m in a slump. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of things I’m not happy with about my life/professional/personal situations right now.

I’m making an effort to change those things in 2012.

I also am still experiencing some fear when it comes to the bicycle. It’s fast. Ridiculously fast. I’m scared of it. There, I said it.

So while I’m making changes to my life in 2012, I’m hoping to also be less afraid of my bicycle.

Maybe it I name it, we’ll develop a greater kinship? That helped with the uber-intimidating Garmin, who is now Gertrude II or Gert-II.

We’ll see.

I’m going through a bit of a frustrating patch with an injury from shooting video as well. I’m planning to blog more about that soon. I just don’t want to rehash it because it’s really bothering me. It’s a tendon strain in my right thumb. It hurts. A lot. I can’t even begin to describe how much pain something so small can be to someone.

Which brings me to another one of my favorite gifts:

Oh yeah, I’m a 27-year-old woman who got Legos from her husband and parents for Christmas. Why? Playing with them helps me increase dexterity in my bad thumb.

I don’t care if when I get better they won’t be nearly as useful. Legos are awesome.

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I (heart) sweat

I’ve done some Christmas shopping for myself in addition to others this year. Why? Because not everyone understands my love of the sport. I didn’t want to make a “running wish list,” though I’ve had one for awhile.

So I’ve been dropping hints for myself lately and picking up some much wanted items.

One came today.

I read a great blog called Ali on the Run. The author is based in New York City and has Crohn’s disease. She ran a marathon earlier this year and raised money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America while working toward her 26.2. She ended up raising more than $20,000.

Now I’m really bad at fundraising. I remember the typical elementary school walk-a-thon. I only asked my parents, grandparents, etc. And I raised just enough to earn a T-shirt. (Wooooo!)

Ali is impressive because she had a great idea. Insert shirt above.

She came up with the “I (heart) sweat” shirts. I started seeing them all over running blogs. I wanted one.

But they were nowhere to be found. I even Googled “I (heart) sweat” to track one down. I saw some generic knock offs of the shirt, but they definitely weren’t the Ali versions. AND, none of them were benefiting her awesome cause.

I got lucky then when I saw her blog mentioning she had more shirts. The post was several hours old. I saw comments that said “you’re already sold out!” and quickly went to the T-shirt website.

The site was out of a lot of colors. But they had a long-sleeve version in rouge red.

Score!

And she still had some larges in the Brooks shirt left.

It came today, like promised, before Christmas.

It’s actually the same feathered red color as my Brooks “Run Happy” shirt.

It came with a cute little “I (heart) sweat” label on the package too.

I’m excited to wear it for one of my next runs. It’s been cold here. Not as cold as the on the East Coast or anything, but it’s cold enough that I can see my breath more than 30 minutes into a run.

So I’ve been layering. And this is the perfect addition to my now many layers.

The shirt is pretty cool, if I can say so. I’m glad I locked one in before they all sold out.

 

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Meet me Monday: It doesn’t define me, but it’s a big part

One of the first questions I get asked after a weekend is how long my long run was this weekend. I got to answer “twenty” today, which made me feel pretty good.

But, sometimes, I think people see me as one-dimensional. I’m getting a lot of “really?” looks since I told people I’m swimming now. I got some eye squints when I bought a road bike (which I’m hoping to finally take on a longer ride this weekend, finally).

In fact, the title of this blog sums up how I’m introduced now more than ever. “This is Tara, she’s blah, blah, blah…and she runs.”

One-day after my twenty miler, I’m not feeling any bit extra powerful. Just happy to have made it. Happy to, potentially, be doing it again this weekend with Jennie.

I’m also a little sore, which is cause for the wearing of compression sleeves under my jeans today. (Yes, I wear jeans to work. Yes, we have a dress code. Yes, I can make jeans professional. I actually spend time crawling around on the ground for video. I once ripped an awesome pair of slacks. I also once split a pair of jeans shooting video, so I have a tendency to tear apart my clothes pretty good.)

But, especially with marathon training, it’s easy to forget all the other things in my life. I do it. So do others.

And that’s OK. Sort of. Until I start forgetting things like turning in my Flex contract for school (which could have cost me $350) or a conference call, or a video assignment, etc.

I’m dubbing it “runner’s brain.”

It kind of makes you think running is the only thing in the world. That’s not to say that’s bad. There’s just more too me than that.

 

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New swag

I got a new shirt in the mail yesterday. It came to my parent’s house in Stockton, so I went and picked it up. I bought it from another runner who has a clothing site.

And I love it. I’m not sure if it’s because it literally took two months to get so I’ve been patiently waiting or because it’s unique and made specifically for me. But I love it.

When I took it out of the package I didn’t think it would fit. But I put it on and it’s awesome! I’m so excited to get to wear it at some point in the next week for a run. Probably not for the half marathon, but definitely for another run next week.

Speaking of running, I’ve been taking a couple days off. I ran the Nike Women’s Half Marathon last Sunday. I’m running another half marathon this Sunday. I’m trying not to burn out. So I’ve only done swimming for the past three days. Tonight the swim instructor worked me hard. I’m tired.

Of note: I also came home to a second orange long-sleeved running shirt from the San Francisco Marathon. I love the one I got at my half on July 31 so much that when I saw they were only charging $15 for another one, I ordered. That makes only two races I’ve scored second shirts at. I have a second one from Oakland too because I love that one so much too.

And I’m waiting for another shirt from Saucony as well. I probably don’t need a ton of running clothes anymore, but I love getting new running swag to sport. It gets me excited for the next run. Hopefully that’s a recovery 5-miler in between my two jobs on Friday.

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My Monday night date

The last two weeks I’ve woken up to a very stiff right ankle/heel.

After my Achilles pull earlier this year, I’m trying not to put too much pressure on that leg. I’m giving it the rest it needs whenever I can. I’m taking rest days. But the pain is still there from time to time. When it is, I have to roll it out.

I spent a good deal of time rolling it out for the first four weeks after my injury in mid-August. I’m realizing I need some more stretching, though, as of late.

I took Monday night off my run. My Sunday/Monday running days are my only back to back ones. So if I do an extra long run on Sunday, such as my 15-miler, I am giving myself the option of taking Monday off. So I did.

It’s good I did. I noticed some gnarly bruising on my legs tonight. It’s from all the rolling I’m doing on my legs lately. It also proves to me that I need to setup a massage some time soon to help work those muscles out a little more.

So I pulled out my rollers again tonight, specifically the Trigger Point Foot and Lower Leg kit. (Mine only came with one ball, though.)

Here’s a better closeup:

I’m spending a lot of time trying to make my legs less tight. I up my mileage and my body has moments of rebellion where it basically says “really, we’re doing this again?” Yes, yes we are.

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Meet me Monday: Gertrude the Garmin

When I purchased my Garmin 405CX right before my first half marathon, I was more intent on using it then really getting to know it.

I took it out on an “inaugural run” and then didn’t load it up again and locate satellites until I was standing on Broadway waiting for the Oakland Running Festival Half Marathon to begin.

I was already nervous at that start. It was my first half marathon after all. I had only been training for one for three months. I had only done one 10 mile run. I didn’t think I’d finish. (And there was that point at mile 10 where I nearly fell apart and felt as if I was going to have to wait for someone to come save me).

At the start a woman was also booting up. She had a 310. I watched her because I was a Garmin newbie. And I had looked at the 310 model but decided it wasn’t the right one for me.

“What’s its name?” she asked.

“It’s a 405CX,” I responded.

“No, what’s its name?” she said back.

“It doesn’t have one,” I said.

“Is it new?” she said as she watched me fidget with it trying to make sure it didn’t go out of “training mode” before I needed to hit “start.”

“Yes,” I said.

“You need to give it a name,” she said back. “Everyone does. This is Speedy.”

I never really thought of it. The Garmin needed a name. I went for three months without giving it one. I couldn’t think of one.

Buddy? No, to predictable. Chelsea? No. Bridget? Ha. No. Gina? Gem? Gemela? Greg?

I decided on Gertrude. Gertrude the Garmin.

Why Gertrude? I figure if I’m going to have something beeping at me and telling me to run faster and prodding me along, it better be an older woman who can still manage to finish half marathons faster than me. That’s how I imagine my “Gertrude” looking. It’s fitting, I think. And Gertrude is kind of a motivator too. She’s a constant companion, always faithful. Kind of like I envision my grandmothers, actually (neither of which is named Gertrude).

So Gertrude it is. And she’s a big part of who I am when I run.

She’s also one of the only things I own that I constantly keep track of. The Garmin is on my desk with the ANT+ stick ready for every upload.