Happy MLK Day, everyone. Gotta love a three-day weekend.
As I so excitedly announced last night, I was thrilled to return from L.A. to receive a wonderful present from ABS: a Garmin Forerunner 110.
I couldn’t wait to test it out today.
ABS and I slept until about 9 am — ’twas glorious — and then I slowly started getting my butt into gear.
The weather in NYC this morning? 20 degrees. Excellent.
I suited up in many layers, starting with my pretty, super-soft new top.
I love buying pretty new workout clothes, though I get sad when I sweat all over them. Sorry, new shirt! You took a beating today…
I wore a jacket on top of that, plus a vest. And finally, my last layer: the Garmin!
The watch fits really comfortably on my wrist. I couldn’t even tell I was wearing it. It’s lightweight and a good size.
Setting it up was simple, and it found a satellite as soon as I walked outside. Awesome!
The run itself, however, was not so fun, to be honest.
My legs felt like lead.
My left foot was so cold that my toes started to go numb.
I felt like I was exerting way too much effort than I should have been.
And yet, my new friend Garmin told me I was running a somewhat consistent pace hovering around 8:15 and 8:30. Not bad!
I ended up running 7.25 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes.
The only thing that I didn’t like about the Garmin was that while I was running to and from Central Park, I always have to stop at a million traffic lights. Normally that doesn’t bother me, but today I got discouraged watching the stopping affect my pace. According to the watch, my last mile (running home) was done at an average 10:30 pace.
Moving forward I’ll probably just wait until I get to the park to start the watch and then add on the 2.5 miles for distance once I’m done.
Overall, I’m very happy with my wonderful gift and I’m so excited to use it.
Since today was my first run with the watch, I felt like I wanted to make it proud. Does that make me a huge loser? I didn’t want to disappoint the watch by stopping too often to stretch or letting my pace slack. Hehe. Running dork? Absolutely.
Now it’s time to enjoy a very rare treat: a day off that ABS and I actually get to spend together!
We’re going to go get some lunch, then go to the movies, followed by a J.Crew pit stop and a major Whole Foods trip. Great day ahead!
TELL ME: Do you use a running watch? Why or why not? Are you most concerned about your pace, distance or heart rate?
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You are very adorable. I was being a dork as well and looking for random people’s accounts of their first Garmin run and came across your blog. The reason for me doing this is because I ordered my first Garmin watch today and will get it in 2 to 3 days. Never thought of making my watch proud; It sounds a little intimidating haha. Anyway, I am stoked for my first Garmin run this week,
I just got a Garmin 305 and cant wait to run on sunday which will be 12 miles. So really looking forward to the seeing the stats. What made you choose the 405 I heard their are lots of problems with it and the 305 is better?
My watch is the 110 actually, not the 405. I didn’t choose it myself — it was a gift — but I absolutely love it.
i bought a forerunner 110 during my training for my first half marathon (in a couple of weeks). absolutely love the 110. you’ll enjoy it.
i only hit one traffic light during most of my runs. i just stop and then start the monitor (instead of suffering as the time ticks away).
I love my Garmin 305 and feel kinda lost without it when I run inside. I also have the Auto-Pause feature and I am guessing you probably have it too, I feel less guilty using this when I stop at the lights 🙂 Enjoy the new watch!!
Glad you had fun with your Garmin! I don’t know about the 110, but mine has a pause feature that can be set to stop when you stop moving. Maybe yours has it, too.
I always wear my Garmin on long runs, but I leave it home on shorter runs if I know the distance. Sometimes the ability to know my pace messes with me and I begin to ignore my breathing and my legs to focus on pace. It was something I had to get used to.
I have the gamin 305. I never wear my heart rate monitor. I mostly focus on pace and distance.
I also have the Garmin 110 and love it! I just got it for Christmas this year. It’s small enough to not be bulky like other Garmins, but works just fine! As for stopping at each street block for lights, did you know you can press stop on the watch (upper right hand button) and it’ll stop the clock from tracking? Then, you can press the start button (same one as stop) when you start running again! That way, it won’t look like your pace was that slow.
Congrats on the new watch! What a great surprise to come home to! I have 305 garmin and probably use about only 10% of the features. All I want to know is my pace and distance. I probably could have gone with the 110 like you have since I never use my heart rate monitor (and the fact that it looks like I have a mini-computer strapped to my wrist…haha).