Meet Mini and my runniversary!

For the years I have been on Dailymile following runners and hearing all about these watches called Garmins. What the H-E double hockey sticks are they talking about. A Garmin is essentially a GPS watch that tracks your speed, pace, heart rate and so much more! I have heard runners complain about their Garmins, rejoice over how well it worked and question if they were as fast or slow as it told them. When I started training for my first half marathon I thought about purchasing one. However, still unsure if I would even be able to stick to running I decided to not purchase one. I tried to use my iPhone as a GPS, using every single running app out there, but they either didn't record the distance or gave me BIZARRE speeds and distances. Once it told me I was running 5:30min/miles for 26 miles, when I had only run 10 miles at a much slower pace! I got fed up with this and ended up just tracking my own maps and using a stop watch on my iPhone to record time. However, this got annoying because it meant trying to remember every turn I took, and not allowing me any freedom to just run, without knowing the miles.

At first I was nervous to purchase the Garmin. First off I have heard so many stories of them not working and having difficult relationships with them (yes runners have relationships with their GPS devices). This made me scared that what if it didn't work, just like the same way my iPhone fails me every time, I would be back to square one. Finally these suckers aren't cheap! My solution to these problems? It may or may not work, but it will work better then my iPhone, and finally it's my runniversary I deserve a little something special. So, everyone (whoever you are that reads this blog) I want to introduce you to someone new in my life. Her name is Garmina "Mini" W. (yes I named my Garmin, I told you runners have relationships with such electric devices).

That brings me to my next point. This month is my runniversary month. When I think about when I start running I have two dates that count as my runniversary. First is June 2012 when I started running on the TM on a weekly basis building up my miles over three months until crew started. When crew started I was forced to stop running as much. My next runniversary, which is a little more significant in some ways, is in November 2012 when I started training for my first half marathon and since then have been running 3-4 times every week. These two runniversarys are important to me because they are both the longest time I have kept with running, especially the one in November. I still have a hard time calling myselg a runner. I'm not fast, and I don't do it to compete against others. I do it to compete against myself.  However, it's still hard for me to call myself a runner. I'm not fast. But like my favorite quote goes:

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." 
--John Bingham

The first time I ran 4 miles!

All in all, running has brought so much joy into my life and has taught me a lot about myself and my capabilities, both mental and physical. Most importantly running has helped me start to love myself again (cheesy, I know, but the truth).