Forerunner 610

I finally got my new Garmin Forerunner 610 this past weekend, but it took me until yesterday to try it out.  It's very, very, very cool. 

I left the house about 6:45am just hoping to run a mile or so with my new Garmin to see how it works.  I knew it would be easier if I wasn't distracted by the girls.  (Mistake #1 - leaving the house without water because I didn't think I'd be gone very long)  I asked my husband to turn the porch light on if Little Miss Spitfire woke up.  That would be my cue to stop running, cool down and go home. 

As it turns out, there is a half mile loop right in front of my house.  I didn't know that until the Garmin told me.  So I basically ran "laps" while I fiddled with the Garmin.  I was also using my Nike+ for comparison and my HR monitor.  Gadgets galore.  No water. 

The porch light never came on, so after 4.1 miles I stopped.  I think I might have been fine without water except that (a) I hadn't really had any water yet and (b) I was having so much fun watching my pace and picking up my speed that I averaged and 8:31 mile and got faster with each mile. 

Here's what the Garmin summary read:
Lap 1: 8:41
Lap 2: 8:38
Lap 3: 8:26
Lap 4: 8:22
Lap 5: 0:53

This brings us to Mistake #2:  Running too fast for me.  I usually run somewhere between a 9 and 10 minute mile on general runs.  I'm very comfortable at that pace. 

As for the comparison between my Nike+ and the Garmin, the Nike+ (which often tells me that it has a weak GPS signal) was off by 0.05 miles (less) on every mile.  If you do the math, then it was off by about 0.2 miles by the time I finished.  And that means . . . I may have been running farther than I thought.

I felt awful when I got home.  I blamed it on the run, but then I began to wonder if I was coming down with something.  As it turns out, yes, I am.  Mastitis.  Fun stuff.  Not really.  I'm somewhat astonished that after 50 consecutive months of breastfeeding I'm just now getting mastitis?!  But I'm digressing...

I went for another run today but I (a) took my small 10oz hand held water bottle and (b) averaged 9:36 per mile.  I also ran different routes that kept taking me back by my house since I had the same arrangement about the porch light this morning.  You'd think he could just text me but we're old school or something. 

Today's summary:
Lap 1:  9:45
Lap 2:  9:22
Lap 3:  9:51
Lap 4:  9:31
Lap 5:  0:55

I felt much better after this run despite the infection still bugging me.  I don't know everything that my new Garmin will do.  I'm hoping to figure out how to do some speed drills with it.  You know, with all that spare time I have to figure things out.  So maybe by the end of summer.