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Gadgets

Over the years, as I have tried in different ways to loose weight, I have used different gadgets.  A couple of different pedometers, a sensor attached to my shoe that communicated with my smartphone, a few apps on the smartphone to track diet, movement, and so forth, and all to no avail. I am now using fitness/outdoor watch made by a major GPS company.  It tracks my progress on a run, my heart rate (with a chest strap HRM), my vertical oscillation, my pace, my cadence, and allows me to analyze my run afterwards.  It also has a On the company website, they also have a variety of programs that will help you get ready for a specific event (in my case a 10km run on June 10). The gadgets do help, and for me, the more a gadget does the better.  I like being able to see what I've done, I like sharing it with other people, and I like to see summaries like how far I've run this week, or how much weight I've lost this year. All this being said, the gadgets won't force yo...
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Running partner and new shoes

Last weekend I ran on a trail for the first time in 25 years.  My brother-in-law (G) and I decided to do a public trail near my home, and we ran 11.43 km at an average pace of 7:00 (minutes per km).  It was my first run with significant hills, and it was definitely challenging, but I enjoyed it, and I am satisfied with the pace.  I am still significantly overweight (I am 185cm tall and weigh 104.7kg), so I expect that my pace will get better as I lose more weight. I broke my shoes on that run, so I had to buy new shoes.  I bought myself two pairs, a pair of Salomon trail running shoes, and a pair of Asics for the road.  I've run in both now and they are quite comfortable. This morning G and I ran 13km on the road at an average pace of 6:09.  There were some hills involved, but obviously nothing like the trail run last weekend.  G is a good running partner, he pushes me to run faster and with a better technique, but not overtly, just by being there....
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First outdoor run

A few days ago I went for my first outdoor run of the season.  I had been running on a treadmill and the track at the YMCA, but was warned that running outdoors was much more challenging.  I did not find this to be the case.  Running on asphalt is less comfortable than on a treadmill or track, but there is so much more going on.  Treadmills offer nothing to look at except the televisions in front of them, and the indoor track is only slightly more varied.  Outdoors, however, there are birds, trees, creeks, rivers, and fields (I live in an agricultural part of the world).  I usually listen to music when I run indoors, but outdoors I felt no need for it.  So I ran 11.5 km, which took me an hour and a quarter. There were not a lot of hills, so I'll have to find more hills to run on.  The race is in hill country, and I don't want to start the race having neglected hill training.
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Why I run

I will be writing about running.  Specifically about my return to running after a 25 year absence. When I was in high-school, I was on the cross-country running team.  I enjoyed it mainly because it was a sport I could do on my own.  In my twenties I stopped running, except sporadically, and I never really got back to it.  Now I am 44, and I've started running again.  In January of this year, I weighed 114 kg (250 lbs).  I am 185 cm (6'1") tall, so that is considerably overweight.  My wife signed me up for a YMCA membership (she's very subtle) and now I weigh 105 kg (231 lbs).  My motivation for now is to loose weight and get back in shape, improve my endurance, get my slightly high cholesterol down to a healthy level, and generally feel good about what I look like, and how I feel. I have signed up for a 10 km run on June 10, and I am using one of Garmin's training plans to get me ready.  A good friend of mine gave me her fenix 2 and thi...
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