running for my life

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...

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....