Saturday, May 26, 2007

'Cause I'm a blonde...

About a month ago I purchased the Nike+ to help keep track of my running and as a motivator while I'm running. I used it for the first time on my run earlier last week (the one where I said I was really awful?). According to the Nike+ (which includes a shoe sensor and a piece that attaches to an Ipod) I ran 1 mile in about 23 minutes. WHAT? I can walk faster than that. I chalked it up to a couple stops I made and that I was going fairly slow since I was still dealing with my allergy issue.

I had been eyeballing this track over at Reed College thinking it would be a nice place to run. Using this nifty website a friend sent me http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/ I mapped the track (it's not a standard track) and it said it was .5 miles. I decided to head over there yesterday to run a couple miles. Once around the track and the Nike+ says I ran/walk .25 miles? Ugh, I thought. Did I map that wrong? This sucks. I run/walk the track again. Another .25 miles. Damn. I'm going to have to run this track 8 freaking times to get two miles! I start running again and press the button that gives you an adhoc status of your distance, total time and pace per miles. "00.00 per mile" the Ipod voice says.

Uh, excuse me? I'm RUNNING! I press it again. "00.00 per mile" ARGH! I start walking and press again. "16.28 per mile" What? I look down at my little shoe sensor (attached to my shoe laces) and it dawns on me. The shoe sensor is on my right foot. The Ipod is on my left arm. It's not consistently making it's wireless connection (we're not talking Bluetooth or anything fancy like that). Lightbulb!

I switch the shoe sensor to my left foot and start running again. "13.8 per mile" (or something like that). Yay!! So around the track again - .5 miles! One more circle of the track and I called it good (after all it was almost 80 degrees and I was sweating like a pig).

When I got home I decided to map my previous run and exactly how long was it? 1.6 miles! Still slow but for a girl who couldn't breathe and hadn't run in 2 months not that bad.

For those concerned about the allergies - it appears with help from my ENT and mom, I now have them under control (drugs, removing the carpet, allergy bedding). According to my allergy test I'm extremely allergic to dust mites and timothy grass (the main grass family in Oregon). Now I have no excuse not to be training hard core!

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Hello! It's your old pal Jennifer from Wireless Knowledge. Michele, thanks for keeping me on your email list. I will send you each a few bucks but I am poor as I just graduated from law school last week with about $100K in loans. That'll teach me to get educated! Now I am studying for the bar exam, which happens in July. I run a few days a week myself, and am still playing hockey. Maybe someday I'll do a 1/2 marathon too. You go girls!

Unknown said...

Good to see your troubleshooting skills are still sharp!