The Running Thread - 2020

[KevM]

A little humor.

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-marathon/2020/04/20/2020-boston-marathon-strog

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Just when you think it's never going to happen again, it happens.

I tripped and fell today.

I was running down at UNG this morning. On the trail section, I got my toe tangled up in a root. I was on the ground before I knew it. Either through instinct or dumb luck, I managed to execute a paratrooper roll. (thanks Dad!) Upon hitting the ground, my first action was to stop the watch, before checking for broken bones, etc. Then I just sat there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out WTH just happened. The shocking thing was that feeling my toe catch and falling seemed simultaneous. This was not one of those comical, arm-waving, 10 step falls. It was BOOM!, you're down.

I assessed the damage and got up. The damage was dirty palms, one nickel-sized strawberry on the side of my knee, and majorly wounded pride. I walked back to the truck, which due to current events is equipped like a field hospital. A little clean-up, full strength hand sanitizer (ouch!), and I decided I was good-to-go. I did another 3 miles to finish the run.

As part of the postmortem, I realized I did 2 things that contributed to the accident. The first was that I did not slow down when I got to the trail. The college is a mix of road/track/trails. I normally slow down on the trail section, but I was feeling good today and did not. The second was that I did not take off my sunglasses. The trail is always shaded and I normally park my sunglasses on my visor. For some reason, I didn't do it today. So going fast+limited vision+obstacles=fall.

This evening my knee is pretty sore. It seems to be from contusion and not sprained/torn/etc., so I'm thinking I live to run another day. Tomorrow is my off day, so I have some time to re-assess the damage and see if I'm really OK.

Keeping it in perspective: if this is the worst that happens to me, I'm good!

 

[garneska]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy i told you pavement or trail does not taste good. You should trust me . Hopefully it’s not too bad in the morning. as for the pride, not much you can do but tuck your tail between your legs. Impressed about the roll, bert keeps telling me I need to tuck and roll. I tend to be like Hulk and smash

 

[FFigawi]

Thanks for mentioning this!! I had done the same, inadvertently to @FFigawi!! I’ve been so confused about where the 2020 and 2021 marathon weekend threads went!!

I'm not sure if I should be offended or not

 

[flav]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy @garneska as I am increasing my speed, I am certainly due for a fall. I fell three times in 2018, all three, flat like a pancake. Like you, it happened so fast that I did not have time to realize I was falling. The last one, I was discussing with a colleague runners when I came back from vacation and told him about Tegaderm. He answered that he had discovered liquid bandage... and that rolling was overrated... while uncovering his shoulder that had a huge strawberry as you called them! From then on, I have embraced my style, and tried to avoid using it!

 

[JulieODC]

I'm not sure if I should be offended or not

Total accident! I don’t even know how to block someone! It actually happened sometime during marathon weekend, because I could no longer see the thread and thought it got deleted!

 

[Waiting2goback]

So while I was out on my run today, I spent some time considering whether I’d ever attempt a longer distance race (I’ve only done 10k to now). It seems like the next logical progression, but I’m not sure I want to...

Perhaps a QOTD? Likely one that’s been asked before, but: For those of you who have done a half or marathon, what was your inspiration or motivation? Or did you always just assume you’d do it? How did you decide to “go the distance”?

I was out of shape and miserable. My ex wife told me she wanted a divorce. I had spent the last several years of our marriage trying to make her happy. I decided I need to get out of my comfort zone and do something for me. I hated running but I loved Disney so I decided i’d sign up for a Disney race as my “get out of my comfort zone idea”. I went with the ToT 10 miler because I didn’t think I could do a 1/2. I did my POT 10k in June of that year and did way better than expected so I did the genius thing of going home and signing up for a full marathon that night. And it was 2 weeks after the ToT race. Needless to say I had no idea what I was doing. I got huge blisters from the ToT race because I wasn’t used to the humidity in FL and they weren’t healed for the full so they got even worse. Thank goodness I didn’t know how crazy any of these plans were at the time because I would have chickened out and missed one of the best 2-3 weeks of my life that October.

 

[Waiting2goback]

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

The new Ghost 12s arrived today. For unexplained reasons, I ordered white. I thought it was off-white, antique-white, oyster-white, or some other not-quite-white. But no, they are white-white.

As @garneska predicted, they will be grey (at best) before long.

Here they are, with Mikey making sure the laces are pulled tight.

 

[garneska]

@OldSlowGoofyGuy i love mikey adding to the pic. I do think the shoes look cool, but yeah no way those are staying that color.

 

[camaker]

The new Ghost 12s arrived today. For unexplained reasons, I ordered white. I thought it was off-white, antique-white, oyster-white, or some other not-quite-white. But no, they are white-white.

As @garneska predicted, they will be grey (at best) before long.

Here they are, with Mikey making sure the laces are pulled tight.

View attachment 490390

It’s a shame you didn’t get those a little earlier in pine pollen season. They’d look great in neon yellow.

 

[Waiting2goback]

The new Ghost 12s arrived today. For unexplained reasons, I ordered white. I thought it was off-white, antique-white, oyster-white, or some other not-quite-white. But no, they are white-white.

As @garneska predicted, they will be grey (at best) before long.

Here they are, with Mikey making sure the laces are pulled tight.

View attachment 490390

I saw these posted somewhere else and I thought they were sharp.


I forgot to ask my watch question earlier. I have been using my wife’s Garmin. I know people rave about their Garmins but so far I hate it. I can’t get any stats on it and despite saying it’s connected to my phone it won’t sync to the app so I can see stats there. I want to buy a tri watch and the Garmin 945 has excellent reviews, and I know John has one. But I’m afraid to spend that money already hating one of their products so far.

Anyone else have a watch they love that I can use for running, swimming, biking, AND sleep monitoring. (I have been sleeping awful. I want to find out just how awful).

 

[FFigawi]

I forgot to ask my watch question earlier. I have been using my wife’s Garmin. I know people rave about their Garmins but so far I hate it. I can’t get any stats on it and despite saying it’s connected to my phone it won’t sync to the app so I can see stats there. I want to buy a tri watch and the Garmin 945 has excellent reviews, and I know John has one. But I’m afraid to spend that money already hating one of their products so far.

Anyone else have a watch they love that I can use for running, swimming, biking, AND sleep monitoring. (I have been sleeping awful. I want to find out just how awful).

I love my Garmin 945. Does everything I need it to and you asked for above. Plus, it now transmits HR over Bluetooth for use with indoor cycling or running software. Battery life is excellent, being able to view 6 data screens can be useful, and it’s much more customizable than my previous 920. Drop me a line if you want to talk more about it.

 

[camaker]

I saw these posted somewhere else and I thought they were sharp.


I forgot to ask my watch question earlier. I have been using my wife’s Garmin. I know people rave about their Garmins but so far I hate it. I can’t get any stats on it and despite saying it’s connected to my phone it won’t sync to the app so I can see stats there. I want to buy a tri watch and the Garmin 945 has excellent reviews, and I know John has one. But I’m afraid to spend that money already hating one of their products so far.

Anyone else have a watch they love that I can use for running, swimming, biking, AND sleep monitoring. (I have been sleeping awful. I want to find out just how awful).

I‘ve got the slightly older Garmin 935 and absolutely love it. I upgraded from a 235 and have been glad that I did. If you’re having connectivity issues, give Garmin tech support a call. They’ve been fantastic troubleshooting that type of issue the couple of times I’ve called them over the years.

 

[avondale]

I saw these posted somewhere else and I thought they were sharp.


I forgot to ask my watch question earlier. I have been using my wife’s Garmin. I know people rave about their Garmins but so far I hate it. I can’t get any stats on it and despite saying it’s connected to my phone it won’t sync to the app so I can see stats there. I want to buy a tri watch and the Garmin 945 has excellent reviews, and I know John has one. But I’m afraid to spend that money already hating one of their products so far.

Anyone else have a watch they love that I can use for running, swimming, biking, AND sleep monitoring. (I have been sleeping awful. I want to find out just how awful).

Speaking of Garmin.... I have been having trouble with the phone app yesterday and today. When I try to view some activities - some of my own and some of my connections' - the app crashes. Neither the app nor my phone updated recently. I rebooted the phone but it didn't help. Anyone else experiencing this?

I suppose I should reinstall the app, but I don't really want to lose all my settings.

 

[garneska]

@Waiting2goback i am with @camaker i have the 935 and love it. My DH has a Fenix 5 and it’s a lemon. he has contacted garmin a lot about it (not recently, kinda gave up). They really did nothing for him except to keep pushing software updates. It never worked as good as my 935. only point is there are lemons, but almost everyone has good things to say about garmin.

 

[GreatLakes]

Just when you think it's never going to happen again, it happens.

I tripped and fell today.

I was running down at UNG this morning. On the trail section, I got my toe tangled up in a root. I was on the ground before I knew it. Either through instinct or dumb luck, I managed to execute a paratrooper roll. (thanks Dad!) Upon hitting the ground, my first action was to stop the watch, before checking for broken bones, etc. Then I just sat there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out WTH just happened. The shocking thing was that feeling my toe catch and falling seemed simultaneous. This was not one of those comical, arm-waving, 10 step falls. It was BOOM!, you're down.

I assessed the damage and got up. The damage was dirty palms, one nickel-sized strawberry on the side of my knee, and majorly wounded pride. I walked back to the truck, which due to current events is equipped like a field hospital. A little clean-up, full strength hand sanitizer (ouch!), and I decided I was good-to-go. I did another 3 miles to finish the run.

As part of the postmortem, I realized I did 2 things that contributed to the accident. The first was that I did not slow down when I got to the trail. The college is a mix of road/track/trails. I normally slow down on the trail section, but I was feeling good today and did not. The second was that I did not take off my sunglasses. The trail is always shaded and I normally park my sunglasses on my visor. For some reason, I didn't do it today. So going fast+limited vision+obstacles=fall.

This evening my knee is pretty sore. It seems to be from contusion and not sprained/torn/etc., so I'm thinking I live to run another day. Tomorrow is my off day, so I have some time to re-assess the damage and see if I'm really OK.

Keeping it in perspective: if this is the worst that happens to me, I'm good!

The trails bite. I've fallen twice on streets (once ice and once a crack) and I'm not even sure how many times on trails. I've also had some miraculous saves. I don't even know how but I've managed to stay upright after catching my foot on a root going downhill quite a few times. If it was going into a turn in front of a drop I'd be dead.

Glad it wasn't too bad.

I forgot to ask my watch question earlier. I have been using my wife’s Garmin. I know people rave about their Garmins but so far I hate it. I can’t get any stats on it and despite saying it’s connected to my phone it won’t sync to the app so I can see stats there. I want to buy a tri watch and the Garmin 945 has excellent reviews, and I know John has one. But I’m afraid to spend that money already hating one of their products so far.

Anyone else have a watch they love that I can use for running, swimming, biking, AND sleep monitoring. (I have been sleeping awful. I want to find out just how awful).

I have a 945 and absolutely love it. This is my 6th Garmin total and so far I have had great luck. I've had the random update that hurt battery life, and the last 945 update that required many people to do multiple installs got me, but I have to say the 945 is everything you want and likely things you don't even know you want.

I wear it 24/7 so I do use it to track sleep it is a true triathlon watch so it checks those boxes. Having onboard maps is something I didn't know I even wanted but I'd never get another running watch without it. Being able to set up routes for some of the trail systems around here that are complicated to navigate was a game changer for trail running and even if you don't trail run you can use it for neighborhoods you don't know. This is also great for travel once the world rights itself again.

I just got back about 30 minutes ago from testing out the new PacePro feature and that is another thing I didn't think I needed until I had it. It allows you to create a route and then attach a pace to it. Think of it as a pace wristband that you can configure for negative, even, or positive splits. If you are trying to hit a time goal (like qualifying for Boston or not getting swept) you have it in real time with a glance.

I love the Fenix 6 Pro and was tempted to get one but it was a little to big for me. If you want a more substancial watch the Fenix is almost identical but if you want the maps you need the pro version.

 

[Waiting2goback]

@Waiting2goback i am with @camaker i have the 935 and love it. My DH has a Fenix 5 and it’s a lemon. he has contacted garmin a lot about it (not recently, kinda gave up). They really did nothing for him except to keep pushing software updates. It never worked as good as my 935. only point is there are lemons, but almost everyone has good things to say about garmin.

I know there are some good and some bad. I’m just torn between the Apple Watch and the 945 as price is pretty equal. They will both do certain things very well but their strengths are just different.

The trails bite. I've fallen twice on streets (once ice and once a crack) and I'm not even sure how many times on trails. I've also had some miraculous saves. I don't even know how but I've managed to stay upright after catching my foot on a root going downhill quite a few times. If it was going into a turn in front of a drop I'd be dead.

Glad it wasn't too bad.



I have a 945 and absolutely love it. This is my 6th Garmin total and so far I have had great luck. I've had the random update that hurt battery life, and the last 945 update that required many people to do multiple installs got me, but I have to say the 945 is everything you want and likely things you don't even know you want.

I wear it 24/7 so I do use it to track sleep it is a true triathlon watch so it checks those boxes. Having onboard maps is something I didn't know I even wanted but I'd never get another running watch without it. Being able to set up routes for some of the trail systems around here that are complicated to navigate was a game changer for trail running and even if you don't trail run you can use it for neighborhoods you don't know. This is also great for travel once the world rights itself again.

I just got back about 30 minutes ago from testing out the new PacePro feature and that is another thing I didn't think I needed until I had it. It allows you to create a route and then attach a pace to it. Think of it as a pace wristband that you can configure for negative, even, or positive splits. If you are trying to hit a time goal (like qualifying for Boston or not getting swept) you have it in real time with a glance.

I love the Fenix 6 Pro and was tempted to get one but it was a little to big for me. If you want a more substancial watch the Fenix is almost identical but if you want the maps you need the pro version.

I appreciate the feedback. I’m soaking up all the information.

 

[camaker]

I know there are some good and some bad. I’m just torn between the Apple Watch and the 945 as price is pretty equal. They will both do certain things very well but their strengths are just different.

I’ve had both Apple Watch and Garmin at the same time twice, including currently. The best summary I can give is that the Apple Watch is a fantastic smart watch with ok training and activity features. The Garmin is a fantastic training and activity watch with ok smart watch features. It’s all about your priorities.

My first round was with an Apple Watch Series 2 and Garmin 235. I really disliked how dependent the Apple Watch was on apps, often 3rd party apps for basic functionality that I wanted, like run/walk intervals. The 235 just did everything I wanted it to for training much better than the Apple Watch and the Garmin Connect app worked better for me as an aggregator for my training and related activities. I sold the Apple Watch 2. Full disclosure, I don’t use my Garmins as daily wear, so the Apple Watch‘s better smart features outside training didn’t really factor into that decision.

I subsequently upgraded to the 935 and have loved it. It was an improvement over the 235 in every way. Since I got bitten by a dog on a run a couple of years ago and have had to have my wife pick me up from an aborted run where a thunderstorm blew up, I feel the need to carry my phone with me for safety. I got tired of carrying the extra weight an bulk of the large iPhone that is compatible with my aging eyes, though. So this year I got an Apple Watch Series 5 with cellular so that I could ditch the phone. Audible now has an app that I can use to listen to my audiobooks on the AW. I’ve found the combination of AW5 for audiobooks, texting and cellular along with the 935 for training tracking and metrics to be ideal. Bottom line, though, even with the AW5s expanded capabilities and it becoming my daily wear watch, I haven’t been the least bit tempted to drop the Garmin.

Good luck making the best decision for you!

 

[Waiting2goback]

I’ve had both Apple Watch and Garmin at the same time twice, including currently. The best summary I can give is that the Apple Watch is a fantastic smart watch with ok training and activity features. The Garmin is a fantastic training and activity watch with ok smart watch features. It’s all about your priorities.

My first round was with an Apple Watch Series 2 and Garmin 235. I really disliked how dependent the Apple Watch was on apps, often 3rd party apps for basic functionality that I wanted, like run/walk intervals. The 235 just did everything I wanted it to for training much better than the Apple Watch and the Garmin Connect app worked better for me as an aggregator for my training and related activities. I sold the Apple Watch 2. Full disclosure, I don’t use my Garmins as daily wear, so the Apple Watch‘s better smart features outside training didn’t really factor into that decision.

I subsequently upgraded to the 935 and have loved it. It was an improvement over the 235 in every way. Since I got bitten by a dog on a run a couple of years ago and have had to have my wife pick me up from an aborted run where a thunderstorm blew up, I feel the need to carry my phone with me for safety. I got tired of carrying the extra weight an bulk of the large iPhone that is compatible with my aging eyes, though. So this year I got an Apple Watch Series 5 with cellular so that I could ditch the phone. Audible now has an app that I can use to listen to my audiobooks on the AW. I’ve found the combination of AW5 for audiobooks, texting and cellular along with the 935 for training tracking and metrics to be ideal. Bottom line, though, even with the AW5s expanded capabilities and it becoming my daily wear watch, I haven’t been the least bit tempted to drop the Garmin.

Good luck making the best decision for you!

You have nailed my dilemma perfectly. I liked the idea of the Apple Watch with cellular because it will do my RunKeeper app that I have loved since I began running. It will do my music and podcasts and allow me to get rid of my phone on runs. It does all the stuff I want, but for exercising it might not do it all well as the Garmin. I won’t wear it all day. I don’t like watches so there is no way I’ll use it all day, and the last thing I want is to buy two. So do I go with AW and no second device needed or do I go with the Garmin and still need my phone. What’s worse is normally I would go try them on and see which feels better but clearly I’m not going to any stores just to try something on right now.

I appreciate all the help.