Nike Running Watch

Someone actually reads my blog. You know who that someone is? My manfriend. Months ago I wrote about how awesome the new Nike+ running watch was. He paid attention.

He recently bought me one for my birthday. This is an actual Nike running watch on my hand. That's right, I own one.

This is the first GPS running watch I've ever owned, and I'm so excited. It comes at the perfect time - just when I'm getting up my motivation for building up my running endurance. Manfriend's sister has challenged me to run a 12k with her right before Christmas. Time to get my rear in gear!

I had some issues setting up the watch to connect to my computer. After reading around online I was concerned that the watch would have to go back - the reviews are not great. However, I ran a quick .3 on Wednesday and it mapped it perfectly.

I was concerned that on a longer run, it wouldn't map the miles correctly. However, I did 4.3 miles yesterday morning (my longest in... a long time), and it was correct. After restarting my computer and fiddling around a little bit, I got the connection to work. So far - so good!

Sexy

You know what's sexy? The new gps watch from Nike. So awesome looking.

They announced it a while ago, and it was just released.

The SportWatch is powered by TomTom, instead of the wellknown Garmin.

A review here shows that it's not just style that makes the watch - its substance is exceptional, too.

Anybody have any experience with this? Looking to try it? Know of someone who has one?

Watch

Run: 8.3mi/1:24:00

I'm slowly working my way back up to what I was doing before the race. Two weeks ago I only did 8 miles for the whole week (that was the week after the race). Last week I did 17. This week, almost 26. Looking good, feeling good.

Nike announced their plans for a GPS watch. Most runners use a Garmin. The new Nike watch hasn't been released yet, so I don't think there are too many opinions about how well it works, but I can tell you one thing right now: it's sexy. It looks about a million times better than a Garmin, that's for sure.

Looking at it makes me pretty happy I didn't ask for a Garmin for Christmas.

Make 'Em Laugh

No run. Although I told myself and others that the sore hip didn't matter, when my alarm clock went off this morning, I felt it was a good excuse to stay in bed. It feels fine today, thank goodness. 

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Hey - have you guys heard about these new things called Readers and RSS feeds? Oh wait - you already heard? Two years ago? See, I'm really behind when it comes to new technology because... well, I can't think of a good reason other than I'm poor. Yes, I realize that's no excuse for not using a Reader.

Okay, well I just set mine up and it's... it's... amazing. Chances are, if you are reading this and you have a blog, then you're on my Google Reader. Your chances are great because I saw that I don't have very many subscribers (yes, I looked myself up), and I don't follow that many blogs (I can't keep people straight). Now my new obsession is checking my Reader ten times a day. Believe it.

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My best friend, Stephanie, and I have a motto, and it's "Bringing joy wherever we go". This usually just means that we like to make random strangers laugh while we're out in public. Last year this usually happened on our monthly trips to Target with our bantering back and forth in front of the poor cashier (and yes, they usually laughed). 

The night before our half-marathon we took a trip to Target together and Stephanie pondered over a water bottle to buy. I stood around, minding my own business, stating that I would probably pick up a disposable water bottle for the race the next day. Then Stephanie suggested something that made me want to hug her. "Do you want to get a bottle? I'll buy it for you. We could get matching water bottles." 

Best friends. Matching water bottles. What more could you ask for? So we stood there, in that aisle, contemplating our best choices. 

"Purple? No way. What is that on that bottle - it looks evil. Who even uses a bottle like that?  Hey - if we're getting matching water bottles, they have to be cute. Aww we're going to have matching water bottles. I get a matching water bottle with my bestie!"

That's when we realized there was another girl in the aisle, and as I looked over at her, I could see her trying to conceal a smile. And that's when I said "We gotta stop, 'cause this girl thinks we're crazy". The girl replied "Ha. No, I'm not listening". Yeah, right.  

We picked out our water bottles. I may be more than 1,000 miles away from my Stephanie, but at least we've got matching water bottles, you know? We're totally mature women in our late twenties. 

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Speaking of the half-marathon, my parents arrived home yesterday and brought with them some of the stuff I didn't want to lug on the plane two weeks ago. Included in that were my items from my half-marathon - my shirt and my medal. 

I don't know who in their right mind chooses a shirt this color, but I tried it on and I decided that a Mexican morning can deal with it. I'm seeing a winning combo of lime green shirt and pink running shorts in my future. It's really loose, it has long sleeves, I'm wearing it. But don't tell anyone.

And the medal. The race was put on by the Willamette Valley Road Runners. I'm just happy it's shaped like Oregon.

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Also in among my things? A whole lot of books to get started on. A couple of them are old favorites that I dug out of storage to read again. Most are new to me.