Garmin vs. Chip

Crossing the Finish Line

Now there’s something I would have never thought that I would spend any brain power on but, after Saturday, I have a new obsession (like I need another one!).  What is up with this:

Saturday morning was my 5K reintroduction into the world of running and I was jazzed.  My goal was to do it in less than 30 minutes and my husband loaned me his birthday Garmin to help me pace myself.  I was accompanied by my huge group of extended family and friends (my 19 year old son, Aaron) and had my I pod ready to jam the three miles away (oops, was I supposed to make sure it was charged?).  I look around and don’t see anyone else from my school’s “team” so I am resigned to do this thing alone, with my dead I pod and the intimidating electronic gadget knows the world over as “The Garmin”.  Who could stop my now?

Just as we are lining up to start I spot a teacher from my school and she spots me. 

 ”Oh, I’m so glad someone else from school came!” she says happily and I agree. 

“So, what kind of pace do you keep?” I ask, hoping to find some company since my I pod deserted me in my hour of need.

“I haven’t run in a while, so I think I will stick to a 10 minute pace.” she replies, and before I could respond the gun goes off and 296 of us begin.

I run with her, happy to have found someone to run with but wait….10 minute mile-she is full of crap!  I look down and see the Garmin registering an 8:00 pace.  I knew that I couldn’t maintain that pace throughout the 3.1 miles so I drop back and back and back until the Garmin says 9:31.  Now that more like it for now.  I can vaguely see her blonde pony tail way up in front of me and I decided to forget about her and concentrate on pace-which was easy to do since I didn’t have any music to concentrate on. 

I have to admit, the Garmin was pretty awesome.  It kept my overall time, running pace, and how far I had gone.  I stopped at two watering stations long enough to down a Dixie size cup of H2O (Hal Higdon says that you should stop and walk while you drink it and then start running again) so that’s what I did.  I was feeling pretty good when I looked down and notice that mymy husband’s Garmin says 3.1 miles-but there is no finish line in sight.  How could that be? I look around in a panic, thinking that while I was happily checking the Garmin readout every 10 seconds maybe I had strayed off course, but no, there were other runners still around me. 

When I finally cross the finish line I stop the Garmin and look down-it says I have gone 3.42 miles.  That’s more than a 5K.  What is up with that?  My time reads 32:01 minutes and it says that I kept a 9:21 pace, which is better than I had hoped for and I was happy to have my son at the finish line, cheering me on.

Later in the day I checked the website for race results and, to my dismay, they are reporting a pace and finish time different from the one my Garmin reported.  The chip reports a time of 31:49 and which places me 4th in my age group for women, 17th in my age group for men and women, and 42 overall. My “oh, about a 10 minute pace” friend wins her age group (20-29 I might add!) and has placed in the top 25 overall.  Somebody wasn’t being honest with me, were they?

So now, what do I believe?  My high dollar Garmin who says I ran a 9:21 pace or the chip which says I ran over a 10 minute pace?

For now, I am going with the Garmin.  It makes me feel better about myself and that’s what this is all about for me, feeling better about myself!  Okay, who am I trying to kid-it isn’t all about that.  My mind is already focused on finishing faster, faster, faster so I can show up the teacher who is half my age!