And then for my 25th birthday (March 2011), my husband gave me a garmin and my whole world was turned upside down.
At first I continued with my ways - running random routes and never caring that I didn't run exactly 5.0 miles or 6.5 miles but slowly I began to change.
My garmin was telling me that I only had to run 0.08 more miles to get to 4.0mi well then I would do it. I may have run past my house, down the road a bit and turned around in a neighbors driveway but I got my exact 4 miles! And it was usually dark out so no one saw me.
I began to enjoy the whole numbers, maybe its my logical/math/engineer brain or maybe I am just a little crazy but seeing 40 exact miles for the week made me happy. Or maybe I am just uptight because who really cares what exactly my garmin says because honestly it probably isn't that accurate!
I know other people do this too - my running buddy is just as crazy as me because she often runs loops around cars with me post running club workout to get in the exact miles. But it is hard to admit that I am that psycho about my mileage.
Now there are times when I don't always act like this - I run 6.25 miles or 5.9 miles, but I always make sure to even out that mileage by the end of the week. Its just a game I play each week - my own little numbers game. I don't know if I can ever change now that I have lived like this - even if I didn't have a garmin, I would really try to map out routes that brought me back home with an round whole number.
So if you see a crazy person running around the parking lot. Thats me. I am trying to finish off the last 10th of a mile to get my 8 total miles.
Why does it matter. I don't know. It shouldn't but I just like even numbers.
18 comments:
I HAVE to even out my miles! If I run a 5K then I run an extra 0.9 somewhere. My husband thinks I'm nuts.
It's funny, I used to be like this 100%! I was completely anal about round numbers. Now? I don't care at all. Maybe it's because it would just take too mcuh effort to end up with even running, biking AND swimming numbers!
I'm not as strict about whole numbers, but I am about hitting a certain mileage. Last night, I went out for 6 miles. Just as I was finishing up, I was at 5.97, now this will not do. I HAD to hit 6 so I ran up to a fork and back. I knew that I'd be over 6.0 by that point. It ended up being 6.02. No worries about whole numbers, but I did have a bit of a cringe thinking "if only that 2 was one decimal place over, I would have ran a 10k". We've all got our quirks. :)
I'm with James - not worried about the whole numbers, but I do like to make sure I'm over my target number for the run, even if it means additional random loops at the end. I actually like a non-whole-number total, as long as it's over what the plan calls for. Gotta love the Garmin.
I am just the opposite of you now. I used to be a Garmin guy with every run, but I would get frustrated when I would check my pace and find out I was going slower than I felt I was going, so I dumped the Garmin and quit worrying about pace and distance and just ran (ok, I marked it on a map so I knew how far I went) but I have actually started running faster without relying on the Garmin!
I'm totally a numbers person. I will get to the even mile just so I see a happy round number. However, I don't usually do that with my weekly mileage. It varies and is often close to even (30, 40 or 50), but not usually right on.
HAHA! I do the same exact thing! If I'm on the elliptical I even try to get the distance to be a solid number and the time to be a multiple of 5 (I have something about multiples of 5).....I ran yesterday without an accessories and I ran 4.44, so now I have to find something to make that even by the end of the week....crazy lady. :-)
I'm the opposite and have many routes I run that is not even. 15.1, 12.2, 17.1 and so on. I just take the number of the distance of the particular route. I'm a stats geek and love numbers.
I totally do the same thing! I hate the idea of having a 4.96 mile run for some reason. Round numbers are much better. Here's to all of us crazy people running up and down the stree to get that .00 :)
I haven't trained with my Garmin in some time, but I could NEVER finish a run unless I saw a round number (or something like .25 or .5). It would be like making only half the bed!
Oh I totally do this too. I will run around the block or around the parking lot to hit my mileage goal. I usually to finish on a quarter mile, but ideally on a mile. But if my goal is 12 and I have 12.09 when I get back to the parking lot, I will just let it go. But if it's 11.88 - I am definitely adding on .12!! :)
Hehehe! I love this post. I used to be very rigid and have to round it out, but then I stopped caring and everything was uneven. Now I usually make things even becuase it just feels more complete! Glad you like your Garmin!
I am TOTALLY like this and lots of my local running friends don't get it! I like to finish it on the quarter mile or half mile but preferably the whole number. With trail running I've had to let that go a lot though and just take what I can get. Also when I was training with the running room this summer who ran in km but I had my garmin set to miles I had a lot of random number runs :)
I do the exact same thing and I blame it on my engineering back ground!
Haha, I do this too sometimes! Yesterday I ran back and forth across the backyard.
Oh I definitely do this too! Mike thinks I am weird when I want to get in the last .13 miles, but I just have to!
Ha ha ha! I love this! I am the same way. Not about evening out at the end of the week (I used to be) but about the overall number that my Garmin ends on. It has to be divisible by 5. Ideally, it would be a whole number. I even do this when I used the garmin on my bike! And like you said... it's probably not even THAT accurate! :P
This post just made laugh out loud! I have become the same since getting my garmin. I'm obsessed with landing on a sort of even number. Whether it be 4.0 miles or 5.25 --I can't end on an oddball number. It's motivating though cuz the garmin usually gets me to run farther than I think I wanted to go.
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