Let the Battle Begin!!

 Run Keeper VS. Garmin

Awesome running weather in Michigan this past weekend.  Bye Bye Treadmill.....Hello the hills that are my neighborhood!!  Arrgghh.....I felt like I was a newbie runner.  Times were off, breathing was off, I had to concentrate to not step in holes, while smiling all the way to my neighbors who were outside enjoying the day.

I also got to try out my new Watch!!  The Garmin 405.  Now, since I have never had a running watch, I was  so excited to use this baby.  Well.....I had problems from the start.  First of all, it took forever (probably 10 minutes) for it to find the satellite.  I was so impatient, I just started to run hoping that eventually it would sync.  So I spent the first 10 minutes of the run staring at my wrist, which caused  me to trip a few times.  Then when it finally obtained the satellite, I had to stop to figure out how to turn on the timer, etc....  Now I had read the easy start directions, but the bezel system was very hard to maneuver. 

Now before I even started any of this, I set my cell phone to Run Keeper as a back up because I knew I would probably have problems.  So as I am monkeying around with the 405, Miss run keeper is shouting at me "5 minutes...20tenths of a mile" etc....  So that was unnerving to say the least!!

So it seemed that I finally got the timer working on the watch, and I was off.  Mentally I just wasn't into the run at this point.  So I did some sprints, walked a little etc...  Like I said, running outside is totally different from the treadmill.  Not sure that I like it!!  

I finally reached home, and I whipped out the cell phone to compare the "stats".  Here are the results:

The only thing that was the same was average speed.  Garmin: 11.06 and Run keeper 11.01.  Now Run Keeper has longer time because it was on the whole time.  The mileage was different I think because the satellite didn't kick in until 10 minutes after I started.

So, I am not giving up on my Garmin.  I think once I get the hang of the bezel system, and know that I just have to patiently wait for it to find the satellite I will be o.k.  I also learned how to lock the face, so the programs aren't jumping around as I run.  I am looking forward to my next run to see how it goes.

Have a great Day!!

MFM