This kid is serious. I mean, look at his watch!

After a couple years of half-fast and half-serious marathon training/racing I find that it's time for a change in approach.

I've set some pretty ambitious goals for this year's Marine Corp. Marathon and in order to reach them, I will need to be whole-serious. I'm aiming to slice 51 minutes off of last year's time. Bringing me from a meh 4:36:and change to a solid 3:45. To reach these goals I find that I'm going to need some help (and a few more speed workouts!).

Keeping track of pace has been hit or miss with my current sports watch. I tend not to know the mile markers on my runs and ultimately just shoot for an accurate total run time then figure out the average after the fact. This really doesn't offer me the insight into my performance over time that I'm hoping for. And, the buttons on the watch have become a bit dodgy. They tend to only work if you press them at a funny angle with a hefty amount of pressure. I'd like to think that this makes my watch unique and special. But really it's just annoying.


After reading a couple of reviews, talking with fellow Fun Runners, and obsessively comparing models and pricing I opted to get a Garmin Forerunner 405 last week. *rapture*

Now I've only had a chance to take it with me on a couple of runs and bike rides. But in that short span it's been pretty enlightening.

I've never seen the big allure to GPS watches, until now. It's the right tool for the job.