Major scare averted....Garmin is recovered!

The title says it all...........

On Friday morning the Garmin (Forerunner 301) crapped out on me. Frustrated I got a hold of garmin and they said you could send it in to repair for $80 (US I think). I wasn't sure how long it would be gone for....they are closed on the weekends. We have been looking at upgrading and thought that my friend from work could use my old one and only have to get it fixed or I fix it and he pays me. I was way more concerned with not having it......I NEED it for RUNNING!!

I read some troubleshooting tips and alot of them say to leave it plugged in and charging - came home from work on Friday and immediately plugged it it. I was trying it a couple of times on Saturday and Sunday to no avail. I was resigned to the thought of calling Garmin back and getting them to fix it. We were actually looking at upgrading to the 305 model which I can pick up for about $225 but wasn't quite sure I wanted to do that just yet.

Anyways later on Sunday at about 7 pm I picked it up and pressed the power button and heard the farmiliar noise.....IT TURNED ON! It was still in the funky lock mode but after I reset it, it found the satellites outside no problem. I went on some walks just in front of the house and all appears to be well. Now I have no excuses so tomorrow (my day off) I am definately heading out for a run - probably around 1 pm when our son takes his nap (2 yrs old, and if I haven't mentioned it yet he, my daughter Em and my wife Tracy are my Life!!!).

Oh and I start the 30 day shred tomorrow night as well - will keep you posted.

Slept in

Well didn't get my run in so far today, but the day is still young so I may squeeze it in later. Just had to take advantage of a rare opportunity to sleep in. A little work around the house today before the grind of another work week comes. Tonight I will be taking my measurements, I think that will help me seeing the progress.

Broken Garmin - arrgghh!

Was all ready to go form a nice run this morning when my Garmin Forerunner 301 was in this funky/locked up mode and I couldn't do anything. I got it to turn off but now can't get it to turn back on. I will try and chagre it when I get home and see what happens. If not I will have to contact them to see if there's anything I can do. Hopefully it's not down too long - I can't run without it. For me I need it as much as my shoes.

I was going to do a 6 mile run today but after the Garmin incident I just decided to do a route I know well. It's about 3-3.5 miles, no idea how long it took - didn't bring my back up watch either. Oh well, I still plan on going for a long run on Sunday - even without my Garmin I want to still try and go for about 60-75 mins. I am just lost about pace without it and I really like to know how far.

On another note, I am going to try the 30 day Shred program by Jillian Michaels. We have the DVD so why not give it a shot. I will keep track of it and start on June 1.

Hills Today

Got up bright and early to leave with the guys to do hill this morning. They leave the gym at 6:30 am, so I have to leave my house by about 5:45. By the time I drive downtown, walk up the hill and get changed it's time to go. Today we had 4 of us slugging it out. Not sure how far the hill is away, probably took us about 8-10 mins to get there (forgot to turn the watch on, oops). We did 4 hill repeats (up and down) and could feel it pretty good. Hopefully this becomes a regular morning thing (stairs on tuesdays and hills on thursdays). It can only help my training.

I plan on going tomorrow morning, trying and get about 6 miles in. Taking saturday off, we have a wedding and I need a bit of a rest day. Also have to help a friend haul some garbage away to an eco station, some trees he cut down - oh the joys of having a truck. I plan on doing my long run on sunday morning. I'll leave around 8 am for about 8-10 miles and than have the rest of the day off for my awesome family. I will post my run times, it keeps me honest.

My First Running Post (and bedtime)

Well since I just started this blog and I am currently in training I thought I would post an entry to talk about my running. Today I went at lunch time and it was pretty warm out there, about 25 above (celsius).

Distance = 4.72 miles, 7.6 km
Pace = 9:37 min/mile, 6:00/km

I just went out for a run to keep up with it. I'm still trying to decide what my training will look like. Currently I am scheduled for a 15km race on the 1st of July, not that I am worried about the distance but I would still like to go for a decent time. I want to do a half later this fall and will make up a training regimen for that, right now just looking to get back into the swing of it. I have been off and on for the last couple of months and want to really get back into it.

Current weight = 189.5 lbs. (Monday May25/09)
Goal weight (for now) = 180 lbs. by July 1/09)

I have been between about 187 lbs and 200 lbs for the last couple of years. Just like a yo-yo! I think my ideal weight is somewhere between 170 lbs - 175 lbs., but that is a little ways down the road. Once I get back into my running more often and some other cardio and weight training I think both are achieavable. I just seem to lack some self-control when it comes to portion sizes. Maybe I like food too much. We seem to have a love/hate relationship. Anyways, I have hills first thing in the morning with some guys from work so I should go catch some zzz's.

It was my first night putting both the kids down by myself as my wife (Tracy) had a meeting to attend. She was a little late as we were trying to get Em(erson), 3 months, to bed before she had to go. However that didn't work out so well, so she came and hung out with Blake (2 yrs) and I until his bedtime. Blake has been awesome at going to bed since I can remember, (my wife does an AMAZING job) and tonight was no different. I left Em in her swing and took Blake up, one reading of "Goodnight Moon" and he was ready to crash. I came down and got Em, she was a little cranky so I rocked her a bit and tried to calm her down. She was still pretty fidgety when I put her down (about 15 mins later) and turned on her mobile. Once she found her thumb it was goodnight. Just finished watching the hockey game while posting (DET won btw). Take care everyone.

My First Post

Well I have always talked about it and now I am finally doing it. My wife has had a blog about our family since before our son Blake was born in 2007 and since then I thought about starting my own. You can check out my family blog www.ourbabycameron.blogspot.com

Hmmmmm, where to start. I am 30 years old living and have been living in Edmonton, AB for the last 11 years. My wife, Tracy, and I got married in 2004 and have 2 children. Our son, Blake, was born in May 2007 and our daughter Emerson joined him in February of this year. Yep life is pretty busy but I love it. I have been working at the same company for 11 years now, slowly progressing up the "corporate ladder" I guess. I'm pretty comfortable in my current position, they give me quite a bit of freedom and responsibility so it is a nice balance.

I started this blog to talk about my family, my life, my goals and my current adventures in running and fitness. I started to get back into running about 2 years ago and it is the first I have done it since high school. I mainly started again to get into shape and lose a couple of pounds but now have found that I actually really enjoy it alot and have since completed a 10Km, and 2 half marathons (21.1 km).

Currently I am in the middle of (or should I say beginning of) training for a 15km race in Edmonton on July 1 - The Canada Day Road Race. Now I have never done this distance before so not sure what to expect but I will set my goal at 1:30:00. Maybe too long? Should I go lower? In the past I was just happy to finish the half marathons but now I feel like I should set some goals. Ultimate goal is a) to complete a full marathon and b) to qualify for the Boston marathon (which i think is about 3:15:00) for myself. Now I realize that these are a little down the road but I think that talking and "blogging" about them will help out alot. Right now my training consists of running at lunch times at work, running on the weekends at home and trying to do some weights as well. Any tips from anybody is greatly appreciated. I recently started doing stairs and hills on different mornings with a group at work I hooked up with. It's a group of 5-7 who all need a little motivation from each other from time to time so it's a good mix.

This is just my first post so bear with me. I am going to try and post my stats (weight), my goals and such in the next one. I am fairly new to this but I do enjoy reading some of the other blogs as well. Talk to you all soon.