I want to make a stupid purchase because I like gadgets. Garmin has a scale that gives you all kinda cool data, and well I want it lol. Its ~$150 so not the most expensive gadget, but expensive as far as scales go. I need to set some sort of goal to achieve before I make the purchase. 2 Things: What should that goal be? The other, am I crazy?
I have had the Garmin Index scale for a couple years now. In the end, I really just focus on the weight versus any of the other metrics (BTW: the other metrics seem highly correlated to weight - I'm not convinced of their accuracy). Truth be told, the best part of the scale is that it just automatically uploads to Garmin Connect, and so everything is consolidated, and I can view my weight history on a graph to see the progress I've made. I'm sure you can do this GC integration with other smart scales, but obviously, it's easier with a Garmin-branded scale.
Fun Friday QOTD Running with friends or during a race with others a lot of interesting discussions or things can happen. Tell us about a run when you just had fun being out there. The type of day where it didn’t even feel like it was a running day, but just hanging out with friends.
Although my brother, my college roommate, and I ran the same first marathon (way back in 1993), we all had fairly different pace goals, so we didn't run together. However, after the first 3-4 miles of the marathon as I settled into a comfortable pace, I realized that another guy and me kept on jockeying back and forth, so we struck up a conversation. He was a really nice guy, he was trying to qualify for Boston, and so we ended up chatting and running for about 20 miles together. We truly became friends in that time. His wife would meet him every few miles to give him words of encouragement, and after the first time or two, she even started including me as part of her cheering. It was awesome, and the miles just flew by. We were having so much fun and not really focusing on pace but rather effort at which we could keep up the conversation, that at about mile 11, we caught up to my brother which I would have never expected. I temporarily froze with two thoughts: (i) if I've caught up to my brother, I must be going too fast, and (ii) I really should slow down and run with my brother, but I am having so much fun with this guy. The fun won out, and I decided to stay with my new found friend, so I said "hi" to my brother and told him that I was sure I would see him pass me later in the race. Although I did slow down a little during the last 4-5 miles (mainly just walking through the water stops) and lost contact with my new running friend, it was so much fun and a complete success. We met up at the finish line, and he did end up qualifying for Boston, and I ended up about 18 minutes faster than my goal time.
I have run several marathons since then, but this one is still my favorite because of the friend I made and the complete lack of focus on the actual running.
I definitely love having little random conversations during races though!
Lake Erie sunrise on a morning run. 
