This never gets old.

Unless something has gone terribly wrong, I should currently be running the Soldier Half Marathon in Columbus, Georgia. I figure this is as good a time as any to talk about how I keep track of my running. Or something like that.

While I can’t do this so much now that the weather has changed, I love to be able to grab some shoes, shorts, and a watch and go run. I’ve been active since I was a little kid. I’ve played soccer, gone mountain biking, road biking, hiking, you name it. What separates running from all of those activities, though, is the pure simplicity of it. I could go out and run with basically no gear at all. You don’t need special gear or areas. All you need is legs, feet, and the desire to do it.

My problem, though I don’t really think of it as a problem, is that I like to know a lot about what I’m doing. I want to know exactly how far I’ve gone, how fast I went, and any other details I might be able to find out. That’s where my Garmin 205 GPS watch comes in.

It allows me to track my distance, elevation, time, and speed. It’s pretty awesome. But what’s even better is their website Garmin Connect. You can upload the files from each run and it displays everything on a map, plus all of the data recorded during the run. Below is a sample of my run on Thursday. Click on it to view the Garmin Connect activity page.

I love being able to see everything together. It helps me know what I might need to work on in my training, and just gives me a great illustration of my run.