Garmin Free (but not totally by choice)

Because of the temptation to run each mile a little faster than the previous one and hit a certain overall average pace, I’ve been going Garmin free on most easy days for some time now, and not being too focused on it has also been important to my new commitment to not run more than I should. However, I still like it, and it’s a valuable tool on days when I need to monitor my pace and/or get feedback on what pace a certain effort produces. That said, unfortunately I won’t have that benefit for the next couple weeks or more.

During my first run at the beach Sunday before last, I noticed some condensation formed under the face of the watch while I ran. I thought at first it was just the humidity and I couple wipe it off, but no such luck. It went away shortly after I stopped running, so I didn’t worry too much about it. The same thing happened the next day though, and every day thereafter, making me wonder if there was a problem or if it was something with the beach air/humidity. Then, on my final run at the beach last Saturday, it was raining and I got the answer to my question. During that run, the watch just stopped on its own without any buttons being pushed. I restarted it, only to have it stop itself again, then restart itself, then stop itself, then restart itself, over and over and over. I was about ready to run over the dune and throw it in the ocean to stop all the beeping when it finally straightened out, ran perfectly for just over 13 minutes, then shut itself down again, this time for good.

Upon returning home, I gave it a couple more tries, and while it didn’t do the stop/start thing, condensation did form. Based on all that, I contacted Garmin and they told me to send it back to them for repair. So, I’ll be Garmin free until they get it back to me. I’m thinking (and hoping) it’s going to be a free repair, and if so, no big deal, although I am a little disappointed it messed up after being just a little over a year old and being well taken care of during that time. In any event, back to old school training, which probably isn’t a bad thing. The Garmin is like crack for runners though, so it will be missed.