Introducing ... the new toy

Running shoes. Check.
iPod. Check.
Cellphone. Check.
Emergency transit fare. Check.
$5, in case I get really hungry along the way. Check.
Lip balm, because my lips hurt real bad, ok? (Well, they don't. But I just wanted to have a Napoleon Dynamite moment). Check.
Water. Check.

And now, introducing the latest addition to the arsenal of stuff I lug around on these training runs...The Garmin Forerunner 201.

It's handed down from Yumke -- I still have to pay him -- who got his snazzy upgraded Forerunner 305 just after Frankie did. Me, I'm not interested in dropping so much coin -- there's the matter of closing on a house very soon -- and for the days when I want to just see where my legs will take me, this little toy should be great. Or for when I'm running along country roads in Kentucky -- like I plan to this weekend.

I took it out for a spin earlier this evening for my scheduled 3-miler. Had a little trouble grabbing a signal right away (welcome to downtown Toronto), as was expected, but caught one and off I went. "Weak GPS signal" flashed a few times, but generally it was neat to see my time on each lap (preprogrammed to beep every kilometre). Except for a marching band that was rehearsing in the park, the run was pretty much non-descript. Like I was just going through the paces, so to speak, doing the run 10/walk 1 program (you know, somehow it's much easier with a watch. Go figure). I don't yet have the software to download the details of the data, but I can say that my average pace was 7:32/km. Best pace: 6:15/km. Total time: 39:09.