by Adam Luban

In running and in life, things can change in an instant. One minute, someone could be there for you and the next minute they could be gone. I experienced that  this week with my Garmin GPS/HRM running watch.

On Friday, we hit the big 5000k milestone in our relationship. After only a couple years, we had gone more than 3000 miles, further than the distance from New York City to Los Angeles. AS you can imagine, this was a very proud moment in our relationship. However, the next day, things weren’t so sunny, despite the beautiful weekend weather. My watch just died.

As I contemplated what was going on, my time with my Garmin flashed before my eyes. I remembered all of the long runs, intervals, and places we’d been together. Europe, New York, Utah, all of these places and more had been shared by me and my watch. Sure, at times people said that it was a little controlling towards me, I’d wait out in the rain while it “located satellites” or delay my run so it could charge, and I really did know how to push its buttons, but it was still a good time while it lasted.

My Garmin was always there for me, no matter how early I was running or how late I wanted to work out. It was the only thing I ever ran with that could not only make my heart skip a beat but also record and analyze it for later viewing.

I know I’ll have to replace you soon, but until then, I’m going to keep wearing you just for old time’s sake. And because I need to keep up my killer watch tan line.