running

It’s amazing to think that I spent my first few years as a runner without a GPS-based running watch. It feels like GPS activity watches are ubiquitous now among all endurance athletes. The first running GPS watches were the huge, clunky 205 and 305 models from Garmin. Compared to today’s offerings, they had a lot of shortcomings: battery life of a few hours, a requirement for proprietary software on your computer, accuracy issues, GPS lock issues, and limited storage....

It doesn’t rain much in California. San Francisco, where I live and train, is frequently wet because of the year-round fog on the western side of the city. On Thursday, however, it rained a decent amount. I think the accumulation was more than an inch over several hours. The air temperature was somewhere in the high 40’s (Fahrenheit) and the winds were gusty. I set off at 6:20am to meet my friend Will in the pre-dawn dark....