My new favorite things

First of all, thank you so much to the people who have already responded to my post. I cannot tell you how much all of your support helps me go on runs after a long day at work. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am currently in one of those moods when I cannot imagine going outside to do anything. The hardest part about these training runs is just making myself go back outside after a long day at work. Thankfully, I have discovered some new things in Madrid recently that will make training that much better.

1. Garmin FR 60 watch

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=27483

Ok, so I may be giving myself away as the huge nerd that I am but this watch is AMAZING. It comes with a footpad that ties onto my laces and a heart rate monitor. While I run, I get a live feed to my watch of my speed, distance, heart rate, and time. When I get back home, I plug in a USB drive to my computer and the watch inputs all of my run data onto a personal website. So cool. When I get home, I know my average speed, max speed, calorie count, average heart rate, max heart rate, and everything is on a calendar where I can see all of my runs. As you might be able to tell, I am just a little too excited about this new discovery but it makes running a little more fun. I'm hoping this will take me through the twenty mile training runs. Ouch.

2. 1300 meter track in the middle of Madrid

http://madrid.lanetro.com/pistas-de-tenis/instalacion-deportiva-canal-de-isabel-ii-7928

So two of the main issues of training for this marathon are time and space. Recently, I have sort of found a solution to one of these problems. One of my roommates has been telling me, for a while now, about a track about 10 minutes away from our house. Usually, I run in Parque Oeste which is about 5 minutes away from our apartment. However, at night, Parque Oeste is not the safest place to go for a run alone blasting music. Until last week, I have just been doing night runs on the treadmill, which is not only tedious but also painful. I finally caved in one night last week and decided to go check out this track. Spending most of my life running timed runs on a track, I have a sort of aversion to anything that has that reddish hue and makes a circle but this track is unbelievable. Right smack in the middle of Madrid is this enormous track and in the middle is a driving range, soccer field, restaurant, and swimming pool. Because the track is so big, it becomes a people watching mecca rather than a tedious loop. All I can say is thank you Madrid for thinking ahead. booyea.

3. ipod shuffle

I know this is self explanatory but if you workout a lot, I would highly suggest an ipod shuffle. It really is the most amazing invention and saves me when I feel like I might die. On that note, if you have any song suggestions, please let me know.

Ok, well off to go do a short three mile. Ciao