I want, I want

I've been bidding this week on a replacement transmitter belt for my heart rate monitor, as mine is failing and I don't have the original sales receipt to cash in on the warranty -- who knew these things had excellent warranty coverage and I could get a replacement battery for watch and transmitter for free?! I will definitely pay more attention next time. I also had no idea how much my relatively basic polar HRM was when my parents gave it to me. Duly noted.

But I've also now been dyyyying to buy a Garmin, one of those gadgets that not only tells you your heart rate, calorie burn, and time, but has a GPS and tells you your distance and speed. That would allow me to be the anal retentive, overly numbers-obsessed Virgo that I cannot help but be, while letting me get off the track and other pre-measured distances. When I was in NYC, it was super easy to go down to Central Park and run 4, 5, 6, or 8 miles just by picking which turn to take along the loop. I got so dependent on it that I didn't run once last summer in Boston, because I just had no idea where to start. Now that I know they've got mile markers on the Minuteman Trail, that's a bit of a lifesaver too, since it's accessible by public transit so I could potentially go there even after I've turned in my rental car this week.

Anyway, I'm writing this as I ponder, whiny-ly, whether I will take the opportunity to go out for one last long run before my big trip, or if instead I'll just go get on a hamster wheel at the gym where I can have my water bottle and crappy TV while I eke out an hour or two. I've got another 8-miler on the schedule for today, but last week's run left me chafed in all sorts of odd places, and I've just got this malaise that won't quit this week. I don't want to go on and on about it, but 26 was just not a great year for me. I think age 27 will be a challenging one as well, but I think also a hopeful and optimistic one, settling into the city that will likely be home for me for the rest of my life. How about that!

Weather.com tells me that it's going to be cool and cloudy for the next few hours, so I think maybe I can manage a trip to the trail after all. If I put on my dorky water belt I can even bring the camera along, so we'll see how that works out.