Of course I'm a little crazy. I'm a runner

Hi everybody. I’m Oz Runner.

“Hello, Oz,” they reply.

I’m a Garmin-o-holic.

“That’s OK. We know what you are going through. We are here for you. Admitting you have a problem is the first step.”

Um, it’s not really a problem. As long as my Garmin works.

Today, my little buddy behaved like the good Garmin Forerunner I have known and loved for the past year and a half. 6 miles run. 6 miles recorded. 6 miles downloaded to the computer.

I love this guy, in a manly, recognizing it is – mostly – an inanimate object sort of way. It just seems like he really gets me.

Before my Garmin came into my life, I never was very diligent about keeping a running log. Sure, it is kind of fun to relive your training run while moving the computer mouse around the course on something like mapmyrun.com to figure out how far I went.

Or you can always drive along a running route before or after a run to check your mileage. Oh boy, that sure is a blast.

Not anymore do I have to do such things. No sir. I’ve got my Garmin.

On a whim, not really planning what route I need to run, I can get a quick glance at the training schedule, head out the door and create a route on the fly to hit just the distance I need that day.

OK, I recognize I can get a bit obsessive about this thing at times. On my weekly group runs, for example, sometimes according to my personal Garmin, I will come up short by a tenth, or maybe two-tenths of a mile from the 10, 12 or 14 miles or whatever I was supposed to run that day. Maybe my GPS was a bit off from the Garmin of the guy who plotted the course, maybe I cut some corners or maybe I just got off track by turning my Garmin off when coming in for a water stop, then walking a bit and then restarting it.

Sure, I try to be casual at the end of the run and all as I stop, sip a cup of Gatorade and chat with my fellow runners for a bit. And yes, then I have been known to run in the parking lot to get my full tenth or two-tenths of a mile in. Once I even drove home, then ran in front of my house for one-tenth of a mile.

It’s just so magical when my little buddy beeps and displays the completion of another full mile. Yes, it’s silly. I’m probably a little crazy. But I am a runner. Aren’t we all at least a little bit crazy?