Chasing Ghosts

If you've got no real friends like me there's no longer any need to worry - technology's got your back. This evening I went running with a virtual partner who lives somewhere in the Venn diagram collision between my mind and my new running watch.

The virtual partner - or the Saint as I've taken to calling him as the stick figure reminded me of the logo from the old TV show - is a mode where you compete against a fictional stick man who runs at a perfect pace without ever tiring/throwing up/stopping for pies.

I didn't really care much for this feature when buying the watch and paid no mind to it when I set out for this evening's run (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42958278 to check out my awesome running stats/map). The watch display shows your position relative to the Saint so you get a fair idea as to how goodly/badly you're doing. Still it seemed like a novelty feature to me as I started the ascent up Aro Valley.

I cycle through the displays periodically to check my overall time, pace, and to make sure my heart isn't about to explode or rip out my chest John Hurst style. In between the pace and the heart rate screen is the race screen, so every time I checked my heart rate I also got an update as to how the race 'Andy vs the Saint' was progressing.

Now given that he runs at a steady pace up hills while I sag a splutter (all the while cursing that second desert I had at breakfast) the Saint had pulled ahead of me as I reach the top of the Aro Valley. Normally at this point I'd use traffic at the mini-roundabout as an excuse to stop and catch a few breaths but not today. Today as I reached the top my only though was "Right! I'm gonna catch that wee bastard".

And catch him I did. By the time I reach Karori I was already ahead and he eat my dust all the way down through Kelburn. I could have walked along the Terrace and back down Lambton Quay and still have beaten him.

So thanks to the virtual partner I managed to turn what was going to be a fairly sedate run into an all out grudge match.

Andy 1; Andy's imaginary friend 0.

Also check out my top speed in the run - 45.6 km/h! I'm pretty sure that didn't actually happen (though I did finish with a sprint), but if it did then - ayyy!