Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k and equipment malfunction

Saturday morning long run #2 was on the schedule - 6 miles to do while getting in the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k.  i got everything ready the night before and was ready to go!  woke up saturday and was able to use the bathroom BEFORE i left the house.  this is actually a major accomplishment since usually i have to go AFTER i leave the house.

on the way to meet my and j's running partners, i turn on the garmin. except the garmin wont come on.  i press every button, combine buttons, nothing, nada, zip!  ah!!! no watch again?  seriously!  not sure what the problem was with it, it had been charging since thursday night. there was no reason it should be dead still :( at least this time i did have my phone and my arm holder.  but i had to re download an app that would track pace, distance, etc.  ugh, this couldn't be easy could it?  i get it downloaded and ready while we are driving around town dropping water and so j can show me the "route".  he and twila were doing 10, while Angie and I did 6.


We get back to the meeting spot, i get my ipod out and turn it on. nothing, nada, zip!  of course the battery is dead on it too!  at this point i really wanted to go home and run on the treadmill.  but i couldnt exactly ditch a run with my running partner right there. 

the weather was nice, at least i had that much going for me.  i had a gu brew in my golite hand held bottle and a gu  for half way.  angie had her iphone app going too.  what's weird is that even though we were side by side, her app said she was .2 more than me at all times.  she has the iphone 4 while i have the original iphone, i wonder if hers was more accurate bc it's newer?? 

our water drop was perfect, just a smidge after the 3 mile mark.  3.1 to be exact which worked great since i was also doing the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k! yay for killing two birds with one stone!  my time was 44:39 . not great, but not bad considering i had 3 more miles to go to finish my long run.  

we ran back the way we had come.  our pace dropped a little but not too bad.  i did have to stop and take some walk breaks on the second half.  my back was stiff and was hurting.  guess a visit to the chiro needs to be scheduled soon.