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Friday, October 18, 2013

Telemetry Before It Happens

I'd like to borrow another runner's memory.

I've been traveling a lot, and it's easy to scope out a route near each hotel using Google Maps' measurement tool and some Street View sleuthing.  But knowing when a turn is coming up, or the sidewalk becomes choppy dirt, or the hill evens out just past the firehouse .. you don't know those on the first run.

My Nike GPS watch gives me telemetry after each run.  What I need is telemetry before.  Start out the route on my second run, and I'm a little better prepared for the details.

But is the novelty of the first-time around "worth" something?

Nope.  What if the borrowed runner is used to marathons .. I'll bet she'll have a different stride and pace than me.  Or what if this is a noontime stroll I'm borrowing .. maybe he's never seen it in the evening with the city lights glimmering.  "Interesting, I've never done it this slow/late/sober/male/lean ..."

So, GPS running-accoutrement makers, how about it?  Telemetry after my run is so 5k ago.  I'll pay extra to have it up-front.

2 comments:

  1. Were you the one that commented on how it was curious that so many people take up running as their primary form of exercise at a certain age?

    You start by saying that you'd like to borrow another runner's memory, but at the end of the post, you say that your own running experience might differ from theirs depending on time of day, level of training, etc. What would you want to gain from borrowing, then?

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    1. Mostly it's just the memory that "yes, this is the bridge I take to get back," so I don't get lost. There's only so much detail you can fit on a hand-drawn map on the back of your hand.

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