The GPS Runaround

After running near Belmont Shore yesterday, I had time to kill so I set my GPS to guide me back home even though I knew how to get there. In the past, the device always told me to turn left at the first intersection instead of right as I’ve known my route home. So I was curious to see where the GPS would take me. This is how it went: from Marina Drive, left on Second Street, right on Park Street, right on E. Anaheim Street, left on Pacific Coast Highway, around the Traffic Circle, exit right on Lakewood Boulevard, then enter the 405 Freeway. So after a series of rights and lefts at numerous streets which even took me to the traffic circle, a place that I’ve tried to avoid in the past, the GPS finally showed me the freeway entrance. If I followed the route I was familiar with, it would have taken one right turn and one left turn to get to the same freeway.

Well, to sum up, the GPS gave me a runaround through the streets of Long Beach. If you followed its directions and weren’t a local, you’d probably get confused. I found it a waste of time, a waste of fuel, but also at the same time, mildly amusing. That goes to tell you that you cannot rely solely on the GPS to get proper directions. Check Googlemaps, Mapquest, or even your trusty old Thomas Guide first or as a back up.

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Running Naked Against The Elements

I was woken up Tuesday morning by the wind rattling the windows of my bedroom. Running outdoors yesterday was going to pose a challenge. I don’t know why I decided to run outside when I could have done it on the treadmill in the comfort of my living room, but I couldn’t resist answering the challenge. Not only that, I also made up my mind the day before that I was going to run naked. Well, don’t get any ideas, I didn’t really mean unclothed. What I meant was that I was going to try to run without orthotics thus leaving my feet and ankles naked of extra support. I was doing this as an experiment to find out if it would work better for my stride and aching ankles on the premise that maybe I’m getting too much support with the orthotics. Running without orthotics and braving the elements…it was going to be an adventure run.

While taking the trash outside, I could already feel the bone chilling effects of the wind gusts. Starting the run, I was buffeted by flailing winds and even got hit on the face by a tree branch early on. Rather than running like the wind, I ran into the wind instead. It reminded me of the conditions during the 1987 or 1988 Long Beach Marathon when it was windy the whole time and also had spots of rain.

Although I wasn’t wearing orthotics, it felt like my new Brooks Addiction shoes gave enough support so as not to make me overpronate. It was hard to judge the effect objectively though because I was concentrating more on keeping myself upright while the wind was trying to toss me around. Besides, my whole body was too chilled to feel the pain in my ankles too much. I managed to run for 52 minutes even though my target was only 45 minutes. I didn’t want to go too long during my naked trial run without orthotics.

When I got home, I checked the temperature and wind speed and found out that I ran in 55 degree weather with winds blowing 20 to 30 MPH, with gusts up to 45 MPH. At 30 MPH, that would have resulted in a wind chill factor or 40 degrees. Who would have thought of talking about wind chill factor in sunny California?

Challenge accepted, elements braved, adventure accomplished, bare naked orthotics-free feet survived, joy experienced. Thank you.

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