Technology and Training: Love - Hate Relationship

I love tech!  I really do.  When it works.  When it isn't working, it is maddening to the extreme.

I have been sporting a Motorola Droid X for about 18 months now.  Android operating system, fully integrated into my "Google Life" and all that.  But it is glitchy!  Case in point:  Today I went for a run.  GPS wouldn't sync up (a frequent problem with my phone) for a long time.  Couldn't wait so started out. Finally it synced up but only for about two miles.  I know this because it talks to me while I work out.  Every mile it updates me on distance, average pace, average speed, etc.  Got the two mile update, nothing after that.  That is until I got about 300 yards from home and I hear, "Total distance 734 miles, average pace 5-5-5.34 miles per hour..."

No lie!  I don't know what happened but suddenly I was not only the fastest animal ever to walk the planet, I was giving jet airliners a run for their money.  I felt very manly to have run so far and so fast.

I think I am going to stick it out with my phone, for now.  I have until June or July before Verizon says I can upgrade my phone and sign another two-year contract.  I probably won't be buying another Motorola phone, however.  This is my third Motorola phone in about 6 years and they all seem to get glitchy at some point.  So, for now, I will limp along, doing battery pulls and the like to try and get past the glitches and then upgrade to a great 4G phone (Samsung or HTC probably) this summer.

Anyone have your own phone glitch stories?  Recommendations for my new phone?  (Don't say iPhone, not going to do it, I am too much of a 'Googlephile.')

Back At It!

Is a year and a half too long to be away?  The answer is yes.  Well, I am back.

In November I decided enough was enough and I needed to sign up for a race and get back to training.  I had put on all of the weight I had lost in training for the first two triathlons and was definitely unhappy with how I felt and looked.  This time, however, I decided to up the ante.  I loved doing the two sprint distance triathlons.  I had so much fun training and racing but decided it was time to do more.

Looking at the international distance races out there, I found that most of them were on Sundays.  I don't race on Sunday.  Really wanted to do the Nations Tri, here in DC.  Sunday.  How about the Tri DC?  Sunday.  Other races were sprint on Saturday, international on Sunday.  Then I noticed there was a half-ironman, or 70.3, on a Saturday in May.  I knew that was going to be my race.  Five months to train for that distance, I felt, was plenty of time.  But I wanted company again.  I guess I am a social racer.  So I sent out some texts, emails, etc and got a couple of friends to join me.  Now there are six of us all signed up for the race and training.

I am really looking forward to the race and am enjoying the training.  I am losing weight, feeling better, and scared to alive of doing 70.3 miles.