ARGGGGGHHHHH.......

So I'm running around and around and around the Dixon indoor track. Ten laps to a mile...that's a lot of corners, right? I like to go out and do the first mile as fast as I can and then let my overall horrible conditioning bring me right back to a slow jog for the other three miles or so (more than four miles and I'm missing the bus home, so that's it). So tonight I'm zooming around the track pretty good, feeling good...probably looking terrible, but feeling good. It usually takes me about two songs to finish the first mile. So the iPod gets through the second song and heads to the third and I'm thinking, "that's ok. The second song was Bloc Party - pretty short." But by the time I'm halfway through the third song, I'm a little worried. I know I'm not going that slow. I do one more lap without hearing the Nike+ chick call out "one mile" and I can't take it any more. I hit the button on the iPod to check my mileage and time. "You've run .24 miles. You've run 12 minutes and 34 seconds."

What?

Point two four what?

I can't count laps on that tiny track - I always lose count. But I know I had run between 15 and 20 laps. The track at Dixon is exactly .10 miles per lap.

Point two four, my ass cheeks!

I try to pause the iPod and re-start it. Nope.

I try to re-calibrate it. Doesn't work. It says I'm not running as far as I say I'm running. I say I am so running as far as I say I'm running. It doesn't respond. I tell it to check it again. People start to stare.

Very long story short, the sensor in my shoe was not in the little hole exactly right. It was sort of sticking up sideways. You'd think I'd feel that running around the track for 40 minutes. Nope. I sure didn't.

I know it's hard to believe, but I've been using the Nike+ for a couple of years now. Since it first came out. And yes, I've managed to mangle up two runs in less than a week.

It's just possible I'm not as smart as I think I am.


No, I don't know who the bird is...some BBC thing. Crazy Brits. Head over there and say thanks for the photo for me.