I wanna see a straight line!

The name of this blog is "GISrunner" ... I tell people when they ask about my exercise plans & I say "I run" ... I even have a subscription to "Runner's World." But deep down inside, I don't consider myself to be a runner yet because I think I still take way too many walk breaks and my slow shuffle is really a jog. I'm being very generous to describe myself as a runner.

I've been using the Nike+ since September. I bought it about 5 weeks or so after I started the Couch to 5k plan. I like it because it keeps up with the mileage and pace for me. I know it's not completely accurate, but for the most part I think it's at the most 5% off when I've measured routes on my mapping system. I can live with that. Plus I really like using the slowgeek website to graph the runs so I can see the run/walk portions.

Here's the first run measured with the Nike+ in September. I was at the track and made an effort to warm-up, break up the run/walk portions evenly and then cool down. Yep, I did a pretty good job of doing just that.

Now here's graph for the Harvest Days' 5k in October that was more of a cross-country type course on the horse trails at the 4H Rural Life Center. It measured slightly short and that didn't surprise me at the time. There were parts that were not marked very well and I may have cut a turn or two a little short. I started off too fast and had to take a lot of short walk breaks.

So now here's the graph from Saturday's Patriots' 5k.

Argh, there are those dips from the walk breaks again! I'm really looking forward to the day when I can have that magical straight line graph. I have a few treadmill workouts that are like that. I just have a hard time maintaining a consistent pace outdoors that I can maintain the entire time. The hills in Saturday's 5k were a little unexpected as was the headwind and it had an impact on my legs. But on the bright side, there are some good stretches at a 10:00 pace, so I need to concentrate on that.

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself ... after all, that's what I do best! I just really want to call myself a runner and believe it!