Podcast Transcriptions

EPISODE 1: The 3,000th inReach SOS Incident

Dennis: Last October Guillaume Hullin found himself stuck in the middle of a snowstorm in one of the most remote territories in all of Europe. He was alone. His only hope was to call for help. This is the story of the 3,000th rescue called in from a Garmin inReach handheld device. You’re listening to “Life on the Outside,” a podcast beyond boxes or comfort zones.

Amanda: Presented by Garmin. And we’re your hosts Amanda…

Dennis: And I’m Dennis. We feature stories from athletes, explorers, pilots, captains and anyone who woke up today to beat yesterday. Guillaume isn’t some certified mountaineer with a grizzly beard and years of experience working in the wilderness. He has a job in IT.

Guillaume: I’m a programmer.

Dennis: He’s kind of your average computer geek. He has a thin frame with dark facial hair and a soft smile. He has a fiancé. He likes to snowboard and sometimes he gets tired of living in the city. Like all of us, he gets tired of his job.

Guillaume: I’m mostly dealing with people, and one of my best friends, one time seeing me always between my server rooms and between meeting with people, at one point told me, “You’ve got to go outdoors.” And I never went outdoors, but like really when I say no experience outdoors, I mean like I couldn’t make fire with gasoline.

Dennis: So a few years ago, Guillaume started hiking, but he didn’t just go on day trips or weekend getaways. Every few months Guillaume would head out into the Scandinavian wilds, sometimes for days with absolutely no experience. And the best part, he films everything.

Guillaume: So here we are [inaudible 00:01:56]. It’s in Sweden and it’s a very nice forest. Of course I have decided to come in the winter. Just, you know, a bit of adventure, and of course I arrive late which mean right at night fall, so I have to hurry up to go to shelter.

Dennis: Guillaume has this humble YouTube channel where he chronicles his misadventures in the wilderness because, according to him, he wants his followers to learn from his mistakes. That was a clip from his first video. So last October Guillaume decided to hike through the most remote territory in all of Europe, miles from civilization, Sarek National Park. Sarek is not a place for beginners. Located in northern Sweden above the Arctic Circle, it is largely untouched by mankind. The few trails it has are unmarked. There are no roads, no power lines, no gas stations. There’s nothing. It’s known for its harsh and unpredictable weather, and its incomparable solitude. However, it’s also known for its beauty. Guillaume set out to hike in the Sarek by way of a trail called the Kungsleden, a trail over 440 kilometers long. His first few days in the Sarek were beautiful and cold and lonely.

Guillaume: It’s…I can’t describe it. It’s scary and also, I don’t know really how to explain that.

Dennis: But then it started to snow and while Guillaume had prepared for hiking in the cold, he was not prepared for what was coming.

Guillaume: When I looked at the weather report it was telling me, okay, a storm is coming.

Dennis: Guillaume had a choice. He could continue ahead or he could turn back. If he turned back now, winter would set in and he’d have to wait another year. He’d have to turn back to civilization, back to his job and the buzz of those server rooms. He’d been looking forward to this trip for months.

Guillaume: The next day I just went on this mountain pass and just went for it.

Dennis: Guillaume continued on into Sarek, beyond the point of no return.

Guillaume: And it was snowing enough to basically cover the trail. The terrain when you get into the mountains is mostly rocks, like, boulders, so your feet can fall in between, and marshes, so your feet fall in the water. So you’ve got the choice between having wet feet or broken leg.

Dennis: As Guillaume went deeper into the wilds of Sarek, farther and farther from civilization, he was hoping that the snow would let up. If he made it through the mountain pass before the storm got worse, he thought he would be fine hiking through the frozen marshlands. But he wasn’t.

Guillaume: After that mountain pass I went for, like, 15 kilometers and it was, like, hell of like snowstorm. So several times I fell on the mountains. Imagine you don’t see in front of you, you are just getting your feet always wet, and you’re just following a direction, you don’t see any path.

Dennis: I want to point out that Guillaume did not have snow shoes. So every single step that he took, his feet would fall straight through the surface of the snow. Sometimes he would sink up to his knees. On top of that, Guillaume had to contend with crossing rivers. Because of the weather, the water was freezing and dangerous.

Guillaume: Very rapid water, rapid glacier water which certainly was maybe as deep as me. At that point really when I was doing river crossing, I was, like, just cross it. Just pass through. That’s when I was like, “Okay, I cannot move if there is even more snow.”

Dennis: Guillaume was stuck. The snowstorm prevented him from going ahead and he was too far into the wild to turn back, so he did the only thing he knew to do. He triggered an SOS on his Garmin inReach. Immediately he heard back.

Guillaume: I got the confirmation that my SOS was received and I gave them data, like I told them, “Okay, I’m stuck in the mountains by the snow. I will not make it out.” They did not know if they could extract me at that time.

Dennis: Guillaume set up his tent and planted a French flag outside so he could be seen by the rescue team. In less than two hours he received a text that the Swedish police would be coming to get him via helicopter, however there was a problem. Another snowstorm was coming in. If the rescue team was unable to find him before the storm set in, he could be stuck in the wilds of Sarek for days or even weeks. And so he waited in the cold.

Guillaume: If there is a time where you basically mentally breakdown because of how bad the situation you are in, it’s not during the time you are in the situation, it’s just after. But honestly the view from there is also awesome, so I was like, if I die here I’m okay with that.

Dennis: At 5:00 p.m., as it was getting dark, the Swedish police arrived. It had only been three hours from the moment Guillaume triggered the SOS on his inReach. You were helicoptered out, you were taken back to a station I’m assuming.

Guillaume: I just got taken back to a city.

Dennis: Oh, really?

Guillaume: Not to a station, a police station. Surprisingly, actually. Literally, like, when the police officer came out to the helicopter he asked me, “Where do you want me to drop you?” And I told him, like, “Okay, then drop me in that city.”

Dennis: What did that feel like going from being in the wilderness to being in the middle of a city?

Guillaume: Weird. Very weird. And your phone suddenly starts to ring with notifications because it just got access to 4G. And it’s like ring, ring, ring, and you’re like, okay, keep quiet for now. Then you’re like, “Oh, restaurant. I’m gonna order a meal and a beer.” That’s the first thing I did, I stepped in a restaurant and say, “Double meal please, and two beers.”

Dennis: That’s probably the right way to do it. So you made it back, so what’s next? Are you planning to go back? Are you planning to try it again?

Guillaume: I’m not done with Sarek. I have to go back. This time with snowshoes.

Dennis: That was gonna be my next question is if you got yourself a pair of snowshoes.

Guillaume: Yeah, I got a pair of snowshoes.

Dennis: We want to thank Guillaume for taking time to tell us his story. Oh, and by the way, Guillaume, congratulations on your engagement.

Amanda: Congratulations.

Dennis: We’ll see you on the trail, man.

Amanda: So don’t worry, you don’t need to be stuck in the Swedish wilderness to tell us a good story. If you have something you want to share about how you’ve lived life on the outside, we totally want to hear about it. You can send your stories to PodcastStories@Garmin.com.

Dennis: That was kind of intense. I don’t know about you, Amanda, but I’m ready for some lighthearted material.

Amanda: Yeah, I mean I’m sweating just a little bit, but yet.

Dennis: I sweat all the time, though, so that’s okay.

Amanda: Let’s talk about what’s new with Garmin.

Dennis: What is new with Garmin?

Amanda: It’s time for Garmin news.

Dennis: Garmin news.

Amanda: Should we do that not like that ever?

Dennis: No.

Amanda: Okay.

Dennis: We’re gonna keep it in. In fact, build the soundtrack around that.

Amanda: It’s time for Garmin news.

Dennis: Garmin news. There it is. That felt good, I like that one.

Amanda: Okay.

Dennis: So first up, guys, for all of those with Garmin Pay, you can now pay with your Discover card. And for those of you who don’t know what Garmin Pay is, it is a contactless payment solution that comes straight from that Garmin smartwatch you’re carrying on your wrist. So now you can upload all your cards, your Via, your MasterCard and your Discover. And you can upload all of your cards directly onto your watch, really comes in handy when you’re fumbling for your wallet or your purse in the checkout line at the grocery store. What else do we have going on today, Amanda?

Amanda: We also have a new product to talk about. So Garmin is releasing new products all the time, but this one is a pretty cool one because it is taking an existing watch that we have, which is the vivoactive 3 Music, but now it’s connected by Verizon. So this is a watch that pairs with your Verizon network. What that allows you to do is it allows you to wear your watch and have a bunch of capabilities without your phone. So you can leave that phone at home. So the cool thing about that is obviously when you’re out on a run, not having that big bulky phone in your pocket tucked into your waistband, not getting the sweat all over it…

Dennis: Yep.

Amanda: …is really a cool feature. The other thing this watch has that I think is really relevant in the world we live in today is this watch has built-in safety features. It’s got instant detection on it, which is if something were to happen that an incident occurs, the watch will notify your three emergency contacts and ping them with your location, which is super helpful. You’re also able to trigger it yourself if you need some assistance. Say you twist an ankle or you run out of water, you need to call the mom to come get you.

Dennis: Mom.

Amanda: You can trigger this on your watch and it will automatically send an update to your three emergency contacts and let them know where you’re at and that you are in need of assistance. So again, it’s a super cool, super relevant feature that now is available on the new vivoactive 3 Music connected by Verizon.

Dennis: And you guys laugh but when I get that watch my mom is gonna be my first contact that I put on. She always is.

Amanda: Am I gonna be the second?

Dennis: Of course. Of course.

Amanda: Perfect, perfect.

Dennis: Absolutely.

Amanda: And it’s an open audition for the third, right?

Dennis: Yeah. We’ll see.

Amanda: So that’s all that’s new with Garmin. So are you ready to do some Q&A?

Dennis: Yeah, let’s go to the Q&A corner.

Amanda: Let’s go.

Dennis: All right.

Amanda: Welcome to our Q&A corner. You ask the questions and we try to answer them. Sometimes we do a good job.

Dennis: First question comes from Josie in New Orleans, Louisiana. And Josie writes, “I’ve been getting into running as part of my New Year’s resolution. I’ve never worn a fitness watch, but I keep hearing people talk about them. Where should I start?”

Amanda: Well first off, congratulations on sticking with your resolution. That’s one month longer than most people. This is a pretty straightforward one. A good recommendation here because you said that you are kind of getting into running, we have a great watch called the Forerunner. It’s actually the Forerunner series, and it is exactly that. It is built for runners and triathletes as well, but the key feature here being tracking your distance, pace, heart rate, all those kind of key things that a runner is looking for. But if running isn’t the only thing that you’re gonna be into, you think after a couple months you might want to take on some other activities, then we do have another watch called the vivoactive 3 Music, that’s a great all around watch. It’s your lifestyle watch, it’s your workout watch, it’s your running watch all in one. So both options are great, one’s a little more focused on the runner specific needs, and then one being more of overarching healthy lifestyle watch. So vivoactive 3 and the Forerunner would definitely be my first go-to recommendations for you. Our next question comes to us from Yanek in Hamburg, and Yanek just got a new Garmin watch and he wants to change the watch face. He wants to know how you do it.

Dennis: Changing your watch face is actually pretty easy. When you’re in the Connect IQ store, select the watch face that you want, and once it’s downloaded you can sync your device with the GarminConnect app to send the watch face to that device. If you want details, step-by-step instructions, you can visit GarminConnect, or our support page on Garmin.com. And we’ll make sure to have a link for that in the show notes. And then our last question comes from Melissa in Ontario, and Melissa writes, “I want to sign up for a race this spring and make a vacation out of it. Do you have any suggestions?”

Amanda: Oh Melissa, do I have some suggestions for you.

Dennis: Oh, Melissa.

Amanda: There’s actually a ton to choose from. First being the Cherry Blossom run in Washington, DC., which is beautiful by the way. If you haven’t had an opportunity to see those trees kind of at that time of year, it’s truly spectacular. So from a place to go and things to see, the Cherry Blossom Run, DC. Go to it.

Dennis: Go there. It’s pretty.

Amanda: Or, another option is the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. Good ol’ San Fran. Obviously there you’ve got all the great food, great attractions, some amazing hills that you can run up and down. Great options there. The last one I’m gonna recommend, and this one I feel like Dennis, it’s gonna hit close to home here. So the Broad Street run in Philly.

Dennis: Oh, yeah. So Philly is a great town to visit. I love Philadelphia, and you know, you can go there and you can carb load after you run by getting a Philly cheese steak. The place that you need to go to get the best Philly cheese steak is Joe’s Steaks and Soda Shop.

Amanda: Now I’m hungry.

Dennis: Sorry.

Amanda: But last one, and I feel like we absolutely would be amiss if we didn’t tell you this one, is the Disney half or full marathon.

Dennis: Oh, yeah.

Amanda: So go run with some crazy characters and then go hit the theme parks.

Dennis: Hit the theme parks.

Amanda: It’s a full, well-rounded vacation with just a little bit of working out in the middle.

Dennis: Yeah, although I feel like if you go with kids it’s gonna be maybe working out no matter what.

Amanda: You don’t take kids to Disneyland, you’re doing it wrong.

Dennis: That’s a good point.

Amanda: Plenty of great options, and Garmin is sponsoring a lot of those runs. So make sure you wear your watch and represent while you’re there.

Dennis: Yeah. Okay. So we’re almost out of here, but before we go we’d like to end the show with some tips from one of our associates here at Garmin Headquarters.

Amanda: So today’s tip comes to us from Joe, and Joe is a product manager here at Garmin. He’s been here for 11 years. Joe has actually run the Boston Marathon seven times.

Dennis: Man.

Amanda: Yeah, this guy is pretty legit. Joe is going to talk to us about some advice he has on spring training. You know, it’s getting warmer, people are going outside, you’re dusting off those running shoes. Perfect time to get some tips from Joe. So take it away.

Joe: A lot of people want to try to do too much too fast. They jump from, you know, from zero miles right up into running a few miles every day. And a lot of times that’s a recipe for a setback, I think, which can actually even further delay your fitness gains. So I think first of all, one of my big tips or one of my big thoughts for people that come out of a winter training without having done very much at all is to first of all give yourself permission to take it easy and let the gains, let the improvements come to you in a natural way, not biting off more than you can really chew. And letting your fitness progress naturally. There really aren’t any shortcuts. You can’t really hurry things, hurry fitness along faster than it wants to come. So I think that really is good advice for somebody who’s kind of picking back up again in the spring, is take a little time to get back in rhythm, to get back up to whatever training volume you’re comfortable with. At the most basic level, you know, the beauty of the whole Garmin ecosystem for runners is you’ve got a built-in way to log your training, which is a very powerful thing. You know, some people still keep old fashioned paper and pencil logs for this purpose, so that you can see what you’ve done, how much you’ve been running and how it’s been going. But, you know, all of our forerunner watches, for example, will automatically, you can configure them all to automatically upload your run data every day to GarminConnect. You know, on GarminConnect you get a permanent record of what you’ve done. You can add your notes, your friends, whoever you’re connected with on GarminConnect can comment on what you’ve done and tell you how great you are or how much you’re terrible. But, so there’s some social interaction there. And more than anything, having that sort of record of what you’re doing can allow you to keep your eye on how you’re progressing and how things are going. And that really is available from our most basic, least expensive forerunner all the way up to our most expensive one, it’s just that power of an automatic training log that lives online. GarminConnect is free by the way, it doesn’t cost anything. You know, anybody can set up an account even if you’re not a Garmin customer.

Amanda: Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you to all the Garminites who listened. I’m your host Amanda.

Dennis: And I’m Dennis. And this podcast has been engineered on the inside…

Amanda: …for your life on the outside.

EPISODE 2: Running for the Right Reasons

Amanda: Okay. Who is Dorothy Beal?

Dennis: So Dorothy is a writer. She’s also a mother of three and a marathon runner. She’s also an advocate for body positivity. Her work has been featured online in “Women’s Health”, “Huffington Post”, “Runner’s World” and “Dr. Oz”. You might have even seen her on the cover of “Women’s Running”. As for her career as a marathon runner, well, how many marathons have you completed as of today?

Dorothy: 41.

Amanda: Good god. That woman’s run more marathons than I have run miles.

Dennis: I know, but that’s not why we’re having her on the show. We wanted to talk to Dorothy because she is the founder behind a movement that is revolutionizing body image and body positivity in the running world.

Amanda: You’re listening to “Life on the Outside”, a podcast beyond boxes or comfort zones.

Dennis: Presented by Garmin, and we’re your hosts Dennis…

Amanda: And I’m Amanda. We feature stories from athletes, explorers, pilots, captains, and anyone who woke up today to beat yesterday.

Dennis: When you think of a runner’s body, what do you see? Our producer Jay went around asking people this question.

Woman 1: Lean, athletic. Just, like, probably in really good shape.

Woman 2: Good. Fit, yeah. Fit.

Woman 3: Fit, lean, tall.

Man 1: Fit. Usually on the thin side. Like, a runner’s body.

Dennis: It seemed like a harmless question, but this is a society that correlates fitness with body image. In order to be fit, you should look fit, right?

Dorothy: There’s something wonderful about running. If you don’t harness it, it can also be very destructive.

Dennis: Dorothy has this brand called “I run this body”, but really, it’s more of a social movement.

Dorothy: It’s you kind of taking control of your life and taking control of who you are.

Dennis: She created this safe space for runners of all body types and all ages to share their accomplishments without fear of being judged. It’s basically body positivity for runners. Dorothy’s take is, you don’t have to be the best to be passionate about your sport. If you run, you’re a runner. Also, fun fact, “I run this body” comes from General George S. Patton.

Patton: Now if you’re going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.

Dorothy: You know, it’s not exactly what I think of cardio. But that’s inspiring.

Dennis: Right. Dorothy admits that the quote relates to war. But I think she can attribute it best here.

Dorothy: I would memorize quotes when I first started running to kind of help me get through super long runs, and towards the end of a long run when your brain starts to fade, instead of being able to remember the quote, the quotes kind of just became shorter words. So that long quote became “I run this body,” and I just kind of repeat it over and over to myself.

Dennis: SO it’s basically this mantra that she has spread around the world. On Instagram alone, “I run this body” has over half a million posts. It’s a supportive community that is steadily growing every day. But Dorothy didn’t start out as a marathon runner, and she didn’t always love her body.

What was your life like before you started running?

Dorothy: So I went to college, and probably like a lot of people, just started drinking too much and not eating healthy. I was diagnosed with social anxiety.

Dennis: Okay, look. Anyone who went to college knows it’s a social atmosphere, and for someone with social anxiety, that can be a nightmare. Dorothy tried doing things like going to the gym or even the cafeteria, but she couldn’t. So she goes home to visit her parents during a break.

Dorothy: At that point, the only pants that I had that still fit me were sweatpants, and my mom had a scale in her bathroom. I just hopped on the scale to see what I weighed, and I hadn’t weighed myself in a while, and I saw a number that I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams. I think it just hit me that I had gotten so far away from who I was and what I actually wanted to be.

Dennis: For Dorothy, this was the breaking point.

Dorothy: With the gift of hindsight, I can see it wasn’t necessarily the number. There was a lot of physical weight that I needed to lose, but there was also a ton of emotional weight that was weighing me down.

Amanda: I think there’s something about, that you are not defined by that number, but that number is also a fact.

Dennis: Yeah.

Amanda: It’s kind of hard to not let that number define you and feel like it’s not written on your face. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. So I totally know that feeling. But I think having that low point was one of the best things that could have happened for Dorothy.

Dorothy: It was one of those rock bottom moments where it was, like, no one’s going to change my life for me. I have to do this or I’m just going to become someone that I don’t want to be.

Dennis: Dorothy the runner was born right then, right there. But she had a long and difficult road ahead of her, and it all started with her first race, a 10k.

Dorothy: My mom just signed me up for the 10k and was like, “Hey, we’re running a 10k.” The only training I did was cut down on the amount of cigarettes that I was smoking, which is really horrible, but it’s kind of the truth.

Dennis: So Dorothy ran the 10k with her mom, and she hated it.

Dorothy: I didn’t love it. I mean, it was actually, if I’m honest, pretty horrible.

Dennis: Something did happen when she saw the finish line. Something that showed Dorothy that she was much more than just her anxiety.

Dorothy: I saw that finish line and something ignited in me, and I just took off running. So I ended up beating my mom, I think, by, like, two seconds. Yeah. I don’t know what happened. I just, I don’t know, I saw the finish line and I just went.

Dennis: So Dorothy graduated from college. She spent the summer living with her mom. She struggled to find a job. She still struggled with her anxiety. Yet every morning her mother would wake her up at sunrise and say…

Dorothy: “Put your clothes on, we’re going for a run.”

Dennis: Running became this constant in her life. It became this kind of, like, cruel salvation, where it was a place that it was painful, but Dorothy could quiet her mind, and for the first time, she felt like she could run her body.

Okay, so when did you run your first marathon?

Dorothy: I ran my first marathon in 2003. It changed my life. When I crossed the finish line, I was forever changed. It was something that I believed was impossible, and I had just made it possible for myself. So what about all the other things in my life that had nothing to do with running that I thought were impossible? What was actually possible?

So I think it was just a pivotal moment in realizing that I should start believing in myself.

Dennis: After that day, Dorothy was hooked on running.

Dorothy: I mean, the running bug bit me hard. How could it not? I mean, it was something that was improving my life emotionally and physically and spiritually, and while not easy, was definitely better.

Dennis: Dorothy’s life became intertwined with running. She met her husband because of running. She started writing about running. Her whole career was centered around her passion.

Amanda: I feel like there’s a but coming.

Dorothy: Okay. I am a runner, but now I want to be seen as, like, a legit runner. Like, I want to fit in at the front of the pack and not necessarily the back or the middle. I just had, like, a mentality of at all costs.

Dennis: Dorothy started to compare herself to other runners. Her competitive edge got sharper, but it got the better of her. Not only was she comparing times and stats, but she started comparing her body to other runners.

Dorothy: The people that you saw on those covers, on the cover of “Runner’s World” or “Running Times” were one body type, and that body type was extraordinarily thin.

Dennis: In Dorothy’s mind, it wasn’t enough because she didn’t look like a runner.

Dorothy: I remember the first time I ran a sub-four marathon and I was so excited in my head. Like, a sub-four, to see a three, man, I was fast. You know?

Dennis: Okay. So just real quick, a sub-four marathon means she ran it in under four hours. That’s not, like, groundbreaking, but it really is a remarkable accomplishment. According to marastats.com, only 21% of female runners finish in under four hours.

Dorothy: I was out at a bar that night with friends, and there were a couple of other women who were wearing their medals around their neck. Everyone was kind of talking about how the race went, and these women had qualified for Boston. Suddenly my 359, it felt terrible.

Dennis: Dorothy started running 92 miles a week. That’s a half marathon a day. It’s crazy. So her weight dropped down to an unhealthy level. She was tired all the time, and sure, she might have been shaving seconds off of her marathon times, but she was stuck in this comparison trap.

Dorothy: We are still judged based on what we look like. I think I just wanted to become what I saw. I think I wanted a level of respect that I thought that I would earn if I was faster.

Dennis: Just like that, her depression came back.

Dorothy: I was in a low point in my life again, and just realizing that maybe I had gotten something a little bit twisted. Like, maybe I had taken this great thing in my life and maybe I had turned it into something that wasn’t benefiting me in a great way.

Dennis: The whole reason that Dorothy started running was because it was a way for her to claim ownership over her body. But when she constantly compared her body to other runners, it’s almost like she started to lose control again. Then one day, while Dorothy was with her daughter, her daughter said something.

Dorothy: She said something about how her thighs were big. It was one of those moments that just really struck me, where I was like, “Oh my gosh, did I do this? Am I putting my problems on her?” Like, of course, she doesn’t have big thighs. But we have very similar bodies.

So if I’m sitting here telling her that she has a beautiful body, but I’m outwardly talking bad about myself, what does that say to her? Does that say that she is beautiful, smart, kind, talented? No. She sees a mom who’s constantly putting herself down. I just wish I had someone, when I was little, I wish I had someone say, “You belong and you’re okay as is, and you don’t need to change. You don’t need to fit in.” You know? Like, you were born to stand out.

Dennis: So Dorothy decided it was time for a change. She wasn’t going to be that person.

Dorothy: I didn’t want any issues that I have had in the past to effect my children in the future. So I just didn’t want to be that person anymore. It was just one those movements where I was like, “You know what? I’m a runner. I have a runner’s body. I don’t care what other people think about my body, but I am going to take the time and make the effort to start to love myself.”

Dennis: She took that core message of positivity and self-love, and she ran with it.

Amanda: Ha, I see what you did there. Was that a pun?

Dennis: Don’t worry about it. Dorothy started writing about body positivity and mental health in relation to running. She soon realized that there were other people just like her, people who needed to hear what she was saying.

Amanda: I love that.

Dennis: I know, and she’s really made an impact on the running community worldwide. She’s known not just among casual joggers and around the blockers, but amongst Olympians as well, like Alexi Pappas, Olympic marathoner and sponsored athlete from Garmin.

Alexi: You know, I think that running is one of those sports that should, and at its best, feels really all inclusive. She’s an athlete, and so I think she can represent a void that is coming from a place of experience. She’s a good runner. She’s a dedicated athlete. But I think the messaging that she puts out there allows running to be for everybody, and it’s the truth. It is a sport that is for everybody.

Dennis: But in spite of her fame, Dorothy stays humble about it.

Dorothy: Yeah. It has been such a force of change, I believe, anyways. I hope it has legs and it takes off beyond me. I don’t need people to know that I’m the person that started it.

Amanda: I think that’s why people love Dorothy. She’s approachable. She talks about depression, and most importantly, she tells people the truth. She tells people that we are enough.

Dorothy: Can I say that people can go to the Connect IQ Store to download the “I run this body” watch face, if they want to?

Dennis: Oh, yeah. We were going to actually plug that in the show notes, but let’s go ahead…

Dorothy: Oh, okay. Yeah.

Dennis: …I want you to definitely say about that. So, yeah, guys, “I run this body” is a really cool watch face. You can go the Connect IQ Store and you can download it and have it on your watch to get inspiration on your wrist. How does that sound? Did I do okay with that?

Dorothy: Perfect. Love it.

Dennis: So Dorothy, where can people find you?

Dorothy: Yeah. You can find me on social media as MilePost. It’s M-I-L-E P-O-S-T. I am pretty much on all platforms, Twitter, Instagram, as MilePost. You can also, “I run this body” is in Instagram, and you can also find “I have a runner’s body” on Instagram.

Dennis: Yeah. So guys, go ahead and follow the account, and also follow the hashtag #Irunthisbody and #Ihavearunnersbody, because there are some really inspiring stories out there.

Dorothy: Yeah. It’s a really great way if you’re, like, looking to find a community to connect with. Check those hashtags and you will find tons of inspiration.

Dennis: I love it. Dorothy, thank you genuinely so much for taking the time…

Dorothy: No, thank you so much…

Dennis: …to chat with us.

Dorothy: …for asking me. I’m so honored to have been asked.

Dennis: Dorothy, thank you so much for allowing us to tell your story. You left me thoroughly inspired. I’m going to start running marathons tomorrow.

Amanda: Really? Because I don’t really think that was the message.

Dennis: Oh, yeah. No, I’ve already started jogging.

Amanda: What?

Dennis: Yeah. Well, it’s more of a brisk walk.

Amanda: Oh, uh-huh. Okay. This makes sense now.

Dennis: Around the house.

Amanda: There it is, there it is.

Dennis: To the fridge and back. Anyway, guys, gals, everyone, I want to take a moment to congratulate my co-host, Amanda. She recently gave birth to her second child, a girl, who is absolutely beautiful and has the most hair I have ever seen on any baby ever, or even some grown men, for that matter.

Amanda: That is very true. Thank you so much, Dennis. Yeah. My husband and I definitely didn’t think our lives were going to revolve around ponytails and fingernail polish, but here we are. You know, people like Dorothy are inspiring me to, you know, have a better body positivity for my girls.

Dennis: Love it. I love it. Anyway, guys, welcome to the official Garmin podcast, your number one source for all things Garmin. We are going to talk about the latest product releases, news and events.

Amanda: Today we’ve got some really exciting things to share with you, and I kind of want to get right to it.

Dennis: Okay, then let’s do it. Amanda, what time is it?

Amanda: I’m so glad you asked, because it’s time for Garmin news.

Wait—

Dennis: I’m not going to sing it this time.

Amanda: We’re not doing that again.

Dennis: No, we’re not. Okay. So first off, a bit of exciting stuff for us. Garmin was listed by “Forbes” as the fifth best company to work for in America. So Amanda, congratulations. What else is going on?

Amanda: Okay. So this isn’t exactly news, but more a bit of a 411 for those who didn’t know. That Garmin watch on your wrist? It actually pairs with some other Garmin devices and can do some pretty cool stuff. So that Fenix, it can actually synch with your inReach, enabling you to call an SOS from your wrist. Your Instinct can also pair with some of your dog products. So, you know, for tracking and training purposes, it’s a good combo. Make sure you’re getting the most out of all of your Garmin devices. They work really well together, like us.

Dennis: Like us? Oh, I dig it. Okay, okay. Amanda, what else have we got going on?

Amanda: Oh, this one’s pretty big. We also launched Garmin Coach 2.0. So this is great for anyone looking to start running or, like me, getting back into it. With Garmin Coach, you have the ability to train for a 5k, a 10k or even a half marathon. You get training videos, insights and your choice between several online coaches. So you can see who, personality-wise, you know, works best for you.

Dennis: That is pretty cool. Lastly, we’re excited to announce that Garmin Connect now has a new feature for women. Menstrual cycle tracking.

Amanda: Oh, really? So what does that do, Dennis?

Dennis: Okay. Well, I’ll do my best to explain it. So menstrual cycle tracking gives women a full picture of their health. It doesn’t really matter if your cycle is regular, irregular, transitioning into menopause, or if you don’t have a period. You can still track the physical and emotional symptoms you experience every day. By doing so, you can see cycle details alongside your other stats in the Garmin Connect app, and it can help you identify patterns and make positive changes for a healthier lifestyle.

Amanda: People, let me tell you, this feature is super easy to use and really informative. As long as you log your daily stats and symptoms, you’ll get a report. It’ll show patterns and functions of your body, and even get, you know, period and fertility predictions. So it’s nice to know kind of what’s coming up. Plus, the user experience is pretty cool. Not to, like, toot our own horn, but the graphics are awesome, there’s little animations and, you know, you might learn a little bit. It’s pretty educational.

Dennis: I actually got to sit down in a interviewer with Jill, the lead developer for MCT here at Garmin headquarters. She explained to me how essential something like MCT is.

Jill: So being able to know where you are in your cycle can really help you plan, help you plan for your workouts, help you know what to anticipate. You know, when should you start your diet, if you’re thinking about it? You want to start the beginning of your phase where you have less of an appetite and you’re feeling great, you know, you’re really motivated. So it’s really just about giving women control to help them know where they are, and being able to track can really help you know if something’s wrong as well. Something may not be right, and they should talk to their doctor.

Amanda: All right. So now should we answer some Qs?

Dennis: What?

Amanda: Okay. Should we answer some questions?

Dennis: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let’s go to the Q&A corner.

Amanda: So we actually reached out on our social media channels on the Garmin Instagram page to get some questions from our audience to see, you know, what you guys wanted us to talk about and what you guys wanted us to answer. So our first question actually comes from patrickcrant22 [SP], who writes, “How does Live Track work?”

Dennis: So Live Track, for those that don’t know, is a feature that lets your friends and family track your activities in real-time. First off, your Garmin device has to have a GPS receiver in order to use Live Track, and once your Garmin device is synched with Garmin Connect, you can enable Live Track for a live event, and you can send out a webpage that has a map with your real time location on it to family and friends. It’s a great way, or let’s say if you’re running a marathon and you want your spouse to know where you are in the race, it’s a great way to share with that.

It’s also a great way, like, if you’re doing a 100-mile bike ride, like the Dirty Kanza, and you want your friends to know where you are and they want to, you know, make sure you’re not injured and you’re doing okay in the race, it’s a great way for everyone to see where you are. Then you can also share your pace, your elevation. If you have a heart rate monitor, you can also share your heart rate monitor, and it’s basically just a way to, you know, show off to your family and friends, but also let them know that you’re safe.

Amanda: So I can watch you racing from my couch?

Dennis: Yes.

Amanda: Perfect.

Dennis: You will see that I am on my couch, not moving a whole lot. Anyway, question two comes from @julienwaldingun [SP], who asks, “What’s your favorite Garmin watch?”

Amanda: Actually, my response is probably not what you would have expected, Dennis. My favorite Garmin watch right now is actually the new Instinct. So the Instinct has kind of a little different form feature than, you know, our typical Vivo or Forerunner products. It’s a little more rugged, a little more durable. But it also comes in some really cool, poppy colors. So there’s, like, a lakeside blue, there’s a seafoam, and it also comes in this really cool sunburst yellow, which is actually my favorite right now. It’s a really cool pop a color with any outfit that I put on. So definitely the Garmin Instinct is my new favorite.

All right. Let’s move on. Question number three really isn’t a question, but it comes from Guy36, who I believe is from Portugal. He says, “I love Garmin.”

Dennis: Well, we love you too, man. How do you say we love you too in Portuguese? Wait, I have it written down. [foreign language]

Amanda: We’re really sorry if we pronounce that incorrectly, but that was one of our favorite things that we saw on social, was just the Garmin love. So keep sending that our way for sure.

Dennis: So that’s all the time we have for questions, and we are about out of here, folks. However, as always, we’re going to bow out with tips from a pro.

Amanda: So today, in honor of our second episode, we thought we’d actually do tips from two of our pros. So with running season in full swing, we wanted to get some insight from two of our top elite runners, Alexi Pappas and Dorothy Beal.

Alexi: For a beginning runner, I think a couple of things that are very useful is to, no matter what, if you’re meeting people tomorrow to run or you’re meeting yourself, or no matter what the circumstances where you want to step out the door, call it practice. Like, call it your practice and give it a time that you’re going to step out the door and do it the night before so that even if you have all day to do it, you have a time when you know you’re going to report to your own practice. That is huge, huge for accountability and for just taking a goal seriously that might feel silly.

Dorothy: The more that I do, the more that I actually want to do, and the less that I do, the less that I want to do. So, like, if I get stuck on the couch and I’ve been watching a Netflix marathon for five hours, I don’t actually want to leave that couch. Like, I’m just stuck. To actually get onto that couch, like, that doesn’t really happen because I’m always here, there and everywhere.

Amanda: Awesome. Thanks, Dorothy, and thanks, Alexi. Thank you to all of our listeners, our fellow Garminites who took time out of their day to download and listen to our podcast.

Dennis: Remember, share your stories with us. Whatever it is, we want to hear it, whether you trek to the South Pole, you’re a freediver in the Caribbean, or you ran your 41st marathon. We want to tell your story.

Well, that wraps us up. Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry, and I’m also Dennis.

Amanda: And I’m Amanda.

Dennis: This has been engineered on the inside…

Amanda: For your life on the outside.

Dennis & Amanda: A Garmin podcast.

Dennis: Noice.

EPISODE 3: T-Rex Hunter

Dennis: People from all walks of life use Garmin. Marathoners, golfers, pilots. But what about paleontologists? Today, we’re gonna talk with David Burnham, paleontologist and fossil preparator at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum. Although we prefer to call him by his nickname, “The T-Rex Hunter.” David recently discovered the bones of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex and he did it using Garmin.

Amanda: You’re listening to “Life on the Outside,” a podcast beyond boxes or comfort zones.

Dennis: Presented by Garmin. And we’re your hosts, Dennis…

Amanda: And I’m Amanda. And we feature stories from athletes, explorers, pilots, captains and anyone who woke up today to beat yesterday.

David: Yes, so the most important is when you find something, you have to be able to go back to it because dinosaurs are so big, you’re not gonna take it up in one day.

Dennis: Sure, of course.

David: So you gotta be prepared to do a lot of scouting, you make a bunch of discoveries and you flag all your discoveries and then you kinda sort them out and go to the best one. But you have to have a variety of tools to do this and so you have to have proper collecting tools, then you have to have curating tools to consolidate important discoveries that may be in danger of being weathered. And then also you have to have a device to mark your discoveries and that’s where Garmin comes in for us.

Dennis: So before we get into how you use Garmin, you do a lot of your digging in Montana at this place called Hell Creek. Describe for us what Hell Creek is and why it’s important to your research.

David: Well, it’s one of the only areas in the world that preserved the last few million years of the evolution of dinosaurs. So this Hell Creek badland preserves sediments from ancient rivers that were flowing off the Ancestral Rocky Mountains and flowing towards the interior of the country which, at that time, was a seaway. We’re talking about over 66 million years ago. So, really, you’re walking on ancient riverbeds and flood planes and subtropical environment that existed in one time in Montana 66 million years ago.

Dennis: So it looked very different 66 million years ago?

David: Very different, yeah.

Dennis: Yeah, yeah. What are some of the Garmin devices that you use and how do you implement them into your fieldwork?

David: So I have two Montanas, two Rinos. I got some eTrex units. So, what’s important to me is to know where I am in space and time. And by that, I mean I need the geographical location so I can go back to that site if I need to. And you think you know where these things are because you’re walking around, “Oh, yeah, I’ll remember that.” But it’s so easy to get turned around, all the rocks look the same. There are no trees, so there’s hardly any landmarks that you can, or trails that you can follow. And then for the, to mark my position in time, I use elevation because this Hell Creek formation spanned over 2 million years and so you find something at the top may not mean that that animal was alive at the bottom. So we wanna separate the pages of time and take an elevation reading so when we compare our specimens, we say, “Okay, that came from lower Hell Creek or middle Hell Creek,” or… And at the very top of the Hell Creek actually records the extinction event for dinosaurs.

Dennis: Wow. Have you ever lost any potential finds or fossils because someone wasn’t using a Garmin device?

David: Have you ever of Ankylosaurus?

Dennis: I’m trying to recall every dinosaur book I had as a kid. But I think he’s the tank on legs with that big club on his tail, right?

David: Tank-like dinosaur.

Dennis: Yeah.

David: There’s only…and very few ever discovered in this area. And they’re, you know, got these huge skulls that are just full of bone and they’re… So this dermal armor has fused their skulls together and they got spikes and prongs and everything on them and they’re really cool-looking. Look like aliens. And so, to get one would be really important. So this one person shows me a part of an Ankylosaur skull on his head. “Oh, wow, where did you get that?” He goes, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll show you, I’ll show you.” So we spent hours looking, he couldn’t show me. I said, “Well, did you mark it on your GPS?” “Oh. Sorry, doc.”

Dennis: No. Does that still bother you at all?

David: It stills bothers him and it still bothers me, you know?

Dennis: Well, let’s talk about a successful discovery in the field. You and your team discovered a juvenile T. rex skull which is extremely rare. How big do you think the juvenile T. rex would have been?

David: Twenty to 25 feet long, maybe with a 3-foot-long skull.

Dennis: Wow.

David: Maybe 38 inches at the most.

Dennis: And just for perspective, how big is an average fully grown adult, a big adult T. rex? How large do they get?

David: Forty feet long, so the length of a tractor-trailer.

Dennis: Yeah. Wow. That’s big. And roughly, if they were to stand upright, how tall do you think they would be?

David: Twelve to 14 feet at the hips, 5-foot-long skull. The teeth are probably 12 inches long, the largest teeth in the mouth and most of that is root embedded in the skull for strength. It’s their only anchor, yeah.

Dennis: Still. But that deep root means it’s not going anywhere. I mean, if it takes ahold of you, you’re not going anywhere.

David: Yeah. So the adult wasn’t capable of fast speeds like you see on “Jurassic Park.” No, it could not catch the Jeep, these kinda things. And they go after the slow and the weak. I did a study one time on…because people always said, “Well, what did dinosaurs eat?” And I said, “Well, they had pointy teeth, they ate meat, lied around.” So how do you really know? So I figured, well, I started looking at stomach contents of what people find in their bellies. And so with Tyrannosaurs, I found, like, juveniles.

Dennis: Oh, really?

David: So big, bad T. rex ate babies and juvenile dinosaurs, things that you catch.

Dennis: Wow, no mercy.

David: Yeah.

Dennis: I mean, I guess that makes sense.

David: So they’re also cannibalistic. So they find T. rex bite marks on other T. rex bones.

Dennis: Really?

David: Mm-hmm.

Dennis: Wow. Do you think that…I mean, this is all just speculative now but do you think that was out of a necessity or they were just too hungry or…?

David: Conditions can force it like, you know, people cannibalize if they’re starving.

Dennis: Yeah, that’s a good point.

David: So the cannibal marks are found on the younger individuals but the T. rex teeth leave distinctive marks that you can measure and you can know for, you know, lucky enough to get those markings, you can determine this. But they may have been territorial in their fighting over same things we fight over, land, food, mates.

Dennis: Would they eat their own young or would the nurturing gene kinda kick in?

David: Yeah. Well, I don’t think they would eat their own young but they’d eat somebody else’s young.

Dennis: Another T. rex’s [crosstalk 00:07:04.664], yeah.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dennis: Yeah, yeah.

David: And so we also know that the older they got, the more injuries they accumulated. So, Sue, the T. rex that’s in Chicago, she’s got broken leg bones in the field and, you know, we call these things pathologies where you can see where the wounds and how they healed and it’s on the side of the face, on the neck and the tail. So the older they got, the more injuries they had.

Dennis: Wow.

David: So, and Sue, they determined her age was 28 years old so they lived a fast, hard life.

Dennis: Wow. That’s wild. And so, because Sue’s one of the older [crosstalk 00:07:40.214]…

David: The oldest one we know about.

Dennis: The oldest one we know about.

David: One of the most interesting things for me is to study the wounds on these extinct creatures to kinda see how these interactions took place. How they attacked each other, what part of the body they went for, what was the most common thing you see, and so on. And it’s kinda weird because we even find evidence of cancer in dinosaurs.

Dennis: Really?

David: Yeah, they get arthritis. T. rex have gout. I mean, some…

Dennis: Of course, he had gout. Of course, the T. rex had the king’s disease. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

David: There you go.

Dennis: Back to the juvenile T. rex. Why was that such an important discovery. I guess, why are they so rare?

David: It has to do with their growth rate. So, one, these theropod dinosaurs, closely related to birds, grow really, really fast. So that means they’re only on the ground for a very short time compared to adults. So they’re not around long enough to get buried and made into fossils. And even if they do die, if they’re not in the right condition to be buried very quickly, the bones are more fragile and so they’re gonna be eroded pretty easily.

Dennis: Sure. That makes sense, that makes sense. So this was a very significant discovery.

David: Definitely.

Dennis: Where can people see the juvenile T. rex skull that you guys discovered?

David: In my lab right now.

Dennis: Okay. Sorry, guys. What are the plans for it, then?

David: We do plan to have it on exhibit really soon.

Dennis: Great.

David: So it’ll be at the Natural History Museum in Lawrence, Kansas, and they can see these skull bones that we’re talking about and these teeth.

Dennis: I do want to talk to you a little bit about extinction. How do you think the dinosaurs became extinct?

David: You know, the only thing we have physical evidence for is the meteor that crashed into the Earth and caused a cataclysm that wreaked havoc, you know, for months and months and led to the demise of not only lots of animals, 70% of animal species on Earth went extinct. But there’s lots of plants. This is right at the time flowering plants had evolved. So, there’s flowers we’ll never see because whole forests across the face of the planet were wiped out. This thing ignited, you know, fires, it caused earthquakes, there was acid rain. So any nasty thing you could think of that could happen to the planet probably happened in a short time span.

Dennis: So once the meteor struck, what was the first thing that happened?

David: So the meteor struck, the first thing that happened, that set off a bunch of seismic events or earthquakes. And so it belched the planet so hard that in India, they have these lava flows that had been going on for, you know, millions of years when all of a sudden, there’s this huge pulse right when the meteor hits. And so that means an increased volcanic activity which releases poison gases into the atmosphere. So, immediately after the meteor hit, you had these seismic events and then you’re followed by the tsunami, which caused flooding. And then the fireball, the tremendous amount of heat that was released from this energy ignited these forests. And so, I may think, like, that a 3,000-mile perimeter around the strike zone was charred.

Dennis: Wow. So it’s basically hell on Earth right there.

David: Yeah, like if you were there, within seven minutes, the first thing would happen, your eardrums would be blown out and your eyes would’ve been melted out of their sockets, you know?

Dennis: Oh, my gosh.

David: If you were within a, you know, 3,000 miles of this thing.

Dennis: Wow, how big do you think the meteor was when it struck?

David: Seven to 10 miles across and it punched a hole in the Earth about 25 miles deep. It hit in the Yucatán Peninsula and, you know, so they’ve been able to locate the crater. They’ve been able to get age dates from the crater. We have sites where we find the ejecta, the stuff that rained back down that all this pulverized matter from the impact got shot back past the atmosphere but it all came back down. But it came back as, like, little glass BBs that were hot, very hot. Thousand degrees.

Dennis: Yeah.

David: And so every one of those little BBs encapsulates some kinda chemistry that we can study. So we can get age dates from those little BBs, we can get what the atmosphere was comprised of, and so lots of different things that can happen. But then that’s some of the things that, if you weren’t three feet underground or three feet underwater, you were toast, literally.

Dennis: Yeah. How did that lead into an extinction, a mass extinction?

David: So, then, you know, the volcanic activity continues. All this dust that people theorized blocked out the sun for, you know, months to a year and then there goes photosynthesis.

Dennis: And then after that, or before it began dying out, and then theropods?

David: After they ate all the dead things, there’s nothing left, right? You know, you’re not gonna… Yeah.

Dennis: Yeah.

David: Another thing is, too, is technically, dinosaurs did not go extinct because their closest relatives, birds, made it through this.

Dennis: Oh. Okay, got you. So it was just the end of one stage and the beginning of the next, essentially?

David: Well… So you can have your, you know what living fossils are? So you can have primitive things living with modern things. And so, there are primitive birds and modern birds and dinosaurs all living together, only the modern birds made it.

Dennis: Okay, so we’re almost out of time. I just have one last question. What is your favorite dinosaur?

David: So my favorite dinosaur is Archaeopteryx, which is actually the first bird. It’s 151 million years old, found in Germany but, to me, it’s what got me interested in paleontology because they found this thing, spread eagle, laying in the rock with a full set of feathers on its wings…

Dennis: Wow.

David: …who was just beautiful. But yet it had teeth and it had claws on the ends of its fingers and even a killing claw on its foot or a raptorial digit, you know? And so, it just fascinated me and so then I go into study raptors which is related to this Archaeopteryx and it just opened up a whole new world to imagine, you know, how did something go from a little organism like this into a terrifying beast like Tyrannosaurus?

Dennis: Thank you, David Burnham, for taking the time to chat with us. Personally, I’ve loved dinosaurs since I was a kid. I think a lot of us have. I just love that Garmin plays such a vital role in the discovery of the prehistoric era. And a special thank you to Cory, the Garmin associate who brought us this story. If you wanna volunteer your time or if you’d like to donate to one of David’s projects, you can email him at dinosaur@ku.edu, because, of course, that’s what his email is.

Amanda: I want my email address to have “dinosaur” in it.

Dennis: I know, I’m kinda sad that I didn’t think of it first.

Amanda: I know.

Dennis: Yeah.

Amanda: Let’s get some Garmin News going on, shall we?

Dennis: I could not agree more, it is time for Garmin News.

Amanda: Okay. So, we’ve got some really cool new products to talk about from Garmin and it’s all in that wearable department. So, first being the new vivoactive 4 series. This falls in line with the vivoactive 3 that’s Garmin’s had and now coming out with the vivoactive 4. This watch has too many features to mention. Anything that we’ve had before is in this watch. So, essentially, it’s a GPS smartwatch built for the active lifestyle. Keep an eye on your health 24/7. Broadcast available range of all-day health and fitness monitoring. It’s got music storage, and it’s got even these really cool, easy-to-follow animated workouts. So, overall, this is the best, you know, kind of wellness, health monitoring watch that Garmin’s got. Then, if you’re kinda more of the fashionista, Garmin has the new vivomove series. So, before, we’ve had the vivomove HR and this is kind of the next watch in that series. So, the vivomove 3 and the vivomove 3S, the vivomove Style, the vivomove Luxe, they’re all in this family and the cool thing about this watch is it looks like a real watch. It’s got hands, it’s got numbers, but when you get a text message or anything that would be considered a smart feature, the hands move out of the way and it delivers that kind of cool digital component. So you’ve got the real watch hands with that cool digital component. We’ve had this watch before but this is, like I said, that next series. There’s 16 color variations. And it’s just an overall very fashionable watch.

Last but not least, we are coming out with a whole new watch called the Garmin Venu. So, this watch is gonna be Garmin’s first watch with a AMOLED display. And for those of you that don’t know, AMOLED means “really fricking cool and beautiful display.”

Dennis: Yeah. Gorgeous, gorgeous display.

Amanda: So, imagine just this really bright interface. It’s got the battery life for up to five days and you can spend more time doing the things you love. It’s got every feature that Garmin smartwatches have had in the past but now with just this cool, vivid display. And, again, that’s the Garmin Venu.

Dennis: I am so stoked for the Venu. I think that’s gonna be so awesome. I got to see one for the first time recently and the graphics on the interface are just, they’re so crystal clear and they’re so, they’ve got full color and they’re so rich in detail and it’s gonna be amazing. So we also have a new feature that we’re announcing, it’s called PacePro. And PacePro is a first-of-its-kind, dynamic pacing feature that helps you optimize your pacing while you’re on a run. This is fantastic for anyone that is afraid of bonking. And if you don’t know what “bonking” is, that’s basically like when you get, you know, you guys just hit a wall when you run and you just, you’re completely gassed and you can’t go anymore. So what PacePro does is it analyzes various elevations in a race and it then creates a pacing plan based on the contours and grades of that race. And you can either select a course that’s from one of thousands of courses created by other Garmin users or you can create your own. And then it reads the ups and downs of that course and it basically gives you notifications on when to relax and when to really, you know, put the lead on and really get going. So, it’s a really fascinating feature for all you runners out there.

Amanda: Hey, Dennis, do you when that will come in handy for?

Dennis: When?

Amanda: The KC Marathon.

Dennis: Oh, KC.

Amanda: So it’s happening October 19th. There’s the full, the half, the 10K and the 5K, so a little bit of something for everybody. Registration is now open. And with that, you’ll get a free T-shirt, downloadable race photos, free food, beer, and a massage at the finish line, which is pretty cool.

Dennis: Yeah. I think it’s pretty cool.

Amanda: So, one other thing is there will also be Live Tracking available. So, for those of you that don’t know what that is, that basically gives the ability for your friends and family to kind of follow along with you while you’re running and kind of see where you are in the race. So, again, it’s just a really cool way for people that aren’t there to be able to kinda participate and watch you as you rock the KC Marathon.

Dennis: I’m pretty stoked. Which one are you gonna do? Full, half, 10 or 5?

Amanda: You know, I’m feeling pretty good. I think we’re gonna go for the full…no, just kidding, 10K.

Dennis: I’ll see you there. Okay, last bit of news. We have a birthday to celebrate, guys?

Amanda: Whose birthday?

Dennis: Garmin.

Amanda: What?

Dennis: Yeah. Garmin is officially 30 years old.

Amanda: The big 30.

Dennis: The big 30.

Amanda: Happy birthday, Garmin.

Dennis: Happy birthday, Garmin. All right. I think that’s it. That’s it for news. Shall we answer some questions?

Amanda: Let’s answer some Qs.

Dennis: Gonna A some Qs.

Amanda: Is this working still? Qs.

Dennis: Yeah.

Amanda: People know what this means?

Dennis: They know what it means.

Amanda: Okay, good. So, our first question comes from @Karate007 and his question is, “What’s your most popular product?” That’s a tough one. Only because Garmin, it spans so many different segments. There’s marine, there’s aviation, there’s kind of our wearable department. So, I’m gonna go with probably the Forerunner line and that’s a wearable, it’s a fitness watch. Probably followed closely behind our fenix which is kind of our more outdoor wearable but, you know, it’s Garmin so all the products are great.

Dennis: Yeah, it’s kind of a tough question to answer just because we’re spread so far and wide, but, I think, yeah. I think Amanda’s right, I think the Forerunner line is gonna be definitely the most popular one.

The next question comes from @Nevada.UC [SP], and they ask, “How many hours of battery life does the fenix 5X Plus have?” Well, I’m gonna tell you because I’m wearing one on my wrist right now. It has up to 20 days of battery life, but that does kinda depend on what you’re doing. So, if it’s in GPS mode with music, it’ll only last for 13 days, but I mean, honestly, that’s still pretty impressive.

Amanda: Yeah, 13 days, I think you can hang with that.

Dennis: Yeah, yeah.

Our next question comes from @MrEtha444 [SP], I hope I pronounced that correctly. “What are the main differences between the Forerunner and the fenix lines?” Well, the Forerunner is meant, as Amanda said there, it’s meant for runners. The fenix line is more meant for the rugged adventurer, outdoor excursion. And so, the biggest difference is the weight. The Forerunner, obviously, doesn’t have as much weight because it’s made from a fiber-reinforced polymer whereas fenix devices are built from stainless steel or titanium. And then the new Forerunners have the Body Battery feature which monitors your health levels and helps you make better decisions about training, sleeping and eating, things like that. So, I mean, there’s not a ton of difference, they both have fantastic features. It just kinda depends on what you want it for, what do you wanna with it.

And I think that does it for our question section.

Amanda: So, we’re almost out of here, but before we go, we’re gonna hear from one of our pros about Garmin Explorer.

Dennis: Garmin Explorer provides off-grid global access for cloud-based data, mapping, navigation and more, and today we’re gonna hear from Chip out in Yarmouth about how you can use Garmin Explorer to do things like plan a camping or go on an overlanding adventure or even dig up dinosaur bones. So, Chip, take it away

Chip: So, Explorer is actually two products from Garmin. One is the Explorer website. That’s explorer.garmin.com. The other is the Explorer app. And those two pieces can be used for planning your adventure. You can create waypoints and routes ahead of time on the website or in the app. And then you can sync that down to a compatible Garmin device like the GPSMAP 66 or an Instinct or fenix watch, and that allows you to take that planning information you put together ahead of time and see it on a map in the Explorer app or on your device when you’re in the backcountry for your adventure. When you finish your exploring, you can then sync that content through the Explorer app back up into the Explorer website so that you can review it after the fact.

Another exciting feature for Explorer is that it interacts with our inReach-enabled devices and that allows you to control the messaging, tracking and SOS features on those devices. You can do that all right from the Explorer app. For anyone that’s interested in checking that out, again, the website is explorer.garmin.com and you can find the Explorer app on the Android and iOS app stores.

Dennis: Thank you, Chip. Thank you, David Burnham. And thank you, dear listeners and Garminites who took the time to download and listen to our podcast.

Amanda: And remember to share your stories with us. Whatever it is, we wanna hear about it. You can send your stories to podcaststories@garmin.com.

Dennis: I’m Dennis.

Amanda: And I’m Amanda. And this has been engineered on the inside…

Dennis: …for your “Life on the Outside.”

Together: A Garmin podcast.

EPISODE 4: See Me First for My Ability

Dennis: Imagine getting out of bed in the morning. It’s early. You walk down the hall to the bathroom. You brush your teeth. You get dressed. You put on your brand new running shoes. You’re out the front door.

You start jogging. Your legs are stiff, but you keep going. Your heart rate starts pumping hard, but you keep going. You start running faster. Your sneakers get worn. Your times get better. You can go farther.

You go from running a mile to running your first marathon. Your sneakers are torn up. You get a new pair. You keep running, but it’s not enough. You take up swimming, cycling. You practice martial arts, boxing lessons. You compete in your first ultra-distance triathlon. You start breaking world records. You’ve gone through a hundred pairs of sneakers, but it’s still not enough.

You win bronze medals two years in a row in the International Triathlon World Championship, but it’s still not enough. You go on to compete in Rio in 2016. You take bronze. Your desire to accomplish more is insatiable. Tokyo 2020 is looming, and you will be ready.

Imagine accomplishing all of this. Now imagine doing it all blind. Today we’re talking with Patricia Walsh. She is one of our Women of Adventure. She is also a competitive athlete and an engineer who has been blind for most of her life. We also have a guest interviewer on the show. With me is Rebecca, one of the creative directors behind Garmin’s Women of Adventure series. Rebecca, thank you so much for being here.

Rebecca: Thanks, Dennis. I’m glad to be here.

Dennis: So for those who don’t know, what is Women of Adventure?

Rebecca: Well, Women of Adventure is a collection of stories. It’s about women who are athletes and adventurers, and quite frankly, they rule on land, sea, and air. Our team has literally been traveling the world to capture their inspiring stories.

Dennis: That’s why we wanted to have you on the show, so we can tell one of these stories.

Amanda: You’re listening to “Life on the Outside”, a podcast beyond boxes or comfort zones.

Dennis: Presented by Garmin, and we’re your hosts Dennis…

Amanda: And I’m Amanda, and we feature stories from athletes, explorers, pilots, captains and anyone who woke up today to beat yesterday.

Dennis: Patricia, what do you think of the term disability?

Patricia: One thing I always stress is that disability is not a bad word. I really get uncomfortable when people come to me with things like differently-abled, or these euphemisms, with different abilities, or I’ve even heard low functioning, which drove me through the roof. I was so upset when I heard that one.

But what I like to say is, you know, we have these unfortunate beliefs around disability, you know, that to have a disability is sad. To have a disability is suffering, and that’s not necessarily true. Disability is part of a life experience. It’s not a negative. It’s not a bad word. We don’t need to sugarcoat it. We don’t need to pretend it is something it isn’t.

Rebecca: Well, Patricia, you have quite an impressive list of accomplishments, and very much of that is sport based, and what I think is really interesting is how you first became an athlete. You have a story that’s relayed in your book, but I’d love it if you can share it with our listeners today of what made you take those first steps, and what that experience was like.

Patricia: Yeah. Thank you for asking. So for individuals with disabilities, I think people often assume that we cannot be athletic, cannot be active, and I know when I was growing up and I would go to gym class, they always would have me do separate activities. So maybe everyone else was running or maybe everyone else was playing basketball, and they would have me sitting on the sideline stacking blocks. You know, doing the activities that were more appropriate for a toddler than were for an elementary school or middle school student. I always felt really out of the group, or I always felt really separate.

So I got it in my head to run, and everyone who I knew, my friends and family, thought this was a terrible idea, because of course you’re going to get hurt, and really with this idea of you need to stay safe and stay inside, and this is just not for you. So I decided that that wasn’t the right path for me, because I didn’t want to follow their footsteps. So I decided to start running, and I found a trail near my house, and I ran with one foot on the gravel and one foot on the concrete so I could feel the difference. As I would run, I would sort of correct as I would get further onto one than the other.

My first day, I ran about a mile and had no idea how to get home, because there was no way for me to mark where I had been back. So the next day I came out and I put a rock where I had started. So I ran half a mile out and half a mile back, and when I hit the rock I fell, and that’s how I knew I was home.

Rebecca: Wow.

Patricia: So, you know, and that was the beginning of a really rough start. But that was the beginning of what then became a pretty solid athletic career. You know, becoming an athlete really changed how I viewed myself.

Rebecca: Right. So you kind of took this perspective of from where you started and when kind of the doors that were open for yourself, that by achieving as a blind athlete, you were kind of opening the doors for others, those with sight and without.

Patricia: Absolutely true. It’s funny in hindsight, because now, you know, sitting here today having a long career as an athlete, and now trying to break into my next sport, I see myself so differently than I used to. Before I was an athlete, I saw myself as someone who fumbled. I saw myself as someone who was kind of a calamity, and that is how I was treated as a person with blindness. Now into my athletic career, I walk into every room with a different sense of confidence and a different sense of belief in what I am capable of, and I really do believe it was my pursuit of athletics that changed my trajectory and career, and changed my self-concept.

I think persons with a disability struggle at times because the individuals around us with intent to keep us safe also accidentally assume very little of what we’re capable of, and I think there is some self-fulfilling prophecy that happens there, that if you don’t believe you’re capable, then you certainly then become less capable. That has nothing to do with having a disability.

Rebecca: So the last time we had a chance to connect, I was in New York City, which is where you were living. Tell us where you’re at now, and what you’re doing.

Patricia: I live in London. This was a real surprise. What a big surprise. Here I am. Yeah. So I’m from Texas, from Austin, Texas, and moved to New York City to work with Dow Jones. Great opportunity there. New York City was a little bit overwhelming for me for a thousand reasons. I was not…

Rebecca: As for many of us.

Dennis: Yeah, yeah.

Patricia: …as for many of us, yes. Now that I’m pursuing London…or, excuse me, perusing rowing, London is an outstanding city for the sport of rowing. So really, all the pieces have fallen into place for me to actually be competitive in that sport. I was getting a little edgy living in New York City, and I had a couple of moments where I snapped at someone on the subway. I was like, “Who have I become? What is this?” It’s not my normal…

Dennis: I think living in a city like New York, it makes you kind of have a 360-degree awareness, and you just kind of have to have this extra edge in your every day, and you have to, like, you know, like prepare yourself to get out the door and walk. You know, you might have an interaction on the subway or on the street.

Patricia: It’s true, and I’ll say I do now talk a lot about the social side of disability. One thing that was really a challenge is, and I think a lot of New Yorkers were actually very well-intentioned, but they would often try to help me without speaking to me. You know, they don’t understand what your needs are. My preference would actually be to be left alone.

You know, for anyone who’s listening, it’s always okay to ask a person with a disability if they need help, but then you have to actually listen to what they say. So what would happen to me in New York is I would be walking, and someone would assume I was in trouble and grab my arm.

Dennis: Without saying anything?

Patricia: I don’t know that person. Yeah. This happened to me daily, and I would be trying to speak to them about, “Hey, I’m okay. You have to let go of me.” They would not let go. They would respond as if they saw a toddler on the loose crossing a street.

Dennis: Oh, jeez.

Patricia: You know, like I was about to be in grave danger. But I’m competent and I’m capable, and I’m not actually asking for help. It’s this term I initially was uncomfortable with, but it’s a, you know, microaggression. These well-intentioned things, but they happen to you so often, and they actually are very belittling. They actually are really marginalizing. Like, I am an adult. I’m capable of making my own decisions. I cross the street when I know to cross the street.

So it’s happening to me so often that actually I got into a really unfortunate headspace where I was kind of afraid to leave the house, and people would grab onto my arm, they would stop me from going upstairs. You know, I felt like I was just this barrage.

Really, the only reason I bring that up is for anyone listening, when you encounter a person with a disability, always, you know, feel comfortable being friendly. We’re not scary people. But ask if that person needs help. But don’t assume that person needs your help. I’ve been blind for almost 30 years. I have adapted. I probably don’t need the help you think I need.

Rebecca: It’s another thing that our listener would not know, but I think is not something Patricia is probably going to brag about, because she doesn’t do that. But Patricia lives…

Patricia: That’s nice of you to say. I think I brag all the time.

Rebecca: Patricia lives completely independently. She doesn’t have someone who is taking care of her apartment, her house. She doesn’t have a driver. She doesn’t have a service dog, although she does have a dog that we fell in love with because she became, well, she might have been in the video that we shot for Women of Adventure, who also traveled with you to London, right?

Patricia: Yeah.

Rebecca: Does Camilla…

Patricia: Camilla’s here. Camilla’s the star of every show.

Dennis: Camilla.

Patricia: Which is funny, that she actually has a very British name. But that was never, I never imagined…it’s funny, people’s reaction to that name here, because it has a different connotation here. You know, they know people called Camilla.

Rebecca: She does have a passport.

Patricia: She has…

Rebecca: Correct?

Patricia: …her own passport.

Dennis: Camilla has a passport? Oh, okay.

Patricia: Yeah.

Dennis: I love it.

Patricia: It’s pretty hysterical, yeah. But Camilla is the star of the show. London, it’s very dog-friendly. So she’s with me all the time.

Actually, it’s come up recently where people at my rowing club have gotten our names mixed up. They call Camilla, Patricia, and me, Camilla. So I was on the rowing machine the other day and Camilla’s asleep on her blanket, and someone came by and said, “Patricia looks really bored.” I was like, “Why are you speaking about me in the third person? What are you..?”

Then I realized that half the people think I’m Camilla, half the people think I’m Patricia. But, no. But Rebecca, to your point, and I’ll say this, you know, if I don’t brag about living independently it’s because, to me, that’s not exceptional. A person with blindness can be capable of living independently, and to me, that would be my expectation for myself. But I do have to remember that sometimes the reason people have such a strong reaction to me is that they’ve actually never seen a fully independent blind person before, so it is a novel thing.

Rebecca: Right.

Patricia: It is a surprising thing.

Rebecca: Patricia, when you were living in New York City, I know your days were packed. Literally, you started well before the sun was up. Walk us through a typical day in your life now. I’m sure there’s still some comparisons.

Patricia: When I was in New York City, I would get up at 3:45 a.m., go to rowing in the morning. Yeah, in hindsight, I don’t know how I was able to sustain that for as long as I was. I would row in the morning and then I would go to work. I work at Dow Jones. I’d work a full day, and then I’d go to a different rowing practice in the evening, and often a strength training session.

So my day was started at about 3:45. Then I’d get home 9:45 or 10:00. Now London has calmed down for me quite a bit. I think I now start at about 5:30, which is, in my worldview, pretty manageable. So I do rowing, but then as a side thing – I don’t know why I’m doing a side thing – I started doing jujitsu recently. So I’m now doing that. So I might go tonight to that as well.

But I’m always doing something.

Dennis: How long have you been doing jujitsu?

Patricia: Like, two months.

Dennis: Okay.

Patricia: It’s ridiculous. Now I say it’s ridiculous because I meant it to be, like, just a fun side thing, and all of a sudden I’m talking to everyone at the center about competing. Which, I don’t know why I’m wired that way.

Rebecca: [inaudible 00:13:01]

Dennis: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. No.

Rebecca: [inaudible 00:13:03]

Patricia: Well, it gets to be…because now I’m trying to compete in rowing. It’s not a bad thing until you start accidentally having conflicting priorities. But I think I can do this and then, you know, of course, somewhere in the middle here I have to work and have an actual profession…

Dennis: Right, right.

Patricia: …and be an adult.

Dennis: I think most people, able-bodied or otherwise, have a hard time trying out new sports or activities. Yet you do it almost like it’s an addiction. What do you think is a challenge that you regularly face as a blind athlete?

Patricia: I’m still surprised at how often people are reluctant to have me in various fitness classes or various places, because I feel like I’m so far beyond proving myself. You really have to, in those moments, kind of set your ego aside and remember that this, whoever it is that is reluctant, probably has your best interests at heart. But they genuinely don’t know better.

Dennis: Right.

Patricia: There are times, you know, I did boxing for a little while, and I went to a couple of clubs that just would not have it. I finally found one guy, I walked in and explained myself, and without missing a beat – his name is Capcots [SP], he’s from the Seattle area – without missing a beat, he told me, “If you’re waiting to see someone move, you’ve waited too long. You need to be able to feel them.” He was like, “Of course a blind person would box.”

Some people just get it right off the bat, and I did that for a couple of years. Not very successfully, but it was fun and I really enjoyed it. People who have been willing to have me have really improved my quality of life, and have really changed my trajectory in ways that I’m sure they don’t even know.

Rebecca: Patricia, tell us a little bit about what goals you’re working towards today.

Patricia: First and foremost, I’m working towards competing in the Paralympics for Tokyo 2020. Now, if we’re being honest with ourselves, it is a bit of a long shot. I’m a bit older. I’m a bit smaller. But I’m making some pretty good gains. So I am happy to be a long shot, and I’m happy to pursue this until I can no longer pursue it.

So that’s top priority right now. I’m also working on some personal essays or changing the platform a little bit, and that is, you know, for a moment in time I was really trying to be an example of an athlete with a disability who was on par with elite able-bodied athletes. I’m pleased to say I think I’ve done that, and now it’s onto the next.

I’m one of the more high profile persons with disabilities in employment. I have been featured in “Success Magazine”, “BELLA NYC” magazine, “Fast Company”, inc.com. I’ve been featured in over 40 magazines really around my professional career, and I think it’s the time to really give that the time and energy to be an example and to be helpful in how could an employer create an environment that a person with blindness or a person with a disability will be successful. Also, what are the barriers in our elementary secondary school, collegiate education, that might be a carrier to a young person with disability finding a job, and what is the highest level that a person with a disability can be employed?

Right now I’m a director at Dow Jones, and I believe I could be in executive leadership. I believe I’m positioned well to do that. So now I’m really changing my focus a little bit to be around, you know, where are the social barriers and where can I have a positive impact there, and take my platform that I’ve, you know, tirelessly worked to build, to do something positive in a different vein. I’ll say this, I’ve made it further than I ever dreamt possible, and I don’t think we’re anywhere near done.

Rebecca: Undoubtably.

Dennis: Yeah. I was going to say, based on your track record thus far, I would have to agree with that. Patricia, you’ve done truly remarkable things. I just have to pause for a second and ask, where did this drive come from?

Patricia: I was raised largely by my dad, and he was very hard on me. Now as an adult, I’m so thankful that he had absolutely no patience for any amount of whining or complaining, or even bringing up that I was blind, or seeing myself as separate. He was just not having it, which, as a child, I do remember moments of being very resentful or very hurt that I was not getting more help. As an adult, I am so grateful that I was pushed a little harder and that there was zero tolerance for anything less because I am the only person I know who is able to live with this degree of independence who has my severity of blindness.

There are others out there. I am not the first. But they are few and far between.

Dennis: How does your dad feel about your accomplishments as an athlete?

Patricia: I’ll say this. My dad didn’t understand my athletics at all. He was baffled by my athletics, and he had a real change of heart when I went to compete in Rio, and my dad had never attended any race. I won a medal against, I might have been 17 years old, and I won a medal against sighted athletes competing in an able-bodied category with no adaptation for my blindness and nothing separate. I was on the front page of “The Toronto Star”.

Rebecca: That’s amazing.

Patricia: We were in Canada at the time. He didn’t say a word about it. He didn’t have anything to say about it. But my dad had a real change of heart when it came to Rio. My dad had COPD, and he had been very sick. He had been in the hospital for about two weeks, and he risked his life to come see me compete.

He traveled. He had to get four oxygen batteries, and he had a real change of heart near the end there, and it really did a lot to repair our relationship, that he made the trip to Rio.

Rebecca: That’s impactful. Patricia, I have had the pleasure of reading your book, “Blind Ambition”, but for those who aren’t familiar with the book, can you tell them a little bit about it?

Patricia: Yeah. I wrote “Blind Ambition”. It’s a book in the realm of goal achievement. However, I did try to make it relatable. That is to say, you know, part of preparations for writing a book like that is I did read a lot of books about goal achievement, and I found a lot of them had some gems. But I felt like they were a little bit of a Pollyanna view of, if you follow this secret formula, you will be successful and you can never go wrong.

I didn’t want to do that. So what I have done, both in my book and in my public speaking, is sort of what I believe to be a little bit more of an approachable, kind of full view of here’s what I tried, here’s where it went well, and here’s where it went wrong and here’s how I made corrections, and really more of a, all the things that I was challenged by, all the things that I fear, all the reasons I do today still feel intimidated, and we learned to be comfortable with those feelings of being intimidated or comfortable feeling uncomfortable, and how to manage that and really set your goals in such a way where you’re understanding what your purpose is, and what are the milestones that drive to that purpose, and how can you organize your day-to-day life to support those milestones, such that when those feelings come up, which are inevitable, we have a routine and a plan and a practice to manage those and not necessarily expect to never feel discouragement. But when we do feel discouragement, which, I feel discouragement often, that we have a practice for how to get over that without allowing there to be a setback that’s unnecessary.

Dennis: Well, and in your book, you talk about dealing with failure. How are you able to regroup and maintain positivity in spite of some of the challenges that you faced?

Patricia: Bitterness is a choice you’re making. I know people, not necessarily disabled people, but I know just people who, for whatever reason, based on whatever hand they were dealt, become bitter. I don’t blame them, because honestly, it is challenging. But just remember that that’s a choice you’re making, and that you become good at what you practice.

If that’s, you know, for every time you’re presented an opportunity, you know, to be a source of love or be a source of bitterness, you pick bitterness, you’re going to become really good at that. Something I think about a lot is it’s not that you are, you know, a good person or a bad person. It’s not that you are a person who has strength of character or you’re not. It’s, you’re a person who is going to be given a thousand choices to make in your day, and every single time you have to remember this is an occasion to demonstrate strength of character.

It’s not like you’re one and done, you make the choice once and that’s who you are. We all slip up, because there are times when you’re fatigued, times where your heart is broken, and there are times where you’re more sensitive than others. But you have to come back, and the next available opportunity, make that choice that demonstrates who you really want to be.

Dennis: That is a beautiful philosophy. Wow. I love that, and I think that’s a good place for us to end, because we are, unfortunately, almost out of time. Rebecca, did you have any other questions for Patricia?

Rebecca: No. The only thing I’m thinking about is when I can find time in my schedule to make a trip to London so that I can see Patricia.

Patricia: Yes, please come see me.

Rebecca: A conversant person, again. But I am so…

Patricia: I would love that, and Rebecca, you would love London. People here are so active. I was really actually very surprised. Everyone is active.

Rebecca: Well, I plan to be there someday, and you’re the first person I’m going to look up.

Patricia: Oh, I can’t wait.

Rebecca: Some of those tourist attractions and things, they can wait. I’m going to see Patricia.

Patricia: Oh my gosh. Well, nothing would make me happier.

Rebecca: And Camilla.

Patricia: Yes, the star of the show.

Dennis: The true star of the show. Well, Patricia, thank you very much.

Patricia: Yeah, it was fun, as always. Thank you, guys.

Dennis: Rebecca, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

Rebecca: Thanks for having me, Dennis.

Dennis: Of course. Now, where can people find out more about Women of Adventure?

Rebecca: Right. You can find us on YouTube. Our videos are housed there, and as well on garmin.com/womenofadventure. We have the videos and deeper stories about each woman.

Dennis: I love it. All right, guys. That wraps it up. Thank you so much.

Rebecca: Thanks.

Amanda: I love these stories. It’s some of my favorite projects that Garmin puts out each year. I love all of the women that are a part of it, and I just can’t wait to see which one comes out next. So everybody, stay tuned.

Dennis: Stay tuned, guys. In the meantime, who is ready for Garmin News? Amanda, are you ready?

Amanda: So ready. I was born ready.

Dennis: I’m ready. I’m ready too. I don’t know if I was born ready. I had to work up the nerve. But I’m there now. Philadelphia Marathon is coming up, you guys. November 24th. If you’re looking for a memorable weekend in the city of brotherly love, perhaps you should go ahead and sign up now. It’s listed among the top 10 courses in the nation, and it is really gorgeous. Runners go out for the scenic courses, the mellow weather, and of course some very spirited fans. What else is going on, Amanda?

Amanda: Well, really quick, I think this is a huge announcement from the Garmin Pro world. We need to give a shoutout to our very own Timothy O’Donnell for taking second place at Kona last month.

Dennis: Yeah.

Amanda: O’Donnell covered the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run in 7 hours, 59 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s the fastest finish ever for an American, and this was his first-ever sub-eight hour performance. So great job, Timothy, and your whole Garmin team is super proud of you.

Dennis: So that’s all we have for news. Amanda, what do you say we A some Qs?

Amanda: Let’s Q some As.

Dennis: First question from @coco4. “Which Garmin watches can you swim with?” A lot. Yeah. Pretty much all of them. Amanda, do you want to do a list-off?

Amanda: Yeah, okay.

Dennis: Okay.

Amanda: List-off, here we go.

Dennis: All right. I’ll start. Forerunner 945, 935, 735, 645 and 245.

Amanda: Okay. Don’t forget the Fenixs, 5 and 6 Series.

Dennis: Yes, but also don’t forget the Vivoactive 3 and Vivoactive 4 Series.

Amanda: Definitely the Descent.

Dennis: Absolutely the Aquatics 5.

Amanda: Tactix Charlie.

Dennis: Any of the Instinct watches, and our new Swim 2 smartwatch, which is designed specifically for swimmers. Really, most of our watches are designed to go in the water. If you want to find out more, you can always check out garmin.com. What is our second question?

Amanda: Okay. Our second question comes from astrospace7, and they’re asking where Garmin Pay can be used. So you can actually use Garmin Pay almost anywhere that you can make contactless payments. But for a full list, make sure to visit our website at garmin.com/garminpay, where you’ll find a full list of participating banks. It’s long, just to warn you.

But also a bit of 411. You can now use Garmin Pay at select major transit stations around the world as well. So it’s basically your money on your wrist. But this weekend it totally saved me because I left my wallet at home and took my daughter to the coffee shop. She wanted a Pop-Tart, and when mom realized she had no wallet, there was this minor panic on my face. But the great thing was, they had that contactless payment. I had my watch. We were saved. Nora was none the wiser, sprinkle face galore. So it really has come in handy so many times when I don’t have my wallet or my purse on me. So it’s basically a mom’s lifesaver.

Dennis: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: Or a Pop-Tart saver.

Dennis: Or Pop-Tart saver, yeah. Our last question comes from @louishunt, who asks, “How does the Garmin Forerunner 245 calculate pace?” Okay, that is a great question that unfortunately has a somewhat complicated answer. So here it goes. In short, the Forerunner calculates your current pace by dividing time by distance traveled based on GPS. However, to ensure accurate stats, Forerunner filters GPS position information in a smart way to eliminate any unwanted fluctuations while preserving real changes in pace.

But let’s be honest. The best part about these watches is they calculate all this stuff for you. They make it easy. So there it is, Louis. Hopefully, I answered your question. We’re about out of here, but before we go, we’re going to hear tips from a pro. So who are we going to hear from today, Amanda?

Amanda: So today we’re going to hear from a Garmin associate who recently qualified for the 2020 Olympic time trials. Her name is Amy, and she has some insight for us on running and training.

Dennis: What advice do you have for me or anyone who is considering running a marathon?

Amy: I think what really helped me was just trusting my fitness and knowing that every athlete, every runner, is different. The way you prepare and train is going to be different. So not to look left and right at what other people might be doing to train and qualify, but really just trust in the way that you’re preparing. For me, I am just an aerobically built person, so I can just run and run and run. But I don’t do as much speed work.

So, you know, if I’m looking around, I see a lot of other people doing, you know, faster tempo work and I wasn’t even practicing at the pace that I ran a marathon at, so I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I could now go around 26 miles at a pace that I hadn’t even been training at, but my coach really has a lot of confidence in me, in my ability to be ready on the day of the race. So really just trusting yourself and knowing that if you’re putting in the work and you’re putting in the effort, you know, you can have a successful race and a successful marathon.

Amanda: Thank you, Amy, and good luck at the time trials in February.

Dennis: That about wraps it up for us, and remember to please share your stories. You can email us at podcaststories@garmin.com.

Amanda: So if you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe, rate, listen and share. It’s your support that enables us to tell these stories.

Dennis: I’m Dennis.

Amanda: And I’m Amanda, and this has been engineered on the inside.

Dennis: For your life on the outside.

Dennis & Amanda: A Garmin podcast.

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