Team Garmin: The Finish Line (Part I)

Congrats to Team Garmin members Kate, Molly, Maureen, Jennifer and Angie. All five runners completed the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll Marathon. Yeah!  If you haven’t been keeping up with the earlier Team Garmin blog posts, you may want to look at some past entries. This team is made up of rookies and experienced runners who used their Forerunner 305 to go 26.2 miles….or maybe it was 26.6. Either way, they all made it across the finish line. Congrats!

Kate – Despite my injury, I logged my first 26.2 on June 4 during the San Diego Rock N’ Roll  Marathon. However, not quite sure what constitutes an ultra-marathon, be our Garmin Forerunner 305’s all said 26.6 miles.  I really felt the extra .4!  As I look back, I realize that finishing through the adversity of an injury makes the accomplishment even more great.  I never knew how tenacious I could be, or what my potential was, until I crossed that finish line.  Very cool experience.  In hindsight, I don’t know how anyone can run, whether it be a mile or a marathon, without a Garmin Forerunner. Several times throughout the marathon I had non-Garmin-sporting runners ask me how far we were from the next mile marker and how fast we were running.

I can definitely say that I have the runner’s high and will forever be a lifelong runner.  Over the next few months you’ll see us running the Kansas City ½ Marathon and the P.F. Chang’s Rock N’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix.  Not a step will be taken without my new Forerunner 305.

Molly – We did it! What a lesson in perseverance!  My 305 said that I actually ran 26.6 miles, so I guess we’re all overachievers!  As I was getting closer to the finish line, it was getting harder to keep going, so it was great to have my Garmin so I knew it wouldn’t be too long before I’d completed another mile.  Here I sit a week later, typing my blog and I’ve already forgotten about any pain or soreness and I’m looking forward to training for my next marathon – The Phoenix Rock n Roll – in January!  And of course, I’ll be dependent on my Garmin to get me through the training.  I’m so proud of all of us.  It was an awesome experience to be able to achieve such a challenging goal with some of my closest friends!

Maureen – The marathon is over…I can’t believe it!  The trip to San Diego was wonderful – the weather was perfect, the food was wonderful and there was so much to do while we were there.  The night before the marathon we all set our running gear out so we wouldn’t have to do much thinking at 4:30 in the morning and right there with our matching outfits and our running shoes were our Garmins…The Garmins were just as important as our running shoes! We all made sure that we started our Garmins right as we crossed the starting line so we could be certain our mileage was accurate.

I’ve run 3 marathons without a Garmin so this was my first marathon with a Garmin.  The Garmin really made me more aware of my pace.  There was so much going on around me at the beginning of the marathon with the spectators, the bands, the cheerleaders, etc. and it was very easy to start running much faster than I should have at the start.  The Garmin slowed me down and helped me get back on pace.  It was also really interesting at the end of the marathon because everyone’s Garmin said that we had run 26.6 miles…The Garmin was a huge asset during the marathon helping to maintain a certain pace and I can’t imagine running Phoenix in January of 2007 without one!

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