There's a support group for pretty much everything, right?

Hi.  My name is Erin, and I'm obsessed with numbers.

(This is where you say "Hi, Erin!")

I can't tell you when this obsession with numbers started, but it's been around as long as I can remember.  When I was really little, I remember carefully laying out and counting everything, from toys to bugs to you-name-it.  I was the first person in my combined second-third grade class (I was in second grade) to memorize the whole multiplication table.  I was the first to tackle fractions.  I remember being bored at work in high school and converting the prices of the Levi's I was supposed to be selling from decimal to binary to hexadecimal and back to decimal.  I finished two semesters of calculus at a university while I was still in high school (not that stupid AP test crap they now pass off as college credits - I actually had to physically go to the university and take the classes with the other college students), and would have done more but the school district wouldn't let me.

My obsession with numbers has morphed into trying to track any and all statistics about my life as accurately as possible.  My monthly budget is calculated to the penny.  I keep track of all calories I take in and burn off.  I track my running mileage and paces to the best of my ability.

The last item is the one that causes me the biggest problem.  As mentioned before, I keep track of my running routes on the WalkJogRun website, and have a cheapy knock-off Timex watch to keep track of my time.  The problem I have been running into lately (pun definitely not intended) is things like going on the trail runs on Wednesday nights, where the route isn't easily mapped out online, or wanting to know how my pace drops off when I run up the Big Hill in my neighborhood, or even the idea that a running friend said that for a full marathon I really should pace myself so I don't go all bunny rabbit and start out too fast and not be able to finish the race.

And as such I have decided to Do Something and I am going to buy myself a GPS watch for a birthday/xmas present to myself.  I haven't gotten one so far because of the following reasons/excuses: I don't want to have it become a crutch and I can't just run without one; they are way too expensive given what they are; and they are not accurate enough to appease my obsession.  I have over a month and a half to do my research and pick a GPS watch that will satisfy all my needs, and hopefully not cost too much.  And one thing I like almost as much as numbers is doing research on stuff.  So win/win!

Today's Run

Today was the last weekday trail run; however, I realized with my busy week today would be the only day I could get in a long run, and so I decided against the trail run.  Instead I went out to my old stomping grounds and did an out-and-back on the Munger Trail.  The trail is mostly fixed, and so it was a nice, paved run for the most part.  Today I ran about 6.3 miles in 55:55, for an average pace of 8:52.  I ran the out part in 29:30, or 9:22 pace; I ran the back part in 26:25, or 8:23 pace.  I forgot how onerous the gradual uphill out part of the run was, but overall it was good to get those miles in.  Even if I missed the last weekday trail run.  But there's always next spring...