Saturday, 19 July 2014

The Future is here! AND it's FREE! --> Your Runners Horoscope...and, You're Welcome!



There are some things in the running/exercise world that are so predictable and obvious, like;

The fact that running is generally hard, that every race needs to start AFTER a necessary bowel movement,  injury is inevitable, running tights for men should be worn with shorts, and ‘going out with the kenyans’ is the beginning of a VERY difficult marathon.

But there are other events and fortunes that can ONLY be foretold with a simple gift to read cosmic signs…THAT, or an arrogant personality and willingness to cold-read for general amusement.

So brace yourself for a deliberately vague and ambiguous glimpse into your near future (all this without the aid of a DeLorean)!

The mood seems right, the planets are aligned, the incense is burning, I will begin….

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Aries: March 21 – April 19
·         Element: Fire
·         Symbol: Ram
·         Ideal Shoes: Bright and the latest in Sporting Technology and style.

Whilst the idea of a ‘sheep’ being a creature happy to blend in with the flock and be generally reluctant to stand out is pretty widely accepted….the RAM is another matter altogether!  (I bet you even get a little kick of joy out of having that written in CAPs?). 
In regards to racing, you’re likely to throw caution to the wind in order to reach that PB.
You’re meticulous about your training, and intolerant of pesky walkers that don’t follow the rule of ‘keeping to the left’.
Having said that you are generally very attractive, and appreciative of people who remind you of this (so why not share this blog all of you Aries folk? share it now!).
THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:
Be sure to take the time to pair your running socks as you take them off the washing line or out of the dryer. It may seem like common sense, but it could be the difference between a comfortable week of training, or another week of your running buddies asking, “What’s with the odd socks?”
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Taurus: April 20 – May 20
·         Element: Earth
·         Symbol: Bull
·         Ideal Shoes: You have your favourites and resent when they change. For example you LOVE your Asics Kayanos/Cumulus/Gels/etc and/or Nike Pegs.

Good ol’ reliable Taurunners! Aren't you awesome? So reliable at turning up at training sessions, and being the ones that your running buddies can rely upon! Likewise, if one of these buddies is having a tough run, you're the one who'll slow down to help them out.

You'll talk the injured runner pal off the proverbial (and sometimes literal) ledge by being the voice of reason. If you were a Star Wars character, you’d be Yoda.

Negatively, you’re pretty stubborn; when you turn up to train, you like to TRAIN! Super serious. That's you.

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

You may or may not find $5 on a training run. I’d love to be more specific, but there’s a chance I could beat you to it. Regardless, it’s all the more reasons to be motivated for at least another 7 days right? (If you do find the cash) Spend up wisely!
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Gemini: May 21 – June 20
·         Element: Air
·         Symbol: Twins
·         Ideal Shoes: You’ll Colour Co-Ordinate better than almost anyone! Bright is often better for you  too. 

One of the most likable members of the running fraternity; Prone to the occasional moody and passionate outburst, you are more often quite quiet and are as loyal a friend as could be found.

You have a desire to stay one-step-ahead, and you find the idea of winning quite seducing.

Between you and me, you also look awesome in your running gear. You’re rocking it!

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

Drinking plenty of water is a great idea for you this week! It’s an important time in the running season and probably something overlooked by many. 

In terms of the cosmos, it may be a good time to relax, as an unexpected visitor may visit at some point in the future….is that ambiguous enough? Good! Now drink some H20 and quit complaining!
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Cancer: June 21 – July 22
·         Element: Water
·         Symbol: Crab
·         Ideal Shoes: Safe and sturdy, always considering comfort and the potential for chafing or injury your running gear needs to cater to this at all times. Form follows function!

Always the worrier, you’re the nervous runner wondering if you’ve trained hard enough or if you’ll need that extra gel or not. Your secret fear is collapsing before the finish, or losing bowel control, or both!

You’d think this anxiety would make running the worst chore in the world right? Well, no…because in spite of your cautious approach to the sport, there are aspects of it that you find almost romantic.

On a side note, you’re pretty good at planning the ultimate running route. Share your gift with the world my crustaceous friend!

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

You could take $100 dollars to the casino, put it on black, double it, then take your partner/prospective love interest out to dinner!…..but don’t. The roulette will come up black, and anyway, the planet Mars is in your orbit this month. This means; you’re much more prone to leaving your fly down in public than pulling your best Casanova moves. Sorry!
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Leo: July 23 – August 22
·         Element: Fire
·         Symbol: The Lion
·         Ideal Shoes: The loudest, brightest, latest in fashion. Anything to intimidate and make you look like the champion you are!

Whilst a little insecure about your ability, or training lead up at times, this is compensated always by a strong sense of pride in your own achievements, as well as those of family and friends.

Always willing to celebrate the success of others, you are your harshest critic, if you don’t run the perfect race….well……

On the plus side you very often push yourself to achieve personal glory!...

…Also, you are a Lion…..they’re pretty awesome; by association you are too. For more information watch ‘The Ghost in the Darkness’, ‘The Lion King’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and bask in the glory.  

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

This month, trust your judgement and feed the parking meter. You will run into an old acquaintance and running partner, which will be a welcome joy for you both…unfortunately also for the Parking Inspector who is just waiting to slap a fat ticket on your windscreen. 
Or maybe the old friend will BE a Parking Inspector? What a moral quandary that would make?! 

Regardless, Beware my friend!
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Virgo: August 23 – September 22 (Tim’s sign)
·         Element: Earth
·         Symbol: The Virgin
·         Ideal Shoes: Rotated routinely you know your regular shoes and can attach a foot-timing-chip better than most.  

Meticulous about your data, personal bests, and running routes you are the last person to get lost in a race. Every beep of Garmin/GPS data is like reliving Christmas morning over and over again.

You are honest and for that universally loved, also the last person to cut a corner or finish a run early. You should also wear that headband you’ve been thinking about wearing; it looks great!

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

The sheer fact that I can tell that you are reading this with scepticism should be reason enough to start trusting my powers more. Even more-so the confident way that I refer to my powers without any inverted commas around the word ‘powers’…er….dammit!

You may need to comfort a man in overalls this week. Be kind, he’s been through a lot.
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Libra: September 23 – October 22
·         Element: Air
·         Symbol: The Scales
·          Ideal Shoes: Your gear needs to reflect your personality. You have your favourite colours and  when you see you favourite it’s almost enough to seduce you into buying them above all!

The Emotional runner….thankfully not in the annoying candle-lighting, depressed and complaining teenager kind of way, but in the way that gives your heart a flutter when the starting gun goes, or when you catch a glimpse of the perfect sunrise on that morning run!

You are in tune with your body and are very conscious of each sensation of pain, fatigue, and (thankfully) euphoria! Nothing feels better than crossing that finishing line and celebrating with your family and friends!

Very often you are the voice of reason in training circles, the one who can suggest a novel routine, without overdoing it. You expect the best from others, without judging if they don’t deliver.

Well done you…..even if you can be a little too-trusting at times.

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

A welcome compliment from a work-mate will bring you some much needed satisfaction. 

But what if he/she is being sarcastic?! You’ll spend the next 40 minutes wondering this, at which point you’ll notice you've have toilet paper stuck to your pants the whole time..

Go for a run, it’ll make you feel better.


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Scorpio: October 23 – November 21
·         Element: Water
·         Symbol: The Scorpion
·          Ideal Shoes: If it fits well and laces up it will suit you perfectly.  

Competitive in the extreme, you would probably consider limb-amputation if told it would give you an advantage. With this in mind, you are tough.

Of course this also means that you can be susceptible to overtraining and injury! You know that scene in ‘Die Hard’ where John McClain walks barefoot over broken glass? That’s a regular training session for you, particularly when any form of competition is present.

You’re brutally honest with yourself and others, which some will respect…..the others…….not so much.

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

On a training run one of your buddies will inadvertently step in dog poo….with this knowledge in your hand you now have an important decision, do you keep the secret and prepare to laugh? Or do you help them out, knowing if the roles were reversed they’d do the same? \

With this in mind, and as a side-note, choose your car pooling pals wisely this week.
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Sagittarius: November 22 – December 21
·         Element: Fire
·         Symbol: The Archer
·         Ideal Shoes: Loyal to your shoes, you still require enough style in them to turn heads.  

You are an archer that is quick to fire off a thousand arrows in a moment of frustration, although, for the majority of the time you are open to all and happy to enjoy life! 

If a friend suggests a training run, you’ll jump at the chance, whether he/she is an Olympic champion, or someone ‘fresh from the couch’.

You are a social butterfly and live your life to please others and impress all, however you can be ticked off early and when you fly off the handle most New Year’s Eve fireworks displays wouldn’t distract attention away from you!

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

If you’ve been thinking about fabricating an entire article in the style of a ‘newspaper horoscope article’ for the amusement of your friends then this is the week to do it! 

If not, then at least the weather will be great for a couple of training runs at least!
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Capricorn: December 22 – January 19
·         Element: Earth
·         Symbol: The Goat
·        Ideal Shoes: What shoes do the pros wear? Any advancement that will have you on the top of the podium is worth ANY investment!

Stubborn almost to a fault you will dig your hooves in with any situation you believe you are right. 

Because of this you aren’t known for your flexibility. Prone to over prepare, you will efficiently pack your race-bag and arrive with plenty of time for every race.

You are very goal-orientated, and will set sights on achievements, pbs and podiums, which can be a double edged sword at times. Luckily you have a wicked sense of humour and can laugh off most adversity with a self deprecating smile.

Your drive can make you prone to overtraining; however, on the bright side, no-one will ever accuse you of being lazy.

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

Shut your bedroom blinds/curtains; your neighbours have been watching you getting changed for the last six months. 

You’re welcome.
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Aquarius: January 20 – February 18 (Adam’s sign)
·         Element: Air
·         Symbol: The Water Bearer
·          Ideal Shoes: Sensible colours and style, although you can occasionally branch out with a new  model occasionally.  

The race course wasn’t correctly measured? Not enough drink stations? You will be the most vocal opponent to any miscarriage of justice. Luckily this independence allows you to be your own best training coach.

You are incredibly loyal to friends and family and will defend them to the bitter end. You are also curious and willing to undertake any task or adventure that is foreign to you.

You’ve signed up for Tough Mudder haven’t you? If not, you probably will next year….just a warning; the path for you is full of cargo nets, high-fives and ridiculous headwear.

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

At one point this week you will consider getting that PB time tattooed to immortalise that momentous occasion…

...DON'T! Because, before the year is out you’ll beat that time, and it’ll be expensive to fix. Might I recommend a tattoo with a little more longevity; like a portrait of Rick Astley, your first girlfriend/boyfriend's name, or the lyrics to a Top 40 song?


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Pisces: February 19 – March 20
·         Element: Water
·         Symbol: The Fish
·         Ideal Shoes: The shoes that feel right…you are very particular about the movement of the shoe from the sole up and you know what works.

The shy recluse you will happily don your sensibly coloured trainers and double knot your laces for every race. The mere idea of a bright pair of Vibram ‘toe shoes’ would almost make you dry-wretch. …but don’t worry, you’re not alone there.

Your ability to push yourself very often means that  you are capable of quite amazing things. If anyone will finish that marathon, congratulations….it’s you.

Sadly, you can be occasionally moody and disorganised….but with that finisher’s medal around your neck you strike a pretty impressive pose!

THIS WEEKS HOROSCOPE:

Remember Dougie Howser M.D.?! Hasn’t Neil Patrick Harris done well for himself? Gosh he’s talented and so darn likeable. There really should be more films and television shows with him in them.  Did you know he’s a Gemini?

This week something bad will happen to you…at some point. Try to think of Neil Patrick Harris and I promise it will feel better.

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So there you have it, YOUR horoscopes predicted!  

So enjoy that, and for those of you too sceptical to believe, why not train hard, be nice, stay honest and make your future the best it can be?!

Keep running!

Clay Dawson
Intraining Sponsored Athlete and Mystical Conjuring Clairvoyant
Check out Intraining Online Here or in Store @ Milton or Indooroopilly 

* Private readings are available for anyone with money and a willingness to give it away without consultation with previous customers or ombudsman. 



Wednesday, 2 July 2014

"Goodbye my lover....goodbye my a friend!" ---> The death of a Garmin!

 
Much like every single character in the Game of Thrones television and book series, we all must die at some point. True too that we will probably do so in a variety of morbidly obscure and sometimes awfully, painful ways, very often with no warning and for no apparent reason….for this alone, I hate you George R R Martin.

But that is a topic of a million blogs already written, so I digress... and tell you MY story;


For a sport which is predominantly seen by many as a solo pursuit for individual glory, this week I had to face the harsh reality of saying goodbye to a friend who I’ve spent EVERY running step over two years on my long journey with….my Garmin 610.

The Garmin 610 came into my life at a time when I didn’t even want a running GPS watch. I was happily enjoying using my dollar-store Casio rip-off (with it’s simple stop-start stopwatch function) and running here and there with the help of natural guidance and the feeling of the cool afternoon wind in my (probably at the time) horrifically unfashionable hair.

But like it or not, the Garmin came as a gift from my (now) wife and although I was cautious the first time I took it out for a run, I soon fell in love with the myriad of information available at my fingertips! For the nerdier amongst you, I was like Patrick Stewart in those X-Men movies with his gigantic sphere of awesome psychic powers……except I could walk.




Now, I’m not Michael Bay and (as such) I don’t want this to sound like a product endorsement or an
advertisement for Garmin products.  Truth be known,  I would have been just as happy with any other brand or watch….even a replacement fake-Casio would’ve been a good enough and welcome reason to throw the old putridly gross watch in the bin!

And besides, that….the watch began to suck almost immediately!

Don’t get me wrong, I used, admired and treasured the constant pace updates, the running km counter, the ability to plan training workouts, even the cheerful beeps and noises at every km interval and the sheer fact that this EXPENSIVE gift made me look, feel and run like a professional. This watch took me from the school-yard to the super bowl…..even if only for the entertainment and amusement of others sometimes.  

And for these reasons alone, I LOVED it!

Together we ran EVERY training step, in a variety of conditions and temperatures. It saw every close call with every car on the road, listened to each ‘Run Forrest Run’ trumpeted out of a thousand car windows, and absorbed every single drop of wrist sweat that I had to spare.  In fact, it was this wrist sweat that soon created a permanent bumpy rust patch on the back of the watch, and a matching abrasion where the hair used to grow on my wrist.

As I went on, I trained and I worked harder and harder, and whilst my body didn’t seem to succumb to the assault, the thin rubber band of the Garmin did! Luckily, with some carefully applied gaff tape (then reapplied, then reapplied and reapplied again) the problem was starved off for a few more months of glorious training.  

Then, in the week before I was to yield to the pressure of a watch that would fling itself off mid-run; and decide to send my now irreplaceable training partner back, tragedy struck! I noticed a small crack in the touch-screen of the watch!

Now, until this point I’d neglected to mention that this touch screen was one of the coolest things about this
watch! Unlike EVERY example of ‘smart technology’ I’d experienced in my 30 years on this planet, this was ACTUALLY COOL! It did what it was supposed to do, and the simple swiping watch (from the future) made me feel like I was on the deck of the Starship Enterprise every time I used it!

Unfortunately with the crack in the screen (which I can honestly say I have NO idea how it happened perhaps as a result of a band mishap?)! I decided the chances of the nice folk at Garmin replacing my faulty band were looking less and less likely!

Still it was under warranty, and with some prompting from the nice folk at Intraining I sent it away and was incredibly surprised when they COMPLETELY replaced the watch!!!! Awesome work Garmin! Thanks for that!

So now it was Garmin 610 ….take two!

As you could probably imagine, it wasn’t long before long the same problems started again, the band started
to crack, the watch occasionally fogged up, the rust came (and my wrist hair left again) and (like before) I used barely any of the extensive features of the top-of-the-line watch!

Did I mention it would occasionally mis-measure a run by around 40meters?...yeah, well it did….and yeah, well I didn’t care!

The love was still there! And as I became faster and won the occasional race, the Garmin was there too. Suddenly every success became synonymous with the watch, and it was a crucial piece of equipment. I would’ve run without shoes before I’d ever left the Garmin at home again! I considered marrying it, however complications with convincing my already understanding wife to enter into a polygamist relationship with an inanimate object would probably stretched the friendship. 



And so the partnership rolled on! Through online apps and the uploading of data, two long years went by like amusement park visitors buying ridiculously overpriced ride photos!

Closer and closer the kilometres rolled towards the 10,000km mark! What an achievement! Me and my Garmin were UNSTOPPABLE!

I even began planning the glorious message I would send to Garmin! Thanking them for their product and celebrating our achievement! Would I make a triumphant video and share it with the world?!

Aaaaaaaaand…..then the moisture spot appeared

…and the watch stopped.

Still, try as I could to revive my fallen comrade he was gone forever!


I put it in rice, cous-cous, a combination of rice and cous-cous, I left it in the sun for days at a time, I tried gentle words of encouragement…nothing worked.

But in spite of all evidence contrary, I was resolute! I wouldn’t give up! No way! Not ever!

I wouldn’t let go of my friend so easily!

But then the strap broke again.

And so did the camel’s back.

So with this in mind I’d like to introduce you to the latest member of my running family; my sparkling new Garmin 620!

It has a new improved band that won’t break, plastic back that won’t rust and hurt my wrist, it measures distance accurately, and it’s waterproof! Joy of joys!

It also measures my cadence, vertical oscillation, V02 max, and a million other really interesting features that I probably will never use.

As to whether it will be my new best friend….



The jury is still out. Watch this space!



Till next time!
Much love! Keep running!
(Thanks for reading and sharing)

Clay Dawson
Watch enthusiast, runner and occasional idiot.
Intraining Sponsored Athlete

(Intraining are awesome – check them out! They have TWO stores now!)