Improvisational Running

Hi all:

Some of you may know that running has been a major part of a number of life changes I made on September 11th, 2001.  I usually run with either my running group (AustinFit) or my running partner who happens to be my very good friend and neighbor.  These runs are designed to keep me in shape (or at least try to retard the ongoing damages of age and Friday morning doughnuts) or prepare me for an event such as a 5k, 10k, or half marathon.  The thing that almost all these runs have in common is that they are timeboxed to get on with a normal workday and/or regimented to achieve a personal goal.  Unlike "Whose Line is it Anyway," improvisation is an afterthought, if it's there at all.

Vacation runs are different--while I start out with a specific goal in mind, I almost always become diverted.  Paths that veer off to the side seem more interesting than staying at a steady pace.  The quick reflection behind a copse of trees could lead to running water (maybe even a waterfall!).  I'll have to squeeze through an opening generally smaller than me and I might have to turn off my music, just when I was getting into it.  About half the time, my concentration is broken and I end up walking and needing to psyche myself up to start pounding miles.  However, many other times I'm rewarded with a hidden waterfall, a secret overlook into a gaping chasm, or a chance encounter with a local inhabitant who clues me into other treasures off the beaten path that will bear further exploration now or later.

A chance encounter on this morning's run in Kauai

There is another "lucky" factor at play here of course.  Vacation spots, at least for my wife and I, tend to be filled with these types of gems.  That's why we're here, to engage in a target-rich environment for adventure and exploration.  While we have guidebooks and do some level of research, some of the best finds are done by foot.  Many do so by walking/hiking, but running offers the option of covering approximately twice as much ground in the same time frame. It's something like a fast forward button to skip through the boring parts and focus on the YouTube equivalent of the cat actually playing the piano.

But is this experience only limited to those places surrounded in natural beauty in concentrations as rich as Thomas' English Muffins' nooks and crannies?  Probably not.  Now that I think about it, some of my best regular trails came about from a minor incursion into some foreign territory.  They were so good, I just stopped improvising and tuned out to focus on the "main objective." Perhaps I need to rethink that strategy as well-worn ruts can be certainly comfortable and objective-oriented, but they'll never result in a new experience inspirational enough to blog about.

@MulticastMatt

The Ripples of Pebble Across My Life's Pond

Hello all:

On Saturday, March 16th 2013,  I unboxed my Pebble, which represents a "new" era of wearable computing.  For those that don't know, the Pebble was an insanely successful kickstarter project to build an e-paper watch as an extension to your smart phone (iPhone or Adroid).  They acheived 10,000% of their funding plan with $10,000,000 of $100,000 raised. 

Here's their kickstarter page:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android.

I thought I would keep a running total of ways that this "wearable computing" has affected my life.  Note, as I have my phone with me so much, I already feel as though I have wearable computing integrated in my life--perhaps too much.

But first, why did I back the Pebble?  Well, all the cool kids were doing it.  OK, they weren't.  I was pretty early on, but I really liked the idea of this scrappy company using Kickstarter to get their product funded.  It allowed me to play VC (venture capitalist) at a very low entry point.  Note:  playing VC meant that I could have lost all money and gotten nothing in return or gotten a potato in a dozen years.  I don't know how many backers really understood that concept given the online groaning about the missed delivery dates.

From a pure feature and benefit perspective (i.e. logical), I thought it would be a kick ass way to remotely control my iPhone, which is usually in my pocket or on my arm band when I'm running or riding.  There is promised RunKeeper integration which could have additional benefits, unknown to me at the time of writing.  I have made certain allowances to spend any monies necessary to keep my exercise plan on track--this fell (after some heated internal debate) under those auspices.  Additionally, I thought it would be a good way to get status messages that may or may not be important when in meetings with others and I don't want to be so rude as to check my phone, but checking one's watch is perfectly socially acceptable (mostly).

The Pebble replaces the Timex Ironman watch that I've been wearing since 2008, and whose features I use just about every day when it comes to seeing day/date and time and timing my well-defined runs and moutain bike rides.  I use to use my Garmin for the latter, but given the propensity for my running partner and I to run the same routes, I found I didn't need the distance piece as it was essentially the same every time (note, this might be an issue and we should consider changing it up).

So here it is, my ongoing observation log of the ripples in my life from Pebble in reverse chronological order.  The ones in bold are a bit more meaninful:

• [March 18] No one at work has noticed my Pebble at work.  What is wrong with people? :)
• [March 18] I keep looking down at the watch (currently in "TextWatch" face (right now it reads "one six" with the six below the one in modern font) looking for the day and date.  I find it irritating that it's not there, but I'm not willing to switch to any other watch face that includes it as it isn't as cool.
• [March 17] I've figured out a great new feature--I can use the music control to find my iPhone!  I know that there is an app for that, and I do have it, but it takes about two seconds to start playing tunes on my watch--no need to find a computer or iPad, log in, wait for it to find it, and then tell it to play the tune.  I'm amazed that the bluetooth actually reaches across my first floor.  This is a very usable feature!
• [March 17] I keep getting notified on my phone that the Pebble app wants to communicate with the Pebble.  I don't know why--I'm all up-to-date.
• [March 17] Realization--while there aren't too many features available today, I feel like the folks at Pebble have created a great minimum viable product (MVP) with time, date, music control, alarm.  I believe that this can be extended through software in the future akin to the original iPhone.  I'm really glad I backed this project.
• [March 17] Notifications are going to be a bit more of an issue than I had first thought.  You have to go through a manual series of steps to get them to come across correctly. 
• [March 16] Downloading the first update was unsuccessful the first few times, then it wasn't.  It seems to help for the watch to be close to the iPhone.
• [March 16] Getting intimate with Pebble in our first shower together--I CAN CHANGE MUSIC IN THE SHOWER-WOOT! Yes, it's water resistant to 5 ATM.  I wasn't expecting that when I backed it, but it's really nice for it to be there, especially given the exercise implications.
• [March 16] Argh!  There is no stopwatch (chronograph).  Wow, at least for the short term, I'm going to need to use my other watch for runs.