Learning to run and relax on Martha's Vineyard + Garmin Forerunner 210 Review

When I arrived on the Vineyard Thursday, I was greeted by the Conway's of Lincoln, MA and offered an Adirondack chair and a glass of white wine. My intentions for this trip were work first, play second, but how could I resist. Feeling motivated to get a good run in on Friday morning, I decided to test out my new Garmin Forerunner 210. This really helped me get out of bed and go, otherwise, the day would get ahead of me and running would take a back seat.

I stood on the stairs of the house on Coffins Field Rd. searching for satellites. My Garmin took about 30 seconds to sync up and find all three needed to triangulate and track my movements. I was impatient, but this 30 second moment taught me a valuable lesson; never go running out of haste. With a "bleep" from my wrist, I was off to explore.


My legs and hips have been more sore then usual so it took a good mile to really get warmed up. My plan was to get as close to the beach as possible without running more then 6 miles. "Bleep" from my wrist at mile 1. I looked down to see my shake out mile completed at an 8:14 pace. I had the pace function set to avg pace per mile as well. This setting helped me focus on the run so I wouldn't constantly look down at my wrist, checking my pace. As I slipped onto dusty Waldrons Bottom Rd., I noticed that the soreness I was feeling had disappeared and the tunnel of scrubby trees and bushes averted my attention from breathing in the dust. Having a tool to tell me how far I've run and when to turn around was liberating to some degree. I didn't have to plot my route before hand, so I opened up my stride a little and planned to turn back at 3 miles. The "bleep" reminded me that I had reached mile 4, then 5 and that I was almost home. Overall, the Garmin worked flawlessly. Having tactile buttons to push is definietly a plus, but if you are a fan of touch screen, check out this cheekyrunning.com review of the new Garmin 610. (Check out the overview of my run below using Garmin Connect)

Greeted by Cassie, the families dog, I hit the stop button and saved my workout by holding the lap/reset button for a few seconds. I was happy to notice that my run was entirely stress free. Yoga on the back deck and some good breathing exercises was a nice way to cool down and relax before heading to MVCS to train their staff on eHana's EHR.

How do you relax after running? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.