Early Bird Catches the iPhone

This morning’s Orange group run was 5 miles, and it just about did me in. The humidity was absolutely brutal, and let’s face it: I’m just out of shape. I keep telling myself that I’m so slow because of the weather, but I can’t use that as the only excuse. I have not been consistent about exercise of late, and that’s the second culprit.

We met at the absolutely ungodly hour of 5:30. Seriously, I am new to Bay Area Fit and have to know — do they meet this early all year? The BAF Triathlon group never met at 5:30 a.m. so this was a shock. I mean, whoa. I only got about 4.5 hours of sleep, so I know that didn’t help my performance either.

I ran the first two miles in 11:04 and 11:12, not bad at all. But the last three were about 12:00 per mile with lots of little walking breaks. Pathetic. By the time I got back, the group had already started stretching, which left me feeling pretty lame and left out.

The jury is still out on Bay Area Fit. Of course I like having a group to run with, but they’re a bit cult-like. Not necessarily in a bad way, it’s just…well, the best way to describe it is that the group is geared towards beginning runners, not people like me who have been running for years. (I did know that going in, so it was not a surprise.) The seminar this morning went over information that I already knew. That in itself is ok, but it felt a little too much like I was being lectured to like a child. “DO NOT wear cotton t-shirts! If you wear a cotton t-shirt, YOU WILL get heatstroke!” Ok, so I guess that could happen, but it’s unlikely to be solely from your choice of material. You’ll just be more comfortable if you don’t wear cotton. If you choose to wear cotton, I think that’s your choice.

Anyway, I was probably just cranky because I was tired and had a bad run. So we shall see. The benefit of having a large group to run with (and one that I don’t have to drive into town to meet) is first and foremost. I’d hook up with the Striders free SMART program, but it’s hard to justify driving all over Houston when I can run in Clear Lake. Next week calls for 6 miles. Not sure how well I’ll handle it, although the meeting time is pushed back to 6:20.

In other news, after much (and I mean much, just ask Jose) debate, I bought an iPhone.

I have thoroughly read dozens of internet reviews, and feel like I know what I’m getting into. After three strikes, the fourth guy I talked to at the Apple store was able to help, as we talked for about 20 minutes about features including my one major concern — synching with my Outlook calendar at work. (The first three Apple store employees were entirely unhelpful with the answers of “well, I’m a Mac person obviously, so I don’t know about PCs…” I understand that they are Mac people, but with the number of consumers using iPods and now iPhones with PCs, you’d think they’d be more educated.)

Anyway, I believe the sync will out as I hoped, so that is good. I fully realize that the iPhone has many shortcomings, and I fully realize that it is overpriced. But I wanted it, and I could afford it, so I got it. It’s pretty cool so far. I am in love with the Google Maps app in particular.