Garmin

When you started running you probably glanced at the clock on the wall as you headed out the door and again when you returned, noting loosely how long it took you. As your running, confidence and ability progressed you may have moved up to a watch with chrono, then a heart rate monitor and may now be contemplating purchasing a tool that measures pace, speed and distance. If you haven?t made that plunge yet...think Garmin.
Garmin has something for everyone at every price point. The major benefits of Garmin over other systems like Polar and Timex is it is a single piece unit consisting of an arm based monitor/watch, no foot pod required; as well it receives its information by GPS rather than by length of step. One area Garmin does not do as well as Polar is heart rate.
The 201/301 series started the craze with a basic system that noted speed, pace, elapsed time, laps plus more with an easily readable but overly large watch face. Being their first attempt at the Forerunner it is important to note that it takes longer to acquire the GPS but that is the only negative for the still accessible 201 which prices out less than $200.
Next generation 205 and 305 were shaped differently, acquired their signal quicker but maintained all the other great Garmin features plus the ability to download information to your computer plus the ability to convert the 305 to a bike computer with add on cadence monitor. Approximately $250-$350.
The 405 stormed onto the scene with the ability to wear it as a daily watch, faster acquiring of the signal, a bezel face plus more features than a runner could possibly use. The downsides of this unit were a lower battery life, smaller readout making the display harder to read while running and an overly sensitive bezel on a clunky watch. Approximately $350-$390.
The newest addition to the Garmin Forerunner and in my opinion their best edition is the 310 XT. The face is smaller but the readout remains the same size as the 205/305 series, fast acquisition of a satellite, and a soft, breathable rubber watch band. The best thing about the 310 is it can go in the water and has a multisport function so it is perfect for triathletes. Use it in the water, transfer to the bike and round out your swim. $435 or $500 w/HRM.

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Congratulations to Eric Lindenburg on his first Ironman! Eric covered the 3.8k swim, 180k hilly bike ride and 42k run in lake Placid crossing the finish line to ?Eric you are an Ironman? in 13:34:40.
Brian (1:22:04) and Jackson Laundry (1:11:37) completed the Chemong Lake Triathlon (500/20/5) with John Kooistra (1:10:48) while Stacey Berdan (1:59:57) and Greg Kerr (2:12:55) raced the HSBC Bala Triathlon (750/30/7.5).
At the Durham Quarter Marathon 10.549k in Oshawa Tom Baker crossed the line in 59:35 and was followed by Bill Huffman (1:14:48) , Elizabeth Harrison (1:16:07) and Sue Byers (1:16:07).