Sticks for Good Measure: What to do when you don’t have a Garmin

I had my knees checked by a doctor and I was told I am still ok to run.  I need a few sessions of therapy and I have missed some of them.  Bad.  Sorry Doc.  I’ll be back this week.  Promise.

It was nice to be back on the road.  I had a few short runs last week.  No pain on the knees so far.  Today, I decided to run a 10K during the Book Run.  But instead of joining the 10K race, I decided to run around the BHS loop.  I think I can control myself better that way.  I can avoid running too fast and be able to walk ala Galloway at specified points in the loop.  I don’t have a watch to tell me the time, the distance or the number of laps.  I need something to tell me how many laps I did already.  I could easily miss a count.  So I got creative and made my own counter.  Who says running should be complicated?

I got used to my Timex watch where I just press the lap button and I will know how many rounds I did in a certain loop.  Or my Garmin 310XT that has the autolap feature which tells me my time at every one kilometer.  Unfortunately, those gadgets were gone after a house break-in.  Haaay… And I don’t plan of getting another one yet.  I am waiting for a possible demo unit of a new running device that will be introduced in the market soon.  Hmmm… that is worth the wait.

With the absence of a lap counter, I need to be creative.  This can also be a good solution for those who don’t have any timer or lap counter when running. My simple solution — sticks!

Yep.  I pick up one dried stick whenever I finished one loop.  There are plenty of them at BHS.  I just pick them up.  I prefer dried sticks since they are easier to count afterwards.  Other options can be leaves and even pebbles.

I know that the BHS loop is about 1.2 kilometers.  And since I got 10 sticks after the run, it would mean I had 12kms today.  Not bad.  Of course, this will only work if you are running on a pre-measured course.  Preferably a loop interval.

How about the time?  How will I know how long I have finished my 12 km run today?  I was running with my mp3 player and I was playing a song that was 44 minutes long.  It was a remix.  During the run, the remix played once and then another 40 minutes of it.  Therefore, I was running for 1 hour and 24 minutes.  Not bad again.

So don’t fret if you can’t afford those expensive gadgets.  Be creative.