Runners’ Christmas Gifts

SNAPSHOT

Favorites in my life as a Runner, Mom, Foodie, Learner, and Woman

DIGGING DEEPER

My WISH List

Hint, Hint husband and family…

Garmin Forerunner 245 The newest model of my loved current watch

TRX PRO3 Suspension Trainer Always use the TRX at the YMCA but wish for one at my home too!

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World Book - Next up on my Audible library

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World BOOK - Because I love to learn and teach

TSM Products Stainless Steel Food Dehydrator with 5 Stainless Steel Shelves High Quality kitchen appliances make cooking/baking successful!

Logitech Sweat and Waterproof Jaybird Tarah Pro Wireless Sport Headphones Use the regular Tarah but wish for Tarah Pro upgrades

Danielle Walker's Against All Grain Celebrations: A Year of Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes for Every Occasion Digital (Kindle) Because when you are at the grocery store and remember you want to make a certain recipe but don’t remember the ingredients needed!

My LOVE List

NEW to my website is a SHOP page. Check out my favorites all year long: Running, Books, Kitchen, and Self Care.

Garmin Forerunner 235 See my review

Rollga Foam Roller goodbye back soreness and inflexibility

Mastrad Orka Plus Oven Mitt WHY aren’t these mitts standard!

Feetures Socks Can’t own enough! My athletic teens love them (steal them from me).

Headlamp 5 Stars for all night running (survived Ragnar and early morning trail running)

Tifosi Wisp Sunglasses BEST Woman’s sized sunglasses, my second pair because I love them so much

Six Basic Cooking Techniques: Culinary Essentials for the Home Cook Yes Essential and I bet even veteran home chefs will learn something new

Blendtec "Pro" 795 Blender with Wildside+ Jar Yes worth the price and space on the counter, seriously amazing!

Out of Africa Shea Butter Body Oil - Lavender Scented Best Body Oil

Honest Beauty Extreme Length Mascara + Lash Primer Yep, totally makes my lashes prettier 

Field & Stream Women's Cozy Cabin Stripe Nord Slipper Socks Every Minnesota winter needs several pairs of house slippers

adidas Women's Adizero Adios 4 Running Shoe Wore for my marathon and my boys even hinted they wanted a pair!

Turtle Fur Buff to survive chilly winters

Places

I LOVE to SHOP

The Lakes Running Company Brooks Adrenaline Training Shoe

Glenna Farms Maple Syrup

Pioneer Midwest Nordic Ski Shop

Ikea My kitchen, curtains, organization, bedding, shelving…

REI Tent, coat, snow boots, hiking boots

SOLUTION

BROWSE by using my SHOP page

Check out past years’ lists

By Video 2019

Books 2018

Christmas 2017

Original Christmas List 2016

Running Watch: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days

#6 Running Watch

SNAPSHOT

How do you like your running watch?

DIGGING DEEPER

I have been very surprised by how often I have been asked or received positive comments about my running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 235. Since I put it on my wrist on January 17, 2016 (3 year anniversary yesterday), it has garnered attention. My previous watch, the Garmin Forerunner 405, was so bulking and really only useful when running that it was strapped on just for logging miles. However, my 235 has rarely gone 12 hours without taking my pulse, counting my steps and miles, and notifying me of text messages.

Was so excited that I actually texted a picture to my husband of my new watch while in my car after exiting the Fleet Feet store in Colonie, NY!

So here is my REVIEW on the Garmin Forerunner 235 after THREE years of real-life testing.

Pros

• Fits well on my medium sized woman’s arm and I wear it all the time, day and night (except in water, waterproof to 50 feet deep though).

• Love the aqua blue watch band! And easy, low cost to switch out to another color.

• Resting Heart Rate Data is so interesting to me that I will get out of a warm bed to walk across a cold room to retrieve my charging watch, in order to gain the data from the early morning before I am awake.

• Easy to read the time when running and not running

• Texts appear through Bluetooth from my phone, bonus when cooking and I can just glance on my wrist to see if my son is texting me to pick him up from practice. Or when I am running with my phone in my SPIbelt or in my jacket pocket. The vibration signal is a bit Pavlov but it is also very handy.

• Highly customizable for screen data fields while running, several data screens available to click through during runs.

• Average Heart Rate Data for the entire workout/run is a gauge for my overall fitness, health, and effort.

• Lap button recording is so helpful for when I am analyzing data about my own run or my runner’s data.

• Data automatically syncs with Garmin Connect App and then onto my Final Surge Training Platform! My runners love this feature!

• GPS is fairly accurate on race courses with the exception of trail races.

• Garmin Connect App is awesome!!! Free

• Good battery life. I plug it in for a couple hours about once a week. If you are a trail runner or ultra runner than you will end up plugging it in a lot more often.

• Price has gone way down. Currently $250

Cons

• Not as easy to record my nordic skiing as I wish. Have to use the Other activity option and then make edits in Garmin Connect

• Auto Pause feature, I didn’t like it at first but I need to try it again. It would be helpful for fixing my problem of forgetting to restart my watch after pausing the timer while I am at a stop light. 235 2.0 could have it run a second tread of data in case I forgot to turn the timer back on so that I could still have the info when I make a mistake.

• Can’t read the time of time when I have paused the time during a run. Garmin could make it so that at least one data field could be accessed while still paused.

• Garmin Connect Website is average but free to use as a training log and creates reports (favorites = resting heart rate, year to date mileage)

Extras that I don’t personally use but I can see that others would really like

• Upload workouts and the watch signals you through the workout.

• Tailer the heart rate workout zones

• GPS yourself home! The watch actually tells you how to return to where you started for those that get lost! Although when I get lost I get really long runs in, which is totally worth getting lost!

• Yep, it can show you the weather!
  
  

So how much do I like the Garmin brand?

Well, I gave my 14-year-old runner son a Forerunner 35 for Christmas. I choose the 35 instead of the 235 because of the size and shape of the watch on his arm. The 35 seems a bit smaller. He is very happy and clocking all types of activities! It is such a fantastic way for him to learn more about biology and the body. He often checks his data and better understands his body’s activities and measurements. The Garmin Forerunner 35 is only about $170.

Popular with Runners

Texted photo to my training partner when excited about our average pace together!

Several of the runners I coach have Garmin watches and I can easily follow their training. I look for their average heart rate, pacing per mile or interval, cadence and elevation. It is like I was with them on the run.

SOLUTION

Totally worth the price! Currently my watch cost has averaged out to be 32 cents per day and lowering every day!

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.