GPS Kids | Peg’s Posts: Greetings from Beantown

Very soon I’ll be lining up with several thousand of my new closest friends, ready to start our 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. I’m using the term “closest” in a purely physical sense. Saturday’s trip through the Boston Marathon packet pickup and expo was a true test to my requirements for personal space. Good practice for the first six miles of the marathon, according to one of my running partners. Despite the elbows and long lines, it was a fantastic expo. Spent some time at the Garmin booth, where Stan, director of fitness sales, said they’d already had a steady stream of folks in to try and buy the new Forerunner 110. One runner bought 7 units on the spot. Apparently, the easy-to-use Forerunner 110 fit the bill for some of his running friends and family back home. Other runners came by with technical questions for our product trainers and lead fitness engineers.

While the Garmin booth had a steady stream of customers, another spot at the expo had a constant crowd of spectators–a video screen showing a fly-through of the course along with narration of key points and tips from Boston legends. Speaking of legends, I spotted a familiar face at the Runner’s World booth: Bart Yasso. Bart is a well-known, much-published expert in running who’s been part of the Runner’s World team for 30 years. I had the pleasure of meeting Bart a few years ago at an event we hosted at the Garmin Store in Chicago. Heard his stories of burro racing, Badwater Ultra Marathon, buck-naked racing and more. Want the full story? It’s now in print: My Life on the Run. 

I’m also taking in stories from the Boston veterans I’ve met in the last two days. Someone staying at our B&B is running his 10th Boston and said he hopes to make 25 so he can be listed in the official program. Another guest at our B&B, Bruce from Ontario, is here for his second Boston. Bruce said he learned about Garmin fitness devices through his exposure to Garmin avionics as a noncommercial pilot. “The best thing that happened to my running was getting a Garmin Forerunner because it helped me slow down,” he said. “I’m able to manage my pace better.” He also mentioned that he uses Forerunner when marking courses. “We’re developing a new trail network in Ontario. Being able to dump our data to Garmin Connect and overlay on maps is huge.” Later, I met a lady headed to the expo to work a booth and when she saw Garmin on my jacket, she asked if I had “the new one.” Showed her the Forerunner 110 and answered her questions about her current model, the 405.

After spending a little more time at the expo on Sunday, it was back to our B&B for a little R&R. Plus the pre-race prep of bib number pinning, assembling attire and packing and repacking my bag drop items. My speedy roomie, who’s going for a 3:30 and a PR, was glad to know she could get on-the-spot product support. She is a Forerunner 405CX customer and loves it, but had some questions about customizing the screen, so we got it set up and even set her Virtual Partner screen for her goal pace of 8 min miles.

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