Today was beautiful – sunny, high 60’s, slight breeze. Today was the kind of day when running dreams come true. Records are broken, you move freely like a bird in the sky, the ultimate runner’s experience.
Unless you’re me.
Let me back up – it was nice today. When I got off work, the sun was shining and it was warm, but not too warm. So, naturally, I came home, lazed around a bit, did some laundry, took a power nap and decided to run around 8:00 this evening.
That’s when all pandemonium broke loose! I’m not kidding – I got dressed (in my favorite t-shirt nonetheless), laced up my shoes, and headed out the door to the park behind my house. Went to locate a satellite on my Garmin and then, well, the world might as well of ended. My Garmin wouldn’t work. Not at all. Wouldn’t even beep, blink or anything. Wouldn’t even TURN-ON! It looked exactly like this:
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| Normal right?????? |
Did someone say PANIC?!?! Because I did! It was horrible. I moved out onto the sidewalk, I switched wrists, I tapped the screen, and I pushed all the buttons in every sequence I could think of – to no avail – still nothing. “Oh my God,” I thought, “How am I going to run NOW!?!?!?” That’s right. I came racing back into the house and plugged my Garmin into the charger. Maybe the battery was really out. Still nothing, not even the characterize chirp that it’s in the grooves correctly. I looked at the time on the face – it said 7:11 p.m. THE CLOCK ON MY COMPUTER SAID AFTER 7:52 P.M.!!!!! THIS CANNOT BE GOOD!! I grabbed a wet wipe (I don’t know why, don’t judge me) and cleaned it – maybe it was dirty and didn’t want to work until it was clean again. NOTHING?!?!? As I started making funeral plans for my Garmin in my head, I tore apart the house searching for my cell phone (the only phone I have), and immediately called Fleet Feet. To my relief, Jeff answered, cheerful as always, and told me to do a factory reset. I asked him if it was dead. He said “No, happens frequently as the systems are updated.”
I was skeptical, but it was the only shot I had. My hands were shaking as a searched the Garmin website for instructions. How could I run without my Garmin?!?!?!
Grace could sense my distress:
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| Uh-oh. |
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| Say it isn’t true!!! |
Sadie decided to hide until the chaos subsided:
| Tell me when it is safe to come out!!! |
I found it.
To perform a Master Reset on the Forerunner 405:
- Press and Hold down BOTH the Start/Stop and Lap/Reset Buttons (these are the two silver buttons on the right hand side)
- Keep these two buttons pressed in for 6 seconds and the screen will go blank
- Release the Start/Stop button (the top one) and continue to hold the Lap/Reset button for 3 additional seconds, then Release it
- Select “YES” (Enter Button) to the prompt asking to clear user data
- This will erase ALL data and then guide you through all of the introductory menus once again
It didn’t work. Maybe I can’t count to 6 or 3!?!?!
The third time I tried the reset it worked. There was much rejoicing (and thanking Jeff) on my part.
Of course, now it looks like this outside my window (I really don’t run in the dark on my side of town) and it is cold:
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| Blackness descending! |
No run for me. All because I didn’t have a Garmin for an hour of my life? Apparently.
I started thinking about how ridiculous that is. Since when can I not run without a Garmin? Apparently since now. How would I know how far I ran? How fast I ran? If I was on pace or off pace?
Why does it matter?
Let’s try to remember to run for fun! If I would have just gone our and run, I probably would have felt better and got to enjoy the warm weather, instead of freaking out, having a near heart-attack and missing my opportunity. What’s the worst that could have happened? I ran a few miles more or less, faster or slower, and Feet Fleet closed so I couldn’t call them until tomorrow? Apparently.
People ran for thousands of years without watches – as my loving husband so kindly pointed out when he said, “It’s a watch, what’s the big deal?” – And probably enjoyed it. Maybe even more! My goal next week? Run at least once without my watch and see if I enjoy myself (I know, I know…it couldn’t of happened tonight, baby steps).
Tell me your Garmin stories. Can you run without your Garmin? Have you ever had to do a factory reset? Do you think it is ridiculous that we occasionally need technology to get a good workout in?
Until the next mile marker (which Garmin will hopefully measure for us),
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Oh my gosh I’m cracking up. I probably would have panicked and done the same thing!
LOL….I can totally see myself panicking too and calling Jeff. Love my Garmin. Can’t live without it. I love the tshirt that says, “if found face down, please pause my Garmin.” The only thing that drives me nuts about my Garmin is when it searches for satellites FOREVER or the mileage doesn’t click on when I start running…grrrr!
So did you ever transfer that 20 miler before the hard reset?
My Garmin did that to me the day of the Columbus Half Marathon! It was stressful until I found a pace group! And I was not happy about the thought of buying a new one. Then magically the next day it worked!
Ok… I am 100% convinced that we have run by eachother. I know that view! About 5 mins from me!!!!
Woah, hang on, I NEED that t-shirt Judi mentioned. I’m such a gadget head. It causes me pain to be separated from any and all gadgets. The time I tried to run with no one to talk to and no iPod almost killed me. As far as the Garmin, I think the nerd in me just loves knowing things, so I can spend lots of time pouring over the Garmin Connect information.
I love to run with my garmin,ever since Christmas i’ve not run without it,maybe i should but it holds everything to my run and it’s my faviourite running thing 🙂
HA! This cracks me up. I was running with my running buddy the other day and we were talking about how just beyond-o weird it is there there are actually people out there that won’t run if their Garmin goes bye-bye. Hey…whatever works for you!
OMG! I need that t-shirt too!!!! I completely see myself in your actions – and think you made an excellent point. Running shouldn’t be about the gadgets…..but..but…but….It shows me a pretty map of where I went….LOL!
Maybe some day this week – I’ll run without a garmin…maybe. 🙂
This exact thing happen to me Wednesday morning. I was so mad. I charged it last night and it was fine. By morning died’re than a door knob. I ran without it but boy was it hard. I call the company and they told me what to do. So now it is working . I have only had it since jan but I cant live without it now. It saves me from having to always drive my route after my run to see how many mile I did. I’M saving alot of gas.
HA! This cracks me up. I was running with my running buddy the other day and we were talking about how just beyond-o weird it is there there are actually people out there that won’t run if their Garmin goes bye-bye. Hey…whatever works for you!
Oh my gosh I’m cracking up. I probably would have panicked and done the same thing!
I love to run with my garmin,ever since Christmas i’ve not run without it,maybe i should but it holds everything to my run and it’s my faviourite running thing 🙂