Watch? Check!

Ok, so I picked up a watch today - its a Timex Ironman 50 Lap and looks just like the one below except the colors are more in the grey family then blue. I am currently playing with it and then will take it out for a spin. Bought a few more things as well, including some wicking apparel. I also bought some Nike shoes - but they certainly aren't for running (oops!).
The Nike shoes are the same as these below, but the ones I got were in black.

I also learned something very important that I need to add to my shopping list! RAIN GEAR. Today was the Boston Marathon - and at the start it was pouring. I knew I needed the stuff, but it wasnt a priority for some reason. Dumb me. I live in Chicago - the city where it drops 20 degrees and starts pouring during the middle of a nice summer Cubs game, a city where a new runner must be prepared :) So, I get to check off a thing or two from the shopping list, but add the rain gear as a bit of priority. (Its also April - rainy season. DUH! I got so excited about the watch hunt I had blinders on)

Training Log
First, let me start off by saying the little running I do is on a treadmill. I have ventured out a few times in the past 6 months or so to run outdoors, and probabally ran between 1 and 1.5 miles each time. I try to do it, but have some issues with the terrain, crossing the street, paying attention, how far I have run, etc. The other issue is the dog - brought her a few times and didnt a few times. I just got back from my first run with my new Timex and my dog, Wrigley.

Wrigley is a loyal Cubs fan, fantastic frisbee catcher, and avid swimmer. Unfortunately, Wrigley is not a runner, doesnt listen well and has a thing for treeing squirrels. Despite, this, I thought marathon training might be a thing that she and I could do together - I may be quite wrong about that!

So I set my handy new watch for 30 minutes, the amount of time Team in Training suggest I run today. Two minutes into it Wrigley decides to "take care of some business". I quickly learn how to pause the timer and to restart it - so chalk the experience up as a good one. Then, with 28 minutes left of our jog we start off again. As she jerks me back and forth to check out the scents of some streets we do not normally stroll along, chases down two squirrels and stops to sniff some leaves I realize that we might not be the best of running partners. I also realize that I made two errors before setting out: First, her leash is too long, allowing her to zig-zag and hunt while flinging me to-and-fro. Second, I didn't map out any sort of path, so I am randomly running around letting her lead. The confusion of no plan along with a sore arm caused me to head in the direction of home too early - when we got into the gate I had 5 minutes and 9 seconds left on my timer. In addition, when we did get back into the gate, Wrigley charged for her ball and expected a play session. It appears that my slow mile pace isn't enough to wear her out and she probabally was laughing at me the whole way. Looks like today my log consists of a 25 minute run with a short break two minutes in :)

So, I learned a few lessons from this outing.

1. Watch works - Dog doesn't
2. If I want to run with her, I need a shorter leash and some patience in training
3. Map out some paths to run, in a variety of distances