We've Had A Fatality... My Garmin

Sorry for the lack of post over the past few days, it's been a busy weekend. I was going to post last night, but decided to combine the post from yesterday with today's.

First things first. I plugged my Garmin Forerunner 10 into the outlet yesterday afternoon to charge it because I knew I was going to need it today after work. This morning I went to grab it off the charger and noticed that it had frozen. I've never experienced this before with my Garmin. It still said the battery charge was on one bar, and the time and date were stuck on yesterday.

I played around with it for a few minutes, and it would not respond to any key commands, or give me a charging indicator if I attempted to plug it into an outlet. I did have a few seconds to find the little instruction manual that came with it to throw in my bag on the way out the door to work. I found a minute this morning to glance through the manual, and I did find that to reset it you have to hold the power button for 15 seconds. So I did that, counting slowly in my head, and finally off it went. I pressed the power button again, and it turned on. It was trying to reset the time by GPS, which I decided to skip as I work on the main level of the hospital and get zero service and decided to reset it after work before my run.

Any way, last week one of the nurses I work with approached me and asked if I'd like to start running after work together. I was so excited when she approached me because it's so nice to have a running buddy! Linda and I decided on Friday that today would be our first day out running (rain or shine). Just our luck, the sun was out and it was gorgeous when we came into work, and by the time we clocked out at 4:30 it was pouring down rain and freezing, but we did say rain or shine!

We started out the back of the hospital and decided to do intervals. I set my watch to find out location, and told Linda it would take a moment, but we could start running. Wouldn't you know, my watch NEVER found our location throughout our entire run (which was 2 miles- I mapped it on RunKeeper). I am beyond frustrated that it is all of a sudden acting up on me for no good reason!! Looks like I'll be in the market for a new GPS watch. I had asked a friend about the Nike+ Sportwatch because I like it's capability of being use indoor (with the Nike+ shoe pod) and outdoor with the GPS. However, I really love my Garmin. I think I'll probably just upgrade my Garmin to the 220, and include the heart rate monitor option. It's $300.00, but I honestly think it would be good for me to include to heart rate monitor.

Next tidbit. While at work last week, one of the Cardiologists I work with said to me that they're now doing Melody Valves at Strong. Surprised to hear this, he then told me that it's even my cardiologist that is doing to valves! So now you're probably wondering what a Melody Valve is. It is the first FDA Approved transcatheter valve designed specifically for pulmonic valve replacements. The valve is fed through a tube in your groin, it travels up through the circulatory system. A stent is placed, and the valve is placed within the stent.

He said he didn't think I'd technically be a candidate for the valve because he thought I'd already need to have one there. We started talking about what could possibly warrant a valve implant for me, and he mentioned any change in symptoms. I don't necessarily have any symptoms, but one thing I did note was during/after my last half marathon. Mel and I were running into EPCOT and probably about a half mile from the finish when I went to shake and flex my hands and noticed how tight they felt. I looked at my hands and they were so swollen from edema. I showed Mel, and she agreed it was edema. Looking back, I wish I had taken a picture of them to show my cardiologist, but there are a few pics of me afterwards that you can see the edema. Granted, I'm sure it didn't help that my arms were at 90 degree angles for the duration of the race, but I think I'm pretty diligent about shaking them out, especially every time we'd reach a water stop. I was just so surprised at how swollen they were.

(It's a little difficult to see the swelling, but it's there)

Today after my run with Linda, she and I were walking out of the hospital to the parking garage, and I held up my hands and noticed they were a little swollen (no where near as bad as they were during the half), and she noticed too. Luckily, she agreed I wasn't making it up, and agreed it was definitely something I should bring up to my cardiologist this summer. Sounds like I now have a lot to discuss with my cardiologist.

QOTD: What GPS device do you run with, and what are the pros and cons?