October 12th, you would have seen me and 45,000 other runners crammed into Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, ready to run the Chicago Marathon.

I was soooooo excited to run this race!  You all know of the obstacles that were overcome so that I would be able to be in Chicago, so this was a Very. Big. Deal.

There were a zillion people in my corral (*slight exaggeration).  I was in the very last corral to start the race.  We all were in a festive mood, chatting with the people around us.  Our teeth were chattering with the cold and not all of us spoke English, either.  There was one thing that united us.  Down to a person, we all had a Garmin.

It was pretty funny, really.  It was like an unspoken cue.  We all turned them on at pretty much the same time.  There were a LOT of 310XT’s.  For the very first time, however, I was turning on my brand new Fenix 2.

MFH (My Favorite Husband) had just purchased this beauty for me the day before at the Expo.  I was pretty enthusiastic about my new toy.  So were the people around me.

There were lots of questions about, “How do you like that one.”~ referring to my new Garmin.

I had to be honest and tell them this was the first race where I had ever used it.  I was looking forward to the results…to see just what this thing would do.  I was hoping (haha) that it would make me a faster runner (as if).

I picked this Garmin primarily due to it’s 50hr battery life.

When I ran my Ultra this past summer, my 310XT had an 11-13 hr battery life.  You could never be sure of just how long it would last, though, so when I ran that race, I was pretty nervous of it quitting on me and my losing a lot of data from the last of my race.  (I finished the race before the battery pooped out on me, fyi).

With a 50hr battery life…just think of how long I could run without worry!  Cool Beans!!!

So, I had my new toy and the people around me were jealous.  That was nice.   🙂

Chicago and my Garmin didn’t really see eye to eye.  The skyscrapers messed up the signal and my results were not accurate.  I went into the race knowing that this would probably be the case, so I wasn’t too terribly surprised.

Since Chicago, I had been having a blast with this thing!  I have found out that you can use it accurately on a TM (Treadmill).  It has a setting for Trail runs (I’ll be using that for my Ultra in March 2015).  There are quite a few settings on it, that as it presently stands, I may never, ever use, but it sure is fun to have them!  HA!

So, yes, I have a new toy and I am utilizing it to the best of my ability.  Gotta love it!