There are many reasons why I love running, but most of all it's because of its simplicity. Throw on a T-shirt and some shorts, lace up your shoes and your workout starts once you're out the door. It's not logistically challenging, unlike swimming or cycling, which I also do as a triathlete.
My runs used to be based on feel. My legs and feet would set the pace and distance. If I was tired I would turn for home; on many occasions euphoria carried me farther than expected. How far or how fast I would go was unknown and arbitrary, the only thing that mattered was that I had been for a run.
Running is a primal act, and I liked keeping it that way, even shunning portable music players to have only my breath as a soundtrack.
But a couple of years ago this all changed when I got a Garmin Forerunner 405CX, a GPS-enabled running watch, as a birthday present. To call it a watch is an understatement - it's more like a mini-computer, and certainly felt like a brick on my previously bare wrist.
Like a ball and chain, the watch now holds me prisoner.
Firstly, I have to remember to charge it - the battery barely lasts a good long run of about four to five hours. (Since May, when a friend from Prague left his GPS watch behind, I have owned the Garmin 310XT, with a battery life of 20 hours.)