What time is it?

First of all, I just successfully setup the ability to blog from my Blackberry (I'm a little behind Jen and Wally on this one...).

Second, I wanted to talk up (a) a great birthday present from my wife and (b) a great essential for any runner.  Jen surprised me on my latest birthday with a brand new athletic watch - a Timex Ironman watch - so now we have the "his" and the "her" versions.  :)

(Brian's awesome new watch)

I've started wearing my new watch every time we go to the gym or head out for a run.  I don't know how I ever worked out without one!  (Jen knows - I would just constantly ask her to keep track of our time.)  Not only is this watch stylish and designed to fit perfectly around the wrist, but its various modes are becoming very useful.  Say, for example, that we are running a 5k and want to make sure that we keep our pace consistent throughout the race.  I can quickly slide over to Chronograph mode and use the Split key to record the time it takes to run each of our miles.  We can then adjust our pace as necessary to finish the race when we want at the speed we want.  At the end of the race, I can cycle back and see our time at each mile and our total race time - ingenious!  It definitely beats searching desperately for a clock tower at the exact moment you pass a mile marker during a race.  :)

Of course, the watch also features timer, alarm, and stopwatch functions which are all useful in their own right.  So be sure to check out this watch - if the Ironman puts a stamp on it, it must be useful.  Thanks, Jen - best birthday gift ever!

(Jen's equally cool watch)