~8.2 miles @ ~9.6 min/mi

Yet another GPS accuracy debate breaks out on the MCRRC-Discuss listserv, provoked by my post re Gina Kolata's somewhat-silly New York Times column on the subject recently. So when I finish up early at the dentist on a Wednesday afternoon it's out to gather some data. After all, "It's all about the trackfile!" as I often say. But alas, post-run the Garmin 205 gets hinky and spurns my attempts to upload. A total reboot, flushing contents, is required. Bummer! And without that evidence, who will believe that as the rain stops I run from home to the base of the big Mormon Temple hill and, along Stoneybrook between Beach Dr and Kent St, manage five brisk climbs and descents?

I look like a mime, white gloves glowing in the dusk. Winter Solstice Eve is unseasonably warm; I'm clad in shorts and thin short-sleeved shirt. During recovery downhill jog #2 a lady in the group of three walking up the hill spies me. "Hi Mark!" she says; I can't recognize her in the gloom. I pass the gals on the next climb, when suddenly a myriad of decorative lights for the LDS Temple drive-through creche are lit. It reminds me of the warning in the movie Surviving Christmas raised to a high power: "I can smell my eyeballs burning." — "Very important: don't look directly at the tree!"

Data: five repeats, climbs 4:57 + 4:55 + 4:54 + 5:08 + 4:58 and descents 4:22 + 4:22 + 4:29 + 4:27 + 4:44. According to the GPS display the distances each way are 0.50 to 0.51 miles. The route from home is outbound 1.60, return 1.63 miles.

(cf. 2008-12-24 - Temple Hillwork, 2009-06-18 - Mormon Temple Hillwork, 2009-09-23 - Mormon Temple Hillwork, 2010-12-05 - Mormon Temple Hillwork, ...) - ^z - 2011-12-31