Monday 2 December 2013

The TomTom Runner watch: is it happily ever after?

Once upon a time there was a Freckly lady who spent many a day tormenting her loving boyfriend... 

Freckly lady: "I’d really love a GPS watch for marathon training..." 
Bf: "Yeah, that'd be cool, you should get one." 

Freckly lady: "it’d be so great if I didn’t have to carry my phone out with me to track my distance and pace when I’m running..." 
Bf: "yeah, probably would. you should get one." 

Increasingly exasperated Freckly lady: "I really want THIS watch" *dances around in front of bf with to TomTom Runner watch on laptop screen* 
Bf: *sigh* 

After much hinting and leaving of leaflets in strategic places around their flat, the lovely bf had the wonderful, independent *cough* idea to surprise freckly lady with the fantastic and generous present of a TomTom Runner watch. What a hero! *swoon* 

TomTom Runner watch arrived in shiny boxed glory: 



On Freckly lady's hand: 

Left: time (6am - ooft!). Right: summary screen on pause
Freckly lady found this beautiful watch very easy to work. First of all she downloaded the TomTom connect software to her computer, then plugged in TomTom and off they went! (The TomTom software can be connected directly to a MapMyRun account if you have one too, which is ideal.) All actions are controlled from the 4-way control pad, to start a run you just go right, right, wait for GPS signal, right and - complete with a mini fanfare - GO! 

Unlike some fairytale heroines (whatev's, Cinderella), Freckly lady DID go to the ball - well, the Write This Run conference at the Running Show, so just as good :) She headed by the TomTom stand to show TomTom Runner watch off and demand extra chocolates given her dedication to their brand!

The TomTom man on the stand explained the ‘laps’ function: you can programme the watch to buzz and tell you when a certain distance or time has passed, and it gives you a breakdown of you average pace over that time or distance. Freckly lady put this function in to action at The Running Show 10k, where she liked the buzz from TomTom reminding her that she was another km down, and let her quickly check her average speed quickly. Back home with TomTom runner watch plugged in to the computer, the data on time, speed, splits and elevation were all updated automatically to TomTom connect and MapMyRun. 

On top of all that new watch giddyness, Freckly lady earned a 10K PB! As you can see, Freckly lady was very happy about this... 

Freckly lady gives the thumbs up. Random guy she sprinted with looks less happy...
Image, in it's glorious moment-capturing genius, courtesy of +Jen Slater 
Is the conclusion to our fairy tale that the TomTom runner watch has super make-you-go-fast powers??! Possibly not, but it did give Freckly lady the info she needed on how far she'd gone and reminded her of my pace every km without having to ask it. TomTom Runner watch likely also has many other secret powers that Freckly lady is yet to discover. The full magical working of TomTom can be examined here. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship... 

 *Freckly lady skips off into the sunset with TomTom Runner watch* 

The End.