Product Review: Go ID

I just finished evaluating a new product: The Go ID Personal Emergency ID Kit. 

This is a small, make-at-home tag that you can attach to your sports watch, shoe, backpack, zipper pull, etc. so that vital information about you is readily available should you be involved in any kind of emergency situation. 

What I liked best about the Go ID:

• It's REALLY EASY to set up. I'll be honest here, I was slightly worried about "getting it right", and about possibly messing up my "one shot" to align everything properly. My fears were totally unfounded. All you have to do is follow the online instructions, which walk you through the process easily. Not only did I get it right on my first try, I'm not sure I could have gotten it wrong without working hard to do so.
• You don't have to remember it! Unlike other personal ID products that I've used over the years, once you've attached the Go ID to your sports watch, it's with you whenever you work out. You could also attach it to mobile phone, or key chain, or to anything else that you are most-likely to have with you when you leave the house. Very convenient.
• The kit comes with extra supplies. This simple fact, so often ignored by many manufacturers, really makes a difference in my humble opinion. If I actually did mess up my first try, I'd have a couple more passes to nail it. And, should my Go ID suffer a bit of wear and tear over time, I can generate a new label. Nice. Finally: If you have a temporary health situation (e.g., post-op rehab, or maybe pregnancy), you can make a specific tag with that information - then change it later when the situation is different. Voila.
• Comes in sizes - you can measure the size of your watch if that's where you want to put it, or you can order bigger/smaller simply on your own preferences.
• A portion of the profits from the sale of Go ID will be shared with first-responder units. Those are brave people who are willing to risk their own lives to help all of us in any situation, they certainly deserve the recognition and support.

What I liked less about the Go ID:

• It adds a little bit of bulk, if you are picky about such things. I use a Garmin Forerunner 110, which is already a slightly big wrist watch. Adding the Go ID underneath the watch (using small velcro-style stickers) did add to the feeling of bulk while running, but honestly I stopped noticing it after only a few minutes. And it's most certainly less of a factor than the water bottle I'm sometimes carrying on hot days. Note: I didn't even notice it when I was wearing it while cycling.
• Attaching it to a shoe is a little complex for my tastes (unlacing, threading, re-lacing, etc.), but I'm not sure how to improve that one. I rotate my shoes every time I run, so I'd have to be dealing with this over and over again if I attached the tag to my shoe (which means I'll attach it to my watch instead). I suppose this is not an issue if you wear the same shoes all the time - but I strongly recommend against that in the first place, because if you are out there on run-after-run, mile-after-mile in the same pair of shoes, your risk of injury increases, period. But that's a topic for another post.

What I don't yet know about the Go ID:

• Durability: I've only used it a few times and it shows no signs of wear, but I just don't know yet how it will fare over time. Jury is still out on this one.
• Availability: Not sure these are distributed widely, you may not find it in a store in your area, but you can order it online right now.

Overall, I liked the product and would recommend it. We all live in a bubble of denial when it comes to accidents and emergencies, so it's easy to think you don't need any kind of identification when you slip out the door for your workout - I was guilty of this for many years myself. But I recommend that you make sure to provide a way for emergency personnel (or even assisting bystanders) to know quickly who you are, whom to contact on your behalf, and any health issues that should be taken into account. You might be the safest, least-accident-prone person in the world, but you can't control what some other bonehead might do that could result in you being hurt. Be safe out there!

Race Report: Sour Grapes Trail Half-marathon

I was back in the Brainerd, MN area over this past weekend to take part in the Sour Grapes Half-marathon Trail Race.

I ran this race last year, and enjoyed it despite the hot and humid conditions.

It was the first race in 2013 I'd be doing that I'd also completed in 2012, so a chance to measure the actual change in my fitness year-over-year. The results were about what I expected.

The weather conditions this year were much, much nicer: partly cloudy, temperatures rising from the high 50s to the mid-60s F, with a slight breeze. Because this spring - and I use that term loosely - has been wet, the sandy parts of the trail offered more weeds and more traction, so the course was in better shape. I ran similarly to last year, and had a couple of deja vu experiences, such as passing the exact same guy that I passed last year about about mile 4 - I swear.

There were some magical moments too. I remember running alone along a moist double-track trail in the deep woods, with streams of sunlight coming from above, punctuated by fluffy tufts of cottonwood trees floating down slowly - if I didn't look closely, I would have imagined it was snowing (AGAIN!).

I ran alone for a large portion of the race, from about 5.5 miles until almost mile 11 (except for passing several walkers from the concurrent 10.55k event). I finally caught and passed the lead female at that point. She was running strong, but one of her ankles was strapped into a rather heavy looking brace. She ran a strong race, I think she just ran out of steam. I know the feeling!

I was pleased that my Garmin 110 showed that my last mile was my fastest, with a pace in the 6:40s (not bad for a trail race). In the final results, I ended up finishing 2nd overall, and first in the 50-59 age group.

Last year: in heat and humidity I finished 3rd and ran 1:32:26.
This year: better conditions, I finished 2nd and ran 1:32:19.
Pretty close on first inspection, but honestly if the weather had been as good in 2012 as 2013, I would have run at least a minute faster. Still, that puts me only about 5-10 seconds per mile slower than last year, so maybe I'm not in such poor shape after all. Time will tell.

This was race number six in the UMTR Grand Prix, and I think I'm sitting in first place overall at this point. We'll see for certain when the series points standings are updated (hopefully soon).

One final note: I decided to build a bridge from this blog over to Twitter this week, so look for a short twitter fall to the right and feel free to follow if you are so inclined. Many times there are little tidbits of running information and wisdom that I'd like to share, but don't have the time to compose a blog entry. Let's see if a few tweets can help that. Onward and upward.

Found some photos posted on Facebook:

End of first lap, staying relaxed

End of lap two, bringing it home