After weeks of underwhelming mileage, I finally got super close to hitting my mark for the week. Months of training in ridiculous heat seemed to pay off when I did a pre-dawn 8-miler with my friend, Sara. We employed my 1:1 interval pace and with the exception of a couple of spots, stuck to it. The air was humid but much less hot than when I usually run. Well, starting just after 5 am versus 10 or 11 am, helps. Ha ha.

It was also during this run that I realized I need a new/different sports watch. For the most part, it seemed to read consistently, but then it would crawl to a 70-minute pace or speed up to a 7:40 pace, without my body actually doing anything different. It got really weird when we ventured over to Eisenhower Park to hike the Rocky Horror race preview. Even though I was hiking pretty well, the watch's pace indicator didn't register anything, like I was standing still.

I have too many important events coming up that I need a reliable watch to indicate my pace, heart rate and time.

After surveying some friends, I bought a Coros Apex Pro off of Amazon for $349 (my AmEx card is crying). The selling point was its 36-hour battery life with GPS, as well as the enthusiastic testimonials from Hundo and Babe, among others.

I get the new watch on Monday, so I will report back next week.

Meanwhile, I need to get with the folks at Suunto to find out about my options for the clunker I bought in February.