Hi. I'm Ray and I'm a gadget geek.

Now you need to know that a gadget geek is different from a gear junky. But as long as I'm in a soul-bearing mood, I am a gear junky, too. When I umpired baseball, as a lad, I was always eyeing the latest equipment. I'd spend hours poring over the equipment catalog. In early spring you'd find me at the local sporting goods store lustily fondling the gear. My dad may have got me started, and may have been the better umpire, but I had way better gear!

Sadly, there just isn't much basketball gear. So I console myself by indulging my inner gadget geek. And with spring finally arrived, I have recently broken out my running gadgets. I've got a whole bagful of heart rate monitors and fancy wristwatch monitor thingees I've tried over the years. They haven't made me a better runner, but that's hardly the point.

My current favorite is the Timex Bodylink. Along with the requisite heart rate monitor, it also has a GPS to track current speed and distance. Plus there's a gadget that records all of the raw data to upload to my computer. All geekiness aside, it's very motivating to upload the data and chart my progress. Motivation is good.

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