While I have voting, Gen Z, and politics on my mind following a meeting with a Unite For Democracy event I attended with many well intentioned, liberal white baby boomers, I’ll save my thoughts on that for tomorrow or a post soon. Many thoughts as someone too old to be Gen Z (born 1997-2012), as I was born in 1995, amongst the youngest cohort of Millenials (born 1981-1996). While the movement amongst older liberals is inspiring, heartwarming, and wholesome to see, getting my wife’s input about why so many younger people aren’t showing up to protest was eye-opening. More to come on this tomorrow or soon in the coming days.

On a much lighter topic than politics: for a running-related product/tech recommendation, I highly recommend Garmin’s Forerunner 265 smartwatch. As long as you don’t care about calling or texting on the watch itself, it is amazing to use. Unlike Oura rings which require a monthly fee, once you have a Garmin watch, you get it’s all of its important app features and GPS satellite tracking for free. It is compatible with both iPhones and Androids, which is a huge plus not being trapped in one tech ecosystem. It also lasts several days on a single charge, and can track outdoor running, hiking, bicycling, swimming, or skiing among activities, for many hours with insanely good accuracy, literally anywhere on the face of the Earth with open sky (it has done impressively well in thick forest too). Other notable features include the “body battery” for your energy level, and it has every running metric imaginable from VO2 max, lactate threshold, custom heart rate zones, and the like. It also tracks sleep metrics, HRV, and naps accurately too, and automatically updates activities to Strava, which has made it fun to blog/journal there about being active outside. Recently I used it for skiing and it was great too!

The only minor downside I would say is it doesn’t necessarily track “high stress” accurately and deducts body battery points sometimes if I’m warm, had too much coffee, doing the dishes with hot water in the sink, or getting done with hot yoga. Conversely sometimes I’ve actually been super stressed and it hasn’t picked up on it. Only maybe 25% of time the “high stress” reading is true. This is probably one of the areas the Oura rings do better, besides sleep, but my sleep data is still good with this watch.

I’ve been a runner since I was a kid, but having a smartwatch has definitely been a game changer in terms of slowing down and pacing myself. I think long slow runs are really the way to get more people to enjoy it. I can definitely understand why suffocating through a 20 minute 5K race isn’t for everyone, although I enjoy short racing from time to time. But it’s longer runs, like half or full marathons that are more my cup of tea. A slow, “zone 2” high mileage run has running easier and more relaxing, even meditative and recentering at times, and I often go with my two dogs Cici and Sage, so we all get exercise. Moreover, paradoxically I’ve gotten in better shape than before when I used to do shorter more intense runs. The watch has helped me run based on heart rate, which unlike pace or ego, doesn’t lie to you on honoring wherever your physical body’s ability is at. I’ve never been super competitive, so being in better shape than my competitive friends, while cultivating the hippy mindset has been fun.