Inspector Gadget

"Inspector Gadget, a bumbling detective, needs lots of help and luck to solve cases assigned by short-tempered Chief Quimby. That help comes from his young, but smart-beyond-her-years niece, Penny, and faithful dog, Brain, who has a human IQ. The trio relies on high-tech items -- i.e. Penny's watch links to a video communicator in Brain's collar -- and other tools to elude trouble from Dr. Claw of MAD. Despite Gadget's shortcomings, he manages to solve each case. Don Adams -- who played Maxwell Smart in the 1960s series "Get Smart" -- voices Gadget." Google search, 8/3/17.

 

Yesterday I went out running and realized I've turned into a replica of the Inspector. On my feet were high-tech cushioned air filled running shoes with sweat wicking socks. I wore my new triathlon race top that magically takes my sweat and converts it to a cooling mechanism (not sure if that really works, but it sounded good in the ad). I wore a water belt that can hold three 8oz bottles of fluid. I didn't carry just water though. I had two bottles of Hammer Heed and one bottle of water with Hammer Endurolytes mixed in. 

My hat was just a hat with lots of air holes. I had on sunglasses and suntan lotion. On my right wrist was a RoadID so if I passed out my body could be identified. On my left wrist was a Garmin, because what's the sense of running if you don't know the distance down to hundredths of a yard, the per mile pace, a route map in case you forgot where you ran and elevation?  On my upper left arm was the "new to me" phone carrying case a daughter gave me. 

All in all I figure I was carrying about 74 extra pounds. I guess gone are the high school days when I just ran. Sometimes at the track in training for football I would carry a big old stopwatch.

I doubt most people running today know what one of these is. It wasn't until my twenties that I got a Timex watch with a stopwatch built in. I thought it was magical. It was all I needed for years. Now it seems the older I get the more gadgets I need. Maybe I should get my heart rate monitor out of the dresser drawer and add that to the arsenal? I bet that would make me run like I was 30 again.