Symmetric Wrists

For the first summer in many, many years I have matching wrists. You're probably confused right now? What does Nolan mean - he has matching wrists? Aren't they the same all the time?

Well, not exactly. You see, at one time I was running on a daily basis - sometimes twice daily - I was reliant upon my wrist watch. The comfort of having it on my wrist every day while running transitioned into wearing it while I wasn't running. Almost as if taking it off left part of me naked - lacking proper wardrobe for my everyday life. The only time I took my watch off was to swim or sleep. I usually showered with it on just to keep it clean (hey, running isn't exactly a squeaky clean activity). On those rare occasions when I did have my watch off, it was quite obvious that I had a tan line as a result of wearing my watch all the time - not that it was anything I was ashamed of though. In fact, I would be willing to bet that other runners take pride in having a watch tan - it's a sign that we see a lot of sun while training.

This summer is different though. I don't have the band of white skin around my left wrist. Why? My old reliable watch is starting to show it's age. The buttons don't work very well, and it actually doesn't keep the time very well any longer. Unfortunately the battery isn't the problem, I have replaced it. The electronics are wearing out and pushing any of the buttons just resets the time to 12:00. My good ole' watch has been sitting on the shelf for the past few months while I slowly decide what my next step of action should be...

In the mean time, I have been out in the sun and my left wrist is experiencing excessive amounts of sun for the first time in over a decade! The bad news, I haven't been running... I bought a new running watch at the beginning of the year, and I do like the watch. In fact, it's the same Timex Ironman brand that my old watch is - just an updated version. The fact that it IS new keeps me from wearing it all the time though - especially for work, where I get into all sorts of dirt and grime - I'd rather just leave my nice watch at home and wear it when I'm running.

I'll probably start wearing a cheap watch this fall and keep my new watch for training. Right now though, I'm enjoying the fact that my wrists match. Ideally it will be the last summer for another decade that I have this 'matching wrist' phenomena - I would like to get out and run more which it turn should make me a little better runner once again - and also will shade that sunlight from my left wrist.

That's a matter for next summer though - my symmetrically tanned wrists will fade over the winter - hopefully my running doesn't!

Until again

-=Nolan=-