Garmin, Yay & Monterey

To update everyone on the Garmin issue:  I called Garmin the day after my post and explained my problem.  The tech suggested doing a software update (which I was very dubious would help at all) but also said that since it was just out of warranty they would fix it for free!!  I updated the software and lo and behold the problem seems to be resolved.  However, I'm not running high enough mileage to figure out quickly if the battery life is really better.  So what I've been doing is every night I turn the Garmin on and start the timer and just let it run.  I call this the Garmin-Run-Down (GRD).  The GPS is on and I'm presuming that since the GPS is on, the pull on the battery is about the same as if I was running around with it on.  Granted I'm sure there is a little less power being used if it's just sitting there since it's not calculating paces but I'm hoping it's a close estimate.

On the first charge post-update I got 60 minutes of running time plus 11:06:32 GRD.  The next night I had 20 minutes of running time plus 12:57:52 GRD.  Today I plugged Garmin into the computer to download my run, forgot about it, and accidently recharged it.  So I'm doing a full GRD tonight.  I don't know any other way to do this.  I'm just afraid I'll run with it for a few weeks, decide it isn't working as well as it used to, but then Garmin will say too much time has passed to get it fixed for free.  Do you think GRD is accurate to actually running with it?

Switching gears...

Monterey Bay Coastal Trail (29 miles long total!)  

Boyfriend and I spent the past weekend down in Monterey.  Boyfriend was there on business and I tagged along for a mini vacation.  The weather was gorgeous this past weekend.  I had some awesome runs on the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail.  I am totally psyched to run the Big Sur Marathon in April.  The views were amazing.  Since I grew up in Hawaii it takes a lot to make me say that about ocean vistas.  

One highlight of the trip was seeing the Monarch butterflies in Pacific Grove.  The butterflies winter there and gather en masse.  There must have been thousands of them.  I only had my regular little 3x optical zoom camera so the picture isn't the greatest.  All the brown in the picture isn't leaves, they are all butterflies!