I’ve always known that **chip time, race clock time, and whatever device you’re carrying** will never match *exactly*. That’s normal. Margin of error, signal drift, satellites fighting clouds, whatever.

But last weekend?

Last weekend was *next-level* nonsense.

I crossed the 10-mile finish line feeling amazing — strong, fast, confident. I’d been counting how many ten miles bib females passed me as they looped back to predict a podium spot….

Then I checked my phone… and apparently I had run **12 miles**, not 10. Meanwhile, the official race results insisted I ran a pretty slow 10 miler.

So here I am thinking:

**Have all my neighborhood PRs been lies?**

Have I been delusional this whole time, believing my pace is one thing when it’s actually something completely different?

There was only one way to settle this existential crisis.

I bought the **top-of-the-line Garmin** — the fancy sapphire solar titanium, 30-day battery, multi-band, multi-satellite, multi-sun, multi-moon, multi-galaxy GPS monster.

Okay, the moon part might be an exaggeration, but honestly at this point I wouldn’t be surprised.

Today I ran one of my usual neighborhood routes — a “5K-ish” loop I’ve been tracking for ages — with both the **Garmin and my phone** running simultaneously.

**Result?**

Nearly identical.

* Time: off by **less than a minute** (47 seconds to be exact) – and keep in mind that I couldn’t screenshot my phone and pause (or take a pic of because I didnt know how to pause it yet) my watch at the exact same moment – so factor some differential there as well.

* Distance: off by **less than a tenth of a mile** (422 feet exactly)

So what happened at the race?

I’m pretty sure I took a wrong turn — probably at the lollipop section where the 5-milers and 10-milers split. Instead of a clean 10 miler, I apparently created my own hybrid course and nearly ran a half marathon.

Which means:

* Yes, I was actually running close to a **9:00ish pace** the whole time.

* Yes, my phone wasn’t totally wrong.

* And YES — if the phone’s distance were to be believed, I was about to PR my half marathon** by about three minutes.

So was it worth dropping nearly $1,000 on this new Garmin?

**Absolutely.**

Not only did it solve the mystery, but now I have a watch that could probably guide me through Yosemite, call in a rescue helicopter, and maybe even open a wormhole.

This thing isn’t coming off my wrist anytime soon.

Race chip time: 1:54:27 – 10 mile race (that’s over an 11 & change min mile)

My phone said: 1:54:19 – distance 11.78 (that’s a 9’40 min mile)

1.78 is a big deal when you’re factoring pace.

Reasonable Conclusion – I took a bit of a wrong turn somewhere – and I think I know where (there was a 5 and a 10 going on at same time). Its well marked, my my phone and the signs matched up – until they didn’t…It was also well instructed and manned – I’m just an adhd goofball and this is NOT the first time I have done this (did it on a Northface 50k AND an UROC 50k)

And no matter what the official record says – I was running happy

<insert happiness proof>