The Garmin gadget that knocked 23 minutes off my half-marathon time in 9 months

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

For as long as I can remember, I've been into running. Growing up I'd spend my weekends pacing it through verdant forests or across boggy moors at Orienteering events, a sport that requires map reading and navigation skills just as much as raw speed.

After a short hiatus during my university years, I eventually returned to running as a form of therapy, an hour a day to switch off from the outside world and to take some form of control over an area of my life where I could see and feel tangible improvements.

Only I wasn't improving, because as any savvy runner will know, going out and running at full gas every workout yields little results and a quick route to injury.

I found this out the hard way. After almost 20 years of living in the North East, I eventually decided to sign up to the iconic Great North Run half marathon, with a precursor event of the same distance earlier in the year to test the waters - the results weren’t pretty.