Three devices, three answers

Back and shoulders at 5AM as always, then out for the run. And it felt good — light on the chest, breathing easy, the strategic walks doing their work. Honestly I could have gone another two or three kilometres without much complaint. I didn’t, because that’s the deal I’ve made with this comeback: leave something in the tank. But it’s a nice feeling, knowing the tank had more in it.

Now, the curious part.

Today I ran with everything switched on — the watch on my wrist, the phone in my pocket, three separate apps all quietly counting. One run, one body, 34 minutes. Here’s what they told me afterwards:

• The watch: 5.13 km, 5,182 steps
• Samsung Health: 3.66 km, 5,282 steps
• Strava: 3.63 km, no step count at all

Same run. Nearly a kilometre and a half of disagreement.

And here’s the detail that makes it properly interesting: the steps agree almost exactly. Within a hundred of each other. The durations agree too, more or less. It’s only the distance where they part company, and they part company dramatically — the phone apps huddled together at around 3.6, the watch insisting on 5.1.

I have a theory. I’m not going to write it down yet, because I’ve been wrong about my own data before and I’d rather test it than publish a guess. So the plan is unglamorous and slightly nerdy: drive the route with the car and read the odometer, and then — better still — go run an actual parkrun, which is measured and certified at exactly 5.00 km. Whatever my watch says when I cross that line will settle the argument for good.

Until then the ledger says 5.13, and the ledger might be wrong. I’ll correct it if it is. That feels important — this journal is only worth keeping if the numbers in it are honest, including the ones that turn out to be embarrassing.

What I do know for certain: I ran, it was easy, I could have done more, and I stopped anyway. The gadgets can argue amongst themselves.