No Amount of Data Can Help Runner Reconcile Heart’s Conflicting Desires
/
depositphotos.com
A local runner is caught between two serious love interests, Dumb Runner has learned, and finding little to no help in the trove of data collected by his various health and fitness gadgets.
Andrew Clark, 29, a high school wrestling coach, has been casually dating Allison Reynolds, 26, a graphic designer and poet, for about three months, sources said, and has had a “serious crush” on Claire Standish, 28, a mathematician, for nearly as long.
Reynolds is “sensitive, artistic, almost hippy-dippy,” according to a source close to the situation, who requested anonymity. The same source described Standish as “cool-headed, analytical, pretty earnest.”
“The contrast could not be more stark,” the source said. “And Andrew is smitten with both of them, pretty much equally.”
Clark a self-proclaimed data geek, has been collecting and tracking health and fitness data for years—not just mileage, but things like heart rate numbers, sleep, recovery, and stress levels—and using it to inform his training.
“So it’s natural that Andrew would turn to that stuff in a situation like this, when his heart is being pulled in two directions,” the source said. “Sadly, though, I think he’s discovering the limits of what data can do.”
Reached for comment, Clark said he does indeed feel stuck, romantically—but his faith in numbers and graphs remains unshaken.
“Maybe my Garmin’s next software update will help with this,” he said.
