As a runner, writer and a coach who's also a bit of a tech weenie, I have this thing about gadgets. I like toys. I like toys that tell me information about things that I like to hear about.

In the case of my own pathetic running, I have this thing where I avoid concrete like the plague and take all of my strides on grass or trails. The problem is knowing how far I actually run. There's the tried-and-somewhat-true method of driving my car over the course and checking the odometer. However, the golf course superintendents and park rangers are all getting wise to this, and in their various punitive ways have been working to discourage it. Plus, the hikers on the trails seem to not like me anymore.

Last year I got a fancy odometer for my bike and tried that. But some parks don't like bikes on the trails, and pretty soon my bike started getting the same treatment as my Jeep.

I finally despaired that I would never know how far I actually ran. Then, in a flash of wisdom, I rejoiced, because without that measure I would never know to what degree I was slowing down with age. I could run in a fool's paradise, as it were, blithely imagining the speeds of ancient times.

Then the next great gadget came along. I heard about something called the Tailwind from Nike, and I snapped it up. Supposedly this thingamabob, when snapped to your shoe, could tell you how far you ran. I felt quite skeptical. Remember those cheap pedometers you tried when you were a kid and wanted to know how long your paper route really was? When you finished, you were amazed that the block you lived on was 143 miles around.

I calibrated my Tailwind by running a few laps around the local track. Then I tried it out on a course I know and trust. The results stunned me. I had measured this course (for a race I recently helped organize) with a wheel. The Tailwind nailed the distance right on.

What gives? How could a technology that was so horrible 30 years ago suddenly work? This struck me as revolutionary. Imagine the ramifications! Now I could know exactly how slow old age was making me! Coaches could strap this on their athletes and know exactly how far they ran! But how?

I talked to a guy named James Clark, who works at Nike. He threw a big word at me: "accelerometer." I pretended I knew what it meant, then looked it up later. It's a thingie for measuring how fast objects accelerate and decelerate. It's on a silicon chip. They use these on airbags, so the car knows if you're crashing, even if you don't.

Apparently, my paper-route pedometer didn't have an accelerometer. The technology behind the old pedometer, Clark explained, "is like a marble in a box that counts each time it hits the wall." (Once he pegged me for an idiot, his explanations got much easier for me to follow.)

Now, lots of companies sell thingies for measuring distance. Clark explained that only Nike and its Canadian partner have the patent on putting multiple accelerometers in a thingie, so that it can measure the angle of your shoe, and all the little individual variables that go with it. So if you want to try yours on someone else, it has to be recalibrated. Clark said you even have to recalibrate it if you get new shoes. The thingie is that sensitive.

I asked if this thingie is sweeping the running world by storm, as I expected it would. "It's kind of like the Holy Grail," Clark said. Timex is making a device that is based on a GPS system; others are using single accelerometers and lots of fancy "logic" (the computer kind) to derive reasonable estimates.

Then Clark said that the version I picked up, the Tailwind, isn't really made for runners. There's another one that comes with a readout on a wristwatch that's better for runners. The kind I've got is aimed more at, well, paper boys. I have to stop and bend over every once in a while to decipher the read-out on my shoe. And every time I do that, I run the risk of being backended by some idiot riding a bike to measure his course.

Already, I knew how much time it took me to run, and last summer I figured out how to measure my heart rate while I run. Now I know how far I have run. What could possibly be next? On my wish list is an impressometer, a thingie that could tell me what's going through people's minds when they see me running. Are they thinking, "Look at that fat old guy run"? Or is it more of a, "Hey, not bad for an old guy ..." How many people am I impressing? What a fantastic measure of fitness this would be, to look at my training logs and be able to say, "Two months ago, only 6 percent of onlookers were impressed by my running, but now, 8 percent are thinking I cut a fine figure on the trails!"

The folks at Nike and Timex, if they know business at all, should be jumping all over this idea.

Hot high school action at adidas
While I was out measuring my footsteps in solitude, the eyes of the track world were watching the steps that our best high schoolers took last weekend. That great prep track happened in Raleigh, N.C., last weekend was no surprise, yet the results opened eyes just the same. Altogether, three national records fell at the adidas Outdoor Championships.

On Friday, the girls' 4xmile standard fell, as Bronxville (N.Y.) ran 20:11.56, anchored by the 4:51.5 of Michelle Rorke. That put the team more than 12 seconds under the best that Rockford, Mich., set last year.

New Yorker Molly Huddle clocked 10:01.08 in the rarely run two-mile, a time that will stand as a record but pales in comparison to the 3,200-meter record (18 meters-plus shorter) of 9:48.59 by Kim Mortensen in 1996. Huddle ran her first mile in an ambitious 4:54. The next night, Megan Kaltenbach beat Huddle in the mile, 4:43.54 to 4:47.24.

Washington's Auburn High clocked an amazing 7:32.89 in the 4x800 relay, breaking the old record of 7:34.1. That's an average of 1:53.2 per runner! The actual splits: Mike Dixon 1:54.4, Tyler Campbell 1:57.1, Chris Lukezic 1:49.4 and Adam Vogt 1:51.5. The same foursome just missed the distance medley record the next night by running 9:50.98. Lukezic anchored at 4:03.6.

In other highlights, Richard Smith of South Lakes High in Reston, Va., emerged from the shadow of his graduated teammate, superstar Alan Webb, and won a national title of his own. His 1:49.04 in capturing the 800 is also the fastest time in the nation this year.

The girls from Red Bank (N.J.) ran 11:42.17 in the distance medley, missing a national record by a mere 0.89. Californian Shaunte Howard won the high jump at 6-1½. Kevin Bookout of Oklahoma won the shot with his 69-4¼.

Fort Lauderdale's Sanya Richards easily captured both sprints, clocking 11.39 and 23.03. Likewise, Kelly Willie of Texas won the boys sprints in 10.35 and 20.83. Detroit's Kenneth Ferguson became the seventh-fastest ever in the 400 hurdles in his first race at the distance, timing 50.55 despite a few ugly hurdle crashes.

European results
Across the big pond, Americans have fled the circuit in preparation for the national championships this weekend. It's amazing how $451,000 in prize money can motivate people. At Villeneuve d'Ascq at the Meeting du Nord, Russia's Svetlana Feofanova broke the European record in the pole vault, clearing 15-7¼.

Frank Fredericks of Namibia won both sprints, 10.14 and 20.07. The top distance result went to Kenya's Wilson Boit Kipketer, who won the steeplechase by 10 seconds in 8:04.48. Zulia Calatayud of Cuba won the women's 800 in 1:59.22.

In Warsaw, Denmark's Wilson Kipketer ran his first 800 since the Olympics and impressed with a 1:44.28.

At a multi-event contest in Germany, Christian Sebrle looked good with a score of 8,701. Considering he scored 8,800 only two weeks ago, he has to be very fit. Much farther back was world champ Tomas Dvorak, who scored only 8,226. Sabine Braun won the heptathlon with 6,254 points.

There will be no major international contests until the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, on June 28, so that all of the world's top track athletes can concentrate on their national championships, scheduled during this window of time.

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.