New Year’s Eve 4 Mile Fun Run – Belle Isle Detroit

Ran a very “cool” race… freezing is more like it! The Belle Isle 39th Annual 4 Mile Fun run. Mostly what I can say about it… cold, windy, cold, snowy, and did I mention cold?
In spite of that it was a good time. The last race is now in the books for 2008. That makes a total of uh-oh, 13 races for the year.

Belle Isle 4 M Fun Run

So, guess that’s it for this years running… after the feast at the casino after the race, and a down day after the race today (New Year’s Day!) is for relaxing and thinking about the race schedule for next year!

If you are kicking back maybe you want to check out the pictures!

I am pretty sure I will not do all of the same ones again this year. Some were fun, but want to do some others this year. I also want to get to a few other bigger races. Was thinking of the Indy Half Marathon in May, but it is sold out now.

Lots of others though, so drop by to see whats in the upcoming schedule.

Until the final New Years Resolution is kept,
George

Upgrade your Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Firmware, a How-To.

Upgrading a Magellan Maestro GPS Firmware – Install Firmware

Before you attempt this step you should have completed the directions in the prior post to download the latest firmware for your unit off the Magellan web site.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

When you completed the final step in obtaining the firmware upgrade (shown above) it was saved to your PC hard drive…. you remembered where…. didn’t you?

My Firefox download manager is set up to save downloads to the desktop where I can see them easily.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

After it completes the download, you should have the file… here is the icon on my workspace/desktop.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

You may want to create a directory to put the extracted files, so create it first, but since there are only two files, if you want to extract them directly to the desktop it isn’t a big deal. You can just delete the later, or save them to another place, but I doubt if you would ever need them again.

It is a self extracting .Zip file, so if you “double click” on the icon, it should begin the extraction process.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Once it unzips it will start the install process.

Do NOT have your unit plugged into the USB cable at this time! I think if you do, not only will it trash your GPS, it will reformat your hard drive.

Do NOT have your unit plugged into the USB cable at this time! I think if you do, not only will it trash your GPS, it will reformat your hard drive. Set your VCR time ahead two hours, turn the temperature up in your refrigerator so your beer is warm, it will also cause gas prices to go above $5 a gallon and melt the polar ice cap…. and you do NOT want to be responsible for all that! Leave the GPS unplugged!! Until it says to plug it in.

The defaults should be okay to leave as they are, so just click on “Next”.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

When you get this screen it is okay to plug in!

Read carefully and take heed.

  • Make sure the unit is fully charged
  • Make sure it is turned on, and all the screens have opened so you are at a “street View.

Then, and only then, click on the Next Button.

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Upgrading a Magellan Maestro GPS Firmware – Software

Upgrading a Magellan Maestro GPS Firmware – Software

So you, like me, want to take advantage of all the latest features your
Magellan GPS has to offer. Not only are there new visual features there are a
number of firmware upgrades that make the unit even faster when performing some
calculations.

The first part of upgrading your Magellan GPS… and note this is for the
3250 model, is to download the
firmware upgraded from the Magellan web site.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Visit the link above,
https://www.magellangps.com/products/
and follow along.

Go to Products (1), then GPS Units (2)

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Select the 3250 from the model list.

Go to Product Support (4)

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

You can download a user manual in English or French (7) if you are so
inclined.

Otherwise go to the Magellan Maestro 3250 Firmware Version 4.60 link (5).

You can also download the 2008/2009 map update (6), but it is about .

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

You should get a screen that tells you about the release and some of the
features in it. Do a quick read through, and the click on the “I want to
download this update link (8)

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Oh… you have to have registered your unit. If you have already done so,
then use your email address and password to continue.(9) If you have not
registered now is a good time to do so.

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

If you have not registered, click on the “Create User Profile” link (10)

Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Go through the entire process then resume here.

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Creating Editable GPS Files from a .MGLN format file.

In a previous post I stressed making sure you saved your original .CSV file which you imported into your Magellan GPS since it creates a .MGLN format file. At the time I did not know a way to edit that file in the future. A little research found it can be done. If you have an Magellan “.MGLN” file in your unit here is how you can save it to allow editing with some of the tools I have previously recommended.

Open the Magellan POI File Editor.

Find the .mgln file you want to edit. You did save it. . . right? If not, all is not lost. If you plug your Magellan unit into a computer using the USB cord, it should link up. Use Windows Explorer (or a better method like “Power Desk”) to find the unit. Work your way through the directory structure until you find the .MGLN file you want. Copy this file back to your PC.

Viewing files on a Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

Now open the .MGLN file you previously saved or the one you just retrieved from the Magellan GPS.

Example:

  • (1) find the directory it is stored in
  • (2) highlight the .MGLN file
  • (3) Click on “Open”.Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

    When it open’s it you should see the list of all the Categories and their POI’s. Pick the Category (5) you want to save so all the POI’s appear in the right pane. (6)

    Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

    Click on the first entry (7)

    Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

    Go to the last entry in the list, or the last items you want to export, hold down the Ctrl + Shift key, left click on the entry. (8) All the POI’s between the first and last selected one’s should now be highlighted.


    Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

    Right click anywhere in the window (Do not left click or you select only the one POI and have to start over!), then click on Copy (9) (Or if you know your shortcuts you can simply use “Ctrl + C” to copy these.


    Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS Unit

    Open Excel, (10) (actually I have found I greatly prefer to use Notepad – or any plain text editor – for this) “Paste” the information from the clipboard. (12) (Or use “Ctrl + V”)
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  • Detroit Turkey Trot – The rest of the story.

    I wrote in the last post about the new technology used, the disposable RFID chip on a strip. I also noted that the “Chip Timed Start” . . . did not start!

    In the last post I wrote:

    UPDATE 11/30/2008:
    Attn: Active.Com

    I just wrote the following email to the Active.Com web site contact regarding the chip timed start issues. Will see what happens.

    ================= Start of eMail Sent ==================
    UPDATE 11/30/2008:
    Greetings,

    I am writing to ask about getting my time for the Detroit Turkey Trot 10K adjusted.
    It seems that my chip did not get recorded at the start of the race, and included the time from the gun to when I actually was able to cross the timing mat.

    My bib number was 4683, and the time posted was 01:01:38.
    My stop watch time was 00:58:02.
    As confirmation I have a picture of me crossing the start line at 8:04:54
    https://www.kasdorf.name/wordpress/2008/detroit-turkey-trot-10k-2008/#more-384

    The difference is not the entire 4:54, since I believe a video I have also shows the race gun did not sound until about 8:01:22 (approximately, you may know the actual start time showing on the clock.)
    The difference of the two is about 3:33, which when subtracted from the finish time of 1:01:38, gives a time of 58:25, much closer to my stop watch time of 58:02.

    Also, if other nearby runners were recorded I have pictures showing I cross the start line next to runners with the bib numbers: 6230, 1612, 5719 and 3546

    Bottom line is can my time be adjusted to reflect the true elapsed time of 58:02 (or 58:25, or if available the actual start time of the runners listed above.) so the “historical” records kept on your web site are more in line with the actual time.

    Thanks for the assistance, and looking forward to a reply,

    George Kasdorf
    ===================End of eMail sent ======================
    Today I received a response from Gault Race Management.
    What do you suppose they had to say about this?

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    Detroit Turkey Trot 10K 2008

    Another race in the books! Today was the Detroit Turkey Trot. I entered the 10K race, there was also a 5K and a mile run.
    The day started off pretty good, meaning we all got up and in the car right on time for the drive into Detroit. Very little traffic at 6:30 am on all the expressways so had smooth sailing. gyümölcsös nyer?gépes játékok That is until we got to the final off ramp to Cobo Arena Parking…. It seems when 10,000 people all try to get into the same parking garage inside of maybe an hour, it just doesn’t work so well. Finally we were down to 15 minutes to race start. I am SO glad I went the day before to pick up my bib and chip!! nyer?gépes játék letöltése ingyen Really!

    I was in the wrong lane to get to most of the garages, but my two copilots noticed a small sign for public parking at the GM Renaissance Center – on the right – three lanes over… so, around the u-turn, back the other side of the median, another u-turn (I never saw that sign that said “No U-Turn here”, honest.) Into the correct lane, into the garage, up a couple of floors, grab the backpack with gear, down to the street, and we all hustled over to the start line. Getting there with about 4 minutes to spare! I stripped off the warm ups and jacket, added the ear warmers and jumped into line. tippmix sportfogadás szelvény
    Whew.
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