28
2007
Running
I honestly don't care to run for running's sake. I enjoy running around a field playing Ultimate, but running just to run isn't normally my idea of a good time.
That has somewhat changed thanks to a tiny gadget from Nike and Apple: The Nike+iPod sport kit. You put a sensor in your shoe, attach a receiver to your iPod and it keeps track of how far and how fast you've run.
Thanks to this small device, I still don't enjoy running, but I dislike it less. Here's why (in no particular order):
I'm a bit of a sucker for stats. I like charts and graphs. After uploading run data, I can look and see how fast (or slow, as the case may be) I was going and keep track of how far I've run in the past day, week, month, etc.
(those dips are where I had to wait for traffic before crossing the street)
A little friendly competition/sibling rivalry doesn't hurt. Though I won't be running the farthest in 30 days, or have the fastest mile by the the end of March, it's nice to see how I stack up against friends and family -- mostly family :).
Thirdly, running does give me a chance to listen to otherwise neglected podcasts. My train-ride to and from work is good for this, too, but that's not long enough to get through an episode of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." Strapping on the shoes and pounding the pavement gives me some extra quality time with my new media.
And though I haven't tried them yet, there are even workout-themed playlists you can buy from the iTunes store. One is a treadmill workout set to OK Go and there are other playlists (iTunes link) for specific goals like speed or endurance training.
So it is thanks to technology that I am motivated to leave the comforts of my couch and TiVo and live a less sedentary life.
Update: March 5
Time to lace up the shoes.
I'm with you on the "running is pretty lame" thing...I used to run in high school (and some in college too!), but a doc said my hipbones are too weak to support that kind of pounding, so I switched to mountain biking a couple of years ago. Much more fun!!
And I also agree on statistics and charts being awesome. During the summers at home in AK, I used to bike 11 miles a day and would time myself on how long it would take. I would then go home and plot out the times on an Excel spreadsheet and make a graph of how much I was improving. It was pretty cool to see the line slope downward as the summer progressed and I got into better shape. :-)
Posted by Sara on March 03, 2007