2012-03-26

Keep Up With Stationary Waves Running

Today, I bought a new gadget: A Nike+ SportWatch GPS.

Those of you who have been following me on Facebook and Google+ already know about my new-found fondness for the website MapMyRun.com. There, you can map out your daily runs, keep track of your diet and nutrition, your personal statistics, and so forth.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before a company came along to pump all of these features through a single, unified channel. Nike+ purports to be that channel. (Granted, I believe Polar and Garmin both beat Nike to the punch here, but Nike is Nike, after all, a world leader in fitness and especially running. So I am placing my bets on Nike here.)

Here's how it works: I don the SportWatch GPS, tell it to start tracking me, and then it monitors my speed and distance via GPS. It comes with a little GPS sensor, which I attach to one of my shoes. (Nike, of course, sells shoes specifically designed for this purpose, but there are plenty of after-market harnesses for use with non-Nike running shoes.) It automatically maps my runs, it tracks my personal records, caloric expenditure, changes in elevation, etc. etc. It does all of this automatically, so no more beeping my watch all the time. From now on, all I have to do is start up the watch, and away I go.

If you don't feel like dropping coin on a fancy new running watch, you can always simply use your sensor in conjunction with your iPod nano and reap all the same benefits.

Of course, there is a social networking component to all of this, as well. Anyone can sign up for a Nike+ account and join in the global running community. I'm not big on global communities, but I am big on Stationary Waves.

Therefore, I'm inviting you all to sign up at Nike+ and add me as your running friend, username StationaryWaves (of course). If we can't meet up for a run in person, we can certainly meet up virtually.

I didn't get my new watch charged in time for today's run, but look for ongoing Nike+ updates here and via Facebook and Nike+ starting tomorrow!

(What's that you say? You haven't yet friended me on Facebook or Google+? Get with the program!)

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