Still Running: June 2008 #

After two weeks of not being able to run without pain I’m good again. I had to find a different route, but after poking around in Google Maps and the surrounding forest I’ve managed to come up with a enjoyable one. The slightly annoying part is that I have to walk ~900m before to get to my actual starting (and end) point. Well, I consider it warming up. I’ve added the distance to my usual 5km, and thus I am now at 7km per run.

A few weeks ago I’ve bought some light weights for my hands. They’re ~450g (1lb) each. Doesn’t sound much, but it’s noticable—now my upper body gets some minor workout as well.

I’ve registered myself for the Nike+ 10km Human Race going down end of August. Going to run for the World Wildlife Fund. There’s an official event here in Munich, actually! Unfortunately the whole 10km are over pavement, and I don’t want to risk injury again, so I’ll have to run a different route, I think.

Overall I am well on track towards my “250km in 2008” goal. I believe with my next run I’ll be hitting the 100 miles mark. We’ll see what the Nike+ site is going to tell me. Which is still kind of crappy, by the way. They rather add new and useless features than fixing longstanding issues like the broken OSX widgets.

I’ve discovered Runner+, a site which aims to be Nike+ without the cruft, I guess—but that whole social networking thing is not doing it for me. Also, the data sync is done by either using their desktop widget (requiring the Y! Widget Engine) or manual upload of the XML files or an automated daily sync where I need to give them my Nike+ credentials. Quite frankly, neither method is doing it for me. Plus I don’t really like the site. It doesn’t click with me.

Other options? Yes, OSX software.

• Runner’s Log is nice and rather simple, but not exactly what I am looking for. Runs are broken down into “laps”, which might be nice if you’re running actual laps, but I ain’t.
• And then there’s TrailRunner for those who not only use a Nike+ but a GPS receiver and heartrate monitor and have a fully staffed lab crew with instruments running with them. So… that’s not me. In their defense, I believe the TrailRunner target audience is a bit more hardcore about their running, biking, hiking, inline-skating or skiing than I am. (Also I was seeing more error dialogs during my 15 minutes with TR than I have in any other software in the last 6 months combined. Probably some Nike+ sync issues.)

So no help on that front. Too bad. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d probably would’ve hacked together something simple that’s making use of the Nike+ web badge APIs. Maybe the day will come, tho.

Addendum: I’ve set up a Nike+ FriendFeed room. Nothing in there yet, but who knows, that might change.