I found an app the other day that i expect will be lifechanging for me. Its called runkeeper and basically what it does is approximate what a fancy watch will give you in terms of running statistics (distance, route, pace etc). i’ll look at this from two perspectives,; 1 the running dork, and 2 the digital marketer.
Running dork
This free app gives you a google maps overview of the route that you’ve run, on the go pace and distance information and your calories used at the end (less interesting, but still). Instead of buying an expensive watch, this does all of it for you and for free. It uploads it to a website where you can compare yourself to your friends, and show off/share through twitter and facebook.
Digital marketer
At first i thought they were giving away too much for the free version. You get all this functionality, and the pro version is $10, so its not an easy upsell. But after id used the product a little i found out it was a real smart try-before-you-buy model. You can’t change tracks on your iPod while the app is running (something i want to do surprisingly often), but you can do it with the pro version. The pro version also comes with specific programs that can be inputted and you can be coached through the headphones. I’m still debating whether i’m going to spring for it, but i’m motivated (hey time magazine had it as one of their top 10 apps). The other cool thing that they do is offer you reports on your fitness/weightloss etc. i read an interesting article in wired about how people start to get motivated by tracking their results, and i think this could tie nicely in to this (maybe they need to have a free trial of their measurements to get people motivated)
they
now have an android version too, so get running
Brendan McNulty 