Posts Tagged ‘Nike+’
Following up on a story we posted yesterday– According to the SF Gate, a Nike representative called Arien O’Connell early this morning and said that they would award her a trophy as well as the same prize awarded to the “elite” winner of the Nike Women’s Marathon.
Importantly, the representative said that they would also be eliminating the Elite field from future Nike Women’s Marathons, a decision I wholeheartedly agree with. Here’s the link to Nike’s full statement- (apparently posted on a User Forum, not an official press release.)
As I said in the comments of the previous story, I really believe that Nike is missing out on an opportunity to turn this into PR gold. Everyone loves a Cinderella story, and what better way to recognize the accomplishments of “Arien and other athletes who surpass their goals and achieve great accomplishments” than to give her a more than a Tiffany bowl and the sloppy-seconds, first-place title than to also feature her in a marketing campaign?
Y’all know I love my Nike+, but MAN does it suck when it malfunctions! You may remember just before I broke my foot, I did a 9 mile run that would have gotten me to my goal of 80 miles in the month of June and the Nike+ wouldn’t sync, so I went ahead and ran anyhow, but felt like the run “didn’t count,” thus pushing me to cram in an extra 9 miles in a week and… snap! (Or, in the case of a stress fracture, “series of repeated squeaks.”)
Folks who have been following my somewhat recent infatuation with running will remember that it was PodFitness that made me realize I could run, enjoy it, post some nice times and burn some serious calories. If you need a refresher, read my mixed review of PodFitness here.
For those who want the Cliff’s Notes version: I thought it was a solid program with some major bugs and in no way worth what they were charging, especially for someone who just wants to mix a few interval running workouts per week, not intensive hand-holding or a “class-per-day” workout download.
Enter Nike+, which I’ve had for officially a week now. I am pretty much in love with this thing.
Move over Rub my Duckie Bondage, Smurf has a new favorite toy– It’s the Nike+ attachment for iPod Nano! I’m hoping it will scratch all the itches that PodFitness did, for a fraction of the price. ($29.99)
I took it out for a 3 minute test run today, and am really excited to take it out for it’s first (and MY first) major outing- a 6 mile timed run through SF on Sunday.
The basics: You attach a chip to your shoe (doesn’t have to be a Nike shoe- thanks to Rob for busting out a needle and thread and making me a little pouch out of an old knee brace) and it measures your ditance. It syncs up with your iPod to track your time. There is a voice that pops in over what you are listening to to guide your workout- for example, if you want to run at a 10-minute-mile pace, it will let you know if you should slow down or speed up. Then, when you plug your iPod back in, it takes all the info and puts it up on the site where you can track your progress.
I feel an addiction coming on!