Initial nike+ipod review

When I first started this blog (about a month ago), I envisioned it to be a place for me to write about various things......and I decided to categorize topics, just to see what really interested me.

It isn't surprising that travel is #1, since I'm in the middle of planning for a trip to Costa Rica.

Sports (watching...not playing) comes in #2, which isn't surprising since the majority of the posts were written during the NCAA tournament.

Somewhere down the list comes running, which was one of the primary reasons for starting a blog. I wanted this blog to be a place where I'd post my race results (only 1 road race this year...but join me for #2 this Saturday), and I'd be accountable to my end goal of 500 miles in 2008.

Since the weather is finally starting to turn the corner in Chicago, I decided that I needed a better way to track my distance (running to the end of the block and back was not precise enough). So, I did my research, and ended up at Fleet Feet, in Piper's Alley. The salesperson there walked me through the various options....Polar was too much gadget for me, Garmin was too expensive, and Timex too hokey....eventually I settled on teh nike+ipod kit.



Out of the box, I tried it on the treadmill. I ran 2.5 miles (according to the treadmill), and the nike device claimed that I ran 3.06 miles.

The next day, I ran a 10k (6.2 miles), and it registered 7.3 miles.

While I loved that my average pace (according to nike) was something like 7:30 min/mile, it just wasn't that accurate for me.

So I finally opened up the manual, and read that I needed to calibrate the damn thing! I quick mile long jog along the lake, and the device was calibrated.

Today, I ran 2 miles alongside Tampa Bay. The mile-markers claimed 2 miles, the device 2.02....good enough for me.

with only 1 calibrated run performed, I'm a little hesitant to say that this thing works...but it just does. I like the speaker lady's calm voice, telling me that I'm halfway there. I like the social networking / web 2.0 aspect of nikeplus.com. And I like that the device is unobtrusive, I don't even notice it when I go running.

if you already go running with an ipod nano, and are looking for a cheap ($30) toy to help you track your time and distance, then the nike+ipod is a great place to look...check it out for yourself, and if you have any tweaks/tips/thoughts, please leave them in the comments.