See Diva Run

It is hard to believe that a $30 piece of electronic gear can change your life, but it certainly has had a profound impact on mine. Before I bought the Nike+ sport kit for my iPod, I was not the most consistent runner. I would start a training program for an upcoming race, but soon life would get in the way, and I would start missing runs.

I bought the Sport Kit and a first generation iPod Nano last September, but didn’t get around to using it until October. As soon as I uploaded the first run and saw the little woman run across the screen, I knew this would be something that kept my interest for a while.

The first thing I did was set a speed goal for myself, to have 5 runs under the 10:00 pace in a month. That was ambitious for me at that time. The next week I discovered distance challenges, and pretty much forgot about speed. My first two challenges, The Over 40 challenge and Bringing Sexy Back” were two of the most fun I’ve ever participated in. I met runners from around the world, with very different backgrounds, but our love of running and competition brought us together. It also helped that everyone had a great sense of humor. Even though I was never in a position to win either challenge, I had little rivalries going with the people around me. I ran every day, because I knew people were keeping track of my mileage. What is it about knowing that people are looking.

I got a little carried away, and ran 167 miles in November. It wasn’t a big surprise that I was hurting my December. I bounced back and ran 150 miles in January and February. In March, charged up with the thrill/terror of becoming a grandmother I logged a record 190 miles. I then broke that record in May with 202! On May 13, I logged my 1000th Nike+ mile, and earned a milestone certificate. May was also when I met Paul Merca & Monk_Monkey for the first time for the Northwest Runner article. I have subscribed to Northwest Runner since I started running. Except for a credit for photos I took at the 2006 Mardi Gras Marathon, I never expected to see my name unless it was near the bottom of the race results! I can’t tell you what a thrill it was for me to open the June issue and see this photo of Monk and I included in Paul’s article about Nike+.

In June, when Nike announced the Super User’s Summit to celebrate the anniversary of the Sport Kit. I checked my inbox, and there was my invitation! On July 19, I flew to Portland for my “Portland adventure”.

And now almost a year has passed, along with over 1,500 miles, 175 challenges, numerous goals and trophies later, the Nike+ system is still the most powerful motivator. My message board & blogging friends give me moral support, but the Nike+ system makes me fight for my position on the Leaderboard (currently #8 among women in my age group, worldwide).

Some of my favorite Nike+ links

• Apple’s Nike+ Page
• How it works
• The new Nano

Great Nike+ videos

• Nike+ Spoof
• Nike+ Paula
• Nike+ Not a Runner
• Nike+ Sofia Boutella
• Nike+ Addicted

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.