Technology - The Best Exercise Motivator

I'm a user of Runkeeper, a free iPhone app that tracks exercise activities including not just running, as the name implies, but also biking, walking and numerous others.

Runkeeper uses GPS to track distance, and also measures time, computes pace, and calculates calories burned depending on the activity.

Using Runkeeper can be discouraging or encouraging depending on the results. The biggest disappointment I've experienced since starting to use it a few months ago is to find out that my "normal" running pace is not the 10 or fewer minutes per mile at which I had always assumed I run, but actually something closer to 11 minutes per mile.

On the other hand, that awareness of my pace has motivated me to make an effort to work on speed, something I hadn't worried about doing since running high school cross country over 32 years ago.

Another thing using Runkeeper can do is to make it more tempting to run longer distances. This morning I set out on a route I last did a few months ago - before getting Runkeeper. I had never formally measured the distance of this route, but had estimated it on Google Earth as being approximately 13 miles - or almost a half-marathon. So I decided to run this unofficial half-marathon again this morning and use Runkeeper to verify the distance.

It did turn out that my estimate had been reasonably close. The only issue was that when I reached the half-marathon distance - 13.1 miles - I was still about a mile from home. So I decided to keep running to round it up to an even 14 (might as well, since I'd only be walking to get home anyway, right?) But then as I got closer to the 14 mile mark I decided to go for an even 15 - after all, it would only take a few more loops around a few more blocks in the neighborhood!!!

So that's how I wound up running 15 miles this morning. Runkeeper also calculated that in the 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 54 seconds of running that I did, I had an average pace of 10 minutes and 40 seconds per mile and burned a total of 2,169 calories.

I followed that up with copious stretching as well as a hot bath to (hopefully) prevent any serious muscular repercussions. Now all that remains to be seen is whether I am able to walk when I get out of bed tomorrow morning. Will I? Tune in for future entries to find out!!!!