Nike+ GPS and Runs with Friends

On Saturday I peaked my head out from under the covers, established my whereabouts, and remembered I had promised to run 10 miles in Central Park. I'll admit I didn't particularly feel like getting bundled up to run in the frigid tundra we're calling New York City these days, and the idea sounded a whole lot better after a happy hour of Guinness and Scotch, and a whole lot worse after the wine and rum. But my competitive nature was challenged, and soon I found myself in my performance gear and ugly green hat on my way over to 72nd and 5th.

My first order of business was to convince my running partners that we wanted to run a 10K and not 10 miles. Mission accomplished. My second order of business was testing out the new Nike+ GPS. I don't like to run with my headphones when I run with other people. So that we could all enjoy the excitement of new technology, I turned up the volume on my iPhone 4OS and put it in my high-tech fanny pack. This nifty app alerted us to every completed mile and our current pace. We managed to keep our pace around 9:30 miles, which  is pretty impressive for three mildly hungover individuals exercising on a freezing Saturday morning.

I'm actually being generous... I could've run faster, but I wasn't there to train, I was there for the company. Sometimes the activity is more important than the outcome. This is how we ended up at Melon's later for bacon cheeseburgers, cottage fries, bloodies, and pie. We used this time to analyze our run results. The GPS function tracked our run, our pace, and identified where we slowed down and where we sped up. I highly recommend this app if you are training for a race or looking for new routes in your area.