Anyway, I had packed on the pounds through years of not playing football, not running track, not throwing shot, not lifting weights, not playing soccer, yet continuing to eat and drink like I still did all of those things. So, anyway, I figured it was time to get rid of a few extra pounds and try to right this ship. My wife and I didn't have a lot of money at the time. We had let the gym memberships go to conserve so I had to look for a cheaper alternative. And by "Cheap," I meant "Free."
Turns out that there are miles and miles and miles and miles of Earth out there that you can just run loose in. So I did. I had a job where I was on the road travelling for work all the time so I ran in parks and hotel workout room treadmills and city sidewalks and airport runways. Basically, Jenny, anywhere I could run, I ran. ...well, it was running to ME.
Turns out, just getting up and being active really does help you to lose weight. My pounds started to drop and I went from almost 300 down to a paltry 225, almost 70 pounds of pure fat I ran off in a few years. Then I sort of got complacent and let work get in the way. I changed jobs, had a kid, had another kid, and kept eating and drinking as before until I stepped on the scale one day in 2010. Much to my chagrin I was back to almost 260. No wonder my pants were tight and clothes didn't really fit me anymore.
So, back on the horse. But smarter this time. I started slow and began to eat right. Not a paleo or some fad diet, but really right. 2/3 veggies, no dairy, and then protein and some grains. Drank water and coffee (occasionally beer and wine and whiskey), gave up the sweet tea that I loved so much. Desserts were apples and bananas and not covered in chocolate or in ice cream. I downloaded an app for my iPhone called "Zombies, Run!" and started to use that for my runs.
Turns out my Zombies app synced with RunKeeper if I had an account. Plus, RunKeeper would breakdown all of my runs into stats, show me a track overlaid on a Google map at the end of my run, and a TON of other stuff as well to satisfy my geeky nature to show me all of the stats of all of my runs.
I have been using RunKeeper since March of 2012, shortly after I found them, and it has been one of my favorite apps of all time. It has been on every smartphone I have owned since 2012 and even made the conversion from iOS to Android with me. I got a Pebble smartwatch off of Kickstarter JUST for the fact that it was going to eventually work with RunKeeper. I could not be more pleased with RunKeeper for my level of ability. On my pebble I have the ability to view all of the pertinent stats regarding my current run. I wish the Pebble would let me start or pause a run using the buttons, but I'm not sure if this is technically possible for them. Or even if anyone out there has even asked for this.
Speaking of options for RunKeeper, a slick app is the Shoe Tracker. Developed by Queso Fitness, the shoe tracker allows a user to have a stable of shoes and then assign them to RunKeeper activities allowing you to know how far you have run in a particular pair. If you enter the price paid for the shoes, it will even tell you how much they cost you per mile to run in.
I remember back in 2007, I ran the Crazy Legs 8K in Madison, WI. I took an hour (literally finished at 1:00:01.07) to run it and my training consisted of runs like "Well, I guess I'll just run from the apartment to over there by that point in the shore line of the lake." Afterwards only to find out that I had run slightly better than a mile. But no more!
These days I strap my phone to my armband, plug in the headphones, and I am off. RunKeeper tells me how far I have gone in what length of time (I have mine set to tell me distance and pace after every 5 minutes). RunKeeper tells me if I'm faster or slower than my target pace (for a rehab run, I'll try for 12 minutes / mile, but without RK, I'd be running them at 8 because Pace is THE HARDEST thing for me to keep when I run).
One particular feature I like, given my GIS and Mapping background, from the website, viewed on a laptop or desktop machine, I can download the track from my runs and open them in Google Earth or export it as a GPX and send it to my GPS device. The only item I wish they would let me do is to grab more than just one run at a time. I am sure, given time, the development team behind RunKeeper will get this done (Please?).
RunKeeper has a TON more features that I haven't even scratched the surface on, but these are the big hitters for me. If you are in the market for a good running app to track and analyze your calories burned or distance traveled, RunKeeper is for you. It is available for both iOS and Android in the appropriate stores.
Once you are all signed up with RunKeeper, or the next time you visit your account, look me up. Username: TheEpeter.
What about you, Dear Runner? Do you have a favorite App you like to use when you run? Do you have questions about an app or would you like your app reviewed? Let me know what you think in the comments below and I will do my best to let you know what I think.
What about you, Dear Runner? Do you have a favorite App you like to use when you run? Do you have questions about an app or would you like your app reviewed? Let me know what you think in the comments below and I will do my best to let you know what I think.
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