If you're a road runner like me, you like to track your mileage as you run. If you know how far you've gone, you know when it's time to turn around. You can also track the time it takes to book mile after mile IF you know where each mile ends.
Way back when, I used to figure out running route distances with my car. I'd have to zero-out my odometer and trace my run mile after mile. It wasn't a giant pain-in-the rear, but it limited the routes I could take, the turns I could make and had me staring at my watch all the time, if I wanted to monitor my pace.
Five or six years ago, I quit doing that. I bought a Garmin GPS-enabled watch, it cost nearly $300 bucks. I liked it, but it's kind of expensive entertainment. Not only that, but when I stopped into Starbucks or Whole Foods after my runs, I'd have two watches on (three if I wore a heart-rate monitor). Can you say geek?
There was also this battery thing. I was constantly needing to re-charge. When I traveled, I'd look like a bigger geek. I'd have to pack a power strip, (most hotels don't have them or enough outlets for all my gadgets) so that I could charge my iPod, my laptop, my phone, and my Garmin watch. I could have almost had a part-time job plugging things in. But that's about to get simpler as my smartphone gets smarter and smarter.
Last week I downloaded the RunKeeper app onto my Droid X. It uses my phone's GPS to track my mileage and pace; it's brilliant.
As an added plus, when I want to hit the road while I'm traveling, I have a map to look at on my Droid. (My Garmin had one too, but it was the size of a watch-face; I would have needed to have a magnifying glass to identify the streets around me.) RunKeeper allows me to venture into unfamiliar territory, to make turns whenever and wherever I want without worrying how I'm going to get back to home-base. And with my phone's pinch technology and Google Earth, I can see way beyond my immediate surroundings.
Now at this point, I may sound like a pitch-woman for RunKeeper, but I'm merely an enthusiast. And if you're a runner who has a smartphone (Droid or iPhone), I've got good news for you. RunKeeper can be downloaded for FREE until January 31. (After that, the PRO version is ten bucks.)
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