Running with RunKeeper (running)

In the last few months I’ve picked up running again. It’s not that difficult for me to do a 5K a few times a week, but building up to 10K has always been hard. What tends to happen is that Julie and I go on a long trip, and I lose everything I’ve achieved and have to start over. Since we won’t be traveling until November, I figured it’s now or never. I want to reach 10K, within 1 hour. Ultimately I’d like to run the Dam tot Dam loop, a 16K run that passes by our house every year, but that’s a long term goal.

I’ve been looking at getting some sort of GPS device to aid in keeping distance/speed records. That is, until I remembered I’ve got an iPhone, and surely there must be some running app. Indeed there is, and it’s a winner. The app is called RunKeeper, and it’s everything I want in a running app. It keeps distance, speed, history, integrates with Google Maps, and has a ton of social website connectors. And what’s even better, it’s free! There is a paid version, but so far I haven’t found anything I’m missing. I may buy it though, to support the programmer.

I just did a 6K, within my time limit, and it wasn’t even that much of a problem. I’m adding about 10% distance a week, which is what most running schedules seem to recommend. Between this and horse riding (which is actually a very high-intensity sport) I’m definitely getting my exercise in.