Skip to main content

I just ran the Fastest Mile EVER (for real)

Seriously, check it - RunKeeper doesn't lie:...but it does get a really bad GPS signal around my apartment... so the distance might be just a little bit off. (I mean, to be totally honest, I was probably just doing a 3:30 mile).

If you're curious, here's what my superhuman route looked like at the end:
As you can see, sometimes I get a little erratic when I'm trying to set a world record so I just start totally ignoring streets and running right through buildings (hardcore I know, but you have to be if you want to be a champion right?). Also, I'm a little OCD so I always have to tag the John Hancock Center at some point during a run.

Regardless of the app's accuracy, someone needs to contact Hicham El Guerrouj and let him know that I'm no longer that impressed with his 3:43 mile on a flat, marked course - I mean I was doing this with stoplights and building security guards and everything.

Anyway... on the boring serious side of this, I've had the RunKeeper app for almost a year and with each new release I expect at least a little bit of an improvement in the GPS tracking in my area and it never comes. I'm really not trashing them, though; there are a lot of tall buildings around me and it's very reliable in more open areas like the lakefront and Lincoln Park, plus it was only $10 to download. Like most people in the 21st century though, I'm just impatient with my technology when it's not PERFECT. (Translation: Don't worry RunKeeper, I still love you.)

Does anyone else use RunKeeper to track their running? If so, I could totally use some Street Teammates up on that mofo.

Comments

  1. This reminds me of my Garmin map from last year's RnR Half. Which reminds me, I need to remember to turn off auto lap and manually lap myself during the Shamrock Shuffle.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 7 Chicago Race Shirts (and a Hat) of 2012

Remember when race shirts were pretty much guaranteed to be over-sized white cotton, seemingly designed so that you could wear them once (if you really wanted to show that you ran the race) and then probably never again? One side had the race logo and the other had about 20 sponsors. And the long-sleeve ones had little cuffs at the wrists to make sure you got that nice puffed sleeve look that no one has ever asked for. These days it seems like almost every race is giving out running shirts rather than old-school cotton, and mostly I'm thankful for this change because it seems like they spend more time picking an appropriate color and working on a legitimate design rather than just slapping their logo onto some cotton for you (although I did get a few race shirts this year that went with that style... surprisingly enough, those shirts aren't in my closet anymore). Anyway, pretty much every race includes a shirt. Some are awesome, some are terrible and some are just... shirt...

Chicagoland's First Annual February Fool's Goal Half Marathon/Debacle

A few weeks ago I was looking through the race listings for the month of February and noticed that there are three different races this coming Sunday. All in different cities. As I was trying to decide which one to run I realized that they're all taking place at different times... and then I started thinking... Why not just run all three? I talked to my running homey Antonio and after some discussion about logistics, we realized that based on the timing and location of the races, this would be an insane dash from Chicago to Highland Park to Hoffman Estates to Channahon and back to Chicago, with just enough time to park, get our bibs, run the races and (after carefully stretching, of course) head off to the next one. That's also when we noticed that by a pretty sweet coincidence, the three races just happen to add up to a half marathon.  So, obviously we decided that it had to be done. We registered for all three and created a new race: Chicagoland's First A...

Frozen Gnome 50K (and 10K for the rest of us)

Is this shirt sweet or what? A+ for shirt design This morning I woke up at 5:40, put on several layers of running clothes (tights, shorts, shirt, jacket, socks, waterproof socks, shoes, hat, gloves) and headed out to catch a ride with my friend Matthew to Crystal Lake, Illinois (a city about 75 minutes northwest of Chicago that I had never even heard of until a few weeks ago). We were heading to Veteran Acres Park, a wooded area in Crystal Lake where the McHenry County Ultrarunning Dudes and Dudettes (who call themselves M.U.D.D. for short) were hosting the first annual Frozen Gnome 50K and 10K . Since we're only somewhat crazy runners, we were only tackling the 10K this morning and not going for the entire 30+ miles of trail running. The course promised to be challenging and it was about 25 degrees with a light snow falling, so the closer it got to race time the happier I was to only be running 6.2 miles through the snowy woods, but as we stood around in the heated pavili...