Runtastic Sunday

RUNS: When I joined the 13 in 2013 challenge we were given a free upgrade to the phone app called Runtastic. So I downloaded it the other day and checked it out very briefly and noticed that it had something called live tracking where people could follow your run and offer "cheers" to serve as encouragement. I thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try it out.

I turned the thing on and got it started on my phone as I headed out for my run today. I figured I would try it out first and then let everyone know later so they could cheer me on with one of my future runs. The cool thing about the start of the app is that after you press start it gives you a 15 second count down before it actually starts or you can hit the button to start immediately. But the count down worked for me so that I had time to stuff it in my pouch.

It works just like any other app as far as telling you after each mile...what mile it was and what your pace was for that mile. I actually had it turned down pretty far so I couldnt really tell if they said anything else or not.

And evidently if you choose to do the live tracking, as soon as you start it posts to your facebook page so that friends know you are out. They can click on the link to track you and offer "cheers". Evidently anyone can track you but they need to be signed up on Runtastic to offer cheers.

To my surprise I had three "cheers" during my run! Like I said, I had the volume turned down so the only one I heard was "Go. Go. Go." But afterwards on their website you can actually see who offered cheers, what cheer they offered and they are even labeled on your map so you can see when they were given during your run.

Some of the cheers available to give include, applause, go. go. go., i like it, horn, awesome, come on, etc. How fun!

Here are some of the iphone screens taken after the run...

The cool thing with this live tracking too was that today I did a point to point run and I usually call my husband from a certain point so that he know to leave to come get me awhile. Well, when I called him he said that he knew I was about to call him because he had been tracking me and knew where I was.

It was fairly accurate as compared with my Garmin at just about 1/10 mile short and had my pace at about 15 seconds per mile slower. As if I need to be any slower. Thanks runtastic!

I have some more playing around to do with it but my first impressions were that this is a fun little app to use and almost surprisingly accurate. I cant wait to use it again!

I did also want to point out one safety factor when using this live tracking feature. It can be both a good and bad thing. It was cool that my husband could track where I was but you also want to be careful and mindful that anyone could track where you are and where you are headed. I need to check it out more to see what the options are so that maybe you can change who can track you and when. I think it would be good for just my husband to track me some mornings when I do my run when I dont necessarily want the world to know where I am. I think that could be a good thing too.

I will need to do a follow up report when I have some more time to play with it and all of its features but I just wanted to let everyone know about it and that you can check it out for yourself too. And let me know if you use it and we can follow each other!
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Remember my fall yesterday on the trail. My knee was fine during my run today. But my upper body was super stiff and sore. I guess from the impact and me catching myself. That actually bothered me way more then the dang knee! But alas, I did take a picture of the pretty colors that the knee is providing today...

EATS: Good thing that I ran today because we ended up going out for an early birthday dinner for my son (his birthday is this Thursday). And then we came home and I made a double batch of his requested brownies with peanut butter chips.

I now only have 14 days left to lose those 3.8lbs for my Dietbet game....

How do you track your mileage and pace on your runs? Gps watch? Phone apps?

Peace.