The Day my Life changed forever: Nike+

OMG.

I am truly at a loss for words.  I really am.  This is absolutely incredible.  I have a source of health and fitness that I can combine with technology.  This is FREAKING CRAZY AMAZING.

What happened?

Nike+!  That's what happened.

Buying Nike+ running shoes and the Nike+ sensor package
This afternoon after work, I stopped by the Galleria @ South Bay and went in there looking for a digital camera, actually.  But, it just so happens that the Ritz Camera store at the Galleria has CLOSED and their location at the Mall was dark and empty.

So, I walked down 1 level to Foot Locker and bought a pair of Nike+ running shoes for $73 dollars that were normally MSRP'd at $ 150.00.  They were all out of the $29.00 Nike+ sensor package, so I drove over to the Apple Store in Manhattan Village Mall in Manhattan Beach, CA to pick one up. 

While I was there, I made the impulse decision to go for it once and for all and picked up a $149 Silver 2GB iPod Nano.  I have to say, I have a perfectly good 80GB Black iPod+Video that I would have been thrilled to run Nike+ on.  I think it sucks that Apple & Nike have limited the Nike+ sensor to work only with the iPod Nano.  This caused me to have to spend +$150 on another iPod when I could have just used my existing 80GB iPod.

Installing the Nike+sensor in the shoe
That aside, I brought everything home and started to assemble the package.  To start off, I had a really hard time inserting the Nike+ sensor into the left shoe under the foam insert, as there is a little slot in the middle of the shoe, but it is pre-filled with a foam insert.  Once I managed to dislodge the foam insert, it became apparent that this is where the sensor was supposed to sit and it was smooth sailing after that.

Setting up the Nano
After installing the sensor, I opened up the iPod Nano (beautiful, sexy, modern packaging, by the way. True Apple Porn, all the way) and took it to my office to set it up.  The Apple store employee had assured me that connecting a 2nd iPod to my Mac Mini would not be a problem at all, as you can connect as many iPods as you want to any individual computer.

Sure enough, iTunes detected the presence of the new iPod Nano as soon as I connected it up.  After completing registration, I let the iPod sit there for a while charging while I opened an account on the Nike+ web site.

Nike+ Web Site
Drop-dead simple.  Go to the site, click on create new account, fill out a form, select a user name and password and boom! Bob's your uncle.

First Run
Time for action.  Lace up shoes. insert sensor into bottom of Nano. "Nike+ Workout" option pops up on the iPod Menu screen. Select that.  Select a Time workout. Select "5 minutes".  start walking from my office to my front gate, back and forth for the 5 minutes.  Awesomely enough,  a nice,  crystal-clear female voice starts to prompt you as a countdown, telling you how much time you have left.

At the end of the 5-minute workout, the female voice says "Congratulations! you have completed your workout and proceeds to tell you how long it was and the distance that you covered.

Uploading 1st workout to the Nike+ Website
Immediately after completing the 1st workout, I walked over to my Mac Mini and connected my Nano.  It instantly (and I mean instantly) uploaded the workout data to the Nike+ website and offered to connect me to it. 

Connecting on the link brought me to my 'home page' on the site where I could look at my runs and all of the statistics associated with my workout.  I am beyond impressed with how nicely laid out the website is and how easy it is to see everything about your workouts.

Talk about motivational.  I couldn't wait to go out and walk/run again just to have additional data to play with on my profile on the site.  As a matter of fact, later in the evening, after a visit to my mom's house to watch '24", I came home and walked a mile in about 19 minutes just to upload an additional workout to my Nike+ profile.

This is EXACTLY what I have been searching for in terms of having a 'reason' to workout. It is unbelievable how much more fun it is to walk or run a certain distance or time when you have the added 'reward' of getting to upload your data to a website for later analysis and potential sharing with the community there.

I am going to have an additional reason to blog as I reach my goals and lose weight over the next 12 to 24 months.  I have set an initial goal of walking 28 miles in 4 weeks (basically 1 mile a day for a month).  See you on Monday, June 4th for a report on the progress of my 1st goal.

Woo Hoo!

Comments

[puramu]

Your enthusiasm is awesome.

Now you need to switch to a wordpress blog so you can publish your nike+ with this plugin.

Also, I've started using RunnerPlus -- it's like the Nike+ site, but better -- more social with more information. Let me know if you want an invite.

[Denis]

If you are interested about Nike+ and running with music ,
check my blog : http://blog.jiwok.com/en