My First Run With Nike+

Last week I purchased one of those Apple Nike + iPod sport kits from a coworker (she didn’t have the right iPod for it). I took it out for a spin for the first time today. You take the little dock item and plug it into your iPod Nano. And then you put the sensor on your shoe (somehow). And then you run.

So far it’s been pretty cool: it tracks the length of your workout and your distance traveled. When you plug your iPod in after the run, it uploads the info to Nike+ and you have a nice Flash interface to track and view your run.

A couple of immediate complaints:

• Inaccuracy: as much as I’d like to believe that I just ran 6.4 miles in 48 minutes, I think that’s probably a little much considering my mediocre shape, the big hill out behind Google, and those stoplights that held me back. I think the run’s actually a little under 6 miles.

"The good news is that you can calibrate the sensor though, so I’ll probably trek out to a high school track tomorrow to adjust."

• Sensor Positioning: several times during the run I had to stop and readjust the sensor so it didn’t go flying out from under my laces. I don’t have one of those overpriced Nike+ shoes, so I can’t actually fit it in my shoe’s sole.

"Luckily there are some third-party companies that sell little pouches to attach the sensor to your non-Nike shoe. The fact that I have to pay $5 extra to do that? Kind of lame-trying to lock in your customers is never a good idea. "

Other than those complaints, the whole Nike+ system seems good so far. I think there are some community-type features (e.g. linking up to friends), but I haven’t checked that out yet. More later.