Guesswork be Gone
Friday, January 26, 2007
2006 was a year of life-changing experiences.
There was turning 30 (which I've heard is the new 20).
Then there was gmail, with its snazzy searches and incredibly convenient g-chat feature (Seriously, people, I didn't believe it either at first. But it's that good.)
And finally, there was Map My Run (also a direct result of the genius of Google. Coincidence? I think not!)
For any runner or cyclist, this is, perhaps, one of the greatest inventions of all time. Right up there with the dry-wick gear, bodyglide, and the ipod.
Gone are the days of driving a route in your car and mentally guesstimating the approximate mileage lost or gained by things like cutting through parks. Gone is the guilt and (if you're anything like me) the subsequent tacking on of extra blocks at the end, to make up for that guessing (because, heaven forbid you should run 2.93 miles instead of 3). Gone are the boring days of running only a few calculated routes, or the difficulties of running or biking while out of town.
You can store all of your routes right online and there's a handy little calculator in which you enter age, height, weight, and total time for the route; in return, it spits out your average pace and how many calories you burned.
It's brilliant. Pure and simple brilliance. And, for the Type-A runner, a little bit like crack.
Try it and see. I dare you. You'll be hooked in no time.
Posted by Erin 1:11 PM