Today I went to Sports Authority to find a device which would measure the distance I run. I didn't think I would find anything fancy - that was before I ran into the Nike + iPod. I had seen the commercials but I didn't really know what it was all about. I thought that you had to buy the Nike shoe to get it, but this was only the transmitter & receiver. I read the back of the box and decided it was worth a try.

I get home and I read the first couple pages of the instruction booklet which say I need to upgrade the firmware on my iPod nano. After upgrading I filled my iPod with new songs. Since the receiver sticks out of the bottom of the iPod, I had to modify my armband so it would fit. I took a razor blade and made a whole for it to slide through. Next, I got one of those key pouches that fits on your shoe (I got one for Christmas last year) and I put the Nike + iPod receiver in it. Then I was off...

As you can see I ran 3.2 miles yesterday. I haven't calibrated the thing yet but that is roughly how far I went. Nike + iPod tracks your distance, time, and how many calories you've burned; all while listening to your favorite music! It also talks and keeps you updated on how you are doing. During my run I figured I would check out the Nike + iPod website because you can upload your run data to their website. I thought they might have a feature so that people could integrate the running information into their websites - but they didn't. So being the programmer that I am, I wrote a quick program to upload the run data to my website!

Every time I run you will know!