The other day I was talking to Casey and asked him what he was up to. His answer was “I’m setting up my nike+ ipod kit in my new shoes”. I had no idea why he would want to keep his iPod in his shoe since that wouldn’t only be really uncomfortable but also kind of impractical. Also, when did Nike start making iPods?
I asked him what he was talking about, and apparently the good people of Apple have teamed up with Nike to persuade gullible running people to give them money for a shoe with a built in pocket in which you put a sensor that will communicate via your iPod and tell you the time, distance, pace and calories burned. All things that you could calculate yourself by using a timer, a map and some fancy googling skills. Of course this thing will also give you feedback at the halfway point and in the final lead-up to your goal, and hell, I would totally pay for that. And all this while it’s playing your favorite music. Wow.
Kind as I am, I told Casey that this thing has to be the nerdiest thing ever. He retaliated by saying that if that were the case, M would have one. Which makes sense. Then I remembered that M is more of a Nokia guy than an iPod guy. So I told Casey that M doesn't listen to music while he’s
Casey, of course made the perfectly understandable comment of “yeah, that was WAY nerdier.” I’m still on a fence though. One of them broadcasts his runs live, while the other one has a sensor in his shoe. It’s a close call. But seriously, when did running stop being exercise and become a question of who has the highest level of technology at his disposal? I can get behind wanting to know the pace you ran, or the distance, or hell, maybe even your pulse. But I don’t need a sensor in my shoe to tell me that. …If I ever ran, that is. As it is, I’m mostly just content in knowing that if I ever run, it will be for a very good reason. Like the apocalypse.
I have to get back to practicing playing the spoons now. Don’t ask, it was Zelma’s idea. *
