July Running challenge

June 28, 2007 3:48 PM

The current MeFi running challenge is in its final days. I'll post the final results in a couple of days. I don't want to jinx it, but I might actually win this one...(Previous challenges : 1.0., 2.0.,3.0.,3.1.) We're already gearing up for the July distance challenge. I've sent a new invite to the current participants. If you've got the nike+ sports kit for the ipod nano and want to measure yourself against the dreaded metathletes, post your nike+ screenname in this thread, and I'll send you an invite to the challenge.
posted by pj_rivera to MetaFilter Gatherings at 3:48 PM (17 comments total)

This is the first I've heard of Nike Plus (when did that come out?) but that is, frankly, goddamned cool.

Is there a way to get a sensor sans the shoes so that I don't gave to do my running on the backs of Asian children, or is my liberal guilt just going to have to notch its belt over one?
posted by CRM114 at 6:26 PM on June 28, 2007

You don't have to have the nike shoes to use the nike+.
posted by achmorrison at 6:41 PM on June 28, 2007

I'm in! But I don't want to put that username on the googleable internets. pj, can you email me?
posted by librarina at 9:18 PM on June 28, 2007

I don't have a nike+ (I don't run with nike, ipod, or anything like that...) Is there any way I can compete with GPS data from some other source?
posted by ph00dz at 9:27 PM on June 28, 2007

Yeah, I'd be up for a GPS/Gmaps Pedometer challange if there is no way to integrate with the Nike+ crowd.
posted by epugachev at 9:36 PM on June 28, 2007

You don't even need the Nike website to use the Nike+. My wife has been using runnerplus.com for a while now - she likes it better than the Nike site (caveat: You must upload data to Nike, or manually upload from your desktop, to sync with RunnerPlus).

If it worked with the video iPod, I'd be in. As it stands, I don't want to buy a nano just to use while running.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:53 PM on June 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

It is so on. My username is "billiam"
posted by null terminated at 10:14 PM on June 28, 2007

I finally got mine and got some miles logged this month, though I keep forgetting to bring it when I run. It was the previous version of this thread that convinced me to try the NikePod, and it's totally totally great. Simple, fun, just enough fetish to encourage me to run more. I don't use Nike shoes either by the way - I literally just have my sensor taped on the laces of my dirty old Asics.
posted by freebird at 10:23 PM on June 28, 2007

I use this $10 attachment that works with any pair of shoes. It's great.
posted by null terminated at 10:28 PM on June 28, 2007

I gave up on my Nike+ shoes, but looks like a little bit of DIY spirit will get me into the running, so to speak. Email in my profile is my login. Count me in.
posted by sequential at 11:33 PM on June 28, 2007

It would be great to open up the running challenges for users of other GPS systems/pedometers. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this in a convenient way are welcome.

You could of course make a tally of all the runs from different systems at the end of a given month, but a lot of the fun in a challenge lies in the quasi real-time updates of your closest competitors.

For the nike+ challenge info, several widgets (php) exist to extract the run and challenge data from the nike+ site, e.g. to display it on your own blog. I imagine running data from other sources could be merged with the nike+ data and then reposted to a dedicated mefi running challenge website. Just thinking out loud here, IANACoder.

A last note on the invites & privacy concerns. I don't need the username (email) you use to log in to nike+ to send you the invite. Just the nike+ screenname (nick) is sufficient to add you to a challenge.
posted by pj_rivera at 3:05 AM on June 29, 2007

I am a coder... and I'm actually in the process of (slowly) building a social networking site for runners. Maybe this'd be a good test case. I doubt I could throw anything together for July, but if this is going to be an ongoing thing, maybe I'll give it a deeper look.

Dumb question... is this a big deal now? I haven't really been paying attention to the Nike+ thing at all. Anyone wanna show me how it works when it all gets going so I can figure out how to (maybe) clone it?
posted by ph00dz at 9:41 PM on June 29, 2007

Hey ph00dz, I'appreciate it if you'd take a look at this.

For the June challenge, I sent out invites to 26 mefites. Of those 26, 16 uploaded running data to the challenge site. Other than this small monthly call for challengers on metatalk, no real effort to recruit other mefi runners is made. Currently, we seem to be in a pretty steady pattern of monthly distance challenges.

One thing's for certain : every time a new challenge is announced on metatalk, people ask about alternative ways to participate.

For an introduction to the nike+ system check out this post. Here's a link to someone who worked out how to grab the raw challenge data from the nike+ site and make a wordpress widget with it.
posted by pj_rivera at 7:12 AM on June 30, 2007

I have a shiny new (refurbished) Nano, and I'd like to join the challenge. I fully expect to get my ass handed to me. Username "donajo".
posted by donajo at 11:46 AM on June 30, 2007

I'd like to participate if the challenge is still open - Nike+ username is shinypenny.
posted by longdaysjourney at 12:43 PM on June 30, 2007

Here are the final distances of the June running challenge for the top 4:

1.pj_rivera - 100.4k
2.dness2 - 80.71k
3.AJR - 80.7k
4.odiv - 71.5k

Yay for me...!

I've sent out invitations to the new participants. If you've just now registered on the Nike+ site, it might take a day or so before you can join the challenge.
posted by pj_rivera at 4:56 AM on July 1, 2007

Hey, if this is still happening, my nike+ name is mct. My creative player broke yesterday, so I done went and got me a nano and a nike kit.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:32 AM on July 11, 2007