Runner's High

Running is a huge part of my life. I must run 20+ miles a week and unless I’m on a treadmill, I have no definite way of knowing how far I actually ran. Sure there’s the good ‘ol pedometer, but none that I’ve ever owned were accurate. Well, I finally found something that’s accurate, and it’s called the Nike Philips MP3Run.

I would never consider the Nike Philips MP3Run to be an excellent music player for the mp3 connoisseur, but it’s awesome for a serious runner (or walker) like myself that wants to enjoy the its unique capabilities. A small pod clips to your shoelaces and communicates pace and distance information to the player wirelessly with Bluetooth.

Once you have your stride calibrated, it will track your time, distance and pace. You then set the player to announce your progress based on your choice of distance or time, or when you ask for it with the push of a button. The voice of your “virtual coach” comes on over the headphones announcing how many minutes you’ve been running, how many miles you’ve gone and your pace in minutes per mile. This information is also available with a gander at the screen.

The feature that intrigues me the most is that you can download all your statistics to your computer with the included Digital Media Manager software to track your progress. That is very useful for someone who is in training for a big event such as a marathon or triathlon. As a mediocre mp3 player, it does offer FM radio, a 256MB capacity and a 710-minute battery life with its rechargeable battery.

Sure, I’ll be willing to rotate my iPod(s) with this thing just to get the additional information. The Nike Philips MP3Run is available for about $233.00 on www.amazon.com.