Total Reliance on Nike + Apple

It turns out that I can't even tie my shoe without a generous hand from both Nike and Apple (the computer company). I am completely reliant on Nike Plus, the clever little pedometer that talks to one's iPod and tells them how fast and far they're running. Unfortunately, my Nike Plus sensor seems to have gone out early this week. So, I've been running blindly. And it's terrifying.

Today, my 4th straight run without the benefit of Nike Plus, saw me bringing the Nike Plus along anyhow. Sometimes, one remains on crutches even after one's injuries heal. One just does. So, I pretended it was working normally. At the very least, if the pedometer is caput (it utilizes a small battery that must eventually die), the timing function still works so the nice woman who provides status updates over the headphones can tell me how long I've been running and can alert me when I've reached my halfway point.

In any case, after about 30 minutes, my borrowed headphones (mine shorted out earlier this week - great week for equipment failures) refused to stay on my head. So, I took them off and decided to run blindly again. Eventually, I came upon a bountiful farmers' market and was compelled to stop (in doing so, I pressed the menu button, stopping my Nike Plus workout as well). I perused a fine selection of beets, kohlrabi and myriad summer squashes. It was delightful. Even more delightful was my discovery that the Nike and Apple sponsored homunculus in my left shoe had, in fact, been keeping a close accounting of my run. It turns out, I had run exactly 5.03 miles (goal: 5 miles) at a 7:51 pace. I love that little homunculus. I need that little homunculus.

The moral of this post is that, even if one is forced to run without the aide of one's homunculus, a farmers' market or ice cream shop or Scottish village that only materializes every century or so will appear and provide a clear message that ones's daily goal has been reached.