Maybe I should just rename this blog to "Running for T-Shirts"

So, Nike is throwing another T-Shirt Challenge, requiring challengers to run at least one mile each day on four consecutive days by 10/6/09. Since I'm a sucker for free stuff, I decided to squeeze in an evening run tonight. I took Chuckles, my overweight Irish Shorthair Parson John Russell Terrier and I tried my hydration belt again. I had 1.8 miles left on one of my goals, so I set my iPhone for a two mile run and we hit the road.

There's a funny thing about running for time versus running for distance. In almost all of my past workouts, I was really just trying to run out the clock, to keep running for x number of minutes. This is great for building up endurance and confidence. But tonight, when I had a relatively short distance goal, I ran faster because I just needed to complete the distance. Chuckles and I finished 2.14 miles in 19:43. And we all know that rate = distance/time, so my pace was 9:13 minutes/mile.

I also tried using Runkeeper Free over the top of Nike+. Runkeeper uses the iPhone's internal GPS to do workout tracking more accurately than Nike+. When Nike+ told me I had completed my goal of two miles, I paused the workout and checked Runkeeper, which showed 2.14. I then calibrated Nike+ to this distance. I'm hoping this will help me to better calibrate my Nike+, since I'm pretty committed to using it.

The hydration belt worked out better this time. I cinched it as tightly as I could and positioned it right in the small of my back. It didn't bounce nearly as much and after the first mile I didn't really notice the bouncing and sloshing. I'll be using it on my runs that are forty minutes or more.

Oh, and Chuckles? He ran the two miles and just about collapsed when we got home. He's almost five pounds overweight, so he needs the runs way more than I do. I'm going to try to start taking him on my runs that are thirty minute or less.

That's enough blogging; I've spent more time writing about tonight's run than I did running. I'm going to watch the end of Slap Shot on Versus and go to bed.