Sunday, January 07, 2007

Hurts So Good

That's what I kept trying to tell myself while running 7 miles on dead legs Saturday morning with friends. I had just started running again on Wednesday, after a month-long hiatus. And boy, did I feel it.

My legs were like lead from running hard on Wednesday and Thursday. And my arms and back were sore from a weight-lifting/cardio class on Friday. So the 8:45/mile pace on Saturday was a little taxing, shall we say. But I did chat with some of the others, which took my mind off my legs saying, "What the hell?!"

Warning: Tech-speak from here on out in this post. So quit reading if you want to hear more about my running.

Luddite No Longer: Four months after I bought a refurbished 2G iPod Nano so I could test the iPod+Nike sportkit and specially-constructed Nike Air Zoom Moire shoes that Nike helpfully sent me to product-test (for a running 'zine review which the editor ended up nixing, alas) .... I finally took the iPod out of its little box for the first time.

Why did I wait so long? Because I already use another flash MP3 player - the 1G Cowon iAudio U2, which has a built-in FM radio and voice recorder. Both of which have come in handy and neither of which the Nano has. The iAudio also has sophisticated controls to fine-tune the treble, bass and other sound qualities. Which the Nano doesn't have.

... and Killed the Cat: But curiosity over the hoopla over iTunes and the iPod got the best of me. I spent the past two days downloading albums into iTunes and uploading them onto the Nano, and researching and purchasing a very sweet JBL speaker for the Nano/iAudio and also a set of MP3 travel speakers.

What do I think of the Nano? It's nice. Albeit almost too simplistic. I do like its ease of use and iTunes' wealth of songs. I even found (and downloaded) the Mendelssohn piano concerto I performed years ago.

But I have a soft spot for my iAudio. It's feather-light and tiny. And I don't have to baby it like the Nano, which, like many pretty things, is high-maintenance and temperamental.

And what do I think of the Nike+sport kit and new Nike running shoes?

Ummm ... haven't tried them out yet. Gimme a few more months.

4 comments:

  1. Wow - you let out a teeny complaint about your legs feeling tired and the next thing you know the angels are singing!

    odd...

    I loves my nano but I was using a shuffle before that and a big clunky thing before that.

    I read someone's post today about how using the iPod for running statistics is nice because you don't look at it until you are done. No obessing over your pace minute by minute the way us Garmin people do. It's daft because it doesn't work and it does nothing to help you figure out what your goal pace feels like. None of that is an issue with you, anyhow since you are very good at pacing yourself and others.

    So - I say keep groovin on your iAudio.

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  2. Well well, fellow ex-luddite, I too spent the past 2 days working on iTunes. I thought I was the last person on earth w/o an iPod, and would still be if S. (aka Santa) didn't get me one.

    I have yet to buy any songs from iTunes. My ancient CD collection will suffice for now.

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  3. if you can chat during an 8:45 pace you're doing awesome :o) hope you find your groove soon though

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