Saying goodbye to an old friend...

Goodbye Nike+. It has been fun running with you for the last 1300 miles, but alas, you no longer meet my needs. Your data is not very accurate. You have trouble finding and maintaining contact with my sensor. And it's too easy to accidentally "end" my workout before I'm actually done (case in point - when I tried to answer a call on my iPhone at Mile 19 of my 22-mile run on Saturday, you politely told me "Workout Completed!" Um... no). Not only that, but your website is just not as motivating as it used to be (no more t-shirts for 500-Mile Club, 1000-Mile Club, etc? Not cool!) For the price, you are an incredible value. And I do love the occasional messages I hear from Lance Armstrong, and Paula Radcliffe and others, informing me of a great run or a PR. But I'm sorry, but I have to move on.

Since getting my Garmin 405cx late last year, I have still used my Nike+ just to log miles and see what level I could get to (the Nike+ website has various achievement levels, based on total distance logged. I am at Blue Level - 1,000-2,499km). But the more I use my Garmin, the less I like Nike+. I rarely even look at my runs on the Nike+ website anymore, opting to go straight to the Garmin website instead. And now that I've discovered TrainingPeaks (via the Runner's World Personal Trainer), I have even more useful data at my fingertips.

So it is with a heavy heart that I retire my Nike+ sensor. It has served me well and I will never forget all the good times we had together.

To the folks at Nike - don't let this dissuade you from giving me that Nike sponsorship! I still run in Nike LunarGlide shoes (I just ordered myself another pair, in fact). And I have three pairs of Nike Frees for other activities. And I wear Nike gear. And I just ordered some prescription Nike sunglasses. Maybe, in honor of your awarding me a sponsorship, you could change your slogan to "Just Do It... slowly!"

And to Adidas, Saucony, and Under Armour, whose gear I also own plenty of, I am willing to take on multiple sponsorships at once. I'm just sayin'...

Peace. Love. Train.