Let me preface this post by saying that I love Instagram. If you are on it, and not currently following me there, please do me a favor and give me a follow (if you’re so inclined). I’m on there multiple times in a day, and I find so much joy in “meeting” new people that like to share their journeys too! On Instagram, it’s all about the community. Everyone there is just so encouraging and helpful and inspirational – and as I’ve mentioned before, it’s even been a source of fashion inspiration for me too!

So last week, my runner friend at work Instagrammed a photo from her nightly run: a gorgeous scenic photo, with her Nike+ run info along the bottom. I’d seen plenty of other IG’ers with the Nike+ jargon, and have always thought “Eh, it’s too complicated, it’d just be one more thing to carry and sync and post and drive my friends on FB crazy with when I post with it.” The photo was gorgeous though, and when I saw her at work the next day I complimented her on it. We got to talking about Nike+ and she reassured me how easy it is to use, how it doesn’t drain your battery, how you can create challenges with friends – well, before I knew it, I was inspired to take the leap and jump on the Nike+ bandwagon, and now I’m wondering why it took me so long to do just that!

…and if all my friends jumped off bridges, I would too.

It took some getting used to – I don’t normally carry my phone with me, and I still ran with my Garmin too, simply out of habit. It’ll be easier on long runs or those jogs where I’m wearing pants that have pockets where I can stash my phone, but overall I found that the Nike+ app was perfectly accurate on my pace and distance, and I’ve already connected with some friends on there! I feel like a part of a bigger community, which is always a good thing, and I can’t lie – my work friend who introduced me to it has already said she’ll challenge me, and I can’t wait to bring it. Talk about motivation!

Plus, it didn’t hurt that today was my first solo run around the industrial park near my office, where I was surprised to find beautiful sights like this one:

perfect running scenery

I can’t wait to lace up again tomorrow and see where I go with my Nike+!

What do you think – are you on Nike+ too? What tracking app/product do you rely on? Share your favorites in the comments!