April 2009

We’ve got a lot of exciting site news this month. First, the iPhone app was submitted to Apple and should go live very soon. Second, we now include elevation graphs for your routes. In other news, Briana, our newsletter author, finished her first 8k, and Adam is back from Ireland with a tale of his run in Dalkey. This month’s featured races are the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and the Playtex MoonWalk in London.

iPhone and iPod Touch Application

We’ve submitted the app to Apple for approval. We’re that much closer to going live! Stay tuned on the website for the update on when the app will be available. In the meantime, head over to walkjogrun.net/iphone to learn more about the features that we have included. Some of the features included:

• Access your WJR account to view your personal routes
• Routes (pulled from the over 350,000 routes on our site) are listed in two groups: “All Routes” - which lists any distance route closest to you, and by distance - which shows routes that are exactly 3.0 mi, 10.0 mi, etc.
• Zoom feature allows a more detailed look at the routes on a map
• “Details” button allows you to enter your weight and time for a personal calculation

Once again, thank you to all who have helped us to develop a great mobile version of WalkJogRun. Couldn’t have done it without your feedback!

Elevation Graphs Now Available

We’ve listened to your suggestions and have finally added elevation graphs to the site! Courtesy of HeyWhatsThat.com, WalkJogRun.net now has elevation graphs to better show all the hills that are on the routes. The x-axis is scaled to show the total distance of your route and the y-axis shows elevation in feet..

With this feature, you can show to your friends how high the hill was that you ran (Adam does this below with his tale of the 300ft hill).

Internet Explorer 8 Fix

Thanks to some of great members, we discovered that Microsoft’s latest release of Internet Explorer 8 broke the site for creating new routes. This is a bug affecting thousands of Google Maps based web applications, but the good news is there is a workaround. The bug meant that when you clicked to add a point, the pin appeared far from where clicked. The fix resolves this and for any tech savvy people out there curious about the details you can read more on Microsoft's tech blog.

San Diego Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon

Are you running the 12th annual
Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon? We’d like to hear how you trained or your stories about race day. The race takes place on May 31, 2009.

New this year is the four-person relay. If you’re training for a leg of this, here are some scenic routes in San Diego:

• A flat, scenic 6.7 mile route
• An 8 mile run upstate
• A 3.8 mile run along the harbor and the fish market

Playtex MoonWalk

One of our English contributors is training for Playtex MoonWalk in London this May. The walk is part of the Walk the Walk program that raises money for breast cancer research and awareness. A race for which participants are encouraged to make and decorate their own tops looks to be a fun race!

Note: If you’d like to find out if anyone would like to join you in a sponsored walk/run for charity, our Community page is a great place to start.

Extra Site Stuff

As always, feel free to email us any stories of how WalkJogRun.net has helped you train or keep healthy, or if you have any suggestions regarding what you’d like to see on the site.

Our Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account are great places to keep up-to-date on the happenings of the site. Recent discussions include the update to add elevation changes, the Internet Explorer 8 bug and subsequent fix and people looking for training partners.

On our deals page, we currently have a variety of shoes available, along with Nike apparel.

Adam is Back from Ireland- His Dalkey, Ireland 3 mile:

While Adam and his wife were visiting Dalkey, Ireland earlier this month he wanted to offset the Guinness consumption with a training run:

"We started out at Dalkey Avenue from the roundabout, and it was instant hills. As you can see from the newly added elevation profile, we started at around 78 ft above sea level and climbed nearly 300 feet by 1.2 miles. Needless to say our pace was slow at around 15 minutes per mile and we had to walk about 30 feet to catch our breath near the top. The path winds up Dalkey Avenue through the residential area until Burton Road, where Gorse bushes replace the houses. After the summit it's a more gradual descent all the way down Victoria Road to Vico Road, passing Enya's Castle on the right. As you run along Vico Road towards Dalkey Island you'll see the picturesque houses in Sorrento Row before taking a left along Sorrento Road back to Castle Street through Dalkey's downtown."

Briana’s First 8k Experience � Bank of America’s Shamrock Shuffle

The slushy Shamrock Shuffle, courtesy of Briana

My socks and shoes were soaking wet before the race began, but I was determined to finish the race! Once I started running, and my adrenaline began to flow, I warmed right up and was on my way to the finish line.

Registration was capped at 32,500. How many actually came out to participate, you ask? A grand total of 13,714! I came in 9,011th place at 52:11 (I had to stop and find a restroom!). Crossing that finish line has made me want to cross many more, so I signed up to do so.