One Month with Nike+
Jan/100
by John Wilson
My wife gets Runner’s World Magazine in the mail. Strangely enough, just having this magazine around the house inspired me to start running in late December. I ran a 10k in 2007 with my wife without training, which was a very bad idea, and I got very sick from doing it. So this time I’m going to actually train, and hopefully in that training lose a few pounds (40?). My ultimate goal is to run a half-marathon in Las Vegas in December.
Running for the sake of running started as difficult for me. I would just run for time with no real idea of how far or how fast I was running. Sometimes I’d get on the treadmill just to be able to track my progress. Having played 11 years of football, including four in college, I was used to having every aspect of my training measured. Be it a timed 40 yard dash or a measured benchpress, it was pretty easy to see increases. It was much more difficult with running. Enter: Nike+.
A gadget geek at heart (much to my wife’s dismay), I saw an advertisement for it somewhere, and knew I had to have one. Nike+ is a three part gadget: a pedometer like chip that goes into your shoe, your iPod, and a receiver attached to the bottom of it. The chip has an accelerometer that can determine when your feet are up, and when they are on the ground, and can tell you your speed and distance accurately (after calibrating to your running style).
With the device, you can set your race distance or time, and it will talk to you throughout the run about your pace, time and distance remaining. At anytime throughout the run you can push the center button and it will tell you time, distance and speed. What I typically do is set a distance, run away from my house until it tells me I’m halfway done, then I turn around and come back. There’s no way you can do this without a device like this. I tried to pre-map runs like this before I got Nike+, but I could never remember where to go once I got out there.
What I enjoy the most is sitting down after a long run and plugging my iPod into my computer. The iPod automatically uploads my run data, including second-by-second speed readings, to the Nike+ website through iTunes. You can use this data to track your improvements over a long period of time. It’s fun to see how many miles you’ve done over the month, how many calories you’ve burned and how fast (slow) you are. You can also track friends (which is motivating in that you don’t want them to see you loafing), set challenges for yourself (a specific number of runs in a specific amount of time, for instance) and upload your time and distance to your favorite social networking site.
As silly as it sounds, this device has definitely motivated me to run when I certainly didn’t want to. This month’s stats:
- 10 workouts
- 3:32 total running time
- 18.61 miles
- 11′24 mile average
- 3125 calories burned
- fastest 5k: 35:32
Not bad for my first month running, ever.
Check out the Nike+ website for more information or to buy your own.
Photo taken by me. See my Flickr feed here.
John Wilson’s Current Reading List
Jan/101
by John Wilson
Inspired by my friend Lauren’s Website about Books I wanted to list a few of the books I am reading now. I’m typically a nonfiction book reader, but every once in a while I’ll pick up a classic. Mostly because it makes me feel smart. I also have a habit of reading more than one book at a time. So here is what’s in my “library” currently:
I’m on page 150 of 900! of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. This is one of those books that I’ve always wanted to read, and had heard great things about, but have never taken the time to pick it up. The story is great so far, the lessons (at least 1/6 of the way through) are timely and the characters well-developed. I’m looking forward to knocking this one off, as it was one of my New Years Resolutions to finish it.
Another one of my resolutions was to read the Bible. You can read my adventures of purchasing a Bible here. Instead of plowing through it from page 1, I found a great website that guides you through it depending on your interests. Go to Bible Gateway.com to choose your path. I am using this one.
I recently finished Glenn Beck’s Arguing with Idiots. Regardless of how you feel about Beck’s politics, his books are always humorous and well written. This book shines a very bright, conservative light, at subjects such as the economy, unions and the public school system. I believe it’s a strong read for folks on both sides of the aisle.
And, with only a week or two to spare, I’m reading Caveman’s Guide to Baby’s First Year: Early Fatherhood for the Modern Hunter-Gatherer. I’m only a quarter of the way through this book, but it is very informative and entertaining. It leans a little too much on the caveman history side, but the baby-content is very useful and friendly.
Lots to read, and coming soon, probably very little time or energy to read.
Top 10 Movies of 2009 I Need to See in 2010
Dec/090
by John Wilson
In an effort to write more, and my enjoyment of Top 10 lists, here is my first entry:
Top 10 Movies from 2009, I Need to See in 2010:
10. Zombieland
9. Paranormal Activity
8. Star Trek – This will be my first Star Trek movie, ever.
7. Taken
6. Nine – Simply for the star power.
5. The Blind Side – I hope the movie is better than the book.
4. The Hurt Locker – Super excited about this one.
3. Avatar – Despite James Cameron.
2. Saw VI – One of my favorite movie series.
1. Up in the Air
Why the UFC has KO’d Boxing
Sep/090
by John Wilson
There are 100 reasons why the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) are overtaking or have overtaken the boxing industry. Here is just one of them, and possibly the most important:
The List of Current Boxing Champions
vs.
List of Current UFC Champions
I understand that this is a simplified look at MMA (it doesn’t include Strikeforce, WEC, or any of the other leagues). Even if you did include those, there are less than four (and really only one) major organization. Also, the divisions or companies have completely separate fighters, so there would be no cross pollination, as opposed to most boxing rankings.
For more information about the UFC see: How the UFC Works
Site of the Week – How the UFC Works
Jul/093
by John Wilson
The UFC Octagon
How the UFC works
How Stuff Works is a great site. They have well written and well researched articles on subjects from all spectrums. They also have an excellent general subject podcast available on iTunes, including my favorite, “Stuff you Missed in History Class.”
The particular article I’d like to draw attention to tonight is “How the Ultimate Fighting Championship Works.” This article covers the basics including:
- The Octagon
- Fighting Styles
- How to win
- UFC Rules
- UFC today
Each section gives a broad overview of the sport and what to watch for in a pay-per-view, Fight Night or The Ultimate Fighter show. Unfortunately, there is no one in the UFC named “John Wilson.” However, when you put “John Wilson +UFC” into Google, my website is on top.
Other Resources for basic MMA
If you’re interested in learning more about MMA (mixed martial arts) or the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) research the following search terms:
County Line Strangers Live!
Jun/090
Come out tonight to the Wind Jammer on Isle of Palms (Charleston, SC) to see the CD release party of The County Line Strangers. This show may be sold out, but you can buy tickets right here online.
The CD entitled, “Heartbreak Motel” has received great reviews so far. It includes 10 songs with future radio hits like Savannah, Let Me Let You Go and Love is the Hardest Thing. The music is probably categorized as a Country-Rock blend (Crock?) – but I’m not much of a music guy.
Songs from the band’s previous albums, Coney Island EP and Phonography will most likely also be on tap.
To get your copy of the CD autographed by the lead singer, Matt Megrue, be sure to contact the band via their MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/countylinestrangers
See you at the show!
John Wilson in San Diego!
Jun/091
I’m currently having a great time in San Diego. Delta Airlines was nice enough to move me to an isle seat (I was in the middle which is a bad idea for everyone involved) for the 4.5 hour flight. San Diego has an ok airport (more on that later), but it is no where near my favorite one in Seattle which is the coolest airport I’ve never been through (sorry PKB).
On our first night, my boss and I caught the Padres vs. the Phillies. PETCO Park is a nice, very open stadium, but it has none of that atmosphere you feel at parks like Yankee Stadium, Cincinnati or Cleveland. It may have something to do with the game being on a Tuesday night, or being in the nose bleed section, or the beating they were taking while I was there (final score 10-5). I’m glad I went, take a look:
I was only one block from both the San Diego Convention Center and the Gas Lamp District at the Omni Hotel. The Gas Lamp district seemed to be the downtown, entertainment, eating and bar place. I was never there on the weekend, but Thursday night before we came home seemed to heat up.
Restaurants I visited while in San Diego include:
- Bondi – Austrailian Bar – great atmosphere and excellent calamari, but hamburger wasn’t that great
- The Spot – La Jolla – bar food – limited selection but cool location and nice scenery
- Croce’s – Contemporary American – live music and large patio for cool spring evening – filet minon
I hope that next time I visit San Diego I have more time to visit attractions that don’t involve convention booths or 10pm dining.
Are you John Wilson?
May/091
Note: Though I don’t typically talk about work here, the next two posts will contain semi-work based information.
This week I learned about two John Wilson’s from two different partners we do business with (one with a similar job function as me), not to mention the other John Wilson at a partner of ours, who once a month or so, I accidentally get emails intended for him. So, in my relatively small work world, I’m aware of at least three additional John Wilsons.
- The idea – create a central location for “John Wilson.”
- The plan – find and interview each John Wilson I can find (most likely not related to my work)
- The site – add an index to the site that lists interviews and websites for each John Wilson I find (or finds me)
- The goal – meet a ton of John Wilsons and get the index listed on Wikipedia
Someone added me and this site to Wikipedia once, but then someone else took me off, probably because there was no accompanying article about me. I’m fine with that, but it seems like a moderately elite list. This list will be for every John Wilson out there, no “elite status” needed. There are only a few guidelines:
- Your name must be John Wilson (no Jonathan’s, sorry)
- You must contact me at whereisjohnwilson@yahoo.com
- You must be willing to answer a few interview questions
- Optional but preferred: You should have a reference to you somewhere on the Internet. Even if it is just a reference to you or a quote by you in a newspaper
- Optional: Submit a picture
I’ll take this information, and once a week or more, I’ll add John Wilsons to the new page on this site and post an interview about being John Wilson. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Guitar Hero Aerosmith – D’oh!
Jul/080
So close to finishing this game in two days. I only failed on two songs on hard (not sure what that says about my free time). Here is me 5 seconds after the last 5 notes of the last song appeared on the screen:
Painful.
John Wilson featured at wvmountaineersports.com
Jul/080
Check me out at the other blog I write for: WV Mountaineer Sports
I’m featured on the cover of the new NCAA 2009.