Hello Goodbye

Today was w5+r15+w5 for 2 miles, not bad for the first cold morning of the season. But it was a bit bittersweet as I ran, as usual, listening on my Apple in-ear headphones to the playlist on my iPhone that tracked my stats on my Nike+. I thought a great deal about the man responsible for those things - and so much more.

If anything spoke to the elegance and understanding of design, it was my run. An article in Wired about 18 months ago spoke of how he was at Nike visiting his friend, Phil Knight and Nike's clumsy and/or failed designs to deliver music and record stats for runners. Lo and behold, the iPod Nano and Nike+ were born. The real reason I have an iPhone is because they added Nike+ capabilities 2 years ago and given how I had gone down twice on a run with no cell phone, it was a no-brainer.

The playlist I chose this morning is one I put together for the Tufts 10k a couple of years back. It is a combination of music used in Apple commercials and music from a Joan Benoit training mix: think Warped tour at the Apple store. What made me smile though was the Fratellis. When I started working at the Apple store years ago, the Fratellis' song "Flathead" was in the overhead mix. I remember telling my co-workers that it was my "happy running song."

It still is.


Steve Jobs is partly responsible for getting my butt out on the road and keeping it going. So as I type this on my little black macbook, moving around the page with my Apple wireless mouse, I say thank you to the man that, in spite of being CEO of one of the most successful companies in the world, took the time to send me an email telling me he didn't agree with my opinion on a company policy.

So.... so long Steve, and thanks for all the fish.