Ode to Runkeeper*

I love sports, but the one sport that will always hold a special place for me is baseball. It was always my favorite sport to play growing up (probably because it's the one sport I excelled at) and even today I'll sit and watch a game on TV, regardless of who's playing.

But it's not just the action (yes, I use that term lightly when describing baseball) that appeals to me, it's the seemingly endless array of statistics that are kept: RBI, ERA, OBP, OPS, OPS+, SLG, BAbip, OWn%, RC/G. The list goes on and on, and I eat them up regardless of how ridiculous they are.

For example, OWn% is Offensive Winning Percentage, defined as: "The percentage of games a team with nine of this batter would win. Assumes average pitching and defense." I mean, come on. This is a meaningless and completely irrelevant stat, but I'll argue that Vladimir Guerrero's .684 OWn% makes him a first-ballot Hall of Famer until I'm blue (NOT Dodger Blue, though) in the face.

So when I started riding my bike in preparation for my part in the upcoming Malibu Triathlon, I was on the hunt for an iPhone app that would help me track my progress. I don't remember how (fate, maybe?), but for some reason I found Runkeeper and was instantly hooked. I could chart my time, distance, pace, mile splits AND see my elevation vs. speed on a graph?! Not only did Runkeeper fill my stats jones, it also worked great as a motivating tool, constantly pushing me to try and improve with each ride. And it was free.

So when I started getting screwy results (8.03 miles in 27 minutes??? WTF?!), saying I was frustrated would be understating it. Didn't they know I needed my Runkeeper fix to keep going? I gotta have my stats, man! Don't do this to me, not now! I even took my frustration out on Runkeeper via Twitter ... not my proudest moment, and I think that was my rock bottom.

Luckily, this was a temporary problem and deleting and reinstalling the app solved it (which apparently could have solved my problem much sooner if I was paying attention). Despite my bitching and whining when things weren't going right with Runkeeper, for a stats nerd like me, this app is a gift from the numbers gods.

* This is neither a sponsored nor solicited endorsement. It's just my way of showing my appreciation for the hard work that's put into this free app.