For years, really since I started running in 2010, I used an application on my smartphone called RoadrunnerGPS, an app which appears to now be defunct. It was a pretty simple running app, as things go, but it did the trick for me right up until the fall of 2012, when I experimented with Nike+ and eventually switched to Endomondo as it can also track other sports, like bicycling, skiing and badminton. (I`m working on a full multi-sport review of Endomondo that will be coming out over the next few weeks.)
That said, the fantastic little RoadRunnerGPS was built by a company that is based in Vancouver, B.C., where I reside. The background screen of the application was a moodily-lit photo of the statue of Harry Jerome that resides in Stanley Park, looking across Burrard Inlet towards Canada Place.
Harry Jerome is a Canadian that trained under the legendary University of Oregon track and field coach, Bill Bowerman. (Bowerman is known to have been a great track coach, but also the co-founder of Nike Inc. with Phil Knight.) Jerome is the only man to have ever held the world record for both the 100m and the 100 yard dash at the same time, and set a total of seven world records, four of which he held (or equalled) concurrently. He is a sprinting and running legend, and this beautiful 9 foot tall bronze was erected in Stanley Park to commemorate him.
On a recent cycle through Stanley Park, I just had to take a photo – to remind me not only of what it is possible for anyone to accomplish, but also to remind me of where I had come from on my journey.
