Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tokyo Marathon 2001 and the iRun

Tokyo Marathon 2001 and the iRun




We interrupt this Throwback Thursday for something you just have to see to believe.  For those of you who just love to provide everyone with constant data about your marathon run this man has just the thing for you.  The goes way beyond Facebooking and making phone calls during your marathon.

This man is running the 2011 Tokyo Marathon with the following strapped to his body: "four iPhones on rotatable mounts, an iPad, an Android handset, three mobile wifi routers, a wind turbine (ok, so it’s a kid’s fan that turns around…), a 4-in-one atmospheric monitor, a heart monitor, a plastic doughnut and of course the very important satellite dish for high-speed data connectivity (cunningly crafted from a bird-feeding dish). (SOURCE)".  He calls this contraption the iRun.

"This technology will allow [him] to broadcast live video on two cameras (using either skype or FaceTime to a local studio for re-broadcast), send live location/pace/heart rate data via Runkeeper on the iPhone, transmit temperature, COx/humidity/noise levels via a custom-made Android app (SOURCE)

For the entire race one iphone will be streaming video of his face and another will be streaming a forward video of his run.  The ipad will be showing twitter messages his entire run.  The Andriod will give him "a direct connection to the control center where he can find out where to meet up with his friends and where to get his next banana."

The good news is he thinks Apple will want to start selling these things very soon!  I think I will buy Bonnie one for her next marathon!

I do not know how he does this.  I feel dorky just carrying my iphone during a race to take pictures.

Maybe Silly Girl will strap an iRun onto her dog while you run.  I think EMZ's next tshirts will have one of the iRuns build right into the fabric. Bike, Bake Blog will soon be coming out with a device where she can bake a 10 course meal during her runs (yum!).  


So would you buy one of these or wear one?   Would you be interested in watching someone's entire marathon race?

9 comments:

  1. I would so not buy or wear one of these -- but if I saw someone with one I would want to be their BFF.

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  2. Yeah, not buying one. I can barely operate my Garmin!

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  3. Uhm...nope...not buying this one. And definitely not strapping it onto my dog. ;)

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  4. I love my iphone and garmin but this is a little overboard. What if you need to use the porta potty. I hope this doesn't go in with him.

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  5. hmmm, not so sure I'd want to see someone else run an entire 26.2. Don't want one for me either. So funny what they come up with! :)

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  6. I'm so doing this.

    in
    tokyo.

    This. rocks.

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  7. haha that is crazy. And awesome. But probably more crazy than awesome ;)

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  8. What the heck??? That man is crazy. I want to see pics if EMZ straps one of those things on though.

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  9. Holy Crazy Marathoner, Batman! That is hilarious. (I particularly like the choice of music for the video.) Definitely going to catch on. You know what would also be a great idea? Why don't you just pull someone in a wagon behind you? Then they really CAN experience it with you and feel your sweat on their face!

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