Prologue (Read 3263 times)

Like I said before, I started keeping a record of my daily runs using Microsoft Excel back in 2003. The advantage of using Excel was I can create graphs to my heart's content. Aside from the obvious daily/weekly/monthly distance graphs that some sites offer, I would like to see how my pace is affected by temperature, or if I run better at a certain time of day. As I accumulated more data from runs, it became more tedious to create the graphs. It would be nice to be able to create the charts with a few key presses. It was then that I decided to move to a web based solution. Many computer programmers and engineers believe that they can create a better product than what's currently available. In my case, the product is the running log. Sadly, many of them are wrong because they didn't understand the complexity of the problem, or what they created is more bug-ridden than the original product. That said, I still think the log will be better than most. I showed it off to my friends and coworkers and they urged me to make it publicly available. Some of them suggested charging money for its use so that I can recuperate the amount of time and money that I spent on it. I wanted it to be free because I had fun creating it, and it can be my contribution to the running community. Although there are many online running logs, and most of them are free, this is still a niche market. I would imagine that at most 2 or 3% of the general population run, and only a fraction of that would keep a record of it. I understand from the start that I can't make everyone happy. Since I don't expect everyone to use my site, I made some conscious decisions when designing it. One of the most noticeable restrictions is that the log requires both a distance and a time for the run. These two fields are optional in most of the other sites and I know that I would drive away potential users because I am being too restrictive. Many people don't know how far they ran, or they don't keep track of the time. For these people, this site might not be what they need. To me, what good is a log if when you look back a year from now and the only thing you know is that you ran, but not how far? How are you supposed to track your progress when you don't know how fast you were running? I am creating a log for people that expect more than what is currently available. If you're happy with what you are using, then there is no reason to switch. This makes me a bad sales person, but I'm not in the business of selling. I am only interested in helping you get more out of your training.