To tech, or not to tech...well, that's not really my question.

There's an ongoing debate among some runners regarding being tethered to an electronic device versus running unencumbered by anything other than the raw desire to run. For me the debate is a pretty simple one. I run more when I have a purpose, like a marathon on the horizon, which means having a plan of some sort to follow. This in turn means tracking mileage, which means I need a device of some sort - GPS watch, foot pod, whatever. End of debate.

However, I also enjoy running more when I have music, which means another device..until I got my iPhone. I've been using the iPhone with Nike+ GPS to track time, and distance, (and using the Nike+ web site to track goals, challenge friends, and then I use my Garmin GPS watch as backup for distance and time, to track my heart rate and to check my pace every couple of minutes.  It's these last two that put me into MY quandry. For me the decision isn't should I tether myself to a piece of technology, it's which piece of technology I should use.

My quandry was set in motion by the death of my Garmin Forerunner. I was never all that happy with the new Garmin. Thge batter life was terrible, the main function button broke just outside of the warranty period leaving a small metal nub as the only way to get the thing going or change views. Last Saturday, after charging it all night I went out for a run. When I pushed the mode nub to get it to acquire the GPS signal, it died. No muss, no fuss, just dead. When I got back home, the watch would not charge, would not connect to the PC, nothing. It was well and truly dead. My iPhone got me through my run the forced absence of my little wrist buddy made me realize how much I missed knowing my pace. I only checked it every two or three minutes but it was enough to know if I was ahead or behind my pace and the Nike plus announcement every mile was not enough. I also missed the heart rate monitor, which I input into a (yet another) website. This site used the mileage, time, heart rate and my other demographic data to calculate calories burned more accurately.

So the dilemma - what GPS watch should I replace the dead one with, and how much am I willing to pay? The good ones all seem to be around $200, the cheap ones are $150 (and you know how my cheap one turned out). After doing some research, I have decided not to replace it. I've tried several iPhone apps that have significantly more functionality than Nike+, but the one I have settled on is iSmoothRun. Some things I really like about it:

• Tracks time, distance, calories (same as Nike +)
• Uses/shuffles your defined running playlist (same as Nike +)
• Tracks your shoes and the mileage associated with them (same as Nike+)
• Links to Twitter & Facebook (same as Nike+)

Here's where the differences start to come in:

• It costs $4.99. Nike+, Run Keeper, and others are free. Jog Log is $.99.
• Uploads data TO the Nike+ website...or emails it, sends to dropbox, Daily Mile, RunningFreeOnline, Training Peaks, Run Keeper, Strava, Garmin Connect or 2Peak. If you're alreasy married to one (or more) of these data repositories, this makes uploading data automatic.
• Customizable Audio Cues. You can turn off or on announcements for Pace, Cadence (with an optional sensor), Heart Rate (more on this later), Time, Distance and Average Pace. Nike+ has a fised set of cues. Other apps, like Jog Log, also have very customizable cues.
• Adjustable Cue timing.  While Nike+ can tell you your data in intervals as low as a quarter mile and up to 2 miles, iSmoothRun will do quarter mile increments up to a mile, then mile increments after that up to 5 miles. Nike+ will offer cues every minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes, and iSmoothRun does announcements in time intervals from a minute up to 20 minutes. In testing, I found 3 minutes met my needs to adjust my pace frequently enough to meet my targets. Nike+ can't do that.
• Heart Rate monitor - This cost me $60 on Amazon. iSmoothRun connects to Blue Tooth Smart heart rate monitors like the Polar H7 natively through the iPhone 4s without the need for an additional sensor. This will be come increasingly common, but this app has it now.
• Accelerometer picks up when the GPS signal is dropped. This is more accurate than some apps that use cell towers to track during gaps in GPS, or more importantly if you want to use the app while on a treadmill (I know, I know, the 'mill has all the data displayed, but again, you can upload to your data repository of choice directly from your phone and not worry about what's on the treadmill. You will, however, have to live with a margin of error in your mileage. The app I found to be closest to this one in terms of features, Jog Log, did not have an accelerometer feature.
• Ghost runner. This is a big feature missing from Nike+. You can set, say, a marathon target of 4:30, and the ghost runner runs that pace. An audio cue tells you at each interval how far in front or behind the Ghost you are.

That's the gist of it. For $65 for the cost of the app and the heart rate strap I now have an app that gives me audio cues, tracks my heart rate, plays my music and syncs my data, all without my having to look at my watch or take my eyes off of the trail, and it's less than a third of the cost of the GPS watch I was looking at.  Now, it's time to get to running!