FROM just one season as the slowest runner on my college cross-country team, I quit running multiple times. My return to sport at the start of the pandemic seemed destined to be my last. The first round was
exhausting, but rewarding. The next, just exhausting. I thought I was the problem. My body just wasn’t made for running.
I happened to be trying out an app that was new to me called Nike Run Club (NRC). As with similar tools I’d tested, like MapMyRun and Strava, starting a workout only requires opening the app. NRC, however, has a tab that other free apps lacked: “guided races”.