This past weekend I cheered on my twin daughters, 20, as they ran a 10K race — the NYRR 10K in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens — on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. They’ve recently taken up running as a hobby, inspired by their dad, 58, who has been running religiously for over a year to improve his sedentary lifestyle and overall well-being. He has lost 50 lbs.
and is the happiest he’s ever been. But I digress. Back to my kids.
Now that the twins are home for their summer break from college, not only have they enjoyed daily runs alone, together, or with their dad, but they’ve also enjoyed sharing their stats on a fitness app called Strava, which maps a runner’s fitness journey, tracks goals, analyzes workouts and tracks progress. At dinner the other night, they shared an interesting by-product of using the Strava app: Messages from eligible bachelors, ostensibly to discuss running, to run together or to otherwise become running buddies, virtually or IRL (in real life) or both! One of the twins is in a committed relationship and has zero interest in this development, but the other one is intrigued and delighted by this whole new world of dating possibilities. After all, more than 100 million athletes use the Strava app, and a seemingly a good chunk of them hype each other up with a “Great job” or “Looking good” comment after every workout posted or race completed.
You get the drift. On the surface, Strava’s app features may appear like the .
