For those of you who may not know me very well, I like to consider myself somewhat of an outdoor enthusiast. While my primary sport of choice for the past several years has been cycling (both road and mountain), this past year I got "bit" by the triathlon bug and now spending time running and swimming in addition to my time in the saddle.

For 2010 my goal is to complete a Half Ironman triathlon on September 12 at Cedar Point. If you're not familiar with triathlon distances, that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. I also plan to use this event to raise money to help fight childhood cancer and September just happens to be Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

To help with my running training, I recently picked up the Nike+ sensor for my running shoes that "talks" to my iTouch to keep me motivated. Very cool!

No, you don't need to be training for triathlons to get the benefit out of the Nike+ device, and it works just as well with walkers or the occasional runner. The sensor (which goes in your Nike shoes or you can purchase a "pouch" that attaches to your shoestrings) measures your steps and communicates back to your iTouch or iPod Nano just like a pedometer. It even works with the iPhone!

You can track your distance, pace and can even download audio workouts (led by real coaches) for you to listen to while exercising. This past weekend I was in Chicago and took my iTouch for a run along Lakeshore Drive. I told it I wanted to do a 10k and it counted off the KMs for me, letting me know when I reached the half-way point, so I knew when to turn around.

Once you are done, you simpliy plug in your device to your computer and sync with iTunes just like you would if you wanted to get more music. But, this is where the "magic" happens. Your results (if you want) are uploaded to your own personal Nike page and you can share your results with friends and even sync it up with Facebook and Twitter (talk about motivating yourself with peer pressure)!

Feel free to check out my http://my.nike.com/ericcook site and see how I'm doing. I'm not breaking any land-speed records, but it's been nice to go back and review my runs and see the progression.

So, if getting "more fit" is a resolution you set for yourself this year, as it was for me, you should check out the Nike+ system. It's a good way to meausre your results and have some fun along the way!