A little app takes this professional clown a long way

Once upon a time, 52-year-old professional clown Gail Choate couldn’t run 60 seconds without stopping. Now, the Florida mom will run the Oct. 10 Chicago Marathon.

And she did it, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel story, with the help of an iPhone app.

Let’s put aside the clown-to-marathoner part, for a moment: The fact that she turned herself around with electronic encouragement from a little program that simply told her when to walk and when to run is pretty impressive.

Using media devices to get in shape is no new fad – ever since the videotape was invented, fitness instructors have been taking their workouts to the small screen. Wii has promoted some of its sports and fitness-related games as ways to get in shape.

Each reviewer has a different opinion on which fitness apps beat the competition. But smartphone apps may beat them in a few ways – they’re simpler (and probably cheaper) programs to produce, and – since we longer seem able to separate ourselves from our cellphones – they stay with us all the time. Perhaps that’s why they have the chance to provide users like Choate with just the tiny bit of encouragement they need to change.

Meanwhile, will Choate race in her red nose and giant shoes? To find out, read “Not clowning around: Choate got from couch to marathon in just over a year.”

-- Amina Khan / Los Angeles Times

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