I’m a big fan of ChiRunning, I really think that the principles help build a more consistent and injury-resistant runner. So when I heard there was an official ChiRunning app… I was really excited to try it out.

The good:

• Built-in Metronome so you can keep your cadence on track.
• GPS tracker logs your distance, pace, elevation, time, etc.
• Walks you through pre-run looseners and post-run stretches.
• Danny Dreyer’s voice pipes in with reminders of the different Chi Focuses to keep you on form.
• You can choose to turn any of those items on/off and still use the tracking.
• Links you straight into the Chi Blog for regular updates from the ChiRunning world.
• Video Chi Lessons, Body Looseners and Post-Run Stretches available to watch. Watching ChiRunning technique helps immensely over just reading about it.

The bad:

• I can’t set the frequency with which I receive the Chi Focuses reminders. This is seriously annoying. I guess if I want to go out and do a 10-minute run in which I get those reminders pretty constantly, that’s one thing. But to use this for all of my runs… it would get annoying! (Sorry Danny, I still think you’re awesome.)

So it’s one bad thing… but it’s kind of a big thing because it prevents me from wanting to use it for a long run. It would be nice if you could start the tracking and set it to remind you of a Chi Focus every 5-10-15 minutes. Especially for a long run… you start getting over 60 minutes running and form starts to slip? Oh… here comes Danny with a nice little reminder to pay attention.

I’m a moron! This is totally an option and I missed it!

It’s a solid entry, but I think it has room for improvement. And while I think ChiRunning is awesome, do I think the app is worth $9.99? No… Perhaps more in the $3.99-$4.99 range.