Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

While I was in Las Vegas, I visited the Nike store to see if they had some comfortable shoes for me. I did buy some cute Nike+ shoes, but they had a big advertising campaign with the slogan,

Run into the dark of the night.

I thought that maybe Nike was selling shoes that light up so people can see you running in the dark, but that was wishful thinking.

They did have a jacket for $250 that had a rechargeable pack that lit up, however.

Here is the description from Nike:

Make your presence known when running at night or in other low-light conditions with the Nike Distance Light Running Jacket. This lightweight, flexible and washable (when control unit is removed) layer features electroluminescent (EL) panels on the front and back to help others on the road see you.

EL light provides visibility from multiple angles, and the blue-green variety used in these panels is less likely than red or white light to compete with other lights along roadways, helping you stand out. The panels in the Distance Light Jacket are activated by a small control unit in the front pocket and flash in a heart-beat pulse pattern that switches to a strobe pattern to indicate that charging is needed in the next two hours.

Considering that this TerraLUX FlareStar30 Light runs for 50 hours on 2 AA batteries, can be attached to ANY jacket AND only costs about twelve bucks, spending $250 on a Nike jacket that lights up seems a little silly.

It’s so cold in Salt Lake City right now that the idea of running outside at night sounds miserable, but if you have to do your workouts in the dark, the TerraLUX LED lights sound like a much better option.