Run, Run Run: Innovative Training and Gaming System

Although running marathons are sometimes sponsored for community or universal casues or benefits, for the most part, running has always been a solitary affair. Now, thanks to a new technology, runners everywhere can run and compete with anyone anywhere, no matter where they happen to live. The concept of Run is based on an innovative smart textile constructed of a soft, flexible fabric that changes color. As are all of Electric Foxy's creations, these running shoes have a functioning interface that is seamlessly integrated with the aesthetics of the footwear itself.

Run Footwear: Source: ElectricFoxy.com

How does Run work?

By using the color interface, runners can race wherever they choose and simultaeously keep track of their speed with these running shoes. This innovative system includes a smart shoe of course, but also a website, a cell phone application and a compliant infrastructure that can accomodate many niche markets within the sports and gaming industries.

The Colors of Run: Source: Electric Foxy.com

Embedded into the prototype is a thin electroluminescent  (EL) wire made of  copper and coated in a phosphor, which glows when an alternating current is applied to it. This allows the shoe's upper part to replicate the visual experience of the color-shifting fabric. The colors represent different running positions. Green is reserved for the runner in the lead; orange means middle-of-the-road and red indicates last in place.

Who is Electric Foxy?

Seattle-based Jennifer Darmour is the owner and creative director of Electric Foxy. Her vision involves a new definition of the connection between products and humans. Her goal is to develop products and services that are flawlessly incorporated into the fabrics of our lives. At the core of wearable technology is the burning desire for beauty as well as function. Whether solving an immediate need or simply adding pleasure to the wearer, clothing choices reveal our innermost (and outermost) fashion secrets concerning who we are and what we believe in. In its own way, the old sayng about wearing your heart on your sleeve has taken on a double meaning.

The Run Shoe: Source: Electric Foxy.com

Conclusion

Run is an innovative running and gaming  system that brings runners together no matter where they live geographically. It is a new venue for connection and communication serving  a society that is often fragmented by distances. It is wearable technology at its best. Run presents a new way to make and sustain friends (and maybe some enemies too, depending on how fast you can run).

Closing thoughts on running:

 I love running cross country....On a track, I feel like a hamster. ~Robin Williams