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Ready, set, run! Consider this Apple’s annual push to dress up and earn a little virtual bling on your wrist.
On the occasion of World Running Day on June 3 Apple watch Owners can unlock a limited-edition digital badge by logging at least 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) before midnight. Road running, trail running, track workouts, and treadmill miles are counted. Apple says any app that records workouts on Apple Health is eligible, though recording directly through the built-in Workout app on your Watch is the safest bet to see the badge appear immediately after a run.
There’s no physical prize at the end — just virtual bragging rights on the fitness app. But if you’ve been putting off that run all week, seeing a shiny animated badge appear on your wrist can be a surprisingly effective motivator. Ask me how I know.
It’s also a good excuse to explore some of the Apple Watch’s deeper operating features. Although it’s not a dedicated running watch, the Apple Watch is a worthy training companion with pace alerts, heart rate zones, and advanced running metrics, like vertical oscillation, stride length, and ground contact time, built into the Workout app.
The Race Route feature also lets you compete against your past performance on familiar routes, while Training Load compares the intensity of your last workout to the last month to help gauge whether you’re ramping up too quickly or going a little too easy on yourself.
In terms of accuracy, the Apple Watch takes the crown for heart rate tracking compared to five other top-rated smartwatches on our site 30 mile testaccurately tracking peaks and valleys, even through time intervals where other clocks have fallen.
Fitness Plus, Apple’s on-demand video workout platform, is also getting in on the occasion with running-focused sets, including the Run Your First 5K, Yoga for Runners, and walking workouts with hills and intervals.
The World Running Day award is only available on June 3, so get your miles in before midnight. And if you decide to show it off online, tag us. We’re building a small crew of daily streamers on @cnet.
Now go and run.
