Senior men's cross country runner Branton Boehm,
a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University,
had always toyed around with the idea of creating running log
software but never really knew how to do it. That would all
change the summer before his junior year.
Branton Boehm
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"I suffered a stress fracture so I had a lot of time on my
hands because I wasn't running," Boehm said. "I always try
to learn something new during the summers anyway, so I decided
to learn how to create dynamic Web sites using databases."
When Boehm, from Mt. Gilead, Ohio, finally taught
himself how to create a running log program, he did so mainly
for his team. The Spartan runners are spread throughout the
country during the summers, and this software was an easy way
for them and their coach to keep track of each other's progress.
"The guys on the team really helped me out a lot,"
Boehm said. "They let me know what needed to be added, what
wasn't any good, and by the end of summer (2001) I put it online."
The site, running-log.com,
remained in its original version until this past spring when
Boehm, a computer science major, needed a project for his database
class. His professor allowed him to redesign the running log
database and write a new Web site on top of it.
At the same time, Microsoft was sponsoring a dot-net
programming competition on campus for CWRU students. Boehm's
running log won fourth place.
Runners at over 125 colleges and universities
are currently using version 2.0 of the site. Most are from the
United States, but there are others from Canada and Europe.
In fact, the United Kingdom's version of Runner's World
named running-log.com the "best site for training logs."
"It was a pain," Boehm said. "I originally designed
it (the log) to use miles, and then people from Canada e-mailed
me saying, 'We don't measure things in miles but kilometers.'
I had to add functionality for using the metric system. I never
thought of people outside the United States using the site,
but there is no reason they couldn't."
In the old days runners would finish training,
get in their cars or sit on a nearby bench and pull out the
old trusty pocket-size notebook, entering the number of miles
they ran. Serious runners keep a history of their training so
they can go back and see how many miles and how fast they were
at certain times.
"A lot of coaches require their athletes to keep
paper logs and turn them in so he or she can check up on them,"
Boehm said. "With no extra work from the athlete, this allows
the coach to go to the Web site and look at all their athletes'
logs."
