Running a Half-Marathon at 43: Why I'm letting an app design my training

On a daily basis, I'm a husband, a father, and a designer who leads a team at a UK bank. But for the last two years or so, I've also been... a runner. Or at least, someone who runs. I don't consider myself some great athlete; I don't even call myself a "runner per se." I'm not a running nerd who analyses thousands of stats and geeky metrics. If you ask me about my heart rate thresholds, I won't know what you're talking about.

I just grew to like running.

And I grew to like the gamification that apps like Strava offer, as regularly watching my results change gives me real joy.

This story will be about running, technology, and a specific challenge. I've decided to conduct a public, 10-week experiment on myself. The goal is the 7th Night Half-Marathon in Piekary Śląskie, Poland, on July 18th. The tool that is supposed to get me there is a training app called Runna.

This will be a review, but a different kind. I'll look at it from two perspectives:

• a regular user who just wants to run his first half-marathon,

• and a UX designer who can't help but analyse how things work.

My starting point: from a personal best to a total low

My journey into kind-of-serious running started last year. Persuaded by my friends, I signed up for my first-ever organised 10k race (November in Blackburn—could it be any worse?).

I needed a training plan. With no better idea, I asked... ChatGPT to prepare one for me. For two months, I followed its guidelines, tracking my pace on my watch. And you know what? It kinda worked. Not only did I finish the race, but I also beat my personal best and felt fantastic.

That's when the idea appeared in my head: "Okay, a half-marathon is next, then a marathon!" (I really hope to run Le Marathon des Châteaux du Médoc in September 2026—a marathon in France through vineyards, filled with food and wine. Could it be any better?)

Unfortunately, life had other plans.

Around winter, a regular depression hit me. It caused not only a mental decline but a physical one, too. I stopped training, and my running results just plummeted. That’s a whole other topic for another time, but it’s crucial for the context of this story.

This spring, trying to deal with it all, I returned to running. I started running more, and I can see an improvement in my well-being and my results again. And then, like a boomerang, the topic of race came back. My friend planted that seed in my head once more. One thing led to another, I found this July half-marathon in Piekary Śląskie, Poland, and I signed up. This time, however, I decided to use a dedicated tool.

Why Runna? And why this won't be a typical design review?

Training with a plan from ChatGPT was effective, but also very manual. I had to build my own workout sessions in the Apple Fitness app, constantly check my pace on the watch, and remember all the guidelines. It's tiring. An app like Runna promises to automate all of that—to guide me through it.

And here we get to the heart of this project. I want to step into the shoes of a typical user and test this app on my own two feet. Literally.

I don't want to critique the design. It's not my place to point out designers' decisions. I want to review this app as a user, for other users—people who want to start running or, like me, are looking for a tool to help them train for a specific goal. I will answer the questions:

• What is the plan creation process like for someone who isn't a complete beginner, but also far from a pro?

• How does the app perform in practice, during the run, on the watch screen? Are its prompts helpful?

• Are the data and reports understandable for someone who isn't a "running nerd"?

• And most importantly: does the training plan actually work? Will it get me to the finish line?

The Experiment Plan

I have 10 weeks ahead of me. Every 3-4 weeks, roughly, I will publish another update (and its video version on YouTube—at least that's the plan), sharing my progress, frustrations (possibly), and discoveries (hopefully).

I'll be doing this as a guy who also works as a Head of Design, takes care of his home and family, and tries to balance it all with his own personal challenges.

My gear isn’t the latest Garmin with a thousand features, but an iPhone 13 Pro and an Apple Watch 7. My running shoes have almost 1000 km on them, and I'm waiting for a new pair I bought on Vinted a few days ago.

I'm also trying to be physically active outside of running. I go hiking or mountain biking every so often, kick the ball with the kids, etc. So the majority of those activities land on my Strava, and they will probably sync to the Runna app too. So we'll see how it copes with all that.

This is my starting point. This is my background.

I invite you to join me on this journey. Let's see together if technology can really help a regular amateur achieve an ambitious goal. Will I be able to write in 10 weeks: "I ran it, and the app did its job"? Well, we'll see, I guess.

I'm launching this project today, on my 43rd birthday, as a promise to myself. The clock starts now.