This summer, I started running again. After a few weeks of pushing too hard and burning out, I found the Couch-to-5K running program:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Designed to get slackers like me into running without burning out from overexertion, the Couch-to-5K program was ideal for my particular situation. By starting slow and building up, I found myself enjoying running, and even promoting this program to my friends and family.

If it weren’t for a man named Robert Ullrey, however, I wouldn’t be following this program at all.

Robert wasn’t part of the CoolRunning.com team. He was just a guy who, according to both his podcasts, is “43 living in Northern California and on my birthday decided to start running again.”

For me, and for him, there was a problem with the program. In order to follow the instructions, I either had to mark my distances ahead of time or keep glancing at a stop watch to see how long I had been running. As any inexperienced runner knows, these things are not good for a lot of reasons.

He turned this wonderful running program into an even more valuable tool by adding podcasts. This allowed me to ditch the neon orange spray paint, keep my eyes on the road instead of my watch, and enjoy running! Ullrey’s instructions on when to start, stop, and adjust my pacing (as well as his excellent music selection), made the Couch-to-5K program something that I could do, and easily. Robert Ullrey’s free podcasts can be found here:

http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/

CoolRunning.com developed a great product and, by releasing it onto the web (as open source as a running program can be), received in-kind a product that can now be used by a larger user base.

Your community of users wants to support you, and wants to get the best possible use from your products. Allowing your user base to innovate, manipulate, and make your products better allows your products to grow, and gives your users a feeling of involvement.

By designing your website to attract maximum traffic, Stagecoach Designs can help you get exposure for your product and inspire the creativity of the community. We can also discover the ways that products similar to yours are being marketed and used on the web, as a way of helping you with product development and sales. Contact Marianne at msandvall@stagecoachdesigns.com to talk about this innovative approach to web-based marketing.