All the training, long runs and preparations paid off. Here is the breakdown of the event.
Expo
Like many big races, there is an expo a couple of days before race day where participants go to collect their race numbers, final instructions for the race and where they can browse stands selling all sorts of running related paraphernalia.
The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has their expo located in the DHL Stadium in Green Point Cape Town, number collection queues are by start batch and is a quick process on the Thursday or Friday days – Saturday gets a bit busy, so go early if you can.
Adidas, the headline sponsor along with Sanlam, had a huge section of the expo where you could change purchase shoes and clothing, change the size of your complimentary shirt or get it personalised.
There was also a massive board with the names or all the participants and previous personal best course times (if you had participated before) as well as a wall to sign and add a motivational message for other runners.
Overall the expo is rather small and once you have your race number and confirmed that your shirt size is correct – you can get through it quickly to do your own preparations for race day.
Shake-out Run
Garmin, Virgin Active and Adidas (along with many others) had official shake-out runs on the Saturday morning. The 10km Peace run, and the 21km and Marathon trail runs were also held on the Saturday morning.
I decided to do my own little loop on the Sea Point Promenade, watching the last of the 10k Peace run runners coming in to the finish nearby.
Race Day
An early start (4am)
We stayed at a hotel that is about 2km from the start – so while not exceedingly close, it was still an easy walk to the start line.
The wait in our batches was around 40 min before we got going (race start times were very accurate) – with a moderate breeze on the start line and a moderate to slightly heavy breeze over the course of the race.
I started out slightly back from the 4 hour pacer and caught the pacer at the 5 km mark – a short toilet break at put me 2 minutes behind the pacers again.
At around 15km I had caught the 4 hour pacing group again and shortly after, I passed the group to give myself some wiggle room.
Over the rest of the race I steadily extended this lead, feeling good up until the 32 km mark.
Over the last 10 km I slowed my pace a little, not really able to maintain the same effort I had for most of the race – my legs really started feeling tired on the last few km. I did manage to find some extra energy near the end and gave it a final push over the the last 500m to cross the finish line in 3:55:18 (3:55:38 on my watch) – My sub 4 hour goal achieved!
The taper is a period of reduced training before a race to improve performance. The taper is intended to reduce the negative effects of fatigue from the full training block while preserving the training adaptations that have been gained.
Sunday was my longest run in this training plan and my longest run ever! 32 km (~20mi)!
The 32km run was a good run. The training for the next three weeks starts to reduce distances (for most workouts) with my next long run being 23km and the following long run being only 13km before race day. The Wednesday interval workouts are still hard this week and next.
I was not feeling great about the event after the 28km and 30km long run days – but I am trusting the process and am looking forward to slightly more ‘restful’ run days before the big event.
Travel plans
My first marathon is in Cape Town on the 20th of October 2024. I do not live in Cape Town, so there is an added stress for the race in planning and organizing travel to my race destination.
Fortunately, Cape Town is a short 4-hour flight, and I have family to assist with accommodation and pickup at the destination. The main planning is what and how to pack for a ‘destination’ marathon – great practice for future international marathon trips.
I was going to focus on the training app that I chose for my marathon training plan in this post, but after having this post sit in draft hell for a few months I have started this post anew.
Welcome to my 100th blog post on my blog 🎉
Current training status
I am 6 weeks and 6 days away from participating in my first marathon. Yesterday’s run day @ 28.5 km (17.7 mi) was my longest run to date and my legs felt every single step of that entire distance.
Plan overview
My plan consists of 6 runs per week broadly broken down as such:
Sunday – Long run
Monday – Rest
Tuesday – Easy run
Wednesday – Speed session
Thursday – Easy run
Friday – Easy run
Saturday – Easy run
The plan is based on pace (I set the time I want to finish my marathon and from that the required pace is set, guiding all my training in the plan)
Variations are primarily in the distance of the runs (long, easy and speed sessions all gradually increase distance over the plan – with a taper near race day)
A typical easy run day at the start of the pan is 3km @ 6:00m/km, that same easy run is 6km at the end of the plan.
A typical speed session is 4 X 1min @ 4:00m/km with a 1 min rest between each rep, this increases to 4 X 1.5 km (around 7 min) @ 4:00m/km with 1 min rest between near the end of the plan. I find it interesting during these runs, especially with the cool down run after the session, at how running speed is perceived after running at the faster pace for a period, running at perceived ‘easy pace’ during cool down is generally 30s to 1 min faster per km than on days when I am not doing the speed session.
My long runs started at 10km and gradually increased to 19km easy pace, after 19 km the plan alternates between longer runs (21km, 23km, 25km etc) and shorter runs (19km) each week. The plan also adds ‘race pace’ efforts to the longer long runs as the plan progresses.
Overall, the plan covers all the bases when it comes to a balanced running plan. What I do lack is strength sessions (gym weight sessions) and cross training sessions which are very important to in preventing injury, especially when increasing distance and pace as I have decided to do in this plan.
Gaps in the plan
This plan does not have an option for perceived effort or heartrate-based runs – relying solely on pace – this can lead to over-exertion on easy run days or injury if you have set too high a pace as your baseline. I have skipped some Thursday runs or scrapped the pace-based workout in favour of a slower (but more comfortable perceived effort) run on some days.
No matter what plan you choose – listen to your own body and don’t ignore pain.
Strength training and cross training are important. This plan does not have any strength training or guidelines for such, so I try and do at least one gym session a week as I can.
But not on Mondays – that rest day is a true rest day.
So how is it going?
Running is hard – always. Some days the really long runs are easier, and I feel confident in my ability to complete the race in my goal time. other long run days I just plod along with aches and pains, wondering how I am ever going to get through the distance on race day. Getting stronger and better at running allows you to go further than before but doesn’t make it any less ‘hard’ to go that distance.
I think I am good for now; race day is coming up fast, and I will be ready. Eat well, sleep well, train well and I should be okay.
Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.
Allen Saunders – 1957
The Wings for Life World Run 2024 happened this past Sunday (5 May 2024) – The local start time for South Africa runners was 1pm (A hot clear day in Johannesburg made for a tougher run)
Some improvement
I did improve on my 2023 distance by more than a km, but did not remotely achieve my planned goal of 25km:
I did highlight some personal concerns when I set my goal of over 20km for my run, but at the time I was still confident in my ability to push on the day and achieve a reasonable result.
Circumstances
I went for my annual health checkup on the Tuesday prior to the run, and without thought got my annual flu vaccination – this year’s shot put me, unexpectedly, on my back with flu symptoms for the next two days and on Saturday I was still feeling the effects.
My dad was checked into hospital on the Friday morning – while he was okay enough to be checked out on the Sunday – this added stress to the run and changed the planned location of the run – it also made the start of the run very tight.
Two of my four huskies had a serious altercation with a porcupine on Saturday afternoon, requiring an urgent and costly vet visit.
The alternative route used on the day turned out to be a lot hillier than the original planned route, making for a much tougher loop for the day.
High work stress and lack of sleep in the weeks leading up to the run also contributed to a lacklustre result.
Excuses aside
I still had a satisfactory (if very hot) run on Sunday and I am happy that I improved some over my previous years result. Maybe by next year I will have a better understanding of my own abilities and will be able to put together a more reasonable plan for the 2025 Wings for Life run and stick to it.
I initially was looking for a marathon close to Johannesburg but far enough away (time wise) to provide me enough time to train up for the additional distance. Unfortunately, it appears that marathon season in South Africa is from January to May and then again (but fewer) from September to December – the winter months, although very mild in most of South Africa, appear to be the off-season for road marathons.
Based on the timeline after my first half-marathon – I couldn’t comfortably complete a marathon training plan before that last available race in May. The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon appears to be the best option, and with it being a candidate as one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors I thought this would be a great way to experience a world class race event.
The A goal is your aggressive time goal for the race, what is your ideal time on race day.
The B goal is your fall back, if you cannot achieve your A goal on the day – this could be finishing the race in 5 hours if your A goal was to finish in 4 hours.
Finally, the C goal is your final fallback, everything has gone wrong on race day, this is usually just finishing the race.
What are my A, B and C goals for my first marathon?
A Goal: Finish the race in under 4 hours (this is a proper push considering I only just made under 2 hours in my half)
B Goal: Finish in sub 4:30:00 (Hopefully another 3o minutes is enough)
C Goal: Finish the race.
I believe that with enough training and my current fitness level, that the A goal is achievable.
Decide on a training plan
Garmin Coach (which I used to train for my half-marathon) only has 5km, 10km and half-marathon training plans. As an alternative I have been a user of Asics Runkeeper since I started running, and I am comfortable with the platform and when I was reviewing the half-marathon options how it aligned to the Garmin plan so I decided to stick to a platform I know and use them for the marathon training.
Only one problem – the plan (based on the race date as an end date) only starts in June! What am I going to do until then?
Decide on a pre-marathon training plan
I am doing the Wings for Life run at the start of May – planning to do a half-marathon distance, at a faster pace for that run is not only a good stopgap between now and my Marathon plan but also gives me a chance to see if I can get a faster time in the half-marathon to better align my A Goal above.
Deciding on Pace
There are a number of calculators available to try and workout your race pace based on pervious performance (VDOT, Riegel Formula or Vickers Formula are some).
I just looked at my half-marathon run statistics and my perceived effort levels doing that distance at that pace, and I went with a thumb-suck based on that Setting my training plan accordingly.
Looking at the results of the calculators, I’m close, but likely asking a lot of myself for race day:
So how did you decide on your race pace? Do you have your own coach helping you through your training?
What’s next?
This is the first post in what I hope will be a series of three or four posts on my progress to completing my first marathon race. Thank you for reading and leave a comment or question below if you want me to cover something specific in my progress updates.
The Wings for Life World Run is a global charity running event that takes place annually on the first weekend of May. The race is the world’s largest simultaneous running event using a mobile app to align all participants worldwide on the race day. The race raises funds for the Wings for Life foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports spinal cord research.
Sometimes called the race without a finish line, the Wings for Life run has a “catcher car” that pursues and passes the participants, either physically at one of the Flagship Runs or virtually with the app, once the car passes you, your race is over. That makes it the only race worldwide where everyone finishes.
Third time doing the run
I participated in my first Wings for Life run in May 2021, completing a planned 10km route and ending my run before the catch car even caught me.
I did not participate in 2022.
In 2023 I had improved my general running fitness and decided to run the race as intended – go as far as I could before the catcher car caught me and ended my race. I was very pleased to achieve my fastest 12km run at the time.
Setting a 25KM goal, with a required pace of 5:09 min/km (8:17 min/mil) before the catcher car gets me!
Could this be out of my reach, and I fail completely?
I have decided to set a pace almost 30 seconds per KM faster than my current half-marathon best!
Could this be too large a jump in pace?
Could this be out of my reach, and I fail completely?
Am I too old to still be getting faster?
These are valid questions I ask myself regularly, especially during my current training plan runs. I guess I will find out if I have the physical and mental ability to reach these lofty goals on the 5th of May 2024.
Training for my first marathon
I have decided to enter the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in October 2024.
This will be my first marathon and is currently the furthest distance I would ever have run in a single activity. Setting a new PB during this year’s Wings for Life run will put me an great position to better plan my pacing and setting my goals for the marathon. The planning and training for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is a post in the making, so keep your eyes out for that.
If you search the internet for “How to stay motivated when running” you will get loads of similar results on how to keep yourself motivated on your running journey. While you will find loads of different and sometimes rather unique and fun ideas, most lists include the following ideas:
Set Goals/ Commit to a race.
Run with friends/ Join a running club.
Reward yourself.
Try new routes/ Add variety.
Log Everything/ Track your runs.
Listen to music.
Set out clothes the day before.
Personally, one of my regular enjoyments is a good cup of coffee. I have found that taking a new route to a local coffee shop and having a quality cup of my favourite caffeinated beverage handed to me for my effort (and some coin) adds to said enjoyment. A big bonus about my coffee runs is that the tick two of the above items:
Reward yourself
Who doesn’t love getting a nice warm coffee hug on a run. This is a lovely reward for me personally – and can be a great energy boost if the coffee is consumed mid-run.
Try new routes
I am fortunate to have a loads of independent and franchise coffee stores within 20km (12mi) of my home and many more available from my office, so finding new routes (some with more hills, some closer to do speed repeats, some with a hill at the start, others with the hills at the end) all help keep the run interesting, fun and help with keeping the training interesting.
Log Everything
The last item I highlighted on the list is to Log Everything. This last part started with me running to a nearby place that serves great coffee, recommended by a lovely friend. After the run and the welcomed cup of caffeinatedjoy, my sports watch automatically logged the run on Garmin and Strava, but I renamed the activity to the destination coffee shop and appended this name with the words coffee run and on a final whim I also added the words (Coffee days 1).
This is definitely how traditions start.
I need to be clear, not every run is a coffee run. I do not have the budget to get barista made coffee every single day. That is what makes these coffee runs so special too, they are a personal treat – sometimes for getting out the door on a cold day, sometimes for going that extra mile on a wet day, and sometimes just getting out on the road on a Monday.
Progress – many coffee runs later
To date I have completed 65 coffee runs and continue to use them as fun ways to explore a new area and, if the run is a little longer, I will also likely have my favourite podcast or music playlist keeping my company.
My last note on logging activities is the attached GPS route images in this post – I just love how interesting some of the shapes are that develop from my route choices without actively planning specific Strava art for the destination – although that may be something to do in future, just another mini goal to add to the list to keep motivated.
Do you have any good coffee place suggestions, anywhere in the world – I may visit one day? Do you have any other rewards for your runs? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading, have fun and be safe out there.
Last week Saturday (10th February 2024) I ran the Joburg North City Half-Marathon. This was my longest race to ever run. I completed it in my goal time of 1:58:09, this was 25 minutes and 2 seconds faster than I have ever done that distance.
Starting Point
I first started running more seriously in 2020, getting stronger and working slowly through the 5k and 10k training plans to build up my running ability. I would occasionally attempt longer runs, including some of the Garmin 15K monthly challenges.
Some of the Garmin 15K Challenge badges I achieved.
This slow, but steady, progression in training continued through 2021, 2022 the start of 2023 and I was averaging around 10km (~6mi) a week and 50km (~31mi) a month. Looking at the stats, I took 7 months to complete the first 5k plan and over 13 months to finally get through the 10K plan…
Thinking back as I write this, I cannot recall what changed in my life that pushed me from a 42km (26mi) total distance in March, to do 81km (50mi) total distance in April, to 134km (83mi) in May and beyond. My current average is now 35km (21mi) a week and 150km (93mi) a month total running distance!
Even with these increases in total running distance I was still only running for fun (occasionally coffee, but that is another post) there was no race goal or training plan target being followed, just miles on feet.
Garmin Coach
I finally decided that a race would be a worthwhile goal to focus my running and in October 2023 decided to leverage all the fancy features of my Garmin sport watch and try out the Garmin Coach feature – specifically their 12 to 26 week half-marathon program to get me to my first race finish.
Having months of consistent running without a race in mind really did help build my required aerobic base and made doing longer distances easier; I had even done a 21km (31mi) run/walk as a personal challenge on a cool day in July 2023 (completed in 2:24:43). I believed I had enough personal benchmarks on hand to select my first half-marathon plan with a realistic target of completing the race in under two hours.
Garmin Coach setup questions
Overview of the questions asked to setup the Garmin Coach plan:
Weekly Distance: Options from ‘I don’t run’ to ’40 kilometres or more’ are available.
Average Running Pace: Options from 9:30/km to 3.45/km available, sorry for those really, really fast peeps. (I am guessing that pace/mi is available if your watch settings are as such)
Half Marathon Goal: Options being just ‘complete the race’ or complete the race in a specific time from 1:32:00 to 2:40:00.
Choose a coach: Options are from Jeff Galloway, Amy Parkerson-Mitchell, and Greg McMillan – each has their own style of coaching which is reflected in the plan activities and approach.
Available Days: Which days a week are you able to run – the plans will still allocate rest days even if you select every day of the week.
Long Run days: Which day would you prefer to do you long runs.
Race Event: The plans align their training to a specific race date; the app encourages you to select an event in your area to run (the app contains most official road races events worldwide)
With the above information locked in for my goal and a race date set, I’m ready to train.
Training
My training plan started with a very short “Benchmark Run”.
Garmin Coach training plans are only pace based, as this is the easiest metric to use for an automated plan, so do not expect any zone 2 easy runs or any heart rate based workout with the Garmin Coach plans.
My training plan started with a very short ”Benchmark Run” to get the metrics in order and the next 18 weeks went by faster than expected – with a steady increase in distance.
My typical week was:
Sunday: Long Run Day (Set pace)
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: Tired Run (Any pace)
Wednesday: Speed session (Fast interval pace)
Thursday: Rest Day (I did swimming or a short run on these days)
Friday: Easy Run (Set pace)
Saturday: Easy Run (Set pace)
To keep things interesting on my runs (short or long) I tried my best to find different routes around my neighbourhood (or around my work neighbourhood on the days I travelled into the office). This not only provided good variations in elevation, but it also provided an abundance of new sites and scenery for me to enjoy on each run (I love looking at interesting houses and gardens).
Videos and coach notes
The training plan included short videos from the coach and blog type posts with additional information on strength training, gear selection, running form, what to expect on race day and more.
Concerns
The only real concern I had during the entire process was believing the phrase “Run slow to go fast” and trusting the plan on that. With my race day approaching, I had never run my race pace for any distance over 10km (6mi) never mind the required 21km (13 mi).
Race Day
During training I had come across the concept of A B C Goals for a race, these are:
A Goal: Get an aggressive, ideal time goal. For me, this was finishing in 1:58:03
B Goal: Get a more realistic time goal. For me, this was finishing in sub 2:30:00 (as there were specific medals for finishing in this time and faster and it was a time I had achieved in the past outside of a race)
C Goal: Finish the race.
On the day I set my alarm for 4 AM but got up at around 3:30 AM due to nerves. This gave me enough time to eat my pre-race toast and peanut butter, snack on some mixed nuts, have my morning coffee, and drive to the start line at Mark Park Sports Club. I did all my running training on my own (I do not run with a club) so having the vibe of other runners and the race day ambiance at the start filled me with energy.
Garmin PacePro
I had pre-loaded the race route on my watch, so I quickly added a Garmin PacePro plan on the start line, hopefully giving me an idea on how my actual pace would align to my goal pace over the course. The first 6km (4mi) I was slower than I needed to be, but this is something every runner doing their first race must accept – you are now running with thousands of other people on roads that are only so wide, you are going to be slowed down by the mass of other people on the route, particularly around the start.
You are now running with thousands of other people on roads that are only so wide, you are going to be slowed down by the mass of other people on the route.
I was concerned about going to fast, over-exerting myself early, hitting the wall and possibly needing to walk to finish, or worse, not finishing at all. Passing a water point and hearing a spectator shout that we are nearly over the halfway mark (it was just after the 10km (6mi) point) was a great surprise, I was in a good rhythm, still felt strong and I was slowly gaining back some of the minutes I had lost in the chaos of the start.
The last stretch
The rest of the race was a mental game, me taking chunks and completing those (“If I complete this km, I only have 2 X 4KM sections to do”. “If I complete this 2km I only have 5KM to go”). Taking on a little fluid at each water point and keeping to my fuel schedule with gels.
My watch buzzed at me – my 21km was done! What!? I’m not at the finish line yet!
Finally, my watch buzzed at me – my 21km was done! What!? I’m not at the finish line yet! Thank goodness I was less than 600m away from the finish line, I pushed a little bit more, finishing my first race, more than happy with the result!
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored or affiliated with Garmin, I am just a user that is very happy with the products and wanted to share my enthusiasm for the sport of running.
Had you asked me if I was a runner in 2019 or earlier – I would have said something along the lines of “I am more of a swimmer or cyclist if I need to do something for fitness – I don’t think I have run further than 3km since high school”.
I don’t think I have run further than 3km since high school.
Looking back at my activity records from my old Polar watches, I mostly did 30 minute activities at my local gym maybe twice a month to maintain my status on rewards programs. The activities were usually stationary bike or treadmill runs/walks (I did not have the stamina to run, even at a slow pace, for the entire 30-minute period)
I start out strong, but quickly slow down to a walk, with some occasional short jogging periods. My heart rate was generally high, even with the walking included in the activity.
Weight gain
Over the last 15 years I have slowly become less & less active, lazier in food preparation (very little healthy or whole food) ordering takeout for many meals or eating junk in my car on my way to and from work. This resulted in me going from 70 odd kg in my middle twenties to over 90 kg before my fortieth birthday.
Just looking at those numbers didn’t mean much to me – I was not one to regularly climb on a scale – but photos taken of me when I was over 90 kg made me realise how much I had gained (on the face, neck, and stomach), I was not happy with what I saw in those photos or in the mirror.
At the end of 2019 I was beginning to look at my eating habits, I was staring to change direction.
Covid
The great pandemic gave me a very long period where I no longer needed to get in a car and drive to the office; giving me at least 40 minutes each morning and between 1 and 2 hours each afternoon; time usually spent in traffic. Being restricted to home during this period (the gyms were closed for much of 2020) the only real option for me for any sort of exercise was jogging around my suburb.
Garmin Badges
Switching from my basic Polar watch to my spouse’s old Garmin Fenix when she upgraded turned out to offer one of the best motivators I could have ever needed; Garmin Badges, awards for completing specific goals, was a great self-motivator for me. I just wanted to get all the badges I could.
Asics Runkeeper
Progress was starting to be made, I was getting out of the house, walking and jogging to get my Garmin reward badges and I began to use the additional time I previously spent in traffic to do these activities. I was starting to enjoy my time outside and just needed a little direction.
I have previously tried following those free 12-week running training plans (printed out sheets of paper) but either I lost motivation or the increase in running volume within the program was too much too soon, causing some sort of shin pain or other overuse injury.
Asics Runkeeper … got me from an occasional jogger to runner – I am a runner!
Googling running and training apps, I came across Asics Runkeeper and their My First 5K training plan. Having an app, with an actual person coaching me through each activity, motivating and guiding me- coupled with no enforced time limit (I completed the 12-week program in a little over 7 months, repeating workouts or having longer breaks between run activities) got me from an occasional jogger to runner – I am a runner!
Two years later
I have competed the My First 5K training plan as well as the My First 10K training plans within the Asics Runkeeper app (thank you Erin!). As of November 2023 I am in the 7th week of my first half-marathon training plan, with my first race in February 2024.
I can run continuously for 15km distances and further (no longer requiring walking sections during my runs, even on steep hills) and my 30-minute run now looks something like this:
I maintain an easy warmup pace, moving into a period of surges (sprints), ending with an easy cooldown pace – reaching 5km in 30 minutes. No need to walk to recover.
As it turns out you do not have to be athletic or in shape to become a runner. All I needed was the motivation to get out the door and the time to get into the running groove. No matter what your motivation; lose a bit of weight, prove to that you can do anything you set your mind to, or just to get to see more around your local community, you too can become a runner if you are willing to take that first step.
Do you want to get more active? Do you have any stories on how you became a runner? Please let me know in the comments. Have fun and be safe out there.
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored or affiliated with Garmin or Asics Runkeeper, I am just a user that is very happy with the products and wanted to share my enthusiasm for the sport of running.
ASICS Runkeeper is a GPS based mobile app used to track fitness activities – primarily running. Originally released as Runkeeper by FitnessKeeper in 2008, it was purchased by ASICS in 2016.
ASICS Runkeeper has emoji?
ASICS Runkeeper started adding a distance based symbol next to a users Total distance on the Me page of the app as a fun way to celebrate each distance achievement with the user.
What are the emojis on Runkeeper?
The emoji are linked to the total distance tracked within the app. It is not linked to the unit of measurement, just the distance value.
As an example, if you have run 150 miles; you will have the 💯 next to your Total (mi). If you change your unit of measure to metric, the distance will update to 241 km and you would get the 🙌 next to your Total (km) tracking.
Here is the complete list of Runkeeper emoji and their respective distance:
0 – 🐣 Hatched chick 10 – 👏 Two hands clapping 50 – 🔥 Fire 100 – 💯 Hundred percent 200 – 🙌 Raising hands 300 – ⚡ High voltage / Lightning 400 – ❤️ Red heart 500 – 🏅 Sports medal 600 – 🎉 Party popper 700 – 😎 Face with sunglasses 800 – 🚀 Rocket 900 – ☄️ Comet 1000 – ⛰️ Mountain 2000 – ✌️ Victory hand / Peace sign 3000 – 🦅 Eagle in flight 4000 – 🐬 Dolphin 5000 – 🐴 Horse face 6000 – 🐺 Wolf face 7000 – 🐯 Tiger face 8000 – 🦁 Lion face 9000 – 🐲 Dragon face >10 000 – 🦄 Unicorn face
ASICS Runkeeper has stated that once you get to your unicorn (more than 10 000 km or mi) – that is it! No more emoji after that.
Emoji differences between devices
Finally, each emoji symbol will display differently on different devices, web browsers and operating system versions. For example the 🦄 unicorn face emoji will render differently on an Apple device vs on an Android device in the ASICS Runkeeper app and the app will display a different version of the emoji to the example emoji on the above web based list.
Apple vs Android vs Web unicorn emoji rendering
[Update 18 June 2024 – New App UI]
ASICS Runkeeper updated the Me page with the June Android update and now the Emoji are placed front and centre on a new My Stats section. This new section includes a progress bar indicating your progress to the next level:
