By Terry Keshner
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- "Our slogan is 'running alone sucks.'"
Yes, sometimes it does.
That's why Matthew Knippen created Charge Running – the first app that keeps runners "charged" by offering scheduled live running sessions with teammates from all over the world.
On a recent sunny, windy day near Buckingham Fountain, Knippen told WBBM Newsradio he believes runners should ask themselves the simple question: "Why run by yourself when you can have a running partner? And if you can't always find a running partner who's right next to you, where you want to be, how cool is it that you can open up an app and run with maybe twenty other people from all around the world?"
"We have this chat and this unique exercise that we're bonding together, a Facebook run group that people will post the five runs they're going to do that week and say 'hey, who wants to join me?' So it builds this really motivational and friendly encouraging way. You feel you're a part of a really unique club," he said.
More than 40,000 people have downloaded the app since it was created about two years ago, and Knippen said some people have been using Charge Runner to train for the Chicago Marathon.
"Chicago people just love to run," Knippen said.
