Yesterday I was experimenting with making “Exceptional Super-Excellence” my new catchphrase. My iPod was evidently not impressed and did something that was most definitely not exceptionally super-excellent. I’d synched it with iTunes, and it told me it was okay to disconnect, so I did. It failed to mention that it was not okay to reconnect, because when I tried that not too much later, no go. iTunes said the iPod was in recovery mode; the nano insisted it needed to be restored, and neither piece of technology would be swayed from those opinions no matter what I tried.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t backed up my Nike+ data since I got back to running, so that was gone. Well, not entirely, as I’d uploaded to the Nike+ website before the nano pitched its hissy, but getting the data out of the Nike site proved to be much more of a hassle than it needed to be. I turned first to the FAQ and forums on the Nike+ site and soon remembered why I don’t go there anymore—it’s too hard to find relevant information and all that red hurts my head and probably raises my blood pressure in the bargain. So I tried my friend Google and found this article, which showed how to see an XML feed of one’s Nike+ data. Now all I needed was my Nike ID. When I did not see it listed anywhere in my profile (or in the URL as I clicked around looking, as the main Nike+ site is all about popups and Flash and not showing anything useful in the address bar) , I risked my mental health and tried the FAQ and forums again. Of course I did not find the direction I was looking for, and to add to the sting, there was a UserID clearly visible in both my forum profile and the address bar when I opened the forums in a new window, but that number was not the number the XML feed was looking for. I finally discovered the magic digits when I thought to try the “share with friends” feature; that copied a URL with a couple of numbers in it (neither of them labeled) and one of those turned out to be my UserID. So now I can see my XML feed, bravo for me. That feed is not as detailed as the information that I lost from the nano but at least I have something for those missing runs. I also stumbled across what might be good news: an all-new Nike running site is coming soon. Maybe that one won’t be so painful to use.