The Apps Are Alright: Dark Sky

Like a one-trick Jason Bourne, I know I can run 7.2km with an elevation gain of 120m in 40 minutes before my hands start shaking. It's basically the only running route I take in Edinburgh: past Holyrood Palace, along the foot of Salisbury Crags, then a wide loop around Arthur's Seat. After running it about four hundred times, this year I decided to mix things up by running anticlockwise on weekends.

There's a pleasing simplicity to running the same route every day, just as there is for eating the same breakfast or wearing the same outfit every day. It frees my mind up for the really important things in life, like listening to podcasts. And knowing the exact duration of my run means I can time it precisely for those few winter moments when it isn't raining or pitch black. Because that's the problem with living in Edinburgh. I moved up almost three years ago, and while it it remains as astonishingly beautiful as when I first arrived, fuck me if it doesn't get dark and blowy at times.

To be exact: in December, sunset is at 3:38pm. That gives you a desperately short daytime window for running. Then you need to contend with the weather. It's not that it rains an outrageous amount – we get nothing compared to the sodden east coast of Scotland – but that rain showers move incredibly quickly, thanks to some of the strongest winds in the world.

Which is where Dark Sky comes in. It was the first of the "hyperlocal" weather apps that forecasts the next hour of rain, down to the minute. It's very neat to have if you want to know whether to take an umbrella for a quick dash to the shops. It's absolutely indispensable if you want to be a runner in Scotland. You glance at the rain chart, eyeball the satellite map, and run as hard as you get within that 30 minute window before you get too wet.

Given the dire state of fitness in Scotland, we should nationalise this shit.