This viral app lets users upload fake workouts to Strava
The accompanying video shows a program that maps running or cycling routes, which users can then upload to online exercise-tracking platforms like Strava and Maprunner—all without ever lacing up their shoes. 'Insane, I hate it and I love it. great work,' the X user added.
The website, called Fake My Run, is described by its developer Arthur Bouffard, 26, in a recent interview with The New York Times, as 'truly a milestone in lazy technology innovation.' On the site, users can draw or choose a route on a map, set a pace, date, and start time, and even input heart rate data. They then add a name and description before downloading a fake workout summary—for just $0.42 per file.
If this sounds insane, that's exactly the point. 'It's like cheating at solitaire,' one X user put it. But Bouffard, a runner himself, created Fake My Run after growing disillusioned with the evolving culture of the sport.
'Running used to be a very personal sport that was mainly practised to challenge yourself, to improve your physical and mental health, to stay in shape, to compete with others, to discover new parts of the world, etc,' he explained in a post on X. 'In the last couple of years, I've seen running increasingly shift towards becoming a social status and way of signalling a lifestyle.'
Running is booming. The number of people in running clubs has risen by 25% in the U.S. over the past five years, according to Running USA. Some now list marathon times on their résumés. These days, if you didn't post your 5km PB on Instagram or Strava, did it even happen? Would you still run a marathon if the catch was that you could never mention it or post about it?
Even more extreme, Bouffard says, are the so-called Strava mules—people paid $10–20 to log fake runs for others seeking virtual praise without any of the sweat. ''Like social media though, running posts can be faked. Which is in part why I made Fake My Run. As a way to challenge the culture shift around running,' Bouffard continued.
Although Bouffard insists the app is intended purely for entertainment and educational purposes, the fitness platforms it satirizes aren't amused. A spokesperson for Strava told the Times the company has 'already taken steps to delete activities and ban accounts that have used Fake My Run.' Since launching, the site has attracted more than 200,000 visitors, and around 500 have purchased tokens to generate fake runs.
So, next time your Strava rival shaves 10 minutes off their personal best—maybe take it with a pinch of salt.
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