John Loughrin

Whether To Run - Will your next run kill you?

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WhetherToRun tells you exactly how long you can safely run given today's UV, heat, cold, and storm conditions — calculated from real sports science.

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John Loughrin
Maker
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Helloooo Product Hunt! I'm John. I've been building this running app for two years, and it started with a simple problem: I couldn't find anything that would tell me with any confidence how long I could run outside before getting a sunburn. That was the beginning of Whether To Run. What it does Whether To Run takes your location and tells you how long you can safely run given current conditions — factoring in UV, heat, cold, and storms. Here's a quick breakdown of how each works: ā˜€ļø UV / Sunburn — UV index alone doesn't tell you much. I account for your skin type and sunscreen status to give you an actual time estimate before burn risk kicks in. šŸŒ”ļø Heat — Heat exhaustion is the leading cause of weather-related deaths and hospitalizations. The science here is complicated — it depends on humidity, radiant heat, wind, your fitness level, and whether your body is adapted to the heat. I simplified it into a clean output using an approximated version of Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), which is the standard metric used by organizations like the ACSM and the US Army. 🄶 Cold / Frostbite — Similar approach: wind chill tells you how fast heat leaves your body. ā›ˆļø Storms — If there's lightning, the app tells you not to run. Simple. The app now looks up to 48 hours ahead and uses how conditions are expected to change over time to give you a smarter recommendation. So if it's safe now but a storm is rolling in an hour, it'll tell you that instead of just saying "you're good." This feature is in beta so please let me know if you notice any bugs. Questions for you: 1. Is there any other data that you're not getting from this that you'd like to see prominently displayed? 2. Any recommendations for UI/UX improvements? 3. I've recently started looking into how much running is too much (using ACWR and the like), so let me know if you'd like a product that syncs with your strava to tell you if you're in danger of overtraining. Curious to hear what other runners think! p.s. if you want a more in depth breakdown, check out johnloughrin.com/whethertorun. love, john contact@whethertorun.com