Running should be simple and uncomplicated. When it’s cardio day, runners put their shoes on, go outside, and pick up the pace. Voilà! It’s that easy. However, fitness apps have complicated the world’s simplest workout by injecting badges, social media-style engagement, and local leaderboard systems into GPS tracking apps. Targeting our semi-dormant competitive side, apps have turned cardio into a game that we no longer play by ourselves. Turning overachievers on to the glories of gold stars, chasing kudos, and the arbitrary achievements, recreational runners can either become locally «famous» on fitness apps or they can spiral down a path of comparison, inadequacy, and fitness toxicity.