localeikki Information

About us: localeikki started because our founder, Tracy McMillan, hates treadmills...no, seriously. She was traveling a lot for work and enjoyed running but not on a machine. She preferred running outdoors on a trail or path of some sort, exploring a city. However, like many of us, if she didn’t easily know where that path was, the run got bumped from her tight schedule. Having worked in public health for 20 years, Tracy knew this wasn’t only her problem. Data shows that we are irregular exercisers at best. For example, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association found that 54 million people in the US reported running at least once in 2013. However, that number fell to 29 million when they were asked if they ran 50 times across the year. That’s just once a week -- and 25 million people stop running. Helping people stay active isn’t just a nice-ity—it’s a necessity. The World Health Organization reports that over 30% of the world population is insufficiently active, and this inactivity is attributable to 3.2 million deaths worldwide. Physical activity reduces the risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast and colon cancer and depression and increases creativity, energy and focus. For employers (one of our early markets), physical activity can have a significant impact on their bottom line. The digital health market today is crowded with wearables that help people track their activity once they get going; yet most fail to consider common barriers that keep them from getting going in the first place. Information as simple as knowing where to go, how to get there and tools to help commit activity to a schedule can help people get out the door and moving. And that, ultimately, is why we created localeikki.