"Seeing your ghost 20 m ahead is a way stronger nudge than any number on a watch."
That's Stijn Spanhove — software engineer, runner — describing what it feels like to use the app he built for his own morning runs. No team. No funding. Just a Meta Ray-Ban Display headset, a GPX file exported from Strava, and a weekend of coding.
The result: a ghost of his past self, projected onto the road ahead, that he can chase in real time.
What it actually does
The setup is simpler than it sounds. Spanhove exported a previous run from Strava as a GPX file — a standard format that captures the GPS coordinates of every step. He fed that file into a web app he built specifically for the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. When he heads out the door, the glasses overlay a ghost runner on the route: a visual representation of where he was at this exact point on that previous run.
But he didn't stop at the ghost. He added game mechanics on top:
- Coins appear along the route when you're keeping pace with your past self
- Sprint zones reward extra points if you push through them faster than before
- A mini leaderboard on the lens shows how you're tracking against your previous run in real time
The whole thing runs directly on the glasses. No phone in your pocket processing the data, no lag waiting for a signal. It just works — which, given how early this kind of tech is, is worth saying out loud.
Why a number on a watch isn't enough
Anyone who's run with a GPS watch knows the experience: you glance down, see your pace is 10 seconds slower than target, and somehow that information doesn't translate into faster legs. The data is right there. The motivation isn't.
What Spanhove built works on a different level. A ghost 20 meters ahead isn't data — it's a presence. Something to catch. Your brain processes "I'm behind" very differently when it looks like something spatial rather than a number on a small screen.
This isn't a new insight. Racing games have known it for decades — the ghost feature in time trials exists precisely because designers figured out that chasing a visual representation of your best lap is more compelling than staring at a timer. Spanhove just moved that mechanic off the screen and onto the road.
Is this scientifically validated? No. It's one runner's experiment with his own runs. But anyone who's ever run a Strava segment harder because someone was chasing their KOM knows exactly what Spanhove means.
Why this is possible right now
The timing isn't random. Meta recently opened display capabilities to developers through its Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit and the Web Apps pathway. Before that, the Ray-Ban glasses could capture photos and video and play audio, but the lens display was locked. Now developers can build web apps that render directly on the glasses — which is exactly what Spanhove did.
This is still very much a developer playground, not a consumer product. The Ray-Ban Meta line starts at $244 for the Wayfarer Gen 1 and goes up to $499 for the Oakley Vanguard — glasses people might already own or consider for other reasons. But you also need a Strava account with past runs to export and the willingness to build or find a web app to run on them. There's no App Store listing. There's no setup wizard.
That's also what makes it interesting. The barrier isn't technical anymore — it's just effort. One developer built a working version in what he described as a straightforward project. The foundation is there.
What this could mean for running clubs
A product called Ghost Pacer has been trying to solve this with dedicated hardware for years — purpose-built AR glasses with Strava integration and the ability to race friends' past runs. It works. But it's a niche product most runners will never buy specifically for this.
What Spanhove built sits on top of hardware people already carry. That's a different proposition.
The question we don't have an answer to yet: if this kind of AR overlay becomes easy to build on consumer glasses, what does that change for how running clubs train? Club time trials where everyone races the same ghost on Saturday's route? Solo sessions where you're chasing the club's fastest runner from last month's segment?
Those scenarios don't exist yet as products. But the building blocks are all there — and one person just demonstrated they work.
Spanhove shared the project on X on May 31, 2026. You can find the original post here.
Running a club and want to be part of what comes next? Find your club on w3runn3rs — the global hub for running clubs.
Sources
- Spanhove, Stijn. [@stspanho]. "I've gamified my own run so I can race my own ghost with the Meta Ray-Ban Display." X, May 31, 2026. https://x.com/stspanho/status/2061160116167033329
- Gomez, Mark. "Resourceful runner 'can race my own ghost' using homemade Meta Ray-Ban Display app." Tom's Hardware, June 1, 2026. https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/wearable-tech/resourceful-runner-can-race-my-own-ghost-using-homemade-meta-ray-ban-display-app-also-adds-bonus-coins-mini-leaderboard-and-more
- Ghost Pacer. "The Ghost Pacer companion app." https://ghostpacer.com
- Meta. "Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit — Web Apps pathway." https://developers.meta.com/wearables