Does UIActivityIndicator require manual threading on iPhone

Question

I am running creating an iPhone application which performs a costly operation and I wanted to create an activityIndicator to let the user know the application has not frozen

Answer 1

Which is easier:

1> Have 1 method that starts the spinner (in the background).
2> Run your long-running code right here.
3> Have 1 method that ends the spinner.

or....

A> Have 1 method that starts the spinner.
B> Have 20 methods (1 for each thing you want to do in the background)
C> Have 1 method that ends the spinner.

I always see everyone suggest A,B,C... the hard way.