This is why blogging is so much fun:  putting something out there means you might have some explaining to do later.  Of course, after I blog about the whole second-mile experience and how dubious everything that happens in the first mile really is I have a run like today.  I still don't know what happened.  I started out at 5mph and it sucked and just kept getting worse.  I pushed past 1.100 or so and just had to walk (3mph.)  I don't know why.  I have been coughing and sneezing for two weeks, now, but that was getting better, I thought.  It's really flippin' cold outside, but that is outside.  I have no explanation.

What makes it even worse is that I put my finger on that pulse-meter thing and it read something like 111.  That's nothing!  I was over 200 the other day.  I've seen plenty of 170.  But there I was sucking wind and registering 111.  Boo!

Everything was miserable, but I decided to run the last .5 at 6mph for some level of redemption.  At least I managed that.  And, technically, that is the farthest I have run at that speed in a long time.  So, it wasn't a complete catastrophe.  I stuck it out past the 350 calorie mark, too.

Weight after? 195.5-- which is why I don't make weight loss a goal at this point.  Actually losing weight can be discouraging.  What I can control is speed and distance, so I am focused on improving that.  The weight loss will come as a result at some point down the road.  Also, eating better goes a long way-- farther than the running will at this point.

For some reason that I don't remember, I have a lot of Christmas music on my iPod.  It was nice, but some of it was boring.  Skip!  The decision to walk it out came after "Cotton Eye Joe" came up.  I was past the mile marker, and a good song was playing and I was drained.  Something is wrong with this equation.

But I covered the distance and made a tiny bit of progress.  Onward and upward!

I ran again today.  Yayy...  I mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating:  the first mile sucks.  I started out at the 5mph pace again.  Everything that sucks about running happens in that first mile.  Really, before I even start running there is the whirlwind of life.  "I'm too busy to run" "I have a cold" "I'm hungry and I should eat first" "The basement is cold and... not pleasant."  Whatever.  Why bother?  So, just going through with lacing up the shoes and changing shirts... and shorts, etc. and getting on the treadmill at all takes effort.

The last run was Sunday.  This is Tuesday.  One of the fun things about exercise is the delayed reaction.  It makes it hard both to know if you over-did it as well as under-did it.  I was not sore on Sunday... or Monday... or even Tuesday.  When I finally started running, however, my muscles decided they were sore.  But, sore muscles are working muscles.  This was not injury pain, this was exercise soreness.  So, suck it up and keep running.

Beyond that comes the "I don't really have to do this" and "I can't do this, I'm already gassed" and that kind of thing.  Basically, everything except experience says to stop running before mile 1.

When mile 2 comes around, though, everything is progress at that point.  It's no longer a question of pushing through, it's just sustaining.  I'm warmed up, I'm settled in, I'm over the hump.  I also start thinking more positively.  I started setting goals.

Right now, the only goal is consistency.  Can I run when I plan to run?  I plan to run on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday afternoons.  The 2 mile thing takes less than 1/2 an hour.  I decided I should not set distance goals right now, because that mostly will mean my workouts will take longer and then it just becomes all the more inconvenient to know that I don't have that kind of time.  I'd rather keep the time the same and work on speed development.  Technically, I'll be running farther in the same time, but at least I'll know that I only need 30 minutes to succeed.  That's seems more reasonable.  That seems more achievable.  Plus, the other side is that it's more of a conditioning factor-- a cardio challenge, more than a muscular/skeletal challenge.  That's more interesting to me.

So, I cruised along to that second mile thinking about stuff like that and feeling pretty good.  In fact, as the last minute was in reach, I bumped the speed up to 6mph to the finish to make sure that I finished under 24 minutes.  23:56.  Booyah!  After that, I started looking at the calories.  I was under 350, so I walked at 3mph until that barrier was overcome.  Then what?  Then I waited for the song to end.  It was Young MC, "Bust a Move" after all.  C'mon fatso...

Here we go!

I started running again.  That sounds official, right?  You are allowed to be skeptical...

I bought some new shoes, so that helped the motivation.  I also bought a "compression" shirt which speaks more accurately to the real motivation.  Although, my after-run weight was 195.5-- which is about 10lbs less than I thought it would be, so I'll take it.

On Friday I went for a run on the treadmill, too.  I started at my 6mph pace and started sucking wind almost immediately.  I felt like I had accomplished something just getting past that first mile-- which I did with a combination of that 6mph joke, walking, and something in between.  Pretty sad.

So, today, I started at 5mph and went for two miles.  I started thinking 1 mile would be good and it came and went so well that I did a mental fist pump.  But, then I looked at the stats and, well, it's not much of an accomplishment to say I am the master of the 12-minute mile.  Know how many calories that burned? 175.  I just had to keep running.  So I did.  24 minutes, give or take, 2+ miles, 350 calories-- at least that burns off the Cheetos I ate during the football game.

On Friday I tried listening to Christmas music.  The only problem with that is my iPhone is a pain in the ass with music.  I have a nice collection on my computer, even on my iTunes account.  But, my phone just won't acknowledge the same list.  My phone won't even acknowledge songs I bought through iTunes with my phone.  Today, I went with the "non-holiday" music for those few songs and that was better.  The highlight?  Desire by U2.  Rattle and Hum!