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!