FTT Off-Topic: I Run

One of the things that I like to do is set goals for myself, and this year, that's worked out well. Raise or new job, check for both and the latter. Drop weight, check. Clear the credit card debt, done. Ten visits or more to the gym ever month, done. And then there's the running.

I've never been a runner, either for distance or sprinting. I'm not particularly built for it, with my Muggsy Bogues-esque body; the long loping strides that eat up the turf just don't happen. Put me on a bicycle, I can ride all day and endure the pain in the seat, and I don't need gears to climb hills. But once it comes to setting feet to pavement, my body says no.

Which, well, is how you get old, and out of shape, and all kinds of things that are not anything that I want to have happen. So let's run.

That is, of course, where the complications kick in. My digestive system isn't what it used to be, so if I eat too close to eating, it's not nice. So let's compound the This Is Not Me issue by doing it in the morning, which is not a time of the day that's ever worked out. So this morning, we get to four miles and stay on the schedule, and it goes well...

For the first 80%, at least.

And then the knee starts barking, but I'm close enough to the finish line that I'm not going to stop, so I start doing the math in my head. 85% complete, 86.25%, 87.5%... a fresh calculation to take my mind off how slowly that clock is ticking, and how much the knee hurts, and how this is just going to lock up for the rest of the day and more when I stop, so don't stop? No, stop. Don't. 90% complete.

I hit the line and pretty much crash from the knee, but stagger off and do the weight work just to make sure that every part of my body hurts more or less equally, then go limp home and do the writing work for the rest of the day while keeping my leg still. Next month, 4.5 miles. It's good to have goals, right?