Keep Runnin' Runnin' and Runnin' Runnin'...

Yeah, so the other night wifey and I went to dinner at my buddy Mike and his wife Susan's house. Mike and I decided to run a 5K race sometime in April. Now, I know 5K isnt very far - only 3.1 miles...but to someone like me, who in a former life (i.e. 2 years ago) would rather eat a bucket of nails (preferably fried) than walk 10 feet from the car to the McDonald's entryway, its a semi-big thing.

Also, keep in mind, Mike has run the Long Island Marathon and finished in a shade over 4 hours, so I am certain he will run circles around me. But I digress...

Anyway, I decided to start "training" for this race today. In our discussions, I told Mike that if I could finish the race in under 30 minutes then I would be pleased. So, keep in mind, finishing in 30 minutes, that means that I would have to run at an AVERAGE pace of just over 6 mph.

Let me again refer you to the "ingestion of nails" comment above.

6 MPH?!?! If you would have told me I would have even CONSIDERED such a preposterous idea 2-3 years ago, I would have deemed you crazier than Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon.

So, today I decided to run a 5K on the treadmill.

I finished it in 29:57.

Which...means I ran an average of over 6mph...

ME. Running. 6MPH.

I remain astounded by this...however, even more silly is the fact that I continued to run beyond the 5K mark.

Now, I know that my speed was forced upon me by a machine...I don't know how fast I will make myself go when I am not pushing a button that dictates how fast I must go. But the fact that I was able to do it at all amazes me. Mike insists that on race day, your adrenaline pushes you beyond any limitations you might imagine. We'll see if that holds true. Meanwhile, I will hold on to this one small victory and enjoy it.

Oh, and PS - I finally broke through the 209 lb plateau I had been mired in for weeks...weighed in at a shade under 206 lbs this past Wednesday. Look out 199, here I come...