As you kind readers might recall, last year at this time I was getting pretty anxious as the training was waining and I was preparing for my first marathon, The California International, just right around the bend. Well, an inconveniently-timed cold canned that effort and I had subsequently started a part-time job. Working 65 hours a week between my full-time job at my previous employer and the store put a serious dent into my running schedule. It was so dented, in fact, that it stopped. I sporadically ran here and there, but with absolutely no consistency and consequently I bailed out of racing altogether.

Well, my weight is a little on the heavy side and I feel like a slug. For the past couple of weeks, I started to go for runs on Saturday - ideally the ~5 mile loop between Marina Green and Fort Point (my favorite run bar-none). The first couple of runs meant a lot of walking breaks, and ultimately disappointing performance (should I be stressing about my speed and endurance - which I’m not). Last weekend I went up and visited the ‘rents which somehow translated into a “I’m not going to run at all this weekend” decision. Needless to say, there were definitely mixed feelings about running yesterday.

I was looking forward to doing something active, but loathing the physical pain that would be involved. I was careful in avoiding my tendency to redline off the start (my Garmin Forerunner is an excellent tool in that regard, among many others). That said, I was stupid and decided to throw in some short sprints for the hell of it. Yup, it was a dumb idea as my lungs and feet started to give me serious guff and I was forced into a walking break. I resumed running, but it was clear that my legs were just not happy, so at the 2 mile mark I decided to just sit down and do some people-watching. 10 minutes or so later, I was good to go and decided to slowly slog it and go for total distance in finishing the loop.

My legs seemed to be happy with this plan and I managed to finish out the loop without incident with one incident: Jamming with my iPod Shuffle (easily a close second behind the Forerunner as the most useful tools a runner can have - even if you have a hard drive-based iPod) towards the end of my run, I noticed I was getting particularly winded. I looked at the Forerunner and noticed that I had been running a consistent 6:30 minute mile! To put this into perspective, I’ve been running this route usually around a 10-11 minute mile. If I all-out sprint, I can usually manage a 6 minute, but not for very long (usually both my lungs and legs give out). And here I’ve been distracted enough by a song that I brought my pace up significantly without noticing - that is, until my lungs had had enough. My legs didn’t have any problems for the rest of the day and even tonight they’re only slightly sore.

Two “What the F?!” moments in one week… To say I’m a little curious what’s going on (never mind what a more aggressive or jammin’ song might do) would be a massive understatement.