Starting to run

It has been a long time since I have tried running for exercise. The last two times I did, my right knee decided it wasn't a great idea. I decided to give it another try with extra stretching and a reasonably slow start up.

The first day, I go out and plod 2 miles. It wasn't as bad as it used to be. Plodding with 20 less pounds makes each "thunk" a bit softer and easier. I do two more days of 2 miles, each day improving the speed and crossing the threshold from plodding to jogging. Then I make the mistake of figuring out how to ramp up my distance. I consult a number of running web sites and the recurring theme is to add 10% each week to your longest run. Sounds dandy! Then I do the math. 2 miles goes to 2.2, which goes to 2.42 which goes to 2.662. I won't bother taking you through all the decimals and weekly calculations, but at the end of week 8, you still haven't gotten to 4 miles. To get to 18 miles, which is a good training run for a marathon, you have to do this for 24 weeks. My attention span simply isn't that long.

Being as clever as I am, I just went out and ran 4 miles. This cuts 8 weeks off the schedule. Smart, eh? Of course, this answers why I have had problems the past two times I started running. We shall see.

This is my motivational picture from 1999. If I can run a sub 4 hour marathon while over weight and without much training, this should be easy!