i am a traveller of all time and space...

So, this week I abandoned the Couch-to-5K program. The jump from two 8-minute runs with a break to one 20-minute run without a break just seemed too daunting, especially given that the 8-minute runs were killing me. So I came up with a plan to create my own playlists by displaying my whole iTunes library sorted by track time instead of title and artist. Then I would pick and choose 5:00, 8:00, 9:00 songs to fill the appropriate walk/run slots.

My first program was an all Zeppelin affair, owing to the ease of finding 8:00+ songs in their oeuvre. The program looked like this...

Warmup walk - Trampled Under Foot (5:37)
First Run - Since I've Been Loving You (8:24)
Walk Break - What Is And What Should Never Be (4:46)
Second Run - Kashmir (8:29)

Which has slightly longer runs and a shorter break than the place I left off on the C25k program. The idea was to make the walk break shorter and shorter until I could do 16-17 minutes at a stretch. Well, I ran that on Sunday and it basically kicked my ass. Then, just out of curiosity, I went to the Google-maps-based site "Favoriterun.com" and plotted out how far I went during the first 8:24 run. Because it seems like in eight minutes I should be running at least a mile.

.93 miles

Oh no you fucking don't.

This really pissed me off. So I marked on the map how far I'd have to go to get to an actual mile, and I was determined today to run to that spot. Which I did. Plus a little bit. (1.03 miles to be exact!) It required an additional 1:45 of the next song, which means means I'm running a blistering 10:09 mile, but still... it's a fucking mile. I read somewhere that 95% of adults in the US can't run a mile without stopping. Which by my reckoning, puts me in the top 5% of athletes in the country! Where's my medal??

So anyway, after a 5:00 walking break (I turned off the iPod to get back the 1:30 of my break that I ran through!) and a quick stop to massage the big cramp in my right calf, I ran the 8:00+ of Kashmir (another .81 miles, says Google maps) and felt really strong at the end. I probably could have gone another minute.

Last week I was going to post an entry here complaining about how this running thing has stopped being fun. I take it back. It's still fun as long as there is visible progress. Now if only the fucking SCALE would catch up.