Runnin' is a mutha

Today was my first HHH (hazy, hot, humid) day of running in what promises to be many this summer. Usually, I at least meet this season with good fitness, thus better able to handle HHH. Not this year. My condensed 20 year running story is thus:

Act 1- Self-indulgent college student runs to recover from lung surgery

Act 2- Exercise Physiology grad student runs because it's the cool thing to do among his professors and student peers. "Cool" is used here with a lot of latitude since we're talking about dorks who talk about lactic acid all day. Some racing during Act 2. Most of it involves not knowing what I'm doing and posting relatively pedestrian times.

Act 3- Exercise Physiology post-doc "gets in to running" in a Runners World sort of way. That is, I start doing 40-50 miles a week, running marathons and accumulating races. Times come down, but I never can seem to do stuff like break 40 minutes for a 10k or qualify for Boston in the marathon. These aren't monumental achievements, but they seem like Everest to me at that time.

Act 4- Exercise Physiology professor goes bat-crap over running after reading "Running with the Buffaloes" by Chris Lear. Ramps mileage up to 80+ miles a week, becomes a skeleton and achieves aforementioned unreachable goals quite easily.

Act 5- Exercise Physiology professor goes really bat-crap and gets up to 90-100 miles per week. I run 2 hours a day for a while and then have a "what's this all mean?" moment after finishing the 2007 Army Ten Miler in a dissapointing 67:30. I get through the Richmond marathon (3:16:02) and then swear that I'm done running. I purposefully eat crappy food, sit around and do everything but buy an electric scooter to ride so that I don't ambulate. I gain 20 pounds and feel old.

That brings us up to speed to today, where I have decided I like being obsessed, skinny and in shape more than I like being fat, cranky and slow. I'm aiming towards the Boston Marathon 2009. Right now I jog along for 30-40 miles a week at something like 9 minute pace. Probably 10 minute pace on a bad day. I'm also 180 pounds. From personal experience, I know that I'll need to double or triple that amount of miles and get to where an easy run is normally <8 min/mile pace. I'll also need to lose at least 20 pounds and be able to do workouts in the neighborhood of 6 min pace and faster. That seems like an awful long ways away. Well, at least it beats sports cars and alcoholism for a mid-life crisis (or does it?).

55 minute shuffle today. Ran shirtless through Purcell park so that all the 'burg residents could see my jiggles.