Day 51: Saturday, May 16, 2009

I began today on the treadmill. I started out with my customary 4 MPH walk for one minute as I worked to get the specs of the machine up to my standards. And actually, setting my "goal time" for the machine at a half an hour, ultimately became my downfall for the afternoon.

I started jogging at 5.2 MPH after that first minute, and I noticed that I just kept moving. The first time I checked the clock, I was already 20 minutes into my run. So I kept going. My breathing was good, my legs felt great, and everything was just falling into place. A few times my breathing became more shallow, but in these times, I was able to gasp a deep breath, and then continue on my way running. I look at the clock, 28 minutes, I'm doing so well, and I begin to think - maybe I'll just run until I get a full 5k in on the treadmill clock. I keep going.

Then I notice, that my speed has slowed, and I look down and my speed is now only 4.2 MPH. The treadmill, thinking that 30 minutes was my goal time, began me on a 5-minute cool down, that I no longer wanted. I upped my speed again to 5.2 and continued running, while I tried to change my "goal time" without any success - the option was no longer available. No worries, I thought nothing of it and continued at 5.2.

At the 35 minute mark - apparently, the 30 minute goal time, and then a 5 minute "cool down" - the treadmill just stopped on me. I tried to restart it, but it would not, it only wanted to show my my "workout results". Due to this reason, I decided to call it a day. The main reason being, that I would have to hit "stop" twice to get the machine to reset, and then hit "start" to get it moving again, and these treadmills being what they are, restart at 1 MPH, so by the time I were to up my speed again to 5.2, at least a full minute of "rest" would have passed, and my results would have become skewed. Not wanting this, I walked around the gym and stretched for a few minutes for a cool down.

On the treadmill, I walked a full minute at 4 MPH for 0.05 miles, and I ran at 5.2 MPH for the following 34 minutes (not quite counting that time that the treadmill started me in on a "cool down" that I did not want) - for a distance of 2.94 miles. In total, I completed 2.99 miles, falling 0.11 miles short of completing the 5k distance. Had the machine not stopped abruptly on me, I feel I would have had the 5k completed within 36 minutes. Still not perfect, but a heck of a lot better than I could have ever imagined just 4 months ago back in January. I am truly going to be able to complete the race - I have no doubt in my mind about that, and as a nice side effect, I will feel and look better than I have in a really long time. My life is becoming mine again.