He can't be serious.

Shockingly, I am back. This morning at 5:00 AM, I restarted C25K for the umpteenth time. I've graduated the program a few times, but looking back at past blog entries I see that I've started and quit quite a few times, as well. I'm determined that this go-round will fall into the first category. There's one thing in particular that I think will help make the difference -- for the first time ever, I had a running partner: my daughter, Zoe. She's 11, and she's been running in her gym class. She can already do two miles, so she's basically just humoring me while I stumble along behind her. But eight weeks from now, with another C25K graduation under my belt, I should be able to keep up. I'm looking forward to it.

I get knocked down, but I get up again

No, the snake did not eat me. I did stop running shortly after the prior blog entry, though. Now, months and pounds later, I am back. Earlier this week I brushed the cobwebs off my running shoes, replaced the batteries in my headlamp, and hit the street at 4:30 AM for a new round of C25K. I seem to be caught in some sort of temporal loop: This makes - what - four times now I've graduated from the program only to stop running shortly thereafter and restart from the beginning months later? At least I know that I have the ability to complete the program and that it works for me. Two months from now, I'll be about 25 pounds lighter and more fit all around, if all goes according to plan.

Graduation Day

Well, I did it. I'm a Couch to 5K graduate. Again. For a third time, actually. Over the last 9 weeks I've seen the following changes:

1. My shirt collars fit more comfortably.
2. I had to switch to a smaller belt. My pants tend to fall down without a belt now.
3. I don't sweat as much when getting ready in the morning.
4. I don't feel the need to adjust the house thermostat down to sub-arctic temperatures all the time.
5. I dropped from 191 to 174 pounds.
6. I went from being able to run for 30 seconds to being able to run for 30 minutes.

Not too shabby. I didn't hit my goal weight of 167, but I'm not done yet. I'm going to continue on with "One Hour Runner" - the training for that is similar to C25k, with three runs a week, getting progressively longer over a 9 week period. It starts where C25k leaves off. The running schedule is as follows:

Week 1: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 2: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 3: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 4: Run 30 minutes, 29 minutes, 35 minutes
Weekly total: 94 minutes
Week 5: Run 30 minutes, 32 minutes, 38 minutes
Weekly total: 100 minutes
Week 6: Run 30 minutes, 33 minutes, 41 minutes
Weekly total: 104 minutes
Week 7: Run 30 minutes, 34 minutes, 45 minutes
Weekly total: 109 minutes
Week 8: Run 30 minutes, 36 minutes , 49 minutes
Weekly total: 115 minutes
Week 9: Run 30 minutes, 38 minutes, 54 minutes
Weekly total: 122 minutes
Week 10: Run 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes
Weekly total: 130 minutes

I'm also starting a "200 crunches" sit-up program that's similar to C25k. Yesterday I took a test to establish my baseline. Based on the number of sit-ups I can do at present (about 20), I'm supposed to start right at the beginning of the program. That's fine by me. I'm using CrunchFu to keep track of my progress.

As for today's graduation run, it was pretty typical: There was a beautiful full moon lighting my way. A black cat ran across my path. I ran into huge spider webs not once, but twice. The threads of the webs stuck to my clothes and skin and floated behind me as I ran, like a race finish-line ribbon. All pretty much par for the course.

Get Running

Right on the eve of my graduation from C25k (my third graduation, to be precise), I've discovered a new C25k iPhone app: Get Running. If only I had known about it sooner! Get Running works similarly to the other two iPhone/Touch apps I've mentioned previously (C25k and Couch to 5k), but it is more polished. If I were to put together a wishlist of features for a C25k app, it would bear a close resemblance to Get Running's feature set. I am very impressed by my time with it and I am looking forward to seeing further improvements as the developers continue to issue updates.

At the heart of the program is the C25k running regimen. Unlike either of the other two C25k apps, however, Get Running goes a couple of steps beyond with several additional useful features. When you first launch the app (an impressively quick launch, even for my "old" 3G), you are presented with a bucolic image and, along the bottom of the screen, a meandering path comprised of each of the weeks of C25k further broken into steps representing each day of each week. The image of a little runner marks your current place, and you can horizontally scroll the path to the left and right. Impressively, the program calculates and reports on which actual date you are expected to run your next run based upon your prior run. If you try to jump ahead, or repeat a run, you'll find that you can but that a warning will pop up to gently remind you that it is a rest day and/or that you are going out of order.

Select the day of your choice, press the "Run" button at the bottom of the screen, and you are presented with a segmented circular timer. Each segment of the circle represents an interval for that day's C25k run. Separate arcs above and below the circle represent the day's warmup and cooldown. As you run, little green arrows track your progress around the circumference of the circle. You can play your own music (by launching the iPod app prior to launching Get Running), and periodically the Get Running app will cut in with spoken prompts telling you when to walk/run. At present, the spoken prompts simply overlay your background music, and hearing them can be a bit difficult. Splendid Things has already submitted an updated version of the app to Apple for approval. The new version (1.2) improves the audio experience by pausing the music (if any) when Get Running speaks. This is welcome news, as the spoken audio of Get Running is a big part of what sets it so far above its competitors. Audio cues come frequently. They feature the studio-recorded voice of a woman with a very pleasant English accent. She not only tells you when to start and stop, but also how many intervals you have left to go, how many you have done, how much time is left, and even occasional tips and pointers. There must be hundreds of recordings. Run for a few days with her encouraging, and you feel like you have an actual coach congratulating you and urging you on. If anything, the audio cues come a little too frequently (at least in the beginning days of C25k, when there are many small segments) . As C25k progresses and the running intervals get longer and longer, things space themselves out a bit better. Splendid Things has some audio samples on their web page , so you can hear the coach for yourself and also view a tutorial video to see the app in action. And if for some reason you can't get something working quite right, they maintain an active presence on the Get Satisfaction forums. This is not a developer that puts up an app in an effort to make a few quick bucks only to vanish and never update the app again.

Get Running doesn't offer a way to publish your run to social networking sites (C25kapp and RunKeeper allow you to post to Facebook or Twitter following a run). It doesn't map your run (like RunKeeper or MapMyRun) or keep track of your running statistics (apart from which day you ran which run), and it would be nice if the screen could be set to display things rotated to landscape view (so that the timer doesn't look sideways when the iPhone is strapped to my arm). Apart from those minor quibbles, this is pretty much the C25k app I would have developed if I knew how to develop apps. All things considered, there's no excuse not to Get Running. While there is some room for further improvement, my biggest disappointment is that I didn't discover Get Running until my 9th (and final) week of C25k. I just hope they come out with a version for GW28K or One Hour Runner.

Make Your Own Kind of Music, 2009 Remix

Back in September of 2007, I posted instructions on how to set up a playlist of your own music to go along with C25k. Amazingly, that blog entry, Make Your Own Kind of Music, continues to get comments some two years later. Time and technology march on, however, and in the last two years I've seen other (and better) ways to accomplish what I described back then. At this point, I pretty much would recommend my instructions only to masochists. There are easier ways, now, to accomplish the same result. Here are a few:


PODCASTS AND MP3s:

• Robert Ullrey's Podcast - This is the C25k podcast I used my first time through C25k. It works flawlessly, so long as you share Robert's taste in techno music. There's one song that actually made its way into regular rotation on my iPod ("Operator," by dePreslys), but many others ("My Love is Your Love, and Your Love is Mine" or whatever it is called), still haunt my nightmares.

• djsteveboy's Podrunner: Intervals provides free, varied-BPM workout music mixes for runners, joggers, and power walkers at all levels, designed to build endurance and improve overall conditioning. The mixes include audio cues that prompt you when to move from walking to running and vice versa.

• Take a trip Inside the Mind of Suze and download her C25k music, featuring audio cues. Her music runs the gamut from hip-hop to R&B to teen to 80's and 90's.

• Go Nicole Yourself - Nicole put together a collection of commercial music for each of the days of C25k and has made it available for public download. As she notes, "Should you like the music, go buy the albums off of itunes, emusic.com or amazon.com. Support artists and musicians!"

• A Question of Perspective - Elisa DelBonis made and posted some mixes for her own personal use while going through C25k. Her mix features commercial music and verbal cues, so as she says "If you *borrow* them you do so knowing you didn’t purchase the music embedded in them. (Or maybe you did and we have the same taste in music… in which case you’re in the clear.)" Check out her page for playlists. It's pop/dance/good stuff you already know that you can sing along to.

• Christian Indie Tracks - Christ-centered music from independent artists, divided into downloads for weeks designed to correspond to the weeks of C25k.

• Mindplunge - As of this writing it is not yet in existence, but Richard Lemon looks to be in the process of making his own C25k podcast. Check back later on his progress.

HARDWARE-DEPENDENT (e.g. Stuff for iPhones):

• C25k - This is an app for iPhones and iPod Touches. It does not itself feature music, but it lets you use your own iTunes playlist in the background while in the foreground the app guides you through each week of C25k, giving you audio prompts every time you need to change from running to walking according to the plan. It can be configured to post your progress to Facebook and/or Twitter. The page I've linked here opens AppBeacon, rather than launching iTunes. If you want the direct link to the app on iTunes, it's here.

• Couch to 5k - This, like the C25k app above, is a C25k app for iPhones and iPod Touches. It does not itself feature music, but it lets you use your own iTunes playlist in the background while in the foreground the app guides you through each week of C25k, giving you audio prompts every time you need to change from running to walking according to the plan.

• Get Running - Like C25kapp and Couch to 5k, this is just for iPhones and iPod Touches. I think it is far superior to either of its competitors, so if you are looking for an app specifically tailored to C25k this would be the one to get. (It doesn't do all of the things that a more fully-featured general running app, like RunKeeper, does. But what it does, it does VERY well).

• C25k app for Android - What's that you say, you don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch? But you have a phone that uses Android? This app appears to do the same thing as the two above, only for Android.

• RunKeeper - I use, and love, RunKeeper Pro. I've posted about its benefits elsewhere on my blog. It is an iPhone app that maps your running, allows for the playing of music from your playlist, superimposes clear-as-a-bell audio cues that can be customized for whatever series of intervals you are running, keeps a historical record of your runs, supports posting your workouts to the major social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc), charts your run on an editable map, and so much more.

• Nike+ - Available in nano and iPhone 3GS versions. I used the iPod nano version for a while, a few years back, but the battery in the little shoe transmitter died and it is not user-replaceable. It is still attached to the laces of my shoe, silently waiting for me to replace it or just throw it away already. When it was working, it was pretty nice. It overlays training information on top of your playlist. Famous athletes even congratulate you at the end of your runs.

SERVICES:

• JogTunes - JogTunes is a site dedicated to helping runners find music that matches their running paces. It boasts a vast selection of music all determined and categorized by style and BPM.

• fitMusic - similar to JogTunes, fitMusic provides "fresh, free, fitness music" suitable for running.

• run2rhythm - similar to JogTunes or fitMusic, run2rhythm provides "specially composed running music."

• C25k.com has a forum featuring a Podcasts, Music and More sub-forum. It's worth checking out.

MAKE YOUR OWN:

• Audacity - Audacity is a free program for editing MP3 and WAV files. Here's a great page of step-by-step instructions to create a mix featuring your own music coupled with interval cues. As for the interval cues, you might try checking out sbellcheck, which provides no music track, only audio cues of when to run and when to walk for each week. The whole course is also available for download as an MP3.

Finally...

• "Make Your Own Kind of Music" - If you DO want to tinker with the Visual Basic scripts and follow the 2007 "Make Your Own Kind of Music" instructions, they do still work. In fact, they're NEW and IMPROVED, thanks to Scott Gould. Scott recently took it upon himself to update and overhaul the VB script, and he was kind enough to share his results. His new version of the script allows for an initial playlist of any size. It starts adding songs to the running playlist from a random location, randomly selecting a start song from the playlist so that you don't have to hear the same music again and again. If the start song is at the end of the list then it loops back to the start of the playlist. The updated script can be found HERE. If you prefer the original script for some reason, it can still be found back at the original post, or directly HERE. Once again, I'd like to acknowledge Jeff Welch, the original author of the script.

C25K: Week 8, Day 1

Now that I've reached Week 8 of C25K, I've found I've finally hit my stride. Check out the map and stats for my latest run:

C25K: Week 7, Day 1

Today was a nice 25 minute run. I'm trying to ignore the fact that my left knee has been bothering me. It's not bad, so I figure as long as it doesn't get worse I'm not going to worry about it. It just aches every so often.

Quick Fixes

My phone chimed, indicating new e-mail, just as I arrived back at my front door from this morning's run. I checked my e-mail and it was a message from someone that had posted a comment to this blog. I gave a little cheer (I love when people comment) until I read the comment and saw that it was just spam. At least I'm pretty sure it was just spam: Ostensibly, it was from a young overweight person unhappy with their appearance and interested in learning how to start running. Then they gave a link to some diet pills. I decided to disapprove the comment for posting (the first time I've ever had to moderate anything), but to talk about it here on the off-chance that the commenter was sincere. And even if it was just spam, it was still a good question, right?

So here's my answer:

If you are interested in running, I highly recommend Couch to 5k as a good way to ease yourself into a more active life-style. The difficulty curve is very shallow. (Pet peeve: "a steep learning curve" should mean that you go from "not getting it" to "getting it" quickly. Right? People always use that expression the wrong way, I think). Before you start the program, or any exercise routine, you should get yourself checked out at your doctor to get cleared to exercise. Trust me: getting off the couch in an effort to start getting healthy only to keel over dead shortly thereafter is counter-productive. The nice thing about C25k (and running in general) is that you can do it pretty much anywhere, without fancy equipment, at any time that's convenient to you.

Speaking of fancy equipment, there is one thing you should spend some money on: if you are going to run then you should get running shoes that fit properly and that are appropriate for your gait. Visit a running store (not a shoe store in a mall - a real store for runners - they exist and there's probably one near you) and have them analyze your stride. They'll do it for free. Then have them recommend a running shoe that's appropriate for you. It'll make a huge difference and potentially spare you later injury. This I know from experience.

If weight loss is important to you, know that diet and exercise are both important. By 'diet' I don't mean fad dieting, and I certainly don't recommend diet pills. I mean portion control and eating healthy foods. If you don't know what is healthy and what is not, take some time to learn. Otherwise, you'll just be sabotaging yourself. I've completed C25k twice before (by no means do I think this makes me an expert on anything, but I've got the conch and I'm using it for the moment). The first time through, I watched what I ate and wound up losing about 30 pounds by the time I graduated. The second time through, I didn't alter my diet to eat more healthy. By the time I graduated my endurance was better (I was back to being able to run 30 minutes uninterrupted), but I hadn't lost any weight. This time through, I'm eating healthy again. I'm on Week 6, and I've lost about 12 pounds off my start-weight. Running 30 minutes a day, every other day, is a great way to start getting healthy, but you're not going to shed pounds doing it unless you make sure that your caloric intake does not exceed your caloric expenditure. In plain English: burn more calories than you consume. But it's also important not to starve yourself: your body needs fuel in order to function properly. If you under-consume, you may find that your metabolism slows in response, making it even more difficult to lose weight.

Most important: once you start running, make sure you like it. If you don't like it, you're not going to stick with it. If it's not for you, find something else. But, whatever you do, don't fall for any diet pill spam, thinking it is real. Even if it is marketed by the deposed Prince of Nigeria.

C25K: Week 5, Day 3

I ran for 20 minutes, non-stop. That is all.

Zeno's Greatest Hits: Paradox Remix

I don't remember it happening, but two days ago I must have stubbed my big toe. Out of nowhere it started aching, with sharp pains whenever I tried to apply pressure to test to see if it still hurt. I tested it a lot, and it hurt every time. Ultimately, I decided to give myself an extra day of rest. Although yesterday would have been a weekend run (my favorite type, since I can start later and go through the park), I passed. My toe ached throughout the day, but by nightfall it seemed a bit better. This morning when I woke up it was feeling fine, so I ran. The run didn't seem to hurt it at all, so it looks like I made the right choice.

Today's running music was brought to me by The Sound of the Smiths (Deluxe Edition), an album I would highly recommend as running music with just a few exceptions*. Unfortunately, a string of those exceptions fell over the course of this run. Running to the live version of "Meat is Murder," or "Asleep"? Not so much. Hearing lowing cows and buzzsaws while running through deserted streets in the still-dark morning was an experience, but not quite the experience I was looking for. I actually looked to my left and to my right to find out where the cows were when the song began.

As far as the run itself went, it was fine. I sprayed myself down with plenty of mosquito repellent before heading out. It may have kept the mosquitos away, but it made me as sticky as flypaper and when I came home I noticed I had a legion of kamikaze gnats suck to me.

Today was Week 5, Day 2, which is the last week of "short" intervals. W5D3 features a 20 minute uninterrupted run. Whee! Today, in comparison, was just:

• 5 minute warmup walk
• 8 minute run
• 5 minute walk
• 8 minute run
• 5 minute walk
• 5 minute cooldown walk

I started anticipating Runkeeper playing the "halfway" chime, my signal to turn back, just before the half-way point of the run. When the halfway mark came and went without the chime, I figured maybe I had done the math wrong. I decided to run a bit more. I ran about half of the rest of the workout, until I was at about what I estimated to be the 3/4 mark, every step expecting to hear the half-way chime. As I ran, I mentally composed a post to the runkeeper forum. I would, in the post, talk about how the half-way chime is inconsistent and doesn't play every time. It was right about then that I recalled my last post to the runkeeper forum, just a few days prior: a post in which I suggested that they implement a half-way point chime since the app doesn't currently feature one. It's the C25kapp application that does. Argh! I turned back around and headed for home.

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*Yes, album. And let me tell you, getting the record player strapped to my arm was quite a trick. The needle kept skipping and scratching the vinyl with every step.

Week 5, Day 1

I ran through the park this morning, at sun-up, since my office is closed for Independence Day today and I was able to start at a more reasonable hour. The tents are already set up for tomorrow's fireworks. We're not sure yet whether we'll go to the park to watch this year, or whether we'll just pull out lawn chairs and watch from our driveway. It's nice to live so close to the action. Today marked my second day using RunKeeper's new interval training setting. It worked very well, once again. I'm really liking what the developers have done with the app.

We are Borg

Today the update to the RunKeeper app went live in the iPhone app store. I've been looking forward to this update for a while, as the developers have now added the ability to create customized intervals, complete with spoken prompts. This will now replace C25kapp for me. I tried it this morning and it seems to work quite well. I'll post a review later today if I have the opportunity. Here's the map it produced.



As for my run, it was fine. I'm now moving on to Week 5, which includes the dreaded 20 minute run on Day 3. I didn't eat so great this week, and its reflecting in my (lack of) weight loss. I gained 1.3 pounds over the weekend, and haven't shed any of it yet.

The Running Man

Week 3 is done. In my first three weeks, I've dropped 10 pounds. Some of that is water-weight, and I think the figure is artificially inflated because my starting weight was probably inaccurate by a pound or two, but it is still starting to be a noticeable difference. I'm only looking to lose 1.5 - 2 pounds a week, so I'm pretty well on course. More importantly, I'm generally feeling healthier and more energized.

I'm really liking the C25k iPhone app I found - it's so much easier than all the convoluted things I was trying to do before. It posts to Facebook, which I hope is not too annoying. This morning's run, though, for some reason, failed to post.

Baby Steps

Although I tried to start my run as stealthily as possible, I was spotted the moment I walked out the door this morning. A phalanx(1) of mosquitos immediately started dive-bombing at my legs. A bit further on, I was attacked by dozens(2) of abseiling caterpillars - they launched themselves off of the tree canopy, descending toward my head on their silken strings. Obviously, last week's spider has called in reinforcements. But I will not be deterred. I am now in Week 3 of C25k. I am going strong, and I have allies: My sister Sharon has mentioned that she may start C25k. And even my son, Griffin, has started. He's only 14 months old, but his progress so far has been remarkable. Last month, he was completely sedentary - not even walking at all. Then, in Week 2 of his Crawl to 5K program, he started taking a step or two, here and there. Last week, he took six steps in a row! He is doing awesome. Soon he will accompany me on my runs. First, though, we are working through the challenge of getting him to sleep through the night. Stacy and I are "ferberizing" him - a difficult and heart-breaking process that essentially involves teaching him that he cannot rely upon us to assist him during the night. When he cries in the night, we now let him cry. He's supposed to learn to put himself back to sleep. So far this has only really worked with Zoe, our oldest.(3) But we are holding out hope that Griffin may learn to sleep on his own at some point in the next few years.

Apart from the Great Bug Wars, today's run was fine. I love weekend runs through the park, because I always feel very empowered when I run by other park-goers out for morning exercise. They move slowly down the park paths, shuffling their feet. Blowing passed them makes me feel like a young lion, muscles flexing and sweat glistening. The fact that most of them are in their 70's and 80's is irrelevant.


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1. A phalanx of mosquitos is comprised of one, maybe as many as two, mosquitos.
2. I'm assuming it was dozens. I saw only one, but they're pretty sneaky.
3. It's also worked with Stacy - she, too, has learned that she cannot rely on my assistance during the night.

It's ON, Charlotte - BRING IT!

I finished my first week of C25k this morning. It was an unremarkable run, yet here I am remarking on it anyway. The only thing of note that happened is that - in three separate locations over the course of two miles - I ran through spiderwebs. I hate that! I figure that either (1) this is just a simple coincidence, the type of thing that a normal person wouldn't notice or dwell upon, or (2) there is a spider out there that is seriously trying to interfere with my C25k progress. Well, let me tell you, spider, I am not "normal," and I did notice! I will not allow you, or your snail buddies, to stand in my way! Sure, I may be able to run just 60 seconds at a clip now, but you watch me - I'm done with Week 1 now, so in 48 hours I will be running for 90 seconds! That's right, 90! Let's see you try to stop me then! I hereby challenge you to a 5k, spider, to take place at dawn, in about three months or so. I'll post the specifics later.

Lockout

Today's run almost didn't happen. I woke up at 4:45 AM, raring to go. I got dressed in my running gear and was out the door by 5:15. I went to lock the front door with my key, and the lock seized. It grabbed my key and wouldn't let go. I fought with it for a good 15 minutes. I wasn't willing to just leave the key in the lock, since that would be the same as just leaving the door unlocked. Our neighborhood isn't particularly unsafe, but neither did I feel comfortable leaving the house unlocked with my sleeping family inside. So, discouraged, I headed back inside and resolved to call a locksmith after sun-up. A half-hour later, I gave it another try. This time, with the help of a little WD40, I was able to free the key from the lock. I figured it was already too late to run by that point, but ultimately I decided I'd rather be late than not get in the morning run, so run I did. And it was good. I now have W1D2 of C25k under my belt. And my belt isn't quite as big as the scale reported on Day 1, either: when I weighed today I had lost 4.5 pounds from last time. That's either water-weight or, more likely, the first weight was just inaccurate. I doubt I really lost 4.5 pounds over the course of 48 hours. But - whatever - I'll take it.

I'm Baaack

Whew! That was quite a little hiatus I took there. But I'm back and motivated to get back in shape. I weighed in this morning at a hefty 191.4 (pretty darn close to an all-time high), but then I slapped on my running gear and headed out the door. I started back at the beginning - Week 1Day 1 (W1D1) of C25k (Couch to 5k) - correctly figuring that any fitness progress I had made by successfully graduating from C25k two times prior had been nullified by months of sloth.

It was a relatively cool morning when I set out at 6:15, but by the time I finished up at 7:00 the sun had already crested the palm trees and it was quite humid. Not too bad, though. The 'run,' if you could call it that, was great. C25k starts out very gradual - that's the whole point of the program - and so W1D1 is mostly walking: Several intervals of running for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds, sandwiched between a 5-minute warmup walk and a 5-minute cooldown walk. If you've never tried it, you should. Each week gets progressively more difficult, but the week prior has prepared you for it. By the end of the program, two months later, you can run for 5k (about 30 minutes) uninterrupted. On the two previous occasions that I finished the program, I found myself loving it but then getting injured shortly after graduation. This time, I'm going to be more careful. (Full disclosure: look back at my prior entries on this blog and you'll see a few unsuccessful, unfinished C25k efforts - last time out, I just gave up for no good reason in Week 4. This time, I'm going to see it through).

Since my girls are now out of school for the summer, I'll be able to go in to work later - I won't have to do school drop-off each morning at 7:45 - and that means I'll have the time to get in my runs. I have the time, I have the motivation, and I'm committed to see it through.

C25k? There's an app for that. I used the C25k iphone app, and it worked beautifully. It essentially automates the instructions I laid out in my "Make Your Own Kind of Music" blog post back in September of 2007, doing all the hard work for you and adding some extra bells and whistles. I highly recommend it and, if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, I'd suggest you just disregard the complicated instructions I listed back in my earlier post and just buy the app. It's well worth it. My only quibble is that I can't use it and a GPS/map-tracker app (like runkeeper, or imapmyrun) at the same time.

I Feel The Need... The Need.... For Sleep!

Wait, no, that's not right.

This morning I woke up raring to go. Yesterday my attempt at a morning run was thwarted by uncooperative technology: my iPhone was of the belief that it had no music or podcasts on it (SO not true, iPhone!), and it also decided to stage an impromptu app-strike - all apps kept quitting on launch. Restarting didn't cure anything, so a full restore was in order. I was all geared-up and outside and everything, but defeated I headed back in. I'll get you next time, gadget!

Today was different. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and all my tech was reporting G-for-go. Run Keeper established a GPS lock so quickly that I feared it might actually not be working. The dulcet tones of Robert Ullrey's voice piped merrily through my earphones. The run was uneventful and great.

Since RunKeeper worked well this time out, I actually have a map I can post of the run, generated in real-time as I ran. Only 2 miles, but that's W2D3 of C25k for you. As I ran, I thought about last night's Olympic Marathon and how amazing those runners are. My goals aren't nearly so lofty: I just want to get in shape.

Runs, 2. Runs Kept, 0.

Whew, this morning it was a balmy 2345345 degrees outside with 34123123123% humidity! It felt like I was running through a bowl of hot jello. Or so I imagine: I've never actually tried running through hot jello...

I did W2D2, and I must say it kicked my butt just a tad. It was good to be out there, though. At the end of the run the sprinklers celebrated my arrival back home. Those things must have either a motion sensor or a sense of humor. They always get me!

I was looking forward to today's run: Now that I know about (and how to avoid) the bug I inadvertently discovered in RunKeeper that kept my run from being uploaded the other day, I was excited to have this be my first recorded RunKeeper run. Sadly, RunKeeper was unable to lock on a GPS signal the entire time. I don't blame the app, I blame the GPS of the phone. But the end result was the same: nothing recorded this go-round. Maybe next time.

My Sort-of-Triumphant Return

Like Rocky Balboa, a cockaroach, or bad Mexican dinner (choose your metaphor), I am back! This last month away from running was just a brief intermission, prompted by my getting an iPhone. I carry my phone with me when I run, stashed in an armband, for emergencies. The new phone necessitated a new armband, and it took me a while to find the right one and then get around to ordering it. (Once I finally ordered, though, it came near-instantly: I ordered on Wednesday night, and it arrived at my doorstep on Thursday morning. I wasn't sure how that was even physically possible, until I looked at the return address: apparently Marware is located just about 20 miles from my home).

I also used the month away to see if my left knee would start feeling any better - it had been a bit achey. There was zero change after a month, and so I figure that it's probably not running-related. Since running doesn't seem to make it any worse, and not running doesn't seem to make it any better, and I enjoy running, I decided to get back on track.

As for the armband, I'm pretty ambivalent about it. It's a Marware Sportsuit Convertible. It is designed to be an all-in-one phone case. It has a belt clip attachment, or it can be used without the clip as a sleeve. It has an armband attachment. It even has a little key pocket attachment. It slices! It dices! It even plays Crysis! It's a breath mint! It's a candy! Tastes great! Less filling! ...Whatever. The belt clip seems too flimsy to trust, and I don't like the case enough to use it on a 24-hour basis as a sleeve, which means I'm going to be switching cases every other day. All in all, a minor nuisance. The armband part is super-comfortable, at least. On the bright side, the iPhone means that I no longer need to wear an ipod armband on my right arm and a phone armband on my left arm, making me just a teensy bit less geeky-looking as I run.

Since this was my first run in a month, I decided to take it very easy and just did W1D1. During the walking segments, I took a few photos of my route using the iPhone's camera. It was a morning run through the park, not a weekday-dead-as-night early morning run. No sense posting pictures from those, as they would just be black squares.

1. Leaving my development...



2. Greenacres Park, about a quarter-mile from my home. Ah, Greenacres - it's the place to be. (Official City Motto. No kidding).



3. Running through the park...



4. Some wildlife: a couple of geese, an egret (I think), a squirrel, some white birds, some ducks. Camera-shy: Snails.





That last one is near the area where I once saw a small alligator. That was several years ago. Which means the next time I see him, he'll be a big alligator....