Whoa.

Please cast your eyes left, to my sidebar. Today's workout - 1.8 miles on the treadmill to warm up, then weights, and then 5.5 miles on the bike. 7.3 miles, and I could have gone longer but it was dinnertime and the dogs were waiting. I was not tired, it has become easy. Which means I need to kick it up a notch again.

When I started this Runagogo thing, 100 miles by July 4 sounded ambitious post-surgery, but do-able. I did get a good start by being on medical leave for half of this time and able to go to the gym 5x a week, but I was on medical leave after brain surgery, so I don't think that really counts as an unfair advantage. When I started, 2 miles of walking at a gentle pace was exhausting, and forget the weights. I left the gym gasping and sweaty. Then 3 miles and a little faster was okay. Then 3.5. Recently I added the weight machines. Now I need to increase the cardio. And I'm starting to think Dr. Z wasn't totally insane when he suggested I train for a half-marathon. Overly ambitious at this time, perhaps, but not totally insane. For the first time today I realized that I actually could get to that point if I wanted to - not that I really want to because, I'm sorry, I think running is incredibly boring, at least around here. It's flat, it's hot, and it's buggy. I just walk briskly on the treadmill and pedal the bike because Cardio Is Good for Me. And my knees would throw a fit if I really took up running on pavement. Not gonna do it. But over the course of this 100 mile challenge, I'm at about 89 miles and now I'll have to do 10 miles a session to push myself. And I will be 49 next month, and I ride a desk all week, and I had brain surgery in February. I have been back at the gym for less than 2 months, for the first time in 2 years, and my body is responding. And if I can do it, this fitness thing really is do-able by damn near anybody.