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Treadmill Wars Versus Mycroft Holmes

My top three obsessions in life at the moment are (in order of importance):

  1. Training to run a half marathon in under 2 hours.
  2. Sherlock.
  3. Training for my first sprint triathlon.
Which is an interesting order, because what will happen is (in chronological order):
  1. I'll run out of Sherlock to watch.
  2. My first sprint triathlon is in October.
  3. My next half marathon is in November.
Today was the first tempo/pace related run of the training plan, and the easiest way I thought I could accomplish this was to run it at home, after work, on the treadmill.  The plan called for 8 miles:  2 slow miles, 4 miles at an 8:50-9:10 pace, and 2 slow cool down miles.  Running on the treadmill can be pretty daunting, so what to do to pass the time?  Watch Sherlock, Season 3, Episode 2 during my run.

What a great episode.  Dr. John Watson is getting married!  Sherlock is the best man!  I have 2 miles under my belt, then 3 miles, then 3.3 miles...  and I had to stop.  A 9:10 pace for me is ridiculous.  But I catch my breath, drink some water for a minute or two, and start again.  I'm back into it for another half mile or so, and I had to stop.  Ugh, I'm going to have to do this for like 13.1 miles all at once to get under 2 hours?!  Maybe the 2 hour half isn't for me.

But, I still have more Sherlock to watch, at least for the time being.  I press on.  Shortly thereafter, I see Mycroft on the treadmill.   

Yeah!  I'm on the treadmill.  Mycroft is on the treadmill.  I'm cool.  We're cool.  We both like running!  But...  he looks like he's moving a lot slower than I am.  And he has better legs than me.  Damn you, Mycroft.  


And who does THAT?  A dismount and he sticks the landing?  I can feel my blood pressure going through the roof, so I stop again.  Know what happens when I stop the treadmill?  Not a graceful, gymnastics-style landing.  Butters shows up.


All right, Mycroft.  You win that one.  During the episode, I probably stopped 4 or 5 more times during the 4 mile insanity portion.  I know I won't want to do that on race day.  But, I got it done, and there's still plenty of more ground to cover between now and then.

I'm not sure what I'll do when I run out of Sherlock, though.  

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