Running in Non-Ideal Conditions; 200-Run Goal

So far, I have run 60 minutes every other day five times, and conditions have not been ideal.

11/19/09 - night - crossed midnight during run
11/21/09 - afternoon - good weather
11/23/09 - night - crossed midnight during run
11/25/09 - slightly after dawn - light drizzle
11/27/09 (technically 11/28/09) - night - started after midnight - light rain and windy - "feels like 32"

Each time, I was not sure I would make it, and the first 10-15 minutes were always the hardest, but after that, I cruised, albeit at low speeds.

Since the comfort of my heart, lungs, legs, knees, and ankles were the rate-limiting factors, they were never too stressed. Since the third run, my muscles no longer ached after runs.

Surprisingly, the body parts that have suffered the most have been my throat (cough) and skin (chafing between legs).

My uncalibrated iPhone Nike+ app says that I have been running 5.45 to 5.74 miles and burning 860 to 906 calories per run. Oh, now I see that I set my weight to 210 pounds, and the calories burned must be based on that. I will adjust my weight down to 207 based on the last Wii Fit measurement.

If there are 9000 calories per kilogram of fat (based on 1 calorie per gram of fat, but Google returns different opinions on calories per kilogram of fat), there are 4100 calories per pound of fat. If I run 5 miles and burn 820 calories per run, 5 runs will burn 1 pound of fat.

If I want to burn 40 pounds of fat, I need to run 200 times, for 1000 miles and 164,000 calories. That seems like a nice approximation and reminds me of the saying: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Of course, as weight decreases, calories burned decreases, so a run would have to be longer to burn the same number of calories. In any case, 200 runs sounds like a good goal.

I have run 5 of 200 (2.5%).

Jenny says I look happier already!