A Curious Collection of Things I Thought I Knew 

Here are some things I know about myself:

- I don't like to run.

- I'm not crazy about club music.

- I'm not particularly a morning person (stop laughing at that "particularly," Mum).

- Summer in DC sends me inside for the duration: too hot, too humid.

So why, despite these things I "know" about myself, am I getting up early every other morning in order to run to club music?  Why am I going to bed every alternate evening thinking, "Ooh - cool.  Tomorrow I get to run"?  Why am I looking at the weather reports and lamenting that a morning with good running weather occurs on one of my "off" days?  

Here are some of the things I have learned from the synthesis of the things that I "know" and the things I am learning in the course of ignoring what I "know" and trying this running thing:

- It's not that I don't like running, it's that I don't like running at someone else's pace (I'm slow.  I'm also 38 now and not overly concerned with running at anyone's pace but my own*).  Having someone else keep me honest also helps (even if that someone is the guy on the "Couch to 5K" podcast).  Apparently, I push myself too hard sometimes.  Imagine.

- Club music is good for keeping a beat and taking your mind off of your breathing.  

- Mornings in DC are cool enough for physical activity outside, even if they are still humid as hell.  Also - the woods around our house in the morning?  Dead gorgeous.  

So, yeah - for about three weeks now, I've actually been running.  Get me.

* Here's to throwing off the shackles of grade-school gym class.  Thanks, 1970s-80s phys-ed teachers.  It only took 20 years for me to finally reprogram myself and really internalize the fact that doing it is more important than doing it faster than everyone else, regardless of the limitations of your actual aptitude.