In my on-again, off-again attempts to give this running thing a try, I’m currently in the middle of a decent on-again phase. And I’ve decided to set myself a couple of goals in order to stir up some competitive/pride juices to keep things fueled. And now that I’m blogging about it (which is what responsible geeks do when the world needs to know their every thought and movement), I’m accountable to literally tens of people to keep myself on the straight and narrow jogging path in the park across the street.

The first thing I’m doing is using the “Couch to 5k“ program for my initial training. I’m a couple weeks in and it’s going just fine, thanks for asking. I’ve actually run more than 5k a couple of times before, so I’m considering this system an attempt to introduce structure to my runs in order to keep those previous times from being anything more than amusing flukes. It’s a gradual approach to increasing your distance and time, and I have to say, I likes it. If you’re considering getting started, I would highly recommend it.

The second thing I’ve done is join the “100 Mile Challenge” on the Nike+ site. I have the sportsband that I use to keep track of my runs and upload the info back to the interwebs. Even though I just joined it, it says that I’ve already run 20 miles (I think if you have a backlog of info on the site, they give you a head start or something). Regardless, I’m feeling a competitive streak coming on, and have picked out a nemesis to totally p0wn in this challenge. Right now, “babbkent” is directly ahead of me in the ranking, where I currently place 12,070 (eat my dust “vbanda”!). Now I’m sure that “babbkent” is a perfectly nice person in the real world, but I’m going to have to crush them, letting loose taunts and jeers that would make a sailor weep for lovelier things. By the end of this challenge, I will have personally placed them in the losers circle, by tripping and sucker-punching to the giblets if need be.

So there you have it, World. My public vent for accountability is now complete. To recap: “babbkent” runs like a girl, and is going down. (And not the countless scores of girls who can trounce me in running, but the other kind. The girls who can’t run. Probably because their infant legs haven’t fully developed yet.)