...Go!

False start!
I was all ready to go: shoes, pants, shirt, charged iPod nano and the nike+ sensor on my shoes.
My first run was somewhat postponed thanks to some copyright barons in Belgium. See, one Belgian lady made some really nice mp3 series with the appropriate name 'start to run'. Seems to me people wanted it to be found. Anyway, I was planing to start running with the aid of this program since I heard and read much good about it. However some copyright club had tried to make these mp3's disappear from the web exactly now. On any other day I would have found it amusing how these naive and ignorant people keep trying to make information disappear from a global network that was designed to be able to share information even during an all out nuclear war. They must have gotten high from the news of the verdict on the Pirate Bay people.


But, ha-ha, the pirates have got the wind back in their sails with the not so surprising news that the judge was waist deep in the industry himself. So mateys find ye treasure here, harrrrrrr...

When I thought I had everything, I walked to my battlegrounds for my first run. A nice calm area with huge manors, embassies and stretches of parks leading to dunes and beaches. Meanwhile I was fiddling on the iPod to start both a new training on my nike+ and listen to the mp3. Unfortunately, it turned out that I need to make a playlist since it did not allow me to select the mp3 file which has been branded by iTunes as a podcast. Great. So my first run was one without statistics, but maybe thats actually a good thing...

The first few minutes were obviously too hard. I ran out of breath rather quickly and feared the side pains and all other discomforts I associated with running would follow up soon. But then another runner came jogging by, she looked experienced in running for some reason, probably the flashy stretch clothes. But she was going way slower. So I decided I'd better turn it down a bit. After that, while still being a good workout, the run was smooth.

Because I had no idea what distance I would cover during the first run, I did not plan out a route. It became a somewhat ad-hoc run with twists and turns. Sometimes I would need to backtrack a bit because I reached a dead end or would wind up on a sand track and stuff like that. I had no idea when I would be half-way and what would be a good time to head back. This all resulted in me being finished with the first exercise in somewhat unknown territories. I was a bit lost, and needed to walk quite a bit to get back home. Maybe that's actually good for cooling down, or maybe I should just pick one of the many other parks which are within reach, or just bike to one of them...
All in all, it was a good first run but much, much progress can and will be made!

Ready, set...

And off I was, running through the crowded streets. Somewhat misplaced, one man against the hordes of shop-melody-induced consumers. But the discomfort was not caused my going in against the mindless zombies. Noo, it was the sheer fact of way too fast bodily movement accompanied by a slight breathlessness and sluggishly carried by way too shiny new shoes.
Not too long before, the nervous spasms of my ankles and feet had been recorded, replayed, thourogly studied and commented. Normally I would have declared insanity on the pour soul who volunteered to put himself to such a drag and horrid display. The sheer horror of what was to come soon was unbearable to even think about.

I was in the running shop, long believed to be occupied by earths minions of Satan, to buy the things one needs to start running. What would drive such a big geek to do such a thing? Well first, offcourse, he is indeed a big geek. Second, it seems there is an interresting tech factor to running. Tech is fun, so I could make myself believe that running could be fun too. In any case I would get to buy some new gear. Since I had allready mostly ran out of toys on my wish list, I could use running as an excuse to buy some geeky running stuff!
So, reminding myself of all the gear one really must have and all the tech it would unlock, I dragged myself through the process.

The result was a bit of an expense stretch but let's just say thats a positive start ;-)


My footgear of choice was a pair of Saucony Progrid Omni 7's. The Omni's had a marking on their sole spelling 'SSL', at first sight that was appealing. SSL, in the geek world at least, stands for 'secure sockets layer', and is a technology used mostly in web technology. For example to provide secure communication with websites. A good sign, but things are not always what they seem to be. There is enough reason to not even just blindly trust even this technology. Fun yes, trust no. Remember that.

Anyway, though pretty advanced for a pair of shoes, the geek in me was not yet satisfied.

So I bought myself one of those Nike+ Ipod thingies and a clip to hook the sensor on to my shoes. It's amazing how each of my new toys provides ways for others to put me under surveillance. Anyway, it will most probably provide some more fun, maybe it is actually usefull in running and if not, there are other interresting uses for it like it and such and so.

Well, that provided a nice 'carrot' for the running. One last thing, I needed some bag to carry my things runner style. Since I always seem to cary some gear with me I always need some bag to put it in. So I bought a tiny nike shoe wallet as well, you know for keys or if I happen to possibly need some usb stick or swiss knife with me for the mc guyver factor.

So with this first blogpost on my new blog. I am ready and set for my first run!