It's a birthday miracle!

Today is my 36th birthday. I got my frist present the minute I woke up. It was a present I gave myself yesterday by swimming 2400 yards in the morning and running 3 miles last night. The present I gave myself was being able to get on the scale and have it read 313 pounds. While my wife is buying me a surprise today, and I'm looking at some bike parts this afternoon, this is probably going to be the best gift I get.

If you look at my race results, you'll notice that I track my weight for every race. A little over 2 years ago my weight was 313 when I did a 5k put on by my then employer. I was still walking every step back then, and my finish time was ~43:00. Last night, I did my 3 miles in 39:59, so an average pace around 13:20 a mile. The first mile I actually did in 12:46, and the next two were a bit slower as I had to walk a little more during each. The first mile I ran all but 2 minutes, and had I been able to run straight through, my time would have been even lower. In fact, stamina is the only thing keeping me from running sub 13:00 miles regularly, as I am apparantly getting faster in my running.

I still have a long way to go, but both the weight loss and the time I put in last night are really encouraging. I've had times faster than last night, but not on a regular basis, and that was all walking, with no running. Last night was the first time I've ever run a mile faster than I could walk it. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. When I'm finally able to run a mile straight, and keep a pace similar to last nights, then I'll be making some serious strides.

The main goal now is to take this 3 mile effort and build on it towards a half-marathon. My best half-mary time previously was ~3:45. If I could average 13:20 for 13.1 miles, that would take almost 50 minutes off my time, and give me a good sized buffer to making sure I can finish Timberman inside the time limit.

Notes:
- Not going to overdo it today, just some relaxed fun, a nice dinner (I'm wanting a black and bleu salad), followed up with Berryline. They have Blueberry froyo at the Fenway location that I'm a huge fan of, so that'll be tonights dessert.
- I'm looking at parts today that'll take my bike up to the level of a standard road bike. Nothing too fancy, other than integrated brakes and shifters ("brifters") similar to what Rach has on her bike. It'll be a slow process that may or may not be in place for the next race, but certainly by the MA State Triathlon in July.
- We haven't figured out our Memorial Day plans yet, but you can be sure it will involve being outside, and hopefully swimming.