Four Miles an Hour

I did my first four-mile run today... and it took me 54 minutes.

I feel like Ricky Bobby in "Talledega Nights," when he's going 28 miles an hour on a NASCAR track yelling, "I'm going fast! I'm going fast again!"

It's hard to keep in perspective that a month ago, I was struggling with one mile. At Christmas, Mrs. Caliendo was lapping me at the track.

The fastest I've ever run a mile was 8:45 in 7th grade. I had just finished cross country season, was in the "training camp" portion of basketball season, and Mt. Dew was the only performance enhancer we knew. Oh yeah, and I ran it indoors.

Right now, I'm gunning for a 12-minute mile pace, and I've got a month to go. That will get me to the finish line in 2 hours. Maybe I should start training with a cougar...