"So you're a running celebrity?"

A bit of motivation came from two people I had never met before.  Today, I rode my bike to work, 6.5 miles at 6 in the morning.  Afterwards, I rode back in the direction of my apartment but stopped off at the Maryland Athletic Club, a really nice gym downtown.  I was going in to redeem a free week pass and planned on trying out some of the cardio equipment to see if I could simulate running and get my heart doing something.

While one of the gym staff was showing me around, another guy stopped us and said something to the following effect.

Random Dude: "Hey, you're that 5K guy.  Well you pretty much run anything, 5K to half marathon."

My response: "yea, you can find me at a lot of local races."

Random dude to the woman showing me around: "This guy can run, I mean really run.  What do you do, like 6 minute miles?"

My response: "Faster than that."

Random dude: "5 minute miles?"

I half nodded.  The woman showing me around then told me I must be some kind of running celebrity.  It just gives me that little extra motivation to try and get back since apparently, I can really run!


I ended up using 3 pieces of equipment....something like an elliptical that was pitched at a steep angle (13 minutes), an arc trainer (18 minutes), and a traditional elliptical (35 minutes).  That uphill thing sucked, it was absolutely nothing like running uphill.  The arc trainer was better but still did not really simulate running, my knees never fully extended.

It was the elliptical that did the trick.  It felt very similar to running and if I looked down, could almost fool myself into thinking I was running.  My arms and legs come too far forward compared to my actual stride, but it feels close enough.

With the 3.5 mile bike ride home, and a hilly 1 hour ride yesterday, I think I'm getting the hang of this cross training stuff.  Of course, I'd give it all up in a heartbeat to be running again.  Tomorrow is my follow up appointment for the MRI.  I'm hoping beyond hope that whatever was wrong with me has healed and I can run again.