You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned bike commuting recently.

That’s cuz I haven’t done it.

There is this Corporate 5K in April I signed up for (much in the way eager boys in Britain and Germany signed up for service in 1914). Then I started to figure out this jogging thing. Went jogging with Manjula, a coworker of mine. And yes, in two miles, I pulled something.

After that healed, I tried jogging every morning. Started getting into it. Every day, I went a little further. And in a week’s time, I pulled something else and was racked up for half a week.

This really sucks.

Cycling is fun. Cycling is gratifying. Cyclists look at joggers like aviators looked at those mud-spattered, disillusioned soldiers in 1914. It’s amazing that the same amount of effort (no extra fuel, just gearing and torque) can move a human body so much further on a bike. If there had been bike paths on the Serengeti, we’d have been more successful hunters and started our civilization all the sooner.

Running sucks. It’s nothing but a plodding struggle to keep from stopping. Every time I run, it hurts. And when it really hurts, then I’m crippled again.

So now I have a set of $120 running shoes. Now I’m running on alternate days, monitoring how I do so I can hopefully move up my distance. At this point I don’t know if I’ll be ready in time. My legs hurt, and my pride hurts.

I hate jogging.

I go out to the garage and look at the bike in its stable. Good bike. I give it a sugar cube, tickle it under its headlamp and tell it we’ll ride again soon. After mid-April. After the Corporate Deathmarch is done.

I hate jogging. Really.

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