A while back I took a close look at the Marnometer, subtracted the total from the 1,000 mile goal I set for this year and realized that I had a little over two months to make up nearly 250 miles.

What?? WHAT???!!!!

Oh, I know, had I kept to my original cardio schedule, put away a consistent 20 miles a week, I would not find myself in this pickle. Thing is, I'm absolutely positively sure I have good excuses for every week I didn't make those 20 miles.

So very many good excuses.

I just can't remember any of them at the moment.

MarnCo (the ruthless multinational behind The Big Adventure) threw one of our computing clusters at the problem and figured that in order to make my goal I was basically going to have to lay down 30 mile weeks. Yep, the woman who couldn't consistently cover a mere 20 miles a week running on a treadmill, road, or elliptical trainer suddenly found herself having to produce 30 mile weeks.

*Insert scream of horror of your choice here.*

So what have I learned from this? Have I learned that when I set myself a big, long term goal I should plan carefully and stick to my schedule?

Oh pish and tosh. You're joking, right?

For the last month I've been putting in a full hour of stupidly intense cardio three times a week at my gym. Then for three other days I've been enduring 45 minutes at night at home on the butt numbing horror that is my ancient exercise bicycle. If I continue to kill myself at this pace I will make my goal. Barely.

The goal I could have made sanely if I had just kept to my original 20 mile weeks.

A less compulsive anal stupid uh driven person would have simply put in the 900 or so miles that could have been comfortably accomplished and called it a successful year. It's a significant increase over last year's mileage.

But I set myself this silly, arbitrary goal and I simply can't let go of it.

Shut up. Not. One. Word.

--Marn

P.S. � The Big Adventure has been nominated for a Web Log Award. These awards are run much like a Ukrainian election, meaning that you can vote more than once�every 24 hours, if you wish.

I think my three loyal readers can agree that this nomination was some sort of computer error. The odds of it ever happening again are oh, say, the equivalent of me being hit by lightning. We're talking a one shot deal here. I need your votes.

(This would be the part where the room goes dark except for a single spotlight. I wander into it, looking extremely piteous. Well, even more piteous than normal. There is heart rending violin music playing softly in the background. Inexplicably you feel your eyes well with sympathetic tears.)

Remember, I am older than dirt. How long do I have left to live? I ... I ... I could die without ever knowing the joy that is winning a Web Log Award for being obscure.

Do you understand how empty and meaningless that would make my life? Do you? Huh? HUH?

I'm just sayin' ...

Mileage on the Marnometer: 916.2 miles.

Oh man. This is going to be hard
Goal for 2004: 1,000 miles - 1609 kilometers