Daily Donut

I have been tracking my running for over a year now. When I write everything down I feel more accountable, and I'm less likely to sleep in.

Recently, I was invited to participate in a running challenge using a different online community. It's called dailymile, and what's good about it is that you can not only track your running, but your walking, your swimming, your biking, etc. If you walk to work, you can put that down.

It also emphasizes interaction between members. You can invite a group of people to run races, to complete a certain number of miles in the least time, or to just run a certain number of miles. I was invited to run 250 miles by 2012. (That was September 1st, and I'm already over 100 miles, so I think I'll be fine.)

But it also has a page where you can see how your run translates into other things. Since I've started using this page, I have run 134.38 miles. That's kind of cool! I have spent 76.05 hours running. That's kind of depressing. I have had 24 total workouts. That's confusing - how can I have had more hours that workouts. Were some runs not counted as complete? I have run around the world .01 times. It's a big planet. I have powered 925.5 TV's, and saved 7.07 gallons of gas. This would mean more if I were running TO something and not just using the treadmill.

The last two stats are the most confusing.

According to whatever program they use, I have burned 68.49 donuts. That's a lot of donuts. In fact, reading that makes me want to go out and eat a dozen powdered donuts all at once. But wait! What's this last statistic? It says, quite clearly "Lbs. burned." And above it? A lonely "3."

Three pounds. I have run over seventy hours and over a hundred miles, and I have burned three pounds. Is this even possible? HOW DOES THIS WORK? I'm guessing that you have to run a certain length of time for the pound to count, or it erases itself, or cancels itself out? I'm not sure if this is how it works in real life, or if it just works out that way in crazy computer math. But, seriously, 68.49 donuts does not equal 3 pounds. Or maybe it does. Maybe if I ate almost seventy donuts I would only gain three pounds. Perhaps I would only rupture my stomach and go into a coma. I'm not sure how this works.

To be honest with you, I have actually gained weight since I started using this online thing. It has nothing to do with the community. Well, maybe the reminder of how many donuts I've burned... but more likely I just have a weakness for cake and pie. And cookies and homemade bread. I mean, the pounds burned is more than offset by the pounds consumed, in this case. That's not the point. The point is that the math is off. And also that we cannot believe everything our little online folks tell us. We have to use common sense at some point. Right?