Weak 6.

So just after Christmas I started Cool Running's Couch to 5k program with my roommate.

It's great. It only costs us about 90 minutes a week, and in another month we'll be running 5k every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Tonight though, I'm running-buddy-less, because I'm in Albuquerque, NM, on business.

So before the sun went down and the temperature dropped to really-bleeding-cold, I swapped out of my work clothes and into sneakers and windpants and hit the sidewalk outside my hotel.

After my five minute warmup, I started my first stretch of running, 5 minutes of solid leg-pumping action. Ninety seconds in I was sucking wind and cursing the world.

Albuquerque, as some of you might be aware, is about 1,600 meters above sea level. If you're interested, here's a handy chart. That chart says that the pressure at this altitude is about 84.3 kPA, meaning that the partial pressure of Oxygen at this altitude is about 80% of what it normally is.

Let me say this without any science: There isn't any air up here.

Needless to say, running kicked my ass.

Still, what little air there was tasted crisp and free and beautiful.

Here's to life.