Running is a terrible way to lose weight.

I just got back from a little Christmas day run. I've been running instead of riding for a number of reasons. It's fast. It's easy to set up (just put on shoes, stretch and go). And most importantly I can take my daughter in the jogging stroller and put her to sleep for her afternoon nap. She loves the ride and my son rides along side me with his bicycle. It's great!

I thought that running would be a great way to burn some calories as well, but boy was I wrong. 30 minutes of running = barely 400 calories! 400 calories? That's one lousy mocha. My bike rides to work and back were 1500 calories for a mere hour and half of effort. If I tried to run for an hour and a half every day my body would collapse on itself and I would devolve into a boneless mass of jelly.

I jest of course, running has actually been really enjoyable. I'm hoping that I don't run into classic runner problems (like destroyed joints) if I'm only doing it for a half hour at a time and I intersperse it with bike rides. I'm also hoping that years of bike rides has strengthened my knee muscles to an extent where I am more resilient. Only time will tell. I'll have to keep an observing eye on my aches and pains. :)

And I guess I need to start biking again if I want to maintain my diet of 4000 calories a day. :)