WOW It has been too long!

26:18 for a 5K , that would not be too bad for a guy coming off of a long layoff. However the time was for 2 lousy miles! Now do not go thinking I am beating myself up because I am not. 2 miles is more than I have run in months.

You see I sort of quit running altogether. Exercise in general stopped. You see, the same addictive personality that drives me to do things like Marathons, when applied to other activities becomes equally consuming.

I was, and for the moment still am, consumed with a video game World of Warcraft, or as its players call it WOW, the TV watchers near cousin, although there is a modicum of interaction and the characters may be a bit more entertaining as they are driven by people, the fact remains , that I would sit on my ass for hours on end running a mouse. Killing the shit out of monsters to get one more level, to get, one more item........

http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Antonidas&n=Chaniqua

WOW is set up like a slot machine if you will where each kill is accompanied with a drop that has a chance to improve your character. which in turn you can kill bigger monsters for items that will improve your character. Brilliant, with the backdrop of Warcraft, particularly alluring to me, the game draws you in with a combination of great graphics, personalized characters and this incremental improvement loop that has over 9 million people playing.

I gave the game my time, my attention, my money, my effort and it cost me my athleticism, time with family and loss of productivity on the job. Not a great trade.

Funny, I knew going in it would cost me, I just was not sure how much. My intention was to control it, but as with any of my addicitions, who am I kidding when it comes to control.

I suppose I can obsess about pixels on a crt and getting to 85DPS, or I can obsess about clicking a 19:59 5K, the latter certainly appeals to the athlete that has too long been still.

Curtai

AKA

Chaniqua Level 70 Night Elf Hunter,

Antonidas Realm.
2 miles 26:18

At least my foibles are amusing in hindsight.