Panting for air on the 4th floor - not anymore

When you go to work, walk up the stairs to the 4th floor and end up panting for air, then, at the latest, you know that the workout comprised of writing lines of code throughout the day - I'm a software developer - is not enough, much to my surprise :) Ever since day 1 of my existence, I've never gone in for sports, the exception being mandatory sports classes during high school, which hardly count. April 2nd, I started to run out of the blue, I simply felt like running - run Horst, run...

Of course, I couldn't have done it without some sort of interesting equipment. For one, I am running in Nike Free's. I bought my first pair around a year ago and the experience was mind-blowing, at least for me. It is said to be like walking or running barefoot. Certainly, it isn't but it comes close. That is what makes the Free a perfect (though expensive) shoe for everyday use, that's what I've been using it before April 2nd. When running, the special properties are particularly beneficial.
Second, I am using my iPod (including Nike+iPod) to record my runs (pace, distance, duration, ...) and keep me entertained. The first aspect is very convenient because the training log writes itself and always contains relatively accurate information on the individual runs (for example, I don't have to estimate the distance myself using Google Maps). More on that later...

So far, I haven't stopped, I'm trying to gradually increase distance and frequency. Since April 2nd, I've been running 155.73 km (you know, that crazy unit equally crazy Europeans are known to think in). It's quite easy to keep going, even for a software developer, because these workouts tend to become addictive (just like hacking the Linux Kernel, but that's a different story ;) ).

As for "panting for air on the 4th floor", well, it's getting much easier already but it's only been 1 1/2 months so far, so there's loads of room for improvement...