One addiction ... for another

In the beginning, I was a runner, and an occasional gambler, whenever I would meet my Hawaii relatives in paradise's vacation spot -- Las Vegas . After Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003, I soon became an occasional poker player and runner.

I'm not one of those puma cats, just a cat who likes to run, more like the Millennium Falcon than an X-wing. Fast enough to make Group I-A of the Peachtree, the city's premier road race. But not fast enough to win any races. I liked it that way.

Sometimes I would run through Piedmont Park after winning (or bouncing out) of a sit-n'-go on Pacific Poker. It wasn't too long before I found plenty of excuses not to run and became just a poker player and a non-runner. I gained weight. I really thought my running days were over. Yet, I'd been there before. Little Rock. Stockton, Calif. But like a cat (with plenty of lives), I've always come back. My goal is being a cat that stays.

But in October, I came back. I devised new routes that would help develop my training (the Manuel's and Middlebear runs) and left old ones, such as at the park, that granted me too many shortcuts and not enough road.

I finally found a happy medium between poker play and running. I run 5-7 miles every day. I've dropped 16 pounds in that time period, can fit into all my old pants again and pretty much eat whatever I want. I run during a certain time everyday and find I have plenty of time for poker playing. Or whatever else I want.

I have Poker Cats, a poker blog, but I've been thinking for a while of writing this one. I always think of things while I'm running that really isn't useful to poker players -- what I like to wear when it's 39 degrees outside, why I always close my eyes when I'm running by the renovated Fellini's in Candler.

So hello from a running cat. Just as poker blogging has opened up new doors for me personally (and financially), I hope to make other running friends in the process.