96 Accord sounds like it has a cold

Im having a problem with my 96 accord. The car has 147,000 miles on it, and the timing belt has been recently changed. The car is rough getting through the first gear and runs sluggish, not until second gear does the car begin to proerly accelerate. Im also noticing poor gas mileage (18 per gallon) for my 2.2L four cylinder. I also notice what sounds like a baseball card in a bike tire spoke noise when I first fire the car up and it idles. The noise continues til about third gear. I changed the oil and have kept an eye on it, as well as my coolant and neither seem low. The radiator looks like it was replaced shortly before I bought the car and kicks on and runs for about 3 minutes after the car is off, the car seems hot, but the temperature gauge hasn't read hot. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.