the treadmill, a torture device

since i didn't manage to run on sunday due to the rain, i was all ready to make up for it on monday (which is normally a day off) with a run after work. of course right at 6:00pm i look out the window and it's raining again. dc has just been storming!

so i figure that i would hit the gym and use the treadmill. nothing too fancy, just an easy 30 minute run. now normally when i run outside, i average between a 9-10 minute mile, but yesterday when i got on that treadmill and set the speed to 6 mph, i almost died! it was like i was fighting to stay on that treadmill for dear life; after 5 minutes of huffing and puffing, i forced myself to realize that i had to lower the speed (and i hate running more than 10 minutes per mile!) after the first mile, it got better, but man, how is it that it's so easy outside and so hard on the treadmill? further, i realized that gyms are boring. i don't know what to look at (for some reason reading the text of wheel of fortune just doesn't do it for me) so instead, i count every second that i run. so what's normally a short run outside turns into the longest run ever on the treadmill!!!

upon yesterday's treadmill experience, my confidence in running was a little shaky, so i was a little worried how this morning's 4 mile run would go. waking up to no rain meant that i would get to run outside (yah!) and you know what? my run this morning was fine. i did 4 miles in about 40 minutes. my analysis? that i just don't like treadmills.

i ran into my neighbor on the way out the door and he was like, wow, you're able to run with this humidity? and my reply? well, i'm training! and that, folks, is why i'm running a marathon. otherwise, i'd be like, it's really humid and i'm really tired, so why wake up and run?!