Dreamill

I ran on a dreadmill yesterday. Christine wanted to take a picture of it because it was the first time in probably 6 or 7 years that I had stepped foot on one. I have always preferred to be outside.

During the past few weeks, this cold weather has gotten to me. I think that on top of all of my running revelations (ie. disappointments & injuries) going out in the frigid cold air has not helped a whole lot. Every run has been a chore, and it didn’t used to be like that. I have gone from the 5 to 6 day a week running plan to the 3 day Furman plan. This has helped because I only have to get motivated 3 days a week to run. The other days of the week, I have been doing bike & weight workouts. And that has been a nice change of pace.

My plan yesterday called for a 10 mile run at my planned marathon pace. I don’t have a planned marathon pace anymore. Okay, not exactly. I told Susan that I would run the Mardi Gras Marathon with her and she is shooting for a 3:40 marathon or so. So that is my new plan. As I was walking across the yard at work yesterday, a cold wind hit me in the face and a sense of dread washed over me. I did not want to run in the cold. So I sent a text to Christine questioning her plans for the Y that afternoon. She had a cardio/weight workout planned, so I would go with her.

We dropped of Mason and headed to the Y. She got on an eliptical machine and I got on a dreadmill next to her. As I took off, it took a while to get used to the feel of it again. I kept running forward and hitting the bar with my hands. But I was able to dial in my “planned marathon pace” and away I went. I am not going to bore you with any of the details of the “run”. I did my 10 miles at the exact pace I wanted. By the time I was finished, I was also dripping wet from the temperature in the building. It was a nice change.

I know I could never be a regular gym treadmill runner. It is just not for me. But I applaud all the people of extremely varying physical attributes and capabilities who climb on the machines in attempt to improve their bodies and stay healthy. Good for you.

On the other hand, there were two people who pissed me off.

First of all, to the older man wearing the monster head phones: did your doctor tell you to work out at a certain heart rate? I noticed that every few minutes during your slow walk you would grab the heart rate bar and check your pulse. By the way, have you seen the news about Mark McGuire admitting to using steroids? That was cheating. Using the same theory, getting on the treadmill with a large cup of black coffee is cheating as well. If you needed help getting your heart rate up, I would have kindly gotten off my machine, snuck up behind you, and scared the crap out of you!

Secondly, to the woman executive: what the hell was that? You came in talking on the phone. You got on the elliptical while talking on the phone. You exercised so slowly burning about 1 calorie per week while talking on the phone. You then got off the machine so you could more easily talk on the phone before picking up all your stuff while talking on the phone. And then you left, while talking on the phone. Thank God that you were not on the machine next to me because I was having some evil thoughts akin to a bad road rage scenario. Is there such a thing as treadmill rage?

I survived my first treadmill experience in a long time. Unfortunately, I have another one coming up this weekend. Mason has a swim meet in Laurel, Mississippi, so I will not be able to run at home. I will probably have to burn up the dreadmill at the hotel. Ugghh.

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