Ah, the joys of the treadmill, or more commonly referred to by runners around the world as the dreadmill.  There is something just very unnatural about running miles and miles indoors…and not really moving one inch.  Running is meant to move you…to bring you from point A to point B…not stay in point B continuously for minutes or hours.

So, needless to say, I was not looking forward to my long runs this weekend.  After my bout of hypothermia last weekend, I decided that given the fact that the temperatures would again be in the 20s that I shouldn’t risk it again.  Luckily (?) I have a gym membership, so on Saturday morning I found my way to the gym.  After running twice this week at the gym, with one of those run ending after 1.5 miles, I did not think it was going to go well.

I’m not gonna lie, I was completely surprised at how well it actually went.  Running 17 miles on Saturday in around 2:54, I didn’t once get bored.  I did a good job of changing my focus from the TV screen in front of me (watching E!) to other people in the gym (top and lower level) to the world outside.  I had my powergels with me, a bottle of my new favorite sports drink (Sour Melon Powerade…if you haven’t tried it yet…get some…just note that it’s better cold), and an extra shirt to wipe me down with.  What also helped in enjoying the run was that it was warm (not 20 degrees), so that I could wear shorts and a sleeveless technical t-shirt.  It was definitely the BEST run I’ve ever had on a treadmill.  The interesting thing was that the treadmill stopped after 60 minutes, so I had to start it back up twice!

Today was another cold one, even colder than yesterday in the morning, so again I headed off to the gym.  This time I was lucky enough to have the playoffs on TV, so that kept me very distracted from running on a treadmill.  Today I ran 10 miles in around 1:41.  Honestly wasn’t bad at all.

27 miles for the weekend, all on a dreadmill.  Now, this is probably just a moment of temporary insanity, but the dreadmill wasn’t so dreadful at all.  Is it a new love affair?  Doubtful.  But I’m now a little more open to the idea of the treadmill being a useful, and not so dreadful, tool when needing to get in a solid run on an overly cold day.

Until next time everyone…try to stay warm and run on friends!

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On a side note, food lessons learned: No Ragu sauce any more, and no peanut butter before a run.