Deadmill

Yesterday my training plan was a 3 mile run. We all slept in a little, and after a nice steak dinner and red wine the night before, I decided I would postpone my usual morning run until later in the afternoon. Which meant it would be too hot outside, and I would have to run on the (big sigh) treadmill at the Y. Really how bad could a quick 3 miles be on the treadmill ? I know lots of people that run on them often, and for some it seems to be the preferred method of training. It was AWFUL. All the treadmills are basically stacked up on top of each other which gave me a feeling of clausterphobia. I fought boredom for the entire time. No amount of playing with my pace, adjusting my stride or switching up my form, could get my mind out of the duldroms of OMG I'm running on this boring black belt going nowhere. It was stifling in there as well. When you have 20 people in on area all exercising, sweating and breathing heavily it really steams it up, and unlike the great outdoors there is no breeze, even a hot desert wind would have been welcomed. There's nothing of interest to look at. I could stare at the wall, the tv or the other people at the Y. No trees to look at, wildlife to see, skies to ponder. Just the bland surroundings of the Y cardio room. It literally sucked the lif right out of me. I was so tempted to bail, as it is pretty easy to punch the stop button at any time and be done with it, but of course I didn't want to cheat my training out of any miles, however boring they may have been. I just ran fast so I could be done with it. The only saving grace was that I got to take my kids to the Y pool as soon as I was done. I don't know who was happier when I walked in to pick them up from the kidcare area, me or them.