If I had more space (which, as previously mentioned in the “to buy or not to buy a house” discussion, I do not), I would seriously consider buying a treadmill. Though I have professed in the past to hate the evil machines, I think it would do wonders to eliminate my uncanny ability to talk myself out of running because it’s hot, or dark, or cold. When there’s a treadmill staring at you, it’s hard to come up with enough excuses. And running on a treadmill is better than not running at all.
Last night I was going to run, but Jose told me it was too hot and that I should go inside on the treadmill. I hesitated, but ended up doing what he suggested. I’ve been having so much trouble in the heat lately that a relaxed run that didn’t involve me ending up nauseated sounded like a great idea. Into the gym I went. I hopped on the treadmill and set the speed at 5 mph. While that sounded horribly slow, it felt very comfortable, so I resolved that I wouldn’t worry about my speed (especially since I always run a little slower on the treadmill for reasons I’ve yet to figure out) and would just run relaxed. After a bit, I upped the speed. After another bit, I upped the speed another notch. But I never sped up too much, and ended up doing 4 miles in about 46 minutes. There’s a part of me that’s disappointed that I didn’t push harder, but there’s also a part of me thinking that I probably don’t do enough of that type of run. The relaxed, no worries run.
I did discover a new “feature” of the Gilruth treadmills: they’ve programmed such that you can’t set a time of more than 30 minutes. I understand their reasoning, as they limit use of any of the cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes) to no more than 30 minutes. But the sign specifically says no more than 30 minutes during peak hours. It does not specifically say what peak hours are, so I have always operated under the assumption that if I reach 30 minutes and there are people waiting, I will stop. But if there are open treadmills, then I can keep going. Which I did last night. After having to reset the program. Hmph.
