Surviving the Treadmill

I'm training for an ultra so the most important thing for me...

are the LONG RUNS. 

However, I live in the Southwest and long runs either happen at 4AM in the morning,

after 6PM, 

in the mountains, 

on a treadmill,

or not at all. 

In fact, many runners that live here tend to take their off season

during the the summer months. 

It's just too darn hot. 

A typical summer morning. 

But I don't have that option. 

I'm running my first ultra in a month. 

A MONTH. 

(Oh boy)

Anyway, I had this plan.

I was going to wake up early on a Sunday morning and go for a 10 mile run. 

But then Sunday morning came around

and I just happened to hit the snooze button....

6 times. 

I woke up, angry with myself for not being a morning person

and realized that I cannot get out of this. 

I have to do my long run! 

I decided I would go to the gym and give the treadmill another try. 

Whelp. 

I Hate the treadmill. 

I am sorry to all those treadmill loving runners out there. 

I do not mean to offend you. 

But. I. Can't. 

I can't. 

I just can't do it. 

It makes me crazy. 

Super crazy. 

Running in one spot. 

Craziness. 

The longest I have ever run on a treadmill is 6 miles. 

That's it. 

And I just about went insane. 

So knowing I had to give it another try = whelp. 

I got to the gym, put on a smiley face

put positive thoughts in my head 

and got on the treadmill. 

Positive thoughts. I can do this!

 Thank goodness the gym has treadmills with TVs in them. 

I think that is the most important thing for keeping your sanity on a treadmill:

DISTRACT YOURSELF!

This kept me sane.
Don't mind the woman in the cowboy hat,
I was watching the travel channel. 

Distraction is key when running on the treadmill. 

You have to get your mind focused on something else. 

TVs are great because there is something to look at. 

Treadmills without TVs are another story. 

I would recommend you listen to music 

or hope that your treadmill has a nice view out of a window. 

Some people I know hang a photo up

of their goal or of people that are nice to look at. 

I only got about 2.5 miles into my run when the treadmill read, "Cool Down". 

Excuse me?

Don't tell me when I need to cool down. 

I'm running here. 

Apparently, the treadmill (and I assume the gym) doesn't want you running for more than 25 minutes. 

I had to take a long walking break to start it back up again. 

And then it did it again, 0.3 miles later. 

WTH?

Skip to the end of the story....I said screw this, and went to the weight room.
I got in about 3.2 miles total. 

So, no long run for me. Sad? Eh. Frustrated with the treadmill. As usual. 

Moral of the story: I will use a treadmill again...if I have to. Otherwise, I'll just stick to the roads and trails.  Oh, and I'll learn to wake up on time and forget about that snooze button. :)