Week 3a, Day 4 - Gettin' It Done on the Treadmill

Today I ran on a treadmill for the first time in a long time.  I had forgotten how boring it is to run on a treadmill.  You're running fast, but going nowhere.  Instead of the wind on your face, you have recirculated gym air blown onto your face from the treadmill fan.  Instead of pushing yourself to keep running until the next streetlight, you push yourself to make it for another 30 seconds. 

When I was pregnant with Lilah, I took a "Natural Birthing Techniques" class and we were all given a cup with ice cubes and were told to stick our hand into it for 1 minute and deal with the pain in whatever way feels most natural.  This was supposed to be a VERY basic introduction of pain coping techniques and the ice was supposed to 'simulate' a contraction.  My 'natural' coping method has always been to stare up at a clock and count the seconds until it's over. I had always passed time this way when pumping gas, waiting for the copier, running to the bathroom, etc... when time needed to pass faster, I would count it.  Then the instructor introduced several other methods of dealing with pain coping so by the end we had simulated about 10 different contractions using different methods such as massage, conversation, meditation, looking at pictures, story telling, smelling things, etc.  What I found through this "Class" was this counting thing I've always done was actually the most ineffective way of passing the time and pain for me.  It actually made the 'contraction' feel longer and more painful than any of the other methods introduced to us.  Rather than going into all the possible underlying psychological ramifications of this discovery, we'll simply state this epiphany was a tremendous eye opener and ever since the class, I have tried not to count along with the microwave when I'm waiting for my lunch.

So what's the moral of the story? The moral is that I had forgotten how when you're trying to run on a treadmill there are no distractions from the digital red workout summary strip showing how long you've run, how fast you're running, how many calories you've burned and your distance..... and it's painful to stare at.  Instead of being out on the road, feeling empowered with the knowledge you're watching the world go past by the sheer power of your own two feet to move it,... you're locked in a competition against the treadmill itself.  Granted it DID make me want to run faster!!  I was running 6-7 mph nearly the whole time and ran my 1.5 miles in 14:30 which I'm satisfied with. I was running really hard for me and had sweat dripping down my brow the whole time.  Although right after I wrote the previous sentence, I was bummed out a little when I looked up the training calculator on Runner's World and it said at the pace I ran today it would still take me around 5 hours to finish the marathon. 

I guess I need to return to what my original intentions are for this project and this blog.  My intentions are to finish the marathon with no set time limit, injury free and to also enjoy the process overall even though I know there will be difficult parts and there will be times I want to quit.  So that being said, for the next 27 weeks I'll be staying away from treadmills and anything else which will force me to count anything.

I mean seriously.... which would you prefer?
 

and on another note, when I sat down to write, I really thought I was going to write about the unfortunate choice of either falling off the treadmill or accidentally hitting the 'Emergency Off" button with your belly.... I guess my fingers have a mind of their own :)