DREAD

as you've probably caught on by now, i have become quite the lover of running.

i'm in love with running - OUTDOORS. 

with this wretched lovely winter weather we've been doomed blessed with this year, it has brought out the best and worst in my love affair. it's pretty sad when you're pumped that the sun is shining and the high for the day is projected at 40 - holy freggin' heat wave. 

i've learned to adapt, layer, 

psychmyselfoutandpretendthatit'swarmerthanitreallyit, 

and just plain suck it up - or run on the 

...DUM DUM DUM...

DREADMILL. 

it's like a curse word. 

i loathe the dreadmill. i dread it. 

ba-da-bing. 

poor jess is probably tired of hearing me gripe about it. 

(sorry, jess!) 

sure, i'll pump out a 3 miler on the treadmill - 

if i am absolutely forced to. 

i'm ready to get off that blasted machine by about .45 miles. 

no kidding. 

thankfully - there have only been a few times in my spring training that i've had to resort to the torture chamber. last night was one of them. i just could not make myself run outside in the cold, damp, dreary evening. thus, i headed to the Y.

am i the only one that has trouble with the torture chamber? i see people in the gym that just run and run and run and run on the treadmill and don't seem to be cursing under their breath, fidgeting, twitching, screaming, huffing and puffing and ready to blow the frazzlin' gym down - 

like yours truly. 

if i'm not the only one who has these struggles, let me tell you how i make it through.... 

magazines. lots of magazines. 

headphones.

ipod.

television. 

motivation.

the trick to the magazines is you have to select a mag that is full of pictures and large words. i made the mistake of choosing one last night with LOTS OF WORDS. and tiny words at that. by looking at/reading a magazine - you've conveniently hidden the timer and mileage from your immediate view. if you're like me - you watch it tick every second and every .01 mile. 

headphones with either and ipod or the television. this is tricky though. i'm hoping all of my 2 blog readers are smart enough to know that television shows in the late afternoon are either 1 hour long (oprah, ellen, etc.) or 30 minutes (the news). so, you have to be careful not to pay attention to what time the show starts and stops because then you're fully aware of how much time has ticked by.....or not. 

by utilizing the headphone/tv/ipod & magazine combo - you can survive. 

most imprtantly, if you struggle with the i-hate-the-treadmill-more-than-going-to-the-dentist, reward yourself for a task complete. find motivation.

like last night - i said to myself, self, 

"if you don't run these 5 miles on the torture chamber, 

you can't go to girl's night out (which is tonight) at WHISKEY KITCHEN."

 you better betcha that i read/looked at 2 mags and watched/listened to 1.5ish rounds of the news. it's thirsty thursday with some of my favorite lady faces - i owned the dreadmill last night. 

cheers to conquering the dreadmill & cheers to ladies night! whoop! 

thankfully, spring and time change are just around the corner and hopefully - 

no more dreadmilling for this girl.