Tre-aaad-mill LOVE

[Sing to the tune of California Love.]

2Pac. So great. I'm adding California Love and Life Goes On to my running iTunes tab pronto. California Love is good for anytime... I've warmed up to Life Goes On more times than I can count. Such truth.

Yesterday, after a week of outside runs I went for a 7 mile run on the treadmill. I know a lot of people hate it, but I LOVE the treadmill. I like that I can watch the World Cup while working out. It's so much easier running on a flat surface in air conditioning. All the stats I could ever want are flashing in front of me during my workout. I'll even admit that I'm entertained by the cursor moving around the "track." (This isn't the exact treadmill I use, but close enough.)

Long runs outside get pretty boring for me without a running partner. Even with my iPod after 3 miles I just feel really alone. I think it helps me tremendously to be surrounded by people working out in the gym. Usually at least one person I know will ask me how my run went. It's a lot harder to throw the towel in early if you know that's going to happen.

The 7 miles on the treadmill were a lot easier than 3 outside in the heat. I ran 7 miles in 1:07:05 at an average pace of 9:35 min/mi. (The treadmill cuts off at an hour. Adding my two times up I got 1:06:50, but I think I lost about 15 seconds taking a drink of Powerade after an hour.) The 10k split was 59:39. That's the first time I've completed a 10k under an hour. It's definitely cool to know I did it, but at the same time I don't feel any different. Aren't you supposed to feel different when you check off a goal? I know for a fact every mile was sub 10 minutes. Maybe I'll feel different once I do this with a chip time. Who knows when that will be.

I have a little over 2 months until the VB Rock n' Roll Half. I think I will continue with the short outside runs and long runs on the treadmill for the next month. Once I'm back up to 10 miles, I'll go on a long run outside at 7 AM and see how that feels. I don't like getting up early to run unless it's for a race, so I'm going to do as little of this as possible. I'm hoping that by running shorter distances in hotter conditions, I'll trick myself into thinking its comfortable outside at 7AM.

One more thing: K'NAAN's Wavin' Flag (Coca-Cola Celebration Mix) is a FABULOUS song to run to. I downloaded it because I saw it on the Top 100 List on iTunes. Yesterday I think I repeated it about 3 times. I love the drum beats and the "Forever Young" parts!