I'm looking out the window everywhere I go and I see beautiful colors on the trees, Halloween ornaments on the houses, pumpkins at all the stores and I'm really excited that fall is here! Then, I step out of the car and BAM! It's HOT and HUMID! What the heck? I'm totally a fair-weathered girl, but 80 degree weather in October? Crazy. Luckily, this has enabled me to still run outdoors without worrying that my little chubster is going to freeze to death in his mini sports car (what my stroller was referred to today cause it's so sweet). Thank goodness for that.
I might as well talk about my issues with running indoors. Treadmills are so boring, it's stupid. Why do they even put a TV up there anyway? Can people actually see what's going on while bobbing up and down so much? And a magazine rack? OK, this is good for walkers, but runners like me just can't hack it. I think I tried to read a fitness magazine once and gave up after 15 minutes of trying to get through the first sentence of what looked like a good article. And I'm sorry I have to talk about this again, but hello sweat! Indoor running, even with those massive fans blowing, is still stifling. Oh yeah and running for an hour indoors is like running for a century. Not because it's really that long, but because you'll probably watch at least three runners cycle through your neighbor machines. I'm not trying to diss (oh yeah, 90s) people who run shorter distances, it's just hard for me to keep going when everyone next to me finishes their workout in 20 minutes. I start feeling like I'm going to set up base camp right there and live on Gatorade and Cliff Bars from the gym's concessions for the rest of my life.
But believe it or not, I'm really not bitter about everything. In fact, I really appreciate the awesome resources that gyms provide. For example, the gym near me has a free co-op babysitting program for moms who want to workout. It's awesome. On top of that there are so many classes for people in to that (hmmm...I'm not) and a huge amount of weights for strength training. Also, a staff of personal trainers is always on hand to give advice and record your improvements. Running outside definitely doesn't provide all that.
Moral of the story, do what you want, but for now, or at least till the weather gets unbearable, I'm running outside!
What about you? Are you IN or are you OUT?
3 years ago
4 comments:
I agree with every single word you said about treadmills. I keep my mind occupied by increasing my speed .1 mph every so few minutes. It becomes my goal to decrease the time between these increments before I reach my max speed, which I try to run for the rest of my alotted time but often end up decreasing, again by .1 mph increments. See. Running on a treadmill makes you go crazy!
Running outdoors is infinitely better than running on a treadmill; however, when there's ice and snow all over the ground it's about the only option. I'm really dreading winter weather because running outside in the fall is just so fun.
I'm not only out, I'm out and off! I love running on trails, and the only place I've been able to find decent trails is outside! Am I right, people? Let me hear all you trail runners say "Yeaya."
Gym running is a last resort, and isn't an altogether bad option. Fitness is fitness is fitness, regardless of how you get there. If running in place staring at the wall or a tiny TV while breathing everyone else's gym funk is your thing then so be it. If running in the gorgeous outdoors on rugged awesome trails is your thing, that's great. I'm not biased at all.
Yeah, I totally agree with Garrett in that I respect anyone and everyone who makes any effort to be active. From the folks at the gym on the sweet eliptical machines (I don't think I have the coordination for that!) to the people getting muddy on those backcountry trails, to the workaholics taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It's all cool and I respect the effort, whatever it may be!
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