Dreadmill

The only thing I dread more than the treadmill is running in the dark by myself.  I’ll gladly run through Central Park in the dark with my team (in fact, I’ve done so in the sleet, the rain, and the snow, as well), but running by myself before work, through the streets in the industrial neighborhood that border mine, or over the 59th Street Bridge with just the ambient light from bus headlamps illuminating the pedestrian way, is not my preferred atmosphere for swift foot travel.

Alas, in order to get in my minimum runs for the week, the treadmill it must be.  This morning I ran for 38 minutes, gently cajoling myself through every minute past the 25th.   I kept up a minimum 10-minute per mile pace, upping the pace the final half a mile.  I worked up a fantastic sweat, I haven’t sweat that much running outside since September.  I could have been a lot worse. The boredom wasn’t nearly as numbing as it could have been, I sorted out my jerky, marathon-recovery stride about 15 minutes in, and (as an added bonus) I didn’t encounter any coworkers in the locker room.

The only way I knew to get through it was to listen to Episode 89 of Matt Tartar’s excellent podcast, “The Dump Runner’s Club.”  He talked about Flow (interesting), but my favorite part of his podcast is when he gives highlights of elite running on the world stage. Based on his most recent summaries, I have to add #3 to my list:

Reasons Why I Wish I Was Running the Flora London Marathon in 2008:

1. Ryan Hall

2. Steve Mitchell (my coach)

3. Paula Radcliffe

Clearly, London is irresistible to some of the top Olympic marathoners as a tune-up race. It is shaping up to be a very impressive line up of elites. I hope it’s broadcast on television here in the US. Stay tuned for this list to be expanded as I learn more about which elites will be competing in that race. Also, sooner or later I’ll have to post about Paula, and Kara, and my planned trip to watch the Women’s Olympic Trials for the marathon in Boston.