Where to start?

I've started writing posts several times, and even wrote out a post on paper, with a pencil(!), but every time I get close to typing one up on the computer, I get taken away and can't get back to make a post.  Most recently, my teenage son got hit by a car, and I spent most of the rest of the day in Emergency.

So here goes:

I hate the treadmill. Don't like it at all. I find it boring. When I am having a bad day on the road, I go about a quarter mile, and think "I've only gone a quarter mile?" After that point, I start feeling better until the miles start going by quickly and easily, and I'm thinking "Is it over already?"

On the treadmill, I start out with the same question, but keep asking it over and over again -- "only half a mile?"  "Only a mile?" "Only two miles?"  Ugh.

I do see the purpose f the treadmill, though. Over the weekend of the 18th-19th, I was out of town for my daughter's college graduation. The school is about a six-hour drive from here, and she was moving into an apartment in NYC directly after graduation, so driving down and back in one day was really out of the question. Fortunately, the hotel where we stayed had a fitness center, so I could get my runs in.

Having a treadmill available solves the problems of being in an unfamiliar city. Running in an unfamiliar place can cause one to get lost, or to run a shorter distance than intended. Running in unfamiliar territory often leads to overestimating the distance run as well, and not knowing the neighborhoods that one runs through can be dangerous.

It was incredibly hot in the fitness center, and I worked up quite a sweat, more than I would have liked. My shirt was soaked by the time I finished my run -- it was like an afternoon run in the dead of summer, only without the sunshine.

So, I'll probably be using treadmills in the future, but I know that I won't be enjoying them.