A Post for Jeff

Jeff... Brace yourself... I made friends with the treadmill. For reals.

I've always been a hater when it comes to the dreadmill. Running hard and going nowhere, getting super red in the face, dripping sweat like a gross person, trapped in a fitness facility with no fresh air. NO THANK YOU! Until I started doing tempo work, that is.

Tonight, I actually opted for the treadmill over running outside and realized that a major shift has occurred. And I realized on my walk to Crossroads afterwards that the shift came because the treadmill finally has a real purpose: to ensure I hit my paces.

If I'm going for distance or endurance - get me the hell out of the gym and onto the open road please. But if I have to maintain a specific pace for a specific time, I've recently discovered that the treadmill is my friend; keeping me honest and making sure I do the assigned work. Paula Deen was also a good friend tonight. There's just something so satisfying about watching the Food Network while running, especially when the show you're watching specializes in deep frying and cooking with large amounts of butter and cream. As an aside, I thought it was pretty comical that 90% of the commercials that aired during Paula's show were for weight loss products :)

9 miles. 40 minutes of it at tempo (between 8:00 and 8:15 min/miles). Done and done.