Dreadmill Distraction

What I see when I look at a treadmill.

Living in New Orleans, I don't have to use the treadmill often.  When I do, it's typically not during the winter unlike most of the country.  And being an adamant hater of the dreadmill, I only resort to it under dire circumstances:

1.  Thunderstorms (I don't wanna die)
2.  Heat index >110°F/43°C (Still don't wanna die)
3.  


Yeah.  That's about it.  And #2 I can be flexible on.  The only other circumstance is MAYBE if I'm really in a time crunch and can't get a run in otherwise.

I've run in downpours, sweltering temperatures, snow storms (when visiting Cleveland)... anything to avoid feeling like a hamster on a wheel.

My brain on a treadmill

When I do get on a treadmill, my battle is to avoid the constant urge to quit.  The whole run I find myself staring at the "stop" button.  It's like there's a magnetic force pulling my attention to STOP.  I've tried music.  I've tried TV. I do best when I'm rocking to music and watching TV with closed caption.  It's the best I can do to max my brain out on distraction.  Unfortunately, it's hard to find TVs with CC which loses my attention rapidly.

TV distraction of choice at the gym:

• News:  Yes, the Daily Show counts.  I'm a dork and enjoy watching the news.  Plus, they often have those scrolly things at the bottom so I can read if there's no closed caption.

• Soccer:  I grew up playing soccer, so that's part of it.  The only part is... have you seen soccer players!?!?  Talk about distraction.  (And have I mentioned that Seattle has a MLS soccer team?  Talk about making it hard to focus at a new job!)

Thank you, Vanity Fair, for this lovely distraction.  Maybe I should post this over the stop button.
Might kill my desire to finish early...

What are your thoughts about the treadmill?  Necessary evil or just evil?  What kind of distractions do you use?

Hatin'

I have something of a love/hate relationship with treadmills.  Living in New Orleans, they are something I rarely have to use.  For one, the winters here are relatively mild (though, as a cold weather wimp I still complain).  And due to my job, I usually spend most of the day inside.  Running is the one time that I get outside, enjoy nature & have a moment to myself.  When I do have to use them I generally find myself in one of 2 situations:  Either I get into a groove & knock out the miles wondering why I don't use treadmills more often, or I spend the whole run staring at the mileage as it ticks slowly 0.1 mile at a time.  Usually it's the latter.

So over the past year, anytime I was forced to run indoors I usually chose another option:  the mini-track.  My local gym has this itty-bitty track that requires 9 loops for a mile.  And that's if you're in the outer loop.  Yeah.

One would think it would be awful, but I've found I like it better than the dreadmill.  Particularly because my gym is located on an undergraduate campus, there are always things to distract you.  Coeds having inappropriate conversations on their cell phones, guys flexing & grunting to show off (ps guys... not sexy) and scandalous workout outfits are everywhere.  (If your gym shorts are so short that I can see your thong, you might want to rethink your gym clothes.  Just sayin'.)

At this rate, I may never run on a treadmill in New Orleans again.  I even knocked out a 16 miler on the mini-track and a handful of shorter runs.  (One warning though:  one leg tends to get a little sore.)

What types of runs do you try to avoid & what are you willing to do to get out of them?

Oh... and for fuel on your treadmill, mini-track, outdoors or otherwise runs, a little Gu giveaway hosted by 26.2 Quest.