I'm a wimp...there are other words I use in my head, but that one is probably the most appropriate for me to use in mixed company. Yesterday's long run happened inside. The weather forecast was being all wonky, and while I am okay with running in the cold OR in the wet, both is not acceptable. My ego (and my relationship) couldn't take a failed run when I had my longest-to-date long run planned for the day.
So, onto the treadmill it was! I planned to run early because I was aware that my sloth-like pace was going to hog up a lot of time. Given that our apartment gym has only one properly functioning treadmill, I didn't want to cheese off my fellow building dwellers.
The idea of 17 miles on the treadmill presented some large psychological barriers. First and foremost, our gym is small, ugly, and presents very little in the way of distraction. This is fine for an 8 mile mid week run, but not so fine for a long slow distance run. Chief among my #firstworldproblems issues with the spaces are the color and lighting. The walls are a vivid orange that reminds me of the powder they sprinkle on the carpet when a primary school student pukes in class. Second, florescent lights irritate me. I'm that guy who refuses to turn on the lights in my office because I'd rather have daylight than that weird flickery ugly green light. Blame AMA, he's a photographer and has made me a light snob.
What I am about to tell you may loose whatever running streed credibility that I might have been earning, but I don't care. AMA came to the rescue with the iPad and a movie! Hehe!!! I promised myself I would take the opportunity to make this a slower run, and the movie totally made this possible. I set the treadmill to more-slothly-than-usual and left it there for the whole run.
I got to watch Serenity, which is one of my favorite movies. It served to keep my mind actively engaged through the begining and middle miles, which are mentally the toughest for me. I was highly entertained the whole time, don't know what it did for mental toughness, but it did a lot for my confidence as I sailed through barriers I normally face and the negative self talk I associate with them. The movie itself has lots of great one liners which served to motivate me through the run. I may toy with taking excerpts of them and integrating them into my future run mixes.
By the time it was over, I was ready to focus on the remaining miles. The remaining miles were less than one of my middle distance mid-week runs and felt totally manageable. Even more awesome, I was tired when I was done, but felt like I might have been able to do more.
We'll see what kind of awesomeness I can conjure in a couple of weeks when I bump it up to 19 miles!
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