Dreadmill vs. Snow-covered Road

This morning I looked out the window at the gently falling snowflakes and wondered if I should run outside or on the treadmill.  I chose the treadmill.

It was about 25ºF outside and beautiful.  The snow was falling gently down and I thought how wonderful it would be to run out there.  Then I looked at the snow-covered road and remembered my run on Friday and how I didn't like how my feet kept sliding backwards with every step I took.  

I then considered the dreadmill downstairs, in the dungeon basement, and how dusty and hot it gets when I run down there.  I've got a box fan that I always turn on high and it blows cool air on me, which makes my run more tolerable, and I usually bring down my Kindle Fire and a Bluetooth speaker and watch TV shows or movies on it which keep me distracted.

I enjoy running outside, especially without music.  I prefer listening to the sounds around me instead, and at certain times, it has been important that I did.  I love hearing the water trickling down the field during the spring melt, birds chirping, and especially the sound of some critter sneaking around in the brush at 5 A.M., in the dark, on the side of the road, which ended up being a skunk.  Had I not seen Pepé Le Pew first, I would have had to have a sub that day.  And every teacher knows that it's more work to prepare for a sub than to just go in.

So, why did I choose the dreadmill?  I guess it's because I didn't want to struggle with my footing, especially when the snow on the side of the road camouflages the shoulder, seeing how there are no sidewalks on my road, and I'd hate to twist my ankle.  That would not be good.  So I hooked up my Kindle Fire and Bluetooth speaker, turned on the fan, set the timer on my iPhone to 30 minutes, and did my run while finishing CBS's Sunday Morning show.

Because I wasn't running outside, my Strava app would be useless.  I have a Jawbone UP tracker that I wear all the time, even when I sleep, so I set it to track my activity and let it track my run.

I then plug in my time and pace manually on the Strava app just to keep track.

Now when you look at my pace (shown by the bars) you can see that I slowed down at one point in the middle.  That's called walking while I blow my nose, otherwise, I kept my treadmill pace between 4.5 and 5.

So, it was a good run, and I'm glad I did it.  I'm always happy that I did my run or any workout, it's getting into it that's the challenge.