I have a love-hate relationship with my treadmill. I love it because it makes working out possible 24/7 and no matter what the weather’s like. I hate it because after 20 minutes I started to feel like a caged animal. But early this morning, about 2.5 miles into my scheduled 5-miler, as I was cursing my husband for leaving his iPod at work (no, I don’t own my own iPod) and cursing myself for not buying a headlamp yet so I could brave my narrow, winding road in the dark, my oldest strolled into the room. He immediately started chatting away about King Kong and Pokémon games and his theories about treadmill mechanics. Perfect timing – that was right when I needed to ramp up the pace and the 2nd-grade level chit-chat was a welcome break from the monotony. Soon, my youngest joined him and her excited squeals and nonstop chorus of “What Mommy doing?” almost made me forget that I was still looking at another 30 minutes of running in place. (That’s her being mesmerized by my fancy footwork.) I said almost. Right around the time when the little one was getting a little too brave around the machine I saw the first sign of daylight. I pulled the plug superfast, grabbed my key, told the oldest to let his dad know I was taking my usual route, and bolted. Suddenly, my “to-do” run turned into a “lucky me” run.
How about you? When running in place is your best option for the day, what do you do to make the most of your treadmill time?
