After having a day to mull over my 20 miler on the treadmill, I’ve come up with a list of things I loved and hated about it. Some of them were out of my control, but some could definitely be repeated if you ever end up having to do a long run on the treadmill.
Things I Loved
- Lady Gaga or Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” coming on at the EXACT moment I need it. This happened by chance on Sunday, but it would be easy to bust out one of these songs when I feel like I’m losing motivation.
- Switching treadmills during a long run and feeling exactly like I am starting over. One of the best tricks ever for completing a long run on the treadmill is to switch treadmills two or three (or four) times during the run. It gives you a fresh slate and saves you from losing your mind when you realize you’ve been essentially standing in one location for three hours.
- When someone leaves the latest issue of US Weekly RIGHT NEXT to my treadmill when I’m on mile 15 of a 20 miler!! Thank you, stranger.
- NEW SHOES. I wore my super snazzy new pink Asics Gel Nimbus shoes that I plan to wear for the marathon. Wearing them for at least one long run before the race helps to break them in and decrease the likelihood of blisters. I seriously felt like I was floating on all this fresh new cushioning.
- Following my own advice and wearing a neon orange shirt and bright pink shorts to my long run. Dressing like a bonfire made me excited to get cracking on my long run. (crackling?)
- Watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians on my iPod.
- Discovering a Wife Swap marathon on VH1 after I ran out of Kardashian episodes. For some reason, my dad can tolerate us watching all sorts of trashy shows but always demanded that we “turn off this garbage” when he sees us watching Wife Swap. Weird right?! So I got to watch it and feel extra rebellious.
- Feeling great and fresh the day after 20 miles on the treadmill. Victory!
Things I Hated
- When there are gross drops of sweat left on the treadmill when you try to start to run on it.
- When the gym plays music videos on the TV and doesn’t have speakers, which means the projection mechanism is to just BLAST the TV. I made the mistake of choosing a treadmill positioned right below one of said televisions yesterday during my 20 miler on the treadmill, which meant I had to be assaulted by whatever bad music video was playing on the NYSC music video channel when I was trying to watch Law and Order SVU. “Megan,” you may ask, “Why didn’t you just switch treadmills?” The answer is that I was focused on my iPod episode and did not notice the music until about a mile into the run. Then obvi my OCD forbade me from switching treadmills until I’d hit the designated five miles I needed to hit before switching.
- When someone steals locker number 125. I get a little finicky about the locker that I use at the gym. I only really like even numbers, but NYSC conspires against me and has all the even numbers on the bottom row. I cannot use the bottom row b/c I feel so awk when someone is using the one above me. And then I inevitably hit my head on an open top row locker. So that leaves multiples of 25 as my only acceptable choices, but lately I’ve only really liked 125. Therefore, I get upset when someone takes 125, especially when they don’t put a lock on it, so I think it is available then it really isn’t. Yes, I am a freak.
- When creepers try to talk to you on the treadmill. (See my open letter)
- The fact that the NYSC televisions lack Bravo, USA, MTV, and Food Network. The BSC I went to had Bravo and Food Network, mabye to make up for the fact that it was in Boston.
I may have skipped my run this morning, which means that I have three consecutive 10 milers this week. Whoops! Hopefully I can recreate a lot of the things I loved on Sunday, while minimizing the things I hated. 
Sweat left behind is disgusting… But I did have the unfortunate issue of having to stare at snot the entire run. Either than or someone had a coughing fit mid-run? Seriously… there are wipe dispensers for a reason… sick!
I’m glad to know that I’m not the only person that gets excited to run because I’m wearing something new or cute! When you talk about having TV shows on your ipod, are you just listening to the words or do you have it resting on the treadmill so you can watch too?
I rest it on the rail on the treadmill so I can see it. I usallly do it w/ my mini little ipod nano, but I borrowed my bf’s ipod touch for this run so I could see it better. It makes it go by WAY faster!!
MEGAN stop telling people tricks for long run on the treadmill. I understand you had to do it for circumstances out of your control but giving ADVICE on how people can be just like you and run their long runs on the TREADMILL? come onnnnn.
I am not reccommending anyone be just like me!!! (well i mean, the world could always use more people as delightful as me…and fewer treadmill drip-sweaters and creepers) BUT if you have to run on the tmill, this stuff made it bearable. Just b/c you love running in the tundra does not mean everyone else does! I think spending all that time at Williams has turned you pretty bad-ass. HOWEVER, you got forced to run outside in the freezing wilderness every day, so you’re used to it. Some of us were not that lucky/unlucky.
I love that you wore a neon orange shirt and bright pink shorts! Thats actually such a good idea to dress really fun
Oh no, I’m thinking of joining NYSC! Do all their TV’s lack Bravo, USA, MTV, and Food Network?? They’re my favorite! This might be a deterrent from me joining!
hahah you def get some weird looks but it makes me happier and more motivated for sure!! I’m not sure about all NYSCs, but def the one in Grand Central and a handful of others in Manhattan!
[...] – 21 miles (we did this on the treadmill. Based on Megan’s suggestion, we changed treadmills every 5 miles). We did it in about 3 hours and 30 minutes. Monday – [...]