Hamster Training

We were chatting last night about running on treadmills. The C/H was relating the story of her recent first experience with a treadmill at the local gym. It sounded pretty much like something out a Chevy Chase Saturday Night Live opening scene. But it also got me thinking about the difference between runners and riders. Now I used to say that the only thing that would make me run is if something was chasing me. However in the pre-diagnosis months where my body was deteriorating one of my goals became to run with out pain. It is still one of my goals. But for all intents and purposes I am not a runner. I am a rider. Running bores me, it hurts, you don't go very far, and it is hard on your body.

I do have lots of friends who are runners some of them very accomplished runners and I have the utmost respect for runners. I am married to one. I do appreciate the simplicity of running. It is the way that the original humans got around when they were in a hurry. You don't really need any special gear and it is ultimately pure as a form of recreation. It just doesn't float my boat.
However it seems to me that runners are more likely to be willing to or even enjoy running indoors on a treadmill while listening to their Ipod. The cycling equivalent of this is riding rollers or a trainer which is a different story all together. Most of the complaints that I have about running, indoors or out, are the same complaints about riding indoors. It is boring, you don't go anywhere and it hurts much more so than a regular ride because you sit in the same position for the whole "ride." Now I have spent more than my fair share of rime on the trainer. After all I am an avid enthusiast who cant stand to get out of shape in the winter months so usually around Mid December I start building base miles on the trainer and work up to my first round of intensity traning by early February all on the trainer if weather doesn't permit. But I will bend over backward to ride outdoors even in the winter. I don't mind riding in the cold or the wind. I like riding in the rain but I cant do it everyday. I am usually limited by daylight hours in the winter. But come this time of year, the trainer is put away and I gets my mile on the road.

But then there are those runners, who continue year round, to run on their hamster wheels at home and in the gym as if being outside is a problem. Seeing the wildflowers bloom is a drawback and staring at a wall and having nine inch nails blaring in your ears is the shizzle. I don't get it. What is up with that? Do you not want to be outside because you might sweat. Or because someone might see you? Or you are too tempted by running past the Starbucks? Perhaps because running is so damn boring to begin with, it doesn't really matter if you are staring at a wall or running around your neighborhood.

OK I've lit the fuse let the debate explode. Comment below.

But First: check out this link about How to talk to people who have cancer . Most of what it says is right on the money. I've got to say that insisting that everything is going to be OK is really annoying. It is already way not OK but it is what it is. And unsolicited advice can be really frustrating as well, I cant physically do all of the things that I have been advised to do, there are not enough hours in the day. I love you all and I know that you are well meaning and I would rather have all that than no communication. I know it has got to be really hard to reach out to someone like me because it brings you up against your own fears and discomforts but I appreciate any and all communication. I read all of my email even if I don't reply and if you make a gaff, I wont hold it against you. I love you for trying, that is really what counts.

Now chime in: trainers vs. treadmills, indoor vs. outdoor.
Thanks for reading