Running

I really like to run. I am not very fast, but I still like it.
So, here's a little known fact about me - I had not ever set foot in a gym until about a year and a half ago when my friend Reianna took me to the YMCA with her for a trial workout.
I have always just run outside with minimal equipment. Shoes, running clothes, hair tie. Sometimes a watch. Never an iPod or headphones. It is energizing and rejuvenating to me to be able to run in the peace and cool of the morning, with my thoughts wandering in every direction.

Recently, with the busy-ness of four kids and the shorter winter days, I have tried running a couple of times on a treadmill at the Y. Only because it was late at night and the thought of running outside made me nervous.
Friends, I hated it. Outside, an hour long run, maybe around 7 miles, is what feels comfortable and natural and good. Inside, I am counting down probably once I hit the 10 minute mark. I plug in, and spend the time watching materialistic people hunting for way-too-big houses on HGTV. I am never able to run for longer than about 40 minutes, usually at a much slower pace than what I would do outside. And that is a stretch. I come off it feeling like my brain cells have atrophied and I do not feel relaxed or rejuvenated in the least. I feel like I have completed a workout, which is not the main reason I run (let's be honest - after four babies, it is part of the reason I run, but not the main one).
We will keep the YMCA membership for the kids' programs and lessons, but I think I will stick to the trail.