Too Windy, You Say?

It is safe to say the wind that blows through the Magic Valley is its own breed of miserable. Waking up Saturday morning to the familiar sound of the wind tearing through the trees upset me. It upset me because I had really been looking forward to a run outside, but more so because I started justifying why 6 miles on the treadmill would be a good idea. And I HATE the gym (I don't use the word "hate" often so this is serious.) I know I am stereotyping, judge me if you will, but every time I go to the gym here is what happens:

1. It is either too cold or too hot.
2. 5 minutes into a workout I am approached by a "gym rat" a.k.a. "lame dude I have no interest in".
3. It smells like sweat and rubber.
4. I feel like I'm in a fitness competition with a bunch of people I don't care about.
5. I don't feel treadmills get an accurate read on my running.

I could go on - but I will stop at 5. While I listened to the wind I struggled with the idea of the gym...and then I got a text from Chanelle "It's pretty nasty outside. Do you want to run at the gym?" Yeahhhhh. The gym it is. Let's just call this mistake #1 for the day.

I decided to put my distaste aside and focus on the task at hand. It's only an hour or so - I could deal. I'm sharing a photo of the lovely view of the gym, Chanelle's excitement to work the equipment (once she found one with a functioning TV) and my best fake smile.



Low and behold nearly every item previously mentioned rang true. Exactly 3 minutes into my run, I was approached by a gym rat. Lovely. I really enjoy pointless chit-chat with strangers while running. However, the worst part was the heat!!! Holy smokes - I am pretty sure they had the heater on. Chanelle and I were DYING. I would share an "after photo" of the two of us but will spare your eyes. Just imagine two drowned cats and know that would still be 100% better than we looked. Thank goodness we brought towels. We quickly decided 3 miles on the treadmill would be plenty and would welcome the elements outside to finish up. I will also spare you the choice words used to describe our decision to run at the gym. "Never Again" sums it up nicely. We finished on the treadmill and got ready to run outside. Let's call this mistake #2.

Apparently the 1 mile drive to the running trail was too much rest for our muscles. When we began the 2nd leg of our run, soaking wet from sweat and freezing from the wind, we couldn't even make it a mile. The trail was made of mud and bark - it felt like we were running in quick sand. Chanelle stopped twice to tie her shoe...for some reason there was a helicopter interruption... the wind wasn't letting up (I have more excuses than I know what to do with) but we officially stopped running. We walked the rest of our 6 mile requirement. Epic Fail.

On the bright side, it made for some good laughs and lessons learned! Although it wasn't our best day - we did get to run together and it is nice to know that we're always on the same page. Best running partner ever!

On another note (mostly because I love fall, I feel the need to share and make this post even longer!) we went to the pumpkin patch! I hadn't been to a real pumpkin patch in ages...let alone one that operated on the "honor system". This wouldn't happen in Scottsdale - only in good ol' Idaho! It was a lot of fun and made up for the disappointing run earlier that day!

XO,

Chantele