When I originally started running many years ago, I ran outside almost exclusively. Rarely would anything keep me from running outside. Rain? Outside. Snow? Outside. Cold? Outside. In fact, my running stats only made mention of the times that I ran inside.
Fast forward to today, and I run almost exclusively INSIDE. And my running stats only make mention of the few times that I run outside.
So what’s different?
I think it’s two reasons:
- I’m worried about whatever makes my knee hurt flaring up, and then being stranded a mile or two or whatever from home, and having to limp back.
- I’m not comfortable with my body, and being outside – in public – shows the world that I’m a chubby old dude sweating his ass off.
Yeah, my knee occasionally hurts, but it hasn’t hurt like it did years ago where I stopped running for years. All the hiking I’ve done, barely a twinge. All the inside running? Nothing.
The second reason is purely psychological and one that I just have to get over. Yeah, I’m a chubby old dude sweating his ass off running. But I’m doing it. You probably couldn’t tell by looking at me that I have logged a number of 5 mile runs non-stop. I also see you gym dudes who only work on arms and shoulders barely last 10 minutes on the treadmill because cardio is hard.
Since the weekends are really the best opportunities for me to do longer runs, today was my day to finally run outside.
Plus, it’s really nice out – it’s 70 (which is warm, yeah,) but tomorrow and Tuesday it’s supposed to snow (in fact, Tuesday has a predicted low right around zero.)
And so I did.
The first half was hard – it’s practically all uphill. But that also means that on the way back, it’s practically all downhill.
Looking at my Relive video, you can see just how hilly it was on the first half. No wonder it sucked. But I did it. And I’ll do it again.