nascar... for runners

welcome to december! it sure looks like december. we woke up to a couple of inches of new snow today. kind of pretty, except i hate snow! especially now that i run or ride my bike regularly. i went for a run the other morning after a light snowfall. there was only a skiff on the ground, but here and there, i found slick spots. impossible to discern from the surrounding areas. anyway, running (or riding) in snow is not fun!

as the weather grew colder, and the forcasts called for snow, meemer and i began discussing the local community center. while basically a handful of basketball courts alongside a few classrooms, it does have an indoor track, and a few pieces of exercise equipment. due to the snow, and the fact that it will likely continue for a few months, we decided it was time to try it out.

meemer went and paid our dues and ran her six miles. since the track is only 0.10 miles, you can see where i'm going... she had to do 60 laps! so while i only did 4.2 miles, that was still 42 laps, and just like nascar, it is insanely boring to do left turns for 36 minutes! (i guess they try to relieve some of this tedium by switching directions every other day.)

luckily, they anticipate the mind-numbing nature of this kind of running, and provide the little handheld counters to you can click off each lap. (i don't think i could accurately keep count for more than 5 laps.) at least you can watch all the kids play basketball as you run. except the guys have the age-old problem of resorting to "shirts vs. skins" when they play, and who wants to see that?!?

my favorite part of the track is that the courts on one side are heated, but the far courts are not. half of each lap is at least 10 degrees warmer that the other half. the result of this drastic switch in temperature twice a lap is two-fold. every time i hit the wall of warm air, my mouth instantly dried out. the other was that toward the end of every warm stretch, i felt like puking. pick one! all warm would be fine. i would sweat like crazy, but i can deal with that! all cool would be even better. it felt great running on that side! i don't know how the flocks of senior who walk laps in the mornings don't pass out!

i'm not complaining. it will just take some getting used to. it is better than being stuck on my treadmill all winter, and it is certainly better than not running! i may have to ask about the hvac situation...