Treading Hills

This morning, I left Elle watching cartoons while I dropped Mindy and Ethan off at school then went to the grocery store. When I got home, I looked around and couldn't find her, and got a little worried for a minute. Then I looked into our bed and she was asleep in there with Pete. It was the sweetest thing! I thought I'd wait around for her to wake up, then we'd go to the gym. She ended up sleeping until almost 11, though! Of course, she must be sick, why else would she sleep so long? It was too late to take her with me to the gym, and I wouldn't have taken her anyway with her being sick so I was relieved when Pete ended up staying home because he was feeling a little sick too.

Today wasn't too cold so I could have run outside, but it was a red air day. I don't know if that's the exact wording, but the air is really bad. Because of the mountains we get inversion which means all the pollution gets trapped in the valley and the air gets really smoggy sometimes in the winter.

I didn't really want to go running today, but I didn't get to go yesterday because I was seriously running around all day to the dentist and the eye doctor, dropping Pete off at work and picking the kids up from school, and I was feeling really stressed out. I knew I would feel better if I went today so I just got ready and put my headphones on. The next thing I knew, Muse was playing and I just couldn't get out the door fast enough. Funny how fast things can change!

I ran outside for about 3 blocks to the gym then I ran on the treadmill. It seemed like such a shame to be running inside, but at least I was looking out the window at a lot of mud (where they're working on the new building!) so I pretended I was trail running. It kind of felt like trail running too because I did hills.

I ran for half a mile with the incline on 1, then turned it up to 6 for a quarter of a mile, then 7 for a quarter, then back down to 1 for half. I did this 4 times, and it was really hard. I had the speed on 5 for the hills and the first quarter-mile of the recovery, then I'd turn it to 6 to finish off the half-mile before turning it back down to 5 and the incline back up to 6, then 7. Is that confusing?

I did a total of 4.5 miles in about 52 minutes, not counting jogging to the gym and back. I liked this gym because there was actually a fan that I pointed right at myself, and when I first got there there was only one other person in there. It was almost like my own personal gym! It was a good run, but I can't wait for the air to clear up so I can run outside again. I would do it tomorrow for sure if the air wasn't bad. I'll probably end up on the treadmill again. That's ok, though, I'm getting used to it.