Treadmill Running





Lifetime Fitness logo on website

January 2, 2010
Lifetime Fitness

4+ miles

30+minutes

(I should really pay more attention to the read outs right there in front of me)

An early start to the day taking my daughter up to the airport at oh dark thirty and then four more hours of driving to Casper. Ah well, such is life.  The early morning and icy road conditions wore me out and therefore, after arriving at my 2nd home, I did the most noble thing I could, I took a nap.

Awakening refreshed and with some new found energy I decided to get my lazy butt out and run ... in the gym ... sometime ... today.  After much talking to myself and finally convincing me to change into running gear, I received a call from a friend who wants to begin running with a group of us in Casper.  Whatcha doing?  Going to go run.  Want to run with me at my gym so I can see if I can keep up?  Sure, why not? 

So, Don picked me up and took me to his gym - Lifetime Fitness.  It's one of the gyms I checked out before joinging mine.  However, I quickly decided I didn't need the indoor putting/driving range, or the lap pool or the racket ball courts or even the expensive monthly fee after taking a tour of their facilities. 

Arriving there, I paid my guest fee, okay, Don did since I complained on the way that I could be running at My gym without having to shell out more money and that I wasn't sure I wanted to run at Lifetime since they just bought the Leadville races.  Good man though for ponying up and taking care of it for me. 

Their facilities are truly nice I must admit.  I quickly found the locker room and took off the extra layers needed in Wyoming in the winter and met Don by the bank of treadmills facing Casper mountain and the wall of T.V.s!  Wow! At least five television sets all tuned to different channels -- I watched HGTV and the Strongman Competition during my run!

Don and I found two machines next to each other not in use and hopped on to begin "our run."  I started out slow and then bumped up the speed a tenth after about a quarter of a mile or so to eventually get to a nice, easy 10 min/mile pace.  Once there, I held it until about 3+ miles and then I slowed it down and increased the grade to get in a "hill workout" for about a half a mile.  After powerhiking and sweating a bit, I decreased the incline and picked up the pace for a pretty fast quarter mile or so and then began my slow, cool down. 

Don was beside me the entire way running and powerhikig; however, he told me later that the first two miles were enjoyable, but the last two were, well, to say the least, they weren't enjoyable.  I thought he did very well and I don't think he'll have a problem running with us on Saturday. 

After running though, Don showed me just what his real strength is, weight training.  It was here that I felt terrible -- I put maybe 30lbs on the machines while Don would place 130+lbs and more!!  Yes, truly, each person has his or her own strengths and I was properly humbled. 

Afterwards, Don asked about running clothes, so we headed to WalMart and picked up a starter "Starter" set of running duds for him while I got some groceries~ 

Another great day of running, even if on the treadmill ... running with friends makes all the difference!