As long as I can remember, I have hated treadmills.  I guess I blame them for my bad knees and my aching back over the years.  I blame them for going too fast and wearing me out.  I blame them for going too slow and making me slow down to avoid stepping on the kick plate or running into the console.  I blame them for just about everything to do with working out that hinders or hurts me.  When I belonged to a gym, I found the strider machine, and that solved all my problems, and just confirmed to me (in my mind), that treadmills were to blame for everything.  The strider was my savior in all areas.  My knees didn’t hurt, my back didn’t hurt, and I burned 700 calories every other day on that machine in just 30 minutes doing a mountain climbing profile.  Then things changed.  I got a job and the gym took a backseat to my career and family.   Of course, the gym still had a lack of what I love most, and that’s the outdoors.  I’ve tried running outdoors before, but that was before I heard about C25K.  I was out of breath, my knees would kill me, and I would give up, saying that running is just too hard on my knees and my breathing.  I need to find something else.  So I found biking.  It was easy on my knees and back, and I could breathe, and I was outside, so I got to enjoy nature.

Ok, I am getting off topic.  Long story short, I was all wrong.  It wasn’t the treadmill that did it to me, and it wasn’t running outdoors either.  Now that I have started the C25K running program, I am running now, and my knees don’t hurt, and I can actually breathe.  It wasn’t the treadmill at all.  It was my fault.  I was trying too hard to get moving.  With C25K, it started me so slow, with baby steps, I was able to work up to running longer times, and gain strength in my legs, and work on my breathing.  I am up to 25 minute jogs now, and last night, the treadmill proved to me that it’s not my enemy.  I still prefer to run outside, because I love the outdoors, but Wednesday was so hot, I could not finish my 25 minute run, so I tried again yesterday on the treadmill at work, and finished with no problem.  I walked at a 15 minute pace, and I jogged at a 12 minute pace, and when time was up, I think I could have gone further, at least until my water bottle ran out.  I am not afraid of the treadmill any more.  It is my friend, and even though I would rather be outside, when it’s hot and humid, I now know I can still run inside, and my knees will be ok.  Tomorrow, I run again.

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