Crowded Treadmills

Apparently physicians like to run marathons. At least, thats the impression I got today at the conference. No less than 3 different presenters "happened" to mention they were marathon runners. One found a way to brag that he was running "Boston" this year, another joked that his best and worst marathon times were in the Vancouver Marathon and the third guy just mentioned running the Vancouver Sun Run. Well you know what they say...the next best thing to running is talking about running...

After the conference ended I had an afternoon to kill so I went to the cardio room here in the hotel. Its a pretty scrub exercise room with only two treadmills. The treadmills had a 30 minute limit. I have to say I hate it when they limit the time on the treadmills but I also understand. Its distracting to run a 10 mile tempo run while looking over your shoulder to see if you're about to get kicked off the machine. Anyhow, I jumped on and ran 3.5 miles in the 30 minutes which is basically an easy run for me as I am recovering from a cold. But right after I started a whole bunch of old skinny guys showed up in the fitness center. They all looked disappointed that the treadmills were taken and so they jumped on the crosstrainer or the stationary bike. I didn't let it bother me as I only planned on a short run anyway. The run felt great and I was even able to run 1/4 mile at 9.4 mph followed immediately by a quarter mile at 10.5 mph, which I could do because I was only running 3.5 miles total.

It will be nice to finish my easy week tomorrow morning with a 5 mile run if I can squeeze it in without getting kicked off the treadmill...