Running anything beyond 50 feet on a treadmill is kind of torture for me and it's kind of really cold and it has been snowing for 5 days outside. Thankfully, the local high school has the field house track open 4 nights a week for people to go run so I don't have to run in the snow (which would actually be hilarious, now that I think about it).
Running on the track is great. I have a little system with my fingers to help me keep count of how many laps I've completed. Also, I'm surrounded by runners and walkers whose endorphins are pumping through their veins which means they are super nice and very apt to smile. It's funny, even though there's a runner who has passed me like 3 times and is on lap gajillion, I never feel self-conscious or silly like I do ev-er-y time I'm at a gym on an elliptical. I gotta say though, my favorite part about running on the track is that the whole time you're there, you see the backs of everyone's heads. I sub-consciously create an image, in my mind, of what their faces MUST look like. Lap after lap, that image gets more ingrained in my brain until, by the end of my run, I am sure I know what their faces look like. I cool down, stretch, drink a bunch of water, and get all bundled up to leave. I step out onto the track, walking the opposite way as everyone on the track, and walk to the stairs. It's at this point that I make eye contact with pretty much everyone I stared at from behind for 2 miles and it blows. my. mind. No one looks anything like I imagined them looking and it is hilariously entertaining for me.
So.....right now. That's my favorite part about running. People's faces. I am so weird.
