Neurosis, published

I mean, I guess when you get right down to it, that's what a blog is, right?

So here is just a glimpse of today's neurosis...

It is another rainy day here. Another run on the treadmill. For a 3 mile run, music is enough. Put in the ear phones, blast the playlist, (hopefully) less than 30 minutes later - done. But for days at a time on the treadmill, even a 4-5 miler sometimes needs more than music to keep my feet going.

Enter: Netflix.

But first...

the treadmill is in the basement.

There's no TV in the basement.

Grab the lap top!

Then stack two moving boxes (being a military family, yes, we always have moving boxes) directly in front of the treadmill. These happen to be high quality, heavy duty dish packs, thank-you-very-much, and are exceptionally sturdy.

 Janky? Noted. But hey, it's raining.

Lately, I have been into documentaries -- for running anyway. I've recently watched Vegucated, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, Hungry for Change, and Happy (twice). So for today's running entertainment, I chose: Food Matters.

But first, I need my notebook. Now, this is just a plain spiral notebook. You know, one of those notebooks you can use to write anything. (Sorry. That's a small inside joke that only one person will appreciate - for you S!) Why do I need my notebook? Because it never fails, as I am running along and watching said documentary, there are interesting "facts" I want to jot down and think about or research later. (The reason I had to watch Happy twice? - no notebook.)

So, I press play, and settle into my pace. Then, when something interesting warrants it, I jump onto the rails of the treadmill, jot (otherwise known as scribble) it down, and then jump back on the moving treadmill. Maybe I was particularly invested in today's documentary, or maybe I was looking for excuses to jump off and jot, but either way I ended up with a little over 4 small pages of chicken scratch notes. Now, the kicker is: as soon as the run is over, I have to immediately review said notes because 1. I can barely make out my own handwriting,  2. the points I wrote down are completely void of detail and context, and 3. only in the very few minutes immediately following such an exercise is any of the info even marginally interesting.

Knowing that I was jumping off and on the treadmill, disrupting what was supposed to be my run for the day, begs the question: How do I log the mileage?

The answer: Very unscientifically.

I try to minimize jumping off all together and sometimes even just scribble while I run. When I do jump off, I try to jump back on as quickly as I can. I keep the treadmill set at my usual 8.49 (or so) pace. Today I ran the treadmill recorded 6 miles, and a total of 53 minutes, 6 seconds. So I will log that I ran 5 miles, and 44 minutes and 15 seconds. I know; it probably seems totally arbitrary. But if we wanted to get into the minutia of it, and I am assuming you do -or you would have stopped reading this a long time ago- I had a total of 32 separate thoughts or scribbles. By subtracting 8 minutes and 51 seconds of my running (or 1 mile) for jumping off and writing these notes, that would allow 531 seconds of note taking; approximately an average of 16 seconds per scribble. Now seeing as about 1/6 of what I wrote I cannot decipher for the life of me, I am going assume I used less than 16 seconds to write some of those, therefore I feel I can log that I ran 5 miles in good conscience.

And so we have it, another example of neurosis- published.

:)