Sun + shorts + t-shirt + hills = 5.5 miles of fun

Wow, what a difference a couple days make. I have complained about treadmills and eliptical machines and weather and so on for the past month and a half. Sadly, I was gradually accepting the fact that I was never going to be able to run outside again. I was evolving into a gym rat. It was a horrific thought.

But no more!

Today, I went out to Shawnee Mission Park and tackled the hills. Hills make you strong. Hills build character. Hills are fun.

I finished the run at an 11:10/mile pace, not too bad for my first hill training of the season. But I wasn't out to run fast.

I was out to run.

I was outside. Period.

There are things about running outside that you don't get in the gym. You don't get the fresh air. You don't get the scenery, the wildlife. You don't get to say "hi" to the old married couple, the mother pushing the stroller or the 20-something running with her chocolate lab. Nope. In the gym, you get a couple dozen other drones staring aimlessly at a tv or tuned mindlessly into their i-pods. There is nothing fun about the gym.

But winter is over.

And I am outside again.

Woo hoo!!!