irony at the gym

so since it has started getting dark about the time i get home from work, it has severly limited the amount of time i have to run outdoors . . . which in essence means i have to run on the treadmill instead (which, i will add, is not the same . . . nor is it near as enjoyable). so for the past few weeks i have plodded over to the gym at my apt complex to go for my runs.
at this point, it is important that you know that there is a large t.v. mounted in our work-out room. now, if i get lucky enough to be the only one in the room, the t.v. stays off . . . i'd rather run in silence than listen to most of what is on t.v. these days. plus it gives me good thinking time. but if other people are in there, the t.v. usually gets turned on. sometimes it's sports or news - so i watch it and usually learn something. and sometimes it's something like the o.c. or the simpsons or the terminator (yes, that was on once), so i zone out.

but the irony of this story comes in what i have had to watch the last few times i have gone for my run. as if running 3-5 miles is not difficult enough to get thru after you've worked a full day, i come in to see that lovely t.v. turned to THE FOOD NETWORK. now honestly, i don't know who does this. i don't know HOW they do it. who wants to be running or lifting weights or riding a bike or whatever you do while you are watching these lovely chef-people cook and bake and sautee and simmer up these delicious, mouth-watering meals. i mean, really, it's like torture. and you can't very well just zone out because . . . well . . . it's food . . . and it looks so good you can almost smell it. so instead, i just keep watching, all the while burning off calories but really wishing i were sitting in that lady's kitchen sampling the things she's making.

long-distance runners always say that 50% of the run is mental . . . in tonight's case, i think the mental portion of my run was around 80%.

i now have a love/hate relationship with the food network.

(note: another blog may soon follow discussing this phenomenon of cooking shows that seem to have erupted over the last couple of years . . . i had time to think about this during the commercial breaks tonight . . . it's really quite ridiculous and unbelievable . . . what ever happened to good 'ol cookbooks that you get from church where all the old ladies have put in their secret family recipies??? now we have to have people on at all hours of the day and night showing us how to cook? craziness, i say . . . but that's for another blog at another time . . .)