Moving Pictures

Today was filled with thoughts and wonder. I went to the gym to get in a workout and a run and got both. Not as far as I wanted but I had to cut my time short so I could get home and see if I could get my Internet connection back online. I ended up running 4.19 miles.

While I was on the treadmill I turned on the little television mounted on the top and surfed through channels while running. This I thought was totally absurd. Here I am running, running on a revolving rubber wheel with a little box with flashing pictures on it and no sound and this is supposed to do what? Entertain me? How bizarre to be running and watching mind numbing drivel. The commercials were the worse part. If I actually was to focus on the show in front of me and lose myself in a pace to the show, then when the commercials came on I would be so disinterested that I would lose my pace and end up starring at the wall or another picture box mounted to another wall.

In the end I found a movie that was playing on one television almost not visible from where I was and found I could tune into it and follow the story and carry on with my run. Running outdoors has so many advantages over treadmill running. Almost everything, other than the fact that it is just downright cold outside right now is better outdoors. It has been between 2 and 20 degrees, but it feels much colder and the wind has seen to it that the outdoors is only for short runs at the moment.

A big plus for the day was that I think I have got my Nike+ working properly now. It was spot on with the treadmill. This run brings me to 27.47 miles for the year and 4937.53 miles from the end of the line, where it is currently 52.9 degrees.

I am currently just approaching the historical Eklutna Roadhouse along the picturesque Glenn Highway. Unfortunately is has been closed and left to rot over the years as the owners could not find a buyer for it. Once when I was quite young I spent many hours there with my family while we waited for darkness to fall so our portaging permit would become effective. We were towing a wingless airplane behind our truck which my father had purchased, from Glennallen to Soldotna. We had a permit to tow it through Anchorage, but it was only good after night fall. Today mostly an old skeletal building remains.

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Eklutna once was a thriving small community but today is home to around fifty and Eklutna Lake is the primary source of drinking water for Anchorage.