The Great Outdoors

What a way to begin the first day of training- heat index at 100 degrees F. Most would take it to the treadmill right? That would be the smart, safe, no-brainer option wouldn't it? Well let me describe to you this experience and let you decide...
The treadmill experience:
It all went down at my local university that I am attending to earn my VA state teaching license. I exit class and go straight to the locker room to change into my newer USATF running shorts that my wife bought me at this year's Penn Relays. My head is in a great place and I'm psyched on getting to begin my training with a solid workout.
REWIND- I had just been previously explaining to a classmate as I exited my class on the way to the locker room that I didn't run with headphones on. I told him about how I have adopted that habit for safety reasons and that I don't need to have music in my ears to keep me occupied and entertained during a run. I explained to him how I like to use my own thoughts and observe the environment around me for entertainment during my runs.
NOW- Dressed out, I'm walking from the locker room to the treadmills of the university's gym. It's May session and the gym is practically empty. It feels like the university is saving on energy costs as the facility's AC feels like it's at a stale 80 degrees F. I step on the treadmill and begin the run, starting with 2 miles at an easy warmup pace. I immediately notice my pace feels fast compared to the pace indicated on the treadmill. I figure maybe I'm just going to take a few miles to break in. After 2 miles I pick up the pace into my 4 miles of tempo. Again the treadmill indicates I'm slow as ever, but I know what condition I'm currently in and what paces I currently run and this digital pace is not anywhere close. Now discouragement and confusion are in my mind. "Is the calibration on the treadmill off?" "Am I just having a terrible day?" "And why is the Roger Federer tennis match close captioned on the tv in front of me? Can't I just watch the match and enjoy that without half the screen covered with CC text?"
I look out the enormous 2 story windows beyond the televisions and quickly realize, it's not me, it's the environment. The treadmill sucks and the room sucks. I need to step into the great outdoors. Impulsive as I am, I barely took the time to power down the treadmill before I ran down the stairs, out the security gates and front doors of the recreation center building and straight into the last 3 miles of my run. It was hot, and the sun was bright with not a single cloud in the sky, but with the improvement in my attitude and a little extra vitamin D added (thank you sunshine) I felt great and ended the workout with such a great feeling. P.S.- nailed my pace once I was outdoors.
"Endorphin city" kicked in after that and now I'm ready to enter the next workout (11 miler) with a positive attitude. And you better believe I'm running outside.