Today I Ran

Course: Treadmill, manual setting, 1% grade
Distance: 4 miles
Biggest challenge: maintaining my pace despite the cloud of body odor coming from the guy 2 treadmills over

I just don't understand. Maybe it's my own bourgeois personal hygiene thing, but the thought of working out in a cloud of my own funk, much less subjecting everyone within a 10 yard radius to said funk, is not even an option. Then again, maybe that's why I'm doing laundry all the time. I guess it's not very eco-friendly to always want non-smelly exercise clothes. I don't wash my clothes after EVERY single time I wear things, but because I tend to sweat a lot, I wear a lot of moisture-wicking clothes that are made from polyester and things like that, and those tend to get smelly pretty quickly, so I'm always very conscious about making sure my clothes rate very low on the smell-o-meter. Most times I'll just hand-wash my running shirt and let it dry overnight.

But this guy today... WHEW! I seriously considered stopping my run and moving to a different machine. I guess that's definitely one disadvantage to treadmill running: no matter how fast you run, you can't just speed up and run away from offensive odors.

On a less olfactory note: anyone who is thinking about running on a treadmill should always consider setting the incline to at least 1% if you want to get a similar workout to actual running. This will compensate for the fact that the belt is moving under your feet - taking away some resistance - and it will also make up for the fact that there's no wind resistance. It's hardly noticeable, really, but your body will thank you for it when you hit the road and wonder why it seems so much harder than the treadmill.