A hard lesson to learn

Today was a STUNNINGLY beautiful day.  It was also Sunday though and as a general rule I tend to make this my rest day.  BUT, I didn't run yesterday and needed to run today. I ignored the tempting call of my fluffy couch and novel I'm reading and went running.   Now, despite how lovely it was outside, I walked over to the gym (the whole time thinking "maybe I should run outside today...") and climbed on the treadmill.  I started walking...and thinking....and wondering: what am I doing?  The monotony of the treadmill was gonna kill me.  So, I did what I've been avoiding for the past 4 weeks.  I went running....OUTSIDE.   After 4 weeks of "training" on a treadmill, I was prepared to be amazing.  You can imagine my surprise when after 4 minutes of jogging outside I found myself breathing heavier then I do on the treadmill, parts of my body were hurting that hadn't hurt before now, and I was struggling to get it in gear.  It was REALLY hard.  I was surprised....and disappointed.  I expected to be awesome and I was sub-par at best.  I managed to do the full workout (run 25 minutes) but I know I didn't do 3 miles.  When I got home my loving husband questioned how things went and when I told him how hard it was he replied, "Well, running on a treadmill isn't really running."  WHAT!?!?!  Why didn't anyone warn me?  Why didn't anyone mention that the treadmill was going to give me a false sense of accomplishment?  3 miles on a treadmill is WAY different then 3 miles on the road.  I'm going to try and run outside at least one day a week.  I can't run outside everyday right now because my running time is during the evening and my wonderfully over-protective husband will not let me run in the dark (even with a head lamp and reflective tape all over my clothing).  And, as I've mentioned before...I'm NOT a morning person.  So I will run outside on the days that I can.  I'm a little sad that my 3.25 miles on the treadmill was "fake".  It sort of kills the adrenaline rush of happiness and accomplishment.  But it is better to be real about this.  AND, I've gotta tell ya, the time went MUCH faster running outside and all the other people out running and biking were all so nice....they waved, nodded, said hello and smiled.  It was like I was part of some secret club.  I like that.  I like that a lot.  So....I've learned my lesson about the dangers of the treadmill and will commit to approaching my running in a different way for the next while.  Jeesh.  This is WAY hard....