Dentist or margarita?

For Saturday I wanted to run 10 miles. However, I was mostly filled with dread about this prospect. It’s cold here, and I have not seen a single other soul out running. Not one. Not just when I’m myself running, but anytime. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve seen people running for buses, ones that are usually really crowded and hardly have room for any more people, but nonetheless, that is what people here run for.

So I decided to run on the treadmill in the King Gym. Mind you, for some people this is a perfectly reasonable proposition, but for me treadmills are usually associated with generally unpleasant things, like visits to the dentist or grading student essay exams. After my going away party, on a day when I wanted to do a long run, I went out and ran 8 miles on the Ernst Trail in the rain, four of them in the dark wearing Jim’s headlamp, rather than spend that time on the treadmill.

Everything is relative, however, and now the treadmill less resembled a trip to the dentist than something I really like, like a margarita or a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” (speaking of which, I saw a set of DVDs here claiming to be Season 3 of “Grey’s Anatomy”, which seems impossible since it is still being televised...). So I did my 10 miles on the treadmill, which was itself interesting. I started and set myself on a pace of just under 10 minutes and felt like I was going really slowly, and then I realized I was—the treadmill measures kilometers. So I spent much of my run doing calculations in my head, which I’m not especially good at. I knew I had to run something over 16 kilometers to make 10 miles so I just rounded it to 17 (apparently more like 10.5 miles). And the treadmill would only let me do a limited time period, so I had to keep resetting it and adding the distance I’d gone in my head. Still, overall a happy experience, and the treadmill will be a good option.

So today’s Chinese word is gongli—kilometer.

Perhaps the highlight of my workout: watching the 20ish Chinese man who ran on the treadmill beside me for awhile leaving the gym and immediately putting a cigarette in his mouth. Doesn’t he know he doesn’t need to do that here? Smoking is free—just breathe!

Written Saturday, 20th January, 9 p.m.