Have Running Shoes, Will Travel

I am presently on a cruise ship bound for Bermuda. I am surrounded by buffets full of overly fattening food and bars that serve tropical drinks that can ring in at 12 dollars and 750 calories a pop.

But never fear. I am not going to let the draw of lounging by the pool on deck nine with a frozen drink in my hand keep me from my marathon training. On tap for today, an easy two miles. Just a recovery run from my 17 miler on Friday.

Two miles, ha. I can find somewhere to run two miles. I just read a story in Runner's World magazine about a trucker that logs in his runs by running around his big rig. Something like 47 times around the truck equaled a mile. See, it just takes some creativity.

So, where to run these two miles? I have two choices: Treadmill in the ship's gym or around the top deck. For my two mile run, I picked the treadmill. I think I'll save the deck for my planned seven miler later in the week.

I head to the gym with a plan to quickly knock out the two miles and follow up with a work out. .25 miles in, I realized I would not need a post run work out. This run WAS the work out.

How to explain? Imagine putting a treadmill on a humongous botsu ball. You know, the workout gizmo that is half ball and half flat surface. The gizmo that my trainer uses to torture me and my abs. I spent the entire two miles working to keep my balance on the treadmill. Talk about using your core... A running core workout... Maybe I am on to something...

Don't get me wrong, for all of the two never ending miles of an ab workout, I had an amazing view. Miles and miles of inky-blue waves spreading out in front of me as we blazed our way across the Atlantic Ocean.
Three thoughts followed ...

1. How can I steal this scenery and bring it back to my gym in Alexandria, VA? I could use some of this beauty when temps take a nose dive in the upcoming months.

2. How much longer? These two miles were a lot harder than I thought they would be. My abs are going to "thank" me later.

3. How far is the pool bar from this treadmill? Maybe I can cut this run short and count the distance from the gym to the pool bar in my total mileage. I think a tropical drink is calling my name...