Why I like treadmill running

I like running on a treadmill. Often times more than running outside. I find this odd, because on the surface it seems more boring. I have less interesting things to look at and I am inside a building instead of outside in the sun and "fresh air".

I really like the relaxed feeling I get after a tiring run, and most times I enjoy the run itself once I get in to it. But like many people I rarely feel like going for a run, even though I'm usually happy I did. What I don't like is the idea of starting a run. Before starting I imagine how long and tiring the route I have in mind will be. After starting I can drag my feet for a while, imagening how tiring future parts of the route will be. But then I usually get into it and it's fine.

This resistance to starting means I don't often run outside.

I run several times a week on a treadmill. I think it's because I don't have the same resistance to starting. On the treadmill I always set an easy to achiece goal. Something like "run for 10 minutes" or even just 5 minutes. This makes starting very easy. After reaching my goal I can get off and stop running. But I often end up running 10-20 minutes more, and enjoying it! When I've already reached my goal all further running is a "bonus". Knowing I can stop at any moment I am free to focus on how the running feels just in this moment. Running feels however it feels, and I can enjoy listening to music. Having reached my goal I'm only planning to run a little bit longer, not dreading how tiring it will be to reach some long off goal.

Most treadmills have an inbuilt "game" I enjoy: running until a round number. The round numbers can be the runtime in minutes, distance, calorie count, meters climbed, or any other visible counter the treadmill has. At minute 10 I see I've run 1350 meters and set a short goal to reach the round 1500. When I get to 1500, I see I'm just 2 minutes away from running until 15 minutes. Then at 15 minutes I see I'm just 20 kcal away from 200 kcal, etc. With 4 or more counters going: time, distance, incline, kcal there is almost always a number that is close to a satisfying round numbers I can reach. Rounding numbers this way I often end up running 25 minutes without ever having set a hard to reach goal.

Why not set an easy to reach goal, followed by "bonus running" when running outside? Because unless I want to run a very small circuit I have to run somewhere. When running somewhere I need to have an idea of where and how far that is. I think imagening the way to go makes me enjoy the run less.

I might be wrong about this. It could be treadmill running is just less tiring, or that it's easier to get lost in though on a treadmill because you don't need to navigate and avoid obstacles. But the rounding game is fun regardless.