Last night, I settled into the treadmill for an easy 3 mile run. I have been having a hard time running on Wednesdays, and consider it a success just to get myself onto the treadmill, no matter what comes next. Last night, what came next was a little happy surprise.

The treadmills at my gym have all kinds of different workout programs, and last night I decided to turn on “Virtual Active” mode. Lately, I’ve been doing the rolling hills program, but yesterday was supposed to be easy, so I decided to cool it on the hills. The “Virtual Active” mode lets you choose a location and it plays a little video of a beautiful running route in that area as if you were actually running there. I know it’s not the same as actually running outside, but hey…my view last night would have been dark slush and iciness, so I’m cool with a simulated run somewhere beautiful.

Beautiful View

I’ve used this mode before to run through the Swiss Alps and Northern Italy, but last night I decided to stay close to home and run the Northeastern US.  I assumed this would be Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and it mostly was, but I was BEYOND THRILLED to learn that this also included NIAGARA FALLS!!!!  Yes, I almost peed myself I was so excited to watch this little piece of “home” as I chugged along on the treadmill, not really going anywhere. The footage consisted of running along the edge of the falls on the Canadian side on a beautiful, sunny day.  I could not stop smiling the whole time I did that portion of the run.  If I knew how, I would have done that section on repeat for the whole 45 minutes. 

It just made me so happy to be running along remembering all the wonderful trips to the falls over the years. I was grinning like an idiot for the whole 7 minutes of Falls footage.

Ready for the Maid of the Mist

View from the boat.

And I’m sure it didn’t hurt that the last time I was there was to run the Niagara Falls International Marathon in October (I should recap that race someday).

Marathon Finish

We’re Falls visiting pros!

Another perk of this virtual mode on the treadmill is that it pops up little facts about the places you’re running. Did you know that there are actually TWO cities called Niagara Falls – one in the US and one in Canada? Hahahaha  Thanks treadmill, but yes, I knew that one! 🙂

I finished 4 miles with an average pace just under 10 min/mile. Probably a little too fast for me on an easy run, but I got a rush of adrenaline during the NF part, and sped up.  I’m not sure on the exact time because once I hit 4 miles I was reaching up to slow down the machine and I accidentally hit the “emergency stop” bar.  When you hit that bar, that’s it, game over! No chance to resume, and no workout recap.  Oh, well.

Celebrating childhood dreaming
Taking in these waterfalls
Before the world got so deceiving
Before you thought you knew it all

The beauty of this scene was hidden
By every year gone by

-The Trews

What about you readers? What virtual running/cycling/whatever route would perk you up?