Casselton, ND

Central Cass High School

Run Time: 66:31 + 2:30 kick

No locked gates at Central Cass. I’ve run on this track before. It’s wide open for community use. There were two softball games going on over at the ballfields — young players, all wearing pink uniform shirts with differentiating shorts. The snack shack appeared to be doing a brisk business. Two high school girls were on the track field, practicing their hammer throws.

Two nights earlier, in Winnipeg, I opted for the fitness center over running outside. It was rainy and sketchy outside. I have yet to find a hotel in a neighborhood in Winnipeg that isn’t sketchy. Winnipeg must be the First-Nation word for watch your back. Even driving through and around Winnipeg, I haven’t felt comfortable anywhere outside of the industrial districts, mostly because people there are generally working, rather than trying to score meth.

I was mildly amazed that the hotel had a fitness center. Then I went to the fitness center. One elliptical machine, one treadmill that was broken, a set of dumbbells with a bench. No water cooler even.

There is no way you can call an elliptical exercise. It’s just sliding your feet backward and forward, and moving your arms correspondingly in a way that makes attaining a rhythm impossible. I chose the interval setting, and when the incline went up to 10, it still just felt like I was pretending to exercise. It’s definitely not resistance training. It’s assistance training.

I did start sweating after 30 minutes, but I couldn’t get my heart rate above 100. You never lift your feet off the surface. Keeping the upper and lower body moving is a plus, so I could see an old person might benefit, except that the mount and dismount are awkward and would surely end in life-threatening injury. It was touch and go for me, and I am moderately agile.

To compensate for the lack of exertion, I decided to lift a few weights after my ellipiticism. Sometimes I do this when I run on a treadmill in a hotel fitness center — some bench presses, some shoulder presses, some squats after my run. Arnold says that strength training makes you live longer, and I don’t go to health clubs, so the fitness center is a good, free option.

I chose a set of 25 lb. dumbbells and did a set of bench presses, then a set of shoulder presses. Normally, I put one down and hold just one for the squats — not sure why. Easier to balance with one weight held by both hands in the middle, and even a body weight squat is enough for me to feel it. This time I kept both and did the squats with the weights up at my shoulders. And my thighs said what the HELL was that?

Then I did two sets of each with 30 lbs. weights — fewer reps. And again, my thighs were distressed, this time with indignation. So the elliptical is clearly not resistance training, and running is clearly not strength training. If, when you ran, you did a full single-leg squat with each step, perhaps that might build more strength. But just running does not build strength.

I felt it all the way through my run in Williston the next day, and through this run the day after that. I felt pain in my leg muscles, which, I have to say, feels a hell of a lot better than back or hip or neck pain. It feels like the pain after a hard-fought victory, not the pain of being misaligned or sitting too much. Maybe I can make the weights part of the ritual, even after an outside run.