Day 11: The treadmill

Hotels all tout their expensive, well-equipped gyms. They must be great for attracting people TO hotels, but once people are actually AT the hotels, they don't seem to come in. That was certainly the case very early this morning. As I merrily got in the day's run (four miles), I had the place pretty much to myself. At one point, a middle-aged man came in, used the elliptical machine for quite a short time, emitted a series of strange breathing (?) noises, and disappeared. I hope he's OK.

I generally prefer to run outside, but in this case, there are two reasons for preferring the treadmill: first, this hotel seems located in a particularly non-scenic, non-running-friendly area; second, the machine's digital display lets me regulate myself a lot better. I'm still new to running and it can be hard to tell how fast I'm going when I'm outside. Very fast, obviously, but you know what I mean. ( ... It occurs to me that maybe you don't.)

Shout-out to my rock-star brother, Jordan, with whom I breakfasted. What a small world, that we should both find ourselves in Des Moines on the same morning, each on our own mission. Faber est suae quisque fortunae.