When I woke up this morning it was cold and wet, the streets covered in an icy, slushy mess. My plan had been to run outside, but the moisture plus 40 degree temperature convinced me to have a “boring” run on the treadmill.

HA! It was anything but boring. And no, I didn’t fall overboard or go flying off the back.

My treadmill looks out onto my backyard that is planted with native shrubs and covered in mulch. There are bird feeders and bath, squirrel nut munch, and an ear of corn that yesterday I harvested from the volunteer corn stalk growing against the house. In the 35 minutes I was on the treadmill, going nowhere fast(ish), I saw:

• a flock of European Starlings swooping up and away from the wild plum bush growing behind the fence, only to return and line up on the fence in front of me
• oodles of House Finches exploring the leaves and mulch
• a Goldfinch moving from sunflower to sunflower, in search of seeds
• a Black-billed Magpie alighting on the fence and allowing me two whole seconds to admire its gorgeous plumage
• Mourning Doves and Eurasian-collared Doves, wings spread wide as they descended in the yard
• a whole slew of Dark-eyed Juncos acting like bullies on a playground
• a male Northern Flicker that popped up from behind the fence with his dapper ‘tude
• a squirrel and a Western Scrub Jay working to extract kernels from the corn cob (although not at the same time)

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have seen a fraction of this activity on the street, so I wanted to document this treadmill workout for later in the season when I’m longing to be outside. I need to remember that, sometimes, running in place is where it’s at.

View from my treadmill.