We’re finally getting rain here in northern California after two years of very little of the wet stuff. It’s great to see. It’s great to feel. I went swimming in the rain yesterday. But for running, I’ve moved indoors to the treadmill. Until last month, I probably hadn’t run on a treadmill since 2011.

Treadmill technology has improved in the last two years. The gym has two machines made for long distance runs with bases better at absorbing impact. The difference between those and the regular treadmill, as far as it feels to me, is equivalent to the difference between running on a track versus asphalt. Even better, though, is the addition of several Life Fitness Lifescape treadmills with big 19” monitors.

Now I’m not here to promote a particular brand, per se, but these treadmills have improved my indoor running experience 100%. They hold digitally recorded running routes from all over the world. When you bring up a route, it’s a point of view experience so that the trail or path appears in front of you as it would if you were there. When the screen is expanded to full capacity, the visual field is much like what you would take in if actually running out on the course. If someone had explained this to me ahead of time, I never would have believed it could make a big difference in running indoors, that simply having a screen with a recorded run in front of me would substantially improve the experience.

It’s been huge.

I need time outside, need to be outdoors it seems, to be at my happiest. When I lived in cold climates, like Boston and Denver, a lot of facilities had decent indoor tracks. That wasn’t too bad. But I’ve never taken to treadmills. I’m not a TV person and find the TVs posted in front of all the cardio equipment annoying. I’m not a music person when I’m running unless the run is less than 30 minutes. Again, it’s annoying.

Somehow the digital experience provided by these screens along with the running has enough of a similar effect on my brain to running outside, that I step off the machine invigorated and happy. It offers a sense of progress, of going somewhere but also of passively taking in a beautiful experience, spectacular visuals. There’s a real pleasure in the workout, just like there is when I run the path along Crystal Springs Reservoir. It’s not just winter maintenance work to stay fit. Of the programs available, the Germany run is my favorite. It’s a combination of Rhineland hiking paths and urban running through Munich and other towns. There are courses for the Trinity Mountains here in California, routes in New Zealand, routes in Australia. All simply spectacular, great visuals, interesting places.

These treadmills have given me perspective in another way too. It’s made me grateful and more appreciative of the experiences I’ve had in my life. Often during these runs highlighting other parts of the world, I’ll find myself thinking the scene reminds me of Boise or Colorado or Vancouver or Boston or one of the many other places in North America I’ve lived or visited. It’s brought home to me that even though I haven’t gotten to travel as much as I’d hoped to when I was younger, I haven’t had a deprived life. I have experienced beauty and adventure right where I’ve been, wherever I’ve called home. And that beauty and adventure has been very fine, very much on par with what I could see and experience abroad.

Maybe I'll have enough financial freedom to allow me to travel outside North America when I retire. Maybe not. If I do go, those travels won’t be the demanding physical excursions I could have done in my youth or would still be capable of, to some extent, now. Even if I don’t make a Grand Backpacking Tour of Europe, I know I’ve had my own unique adventures here at home and I'm coming to appreciate that those adventures haven't left me wanting for anything.