An alarm that goes off before 6am should be illegal and I broke the elliptical

I started my day with this ugly sight....



I added the "Go Run!" as motivation, it worked



This time of day should not be allowed and I forbid all of you from waking up at that time - its no fun for anybody.  But the reason I rolled myself out of bed at that hour was because today I have a double workout!! (no that isnt sarcasm, I'm actually pumped about 2 workouts today).  Today I have 6 miles easy and 35 min XT (cross training) + strength.  I decided to get my run out of the way this morning, because I figured my XT and strength would take a little over an hour and my run would be under an hour and I would rather do less in the morning :) So I got to the gym (with the 3 other people who decided to get up at that God-forsaken hour), and got my butt on the treadmill.  I got new shoes yesterday too so I was excited to test them out.  Unfortunately there is only one word to describe this morning run, UGLY.  From a hip/knee standpoint it was great - no pain.  But my stupid shins decided to be really tight again, and I got really bad "hot spots" on the balls of the feet - mostly my left, but my right joined in at about mile 4.  I ended up having to stop at mile 3 to wriggle my feet and try to get them to be normal but it didnt really work.  So I probably ran really awkwardly as I tried to adjust my feet in my shoes every 2 seconds.  I'm hoping it's because of my new shoes, and I'm just breaking them in, but has anyone else dealt with "hot spots" on their feet while running?  Anything I can do about it?  and what the heck causes it?!

For XT today I'm going to head out for a nice and easy bike ride.  It's just too nice here to workout inside again, I need the fresh air!  I also plan on doing a good 30 min. of strength too.  I have a feeling I'll be going to bed early tonight :)

_________________________________________________

Oh, and here's some advice, next time you (i.e ME!) want to do a hard heart rate workout on the elliptical machine, I would suggest either buying your own to use in the comforts of your own home, or going to the gym when there isnt a soul around.  The looks I got and as I busted my hump on it yesterday were priceless.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person, and I kid you not, I swore I smelled the gears burning.  Guess that means I worked hard right?

Also, the last time I willingly used the elliptical to workout was when I was in high school, and the only reason I went to the gym back them was to try and look cute in short gym shorts and a too-small tank top, not actually exercise.....oh how times have changed, there was nothing cute about how I probably looked yesterday, although my shorts were still short (laundry day).

thankfully it hasn't come to this....yet