kat, my experience with the dreadmill is the same as you--it's painful and seems so much more difficult than running outside. And it makes my already cranky back hurt. I ran on the dreadmill on Monday and hated every moment; it makes me feel like I am completely out of shape (rather than mildly out of shape, which is closer to reality). To be fair, I hate running on pavement almost as much, but not quite. I ran on a trail on old snow yesterday and trail in ~ 4" of fresh snow today. Both days were much better than Monday, even though today's run was the hardest outdoor run in recent memory (probably because I was the first person on most of the trail ).

I'm already fantasizing about running on dirt again, though. I might need to take a trip to the dry desert to do some of that in February.