Treadmill training for the re-habbing runner?

    I have been taking these courses to learn to teach trekking which could be considered lame by a lot of runners but to the general population who do not know how to do speed workouts, hill workouts, etc...or lack particular compunction to run (which I cannot conceive of anymore) it is good for them. I think the classes are fun and and it makes indoor running more interesting. I think the music, other participants and the energy of the leader helps to take away some of that negative stuff from the treadmill experience.
  Truth: I have never really liked treadmills. I always had this in the back of my mind that one day I was going to be whipped backward off the thing so I would hold on for dear life if I went any faster than a 4. I also found them boring...very boring. The only thing keeping me going on a treadmill workout would be the great article I was reading in Scientific American Mind.
   And then...THEN..Came running fer' real; BARA, track workouts,  training runs, long runs,  trail running, marathons, trail races, excitement, adventure and the treadmill was the absolute LAST place I ever wanted to run.
  So then I got hurt. Well actually a problem I had been dealing with for some time got worse plus some IT band stuff so I have to take a little break from the more intense stuff. Not forever just dial it down a bit for awhile. I don't want to and was jealous of everyone out there running in the sun this weekend. Happy for them but grumpy for me. I had to take two trekking classes this week to fulfill my homework assignment of learning how to cue the participants. I stepped up to the treadmill kind of resigned.

  Then some magic happened.I found something I liked about the treadmill as a rehabbing runner and that is I can see and adjust instantly what is causing me twinges and what is helping me feel fine. I was able to right away see that if I raised the speed up to a 10:00mile then my IT band would twinge a bit so I would slow it down to 15:00 and then it would feel better. I got the information that I can go at a 13:00 to 14:00 pace at 1.0 incline for a mile and a half with no twinges at all. That is important information!I was able to see how much, how long, how high a hill, how fast or slow and if i felt something hurting i could take the incline down or speed down/raise incline lower speed/any number of combinations to learn what my body was ready for and what it wasn't ready for. And it was a BIG boost to see i could manage two 30 second sprints at 8:34 and 8:48! Turned my mood right around!
   Maybe for a runner who is learning what I can and cannot do with some of my injuries it is good to use the treadmills as a kind of testing ground. See how I am doing by "can i do sprints now?" or "how am i handling an incline today? What could make it easier, better? What speed am I good at right now to handle so much distance?"
   Then I can take that knowledge and see a three mile run with confidence because i have proven i can do it at a particular pace first. I can see how I am advancing with doing all the cross-training, leg workouts, rest days and then can see how possible it is for me to do a DINO race coming up or not. I am sure the treadmill is not accurate completely. I raise it to a 1.0 incline all the time as they say that makes it more like outdoors. I wear my own heart monitor and watch because I don't trust the HR on the treadmills to be accurate at all. 
   Yeah I don't get the sunny trails, my good friends and all the other stuff I love but at least I get to run even for a little bit. And that feels good. This I think could be one of the paths leading me back out to the paths I love. The ones with the trees, flowers, mud, dirt, water crossings, sun/rain/snowy days............MY TRUE PATH. Wherever that takes me. Lead on treadmill. You could be my ticket back.