Running Progress Not As I Like It

Although I have generally been keep my running mileage at projected target levels, I somehow feel as if I am going backwards instead of forwards with my running progress.  I used to run more or less daily outside on the streets around my neighborhood, but this year I have been spending more time in the gym running on the treadmill.  Treadmill running is a good stopgap measure to maintain continuity in case of bad weather or the need to run at night because of daytime scheduling conflicts.  But as the main focus of my running, it doesn't match up with the degree of intensity that hard contact with a surface provides, especially in the mental area of me determining my own running pace instead of some machine doing that important job.  My excuse has been a good one, though, with the weather being so terribly hot.  Two other factors have contributed to my current running stagnation: one is my change in March to a 11 PM to 7:30 AM work shift, which has turned my running opportunities on their head.  I used to, when earlier working the afternoon/evening shift, run around the 'hood in the late morning hours when temperatures were still reasonable and the humidity had dropped to a bearable level.  Nowadays, though, that time period is when I need to be asleep.  So I have as a choice early mornings when I am tired from work and the humidity is high, late afternoons when the temperature is highest, or....just pick a convenient time and run at the gym in air conditioning!  The temperatures are finally beginning to dip as autumn sinks in.  Hopefully, this will usher in more afternoon outdoors running.  The other factor limiting my running progress has been my gradual weight gain over the last couple of years.  Since early 2010 I have gained some 25 pounds, and that means that I am lugging that much more than I need on me with every step I take.  Not sustainable!  I need to focus on what I am eating more...