Tale of the Traveling Treadmill

Once upon a time I decided my parents needed a treadmill.  I was in college at the time and suggested they buy one so they could use it to get healthier and I could also use it when I came home on the weekends (keep in mind this was before my marathon days).  My sales tactic must have worked because they bought one!  I think I used it a handful of times, as did my parents before it was doomed for a life of solitude in their basement.

I'm not exactly sure of the details but I'm sure it had something to do with my parents' getting sick of looking at it, gathering dust.  They were about to get rid of it when my brother offered to take it.  It relocated to his basement where I know both he and his wife used it occasionally.  Heck, I even used it once at their house when I was training for some race and was babysitting my niece.  I think I knocked out a few miles after I put her to bed for the night.

When The Pilot and I bought the new house and had a basement large enough to accommodate some workout equipment, I started thinking about where we could find a treadmill on the cheap so I could avoid paying for a gym membership for the winter months (when it's too dark for me to workout outside before or after work).  I remembered the last time I was in my brother's basement, the treadmill had some kids' toys sitting on it.  Ah....  Hey big brother?!  How about you let me take that off your hands.  Think about how much extra space you would have in your man cave toy room basement.

And so the treadmill, all million pounds of it, made the trek back to this side of town.  I think at this point it has more miles on it from riding around in the car than it does from actual use.  Hopefully I can change that.  Despite its age, it still seems to work.  It's pretty noisy and I think the backlight on the display is burnt out because it's really hard to see the pace/distance, etc. but that's ok.  I usually cover up the display with a towel anyways.  If I don't, I stare at it and it's like watching paint dry.  Sloooooow.

So it's been in the basement for several weeks now but up until recently, I was still getting most of my workouts in outside.  But now its dark by the time I get home from work so it's time to get into a routine of hitting the dreadmill.  I don't typically mind cold weather but I have a strong dislike of rain so the treadmill will also come in handy when it's just too darn wet to be outside.

That is what I realized that running/walking on a treadmill in a basement is a lot like being locked in a cell.  Not that I've ever been in a cell but check out my view from the treadmill:

Remind you of a jail cell?  

Wow.  This is 100 times more boring than the treadmills at the gym.  At least at the gym you can eavesdrop on your neighbors.  To make it worse, we don't have a TV hooked up in the basement yet.  There was ONE outlet in the basement (other than for the washer and dryer) and it was being used for the treadmill.  And it is on the opposite wall from where we have a TV and DVD player set up.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks my dad will be able to come over and run more outlets throughout the basement to solve this problem.  At least then I could watch some TV instead of staring at the sky out that tiny window or at the concrete wall.

In the meantime I'm stuck with listening to my iPod and being constantly reminded that my playlists suck in terms of motivating me to move more.  I'm now soliciting song suggestions!  Anything to keep me on that treadmill for 30+ minutes at a time and moving faster than a 16 minute mile.  And go.....


And in unrelated but crazy cat lady news, I have started an all out war of keeping one of the cats from removing the Christmas tree skirt to build forts with.  She's the devil in a furry package.  And if you happen to be at my house, please don't judge us by the amount of cat fur on the tree skirt (or any surface really).  I am losing this war.