Fun Times on the Treadmill

Just finished my first day of my new 5K training program. No big deal, right? I have an irrational fear of treadmills. so it took me awhile to work up the nerve to get on one. I keep thinking I'm going to lose my balance, fall off and be swept away and sent flying across the gym floor.

So, this was my experience. I have a plan. Be prepared. I get the earphones, have my towel,  have my water bottle, find the right music and I'm ready to go. Push the Quick Stark button and begin walking at a leisurely pace.  Feeling pretty comfortable after a couple of minutes. I had read that it's more beneficial to walk with your arms swinging at your side, so after a minute or so I let go of the bar and try walking without holding on. I'm smiling. I'm walking. I'm not falling. I up my speed some. This isn't so bad.

Then one of my arms pulls out my ear phones. Rats.  I reach out to my left for the bar to steady myself while I put them back in and I accidentally push the emergency stop button. All my data was erased. I'm standing on a still belt staring at a blank screen, cursing under my breath. But I'm good. I remembered pretty much what my time and distance were (about 10 minutes in) and I start up again.

After a minute or so I'm back up to my original speed. I'm walking, I'm smiling and, again, my arms pull out my earphones. But this time I learned my lesson! and just let them be and I keep walking. See, I can do this. I'm good. Look out 5K I'm coming to get you.

Then suddenly, after a few minutes of carefree walking, I realize the back of my foot is just hitting the back end of the treadmill. AHH!! and I start to panic a little. (OK, a lot.) All my fears came rushing back to my head!  I'm going to be thrown off the treadmill in front of 100's of people (well, 50 at least). I'll never be able to show my face in the Y again!

I grab onto the left handrail so I don't fall and....you guessed it. I accidentally pushed the stop button again! All my new data again disappeared into the cybersphere, or wherever lost data ends up, and I stand staring again at the blank screen.  Maybe I should have a tape recorder next time and periodically call out my stat's.

At that point I decided that I'd had enough for today and stopped. I had reached my 20 minutes even though I had wanted to try for 30. I think I must be very entertaining for those around me.  I'm pretty entertaining even to myself.  I truly believe that laughing uses more calories than frowning.