I suffered what is probably the ultimate gym indignity yesterday: I busted my butt on a treadmill!
This isn't the first time that's happened to me, but the last time I was on a treadmill on the back row of treadmills and no one really saw me. Plus, that time I had the instincts to jump and never really landed on my rear. I just looked goofy. This time I had no such luck. I looked goofy, wound up square on my backside, and people saw me.
Some of the treadmills in my gym are weird. Once you get up to a certain speed, like over 6.0 MPH, it feels like the treadmill is slipping under your feet as you take a step while you're running. I've pointed it out to the people there a couple times, but they never understand what I'm talking about, claim they can't feel what I do and pretty much blow me off.
The gym has added treadmills and ellipticals and has rearranged a lot of the cardio machines, so I'm still not quite sure which are the "tight" belted treadmills and which aren't. Yesterday I was on a treadmill that was "loose" and as soon as I realized it, I stopped the treadmill and went to step on to the treadmill next to it.
What got me was that I had my "bible" right behind the treadmill and I went to kick it over to get it behind the treadmill I was moving to.
I went to do that, but I couldn't quite reach it, so with one foot off the back of the treadmill I took a step from the edge of the treadmill to the tread of the treadmill, only the treadmill hadn't completely stopped. See where I'm going with this?
When I took my step on to the unstopped treadmill, my other foot came off the floor, and since I didn't have the presence, or sense, to notice the treadmill hadn't stopped, then BOOM: DOWN GOES RUNNER! DOWN GOES RUNNER!
My feet kind of shuffled a little, I lost my footing, and wound up on my butt on the treadmill, which then deposited me to the floor behind it. And, of course, the machines on the row behind me were packed and everyone there saw me. Also, several machines on my row were in use and those people saw me.
All you can do in that situation is get up, smile at everyone, shrug your shoulders, and get back to what you were doing. Total cool point loss: more than a few. Someone in the row of machines behind me asked if I was ok and I said that except for my pride I was. Then I pretended I was the only person in the gym.
And all that was before I even started my workout. Sigh.
Anyway, I had a 7 mile tempo run workout that went pretty well once it got started. I went 1 slow/2 fast/1 slow/2 fast/1 slow, and the second 2 fast hurt, but that might have been because I was steadily increasing the incline.
In the end (no pun intended), there was no harm no foul, but I'm sure a few people went home to tell the tale of the knucklehead who busted his butt on the treadmill at the gym. I just wish I was the one telling the tale and not the one who the tale was told about.
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