In Remembrance

I never thought I'd say this, but having a broken treadmill sucks.  I suppose I should've known this day was coming.  I mean, we bought the thing for $50 off of some friends of ours.  The brand?  Uhhhh....something like "i-fit.com" is all I could see.  Yeah, it was quality.

Anywho, my wife, my daughter and I were downstairs this past weekend.  My daughter was engrossed in Hotel for Dogs on my laptop (parenting WIN), my wife was whipping around on her Segway on Wii Fit Plus and I settled in for a 6 mile run.  Could I have gone outside on Saturday and done this?  Absolutely, I could have!  But, my superior parenting/husbandry skills being what they are, I opted to work out and set an example to Little Miss Hotel for Dogs and Segway Woman and show them what a healthy lifestyle looks like.

I sailed along for the first three miles.  Things were going well.  Hell, even my iPod shuffle was shuffling well.  Then, I started to hear a clicking noise.  The noise got to be so loud I had to stop my shuffle halfway through Afternoon Delight.....er.......Welcome to the Jungle.  My wife and daughter looked over at me and gave me the same look my dog does when he hears sirens.  Apparently, something was awry.  It couldn't have been my form.  That's pretty well-documented with words such as "perfect" and "Adonis-like".  What the hell could it be? I quickly hopped onto the rails and the clicking proceeded to get worse....and worse.....and WORSE.

That's what I get for relying on a $50 treadmill from i-fit.com whose website, not surprisingly is defunct with a capital "d".

My point?  I really relied on my treadmill.  Hell, I even may be so bold as to say I needed my treadmill.  Was it a good treadmill?  No.  Did it have all of the cool bells and whistles?  No, but I do miss it's high tech qualities circa 1998.  The simulated oval with its red triangles telling me where I was on the track (pause) in my mind.  The LCD display that didn't light up.  The extra narrow belt.  The noise that would rattle the window.  *sniff*.

Nevertheless, I must move forward.  Get it?  That's ironic because a treadmill has you stay in one...forget it.  Here are my options:

• Get it fixed - i-fit.com didn't mention any local technicians that could do repairs BECAUSE THERE'S NO MORE (EXPLETIVE) I-FIT.COM ANYMORE!
• Replace it. - I'm cheap.  I can't justify spending upwards of 4 figures for something I'll use for 3 months.  4 months tops.
• Join a gym - Again, I'm cheap.  That being said, the prospect of treadmills as far as the eye can see AND opportunities to do some sort of cross-training is mildly appealing.  
• Use the fitness center here at school  - It's free, but if I do that, I have to potentially work out with my students.  
• Run outside - Yeah, but this week, morning lows are in the single digits.....with wind.
• Forget about running until late-March and survive solely on Thin Mints and coffee - Ding!  We have a weiner!  (see how I did that?  It should read "winner", but it's...forget it.)

I'll have to figure something out.  For the sake of my sanity and my health.  More importantly, for the sake of my family's sanity and health.  Come to think of it, it's me being a devoted family man that got me into this mess.  See?  No good can come of things like that.