Thursday, July 2, 2009

Treadmill death watch, day 2

Because I don't have a long enough list of things I would spend money on if I actually HAD ANY, the treadmill is on life support. This is the treadmill that we acquired from the ex-wife after the last one was fried in the great flood of 2008. Bob has had this particular treadmill for almost 10 years, and it had spent the last 4 years or so living at the ex-wife's house. So when we got it, it was "free" which is a good price when you have fried not one but two practically brand new treadmills in the previous 3 years in basement floods. The basement has been flood free for a year now, KNOCKING ON WOOD VIOLENTLY, because of the law of the universe that says if you spend $2100 on a sump pump system to prevent flooding in the basement, it will not be needed. Much like carrying an umbrella will prevent it from raining. Unless you live in Boston right now. So ironically we are having one of the wettest summers in recent memory, and yet, the sump pump has not been needed.

Anywho, back to my tale of woe. The past few days the treadmill, while being used by Bob because he doesn't feel like running in a thunderstorm and who can blame him, suddenly, around mile 3, decides to go to a 12% incline and then stop. It has some sort of seizure, and gasps for air and stops. Now when I am on the treadmill, I am using it at a polite 3.2 miles per hour, and mostly not inclined. Bob on the other hand is RUNNING, for 4 - 6 miles at a time. I think that is probably asking a lot of 10 year old treadmill. I would have a seizure too.

After resting for a day and having incantations chanted around it while sprinkling it with holy water, it seems to come back to life, only to do the whole thing all over again the next time Bob uses it. I have not been able to use it because it is still laying on the couch with a cool cloth on it's forehead when I need to use it. So I think we are witnessing the demise of the treadmill. Which is decidedly counter productive to my ongoing quest to lose more weight. I am on track, but I really do need to lose another 20lbs to be in a healthy weight zone for my paltry 5'4" frame. I have dropped one clothing size so far, which is AWESOME, but there is more to go.

If it does die, which I think it will, the question will be do we try to get it fixed, or perhaps buy one off of Craig's list for half the price a new one would be. Or live without one and figure out another way for me to get a good cardio work out. I have a rowing machine and hand weights, but I am unable to row for 30 minutes which is how long I am usually on the treadmill. It is something I can do for maximum 10 minutes at a stretch, then things being getting really tight in my back. Right now walking outside is as difficult as running - I am NOT doing it in a torrential downpour/thunderstorm.

I know this is such a mundane concern compared to real problems like poverty and starvation. So I will count my blessings and be grateful. Are there healers out there for exercise equipment?

5 comments:

Laura said...

OMG, couldn't stop laughing by paragraph three! I'm sorry about your treadmill though. Maybe if you gave her a proper gender and name and a footrub she'd feel loved and come back to life.

Audubon Ron said...

I have no clue, I'm not a user.

Anonymous said...

Mercy, we will say prayers.

witchypoo said...

I've seen treadmills listed on Freecycle.

Oz said...

In my only experience trying to fix a treadmill (well, it was actually my parents' experience trying to fix their treadmill), the fix would've cost about half as much as a new treadmill. It wasn't worth it just to get another few months out of the thing. There is a site - treadmilldoctor.com - that has treadmill reviews and I think info about or repair parts.