In a perfect world, @mrsbozz and I would spend our Wednesday's walking around one of the parks like you see above. Imagine a warm summer day somewhere in the mid to high 80 degree Fahrenheit range. It might seem a little hot, but there is a cool breeze blowing off Lake Huron. Seagulls are squawking away in the distance, people are riding their bikes down the path, you hear kids playing at the beach off in the distance, and the waves gently lap against the shore.
Sounds pretty amazing doesn't it? That's definitely a #wednesdaywalk worthy of the tag started by @tattoodjay.
Given the fact that @mrsbozz and I live in Michigan, days like the one I described above are fleeting. More often than not three months out of the year we get a day like the one below:
I remember a while ago on Discord I was talking about the fact that my wife and I were going to get a treadmill for Christmas. I still remember someone made the comment "or you could just go outside and walk". I think the photo above does a good job of summing up why that isn't always an option.
Sure, below a specific latitude, that might be possible, but where I live, we get to experience all four seasons. That means harsh cold with an average snowfall in the winter, an occasional day over 100 degrees in the summer, as well as a Fall and Spring full of rain.
There is a saying in Michigan (though I imagine it isn't unique to our state),
"If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes"
With all that in mind, @mrsbozz and I decided it was time to get a treadmill. We work out about five days a week, but I wouldn't consider us "gym people". I don't need to go to a public place and let everyone know my business or see my lack of results from working out every day. Plus, we don't really live close to a gym, so you are losing a half hour out of your day each day just getting there and back.
We recently got rid of some furniture in our basement, and that left the perfect spot for us to finally get a treadmill.
You might remember in this post, I talked about how I was stressed out about the treadmill being delivered. I also wrote a post a while ago about how long it took me to actually make the purchase in the first place. I was so afraid I was going to pick the wrong model or the wrong style. It was nerve wrecking.
The freight company was supposed to call me before they came to deliver the treadmill since I work a half hour away from where I live. True to form, the guy called me as he was standing in my driveway. He said the package looked okay and asked if it was okay to just leave it in front of my garage.
We live in a pretty safe neighborhood, so I knew it would be okay for him to leave it until I was able to get home.
Looking back now, I should have paid the extra money to have them deliver it to a specific room in my house. That's how many of them set up their fees. It's one price to have them deliver it to your doorstep. Another price to have them deliver it to a room in your house, and then another price for them to deliver it to a room and assemble it.
I'm really glad that I asked my desktop support specialist @iikrypticsii to ride along with me. Three hundred pounds didn't seem like that much at the time, but when we started to try and move the box, it kind of hit us like a ton of bricks.
We ended up sliding the thing more than actually lifting it, but we eventually got it into the house. As you can see in reference to the garage door, the box is huge, and I think that awkwardness is part of what made it so difficult to move.
I was sweating so much after we got it moved in. I still have aches in muscles that I didn't know I had two days later.
But we made it! It was in the house so we got back in the truck and headed back to work for the rest of the day. When I got home later that night, I set about putting it together. As much as moving it into the house was a multiple person job, putting it together is more than a one person job as well.
I said to my wife if we ever move again, we are hiring a company to get this thing out of the basement!
It's an outright miracle we didn't put a hole through one of the walls moving it into the basement. It's also a miracle we didn't damage any of the components in the box getting it up the front steps into the house.
I bought a special mat to put under the treadmill to protect the floor. With everything out of the box and the mat in place, I set about putting the treadmill together. About halfway through I realized I was going to need @mrsbozz to hold a few things while I tightened some bolts. She came down and gladly helped out.
It became pretty apparent that the deck and motor were the heaviest parts of the treadmill. I was taking a little break in the photo above while reading the instructions. Do you like my old man slippers?
The hardest part of assembling it was getting the mat straight underneath and getting all of the foam and plastic out from under there. That strap holds the track of the treadmill down and if I had known better, I probably would have removed that much sooner than I did. The instructions were pretty specific about being really careful with that velcro belt lest you suffer some form of debilitating injury.
I think they were just covering their own butts.
Eventually, I got it all together and it was time to start playing with it. Although this is a higher end model, it isn't anywhere near the commercial grade machines that are out there. Also, unlike the new Peloton machines, this one doesn't have a lot of interactive features.
@mrsbozz was pretty specific about the fact that she didn't need a personal trainer telling her how to walk every day. She just wanted to be able to turn it on and start walking. With that in mind, I skimped on some of the tech features to get a more durable treadmill with a higher weight capacity. That way even my fat ass can run on it without worrying about breaking it!
It still has some interactive features, but not the full blown training session like the newer ones have. It seems to be a pretty decent treadmill so far. I haven't used it yet, but @mrsbozz has already taken two walks on it. It has a top speed of 12 MPH I think and something like 15 incline levels. Don't quote me on that though.
One thing I failed to realize is just how high it sits. With the center console and tablet holder, you can't even see the television behind it. We are going to need to slide that over so we can watch TV while we are walking (or running).
As I said in the title, it won't be a traditional #wednesdaywalk, but on those days when we can't get out and about, this will allow us to get some exercise.
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