colector: Re: [JournalWriting] Hi- Amod here and am new to this group

Loved this! Treadmills are not my favorite piece of equipment and, truth be told, it's been a little while since I've been on one.

Still, at least you didn't go flying off of it.

John

From: amodtripathi <amodtripathi@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/03/06 Thu AM 06:32:32 CST
To: JournalWriting@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [JournalWriting] Hi- Amod here and am new to this group

Hi there... just joined this group and was reading some of your
journal entries...

I very recently joined a gym to keep myself in a 'running'
condition..what with all the health articles frightening me to
death.. I had an experience within the first week of my joining the
gym, which I have penned down...its an exaggeration ofcourse but
quite a bit of it is true..

"It was a cold january evening in Bangalore, while driving back
home, tired of crunch meetings and excel files, when I decided to
get some excitement and thrill into my life. With limited options
and moolahs in my wallet I finally decided on well… joining the gym!

Thirty minutes later and INR 2300 lighter, I was a proud member of a local gym, which had more mirrors than dumbbells. I surprised myself when I actually got up at five thirty in the morning (yes you read it correct- 5:30 A.M.) and braved the freezing cold Bangalore morning.

As I entered the gym the first thing to hit me was the ear-
shatteringly loud trance music and the sight of three over-sized
backsides sweating away rhythmically on a treadmill arranged in a
row.

There were others too, in various awkward positions, lying on the
bench, squatting on the floor, struggling with dumbbells and
pulleys. Lest my new found enthusiasm wane away before I got
started, I decided to begin with something easier. Walking on the
treadmill seemed the easiest. After all, just how difficult would it be to prod one foot ahead of the other? I have done that all my
life. In fact it would be so easy I could close my eyes and sleep-
walk through this.

I got to one of the treadmills and started my walk at 4 KMPH. Even
as I was warming up to the thought of an easy day ahead, a pretty
young thing (PYT) climbed onto the treadmill on my left and a
follicularly endowed scrawny young man (SYM) got on the one on my
right. Within seconds, they had punched the buttons and their
treadmills and were galloping at 9 KMPH.

Suddenly, and without any warning, the competitive juices in my body
flooded my veins over-powering my brain cells and all rational
thinking ceased from that moment. A few punches on the dashboard and
my treadmill was chugging at 9KMPH and I was running to the beats of
the trance music. It felt great! The feeling lasted for all for 120
seconds. Ms PYT had increased to 9.5 KMPH and SYM to 10 KMPH. What's wrong with them? Are they trying to tell me something? Even as my competitive spirit went into turbo mode, I saw my fingers move to the dashboard and digital display move to 10.5 KMPH. 90 seconds later I realized it was a mistake, but then I was no longer running for fitness. I was running to save my honor. It was either them or me. 60 seconds later ego started giving way to panic as I was no longer breathing from my nose. I was running with my tongue hanging out panting out loud. What's wrong with Ms PYT? Has she forgotten where the STOP button on her dashboard was? 30 seconds later my breathing sound had over-powered the trance music. Am sure everybody in the gym could hear my lungs screaming. My legs were getting wobbly and everything seemed to happening in slow motion. While Ms PYT and SYM were smoothly eating away kilometers my gait was starting to look comical. With the last gasp of breath my brain
screamed – `Better unfit and alive than be fit and dead' and
thankfully rationality was restored. I pressed the buttons to get
the speed down to 5KMPH and was fighting to stay onboard and look
cool at the same time. "

Am sure these two were smirking. My wobbly legs managed to get me down from the treadmill without any further mishaps. My pride was not the only thing that got a beating that day.

I didn't realize that treadmills could be so dangerous. In fact they should come with a warning on their dashboards!

I now know why they call it a `mill'!

But I made a mental promise to myself- I will be back!