Treadmill Fall Fail

Last week I saw a girl fall off of a treadmill.  HARD. 

Falling off of a machine with a loud, sonic thud, in a row of people behind you, in front of you, and beside you, is pretty much worse case scenario in my book.  You just can’t go back to being anonymous, at least for the rest of the day, and at least at that same gym.

I was craning my neck so hard to see how long she would stay and attempt to run, even after flying off of the treadmill in front of everyone.  

It is really hard to stare at someone who is behind you.  By about the fifth time I turned to check the blood flow from her knee and the brokenness of her spirit, she had vanished.

She lasted a lot longer than I would have.  I would have limped out of there with my tail between my legs faster than you could cry, “MEDIC” to address the blood that was gushing down her leg and surely a health code violation.

It reminded me, painfully, of a time in high school when I was working out at the local gym and my crush walked by.  In addition to just being a standard, semi-awkward high schooler, I also had braces and a lifelong bout with total lack of coordination.  Add that to the fact that the treadmills at this gym were all lined by a mirrored wall.  

Seriously, who’s genius idea was that?  Let’s be real people.  No one wants a reflection of their cellulite ever.  And especially not while it’s jiggling up and down on a treadmill.  Keep the mirrors in the weight room where they belong.

Anyway, my crush started talking to me, I fell off of the treadmill, into the mirror, with my braces…And I just got right back up and kept on running.

Oddly enough he was not impressed with my resilience.  In fact, he seemed more amazed with the fact that I was willing to pretend that I had not taken flight into a mirrored wall a mere moment before. 

Needless to say, our love didn’t last.  Neither did my stint as a jogger.  But now I am really careful at the gym though, so some good came out of it.