New Treadmill

Jessi's moving so fast it can't be captured on film!

Last weekend Jessi and I purchased a treadmill. I had been haunting Craig's List for a couple of months doing research and figuring out what was available. You see, I inherited my dad's style of research: spend a lot of time just looking. Figure out what it is you're looking for. Wait for a killer deal. Then pounce on it. We did it with our property and now with our treadmill.

After talking with sales reps at exercise stores I determined I wanted (at a minimum) the following:

• 2 horsepower continuous duty motor
• A belt length of 55 inches
• An automatic incline
• Hand rails that came out horizontally so I could place a board across it to make a table
• Fold up for easy storage and transportation
• In "like new" condition
• Oh yeah, and under $400

These features are typical at the $1,000 price range, but I knew if I waited it out we'd find something. Sure enough, a treadmill popped up on Craig's List that met all my criteria. Since I had already done my research, all I needed to do was look at it to make sure everything worked. It turned out that the people selling it had a family member move away and just wanted to get rid of the machine (Craig's List really should have a "selling because of moving" tag - those are all the best deals). We talked about the fishing in Oregon for a while and eventually were able to make a deal.

So, why get a treadmill? Well, two reasons.

First, it rains in Oregon and try as hard as I do, I just don't like running in the rain. It wasn't that big of a deal for a while because I just wouldn't run. However, now Jessi and I are actually training for a marathon/2 that's coming up. So my plan of avoiding running isn't working. Actually, it IS working and let's just say that 13 miles still sounds like a long distance to me.

Here's a video of Jessi testing it out:

Second, I work from home pretty much every single day. I sit on a ball, but I'm still sitting. What we're going to do is attach a removable self that I can put my computer on. Then I'll be able to walk while working (I'm writing this while walking right now. 1.8mph; 0.8 miles!) or while in a conference call. I'm not looking to burn any major calories, but instead do a better job of getting up and moving throughout the day.

My short-term desk solution

So, that's our new treadmill. I think it'll get a lot of use from us. We'll see. I'll let you know in a few months if we have a slightly used treadmill for sale in a couple of months.