The haunted treadmill revisited

After my weightlifting portion of my workout, I made my way to the treadmills. There are three in our gym. I had intended to use one of the other two - any one but the haunted one. Alas, a man and his wife had already claimed the other two treadmills, leaving me to confront the ghost in the machine once again.

Trying to hide my nervousness, I stood astride the machine. I punched in the program I wanted, the speed at which I wanted to begin, and my weight. I waited for the treadmill to get up to speed, and then, with the grace of a gazelle, stepped onto the moving tread, smoothly making the transition from stationary to walking.

I mentioned to the woman next to me that the treadmill had behaved peculiarly yesterday, relating to her the problem with the incline/decline mechanism. She offered to switch machines with me, stating she and her husband would only be on them for a brief time. I declined her offer. I knew what I was in for should the machine once again become demon possessed. I could handle it. I had vanquished the ghost yesterday. What if she were not similarly equipped, and the demon made its presence known, and she fell prey to it? I would never forgive myself.

After I declined her offer she asked "are you scared?" I thought for a moment, then replied, "yes, yes I am." She looked at me with admiration. I could tell she was impressed by my bravery.

I started slowly - 4.1 MPH, 0% incline. Two minutes later, I notched it up to 2% incline, 4.2 MPH. Every two minutes I notched it up another percent incline. I reached 5% incline and maintained my 4.2 MPH pace for about 5 minutes. Dare I go to 6%? That seemed to be the point at which the demonic possession had taken place yesterday. I hesistated, my finger hovering over the "up" button.

The woman next to me watched me the way you watch when you know a car wreck is imminent. She looked as though she wanted to shout, "No! Stop!" but no words came out. Had I not already been sweating from exertion, I would have broken out in a cold sweat. My mouth was dry - although it could have been a result of my exercise and not necessarily related to fear of the demonic treadmill ghost. I bit my lower lip, gulped, then hit the up button. The treadmill rose into position. I maintained my 4.2 MPH pace for another 5 minutes. I thought about testing the decline mechanism, but decided against it. I wanted to keep going up. I was ready for more, ready to go to the next level, but did I dare?

I had 12 minutes left in my workout. If I went at 7, 8, 9, and 10% for 2 minutes each, I could cool down for 2 minutes at 2% and 2 minutes at 1%. Perfect!

But what if I got stuck on 10 again? What if, this time, I could not vanquish my foe? Dare I chance it? To be continued....