Chezon vs. the Apartment Gym Treadmill

I absolutely hate the treadmill at my apartment complex's gym. Despite the time I've spent on it, we've developed no rapport. Truthfully, I think I'm spoiled by the equipment at Body Solutions. This one has less displays and I'm always unsure of my progress. For me, it's all about confirmation. I need to see an indication that shows how long I've been walking and the exact distance I've covered. It's a mental thing. Matter of fact: it's a "light at the end of the tunnel" thing.

Here's what happened before I got on my treadmill at home:

(Stage: at Body Solutions)

Dan: "So are you headed home to do your cardio?"

Me: "Yeah, I wanna be closer to home because I have to hurry to orientation at school afterwards."

Dan: "Okay, you're going to do 5 miles on the treadmill, right?"

Me: "5 miles? Can't we do 3 miles today and 2 miles tomorrow?" (Between you and I, I really believed this would fly with Dan, but I forgot, he had backup.)

Mike (another trainer at Body Solutions): "5 miles? Che, you can do 5 miles, easy!"

(Mike has this patent pending smile that he uses to convince people that they can do anything. I swear, as soon as he said that, he smiled and I actually saw his teeth bling like in the toothpaste commercials.)

Me -- mentally: "Did he really just bling his teeth at me? He did! He blinged his teeth at me!"

(Truthfully, the teeth blinging distracted me and I couldn't remember if I agreed to the 5 miles or if we settled on my compromise.) I headed home to the gym at my apartment complex in a daze.

When I jumped on the treadmill, I started watching "Up in the Air" (George Clooney's latest movie) and began walking at a brisk pace. Like I said, the most frustrating thing about my treadmill is it doesn't have accurate progress displays. If the movie's interesting, I'll soon forget about everything else, but if it doesn't hold my interest, I need constant place markers.

During the slow parts, I stared at the treadmill lights wondering what was really going on. How much longer did I need to walk? How far had I come? It wasn't until the credits rolled, the treadmill slowed and an hour and a half had passed, that the treadmill revealed I'd only walked 4.98 miles in 35 minutes. Apartment Gym Treadmill, welcome to my bad side!