Tread Run

These are the best-selling treadmills at Amazon.com including models from LifeSpan, Horizon, Sole, Phoenix, Stamina, and ProForm:

Because of the shipping costs associated with buying treadmills over the Internet, it often makes sense to take advantage of Wal-Mart’s Ship-to-Store feature or to buy directly from a store near you.

An example of one of the models you can get online from Wal-Mart and shipped directly to a store near you is the Weslo Cadence G40 Treadmill:

• 2.25 HP impulse motor is engineered to maintain its strength for long-term use
• 1 – 10 MPH QuickSpeed control allows you to instantly change the speed with the single touch of a button
• 3-position manual incline increases calorie burn and reduces joint impact
• 16″ x 50″ treadbelt is designed to operate smoother and more quietly than the average treadmill belt
• Comfort cell cushioning reduces impact on your joints
• SpaceSaver design allows the deck to fold vertically for storage
• Motivational RaceTrack visually displays your progress
• 4 personal trainer workouts take the guesswork out of your workout on the Weslo Cadence G40 Treadmill
• Blue-tinted LCD with priority display tracks your speed, time, distance, calories and pulse
• Easy pulse heart rate monitor gives a reading with the convenient thumb sensor
• 250 lb.

Here is a video of the models available in some Wal-Mart stores:

Zac does not have the body of a runner. He barely has the body of an athlete. When he watches video of himself in physical activity, he winces like most of us do when we hear our voice on a recording and think, “Is that really what I am like?”. But, for whatever reason, in every stage of his life, he has run. The following recounts a story he told me about running to one of his favorite songs by Panic! at the Disco:

Panic at the Disco

The drum beat has fantastic cadence for my running stride. I love letting the image of the video run through my mind as I run through the streets. The Sgt. Pepperish outfits are a throwback to the 60′s, and the song dances back and forth with talk of the past and the future. Even the title asks some clever questions: ‘At what point would 9:00 ever be considered the afternoon?’ and ‘Is the afternoon the end of your daily rhythm, or the beginning?’

We’ve all heard the phrase “time marches on”, and it certainly does. I sometimes wonder if growth and maturity are inevitable based on the ticking of a clock and the movement that must take place in the midst of the march. In many cases, time does drag or push us into the future, whether we wish it to or not. And that seems to be the difference: our desires and being intentional. There is a future to be entered into, and it can be our choice of both how and where we enter.

Zac continues:

I have this picture in my mind of myself walking through life in between a set of parentheses. If I start to feel sorry for myself and sit down to pout, the parentheses keep moving. Eventually the lagging one is upon me and dragging me through the dirt, forward through life. It’s when my focus is on the leading one when I am most content and at peace with life.

Hope abounds.

Optimism rains from the sky.

Energy fills my heart and mind, and my body runs toward the future. I think that this is part of the reason why most children are happy as a default setting in their lives. With less to look back on, there is the future waiting to be entered into.

Time is marching on. It’s my responsibility to stay on my feet. Right now, I’m running.

There are many things we have to do in life. Have you ever made a list of all the things you have to do in your life? Now ask yourself how many of those things you actually have to do to or ones that you just aren’t willing to deal with the consequences of. For example, you may think that you have to drive to work everyday, but you don’t. You just probably choose to have a steady income instead of always wondering where your next meal will come from, so you make yourself believe that you have to go to work. All you really have to do is eat, breath, and sleep, but that’s not much of a life, is it? The alternative to a “have to” is a “want to”. Instead of looking at the consequence, you look at the positive result of the action in question. You are drawn to this result, and you WANT to obtain it or achieve it. It’s not something you are running from, it’s something that you are running to. The difference may seem subtle, but it is HUGE!

We need to eat, breathe, and sleep, but what do you really want to do with your life?

If we feel like we have to do some sort of task, our minds will come up with all sorts of creative ways to avoid doing the task. This has been called “creative avoidance”. We can fill our day with all sorts of tasks and actions that are basically “good” and “productive”, but they keep us from our have-to task, where we subconsciously value them. Our mind is protecting us from it, since it is associated with the negative consequence of not doing it. When we understand the positive value of what will be gained from the task, then we want to do it! It’s the same thing with learning how to run when you’re a beginning runner.

Has this ever happened to you? You wake up and say to yourself, “I’m going to run today,” but you start your day at your computer and you notice you have some emails in your inbox. You start to read those, then realize there are some bills laying on your desk that also need paid and a stack of CDs you’ve been meaning to copy into your iTunes library. “That will help unclutter my desk,” you say to yourself, “And that’s a good thing, right?” you say in support. So you spend 30 more minutes doing that and all the while your running shoes sit right next to you on the floor, waiting. Finally, the thing you got up to do is next and even though you stopped to read emails, pay bills, and download music you are off and running. The mind can be a ingenious at getting me out of things, but as long as you stick to your running plan, you are on your way to the finish line.