Road Warrior Blog

19 February 2008

Defending Athena (or…Allow Me to Introduce You to My Treadmill)

Posted by Shelly under: Shelly Batterbee .

Dreadmill.  Hamster Wheel.  The TM.  Stupid Machine.  I’ve heard those names and a lot worse used to describe the nifty treadmill.  I keep trying to hate mine, feeling like I should not appreciate the spinning belt that keeps me going at an unnaturally steady pace, on an incline—hills, if you will—of my choosing.   

But I love my treadmill.

How can I love a dreadfully ugly machine like that, you ask?  Well, she’s been in the family now for three years, purchased after I’d proven my commitment to running with my first Riverbank, and we figured out that the cost of a treadmill would be cheaper than shelling out money for a year at the gym.  Ok, so we again have picked up the gym membership at the YMCA, but that’s so I can cross-train, and for the kids to get a fun way to year-round fitness, as well.

I love it enough that I’ve recently named it, figuring it will bring us closer together—create a bond between Runner and Machine.  She is Athena. 

Athena has been with me through injury—twice now.  She’s kept me cushioned underfoot.  She’s made me go slow when I would have otherwise gone too fast during recovery outside.  She’s kept me moving during thunderstorms, ice storms, snow days, and days when it would have been too difficult to head outside for a run with three kids in tow.  She let me run seven ridiculously fast miles once last year—right before I fractured my cuneiform bone (on the top of my foot).  Or perhaps that was the day it happened…but that was a really fun run—on a treadmill, no less!  After that Athena and I had to have a talk about her accountability for my well-being.

So why name it/her Athena?  Why not Nike—after the goddess of victory—to inspire the act of running?  Well, aside from the fact that I have yet to have a pair of Nike shoes that are kind to my feet, Athena was Nike’s best friend, and I just figured she would be a better choice for me, being wise and all.  Yeah, wise like me (ok, those of you who really know me are now thinking wise in some other way…keep it to yourselves, please!).  I, too, can be friends with victory, even if I may never experience a first place medal around my neck for running.

Athena was the daughter of Metis, the goddess of wisdom, and Zeus, the king of the gods.  Athena herself is associated with wisdom, purity, and reason.  I like to think I have become a wise runner over these past few years—learning to listen to my body more than I listen to others.  Athena is known as the warrior goddess—and—hello!!!—I AM A ROAD WARRIOR!!!

And who can forget that the original marathon course was run by Pheidippides from a battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., which, of course, is the city named for Athena?  That whole running connection just came full-circle, didn’t it?

While many, even fellow Road Warriors, spew out the agonies of running on a treadmill, I want to tell those of you hesitant to even try one out for more than a three mile run that it is feasible.  It can even be enjoyable.  I get into my “zone” after about 2 miles, and then the rest of those miles just seem to whiz on by.  I sometimes visualize myself on the road, or on a trail, or on a race course.  I can be anywhere while Athena keeps me on track (ha ha—very punny, yes?!). 

So here is a quick shout-out to the first inventor of the treadmill, Sir William Cubit, who, back in 1817, reportedly used them originally as a way to reform prisoners, and for the upgrades made to them back in 1875, when they were actually powered by farm animals (hey—next time you want to complain about being stuck on one, feel better knowing at least there isn’t a cow right in front of you determining your pace or providing your room with an, um, natural aroma of sorts!).  And another shout-out to Dr. Robert Bruce and Wayne Quinton, both from the U. of Washington, who, in 1952, transformed the treadmill to help diagnose heart and lung disease.  And of course, to the modern day TM designer–who has given us the power to be fast, slow, run uphill, keep track of laps, keep our water bottle at hand, and more.

Gotta go say hello to Athena now—only 80 days left ‘til the Riverbank Run! 

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