Treadmill tunes... who knew?

I LOVE my treadmill... well at least now that I've discovered what the rest of the world has known forever I do.

It all started a couple of years ago when I decided that my television was turned on for most of my waking hours. I really just used it for the noise and distraction during the day when I would be home doing the household routine. Radio was not an option because living in our rural community (also known as the middle of nowhere :) we have no reception in our house. I know... crazy! Having to change CD's every little while was not very convenient so thank goodness Santa, being the wise man that he is, knew just what to bring me that year... my very own iPod. I purchased a little speaker system so I could just dock it and listen to whatever my heart desired. Great! (I'm getting to the treadmill part... just be patient)

We have a treadmill... actually we had an OLD treadmill. It was terrific. You could hang things on the handles it even folded up nicely so it would take up less room, you could use it as sort of a reversed white board and leave messages in the dust that collected on it's smooth black surface. On the rare occasion that someone would actually use it for it's intended purpose, it was so loud that it would wake the dead, and if you wanted to watch tv while on it, you had to have it turned up to deafening decibels. Once we determined that exercise was no longer an option but a necessity we decided to invest in a quality treadmill. So, I've been hopping on the new device for 45 minute walks three days a week for a while now. Even though it's a great machine and located near a tv (you know, that thing I want to watch less) the 45 minutes seemed to DRAG by. I would spend as much time looking at the clock as at the tv and hearing my inner child moaning, 'How much longer til we get there???' In addition to the torture of forcing myself to get on and go was that the three days a week just didn't seem to be doing much for my battle of the bulge. I knew the awful truth... I need to do this at least 5 days a week to make any progress. AAAHHH! I almost couldn't bear the thought of listening to myself whine through those long 45 minutes workouts FIVE times a week. So, since spring/summer has finally arrived, I decided that perhaps walking outside for at least some of those workouts would make it easier. I would just take my trusty iPod and head out the door. Better yet, to help me keep up a brisk pace on my walks, I downloaded some cardio workout music. Ready... set... GO! Well, the first morning I was planning to head off on my walk, I got a late start on my day and was short on time, so I opted to use the treadmill. I had been excited to try out my new tunes, so remembering that the new treadmill had the option of plugging in your iPod and listening via the speakers that it has built in, I decided to hook it up and see what this baby could do. HOLY COW! The speaker system is amazing! Great sound, my music is fun and so energizing. I can't believe the difference the music makes! I have actually been on the treadmill every day this week and have walked much faster, and really hated to see the quick 45 minutes come to an end.

I'm in shock... why didn't anyone tell me about this?