I named my Treadmill because she’s like a very good friend. I call her TreadMillicent…

I remember the first time I stepped on a treadmill at our local YMCA.

It was the winter of 2009.

My adult daughter, Jane, was with me. Jane had been a distance runner in high school, had taken some time off from running and then challenged herself with training for her first marathon.

I had just begun running back then and felt awkward and uncomfortable enough running in my neighborhood, never mind showing up at the Y — the place of a couple’a dozen treadmills all out-in-the-open among all kinds of exercise equipment, with people milling about in their work-out gear — chatting, lifting, training, sweating, weight-training, KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT TO DO.

I, on the other hand, had to rely on Jane to show me how to use the settings on this digital gem of a treadmill. It frightened me just to look at it; then, of course, were the fears of falling off, not knowing how to stop and the “what-ifs” of someone coming along and claiming it as their time slot.

God, no.

I made Jane wait until two treadmills were available, side-by-side. She indulged me.

I immediately found the treadmill experience far different from running outside. Not better or worse. Just different. There was the steady fluidity of motion with nothing to stop me or jump over or avoid — like puddles or potholes. I found that although my pace was similar, I felt that I was running harder. Not faster, just harder. I felt that Time had slowed down and each glance at each .10-mile took forever.

AND I was still nervous about the hovering people waiting to jump aboard.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t crazy about the treadmill. But I loved doing this thing with Jane and I kept coming back with her because the winter ice, slush, snow had made it so difficult and dangerous to run outside (like THIS Winter of 2015); and, interestingly enough, I found that the fluidity of motion made me run further than I thought I could run. Before long, I had managed 4 miles, my PB and my all-time goal. That day, I told my husband, “If I keep using the treadmills at the Y, I’ll be running a marathon, like Jane!”

I got a big chuckle out of that.

Then it was Spring. And May 2009. The treadmills were a distant memory. Jane ran her first marathon and qualified for Boston! Yes, she did!

I never touched a treadmill again, but the treadmills at the Y had, like good friends, encouraged me to run further and to run faster than I had ever imagined. Heading outside again felt like sunrise on a summer morning – glorious – but those treadmills had instilled confidence in me to take me to new paths in my running.

On May 10, 2011, I ran my first marathon! Yes, I did!

So all of this treadmill conversation brings me back to the Winter of 2015 – frigid, snow, ice, slush, dangerous running conditions AND I’m training for my 3rd marathon — this time Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota.

What?! Where’s the treadmill?

Well, it just so happens that my husband Barry had purchased a treadmill way back during the Summer of 2014 for HIS running needs; but it just sat in the box, in our garage, until last Sunday.

I had missed 2 days of training last week due to all the road situations and really, really didn’t want to head to the Y to use a treadmill there, knowing how crowded it would be during this round after round of winter weather.

Barry and I headed to our garage and within an hour or so had assembled our TREADMILL…

Yesterday, I ran 3 inaugural miles on the treadmill while snowfall and very treacherous driving conditions loomed large outside…

Today, I ran 5 treadmill miles, looking out our garage back door and feeling the sense of BEING out there…

Today, I also named my treadmill — because, just as the first treadmills I used so many years ago, she’s (female!) like a very good friend.

She is TreadMillicent – “Millicent” has been in use since the Middle Ages. The English form Millicent derives from the Old French Melisende – from the Germanic amal “work” and swinth “strength” ~

WorkStrength.

I think this name is just about perfect.

I know that treadmills are often called dreadmills; but I think – no, I know – that any treadmill I’ve befriended has given me back so much more.

My good friend TreadMillicent is that friend who’s always there, any time of day or night, in any weather event — and never resentful when I head off on fair-weather paths that I love so very much.

So bring on Grandma’s Marathon training, because this Grandma of 11 has a brand new friend to help with the miles!