danskos and treadmills

Today I was reminded of why i should not be allowed to go to the gym without supervision. I am way too clumsy and impatient to be allowed on moving equipment i.e. treadmills. What should have been an easy and fun workout turned into a nearly catastrophic event. Heres what happened- i was on the treadmill next to nicole. Y'all should know - i hate treadmills. They make running so monotonous and it is really all i can do not to quit. I much prefer running outside, and as you will soon see, for good reason. Here i am in the gym because outside is still covered in snow/ ice. I thought that it would be more dangerous to try to run on ice but little did i know just how dangerous treadmills can be. So anyways, i'm just staring out the window and Nicole is on the machine next to me. I see that she has a magazine. I become jealous of her magazine. I realize that perhaps a magazine would make the time pass faster/ cover the numbers so i don't go crazy from staring at the stupid digital numbers waiting for them to change. So i slow down the treadmill a tad but i figured, hey i'm young, i'm agile, no problem.. i will just hop off this thing onto the side board things. Also, i figured if i let the treadmill keep going while i wasn't on it, i'd be getting mileage for free thus my gym experience would pass faster. Well anyways, i hopped and i did NOT land on the side bars. Instead, my leg fell onto the treadmill track thing and it was pulled down. I can't accurately describe what really happened because i was a slight panic. I most likely resembled a pale sweaty pretzel sprawled on the treadmill track desperately reaching for the "safety" bars on the side. All i know is that i now have a five inch tread mark on my shin. So naturally, i tried to play it off cool even though my heart was beating a million miles per hour. I looked up to see Nicole laughing hysterically and the other people looking at me as if i was not old enough to be left in the gym alone. So as of today, i've decided that danskos and treadmills are not meant to go together. Perhaps i will borrow Grier's wallabees tomorrow and give it another try but... probably not.