“He’s Skiing on One Ski!”

(See here for the title source.)

I was reminded of one of my favorite silly movies today on the treadmill, as I was finishing up my attempt to do five straight days of 5K walks. With about 1.2 miles to go, I noticed the feeling of something brushing against my left calf. I glanced down to see that my right shoe had become untied, with the laces flapping around as I walked.

This presented a dilemma. As I’ve previously noted, if clumsiness were an Olympic event, I would be a favorite to medal. So while some folks might be able to step off the treadmill, tie their shoes, step back onto the treadmill, and cruise on, I am not among those people. In my case, that would simply have been a plea to get George Jetsonned. Another option would have been to hit the Stop button, which will pause the treadmill for 30 seconds before shutting down, presenting most people with a pause option. However, I would not have had the ability to stop, turn around, step off, bend or sit, retie the shoe, get back on, and hit the restart button before the timer expired. And for some reason, breaking the day’s 5K into a 3K and a 2K (even consecutively) just didn’t feel kosher to me, and would have cheapened the week for me somehow. (Yeah, I’m weird. Have we met?)

So instead, I decided to chance it, and in fact made the last mile-and-change without stepping on a lace or getting it caught in the treadmill for a bathetic version of The Isadora Duncan Story. So score one for perseverance, I guess. In any case, I completed my five straight days of 5Ks, and that clears me for the weekend, since I have a show tomorrow night. Still, I think I’ll check my laces better next time.