Our Very First Treadmill

Ok, so we have been contemplating the idea of getting our own treadmill. I have to say, it is not an easy task. Took us months to decide on one and at the end we ended up getting a different model. With Tax season here, its is easier to get this done. You know how it is, you spend the $$ before even getting your refund check.

- First rule when shopping for a treadmill or anything big from a retail store: Do not believe everything the salesman tells you.
- Second rule: Do not believe a salesman that doesn't give you actual measurement, rather he shows you using himself as a ruler. (BIG NO NO)
- Third rule: If you live on a second floor apartment with no elevator, and if you have the extra $$ and do not mind spending a bit extra to have it delivered.. (Freaking Do it)


Since my mom is away helping my sister after surgery in TX, we have been hanging around with my dad a lot. It works for all of us; we get a sitter and he gets dinner and next day lunch prepared by Joyce (she's a sweet heart). So we ended up at my dad's last night and the treadmill topic came to the table during dinner. In all the excitement he got us to call Nordic Track and place and order. While Joyce was on the phone with them, I was on the laptop checking Sears's website to compare prices and all that good stuff. Turns out we were going to have to wait 2 weeks or so to have it shipped. On top of that if we wanted to have it installed, it was going to cost us $150. So we said, Nah.. lets go to sears and we can have it delivered by this Saturday.

We called Sears and started to place the order when my dad came up with the bright idea.. "Why don't you go pick it up now? see if they have it in stock at Cross County Mall." Yes, it was a nice idea and we fell for it. The guy on the phone said that the store had plenty of them in stock and they closed at 9:30pm. it was then 8:20pm. The store is only 10-15 min away from my parents so we made it there with plenty of time and knowing exactly what we wanted it was supposed to be much easier. Joyce stayed home with Jocelyn because we would not fit in the Matrix once the box was in.

We wanted the Nordic Track T5 zi. When we got there the salesman explained the difference between the motors and showed us other models with commercial motors. The lucky one coming home with me was the Nordic Track A2550. The salesman asked if we were having it shipped or taking it with us.. The fee for delivery and setting it was $65 weekdays and $75 weekends. My dad and I asked. How big is the box? the guy said."let me go check for you and we go from there". when he got back he said. Well, what are you driving? I said a Toyota Matrix. He said; the box will fit.. Using himself as a ruler he said; its about this high and this wide.. My dad and I looked at each other sand said; "ahh it fits, no big deal" LOL.

We paid for it and I went to get the car. 5 minutes later we see this guy come out with a box twice my size and as wide as a coffin. All my dad said was "oh shit". The guy asked where the care was and when he saw it he started to laugh.. He said.. are you sure you want to take this? I was having second thoughts but my dad said. "sure.. just put it in and we'll take care of the rest.. We folded the seats and pushed as much as we could but the dam box was too big, so the box was sticking out of the car.
We tied the hatch and drove 20 min on the highway praying there were no cops around. with the temps ins low 20's and the hatch opened, we were freezing in the car even though we had the heat going.

We made it home, it was windy, it was freaking cold and we still had to take the box out and carry it 18 steep steps to the 2nd floor. The box probably weighted 200+lbs. We only managed to get the box from the car to the front door of the building. The box was too bulky to be carried so we decided to simply do it the Hispanic way.. "pull the dam thing out of the box on the street and carry it piece by piece" seriously, there was no other way. We took everything out of the box, I wish I took pictures, but it was way too cold to take my time for it and my dad was already showing signs of grumpiness. We made sure we didn't misplaced anything and took the small parts upstairs. Hey this was easy and fast.. then came the belt and motor....

My dad was being brave and said that he will push where the motor was and I would pull the other end. He couldn't get the thing off the floor. So obviously we switch places, but in this case, I was pulling the motor rather than pushing. Thank God I have been working out. We managed to pull the freaking machine to the apartment where later I realized that it was a freaking monster.. But after all of that I said.. F it.. I am not bringing this back to sears.. lol. Took my dad back to his house and picked up Joyce and Jocelyn. Jocelyn's reaction to the mess when she came up was: "what happen? it's broken.. daddy fix it. I want to run" LOL

I started working on it as soon as we got home, it was 10:30 by then. Joyce gave Jocelyn a bath and made some coffee, put Jocelyn to bed while I was working on the machine. I was surprised how easy it was to put it together. Even though the manual was a bit confusing. The list of parts was all the way at the back of the manual and the pics of the screws were at the front page.. so you constantly had to flip back and forth.

We managed to put the arms in place and the handles. Oh yeah we did this 3 times. At first we forgot to put in a cover that goes at the bottom of the arms. So we had to unscrew the handles. The bolts were so hard to get in both ways it was no joke. Then when it was time to put in the dashboard, we had tighten the bolts a bit too hard that the handle was not latching with the dash. So we had to unscrew it all over again.. We kept asking ourselves "why are this things so freaking hard?" My hands were red and shacking from all the force I was using to get them in and out. We just kept going and got to fix the problem so that the dashboard would fit.

Once the Dashboard was on we noticed that we had a weird set of screws left over. LOL What happened? well my little assistant mixed up the screws, but not entirely her fault. The way the instructions are in the manual is very confusing so I was surprised we didn't mix the whole thing.

The bolts that were so tight were in the wrong spot and they were bigger than the correct ones. So yes we had to take then out again. and put the correct bolts. Once we had everything in place and made sure it was not going to fall apart, we just had fun with it and test some of the features.. It was 3am and we didn't want to do anything crazy and wake up Jocelyn, but apparently Joyce will be doing the honors tonight.

The machine is big but nice.. not noisy at all. Joyce likes it and thats all that matters to be honest. She's happy, I am happy, we are all happy.. even Jocelyn is happy because she thinks she is going to run on it. lol.

So, what did we learned about this? Pay the extra $65-75 to have it delivered and installed people.. or at least delivered if you are like me and like to put things together. ;-)