One of the meanings of treadmill according to the Oxford English Dictionary:
a large wheel turned by the weight of people or animals walking on steps around its inside edge, and used to operate machines.
Wiktionary adds: It was used principally as a means of prison discipline.
Quick looks at other websites says the word and its origin as a wheel or mill for prisoners has been in use since the early 19th century.
Two hundred years later, my treadmill is a trusty friend albeit mainly for short runs.
I start slow – it takes me forever to warm up as it always does on the TM.
Meanwhile, the phone and the speaker refuse to connect over Bluetooth. I could do with some music.
Oxford gives the etymology of Bluetooth as a trademark:
said to be named after King Harald Bluetooth (910–85), credited with uniting Denmark and Norway, as Bluetooth technology unifies the telecommunications and computing industries.
I try connecting a few more times. No device found, it keeps saying.
Instead, on the treadmill, I toggle the incline up and down. It keeps the run interesting and is a way to kickstart the warm up. Or so I believe.
I gently increase the speed through the run. By the time I’m in some rhythm, the run is nearly over.
When I finish, I try the Bluetooth again. Of course it connects.
Writing about Running 