Picture this: a small apartment gym with three treadmills, one coveted middle one, and a workout enthusiast deep in the throes of interval training.

Enter two friends who decide the only way their run can be truly epic is if they’re side by side.

Cue the drama over the treadmill that was never meant to be the hottest commodity in town.

Check out the details!

AITA for not moving treadmills at the gym so two friends could run next to each other

I’m training for a marathon, and I was doing intervals on a treadmill at the gym in my apartment the other day.

My apartment gym is small–there are only 3 treadmills–but it works for what I need, since I basically only use it if the weather prohibits me from running outside.

Of the three treadmills, the middle one is my favorite. It is newer and smoother, and the console is higher.

Only runners could form a bond with a machine that’s basically a glorified hamster wheel.

So on that day, I was doing my 5’ on/1’ off intervals on the middle treadmill when these two people got in front of the treadmill to get my attention.

I thought it was an urgent matter, so I took one headphone out, but they just asked if I could move to one of the side treadmills.

They said they wanted to run next to each other and asked if I could move to one of the treadmills on the side.

Who knew the treadmill could become the hottest ticket in town?

I said no and put my headphone back in. I thought that would be the end, but they stayed in front of me, waving in front of me and nagging.

(I couldn’t hear their exact words through my headphones)

When I got to my rest period, I asked what was up.

They asked why I wouldn’t move and I said “I’m doing intervals.”

They looked at me confused and said I could just move and it would take like five seconds.

I told them if they wanted this treadmill they should have gotten here before I did, and to stop bothering me.

I didn’t have the necessary breath to explain this, but since I was doing very strict interval training that was programmed, I couldn’t interrupt it.

Also, it would just throw off my vibe. Also, the middle treadmill is my favorite, and I was there first.

No one’s dethroning you without a fight.

When I got to the lobby, one of the girls was waiting for me. She told me I was very rude and that I should be banned from the gym for my conduct.

I was like, “Girl, it’s a treadmill. It’s not that deep.”

She said I was lucky she didn’t film me and get me in a Joey Swoll video (mind you, I’m a girl, too).

At this point, of the guys working the front desk came up and asked if she was bothering me (she was getting very heated and I was staying calm).

I said yes.

He told her to leave me alone or he would call security. The girl begrudgingly left.

Seriously? It’s a treadmill, not a world championship.

When I retold this story to my friends, all my running friends were fully with me. One of them was like, “interrupting someone’s workout should be a felony.”

Some of my non-running friends, however, were a bit on the fence.

Some of them think it was rude that I didn’t give an explanation (I was out of breath because I was doing intervals).

One of my friends also brought up a point that while I’m a runner and I use the gym for sport-specific training, most other residents probably use that gym more casually.

So it’s not fair for me to expect them to meet the same gym standards and I should have just moved, or at least explained.

Was I an AH for not moving?

When your gym’s etiquette is called into question, it might leave some friends divided over whether she should have bent the rules.

But Reddit says heck no.

This person says she was being fair.

This person says the girls seemed like bozos.

And this person says rules are rules, oh well.

Looks like in the world of treadmills, it’s every runner for themselves.

This was really ballsy!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.