When I was 39, and 265 pounds, I was suddenly able to focus on losing weight.  I was newly married to a wonderful man (2^nd husband) and I was happier than I had been in a long time.  I was able to focus on me.  When I got below 210 I started going to the gym, and discovered the indoor track and the elliptical.  I enjoyed the track for a minute, until I was able to run at lease a mile, then I took it to the road, and started doing 5ks.   I longed to take the elliptical on the road as well, but at that time there were no such machine.

Several years ago that changed.  The first one I saw was on The Biggest Loser, the Street-Strider.  I looked into them, but at the time there were no stores that carried it in the North-East.  The closest to me was Erie Pa.   I was a little surprised.   I live within 20 miles of Philadelphia, 100 away from both New York City and Washington DC.  Three major metropolitan areas and there were no suppliers.  There was no way to take it for a test drive, and that was a very large investment on a piece of equipment that I was not sure I could handle.  I decided to wait until I could find a location where I could test-ride one.

About 2 years ago I had some work related stress issues, and I stopped running and working out.  I recently started to run again (C25K program) and immediately had swelling in my left knee.  Not a lot of pain, but enough swelling to affect mobility.  I have to stop running until I see a specialist.   That happens in 5/10/12.  Based on my hereditary medical history (many knee issues) I may be looking at an eventual Knee-replacement.