I Joined the Gym Today. Yeah Really.

I joined the gym today. And I am celebrating by sitting on the couch and writing about how I joined the gym and am sitting on the couch writing about it instead of going to the gym. I promise I will go later. Really. Just as soon as I finish writing this blog entry. And maybe after my nap.

So I noticed the other day that the Fancy Gym by my house is having a special where they are waiving the activation fees for a limited time. I did some quick math and figured out that with the fees waived, the gym membership is really quite a good deal so I went ahead and signed up online, because that's how I shop these days (see prior post about online shopping). I say I joined the Fancy Gym because there are two gyms close to my house. The Fancy one and the Not-So-Fancy Gym. I used to be a member of the Not-So-fancy Gym. It was okay. It covered what I needed for a pretty cheap price, but it was a little bit out of the way and the hours weren't as good as the Fancy Gym.

The Fancy Gym has a few extras like more locations, a sauna, spin and yoga classes etc, whereas the Not-So-Fancy Gym catered to the gym goer just looking for the basics like weights, treadmills, stationary bikes, ellipticals and some other things I never ventured near so I can't really tell you what they were. Hence, the Not-So-Fancy Gym came with a thrifty price, and who doesn't like a bargain? However, as I stated earlier, it was not as conveniently located and the price between the two is maybe $10/month difference so I figured why not splurge a little and join a gym I will actually attend?

As some of you know, I like to ride my bike. I am training for a century (100 miles) sometime next spring. So far I have pedaled a mere metric century (60 miles) so I figured I had better start some sort of real training program before next year so I don't have to suffer the embarrassment of taking the sag van the last 40 miles to the finish line.

I have liked riding bikes ever since I was a little kid. I don't know why. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I have worn glasses since 3rd grade so I never really enjoyed sports that involved a ball. Sooner or later ball sports involved getting hit by a ball, which is bad news for a kid with glasses who would rather be sitting on the sidelines reading a book instead of getting hit with a ball in P.E.class. The other kids didn't particularly appreciate me playing ball sports anyway because whenever a ball came my way, instead of actually catching, hitting, or kicking it, I ran from it. Less pain that way for me. The other kids seemed to have a problem with my technique for some reason. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that me running from the ball usually meant if the ball came my way too many times, our team wasn't going to be winning any games. Apparently this sort of thing is frowned upon in sports.

The good thing about cycling is that there are no balls involved. Hopefully there will be no cars involved either. I've known a few cyclists who have been hit by cars, and this is not always a pretty picture. Since I will be doing a certain amount of my training at the Fancy Gym, I won't have to worry about the car problem at all. Wish me luck.