Trial Memberships Can Come in Handy
I ran Tuesday in the cold, 20F temperatures, and got in five miles. Yesterday was another matter with 30F and 15-mph winds. I was going over to Mom's to use her exercise recumbent bike when I thought I'd check the local health club to see if they were offering any trial memberships. They always do don't they?
Sure enough they were. I hadn't finished filling out the online form, when fifteen minutes later, a trainer called from the gym. I said I could be there in fifteen and off I went.
I had heard that this particular gym franchise had a high level of testosterone floating around the facility. Grunts, groans, clanking weights and the beefcakes strutting their stuff. Not so. Maybe with some of the other locations, but not this one.
I warmed up on the recumbent bike for three miles and then ventured over to the treamills. Access to the equipment seemed abundant, except for the treamills. I waited for 20 minutes until one became available. While I waited, I pondered how I felt about the four or five individuals using the treamills as a walker. I mean, on the one hand, they could easily be at the mall circling the shops and get the same workout. On the other hand they paid their dues, I'm there as a freeloader using the equipment because it's too chilly outside. I decided not to put too much effort into the thought and switched my attention to Vince Young winning two awards last night on ESPN's College football awards show.
It had been over fifteen years since I had been on a treamill. They have much more electronics than I remembered. The again, everything has more electronics built into these days. It was pretty straight forward to get the thing going, select a session type and adjust the speed.
Early on I felt the old left foot slap come back. I thought I'd worked it out on Tuesday at the track. It seems to show up when I haven't stretched enough. I hopped off the treadmill sides and stretched the left shin and calf some more and hopped back on. I got my form back in order and continued with the mileage. I enjoyed seeing the mileage and miles per hour displayed. After about two miles I felt really comfortable on the machine. I put in six miles and called it a day.
Now it was time to pay for my freebie. I had to talk to the sales guy and go over the various "specials" they had going. Even though they say it's a one week free membership, they mean one day and get a sourpuss look on their face when you tell them you need to check out the club a few more days. I imagine I'll have to repeat the procedure each time I go back this week. Oh well it beats 30F, with a wind chill of 15F.
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