bad influence

I might be a bad influence. I have two younger brothers, Michael who lives in Charleston with his lovely wife Summer, and Morgan who lives about a mile and a half up the hill from us. Well, Michael has started a blog of his own (they grow up so fast!) because his myspace blog just wasn't getting the job done. Michael is only 18 months younger than me, Morgan is like 5 years younger. So when my girls were born 23 months apart, mom wanted to know why we waited for so long. But Michael has always been the most creative and maybe the funniest of the three of us. I might have sharper comedic timing, but he's got the words for belly laughs. And the first post on his new blog is no exception. So give it a quick read, and I'll add it to the blogroll in my left nav too. It's mostly about music and video games. Michael went to Berkley College of Music in Boston as a songwriting major, and now he's a top executive producing a new video game. He's also a sometimes writer for nintendoworldonline.com. So his blog should be a steady feed of comedy, music and fun.

I did finally leave the house last night. I should have stayed in. I went to the gym for a scheduled 8 mile run on the thrillmill, and it was so sucktastic few other things have ever sucked that bad in the history of things sucking. I left here at 5 pm instead of my normal AM workout time, which kind of sucked. traffic was a bear. Then the gym was crowded with resolutioners, and some people were even getting the "new member tour" and taking up valuable oxygen. My gym is the Pivotal Fitness on E North St in Taylors. It has 38 treadmills, 43 ellipticals, 24 stationary bikes, and 2 stairmasters on "the cardio wall". it's freakin huge. Last night was the first time in 14 months I have ever seen every treadmill taken. I got one with a working tv before they all filled up.

I was a little hungry once I got into the run. and for only 8 miles, I only brought water. So I wasn't off to the best start. And since it was the first time I had run since the 20 miler on saturday, the knees/shins/ankles had some kinks to work out. So I wasn't exactly trying to push it real hard anyway. It was pretty uncomfortable, and I kind of expected that.

But the stupid broad on the treadmill next to me was what really sealed my fate. First she stood on the thing for 20 minutes talking to the person on the other side of her. Not moving, just standing. Then she finally turned the thing on ramped right up to a speed that was way too fast. So she couldn't stay on the thing for more than 30 seconds without stepping to the sides and letting the thing just run without her. Sometimes she would even get off, go to the other side of the room, wave at her friends, then come back. all without ever pausing the machine. And you know she went home and told her husband that she ran for like 10 miles or something, when it was never for more than 5 consecutive steps. Eventually she got down to "running" in just a sports bra, even though she had no business showing the rest of that abdomen in public. And this annoying bitch was constantly surrounded or otherwise distracted by a swarm of other seemingly more annoying bitches. This is amazing. This is why I don't like hitting the gym at 5 o'clock. It drove me insane.

Long story longer, I stopped my sucktastic sucky run after only 3.5 miles. Kind of hungry, kind of uncomfortable from the knees down, and really really annoyed. This is why running shorts should come with small pistol pockets built in.

Tomorrow's long run is 12 miles, and it's only 27 degrees outside now. I think we will be back in the gym for another shot at treadmill time. We'll have to see what happens.

Oh, and I think I might have found an answer to the pool problem! I talked to the people at the Westside pool to figure out why they were only open for 2 hours a day, m - f. The rest of the time it's used/reserved for groups. So after school there is a kids learn to swim group, and during normal before and after work time, there's the Team Greenville Master's group that practices. It's only like $100 for the year to join the team, and it gets into the pool I want when I want to be there. and a little coaching and the opportunity to join swim meets if I want to. The only other option is a YMCA membership for $45 a month. the Y only has 2 ellipticals and 6 treadmills, all with 30 min limits. So we can't replace the Pivotal membership with the YMCA membership just to get the pool. And I don't really want to pay for both. While I had not planned on joining a master's group in addition to the spinners and track club, it does appear to be the best option. Take note, Mendy! I think this is a winner, but I'm still trying to get signed up. We'll see if there's tons of hidden trouble in there.