I am not much of a gym person. I prefer to incorporate exercise into my life more naturally. Back in college, I walked everywhere. When I lived in the city, I walked to public transportation and then walked from the train station to work. However, life in the suburbs doesn't offer many opportunities for built-in exercise (unless I'm walking in the mall, and that doesn't count) because I drive everywhere that I need to go.
Last summer, B and I knew we needed to prepare for all of the walking that is involved in a European vacation. We started a walking regime and tried to walk a few miles a day, a few times a week. After we got back from our honeymoon, the weather turned cold, and our interest in outdoor activities waned.
I decided that it was time to get back on the exercise track. This year, LS and I made an exercise-related New Year's resolution that we knew we could keep. Our office building has a top-of-the-line gym, and our resolution was to at least try going to the gym and walking on the treadmills. We didn't intend to change into special gym clothes and weren't looking for a cardio workout--we just wanted to get moving for 30 minutes.
We were thwarted several times by illness, meetings, and occupied treadmills, but this afternoon, we finally got our walk on. We walked for 30 minutes, and I trekked 1.25 miles, and I am very proud of my accomplishment! We've even scheduled another date with the treadmills for next week (early in the week--that way if we can't do it, we have time to schedule a make-up session).
The best part of the gym? Individual TV units in front of every machine. And they have cable! It's an even better TV experience than we have at home. Getting to watch The Travel Channel might be motivation enough to keep going.
