goodbye old gym, hello new gym

On Saturday, before our trip to the pumpkin patch, we stopped at Safeway to fill up with gas. Wil noticed that the LA Fitness membership guys were out recruiting. So he went over to see what the deal was. It was the usual "this offer is only good until tomorrow" sort of spiel, but we talked it over (while getting a bagel and cash inside) and decided that it was a deal we could live with. A $249 joining fee for the two of us, and then $49.98/month for the two of us. They did have a "month-to-month" rate with no joining fee, but that would have been something like $87.98/month. So we paid up.

The club won't open until November (really? that empty shell? Ummm...) but until then we can use the other area clubs -- Bellevue, Mill Creek, and North Seattle. On Sunday after the Dawg Dash we went in and had a look, but as we didn't have locks we decided against doing anything more time consuming than showering. So tonight was our first workout in the North Seattle facility.

We found two treadmills next to each other, which overlooked the weight machine floor and faced large televisions. I'd never heard of the brand before, and they took a little getting used to, but I did like the little built-in fans. Of course, I forgot to use them as I worked up a sweat doing a 5-minute warm-up walk, 50 minutes of running at a gradually increasing pace, and then 5 or 7 minutes of cool down.

Wil and I both got really really bored. Maybe if we'd listened to music or been able to follow the tv programming it would have been better. But I was able to run steadily for 50 minutes, which I can no longer do in the real world.

After the run, we went to check out the pool. I did two very tentative lengths of breaststroke, but it made my shoulder twinge so I stopped. So then I put on my ultra dorky pool running shoes and did a few laps of that. Yes, I know I look like a dork, okay? The hardest ones were the sideways laps -- really challening. Luckily Wil was also ready to stop so we hit the strangely shallow hot tub. Not exactly relaxing, but still nice to be really really warm.

So for a first visit, things were a-ok.

Oh, and I also stopped off at the gym downtown to cancel my membership. They were totally cool about it and there was no drama whatsoever. And, of course, since we paid first and last month dues, our memberships are good there through November. So many gyms, so little time.