10/29/04

Okay, first day at the health club was really weird. I’ve never used a health club before and this one is self-service. There was no one to show me around or anything. I just had to figure out where everything is. On top of that, I had to figure out what the expected behavior is. It’s been so long since I’ve been in a locker room that I was uncomfortable changing at first. As I did I suddenly remembered that I now have a tattoo on my arm that I never thought would be visible to anyone I work with. I also realized that I hadn’t thought to bring a different pair of shoes – It’s a good thing I didn’t wear my boots today. There’s equipment there that I’m not at all familiar with yet, so as I was still feeling pretty self-conscious I just put my head down and hopped on the first stationary bike. Good ol’ stationary bike – I knew I could just hop on and start peddling and figure out all the electronic controls from there. That was certainly the fanciest exercise bike I’ve ever seen with all the program modes like automatic varying of the difficultly. It was a good 20-minute workout. Next to it was a familiar weight lifting machine for lat pull-downs, so I hopped on that to give my legs a break. I quit after that. I don’t want to overdo it since I’m just getting started. If I work my muscles till I’m sore, I won’t want to go back. I was not at all prepared to find open showers. We had those in high school, but no one I knew ever used them. I couldn’t avoid it this time because I couldn’t stink at day at work. So I got through it, and it was definitely a good start to my day. I started out pretty tired after only four and a half hours of sleep, but the workout actually gave me more energy rather than making me more tired. I can definitely make this part of my morning routine.