Gym-boree!

We had a snow storm Sunday night.  No big deal.  Monday was my day off.  Tuesday was not.  Apparently, people are tired of shoveling their sidewalks.  Add the impassable snow banks on the sides of the roads and you have impossible conditions to run on the streets.  More snow Tuesday night accompanied by freezing rain.  Wednesday was a mess of slushy ice.  No run again.  Today I decided to join the gym.

I belonged to almost every gym in the area and only during pregnancies when I preferred spin classes over running.  New York Sports Club was nice and clean.  I also liked the fact that I could use other NY Sports Clubs when away from home.  Unfortunately, it's pricey and you have to commit on a yearly basis.  Bally's is cheap, but overcrowded with stupid parking (small lot with a valet.  A valet!?  No, thanks).  Lucille Roberts is cheap, too, but very small.  The nursery is like a closet.  There are only a handful of treadmills that you need to wait for and then once you're on, you can only run for thirty minutes.  Not conducive to marathon training.  Sky Athletic is a local gym.  Big, clean and a little on the fancy side (a coffee station makes it fancy).  Unfortunately, they screwed me over when I joined five years ago.  I told the manager I was pregnant (Baby #3) and that after about 9 months (standard gestational period, right?) I would need to put my membership on hold.  He said no problem and wrote a note on my contract that I would not be charged during my hold.  Well, not only did they charge me, they charged me the full price (usually gyms only charge $15 per month during holds).  I wasted over six months of back and forth bullshit with the manager, then the owner, then the lying accountant (In one phone conversation, the accountant asked me to call Amex and remove my dispute so she could immediately refund me the three months of charges I was due.  I called Amex.  She never did.  I couldn't believe the blatant lie!)  Finally, they decided they would not refund me the amount.  I could, however, get three months free gym usage.  Uh, thanks, but no thanks.  I was so disgusted by the dishonesty, I wanted nothing to do with them again.

With my last pregnancy, I joined Dolphin Fitness.  I signed up for a year at $24.99 per month.  Great deal.  Their spin room was very small with limited bikes and no frills (I don't even think there was a mirror in the room).  I never had to wait for the weight machines and treadmills.  My best experience, so far.  I cancelled after Baby was born and my year was up.  Who needs a gym when you have the great outdoors?  Apparently, I do.  I thought I could tough out this winter.  I mean, I ran in 8 degrees after the first snow storm!  I'm a bad ass, remember?   Well, not so much.  Running in the frigid, snowy cold got old very quickly.  I went back to Dolphin this morning.  Three months (4th month "free") at $179, plus the $50 registration fee and $10 card fee.  Done.

I missed 7 miles with speed work on Tuesday.  Today, I ran the 12 miles I missed yesterday on the treadmill at an 8:57 pace.  This was the most miles I've ever run indoors and dammit, I was happy to do it!  Back on track.  No more excuses...(cough cough)

Look what came in the mail last week!

This is the official 2014 Adidas Boston Marathon

jacket.  What do you think?