On Walking and National Night Out

On Monday a new workout room opened in the building where I work.  The cost to use it is $10 a year.  I got the pass and began using it on Tuesday.  The hours for the room at 6am-6pm.  That doesn’t leave a lot of time for people to work out around their work day.  I like to work out in the morning because I tend to blow stuff off after work because “I’m too tired” to do anything else. Anyway, when they had us sign up to get the passes, they had over 600 people sign up.  This is a smallish room with 4 treadmills, 4 elliptical machines, 2 bikes, and some weights. There are 2 showers per locker room.  I thought when I got there at 6am yesterday that I would have to fight my way to a machine since there was such high interest shown.  Imagine my surprise when I showed up and there was only one other woman there. At 6:30, two guys showed up.  After my shower, I left the place at about 7:15 and it was empty. 

Today when I showed up at 6, all the ellipticals were in use but there were a couple of treadmills open.  However, this morning happened to be very pleasant and the sun was rising so I decided to actually walk outside instead of inside on the treadmill.  There are some corporate campuses nearby and I don’t know if they or the city are responsible for the beautiful walking trails nearby.  I walked around this meadowy/pond area and it was glorious.  There were bunnies hopping about, birds singing and flitting by, and a large crane or egret standing in the pond itself.  On this particular path there are shady spots and open spots.  The shady spots are framed by mature trees of every kind making a tunnel of green leafy goodness.  I am so glad I decided to walk outside.

I got back to my building with plenty of time to get ready for my work day but had to wait for a shower so I decided to work my legs on the weight machines.  I had worked my arms yesterday and was told not to work the same muscle groups the next day.  Once I was done with the leg weight circuit, a shower was free and I made it to my desk by my assigned work time.  About 2 hours later I began to experience a lovely euphoria that left me feeling up and happy until my blood sugar crashed near lunch time and I got the hangries.  (That’s where you revert back to being 3 and everything sets you off because you are hungry and you become jittery and anxious until food once again is comsumed.)

Here’s a question to ponder, “How come walking outside seems to go much faster than walking the same distance on a treadmill?”  The 30+ minutes I walked outside went so much faster than the 30+ minutes I walked on the treadmill.  When I’m on the treadmill I have to force myself to keep walking.  I tell myself…walk only 5 more minutes and then see how you feel.  After 5 minutes I tell myself…walk 5 more minutes and then see how you feel.  It’s so boring.  I am going to walk outside as long as the weather is nice.  Soon the cold will come and the snow will fly and walking outside will not be the delight it was today.  (Yes, it is August and I am talking of snow coming soon.  I live in MN…land of the North.)

Last night was National Night Out.  Our apartment complex had a nice little gathering.  There was free food, prizes, games, a bouncy house for the kids, a piñata, water balloons, and music.  It was a lot of fun.  It’s nice for us because there are two complexes in our apartment community and while we see and get to know quite a few people from our own building, we rarely if ever see anyone from the other building.  There seemed to be quite a few more kids this year than in the past.  It’s nice to see some of the same people year after year and yet meet the new ones.  Does your neighborhood do anything for National Night Out?