It's Fun to Run at the Y.M.C.A!!!!

May 28, 2013

We are in the process of buying a house and moving.  It's been somewhat of a slight nightmare because we are moving to another state so we had to go to the new state, look for a house, make a decision and put an offer in all in one weekend.  That was a few weeks ago.  Our offer was accepted and we are now in the process of buying the house.  It's tricky though because I'm still in the old state so when something is going on with the house I have to make arrangements to go be there.  It's been a rough few weeks.  But the end is in sight and we are happy about that.

I was at the new house for the home inspection and planned on staying a couple of days.  I'm still in training for the 5k's....they are coming up FAST and I needed to go run.  My husband said that where we were staying wasn't really a good place to run on the street and suggested I go to the YMCA.  Now, I don't know about any of you, faithfully readers, but I myself remember the YMCA in a very different way than what I experienced when I walked through the door at the local YMCA in the town we are going to live in.  If I could use one word to describe this YMCA, it would be PLUSH!  Holy cow!!!!  Times have certainly changed since the Village People wrote their song!!!!  The YMCA I remember was a concrete building with little or no decoration.  The YMCA I remember was a very institutional looking building with posters offering various anthems of advice or advertising one class or another, certainly not very pretty.  The YMCA I walked into Tuesday was a plush (yes, there's that word again), comfortable building.  There was a circular desk with two young ladies sitting at it.  They were dressed in khakis and YMCA oxford shirts.  Both were pleasant young girls who were nice and eager to help.  Off to the side of the service desk was a cozy little area with coffee pots and a sitting area.  How nice!  I don't recall THAT being in the YMCA I remember!  The facility was very clean and didn't smell funny....you know the smell I'm talking about - old gym shoes, mixed with chlorine, mixed with sweat, mixed with old building.  This building was nice.  Behind the service desk was the indoor pool.  It was the one used for swimming laps.  There was also a whirlpool in there and a wading pool as well.  To the side of that was the entrance to the outdoor pool.  It was bright and sunny and good times were being had by all out there!  It was all so clean, clean, clean and it looked new, new, new!!!  It was a very nice facility.

It only cost me $10 for the day and it was good for all day.  I wish I'd known that sooner; I would've brought my swim suit and sat by the pool some.  But I was a woman on a mission and not to be deterred.  I was already behind in my scheduled and had to put my run off until later in the day so I didn't get my run in until almost three o'clock.  That wasn't my intention when I started my day.  However, life and obligations intervened and I was forced to rearrange my schedule.  Oh well.  It worked out in the end.  Okay, so all I had to do was fill out my address and give them a copy of my driver's license and $10 and I could use the facilities for the whole day.  I think that was a pretty good deal if you're only going to be using the facilities once in a while.  I didn't price a membership so I can't comment on whether it's a good deal to join the Y or not.  I will go back and do that.  If it is a good deal I might be getting rid of the old 'Mill and running at the Y....or maybe not.  More on that in a minute.  So anyway, as I said, $10 gets you the use of the whole facility (don't know if that included the outdoor pool or not.  I should've asked).  So I paid my $10 and entered the exercise room.

The exercise room was a bit small but they offered personal trainers which I thought was kind of cool.  Don't know how much it was for a personal trainer but the girl at the desk told me they were offering a training class to help people prepare for a 5k at 6:00 on Wednesday.  I wish I could've attended that but I had to leave on Wednesday to come back home.  That would've only been $10 too!  How cool is that?  Anyway, so the workout room was a bit small.  They had about three rows of treadmills and I swear these things were HUGE!!!!  I was quite intimidated when I stepped onto the one I chose.  It had a huge computer screen and I just stared at it for a minute before I could started pushing buttons....did I say buttons?  Oh, the "buttons" were on the screen.  I went through a little tutorial that didn't help me much and to be honest, I was a little stumped on how to get the silly thing started!  See, there's something to be said for my old 'Mill at home!  So I finally pushed the "Quick Start" button and had to push the speed button several times to get it up to 5.0 MPH.  My 'Mill at home has a button that says "Start" and a button 5.0 MPH.  Actually it has buttons for 2.0 MPH, 3.0 MPH, 4.0 MPH 5.0 MPH and so on.  If you want anything in between, you have to push the up arrow.  Not to hard to figure out how to work MY 'Mill.  I was a bit stumped on how to work the technological thing of beauty at the Y!  After a few minutes of running I knew something wasn't right because the numbers on the screen weren't matching what I am used to at home.  I pushed the speed button up to 5.0 MPH but I KNOW I wasn't running at that speed.  It takes me 6 minutes to run .0 mile at 5.0 MPH....but six minutes I hadn't even run a half mile!  And I could tell I wasn't running as fast as I normally run.  I felt like I was powering the treadmill and it was requiring me to make it go.  It felt like hard work and I didn't like the feel of the treadmill.

Oh, here's a little bit of interesting for you....on the side of the computer screen it had a button you could push to play games or surf the internet or watch TV or listen to music.  I was amazed!  The woman next to me was playing Freecell as she was walking!  I thought "I could never play a game or surf the net while running!"  But it was amazing that people do that.  Just a little tidbit there that I thought might interest you all!  Computerized treadmills....even to the extent that you can surf the net while treading!

Okay....so here are the details of my run:  I ran 2.51 miles at 4.9 MPH (the treadmill spit out a little report on the screen at the end of my run....see, I KNEW I wasn't running 5.0 MPH even though I had it set at 5.0 MPH!)  It took me about 31 minutes.  I don't know the exact time because it is Thursday, May 30th as I type this and the run was on Tuesday.  I've slept since then and I didn't have anything to write the information on with me so I have to just kind of guess at my faulty memory....the memory is one of the first things to go as you get older!  So we're going to say 31 minutes because I know it was in the 30's and it might've even been 32+ minutes but I just can't remember.  That gives me a pace of 12:21 according to my running website and we'll take that.

This run wasn't necessarily hard but I didn't really enjoy it.  I think it was because I knew I wasn't running at the right pace and I was busy trying to figure out how to make the treadmill work the way I wanted it to.  Next time I visit the Y I will ask someone for help.  In retrospect, I should've run the full 5k distance.  But I didn't like the treadmill and quite frankly it felt weird to be running in a room full of people.  Okay, so there weren't THAT many people there but there were people behind me and I know they were all caught up in their own little workout worlds with their own little workout routines, etc. but it felt strange and I was very self conscious.  It felt like my shorts were riding up and well, I just don't like the way parts of me bounce and jiggle.  Okay...there, I said it.  I don't want people staring at my flabby butt!  Pfffffffffft!!!!!  Anyway, would I go back to the Y and run again?  Sure I will.  But I will ask for help with the treadmills and I will run on one in the back next time.  Oh, one last thought....I don't like running in that sort of a public venue because I tend to be rather vocal when I'm running.  I cheer myself on, calling out how much longer, how many more miles, or talking to my iPod or the treadmill.  I'm sure I'm look and sound very silly to the average person who doesn't know me and I'm sure my family probably thinks I'm more than a little odd, but they love me so I don't care.  Strangers don't know or love me and they don't understand the mental tricks that help get me through a run.  I have to keep my "weirdness" in check when I run in a public place like that.  Bummer.  So I'm okay with this run, just wish I'd ran longer.  I could've done it, especially at the 4.9 MPH, 12:21 pace.  Oh, well, live and learn.

So, I guess the only thing that's left to say is:  It's fun to run at the Y....M....C....A!!!!!

Happy Running, y'all!

KEA