I Resolve to Cross Train.....Again...

I'm back on my 'gotta cross train!' fix. I seem to get all anxious about my lack of cross training every 3 months or so. Here we go again. I'm all anti-paying the big bucks at the gym so yesterday and today, I went to two different county rec centers in the hopes that one would be the answer to all my 'I want to cross train but I don't want to deal with annoying gym-type-people' prayers.

The first, where I went yesterday, is a very small center but I like it. I went there quite a bit last fall and winter before I got a treadmill and was perfectly happy there. The Pros: (1) it's small - I like this about it because it is very down to earth if I can use that saying when referring to a gym. In all the times I've been there, I've never once seen a woman in full make-up which is a good sign. I did have that issue with the kid eating a candy bar on the treadmill next to me that one time which was totally annoying but other than that, no problems. (2) it's fairly affordable - I can pay $5 at the door and workout all day if I wanted to. The Cons: (1) it's small - they don't have any classes and I'd really like to get into a strength training class and maybe even try (gasp!) spinning. (2) it's kind of far away. Yesterday I drove straight there from the bus stop. Once I got in, I ran 5 miles and rowed for 15 minutes then had to leave because I needed to hit Costco and if I had stayed any longer, it would have been pushing it for getting back to the bus stop. My plan was to run, row and bike but I had to leave before getting to the bike. So that kind of sucked.

Today I went to the much closer, much bigger rec center. The Pros: (1) it's size - this place is big. They have an indoor (and soon to be outdoor) pool, a big fitness center, classes, racket ball, basketball and probably some stuff I haven't seen. Now, to be honest, I'll never play racket ball or basketball and I'm not one for swimming...I just thought I'd throw them out there because they sound good. (2) the classes - today I took a one hour strength training class that was similar to the super-popular body pump class (which is one of the reasons why I wish I had a Golds membership). This class was awesome. The instructor was fantastic. I'm pretty sure I wont be able to raise my arms above my head tomorrow and squatting may be difficult. It was perfect. (3) the location - very close to home....10 minutes max. The Cons: (1) I'd have to go with size here. The fitness center always seems to be pretty busy. At the small place, I can stay on a machine for longer than 30 minutes because there is never, ever a wait. At this place, I am assuming that people are always watching you to see how long you 'hog' a machine.

So what to do? I think I'll just keep paying the $5 daily fee at the big place so I can take the Tuesday/Thursday class because I really love it. But $40/month seems a bit steep for a rec center.

In other cool news, there were two women from my running group in the class I took today. After class, we were catching up on our fall races (they both just ran the Marine Corps Marathon) and they brought up the Shamrock Marathon and Half Marathon that Chia was telling me about. I told them that I didn't know if I was going to go because I might not be able to talk my husband into another overnighter for a race. They said they had a big group of people going down for it and I could jump in with them - cool, right? I wont even tell you about the fact that they were both trying to talk me into running the full marathon instead of the half. I laughed so hard, I snorted.