Well, it was a long time coming, but tonight I was finally going to make my first use of our membership at Razor Sharp Fitness Center. I have known for a long long time that something like this needed to be part of my life, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kept imagining myself working out with a Matt Damon look-alike on one side of me and a Brad Pitt look-alike on the other- with me, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, in the middle, trying not to look too conspicuous or too pathetic by comparison. Kathy kept tell me that this was a place with lots of normal-looking people . . .and that the few Brad Pitt types that are there are not the least bit interesting in who else is there – especially those of us working out with a spare tire around our abdomen. It’s the kind of place where anyone can come and feel comfortable, and that I needed to finally see it for myself and try it. And I finally did allow Kathy to bring me there for a tour and I walked away a believer – impressed that the vast majority of people there did not look like contestants on “The Bachelor” (or “The Bachelorette”) and also impressed that the place was pretty big and could allow even me to fade into the woodwork or to get lost in my own little corner. At that point, I vowed to start making use of the place once Carthage was over. Two weeks after commencement, I finally got around to it. I guess I still harbor some of my misgivings about a klutzy bookworm like me fitting in a place like that – but like I said, tonight was the night I was going to get on one of those treadmills and go to town! I knew I wanted to go this first time without Kathy because I thought I would be much less self-conscious. I also decided to aim for the last hour they were open tonight, in the hopes that the place would be a bit more deserted than it would be earlier in the evening. As it turns out, it was completely deserted. I showed up at the front door of Razor Sharp at 8:55 only to discover to my enormous irritation that on Friday nights they close at 9:00. Arrrrrrrgh! So I snapped a couple of photos (I had planned on getting a couple of shots from my treadmill, which is why I had my camera with me) and then treated myself to a McDonald’s frozen yogurt cone. . . vowing to try again – and still trying to talk myself into relaxing and enjoy the idea. Right now, it still feels like the equivalent of Eating Asparagus- something I should do rather than want to do- but I’m hoping that my first time working out there will be an eye-opening, soul-changing epiphany of sorts and I will feel very much at home and not the least bit self-conscious about my Non-Brad Pitt-ness.
All I have to do now is show up when the blankety blank place is open!