The first thing that happened was that my gym kept charging my new credit card number a membership fee every 2 days. I had lost my card about a month ago and when I received the new card I entered the new number into my online account for Planet Fitness. Well, ever since then, they kept charging me. Monday of this week I was finally able to talk to the manager and he apologized profusely, gave me a refund, and then the very next day another membership fee was taken out. I called him back and he said that this time it was his fault, he refunded my money once again, and gave me a free month at the gym. When I went in to see him in person on Monday I said, this is obviously a sign that I need to get to the gym more often.
Second thing that happened was Wednesday. On Wednesday mornings I usually take the 5:50am train into the city so I can get to work early and get some things done before my boss comes downtown for the day, we end up in meetings and our brains hurt by the end of the day. This Wednesday morning I walked up the stairs to the platform and some of the other early morning regulars asked me which platform was #1. I didn't know. They said they were making announcements that our train was coming in on platform #1. There are only 2 platforms at our station, one heading downtown and one heading out towards Elgin, so I didn't know what the announcement was talking about. A couple more people arrived and then the announcement came that the train would be stopping on the NORTH platform. Well, I may not be that great at direction, but we were standing on the SOUTH platform. So as we saw the train headlights in the distance, we tried to gauge where it was coming from. Well, some of us decided it was coming in on the other side, so back down the stairs, and up the stairs on the other side we went. The train was now getting much closer and we noticed, it was back on the NORMAL side, where it always comes. So we ran back down the stairs and back up the stairs again. I was seriously out of breath by the time I sat on the train. The ride in is about 20 minutes and I really didn't recover my breath until I sat down at my desk some 25 minutes after only doing 4 flights of stairs. Ok, sign number 2 that I need to get to the gym.
Third thing that happened was that I looked at the calendar. Phantom Regiment starts their spring training in 9 weeks. Now, that may seem like a long time, but considering we're already halfway through March and I could have sworn that February was last week...9 weeks is closer than it may appear. I figure I actually have 11 weeks until Phantom does their "dress rehearsal" where I'm planning my first picture with Dean. So there we have it. 11 weeks. It's not the 21 weeks I had at the beginning of the year, but it's 11 weeks.
I'm setting smaller, realistic goals for myself. Work out 3 to 4 days a week and on the days I don't work out, take the dog for a walk after dinner (should be good for all of us). I've also given up (mostly) on soda and am drinking more water. I'm also hoping that Winter finally leaves Chicago and the weather will be warmer so I'll feel like going for smaller walks at lunchtime, rather than sitting at my desk all day.
So...here we go again. I'm waiting...Dean's waiting...and I REFUSE to look like Jabba The Hut when I stand next to him in early June.
