Now I can see it so clearly. I was spoiled rotten.

Over the past seven years, I was lucky to have insanely awesome fitness facilities in the same buildings where I worked, which made it rather easy (well, convenient anyway) to stay in fighting shape by working out a couple days a week on my lunch break. I knew how good I had it, and I miss that luxury.

I am far more productive when I keep myself in shape, because I have way more oomph and a higher level of brain functioning that way. When I get sluggish and sloppy from not working out, then I become tired all the time and slightly dim.

But, I figured that with my new job and lack of fitness center, I would simply start using the gym in our condo complex instead. Yeah, as it turns out, it’s not that straightforward.

At any given time, our little condo gym has about 4 out of 8 cardio machines that are fully functioning – meaning that you can actually turn the damn thing on, adjust the incline, and it won’t try to cool you down mid-workout. So while it’s pathetic that the place is like a cardio machine convalescent center / morgue, there’s usually an unbroken machine available for use, and it’s guaranteed at 6 in the morning when I’ve been the only one in there lately.

So fine. I can do all the cardio I want. But strength training is beginning to pose a problem. I find the weight equipment to be royal pile of suck -- mostly because the leg press machine doesn’t provide a full range of motion for me. So I should just find other things to do, but I’m getting incredibly sick of squats and lunges. And really, I haven’t been motivated to do a whole lot of strength training without shiny, finely-tuned equipment to play on. Sounds silly when I spell it out for myself that way. Yup, spoiled rotten.

But whatever the reason, the bottom line is that now I’m losing muscle, and it’s not cool. When I lose too much muscle, then I’m far more prone to injury due to the fact that my joints go unprotected, and also because for me, muscle loss = slow metabolism = fat gain = joint stress and just general stress-stress, because I really use working out as a way to keep my moods upbeat and my sleep more sound. And cardio alone does not cut it, since it’s only half the equation.

So I decided today that -- while I’ll still use the cardio machines at our condo gym (they’re right downstairs!) -- I need to join a full-throttle fitness center near my office if I’m going to keep myself fully healthy and energetic with some solid strength training.

I just looked up the place that my boss recommended (she’s training for the same 10-mile race that Steve and I are registered for.) This fitness center has a 22-minute express strength training set-up so I could go either before or after work and I’d hardly take any time out of my day.

Tomorrow is the day I set foot in there, and I’m super excited about it. I am fitness dork; hear me roar.