The new gym

kinda sucks.

Ok, it's cheap -- like, $25 a month -- so I should understand what I bought into:

* the treadmills are old. I can't program anything in (like speed intervals), can't pause them, etc.
* the club opens at 5am, but I can't swim in the pool until 6am -- which means I can never get a swim workout in before work
* even though it's close -- 2 miles -- to my house, it takes twice as long (just under 10 minutes) to get there as my old gym did (also 2 miles away) because of where it is and all the traffic lights on the way.
* the parking lot is always packed and it's not well lit at night. shady.
* there are plenty of cardio machines, but to be distracted from the monotony of the TM, I have to watch one of the tv's hanging from the ceiling that I can't even hear. I can't even plug earphones into the TM and listen -- only two tv's have sound, and those are ones I need to tune my old-school walkman radio to the appropriate channel to, to link up to the audio.
* so far, I can't seem to find any balance boards, jump ropes, or exercise bands. Sooner or later, I'll ask about 'em, but I haven't seen anyone with them yet, so I'm not holding out much hope.

I'm sure there's more to note, but I've only been there twice. I'm sort of forcing myself to go when I have a shorter run to do because if I go 120 times in the year, I'll get money back from my insurance company toward my membership. I'd much rather be running outside, though. I do think it will be good to get in the pool this winter, so I'll use it for that, definitely.

For $25 a month, it'll do. It'll serve its purpose.