The Longest Thirty Minutes of my Life

Labor? No, but it felt like it - minus the pain meds! After waking up at 6:45 and taking my oldest spaz to the Park & Ride for carpool, instead of going home and going back to sleep for an hour like a sane person, I decided to torture myself and go to the gym. I haven't been in a while. Like a couple of months. During my last regular stint of gym-going, 30 minutes on the elliptical was a breeze. It could have been because I went with my bff Tina, and the minutes just fly by full of celeb-talk and people-watching. This morning, there were about 3 not so interesting ladies (although, I'm sure Tina and I could have found something to dish about - we always do!) in the women's gym. The closed-captioning on the morning news wasn't working. The print in the People magazine from last year was too tiny for me to see through my blinding sweat. I did have a little text-a-thon with said bff which I was sure had distracted me from my agony for about 20 minutes - until I moved my magazine and realized it had only been about five, during which the elliptical I was on decided to malfunction and actually make me feel like I was treading lead. Literally, when the incline went up, the resistance just stopped. I nearly fell off with my cell phone in one hand and towel in the other! Not to mention my heart rate read 49 when it was clearly somewhere over 200 (okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but pretty close!) Can someone please tell me what they're doing with our $180/month??? I mean, they just sent out a lovely letter telling us how they just spent $170,000 or so on upgrades and renovations and would have to raise our dues $10/month (as they do every year.) What exactly did they upgrade?!?! Nothing looks different to me than the last time I visited! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!! Unfortunately, it's automatically deducted from our bank account every month, so there's not much I can do. Anyway, I switched machines after what seemed like hours, but was actually only 17 minutes - 13 torturous minutes to go! The last thirteen minutes dragged by pretty uneventfully other than my face turning so beet red I wanted to walk out with my sweatshirt over my head.
That 38 degree air smacking my face has never felt better!! I rolled down the windows to try and cool down. It's an hour later and I still looked like someone smacked me, but you know what? I feel energized and I have a few extra points to use today! Hopefully the energy lasts through the day and I don't pass out from sheer exhaustion on the volleyball court tonight!