Thursday, June 2, 2011

National Running Day Miracle + My Dilemma

First thing's first, I totally forgot about the professional pictures taken during my half marathon back in May (I know pathetic) and just remembered them yesterday so I posted the couple pictures they had of me on my "Race" page, check them out!

Anyway, last night, on National Running Day, I found my old Nike + that I thought did not work, while I was cleaning my room.  Well I was about to throw it away when I decided, "no I'll give it one more try", so I plugged it into my ipod and sure enough Nike + booted up on my screen (this is more than what it used to do, I'm not sure what exactly happened)!  Since it was late, I did not get a chance to go for a walk or run to see if it really worked or not, so today my girl friend Carrie and I went for a walk to return a movie.  I wasn't sure if it was really going to work or not and I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it clunked out on me again.  As we started walking I monitored the distance and pace to make sure things were on track and reading like they should and sure as shit (as the express goes) it worked!  I'm so jacked!  I used to use my Nike + all the time when I ran, and when it stopped working for me I bought my Garmin.  Now I'm going to go back to using my Nike + since I'm not the biggest fan of my Garmin!



Here's my first logged bit of exercise!  Can't wait to take it out on my first run!  It's been a year and a half since I used this last, so I'm impressed that it is working. I'm also impressed with the updated nikeplus.com features!  It must be some kinda National Running Day miracle!

Workout
30 minutes biking with speed and hill intervals
15 minutes lifting
40 minute walk

My Dilemma 
While I was lifting today, I grew increasingly frustrated with the university's weight room, which actually caused me to leave and cut my lift a little short.  Why am I so frustrated with the weight room?  Right now we are in the process of a big switch over with the facility.  The weight room is no longer going to be controlled by the athletics side, but rather the fitness center side.  Since this is happening they are trying to remodel the weight room a little (aka paint mostly).  Now I understand that the summer is the best time to do this remodeling process, but there are also some things that I should be able to expect from my $60 summer fee to use the weight room.  Here are my issues with the weight room right now:

  1. All equipment (ellipticals, weights, machines, etc) are all pulled away from the wall, limiting the already limited working space and creating obstacles. 
  2. The cubbies are no longer in the room, which means users have no where to put their bags/belongings, which has resulted in people placing their bags randomly throughout the room... ummm, not safe. 
  3. The free weight rack has been removed for repair or painting or something, and thus the free weights are sitting on the floor.  Not only are they sitting on the floor, they are scattered and in a totally random order so you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find the 15 lbs dumbbells you want to curl.  
  4. Paint fumes + people working out = fainting and other bad things. Enough said. 
  5. There is dust from sanding the walls on all of the equipment. Time for somebody to get out the feather duster!
  6.  The workers do not do anything to help matters.  I know this because I know some of the workers there and they always say how they never do anything there and they just sit on the computer searching stuff.  This time could be put to use organizing #3 or cleaning #4 on my list. 
  7. And finally, the door to the weight room, which is usually accessed by swiping your member card, has been left wide open multiple days to try to air out the room.  Having the door wide open means that any student can just walk in without swiping their card (aka they have no membership).  
So, for these reasons I feel like I should either get a refund, discount or at least be given the satisfaction of seeing the workers actually do something to better the weight room.  I could easily get a membership at Snap Fitness or the YMCA for the same price that actually gives me a decent place to work in. I mean I'm paying not only for the equipment I use, but also the appearance/quality of the place, right?  I know the director of the weight room, so I think on Monday I am going to go talk to him, however, I'm not exactly sure how to go about it due to our relationship (he is an influential person in my human performance program).  Am I out of line here?  What would you suggest I do?  Sorry for the vent, but thank you ahead of time for any input you may have :)

PS Someone needs to take these cookies away from me, I am dominating them far too quickly!

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