My Gym Sucks, Maybe Running?

Remember a few weeks ago I told you that I finally got around to joining a gym?

At first, it was okay-- they gave me a lot of attention, but I assumed it was because I was new and needed to learn my routine and learn how to use the machines.

I eventually realized that it's just because the employees are really, really bored.
I memorized my routine. I knew how to use the machines and the weights. And yet they still follow me from station to station. Since they don't need to explain anything anymore, they just make small talk.

It's one guy in particular, because I usually go in the mornings and that's his shift.
He flirts too much.
He asks me dumb questions about America.

There's also a guy who teaches Pilates classes but doesn't have any students, or maybe I come right before the class starts or something. So he's standing around bored, too. And he seriously STARES at me. A lot. You'd think the two of them could just talk to each other and leave me alone.  Instead they're bored and creepy and I hate it.

Also my routine sucks and it's boring and I have to run for 1 minute and then lift weights for one minute and I can't listen to music.

And I'm the youngest person there, when there are even other people working out.

So basically the gym is giving me nothing of what I wanted out of  a gym, which was, in this order: 1) to relieve tension and stress; 2) make friends 3) lose weight / get toned and 4) feel better in general as a result of 1-3.

Alexandre runs as exercise. He always tries to convince me to go with him. I have never been one to have much talent or endurance for running, but I go with him to the parks/plazas/lakes and walk (or sit and read) while he runs.

This weekend, we went to his parents' house. There's a really beautiful botanical garden close by. It's next to the zoo. So it kinda creeps me out because you can hear the (what I think are) lions close by, and it sounds like they're coming after you! Alexandre wanted to run, and I said I'd try (and probably just end up walking).
So we started out, and I took off.
"Slow down!" he said. "You'll run out of energy really fast."
I slowed down.
"Slower."
I slowed down some more.
"A little slower."
"This is boring."
"No, it's fun. Give it a minute."
"This is too slow. You have short legs."
"Yes, but just be quiet. Go at this speed."

So we were essentially just jogging, with Alexandre keeping me in check "not so fast. Nope, can't stop yet." But it was really great! It was the longest I had ever run continually in my life, I think. I went almost 3 kilometers! (The track at the botanical garden had little markers.)  I never enjoyed running because no one ever taught me to do it right. Alexandre went on to run 5 more kilometers while I listened to my headphones and played with the feral cats at the garden and tried to find the birds whose crazy calls I could hear in the trees. It was a nice late afternoon/evening!

So I'm giving up on the gym and gonna try the running thing for a while. It's free and I have more control and I can get out all of my pent-up energy, and I don't have creepy men bothering me. If I don't end up liking it, I'm going to join the Curves branch here. (Haha...Michelle and Elena-- every time I see it, I think of you guys!) It's a little bit more expensive than the other gym, but it's across the street from my work, it's only women, and it's apparently popular with young women, not retired ones (like in the US).

So wish me luck! Maybe in a couple months I'll be as skinny and buff as Nancy Pants, runner friend extraordinaire.