More Run Club Part Duh

I'm now entering the third week of Run Club Part Duh. I've been going to the YMCA at least four days a week, and I actually found time for one trail run two weekends ago. I'm pretty comfortable with running for up to 40 minutes... at least from the standpoint of mental stability, exhaustion, and endurance. I am having "issues" though...

The toes that I smashed with the case of canned cat food protesteth too much on every other stride. They get all shoved up in the front of the shoe, and they let me know with every step just how they feel about Run Club Part Duh. The pain is a two on a ten scale, and so I am able to ignore it just fine.

This has turned into a problem...

The lump has been replaced with a bruise that covers most of the side of my foot. Right now it's a very autumnal shade with greens fading into yellows and the dark gray and purple shades of winter offsetting its colorful glory. At first it was tolerable, but as of late it has become a problem, and after yesterday's 30 minute run I am now limping around the house. I think that because the YMCA enforces NASCAR rules (all left turns) on the majority of the weekdays at the track I'm putting uneven stress on my feet as I'm making turns every 1/36 of a mile. The pain is closer to a six on the ten scale, and I'm not gonna be able to go back to the Y until it subsides.

I've had a lot of time to think while I've been running. I write blog posts in my head that may never see the light of day, I compose emails that need to be written, and I listen to the music over the YMCA sound system. I think they chose a satellite station that plays music that forty something year old people (might) wanna hear, as Bruce Springsteen, KISS, Van Halen, Power Station, and U2 all got some play time yesterday. I even heard the song from Lost Boys with the greased up sax player...

Ewwwwww...

While I'm running I look down at the people below using the machines, playing basketball, and lifting free weights. I tried the treadmill the other day, and I only lasted ten minutes. It was something akin to torture, putting forth so much effort to remain stationary while the news of the world was displayed before me on a large flat screen TV. Sometimes I see people using large balls to exercise. I used to go to the weight room back when I was attending YSU eons ago, and I don't remember these large balls being used back then. Now people are using them for everything. People are doing sit-ups with balls, they're lifting weights with balls, they're even using the balls as their solitary piece of equipment, and I think I saw one guy carrying a ball into the shower (of course he was naked on the way to the shower save for the towel nonchalantly thrown over his shoulder). I'm trying to figure out how I can use a ball when I'm running, since apparently these balls possess some magical fitness powers.

I won't be running today since my foot will probably fall off if I do. I gave some thought to doing some weight training or "core work", but I think it would be pointless. Even if I did some free weights and spent some time on some fancy machines I'd lose any benefits I might gain when I stop doing them as the "season" approaches. Besides that, it seems to me that you spend more time recovering then you actually do exercising, and that seems boring given the music selection and lack of scenery.

Speaking of scenery, I still haven't figured out the blatant male nudity thing in the locker room. The other day I saw a guy doing the Winnie the Pooh.

Yes, he was walking around with a t-shirt covering his upper body and not a scrap of cloth covering his nether regions. I thought that was illegal unless you're a harmless, sexually ambivalent cartoon character. Sometimes I wonder... I really, really wonder.