Part 2- The Gym

In fear of looking like Kirsty Alley doing Jenny Craig commercials, I got on the bandwagon and decided some well needed cardio, iron-pumping, and sweating was just the ticket. So on Friday past, I walked over to Palestra Gimnasio, got the info, and decided on Monday I would sign up. (I needed the weekend to mentally prepare for kicking my own ass). Plus, I wanted to create a work out mix on the trusty old ipod. (Cleverly, I named the Playlist ¨Looking Like a STUD¨).

The gym is nothing special. Some stationary bikes from 1945, a treadmill, free weights. It´s perfect. I don´t want to fall on anything and cut myself, however, because everything looks a little chincy, with rust here and there, and a lot of Duct Tape. (My kinda Place).

So I get there and for 45 pesos, I get a months Pase Libre (Unlimited pass) and a trainer. Martin. Nice fellow. I´m thinking that I´m going to walk in and after an hour and a half sweat my brains out, be soar, and feel so horrible that I feel great. The proof of a great workout! Totally STUD material.

WRONG!

After about 45 minutes I thought I was going to die, actually. After the tunnel vision ceased, the fear that I may vomit sank in. Great, I really don´t want to be known as The American Girl who throws up in the corner. So, I take it easy, but this is a pretty intense feeling of death lurking around me and I immediately think, damn, I gotta go. As, I´m laying on a mat, trying to look like maybe I would be doing a stretch, Martin comes over and asks what more I want to do.

¨Sorry,¨ I say, ¨But Martin, I have to get going, I need to be at work very soon.¨ He knew I was lying. It didn´t feel like a very good lie, but I needed to eliminate any extra conversation we may have about me visiting Argentina or how I work with orphans. He steps away for a moment and as I stand up, it gets really dark. NO. I wil not pass out. I do Bikram Yoga for crying out loud. This won´t happen.

...The light comes back. I have not fainted. Relief painted my face with an assortment of shades of red...

And then I dry heaved in the corner...Blast!

Nobody saw, and I got out of there with enough time to say, See you on Wednesday!

Really, Courtney? How unattractive, nevertheless, I won´t have cheesecake buns when I return!

Ciao