Young man, there’s no need to feel down…..

Matt and I are now proud members of the Newton YMCA!

Let me tell you, I am very satisfied with my membership thus far. Besides being a fraction of the monthly cost of a regular gym, the facilities are new, clean, and fantastic. All of the cardio machines (treadmills, elipticals, etc) have televisions attached to them…they get a ton of stations, and they also play DVDs. (As well as audio CDs and MP3 CDs) As I briskly walk on the treadmills, I am also going through the Freaks & Geeks DVDs.

Right now my exercising is fairly low impact, because this is the first time I’ve regularly exercised since my junior year of high school. (Eight years ago!) And let’s face it…for me, high school gym class was a period alotted largely for gossiping, NOT exercising.

Gym class was very traumatizing for me, ever since elementary school. I am very short, and I was always the tiniest kid in my class. Sometimes my gym teacher would use me as an example of someone who could not sufficiently participate in a given exercise, due to my height. “And everyone will do this…well, except for Kristine because she’s very, very short.”

And not only was I SHORT, but I was SLOW. Even the really chubby kids could outrun me. Whenever we played kickball, everyone knew that I couldn’t kick the ball very hard so the outfield would all move in really close. Playing freeze tag would give me panic attacks because I’d be “frozen” for 90% of the game.

I was in a “special gym” class in kindergarten because physically, I could not keep up with my peers. (Or tie my shoes for that matter…I think I got a “U” for unsatisfactory in that category on my kindergarten report card) My motor skills are still poor, as are my shoe-tying skills. I usually wear clogs whenever possible to avoid tying my shoes!

So, it never got better. My most embarrassing moment was in 9th grade gym, step aerobics…after forty minutes of step step step, up down up down, I started hyperventilating. My mom had to pick me up and they needed to get a wheelchair to bring me to her car. Mortifying. I guess this was karma for gossiping non-stop in gym class, because I’m certain that I was the object of some gossip after this happened — because it happened not once, but TWICE!

So, athletics was never my strong point although I was a decent tennis player. Besides playing tennis every now and then and walking places, I’ve been very idle over the past few years. And I no longer have that teenage metabolism that once allowed me to consume as much spaghetti and grilled cheese as I wanted. So we joined the Y. :-)

And I can do it all at my own pace. No “special gym class”, no wheelchairs, no being picked last for kickball, and no more being an example of someone who can’t properly exercise. I’ll be walkin’ on the treadmill, watchin’ “Freaks & Geeks”. :-)

Filed under Greater Boston (General), My Life, Things to do in the Boston Area, the gym | Comments (12)