Decision making with Edie.

Never as simple as it should be.

As my previous entries have shown, I've taken up running.  In a fairly committed way.  Of course, in my good treatment way - in a flexible committed way instead of a crazy obsessive way, but still.  Committed.

I also live in the tundra.  Maybe not the exact geographically correct tundra, but close enough.  I'm *hoping* to somehow miraculously become one of those crazies you see running outside all bundled up in a snowstorm.  We all have our goals, right?  LOL  But, I'm also smart enough to know I need a contingency plan.  You know, for when the windchill is -3000 degrees and it just isn't going to happen.

A "normal" brain would just say, "Well, I'll join a gym for a few months to get me through the winter.  Come spring, I'll head back outdoors." 

My brain said that too.  And then I started thinking, "Hmmm, well, if you join the gym, then you really should figure out how to go more than just your 3 runs a week.  I mean, what a waste of money having a membership and not using it to its fullest.  You should look into the classes and then maybe start swimming on your off days and then if you're there running, you should look at doing some weight work.  It's good to do weight work according to all the magazines.  But you don't really know how to do the weights.  So, you'd look sort of stupid trying to figure it out.  And speaking of looking stupid, you're going to look like a real prize schlepping around the track.  Who joins a gym just to run around their track?  Especially when you have a treadmill at home.  Why can't you just use your treadmill at home?  Why do you have to turn this into a big production?"

Ahhhh, yes.  Edie.  She's a real charmer, huh?  And that's really the abbreviated version of her fillabuster.

See, it makes sense to me to just join the gym for the three months I'll most likely need it.  It's less expensive.  BUT, I have to take into consideration the extra mental baggage that comes with a gym membership.  I'm doing really great in my treatment process, but I'm still not sure I'm in a place where I can knowingly set myself up for a scenario where Edie will be challenged on a specific daily basis for three months.  Not when it's surrounding something that's so new to me like running and having a HEALTHY outlook on what exercise is and what a HEALTHY relationship with it will look like in my life.

This same gym does day passes.  If I can hold off another couple of weeks, they are half price.  $3 a visit.  Not THAT much more than a membership if I'm going 3x a week.  Not ENOUGH more for me to deal with the baggage I think.  This way, I can have the passes and know they're there to facilitate my running program.  Keep the other garbage separate. 

Now to just hold Edie off until I can make that happen.