Staying in

I might have been a bit too optimistic when I bought my running tuque (as Maureen would call it) since I haven’t been able to go out for a jog for a couple of months now. The Finnish weather is not so pleasant in November. It’s either warm and rainy or cold and slippery so I’ve actually been forced to buy a gym card. Or rather a gym sticker, as I am still a student I have the right to buy a cheap sticker to put on my student card. I bought one that’s valid for six months for only 45 euros!! And now I’m a regular attendee at the nearby Kumpula gym.

What I’ve learned so far is that gym people can be put into four categories:

1. guys (there is only one kind)  
2. girls that are real athletes
3. girls that look like they don’t need to go to the gym but go there anyway just to piss off the girls in the fourth category
4. girls like me, who have not been to the gym for x number of years and suddenly find themselves in need of a sports bra

The real athlete girls are those that come in what looks like bikers pants (without the stuffed ass). They may not be the ones that jump the highest or do most push ups in least amount of time, but this is only because they know how to maximize the strain while reducing the chance of getting injured.

The girls in the second category are those with perfectly toned abs, wearing small tops and gym shoes that match their outfits.

I belong to those who try to stand at the back of the room – but never succeed I might add (darned, those nr 3 girls!). I’m the one wearing the once black T-shirt with the weird print (thank you CUHK) and the outdoor gym shoes (!, is that even allowed?). I’m the one who is desperately praying that the gym instructor won’t be a total freak who thinks it normal to skip across the room while moving your arms in the opposite direction to your legs. I’m the one who gets lost when the instructor says “and now: turn left” – yes, I’ll probably turn right…

But as I’m now an adult (at least I’m not 14 anymore, even though catagorizing people like this might make me seem a bit younger) I don’t really care. It’s so much fun! I just love exercising. Who would have thought that I, who once shunned everything that could make me sweat, would be jumping around like a maniac and loving every moment of it (or that’s not totally true as I always get a bit scared when the instructor tells us to find our deep stomach muscles…)