Gym-tastic

I went to the gym this morning before work.
I went to the gym this morning before work.
No, I did not repeat that sentence by accident, I just wanted to write it twice to emphasize the seriousness of this statement. For those of you who know me in person, and those of you have been following this blog for a while now, you know that the going to the gym part is nothing special. After all, as husband-dear pointed out yesterday, my life, when I'm teaching, pretty much consists of working, sleeping, eating, running / biking/ swimming. It's what I do. No, what's possibly intriguing about this statement is that my visit to the gym occurred before work. Before I went to work. So before dawn breaks. At about six this morning. And I would have gone earlier had the gym been open before six.

So why this bizarre behavior? Well, I have a second triathlon this weekend, and I wanted to get a last swim in, and make sure all my gear is in working order. And because the base pool closes before I get home from work, my only option was to go before work. So that's what I did. I forced myself out of bed even earlier than usual, made the kids the fastest breakfast ever, and hauled butt to base. Now I expected a pretty much deserted gym, with half the lights off, the attendants still half asleep, and with only a few nutcases like myself running on a treadmill or lifting weights. I mean, gyms in Europe don't even open until 9am, and then will pretty much be deserted until around noon, so I didn't expect gyms in the US to be much different.

Well. Was I ever wrong. The gym was not so much busy as it was hopping. There were people running around on the track, yes, in the dark, all the lanes in the pool were full, there was an aerobics class in full swing, and people were already pumping weights as though it wasn't 6am, and the most normal place to be at that time was one's bed.

Now I know what you're thinking; this is a base gym, and we all know how crazy those military people get when it comes to getting up early and working out. But that's just it. The people at the gym weren't just airmen swish-swish-swishing around in their MC Hammer "you can't touch this" PT pants, there were probably just as many civilians there. It was amazing. These are people who, like me, have no possible punitive action hanging over their head if they don't stay in shape. These are people who won't face all sorts of life-altering consequences involving jailtime if they show up to work late. These are normal people. And yet they were at the gym at six in the morning. Voluntarily. So please don't ever tell me Americans don't care about staying in shape. Because they do. Trust me.