Wishes

There are many, many fine fitness centers in the area. I've done group classes and massages at Mettler. I've been a member at the Fitness Center where I took classes, used their cardio and weight machines, had a Bodyworks Massage, sat in their sauna and received some personal pilates training. I've visited the Refinery and did their Body Attack and Body Pump classes but was too embarrassed to ever go downstairs and make use of their machinery. I've been a Family Member at the Savoy Recreation Center for the last year and a half. I've taken some of their classes, run a lot on their track, made use of all of their machines and child room, done personal training through iPower there and signed up my child for a lot of their programming. I've done personal training through Synergistic Effects as well as her circuit classes. I took exercises classes in the Urbana Park District and the Champaign Park District. I've had a membership to both Sholem and the Urbana Aquatic Center and I've taken semi private pilates instruction through the pilates center downtown. For a semester, I was even a member at the ARC, until I broke my foot and couldn't swim.

In other words, I've gotten around. Today, I toured the new YMCA, and I'm sure it's going to do well. It's new and it's gotten a lot of community support (everyone's name is pretty much on EVERYTHING from wall plaques to banners to charter memberships). When we first walked in X-man was very excited because he could see the pool right away with the water slide and the alligator in it. I liked the large family bathroom that I could use with him. He was curious about the rock wall. And I was overwhelmed by the number of weight and cardio machines. I don't know if I have enough concentration left to be able to decide what I'd want to do and to find where it was. But then I walked into the group exercise area. The first thing I saw was a very fit blonde on a cellphone... from the back. I sighed. I like that body, I thought. Then I walked into the next room and saw a giant Les Mills BodyVive poster. Oooh... Les Mills and I remembered my favorite Les Mills class at the Refinery and the Fitness Center and my favorite teacher who taught it. "I really need to reconnect with Melissa. She's just the summer time chipper I'm going to need when I get my life back at the end of the school year."

We roamed around the rest of the building and ended up going through the locker room to the pool area. And boom, "Loosey?"

I turn around and there is the hot blond, but this time I can see her face. It's Melissa, and she's wearing make up and her hair isn't in a ponytail and she's not in her vibrant hot pink Nikes. OMG. I was so happy. So she and I talked for 15 minutes. Turns out she's the new director of wellness at the YMCA. I think that's awesome because she's perfect for it between her fitness experience and being a social worker in a past life. I did josh her a little about the fact that the "wellness room" was sponsored by Jimmy John's (no lie, I took a photo of it because it made me laugh). Nothing like a fast food chain sponsoring a wellness room.

Anyway, what I was hoping the Y would have was six month memberships, so that in the fall, I could sign up with X-man and have some place to swim and have childcare when the weather gets cold. They don't. MacTroll had already said as we hit Church and Mattis that we were driving too far. :-) (He's a total townie for someone whose never actually in town.) But I don't need a pool until I have time to go, which means September. Because let's face it, I can swim outside this summer at Sholem.

The other ugly part was the price tag. Since you can't purchase just a partial membership to only use some services or a partial year, for a family membership would be $978 a year.

 I know there is no pool, but for the Savoy Recreation Center, which is 3/4 of a mile from my house, with the Feb. 1-March 31 Family Membership Special, I pay $245 for a year. Non Savoy Residents can get family memberships for $400 a year. And then, if I can figure out my lap swimming schedule, I can go over to the Urbana Aquatic Center and swim for a $45 punch card.

But here's the deal, the new Y is exciting, particularly for those in SW Champaign. X-man looked at the climber in the kids room and got excited, but I'm not sure how many days that excitement is going to last. I could join in the fall for $810 just for X-man and myself, and have the extra bonus of hitting Melissa's Les Mills classes, but I guess I have to prove to myself that I'm really getting back into my 60-90 minutes of exercise a day. I got 90 minutes in yesterday and 75 in today, that's a start, right?... Now if I can just keep going when MacTroll is gone and I have two weeks of Parent/Teacher conferences eating up my days.

I stopped scheduling my "Me" time much too long ago. And now I'm struggling to get it back and figuring out the best fit with my work schedule and energy level. I am happy to have so many good options, but at the same time, I'm frustrated that I can't get what I want custom made to what I need all in one place, particularly since there are so many fitness places in town.