Why Running/Working Out is a Gateway Drug

It all starts with an innocent gym membership. Lifetime fitness is the goal, via your parent’s habits. You use your old tennis shoes, shorts, and t-shirts.

You start working out at the college gym and acquire some yogis from Victoria’s Secret and a couple of bright v-necks because that’s what everyone is wearing to workout.

For Christmas you ask for personal training sessions.

One day, you innocently wander in to LuLuLemon and try a pair of compression capris on. You have no intention of spending $90 on black stretchy pants, so you bargain with your husband that if you meet some extremely attainable goal you have earned the lulu’s.

A couple months later you try trail running with a friend and realize she has some sweet kicks that are super grippy on the rough ground, you pick up a pair with a discount code of backcountry.com.

Your coworker does spin 3 times a week at 5am, you try it, and wonder about buying clip in shoes.

A few months after that, you ride bikes downtown with all your roomies and you can’t keep up on your cruiser so you decide to sell it for a real urban bike. You obviously need some padded shorts (skort) to go with the new bike because no one like a sore hoo hoo. You get a cute under seat bag to stash your phone and money for rides. Then you need a squeazy water bottle because you can’t take time to screw the top off your nalgene while you’re at a stop light.

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You’re husband convinces you to try mountain biking. It’s terrible.  You decide to never ride a bike again. At least you’ve dodged the bullet of having to buy a women’s double suspension bike plus a full face helmet, knee, elbow, and wrist pads.

A trip to the outlet mall includes a stop at Nike and all of a sudden you’re hooked a sports bra that’s is $60, at least it holds the girls down. You buy 2 more.

You try yoga for the first time and buy a yoga mat.

You move and rejoin the gym. You resort to wearing old t-shirts because you’re not impressing anyone at the neighborhood gym you grew up going to.

An old friend loses a bunch of weight and gets super fit doing Insanity, you buy it off Craigslist from someone in a very sketchy deal. Shaun T. tells you that a heart rate monitor is necessary, you find one and geek out on the technology.20130603-224453.jpg

Your sister convinces you to try hot yoga, you buy groupons and utilize first time memberships at 4 different studios before committing to 10 day passes at a couple of them. You buy a hot yoga towel.

For your birthday you get a Brooks reflective yellow jacket for walking/running at dusk.

You join a new gym and try zumba. You resort to not wearing anything zumba branded, that seems too far.

For Christmas you get personal training sessions again and the trainer convinces you to buy some protein powder.

You walk into TJMaxx and forget what you’re there for, you see a neon pink workout tank and thoughtlessly throw it into the basket. You see someone wearing a witty tank on instagram from Etsy and buy one for your friend’s birthday and one for yourself.

In a day drinking blur you agree to run a half marathon. You buy a SPI Belt to hold your phone in a “non dorky” belt bag sort of way. You get fitted for new running shoes and drop $160 at the running store, but earn $15 in credit for your next purchase. On the way home you think about how cute the running skort is and how it would only be $30 with your store credit.

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Pulling into the garage you see the ski gear needs to put officially away for the summer and your husband’s new golf shoes. Guess there’s two people with a bit of a product addiction in this house.

Now….how can I get my hands on another pair of those lulus.

Be active, be well, be wonderful!

xx

-h

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