DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Cardio machines. I don't like to use them most of the time, because as I've mentioned the treadmill makes me dizzy, and many of the other ones you really set your own pace on (like ellipticals: I'm in charge of moving them, so no matter how much they up the resistance, I inevitably end up slacking and just going reaallly slow and not working out).

One thing I do like to use is the stair machine; either the old-school ones that look like a staircase or the ones with two levers for your feet and varying resistance. The old-school ones obviously just keep moving, so you can only slow down if you press the button to do so, just like a treadmill. The newer ones are such that the higher the intensity, the less resistance, so you will basically just end up standing on the ground and having to do more work to get back up if you don't keep moving. I love those!

But okay, aside from my love of stair machines, there is a problem with my using any cardio machine, and that is the calorie counter. It is hard when working out on these not to glance over and get some satisfaction out of seeing it negate the donuts or pizza or beer I might've had recently. But I find it to be soooo inaccurate! The ellipticals will often tell me that at the end of a 30-minute workout I have burned close to 300 calories, and a 20 minute workout on the stairs will say something like 100 or 120. Okay, that makes sense maybe, because the stair workout was shorter. But I sweat about twice as much on the stair machine. More sweat and breathing harder probably means I'm burning more calories, right? I don't sweat much as it is, so for these stair machines to get my hairline wet is impressive. And hence I just don't believe them, but I so want to.

The problem is what they take into account: they ask for age and weight. No height, no GENDER, nothing else. I could be a 6'0" male that weighed 125 pounds (eek) or a 5'6" female that weighed 125 pounds (which I am), and there is no way the two of us would burn the same number of calories in the same workout. So I call bullshit!

Well, enough about numbers and calories and liiiiieeeesss. I went to the gym today and did 30 minutes on an elliptical-like-thing, I actually have no idea what it was haha, then my usual round of weight machines for toning and then a mile of jogging! I took one lap of walking at the half-mile mark (a lap on our track is less than 1/10th of a mile) and I felt I could've kept going at the end of the mile. That's good stuff for me. Stress is fantastic fuel for working out and I really could've stayed at the gym longer, though I might've regretted it in the morning.

I was so looking forward to my workout that I forgot to mail an important package before the post office closed, but frankly I'm quite okay with that.

I also got to break in the new spandex shorts I bought to wear under my Soffes. So now I have no fear of revealing my underwear to the dozens of basketball players below the track, or anyone when I'm stretching, or doing those ridiculously suggestive hip machines. You know what I'm talking about. They're like stripper training, for god's sake, and if you don't have tight shorts on under your loose shorts, you might as well be a stripper right there in the gym. I can feel good about buying myself running-related things. It doesn't feel like splurging. It feels purposeful. I feel pretty purposeful about this running thing.

I'm working on these scrawny legs. They will be something. They will be magnificent! Mwahaha!